Life Lately

Ever since we returned home from vacation, life has been out-of-control crazy busy.  It's all good stuff (minus the two days a week of chemo), but we've all been running in different directions, trying to get to baseball games, riding lessons, gymnastics, piano lessons, and everything else in between.  It's hard to believe that April is almost over!

Here's a little bit of what's been going on...

Baseball

If you can't find us between now and late May, chances are that we're at the ball field.  The boys have three games a week (Philip is coaching Will's team), so the girls and I are getting good at making ourselves comfortable on the bleachers, cheering on our Crimson Knights.  I plan to take some pictures at each game, but always forget.  I have a few not-so-great ones of Will on the pitching mound.  He's doing great this year--he's had some power hits this past week and some great pitching innings.  The Knights don't have a stellar record right this second, but the season is young.

First Grade Music

Anna's class had their music program the other night.  It's always so fun to see the entire class perform.  No big surprise that she's among the tallest in her class and got to stand on the highest riser. And the best part?  Ice cream with her BFFs after the concert.

Ready to sign their hearts out.

Dessert with Haley and Gracie.

Doctors

We seem to be plagued with some mystery ailments around here lately and have been spending lots of time in doctors' offices (in addition to my multiple weekly appointments).  Poor Anna has been struggling with some low-energy symptoms and had to go through a very not-so-fun day of tests.  Lots of blood draws, and a couple of them didn't go so well.  Poor thing.  Hard for this mama to watch.  We're still trying to chase down the culprit and get her feeling like herself again.  And Olivia is battling fairly frequent migraines (a problem she shares with her sister and her Nana), so we're working on finding the right medication for her.  Hopefully both will get some relief soon.

Trying to stay entertained while feeling not-so-good during a five-hour day of testing.  She was a trooper!

A Girl and Her Horse

Olivia takes riding lessons each week with her horse (not ours--she gets to borrow him every week).  She's been riding a beautiful horse named Tristan for several months, but tonight she graduated to a bigger horse, Premoe.  She started riding almost a year ago and absolutely loves it.  It's so much fun to see the progress she's making.  I think her weekly riding time is very therapeutic for her.  I was never a big horse person growing up (unlike most girls, I think), but she is passionate about them.  I'm grateful that she's found something that makes her heart happy and that she looks forward to every week.  And I've promised her that we will never, ever buy her a horse.  I'm still trying to wiggle my way out of promising her a dog.  And I'm failing.

Olivia and Premoe.

Leavenworth

With our busy days and very little family time these past two weeks, we decided to carve out a day to spend together.  We've wanted to visit Leavenworth for years now, and finally decided it was time.  Last Sunday we piled in the car and took a day trip.  It was a gorgeous day, and we were there in two hours.  Such a pretty drive.  And I was amazed at the scenery once we got there.  This little German-esque town, sitting at the bottom of snow-capped mountains.  It truly felt like we had traveled to Bavaria.  Leavenworth is a darling town.  We spent the day walking up and down the main drag, visiting pretty much every shop there was.  Actually, we ate our way through town.  We hit the cheese shop, the oil and vinegar shop, the candy store, the ice cream store, the sauce/jelly store (and yes, samples were consumed in each and every one).  Philip and I managed to sneak in some wine tasting while we made the kids sit and wait for us (is that bad?) and came home with a fabulous bottle of red.  We traipsed through multiple souvenir shops, and even found a store that Olivia hunted down that told us the meaning of our family name (a very German name, mind you).  Schmitt means blacksmith.  Who knew?  We ate lunch at a little bistro--Olivia and I stuck to the theme and had schnitzel and spaetzle.  Delicious!  It was a perfect day.  The kids loved it and can't wait to go back.  We're thinking maybe a winter trip next time, to see it decorated for Christmas and maybe get a snow fix.  It was a fabulous family day, and we enjoyed some much needed time together.

Gorgeous!

My babies.

Enjoying dessert on the town square.

The kids think we should move there.  Apparently they liked it.

Health Update

I continue to get my weekly chemo treatments.  Today I finished my second round and now get to enjoy a recovery week.  I still have to go back in tomorrow for my transplant intake appointment.  They're getting the ball rolling on my transplant and I'm hoping to learn more about the donor status.  I'm still feeling really good, which I don't take for granted.  I know that it is not typical to feel this good while going through chemo.  I'm so grateful for these drugs.  Not only are they allowing me to maintain my quality of life, but they're killing my cancer.  How blessed am I??  I should have updated blood results in the next couple of days and we're hoping to see even more improvement in my myeloma markers. My hand tremor has returned, and they're taking that very seriously.  But at this point, I don't want to make any changes.  I'm guessing the tremor will decrease during my week off--it seems to be very responsive to the chemo drug.  While on chemo, it flares up; while off treatment, it settles down.  It's not terribly impairing--I have a little trouble writing sometimes, and Anna wanted me to paint her toes the other day which was a fail, but I can manage most things just fine.  The priority is to kill the cancer.  And that's what we're doing.

Some sweet friends have gotten together and organized a stem cell donor drive at the kids' elementary school tomorrow.  My friend, Keri, is spearheading the effort and we're hoping to get a great turnout.  Through this journey, we've been made aware of the thousands of patients who are looking for bone marrow or stem cell donors.  This awareness makes me want to see something good come out of this horrible situation.  I truly believe that with every "bad," there comes some good.  And I'm hoping that this small effort will result in a lot of good.  We're working with Be The Match, an organization that manages the largest marrow/cell donor registry in the country.  The goal is to get people to join the registry--people who are committed to donating bone marrow or stem cells should they be determined to be a match for a patient in need.  I think this process can be a bit scary for those who don't have a lot of education or information about the process, but I'm hoping that those who come will have open minds and kind, giving hearts.  The process to join is very simple--just an easy cheek swab.  And the actual donation process differs, depending on whether or not the donation is marrow or cells.  But in both cases, with a little time commitment and some very temporary discomfort, a life is saved.  The chances of finding my donor in my little town of Maple Valley are extremely remote (although stranger things have happened!), so the goal isn't necessarily to find my donor, it's to raise awareness and stimulate the registry with a bunch of new potential donors.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who joins us tomorrow.