More pics

Over the weekend we went to see how far along Richard and Carol's house is coming in Parkersburg since we hadn't been there in months. This is Nate playing in the dirt and cement pieces that grandpa Smiley is air chizeling off a rock for the neighbor.

The skid loader scared Nate to tears but he rode it for a little while.
The last week I was in I.C. with Ellie we took Ethan and Ellie to the fountain to play so here are pics of them playing.

One of the days we went to the Museum of Natural History and bought a dinosaur egg to dig into. Here are the bones we were excavating. Turned out to be long neck dinosaur bones.

Here is Ellie playing with Gabe and Mimi working on Gabe's dinosaur egg. One Sunday Ryan was mowing the yard and Nate climbed up on their sand box to watch him over the edge. He litterally stayed there watching the whole time. I was amazed he stayed for so long.

The rocking horse and other riding toy aren't good enough for Nate. He figures out how to ride his large dump truck that isn't really a riding toy. It's hilarous watching him get around the house on this thing.

Sitting like this tends to get Nate dumped out.

Check out the blog to see the flyer

Hey all, I know many of you don't actually go to the blog to get my updates, you get them in an email. I wanted to let you all know if you want to see the flyer and get some details about the benefit please actually go to the blog site. http://www.wearesmiley.blogspot.com/ It's at the top and you have to scroll down in the window of the flyer to see the rest. Thank you!

First days back at home

Here are pictures of first evening back home and morning of first day of school.

After Ellie took pictures with Ryan and I Nate walked up there and stood by her cause it was his turn aparently.

Ellie wanted to give flowers to the technicians, nurses and doctor that have helped her in radiation this summer so they got roses for them. Ellie also wanted a rose for herself but a different color. So this is Ellie's yellow rose she wanted to take a picture with.

As a part of her last day of treatment the technicians bought Ellie a big cookie. This is a piece Ellie is finishing at home that she wanted me to take a picture of her eating.

We inherited a build a bear from someone who donated it to the Ronald McDonals House who wanted it to go to a good home. They they asked me if Ellie would like it. So we took it because Ellie found one in the window almost identical to this that she loved. So we surprised it with her last night since she's all done! She loves it.

Nate immediately saw Ellie's mask and put it on his face. He just didn't get his eyes in the holes. How he knew what to do with it I don't know but I caught a picture of it.

Ellie's last day!

So Sunday night I decided to give Nate a hair cut with the trimmers. Ryan and I had talked about giving him a mohawk for fun for a short time so here are the pictures of Nate and his Mohawk.

Ellie has made it through Monday and Tuesday fine, even though she didn't want to go back this week. We found out tomorrow, Wednesday, is her last treatment!! We are so excited to have this ending and getting back to a normal life. We are going to try to get her to start school this week, Thursday. I had a good conference with her teacher yesterday afternoon then visited with one of the nurses for a long time about her needs. We are all excited to see her starting! After I visited with the nurse I saw Ellie's friend Ahmad and his mom. It was so cute, Ahmad asked immediately where Ellie was. I answered and told him she was so excited to see him again and hoping they could play together once she started.

So that's the good news and be keeping an eye out for the info about the benefit. We almost have a flier completed. Meghan and I, hopefully Ellie, will also be doing a spot on the KWWL Channel 7 news on Sat., Sept 19 I believe at 7:40am live with Danielle Wagner about the benefit. Neat experience Meghan set up and hopefully Ellie is interested also. That's all for now and we'll keep on updating as we go.

30 done, 3 or 4 to go!!

Well the week was very busy and went quickly. Tuesday my mom took the afternoon and all of Wednesday off to come hang out with us. Monday afternoon we went to the Museum of Natural History in Macbride Hall on campus. That was really neat. They have quite the extensive display of animals. There was a HUMONGOUS ground sloth that was quite scarry to Ellie. She didn't want to stick around to look at that or the prehistoric fish. After enjoying the museum we got a dinosaur egg that had bones inside to glue your own dinosaur together afterward after you pretend you are a paleantologist and dig them out. It was quite dusty finding all the bones in the egg but we did it in one day. Now my hand is bruised from the hard wooden chizel I used to dig the bones out while Ellie used a brush to dust it away.

