update

So it has been a long time since I have posted on here.  An update...I was going to say quick, but probably won't be. 

I has been one busy year.  I thought that the 4th year of dental school would be mellow. Boy was I wrong.  We all got through though.  Karl graduated May 6th.  He's an official DMD or DDS (I'm not sure what he is - how bad is that).  He is now at officer training in Rhode Island for the Navy which he left for on May 12th.

This last year he applied to Oral Surgery and got into the program at UT Houston.  So since he has been gone the kids and I packed the house (OK really the moving co. packed the house), cleaned the house up.  With a lot of help from dear friends.  Listed the house.  It still hasn't sold.  We stayed the last week with our KY grandparents Sam and Ruth Brown.  Who we are ever indebted to and love so very much.  My mom, whom I am ever so grateful for, flew in to KY May 27th.  We started the drive May 28th.  Stopped near Baton Rouge, LA to enjoy our friends the Pomeroys.  We had a great time.  Then on to TX.  Got here May 30th. We closed on a new house just south of Houston on the 31st.  I did it with a power of attorney for Karl. I will NEVER do that again if I don't have to.  TONS more signing and lots of stress.  It is so nice to move into something new after remodeling houses for the last 7 years!   And to have a lot more space than we had in KY.

I put the first couple holes in my walls of my new house today.  I had to hang my calendar up and once that was done I figured I could hang a couple more things.  I have had a couple people ask me about the house.  How we are liking it and things.  So here's a little bit.  I love the kitchen.  Except I could do without granite counters.   They are too hard and too temper mental.  But the bar fits 8-9 bar stools.  The island is fantastic!  I have a pantry and more cabinets than I have stuff to fill them with.  I'm sure that will only take time.  The house has tall ceilings which is nice, but a bit echoey.  I have a lot of tile which I don't mind, but I need to buy something that cleans them effectively and easily.  Any ideas???  The space is nice!  I have a lot of closet space, but they aren't organized well (most of them just have a bar with a shelf across the top.  I need more shelves.  I feel like I really don't have room for all our junk.  I might just have to get my tools out.

One thing about having a new house - it makes you (or maybe it's just me) want new furniture!  I feel like I need someone to come decorate for me.  Hollie why do you have to be so far away???  I have plans for new stuff in a lot of the rooms, but it's going to have to come a little at a time.  Right now I don't dare spend any money cuz everything is so different I need to let everything settle first and then I can go shopping. In the mean time I just plan.  We love having the pool lass than a half mile away.  I make the kids walk there.  That way it is good exercise for me and then I don't have to pack wet kids up in the car.  Our house was one of the first to be finished on the street so we have a lot of construction going on around us.  I thought that it would bother me more that it has though.  The kids, especially Zac, love to sit a watch them.

It is hot down here, but I actually like it most of the time.   As long as I have a pool or some place to escape with AC.  Then I'm all good with it.

Karl gets home Friday.  I can't wait!  I feel a little bad because we have already "broke the house in" so he never got to see it super clean and smelling new.  Oh well, life goes on. 

His OMS program starts July 1st, but he has a bunch to do before he starts, so he's not going to get much of a break.  Good thing he likes to work hard!  I sure do love him.  Anyway, that is life for the Chandlers right now.  We miss friends ALOT!  But we are making new ones slowly. We'll get there.

Details on Zac's week

This is a bit long, but here are all the details for anyone interested.

Tues Zac missed his nap and he was acting a little funny which at first I figured was just because he hadn't had a nap, but as I watched him I thought that maybe he was coming down with something. On Wed afternoon he was still really sensitive, so I took his temperature and he had a low grade temp. Not much to worry about. I gave him some motrin and put him down for a nap. By the evening it was getting worse. His temp was now 102 degrees, but still not too much to worry about. I'd just watch him closely. Thursday morn I figured I'd call the doctor and get him in. His temp was the same, but his energy level and color were not good at all. Just as I thought that I noticed that the whole right side of his neck was quite swollen. I got him in that morning. He wanted me to hold him, but whenever I did it was too uncomfortable and he'd just lay down on the floor where ever he could.

When Dr. Boarman came in he checked his ears, which looked fine. He did a strep test and a flu test and sent us down to get some blood work done. After the bloodwork we came back up to talk to the Dr. again. He said that the strep turned possitive as soon as he put it in the test cup, but the flu was still neggative. He thought tht maybe he had both because he looked so bad. In that case he gave Zac a penicillin shot and sceduled a follow-up for Friday morn.

All day Thursday Zac just laid around moving every so often to a different spot. Asking for food and drink and then looking at it and going to lay down again. Every now and again he would take a sip or two. I just let him sleep where ever and tried to get him to atleast drink something.

