Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is getting into the Christmas Spirit! We wish all of our wonderful family and friends a very Merry Christmas. It's amazing to us how quickly this year has gone. As we look over this past year, we know we've faced many challenges, but we've also have witnessed many blessings as well.

Although she never got to come home with us, we consider Marissa a true blessing, and we celebrate her little life each day.

Madison's year has been a year of change. Elementary to middle schooler! She transitioned well and has demonstrated amazing organization skills and independence. She has such an amazing heart, is so incredibly honest and compassionate. She has been a tremendous help this entire year. With another clean bill of health for her this Sept, we are again so grateful for our health.

JJ has made a great transition to his new school and seems to enjoy it very much. It is a challenging curriculum, but he has worked hard and it has been fun to witness how much he has achieved. He continues his obsession with legos and creates things that continually amaze us.

Finally little Morgan. Oh how she has grown and despite her stubbornness, she is finally beginning to talk. We call her our mini blond Madison-they have such similar personalities and get along great. The toddler years are so fun and she makes us laugh often!

James continues to be incredibly busy, not only with his career, but also his new household tasks he wasn't expecting to have to manage while Lori is down. He does the laundry, makes some mean take out and provides high quality nursing care!

After a scare last week when the home nurse accessed Lori's port incorrectly (the fluid ended up in her neck tissue instead of into the bloodstream so back to the hospital for a fix), things have calmed down and Lori is receiving the strong antibiotics (the doctor calls them "Gorilla"myacin) through the port in her chest. Hopefully by mid January the infection will be cleared up and we can move forward with another biopsy and the bone graft.

We are hoping 2013 will be a year of health!
Love to all!

A Few More Setbacks

After the bone biopsy Monday, we have discovered that there is a slight infection in Lori's ankle bone. A bone graft cannot be done in this condition so she had another surgery similar to Monday except instead of taking a bone biopsy, the doctors will fuse antibiotic beads to the impacted area using a medical grade cement. The antibiotics will leach into the bone over a period of time. The surgeon also said he took some extra time to visually inspect the bone and despite this LONG non healing time, the bone is still looking good and healthy overall which makes him feel better about her chances of ultimate healing. In addition Lori will go back into surgery today to reinsert another port to administer strong daily IV antibiotics. Bummer since she just had the chemotherapy port removed just a short 4 weeks ago, but the port is safer than a pic line so whatever it takes to get the infection cleared up! After 4-6 weeks of antibiotics, they will go back in and perform another biopsy. If the infection is clear the doctors will then go ahead with the bone graft. She is still in the hospital but expected to come home tonight.

We really can't wait until we can post something exciting and good, but unfortunately today is not the day.  On Monday, Dec. 3 and Wednesday, Dec.5 Lori will be undergoing two more surgeries for her leg.  The first will be a bone biopsy to check for any infection that may be preventing the bone from healing.  The second surgery will be a bone graft, taking bone from the hip and grafting it into the lower leg/ankle area.  We are hoping and praying that this will "kick start" Lori's body into healing the broken bone.  We will update the blog later next week with an update on her recovery.  It will be 4-6 weeks before we know if the healing is taking place and no more surgeries are needed. 

In honor of the season, we are so thankful for all of our family and friends.  You have all surrounded us with love, support and prayers.  We appreciate you all so much!  Thank you and we love you!

 

Happy Halloween!



Morgan, Madison, Abigayle, Noah, Nathan & JJ





What a fun night we all had!  Madison dressed up as Laura from Little House, JJ as an army soldier and Morgan dressed as a 50's girl.  As tradition has it, we went up to our good friend, Julie's home.  The streets were crowded with kids.  The older kids exercised their independence and hit as many houses as they could, while the adults lingered behind enjoying our adult visiting time.  Morgan loved getting all the candy and refused to share her bag with anyone!  Julie's yummy chili topped off a great night.

Lego Mania

For the last couple of years, JJ has been obsessed with Legos.  He owns many cool Lego "sets", but in all honesty, the best creations are the ones JJ comes up with himself. 

He creates safes with many secret locks, gumball machines, M&M machines (which actually take money to work), 

labyrinths and his newest creation - the duck boat (which parallels his other obsession - History and World War I & II).  Ingenious!

