Prayers for Coleman ...

Guys,

If you've been reading my blog, you know that over the last 6-7 months I've been following the Larson family through their journey of their little boy (Coleman) cancer HELL. He's had ups and downs and their story has been heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying all in one for me. Little Coleman took a major turn for the worse on Christmas Day, and they had to airlift him to a hospital in Des Monies. He's home now, and the "TEAM" has met with hospice. I'm cutting out Peggy's last post from her CarePage, and the pictures (I hope she doesn't mind) because I know a lot of people haven't signed up to get into the updates ..... but I am hoping that you can say an extra prayer or two for this family and especially Coleman. It's an odd feeling to have become "attached" to a family that you've never met, but after reading Coleman's mom's updates for so long - the great times they've had as a family in the worst POSSIBLE conditions .... it's hard not to just love them to pieces for the strength that they have. Even going through all this, in Peggy's post below, she worries about thanking everyone for their kindness and generosity. She is AMAZING. I am keeping Coleman in my thoughts tonight...I hope you can do the same...he needs all the help he can get...no child should have to go through this.

From Coleman Larson's CarePage:

Overwhelmed and Hanging on...
Posted 4 hours ago
Well, here I sit at my laptop- right where I left it Christmas Eve night when I last updated…
When I typed that update, I didn’t know what would happen next, but I fully intended that I would be updating the next day after the boys woke up- Scott and I were so excited for Christmas morning and watching them open everything…OR I at least thought I’d be able to update after our ER visit. In true Team Larson fashion though, a NEW plan unfolded, and this is the first I have been back to type it out. Our house still sits as it did Christmas morning.
So I guess I’ll jump right in and start from Christmas morning- I know I'll probably leave a lot of details out, but here is the short version.Caden came down the stairs and was overwhelmed with the generosity of Santa! (Thanks to so many of you, and to so many secret Santas they had- GOD BLESS YOU!) He stood there in a daze, not knowing which way to turn…(kind of like his parents) He started ripping into things, while Scott and I did our best to put our happy faces on, knowing we were going to give him an hour or so and then be heading back to the ER with Coleman.Cade didn’t get through opening everything, but we had him choose two favorites and got him dressed to go to Aunt Sherri’s who met us at the ER. (THANK YOU SHERRI!) Coleman was pretty unresponsive as he didn’t have the best night and was still not talking or swallowing much. He was unable to talk and mostly slept. We were very worried.
While we were in the ER, the doctors called DesMoines, and we were given the choice to either come home with him, or come there to have him looked at. We knew we couldn’t take him home again on our own without doing something, so Coleman and I got a helicopter ride to DesMoines while Scott drove to meet us. Oh how I wish Coleman would have known he was riding in a helicopter. He would have LOVED telling Caden all about that. He slept the whole way.
Once we landed in Des Moines, they got us a big room and kept Coleman comfortable. We can’t say enough about the kindness and compassion shown to us by the staff at Blank Children’s Hospital. Dr. Al-Zein and Dr. Woods are not just doctors but true angels. They were so wonderful to us- our nurses were the best as well. THANK YOU to everyone who took such great care of not just Coleman, but our family too.

They gave Coleman a drug called Manatol (?) and after a day of sleeping, he did come to a little and we got a few more words out of him…even a dirty look or two, which I considered a gift- it was nice to see him responding. He picked up his hunger right where he left off after not eating anything by mouth for three days.
Unfortunately it was short lived and he is back to the mostly sleeping and maybe a word here or there, and just a little food…but with all the of the pain meds, he’s pretty out of it. Even doped up on morphine though, bunny’s ribbon gets the twirling, same as always. We were inpatient until today.

We came home today and met with a couple of awesome ladies from hospice, and we went over many options. For now, we are home. That may change, but we want to try it at least. Also Coleman is on a new oral chemo, because…. Well… “Team War-sin NEV-VA divs up.” We aren’t finished yet…we know in our hearts we need to keep praying and trusting in God’s love for Coleman and for us all.

We have a new set of meds to keep Cman comfortable. That's our main goal, we DO NOT want him to be in pain, and so far he doesn’t seem to be. We pray that continues. We’ll take one day at a time and see how everything goes. The one thing, the only thing, that’s for certain right now- God is with us and giving us strength to keep going.
Caden was able to come to the hospital and spend the past few nights with us in the room. It was a wonderful gift to all four be able to spend time together, even if it was in a hospital room.
We’ve been having talks with Caden…I can’t begin to explain how difficult it is to answer his questions, hold him as he sobs, and says he needs to “help Coe-man fight harder.” It brings to mind the quote we have on Coleman’s home page here- "“There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child.” -Frank A. ClarkHow true it is.

The bond between Caden and Coleman is something we’ve seen all along, and that in itself is hard for us to comprehend at times, yet it’s there. I think we’ve given Caden as much as he can handle each time we talk, and we take his cue of when he needs to quit talking about it & go back to being the bouncy little boy he is.
Small steps.I’m going to end there as I think I need to take this in small steps as well.

