A New Chapter Begins

As of today, my family has been faced with a new challenge. Alan, my husband, has been diagnosed to have a large cancerous tumor on his left kidney or renal cell tumor.
Alan had been complaining most of last week with some abdominal pain, but started thinking it was some new meds he had recently started taking, so he made a Dr. appt for Friday just to see. The Dr. noticed a low red blood count and basically Alan just really did not look good and had also been pretty sluggish lately. Doc put him in the hospital for a blood transfusion, blood work and an Endoscopy. We were all thinking ulcers in his stomach, which he did have...8 of them, so that was what we thought was the reason for the low blood count! Doc still wanted to do more testing, so he did a colonoscopy and that came back clear also. So, Doc wanted to do a CAT scan just to be sure and that is when he saw the tumor on his kidney. Needless to say we are all in shock, well, that doesn't even explain what I'm feeling. No words can really explain what I'm feeling at the moment. Actually I think I'm just numb...we all are and extremely concerned and worried about Alan. I think the only reason I'm posting this tonight is just for therapy, so please do not think it petty of me to post this today. I needed it. Please remember my family in your prayers. We go back for a CT scan tomorrow at the hospital and then we will see Dr. Mooney at Arkansas Urology in Little Rock. It's pretty certain that Alan will have surgery this week to have the kidney and tumor removed and we will go from there. I'm sure I've forgotten details, but I'm tired.
Thank you in advanced for your calls and prayers!
We love you!!
I will try to update as I can.

I'm going to be an aunt!!

Finally, after years and years of hounding my brother and sister inlaws, Kara (Alan's sister) and Michael have finally stepped up to the plate and decided to start a family! Alan and I are done. We have two wonderful and healthy children, so it was time for someone else. And, as of yesterday, Kara and Michael found out they are having identical TWINS!! I'm sooooo excited, I could barely contain myself. I can't wait. They should find out in about 8 weeks what the sex is and the babies are due in March. This is going to be so fun...well maybe not so much fun for Kara and Michael, but for me and Alan as the aunt and uncle. hehe Sydney and Carson will finally have cousins.
Trent and Christian...you're next!!

My New Craft

I'm sure many of you know I'm the "Hair Bow Maker" and that is something I love to do, but I decided that I wanted to try a different craft. This all came to light when Sydney came home with her new classroom rules and at that moment, I knew that was something we would need to go over on a regular basis so I wanted the rules placed in sight at all times. (apparently we already need to go over them a little more). So, I got the bulletin board out that had been sitting in Sydney's closet forever to finally put it to good use. Looking at it, it was too plain, so I thought I would dress it up a little with some ribbon and other essentials that a bulletin board needs. Anyway, the pictures below show a few of my new creations. These are all birthday gifts that I have recently done for some of Sydney's friends and they seem to be a hit!

Yes, I am selling these and if you are interested, just let me know. I can do more or less with the design and I have just about every color of ribbon that you would want. I have not done one for a boys room yet, but I'm sure I can come up with something that will look boyish.

Anything that you see on the bulletin board is a push pin and can be placed where ever you would like. Notice the initials and feathers are all push pins....so cute for those girly girls!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Board Size: 17" X 23"

mmccone@alltel.net

Colors on the above board are Brown Polka Dot, Lime Green Polka Dot, White & Hot Pink

Colors on the above board are Mystic Blue Polka Dot, Multi Polka Dot, Lime Green, Purple & Hot Pink

Colors on the above board are Zebra Print, Apple Green Polka Dot, Black & Hot Pink.

Happy Birthday Alan!!

Today is Alan's birthday. I won't tell you how old he is, but I will tell you that when he was born:

the average cost of a new house was $27,550.00
the average cost of a gallon of gas was 55 cents
the average family income was 11,800.00
American Swimmer Mark Spitz wins a record 7 gold medals in the Summer Olympics in Munich
Digital Watches are introduced
Atari kicks off the first generation of video games with the release of PONG, the first game to achieve commercial success

Popular Shows Included:
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Sesame Street
Hawaii Five-O

Popular Music:
The Eagles
Simon and Garfunkel
ABBA

Popular Movies:
The Godfather
Fiddler on the Roof
Dirty Harry

Happy Birthday Alan. Your family loves you sooooo much! You are a great husband, father, brother and son...even when you work graveyards, lol.
Alan and I are having a date tonight....no, no, no...not that kind of date. We are just going to Monroe to eat without kids. I might actually get to finish my meal for once!! Thank you Kayla for taking care of my babies tonight.

