Happy Birthday Wawa!

I cannot believe it's been 2 years since we welcomed Miss Casey into our arms. What a joyous evening that was.

Here we are 2 years later and we now have a big little girl full of spunk and opinion running circles around us wearing one of her tutus (aka "pretties") and sunglasses while we change her "babies" clothes for her. She is truly a ray of sunshine in our days. Yesterday she decided on her own that it's time to start potty training. Maybe not for every time she goes, but in the past 24 hours she's peed on the potty 4+ times! Today I bought her some pull-ups (I call them "big girl diapers" to help encourage C) and even a pack of Minnie Mouse undies. She has no interest (thus far) in the pull-ups and her Bitty Baby is using a pair of the undies as a blanket. Hm......

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl! I will love you always and forever!

~Mommy

Fall Fun

Happy Fall to everyone (a month late... I know). It's been one wild 6-7 weeks since I last posted. School started back up for me, pre-school started,

the marathon came and went (and went great, might I add), and, most recently, Daddy went - to China! Yes, the kiddos and I have been pretty much on our own the past 2+ weeks. We are surviving and have actually settled into a new and temporary "norm" but we are all missing Daddy lots and lots. Tegan now asks daily how many more "sleeps" until B returns - we are down to one hand (5) sleeps counting tonight.

I've done my best to try and get the kids out and doing something different each weekend that B has been gone. The first weekend we went to a park in Chaska and a friend of mine did a mini one-hour photo shoot. So far the 7 pictures I've seen are amazing, in spite of the fact that C hardly smiled throughout the whole thing (little stinker!). On the way home we stopped at a local doughnut shop and each had a doughnut and beverage (juice for the kids, coffee for me). (I'll post pics when I have them)

Last weekend we spent most of the weekend up at my folks house on the north side of the Cities. I can't even remember much of what we did there other than the unfortunate ending when T threw the fit of a lifetime in the middle of Target and I literally had to carry him out to the car kicking and screaming "You're the meanest mommy in the whole world". It was one for the record books, that's for sure!

This weekend was a "long" one for us as it was Fall/MEA Break here in MN for students and teachers. I had Thursday and Friday off in addition but since the kids were paid for at daycare on Thursday they still went and I took that day to get loads done around the house. My mom came down Thursday evening and spend the night and much of the day Friday with us here at home. Tegan and I got out for some Mommy and T time... nothing fancy, he helped me run errands but he was excited for the 1-on-1 attention nonetheless. That afternoon I got a call from Brendan's coworker who also has a 4 year old and invited T over for the evening to play with his little guy. SO, at 4:45 T got picked-up and it was time for C and I to have some 1-on-1 time.

After a quick bite for the wee-one, we loaded up and we headed over to the MOA (Mall of America). I first had a quick return to do and then we trekked across Nickelodeon Universe to the American Girl store. There we picked out 2 new outfits for C's Bitty Baby (appropriately named "Baby" by Miss C herself) and then we checked out the B&N where we found a few new books and CD's to grow our brains with. Before we knew it, it was time to go pick-up T and head home for bed. Little did I know, but T's friend Brody has one exciting house with lots of toys we don't have (including a 1/2 or 1/3 size trampoline in his basement!!!). An hour after arriving at Brody's house I was able to convince T we really needed to get home and get C to bed (us all, for that matter). That's when my one truly difficult time alone with the kids - I was already jittery from an Excedrin Migraine I'd taken earlier (it has caffeine in it and apparently I hadn't eaten enough to counteract the jitters it can cause). Once the kids were in bed I started to get real anxious... nervous... whatever you want to call it. I finally decided to call my mom around 10 to have someone to talk to and just take my mind off things and being the amazing woman and mom and grandma that she is, she offered to come back down to our house and stay the night. Sure enough, less and an hour later she AND my dad got here and I was able to relax.

