Millie's Princess Run 2015

Wow! What a day! We remember last year when Lilly was the Princess for Millie's 5k Run. You can read about it here. It truly meant so much to our family and we couldn't wait to participate in the run this year. But, since Lilly has a broken foot she couldn't run in the race. So we decided to set up a nail booth instead... It was a hit!! She had so much fun and she loved being able to give back some of her talent this year.

Lilly's VERY FIRST CUSTOMER of the morning was Annie Therapy Dog! How exciting! She got her nails painted gold!

The next few "human" customers were two of Lilly's boyfriends... Rylan our neighbor, and last years Prince JT. She had such a fun fun day!

We always love it when we get to see our favorite mascots. Lilly lights up when she sees her furry friends. They definitely know how to put a smile on her face! :)

Beautiful Princess Hazel & Handsome Prince Landon riding like royalty in a horse drawn carriage.

As the race began and I watched the runners go by, I was overwhelmed with emotion of gratitude. It seems like just yesterday that we were the family this amazing community was rallying behind. I am so grateful for organizations like Millie's Princess Foundation who do such great things for such well deserving families.

Hazel's family and the Mascots. Love all of them.

As soon as the kids fun run ended, Lilly's business got busy! It was so fun to see a line of people who were excited to get their nails painted by LILLY! She already wants to do it again next year!

This little princess of mine is so afraid of the mascots, but she found her favorite princess to play with all day. Cinderella!!! We love her!

I love this picture! Lilly and Hazel have a great friendship and I'm so glad we were able to participate in her special day.

What's better than painting REAL Princesses nails? Not much! Ariel even helped Lilly paint nails when it got super busy!

Amanda and Brady - what else can we say but Thank You! Thank you for all you do with this incredible foundation! Thank you for the love that you've shown to our family! Thank you for your friendship! It truly means so much to us!

What a fun day! (Emery was finished by this point) ;)

Lilly - I'm proud of you! I love that you wanted to help at Millie's Run and paint nails! I love the compassion you show to others. I love your desire to do good in this world. Don't ever change. We'll be back next year to support the next prince and princess!! Can't wait!

Michalla's Day 2015

Last Monday was Michalla's Day (6.15.15). It was the one year angel-versary since she passed away.  Close family and friends got together to celebrate the wonderful young woman that she is! 

We loved to hear all of the fun stories about Michalla. We only knew Michalla with cancer and in the hospital, but oh how we wished we would have known her before... She was such a fun person! Even though we only knew her for four short months, she's changed Lilly's life and our families lives for the good. 

Beautiful music was played that Michalla would have loved!

Lilly got up to talk about Michalla not once, not twice, but THREE different times!! She kept thinking of all the special things they used to do together. 

We went to the cemetery where Michalla is buried. We all wrote special messages on our balloons and then sent them up to heaven. It was a very special day. June 15th will always be Michalla's Day. 

This is Lilly's goodbye to Michalla. I can't believe how much Lilly has changed in a year. She has grown up so much in so many aspects - physically, spiritually, emotionally. And a lot of that is because of the influence Michalla had in her life. We love you Michalla! Until we meet again.

Camp Hobé

 What a fun weekend Lilly had!! She got to attend Camp Hobé this year and she had such a great time! She couldn't decide if she wanted to go all week or just go to day camp. I'm glad she chose day camp because of her broken foot, but she can't wait to go all week next year! Camp Hobé is a camp for cancer kids and their siblings. It's a place for them to get away from the worries of hospitals and pokes and chemo. The staff is amazing and we cannot say thank you enough. Lilly went to bed tonight exhausted and still singing camp songs! :)

Lilly had some awesome camp counselors that helped her so much - especially with her broken foot. She didn't feel left out of any activity and she was very happy when we picked her up from camp both days. Lilly said Camp Hobé reminded her of "Parent Trap" except she isn't going to destroy the cabins with string and honey like they do in the show! Ha!

