Happy Birthday Little Man!

For Carter's birthday this year we went a little more low key. He isn't really healthy enough to have a birthday party so we just took a trip up to Denver and went to the Lego store. We gave him $50 to spend. (Actually, it ended up being $60 because I had to bride him with $10 at a photo shoot I did with him a few days ago.) He thought he had struck GOLD! It's was so cute. He also had some money from my Grandma that he decided to spend there. He picked out one cool Start Wars thing and when I told him that it cost over 1/2 of his money (like, "are you sure you want it?") he looked at me, his eyes lit up and he said, "You mean I can get MORE?!?!?!" So cute. He got a few really cool things that he probably wouldn't have gotten from anyone but Santa so the trip was well worth it. The best part is that the Lego Store was nice enough to let us come in at 9:30, 30 minutes before they opened so that Carter could shop without a ton of germ infested kids everywhere. We were out of there 5 minutes before they opened and spent enough money (I think) to make it worth their time.

My parents came in town for about 36 hours on their way to Texas for my Granny's 90th birthday. They went with us to the Lego store on Thursday which was SO nice since Bryan had to work all day. They had to leave at 11:00 on Friday (Carter's real birthday) morning so we partied HARD Friday morning. Carter awoke at

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite TV Show: Phinneus & Ferb and Tom & Jerry

Favorite Toy: Legos

Favorite Food: Baked Spaghetti and "just regular spaghetti"

Favorite Place to visit: Disneyland and Disneyworld (We're conditioning him for Make-a-Wish. :))

Favorite Movie: Star Wars

Favorite thing to do in his spare time: Play with Legos

One thing he's learned this year: "I learned that with cancer I always have to get shots." (for the record, he's super brave- most of the time.)

Favorite Video Game: The New Super Mario Brothers

I love that Preslee is pushing Addilyn in this picture. Papa's taking a business call and Carter is pointing out all the things he wants to buy to Nona.

I love how the Lego store has their Legos set out. It's very aesthetically pleasing.
Daddy had to work when he headed to Denver so having Nona and Papa there was a big bonus.
JACKPOT!!!
The morning of his birthday. We had a bunch of papers and cards that the Ladies had sent him all hung up. It was a nice accent to the balloons. :)
The present that Nona and Papa got him at the Lego store. Nona wrapped it up even though he knew what it was already... which of course he thought was silly.

Shooting off rockets with Nona and Papa.
Taeler spent Carter's birthday with us, as well, and had a chance to shoot off the rocket. It's kinda loud. :)
Hello?! Look up here! (He ALWAYS does this when I take a picture. It's like he doesn't want to make eye contact with the camera...)

We are so glad that Carter is a part of our family. He was the perfect first child to have. He's chill, brave, logical, and just PERFECT. We would be so very incomplete without him balancing out all the girl-ness going on. We love you sweet Carter!

So Lucky

**No clue why it's printing funky... annoying. Sorry.**

I feel so lucky to have the life that I have. I am so blessed. My kids are amazing and the girls are super healthy. Carter's on his way to getting back that way. Bryan is the most awesomest (yep, that's a real word) daddy and husband ever. I have so much fun playing with my kids during the day and playing games and watching shows with Bryan at night. Sometimes I need to remind myself of how great my life is. (We all need those reminders, I think.) Sometimes my kids make me question my ever-fleeting sanity.

Truth be told, Carter and Addi are a breeze... It's the wee one that's a challenge. She's just at that age where she's into everything. IN. TO. EVERYTHING. EVE.RY.THING. It's seriously a talent of hers. In about a ten minute period she will get into the pantry, the pots and pans, the garbage, my make up, the chap stick, the Lego's, the marble set, the DVD's, and anything else she can possibly find. STINK.ER. But, we love her dearly. As much trouble as she is, she's also so darling. She's got the FUNNEST little (actually, big) personality. She knows what she wants and is starting to talk enough to tell us what that may be.

We will hopefully be going to San Diego in December for Christmas. That's the soonest that Carter is allowed to travel... and that request was met with some reluctance. It was kind of a, "He SHOULD be ok but we'll have to wait and see for sure" type of answer.

