Christmas in Indiana

This was our year to spend Christmas in Indiana. We spent 6 fun filled days there and packed as much into them as we could without over doing it. The kids enjoyed seeing family, the few snow flurries we got to see, and of course...the gifts. Mommy and daddy most enjoyed a couple of dates without having to pay a sitter (we NEVER get that at home and took full advantage of turning things over to Gran and Pop). We are now back home, unpacked, new toys crammed in various places, and now ready to begin the undecorating process. We are so thankful for such wonderful families. Here are just a few of our picture highlights!


Hugs in our new matching Christmas jammies!


The Garolas before church on Christmas eve (yes mama is as big as a house and still growing daily)


Fun with the Walters boys.


One of the few pictures I got of Cade actually standing on his skates. (each time I went to click the picture, he fell.)


Cora looking good in her skates. Too bad she spent maybe 8 seconds on the ice before totally freaking out. She did want to keep the skates on though!

cora says...

Cora is notorious for 1000 tuck ins. She always invents reasons she needs us to come back, but last night was the funniest. I put a very very very tired Cora in bed very late and just as I walked away I heard,

"Mama,come back." (i go back) "I fink I hab a wedgie."

low and behold, we corrected the situation and she went straight to sleep.

drama

So we visited clinic again today for our December chemo, and as usually mama comes home with a worry. I'm trying so hard to focus on how well she is doing and not the minor side effects and set backs of chemo, but it's so hard for me to not worry. Her counts were great her anc in the 3000s and Dr. G thinks going back to school after Christmas would be fabulous, she actually suggested and encouraged it. Also Cora feels great! Lately I am really starting to notice that (with the exception of her 5 days a month on steroids) she really is less fussy and tantrumish and much more predictable. So what's the worry you're thinking... Her blood pressure. It seemed to be a bit elevated today. It never has been ever before today, but I had the nurse check it four times just to be sure. We're not exactly sure why it's elevated, but Dr. G has a few theories and wants to keep a close eye on it. One possibility is the simple fact that usually I don't give her the first dose of her monthly steroid until after her clinic visit and today I gave it to her early this morning. That by itself could be enough to elevate blood pressure. But of course there all kinds of other side effects of treatment that can do it as well that can be a bit more serious. So for right now we've been encouraged to keep a food and drink journal of everything she eats and pretty much eliminate sodium and sugar. Dr. G is a big fan of a "natural" diet which is really better for all of us anyway. We've tried to minimize her sodium and preservatives until now, but we're gonna try to really be vigilant about it now. We do pretty well for breakfast and dinner, but I'm gonna have to rethink lunches. I am not sure turkey and cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, grilled cheese, and pb&j are great choices. Basically it's just gonna take some creativity (and more work) on my part. We're gonna get a juicer and make our own juice because juice Dr. G made a pretty big deal about how high in sugar and sodium store juices really are, but I am not sure Cora can live without juice. There's a pediatric endocrinologist that comes in town and sees Backus patients once a month so Dr. G is going to consult with him as well. Hopefully, this too will turn out to be nothing serious and we'll all be healthier and better off for our diet changes anyway. If any of you ultra healthy pure eaters have any food suggestions for us, PLEASE share!

Move over, Bing Crosby!

There's a new Christmas song soloist in town! The kids have been anxiously awaiting the Backus Children's Hospital Hematology/Oncology Christmas Party. Backus does a great job and the kids had such a ball last year (well, Cade had a ball. Cora was a grump and felt awful, but luckily she's remembering it through cade's memory!) Cade has NO stage fright. We have no clue where he gets this from because you'd never catch daddy, Cora, or I singing on stage, but he loves it! You may remember that he sang the same song last year and the band guys totally remembered Cade and invited him up for an encore! Definitely mama's highlight of the night!!! (don't forget to hit pause on the playlist so you can hear!)

Christmasy Stuff Part II

This year I am feeling really really lucky to have so much time at home with my kids. Even though we've been running to this party and that errand, we've had a lot of time to enjoy the season and make Christmas memories! I wish I could freeze them at these ages forever! They love Christmas!


