Five Question Friday - 09/30/11

Happy Friday and happy last day of September! Is it me or has the month of September flew by? I am excited for October though, we have some big events next month including Halloween.  Ci's costume came in yesterday, I am in love with it (and so is she!).  I can't wait to show you guys!

Anyway, it's time for Mama M's Five Question Friday.

This week she asks:

1. Do you apologize to your kids if you're wrong?

I do apologize to Cecilia if I am wrong about something, which is rare.  Even though she's only two and a half I think it's never too early to let her hear you say "Sorry."

2. Do you have a class ring, letterman's jacket, or similar obscenely priced high school "must have"?

I still have my class ring in my jewelry box.  I haven't wore it since my sophomore year. It was a big waste of money (sorry mom and dad!)  Class rings for girls have gotten a lot cuter in the last few years.  My sister in law's ring isn't bulky like mine was.

3. If you could be one age for the rest of your life, what age would you choose?

 Probably 35 (seven years from now).  Hopefully by that time both the hubs and I will be where we want in our careers, we'll have one (maybe two) more kids and we will be in our dream house.

4. What is your favorite (unused) baby name?

 This is a tricky one.  I like a few names Quinn and Elliott (for a girl) and Bryce or Cameron (for a boy). My husband hates all of these names and if we have another girl her name would most likely be Giulianna (not sure on a middle name) and our son would be Dane Michael. DH's family is Italian (we have a very Italian sounding last name) so he insists on any girls name sounding Italian (like Cecilia, who does not look Italian at all with her blonde hair and blue eyes). Dane is the name we fell in love with when I was pregnant with Ci.  Daniel (who is a Jr.) didn't want a III, but Dane is close enough to Daniel and Michael is a family name in both of our families.

5. If you could make your child like something what would it be?

This is hard, because Cecilia likes almost everything food wise.  It would probably be I wish she liked riding in the car more.  She has hated the car since we brought her home from the hospital.  A car trip more then twenty minutes she gets fussy unless we have the DVD player (but we only allow the DVD player on car trips over 2 hours). 

Do you want to join in on Five Question Friday? Head on over to Mama M's My Little Life to link up! 

Oh and P.S. head over to Melissa's blog, The Mommyhood Chronicles to enter a great giveaway for Lovable Labels! Let her know Mindy sent you.

The Sweetest Place on Earth

Earlier this summer one of my former co-workers posted a link on Facebook for free tickets to Hershey Park if you were a Chevy owner.  Neither my hubs or I are Chevy owners, but Daniel's step father was. He gave his VIN number, we punched it into the website and approximately two weeks later we received four of these babies:

The usual price for an adult ticket? $55! So thanks to Chevy and the hubs' stepdad we saved $220. We had originally planned to go to Hershey a few weeks ago, but thanks to the crazy amount of rain that has been dumped on the east coast this month the park was flooded. So we rescheduled for the last weekend.
 
Since Cecilia was free (kids under three are), we decided to ask our good friends, Mike and Amy to go.  Daniel has known Amy since they were in Sunday School together before they even went to Elementary School and he met Mike in high school. Before kids and mortgages we hung out with Mike and Amy all the time, but now with our busy schedules (and budgets) we don't get to see them nearly as much we used to. Mike and Amy have two adorable little girls,  Miss M who just turned 4 and Little A who is exactly a month younger then Cecilia (she turned 2 on May 17th).

We originally were going to stay the night since Hershey is a little more then a two and a half hour drive from home, but last minute we decided to go up there and back on the same day.

Miss M seeing how tall she is

It had been years since I've been to Hershey Park. I believe the last time I went when was when my grandparents my cousins and I, I was only 10 or so at the time. That was over 18 years ago.  It has changed a lot since then.  Instead of being more of a kiddy park, they have added several roller coasters.  This trip however was all about the kids.  Mike and Daniel snuck off twice to ride rollercoasters and Amy and I snuck off once.