We are doing great. Having a few issues every few weeks with Carter (to be expected) but, honestly, we can't complain. It could be a million times worse. His liver isn't too thrilled with one of the meds he was getting (mercaptipurine) which caused his liver count spike at 883 when it should be 25. No permanent liver damage though. He was really really sick last week. Some kind of throat virus. He had a fever of 105/106 for 3 days and was sick for about a week total. We were lucky enough to get him into his oncologist on Friday afternoon and check his counts. They were awesome and super high (in a good way) so when his fever went from 101 (which it had been since Wednesday) up to 105 that night she didn't make us go to the hospital. Thank goodness!!! It's hard to be away from my girls and I'm sure we would have been there for 4 days until his fever broke. But, those are small hiccups compared to what we could be facing. He's not super sick yet. Only throws up every few weeks. The worse is yet to come for sure. In about 6 weeks they'll switch up his drugs and then he'll really get sick. REALLY looking forward to it. :) The rest of us are adjusting to our "new normal". Addi isn't even phased by the vomiting anymore. She'll drag the big kitchen garbage can over if he's feeling sick "just in case you need to puke". So thoughtful. :) Pres doesn't know any different which is kinda nice.

I worry about Addilyn. I know she feels neglected. Up at girls camp last week I had a chance to talk to a girl who's little brother had cancer when she was a kid. She was quite a bit older than Addi but it was still really nice and interesting to hear her perspective. We are quite lucky in the sense that Carter doesn't have to be in the hospital a lot. Several types of cancers (including the other type of Leukemia) include tons of hospital time. The treatment for Carter's type of cancer is much longer... which I suppose is the trade off.

His attitude is as great as ever. I am always amazed by him. He doesn't enjoy spinal taps which he gets on a regular basis but he still goes with a good attitude. I have heard horror stories from other people about their kids throwing monster tantrums when they have to go to chemotherapy. I have always known that Carter has a very special spirit and this is just more proof of that. There is something very grand in store for him some day. I am thinking he'll be the person to find the cure for cancer. After all, he DID win the "Future Scientist" award in his Kindergarten class. ;)

These pictures are from Flashes of Hope. They are are group of photographers that take pictures of Cancer patients for free. They do only studio (which I do NOT do) so I took them up on the opportunity to have Carter's pictures done. Pres stayed home to nap but Addi wanted to come so she and I got in on some of the pictures... I mean, how often am I actually IN the pictures? :)

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Believe it or not, there are some great perks with your kid having cancer. One is the freebies. (Even though with the money we have spent on insurance, we could have done the zoo a thousand times over and paid to feed every animal there a Thanksgiving feast.) All over the country, on the same night, all the Zoos open their doors to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. It was seriously so cool. There couldn't have been more than 2000 people there and everything was free. We did the carousals, had a free dinner, got the kids' faces painted, got to see all kinds of cool animals, chatted with some police men and went to the top of a SWAT van, and got some cool gifts. We traded Chelsea Preslee for Taeler. I was on my own for the first hour until Bryan got there and it's a really hilly zoo. Trying to get all three of my kids up those hills when none of them could really walk would have been a challenge. Plus, we were out late. (By Preslee's standards.)

Oddly enough, trying to keep up with this massive beast long enough to get a picture was a challenge... it's a turtle... shouldn't they be, oh, I don't know... slow?

A baby wallaby.
Taeler and Carter.... ROAR!
Addilyn touching a real bear claw.
The grizzly bear exhibit was so cool at this zoo. (It helped that there weren't a lot of people in it.) The bears played in the water up against the edge of the exhibit the entire time we were int here- 15 minutes or so. They were pushing off the glass wall, playing with each other, swimming, diving for trout.... it was seriously awesome. Best part of the zoo in my opinion.

Taeler and Carter... the perfect little couple- despite her Canada shirt. ;) Again... wedding album material, right here. Love these two. They are such great friends and she's so great for him right now. She's super laid back and content just hanging out. Because of his energy level he can't do too many little boy things like running around like a mad man and playing sports. (That part really sucks.)
Carter, our little grizzly bear. This is more hair than he's had for 3 1/2 months! :))

The gorilla exhibit was really cool too. It's so crazy how much like people they are. The silver-back they have in there is super loving to all the other gorillas. His had was the one that saved the little boy that fell in. He was right there when it all happened. (Apparently you can see him in the uTube video) They think it's because of his father's example that he is so sweet. Cute, huh?

We had a "feed the giraffes for free" card but by the time we got over there at the end of the evening, the giraffes had headed to bed. But they were very friendly and let the kids pet them while they snacked on their metal fencing. :)

Castlewood Canyon Park

While my parents were here we went to Castlewood Canyon Nationaly Park. We love that place. We went for a leisurely stroll with the kids in strollers... that's right, all three of them. Carter still has a lot of muscle weakness from the steroids he was taking and chemotherapy makes you very tired and fatigued in general so we had the double stroller and the single stroller. (Fun times.) It was fun to go in the spring time. Last time we went there was at least 4" of snow everywhere except for the walking trail.

