Yup, I know.

I suck at keeping this blog updated! I used to be so good at it... Of course, I've had some stuff going on over the last year that has been taking up too much space in my brain (and not leaving much room for blogging topics!). I don't want to go there, I'm just saying... Anyhow, it took stumbling on my newish friend Gretchen's blog to make me realize that I miss this. I miss having an outlet for the random thoughts that occupy my brain. I just wish I had more time. Like, an extra few hours a day. I constantly feel like if I give something like the computer ANY of my attention, it's taking away from areas where I should be focusing. Like my kids (although, I promise they're in bed!), or my husband, or the laundry - or worse yet - sleep! I just spend SO MUCH TIME on the computer at work that I don't love being on it here at home, too. I wonder how Ross would feel if I blogged during the workday? I wonder if Blogger is even accessible, or if it's blocked! Regardless, I'm pretty sure I would lose my job - and I really like my job! (I have a new job, by the way! Have I mentioned that on here? Probably not. Oh well... surprise! I got a sweet promotion at work! Yay!) Another thing I miss is just having the time to peruse other people's blogs - which are far more interesting than my own, I'm sure! I used to feel so connected to folks in the blogging world but now I have no idea what's going on with anyone. If only there were more hours in the day. Shoot... if there were more hours in the day, NOT ONLY would I be able to blog regularly, BUT ALSO maybe I could actually work out every day! That would be an amazing accomplishment in itself! (Though I did buy some sweet new Ryka shoes from Amazon today... they'll be here in a week or so and maybe my fancy new footwear will inspire me to get up just a little bit earlier and squeeze a workout in! Realistically, probably not, but a girl can dream, right?) Ok, so maybe the new shoes will help with the working out... I wonder what will help with the blogging!

Not Cool.

My poor biggest boy is so nervous about his MRI tomorrow that he almost threw up tonight. How unfair is that? 9 year olds should not have to worry about stuff like this... his brain should be full of normal 9 year old stuff - video games, girls he likes, music on his mp3 player. Not MRIs. Or oncology visits. Or cancer period. I wish I could take away his stress and add it to mine.... it breaks my heart that he's so worried. I hope he has a better day tomorrow. I'm so ready for this scan to just be done.

Boo for cancer...

Ugh. Joshua has his MRI on Wednesday. Why is it that once a year I have to go through all those yucky, nasty cancer feelings all over again. Once the scan is over, I will be able to neatly pack them away until next year. However, right now, my emotions are all over the place. I am not a fan. My little boy is scared this time. He's never been scared for a scan like this before. I try to talk to him about it, but I don't even think he knows exactly why he's worried. That sucks. At least if he can express, we can process and face it head on. That's not happening this time. Instead, we get to wait it out, knowing that after Wednesday, we can go back to our happy place and not think about cancer for a while. We're not expecting anything funky. He's so far out from diagnosis that he should be just fine. But, it's the "not knowing 100% for sure" and the "this happened once before" that gets in the way of those positive vibes... I look forward to seeing our oncologist and awesomely fabulous nurse at DeVos Children's Hospital. They are always so excited when they see us because of what a success story Joshua is. That's it.... I need to hold onto "success story". Maybe that will help me get a handle on my emotions. Maybe not, but at least it's worth a try. We scan Wednesday evening. I hope we get results quickly. I don't really want to wait until our oncology appointment. We've never had a scan first and then an oncology visit second... usually we see the oncologist for the "pre-MRI physical" and then we scan another day. I might have to put a call into the nurse... if she doesn't realize we're scanning on Wednesday, she might not know to call me with results ASAP :)

Gosh, I feel like it's been forever!!!

Holy cow. You know it's bad when you can't remember the last time you posted on your own blog! My life has been.... interesting... lately. I'm not going to go into all the details - I don't need my business all over cyberspace, lol, but suffice it to say that there hasn't been a dull moment. I guess I'll just do a quick post on the things that have happened over the weekend............ Saturday I went shopping. Without my kids. Just me and my mom. Rick was a peach and knew I needed a break from mommying, so he offered to keep the kids with him at work for the day. It was so nice to have a day off. Shopping was pretty much a bust - I hate when that happens! But, it was nice to spend time with my mom and get to be taken care of for a minute :) Sunday was the Cub Scout Blue and Gold. My boys earned their Webelos badges! I'm super proud of them - they worked hard. We had to perform a skit or a song at the banquet... have you ever tried to get a group of 4th grade boys to sing in public? Yeah... I'm pretty sure I did most of the singing. But, they made posters and we had props, so it all worked out. Honestly, though... I know that's a really self conscious age, so I was still proud of them! Speaking of 4th grade boys... Joshua is heading full speed into the preteen years - and he's only 9!!!!!!! I have a really sweet story I'd love to share, but I know my 9 year old well enough to know he'd be mad at me if I talked about this without his permission. I barely got his permission to tell his dad, lol, so I don't think he'd be keen on me sharing. However, it was right around Valentines Day, so I'm sure you can get the basic idea!!! My kindergartener has been quite the handful lately. He's been fighting a cough, and he's always less than pleasant when he's not feeling well. He hasn't been able to see his dad much, so he's been acting out because of that, too, so it's been lovely at my house. We've gone from one extreme to the other. Massive hissy fits all the way to him reorganizing his t-shirt drawer to make me happy.... In fact, just yesterday, he managed to get one of those googly eyes for crafts lodged in one of his ears. Not only was he unable to hear on that side, but when he shook his head, you could hear the googly eye rattling around........... that was one to remember for when he brings a girl home for dinner!!! So, that's just the excitement since the weekend! I will say, though, that I managed to hit every single light green on my way into work this morning! That's never happened before, so thank God for small favors!!

