Checking in

And the nice weather just keeps on coming! I just hope it continues and we don't get hit with a major cold spell! It's been so nice out and we are really getting used to it! Again This last week and weekend we spent a lot of time outside. We have went on walks, rode bikes, swang on the swings, you name it the girls have done it. They have been driving their car like crazy and we put the trampoline back up so they have been jumping too. Lots of things to make for 2 tired girls come bedtime which is nice.

Friday we welcomed the first 2 baby boys to our family of all girls! I dont think we know what to do with boys with being a family of girls for all this time, but we will learn fast:) I cant wait to get my hands on those beautiful twin boys here in the next couple of weeks! So congrats to my cousin Mandy and her husband jay for breaking the all girl streak! And welcome to the family little JJ & Jordy we can't wait to meet you both!

This weekend gave us a chance to get one of our many things checked off our to do list, under the girls play set had become a muddy mess every time it rained so we put down some large wood chips to solve that problem, Lex calls it her playground now:) I'm just glad I won't have to deal with the mud.

Saturday night we met up with aunt Haley and uncle Brock at buffalo wild wing to watch some games and eat some wings, the girls favorite place to eat of course:)

Now onto this week, monday Jeramey and my dad made the trip to Cleveland for treatment number 7 of this round, so it was back on Wednesday to get unhooked then Jeramey gets a break until after Easter which will be a nice break. Other than that that's about all we have to report, have a wonderful week!

Hello again

Yesterday we were back to Cleveland for treatment 6 of this round. All counts came back great, Jeramey has battled a nasty cough the past week or so so the doctor gave him a z-pak, and some prescription cough drops to take care of that. So hopefully that will get taken care of. So we are back tomorrow to get unhooked and done for another 2 weeks:)

Kitchen is coming together beautifully, Jeramey has done a great job! And for under 200.00 you won't believe the difference! Hopefully by this weekend it will be completed then I will get some pictures up.

We had a nice relaxing weekend this past weekend, no plans just worked in the kitchen, and hung around at home. Saturday we had my niece Laynee overnight so we took the girls to the movies to see the Lorax in 3D. They loved it, Jeramey and I enjoyed it too! It was a really cute movie, kept the girls attention the whole time, even Alexis which I was very surprised at she usually gets a little restless half way through movies but she was so into this one even kept on the 3D glasses on most of the time.

 So into the movie! Even Jeramey:)

and of course bath time fun, these kids could play in the tub for hours!

On a pretty sad note in my book, we are signing Jaylee up for kindergarten today:( I cant believe my baby is going to be a kindergartener!

All sorts of updates

Sorry once again for the lack in posting, we've been busy, around the house ,with work ,the girls , appointments etc. so here goes catching you all up I will start with today's great news first.

- we had a early start to the day this morning we left for Cleveland around 4:30 for all of today's appointments. 7:30 lab,9:00 ct prep, 10:00 ct scan , 11:00 appointment with the doctor and 12:00 treatment. So we had a very busy morning now to the good stuff.

Jeramey's scan showed more loss another 5% down! So we have about 10% left to kick:) the doctor is pleased with the results and we are on track to keep the treatments going, so today he had treatment 5 of this round. We will scan again after a few more rounds in probably about 2 months or so. Very happy with another great report and so so thankful!

- with having to leave so early the girls got to spend the night at my sisters which they were so excited about!

As you can tell:)

- yesterday we headed to Detroit to the red wings game with some family and friends in a amazing suite! We had a absolute blast, it was so much fun we will defiantly go to a game again!

The suite!

My hubby & I

My Dad, sister & I

- jaylee lost her second tooth last weekend! So she is without both bottom teeth in the front, she looks so cute!

-she also got her second stripe on her belt last Tuesday at karate, she continues to love it and is actually getting pretty good!

- lex is still loving story hour and asks about every day if she can go she thinks she is pretty cool that she gets to go to story hour like sissy does:)

- Jeramey has taken on a new project at home he is making all new wood counter tops for the kitchen , we have one section all the way complete that is stained and has the clear coat on and it looks amazing! I can't wait for the rest to be done, after that he is tiling the back splash so we will get pictures up as soon as it is complete!

- I am currently training for a 5k run in June this is week 3 and I'm waiting for it to get easier soon:) it will be worth it just not very much fun right now!

So that's about it, I think I have pretty much caught you up with our crazy life:)

and another very exciting thing to add....my baby sister got engaged last Friday!! So we will have yet another wedding coming up to celebrate!! Congrats Jerri & Ryan we love you both so much!!

I dont have a picture of the two of them but I will show you her gorgeous  ring:)

A catch up post again

I'm really starting to get quite bad at this whole blogging thing lately:( So here we go again with another catch up post. We had a great time celebrating Jeramey's birthday, the girls were really into helping daddy blow out the candle on his cake that Jaylee picked out, it was so cute I love how excited they get for others birthdays! You would think it was their own!

LOVE This!!

