The Wild Side

I swear this time of year is busier than the the holiday season.

My calendar is jam packed with school events.

Guess that's what I get for having four kids at four schools.

(Kill me now)!

Today was Reese's day.

All the fourth graders in her school district (there must be

about a thousand of them)-- had their big field trip.

 It's called Rendezvous and is the highlight of 4th grade.

They learn about American and Idaho history all year long

and get to "live it out" on this day.

There are 44 stations for the kids- each school only gets to visit

about 13-- but it is quite the production.

This was one of the first stations:  an old cowboy singing

mining and Idaho history songs to our group.

The booths are pretty cool-- ranging from panning for gold

and calf roping to Indian artifacts and prehistoric tools.

This booth below is the highlight for the students.

They "earn" trapper dollars by keeping their desks clean,

turning in all their homework on time and having good behavior.

Those trapper dollars are spent at the Trading Post where they can

buy all kinds of goodies (homemade Indian arrowheads, rain makers,

jewelry, masks etc.).

 It was going great until the winds picked up and the rain

came down-- cold and hard.

Rather quickly we had a huge group of shivering, blue lipped,

teeth chattering, soaked 9 year-olds.

 I think most of the kids (I know mine) were relieved

when the organizers said they were cancelling the rest of the day.

Another storm was coming in (supposedly with lightning). 

So they herded all of us into the gymnasium

(can you say crowded?)... where the kids got to eat lunch...

see a few wildlife exhibits...

and act a little wild themselves! 

Paging Doctor Freud

If you've been around us much, you'll know Byron and I 

half joke that we don't save for college for our girls.

Instead, we save for their counseling bills!

Today was one of those moments that remind us maybe we shouldn't joke.

Reese's fourth grade class had a "Poet in Residence" work

with them for the past few months.

Today, they presented their book of poems to the parents

and each read the poem they had created.

 Some were great.

Some not so.

Reese's shouldn't have surprised me but it did.

She wrote her poem about Kean and of course, his cancer.

Stupid cancer- as much as we try to not let you rule our lives,

somehow you are always there!

Reese's was very sweet.

It was as if she was taking us through a photo album of Kean.

I'm glad she was the one to read it.

I couldn't have gotten through it.

 While all the other kids seemed to write about

friends, animals, TV shows or video games--

here she is writing about her brother.

 I can't help but wonder how much of an

impact this has had on her little personality,

her outlook on life and her future.

The children were all so little when it started.

Kean was 2, Reese was 5, Greer 8...

 and Holland only 10.

So very much has happened in those years...

 I was thinking about this today.  Cancelling Reese's birthday

party with her friends and having a cake and pizza in the play room

at the hospital.  If anything, I guess it will be memorable.

But I still worry.  These girls have sacrificed, lived like hermits and

been ignored at times.  How much have they  internalized of their

parents' stresses about Kean's health, the never ending bills and

the monster sized fears that accompany cancer?

That still haunt our home..

I comfort myself with the knowledge they've seen first hand

a tremendous amount, no make that, a mind-boggling amount of

love and service shown to our family.

They've made friends in our world of cancer-- with nurses, doctors,

other families, Boise State students who put on dance fundraisers,

and of course, with all those involved with Camp Rainbow Gold.

They've had experiences we never expected (Make A Wish, Share Your Heart Ball, Baldapalooza)

and never could replicate.

They have huge hearts, are all three compassionate little souls

who want to reach out and hug any person they meet who has cancer.

Hopefully, all that will far outweigh the bad.

Hopefully, all that will help them overcome seeing several

family friends lose their children to cancer.

Hopefully, this will make them all better members of the human race.

Hopefully, they will someday be able to remember this time with fondness

(and that their parents were just doing their darn best to survive).

Hopefully, they will remember all the bright spots, the kind hearts, 

the incredible opportunities.

And hopefully, they will block out the darkness that

some days creeped into every corner of our lives.

We did try to protect them from those days.

But dang, these kids are smart and pick up on more than we think.

Maybe I think too much

and they'll be just fine.

A Close Call

Reese is our shyest.

While Holland and Greer seem to have no issues with getting up

in front of anyone who will listen and singing-- this one

surprised us and decided to try out for the school's talent show.

She said she had to keep the tradition alive (both her sisters have sung).

 Well she made it-- and little Miss Brave

got up and sang in front of her school and a bunch of parents.

