Life is Good

I don't know if I have used that title before - but I know I feel it often. I was certainly feeling it tonight as we drove home from a fantastic dinner. Good food at a downtown oyster bar, good company with friends and a happy Isabella and of course good wine - even better because it was happy hour. As we drove home looking at the city lights with echos of Isabella's laughter ringing in my ears - Life is good popped into my mind.

I think I am going to recount event backward tonight - I know it has been a while since I posted last. We had some running around to do downtown tonight so we decided to eat out. We had a gift certificate to a great oyster bar and decided to use it. Noah met us there and we had a really nice time. The past week has been productive for me at least. The big kids are with their dad this week so I decided to try and work from the office instead of from home. It was a bit hard since I am so used to noise and the office is quiet - but I put on my headphones and listened to some music. I recently bought some new music - Bittersweet... It has a retro easy listening sound and it really makes me feel good (always a plus!). I actually worked out 2 times this week - wow!

Yesterday we met with the prosthetic (I want to say doctor - but he really isn't a doctor) dude for lack of a better word. The whole family showed up to learn all about a below knew prosthetic. It is really amazing what is available. Samantha was a bit uncomfortable but I believe Chris and I asked all the questions she wanted us to ask. She has more questions for Dr. Heare when we meet with him Thursday, but overall she has been feeling good and doing well in school.

Last weekend the kids and I hit the pumpkin patch. Isabella was able to enjoy the jumpy slides and obstacle course, some rides with Daniel and the maze.

Both the big kids were fantastic as usual - really good sports hanging out with Isabella.

Here Samantha is following Isabella as she exhausts every possible path in the maze. Samantha so cool in her sunglasses and Isabella barely peaking up over the straw bales.

Daniel went on the mini roller coaster with Isabella - she screamed the whole time. Daniel caught some video on his phone. Once I figure out how to get it off his phone - I will post - it is pretty funny.

He barely fit into the seat - I think it is funny that he is as big as the dragon.

Samantha is part of the freshman class government. They had a booth at a trick or treat event hosted at the high school for the younger kids later Saturday night. She went as a 'Fallen Angel' - is that great or what!

She looked beautiful as usual - she and Isabella had a great time.

Sunday last, I made a spaghetti and meatball dinner from the last of the garden tomatoes. I also made a couple pumpkin pies from fresh pumpkin - it was my first time and they turned out great. Much better than pumpkin from the can.

After dinner the kids carved their pumpkins. Uncle Ike tried to be a spectator but Isabella needed some help so he jumped right in. I will take a picture Halloween night when they are all lit up with candles. We had bunches of fun gathering the seeds and designing the pumpkins.

I decided to add this picture as a bonus. Isabella played dress up this morning while I was getting ready for work. She looked so adorable I grabbed a quick picture just before she brushed her teeth.

Tomorrow, Isabella's school is hosting a Fall Open house. She is super excited for Jeremy and I to visit her school - no matter how often we do it - she never gets tired of having us visit.

It has been such a wonderful week weather wise as well. The temp has been in the mid 70s - so we are thinking a visit to the zoo this weekend will be the best thing to do before the weather turns cold.

Last weekend Jeremy and I cleaned up the garden and tilled the soil - cleaned out the composter and mowed up the leaves. The yard is sort of ready for winter. This Sunday I will probably take advantage of not having the big kids around and try to get the whole house cleaned up instead of just a few rooms here and there.

After reading about our life this past week, you can understand why I think 'life is good!'

I hope everyone else's is the same - Love to everyone!

Glad to be Home

Well we left Denver on the 8 am flight on Wednesday. Isabella was full of energy but well behaved on the airplane. When we left it was 28 degrees and we arrived to a sunny warm day in San Fran.

We took the train downtown and hung out around the Embarcadaro and Pier 39. We tried to find a spot to store the luggage while we did some sight seeing - but there was nothing available. Unfortunately we had to haul the luggage around with us. As you can see from the picture - Isabella hitched a ride.


