We didn’t get to far back into routine until we were off again. Alabama was hit by another round of tornados. Luckily, it was not as bad as last April, but people did lose their homes and lives and a county school was destroyed. We only missed one day of school to allow the county to survey the damage. We did not have any damage in our area.
Taylor is playing basketball and loving it! He is not the shortest kid on the team which is huge for him. He is really learning a lot and having a blast. He only has 2 games left and is sad about it. He is a huge bball fan these days. Even gearing up to celebrate Michael Jordan’s bday tomorrow:)
Logan is playing travel ball for the Alabaster Bandits this yr. He is having a good time with that. Learning a lot and getting better every day.
We have all been sick the last 2 weeks. Logan had strep and the rest of us all had asinus infection. Everyone is better except me and I can’t seem to shake it.
We had some big excitement when I hit a 10 point deer……with the front end of my car! I was such a sad, sad girl! Luckily, our dear friend owns a collision shot and fixed me up right in quick fashion! I am good as new!
We have 4 weeks until spring break. We are nutty, coo coo and headed back to Disney! We have fun every time we go, but the kids were at the perfect age to do everything and it was great. Can we really afford it? No. Are there many things I could/should do instead? yes. However, when you have been through what Taylor/we have been through, you look at things differently. I realize that I am not promised tomorrow. What good will it do me to save and dream about it, if tomorrow never comes? God provides and we will make it somehow in life. My bills are payed and my kids will have a great spring break!!!! They are already sorting out their pins for pin trading. They are mapping out what rides to do first, who will sit with who etc. Thats what it is about people!!! Live life, don’t watch it pass by!
Taylor will finish up ball in February and Logan will start in March, so no breaks. We have about 3 1/2 months of shcool left. That is very bitter sweet! Taylor is in his last few months as a elementary school kid! I will miss that loving, caring staff at MES that have cared for him like their own! At the same time, It is awesome that the little guy we were not sure would turn 2, is going to middle school! Praise God!!! Logan will be in 3rd grade, wow!
I guess that about it. Not much to report this time around.

The night of the last update the dreaded tummy bug hit the Watts house. Logan was the only one spared! Jim and Taylor missed school and work on Monday with it and I missed Thursday. Luckily, it was short lived and gone by the weeks end.
That weeken was spent finalizing and wrapping gifts. We had to be ready for Christmas early simce we were headed to Disney World!

December 16th was Logan’s 8th birthday! Can you believe that he has not even been around through out this entire journey! He celebrated his bday at San Antonio which is our tradition. The boys went to school for half a day on that day and we checked them out and drove to Disney.

We spent a week there with a friends, the Millers. We had a blast! The weather was perfect! In the upper 70’s daily and not a drop of rain. Taylor is now considered an adult in the eyes of Disney, so he ate high on the hog that week! He is my little dare devil and rode everything! He would get aggrevated when we were doing something “babyish” Rockin roller coaster was his favorite! I think he would do it continuously and never get off, if they allowed it! WE had to bribe him to get on Tower of Terror, but he did and loved it too! That is my favorite, so I was glad to have a riding partner! Logan is not a daredevil by any means and had to be bribed to try everything. Some he did and some he didn’t. He loved Space mountian and rode it a lot. He did Rockin roller coaster twice just to buy a pluto and Mickey stuffed animal. He said he liked it, but also says he will never ride it again! We had to tap his leg before he went upside down. Logan was happy just meeting Goofy and seeing all the amazing Christmas decorations.

We got home late the night of the 23rd, so we came home just in time for more fun and business.

We all slept late on Christmas Eve and then headed to Guh’s house. The boys racked up and it was on the first stop. T got a tv and Logan a pitch back to practice pitching. Logan got a lot of stuff to redo his room into a baseball themed room and though we had no plans to redo T’s room, he got football stuff. He is so into football right now!!!!
It was soon time to head to Mary’s house. We ate and the kids opened legos and money! We then playe Dirty Santa, but not the tradtional way. We played Bingo and the winner got to pick a prize. The next winner could steal or take a new gift. It was fun! The kids even played and got some fun stuff.
Soon it was time to go to home and get ready to go to bed so Santa could come. They actually went to sleep quick. I guess that is a posotive for traveling the week of Christmas! The elves, Ernie and Bernie were here again this yr. They rolled the tree, put snow flakes all over the living room, put balloons all over the doors, made smores, ate cake, decorated for Logan’s birthday, played poker with tooth fairy money and even wrapped Logan’s door with wrapping paper and he had to bust out! Those elves are too much!!!
Christmas morning finally came and if you are a sports loving little boy then this was the place to be!!! Taylor got a ton of Cam and other players football cards. Bobble heads, a new book bag, a pass back football, Auburn clothes, MIchael Jordan jerseys and the best…..tickets to a Carolina Panthers vs. Saints footnall game in NOLA!! He is so excited!! Logan got baseball cards, a new back pack,Tim Hudson jersey, Jeter jersey, Babe Ruth figures and cards, a cany machine and best of all…..Tickets to the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, NY!!! Again, beyond excited!
Gam maw and Paw Paw came over and gave their gifts. T got an autogrpahed Cam Carolina Panter Jersey and a Roniie Brown jersey. Logan got a new baseball bat. They got beblades, clothes, baseball and football cards and more.
Soon we were off to another party at Pop’s house. They got more goods there, but as usual had the most fun with paper air planes!
Please say a prayer for my Pop, he is not doing well. He is on oxygen all the time and doesn’t eat or sleep well at all.
Last party was at out house with Jim’s family. Lots more baseball cards, clothes, a frame to hold all those new cards, legos and money! Then a rousing game of dirty Santa where Taylor got what he always wanted…..a fire safe for his cards:) love that boy!!!