Successful ABC Festival

Madison and her friend Abigayle have been working VERY hard over the past two months organizing a fundraising event, the "ABC Festival" standing for ALS and Breast Cancer.  Abigayle has an uncle who is battling ALS and since Lori is battling breast cancer they came up with the idea this summer.  The girls spent many evenings on procurement, organizing volunteers, jumpers, games, raffles, food, etc...  October 6 it all came to fruition with great success.  We were incredibly proud of their hard work and persistence. 

Patience...

Lori went back to the Ortho doctor this week.  Unfortunately the bone is still not healed.  It seems to be progressing very slowly (which could be from the chemo).  The good news is the doctor does not want to do surgery at this point, but instead give it more time.  So...6 more weeks of the same (non weight bearing, walker, bone stimulator and recliner...).  We're really hoping now that chemo is done the healing can progress.  The doctor said 8-12 months of healing for this type of injury (a little longer than we had thought originally), but he still expects full use.  At this time we just continue to pray for no surgery and healing on its own. 

Chemo is Done!!! Woohoo!!!!!

Lori had her LAST chemo appointment yesterday.  What a celebration!  The nurse sang to us and threw confetti and although is was a cute, fun song it brought tears to our eyes!  "Chemo is done, no more needle no more pokes, on with your life off you go...." (to the tune of Looney Toons - clever!). 

We must compliment the nurses and staff at the clinic.  They are so amazing.  They take a very yucky experience and make it as positive and enjoyable as possible, but in all honesty we are so glad NOT to have to see them on a regular basis anymore. :)





First Chemo Appt.



Last Chemo Appt.



Admittedly, a few changes in a few short months - hair loss and lots of weight gain (about 35 lbs!!!).  Gotta love those steroid effects - round face and round belly!  We remember all too well with Madison. 

Mom got the cute shirt - it says, "Yippee! No more Chemo for me!".  It was a big hit yesterday.  

Lori celebrated her .... yikes.... 40th birthday yesterday!  Nice relaxing night with dinner in and yummy cupcakes!

Then on to a busy weekend and week ahead.  James and JJ are heading up north for a Cub Scout campout.  The girls will be having a girls weekend with some friends.  Madison and her friend have been working very hard on a fund raising carnival for ALS and Breast Cancer.  They've been organizing jumpers, games, food, etc...  Quite a tiring undertaking for two 11 year olds, but they've been doing great!  Madison has a choir concert, carnival, and then on to a good friend's wedding. Busy, but a good busy!

Not a whole lot more to update on the medical end.  Still waiting patiently for follow up x-rays on Lori's leg (October 9) where we'll find out if the stimulator worked.  Last chemo next week (Oct. 4) - yeah!  Then no cancer doctors for 3 months - woohoo!  What will Lori do with her extra time??? 



Madison joined me for my Chemo appt and helped celebrate
my birthday with cake at the clinic.



Hopeful...

A gentleman came on Friday and fitted Lori's house arrest anklet....uh...bone stimulator.  Ha!  It is a little embarrassing because it does seem to look like a house arrest anklet, so luckily it needs to only be worn 3 hours per day on each site so no going out in public like that!

 

The good news is that the bone stimulator needs to be worn 3 hours a day, however more does not hurt, so we're going on 9-12+ hours a day.  Let's hope for the best!  The medical representative that fitted the device said that they have proven to see a 80-85% success rate.

Physical Therapy has now stopped/been put on hold until further notice.  Nothing changes other than the slight weight Lori can bear on it and stretching, so we're in a wait pattern until Oct. 16 when the x-rays and doctor visit take place.  In the meantime, Lori has been busying herself with scrapbooking to pass the time -  having fun and miraculously catching up (well...kind of). 

Bummer News

Unfortunately we received some bummer news yesterday.  Lori went to the orthopedic doctor for xrays and check up.  Although the muscle and skin graft are doing quite well, the bones do not seem to be healing on their own.  The two breaks are still quite clear, so the doctor is starting a bone stimulator which will be worn on Lori's lower leg, and will hopefully trigger the body to begin repairing the bone again.  It is unknown what has caused this.  The doctor commented that with this severe of a break it could be the lack of blood flow to that area, or the fact that Lori's body was giving all efforts to the muscle and skin and the bone basically got the back seat, simply the chemo could have played a factor or all of the above.  No matter the reason, we are hopeful that the stimulator will work (works about 50-60% of the time).  After 6 weeks time of the stimulator, the doctor will redo xrays to determine the next step.  If the bone does not repair, a bone graft will be required.  This involves another surgery (ugh!) to remove bone from Lori's hip, and lifting the muscle and skin graft to graft the bone underneath (ick!).  We are hoping and praying this won't be necessary, but nonetheless it's still 6 more weeks of waiting and patience! 

