Bills, Bills, Bills...

Check out this stack of medical bills!!! Crazy,huh? I was cleaning off my desk which doubles as the home office and mail pile, and decided to count how many medical bills we have that have come in since January of this year. Count them.... 20!!! With Taesun's head injury and nosebleeds, my 23-day headache and thyroid problems, and Addison's GI tract and bacterial infection..... this is what it adds up to. I have a newfound appreciation for those with medical problems. I wouldn't even consider us as having moderate health concerns... just crap that happened as the same time this year. Nothing major. Could you imagine what a cancer patient's bills look like? How about someone with an autoimmune disease or fatal disease? What a crazy world we live in. Instead of focusing on the patient and the problem they are having, many of us HAVE to focus on the medical bills piling in and the setbacks it is going to cause the family.

PS: We are ALL healthy right now!! No major problems and happy to be posting about something that is hopefully all in the past!!

Cake Baking Sunday

Yes...this is a picture that my son, Tae took of my kitchen sink. However, it reminded me to tell the story of my past Sunday. It was to be Jenna's family birthday party with my parents and sister. It happened to fall on Father's Day and so I wanted to bake a cake to share with my family to make it more like a birthday party (and to celebrate Father's Day!) So, the day began. I showered quickly and got the kids dressed with Rob's help. I then proceeded to make homemade icing...which turned out wonderfully delicious! What do you need with icing but a cake, right? So, out popped my box of cake mix,(Betty Crocker, of course!) and I tried to make a cake using this pan pictured above. It is really a springform pan, but it is quite deep and I thought that I would pour all the batter in and bake a cake without having to piece together two smaller cakes. It cooked all the way through, however, it stuck to the inside of the pan. I couldn't use this cake. It was a bunch of broken up crumbs. So, I started to make my second cake mix from a box. This one I made sure to spray extra Pam on the pan and flour it so it wouldn't stick. It totally did not cook in the middle of the cake. It was awful! So, I washed out the mixing bowl (AGAIN!) and realized that I had run out of box mixes. I then went to allrecipes.com and found a chocolate cake mix for which I had all the ingredients. I made the cake, (this time in a 9x13) and it turned out! Then I was off to church. Church went smoothly and when I got home, I decided to ice the cake right away. That's when I noticed the trouble I was in. My icing, even though I put it in the fridge sealed up, was too thick. I couldn't stop my bags from breaking open and my decorator's tips from falling out of the bag due to pressure from the thick icing. The cake ended up looking TERRIBLE!! Globs of icing in different colors with an ugly "J" in the middle for Jenna. (Accidently, of course.) Later in that day, we tried the cake. Everyone was excited about homemade cake and icing. It looked like it was all going to turn out, until we CUT INTO THE CAKE!!! Duh, duh,dum..... (That's the scary music in the background.) :) It was ORANGE. Not brown like most chocolate cakes, (alright, I'll admit..... ALL chocolate cakes) are. My dad even asked if I had made "spice cake". Yeah, it was that bad. So for all that hard work, we had dried, orange, "chocolate" cake with hard icing... in the shape of a crappily iced cake! Never again I tell you.... Never again.

Homemade Cakes!

What's that, you say? It's a real live butterfly. How did we capture it? TAESUN! I couldn't believe it. Just hours before Jenna's butterfly bash luau, Taesun was outside in the front yard, and captured this butterfly. He was so excited and we were so shocked. He must be faster than we thought. I haven't ever caught a butterfly with my bare hands. Yes, that's right!! He didn't have a net!

I had an AWESOME time making cakes this time around. Usually my homemade cakes turn out looking like crap... or otherwise, something you would see on Cakewrecks.com. :) (I thought this plug was subtle.) Enjoy these beautiful butterfly cake pics and caterpillar cake pics! Homemade icing and all!!

This is from Jenna-Benna's Graduation from Kindergarten. She was soooo excited to win a certificate for Excellent Attendance! We were so proud of her. She was great at singing the songs that they rehearsed and cracked us up on more than one occasion during the performance. I was so proud to be her parent!! Great job, Jenna!

This is Jenna's Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Frolo-Baker. I volunteered in the classroom for the last semester and got to know the teacher pretty well. I would now consider us "friends". I just love Shirley Mann Elementary!!

This is Mrs. Kelter. She was the aide in Jenna's classroom. She was a life-saver on many occasions. She is a very hard worker and extremely dedicated to her job and to the kids. What a great role model for Jenna!

Results...

