Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009 7:24 PM, EDT
Scott came to work on the playhouse today! While he was here the windows, doors and slide arrived. The windows work! And they have screens! Also, Donna, "The Wishing Lady", stopped by and gave us some info on how they are going to decorate the inside....wow, they have some awesome plans! It looks like they will be doing a lot of the interior work while we are in NYC, so we will make sure they take lots of pictures for us.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 4:48 PM, EDT
Scott surprised us and came to shingle the roof, in the rain, today!
In other news....
It turns out Ally's course of treatment is about to change. A little over a month ago I was talking with Ally's oncologist. We were talking about how well Ally is responding to the chemo and how it has shrunk her tumor. She brought up "the next step". If you have a good memory, read old posts once in a while, or just remember key events you may be thinking, "off to Boston". Well, things have changed. We are actually headed to New York City! This is the antibody treatment we have heard a little bit about. This treatment works best when there is very little disease, and Ally fits into that category now. We know very little about the whole treatment other than it is a 2 week course, that is about 3 hours a day. We will be staying at the Ronald McDonald house in NYC during those 2 weeks. Next week the 3 of us are headed to NYC for some preliminary tests and to have a face to face with the doctors. We expect to get lots more info then, such as when her first 2 week treatment will be. For now here is a link that explains what we are headed for. This is literally ALL we know about this treatment at this point. http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/3215.cfm
We are excited about this next step and are willing to take advice about fun things to see/do in NYC with an immuno suppressed kid and no car!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009 5:53 PM, EDT
Lots of progress on the playhouse today. I feel kind of silly calling it a playhouse, because of the awesomeness of it...it should have a different name...like, ohhhh, a guest house or vacation home. Anyway Grampa Moore got to help today, much to his delight! Ally had lots of fun running around, in and out, while they were building. Scott and Grampa Moore are working again tomorrow. Note how the Playhouse dwarfs the garage!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Ally in her playhouse to be.
Sunday, October 25, 2009 5:46 PM, EDT
Scott is a master builder. He got so much done today on Ally’s giant playhouse. He leveled off the bricks, built the floor, assembled 3 walls and put them up. He is coming all day tomorrow and Tuesday. I will be sure Grammy has the camera to take pictures throughout the day.
Fun Tidbit: Ally tried on her Halloween costume today and practiced trick-or-treating with Grampa. We also found out Ally loves peanut butter cups!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Fire and ice
Some say the world will end in fire,First published in Harper's Magazine, 1920
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Colorado Rocky Mountain High
Is it any different?
We send a son off to war
a daughter to college
or the other way around.
and they are on an imaginary space ship
we on the ground.
At play at six
first date, first car
they sail away
and us not noticing til they are gone.
Helpless? No.
Many help, many
in the glue that is
the village
as they sail high away
the country, the world.
They wake up safe
in a box
in our attic
and we pretend it is always
so
By Phil Specht
Catch up Up-dates (Thanks, Verizon)
Friday, October 9, 2009 4:48 PM, EDT
It seems very nice that I have not needed to update in over a week...that is a sign that life is "normal".
We spoke with the "Wishing Lady" as Ally calls her, about Ally's Make-A-Wish Playhouse. It is going to be AWESOME!!! They came by and took a picture of the front of our house, so they can model her playhouse off what our house really looks like. There is going to be a kitchen and a little reading nook. A slide will be involved as well....it is sounding like it is going to be way cooler than our real house!
Ally goes up to Dartmouth to start her next round of chemo on Monday...let's hope the pharmacy is on their game.
Monday, October 12, 2009 1:29 PM, EDT
We are at the hospital right now and Ally's last bit of chemo is flushing through her lines. Yippie!
As a side note, the pharmacy was spot on today, probably thanks to a couple of calls from Ally's oncologist last week and this morning.
This weekend we had super lots of fun! (Hey, I only teach math this year, so my grammar is suffering!) On Saturday we went apple picking with Auntie Kelly. We all rode on a tractor, picked lots of apples and then watched the apple cider donuts being made. We then bought some of those tasty donuts and ate them warm!!!
On Sunday we met the Schulte side of the family (Grammy, Grampa, Auntie, Uncle (and Uncle's niece)) in Portsmouth to take some super awesome pictures at Prescott Park. Ally had so much fun with all the flowers and seagulls. I will be sure to post some of the pictures soon.
