Camporama

Rough day for the little guy.

We had physical therapy at the park-

and it was a bust.  We cut it short.

 Then, his favorite therapist, Momma Gump came...

 and he could barely muster up a few smiles for her...

she left after 15 minutes.

It was not a banner day.

 There must have been something in the water.

Kean had a bad day and so did "Motorcycle Jeff"...

but nothing a little Harley ride couldn't fix... right?

 Notice the Go-Pro camera on Jeff's helmet?  The movie making

continues...

 The girls are sure having a good night.

The Moomey's grand kids are in town and Byron promised them

a camp-out on the back lawn.

 Jack will take the little tent.

Four girls will cram into the yellow one--

All I can say is I'm thankful I'll be sleeping in my own bed tonight.

 They had a special visitor crash their party tonight-- 

one of our favorite college kids-- Rachel Alderman.

Poor thing got mauled by a pack or rabid girls!

 Somehow, I do think she will survive!

Sunday Shenanigans

We had our dear friends, the Moomey's over for dinner tonight.

Enchiladas- yum.

And English Trifle (Greer had to make it and try it out for a school project-- sure liked

that one better than the animal cell model Holland had to make this weekend for science).

Elly and the girls have this crazy tradition of filling their mouths with whipping cream

every time we go camping.

We didn't make it camping this year-- but still had to honor the ancient Moomey/Barker ritual!

 I love this picture of Ron and Elly leaning back like they have nothing

to do with this mayhem.

 But here's proof they're not totally innocent-- they're just totally fun.

p.s.  that's not whipped cream-- it's some of Greer's duct tape.



Exotic Camping

For years, we've had a Labor Day weekend tradition where we go camping

with our super close friends, Ron and Elly Moomey.

Kean's cancer put a crimp on that last year and this year.

So Elly had this grand idea to still get together (for dinner) and

have s'mores over a camp fire. 

 It was a perfect night.

They live out in the hills above Star

and between the smell of smoke from the fire, the taste of gooey

marshmallows, warm chocolate, crunchy crackers

and a few mosquitoes thrown in... 

 it was almost like camping

without all the prep work before or the laundry afterwards.

After s'mores, Ron chased Reese around on the scooters and

Kean and Bryon took turns zooming on a skateboard.

I'm certain Kean wore himself out with all the giggling and clapping.

He should sleep well tonight.

And he was almost dirty enough when we headed home

that you would've thought we actually did go camping!

Mr. Giggleston

Since we live in the hills overlooking Boise, it is illegal for us to even light

so much as a sparkler. Last night, we (along with our friends Stacy and Brett) just sat outside and watched

the fireworks all over the valley.  It was great.

 Frankly, I didn't miss trying to keep the kids from

turning into little pyros.

And lucky us, forget the fireworks, we saw quite the show.

Someone less than a mile away was lighting off illegal fireworks

and literally, seconds after Byron pointed out the embers falling from the sky

and said there would be fire-- yep, you guessed it, there was a fire in a field.

All the kids were way into watching the flames flare up, get beaten down and then

see the fleet of fire trucks and police cars race to the area.

Pretty exciting stuff--- even better than the lights in the sky!

This morning came too early though.

Luckily, we had Lindsay over this morning to work with Kean.



 She took him to the park for a little while and then came home and

helped me (and Reese) read and sing to him-- really we were just trying to

keep him occupied so he wouldn't pull his hearing aid out.

And it worked.  He only yanked it out once or twice.

So we are making progress.

 This evening we went swimming with the Moomey's and their grandchildren.

Kean was a wild man-- and I'm talking wild!

I swear the boy thinks he is Michael Phelps.

He flips around, kicks and tries to float on his back.

He's crazy in the pool-- I feel like I'm trying to hold onto jello.

He has definitely turned a corner and is feeling much better

after Monday's Chemo.

So good to have Mister Giggleston back.

(The girls made that nickname up, not me).  

The Last Hurrah

It is a good thing Kean is totally unaware of his schedule.

He's got a big day of Chemo set for tomorow at the hospital.

So tonight... we feasted.

My mom and Greer are still out of town, so we had my dad over

and some of our dearest friends, Ron and Elly Moomey.

 I think Kean was totally salivating at the desserts Elly brought...

 Actually, we all were.  He just showed it more than the rest of us.

And yes, I did say desserts- plural.

Elly is a total over achiever when it comes to the kitchen.

We were quite spoiled tonight.

Pray for good counts, a boy who doesn't complain that he's being starved for the morning,

a mom who is calm, doctors to be brilliant and all to go well as

they put Chemo in his spine and brain.

I keep reminding myself for every one of these we have, we are that

much closer to being done- done- done!

Sigh.

A Bit Traumatized



We finally had a hearing test for Kean.