I can't end with out saying...WOW- how blessed we are! The messages of support- what can I even begin to say? it’s overwhelming, and I find it hard to explain how touched we are. We thank you for the amazing support of our family, and for your prayers. There are so many people I’d like to personally thank, but I would be sitting here all night- please know how much it means to us.We’re hanging in there, and doing what we’ve always done…taking one day at a time, (sometimes one moment) and thanking GOD for all He’s continues to provide us in helping us make it through.

Blessings to you all,Team Larson

Love,
xoxoxo

Weekend in VA Beach....

Well to all my friends and family back home....I hate to say this but....our weather over the Christmas holiday and this weekend ROCKED. Saturday was in the 70's and today (Sunday) the car temperature registered 80 degrees. Ok something is wrong with this picture!!!

On Christmas Eve my kids were outside playing hopscotch ... without jackets ...in their Crocs .... unreal!! Today, I saw my neighbor's kid playing outside without shoes on. This is just very ODD to me.....it does not feel like December 28th!!!

I have to say, I DO miss the snow....just a little bit. I don't miss the driving in it....the 4 hour commutes to the South side of Chicago down I-55 during a terrible snow storm... the shoveling (well, OK, I never did THAT), the bundling up in snow boots and jackets and mittens .... but it would be nice for our kids to have ONE weekend they could play in the snow, and we could see it glistening on the trees. *sigh* .... always want what you don't have, right? :)

Anyway, the previous post are some pictures from this past weekend. If you can believe it I didn't take a SINGLE picture from Christmas. I took some video with my awesome new FLIP video recorder I got for Christmas.....but NO pictures. Don't ask me why. I'm a bad Mom. This year everything (for me) was so chaotic, disorganized, down to the LAST second. Not usually like that for me. I'll post the Christmas video soon so you can see Zach opening his present that he wanted most .... a big Spike dinosaur with a remote control that moves and picks up bones. It's rather funny and he's so excited he loses his pants. Literally. Heehee.

Anyway, it's late so I'll leave you with the pictures. I have to work tomorrow....Sam's off all week because Kayla and Ben are here ....we were actually getting worried - their flight got delayed in Atlanta (we don't normally have them connect, but the flights were so expensive this time, it was really our only option) and they kept delaying it, and delaying it....and Sam had actually booked the later flight so the kids didn't have to rush out of the house the day after Christmas morning.

Hope everyone had a Merry, Merry Christmas!!

Love to all!

xoxoxo

Pictures from the weekend

Ok, I'm back......

Ok, after my (very) brief "hiatus" .... I'm back to blogging. I thought I'd take a break for awhile with everything else we have going on for the holidays ...but...I MISS it, can't stay away! :D

So let's see what's been going on since I last posted......

We've been extremely busy with the holiday preparations ... getting excited for Kayla and Ben to arrive this week - right after Santa comes. The kids are very excited, as you can imagine, for Santa and they have very specific requests. Zach wants (and this is exactly how he says it every time) a big Spike dinosaur with a remote control that moves and picks up bones. (It's that Fisher Price Spike Dinosaur). It's funny because it reminds us of The Christmas Story and Ralphie wanting the "Red Rider BB Gun!!" The girls both want baby cradles. And I can't tell you what Ben and Kayla are getting because they can read and might happen upon this post (sorry guys!!) We did not go as crazy as we did last year - they were WAY too overwhelmed last year with the number of presents, stuff to play with , etc. - and they were truly CRANKY by the end of the day - there was just SO MUCH. We kept it much smaller this year, so they should hopefully have a FUN time playing with the presents they get.

I *finally* got my Christmas cards out....whew.....you all will probably be getting them late seeing as they just went out TODAY but......since they're handmade, and I made 100 of them .....maybe you can forgive me??? It just seems there is not enough time in the day!!!!

Zach had a little school program (will post video later) last week that was really cute. We were lucky to get seats right by him, but he would NOT sing. He was the kid in the "funny home video" that was saying "hi mom", making faces, hands in his pants ..... the WHOLE time. LOL!!! He knew the songs too because he sang them at home!!! He looked so cute and silly. He's really really thriving in pre-school - his teacher is great and of course we have found a wonderful nanny that has helped make going to/from school much easier and more fun...so he's excited about going all the time. (Well, not so much about going - he's like his Momma and would prefer to start his day around 10:00 AM and stay in PJ's until then)...but once he gets there, he has a great time and his teacher said he's doing fantastic.

