Merry Christmas to all & to all a Good Night!

Christmas 2008

Season’s Greetings! I can’t believe another year is coming to a close… How is that possible??!! I hope this letter finds you in the holiday spirit! It has been another blessed year in the Martin household, even though cancer has struck our family again. This time the victim was our 10 ½ year old dog Sydney. His cancer spread quickly and we had to put him to sleep last week. Our home has just not been the same without him and he will be truly missed.

On a lighter note, Jeff is going on his third year as president of Jamsill, Inc. He also has a new love in his life… In January, we bought a sand rail (some might call it a dune buggy) and a 28ft toy hauler/camp trailer. It has been fun spending time at the Oregon sand dunes. We are quite comfortable in our trailer too! Jeff has still been finishing up the remodel/rebuild on our house. With every weekend project, the house getting closer to completion!

Hailey is now in 1st grade. She will turn 7 on January 19th. We just got her report card and had a conference with her teacher. Hailey had an excellent report with mostly Es (for excellent) on her report card! Her teacher told us she is at a 2nd grade level on most subjects (including reading) and wanted to make sure she continues to be challenged so that she doesn’t get bored. Hailey has received 6 awards already this year, including “Student of the Month” and an academic award for “Outstanding User of Class Time”. Hailey’s favorite thing right now is Harry Potter. She and I read all 7 books this year! Hailey can really relate to Hermione’s character – Miss Smarty-pants! We are so proud of the beautiful, creative, talented young lady she has become! Like any almost 7-year-old girl, she loves rainbows, sparkles, butterflies, unicorns and horses too. She keeps asking us when she can get a horse… Jeff and I just aren’t ready for such a huge commitment!

Pete just turned 5 on December 8th. He has been off treatment for two years now and is three years from his Pineoblastoma diagnosis. We were back at St. Jude in June and he received his 10th no evidence of disease report! We are scheduled to return to Memphis again for another checkup on the 30th & 31st of this month. Please be sure to keep Pete in your prayers for another excellent report. I will update his website as soon as we hear from the doctor www.caringbridge.org/visit/petermartin

Pete continues to enjoy preschool (he goes M,W&F), even though his girlfriend Kelsey is now in Kindergarten… It is so cute to hear him talk about her! He says that he loves her and is going to marry her and was wondering the other day if she wants kids (he certainly does). Pete keeps getting stronger everyday and is growing leaps and bounds. He is almost as big as Hailey and is bigger than most of the boys in Hailey’s 1st grade class. He loves riding his bike (with training wheels). The other day, we took the kids down to the bike path and Pete actually rode about 1-½ miles! This is huge for him, considering a year and a half ago he was barely walking! Pete has learned to write his name and loves reading books, playing with his cars, watching movies and making art. He is such an outgoing, positive, sweet and smart boy. We are privileged to be the parents of two extraordinary children!

And as for me, I am also still working at Jamsill. With both kids in school now, I am able to go to the office more often and am working less from home. It’s nice to get out of the house and have a change of scenery. In my 33 years, I have acquired many titles – daughter, sister, student, burger restaurant counter girl, girlfriend, college student, receptionist, wife, business manager, mother (in chronological order, not in order of importance). And now, beginning next month, I will take on the title of non-traditional student. That’s right, I’m going back to school! With a lot of hard work, several years and some luck too, hopefully I will earn the new title “Registered Nurse”. Wish me luck!

May you have good fortune in the New Year!

Kellei, Jeff, Hailey and Pete

Poor Old Pup!

Lately, Sydney hasn't been himself...  He just seems to be getting old so quickly.  For the last several months, he has had trouble getting down the stairs and has even fallen down them several times (14 hardwood stairs, ouch!!).  On Wednesday evening, Jeff and I noticed his blue eye had turned slightly pink.  By Thursday morning, it was very red and looked painful.  I took him in to the vet immediately.

Dr. Knox said the eyes often indicate something else going on and was suspicious.  They took blood, chest x-rays and an abdominal ultrasound.  $530.00 later, we found out he has tumors in his spleen.  Poor puppy!!  We don't know if it is cancerous yet, but more than likely, it is.  His chest x-ray looked clear, so maybe it hasn't spread yet.  Our doctor's office wants $2,000.00 to do the surgery.  We have an appointment at a different vet office on Monday to get another estimate on the surgery.

It is such a hard decision.  He has lived a good long life, but by dog years, he is certainly not ancient yet!  If we don't do the surgery and it is cancerous, it will certainly spread rapidly.  It is isn't cancerous and we don't do the surgery, the tumors will likely bleed and cause lots more pain.  Even if we do the surgery, there are no guarantees that he will be cured...

