3 stories of bustling

The rest of January 2012

2012-02-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

Anthony loves to climb into the photo album cupboard...

with the albums still in there.

I don't know how he does it.

Happy with bacon

Anthony on the table, AGAIN.

He climbs up so often, I've stopped worrying so much.

He tends to stay in the center and doesn't move around too much.

If he's wearing footie jammies though, we take him right back down.

Being a big boy with Josh.

We watched Cowboys and Aliens.

This was Kelly's version.

Woody for the cowboys and the Grinch for the aliens.

One of the times Anthony needed to visit the ER.

He dressed hiimself in striped pants, but kept taking his shirt off.

Finally we put striped jammies over the striped pants.

Visiting Ronald in Seattle.

Anthony was telling him what's what.

Anthony in Claudia's fabric tunnel.

He loves it!

Sneaking cookies

playing hot wheels

look closely

Anthony likes to do this with the hot wheels.

Josh's "progression of cranes."

Video of Anthony with the cookies.

Cute!

More of January 2012

2012-02-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

Josh likes to buy spy gear stuff when he has money.

I think he bought this spy rover with his birthday or Christmas money.

It's pretty cool.

It's a remote control rover thing, with a built-in video camera, so you truly can spy on people.

The screen on the remote control shows the video in color too!

I was impressed with that. :)

The girls on New Year's Eve, ready to bang in the new year.

I think one or two of my wooden spoons were broken in half.

Not sure where this was....probably in a doctor's office or the ER.

Anthony got to visit the ER twice in January.

It seems like he does GREAT from the day of his Seattle chemo, on for 3 weeks or so.

Then, his general health deteriorates enough to make me worry.

After our last trip for chemo, I figured out that he probably does so good after his big chemo is because that's also the day we start his monthly 5 days of steroids.

Steroids are likely giving him a boost in the lungs, as well as working on preventing leukemia from returning!

In the picture, he's talking to Nana.

He loves to eat popcorn, so when he tripped, the popcorn FLEW.

So glad it's easy to vacuum.

Our bills have been overwhelming again.

Having a large family while needing to buy special groceries and convenience items, not to mention travel money, will do that to anyone's budget.

When we're broke, we make a lot more food from scratch.

We actually eat better with less money. Imagine that.

Here is one of my favorite desserts, pineapple upside-down cake.

Lilly bought a Valentine frog (big!) with some of her Christmas money.

sleeping like an angel--with spiky hair

After a mostly dry, cold winter, we finally got snow.

A LOT of snow!

Lilly and Maggie made a city in the front yard.

Every time I saw this crown from Disney, I thought of Florida and how HOT it was there in July.

Although Anthony's Wish trip was amazing, I was exhausted.

But, I was thinking of that vacation in awe at the difference in weather conditions.

Anthony getting dressed for his first snow play.

Shout out to Goodwill for new snow pants for cheap, when he only wore them once!

Anthony did not like it cold. Even bundled up.

Maggie in her igloo.

Trying to get the children to pose for a picture of what playing in the snow is like at our house.

I was trying to win hockey tickets.

We didn't win.

Andy and I went to the hockey game anyways though.

It was my first exercise reward.

I did those 60 minutes every day for 6 days for 2 weeks.

I just earned my second reward for doing another 3 weeks...a family date to the movies!

When we go in the next week or two, I'll post details.

My new goal is for 4 weeks.

I'm working on earning a girls night with Jenny, to see Dance for a Cure 2012.

Back to the screaming Anthony.

He cried for the whole 2 minutes he was outside.

Kelly and a sippy cup make everything all better. ;)

Andy shoveled our walk sooooo many times.

This was how much snow stuck on him one of those times.

Andy throwing snowballs

Josh shoveling snow to add to his igloo.

Maggie curled up in her igloo.

Beginning of January 2012

2012-02-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

I'm behind, but have good reason.

Look to the right. ===>

I've been exercising and training to run my FIRST 1/2 marathon in June!

My goal is to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as I run with their Team in Training.

If you can, please consider donating to Team Anthony.

LLS is a major reason why Anthony has such a high chance of cure for his leukemia.

The mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

So, although LLS' focus is on blood cancers and diseases, their research support has affected patients with many other types of cancers/illnesses.

In the past 10 years, 19 of the 39 new cancer-fighting drugs approved by the FDA were initially approved to treat a blood cancer. All of them now show promise for treating other cancers.

I have a reader.

Riding the train to Seattle for chemo.

Anthony likes to sit back with his baggie of chips or popcorn, sippy cup, blanket, and his movie.

He does so great on the train!

Yes, Andy put a tie on him.

Go Cougs!!

I know you already saw Anthony with his tie, but I had to include this so you can see how pretty Kelly is. :)

Anthony will climb under any basket, box, or other containers.

I was watching him closely. ;)

One day, Andy told me to look at Anthony.

He was putting Jenga blocks on the table and lining them up perfectly.

Around this time, Josh played outside a lot with the girls.

They had fun climbing in the tree.

Then, Josh fell out of the tree.

He scratched his back and hurt his arm.

We went in to get Josh's elbow x-rayed, and it was fine.

But, he was sore for a while.

Tinkerbell

2012-02-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Anthony LOVES Tinkerbell.

He is really good with his "b" sounds.

He can say "Bell" for Tinkerbell pretty clearly now.

My friend, Jenica, asked if I'd post a video of him talking.

Here's a short one. :)

p.s. at the end, he's pointing to where the Tinkerbell movies are kept

Christmas 2012

2012-01-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was time for opening jammies.

First picture had to be a Steve Urkel moment.

Christmas morning, the children had fun seeing what was in their stockings.

Anthony loved his little cars that go on the garage he has.

Everyone got a box of hot chocolate. hmmm.

Anthony had a very wet diaper so we changed it, and he ran around for a little bit without clothes on.

He was trying to hold all his play-doh containers at once.

Before going to church...yes, we changed before heading out.

It was so nice, peaceful, and spiritual to have church on Christmas day.

Kelly's gift for Andy and me.

Not a great picture, but the best I could get of Anthony in his new church clothes.

Back from church, delivering goodies, and some of us changing clothes.

Let the unwrapping commence!

Anthony received lots of Cars and Toy Story things.

He loved them all.

He was not in a hurry to unwrap the next present before studying each one first.

...and showing them to someone first. :)

(Check out the tippy-toe action)

Lilly and her sand-art kit.

Maggie and the velvet art kit Daniel got her.

Josh with his favorite, butterfingers!

And, a magic kit he wasn't too impressed with.

Toy Story characters

A gift from NYC!!

More Toy Story characters

studying them in awe

Cars sippy cups from Lilly

Cars book from Lilly

Kelly in her new clothes, but she says she won't wear them together!

Chaos of unwrapping

Toy Story book with figurines

Josh reading his magic booklet, Lilly doing sand art, Maggie doing Light Bright, and Anthony playing with his characters

Lilly left her high heels on the front room floor.

Josh stepped on one, and it cut him.

He was screeching (understandably so) at Lilly to, "Get your shoes out! Get them out!"

We had no idea what he was talking about, until he showed us his foot.

Lilly and her new jeans

Empty under the tree.

Whew!

We were so blessed this Christmas.

But, the biggest blessing of all was having a healthy, happy family, ALL AT HOME for Christmas.

Christmas Break

2012-01-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

Some of what we did during Christmas Break~

The store was out of gum drops, so we had to make do with gum drop bells...not the same, but fun to do and festive while they lasted.

Josh had been saving his money for months, and he finally found something fun he wanted to buy with it.

A cotton candy machine!

All you have to have is hard candies, like mints or jolly ranchers.

Josh has been generous to share with all his siblings, parents, and guests in the home (Anthony's therapists and respite person).

We've been all enjoying different flavors of cotton candy for a few weeks now. :)

Kelly before~

Kelly after~

She's finally adjusted and doesn't have severe pain all the time now.

Whew!

Lilly in front of half the nook mess...she discovered taking her picture in front of the mirror every other day.

Anthony rolling around on the fun music mat that his therapist, Claudia, brings over.

It's on this mat that Anthony first started developing balance.

He gets so excited sometimes, he just starts rolling around, squealing for joy, and kicking his legs all over. :D

I ran an errand one night and returned home to Lilly annd Anthony on the chair.

Josh did the same thing last night, with Anthony, but I didn't get a picture.

Playing with Jenga blocks.

Gotta have a sippy in each hand.

Christmas Eve, we finally got our baking on.

I came out of the kitchen to see Anthony had taken several ginger crinkles off a plate, and was starting to eat them.

He LOVED them, which made Andy smile. They're his favorite.

We brought out a new Monopoly game.

The kids have been having fun playing one version or another of it each day since.

Anthony explaining to Andy why he should be allowed to stay on the table.

