WE LOVE SUMMER

We have been keeping busy going to baseball games and playing outside. Since the summer weather started we have enjoyed every minute of it. The kids have been doing stuff like going to the raspberry farm, gymnastics gym, and the park. As you can see Eva has been living in her swimsuit and sometimes finishes off the look with tap shoes. She loves just playing in the grass, mud, dirt, and water. She makes sure all of our raspberries are picked and that Annabelle is obeying. Grace has been keeping busy by riding her bike and jumping on the tramp. She has loved hooking up the hose to the tramp and jumping in the mist. She also asked me to take the training wheels off her bike and is beginning to learn to ride a two-wheeler. Tonight, Tanner is having a sleepover and Gracie stood at the top of the stairs and yelled in a very sweet way, "good night boys and remember to say your prayers before you go to bed." Tanner has been playing great baseball and switches from pitcher, to catcher, to shortstop, to third. His season is almost over and we will miss watching him play.

PS- Happy Anniversary Babe - 11 years of complete joy. I look forward to every minute more.

Mini Documentary of Grace

We wanted to post this video since we just received it in the mail. About a month or two ago some filmmakers from Doernbecher came and filmed Grace at our house and at the hospital. Although we did not catch it on TV, this was played on one of our local stations as a fundraising event. As we all watched it as a family this evening, Grace broke down from all the memories of her first year of Leukemia. Kim and I, on the other hand, are in awe at where we are today. Looking back to August 13, 2008 we never dreamed we would be almost back to normal. Once again, thank you to all you out there. Our little girl, and our family are deeply grateful for everything.

Surprising News....

We have been waiting to tell everyone until some preventative test were done. Kim is doing great and so is our new baby boy! Kim is due the middle of December, and although her pregnancy is higher risk everything seems to be going well. We are all so excited. The kids have been fighting over names and of course they are all so different. Here is the ultrasound we recieved on June 15.

Chemo

Grace had chemo today and did an amazing job! In fact-she beat her own record. She was able to access her port in 4 minutes flat! And, she let me de-access it in 2 minutes time! WOW WOW WOW! If you were a fly on the wall when we first started chemo-you'd see that it took nearly an hour just to access her and that's not including giving her chemo. But, she's made HUGE strides and she was just so proud today! So, hopefully this round won't hit her too hard and she'll feel alright. She also starts her monthly dose of steroids today-YUCK. But, forget all that-today Grace OWNED her chemo session-and we couldn't be prouder-way to take something terrible and make it triumphant, Grace!

Annabelle the beast!

We haven't posted anything on Annabelle lately. Here are some recent vids and a pic of our girl. The girls took her on a walk tonight and she was great. She is a great guard dog and Eva can't go a minute without looking her in the eye and saying "good girl belles," or "nice to meet you" as she shakes her paw.