NORDSTROMS FASHION SHOW!

Emma got invited by her friend Teagan to be in the Nordstroms Fashion Show. She thought she was hot stuff  getting to go down there and go shopping for an outfit and then getting to walk the run way and strut her stuff! Now we can cross modeling off her to-do list (it was never on there, but now there is no need for it to be either, ha ha)



Bella, Emma, Ella and Teagan

CAT IN THE HAT!

I have never not liked a school teacher for my kids before, well this year is different. I knew I was going to be in trouble when I ran into a few friends at the school and told them who Eli had for his teacher and they all made faces and wished me luck. Ya, I don't like her. I am sure she would make a great 5th grade teacher, but she is a horrible kindergarten teacher in my humble opinion. I won't list all my grievances, but I will say when I found out it was Cat in the Hat's birthday and like usual she had zero fun activities planned for these poor little kids, I took it upon myself and went straight into her classroom in the middle of her teaching (don't worry she was walking around barefoot cleaning up her room while the kids watched Elmo so I am sure I wasn't bothering anyone) and asked her what she had planned for the next day knowing what I was sure her answer would be and of course, she had no clue and didn't plan anything.

I set it up so I could go in the next day and read Cat in the Hat to the class the next day and have all the kids make a little craft. They loved it, but mostly Eli loved it and so it made me happy. After that the school went outside for a read-a-thon and all the other kindergarten classes had hats on too so I was very glad that Eli wasn't left out like usual, arghhhh!

Eli and his "best friend, Aiden B" - he is also the boy who he gets separated from because they talk to much, I have no idea where he would get that from!

Eli sitting outside reading his book, he is so cute!

ELI'S NAUGHTY CALENDAR!

Eli's teacher has a calendar and when she marks a number on it - that means he was warned 3 times and did something naughty and the number corresponds with the bad behavior. Eli has brought home several of these. All for different offenses. All for which I find ridiculous, some of the things he should not have gotten them for and has learned to never do them again (like burping in class, smacking a girl's bum in a joking way like I do, oops, you know, dumb kindergartner things), but on occasion he totally deserves it. Eli knows that when he gets a number on his calendar we will take a toy away. So when he gets those numbers, he comes home extremely sad and teary eyed and is ready to hand me over a much beloved toy. Since I usually find the numbers to be non-sense I let him do a dirty job around the house to earn the toy back. 

One time though, I think he thought he would be smarter than me, he decided to sign the paper himself. Nice try buddy - A for effort, but F for trying to pull one past your momma :)

EMMA STILL BELIEVES!

Even at 11 years old, Emma still believes. Here is an insert from Jared:

Looks like Emma has a little bit of her mom's salesmanship in her. Makes me feel bad I didn't give more money!

"Tooth Fairy, I took 2 hrs of bleeding for this so consider how much $ I get! - Emma"

EMMA'S 11!

Emma had a great birthday! She was not supposed to have a party this year because this is her odd year, but we did end up having a couple little get togethers anyways...Jared looked at me like I was crazy, and I probably was for doing them, but Emma was in some sort of weird funk around the time of her birthday - I think her moods changed a bit from her concusion and she seemed depressed to me, so I needed her to have these special times with her friends to cheer her up.

Emma had her best friend, Maddie, come and stay the night with her the weekend before her actual birthday. I took the 2 of them to the movies to see The Great and Powerful Oz. Then I took them out to dinner, they wanted to go eat in the mall so we did, they chose Subway, weirdos :) Then it was off to dessert and then home for an all-nighter!

For Emma's actual birthday, she was in school so Jared and I took her donuts to class, she rocked a new super cute outfit and wore a birthday banner. Then Jared and I surprised her and took her out to Paradise for lunch! Then of course she wanted to go to dance and have treats with the Rock Stars and then after dance we took her to Christina's Pizzeria to eat dinner and open up gifts. She was most excited about the last gift that she opened, it was weird the present started ringing before she opened it, no one could figure out what it was - she nearly crapped her pants when she realized she got a phone for her birthday! 

The next day was a happy day - her 11 year old shots :) So brave, no tears - good girl! 

That weekend she had a few dance friends over for a little slumber party. It was an epic fail. We tried having a fire pit and watching a movie outside, but the movie choice was a bust. In the end, the party pooper fell asleep early and I took the other girls out to go tee-peeing for the first time. They loved it and it made the party all better, phew! Sorry Tomlinsons, but thanks for taking one for the team! 

Jaelah, Bella, Teagan, Emma, Ella

 

 Teagan, Emma, Rylee, Ella, Bella and Jaelah

We can't believe how quickly Emma is growing up. In one more year she will be a beehive - what the heck! She is such a sweet girl, works hard, very smart and just a good genuine person. We are so grateful to have her in our family! 

PHOENIX HALF MARATHON!