We had an oyster lunch and checked out the sea lions then hung out at a park to rest a bit. One thing I love about San Fran are the colors - there are so many beautiful plants and buildings - everywhere you look is life exploding. Even the people are colorful. I love the diversity.

I may steal the idea of the little vine cottage and create one for Isabella at our home. She loved hanging out in it!

We hopped back on the train and headed for the Oakland/Alameda area. We stayed with Ashish (Jeremy's boss) and his family. It was really nice - Jill - his wife - took such great care of us. We were totally spoiled.


On Thursday, we hung out in Monterey at the aquarium there. I think we spent close to 5 hours. Isabella checked out all the fish and there was a lot of interactive exhibits just for kids.

Here she is at one of the many touching pools. She not only got to feel seaweed and kelp, but also starfish, sea sponges and coral to name just a few.



Here she is hanging out in a big clam. One play area she was able to put on flippers and hold a fluke to see how it may feel to be a whale and move.

We watched the sea otters eat and train as well at learn about how vast and important the ocean is.

After we were able to drag Isabella out of the aquarium we headed up the coast and had dinner at a place called the Fishwife. We had a fantastic and very relaxed dinner. Our reward was this breath taking sunset. I felt really lucky that I got such a beautiful picture. Cars were stopped all along the road and folks were just hanging out watching the sun as it slowly set.

Friday we decided that we wanted to hang out at the beach since that is not something we get to do every day in Colorado.

We hung out with Jeremy's friend from college - Sonny - and his son Oliver. Oliver is about 4 and a half. He and Isabella played wonderful together most of the time.

As you can see - Isabella had a blast in the sand and water. She and Oliver played fetch with the dogs out getting exercise, tag with each other, they built sand castles and fish cars for Izi's mermaid dolls.

The water was cold so I didn't bring Isabella's swim suit - expecting her skirt to get wet but thinking that she would still be able to wear it. We were at the beach for about 20 minutes when it was too wet and we decided to take it off and let her run around in her panties.

She loved to run in and out of the waves and look for sea shells. We even saw some seals playing just beyond the surf - how cool is that?

When we were getting ready to leave, Jeremy and I took the pail - filled it with water and washed all the sand off of Isabella. We turned around to pick up our stuff and head to the car. As I looked back - there was Isabella - burying her legs in the sand. We eventually gave up - wrapped her in a towel and strapped her in the car seat. Then headed to Sonny's house to hose everything down.

We made it back to Ashish and Jill's just in time to help make a few pizzas and drink some wine. They have 2 kids as well. Nikhil is 5 and Ajay is 3. They all played so well together. Isabella misses them already.

Saturday Ashish took Jeremy and I to Sonoma for some wine tasting while Jill took the kids to a school fall carnival. California wine country is so beautiful. Their colors are changing as well. We came home with 5 bottles of wine. We had lunch in a little town close by - I had some of the best heirloom tomatoes - man! I will be picking up some seeds soon and starting them so I can have some next summer. I have been hearing a lot about them lately - but nothing I can say will match how good they taste.

We headed back to pick up Izi and then we had to head back to San Fran. We had dinner with Sonny, Sasha and Oliver then called it a night.

Here is a picture of Isabella all tucked in at the hotel bed - it is about 10 o clock and she was still wide awake.

Our flight out of San Fransisco was at 6 am Sunday. Isabella thought is was so cool waking up at 'night'.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. Jeremy finished his book and I almost finished mine. Once I have a chance I will tell you all about it. I think a lot of folks use their blogs to share their favorite music and books - I don't know - maybe someone can share their favorites with us as well.

The big kids came home tonight and it was crazy like normal. Samantha's hair is getting long and curly. Every time I look at her, her beauty takes my breath away. Daniel is still on restrictions but he is happy enough. He got to hang out with his girlfriend a bit and he was bragging how he got 2 Bs on his Calc tests. He is doing well in school (knock on wood).

I have more to say - but I am getting tired. It is almost 11 and now that the kids are home - the days start early.

I hope everyone is enjoying their fall weather (hopefully the snow is melting up there in WY).

Love to everyone!