 She told me she was scared to death, shaking like a leaf

and not sure she ever wants to do it again!

But she did it and I'm so proud of her.

Then last night, after the big performance, we celebrated

Greer's birthday.

That's a platter of donuts-- no birthday cake for this girl.

 I think she had fun with her darling friends.

Kean was off all day, woke up from his nap sobbing

and then added to the festive atmosphere by throwing

up while everyone ate pizza.

On the bright side, he hasn't been eating much of anything,

so pretty much only threw up pedialyte.

Also, to keep things interesting (and keep Mama stressed)

he had a fever that was running just under 101 (he was 100.9).

We earn a trip to the E.R. at 101.

Alas, he seemed to feel better after throwing up-- and only

wanted to be around the ladies.

 His fever came down a bit (finally broke at 10:45 p.m.)

and he was much happier.

Go figure what that was all about.

 He woke up-- acting fine.  No fever this morning.

But he still won't eat hardly anything.

I've luckily gotten him to down some Pediasure

mixed with cornstarch to keep his blood sugar levels

from plummeting with the Chemo.

I'm actually looking forward to taking him in on 

Tuesday for his big Chemo appointment so the 

doctor can check him out and see what is going on!

Reesey's Big Day

Well, she's mastered her ABC's.  She's learned the fine art of raising her hand and taking turns

and she's even able to add a few numbers.

Byron was hoping she'd learn Latin (but alas, maybe that will come next year)!

 We LOVED Reese's graduation from Pre-school.

The children sang the cutest songs, did the Pledge Of Allegiance with Sign Language

and did a "show and tell" of what they all want to be when they grow up.

Reese said she wants to be a mom (no surprise there, since she already thinks she is Kean's mom, not me).

My second favorite, was Annie, who said she wants to be an Ice Cream Scoop person when she gets big.

 Of course, Grammy and Grandpa came to witness the pomp and circumstance. (And Kean too).

 Guess who else came?

Kean's Physical Therapist, Pat (we love Pat and I swear, Reese believes she is Pat's assistant).

 And finally, we'll miss Miss Amber.

She has been one exceptional teacher and best of all, Reese adored her. 

Lucky for us, we'll still get to see her at church each Sunday.

Hard to believe tiny, little Reese is heading to Kindergarten!

Mommies Dearest

Last week, Reese's preschool teacher had all the mom's over for a special brunch.

Miss Amber started the soiree' off with a very sweet story.  She then played a video where

the kids answered questions about what it is they love about their mums.

Pretty sweet stuff.

 Of course, no preschool party would be complete without a few musical numbers.

Please take note of the child who is one foot shorter than all the others?

You'd never know I am 5'11" and Byron is 6'1".

 We then moved to the tables for more sweet stuff-- edible stuff.

 We each decorated giant and very tasty sugar cookies.

 We finished things off with homemade quiche, sticky buns and fresh fruit.

This is my favorite picture.

Kean is in the center of the kids.

They found him pretty entertaining.

P.S.  Kean's doc called and said his blood work came back normal.

PHEW!!!

We still don't know why our little pixie is not growing.

But at least he's healthy.

He is now 18 months old

but the size of a healthy 6 month old.

I just remind myself, I get to enjoy the baby stage much longer than most.

Bat Girl and Her Super Sidekick, Kean

This week in preschool Reese is learning about the letter "N".

So why the bat mask, you may ask?

Because N is for Nocturnal... and she can even give you the dictionary definition.

Pretty impressive.

 At school, they read the book Stellaluna about the baby bat who is separated from her momma.

After many adventures, they find each other and they know each other because of their unique smell.

So Miss Amber gave each of the preschoolers a baby food jar with  a pretty hefty smell

 (Reese got vinegar).

The kids had to smell their jars, then leave their jars and go fly all around the house.

Finally, they had to go find their "babies"... by using their sense of smell.

Three of the kids (all girls by the way) found their "babies".

Reese was one of 'em.

No surprise there.  That girl is all about smells.

Every time we go into any bathroom, she has to smell the soap and have me smell the soap.

Trust me, it got rather tedious, but clearly she was training herself for the big bat test.

Now for a little update on Keanut.

Since our stairs are made of Copper and wood, we are improvising and going for a safer

practice area... hence the couch cushions.  Notice Reese in her normal position as Kean's cheerleader!

