Happy New Year!

As you all know, it feels like the Furedy Family has faced a mountain of challenges during 2009... and we are ALL looking forward to the year 2010.


We spent New Year's Eve together as a family... and here is what everyone had to say about their resolutions:

Julia has resolved to keep her room cleaner, to put her boundless energy to use, and to be nice to other people. (She KNOWS what she needs to do... it's just that the emotions of being NINE, yes NINE, tend to get in the way).


Colin has resolved to put away the toy he is done playing with before he digs out the next toy he wants to play with. (I love this boy, and I know his resolution comes directly from words that come out of my mouth at least once daily... but... yeah... there is no hope for this one!)
Joe has resolved to get into shape so he can go back to canyoneering... and to not end up in the hospital even once in 2010. As he says, it's the simple things in life! (And my heart so desires this for him... just for his life to go back to 'normal'. I think it will be very hard for me to NOT support a LOT of canyoneering trips this year).

My resolutions are not as simple... and I know I will have to work on them EACH and EVERY day (and please, my blog and FB friends... feel free to remind me of them when I slip)....


To appreciate my husband and my children for the people that they are and the people that they are becoming (even if that doesn't match with my perfect ideal... and I'll note that this starts with this Blog post where I am actually posting the photo of my son with no shirt on, despite the fact that I hate to admit that he sleeps in just jammie pants EVERY NIGHT- if we are lucky)

To enjoy more and fret less, to play more and plan less, to relax more and stress less... to more or less live life to it's fullest each and every day.

Here's to a wonderful 2010 for all of you... may you have health and happiness in the new year!
Love to you all-
The Furedy Family!


PS On another note, this was the first year that BOTH of my kids made it till midnight... we really are entering another chapter of parenthood!! :)

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Yeah! Good news!

Joe went in at 5 a.m. this morning so that the doctors could take a 'peek' at the vein that previously held his clot to determine what, if anything, they needed to do in order to return him to full health.

He went into surgery around 7:40 a.m. and the doctor came to talk to me around 8:30 a.m. Dr. Seigrist said that the vein looked good- that there was still some small narrowing at the spot where the vein was compressed, but that overall it looked 100% better than it did when they removed the rib.

So... I asked the all important question at this point... when can he canyoneer again? Doctor says as soon as he physically feels up to it. No more drugs, no more procedures... and his doctor very nicely told me that he hopes to never see Joe or I again. :)

This is excellent, excellent news and we are both so relieved... the last three months have been a real rollercoaster ride, and hopefully our car has pulled back into the loading dock so that we can get off and WALK into 2010.

Thanks for all your positive thoughts and prayers. We are SO blessed. Happy New Year!!

C

Twas the Night Before Surgery (Again....)

Well, here we are again... on the eve of another surgery. Joe goes in at 5 a.m. to Good Sam. for yet another procedure. They will use interventional radiology to determine if any repair is needed in the vein that held the clot.

If all goes well... this will be the end of our journey as it relates to Joe's rib. :)

Our greatest hope is that they will see a plump and healthy vein with minimal scar tissue... fingers are crossed! If this is the case, he will be off the coumadin and heading back towards his 'normal' life.

Just wanted to say thank you again to all of you who have supported us through this entire journey. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers (again!) tomorrow. If all goes well it should be a short procedure and Joe should be home by tomorrow afternoon.

On other health fronts... I am healing well and making good progress on returning to my usual self. I get tired very easily, but I can walk short distances, and can sit up for a few hours at a time... life is slowly returning to normal. Julia seems to be fully recovered from her illness... so in general the Furedy household is on the MEND!

Good night all. Talk to you soon!
C

Merry Christmas Everyone!

"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"
-the Grinch

From our house to yours-

May you have a wonderful

& memorable Christmas.

May the joy and wonder of childhood

touch and warm your hearts.

Our love to you all!

The Furedy Fam

Virtual Christmas Tour 2009

**Warning- very long and picture filled post**

I regularly read the blog, "The Shown Family", written by Shelly Shown. She created a 'virtual' Christmas tour of her favorite Christmas decorations this year, and encouraged those of us who read her blog to do the same. Here's my attempt at giving you a tour of the Furedy home at Christmas time. I did NOT take photos of all of our Christmas decorations. None of you have the time or patience for that experience! I would also like you to note that we are not a fancy 'decor' type family... so our decorations don't all match and aren't fancy. They are things that we have collected over the years- things that are special and have special meaning to us.

