Pelotonia

This post is for those of you who aren't on Facebook to already have seen these photos.

The Pelotonia bike ride was this past Saturday.  In order to ride 100 miles, my brother, Ted, raised well over $1,800 for cancer research at The James, where I receive my treatment, and rode in honor of his wife, Leslie, and me. 

The ride started downtown and ended 100 miles later at my alma mater, Kenyon.  

Brian, the girls, and I stopped along the way to cheer on the riders.  We missed Ted, so later we dropped the girls off with their cousins and Brian and I took off again to find him and cheer on more riders.  We found him!

We then met up with him again at the finish line.

It was a special day for all of us.

cuties

I've been practicing my French braiding skills on this little cutie (I've never been good at it, but decided that if I did it enough, I could get better, so I'm trying)

And this little cutie is headed off to Girl Scout day camp this week.  She's so excited that it's mystery/detective themed.  She can't wait.  (Look at her admiring sister in the background....)

long time, no post

Summer is flying by, but I don't have much to show for it, blog wise!  My husband and I went to Chicago for our anniversary, but I don't have any pictures loaded to put them on here (maybe my next post).  

Today was our annual neighborhood garage sale, and Rachel had her lemonade stand, as usual, along with her friends who come over every Friday while their parents work.

Business was great.  It was a beautiful day and we had tons of people.  The girls had a great time.

I had surgery on Monday and am recovering fine.  If you aren't friends with me on Facebook, where my husband made me post this picture, then here's a picture of my fancy socks they gave me to wear for surgery.

School starts in three weeks, so we will try to squeeze in as much summer fun as we can between now and then!  Hopefully I'll post more soon.  Sorry I've been neglecting the blog.....

Daddy's birthday

My husband's birthday was almost a month ago, now, but I finally just looked at the pictures from that day.

I wrote earlier that he wanted to go to the high point of Indiana and to the Air Force museum, so that's what we did.

On the way there we stopped at a rest area, and they wanted to pose....

This is the entrance to the high point....in the middle of nowhere.  If you blink, you'll miss it!

Rebecca wanted to sign her own name in the guest book!

random pictures

I found some pictures that never got posted here....

The day before her birthday--I was baking her birthday cake and she watched it bake, excitedly.

We went to go see my niece, Emma (age 13), star in her middle school musical, Honk, which is the story of The Ugly Duckling.  She was Ida, Ugly's mother.  None of us knew she had that wonderful voice in her--she was great!  That's my brother, Ted, on the left--he's Emma's proud Dad.

My husband has this goal of visiting as many state high points as possible (he's already ruled out Alaska and one other one I can't remember, because of their difficulty to climb).  I don't quite understand the thrill, but on his birthday last month, he wanted to go to Indiana's highpoint.  So we did....what else do you do when that's your husband's birthday request??  We also went to the Air Force museum that day, but I haven't looked at the pictures from that yet.

Friday was National Donut Day.  I took the girls to Krispie Kreme for free donuts.  They thought it was great.  It was rough, but I restrained myself and saved my donut for my husband.  Since my cancer diagnosis I've changed the way I eat, and one thing I've changed is I'm not eating grains or added sugar.  So donuts don't quite fit in my current lifestyle, obviously.   But it was still fun.

fifth birthday fun

Yesterday was Rebecca's favorite day ever, if you ask her.  I don't think there was ever anyone who enjoyed a birthday more (except maybe her sister!).  She loved every minute.  We went to the zoo in the morning, and in the afternoon she got to go make her very first Build a Bear, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa (it was hard to tell who was more excited about that, though--Rebecca or Rachel, who was thrilled for her sister!).  Rebecca only had eyes for the Elsa bear.  She said she liked them all, but none more than Elsa, so Elsa it was (even though she was $10 more than the other bears....the bargain hunter in me shuttered at the extra $10, but Grandma said she could have the one she wanted!)

After Build a Bear she came home and played with her until Daddy got home and it was time for dinner.  She had chosen Red Robin for dinner because she wanted the waiters to sing to her (she was all about being noticed yesterday and wore her preschool birthday crown all day long--at the zoo, Build a Bear, the restaurant, everywhere!).  

Then it was home for presents, cake, and ice cream.  She wanted a blue Elsa cake and a purple five candle.  This is what I came up with.

