Christmas Party for patients and their families at the Children's Blood and Cancer Center

We went to this awesome party again this year. It was amazing last year but Jaylie wasn't feeling well so we didn't get to stay too long. We stayed the whole time this year and it still wasn't enough time to do all the fun things they had planned for the kids. It was so fun! They had dinner, music, crafts, Home Depot craft, face painting, scavenger hunt, horse and carriage rides around Downtown Austin, Santa, presents, pictures, and decorate your own cupcakes. Can't wait for next years! It was sad seeing all the families who have been effected by cancer or blood disorders, there was a lot. I wish no one had to go through it but I am grateful for organizations and people who help to make this kind of party happen.

Surgery and Pathology Results

Just realized I didn't update this after Jaylie's surgery. They pushed back her surgery a week due to a machine being broken that her surgeon needed. So her surgery ended up being the day after Crews surgery. It was crazy! We are so thankful for all the help we received with babysitting, meals, etc. We appreciate it! Crew had his tonsils and adnoids out and an umbilical hernia repaired. They said his tonsils and adnoids were so big and were blocking his whole airway! He had a rough week but wasn't as bad as I was thinking it was going to be. He still hurts and is fussy and is hard at night. Hopefully he will be all healed soon. Jaylie's surgery went well, she got really sick afterward and threw up right when we walked in the house, everywhere! Poor girl. She did pretty good though and isn't hurting anymore. She bounces back fast. We got the biopsy results on Tuesday and it is the same thing as last time when she had a spot a year ago. No cancer! I was worried because after the surgery her surgeon told me that it didn't look anything like her other spot. So we are so grateful! They don't know what it is really, pathology was stumped by it and studied it over and over before they named it. Her oncologist even told us that they will probably publish a study about it because it is not normal and they have not found anyone else that has had those spots on their skull bone. Their best guess is that its from radiation damage, but they really have no clue. We just hope she doesn't have any more spots or surgeries.  We are so grateful to have her here with us. Thank you for your . !
If you want to hear more updates, like her facebook page at www.facebook.com/teamjaylie
I update that a lot more :)

Sleeping after surgery

First food item after surgery. He hated the iv in his arm and tryed ripping it out several times when he first woke up. He was so mad! He was hitting and kicking and screaming. Luckily he calmed down and was pretty good after that.

Got sick from the steroids and threw up :(

Being silly with pudding in his mouth :)

Getting warm in her warmer blanket before surgery. She likes these things!

I asked her for a smile after surgery and this is what she gave me :)

She got so sick on the way home. It reminded me so much of when she was on chemo. She was so white and was holding a ziploc up to her mouth the whole way home. Gallon sized ziplocs are so nice for throwing up.

Surgery site

This one is only like a half inch long luckily. The other ones from last time were quite big.


After we got the good news that it wasn't cancer, Jaylie and Crew painted, did crafts, ate Amy's ice cream (Amy's supplies the clinic with little things of ice cream) and got hand massages by a volunteer there. They loved it!
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Slipper Drive! Thank you!

Thank you so much for all the slippers! We have over 500 pairs and are getting more this weekend! Thank you all!! Jaylie and I went up the hospital today along with Rachael (Hayden's mom) and Lenzie (Jaxon's mom). We took slippers and they took toys, books, cds, wall decals to decorate rooms etc. It was awesome! We had a lot of stuff we took up there :) They had two Christmas trees on the hemotology oncology unit of the hospital and when we were done, there was no more room under them! Jaylie invited Shelly and her mom to come along too. It was great! It was really good to visit with Rachael and Lenzie too, they are both so amazing and handled being up there so well (Hayden and Jaxon both passed away last year). I really look up to both of them and are grateful to have them in my life. Giving really does bring so much joy. I have been feeling stressed this month and today helped so much! Jaylie had so much fun helping kids choose slippers and toys. It was fun seeing some of the nurses and staff up there also. I think its been a year since we've been on 4 North. I am surprised they even recognized Jaylie :)

We are so grateful for so many of you who helped collect slippers! There are too many to name but please know we appreciate and the cancer children do too!!

We are going to take more up on Monday to the cancer clinic. So you can still get slippers to us! Its not too late!!

We topped off our wonderful day going to Breklyn's preschool Christmas program. It was so cute watching her sing and dance on stage. She is a shy one but she did great tonight, you would have never known she was shy. Such a good day! Thank you all!

Here are a couple pictures I got on my phone, Shelly took a bunch with her good camera so when I get those I will post them.

Me, Rachael and Lenzie

Wheeling the toys and slippers in on the carts. Luckily they had some carts we could use or it would have been really hard!

Thanksgiving at Great Wolf Lodge

We went to Great Wolf Lodge up in Grapevine over Thanksgiving. We were there Wed through Friday. It was fun! The kids loved it! Jaylie is now saying that she wants to go back for her birthday :) It was our family, my parents and Kindra and Kade, Cody and Ashleys family, Ryan and Brandilyn and their kids and then our friends the Kenitzers stayed one of the nights we were there. We have stayed at resorts a few times for Thanksgiving and I really enjoy it. We did the big Thanksgiving dinner there that is expensive and it wasn't very good. The hotel was neat though. The waterpark was great, I didn't get any pictures of it though. It was pretty cold the first time we went and then next time it was great. The slides were fun. They have a magic quest thing you can do throughout the hotel that is really fun. You get a wand and go on an adventure and things in the hotel light up, talk, open etc. It is pretty amazing really. We did that for a long time and then Kade took Jaylie and Lexi by himself to finish it, we were tired! They ended up beating it and loved it. Jaylie really bonded with Kade and loves him more now :) The day we left Great Wolf we went to the ice sculpture exhibit at the Gaylord Texan. It was amazing! So many neat ice sculptures and a slide you can slide down, very amazing! We went to In and Out and Costa Vida while we were up there :) We had a good time and loved talking about and remembering all the things we are thankful for, there are many. We are blessed!