Here is the main tree in the living room. (yes, I will admit, this is on one of the 3 Christmas trees in our house...) We've had an artificial tree for the last ten years or so... turns out that I am allergic to Christmas trees... so the artificial is our only choice. We got this tree last year- it is a 9 and a half footer... and Joe is NOT happy every time that it has to come in or out of the attic. But I LOVE this tree. It is one of my FAVORITE things. The ornaments are ecelctic.. things that we have collected or made over the years.

Below is the "Kids Tree". This tree came into being about four years ago. The kids ornament collection was growing quickly, and they wanted something that was all their own. This tree is ugly. It came from Big Lots and it is really sparse. But, the kids love it. They love to decorate it. They love that it is in their play area. We keep the advent stories under this tree- we read up in the loft every night by this tree.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the outside lights. We didn't do a lot outside this year (we've had a few challenges in getting our outside chores done... can't imagine why!) but I did want to share these lights that the kids put up in the back yard. This is the first year we've done any lights in the backyard- these are on the kids playstructure.. Our house faces an open lot behind us, and can be seen from Baseline Road.

I really like candles during the holidays. This is one of my favorite ones. I bought it several years ago at the Decor Store. I fell in love with it that day... and I still love it. I actually leave this one out on a shelf year round, but it lives on the dining room table during the Christmas season. This will be the centerpiece for our very special Christmas Eve dinner.
Below are my lebkuchen tins. Lebkuchen are German cookies served at the holidays. These are a throwback to my childhood. I was born in Germany and my parents brought back a lot of German traditions when we moved back to the States. I have ALWAYS loved these tins. My parents bought me the two little tins- and the big tin was a gift from someone at work who was going to get rid of it and asked me if I would like to have it. She had no idea what it meant to me!

This is one of my newest decorations. This is another German decoration. My parents have something similar to this that they got while they were in Germany. You light the candles at the bottom and the rising hot air makes the center portion turn. The kids were amazed by this when we showed them how it worked. I found this decoration at Tuesday Morning. It was WAY more expensive than anything tht I would normally buy... but again, it just brought back a flood of childhood memories... and I just HAD to have it!

Below is a sign that hangs in our house year round... along with the beautiful poinsetta that Colin bought for me. He told Joe that he really wanted to buy me a poinsetta... and Joe took him to get it. I just love how beautiful and lush it looks- and the fact that my two favorite men bought it for me makes it even more special.

Next are the Christmas card displays. I send/ receive a lot of cards- truthfully it is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, and so I need more than one spot to display them. My mom made the snowman- isn't he cute? Normally I take a lot of time arranging the cards- but this year honestly- I've pretty much just plopped them in the holders.
This wreath is another new addition to the decorations this year. I made this Thanksgiving night. I got all the supplies 50% off at Hobby Lobby and put it all together. These are the first LED lights that we've purchased, and I have to admit that I really like them. I wish the bow at the top was better lit.. I am very proud of that bow! This hangs in the entry way of our home.
Here's the Christmas village. I have pretty much given over the arrangement of this part of the decorations to Julia and Colin. Thus, it is pretty cluttered! They love it though... and it looks different pretty much every day...

This shows what we do to the stair railings... this goes all the way up the stairs and also around the loft (you could see some of this in the Kid's Tree photo). I have done the lighted garland and the bows since we lived in our first house... this is typically one of the first decorations that I put out each year.

Are you sick of listening to all of this yet? Just want to share one last thing. This is probably one of my favorite decorations- the gum drop tree. One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories was doing the gum drop tree. And now, the kids and I do it each year together... and I know that it is becoming one of their favorite memories too... I know some people may think that I am NUTS for all of these decorations. I know Joe thinks I am crazy every year when he starts getting the boxes out of the attic. I really do enjoy looking at all of these things during the month of December. I think you can probably tell that from the length of this post- picking just a few favorite decorations proved impossible for me! I love being reminded of my childhood. And I know that I am creating those same types of positive memories for my own children. I am creating right now the things that will bring smiles to their hearts when I am gone and all they have are memories.

Alright, this post has gone on LONG ENOUGH. Have a wonderful night all....