This was the first time Cecilia had been to a bigger amusement park.  She loved it!

Miss M, Little A and Ci "driving" cars

"Mom, these aren't like the swings at the park."

"Nevermind, I like them better!"

You can't go to Hershey Park without taking a tour of Chocolate World where they show you how Hershey's famous candy bars are made.  You go through a replica factory on these little carts.  Suprisingly, Cecilia stayed entertained.

Picture Amy took of us on the cart before the tour (I look horrible!).

Chocolate

Wrapping Hershey's famous candy bars.

Look at all that Heshey's chocolate syrup!

Hershey's famous kisses!

The store after the tour (surprisingly all of this candy was very reasonably priced!)

Daniel, Ci, Miss M & Mike

After the tour is completed they give everyone a sample of a Hershey's product.  I remember when I came 18 years ago I got a full size Kit Kat candy bar.  Now they give you four Hershey Kisses.  It is better then nothing though considering the tour is free.

We went back to the park after the tour.  We were hoping the girls would take a nap in their strollers, but we had no such luck. All five of us rode in the observation tower, it was neat to see the park and the actual Hershey factory from an aerial view.

Daniel and MIike, friends for almost fifteen years. 

We rode some more rides with kids, Ci enjoyed "driving" a classic car with the help of daddy.  I sneaked a picture of the picture the park took.  There's no way I was paying $15 for that..

Miss M wanted to drive too, but was shy when it came picture time.

Here's all three girls, it was nearly impossible to get a picture of them all looking.

Ci, Little A & Miss M

Cecilia was quickly growing tired..

 

Before we left though the girls wanted to one ride again.  Can you guess which one?

 The swings!

We left right after the last ride and before we ever got to the car Cecilia was out.

Overall we had a great time, we all agreed next time we need to stay the night.  Going there and back in one day is a lot, especially with little ones. (Can I say, I told you so?) Hopefully next summer we can score some free tickets again.  I'll be sure to let my blog readers know if they are running the promotion again (apparently they run it every year) so those of you close to the Hershey area can take advantage of it too.

Congrats goes out to one of my favorite bloggers (and long time blog buddies), Julie who guessed where we were going! Congrats Julie, e-mail me {mindy71183@gmail.com} or Facebook me your address.  I picked a little something up for you and Issac while we were at Hershey Park.

We Want Know Wednesday: 09/28

Wow, this week has been crazy both at work and home! I apologize for not commenting on your blogs like I usually do.  Hopefully by tomorrow night everything will be back to normal.

I wanted to take some time out of my busy schedule and participate in one of my new favorite weekly blog hops, Mamarazzi’s and Queso’s We Want To Know Wednesday.

This week it’s all about food.  If you know me in real life (or follow me on Twitter) you know I love food.  My parents raised me to try everything at least once, if you don’t like you don’t have to try it again. I take that same rule into my adulthood, except I have yet to try guacamole. The texture freaks me out, but some of my besties claim it’s to die for.  Maybe I’ll be brave one day after a few margaritas.

This week’s questions:

1} What is one thing (food or drink) that you MUST have everyday?

There isn’t one particular thing I have to have every day.  I do have to have some sort of caffeine, whether if it is in the diet coke form or Sweet Tea form it is a must have!

{2} What is your "go to" food when you don't feel well/need comfort?

Cinnamon toast and hot tea. This is my go to comfort food when I am not feeling 100%. I think I am coming down with something, I have a sore throat, chills, congestion and I cannot wait to get home and have a glass of hot tea with my toast.

{3} Is there a dish that you make that people request when they visit your home/a family favorite?

Whenever we have poker night at our house, the hubs friends get upset if I don’t make Buffalo Chicken Dip.  If we are going to a picnic or family get together I always get asked to make Pretzel Salad or Tortellini Salad.   This time of year my pumpkin roll is also a huge hit.  The hubs loves my mom’s pork chop casserole and requests that I make it every week, even if it’s 100 degrees outside.