It has been well over a year (since before Kean got sick)

that we last had a test.

And today was a doozie.

It took two doctors-- two and two hours!

They ran several tests-- from blowing air in his ears to check the pressure

and movement of his ear drums to hooking up sensors and putting them in his ears.

They then stuck him in a soundproof booth

and while we held down his hands (to keep him from pulling out the sensors),

one of the doctors outside the booth played sounds on different frequencies.

When he heard one, he was supposed to turn his head to the left-

to a TV screen to see a little cartoon character light up and dance.

He did okay... when he wasn't screaming and crying because we

were holding his hands down.



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 He cried pretty much non- stop, poor guy.

And he still needs to wear a hearing aid in his right ear-- but since his

slacker mom hasn't made him wear one since he got sick, he's outgrown his old one

and they had to take molds for a new one.

Needless to say, the boy was spent by the time we got through everything.

He didn't even make it home.

 After a good, long nap for Keanut, we all went over to

Ron and Elly Moomey's house for a belated birthday party for Byron.

We had a meal straight out of a magazine-- picture perfect and yummy too.

 Elly even made Byron's fav-- German chocolate cake.

 The best part was the card they gave him that said something about wondering

why old men wear black socks with their sandals...

It said he is one year closer to finding out!

Looks like he's already there.

My Turn

Wow was today a quiet one.

Byron took the girls to church and then to a birthday dinner for a friend...

so Kean and I were at home all day.

Can I just tell you how thankful I am that as of today, he's done with his Steroids

(until next month).  They sure make him snarky.

Tomorrow's the big Chemo day.

Pray for good counts, okay?

 Actually, I did get out of the house tonight at 8:30.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that the Moomey's are some of our dearest friends.

Tonight their son Mark was officially set apart to be a missionary for our church.

What that means is, the leader in our area, President Firmage (on the left)

gave him a blessing where he was called to serve the Lord for the next two years.

He leaves in a few days for training before he goes to the Netherlands.

In case you didn't know, Elly is from Holland and all of her family is still over there.

So it makes Mark's mission even more exciting.

 Tonight was a true highlight.

I wish I could put into words the spiritual experience we all had.

Mark is one of the greatest young men I've ever seen and

exceptionally well prepared to serve his mission.

All that was quite evident in the blessing he was given tonight.

We will miss him so... (especially our three girls)

but clearly, he has some important work to do.

Elly had asked me to sit in on the meeting tonight and to act as a scribe--

to take notes so all the advice and counsel would be remembered.

It was a very special experience and made even more so by the fact

I could finally do something nice for Elly and Ron. 
Elly, if you remember, went with Byron and I to the hospital

on the day we found out Kean had Cancer.

She acted as scribe that day and for hours took

pages and pages of notes for us.

So as of tonight we have two notebooks filled with

two sets of very different notes.

Both of them are significant though...

they represent life changing moments in both of our lives.

 



A Date With Cars



The Barker's played it a little fast and wild tonight and went out

as an entire family-- a very rare occasion.

We all went over to a party at the Moomey's house.

Mark had his farewell soiree'.  He's leaving

shortly to serve a mission for our church in the Netherlands.

We knew there'd be a ton of people there, so Kean got to hang out in the master bedroom

and watch... yep, you guessed it:  Cars.

It actually worked out quite well.  Byron and I took turns hanging with the boy.

Elly had made tons of Dutch specialties-- Kean macked on  two deviled eggs

but turned his nose up at most everything else.

At the end, when most everyone was gone, boy, was Kean excited

to get his run of the house and get out of his temporary quarters.

He's a social butterfly, this one.

Can't wait until he's healthy enough to party again.

The Fan Club

I thought I'd better introduce you to Claire, Kean's new Speech Therapist.

She'll be coming into our lives every Monday from here on out.

At her first visit, last week, Kean was a first class pill.

You'd think he was mute and handcuffed.  The only sign or sound he made

was when she walked out the door and he said bye, bye.

 Today was a completely different story-- or different Kean.

He was gabbing up a storm.

And in case you can't tell, he has this new trick of popping bubbles with his tongue.

I guess if he ever gets a potty mouth, washing it out with soap will have no impact.

 We spent this Monday evening with our bestest buddies, the Moomey's.

Mark is leaving in a few weeks to serve a mission in the Netherlands for our church.

The girls have practically grown up with Mark as their adopted big brother.

I don't think we've ever had a get together or camping trip where Mark

hasn't been surrounded by his little harem.

 And if the girls are the charter members of Mark's fan club-- Kean is the

President elect.

Guess who regularly gives the boy motorcycle rides?

 Oh, and there was a bonus tonight-- Elly gave him one too.

Love the jump start on these playful summer nights.