Star Wars Halloween

My Star Wars fantasy began last year. Asher was 6 months old and the perfect size to be Yoda. If he was Yoda, I would be Darth Vader but couldn't convince Abbie to dress up as Princess Leia. She was set on being a farmer (and Asher was the cow). I had an entire year to introduce Abigail to the world of Star Wars . This year Abbie knew all of the characters from all of the movies (thank you Lego video games) and she decided to dress up as Ahsoka Tano, the female Jedi from the Clone Wars. This would be the year of our star wars Halloween!
I had one minor problem, Darth Vader costumes were not cheap, unless I wanted to sport a dorky spandex outfit. If I was going to dawn the mask of Vader, it had to look good. I didn't want to spend a fortune so I had to build my costume. I spent all of October crafting my costume to look authentic. I bought the helmet, gloves and light saber but I made everything else (Bev helped with the sewing.)
Not wanting to be left out, Sarah put together a Leia outfit from the Ice planet, Hoth. Ultimately, I wanted to create a lasting memory for my kids. If they don't remember, at least they have cool pictures!
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growing

Growth is good. Sarah and I experience obvious growth every day. We witness Abbie and Asher grow physically; We also witness their developing personalities, interests and talents. We grow in our relationships with people and God. Our bank accounts are (not) growing. As we live this life we grow in wisdom and intellect. Unfortunately, my cancer keeps right on growing too.

The cancer in my lungs is now twice as big as it was last year and as a result I have developed an asthmatic cough. The three areas in my head and neck are larger. I have noticed lately that I have had more difficulty speaking and eating and my doctor confirmed that I have lost some mobility of my tounge. This makes me really worried since I only have the use of half of my tounge .

I have been using a drug name Tarceva, a chemotherapy class drug which targets cancer cells, since May. This drug produces an acne type of rash and other skin issues. I tried this drug last year but discontinued using it after 6 months because of the rash. I have been receiving acupuncture twice a month and so far it seems to be keeping all of the side effects to a minimum. We will do some more CT scans in 3 months and we will know for sure if Tarceva is helping. If it is not I will probably pursue a clinical trial but I am hoping for the best. So as always, keep us in your prayers; pray that Tarceva would prevent the cancer from growing.

Another health note: On my recent scans, the doctors noticed that my left pelvic bone was fractured. The fracture probably occurred last August when I received radiation treatments to my hip and then was soon after unable to walk. This is the first time I learned about this but then again I have notice a painful bump for awhile. I didn't know what was wrong but I did know something wasn't normal. My advice... our body never lies, listen to it. If your body doesn't feel normal, be safe and check it out and stay on top of it!

abbie goes to school

today is the first day of kindergarten! abbie is in mrs. maggard's afternoon class and just could not wait any longer to finally get to school! there weren't any tears, just loads of excitement and eagerness into this next phase of life. she is so ready, and we know she will do a great job. her desk is right in the front... which we'll see if that's a good or bad thing (for mrs. maggard!). i'm sure she will let everyone know all about her class and we'll try to get her words on the blog so you can hear about kindergarten from her view!

he's getting so big!

i took asher to deanna rose on friday with my sister leah and her two kids. we had a great time, and asher really enjoyed making noises at all the animals. i had the chance to grab some shots of asher and have my new all time favorite image of him. enjoy!

asher wins

the second part of the previous post, where asher does get abbies toys and tosses them off the bar stool, will not download! i have been working on taking movies with my new canon camera and the files are really large, and this movie won't upload. any suggestions on how to shrink the size of movies before uploading?

funny [clever] boy!

asher is so funny. he is always making me [sarah] laugh, and i try to always make him laugh! he is changing so much, i thought i'd put out some videos. abbie has been learning that she needs to move her toys away from him, out of his reach, if she doesn't want him to have them [video1]. she tried, but as you'll see he didn't take long to figure out he could reach them.... listen for her 'growl' [video2 in next post] when she sees what he's done. so funny! **we have a chicago post down lower, so don't miss that!**

10

We had a very delightful 10th anniversary! We spent 5 days in Chicago-the best "us" vacation since our Honeymoon. We stayed at the Drake Hotel down in the heart of the city and traveled all over the beautiful city. Our transportation included walking (a little too much for my pathetic body and by week's end I was experiencing pain), taxi, bus and the el-train. We dined in some very tasty restaurants. We enjoyed some deep dish at Gino's, warmed up with a spicy Blood Mary or Bloody Mike's as the call it at Ditka's. And we even spotted Mike Ditka as we were leaving. We dined in China Town, Navy Pier and filled ourselves to the full at many other places. I probably would have gained weight if it wasn't for all of the walking.