We have spent the rest of the week chilling! I had so much laudry that it was scary! We have that caught up, sleep caught up and the Christmas decorations put away. We are now just enjoying the rest of our Christmas vacation.

We are looking forward to New yrs with friends. JIm and Taylor go to NOLA on the 1st and I guess Logan and I will just hang out at home.

Please pray for Taylor as he continues to thrive. He has had a tough few weeks with pneumonia, tummy bug and now on meds for sinus infection. As hard as it has been, it is nothing compared to the alternative and we know that. Pray he continues to do well in school even thoigh it gets tougher every yr. Pray that he is never agaim faced with cancer!! Pray for the too many who are still battling cancer!
Happy New Year!!!!!

Taylor did well with his oral surgery. That Friday, the day of surgery, he laid around and ate and drank very little. Saturday he felt fine, but was running fever. I really think the fever was from everything going on. He had pnuemonia, stomach bug and surgery all in one week and I think his body just couldn’t take it all. He was very sad becaue he wanted to to go the Galleria to a football/baseball card show. That boy loves cards more than anything! By afternoon he was feeling good and fever free. He couldn’t be real active after surgery, so he went out to swing. I think he was glad just to be outside.
Sunday Jim took the boys to the card show. THey had a ball. Guh and I went shopping. We got some Christmas gifts purchased for the boys and some window shopping.

When we all got back home we found that Ernie and Bernie, our elves had returned from the North Pole. They were riding the train around the tree.

Taylor went back to school that week and luckily was feeling much better. He took a few days to be able to really eat well, but that was to be expected after having 5 teeth pulled.

We opted to not keep him on the Vyvance (ADD). It did help him slightly, but the improvement was not enough to justify the side effects. He lost 10 pounds in the 3 weeks he was on it, he was not sleeping, he was so blah and not himself. We would rather study extra hard than see him be that way. He was off the meds about a week and he started eating and goofing off like his old self.

Thanksgiving week the boys had 2 days of school and then had a break. We went shopping and out to lunch with Guh on day one of our break. Then the boys spent the day outside playing. We had THanksgiving dinner at Gam maw and Paw Paw’s. The boys spent the night with Paw Paw, so that I could shop and Jim had to work. Gam maw, Ghen Ghen and I left around 7:30 pm and didn’t stop shopping till 6:00 am! How about that for an all nighter. The good news is, I have about 5 gifts left and I am done.

We Went to the Iron bowl and had fun though our Auburn Tigers didn’t do so well. That is ok, Taylor had a blast. He met Bo Jackson! He has now met and taken a pic with all 3 Auburn Heisman winners. Yes, he thinks he is the stuff! That boy loves football and was so excited! We left the game early beacuse he was complaining of an ear ache. Oh boy, not more sickness!!!!

We had Sunday lunch at my moms for Thanksgiving. No complaints of feeling bad at all. Shewww…..

MOnday I get an email from MRs. Hyche that Taylor has an ear ache. I told her to call me if it continues. Not anohter word??? period???? I have no idea what made his ear hurt, but it stopped and he has been fine. He seemed really yucky Thursday on the bus, but I really think he was car sick. I twas a little hot that afternoon, he can’t really see over the bus seats and I think he gets puney. Once we got off and in the air and got a cool drink he was fine. We have finally picked back up in guitar. He missed so much being sick and the holiday. We are in a lull with it. He wants to quit and I really don’t want him to. He is doing well, but isn’t really willing to put in the work. I think he will love it when he gets it, but we have to get there.

Friday at last! Logan said his throat hurt this morning, but never called from school, so I forgot all about it. He looked puney when we got on the bus. He felt hot! He said he sat out in PE cause he was so tired. I knew he was sick and I knew he had purposfuly not told anyone becaue he is so scared of going to the Dr. Sure enough, when we got home he had a 101 temp. We went to the Dr. that afternoon. He slept the hour wait, yes, hour wait!!! We finally got in triage and she took his temp and he puked all over the place. OOPS!!!! I knew then he had strep! He did!!! It is amazing what 24 hrs and antibiotics can do for strep, he was good as new by Saturday morning.

WE had the first of several Christmas parties. It was a swim party, how bout that! They loved it! We wended the weekend with the Camp SAM party. Bitter sweet day!!!! We saw many of our cancer family members. Always good to see them and to see how well they all are doing. Its good to see Drs and nurses in plain clothes not scrubs. it is always a very fun day. Today we said goodbye to Lynn, the director of 23 yrs! She was a fabulous lady who will be missed. We met the new driector who seemed very nice and genuine and an Auburn fan:) Camp will continue and will grow, but Lymm will be missed. We love you Momma Lynn!!!!!

So, we have had a good month. We have lots of fun coming up! We have started basket ball practice. Taylor loves it. Logan will pick up baseball again in the coming weeks. We leave for Disney in 12 days! Then of course Christmas. The next update should be packed and hopefully soon:)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

We have been busy since the last update. The last update that was only 19 days ago. How about me! I kind of miss updating about every little thing that happens, but I know that woul be rather boring.

