Easter and some much needed time with the Nelsons.

Again, I am not certain how I miss some of the most opportune photos.  My parents came for the weekend before we left for our DC trip.  My Dad and I managed to sneak off for a round of golf.  They also spoiled the girls with an early Easter egg hunt.  They hid dollar bills in the eggs.  Each girl had a certain number of eggs to find, and they scored some spending money for our trip to Washington DC.  I love having my parents here.  It is always hard to see them go!

The day after we got back from DC, it was Easter Sunday.  Our church always has the kids do special art projects in the weeks leading up to Easter.  Then, they display them on Easter Sunday.  The girls were excited to show us their piece of art.

 

 

The Nelson's invited us over for Easter dinner and our annual egg hunt.  The food was plentiful.

Terrell made a few special treats to celebrate the occasion.  I always love to see what she will create.  Pinterest has become her best friend.  We are fortunate enough to be the guinea pigs for many of the amazing things she finds.

Here is just a fraction of the eggs we hid for the kids.  Maybe we go overboard, but who doesn't love Easter candy?

 

Kevin was showing David all of the pictures from our trip.

The girls getting their battle face on for their egg hunt.

...And off they go!

Eli hid one in his shirt pocket.  Look how tall he is getting!

The boys getting their game face on.

...And off they go!

At the end of the day, we all agreed on one very important thing...we cannot wait so long between visits!  It was such a great day!

DC or Bust!

We went on an amazing trip to visit our niece AshLee.  AshLee lives in Washington DC, so we stayed with her while we were there.  Her location is perfect.  She is just a few blocks from both the Capitol Building and Union Station.  AshLee was a great hostess.  She must have pumped Terrell for all of the girls favorites snacks, because her refrigerator was stocked with them (as well as mine and Kevin's). 

 

Terrell dropped us off at the airport early in the morning for a long day of flights to get there.  What an adventure that was (most of it revolving around Kendall).  First off, we left "Cowie" on the plane in Denver.  Kendall did not realize this until about halfway through the next flight.  I heard bellowing sobs in the seat behind me,  sure enough Kendall realized Cowie was missing.  There was no consoling her.  To top it off, Kendall gets extremely motion sick.  I have never thought to use Dramamine (more on that later), so she proceeded to fill several motion sickness bags.  Oh and did I mention the moving walkway incident?  Yes, we were taking the moving walkway in Denver and whose shoelace gets stuck in the walkway at the end of it...you guessed it - Kendall's!  This may all sound like a terrible travel day, but it was really quite nice.  Despite everything, the girls are really great travelers and rolled with the tide.  I did feel very sorry for Kendall because 3 takeoffs and 3 landings later, she was not feeling so hot. 

 

 

AshLee had quite the week planned for us.  The first morning, we rode to work with her.  We had coffee and milk in the Capitol cafeteria while she got her day started.  About half an hour later, she came to get us. 

 

We headed up to meet the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.  The girls were most impressed with this.  Speaker Ryan greeted us and brought us into his office to sit down and visit for a few minutes.  He talked to Kevin and I about the military, Idaho and Montana.  He shook hands with each of us and gave us a Challenge Coin (military friend will understand the significance of this).  He is a very busy man, scheduled in five minute increments.  Yet, he took time to visit with our family and take a picture on the balcony.  I am very impressed.  The most endearing moment was later that evening.  Speaker Ryan had sent AshLee an email saying how much he had been thinking about Kevin and our family all day.  Might I add that after he visited with us; he met with Congressman Kevin McCarthy, gave a speech and jumped on an airplane to Florida for a fundraising event. 

 

We got a real treat when we met Chris (pictured in the center below).  Chis was working on the Speaker's staff (it was his last week on the job, before starting a new endeavor).  He gave us a behind the scenes tour of the Capitol.  I loved that he spoke directly to the girls and geared the tour to them.  He kept them engaged from the beginning to the end.  Here we are looking up in the Rotunda.

 

 

A shoefie of the spot where Abraham Lincoln had his desk. 

 

The chapel within the Capitol.  The girls found it hilarious that Chris was telling them all the secret codes to each room, though totally fictitious, they were eating it up.

 

We sat in the House Gallery while a vote was actually being taken.  It was awesome to watch the House floor come alive as the closing of the vote came near (no pictures allowed there).  The girls leaning on the desk of the ceremonial office.  This is the office that the President or other dignitaries use while they are at the Capitol.

 

Sidney did not want to leave AshLee's desk.  I think she was ready to take over.  She tells us that she is moving to DC.

 

Kevin and the girls outside of the Supreme Court.

 

We were very fortunate to visit both the West Wing and the East Wing of the White House.  We had a gentlemen that worked with the White House Press Department, Brian, give us a tour of the West Wing.  Kevin and I were in awe.  The girls were less than impressed.  The West Wing is the working side of the Capitol.  We saw the Oval Office, the Situation Room (only the outside of course), the Mess Hall (nice to know the Navy still has the best cooks), the Cabinet Room, and many other amazing places.  We sat in the Press Room where the President gives his press conferences. 

