Back to normal.… Day 507 05APR10

Today was a back to normal kind of day. Joshua had clinic in the morning to check his counts. They came back a little better than last week with his ANC around 1300. This is in spite of him being on full dose chemo so we are very happy that he is doing well. After they got home the kids did school work and played, I had to go teach, and Renee got to supervise the rocket operations for the afternoon. The weather has already turned hot so the rocket pad was only open for a little bit but that didn't stop our intrepid rocketeers from captivating all the people up at the park this afternoon. Joshua spent most of the balance of his day working on building his Prince of Persia LEGO set he got for his birthday. He promised me he would take pictures of the stuff he has finished so I can share them with all of you. I am sure the collection will grow tomorrow as he gets more stuff put together.

Easter eggs and rockets.… Day 506 04APR10

We had a wonderful Easter and hope that all of you did too. We got up early and had an Easter egg hunt for Allie's first Easter. She really liked it and held the basket for her dad to put the eggs in.
Next Joshua had a few presents to open from mom and dad. He was very excited about the contents of the packages. He got two of the new LEGO board games and a cool set from the new Prince of Persia series. Massive LEGO construction ensued almost immediately. I will try and get pictures as the projects get wrapped up.

We were all pretty worn out from yesterday so afterwards we were being just plain lazy. The kids were playing on the computer or with LEGO's and Renee and I were lounging in the living room with Allie. I got to be a grand dad pillow while she took a nap:) Upon waking up from her nap she raised her head and gave me a big beautiful smile. She is sitting up all by herself and is just a joy to have around.

Now for the rocket part. Brandon sent a present down for Joshua with Roxy. They got him a toy rocket. Okay, no big deal right. Except the rocket winds up being 7 feet tall. It is huge! So we take it up to the park and get it set up to launch. I am not really sure what is going to happen when Joshua presses the fire button so we all back up a few steps and start the countdown. He presses the button and the rocket takes off like, well like a rocket. It runs on water and compressed air and it goes up like the dickens. I was waiting for the air force to scramble fighter jets. Needless to say the boys were the hit of the park and every other kid was plainly envious of the three rocketeers. They had a blast, literally.

After our high flying fun we loaded up and headed over to Renee's parents for Easter dinner. The weather was so nice they decided to have dinner outside on their back patio. There was a wonderful breeze and the food was fantastic. I know I was stuffed and I am sure we will all sleep well tonight.

After dinner we re/celebrated Joshua's birthday with a rousing round of song and a re-lighting of the candle. After which the cake mysteriously disappeared into thin air ;)

This has been a great weekend filled with good friends, family, and the wonderful and precious sound of children's laughter.

PARTY!.… Day 505 03APR10

Today was a party day! Joshua celebrated his 8th birthday and let me tell you it was one great event. Renee did a fantastic job and put a lot of hard work into making it such a fun and relaxing day. She has been working on stuff for weeks and spent most of the last few days baking and decorating. The cake was a really cool Pokemon Ball that she made from scratch. Alecia helped out a bunch during the party and she deserves a big thanks. Renee's dad lent his expert grilling skills to the cause and cooked up some great dogs and kielbasa. The kielbasa was the real deal and was provided by Ania.

Lots of Joshua's friends came over to enjoy the castle of bounce that was set up in the backyard. I got worn out just watching them jump for hours and hours. How do kids have so much energy to burn? Especially the ones who are fighting cancer. I am not going to attempt to list everyone who came because I am getting old and I don't want to forget anyone, but we had a full house. The weather was perfect and the sky stayed clear and blue all day.

All in all it was a perfect party and Joshua had a wonderful time. He of course got more LEGO's to play with and started building as son as he got home thanks to his boundless supply of energy. We adults just sat around and tried to stay moving:) He also got a really cool kite that he took out on the golf course and flew for a bit before it got dark. Tomorrow I am confident that the LEGO assembly tasks will all be completed and the boys will have fun playing. Jamie, Christian, and Allie are spending the night so we get an extra day of time hanging out with them which is great. Allie is so much fun to have around.