"Bwuh, bwh, bwuh." Insert hand motions and eveyrthing!

Daniel owned Park Place and Boardwalk, and was quite ingenius at coming up with a winning strategy.

Anthony telling Daniel stories and pointing to make a point...

Josh's new spy camera on wheels.

He bought this with Christmas money. :)

Josh always buys fun stuff, doesn't he.

The girls ready to beat on pots and pans for New Year 2012!!

I didn't realize Daniel had this shirt when we got him the pajama bottoms.

All the children have fun watching Ghostbusters.

Maggie wrote a message in a bottle today.

She told about herself, our family, and some other fun things.

Now, we gotta figure out where to send it.

Anthony was not acting his normal all last week.

He had no fever, but started getting dehydrated toward the end of the week.

So, we went to visit the pediatrician on call.

He sent us to the ER on Friday night for fluids, and if A's labs showed dehydration (electrolyte abnormality), we'd have to be admitted for the night.

Thankfully, the labs were decent, and Anthony perked right up after the bolus.

When the doctor called the ER to let them know we were on our way, the nurses were telling him, "Oh, Anthony! I know Anthony. I'll take care of him, and get the stat nurse ready."

It just makes me laugh, and think we should have some kind of frequent flier card or something.

And, so thankful for our wonderful medical community who watch out for Anthony's well-being.

Cell phone pics

2011-12-18T23:34:00.000-08:00

Daniel helped me figure out how to get cell phone pics on the computer finally.

I like the cell phone camera better than my other camera.

Maybe in the next year or two, I'll get another camera and take lessons on how to do half-decent pictures.

Andy won tickets to go to a Wenatchee Wild game.

It was so fun!

We used to go see the Tacoma Rockets when we dated, and we loved to see the fights that would erupt.

Now, I can't handle the fights as well.

I keep thinking how the boys are someone's baby.

That night, there were so many fights, and more violent than normal.

I almost erupted with vomit a couple times.

Kelly and and one of her sisters giving each other the evil eye.

Our November chemo trip to Seattle.

We went through the first real snow storm on the mountain pass.

Pretty!

Anthony fell in love with the clinic's fish all over again.

On the way home, the storm was so bad.

It's hard to see, but there are some downed power lines that we had to wait for to get fixed before we could go again.

Lilly and Maggie got to come along.

They loved shopping with Nana. :)

December chemo visit...

My friend, Sarah, met me at the Amtrak station.

We had so much fun!

We became sisters at the Ronald McDonald House.

Sarah had some donations for the House, so we stopped there first, and Anthony had a blast playing with the toys he remembers so well.

He loved seeing his friends at the House too.

We had large McDonald lunches that day, so we could get the Coca-Cola glasses (love those!).

Sarah and I ate a total of about 1/2 of one of the large fries.

So, we let Anthony eat fries throughout his appointment.

He ate ALL of about 1 1/2 large fries packages!

We were laughing about how he would probably weigh a few pounds more than normal when did his vitals.

Sure enough, he was almost 2 pounds more than the previous month.

But, I don't think it's all from the fries.

Anthony really has had a big growth spurt lately.

He's getting heavy for me to carry anywhere.

Love strollers.

Last week, Anthony's skin around his eyes got really red and a little puffy.

During treatment in Seattle, ringed eyes were a sign of needing a blood transfusion (hematocrit and platelets get low from chemo).

So, I called the Seattle doctor to see if it would be ok to wait until the next morning to go get labs.

The redness came on after 5pm, of course.

She was concerned that the redness and puffiness could be the result of an unlikely, but possible, infection that can reach the eye socket, and so the brain.

This kind of infection would require IV antibiotics, and with Anthony's history, it's best not to mess with.

So, we went to our local ER to have them check for the specific diagnosis.

If the ER doc wasn't worried about that diagnosis, we could go back home and not worry.

The ER doctor thought it was either dry skin or an allergic reaction.

Whew!

One of our nicest, and shortest, ER visits.

And, of course, a bunch of nurses came in to see their little patient friend. :)

Kelly and her friend on Christmas dress up day.

Yes, that is a tree skirt.

Anthony loved this book we checked out from the library.

The Boss Baby.

Chillin' with one of his favorite brothers.

Kelly got these socks as a fun pre-Christmas gift from her friend.

Anthony's so cute in his leather jacket, Auntie Jenny!

Josh had a concert last week.

He did his normal part with the alto sax, and also helped the choir teacher.

Josh was ecstatic to have Butterfinger ice cream and Cookies 'n Cream ice cream afterwards.

Maggie dressed up for her Christmas day.

Anthony had fun with a white board during church today.

Glasses (worth a look!)

2011-12-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

Anthony now has 2 pairs of glasses!!

These are our favorites.

They're made by Mira-Flex.

The first 5 minutes he wore them was miraculous, because it was a full five minutes, and HE did not take them off. We did, because we were getting in the car.

He could see!

My friend calls these Anthony's superhero glasses. :)

This is a harder picture to see.

Anthony in his back-up glasses.

They are HEAVY on his ears and are kept on with a strap.

This picture, he was studying the toy ad like it was the Wall Street Journal (pointing and exclaiming loudly over Toy Story, Cars, and anything else he saw at Disneyworld).

Anthony does NOT like to have anything on his skin.

So, he doesn't wear his glasses all the time.

He'll now wear them for about 1/2 hour at a time.

IF HIS HANDS ARE BUSY SHOVELING CHIPS OR STRING CHEESE INTO HIS MOUTH AND A MOVIE IS ON.

I'm loving the Mira-Flex glasses more for now, although with such a small nose bridge (common to children with Down syndrome), the lenses are so close to the eyes that they fog up often. Or his eyelashes rub on the lens.

I also love that they are so flexible and don't break.

That goes a long way with my oh-so-creative boy.

I'm thinking we might take the other glasses back and exchange them for the kind that wrap around the ear, so they're lighter on the top of the ear, and the strap isn't on the back of his head.

Although, the Mira-Flex glasses are held on with a built-in strap that wraps around the back of his head. It's just a lot lighter than the other one.

If you have suggestions or comments, feel free to post them!

Red fun

2011-12-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

Anthony was practicing his smolder (like Eugene Fitzherbert) with his new outfit.

He sure is the ladies' man! ;)

Messing around on Santa's chair.

Kelly and her friend were awesome elves!

Anthony with Santa.

He sat pretty well, just long enough for a couple pictures, then reached back for me.

Money disappearing (It's not diapers and formula that break you, it's the teenage costs)

2011-12-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

Kelly got 8 spacers put in 2 weeks ago.

She'll get braces this week.

Her hygienist (not sure if that's what she's called) is also a Kelly. :)

Blank slate

2011-12-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

So, it took us a few days to get the front room "ready" for the tree (really it was all about me having enough energy to oversee the decorating, and that takes a while when I'm still so physically exhausted from the toll of the past 2 years).

We put the tree up one day, then decorated it a day or two later.

While taking stuff out of all the rubbermaid totes, the children were asking about the 3 little pigs, below.

I had no clue, had never seen them before, and told them so.

They said we'd had them for a few years, and I replied that they must've gotten them when I was in Seattle with Anthony.

Turns out, Andy won them last year.

There's a string of 3 clear lights that can go in them to make them shine.

Cute.

Steve Urkel look while decorating.

Grand-Nana made a treasure tree several years ago.

It is made with so many pieces of costume jewelry that is shiny and pretty.

The children play "I Spy" with it every year. :)

Decorated!!

Anthony and I took the train to Seattle for chemo a few weeks ago.

That night, we returned home to a package from Auntie Jenny.

It was full of wrapped gifts for Christmas...plus an unwrapped Buzz.

Anthony was tired, but sitting in Andy's lap across the room.

He saw the head of Buzz in the box, and kept saying, "Buh, Buh, Buh!!!"

I facebooked Jenny and told her that I hoped it wasn't supposed to wait for Christmas because Anthony wouldn't stand for that.

We let him have Buzz, then he went right to get Woody and was throwing Woody around like he was teaching him a lesson or something.

He was so excited.

"Whoa!!!! Buh!!"

Under the Eiffel Tower

2011-12-03T10:05:00.001-08:00

Kelly's school had a dance last night.

She and her student leadership friends worked all week to decorate.

This was what Kelly wore.

She found a skirt I had never worn, in my closet.

We added straps (covered by the shrug), made a sash, and made a slip with tulle on bottom.

Pink!!

2011-12-02T18:37:00.001-08:00

My friend, Bethany, has 5 boys.

She's expecting a girl!!

We had a shower for her this week, and had a LOT of pink stuff.

I didn't know which containers or platters we'd need, so I got all the glass in my house and got it all clean.

Everyone who knows Bethany is thrilled that she's having a girl!

(her boys are great though :) )

A little bit of it all

2011-12-02T18:15:00.001-08:00

Josh fell asleep on the arms of the couch and chair.