Friday morn we went back to the Dr. I was glad that I already had an appointment, because he wasn't looking any better. Dr. Boarman saw him and said I want you to go to the hospital pediatrics. He thought that maybe there was an absess that the antibiotics couldn't get to. He then called over to the hospital, but they said that they wouldn't be able to get him into see an ENT and do all the tests. They said we should go to the ER. So Dr. Boarman called the ER and had things all set up for us to go there. What fun. In the mean time I had Carson at home with the kids not thinking I would be very long and Karl was at school. So I called my neighbor Barb and had her check in on the kids. Did my best to get a hold of Karl with no success. Just ofter I sent him a text message my phone battery died! I was helpless. So I just sat in the ER with Zac and hoped that everything would be OK.

To my happy surprise Karl came walking in just after the Dr. had come in to look at him. They were about to take him for x-rays, but then descided that they wanted to do a CAT scan on him. So waited on the x-rays and then descided to wait on the CAT scan as well until the ENT could come down to look at him.

That's when Karl left to take care of the kids and hopefully find someone to watch them so he could be at with me in case we needed to make any desicions. He left his computer with me so that enabled me to atleast let people know we were in need of some help. Which worked out nicely for me. We had some GREAT friends call and offer to watch the kids. And more freinds call to watch the kids and more people call to see if they could help and we were very taken care of! THANK YOU, you wonderful people! Karl called our family and they all started to pray for our little Zac.

While Karl was gone the ENT came down and descided that we should try and just take care of it with a bunch of meds before we expose him to any radiation or surgery. They put a IV in his little hand. Before they put anything in him he started to perk up a little bit. Thanks to the prayer from our loved ones! They pumped him full of some fluid, another antibiotic and a steroid. By the time they discharged us it was about 3:30 pm. He was talking a bit and quite responsive, but still swollen and tired.

We went to pick the kids up from the Cullins and Laura made us dinner! He had a good time playing a little bit. It was funny to watch him walk his neck was still so swollen that he'd walk with his head tilted to the left and his right shoulder dropped. I should have gotted a picture of it.

Saturday his swelling started to go down a bit and he ate a little. Still not much. He still slept quite a bit, and he was momma's cuddle boy all day. Joy was so nice to bring dinner over to us. I'm sure we could have made it, but it was nice to be able to just take care of my little Zac and not have to worry about it.

Sunday (today) he is doing pretty good. He wanted to go to church, but I wanted him to stay home so he could get the rest he needs. He jumped onto the bean bag for the first time this afternoon, so hopefully this is going to completely go away! He is still swollen a little and he went to sleep with out ANY fight, but he's doing great. He has a follow-up appointment with the ENT next week.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all our friends and falmily. We are so appriciative of your help, your love, and your prayers. We love you all.

Kitchen remodel!

Here is the best picture of what the kitchen was before we started. I some how managed to not take many pictures that show the ugliness of the kitchen in the three years we have been here.

The first thing we did was take out the wall between the living room and the kitchen. We were filling a bit claustrophobic moving here. So we removed anything we could to open things up a bit. This was in Nov of 2008 and there has been a gap in the floor since that time.

The end of 2009 sometime we tore out a random cabinet on the right of the kitchen that was not attached to any of the other cabinets and really just weird.

If you notice the ceiling just above Karl is sagging. It wasn't too bad when we fist moved in, but then Karl was up doing something in the attic and stepped off the rafter right there and it was really quite bad for a while. Spring of 2010 we dry walled the basement. and the ceiling in the kitchen. At the same time we cut the wall on the right of the kitchen that separates the kitchen and the stairwell to a half wall. That nicely opened up the things too.

Monday December 27 Karl woke up and said, "what do you want to do? The kitchen or the bedroom?" Both of which really need help! I decided on the kitchen. We have been knowing that we want the kitchen redone since we moved in. It was just a matter of when. We had the kitchen drawn up by the place we wanted to do our cabinets and so all there was left was to pay for them and pick them up. I jumped on the idea because I didn't want Karl to change his mind. So after we all had our dental check-ups. We went and picked up cabinets and started with the demolition.

The next couple pictures are Tuesday morn. Since it wasn't real thought out we just went with breakfast and made it all work. We ended up not having to eat out the entire time. One night we went and got the kid's Book-it pizzas from Pizza Hut, but other that that it was breakfat lunch and dinner either cold or with the electric skillit. I had even signed up to feed the missionaries on Wed which worked out in our favor. We did pumpkin pancakes and fried eggs with cocoa. Picnic style in the basement. It was lots of fun and then they set up to come over and help with hanging the cabinets. What a life saver! I'm not sure what we would have done had we not had their help.

