Frozen

What a treat to get out of the valley and up into the mountains-- 

to squint in the sunshine.

 Our sixteenth anniversary get away was pretty exciting for Byron

this morning.  He was in the kitchen in the cabin and saw a 

deer run full speed by the window.

He figured if it was a runnin'

something was a chasin'.

Sure enough.

He ran out the front door just in time to see a wolf

on a dead run trying to take the deer down.

Byron hollered and the deer went one way-- the wolf another.

Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!

Too bad he couldn't capture that on camera.

You'll have to settle for one of our views.

It was lovely with Lake Cascade frozen over.

 I gingerly walked on the frozen lake--

I wouldn't want to somehow fall and shatter my leg, you know.

 Byron, on the other hand, opted to re-enact

the infamous ice skating incident of 2014.

Thankfully, he didn't reenact the broken leg part.

 The kiddos did great with my mom.

Kean gave us a scare when we got home

but he's fine now.

Speaking of reenactments, since we got to go up to the mountains,

the girls had their dad light a fire in the backyard.

S'mores anyone?

Sweet Sixteen

Part of me says whoa... sixteen years ago today I

said I do to this guy.

And part of me, with all we've been through

(especially in the past 5 1/2 years) feels like

we've always been together).

 I know there are plenty of sayings about fine wine- I like to

think of us more like beef jerky.  Ha!  We've gotten saltier

with age and tougher with our experiences.

My folks are corralling the kids while Byron and I sneak

up into the mountains for a very needed break.

Sure love this guy.

The New Tradition

Oh my.

Grandpa Bodily has really done it this time.

The girls are getting Kean to walk with them down to the bus.

 And then once they are off-- Kean makes a bee-line for

Grandpa Bodily's house.

For the last few days, Kean has had his "second breakfast"

with Grandpa-- a container of yogurt.

 The Bodily's even made a trip to the grocery store yesterday

to stock up.

It is quickly becoming their thing--- what they do together 

each morning.

Keep in mind, he had a full on breakfast (blueberry pancakes)

at home just minutes before the bus!!!

Breakfast isn't nearly as fun at our house.

The Bum Scoot Boogie

I totally blew it today.

I had taken Kean with me down to see the girls off on their school bus.

They catch the bus at the end of our neighbor, Grandpa Bodily's driveway.

And Kean couldn't get up that driveway and into Grandpa's house

fast enough.

These two have such a special connection.

Today was the perfect example.

And I blew it by not having my camera on me!!!

Lee was upstairs in his office when we arrived.

So Kean started up the stairs.

When Grandpa Bodily heard him coming, he came out

and sat down on the stairs next to our boy.

Then the two of them scooted on their rear ends

all the way down the stairs!

It was an absolute hoot!!!

The Terrible Twos

I just love it when I have no stress to report-- just normal, 

run of the mill, crazy life stuff.

 Greer serenaded Kean before bed tonight.

 Kean had his little therapy school today.

 They said he did great up until the last 30 minutes.

 Apparently, they were learning body parts (arms, legs, nose, ears)

and to do so, they were giving their baby dolls a bath in a small

plastic tub.

Kean had a fit he couldn't "take a bath"

and refused to participate for the next half hour.

I'm shaking my head, thinking I've got one wild tiger on my hands.

Meanwhile, his therapist is telling me that's typical of his

developmental age.

Nothing like living those terrible twos with a five year old.

Paging Mister Sandman

Never a dull moment at our house.  Ever.

I just wish I'd known we were having a big wedding this evening.

I would have worn something nicer.

 We had the strangest thing happen with Kean last night.

I put him to bed at his normal bedtime (8:30-ish).

The thing is, he never went to sleep.

He jabbered, chattered, giggled and belly laughed.
I swear he recited ever single word he's ever heard or learned.

He'd quiet down for a moment and Byron and I would think, phew,

he's finally wearing out.

But oh, no.  He'd go right back to yakking away.

It was crazy.

Every time we went into his room to tell him to settle down,

that it was time to go "night, night"-- he'd then just practice

saying "go night, night" about thirty times.

All we did was keep glaring at the clock.

 Finally, just after 4:30 a.m. (that is not a typo) he

closed his eyes and more importantly closed his mouth!

My 6:45 a.m. alarm came, I swear, a few minutes later.

