Undetectable

Lots of things are undetectable at some point in time - my sense of humor and my patience level are two things that seem to dip into the realm of undetectable more often than I would like. Yesterday we got word that Henry's thyroglobulin level is now considered 0, with thyroid tissue in his body undetectable. Another thing on our list of undetectable, but this one made me cry with relief.

This is incredibly good news for him and for us. Since any thyroid tissue left in his body since about March was cancer, this is a huge step towards declaring him cancer-free. He has a chest CT scan in Salt Lake on Thursday to check the spots in his lungs but we anticipate it being clear as well. I don't want to jinx anything, but I really think we are close to putting this behind us, at least for now.

Henry will have to deal with periodic blood tests for the rest of his life to monitor his levels. If his thyroglobulin starts to go up, it could indicate a recurrence. Since he is so young, there is about a 30% chance of a recurrence over his lifetime. We also have to check his TSH levels - right now they are a bit too high. They aren't too bad and actually in the low normal range for the average person but thyroid cancer patients need to have their TSH hold steady at a below-normal level. This will happen every so often as he grows and gains weight so we are going to up his dose of thyroid hormone and retest in two months to make sure it's back down to where it needs to be. He was a little bummed about this at first but really it doesn't change anything for him - he still has to take a pill every morning so he'll just take a different color pill. No big deal.

However, the threat of additional treatment and the possibility of having to travel out of state for further treatment is significantly decreased now. We meet with the doctor in about a month and we'll get the lowdown on further monitoring.

But today we breathe a sigh of relief! I'm starting to have a good feeling about 2011.

Only In Utah

Only in Utah does a dance studio use a Primary song for their recital. Not complaining, mind you. I just thought it was funny. And as cute as can be.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

For Your Entertainment...

...we present a Hawaiian Christmas!

Nutcracker Lite

Tessa had a mini-dance recital today. Her little class performed four dances for family and friends. Jay was able to leave work early to watch. The girls were so cute and did a great job. Here are two of her dances.

This was one of my favorites. They've been working on it for a while. My friend Melissa was there and commented, "she's sure got the shaking part down." Yes, yes she does.




This recital was pretty laid back. The girls wore their favorite dance outfit (hers was a gift from Grandma) and we were literally there for 15 minutes. The "big" recital is in May so mark your calendars now if you want to be overwhelmed with cuteness.

Oh and I was going to post another video but the second one wouldn't upload to my blog. Don't despair, however - I'll try again tomorrow.

Comfort and Joy

There is so much going on this time of year that it can seem overwhelming. Shopping to do, gifts to wrap, treats to prepare, deliveries to make. I'm guilty of starting the season with the best intentions to simplify and enjoy Christmas and then letting things get out of control. We do pretty well with budgeting and not overspending for Christmas but it's hard. I want my family and friends to have a good Christmas if it kills me!

Yesterday, however, I was reminded of the true spirit of the season. We did a little reader's theater production in Primary - the kids had parts to read and then we sang some songs. During the presentation I really felt the Spirit of Christmas and was so thrilled to be able to share that message with the kids in our ward. I took a deep breath and remembered the reason we celebrate Christmas. I felt peaceful. I want that feeling to last through this week and throughout the coming year.

Today I was back to busy, busy, busy. But I still remember the way I felt yesterday and I hope I can take a few minutes to replicate that peaceful feeling every day this week. I have hopes that if I'm feeling the true spirit of Christmas that my family will feel the same. I'm not sure if it will work, since this is prime Christmas-crazy time. But we'll do our best.

We Are Family!

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while now. My good friend Melissa took them and I think they are amazing. She got these pictures in about 15 minutes of shooting, compared to the insane amount of time that we usually spend coaxing some semblance of a smile out of them at Kiddie Kandids. I also love that we were able to do them outside. I can't wait to pick up my enlargements!

Happy 7th Birthday, William!

In honor of William's birthday, here are a few pictures of him through the years.

Newborn William (with Aunt Elizabeth):

William at 1 - he was soooo chubby and thick:

William at 2 - love the dimples:

Here he is at 3, in the thick of his construction truck/builder phase:

Here's William at 4, looking more grown-up:

William at 5:

This is William at his 6th birthday party - the icing on the cake was blue, as you can see:

And here he is today (well, about 6 weeks ago):

Happy Birthday, William! We love you!

Snow Days

What's up with all the snow we've gotten this November? Seriously, in recent years we've had good Thanksgiving weather. This year we left the house and the temperature was 0 degrees. It felt absolutely balmy to hit Ogden, where it was in the low 20's. Sigh. Not much to do about it, though, except bid a fond farewell to the grass until March.

So Thanksgiving was nice. We had a great sports weekend - Auburn beat Alabama (War Eagle!), the Jazz beat the Lakers, and the Utes beat BYU. Everyone was happy in the Wright family. We mostly stayed inside - played some games, read some books, watched some movies, decorated for Christmas. When the temperature doesn't get above the teens, it's hard to be motivated to do much else.

A few pictures from our weekend:

The boys enjoying some downtime on Sunday night.