October thus far...

Ok, so it's actually only October 3rd, but since it's been FOREVER since I posted, I figured I didn't want to overwhelm myself :) Here's what's happening in Holman Land - the condensed version..... Rick - looking for a "real job" to supplement the "oh so seasonal" moped rental business. He's not picky - we have bills to pay and my income doesn't quite cut it. Feel free to send job leads this way. He's done sales for YEARS with the mopeds. He's also gearing up for the start of Cub Scouts.... Joshua is a Webelos 1 this year, which is so close to Boy Scouts and a little overwhelming from a leader standpoint (well, at least from and Assistant Den Leader standpoint... Rick's probably not worried in the least!) Amanda - busy working, Cub Scout Fundraising, Assistant Den Leadering, organizing, staying on top of the family and their various social engagements, and trying to keep her head above water.... It's only been a month... I'm still trying to get a handle on things. I'll get it all figured out just in time for it to slow down again :) Joshua - is a 4th grader!!!!! Yikes! A ridiculously smart 4th grader, who is just starting to get a little bit of a preteen attitude. Not such a fan of that... I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better, but goodness - he's only 9 years old! I thought I had more time.... He is currently selling magazines for school and popcorn for Cub Scouts, so if you're interested, let me know and I'll pass the info along. Logan - trying to figure out this whole "kindergarten thing". Nah... actually he's pretty much a pro. He gets upset because he's not in school long enough each day, LOL! I wonder how long before he starts complaining that school is "too long"??? He loves his teacher but seems to spend an awful lot of time playing by himself (as in, "who did you play with today?" "no one. none of the other kids wanted to play with me" or "no one. I played by myself.") I'm not sure if he's exaggerating just a smidge (he's been doing that a lot lately, too.....) or if I need to send his teacher an email. I might just stop by his classroom on Friday afternoon, but I digress, lol. Riley Roo - lays around a lot, looking very annoyed at the puppy. I think she's too old for this "nonstop playing" crap! Coco (aka the puppy) - is definitely half horse. She is SO HUGE (like a Great Dane should be!), but she still thinks she's a teeny tiny lap dog. She has no concept of her size and gets into all kinds of trouble and knocks everything off my coffee tables, lol!! Well, that's about it from this neck of the woods. I'd love to say I'll be more consistent, but I hate to make promises I might not be able to keep! Suffice it to say, we'll just have to see what happens with the "keeping up on the blog" thing!!

Mother's Day

To all the moms out there, how are you celebrating Mother's Day this year? I'm spending mine at an indoor water park with my super cool husband and amazing boys :)

My 8 year old was extremely determined to be a top reader in his grade during the month of March - the kid logged 13 hours of reading for the month! The goal for third graders was 300 minutes (6 hours) and he blew that right out of the water. His prize was a free pass to the water park at the Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury.

Sounds like a good way to spend Mother's Day to me :)

The weather is supposed to be amazing. I hope all my great mom friends out there have wonderfully special days with the ones they love most.

Silver Lake Sand Dunes

(for those of you seeing this as a "note" on Facebook, you might have to go to my blog to see the pics - I'm not sure though. This is the address: www.holmanhouseholdhappenings.blogspot.com )

I am married to a sand dune loving man. Rick and I spent pretty much our entire first summer together up at Silver Lake, driving through the dunes in his Ford Explorer. We've gone every summer since. I have a million and a half memories of exciting things that have happened at Silver Lake. I get him an ORV sticker every year for his birthday, since the dunes open April 1st and his birthday is April 11th. We went up there today for the first trip of 2011 to celebrate Rick's birthday a little early. It was absolutely amazing. Beautiful weather, not too busy, but enough big trucks and Jeeps around to still make it fun. We took the Escape since we don't currently have a big, beefy truck. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my little girl did! She can't make it up the biggest, steepest hills, but she gets us around just fine. Plus, she looks really cute with a dune flag on the front  :)

The boys were really excited, but Joshua started to get a little nervous as we were going in. Keep in mind, we've always taken the kids up there, so there's no reason for them to be worried, but it is really bumpy and takes some remembering what it's like if you're in the back seat, I suppose. I reminded Joshua about the time he was in my belly (I was like 8 months pregnant...) and I had to bail out the passenger side window because we got in water that was too deep and the Explorer stalled out and there was water pouring in. I told him that the sand dunes are in his blood, so he might as well relax and enjoy the ride!!