Kindergarten Daze!!

Well, we had our first day of Kindergarten Monday. What can I say...it was an interesting day. Alan and I walked Sydney in, of course (see picture below with Alan's head hanging low!!). He was a little sad. I was actually doing pretty well that day, but I think I had gotten most of my emotions out the week before. Sydney remembered where her class was. We let her walk us to it. She found her desk and immediately started talking and asking a million questions, which I'm sure will get her in trouble soon, if it has not already, lol. She is just a friendly little thing and is curious about it all. I pretty much had to drag Alan out of the classroom when it was time for us to go, lol. Again, he was having a hard time. We left our baby girl in the care of new people, but I feel great about the staff at her school and I know they will help those little ones find their way around. We love our teacher Mrs. Goodwin. She will be great for Sydney. There were alot of sad mommy's and daddy's that day, but I guess we all survived! I have to say, I think the hardest part of this whole day was me picking out what she was going to wear for her first day. It took me forever!!

The Pick Up!!

I picked Sydney up from her 1st day of school. She hopped in the car and had a smile on her face, so it looked like we were off to a good start. She said her favorite part of the day was recess....of course! I'm asking her 100 questions and she says she is tired of talking about school, so I really didn't get much out of her the first day.

Here are just a few pictures from our 1st Day of School.

Daddy was having a hard day!

She looks so big in this picture and kind of has the appearance of being ready to learn, HA!!

Wish me luck. She wants to walk in by herself tomorrow. Cross your fingers that she makes it...ughhhh!!

Coming soon...pictures from some really cute birthday parties from this past weekend and my new craft!!

Kindergarten Orientation!!

Well, I guess it is official...Sydney is a Kindergartener! We were able to meet Sydney's teacher Sunday at orientation...Mrs. Goodwin. I'm extremely excited about Sydney 1st teacher b/c I have known Mrs. Goodwin for many years and I know she will be a great teacher for Sydney.

Our orientation started out with the Principal, Mrs. Stephenson, welcoming everyone and from that point my ADD kicked in and I went to another world thinking about my baby girl going to "Big School". All I remember Mrs. Stephenson saying was "sign the 5 yellow sheets in the handbook and return them to the school". Everything else is a blur. We were finally dismissed to go visit with our new teacher and everyone pretty much ran out of that cafeteria to find where their children will be living for the next 9 months. We enter Sydney's classroom, eager and anxious, looking for her desk. We find her desk with her name across the top and an adorable animal print goodie bag from Mrs. Goodwin. I'm squatting down beside her as she is sitting at her new desk telling her to look at this and that and I immediately start to feel my body shaking and the anxiety is kicking in and the voice is trembling. It's official, I'm nervous and scared!! I seriously had to walk away before she noticed that I was about to loose it. The only other time I remember feeling like that was the day of my wedding. We do know a few other children in Sydney's class, but out of the 22 kids in her Wee School class, not one is in her Kindergarten class. That's strange to me. Sydney is such an outgoing child and I have no doubt that she will make new friends fast with her classmates and will probably be the class clown.

To all of the mommy's and daddy's taking their kids to Kindergarten...good luck and I will be thinking of you that day. We will all be strong for each other, LOL!!

To Mrs. Goodwin, please take care of my baby and I hope she does not get in trouble too much for talking, hehe. Is it ok if I stay and observe the first week...ok, just kidding, but you might have to kick me out the first day. Sydney we love you. You are a

The DVD Player!!

So, I 'm sure if you have read about our Gulf Shores trip, then you remember reading about my "Smoking" DVD player that I purchased a week before our trip. Just so happens that this DVD player is a non-refundable item. Sorry, but when something I just purchased starts smoking in my vehicle, it will be refunded. Anyway, I call the company ready for a fight and thankfully I got a lady that could speak English! She started the conversation off nice, so I continued to be nice as well. I told her exactly what happened and of course she says, "hold on please." I'm waiting and waiting and she gets back on the phone and says, "I see this is a non-refundable item, but because of the situation, I will refund your money to you and email you the shipping label." She also stated she was going to waive the "restocking fee" and I thought, I hope you are not planning on restocking this!! She was very nice to me, so I was very nice to her. I sent that sucker back last week with a sticky note attached to the bad screen labeled "FRIED"!! I will give http://www.newegg.com/ 4 stars for good customer service though. They need to just take this DVD set off of the market. It is the AXION AXN-6079.