Connor's 9th Birthday

We had a BBQ lunch for Connor's 9th Birthday. Denise and her family came over and my mom. It was a nice quiet afternoon and I think Connor had a good day. We are going to have a party for his friends at a later date. I have to say I can't believe Connor just turned 9. It seems only yesterday day we were bringing that 8lb baby home. We love you Connor!

Eating some lunch

opening presents

after blowing out candle

his Sonic the hedgehog cake

playing his new pokemon game

Happy 9th Birthday Connor!!

9 years ago today out lives change forever. Connor Ray Freeman was born @ 1:54 pm. Weighing in @ 8lbs 81/2 oz @ 20" long. He was so perfect and we were so excited that the very much longed for baby we had tried a long time for had finally arrived.
How fast these 9 yrs have gone. Connor we love you very much and are so glad you are our son.

40th Birthday

My 40th has come and gone and I have to say I don't really feel 40. No really, whenever I say I am 40 it feels really weird. I just don't feel like I am 40. It is really strange and surreal. I think that is a good thing. I had a really great party put on by my Mom with help from Shannon. I had a really cute cake.
Cute huh! It was just a yummy as it looks. White with white frosting, just the way I like it. We had tons of food made by my friend Mindy and Blair. We had fruit trays, veggie trays, sweet and sour meatballs, some yummy hot dips. It was all so good. The kids played the wii while us adults visited and laughed. It was so nice and wonderful to have all my friends and family there with me. My niece put together a board of my life. It was fun to look over all the pics from over my years and see how much I have changed. I have to say I was so cute when I was little!! I do have to question a few of my looks though. hee, hee!

All in all it was a really great night and I had so much fun. I am truly blessed to have the friends and family that I do. Thank you to all of you who support me and love me no matter what is going on with me and my life.

What a year it has been!

I can't believe that almost a year has gone by since I was diagnosed with having end-stage renal failure. What a difference a year makes! So much has happened in just the last few months. Back in December I got some information about doing home dialysis. I looked it over and thought that would work really well for us and our busy life. We started training on January 17 and right away I could tell the difference. I had more energy and wasn't feeling so wiped out all the time. Let me tell you when I was doing dialysis at the center I always left feeling drained and tired and it would take a whole day to feel back to normal then it was time to go back. So the difference right away was night and day. We trained Monday thru Friday from 8:30 - any where from 2-4. depending on what kind of training we did after my dialysis run. Here are a couple pics from the training time.

My machine and chair. All set up and ready to go

Me all hooked up and getting clean.

My Awesome partner!

We were in training for 4 weeks. On February 11th we did our first run at home. Our trainer, Michele, came and sat with us to make sure all went well. On Monday the 14th we did our very first solo run. No trainer here this time. We did good. Scary, but we got thru it. Now we run 5 days a week. We can do it anytime we want when ever it fits into our schedule. I am liking it so much better. I am healthier and feeling so much better. I am already starting to get off some of my meds, which is really nice. Here are a few pics of our set up at home:

My comfy chair and my machine.

Shannon's chair and our work table.

view of the room from the door.

We also have tons of supplies we keep stored in the closet and in our bedroom closet. This room is the front bedroom where Connor slept until he informed us it was haunted. (it's really not) He is sharing a room with his brother. it has worked out really well. Once Shannon goes back to work we will be able to work around his schedule and I won't have to scramble all the time to find a sitter for the boys. This of course is temporary until I get my new kidney. Hopefully we can get rolling on that this year.