C

Home... Colin's birthday and Pneumonia

So... looks like blog writing wasn't high on the priority list for Joe... I think I can totally understand!

Surgery went very well! I was in by 3 p.m. and out by 4:30. It was so fast Joe missed the doctor coming out because he had gone to get a soda! Dr. felt that everything went very well and thinks that I will have an excellent outcome. I spent quite awhile in recovery (and they wouldn't let Joe back to see me, which was somewhat upsetting I think) due to my asthma and just some struggles coming out of the anesthesia. I don't remember much about that evening. I was in quite a bit of pain and on a lot of meds... so I was really in and out for most of the night. Grandma Paulette was wonderful and spent the afternoon and evening with our kiddos so Joe could stay with me until I was a little more settled. Joe went home around midnight....

I know some of you really appreciated my post about wearing Joe's ring... he posted this photo on Twitter during my surgery... he's got my wedding ring and my hair rubber band. As he said, thank goodness he didn't need to wear them nearly as long as I wore his....
Around 1:30 a.m. I was laying in the bed thinking about 7 years ago, at that exact time and location I was meeting my beautiful son for the very first time... how odd to be in the same place on the same day 7 years later!

Around 4:30 a.m. on the 16th, they got me up for a walk and I started feeling a little better. By 2 p.m. I was home... so glad to make it home in time to celebrate Mr. Colin's birthday with him. He had an AWESOME birthday- the XBox 360 was a FANTASTIC surprise AND has been a life saver during the past few days when he was the ONLY one in the house who felt like playing. Here he is with his 'big surprise'... not that he was excited or anything!

The 17th was a bit of a challenge- slept through my pain pill during the night of the 16th and so I was really struggling- but a day of rest, pain pills and lots of comfort from Joe made things much better.

Julia started feeling poorly on the night of the 17th- the 18th had her and I resting on Nana's couches... and a trip to the doctor confirmed that she had a sinus infection and borderline pneumonia. Joe made yet ANOTHER run to the drug store... check out our current medication counter!! We could be running a pharmacy over here!!

That brings us to today... I feel good enough to sit up for about an hour at a time and can sit reclined for much longer than that. Riding in the car is still a challenge- so I'm not going far from home these days! I've managed a couple of showers and I've started cutting down to just ibuprofen for pain meds, so all in all, I think things are going well.

We are glad that school is over and we can just spend more time 'hanging out' during the next week or so... getting ready to celebrate Christmas!

Thanks to everyone for your support, love, prayer and positive thoughts over the last few days... you have no IDEA what it has meant to us. We are so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends around us supporting us. We appreciate you more than you could ever know!

:) C

Twas the Night Before Surgery

Twas the night before surgery and all through the house, not a creature was stirring.... not even the RATS!

Just wanted to keep everyone updated on the 'plan' for my surgery tomorrow.... I have to be at the hospital at 1 p.m. Surgery is scheduled for 3 p.m.- but odds are it will probably take place later..... Doctor says the surgery is 1.5 to 2 hours long if everything goes as planned.

I will hopefully be home on Wednesday in the late afternoon... my fingers are crossed that I get to come home in enough time to celebrate Mr. Colin's 7th birthday with him!!

Joe will be 'guest writing' this blog for a few days until I am back on my feet and ready to resume my writing duties. Check back here tomorrow evening for an update! :)

Have a wonderful week everyone!
C

Julia's Birthday

I promised awhile ago that I would post some pictures of Miss Julia's fabulous 9th birthday... so here we go (just a couple of weeks later!).