Wednesday we got to watch Ethan and Haley fur a few hours until their dad got off work and that was fun. We went to the pedmall and played on the play ground and in the fountain for a little while. Then had a picnic that turned into an inside picnic due to rain. Ethan was sad to leave because he was having fun. Tuesday night we went to Hu Hot for dinner because Ellie loves the idea of picking her own food and watching the guys "chop it" to cook it in front of her. Then she saw chop sticks which she called "pork chops" and ate her meal with those. Quite impressive, although they were rigged to use the easy way by pinching them.

Thursday Ethan and Haley hung out with us again and after radiation we just hung out at the RMcD House. There are plenty of other children there to keep them busy for the day. After Jesse picked them up Ellie and I went to the movie Ponyo. It was adorable. If anyone is contemplating seeing it I would suggest YES! The artwork is beautiful, the story is prescious and the characters are adorable. I LOVED IT! It's animated but not like many movies these days. It's different but still great! Just looking at the pictures, soft colors and the artists' take on things is really beautiful. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Friday went smoothly at radiation. I had to say goodbye to the RMcD House staff and the radiation staff because I don't think I'll see them again soon. Everyone was amazing to us. Ryan will go with her for the last 3 or 4 days. Now we are confused when our last day is. Doing the math we think the last day is Wednesday but they told us Thursday last week. So Dolly has to look it up to confirm. If they are home Wednesday night then we'll probably send her to school Thursday and Friday so that's exciting. If it's through Thursday we'll give her Friday to rest up and be ready on Monday to start. She is going to Jane Wilson's daycare for afterschool care until Ryan gets off, which doesn't seem to be too long, maybe an hour. Javier and I went to Jane's Daycare when we went to the Lab School. We are excited to have her in both that school and daycare!

Well, we'll see some of you sooner and others later. Thanks for keeping up with us and have a great weekend and next week!! Good luck to all students going back to school and to teachers starting another year teaching. Hope the students treat you well. ;)

Monday of Week 6

Well the weekend went too fast, but it went very well I guess. Ryan worked at his dad's and I did the typical shopping for groceries, laundry, etc. Ellie met another couple 5 year olds at the Ronald McDonald house Sunday night. They enjoyed time together in the play room.

Today we got up and headed straight to radiation since it's at 9:30 now. We were told to see Dr. Bautti today instead of Wednesday so we stuck around to see him. Ellie pulled a fast one on the doctor today. She wanted to hide from him and he did a good job. She hid under the desk in the exam room, put a bag of her stuffed animals infront of her and hid. He walked in, looked around the room for Ellie, looked at the bag and just began talking to me. Part way through our conversation he saw Ellie move under the desk and was so surprised she was under there. He was even more surprised that she actually pulled that on him. He said he usually sees kids hiding but she did a good job he didn't realize she was under there. So Ellie thought that was fun.

He apologized for springing the extra days on us last minute. Kelly the nurse consulted him before she returned my call last week and she could tell I was crying on the phone when she heard my message, so I believe she told him I w as upset, so he apologized for springing that change on us. He said he believes it's safe for her to receive that little extra radiation to make it better chances she won't have a reoccurance. Especially since she is receiving the treatments so well and not having terrible side affects, he thinks it's the best. Before they were focusing on a golf ball size cavity in her brain where the tumor was and now they will focus on a dime size area. We noticed there are large patches of missing hair that has fallen out due to the radiation. One by the scar and another under her long hair.

Over the weekend Ellie picked out some old stuffed animals that she's not attached to anymore to give away to sick kids in PICU. The many new stuffed animals she received from her stay in the hospital are too precious to us still we couldn't part with those. So today after the appointment we made our way up to PICU hoping to see doctors and nurses that cared for Ellie when we were there. We did run into some people we knew but many we didn't. Ellie happily gave away some old stuffed animals to the sick kids. Some young, tiny babies, and some teenagers all the way to age 21. It was a neat experience. Ellie immediately had sympathy for them and was telling them to get better soon. I think she felt rewarded after seeing smiles on kids faces that she said she wants to give more to kids again. It was neat to see Ellie give back, have sympathy and ask what others were sick with. She has grown up a lot through this. She still of course has her "Ellie" moments.