As for other stuff that has been going on: Ryan is all potty trained and I am loving not having to change diapers anymore. He did an awesome job training and is actually a better shot than his older brother! :-) He is getting big and tall. He has a super funny personality and is always making jokes and laughing. He is for sure the easier of the two boys. Connor is doing really well. Getting really tall and big. I can't believe he is going to be 9 in April. He is doing really well in school. He seems to have adjusted to the new school. He has made a friend from across the street. His name is Spencer and they both like to play Super Mario Bros on the Wii. Shannon is working for North by Northwest and still working on movies. He should be starting a new movie in the next week or so. They have several movies and a TV series lined up this year so we are hoping for a busy work year. Yeah!
This year is also a big year for Shannon and I. We both turn 40! I will be 40 before him but I am surprisingly not freaking out about it. I am actually ok with it. The last year has been a very trying, challenging year for me and I praise God for where He has brought me thus far. I know that with out God and my family and friends that I would have lost it months ago. I am truly blessed to have the support system I have. So now that 40 is literally only 19 days away I am feeling blessed and calm. At peace with were I am at in life. So 40 isn't to bad, only an age. I am not going to let it define who I am. And if you asked how old I am I will proudly tell you I am 40 (but not until the 18th!)
So I can't end this post without posting a few pics of the boys:

right after a haircut. He wanted it to be spiky like his Dads.

Ryan wanted his hair poky and with some color gel.
How could you not love both of these cute faces!!

Science Fair

Connor had his first science fair project this last week. I gave Shannon the task of helping Connor decide what he wanted to do and help him put it together. (science was never my thing!) Anyway, Connor wanted to see if the temperature affected the bounce of a ball. They had 3 brand new tennis balls. The first one they froze, 2nd one they heated in the dryer and the 3rd they left at room temp. Here they are checking to see how high each ball will bounce:

They found out that the heated one bounced the highest and the frozen one bounced the lowest.
It was really fun watching them work on it together. Here they are filling out some of the questions on the sheet to help them put the project together later: (ok, so Shannon did most of the filling out!)

The had to put all their information on to a poster board. Shannon typed out all the information and Connor pasted it all on the board. It turned out pretty good for a first time project. In fact they received 5 out of 5 points!

The finished project.


Posing in front of the project at school.

We went to the school to see all the projects. Each classroom displayed the kids from that room. We only went and saw Connor's class. When we got there we noticed a little sticky note on his desk next to his display. The note said to not take home that night because it had been chosen to be taken and displayed at the CV district science fair display at the mall! They were so excited. The teacher said it was a big deal since only 2 from each class are chosen and Connor's project was one of the few that had all the points made on it. He was so excited. What a great job they both did!! After we went and had some ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Great job Daddy and Connor!

And of course we couldn't leave Ryan out of the pics!!

Christmas 2010

Wow, I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. It is true what they say, time goes by so much more faster the older you get. We had a very nice Christmas spent with family and seeing friends. Christmas Eve Denise and her family came over and spent the day. I made a ham with all the fixings. Very yummy. We opened presents after dinner. After that everyone went home and my family headed to Christmas Eve service. I love going and being able to focus for a while on the real meaning of what we are celebrating, Jesus. Wonderful service. The boys were anxious to get home and get to bed. They put out cookies and milk and some carrots, for the reindeer. The took forever to finally fall asleep. Both boys were up at 4am and got there stockings and watches some tv until we got up at 6:45 to open presents. Both were so excited for to open presents and loved everything. Especially Connor who got a DS. He played it all day long. He has been wanting one for a while now so Shannon and I decided to get him one this year. After presents we had cinnamon rolls and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. This is something we have done ever since Connor was very little. Both boys love it. This year Ryan didn't want to sing he says he was to shy. They both like to blow out the candle. I love doing this, it has become one of my most favorite traditions at Christmas. After that we just stayed at home and hung out. Very quiet day. Nice and relaxing. Here are some pics from our day. I forgot to take pics from Christmas Eve.

Before the opening began

This is pretty much what Connor did all day.


Singing Happy Birthday.

blowing the candle out

Two very cute Christmas boys!

Gingerbread Train

The other day the boys really wanted to do a gingerbread house but they saw the train and decided they wanted that one instead. So today I finally sat down with them to put it together.
It was fun and the boys loved putting on all the candy. Here are some pics from our fun time.

Starting to assemble.

Ryan waiting patiently for his turn.

decorating with all the candy

We are done

the finished product