so tired

Why is it that, just when we finish the every-8-hour IV antibiotic (meaning I don't have to stay up or wake up at midnight) and I can finally sleep through the night, that the same very night we are done, the baby's steroid treatment decides it's time to be starving not just during the day but ALL NIGHT LONG now??!!

The baby woke up at 3am (waking up Josh, Lilly, and me) and screamed for an hour, even with food/drink, then again at 6am (waking everyone again) and screamed for 3 hours this time. It's not a pain scream, but an angry "roid rage" scream, where he's starving and wants everything, but nothing. Sigh...

Here's Josh and Lilly at the park. I think they were chasing Josh's foxtail ball. It's like a soft baseball with a fabric tail that's about 3 feet long. You throw it and the catcher gets points for which part of the tail they catch it on. It was perfect for Josh for Christmas, but he learned the hard way that we shouldn't throw things with tails (kind of like a kite) near tall trees.

Below is Lilly around the maze. Josh and Lilly played tag through the maze a lot.

It's dinnertime!

It was literally impossible for me to make dinner for myself before Josh and Lilly got here. Now that they're here, we still end up throwing food away that we haven't finished. I cut the recipes in half, but there's still excess, and we can't really save leftovers.

I mean, I probably could find room in our tiny refrigerator for leftovers, but I don't often eat them, and neither do Josh and Lilly. They'd rather eat Top Ramen with veggies for lunch or a sandwich. And, we definitely can't feed the baby leftovers.

Did you know that in the binder of instructions on "how to care for our child with cancer," there are pages and pages that explain what foods we cannot buy or use for the baby. Organic, bulk, unpasteurized, etc. The reasoning is that a child who is fighting cancer is more susceptible to foodborne illnesses and related sickness, and that child does not have adequate strength to fight those illnesses. So, we don't share boxes of food with others here, we don't share dinner with other families, and we don't take food that has been opened and someone else has used. I think it's worth the cost of some wasted food to not risk illness for the baby. Makes cleanup simpler too.

It's just so dang hard to downsize when I'm used to cooking for 8!

(today when we walked by the store, there were a few more Volvos there. I'll have to get off that kick and just get a grip)

automotive check-in

Josh, Lilly, the baby, and I spent some great time outside today. There's an awesome trail behind our building that has several outlets. We followed that to a cool park today.

The trail goes right between our building and the fancy Volvo-attending grocery store next door. I looked at the parking lot to see how many Volvos were there today and was shocked to see none (although one was driving down the street). The cars I saw this time were: a few Audis, BMWs, a few higher-end Toyotas, and a nice Lexus. Last night we went to Safeway and there weren't any of those cars there...

Different volunteer organizations or families come a few times each week to make dinner for families here. They've all been good so far, but tonight was SO good! Even the baby ate some! Chemo changes tastes and can make the mouth and jaw hurt, so the baby has really only been eating baby food from jars, plus applesauce. So, it's been a great night :)

My family is together for a few hours!!

Yesterday, we went to the clinic (as outpatients, yay!!) and found that the treatment plan for the slow-responding leukemia has a treatment that takes 6 hours to infuse. This meant that, instead of being in the clinic for 2 hours, we were there for 8, and I didn't get to take the baby and go relax at my mother-in-law's house. :(


The nurses were great, making sure that we had everything we needed (because who packs for 8 hours of entertainment for a baby when only 2 hours are expected?!) and they felt great pity for us. The pity was because yesterday was so long, but we also knew we'd have to come back today for another 6-hour treatment.


Even though we had only a few hours together, Andy still came over, driving 3 hours to get here, and he has to leave this afternoon since he's working tomorrow. Those few hours last night were bliss, even though I was exhausted.


So, the baby has a port. A port is kind of like a semi-permanent IV line that goes just about directly to the heart. With the port, treatments and IVs are much easier to access the patient than trying to poke them each time for an IV. Because the port is so close to the heart, we have to be super, extra, incredibly careful about making sure that the site is clean and covered well when it is accessed (ready for an IV, which it has to be until next week since I'm doing the IV antibiotics).