Jayden loved the talking card!
Three amigos.
Silly faces!!
Carly is Joshua's tennis buddy.
Joshua holding court.
What we all wanted to do after eating:)
Fingers are yummy!
Ready, set, blow it out!
The house of bounce!
Just a small fraction of the food Renee had laid out.
Happy Birthday Joshua!

IVIG, no problem.… Day 504 02APR10

Joshua had another IVIG treatment today without any complications. He spent most of the morning and early afternoon toting around his little portable IV pump with a tube running up under his shirt. He did manage to get some good LEGO building time in while he was getting his treatment. As soon as his port was de-accessed and the nurse was gone he wanted to go out and ride his bike. It never ceases to amaze me how strong our cancer kids are every single day. After he rode his bike he went over and got in Dj's pool for a bit for a little swimming fun. Roxy, our daughter in law, is in town for a friends wedding so she stopped by to visit for a while. It was great to have a chance to spend some time with her. She and Brandon live too far away:(

I think we had our 3 days of spring and it feels like summer is here already. I really wanted the heat to stay away a while longer. The weather for the party tomorrow looks excellent and I know the kids are going to have lots of fun.

Renee sent me some pictures that her dad took of Jarrod while he was up in Michigan recently so here they are…


And this is why Jarrod should wear shoes more often. He tripped at the Cancer Center the other night and shaved off the tops of his toes, flip flops don't provide much coverage :)

Kids are awesome.… Day 503 01APR10

Joshua is an Honored Hero for the Pennies for Pasta campaign and today he attended a luncheon to honor a wonderful group of students from Madison Middle School. Their school collected over $4400 dollars and this class alone collected over $1000 dollars of the total. Their reward was a wonderful lunch at Olive Garden and our heartfelt appreciation for all of their hard work. What an amazing group of kids we had lunch with! If all of the kids in the world were as kind and thoughtful the world would be an amazing place. Joshua gave each one of them a special award and posed for lots and lots of pictures which we have been promised a copy of to share with everyone. It was a special event and we were honored to be able to be there to help thank them personally.

After a brief respite at home we headed out again. First stop was Ikea to pick up a table for my mother. We actually managed to escape from the store in under and hour and only had what we originally came for at the check out counter. No easy feat. If you have ever been to Ikea you know what I mean. Next stop was to deliver, assemble, and set up the table we picked up. Jarrod and Joshua took care of that in short order. Next we were off to the Children's Cancer Center for dinner and a massive Easter egg hunt. Dinner was good and we had fun hanging with our cancer family. They are a wonderful group of people. So we have had a fun filled day and are all going to sleep good tonight. Tomorrow Joshua will get another IVIG treatment at home and then we will get rested up for us party on Saturday.

A little hectic.… Day 502 31MAR10

Today was kind of hectic and we were all on the move a bit. Renee and the boys spent most of the day at grandma Gandy's house helping with some projects. I was there for a bit before I had to go to work for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We all managed to come back together at home in time to watch Joshua's favorite hockey team win. Joshua had a good day and is of course talking non-stop about his upcoming party.

Tomorrow will be another busy day and Joshua has lots of things on his social calendar so he will be having fun.

Count down mode.… Day 501 30MAR10

Joshua is in count down mode. His birthday is fast approaching and he is all but counting the minutes as they tick down. Joshua did more testing today and managed to cruise through two sessions worth of math in an hour. It is great to see him functioning so well. Renee and her mom painted a bunch more glasses for the Children's Cancer Center auction and once again they turned out amazing. Those two together are a formidable force of art. The weather was quite nice today and the boys got a little swimming in over at DJ's house this afternoon. I have a feeling that is where they will slowly grow gills over the summer. Joshua was supposed to go to tutoring this evening but had a meltdown en route and Renee decided it was just better to turn around and come back home. His counts are down a bit and that may be a contributing factor. The rest of the evening was relatively quiet with the exception of the normal brotherly squabbles we are used to hearing.