Here's Tessa, standing in front of the sliding glass doors leading out to the deck. You can kind of see how much snow we've gotten - it's almost up to her waist.

For Family Home Evening we decorated a gingerbread house. Thanks for the kit, Nana!

Lots of fun things coming up, first and foremost being William's birthday! Perhaps a "History of William" pictoral is in order. Stay tuned.

Thankful

I've been thinking alot about the things for which I am thankful. There are the little things, like chocolate and warm socks and a good book. There are the big things, like my family and friends. There are the material things, like medical insurance and reliable cars.

Then there are the intangible things; these are the things that are hard to list. The pleasure that I get from watching my children learn and grow and improve. The happiness I get from serving my friends and family and watching them as they serve those around them, including me. The love I feel for a wonderful husband who I love more than I thought possible. The knowledge that I have of a loving Heavenly Father who has a hand in my life.

I am so thankful for the life that I have, even when it's hard and even when I just want the day to end so that we can start over the next day. This past year has been a hard one for my family and still I'm overwhelmed by all the things with which we have been blessed. I am truly thankful for all of the blessings, big and small, that we have been given.

I'm hopeful that one day I'll be thankful for the hard things, too. I want to be able to recognize them as opportunities for growth, not just as crappy things that happen to everyone. I realize that it's up to me to get there, so I'm trying.

But for now, I'll stick to being thankful for all the good. That seems like a nice place to start.

Thanksgiving in February?

We have a Blizzard Warning for late today into tomorrow. Yes, a Blizzard Warning. Not just a Winter Storm Warning, but a Blizzard Warning. I didn't know that they even used the term blizzard anymore, but apparently you get a blizzard when there is a combination of artic cold (think below zero at night), wind (30 mph winds with gusts of higher) and lots of snow (we are forecasted to get 8-12 inches over the next 24 hours). The schools are getting out early today so that the kids will be home by the time the worst of the storm starts. I'm trying to remember if that has happened in all the time I've had kids in school and I honestly don't think that it has. I guess we'll hunker down until Thanksgiving Day, which is forecast to be sunny with a high of a whopping 15 degrees in Cache Valley.

Where's my Indian Summer?

Movie Time

Henry and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 today. It was the first Harry Potter movie that I've seen at a theater and we both really enjoyed it. Henry is excited to see Part 2 when it comes out next July. It was nice to have a little Mom and Henry time; it doesn't happen that often.

We are also gearing up for Jay's big vacation week. He always takes a week's vacation the week of Thanksgiving and we really enjoy having him home. He loves to cook so he's usually making fun food, including homemade rolls and caramel popcorn. Once Thanksgiving Day is over we get the house decorated for Christmas. I'm able to get a little shopping done. And Jay gets a break from work. The timing this year is good because he's still a little sore from his surgery last week and I think it will be good to get a little rest as well.

We are also getting ready for William's birthday. His birthday always seems to sneak up on me, maybe because it seems so busy around this time of year with Thanksgiving and then, bam, all of the sudden it's his birthday. I don't think we'll do a party this year. We had one last year and it was really kind of crazy. It was fine; the kids were all great but we don't have a good space for entertaining half a dozen extra kids for a few hours and December in northern Utah isn't conducive to any kind of outside party. We may just do something fun like bowling or the Fun Park or a movie instead.

I kind of felt bad leaving William at home during the movie. He likes Harry Potter and has seen the other movies on DVD, but this one is rated PG13 and the book is definitely darker than the previous books. It just didn't seem like a good idea to take him, although there were lots of kids that looked to be his age in the theater so I'm sure plenty of kids in the 7 year old range do fine - just not William. He saw Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief last summer and confided to Jay that he thought the movie "should have been rated PG13" after one particularly realistic scene with Medusa. He didn't seem too bothered with missing the movie, actually, so I probably worried about it for no reason at all. Isn't that usually the case?

Bucket Lists

Jay went on a minor home improvement tear last week. All these little things that kept getting pushed aside apparently moved their way to the top of the list early last week. Why? He had minor surgery on Thursday and would be unable to lift or move around too much for a while. Theres a good chance that we'll have snow on the ground before he is cleared to go back to full activity so he was digging and climbing and doing all kinds of things. It was nice but I was a bit confused about the urgency. I mean, we've lived without the garage door opener light bulb working for a while now; surely it can wait. But Jay doesn't like to leave things undone so the night before his surgery was spent on his version of a Bucket List. He even asked me if I wanted him to put the Christmas tree up early so I wouldn't have to lift and/or drag it by myself. Since it was only November 10th, I said I'd try to manage on my own after Thanksgiving. Which is coming up next week. How did that happen?

Anyway, Jay is fine. He went back to work today, although he's planning to come home early. He's sore and it's hard for him to get up and down but he's better. I feel bad for him, though. He was looking forward to sitting on the couch on Saturday watching the Utes play Notre Dame. But they got killed - again - and he was kind of a captive audience. It was like he couldn't look away. Oh well - maybe he'll get his coveted Rose Bowl trip next year.

