Payton's Class Christmas Party

Payton with his teacher Mrs. Ogle

Frosting Christmas Trees

Making Christmas Ornamnets

Making Bird Feeders

Making Necklaces

Playing Games

Blue Bonnet Christmas Social with Santa

Payton making his list to Santa

Thanksgiving with the Gonzalez Family

Payton's 3 1/2 Year After Treatment Scans and Checkup

Payton's scans were on 8/22/11. I am slow getting caught up on my posts.

Payton had his 3 ½ year after treatment scans and check-up at Cook’s. Payton is doing well at understanding what is going on now. He handled it so well when I told him that he couldn’t eat or drink anything. He has grown up so much and has become such a sweet little boy. Payton also had his Echo/EKG to test his heart.

After Payton’s scans and testing we headed over for his appointment with Dr. Bowman. I was a bit nervous when I arrived at the Hematology Oncology Clinic to receive Payton’s results. After arriving the lady at the front desk informed me that they had been waiting for us to arrive. In all of our times of going, I have never heard that. We were immediately taken back which never happens either. Dr. Bowman came into the room and informed us that he had decided to pick Payton to be on a Cook’s commercial with him that will air in Waco. They were going to film for the commercial in the next 30 minutes. What a surprise. I was relieved to hear that’s what the rush was about. Dr. Bowman informed us of the good news…all of Payton’s scans and testing showed up negative. He also gave us a letter from The Children’s Oncology Group talking about how Payton’s protocol had been closed. It hit me really hard when he expressed how lucky we are that Payton made it through this regimen with very minimal complications. It was another reminder that Payton’s life is in Heavenly Father’s hands and he is being watched over. I got all teary-eyed and it really has made me realize how blessed I am. Payton was so cute while filming for the Cook’s Commercial. It was really special to see him with Dr. Bowman the man that has helped us endure a lot over the past 4 ½ year. What a true blessing it has been to have him in our lives. I don’t take any clean scans for granted. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to raise my little guy and that he is doing so well. I wonder if this little guy will ever realize the amount of prayers that have been said on his behalf. With great news, I can face life again.

Payton disguised his turkey as Darth Vader for school

1st Day Back to School

Payton and Savannah's 1st Day Back to School. Payton is going into 1st Grade at BlueBonnet and Savannah is going into 5th grade at Park Wood Hill Intermediate School. Both kids were very excited.

Malcom, Savannah and Olivia. This is our carpool crew for Park Wood Hill.

Payton and his friend Geoffrey. Geoffrey is Payton's class this year.

Payton in front of Mrs. Ogle's door.

Payton with his friend Lorenzo. Lorenzo was in Payton's Kindergarten class last year.

Payton with his friend Nicky. Nicky is in Payton's class this year.

Payton at his desk.

Payton with Zoe. This is our carpool crew for BlueBonnet

Payton's accident

The kids have been asking to go to Chuck E Cheese sometime this summer, so on Thursday we decided that we would go. Payton was so excited to get his tokens to play some games. He wanted to count all of his tokens by himself since he loves to count these days. We had been there about 10 minutes and Payton was so excited to come show me some tickets that he had won. He came running over to show me and tripped and fell flat into a corner of a bench. Payton hitting the bench made a loud noise and I just knew that it was not a good thing. Payton got up and I could see right away that it was bad enough that he would need stitches. Payton was not crying at all which concerned me, I thought that maybe he had a concussion. We laid him down on a table to assess his head and put pressure on his wound. Payton was still calm and was just looking around the room. We started asking him questions to what happened and he just calmly answered them. Payton’s head was bleeding a lot, so I knew that we needed to get him seen quickly. We gathered our stuff, got into the car and drove to Cook’s. We arrived at Cook’s and were immediately seen. The doctor confirmed that Payton’s incision was deep enough that he would need stitches. A nurse came in and put some numbing cream on the incision. Payton sat there the whole time and never cried or flinched a bit. They came back and stitched Payton up. Five stitches total and Payton actually fell asleep while they were putting the stitches in. Payton has a high pain tolerance and I believe it is because of all he has been through. I was totally amazed that he never cried or flinched at all. What a brave little guy. Payton did much better than I did, I was a total mess. Payton seems to trip a lot; it is a side effect of one of the chemo drugs that he received, but it is hard to know if that is it. Payton will have his stitches in for five days.

We were all so excited to finally be getting home. When we arrived home I could tell that our house felt a little warmer than usual. I didn’t think much about it since we have been in the 100’s for over 36 straight days. Our house continued to get warmer through the evening and I noticed the temperature was going up instead of down. We checked the vents and they were blowing out hot air. What a rough day it had been. We were lucky we had a window ac unit in our garage. We pulled it out and put it in our bedroom window and closed all the doors. It was an uncomfortable night. First thing the next morning we were on the phone with our landlord hoping to get it fixed. We were told they would send someone out between the hours of 1 to 6 p.m. and that we needed to stay there during that time frame. Savannah went to a friend’s house and Payton and I rented a movie and sat in front of the window unit and waited it out. It was miserable and I felt bad for Payton, but he was such a trouper. At 5:00 they finally showed up. It was the capacitor that had gone out so they were able to quickly fix it. What a crazy 24 hours I was ready to have over. I am very grateful for a/c in this miserable heat spell that we are having. I am grateful that Payton did as well as he did with his stitches. While we were waiting I said a prayer that he would do well with his stitches and that he would stay calm. Payton has his scans coming up the first week of September and I didn’t want to scare him or make it a traumatic experience so that he had a hard time coming back. I feel that I am constantly being blessed with him and everything keeps working out the way it is supposed to.

Payton waiting to get his stitches
Payton just after getting his stitches in. I cannot believe that he is smiling.
Payton is very proud of himself because he received a brave kid cape for being so good. He was also excited that he got a popsicle.
A couple days later at home.

Nash Farms Grapevine

We spent a morning visiting Nash Farms in Grapevine. This house was established in 1859. Payton could hardly believe that the house was 152 years old. The kids enjoyed eating homemade ice cream, playing on the old tractors, going on a tractor ride, seeing animals, watering plants, digging in the garden and picking cotton from the farm. It was a fun day spent with friends.