Turned the Corner

My dad was much improved by the end of the day yesterday. He is still in ICU but I think they will move him out on a floor this morning. Praise God! I couldn't thank the nurses and staff at the hospital enough for all of their hard work in getting him through this. Hopefully, as long as there are no more set backs, he will go home this weekend. Great news indeed!

My dad had a bad day yesterday and is back in Critical Care. They moved him into his own room in the morning and shortly after this he had a seizure and all the nurses came running. His heartbeat was too fast and he wasn't getting enough oxygen to the brain. They gave him some medicine and he did alot better in the afternoon. He got up around 4:00 and they had him sitting in a recliner. He ate dinner and was doing fabulous when all of a sudden he felt dizzy and they couldn't get a blood pressure reading and it all went south from there. It wasn't as bad as the AM incident but still scary. We saw him about 9:30 pm and he was doing much better. I'm not sure what today will bring but I am comforted with knowing that God is in control. If you are reading this, please say a prayer of strength for Francis, that he doesn't become discouraged and keeps fighting through this and makes a full recovery......

Update

My dad is doing much better. They took his breathing tube out and now he is wearing a mask that people with sleep apnea wear. He is not happy about it! However the doctor told him that this was his payback for every cigarette he ever smoked over the years. The fluid in his lungs is drying up and he should be moved out of ICU today. Then my poor mom gets to take over....I think she is the one that needs the prayers now! I wanted to say a special thanks to Ms. Ann for taking the girls for a sleep over last night so I could be free to stay at the hospital last night. She is such a blessing in our lives.....

Dad's Surgery

Here is a picture of my dad from Father's Day. I couldn't get closer to him because the kids and I have colds and we didn't want to expose him to our cooties before his surgery :( This is his favorite perch on his deck watching the grandkids swimming. He's a proud Grandpa!

My dad had his triple by-pass yesterday. He came through the surgery well and the doctor said that everything went as planned. He has to be in ICU for 24 hours so we were only able to see him a couple of times because they only let you in for visits every few hours. He seemed aware that we were there and when my brother joked about the US Open golf match (which he DVR'd to watch at home), he seemed to perk up.

I spoke with his nurse a few minutes ago to get an update and unfortunately they have been unable to remove his breathing tube. They have tried several times but each time his oxygen level drops and they have to leave it in. The nurse said last night that sometimes it takes someone with sleep apnea longer to come around but now I am a little worried. They are giving him a chest x-ray this morning so hopefully that will show what the problem is. Otherwise his vital signs are all very good.

I will keep this blog updated as much as possible with news. Please say a pray for Fran today that they are able to remove his breathing tube so he can get settled into his own room and get on his way to recovering......

You Capture: Emotion

This week's assignment is to show pictures with emotion. So here goes.......

Being Silly with Friends

Visit with the Cousins

We went to Raleigh last weekend to visit with family. Wolfie also attended the NC State football camp and the girls and I walked in the Komen race. Whew!! was it hot!!! Luckily the in-laws have a pool in their back yard :)

Here are some pic's of Wolfie at the Tom O'Brien Camp

After camp, we went to see the Lego Store at the mall. Wolfie has been talking about this and was dying to check it out.

The clerk at the store said they built the giant Yoda in a weekend! It was amazing....

On Saturday morning, the girls and I walked in the Susan G. Komen race with one of my oldest friends and her daughter. We had a great time and got lots and lots of Freebies!!!

Here we are before the race. All bright eyed and bushy tailed!

There were tons of Vendors and everyone just went tent to tent and got free samples

The girls eating free ice cream before the start of the race. Breakfast of Champions!

You go Girl!

Breast Cancer Warriors

Inspiration for all women

Here we are after the race revitalizing ourselves with our bag of goodies

I was so touched to see the thousands of people that came out in support of this horrible disease. I am so lucky to have such good friends in my life that wanted to walk just to support me. At first, I didn't want to wear my pink survivors shirt because I hate "standing out" but Debbie convinced me too and I am glad that I did. I hope it gave any women going through treatment HOPE to see all of the pink shirts that were there that morning.

One of my friends couldn't make it because her father-in-law is dying of lung cancer and I know she was upset and I love her for her compassion. She has been one of my biggest supporters through my fight and I value her friendship more than anything. I love you, Doreen! We'll do it again next year :)

After the race we went back to the in-laws and crashed! After our naps, we decided to go downtown to a free concert the city sponsored. The band that played was called "Filter" and they were a punk/rock band back from the good old days when they played "real" music....LOL

Daddy's Girls!

This is like real life Guitar Hero!

Who would have thought they would see this 20 years ago?

Craaaazzzy Man!

Time to go home!

On Sunday Morning, the daddies took the older kids fishing at the family farm

Princess with her catch

My nephew "kissing" his fish for good luck before tossing it back

Wolfie with his catch and "kiss"

Step-Mom Sandy proves she's still got it and caught the biggest fish!

We had a really great time and thanks to the inlaws for putting us up yet again. We are hoping that they will come down and visit us soon.