Julia, as per usual, had SEVERAL birthday celebrations. We started on November 21st with a big friend party at Gold Medal Swim School. At our house, you only get a friend party every other year. (What can I say? I have two kids with birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas.. not the easiest part of the year in terms of time OR finances to have TWO birthday parties). Anyway, it was Julia's year this year... and she thought it would be A LOT of fun to be able to swim in late November. She invited a lot of friends... a nice mix of boys and girls (another reason why swimming made a lot of sense)... and the party was tons of fun! Here's the whole crowd after swimming and before they got a chance to enjoy their pizza and cake! :)The birthday celebration continued at home on November 23rd- her actual birthday! I cooked her requested birthday dinner... twisty noodles, raw veggies, garlic rolls and clementines. Except for the lack of protein- a pretty balanced dinner! She got to open the present from her Poohbah and Grandma Sherry which had come in the mail, as well as her present from her brother. (No wrapped present from Mommy and Daddy- our present was the 'redo' of her room to a big girl room.. that's another post!) She had ice cream for dessert... no cake since we'd just had cake at the swim party. Here she is on her birthday with the special plate!!The celebration just kept rolling.... Thanksgiving Day she got to celebrate with Nana, Papa and Uncle Andrew. We added cake to the traditional Thanksgiving Day pie... Nana bought her these AWESOME candles- and she had a turkey on her cake. This kid really DOES love the fact that she was born on Thanksgiving Day.
The final birthday celebration (I know, seriously, are we done yet?) took place the day after Thanksgiving. We headed to Papago Park with Grandma Paulette, Grandpa Steve, GG, Uncle Mike & Aunt Vanessa (and baby Cora was along for the ride too), Aunt Bic & Uncle Eric, Uncle Jason & Aunt Paige, and Asher & Gundry for a cookout, a hike and a generally good hang out day. It was lots of fun. Julia really enjoyed the stream and caught tons of snails and clams and other smelly stuff. We also walked up to Hole in the Rock- which Julia absolutely loves.We started the celebration of Colin's birthday on this day too... but seriously... that's another post!
Have a good one everybody...
C

Heritage Doll Projects

So... my kids' homework this week was to create a 'heritage' doll that showed the heritage of their family. Julia has had to create a doll before, but now that Colin is in First grade, he had to do one too. Third grade brought the addition of a 'report' for Miss Julia.

We always look to Joe's side of the family for this one, because his great-grandfather (Frank) immigrated from Hungary and his great-grandmother (Julia) immigrated from Poland. We usually go with the Hungarian side of things as this is where the name Furedy (Füredi) comes from. Most of the Hungarian traditions within his family have fallen to the wayside- mostly because of his great-grandfather Frank who wanted all of his children to speak English without an accent and to become Americanized.

We had lots of family help with this project (how perfect is that?)! Nana provided all of the fabric and trimming materials that we would need, and Great Uncle Clifton provided all of the family research and details for Julia to use in her report. To both of you... thanks so much! Julia enjoyed this project more than almost anything else that she has done for school so far this year. She really enjoyed reading about her ancestors- especially her Great-Great Grandmother for whom she is named.

Here's the final product... pretty good I think!Night everyone..
C

Santa and the Tooth Fairy?

So I am VERY behind on posting... I want to put up some pictures of all of Julia's birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving... I will get to it soon, I promise!

But in the meantime.... today is the first of December!

December 1st is always a special day in the Furedy household because it is the day that we start our Advent countdown. These traditions started the year that Julia turned one... and we've enjoyed them every year since! We count down each night with a chocolate Advent calendar AND a Christmas story book. Nana and Papa have provided the chocolate Advent calendars each year. Normally, I would not be a fan of giving my children chocolate right before bed each night, but during the Christmas season we tend to overlook stuff like that.

As for the Christmas story books... over the years I have collected a TON of holiday books (from my teaching years and from my addiction to picture books!). Each Christmas I pick out 24 of my favorites (and now the kids' favorites) and wrap them. Starting on December 1st, each night the kids pick a package to unwrap and read. This is a great way to have a LOT of excitement around reading- and now that the kids are older, it is a fun way to revisit stories that we have read over and over again. (I cannot claim credit for this idea... my dear friend Natalia Rojas did this with her children when they were young.)

So... December 1st... tons of fun and excitement! Colin is REALLY into all of this right now and he was SO excited to start the Advent calendars this year. Sometimes I question why I make myself so nuts trying to keep up with all of the holiday traditions- go to all of the effort- and then I see my little man's face and it is all perfectly clear.

Anyway, thought I would end this post with a little story about Mr. Colin. He told me this the other day.

"Mom, did you know that the Tooth Fairy and Santa work together?"
"No Colin, I didn't know that. What do you mean, they work together?"
"Well, you see, when you lose a tooth, the Tooth Fairy comes into your room to get the tooth right? And while the Tooth Fairy is there, she looks all around and sees what toys you already have. Then she goes to the North Pole and tells Santa what you already have and what you like. So then Santa knows what to bring you!"

Gotta love this kid!!!
Happy December 1st everyone!
:) C