Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kyle celebrated his 11th birthday this month. He had 2 friends come over, and Dave took them to a movie. He got a backpacking backpack, so he's ready to go hiking with the 11 year old scouts! Kyle also earned his Webelos badge, and some achievement awards tonight. He is growing up too fast! He is such a responsible and mature young man. I know that I can trust him with anything I need. I'm so honored to be his mom. Kyle is the best older brother my other kids could ever ask for. He loves them, takes care of them and sets a wonderful example for them. When Toby was hospitalized in December, it was heartbreaking to hear him cry for his brother Kyle. He just wanted to go home to Kyle. It made us all cry when the boys would see each other, or have to say goodbye for the night. They are more than brothers, they are best friends.
And now, some previous birthday memories....


Steve Nash is one of Kyle's favorite NBA players :)


I think Kyle likes sports, don't you?!


This was such a fun birthday! We took this group of friends to the Phoenix Fire Station. They toured, dressed like firemen, pretended to drive the trucks, and sprayed the fire hose. The kids loved it! This birthday was not too long after Toby was diagnosed. You can see his cute little bald head :)


Kyle wasn't feeling well for this birthday :( Darcee and Daryl had planned such a fun day at an arcade with him, and he struggled to get through it and had a fever. Poor fella.



Yeah, I've made this dinosaur cake 4 times now I think.....and don't be surprised if it's DJ's next cake as well. Maybe he wont be as obsessed with dinosaurs as Kyle and Toby were (but I think it's genetic :)


This is probably one of my most favorite cakes that I've ever made. I used twinkies, junior mints, black licorice, fruit rollups, marshmallows and hohos! (well, and a cake, but duh, that's a given haha)

We've added a donation button through paypal on the blog, to accept donations to The Toby Wilson Leukemia Donation fund. You can read more about Toby on his caringbridge site, which is also posted on the sidebar.

Last Lumbar Puncture

Let me start this entry off on a good note. First, here are a few funny things my silly children have said and done...
I was sweeping the floor and lily and Toby were eating breakfast. Lily asked me to be careful and not get in her way of the TV. After a while Lily said "Mom, you're in my way!" I looked up at her confused as I stood in the kitchen no where near her line of vision to the TV. She paused, and then said "you're not blocking the tv mom, but you're blocking the chair, and I can't see those cups over there" hahahahaha sounds like someone is trying to pick a fight eh? :)

DJ is obsessed with putting things "on". He brings me Lily's shoes on a daily, sometimes hourly basis and wants me to put them on him. He'll put gloves (or socks...whatever he can find) on his hands. He'll find hats or headbands, snow boots... You name it, he wants it "on". So it was a perfect photo opp when he brought me Lily's dress up clothes!!! Toby and Lily joined in for the fun too :) DJ really does make a cute girl (don't tell him I said that!)

My sweet little Derek now says "Hold you". I love it when kids say that!!!

The kids were being very cute the other day. They set up a stool and put a blanket over it and were standing on either side of it.....playing fishing. One would throw a string over and the other would tie on a surprise! It was cute because Toby said to Lily "what have you always wanted that you don't have", but then tells her it needs to be something we already own lol Lily then gave Toby scotch tape as a present hahaha

We went out to eat last night at a little ma and pa burger joint. Toby was on steroids still, and they often affect his taste buds and mood. Last night he was tired - too tired. He ordered his food and was very excited about it. A hot dog, corn dog, tater tots mmmmm. After taking a bite of each, he wasn't pleased with anything. He sat for a while and then said "Can I just order a bed?" :)

Kyle just particpated in the Science Fair at school. He got a participation ribbon and then also got another ribbon for understanding his project so well and being able to explain it to people. I love having a child who just "gets it", and is so smart (but I hate it when he corrects my spelling). lol


So now for Toby's last back poke.....goodbye Leukemia! Toby went to his last appointment in a great mood, knowing it would be his last (at least for chemo and back pokes.....we still have 5 years of blood tests, but that'll be a piece of cake!). I got some pictures of his ritual check in and port accessing. I also got some video of his lumbar puncture. Sadistic of me, but I was hoping the video would show the shaking of his eyes and the pain in his face when the needle went in, but it didn't, and it's probably a good thing it didn't. Toby has been amazing with all of this and I'm thankful for his strength. Some of the staff at PCMC made him a poster, gave him gifts, and sung 'Happy off therapy". Toby's prognosis is good. I have feared ending chemo, because the thought of relapse scares me to death. The Dr. told me that my fears are normal, but not to worry. The chances of it coming back are about 10%. At first that number gave me comfort, but then I realized the odds of Toby getting Leukemia in the first place, and my fears dug in again. But the Dr. assured me.....even if it does come back, we can deal with it. We've made it day by day thus far, so I know we can face whatever else comes our way.

