June 29, 2011

Ready to go get his port out!!

Deb-Blake's favorite Interventional Radiology Nurse!

Today is a day worth celebrating!! Blake had his port removed!! His port stopped working, so weird because we have NEVER had any problem with it. It been in since Feb 2, 2010 and now June 29th its being removed! Its almost as though his body said "I dont need this anymore". His doctors are all ok with it being removed since all we have used it for lately is sedation for MRI's. They also let us know not to worry, that if God forbid we do need it again, it wont be difficult to do. We of course, are praying that we NEVER need it again! Blake officially has NO PORT and NO G-TUBE!! In a few weeks we will find out if his
tumor is stable...praying for good news!! I will keep you all posted once we get his results!!

Blake was spoiled by the nurses!! 5pk of HotWheels, coloring book, crayons, & Sponge Bob pen!



This is what Blake's port looked like. (not actually his)

Sat June 25, 2011

This is one of the pics I took for his invitations!

I have always loved birthday parties! There is something magical about them. For the past few months I have been gathering, sewing, painting, sewing, painting, and gathering. lol After many late nights and long days...I am ready for Blake's 4th Birthday Party!! Today is the day! And I am proud to say, all my hard work paid off! This was by far his BEST birthday party yet! Several months ago Blake told me he wanted a Batman Birthday. So I started planning a Superhero party...water grenades, Batman cake, superhero silly bands, water guns, comic books, capes, superhero game, masks, a king size sheet for a photo backdrop, clothes pin superheroes. Ya know just what every party needs! lol Blake was so excited! I recruited the help of some of my friends, assembling goody bags, cutting out stars for the capes, cutting felt masks, etc. When Blake woke up this morning he was pretty calm. I don't think he realized exactly what was in store. Everyone started arriving at 2pm. Blake decided he needed to guard his presents...not sure why. lol All the other kids were out side playing. My grandparents stayed in with him, until we finally convinced him it was ok to come outside. He is so silly sometimes. This was the first year he was excited for the presents, more than the party. He had a BLAST playing with all his friends. Seeing him smile just brightens my day! He is such a special kid. I am SO grateful for how well he is doing. All the kids played and jumped (we rented a bounce house) and then got a little wet from the water balloon fight. We came in to sing 'Happy Birthday' and have some cake and ice cream. Then everyone sat on towels outside eating cake while Blake started opening his presents. He was SO excited! He got a lot of really cool stuff. We really have amazing family and friends!! It was such a great birthday. Not sure if I will ever be able to top that one...but its worth a shot! Blake deserves it! Here is a slide show I put together since I wanted to share all the photos with you! I hope you enjoy!!

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Thurs June 16, 2011



Waiting patiently to blow out the candles

Today my little guy turns 4! Time is a funny thing. Sometimes the days pass so slowly, but then all of a sudden you realize how much time has passed and wish to go back and savor those little moments. I am so thankful for the last 2 years and how far my little man has come. He is our little superhero...kicking cancers butt!! Although financially it has been stressful, the days and hours I have been able to spend with him are PRICELESS. He is such an amazing kid and I love him SO much! Lately I have been looking at the little boy he is and dreaming about the man he will become. He makes us so proud. There is so much love inside his heart, so much determination. He has taught me so much about life, how to enjoy each day, live in the moment, not take things for granted...just to name a few. He was only a few days older than 2 when his fight with cancer began. Now at 4 he is so strong, and although he still has a brain tumor, it seems as though he is winning his battle. I keep praying that he will live a long long happy life. Be able to do anything he can dream up. Of course I have BIG dreams for him...he is somehow going to change the world!

Making his wish...

Birthday breakfast

We started his birthday off by singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. He is all of a sudden embarrassed when we sing him that song. lol So we got him up and he wore his special birthday 'Batman' shirt. Dad picked up donuts for his special bday breakfast. We put 4 donuts on a plate with 4 candles and sang 'Happy Birthday' again. He loves blowing out candles, still didn't like us singing. haha

Very excited to be making cookies for his friends!

Blake loved the stars...

All decorated and ready to eat! Mmm!

Then we headed to his therapy camp. We made homemade sugar cookies with icing to share with all his therapy friends. I let his therapist know that I was going to pull him out early to have a 'birthday date' with me. Although our plan didn't quite work out the way I envisioned it to, we had a great day nonetheless. 

Once his 'camp' was over we headed to Crown Center to eat at Fritz's. This was his 1st time. He LOVED it! (For those of you who don't know, its a restaurant that has a train track around the whole place, and a train delivers your food to you after you order it on an old school phone-super cool huh?!) Afterwards we went through ZOOM toy store, note to self: do NOT do that again!! Everything is WAY overpriced...I mean WAY overpriced. lol After a slight meltdown, I ended up carrying him out of the store crying. I felt horrible. lol 


We then headed to Children's Mercy for a last minute brace fitting appointment at Children's Mercy. He is getting fit for a new leg brace. We went to see Lynda, she is our favorite, and Blake brought cookies to share with her too! After picking his new brace pattern (pink and orange camo) Lynda cast his leg. In just a few weeks it will be ready! Then we were headed to Toys R' Us. I told Blake we would go pick out a little something for his birthday. After looking around for a while, he decided he wanted Legos. Lucky for me they were buy 1 get one 50% off. He picked a police motorcycle and Police canine unit set. Only $13 for both! Now thats a deal! lol Finally we were on our way home. It was a fantastic day!

Mon June 6, 2011

Its been a crazy few weeks...lets catch up!!

Memorial Day weekend was a lot of fun! We went to Nevada, MO to celebrate a good friend of ours birthday. Then on Sunday we had a little shindig here with some friends. Blake had a BLAST both days! We have some AMAZING friends! I love BBQ's with good people!



Phil, Blake, Mike and Craig



He has great aim...LOL

June 2 was our first givingSOLO event! The gallery at 19 Below hosted its 2nd annual Childrens Art Exhibit and Auction (last year we were the recipients of the money raised). This year 100% of the proceeds are going to our organization givingSOLO! It was a huge sucess!! Blake's painting went for $100!! I love that his paintings are such a hot item! Last year it went for $100 too!! I think we might have ourselves an artist in the making!! lol If you havent already checked our website out go to http://www.givingsolo.org/!! You can learn all about us!!

Blake spent a lot of time in the pool this past weekend. I am so excited, since last year he wanted nothing to do with the pool. Well, he liked the big inground pools-but not his kiddy pool. He wants to be outside all the time, and of course in the pool. So looks like we will be spending our weekends in the driveway in the blow up pool, soaking up the sun and maybe I can read a few books!

Today was Blake's first day of camp. He loved it! I am so glad because he will be going 5 days a week for the next 4 weeks. lol They tie-dyed tshirts and ate snow cones. All while leftie was cast up-making him use righty. He didnt seem to mind at all. I LOVE all of his therapists. I will be honest and say I wasnt exactly looking forward to being up there 5 days a week, but I know how great it will benefit Blake, which totally makes it worth it.

Thurs June 2, 2011

We had our first official givingSOLO event! It was such a success! There were so many amazing pieces of art done by some amazing kids. We also had a ton of community donations that were a huge hit! Thank you to all of you who made it out to help support us tonight! A lot of work goes into putting this event together, Joy Moeller we are in awe of all that you do! Thank you for starting this event, and doing it again and again! It is by far my FAVORITE event!! Here is a little taste of the event...you HAVE to be there next year!!

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