In other news, I have a new calling at church. I'm the Primary President. If you are LDS, feel free to pause and laugh at the thought of me as the Primary President. If you aren't LDS, Primary is the organization in the LDS church that serves the children ages 18 months to 12 years old. It's basically Sunday School - we have lessons and classes and music. It's a big responsibility to be over this organization and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. There is a reason that I chose to specialize in Secondary Education when I was contemplating a teaching career; I just don't feel like teaching or working with young children is a strength of mine. But I have great people to work with and lots of resources to draw from and I'm sure it'll be fine. It'll probably end up being fun. At some point. Right now I have a headache just thinking about it.

And to be clear, being Primary President wasn't on my bucket list. Not even a little.

Scenes from a Saturday

Despite the crushing loss to TCU, the boys had a nice day at the University of Utah.


Here is the view from the field before the game - Jay was able to wrangle some sideline passes from a work buddy.
This is the view of the field from their seats. The weather was fantastic and perfect for a football game, especially considering it's early November in northern Utah. Notice the fans in white to the right of the camera - those are the TCU fans.

William got up close and personal during warmups.

Our Ute fans!

Sugar and Spice

I was not in a good mood this morning. The boys were all excited to head down to Salt Lake City to watch the Utah/TCU game. Tessa isn't a fan, however, and a little young for games so I took one for the team and stayed home with her. Honestly, I was a little bummed. I was feeling left out. Tessa is pretty easy but I spend most of the day with her alone as it is so a solo Saturday with Tessa didn't sound that exciting.

How wrong I was! We have had a great day so far. She got a haircut, we went to lunch (Chili's - her choice), picked up cupcakes for a treat and went to the library. She hasn't been whiny or demanding. She's been a pleasure. Sugar and spice and everything nice.

Jay, on the other hand, is having a rough time. The Utes are getting worked at halftime. Jay's tickets are by the visitors section and Henry got pretty upset after the third touchdown when the TCU fans started chanting whatever it was that they were chanting. No swearing, thank goodness. William was happy until a box elder bug got into the popcorn he was having; freaking out ensued. Henry is grumpy because the Utes aren't doing well. I'll be shocked if they stay for the whole game. I'm sorry that they aren't having a better time.

Now I'm off to eat my cupcake and wait for Jay to text me that Henry has attacked a TCU fan and William is crying for treats without insects in them. I think I am definitely having the better day.

Trick or Treat

It's Halloween! Well, kind of. It's October 30th, but since Halloween is on Sunday this year everyone in our neck of the woods is trick-or-treating tonight. It's cool and rainy but the kids (and Jay) are perservering and out begging for candy as I type. This year we had Harry Potter, Princess Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog) and Anakin Skywalker (pre-Darth Vader). Here they are:

We've had a crazy week. We started with the stomach flu. Always fun, the stomach flu. Everyone but Jay was felled by it this time but at least it happened pre-Halloween this year so no one missed any festivities. Tessa had a party at dance class on Tuesday, there was a carnival at Cub Scout Pack Meeting on Thursday night (and Henry got his Bear award - yay!), and all three kids had Halloween parties at school on Friday. There was lots of fun to be had in Hyde Park and we enjoyed it all.

The kids were pretty hyper today in anticipation of the big night. Luckily we were able to layer everyone up with jackets and hoods and Jay has an umbrella in one hand and an iTouch in another, trying to keep everyone dry and check the Ute football score at the same time. Never let it be said that we don't spend quality time with our children!

Happy Halloween!

Walking with Pumpkins

I went with Tessa's preschool class to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk this morning. It was really fun! The theme this year had to do with Animation and they had lots of cute displays, including Finding Nemo, Dr. Seuss, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Polar Express, and The Princess and the Frog. Not that I got any good pictures of them - I was busy sheparding 13 preschoolers around. I did get a few pictures of Tessa, though.

Miss October

I wish I was better about taking photographs. Not just quantity, but quality. I typically remember the camera for most major events in our lives and manage to get pictures of what is going on. But I wish I was better at it - more artistic, more creative. Creative, I'm not. I blame it on my left-brainedness. I am super-organized and can do calculus like nobody's business, but my sense of color and what looks good is lacking.

Luckily I have a wonderful friend and neighbor who more than makes up for my lack of creativity. She has enough for both of us. Anyway, she took some pictures of Miss Tessa last week. Here are a few of my favorites:

Just thought I'd share.

Rock On!

Henry got to Rock the Halls at school yesterday. What, you may ask, is Rock the Halls? Well, as a reward for getting a certain number of AR points (AR = Acclerated Reader, where the kids take tests on books that they read and earn points for their correct answers), he got a medal and was able to run the halls of school with the principal. Clear enough? No? Here, I'll show you:



So about 500 students and teachers lined the hallways of the school while music played on the intercom. As the principal and the honorees ran through the halls, everyone clapped, cheered and danced to the music. It lasted less than 30 seconds. But it was fun. It is probably a little more crazy when more kids earn the award, but as it is the first AR period of the year, only 6 kids in the school qualified to Rock the Halls. Still, we're proud of Henry for being such a good reader. And for Rocking the Halls like a pro.

