More Snow

It's been a snowy winter here in Arkansas and we are enjoying it. It came down all day on Friday and was so beautiful. The girls have been sledding the last couple of days but today we decided to build a snowman. Snow wasn't great for making a snowman so we decided to build a snow fort:
Jason, the girls and Eddie on the snow couch in the snow fort:

The side of the fort:

Picture through the back window:

This was from sledding yesterday. We went over to an empty neighborhood and pulled the sled behind the Jeep. I was driving and did a pretty good job of covering the family in snow.

SNOW

I woke up around five this morning hoping to see the ground covered with the snow that had been predicted and hooray - it was there!
We were supposed to get quite a bit of snow Christmas Eve night into Christmas Day and although we did have a White Christmas, it wasn't nearly what they had predicted. Jason and the girls played in it some but there wasn't enough to do much. Mackenzie was REALLY disappointed. I think we played enough today to make up for it.

We all went to an empty hilly neighborhood near us and tried doing some sledding but the hills weren't steep enough to go very fast.

Towards the end the girls just wanted Jason to pull him around behind the Jeep.

We stopped at home, warmed up by the fire with soup and hot chocolate then headed over to try out the big hills at our friend's house.

We went to another empty neighborhood (with less hills) and I drove the Jeep with the big kid (Jason) and Peyton in the sled. Then we picked up pizza and came home - I thought to stay in for the evening but then Jason and Peyton went out to play and built this cute little snowman (snowgirl?).

Now they are all out there AGAIN! I'm sure tomorrow will bring more of the same. I'm excited the girls have a snow day, I wasn't ready for them to go back to school.

Day 11

Another great day today. She gained a half pound and is up to 78.5 - we are aiming for 82. Peyton arrived at 9am and the day was filled with all of Mackenzie's favorite hospital things. Visitors, going to the roof, a pass, and mail. We went out and about with the girls between noon and 6pm IVs and treatments (they are nice enough to let her do her third treatment a little later when we go on a pass).

When we got back, there was a stack of mail - I love reading every single thing you all mail, e-mail, text, comment, etc. You all lift our spirits so much and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I have to admit one day last week I had a very down day because I started thinking about the "what if's" of this horrible disease. I sometimes wonder if our positive attitude sometimes takes away from how others might view the seriousness of cystic fibrosis, especially from the standpoint of what other families dealing with cf are going through or the work Mackenzie does to stay as healthy as she can. There are families that travel a very different cf road and some that travel a very similar one to ours but without the support we have that makes all the difference. Just being here at ACH where there are families that lose their children, that have to stay much longer than we do, and that are dealing with problems that are much worse than ours - I think more than anything I hope for each of them is that they could have the support system that we have, friends and family and other amazing cf families that say prayers, write letters, lend a shoulder and an ear and do all the things you all do for us. Please know it means everything to us and is a huge part of the reason why we remain positive, hopeful, and brave enough to fight and beat CF.

So, you want to see a few pictures from the day?

We went to the Museum of Discovery which was okay. I know they are soon adding on and I think they have a lot of room for improvement - just in comparison to some of the other museums we've been to that are similar. The girls did have fun and that is what matters!
After the museum we did a little repeat of some of the things we did when Mackenzie was on a pass in 2006 but this time Peyton got to participate. Trolley ride and Peabody Duck March...

Peyton wanted to go sit on (her words) the "freakishly large couch" at The Peabody...We had a few extra minutes before we had to head back and stopped at the Peabody Park at LR's Riverfront Park. It was AMAZING! I wish we had a park just like it. These pictures do not do it justice! Unfortunately we couldn't play in the water because of the PICC line but Mackenzie and Peyton still had a great time.

Here are some pictures from the LR Parks and Recreation website.

Now I have to run to hug on Peyton and Jason before they go sleep at Dana and Blu Coburn's for the night. Dana and Blu are friends of Jason's brother Lance and his wife Andrea and they are so generous to open their home to us so we don't have the hotel expense and so Peyton can be down with us for a few days!

Day One

I think we made it about 11:30am or noon today and we didn't have to wait too long for them to take her to get her PICC line in. It was a good thing - if it were too long, I think her nerves would have gotten the best of her. She did GREAT! What a difference three years has made.