Poor Old Pup!

She Did it Again!

I received a call from Hailey's school at the beginning of last week, letting me know that Hailey was to be named "Student of the Month" at the spirit assembly on Friday.  It was to be a surprise for Hailey.  Jeff, Pete and I attended the assembly to see our girl receive the special recognition.  It was too funny, because as soon as Hailey came in with her class, she and her friend Riley started scanning the chairs where the parents were sitting.   They spotted us right away, so Hailey's big surprise was spoiled!  I know she was excited to receive the honor, but she certainly knew ahead of time...

Way to go BooBoo!!  You make us proud!

Wow! Marvelous! Stupendous! Fantastic! Bravo!!!

We arrived home tonight after spending a couple days in Beverly Hills.

Pete was requested to attend "Runway For Life" to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  It is the single largest yearly fundraising event for the hospital and it was such an honor to be invited!  It was a full house and we got to share Pete's St. Jude story with about 1,000 celebrities and socialites.  It was such an amazing event!

We walked the red carpet and met so many people.

Tinkerbell

Memphis native - Cybil Shepard

From the left - Tony Thomas & his wife, Marlo Thomas (holding Pete's hand) and her husband Phil Donahue, William Shatner, designer Robert Ellis and little Ellen Taylor in front with Pete.

The show was such a neat experience.  It was sponsored by Disney for the release of Tinkerbell's new DVD in benefit of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  So, the fashion show was Disney themed.  They played Disney music, there were dancers and celebrities and models walked the runway.  Dick Van Dike even performed Chim, Chimney from Mary Poppins with chimney sweep dancers behind him.  The whole thing was beautiful and very well done!

Little Ellen Taylor even got on stage and sang Some Where Over The Rainbow.  It was great to meet ellen and her parents!  Ellen was the only other kid there besides Pete.  They were certainly the brightest stars there!!

The played a video of our family that was taken while Pete was on treatment.  Then, we went out on stage.  Jeff started things off with an interview of Pete.  Pete made sure everyone knew that his girlfriend's name is Kelsey and that he is going to be a knight for Halloween. After, I shared Pete's story.  This was the biggest crowd we have spoken in front of and for some reason, none of us were nervous!  I'm sure the 1/2 glass of wine I had before helped a little bit too!

Jeff wasn't looking forward to attending this event, but he had to admit that it was really fun.  We met all kinds of interesting people and had a great time.

We're so proud!

Last week, Hailey brought home an award.  Not even a month in to school and she received an award.  We are so proud of her!  Great Job!  I review all the work she brings home and so far, she has received 100% on everything.  I really hope she doesn't get bored in school, because it seems easy for her.  When she brought the award home, she was alwo allowed to pick out a book to keep.  It was about birds and she read the entire thing on her own.

Long Time No Write...

I know, what's the point of starting a blog if you are never going to write anything...  Well, it was a busy summer.  The week after Hailey's graduation, we traveled back to Memphis for Pete's check up at St. Jude.  This was the first time Hailey had been back since we lived there.  I was surprised at how much she remembered.  We had a good trip and Pete had another good checkup!

After Memphis, we drive up to St. Louis and met our dear friends (the Schellhorn Family) at Six Flags to play a bit.  It was great to reunite Pete and Grant.  The bond between those two boys is really special.  Pete certainly doesn't have any other friends who have been through what he has - surgeries, chemo, radiation.  My dad said they should buy a lottery tick together when they turn 18!

At the end of June, Hailey and I traveled up to Portland for her MRI of her spine.  The results came back normal, thank God!  While we were there, we stayed the night at my dear friend Amy Ruth's house.  It was so nice to spend time with her and her family.  Addy Rae and Josiah are such cute kids!  We can't wait to meet baby #3 after it arrives in November!

I am having to look back at my pictures to see what else we did...  In July, we went to the 4th of July parade in Ashland.  This year we actually allowed the kids to stay up and we took them to see the fireworks in Ashland.  They were very tired, buy enjoyed it so much!  It was really cute how impressed they were, before the show started, with the little fireworks that people around us were putting off.  I just kept telling the, "Just you wait, just wait."  Well, they both thought it was well worth the wait (they didn't start until 10:00pm)!

Also in July we took the kids to the Jackson County Fair.  It was the same old fair...  But, I had to remind myself, how exciting the fair was to me, when I was a kid.  Hailey and Pete loved riding the rides, seeing the animals and they even got to pet an alligator.  Good times!