Dear Tooth Fairy

William's teacher called me yesterday. Can I just say that I hate it when I see the words Public School on the Caller ID. Who is sick? What's wrong? Did I forget something? My heart races a little bit while I answer the phone with a tentative "Hello?"

Anyway, she was calling to let me know that William had lost a tooth a school in a fairly traumatic fashion. It was knocked out while he was playing at recess. I'm sure that this happens all the time, especially in first grade. This tooth has been loose for a really long time and frankly I was glad to hear that it had come out. She did want to warn me about his reaction to this event, however, because she found him in the hallway sobbing with blood streaming down his chin. He wasn't hurt but he was incredibly upset because he couldn't find the tooth. And no tooth meant no visit from the tooth fairy.

Good first grade teacher that she is, she helped him clean up and told him that he had options - the easiest and best being to write the tooth fairy a note letting him know what happened. Our neighbor Melissa told him that the same thing happened to her when she was a kid, which perked him up and had him talking all evening about how "Melissa got some money when she didn't have a tooth so I'm sure I'll get some." Melissa also told him that if he felt someone checking out his teeth overnight to pretend to be asleep - that it was probably just the Tooth Fairy verifying his story.

So, before bedtime, I wrote the following note:



And guess what? It worked! William walked around waving his 2-$1 bills like a fan, showing us all that the Tooth Fairy came through. He also said that he felt the Tooth Fairy checking his tooth. I don't want to say that my son is making up stories, but I know for a fact that the Tooth Fairy didn't touch his mouth while leaving his reward. Just saying.

Lucky Number 13

13 years ago today Jay and I were married. I was going to post some pictures and realized that we don't have any on our computer - 1997 was before the widespread use of digital images, at least for personal use - so I went through our wedding album and scanned a few (which is why they all have a band at the margins of the picture).

We were married at the Salt Lake Temple. It rained all day long so we don't have any pictures outside the temple, but we got some nice shots at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They let us walk from the temple to the JSMB via an underground tunnel that no longer exists (I believe it's a parking garage now) so we wouldn't get wet.



We had our wedding reception at Caffe Molise, still one of my favorite restaurants in Salt Lake City. We chose Caffe Molise because it has yummy food, a great downtown location, and some sentimental value - we had our first date there in June of 1996. Our wedding cake was carrot cake and it was delicious.



Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out, allowing us to take a few pictures outside. The other picture we have outside is of a homeless guy serenading us on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. We listened politely and Jay gave him a few bucks to move along so we could take this picture:


It's fun to remember our wedding day, but a marriage is so much more than a wedding. I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who loves me and our family. Even though we haven't had the easiest year, I'm grateful that we had each other. We made it through together. I guess that's what marriage is all about.

B.I.N.G.O.

I have a love/hate relationship with General Conference weekend. I love the obvious things about it - getting to hear uplifting talks from LDS church leaders, listening to beautiful music from the Mormon Tabernacle choir, having "church" in front of the TV in my jammies on a Sunday morning. The hate part (and I use the term loosely) started around 9 years ago. What happened 9 years ago? Jay and I became parents.

Being a parent complicates General Conference. When you have babies and toddlers, it seems next to impossible to hear more than snatches of a few talks. Now that our kids are older, we want to encourage them to pay attention and learn something from the speakers. However, there are four 2-hour sessions of Conference. That's 8 hours of church over two days. It's wonderful and we love it but it's alot to ask for the kids to listen to all 8 hours of General Conference and take away much more than irritation from it. So we compromise.

Saturdays are a little more laid-back. We don't make them sit down and listen to Conference. We cheated a bit this year and took the kids on a drive to Brigham City for milkshakes during the afternoon session. The results were mixed - they liked the milkshakes but didn't love driving 40 minutes to get them. Still, we listened to Conference on the radio.

The Sunday morning session is the session that we all watch/listen to as a family. To make this more palatable for the kids, we buy them treats and let them play Conference Bingo, where they put an M&M or other candy treat on a square on a Bingo card (squares include things like Family, Prayer, Jesus, Scriptures); when they get a Bingo, they get to eat the treats. This activity gets us through a good part of the session and encourages them to listen to what is being said. The Sunday afternoon session is iffy - the kids might be around and half-listening, but Jay and I try keep in on and watch/listen to it.

They seem to be slowly getting better about sitting and listening to General Conference. Jay remarked that the Sunday morning session seemed to go more smoothly this year and that the kids seemed to listen to the speakers more. I'm not sure about that. But if we keep plugging away, hopefully as the kids get older it will get easier. Until then, we'll stock up on M&M's every October and April. Whatever works.

Finis

Henry finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this morning. He was so excited to see how it ended that he came up to read at 7:30 last night so that he could read for an hour instead of the required 30 minutes. When he went to bed he still had 50 or so pages to go so he got up this morning and, instead of watching Sportscenter, hunkered down to read. Jay said he kept hearing him laugh and react to the climatic battle in the book and when I got up this morning he was excited to have finished and talk about what he had read. I love when books get my kids excited!

