Fall Fun

What a fun weekend.

It all began when Emma arrived on Thursday afternoon. She drove all the way from Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. It was so nice to have her here. On Friday, Emma and I had a field trip to Jungle Jim's, which is an international grocery store and it's considered a tourist destination. We even saw many groups on tours. It was a cool store, but honestly, I was very disappointed in their Russian foods....two measly shelves.!

So, Friday at 5pm, Nick decided to make the drive down to Cincinnati. It's a five hour drive, so I totally understood his tough decision. I had been planting seeds all week about K&N coming down. So, little after 6pm, Kaitlyn decided to join him.

Nick picked up Kaitlyn and they kept driving.

I decided to make this a surprise for Mike! At 11pm, Mike and I were sitting in the family room and in they walked. The look on Mike's face was priceless! He was so surprised. And, he is not easy to surprise (or is that I have HARD time keeping a surprise from him??).

On Saturday at noon, we all went to Julia's basketball game. Unfortunately, they lost, but we all had fun watching our little defensive star. Glad she doesn't have to guard me! Whew! She's tough. Kobe absolutely loves Emma!!! Emma is a dog lover, too. Check out Kobe's tongue!
Then, we went to Wilson Elementary. They are celebrating 50 years of education. The chorus sand some fun songs through the decades. Julia loves chorus! (do you see her?)

These are three of her best friends, Camryn, Emma and Lemya.
Kaitlyn and Julia!

Tim joined the Drama Club at the Middle school this year. They had their Dinner Theatre performance last night. It was a Broadway review. He had a couple solos and got to dance! It was a lot of fun. (maybe I'll try to upload the video)

The kids! We all enjoyed Graeter's Ice Cream afterwards to celebrate the two performances!

Today we went to church and out to lunch at Panera. Emma left around 2pm and K&N around 2:20pm. Thank you so much for coming to visit! My heart was overfilling with love for my family! Thank you, Jesus! We had many laughs....many at my expense. I don't care. Laughing does my heart good...

This afternoon, Mike and Julia raked leaves! They had a blast. It was a beautiful day and Julia loved jumping in the leaves, too!

Where's Julia?????

In the leaves....with Kobe!!!

Mike brought the ladder out for her to jump from! Lots of fun!

Carvin' Pumpkins

It's been a tradition for Mike and I to take the kids to pick out pumpkins at a farm type place, rather than just getting them at a grocery store. When we lived in Michigan, we used to go to a fabulous place called Uncle Johns Cider Mill. As the name suggests, they also had a apple orchard and they made their own apple cider. To this day, it's the best apple cider ever! We could all watch as the big machine pressed the apples to make the cider. They also made delicious donuts, pies and other fall treats. The past two years, we've managed to find a local farm that opens a modest fall fest. I didn't get to go this year, but Mike said it was disappointing. They did get pumpkins....and here are the results of the carvings... Mike, Tim, Julia and Kassity!
Tim cleaning out the "insides."

Julia...so beautiful!

The finished product!

(except the pumpkin seeds...yummy)

WHO AM I?

On Tim's first day of school, he wore this shirt.....well, so did other 8th graders. He is a WEB Leader. That stands for "Where Everyone Belongs." He is a mentor to a group of 7th graders and helps them this school year. Julia started school with her left arm in a sling due to her broken collar bone. She is healing and will soon be able to start soccer. She had a great first day!
The kids at the neighborhood bus stop.

Three Years Ago

Three years ago today, Julia had open heart surgery at Motts Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is her, with her typical BIG smile, being wheeled (or "wagoned") to the OR. She kept saying "I Ready!" About 8-10 hours later, we were finally allowed to see her in the PICU. What a sight. She wasn't awake yet and didn't know we were there. It felt very scary but the nurses assured us that she was doing just great. I spent the night just outside PICU in a large waiting room. I tried to sleep on a vinyl fold out chair with many other people in the room. It felt very uncomfortable. Sometime during the night, I buzzed my way into the PICU to check on her. I think she had been awake but was sleeping when I got in there. Around 7am the next day, she was awake and talking. She was very thirsty, as I remember. Aunt Linda arrived during the early morning hours and they "tried" to play cards.