{4} What are 3 foods you have TRIED, do not like and will NEVER eat again?

Brussel Sprouts, I hated them as a kid and I still hate them now.

Venison (or deer meat), I only eat it when it’s mixed into chili; otherwise I refuse to eat it.  It tastes gamey to me.  We have a whole freeze full of deer that the hubs makes when I am not home.

Onions, I don’t like them raw. I hate them. I can eat them when they are cooked into something, but raw? No thank you!

{5} What's one thing that you love to eat that most people would think is weird and/or gross??

I can’t think of anything out of the norm. I love sushi, but so do all of my friends.  Maybe in some areas of the country the fact that I eat Maryland Crabs might gross people out.  My friend, Becky from Colorado hates watching us pick up crabs, because you see the intestines, the mustard (the poop), and other parts of the crab.  I just eat the crab meat itself, but if a little mustard is on a piece I don’t wash it off.  I know some people do, but I don’t  I think it gives it flavor!

I promise I will write an actual post soon! I have lots of pictures from our weekend trip!  Link up with Mamarazzi and Queso if you want to join in on this week’s We Want To Know Wednesday.

2 on Tuesday: 09/27/11

On last week's 2 on Tuesday you obviously saw that I spend way too much time in front of the TV. I am so glad it's fall again and my favorite TV shows have returned.  I also have a few new shows that may also make it to the season pass on my DVR (Two Broke Girls, The New Girl, Revenge & PanAm).

What I hate though is when you get attached to show and its characters and then all of a sudden it ends.  That brings me to this week's 2 on Tuesday question from My Chihuahua Bites:

What two television shows that have gone off the air do you miss?

Like the rest of America, I loved tuning into Friends on Must See TV on Thursday nights. My mom and I watched together every week, rooting for Ross and Rachel to get finally get together, we couldn't believe that Monica and Chandler became a couple and eventually got married and every week we laughed at Phoebe and Joey's great one liners. Even now when I catch a Friends rerun on TV I get hooked (even though I have most of the seasons on DVD and I've probably seen every episode at least 50 times).

I wish they would do a Friends reunion or movie so we could see where our favorite characters ended up, but I doubt that will ever happen since most of the cast has moved onto other things.

Sex and The City, oh how I miss you! I didn't jump on the Sex and The City bandwagon until college (fall of 2001), but I fell in love with the characters, the clothes and New York City.  I was Team Aidan, but I think in the end Carrie and Big are meant for one another. I loved the movies (even the second one) and I hope there will be a third. Every year I ask the hubs for the seasons on DVD, but in the six years we've been together I haven't gotten one season yet (maybe this year?) 

Close runner ups are The OC, Party of Five and The Hills.

What two TV shows do you miss the most? Go over to My Chihuahua Bites and link up! I hope you have a fabulous Tuesday!

30 Years

Thirty years ago today two of the very most important people in my life said "I do" in a Methodist church in my Maryland hometown in front of 200 of their closest family and friends. 

Thirty years and after having the best daughter ever (a little less then two years after saying I do) they are still very much in love. 

This couple has the relationship that most couples strive to have.  Their relationship isn't perfect, but it's damn near perfect in my opinion.  Marriage isn't easy, but you have to work through rough patches and they definitely have.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad! I love you!

I wish I had pictures to accompany this post, but I couldn't sneak any out of their wedding album.

A to Z of me

I found this on LilyBaby's blog.  I loved the idea and since I have a lot new followers I think it would be a good way for them to get to know me a little better! If you decide to do this copy & paste and let me know, I'd love to read your answers.

