The Ugarte Family

My friend Selene

2011-07-13T13:29:00.002-07:00

oldie but goodie...

2011-05-23T09:58:00.002-07:00

My Friend Sharon

2011-05-23T09:43:00.004-07:00

Victoria Paige is here....

2011-03-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

And now its time for me to go back to work. =(

She will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday... already.

Here are some pictures of our little Victoria.

3 weeks until our Victoria arrives

2011-01-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this on Wednesday but that ended up being a really busy day at work and at home. It was 3 weeks on Wednesday that our little baby will be brought into the world. We know the date because it is a scheduled c-section... so that's nice... we get to show up and have a baby on a planned date. =)

I don't have any current pictures of my belly but I'll have David take a good one that I'll allow to be posted for everyone to see. This is a picture from the babycenter web site that I go to that tells me all about each week. So here is what 36 weeks looks like and I definitely feel her kicking me anywhere from the ribs all the way down to my hips. I'm thinking she is going to be bigger than Bella or David... but we'll see.

36 Weeks

I'll post some pictures of our trip tomorrow to the Tonto Natural Bridge hopefully this weekend. We are going up there with a friend to take pictures and do some hiking. Always a fun adventure.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! Its already January 2011... in about 5 more weeks we will have our little baby Victoria and then our family will be complete. I wanted to post a collage of pictures that David put together of one of our trips to the Arboretum. I will definitely have more pictures to post this coming year especially of our new addition and of our big kids who never stop growing. I can't believe that little David starts school this year... How time flys!

2010 Holidays

2010-12-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted something new.   A lot has been going on since August. I applied for two positions within my company...interviewed for both of them, twice.... and Finally one of them did come through.   =)   So I have been getting to know my new position and learning a lot and staying extremely busy.   I'm still learning as it has only been since the end of September that I've been in my new role.
I also never posted about David and I expecting our 3rd baby in February.   Can't believe she's almost here. I'll post a picture of her 3D ultrasound... that was pretty amazing.

Here are a couple of pictures I wanted to share.   I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Our Summer Family Trip to San Diego

2010-08-31T09:46:00.002-07:00

Here is a little something we put together of our trip to San Diego. We really had a great time.

Isabella wasn't able to get on any of the big rides last year and so she took full advantage this time around. We must of gone on that swinging ride at least 8 times!

Can't wait to do it again next year. Hopefully little David will be able to join us then.

Enjoy guys.

Cute picture of Little David

2010-08-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this picture of little David. It has a nickname on it that we use for him... not sure where it came from but he does answer to it! =)

A fun little trip to SeaWorld

2010-08-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some awesome shots of Shamu that David captured during the show. He has really become an GREAT photographer.

Here is a cute picture of Bella when we were watching the whales down below before the show.

A cute picture of the kids with grandma and the funny penguins.

And finally, what some of you have been waiting for.... at least I know my family has.... a picture of me!!! LoL! This doesn't happen very often so enjoy it!

Our trip to Bisbee, Arizona

2010-04-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

It was a spur of the moment trip... Isabella had Friday off from school so I took full advantage and asked for the day off. I asked David if he could do the same so we could spend the day with the kiddos. I was feeling a little guilty about spring break and not doing anything fun with them. Even though they got to do fun things with their grandma, like go to Sea World.

So it was set, we woke up early Friday morning, I called the hotel and booked a room for the night. A little place in downtown Bisbee called Hotel San Ramon. It looked like a nice cozy hotel and reminded me of the Connor Hotel in Jerome. The manager was super nice as well and let us book a little bigger room since we had the kids for the same price as the smaller one. Very nice of her! Now that I think about it, I didn't take any pictures of the inside of our room... but if you click on the link it will take you to their site where you can click on 'Rates & Reservations', then click on 'Availability Chart' and the click 'View Chart' and it will list their 6 rooms where you can click on the name of the room to see a picture. We stayed in Room #2... very cute and bright.

Here are some pictures we took while going through the town. This is just a few, I have a lot more that I haven't uploaded yet.

Bisbee Historic Distric - 1906 - Presbyterian Church

Lots of stairs to climb in Bisbee.... The manager of Hotel San Ramon

says she has to climb about 60 steps to get to her home.

As we were going up some other stairs this house was to the right.

Not sure if anyone lived there.

My final picture for right now is another house a little further up the hill.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2010-03-17T12:24:00.002-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their St. Patrick's Day and wearing green to be sure you don't get pinched.

Since it's spring break, the kids are spending some quality time with their grandma in Palm Desert, CA. They have been there since last Friday, March 12th. Its now Wednesday and we are missing them more and more each day. But enjoying our time alone as well. On Saturday they are going to Sea World with their grandma, and I'm excited for them but sad we won't be there.

While they have been gone I have found some older pictures of the kids....

Little David taking a bath... gosh he has gotten so big... my little boy will be 4 in July.

Love this picture of David and Bella walking at the Boyce Thompson arboretum

Here is one of Bella when her hair was still growing back in....

Update on little Layla Grace

2010-03-09T12:52:00.002-07:00

From their twitter page:

Layla went to play with the angels early this morning. Rest in peace precious Layla. 11/26/2007 - 3/9/2010

Please pray for this family as they grieve the loss of their baby to Neuroblastoma. Here is a link to their web site: www.laylagrace.org where you can read the latest information from the family.

Ryan Seacrest interviews Layla Grace's Mom Shanna Marsh

2010-03-03T13:53:00.002-07:00

Here is a link to an interview that Ryan Seacrest had with the mom of Layla who has stage 4 Neuroblastoma. Awesome that he is raising awareness but such a sad sad story. Neuroblastoma is such a horrible disease. =(

Ryan Seacrest interview

Here is a link to the family Twitter page:

Layla Grace

Come Back After a Running Layoff at Runner's World

2010-01-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

Come Back After a Running Layoff at Runner's World

Interesting article that should help me who has never really ran her entire life as well as someone who took a break and wants to get back in the swing of things.

Little David singing "Santa Claus is coming to town"

2009-12-17T10:51:00.002-07:00

In my post from yesterday... two posts in a row?!?! What is going on?!? ;o)

Any whoo... I mentioned little David likes to sing Santa Claus is coming to town. I recorded him with my phone so the quality is lacking but you can at least hear him sing it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Merry Christmas!! =)

9 days till Christmas...

2009-12-16T13:49:00.007-07:00

Wow! How time flys! I can't believe Christmas is almost here. Little David couldn't be more excited, this is his first Christmas where he truly realizes what is going on. And... can't forget to mention this!! He sings 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town!'... It is THE cutest thing you will ever hear, I will swear by that and not just because I'm his mom. If I can post it I most certanly will... you can't see him very well but you can hear him and that's all that counts. LOL!

The kids will be heading to their grandma's house this Saturday to spend 4 whole days without their parents around... oh what will David and I do without them?!?!

I wanted to post some pictures that we took this past year. Hope everyone had a wonderful 2009 and lets have an even better 2010!!

Fun at the Arboretum

2009-11-23T09:37:00.003-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from our afternoon at the Arboretum.

Halloween Fun!

2009-11-03T10:46:00.006-07:00

This was the first time in 3 or 4 years that we decided to go all out for Halloween. We created kind of a Haunted House for the kids to walk through. Here is how the guys dressed up.... you can probably imagine that some of the kids went running for the hills!!

But... we did have some kids that came back 2 or 3 times... after a while I had to tell them that they couldn't get any more candy because we were starting to run out. All in all it was a very fun night and our kiddos had a blast too... Here are their pictures....

Bella as "Sleeping Booty" as she likes to say it.

And here is David as Captain Hook. We found this costume at the Disney Store and it was the ONLY one because a lady had just returned it. It fit him perfect!!

Meeting Lily (Emily Osment) from Hannah Montana

2009-10-11T17:37:00.006-07:00

Almost there after waiting about an hour in line.... =)

And here she is, the moment Isabella was waiting for!!

Chacho had to get in there too....

Our trip to the Tonto Natural Bridge

2009-08-24T13:13:00.003-07:00

I wanted to share some pictures that we took this past weekend up in Payson.

Back to School (already?!?!)

2009-07-21T14:03:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was Isabella's first day back to school. She is now a 1st grader and she was excited to say the least... Here she is with her new outfit and back pack...

Fun with the camera.

2009-07-20T19:43:00.003-07:00

Summertime: San Diego 2009

Chacho's Raceway

Happy Birthday to our little Boy!!

2009-07-19T18:58:00.009-07:00

Today is your 3rd birthday and you have grown so much in such little time. We are so very proud of you and lucky to have you in our lives. We love you David... Love mom & dad.

Funny clip...

2009-07-10T15:20:00.001-07:00

Video Clears Up Obama Photo

Shared via AddThis

The Death of Michael Jackson...

2009-07-02T09:14:00.002-07:00

I can't believe I didn't post about this the day it happened... Today is a week since the 'King of Pop' died, the same day that Farrah Fawcett died of cancer and the day after Ed McMahon. Needless to say last week wasn't a good week. I just wanted to post this video that Matt Lauer had with Jermaine Jackson... Just heart wrenching to listen to him speak about his brother... What a loss for the entire world...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This happened right outside of my work today... Very very sad

2009-06-16T20:25:00.001-07:00

Man electrocuted while working with dad at construction site

Man electrocuted while working with dad at construction site#comments#comments

Shared via AddThis

The Stranger

2009-06-09T14:38:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Michelle for helping me film this one!

Oh and we can't forget Isabella. The star of the film!

Promotion Day

2009-05-27T19:17:00.006-07:00

Today was Isabella's 'Promotion' day, she is no longer in Kindergarten and is now offically a 1st grader (at the end of July when school starts again). Her first summer vacation starts tomorrow... my advice... enjoy every moment of your school years. Once you are out, you'll want to go back! =)

Here is the school Principle for the current year. It will be changing next year.

And here is our little Bella accepting her promotion diploma.

And here they are singing a song about going to 1st grade. That was too cute! Brought a tear to my eye. =)

Isabella's graduation photo...

2009-05-23T20:11:00.003-07:00

Here is Isabella in her cap & gown. She will be in 1st grade this fall. How far she has come!! We couldn't be more proud of her.

