My little Connor was very focused.
Kristoffer couldn't hardly quit laughing. When he gets the giggles, he has a hard time focusing. It is pretty funny to watch.
Ashley got in her softball pose and let loose!
The best part is of course the candy in the end.
Grams had reindeer antlers and Rudolph noses for everyone!
Of course we never leave home without our beloved football! 
Then Jonathon reads...
While Jonathon reads, the kids have bags with gifts inside and every time they hear the word "the" they have to pass their bag. Jonathon adds a couple of extra "the"s to make it more fun!
Then we sing Christmas carols trying to encourage Santa to come. Grams and Shay were our choristers: 
Katelynn knowing her chances of not being on the naughty list are slim!
Then Santa came...
As you can see, Santa was torn on which list to put my kids on.
In the end a good time was had by all. Especially this little guy who has a lot to celebrate this year. 14 months in remission!!!
Katelynn is 15 years old today! I can't believe it. We are going to get her permit to drive (with a licensed adult) today. Time is flying by! She had a great birthday party and got everything she wanted. Thanks for all the gifts and thoughtful cards! She loved them all! Even the butt crack cards! Actually those are usually her favorite! She is a fun kid and we love having her in our family!
So I have been banned from this movie by my husband. I didn't know if I could handle this movie while Kristoffer was sick because even the previews would make me cry like a baby. Now my sister has watched it and said the mom reminds her of me. She must act like a crazy person. This has peaked my interest and now I want to watch the movie. I definitely don't want to peel the scabs off my wounds but it has been 2 years next month since he was diagnosed. Surely I can handle this now!! Your thoughts...
This kid keeps us laughing. This is his latest:
Connor: "Mom, what holidays come after Christmas?"
Me: "New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day..."
Connor: (Very excited) "you mean Sponge Bob and Patrick Day?"
These two boys are sooo excited for the snow! It is freezing outside and they don't care!! I love this weather when we can stay inside with some hot chocolate!! Mmmmmmm! Tis the season!
14 years and still going strong.
My kids found my journal from my senior year of high school! I know most of you are probably thinking "that can't be good" but I didn't write many bad things in it. I mostly wrote about Jonathon. I think I actually wrote about him in every entry. The girls have decided to call it The Jonathon Journal. Some of the things I wrote are hilarious. I was one love sick puppy. I am still a fool for this man. Let me give you a couple lines from my journal for laughs...
"This definately feels meant to be. He has my heart. I would do anything for him. If he wanted me to I would marry him right now." March 27th, 1994
Hahaha! My girls had some good laughs at my expense. I was laughing pretty hard myself. Jonathon said, "I wish I had known you loved me that much." I am pathetic!
Poor Kristoffer! He caught some bug! He woke up with a fever and chills this morning. He said his throat hurt so I took him in and he now has some antibiotics. This could not have been better timing. If this would have happened while the port was still in, we would be in the ER. I hope he feels better soon.
I know this is a bit premature but I cannot wait for Christmas this year. I was still a little out of it last year for Christmas. I think my nerves were still shot. Jonathon thinks I finally got back to my old self about 4 months ago. That poor man deserves a gold star!! That is a long time to put up with a wife that feels like she is losing it. So anyways I put Christmas music on my blog so that I can enjoy it while I am on the computer. I love Christmas! I hope you enjoy the music too!
The results are in and there is no evidence of cancer!! Kristoffer's labs look good and his port is history. He was pretty mad at us for having to go through his 6th surgery in his short life but we know he will be really happy to have the port out. We will schedule a CT scan and labs for February. Then the Doctor thought we could go to every 6 months for his check-ups. Wow! What would that be like? Only having to go through all of this twice a year.
I should have posted a picture of the port a long time ago because most of you probably don't know what I am talking about. So I found this picture on the internet. The bottom part (the metal piece) is the actual port and it had a tube that connected to his vein. All of that was under Kristoffers skin. The funny looking thing on top is the huber needle that we would put into the port to get blood. 
So when we had to access Kristoffer's port we would numb the skin over the port, clean the site really good and stick the needle in the rubber part in the middle of the port. Then tape it down. We would draw all of his labs from it and give all of the chemo through it. They are really nice because then you don't have to get poked over and over again! But there is always a risk for infection so whenever there was a fever we had to give heavy antibiotics to prevent the port from becoming infected. So although I appreciated the good port that Kristoffer had, we will not miss it! Bye bye!
It is that time in our lives again. Another trip to UNM. Kristoffer will be having multiple tests run. Labs, x-rays, pre-op for surgery which will hopefully be Thursday if all goes well. I dread these tests and look forward to them at the same time. I know I'm weird. I dread them because they could possibly lead down a path I don't want to go down again. I look forward to them because I love to hear that he is healthy. Most of you will not understand what it feels like to hear the words, "your son has no evidence of cancer." It is music to my ears.
