Darren turns 40!!!

The kids and I drove to Wichita this last weekend to celebrate Darren's 40th birthday. Although I am much to young to have a brother that's 40, no one consulted me on allowing him to get older. Mom planned a surprise party for him at the church and it was not easy to pull off. Darren is never in town and mom had to plot with his boss Pat to arrange it so he had to be in Wichita. Some how they did it! Then the kids and I left Friday morning and drove all day to Wichita. Unfortuantely Darren's car was parked in the driveway when we got there. He didn't know we were coming. That was a surprise too. I called mom as we pulled up and she said to act like we were surprising them. I told the kids to walk in and tell Mema surprise and NOT to mention anything about Uncle Darren's birthday. Gab's loved being able to yell surprise when we walked in which really helped our cover and mom was very convincing in her surprise. I'm not sure how much I'm going to trust her reactions from now on. She was way too good at lying. Thankfully my best friend Debbie had just had her new baby Cameron Lee and I added coming to she her and her new little one as part of the surprise. Thanks for timing that just right for me Deb. I had talked with her monthes earlier about if she could manage to have the baby around then as it would be really convient for me. She's got great timing.

Mom, dad, and the kids and I went out to Cici's for dinner (the kids favorite) and then did a little running to get a couple of last minute things for the party.

The next day Darren came over for breakfast and we all went to mom and dad's usual hang out at McD's. It's their "Cheers", everyone knows them by name. I agreed to go shopping with Darren to get him out of the way so mom could get everything ready and loaded in the car. She called me while we were out shopping and gave me the story of having to help her serve a brunch at the church with her because someone had cancelled on her. I went back to their house, changed and we headed to pick up some of the food and set the church up. My grandmother who is suffering from a sever case of shingles willed herself to be well enough to go to the party. Darren is very special to her and does a lot for her. My Aunt Pat was there as well from Oklahoma City to help out and celebrate as well. Uncle Larry and his wife Helen stayed upstairs to guide guests in and warned us when Darren showed up. I had called him and told him we needed his help carrying some stuff. He had been hanging out with Dad and Nick. They walked in and we yelled surprise. We knew he was surprised because he turned every shade of red you can imagine. We had a great time. Darren's best friends from California came, Sharon and Greg. That was also a surprise to him. We had a lot of fun.

The kids and I left the next morning to go back to Denver and I never got the chance to see Debbie and Cameron. I will defintely see them next time!

Dad, Mom, Darren, Me (Kate), Aunt Pat, Grandmother Colvin

Greg, Sharon, Darren

Darren and Brenda

Cameron Lee

Easter

Okay, I haven't been keeping up with this like I'd hoped so I'm ging to update it now. First, Easter. The kids had a great time dying eggs and being creative. This was the first time Gabrielle had dyed eggs and she enjoyed it. She did the 'drop' method of dying making me glad that we used her little table to work at instead of the kitchen table that I love. Nick put a lot of thought into his eggs and had a great time working on them. Here are some pics. Gabs thought that the dye was stinky as you can tell by her face here.

Here are their baskets. Nick had star wars action figures and cards that go with a book series that he's into plus the obligitory candy. Gabrielle's was a farm themed basket since she loves farms right now, especially cows. She had a bucket of farm animals a cow cup, a cow bowl and a chick plastic egg and a sheep plastic egg.

This is Nick and Gabrielle in the process of hunting eggs. Nick being the great big brother he is would find them and point them out to Gabs. Everytime Gabs found one she would hold it up triumphantly and say "Egg!".

This is Gabrielle in her Easter dress. She was ticked at me because I put her hair in the dreaded ponytail. She hates having her hair done. But I forced in on her this day but she was determined to be mad about it. I've learned Gabs will be in whatever mood she wants and there is nothing you can do about it so I might as well take a picture no matter if she is smiling or not.

They had an Easter egg "pick-up" at church. You can't really call it a hunt since the eggs are just lying EVERYWHERE on the gym floor as thick as carpeting. You can't even walk in there. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it but Nick and Gabrielle had a good time picking them up.

After church Joanna and Scott came over for lunch. We had ribs, chicken, sliced potatos, fresh pineapple, hawaiian rolls and easter cookies for dessert. We all had a great time!

Sad week

Last week was such a bad week that I am very glad it's over. Scott and Joanna's dogs have been fighting and they decided to send them back to prison (a training program at a women's correctional facility). I took Mia and Zoey in for them on Thursday. On Tuesday night my cat Tao came out of the basement (his usual hang out) and as I petted him I noticed that he had lost a TON of weight. I knew something drastically was wrong. I took him to the vet clinic in downtown Denver. They ran some tests and found out that his kidney's were failing. Guy, being the loving supportive husband he is told me to whatever I needed to and not worry about the money. The vet said that we could try 3 days of fluids and medications to try and jumpstart Tao's kidney's. The vet said that many times this works with cats. We decided to try. Unfortunately 3 days later he still wouldn't eat and was in the same condition. I spoke with another vet there on Friday who said we could try 2 more days but he really didn't think it would change. He as very supportive and left the decisions to me. I decided to let Tao go and not make him suffer any longer. Guy came home early from work to be with Gabrielle and went to see Tao and say good-bye. The vet put us in a room especially for these situations with a couch and chair, very homey. He gave us time together and when I told him I was ready, he gave Tao the shot. He went very quickly and peacefully.

God gave me 11 wonderful years with him and for that I'm thankful. I'm thankful I could be with him at the end and not feel like I'd abandoned him. The Vet staff was so helpful and understanding and made a very difficult situation as painless as possible. They treated Tao with great care and respect. Even after Tao had left they treated his body with such respect and care. I'm very grateful to them. I'm also grateful to Guy for his understanding and comfort through this hard time for me. Nick has fortunately done very well with this. I was concerned how he would handle it but I'm always impressed with him. Gab's was concerned for me but after a few hugs she was fine. Life will go on but for now it will just be a little bit emptier.