Some of the highlights from our trip included traveling by boat through the city on an architectural boat tour. This was a wonderful way to experience the city; We took the self guided Frank Lloyd Wright tour and his home and studio tour. His home was so innovative, impressive and ahead of its time. We spent an evening at the famous Navy Pier and an afternoon looking at sea creatures at the Shedd Aquarium; we were in the city during the The Taste of Chicago food festival-lots of food and even more people and some really cool street performances; of course the view from the John Hancock building was great but the most unique event we experienced was the strange and oddly satisfying Blue Man Group. This performance is definitely different but we recommend it!

Its been 10 years since Sarah and I first said "I Do," and every moment has been filled with bliss...mostly. We have had our ups and downs. Our "ups" have been crazy wonderful; our "downs" have have certainly terrible but it has all been better together. I can not image anyone else by my side-I all the more believe that The LORD definitely and divinely brought us together. He knew I would need an strong, thoughtful and supportive woman. She is peace in the midst of the storm and in this story I think I am the storm. Thank you for this lady. I look forward to celebrating our 20.

Manhattan or Bust

Traveling with young children is challenging. Can I hear an amen? Amen! And traveling without Sarah is even more challenging. Sarah wanted some "alone time," this summer in order to accomplish things we hinder her from doing, or in other words James had to leave with the kids for 4 days. We traveled to Manhattan to visit family and a few friends. Abigail has always been a very good traveler but Asher proved not to be as he began whining soon after we hit the road (He doesn't like sitting still for very long). Abbie had fun feeding family's two dogs pieces of bread as they performed dog tricks. Abbie also loved sleeping over with cousin Leah. Asher had fun chewing on new and different objects. One particular night, after hanging out at my parents home, I returned to my grandma's home (the place we were sleeping) as thunder storm hit and knocked out the electricity at about 8pm and the power didn't return until around noon the following day...Asher didn't seem to mind.

Another late afternoon and early evening we spent time with the Vandorn family. This was the first really hot day and so it was a perfect day to take a dip in their community pool. We all had fun! Additionally, The Stewart and the Nutter families were enjoying the pool too-its was a pool reunion. And in grandma fashion, my Grandmother made our entire family a feast before leaving town so we were all fat and happy as we left town. Of Course we were all happy to return to see Sarah-But she was at a Bible study until 11pm and So Abbie cried "I want to see mommy" as I tucked her in for bed. Welcome home James.

treasure hunt

Abbie and I created a treasure map while Sarah was away on a photo shoot. Our authentic treasure map, including burnt edges and candle wax from hundreds of years of use, provided detailed directions to our buried treasure in our backyard. When Sarah returned, she followed the map through the perils of our back yard and risking her own life until she arrived at the treasure. I had fun showing Abbie how to create the perfect Map and Abbie enjoyed finding the treasure!

our summer backyard campout

On a cool evening in June, when the weather was just right, Abbie and I pitched a tent and set up a our camp site in the backyard. Our summer fun began with delicious food from the grill. As we ate our dinner (saving room for s'mores), Asher played in the baby pool. After Asher had splished his last splash, Sarah prepared him for bed while Abbie and I readied the fire. The sun was now setting as we roasted marshmallows over our fire pit in pursuit of the perfect s'more. Abbie sat toasting her marshmallow to perfection, with a huge smile accoss her face and said "This is my best day ever!" And it was a perfect day. Now our bellies were full and with bedtime upon us, Abbie and I headed to our tent for the night. We read books and watched a short movie which we had checked out earlier that day from the library. Yes, it's true, I had a laptop and we watched a movie in our tent... I never said we were roughing it. Our perfect day ended as we drifted off to sleep. In fact Abbie enjoyed it so much, we slept in the tent the following night. Great food, camp fire, s'mores, a borrowed tent, a borrowed air mattress, free entertainment and time with my daughter. It was one of my best days too!