The surgery will be to remove the port that he has in his chest. A very minor procedure! We will post the results of all the tests when we have them.
This is a funny story but if you don't like stories about body functions you should probably turn back now.
The following conversation took place between Jonathon and Connor. Connor was sitting on the toilet and:
Jonathon: "Do you need me to help you wipe?"
Connor: "I can wipe myself"
So Connor wipes and wipes and nothing is on the toilet paper. Then he looks at Jonathon and says, "I guess it was just white poop Dad"!!
This kid really is a funny little guy. Some of the things he says are soooo funny!!
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Katelynn is "too mature" to dress up this year so she handed out candy while the other kids went to the "trunk or treat" at our church. They had fun and got a lot of candy!
Iron man, of course, never goes anywhere without his precious football. He did have some pretty impressive muscles though!!
Connor loved being a dragon. He wore the mask most of the night. He was super cute but I think he enjoyed handing out candy even more. It made him feel grown up I think.
Ashley was an 80's girl and you know how much I love the 80's. We had a good time getting her ready. I thought she looked really cute.
Connor:
Connor is loving being in kindergarten. He is a funny kid. This is his first year of soccer and he has done great. He has scored every game and he has a smile on his face the whole time. It is fun to watch. He is in the primary program today and this is his line: "pwophets testify of Jesus Chwist." That is exactly how he says it. I know we need to work on how to say our r's but it is just so cute.
Kristoffer:
Has been loving playing soccer. He is fun to watch most days. He still gets winded pretty easily. We are finally at our 1 year mark since he has been done with chemo. The year that would never end has now been over for a year. The time is flying by. Why couldn't it go by that fast when he was sick? We have scheduled the surgery to remove his port for November 11th. He just loves life. He is just happy to be here. He is in the primary program at our church today and he has to give a talk on the miracle in his life. I am gonna need a tissue!
Ashley:
Went salmon snagging with her Uncle Bob and Aunt Gaylee. She had a great time. You haven't gone fishing until you have fished with Uncle Bob. He is a great teacher. She caught 2 fish. She said it is a lot harder than it looks. This is what she caught:
**Ashley also made the basketball team at the junior high. She was so excited. Basketball is a huge deal in our small town.
I know you are all thinking, "i used to have an outfit just like this!"
I can't believe my little girl is old enough to go to Homecoming. She is so excited and looks beautiful!! She went with a group of good friends because she is not old enough to date yet! They look like they are having a blast. 
Katelynn had her first district game last night. They won 3-0! It was so much fun to watch! There is a really nice article in the paper with her name mentioned! Follow this link:
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_16139652
Well it is finally here! Our appointment with the oncologist is tomorrow! We have been wanting this day to be here since the last scan. We are hoping to see normal sized lymph nodes in the abdomen. The last scan showed that they were larger than they had been. I always worry that the scans will show that the cancer has spread. I probably think about this possibility every day! This is the new normal for my life! I will post results tomorrow and if the scans are normal we will schedule the surgery to remove the port in Kristoffer's chest.
On a lighter note - Ashley made the volleyball team!! Yeah!! She was very nervous because there were almost 60 girls trying out and only 35 spots! She is very excited! And Katelynn scored her first goal on the varsity soccer team! She kicked it in off of a nice corner kick! One of my favorite things to do is watch my kids play sports!
I really do love my kids but I love them even more when they are all in school! I now have all 4 kids in school. It is such a liberating feeling!!
Ashley is in 7th grade. This is her 1st year of Junior High!
Katelynn is in 9th grade! She is loving being in high school!
Connor is in kindergarten! His mom loves this!
...and Kristoffer is in 1st grade. He and Connors' classes are right next to each other. He loves his new teacher and school! His cousin Gentry is in there and she made him feel really welcome and showed him around! 
For Connor's birthday we went to Bolack's to look at all the cool animals. 
Our tour guide was really mean. The kids had to watch their every move or she would jump all over them. Don't touch this, don't touch that, don't pick up a freakin' peacock feather!!! She was a treat! Too bad that alligator was dead. I would have liked to feed him the tour guide. I think she hates children! Luckily the kids still liked the museum!
After the museum we took the kids to the Aquatic Center. They had a great time!!
Kristoffer is still learning how to swim but he absolutely loves the Aquatic Center!
Katelynn, Ashley and friends 
The birthday boy loved wearing a life jacket cause then he could go down the slide by himself. He is very independent these days!!
And of course there was my little neice Bella-boo! Such a cute little punkin'!!
