Meet Buki

Buki, pronounced boo-ki with a long i, is our new outside kitty cat.  We adopted him from the animal shelter and hope that he ends up liking us and sticking around.  We also hope that he is a good mouser!  We have a snake problem out here (see posts from July of 2008) and have high hopes that if the mouse population decreases, so will the snake population.  We named him Buki, because it means weapon in Japanese.  He is our weapon of "mouse" destruction.  Gotta love it!  He will be sleeping in the "Kitty Condo"(aka "the shed") after spending a few days in a large crate so he can get used to us.  So far, he seems pretty attached to us.  I just hope he sticks around once he has freedom...


****EDITED to add that Buki is now an inside kitty cat!  I don't think he had a chance to hunt down even 1 mouse!

So, What do you think?  Does he look like a mouser????

A Wonderful Day With Payton!

Today was the 3rd grade field trip to Conner Prairie and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend!  Payton and I had a wonderful day together!  The weather started out shaky, but the clouds rolled over and the sun came out.  Our group consisted of myself, Payton, and one other friend from his class.  We stayed with another group of his friends and they all were really well mannered and just little gentlemen!

Dearest Payton,
Thank you for a wonderful day today!  I am so proud of the young man you are becoming!  I had a lot of fun with you today.  I am glad that I could share in your field trip fun!

Love,
Mom

I absolutely LOVE this picture of the 4 boys!

He did say that he'd like to get one of these.... I am seeing a Christmas present in the future!

There are no words for this picture!  He's a ham!

Gotta Love a "Living Museum!"  Everywhere you go, everyone you see is playing their roles.  We couldn't even ask someone a question and get a modern day answer! :)  We went into a house right after a very rowdy group of boys and made mention that it's a crazy day, just kidding around with the lady... and she responded to us with "Well, you know in a little over a month, they will all start taking their lessons seriously and life will be different here on the prairie once the harvest is over."  Payton just stared at her with this "Are you serious" look on his face!

This outhouse is a "double seater"... how crazy is that????

HHHS Football Homecoming 2010

"Mixed Up" day was a lot of fun!  Riley and Payton picked out their outfits all on their own and loved every minute of being silly and having fun all at the same time!  I think it just comes natural to them.

 The Football Seniors on their float during the parade.  The weather was wonderful... warm and sunny.  October 1st and the temps were near 80 degrees!

HHHS Football Team 

I LOVED this float!  They all had a cereal theme but the float the Junior class created was awesome!  I like how they created their own covers of the Wheaties boxes.  This was the best float in my opinion, but the Senior float won.

Sierra was having fun in the parade riding with her cross country team.

Another look at the Hornet's Nest

This is what is left of the hornet's nest.  Cathy tied it all up in a bag for 24 hours and most of the hornets died.  Just to be sure, we stuck it in the freezer for another 24 hours.  After that, she hung it up to "thaw" out and let all the dead hornets that were up inside it fall out.  If you look closely, you can see dead hornets stuck to the nest and on the ground.  When we saw the nest in the tree, it looked huge.  When we saw it out in the open hanging over by Cathy's shed, it looked enormous!  I can honestly say that I enjoy seeing dead hornets over seeing them fly around!

Mad as a Hornet...

Or just thankful that we didn't have the chance to meet them personally!  Look what the kids found in our yard, really low (about 2.5 - 3 ft off the ground), right by their play set....

Youth Football Night

Last night was the Youth Football night at the Varsity game.  The boys LOVED going out in front of everyone in the stands and especially loved being able to make a tunnel for the Varsity boys to run through.  Payton is #7.

Payton walking with his friend DeShawn...

Can you tell that they are excited?

Waiting for everyone to be announced and make their way onto the center of the track...

It was fun to see all of the teams out there!

Not sure who the guys in the camo gear are... but Payton and Riley got a kick out of them!  Gotta love a High School Football stadium that is surrounded by corn and soy beans!  When the wind blows just right you can smell the cows from a nearby farm... reminds me of my high school days in Putnam County!

The youth teams went down to make a tunnel before the tunnel.  The Varsity boys went through and gave them hi5's before running through the big blow up Huskies tunnel.

Doesn't look like he had any fun, does it???  :)

Kenny Chesney - The Boys of Fall

This is such a good video!  Watch closely and you can see Kenny at Senior night at his high school with his mom and dad!

For those that have played football or been a part of football, this brings back awesome memories.

For those that want to play football, it's inspiring.

For those that just love to cheer on their children, it will bring tears to your eyes!

First day of School!

Well the day that they have been waiting for has come and gone and now they are tucked away in bed getting ready to do it all again tomorrow!   It flew by with only a few glitches, but those are to be expected... right?

I remember the days of getting ready for the first day of school without any medical issues.... let me tell you, those days are missed.  I wouldn't trade what we have now for anything, but I do miss the simplicity of the school "life" back in the kindergarten and second grade years!

