A Trip to the Airport

Today we took a field trip to the Iowa City Airport with MOMS Club. The airport is very small with only small planes. They have alot of medical flights from this airport since the University Hospital is just a mile away.

We were in the 1st group to have the tour. We started by looking at the pilots lounge and the maps of all the airports in the area. While there we met a really nice stunt pilot. We had just watched him land his plane, so it was neat for the kids to get to ask him questions. We found out that he flew at the Quad Cities airshow that we had been at on Friday.
Then we went to the hanger. The man giving the tour said "Keep your hands in your pockets so we don't touch anything we shouldn't." Ammon followed his instructions and kept his hands in his pockets.

The kids were able to go into a jet and look around. Then we went and saw the mans plane that he had just landed.
After looking around the hanger we went into the observation room, but decided to head home rather then wait to see a plane land since it was going to be another 20 minutes.

If the Shoe Fits...

It's hard to believe that one day they really will fit into shoes this size. For now their feet can stay little.

LIFE’S HANDBOOK

Everyday I get an email from a site called busy moms. Most days I delete them before even opening the message. Today though I decided to open the message up and read it. I'm glad I did. I found this gem of a list that I thought I'd share with you today.

*LIFE’S HANDBOOK *

*Health: *

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a
beggar.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food
that is manufactured in plants.

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.

5. Make time to pray and connect with GOD.

6. Play more games. Be silly.

7. Read more books than you did in 2008.

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day, totally
disconnect with noise.

9. Sleep for 7 hours.

10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile and
BREATH.

*Personality: *

11. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their
journey is all about.

12. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead
invest your energy in the positive, present moment.

13. Don't over do. Keep your limits, learn to say I wish I could, but
I will have to say next time.

14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does, you only think
you always have the answers.

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, refer to #11.

16. Dream more while you are awake.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need, things are
not nearly as important as you think they are.

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of His/Her
mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness; move forward.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating or plotting against anyone.
Don't harbor hate and negativity towards others, learn to let it go.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present, stop the
cycle today for a better tomorrow.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you...PERIOD! HAPPINESS
IS A CHOICE, strive to make it every day.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems
are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra
class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more, learn to find joy in the everyday.

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree, WE ARE
NOT ALL THE SAME, DIVERSITY MAKES THIS WORLD BEAUTIFUL!

25. When you find yourself in deep water- learn to seal your lips and
be silent, otherwise you may drown.

*Society: *

25. Call your family often, truly connect with loved ones.

26. Each day make a sincere effort to give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything, it will set you free.

28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6, they
are your best Teachers.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day. Say the good
things you are thinking out loud.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends
will. Stay deeply connected.

*Life: *

32. Do the right thing! You know what it is.

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful...
simplify.

34. GOD heals everything.. in HIS time not yours, hand it over and
move forward.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change and change will
make you stronger, wiser and a better Teacher at 70.

36. No matter how you feel, get up, get dressed, show up and breath.

37. The best is yet to come.

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Don't preach to people, they won't hear you. BE A LIVING EXAMPLE,
your message will be heard loud and clear! Refer to #14.

40. Your inner most desire is always to be happy. So, be happy!!! You
will live longer, better and your peers will always be by your side loving
you till the end which is really just the beginning.


Posted by: "Charlene Davis" busymomstips@gmail.com busymomstips
Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:07 pm (PDT)

We're nearly there

Just 2 1/2 weeks and we'll be meeting our little girl!!


Ammon was again my photographer. He said we needed to stand in the same spots as last time he took my picture-and this time Simeon wouldn't get in the picture since he wasn't home!

I've been feeling very pregnant, but still able to get around and do things with the kids. She has become less active as she has run out of run to move! I've been having contractions more often and they are stronger and longer. At my apt last Friday I was 2 cm dilated and 50% thinned, so my body is getting ready.

There seems to be a spot just to the right of my belly button that she likes to push on. She will push on the same spot for more then an hour and it feels like it is bruised until she moves.


I finally had to stop wearing my wedding ring as it was getting tight when ever I went outside in the humidity. I've never been able to wear it this long before and some days it was still lose on my finger we was very surprising.

My food kick the last week or so has been eggo waffles with homemade strawberry fresh jam. It always seems to hit the spot!

THIS CAMP ROCKS

Interview of Simeon's camp week.


"This Camp Rocks" was the theme for this years Heart Connection oncology camp.



Who was in your cabin this year: Nick (2nd yr in a row), Hunter, Chance, Paden, Dallis, Ethen and Carson. Paden went home sick the 1st night and Hunter left on Thursday.

My counselors were Joe, Brian Martin, Carrie and Steph.

My cabin was Rock Star (actually it was North Star but since it was a music theme we changed our cabin name to Rock Star.)


