Photos and Finishing February

On Saturday, February 14th, the kids and I went out for breakfast and to run a few errands to keep the house quiet.

Friday, February 20th, was Sock Hop day at Ben's and Maddie's school. We borrowed a fifties skirt from a friend, so Maddie was ready to go. We slicked Ben's hair back, but by the time I picked him up, it looked like he had been through a tornado and it was everywhere.

Winter weather hit East Texas on Monday, the 23rd. Jon and Will started school at 8:00am, so I took them to school, then headed back to get groceries with Ben and Maddie who didn't start school until 10:00am. I dropped them off at 9:40 just as a friend was calling to tell me roads in Tyler were getting bad and that I might consider picking up the boys soon since they were about to take attendance. As I pulled out of the school parking lot, she called back to say that the boys' school was calling it a day at 10:00am. I headed north to get the boys and there was a clear line of where the roads changed conditions. I picked them up and the kids of a friend who lives not too far from the school. On the way out of their neighborhood, I got stuck on a hill and had to back down, turn around, and find another way because the roads were already icy. I found a mostly downhill path home, but it took almost an hour to get home... a very stressful hour! I decided I didn't want to do this again later, so I headed straight back to Maddie's and Ben's school to check them out early. As I was going up the hill of the school, I got stuck for a short time, but then got the call that their school was sending kids home at noon. In the end, I checked them out about 20 minutes early, but so did LOTS of people. We ended up calling off scouts for the night, and planned on camping out at home. Not long into the evening, the schools called to tell us there would be a two hour delay for Tuesday, so the kids were getting excited. I spent the afternoon decompressing and cuddling Ramses. He kept his paw on my arm most of the time... I always thought he did that to pet me like I pet him.

Allen headed into work early and took a suitcase and sleeping bag in case he ended up stuck at work due to bad roads. Imagine our joy when he called to say he was heading home and would be there for dinner! The refinery called off the night work due to the weather conditions and all six of us were happy about that. He picked up dinner and dessert on the way home and we had an unplanned birthday party. Dinner was full of laughter (and a bit too much silliness) and we were all in great moods.

My birthday was a little bit blue since we didn't see Allen at all that day. Since the kids' schools all had delayed starts, Will and Jon had to stay until 2:30 (usually I pick them up at 12:15). I ended up helping a friend whose sitter couldn't come due to weather. I stayed with two little toddler angels for an hour, then I met Ema for a sweet birthday lunch. Allen had a conference call for the short time he was home and awake, so I was a bit sad. The weather was getting bad again, and school ended up cancelled for Wednesday.

Just a little bit of snow ended up in our yard, but it was enough for the kids to play in for awhile. Then they ended up cold and sopping wet and realized it wasn't fun anymore.

The snow melted off by late afternoon. We enjoyed a lazy day reading or playing Legos by the fire, and I even swaddled Ramses so he could enjoy it -- snuggling in front of the fire is one of his favorite things to do. I did something "crazy" (for me): everytime the kids asked if they could have hot cocoa, I said, "yes!"

Sadly, Ramses took his last breaths after Allen left for work that night, but just before the kids went to bed. Though I knew it was coming, I still had such a broken heart. As I sobbed, the kids called Allen and asked him to come home. We buried our Sweet Gray Thursday after school. Losing two long-loved kitties in two weeks has been really hard on our hearts, but I am glad they will be together wherever it is that pets go when they leave this world.... but still... it hurts... a lot.

Saturday, Maddie and I attended a Mother and Daughter Tea Party with our AHG troop. We intentionally chose dresses that would look pretty together in a picture... then never ended up with a picture. We had a really nice time, though!

And now we are heading into March! We really miss Allen being part of our family activities. He has been working for five weeks straight with just one night off each two weeks (two nights in the last 5 weeks). We have done our best to adjust -- bumping up dinner to about 4:45pm so we could all eat together, Allen and I going on dates those two nights off, the kids and I trying to stay busy away from the house on weekend. But... we are ALL weary. Allen is exhausted with his really long hours and the rest of us miss him and aren't sleeping the same as when he is home. Hopefully, we will be back to our normal life soon.