 Friday into Saturday we finally got some snow and the girls were beyond excited about it! They couldn't wait to get out and play in it! So we bundled them up and out we went, but just for about 15-20 min as it was so stinking cold out, they would have stayed out longer if we had let them, but they had fun and a bribe of hot chocolate did the trick to get them back inside with out tears:)

Saturday night we were able to get out with friends for dinner and drinks which was a lot of fun too!The girls stayed at grandmas for the night and when they got home Jaylee had quite the surprise for us, she has her first loose tooth! I cant believe she is loosing her first tooth already! It is so loose and you can see the other tooth right behind it so I'm sure it wont be long and it will be out. She said I'm so excited and scared at the same time but she's mostly excited about the tooth fairy coming and giving her a surprise which she said is a gold coin, don't know where that came from so it looks like this tooth fairy better get a gold coin, and soon!

Jeramey was at Cleveland today for treatment #15 all counts where good and he is home with his pump and will go back to get disconnected on Wednesday. The Dr. said we will do another scan before the next treatment so here within the next 2 weeks we will have that done, so many prayers for continued loss please. 

So that about sums it all up for now. Hope you all have a wonderful week!, I will leave you with a couple of random pictures since I have been so bad at that lately:)

It had been so cold last week Mayzie got to spend some time inside, she made herself quite comfortable as you can tell!

Napping on the bean bag, most used Christmas present ever!

Friday night tea party with daddy! what lucky little girls:)

and sometimes you just get so tired you fall asleep standing up leaning on a ottoman!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Jerameys birthday his 32nd birthday, man he's getting old:) jaylee was so excited the other night about his birthday gift so daddy got his gift early as she let the secret slip:) so today we will be celebrating with lunch today with his mom followed by dinner and ice cream cake tonight with the rest of the family! Saturday we get to celebrate with some friends so we are crossing our fingers for no snow on Saturday so everyone can come!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! (moon and back, as the girls say:)

A better week?

Sorry for our absence lately, we've been busy and sick:( last Sunday night lex woke up in the middle of the night throwing up, not how we wanted to start off our week. Jeramey was scheduled to be in Cleveland for his treatment so I was glad to get him out of the house and away from here and all the germs. So lex was down pretty much all day so when Jeramey got home I packed him and jaylee up and they went to his moms. So they stayed there 2 nights while I tended to lex all while feeling like was coming down with it too. Which I did at the end of the week. Thankfully Jeramey and jaylee haven't been hit with it yet and hopefully they won't. I have lysoled and cleaned like crazy to get all the germs far from this house!

So back to Jeramey he completed his 14th round last week, he felt a little crappy Tuesday and Wednesday but other than those 2 days he has felt great! So we are on schedule and will go back for treatment 15 next week! And this week is his birthday week as he calls it, he thinks he gets a whole week for some reason! So we will be having some birthday celebrations this week, we also have reservations with some friends at a japenese steak house Saturday night so we are really looking forward to that!

Jaylee started back in karate on Tuesday after the Christmas break, so she's excited about that! We have story hour sign up this morning and that will start back up again here in a couple of weeks, so our break is over and back to the busy routine we will go:)

I have been super bad with not taking pictures lately so hopefully I get back in gear and next post I will have some:) have a wonderful week!!

Great Update Ahead!!

Early Yesterday we headed off to Cleveland for Jeramey's Ct Scan, we were anxious for the day to come but i know i was scared to death, Jeramey was calm as always me on the other hand not so much. He's defiantly my rock. So we along with his parents and my dad started the day of appointments. Labs first, Ct prep, scan then a meeting with our doctor. Right before Jeramey went back for the scan I said a little prayer, after the appointments he told me he did the same thing:) Guess God was really listening to those prayers and all the prayers that have been said from the beginning! The doctor came in talked for a minute about how he was feeling then got right to it he knew we were anxious to see the results, first he showed us the original scan, then the scan that was done is august there was a pretty definite change you could really see how much had shrunk, then he showed us the scan from that morning and that was a huge change! He said before treatment 95% of the liver was full now after treatment it is down to 15% so it shrunk 80%! We couldn't be more happy with the results, the doctor too! He is very happy with the way things are going and gave us a couple different options after talking it over we decided since the treatments are working so well we are going to continue with them. He said we could start up again right away or take a break for the holidays and start again after the new year. We decided to do a treatment on Dec 5th then take a little break for Christmas and start the next on Jan 3rd that way we at least have a treatment in for December, Jeramey and the doctor were both fine with waiting until January to start again but I know I would feel better having at least one before then so the doctor said we better listen to the wife:) So very good news we are so thankful for these results, Jeramey's mind set is lets keep on going and get this last 15% and kick this thing into remission for good! I think that sounds like a pretty good plan!Once again thank you thank you thank you to each and everyone of you for all the love support and prayers I don't know where we would be without you all! Keep those prayers coming they are defiantly being heard!

On a different note we got back yesterday to a sick little girl, Lex has a very stuffy nose and is really congested, she looks just pitiful I feel so bad for her she's just miserable! So this week will be spent taking care of our baby trying to get her back to normal. Along with our normal karate, and story hour routine of course:)

One last note 9 years ago today Jeramey and I had our church wedding, and in less than a month on Christmas eve we will be married for 10 years! (yes we were married twice!) So happy 9 year anniversary husband of mine, I think we got the best anniversary gift we could have asked for yesterday!

