fourth grade!

Off she goes!

I can't believe I have a fourth grader.  

I remember fourth grade being the first year girls were interested in boys (yikes!) and the year things started changing, socially, for me, as some girls matured and others (me included) didn't.  I'm scared for my sweet, innocent, immature girl who has absolutely no interest in boys, still likes princesses, and adores playing dress up.  She's unique and an absolute treasure....but not everyone looks past the exterior to see that gem inside that I see.  She's timid and quiet at school.  Too much like her mother, this dear girl.

Her best friend, Taylor just coined the phrase, "nervou-cited" and that's what Rachel told me she was feeling last night.  Today she was all excitement.  The bus was thirty minutes late, though, on the first day, which knocked some wind out of both of us.....but I know she'll have a great day.

Love this girl!!!

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.