A little taste of the wedding photos..

2009-05-10T17:07:00.005-07:00

I think I'm going to remove the slide show and just post a few of my favorite pictures. =)

This is Jayme, her maid of honor on the left and her bridesmaids.

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY ISABELLA!!!

2009-04-29T12:00:00.003-07:00

A very special birthday wish to our Beautiful Isabella... We hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

Here is Bella enjoying a donut in her classroom this morning. I surprised her by bringing Dunkin Donuts, milk and balloons to her class this morning. Of course she loved the attention!! ;o)

We are extremely grateful to have her in our lives and we will be celebrating 4 years of NED status on May 2nd!!! Soon we will be officially in Remission!!! Way to go Bella, you are awesome and we love you!!!

Bella as a Flower Girl

2009-04-27T12:55:00.003-07:00

Here is our miss Bella as a Flower girl for Edgar's wedding. I will post more soon so keep checking back! =)

Edgar's Bachelor Weekend

2009-03-30T21:34:00.001-07:00

Here is a video from David's weekend out with the boys... David edited this video and added the song... I think we need to move back to California and have him go work in Hollywood!! =)

Cute Books

2009-03-25T22:27:00.003-07:00

While we were in Prescott, a little day trip out of Jerome, we found this cute little shop called Trinkets. They had the cutest stuff in their store and it had me in there looking around for quite a while. The kids were sitting quietly at a cute little table just big enough for their little tooshies. We continued to walk around the little shops that were in this area called Bashford Courts Mall, a small 3 story shopping area inside a building. You wouldn't have even known it was there if you continued walking down the street. We went through all the stores finding something cute in each one of them. After we were done looking around we decided to sit and grab a snack at the Prescott Brewing Company before dinner at The Asylum back in Jerome. While I was sitting there enjoying our pretzels, I decided... what the heck! I am going back to that store to get that book I saw for the kids. So when we were done we headed back there and I picked up this book, The Tickle Monster. It is such a cute book and the kids really enjoy the tickling they receive while we read it together. Then my mom picked up the other two books for the kids; Illustrated Stories for Girls and Boys. The book has like 20 little stories in it perfect for little boys who love Pirates and Robots and the other has Princesses and Fairies. And of course who could pass up the little stickers that you can put in the inside of the book with their name on it... Love that store! I gotta go back and pick up the gloves that I totally missed! Watch the video on this site when it first comes up to see what I mean... http://www.josiebissett.com/

The Connor Hotel

2009-03-22T14:53:00.003-07:00

We went up to Jerome for a few days this past week. I've posted about the Jerome Grand Hotel before and it's haunted history. This time we didn't stay there, we stayed in the Connor Hotel, right in the middle of everything. The room was great! I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to go and stay at a decent place. It's within walking distance to everything you would want to see and the room we stayed in (room 2) was VERY spacious. The ONLY downside is... Room 2 is over their 'Spirit Room', the ever famous biker bar below the guest rooms. If you want to stay up and party all night with the guests in the bar, this is a perfect room for you. But if you are traveling with kids and usually go to sleep by 10 or 11... don't plan on getting a good nights sleep in this room. Here are a couple pictures of the room we stayed in...

Jim Cramer on The Daily Show

2009-03-13T16:26:00.001-07:00

Not sure if anyone watches The Daily Show or even knew about the duel between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer, but here are the Unedited Videos from the show that aired Thursday night. Very interesting to say the least... =)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

A fun day at the lake

2009-02-28T22:12:00.005-07:00

Here are some pictures of our day at the lake... it started out kind of rough though. When we launched the boat there were white caps on the water. For all you land lovers that means the winds were high enough to make the tips of the water crest. But the winds died down and it turned out to be a pretty fun day on the water.

Stopped in my tracks....

2009-02-16T19:03:00.003-07:00

Typical evening of Internet browsing... go online to YouTube to find the Fun in the Snow video you see below. I found the link to embed on our MySpace profile, put it on my page and saved it. I went to my home page in MySpace and saw that my sister had uploaded some new pictures. I went on to view her pictures and saw some thing I hadn't seen in almost 5 years....

my dad

He passed away almost 5 years ago and I still haven't dealt with his death. I lived away from him and since I didn't see him every day it was easy to block it out of my mind. But seeing this picture brought back all of those feelings I have suppressed for the last 4 1/2 years. I miss him so very much and it pains me to think that Isabella won't know him. I don't have any pictures around my house, I took this picture from my sister's MySpace, so I asked my sister to send me what ever she may have so Isabella can get to know her grandpa.

Jerome - The Haunted Hotel

2009-02-13T22:08:00.006-07:00

Another very creative Video by David Ugarte... He's got quite a talent!!

Fun in the Snow

2009-02-13T15:15:00.004-07:00

This wonderful video was created by David as a Valentine's Day gift to me. =) Very sweet!

To Craft or not to Craft.... that is the question

2009-02-11T20:41:00.002-07:00

I have this friend at work, she is an amazing mom to say the least. She has two kids right about the same age as Isabella & David. She is always creating the cutest crafts for her kids and she sent me a link to a site where they have these cute butterflies you can print out for Valentine's Day. I had already purchased generic Valentines from the store but I figured why not... I'll give this a shot, what do I have to loose. =) I'm being creative and Isabella will have unique Valentines to give to her class on Friday.

Here is the link to the butterflies: http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/butterflyvalentine.pdf

I decided to check out the Skip to my Lou site. They have so many cute ideas for crafts that I thought to myself, I can do these!! But do I start this?? I will need to keep things organized somewhere, and my husband ususally knows how that works out. ;o)

http://www.skiptomylou.org/

So maybe you'll see me post more about being crafty... Maybe... just Maybe!!!

There really are bigger things than politics, stimulus plan, economic crisis and materialistic items...

2009-02-09T13:29:00.005-07:00

I just learned this morning of a baby who's life was cut short because of Neuroblastoma. She was only 11 months old and was just diagnosed a short 2 weeks ago. The pain her parents and family must be dealing with at this moment, I can't even comprehend!

http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/

Please take a moment to visit their site.

I feel absolutely horrible for this family's loss and I can't imagine the pain they are going through. Its been almost 4 years since Isabella had her last surgery to remove her tumor. The surgery where we didn't know it at the time, but we almost lost her. When I hear of things like this it reminds me of how lucky we are to still have her in our lives. We are grateful for every moment we have and I know all of the parents that go through a life threatening experience with their child learn to NEVER take them (or any of their other children) for granted.

All of the issues that are going on around us, be it our difference in political views, the economic downfall or what Gucci purse we got means nothing compared to the life of this baby and any other child dealing with this horrible disease.

Toy Story

2009-01-28T13:52:00.005-07:00

Toy Story... a very cute movie that came out over 10 years ago now. For most of you, you probably already know what the movie is about. For those few who haven't seen it, here is a little synopsis. Toy Story is about the 'Secret life of toys' when people are not around. A little boy named Andy loves playing with his toys, especially his cowboy doll named "Woody". When Andy is not around his toys come to life, playing into the thought we always had as a kid... "Why aren't my toys where I left them?" And of course as a kid, we always think our toys are real and have feelings.

I remember dragging my mom and my husband (who was just my boyfriend at the time) to the theatre to watch Toy Story. I didn't have kids at the time, but I have always enjoyed animated movies. And if I remember correctly, this was Pixar's first movie. Then when Toy Story 2 came out, we had to watch that one as well. One of the rare instances where the sequel lives up to the first movie. When the DVDs came out we added them to our collection of movies at home.

Then Isabella entered our lives... we introduced her to disney movies at a young age. I look back and wish we wouldn't have but it was hard as heck to get that girl to sleep!! =) So as she gets older, she really starts to enjoy the Toy Story movies and loves the characters. Christmas 2005 we decide to get her most if not all of the main characters from the movies. It took us a while to find them, but she was so excited to open her presents and find, Woddy, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear and Slinky the dog. David told me we have Bullseye, but I don't remember seeing him in the basket of toys in Isabella's room. She loves these toys and usually plays with them on a daily basis and being the way that I am, I can't help but think these toys are exactly like the movie.

This past Christmas Eve... David has the day off while I had to work, I got off at noon, but still! ;o) The clock strikes 12 and we all dash out the door and I head to Superstition Springs mall to pick up some last minute stocking stuffers. Now you are probably asking yourself why I would brave the mall on Christmas eve... Well there are 2 main reasons, this was the Christmas of 2008 where the US and many other countries were in a bad recession (and as I type this, we still are) so I had a feeling the mall wouldn't be too packed. And the 2nd reason... I usually know the side of the mall to park on where no one usually goes to park. It's always by a department store that people don't shop in too much or an entrance to the mall that isn't near the most 'popular' stores. I get what I need and start to head home, as I'm driving out of the parking lot I call David to see how he is doing with the kids. Maybe they took over the house and he's buried in the back yard!! hehehe Nah! I know that would NEVER happen! I call him and ask if he would mind if I picked something up to eat. Now wait a minute!! Don't get the wrong idea here, I'm not asking for Permission... I just didn't want to go and grub only to find out they were waiting for me to go eat. So David mentions he's hungry too and wants to meet me somewhere to eat. I was like... Sure!! That sounds great!! He mentions a place not too far from our house called Baci's Italian Bistro. They just moved into their new building and we've only been there a couple of times. I usually put up a fight because every time we go there we end up walking out of the door $60 or more poorer than we went in. Their food is awesome and they serve you gigantic portions but the plate I really enjoy is $20 and so is David's... so with just our two plates we are already at $40 and we haven't fed the kids yet!!! LOL

Any whoo... So I meet them there for lunch and to my surprise their lunch menu is quite affordable. The kids are excited to see me and Isabella has her Jessie doll with her from Toy Story. We enjoy our lunch laughing and talking about the holidays and the happenings from the year. We finish our food and ask for the mandatory box to put our left overs in. I think Baci's owns stock in the company that supplies their boxes for left overs because you will never leave that place without one. As we walk out of the restaurant, Isabella wanted to hold one of the To Go boxes and I had the other one while David was holding on to little David. We proceed to get into separate cars, put the food in the back seat and head out to a couple of shops to do some last minute shopping.

