Hot stuff

The patient is having some fever and pain, so we're back at the hospital for a time.
Andy came back to Seattle for the 3rd time in a week so he could bring the other children back home for a while.
Yesterday, he and Kelly took the fishbowl station wagon to get new brakes. $700, ouch!
Kelly was upset because they sat for a few hours at Les Schwab, then when they came to visit us at the hospital, they had to wait another couple hours for the other children to get back from their summer camp.

Being inpatient is not too awful, it's just not fun to watch someone have pain.
The most annoying thing about being inpatient is when we're in a double room so no one except the patients can use the room bathroom.
So, parents and visitors have to walk down the hall to use the bathroom.
The walk isn't such a big deal, but it'd be nice if the door/walls were more insulated so bathroom sounds (not mine of course :) ) aren't heard outside.
I know, weird thing to bug me, isn't it.

Today I'm grateful for modern medicine, medical teams, and medications that help relieve pain and symptoms.

This 'n that

Andy and Daniel came to visit last week for a couple days. Kelly was still here at that time.

Don't know why, but the boys all wanted to look tough in their pictures, I guess.

Today, the girls and Josh were having fun playing together.

They all made a tent together, with furniture and blankets.

Lilly made a "braid crown" on Maggie.

They had me lay down on the beach towel, and it really was comfy down there. :)

Josh wanted me to post his picture. It says "Pea's to the world for generations."

He thinks it should be on t-shirts.

Tonight, Le Cordon Bleu made us dinner!

We had Ratatouille for the first time.

I thought it was good...the kids not so much.

The chicken was divine, along with the Greek Orzo Pasta Salad.

The rest was more gourmet than me.

RATATOUILLE

Our little patient is not feeling well this week. I am hopeful that will change and improve very soon.

A little friend of ours received a new liver tonight!

We are so into this new-to-us medical world, you have no idea.

Fun in the sun

Today was more my type of weather~dreary cool, but sunshiney later in the evening so it wouldn't get too hot!
We were invited to a friend's birthday party at the house down the street.
We love that back yard!

Josh threw his head...

Oh wait, it wasn't his head, it was the basketball...whew!

The girls decorated the bed with a pink feather boa.

Kelly was really good at motivating the others to clean.

This is probably the only time you'll see that end of the room clean.

Food

When Andy and Daniel were here, we took them to Delfino's.
That's the pizza place the children and I went to on my birthday back in March.
It was so good.
Maggie didn't want the canadian bacon on her slice though...you can see it put to the side.

It's kinda hard to see, but Josh didn't want the pineapple on his.

Andy liked all of his.

Maggie eats what she likes, and in great quantities.

Last night, she was oinking on popcorn after the movie downstairs.

Today, we got to go to a friend's wedding reception in Bothell!

When we arrived, the kids' friends were decorating the getaway car, so they got to help.

Look at that look of pure glee on Maggie's face below.

Field Trip!!

Daniel went to the kids' summer camp today, since he and Andy are in town.
For today's field trip, they went to the Seattle Center Fountain and got wet!
Andy and I went to have fun too, so we met them there.

Check out the drinking fountains. They are on wheels and are connected with one large pvc pipe to a water source. Efficient, looks like.

Daniel, Josh, Maggie, Kelly, Lilly

If you look closely, you can see the wind chime display in the tree above.

The explanation for them is below.

There were chimes in at least 20 trees along the walkway in front of the Seattle Repertory Theater.

Truly musical with the perfect, slight breeze in today's hot sunshine...ahhh, bliss.

Our van is so dirty, but this is the vinyl I had ordered from Jenn's business, Alphabet Garden Designs.

Many patients ask where we got it, so Jenn and I are going to work on how we can make them available for the House's profit, or for the hospital's profit.

The hospital has many eco-conscious users and providers. This is only ONE of many bike areas that are most often full. I saw all these bikes the other day and just HAD to document how environmentally responsible so many people are, even in the heat!

Please pray

Please pray for those families and patients who are having awful news to deal with.

It is really difficult, if even possible, for people who haven't seen first-hand, to understand why we are GRATEFUL that our diagnosis is leukemia.

Fun stuff

Our local stake at church had a pancake breakfast to celebrate Independence Day, on July 3.
Lilly was enjoying her whipped cream.

Maggie ate her first plate full of mostly healthy food, then went back for 3 more pancakes...buried under all that whipped cream.
When she finished this plate, the pancakes were still there, but not the cream.

I had been promising the children that if they didn't have to have oatmeal all week last week, then we could go to Top Pot Doughnuts on Saturday. It's right next to our library here and they ask every time we drive by (and sometimes when we don't) when we can go.

So, we went for lunch on Saturday.

It's a fun place with a lot of character.

TONS of doughnut selections
The blue pictures below are fun parts of the dougnut boxes.

Last night, for the 4th, Maggie saw a palm tree craft in the book we found a few weeks ago.

It looked more like a firecracker to me because she didn't get a chance to color it yet.

Normally on the 4th, we go over to Uncle Walt's and Aunt Effie's house to watch. They have a perfect view of the valley, and we enjoy sharing that tradition with them.

So, Andy and Daniel got to go.

The other children and I secured permission from security at the hospital to go see fireworks from the parent resource area on the 5th floor.

Only, when we got there last night, the night security didn't see the email. We were sent home so a patient with 50 guests wouldn't be disturbed.

We got back to our room at the House and saw the last 2 minutes of fireworks on the tv.
Beats being inpatient at the hospital though.

Today, the kids got grounded from tv (have to do that once in a while), so they got creative.

Josh, Lilly, and Maggie were lassoing the toy car in the picture. Other kids from the house got involved too, before the surprise party.

The surprise party was for Doppler's birthday. Doppler is the mascot for the Seattle Storm women's basketball team.

At the party, Lilly got to dance with some of the mascots who also attended.

Some of the ladies signing their team poster for kids here. Awesome ladies. :)

The kids are excited because for their camp tomorrow, they get to see a Storm game against the New York Liberty.

Steroids

Steroids are a form of chemotherapy.
Steroids make a patient hungry.
The hunger doesn't get satisfied for more than 1/2 hour.
Roid-rage=crankiness
Thankfully, steroids aren't being used long-term!

Kelly's smiling for the picture below...there are 13 containers of food left, from the original 37 earlier in the week.
Although, more than 24 containers were consumed in that time because we used several that were in the House pantry.

Jars of food, mixed with baby cereal, are a good way to satisfy our patient for at least 1/2 hour at a time.

Oh, and Cheetos. If I had known the quantity of Cheetos that would be consumed in the past 3 days, I would have bought stock in the company first. :)