He has, however, had ear infections that have lasted since September and have not gone away no matter what different anti-biotics they've tried, so today my poor, sweet, baby had to have tubes put in his ears. (Awww!!) I know, I know....it's a simple procedure that for an adult they can do in an "office" ... but when they put your first born under anesthesia ... it freaks Mom out. He was NOT too thrilled with the surgery center - the gave him some ....tranquillizers...... I guess you'd say, to calm him down beforehand....but they wore off quicker than they were ready for him so they had to give him a second dose. He kept saying I want to go home, I want to go home. He was still upset and it went from crying to laughing (at the same thing) .... and he was talking like a drunk person (which we laughed at a few times) but I did feel sorry for him (YES, I CRIED when they were getting ready to take him away!!) He woke up from the procedure crying (screaming?) and they brought us in there, I got in the bed and laid with him for awhile and he calmed down a little bit. He came home, had some juice and a snack and then took a nap - and when he woke up he didn't remember much from the day - we gave him new "batman" pajamas when we got home (he didn't know where those came from), he was surprised he took a nap (he never really does) and he didn't remember where our elf, Simon, was (I didn't tell you about Simon....did I? Remind me to come back to Simon.) But...when he woke up, he was feeling good and back to being a 4 year old. He wanted to write Santa a letter so he and Miss Rachel wrote Santa a letter and put it in the mailbox .... (the hundredth time he's told Santa he wants the big spike dinosaur with the remote control that moves and picks up bones).

We took the kids out to dinner tonight (Red Robin, where else??) and then I took the girls for haircuts. I don't have pictures yet...but I'll tell you this, I got 5 inches (we measured after it was cut) chopped off their hair! They have these cute little pixie bobs ..... VERY cute. Addie's flips under, and Avery's flips up. Heeheee!!! We can still put barrettes, pull it back at the top, headbands, etc. ... but they look ADORABLE. Pictures .... tomorrow!

Other than that....we're doing pretty good - just busy with work. Sam's had a lot going on at his company lately - they did a fundraiser for a toy drive, and between the fundraiser (they cooked for the employees and the employees paid for a "plate" of food for 5.00) and the donations they received in from vendors, etc. they had almost 10,000.00 to donate! They go out and purchase the toys, fill up an MDV truck (that's decorated of course) and go around to local military bases and drop of bags and bags and bags of toys. How nice is that!

Well, I'll leave you with a couple of photos of Zach from his procedure today.....and a video that a couple of my friends have blogged. I think it really puts Christmas into perspective, it's short...and powerful.

Zach standing outside the big Christmas tree at the Surgery center. He's happy now, and he knows he's going in for "tubes" but doesn't realize that means getting out of his jammies, getting connected to machines, etc.

When Mommy was allowed to come back after they got Zach in his Tigger gown and took his blood pressure, etc. THANK GOD he asked for Daddy to go with him. I would have never guessed that he would have picked Daddy (sorry, Dad, no offense...but he's a MOMMA's boy, and when he's upset he always cries "I want my Momma") but he wanted his Dad this time! So Dad took him back and then I got to come later.

He's a little bit drowsy here....notice the droopy eyes? Heehee. He wasn't happy, but he was making us laugh sometimes when he tried to talk. Daddy had to keep doing "magic" tricks to keep him laughing.












Love,
xoxoxo

Sorry everyone.....

Sorry everyone.....Five in our Hive is "going off the air" until further notice.


Love,
xoxoxo

Hollydazzle!

I know my posts are kind of all over the place....I'm still behind posting Zach's last soccer game and his party where he got his (gasp!!) trophy for participation....but....what can I say!!

Last night we took the kids to this thing called Hollydazzle in Newport News ... it's a "once a year" event, apparently, in this little city center / town square area (there are shops, restaurants, etc). They were going to light up this huge Christmas tree and have fireworks over this really pretty pond (actually a very big pond) that's in the middle of this square around 9 - so we figured we would get there around 6:30ish to eat dinner at the Red Star Tavern (yum) and then walk around, see the fireworks and tree lighting and go home. They had lots of stuff for the kids - they were giving out tons of light sticks (these huge "foam noodle" looking things that had batteries with different "glow" settings so you could change the color, make them blink, random, etc.), they were giving out glow stick necklaces, Frisbees, crafts, ornaments for the kids...all sorts of stuff. They also had a little carnival, food booths everywhere (funnel cakes, kettle corn, hot dogs, etc.) They had several bands/orchestras/carolers playing and people making kids balloon "things" everywhere. Other than the food - all of the extra stuff was free!

Needless to say......it was PACKED. When we got there, we parked and pretty much walked over to the restaurant right away and were told it was a 2 1/2 hour wait. Um, yeah, our kids were DYING as it was (it was 7:00) - they're usually in bed between 7:30-8:00 so they've long had dinner by this time usually!! We had to walk around for about another half an hour to find cash to get food at one of the food vendors .... we stood in a huge line at a food booth - and the kids were FREEZING - lips quivering, goosebumps under their coats .... they were CRANKY because they were hungry .... and so we decided just to leave. This is now a little after 8 ... so we are looking for something decent close by - everything looked packed - where do we end up? You guessed it, the Golden Arches ..... not that the kids minded!!! We ate and then decided to see if we could find a parking spot close enough to watch the fireworks from the car. We actually found a spot close enough where we could walk back and then get right back to the car (most of the parking was in a parking garage) - so we all got out and walked back. The fireworks started (after a lengthy speech from the mayor, lol, or it seemed lengthy in the cold anyway!!) and the kids FREAKED out. All three of them. They were all crying and just ..... freaking out. So.....we had to walk back to the car. By the time we got far enough away, Zach enjoyed watching them, so he and I stood and watched for awhile....he even said "this was the best fireworks ever!" I was thinking - what about 10 minutes ago??? They obviously didn't like the noise - the girls did say they liked the colors.