Anyway, I brought the baby in for labwork yesterday morning (remember the visit that was supposed to be 2 hours??) and asked the nurse why there was a blister-like thing on the skin right near the port. Blisters would not be good. The nurse lifted up the baby's shirt just a little more and said, "Isn't that the baby's nipple?" She sounded kind of confused, but we both laughed and agreed that I'm not getting enough rest. Next week will be better when the antibiotics are done...and now I'll remember where the nipples are located. :)


Back to Christmas, we were blessed by so many with acts of service and gifts. Everyone was truly spoiled. Thank you. I really was not able to go out and buy gifts and nothing online looked good enough for me to buy. Although good enough wouldn't be the right term. I just didn't have the energy to shop much online either.

Oh, and there is now an officially bald head in our family. :) Wish I could post pictures with the smiling face that goes with the fearless, hairless head.

The next post will be of all the Christmas pictures in our room.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas pictures

This was the only reminder of Christmas I was able to find at the hospital.

You know, looking back now, I probably could have bought some nice things in the gift shop, but I couldn't ever leave the baby because the baby had a taste for the IV.

Some of the presents all ready to be discovered (in our room).

Daniel and his Killer Bunnies game.

One of the children gave Kelly a present in the Wii box.

Daniel saw the box and thought we got her a Wii for herself.

He was so cranky, until we explained that he should look at what was inside. ;)

Maggie and Lilly with a target practice and awesome monkey slippers.

Josh with his ball that has a tail.

Maggie with a new Jolly Rancher shirt and Lilly with a craft package.

Andy with some of his new music and a new Battleship game.

Lilly loving soda. At the house we're staying, there are soda machines with Coca-Cola products for only a quarter! The children discovered this last night (I didn't even say anything), and they all wanted to buy a bunch of pop. I only let them buy one for now.

Kelly is holding just a FEW of the books our elementary school sent for us to read and enjoy and learn from.

The aftermath. There was so much recycling, we filled up two huge trash bags.

When they all arrived, the children sat on the beds, glued to Disney Channel. After opening presents, they did more productive activities.

shopping in volvos (and lots of other stuff in parentheses)

Once the adoption is final (months away still), we can update with the baby's name and pictures on the blog. Tomorrow or the next day, the baby won't have hair. There's a huge patch of no hair on the back, and the rest itches, so we get to have it cut (shaved) tomorrow or Saturday.

A few years ago in my bike class, the instructor (bald man) was joking with another bald man in the class about hair products and how they're a waste of money. Which got me to thinking...do bald people use soap on their head, or shampoo, or anything?! So, I asked Chris (instructor), but I don't remember what he said he does. I think we'll be using baby wash.

Today, the baby and I got to take a good walk outside!! There's a great trail just around the building we live in, plus there is an all-out glitzy grocery store next to that. To get some healthier food than the vending machine food I've been living on (hospital living), we went to the store.

First thing I noticed was that you had to have a new Volvo or Mercedes to shop there. I'm not kidding, when we first walked into the parking lot, there were at least 9 or 10 Volvos parked in various places in the first two rows. Plus, I think the store had some valet-type employees out front. At least it looked like the guys who do valet at the hospital. Do you hear my inner country hick exposing itself again?!

Oh well, I was ecstatic to buy ingredients for stir-fry! And then I was dreaming about the different meals I can make when I have more than just myself to cook for (baby only likes baby food and Fritos). Tacos, Beef Nacho Casserole, Enchiladas, etc. And, to make it even better, the prices weren't way too outrageous, AND they had real dairy milk in the dairy jars (with cream at the top)!!

The only thing I didn't like about the store (besides the over-abundance of alcohol for sale) was the mass quantities of smelly gourmet cheeses. I wanted to vomit (emesis, in hospital terms) for the first half of the store with the cheese smell mixed with their gourmet seafood. Gag.

