BELIEVE......Our Journey Continues......

Finally I can share with you my Christmas cards for this year! I've been working on them for several weeks now, but just didn't get it the way I wanted it. I think I finally have it. I shared this photo of our kids a few weeks ago, isn't it darling. This minature burrow is actually ours....Ethan likes to refer to it as our "Little Ass"! No kidding....thanks to Daddy, our kiddos actually call it that. He is the most adorable little thing. His actual name is ranger and I wanted to get a picture that resembled Mary and Joseph on their "Journey" to Bethlehem, hence what the card says. I just love it, everything about it. I told the kids that the baby doll was supposed to be Baby Jesus and now, guess what they call this baby....you've got, Baby Jesus. Ethan actually took the baby to Philadelphia because Ava said he could take it, isn't that sweet. We hid it away in the suit case after a couple of days though so we wouldn't have to throw the baby away.

Just thought I would share my creation tonight. I have some baby shower invites to share tomorrow. I used Beate's sketch for them and then I sort of used that for this card too. My card is 5 x 7.....I just couldn't fit it on a regular sized card. Hope you like it as well as I do. I actually am going to just make card fronts. I figure that everyone sends out photo cards so this will be just perfect.

A little update on my son too. Ethan had his MIBG treatment on Thursday in Philadelphia and we got to come home on Saturday. We didn't get back until 2:00 am, but we are very glad to be home. We won't know anything really until 6 weeks from now when he has scans. He's doing great though. His appetite is huge and his energy level is high. We are enjoying every single minute of each day. The saying, "Home Sweet Home" is sooo true! There is no place like Home!

Thanks for stopping by. Check out my cool pumpkins below.....(the kids too). I found these in a Country Living magazine and tried them out. I put polka Dots on one and the other I sprayed gold and put our initial on it......they are really fun to make! The kids are showing their creations too! They had so much fun painting yesterday!

Thanks Mom!!!

Lauren's Saturday Sketch (just a little early)!

I talked my Mom into helping me out since we are still out in Philly. This is the creation that she came up with for Lauren's sketch. I had time now to post so I thought I would.....tomorrow might get a little hectic. We might actually get to come home tomorrow. That would be wonderful. Ethan is doing rather well. I've said this a million times, but he doesn't look or act sick, in fact he looks great. They have him on a sedation med to keep him pretty mellow since he can't get out of bed. We'll find out in the morning if we get to fly out sometime tomorrow evening, wouldn't that be wonderful!

My Mom made this card using a new Stampin' Up set. It will be available starting on October 1st. This is called Winter Post. The snowflake punch is from Martha Stewart, she picked that up at Wal-Mart and the Merry Christmas sentiment is from a hostess set called Punches Three. She used the small oval and scallop sqaure punch from SU and layered them. Circle nestibilities were used for the main image. I don't actually have the card, so some of my guesses might be wrong, but I think I'm pretty close. The colors she used are kraft from PTI, Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla from SU. I couldn't tell you what she did at the top. Your guess is as good as mine.....she has an endless supply of ribbon, so who knows. It looks like felt with stiching. I really like how this turned out. I wrote Lauren on e-mail and said that I probably wouldn't have anything, so she'll be surprised to see a post from me tomorrow.

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. We are just hoping to come home and praying that this treatment worked on our son. It's very overwhelming being at a new hospital in a new city and not knowing anyone. Hopefully I'll be back to post early next week with some new creations, I'm more than ready to stamp something and I am very excited to try out something new on our pumpkins at home. I saw these pumpkins painted in a magazine that I was reading and they look so cool.....that will have to be our arts and craft project next week!

Thanks for checking in and be sure to check out the other gals doing this sketch too.

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Tamara Harder http://tamarastamps.blogspot.com/
Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/
Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Dubosque http://www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com/
Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com/
Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com/
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Missing my Baby!

We are in Philly and today is the day of Ethan's MIBG infusion. Just thought I would post a couple of my favorite pics from the past few days. Look at my little chicky in her new pink shoes! She loves to play dress up. Ethan was tired of smiling for pics yesterday at the Philadelphia Zoo so I thought I would just play along with him. He's laughing at me! No card making for me this week. I won't be home until Monday at the earliest! I did bring along my daughter's felt stocking to work on, so that should keep me busy. I made a cowboy one for Ethan last year that I'll have to take a picture of to post sometime.

