Our Family Pictures: Birthday Party Week (5-11

I want to start off this post by saying that our thoughts and prayers are with Maryann and her family as her mom is not doing well. Although we cannot be physically with you right now please know that we are with you in spirit. We love you and are here if you need anything!

Also we would like to say Happy Birthday to everyone that has a birthday this month! Some of you may have already had your birthday while others will be approaching. So Happy Birthday to the following people: Uncle Terry (2nd), Grandpa Allender (3rd), Tara (5th), Austin, Abby & Debroah (11th), Stephanie and Caddie (13th), Nate (17th), Katelyn (23rd), Aunt Vickie (30th), and Marty (31st). We hope you all have a very wonderful day. We apoligize to anyone that we may have forgotten we hope you too have a wonderful Birthday. Also we would like to say Happy Anniversary to Ryann and Tim (19th) and Tim and Tony (24th) we hope you have a wonderful day.

This week started out pretty much the same as last week: Katelyn is still not feeling well. Katelyn went to school on Monday but cried the entire time about her stomach. Melissa – Erin and Jade’s mom called and told me that while she was there Katelyn didn’t eat anything and kept saying how much her belly hurt. So I called the doctor and told them what was going on and they scheduled an appointment for the next morning. After talking to the doctor, going over the results from the hospital (nothing grew out in urine so not a UTI), and once again explaining all the symptoms she thinks it is mono. She sends us to get blood work and another urine sample. The blood work comes back fine she is in the normal range of white blood cells (6) but her urine shows that she has a virus and that it has bacteria and high levels of blood in it. Again she reaffirms that she thinks it’s mono. The quick test came back negative but she says that’s normal in kids and that the EBV test needs to be sent to Bethesda and she’d have the results in a few days. However, if it comes back negative then we will need to start looking at other possibilities and a CT will be scheduled. She did clear Katelyn to return to school (even if it is mono) and gave the go ahead to have her party! She basically said watch her if she complains she tired and her stomach hurts don’t send her, but she is okay and as long as kids are not sharing things she puts in her mouth than they will be fine. So off she goes to school. She made it the entire week without coming home. Mrs. Lisa said she did well and that she complains every now and again but she is dealing with the pain and if she is gets tired she goes and sits down to rest. So we were under the assumption that it was mono until yesterday (Monday 18th) when the EBV test finally came back negative! Now we are waiting to get the CT scheduled. One of the possibilities the doctor said it could be is cysts or kidney stones since they both run in the family. I sure hope and pray that at 4 Katelyn does not have kidney stones! Let’s just all hope and pray it is some virus that takes awhile to get over!

Well now on to the fun and exciting part of this past week. Katelyn’s 5th Birthday party! What a day… it ended up being a success but man-oh-man - a little stressful there for awhile. The stress started Friday when I went to pick up the cake and it didn’t look like how I envisioned. Thanks in part to my good friend Layla she helped me revived the cake and make it look somewhat how I wanted. Then Saturday the big party day it was suppose to rain then it was suppose to hold off but up until the party we didn’t know what it was going to do. So the party we originally planned in the back yard got moved to inside the basement and driveway. But then it didn’t rain and I didn’t know whether to redecorate or not. But after Justin reminded me to relax (several times) and threaten to crush up some paxel and put it in my drink I decided to just leave it. However, Justin went to pick up the moon bounce and when he got home they had given him the wrong one so he had to return it then when he the guy was helping him get it out of the truck he ended up ripping the plastic off of the tailgate. Seriously the new truck, the one we have owned less than 2 months!!! O-well that stuff happens right? No need to get upset or stressed right?

Well, the party itself (even after my crazy stressful moments) was a success. Katelyn had a really good time with her friends and in the end that is all that matters. Erin, Jade, Taylor, Hailey, Amber, Maddie, Amy, Emma, Grace and of course Katelyn were the princesses while Jack, Sam and baby Jason were the Pirates. There were six kids that ended up not making it: Max and Nick were sick, Philip had to go to PA, Bryan had a soccer game, Corinne’s mommy was coming home after being gone for a couple of weeks, and Lauren was at the Great wolf lodge for her birthday! The kids were missed but we still managed to have a lot of fun!! We had pizza for lunch and there was plenty of stuff for both the kids and adults to snack on: pretzels, chips, crackers, cheese, pepperoni, fruit and veggies. Katelyn ended up loving her cake and I got a lot of compliments on it – even though it wasn’t the cake I envisioned it still turned out okay. The big hit of the day was the “bounce a mouse house” as Katelyn calls it. All 12 of the kids were able to play in it all at once, while Jason was able to spend some time in the little castle!!! We had several games to play but I decided (after being made fun of) to just have the kids play 2 games: pin the eye patch on the pirate or the crown on the princess; and a scavenger hunt. It would have been a little more fun if I would have re-hid the stuff outside rather than confine it to the basement but it went okay. The princesses found their stuff right away (I think that since Katelyn knew about it she had a heads up on what to look for), while the pirates complained that theirs was harder to find (probably was since they were a little older) but in the end all the treasures were found! At the end of the party each guest was allowed to take a hand full of treasure from the chest for their prize of the scavenger hunt and they were given kites to fly for their precision placement in the pin the patch/crown game they were also given their goodie bag. I would like to think that all the kids that came had a good time at least that is what I am telling myself anyway :-) We would also like to say thank you very much for all the wonderful presents Katelyn received. She has some trully great friends who know exactly what she likes!!! We spent Sunday opening the boxes and playing with EVERYTHING!!!

Now in hindsight Justin was right I was a little obsessed and crazy, but I hope it was worth it to Katelyn and that she and her friends had a party that they will remember. It took a lot of time and planning but it is the little details that probably didn’t get noticed by everyone that meant the most. Thank you to everyone who helped be a part of this special day for Katelyn. We know that a lot of our family and friends from Michigan and Florida can not be here so it means a lot that we have all of you in our lives.

We hope that this blog finds everyone, and that you are all doing well. Remember to keep calling, emailing and keeping us posted on what's going on with you. We love and miss all of you.

Katelyn's Cake