Magic Treehouse Dioramas

Maddie and Ben have been working hard to complete a big second-grade project. Even though the are in different classes, they often have the same assignments as their teachers work in a team together. They each got to choose which Magic Treehouse book to read, then they had to create a diorama and fill out a passport-book report about the story they read. Each of them read their book in one afternoon, then they started chipping away at the worksheets. Last weekend, I helped them start their dioramas, and they finished them this weekend.

Maddie read Polar Bears Before Bedtime and decided she wanted bears and ice and Northern Lights in her diorama. She worked really hard on this one and the night sky in the background is SO much prettier in person. It looks a bit hazy in the photos because there is so much texture -- she used acrylic paints to paint the dark sky, then used chalk pastels smear in the colorful lights. Finally, she added sparkles of glitter glue for the stars.

She did the water like the painted part of the sky, then put glitter glue swirls on, and coated it all with clear acrylic gloss that she used to glue on the styrofoam and to make the water look wet. She created the bears with clay over pipe-cleaners, and the Jack and Annie characters were printed from the online book cover. She attached them to cardboard and toothpicks so they would stand in the snow.

Maddie also worked hard to make the outside look like a treehouse. She used grocery bags for the "wood" and glued on tissue paper leaves. Her entire diorama was beautiful and she was so proud of it.

Ben read Vacation Under the Volcano; it was a story about Mount Vesuvius erupting over Pompeii. Ben loves reading about volcanoes, and he has been fascinated by stories of Pompeii since we first learned about it when we were homeschooling last year. Ben was anxious to begin creating a volcano. The first weekend, he made a clay mountain on top of a cardboard shoe insert.  That same weekend he also painted the background with watered down acrylics and cut and painted some oatmeal boxes to be buildings in the town. The second weekend, he used tissue paper to "paint" and hold the mountain and cobbled road together since the clay cracked. He also used the tissue paper to paint the grass, road, and background trees.

His favorite part of the art may have been using a toothbrush with watery gray paint to splatter the whole scene with "ashes"... or maybe his favorite part was dripping the thick orange and yellow painted lava onto the side of the volcano and blowing it down the side. He also enjoyed using the computer to make a fancy title that he glue to the sides of his box. He REALLY had fun with the project, and he created a really neat diorama.

I am really proud of how hard Maddie and Ben worked for two weekends to make each of their projects "just right!"

A New Song

Ramses has always been a singer. As a wee little kitty, he would climb into our bathtub and meow loudly over and over again just to hear the echo. He seemed to love the sound of his voice. In our second home, he sang in the stairwell and in the small shower. Again, he seemed to choose to sing where he found the best acoustics.

Our big soft gray cat has always been our singer. As Allen has been on night-shift for this turn-around, Ramses's singing has really been driving us crazy. He sings in the day which wakes Allen. He seemed to be singing at night more than normal... maybe missing Allen or wondering why Tico wouldn't play. But all. Day. Long. His singing drives us crazy.

Tico died on a Wednesday afternoon, but his littermate-brother didn't seem to notice right away. By Friday, though, Ramses's song changed. It was searching "Where ARE you, Tico?" and it was really, really sorrowful, "I miss my best friend." It definitely broke my heart... but it still drove me crazy, especially since it was SO much more often than before.

Saturday and Sunday, Ramses was so sad. He laid around not doing too much, but would get up occasionally and wander all over the house calling (I think) for Tico. Sunday night, he laid next to the water dish and sadly rested his chin on it. It really brought tears to MY eyes seeing him so sad. Monday, Ramses didn't eat. Tuesday, he was still laying around and not eating. Everytime he started "crying," I would cuddle him. I fell asleep with him next to me on the bed. Around midnight Tuesday, Ramses started wailing again, but when I patted him in the dark, I realized he was laying in a puddle. I tried getting him up, but he wouldn't move. I moved him to the tiled bathroom and he still couldn't stand up.

At this point, my uncontrollable sobbing began -- partly because I was so exhausted, partly because he seemed to be going downhill so fast and I wasn't ready for it. I stripped all the layers from my bed, started a load of laundry, then cried because all the clean sheets and quilts were up too high for me to reach. When I calmed down and woke up a bit more, I did figure out how to get to them, but my heart was breaking again.

I was able to get Ramses to the vet Wednesday afternoon. He was severely dehydrated, but the vet did get enough blood for some tests. Fifteen minutes later he came back to the room with a sad look saying Ramses was not doing well. He seemed to be at the final stages of renal failure. The vet thought that getting him rehydrated might help some of his numbers, but it would be pricey. I talked to Allen and we decided to try hospitalized treatment until Friday. If it wasn't looking better by then, we planned to bring him home and just love him until the end.

