The Joys of Summer - Day 741

Two years ago today, our lives changed in an instant.  We are so blessed to be where we are today, with two vibrant four year olds enjoying every minute of life.  We are well aware that life could change again in an instant and are truly embracing our summer.

Neither Jeff nor I have had time to post lately, which is a good thing…it means we have been doing fun things with the kids. 

The end of May brought the end of the most wonderful first year of school for Timmy and Ellie, and me as a working parent in the classroom.  While I hope Timmy and Ellie will have many more amazing teachers in their careers as students, Teacher Kathy (their main teacher from this past year) will always be at the top of the list.  She taught them and us so much and we are truly grateful for her guidance, love, and support. 

First Day of School, September 2012

Last Day of School, May 2013

Memorial Day weekend we drove up to attend family camp at Camp Okizu.  This was our second year attending family camp and just as it was last year, it was the most amazing, wonderful experience.  Timmy and Ellie’s favorite counselors Kitty and Scooby (whom they talked about since the end of last year’s camp) were there as well as many families we met the previous year.  I don’t quite know how to describe the camp experience, but the love and support you feel at camp from all of the counselors and other families you meet is truly unique.  Timmy and Ellie spent every moment they could with Kitty and Scooby…and these amazing women fully embraced them each and every time they saw them.  Some of you might remember that last year Ellie did the big zip line all by herself, well this year Timmy made sure he was the first one to get on that zip line by himself.  They both soared through the trees with huge smiles on their faces.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to attend Camp Okizu and for all the wonderful memories. 

Ellie, Timmy, and Scooby

Timmy, Ellie, and Kitty

Upon our return home from Camp we were immediately thrown into birthday preparations.  Timmy and Ellie celebrated their 4^th birthday Mary Poppins style with all their friends at my parent’s house.  Timmy had been asking for a bounce house with a slide for months, and so the bounce house and piñata were the big entertainment for their birthday party. Timmy insisted on wearing his "Bert" costume to the party, while Ellie wanted to make sure she had a chance to wear her "party dress" from Gigi.  

They truly enjoyed their cupcakes!!

Since their birthday we have had at least one and sometimes two birthday parties to attend every weekend.  To some this might seem like a lot, but for us and them it has been so much fun.  We are so lucky to be in a community at our preschool with such wonderful families. 

We have also enjoyed ollaliberry picking and jam making with Gigi as well as daily swimming lessons at Serra and much more frequent trips to the barn. 

One of Ellie’s best friends from school has long dark brown hair and she frequently wears it in braids.  Ellie has been asking me when her hair would be long enough to braid, and while it is really growing a lot, it is still pretty short.  However, this morning we managed to get two French braids on her.  While I still need to work on my braiding skills (it has been a long time since I did a French braid on a horse’s tail!) she was thrilled with the results as you can see in her smile.

As we move towards the end of Jeff’s teaching summer school, we are tentatively planning our first trip to Southern California since Ellie’s diagnosis.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that she stays well so we can travel. 

Ellie’s counts have for the most part remained stable since the last post in May.  Her GI issues seem to have cleared up and thankfully for the last month we have only been at the hospital once a week. 

As many of you know, Timmy had surgery on his eyes when he was 6 months old.  We have known that subsequent surgeries were in his future, however we had hoped he would make it another year before needing one.  After his vision check last week, it became apparent that the time is now to start those surgeries.  Thus, he will have two surgeries approximately three months apart with the first one scheduled for July 5^th.  Thankfully they will be on an outpatient basis at UCSF. 

If you could please keep Ellie, Timmy, and my father who is going in for surgery tomorrow in your thoughts and prayers we would appreciate it.  We hope you too are enjoying your time this summer! 

With love and blessings,

Polly