Wish Trip Photos and Sage Culinary Party Photos

I've FINALLY uploaded the photos from our Wish Trip to Disney. You can view a slideshow of them here PHOTOS

Also, this weekend was SUPER busy. However, in the midst of chaos we were able to celebrate Katherine with a fun "COOKING" party, courtesy of some wonderful ladies in town and their business who put it together. Katherine, Joshua and their friends got to have a fun hour and half of cooking! We went to the Sage Culinary School and they made spaghetti pies, and decorated cupcakes. All this while the parents got to chat and fellowship in the schools smoothie and coffee cafe! I'm downloading pics right now. Will post a slide show of these later today! Again, thank you ALL of you who have consistently been in prayer for our little girl.





I know this family photo is NOT complete, but Oliver was peacefully sleeping in his carseat!!

and if you want to see ALL the photos from the party, click HERE

Katherine's wish...

The time has come when we can travel and fulfill Katherine's wish. It has been quite a couple of years for us, and she is more than deserving of all the magic in the world. So, we are in Disney for the week.

DAY 1: Wednesday morning we had an early departure. We headed to the airport to catch our 8:30am plane, but not before stopping at the hospital to meet our newest little friend James Allen :). We made good time, and actually had to wait to board the aircraft. Joshua and Katherine were so excited to see airplanes, and even more so to ride in one. Our flight from Tulsa to St. Louis was uneventful, the kids did great, and the time flew. When we arrived in St. Louis, grandma Hambone was waiting at the terminal for us--I don't know how she managed that one, but we were able to spend a few mins with her before boarding our flight into Orlando. After 2.5 hrs on the plane, the kids were ready to be at our destination. No naps, and no meltdowns quite yet, not until we were at the car rental place, and trying to get carseats installed. They were able to nap from the airport to the village. We are staying at the Give the Kids the World Village Wow, what an amazing place, and a resort in itself. We are looking forward to exploring every bit of this cool place, and venturing out to many of the parks in Disney. The last three days have been so much fun--exnhausting, but lots of fun. The kids have really had their share of sun, heat, and sweat amidst laughs, huge smiles, and excitement.

DAY 2: Thursday morning we headed to the Magic Kingdom, and spent the day at the park. We walked, and walked, and walked. We ate ice cream, rode some of the rides that are most appropriate for little ones, and just enjoyed being out. Fun in the sun does not equate to happy kids all the time, though. We had our meltdowns, did we ever! No naps for us, means crabby kids, and we had them after 3pm. But we managed to last til about 5:30 when we headed back home. We have many many photos, but I'll have to upload those later as I have not downloaded a single photo off the camera. I do have to add that our best behaved little monkey thus far, is little Oliver. We borrowed a baby bjorn before we left Tulsa, and it has been a life saver. I really don't know what we would be doing if we didn't have that little pouch. Poor baby is going to think he's a little joey when we get through with the trip. He absolutely loves being in it, facing out. He loves to people watch, and is so calm. He has not minded the heat, or the sun and is content as can be. When he gets exhausted, he simply falls asleep without much fuss!

DAY 3: Friday morning, after having a healthy breakfast, we headed to Sea World where we enjoyed most of the shows, got to feed dolphins, and stingrays, and we also saw sharks. We started our day with the Shamu Believe show, and ended with the dolphins. The kids asked lots of questions, and were intrigued by all that they saw. The clouds started rolling in late afternoon, and we decided to call it a day just in time for the storm. We barely made it home before it started downpouring. The kids were exhausted. They fell asleep on the ride home, and transferred well to their beds. They were asleep for the night at 5:00pm, and didn't get up until about 6am this morning....

DAY 4: We decided that after a couple of busy and exhausting days, today should be a day of relaxation and staying in. So, we've had a slow day. Saturday mornings are quiet here, and on our stroll to get breakfast this morning we found the ponies. So, the kids enjoyed a pony ride before breakfast, which they both seemed to enjoy. After breakfast, Dan and the older two kiddos headed out to do an air boat ride. When they got back from their outing, I was informed that Joshua enjoyed the outing a LOT, and he apparently did not want to get off the boat after the ride. Katherine had a different opinion though, she simply said "no, I didn't like it..." but what was most funny was the response she had given Dan right after ride. You have to know, that we had to convince her to go this morning. She was wanting to stay with Oliver and I, and not have anything to do with a boat ride. But we said it would be fun, and she reluctantly agreed to go with the boys. When they were done, Dan asked her if she had had fun...her response, "no, I didn't, but you did daddy!"....smart girl or what?? :) That made me laugh! We had lunch, ate ice cream, rode the mechanical car endless times, drove remote control boats on the water, played with the train station buttons a lot, and are now on our way to visit our friends, and see the beach. It's kinda stormy here, which is nice in that the day has cooled off, but that may mean we only SEE the beach and not actually get to play...we'll see.


We only have a few more days here, and lots we want to do like...plane rides, visiting the animal kingdom, playing at the Sea World water park, riding the rides we forgot to do the first day at the Magic Kingdom, play in the pool, and play with our friends some more.


Photos to come later.

 Katherine is doing remarkably well. She continues on treatment, and will do so until the very last day of treatment per the protocol.  The countdown has started though.  Last day of chemo for her will be April 30, 2010.  On that day she will have completed two years, two months and eleven days of chemo treatment since the initial dose administered.  Thinking about it makes me excited, and at the same time a bit nostalgic over all that my poor little girl has endured over said time.  But I will reminisce on that in a later post, I'm sure as the day draws near I will be more and more sensitive to the subject.  She has definitely grown up so much since the day of diagnosis.  I have to dig up photos of her from 2 years ago, but for now here is my little princess now.  She's 4 1/2 years old, and she is the brightest, most beautiful little girl in my life.  She is curious, she is a thinker--a forward thinker at that--, she is a problem solver, she is a little mommy to her baby brother, she is my sunshine, she is...exactly the person made her to be.  And we know that God makes NO mistakes!! We look forward to being rid of all the chemo meds, and getting back to life without the daily worry of "did you have your meds today"?  Please rejoice with us, as we await the last day of her treatment, and look forward to the days, and years ahead.