Preslee, of course, tired of her stroller so she took a ride with great views on Daddy's shoulders.
Group picture! Preslee was SUPER excited to take a picture with Nona and Papa. Stinker.
My parents are the cutest. They are more in love today than they were the day they got married... and just as pathetic as newly weds. I love it. I hope Bryan and I are still like that when we're OLD like them. (That's right! I said it. Now we can all see how long it takes for my parents to read my blog. I'm sure I'll get a call as soon as the read the "O" word above. Don't worry, I don't really think they're old.)

Happy Actual Birthday!

Addilyn's Birthday is on May 31st. She turned FOUR! I cannot begin to list all of the great things about this little girl. She is a light in our lives for sure. She has the most adorable personality. If ever she gets in trouble, she cries and hugs you. It's not an annoying cry. She cries out of sincerity. She is so sad that she did something wrong. She also has the cutest facial expressions. She rolls her eyes, furrows her brow... all kinds of cute little things. She will show up in our room at 3am asking if she can "snuggle wis you." While it was hard at first, we do tell her know... bad habit to get into. (Plus her hair is everywhere so it always tickles our face.) She looks out for Carter. Sometimes she'll bring him a garbage can "just in case you need to throw up." She is the eternal hugger and kisser. Sh

e always tells us that she loves us more than we love her (not possible). She loves to kid around. She lives in bathing suits and princess dress ups.

Here are some of her current favorites:

Favorite movie: Ariel 2 (she's never even seen that one)

Favorite Princess: Snow White and Ariel

Favorite Color: Pink (giggle... "Hot Pink!")

Favorite Show: Dora

Favorite food: Lucky Charms

Favorite animal: Giraffe

Favorite activity: Color

When she woke u[p the morning of her birthday we had some cute princess balloons for her. We also covered the floor in pink balloons. She loved it.

Addilyn with all her presents... spoiled little thing!

Carter got a pink Leapster from Chemo (in a gift bag). Since he has his DS he decided to wrap it up and give it to Addilyn for her birthday. Thanks to some donated games the Ladies have outgrown, she has games and her "big" present... all without us spending a dime!
Super cute boots from us. (Gotta say, I love living in boot-climate. :))
Ripping through the loot from Grammie and Grandad. It was everything Tangled... including the dress. I think she has taken the dress off once since getting it. :) It was a massive hit.
Pretty new duds.
I've had these shoes sitting in my closet for months! I was so excited to finally give them to her and even more excited that she loves them.
Her card from Gigi. :) This little girl is SOOOOO excited to go buy whatever she wants from the store with her money.

Addilyn adores Carter's camera so Nona and Papa got her the same camera... but pink, of course!

The Princess cake she picked out... It's only been 10 minutes since we opened the presents and the Tangled dress is already on. :)

We love this little munchkin and our family would be SO incomplete without her. Heavenly Father did us a major service by letting us be the ones to raise her. She's such a wonderful easy child. I just wish I could freeze time.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Bryan turned the big 3-1 on May 29th. I am happy to announce, once again, that I have THE MOST amazing husband ever. He never ceases to amaze me. He's so kind, caring, handsome, the most perfect father, and an even better husband. I thank my Father in Heaven each day for allowing me to be the lucky woman who gets to spend eternity with him. I hope that someday I can treat him as well as he treats me... until then he just has to settle for the person that I am. I love you, Bryan!!!

The Little Birthday Girl

For Addilyns's birthday this year we decided to take a few of her friends to Build-a-Bear. It was SOOO much fun! It was great because I had to plan NOTHING. We went, we picked, we stuffed, and we left. We went back to our apartment with her little friends, did cake and presents, played for a while, and took everyone home. It was just a glorified play date. I am sold on this way of throwing birthday parties. And Build-a-Bear doesn't charge any extra for a birthday party. They just ask that you make 6 bears. Done. The kids had a blast and they each took home a decked out bear/dog/cat.

Addilyn with her rainbow-heart bear, complete with Cinderella outfit.

We brought Taeler along for the ride. Carter would have been bored to tears without a friend there and since Addi really only has two friends here... why not!? Plus, I love Tae like she's my own. I just might steal her.

Addilyn putting her little red heart (that she made a wish on) into her bear before it got stuffed.

The Build-a-Bear person that helped with the party, had them all rub their little hearts all over their bodies. Here they are rubbing it on their funny bones so that the bears will laugh at all their jokes. I seriously love Addilyn's face here. So funny. :)

Addilyn and Rylee picking out pretty pretty princess outfits for their bears.

Brynlee, Rylee, and Addi "bathing" their bears.

Everyone who made a bear... that's right, Nona wanted one too. :)
Addi with her two little friends, Rylee and Brynlee.
Bryan mostly just chased Pres around the entire time... for which I will be forever grateful for. She will NOT hold still! (Unless Dora's on...)
Blowing out her candles at the end of her birthday party. What a wonderful day!