April 2013 ~ Part C

It's Apple Blossom time!

This year, Josh and Lilly were in the youth parade.

 Kelly usually does some chalk art about Apple Blossom while we're waiting for the parade to come by.

She made the royalty this time.

I thought they looked great before she colored in their faces, but she liked them with color.

 Maggie made some truffula trees from The Lorax.

 Lilly is in the exact center of the front row in this picture.

 Anthony did not like the noise!

We forgot the ear muffs (noise reducing) at home.

So, he'd plug his good ear with his finger and wave at the parade people with his other hand.

 Josh was closest to us.

SHERIFF ANTHONY

Anthony didn't want to wake up to be sheriff.

We're thinking he woke up slightly in the night, rolled off his little bed, 

and slept on the floor the rest of the night.  Can't be too comfortable.

 We met up with the other 5 Chiefs for the Day at the Wal*Mart parking lot, where we greeted and met the other law enforcement officers and their cool vehicles.

Everyone got into a transit bus, then we were escorted with sirens and flashing lights all through Wenatchee in a motorcade.  

With the tragedy in Boston, I think people were freaking out, wondering why there were so many law enforcement vehicles with lights/sirens.

Oh, but being in a motorcade again was so fun!

During the ceremony, Sheriff Gjesdal spoke about Anthony and his health challenges.

Everyone cheered when he mentioned that Anthony's last chemo was the day before.

Kelly held him throughout the ceremony, but I went in front with Anthony because he "leaked" on her skirt.

Only us, and only when we're in front of a LOT of people.

*sigh*

 All the kids there were so excited to see a real police helicopter circle around 4 times, right above them!

 There were lots of toys and gifts afterwards, after a really nice lunch for the families.

Anthony was in AWE of his Toy Story hide-away.

 Sheriff Anthony with his canine partner, Penny.

LAST DAY OF CHEMO

Anthony has endured 3 1/2 years of chemotherapy to prevent his leukemia from ever coming back.

This week was his last chemo in Seattle!!!

Before chemo, we went to the cardiology clinic to get an EKG and an echocardiogram, to see how the chemo has affected his heart function.

Anthony was born with a heart defect and had open-heart surgery at 3 months old to repair it.

Chemotherapy is toxic to hearts, but is necessary to keep those hearts beating!

In the past, Anthony had a clot in his neck that needed ultrasound done every month.

It was always a task to keep him still enough for the ultrasound to be clear.

This time, we came prepared.  

A bag of pepperoni, his DVD player with the Lorax, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the tv.

The pepperoni and the tv worked like magic.

The EKG was fast and simple.

The echo tech said that was the fastest and easiest echo 

she's ever done, thanks to the "magic pepperoni!" 

 After the heart tests, we went to visit the new addition to Seattle Children's Hospital, the building of Hope.

There is a new cancer unit there, with a separate area just for teenage patients.

Gorgeous!

After that, we decided to take a walk to the Ronald McDonald Houses to see the remodels that were recently completed.

 Maggie had fun doing the arcade games in the basement, while Anthony played in the playroom.

It's so nice to let him play without worrying about germs.

The playroom is cleaned each day.

 Back at the hospital, we were so excited to have a visit from my friend, Jen!

She loves Anthony, and he loves her.   :)

 Finally, it was time for Anthony's LAST CHEMO!!!!

My cell phone pic was better, but I don't know how to transfer it to the computer yet.

Anthony loves his nurses.

We are so grateful to be DONE with chemo.

We'll still have to visit Seattle every few months, but not every month anymore!

He's legal...

Daniel turned 18.

Andy and I feel so old.

Maggie wanted to make Daniel's dessert.

Daniel wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

So, Maggie made Mississippi Mud Pie brownies.

It was good.  :P

 Andy was too happy flaming the candles.

Anthony was trying to blow them out!!

(great developmental milestone, blowing)

 Kelly being pretty

 Maggie going kinda nuts with the dessert she made

 Josh having fun cutting it.

 Anthony typically doesn't like sweet things, just salty.

He climbed on the table though, and started eating the brownies right out of the pan!

April 2013 Part B

We went to a wedding and Anthony got to play in another park.

 Teasing Lilly

 Lining up cars in the hallway

The night before, Anthony lined them up by color.

We had this spotless for Kelly's date, but Anthony wouldn't let it last very long. 

 Josh's version of a drive-in movie.

Kelly's Prom

Mormon Prom was created for youth to have a "clean" formal, 

with good music, clean dancing, and modest clothing.

Kelly was excited to go, since she's 16 now.