Now that he's finished the Harry Potter series, he's earned a ticket to see the new Harry Potter movie when it comes out in November. I'm excited to go as well; I've seen all the Harry Potter movies on DVD but never in the theater. I'm looking forward to taking him to see a movie based on a book that he enjoyed reading so much. And he's hopefully learning how enjoyable reading can be. One of my goals is to help instill a love of reading in my kids and so far, so good. When Henry tells me that he likes the Harry Potter movies but likes the books better, it makes me happy.

Culture Shock

Jay is in Panama. Random, I know. He is there for a South/Central American retailers meeting. I think he's supposed to be getting them pumped up to sell treadmills and other fitness equipment. Either that or he's on a really extended golf outing. Nah.

If you know Jay, you know a few things about him. He loves to try new foods and restaurants and enjoys learning about new cultures. He was excited for this trip; well, as excited as you can get over a work trip, I guess. He bought a book about the Panama Canal. He downloaded a show from iTunes about the Panama Canal. You could probably quiz him about it and he'd get all the answers right. Anyway, he tried (and failed) not to show that he was excited to go on this trip because it's hard on me and the kids when he's gone for a longish (6 days) trip. I know that he was interested to try some authentic Panamanian cuisine.

He's on day four of his trip and so far has eaten Generic Airport and Airplane Food, Generic Radisson Hotel Food, Popeye's Chicken, Pizza Hut, Quiznos, and Bennigans. I don't know why I find this so funny but I do. When Jay goes on business trips he takes his food very, very seriously. He keeps a running list (I think it's a mental list but he may very well have an actual list somewhere) of places to eat in big cities. He makes reservations. He plans how to get from his work location to his restaurant of choice. He'll have appetizers at one place and dessert at another. He makes the most of work travel by eating as well as he can. Except, apparently, in Panama.

So send happy food vibes a few thousand miles south if you can. I think Jay could use them.

Tri School Trot

We are settling into our new elementary school quite nicely. The boys seem to enjoy their teachers and classes and the school in general. I'm involved in the PTA and we just had our one and only fundraiser for the year - the Tri School Trot. It is a fundraiser that Summit Elementary has done in the past but with the boundary changes that were made, we combined with two other elementary schools in the area (hence the Tri School part of the Trot).

Basically the kids collected pledges for running laps around the Sky View High School track. There was no selling involved and 100% of all pledge money goes directly to the schools. They announced that over $26,000 was raised between all three schools, so it seems like a pretty successful event. And I don't have to buy any unwanted wrapping paper, candles, pizza kits or cookie dough. Score!

Here are few pictures:

Mountain Retreat

We spent this weekend in Park City with the Wrights of Utah, celebrating Aunt Laura's birthday. We had so much fun. I would post pictures but we have very, very few. Why, you may ask? Because a-I forgot the camera and b-we bought a new one but didn't really use it very much. We needed a new camera anyway - our old one was slowly dying and costing us a fortune in AA batteries (between that and the Wii remotes we go through a lot of batteries) but we were busy and didn't get to play around with the camera too much. Jay got a good picture of William sitting on my lap crying after he bonked his head on a metal bar at the park and I tried to get a few action shots of the family soccer game but that was about it.

The lack of pictures is not representative of the amount of fun that we had. Among the fun things that we did:

*We played lots of card and board games, including a familiy SkipBo tournament. Congratulations to Melisa, who takes home the trophy!

*We watched movies and had treats and stayed up late every night. Which is why our kids will all be in bed by 8 pm tonight.

*The weather was beautiful and we took advantage of it, playing at a really fun park for several hours and having a picnic and going up to the Park City Mountain Resort for a ride down the Alpine Slide.

*We had a fun party for Laura, including a yummy ice cream cake. Jay even picked out and bought her present himself (and considering that I'm the designated present-buyer in our house, that's saying something).

Tessa got a little car sick on the way to Park City. OK, she got alot car sick, necessitating an emergency stop at a Wendy's to clean her up and change her clothes. Thankfully it was an isolated incident.

The kids were pretty good and had fun spending the weekend with their cousins and aunts and uncles and Nana. Thanks for a great weekend, everyone!

And Happy Birthday, Laura! We love you!

Preschool

Tessa started preschool today. She was very excited to wear her new shoes (they are Twinkle Toes and have sequins and sparkles and I don't care for them but she loves them) and carry her backpack.

She was pretty matter-of-fact about going to school this year. It's her second year in preschool and she knows the ropes - the routine, the teacher, the classroom and the kids. She told me that she made some new friends today, which is always good.

One of my favorite things about preschool are the Scholastic book orders. I love to buy books and they have some really good deals. Tessa's preschool teacher sends lots of flyers home so there is usually something that Tessa is interested in reading.

