Last Saturday our friend Ginger, invited us out to meet and talk to the incredible people raising money for the LLS as part of running for the Team in Training that Ginger is now serving as a mentor for and still raising money and running and running and running.  Cutler and I woke up extra early to embrace this opportunity to tell our story.  It wasn’t easy to get through it as it is still rather painful to discuss, but it was well worth it to see and meet all of these wonderful people raising money for such a worthy cause.  I believe Ginger said that they have currently raised over $18K, but don’t hold me to that as it was very early.  One person in particular, Dave, is in training while battling his fourth go with CLL.  Rather than be called the team hero, he prefers to go by the team mascot.  I was ashamed to not be running with them, but one step at a time.  First I will need to work on waking up that early.  🙂  Cutler was a big hit as he sat on the ground playing with his truck, as usual, and calling out the garbage truck as it pulled by.  It truly is an honor for Cutler to be represented by Ginger in this manner, including another full Marathon in December.  Go Ginger!

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I mentioned before that Cutler’s favorite word is trucks and while his vocabulary is continuing to grow past this word, his fascination with them grows stronger by the day.  Below are a few pictures from Sunday morning where he found a new use for his pickup.  In case you can’t see, he’s stacking his mini waffles in the bed.

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Yes, I realize it has been a very long time since I have provided an update.  I often feel guilty as I walk past my lonely computer in the office at night after helping put the kids to bed, but I have just been too darn tired to sit down and be creative.  I won’t blow anymore empty promises on future posts that I still owe (e.g. brother’s day, Mason’s birthday)…holy crap I forgot to post about Mason’s birthday back in August?  I have got some work to do.

So anyway, onto the update.  Last week Cutler had his monthly visit with the oncologist where he no longer cries when getting his finger pricked for blood and instead just fusses a bit when he gets tired of the nice lady drawing the blood not letting go of his finger when he is ready.  He is very fascinated with the bandaid as well.  He also prowls the office now as if he owns it.  Oh yeah, the blood work continues to look normal.  His donor marrow is still around 92% so we would still like to see that get up to 100% but this may be baby steps.  As we are now over a year of being in remission and getting very close to his transplant date (12/4) we are very pleased with where Cutler is.  As you can tell from the many photos and videos he is a very normal run of the mill terror for a 20 month old…he just happens to have two belly buttons.  🙂

I will leave you all with a quick video of one of Cutler’s favorite things to do…chasing after his brother.  I think it’s also one of Mason’s favorite things to do.

It may not be clear to everyone else, but Cutler’s vocabulary has really started to grow.  Well at least it has grown from truck, although that is still his favorite word and vehicle to point out.  I am proud to say that Dada is his second favorite.  We are still working on Mama as it is coming out more like Baba.

Many of you may have already seen this picture on facebook, but a week ago today Mason had his very first date with both of his girlfriends…Nathalie and Taylor.  That’s right, one girl for each arm.  I was the lone chaperone, which I started to question my sanity listening to the volume of shrill coming from the back while driving to the movie, but in the end it was worth the headache to be able and take this picture.  I am happy to report that Mason was a complete gentleman and is still waiting for his first kiss…

I just had another long and fun day in the office and am anxiously awaiting to start working first thing again in the morning.  So this is what I watch to put me in a good mood.

If you all remember, a few months ago I posted some video of two failed slide attempts of Cutler with Mason at the Magic House in St. Louis.  Well, I am proud to say that we finally got it right.  Last Friday we went to the Little Gym for their Halloween Party and Superman slid right this time.  Below is video proof that he was able to walk away and Mason’s only damage was a lost wing. 

As part of our fundraising effort, some of our good friends brought up the idea for our kids to work together in a lemonade stand and donate the proceeds to the LLS.  It went extremely well and despite our kids running off, the rest of the neighborhood kids were able to keep it going.  We raised $160.  Thanks to the Carley’s for coming up with the idea and running with it and the Gilliums for joining in and helping out.  It was a very good time.  Below are very few pictures, but we took what we could grab before the beverages took over.

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Last night we went to downtown Dallas and helped Light The Night with thousands of others.  I am very proud to say, thanks the generosity of many of you, that we were able to raise around $2500.  It was quite a sight to see the many balloons lit up as we walked the streets of downtown.  We were glad to see a few of our nurse friends from the 12th floor as well.  It’s always good to see some familiar faces that we don’t get to see too often.  Special thanks to Ellen, Austin, Rick, Ginger, and Rick who all came down and walked with us.  We are hoping to be much more organized next year and able to raise even more money, but more importantly con/convince more people to come down and join us in this walk for this special cause.  Below are a few pictures from the walk.  Thanks again to everyone that contributed!

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Mason and I headed to the State Fair last Wednesday for a day of fun!  The weather was terrific, the crowd was small and the fun & food was awesome!  Aaron and I look forward to taking both boys next year when Cutler is a little older and Aaron’s work isn’t so demanding 🙂

Attached are a few pictures from the Fair:

Then on Saturday I took the boys by Ginger’s garage sale.  She and her fellow TNT runners were raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! 

Will post pictures soon from the very successful Lemonade Stand the kids (Mason, Natalie & Taylor) did with other neighborhood kids.  We raised $160 for our Light the Night Walk on Sunday.  Please join us for the walk or donate to a great cause.  See Aaron’s prior post for details.  

Hope you all are enjoying the Fall weather.  God has blessed our family in so many ways – great family, friends, live-in nanny, jobs that pay our bills and HEALTHY boys!  God is GREAT.