Thank heavens for pass out time.

I mean, nap time.

Spurts

We have dodged the bullet (I think)!

And life is getting back to our normal ho hum routine.

Kean had his regular two sessions of therapy-- OT and PT.

During OT, he showed off how much better he's getting with his balance.

What a joy to see him walking and getting around.

I've been cleaning off my old (nearly dead) cell phone

and have decided that even though everyone has warned me repeatedly,

it is still a shock to see how rapidly my children have grown.

Look at this little gem in honor of Throw Back Thursday.

Wow.

Hey Batter Batter

Guess who is 110 percent better, running around, eating like a champ

and getting caught up on homework?

Yep, that girl-- Reese.

What a relief.

We also have no sign of the plague so far in anyone else.

Fingers crossed.

We'll  restart having Kean's therapists come to the house

starting tomorrow.

Until then, we've been trying to keep up on keeping him active

and "in training".

Cringe!!!

Ah, we've had a stay of execution.

Reese, after throwing up three times this morning, is much, much, much better

this evening.

She even ate dinner with us.

Tonight the gang watched The Sound of Music.

Don't know if I've told you that Kean's favorite song is

"My Favorite Things".

He loved all of the singing parts.

Two things to tell you about with Kean.

First thing this morning, he pulled a cup off the counter, put

about a tablespoon of water in it from the door of the refrigerator

and took it over to sick little Reese.

(He's never done anything like that)!

That's the sweet, good little story.

Now for the big time cringe story:

tonight he went over to the counter, pulled Reese's cup

with a straw down and took a big drink before we could get to him.

Praying, hoping, pleading she's not contagious still and he won't

come down with her gunk.

(He's never done anything like that either)!

Aye yai yai... these kids!

The Plague

We escaped this past weekend--

we went up to McCall with our friends, Don and Marcee Cook.

They have a time share and were crazy enough to invite us.

 Kean was still having a rough go of it from his heavy Chemo

but it was nice to have a change of scenery for house arrest.

I figured he could be miserable there as easily as he could be

miserable at home.

And luckily, he was only feeling lousy part of the time.

The best part of the trip (or so I'm told)

was when Byron and the Cook's took all of the

kids on a 50 mile round trip snow mobile ride

into some hot springs where they soaked for a few hours.

 Byron and Reese rode on one sled

while Holland and Greer took turns driving the second one.

They all came home rather exhausted- but happy.

 Then today, our entire family (minus Kean who was going to stay with Grandma)

was supposed to go up in to the mountains again--

this time, with a huge group of cancer families and Camp

Rainbow Gold for a big sled fest.

 Here's Byron and Holland...

 and here's Greer.

 What you won't see are any pictures of Reese or moi.

That's because, lucky us, we stayed home to take Reese to the doctor.

She was up all night-- her fever spiked at 104 this morning with a

lovely side of vomiting thrown in for fun.

 She tested negative for Influenza B-- even though she had all

the signs (stuffy nose, headache, sore throat, severe aches)...

And our pediatrician said she wasn't taking any chances with a 

false negative and with Kean-- so guess what?

Reese and Kean are now on Tamiflu with prescriptions

for the rest of the family waiting in the wings.

Poor Reesey is one sick chicken.

But here's hoping the rest of the family, especially Kean

somehow avoids this plague!

p.s.  Lysol is my new best friend.

Old Baldy

Clearly I messed up by not having Byron stay home from work

to start Kean's day off with an "indoor" motorcycle ride.

Where are his priorities?

Anyway, the boy is not only feeling awful, he's got some

anger issues thanks to those blasted Steroids.

It's already been a long, long day.

Meanwhile, my cell phone is dying a slow death and I've

been clearing off pictures and videos.

This one of "Baldy" sure makes me smile!

The Anecdote

Today was a good reminder of how laughter can heal.

Our boy whimpered all through the night (who needs sleep, right?)

and was whining in bed when Byron picked him up.

Kean immediately climbed from his arms up onto his shoulder-

his "lets go on a motorcycle ride" position.

And wow, did that  ride around the house change everything.

Laughter truly is the best medicine.

It started his day off on the right note and he had a decent day

with patches of feeling lousy.

 But hey, we'll take that over yesterday, any day.

Anatomy of Misery

I don't need a picture to paint a thousand words.

