Sad Update

As most of you know, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in late December. Well, it looks like the long, hard battle is coming to an end. After spreading to her lungs and brain, it is now in her spinal fluid, and there is no longer a chemo or drug that will fight the cancer.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayer during this time. Please keep her in your thoughts as she makes her final journey.

You're a very Useful Engine!

 

 

So we leave the baptism party for Logan, and we're not 5 minutes away when I get a call from Allyson. She says "hey, the lady across the street is giving away her Thomas the Train table and some track, and I thought of Josh. Do you want it?"

Now, we have a train table already, but the track is expensive (for what you get), and he doesn't have a ton. Plus, I'm thinking I can put the other table in his room. So I say "She's GIVING it away?" This stuff is expensive after all, and I'm thinking she missed a money making opportunity. Sure enough, she is giving it away. So we take it!

After some cleaning with clorox wipes, Josh now has a ton of tracks. There were also trains, but they were the metal ones, so we are holding on to those for a while. I haven't cleaned up the table yet, but that is on my "to-do" list.

After he woke up from his nap that day, he saw the new train layout (including some new big pieces like the mountain pass and mine shaft), his eyes got huge and he came running over! Now he's saying "Play trains!" even more.

So a huge thanks goes out to Allyson for calling us, and to the lady across the street!

Ellison Rose

 

My beautiful niece was born yesterday right after 2 pm! She weighs 9 lb 3 oz, and is 21 3/4" long. Abbie did really well, they started the induction process at 7 am, and with 10 minutes of pushing, she joined the world a bit after 2 pm! She's a sweetheart, and mom and baby are doing well.
We look forward to spending lots of time with her!

The Wagner Visit

 

The Wagner family came to visit! Actually, they came to look at houses because they are moving here!! YEAH! And they stayed with us while they started their search. I watched Erin and Josh while Paula and Ryan put a bid on a house. The sellers of the house are being stupid, so the deal didn't go through, but I had fun watching the two of them. I can't wait for more fun times with them!

FOXY!

 
Seriously, we have wild kingdom in our backyard. Last year we had a baby woodchuck and its momma, as well as a Cooper's Hawk eating its prey in the front yard (blue jays were squawking and dive bombing the whole time)

Today, after I put Josh down for his nap, I came out to the family room and Lance was laying low and growling. I look outside and there were 3 baby foxes having a good ol' time. One was just sitting there, looked at me, and I think he was thinking "what you staring at??"

Now I am trying to figure out how to get rid of them! Most of the numbers, including animal control and the DNR, won't deal with them. And those that do handle it are pricey.

I need to get rid of these things! but, they are cute.

Slumber Party

 
Paula and Erin came to visit us the past few days, and the kids had a blast. This morning, while they were still in their pjs, they decided to have some fun jumping on Josh's bed. It was great to see them playing together so well. It seemed to be the first time they played together, not just next to each other. Erin loved to hide in the corners of the rooms all over the house, and Josh would run and find her. We always have so much fun with them!

Good God It's Cold!

 
This month has been a busy month. Abbie and I threw Sam her bridal shower, and then a few weeks later, Sam and I threw Abbie a baby shower. I feel like I've been showering all over the place! Sam's wedding plans are going well, and Abbie looks like she's ready to have that baby - even though she's not due until the end of May.
Josh and I went and visited my mom up north (after a stop to Erin and Paula's house). She's doing well, and the chemo is making her tired, but nothing like the previous chemos she has had.
Josh had his first push-pop, and his response was "COLD"
Other than all of that, just the normal month, with play dates, and what not.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We've had a busy month, and here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Our friends, Bunk and Michelle, came for a visit one day with their two cute kiddos, Monica and Bryce. I did manage to take 2 pictures, neither of which are very good, but I was too busy catching up to use the camera.

Joshua had a great Easter. He really liked hunting for the Easter eggs, and loved eating the candy that morning. Needless to say, he didn't eat the big breakfast I made for us. I made 48 cupcakes to take to the dinner that Barb and Laurie hosted for us (very yummy) - but with so many other yummy sweet things there, there were a TON leftover, and since neither Ben nor I have an office to take them to, Barb's coworkers will enjoy them tomorrow - Happy Easter INHP!

Sunday Morning Paper

 
 
 
Josh decided to sit down and read the comics this morning, and he just looked too funny not to take a picture! He sat there for a few minutes just "reading" the comics. I'm not sure which was his favorite!

As far as an update about my mom - the cancer has spread and been upgraded to stage IV. Not really sure why it's called an "upgrade," but it is. Chemo starts tomorrow, and Josh and I are traveling back and forth to CP every once in a while to help out. Please keep herin your thoughts and prayers!

So the first night in a big boy bed was last night. It went well. He was excited about it, and he went in it, and didn't fuss at all. In about 20 minutes, he was snoring happily in his bed. The next morning came, and we heard him, so we went in his room, and he was still in his bed waking up, and it was about 7:15 am, so a normal time. But, today for a nap, all we wanted to do was play in the bed. I decided not to force the issue. He stayed in the room (even though the gate was open), and I could see him toss Tigger and George off the bed, get down, get his "buddies" and put them back in bed with him. So he laid in bed for a little over an hour and played and sucked his thumb.