I wish I could keep up with all the different doctors and who exactly they are - Residents, Fellows, etc. (if they would wear a name tag with a picture of their television doctor counterpart that would help - "oh, so he's a George" - ha! )

I definitely remember the Pulmonologist. My heart was down in my stomach after she came in...they want to do a bronchoscopy tomorrow to really try to find out what is going on. She feels that the progression of the lung disease as shown on the x-rays is greater than what it should be based on her age and the bugs she has always cultured. So, please keep her in your prayers that the procedure (including the anesthesia) goes well and that they find what they need to get this under control to slow down the progression of the damage to her lungs.

We'll be waiting to see what grows after the bronch so we are for sure here until Friday. Due to the nature of CF, Mackenzie is confined to her room and mail time is a highlight of her day, so if you have a chance to drop her a letter she would love it. The address is:

Arkansas Children's Hospital
Attn: Mackenzie Jobe, 4B-08
1 Children's Way
Little Rock, AR 72202

We had a few visitors today. Laine, her dance teacher, is here with her son Leighton and Ginger and Jessica happened to both be in town (from Alma and NYC).

I can't access Facebook or Twitter from the hospital so this will be the best way for me to update, hopefully I'll do it again tomorrow.

A few pictures...
Waiting in Admissions:
PICC line time, before we had to leave her (seriously, how much do I love this girl and her big smile and amazing attitude?):Peyton taking good care of Warren (named after Dr. Warren, Mackenzie got it as a gift the last time she was here):

A picture of the room we were in when we first arrived, notice the "snugness" (is that a word?):

And a picture of the room that opened up (THANK GOODNESS!) with a little more legroom.

I will say that it was a little less worrisome coming down for our second for our second hospital stay because we knew how great all the ACH caregivers are and they confirmed it again today...they are wonderful!

Father's Day 2009

We had such a nice Father's Day weekend to celebrate a wonderful Daddy! Fish Fry, favorite desserts, his favorite waffles with homemade syrup, homemade cards, family time and lots of hugs and kisses. We even agreed to ride in the Jeep when we ran around today even though it was super hot!

A Night at the Drive-In

Where we spent our Saturday night:
The Drive-In!! We try to go at least once a summer and this past weekend there were two family movies in a row (Up and Hannah Montana: The Movie). We always have so much fun!

The girls are playing the game of Life right now and they are making me laugh...Peyton was just jumping up and down yelling "I'm insured" over and over. Mackenzie is married to "Blue Guy" and Peyton is married to "Guy Blue". Two more days of school for Peyton then hopefully we'll have a relaxing summer!

Last Week

I'm so far behind in posting!! So, this will be quite a bit from our past week (mainly from the weekend). Friday night Jason and I took Mackenzie out to eat at Guido's while Peyton went to KK's house for a sleepover.

Above - Anna, KK, Tyler Ann and Peyton.

Saturday after we picked Peyton up we ran a few errands for the house - looking at gas logs, cabinet knobs & drawer pulls and the list goes on and on. Will this house ever be finished? When will the decisions be over? Friday I picked up a paint fandex (fan deck?) - thinking it was going to fun to pick out paint colors. Nope, a little overwhelming actually. For lunch we ate at Jason's FAVORITE - Smokin' Joe's and stopped for ice cream at the HiDHo.

After all that eating we were heading home and passed a furniture store that was going out of business (and I'm so sad about this because it was a great one with things I loved) so we stopped to look and ended up finding bar stools for the island when we get in the house. When we got home we rested a little, Jason took the girls for a little batting practice then Mackenzie came home to get ready to babysit Kendall and Drew.

While Mackenzie was babysitting, Jason took Peyton on a little date (I stayed home to be close to Mackenzie in case of an emergency). They ate by candlelight at Chick fil A. So cute - look at that little rose in the cow's hand! Afterwards they went to Chuck E Cheese.

Peyton was out of school all last week so she had her Valentine's Day Party on February 6.

Here is Peyton one morning of her break running errands with me in her pajamas after we dropped Mackenzie off at school.

Hollywood Holidays

Last night the SHMS Choir presented 'Hollywood Holidays' and everyone sang their little hearts out. They sang songs from holiday movies and played clips from those movies in between (the 6th grade boys singing White Christmas into their comb microphones - Home Alone style - was so funny!).
Here is Mackenzie with her choir director, Mrs. Cornett - she commented when I took this picture that it had to go on the blog. She has a blog for her beautiful family and takes AMAZING pictures!

Alyssa, Mackenzie & Morgan:

Mackenzie, Morgan, Madison & Ashton:

Morgan and Michele with Michele's great haircut!

Jason & Peyton waiting for te show to start: