Samuel's Birthday Celebration

Samuel will turn 8 on Thursday. Since Dave will have a doctor appointment that day, we decided to celebrate his bday today. The girls started the day by making him breakfast. Waffles with blueberries and toast surrounded by colorful goldfish. They gave him a book and $2. It was very sweet. We did our schoolwork, then we headed out for the afternoon. The first thing he wanted to do was ride the train around Hermann Park. Then we went to Chuck E Cheese for pizza and games. The kids had a blast. Samo and Dave played lots of air hockey. Dave and I had a good time too....playing ski ball. We finished the night out by going to Target for him to spend some of his bday money. One of the things he got was some new Lego's which should keep him busy for quite a while. It was a good day.

Notice Samuel's Alabama hat and his Texans shirt

Today Dave and Samuel got to go see the Houston Texans play the San Diego Chargers. They had a great time. Unfortunately the Texans lost. Samuel still had a great time. He told me ate nachos and cotton candy. I am so glad they got to do this. This will definitely be a day Samo won't forget....or Dave. I'm thankful for the days when Dave really feels good. He has been walking 2 miles each day........I've been walking with him :) Tonight after we got home I was standing on the balcony and I could see Dave and Samuel through the trees. Samuel had convinced Dave to go down and play football with him. As I watched them, I took a picture with my heart. I heard that phrase several years ago and I like it. I loved watching them play together.

The girls and I had some great girl time today. After we dropped Dave and Samo off, we went window shopping. It was so good to just be with them today. We laughed alot and they talked alot!! When we got home I painted their toenails and fingernails. For those of you who want to know......they have green toenails and purple fingernails. You gotta love the colors they choose.

Getting ready to deck the halls....

We painted some ornaments today to put on our Christmas tree. Everyone painted their own....except Dave. I just could not convince him that painting ornaments would be fun, so I painted one for him. We had fun and ended up with some pretty ornaments for our tree.

Today my sister Giny had a sweet baby boy. His name is William. He weighed 8lbs. 12oz. and was 21 inches long. We skyped with them after his birth and will get to hold him in about 7 weeks. We were sad not to be there, but are thankful that we got to see him and hear him cry through skype. Giny and the baby are doing great.




Today has been a very good day for Dave. We take advantage of days when he is feeling well. After his blood work this morning , we explored the city. We made a trip to Hobby Lobby to just look at all the Christmas stuff. We got some ornaments for the kids to paint. If you have ever visited us around the holidays, you know we love to decorate. We have several trees and lots of Christmas stuff. Since we will be in Houston for the holidays, we of course will not have all of our stuff. So I thought it would be good for us to make some things to decorate the apartment. Maybe have a real tree....I know, I know, it's only Nov. 3. I just can't help it. I love Christmas!!!!

We have had a nice afternoon of "family time". Our kids love some family time. Out here all we really have is family time. It's a good thing that we like to be together. The kids and I took a walk down to get a hot chocolate. Now we are working on putting a 1000 piece puzzle together. I'll leave you with a picture of family time :)

a good weekend and sad good byes

We had a really good weekend with some really great friends. Dave had a few really good days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We took the kids to The Children's Museum on Saturday. It's kinda like the McWane Center in Birmingham. The kids wore their costumes and went on a scavenger hunt throughout the museum. Once they went to all the stations they would get a prize. So we went did all the the things they wanted to do in the museum and turned their papers in on the way out. Samuel was standing there thinking he would get a big bag of candy or some really cool toy......and they handed him a growth chart. He was totally not interested in that. He just turned and walked out. It was really funny at the time. But we did color the charts today and plan to chart their growth while we are in Houston. It will be fun to see if any of them grow while we are here. :) Our friends Christy and Jason flew out and spent the weekend with us. When Jason walked up he had a shaved head just like Dave. Oh how we miss all of our friends. It was so nice having them here. They went to the museum with us and to church with us on Sunday. Christy painted the girls nails and Jason wrestled and played football with Samuel. We love having people come to visit, but can hardly stand when they leave. We took my Mama to the airport this morning. She has been with us since the kids got here last Friday. She helped us move to the apartment and get settled into a routine. So we said all of our sad goodbyes this weekend.

Dave started getting a headache last night. He still has it. It is somewhat better this afternoon, but it has been a really hard day for him. The pain medicine he has doesn't help his headaches. There doesn't seem to be anything else he can take right now. His bloodwork is still good though.

I'll leave you with some pictures from the weekend.

Dave is doing much better today. He has been up alot more for the past two days. He slept alot better last night. The night before he was up all night. Not sure why he was having trouble sleeping but we were glad he slept better last night. Today he said "the days are really long". He is not use to being home this much and having nothing to do. His job right now is to get better. I had to change the bandage on his arm today for the first time. They require you to take two classes before you can get the supplies you need to do the heparin flushes and change the bandage. Dave said he was ready so I got all the supplies ready. I wish you could have seen the look on Dave's face while I was doing this. I have been doing the heparin flushes everyday, but this was the first time for the bandage change. He looked terrified. Definitely did not look like he had any confidence in my nursing skills. I am a Home Economics teacher by trade and have been a stay at home mommy for the past 10 years. Never had aspirations of being a nurse. So anyway I followed every single step and now he has a new clean bandage. I only have to this once a week. The reason it is such an important task is because the line runs into a major vein and you do not want any infection.

He said that every day has brought its own set of challenges. Whether it be the nausea, or exhaustion, or sleeplessness each day has been different.

I will have to compile a list of some of the interesting thing the kids have said and just write down some of the conversations we have had. It's bound to make for some interesting reading. I'll save that for another post.

We have been in Houston for two and a half weeks. It seems like so much longer than that. This week Dave only has to go for blood work. No appointments. The same for next week. His next appointment with Dr. Ravi will be Nov. 11. This is about the same time he will begin his next round of chemo. He is feeling alot better today. He is still really tired but the nausea is much better today.



The kids are getting adjusted to their new home away from home. We keep having to remind them that they live in an apartment. Its hard for kids not to run and drop stuff and simply be loud, well it is for our kids anyway. We have had two days of school so far. That is going well. Mama is still here with us, so she has been a big help with school. She has also been keeping our laundry done and making yummy meals. We will miss her when she goes home next week. Giny will be glad she is coming home to help her with baby William. He will arrive next Wednesday morning (unless he decides to come before then).



Driving in Houston has been an experience! So far I have driven down two different one way streets and nearly turned down the wrong way on a highway. People really like to honk the horn at you here. I am learning the roads though. I know my way to Super Target very well :) And our apartment is very close to the hospital. We mostly use the shuttle though. There are some museums close by and the zoo is near here also. We will have to get out and explore soon when Dave feels better.