Here's the xray from yesterday where you can see the two breaks - one very obvious about midway up and the other is just above the horizontal metal plate.  Notice the resemblance to ... say The Terminator???

We are officially in the groove of school!  Yeah!  Madison and JJ are in a great routine for drop off, pick up and yes, even homework!  It's amazing how much homework a 4th and 6th grader have, but we are so proud of their hard work.  Madison is very responsible for getting everything done, and other than a few checks here and there, she's very independent.  Both kids definitely have the strength area in literature and love to read.  JJ is learning Greek, Latin, and total submersion Spanish - AY CARAMBA!  We're all going to be learning some new concepts this year!

Lori had another chemotheraphy treatment yesterday and all went well.  Treatments take about 4 hours of infusion, but watching a movie and a little sleep makes the time go quickly.  No serious side effects, just a little achiness after day 5 or so, but still feeling so fortunate.  Now only 6 more treatments left - October 4 will be the final one!  Great news too - Lori's hair started growing back during the 6 weeks off of chemo, and so far it's staying!  It's even longer than James' already - hee!  So far it looks pretty dark, no curls yet, but we'll see...

So far chemotherapy does not seem to be slowing the leg healing, although doctors are still expecting it to take a little longer over the long run.  The plastic surgeon was VERY pleased with progress yesterday and told us that about 2 months from now the wound part should be completely healed.  The final surgery most likely will be optional if everything continues to heal over.  There are still a few parts where the skin needs to grow over, so as long as that occurs, the final surgery would be more cosmetic smoothing and a final skin graft to lessen the scaring.  Really hoping this happens so that final choice is up to us - just not sure if Lori wants to go through yet another surgery after all of this.  We see the orthopedic doctor in 2 more weeks to check the bone healing, but he was also very pleased with progress 4 weeks ago. Today physical therapy comes and Lori will be able to put a very small amount of weight on that toe to help with walking and balance.  Hoping to get to outpatient physical therapy soon and walking and driving soon after that!   

First Days of School

Madison and JJ both started school this past week.  Madison is officially a middle schooler, and obtaining a locker was the highlight!  She was excited to start school 3 weeks ago, and we're so proud of her organization and excitement for learning.

JJ entered 4th grade this year.  He wasn't as thrilled about starting school as Madison, but had a great first week and is liking it and getting into the routine of things - especially more homework this year.  Unfortunately, he is missing his first day of school after only 1 week due to strep.  Poor guy, but he'll be getting back into the grind tomorrow!

It has been extremely hot here - hitting in the 110's and lots of monsoon action.  Luckily we haven't been spending much time outside due to the heat and Lori's injury.  Not too much excitement there - Lori's leg is healing very nicely.  The doctors switched the bandaging so the wound is drying out and finally starting to look human again (not like the hamburger meat it once looked like - we'll spare any pictures!  For those of you curious ambulance chasers - hee! hee! You can view some similar photos online if you google 'split thickness skin graft'. This is a process they use for severe trauma like burns or unlucky broken lower legs).  Lori's chemotherapy also started back up this past week and we're back to the countdown - only 8 more weeks to go.  Doctors are keeping a very close eye on things to be sure the chemo does not compromise the healing process or cause infection of any kind.  In about 2 weeks Lori will begin putting very small amounts of weight on her leg, then work up with physical therapy.  There may be one more surgery involved to smooth out the leg scaring, but for now we're just patiently waiting to see how the healing takes place.  If we can skip yet another surgery, we would be thrilled!  For now, it's more sitting, leg exercising and doctor visits.  Hopefully by Christmas things will be back to normal, and 2013 can be our lucky year!

