Awesome Holiday!

It has been awhile since my last post. The holidays were great. Collin felt great. He healed up great after his surgery. His symptoms from chemo almost completely disappeared. His hair also started to grow back!!! He was so excited!! It of course is going to fall out again, but I was so happy to see it growing back. It showed him that his hair will come back. It doesn't look read. It actually looks dirty blond. It will fall back out because he still has more chemo ahead of him. We were busy over the holidays. He was able to go to his school Christmas Party. He really enjoyed seeing his friends again. He started to get tired and overwhelmed while we were there. I took him for a short drive to give him some time to relax. When we returned, he climbed into the loft in his classroom to lay down for a little while. When the party started he felt better and had a blast. The week of Christmas was nuts!! We had to cram all of the shopping, decorating and other things to do in one week. We did it!! Heath, Kasey & Zack where a big help getting our house ready. Grandfather helped get their house ready and Grandmother helped me get all the shopping done. It couldn't have been done without them! Kasey, Zack & Collin went to their Grandma Linda's on Chirstmas Eve to spend some time with her. They have missed going to her house. They were so excited to see their Aunt Marie and cousin Tammy their too. They had fun spending time with them. Heath and I went & picked them up to go to Christmas Ever service at chruch. They enjoyed the service. The children usually do a song with bells. Kasey & Collin usually participate, this year they did not. Collin wanted to go up front for the children's story, but was afraid, so his big sister stepped up & went with him!! Zack didn't want to go & that was ok. The kids really enjoy the candle light part fo the service. We held lit candles & sang silent night. I cried. Other family memebers too. We then stayed at Grandmother & Grandfather's house that night. The kids enjoyed it. We had made Christmas cookies and Collin made a gingerbread cookie for each of the reindeer. He also made a craft for Santa. He made sure to put them all out on Christmas Eve. Kasey & Zack also enjoyed putting out some of the cookies they had made. Collin didn't hardly sleep that night. He was so excited about Christmas. He slept with Kasey in her room, so Kasey didn't get much sleep either. Zack was the only one that got the best sleep. Christmas morning was awesome. It was a blast watching Collin. Kasey & Zack even paused from their gifts to watch him. Seeing him smile was the best Christmas gift we could have recieved. Later we went over to Great Grandmother's house. We had good food & fun! The kids enjoyed opening their gifts and playing with everyone. It was great seeing the family again. On Zack's birthday, the day after Christmas, we went to see the movie Tron Legacy. The kids really liked the movie. It is a good movie. It was the first movie that we have gone to the theater that we have gone to the theater to see that Collin stayed awake for the whole thing. Most of the time he falls asleep & Heath has to carry him to the car. On New Year's Eve, we went to the Children's Museum. Grandfather & John & his family came as well. We had a blast. Collin walked through almost the whole thing. We stayed longer then John & Grandfather. It was so much fun watching all of the children enjoying themselves. We wanted to do something fun before it was time to head back to Riley for chemo. New Year's day we had Christmas with John's family. We all went to Grandmother & Grandfather's house. Grandfather cooked a turkey on his Big Green Egg. He likes to cook everything on that. The turkey was good, but it was decieded that Thanksgiving will be kept in the oven!! Collin did very well while home. He felt better then he had felt in months. We are thankful to have had such a good time with him and the family. We would like to thank everybody that helped make our family's holiday's brighter! We could not have done it without you!!