Thursday, I went to visit and held him for awhile. Friday, he was worse -- barely lifting his head and still not moving the rest of his body. I picked him up Friday afternoon, and I set him up in his favorite bed in the bathroom.

Friday and Saturday, I changed out the towels beneath him several times. He was silent most of the time, but moaned a little when I moved him. His eyes are still so sweet and his face is still so soft. I've wiped him several times with a warm cloth, but his breath still stinks.


Darn it -- I am mad. I don't know who I am mad at or even what I'm mad about, but I am. Ramses and Tico often slept curled up in a round basket together -- sort of cuddled like a tabby "yin" and gray "yan". They were together more than 15 years and spent all day, every day together. Usually next to each other. As Tico's health started declining back in the fall, I remember wondering how Ramses would get by on his own. 

Saying Good-bye

Tico - August 2011

We have had almost a year of lots of kitty problems. Last March, I was worried that Pickles was on her way to the next world. It took several months, but we finally got her diabetes under control and she was back to being healthy.

In November, Tico's healthy started declining rapidly. After several vet visits, it came down to the fact that he had some sort of infection, but the vet couldn't tell exactly what it was for several reasons: 1. Tico was very anxious at the vet's office; his heart was always racing, and it was hard to keep him calm so the doc couldn't investigate too much; 2. the only other way to see what it might be was with a scan or x-ray. The x-ray wasn't really an option because Tico would need to be sedated, but his heart had a murmur, and the vet didn't think his 15-year old heart would do well with sedation. So we came home with antibiotics and hoped for the best.

June 2011

The first round of antibiotics didn't do much, so the vet extended the prescription. He got slightly better. A couple weeks later, our poor kitty had a nasty cold, and I called for the other type of antibiotic as we started preparing our hearts for a good bye. During that time, Tico went about 5 days without eating anything, but he did continue to drink water, walk, and use the litter box. Amazingly, those meds cleared him up and he seemed to be on the mend.

In December, Tico was back to having some sort of cold again, so I started giving him the second type of antibiotic... again. With the cold and its drainage issues, our kitty's balance was really messed up. Though he still had the oomph to jump up onto our tall bed, he couldn't walk far without spinning his head and falling over (sort of like a child who has spent two minutes spinning in circles.) We think it was related to the drainage issues, but it was really sad.

By January, he was back to his somewhat normal self, but a bit hyper at times, and with a huge growth on the side of his neck. He was still mostly blind, so we kept him downstairs and chose not to board him when we went away for a weekend. The cyst or tumor or whatever-it-was got bigger and bigger and bigger until one day it was just gone. Soon after that, Tico seemed drained of all energy and was having problems finding the litter box, so we mostly confined him to the tiled bathroom and made sure there were always plenty of old towels handy.

As February started, Tico wanted to be held, but we could tell he didn't feel well. He was back to controlling his bladder, but we weren't ready to give him free-reign of the house. Then he kept tripping on his back foot as it seemed to be turned strangely. The next day, he was dragging that leg, then the day after that, he dragged both back legs.

But somehow, he still figured out how to get up on our bed, so I was a bit hopeful that he would be okay. Within a few days, he couldn't move himself except by dragging himself with his claws on the towels. He couldn't support his own weight at all, and my heart broke as he whimpered every time he needed to use the restroom or get a drink. It was very much like when I was a new mom listening for my babies to cry. All night and all day, I listened for Tico's cry and got up to try to help. The last few days, he couldn't hold his head up to drink, but I found a way to use a syringe to get him to drink. All along, my heart was crushed as I knew our moments together were numbered. And all along, Tico just wanted to be held. I found a way to sort of sleep holding him wrapped in a crib pad and towel, and during the day, I wrapped him against me with a dish towel if I needed to do things other than just sit and cuddle him. He purred.

Our Tico has spent more than fifteen years LOVING to be held with his back lined up in the crook of my arm. If we had a blanket to swaddle him in, he loved that even more. It is no wonder he is my kids' favorite cat as he loves the attention even if it is from a clumsy toddler, an excitable little boy, or a little girl wanting to wrap him like a baby doll.