Taylor started to get sick in that latter part of October. He had a terrible cough, but wanted to play his last football game and go to Tannehill for trick or treating, so we did.

Taylor has been kind of puneu since starting the ADD meds. It will not hurt my feelings if we do not continue the meds. I can see a difference, but I want to see huge improvements before I leave him on it. He has had 3 weeks worth and lost 5 pounds. Teeny meeny doesn’t need to lose weight.

Any hoo, I got off topic…..He woke up with a terrible, barking cough, but seemed to perk up as the day went on. We had a great last game, they won!! We spent the rest of the day at Tannehill with great fiends. The boys played war, foorball, hiked, climbed the big ole rock hill and ate. Well, Taylor didn’t do any eating. Night time rolled around and we dressed up and headed to the camp ground for some trick or treating. They had a great time, saw some friends, some crazy costumes, some scary stuff and much more.
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Halloween was on a Monday. We trick or treated around Gam Maw’s neighborhood and went to our church trunk or treat and then headed back home to do some candy trading. We have to work on sharpening those skills, Jim took them to the cleaners! All in fun though and all the candy is back in one big bowl for all to share.

Tuesday afternoon he was pitiful. He had a fever, a cough, a stuffy nose. He was so sad because his football awards was that night, so we went on to that and went to the Dr the next day. He had bronchitis. UUGH! So, meds and round the clock nebs were in order. He missed 2 days of school.

He went back to school Friday just in time for the Thanksgiving dinner. In his 5 yrs at school, Jim has never been off for this. Lucky him, got to go this yr. It wasn’t the best food in town, but the fun of being with the boys and seeing the excitment was worth it. They checked out and spent the rest of the afternoon at home, playing outside.

Saturday we were invited to the Samford University football game. It was a lot of fun. It was very intimate and Taylor and Logan were the only kids that went, so they got all the attention. They went on the field and warmed up with the team. They tried to tackle a player and he just picked them up and carried them off. I could hear the giggles from the side limes. They met Pat Sullivan. Taylor may not know much about Samford, but he knew who that was. He is all about his Auburn players and Heisman winners! He loved it!! They went into the field house, had a pregame meal, a half time meal, got any thing they wanted from the concession stand and got game worn jerseys. They also got to ride a pizza box down a huge hill! A great Saturday! Thank you to Samford University and ateam ministries for a great day!!!!

Sunday we had a tournament in Cullman, AL for Logan’s team, The Hueytown Hustle. They came in 2nd place. It was a long day, but fun. We had a great time.

Monday I got a call from the health room at the school and thought, oh boy, here we go again. No, not the time. Taylor had pulled a tooth, one of the teeth is supposed to get pulled! Yea for saving some money! It had been bothering him, so I am glad he got it out.

Monday brought dram for my tender hearted Logan. One of his goldfish died. He was devastated. He doesn’t take things lightly. I don’t know where he gets that from, not me. (choke, cough!) All was right with the world that night when we bought a new fish and a new decoration.

Tuesday morning started with a bang. Taylor had a tummy bug! Good grief! I stayed home and he was feeling somewhat better by afternoon.

Wednesday he woke with a 102 temp. UUGH, my cancer mom brain is overloaded and I am a mess. We go to the Dr. One beacuse I needed to have him seen for my peace of mind and two to have him cleared for oral surgery Friday. I assumed he was still hanging on to the bug. He may be, but they threw pneumonia at me. What??? So, more meds, more nebs and more missed school. 5 days in 2 weeks. Luckily, he has the best teacher and she has worked so well with us. He has already done all the make up work except a time line and all it needs is pics.

The deal was as long as he was fever free he could have his teeth pulled. Thank goodness, he was fever free and feeling much better. So, he had 4 teeth pulled this morning. He did great. He was very nervous, but remembers nothing. He was loopy and very entertaining. He asked why he had 8 fingers? When we were walking him to the wheel chair to leave, he asked which one to get in. He saw 4. It didn’t take to long and he was back to normal. He hasn’t eaten much, but he is up and playing.

Please pray for him to continue to thrive and do well. Pray that the right decision is made regarding the ADD medication. Pray that he heals well from the surgery and that he can get well and stay well!

Thank you to those who still read and have been with us for so long. We got an email the other day from a dad of a recently dx NB child. That is why we keep it going, we need people to see that you can beat this beast!

March! The months are flying by. It is insane how fast the time goes by these days.

Baseball has started. We lost our first game on the 7th, 3-2. The boys did well, but we came up short. The ump didn’t help too much either, but thats ok! We won our second game 7-5.

The night of the 11th we left for Gatlinburg. We got there late, but the boys were so excited it took them a while to settle in to bed. We went to the pancake house the next morning then explored. We did the Ripley Believe it or not museum per Taylor’s request. He loved it. We rode the sky lift up the mountain. The kids loved it, but Gam maw not so much. I loved it b/c it made me think of them many trips there with my meme and pop. Good times!

We went back to the cabin and the kids swam and shot their new sling shots. We went to dinner and then back to the cabin. The next day we did the Wonder Works where the kids loved the space walk ropes course in the cieling. It was so fun for them. Jim had to head back home since he wasn’t off this week. We stayed one more night, but spent it in the cabin. Taylor was taking meds for a sinus infection. I started wheezing and coughing. UUGH!