Brrrrr

We have had a misty chilly weekend here in Denver. Each night I have been going out and covering my tomatoes and herbs. I am trying to stretch our season out as long as possible. It is supposed to be mild next week - I have so many tomatoes almost ripe...

This past week has been nice and quiet for the most part. Last weekend Daniel decided he wanted to have a party at his dad's house since it was empty. Well he got caught and was grounded this past week. Chris made it home from India yesterday and added a few more restrictions as well. It was nice having him home for a change, although he may disagree.

Samantha is doing much better. She is back in the swing of things with school and has adjusted to the new pain level in her leg. It is still red and tender but she is making it thru school with out too much Advil. She was excited to see her dad and Sharmi.

Jeremy and I will be heading out to San Francisco Wed thru Sunday. It will just be the 3 of us. He found some cheap tickets a while back and to tell you the truth I am looking forward to a relaxing vacation. His boss Ashish lives in the area and we will be staying with him and his family for most of the time. We are planning on hitting some wineries, the beach, the zoo and the aquarium. Doesn't that sound like heaven?

Last week I mentioned that we went to the wedding reception of a friend from work. His wife couldn't make it because her son was sick after a chemo treatment for Leukemia. Well the he developed a pretty serious fungal infection in his lungs and just couldn't fight it. He died yesterday. Even though I didn't know him personally - it still hit me hard. This was Leukemia - one of the highest cure rates of most children's cancers - but it was the side effects that did him in - not even the cancer. There has to be a better way to cure this stuff. Every day I hear of another child diagnosed or lose the battle... I just hope that awareness starts ramping up - I really don't understand why it is not already there.

I feel truly bless that we made it thru the past year and a half. Hug your kids, families and friends - that is all that's really important.

Tomorrow I promised Isabella that we would decorate the house for Halloween. I will try to take a some pictures and post later.

Night and love to everyone.

My Favorite Time of Year

Fall is my favorite - the weather is mild and the nights are cool. The trees are starting to change colors. Here is a picture of my last crop of roses. The wonderful smell carried thru the whole main level of the house.

Well we had Isabella's "friend" birthday party this weekend at the Denver Children's Museum. She and 4 other girls played in the many exhibits. There was a full size firetruck with pint size fireman outfits and hats. There was a big tree house with tunnels and nests so that the kids could play as squirrels (Isabella) or rabbits or birds. I think this room was the favorite. There was also a grocery store and restaurant - an art center (See Samantha's work below) and a dress up and dance room. We will definitely have to go back. There was just too much to do in the time allotted.

There was also a workshop where kids could build things out of recycled wood and plastic. Isabella just liked wearing the goggles but Samantha and Bob really got into it and built a helicopter.

After the kids had some time to play, we all gathered back in the birthday room for pink cupcakes and presents. It was still quite a bit of work to bake non-artificial cupcakes (the only thing bad in them was a bit of sugar...), put together healthy munchies, goodie bags and decorations - then load everything up and get to the museum in time to set up in the 15 minutes they give you before the party starts. But the great things was at the end of the 2 hours we got to go home to a quiet house. At least for 30 minutes or so... Grand Bob stayed with the kids and Jeremy and I had to run out to a friends wedding reception. It was really nice but a sad in a way. The brides son has been battling Leukemia for a few months. They planned the wedding around it - but her son ending back in the hospital with a pretty serious infection so only the groom was present. Keep them in your thoughts - he isn't doing well at all. It still makes me cry a bit - I remember my frustration when cancer interrupted our life so many times the past year.

The week was a nice one - no commitments on any of the school nights. Just the normal routine - dinner and homework. Sam has missed some school, however. The pain in her leg is increasing. We are starting to see some redness up near the top of her incision now. I talked with Dr. Heare and he said it is not uncommon for the infection to spread thru the cadaver bone. This may rush Samantha's decision. We were hoping to make it to Christmas break and do the surgery then - but I will be surprised if that happens. She won't walk on her leg much and it hurts to wear her brace. She is determined to get back to school, missing even a few days puts her so far behind. Her dad returns from India this weekend and we will probably meet with the prosthetic doctor next week. Then once Samantha has made her decision to either fight to keep her foot or not we will meet with Dr. Heare and hammer out the rest of the details.