Great to be Home

It is wonderful to be home! Things are getting back to "normal" or at least as close as can be expected at this time. Lori has to spend much of her time in the recliner with her leg elevated. Patience is proving to be her biggest virtue right now! A home nurse comes every other day to change bandages and physical therapy is twice a week at this time. Bandage changes are pretty gruesome, not painful, but the wound is pretty grotesque at this time - doesn't even look human, but it's amazing what medical procedures can be done. We never would have dreamt a silly leg break would be so involved with 18 days in the hospital and so many surgeries! Now we're just focusing on healing. 6-8 weeks of non weight bearing, and doctors say 6 months and she'll be back to "normal" function. Right now a typical day includes sitting on the recliner...keeping leg elevated...dangling leg...sitting on the recliner...going to the bathrooom...sitting on the recliner...dangling leg...sitting on the recliner. Not too exciting, but doctor's orders!

Going Home Friday! Yippee!

Great news! Looks like Lori will be able to go home on Friday. Long recovery ahead - no weight bearing for 6-8 weeks but after physical therapy the doctors say full recovery in about 6 months. Lori misses the kids terribly and is very anxious to get home!

Moving Out of ICU Today

After 7 surgeries and a few days in ICU it looks like Lori will be moved today. The break of her leg was very severe. It involved breaking both bones in the lower leg. Because the break was also compound the doctors had to perform a muscle and skin graft to repair the skin around the break. Unfortunately the day after that graft surgery the graft started being rejected and blood flow was compromised so Lori was rushed back into surgery to make repairs and salvage the graft on Sunday. After close monitoring it looks like the graft is taking and today she will be moved out of ICU and will begin "leg dangling" beginning the recovery process. No word on when she'll be able to go home but excited we're making steps in the right direction.

Prayer Warriors Needed!

Lori was painting the bedroom yesterday when the ladder slipped out from under her. She has broken her tibia and fibula and will be undergoing her 2nd surgery this morning. It's a crazy and serious break but she is very lucky she didn't get hurt even worse or land on her head/neck!

Summertime!

Summertime has kept us very busy!  We may have overbooked a little...but necessary to keep the kids busy!  Madison is enjoying a sports camp and swim team again this year, as well as her usual busy social calendar.  JJ has been brushing up his baseball skills, and will be attending a Lego/Chess class soon (he can't wait!).  Morgan has been keeping the house in disarray and running the household as usual!

6 down, 10 and counting!

Lori's chemo has been continuing as planned.  The first round (Adriamycin/Cytoxan) is done and she's now on the Taxol/Herceptin round.  The first two infusions went great.  There is a high allergy reaction to these meds, so high doses of Benadryl are given and we're thrilled to say there have not been any reactions. 

Yesterday Lori's red blood cell count was low, so doctors will be rechecking blood levels Monday to see if it was just a fluke low day or if a blood transfusion will be necessary.  All said, she is feeling good and has high energy days where she's very productive (maybe a little too productive - like all kinds of household projects and quite a long honey do list for James) and other days where a 3 hour nap is needed!  The continued great news is although being tired, there has been very little nausea, no vomiting and mouth sores are under control so eating is high on the priority list.  We feel very lucky that life seems to be fairly "normal" given everything that has gone on these past few months.

5th Grade Promotion

We are now officially parents of a middle schooler!  Yikes! 

Madison had her 5th grade promotion last week.  It was so sweet to see her so proudly walk up and receive her promotional diploma.  We held it together until they played that Lee ann Womack song, "I Hope You Dance"... that one did us in and the tears had to be wiped away!

Happy Birthday JJ!

JJ celebrated his 9th birthday with what else????  Legos!  He was so excited to receive the Millennium Falcon and with a little help from Papa, completed it in under 3 hours!  We are constantly amazed at the architect in him - JJ is always building, creating, tweaking, taking apart and investigating motors, legos, or anything else he can get his hands on.  Our favorite is his soda machine that spits out little "soda can" legos, as well as his large life sized one that fits in our fridge that uses a real can of soda!   

Happy Birthday Buddy!  We love you!

How Should I Wear My Hair Today?

Just finished a nice, relaxing Mother's Day weekend with Lori's mom.  She gets the credit for this clever picture with all of the hats!  Gotta look at the bright side = all the money and time saved getting ready, shampooing, conditioning, doing hair, shaving, waxing, etc.... Showers last about 2 minutes! 

The sore mouth is now on the mend - yippee!!!  Lori can now eat easier, although still carefully - no acidic or rough foods (no more pizza, pasta, potato chips for awhile - ugh!), but at least she's eating more than shakes which is a huge improvement over last week.  After losing about 5 lbs in that short time , the steroids are a welcome cure for sore mouth and weight gain!