At camp this week Simeon did

Archery-it was hard to shoot the arrows.

Riflery-I got to shoot at targets and I got a bulls eye!

Horseback riding-I rode Dakota.

Rockwall climbing-I made it off the ladder!

Swimming-I got red which means I needed to wear a life jacket. We went swimming everyday after cabin time. Sometimes this was after toilet papering another cabin. We went sunbathing everyday. We laid in the sun, then ran through camp with our shirts off. And yes mom we had shoes on-you ALWAYS have to have shoes on at camp!

Arts & Crafts-I made an airplane with sticks and foam pieces. I made a hat that took 2 days to make. Everyone said that it was the coolest hat they had ever seen and if they were someone who could judge it, it would have won 1st or 2nd place.


Hiking-it was fun. We went up to an old Chapel. We had to walk up 127 steps to get there.

Wish night-my wish was to come back next year and that my cancer would be gone. At wish night they have a camp fire and you write your wish down and put it in the fire. Afterwards they had fireworks.

Birdwatching-we went but there weren't any birds.

Friends-Nick is nice and caring.

Award-Greatest craft and hat maker.

Favorite meal-spaghetti & lasagna

Weather-it was rainy (it rained every night)

Blue Angels

We again got an invitation from Make A Wish to go to the pre-show of the Quad Cities Airshow. The Airshow is being set up when we are there and some of the planes, including Fat Albert and the Blue Angels, get a turn to practice their routines, but it is not the BIG Airshow that thousands of people go to. The booths are mostly set up, but not functioning, and there are some planes on the runway that you can go look at, but more will be there during the actually air show.
This year the event happened to be on the Friday that Simeon was at camp. We decided that the 4 of us would go anyways, and since Simeon was at camp that he'd be alright with missing it.
The weather for the day was hot with a chance of thunderstorms. When we got there it was blue sky all around and HOT.
We had a yummy lunch catered by Olive Garden. While we were eating we got to watch a man doing his routine. He was incredible. At one point he did about 20 spirals in the air. Later we got to meet him and Johann made the comment that all those spins made him dizzy just watching him, to which the pilot replied-"It almost made me dizzy too!"
We were told that because of a storm somewhere else that the Blue Angels would start flying later then planned-probably around 4:00pm, and it was about 1:30 at this time.
Since we had lots of extra time we went onto the runway to check out the planes. The area we were closest to had the Armed Forces planes. We got to see a few Warthog planes which are Johann's favorite ones, and some other planes.
Ammon LOVED seeing the missiles and the front of the plane where they shoot the bullets from. At first he was afraid to walk under the planes, but soon got comfortable enough to walk under them. Corrine on the other hand was nervous being on the runway the entire time and wanted to go back to the area where our chairs were and sit on dads lap.




While we were looking at the Warthogs we were watching the airshow people trying to fit a plane between 2 other planes. It was quite fun to sit and watch them pushing the plane this way, then turning it that way, then backing it up and going this way a little before turning it and trying another way to fit it between. After about 20 minutes of trying to get it through they decided that it wasn't going to work and it would have to be parked somewhere else.

About this time they announced that Fat Albert was going to take off. Fat Albert is HUGE and loud. We got to see them fly, then land and taxi backwards. The kids always get a kick out of the person who stands up through the whole on the top of the plane holding an American flag and waving at us.



Then they started talking about the Blue Angels. It's interesting to watch the person announcing what the planes are doing and when because they have their back to the runway and are not watching what is going on. The stand at ready the entire time, and except for one time when the announcer was shown a paper with the pilots names on it, he did his entire program turned around.




The planes do all sorts of maneuvers and fly-byes. Some of the maneuvers are done with just a few planes and other are done with all 6 planes. Last year I was so scared that the planes were going to crash into each other when they did some of the maneuvers, but this year I knew that they wouldn't. At one point the announcer is talking about the planes and out of the blue a plane flies up low behind us-startling us. The point was to show how they can sneak up on enemies. Because of the storm that was now heading our way, they didn't fly quite as long as last year.



After they fly they land at another airport near by, then the pilots are flown to the airport we are at, then driven over to us for us to meet them. The wish kids get their picture taken as a group with the pilots, then everyone can get the autographs and pictures taken with the pilots.

Corrine really wanted to meet one of the 2 female pilots. When we got to meet one of them Corrine had her sign her picture and take a picture with her, but Ammon didn't even want a signature. He wanted to meet the male pilots, and he did get his picture taken with one of them.

About this time we notice that the cloud coming in are dark and the wind is getting cooler and picking up quickly and we decide to get going. We were told to drive back down the runway with our flashers on and that "no one would run us over". So we start going onto the runway and this BIG plane starts coming right at us. They start yelling for all the cars to turn around and get off the runway. So we did as quickly as we could. After that we drove on the grass and out the back of the airport safe from any moving airplanes.