Later on that night as we were enjoying our Christmas Eve I realized that I hadn't seen Isabella playing with Jessie. So I turn to her and ask, "Isabella, have you seen Jessie?" She ponders this question for a couple of seconds and then proceeds to tell me No. As she answers my question, I go through my memory bank and remember the last time I saw her... Baci's!!! I then ask her... "Did you leave her at the restaurant?" And this time she takes a little longer to think about it and tells me... I don't know. I do a quick look around the house to be sure she's not stuffed under a couch cushion or hiding under a pile of toys in her room. My search leaves me empty handed so I grab my keys to check the car. Maybe Isabella accidentally left her there... and again my search leaves me empty handed.

Now this is where the missing toy is affecting me more than it does Isabella. I can't stop thinking about the movie Toy Story and how sad Jessie was when she was left behind by her 'owner'. Here it is, Christmas Eve and she is now a 'Lost Toy'... (if you've seen the movies, you'll understand). So I decide to call the restaurant, hoping they were still open... They answer. "Hi, my name is Michelle and I have a weird question for you. You see, we were there earlier today for lunch and my daughter left her toy there. Has anyone turned in a toy doll?" He puts me on hold to check. Meanwhile I'm thinking to myself... She's got to be there, that is the only place we went today where I saw Isabella holding her. He gets back on the phone... "Sorry, no one has turned in any doll." I said okay even though I was thinking to myself... they just didn't look hard enough. At this point David is telling me to forget it and hopefully it will teach Isabella a lesson and she won't bring toys with her anymore. But I just couldn't let it be... Jessie was lost and of all days... Christmas Eve!

So I hop in the car with Isabella and we take a little road trip to the restaurant. We get there and I ask if I could look on the side of the table where we were sitting. He says to me... "You were the one who called earlier right?" When he said this, I knew at that moment he thought I was crazy. They let me look on the side of table.... nothing. So I give them my name and number to call if anything shows up, knowing full well they just threw that paper away the moment I walked out the door. So I somberly walk back to the car and tell Isabella... "Jessie is gone". We drive back home and when we get there David asks me if we had any luck but he could already tell by the looks on our face.

I was sad that night and wondered to myself... "Why am I so distraught over this toy"... "It's JUST a toy!" But it's because of that darn movie Toy Story... I couldn't help but feel sad that Jessie was now 'lost'.

......

A couple of days pass by and David goes outside to get something out of the car. He walks in and tells me... "Look what I found" I look at what was in his hand and its Jessie. I asked him where he found it and he said she was in the Trunk. The weird thing is, I know for a fact that I didn't open the trunk when we left the restaurant and I remember distinctively that Isabella didn't carry her out of the restaurant because she wanted to help me carry the boxes of left overs. I didn't put the left overs in the trunk because I didn't want them to slide around so I put them behind the drivers seat on the floor. So how did she get in the trunk.... maybe it's like the ending of the first movie when Buzz and Woody show up in Andy's car after chasing it down the road for miles.... hmmm... One can only wonder!!! ;o)

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T21:20:00.005-07:00

Christmas is over... =( Here comes 2009!

2008-12-29T19:26:00.007-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. The kids had a pretty good one. Here are some pictures of them opening their presents...

All Smiles

I wonder what it is???

Such determination!

A Hannah Montana Guitar!! Yeah!!

My Christmas list...

2008-11-28T20:27:00.006-07:00

The kids always get to create a list of all the things they want for Christmas and so as adults why aren't we allowed to do the same thing? Well here is my list and it's not the list it should be...

1) I would LOVE a Canon EOS camera where I can interchange the lenses. Here is an example of what one looks like

Now granted, this particular camera costs about $2600! And probably doesn't come with the lens you see here, but there are others that are about $1500 that I would love to try out. ;0) Hint Hint to the Santa Clause out there...

2) I have had the urge lately to teach the kids how to play piano. Now granted, they are only 2 & 5, but I feel they would enjoy it and I would have to teach myself again as well. I remember hating that I had to practice every single day when I was yonger, now I look back and wish I would have taken it more seriously.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-20T19:33:00.003-07:00

It's been a while since I have actually had the time to sit down and write a post on this blog. It doesn't help that my computer is still down for the count so I make due with the small amount of time I can still hubby's work computer or actually get some writting done at work... that doesn't happen too often. =) I don't think that many people actually come by anymore since I don't write

Well next week is Thanksgiving... wow how this year has flown by. So many things have happened this year, too many to list in one post. Maybe I'll get to those when the time is right. =) For Thanksgiving my father-in-law and his wife are coming over and we will enjoy Turkey and all the fixings. Then on Black Friday we are going to the lake instead of shopping.... well maybe that will change and the guys will go to the lake..... ;o) There are going to be some KILLER deals especially with the economy the way it is!! I'm not sure I want to miss this one!! Then on Saturday we are driving up to Sedona and Jerome. I know most of you have heard of Sedona, AZ but for those who haven't heard of Jerome, it's a little town about 30 minutes from Sedona and it's an old mining town from the early 1900's. We are staying in the Jerome Grand Hotel which acording to their site is one of the most activly hauted locations in the US.

They even have Ghost hunting package that you can purcahse as a guest of the hotel. Unfortunately we won't be doing this, not because I'm scared, but because it's only Monday thru Thursday and we are staying on a Saturday night. I don't think I'll get an ounce of sleep that night. Every sound I hear will make me open my eyes to search around the room for a ghostly apparation.

I will let you all know how the weekend went... if we make it back!! hehehe

Hope Kids Event

2008-10-06T09:55:00.003-07:00

On Saturday we were lucky enough to be able to go to Scottsdale and enjoy a Hope Kids event. Since Isabella had her two best friends stay the night Friday night, she was allowed to bring them as well. So the girls and little David had a blast jumping in the bouncers, going down the slides, eating hot dogs and pizza, climbing the rock wall, eating snow cones and cotton cady and then finally riding the ponys and the train. Wow!! Needless to say, they really enjoyed themselves.

'Come my young Padawan'

Isabella's First school picture

2008-09-11T12:33:00.003-07:00

I just had to share Isabella's first school picture. I jokingly asked how long it took the camera guy to get this shot, because our child does not know how to sit still for pictures... trust me! ;o)

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!!

2008-09-03T09:29:00.003-07:00

Here is an email I received from Rob with Hope Kids... you might have even received this email from me if you are on my list. =)

Dear Families,

Help raise funds for Pediatric Cancer Research without opening your wallet.

September has been designated as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. HopeKids is proud to announce they are commemorating this month by partnering with Children’s Cancer Research Fund in an interactive web campaign titled CompleteTheCure. The goal of the campaign is to bring awareness to the childhood cancer experience — the progress and the challenges.

CompleteTheCure.com will feature six short video clips about childhood cancer. For each video clip viewed, a corporate sponsor will make a donation in support of pediatric cancer research. The more times the videos are viewed, the more funds that will be raised to help advance promising childhood cancer research. You can visit CompletetheCure.com, watch the videos and watch the money add up that will go to research.

A couple of ideas to help spread the word:

Post the website and information at bottom of every September journal entry so everyone visiting your caringbridge site sees it and visits the CompleteTheCure.com.

Set CompleteTheCure.com as your homepage for September and visit it over and over again and keep clicking on the videos.

Forward this email to everyone in your address book and tell them to do the same.

The people that watch the videos the more awareness we can create about the importance of childhood cancer research and the more money we raise.

For Hope,
Rob

Labor Day weekend

2008-09-02T12:50:00.008-07:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Every Labor day weekend for the past couple of years we have gone to Ensenada. But this year we decided to stay here and enjoy the new boat on the lakes. David's sister arrived Thursday night from Houston and his brother, Eric arrived Wednesday night. So on Friday they all went out to the lake. I didn't end up going to the lake on Friday because Isabella had school and I had to drive into work. So I don't have any pictures from Friday, but I have some pictures from our trip to Payson and the Natural Bridge. Very beautiful up there and a fun little hike.

Here are a few of them and some cool pictures of some flowers...

I took this picture... ;o)

Here is all of us... from the left: Me, David, Isabella, Eric, Carla, little David and Bilal (Carla's fiance)

Carla and Charrito

A Historic day in American History!!

2008-08-29T09:32:00.004-07:00

It doesn't matter which side you are on... yesterday will go down in history and our children will be reading about it in their history books.

We have puppies!!!

2008-08-21T11:25:00.005-07:00

For those of you who don't know, we have two Boxers, a boy and a girl. Well, when two dogs love each other very much they make puppies! =)

Our puppies were born Sunday in the middle of the night, so they are now 4 days old.

Here are the pictures....

The morning they were born...

Day Two

Picture day for Isabella

2008-08-12T12:37:00.003-07:00

Today is Isabella's first picture day for school. The first of many to come. We woke up early to make sure we had enough time to make sure her curles were in the perfect spot. I am hoping that they will turn out well. Not thinking, I should have snapped a picture of her with my own camera. oh well!! I can't wait to share them with everyone, we ordered the biggest packege so hopefully we will have enough to go around. If not, it comes with a CD! whoo hoo!!

I found out that they do pictures in the fall and the spring... so I probably didn't need to go for the gusto package... oh well, it's her very first school picture... we are entiled to go BIG! hehehe

This past weekend we went to the lake and had a pretty good time. Isabella took some pictures on her own. She did good, by that I mean she captured every unflatering side of me she could possibly get! =)

Here are a couple pictures that are 'blog approved'!

Happy Birthday David! (big D)

2008-08-11T16:42:00.002-07:00

Happy birthday to a wonderful husband and father. I hope you had a wonderful day!

From Anderson Cooper's CNN blog... Iraqi has a $80 billion suprlus!!!

2008-08-07T12:52:00.002-07:00

Wow, look at me!! Two posts in one day?!?! What is wrong?!?! I must have a fever!! I just couldn't help but post this blog from Anderson Cooper's site. I can't believe that we are paying to rebuild Iraq when they have this much money just sitting there, especially while America is in a recession!!