She's Bald!

You Seinfeld lovers out there enjoy that one!

So it finally happened...the hair started coming out so we made a night of it and shaved it all off.  Each one got a chance to cut a chunk and buzz a little too.  It was definitely emotional for Madison and JJ, but we just reassured them that this is a sign that the medicine is working. 

A little support for our wonderful
military who make sacrifices everyday
to protect us!

Before

 It's a hard thing to watch especially given that this is the most obvious change with all the medications, but they are now used to seeing the bald head.... and we've reminded them that rubbing a bald head brings luck....we certainly need a year of that!

The important thing is that Lori is still feeling good, except for a sore mouth which is a very common side effect of the medication (specifically the Adriamycin - which she only has 2 rounds left of).  This will get better with the next round of meds.



After





You always hear that the longer couples are together the
more they start to look like one another...but this is
 ridiculous!  At least mine will grow back!  Sorry Honey!  Hee! Hee!

 

Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

Today we celebrated Madison's 11th birthday.  Grandma Jean made yummy cake, we played kickball in the backyard, and we enjoyed the gorgeous weather and dinner out at Madison's choice restaurant, Genghis Grill - Yum!  

We are so proud of the young lady Madison is becoming - so compassionate, thoughtful, loving, funny, well we could go on forever and ever.  We love you beautiful!



Madison's new shoes with her
photo on them - so fun!



The Very Hungry Caterpillar

We have had a very busy week with doctor appointments...

On Monday, we visited with the plastic surgeon, all good on the "boobie" front.  Healing nicely and looks good (of course a male doctor would say that :)

On Tuesday, we visited with the oncologist.  Baffling is how he described Lori's tumor.  He called for many other opinions from breast specialists/oncologists in New York, Texas, New Mexico and Tucson to come up with my regimen. It's so great to see he is willing to humble himself and get many opinions, we feel very confident and reassured by this (and it doesn't hurt that he was listed as the #1 doc in Phoenix Magazine we found out yesterday). 

The great news is although Lori's chemo will be more aggressive, right now it's looking like it will only last 20 weeks instead of the full year as originally planned.

On Thursday, Lori woke up looking like a Cabbage Patch Doll!  Her face was so swollen!  We're not sure what caused this, nor do the doctors (maybe an allergic reaction to something), so in additon to the chemo, Lori is also on benadryl and high doses of steroids - not sure if we'll have to peel her out of bed or off the ceiling!

On Friday comes the Neulasta shot, which boosts up the white blood cells.  It must have worked great last time because all counts were very good for chemo yesterday. 


Sounds a little like The Very Hungry Caterpillar (leave it to a teacher to make this analogy! :)  Hope you enjoy reading the blog as much as the book!

Happy 40th Birthday Babe!

Happy Birthday to my husband and best friend! 

It's so hard to believe that we've been together 24 years - it's crazy because I still feel like we're 18 years  old!  I am so lucky to have married my best friend, and we've had such an amazing adventure.  The years have gone so fast!  Although we wouldn't always have chosen some of the journey we've been on, I am so lucky to have traveled this with you and I wouldn't change it for the world!  Not to overuse the saying, but "you regret the things you don't try" and I can say without thought that I have no regrets.  You've encouraged me to take risks, have fun and not worry about some of the little things and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be so loved and so taken care of by you.  I love you with all my heart and more than words can even begin to say! 

The Answers Today are Yes!

Ask and you shall receive...right?  Well, sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no and sometimes...wait. 

We are so thrilled to say we've have two yes answers to our prayers recently! 

One, Lori's BRCA 1 & 2 testing (the genetic tests that links breast, ovarian, pancreatic among other cancers) came back negative.  What a blessing for her parents, brothers and our children to not have to worry about this highly increased risk of those cancers!

Two, after Lori's chemo treatment this past Thursday, she has felt great.  Other than a slight headache and some clutziness (which many of you know Lori wasn't exactly the most graceful girl on the planet to begin with!  Ha!! :) things have been going great...no nausea, hair loss yet, etc...  The nurses say the truck should be hitting around day 5,6 or 7 but we're determined to miss this truck!