On the drive home the sky was getting darker and darker by the minute. Then drops started falling. Slow at first, but about the size of a quarter. Then all of the sudden it was if the sky just opened up and buckets of rain were falling on us. It was coming down so hard that the cars were going 40 miles an hour and at times you couldn't see the cars 20 feet in front of you. We drove in the rain like this for about 20 minutes before getting home. Later we learned that over 2" of rain fell in about 45 minutes-and we drove right through it!

Corrine's Girls Night

Corrine wanted to have a GIRLS NIGHT while Simeon was at camp. She wanted to do stick on earings, paint nails, eat pizza and watch a movie-so that is what we did. She invited 4 friends over to enjoy the girls night. I got lucky as the girls all really wanted to paint nails, so I willingly gave them my hands and feet to paint. I got nails in 5 different polishes that they all worked so hard on.


I was surprised how hard it was to find stick on earings that weren't $1 for 2 pairs. I looked at almost a dozen stores before I was able to find some. Corrine was so excited that I found some that she asked at least a dozen times a day to go get them. We ended up getting a set of 30 earings for $3-and man are they worth every single penny!!
After the nails got painted we headed downstairs for pizza and a movie. The girls picked out Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses. For dessert we had brownies.
We tried to play Pretty Pretty Princess, but with so many princesses we decided just to put on the jewelry and play.

We tried really hard to include Ammon in the night-but for some reason he though no paint on his nails and Star Wars with dad was a better option for him!

My growing green thumb

I love flowers and color. The last few year I've had 4 hanging pots on our porch, but this year I decided that I wasn't going to climb on a chair to water them daily. So instead I put one on their side of the map post in the front yard, and the other 2 are on Shepard hooks in the backyard.


Ammon has absolutely LOVED picking flowers for the pots and yard. He'd get so excited when I'd tell him we're going to get more flowers. He was in a purple kick this year-so we ended up with LOTS of purple flowers. I did convince him that we needed some pink ones for the planters by the front door.



One of the planters by the front door. The tree stumps that they are sitting on came from the kids 's Great Granmda Riddles yard when she had a tree cut down we took 3 stumps to our house. I love the way they look with the pots on them in the growing months, and with decorations on them during the non growing months.


I love these Lilly's on the side of the house by the chimney.

Also another "project" I had this year was to take out the landscaped area around the lamp post. It had so much area to take care of and it needed to be weeded so often that if I neglected it for even a week the weeds took over the plants. We added alot of mulch to it last year to help it look nice, and every time it rained, the mulch went onto the grass and eventually it started to kill the grass.

I had been working on moving the bricks to make the lawn extend to the sidewalk, but it was tiring and I was going at it so slowly. Then my parents came at the beginning on May. In just a few hours they had the bricks out, the bricks laid around the lamp post for the much smaller planter area, the plants out and transplanted and we were watering the grass seed. It was amazing how fast they were.
I watered the grass 3-5 times a day. I kept it moist and it WORKED!! You can't tell what is the new grass and what is the older grass. Even under the tree where it thinned out so badly last year is thick and hardy now. I sometime go out just to look at the grass because I am so shocked at how thick and nice it looks. So now when my parents come back in mid July our yard will be much fuller with beautiful green grass.


I was so excited to see blooms on my iris's this year. We got them as transplants from Trudy Russel about 5 or 6 years ago. I left them in a black trash bags for months, but they were still showing signs of life, so I planted them in the flowerbed at our house on Western Road. The 1st year they grew, but didn't bloom. (I was told that they take a full year after transplanting to bloom.) Then we moved and I didn't want to leave them, so I took 4 of the bulbs with us. When we moved in I planted them so they were new transplants and they grew some but didn't bloom. The 2nd year they didn't bloom either. This past fall they needed to be thinned, so I thinned them and transplanted a few more, and the weather got warm again and they grew some more. This spring we got our 1ST BLOOMS!! It only took 6 years to see the beautiful purple flowers that they produce.

Cancer Survivor Celebration

Today we were able to go into the press box at Kinnick Stadium for the annual cancer survivor celebration. None of us had been into the press box before. Last years event was at Hancher auditorium.
We were able to meet Coach Kirk Ferentz, the gymnastics and volleyball coaches. The kids also got to meet some of the women gymnast's, Herky & Perky and the cheer leaders.


Every cancer survivor at the event writes their name on a ribbon colored for their cancer. Leukemia is orange, and childhood cancer is gold. Simeon is very proud of being able to put his survivor ribbon among the other ribbons.

Even though this event is for adult and pediatric survivors it is mostly adult survivors that attend. Both last year and this year there were only 3 pediatric survivors there and we are friends with the other 2 kids-Olivia and Cameron.