Here is the link to this story: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/06/evening-buzz-iraqi-oil-outrage/

Evening Buzz: Iraqi Oil Outrage
Posted: 08:41 PM ET
Permalink 29 Comments

Oil accounted for 94 percent of the Iraq's revenue from 2005 to 2007, a U.S. report says.

Maureen Miller360° Writer

Cha-ching! Oil revevues are making Iraq rich, very rich. According to a new U.S. audit, the Iraqi government will have a budget surplus of up to $80 billion by the end of the year due to soaring oil prices. But auditors say over the last two years, Iraq only spent $947 million dollars to pay for maintenace of roads, bridges, vehicles, buildings, water and electricity projects and weapons. At the same time, the U.S. was spending a lot of your tax dollars in Iraq. Auditors say since 2003, Congress has approved $48 billion for so-called stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. As you might imagine, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill who voted on that cash assistance are angry. Democratic Michigan Senator Carl Levin said today, “This is not rocket science. They’ve got tens of billions of dollars in surplus in banks around the world, 10 billion in American banks alone, they wrote a check to get that money into the bank, they can write a check to reimburse us for the reconstruction costs.” This may leave you asking: Why isn’t Iraq paying more? Tonight, find out why. We’re keeping them honest.

And, we’re on the trail with the latest developments in the veepstakes. Who do you think John McCain and Barack Obama will pick as their running mates? Tonight, we’ll show you some possible auditions for the job.

Plus, there are new details in the search for little Caylee Anthony. The 2-year-old Florida girl vanished in early June. Her mom is behind bars and was charged yesterday with child neglect and filing a false statement, but not with her daughter’s disappereance. Investigators say Casey Anthony didn’t report her daughter missing for more than a month. Today they took a new step in their investigation that’s made a lot of headlines. That’s in our crime and punishment report.

All that and more tonight on 360°.

Hope you’ll join us!

The Keyes Family

2008-08-07T12:09:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to share the link to a family that we have come to love very much. They have adopted our two kids as their God Children.

The Arizona Folks

Their site even has music!!

Here is a picture from their site. They are soooo cute!!

Isabella's First day of School!!

2008-07-28T14:07:00.003-07:00

This is quite a milestone for any child. But this was an especially important day for our little Isabella. After being diagnosed cancer at 18 months old, you as a parent can't help but think that she won't make it to see 5. But she has beaten all the odds and kicked cancer's butt. She is now a normal kindergartener offically today! We can't believe that she started school already and can't wait to see her grow up and reach other milestones!

Happy 2nd Birthday little David!!

2008-07-22T16:21:00.001-07:00

Spencer Dolling

2008-05-21T09:56:00.002-07:00

Today I learned that another family lost their child to NB. His name was Spencer Dolling. No words can ever express how he will be missed. Here is a video that was made a while back that he narrated himself. Very touching: http://www.lehmann.ca/soundslide/spencer/spencer.html

Here is his Caringbridge site in case you would like to leave comments for the family to read.
http://www.caringbridge.org/canada/spencer/

Such a sad sad day... =(

Isabella's 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Bella!

2008-04-28T20:33:00.002-07:00

Video

2008-03-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

Colbie Caillat Lyrics Bubbly [LyricsYouLove]

Grand Canyon during the winter....

2008-02-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

2007-12-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

I wish all of my friends and family a very merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

I can't believe that it will be 2008 next year and our little Bella will start kindergarten. It will be a very emotional moment for me with everything she went through with the Neuroblastoma. I appreciate all the little moments with her and remind myself how special she is and how close we came to loosing her. We are very lucky to have her in our lives and It is my hope is to see her share her experience with other kids who will be diagnosed with this horrible disease. Hopefully she will give them hope that they too can beat it.

Merry Christmas to all!

Lunch for Life Cookbook

2007-12-19T12:22:00.001-07:00

The Lunch for Life Cookbook by The Families of Lunch for Life
Price: $19.95 + S/H (3.95)
Available: In production, due December 1st, 2007
Want it delivered by the Holidays?
Order today. Quantities are limited! Make sure you order by December 18th to ensure a Christmas Delivery.
Description: The Lunch for Life Cookbook is a collaboration of families of children with neuroblastoma. Over 100 families and celebrities contributed their absolute best recipes to the production of this cookbook. Not only will purchasing this cookbook go along way in aiding our quest for a cure but we believe you will also be receiving some of the best recipes on the planet.
Funds raised support: All proceeds will go to benefit the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation, a 501(c) 3 public charity dedicated to finding the cure for neuroblastoma.

Click here to Order!!!

CNN Video about the Cookies for Cancer project

2007-12-09T17:54:00.001-07:00

here is the link to a video on CNN about Cookies for Cancer:

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/health/2007/12/09/snow.cookies.for.kids.cancer.cnn

click on the picture to enlarge....

Cookies for Cancer

2007-12-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer

A gift that tastes as good as it feels to give.

Give all the kids fighting neuroblastoma today, and thosewho will be so unfairly chosen to fight tomorrow, the hopeall children deserve.

The Band of Parents invites you to be a part of our holiday fundraiser and to give new hope to children fighting cancer! This holiday, give freshly-baked cookies made using recipes from the recently published cookbook, Cookies, by acclaimed cookbook author Sally Sampson.

See their web site at: www.cookiesforkidscancer.org

The Cookies for Cancer was put together by the Band Of Parents bound by hope foundation.

What is the Band of Parents you ask?.....

We are parents of children diagnosed with a cancer called neuroblastoma who want to help further the research and drug development desperately needed to save more children. Neuroblastoma is an “orphan” cancer; pharmaceutical companies are not developing new treatments because there is not a large enough patient base to make development profitable. Funding from the government is similarly limited. Time is running out for many of our children -- money stands between them and a cure.

A Good Read

2007-12-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

This story is from the Boston Globe, I don't have the link to the story but it's definitely worth the time to read. =) Enjoy.....

Despite optimistic claims by national leaders that America is finally turning the tide against cancer, a growing number of patient advocates and researchers say they are discouraged by continuing slow progress in the nation's 36-year war against the disease.

Many of the most anticipated new drugs have extended patients' lives by only a few months at great expense, they say, and researchers still don't understand what makes the disease spread - the cause of 90 percent of cancer deaths.

Although deaths from cancer have declined slightly since 2002, cancer specialists say that reflects earlier detection of the disease as well as lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking, more than dramatic improvements in treatments. For many types of cancer, once the disease has spread, or metastasized, the patient's chance of long-term survival is not much better than when President Nixon declared "war" on the disease in 1971, triggering what is now a $69 billion federal investment in cancer research. A patient whose lung cancer has spread to other organs, for example, has a 3 percent chance of surviving five years after the original diagnosis.

With federal funding for cancer research frozen since 2003, critics say the pace of progress could slow even more as young researchers leave the field. This year, the disease is expected to kill 560,000 people, putting cancer on a pace to become the nation's number one killer in the next few years. Heart disease, the current leading cause of death, has become almost 50 percent less lethal since the early 1970s, thanks to breakthroughs such as artery-clearing stents and cholesterol-lowering drugs.

"I would have expected us to be doing a heck of a lot better based on the investment that we've made and based on the prevalence of the disease," said Kathy Giusti, founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, an organization based in Connecticut and one of several groups pressing researchers to develop better medications more quickly. When she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer, in 1996, she said, "the treatments they offered me were exactly the same ones they offered my grandfather when he had the disease."
Advocates acknowledge that treatment is improving for some cancers - four new medications have been approved for multiple myeloma alone in the past five years, in part thanks to Giusti's efforts, while drugs such as Herceptin have extended the lives of women with breast cancer. But that is not enough to ease the fears of the 1.4 million people who will learn this year that they have cancer. After cancer spreads from its original location, doctors can only delay the disease, not cure it.
Moreover, studies show that many patients are not sharing in the modest progress, including those who have less common cancers as well as people with limited access to healthcare. Black women with advanced breast cancer typically live no longer now than in 1988, while white women have seen their life expectancy after diagnosis grow from 20 to 27 months, according to a recent study. The researchers said the likely factor was poor access to the latest treatments.
"I have never been as worried about our nation's commitment to the war on cancer as I am today," said Nancy G. Brinker, a breast cancer survivor and founder of an advocacy group called Susan G. Komen for the Cure, in a speech to thousands of cancer specialists in Chicago in June. She called on researchers to come up with better medicines: "There is a Great Divide between discovery and delivery . . . when we celebrate as 'breakthroughs' treatments that cost $50,000 and that extend life, at most, a few months! This is progress?"

Ironically, the pessimism comes at a time when knowledge about cancer is exploding and when leaders of the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society talk hopefully about a day when doctors can stop cancer without the toxic side effects of traditional radiation and chemotherapy treatment. In 2005, the National Cancer Institute's director then, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, was so encouraged he set a goal of eliminating cancer by 2015.
Today, leaders of both institutions are careful not to declare victory, but they see clear signs of improvement, such as the slight decline in deaths from cancer that began in 2003 and continued through 2004, the latest year for which data are available. With a record number of cancer drugs now undergoing human testing, cancer leaders say the future for cancer patients looks brighter than it has in years.
"The evidence is unmistakable: We are truly turning the tide in the cancer battle," declared John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of the Cancer Society, in an October news release celebrating the declining death rate.

Americans "have heard the same song for a generation - that we're finally making progress against the disease, that we've turned the corner. And it doesn't jibe with what they see and experience in their own lives," said Clifton Leaf, a Hodgkin's disease survivor and former Fortune Magazine editor who is writing a book on the "dysfunctional" cancer research industry. "Their loved ones are dying."
Leaf believes that researchers have created their own problems by avoiding the toughest issue in cancer. The National Cancer Institute doesn't track how much of its budget goes toward metastasis research, but Leaf found that only 0.5 percent of institute grant proposals have focused on metastasis since the war on cancer began.