She was sad when the day was over and wanted it to last for days, she told me.  She loved it all.

Love her!!

five!

Rebecca Joy, you are something else!  You make us laugh every day with the grown up things you say.  You make me pull my hair out with the way you try to test the limits, questioning the rules like your sister never did.  You fill my life with hugs and more hugs, lots of cuddling, and lots of laughter.

I can't believe you're five.  How do five years go by in such a flash?  Sometimes I look at you and can't believe how grown up you are--five going on fifteen.  Other times I look at you and think about what a baby you are.  But like I tell you, you'll always by MY baby!

You've been talking about your birthday since May 28th of last year!  You knew you wanted an Elsa cake and have been telling me about it all year.  So on our last day together of just you and me (Rachel's last day of school) we went out to pick out your birthday supplies.  You were so excited about all of the Elsa things we saw and just wanted it all.  

I'll miss those mornings together of just you and me.  In the fall, when Rachel goes back to school, you will be, too!  What will I do with myself when you BOTH get on a school bus and I walk back home by myself?  I've been both dreading and looking forward to that day....the day I finally get some time to myself!  It's hard to imagine, since the last nine years I've been surrounded by little girls, books, puzzles, princesses, ballerinas, and tea parties!  Part of me can't wait.  Another (bigger) part of me is so sad that those days will be coming to an end.  Hopefully you'll still enjoy those things for a few more years, like your sister has.  Please don't grow up too fast, sweet girl!

Pictures from our day at the zoo today:

I love you, Rebecca, and I'm so thankful for the JOY you add to our lives.

Happy birthday!!

Love,

Mommy

in case

I'm posting this in case there's someone who reads this blog who I didn't already send this to, and who is interested in following my story....

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wendymcfarland

end of an era

There are no more preschoolers in my house.  :(

At the end of this week I will be the proud mother of a kindergartner and a Fourth Grader!  How in the world did that happen?

And Rebecca turns five next week.  Impossible!

And it's the end of an era for my minivan, too, which caused me a lot of stress, because of its unreliability.  There was always something wrong with it.  Last week we decided we'd thrown enough money into it and had to get something else.  So here's my new one, which I love!

I can't believe summer vacation is going to be here in three days.  It's not a summer I'm looking forward to, for obvious reasons, but we'll make it through, and hopefully find some joy along the way.

happy mother's day to me.....

It wasn't the mother's day I expected.  

We went to my parents' house yesterday to spend Mother's Day with my mom.  Last night we watched a movie and went to bed, but at 12:30 I still hadn't fallen asleep (more on my insomnia later....).  I heard the door open and Rebecca came in crying because an ant was on her arm.  This has happened before--she has nightmares about ants crawling on her and thinks they're real.  But as I was telling her it was just a dream, I smelled something.  She had thrown up.  I took her in the bathroom and oh, my goodness, had she ever thrown up.  It was the nastiest clean up job I've ever had to do.  And to top it off, she and Rachel had shared a bed for the first time at Grandma's house, so we had to wake Rachel up, too to change the sheets.

Two baths later, she was cleaned up (though I still couldn't get the smell out of her hair) and laying on the floor in our room, in case it happened again.  I was in adrenaline mode and couldn't go to sleep, wondering if and when it would happen again.  Finalły, somewhere around 3:30, I fell asleep.  And at 5:00 she threw up again.  Lots tamer the second time, but still....  So I got a whole 1 1/2 hours of sleep.  Way to start off Mother's Day!

It improved a little after that.  She has been feeling okay most of the day, so that's good.  My mom and I went for a walk, we all had a nice lunch and then we drove back home this afternoon.  

We ordered pizzas for dinner so I had a whole day off of cooking, so that's always a good day.  

So the day was redeemed a little.  But I'm still tired.  Insomnia seems to come and go with me.  But right now I just have way too many thoughts running through my head at night.  Just over a week ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  (I didn't know whether I should write about this on my blog, but since most people who I know read this blog already know, I guess it doesn't matter too much.  If I haven't told you personally, I'm sorry for the shocker on the blog).  So my mind is racing every night with what ifs and questions.  This week I meet with the surgical oncologist and will hopefully know more then about the next step in this process.  Maybe after I know what's going to happen with all of this, I'll be able to sleep a little better.

birthday fun

Rachel had a great birthday.  She took iced cut out cookies to school for her birthday treat, and said everyone thought they were great.  She loved hearing her name on the announcements, going down to get her birthday pencil, having everyone sing to her at school, and wearing a birthday sticker.  When she got off the bus, Grandma and Grandpa were here waiting for her.  She finished her homework while waiting for Daddy to get home.

