Beau's Birthday

Our sweet Beau turned two this year.  Clint and I have been knocked off our socks by how much love, laughter, and silliness this boy has brought into our lives.  His little personality is so loving and sweet and funny and opinionated.  He still has his Beauments, but after two years of it we pretty much have it figured out.  If he gets upset, within seconds he forgets and is his silly self again.  He loves Sawyer so much and is so sweet to him.  He also says "tank you Sawyer" over everything.  He can't sleep without his brother, OSU blankie, and paci.  Actually he can't do anything without his brother, OSU blankie, and paci.  He is more into trucks, tractors, and balls than his brother.  He loves to read and watch cartoons.  This boy also has a super special bond with his daddy.  His favorite person in the world is Daddy and though he may deny it, I am pretty sure his daddy feels the same way about him.  We love this two year old mess.

We wanted to take Beau somewhere special for his birthday so we chose Coney Island.  Beau loves hotdogs.  He inhaled his first one and then ate a hamburger in the car on the way home.  Typical Beau. 

The weather was sooo interesting on Beau's birthday.  It looked like it was going to rain, but then the clouds cleared and we had a serious wind advisory.  We had at least 40 mile/hour gusts.  We did our best to have a great hayride for Beau's birthday party at Grandpa's farm.  I think overall people had fun.

After the hayride we had hotdogs and cupcakes down by the pond.  The plates kept flying in people's faces, but we managed.  All the kids had a great time and that is all that matters.

With the wind it was a little crazy at the party so I took a picture of the cupcakes and party favors at home.

We opened presents at home.  That darn Oklahoma wind.

Beau got a helmet he loves.  He wears it all the time.  

He also got a scooter.  It was also a big hit.

His new airplane had to go to bed with him.

The drill for the airplane later was used to stir yogurt.

God is Great!

My mother began her cancer battle at the end of June.  She has been such a figure of strength in so many peoples lives.  We were all devastated, but even more amazing was the hundreds of friends and families that reached out to her as well.  After her initial diagnosis, she asked (really nagged) to get her medical records.  Once she got a copy of the CT scan, it was evident that her doctor in Arkansas was not telling her everything.  She decided at that point to go camp out at MD Anderson until they saw her.  They were able to get in with the oncologist in a little over 24 hours which is pretty amazing.  The results ended up being mixed mullerian ovarian cancer Stage 4.  She was also inoperable at this point.  It was pretty much the worst diagnosis possible.  We all started doing some research and a lot of prayer.  She also went to a wholisitic MD who helped her out spiritually.  It was pretty evident that God was guiding her every step of the way and when she opened her heart to listen to Him, miracles started to happen.  She and my dad rented an apartment in Houston and she started some preliminary rounds of chemo to get to the point to do a hysterectomy.  She also radically changed her diet (she was pretty healthy to begin with), started exercising regularly and kept up her research.

All of her research led her to a doctor in Austria who had been having great survival rates for his ovarian cancer patients.  He had multiple approaches, not just chemo (which is MD Anderson's first line approach).  After she finished her preliminary chemo, she and my dad went to Vienna, Austria.  She loved the doctor and his practice and decided to stay there.  When they did the CT scan there, no cancer showed up.  Everyone was shocked, but happy.  She went to Germany so a specialist could do the hysterectomy.  He cut her open and found no signs of cancer either.  She followed up in Austria with 6 rounds of chemo, heat treatments, dendritic cell vaccines and some other things (about 2.5 months of treatment).  She and my dad came home cancer free on December 8th!  The Lord has already used her testimony in so many ways.  She and my dad have met so many amazing people.  We are so blessed to have a happy ending to such a horrible, stressful situation.  This battle is long from over, but we know where our strength is. 

Mom right before Cancer treatment started.

During cancer treatment.  She and Dad came home for a weekend.

Home for Christmas and completely healed!  If it is possible, she is even more beautiful without hair and eyelashes. 

October 2012

October was also deemed Helltober.  Our month was completely booked and we knew that if we survived then we'd be on the better side of things.  Clint had at least 4 business trips (we can't exactly remember).  The last was in Pittsburg during hurricane Sandy or Frankenstorm.  We thought it was ironic that Helltober ended with Frankenstorm.  Fortunately he got home only one day delayed but we did learn that he had holes in his shoes because his feet stayed soaked.  He also had multiple grant proposals due so he was working constantly on them.  I don't think he took a single day off the whole month.  My sister finally had her baby.  I spent the week taking care of her boys which actually was a lot of fun, but hard work.  Most importantly my mom had her hysterectomy.  We were all scared to find out what the doctors would see, but things went miraculously smoothly.  Fortunately the boys were awesome and adorable so things really weren't as bad as we thought they would be.

Sawyer had a field trip to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  It was fun to see him with his classmates.  He was so well polite and behaved, I was very proud of him.

Beau in Daddy's shoes.  He is always trying to get a laugh out of us.

When our dads were out of town, we had a family night with the Ramsey's.  We got caramel apples at the Chocalate Factory.

Beau doing "one two pacies".

Julianna Joy was born on her Daddy's birthday.  We didn't want Uncle Taylor to think that we forgot about him, so the boys made him a cookie cake.  They decorated it all by themselves.  I don't think any adults were brave enough to eat it.

We went to the pumpkin patch with some of our cousins.  They love hanging out together so much!

Iron Man and Iron Baby.  These two love their costumes.

Sawyer got to make a rocket at the children's museum.  He loved it, then came home to tell dad all about the carbon dioxide and how it exploded.  Dad was pretty excited to talk science with Sawyer.

Clint made the pilgrimage to Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh.  The first time we heard about this sandwich was when Sawyer was born and we were stuck in the hospital watching the Food Network.  He declared then that he would try one of the sandwiches.

My boys love their teddy bears, Nicky and Bear, and I think the cutest thing is when they wake up in the morning in their footy pajamas holding their teddy bears.

Clint hired a friend to remove cedar trees from Grandpa's farm.  Clint video taped this to use for a biofuel project.  It was a pretty interesting endeavor.

Once again the boys doing what they do.  Cuddle and read.  Love it.

Time with cousins.  They all get along so well.