A. Age: 28...2 more years to 30. Yikes.
B. Bed size: Queen, hopefully in a few years we'll upgrade to a King.
C. Chore that you hate: Putting clothes away, I hate folding them, hanging them up or putting them away in drawers
D. Dogs: One. I call her my first baby, a Miniature Schnauzer, Carrie.  Her birthday is December 16, 2005.  Yes, we celebrate her birthday. She's part of the family, I wouldn't want her to feel left out.
E. Essential start to your day:  A shower, and then eating a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios
F. Favorite color:  Pink
G. Gold or Silver: White Gold..
 H. Height: 5'4"
I. Instruments you play:  None. I was in my school's color guard (twirling the flags or silks) in Middle School
J. Job title:  Accountant
K. Kids:  Cecilia Anne, she'll be 2 and a half next month. She's my world!
L. Live:  Del-a-where? Yeah...exactly. J/K After six years of living here I am finally considering Delaware home. Maryland will always be my first home.
M. Mother’s name:  Michelle
N. Nicknames: Mindy (yeah, my real name isn't Mindy...)
O. Overnight hospital stays:  Four. For pneumonia when I was 5,  for a bowel obstruction when I was 23 (you really wanted to know that, didn't you?) and then two nights when I had Cecilia.
P. Pet peeves: People who don't say please and thank you, bad customer service
Q. Quote from a movie:  "Crab cakes and football, that's what Maryland does!" Wedding Crashers
R. Right or left handed: Right handed.
S. Siblings:  None
U. Underwear:  Of course.
V. Vegetable you hate:  Onions
W. What makes you run late:  My husband.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: CT- Scans, ultrasounds, dental x-rays when I had my wisdom teeth pulled.
Y. Yummy food that you make:  Pumpkin Roll, I'm craving one badly..
Z. Zoo animal: Kangaroos & Panda Bears.

Saturday's Top 5 Laughs

This week I am joining in The Mommyhood Chronicles Saturday's Top 5 Laughs.

Cecilia is getting to that age, she'll be two and a half next month where she is very vocal. I love it! Years from now it will be fun to look back on this with her.

Here are my top 5 laughs from this week:

1. Cecilia was quite the dancer at my cousin's wedding reception on Saturday, it didn't matter what type of music was on she was out on the dance floor shaking her booty. She was determined to keep up with the big kids!

She's the littlest one there.

2. Every night after Cecilia is getting out of the bath tub, brushing her teeth and while we put her pajamas on we sing songs.  Each night I ask her what song she wants to sing, her current favorites are "Bumblebee Song", "ABCs" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." On Wednesday night I asked her what song she wanted to sing and she said "Birthday song." So we sang the "Happy Birthday song." When I got to the part of whose birthday it was, she said Jackson's (little boy from daycare who recently had a birthday.) I love how she is beginning to remember things.

3.  On Thursday night as we were putting her pajamas on I asked her what we were going to sing.  She said "Play-doh" (her play doh was still out from where she played with it earlier). I told her there wasn't a play doh song.  She said "Uh huh mommy "and sings," Play-doh, play-doh, PLAAAYYYYYY DOOOHHHHH. All done mommy, now you sing.."

4.  Friday night after work we went grocery shopping to the place I hate the most, our local Super Wal Mart.  Wal Mart is the most convenient place for us to shop after we pick Cecilia up from daycare.  I loathe Wal Mart, I'd much rather spend the extra money and go to Safeway.  Daniel refuses though, he claims WalMart has the best prices (which they do), but I just cannot stand some of the people who shop there.  There isn't a website called People of WalMart for nothing.  We still don't buy our meat from there though...just the essentials (toilet paper, paper towels and some groceries). Anyway, when we turned in the opposite direction of home, Cecilia asked "Are we going to Mom mom and Pop pop's?"  We told her "No, we're going to WalMart." Then she said "We're going to WalMart!? Cici's Walmart?!" As we get closer every building she sees she points, "That's Cici's WalMart." I tell her, "No that's Lowes." Then she sees another shopping Center, "Is THAT Cici's WalMart?" "Nooo.."  Finally when WalMart is in view, "There's Cici's WalMart!" I love how everything is hers and how she refers to everything in third person even if it is WalMart.

