this is the day

The Drehers take over the hospital!

It's been just over a year since I wrote this post.

This morning we kissed on my dad again as he lay in a bed all covered up to his neck in a warm blanket.

This time he had just a few tears coming out of his eyes. He was being wheeled into surgery to fix the damage that had been caused from the heart attack over a year ago.

Turns out, he's pretty much a miracle.

As if we didn't already know that.

Once he got to the hospital for the surgery and more thorough examinations of his heart were done in preparation for surgery, it showed that he, in fact, shouldn't be alive at all.

He has a hole that was caused by the heart attack, he also has an aneurysm.

The only thing that has kept him alive is the scar tissue from his quintuple bypass surgery 8 years ago. It saved him, saved him once and now again by keeping his aneurism from bursting.

His heart has been ravaged by things beyond his control, but because he has taken care of the temple that God gave him, he has been able to wrestle and speak in his made-up language and tickle and tease 6 kids and over a dozen grandkids.

This man also has a heart that pumps like a 30-year-old marathon runner. Something he once was.

It sure says something for being in shape and taking care of yourself.

He's never been a drinker. Never been a smoker.

He can't sit still and he's always thinking of others before himself.

As the redneck anesthesiologist (literally, he was telling redneck jokes and resembled one perfectly) pulled up with the bed to take my backless-gowned Daddy downstairs where his chest would be cracked open once again, my mom, my three sisters and my youngest brother stood up and hugged on Dad.

And Dad prayed as we all hugged.

"This is the day that the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Psalm 118:24

Dad and 4 of the 6 Dreher kids...Adam with the little head in the back.

Dad and 4 of the 6 Dreher kids...Adam with the BIG head in the back.

Dad and the Dreher Daughters. :)

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snow days galore equals cute valentine cards at my house

My kids have had more snow days off from school this year than I had in all of my years of being in school combined. I'm sure of it.

It's getting a little ridiculous.

Well, since we had all this time on our hands being cooped up together in the house, we actually were able to get our Valentine project done before the party days!

I saw the idea on a blog a year or two ago so I'd been saving crayons ever since then.

I always buy a bunch of $.25 crayon boxes at Back to School time and throughout the year whenever we feel like the crayons we're coloring with are too "used" we just dump a new $.25 Crayola box into our Tub-o-Crayons.

I like new, sharp crayons, what can I say?! And if I stock up on $.25 boxes once a year, it's not like I'm wasting any money.

PLUS with this Valentine's Day craft, all the barely used crayons that we push aside as the year goes on are now being used!

~First, we (I, the kids flaked on me after about 10 minutes) peeled all the TONS of crayons. This took much, much longer than anticipated. Luckily, we had many, many more snow days than anticipated.

~Next, I arranged all the crayons into Rainbow Order. This is a mandatory step in the process. :)

~Then I cut all the crayons up into little bitty pieces.

~At this point (this was several, start-and-stop days into the process) I realized that I didn't have a heart-shaped baking tin to use.

I went to Target to see if they had mini muffin tins that were heart shaped. I knew I could always just use a regular mini muffin pan and give circular crayons, so I wasn't too worried.

They did have one, it was $9! Umm, no, that's a little out of my budget.

So I went to look in the dollar spot at Target.

No luck. They did, however, have a two-pack of mini-muffin size heart-shaped ice cube trays! They were the silicone, rubbermaid, whatever stuff.

I thought, what the heck, for $1, I'll give it a shot baking the ice cube trays! Why not!

Turns out I'm a genius (cause I'm sure nobody has ever thought of that before) and ice cube trays can be baked repeatedly at 325 degrees. Who knew?! Me, apparently.

~I fought the urge to make each recycled heart crayon perfectly rainbow perfection and let the kids put whatever jumble of colors they wanted into each little heart cup.

(Yes, it is in the middle of the day, yes, he is in PJs. It's a snow day, it was -12 wind chills outside and we had nowhere to go. Why get dressed?!)

~We had to experiment with oven temperature and the amount of time. I ended up at about 325 degrees and I honestly don't remember how long...10 minutes? Maybe more? Or less? This obviously isn't a tutorial.

About this time The Baby found a new place to play.

And The Princess wanted me to take a picture to document how dang cold it was outside. Actually not a bad idea.

~So then I wanted to figure out a cool way to give out the little heart crayons. First I thought we'd just tape them onto plain cardstock and have the kids write their names.

Well, as usual, my idea blew up a bit from there.

I decided to design each of the kiddos their own little card, along with a little crayon card and print them at my local printer. I had so much fun thinking of things that represented who they each are and having them help me with cute things to say.

