Let the fun begin MAW/GKTW PTR Chase June 23-29-2010

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Thanks for the Mother's Day wish! I got a chance to spend the weekend doing a little bit of everything I like to do!

Went shopping and had lunch with my mom! Joe's Crabshack. Did a little relaxing and actually took a nap today. It was only for 20 minutes but it was very refreshing

Watched a movie uninterruped!!! YAY

All in all it was a good weekend. Hope all of you ladies had a great weekend as well!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Well, today is such a rainy and cold day. My allergies are driving me crazy!! I just keep looking at the calendar in excitement! I'm going to go shopping this weekend to pick up a few things for the trip. Time to buy sunscreen and a few other pool items. I think I should get some of those floaties for the little ones! I also have to pick up a new hose for the back yard. My friend has a power washer that she is going to let me use. My house could definitely use a little attention on the outside!

It's such a peaceful morning. Chase doesn't have school today and he is actually still sleeping! I'm going to enjoy the quietness because I am sure it won't last long!

 

[cajunfan]

I know I read this, but I am too lazy to go back and look, but your Mom is not going with you on this trip right?

Lynn

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Don't feel bad! I have subbed to so many PTR's that sometimes I get a little confused at first

My mom as been approved to go with us! The kids are going to be happy to have Nana along!

 

[billwendy]

HI!!

Your kids are soooo CUTE!!! I hope you have an awesome time!! Congrads on the BIG GIVE!! We were just recipients of it for my nephews trip - it was AMAZING!!!

HAve FUN!!!

Wendy

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Thanks Wendy! I am really excited about the Big Give! We are huge fans of the mailman/Ups man in our house so the kids are going to REALLY get a kick out of this

I see you have a count down to Camp Promise in your sig! My daughter went last year and RAVED about it!! I am hoping that she may be able to go again this summer, but we are having a hard time being able to fit in all of her activities! I hope it works out though!

Well it has been a really hectic week around here. We had a family falling out of sorts with some extended family members who seem to not think that my two precious angels that I adopted are not really a part of our family This has really opened my eyes up to a lot of things and I was hurt at first but I have to say that I have really been able to make peace with things over the last few days. I guess what's hard for me is that I accept everyone for who they are. We have a pretty small family, however we have so many extended family members because of cousins being in relationships and marrying people who already have children. And I think that's great! I accept their children as part of our family because they are! But I've come to realize that you can't force people to be tolerant or accepting. And it's just really not worth it. My grandfather's wife (he passed away two summers ago) made some really nasty and rude comments to my mother about Chase and Selah not being her "Real" grandchildren. She went on to say that I should have never taken in sick children with so many issues when I have my own child. I just couldn't believe it. But eh...I guess the old saying is true. When someone shows you who they really are, believe them. So it's better to know how she really fells about my children rather than to believe that she loves them and cares for them. It's a shame though...but it's her loss. She's going to miss out on knowing some really awesome kids!

On the bright side! We are getting closer to our trip!! My mom is really excited and looking forward to it! And so am I!! I keep reading trip reports and looking at all of the yummy food posts and I am too excited!!! I still have a lot to do between now and then. Selah's kindergarten screening is coming up, Chase's eye surgery, Courtney's play, doctor/dental appointments and I will be volunteering a lot at Selah's school over the next few weeks! Also they are having an end of the year celebration at Chase's school next Friday. It's his last day of school and then they take a three week break. He attends a DART preschool so there is a small summer session. But it doesn't start until mid June! I just know the time is going to go by quickly and we will be on the plane in no time!!

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

Many hugs to you. Falling outs with family is so hard I am glad you are getting through it. Yayyy not too long!!!

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

I can't believe we only have 35 days left!!!

Time is really going by quickly. Chase has been having a lot of problems breathing his oxygen levels have not been the greatest at all. He has a few appointments coming up. I'm hoping he will be cleared to have his eye surgery next week!

Other than that, we are all just hanging in there! Courtney has been doing pretty well in school and she is enjoying her afterschool job! Selah is being Selah and Chase has a new nose picking/blowing habbit!!! It's actually pretty gross, but my mom says boys will be boys!