We came home Monday afternoon and unpacked and planned to hang out at home the rest of the week. I felt terrible by Wednesday with what I thought was a sinus infection. I took meds around the clock and slept all day both Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I started to feel better. We went to the McWane Center with Amy and Blake. They had a good time, but Lolo did not feel well!

We went to An Auburn baseball game. Logan is crazy about baseball like Taylor is football. He was in heaven and never took his eyes off the field. They got to run bases after the game and get autographs. He had a ball he wanted number 20 to sign, he is number 20. He walked up to #20, but #14 took the ball. Lolo looked him in the eye and said, “not you, him” Ha!!!! I couldn’t help, but laugh and neither could the player!

We went back to school as much as we did not want to! We had a ballgame Monday night. We won 3-2. Logan coughed and coughed! By Wednesday Lolo had a fever. He had been coughing, but no other symptoms or mention of feeling bad. I took him to the Dr, but never expected what I got. He had the flu!!!! I felt so bad that I had sent him to school and ball with the flu, but I didn’t know. Thursday Taylor woke up feeling bad. We took him on in afraid he too would have the flu. He had strep, again! They both went back to school on Friday and hopefully, everyone will feel better!

Taylor is doing well with guitar. He is learning Amazing Grace and Old Suzanna. He loves it! I am amazed at how he picks it up, iver tried to practice with him and just cant do it!

Logan’s next few games have been good. We lost the 4th game 5-4. We won the next 11-2 and the next 8-0. They are doing well. It is a tad boring since it is kid pitch and the field gets so little action, but they are putting a lot more in play that when Taylor’s age group was doing it.

Nana, Mary, Guh and I took a weekend trip to Lexington, Ky. My cousin Justin moved there and it was his bday, so we took Nana to visit. It was fun, but too long of a drive for a weekend trip.

I came home from the trip to Taylor complaining of his arm hurting. UUGH!!! I sent him to school Monday, but got a call by 10 that he was not moving that arm. I talked to Meredith and she thinks things are fine, but recomended an xray and CBC. We went to Petelos and did just that. CBC was perfect and film showed nothing. We put him in a sling and assume he pulled something. He has got to stop doing that to me! By the end of the week it only barely hurt to move it backwards, so we feel sure he did indeed pull something and it on the mend. He will see Dr. Berkow on 4/22 for his yearly check up. I will be glad to see him and get my yearly dose of clinic, it always makes me feel better!

I am so going to try and keep things updated better! I guess it is good news that I don’t update, it means that Taylor is doing well and we are living life as we should be. We are burning up the roads going to guitar, ball practice, ball games, picking up spend the night company, dropping off kids etc. We love this life, we love the God that brought us here, the DR, nurses etc, that got us here and you all who prayed with us.

April looks to be much the same, busy! Logan has ball games weekly, Taylor has guitar weekly, we have a field trip coming up, we have Taylor’s yearly check up, a team trip to a Baron’s game, dentist appointments and that is just what I can remember off the top of my head. I will try very hard to update again and keep you posted. I will also try to get some pics on here! if you are a facebook user we keep those pics updated, friend us!

February already! Things are starting to get busy, as if they could get busier!

We have had several days of registration for ball that we worked. Logan had try outs this month for ball. Taylor decided not to play this year. He will start guitar lessons this month.

A few months ago we met with ateam ministries and Amy Pleasant, a local artisit. Amy and Taylor painted a pic together that was something important to him. Amy painteda pic that depicted his journey. There were about 11 other kids that did this with other artisit. On the 19th there was a gala and the artisit art was auctioned off in a live auction and the kids in a silent auction. Taylor’s went for 1200.00 Wow!!! He was working his table and working the crowd! He had a blast. It certainly helped that a limo ride was involved as well as the Chizik’s being there and Kendall simmons, the super bowl player he met in October. He loved it!!!!  ateam ministries made enough to buy another condo that they allow parents to stay in when they are here for treatment. They are an awesome group doing amazing things and we were honored to be a part of it!

Taylor had an asthma/allergy apt. It went well. He checked out ok and will go back in August.

February ended on a sad note. Sam, our black lab that we were given a few yrs ago by Camp SAM died. He was only 3! Back in November he started to have what we thought were siezures. We thought it was due to the cold, he would not go into his dog house anymore. He had strange sores on his tail and leg. We thought maybe a rat or raccoon had attacked him in his house and that was the issue. We started brining him in the house at night. He seemed to get better. We kept this up for months and things seemed to be ok except for one thing. He was not gaining weight. We were going through food like water, but he was skin and bones. We were sure he was sick. It started to warm up, so we started putting him back outside. He started having siezures again. We could not figure out what was going on. Well, we figured it all out one Monday night. I got home from the store and heard a lot of commotion uo at his cage. I went up there to see and there was a pit bull running the inside of our fence walking all over Sam. He had been going under our fence and eating his food and attacking him. It all made sence now looking back on it. The vet is a relative and opened his clinic up for us and worked on him, but sweet Sam died. It looked as though his back was broken and he was paralyzed. Probably did not feel any pain even though he was torn to pieces. The kids were devastated (no, they did not see him). We were devastated. The boys took treats and food up there at night all the time, what if that dog had been up there one of those times? The thought makes me sick! We miss our sweet Sam. We feel so bad, we feel so violated that the dog came in our fence. Our Sam was where he was supposed to be and he got attacked. No wonder he wanted nothing to do with his dog house and no wonder the food has been going to quick. WE have learned that people a few blocks over are breading pits to fight and let them out at night. If you live near us and see this, we have got to put a stop to it! Several dogs have been killed and next time it could be a child!

