every captive thought

Ugh.  I hate Halloween.  I really do.  But it is always such a struggle because the boys look so cute dressed up...and who doesn't want candy???  Maybe we will cross this moral bridge with the boys next year.  I don't know. So James was Spiderman.  I got him ready first this morning and he spent some time chilling in bed getting ready for his day of super hero duties. Jude was a frog.  He was given a frog by our sweet hospital girls last week and is in love with it so it was only appropriate that he be dressed as one.  He loved his costume! Last year Jude was a pumpkin and James was a turtle.  I can't believe how they've grown!   Anyways...last week during Jude's scans the girls told me that they were all going to be dressed as the princesses and villains from the Disney movies and I really couldn't resist seeing them.  We love these girls so much and they love my boys.  So we got ready and went up to see them in all of their glorious costume spectacularne

James was just innocently eating his dinner... We can't help ourselves.  The kid scares easily and it cracks us up...and him too.

Friday Mom and Dad kept the boys for me while I went to an appointment.  Afterwards we all had lunch together then Mom, the boys and I went to the Discovery Center.  Nana and Papa always take James and I hadn't gotten to go and see how much fun he has.  It is so amazing!  What a great place!  Jude went for the first time too and I think he loved it every bit as much as James does. I want one of these things My favorite picture Jude and the huge snake Jude was ready to move on so he took matters into his own hands. They had these big fish tails you could strap on and that was by far the most entertaining for me.  Judie Bug makes such a cute fish. He seemed oblivious      Then you will never guess what James found outside.  A pine tree! The cherry on top of a great day! He can wear a pink fish tail and dance with one leg.  The kid's got talent.

My Aunt Mary made this blankie for Judie Bug when he was born.  It's been with him ever since.  It is his very favorite.  He laces his fingers through it and wraps it around him when he sleeps.  He drags it everywhere with him.  Most importantly...it was with him through his very toughest days.  When he was in the hospital I could just put it up to his face and it helped calm him down. Thursday when it snowed he dropped it in a big snowy wet puddle.  I washed it and pulled it out of the dryer and discovered this!!!!  I have NO idea how this happened!!! Tears actually came to my eyes.  I don't want it to unravel.  For now I am letting him use his brother's but he knows it is not the same.  There is nothing like the original.  It's his favorite.  I need to ask my Aunt Mary what I should do to fix it or keep it from getting worse.

Last night I told James that it was going to snow.  He asked if he could build a snowman.  This morning Brad and I couldn't wait to wake him up to show him the snow!  He immediately wanted to build his snowman, but it was still dark outside and we had to get ready for BSF.  I told him that if it was still snowing after BSF, we would build a snowman...thinking that never in a million years it would still be snowing.  Guess what?  It was still snowing.  So then I told him we would build a snowman after naps. Time to pay up.  The snow was melting super fast.  We (ok...I) built the tiniest fastest snowman ever.  But it's ok because Jamesie loved it. Yes, I'm wearing pj pants with my snow boots.  Don't judge.  It was a long day.

We're done!  I am glad to have this round of labs and scans behind us.  Today I took in some back-up with me in case we had a repeat of last week.  I should always take Nana with us. James got his flu shot, and Jude got his flu shot and 2 vaccines.  Then James got to have some fun with Papa and Nana came with Jude and I to the hospital.  Apparently word had spread about last week with Jude and the 14 sticks.  Two of our favorite girls at the Radiology desk got Jude a special froggy for all of his troubles.  He immediately hugged onto it and smiled real big.  They are SO sweet!  We had prayed specifically that they would get the IV in the first time today.  I had prepared myself to give them 2 chances to get it in...maybe 3.  We had one sweet girl try once and she couldn't get it.  So she decided to go get the vein expert, Ashley.  She was off last week.  But she has always been able to get Jude's IV's.  She is precious and has been with us since the very first moment

Our first day back to BSF after being sick for two weeks left Jamesie feeling very sleepy.

After two very brief, unfriendly conversations with the oncologists nurse I finally managed to talk her into giving me Jude's HVA/VMA levels for this month.  And today she actually hung up the phone on me.  I mean...for reals...she hung up on me.  Rude.  BUT...the bottom line is that both level are within the normal range and both levels have gone down!  Thank You Lord!  Tomorrow Jude has 3 shots, all of his blood labs, and his bone scans that require an IV.  Please be praying with us that things go smoothly and quickly and that they get the IV in THE FIRST TIME. Also...I finally made the call today to start working towards getting Jude back into the Dallas oncologist.  I am praying that it is a smooth transition and that all of the details are easily worked out so that we don't have to see Dr. R or his nurse again.  It finally hit me today.  The way that his nurse gets away with acting as awful as she does is because this is the only pediatric oncologist in Amarillo.  We ha

You know that James has a thing for pine cones.  Loves them.  So we went on a pine cone walk today.  There are surprisingly few pine trees in our area so we did a lot of walking.  But finally we found the pine cone jackpot!!!  You can see how thrilled Jamesie was. "So many pine cones.  High up in the sky!!!" You don't even know how pumped he was to find the gold mine beneath! Now I have to confess I feel a little bit shady about stealing pine cones from peoples yards.  So I usually stand with the stroller and Jude at the sidewalk and let James to all the dirty work.  I mean, who could get mad at an adorable little blondie. Then he thought he heard someone coming and bolted. Then we wandered over to Mom's and she came on the walk with us.  Until the wind started blowing 2000 miles per hour.  I decided it would be best to turn back.  She gave us a lift home. James can't take his eyes off his Nana

I think I remember saying this about one week ago today but it just feels so good to feel good.  While I was giving James a bath this morning I came in and heard him chastising one of his tub toys and standing him in the corner.  I asked him what was going on and he said, "That boy was talking ugly so he had to put his nose in the corner."  Glad to know it's sinking in. But clearly the "boys" are slow-learners because soon the whole crew had been banished to the corner.  We just can't let our toys get too out of hand.  James has to let them know who is boss. James insisted on the bug towel.  He loves those dang character towels and I hate them because they are so hard to fold.  I hope they don't accidentally get misplaced.  Sometimes that happens to the things Mommy doesn't like. James got to have a fun afternoon with Nana and Papa today.  He went to the Discovery Center and park.  While he was doing that Brad, Jude and I went to Sam's...whic