 Daniel was in pajamas and didn't want to show his face.

 A friend did a phenomenal job on her hair!

 Anthony's favorite princess.

 Kelly and Shawn

April 2013 ~ Part A

 My friend, Jenny, has a new niece who isn't so new anymore!

It took me over nine months to get this done, but I wanted to make something that she would find comfort with.

Kelly BEFORE

 Kelly AFTER

 I've been too afraid to take Anthony to any parks or playgroups for fear he'd get germs from other kids.

Since we were so close to the end of his chemo, I finally started taking Anthony out.

We went on a play date last week, and he had to much fun at the park!

 Anthony and Gabe had so much fun together!

They played with Gabe's Nerf guns, and Gabe told his mom all day later on, about his "brother, Anthony."  :)

 Last week, I was busy making Kelly's prom dress last minute!

Shawn asked her a couple months ago, but I was sick for much of that time and couldn't get the dress made earlier.

Anytime I work on a project that mentally seems daunting, I take a LOT of 5 minute breaks, and get a lot of unrelated housework done...distracting myself!

One of those 5 minute breaks was doing chalk on our front walk.

 Homemade chocolate Lucky Charms...Maggie's way.

February/March 2013

Anthony loves to play basketball (or any kind of ball) at the church gym.

We had a turkey one night.

Maggie told me all about bones, fat, muscles, tendons, and sternums. 

Her class was learning about human bodies.
I jokingly said we should bring Anthony in so her classmates could see Anthony's scars from his open-heart surgery. She asked her teacher.
So, we went and did a show-and-tell of Anthony and his battle wounds. :)

Maggie's class was nice, and I think they learned a lot from Anthony.

Kelly went to a dance that had a princess/James Bond theme.

She made a pearl headband, a much more elegant tiara than something flashier.

 Our friends donated movies to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

I like to make kits for parents of patients sent to Seattle or Spokane.

More info can be found here.

Anthony was sick the day after Christmas and ended up being in the hospital for a total of 8 days.

We got to come home on New Year's Day, but went back in after 12 hours because he just couldn't keep his oxygen saturation up.

It was just a nasty virus that our family had, and it affected Anthony and his small airways much worse than it affected the rest of us.

During the peak of the illness, Anthony had a fever of 104.9, after Tylenol.  

We had to do some lukewarm washcloth baths to cool him down.

Scary times.

During that time though, we noticed that the list of movies in the pediatric floor library were very outdated and were movies that Anthony would never enjoy.

So, I put a shout-out to my friends on FaceBook and asked for donations of new/gently-used DVDs.

They came through for me/the hospital!!

 Another Nerf war!

 (not part of the Nerf war, blogger keeps randomizing the uploaded pics)

Anthony loves when Daniel shows him his games, especially anything with Mario.

He has a special growl to tell us he wants Mario.

He does the growl at the store, when he sees pictures of Mario in the electronics department.

 Back to Nerf war

 Even Anthony likes to shoot the darts...up on the table.

 I finished the fort! I didn't do windows like the one I saw on Pinterest, but this was enough work without that.

After all the procrastination, time, and finding 3 sheets to use, I would definitely say that using good old-fashioned blankets works a lot better. Less work and less bulky.
He's liking it though. :)

 First day into Track season.

First 10 minutes of practice, and Kelly comes home with this.

She's healed now (April), but the sprained ankle and nasty flu we had last month, caused her track season to start out really poorly.  She's making up for it now, and is a rockstar on the track.

 For pi day (3.14), we made this non-attractive, yummy pie.

Chocolate mint pie.

 Anthony will be Chief for the Day to kick off the Apple Blossom Festival in Wenatchee this month.

He had fun meeting the Douglas County Sheriff to get ready.

And, sitting in the Sheriff's rig and getting to see the lights flash in the front was cool for him too.

 Some of our Easter-ish decorations.

Kelly rearranged stuff in the dining room.  

The forsythia branches came out (cause allergy issues) and plain branches went up, 

decorated with sequin-covered eggs.

On February 28, we received the best news ever.

!!!!COMPLETE REMISSION BONE MARROW!!!!!

We knew Anthony was in remission from the first month or two of treatment.

But, the only way to be finished with chemo is to have the bone marrow tested again.

Since Anthony had spinal chemo in February, they went ahead and tested his marrow.

We still have another 3 weeks of chemo left, but then we get to be done!!!

One of these days, I'll get Daniel to show me how to get pictures from our cell phones to the blog (again), or I'll get them from facebook to the blog.  There are some gems on there.