 

[visitingapril09]

Your little ones are as much yours as if you have birthed them! (subbing)

 

[yinyanggirls]

I'm so sorry to hear the story about your extended family's comments. My in-laws have made a few over the years, and it shows me that they consider my children less "real" than their other grandkids. That's fine with me, because thankfully my parents don't feel that way at all. If anything, my kids are the faves because my sister's kids don't "need" them anymore. You are the important one in their lives.

Hey, I wanted to tell you that you can change the title of your PTR to add the date. If you go to the first post of this thread, and click on advanced edit it will let you change the title and you can put your dates in. I just keep forgetting that you are leaving so soon, because I see the "no dates yet" in your title. So it would be great if you would help me out a little. Hehe.

You guys are getting reallllly close now.

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Thank you guys for the words of encouragement! And thank you Melissa for the advice on how to change my title to include the dates! I have been trying to figure out a way to do that for a while now!!

Now for some really great news!!!!!!!!

WE GOT OUR FIRST BIG GIVE GIFTS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was sooo excited! Courtney checked the mail once she came home frome school today. We live in a complex so our mailbox is about 50 fett from our house. She comes running down to the house excited because the package was for her!! Now mind you I hadn't told her the whole truth about Chase's wish. I was going to keep it a secret but once I we got asked to participate in the Big Give I decided that I would wait until we started to get packages to tell her. BUT I'm still not telling her the date!! I've decided that I will keep that a secret from her. She thinks that we are going around Chase's birthday which is in November!!! Mainly because it's so hot in the summer!

Anyway I'm going to post the pictures of her and the beautiful things she got from Ellenbenny tomorrow! SHE LOVED her stuff!!! AND Courtney is very much like me so after she opened her gifts she was a little confused until I explained to her about the Big Give and she just boo hooed her little self silly!! I felt extremely happy and overwhelmed with a sense of humbleness while I was explaining the generousity of people who take time out of their busy lives to do something absolutely AMAZING for families that they've never met. I look at things like this as learning opportunities. This event prompted a long discussion about giving back and paying it forward. Courtney has always done that, however now she feels compelled more than ever to continue and to try to be a person of service. I can not explain how proud of her I am!

So I will be posting the pictures tomorrow! This week has been physically and emotionally demanding and next week is going to be even more crazy! I won't lie though, I love being busy because it makes me appreciate my downtime even more!

On Monday I volunteer all day at a food pantry. It's usually an all day affair. I meet up with some older ladies in this community not too far from my house. Help them unload the truck, pack the bags and distribute the food. However I'm only going to be able to dedicate half a day because we have a tour of our Children's Hospital on Monday afternoon. Chase's eye surgery is scheduled for Wednesday so they offered to take us on a tour of everything so that it won't be so confusing on the day of surgery. I was planning on getting a sitter for Selah but they encouraged me to bring her along because they have an awesome Sibling Center! She will be able to play with the other children who have a sibling there getting procedures done. So that actually takes a load off of my mind.

We are almost at the thirty day countdown mark So I can really get excited now! (as if I haven't been already! )

 

[yinyanggirls]

Thinking about the Big Givers brings tears to my eyes, too. They are so amazing! I'm can't wait to see what fun things the kids will be opening!

You have a very busy week, but those are the ones that move faster. Nice to hear about the sibling center at the hospital. My husband needs a procedure done next week, then Phoebe's EEG is the week after and I've been going crazy trying to figure out what to do with Tessa during these days. What hospital will he be at? It sounds like a good one already.

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Here are the wonderful gifts from Ellenbenny!

This pic was taken right after she read the card and I explained (confessed) that we were going to Disney for Chase's wish trip!

So needless to say, Courtney loves her gifts AND she felt so special to be the first one to get presents, lol. As you can see...Selah was none to happy Chase napped during the whole event!

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Thinking about the Big Givers brings tears to my eyes, too. They are so amazing! I'm can't wait to see what fun things the kids will be opening!

You have a very busy week, but those are the ones that move faster. Nice to hear about the sibling center at the hospital. My husband needs a procedure done next week, then Phoebe's EEG is the week after and I've been going crazy trying to figure out what to do with Tessa during these days. What hospital will he be at? It sounds like a good one already.