We finally went to visit Lisa for Kelly's haircut.

Anthony got one too.

Can you tell her hair is healthier and shorter?! :)

I think only an inch or two came off, but Kelly's excited to have layers.

We bought more hot chocolate, and let Anthony have some.

He loved it, but got it all over his face (right after bath time) and all over his fresh jammies.

We got home from church on Sunday, and this mouse was looking into our house from the outside.

I felt so bad for it, because it was shivering so much.

But not bad enough to save it.

Anthony studying one of the toy catalogs.

He's particularly enamored with anything to do with Cars movies.

Thanksgiving 2011 (lots and lots and lots of pictures)

2011-11-24T21:04:00.001-08:00

Our family tradition is to go into the mountains sometime in December, to get a Christmas tree.

With Andy's schedule, it's always hard to find a day to go with all the children, without them missing school.

Today was a perfect day, schedule-wise.

So, we got all the winter gear out.

Anthony had fun puttting this hat on, off, and all the way covering his face.

We often wear mis-matched socks, if they're fun colored.

We packed everyone in the Suburban.

And went up to the trail we always go on.

We put Anthony in the sled, but he tried to climb out.

So, Andy carried him at first.

Anthony is getting heavier and heavier though, so it didn't last long.

Maggie was good at holding Anthony in the sled.

Andy pulled Maggie and Anthony just about the entire way.

Josh let Lilly go in his sled for a little bit, and helped her have fun too.

Daniel was NOT thrilled to be out in the cold.

Josh, Kelly, Lilly, Maggie, and Andy went way up and down from the trail, all in search of the perfect tree.

Anthony came to feel the same as Daniel: READY TO GO HOME!

Laying on the sled, waiting to go.

Lilly sledding down one of the little hills.

Kelly took a self-portrait of her nose hairs.

Maggie and Josh carrying the perfect tree.

It started snowing, right after we got the tree!

Anthony got to sit with Lilly on the way out.

Anthony was still upset, but was happy to hide under the blanket and play peek-a-boo.

It was on the trail that I thought about the blanket, above.

That's one of the quilts given to our family when we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for so long.

They have a room full of quilts, donated by quilters and quilt clubs, for whoever stays there.

The person who made this frog quilt probably had no idea that it would go through treatment, AND such a fun family tradition!

We got 2 trees.

Not sure if we'll keep the 2nd, or give it away.

We had a late Thanksgiving feast.

Lilly and Maggie wanted to serve everyone, so Daniel's waiting for his food in this picture.

Anthony was excited to sit at the table like a big kid.

Anthony left turkey on the floor for Penny to show us he was done eating.

We had a lot of fun today, and are go thankful that we got to be at home, together, this year.

Food, Family, and more of glasses

2011-11-21T21:59:00.001-08:00

Josh has been wanting to make popcorn balls since last month, when I finally bought jell-o after a year or so of not buying it.

He mixed it all up, dissolving the jello in corn syrup and something else.

Then, Lilly wanted to help....I think she ate more than helped.

Maggie has been busy making pinwheels out of comics.

I think she has made enough now, to make a wreath out of them.

Working more on keeping the glasses on Anthony.

This was during Tangled.

We started buying the bulk of our groceries monthly a few months ago.

It is expensive to feed a family this large (imagine that), so this is one way to hopefully simplify what we're buying and eating.

I start by writing a month's worth of dinner ideas.

Then, I make a list of ingredients we'll need for it.

I also add in breakfast stuff and snack ingredients and anything else we're out of.

I shop at Fred Meyer and Costco.

They have the best prices for me, and Costco is about the only place I can stand the meat at.

Our monthly shopping is at least $500 each month, but closer to $700 or more.

Then, we only need to get basics each week like milk, bread, and fresh stuff.

When we do this monthly shopping trip, I put the cold stuff away first.

Then, I take almost everything out of its packaging so I can ration out when each thing can come out of the storage room.

My children do the same thing my siblings and I did...we eat all the "good" groceries the first few days, then feel like we're just starving the rest of the month.

Rationing fixes that.

I put dates for when we can open each package of bacon, cracker packages, bags of chocolate chips, jell-o, snacks, pepperoni, etc.

Meat, baby food, and basic baking ingredients don't need to be rationed.

The table below is most of a month's groceries.

The Costco stuff is hidden in 2 of the large apple boxes.

Andy comes up with funner (is that a word?!) ways for Anthony to get used to wearing glasses.

Tonight, I came up from doing laundry to see Anthony in an apple box with his blankie, Toy Story cards, and a Clifford Christmas book. So cute!

Anthony LOVES the Popcorn Popping song.

He'll do about 4 of the hand motions for it, along with lots of "pleases."

We all sang it for him again tonight at Family Home Evening.

He LOVED it. :)

Our activity tonight was playing Yahtzee.

The game didn't last long, but we had a lot of laughter.

And, the children are excited about their chores.

Some chores are the same, and some are changing up.

Maribel

2011-11-21T11:05:00.001-08:00

This is Maribel.

She needs a forever family, and SOON.

Information below is from Reece's Rainbow.

Girl, born August 2007
Eyes: Brown
Hair: dark brown
Nature: Calm

September 2011 Update:

Has mild heart disease which does not require operation. The girl is reasonably active, loves to play with other children. She is a big help for her caretakers. She watches animated cartoons with great and concentrated interest. She is in the group with regular children. Her behavior and appearance differ nothing from the other children in the group. Very nice, with beautiful eyes! She is facing the institution very soon!

So happy to have a current photo of Miss Maribel! Isn't she beautiful???? She is described as a kind girl, affectionate with others. She knows her name and is able to distinguish between others. She loves to play with toys. She eats and sleeps well. And look at the giant bow on her head! That means she is an orphanage favorite

MORE PHOTOS AVAILABLE, SINGLE MOMS WELCOME!

Click here for more information on how you can adopt Maribel or help her find a forever family.

Glasses

2011-11-20T23:13:00.001-08:00

Anthony has been diagnosed with ~

Down syndrome

Tetralogy of Fallot (heart defect needing surgery at 3 months)

Hearing loss

Leukemia

diaphragmatic hernia (kidney in his chest, until surgery corrects it)

I dealt so very well with all of those diagnoses.

Several weeks ago, Anthony was prescribed glasses for significant vision challenges.

I did NOT deal well with this.

I don't know why.

I had to have glasses in kindergarten and everyone made fun of me.

He's already had to deal with so much, why one more thing?!

I don't know...

Anyways, we're still waiting on his main pair of glasses to arrive.

But, his backup glasses came already.

Before ~

During ~ (Andy's holding his arms so he doesn't yank the glasses off)

Squirming out of it....

And after.

Anthony loves movies, so we're getting him used to wearing the glasses with movie time.

If the glasses are on, the movie can be on.

The second the glasses are yanked off, the movie goes off.

Not too successful yet, but we're getting there.

We had string cheese for his hands to be busy that first day, but that didn't keep him from yanking them off.

*sigh*

One of our first fires of the season.

Josh has been preparing them for us.

Toasty and cozy for these coooold winter days we've already had.

This is how Anthony was sleeping the other morning when I went to check on him.

This morning, he was sleeping next to Josh.

He must've climbed into Josh's bed sometime in the night.

This week was steroid week.

I love seeing Anthony's cute steroid belly each time. :)

Chemo week

2011-11-20T23:01:00.001-08:00

We went to Seattle last week for Anthony's chemo.

We stayed at Nana's house, which is always a treat for ALL of us!

Anthony loves to unload Nana's hot pad/hand towel/washcloth drawer.

EVERY TIME WE VISIT

But look! The glove goes on his hand!

Maggie was vegging out with hot chocolate from Nana's awesome Keurig coffee maker (love that thing, even though I don't drink coffee!).

She and Lilly were happy to drain Nana's kitchen of cereal, sweets, and hot chocolate.

Both girls were wrapped up in snuggies.

Chemo went decently.

We love to see our team.

They are all so supportive of and love Anthony.

biting tongues

2011-11-13T19:20:00.001-08:00

Tonight, Anthony bumped his mouth in the bathtub and bit through his tongue. :(
After a couple minutes of crying and bloodying my shirt, he's playing all around, up and down again, in the front room.
So glad the blood stopped and we don't need to go in.

I was worried because he's on an anti-coagulant (medicine that keeps his blood from clotting).

This video was about 5 minutes after he got hurt. :)

laughing

2011-11-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we're laughing.

A lot.

Andy finally signed up on FaceBook.

I said I had to be his first friend.

I was.

We're officially FB married now!

We've been having too much fun making light of it all. :)

I'll copy and paste a few of our posts on FB so far.