 We were back at the doctor's yesterday for a checkup on his "walking" pneumonia, which by the way,

we refer to as his "rolling" pneumonia since he's not walking or crawling yet.

He still has a lot of gunk in his lungs and a red throat... so we are still at the breathing treatments.

But he's happier and eating better.  He did lose almost a half pound though (yikes)!

I have to tell you, he is a changed baby since his ear surgery. 

I'm certain he can hear much better.

I walked into his room yesterday to get him up for a nap and without even saying a word,

he turned and looked at me.

That's the first time that's happened and my heart just soared!

He's also babbling and jabbering non-stop.

He goes for his big two hour sedated hearing testing next week.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up... but I think he's going to dazzle us all.

A Lotta Love

Reesey adores preschool (except for one little girl who tells her she's not allowed to wear her hair long because that would be copying her)! 

 And this is her favorite friend, a fellow pistol endowed with extra personality-- Annie.

Talk about love, Reese told me last night she loves her baby brother sooooooo much

that she misses him terribly when she's asleep

and she can't wait until he's big enough that they can sleep together

and hug each other all night.

A World of Wonder

Reese bounced back to her fine form. Here's a snippet of tonight's conversation:
Reese: "How long will it take me to grow up?"
Me: "A long, long time."
Reese: "Oh, so about 8 days?"
Me: "No a lot longer than that."
Reese: "Oh, okay, about 16 days."

Reesey, by the way, had quite the exciting day at preschool. She has told just about everyone who will listen. They are studying the letter G. And today (Wednesdays are cooking days), they made gingerbread men. So while the "boys" were cooking, the kids had playtime. When they came in to get them out of the oven... oh no, guess what? The boys were gone. They had run away and left a note saying something about "catch me as fast as you can"! The note led them on a scavenger hunt from room to room, until they finally found their gingerbread men waiting for them to decorate them and then, dare I say... to eat them!
She has spent much of the evening trying to figure out how they got themselves out of the oven.
Don't ya just love how gullible and innocent and full of wonder little kids are?

A Taste of Heaven

Eureka! Guess what we feasted on tonight??? Our first harvest of fresh honey. And oh boy, was it ever yummy! We couldn't even wait for the crusty bread in the oven-- we just gobbled it raw. Of course, we had to avoid the one dead bee in the corner. But that's a small price to pay for fresh, straight out of the hive, honey!

The girl on the right, is Meagan, our neighbor-- in case you were wondering...

And yesterday, Reesey's preschool had it's Halloween extravaganza. Don't ask me what her costume is-- some kind of goth fairy princess that made a pit stop at the Mardi Gras.

The boy with her is Kamden-- one of the two boys in her class.

A Learning Machine

Well, Reese's teacher survived the first week of preschool. And so far, so good. Reese seems to love it. My favorite part is that on Wednesday they do "cooking school". This first week they made Rice Krispy treats.

On the way home from school, I asked Reesey what she learned that day. And here are her answers-- unedited.

"When we cook, we're not allowed to pick our nose."

"When we have to cough, we do it into our chicken wing."

And finally, when I asked her about cooking her Rice Krispy treats--- if she got to help, she said yes, "and we didn't get burned"!

So I'm thrilled we are truly getting our money's worth-- Reese is learning all kinds of life lessons, wouldn't you agree?

Her Turn

After asking me, oh, only about a gazillion times, the big day finally arrived. Reese started preschool today. She's by far the tiniest in her class-- but boy howdy, does she pack some punch into that little body. This is Miss Amber (my good friend and Reesey's new preschool teacher). I don't know who's more excited... Reese or me. She'll be going three days a week and on Wednesdays-- it's cooking day. They'll be learning to make tortillas, banana bread-- this week, Rice Crispy treats. I think she'll be in heaven.

All I know is she was pretty darn excited about her first day and raring to go back for more.

Now with all three girls in school, summer is officially over. Grandpa Bodily closed the ol' swimming hole over the holiday weekend. But not before we all got lots of swimming in. Here's cute Grandma Bodily reading a story to the girls after dinner.

And last night we went over to my parents house for a BBQ. Can I say again how much I LOVE having them living here??? Anyway, we had smoked ribs (thanks to my big brother) and watched the Boise State game. At one point, it was a bit too quiet in the house. So guess what we found the little girls up to? Picking all of Grammy's flowers and making perfume.

Luckily they didn't pick all of Grammy's flowers. I think we caught them just in time.