Jack is almost done with his first week of Kindergarten and he is absolutely loving it.  He comes home in a great mood, shows me some things he has learned, sings songs, does sign language and chats about the kids in his class.  He is still not thrilled that they haven’t played many games yet, but I am trying to make him undertand that the beginning is to learn the rules and get into a routine and I promise there will be a time for games.  I recieved a note from the teacher yesterday letting me know that Jack is doing really well and isn’t shy at all (which was my main concern since he is shy when he dosen’t know anyone) and that he is doing wonderful and participates in everything.  This made me feel so good and, of course, so proud.  He brought home some worksheets they did today and he asked, “Are you proud of my work?” I told him, “Of course I am!  I am so proud of you!” With that he said that he was happy to hear that.  I asked if he was proud of himself and he said, “Yeah, I am.  I am really proud.” I told him that is even more important because if you are proud of yourself then you are doing something right.  He is such and old soul.

Speaking of old souls…my Grandpa passed away 10 years ago and if you knew my Grandpa, you LOVED him.  He was so happy, so positive, so completly everything.  Even in the last few days of his time here, we would ask him how he was doing and his reply was, “I never had it so good.”  There are many times, even before Jack was sick, that I would wonder if he was watching.  If he knows all that has gone on.  If he is proud.  If he watches over our family.  The other night I had a dream and it was all too real.  It was one of those dreams that you think about for weeks and truly believe it was true.  My mom says that sometimes God talks to you through your dreams and that is exactly what I am hoping.  To make it a short story I had a dream that my Grandma was coming to visit us with her old friend from Texas.  When Nikki and I opened the door to see her, she was laughing and telling a story and standing right next to her, smiling and laughing, was my Grandpa.  It took my breath away.  I told my sister that he was there and she said, “ummm, no…he’s not.”  I was so confused in this dream.  As the rest of the family came over I asked if anyone saw him and they all said no.  I asked him if he could see me and talk to me and he said yes.  I asked if he was always happy and always by my Grandma watching her and he told me, “I am ALWAYS with your Grandma.  Always.”  I asked if he knew about Jack and knew of all we had been through and he said, ” I know about it all.  I have been here the whole time.”  At that point Jack sat on his lap and my Grandpa made him laugh as if he was still here.  I woke up so many times with tears running down my face and kept falling back asleep with my dream picking up where it left off.  I woke up wondering if this really happened, but obviously I knew it was a dream.  I really hope this was God’s way of letting my Grandpa talk to me…

This week the kids and I have been listing to music a lot when they are home and keeping the TV off…especially during dinner.  The past few nights they will hear a song that they “LOVE” and Braden asks if we can dance…so that is what we do.  We get up, dance our butts off, and then get back to dinner.  They are a sweaty mess and full of way too much energy to stay seated during the rest of dinner, but they had fun.  They had me letting go and just truly having fun with them.  Have you done that lately?  Just let it all go and had fun for a minute?  Try it…I promise you won’t regret it.

Jack is officially a Kindergartner!!  There were times when we didn’t know if this day would come, but it has and we are so very thankful!!  Before I get to the past 2 days of school, I just thought I would say a few more “Happy birthdays” to some more people!  July is a VERY busy birthday month for us and this past weekend we were able to celebrate most of them.  My mom and dad come in town for the weekend and since my mom’s birthday is coming up in a few days, we combined and celebrated her birthday, my nephew Cole’s birthday, Scott’s late birthday, and we blew out a candle for Shawn for his birthday (my other brother-in-law).  I feel very fortunate to have all of my family around so much of the time because we really are those crazy people that are really close and actually enjoy our time together!  You all know how much my parents have been so closely involved with us and I couldn’t be more thankful for our relationship with them and for their relationship with my kids.  So happy my mom was able to be here for to blow out the candle on her own german chocolate cake (we made 4 cakes…one for each person but Braden had to blow out Shawns since he wasn’t here!) It was so great to have them here and to all celebrate another year together!

So Monday was Jack’s first day of school and he did great!  I did much better than I thought I would and that was mostly due to not wanting to break down in front of Jack!  We all made the trip to school (I already warned the teacher that we happen to travel in groups and there is usually someone, my dad, with a camera recording the entire event) and Jack showed off his new classroom.  He settled in very easy and knew were everything needed to go and then he was ready for us to leave.  We gave him kisses and hugs and left the room only to walk back in a few minutes later to give just one more kiss.  It was a pretty slow day waiting for 3:00 to come but when it did, we were there standing and waiting for him to walk out the doors!  He told us he had a great day and the only thing that upset him was there was more learning than playing games.  He said, “I know school is for learning and all, but I thought there would be more games.”

Today I went to drop off Jack and was telling him that today would be the last day that I walked him to his room and starting tomorrow, I would be joining all the other parents in the big drop off line and he would have to walk to his room by himself.  He told me he could do it today and when I asked if he was sure he wanted to walk alone he told me, “Sometimes it’s nice to be alone.”  Ok…not sure if he is sick of being with me all the time or wanted time to think of  some more clever things to say to me later, but I agreed to let him off in the long line and he could walk alone.  When we pulled up he jumped out of the car and I asked the teacher who was there if he would make sure to show him what gate to go through.  He of course said he would and off he went.  I tried to watch as long as I could but I had to get my car moving so the line could continue on.  I started thinking, “What if he doesn’t go to the right class? What if he gets lost.  Maybe I will just call the teacher to make sure he is there, no that would be nuts.  I wonder if the teacher calls if a child doesn’t show up.”  Ok, forget it…I parked my car and brought my parent pass with me and walked, quickly, to his class and looked inside…and there he was, sitting at his table  and coloring.  Just as he should.  I walked back to my car, crying, and for that moment I realized that he is changing and growing so much.  He just reached a new milestone in his life and he is going to change even more over the school year.