Daniel's now instructing Andy on FB etiquette...can't use 10 exclamation points, 5 periods, spell you, you're, and your correctly, don't use excessive punctuations unless you're smart enough to use semi-colons, and "then you can do however many you want."

He took a picture of Daniel's cave and threatened to post that too.
Daniel says he's not going to friend him. :)

There are a few more HILARIOUS comment threads about FB etiquette in general.

After all the hullabaloo with FB, Josh was entertaining Anthony, as you can see below.

Anthony was loving some plain spaghetti today.

Doing the computer with Josh.

Doing the computer with the girls.

Halloween!!

2011-10-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

I failed as a mom for Kelly this month.

We've been soooo busy and it kept seeming like Halloween was still weeks away.

Halloween snuck up, and BAM!, I hadn't made Kelly's Rapunzel costume. :(

She was good about my failure, but I feel bad...

This morning, Kelly dressed up as a Wish fairy for Make-A-Wish.

She had a huge Christmas gold star in her hair, a LOT of gold glitter on her face, and the button.

For the party she went to tonight, Kelly was a cowgirl, complete with BLUE eyeshadow.

Daniel's mii

Josh's Link

My failed dress for Lilly had a malfunction, so she went trick-or-treating in her pajamas as a pajama princess. ;)

Anthony was a little monster.

It took a lot to get the costume on...

He ran into his room, climbed on his bed, then ROLLED off, and found his book.

He hasn't read this book much, so I'm thinking he was looking for Cookie Monster because of his costume??

Can't. Stand. This. Hood!

Knock Knock

This was Anthony's first REAL time trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

He tried to go into eveyone's house.

Then, when we returned home, he kept trying to leave with everyone who came to our house.

It was a fun night. :)

Cousins!!

2011-10-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

We got to see so many cousins after Kelly ran in the Cross Country Regionals!!

(Kelly did great, and beat her personal record)

After church, we went to Margie's house for taco lunch.

Marge was rolling out homemade tortillas.

Joseph was being cute.

Joseph and Janice were having fun posing.

Shirley Mae was being cute, because that is her job, and she knows it!

Anthony was running ALL OVER the place, with Josh following him close behind...not to mention his climbing too.

Janice

Grace is raising chicks so the family can have fresh eggs in the spring!

Everyone helping and chatting in the kitchen.

Josh got Anthony to sit for a little while.

Time to eat

Andy chewing up Anthony.

Grace and her brand new Young Women of Excellence Medallion.

The YWEM takes 6 years to earn through projects and assignments.

Grace earned it in 3 years!

We're so proud of and impressed with Grace. :)

Our cousins

Lining all the cousins up by height...or by age?

Don't remember which.

Fun shot

Running

2011-10-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Anthony is so honored to have a friend run in his honor this year.

Dawnell

raised over $2400 for the

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

this year.

Dawnell's fundraising page

Tomorrow is the culminating event for Dawnell, as she is running

the Marine Corp. Marathon in Washington D.C.

Dawnell's fundraising page

For all those who run in honor of loved ones, or even complete strangers,

while raising funds for this cause,

we say thank you.

Dawnell's fundraising page

Thank you to those who donate to this cause.

Dawell's fundraising page

Our family has been directly impacted by the work of the

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Please donate, if you can.

Dawnell's fundraising page

GO DAWNELL, GO!!!!

Catching up to being behind again

2011-10-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

It seems like every month, there's something we look forward to just getting done so that everything will be so much easier and smoother in life after it's done...

never quite happens that way.

Our family is still busy, and it's wearing me out.

So, here's another blah update on what we've been up to.

Josh advanced two ranks in Boy Scouts.

During the Court of Honor, Anthony was climbing...

...and roaming the church halls...

...and trying to get into the chapel to play.

One day last week, we did an "investigation" that Josh's science class did at school.

We had an apple slice, and inserted a match (we later tried 2, then 3 matches).

We poured water to be 1/8 inch deep on the plate.

Place the apple on the plate, then light the match.

We placed a jar over the top...

and all the water sucked right into the upside-down jar.

I told Josh's teacher we did this, and it was more obvious with 3 matches, which they had learned in class too.

She also said that by the end of the day when they did this investigation, she started putting food coloring in the water, so they kids could see better, what was going on.

Pretty cool.

My activity for Family Home Evening this week was making pumpkins to decorate.

Our neighbor was over for the evening, so we did a song that he would know...Itsy-bitsy spider.

That's Anthony's favorite.

Anthony was ecstatic and watched us ALL in AWE while we sang and did the hand motions.

Next time that happens, we'll get a video. He clapped and clapped and squealed for joy. :)

Kelly's pumpkin

Our refreshment that night was mini m&m brownies.

This is the most amazing brownie recipe EVER.

We had our first fire of the year, and broke out the hot chocolate.

Some of the amazing fall colors, and I love the lines on this tree.

Anthony enjoying pieces of his brownie and cheese.

Sheri and Lisa~ Anthony found his swim shorts from the pile of clothes to be put away until next summer.

He has been studying and studying the shorts, and has been verbalizing his sounds clearer with it too!

I swear that Buzz and Woody are going to make my baby speak, eventually.

Josh and Izzy

Don't know if I mentioned this lately or not....

Josh has NOT had any seizures since Day 2 of his medication!

I love being home again.

Our 14 months in Seattle ended in February, and I am still grateful every day that we are back home.

Because I worry that Anthony will get sick and have to go to the hospital again, I'm trying to be as much of a mom as possible in the meantime.

This means that I drive the children to school, when normally I'd make them walk.

I have been trying to get more things done around the house.

I've been trying to do things for my children that show I love them.

One of those things is working on costumes.

I've never been good at getting costumes done on time, very creatively, or anything.

But, since I'm home, I made Lilly a princess costume--her idea.

Maggie made her own nerd costume.

I made a new, bigger tunic for Josh's Link costume.

He's been Link for 3 years now, I think.

Andy says Josh needs to wear tights with it...I think jeans are fine.

Kelly before leaving to Spokane to run in XC Regionals!!!

Random stuff~~

We found out that we are able to get some respite for Anthony's care!

It is so exhausting trying to keep up with Anthony, have fun with him, and keep him from getting hurt.

If he isn't watched constantly, he tests boundaries farther than he should, putting himself in dangerous situations...Anthony has no fear, literally.

I am hoping to be able to get some rest, and

get back to the gym regularly, so I can get physically and mentally healthy again.

We have therapy/class time with therapists and teachers 6 times a week for Anthony.

All come to the house since he is not allowed in a classroom setting for fear of illness.

This is an exhausting schedule, but I feel Anthony needs all the therapy he can get before he ends up in the hospital again, and can't do any for a while.

I finished a book this week that was phenomenal.

The Language of Flowers is written by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

The story is beautifully woven, interesting, and thought-provoking.

It shows the true, unconditional, Christ-like love we should all strive to develop.

(although, the book is not about Jesus Christ or religion, it's just a pure love depicted)

Anthony was playing with his garage this week.

Anthony was dancing on his feet a LOT with this dance pad this week for therapy.

In this shot, he's isn't on his feet much, but you can see his enthusiasm for it.

On this day, he worked up to lifting one leg at a time, which is great practice for developing balance.

Oh, and I'm working on ordering glasses for Anthony still.

We'll have a lot more time to do that next week.

Gala ~ Dinner, Auction, Dancing

2011-10-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in the Grand Ballroom, Anthony screamed because he was in the stroller.

So........Andy took him out.

Anthony promptly started playing with all the shiny and interesting stuff on the table.

Our Ronald McDonald House friends brought over many light-up things to amuse Anthony and the children.

The auction happened during dinner.

Daniel wanted this party.

Salad with excellent tuna (according to Jenny, we're not too into gourmet)

Anthony is a picky eater, so we ordered fries for him at the start.

Instead of eating as many as normal though, he had more fun putting them in and out of the huge bowl they arrived in.

Daniel's 3DS

light-up toy

Table 23

Raspberry sorbet

The $20,000 table (I think it sold for more) that I want.

Beef course

or Sea Bass

(there was also a vegetarian option, but no one at our table had it)

Auntie Jenny is so fun!

The remnants of the YUMMY 3-part dessert.

I guess we do gourmet dessert ok.

The coffee tray.

At first, I was thinking it was another dessert tray, and started munching on the chocolate sticks.

Even after my mind realized it was for coffee (which I don't drink), I still had no problem eating the chocolate, and especially dipped in that divine cream. :P

During my speech

We got a standing ovation!

After the auction/dinner, was dance time.

Anthony had so much fun in the middle of the dance floor.

He often was the center of a dance circle.

Having fun with Auntie Jenny on the elevator back up to the suite.

We are so grateful to have been invited to be part of this wonderful night of fun, kindness, and support to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the northwest.

After my speech, donors gave more than $235,000 to the house!

The total raised for the night was over $700,000!!!