5. Tonight we showed Cecilia the brochure for the amusement park we will hopefully be visiting tomorrow (weather permitting!) and she sees it and says, "Wow, mommy look at those slides!" Referring to all of the rollercoasters.  We laughed, we never thought of how a roller coaster, especially on a map can look like slides to a two year old.

Visit Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles' "Saturday's Top 5 Laughs" What are your kids Top Five Laughs from this week?

Also, I don't have any guesses to where we are going today (Saturday) yet.  The first follower of mine to guess correctly will get a prize, regardless if we go or not.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Uncle Glenn: Part 3 {Happy birthday!}

On Sunday morning, everyone still tired from the festvities from the night before we all met at my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn's for a 60th Birthday Breakfast for Uncle Glenn. My mom, another one of my aunts, several of my cousins, Uncle Glenn's cousin and his family, Daniel and I were there to celebrate.

We all (or Ci, Lesley and I) had our jerseys on since it was football Sunday.

Lesley, Ci, my cousin, Char, me, my cousin, Connie and my cousin, Becky

Daddy and his girl

After everyone had breakfast we made sure leave one of Uncle Glenn's favorites a cinnamon roll for the ever important birthday candle.

Here's Connie bringing in the "cake:". (Don't you love the deer head on the wall, that used to annoy my Aunt Bonnie, but after all that's happened she said she would let Uncle Glenn hang a thousand animals on her wall if it would make him healthy again.)

And Uncle Glenn blowing out his candle.

Daddy and his little girl.

Happy birthday, Uncle Glenn! I am sorry our Ravens played a horrible game and couldn't give you a win on your birthday.  I love you and I hope they will find a cure for ALS and you will have many more birthdays to celebrate!

xoxo,
Mindy

To Go or Not To Go?

Remember the weekend getaway I was hoping for this weekend? As of yesterday I didn’t think we were going to go.  According to weather.com it was going to rain at our destination (oh and at home!) all day on Saturday. I had already had it in my head that we weren’t going.  The weather gods didn’t like us.  I was planning a day of fall cleaning since there wasn’t anything else for us to do. Then the hubs e-mails me and asks if we were going to go to tomorrow.

At first, I typed, no, because of the rain.  Then I decided to go and see if the weather had changed.  It had, but very little.  It says Rain showers in the morning then thundershowers in the afternoon. High 77F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.

The Weather Channel has been known to be wrong before, but the way it looks it may just be scattered showers in the afternoon when we’re there (the majority of the activities we will be doing are outdoors.).  

I am still up in the air about whether or not we should go. I really want to get away even if it’s just for the day, but I don’t want to go and not be able to anything, because of the rain.  We also have tickets that expire this weekend if we don’t go.  I have a feeling they will extend them though since the last few weeks we’ve had nasty weather.

Where are we going you may ask? It just might be the “sweetest place on Earth.”  The last time I was there was over twenty years ago! The first blog reader to correctly guess where we are going in the comments will get a little memento from our destination.

Y3W: Three Little Monkeys

Here's Cecilia with her friends, Jenna and Aubree jumping on Jenna's bed.  These three little girls play suprisingly well with another.  Usually when three toddlers get together it's pure chaos.  There were only a few tears shed when there weren't enough of the same toy to go around for all.

In the years to come I am sure there will be a lot more play dates, gymnastic and dance classes, soccer games, princess parties and of course sleepovers.

Link up with Jenni from Jenni From The Blog for Your Three Words!

My Uncle Glenn (part 2)

A little over two weeks ago a benefit was for my Uncle Glenn.  The benefit was put on a business in Easton, Maryland.  The owner of the business went to high school with my cousin Allan and has remained close with Allan and Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn.

