Special Delivery

I tell ya, I have some pretty special friends out there.

Case in point, we came home to a big box on our front porch.

 My dear (and obviously very thoughtful) friend, Cathy Downing Kindberg

and I worked together at KPNX in Phoenix many years ago.

She has been blessed with several grandsons-- but no granddaughters.

Therefore, she thought it would be fun to do a little girl shopping

and spoil a trio of x chromosomes.

The girls were thrilled with their jewelry kits, art projects

and drawing books.

They will be busy all summer!

 And even though Kean isn't one of the "Barker Girls" the box

was addressed to-- he certainly wasn't left out.

He immediately started gobbling down on BACON JERKY.

Didn't know it even existed until then-- but he's hooked.

 Cathy also spoiled him with a set of farm animals, which is great.

He's become quite the master at making the sounds the animals make.

 And finally, both Holland and Greer had

their big science fair at school tonight.

 Months of torturing mom with these projects

has finally come to an end.

So nice to have this off our plate.

5 Years Gone

This is one of those days I'm so glad is over.

Kean wouldn't wake up this morning

and had another one of those Hypoglycemic episodes

where he is cold, clammy, and near comatose.

My girls have it down to a routine.

Reese grabs Kleenex to hold on his finger

after I take a little blood sample,

Greer grabs the camera to document it for the doctor

and Holland gets a cup of Orange Juice ready.

The girls are truly superstars.  They got their own

breakfasts, made their school lunches and got ready and out

the door while I held Kean, tried to get him to drink and eat

and talked with the doctor.

I can't wait for his Chemo to be over and done with.

His Endocrinologist thinks these episodes will go away too.

They better.

I loose five years of my life each time we go through this.

We are lucky though, after an hour or so, he's totally back

to normal.

He had horse therapy and speech therapy and did quite well.

You'd never even know there had been so much drama in the house!

It seems we must have a magnet for drama.

Kean's horse therapist, Candice (the one who lost

her horse and the baby during birth) started having

some pretty serious pre-term labor signs today.

So guess who got to take her to the hospital this afternoon?  Me!

I was going already for a meeting and so it worked out great.

She saw her doctor two floors up from where I met with Kean's.

So quick update-- all is well with Candice and her baby.

And my meeting?  It was with the Neurophsychologist

that was trying to give Kean an IQ test when he lost 

it and then I lost it a few weeks back in her office.

She gave me the report she is giving to the state

to make sure Kean continues to qualify for therapy.

Anyway, her report was BRILLIANT!

She totally took the state of Idaho to task

for wasting time, money and resources by requiring

a child with Down syndrome who is currently undergoing

treatment for cancer to go through this ridiculous testing!!!

She's my new hero.

It was sure nice to have my exact feelings validated!

The Big Event

You missed out on one of the most highly anticipated events

of the year (well, at least in the eyes of Greer).

Barker Bingo Night.

The Moomey's came over...

 and Greer, who had organized everything,

called out the letters and numbers-

 and had even saved her money, gone shopping

and put together the prize table.

Trust me, all stuff you can't live without.

 And if you are waiting for the big hint as to who will

be headlining Baldapalooza, our children's cancer fundraiser-

here it is.

Tune into ABC's Dancing With the Stars 

on Monday night

and see if you can't guess our big shot guest.

What a Tease

It was supposed to be rainy and windy all day.

Um, not.

At least it didn't get windy until late this afternoon.

So for much of the day, Kean just wanted to be outside.

 He wasn't much help pulling weeds.

 But he is quite skilled, if I do say so, at digging in the rocks.

 Yesterday, we had a big meeting at the headquarters of Scentsy.

Looks like that's where we will be holding our Baldapalooza this year.

 They have the perfect grounds for a concert (can even hold

up to 7000).

We are making the final arrangements to announce who ouf

big headliner is on radio later this week.

But tell you what, tomorrow I'll drop a really big hint.

Stay tuned.

Perfect Timing

We got a package from heaven today.