The Gala was such a wonderful experience.

Dancing

Surprise!!!

2011-10-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

I was trying to find the printer area in the lounge at the hotel when my cell phone rang.

Another lady had just cut in line, which frustrated me, but the concierge noticed and put her in her place, nicely of course.

So, I looked at the phone and noticed it was my friend, Jenny, who had called.

We were hoping to meet up with her while in Seattle for the weekend, but didn't know when we'd even have a one-hour block of time to do it!

Well, I finally got my speech printed out, and called Jenny back.

She was asking where I was.

Ummm, in the hotel...

Where in the hotel?

In the computer lounge. There's a FedEx sign on the window.

Oh!!! The FedEx shop?

Ummm, I guess, maybe?

I'm right behind you!

(I looked out the window onto the Seattle street)

We finally realized she was in a different area of the hotel.

We waited at the elevator for a few minutes, then realized she was in the other elevator tower.

Jenny had arranged to attend the Gala since I announced we'd be the honored guests there a month ago, on FaceBook!

I had NO IDEA!!!

It was so fun to have Auntie Jenny at such a neat and special event.

She added just the right touch. :)

Beautiful Jenny in her gorgeous dress from New York.

Getting right to business...braiding Maggie's hair.

You know you're someone special when Maggie lets you do her hair.

She doesn't let ANYONE do her hair and keep it the way they style it.

Anthony was wrestling Auntie Jenny.

Right before going down to the Grand Ballroom.

Sheraton Hotel ~ Seattle

2011-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

We got to stay in an Executive Suite at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel.

My camera really does NOT do the suite justice, but can give you a little idea of the niceness of it all.

We were on the 25th floor.

Master room.

Josh learned how to iron his new shirt.

Living room ~ don't mind the poor quality and the floaties in the picture.

Girls' room

Girls' headboards were like this.

Wet bar

Other view of the living room

Daniel slept on the couch, Josh had a twin rollaway bed.

Woody waited for Anthony, and the shoes waited for us.

Daniel ironing his new shirt.

First thing Anthony did was take the garbage can out from under the sink, then went in the empty space under the cupboard. :)

blurry pic

Climbing into drawers

We were so amazed and blessed to live the luxurious life for a night.

EVERYONE working at the Sheraton was wonderful to us, and helpful with anything we needed.

If you're ever in the Seattle area, we would definitely recommend staying at the Sheraton.

Tuxedos before the Gala

2011-10-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

Our family was invited to attend and speak at the Seattle Ronald McDonald House fundraising Gala this past Saturday.

What an honor!!

We'd been looking forward to such a fun occasion, and getting to dress formally.

And of course, anything we can do to help the RMH, we'll do!

The night before we went to the Gala in Seattle, we girls did our nails.

Kelly used a metallic-y color, and tried on her shoes.

On the way to the hotel, we went to pick up the tuxes.

Men's Wearhouse donated tuxes for Andy and Anthony for the weekend.

Anthony loved Megan.

But it was still so hard to keep him still while we got him dressed!

Ready for the party!

A couple reviews

2011-10-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

We've tried a few new products this past month.

I am a member of Pssst (General Mills) and Vocalpoint.

They send samples or free coupons, plus coupons to share, for new products.

The items listed below were awesome, so I thought it fair to write a short review.

And if you want coupons, comment with your email address, and I can arrange that.

Downy Unstopables

One of our washers (we have two washers, two dryers) makes the clothing smell mildewy if it isn't put in the dryer within a few hours of finishing the wash cycle.

When I saw the chance to try this laundry scent enhancer, I jumped at the chance.

The first load I washed with the Unstopables smelled great over a week later, and through multiple washings.

Since then, I bought a regular-size container (shown below).

Every other load in my "smelly" washer is processed with just a few of these scent enhancers now.

Now my laundry smells sunshiney, and like it was washed by someone else!

The scent lasts over a week, and I love it!

LAND O LAKES Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread was so yummy!
As toast lovers, we've gone through about 2 or 3 containers in a week or two.
The girls like the spread on regular graham crackers too.
The spread is so nice, not messy, and has the perfect texture.
I don't always like home-made cinnamon sugar for toast because the grainy texture.
The LAND O LAKES version is perfect.

The girls definitely recommend the Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread, and I do too!

To register for Vocalpoint and receive coupons or free samples, click here.

To join the Pssst panel, click here.

**The products featured in this review were free with coupons received from General Mills and Vocalpoint.**

Cuteness and Family Home Evening.

2011-10-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

DOWN SYNDROME FAMILIES--Do you recommend the long-armed glasses frames (curl around the ears), OR the frames with straps that wrap arond the back of the head?

PLEASE leave a comment, and let me know what works best for you.

We are seeing evidence every day that Anthony might live differently once his glasses are ordered.

Anthony eating pancakes for breakfast.

We do salad a lot.

This was last night's line-up.

I need to get some more of my favorite, Gardini's caesar.

Lilly had us playing Crowns (card game) for Family Home Evening activity last night.

Penny loved laying by the kids.

Anthony and Daniel throwing something at the same time.

October fun

2011-10-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Our lovely pumpkins

Anthony loving his reflection while shopping in Seattle.

Climbing on the tables at Ronald McDonald House

Anthony had so much fun in the playroom at the Ronald McDonald House.

When we stayed there, he was younger and I was more worried about him getting hurt badly.

Now, he's stronger, and I figure that the furniture he climbs on at home makes the play room a lot less to worry about. ;)

Of course, we have to enter through the window.

And go out the door.

And show the other little kids how to go down the slide face-first.

At Anthony's clinic appointment (chemo and check up, plus spinal chemo), Anthony played outside the stroller in the waiting room, for the first time.

He had fun with the pinball-type game on the wall.

"Whoa!!"

So excited!

That night, we got back home and Anthony promptly got a fever.

We went straight to the ER to get blood cultures taken.

Signing "Daddy" for Andy.

Poor, miserable boy.

Acting stinky but cute

2011-10-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Anthony is still our baby, even if he is a toddler. :)

Isn't he so cute??!

He wasn't happy with just one sippy cup.

Nope, had to have 2!

Josh made this last week.

He was looking at the older Nintendo system, got some paper and other supplies out, then made it.

He went back and forth from the table to the tv to the table to make finishing touches.

(No seizures since day 2 of his epilepsy medicine!)

Anthony had fun getting fitted for a tux last week.

As soon as he slid one arm in the jacket, he grinned so big!

(he's wearing shorts and a shirt underneath, the picture just doesn't show it)

Josh performed surgery on this dinosaur, to fix it's squeaker.

Then, he found some glue strong enough to hold the incision closed.

Anthony in the midst of his mess, flossing his teeth.

We have to keep all the benches and chairs turned over except when in use now.

Otherwise, Anthony pushes them over, HARD, and he doesn't care what or who they hit.

He's also now into throwing objects EVERYWHERE.

It's getting frustrating dealing with the "terrible two's" a year late.

Lilly and Maggie working on a craft at the mall.

Kelly was trying different things on with her new blouse.

One combo matched Anthony's jammies, so we got a picture with the two of them.

See the tippy-toes?

We put the green chair away for a bit, until we get Anthony's glasses.

He wants to be a tight-rope walker.

Anthony started climbing and falling out of his crib 2 weeks ago, so the next day we put it away.

We brought the toddler bed in to the dining room, so I could clean it.

Anthony was ecstatic!

He practiced laying on it.

...And playing peek-a-boo on it.

...But, he won't stay on it at night yet.

We need a nice, quiet weekend to train him to stay on it at night.

Otherwise, he climbs off and gets into stuff.

Not safe.

So, in the meantime, we get him to fall asleep next to us on the couch, then transport him to the bed, and close his door.

It's getting really old doing this, since he won't go to sleep this way until at least 11pm.

Anthony likes to climb into these end tables.

Reading Dr. Seuss.

Often, Anthony will walk to the end of the hall, hoping that a gate or door will be ajar so he can get into more mischief!

He is a busy boy.

Sitting at the table like a big boy, with Daddy. :)

Anthony getting into more mischief.

He fills the top of the train table with a bunch of toys, then climbs up and throws the toys off.

See that expression?

He's daring me to do anything about him messing with the garage.

...And, playing with the garage after he threw it on the floor.

Pretty Penny. :)

Family Home Evening

2011-10-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last week, our Family Home Evening activity was musical chairs in the front yard.

Pictures backwards again.

Daniel and Kelly lasted till the end.

This week, our activity was coloring pictures of things that God created for us.

Plum jam

2011-10-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

Pictures backwards order.

Finished jars.

Our 2 batches of plum jam only made 9 jars.

Even the compost was pretty.

That week, I found our local farmer's market to be open.

These tomatoes were gorgeous, but waxy.

Nothing like backyard tomatoes, even locally-grown.

And, homemade cookies.

Anthony was having fun trying to climb on the table for them.

Cancer aftermath

2011-10-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

**written on Sunday**

Now the real cost of living with childhood cancer is this:

praying for your other child

(even though not biologically related to the one with cancer)

to have epilepsy.

Because my overanalyzing mind can't handle the alternative right now.

**written today, October 5**

Epilepsy is a major diagnosis, but one that you can live with.
I am so relieved that it is "only" epilepsy.
Not thrilled that we can only hope to prevent the epilepsy from advancing with medication.
But thrilled that epilepsy is a new medical thing we get to learn about, and not something worse.

Paper towels

2011-10-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Seattle's Ronald McDonald House needs paper towels!

I'll be heading over there in just over a week, for Anthony's chemo.

If you're local and want to help, bring a roll or two or more, and I'll deliver them!

Some of life with childhood cancer

2011-09-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

More childhood cancer awareness.

If you click on this picture, you'll notice a few things that tell about living with childhood cancer.

First, you'd notice Anthony's two straight, horizontal lines on his chest.

Those are pockets where Anthony has had/still has a port-a-cath under the skin.

Anthony is on his 3rd port right now.

His first port lasted 18 months, then broke.

That was taken out, then replaced with a new port that only lasted 2 weeks before causing a life/death infection.

Because of that infection, Anthony developed at least one serious clot in his neck.

To treat the infection, I had to administer IV antibiotics every 8 hours for 6 weeks.

Plus, to shrink the clot, and to help prevent future clots, I have to give Anthony shots of anti-coagulant (anti-clot) medication TWICE A DAY until he doesn't need a port anymore...in about 2 years.

Next, you'll maybe notice the wrap on Anthony's arm.

That is from the twice-monthly labs that Anthony needs.

We go to the lab when Crystal is there.

She is an expert on Anthony's hard-to-find veins.

He loves his pretty Crystal. :)

Labwork is necessary to make sure Anthony's immunity levels are at the right level, not too high, not too low.

When the counts are high, chemo can be increased in dose.

When counts are low, chemo can be stopped, and anytime Anthony develops a fever, he'll be admitted to the hospital for a minimum of 2 days.

Third, you may notice Anthony's open-heart surgery scar.

That's not related to his leukemia.

But, it is affected by the leukemia.

The chemotherapy that is saving Anthony's life can be toxic (hurtful) for Anthony's fragile, fixed heart.

No additional damage there so far, but Anthony's right ear has severe to profound hearing loss because of the chemo.

Lastly, you might notice Andy's sticker.

Andy gave blood the day this picture was taken.

When cancer patients go through treatment, they OFTEN need blood or blood products.

I really don't know how many times Anthony received transfusions of red blood or platelets.

Besides the typical medical staff, Anthony's life has been saved over and over...by those who have donated their blood.

Thank you if you have donated.

Ok, a few more things about childhood cancer.

With Anthony's cancer, we travel to Seattle (3 hour drive each way) every 4 weeks, like clockwork.

NOTHING short of a natural disaster should interfere with this schedule.

While in Seattle, Anthony gets his labwork checked, sees his specialists, and gets chemo injected into his port.

Every three months, Anthony is also sedated so they can INJECT chemo into his SPINE, to protect his central nervous system from developing leukemia.

I didn't take a picture, but we have a FULL shoebox of medicines for Anthony.

Some are chemotherapy that we administer here at home. Those are in pill form that I crush and mix with cherry syrup.

Some are vitamins.

Some are medications to alleviate possible side effects of chemo medicines.

One is a calcium supplement.

Did you know that one kind of chemo strips the calcium out of your bones?

If you don't replenish that calcium, it is so simple to have a broken back just from bending over or picking something up...true story, but not us.

One last thing, when I'm waiting for counts from labwork, I am sometimes a wreck.

I overanalyze, and worry when Anthony's counts don't stay stable.

I worry that when he can't have chemo until his counts go back up because of a cold, that he'll relapse.

Then, I worry because his counts shoot sky-high, and I wonder what that means.

Cancer has taken its toll, but we are all so grateful to have our baby still with us.

We are the lucky ones.

Fun and games

2011-09-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Andy, Lilly, Maggie, and I went to the Wenatchee Wild hockey team's opening night.

It was fun. My pictures were not.

There were a lot of almost-fights. :)

That's the kind I like...because no one really gets hurt.

Anthony was on steroids and kept finding ways to access the box of chips in our pantry.

Here, he's asking Kelly to open the Doritos for him.

Another time (same night, same jammies), he had Lilly opening Fritos for him.

He climbs up on the couches, then cuddles with a pillow on his lap....

Einstein Josh

Entertaining himself while driving Kelly and friends to Cross Country.

Anthony in his cozy jammies from Auntie Jenny.

You can't tell in this picture, but Anthony is grabbing on to Andy's shorts, telling him he wants to be picked up.

Success!

Catching up on celebrations

2011-09-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Waiting at Hydro Park in East Wenatchee for Kelly to get done with Cross Country practice.

Lilly, Maggie, and Josh were all having fun near the water.

Kelly turned 15!!!

I made her a cake (cookies and cream and pictured at the bottom of the post), and H's mom brought pizza and cookies.

Kelly was treated like a princess all day.

And she is our princess. :)

We played in the front yard for Family Home Evening activity last week.

Anthony was cheering us all on.

Playing in the tomato box with Woddy, Woody, and Buzz.

Working on catching up

2011-09-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

Anthony and I brought Kelly and her friends to Cross Country last week. Anthony was being particularly cute, so Kelly took him outside with her.

He had a lot to say.

All of the other runners were impressed and thought he was cute. ;)

Watching a movie on his own DVD again.

Josh before his hair cut.

And after.

Anthony before.

Anthony during.

Notice the chip in his hand.

Josh held Anthony's DVD player and Maggie fed him chips.

Lisa would tell them which way she wanted Anthony to face, so they would adjust their offerings accordingly.

Anthony after.

Still eating chips.

Always in the mood to see a shiny fire truck.

Daniel had his first job interview.

All the other employees were impressed he wore a tie.

"No one else has ever worn a tie for their interview."

Daniel got the job.

He'll be pushing carts at a local store.

We started using Anthony's "bubble" again.

The cold season has started swiftly and nasty already.

So, when we're someplace where there are a lot of people in a relatively small area, I put the rain cover over the stroller.

There are vents on the side so he can breathe.

This picture was at church. He's feeding himself cheese absent-mindedly while watching Tangled.

I don't care what he watches as long as I can get some church before the sick season REALLY starts and we have to stay home.

Life with childhood cancer.

A wonderful friend shared a huge box of tomatoes with us.

Daniel and I made quick work of them.

The girls had school with their stuffed animals.

Anthony had fun with the Dots box and some tortilla chips.

He ate the chips right out of it.

Anthony loves therapy.

Here, he is showing D his picture with Buzz and Woody.

Defeated

2011-09-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a friend passed away from cancer. Far too young.

Today, another person we know is being sent to Seattle for a tumor. A teenager.

I HAVE HAD IT WITH CANCER.

If you would like to wipe cancer off the face of this earth, the only way it's gonna happen is with research. If you would like to contribute directly to those researching, go to http://www.seattlechildrens.org/ and donate to cancer research.

Sorry if my blog's been one big drear-fest lately, it's just that cancer is taking it's toll on my family and my community. It's time to make it stop.

New Beginnings

2011-09-21T10:03:00.001-07:00

Our little friend, Adam, is getting a new heart today!!! PLEASE pray for him, his family, and the donor family. They will all need all the prayers they can get.
He was really at the point of needing this. ♥ ♥ ♥

2011-09-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

This beautiful girl has a wonderful opportunity coming her way. Her forever family and friends are working to raise enough money to bring her home from certain life & death circumstances in her home country.

I am particularly happy to help a little, because of that gorgeous red hair. :)
All kidding aside, Autumn will be in a real family, and be loved her whole life!

If you'd like to contribute to their cause, you can click here and also have a chance to win an iPad2.

Still keepin' busy

2011-09-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I was clearing stuff out of various rooms so Anthony's room would be less cluttered, so Josh could share a room with Anthony, and so I'd have a new sewing room.

The girls had fun looking at family heirlooms and family history items.

Anthony recently re-discovered Snuffleupagus that Nana gave him when he was first diagnosed with leukemia in December 2009.

He's been attacking and eating Snuffle's snout...

And, after a hard afternoon's work of speech, he fell asleep during the eating part of therapy.

Anthony got a fun package from Auntie Jenny.

It had a cool card with monkeys on it, and it made fun monkey noises when opened!

Attacking Daddy

Watching Lilly do games.

The children thought it was fun to make faces on my pincushion.

Cheering Daddy on, with his Angry Birds game on his new phone.