Yeah, the medications (steroids are a form of chemotherapy) have certain side-effects. Some include nausea, increased appetite (creating a VERY round belly and face), "roid rage," and changed tastes for food. The baby has had most of these, although I'm not sure about the nausea yet. The baby does not like most of the previously loved baby foods, but it liking new ones. The Gerber lasagna meal is still hugely popular, and the spicy chili Fritos are a hit. It is common to really like salty or tangy or otherwise strongly flavored foods with these medications.

Ok, I'll stop rambling on here and go read my book. It's weird to have such simple focus on each part of the day: medication times, eating, doctor or therapy appointment, and the daily chore (to live in this place). Back home, we were running around town 24/7, it seemed like.

doctors actually call

At home, our pediatrician would call periodically, to return the call when I left voicemail for his nurse. This was great.

Tonight, the specialist assigned to our baby called, and it wasn't good. The prognosis is still the same, but the baby will need more intensive and 2 months longer treatment. That means we'll be here for 8 months.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Out of the hospital~AGAIN!!

We're back at the House...yay! Not our house, but our 6-month house. I am so tired tonight, but proud because I did my first IV antibiotic all by myself! Tired baby, but happy baby as soon as we went outside from the hospital. Never seen such big grins and such musical giggles as when we got buckled in the car :)

I can't wait to see my family soon, but in the meantime, I'll be busy enough with 10 medicine doses tomorrow alone!

Have fun for me when you're Christmas shopping! I asked the doctors during rounds today if I could go Christmas shopping since the baby's immunity numbers were better than they have been (that can change very fast though), and the one doctor just rolled her eyes at me and said, "Sarah, we just need to get you a grocery delivery service." Maybe I'll go on a big shopping spree in June...

Hospital life

It doesn't feel like Christmas to me...probably because I didn't do much shopping before the diagnosis and travel to this hospital. Andy has bought some things, but we're doing a lot of gift cards for the children this year. I don't have any decorations up in the hospital room because I didn't think we'd be here this long! We'll probably get back to our 6-month place on Tuesday (1 week after we were readmitted to the hospital). At least I've got a strand of Christmas lights there.

One child on our hospital floor has an awesome hot pink metallic tree in her window with bright red lights. At night, when we're doing our endless walking circuit, I feel some Christmas when I see that tree. We're still walking around and around and around the floor. It makes the baby happy (not whining from boredom) and it makes up for me not getting to the gym. It's just not the same intensity as the bike class ;)

Today I saw yet another family from our hometown. Their daughter was critically injured a week or two ago, and I had seen the story in our newspaper online, but didn't realize she's on the same floor as us! I actually met the mom the day before we went to the ER and found everything out. What a crazy month December has been.

I can't wait to see my family later this week. They're going a little stir-crazy as well.

good news!

Today was another bone marrow aspiration (biopsy of the bone marrow). This was an important test to see how many leukemic cells were left after treatment so far. Last week, there was still 40-50% leukemic cells, when there "should" have been fewer. If today's biopsy showed that the leukemic cells weren't in remission (zero left), then we'd be classified as higher risk and would have to plan for another 2 months here, plus have more intensive therapy.

The doctor came in today and said that the preliminary tests showed the leukemia to be in remission! It's not an official count, but indicates the good news. We should know more for sure next week. If it is indeed in remission, we still need to "just" plan for the original 6 months we knew about at the start.

I learned how to administer iv antibiotics today. So weird when last year I was queasy and light-headed to see medications be put in the iv after heart surgery. But, no nausea or light-headedness for this! Hopefully we'll be able to be discharged in a few days again.

still in the hospital

We're still here, although the fever hasn't shown back up for all day. Someone (besides me) is getting tired of being stuck in the room, so we've been using a play mat, toys, and food to distract that person...not working!

Anyways, I'm very grateful tonight for how well the heart surgery went last year. Another baby's blog that I follow had similar heart surgery today and is doing well. Medical technology is amazing!

Some great news is that I heard today is that my friend had her baby boy yesterday!!! Can't wait to see him in a few months. :)

Back in the hospital

Yesterday, Little One got a small fever that grew and grew. It was a scary night, but the fever has broken (although it fluctuates) and the specialists know what caused the fever and the problem is responding to antibiotics.

