Thyroid Cancer and HOBY

June was a busy month. I got diagnosed with thyroid cancer and therefore have been negligent on updating the blog. I'm working on writing up 'my story' for a later date. I already had a complete thyroidectomy (they took my entire thyroid) and a central neck dissection (they took the lymph nodes around the central part of my neck). Both lobes of the thyroid came back positive for cancer and only one of 18 lymph nodes came back positive for cancer. I’ll go through the radiation therapy in mid-August sometime. All in all, my spirits are high and I know I’m going to beat it. I just find it terribly odd to inform people that I have cancer.

After I found out I had cancer, I continued my month like normal although the various visits to multiple doctors was not so normal. I played softball and continued my involvement with HOBY, the youth leadership seminar that I’ve been involved with in some capacity since 1997.

The below are just a few pictures of my small group of eight high school emerging juniors from across the state of Colorado - - we learned about emerging issues affecting the state in a panel session format from Colorado business and civic leaders and had a half day service project on Lookout Mountain picking up trash.

Skateboarding

We also spent a day downtown at the Denver Day of Rock which benefited children at Children's Hospital. The people watching was amazing (so were the odoriferous folks) and the kids got a lot of kudos for their protective ear wear. We also watched a friend of mine play in his reggae/rock band and I had to admit - - he was a great showman and I enjoyed his music tremendously. Ryan did too so that was a coup that we agreed on this!

The other summer activity Eban has picked up is skateboarding. He's actually quite talented (and I wish he weren't so he'd go to another safer activity)! Within one day, he figured out how to stay on the board and lift up one side. Jack likes to watch him on his big wheel or tricycle as he calls it.

Lastly, last weekend, Grandpa and the boys and I hit up the Forney Museum of Transportation located in north Denver. It's in an old warehouse and it has the largest locomotive in its collection of old relics of transportation type machines. The boys loved seeing all the relics but it was a tad hard for them as they couldn't touch a lot of items and there was no running - - they failed at following those directions.

Eban Skateboarding

Jack 'Driving' to get us Ice Cream

The Lake House (a.k.a. The Rehm's)

If it’s nice on the weekends, you can figure that we’re at the Rehm’s taking advantage of the lake and the boat. The kids love it there with Denny and Avery - - but Jack is afraid of the boat. He'd rather feed their new pet chickens! Yes -- they have three pet chickens who are very friendly.

Eban loves riding in the speedboat but he does not like riding behind it on a floatie thingy - we've only done that once - - as you can tell how much he enjoyed it from the below picture.

Therefore we're sticking to riding IN the boat and he and Denny can’t get enough of just that - - it’s so cute. He also takes great pride in holding the orange caution flag up so that other boaters know that there is a "man down" in the lake. I just love it!

Last weekend, it was Chris Dunphy's 40th birthday (again) so we headed to the lake to celebrate. Jack loved Fresca (grapefruit soda, I think?) and Eban wanted birthday cake galore. Funny how they like different things like that?

Chris totally eating it while skiing

Eban Driving the Boat

Soap, Soccer, and Sun

In early June, we received a shipment of homemade Grammie Kass soap. The boys were stoked about the tractor shaped soap which not only smelled good but was super cool! THANK you for the fun bath accessory!

Softball started up with a bang as we won the first two games of the season. We have a few new players and it’s fun to see all the returning players and get caught up after not seeing them for 6 months - - with the exception of my neighbor, of course. I took this picture (albeit blurry) overlooking the fields one night before our 9:30pm game (SO late). I thought the moon was gorgeous and it certainly didn’t capture the beauty of the evening. Eban had his last soccer game of the season. He pouted at one point and had a big time out with his dad (see the picture of daddy intervening after he wasn't nice to another player). We decided to take the summer off as far as his sports are concerned as we think he needs to mature just a tad - - we’re thinking we’ll start back up in the fall with another activity. The YMCA and the rec center in the area are very good for this! It’s great that we have neighbors who are the same age as Eban and Jack. Several times a week now, we’ll see Ava and Miles and the boys go bonkers to go up two houses to their house. They can’t get out of the van fast enough as they high tail it up to their house to romp around. It’s so cute to see them speed on the big wheels all around and just yesterday, we went on a walk around the block. I can’t wait for them to ride the school bus to school every day! See below for pics of them - - they are on the same soccer team! Due to the warm weather, we’re also spending more time at our local park. It overlooks the city and the mountains and you have a clear view of the airport (which look like circus tent).
And because it's summer, we're spending more time at the Rehm's lake house...more to come in the next post.

Sweetie or Sweetheart?

Here are a few pictures from my mother's camera from her visit in early May...

Jack is so sweet. Lately, it's been a fun change to eat at the kitchen counter and not eat at the table. I'll stand and eat while the boys drag their chairs over to the counter. Last week, Jack said, “Do you want a chair mama?” Then he proceeded to get a chair and drag it around to the counter for me to sit with them and eat breakfast.

We've had some excitement in our back porch with the birth of four baby birds. One fell out of the nest a tad too early and Eban and I rescued the baby from the window well. While I used gloves to rescue this little bird, I hope it let the mama bird still feed it and protect it after I put it back into the nest. Eban and I talked about his t.v. friend, Diego, as he's an animal rescuer. We experienced another tornado alarm. Our little radio went off and we were going to go in the basement but they informed us that the tornado was closer to the airport than to us. The next day, all the baby birds were no longer in their nest so we no longer have the birds to entertain us. At preschool when I dropped Eban off, he proudly told his friends and teachers that we didn't go in our basement because 'it was filled with junk'. Then another kid chimed in and said his basement had mice and traps. Lovely. Guess I need to start cleaning or organizing the basement...

Ryan also sang in Boulder with Liza and following the gig we went to the Rib House for some grub. Man, the boys LOVE ribs and it's so funny to see them eat all the meat off the bones and be proud of that fact. Yesterday, as the boys were playing hide and seek, I was shouting, "Where are you!?" And I would hear Jack say, "OVER here!" So I would get closer and find them. Eban piped up and said, "Sweetie, you need to help get Jack out from behind the couch." Ryan and I looked at each other and laughed as that's Ryan's term of endearment for me - - not Eban's. So we tried to explain to him that those were our words. So he nodded his head and asked, "Then I can call you sweetheart?" That Eban is pretty crafty!
Some ABC singing - - well kind of?

Jack and Eban playing - I was sure this was going to lead to fist throwing...but it didn't