One word will do just fine-- misery.

 This round of Chemo has hit Kean hard and fast.

 It has been a long, long day filled with lots of grinding of the teeth,

whimpering, whining and flat out crying.

On the bright side, there's been lots of snuggling.

We did get out of the house for a doctor's appointment made

three months ago.  Kean's ENT wanted to take a look

at his ears.  He has one tube that is still in his ear but not functional.

We decided with as ornery as he was today, we'll continue to wait

(instead of surgically removing it).  He got a six month reprieve.

And that little puppy better be out of there by then - on its own!

I'm off to bed.  

The Good, the Bad and the Inconvenienced!

Another hospital Chemo day up

and another hospital Chemo day down.

Kean did great today-- his port worked,

we got blood with no drama (thank goodness)

and we hardly had any waiting time.

 In fact, I think it was our fastest Chemo day ever.

We had the lovely Cassie Angelos (our dear friend from

Camp Rainbow Gold) as our Chemo date today.

Notice, Kean couldn't be bothered to look at the camera

and smile.  Too busy watching Tangled.

 Cassie was invaluable at corralling the boy, keeping him

entertained and feeding him a steady stream of Goldfish.

She also saved our bacon when we left the Chemo clinic,

headed over to the hospital pharmacy only to find they didn't

have a record of any of the three drugs we were supposed to

pick up.

It just went down hill from there.

An hour later, we still didn't have Kean's needed drugs.

Cassie was a trooper, helping me keep Kean from melting down.

Finally, after we left and were just outside the main doors of

the hospital, they called to say they had one of them ready and approved.

Sigh.

It's a crazy, long ol' story.

So much for breezing through Chemo and getting home early!!!

From Shy to Fly

Our shy girl, Reese was on fire today.

She got up (on her own) and shared her

testimony in front of our entire church congregation.

If that wasn't enough, she said the prayer in the

children's organization.

And then tonight, she spoke in front of a ton of

children and their parents.

She was asked to share her Baptism experience

with all the children who will be getting baptized

in the coming year.

 You'd never know she was scared spit less.

She did great.

So proud of our little 8 year-old.

Doesn't Get Any Better....

Now that the snow and ice have forced Motorcycle Jeff, Motorcycle Bill

and Byron into hiatus, this has become the favorite substitute.

And oh, it never, ever gets old.

A Pregnancy

Nine months ladies and gentlemen.

Nine months.

The time it takes to bring a baby full term into this world

is the same amount

of time we have left for Kean's Chemo.

We are getting there, aren't we!

I also had to show you something special that came in the mail.

Kean got his first "Joy Jar".

A little girl by the name of Jessie Joy Rees died of cancer at age 12.

Her family keeps her memory alive and continues her legacy of love

by sending little packages of encouragement

to other children fighting cancer.

 Kean's was filled with a puzzle, cards, a slinky, toys and a hat and socks

that say NEGU-- never, ever give up!

They asked for the ages and sex of Kean's siblings as well.

I have a feeling we might see more of these little

pick me up Joy Jars in the mail in the future.

Back To Work

Don't know about anyone else but it was rough getting

back into the swing of things after having a few weeks off

to play and party (oh yeah, and to be sick).

Kean made it to his little therapy school and was just okay--

not great but not wanting to work much either.

I think it will take a while for each of us to get

out of the play all the time mode.

Back On Track

My computer is in the shop

but I did want to update that Kean is doing much better!

So much better, that I did get to cancel his trip on Friday to

the hospital.

Lucky me, I did get to go by myself to drop by a stool sample

for the boy but that was admittedly much better than

spending the day there for tests and IV fluids.

 The girls have been wonderful at helping me keep him

entertained.

He got this train for Christmas last year.

He was pretty content to watch it go round and round

a few times--

but decided it was much more fun to whack it off the tracks!

Aye, yai, yai, boys!

Night and Day

Oh am I ever happy to announce Kean is definitely doing better.

He looks better, is eating some, drinking some

and playing some.

He only threw up once today-- and that was his regular

"chuck up" from the nasty Chemo he takes one time a week.

I hope I don't jinx myself by saying I think we may even

be able to cancel tomorrow's hospital appointment to get more

fluids and see the doc.

Thanks for those prayers and good wishes.

They sure are working.

And yes, we are off to a better start for 2015.