As soon as he got home we left to pick up her best friend, Taylor, who was joining our birthday festivities.  Rachel decided she wanted to go to dinner at "the place where you throw peanut shells on the floor!"  So we headed there and she ate peanuts, her french fries, and ab t two or three bites of Mac and cheese.  Not a healthy dinner at all, but I guess your birthday only comes once a year!  Then we headed back home for presents.  She was so excited and ripped right through them, quite literally! But she was excited about everything (except the box of summer clothes I got her.....boring!).  

Next came cake and ice cream (and party hats--she really wanted party hats!  And here's her pink cake with the little girl on top holding the number 9 that I mentioned in the last post).

They started putting together one of her new Minecraft Lego sets, but then Taylor had to go home.  But the two of them had a great time and kept us all laughing.  She's a great girl, that Taylor, and I'm so thankful she and Rachel are such good friends.

She said she had a great birthday and it was everything she hoped it would be.

Love this birthday girl!!

Oh, and just because I didn't post this picture from Easter, and I like it, here are my girls and me.

nine!

Nine years ago today I was the happiest person on earth!  For years I had longed to be a mother, for months I had anticipated your arrival, and all night long we knew you were on your way, but you took your sweet old time in coming.  Finally, on a gorgeous, sunny Palm Sunday morning, you made your appearance, you were healthy, and you were ours!  The first words out of my mouth: "Is she really a girl?"  And you were, of course!  What a happy day!

And in the nine years since then you've continued to fill our lives with happiness.  You live life with enthusiasm and "sparkle."  Even at nine years old you still jump up and down in excitement when you talk about something you can't wait to tell us.  You run off the bus to tell me the latest news, you love parties, celebrations, and anything deemed "special" or out of the ordinary.  I love this about you, and know that as you get older it will probably fade, but I hope that deep down, you will never lose your enthusiasm and zest for life.

Every day when you get off the bus, I ask you how school was that day and your answer is always, "Great!"  Although you march to the beat of your own drum a bit, and still prefer to play by yourself many days, you get along with everyone in your class and like everyone, and everyone seems to like you.  But you are your own person, aren't really swayed by what other people want or like, and while sometimes it worries me, I know that in the long run, it's good that you're confident in who you are and don't go along with the crowd.  I'll be thankful for that when you get older!  

You are passionate about the things that interest you.  Those things change from time to time, but right now they are minecraft (though that interest seems to be fading a bit), American Girl, science and social studies (you've been so excited about every topic you've studied this year--local government, Japanese culture, geography, energy, geology.....you name it, and you've poured yourself into it!), and the app flavor of the day (you go through phases with the apps that you enjoy playing--right now it's Subway Surfers and Bear Valley).  You still have a very vivid imagination and love to play outside and pretend all sorts of things with your sister.  You still love the monkey bars, swings, and riding your bike (without training wheels now--woo hoo!).  You love to get muddy and explore outside, too, as the laundry will attest, since I'm constantly scrubbing mud out of your pants after you've come inside!  

You had trouble choosing your birthday cake this year--there was no clear cut favorite for a theme like in the past, and this bothered you a bit, but you had also decided long ago that you wanted this little girl figurine on your cake when you turned nine, just like it was on my cake when I turned nine.  

You've seen it on my dresser for years and dreamed of the day you turned nine and could have it.  So now it's yours, sweet girl.  I can hardly believe that you're really nine.  I'm sure the time has crawled by for you, but for me they have gone by in the blink of the eye.  

Oh, sweet Rachel, how I love you.  I love watching you grow and develop into your own person.  It's scary and unsettling a lot of the time, but so exciting, too, to watch you grow up and change and think and question and have opinions about things.  I love watching you unfold into whoever Rachel Anne is going to be.

Happy, happy birthday, sweetie.  

Love, Mommy

Happy Easter!