Yesterday morning, I had no where to be and nothing on my must-do list... so I sat and read a book and held Tico, softly rubbing his chin and listening to his voiceless purr. If I stopped rocking the chair, he silently meowed as his voice was gone, and I rocked some more. I picked up Will and Jon and came home and gave Tico some water. Then I went to get Maddie and Ben. When I got home again, I checked on him and found he had crawled out of his towels and was calling for help... silently. I picked him up and calmed him down. I gave him some more water and he picked his head up seeming to feel much better after that drink. Then my sweet, silky-bellied tabby stopped breathing while he laid in my arms. I knew the time was coming and I really had tried to harden my heart so it wouldn't hurt so much, but I wasn't ready for it. In his green towel, I took him to the living room and called the kids as he took a few more random breaths.

I felt a little bit silly to be so torn up about a cat, but when Tico died, it tore my heart out. When Maddie and Jon started crying... then wailing... it hurt even more. We buried him in the garden and, together, the six of us shared stories about him that made us smile.

May 2014 - in Ben's tent

As a kitten, Tico climbed into our bed, snuggled between Allen and me, then sometime in the night got under the covers. When we woke up, little Tico was sleeping on his back with his head on a pillow, and with the covers up to his chin, but with his paws peeking out. Tico loved to snuggle, especially in the winter. He was very patient with toddlers who used him as a step stool as they climbed the couch, with little boys who were a bit rough with him, with a little girl (or her mama) who liked to cuddle him like a baby.

Saturday Morning Outings

Last weekend was the first weekend Allen was on turn-around, and I spent Saturday at a conference (with childcare) away from home so he could sleep. Today, I had to be a bit creative to get us out of the house. Allen insists he can sleep when we are home, but it is stressful to me because I feel like I am constantly shushing the kids, Ramses (cat), and Shadow (dog). With us out of the house, I don't feel like we have to be as quiet.

I had a few things in mind when we began the day, but a few things added themselves in as we went. We started out at Target picking out Valentines for school, though we found a few heart-shaped window clings that we picked out for later.

Next, Will noticed in this morning's paper that Mike Huckabee would be at Lifeway for an hour and he really wanted to go meet him. It turned out that we got there just in time. He signed a book for us, then signed one more and was out the door. Will was really excited! I thought it was a neat opportunity to encourage Will's enthusiasm for politics.

Our next planned stop was actually Lifeway, anyway. We wandered around the store for a few minutes until the Compassion International exhibit opened, then we went through tours of Uganda and Bolivia. Like a similar exhibit last year, we got to see the countries through the eyes of children in the Compassion program.

We went to our church and did a prayer walk. This is the first weekend a new youth center at church is open, and there were prayer stations. I hosted the prayer walk for a couple hours yesterday and had done most of the stations while I was working it, but this time I took the kids through it. The first station was about praying about God and his power. The second station was to pray over the classrooms, teachers, and youth, and to write a letter of encouragement to one of the teachers or students who would be using the building on a regular basis. Maddie and Jon both wrote letters to a teacher and student we know. The third station was for praying for the church to be a light to the community and to write a prayer, scripture, or note on a fabric wall. Most of the kids did that, but theirs was the first of the kid-writing on the wall. The fourth station was a place to tie a colorful fabric strip for each prayer over five different areas (friends, family, church, world, and something else I can't remember). The kids each tied several strips and took awhile praying there. The fifth, and final, station was a place to pray for unity within the church and community and to add our thumbprints (leaves) and name to a painting of a tree. All of us did that, too. It was a neat way to share the building and the praying with the kids.

Finally, we stopped by a gas station for Icees -- a sweet treat after a great day. I think that is when Will piped up, "I like turn-around... I feel like you are spoiling us though." As soon as we got home, we got all the heart-clings and decorated Allen's car windshield. We even turned a few hearts into Ws and made it say, "We LOVE U." I am not a fan of spelling YOU with just the U, but we were working with two packages of hearts and two sets of the word LOVE (with the O being a heart). One of the hearts tore and we cut it into the pieces of W and U. It was cute and the kids all thought it was a hilarious prank and couldn't wait to see Dad get mad about it. I knew better... he didn't get mad... not even when one of the red hearts stained his steering wheel pink :P

We had lunch at home and it wasn't long after that that Allen woke up and played games with the kids for the afternoon.