Happy New Year!!! It is so hard to believe that it is 2011. Where does the time go? It is amazing to me that we have come so far from where we were in 2002. Our God is so good!

This was yet another amazing month for the Watts crew! We went back to school, but for a short period. Snow kept us out for a week. You know, us here in Alabama shut it down for snow. We have had several late starts and early dismissal days due to ice, sleet and snow this year. Very rare here!

Friday, Jan. 6th, Taylor, Gam maw and Jim went to Memphis and flew out to Arizona. Yes sir, they went to the Auburn national championship game. Amazing! It worked out for Taylor as he was going to miss 3 days of school, but the snow saved him! They had a blast and saw several people they knew all the way in Arizone. One being, nurse Mel, our nurse from 4tower when T was on chemo.

Taylor had so much fun and stood and cheered the entire game! Auburn Won!! We are the champions!!! How cool that we have a Tee signed by Wes, who kicked the winning points! AUsome!

Now, I know they had fun, but Lolo and I had our own fun! That Friday night Lolo went to Paw Paw’s. Saturday morning he called to see if he could stay again. Sure. Guh and I went to the movies, lunch and shopping. I got home that evening, let Sam in so that he was not in the cold. I snuggled up on the couch for more movies and waited to see what the weather was going to do. It started to sleet, sounded like sizzzling bacon as it hit the windows. It never did really snow, just ice which was worse than snow. I never lost power which was good, so we didn’t have any problems in the house, but the roads were not good. We missed Monday at school and Tuesday. I just knew we would go back on Wednesday, but we didn’t due to others in our county still being bad. We didn’t go back till Friday. I had the house to my self until Tuesday night when Lolo came home. As soon as he knew he was out again he called Paw Paw and wanted to go back. So, he did. I started to get text from Lolo, he wanted to come home, so he did. He was in my bed in the wee hours when Jim and Taylor made it back in. Luckily, they were able to sleep in and not have to worry about school/work the next day.

Taylor turned 10 on the 19th!!! He had his buddy Matthew spend the night and they went to Matthew’s basketball game early the next morning.  Basketball is his new passion. He wants to sign up for that in the fall. Sounds good to me! We had Taylor’s party at 1st avenue Rocks. The kids had a blast rock climbing. Stephanie, from camp, camp and gave T his own bag of chalk. He loves her!!! WE had a blast and the kids did too. We were sad it was over!

Guh, Nana and I took a girl trip to the Biltmore house. It was beautiful and snow covered! We met dear friends, Allison and Heather for dinner. Allison has a daughter that had NB and treated in NYC with us. Heather is her friend who came to NYC with her a lot and happened to be there the trip that Guh and Mary took, so it was a big reunion for us all. It was so much fun to catch up with them. We had a blast!

The boys had eye appointments this month. Taylor has not changed at all which is good. Logan we were worried about. He was squinting to read and blinking a lot. Turns out he has very dry eyes. Drops have helped and no more troubles have been had!

This month started out full of fun. We went to Atlanta for the SEC championship game. We spent the morning at fanfare where Taylor was played football and loved it! They played games and won prizes, they made posters to hold up in the game. We ate lunch at Johnny Rocket’s. After lunch Gam maw and Jim went to the game. The boys and I went to the aquarium and the world of coke. We had a good time. After we did as much as we could there we went back to Johnny Rocket’s for dinner and to wait for Gam maw and Jim. We got to watch the game in there too and it was kind of sad at the other teams players started coming in with sad faces.

We had to come home that night because we had the Camp Sam Christmas party to go to the next day. As usual, that was much fun! Taylor is now old enough to not stand in line to get a bag of toys from SAnta. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about that, but he was thrilled with the cash that he got! Camp is so awesome!

Logan turned 7 this month. He did not want a big party this year which was ok. We had several friends spend the night and then we went bowling the next day. It was fun for them and us. Happy birthday Logan!!!

Christmas was amazing. The boys got scooters, games and a field goal. Yes, we have a nice yelloe field goal in the yard. They love it and have kicked until they are sore:) They boys both got a fully stocked tackle box and rod, they are ready for fishing. Taylor got a late gift. It hit the deck late Christmas night. It was a mini fridge for his room. He was wanted one for so long. Who knows why. He has it full of coke zero and yogurt. LOL!

New Years we went to the Leake’s for dinner and fireworks. It was tons of fun as always! The kids did dance central till the adults kicked them off:) Great way to end a fabulous year. Good bye 2010, hello 2011!!!

November already?? Time flies when you are having fun! We went to more AU football. Taylor is hooked now for sure! He can’t get enough. He is always in the yard kicking or throwing!

During Thanksgiving break from school we went to the Biltmore house. We had a lot of fun. The weather was nice. We walked around the town and shopped and ate at the very fancy McDonald’s. We toured the house at night when the Christmas lights were all lit up. It was so pretty. The kids wanted to play hide and seek so bad!