I picked Jack up today in the parent pick up line and it all worked out well.  Braden and I got there 40 minutes before school was out and I was the 3rd car in line…how early do these parents get here?!?  The teacher walked Jack out to the car and in he climbed telling me he had a fun day and did really well in his music class today getting all the notes right.  Not sure what he meant but just happy he had another good day.  He is excited to go back tomorrow.  He thanked me for his good lunch he ate and for the note I put in his lunch box.

We came home and took a “Second Day of Kindergarten” picture since I goofed up on the “First Day” photo and of course Braden wanted in on the action.  He misses his brother when he is gone all day and was very excited to go back and pick him up.  It is different being here during the day with just Braden.  We get to spend more time together, which is wonderful, but when he is down for a nap and the house is so silent, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself.  I cleaned and then found myself sitting down and watching tv.  Very odd to watch an show that isn’t on PBS or Disney during the day. I have to find somthign for Braden and I to do during the day to keep us busy!

One last thing…thank you for all the texts and emails asking how the first day of school went before it even started!  I was a little taken back by all the texts that came pouring in before 8 AM on Monday.  It is nice to know how many of you are still out there, being supportive of Jack and his journey.  Thank you so very much!!

Just a few pics from school…

Yes, I am well aware that it’s spelled wrong.  I swear I know how to spell, but Apple autocorrects it this way and I didn’t think anything of it!!

Just one last kiss!!

Showing Braden the ropes…

Braden was not thrilled when he had to leave!

And now I spelled it correct!

And of course my little ham didn’t want to miss out on getting his picture taken, but he told me he wanted to take it like this instead…

After having a very hot couple in weeks here in AZ, we are loving the cloudy and rainy weather!!  Braden woke up yesterday morning and wanted to watch a little tv…except he wanted to wear Jack’s headphones at the same time and not plug them in to anything.  He is so darn cute!!

When the boys woke up it was really raining hard outside so we sat and watched the rain fall and the puddles form.  When the downpour stopped, we strapped on their rain boots and out we went!  It was perfect outside.  So nice to get out and get fresh air since we haven’t been able to in this hot summer. First they just sat at the door and looked out wondering what to do first…

And then off Jack went to jump in the puddles and Braden was not too far behind.  They splashed around, floated leaves down the “stream”, did their ninja moves and then woke up their cousin, Abbey, across the street and out she came to join in the fun.

It was my brother in law, Scott’s, birthday yesterday so they had donuts at the house that he brought out for the kids to have.  They ate up their donuts as Braden tried to dunk it in the dirty water on the road (we stopped him just before he did it!) but he thought it was funny!

Since it was Scott’s birthday yesterday and I know there are times when I don’t get to talk about the people who really have helped us out so much, I thought I would take time this morning to give Scott a bit of a “shout out” because he really has helped us a lot since the beginning.  He has always told me that he knew in his heart that Jack would be fine.  He has always had a very positive attitude about Jack and I am not sure if it is because he just doesn’t want to think of the negative or not but his words have helped me at times.  Him and my sister, Stacey, lived in Texas up until last year but the distance never stopped the support.  I thought I would include a few pictures of Scott with the boys over the past couple of years.  I know I have more but I think these are good ones!

Scott and Brady…

When Scott would come in town he would make the trips with me to the hospital if Zac wasn’t in town.  Here is one of the last rounds of treatment Jack went though and Uncle Scott got us all set up bright and early in the morning!

Jack took this picture on the way to get his tubies out!  Zac was driving and Scott was up front while Jack and I were in the back and he wanted to take pictures of the guys.  Scott had been driving from Texas and I believe he made it in record time so he could come with us to Jack’s big day!

The next is at the “Children’s Fight for Life” event last year.  Scott and Stacey come to show there support as always.  I don’t have pictures of the countless errands he runs with me when Zac is gone and I need a stand in!  Even though he has yet to hang a picture wire for me (it has been about 10 months since he said he would get it done!) I just want him to know how much we appreciate him and all that he does for us.  Scott has been a part of our family since I was in high school so he is really more like a brother to me than a brother-in-law!  Happy birthday Scott…old man.

The 7th Annual Children’s Fight for Life Event is slowly approaching, but now is the time to buy tickets!!  Early bird registration is going on now and you all need to sign up to come!  All proceeds from this event go to the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at PCH and we want to make this year bigger than ever but we can’t do that without your help!

The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders provides complete care for children diagnosed with malignancies and/or life-threatening hematologic diseases and is supported solely by individual and corporate contributions.  The Center uses all donations to provide laboratory, medical, and psychological support for Arizona children and their families.

As you can imagine, we are very passionate about doing anything we can to support PCH, especially the clinic.  We hope you all come out and  join us! Casino Night offers dinner, silent and live auction, and casino tables and of course the great feeling of knowing you are doing something to make a difference!   The event will be held on Saturday, November 3, 2012 from 6:00 to 10:30 p.m. at the Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center.  For those of you who came last year…we hope you join us again!  We had 3 full tables of our close friends and family there that night and this year we hope to have many more!

Last year I took names through email and sent them all in at once so we could get 10 to a table…if you want me to do that again for you this year, please email me your information and how many tickets you will be purchasing and we will go from there! With early bird registration, a single ticket is $100, couple is $190, and a table of 10 is $925.  Get 10 people together and get a table and come out and help us raise money for such a worthy cause!! Early bird registration ends August 15th so start getting your friends together now!

You can purchase tickets online at www.childrensfightforlife.com.  Please email me with any questions you have!!  lmorton@thejackmortonfoundation.org

If you can’t come and still want to help, you can donate an item for auction or become a sponsor!  Let me know what you want to do!!

Here are a few pics from last year: