Spines and Donuts

Alexis had her next treatment today. She not only got her next two IV chemos, but she got out under for her spinal chemo as well. Her counts were good enough to go up on the dosage, so she got the higher dose. 

Last night, we got a call from Alexis's friend and former hospital roommate that after scans and tests the last couple days, Emma is now cancer free! We were so excited to hear this great news. This little girl has been through chemo, a bone marrow transplant, and radiation. I feel like you should only have to go through one of these and not all three, but this little girl did all three types of treatments, and I have never seen her without a smile in her face. Kids are truly amazing, and we are truly grateful her treatment is working so awesome. We noticed on FB that some of her friends wanted today to be Emma day by doing an act of kindness. 

So, we started this morning by grabbing bags of donut holes (Dunkin donuts was not very happy when I asked for that many individual bags with donuts). When we got to the hospital, we planned on passing them out to all the inpatient cancer kids in celebration of Emma. However, the have regulations, so we just had to give it to the charge nurse to have out. Still was fun to do. 

Alexis did great with both her spinal and iV chemos. After her spinal chemo, she has to lay flat for a half an hour, and she was not wanting to so this today. So, mom jumped in bed with her to snuggy and a courage her to stay lying down. When we got back upstairs, they had crafts there for the kids today. So, she was in heaven! We are glad to have another treatment behind us!

Conner's Loud Debut

Conner had his valentine party this week. They sang five songs, handed out valentines, did a craft, and ate a snack. Although it was hard for him not to do it when the other two got to, he had a great time and was worth the wait. He woke up so excited and wanted to wear his tie for his performance...we might have an actor (or class clown) in the group. He is so loud all the time (all we ever say to him is, "Conner, lower your voice1"), so he was very excited and made sure he obliged when his teacher asked them to sing louder! He did a great job!

Happy Fat Tuesday

Brian's first ever boss sent the kids a care package with Mardis Gras beads from New Orleans. The kids had a great time with them! Hope everyone has a good Fat Tuesday!

Snow Fun

The kids and dad has President's day off. The night before, mother nature provided us with immediate entertainment by dumping a couple inches of snow on the ground. Bundled up, we headed out to play int he snow. All was good making snow angels and having snowball fights until dad broke out the sleds. He picked the only hill in our backyard, which sits between a fence and two raised garden beds and ends at the playground set, to do their sledding. Dad declared mom crabby when she became a nervous wreck with the sledding. So, she headed inside to worry about broken limbs, while dad allowed the kids to continue having fun. All was well in the end and proves Dad is always the fun one!

That night, dance was cancelled, which spurred a thought. We decided that all the locals who are so scared of weather would all be holed up on their house. So,  these Iowans went out in the weather (roads were perfectly fine) and went out to eat at a restaurant. We correctly predicted that it would be empty and we could safely eat with Alexis. 

Not too far into the meal, the fire alarm went off in the mall. Conner immediately said, "we need to go outside." Brian and I looked around trying to assess if we really needed to haul three kids out into the cold weather. About that time, management came over and said this happens all the time, we should be fine, they will continue to investigate, and we were ok to stay in our seats. Conner said, "but when that slid happens in our school, we have to go outside." Although we were proud he paid attention in fire education at school, he was so insistent we had to go outside and was so fearful. 

After much talking with him, they finally said that all was safe. All of us went back to eating our meal, except Conner who wanted to make certain we were ok. Looks like we will have one rule follower. Hope that continues as he gets older!

Valentine's Day

We had a very nice Valentine's Day. We started with heart shaped pancakes for the kids. Then, we spent some good play time. Alexis had a friend over for a play date, and we did some valentine crafts and decorated cupcakes. It was amazing to hear her asking her friend questions and interacting and learning that social side. So amazing!

For dinner, we made heart shaped pizzas (epic fail) and dipped strawberries and bananas in chocolate. Then, we opened gifts. The kids had a great day. We just loved a normal day with the family and appreciate having out three awesome valentines with us!