Happy Memorial Day!

Lazy Days of Summer?

Even though it's not technically summer yet, it's definitely been hot enough to be! Dane has been spending his days playing in friends' pools and sprinklers (we haven't gotten his pool out yet...neglectful parents that we are) and lots of wagon rides around our neighborhood!

Chicago Half Marathon

Cameron [once again] proved to be an amazing athlete last Sunday...he participated in his 3rd half marathon. He ran the half with 3 of his coworkers...it was Cara's first (in the pink) half marathon and she ran it faster than the other 3!! Cameron had an awesome time of 1:52:03 and was running each mile in 8:34. He even slowed down for a while to run with a friend, but caught up at the end. Congratulations to Cameron on completing another 13.1 mile race! I am impressed every time he completes one of these because I literally cannot run around the block!

Sunday Funday at the ballpark!

On Sunday we took Dane to the Cubs game. This year was a bit trickier than last year, however he did really well and actually lasted through the entire game. We had to take him down by the concession stands a couple times to get him movin' but he watched and cheered the Cubs onto victory!

Lunch at Goose Island:Getting to our seats...mesmerized:Watching...Watching...Cubs win! Cubs win!

Reese's 4th Birthday Party

On Saturday we went to Reese's 4th birthday party at "Pump It Up"...here's the birthday girl in yellow:We walked into a kids wonderland...bounce house fun with slides, obstacle courses, etc:Down the slide with mom:Obstacle course with dad:The entire time we were there, my face looked like this....I had so much fun!Just about as quick as he was strapped into his seat...he crashed!

Stinky Stinky & Aftermath!

Let me tell you a story...when I was in the shower on Wednesday, our alarm started going off...thankfully I hadn't set it so I knew we weren't being robbed. I jumped out of the shower, threw on my robe and ran down to the basement where the main alarm system box is...that entire storage room was wet and dripping. The water was leaking onto the box for our security system, causing it to continuously go off. So I ran back up to the main floor bathroom to find a completely overflowed toilet which had caused the initial problem. FABULOUS! I ran upstairs to get dressed and Dane had been woken up because of the alarm going off. So I grabbed him, ran to my room to get dressed, tried to calm down my freaked out dog (Barley is VERY sensitive)and called Cameron (if only you could have been a fly on the wall...it wasn't pretty). Cameron was in Chicago for work....an hour away. So Cameron's dad came over to check things out. I will save you from all the dramatic details - our sewer main was completely backed up. We were without use of our bathrooms for 2 days. I truly don't know how Laura Engalls handled it all so well...it's not fun! See below for pictures of what had to be done to repair it....

Lovely, isn't it?How our yard looks now:Doesn't it sound a bit like...

Clean Scan!!

Thank you for the continued prayers for Andon...scan came back clean again! Andon has been cancer free for a year and a half!!

Happy Mother's Day (a day late)!!

This mother's day ended one of the toughest weeks I've had as a mom since Dane was first born. One week ago he spiked a fever and the battle with this sickness finally ended on Friday! He had a double ear infection and strep throat! His fever never broke for good until Friday at 2am...it was a lot of sleepless nights and whining and clinging and temper tantrums and mom just not knowing how to make it better. Thankfully the fever finally broke and didn't come back on Friday and by Saturday you could tell he was feeling a lot better! What a tough thing to deal with...the worst part is that you can't do anything to make it go away. He has been sick before, but we've never had to fight a fever for 5 days and now that he's a bit older - the tantrums seemed to go along with it!

And although there were definitely days that I literally wanted to pull my hair out, I am thankful for the lessons I learned this week.
1) When baby fever reducers get recalled and you have to throw yours away, make sure you replace them immediately because of course your child will spike a fever that very night!
2) When your child isn't eating due to being sick, anything goes! Vegetables and fruit are no longer a necessary part of every meal.
3) When you can do nothing to help, nothing you do is going to help!
4) When a 4am temper tantrum ensues, sometimes you just have to lay them down and walk away to collect yourself.
5) Once you get used to your child sleeping through the night, waking up 3 or more times is so much harder than it was when you brought them home from the hospital.
6) Drugs are your friends! :)

Tuesday, May 11

Andon's next wellness scan is Tuesday, May 11th. We are confident that he is fully healed and that he will never see another cancer treatment, however we continue to ask that you lift him up in prayer. We will update the blog as soon as we know the results! Thank you!

Rocco's First Birthday Party

Today we went to celebrate Rocco's first birthday. Rocco is the son of our college friends, Luke & Nicole (who we went to Mexico with in December). They had a guy there making balloon animals and also a face painter...Dane was ENTHRALLED completely with the balloon man (as you will see in pictures). Thank you Luke & Nicole for including us in the celebration.

Watching balloon man from afar:Getting closer...and closer...clinging...And FINALLY got a balloon monkey:Dane and birthday boy Rocco (best I could do, they don't hold still):