A much needed one.

Kean got a Joy Jar in the mail .

If you are not familiar with these little goody filled boxes,

they come from the Jessie Rees foundation.

Jessie was a girl who fought bravely against cancer and lost.

In her memory, her family sends jars filled with toys and gifts

out regularly to kids like Kean.

 I think this is Kean's third Joy Jar-- and it was filled with all kinds 

of goodies-- a toy truck, a "Never Ever Give Up-- NEGU" bracelet,

and hat, play dough, a coloring kit, a ball, toys, a stuffed animal and

 a Lego kit that Reese was so excited to put together.

As I said, the timing couldn't have been better.
We are going on a solid week (feels like about 7 years)

that Kean has been 90 percent ornery.

Can't figure out why.  He's not on Steroids for another two weeks

but geez, he sure acts like he is.

Fingers crossed tomorrow he will be through this "phase".

Three Words

Whether we wanted it to come or not, Holland is now 14.

I'm sure she's anxious to grow up-- me?  Not so much.

She moves to a new age group in church and her leaders

came by to spoil her...

 with the cutest candy letter all about her.

 I just wanted to kiss her when she asked for donuts 

instead of me making her a cake.

I did go all out on her dinner though...

 We had the Bodily's up (our neighbors and honorary

Grandparents).  Hopefully, Holland wasn't too 

disappointed that her wish didn't come true and she still didn't get a cell phone.

(She is trying to convince us she is the last 14 year old

on the earth who still doesn't have one).

I had to throw this picture in--

Kean was for once digging on the sweets.

Usually, he's all about the salty (can we say bacon?).

I was almost tempted to leave that little mustache on.

Today, he was definitely a donut man.

 Kean, by the way, practiced saying "Happy Birthday Hottie"

all day.

We got it on video-- it wasn't his best rendition-- but we got it.

Can't get my head around the fact our little princess has bigger

feet than me now!

Happy Birthday dear Hottie!

Hottie's Road Trip

So Holland turns 14 tomorrow.

Yowza, she just won't stop growing up on us.

Case in point, we let her escape the chicken coop

and go on a road trip with nine of her friends (and three moms to chaperone).

 The girls ditched school on Friday,

drove down to Salt Lake City went swimming and out to dinner.

 Then they spent all day Saturday at Lagoon

(kind of like a Six Flags).

 This was their big "about to graduate from 8th grade

and they finished PACE -- a huge project--" party.

Happy Birthday eve to my beautiful, intelligent, kind hearted daughter!

I'm pinching myself that she's getting so old, while I continue to not age.

Ha!!!  Denial, I know.

A Death in the Family

We are so very, very sad here today.

Do you remember Kean's first horse love, Reba?

 She was the five year old mare he started horse therapy lessons

on about two years ago.

 It took him a little bit of time to warm up to her.

But for Reba-- it was instant.

 She was young, wild and wiggly until Kean got on her back

and then she was as gentle and calm as if she knew she 

was carrying the most precious of loads.

(And she was).

 Kean would pull her hair, poke her nose and give her

big bear hug, head locks.

(Reese was much gentler).

But she'd take it all and not even flinch.

Kean hasn't been riding her lately-- he's been on Romeo

because Reba was pregnant with her first.

She went into labor last week and we hoped she would have

her baby while we were there at lessons on Wednesday.

She looked so good.

We got word today from Candice that neither Reba, nor the baby

survived birth.

How very, very sad.

The Best Gig Ever

Sixteen years ago, just after Byron and I were married, 

we went back to LA so I could "play" a newscaster

for a Batman cartoon called Batman Beyond.

How in the world did I get this sweet gig you may ask?

The lady I sold my house to in Toluca Lake, California

just so happened to be the head of casting for Warner Brothers animation.

She asked.

I said yes.

It was not a condition of closing, by the way.

It was such a fun day.

And they even paid me over two thousand dollars

to read about four sentences.