Anyway, here's some pictures from Hollydazzle and if you live in this area - I'd encourage you to go next year....there is TONS of stuff for the kids.....just don't plan on eating there!!

Love,
xoxoxo

FINALLY, I got the slideshow from previous post to work!

Nanny Poppins!

Many of you have (kindly) inquired about our nanny situation ... and I wanted to let everyone know that we have *finally* found (and I hope I don't jinx us by saying this) our Nanny Poppins! Her name is Rachel (good omen??) and she's live out - been with us about a month now - she lives really close to us and the kids LOVE her! She does all kinds of fun things with them, like hide-and-seek and really cool crafts every day (like painting and cutting things and gluing and making macaroni necklaces - oh and they all made really awesome turkeys for Thanksgiving...I'm saving those for their "baby books!!"!!) She'll just take them over to Michael's, pick out a craft and that's what they'll do for the day. She came to Zach's soccer game (which he thought was pretty cool) and has taken the kids to her house several times to see her dog's new puppies - which they have positively raved about (and no, were not getting one, heehee!) Our house is spotless at the end of the day, the kids laundry is ALL done, they've had a bath, and best of all she does not get flustered when the kids have a meltdown. She's a pro at diversion and I've never heard her have to raise her voice....even when they're acting up (which as you know 3 and 4 year olds tend to do....often!!!) Zach is really into the "Goldilocks and 3 bears story" right now. He likes when I tell it to him - not read it from the book - and "add" things (like pizza instead of porridge, and Goldilocks stays instead of jumping out the window to play monster trucks with baby bear...lol). The other night he asked me to tell him a story about Mommy, Daddy, Zach, Addie, Avery and Miss Rachel walking through the forest and coming to the 3 bears house. Too funny. He said "I miss Miss Rachel". Ok you KNOW he likes her!!! The girls call her Miss Racho.

Anyway, wanted to give you all a status update. Please keep your fingers crossed and pray HARD that she continues to like our family as much as we like her. She's done an excellent (BEYOND excellent) job and we are continuing to tell her that....so I hope she is feeling the rewards of taking care of the kids. Her goal is to open her own daycare someday, so this is definitely "hands on practice!!"

Love,
xoxoxo

The weather outside is ... frightful?

Um, not really. Yeah, I know my family and friends back home are dealing with cold and snow ... but here are some pictures of the kids from our weekend, which as you can see.........was pretty nice weatherwise (60ish?) I have to say, I really love being so close to the ocean, but I DO miss the snow once in awhile! I'm trying a new slide show program....hope it works. If not, I'll send out the photos again tomorrow on my handy Snapfish!!



Love,
xoxoxo

Blogs can change lives!

You all know how a few posts ago I entered "C" (Coleman Larson) into the Blogs Can Change Lives contest to win a PSP for ill or frequently hospitalized children. Well guess what .... my blog entry was one of the 10 selected and Coleman is going to be the recipient of a PSP bundle!! YAY!!!! I am so excited!

Now, I said if I won the contest I would raise enough money to buy Coleman's twin brother Caden a PSP also ... so they can play each other during those long hospital visits, plane rides and trips to the doctors that I'm sure are a part of "everyday" life for them. Please let me know if you'd consider a donation ... I'm so excited I won the game for Coleman, I'd love to just go out and buy the PSP right now to send for Caden but.....I'm going to have to raise the money (or at least some of it)......since we do have 5 kids of our own. (Smile!!)

Here's the latest update on Coleman, from his CarePage today:

I do have some sad news to report…and it breaks my heart to type this, but Coleman can no longer walk...not even across the room. We have been carrying him to the bathroom, to the tub, to the table, etc. He’s not a bit happy about it, and with the steroids he lets us know it! I try to make him hold my hands and get around, but he’s not having ANY of that, and says if I make him, then “NO HUGS FOR YOU MOMMY!” He’s just afraid to fall, and his balance just isn’t there. It’s tough to watch, especially when I know it makes him angry and I’m sure scared. With the steroids he goes from giggles to tears to anger all within a couple of minutes sometimes, but I think about how I’d feel if all of the sudden I couldn’t get around and I can’t say I wouldn’t have all the same feelings.

She also posted this about Caden: Then there’s the other half…Caden… who’s been worried about Coleman. He wants us to pray over him…as he says, “don’t touch him, juss put your hann over him and wepeat after me… “PWEEZE GOD… PWEEZE MAKE MY BRUVER ALL BETTER! Ann fank you for wuvin EV-wee-body in the world. Amen.”I’m so proud of Caden and my heart breaks for him at the same time. He’s been extra bouncy, if you can imagine that, but I think a lot of it has to do with nerves.

