Goldilocks and the Three Beds

This boy.

Never a dull moment.

We went to visit a friend from church and up the stairs he

went (we thought to play with her kids).

Nope, we found him first trying out this bed.

 Clearly, it was too hard...

so off it was to this bed.

I think that one was a little too soft...

or perhaps, too BSU-ey?

 He finally settled on this bed;  the teenage daughter's

queen sized bed.

Good choice son.

He was a "bear" though, to get out of there and get

him out to the car.

Speaking of the car.

Look who commandeered my camera

while I was driving.

That girl.

(And that boy)!

And They Are Off...

Let's face it.  The Internet has been full 

of all these darling portraits of kids holding signs

about what grade they are in or what school they are going to.

I'm lucky to a. get my kids off to school

and b. be alert enough to snap a picture on my phone.

Poor Holland starts her day with an out the door time of 6 a.m.

Yes, it is still dark.

And yes, she's still half asleep.

 Greer is a much more palatable 7 a.m.

 Remember, I was crazy enough to have four kids going to four schools.

Reese and Kean both ride buses.

Luckily they are supposed to be only 15 minutes apart.

 Reese got on and left us with no problems.

 Kean's bus was well over half an hour late.  Which means we played around

and rode his bicycle for nearly 50 minutes.

But once he got on the bus, he was fine.

His new bus driver and aid, by the way, are darling.

The first day is under our belt.

They all seemed to do fine, even Kean.

He's a big first grader this year- we have him on a Kindergarten 

schedule, only going half a day.  But I think he'll be moving right up to longer

and longer days before we know it.

Yes, he's doing that well!

Knock on wood...

Whoosh

Big sigh of relief tonight.

We got through another day of screenings at the hospital

(checks to make sure the big C hasn't come back to torture us).

One of the best things about going to the clinic is Miss Jenn.

As a Child Life Specialist, her job is to play with the kiddos.

Kean loves her--

 and pleasantly shocked both of us by telling her some of his

favorite foods he likes to eat (without prompting).
That's a big deal, folks!

Here's the rundown.

Kean's counts are all looking fabulous.

His neutraphils (ability to fight germs) are still quite low

but slowly, slowly inching up.

The doc said once in a while it takes a kid much longer

to recover.  Guess we have that "once in a while kid".

I like to tell myself, slow and steady wins the race, right?!?!

The Birthday Cone of Shame

I absolutely love this picture.

My friend Fabiana took it THREE YEARS ago

when we did the photo shoot for the Hall of Heroes

at St. Luke's Children's Hospital.

This boy is growing up so very fast.

 Today we celebrated his seventh trip around the sun.

And what did he want for dinner?  Tacos.

It is a big deal that he has progressed enough to tell us

what he wants for dinner.

He is doing really well.

(Knock on wood)!!!

 For the first time ever, he blew out some of the candles on his cake

and was engaged and excited to open some of his presents.

 He was particularly taken with this little car his Aunt Kori

sent him.  He'd push the button and giggle as it raced across the table.

 Alas, the item that got the most play

(and wasn't even a birthday gift) was

the dog's cone of shame.

Go figure!

Playtime

Byron and I escaped this afternoon to meet up with some friends for lunch.

Kyle and Amy Benson live a few hours away and have a little girl

who is about six months younger than Kean.

And like Kean, she was blessed with that extra chromosome

and cursed with cancer.

 We met at Tucanos Brazilian Steakhouse for the yummiest lunch we've had in a long time.

That meat is incredible!

Last night, we also went out-- for the most relaxing

and loveliest evening on the lake.

 Oh, and side splitting, heavy duty belly laughs--

'cause look who we were with-- our dear friends, Calene and Mark

Borup and Marc and Monique Warner.  

 I was a wuss and didn't even try... but Byron got 

up skiing...

 and criss crossed the lake-- which we almost had to ourselves.

Boy, did we both need those breaks!

The Meanest Mom

Last year, I threw Reese a huge 9th birthday party

(I admit, mostly out of guilt for all the short changed

birthdays she's had over the last seven years).

So this year, I told her I wasn't doing another party,

she could just have a few friends over to do something.

Big sister Greer and her friend Jaymie decided that

wasn't very nice.

They came up with a surprise party for Reese.

Here's the funniest part.

They went to all this work-- printed posters, made signs,

came up with theme foods and decorations and activities-- all based

around the theme of the Hunger Games.

But get this, Reese's friends hadn't seen the Hunger Games or get any of the games, food or signs.

Thankfully, that didn't put a damper on the party.

They still scarfed down all the food

and played and played in the pool.

I don't know how we'd throw a single birthday party

without Grandpa Bodily's (Gobily's) pool!

Snaggletooth

We're sad summer is coming to an end in a few short weeks.

Kean can't get enough of "swimmin' at Gobily's".

 And while he can't swim, he can go down

the slide until everyone's arms are exhausted from

catching him.

 He's learned a new trick though---

going down the slide on his tummy and his back!

 The boy is an absolute daredevil.

 And if he's not rocketing down the slide, he's jumping off

the diving board.

Evidently, plain ol' swimming is dull, dull, dull.

 He was on... oh, round 847 when he slipped and hit his face,

knocking out his other front tooth and scratching up his face a tiny bit.

He wasn't phased by the blood, just annoyed he had to get out of the pool

for a while.

And get this, the kids and their friends found his front tooth at the bottom of the deep end!!

The tooth fairy can finally come for him-- if he only cared.

Well, better than that, the "Sweet Tooth Fairy" came to our 

house in the form of our friend Shannon Bluth.

She brought her famous, mouthwatering strawberry pie.

Yes, it is as good as it looks.

 She saw that Kean got clocked in the face on the last day of summer

school and decided he needed a strawberry pie.

 Nothing makes you forget about a sore cheek than fresh strawberries

and a sweet crust, right?