Clinic Check in


Port Access (He wrapped his shirt on his head and pretended to meditate lol) His port access doesn't usually produce tears, but he opted for no numbing cream and then the nurse missed and had to access him twice :( poor guy.


Our Fab doc, Dr. Fluchel and the wonderful aid who always gives Toby Cheetos :)


Happy Moments....especially when we were ready to head home.

I am going to add some video to youtube, but it won't be all smiles so viewer beware :) The link to our youtubes is on the sidebar.

Happy Birthday Toby!! :) Toby had a Kung Fu Panda birthday party. It was so much fun. We had family and friends over. What's a party without a pinata, right? Toby cracked that thing open on his first swing! We of course let every kid take a few swings at it even though it was empty. :)
So all the kids at the party got these Kung Fu Panda character masks. We had to pop the eyes out of them. Kyle, Jahde and Brandon then put those eyes to good use!!!



Toby loved the new Jazz Jersey his dad sent him. It even has HIS name on the back :) He also got a remote control batmobile which he's quite excited about. It was so cute as he was opening a present and someone said "oh a coloring book" and then Toby's friend Chase said "Not just ANY coloring book, that's a STAR WARS coloring book" haha Kids are so cute!


In this picture, Toby is smiling ear to ear while opening a greeting card that plays the star wars theme.
Thanks to all of our family and friends for celebrating with us and helping to make it a special day for Toby!
Preparing for and hosting a party on one foot is kinda exhausting lol
And now a trip down memory lane :)

Age 5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme

Age 4 Star Wars Theme

Age 3 Dinosaur Theme

Age 2 Dinosaur Theme (yes, my boys have liked dinosaurs a lot)

Toby turning 1 .... no theme.... no pic of a cake, except what's being eaten!

"Uh Uh"

The other night we were having fun with Derek's vocabulary. Our entire family was sitting on our bed and asking DJ to say different words he knows. I said "say Momma" he said "momma". Kyle said "say dadda", he said "dadda". Toby said "say bottle", he said "bottle". Say on, on. Say eye, eye. Say no no, no no. Say hi, hi. DJ repeated each word perfectly, keeping us all asking for more words. After a while Dave said "say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", he said "Uh Uh" LOL We all laughed SO hard. It was hilarious!!!! Each night our family does a cheer before we go to bed in conjunction with scripture study and family prayer. We make up our cheer during FHE each week to reinforce the principles that week. Well this week we couldn't resist and our cheer is - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, then in turn we say uh uh(dave), uh uh(me), uh uh(kyle), uh uh(toby), uh uh(lily) and then inevitably DJ will chime in with his UH UH.....usually even in rhythm lol.... it's so funny!
I am learning that having a broken food is much harder than I anticipated. I have so many things I want to do, wish I could do, need to do......and can't. I do not recommend breaking your right ankle to anyone!
And last but not least.....tomorrow is Toby's 6th birthday. This is his last birthday on chemo. I am planning on printing out Toby's caringbridge site and making it into a book for him to keep. I would appreciate it SO much if you would take a minute and sign his guestbook and wish him happy birthday. You can click on the link on the side of my blog if you lost or don't have the address. Toby has been through so much the past 3 plus years. His courage and strength have been phenomial. I want him to know how much he was loved. I want him to know that he has many wonderful people who pray for him and remember him. Thank you All!

What was that pop?

