"Today was so awesome, I feel like my heart's going to blow up!"

Monday was Jake's Make-a-wish declaration day.  It is a slight understatement to say that he had a good time as you can tell by the title of this post.  He and Cole walked out asking if we could go back tomorrow and gushing about how 'awesome' everything was.

Make-a-wish is fantastic...there is no other way to describe it!  They started out by sending this castle in the mail to Jake... inside is a key and an invitation asking him to come and meet them.

We got a phone call a week later and set up a time for us to come in and have Jake tell the 'wish wizards' what his wish was.  When we got there, we played a wishing game to figure out what it was he wanted very most in the world.  (Although he was very adamant that he already knew...)  He wrote down that he wanted to go on a Disney Cruise and put it in a gold tube.  Then it was time to open up the wish room with he key they had sent to him!

Inside, was a waterfall and lights that continually changed colors.  We had all written down a wish for Jake and then went around the room telling him what we wished for him.  He was then told to follow the lights with his gold tube...

He followed the lights to the back of the room, where he was supposed to put the gold tube into that cone thing...

He followed the lights again and put the cone down on a larger tube--his wish was now given to the wish wizards where they start working on getting his wish granted!

We then went downstairs and had root beer floats.  They could not have done anything any better than they did.  They made Cole feel just as special as Jake.  They asked him what his wish was and let him do everything that Jake did too.  It was a wonderful afternoon!

(We still have not started maintenance.  As of last Monday, Jake's ANC was at 0!!  Crazy.  We have been stuck at home for the last week and have not gone anywhere!  We will see tomorrow whether or not they have gone up.)

my boys take after me.

just thought I'd show you a couple of family videos with the boys taking after their dad with their sweet moves.
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/VHztMLwEQdrmwkNl38n2

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/6E0KcYwwuqVYOfL9fr55

Wrestlin'

An update for those of you that have been asking...Jake is doing wonderful! You forget what it is like to have a healthy, active little boy running around. He has started to try to run again and jump on the tramp and to just be an active kid--he and Cole are constantly on the ground wrestling with each other which has now become their favorite thing to do throughout the day. There have been a couple of times that me and Jeff just sit and stare and wonder who this kid is. We finally feel like we have our little boy back and we could not be any more grateful.
As far as his therapy goes, we are still stuck in delayed intensification. I think that we are now about 6 or 7 weeks behind schedule(I've stopped counting). His counts were still too low on Monday to start maintenance. His ANC has to be at 750--he is still down at 300. His platelets are also too low to start. We will draw blood on Monday and see if next week we are able to begin!

Tribute to the Parents

Hey this is Heidi.  I have decided we post way too much about our kids and it's time to show some respect to the true king and queen of this fam.  I have not edited all these pic's but it's time to focus on who makes this family click...so here you go.  

We have been tagged before but never done one, so here you go:

Favorite movie:

J-Hoosiers

Me-The latest Pride and Prejudice.  Jeff has tried watching it 3x's with me but has been asleep b the time we get to the dancing scene (yes, 10 mins into it) each time.

Favorite color:

J-blue

Me-red

Favorite t.v. show:

J-Inside the NBA on TNT. (He doesn't watch t.v. Oh, he does watch American Idol and loves it!)

Me-Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy.  Love

Where we grew up:

J-Flower Mound, TX

Me-Murray, UT

How we met:

J-EFY counselors

Me-I came up and started hitting on him while we were efy counselors.  What can I say I thought he was a hottie!!

Favorite sports to play:

J-waterski, hoops, golf, ping pong

Me-scrapbooking, blogging and snow skiing.  Jeff and I have a bet that I'm a better snow skiier.  He has been once and I've skied my entire life but he thinks he's automatically better than me at all sports so we're having a contest this winter.  You can all come if you want.

Type of Twilight character you are: (thanks to our friend Chris Ulrich for inspiring Jeff to do this!)

J-Emmett

Me-Esme

Things we can't live without:

J-His truck and his ski

Me-My computer and camera.

There you have it.  I don't want to put anything else on here.  Feel free to comment lots!!

Baby Fine Hair

Jake's hair has begun to grow back in. It is a fine, white blond color and so soft. (I just want to sit and pet his head all day!:)) I am shocked that it makes me sad to see him starting to get it back. Is that strange? It was so devastating to watch him lose it, and now I am sad that it is finally growing back in. I know that it means he is getting better and that we are finished with the intensive therapy, but I just love his little bald head! Cancer has become a part of who he is. It does not define him by any means, but it has made this little boy better and so strong in so many ways. This trial has shaped us into people that we could not have become otherwise...the experiences he has had with feeding tubes and pokes and medicines...that little bald head represents the difficulties he has had and who he is becoming as he gets older. It is sad for us to not have that to look at and remind us that we need to become stronger and better too.

King of the house

Is it sad that our 8 month old baby knows that he has every single person in our household wrapped around his finger?   He is our angel baby-- he has the sweetest disposition with a smile for everyone he sees.  I don't know what we would have done without him the last six months.  He has somehow made Jake's cancer easier to bear.  He came at the most perfect time into our family and has won all of our hearts!

Happy Halloween!

(Can you tell that neither boy was thrilled about having his picture taken?)  

A white tiger, a lion and a jedi knight...

little red riding hood and the big bad wolf.  (NO...Jeff was not a mouse--he was a wolf!)

We had a wonderful halloween trick-or-treating, having a costume party and eating and then eating some more.  I am so sick of candy the thought of it makes me want to puke!  The boys had so much fun, although I think that Jake was a little worn out from walking from house to house.  None of us lasted too long.  A good day...I can't believe it is already over!