Updates

Yesterday Jeramey had his last chemo treatment for this round! He goes back tomorrow to get unhooked then he is done! Hopefully done for good, we go at the end of the month for a scan to check the progress then we will figure out where we go from here. I couldn't be more proud of him! He has done amazing!! So there will be some serious celebrating going on, he deserves it!Thank you all for your love and support we cant tell you how much it means to us, keep praying:)

So after a long day in Cleveland Daddy got the night to himself to rest without the craziness of his two favorite girls as I took Jaylee to karate and my Mom took Lex to story hour

Yesterday morning I put together a new recipe for dinner as I knew it would be a busy day. I have wanted to try it for a while now, this is my mom's recipe and I have to admit I really wasn't to thrilled about it, but Jeramey wanted to try it and my mom and sister love it. So I made it, gave it a try and was surprised it was really good. Normally i wouldn't even try things like that. This fed our family of 4 perfectly.

Mom's White Chicken Chili

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced

1 tablespoon oil

2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth

2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (if you like less kick, add just one can)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whipping cream

Fresh cilantro, for garnish 

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan, saute  onion and garlic powder (or fresh garlic, if using) in oil . Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is especially good served with tortilla chips.

 This picture doesn't look the best but trust me it's good:)

Now onto those house updates, 2 weekends ago Jermaey was hunting all weekend and went to the Michigan so I was home basically the whole weekend just me and the girls.So what to do while the husbands away paint the kitchen and entry way of course:) I painted the cupboards got new knobs for them and painted the walls I love the look of it now, looks so warm and inviting.

This was before

 and now

 and here is the entry way before

now here after

So there you have the updates to the house, I may or may not be doing the green in the living room this weekend a little darker green:) I guess you'll have to wait and see!

Chicken Enchiladas,Karate & some good news

I made these the other night and just have to share this recipe, they where so good and pretty simple to make so if you want restaurant style enchiladas you have to try these. and the cilantro is a must, it makes this dish!

Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce

1 medium onion, chopped fine

2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine- i didn't use this just because the girls where eating too

1 teaspoon canola oil

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 teaspoons sugar

1 15-oz can tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 large beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 large breasts)-i used a can of chicken

1 cup extra sharp white cheddar, shredded

1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

12 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas

cooking spray

salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine the onion, jalapeno, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and oil in a large saucepan. cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato. Bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 minutes.

Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through (thickest part reaches 160 degrees), about 12-20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and set aside to cool.

Strain the sauce through a strainer into a medium bowl, pressing the onion mixture to extract as much liquid as possible. Transfer the onions to a large bowl and set aside. Season sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to the onion mixture, and add 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce, 1 cup cheese, and the cilantro. Toss to combine.

Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap; Microwave on high until warm and pliable, 40-60 seconds. Spread the tortillas on a clean work surface, and spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each. Tightly roll each tortilla and lay seam-side down in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with cooking spray. Place in the oven, uncovered, for about 7 minutes, or until the tortillas start to brown slightly (skip this step if you don't like the crunch).

Reduce heat to 400. Remove enchiladas and pour sauce evenly on top. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil, and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese browns. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, additional cilantro, etc.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did:)

Last night I took Jaylee to karate, it was a test night for her 2nd stripe. She got her 2nd stripe and broke another board, after class I was telling her how proud i am of her and she said "mom I broke that board like a beast"! I about died, really where does she get this stuff. So one more stripe and she's onto the orange belt!

Now for the good news update. Jeramey had his 10th treatment yesterday and met with the doctor before treatment. Bryan hospital had finally sent the original CT scan that was done in May before treatment was started so Dr. Shepard could finally do a side by side comparison of the liver from the scan he did 2 months ago and the scan before treatment. He said that there is a lot more healthy liver now than from before we started! So that means the chemo is defiantly working and shrinking the spots in the liver! Best news we've had in a long time, I'm hoping after the 12th treatment that scan will show even more improvement, which i know it will, this husband of mine let me tell you he's a fighter and he WILL beat this! So that's our good report for the week, thank you all for your continued support and prayers that means so much more than we could ever tell you!

Rewind to the weekend

So i'm back tracking a little here, back to Friday, We took the girls bowling with my sister, her boyfriend, their kids and our friends and their 2 kids. The kids loved it, we ate, bowled and  the adults where able to enjoy some adult beverages and conversation during it all which was nice a win win, fun for the kids and us too! Defiantly something we will be doing again!

Saturday Jeramey went hunting for the morning/afternoon so my sister and I packed up the kids and headed to Toledo to take the kids to build a bear. Of course it took forever to choose which one they wanted to make:) After building their animals we had lunch did some shopping then headed home with 4 tired kids.

My sister was nice enough to watch the kids for the evening while Jeramey and I went to eat with his parents at one of our favorite places, you can probaly guess... carabbas of course.

Then yesterday we had our family over for Miss Alexis' birthday bash!

So all in all great weekend, already looking foward to the next one:)

Jeramey heads to Cleveland today for treatment #10 so say a prayer for him today