In the middle of January, Stephanie talked me into signing up to run the Phoenix Half Marathon with her March 2nd. Well, life happens and she ended up needing knee surgery and since we already paid and signed up, Denise took her place. This race training was like no other, oh ya, because we didn't train for it, well we sorta did. We normally train multiple times a week with several different mileages to cover each day, this time well, one week I ran 4, then we ran an 8, a 10, 12 and then the week of the race I ran 3 miles. That's it. I trained 5 days for it. We did not go into this race looking to get a PR or anything, we just wanted to run the whole thing and finish....not huge goals by any means.

I have to say minus having to get up at 3:30am, this race was my favorite so far! LOVED the course, loved the goodie bag, loved the National Anthem played at the beginning followed by fireworks, loved the heater lamps that we stood by for an hour and a half before our race started, HATED that we had to take a bus to the start line so we had to leave our house at 4am to make it there by 4:30am to catch the bus to make it to the start line by 6:30am, loved all the porta-potties on the side of the race, loved the crowds every where cheering us on, loved the cops who would yell at the idiot drivers thinking the cops would pause the race so they could turn, loved the wet wash clothes we got at the end of the race, loved everything! 

When the start gun shot off and Denise and I started, we just took the race nice and easy. We were in no rush. We ran, talked, made fun of people, it was lovely! I did enjoy it I must admit. this was probably the most fun I have had running a race because I wasn't trying to beat my time! I am now looking forward to my next race. 

4:30am - getting ready to board the buses! 

About halfway through the race they had photographers snapping pictures, they loved that Denise and I were messing with them - clearly we had more energy then we were putting out :) 

Crossing the finish line...

We did it - as we like to call this race, "2013 re-do" - 2013 has not started out the best for either of us, so this was our re-do to our year to turn it around! 

the ride home

As soon as the race was over we headed straight home because we both had kids in soccer games that we did not want to miss. Here is the Jensens in all our glory that day! 

THE UNNECESSARY NECESSARY SURGERY!

In October I discovered a lump poking out on my neck. It didn't go away and got a bit bigger. I showed a couple of friends and they said I needed to get it checked out. I waited. More came. After 3 big ones and actually being able to see them just by looking at my neck (they weren't really obvious unless you knew what you were looking for) I finally decided to go to the doctor's office.

The doctor said it was not a fat pocket, which I had suggested, but she wasn't sure what else it could be and since I never go to the doctor's office unless I have pneumonia, they wanted to do a full work up on me and check my blood, urine, everything. I agreed. That all came back good, so they sent me on to get an ultrasound done on my neck to see what it was. The results came back saying I had a virus my body was fighting and that's how it was revealing itself. I took antibiotics for a week and then went back 2 weeks later sometime in November for a follow-up ultrasound. This time, they were bigger and there were more of them. I got referred to go to a specialist.

My appointment was sometime in December and needless to say, this Dr. Rothman was good, but we were NOT going to be lifelong friends. He did not laugh at my jokes, he was not funny. I make jokes when things get uncomfortable, get over it and laugh a little guy, I apologize that you deal with serious cancer, but if I have cancer - we are going to laugh so there, suck it.

I went to the appointment all by myself thinking if anything had to be done, it would be rescheduled for another day. He decided that I had way to many swollen lympnodes and he was going to do a needle biopsy right there. I will admit, I had a small panic attack right before he came back into the room to do it. I texted Jared and asked him why he wasn't with me, he was really sweet and did offer to leave work right that second and head over there but he never would have made it on time. Then I texted Stephanie who gave me great encouraging words and walked me through exactly what was going to happen.  They "numbed" up the area first and then proceeded to stick the needle in and suck the life out of me like a dementor...I might be slightly exaggerating, but it was painful, I could feel the stuff literally leaving my body and getting sucked up and he wasn't funny so I called him that - in my head of course.

He called me back two days later and told me he came back negative for all varying types of cancers, but the only thing he couldn't rule out was lymphoma because I guess that can be in your body for a year to two years before it really reveals itself and the only way to fully know if it is or not is to have surgery and have a lymphnode removed.

We scheduled the surgery for January, after the holidays, Disneyland and a dance competition. Monday night January 28th, the night before, Stephanie and I went out and grabbed french fries and fries sauce and concretes and sat around eating them while watching Honey Boo Boo - it was awesome! The fatty night didn't stop there...Jared was not one to ever indulge me in my pregnancy cravings - if it meant leaving the house for some food, forget it. So I told him this would be his chance to redeem himself. I could no longer eat, drink, chew gum, anything after midnight so at 10:30pm Jared went to Los Favs and got us a bean burrito and a breakfast burrito and we ate it and watched our shows together. I have to say, as fattening as the night was, it was super fun!

The next morning I got up and went to boot camp at 6:30am. I HATED not being able to chew a piece of gum or take a drink, but I had nothing else to do so I might as well get my sweat on. After that I went home and got all the kids off to school and then just as I came home and was going to clean my house, Denise showed up and surprised me by taking the day off of work to hang out with me and keep me distracted until 1pm when I had to go to the hospital for surgery. We went back to the gym for some arms and then ran outside for a bit, came home and made a Valentines craft and then went and grabbed the twins from preschool.