Saturday brought more fun - my mom and T played together for a good hour or longer while C, my dad and I hung out upstairs reading, talking and playing, too. Around 11 my mom, C and I headed over to The General Store in Minnetonka while T stayed home with Papa. We all had out own fun (T and Papa went to the park while C enjoyed eyeing up all the unique children's stuff the General Store has to offer). C and I even had a quick lunch, including the biggest and most frosting and sprinkle covered sugar cookie I've ever seen, and us girls headed back.

Almost forgot to mention that across the 3 days of Thurs-Saturday I painted the master bathroom & basement hallway, installed 3 new sink faucets in the master and main floor guest bathrooms, and applied a frosted window film to the master bathroom windows to allow us to leave the blinds open while maintaining privacy.

Today I wanted to get out of the house, so I took the kiddos over to Sever's Corn Maze in Shakopee where we had an absolute blast. T LOVED bouncing on the "jumping pillows" (Casey did NOT like them!!!).

After the "pillows" it was onto the Corn Pit (yes, a massive pit surrounded by hay bales and filled with 3 feet or so deep of dried corn kernels). It was very soothing to play in there, even for me.

T made corn angels (think snow angels but with corn)

while C just loved lightly tossing (no throwing per the rules) corn.

Then it was onto the tall slide, which after climbing to the stairs and getting onto this sliding mat decided he wasn't ready for that big of a slide yet. C fussed but I took her down and she was smiling by the end (sorry, no pics of that as I had the camera in my pocket and 2 hands on C). The hay bale maze was next. It was just 1 bale tall, so you could walk between the bales or on top of them. The 3 of us enjoyed doing both.

Before leaving we took a quick stroll through the exotic animal tent and petting zoo. You'd never believe the animals we saw. Many of them I'd never heard of. Did you know there's such a thing as a Ze-donk? Google it :) Needless to say we all took rests (naps for C and I and quiet time on the couch with The Lion King for T). What a day!!!

What a weekend!!! OH, and today, I planted some of my new bulbs for next spring (allium and crocus for those wondering).

Well, that catches you up, at least for what we've been doing the past few weeks and a brief overview of the past 2 months... and I mean brief.

Hope all's well with you and yours. Take care and love to all!

~j

A Beautiful Day to Fly (by Grandpa Gary)

Sep 4, 2011 2:42 PM

As the sun came up early this morning and the air was crisp and
clear, Andrew decided today would be a wonderful day to fly. He took one
last breath and went to meet Jesus at 7:03 AM. When he left us he was comfortable
in his bed, resting in Mommy's and Daddy's arms, with Hamma and Hampa close by.
His bedroom window was open, the fresh air was pouring in, and the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was
playing in the background. Andrew left peacefully and quietly, consistent with
his inner nature.

Early Friday morning at around 3:00 AM, Andrew cried out in
pain, but quickly settled down after an extra blast of morphine. Since then he
was unresponsive and just slept, comfortably propped up on his Woody pillow,
wrapped up in a "Queen car" blanket. Yesterday as Aubrey played dolls
with one of her friends, she aptly explained to her playmate, "When Andrew
goes to Heaven, Jesus will take away all his lumps and help him feel good again."

Why at the time of 7:03? It could just be coincidence, but
Bri and Joe's wedding anniversary is 7/03....and Great Grandma Moore's birthday
is 7/03.

"Goodbye little buddy. We love you and we're really sorry
to see you go. It stinks that you had to suffer with all those bad owies, but that's
all over, and now you can spend every day playing outside in the sunshine with
your cousin, Ty. You guys will have a lot of fun in Heaven! Don't forget to
look down on Mommy, Daddy, Aubrey and the rest of us. We might ask you for help
sometimes too. Though your struggle is over, we're still really sad here, and it might
take us awhile to feel happy again. We don't really know what else to say right
now, but thanks for spending an awesome couple of years with us, and we all
look forward to seeing you again someday. We will always remember you as
"Awesome Andrew". So long Andrew, we love you and we will miss you."

Grandpa Gary

Benefit for Andrew and Family at Buck Hill

We are speechless! The turnout at the Benefit for Andrew and the Morris Family at Buck Hill last night was amazing! The generosity of everyone there is something that words cannot describe! The closest we can come to showing our appreciation is a big THANK YOU!!!!! WOW!