Again, please remember to donate blood if you are able. Many patients who are too young to be hurting need that gift of life.

I'm so grateful for all that everyone has done for our family. Kelly's friend let me use her NetBook for a couple weeks, and with this I am listening to Christmas music online. It feels nothing like Christmas, even with the decorations that the volunteers and nurses put up. But hopefully, next week we'll be able to get into the Christmas spirit. Kinda hard to do that when we can't go out in public (because of NO immunity). But, we'll make do.

Again, I got to see a family here, who are from back home. It was so nice to visit with them! So excited that everyone at home has the 6-7 inches of snow!

Do you ever feel like a country hick?

{gum ground at Josh & Kelly's school}

No, I did not say country chick, but rather country hick. Country chick sounds like some graceful country hottie, and I am neither graceful nor a hottie :)

The doctor gave me permission to go to the grocery store Saturday night. Right now, with the baby's low blood counts, it really can be life-threatening to go in public places. She said because I am here alone, I could go, but to "sanitize everything." So, the closest grocery store was medium-glitzy. We used to live in the "big city," but I don't remember ever feeling so out of place! It's nice to remember that we're 1 week into treatment, so there's 7 fewer days we'll need to be here (but that's not saying that here isn't nice too). I miss our nice, simple life back home...

Andy and the children all visited this weekend and just got back home. It was so good to see them after 2 weeks. The children were awestruck at getting to go to the arcade room, teen room, Internet room, etc. At home, they're almost always grounded from doing electronics, simply because I see a direct relationship between cranky, selfish behavior and electronic usage.

Plus, a volunteer group made dinner for the families here yesterday. Ham and all the fixin's. Today, a different volunteer group made dinner again. Again, it was ham because Christmas is coming. People are so kind to families in a tough situation. We have been given so much amazing support, from friends we know and friends we've never met. Thank you for helping when you've seen a need, whether it was for us or for others. I'm just awestruck.

Last week, I was watching the news and saw KOMO news in Seattle. They were doing special coverage of the memorial service for the officers killed in Lakewood. At one point, Dan Lewis commented, "What is this world coming to?" He was meaning all the awful, bad things that happen. At that moment though, I was surrounded by good things and people. All I could see was good. I know that those killings were tragic and horrific, and that childhood cancer is awful and unfair. But, so many people are making a point to do good things to spite the bad happenings.

In the past, my friend and I made quilts every year for a few years to keep the homeless in our community warmer on freezing nights. Where I am staying right now, there is a quilt room. People donate quilts so that whoever stays here gets to pick one to keep! Being a quilter (albeit decent at piecing, but not quilting), it was pure heaven just looking at the different fabrics, colors, patterns, etc. My children picked simpler fleece blankets that were tied on the edges. They were so excited to pick their own! That will help Josh, Lilly, and Maggie to feel more at home next week when they come to stay for the rest of the 5 months.

I now have my new computer! Does anyone know how to download all my purchases from iTunes that I can't access in the old computer? I only have been able to load the songs I had on the Shuffle, but I didn't have my entire music library on that.

npo

npo sucks - I'm sorry for saying that, but there's no other way to say it and mean it.

npo = no eating or drinking allowed (typically to prepare for a procedure with anesthesia)

When the patient is extremely hungry and irritable because of a certain therapeutic medication, npo does not help any...I'm getting a lot of walking in because the patient will only be happy when in the hospital stroller and walking around the floor. We do figure 8's over and over and over and over...

Good news/bad news
My friend's son had an injury yesterday that caused him to need more specialized care than what he could get at home. He was flown here last night, and I got to see my friend, her husband, and their son!! So, it was sad to see him be hurt, but awesome to taste just a little bit 'o home :)

My family will be visiting soon!!

codes

My friend, Kati, and her husband, Charles, were able to come visit for a bit earlier this week. They had arranged for Andy to come over the same day so that Andy could bring me the little car.