Last week we had Back to School night for preschool and her teacher sent home a book called The Kissing Hand. We were supposed to read it before school started so that she could reinforce the ideas in it on the first day. It's about a racoon who doesn't want to go to school and how his mom kisses his palm so that he can carry her kiss with him during school if he gets lonely. It's a sweet idea and lots of teachers use it at the beginning of the school year; William mentioned that his teacher read it to them as well. What I didn't count on was how emotional it made me. I actually got choked up reading this book to Tessa. She didn't notice, of course. She hopped off my lap and went about her business. Apparently she doesn't need me as much anymore.

I think I need a kissing hand.

Unofficially Fall

Labor Day always seems like the start of fall to me, even though it is still officially summer for a few more weeks. There is a distinct chill in the evenings and it's quite lovely out during the day. School has started and we back into the swing of routine. Things are good.

Tessa starts preschool this week. She will go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Add dance class on Tuesday mornings and she's a busy little girl. It's good practice for kindergarten next year and she's happier when she's busy so I think things will work out well.

The boys are settling into school nicely. Henry is finishing up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and looks to easily make his goal of completing the Harry Potter series by mid-November. William lost another tooth and seems to be doing well in school. I have to say I'm surprised, but I often don't give my kids enough credit and they constantly surprise me. He likes buying school lunch and having multiple recesses during the day. Homework is going well for him; this weekend his homework was to catch a bug, so he and a friend spent some time trolling the cul-de-sac for bugs. We let the bug go later - the purpose of the assignment was to have the experience for a writing workshop his teacher is having this week.

So things are going well. Happy Fall, everyone!

Check Your Neck

Did you know that September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month? I didn't either, until Henry was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer is one of the few cancers that has increased in incidence over the past few years. Statistics show that just over 37,000 people will be diagnosed in the United States each year. Even though thyroid cancer is incredibly treatable, roughly 1600 people a year die from thyroid cancer.

One of the difficulties in diagnosing thyroid cancer is that it is typically asymptomatic. Most people who are diagnosed with thyroid cancer feel fine, with the only sign that anything is wrong is a lump in their neck.

As far as children go, thyroid cancer accounts for less than 1% of all pediatric cancers in the 5-9 year old age group. For a child under 10, the chance of contracting thyroid cancer is about 1 in 1,000,000. Children with thyroid cancer typically respond very well to treatment, although the cancer tends to be more aggressive and faster-growing.

If you see or notice a lump in your neck, get it checked. Please.

For more information about thyroid cancer, check out www.thyca.org or www.checkyourneck.com.

One Dancing Princess

Is there anything cuter than little girls in dance outfits?

Tessa started dance classes today. She seemed to enjoy it. It takes her a while to warm up to new situations so she seemed to hang back a bit when they were taking turns doing tricks. She's always been like that, however, so I'm sure in a few weeks she'll be jumping in there with the other girls.

They do a bit of tumbling, a bit of ballet, and a bit of tap. Jay is already looking forward to the recitals and the money spent on dance gear. Even he has a hard time saying no to The Dancing Princess.

Stalking the Sidelines

When Henry was in the hospital last January, he was having a hard time. He was in pain but didn't want to take his pain medication, he felt terrible (rightfully so, I think) and he was just being contrary about stuff like getting out of bed and eating. So the hospital nutrionist, in an attempt to cheer him up, had her husband come to visit him. Turns out her husband is the coach of our local high school football team and he brought about a dozen of the players with him. They brought Henry a helmet, a tshirt, and a lot of good cheer and motivation. They stayed for a while and talked football with him. He loved it. Before they left, the coach asked Henry if he'd like to come on the sidelines during one of their games during the next football season. Jay and I were grateful that they took the time to visit Henry in the hospital and wrote them a note to tell them so.

Henry never forgot the offer to come down on the field during a game and started asking about it as this summer progressed, so a few weeks ago Jay called and left a message for the coach to see if that was something that he could do. He didn't return the call before the first game so we told Henry that he probably just got busy and forgot and Jay took the boys to the game anyway. But last week, he called. He invited Henry to come on the field during warmups, into the locker room, and watch the game on the sideline during Friday night's game. Not many things geek Henry up more than live sports, so having an insider's view was pretty special for him.

Here is a view from the sidelines. He looks thrilled to have his picture taken:

This was during the "Moment of Silence" that they had before taking the field:
The players were so good with Henry. Lots of them remembered him from the hospital and they all made a point to chat with him throughout the course of the evening. As you can see, they were happy to have their picture taken, unlike Henry:
He even got to go onto the field with the captains for the coin toss. He's the short guy in the hood - it was raining before the game:
He had a great time. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a victory for Sky View (well, not having a 45 minute lightening/rain delay would have been nice). We are so appreciative to Coach Ahnder and the team for giving him such a great experience. Go Bobcats!

Back to School

Yesterday was the first day of school for Henry and William. It seemed to go well. William did fine at lunch and seems interested to try school lunch. He had two recesses. His teacher is funny. He sits with Spencer on the bus. Henry was very nonchalant about the whole thing, as is typical with Henry. He liked the science experiment that they did and is excited to try out the challenge words in spelling this year. His teacher is nice. He played kickball at recess.

