Ice-Land Day Two

Day two for ice and it is so beautiful. I just wish it weren't causing so much havoc for so many people. They've already cancelled school for us tomorrow - I'm wondering if we'll even have it on Friday. I'm just glad they let us know already - they normally like to wait to tell us until the last minute.

I'm starting to notice something in all the sledding pictures - little sister doing all the pulling while big sister kicks back. They had to come in a few times for hot chocolate breaks.

Our power has stayed on and we feel very fortunate for that since so many are still without. Last night blown transformers were lighting up the sky and today all the ice is falling off the power lines. I was without internet this morning and it is so sad how hard that was. I've already started the soup for dinner (hooray!), glad I hit Walmart before all this!

Ice Day

Horrible ice today! This is what it looked like on the blades of grass and trees this morning - and it only got worse.
At one point today, I heard kids playing outside and went to look out the windows to see what crazy neighbor kids were out playing. Those crazy kids were MINE! They spent a while out there playing in the ice. Sledding (pulling each other around) and eating "Popsicles".

After they played outside for a while, they came in and we lost power! It was off for a few hours - we got a couple of games of Monopoly Junior in and started getting all the candles ready and the power came back on. So now we're showered and fed and Mackenzie is doing her treatment in case it goes out again. We are lucky to have it now as a lot of our friends are still without and have been for a long time. No school again tomorrow.

Weekend Recap

We are iced in! I'm excited for the girls to be home but I'm really hoping we don't lose electricity! Over the weekend Mackenzie didn't feel well on Saturday so we stayed home (we had planned to go visit my Dad but hopefully we'll get to do that next weekend - and celebrate the Chinese New Year). Sunday Mackenzie was back to normal and we went to Tara's to celebrate Cadence's 2nd Birthday. We love this birthday girl!
Here Cadence is opening the gift from us (My First Purse) with Molly and Taylor.

Cadence also got a vacuum cleaner and I got to witness Mason's love of them first hand. So cute! Peyton got one of those fun sticky things that flip down the window (I have no idea what they are called). She also got a couple of things that she is going to put in her treasure box for her friends...this cracks me up. She keeps a couple of bins of party favor type things so when she has friends over they can pick a prize.

.

Great news - Mackenzie is up to 76 pounds! So she's gained about 2 and a half pounds this month. Amazing what a small change in meds will do.

.

Also - Jason came home Sunday! He had been traveling all week. He left last Monday, traveling for work to Michigan. He came home Friday - for two hours - then left for a fun trip. We're glad to have him home!

On A Roll

Peyton had her second awards ceremony yesterday and I was a few minutes late. This house building stuff cuts into everything - we had to miss Mackenzie's entire ceremony last week when it was rescheduled due to the snow day and we already had plans to meet and pick out a few things. Peyton was on the A Honor Roll and got certificates for Colton's, Chili's, and Chick Fil A (so, those will go in the drawer and I'll find them to use after they expire!). The big hit was the certificate for Perfect Attendance which was for Cold Stone. She didn't get that one, I think one day I checked her out a little early, we don't really aim for perfect attendance but both girls very rarely miss school. Especially Peyton who LOVES school and is even disappointed when we are out for a break.
Peyton didn't mind that I was late - afterwards she said "perfect timing" joking with me (because I had just missed her going up on stage), I said "I know, just in time for you to all turn around and thank your parents".

Great job Peyton!

Happy Birthday Cadence & Article Photos

Sweet little Cadence is getting so big! The girls and I met Tara and Cadence at the Marketplace for dinner. Cadence turned 2 today and she is so adorable! We will celebrate with her more this weekend.
Peyton shared her fruit and Mackenzie shared her fries - that's a lot of food for a little girl!

After school I needed to get a few pictures of Mackenzie for the article I wrote on her and CF for Peekaboo. I had submitted a few others but wanted to get some that were more current, I have no idea what they'll use.

Aww Shucks!

It's been so nice over the past couple of days getting to know so many wonderful, inspiring individuals and families that share their lives with CF. To my friends that blog - if you click on any of the new blog links I added. You will undoubtedly find a CF patient, wife, husband, mom, dad, or friend with an amazing story to tell. I've also found so many that, like us, have found positive things from living with this disease. I have to add something else to my list of the positive aspects of Mackenzie having this disease - that she has it NOW, in the age of the internet. Where I'll be able to show her, at the click of a link, so many inspiring people!

People really know how to make a girl feel special! Christy, Somer, Lil Chris' Mom, Angie, and DeAnn (if I left anyone out, please tell me!) all welcomed me with a blog award:

This award is passed along to new bloggy friends - and I have so many to choose from, so I want to share it with all my new friends and pass it along to all of those that have a link to the right under "CF Families"! (Is this cheating?). Thanks for all the kind words, I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you better.

Fellow CF Family Bloggers

Yesterday when I sat down to watch Thursday night's Private Practice and realized the storyline on the previews I'd been seeing all week portrayed a family where the dad and both children had cystic fibrosis I went to do a search on the internet to see what (if any) feedback it had received. I still haven't watched the show BUT that search led me to this huge world of CF family blogs - CF parents, patients, husbands, wives... So tonight, I'm up way past my bedtime checking them all out and leaving them messages (I hope they don't mind, it's late and I can't think so I'm copying and pasting the same message in each).

Also, I spent this week working on an article for Peekaboo magazine on Mackenzie and CF. If I get my courage up I'll post it (as long as everyone promises to remember I'm by no means a professional writer). It will run in conjunction with info on the Wine Opener fundraiser for the CFF - link to get tickets to your right!

Better post this now so I can get back to pouring through all of these new blogs - amazing people!

Please take a moment to visit these blogs - Kelly and Jenna - both of these Moms have recently had babies that have been flown to other hospitals for more care. I've only met Kelly once but I've followed her blog for a while, including her journey to have Harper. Jenna is a friend of Kelly's. I remember how heartbreaking it was when Mackenzie was flown to ACH when she was born and all thoughts and prayers were so appreciated! While you are at it, please check out Laine, Rich & Leighton's CaringBridge site too.

We Went to See the Wizard

Pre-Blog Flashback - Peyton right after she turned 5 (in 2005) as Dorothy for Halloween:
Last night the girls and I went with Michele and her girls to see The Wizard of Oz at the WAC. Last year we all went to see Annie, so it's becoming a January tradition. Unless of course next January it's something like Sweeney Todd.

We stopped at Marketplace to eat before we went - Elise and Mackenzie with their Chocolate Mess and then Peyton and Anna with their Chocolate Chunk Cake.

The show was wonderful! We loved it and had a great time.

"Strike It Rich"

Peyton had a Showcase Night last night to share her studies of numismatics. Jason and I learned a lot (including the fact that second graders are unbelievably proficient on PowerPoint - Thinking back to when I first started using a computer in school...6th grade we had one or two computers - we would play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on rainy days). We also learned a lot about money. This lesson has definitely piqued Peyton's interest in currency. Here she is with her slide on the PowerPoint presentation:
Above is her checkbook (I'm thinking about turning ours over to her - Peyton, if you are reading this, I'm just kidding) and the money she printed.