Today, doctors have few medicines that can shrink large metastatic tumors, and, for most cancers, no reliable way to tell patients after cancer treatment that the disease will or won't come back as metastasis. The difference is profound: A patient who has localized colon cancer has a 90 percent chance of being alive in five years. But, if the cancer has spread to distant parts of his body, the five-year survival rate drops to 10 percent.
"People come out of cancer surgery feeling like time bombs" because they don't know whether the disease will return, said Bruce R. Zetter, chief scientific officer at Children's Hospital Boston, who specializes in the study of metastasis.

Danny Welch, a pathologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and president of the Metastasis Research Society, said the failure to control metastasis is a major reason that the death toll from cancer has not come down dramatically. He said metastasis researchers have struggled to get support, largely because the spread of cancer is so complex and expensive to study and the likelihood of success so uncertain. In the 1980s, Welch said, some senior cancer scientists openly discouraged research into metastasis, contending that focusing on early detection and treatment was more cost-effective.
Welch said, however, said he is encouraged by recent growth in the field: Membership in his society has grown from nine to 250 since 1998. In addition, his lab and others have begun to identify the genes that signal tumors to spread.
"You can say progress is not as good as it should be, but the public needs to know there has been progress," said Welch.
Dr. Judah Folkman of Children's Hospital Boston, who pioneered a new field of cancer medicine with his discovery that certain proteins can cut off the blood supply that tumors need to grow, said he understands why patients are frustrated. After all, it took 25 years from when he developed the first angiogenesis inhibitor until a drug company won federal approval for the first treatment in 2004.
"Americans are impatient," he said. "That's why we have so much progress." Indeed, that impatience has spurred advocacy groups to invest more in research directly. Giusti's multiple myeloma group, for example, has created its own tissue bank to provide researchers across the country with samples of multiple myeloma, and an increasing number of patients are donating money earmarked specifically for metastasis studies. Komen for the Cure, meanwhile, recently announced plans to invest $600 million "to find wild ideas that will break the mold" in treatment.
Folkman, however, said there is no substitute for the funding from the National Cancer Institute that has fueled basic cancer research since the 1970s. The federal budget freeze since 2003 translates into a 12 percent reduction due to inflation, resulting in more research proposals being rejected. Consequently, Folkman said, young researchers are leaving the cancer field at a time when science needs their new ideas.
Folkman said cancer has repeatedly surprised scientists with its resilience and complexity. In his field, scientists had once hoped that blocking the action of a single key protein called VEGF might be enough to shut down tumors' blood supplies, but now realize there are at least six proteins that help tumors form blood vessels. As a result, drug companies are now developing angiogenesis inhibitor medicines that attack three or more of the proteins at once, increasing the odds of driving cancer into remission.

Still, Folkman said he's encouraged by what he has seen in human testing, including at least one case in which doctors successfully used angiogenesis inhibitors in a patient who doctors said was at high risk of metastasis. The patient is still metastasis-free several years after his physician had predicted.
"When people say there is no progress and they are all gloomy, I don't say anything," said Folkman. "I know about things in the lab that are exciting."
So far, cancer researchers have had difficulty turning promising ideas into treatments. Their drugs take longer to win federal approval than other medicines and are more than twice as likely to fail, according to a September report by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. The Tufts study found that 92 percent of proposed cancer drugs that reach human testing are abandoned before they win approval.
"It's the siren call of science," said Kenneth I. Kaitin, director of the Tufts drug development center. "The science of cancer drug development suggests that the cure is right around the corner and we can never quite get there."

Heaven has two new Angels

2007-12-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the earthly world lost two beautiful Neuroblastoma fighters, but heaven gained two new Angels with open arms.

I first heard about Kayla Weber who was born on August 30, 2006. She was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at the age of 4 months. Normally cancer is a disease that if you catch it early enough, you can beat it. With NB all those rules fly out the window. Even when Isabella was first diagnosed, the belief was that if your child was under a year old when diagnosed, the survival rate was at least 90%. That has since been proven wrong, and unfortunately our friend Kayla will never get to see her 2nd birthday.

Her mom has an amazing story online, here is the link: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgwv485z_0c79ft8

It's amazing how many lives she touched in her short time with us. Her mom also posted many videos on You Tube, just search Kayla Weber and you fill find lots of videos honoring this beautiful angel.

Then just today I heard about another angel, Matthew Hower who passed away on Saturday. He was diagnosed with stage 4 NB in April of 2003 when he was 3 1/2 years old. He fought the cancer for 4 years and as a family member of his said, "No more pain, no more pokes, no more pills." If you would like to leave a comment for the family, their site is : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/howerfamily

Christmas time already!

2007-11-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving that I wanted to share.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We all have so many things to be thankful for this year

Our trip to the Arboretum

2007-10-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Miss Gloria Strauss - A new Neuroblastoma Angel

2007-09-28T14:07:00.001-07:00

Anthony Strauss, 5, holds his sister Gloria's photo high as he rides on the shoulders of family friend Andrew Barfoot during Gloria's funeral procession Thursday. More than 2,000 relatives, friends, students and strangers attended the funeral and celebration for Gloria, 11, whose battle against cancer was documented in a Seattle Times series. Events were held in the gym at Kennedy High in Burien, where Gloria's dad is a teacher and coach.
© 2007 The Seattle Times Company

Doug Strauss is greeted by friends during the funeral for his daughter, Gloria, who died after a four-year battle with neuroblastoma.
© 2007 The Seattle Times Company

I found the two pictures on the Seattle Times news web site. A journalist of the Times has been writing about Gloria for the last four months and has about 12 stories in his series of articles. There are a couple pictures and slide shows of his time with her as well, which would bring tears to the coldest hearted person's eyes.

Here is a link to one of the stories and along the right there are the links to the rest of Jerry Brewer's time with this beautiful little girl.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003909376_gloria28.html

Here is the YouTube Video as well...

The Loneliest Road Campaign

2007-09-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

On September 10th 2007, five fathers from around the globe started on a grueling adventure in hopes of saving the lives of their children and others affected by a devastating pediatric cancer known as Neuroblastoma. This prominent pediatric cancer is not hereditary, a known byproduct of some industrial/ecological waste, it is merely unexplainable.

Standard treatment protocols around the globe offer little hope. Stage IV patients such as our children have a 20% survival rate. Innovations in immunological therapies have raised the bar however they do have complications. Recently it was brought to the attention of parents by the fields leading scientist's that a complimentary, far less symptomatic antibody could be manufactured, however the funding was unavailable. Depressed, angry, but excited for the possibility we asked how much would this cost? 2-3 million dollars! Ultimately this is the monetary value placed upon the lives of 150-300 children who could directly benefit from this antibody each year.

In hopes of making a difference, we parents are taking a stand!

What is the Loneliest Road? The loneliest road makes up part of our ride along Hwy 50 better known as the loneliest road in the United States. It is well off the beaten path and at times offers little evidence of any human life. Fittingly the name relates to the daily challenges, our families, and particularly our children's face in eyes of this devastating disease.

We will begin in Sacramento CA and collectively ride 3700 miles, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to Washington DC where we will unite with other Neuroblastoma families, showing our strength in numbers ensuring social awareness is gained.

We are tirelessly committed to this challenge. Outside of our children’s hospital rooms we are training hard, day and night, whenever a free moment becomes available. Each rider will be equipped with GPS tracking devices to follow our progress and be keeping daily blogs concerning our ride. Our support staff is just as committed. Together we aim to cause a media buzz/frenzy, which will help gain the crucial philanthropic funding necessary for the development of the antibody. We beg for your help and your support. Please check back with us daily and spread the word. We invite you to be part of our children’s lives and our family’s adventures (please see our children’s individual websites which outline our daily struggles, routines and treatments).

Respectfully, The Five Fathers

Routes:
California

San Francisco (Media Events)
Sacramento (Take US 50 from Sacramento to Reno)
Go North and pass to the east of South Lake Tahoe

Nevada

Reno (Take US 50 from Reno to Salt Lake City)

Utah

Salt Lake City (Take Route 40 from Salt Lake City to Denver)

Colorado

Denver (Take Route 36 from Denver to Kansas City)

Kansas

Kansas City (Take Route 50 from Kansas City to St Louis)

Missouri

St Louis (Take 50 to Route 150 into Louisville, KY)

Kentucky

Louisville
Lexington

Virginia

Blacksburg, -Virginia Tech
Roanoke (Take Route 460 to Lynchburg)
Lynchburg (Take Route 29 to Charlottesville)
Charlottesville (Take Route 29 to Route 28 to Route 50 Arlington Road)
WASHINGTON DC

************************************************************************************

Here is the link to their blog site that is upated during their journey : http://loneliestroad.blogspot.com/

Help Us Make A Difference!

2007-09-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

below is an email I received from another mom who's child has now hopefully beaten this horrible beast. Please read the email below and watch the you tube video and check out her families myspace. Spread the word to raise awareness!

*************************************************************************
Friends,

Thank you for all your support and prayers for Lane through his battle with cancer. We think his battle may finally be over – yeah! We will continue to put updates on Lane’s web site as he undergoes future tests/scans, reaches milestones, etc.

Help us celebrate his life and so many other children that are or have battled cancer. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Watch this powerful video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGS4yE5v9rM and choose to make a difference – it’s as simple as wearing a gold ribbon and telling people what it signifies. For more ideas on how to help read “Lane’s Story: a story of struggle, hope and transformation”, which is saved as an attachment to this email. We also have a MySpace page (www.myspace.com/profkara) that is dedicated to raising awareness. Chili’s restaurant has committed to this cause. Take your family to Chili’s on Sept. 24. The restaurant is donating 100% of its profits from this day to St. Jude’s hospital for childhood cancer research. Information, childhood cancer statistics or a sample letter to write your government officials for increased childhood cancer research, can be found at http://www.curesearch.org/.

Please forward this email to all your friends and family. Help us spread the word about childhood cancer; it could save lives. Don't wait until tomorrow, make a difference today!

On behalf of Lane and other children with cancer, thank you for your efforts!

