And they're off!

I have some fun pics from earlier this week to share but wanted to make sure I documented the obligatory first day of school pics! :)

We have a 5th and 3rd grader now!!

I made Logan smile for me in the top pic - but, this one is probably a closer depiction of how he really feels about the first day of school.  ;-)

And this one is a great "stealth" pic that a friend of mine/fellow Mom snapped at school, while the kids were getting off the bus/arriving! :)

The new addition to our home...

Last weekend, Jon snuck off to "pick up a surprise for me", but then returned home empty handed, saying it was too big to move. 

I wondered with the boys - what sort of surprise is too big? Logan thought - maybe it's a car? I said naaah, he could've just driven it home! Hmmm, he said, then it must be a bathtub. 🤔 

Babe, thank you so much, for not giving me a bathtub. 😆😘

A day of Scrabble!

Today the family celebrated Nana's recent birthday with two competitive games of Scrabble (one of her favorite games). 

Jon, Logan, my Dad and Kai worked an intense game in the living room, but the *real* action was watching the women in the dining room. 🤩 

My mom and grandmother put up a good fight, but ultimately, Callum (with a little help from his Mom 😉) was named champion. 🏆 

Logan’s home!!

Every 30 minutes or so, this morning, Callum would ask what time it was, and if it was time to go pick Logan up. He was soooo dang excited!!

Then, about 5 minutes before we needed to leave, he had an upset stomach and couldn't go - so I left him home with Jon and headed to the high school where we were to pick Logan up (he took the camp's charter bus home).

The first pic is what Jon texted me while I was sitting in the high school parking lot, waiting for Logan's bus to show up (they were late). Poor Callum was literally waiting by the door. ❤️

The next was a quick snapshot I caught of Logan after he got off the bus. I was surprisingly emotional when he arrived - I was relieved, and so happy, to see my son again.

And the last is of the two boys once we got home. I had parked in the driveway and Callum opened the garage door and ran out jumping up and down like crazy and then embracing his big brother. He missed him so much and was so very glad to have Logan home again. We all are!!

It was also sweet to see that half of the stuffed animals he purchased from the camp store were gifts for Callum (you can see a couple of the bears in his arms in the pics). After big hugs, they ran inside to solve Callum's scavenger hunt - which was also pretty dang cute.

Logan had a really amazing time. He was pretty dazed and tired when he got home and just zoned out for a bit watching tv and playing on his laptop. But I knew he'd sorta need the space and downtime to just chill. He chatted a bit when we drove home, but it wasn't until much later this evening, after he had re-energized a bit, that you could see his mind racing as he excitedly told me all sorts of stories about his time at camp.

All that said, he seems really happy to be home too. There were friends who didn't want to come home and wanted to stay at camp longer - but that wasn't Logan. He told me one week was long enough - maybe a little too long - but he was still glad he went. I guess we'll see what he thinks about that next year! ;-)

We got you a present - but first, a scavenger hunt!

Continuing from yesterday's post about Callum's idea to get Logan a welcome back present.... 

He couldn't sleep last night because he decided he wanted to plan a scavenger hunt for Logan to *find* said present, and was working out all the details.

Here are the clues he wrote today (and set out in the house), as a result. 😍

I'll give you 2 guesses as to who "the guard" might be. ;-)

Missing Logan ❤️

We have been missing Logan quite a bit this week, so Callum decided he wanted to buy him a gift to welcome him back home.

He also picked out this card, which we both thought was hilarious.

Happy birthday Nana!!

Just had lunch with my parents and beautiful grandmother - who turned 93 today!

Ninety. Three. 👊🏼

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Callum has been asking to watch his fave movie for awhile. 👻🎄 Since his big bro is out of town (and isn't as crazy about it), tonight seemed like a great time to put it on! 😆

We're missing Logan today, wondering what he's up to and what he's been doing at camp. We're able to send one-way emails to him (that get printed as letters and delivered to him at camp), but he can't email back (though he could send a snail-mail postcard or something back to us).... so at this point, we just have to assume no news is good news and he's doing fine! 😬🤞🏼

Callumisms of the day

Haven't done these in awhile but Callum had a couple funny quotes today:

We passed by a "give blood" Stanford truck and I told Callum that someone who donated blood to one of those trucks helped him when he was really sick....

So he says "Wait, so I have someone else's DNA in me?!?"

A little bit later, as we were driving home, he made the following observation: "Mountains and hills are like my mortal enemy. And yet we live on one."

😂😂😂

Mountain Camp!

We just dropped Logan off at his first away camp experience (for a week!). 😱 He was pretty nervous all the way up until we ran into a couple of his friends - and then met his counselors and other cabin mates. We didn't stay long after that - his anxiety had transformed into excitement and we're pretty sure he's going to have a blast. 😁

I took a few pics of the camp as we walked to the boys' cabin. A gorgeous setting somewhere between Tahoe and home. 😍

Visit to the hospital today

So much to be thankful for, as we come up on 2 years post treatment. Still continue Callum's regular blood checks (all is good), but another year in means we get to space these visits out a tad bit more! 🙌🏼

Working on our crepe making skills!