First Chemo

After a nice breakfast with just the two of us, Lori went in for her first Chemo treatment yesterday.  Everything went great!  The meds all went in with no allergic reactions and only a very slight and very manageable headache.  Although going to bed early last night (probably because we stayed up until 1 am the night before!) she's feeling great today and just took the kids to school this morning. 

All of the nurses were phenominal and spent lots of time with us (maybe because we were the only ones under the age of 80!  Ha! Ha!).  We also met another gal going through breast cancer who had lots of good advice.  It's always nice to hear other's success stories!

 

Happy Easter!

 



Evidently swim goggles help with egg coloring.
Now all she needs is a lab coat...



Lori is not "normal"

For those of you that don't already know, Lori is not "normal".  Ha!

After three pathology test runs on the tumor, our doctor has labeled this tumor as "odd".  The first biopsy showed a full Her-2 positive testing, however after further testing of the entire tumor, the tumor is presenting only 5% Her-2 positive so.... given this new information the doctor has decided to change Lori's chemotherapy regimen.  They will be following a regimen for Her-2 negative patients, but then the final 3 months of  treatment, will administer the Herceptin to kill any Her-2 positive cells that may be present. 

Glad to see they are covering all of the bases, but it's always a little scary when your case is labeled as an "odd" or "not a typical" case.  Our doctor told us he even consulted with various doctors around the state and on the east coast to get the regimen right!  We never realized how far reaching Lori could be! 

On this new plan, Lori will be receiving chemo every 2 weeks for 4 cycles, then 1x/week for 12 cycles beginning April 12th.  After that it's a little unknown - waiting to hear more from the oncology nurse.   

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy...

Lori went in for port surgery at 5:30 am, surgery at 7, then home by 10 am.  That's the way to do it! 

Lori's port surgery went off without a hitch.  They placed it on the right side just below the collarbone.    The doctor made a small incision, then inserted a small port.  It's a little odd having a foreign object under the skin that you can feel and see (the outline of it anyway).  The port will be used to administer all of the chemotherapy medications and blood draws.  This avoids having to start an IV for each visit.

On a fun note, my cousin Teri, Madison and I went to see the movie Hunger Games...not sure if Madison watched much of it since she plugged her ears and closed her eyes during a lot of the movie :)  It was an interesting movie - like a violent Survivorman.  Although a little gruesome, had an intriguing storyline.  It was very nice to get out of the house - made me feel human again! 

We've set up our revolving doors again, Teri went to visit family in Las Vegas and California, then will head back home to Annapolis Easter Sunday. James' mom, Jean flew in Monday night to help for the month of April.  We are so appreciative of all of the help!

Girls Day Out

The girls had a fun day of shopping and salon time today!  Madison and Lori donated hair to "Locks of Love".  Cousin Teri took pictures for us, then we enjoyed a girl's lunch along with some hat and shoe shopping! 

Before:

  

During:

After:



Tubeless! Yeah! (Updated)

Yesterday we said goodbye to James' sister and her husband, Sharyl and Russ who were here visiting and lending us a hand.  We always love when they visit - the kids get spoiled (and so do we).  Thanks for a great visit and thank you Sharyl for the beautiful pink quilt!  Sadly they were here about 10 days and I forgot to take pictures!  So no pic posts today.

Update:  This is the quilt...Sharyl is so talented and creative...can whip up anything in no time!

 

Lori got her "boob tubes" (drainage tubes) out yesterday.  No more getting caught on the kitchen knobs (OUCH!) and tube free sleeping and showering!  Yes!!!!  Celebrate those little accomplishments!

Up"Dates"

The newest updates:

Port insertion surgery will be next week, Wed., April 4.  No biggie...quick surgery...in and out and home!

Chemotherapy begins Thursday, April 12, then hair falls out 7-10 days later...perfect for hot weather! 
Chemo will be every 3 weeks for 6 cycles for two of the meds, then the final med, Herceptin for the remainder of the 12 month cycle.

We met with the nurse today and got the 'low down' on side effects and a grand tour of the facility...gotta love medical care...the cram 'em all in a room in recliners, then hook up the IV's...thank goodness for Kindles, Ipads and computers! 

Say Cheese!

 We decided to get some quick family pictures before Lori loses all of her hair, although during chemo we thought another picture with James and Lori bald would be hilarious!  The kids did great and we got some fun pictures.