Brinley turns 3!

I can't believe that our little girl is now 3 years old. It seems like just the other day that we were bringing her home from the hospital. Now she is such an independent little lady who sometimes tries to be a little too BIG for her britches.  She is a funny little lady who loves to play, run, go to the park, watch "Disney World", pick on her little brother and try to be the boss of the house. Everyday she is learning new things and I can't believe the stuff that she is able to do. She can count to 13 and say her ABCs. She knows most animals by sight and what sounds they make. I don't want her to keep growing up, but I can't wait to see the woman that she becomes.

Brinley got pancakes for breakfast and she even got to help me make them. She got a three shaped pancake. 

Since Brinley loves animals so much we couldn't think of anything else that she would like to do on her birthday than visit the zoo. So, we packed up the kids after breakfast and headed to Cincinnati Zoo. Here is Brinley and Landon with an elephant.

Brinley and Jennifer enjoyed seeing the giraffes.

Brinley petting some kind of lizard. She is so brave and never really backs down from anything. Landon was too scared to touch it.

Everyone was excited about the train. Both kids really enjoy riding it each time we make a trip to the zoo.

Family picture with a black bear. Landon was not enjoying the heat. It looks like he is burnt, but he is just hot.

Jennifer and Brinley with the polar bear. 

It also wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without a ride, or three on the carousel. The kids love it!

We also try to get a picture with the giant tortoise.

Before we left we noticed another employee that was out holding a snake. Brinley again really wanted to go meet and pet it.

We had a great time at the zoo and then headed back home to continue our birthday festivities. Grandma and Grandpa decided that they were going to make the trip up so that they could see her on her actual birthday. We went to Jacobson Park to try our hands at flying some kites.

There wasn't much wind so we couldn't get the kite very high in the air. However, the kids both really enjoyed chasing after and trying to catch the kite.

Landon catching a peek at the kite while Brinley is helping me keep it up in the air.

We also made our way over to the pond so that we could feed the ducks and geese.

Every time that Brinley threw a piece of bread she would yell here ducky!

Some gifts for Brinley!

Aunt Andrea and Uncle Chris sent her some goodies and this was one of her favorite gifts. Her very own popcorn bucket. She has used it several times and she always calls it "my popcorn bucket".

I worked on this with Brinley for a few days. It will also come in pretty handy next basketball season!

She was so excited about her little cake. We told her it was just for her so she dug right into the middle of it with her fork.

Even though she fights all day with Landon, she stills loves him so much! She shared her cake with him and even fed it to him.

Brinley also loved the gift that Jennifer and I gave her, a new Doc McStuffins bedspread.

Jennifer even repainted her letters in her room to represent the characters from the TV show Doc McStuffins!

I still can't believe that our little girl is 3! She has brought so much joy to our lives and definitely makes everyday exciting and new. I can't wait to see what she grows up to be, but I wish she would just stay small a little longer! Just the other day at the park the kids were both playing and next thing you know I spotted Brinley holding hands with a little boy who was about 4 years old. I about had a complete breakdown. I gathered up the kids and put them in the stroller and headed home. I couldn't get over what had just happened and when we got home I told Brinley that she could be nice and play with her friends, but she could only hold hands with mommy and daddy. I know things are only going to get worse in about 10 years! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Easter 2015

This year we celebrated Easter a few different times. Since I was going to the Final Four on the Saturday before Easter we decided to celebrate with our little family of four on Friday. I had switched somebody days at work so that I could attend the game. So, after I got off work Friday morning I came home and made breakfast for the family. It has been a little tradition of mine that I make bunny shaped pancakes for the kids. We also gave them their Easter baskets.

The kids bunny pancakes and their baskets.

Our two little bunnies!

Our church had a Friday night service which worked out great with us. Our kids didn't have on some elaborate Easter outfits, because as I have always said "God loves us no matter what we wear. Including shorts!"

That night we came home and decorated eggs. The kids enjoyed coloring on the eggs before putting them in the dye.

Landon creating his masterpiece.

He quickly got bored and wanted to put his bunny ears back on.

Brinley loved decorating the eggs.

She is such a funny little lady.

I drove straight home after the Final Four games and got up around lunch time to play with the kids for a while. After taking another nap it was time to celebrate again with the grandparents. Grandpa and Grandma had made the trip up to visit after church and arrived a little while before I had to go to work. They got a few gifts for the kids and some for Jennifer and I as well. Right before I went to work we decided to head out and hunt for some eggs in the backyard.

Landon out searching for eggs.

Brinley found one to put in her bucket.

Landon got easily distracted and started playing on the slide.

Brinley decided that it was maybe quicker to just leave her bucket and to use both hands to pick up eggs.

Landon then decided that he was going to help his sister win. So, he just brought all the eggs he could find over to her. She seemed pretty excited about her basket full of eggs.

The next weekend Jennifer's family was able to make the trip up to Lexington so that we could all continue the celebration. They all wanted to see the kids hunt eggs, so we did it again. The kids really enjoyed it.

Landon with his basket that is almost half his size.

Searching for the eggs.

Landon got bored again and decided to take a slide break. He didn't want to sit his bucket down though.

Brinley and Aunt Sarah.

Brinley and Aunt Amanda playing in the water table.

The three sisters decided to hunt eggs too.

After they counted all the eggs Sarah and Amanda got around 25 and Jennifer got 34. I couldn't believe that she did so well because she claims to be non-competitive. She said that she got so many because Brinley was helping her.

Brinley and Landon wrestling over the duck shaped egg.

Landon won the duck egg and then decided to eat it.

Brinley getting Aunt Amanda to push her on the swing.

Jessi pushing Landon on the other swing.

Some of the eggs had candy in them. Brinley discovered pull-n-peel Twizzlers and she absolutely loved them.

Aunt Amanda and Jessi showing Brinley how to look for 4-leafed clovers. Brinley kept pulling up blades of grass and saying that she found one.

We had a good time celebrating with our families over the Easter holiday season. The kids really got into hunting eggs this year. Hopefully next year we can take them to an event so that they can participate with other kids their age. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Survivor Picnic

If you don't know me very well then you may not know that I am a pediatric nurse at the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital. I work on the 4th floor and I primarily work with children who have cancer. These kids and some young adults hold a very special place in my heart. These children have been given a very difficult hand in life and they have so much to be sad about, but the great thing about kids is that they don't always hold on to the negatives in life. They enjoy the small things that we adults take for granted all the time.

Being diagnosed with cancer as a child is probably one of the worst possible things that I could ever think of for an individual. First and foremost these children are fighting for their life every single day against a disease that is relentless. Due to their disease they are sometimes hospitalized for long periods of time and multiple times a year. Even while at home they cannot live a normal childhood because of the risk of illness from any type of infection that they might acquire. This keeps them from attending school regularly, if at all, and also keeps them from being able to just get out and play and be a kid. Due to the different chemotherapy treatments that they receive the children are sometimes very sick and don't actually feel like playing. This is the part that just breaks my heart. Why? Because children should ever have to endure this horrible diagnosis that ruins part or all of their childhood.

These children and their families become more than just patients to me. They become like my family. I pray regularly for these children to be healed and that they can defeat this disease and be able to live like a child again. Being a nurse for these children can be hard and it definitely takes a toll on your emotional well being, but I think that this is truly my purpose in life. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have met some amazing young people over the last 2 and a half years working on 4 West.

While these children were in the hospital and getting treatments to save their lives, they missed out on birthday parties, field trips, family vacations, school celebrations, high school proms, graduations and the list goes on. Since these children mean so much to my co-workers and myself, we have an annual event that we like to organize for all these special survivors and their families. This event is to celebrate another year that all these children have beat cancer and are a survivor! We try to make it the most over the top celebration that you could ever imagine, because these kids deserve it! Every child that has received treatment at UK is invited to the event and they are allowed to bring their family and siblings. There are huge inflatables, video games, carnival type games, face painting, picture booths, clowns, horse rides, and many other fun activities. A couple of local restaurants donate the food and there is enough candy and snacks, like popcorn and cotton candy, to make everyone happy. We also have some games in which the kids can participate to win some prizes and everyone gets to go home with a present. Overall, it is a huge celebration and the guests of honor are all of our survivors. Each child is called up on stage where they are given a medal to commemorate another year of being a survivor. As our celebration comes to a close every year we pass out balloons to all the families. This is a time to remember all the children who lost their battle to cancer. It is a very emotional moment of the day and it hits home just how horrible of a disease this cancer really is.

I have told you as much as I can about the actual event that we work so hard to put together for the most deserving group of young people that you would ever meet, but sometimes pictures are better than words. Here is a video about the 2013 Survivor Picnic:  http://kchcancersurvivors.weebly.com/videos.html.

This event is very special to all the young children who come and participate in our picnic. I mentioned before that we were a group of nurses that organize the event, but that doesn't even come close to what goes into being on the Pediatric Survivor Picnic Committee. We meet monthly and we raise all the money each year so that we can put on this spectacular event for these amazing children. We have one main fundraising event that we hold each year at the Talon Winery. This is a silent auction, live band, and great food kind of night. The auction items are all donations from local businesses that have been grouped together to make for some amazing gift baskets. Through Talon Winery we are also able to give back to people who make donations.

Donations of:
$15 - we will reward you with a bottle of blackberry wine
$20 - we will reward you with a bottle of Moondance (white wine)
$30 - we will reward you with a bottle of Cabernet (red wine)
$60 - we will reward you with a bottle of all three wines

I think the best part of the bottle of wine is actually the label. The front label is a picture that one of the children has drawn who is currently getting treatment at the hospital. The back label contains a little message about the child. This event is our biggest fundraiser and we would love for you to be able to attend the actual event on June 13th. If you are not able to make this event then we would be very appreciative of your donation and we will reward you with a bottle of wine. 

Here is the link to purchase your tickets to the Talon Winery Fundraiser https://itrulycare.com/events/6th-annual-luau-for-life and the tickets are just $12 if purchased online and $15 at the door. Or if you would just like to make a donation to the Survivor Picnic Fund you can visit our website at https://kchcancersurvivors.weebly.com/.

I hope that you see how much joy this day brings to these kids who have missed out on so many things while they were busy beating cancer. Please let me know if you have any more questions about how you can help or if you would like to help us with a donation. Believe me when I say that these children appreciate it! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Vegetarian for a month

Some of you might have heard me talking about the different things that I have been doing on a monthly basis to test myself. The month of April I decided that I would take on one of my biggest task yet. I was going to become a vegetarian just to see if I could. This was going to be hard because I eat some type of meat for at least two meals a day. Jennifer and the kids were not going to fully participate in this task with me, but Jennifer did get very creative with some meals.

A very unique spinach and artichoke lasagna. It was good, but it took a little while to get acquired to the taste. I am pretty sure that we should just leave spinach and artichoke to a dip for chips.

Pizza has been a staple in our house hold this month. This was a slice of stuffed pizza from Giordano's in Indianapolis. This type of pizza is my favorite and I really didn't even miss the pepperoni.

This was one of my favorites for the month. Since I love orange chicken, Jennifer made this nice substitution of orange cauliflower. The cauliflower was breaded and deep fried and then tossed in the orange sauce. I would definitely eat this again.

This was another recipe that Jennifer found on Pintrest. It was cheese ravioli with sauteed asparagus and walnuts. I actually liked this dish as well, but Jennifer didn't. 

Jennifer and I both really like stir-fry and decided to branch out and try tofu for the first time ever. I made a bad decision by trying a bite of the tofu by itself and it did not taste well at all. When mixed with all the vegetables and rice it actually was pretty good. Jennifer was a big fan of this dish and would eat it again. I am mixed, but would probably eat it again. 

I love breakfast foods and one morning I got up and fixed some homemade banana pancakes. Jennifer wanted some with chocolate chips too. Both are pictured here with the normal ones on the left. These were really good and I will most likely make them again.

This is a take on one of my favorite Italian dishes, chicken Parmesan. This is eggplant Parmesan and it was delicious! This was at Olive Garden, so I am not sure if we could have made it taste this good. This was actually my favorite meal that I had all month and even if I am not vegetarian I would eat this again.

The month really turned out to be quite enjoyable and completely the opposite of what I thought it was going to be. I was a little more adventurous with my food decisions and it turns out that there were some foods that I might eat again even when I am not a vegetarian. Another meal that I liked that I wouldn't have expected was veggie burgers. They were so good and I didn't even realize that I wasn't eating meat. I am not sure when I am going to start consuming meat again, but I have definitely opened my eyes to other options that I had never tried before. I am so glad that I picked a task that at seemed impossible to me, but I am so glad that I did it and was able to complete it. My favorite Bible verse is always in the back of my mind when I feel like a task to hard to complete and that is Philippians 4:13 - I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. Thanks for reading and God bless!