After a bath, in the awesome towel thing from Tab...he really wanted to get closer into the kitchen so he could wreak havoc in there.

Daniel had Anthony hold his 3DS, then took a bunch of pictures because he thought it was so cute.

Speaking of Daniel, he had his first job interview today.

He applied to push carts at the local store.

One of the managers was saying she hasn't seen any other kids wear a tie for their interviews.

They were all impressed with my boy. :)

Stayin' busy

2011-09-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

I have an updated version of blogger on my compute to update with.

...and the pictures are all backwards.

So, bear with me as things jump around with this update!!

Kelly's been doing great in Cross Country!

She has been in a few meets so far, and keeps beating her personal goals.

We're so proud of her. :)

After Kelly finished the other day, Anthony was READY to go.

He was being feisty and pulling off his Daddy's hat, then dumping it back on the ground...the whole way back to our car.

Anthony in his Shamu jammies at Nana's.

We were in Seattle for Anthony's chemo this week, so we stayed the night before at Nana's.

This is Anthony trying to hide behind his DVD player at bedtime.

Before bedtime, Anthony was kicking back, doing his favorite movie-watching pose at Nana's house. :)

Last week sometime, Kelly and I were comparing hair.

Hers was a tad bit longer, but hers was also wet.

Monday night, for our Family Home Evening, Kelly chose to have everyone chalk our walk.

Anthony with his Buzz and Woody.

Last Sunday, the girls made a fort in the front room, then took a bunch of pictures of it.

Here's their rendition of Buzz keeping the fort safe.

Anthony was getting Maggie with Josh's light sabre.

One of Anthony's favorite things to do is carry his 2 Woody dolls around.

Today, he fell asleep in the car, holding both.

We're in a formal dressing kind of mode.

Our family was invited to speak at the Ronald McDonald House Gala.

This is a big, formal, fundraising event for the House.

I was so excited to be invited.

We haven't done anything formal since...well, since our wedding maybe?

So, I had a specific dress style that I wanted, and I wanted it a certain way.

I found some beautiful vintage-looking silk taffeta and sewed away.

When I tried it on, it didn't quite look like my high school body in a formal gown...more like a tent. :(

After much depressed consideration and discussion with Andy, we decided that I'd buy a dress instead.

So, when the boys and I were in Seattle for overnight, I went SHOPPING and tried on at least 40 dresses.

I found THE ONE, but am not positive anymore if it is....we'll have to see how it goes.

Anyways, during that past week, the girls and I have been discussing formal dresses.

Kelly's excited to get one soon for this gala, because then she can use it for the winter dance too.

She had fun trying on my "ancient" dance dresses.

They were definitely not her style because of the "pouffy sleeves and weird waistlines."

The dress below was actually my grandmother's dress for a formal back in the early 1900s.

Lilly and Kelly ready for a big football game.

One more thing...after 5 years of having a teeny tiny dresser in our closet because any size dresser would not fit in our room (small room b/c old house and queen sleigh bed), we took out the bed frame, rotated the mattress to face the other wall, and we now have a regular dresser again!!!

Now, we just need to get a new frame so we don't feel like we're slumming it with the mattresses on the floor. sigh...if it isn't one thing, it's another.

Childhood cancer awareness

2011-09-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month.

Did you know that everyday, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer?

7 children die each day from cancer.

Do you know the ribbon color for breast cancer?

What's the ribbon color for childhood cancer?

See why we need more awareness?

Everyone thinks childhood cancer is rare.

It is.

But, we are still surrounded by children with cancer.

We are still affected by children with cancer.

With more awareness will come a cure.

I'll be posting a few things about life with childhood cancer this month.

Just to show you some of what we go through.

Keep in mind that the intensive stuff was in Seattle.

14 months worth.

Still 2 years to go of this Maintenance Therapy.

A lifetime of tests to make sure the cancer hasn't returned.

Anthony has to have blood levels drawn every two weeks.

Once a month, it's done in Seattle on his big chemo day.

The other time, it's local.

Yesterday, we took Anthony in to get blood drawn, but he was not hydrated enough.

His veins kept hiding, and they couldn't get blood.

Anthony endured 10 minutes of a needle being moved around inside his elbows, trying to find those veins.

Because the test is important, but could still wait a day, we decided to bring him home and offer water to him at every opportunity throughout the night and this morning.

Anthony fell asleep in the car.

Waiting for the techs to get Anthony's lab orders ready.

Not a fun way to wake up.

Anthony LOVES his main tech though.

Because he drank so much, she said the veins were huge today, and we were done within a minute, literally.

On the way out, Anthony gave his favorite girl a hug and gave her victory arms, and squeals of delight.

Then, he did the sign for McDonalds.

See the coban and cotton ball wrapped on his elbow.

Anthony is getting old enough to understand routine more.

So, to cut down on trips to fast food places, and to help him get through lab work with something to look forward to, we go to McDonalds for fries after each time he gets poked.

**by the way, the ribbon color for childhood cancer is GOLD**

Just some fun pictures.

Daniel got Anthony to sleep tonight.

It only took him about 5 minutes.

Family movie night.

Kelly was at her first football game.

This was from yesterday.

Daniel was watching Psych, and Anthony was watching How to Train Your Dragon.

They are buddies, especially now that the other children started school.

Anthony climbed on the table the other night.

He gets into more and more mischief.

We're keeping our eye on him even more now.

Didn't think that was possible!

Whatever.

2011-09-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Kelly and Anthony were buddies, eating chips together on the big chair. :)

I took this picture of Daniel for some reason, but I don't remember why...he always hides when I get the camera out, so I have to post when I get one.
Andy and Josh went on a big hike on Saturday. I didn't get pictures before or after.
But, Daniel also went on a big hike. His was bigger, actually much, much bigger.
Daniel's group hiked 20 miles or so, and it was very steep terrain, with a very high level of difficulty.
My boys seem to like wearing nice, white socks on their hike then coming home like this.
And on my new carpet...yes, I raised my voice at him.
After the laundry, the socks still were stiff.

And, the bare feet.

Kelly had a picture board, but since she moved rooms and painted in different colors, she re-covered the board.

The buttons were really hard for her to figure out and not hurt herself with the needle.

But, after persevering for over an hour or two, Kelly got all the buttons sewn on and finished her board! I'm so proud. ;)

Anthony had fun with Darby.

breakdancing for Darby

Working hard is fun.

Daniel trying out the voicemaker.

When you basically lip sync, it will say the words if it's near your voicebox.

All the kids thought it was so cool. :)

Anthony figured out how to open the gate going to the stairs.

Andy had to put a chain on.

Andy, Daniel, Anthony, and I went on a bike ride today.

Anthony kept trying to pull the helmet off.

Finally I remembered that I brought graham crackers for this reason.

I gave him two and he was distracted with eating.

My nasty bike hair and beet red face after we got home.

So much stuff going on

2011-08-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

The girls set up the couch cushions against the hearth the other day.
They had summer schoolwork to do (just a book I bought).
Anthony was having fun sitting with them.

Our friends found a Woody doll (or as men would say, action figure) for Anthony.

He had fun opening his first birthday present last week. :)

Poor Woody, the natural place for toddlers to hold him is around the neck.

We went to stay at Nana's last week too, for our monthly chemo trip to Seattle.

She had a bag of goodies too.

Nana got Anthony a Buzz pillow and some shirts.

He had fun with his new Buzz and Woody.

Anthony REALLY did not like Cars, the movie, before.

After our Disney trip though, he watched the whole movie several times at Nana's.

While we were in Seattle, our friends from Indiana were there again for a 1-year post stem cell transplant check.

We met up and went to lunch at Paseo's.

I'd never heard of it, but evidently, it's talked about on tv and in social media.

Good food.

We got to the front of the (long) line, and I saw this sign...

I don't normally carry much, if any, cash.

I asked Daniel and Josh if they saw an ATM anywhere.

Josh said he had some cash, and I asked him how much, thinking it'd be about $20.

Nope, he had $80! Extra, leftover spending money from our trip.

The place is so popular, the neighbors had to put up a sign, telling people not to go on their porch!

Brian shaved a smiley face.

Anthony had fun in the sprinklers.

We didn't bring a swimsuit or swim diapers for A, so I just let him play in the water to clean off his chip crumbs, then changed him.

The bandaid is from his chemo appointment.

I had been promising Daniel I'd take him to see Harry Potter in 3-D.

So, we went to the Pacific Science Center, for the iMax theater.

We have a friend who traveled a lot this summer.

He took planking pictures everywhere and put them on facebook.

So, Daniel planked at the giant table.

Gorgeous Science Center architecture.

The Science Center closed before the boys were done in their movie.

So, Anthony and I waited for a couple hours in Seattle Center.

We planned to go home the next day.

But, I was nervous about how the brakes on my van felt.

