Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween from our family to yours. Hope you had a great one!

Love,
Chase the pig, Carissa the monarch butterfly and Tristan the ninja

Our news

So, here's the new news from our household:

That lovely looking thing on Brian's arm is his temporary cast for his newly broken hand. He took a kick right in the hand during a Taekwondo sparring match on Tuesday. He said it hurt but being the manly man that he is he kept one, sparring (and winning) 5 more rounds. Then he did forms and self-defense until his hand really started to hurt. By the time we got home we had decided to take him to urgent care where he was promptly seen, x-rayed and given this lovely cast. Now he's enjoying (or not enjoying, as the case may be) his 4-6 week vacation from work. Hopefully all will go well and he'll heal quickly and correctly. We're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well and he can return to work soon.

There's something to be said for having one kid ...

Not that I have a lot of experience here. I haven't had one kid since before Chase turned 2 years old. But this weekend was just for Tristan and it was a wonderful change.

Tristan had a TKD tournament this weekend and the other two would get sooooo bored sitting there all day long just watching match after match after match so they opted to go to Grandma & Grandpa's house. They headed over there last night and as soon as they left I hustled Tristan off to bed. I knew that he wouldn't get much sleep because he gets so excited about the tournament.

He was up and at 'em this morning for a nice healthy breakfast and then got all dressed to go. We let the dogs in the house just before we left and the moron of a dog (i.e. Jack) jumped on him with wet, muddy paws. DOH! Dirty pawprints on his white uniform and not time to clean them. I did the best I could with a wet washrag but I was ready to wring that dogs neck this morning!

Tristan had 2 events at this tournament. His first was forms, which he has been working very hard at. He's been practicing and practicing and practicing. He did very well for himself and gave a great show, getting 3rd out of the 7 in his group. He was thrilled with his well-deserved bronze medal. He received a bronze in sparring too, though he had to repeat his first match because of a technical scoring button malfunction.

After the tournament we let our little champion chose lunch and went on to have pizza at Flying Pie. YUMMY. Then it was off to Toys R Us where he was dying to use the $3 gifcard Toys R Us sent him for his birthday. He bought a Bakugan toy (don't ask ... it's his current obsession and I am totally clueless).

We made our way home and spent the evening playing a fun game of Mario Party 8. When Brian turned in early (he has to get up at 5am) Tristan and I got in bed with him and just layed down and talked for a while. It was a fun day and a great chance for Tristan to have us all to himself. Of course, he does profess to being "bored without Chase". But I think he secretly loved being our one and only for the day.

And life goes on...

I know I haven't written anything since my last sad post. I must admit the just thinking about it makes me sad still. The good news is that we did get to go visit the friend and he looked well. He was smiling and joking and just being himself. But as his dad said to me on my way out, "you could never imagine from looking at him how fragile he is inside". So we're continuing to keep Tristan's friends in our thoughts.

Of course, from my own selfish side of this I am just so sad for Tristan. This boy was probably his best friend and I think the feeling is mutual. Tristan has so few friends that he truly cherishes and this boy is one of those. I feel bad that he is worried about his friend and that he is having to deal with not having him around. I know that this is nothing compared to what his family is dealing with, both now and in the future. I just hope for a miracle to change the possible outcome.

On to other things is life, because life continues despite this all. We went to the Blazers fan night a week or two ago and had a good time. We were a little late and ended up in the nosebleed section, but the kids didn't care. Here they are...

Beyond that it's just getting read for Halloween and looking forward to Christmas. I can't help but think about how quickly this year has flown... and Christmas is just over 2 month away. Wow. Better get shopping...

Today I write with a heavy heart. It's a day that has made me happy to have my kids to hold, to have them safe and warm in their beds, to have them healthy and happy in their bodies.

One of Tristan's very best friends is gravely ill. He was doing well, living his happy life. He is a wonderful kid, kind and caring and fun. Tristan has few good friends yet somehow these two linked, they just "got" each other. I think that's part of what makes it so hard.

Tristan had been over to his friends house and had enjoyed playing in the orchards with him, picking and tossing apples and playing "scuba man" together. He has come to our house where they ate ice cream bars and jumped on the trampoline together. He was supposed to come visit our house one day about two weeks ago and his mother called to say that he was sick. Well he never came back to school and we later found out that he was in the hospital.

Fast forward to today when I talked to his Dad. This friend is sick. Not just flu sick, not something curable that he'll get over sick. He is SICK. He is change-your-life-forever sick. He is never-going-to-jump-on-the-trampoline-again sick. And it's breaking my heart.

I remember how hard it was on me, at age 27, to lose my best friend. I can't imagine having to deal with it at Tristan's age. Or even worse, how to deal with it as a parent. That's not to say that there's not hope. There is. There's hope that a miracle could happen, that a drug could be found to help, that his life could be longer than his dad made it seem. But the opposite could also be true. And that's what gets me.

So, as I was reminded today by his dad, I am urging you to go give your kids a huge hug. Hug them hard, hug them long, and think again how lucky you are to have them in your life.

The Big 5-0

Oh yes ... it's the big 5-0. No, I'm not 50... yet. But I do want to shout out for my milestone today -- I received a request for my 50th published layout! Wahoo!!!