We also decorated the house for Halloween. Ally is loving the lights, pumpkins and mums that are in the front of our house. She is also loving the decorations across the street and "Marge's Pumpkin" next door. We are practicing trick or treating in the living room so that Ally will not be too shy when the real holiday comes around.
We are expecting a low key week and some more autumn fun next weekend. Have a great week!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009 4:48 PM, EDT
It seems very nice that I have not needed to update in over a week...that is a sign that life is "normal".
We spoke with the "Wishing Lady" as Ally calls her, about Ally's Make-A-Wish Playhouse. It is going to be AWESOME!!! They came by and took a picture of the front of our house, so they can model her playhouse off what our house really looks like. There is going to be a kitchen and a little reading nook. A slide will be involved as well....it is sounding like it is going to be way cooler than our real house!
Ally goes up to Dartmouth to start her next round of chemo on Monday...let's hope the pharmacy is on their game.
Fun Tid Bit:
Ally likes to carry the Halloween decorations around the house, especially a little ghost and pumpkin we have.
Story of Lobo & Blanca (clicky)
Lobo, After His Capture
The image is a photograph that Seton took of Lobo after his capture near the headquarters of the L Cross F Ranch which belonged to Louis Fitz-Rudolph*. The photograph details the stark landscape in which the wolf met his demise, as well as the ensnared wolf cowering away from the Seton as he shot the photograph. This is the image that would remain with Seton long after the event.
*It's all in the details, lol! That would be: Lewis Fitz Randolph. . . .
Blanca, Lobo’s Mate
A photograph of Blanca, Lobo’s mate (1894). “Within a mile or so, we came up, and found that the little wolf in the trap was Blanca safe and sure. Lobo was with her running alongside. He would not leave her. But when he saw the men coming with guns, he knew he was powerless. He called her to follow, and led up the side of the hill to the mesa. She did follow for a time, until the horns of the big beef head caught in the rocks and held her. Then she had to turn and face us. “Just then, up came the sun, and shone full on her. I saw now what a beautiful creature she was – pure white. I used my camera, and made the lasting record given.” (Trail of an Artist-Naturalist – the autobiography of Ernest Thompson Seton; pg 336, Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY 1941). The two photographs of Lobo and Blanca were later used by Seton to symbolize the extermination of wolves from the southern plains. It was this event in which Seton began to realize he had killed “his kindred” in cold blood.
And more:
http://www.pineapplefish56.net/Setons_Lobo.html
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Yes let's go fishing.
.......A toast to a Judge (and English Professor) on passing
words matter
a little, at least, I would think
and cruel indeed is talk of fishing
without action
a pause, a toast, to the word justice
which meant a little extra to our friend K.D.
but talk about cruel
when empty
that word
a life in pursuit of something more
and special
because we were invited
~~ Phil Specht
by ~i-bloom-blaum
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
(Robert Frost, 1923)
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Monday, October 05, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009 7:05 PM, EDT
Ally has made her wish!
Ally wished for a playhouse. The playhouse will have a green door, a blue table, a kitchen, and a Winnie the Pooh theme. There will also be some sort of slide as well.
She was very shy with the Make-A-Wish ladies, but once we got the playhouse idea out there, Ally picked the green door, blue table and kitchen theme. We all came to a consensus about Pooh and the slide.
Ally was all smiles and giggles while we were talking about it.
They are hoping to move fast so it will be ready to play with before the snow flies.
On another positive note our house is no longer 62 degrees!
We have had a great week!
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 7:10 PM, EDT
We were right. Extreme Home Makeover was at CHaD today. It was an exciting day. We had lots of time to play with other kids...Ally had a super time playing with a few other girls in the playroom. At one point we were called out, placed in front of the cameras and presented a gift from Auntie Lynn! It was a book that Auntie Lynn was able to record her voice in. Of course Ally picked her nose half way through the segment.
The big news was that Hallmark donated $50,000 to the B+ (be positive) campaign for CHaD, that was started by the family that is getting a new house.
There was another event where people walked around the hospital, apparently that was filmed by WMUR. It had been a long 4 hours at CHaD, so we did not go to that.
We do not know when the episode of Extreme Home Makeover will air, but when we get word I will post it here, we also do not know if they will use the footage of Ally.
Tomorrow we talk to the Make-A-Wish people!
Fun additional note:
Ally got to see lots of her old nurses today. One of the LNAs remembers Ally's "pacifier switch"! Ahhhh memories! (She gave up the pacifier over a year ago!)
Ally also gave lots of hugs to the little girls she was playing with in the play room.
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