I've had little to no sleep last night. I stayed by myself at the Ronald McDonald House. The house is wonderful, but it is a strange place and I never sleep very good away from home anyway. I'll check back in this weekend and post a few new pics.....I never run out of pictures of my kiddos! I really miss my little girl so looking at pictures of her helps. Hope all of you have a great weekend!

Season of Friendship!

Goodness......I feel like just crawling up in a ball, heading to bed and waking up from this dream they call life! It's been a good day, I'm not complaining about that at all, but life just seems so absolutely crazy right now. We got news from Ethan's scans. He has another spot on his MIBG that showed up this time on his skull. It isn't news we wanted to hear, but what do you do? We got news today too that Ethan's treatment plan will be starting next Thursday out in Philadelphia. We're very anxious and glad that things are moving quickly out there. So today I tried to make plans for flights and other things that need to happen before next week. I'm even having my friend, Lisa, make Ethan another blanket. She made him this pirate blanket, but he sleeps with it at naptime and the hospital and since everything that he takes with him into the room will be thrown away (due to it being radioactive), I'm trying to make sure things can be replaced when we get out! Anyone have the IKEA giraffe.....I'm in search of a replacement one of those too! The little things right!

This next treatment is a radioactive treatment where the MIBG substance is injected and it tracks down any neuroblastoma cells and then it is killed with the radioactive substance that it is connected too. It all sounds good in theory, so we're just praying that this all works. They will do a follow up scan 6 weeks after his treatment.

I'm sure that most of you didn't check in to find out about Ethan, but rather a card for Saturday, so onward to more "fun" stuff to share. Lauren had a very unique sketch for us this week. Don't look too closely because it was supposed to be scalloped around the edge, but I don't own the square nestibilities, so I tried making this card with my scallop edge punch from SU and it gets a little tricky around the corners. You can't really tell that much in the photo though. I used my new stamp set from SU, Season of Friendship. There is a snowflake, a bird, flower, the leaf and this sentiment that is just wonderful. You can purchase this starting next month. I used a new color combo too, really rust, sage shadow, chocolate chip and very vanilla. I like these colors together.....it is a really pretty fall combo. My dining room is the sage shadow and my living room has and accent color of rust, so this fall I might try to incorporate the sage shadow in my living room and the rust into my dining room.....sounds like a good plan right!

Check out all the other gal's sketch challenge cards too!

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

Tamara Harder http://tamarastamps.blogspot.com/
Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/
Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Dubosque http://www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com/
Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com/
Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com/

MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

I'll also share a picture of our horses and the barn that was built in 3 days! We went on a horse back ride this evening with the kiddos. I wish it didn't get dark so early, but it did and we needed to cross a creek and the horses weren't cooperating. So needless to say, we had to walk them across with kids in tote. I think we have learned a lesson about starting on a ride to late in the eveninig. We're planning on heading out in the morning so we'll have plenty of light. Should be a great time. We're trying to make the most of our time before we head out for Ethan's treatments.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm not for sure how much posting I'll do while out in Philly.

We're Home!

We are finally home.....no cards to share yet, but maybe I'll get to play tomorrow. I'm trying to make sure that I have my Christmas cards just perfect this year, so I played with them a little at the hospital. Ethan and I got to play with my stamp stuff. That two way glue and dazzling diamonds is definitely a "Kids best friend!" He had so much fun playing and he didn't get in trouble for spilling too much! We made a black spider out of black construction paper. The eyes were sparkly and the mouth....it turned out really cute. We also made a jack-o-lantern out of orange construction paper and it had sparkly eyes and a sparkly green stem! Ethan loves his craft time and that is what we usually do after naps.

Tomorrow we should receive several bits of news......scan results, when our next trip to Philly might be and what his next therapy is going to be. It's all so nerve racking, but we get by. The kids are so fun and are at really fun ages that the busyness keeps our minds off of things.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a card to share. Thanks for stopping by.....thanks for leaving such nice notes. I really appreciate them. This is kind of my escape from reality. Saturday is Lauren's sketch challenge and I love her new sketches.