Being the el cheapo I am, I did it all for less that $15. That's 3 kids giving cards and a little crayon prize to 20+ kids each. Very budget friendly!

I LOVE how they all turned out!

The look really big, but they're actually only about 3" x 4".

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i'm now an old lady

This is far from an insightful post. I'm still kind of overwhelmed by how awesome my birthday party was. Just lots of fun with great friends and family!

I turned 30 at the end of January.

I knew it was coming, I'd been anticipating this birthday for several years. So excited to have a big, exciting, over-the-top extravaganza of a party.

I thought for a while that I'd take a big trip with girlfriends, a getaway to celebrate my newfound wisdom and wrinkles. Well, time and budget didn't allow for that so I decided to throw myself a big bash here at home.

Well, that didn't happen either. I had just started thinking about what I wanted to do when the hubby and a handful of my bestest friends kicked me out of the inner party-planning circle and told me I'd have to just wait and follow orders on when to show up.

That isn't easy for a control freakish, plan-happy old lady like myself. I did it, though, and I'm proud to say that I did not hack into the hubby's email or FB account (which would have been very easy) to try to find out details and I tried my hardest not to ask too many questions.

So proud of myself for not ruining the surprise because what a great surprise it was! A perfect party with so many of my favorite people and I suspected nothing until I rolled up to the front door.

The first surprise of the day was beautiful friends Molly and Anna. The girls blew me away by showing up at my house on my birthday (with the help of the hubby and my mom). Each of them drove more than 3 hours to get here and I can't even put into words how much it meant to me that they did that. Wow. I was speechless then and still am.

Molly, Anna and I shopped and hung out till they took me out to dinner. They didn't tell me where, just drove me to a place that has great eats and great dancing and when we walked inside I saw table after table of my friends and family ready to party the night away with me.

What a great way to spend a birthday. I cuddled with my kids in the morning then spent the evening with tons of loved ones just having fun.

Nothing fancy, nothing formal, nothing that required any thought or worry on my part. Perfection.

So many old and new friends were there, my little bro and sis-in-law, my big bro and of course the hubby. I love you all so much and can't believe how much work went into making this such an awesome event for me!

That you all for the best 30th Birthday Bash that I've ever had!!

My Mommy and Me on my 30th Bday.

Most of the chicas at the party. 5 or 6 had already left. :(

The following are a bunch of party pics! Woohoo!

Most are from Lindsay's camera...I kind of failed at photo-taking that evening.

The cake was made by Lisa...it's her newest hobby. It was an orange (my fave color) and white zebra 3-0! Pretty dang awesome! I didn't actually eat any of it, but I heard it was AMAZING!

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are you really that old? happy 3rd birthday to The Baby

My sweet baby girl,

I cannot even believe this much time has passed. You're three years old now and you're taking on the world.

This has been a big year for you, and for me. We've both learned so much about who you are and I am beginning to get a grasp of why you do the things you do.

You have had me on my toes since the day you were born and I was never quite able to figure out what was going through your little head.

We learned this year that you have Sensory Processing Disorder and that is the reason for your sensitivity to so many things. You also are severely delayed in your speech, but somehow you still get your point across and you're anything but silent!

You crave crazy, fun play. You love to laugh and jump and crash into things and demolish everything in sight.

You love puppies—but don't hold your breath, this family isn't getting one anytime soon—and you screech and scream and run after them after time we see one in person, in a book, on television or in a picture.

The way you yell "MoMMMMeeeeee!" every, single time you see me is adorable. Even though you see me all day long and you announce my entrance every time I come into the room you're in, it still makes me laugh. You seem surprised and excited to see me, it melts my heart.

You still sleep in a crib. You can get in and out of it, but for the most part, you don't. Sometimes I'll come in to find you in your crib in the morning with every single toy in the bed with you. You get out in the middle of the night, start dumping buckets of toys in the crib, climb back in, play and go to sleep.

You can hardly ever be found without a great, big toothy smile on your face.

You have a hilariously-evil, maniacal laugh that kills me.

Your hugs, your crazy little monkey hugs are the best things in the world.

You don't really walk. You run, hop, jump, skip, stomp and stumble your way around your world.

You are amazing. I have struggled for so long to figure out why you're not easy, why you're not like every other little kid who is go-with-the-flow, can sit and eat a meal, can talk in a normal-non-screaming-tone, can sit still for more than 20 seconds.

You are exactly who God made you to be. And he gave you to me to raise, to teach and to train you into exactly who he wants you to be.