As I have said before - I don't have a preference, either choice will be a rough road. We are just committed to supporting Samantha's decision the best we can. She is leaning toward the amputation so she can just get on with life and I thought I was just fine with that until last Thursday - watching the infection spread and realizing the decision date was coming sooner than later. My stomach flips just thinking of her going thru another surgery. But I will follow her lead and be strong! :)

Jeremy's dad has to go home tomorrow - Isabella is sad. She has had a blast hanging out with grandpa and daddy so much. She just tags along - helping them with their projects in her skirt and fancy new jewelry. She is four now - next year she will start kindergarten - jeez!

Daniel is his same self only pushing the limits a bit more. If I live thru the next couple of years without drowning myself in wine - it will be amazing.

Samantha of course is strong and fighting to feel better - I think this time of year will help with that. We have Halloween and her birthday - then the holidays.

They are forecasting snow for Denver later in the week, so I will be picking all my veggies tomorrow and bringing my plants inside. Always stuff to do - but this time it is stuff I like to do!

I know this month is breast cancer awareness month which is great - but please think of our cancer kids every time you see the pink ribbon - maybe someday we can have a mini gold ribbon tagging along!

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather - Love to everyone!

A Dance and a birthday

Here are my girls - posing like normal. Samantha was so excited to go to her first High School Dance!

She and her friend Donna went out to a sushi dinner all by themselves and then I picked them up and we went to another friends house for pre-dance pictures.

Sam tried a new hair style. She straightened her bangs and poofed up the curls in the back.

Here are all the girls. They felt like they were on the red carpet. All the parents were taking pictures - the flashes were non-stop.

They all looked so wonderful and they were all so excited! None of them had dates, which I for one think was wonderful. They all went and danced with everyone.

Daniel went as well - he got ready at a friends house and had bunches of fun. They all went out to Bucca De Peppo's (a family style Italian place) then to the dance and then to another friends house for after the dance. He has promised to bring me pictures. When I get them I will post.

Today was Isabella's birthday. She woke up bright and early and got dress and asked when her friends were coming over (this was at 7:30am).

We had a pretty good day and picking up the house, cooking up some pork green chili for dinner and making a chocolate 'Little Mermaid' cake.

Here is Daniel making the cake.

Poor Ariel has quite a tan - but we did our best.

She picked a chocolate cake - the funny thing is that she really doesn't like eating cake.

She was just excited to open her gifts.

Look at my beautiful 4 year old! Here she is posing with her new jewelry box from Grandma Liz.

Isabella also got the 'Camp Rock' movie from Sam, a guitar and microphone from Daniel and an kid friendly MP3 player from mom and dad.

All in all she made out.

Her 'friend' birthday party will be next weekend at the Children's museum. I think it will be fun - the best part is that I can leave the clean up to someone else!

Well - sorry for the quick update tonight - I am tired and 6am comes quick.

I am looking forward to a nice quiet week - we will see if it works out or not...

Until then - Love to everyone!

80s Day during Spirit Week

It was 80s day at the kids high school today. Samantha was all excited to wear her pink tights! Daniel also showed his spirit wearing the short shorts and tank tops that totally fit in when I was growing up. However, today Daniel reminded everyone why they are NOT in style any more. I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of him - I prefer to forget what he looks like in his outfit.

Sam fit right in at school, but she felt a bit different when we were walking thru the hospital going for her checkup with Dr. Heare today. She told anyone who would listen that today was 80s day at school. I don't know why she was so self conscience - she looks absolutely adorable!

Speaking of that - the appointment went as expected. Her ankle is still red and tender. Dr Heare is pretty sure there is an infection in her ankle. It doesn't look worse but also doesn't look better.

He and Samantha talked again about her options - either the below knee amputation or the 2 stage reconstruction surgery. Samantha asked a lot of really good questions. Dr. Heare said he is looking at the surgery to happen in December over school break unless the infection gets much worse then we would have to make the decision sooner. He wants to see Samantha again in a month to evaluate and in the meantime he is going to arrange for her to meet with a prosthetic specialist to see the a real prosthetic - see her options and ask questions.

