the last Monday of January

Happy Monday!  Another stellar week has vanished and I'm wondering what this new week will bring. You never know.....Kinda like Colorado weather, one day coats and gloves and the next sunscreen!
As most of you already know, my mother, who was suffering from a bad case of sciatica, was taken by ambulance to the hospital on Friday.  She was unable to get up when her ride came to pick her up for a scheduled MRI, so she ended up in the hospital, had an MRI and then was diagnosed with a synovial cyst and a ruptured disc.  Today she will undergo a steroid injection and if that does the trick, she'll be on her way.  If not, they will do surgery.  We are all glad that she was hospitalized, as she had been in pain for several days.

Besides a trip to Denver Friday to see Mom, the weekend was pretty "kid friendly".  Saturday morning we attended simultaneous basketball (Sophie) and soccer (Corbin) games.  Both kids did well.

 

 That afternoon, Corbin had a basketball game in Evans, playing with some of the same players as last year.  Fun to watch the improvement from year to year.

 
 Sunday we went to see a movie with the kids, "Strange Magic"...not one of my favorites, but the girls seemed to enjoy it and Grayson made it through with enough snacks to keep him entertained! Afterwards, we had dinner- Grandpa's spaghetti and meatballs and a chocolate cake by Meredith. Gabi wanted whipped cream on hers, so we whipped about a quarter of a cup of whipping cream leftover from something, which seemed to be a new experience....It made the dessert extra delicious....or so they said......

 

 On the B-Rad scene, Brad has really gotten into his model car kits, completing one last week and purchasing another. Glad to see him doing something.  He has an MRI Tuesday with the follow-up on Thursday, so as always, keep him in your thoughts.  His language loss continues and he'll say things like" how many potatoes do we use for this stuff?"  (He was actually wanting to know how many onions the recipe called for) or "I need some of that orange fruit" (carrots) or "what time are you going to the pool? (movie).  Sometimes it can get a little frustrating (understatement) for us all, trying to decipher his expressions!

MLK Day

So, happy MLK Day everyone.  In honor of the day, I'm going to write a blog post, then go to work.  Hmmmm. Remind you of any other Mondays?
I didn't write anything last Monday because I took exactly 2 photos prior to the big Bronco game, which as we know, ended with a not so "Kodak Moment" finish, (the girls were cute, though) and then had no more real news for the week.....

 Now another week has drawn to a close, and I did get a few pictures.  Saturday was our day to race from one activity to the other, beginning with me waking Gramma for her 8:00am hair appointment, and her bolting up from the pillow with a look of terror on her face. (Yikes)  After getting her to and fro, our next stop was Corbin's back to back soccer games as the Fun Plex. Sorry, the pictures aren't so good, but we enjoyed the game and watched him play goalie for the first time.

 
Next came Sophie's basketball game (at the same location, so same crummy picture quality)
 Brad and I left that game and hurried downtown to play bridge (missing Corbin's afternoon basketball game), where I again wondered if our bridge-playing days are coming to a halt.  Brad had a particularly difficult time keeping track of the cards and was referring to the "orange and green suits" (would those be clubs and diamonds?) on the way home.  We arrived home just in time to start "Sunday dinner" on Saturday night, as the Frosts had plans for Sunday afternoon.  We threw together some green chili, which actually turned out darned good and while that was simmering, Carrie, Meredith and I drove back to Eaton to get a few bottles of wine at Carrie's house.  As I was rattling on about my week of care-taking,  the girls diagnosed me with "Compassion Fatigue". (So there really is a name for the whining I do about this situation I live in). I googled it...."Sufferers can exhibit several symptoms including hopelessness, a decrease in experiences of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, sleeplessness or nightmares, and a pervasive negative attitude. This can have detrimental effects on individuals, both professionally and personally, including a decrease in productivity, the inability to focus, and the development of new feelings of incompetency and self-doubt."  Sounds like I'd better snap out of it!!
Anyway, we had a fun evening, putting together a puzzle, then watching the kids perform (under the production of Emma) some dances for us.  They were all good, but we cracked up at Corbin's rendition of "Gangnam Style".  (Mom and Dad might want to consider moving him from sports to dance....LOL!)

 

 

 

 Yeah, that's Grayson getting in on the action in his jammies/tu-tu!  When everyone got ready to leave, the girls conned me into spending the night, so we had a slumber party (Emma, Sophie and Gabi), followed by pancakes, bacon and eggs on Sunday morning.  It brings me so much joy to see how close the cousin relationships are.  I doubt that most 15 year old girls would spend the night with her 8 year old cousins! (Thanks, Emma!)

Brad finally got around to starting the model car kit that we purchased 10 days ago (I thought it might give him something to do during the week) and he shared the process with Corbin and Grayson, who seemed fascinated.  Have a good one, Peeps!

New Year

Sometimes it would be fabulous to have a crystal ball to look at the future, wouldn't it?  I've pondered about what this year will bring, and frankly, it's a little unnerving.  I wonder how much more brain deterioration Brad will suffer this year, how we will handle becoming 65, how much longer Gramma can manage on her own, and a zillion other things.  I'm resolved to the fact that there is no crystal ball or quick answers to any of those things, so, deep breath....and embrace whatever comes my way.  It's all part of the PLAN anyway....(I would like to speak to whoever is in charge of that PLAN!)
Today it's back to work, after having vacation time for the past 10 days.  Probably not a bad thing, for at least it'll cut some calories out of the days ahead.  Seems like all we've done is snack, overeat, and drink, so think of me while I waddle into work today!
We celebrated the entry of 2015 with  a snack/game night at Carrie and Spencer's house, ending with a display of "poppers" filled with confetti.

 On New Years Day, we had a chili dinner at our house following some sledding.  (You may be wondering where the  Frost children were while I was taking pictures...They were on a scavenger hunt (of sorts) for Carrie's purse, finding it hours later at work, where she'd left it the day before.  The kids started sledding in a brand new place at our house, the steps going down to the backyard!

 

 

 Over the weekend, Brad and I played bridge all day in Ft. Collins on Saturday, during a huge snowstorm, and paid for it driving home on icy roads.  We've had quite the weather in 2015, lots of snow and freezing temperatures.  Ah, winter in Colorado!  Have a wonderful week!