A funny story to share.....my husband calls our little burrow a "Little Ass" and now guess who says that too??? Ethan told every Doctor and nurse that he could that we have a "Little Ass"! He laughs so loud when he says this. It really is funny, maybe not so appropriate, but after what this kid has been through, saying that is okay......at least until he starts kindergarten next year!!!!

Hospital Update

It's wee into the morning hours on Wed morning and I can't sleep so I'm playing on the computer. All seems to be going well here. Ethan is about 2/3 through with his stem cell pheresis. We're pretty busy here because Ava has been with us the entire time. Nothing like a little quality family time hanging out in the hospital. It actually has been quite nice to have her here because we don't miss her now like we usually do and Ethan seems so calm having the entire family here.

I haven't had time obviously to make any cards, but I did bring supplies to work on my Christmas cards! There is a picture of Ava cutting on some paper, one of her favorite hobbies! Ethan got to record a song with his music therapist yesterday and that was awesome. The kids have been pretty funny too. Hope you enjoy the new pics. I'm sure it will be this weekend before I actually get any real stamping accomplished. Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday Sketch

Lauren's Saturday Sketch!

Just a really quick post......here is my card for Lauren's sketch. It's late and we've had a fun evening. My picture isn't crystal clear, but I didn't have much time between visitors today to snap pictures.` I really struggled with this sketch, but it finally fell together last night. I haven't used this set in a while, but it is from Lizzie Anne Designs called Christmas in the City.

Now it is definitely time to get to bed. Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Check out the other gals creations too!

Tamara Harder http://tamarastamps.blogspot.com
Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/
Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com
Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com
Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com

MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Peace on Earth!

Here are a few Christmas cards that I played with yesterday. I really like how they turned out. The pink one was inspired by Nichole Heady's color combo she used with this tree and the others I was just trying out different color combinations. The tree is from PTI's set BELIEVE. The color combos are Spring Moss and Kraft from PTI and Riding Hood Red from SU, Dark Chocolate from PTI and Riding Hood Red from SU, and Spring Moss from PTI and Pink Pirouette from SU......which one is your favorite?

I was going to save these to post in the hospital next week, but we are going as a family, meaning Ava, Ethan and my husband will all be there, so we might be quite busy! I'll be happy that we are together, but I'm sure we'll be exhausted trying to entertain Ava and keeping Ethan occupied since he won't be able to walk with the catheter in his leg. Hopefully it will be a short stay. Optimistically the best chance of coming home would be on Tuesday, but then we are back for an MIBG infusion on Wed afternoon and a scan on Thursday AM at 8:00.

My very good friends from college are on there way to my house to visit. I can't wait. I haven't gotten to see either of them in quite some time. Their names are both Lisa and mine is Alicia (pronounced u l E sh u) so when we would go to the bars in college we would quickly say we are Lisa, Lisa and Alicia......it was a mouthful, especially after a few beers. Oh did we used to have so much fun. Now I have 2 kids, Lisa K has 2 and Lisa M has 1 with another on the way in October. It will be a fun visit and I'll hopefully have some fun pictures to share.

Hope all of you have a great weekend. I have a card to post for tomorrow....Lauren's sketch. Thanks for stoppipng by!

A Rose is A Rose

The other day I got to play with my new stamp set from SU, A Rose is a Rose. I fon't know if you can see it or not, but I added some sparkle with dazzling diamonds....some around the oval and then some on the rose petals. I really like this rose and am planning on using it to make a frame around a quote on my daughter's wall in her room.

I mixed the new pink piroutte and the pretty in pink to make the petals. The green ink and cardstock is mellow moss from SU and the ribbon is spring moss from PTI.

I was stamping during lunch time today so I have some more cards to share in the next several days. Next week we'll be in the hospital so I'll save to post my pictures then. I'm geared up to work on my Christmas cards while we are there....we'll see how that goes. It might be busy, it might now be. We're enjoying our days here at home before leaving on Sunday.

Be sure to check back on Saturday for Lauren's Sketch. Thanks for stopping by.

Thinking Christmas!