Anyway, I wanted to share the news on the contest. Thanks to www.5minutesformom.com for having this awesome contest, and huge thanks to Sony for doing such a generous thing!!

Love,
xoxoxo

Experimentation with ..........

PhotoShop!

So I got PhotoShop awhile ago, and I tried it out, but it's pretty overwhelming to the novice hobby photographer, layers and gradients and histograms .... and even after I bought "PhotoShop for Dummies" ... I still kind of just have been ignoring the little icon.

Here's my first attempt at "editing" some of my photos. Just the tones, sharpening a little bit, filters .... I definitely don't get the whole layering concept yet and I'm a hands on learner - so just trial and error (it took me hours to get these, lol!) However, the different looks you can create with PhotoShop and how much more...professional they come out looking after a bit of retouching are amazing! Next on my agenda will be to learn how to chop the head off one body and paste it on another, so I can quit bugging my neighbor to put this smiling face in this picture ... (heehee!) Oh and if someone can easily explain to me how to add color to a certain area of the photo, for example, changing someones eye color or bringing the color out in a specific area (say, the leaves, or an area on the shirt, etc.) I'd greatly appreciate it. (Smile, say cheese!)

Before......


After.....

Before.......


After......

Have a great night everyone!

Love,
xoxoxo

Sunday morning at the Tramontanas ...

This is a typical Sunday morning at our house .... the girls playing together and Zach and Daddy playing their new favorite game......Batman Lego on the Playstation. I think it's so funny that Zach plays the PS3 ... he is actually GOOD - and they get into "character" a lot of the time which cracks me up - Zach will call Daddy "Batman" ... Daddy will give "Robin" instructions on where to go next ... very funny.

Love,
xoxoxo

Enjoy the videos ... or as the girls say .... bideos!

Notice, Zach is so into the "Game" that the kitty brushing up against him (pet me, pet me) doesn't even bother him!

And here was what the girls played with all day - we had to keep making them "cool forts and tents".

How long did it take YOU to vote???

Sam took these pictures out of the car window as he was trying to find a place to park on Election Day. He waited in line for about 3 hours .... and he said there were at least 1000 people in front of him. This line was at least half mile long - if not more. Unreal!!!

This street takes a turn to the right, and then another turn up the church driveway/parking lot, and another turn up the church walkway, and then they wound you around inside (like an amusement park) I think because of the rain.

You can see this line goes on and on and on and on......................

This was unreal!!!!!! I waited about 2 hours and it wasn't even close to this long!!!!

Love,
xoxoxo

Prayers needed urgently! Please!!!

You guys all know that I somehow started following the Larson Family through another blog I read ... and their little boy, Coleman, has Medulloblastoma. I started reading the Caringbridge Carepages every once in awhile, but now I find myself checking throughout the day - is there an update, how's Coleman...how are the family holding up??

They arrived back in New York this week for another round of scans on his brain ... and I'm just going to take the liberty of cutting and pasting her whole update here for those who haven't signed up to get the updates. You will see what an AMAZING family they are. If you are interested or can spare it, there is a site that is accepting donations that go 100% to the family. The family appreciates cards/gifts for the kids as it lifts them up each week when they get the packages. The kids love getting pictures of other families and kids .... so if you can spare some time......

____________________________________________________________________

Sorry for the Delay...
Posted 8 hours ago
Hi Everyone,

I’m sorry for no update last night…we had another long day. Truthfully, I started to type one several times and just never seemed to get it finished. I felt bad when I went to bed that I hadn’t updated, but I knew you’d all understand. I know a lot of you were wondering about our scan results.

We were at the hospital by 9:30 for Coleman’s MRI. We didn’t have much of a wait, but it was a long MRI- it took well over an hour. Coleman usually falls asleep, so this isn’t a problem, but he wasn’t feeling too sleepy yesterday morning. I went back with him this time, and when it was over, they brought him out of the machine and he had tears running down the sides of his face. The tech said he was going to make her cry…I asked him what was wrong and he said, “I fink I moved a witta bit!” “I fought I was in twubble.”

Broke my heart. He has no idea how completely amazing he is for being able to lay in that machine, and that still, for that amount of time, at his age. He’s done it so many times without anesthesia, we just take it for granted how amazing it truly is. The techs are always in awe over him…and so are we…he moved a little bit- ha!…….there is NO way I could have laid still for that long.

This picture, breaks my heart. This is one I would keep next to my bed forever.

After the scan, they told us they had paged the doctor to come talk to us, so we could have a seat and wait. That didn’t sound promising, and of course we were worried- but after over an hour of sitting and waiting, they called us back to the doctor’s office with the boys. I didn’t think it could be TOO bad, because they surely wouldn’t let the boys come back with us, if it was bad news.

*sigh* I was wrong. The news was not what we were hoping for…the cancer has spread quite a bit in the last month again. The doctor was surprised Coleman hadn’t been complaining more. I couldn’t believe they were telling us all of this right in front of the boys! For one, I wanted to ask a whole lot more questions, but I wasn’t going to do it in front of them, AND we needed to put a smile on for them, which was so hard to do when our hearts were breaking.