Julia spent six nights at the hospital. I finally was allowed to sleep in the room with her. She moved very slow, but otherwise did very well. Kaitlyn stayed with me one night; Mike visited when he could. Nick moved into the dorms while I was in Ann Arbor. Tim started football. She started second grade a week later than her friends.

The great news is that she recently had a follow-up visit at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. She sees a Pulmonary Hypertension Specialist every 9 months. They do an echo cardiogram each visit. On this last visit, Julia was put on the treadmill and hooked up to various machines that measured her oxygen outflow, her blood pressure and her heart rate. They took her to the point where she could not go any longer. SHE DID FANTASTIC! They are thrilled with her progress. Her "numbers" (meaning her blood pressure in her pulmonary artery) has been the same or stable for the last three years. Dr. Hirsch feels this is an indicator that we can expect it to remain the same. Hurray for you, Julia!

All the prayers from family and friends were answered.

Kobe

Kobe joined our family two weeks ago. He's a Cockapoo.

So far, so good.

For Nick: Michael takes a fall

This is live footage from the finish line of Michael's most recent mountain bike race. Don't feel bad about laughing, Michael agrees that it is hilarious!




Despite the fall right before the finish line, Michael finished in 2nd place in his age group!

...and it was a great week

Here are my sisters, Karla and Kelly, and my mom, on the bridge from Newport, KY, into Cincinnati, Ohi. They had a bar, band and food you could purchase and sit on the bridge to eat. Wish we would have known this before we ate at Don Pablo's!

Kylee at Kings Island. We had a great day there....10am - 10pm. We were very tired.
Back: Kelsey (12), Emma (18), Tim (13), Haley(13)
Front: Kylee (7), Kaylee (7), Julia (11)

Rod at Don Pablo's on the river....yes, we did some of this while they were here.

Kaylee! I just love this picture of her.

Tim and Haley ~ best buds~ crossing the bridge!

Julia and Kelsey! ~also best buds~ at Kings Island.

Kelly with her girls who are now taller than her!

The Brown Family (minus Kory and Emma)

Thank you so much for coming and spending a week of your vacation in Cincinnati.

We love you guys and are so thankful for family!

We're Feeling Better

We are doing much better. Sparty is missed, but, we have decided to get another puppy. The breeder has offered to give us a Cockapoo. Tim's had fun thinking of names related to The Simpsons. I think Regis or "REEGE" would make a good name.

sadness

Sparty died yesterday at 6:15pm. He was born on April 1, 2009 and was just about three months old. He is survived by his parents, Karen and Mike Combes, siblings Kaitlyn (Michael) Smith, Nicholas, Timothy and Julia Combes. He was a great dog. No funeral arrangements are being made.

Yesterday was a tough day. Here is the back story:

In the early morning hours of Friday, Cincinnati had a terrible storm blow through; intense lightning, thunder, rain and wind. We lost power for about 7 hours. Sparty awoke during this storm and I took him out; he awoke an hour later and I took him out. With no power, I wasn't sure of the time, but I knew it was later than usual for him to wake up. At 7:45, I checked his cage, and he was just lying there on his side, totally limp, eyes bugging out, and unresponsive. He could not stand and his head was flopping to one side. I took him immediately to the vet hospital and left him there. They determined that he was hypoglycemic and dehydrated. (he had eaten at 8pm). This caused him to have neurological seizures. They did everything they could, but he was too critical. The Vet (who I just met yesterday; I saw the other one the previous week on Sparty's first visit) determined that this was a secondary condition and that he had a congenital problem with the shunt to his liver. It didn't detoxify the byproducts to his liver and it caused him to become hypoglycemic. There is an expensive surgery that could be done, but there is no guarantee that it would work. Too many unanswered questions and the best decision was for him to be euthanized.