Just thinking about Christmas.....actually I'm just trying to get something together to work on while in the hospital with Ethan next week. So, I decided to get my stuff ready for my Christmas cards. I love them!!! I'll let you take a look at my picture for the front of my card. They are very simple, yet just perfect. I needed a little "Pick me up!" this week.....the waiting on everything gets to you after a while. Stamping usually brightens my day! I went with a Chocolate Chip/Riding Hood Red color scheme and had the picture printed in a sepia tone. Yes, I know Joseph led Mary and baby Jesus wasn't born yet, but "you get the picture" right!

This is our new burrow, Ranger, or as we sometimes call him, Eeyore. He is just wonderful. He is so friendly, kind of like having a 2nd dog. The kids are so attached to him and want to ride him all of the time.

Off to bed.....I stayed up way too late. We are heading to St. Louis tomorrow so Ethan can have labs drawn for his pre pheresis workup. Then we should be home until Sunday. I had to laugh tonight while Ethan and I were saying our bedtime prayers. We had finished with our prayers and then Ethan wanted to say one more. "Dear GOD, could you please make Ava un ornery" "Thank you, Amen" It was too cute. Good Night. Hopefully I'll be back with a post soon....I made a card with my new SU set called A Rose is a Rose. Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday Sketch with Lauren

Lauren's Saturday Sketch!

Wow.....it's been a week since I last updated. Time and life changes so quickly. We've been all over the US since I was last here. Things are quite crazy around our house. This week started with a barn raising over the weekend......and i truly mean a barn raising in 3 short days! Then on Tuesday we got a phone call that changed the week.

The Doctors from Philadelphia called and we made some "quick" arrangements and flew out Tuesday evening for a 8:30 doctor's appt on Wed morning. Needless to say, we filled out paperwork after arriving Wed morning, met with the Doctor by 9:30, took a tour of the facility and were back in a taxi by 11:30 to try and catch a 12:50 flight back to Illinois.......it all worked out and we got home just in time for Ethan to get his Make-A-Wish horse, Sonador.

Our family is now 3 memebers larger! Sonador, Dusty, and Ranger are all here and have brought so many smiles to our faces already. This is a hard time in our lives and maybe the timing is just perfect and this is just what we needed. Ethan's next step is on Sept 15th where they will harvest stem cells and reserve them for some future treatments. Looks like we are home all next week to enjoy ourselves and our new friends. I'll give a few more details later, but it is late here and I thought I better get to posting before I forgot!

My card is a new color scheme for me, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, and Pumpkin Pie. What do you think? I really like the color combo. I used some of SU's new designer paper that I think added a nice touch. I got to use my new set, Autumn Harvest, from SU and the sentiment is from Hugs and Wishes, also from SU. The dew drops on the side are new from http://www.ellenhutson.com/servlet/StoreFront I love these. The ribbon is from SU too. I'm all set for Stamp Club for this month, which if you are reading this, it has changed to next week on Sept 10th....due to some recent changes in our schedule with Ethan's treatments. I made this card while the kiddos ate breakfast. I'm having a hard time taking away any time from the kids to do my "crafts", so I'm getting a little time in while doing other things. Gives me a little time to "not think" about other things going on.

Below are pictures of our new family members. Sonador is on the left with Ranger in the middle and Dusty on the right. Sondador is Ethan's buddy, Ranger is Ava's minature burrow, and Dusty is my horse. All three of them are just wonderful. Sondador has taken quite well to Ethan and loves to eat carrots from his hand. Ranger is just a doll and loves to be petted and the little kids ride him. He's just so gentle and kind.....he reminds me of Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh. Dusty is definitely a lady's horse and is already my new best friend. She rests her head on my shoulders and is a real sweetheart. They are definitely a wonderful addition. I talked Ethan into getting his picture taken under our "tree" today too. Aren't they just too cute. He has on a cowboy vest that came from a friend who has a son going through treatments for Leukemia. He hasn't taken it off except to shower. Ava is sporting some new cowgirl attire too!

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. My posts are probably going to be few and far between. All our energy and focus is on our family and getting our son well. I do like to escape from "my world" too so I'll hopefully be doing some stamping for relaxation. I'll definitely be back next Saturday. Be sure to check out the other ladies cards as well.

Tamara Harder http://tamarastamps.blogspot.com
Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/
Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com
Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com
Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com

MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/