In the Fullness of Life

During the day, there is the potential for such lovely peaceful moments.  They aren't are frequent as you'd imagine since both boys are in school, what with shopping, getting meds, running to the post office, cleaning, helping at Matt's school, etc.  But the dogs even enjoy the quiet now and again.  Look at how they snuggled in together for a morning nap.  Adorable!

The next fun news is that Matt lost baby tooth #2!  Ray pulled it out for him once it was dangling on there.  He was so proud, put the tooth under his pillow and Ray and I utterly forgot to let the tooth fairy know what had happened (we were working on taxes).  So Matt, Danny, Aunt Brittiny and I all shared theories for why the tooth fairy didn't show:  perhaps it was too cold outside (Danny), maybe she was on vacation (Brittiny), maybe there were just too many teeth to get (Matt), or maybe Mommy made Matt push the tooth too far under the pillow and she didn't know it was there.  Anyway, he found the whole event perplexing and nothing to worry about.  And the tooth fairy DID come the next night when Matt tried again.  *laughs*

Lastly, Ray's hair is falling out along with some bad news that surgery is going to be later into the summer than we had thought, which shifts all kinds of plans we had made.  And the bad chemo day is tomorrow.  Ray is so strong.  He's taking it all like a pro.  *I* am the one cringing at the thought of tomorrow coming. . . .

Snow Day (AGAIN!)

The boys enjoyed their snow day making ANOTHER snowman.  The first one didn't last long with high winds and then warm weather the next day, so they conspired to fix it all last night.  Then when the snow fell today, they ran to the front yard to create a new one.  Matt did most of the work, as Danny flittered around the yard with a butterfly net, trying to get snow and throw it like a lacrosse stick!

Notice the net.  *laughs*  They both were getting so cold.

Ray shoveled the driveway with the neighbor.  I think it tuckered him quite a bit, but our sweet neighbor had already shoveled our driveway twice!  Isn't this a cute group shot?

Here's Matt with Frosty.  He couldn't get the raisins to stick for the mouth, so this guy just seems a touch mad to me.  Still, great fun and I'm so proud of these guys.

Afterwards, they bundled under towels and blankets and giggled over hot chocolate.  It was a fun afternoon for two wild little boys.

The Boys' First Snowman!!!

The boys were able to exert a ton of energy and utilize much of their creativity in today's self-proclaimed, completely autonomous project: SNOWMAN.  They were outside for nearly two hours creating this lovely snowman all by themselves.  They were so proud of their triumph at the end.  Now, unfortunately, Shelley (the dastardly) has eaten off the eyes made of dog food, and the raisins for the mouth.  Of course, I suppose we all knew it would be too much a temptation for her.  *laughs*  Still, awesome, isn't it?!  Neither Ray nor I helped at all, (except to pass the carrot and hat out through the back door!

Snowed In and Hanging Out

Well, I don't know how much snow we got over the weekend, but it was considerable and waaaay fun!  We enjoyed watching it come down, playing in it, and being trapped inside.  Lovely.  Here's a photo of Matt in his pre-snow-playing-garb.  

The other fun thing was that the birds have finally discovered our bird feeders at long last.  One of them was from the sweetest man, Mr. Art.  It was great to see the birds coming to visit, and I had to take a picture of the sweet black birds in the snow.

Shelley was not allowed to go outside while the boys were playing in the snow because she gets too rough them.  Here she is watching from the window.  Isn't she a pretty girl?

Of course, she's simply hilarious with a snow-covered muzzle.  :)

Then, our neighbor from the old neighborhood, Mrs. Tracie, gave the boys these watercolor books, so we enjoyed painting in them for the afternoon.  The boys sure are cute when they're still enough to see them!  Most of the time, you know, they're just a blur.

Ray Meets the Oncologist

We're meeting with the oncologist at 1:15 pm today.  Please pray that we get scheduled for chemo asap.  We've been waiting for such a long time for ANY kind of treatment.  We'll post news as soon as we have some at www.raymoore.blogspot.com
Thanks friends and family.

A Fun Evening Out

We had a great evening out last night at the mall, of all places.  In general, the mall is NOT my favorite place to go, but we went there having previously seen this bouncing contraption that had the boys' names written all over it.  At first sight, they were a bit skeptical of the idea of being strapped to giant rubber bands, but you'd be surprised at how quickly an energetic boy can be won over by the temptation of adventure!   They weigh so little that they actually had to have some help getting very high; it was cute.  But we do have a few short videos of the event.

Then we followed the fun with a dinner at Dos Amigos, a Mexican restaurant in the food court of the mall.  Very fun; very yummy.  We then let the boys expend tons of energy playing with other children in a little play area inside the mall, with a few older kids.  It's hilarious how great the boys are at keeping up with bigger kids!

Matt's First Time Skating: The Good, The Bad, and the PAINFUL

Well, tonight STARTED as all kinds of fun.   Matt was invited to go to his best friend's birthday party at the Skate Center.  He'd never been skating before and was thrilled at the chance.  Look at this cute smile.

He did spend a lot of time on his bottom, but laughed and laughed about it.  I've never seen a kid be so brave about utterly crashing onto the floor and still braving the middle of the skate rink.  This boy was fearless tonight.

Look at this proud, bursting with joy face.  The picture was preceded with a "come-on-mom" face of annoyance, but then he quickly changed his mind as he really, truly was proud of himself a bit too.  :)

Before I finish the story and tell you of our evening trauma,

I did want to show off Matt's adorable best friend, Owyn.  Here they are cheesin' together as best buds.

Then, two minutes before we were going to leave, Matt and Owyn were running past me, when Matt got bumped and fell to the floor.  Right at the moment, a middle-school aged girl, rolled by on skates and ran right over Matt's foot.  There are clear roller skate bruises across the arch of his foot, and slices across his toes.  By the time we were home, despite ice resting on his feet during the drive, his two toes were swollen.  He was a bit hysterical for a good thirty minutes, calming down as I sang him Christmas songs on the way home.  I'll snap a picture tomorrow of the war wounds.  I may need to take him to the doctor, but for now, we're icing/sleeping/and taking Tylenol in four hours increments.  *laughs*  More soon.