Tomorrow we want to go to the Museum of Natural History in the Pentacrest at the old capital and then maybe take Ethan and Haley to the Children's Museum in Coralville sometime this week also. I'll keep yall updated as we go along this week. Have a good one!

Benefit--SAVE THE DATE!!

Hey all, I saw a rough draft of Ellie's benefit flyer yesterday and I love it!! The date is...

Saturday, September 26, 2009 at the Oakleaf Country Club in Reinbeck, IA.

It will be an evening of dancing and desserts. There will be a great silent auction also! I'm so excited you guys. I'm touched that my friends are doing this for us and to be able to see everyone at one time to thank you all is exciting and special to me. I know it's going to be an evening of fun. Hope to see you all there. I'll get flyers and brochures out soon.

WOO HOO!! If you can't tell I'm way excited!! ;)

Extension...

I know it has been a long week without updates. Ryan and Ellie have been good this week in IC. Ellie got to hangout with cousins and spend multiple days at the beach at Kent State Park. At home I have been getting so much work done with the help of my mom. We sorted all the toys and gave away stuff, threw incomplete things away and organized a ton! It feels awesome. We even turned Ellie's bed so it's slightly different when she gets home. Not sure how long the organization will actually last but it feels good to have gone through it all! Woo Hoo!! Thanks to my mom for helping.

Thursday was a rough day for me I guess. Ryan called me while Ellie was in getting her treatment and said that Dolly had told him that Dr. Bautti wanted to add more sessions to the end of her treatment. We weren't sure why, they said the MRI scan came back fine but he just wanted to do this. So I immediately called and left a message with Dr. Bautti's nurse, Kelly, so I could ask some questions because of course this wasn't expected and I was upset/worried. Kelly and I talked later in the afternoon and she reassured me that there was nothing in the MRI that was bad that this is a typical routine thing that they do to focus in on a smaller area with radiation. Things shrink with radiation and they like to focus on that smaller area at the end. So bummer news that now she is going to miss her whole first week of school. I'm bummed about this but if it needs to be done then lets just get it done so we don't have to go back with more problems.

Today I met with the principle of Price Lab, Mr. Cryer, to update them on Ellie and how things are going. I informed him of the added days of radiation and he said things were going to be fine. It's a week of getting to know the routine of things and the first two days are half days anyway. I gave him specifics about Ellie's condition which he is going to pass along to the elementary teachers at meetings so they know about her situation, coughing, etc. when they are helping in the lunch room and stuff. I will still go to her parent teacher conference on Monday the 24th to give details to the teacher and learn about what she has to tell me! So that's the update with latest info on her treatment.

Info coming soon about the Benefit information!! I'm so excited some of my friends are getting it put together!!

Week 4 finished

Well finishing off week four is nice. Ellie happily went into radiation this morning with Dolly toting two Winnih the Pooh stories for her to read. It's a rainy day so we are headed home right away probably to find daddy still at home since he can't work in the rain very well. Maybe Nate will be home too!! Yesterday we ended up seeing G-Force in 3D at the movies. It was cute but when I would laugh Ellie wouldn't cause she didn't get some of the jokes so she'd ask me what I was laughing at. We shopped around afterward to look for a swimming suit for school for Ellie next year. They have swimming every week and she needed a new suit since the two she has been using this summer are one from last year which is too small and the other is a hand me down and kinda stretched and warn out. We found a cute brown, pink and white hawaiian flowered sporty one with a skirt!! "LOVE IT," Ellie says.

This weekend Ellie is looking forward to school shopping with grandma Julie!! Another weekend for me to be speedy doing laundry and getting food and stuff prepared for Ryan and Ellie next week. I missed my Nate again so I'm happy to get him in my arms again, even if he doesn't sit still for me to hold him. Well, hope everyone has a nice weekend and we'll keep ya caught up next week!

last two weeks in pictures

Two weeks ago when I was with Ellie for the first time she picked nail polish out of the radiation treasure box. So she asked Sam at the front desk of the House if she wanted her nails painted. Sam was very cooperative and let Ellie paint her nails.

Sam recruited a volunteer to let Ellie paint her nails also. Ellie also painted Jen's nails the next day at radiation.