I found out the blood test was negative and then had that confirmed today. I think this is one of the hardest things to go through as a woman. It is one of those times when you feel sooo confused. How do I not know my own body by now? I've been with it for 29 years!! Also- there are pros and cons to the no baby thing. Now, I can focus on the three that I have and I do have a new found appreciation for each of them. I love their personalities. I love that Taesun is potty-trained. I love that Addison has been helping me ALL DAY since I pulled a back muscle when putting away a pack-n-play. (Chelsie- no worries... it would have happened anyway once I started vaccumming!!) Now off to prepare for Jenna's 6th birthday. Time to make a spectacular butterfly cake and caterpillar cupcake design. I hope it all turns out. Happy early birthday to Jenna!! I think I'll be busy and won't be able to post until after her party!! Have a great weekend- I know we will!

WHAT'S WRONG WITH STACEY?

So, I am going psycho around here. This past Saturday, I threw up. No reason why. Just threw up. I have never done this before in my entire life!! (unless I was pregnant). Now, my hubby thinks I'm seriously losing my marbles and probably belong in a looney bin, but I am just saying that as far as the calendar goes, the stars are alligned for me to be pg. I also am having lower back pain, bloated belly, difficulty sleeping, and MAJOR food aversions! I made these incredible turtle brownies for a neighbors mini-birthday party. They looked delicious!! I was totally excited to eat one of my creations. However, I took one bite and made someone literally take it away from me. I felt nauseus from one bite!! Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm pregnant. Regardless- somethings wrong!! (PS: I'll know something by tomorrow. I'll keep this posted!!)

My Crazy Jenna-Benna!!

She's SUCH a DIVA!!! Like the colors? Her favorites!! Jenna is by far the most THEATRICAL, DRAMATIC, and down right CRAZIEST girl that ever walked the planet. "For serious!" she would say.

For some odd reason- (maybe because I'm her mother) I just love that girl. She definitely keeps me on my toes though. She is famous not only for her odd-ball faces she pulls off, but also for her divalicious phrases as well. Some of them include:

"No offense, though"

"WHAT-everrrrr"

"Soooo random"

"You RUINED my LIFE!"

"It's so BOR-ING"

and clearly one of my personal favorites:

From the song, "Teardrops on my Guitar" by Taylor Swift:

"He's the reason for the teardrops and nuggets hard...(teardrops on my guitar)"

Honestly... if you didn't just laugh- THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU!

There is not a moment that Jenna Benna is not either looking at herself in the mirror or dancing around. She CANNOT live for one day without doing the above-mentioned "at least like a gazillion times!!"

Oh Jenna...if you only knew how hard my life is going to be when you are a teenager! The only thing that makes it okay is that I know you have a good and loving heart. You may be crazy, but you're still my little Jenna Benna!!

Addison's GI Tract...

To scope or not to scope... That is the Question. Dr. Yazigi wants to wait until the July appointment to determine whether a scope is needed. Addison appears to be doing much better. She still is having spasms that are lasting about 30 minutes each, but they are happening fewer and fewer. We are extremely thankful for that! It's no fun seeing your daughter in so much pain. At least the worst is over- we hope!!

Taesun and his Brain...

Taesun has his third CT scan tomorrow morning for a checkup from his skull fracture this past January. We had quite a scare with the little booger and am hoping all checks out well tomorrow. If the bones in his skull have not fused back together by tomorrow, they will have to go in for surgery. Cross your fingers that this DOES NOT HAPPEN!! I've already had to put him under two weeks ago for his nose coterization and believe me, it is not fun! They may have to put him under tomorrow if he doesn't hold perfectly still for the CT. We are practicing at home how to listen and do, obey and hold still for the testing tomorrow. I'll keep this blog posted on how he is doing and what we find out.

Stacey's thoughts on Love, Marriage, Divorce, and all things inbetween

I have been reminiscing this past week about love as it is Rob and my 8th anniversary.What alot that has happened in the past eight years!! We both had surgery, (Rob on his thumb and Stacey on her gall bladder removal) had three children, had numerous dealings with our children that are memorable, moved 6 times, changed jobs 10 times between the two of us, each lost a grandparent, and have gotten through all of this with more love to give each other now than ever. My daughter's friend told her that another friends' parents are getting divorced. They are acquaintences of ours. Their daughter plays with mine frequently. I was shocked to say the least. How could someone have such a different life behind closed doors than they do in public? No one would have thought that they were unhappy. They were the perfect couple. In fact, she was the woman that I noticed when we moved into the school district and looked up to. She had it all going for her. Just goes to show you that everything isn't as it always appears. I will be more cautious of how I treat Rob and my family because of this. I will try to be more understanding and less lazy around the house. I will vow to never give up!! I am so thankful for the church and for our friends that we've made. Getting together with them truly bonds Rob and I and reminds us that we met at church and the church is such an integral part of our lives. Now I must get off the computer and get ready to celebrate our 8th anniversary. Rob is taking me out to a very nice dinner and I am going to surprise him with a card and some treats!