I got some excellent pictures to mark the 1st Dune Day of 2011, so enjoy!!

Blue skies, sand and Lake Michigan.

Taking a break to watch the action on Test Hill.

Testing out the Lake Michigan water - probably about 40 degrees this early in April.

Me and my dune loving man!

3 of the strongest men in the world!!

Driftwood bench.

Logan making a "Sand Angel".

Waiting to get the tires aired back up.

Is it springtime yet?!?!?!

I really want to believe spring is finally here. After all, the first robins of the season showed up at my house last Friday. Plus, some irises and lilies have popped up in my front yard. They're like 2 inches tall, but at least they're there!

In an effort to speed things along, I've been doing silly things like wearing tank tops in the house, opening the slider door just a little to pretend it's warm enough to air the house out, and insisting that we get the patio table and chairs set up on the deck.

Tonight was no exception. While Rick was grilling burgers for dinner, I went out and hung some sheets on the clothesline to dry. It is, after all, a balmy 43 degrees here in Michigan, and there's a breeze, so they should dry quickly! The sun has been out for days, but it's still cold and I still have some lingering snow at my house. I just REALLY need it to be spring, though!!

Maybe this weekend the last of the snow will melt for good. I'd like the think we're done with winter - for real this time! Not like last time when we were in the 50's for a week and then "bam!" - snow and ice storm....

Gotta love Michigan!

It's Official!

Joshua remains cancer free!! Radiology report from Friday's MRI states "NED" (No Evidence of Disease)!!!!

Happy Dance!!!

Another year in the books.

Ugh - Blogger is so frustrating. It absolutely deleted my entire post. So, here we go again...

Today was a long day. I'm glad it's over. Joshua was awesome, and Logan was SO well behaved, but I am a very tired mama...

The results of the hearing test weren't as great as we were hoping... Joshua seems to have conductive hearing loss going on, thanks to negative pressure behind his ears that is creating a vacuum that's pulling his eardrum in and not allowing it to move freely. Luckily, this isn't anything permanent, and if it doesn't resolve itself, they can put tubes in his ears to take care of the issue. The audiologist said it may be caused by Joshua's constant sniffling all winter long. Dr. Dickens, the oncologist, says it's definitely NOT related to the cisplatin chemotherapy Joshua received as part of his treatment plan. That's great news. We're going to follow up with an ENT and see what they think.

Our visit to Hem Onc was great. It was so good to see people we haven't seen in a year or more. Dr. Dicken's said Joshua looks great. Based on his exam, we're not expecting any surprises with the MRI results on Monday. Plus, Dr. D may have mentioned that if they did see anything during the scan, they would call him right away and we'd know before we left the hospital. Radiology walked us to the elevator, so I'm pretty sure that's good news  :) It will be nice to get an "all clear" on Monday, though.

The new children's hospital is AMAZING, by the way! For those of you who are local, you know that there is an entire side of the hospital that is nothing but windows. The exam rooms in Hem Onc are on that side and have floor to ceiling windows, that from 10 levels up, overlook the city. It's awesome. When we were getting a tour of the Hem Onc floor, we were going through the infusion area and you can see across the street to the helipad. There were 2 choppers sitting on the pad, and while we were there, one of the helicopters lifted off. The windows were vibrating and it was directly across the street from us, just above eye level. It was so cool! Joshua and Logan loved every second of it. All Josh's labs look good, which is awesome. Now, we watch for secondary malignancies and fertility issues. Any additional treatment-related side effects probably would have popped up by now.

4 more years of annual visits and scans! They only monitor closely up to 10 years past the end of treatment. After that, we'll still keep an eye on things, but it won't be quite as rigorous.

Thanks to our awesome Hem Onc nurse, Mary, Joshua only had to be poked once - when they were drawing the labs, they put an IV line in so that radiology could use it for the contrast during the scan. Josh was SO BRAVE. His vein was popped out really far, so she didn't need to do the tourniquet, but he held so still. They didn't have to hold him down at all - he was sitting up, I was holding his other hand and he had his head on my chest. He didn't even cry until the IV was in. I was bursting with pride. He got to pick an extra prize for doing so great, and they were kind enough to bring Logan a small prize too, for being so well behaved while we were down there. Our Hem Onc appointment was at 2:30pm and I we didn't get out of there until 4:30pm. Just enough time for the kids to play in the lobby for a bit and then we had to head down for the scan. 

The MRI went ok. Joshua was pretty fidgety so what should have taken 40 minutes took an hour... Other than that, it was good. Logan got to enjoy the heck out of the new play room down in radiology  :)

I'm tired and glad to be home. It's been a long day and I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy relaxing tomorrow.

So, we've been successfully navigating life after cancer for 6 years now. Go, us!