Things went a bit downhill as the night wore on, though. You could tell that they were both really tired. William said that being at school all day felt like he was spending his whole life at school. He perked up a bit when I reminded him that the first day is always the hardest and he'll get used to it and hey, isn't tomorrow Friday and an early out day? He seemed happy to trot off to the bus stop this morning. Henry was grumpy that his teacher requires him to not only read 20 minutes a night (that's not a big deal - both kids read for 30 minutes at night) but also write a three sentence summary about what he has read. "How will I come up with three sentences?", he moaned. Then, once he did it, he realized that it's not a big deal.

It felt so quiet around the house yesterday. Tessa and I got a ton of errands run. It was nice. Almost too quiet really. Something tells me I'll get used to it.

Routine, Routine, Routine

If you know me well at all you know that I'm all about the routine. I have my daily housework and cleaning routine that I am really good about following - it makes me feel organized and like I can get things done in a timely and efficient manner. I love my calendar and marking things down on it. We have a pretty set bedtime routine for the kids that I'm convinced makes our bedtime go more smoothly. I love a good routine.

This part of my personality is one of the reasons why I look forward to school starting again in the fall (just a few more days). It's a good chance to rethink and refine our daily routine. Getting everything done that needs to be done after school requires some organization on our part and it always feels good. We still have our routines in the summer but we're not as strict about them because, to some degree, isn't that what summer is all about?

My love of routines collided with a lesson that we had at church and I'm all gung-ho about getting back into the swing of things. I know that some people set new goals around the beginning of the new calendar year, but I find that the beginning of the school year is a great time to do this as well. So tomorrow night's Family Home Evening lesson is all about getting back into some good routines. Some of them are school-related - when homework will be done and what time lights will go out, for example. But some of them are things that we haven't been good about doing recently, like reading the scriptures together as a family. We did well for a while about doing our family scripture study at 6:30 every night, right before the kids' snack time. But then stuff happened and before we knew it, the habit was broken. So starting this week, we're back at it.

The only part of the routine that I'm worried about implementing is William's bedtime. William is a heavy, hard sleeper. It's a great quality and I love that if he stays up a bit later for whatever reason he will sleep in a bit the next day (unlike "I don't need an alarm clock to get me up at 6:45 every morning" Henry). But the bus comes at 8:25 this year and he has to be on it. If he isn't waking up on his own by 7:30, things will be ugly. So instead of hanging out a little later with Henry (who is typically in bed around 8:45), he will really need to be in bed about 8:15. Which means reading and bath and all that stuff needs to start at 7:30. He won't like it one bit. But a well-rested William is crucial to a good start to first grade. So to bed he'll go. Reluctantly, I'm sure.

Wish us luck. We may need it.

This and That

I wish I had something great and wonderful and fun to report, but alas, no.

Last weekend the boys (Jay, Henry and William) went camping with our ward. I don't camp so Tessa and I stayed home. I mentioned that maybe next year she could go camping too and she said, "I'd rather stay home with you." Sweet, but I was kind of looking forward to a few EveryoneButMomGoesCamping kind of trips.

William was sick (stomach bug) on Sunday. Henry ended up with it last night and today. Poor kid was up and down every hour or so for most of the night. He is better today - slight fever, but better. Unfortunately a tired Henry is a grumpy and mean Henry. He finally fell asleep on the couch a while ago. Thank goodness. Hopefully he'll wake up in a better mood. Now I'm just half-waiting for Tessa to start throwing up.

We had planned a fun picnic/park day today which had to be postponed. Tessa tried to talk me into getting a babysitter for Henry so she and William could still have a picnic. Way to throw your brother under the bus, Tessa!

School starts a week from tomorrow. Can I hear a Hallelujah? They are ready. I am ready. It'll be a good thing. We've bought new backpacks and a lunch box for William. I worry that he'll have a meltdown at school if he can't get his little straw into the Capri-Sun or juice box. These are the kinds of things we worry about with William.

Tessa is starting dance classes in two weeks. Her dance outfit is darling. I can't wait for her to start. She's also doing preschool three mornings a week. Next year she'll be in kindergarten. How did that happen?

Status Quo

Henry had another doctor's appointment in Salt Lake City today. It went well. Henry's mood ranged from quiet and mopey (as we walked into the examining room) to chatty and giggly (once he found out that there would be no blood work required at this appointment). He did have a neck ultrasound but it was easy. Anything that doesn't require needles is considered easy in our house.

The neck ultrasound was good. Nothing suspicious looking, other than a leftover staple from his surgery. Did you know that they just leave those in there? Apparently they do.

Since his last thyroglobulin was low but still detectable, we can't call him Cancer Free yet. And according to the doctor it may be a while until we get there. We go back in December for more blood work and a CT scan on his chest (to check the spots that showed up last March, indicating lung metastases). Then we see the doctor again in February. It looks like we're in long-term monitoring mode - probably biannual blood tests with a yearly neck ultrasound, CT scan and doctor followup visits.

It's good. Not clear yet but about as positive as we can be right now. It's hard to believe we are only eight months out from his diagnosis; it seems longer. But he's good. So we're all good.

