Party Time

The last week of school before winter break was party time! We started with Sydney's class party on Thursday. The 2nd graders had a lot of fun decorating cookies, making ornaments, playing games and having their book exchange. I had to leave early to go across the parking lot to Hayden's school.













His preschool put on a neat production with the 3s, 4s and 5s. The boys were shepherds and the girls were angels. They replayed the birth of Jesus and sang songs. It was so cute. Hayden looked like many of the other 3 year olds and was bored, but he only called out to me 4 or 5 times! We then enjoyed a wonderful lunch hosted by the school.


Friday, Anna and the rest of the 4th grade had their round robin party. Our room was the story room. The kids had fun that morning playing games, reading, doing crafts and a community project. The project benefited the senior citizens of our community and was such a nice gesture by our students.






Friday evening, Jason and I got all dressed up and headed into Houston to the Museum of Natural Sciences for his company party. There were about 100 guests for dinner and dancing along with a private showing of the Museum's Faberge exhibit. It was stunning! We so enjoyed being out with the kids and had a nice evening.




Right now, we are just enjoying our time together before Christmas. Unfortunately, Anna and I have strep throat and are quite uncomfortable. Honestly, Anna is miserable and I'm getting by as mommies do. Jason's been great taking care of the other 2.

Oh, I almost forgot! I ended my cancer treatment today! Nineteen months and 1 day after starting chemo, I'm finally done with all my infusion treatments. I did it! Yippee! Now, I have surgery in January then on to the maintenance drugs that I take at home. Just 10 more years and then I'm done with it all.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. I'll update again soon.

SURPRISE!

Yep, I’m finally updating the blog. It’s been over a month and I intended to do this many times since then, but just never had the time or energy. The Doornik household is a busy household!

The kids are doing great. Anna finished soccer and has enjoyed having a little more after school time with her friends. She loves to talk with one friend in particular on the phone while they play the same online games. I do need to refocus both kids back a little to homework. We’ve slacked off some in the last 2 weeks.

Sydney also finished cheerleading last month. She really liked it, but has decided she wants to play tennis in the spring. I played varsity in high school, so I’m pretty excited to see her play. We are still working on her reading and math at school. Currently, she’s undergoing in class intervention for dyslexia and it does seem to help some. I’m going to try to push it more after the winter break.

Hayden has really blossomed. His language is improving. He just started using “and” in his sentences. It’s a huge thing for me to hear. This morning he told me he wanted “butter and syrup” on his waffles. In the past he would say “butter syrup.” His regular preschool teacher has been very impressed by his increased language. He’s actually loving Christmas right now. They’ve been working on that in his auditory class. The only problem we are having is potty training. That’s my goal during winter break. He will be potty trained. I hope…

Jason’s been working hard. He just go back from a conference in Washington DC. All of us wish we could have gone, but maybe next time. Once in a while, Jason does get to squeeze in some golf, but not as much as he’d like.

As for me, well, I’m doing great. I have 2 more Herceptin treatments, then I’m done!!! Yippee!! Ring the bell, ding the gong! Celebrate! My last treatment is December 23rd. What a great Christmas this is going to be. Yesterday, I saw my plastic surgeon for my pre-op stuff. Everything looks good for January 12. That’s the big reconstruction day. It’s the first of 2-3 surgeries and this is the big one. I’ll be in the OR for about 5 hours, then ICU for 24 hours. The hospital stay will be 3-5 days. The best part of the whole thing is that I get a tummy tuck out of it. Three kids, boy do I deserve it. See, there’s a bright spot to everything, even cancer.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving. Our friends from Dallas came down as is our families' tradition. We just love seeing them with their 2 kids. In a couple of years, I can't wait for Hayden and AJ to play like Anna, Sydney and Rowan do. Being thankful for friends and family are just a part of Thanksgiving and we certainly had that.

Now on to Christmas! More to follow. And I promise it will be before the end of the year!