To view photos of the even please click the link attached above (or here)

God always provides!

~jenn

Our Summer (so far) in Pictures

In no random order (because our browser makes it hard to rearrange the placement of photos in blogger), here is some of what we've done this summer...

Praying for a Miracle

On Friday (July 15) my 2 1/2 year-old nephew (Brendan's sister's and brother-in-law's son) was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal Sarcoma (cancer). The tumors continue to grow and multiply at such an alarming rate that after being given about a month to live on Friday, today the oncologist now gives little Andrew just a few weeks left here on Earth. To put into perspective how aggressive this cancer is, just 3 weeks ago the only symptom Andrew had was a bump on his head which his family believed to be an "egg" from a fall he took being a typical 2 year-old boy. Less than 2 weeks later a 2nd bump appeared, this time on his leg. We now know that these were/are sarcoma tumors. There are now 25+ tumors throughout his body... Some of you may be doing the math in your head ... a little flag is going up... yes, Andrew was born the day after Ty was delivered. He has been the little guy I look at and smile (often through tears) knowing where my 2nd son would be at developmentally. Selfishly we pray that God will intervene. That He will take this cancer away and heal Andrew. We also pray for God to wrap His arms around Andrew, his mom Brianne, his dad Joe and his sister Aubrey. To grant them peace in their hearts, comfort in their souls and strength in mind, body and spirit. We pray, too, that God does the same for us as a family but more specifically that He gives us all the strength to be as supportive, loving and caring as we can be for Bri, Joe and Aubrey as well as each other.

I have gone through a horrific loss - no parent should ever experience the death of their child. However, I also recognize that my loss was/is nearly uncomparable to the loss that my family may soon face. My prayer for Brendan and myself is that God can use our loss and use us to be supportive to Bri and Joe in ways that those who have not gone through the loss of a child simply cannot be. Please pray these things with me and for me.

You may be wondering how else you can help. A non-profit account has been set-up to help cover any medical bills not covered by insurance as well as funeral expenses. Please, by no means, feel obligated, but for those interested here are 3 ways to donate:
1) Checks made out to "Andrew Morris Fund" (please contact me personally for an address to mail these to.)
2) Donate via PayPal
3) Stop by any Associated Bank and let the teller know you would like to make a donation to the Andrew Morris Fund

Thank you, again, for all of your support! Hug your children a little longer and tighter and cherish each moment with those that you love.

Take care and God bless!
~jenn

Easter in July

So I remembered that I never posted about Easter - big surprise... There are days I half wonder if I've got early onset Alzheimer's but I know that it's really just motherhood and having too many things to keep track of. OK - so not sure how long this post will be. Sadly at this point my pictures will remind me of what happened. What I do remember of Easter is that T still LOVES to get his hands dirty (literally) and use them instead of spoons when dying eggs, thinking C was the most beautiful little girl in the world (which she is anyway, but especially so in her Easter outfit) and that T could have hunted for Easter eggs for a week.

The day started off like any other Sunday in our family - C wanted to wear her tutu over her pj's. So stinkin' cute if you ask me :) "Julie Grandma" (as T calls her) had the house decorated up and festive for the holiday. I can't remember if it was before or after church, but we attempted our annual family picture - at least the grown-ups were smiling, right?
Following church we did the egg huntS (yes, plural). I think T handed his basket over to one of us adults a minimum of 6 times to re-hide the eggs. It was a hoot watching him run around and be SO surprised to find the eggs hidden in plain sight. C wasn't much interested in finding the eggs themselves but more-so getting them open to see if there was chocolate inside. The girl takes after her mother in that department, that's for sure!
When it was all said and done, I think all the yet-to-be-eaten candy got thrown away. The eggs containing the candy ended up getting hidden among some rabbit droppings (I'm sure it wasn't Mr. E Rabbit, he'd never poo in Julie Grandma's garden. Must have been Peter or his cousin Benjamin Bunny - hehehe) and that just grossed us all out.

OK - all for now. Stay tuned for another installment of the Moore family. :)

God Bless and Love to all!
~j