Fast forward to this evening, and he is tired, so we are just watching Sesame Street, when I notice his head on the arm of his chair.


So I head over to check on him, and he is passed out!


He's too cute sleeping like this, so I place a blanket on him, and now I am desperately trying to stop the dog from barking so he can take a little snooze!

Who doesn't love to take a cat nap in front of the TV on the weekends?? Hope you enjoyed the cute little story about Josh.

Rain Drops Keep Fallin' on my Head

So it's a rainy day, and we are desperate for entertainment. After a morning full of playing with our trains, i decided to bring out the paints and playdough. Josh had a good time with both, after he figured out it was okay to have paint on his hands. All of you who know me, know I don't like sticky things, so this was hard for me. But, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Earlier in the month we had visits from Paula and Erin, and Amber! It was fun seeing everyone! I didn't take as many pictures as Paula - and she has the good one where it looks like Josh is proposing to Erin.

In other news, the doctor's have decided to do chemo and then surgery for my mom. We are now waiting for the University of Chicago to send her records down to Indy so that the oncologists can select the right chemo. More on that when I know more.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 

Here's our christmas card photo from this year. Big thanks to Joel and Abbie for taking the picture for us and making Josh smile! It turned out great. We went to Michigan for Christmas, and everyone was there, including Sam's fiancee' Craig. Looks like there will be a wedding next summer that we will be at! Congrats to them. Abbie and Joel were doing well, and Abbie looks great at almost 20 weeks preggers! We had a wonderful time and Mom and Dad did a great job hosting the whole week. Josh had a blast, and I don't think he was ready to come home.

We then headed to my sister's to spend a few days with them and my mom and grandmother. Unfortunately, this year's celebration was a bit difficult. my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer right before Christmas, and while we celebrated Christmas, it still hung heavily on our hearts. She will be seeing a surgeon in Indy soon, and hopefully we will be on the road to recovery soon. This may be the third cancer, but it doesn't make the diagnosis any easier.

I also celebrated my 31st birthday. It passed without much fanfare - and that's fine with me!

Looking forward to a 2008 filled with recovery (for my mom and Doug) and weddings (Sam and Craig's) and births (my neice/nephew Hilgendorf!)

Oh yeah - and welcome to the world Logan Philip Armbruster!!!

TOO FUNNY

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Indianapolis Children's Museum

The first pictures in the slideshow are of our time playing out in the snow, and Josh eating the Harry and David pears my grandmother sent us. He ate the majority of the pears!! If you click on the slideshow, it will take you to the web photo album, and there are some videos there too.

The other pictures are ones I took from today's trip to the Children's Museum. We didn't make it to the toddler area, Josh was having too much fun looking at the trains with his dad. It was a fun way to spend the morning. Unfortunately, right before the south split on I-65, we ran into a traffic jam due to a over-turned semi. It took us almost an hour to get home, which usually takes about 25!

In other Groff news - Ben starts a new job Wednesday. I know, you may be thinking "did't he start a new job in April?" And to that I would say - yes, you are right. A new consulting firm is coming into town, and this is an opportunity for Ben to help a new office get started. It was an opportunity that doesn't come around too often, so he took it! The new job is with Coleman.


Happy Holidays!

I can't stand how cute he is! We made a snowman today. Josh had fun with mom and dad out in snow since we got about 1.5 inches more snow on the ground last night. The snow was wet enough to make great snowballs (which Ben kept trying to throw at me, luckily he has bad aim) and snowmen. Josh's snowsuit and gloves were nice and wet by the time we came in. Check out the video to see him walking in the snowsuit.

Playing in the snow

So we got about 2 inches of snow last night and this morning, so after Josh's afternoon nap, I decided to bundle him up and let him play in the snow. It was so hard getting all of the snow gear on him that I wanted to go outside without my coat on to cool off! Once he figured out how to walk in the boots and snowsuit, he had a good time. He did "face plant" right into the snow, which kinda scared him and made him cry (he turned around to look at me and his face was still covered in snow). But I brushed him off, and he was ready to play again. Now I can't wait until he's old enough to enjoy hot cocoa afterwards!

Haircuts and Checkups

Josh turned 2 on November 18th, and we went to the doctor's today for our checkup. He weighs 32 lbs and is 37" tall! His height puts him above the 95th percentile for height in his age group. The doctor said "I'll just put him down in the 97th percentile in the chart." He hasn't started saying two-word phrases yet, so the doctor wants us to wait a month, and if he isn't by the end of the month, she will refer him to a speech therapist. I'm not too worried, he seems to pick up a new word or two everyday.

He got another haircut this week, and the clippers were used on him for the first time. He didn't cry, but he acted like it tickled his head. Other than that, not much else to report.

A dozen roses

So a FTD box arrives today, just as Ben got home from work. So I think to myself "awwww, Ben got me flowers." But then I notice the box is addressed to him! Who's getting HIM flowers?? He's a guy! So Ben says "oh, they have to be for you!" So we open the box up, check the card - and who are they from?? American Express thanking him for being a loyal customer!!! They should be thanking me - I spend the money!!!

One More Favorite

I always wanted to be Red.

More Muppet Fun

I so wish Jim Henson was still alive!