One thing we thought was very special was Forever Hobé Grove. It's a quiet little place where you can plant a flower in remembrance of someone who has passed away from cancer. Lilly planted a flower for Michalla. Em helped. I thought it was very appropriate since tomorrow is one year since Michalla passed away. There was a special Spirit there...

Today while Lilly was having fun at camp, Jay, Em, and I went and did a little exploring on our own. We are very excited that Em will be able to go to Camp Hobé next year too.

Thank you to all who puts together Camp Hobé. It is truly a remarkable place! Lilly will be talking about this weekend for a long long time!

Hogle Zoo with Hope Kids

We LOVED the zoo! Hope Kids was hosting the event and we were so excited to go! We haven't been to the zoo since the new African Savanna opened up, so it was fun to see all the new stuff.

One of the many ways our girls are different - Lilly LOVES costumed characters and Emery HATES them! Lilly can't wait to see them and Emery claws and climbs up my leg to get away... Hopefully one day Emery will get over her fear. 

We were so happy to see our FAVORITE princess and her prince at the zoo with the Mascot Miracle Foundation. Emery loves loves loves her! (Lilly does too) Doesn't matter if she's Ariel or Jasmine or Cinderella or Elsa. Em's all about the princesses. We'll take it!

Em wouldn't let go of her bag of carrots. Not even for a picture. Now if only we could get Lilly to eat her vegetables....

We LOVE the bird show! We try and go every time we are at the zoo. When Lilly was 2, she stood up as a big hawk was flying from the back of the audience and it pinged her in the head! Scared her so bad! She was slightly traumatized of birds for a while, but she's over it now. She still remembers it though and kept reminding Emery to NOT STAND UP!

RUN!!!

We didn't see all we wanted to at the zoo. But what we did see, we enjoyed! Guess we'll have to go back!

Thanks to Hope Kids and Mascot Miracle Foundation for a fun night! Thanks for all you do for these kiddos. We are forever grateful.

Last Day of School!

She made it!!! Today is Lilly's FIRST LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! She's only been going to school for the past two months or so, but she's so excited she gets to finish 1st Grade with her classmates! Lilly didn't get to finish Kindergarten with her class last year, and she didn't get to begin 1st Grade with her class this year. It is our HOPE that she will be able to go to a full year of school in 2nd Grade!! She sure has changed a lot! She looks so much more healthy and strong! I love you Lilly Girl!! 

9/25/2014

6/5/2015

Little Update

Lilly had clinic on Friday, so I thought I'd post a little update. Things are going well. I think they finally have her oral chemo doses figured out because we haven't had to adjust her dosage for a couple of months. Yay! She's still on a super low dose, but it works for her. She's just sensitive to medicine like her mama! ;) Unfortunately, Lilly had to have her spinal tap in the OR instead of the RTU. Bummer. It was pretty hard on Lilly because it's not something she's familiar with. When we go to the RTU (Rapid Treatment Unit) it's super fast. We check in. I go back with her to get the sleepy medicine. She gets her back poke. She wakes up super fast. We go home. Easy Peasy. In the OR, there is so much waiting and waiting and waiting and it makes for a very loooong day. The scariest part of going to the OR for Lilly is that mom or dad can't go back with her. But, we have AMAZING doctors and nurses at Primary's who do whatever they can to help. Aubri, one of Lilly's favorite nurses, was able to come down to the OR and go back with Lilly until she fell asleep. That meant so so much to us as parents. When it was time for us to go back to the recovery room and get Lilly, she would not wake up! I'm guessing they give more sleepy medicine in the OR than in the RTU. So so sleepy! Lilly did great though. I am always amazed at her strength and bravery. We also found out more info on her broken foot... Dr. Doug called and talked to an Orthopedic Specialist and they decided she needs to be non-weight bearing for another 4 weeks. That bummed Lilly out. We're just not sure how she's going to heal while being on chemo. Lilly is super sensitive to everything, so who knows what this new adventure will bring! She wants to run and play and do fun things since summer is just around the corner, but she'll just have to wait a little bit longer. Anyone have any fun "sitting down" activities for a 7 year old?!? 

I'll take all the help I can get!