While visiting, Kati mentioned how sad it was when they were here (6 months a year or two ago) to hear "Code Blue" be announced on the intercom. We've been here for over a week now and hadn't heard the code...until this afternoon. The code was cancelled later on, but it took me back to when Daniel was 8.

At that time, we lived in a small house with a small yard. The street was a hill, so the children often wanted to ride their bikes in the flat yard. Just as often, I told the children not to ride in the yard because there was a 6-foot retaining wall to the yard below us.

One Monday, there was no school and the neighbor children were riding bikes with Daniel. Daniel had recently won a nice, sparkling, new bike, but he preferred to ride his old bike. Well, they were riding fast through the yard, and with the old bike, the chain came off. Daniel didn't know how to bail or jump off.

Daniel went over the 6-foot retaining wall, hitting the neighbor's carport support beams and then the neighbor's snowmobile or jet ski with his helmet. He was awake but hurt pretty bad. We ended up needing to call an ambulance because he lost ALL color in his face and lips. Plus, he was seeing a light then he passed out. I thought he was dead.

His injuries were all internal, just a very small scratch down his chest. The main injury was a ruptured liver, which caused him to have to lay still in the ICU for a week and not do any activities for 3 months. The liver "gelled" back to a healthy condition in that time. Daniel received a few units of blood to help stabilize his body from the internal bleeding.

So, anytime we see an ambulance now, it reminds us of Daniel's situation. We hear sirens and start silent prayers for the person(s) who are affected and hope they will have a good outcome. Today, I found out that code calls are just like a siren and elicit the same reflexive response.


Things are going well for the patient. More food intake, which is great. Some of the treatment causes hair loss in the next couple weeks, but it also causes a huge appetite. So, the baby is gaining weight! But, the flipside to that medication is also that it causes mood swings. So, all day today, if I'm not talking straight to the patient's face constantly, I'm hearing whining/crankiness. Walking around the floor with a stroller helps too. So, we're getting my exercise walking around and seeing the sights of the floor. It really helps to know that someday when the treatment is done, the baby's personality will change back to "normal."

We're getting closer to getting to leave the hospital and move into our temporary (6 month) home!

bubbles, a ball, and light sabers

Tonight, the patient got to be disconnected from an IV line for a few hours!! We got a playmat out and the patient just loved grabbing my hair, rolling the ball, playing with Josh's light saber, and watching bubbles.

I will know Thursday about living arrangements for the 6 month stay. Things are looking good.

Thanks to EVERYONE who is supporting our family, being so kind, and not listening to Andy and just helping when you see a need ;)

Many people have asked how they can help us. For now, things are mostly under control. One thing though, that would bless anyone in this situation is blood donation. If you can do it, I promise you it will bless many.

Also, a few months ago, I started looking for cute hats (kind of like snowboarders wear, knitted and with the long ears and ties hanging down) for the winter. I was looking for the 18 month size and didn't see any when I was Christmas shopping. In another month or so, we'll be needing to cover a little head. So, if you see one that is cute and soft, and doesn't feel like it would irritate sensitive skin, let me know!!

Hanging in there and giving away chocolate

We're hanging in here and are in very good hands.

My computer is fried, so I have to wait until there are a few spare minutes each day to run to the family area and use the common computers.

A lot of procedures have been done this week, and we are getting some answers. I am awaiting word, probably next week, about exactly how much I can blog about. Possibly I will be able to have a separate, private blog that can go into more detail.

The CURE rate is in the 90th percentile, so that is great news. But, that rate comes at a big price. One thing I will share is that half of my family will be away from home for 6 months. I can't comment on where we are, and if you know, please don't put it in the comments. Security purposes...

Andy is doing great at taking care of the children. He is taking the children to the mountain tomorrow morning to get a Christmas tree! I thought he would for sure give up the tradition in this difficult situation, but he felt it would be good for everyone to get our typical Charlie Brown tree.

Thanks to everyone who has supported our family through this.

The Ten Commandments giveaway had 4 entrants (my children wished they could, but they really don't need more chocolate, do they), and a random number generator online gave me 2 as the number between 1 and 4. BETHANY, I'll have Andy get those chocolate oranges to you!
Thanks to everyone who commented on that, helping me feel like I wasn't alone in not knowing each commandment word for work.

