Wise Family: Mother's Day, 2010

For Mother's Day this year I got to sleep in. Then Maya brought me a pretend cup of tea. Then the boys gave me their presents. Riley gave me project he made in school. It was a copy of Time Magazine, with me on the cover! He had drawn a picture of me and the cover of Time. Inside there was an article about me. He said the most important thing he learned from me was "Never give up unless what you are doing gets boring." Not exactly what I said but close enough. The funniest part was my world record. He said I hold the world record for longest time spent shopping at Costco: 4 hours. I beat the previous record of 3 hours 30 minutes.

Chris gave me book of coupons that I can redeem if I want an easy morning, help at meal time, or a peaceful bedtime. They were pages he had cut out of a Scholastic News for kids. Each page had lines for them to write their own ideas for that topic. In addition to helping prepare the meal, set the table and clean up, he wrote: "And I will not eat all the food so you can have some."
After church we went to the beach for our first beach cookout of the summer. We brought hot dogs, chips, snap peas, grapes, and of course: graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate for S'mores. Sarah, Grandma and Nanna joined us for a nice sunny day on the beach.

A few days later Matt and I went to Anchorage with Sarah to consult a specialist. Sarah's tumor was 99% "borderline cancer" and 1% epithelial carcinoma. Borderline cancers are not usually invasive and surgical excision is the cure. Epithelial carcinoma is invasive and we needed to know what to do about it. Dr. Higdon did not think she needed to go in for more biopsies. She just wants to monitor Sarah closely with tumor markers (blood tests) and ultrasound every 4 months for 2-3 years. We are relieved that she does not need anymore surgery so she can get back to normal life.

After the doctor appointment Matt and I went to Costco. I was so proud of myself for remembering to bring the flier with the new coupons. Matt needed new tires for his truck. There was a coupon for $75 off new tires. We set the coupon down in front of the sales girl and she said "Those coupons are not effective until tomorrow." Sure enough, the date said May 13 and it was only May 12. We tried to reason with her: "But we are from Homer and we can't come back tomorrow." No good. Then I tried to threaten her: "Fine, I'll send my daughter back tomorrow with my Costco card." She assured me that they do look at the photo on the Costco card every time to make sure the person matches the card. Finally, I pulled out my last weapon: "But I hold the record for the longest time spent shopping at Costco! I'm on the cover of Time Magazine!" She still did not budge. So I had to prove it to her, by presenting over $100 worth of dividend checks, both from shopping at Costco AND from using our Costco American Express Card. Guess I showed her!