16% Party

I don't think I've ever anticipated a party quite like this one...not because I over did it and had a ton of decorations (like Avery's 2nd birthday party), and not because of the number of people or anything, but solely because of what the party meant.  This party meant my dear husband had become what we now coined "the 16%".  For those that still don't understand where the 16% comes from, when someone has relapsed metastatic melanoma (like Andy) they have a 16% chance of surviving 5 years.  We are now included in the 16% and we couldn't be more excited!  The party was a good time getting together with friends, old and new, and celebrating life.  We didn't make a big deal of Andy because I knew he wouldn't like that, but we did get together right before we ate and I said how grateful I was not only for Andy's life but for all of those that supported us through this journey and some of us cried:)  Then we prayed, ate, and played some more.  Both Andy and I agreed after that part of why it was so special was because of the people that came.  We definitely missed those that couldn't come BUT having people there that were with us from the beginning (family, the Farmers, Hibbs'/Hiroto's, Redemers, the Meyer's etc) to people that we just met 1-2 years ago (almost the whole small group, the Scale's, the Pearson's etc) but have become really important to us was great.  We love you all, really appreciate you all, and we're grateful for every one of you.  Thank you for making the day a great celebration.

 

I decided last minute to make t-shirts for all of us...definitely not my best work but fun from afar:)  The first one is Myla's, the 2nd one is Avery's.

I had little sunscreen "party favors" as people came in the door with a welcome sign.

Friends that have been throughout the whole process, Kellen, Becca, and Yami Hiroto!

Church/small group girls, love them!

Andy trying to get the wi to work for the boys to play...

Malachi, Levi and Dawson wishing they were playing!

Just chattin' it up!

Uncle Dave and Meg:)

Myla was so excited her friend Evan was there.

The Koning family.

Hanging out and meeting new people

Probably one of the best things about the party...we turned some cement in our backyard into a four-square court and we had way too much fun playing:)

Circle time for some words and then prayer.

So great to have all the people gather together.

Trying to squish more people into the circle

I said a few words about Andy and how we were grateful for everyone there

Then Andy (from small group) prayed for us.

I love the fact that everyone came together whether they knew eachother or not:)

This was the group that congregated in our bedroom to watch the Stealers game (you can guess who instigated this:)

Yep there he is

Eating all the delicious food that people brought...

 

So grateful to have these people in our lives (our small group:)

Mr. and Mrs. Dan and Annie Meyer, I think they traveled the furthest and have definitely journeyed with us throughout this entire process.  Thanks so much for coming guys, it meant SO SO SO much to us!

Michael and Avery (twin stars:)

And don't forget Dawson!

These 3 are T-R-O-U-B-L-E:)

Me and little Millie.

Family shot!

The party is winding down...

Grandpa Koning and Evan (he loves babies!)

And the person that's been around for Andy even longer than me...his sister Meg!

Myla was ready to cuddle after everyone left the party:)

Again thank you thank you thank you for all of those that have loved us, supported us, and most importantly prayed for us throughout this melanoma journey!  We love you!

Just keeping you up to date:)

Here are some pictures form life...

Swimming in the Hibbs' pool is the best...this time we went and got my parents' puppy (Jac, short for Jacqueline) to bring her over but she ended up going swimming, Myla loved floating around with her.

Our sweet Stella girl, she continues to be a really good puppy (most of the time of course)

Myla loves eating by herself more and more every day, the amount of food she gets down is truly remarkable.

The Hiroto's are back from Malawi!  Avery and Yamikani have become quick friends and they're so cute together.

Just a quick shower for Mommy while the girls watch a TV show:)

We had the church picnic a while back where Avery made a rocket because they had a rocket launcher there, hers definitely went the farthest (I may be slightly biased) and she was one proud rocket maker!

We can't get enough of that sweet smile and those gorgeous blue eyes.

Aves loving being a big girls with her pigtails and high top converse shoes.

They now both have laptops, it's pretty funny.

My last PM shift we had a taco bar, it was amazing, I definitely miss my PM people but I'm loving being on day shift (for those that don't know about 2 weeks ago I switched to day shift, 0700-1530 so I can be home every night and it's amazing, we love having dinner together as a family and I've been able to start taking ballet classes!)

Love love love this child, Yami is so great.

We try to hang out with the Hiroto's as much as possible, we made homemade pizzas one night and Yami couldn't get enough, so funny!

We stopped the "dreamfeed" a couple of weeks ago so Myla no longer gets woken up to get a bottle, it's something that will definitely be missed because we loved that cuddle time but she no longer needs it...it means we're facing the harsh reality that she's growing up:(

We continue to have fun with friends!  Here is Myla and sweet baby Evan (Dawson's little brother) playing together on the front lawn.

Oh man, I have a picture of me looking exactly like this.  Avery continues to take a ballet/tap class every Wednesday, unfortunately I no longer get to go because I work every Wednesday now BUT our great friend Katie Johnson takes care of the girls on Wednesdays and brings both to dance class.

Another great thing about Avery being in preschool is that we get some alone time with Myla and boys does she love it!  

One of her favorite toys is the mirror....

Going on a walk while sissy is in school, a stuffed animal replaces Aves in the double stroller:)

We got to babysit Yami one night when all of our friends from small group came over, he was amazing and we love him! (this picture is especially great because he's doing such a manly pose:)

Myla has started doing lots of hand/arm movements...this is the "I surrender" motion, she also waves bye bye and can say "all done" in sign language.

Myla and Stella girl hanging out...

This is Myla's 10 month birthday!  We really enjoy only having one mobile child so we haven't been totally encouraging her to crawl but we realize now that we must cause she's getting old, hopefully we'll have crawling videos soon!

Post breakfast bottle sister loving...

and big sister kisses

along with more big sister kisses (notice Myla pushing away...)

and now they're friends again. 

Hope you all are doing well, still working on the "16% post" it's going to be a good one!

1st day of Preschool

With Avery being as social as she is, we've known for a while it was time for school so we finally enrolled her:)  We enrolled her 2 days a week for 4 hours a day and she absolutely loves it.  It started the last week in August and is every Tuesday and Thursday.  It's pretty legit...we had a back to school night, she had school pictures, there are fieldtrips, etc.  She learns spanish, bible, music, and sign language (in addition to english stuff too:) and she seems to really thrive there.  Unfortunately when we pick her up from school and ask her how preschool was her response is, "let's talk about this later..." and then she refuses to talk about it later.  We love age 3!  

We had this really great sign that my friend Kaitlyn Campbell made for me that we got to use and it was perfect (except that Aves didn't want to show her face)

She is pretty much the cutest little preschooler I've ever seen (bruised legs and all)

We realized the night before that we needed to get her a lunchbox for lunch (we know, parents of the year award) so we all packed into the car and headed to target, unfortunately all the lunchboxes except this one had been cleared out, good thing she loves hippos!