Leukemia

We're looking to know exactly what type it is tonight or tomorrow. I'll try to update more then.

My own little laundromat, the Ten Commandments, and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Woo hoo!! After a few months of seemingly never getting caught up on laundry, I finally got my dream. Well, almost my dream. My dream was to have two NEW stackable washer/dryer units.

I didn't get new units, but I found the smaller unit on craigslist for a great price. Then, when I was getting cash out of the bank to pick it up, I was explaining to the teller about what I was doing and that we were going to keep looking for a large unit.

She then explained that her grandmother had had one, then got cancer and moved away. It was sitting in her own carport a few blocks away. So, we got that one for a great price too!!

My laundry now gets done in HALF the time!

YOU can win this chocolate!

I've been going to church all my life, and this past week, we've been reviewing the Ten Commandments. The missionaries taught Josh a way to remember all 10. Josh then taught us, and I was so surprised that I couldn't remember them all off the top of my head, at first.

So, for the giveaway...leave a comment and post all the 11 (yes, I said 11) commandments that you remember, without looking them up. I won't award the chocolate to whomever remembers the most, but will rather do a random drawing from all the entries.

I'm just trying to make myself feel better for not knowing them all. :)

The contest will be done at 12:01 AM next Wednesday, December 2, pacific time.

Please, please, please comment with your list, so I'm not the one left eating this near-pound of chocolate!

Now, it's time to go get the kitchen ready for the onslaught of baking tomorrow!

inflatable fun and other stuff

and no, we're not talking about some bad movie...
Yesterday, Daniel and Kelly volunteered at a local Albertsons store to collect money for needy families for Thanksgiving dinner. While they were there, Josh, Lilly, and Maggie got to go to a gymnastics event at a Wenatchee school. Inflatables all over the gym.
Another mom agreed with me, that it would be so nice to have a velcro wall.

Lilly's sticky position

Josh got caught even higher later in the day.

Maggie sliding down just lovely

Some of the baby shower invites I made this weekend. My friend is having a baby any time now!

Friday night, the children put a movie on, but Daniel, Kelly, and Lilly chose to do other stuff while the movie played.

Maggie and Josh watched, but didn't look too thrilled.

We have a lot more fun when we do game nights instead...

Rachelle just moved this weekend and brought this awesome ride-on toy for the youngest. The youngest loves it, but not nearly as much as the older children. :) They must be toy deprived or something.

An addition to the large family statistic post several weeks ago. This was part of the table after a Costco trip. The cream of mushroom was from a different store. At Costco, we bought meat, broccoli, cheese, and more. I can't stand meat, and only like to eat meat bought from Costco and Fred Meyer.

Nothing excited to post this time, but the Christmas shopping has BEGUN!! Can't wait to post about the fun things we are getting for gifts this year.

family pictures!!

Lauren in Spokane was so wonderful to do a photo session with our family in Spokane a few weeks ago. We were so excited to get the cd today!

I've updated the blog with just a few of the pictures. I still have to wait to have the family picture and some of the boy pictures on the blog until things are final adoption-wise. That'll still be in the spring, at the earliest.

Thank you Lauren!!

New looks

Daniel finally got his hair cut this week!

Here are the girls, with their new cuts from Lisa.

Lilly
Maggie

Kelly

Big family statistics

This is our family before the little one.

Our family has 80 toes, 16 hands, 8 belly buttons (with one HUGE outie :), and one ugly calendar of appointments, activities, birthdays, holidays, and other stuff on it.

We go through 8 packages of Costco toilet paper each year (love that stuff).

Our summer grocery bill is dramatically higher than during the school year.

We fill up a large Suburban, with no room to spare, except for the cargo area.

The last layer of apples in the 2nd box we've consumed in the past 3 1/2 weeks.

(Daniel can eat 6-8 in a day)

We are toast people.