Celebrate life,

The Cunninghams – Todd, Kara, Lakin and Lane
www.caringbridge.com/visit/lane

Ryan's Journey

2007-09-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ryan's Journey

Danielle, the mother of Ryan McCormick, a SUPERMAN himself, created this slide show. If you have the time, please watch it. It's VERY moving! Here is the link to his CaringBridge site : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ryanmccormick

(please see my disclaimer above about my postings this month)

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

2007-09-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

I just needed to share this story I found online by doing a 'Google' search on the term "Childhood Cancer Awareness Month"

Here is the link to the story : http://ezinearticles.com/?Childhood-Cancer-Awareness-Month-is-September&id=63120

When September rolls around, I look like any other haggled parent standing in the checkout with three kids. The shopping cart is filled with packs of pencils, note paper, crayons, markers and tissues.

"Why do we need to buy tissues for school?" my kindergartener asked last year.

I pictured a whole class of five-year-olds with runny noses and was tempted to reply, "So kids won't use their sleeves." But I chose the logical, "For when your nose is runny."

My neighbor claimed it would be a busy year when she found out I'd have one in kindergarten, one in first grade and one in middle school. But not busy enough, I thought, and again resisted the urge to let her know that I was wondering what my fifth-grader would be needing for school this year.

My fifth-grader, Daniel, never passed fourth grade. Or third, or even first. He didn't get a school supply list. Instead he got a kit from the hospital with syringes and bandages, all very sterile.

On Memorial Day Weekend, 1996, Daniel was three and diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. After eight months of treatments, surgeries, prayers and hope, this bald-headed kid, who acknowledged he was a “Brave Cookie,” was ready to be a cancer survivor. But a staph infection entered his weakened body and we had to kiss him good-bye.

September-- now meaning for me, not only back to school, but Childhood Cancer Awareness Month-- has rolled around again and as I stand in line with my kids, I know why the supply lists include tissues.

Just the other day while joining other parents and children in the “shopping for school supplies frenzy,” a woman noticed the gold ribbon pinned to my t-shirt. “What’s gold for?” she asked. “I know that pink is for breast cancer.”

“Children,” I said. “Gold because our children are golden to us.”

I half expected her to show shock or horror, being one of the thousands who refuses to believe that cancer is the number one illness among children. One of those who has no idea that each year one in every 330 kids will be diagnosed with cancer before age 19.

I was ready for her to walk away from me down the aisle. Instead she mouthed the words, “Did a child of yours…?”

“Yes,” I said. “A son who would be ten now. He didn’t survive.”

Her eyes showed tears, causing mine to fill. Then this woman—a stranger--touched my arm. “I am so sorry.” She smiled at my other three children. “They are beautiful. I’m sure your son was, too.”

If you see a mother wearing a gold ribbon on her shirt--the symbol of childhood cancer awareness---please ask her about the ribbon. The opportunity to talk will help with her healing and give you new wisdom. Be aware that she may cry. Feel free to hand her a tissue. Although she has done it before, she probably shouldn't be using her sleeve.

(Written in 2002)

Alice J. Wisler lives and writes in Durham, NC. She is the author of "Down the Cereal Aisle" and "Slices of Sunlight," both cookbooks of memories. Her free grief e-zine, Tributes, goes out to over 800 subscribers each month. Visit her web site: http://www.geocities.com/griefhope/index.html

Learn more how you can help childhood cancer research: Visit The National Childhood Cancer Foundation (NCCF) http://www.nccf.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alice_Wisler

Ensenada 2007

2007-09-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our trip this past weekend in Ensenada. That is why we have been MIA.... =)

2007-08-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Coins4kids.org

2007-08-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine came across this really great site that is doing an amazing job of razing funds for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation. Click on the following link to take you to their site : Coins 4 Kids There is a link to 'Meet the Kids' where you will see many of the same kids I have links to on the side, and you will find many others that I have not added yet. Neuroblastoma affects so many kids, it's hard for me to keep up.

Want to get a head start on your Holiday Shopping this year? Coins 4 Kids also gives you information about a little known site called iGive.com which donates a certain percentage of your purchase to the cause of your choice and CNCF (Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation) is one of those choices. It's super easy to sign up and you get monthly newsletters telling you about new online stores that have signed up. Stores like the Macys, Ann Taylor, Disney Shopping, Nordstrom and The Children's Place. The list goes on and on, so if you shop at these places any way, why not do it and know your giving to a good cause at the same time?

Anyway..... back to Coins 4 Kids.... I got this little bit from the about us portion of their site.......

Greg & Jon Maher

"Hi, our names are Jon & Greg Maher and we are from Libertyville, Illinois. Before our little cousin Dawson was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, our awareness of childhood cancer was an occasional donation can at a store. We didn't realize the personal stories and the devastating effect that cancer has on thousands of families. Research studies that show promise of finding new treatments and cures are many times left to lapse because there is not enough money to keep them going. Did you know that although many broad cancer societies do great things, very little of their resources go to pediatric cancers? We have founded Coins4Kids to help change this and are working in association with The Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation (CNCF). Donations go to the most promising neuroblastoma research studies."

Amazing that these young men are such giving of their time to this wonderful cause. It is wonderful that they are spreding the word to raise money for pediatric cancer. Here are some facts below...

Did you know?

The American Cancer Society provides only 1.85% of dollars spent on research, to be spread over all 12 types of childhood cancers. (*July 2005, Research Department, American Cancer Society, Inc.) Following is an excerpt from a newspaper article written by a Neuroblastoma Father:... if you had donated $100 to Relay for Life hoping to show your support for the honorary chairpersons, $12.50 would have gone to research adult cancers, while only 70 cents would have gone to childhood cancer research. How much of that 70 cents would be for neuroblastoma research? None! "...."If you see a bald child suffering from cancer and feel compelled to help cure childhood cancer, please research organizations that put children first and support those organizations."

In the past 20 years, only one new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use. Only 3 percent of the budget from the National Cancer Institute goes towards Pediatric Cancer Research. September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month, which nationally goes largely unrecognized. The government recently cut the budget for Childhood Cancer Research.14,000 children will be diagnosed this year with cancer. Currently there is between 30-40,000 children being treated for cancer in the US. Pharmaceutical companies fund over 50% of adult cancer research, but virtually nothing for kids.

Pediatric cancer research does not receive nearly as much funding as adult cancer research projects. Neuroblastoma research dollars are scarce as most money is diverted to well-publicized adult forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate.

Historically, advances in pediatric research have yielded treatment models and genetic information that greatly benefit adult cancer patients. (This is well documented by professional research cooperatives like the Children's Oncology Group); the reverse is not always true.

interesting video

2007-08-19T14:06:00.001-07:00

Here is a video I found on You Tube about our little town we call home. Give you an idea of how small our little patch of heaven is. =)

Scans

2007-08-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

I wanted to put a quick update so that everyone didn't think that I was keeping them in the dark about Isabella's scans.

Isabella had the MRI last Wednesday while under anesthesia and all went well during the scan. Then on Thursday she had the hour long MIBG without anesthesia! woohoo! =) Then on Monday she had her 30 minute bone scan, again without anesthesia. Bone Scans may identify fractures, areas of growth, arthritis, tumors and infections that won't show up on an x-ray. The part about growth you really have to remember during the scan because all areas of the bones that are growing will show as a hot spot, so on Isabella you will see hot spots on the knees, shoulder blades and any where else where her bones are growing because she is a growing child. =)

On her last bone scan 6 months ago and this one as well, she showed increased uptake on her left ankle/foot. They sent us down to get an x-ray after the bone scan was completed to look for any stress fractures or maybe even arthritis. The Nuc-Med tech told me that cancer does not usually spread to the feet and so this was no need to worry. I also imposed the question to my support group list for Neurblastoma parents and was advised that yes, that is most of the time the case. Cancer does not usually spread to the feet, but as other people have stated, NB does not follow the same rules as other types of cancer. So we as parents have to stay vigilant at least for the sake of our children. ;o) So now we will wait to meet with the doctors to go over the results. Once we have met with them, I will let you all know the final word from this next round of tests. =)

Thank you for checking in on us!

Happy Birthday David!!

2007-08-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to a wonderful husband, who is always there for me and loves me unconditionally. You play with the kids and make them laugh and giggle. You are a wonderful father and my best friend. I know I am a better person because of you, my dad even told you that himself when he was still alive. Our family wouldn't be complete without you!

Thank you for everything you do!

Your wife

Scan time again...

2007-08-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Isabella just had her MRI today and tomorrow she will have her MIBG scan, then on Monday she has her Bone Scan. I will let you all know the results once we have them. They have been clean since 2005 so I expect they should be clean now. We will continue to pray that they are.

I wanted to share some pictures from the past week of our little boy.... he is getting so very big.

The Battle of Thermopylae

2007-08-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos from You Tube about The Battle of Thermoylae, what the movie '300' that just came out on video is about. For those of you that have heard that this movie is nothing but blood and guts, just go out there and see it, for you will see that it is more than just violence. It tells an amazing story about the Spartans who loved their freedom and their country so much that they did not care how many enemys were staring them in the face. Very inspiring story. I would like to go to Greece now and see where this battle took place around 480 BC.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Hope you enjoyed the videos as much as I did, especially after watching 300.

The Loneliest Road Campaign

2007-08-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

below was taken from the Our Cause page on The Lonelist Road Campaign site...... Please take the time to read about the worthy cause to save children with Neuroblastoma. Please Please spread the word to everyone you know.....

On September 10th 2007, five fathers from around the globe will partake on a grueling adventure in hopes of saving the lives of their children and others affected by a devastating pediatric cancer known as Neuroblastoma. . This prominent pediatric cancer is not hereditary, a known byproduct of some industrial/ecological waste, it is merely unexplainable.

Standard treatment protocols around the globe offer little hope. Stage IV patients such as our children have a 20% survival rate. Innovations in immunological therapies have raised the bar however they have complications. Recently it was brought to the attention of parents by the fields leading scientist that a complimentary, far less symptomatic antibody could be manufactured however the funding was unavailable. Depressed, angry but excited for the possibility we asked how much would this cost? 3-5 million dollars! Ultimately this is the monetary value placed upon the lives of 150-300 children who could directly benefit from this antibody each year.

In hopes of making a difference we parents are taking a stand!