We stopped in Clemson on the way home. They enjoyed seeing their stadium and how similar the town is to AU. It was nice, but AU is much nicer! I may be partial:)

We had a nice week off. We all hung out at home and did a lot of nothing. We had dinner at Guh’s and Gam maw’s on Thanksgiving. We went to Pop’s Saturday after thanksgiving.

I guess the best day for the men in my life was the Alabama vs Auburn game. Wow, what a game!!! It was a tough, nail biter, but AU got them in the end. Taylor and Jim have already sealed tickets to the SEC game and we are headed that way soon!!! My football lovers are thrilled!

October was fun. We played our last travel ball game in Anniston. We did pretty good. We finished the day up with some yummy seafood at Top of the River. Logan really liked playing, but I do not think he is quit ready for the work necessary to do travel ball and my pocket book isn’t ready for true travel ball, so we will be sticking with park ball for now. When he is older, if it is his wish to play, we will.

We did a weekend at Trade Days at Tannehill. It was a girls day and we had fun. We bought our usual, tshirts:) I tell you, if they stop selling tshirts and flip flops, ill stop spending money! Im addicted!

I think the highlight of the month was the AU vs LSU game. We got invited by Johnna and Gene Chizik and aTeam ministries to sit in the the Chizik skybox for the game. Jim and Taylor had the time of their lives!!! The started the day at Toomer’s drugs for lemonade with the other 10 kids that were going. They drove to the stadium where they got to park under the stadium and go in the coaches area. They went to the work out facitlites, the locker room, and tiger walk. Johnna MADE coach stop and talk to each child. The players shook their hands and said hey. They could have left then and been happy, but it got better and better!!! They went on the field during warm ups. They got to get footballs that went a stray and return them to the team. Bayleigh and Taylor did some dancing. They texted Aaron savage who is out due to injury. They sat with him at the Christian athlete dinner in April, so they are firends now:) They got their pic with the eagle. They got their names on the jumbo screen. They were then escorted to the skybox where they had food for a king, footballs waiting for them, name tags etc. Johnna talked to each child personally and asked what was one specail thing they wanted and she made sure each kid got that thing later in the day!!! Kendall simmons an ex AU player and pro player came in and Taylor wore his super bowl ring, it was HUGE!!!! Taylor wanted to meet Cam. He had seen his shouldre pads and was in heaven,but to meet him was his wish. After the game, the kids got to go back on the field. They saw Cam dive into the stands. Taylor got Wes Byrums kicking tee and he signed it! Cool!!! They went to the locker room to see them film the review show and sing lean on me. They were holding hands with the palyers as they sang AUsome!!!!! Taylor met some players then took off with Chizik’s kids to the field to play football. How cool is that, to play ball with coaches kids on the AU field! Jim had to go find him, he was missing out on things. Well, it worked out for the best. When he got back in the locker room there was Cam. He knelt down and talked to him and took his picture with him. How awesome is that! He was on cloud nine!!!! Jim was too after that amazing day! Thank you does not even seem adequate, but thank you to ateam ministries and the Chizik family.

I started out at the game, but we started to lose, so I left. We ended up talegaiting by Clay, our most favorite camp counsiler ever!!! We had a blast. I text Taylor and he was so torn, who do I see, Cam or Clay??? Yes, he loves Clay that much!

Halloween seemed dull in comparison to that excitiement, but still good times. Taylor was Bugsy Malone and Logan was Sponge Bob. We spent the day at Tannheill with friends. We hiked and ate and played. At dark we trick or treated and made out like bandits! We were all so very tired!

September did not bring too much excitement. The boys are doing well in school. Logan is still playing travel ball. It doesn’t look like we have enough people to do fall ball at the park, but that is ok. We are busy enough! Taylor is very into football right now. He wants to play soooo bad, but I will not let him. He is just so small! I have gotten yelled at by many, but I am not giving in. We went to watch our friends play pee wee football when they played here at home. We wanted to go to a McAdory game, but it just never panned out. We also went to several football games in Auburn. He was so into it. He was actually paying attention and knowing what was going on. Well, in between trips to the concession stand!

We spent the first week of August in Disney World!!! We celebrated several occasions while there. Jim’s birthday was the 4th. We got to have several special bday sing alongs, cakes etc. due to his special day. We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary there too. We got sang to and got to dance at the Hoopty Doo revue. We had the best time. We spent a lot of time in Epcot. The kids liked riding Soarin and Test track. They loved collecting the passport stamps and seeing there names written in different languages. The Japanese food was outstanding. Taylor ate his weight in rice:)

We got caught in the flood of the century with nothing at all to keep us dry. We waited it out for a long time then just ran. We were soaked to the bone, but having a blast. People were dancing in the rain, it was so fun. The fun kid of ended when we got to our dinner reservations wet and we were freezing! The kids went back to the hotel with Gam maw and Paw Paw and Jim and I took our wet selves back into the park for the late opening. It was fun since we had spent out honeymoon doing the same thing 11 yrs earlier!

It was hard to come back home, it always is, but it was really hard to come back knowing we were going back to school! THe summers are just so short now, only 10 weeks!

We got home in the wee hours of the morning and climbed into the bed. Jim and Logan woke up at about 9 and headed to Mississippi. Logan is playing travel ball now and he had a game! Poor baby was so tired. Taylor and I stayed home and slept and then unpacked.