Cora and her cute friends at our Christmas Tea Party


Cora all ready to play hostess at her tea party. Get this...that skirt plays Jingle Bell Rock (a great find, Gran!)


Cade trying on Dr. Whittle's "Max" hat at the Backus Children's Hospital Hem/Oc Christmas Party


Cora eating her heavily sprinkled cookie at the Backus Party


Cora helping mommy with at little holiday baking prior to her tea party!


Our 2nd visit with Santa at the Backus Party went even smoother than the first. Santa didn't even give Cora a choice, just hiked her right up on his knee! He even surprised both the kids with an early gift Cora with a plastic Snow White characters set and Cade with a pirate LEGO set. How well does Santa know my kids????

Christmasy Stuff

Here's what we've been up to this week.
Cade's cute class did a very cute Christmas singing program. His class voted on their favorite 3 Christmas songs, made their very own hats for each song (no patterns used at all), and even made up the motions all by themselves. It was their program and she let the kids have total ownership of it! Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cade's teacher? I seriously wish she could just teach him straight through med school! (I know, I'm a dreamer)

Then mommy was determined to not pay $30 to get a picture taken with Santa, so after searching high and low we discovered that Bass Pro Shop had an entire Santa Wonderland set up and would totally let you take your own Santa picture (they even took one for us for free) but being the picky mama that I am, I needed my own to ensure that it went the same way as the Santa pictures from the last 6 years. We display them all each year.

Cora was a trip on this Santa visit. She has two items that she decided in early October she'd ask for from Santa and I gotta give her credit for being consistent. They haven't changed. But for the last 2 years our Santa pictures have included 4 people: Santa, Cade, Cora, and mommy doing her best to avoid being in the picture, but forcing a very screaming and crying Cora to remain IN the picture. not pretty. So we had this long talk before hand about how Santa is our friend and how he's so nice and in order for him to bring us presents, we need to tell him what to bring. So Cora totally psyched herself up for it. She said, "I'm a big girl now. I won't cry!" As we got closer to the front of the line her grip on my hand got tighter and tighter, but no tears. So then when it came our turn Cade ran right up and told Santa that he wanted a LEGO castle set and the newest Harry Potter Movie out on DVD (that was the first time I'd heard him utter a word about either of those...yikes) and then I sorta pulled Cora toward Santa and I said, "Santa, Cora has two really special things that she'd like to tell you about that she'd like for Christmas this year." I thought maybe this would get her to warm up a little before the picture. So Cora stands about one car's length from Santa and shouts to him, "I WANT A SNOW WHITE BARBIE AND A BELLE BALL GOWN." Well, Santa seemed like he was getting quite up there in age and didn't hear a word the she said, so he said, "Come closer so I can hear you better." (smart move, Santa) So Cora inches 3 centimeters closer, cups her hands about her mouth and SCREAMS, "A SNOW WHITE BARBIE AND A BELLE BALL GOWN!" Cade was cracking up and I nearly wet my pants. Then we told her to move closer to Santa for a picture and this is all we got. Take 1 (you could fit a mack truck between Cora and Santa)


Take 2 (after we said, "move closer, move closer, Cora" like 100 times)


Not perfect, but they'll work and they were free! The things we put our kids through to get a good picture!

Oh ya, on the way to the car Cade says, "I think Santa's response was pretty good about both of those things. He seemed like he could work both those out even though it is last minute." Guess I only thought I was done shopping.

mary???

So we've slowly been Christmas decorating around here and it's brought on a whole new fascination for Cora. MARY! The other day I went outside when she and Cade were playing to find her dressed like this in our shed in front of a baby doll laying on a pile of pine straw. Who knew the Lord's mother wore red velvet and fur?

Camping Out

Last weekend Cade begged Rob to take him camping, but it was cold, so they compromised and camped in the backyard. Cora and I even joined them for the pre-sleeping activities. Daddy just removed one of the big square stones from the patio off the back door and poof....instant fire pit! Daddies are good for quite a few things!