When Daniel and I arrived there was a line outside of the door wrapping outside of the building.  It brought tears to my eyes to see that many people in my uncle's community came out to support him.  The tickets were $30 a piece and there were families of 5 there, who paid $150 to come to a local 4H park for a buffet dinner.  It meant a lot to me and I know it meant a lot to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn. In the advanced stages of ALS the average cost of care for an ALS patient can be $200,000 a year.  Uncle Glenn now needs a nurse to be with him while my Aunt Bonnie is at work (that nurse costs $40 an hour).  Unfortunately Aunt Bonnie can't quite her job, because she has excellent insurance. Even the insurance though only covers a portion of the costs.  They didn't cover the new wheelchair Uncle Glenn needs, that wheelchair costs $30,000. Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn had a decent nest egg in their savings, but their savings is quickly being depleted.

These programs were on the table as we walked in

There also was a silent auction with various items to bet on

When Daniel saw these Flyers pucks in the Silent Auction and a photo signed by the entire team, he told me he didn't care how much we bet he wanted them.  So I was going back and forth with "John Smith" who I thought a middle aged man.  John would write $20, I'd write $23 we went back and forth.  Finally when the DJ told us that there were only a fe minutes left in the silent auction I wrote down a bid. THen this girl pushed me out of the way and out bid me writting down "John Smith." She looked at me and asked "Who is Daniel ****?" Totally butchering our last name. I told her he was my husband. She said "Well, John Smith is my ten year old brother and I think he needs these pucks more then your husband." I wasn't going to fight with a 15 year old.  Although I did have a few choice words about how it was a charity event and the object was to raise money for the items and for the charity.  I kept my mouth shut and went back to tell Daniel we were outbid by a 10 year old.

 Even a basket of produce was for sale (my cousin, Connie's friend Tara who came down from Philly won it.)

This was our table, my great uncle, my grandfather (my dad's father), my dad's cousin, my dad and family friends sat there.

This is my girl, Darby. She's Uncle Glenn's youngest granddaughter (my cousin, Allan's daughter). Darby had a soccer game in NJ (where they live) earlier in the day, left the soccer game and came to the benefit.

Here's Darby's oldest sister, Emma (who also had a soccer game that day) and Darby's cousin, Uncle Glenn's second to oldest granddaughter, and my cousin, Connie's daughter, Morgan (Morgan and her family came from the Philly area)

See this girl? She's the one I almost told off.  I felt bad when my Aunt Bonnie (holding the microphone) said she was one of the top sellers for raffle tickets that went toward Uncle Glenn's fund. Because she was one of the top sellers my Aunt Bonnie presented her with a certificate paying for her driving school donated by Bayside Driving School (valued at $400!)

Uncle Glenn hates being the center of attention.  You can see him at the end of the table.

 I am not sure of the exact amount raised from the auction, the benefit and raffle tickets that were sold in August, but I know it will be a big, big help to my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Bonnie!

 

My Uncle Glenn (part 1)

This past weekend was a weekend full of celebrations.  We celebrated my cousin, John and his new wife, Amy's new marriage on Saturday and on Sunday we celebrated my Uncle Glenn's 60th Birthday {more on that later}.  My Uncle Glenn, is my Aunt Bonnie's (my mom's oldest sister) husband. Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn had their 41st wedding anniversary in June.


The past few years have been difficult on Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn .  My Uncle Glenn had always been very active, he worked a full time job and at night he would help his dad on the family farm. Uncle Glenn and Aunt Bonnie have two kids, my cousins, Allan and Connie.  Uncle Glenn coached their little league teams and he  rarely missed a game when Allan and Connie played high school sports. Connie went on to play volleyball at Towson University and Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn traveled all over the country to watch her play.


Uncle Glenn was always the uncle to start a game of volleyball at a family picnic. Even at age 55 he was playing kick ball with his five grandchildren. That all changed in 2008.