On a final note, just before leaving to head home, my niece decides to put on a great outfit that I just have to show off.

It's only 90 degrees out but she has decided that she needs to wear snow boots! Isn't she adorable?

2 Dance Competitions/Same Day/Am I Crazy?

YES!!!! I am crazy, but I did it. I was able to pull it off. I'm actually quite proud of myself :) I didn't leave the couch all day on Sunday though! I watched lifetime movies all day and just zoned out.

It was a rough week before the "big" weekend. I spilled water on our laptop and fried our "motherboard" on Monday. Our techie guy came out and said "Nope" on any repairs. So, we had to purchase a new laptop which was definitely not in the budget!!!! Luckily, there are a lot of good buys out there and we were able to purchase a really nice one with all the bells and whistles (you know DH) very reasonably. Loran was able to retrieve most of our data and files from the old one, except for all my homeschool schedules :( So, I spent Wednesday-Friday loading all the info back into my recordkeeping system and was making pretty good progress. Then....we decided to take the laptop with us to the hotel Friday night. BAD DECISION!!!! The screen on this very high tech computer got cracked somehow and would not show any images. Saturday night was not pleasant here when we got home and discovered this. Pointing fingers were everywhere! Luckily, the store we purchased it from let us exchange it, so all is well except for the fact that....I lost my school schedule AGAIN!!! Sigh....sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

Anyway, the girls had a blast and I have lots of pictures to share...

FEILE RINCE

(aka The Feis)

Saturday AM

Here is Princess getting ready in the hotel room. We had to be up early! Opening Ceremonies were at 7:50am

Drama Queen lining up to begin her very first Feisiana!

Princess lining up for her dance. She was entered in 5 dances this year. The reel, slip jig, single jig, & light jig. This is her third Feis so she is an "old pro" now.

Drama Queen wearing her new wig

Back of my Niece's head. She was wanting to dance too!

DQ with her new friend Bella. Her mom and I want to enter them in figures next year :) They look so cute together

The trophy dance. They combined competitions here (which we thought was unfair) and the much older girl won the trophy. There's always next time......

DQ with her award

Princess with her medals. She ended up with 3 by the end of the morning. She placed third in her Reel which was awesome!!

I wish I had gotten more pictures of all the dresses that some of the girls had. They are absolutely stunning. They are also very expensive. The custom made ones can cost up to five thousand dollars!! Luckily they have "used" ones for sale. I think we will be going that route if the girls continue. Princess wants a "school" dress (which is pictured in the trophy dance), but I told her she has to practice more before we will buy it for her. A little incentive never hurts :)

OSCAR NIGHT
(AKA THE RECITAL)
Saturday PM

The theme for this year's recital was the Oscar's. They created stage props with pictures of the golden trophy's. The school really does a great job mixing up the entertainment. It lasts around three hours and sometimes it can really drag on KWIM?

You couldn't take pictures the day of the recital so these were taken the night before at the dress rehearsal. I was back stage most of the time and left Wolfie in charge of picture taking and it appears he only got one of the dances on stage....Going to have to get on that boy!!! These pictures are from Princess's first dance. It was a jazz number set to the music of "Let's Hear it For the Boys". Think Flashdance and you'll get the idea. Very cute...How do you like the hot pink legwarmers? Bring back memories?

I was stage mom for Drama Queen's Drass ( I know, I know, I am crazy) so I was backstage with the girls before they went on. Their number was called "Party at Mickey's House" It was a tap number and their costumes looked like Minnie Mouse, even had little white gloves. Very Cute.....

As you can see it was a little crazy and NOISY!

This is Lily, DQ, Julianna, Sarah Grace and Emma. Friends from class

Backstage...Show Time!

Wolfie brought back sister's flowers for her. I guess I'll forgive him for the missing pictures

Princess and Drama Queen outside after they completed their dances. Had to run Princess back in to change for her next number which was a tap dance to "King of New York". It was a very traditional "Rockette" kind of number.

Here she is after her dance

Pictures from after the performance

Broadway here I come!

Can you tell that she is "done"!

Proud Mama!!!!

Proud Daddy!!!!!

Yeah! I get to get out of this itchy costume!

It really was a great time but very exhausting. As soon as it was over, the girls said they want to do it all again next year!!! Eventually I am going to have to have them choose their path in dance....I love the tradition, music, grace, and beauty of the Irish culture and the comraderie of the Feis's. I don't really want to give that up yet. But I think the girls are drawn to the upbeat excitement of the dances being taught today. There were ALOT of hip-hop type numbers in the recital and with today's culture it is very enticing for young girls especially when they see their friend's doing it. I am just not ready to see my 8 & 5 year old performing some of the dances we saw. I guess I'm just old fashioned but I was kind of appalled by some of the numbers. What's a mother to do? I think I will just have to do it all again next year and see if one more year might show the us the right path. And I think I might have to throw in a few more fun out of town Feis's so I can give my side a fighting chance :)