8/11/10 Day +2688 Day +2386 off therapy

Today the boys started school. Taylor started 4th grade with Mrs. Moyer. He has several good friends in his class. He is a tad nervous about the routine, it is a lot more responsibility in 4th grade. He will do well!

Logan started 1st grade with Mrs. Lee. He is so excited! He loves Mrs. Lee and is very excited to really start math and reading. He loves school.

8/20/10 Day +2697 Day +2395 off treatment

Today we got an unwelcome suprise. Taylor has been complaining of pain on his tumor scar. We have dealt with this in the past and it is usually gas, but this time it would not go away. We finally ended up at clinic getting emergency xrays and blood draws. He is so constipated he is miserable!!!!! He has been started on daily meds to help with it and has to do enemas until he is “clean”. I was so relieved. My brain knows that cancer doesn’t just show up like that, but your momma brain doens’t always feel that way!

August was a good month. We had a few ups and downs. We had several travel ball games. The boys are doing very well and we are enjoying the time spent with the friends on the team. We are getting back into the swing of school, ball, homework etc. It is tough, but we are making it!

Logan had his first trip to sibling camp at Camp SAM. He had been waiting on this date  for years! He was thrilled for the day to arrive. We took him to the hospital to catch the bus. He saw some of his favorite people! He borded the bus and headed off for the weekend at camp!

Taylor and I spent the day together. We went to see Marmaduke and had lunch together. We had a very good day together. Taylor enjoyed his weekend of being an only child. He got his room rearanged and put things like he liked them. He had all the attention, the tv to himself, the decision for dinner etc. He was in heaven!

On Sunday afternoon we rode down to camp to pick Logan up. He was happy to see us, but could have stayed longer! He got a girlfriend while he was there:) He has not stopped talking about camp or Kateland:)

Monday morning we were back to Children’s this time to take Taylor to catch the bus to camp. As always, he was so excited to be going to camp. It is an amazing place, if there was a week long parent session, I would be there! He is paired up with some cool kids and they were already plotting to catch a from and put it in the girls cabin! Boys!!!

Logan and I had a mom/son day after Taylor left. He is a much simpler kid than Taylor. All he wanted was to go get ice cream and make lime jello. Suited me! So we did just that! He was hilarious sitting by the fridge waiting on the jello to thicken. Can you tell we normally by it premade, Ha!

Logan enjoyed his week as an only child too, but his week was full of PDO and ball practice. He missed Taylor too. We picked a very dirty, happy Taylor the following Saturday. He had had a blast and talked all the way home about his adventures. Yes, he and Jack did put a frog in the girl cabin! Too funny!

I sure wish I had some more details to give you, but the most important thing is that Taylor is a happy and healthy 9 year old boy living life to the fullest!!!

Well, look what I did. I got caught up, somewhat anyway.

July has already started out fast paced. July 2nd I took Taylor back to the Dr. He had a 103 temp and a headache. They did a chest xray and saw nothing. A CBC showed bacterial cells, but all other counts looked good. Strep test was negative, but will keep growing since the last one as so long in showing. Dr. Petelos is treating it like a sinus infection. He put him on antibiotics. Taylor missed a fishing trip with Pippy, Pop and gary due to being sick, but Logan went. Taylor perked up and we went to SAG to eat and then Taylor went to watch the shirt and cap play ball.

July 3, 2010 Day +2649 Day +2347 off therapy

Today Taylor led the 9th annual 4th of July parade. This is put on every year in Greenwood by Sylvia Balckerby. She invited Taylor to be the flag bearer this year. He loved it as many of his friends were there on 4wheelers and go carts. He can’t wait to go back next year.

After the parade we went home and hung out. Taylor seemed to feel better, but not great.

July 4, 2010 Day +2650Day +2348 off therapy

We went to swim and Gam maw and Paw Paw’s. Taylor did not feel well at all. He asked to go home. I took him home where he had fever and napped today. At about 4, we went to get Logan and Jim and we went to Mary’s to grill. Taylor perked up and ended up spending the night with Guh. They shot fireworks at Mary;s after we left. We went to the Leake’s to shoot the many fireworks that they had. We had a so much fun except when Logan ran into a pole he didn’t see and got a strawberry on his belly. He had fun with all the kids and we did too!

July 6, 2010 Day +2652 Day +2350 off therapy

The boys went to the movies today. They had a good time. I had a meeting to go to tonight, so the boys and Jim had a boys night at Chic fill a and pitching in the yard. Yes, even though ball is over Logan still wants to pitch and catch pop flies.

July 7, 2010 Day +2653 Day +2351 off therapy

Today started out fun. We went swimming with some friends after school. Taylor wanted to show off and slipped on the slide and hit his head. He was dizzy for a bit and that scared me to death. He seems okay no. I am still not convinced he feels great after being sick last week, so it just adds to my worry. I always seem to find a reason to worry in the summer and i don’t want to. We are going to Disney in a few weeks and for his sake and my sanity I hope he is 100%.

July 10, 2010 Day +2656 Day +2354 off therapy

Today was good. Guh brought Taylor home. Lolo was supposed to spend the night with her and when I got him there he decided not to, so Taylor did. Once he got home we met up with the rest of the crew for lunch and shopping and then we met back up at Paw paw’s house for the all-star team party. It rained right at 5:00, party time, but it didn’t stop us and it ended up being great. The rain stopped and it had cooled off and was nice out. The boys had a great party!