When we had driven over the mountain the day before, it felt like the brakes were not as tight as they normally are, and it was scary trying to turn into a rest stop.

So, we went to Nana's neighborhood Les Schwab.

Two years ago, my memory was so good, I could have told you if the brakes had been done, when they were done, and how much it cost--to a penny.

I couldn't remember if we'd gotten the brakes done in my van or not.

Evidently, we did....back in March.

But those were the front brakes.

The back brakes needed work this time.

So grateful we got them checked out and made safe though!

Anthony likes to hide behind the couch on the hearth, and get into what he thinks is mischief. ;)

We're still trying to get a good shot with Anthony in his mouse ears.

Anthony has been loving both his Woodys.

The other day, we had to take Kelly somewhere early, and he was clutching his Woody from Auntie Jenny like a security blanket the whole way.

(This picture is from before we bucked him in)

Daniel put the mouse ears on the cat.

Someone's having a birthday!!

2011-08-21T21:29:00.001-07:00

Anthony will be 3 on Tuesday!

If you are local to us, you're welcome to come enjoy ice cream and cake from 6-7:30 PM.

*no gifts please...Anthony already has everything he wants/needs*

Traveling all over Washington State and entertainment

2011-08-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

This is Andy's 21st year with his company.
So, we went to Yakima for his 20th anniversary dinner.
We hooked up 2 rooms at a hotel there through priceline, and drove down.
Last time we were in Yakima, I wasn't too impressed for some reason.
Now that I know several families from there, from the Ronald McDonald House, Yakima has a beauty I hadn't seen before.
It is beautiful!

A few days later, I needed to travel to Moses Lake for CPR training.
We were driving 60-70 MPH for about an hour, while it felt like something wasn't quite right.
Finally, we stopped at a rest stop and I had Andy look at the tires...
Sure enough, the back tire was flat.
We drove into Quincy and went to Les Schwab.
They found a screw in the tire, fixed it up, and had us on our way within about 15 minutes.
I was so impressed.

Josh wanted to prove that Weebles don't always not fall down.

Last week, Daniel and Josh went on a Scout hiking/camping trip.

They went 32 miles, although Daniel went 52 miles.

Kelly went to a leadership camp for the week.

So, it was just the younger girls, Anthony, Andy, and me.

We went to Spokane via Hwy. 2.

We hadn't been this way before and were astounded at the beauty of this route.

Almost NO traffic, and it was just so pretty!

We stopped at Dry Falls.

Anthony was tired of being strapped into his car seat.

The only place Andy felt it was safe to let him down in this caged area.

Everywhere else was a huge drop off.

While we stayed in Seattle for 14 months, one of the RMH families came from Davenport.

They said if we ever drove through, to stop at Edna's.

We did.

It was good.

But expensive for just a few of us.

Waiting for the food.

HUGE fries for Anthony.

He actually chose chips over fries though!

In Spokane, we stayed at the Ramada hotel right by the airport.

Another priceline deal.

I was very impressed with this one, it was roomy in the room, and there was a slide with the indoor pool.

Andy and I were there for a Michael Buble concert.

So, we went and picked up 2 of my nieces to babysit Anthony and the girls.

All the girls had fun, and Lilly only had to change one gross diaper.

I had Andy check his cell phone every 10 minutes, poor guy.

I have to be paranoid though.

Cousins in the pool.

Lilly

Grace

Janice

At the concert...Andy's not too comfortable with the self-portrait taking.

Naturally 7 was Michael's opening act.

If you EVER get a chance, SEE this group!

They were amazing, and made the cost of the tickets worth every penny.

They sing a capella, and use no instruments. Amazing.

We sat close, but it was still a better view to watch the screen next to us.

Although Michael Buble put on a great show, it wasn't that great to me.

He sounds better on cd or maybe in a more intimate setting than an arena.

He was pretty egotistical, although I can't blame him too much for that when there are so many women across the globe willing to give up everything to be with him.

His political humor was not needed, and if you're going to make a statement supporting a lifestyle, you don't mock those who do have that lifestyle in the next sentence.

Lastly, he used some language that wasn't necessary.

Buble's opening act, Naturally 7 was a lot cleaner, more fun, and made the concert.
I'll still be listening to Michael Buble though, and loving his velvet voice on the cd.

On the way back home, the next day, we went back via Hwy 2, then took a different road than the one before.

We went through Sun Lakes, Ephrata, and then Quincy.

Another gorgeous drive!

Maggie looking at little red dots in the water.

Little blue dragonflies that were all over the place.

66 drowning deaths in Grant County since 1990...only 2 had life vests on.

We went to the pool at Ephrata.

Anthony finally does better at not trying to stick his face in the water and inhale!

I think it's because he's walking more now, so he's a little further from the water?

Lilly going on the lily pads.

Maggie on lily pads.

Andy was so sunburnt.

We got back in time for me to go to a service night at church.

We were making pillowcase dresses for girls in Africa.

I was able to finish 5 at home, and they are so cute!

Friday and Saturday, I canned apricots and made apricot jam.

So pretty and soooo yummy!

After all the exhaustion of canning, I finished reading a book last night at 1AM.

At 4AM, Anthony woke up fussy and with a low temp.

After consulting with the on-call Hematology/Oncology doctor in Seattle, we went in to our local ER to get blood results and get Anthony checked out.

His blood results were good and after returning home, Anthony and I both slept for 4 1/2 hours.

It's pretty sad when I know who is likely to be working in the ER on a certain day at a certain time, so I rush to get in before shift change. Because I know how good the certain ones are with Anthony...although they're all good with him. Some are just more familiar now.

Some souvenirs

2011-08-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Anthony with his new Cat in the Hat shirt.

Because we all need to put a pillow over the daddy's head and climb all over him...

The girls decided Anthony needed to see if he liked chocolate chips on his pancakes.

He did.

We arrived home with Anthony's new snow globe collection from Disney and SeaWorld to be partly broken from rough handling.

Our wish granter had a Mickey and Minnie snow globe with music that she brought over to Anthony when she heard.

We even added to the new collection last week when traveling across Washington state.

But then, one of the children was trying to look at one of the globes the other night, and the whole shelf fell down, breaking several open...

she was remorseful and it is sad, but maybe we weren't meant to have snow globes for now?

Maybe in a few more years...

Sheri, one of our beautiful Wish Granters.

I don't know why I have this picture, but it must mean something.

She must've just woken up?

back to the snow globe

Anthony loved the music it makes.

Kelly's drawing with one of the boys' comments written in.

One of Lilly's souvenirs.

She was so excited to buy this. :)

One night it was time for bed and I told Anthony it was Night Night time.

He hid behind Daniel's arm after grunting and shaking his head "no."

Day 7 & 8 of our Epic Adventure to Florida ~ Universal and Airports

2011-08-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

After we cleaned out our villa, we went one last time to the Ice Cream Palace at Give Kids the World Village.

Then, we hopped on over to the Castle of Miracles to see where Anthony's star had been placed.
It is in this cluster in the new Star Tower!

We had just over 2 hours to get to the airport.

Daniel had been bummed that we didn't go on a couple rides a few more times at Universal earlier in the week.

So, we took a chance, drove to Universal, ran through the gates, and Andy and the children went on at least one more Universal ride before coming back home.

I shopped with Anthony during that time, since it was so hot, humid, and I didn't want him or me to overheat on the last day!

On the way to Universal, there was a lot of traffic, making me nervous about making the airport on time if we did get to Universal for a ride or two.

The children commented on how many lights there were at this intersection.

Having fun in the van.

Kelly keeping Anthony happy in the van.

A bumper sticker in the Orlando airport.

I <3 to FART!

HONK & WAVE IF U DO 2

Boy humor....

Anthony liked the blanket over his head on the airport when he slept.

If I pulled it off, he'd grab it back and put it back over his head in his sleep!

So cute.

When we arrived in Seattle, we knew there was a long enough layover before flying home that we'd be staying at a hotel for the night.

We waited and waited and waited for the shuttle.

The rest of us were tired and cranky.

Anthony was raring to go!

After a LONG wait, we called the hotel again and realized we'd been looking for the wrong hotel shuttle.

My tired brain had thought of some other hotel name.

It was so nice to stay in a real bed for the night, even though it was a short night.

We stayed at Marriott Seattle SouthCenter. So nice to sleep.

Andy wore his obnoxious Mickey ears all the way home.

At least he wore them though.

I didn't even try to put Anthony's cute little ears on because he kept yanking it off at Disney.

Anthony's at Sea Tac Airport.

Daniel graffitied the whale at the airport. LOL

We came home to a MOLDY apricot that had dropped on the new carpet...

had to use some good cleaner for that.

Plus, Daniel had forgotten to bring his lunch the first day.

This is what a meat sandwich looks like after a week of sitting at room temperature.

So glad Penny didn't eat it!