I am going to copy & paste the introduction from Uncle Glenn's Caring Bridge website:

In the fall of 2008, Glenn started experiencing some symptoms of shortness of breath when exercising or walking any distance. His doctor ordered a nuclear stress test and then Glenn was referred to a Dr. Kelly Sullivan. In January 2009 Glenn was scheduled for a cardiac c​a​t​h​e​t​e​r​i​z​a​t​i​o​n at Anne Arundel Medical Center and at that time they placed two stints into one artery and one stint in a second artery. Glenn saw some improvement with the symptoms he had been e​x​p​e​r​i​e​n​c​i​n​g​, however he still felt very short winded the morning after his release. A week later the trip to the c​a​r​d​i​o​l​o​g​i​s​t​, they ordered another nuclear stress test. In February 2009 Glenn went back to Anne Arundel Medical Center for his second cardiac c​a​t​h​e​t​e​r​i​z​a​t​i​o​n​, and a fourth stint was placed in a third artery. The doctor explained that the previous test had revealed a false read in that one artery. Finally Glenn did see some improvement. 

In March 2009 Glenn started experiencing some back pain and weakness in the left leg. It was very slight in the beginning however the condition continued to get worse. The cardiologist stated that everything was fine with the heart. Many of us believed that when they did Glenn’s second cardiac c​a​t​h​e​t​e​r​i​z​a​t​i​o​n that the doctor possibly hit or damaged a nerve when performing the second procedure. Glenn went from one doctor to another, specialist after specialist. It seemed like one roadblock and d​i​s​a​p​p​o​i​n​t​m​e​n​t after another. Glenn had a​p​p​r​o​x​i​m​a​t​e​l​y 5 MRI’s in the year of 2009. In the meantime Glenn’s condition was getting worse with him experiencing the same weakness in his left hand. Finally in December 2009, Glenn was able to get an appointment at John Hopkins. The doctor ordered yet another more extensive MRI and more blood work, and again, no answers. February 1, 2010, Glenn went to John Hopkins for a nerve test, prior to his scheduled doctors appointment. Allan and Connie met Glenn and Bonnie at John Hopkins that morning because they all wanted answers. After the nerve testing Glenn and his family sat down with the doctor and NOTHING could prepare them to hear the doctor say that the diagnosis that they waited so anxiously and impatiently to hear was Glenn has ALS (aka Lou Gehring’s Disease).

After a diagnosis like that, Glenn and his family had to wait until April 7, 2010 for an appointment with the ALS specialist Dr. Nicholas Maragakis and the John Hopkins ALS Clinic.

As of right now, Glenn’s condition continues to decline, since March 2009, Glenn is also experiencing the symptoms now on his right side and now uses a cane and walker. He needs a wheelchair for longer distances and continues to see changes in physical ability almost weekly.

 Even though Aunt Bonnie, Allan and Connie were happy to get answers, learning Uncle Glenn had ALS was difficult. No one we knew had ALS and the only thing we knew about it was that was the disease that eventually killed Lou Gehrig (the baseball player that held the record for most consecutive baseball games played until Baltimore Orioles player Cal Ripken broke it in 1995...ironically Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Glenn were at the game that Cal ended his streak).

Uncle Glenn is still battling this horrible disease.  He has to wear a mask several times that is attached to a BiPap machine.  For someone who never smoked to have trouble breathing and shortness of breath is sad.  He can't walk on his own now and has to wheel chair or walker to get anywhere.  Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn had to turn one of their spare bedrooms into a handicap bathroom wide enough for Uncle Glenn's wheel chair.

We are extremely lucky that we are close to one of top research hospitals in the country with Johns Hopkins.  I know Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Glenn feel better knowing that Uncle Glenn has the best doctors in the world!

Uncle Glenn with his granddaughters, Gillian (driving), Emma & Darby

Uncle Glenn working on the farm in 2010 with my cousin, Connie and her daughter, Morgan

A really blurry picture of me, Ci, my cousin's daughter, Kacie, my other cousin's daughter, Gracie and Uncle Glenn in 2010.