Halloween

October 31st was such a busy day!

 After Keira's parade, Akemi has a Physical Therapy session with Jackie to check out her asymmetrical crawling. Pretty cool to have a superhero evaluate your kid!

 

 Then we headed over to LPCH to meet Naveen and Keira for our monthly Clinic Visit. Keira got a little trick-or-treating in at the hospital and had a lot of fun seeing her doctors all dressed up!

I love this picture of K and Dr. E

 Then it was off to the Bahar's for pizza and more trick-or-treating with friends.



Akemi also got to put on her costume.
Since Keira is our "Panda Bear" we thought it was appropriate for Akemi to be our "Koala Bear."

 


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Halloween Parade

Keira was super excited about her panda costume this year. We've been calling her "Panda Bear" for a few years now so we weren't surprised when she asked if she could be a panda for Halloween.  Grandma bought her a pair of panda pj's when she was 18 months old and the nickname (1 of many!) stuck. 



Naveen, Akemi and I were all lucky enough to be able to be part of the Little Stompers parade this year.  Akemi and I even got to be at one of the trick-or-treat stations passing out goodies.  It was fun to see Keira trotting around from station to station with all her friends from school.

As luck would have it, October 31st was Keira's first day of her dex pulse but she was too excited about all the festivities to let the extra steroids bother her too much.  :)





Check out that cute little tail!


 Family Photo
 

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Five Little Pumpkins

Keira was super excited to bring home her little zip lock of candy corn pumpkins, and she was even more excited about the new song she learned this week.

However, Keira was a little perplexed on how to sing "Five Little Pumpkins" after she ate one of the pumpkins.  Considiering she's only three, I thought she did a pretty good job improvising, but then again I'm her mom.   :)

In case you don't know the song, here are the lyrics:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "oh my it's getting late."
The second one said, "there are witches in the air."
The third one said, "but we don't care!"
The fourth one said, "let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
Ooooooo went the wind
And out went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Rambling Jack-o-lantern

We picked out our pumpkin while on our road trip when we were in Oregon. We gave him the name "Rambling Jack" and took with us up to Washington and then all the way back to California.

 We were all pretty excited when it was finally time carve him.

 Keira and Akemi also picked out several smaller pumpkins. Keira was intrigued with the white variety and made sure to get a "mommy, daddy, Keira and Akemi" pumpkin.

 Sadly, Akemi was a bit rough with her pumpkin

 I love that she looks like she's trying to figure out how to "fix" it.

 Keira was a really good helper this year scooping out all the guts





 And, of course, Naveen stepped up to do the real carving

 I think Rambling Jack turned out pretty good!  Happy Halloween!
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Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Checking out the scene at the pumpkin patch



 Wheeeee!

 

 Having a blast in the bouncy house with her buds!

 

The Little Stompers Class of 2012-13



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Keira's Last MRI

I thought I would share some pictures from Keira's last MRI in October 2012.



As part of her cancer follow-up, we have been scanning her abdomen and pelvis for the past TWO YEARS!  We are blessed that there has been nothing to see on these scans and at this point her doctors feel that there is no reason to continue putting her through the anesthesia/trama that goes with this screening.  I have to say, she's been a model patient... more flexible and understanding than most.

Her faithful Brown Bear has been with her during all her MRIs and has provided comfort when we, as parents, could not. Thanks Brown Bear!

 


 As it always is with kids - it's the little things that make her smile...

 The chance to finally ride in the wheel chair (she was "big enough" this time)

 

 Donuts with sprinkles



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Roaring Camp Railroad

We've always wondered about this place and finally found a day to go check it out. Keira has always been interested in trains and we figured Akemi would have fun too, although she looks a little unsure about our decision in this picture. :)

 

 Brown Bear was excited to check out "Bear Mountain"

 

 K and Dad were all smiles checking out how steam trains work

 



 Fun times!

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Autumn Ramble - Day 8 - Time to head home!

We made it!

Our first family road trip with two kiddos...
I can't say it was perfect but the memories will last a lifetime.  Total miles 1833!


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We had breakfast at great little place in Bend before starting our 2-day journey back into reality.  It was nice to take a break from the daily grind and just enjoy being a family.

I love the enthusiasm Akemi has in this picture...
I think she would have been happy to hang out in Bend for a few more days.

 

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Autumn Ramble - Day 7 - Bend

We rolled into Bend mid-morning and enjoyed a very mellow day walking around with the girls.

 

Naveen with his non-Mc Cafe latte :)



Keira is all smiles and representing P-Love!



The search for the "playground" was not successful but Keira had a blast running around the big grassy areas and collecting leaves.



Sweet Akemi was smily today too... I think our kiddos like Bend!



Here's K doing her interpretive leaf dance and song... the locals thought she was quite the performer.



After the kiddos were worn out we let them take their afternoon siesta in the car and enjoyed a little driving tour of the area.




Dinner, bath and bed back at our posh hotel, The Drake.
 Keira's pull-out couch was a tempurpedic... she said it was the "best bed ever".

   

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