Just a Short Clip of Gabbi Singing and Some Pics

Above is Gabbi chilling on her way home from daycare. She steals my drink and my sunglasses.

Below is a pic of me and my girls on their birthday (Mikayla and Lexi) after my Oncology follow up. I hated that their birthday was the same day as my follow up but it had to be done. (And for those who are new around here, yes they have the same birthday, three years apart...and no it wasn't planned. Yes I get asked that a lot.) I was already over due for my appointment by a month. So we took them to a place called Going Bonkers and they had a lot of fun. Gabbi got a wizard hat and Lexi is wearing a Cat in the Hat hat. See how Lexi is pretty much as big as me now? Insanity I tell you. She is 13 and acts every bit the part!

One of Gabbi's favorite things to do.

She has a few songs she really likes. So What is one of them. She's cute when she sings. She was just lounging listening to the Karaoke Revolution playing bits of random songs. She's my cutie pie.

She got a stomach bug on Friday night. She spent the night throwing up A LOT. I didn't get to study as much as I should have obviously. Then Saturday was good. She was fine. Sunday was bad again because Angelina then began complaining of stomach pain. Around 9 or 10 she was throwing up and that lasted all night long. She seems to feel better today. This is the BAD thing about having more than one child. haha The sickness always makes it's way down the line. Hopefully I don't get it!! It seems to be just 24 hours though which is a good thing I suppose.

My oldest Lexi has a track meet today. She really enjoys it. I was never a person that would run like that. I would jog on my own and that's fine. But I am no speed runner nor do I like to be. So I respect what she's doing. She got fourth at her first track meeting running the mile. Yeah I am proud of her!

So, my life is raising four kids, going to school full time, dealing with all my health issues (and staying healthy!!!). I have to see an endocrinologist on top of it all due to the radiation to that area. I already had thyroid nodules that have been biopsied twice. So far ok but now with the radiation to that area I am SUPER high risk. I'll have thyroid issues at some point according to my doctor. On top of that I am trying to take care of this house and not totally neglect my family in the process. I can't wait until I graduate.

The Snake on My Neighbor's Garage (Video)

I have already posted this to Facebook, but wanted to put it up on my blog too.

This weekend I heard a lot of excited yells and then a pounding on my door. It was two of our neighbor boys all excitedly wanting to speak to my oldest daughter Lexi. There was a snake.....it was huge.......and I couldn't make out the rest.

Now these boys have seen snakes fairly often around their house. This house is a duplex directly across the street from our house. I used to see snakes often at my house when I was a little girl. I loved catching them. I always wanted to keep them as pets but somehow they always seemed to disappear. (thanks mom)

Anyway, I wanted to see this so called "big snake" for myself. So I went over and indeed it was a pretty big snake. We believe it was a bull snake. Bull snakes resemble rattle snakes. They TRY to. I read about it a bit and they will put their body into an S shape to try and resemble a rattler getting ready to strike. I have some pics of this snake doing just that. They hit their tail against something to sound like a rattle. A rattlesnake's tail will be pointing up and rattling. A bullsnake's tail, you'll notice is down because it has to tap something but apparently it's convincing. I never heard this snake do it.

The funny thing is this snake is just resting in the cracks on the brick wall. He was over 3 foot long stretched out. My hubby is guessing it was close to 4 feet. He got it down and managed to drop it off into a field outside of town. We have a field near our home so I am sure he came from down there.

The thing is we NEVER see snakes at my house. I haven't ever seen one. I think my beautiful Husky Sasha must just scare all the creepy crawly creatures away.....and then some. She's caught birds in the air and well......they met a not so pleasant fate. She likes to play. And she isn't growling or mean when she does it. She's just playing. Unfortunately it's not playing for that bird! I'll take it. I am glad my Sasha keeps the snakes away because I know my girls would be scared if those things were in our yard. They may think it's cool on the neighbor's house but I have a feeling if we saw them around here very often the girls would get scared to go outside.

I grabbed my cellphone and got a short video. And yes, I am the one saying I think it's pretty cool towards the end. It WAS cool! :)

Gabbi Counts in Spanish and Yes I am Speaking in My High Pitched Mommy Voice!

Dedicating This Post to Kodi

Thinking a lot about an online friend today. So sad. Read her story by clicking the picture above. This woman lost custody of her daughter due to vicious lies told by her ex. She was threatened through e-mail yesterday around 3:00 p.m. She posted a comment about how if "anything happened to her in the next few days" we would know what happened. She was afraid of her ex. The courts had given her daughter to this man. She had little visitation and became very depressed. She was fighting and raising money to go to court. Last night about 5 hours after the threatening e-mail Kodi passed away. It is believed she took her own life, however I find the circumstances VERY suspicious. Read her story and show her family some support during this unbelievably hard time.

Food Allergies? Fast Food?

Gabbi has that milk allergy and it sucks. I end up taking food with us wherever we go and I literally DARE the staff to question why I bring in outside food. Seriously I am more than welcome to give them the scoop but I doubt they want to hear it all. haha Usually no one bugs us about it. She's just 2 after all.

Anyway I wondered what kind of fast food she could eat if we were out. I really am not a huge fast food fan. I prefer a dining experience but sometimes we need something quick but we never know what she can eat. The fries at McDonalds have milk. The nuggets have milk. Insanity!!! BUT the chicken strips do not. I have never had the guts to give them to her. Cross contamination in places like this is a concern. It is a milk allergy though not a nut allergy. She gets very sick from anything that has milk in it. But I am not sure if a little cross contamination would make her sick or not. I would want to be very careful. Some people don't get how serious her allergy is. It's bad. So I have to be really careful. I found this list:

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_ingredients.html

That link lists all of McDonalds ingredients with allergens listed in bold at the end of the item. How nice! It needs to be frequently checked because ingredients can and DO change often. Don't take any chances.

So hope that helps some of you out. Now I am off to start a Pathophysiology map. =/