 

 Outside of the West Wing.

 

The girls standing outside the West Wing with the White House behind them.

 

 

Standing in front of the White House in the evening.

 

 

We toured the East Wing on a different day.  The girls were much more impressed with this side of the White House.  I am not sure why, but we mostly forgot to take pictures.  Here is one looking from the inside out.  After that, we seemed to have forgotten our camera.   

 

The girls sitting in one of the rooms overlooking the White House lawn.  We each had our favorite room.  My favorite was the Green Room.

 

So here is a funny one for you.  I walked onto the porch (outside of the White House) to take a look around.  I turned to walk back in and one of the secret service guys said "Mam, You cannot go back in."  Seriously, there is not sign.  So I proceeded to walk back in. Then it hit me, I turned around and saw the nervous look on the agent's face.  No, he was not joking.  I walked back out and said, "You are not joking."  He said, "No mam, standard SOP."  Poor young man, he was probably worrying that he was going to have to tackle this 5'2" mom.  I could literally see the internal conflict going on.  Who knew?  So, I had to wait outside while Kevin and the girls finished up.

 

We spent one full day touring the monuments.  We opted to take the metro down to the National Mall, which was conveniently at about 9 am.  The metro was jam packed, standing room only.  Ashlee has a picture of the girls grinning ear to ear.  They were, by far, the happiest people on the metro during rush hour. 

 

First stop was the Washington Monument.  Chris (from the Capitol) arranged for us to go up to the top.

 

 The girl's trying to push the monument over.  Good luck!

 

Waiting at the bottom of the monument to take the 70 second elevator ride to the top (555 feet).

 

Of course, being the engineer, I could not resist this photo opportunity.

 

One of the views from the top of the Washington Monument.

 

 My personal favorite was the World War II memorial.  Here we are between Montana and Idaho.

 

Love this picture.  We are at the World War II memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.

 

 The Lincoln Memorial.

 

The girl's laying on the spot that Martin Luther King stood for his "I have a dream" speech.  Sidney will now always remember the date of that speech,  It was on August 28th (her birthday) of 1963.

 

The girls standing in front of the Martin Luther King Memorial.

 

 Sitting on the edge of the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

 

We were so fortunate to have the most perfect weather while we were there, 70 degrees.  We were also there for peak bloom of the Cherry Blossoms.  What a gift from God.  We could not have planned that if we tried.

 

The girls got such a kick out of this sign.  I am not sure which one of them noticed it, but it was the source of endless giggles.

 

The girls relaxing in AshLee's backyard.

 

A woman we met on one of the planes to DC told us about Georgetown cupcakes.  One evening, Kevin proposed we take a ride over there for a sweet treat. It was definitely worth it!

 

I think we finally tuckered Kevin out on the last night.  He opted to stay in and watch basketball while AshLee and I took the girls on a walk to the park, then to the Capitol for more fun.

Sunset on the Capitol steps.  Photo courtesy of Sid.

Tree pose and another pose (hmmm Sid....what is that?).  Shortly after this the girls did cartwheels across the Capitol lawn.  I even manage to bust out a cartwheel. 

Then it was time for an early morning goodbye. 

Sidney crashed out immediately.

Kendall was all smiles for the trip home.  Thank you Dramamine.  I will have to remember that for our next trip.

What a magical trip!  Thank you AshLee for all of the food, fun and great memories!

Inspiration and Bumper Cars.

The girls and I attended the Boise Flower and Garden show this year.  My friend Bridget and I have made this an annual tradition.  It is a fun event that I find both relaxing and inspiring.  Kevin and I bought a fountain last year that has managed to crumble in every way.  We certainly cannot put water in it this year, so we have decided to expand our succulent garden.  Below is a fountain that I saw at the garden show which gave me inspiration.  Of course, after salivating over the garden, the lady told me that all of her plants are fake.  At least if ours does not turn out as magical, I will have a great excuse!

The girls had a great time learning to sculpt.  One of the outdoor design companies that had a booth, encouraged the girls to put on some gloves and sculpt away.

The girls each used some of their money to buy an air plant.  Kevin and I chipped in to buy the bulbs.  So far, they have managed to keep them alive.

Before we headed out on our DC vacation, we took the girls to Pojos.  I must admit, I love that place!  It is not super fancy or over the top...Old School, really.  We always have a great time. The girls talked Kevin into several rounds of bumper cars.  They all had a blast.  The giggles coming from the girls were contagious.

 

Home Sweet Home!

Well, we finally made it home.  The covering oncologist wanted to keep Kevin there for a few more days until his ANC count was at least 1000 cells per microliter.  We were resigned to this news, but we had an angel on our side.  The infectious disease doctor (sounds ominous), whom had been covering Kevin's case and had gotten to know us through the week, came to our rescue.  She told the oncologist that we were very "responsible and capable", and she had full confidence we would follow directives.  Huh, maybe she did not get to know us that well after all?  She must have done a good job of convincing, because the oncologist agreed to let us go. 