Once the cabinets were gone and the old floor taken out we started with what I think we would all say was the worst part. Preping the floor for a new vynil floor. We had never done vynil and had always been told to hire it out if we did, but we decided we're too cheap for the and took the plunge. It wasn't that bad once we figured out how to work the putty. I must say tht it turned out pretty good too. There is one cut of mine that I'm going to have to cover up, but once we get the base boards in it sould be great.

Basically this is the finished product! I need to put in some new outlets and put the spice racks up. Then a little touch-up paint and baseboard and we shoudl be good. It is so nice to have it done. I was't sure if Karl was going to kill me for making him do extra plumbing to put in a water filter. It took him a couple days to get it so there were no little leaks but he did it all. I was quite proud of him. All in all the Kitchen looks great. It is still small, but we have made good use of the space that we have and it functions and looks MUCH better.

There were a couple funnies that I should probablly add in here. The first night Karl was doing the water he went out to turn it on and I was watching it. There was a pinhole leak that I was holding a towel over so it didn't make a mess and then all of a sudden it was like a rocket. It shot off and water was fountaining all over. I laughed and laughed! The other not quite so funny, but maybe I will think it is funny later on. The end wall with the range either had to have a spacer of 2 1/2 inches or I had to shave a cabinet down a bit. With the size of my kitchen I chose the latter, which was not a big deal. I chose the small cabinet abouve the range because I figures less cutting gave me less room to mess up. It went well, but after I shaved it down I still couldn't get it to fit in. So we call Dave Clinkinbeard to come over and get the cabinet in. He did a fabulous job, but then I pulled the microwave out to try and install it and what do you know vent and above the range microwaves are built to fit exactly the area above the range which happens to be 30" typically, but now that I have shaved me cabinet downt here was only 29 1/2 ". Therefore we had to take it down tack the peice I cut off it back on and take everything that I had put away in the middle cabinet out and take it back downa dn shave that one down. In the end it all worked out and I was happy that I called Dave to do it!

Carson's 11/Scout Camp

I started this post forever ago. Carson turned 11 in June a couple days before scout camp which ment he got to go to a full week scout camp. No more cubs!
He wanted a pickle cake. I did my best. I really couldn't get the frosting the right color.

The first day Karl and Carson were gone to camp Rebecca fell off her stool at dinner and hit her head on the edge of the vent. I was about to take her the the ER and decided to call some friends that were docs instead. They looked at it and determined the use medical glue to close it up and keep infection out. I couldn't find any medical glue and I had already been to the store 3 times that day so I super glued it shut and it worked great. The rest of our week was pretty smooth. Thank Goodness!

Studying for boards.

Mother's Day

So I had a great Mother's Day. Things were really quiet and nothing big, but my father-in-law said something that really made me think. He sent me a note that said, "Is Mother's Day really a holiday. I doubt it." Why does he say that? Just because they have always thought of Mother's Day as Mother's Day Off (we all know that mother doesn't get a day off unless she leaves), But in fact that is not what the holiday is. It is a day to celebrate motherhood. A special day to stop and think of all that our mother's do for us, and how our lives benefit from their endless sacrifice. I am so grateful for my mother. She taught me well and supports me in all that I do. I know she is always there when I need someone or something. I appreciate her constant love, support, and thoughts for me and my family. What would I do with out her??? I in return am grateful for my opportunity to be a mother. I love and learn with my children everyday. It's not always easy, but I love it. It made me so happy to just have my kids talk of Mother's Day and what they could do for me. A lot of their ideas did nothing more than come to mind, but it's the fact that they wanted to make my day special. I have great kids! I had a great mother's Day. I have some fun pictures we took. I can't find the cord to my camera, so maybe I'll get them on her someday. Not today.

Marathon

So Karl ran his first marathon. His biggest problem was Thursday night he mowed the lawn and a nice sized rock shot up and hit him right in the knee. OUCH! He had a huge bruise which did not serve him well. His whole knee swells if he doesn't stay on an anti-inflammatory. He did great and immediately after was ready to sign up for another. His time was 3 hrs 21 min. He was wired for a couple days, but just crashed tonight. Funny story...I put on facebook that he ran it in 2 hrs 21 min. Everyone kept commenting on how fast it was. Then it clicked that I had typed the wrong time. Ha, ha! I told Karl that all it took to be a world class marathon runner was to have a good wife behind him. I can shave the time off no problem. I'm proud of him. It has taken a lot of dedication.