Since chemo is no longer an option, and neither is the 3f8, They gave us an option of starting an oral pill- it’s a study that just opened last week and one other patient is starting it right now. It’s not chemo, and right now I can’t even remember what she called it- I was in too much of a daze, but Coleman will need to keep his platelets above 100,000 to be on the study. They were at 37,000 yesterday. Soooo, we were shuffled out of the meeting with the dr. over to the infusion room where we waited for an hour to get platelets…which by the way took a half hour to infuse!(our bright spot of the day!!!)


I shouldn’t say that, we had a lot of bright spots as usual with these two boys. They are hilarious…and between Coleman’s story of an “odoe-wess sunk” (odorless skunk) and Caden telling us his jokes, we had many laughs. I told someone I kind of felt like we were on the deck of the Titanic, the band was playing, and we were smiling and dancing while we’re desperately searching and hoping for a life boat.

We couldn’t break down with the boys there...so we danced. And continue to THANK GOD for every single moment we have together. We truly ARE so blessed. It was a tough day to sit through and we didn’t get back to the RMD house until 6:00 last night.

We also met with two neurologists yesterday who ordered an E.E.G. for Monday. This will measure the waves of the brain and possibly tell us about the shakiness we’re seeing, and the slurred speech he’s had a couple of times. They don’t want to put him on any anti-seizure meds until they see the E.E.G. The symptoms could be seizure related, or disease related, but this test should tell us more.

So Monday will be a full day- we’re going to have a friend watch the boys in the toy room at the hospital while we visit with the doctor and go over our options. I have a list of questions all ready…so we should have more to report after that. We were not able to look at scans, since they were still writing up the reports, and with the boys there, I didn’t want to push it. I will be getting a copy of them on Monday.

We just got back from going out for lunch and got SOAKING wet! All of us except Coleman who was in his stroller with the rain guard covering him. We only walked about 5 blocks, but it looks like we just stepped out of the shower with our clothes on! Caden LOVED the rain and was holding his mouth open the entire way. He can’t wait to catch snowflakes on his tongue when we get back to Iowa! :)


After Monday we should have a better idea of when that will be, I think they want us to stay out here to be on the study. I’m going to try to negotiate it so we can go home and maybe find a dr in Des Moines who would be willing to work with Sloan? (something we're praying for) Coleman keeps asking when we get to go home...

For right now, things are up in the air…but our feet are firmly planted in our faith. We’re still praying our hearts out, and trusting that God hears, and is carrying us every step, as He always has.

Thank you for the messages of support, for your prayers, and kindness. It truly means so much to us. Please know how VERY much we appreciate our carepage family!

Blessings to you all,
A dancing Team Larson

p.s. a BIG thanks to Aaron Horn, Eli's dad (cp: EliRHorn) who offered to take Caden to the bubble show we were signed up for last night. He thought that way Caden wouldn't have to sit through the platelet transfusion. I asked Caden if he wanted to go, his eyes sparkled and he said YES! Then he looked over at Coleman and said, "no... I fink I will stay here and pway my v-smile." What a brother.

Thanks for the offer though Aaron. Hope you and Eli had safe travels back to Iowa this morning! Say hi to the snowflakes for us.

____________________________________________________________________

If you want to send Coleman or his family a card, or small gift ...Here's his address in NY City at the Ronald McDonald House. On your return address label (since they don't forward mail) put the families address in Iowa, and when the package gets rejected in NY, it will be automatically returned to "sender" which will be: Team Larson Box 251 Callender, Iowa 50523 (Tricky!) Please, cards, pictures of other kids and families, pets----anything cheer him up.

You can also make a monetary donation through http://www.dmarkette.com/donate-to-colemans-prayer/ .... Darryl has written a song for Coleman (beautiful) and there is a spot to make a donation to the family. All proceeds (100%) go to Peggy and Scott Larson.

This sweet Coleman needs more prayers than ever now. If you have a blog or a website or a way to get the word out.....please ...pass this link along so the message gets out. I don't know this little boy personally, yet, I feel like it could be my kid at any minute that something like this happens to - and that scares the crap out of me. This is the strongest family I've ever come across and I hope that someday I get to meet them.

In my prayers tonight, Larsons .... 'specially you Cman!


Love,
xoxoxo

Zach soccer update....

As Zach is approaching the end of his second season in soccer, thought I'd post some pictures from a recent game. He's really doing so much better this season (paying attention more, going after the ball, etc.) He's scored lots of goals this year (not that we're counting or anything!!) <-- Smile! He cracks me up ... you can see the determination in his face...and his mouth is always open when he gets the ball ... too funny!!! He doesn't like when I bring the camera, so most of these shots I got on the sly --- before he found out I was even there! He also doesn't like when anyone cheers for him - if anyone (another parent, etc.) says Go Zach, or that was GREAT Zach, he covers his ears. Wonder what that's about? The twins are pretty good when they go to his game, and now they're a little older, we don't have to worry about them "as much" .... they like to hang around in the foresty part of the field and make piles of pine cones and sticks and pine needles, and look for bugs. (Yes, look for bugs...seriously!) Nana has been here for the past month so she's got to see 3 of his games (I think 3) and that's been a real joy for her to have been here to see Zach play.