At the event they had a kids craft, an parent craft, games for the kids, face painting, a Wii, food and a presentation. Simeon also received a survivor shirt.
When we 1st got there and met the coaches our picture was taken, and throughout the event we were able to see our picture on the big screen on the score board. The kids loved watching out for us. At the end of the event I was able to take a picture of our picture on the big screen!

We were also able to go out into the seats and see the brand new field. I'm not fond of heights-so that was not the best place for the kids to run around in.

Each year they have baskets that community business or individuals have donated. The cancer survivors are the only ones that get drawn for the baskets. They have baskets for adults and for kids. Simeon was the lucky winner of the Iowa Home Health care kids pool basket. (He won the basket last year too!)

It had a pool noodle, sunscreen, a big float, a towel, goggles and 2 water sprayers. The ladies that were there from the company were so incredibly nice. Ann was Simeon's nurse when he came home the 1st time on IV meds for a staph infection. We ended up using their company 2 or 3 times in one summer and except for 1 person, everyone there was so nice and helpful.
The event is put on by the Holden Cancer Center at the University of Iowa Hospital.

Ammon's 4 year well check

I have been preparing Ammon for this appointment for some time. We talked about what they would do -height, weight, blood pressure, exam and shots. I didn't talk about needing a finger stick-but he was more then happy to get that done-until he felt the lancet.

Ammon woke up with a stomach ache today, so we had to the bathroom a few times during the apt and they almost didn't give him shots-but I wanted to do them and the dtr said since he didn't have a fever he could get his shots. Because of Simeon still in treatment and it not being safe to be around live vaccines-Ammon was again exempt from getting the chicken pox and MMR vaccine. He did end up with 3 shots today though-tetanus, DTAP and Hep A.
When the nurse did the finger stick Ammon bled quicker then she was ready for and he kept bleeding after she had the few drops she needed. Before we knew it his hand was covered and it was dripping on his leg. I kept pressure on the tiny cut while she cleaned him up.
His stats were both right around the 50th percentile where he has been hanging out for quite a while. He weighed 34 lbs and was 3 feet 3" tall.

We talked alot about how still after 2 years of meds (and doubling the amount of meds a few months back) for acid reflux, he is still having issues with it. The Doctor agreed that seeing a pediatric GI was the next step to finding out what is going on. He thought it may involve a scope to check things out. I was actually very excited to get this consult as I'd like to figure out what we can do to help him not have this problem anymore. One of the long term side affects of acid reflux can be esophagus cancer which is very scary to hear, so the sooner he can get past this the better.
When it came time for the shots he was already sitting on the table ready for them. I had to try and lay on his upper body and hold his hands. That was easier said then done with my growing stomach. After the 1st shot he grabbed for his leg and I had to hold him down even better for the next 2 shots. Simeon & Corrine decided to wait in the hallway-so they didn't hear him scream so loudly! As soon as she was done he asked for bandages and once she put them on he stopped crying.
Ammon and Corrine will need to come back in when we have the clear from Simeon's oncologist to catch up on the shots they've missed and to get the booster of Hep A.

3 Little Monkeys

We were suppose to meet some friends at ST Morrison Park, but by the time we finally got there (1 1/2 hours late) the last of our friends were heading home for lunch. We ate our lunch under the shade of some really good climbing trees. The trees have lots of low branches that are perfect for climbing on.
The kids had such a great time in the trees. They could get high, but not too high that to be scared of being in the trees.

Happy 4th Birthday Ammon

It's hard to believe that today our little man Ammon turns 4. What a wild 4 years it's been since he entered our family. We are grateful everyday that he has turned into such a healthy, happy and active boy.
Last night as I was putting him to bed I ticked him 3 times and said tonight is your last night as a 3 year forever, and tomorrow I can tickle you 4 times since you'll be 4. He wanted me to tickle him 16 times, then he wanted to give me 16 kisses on my face. Ammon is such a loving boy, and we are eternally grateful that he was sent to our family.


For your birthday breakfastyou wanted to have Toaster Strudles. You got to open up 2 presents a firetruck and a firetruck puzzle before church, but the biggest one (a bigger sized basketball hoop) you had to wait until dad got home from church. You were so excited to see what your surprise was. We sat on the porch covering your eyes while dad went and got it from Grandma Riddles garage and set it up. You were so excited to see a new basketball hoop.




Later in the evening we had the family over for a birthday party. You wanted chocolate cupcakes with NO frosting. When we sang you Happy Birthday Simeon accidentally blew the candles out, so we had to relight them and re-sing the birthday song for you. Then you had to try a few times to get the candels to blow out. You got lots of Star Wars toys and some money to go get more Star Wars toys with.

We love you Ammon Eli Smith