the BOYS are here

For weeks Owen has been telling Ms. Kathy at the pool that his cousins are coming from Canada. Patrick, Finn and Uncle Chris are finally here!!! Fun days at the pool...only two days left all together before everyone leaves to visit the "Trubenbach-Marsigliano-Bosworth crew" on Long Island. Whenever Chris and the boys are in town it is a flurry of fun and excitement...it just always goes by too quickly.

Patrick passed the band test!

Monday is CHOP day

Owen had his chemo today and everything went smoothly. Last week his blood counts were too low so they withheld treatment. His ANC went from 340 to 2200 this week...a strong jump. His doctors decided to give him 80% of his normal dosage since he has been neutropenic (low white blood cell count-increased risk of infection) a number of times. If his levels stay high he will return to full dose next Monday.

Owen has been recieving chemo again since February. After a MRI showed growth of the same optic glioma (tumor) that he was treated for when he was about a year old. He goes to CHOP every Monday and it has become again part of our weekly routine.

Beyond Automatic

It was a beautiful morning so the boys, Chloe and I headed out to Lake Galena. I love this peaceful spot...3 minutes from our house, a perfect 6 mile loop around the lake, nature center with frequent turtle and blue heron citings, a luxiously silent place on a 5am run...completely a different experience at 9am on a summer Sunday with two boys and a puppy. I took my camera along, hoping to get a chance to explore more than just the automatic settings. I have had my Nikon SLR for almost two years now and I LOVE it but I still haven't learned more than just the basics. I can change the lenses, navigate the menu, use the automatic settings and download pictures. But I feel like I should be able to do more. I was able to get a few decent shots but after 10 minutes of walking Owen was tired and wanted to be carried and Joey was struggling to keep curious Chloe out of the path of the numerous cyclists and runners.
A totally different experience with boys and dog---just like Rices yesterday morning---
fun but the focus certainly changes. So...this afternoon I took my camera to the pool and had my friend, Alex, give me some pointers and explain some features...apature (think I understand), ISO (still have no idea), and a number of things I can't even remember. After a minor bribe (promise of ice cream) Owen became a willing subject...Joey not so much. I have a lot of practice to do if I want to actually get this....hopefully minor bribes will continue to work for a while.

the mulching saga has ended

Well, I slept until 6am this morning...awakened by the announcement that Chloe pooped in the sun room. As I stumbled out of bed I stepped on a half eaten strawberry sticking out of a torn plastic baggie. Chloe evidently had been into the bag we took to the pool yesterday and a trash bag in the kitchen...trash was strewn everywhere. Not that my 10 extra minutes of sleep would have prevented the trash... but I was cursing the extra sleep as I cleaned the sun room mess.

So yesterday I finally finished mulching...another decision of the summer that seemed like a good idea but left me cursing myself---ordering 8 yards of mulch. Ordered the end of June, I finally got to the end of the massive pile yesterday. Who takes a whole month to mulch half an acre of property? Last summer I was running 12 miles around the lake, biking 50 miles on a Sunday morning and completing my first triathlons. This summer I am celebrating tackling a pile of mulch and getting over my fourth bout of poison ivy. Pitiful.

5:50 AM

Without fail Owen and the newest member of our family, Chloe, come bounding into my bedroom each morning at 5:50 am. This is how I start everyday...the three of us in the backyard, Chloe enjoying an early morning exploration, Owen with his "light saber" ready to fight Darth Vader and taunt the dog (see drum stick in left hand) and me trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes.

It always amazes me how quickly the summer passes. I have been wanting to blog again on a more regular basis. Get into a good rhythm of posting before the craziness of school begins. Over the next few weeks I'll play catch up...more pictures of the summer to come.

There we go, Dad, up an running again... Now if only I can remember how edit my settings properly...at least I was able to finally get rid of the Christmas background!

Count Down to Christmas...

Stacked on the front seat of my car is a large pile of Christmas cards just waiting for me to get to the post office when it is open, not incredibly packed and I am without kids. Only 2-3 more gifts to pick up, baked and exchanged cookies this weekend and finally got a Christmas tree (it is actually very pretty considering there were slim pickings 7 days before Christmas). Owen is bubbling with excitement about Santa coming. Yesterday morning in between the gym, tree picking and Joey's basketball practice we stopped at home which is pretty uncharacteristic of my "running-all-around-town-day" but thankfully we stopped to pick up Joe because Santa came through our neighborhood on the firetruck. Owen was out of his mind with excitement...funny thing-Joey was jumping up and down too even after his many I-am-too-cool-for-this-and-I-know-the-deal-about-santa looks this holiday season. Tonight both boys helped to decorate the tree...well half of the tree is decorated with my hideous LED lights and the one bin of ornaments the boys put up before Owen fell asleep on the floor and Joey became bored and went back to playing bey-blades. While it lasted...it was so nice, Joey telling a story about each of his favorite ornaments and Owen carefully unwrapping each ornament from its package asking first if it is fragile and then commenting about one of its features. "This is a red crane." "Its door opens. Look." Busy, fiddling with the stupid lights, not hearing his comments he tells me "Look in my eyes" and repeats exactly what he just told me. He does this in the car and gets frustrated with me when I can't turn around and look in his eyes. He doesn't care that I need to keep my eyes on the road. He is a trip. I am restless tonight, gearing up for the big week ahead...hence my blogging on a school night and actually typing, not just posting pictures because I feel obligated to get something up here. 90 students demanding my attention in 9 1/2 hours should be enough to get me to go to bed...

FALL

The first weekend in December and a flurry of activities...Owen's angel breakfast at St. Paul's Preschool, Joey's first basketball practice, Christmas shopping, painting the new sunroom, Christmas carols and Santa at the Chalfont Firehouse...I figure before I start posting winter pictures I better catch up on the fall. Some Updates---Joey likes 4th grade, had a fun but long football season and on the morning of his 10th birthday woke up with his first shiner (he ran into a tree when Trick-or-Treating)---Owen LOVES school, is a completely loveable stinker and is finally giving into the whole potty training thing (which I now need to take back after Joe interrupted this posting because Owen had peed on his side of the bed while watching a Barney video). Some Fall Moments--- Joey plays at the Linc., Eagles home opener, first day of school, cycling 175 miles, running 13.1, ongoing construction at Churchville, ongoing construction at home, costumes!, Girls in Lake Placid, Alex runs a marathon, first flight w/kids "t-shirt time", seeing the Gulf of Mexico, Houston & the Hutchins, Thanksgiving!!, Foot Spas...ahh-a new love...thanks Aunt Amy, Hello Newman...