Pumpkin Carving Night at Enchanted Lake Elem.

Good fun tonight - Kristen was in charge of the costume party/pumpkin carving night at Liv and Jack's school.

Soccer Action - Jack

Jack is having a lot of fun this year - he has a great coach and a really nice team (with nice families). We were able to catch a few good pics...

...including the rare "GOAL!" pic...




And check out Liv's short hair


Even Owen is getting ready - gotta love those hand me downs

Carhole of Scariness 2008 - part 1

The theme this year is Frankenstein's Castle... here is Brad doing some late night painting 3 days before show time. Bwahhahahaaa

Extreme Surfing

My buddy Ben surfs the Great Lakes - they scored some waves recently - check out these pics and then put on a sweater and a parka and drink a hot chocolate. These are devoted surfers.

blog silence BROKEN

I can't believe we haven't posted anything for over a month - shame. We've had lots of birthdays and all kinds of good stuff going on - including a nice visit from Grandma Karen. More soon...

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

The kids have been cracking me up lately. Thank God for their distraction through all of life's crazy seriousness.




Owen and Zachary are constantly playing Star Wars dress up and dueling with light saber swords. Here are some of today's snippets I've over-heard.

"I'm Obi-Ta-Nobi."
"Dude, we're going to California, get your light saber sword."
"You're the best mom, will you put this coat on me." (It's 90 degrees in this house right now and Zach and Owen are in full dressup gear including, but not limited to overcoats.
"Aunty Kristen, we have none rocket ships can we use this?" (pointing to my recliner in the living room)
"I'm gonna put you in the hot wava (lava) Zachary"


Other sweet quotes from the boys:

I made Zucchini bread last week and the kids were eating it and Jack asked for more Boo-kini bread. You know it's made with Boo-kini.

Owen asked to sleep naked the other night and I asked him why he wanted to. He replied cause Daddy does. So I told him he might get cold during the night and in his precious little 2 year old accent he said, "that's ok, I wike cold and I wike hot too".

Another night I was reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book to Owen and there is a Henry train in the book. So I told him that's your name too. You are Owen Henry Lemonds. And he looks up at me with tears in his eyes and says, "no I not Owen Henry, I Owen me-going" (we actually call him Owen be-going as a nickname)









The kids get a kick out of my wig. I never felt right in the wig. It looks way better on them.

Major Milestones!

Today is Jack's first day of Kindergarten (actually Kindergarten camp) and Owen's real, no-kidding first day of Preschool! We are very proud of them. Here they are dressed for success and ready to take on the world...



And we couldn't resist taking a pic of the yard - which, under the loving guidance of zoysia master Brian Felix, has taken on an Augusta-like splendor...

Ho'omaluhia

We had a blast on Sunday with the Blanchettes at Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. The kids caught so many fish it was amazing. Olivia wins for catching the biggest fish of the day....

More pics from the relay

The "Team Kristen" kids had a blast raging around the beach park that night.

This is my friend Peggy who I met pretty soon after I was diagnosed. She is also a survivor and has been an inspiration for me seeing how great she has handled everything.


Dave's mom Susan was on Team Kristen too. I love this picture.

Relay for Life

This past Saturday goes down as one of the best days of my life! 13 girlfriends made up "Team Kristen" and raised money for cancer research, agreed to and did (amazingly) walk all night in a Relay For Life event in Kailua Beach Park in honor of me. I am so touched by what they all did and for their fun and laughs and friendships. There were 25 teams, but "Team Kristen" really rocked I must say. They raised right under $5000, which is thanks to a lot of you who are reading this right now. That night was magical. Bagpipes played as the first lap was for survivors and then everyone's teams followed on the second lap. I can't convey the feelings of happiness, pride, and gratitude I felt on that walk. I was smiling through tears the whole time. Looking back over my shoulders at everyone and their families on Team Kristen is a memory I will never forget. I have known I've had the love and support of so many people throughout this experience, but this was literally a physical example seeing everyone walking behind me. I cry just thinking about it. It was so moving. Thank you so much everybody.

The Best News Yet!

We received the best news yet from my surgeon Dr. Matayoshi yesterday....He got all the cancer! The chemo shrunk the lymph nodes to nothing (there were no signs of cancer in them in the pathology)and my breast tumors were small and he got them all. The margins are clean.

Dave and I breathed the deepest sigh of relief in 7 months. I can't stop smiling and neither can he.

The kids come back this afternoon with Dave's mom (in 2 hours). I can't wait. I can't wait to squeeze them and kiss them and smell their great kid smell. A month is a long time.

I'm jamming to some Celia Cruz right now blasting through the house preparing for their return. Just got done watching Juno on pay-per-view. Loved it.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee?

Some perspective from our friends at Surf News Network...

Home from the Hospital!

YEAH - She's HOME! Kristen's surgery went very well on Wednesday and after only one night in the Hospital she was released and is now recovering and resting (sleeping actually at the moment) at home. Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, encouragement, calls, emails, letters, positive vibes, flowers, offers of food, and countless other acts of love and kindness from so many of our friends and family. Love is certainly in the air around here - thank you all.



This picture was taken earlier in the day - she's happily holding the 3 drain bulbs that she'll be living with for the next week or so (notice the conscripted Camelbak fanny pack - easier than pinning the bulbs to the inside of her gown). Kristen's spirits are great - she's still a bit groggy at times - but she should shake that off by this evening and even now is generally feeling pretty good. Her appetite has returned and after 3-4 days of solid R&R she'll be well on her way to a full recovery from the surgery.

Special thanks to Christy for hanging out with me yesterday during the surgery (6 nervous hours is a LONG TIME) and for making sure Kristen was squared away with the best doctors and nurses Kaiser had to offer - you're great - thanks.

What's next? 2-3 days before we get the pathology results back - which will hopefully show good clean margins (meaning they'll be pretty confident they got it all). Then back to the surgeon next week to get the drains removed - followed (most likely) by 7-8 weeks of localized radiation therapy... but we'll see - with chemo and now surgery behind us the future is looking pretty bright :) - and the kids come home on the 10th!

TEAM KRISTEN!

Here is a pic from the "Team Kristen" surprise dinner at Pinky's on Monday night. We didn't get one with everyone on our camera - so if someone does have a pic of the whole team - please email to us and we'll post it!

Thanks to all of the Team Kristen volunteers and to so many of you who made generous donations to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life charity. The fundraiser walk will happen on Saturday night, July 12 - so it'll be here soon. If you'd like to join the team and/or make a donation on behalf of Team Kristen - please visit this website. Thanks again!