I am looking forward to seeing the kids faces when they see their Big Give gifts also! I know it's going to add so much more to this whole experience!

Chase's procedure is going to be at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. They recently moved less than a year ago and the new facility is absolutely amazing! It's a little farther away than it used to be. But that's okay. The doctors there are really great! Courtney had to have her umbilical hernia repaired when she was around 5 or 6 and they made it a very comfortable experience. It wasn't a serious procedure, but I was still a nervous wreck!

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

I love Courtney's Big Give goodies! What a neat shirt. Her expression is priceless! Can't wait to see more!

 

[ellenbenny]

Here are the wonderful gifts from Ellenbenny!

This pic was taken right after she read the card and I explained (confessed) that we were going to Disney for Chase's wish trip!

So needless to say, Courtney loves her gifts AND she felt so special to be the first one to get presents, lol. As you can see...Selah was none to happy Chase napped during the whole event!

I am so happy that Courtney received her gifts and liked everything. I absolutely love this picture!! I can't wait to see all the rest of the big give stuff and watch the little ones get a chance to open theirs!

I hope you all have a great trip,

Ellen

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Thank you so much Ellen! Courtney is so mad because I will not let her carry her bag to school!! I told her she has to save it for our trip!! Of course right now I am the meanest mommy That's okay though. They will thank me later!!!

AND

We got ANOTHER BIG GIVE BOX!!!!

This one was from Naomi aka Canyon girl and family!!! It was around 5:30 this evening (our UPS guy makes late stops which I don't mind) I was actually on the computer smiling while reading yinyanggirls TR! And I heard the infamous knock on the door!! (I order a lot of stuff off of amazon and ebay so me and the UPS man have a very special relationship!) I RUSH to the door and open it up and low and behold our SECOND Big Give package! This one was addressed to the Walker Family I was so excited I actually did a little dance!! But then sadness set in because the girls weren't home and Chase was napping!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I knew I had to do the right thing and wait for until this evening to open the package. The girls were at the community center that Courtney works at. I woke Chase up and ran to the grocery store for dinner. By the time we came back and fixed dinner the girls were ready to come home. Courtney was exhausted and wanted to shower before dinner so I STILL had to wait by the time all of the kids finished with their baths and came down for dinner they were starving like they hadn't eaten in years so I let them eat. After they finished eating and cleaning up from dinner I got out the camera and the package!

I will upload all of the pics shortly but I have to say WE ALL LOVED our Big Give Goodies!!!!!! Thank you Canyon girl!! You REALLY made our day!!!

Especially mine. I had a really long day today. One of my friends has Sickle Cell and is really having a hard time lately. So I paid her a visit today and helped her do some things around the house that she was just too tired to do! I volunteered for a short while at the food pantry and then took Chase and Selah on the hospital Tour. Selah was extremely hyper active and basically was bouncing off the walls. Chase didn't want any parts of the tour so it was a very looong afternoon!!!! I was actually feeling a little down and frustrated so I decided to work out. I've lost 9 pounds so far (have a long way to go). I think I over did it one the squats because my knees are killing me (My age is starting to catch up with me!)

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

I just want to say in advance that I LOVE to take pictures!! I'm not very good it at, lol but we always take a million pictures so just bear with me!!!

Of course Courtney wants to be the one to open the package!

Courtney insists on reading the letter! Selah and Chase are ready to rip the box open!! Notice Chase's eye in this picture!

The anticipation was killing us!!!

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Selah never misses an opportunity to smile for the camera! Notice Chase is the serious one! Well for today anyway!

Selah is saying "Oooh Princess Tiona!!!"

Chase was extremely happy about his "Thomas bag" an even more excited when he realized there was a surprise inside!!

For MEEEEE!!! Selah is so excited!!!

Not sure if you can see or not, but it's a really cool keychain that says Courtney!! She loves name stuff!!

This was Selah's happy face when I asked her if she loved her gifts!

A close up of Chase's bag!

 

[wish_upon_a_star35]

Close ups of the bags and the contents!

Chase is so excited when I tell him he can take his goodies to Disney World!!

Selah is just as excited when she learns she can take her bag to Disney too!