Shoot 'em, stuff 'em, ship 'em

Two weeks ago, I broke the news to the children that I would be going out of town the next morning. It went down a little something like this:

Me: I'll be flying out of town tomorrow morning and I'll be back late Sunday night.

Eve: Okay.

Nat: Okay.

Dan: Nooooooooooo!

Me: It's okay, Daniel. I'll be back in a few days.

Dan: Nooooooooooooo!

Me: Daddy will be here with you.

Dan: But who will make me homemade bread?

Me: I made you a bunch of homemade bread.

Dan: But what if I eat it all?

Me: I made 32 buns. Please don't eat it all.

Dan: But who will make me homemade crackers?

Nat: Mom already made a bunch of crackers, Dan. Besides, you have to eat some vegetables.

Dan: But what if we run out of homemade butter?

Me: Then Daddy can go buy some Shedd's Spread.

Dan: I don't want you to go. I want Mommy!

Me: Daddy knows how to fix butter on bread.

Dan: Okay.

21 stickers, 3 beads, and a couple of faded scars.

Eighteen months off-treatment. It feels like she was just diagnosed yesterday and ten years ago all at the same time. Or maybe I feel this way because I generally have no sense of time and this is why I'm late to everything. BUT! I was not late for her appointment. No Duke Truant Officers on my back.

First off, ultrasound. (Ultra-sound? Ultra sound? Sonogram.) The tech does not rush out and come back in to take more pictures. Always a good sign. Eve receives three stickers.

American Gothic

I'm admittedly very behind on documenting the highlights of our lives in blog-form, so I dedicate this post to everything I can remember before/during/after/sometime around Halloween. Chronicling our comings and goings and chemos has come in handy, not only in letting total strangers in on my Taco Bell fetish, but when we have little lovers' spats with the insurance company. Yes we DID have genetic testing on Thursday, October 29, 2009. Duh, it's documented on my blog.

For whom the phone rings.

You know, every time the phone rings at 9:00 a.m., I have come to expect it will be Wake County Schools calling to let me know that Daniel has thrown up on the bus. And then I will come get him from school, where he will be completely fine and his clothes completely free of vomit (where does all that vomit go?). And then we will come home and the first thing he does is open his lunch box and dive right in.

Love-A-Fair

Upon arriving at the State Fair, we realized there was no stroller in the van. The stroller is important because in the sea of people, we can put Eve on lock-down when she starts to melt. But more importantly, we need some place to rest our food and drinks.

So we rented a wagon. You can fit a lot of food into a wagon. Equally as important, you can fit three kids.

The Big 0-4

So maybe Eve's birthday party was two weeks ago. So what? I've been busy! Like eating and carpooling and stuff.

Eve decided she wanted a costume party for her birthday which just happened to be the best theme for this time of year. Wal-Mart has huge sections of the store dedicated to Halloween and everything is $0.97 or less. I dig it.