Well I am finally putting up pictures from Jack’s football experience at Hamilton High!  It was a great time for him.  He was a little overwhelmed at first, but after he got out on to the field, he started to open up to everyone.  What a great group young men and coaches.  Really, they were all so sweet to us and I am sure they don’t even know the sort of impact they had on Jack.

When we got there we were able to meet the whole coaching staff and like I said, what a great group and they are so proud of their kids and how far they have gone.  One of the couches there has a daughter that is fighting cancer too.  I met her and her mom back at PCH one day while we were waiting for scans and she is such a sweet person.  If you want to keep up with her journey, you can find it at http://www.hannimaltheanimal.com/.  Anyway, after meeting the coaches we were taken in to the weight room where the team was waiting.  Can I just tell you that these kids are huge!  Really, I don’t remember the boys being so big when I was back in high school!  They told the team about Jack and what he has been through and then the team captains gave him, and 2 other boys that were there, Hamilton bags with a hat, jersey, book, and tons of candy in it.  Needless to say, Jack was thrilled.  We went outside and he put on his jersey that hung down to his ankles and his new hat.  He wanted to run out and see the big football helmet and of course try out some of the candy he got.

Notice the jersey!

and of course the candy!

We watched the team warm up and Jack was able to kick the ball around a bit.  I happened to glance over at the woman who was taking pictures of the football team and I could hardly believe it…it was Bradens’ cardiologist!  Of all the people! Kristy and I chatted for a bit and she loved seeing how great Jack looks.  It was just so funny that she was there…small world.

It was time for the game to get under way and Jack lined up with team entered the field so they could all give him a high five.  We tried to get a picture of it, but obviously we had it on the wrong setting so the guys pretty much looked like ghosts as they went past, but you get the idea!

Jack was going to be invited to go with the captains of the team out to center field to flip the coin and he was a bit nervous about it.  He wanted me to go with him, but since the “big guys” were there to help him out, he did good.  I am not sure of the players name, but if he or one of the couches is reading this, #4 really made Jack feel ok to go out there.  The guys grabbed his hands and off they went.  Every time he had to let go of Jack, he would always make sure he would go back and hold his hand to make him feel comfortable.  They did the coin toss and Jack kept looking back and giving us the thumbs up letting us know he was ok out there.  You could tell he felt like a big kid.  His only complaint was that he didn’t get the flip the coin himself!

Our little rookie

For those of you who know…look at the numbers around Jack…what do they add up to???

We stayed down and watched the game but Jack was pretty tired by half time so we decided to get going around then.  I wish we could have stayed for the entire game, but Jack was ready to go.   It was so wonderful to see Jack have fun and let him feel like such a big kid.  It was very emotional to see him with the guys walk out to center field.  Every moment we get is a moment we cherish.  Every time we get to see Jack to something new and different, we are so thankful.  Thank you so much to Hamilton High.  Thank you to Chris McDonald, Rick Doyle, Criag Cobley and the entire football team.

Just a quick little update…tonight Jack and I will be heading over to Hamilton High School in Chandler where Jack has been asked to be a mini Huskie for the football team!  We will be getting there early so he can meet the coaches and the team and then out to the field we will go so he can see the warm ups.  He will then help with putting up the huge football helmet that the guys run through when they enter the field and then off with the captians of the football team to mid-field to flip the coin.  Pretty cool!  He is excited about it and wants to see the “big guys” play football.  It should be a fun night for him and something really special that was offered to us by some pretty great people.  Thank you for this!!

We have had a busy little week, but nothing too crazy.  I have told you about little Mia before (Jack met her when we were in radiation) and her mom, Sandra, was able to come down here the other night so we could catch up a bit.  It was great to see her and chat with someone who really understands what this is all like.  It is great to be able to connect with other mom’s who are in the awful cancer world.  We all hate being in this world, but it’s nice to know that you meet some great people along the way who will help you through.  She is one tough cookie and I am so glad she was able to come and spend some time here!

Anyway, I will post pictures later of Jack’s big football night!

Well it’s been a few days but all is well.  We spend the weekend running around…we went to the pumpkin patch (even though it was a cool 90 degrees!), Jack had a birthday party to go to of one of his friends, we celebrated Zac’s grandma’s birthday and was able to spend some time with his side of the family which was great…it was a good weekend.

We also booked our flights and we will be heading out to CA next month to see my parents and Jack is so excited!  He has been asking to go back for a long time so we are really looking forward to that.  We are putting Jack back in school next week and that is good.  As I said before, we had to take him out of his old school for reasons that I am sure you would all agree with but we have found a situation that is going to work well for him.  He is excited and so are we.  His little mind has been working overtime since he started school and I mean that in a good way.  He wants to know how to spell everything, how to add everything, his little brain is wanting to know so much more and we want to continue down that path.

I heard from Sharon today and we have an appointment for the day after scans, November 17, to find out the results.  Dr Eshun will be inpatient that week so we won’t be able to see him but we do get to see “A” so that is great!  It is going to be a bit nerve wracking not hearing results from Dr Eshun because we have always heard from him and I am a creature of habit, but that’s ok.  Jack LOVES “A” and so do we so it will be good to get great news from her!  I have a feeling that Dr Eshun might call us as well to let us know, but as for right now scans will be Nov 15 and 16 and results will be the 17th.  That is just over 3 weeks away. I am trying not to get too nervous because Jack seems to be doing so great that they HAVE to be clear scans but you cannot help to worry.  I am human!

Jack has a Dr’s appointment tomorrow with his pediatrician because over the past few months Jack randomly gets flair ups of rashes on his skin.  It looks to be eczema but he wants to look at it and then we will probably be going to an allergist to see what is causing the flair ups.  Hopefully he isn’t allergic to a whole slew of things, but we would rather now so we can avoid certain foods!  We will let you know how it goes!