So Tuesday night I was playing volleyball with my friends at the stake center. We just signed up for a league team that starts next week. We haven't played for a while because of the holidays, so I was quite excited to be back on the court. I was playing back row, receiving the serve. I turned to reach a ball, twisted all the way around, heard a loud pop, and fell to the ground. Even the other team heard the loud pop. They thought I had hit my knee on the floor really hard when I fell. I told them I thought I broke my foot. I wasn't crying, so they thought It wasn't serious, or I was joking. I knew something was really wrong though. I have sprained this ankle 3 times now. So my dear friends tied my shoe up tight and helped me hop outside. It was my right foot, so I couldn't drive home. Maxine drove my van home, and Savannah followed to be able to take Maxine back home (thanks so much guys!). I came in and shared the news with Dave. At this point, I did start crying, but not because of pain. My sweet mother came over to stay with the kids while Dave drove me to the ER. The wait wasn't too bad there. I did break my ankle. The bone on the outside. I was given crutches and a boot. I am to stay off of it for 6 weeks. 6 weeks! Ok here comes my whinning, but I don't know how I'm going to manage this. I have a 1 year old baby who needs to be lifted into his high chair, crib, car seat etc. He can walk, but is still very much dependent upon me. I have to drive to pick up and drop off my kids at school 1,2, sometimes 3 times a day? Grocery shopping? making dinner? Oh my goodness it's overwhelming to me right now. Not to mention the fact that I no longer get to play on my volleyball team. Volleyball was the one thing that I have done for myself, and the one place that I see friends. Don't get me wrong, my kids and my husband are my very best friends in the world, but sometimes it's nice to talk to another adult now and then. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can manage to do something for myself right now, when I can't really even take care of my kids? haha UGH

Do you want to be smart?

Toby asked Lily if she wanted to go downstairs and go to pre-school with him, and he would be the teacher. Lily said no. Toby asked Lily if she wanted to be the smartest kid in kindergarten when she started school. Lily said yes. Toby got excited and told Lily to come downstairs with him and he would teach her... So Lily had her first class last night, and another one this morning. She earned 300 points and got a treat! I asked Lily what she was learning in school. She brought me a bunch of papers and said "I'm learning all of this". I asked again, wanting her perspective, and Toby answered for her (math, writing, eating broccoli because it's good for you etc.) I asked again, and told Toby I wanted Lily to answer. Toby went and whispered in Lily's ear "tell her you're learning math" (way too obvious - he must think I didn't graduate from my sibling taught pre-school, or my teachers, Dar? Krissy?, didn't teach me much :). Lily then told me that she was learning "laugh". And then with some help corrected herself and said "math".
Lily saw the words 'I love you' and decided she wanted to write them down. She wrote it and then added mom, Toby, Kyle, Lily, DJ. She'll do just fine in kindergarten in 2010 I think :)
Toby and Kyle were playing a game with Jono and Alex (friends from Australia). Kyle and Alex won, but it was such a close game! As soon as it ended, Toby got in Kyles face and said "Curse you, foul beast!" He really is hilarious!
Kyle is playing city league basketball and really applying himself. He's doing great. He continues to thrive at the top of his class. It seems he's becoming popular with the ladies now too....skeery! Jono and Alex went to school with him yesterday to experience a day at an American school....kinda cool. :) It was great having the Kimmings in our home. They are wonderful people.
Derek is getting pretty good at communicating. He says "bottle, more, apple, nanna, momma, dad, hi, ball, bubble". He copies sounds or rhythm that he hears the other kids doing. His personality is really starting to shine through and it's so fun!
I am just so grateful for my children!!! :)

What this time of year brings....

If you've had eperience with steroids, you'll understand this post. If you haven't -be thankful- and know I'm not exaggerating. :) Toby has had a lazy taco (corn chips, chili, lettuce, sour cream,and salsa) every single day, for both breakfast and lunch for several days now. Not only is he eating it all the time, but he's eating a TON of it. He has an adult size portion with seconds. It is so funny to me how these cravings effect him. Nothing else is even remotely appealing to him. But at least he'll usually eat something else for dinner right?
We went to a BYU basketball game the other night, courtesy of Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation. We've got some BYU fans in our family, so we were really excited and thankful to go. They had us and the other cancer families meet 8 minutes before halftime. At halftime they had us line up on the court and showed a short clip about CCCF and some of the CCCF families. Then they had us walk across the court, smiling and waving. I had no idea what to expect and thought it would be simple. The crowd rose to their feet and started applauding all these sweet children with cancer. They also played John Williams Olympic Theme as we walked. It brought tears to my eyes. I thought it was awesome!


We were bombarded with snow a couple days ago. Lily and DJ really enjoyed playing in it. It was so cute....I had DJ in his snow clothes, but no boots yet and he was standing at the door "talking" and anxiously waiting. I held up his boots and he ran over to me. Once I put his boots on, he bolted for the door and screamed like a girl. It was hilarious. Then Uncle Bret stopped by and he and the boys threw a ball for his dog Ally out in the snow. They had a blast!