Zach really likes his teammates this year, and we're fortunate to have a great bunch of parents who really help out with the kids (getting them on and off the field, etc.) That really makes Sam's job of trying to keep 5 (4) year olds focused on the game a little easier ....lol!!!

Here's my favorite shot of the group....he just kicked the ball in for a goal! Look at this form, lol!

Here's the rest of the pictures ....just click play - or you can scroll through them.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/tramontana/main/zach_soccer

Well have a great night and a happy weekend!!




Love,
xoxoxo

Happy to live in southern VA!

.... came across this article today .....

BISMARCK, N.D. (Associated Press) -- Major North Dakota roads closed by a blizzard that tore through the region began reopening Friday, but freezing rain left thousands without power to the east, authorities said. In South Dakota, stranded vehicles continued to clog a major highway.
No fatalities were reported in the early season blizzard that pounded the northern Plains on Wednesday and Thursday. But the high wind and snowfall of up to 3 feet disrupted travel, closed schools and cut off electricity to thousands in Nebraska and the Dakotas.

And thought how happy I was to live in southern VA! It it sunny and 71 degrees here today!!! (Oh and by the way, our gas prices are still under $2.00/gallon!!!)

Love,
xoxoxo

Don't forget to vote!!!

You have no idea how happy I am that we're coming to the end of a LONG election campaign! I have to say I've received about 100 pieces of mail between BOTH parties in the last month ... it's crazy!! I'm voting tomorrow for Barack Obama and I want to tell you why.

I think America is a great country and I want to see better health care, better education, roads that are fixed and bridges that don't collapse, more responsible actions overseas and less dependence on foreign oil. All the typical Democrat "rhetoric" if you will.

Barack Obama has sparked the interest of so many people this election and many "naysayers" will say it's a lot of "first time" African American voters voting because he's a black candidate. I say.....he did a great job of spreading his message. At least he inspired them to get up and register, and hopefully they will vote and become more aware. That's the first step! It is every Americans right and responsibility to vote ... and if he can make them do it ...more power to him! It just shows that he has the capacity to bring people of all races together in my opinion.

Do I think Barack has all the answers? No, I don't. I don't think anyone going into that office COULD POSSIBLY have all the answers, regardless of how many years they've been in the government or how many times they've served our country. There are way too many variables and that is why our Presidents have panels of advisers with various realms of experience who help him make appropriate and wise decisions. Do I agree with all of his positions on every issue? No, definitely not.

Are there Black/African American tomorrow that will vote for Obama just because he's African American? Yep, for sure....they're predicting the largest turnout of Black voters, ever. Are there Republicans who will vote for McCain SOLELY because he's Republican. DEFINITELY. Democrats that vote for Obama just BECAUSE he's a Democrat? MmmHmm. I know people personally who always vote for the candidate who's party they "believe in". However, I believe that overall we are an intelligent informed nation (definitely more so after this election!) and I HOPE there are many, many more Americans who will vote for who they think is the better candidate, based on the issues that are important to them, rather than voting along party lines or who the candidate is because of their race or gender (look how far Hillary got.)

If I had to make a list of the things that I like/don't like about either candidate, I'd have a lot more in favor of Obama. Fundamentally, I don't agree that the wealthy should "pay more" because likely they've worked harder, and earned their money so they deserve to keep it. It makes sense. But I do think that everyone should help our society become better educated, more informed and healthy so that the less fortunate (not necessarily the lazy people) CAN get out there and live the American Dream. I want to see ALL children have a chance at a better future and the kids that benefit from those tax dollars are the people who will be the presidents and politicians of MY future, and my KIDS future. That's important to me. I don't know what else you can do but have the people who make more money pay a little more. I know that sucks, I agree that sucks. And I know there are thousands (millions?) of people who abuse welfare and find every possible loophole. However, I also know that there are just as many people who are on welfare who would MUCH rather be working and earning a paycheck rather than using food-stamps at the checkout line or living in government housing, which typically is in less than desirable areas. I know that people in less than fortunate situations often have trouble getting OUT of those situations and they lead a very tough life. I don't think ALL of these people have slacked off or worked less on purpose ... I think many have been part of a broken "system" that this presidency can hopefully be part of fixing - if not for them, at least for giving the kids of today (our future) a better chance.

