Its Been Awhile......

How time slips by and you don't always realize it. There has been alot of things going on around the Crowder household, I just haven't taken the time to write about it. We got the pool open and the kids have been swimming everyday. I haven't gotten brave enough yet nor has Robert. The water is still to cold for me. School is out now, that's good I think. Kassie is learning to drive now, yes I forgot to post a happy birthday Kassie on here. She is 14 now, Robert said tonight it seems like yesterday we were trying to teach her to ride her bike. Grandma Sherry was the one that got her to do it, thanks Sherry!
My mom had to go into Rehab about 4 weeks ago, she is improving everyday! She was having a hard time walking after her heart surgery. Robert got a good report from the doctor the other day. His cholesteral was down to 146 and everything looked fine. He goes back in Nov. for a stress test on the treadmill and if everything is still fine next March, the doctor will start taking him off his medicine or at least some of it.
We got our garden planted and we have alot of things growing, we also planted a blackberry bush, rashberry bush, and a blueberry bush. Robert built a trelis for them from scrap that we had laying around and it looks really good. He also had to put chicken wire around the garden to keep Sharla out. Mom is looking forward to tomatoes and cucumbers. We also have green beans, corn, strawberries,lettuce, and onions. Its so cool to go out everyday and see something new coming up. We had potatoes and carrots planted earlier but all that rain we had rotted the potatoes and we lost the carrots too. Thats alright at least we have some stuff growing now. By the way Kassie, the strawberries are really good, sorry your not fast enough! We will soon have blackberries also. That's about it for now, I know I missed a ton of stuff but it's way past my bedtime, oh wait there's no school....cool! Take care until next time you stop by to read about the Crowderfour.

Update on Mom

Well, things didn't go as we expected with my Mom. We took her Wednesday to have the fluid around her heart drained off with a needle, but the Doctor came out and said he couldn't do it because the fluid had moved to the back of the heart and its too dangerous to do it with a needle. So they put her in the hospital and on Thursday around noon they took her for surgery again. This time the cut her open and inserted a tube to drain the fluid out. She had the tube in until yesterday morning. She was in alot of pain of course and didn't like it at all! She is still very weak and will probably have a long recovery just because she is weak. They told her yesterday she would be getting out today, but we still haven't heard anything yet. They drained 250cc of fluid off and there was another 60cc in the container while I was there. Dr. Pruitt said they normally get 40cc out so that was alot more than they thought she had. I am hoping she will start feeling better with all that fluid gone. Her heart should be able to pump the blood better and she will get better circulation to her legs to help with the swelling.
In other news, Robert was released to go back to work, he worked Thursday but not Friday. They are suppose to start back full time Monday until the end of summer at least. We will take it week by week, we have heard that before. I think he was glad to go back Thursday, he got to drive a fork lift all day in the warehouse. The plant was shut down, but they let him come in and work in there to sort wheels. I will let you know how things go with Mom when she gets home. Have a great weekend and springs break!

Can I brag....yes I can its my blog!

We went to Tyler's parent/teacher conference tonight and I must say we couldn't be prouder. His teacher said he was a joy to have in her class and of course that did my heart good! He had a 97% in Math and she said while other kids grades went down because of the difficulty of the Math they were learning now, his grades went up. He is advanced in Reading as well, so there you have it, I am bragging!
Of course I can't leave Kassie out because she is very smart too. She always amazes me whenever she wants something bad enough, she will accomplish it. So the latest thing is, if she doesn't become an Orthodontist then she will settle for becoming a little ole Medical Doctor(lol). So now I have Tyler wanting to be a Palentolgist,Medical Doctor, or Engineer so he can build things. Boy, Robert and I better get better paying jobs! I know they have time to decide what this big world has in store for them, but I see nothing wrong in showing kids that it can be a good thing to have goals in life and let nothing stand in the way, if its God's will and they really want it and have a passion for it, then dream big, why not(that really wasn't a question).
Wednesday we go to see Robert's doctor to see if he will be released for work, I hope so. He is tired of being at home. My Mom is having her surgery Wednesday also. They are draining the fuild from around her heart. Hopefully everything will go fine and we will have good news from both of them. Spring break is comng and I can't wait!

Heart Attack...Quite a Scare!

Well, most of you know by now that my husband Robert had a heart attack Monday morning about 1:00am. He is only 41 years old so we were obviously not expecting something like this to happen. Siloam Springs Hospital sent him by ambulance to Washington Regional Hospital in Fayetteville and Dr. Pruitt was waiting there in the Cath Lab for him. His Right Coronary Artery was 100% blocked. From the time the first picture was taken until the Dr. broke thru the blocked artery was only 13 mins. I am a firm believer in getting someone to the hospital and getting treatment within that first golden hour. I know the Lord was watching out for us and knew that myself and the kids needed Robert here with us even though we know that there is a better place waiting for us in Heaven. We have alot of changes going on in our family now, good ones of course, as far as eating habits and exercise. We should have started this a long time ago, but we have now and hopefully he will see big changes in his health as well as mine. I also wanted to say that Siloam Hospital and Washington Regional personel were very good to us and were on top of things and didn't mess around. I am grateful to still have my husband and we love you very much Robert!

I'm Ready for Spring!

I find myself wishing for Spring to come earlier and earlier each year now. I am not a crazy fan of the cold. I love to watch the snow falling but that is about it. I don't find myself needing to post about too much anymore, we just go to work everyday and take the kids to different activities and its pretty boring around here most days. We are planning on having a yard sale before long, we need to start getting rid of some of Mom's stuff before she moves in with us. We are hoping we can delay that until summer at late spring, only because we haven't even started converting our attic space into a room for Kassie yet. She is excited to have her room upstairs, she informs us quit often that she needs time alone. She has her own room but I do see that side of her. She is very outgoing around other people like at school but when she comes home she really has to go off by herself for alone time for an hour or so. Tyler has his own room too and he goes in there for hours at time and we have to go look for him sometimes. Where did my kids get that from??? Kassie has already started thinking of how she wants to decorate her room and what colors she wants. I see more painting in our future. Of course Mom is not going to want two shades of pink on her walls when she takes over Kassie's old room. She says its fine, but I know better. I wouldn't want to look at it everyday. Robert said he would paint it whatever color Mom wanted. I figure she will go with a brown color but who knows she might surprise me with some off the wall color. Mom has a doctor's appointment Monday so off to Fayetteville we go again. Hopefully we will get good news about the fluid around her heart, we are hoping it is going away on its own or at least not getting any worse. She still has no pain from it or side effects so as long as everything stays the same he doesn't think surgery will be necessary. I better end this post for now, we have housecleaning to do, my favorite thing to do...not! Its one of those things that I remind myself I do for myself as well as my kids, hopefully I am teaching them to keep a clean house like my Mom did. Mom you taught me well and if I never told you before....Thank you for that. I love you Mom! Take care everyone...Kim

2009 Wishing for a Good Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2009 came in with a bang for everyone, it sure did for the Crowderfour! The kids are back at school and I am too. Tyler has his first Basketball game this Saturday morning at 9:00 that should be interesting. I can't tell if he is excited or not. Robert is still at home and not enjoying it at all. He has said many times over the past few days that he is ready to go back to work. I guess two weeks is enough. I hope everyone has a great 2009!