Thursday, October 3, 2013

Polka Dot Pumpkins, Sweet October Home, Burst of Energy and *Warning* - Ending Post With Prayer Request for Zander

It is so much fun to wake up in Quadville!! One of my favorite things in all the world is to have a child of mine sleep under the roof here at their childhood home. Summer will be doing this very thing tomorrow night! The NEXT best thing is to wake up in one of THEIR homes!! I have stayed with Summer this summer and had a ball! I have not spent the night with my oldest son in years but I remember waking up with a smile on my face! I'm HERE! Nights in Quadville are the most frequent but that doesn't make them any less special.

Louis Dean surprised me, Amber AND the babies by arriving early this morning!
He came in announcing, "This is TRUE love!!"
I asked if it was for me, Amber or the quads.
Gallantly he answered, "ALL of you!"


Right after breakfast we put the polka dots on the pumpkins!


I was amazed they could grasp that small round sticker and place it sticky side on the pumpkin!


They could ALL do it!


Logan was introduced to the sticker concept yesterday.
It takes her a bit to warm up to something new but she did it like a champ.It MAY have helped that I wore a sticker on my cheek for a good part of the day!


Even the 'Boy' got into it!
Next year I will do a more 'masculine' craft - buy HEY!!! Polka Dots are CUTE!!
It's not like he's WEARING them!


Clearly Trystan proclaimed herself the WINNER!!


They ALL turned out adorable. These are real pumpkins so not a craft they can date and keep through the years. However I am on the lookout for wood pumpkins on sale so we may have a repeat later this fall.


Love that little Logan's laugh!!

I went sailing out the door soon afterwards - wearing a polka dot outfit! What a coincidence!
Would you believe I got LOST on my way from the toll road to my orthopedic doctor's office?
The MacArthur exit threw me off and I wandered around in Las Colinas an extra 15 minutes!
Only I could get lost in my own town!!
Anyway, I got an injection of some magic ingredient to put the GEL back around my left knee joint - AND a bonus shot of steroids! The assistant warned me it could produce a spurt of ENERGY! WHAT?? What medicine do you know that has ENERGY as a side effect???


It did, indeed, do just that!!!
I had a million things to do around here and lo, and behold!!! I got them DONE!
My floors no longer crunch when I walk on them and the carpets do not look like someone threw confetti about the place! The laundry is done, the fridge lost its load of 'leftovers' that had taken over the prize spots on the shelves, the trash has been sacked up and taken out.....I amazed myself. I also paid bills.....


Prepared meds for both of us for the next two weeks and I think I deserve a degree of some kind in being able to keep up with all of them! I never sit down to do this that I don't remind myself to be careful! I once gave Louis Dean a sleeping pill every morning for two weeks because I thought it was his Rampiril!
OOPS!!


The last room to reclaim in my Damage Control work was the den.
I put the new Fall runner I picked up at Goodwill on Tuesday on the table.
Not back for $1.99!


I celebrated the clean room by lighting my fall votive candles!
The leaves were a gift to me from my friend, Candie.
I LOVE them!! They remind me of her - she lets her light shine!


I love all things fall and am enjoying being in here in the den all alone for just a bit.
I'm going back to Quadville tonight. By the time I was ready - the traffic reports said things were at a stand still.....so I took advantage of the time by doing my journal entry a bit early.


This little corner was screaming for LIGHTS!!! All I had was Halloween purple.
WHY is purple a Halloween color? Still better than none!


Louis Dean uses one of the window seat/ledges to store his jam session things so I just decorated them!


A couple of weeks ago we knocked down a basket that held some gold coin looking garlands.


Since MORE is always BETTER - I added them to the tree!


I admit this tree is one of my very favorites!!


I can just sit and look at it as I do the flames in a fireplace or the waves on a beach.


So my alone time is about up. Hopefully the traffic has unwound itself and I can glide over at a steady speed.

Now for the update on Zander. 
My sister, Deanie, posted on Facebook the news about his tumor.....

"PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Pray for Zander and his family. Zander is a neighbor and a classmate of Andie's and is her age. They have been friends since they started school and they are now both in the 4th grade."

Day 1 of diagnosis

Written 4 hours ago
Today was a very hard day as we have found out that Zander has stage 4 Glioblastoma. This is the most common adult brain tumor but for a child to have it and it is on his spine, not in his brain is very rare. There is very little literature on children with this cancer but tons on adults which makes it frustrating. Zander will undergo radiation and will be part of a research group that is trying medication to help shrink the tumor that has shown some positive results in adults. We have been told the next two weeks will be extremely busy but I will try to update as I have new developments. Please continue to pray and I am using this caring bridge to update everyone so I do not forget to text back.

Everyone concerned is devastated as you can imagine. The fact that it is such a rare tumor means he will have the attention of the best doctors in the world! God has a plan for Zander. Praying for the peace that passes understanding for his family and friends. We don't understand but God does. And Zander's story is not over!











11 comments:

Kelly said...

I'm so very sorry to hear the devastating news about Zander. It saddens me to hear about any child with cancer. As a mother myself, I can't imagine the anxiety everyone has over not knowing how this will all work out. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers. I love the polka-dot pumpkins you had the quads make. They're so cute! I guess this will be their first Halloween this year (to go trick or treating). Your Halloween decorations all look so festive inside. I got a laugh out of all the energy you had after that injection because I've experienced that too after being on steroids before. You feel like super woman! And the best part is NO PAIN (or in my case, inflammation). I always have to watch out for irritability though if I'm on them too long. They can change your moods.

Deb said...

glad you got that burst of energy...those pumpkins are adorable....

Deanie W said...

You have had a lot going on! Loved seeing the photos of the quads doing the crafty thing, so very cute:)
It's interesting that you said " more is always better" & in our text conversation earlier I stated "less is more" & you had not done your blog post yet. Too funny:)
Thank you for sharing Zander's story, we know the power of prayer.

Anne588 said...

Breaks my heart to read about Zander as I have been down the same road in my early teens although I "only" had Leukemia and my chances to be healed were pretty good.

Vee said...

So sorry to know that Zander is facing these challenges. Praying for him, his family, all those who are supporting him.

Those grands of yours are adorable! I love that they're already doing crafts.

MadSnapper said...

I will pray for Zander, i just can't figure out why there is so much cancer in our children these days. love those polka dot pumpkins, what a super idea...

Bev said...

You blog tired me out!! I think I need a shot of that stuff:))....Will pray for Zander....

Susie said...

Love the pumpkins and the babies reactions. LD is a wonderful fellow. I like the wya your decor is at your house. I wish all meds had a side effect of more energy...we'd all have well cleaned and organized houses.
Special prayers for Zander. I have been thinking of him. xoxo,Susie

Carole said...

Linda, those quads sure are clever - amazing work on the polka dots! Hope you are not overdoing! Cheers

Debbie said...

you have soooo much energy, i love when that happens to me!!

the pumpkins are just adorable but those quads, priceless!!

Carla said...

I loved all the polka dot pumpkins. That Trystan and those dimples make me smile every time.
I actually like those purple lights with your pumpkins.
Thoughts and prayers for Zander.