Obama wants to improve our relations around the world and get our troops home safely. I read this awhile ago and I think it's very true: The sad use of unilateralism as a foreign policy will be one of history’s harshest condemnations of President Bush. It will be very important that Barack Obama as President build credibility with our allies, and open lines of discussion with those who oppose us, as a way to again show that we are not an arrogant country, but mindful that we are a part of the global family. Iran is but one nation that we need to open up lines of communications with. Obama understands that Syria must also be brought into the larger Middle East discussions. It is only through a complete new beginning of international understanding and bridge building that the slippage our nation has experienced on the world stage can be stopped, and then reversed.a way to again show that we are not an arrogant country, but mindful that we are a part of the global family. SINCE the capture of Saddam Hussein there have been more than three thousand men and women who have lost their lives. We helped remove the dictator and saw that he was brought to justice. We've helped them create a democratic government and a police force. They don't want us there anymore. They have more money than we do. I cannot for the life of me understand why we don't have a more responsible "plan" by our current Administration to withdraw our troops. I feel with Obama as President he will seek the counsel of his advisers and together they come up with the most responsible plan to make this happen. He does not seem like a person who will make snap judgements or hot tempered comments and he will help re-establish us as more of a "peace-keeping" nation. That's important to me. I think there are threats in the middle east that need to be addressed. I'm not "anti-war". I'm pro making the RIGHT decisions at the RIGHT time and having well thought out plans for putting and end to killing our brave soldiers when we should be focusing on the other things threatening our nation.

My right to choose, freedom for everyone and gun control are also important issues for me. Do you know that McCain opposes restrictions on assault weapons and ammunition types - including those that are armor piercing? He voted against the Brady Bill. I realize we all have the right to keep and bear arms, but when the constitution was written, I'm pretty sure there were no semi-automatic machine guns around. Who needs armor piercing ammo, anyway? Why would anyone NOT want to take those products OFF the general market? I don't get that one, and I don't think "banning" the sale of those type of weapons is breaking the constitution. You can still keep and bear arms. Just not the type of arms that can take out 15 students in one fell swoop if you're a psycho disgruntled college student, or with the kind of ammo that protects our police officers in raids of drug infested neighborhoods, etc.

I could go on and on about the reasons I think Obama will make a better President and it probably doesn't matter to you at this point. Overall ... I think he has the ability to bring people together and I think he will lead this country in a better direction than it's going. I think he has that ability to do this, and I don't have confidence that McCain does. Both candidates have "flip-flopped" on certain issues and I think that will ALWAYS happen. People act so surprised when that happens, but it's nothing new. Just because you have an opinion on something today, or this year ... doesn't mean you will feel the same tomorrow - or next year - maybe your opinion or mindset will change after you have all the facts or have had time to really reflect on all the implications your action will have. Don't you think it's the same for the people running our government?

PS: If you have a few minutes - read this speech if you didn't see it (I didn't.) I think this, from someone who is Christian, but not HIGHLY religious in any way, is inspiring and well written. This is the kind of speech you would envision coming from someone leading the most powerful country in the world.

http://www.barackobama.com/2006/06/28/call_to_renewal_keynote_address.php

Above everything else this I have been more interested in this election than ever before. Perhaps it's because I have kids now and I worry for their future. I know that certain things EITHER candidate will put into effect will have an impact on us in some ways. No one knows what the future holds, but I have HOPE that with Obama as a president things will improve, and people will step up to the plate like never before, to change and undo the past 8 years.

Good luck, for whoever you're voting for ... and may the best man win! :) Just make sure to get out there and vote. This election is critical and every voice counts!

Love,
xoxoxo

Great day in Williamsburg!!

SEE PICTURES IN NEXT POST....HAVING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY GETTING THE HTML CODE TO WORK ON THIS PAGE! (arrgh!)

While we lack a professional sports team of any kind, one of the wonderful benefits of living where we do is that we're so close to so many things. We can be at VA Beach in 20 minutes, in the OBX within an hour ... a few hours drive will put us in the Blue Ridge Mountains .... 2 1/2 hours we can be at the White House for dinner (when Michelle and Obama invite us, that is....not that Sam would be coming with me!!) Smile!!

Fall is my favorite time of year to visit Colonial Williamsburg. We went today and it was PERFECT. 70 degrees, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Zach had a soccer game so we went right after that and the kids were good during the ride there ... singing to each other, dancing to songs Daddy was playing on his iPod ... we had lunch at a great place, got the kids some treats and ice cream ... and headed back. We weren't in the car for 5 minutes before the girls were sound asleep!

Here's some pictures from our day....enjoy!

Zach's first school parade...

Zach had his first school parade...I unfortunately couldn't be there because I was already at the doctor's office getting the twins their shots (Zach came right after school). Here's some pictures Daddy took. If you're wondering why Sam is the "only" parent in the parade, apparently Zachary had it in his mind that his Dad was going to be with him the WHOLE time....so after Sam helped Zach with his costume and Mrs. Sharon asked the parents to leave the room ... Zachary freaked out (like why is my Daddy leaving)....so Sam had to march in the little parade too. (Our neighbor Jen, who's kids also go to the same school caught the action since Sam couldn't. :)

The boys stick together!

Well, I was going to post a couple from the actual "parade" but there are no shots where he's not frowning or crying. So ... this is his class.....three boys and eleven girls (not all are in the picture) LOL.

Love,
xoxoxo