Tim, Julia and I went to visit him at 5:30pm. We were hoping for good news. The assistant brought Sparty into the room wrapped in a white towel. She said he was still very critical. He looked so sick in the towel....BUT when I started talking to him, he opened his eyes and looked at me. He kissed my chin. He wanted to feel good. HOPE? He then rested again. I began to cry...this got Tim crying. Julia remained hopeful. (Loss is something she has had to experience too many times) Sparty had a pretty bad seizure while we were with him. It was very sad. The vet came in and talked to all three of us. Explained to us and told us that the best for Sparty was to be put down. He gave us some time to say goodbye. Tim held Sparty and I held Julia. We all cried. Julia realized the magnitude of it all. We talked about the guilt Tim was feeling; It was no one's fault. He was loved very much. We each took time to hold him and say goodbye. He eventually gave each of us a kiss goodbye. Dr. Bercz took Sparty out...Tim held Julia and she cried on his shoulder. It was at that time they gave me the "bill" to pay. (I guess there isn't a good time to do that part???) They brought Sparty back in still wrapped in the towel, eyes open. Tim and Julia each kissed him....I knew he was gone.

Back at home...still so many memories of the little guy.

This morning, I swear I could hear him crying. It will take time. I never knew or understood the grief of losing a pet. I don't think I ever let myself get so attached. Tim has talked about how things happen for a reason and one day we may know why. It's made him think about death and death of people close to him. We had a family sleepover last night. He didn't sleep so well.

We'll be okay....

Karen

Where's Sparty...????

~which one is Sparty?
~it's been one week since Sparty has been in our family.
~ we still love him!
~ it's like having a new born baby in the house. I'm sleeping on the couch and up every 2-3 hours to take him outside.


~Mike met Sparty today. it was love at first sight.
~Sparty kissed Mike...I'm sure they will be buds!

~Where's Sparty???

~Yep, that one!

~Julia loves giving him a bath! She is very eager to help and be a part of all Sparty's care. Yay, Julia! (Tim does, too)

~not all our blog posts will be about Sparty.

Introducing.....SPARTY

Sparty is our new Yorkiepoo. We picked him up yesterday afternoon. He is two months old today. When we first started talking about a dog, Julia's first reaction to me was "you can't be trusted with a dog." OUCH. Read back to April 2008.

Sparty weighs around 1 lb. Here he is next to Julia's water.

When we picked up Sparty, we went right to Julia's softball game.

Here's Sparty riding in the van on Tim's lap.

I love this little doggie.

(Mike is hiking the Grand Canyon with his sister. He will have a "surprise" when he gets home. And....yes he knows that this was a possibility.)

camping

I can hardly believe there was a day when I didn't like camping. I have to admit, I'm still relatively "new" to this, but I thoroughly enjoy it! About 15 years ago, Mike and I started talking about how we would like to take the kids camping. We didn't have much extra money then, so for Mother's Day that year, I received a tent! It ended up being a GREAT gift for the first 10 years because Mike would take the kids camping and I would get a weekend home ALONE! The only problem was.....they made many memories without me and *I* didn't know what I was missing! Mike and I camping
The *tent* that Kaitlyn, Julia and I shared.
I discovered as long as I was on an air mattress and brought along my fan, I get great sleep. Oh yeah....I also discovered ear plugs to drown out the loud people next door! ha

Mike (and Michael) usually does most of the cooking.

Michael and Kaitlyn sittin' around the campfire eating a S'more.

The GREAT part about camping.

Roastin' the marshmallows!

Precious Julia eating her S'more. *Notice* her dad gave her DOUBLE chocolate.

Tim.... fresh from the shower!

Kaitlyn also took some cool photos from the waterfall we went to! It was so much fun!

Now, I can't wait to plan our next trip.