July 12, 2010 Day +2658 Day +2356 off therapy

I am finally caught up. Today is really July 12th and I am up to date. I honestly try to do better, but as you can see we are busy being normal, busy people.

The boys are outside playing in the yard. Taylor is coughing a lot, but seems to feel ok. His head is tender where he bumped it on the slide the other day. He has been fever free for a week and finished his meds this morning. They have been playing on the slip n slide and having fun. We are going to the beach this weekend and to Disney in 3 weeks. I will do my best to update more often now that we have internet back in the house. Thanks to all of you who still keep with us. I hope that these normal posts give hope to those just starting out!

Look at those days climb. God is so good!

May was yet another busy month. We may be tired of being gone all the time, and burning the roads up going between activities, but we couldn’t ask for a better life. There was a time that we were not sure we old ever see Taylor be 9 years old much less playing ball and pitching and going to camp and being an honor roll student. Praise God!!!

I knew I would miss something being so far behind. In April we celebrated Taylor’s 7 year transplant anniversary. That is an awesome thing and an awesome feeling.

May brought lots of fun. We had fun day at the ball park. We had slides, and bounce houses and a dunking booth. The kids loved dunking Jim. Too funny! The best part of the day was when the coaches dressed as women and played a game. Oh boy, do we have some pretty ladies at our park!

The weekend of the 15th we were invited to camp SAM for family camp and the 10th annual Ride of Love. Jim rode again this year, so the boys and I went to camp alone on Friday. We had a great time!!! I am now in the bunk house with the moms and it was like a sleepover, we had so much fun. A few of us got a little giggly over some snoring and it was really like a sleep over then.Saturday we painted, got massages and swam while the riders rode. At about 6:00 the ROL came in to many cheers and signs just for them.Taylor was excited to see his daddy, his Clay, Courtney, Dr. Petelos and of course Stephanie. They raised over 170,000 for camp. Wow!!!

Taylor missed his last ball game to go to the Christian Athlete dinner. He met lots of coaches and players from the Auburn team. He and Jim had a great time!

Logan had fun week at school. He got to bring bubbles, water guns, chalk and other fun stuff to school to play with during the day. He loved it. He has had a great year and has learned so much . He is our little math wiz. He loves to add and can pop them off for the longest. He had the best teacher ever and is sad that school is ending and he wont see her. I think he would repeat k5 just to have her again.

Taylor also had the best teacher ever! She was fabulous to him and he had another honor roll year. He was so excited to get that medal again this year. I say, take that cancer!!! He has had honor roll every semester every year. That is impressive for a cancer survivor! Go Taylor!!!

Taylor was sick in May. He went to the Dr. with a fever and soar throat, but had no strep. The did not give him anything and sent us home. He went home with Guh, so that he could go on to the mountains with them rather than waiting with us. He was so sick and felt so bad. I called the Dr, but no one would call him any meds. in. poor guy felt awful!

The end of May brought a play off for Logan’s team, the Diamondbacks. They had lost 2 games to the Orioles. We played our last 2 games against the Orioles and beat them twice, so now we were tied with 2 loses. We had to play them again to see who would win and become the 1st place winner of the rookie league and which coach would be the all-star coach. So, on Friday, the 28th, we played in the rain and mud. We should have been on the way to Gatlinburg, but instead we were playing ball. We ended up winning and Jim will be the all star coach this year. Way to go Rookie Diamondbacks!!!

We left right after the game and drove until 4am when we arrived in Gatlinburg.

While we were in Gatlinburg, we did go carts, an old time photo, a rock wall, the Wonder works house, swimming, biking and much more. We also got to find a CVS when the 48 hour culture grew and Taylor did indeed have strep. I told them so!

April was another busy month full of much the same. We played baseball this entire month. Taylor had PSAT testing at school. He did not seem bothered by it even with the big deal that was made out of it at school. I do not know how he did and I would like to see how he scored on his first big standardized test.

Taylor also went to his annual check up with Dr. Berkow. He checked out fine. He had gained weight and grew a little. It is always a little scary to go to that appointment even when you know he is fine. His urine and blood all looked great. We do not go back until April 2011!!!!!

Taylor also had an appointment with Dr. Latiff, his endocrinologist. He still wants him on the growth hormone. He printed out a chart that plots his growth since he was diagnosed. Every time he was measured is listed. It was interesting to look at and it does show how slowly he has grown, but I still can’t see giving him the hormones for 3 inches and the possible side effects. We will go back to see him in 6 months. He monitors his thyroid as well, so we will continue to see him. If Taylor wants the shots when he is older we will talk about it, but for now, no.

Taylor did get upset one night about being short. It is really starting to show that he is shorter, slower, weaker than his friends. He does not like this, but when we talked about the shots and how it would work and how long it would be, he didn’t want it. He is upset about being small and he is having some anger issues. We are working with his school councilor and the child psycologist at Children’s to get him in an anger management class or something to help him work through this.

Logan was a weed in his kindergarten program. It was the same program Taylor did in k5 and it was just as cute. He is a little braver than Taylor and though he did not have a speaking part, he did dress up and wear green spiked hair. Funny boy!