He knows why you're spastic, silly and kinda crazed.

He knows why you're loud, slightly maniacal and extremely bouncy.

He knows why you're quick to smile and why you laugh all the time.

Because He made you and He has plans that I can't even comprehend or plan for. I try and I worry and I pray for you. I pray for things to be easier, for you to be find your niche and selfishly for it all to just be normal so I don't worry about you.

But He has a reason for the way you are.

Because you're amazing. You're the only one like you.

He is showing me time and time again through people, words and experiences all around us, that He has purposefully made you who you are and is putting all of these things in our lives to make you the best you can be.

Happy (late) Birthday, my sweet little girl.

Mommmmmeeeee!

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please stop growing up. The Princess is 5.

Happy 5th Birthday to The Princess: (just a few weeks late)

Girl, you make my jaw drop nearly every single day.

The hilarious--sometimes snotty and bossy--things that come out of your mouth are unbelievable.

I've said this in your birthday letters since you were itty bitty, but your confidence is frightening. Your self-assurance is not lacking one bit.

I'm proud of that but also worried that, not unlike myself, the self confidence will sometimes prevent you from being sympathetic to others worries and fears. I pray that you'll use your strength, your confidence, to build others up.

You have started many new things this year and you want to do more and more. You're not scared of the unknown, you're ready to experience every bit of it.

You love your ballet class.

You stand, sing and speak loud and proud in your theater class.

You go to preschool, have given soccer and cheerleading a try, gymnastics, too. You'd keep doing them all if we had the time and money to haul you around to each of them!

This winter you were chosen to be in a local production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. You were the youngest cast member and didn't have any lines, but it was a great experience for you to go out on stage, wait backstage, be a part of endless rehearsals, listen to instructions and just be a part of such a great group of people.

Before the first performance I was nervous. I wasn't sure how you'd react when you came out on the big stage and saw the huge auditorium full of people for the first time.

Well, I was nervous for nothing. After the play you talked non-stop about how cool it was when you walked out and saw TONS of people and, "there were, like, only 6 seats open! It was so cool!"

You sing and dance and make up stories and songs all day long.

You love to dress up and pretend to be a mom.

You talk all the time about getting married. You dress up as a bride and pretend to get married. It's a little disturbing, to tell the truth, how fixated you are on getting married. :)

You love your friends and you talk about them all the time. You love to play and laugh and pretend.

You're still such a little princess, but you're growing up before my eyes.

I love you more than you know and I'm so proud that God chose me to be your mom. I know I've got my work cut out for me to raise you to be the Godly princess he wants you to be.

Mom

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5 women

5 women traveled from 5 different cities and met this past weekend to hang out and get reconnected.

It had been 5 years since we first met.

There are at least 5 blog posts that I should be doing before this one:

1. The Princess's 5th Birthday Letter

2. The Baby's 3rd Birthday Letter

3. My half marathon accomplishment

4. Our anniversary trip

5. Cool birthday party photos

But this one is at the forefront of my mind so out it comes...

5 years ago I moved from the area I had ALWAYS lived to a small town in southwest Missouri.

I knew no one.

I had a 2-year-old little boy and a 6-week-old little girl and my hubby took a job managing a handful of restaurants in the area.

There is so much I can say about that move. The move, our life there, how we left, it was all life-changing.

It changed our marriage, changed my spiritual life, changed our family view on things.

But that's not what this is about.

We started attending a church thanks to the outgoing-outreach of Anna and her husband. More about that is HERE.

So first I met Anna. She was loud, blunt, emotional and more than willing to put herself out there to be my friend and make her friends my friends. That isn't something that every woman would do.

She worked full time but had two little kids, about the same ages as my own little kids.

I met the other three gals soon after when Anna started inviting me to Sunday school class, church events and even her own, personal girl get-togethers.

Lori was quieter than Anna, a go-with-the-flow type, always kind and always caring. Her strength over the past few years during an unbelievable health situation with her hubby that involved a series of tumors, brain surgery, doctors, hospital stays and not knowing what the next day would bring was beyond what I ever could have imagined.

Melissa had a little girl who practically shared a birthday with The Princess. Melissa had a loud, contagious laugh, was always the life of the party and I envied (and still do, in a good way) how she always talked about her husband like he was her best friend and her favorite person to be with.

Molly, well, what can you say about Molly. It's weird, actually, we hung out, did church events and we were friends, but we've become better friends since I moved away. She is just like me in so many ways. I think she was the one who I thought would be the hardest to get to know, but ironically, she was the easiest...because it was like having a conversation with myself.