We had a meeting with Riley's classroom teacher, school nurse, and administration last week, so we were able to take both Riley's and Payton's supplies to the building then.  Plus we had to take all the needed "equipment" for Riley to have at school for her Diabetes management and for Payton's asthma.... hmmm lots of paperwork!

We got the last minute items ready last night: clothes laid out (check), backpacks loaded up and ready (check), lunch packed (check), lunch money (check), note to the teacher for afternoon bus assignments (check), extra blood glucose meter synced up to Riley's insulin pump so that they can keep that one in the clinic at school (check), water bottles (check)....  off to bed.

It seemed the night went by in a flash, and before I knew it, it was time for breakfast, 1st day of school pictures, loading up the car to get down to the end of the driveway in time for the bus... better leave 5 min early in case he's early on the first day, wait we gotta walk the dog, stand here so I can get a picture of you both getting on the bus, bye have a good day, I love you.... and they were on the bus on their way to their first day of 5th and 3rd grade.

4 minutes goes by and I get a phone call from the bus driver's cell phone (panic strikes), it's Riley's voice on the other end of the phone: "Mom, we forgot to give me insulin for my breakfast!"  Of course we did, the morning seemed to be going to smooth!  Her new insulin pump saved the day (morning) that's for sure. I just talked her through what to do to give herself her bolus (insulin) for what she ate.  I'm sure the pump is some sort of magic because without it, I would have been chasing down the bus to give her an insulin injection!  Whew!  Problem solved.

Riley was thanking me and telling me that she loved me when another thought came through my mind... "Why didn't you call me from your cell phone or your brothers?"  Riley answers, "Because we left them laying on the kitchen counter!"

Happy First Day of School to All, and to All a Good Night (and better day tomorrow)!!!!

Riley climbing the cargo net at DYF camp!

How fun is this??? I just stumbled across this tonight and had to share it! She is the one on the left. She doesn't really seem afraid at all!

Toby Mac and Chris Tomlin... Here We Come!

4 months ago, we gave Payton tickets to go and see Toby Mac and Chris Tomlin in concert at the State Fair and tomorrow is the night!  He's so excited and so are we!  I'm hoping for good weather... not too hot and no rain!

Insulin Pump: Day +8

On August 2, Riley had her pump start appointment.  Everything was running smoothing (or pumping smoothing, I should say).  We even managed to make it through our first infusion set change on Thursday. Then came Sunday, another infusion set change.  We thought everything was going great until lunchtime on Monday when her numbers were on the up and up at almost 500! (For those who don't know what your numbers should be, her Dr. has her target range set for between 100 and 120, so nearly 500 is pretty high!  Panic set in as she tested for ketones and showed positive for moderate to large ketones present.... hmmm.  Thankfully this is all happening before the doctor's office went on their lunch break, so after a quick phone call I had a plan of "action."   Once I was able to give her a quick injection with insulin to correct the high numbers, I then went to change her infusion set.  Ahhh ha!  Found the culprit as to why her BG numbers were sky rocketing... the cannula wasn't in the skin at all, just laying flat against it.  No wonder she said it didn't really hurt when we changed her infusion set!  After a new set was in place, BG numbers were dropping, and ketone levels were coming down she felt horrible.  She said she felt like she didn't have any energy at all.  Poor thing!  Crazy stuff, this roller coaster ride of diabetes... let me just tell you!  Oh, and of course, after all of that wouldn't you know that her numbers were in the 60's at dinner????   She's a trooper though!  We love you, Riley!

Perfect Brownie Pan Update

The Perfect Brownie pan that we got Riley for her birthday was WONDERFUL!  It did everything that it said it would do on the infomercial!!!  Can you believe it?  One product that delivers!  Here are a few pictures of our brownies from when we used it the first time.  I definitely think this is a pan that every Type 1 Diabetic should have in their home!

It's here, just waiting for pump start appointment!

It's here... the much awaited insulin pump!  Riley has been wanting this for awhile, and now it's here.  We are just waiting to schedule the pump start appointment!  Hopefully we will get that set up within the next few weeks and she will be on her way to pump therapy!  She wanted a purple one and is on the hunt for a zebra striped skin to go on it... oh to be 10 again!  We will keep everyone posted when she gets all set up for the pump!

JDRF Family Rally

Last night we (the Tindal's and the Welch's) went to the JDRF Family Rally at the Children's Museum.  It was a fun evening and we had a blast with the Welch family!  We are planning to do a team for Riley and Colton and participate in the JDRF walk in October.  One of the new Indianapolis Colt's players (John Chick) was the speaker and it was nice to hear his story of growing up with Type 1 Diabetes and also being a professional football player.  Here's a picture of Colton, Payton, John Chick, Riley, and Sierra.