Movies

Movies we watched over Christmas Break 2016
Finding Dory
Singin' in the Rain (before Debbie Reynolds died)
Secret life of pets
War games (yes the 1980s one)
Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Rogue One  (excellent but I remembered how much I hate going to the movies.  We had to sit over an hour before the 2 hour and 13 minute movie... 1/2 hour early for decent seats and then more than 1/2 hour of ads/trailers.)

Potential movies to watch
Gremlins
Goonies
Major League (recommended by a friend--I haven't seen it.)
Pink Panther Movies
Forrest Gump
Moana (as soon as it's out on Netflix / iTunes) 
Hidden Figures (as soon as it's out on Netflix / iTunes)

Movies we've watched
Big (a little uncomfortablee on the love scenes)
Stand by me
ET
Men in Black (only the 14 year old liked it)
Back to the Future (all of them loved all 3)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Princess Bride

One of our kitties...

On Halloween, one of our beautiful black kitties was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma.   We'll call him Tall Handsome Boy or THB for short.  Here's what I shared with a friend in FB.  This blog may be resurrected after all... look, 2 posts in a as many days!  I want to remember some things and I don't want to put them on my other blogs.

THB has intestinal lymphoma (the slow growing kind)... Apparently it's really common in cats. He's going to be on prednisone 2x a day and chlorambucil (low dose) 3 x a week for a long time (up to two years). So far, it's been 2 months of treatment. After the first month and 1 week we got good blood results. We go back in another couple of weeks and have another blood draw. The good news is we don't have to take THB in and we give him the pills at home.  He doesn't hate them too much.  I've known some cats who HATE pills and the treatment would be awful for them.


In addition, THB seems to be tolerating the meds e.g., no throwing up and eating pretty well. His energy is about 85-95% of normal on most days. Today he seems pretty perky and I'd put him at 95%. (Last week we had a day when he was really draggy and I was worried, but he bounced back the next day.) I'm hoping that as the treatment goes on we'll have less low energy days. I can't complain though 'cause the really draggy days haven't been very frequent and I think (and hope) we are on positive trend for his energy and eating.

Thoughts as the girls get older...

Friend:

            We are winding down for the day. Mom and dad are exhausted. How have you survived with 3?? 

Anyway hope you had a merry Christmas. 

Me:

            When the youngest hits 3 it gets easier. And we are still having a blast with them.

            Teenage years are significantly better than toddler years.  I have the best book recommendation. It's called "untangled" it's about girls growing up. I highly recommend it.

Friend:

            Well about 2 more years until we all are three and over... which will coincide with the milestone I'm really looking forward to.... no more diapers!

Me:

            No more diapers was HUGE.  The good news for us was that T (#3) potty trained herself ‘cause she was all about being a big kid!

Friend:

            I dislike nothing more than diapers and car seats. Ugh. 

Me:

            At some point they all strap themselves in the car seat.

            When I look back, I don’t even know how I got all 3 dressed, all their stuff for the day, and them into the car ….

            CRAZY

Friend:

            It is an act of god when we make it out of the house. 

Me:

            now I just say, we’re leaving in 5 minutes and you need a water bottle, snacks, and whatever you want to do to amuse yourself.

            It’s awesome

            (Been saying this probably since T (youngest) was probably 5… The youngest learns so much the older ones.)

Friend:

            Oh yeah. For sure. 

Me:

            Back when T was in kinder, she had to remember her hw, her kinder bag all by herself ‘cause I couldn’t remember any of it… I did so much for N (oldest).

            T is very responsible.

            N is too now, but I still do more for her than the others…. just ‘cause she’s the oldest

            and her personality… she likes to work with me

            She just wrote an essay for To Kill a Mockingbird and she wanted to have nightly chats about it.  It was super fun and sweet.

            (She = N for To Kill a mockingbird)

Friend:

            We do a ton for S (#1) as well. She does not like doing much by her self. 

L (#2) on the other hand enjoys her alone time. 

            Super fun. Can't wait. 

Me:

            K (#2) is so independent

            She likes her alone time too… and with her, she won’t let me help on her homework… AT ALL… I tell her if she gets As, I won’t intervene… If she ever falls lower than that, she gets to sit with me and work with me

            It totally motivates her.  This year, we had to intervene with Algebra 1….  She was getting a …. She pulled it up to a by the end of the trimester… She *almost* got an .