It was almost 5 years ago this weekend that I moved to that small town and was introduced to these women.

I wasn't looking for anything from anyone and I found so much.

A year and a half after we moved there, Steve's job was eliminated and he took a job back in the place where we had always lived. Back to Kansas.

5 years later we all met in Kansas City for a weekend together. We've done this annually over the past 3 (almost 4) years since I've been gone from Missouri, but this was the first time that ALL 5 of us were actually able to be there together!

Melissa comes from Texas now, Molly and Lori are still near the town where we met and Anna now lives up near KC.

Time has changed things. So much has happened since we all lived in the same city. Huge life events have changed each of us and little, daily happenings have changed us in ways that aren't so obvious.

But to be able and pick up and laugh and hug like we do this every night shows just how strong our friendships are.

Pictures from this weekend don't quite do it justice (but here are a few that show our massive amounts of food and shopping!!!). It was such a perfect escape for me.

Love you girls, more than you know.

About 4 years ago at a scrapbook party at Anna's house, I found a little design on a piece of scrapbook paper and have been carrying it around ever since. I thought it would be perfect for my foot tattoo...but somehow I never made it happen. Until this weekend! I took my design and made some adjustments and gave my awesome artist guy creative freedom with the colors (only telling him that I wanted a LOT of color).

Molly got a shamrock, a tribute to her Irish roots. :)

This is the outcome....

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first day of preschool! only a couple months late

The girls started preschool a couple months ago.

I'm a little behind on posting, obviously.

We've been busy.

It was not a good picture-taking morning. Nobody wanted to cooperate with me!

They were all running around and excited to go to school. The nerve!

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i knew exactly what i was doing, advice to the old-young me--part 4

(It's back! It's been a while, but hopefully I can knock out the rest of these in the coming months before I have a birthday and it's no longer applicable!)

A series.

14 pieces of advice to myself as a 14-year-old girl, 15 years ago

(confused yet?):

Read Parts 1, 2 and 3 HERE

In the coming year, your mother and your father will each lose their mothers to cancer. It is not a pretty picture.

You are a teenager. You're consumed with yourself and your social surroundings. You have no idea the anguish that is going on inside your parents and extended family as the cancer spreads, in fact you don't really even make an effort to try.

Yes, it's sad, you feel that. But your mother and your father are each losing the figure that played the most important role in their lives for many, many years.

The role that in 15 years you will be playing to three young children.

The role that in 15 years is all you can identify with anymore.

Your memories with your dad's mom—the bowling alleys, watching her knit, Wheel of Fortune, basketball camp, little dogs, The Center Christmas boxes (can I get an Amen, Matt, Adam, Chrystal, Craig and Shelly!), family reunions, the Chicken Dance—will stick with you forever.

You'll never forget the time spent in Hays on fun grandchild visits. Sleeping next to her when you were scared in your own room. Reaching under her pillow as you snuggled next to her and finding her Rosary there, always close to her heart.

The final words to you from your mom's mom will form how you view life and death. Her graceful acceptance. As she lay in her bed unable to even sit up. She'll look you in the eyes and smile through the pain and the drugs and her sweet, hoarse voice will tell you how she looks forward to seeing you in God's kingdom one day.

You'll never again taste her melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies, her perfectly formed chocolate sheet cake and chocolate pie with the expertly-made crust. You'll never again feel those soft, yet extremely tough hands.

Appreciate the loving family that you have. You take it for granted now but in 15 years it will be everything to you.

In 15 years you'll be desperately trying to recreate the loving home you remember from your childhood for your own three children.

Pay attention to the hard work, the pain, the suffering, the loss, the Faith, the trust, the undeniable, unconditional love that surrounds you for it is what made your home the way it was.

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the sensory box lie

I read several different places and The Baby's Rainbows teacher suggested that she might enjoy a Sensory Box.

A box that will let her dig and explore and grab and play with different textures.

I went to several different stores before finding the cheapest beans possible for the box. :) In case you're wondering, Aldi proved to have the best deal.

This is what I ended up with.

The Baby liked it.

Her little hands dove right in.

All the sweet little blogs and websites I read talked about how their children were in love with the sensory boxes.

Their sweet little kids would sit there and play and play and play for hours on end.

Just digging and exploring and having clean, organized fun.

Well, this isn't one of those blogs.

My child lasted about 30 seconds before jumping into the box.



She laughed (aka manically cackled) as she felt the little beans between her toes.

Then she sat down and dug around some more.

Do you see the scheming little look on her face?

I knew what was coming next.

Such fun she is.

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