One of the days we went to City Park and found rides to ride with Emi.

Train...

Farris wheel and flying fish.

Merry Go Round

This past weekend Ryan got his motorcycle out because we wanted rides around the neighborhood. The kids climbed on and I caught a picture of it.

Also that weekend the Brusses invited us to go to a Waterloo Bucks baseball game. So we did. We ran into Rhonda and Tate also.

Ellie and her doll get a pic with Bucky! (Is that his name?) Nate was scared.

Uncle Erik left for Oregon on Friday of last week so we went over to say goodbye and he picked on Nate for a while. Nate loved it!!

Ellie got a package of fun things from family in Canada. Here she poses with the bucket hat, puppy back pack, tinkerbell pajamas and butterfly bag on the other side ofher. She loves them all.

This week in Iowa City I caught a picture of her playing in the fountain in the ped mall. This is a common past time for kids in Iowa City. Many families bring their kids to play on hot days in the fountain and playground right behind it. Ellie loved it and found kids to play with.

Something for the books...

Well Ellie just walked into radiation this morning with an excited Dolly. Ellie chose crayons from the treasure box yesterday, princess crayons this time, like we don't have enough already, anyway, Dolly asked her to draw her a picture. So this morning Ellie presented Dolly with a picture Ellie drew of her jumping on the trampoline at Dasha's house. Dolly was so excited to post it and get to look at Ellie every day!! ;)

I want to tell you guys about something that happened yesterday. My mom was in town for work meetings on campus so afterward we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with her. We wanted to do some school clothes shopping for Ellie but she wasn't having it. She found one outfit at Old Navy and was done for the day. So she was being very uncooperative in her special way. So we left and got back into the car. We went on a quest to find the awesome park Ryan found last week so we could go this week again. Well in the car Ellie fell asleep, so her uncooperation was from tiredness aparently. After that rest it was dinner time so we got her out and ate at Hu Hot! She really liked it there so dinner went smoothly. We had icecream afterward at Cold Stone. YUM!! As we were buckling up in the car Ellie made the comment," It was a nice day hanging out!" Immediately I looked at my mom and asked, "did she really just say that?" And we both broke out in histarical laughs. She just sat back there and said,"what's so funny?" Our thoughts were that it was not a fun day of hanging out because she had been so uncooperative and contradictory in the mall. Oh dear, she had already forgotten what we went through and was commenting on how she enjoyed dinner and dessert. Cutie pie. I am still laughing at that moment today as I type this.

Ellie definately hit a wall last week during radiation. I can tell she is already tired at the begining of this week. It's taking its toll but we are hangin' in there and trying to do low key activities. We have been painting little ceramic figurines we found at the store for cheap. We have painted 18 since Sunday evening. Not even three full days and she has them all painted. She wants me to post them on the blog so I'll be getting pictures sometime and posting them. I also have lots of other pictures to post from weekend activities and stuff. I'll try to get to it eventually.

A cute story I wanted to share about Nathan also. One day I was picking Nate up from Wendy's and she told me that he likes to play with the play kitchen forks and spoons. Then when it's breakfast or lunch time he runs over to his chair with the play forks and spoons in his hands like he's ready to eat. It's so cute she says, he's just got a huge smile on his face like, feed me I'm ready. Nate has been using forks and spoons a lot so it's neat to see his coordination improving. Nate is our wild man.

Ellie has been also contradictory on whether she wants to be home or in Iowa City. When we are here she says she wants friends to come visit or she wants to be back home and doesn't want to do radiation. Then when we are home for the weekend she says she wants to go back to the Ronald McDonald House. This week she has said quite a bit already that she doesn't want to do radiation anymore. She asks why, decides she doesn't want to get another tumor so she says it's ok to finish this up. I think she's so contradictory because she gets bored or isn't doing wht she wants to be doing in one place so asks to go back to the other place. She's also been crying a lot for Titi Eleanor. That's her great aunt in Chicago. My mom's sister. She randomly says she's sad about missing certain people.

This summer has flown by and we will be starting school with her before we know it. Although I am excited for her to start kindergarten I wish we were going to have time to prepare some before it actually starts. She will start school the week after radiation is done. Well those are just some thoughts for the day. Have a good one!!