If she decides for the amputation - the recovery would be much shorter - she would begin walking 6 weeks after the surgery and probably be walking just fine without crutches before summer.

If she decides to fight for the foot - the first surgery would involve removing all plates, screws and the cadaver bone. Then put the place holder in - during this time she would be in a cast - non weight bearing for 6 weeks. Then he would go back in and start over - we would be looking at 1 to 2 more years before being able to walk without crutches.

Samantha has been talking with one of her cancer friends who has an above knee amputation and was prepared for her conversation today. I was so proud of her!

We don't have to make the decision now - but Sam is leaning toward the amputation and getting on with her life.

Either way - nothing will happen for a while yet.

I have been dreading today - even dreaming of what the doctor would say and how Samantha would handle it most nights for the past few weeks. But on the way home (which, by the way, took over an hour because I got lost trying out a new route...) I came to the conclusion that I really don't want Samantha to have to do either option. Sam asked Dr. Heare what the chances were of her healing up and not having to chose one of the above options - he said about 1-2%. But since that is not realistic, I told her that either way, we would support her decision. Both roads will be hard. Sam seems to be much more in control now. I think that having the power to make this decision will help the emotional healing if amputation turns out to be the answer. She is such a strong and amazing young woman - she told me tonight - she just wants to get to a point where a persons first impression is of her - not her crutches. She really just wants to get past this.

After the doctors appointment and the adventure getting home - I had to turn around and leave immediately after dropping Sam off at home. It was parent/teacher night at Daniel's tech school tonight. I both dread and look forward to these nights. Most teachers like Daniel and appreciate his unique view of the world but I still get disapproving looks from a few. He is taking Graphic Design and is just loving it. Once I introduced myself to his teacher, she went on and on about how talented Daniel is and how much she loves having him as a student. His physics teacher was polite but I know that Daniel is a bit of a challenge for her.

This week so far has been kind of busy - Tuesday night was parent night at Isabella's school, Wed Jeremy had to work late - today of course we had the dr appt and more teacher meetings. Tomorrow Jeremy's dad is coming in and the kids have their homecoming game and then the dance is on Saturday night. Sunday we will be celebrating Isabella's birthday with a family and friends BBQ.

I am so looking forward to sleeping in a bit this weekend. 6 am mornings are hard for me - even harder when I don't get to bed until 11:30 pm...

Night for now - Love to everyone!!!

Music, School Spirit and Cauliflower

The title of this blog gives you a taste of what my day has been like today.

It is 'spirit week' at the kids high school. Today was c0llege day and Sam is super proud in her Gonzaga U t-shirt.

Daniel is at the Powder Puff game - where the girls play football and the boys are the cheer leaders.

Samantha spent most of the weekend planning out her outfits for the week. She is prepared...

I went out to my jungle of a garden to get some tomatoes for salsa and I was so excited to see a cauliflower!!! How fantastic is that? You also can see some broccoli, tomatillas (a Mexican tomato) and my one and only cucumber.

I made some fresh salsa - just waiting for chips.

It has been a while since I have used tomatillas - I decided to cook them a bit. I will let you know how it turned out. The last picture is my first fall picture - appropriate since today is the first day of fall. The pumpkin is a casualty - I was trying to get to my broccoli and I pulled up what I thought was yellow squash - but it was my one and only pumpkin plant. Oh well - we will have one green jack-o-lantern ...

Only one of my burning bushes is changing - the other 2 are still green. I don't think this pictures does it justice. The red is beautiful and vibrant!

Ellie and Leah were visiting tonight and the girls were singing - here is Isabella doing Demi Lovatos 'This is me' on You Tube. Too cute!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRc5MHg6IyU

Remember that you probably won't be able to watch this thru your VPN. But take a look when you get a chance.

Jeremy missed his connecting plane so we just got home and I am ready for bed.

What a day - life is good!

Love to everyone!