Emily's baby shower

Last Thursday I flew to Pennsylvania with both babies and my Grandma to visit my family. My baby sister (who is now 23!) is having a baby girl in September. We had a shower for her on Sunday. The kids had so much fun together playing, fighting, then playing some more.
Kai had a great time too. He learned how to kiss over the weekend. It was inevitable...he had so many of them from my sisters!

This is my middle sister, Tracy, and her daugther, Kailee. Kailee is 3 and she and Zoie had a ball together. They even had a sleep over Thursday night complete with matching p.j.'s and late night popcorn.

The guest of honor--my baby sister Emily. She also has an 8 year old son, Tyler. I would have put a picture of him on here but he was literally in a tree for most of the shower! I am not sure I am ready to raise a boy yet!

So are you laughing yet? Would you EVER guess that we are sisters?? Aside from the super curly hair we all three have (and all three fight to be straight most of the time) we don't share many other characteristics. It was so great to see them and get to spend some time with them. I would give anything for them to live closer. So would Zo......

What a difference a year makes!

Here is Zoie and myself about one year ago. Clearly, we had spent some time relaxing by the pool and just hanging out awaiting Kai's arrival in a few months.

Fast forward one short year and life is super-crazy! Saturday we managed to squeeze in Zoie's t-ball practice (as insane as you would think for 100 3/4 year olds trying to play ball), driving to Bloomfield to actually see the damage to the new house up close......

Zoie got to go swimming with our great friends, Zach, Julie and Mallory Wigle (thanks guys!),

and, of course, Kai figured out how much fun playing with toilet paper can be! We had a fun day together.

National Cancer Survivor Day

Sunday was National Cancer Survivor Day. The cancer center in Ottumwa had a big party for all the survivors which I attended with my grandparents. If you know me at all, then you know just how much these two people mean to me. So I was very honored to share in the celebration of my Gramsy's success in beating cancer. They talked a lot about the emotional aspect of cancer and what the person may be feeling. My Gramsy has always taken care of everyone else and she dealt with her cancer in the same way. You never knew she was in pain, tired, sick, hurting or scared. If you walked in the door to her house she was up and trying to feed you. But this party brought a hard reality to my Grandpa. He realized just how lucky he was to have her and what she went through. He weeped the entire way through the ceremony. It was heartbreaking to watch but also amazing because two people who have been married for almost 60 years probably forget how much they depend on and love the other. As the tears fell down his face, Gramsy just patted his hand to let him know she was okay.

I was so amazed at how great the staff was. Gramsy loved her nurses. She still speaks of them often and she was sure that her favorite nurse wouldn't remember her. But she did and came over to give her a big hug. It made her whole day.

One of my good friends was just recently diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. She will find out today the extent of her options and will be faced with some hard decisions. But, she is a fighter and I am her cheerleader. I even rsvp'd her for the survivor party next year! So when she reads this....remember this: There are 12 MILLION cancer survivors in the United States today. Cancer is just a word, not a sentence. And, you are not alone!

Our Babies....

This has been a crazy week! But we did manage to find time to get a quick picture with the kids. Granted, it was about 6:45 am!

Zo invited her friend Claire to spend the night last Friday night. They had so much fun. I finally had to cut off the giggling at about 11:00 pm. I think they would have stayed up all night if I had let them.