As if that wasn't bonus enough, I still get a check

from Warner Brother's for residuals-- about 30 bucks every quarter.

(I totally would have done it for free).

Now for the rest of the story.... (my apologies to Paul Harvey)

I got a message on Facebook last week from a guy asking if he could

send me a picture to get my autograph.

Can you believe that?  All these years later-

and the funny part is he lives on the other side of the Valley.

Instead of giving out my address, I offered to meet him.

He brought two copies of the picture-- one for me to keep

and one for me to autograph.

 It was fascinating to meet James.

He has spent the last 11 years collecting over 400 autographs

from all things Batman (movies, TV shows, cartoons) and he

still has more to get on his quest.

Here's what's wild-- he knew so much more about the episode--

Lost Soul than I did.  And I was in it!!!

Breaking News!

Those silly "weather guessers" here in Idaho.

Supposedly we were only to have 5 mile per hour winds today.

Um, no.

It was downright blustery and blow you away kind of weather.

Horse Therapy didn't last too long outside.

It was miserable.

 So we moved into the arena

where Kean (my little adrenaline junkie) just

wanted to "trot, trot, trot".

We may have looked like doof's trying to keep up with

Kean and Romeo

but oh was it worth it.

He giggled the entire session.

Huge news on the Baldapalooza front.

Yes, we are doing it again.

Yes, we have been trying since November to book our headliner

and today....

yep, today, we made the deal.

I'm gonna be a brat and not tell you who it is quite yet.

We are working on a big unveil because we booked

someone big time

and I couldn't be more excited.

SAVE THE DATE:

August 29th-- a Saturday.

p.s.  that is two weeks before Kean finishes 3 plus years

of Chemo.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate 

and we want YOU there with us!!!

Some Answers

We had another doctor's appointment.

I can't complain about this one.

Kean didn't have to have any tests, get any shots

or give any blood.

In fact, it went about as well as a doctor's appointment can go.

We saw his Endocrinologist-- the doc who is trying to figure

out why Kean keeps having those Hypoglycemic seizures.

Typically we see them when he doesn't eat well, then takes

his nightly Chemo (which he has take fasting at night).

Then he won't wake up in the morning, is sweaty, clammy

and totally non-responsive.

It is incredibly frightening but now that we know it is caused

by low blood sugar when he doesn't eat, it has eased the fear a bit.

(I still am spitting adrenalin trying to revive him each time it happens).

Anyway, he's had several of those episodes, especially just after heavy Chemo

when we can hardly get him to do anything other than cry-- let alone eat.

 Kean threw me for a loop a month ago when he ate a ton of food at dinnertime

and then wouldn't wake up the next morning and had all those 

horrible symptoms/side effects.

Dr. Flynn put me at ease today with his thoughts that there is not something else

wrong-- but that his body is just under so much stress with the cancer that

he can't hang onto any extra energy to keep his levels up during the night.

The doc assured me this problem will likely go away once he's done

with Chemo.

Yippee!!!  Another huge reason to celebrate come September.

We did, by the way get a prescription for- and in - office training

on how to give Kean a shot in the leg to get him to come around

when he is non-responsive and won't drink orange juice etc.

Joy, another prescription to pick up (and add to our impressive collection).

Meanwhile, tonight was Holland's Medical High School's orientation.

I'm still in shock she'll be in high school next year.

Greer went with us-- and was more than willing to pose

in the perfect light after our storm.

 She's a keeper, I tell ya.

Big Sigh

Finally we have good news to report.

The boy has turned a corner.

Today he was smiley...

 and happy.

I swear, just in time.

If he kept up this whimpering all through the night

and whining all through the day-- you'd soon find

me drooling on myself in the corner of a room

(waiting for the guys in white to take me away).

Now we can focus on trying to keep his enormous

appetite under control.

I swear he must open the refrigerator

at least 16 times an hour.

Most often, minutes after pounding down a meal.

It is really quite staggering.

I won't miss those Steroids when this is all over.