Saturday, March 10, 2012

Never caught up

 Josh earned a 4.0 last semester, so he got a pin he can wear.
He doesn't wear it often, but we are so proud of him!
 Every couple of days, we'll see Anthony putting someone's shoes on.
Then he tries to walk in them.  At least he's low to the ground before he falls!
 Part of our Valentine-making mess
 Kelly's favorite valentine
 Starting to go outside more, with a little warmer weather.
 Maggie posing by the hedge.


 I don't know what they're checking out...this is the tree that will be coming down this year or early next year.
It's the same tree Josh fell out of a couple months ago.
 Josh, Lilly, and Maggie were ALL having fun making sure Anthony had fun on the slide. 

 cookie lover
 Kelly's balloons for her friends on Valentine's Day.
My camera/skills don't come even close enough to show how amazing Kelly's artwork truly is.
She has been busy creating whatever comes to mind.
I would fill our whole house with her art, if she'd let me!

Monday, February 13, 2012

The rest of January 2012

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!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

More of January 2012

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

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.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Tinkerbell

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