Trip to Arkansas

The drive to Arkansas was soooooo beautiful! Check out the clouds! Looks like a painting, huh!?

Tobin found The Incredible Hulk Hands in Uncle Nathan's old room. You can guess what happened next!

All night long... even Papa joined in!

Caroline rolling around on the same blanket I rolled around on!


Helping papa in the garden!

Nonny and the kids in the garden

Tobin playing with bubbles!

more Bubbles!

Papa and Caroline

Pickin' blueberries

Tobin did a great job picking the big blue ones, and leaving the little green berries on the bush!
Mmmm... homemade blueberry pie! Worth all the hard work!

At The Naturals game. They were waiting for us!

Aunt Serina, Caroline and Me... trying to watch the game in the HOT HEAT!

Only in Arkansas... would they shoot a civil war cannon before a baseball game. Sssheeesh!
The Sasquatch (mascot)

Papa, Nonny, and the Tobster

Wiping off the plate with a swiffer duster! Ha!

Sweet girl!

Uncle Collin with Caroline

Getting some relief with a drink!

They had a petting zoo at the game... go figure!

baby razorbacks!

Staring at the animals!

playing in the mist machine with uncle collin!

Tobin playing on the cannon!

Caroline gave up and went to sleep!

The whole gang!

Papa, Caroline, and Tobin in the mist

Videos of Tobin playing in the mist. So funny!

We had a great time! However, we were so excited to go home!

We ARE Alive...

Well, I have received many emails, facebook messages, and phone calls from concerned friends asking if we are "okay". Yes, folks.... we are surviving. We have just had a crazy month! okay, more than a month. So, this post will update you with a few things that have occurred in our lives the last month and a half, and be a preview of photos for the following posts. The grandmas are getting baby photo withdrawals. Thanks to everyone who was concerned about us and our month of no blogging. I will try to do better.


TRAVELING:
June 18th, through the 26th: the kids and I went on a road trip. We stopped for a few days in Arkansas and picked up my mom, Diane aka Nonny. We then traveled the 7 hour venture with one toddler and one screaming baby to see my grandparents (grandaddy and grammy) in Coffeeville Mississippi. We stayed a few days, then went to back to AR for a Naturals Baseball game(the new minor league team for NWArkansas).


PRAYING:
My dad, Jon aka papa had surgery to remove the remaining Melanoma Skin cancer from his arm, and during the surgery they removed two lymph nodes to be tested. One of those lymph nodes came back with cancer cells. He had a PET scan done yesterday and we don't know the results yet. The scan should show whether or not(hopefully there are none) there are any cancer cells anywhere else in his body. He is scheduled for surgery at 4:00 on Monday to remove the rest of the lymph nodes on that side of his body. Please pray for no more cancer, and God's ultimate healing for my dad.


FUN TIMES:
Yes, it wouldn't be summer without a trip to the zoo, pool, parks, and Frontier City. We have also enjoyed going to Tony's softball games on Monday nights. We have been super busy doing all these fun things while trying to keep our sanity.


BIRTHDAY:
Yes, I turned another year older(27, SSSHHH!!!) on July 2nd. We actually got a babysitter (thank you Mimi!) for the first time since Caroline was born, and went to a matinee movie and Dinner by ourselves. It was terrific!

NEW APPEARANCES:
Tony and I are down a combined 65 pounds since April. We have been really working on getting healthy. A new lifestyle. After I got back down to pre-pregnancy weight, I have dropped 4 pant sizes and have to admit that I'm pretty proud of myself... and OF COURSE my handsome husband, too. We are continuing to work hard.

I also cut my hair off, above my shoulders, and L-O-V-E it! I feel like a new woman!

GROWING:
Caroline turned 5 months old... Wha? I know, crazy! She has also been eating Rice cereal and other yummy foods!

POTTY TRAINING:
Tobin pooped on the potty today, and we are working hard to be in big boy underwear. If your prayer list is short, you might wanna pray for me during this time ;) We are so proud of him!

SERVING:
Our church started it's At The Movies series, which is our big bring in series each year. Our campus(our family included) spent a whole week decorating it like Jurassic Park. It is truly amazing. God is doing great things through this series!

ADJUSTING:
We have been trying to steadily adjust to life with two kids. I have to admit- I did not think it would be hard. Needless to say, I have had to force our life back into something kind of like normal- a NEW normal.

BLESSINGS:
We are truly blessed and Thank our Lord above for his hand upon our lives. We are continuing to pray for our future, and that God will lead us every minute, day, week, and month. Thanks for keeping up with our lives. Enjoy the next few posts of photos... whenever I can get them all up!

Look What I Have...

...Feet! Yes, Caroline has found her feet, and she is mesmerized by them. They are her new favorite form of entertainment...

...And no, I don't only put ONE sock on my children. She always takes ONE off. Funny, huh!?

Surgery Postponed

Due to insurance reasons, my dad's surgery is postponed until the first week in July. We take this as a good sign that the Cancer is not as aggressive as we first though. However, We are still praying that God will take this and make it all go away, literally. We are specifically praying that they will get all the cancer with the surgery, and that the cancer has not spread into his lymph nodes. Please continue to pray, and we will continue to update you. Thanks for all the prayers!

Cancer Hits Home

We received the news this week. My Dad has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage 2 melanoma (skin cancer).

You may think "oh, just skin cancer" but this is very serious. He had a spot show up on the back of his left arm that just recently popped up. It was right out of his reach, and he hadn’t noticed it. I was home for a visit with the kids, and saw it and said something like, “That bump looks bad Dad...” It had gone unnoticed until then. Little did I know what it would actually be. They removed the initial mole and sent it to pathology for testing "just in case". Thank goodness they did that! He is scheduled for a radioactive injection Wednesday, followed by surgery. The radiation will help doctors detect and trace out the cancerous roots that come off of this melanoma. Hopefully, they won’t find any of these “arms” or “roots” that can spread this aggressive cancer around his body. The surgery will be to remove a bigger section of skin where the mole was (about a 3 x 4 inch square), a few lymph nodes for testing, and any other roots & infected nodes they may find during the radioactive injection. I ask that you please keep Jon Allen in your prayers and thoughts this week.

Please pray specifically that no lymph nodes are infected, that they get all of the infected tissue with the surgery, and that no form of further treatment is necessary. Please pray for safety during the surgery, and ultimate healing. We are all confident that it was caught soon enough, and hope that this will all end next week during surgery. I will keep everyone posted. Thanks for your prayers and support!

(My Dad and Tobin in Spring 2007)

Our Handy Dandy Tobin

Tobin has been "pretending" a lot lately. One of his favorite things to do is get his "tool belt" on and pretend he's Handy Manny and go fix things around the house. Here are some photos of him in action.