Forty-Two

So I'm 42 today. I don't feel any different than I did yesterday, which is good. The hair continues to grow in gray - pretty soon I'll need to up my coloring appointments to every six weeks. I still have the laugh lines and little crows feet that have gradually crept up on me.

But I have a wonderful family and great friends who have made me feel cared for today. We had cake and I didn't have to cook dinner. It was a good day.

Water Party

One of the things that I love about Henry's birthday is that it's easy. The party, I mean. It's summer. We invite a few boys his age over, they play outside, generally in some form of water, and they basically entertain themselves. Throw in some food, cake and snow cones (thanks to my good friend Melissa's snow cone machine) and you've got yourself a fun little party. At least I like to think so.

This year we decided to take things up a notch and rent a water slide for the kids to play on. Again, my good friend Melissa came through. She gave me the number of a woman who rents out their water slide. It came in a big rubber tote with a motorized fan to blow it up. Even without the instruction book, I managed to get it up and running in about 30 minutes. And judging from the exclamations of "this is awesome" coming from my backyard, the boys enjoyed themselves.

(Hmm. I don't know why our grass looks red in this picture. But really, it's green.)

The only thing that I didn't like about it was that it didn't get really firm like I thought it would so the kids had to be really careful when they got to the top - they couldn't touch the sides or it would list a bit to the side. They were good about taking turns and going up one at a time so it wasn't really an issue but still, I wish it wasn't so squishy.

The party was from 2-4 pm, so after Henry's friends left (most of them, anyway) I invited the other neighborhood kids over to play on it for a bit. They were all younger than Henry but I figured, why not? It was already up and running and everyone might as well enjoy it since we had it for the day. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

As for me, I sat on chair in the garage and monitored the festivities from the shade. Occasionally I called out "No jumping!" or "Be careful, boys!" but for the most part I stayed out of the way and let them have their fun.

It's too bad we can't do something like this for William's birthday. Unfortunately, December doesn't typically lend itself to outdoor activities around here, much less a big, blowup water slide. We'll have to think of something else.

Staycation

A few months ago the kids started asking us where we were going on vacation this year. Last year we went to southern California. We saw my brother and his family and did all kinds of fun things, including the beach, Disneyland, and a Yankees game. Our plan was to do some kind of getaway with the kids every summer. Unfortunately our cash flow is a bit tied up in paying off some of Henry's medical bills so a big trip was out. We settled on a weekend trip to Salt Lake City. We stayed in a hotel and did all kinds of fun things there. We can categorize them as follows:

The Good

Temple Square - The kids loved walking through Temple Square and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We walked through the visitors centers and the gardens and had a nice time checking things out.

Boondocks - How can you go wrong, really, with mini golf, laser tag, bumper boats, go carts, batting cages, and arcade games. We spent about 4 hours there on Friday and the kids had a blast.

Despicable Me - We know we can see movies in Cache Valley, but it seemed like a fun, cool (as in not hot), inside thing to do when the temperature was hovering close to 100 and we had spent a few hours outside at Boondocks that day. The movie was cute. And did I mention that it was cool in the theater?

Mayan Adventure - This restaurant was really fun. The food was OK - nothing fabulous - but every so often there were cliff divers and fire dancers that kept everyone entertained.

Clarke Planetarium - We spent Saturday morning at Gateway and saw the IMAX movie "Under The Sea". It was really good and just what a 3-D movie should be. The exhibits in the planetarium kept us occupied for a while as well.

Utah State Capitol Building - The kids didn't want to browse through the new Deseret Book store so Jay took them up to the Capitol Building. They had a fun time checking out all the ins and outs.




The Bad

William's Fear of Heights - This manifested itself more often than you might think - walking up the rounded ramp to see the Christus at Temple Square, during mini-golf at Boondocks, dinner at the Mayan (we had an upstairs table right by the lagoon and William wouldn't even walk over to watch the divers), going up a level on the escalator at Gateway. For a kid whose favorite ride at Disneyland was Soarin Over California, which even freaked me out a little, he sure doesn't like anything that requires you to go UP.

Sleeping 5 to a Room - This really wasn't bad the second night, when we moved "I sleep like a log but move around a ton" William to the sleeping bag on the floor and let Henry and Tessa share the other bed. But having that many people in one room just made everything stuffy, so Jay and I kept waking up and throwing covers off because we were hot.

The Ugly

Chinese Gourmet - This place to eat (I hesitate to call it a restaurant) is on State Street about 45th South. We figured - buffet, Chinese, should work for everyone. Uh, no. Seriously, I don't ever think I've had a worse meal than this. It was terrible. The food was either tasteless or tasted horrible. Even the desserts were bad. The worse part was watching William shovel food in his mouth like he had never eaten anything so good. We finally made him stop eating because we were worried that he'd be sick. This will go down in history as the rare time that Jay makes a bad call regarding an eating establishment and why I was in charge of picking a place to eat on Friday night (see above, Mayan Adventure).

So there you have it. Staycation 2010. We'd do it all again, minus the trip to Chinese Gourmet of course.