I was determined to for once have a pretty picture of myself in the hospital  I don't understand how girls can go and deliver babies and their hair is curled, they have make-up on, they look fantastic! Hello! Are we not doing the same thing when we give birth?! I look like I have been through hell, oh yes, because I have been. The saddest thing about surgery was them telling me no lotions, make-up, etc. Boo. Well, at least after my shower since Denise was still over, she curled my hair for me so I had pretty hair, thanks girl!

My mom showed up to babysit the kids while we went to the hospital. On the way there my cute dad called me and wanted to make me laugh and take my mind off things for a few minutes so he told me about a dozen P.D. jokes....see just like a Rodgers, always laughing through the bad times, I love it!

We got checked in and had to wait FOREVER. To occupy ourselves, we might have taken a few pictures that made us laugh...
sexy with the IV

my dead face for when I would bleed out during surgery...

and a few other pictures that my mom would not approve of so I wont post them on here.

Finally it was my time for surgery. The anethesiologist came back and introduced himself and was very kind and funny (thank you very much!) and he put some drugs in my IV and then as he wheeled me to the back he asked how I was feeling and I said, dizzy and light headed, he smiled and said, good, good!

I got into the surgery room and they moved me to the operating bed, started to strap my arms down and that's the last thing I remember. The next thing I remember I was in the recovery room, my mind was awake, but my body was not moving and my eyes weren't opening. I heard a loud beeping noise and then a nurse shouting, "Bob, you have to breathe!" then the beeping stopped. A couple minutes later I heard the same thing, if I had been more awak and capable, I wanted to shout, "Damn it Bob, breathe so we can all get some rest!" but alas, I didn't have the energy so the funny stayed in my head.

I remember moving slowly and then the nurse asking me if I wanted my husband and what his name was, I told her something like, "Jared I think?" Jared said when they called his name they just said, "Mr. Jensen!" ha ha.

When I was finally awake enough they kicked me out of the hosptial and sent me home. I think I slept the whole way home. Stephanie was so good to me, she knew I would not want to come home to noisy kids so she picked up my kids from my house and took them to her house and fed them dinner and didn't return them until it was their bedtime. When she had told me these plans ahead of time, I didn't think any of it was necessary, man am I glad she did. I was miserable when I came home. Jared went and picked me up some soup from Paradise like I wanted and I choked on the bread, couldn't really eat it, I was in a ton of pain, so at least I had a quiet house and my husband sitting right beside me waiting to help me however he could.

The next day was not any better. I slept most of the day and was in a lot of pain. I refused to take percocet, so I just stayed drug free, although I did take an Ibprofen one or two times and that helped a little bit. I was more frustrated with the fact that this doctor made it seem like no big deal, but I could not function at all with how I thought I could and how I wanted to be. Yes, I did enjoy the next day off and being waited on, but on Thursday, I wanted to be back to normal. Friday morning was the first day Jared left me alone. I was waiting for the call for the results all morning. I truly believed deep down that I did not have lymphoma so I wasn't really worried about it like other people were. When my phone rang, my heart raced and I was nervous for the first time. It came back negative! I was so relieved and so was Jared.

The rest of the week I still couldn't turn my head normal, I couldn't stand for a long time with out getting dizzy and lightheaded and I slept way to much. It didn't help that I ended up developing a giant puss pocket  there and it got swollen the size of a golf ball...don't worry, I went back to good old Dr Rothman, but he said to let it be, even thought Emma's emergency room doctor told me I needed to go have some of the puss removed and it would help me heal faster and quicker. I also asked Dr. Rothman what I was supposed to do if my lympnodes get swollen again...go back and see him or just assume it is all ok, he laughed and said, "how am I supposed to answer a question like that, what if you get cancer when you are 60" and I said, "exactly, what if I do" his response was those are just to hypthetical questions for him to answer so I told him, "fine, I wont book a follow-up appointment for 3 years from now!"

Sheesh, I left not being a fan of him at all personally, but professionally he was a good doctor and a proactive one. I am grateful the surgery ended up being unnecessary since I do not have lymphoma and I am grateful for my health. I am grateful for all my friends who helped with the kids that week and who cooked my family dinners that week. I truly felt spoiled and loved, especially since it ended up being the unnecessary necessary surgery!

Jared still trying to make up for my other stays in the hospital when I delivered our kids, FINALLY bought me flowers for the first time there, ha ha :) Emma and Maddy made me a get well cake and Patrice bought me some flowers as well :)

Two weeks later while in Tucson at a dance competition with Emma, our roomie a nurse, did me a favor that my doctor wouldn't and removed my last stitch and it FINALLY healed up and got better! Thank you Elsabe, feel free to bill my insurance!  PS - after my surgery and Emma's ambulance ride, we have no more money in there :)

The end! Now to get rid of my scar, hmmmmm....