In August, we took a bit of a vacation to the coast.  We spent a couple days in Gold Beach with mom and dad, at their vacation house.  It is such a comfy and relaxing place to be.  From there, we headed up to North Bend for some camping, relaxing and play.  Pete finally decided that yes, he actually does like the sand rail.  Our friend Greg at camp kept asking him, "Who is your friend, Pete?" and Pete would reply, "SPEED!"  Daddy was so proud!

After our coastal excursion (also in August), Kim and the kids came up from California.  Ryan went to day camp at the Science Works Museum for a week with Hailey and Pete.  I think they had a good time, but hey were all very worn out every day after we picked them up.  The entire camp day was spent outside and it was rather hot...  Pete also got bitten by a bearded dragon (lizard) - OUCH.

That brings us to Septmeber again.  The summed whizzed by and now the Autumn winds are blowing, the leaves are starting to change, and we officially have a 1st grader!  Hailey has lost four theeth since the start of school last year.  The adult teeth change a kid's apperance so much!  She's not a baby anymore...  I think Haile is so cute with her two front top teeth missing.

The second Friday after school started, we picked Hailey and Pete up from school and went camping up at Howard Prairie Lake.  Jeff took the kids fishing for the first time.  They didn't catch anything, but had fun anyways.  We took the kid's new bikes with us and Hailey learned to ride without training wheels!  We stayed over two nights.  It was a quiet and relaxing last minute get-away.

The Graduate

Today was Hailey's Kindergarten graduation.  This morning at breakfast, she told me that she was nervous to sing in front of everyone.  She said, "But Mom, what if I start coughing?!"  She has had a little cold...  I assured her that it would be ok and to just do her best.  Well, guess what, she managed to make it through the entire ceremony without a single cough!  It was so cute to see all the kids.  Each class (there were four) sang songs and then each teacher called their class (one by one) to receive their diplomas.  Hailey was so cute and proud of herself.

Hailey and her class waiting to receive their diplomas.

The Gang - Jasper, Riley, Sienna and Hailey

Pete was accepted into Hogwarts School of Magic & Wizardy...

Pete was invited to a Harry Potter themed birthday party

yesterday. He had a really fun time. At the beginning of the party, they had each child sit on a chair and the "sorting hat" was placed on their heads. They were all sorted into different houses, just like they do in the Harry Potter books/movies. Pete was placed in "Gryffindor" (just like Harry). Of course, I felt Pete's hair was very Harry Potterish and he even has the scar on his forehead (it's not a lightning bolt shape though...)

During the party, they played several games. One was fishing for dragon eggs. Another, was searching for the "Golden Snitch." I'm sorry I didn't bring Hailey with us... The party was for a boy that Pete goes to preschool with and I didn't know if Hailey was invited too. As it turned out, I should have brought her with us because there were several boys from her class and also because Hailey is sooo in to Harry Potter right now. She and I just finished reading the third Harry Potter novel. During the party, Pete was excited to catch some tadpoles form the pond too.

I thought the invitation was very clever and definitely worth sharing :-)

The text read:

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry to celebrate the 5th Birthday of Ian... The Tri-Wizard Tournament will commence at... There you will find the magical entrance visible only to Hogwarts students and their families. Proper school attire should be appropriate for outdoor wizardry games. Wizard or Witch's workrobes and hats are optional. Please RSVP by owl or by Muggle Phone to the Headmistress at...

A Verry Merry UnBirthday To You!

Today, we threw Hailey an extremely belated birthday party.  It was only a little over four months late (closer to five months to be honest)...  Jeff and I were in Costa Rica in January during her birhtday and told her we would throw her a party when we got back.   For some reason, it has taken me this long to get her party together.

There were about 9 kids (including Hailey and Pete) here for the party.  I think everyone had a great time.  Upon arrival, they had their faces painted.  Then, they had a snack and enjoyed dec

orating their own cupcakes.

With full tummies, we relocated outside to batter the tea pot pinata.  After everyone had several swings and not much was happening, it was time for Jeff to step up to bat.  He managed to whack it hard enough to spill the much anticipated candy and prizes.  The kids all scrambled to gather their treasures.  It was wonderful to see so many happy, smiling faces!

Then, we headed back inside for a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  After the first few kids had a turn, we figured out they were cheating...  The blindfold was see-through!  Oh well, they enjoyed it and in the end it was a tie.  Luckily, I had two prizes, just incase.