Here are the doctors orders, until his counts come back up:  Daily shots at the cancer care center, blood cultures again on Monday, daily IV antibiotics administered by me, oral antibiotics three times a day.  As Kevin says, "You know that guy you see walking around with a mask on?  I have become that guy."  People that come to visit need to use our sanitizer and keep a cool three feet away or wear a mask.  Kevin is not the contagious one at this time.  We are all the "dirty birds" (as Kendall used to say when she was a wee little one).  His body has no natural ability to fight off ANYTHING at the moment. 

We are very grateful to at least be home.  I would be remiss, if I did not say that I was a little nervous at the same time.  I suppose a healthy level of fear is good and will motivate us to follow Dr.'s orders. 

The girls made sure that Kevin's hospital whiteboard was complete by filling in the "About Me" section.  They do love their Daddy.  He spent a lot of time with them last night answering all of their questions and concerns.  It is heartbreaking that they have to go through this, but they are amazing young ladies.  I am grateful that they are asking questions and voicing their concerns!

In Good Hands, but Wishin' He was Fishin'.

Kevin remains in the hospital. It has been a very long week, but we are hopeful that he will get to spend the night in his own bed soon.  He had an infection that led to a condition called sepsis. I am not a medical professional, so here is the official definition:  the body’s overwhelming and life-threatening response to an infection.  They have him on several antibiotic's.  As of today, he has felt quite a bit better today.  His fever is largely down, but has not completely went away.  We were pretty hopeful that he would get to come home tomorrow, but he got some more disappointing news. 

He now has a condition called neutropenia.  I will let you look that one up (it is very technical in nature).  If you do look it up, his ANC is at 200/microL.  I know these fun facts, because we have several family members in the medical profession.  They are always eager for the details.  Essentially, his immune system is compromised.  They have restricted visitors and have taken special precautions.  Fortunately, they are still allowing me to take the girls to visit.  The girls also have to follow precautions, but since we all live together we are largely immune to each others germs...SWEET. 

Kevin is disappointed and who can blame him.  He does know that he is in good hands and it is better to stay put than try to hurry out and risk being worse off, but the hospital room walls are closing in on him.  The great thing is that we have a nice view.  He has felt well enough to get up and sit in the chair by the window a few times.  Keep up the prayers and encouragement.  It means a lot!

The Highs and The Lows.

We just returned last week from an absolutely AMAZING trip to visit to Washington DC where we visited with our niece, AshLee.  I will be putting up a plethora of pictures from our trip later.  For now, an update on Kevin.  We returned to a week full of doctor's appointments.  Kevin had a scan last week and an appointment with the oncologist to review the scan.  The current chemo regimen has been hard on him, so the oncologist wanted to run a scan to see if it was working.  If it was working, he would not feel so bad about "beating Kevin up just a little bit more".  As it turned out, the treatment had been doing an effective job.  The tumor growth had stabilized and, in fact, a couple of the tumors had gotten smaller in size.  WooHoo!  Excellent news. 

Therefore, we (by "we" I really mean Kevin), proceeded with chemo on Friday.  Yesterday was Saturday, and it was an absolutely a gorgeous day.  We spent much of the day outside.  Me - hit with a case of spring fever - mowing, pulling weeds, and even trying out my Black Friday score (an electric weed eater).  The weed eater was FABULOUS by the way.  Kevin - soaking up a bit of sun, relaxing and just generally trying to fight off the nausea.  Us - dreaming of the vegetable garden we are going to plant, the new succulent garden we want to start and all things summer.  It was a great day.

Then last night happened.  It started at about 9pm.  By this morning, it was full on 'No Good'.  Kevin, who is vehemently opposed to emergency rooms, agreed it was time to go in.  With a temp of 103 and pretty severe chest pain (in his esophagus area), we called Terrell to come sit with the girls.  Kevin and I headed to the hospital.  After a few hours in the ER, they made the decision to admit him.  The upside, after ruling a few things out, they started antibiotics right away.  After the antibiotics and IV fluid kicked in, he started feeling a bit better.  I took the girls down to have dinner with him.  They stayed to watch a few cartoons, then it was off to home to get ready for bed. 

Kevin's oncologist is amazing and showed up about 10 minutes after Kevin arrived in his hospital room.  He said we should know more by tomorrow, but they will likely keep him a few days.  He also knows my husband very well and insisted that he cooperate with the nurses (aka: let them access your port Kevin, and I will try to get you out in time for the tournament Wednesday, but your health comes first). 

I know one thing for sure...I have a very incredible husband.  He is a man full of strength.  He fights for each day.  Who wouldn't with these two beautiful little faces to look at?

The Pledge of Allegiance

The local news station visited the school recently.  They filmed each of the classes saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  We have been watching the news each morning to see if the girls will be on it.  Here is a link to the each of the girls saying the Pledge with their class.

Pledge of Allegiance - Sidney

Pledge of Allegiance - Kendall