It has been so long since we have updated!  I think this is the longest we have gone, but I have hardly even been on the computer but that is not a bad thing!

Zac came home from work last Thursday which was earlier than we expected so that was great.  It has been a long time since he had been able to come home and to say the kids were excited is a pure understatement.  My parents came in town for Christmas and will be here until after New Years.  Christmas Eve came and my family was here along with Zac’s family.  We all had a great time being together since it was the first time in a very long time we had been able to do that.  Christmas morning rolled around and was wonderful.  Jack was so excited for his gifts and Braden just wanted to run around and didn’t really care to open anything, but that’s ok!  He was just happy playing with the boxes!  Jack gave Zac and I a calender he made at school that was all about his handprint and it was so darn cute.  I cried, of course, when he had us open it.  He sat there and rubbed my back and smiled and was so proud of his work that he did with his teacher.

Zac and I surprised the kids with a play set for the back yard this year and they love it!!  Jack said it was “totally awesome” and you practically have to rip Braden away from it when it’s time to go back inside.  I am sure we will be spending tons of time out there.

My dad had a necklace made for my, my sisters, and my mom and it is so very special.  He has been working on it for a year now and we love it!

Zac had to leave last night and him and Shawn are up at work again but will be able to come home for New Years.  We get to celebrate all the good that has come our way this past year and hope and pray for an even better year in 2012.  2011 has been Jack’s year for sure but we hope that 2012 will continue bringing great news, clear scans, and good health.

Just an update on our toy drive for PCH…we are still accepting donations and toys through January since we won’t be delivering them until then.  We are so exited that the room in our house keeps getting more and more filled with wonderful gifts for the play room at the hospital!  It is so exciting to see what you all have done for the kids and we cannot wait to take them down there!

Oh what a day!  Today was such a wonderful day and I only wish I could tell you more about it!  Soon enough though!  We have so many wonderful things happening with Jack’s Foundation that it just makes us overwhelmed with emotions.  We cannot even begin to thank the wonderful people who are standing up and wanting to fight with us.  There are times when I want to pinch myself because I can’t believe this is happening.

Jack had school today so I ran some errands getting ready for the holiday weekend.  We are having both sides of our family over this Christmas Eve and we are excited for it.  We haven’t had my family as well as Zac’s together in a long time so it should be fun!  I spoke with Cathy from the play room tonight and we will be delivering all the toys in January for sure.  There is so much going on at Christmas there that we thought it would be better to wait a few weeks.  I asked her if there was anything that they were really in need of and she told me infant toys (ones with lights and sounds…remember no soft toys because of germs) and then “toys” for the older kids.  Things they can do in their room…fuzzy color posters, kits to make things they can keep, movies, books…something for the middle school kids.  So, please continue to send the toys or if you want to drop them off, let me know!  We can always meet you somewhere or make it easy for you! Thank you again for helping.  I know this means so much to them.

We want to say thank you to those of you who have brought toys or donated money to the Foundation for the play room on the oncology floor at Phoenix Children’s Hospital!   We are so thankful to all of you!  The boys and I went out today and bought some new toys for the kids and they had a ball!  Jack picked out all the toys that he thought the kids would enjoy and he didn’t forget about the little girls either.  He picked out toys, books, movies…and it made us feel so great knowing that we will be giving back to the hospital that did so much for us.  He is excited for out next shopping trip on Monday…all from the donations made on this site!

We will probably be heading to the hospital AFTER Christmas because of how busy they are this next week with the lack of staff. We don’t want it to be hard on the staff when we all show up so we might wait until after the 1st of the year to donate our gifts…so PLEASE keep them coming!!  If you do not want to ship gifts, you can send a gift card or donate through the website and note it for PCH Toys.

Thank you again ahead of time for those who are donating!  We understand that everyone cannot give this time of year and that is ok, but if you want to give…please help us let Jack give back!!

Thank you so much!!!

Here is a picture of Jack with some of the gifts we brought back from today as well as some from others!

Wow.  That’s all I can say about last night.  Last night was the casino night benefitting our Foundation and I really didn’t know what to expect because it all happened so fast but I can tell you that I met some of the nicest people last night.  I have to of course say a HUGE Thank you to Cheri.  Thank you so much for putting this night together and thank you even more for wanting to help in our fight to raise awareness for Neuroblastoma.  You are so sweet and I am so happy that we were able to meet and do this.  I also have to say thank you to Evon from Nove Boutique!  We missed you and I hope you are feeling better!!

The ladies from last night were just so wonderful and interested in Jack and his journey.  They might be taping for their show “Baseball Wives” on VH1, but they weren’t there for that.  They were there because they wanted to help.   They all were really sweet and all wanted to know more.  To be honest, even the camera and sound guys were extremely nice and thanked me for sharing Jack’s story with them and one kept telling me how great it was to hear he is doing so well.

This all goes back to the post a did a few days ago about the people you meed in life, happen for a reason.  I believe that even more now.  There were in a few people in particular who want to help and I know they are sincere and that means so much to me and my family.  I cannot wait to see what we do with Jack’s Foundation.  I cannot wait to team up with these amazing people and fight even harder for all of the children and families affected by Neuroblastoma.

I am pretty much rambling on and on now because I woke up this morning in such a great mood from last night and then I was greeted by Jack and Braden and it made my morning even better.  These little faces are why we keep fighting and we will never give up.  We said this in the very beginning when Jack was diagnosed and I will said it again…cancer messed with the wrong family.

Jack is now playing across the street with his cousins and some of my girl friends from way back when (highschool) are coming over for dinner.  I couldn’t be happier.  I also recieved something great in the mail!  PCH did a calender that they make every year to give as gifts to all of there medical associates and guess who is Mr. December??!!  And guess who he is holding…Norbert!  The very funny guy that I talked to from PCH when they first asked me if we wanted to take part in this told me yesterday that he pitched my idea of selling these in the gift shop at PCH because I think they would really sell and they loved it!  They will be selling them next year…as for now, I am so looking forward to December 2012.

We had a wonderful today today!  Jack, Braden, my sister Stacey, Abbey, and I all went to the Phoenix Children’s Museum this morning for a few hours and the kids LOVED it!  The last time we were there was right before Jack got sick so it was fun to go back now that he is doing well.  Braden was just an infant last time and he just had a blast.  He does not sit still and wants to be involved in everything so I had to join them climbing up this huge contraption that they have in the entry of the building and I am not lying when I said that I was out of breath by the time we were done.  Yes, I need to start working out again!

After that we went to lunch and then back home for some more play time outside.  Braden didn’t nap at all so he was sound asleep at 7:00 tonight.  Jack is snuggled up next to me now watching an old Christmas movie but he will be heading off to bed soon as he has school tomorrow morning.  He just loves going to school.  He is only going 2 days a week now but come January we are going to start going 3 days a week and he is very excited about that!

Tomorrow night is the Casino Night benefiting the Jack Morton Foundation and I am so excited to go!  Unfortunately Zac is still working up north so he won’t be there with me, but I am sure it will still be a good time. I am looking forward to meeting all of those who have put this together and want to help us raise awareness for Neuroblastoma.  We are so very thankful for all of you, who we don’t even know yet, who want to help us raise money for research.  We have to find a cure for this.  We will…we have to!

If you are going tomorrow night…see you there!!!