What is the Loneliest Road? The loneliest road makes up part of our ride along Hwy 50 better known as the loneliest road in the United States. It is well off the beaten path and at times offers little evidence of any human life. Fittingly the name relates to the daily challenges, our families, particularly our children face in eyes of this devastating disease.

We five fathers will begin in Sacramento CA and collectively ride 3800 miles, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to Washington DC where we will unite with other Neuroblastoma families, showing our strength in numbers ensuring social awareness is gained.

We are tirelessly committed to this challenge. Outside of our children’s hospital rooms we are training hard, day and night, whenever a free moment becomes available. Each rider will be equipped with GPS tracking devices to follow our progress and be keeping daily blogs concerning our ride. Our support staff is just as committed. Together we aim to cause a media buzz/frenzy, which will help gain the crucial philanthropic funding necessary for the development of the antibody. We beg for your help and your support. Please check back with us daily and spread the word. We invite you to be part of our children’s lives and our family’s adventures (please see our children’s individual websites which outline our daily struggles, routines and treatments).

Respectfully, The Five Fathers

*************************************************************************************

The Great Eight

2007-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

I was informed that I was tagged a couple days ago.... so here goes! =)

Miss Louann tagged me. She has a cute picture at the top of her blog of her hubby and her 2 boys and they live in the Philippines.

The rules:

1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

So lets see if I can think of 8 things that are interesting about myself.... =) This may be hard for me! hehehe

1. I love photography. My husband and I like to take drives into the mountains and take pictures of the scenery and our kids. It's a lot of fun learning new tricks and techniques. I would really love to get one of those Canon or a Nikon professional cameras with different lenses. I don't know a lot about it but I'd love to learn.

2. When Isabella was going through treatment, I really wanted to go into the nursing profession. Especially pediatric oncology, because those nurses are extremely giving of themselves and what they do for those kids. You go into the office and you think that your child is their favorite because of the way they shower your child with attention. But then you see them do that with all the kids and it just amazes me that our nurses were so wonderful.

3. There are a lot of things I would like to do, for some reason or another I never get it done. I am starting to notice this about myself and I really don't like it. =(

4. I was adopted by my parents at the age of 3 weeks old. I do not know my birth parents names or anything else other than some demographics. Including their height, weight, hair and eye color when I was born. I have never tried to find them and sometimes I don't care to, not only because I have great parents and a wonderful family. But there are times that I wonder if I have any brothers or sisters and do I look like them (my parents). I would like to know my medical history especially considering what happened with Isabella. Unfortunately I never know where to start and it all seems really confusing so I just end up giving up that idea. (see what I mean about #3)

5. There are a lot of places I think I'd like to live... I'm always telling my husband... lets move here, lets move there... but in the end would I like it any better than where I am now? =)

6. I love the weather. My husband makes fun of me because I could sit and watch the Weather Channel all night long if I could. I'm always on my computer when a thunderstorm is approaching trying to predict if I think it will hit us. I probably go to weather.com at least once a day to check what is going on right now and what the weather will be like tomorrow or this weekend.

7. I love to watch football. Ever since I was a kid I used to sit in the living room with my dad and or my mom and watch the 49ers play. I was a huge Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and then Steve Young fan and I always thought I knew everything about them. Now I am married to a man who grew up loving the 49ers as well and Jerry Rice. So we watch football together during the season and now our favorite team is the San Diego Chargers since we lived there for a while.

8. I am a Harry Potter fan. I just finished the last book last night and I really liked it. Made me wish i was a wizard. hehehe I would like to get a hold of all 7 books that were released in the UK as well and see if there are any differences from the ones released in the US.

Now I am tagging 8 people : The King's Mama, Brenda, Scottsdale Girl, ---- Well, it seems that I don't know 8 people to tag... so 3 will have to do for now. I may know one other person, but I don't have their link handy... =)

Okay I found my 4th link..... I am also tagging Yas! Luv ya!

More pictures of our Birthday Boy.... ;o)

2007-07-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

Isabella eating her slice of cake

Enjoying the birthday cake

Birthday Boy!

2007-07-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture taken this morning.... waking up the birthday boy bright and early. He knows when you are taking his picture now and gives you this smile.....

Happy 1st Birthday Little David!

2007-07-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

A look back and Little David's first year. It's amazing how much they change. =)

Welcome to the world, our beautiful baby boy!

July 19, 2006

Little David's first Zoolander pose

August 2006

THE cutest gummy smile

September 2006

A bumpy ride through a corn maze at the local farm

October 2006

Thanksgiving monkey suit

November 2006

He will kill me later on for this one. =)

December 2006

Enjoying bath time

January 2007

Trying to crawl

February 2007

Standing up on his own, 7 months old.

March 2007

Enjoying some food in his high chair.

April 2007

Sporting his Preppy look at his Uncle's graduation.

May 2007

Having Fun with his bottle.

June 2007

Showing off his new hair cut with a big smile.

July 2007

National Neuroblastoma Ad

2007-07-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

National Neuroblastoma Ad to run in magazines this year.... Click on the picture for a better view.

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!

South Lake Tahoe Fire

2007-06-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

The news about this fire was absolutely devastating to me. I grew up in Reno, NV which is a 30 minute drive to South Lake Tahoe. I have spent many 4th of July's at this beautiful lake. It is very sad to read about how many homes have already been lost. Please pray for the firefighters and the many many residents that have been affected by this horrible fire.

Happy Father's Day to a GREAT dad!!

2007-06-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I hope everyone enjoys this little montage of pictures I put together. Happy Father's day to all the dads out there!

Hello

2007-06-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
Sorry for being such a horrible blogger! =)

I haven't been in the mood to write lately because I was lucky enough to have a wisdom tooth pulled last Thursday. I haven't had much to eat since then so it's a great way to loose weight! hehehe But that was not my reasoning in getting it pulled. It started to bother me and it was giving me a horrible headache for 3 straight days so I said get it out. =) Forgetting the pain you have afterwards. Just when I thought it was going to start getting better I think I have what they call "dry socket" which hurts like no other! So I am going in this afternoon so hopefully they can pack it with something to make me feel better. I could wait the two months for it to heal on it's own so I could loose 20 pounds the easy way, or not so easy way since I wouldn't be eating. ;o)

I wanted to post a couple of cute pictures of the kiddos as well....

Benny's gone, but his kindness goes on

2007-05-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

The below artical was taken out of the Tucson online paper, azstarnet.com : http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/184687

Tucson Region
Remembering a special boy

Benny's gone, but his kindness goes on
By Carla McClain
Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona Published: 05.25.2007

This time, the family will have to do it without Benny.

And with a hole in their hearts the size of the universe.

Exactly a year ago, Benny Petz — a beautiful, wide-eyed boy only weeks from death — celebrated his fifth and last birthday not with a party and presents for himself, but with a lemonade stand to raise money for stricken children.

And to the delight of that special child, and the utter astonishment of his parents, his lemonade raised $14,000 in just a few hours, which went straight to a national foundation that funds research to conquer childhood cancer.

Something about Benny — described by his still-grief-stricken mother as "the strongest, bravest person I have ever had the pleasure to know" — caught the attention of Tucsonans, who showed up in droves that day to support the final and deepest wish of a short life.

And so on Saturday — in honor of their child and on what would have been his sixth birthday — the Petz family will open the lemonade stand again in Reid Park, to try to raise money to help children whose lives are threatened as his was.

Benny hosted last year's event despite the almost unbearable pain of his last days. He died in his parents' arms a month later, on June 27, beaten by the childhood cancer neuroblastoma, which had stalked him for more than two years.

"I know this is going to be very hard," said his mother, Amy. "We will be there celebrating his birthday, and in reality he should be there, but he won't.

"I'm really nervous, the way I was last year — we want to make it great for him. I'm hoping I'll be so busy tomorrow, I won't be able to focus on missing him. We're just hoping all the people who came last year will come again, and bring friends and neighbors with them."

And this time, the goal is even higher. The national foundation — Alex's Lemonade Stand for Pediatric Cancer Research — was so impressed with Benny's success last year that it's asked the Petz family to set a goal of $25,000 this year.

"I said, 'Wow, that's huge,' " Amy said. "But who am I to say no? We'll surely try. It would be awesome if we could raise that much. But we also know that anything that comes in, whatever amount, will help this effort and will be used well."

The national project now known simply as Alex's Lemonade Stand was launched seven years ago, when a little girl, Alexandra Scott — also suffering neuroblastoma — opened a stand on her front lawn in suburban Philadelphia.

After her death in 2004, lemonade stands carrying her name opened across the country. They have raised more than $10 million to fight all childhood cancers.

Saturday, with help from the foundation, the Tucson event will feature not only the cool lemonade, but also a jumping castle, a big slide, a disc jockey, face-painting and little presents and favors for donors. Volunteers from across Tucson will help decorate, provide refreshments and staff the activities.

The Petz family — mom Amy, father Derek and their four surviving boys — plans to open its stand every year on Memorial Day weekend, the closest weekend to Benny's birthday, May 26.
"We want to do everything we can to keep his memory alive, to make him proud of us," Amy Petz said.

As she has moved through this painful year, and worked toward Benny's fund-raising birthday, Amy has written a journal revealing the agony of trying to deal with the death of a child.
She writes late at night, often after midnight, when the house is quiet, the demands of the day done, when her longing for Benny overwhelms her.

"Benny my love . . . I miss you so completely that my body physically aches," she wrote 10 days ago. "My brain still refuses to fully process that you are gone. . . .

"I want to beg someone to please let me have you back, but there is no one to beg and no way to have you back. I want to sit here and hold your warm little body in my arms and feel your head tucked into my neck . . . I want to hear and feel your breath. I want my baby back."

And she remembers all the wild and crazy things Benny loved — motorcycles, babies, monster trucks, piggies, French toast, his stuffed animal Lamby, all things pink and purple.

"He was full of a balance of love, kindness, thoughtfulness and attitude," she wrote.

Benny's name is now carved into the granite wall at Children's Memorial Park. His inscription reads "Benjamin Tucker Moonman Peanut Petz."

Moonman for his daddy's favorite nickname. And Peanut because he once told Amy, "Mom, I like it when you call me Peanut."

The Petz Family's 2nd Annual Alex's Lemonade Stand in Memory of Benny

2007-05-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! I wanted to post this flyer I received from Amy Petz, the mother of little Benny who passed away last June from NB. She is holding a Lemonade Stand down in Tucson, AZ this weekend on what would have been Benny's 6th Birthday. Even though it is still very hard for her to go ahead and do this stand, she knew she had to do it. I envy her strength and I hope she raises a lot of money for Pediatric Cancer. If you know anyone who lives in Tucson or even in Arizona for that matter, please tell them about this event.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENNY!!

Penelope London

2007-05-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on this story, but I still wanted to share it with you all.

Did Tinkerbell Fart?

2007-05-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the look on Isabella's face!!

Isabella's wish.... day one...

2007-05-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a week since we got back from our amazing trip to Disney World. I still haven't caught up on my sleep. We haven't even had the time to get everything cleaned up and put away. Here is how we ended up on our wonderful, once in a lifetime trip.

Last September or October we were at Isabella's regular oncology visit when our nurse asked if she ever got her wish. We said no because we always thought of the Make-A-Wish foundation as your child's 'last' wish. Meaning your child was going to die, and when Isabella was going through treatment, we weren't ready to admit that. Then once Isabella was off treatment, we didn't think she was eligible anymore so we never brought it up. But our nurse told us that she was eligible and that her doctor needed to give the okay.

Within a couple of weeks we got our first phone call from Make-A-Wish. They told us she was referred to them by her doctor and that they would complete the documents and set up a meeting once everything was set. Then another couple weeks past and we heard from a Make-A-Wish volunteer who said they would be coming by in a week to ask what Isabella's wish was. He asked if there was anything Isabella liked in particular, and I told him that she liked anything with the Disney Princesses. The three volunteers were also bringing food so they asked what type of food she liked and of course I said Pizza. =)

I remember that the volunteers came over on a Saturday morning around 11 AM with a large Pizza Hut pizza and a Snow White doll. They amazed me from day one because they were able to get a pizza at 10 am and drive over an hour to get to our house. All to help our little girl's dream come true. There were three volunteers who all arrived in the same car. The one who drove had to drive over an hour to get to our house. Their names where Katie, Amit and Eric and we all sat around the table enjoying the pizza while David and I shared a little bit of Isabella's story with them. Then they asked Isabella what she wanted for her wish. Isabella loved all the Disney Princesses and most of the Disney movies so it was only fitting that she wished to go to Disney World.

Once it was final that Disney World was her wish we had to wait a couple weeks to hear if her wish would be approved by the Make-A-Wish foundation. A couple of weeks had passed and we got an email from one of the volunteers that her wish was approved. We requested to go for her 4th birthday and luckily that time was approved as well. So it was set, we were to go to Disney World on April 28th 2007 and return on May, 4th 2007. Isabella couldn't wait to go, every morning she would ask us if we were going to Disneyland that day. I felt bad that I kept telling her, 'Not today', she probably thought we were playing a cruel joke on her.

Then finally the day came... it was Saturday Morning, I got up with Isabella probably around 5 AM because our ride was going to be there by 7. It was a little before 7 when we were finished getting ready and sat our suitcases by the front door. David decides to make him and Isabella a bowl of cereal before we leave, but then David hears something and goes out the front door to investigate......... and our ride had just arrived.... a black limo!!! I couldn't believe my eyes, a limo was sitting outside of our house. David started to bring out the luggage and helped the driver put it all in the car. Then he grabbed the car seats so we could put Isabella and little David in the car. As everything was getting loaded I came back in the house to double check everything was turned off and locked and then threw away the two bowls of cereal that were sitting on the counter waiting to be eaten. =)

So we were on our way to the trip of a lifetime! Isabella was very excited to say the least, but I'm not sure if she knew what she was in for! We arrived at the airport earlier than our volunteers had expected so we drove around the terminal for a few minutes in our limo while everyone wondered who was in that car..... hehehe I stood in line to check us in and it is quite a handful traveling with two kids. Especially one that is under a year old. Little David needed so many things for me to bring on the plane, I probably exceeded the carry on limit but they didn't say anything. We had a backpack with video games, movies, blankets and toys for little David to play with....... just in case. Then I had a bag with two cans of formula for the week (I usually only go through one a week, but I didn't want to run out), 3 bottles, snacks for little David and Isabella, diapers, wipes and since I ran out of room in all the other bags, my makeup bag was in there as well. We also had our camera bag with us on the plane.... you know... for those moments of shear terror! hehehe No, to capture every moment of this trip. Then to top it all off..... our stroller. I wasn't about to go through three airports without a stroller and looking back.... thank goodness we had it. Just be glad you weren't behind us going through security! hahaha It wasn't THAT bad, but it could have been A LOT better! =) So we have the backpack... we also brought our laptop, which was a stupid thing to do! It ended being more of a hassle than it was worth considering we didn't use it but one night. So there we are taking our shoes off, taking out the laptop and putting it in a bin, putting all of our bags on the belt handing little David to.... well... big David. ;o) Then the security guy tells me that we have to collapse the stroller and put it through their scanner as well.... grreeeaattt!! So there I am taking down the stroller and lifting it up to put it on the belts, not even sure if it will fit! LOL Well, the security guy gets it to go through and I start walking through the metal detector and sure enough the alarm goes off... I feel my pocket and my cell phone is still in there. I take it out and throw it in another bin and try it again. This time I was good to go! Meanwhile David is trying to catch everything from falling on the floor and get his shoes on at the same time. It was quite a site to see... we had to go to the side to get out of everyone's way and to get Isabella's shoes back on. We head on down to our gate which thankfully wasn't too far. When we find some seats David says he's hungry and goes to grab something to eat. You remember..... the cereal went down the drain back at home so we had some hungry people on our hands! =) David comes back with a couple pizza's and a couple drinks. We have enough time to finish our food before I notice that our plane arrives and everyone starts piling off. I know it will be our turn to board soon, so I head to the bathroom to change little David's diaper before we get on our 3 hour flight. When I get in there, a lady is already changing her child's diaper and one waiting for her to get done. So I stand there and wait for what had to have been 5 minutes. All the ladies who came in thought I was waiting for a stall..... but no.... just waiting to change a diaper and hoping to not miss my flight! hehehe When I was finished changing little David I got back just in time to stand in the pre-board line since we were on Southwest and I know how you have to fight for a seat on that airline. Then we start to board the plane.... I make my way down the ramp with bags galore and a stroller. Somehow we were able to carry a baby and many bags while getting the stroller to collapse down and leave at the end of the ramp for the airline folks to put under the plane. Thank goodness I didn't hit anyone in the head on my way back through the isle. I let David choose what isle we sat in and both times he decided to sit over the damn wing! =) I don't usually mind, but when you hit turbulence it just seems so much worse because you see the wing going up and down..... SCARY! hehehe Just a little background.... I was never afraid of flying.... I used to do it all the time as a kid with my mom... I loved it infact... well, I didn't like the landings... when I first met David he didn't really like flying and the couple times I got him on a plane, he made me nervous. So on this trip.... I think I was more scared than he was! =)

There we are sitting on the plane waiting for everyone to get their seats so we can take off. We had a plan to get little David to sleep through the flight.... or so we thought! He got up probably around 6 and we gave him a bottle, but then we decided after that we were going to keep him awake and not feed him another bottle until the plane was taking off. Then hopefully he would fall asleep while eating his bottle and sleep until we started to land. Yeah right!! Only in some fantasy land would that actually happen for us. As we were sitting in our seats waiting for the flight to take off, little David started to get really cranky and I didn't want those "looks" from everyone who passed by and saw that we had a baby. So I made him a bottle and tried to wait as long as possible to give it to him so he could be eating it as the plane took off. But he ended up getting the bottle and finishing most of it before we took off. David held him on his chest for a little bit and he started to fall asleep. I'm thinking.... 'Sweet!' He is going to sleep most of the way! He slept during the takeoff and then for like 10 more minutes! ugh! He is the type of baby that hates it if your are trying to hold him to make him go to sleep. He fights you and wiggles and well.... he didn't fall asleep for the rest of that flight into St. Louis.

We get into St. Louis a little late and I was really worried about catching our other flight to Orlando. I originally wanted to wait for everyone to get off since we have so much crap to haul off the plane and I didn't want to piss anyone off. But we decided that we had better get off so we could catch the next flight and get on with the pre-board people again. I was worried that the connecting flight would have a gate on the other side of the airport. When we get off, we look for the nearest information and find that our gate was only 2 spots down from where we got off. SWEET! So I sit down for a couple of seconds and I hear that they will be starting to board our flight soon. So there we are... just 5 minutes off the first flight and it's time to start boarding the next one.

Our flight from St. Louis to Orlando was pretty special. The flight attendants must have noticed Isabella's Wish Child shirt and asked what her name was and told me they were going to do something special. This flight had a TON of kids and so I wasn't worried our little Charrito crying because there was already two other kids crying... whew! So anyways... the flight attendants asked everyone to close their window shades because the magic only worked if it was dark. Of course... our window shade wouldn't close. The flight attendants came around the plane with these cute little gummy fish that would light up (the little clippers they held them with had a little light that made it look like the glowed) for all the kids to eat. But before they did that they came over the speakers and said that they had a special person aboard the flight and her name was Isabella and that Mickey himself sent the magic fish for her and all the kids to enjoy. The flight attendants really made it special. Shortly after that one of the flight attendants asked if we would like to sit with the pilot in the cockpit when the plane landed and I said we would love to. So we arrived into Orlando around 7:30 eastern time and Isabella got to sit in the pilot seat of the airplane. Let me tell you.... it is TINY!! No wonder you never see a chubby pilot! He wouldn't be able to sit down! hehehe I took a couple pictures of Isabella sitting in the seat, not thinking that I should have gotten one of her and the pilot together... Now I think of it! =( Oh well.... it was something that I will probably never get to experience again.... now I say it was something I won't probably ever experience again because who knows... Isabella might! For all I know she could become a pilot when she grows up.... ;o)

Here are a couple of pictures