I love eggs on toast, tomatoes on toast, toasted sandwiches, toast with butter, toast with butter and peanut butter, toast with jam, toast with butter and honey, and toast with tomato juice on the side. Vit-a-bee bread is best for toast. I used to love white bread for toast, but can't stand that so much anymore...it's gotta have some real oomph to it now.

Kelly had some toast a few days ago and wrote this random fact on our fridge.
"730 pieces of toast, on average, are eaten by any one person in this family a year."

This will hopefully prove to be a year's supply of peanut butter for our family.

It's about 50 jars. It was on sale, and the employees all thought I was nuts buying that much, but they know I buy everything in massive amounts when it's on sale.

Our upright freezer downstairs is always full. I especially love to fill it with bread when bread is just barely marked down at the store. I only like to buy the healthier, heavier loaves. They freeze well and are eaten so fast when thawed, they don't have time to go bad!

Autumn pictures

Sorry for the date stamps...still taking nightly pictures. I tried to crop some of these so the date wouldn't mar the finished product.

Kelly didn't want to go outside for pictures

ENJOY!!

I can't post the picture of the boys.

Happy Halloween 2009!

gypsy (Maggie), Asian princess (Lilly), Maximum Ride (Kelly), Link (Josh), Barcode (Daniel), puppy


So much candy, but we can't share with anyone!

My new nephew~~lots of pictures of our trip to the cousins'

Here is Jacob, my newest nephew.

He didn't want to have his picture taken, even on the favorite blanky of the littlest person from our family.

Ruth was working on making Josh more presentable.

She about choked when she saw how long Josh's and Daniel's hair was getting.

Soccer, volleyball, and a Primary program will do that to ya, take away any free time to get haircuts away...

When we were visiting cousins, Kelly got to go with Ruth and Grace to Young Womens' (youth group), and Daniel got to go with George to Scouts. Josh went with Richard to Scouts.

For the girls, they were having an activity about temple marriage. The girls learned some reasons why temple marriage is so important, then they got to try on various wedding dresses that were there.

Kelly in her first pick of dresses, after I told her to "Smile pretty, this one's going on the blog." Her face is a face of defiance ;)

Here is Andy and me on our wedding day.

I wore my mother's dress.

Several others have worn the dress since 1955.

Susan, Miki, Margie, me, and one more person I'm not recalling right now

So, because we were visiting Margie when the girls were doing the dress activity, we brought the dress and got some pictures of Ruth, Grace, and Kelly.

The dress has really become more fragile in the short 15 1/2 years I've been married, and it has definitely become a lot more yellow from the cream it was on my day. It was bright white when my mom wore it.

Kelly

Grace

Ruth

The morning after we got to the cousins, we got our pictures taken in Spokane.

There's a really nice lady who takes pictures as a service to families who are adopting after fostering.

So, we met at Manito Park and froze, but got some great shots, I think. I'll post those later, when we get them!

On the way, our children were cranky because they stayed up late with the cousins, then we were waking up at a normal time.

Kelly was ready though.

Daniel didn't want anyone talking to him while he read on the way.

(he finished the Twilight series on our trip)

Daniel and Josh often kick soccer, beach, or basketballs around the front room, which drives me crazy. The other night, they were doing it during scripture time. So, I put the ball the one place I knew they wouldn't try to get it back, under my sweater.

We had a good laugh about it, especially when I was joking with Lilly and Maggie about being pregnant (which I am NOT). One of the girls said, "Yeah right, Mom. You're fixed." It sounded so funny coming out of her mouth.

Miscellaneous news: we have an attorney now, to represent us for the adoption process.

As stated before, the Primary program is done, as is soccer and volleyball!

We're actively looking for a 12-passenger van, so if you know of one for sale within WA state, let me know!

Tomorrow we have school conferences, and I get to finish Lilly's and Maggie's costumes. This year for Halloween, we have a dog, Link, Maximum Ride (book star), an Asian princess, and a girl pirate. Hopefully, M and L's costumes will be done by tomorrow night! I'll post pictures of those soon.

iTunes is on and my song is on.

"Sara" by Starship