Pumpkin Patch:

Making their way through the maze and totally finding their way out before Zac and I!

Jack Won!

Braden…

Just because it’s so cute…

And the halloween crafts continue!  It was my Dad’s birthday the other day and since my parents live in CA we cannot be together for every birthday so when we aren’t, we Skype and I make a birthday cake and we all blow out the  candles.  We had to make a cake for Grandpa but Jack wanted to make a Halloween cake so a mummy cake it was!  We stuck with the them and Jack and Braden made Mummy Pizza’s for dinner.  Pretty cute!!

Mummy cake:

Mummy Pizza:

Jack trying to make sure Braden doesn’t eat the pizza before it’s baked!

Jack keeping his pizza away from Dad cause he keeps trying to steal it!

Jack’s Haunted Mansion that him and I made…he said that it is actually a place where a witch lives and Kupa (From Mario Bros) put her in there and she is a very scary lady:

Jack had his dentist appointment yesterday.  I have been looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time.  The chemo that Jack was on did a number on his teeth.  It didn’t help that we went a long time not being able to brush his teeth and only allowed to use green soft swabs to clean his teeth off.  His teeth have been getting worse over the past few weeks and after finally finding an appointment where Zac could go with me and after we got the clearence letter from the Dr’s, off to the dentist we went.  Jack did great!  Really…better than he even does when we go to the oncologist.  He sat up like a big kid and got a his teeth examaned and cleaned.  He took 6 x-rays and laughed through it all.  He didn’t mind biting down on those awful x-ray things that they put in your mouth and he didn’t care they they were poking and proding around in his mouth which is funny because he has still NEVER let any of the Dr’s or nurses at PCH even near his mouth.  He always tells them that he doesn’t do that there and he will only open his mouth at the dentist.  He was telling the truth!  Good news is that the x-rays show his adult teeth and that they are all accounted for and look healthy.  Bad news is his baby teeth have a lot of cavities and enamal weekening.  So we go back the first week of December and Jack has to actually has to go under and is having about 2 1/2 hours of work done.  Not great news, but at least all of his teeth will be healthy again and his new teeth look like they have not been affected yet by what he has been chemo.  Thank goodness.

Jack and Daddy playing in the dentist office (Zac used to go here when he was a kid and he really wanted to relive the memories of climbing in the tree house!)

In the chair!

Next set of news…scan dates are set.  We are going to be doing Jack’s 6 month post treatment scans on November 15 and 16.  It is hard to believe that it’s already time again for scans and of course my sick stomach is already setting in.  I know he will be fine and that his scans will be clear, but this month leading up to scans is very hard and very stressful.  The two days after scans until we get that phone call from Dr Eshun is so stressful.  I feel bad for my family because I basically stop talking because I get so worried on those days.  I guess I shouldn’t worry about that now since we have almost a month until then, but I probably will anyway because that is just how I am!

So please, once again, start praying now for clear scans and for Jack to get another 3 months of good news and few Dr appointments.  Dr Maze will be there with Jack as we go through those 2 days of scans again so that is always a comfort.  We know he will be taken care of and we will be so thrilled to hear the good news when he is done!

This post was supposed to be on Monday, but oops…it’s Wednesday now!

It’s already Monday again…how fast time goes by!  We had a pretty busy weekend just having fun.  Zac had to work all weekend so that wasn’t too great, but the boys were very busy over here so that is good!  We started out the weekend by breaking Braden of his pacifier or his “binkie” as we call it.  He only used it at nap time and never during the day so I figured we would just cut it out one night.  The first night he did great!  No complaints at all.  Nap time the next day wasn’t too great, but he soon fell asleep after a few minutes of wanting his binkie back.  The second night he cried a little and Zac said, “Can’t you just forget that you were taking it away from him and give it back?”  He felt bad that Braden was so upset but after about 3 minutes he was asleep and hasn’t had a problem since.  Brady boy is growing up so fast.  I really do think that someone came in and took my baby boy and gave me back a toddler.  It’s crazy!

Big Boy Braden:

Holding perfectly still so Nikki could take a picture of him:

I have been thinking a lot lately how I feel like I don’t do enough.  Let me explain, I know I do a lot around the house, for my family, and for Jack’s Foundation among other things, but I feel like I don’t do enough fun stuff with the kids at home.  We of course have our days out running around and our days at home are filled with play but I want to do more.  So, I started looking online for crafts and fun games for at home so now we are on a month long binge of activites while we are at the house.  We started off the weekend with Jack and Cole builiding a marble racing game.  We couldn’t find marbles so we had to use gumballs, but you get the idea.  This simple little game kept them busy for over 3 hours. They loved it!  They were being so creative with building tunnels for the gumballs to go through and different ways to set the whole thing up.  Cole told me that “marble mania was a huge success”

Marble Mania:

Let the creativity begin:

Of course we are in the Halloween mode right now (as Jack is running around in a Mr Increadable costume as we speak) so we had to make a few crafts for the holiday.  We started yesterday with making a skeleten out of q-tips.  It turned out pretty cute and Jack thought it was fun.  He wasn’t thrilled about getting glue on his fingers, but he still had fun.  We also made vanilla pudding monster cups and those are going to be enjoyed today.  We were going to have them last night but we decided to go out to dinner instead.  Nikki came with us and she made the night so worth it when she swollowed a fly.  Sorry Nikki, but yes, a fly went straight in to her mouth and she swollowed it.  Beyond funny.

Monster Pudding:

Q-tip craft…Jack did not like the glue..hahaha!: