happy and healthy

A few weeks back, I took the kids to an End of Treatment party for a friend of mine's little boy, Carter. He was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) on February 3rd 2006 and he just completely finished his treatment this summer. After over 3 years of treatment, he is ALL DONE! As a matter of fact he is doing so well, that he was playing baseball the entire time we were there so I didn't end up getting a picture of him!
It is such a blessing to have healthy kids. And it is so sad that often time it takes knowing someone with a childhood illness to open your eyes to how lucky you really are to have healthy children. It breaks my heart that there are so many children and families out there battling cancer.
I hate cancer.
But I love these kiddos!

And I love spending days like this with them so that I can truly cherish every healthy moment.

As usual, Audrey could be found in her favorite place...the swing set. But she did get a little grumpy when her brother tried to push her instead of me pushing her!

Grant just loves to torment her. Can you tell???

Nooooooo, not this sweet, innocent face!

Audrey actually found many different types of swings at this park so she was in heaven!

Plus, the little dress she had on made her even more delectable!

Grant, on the other hand, had more fun playing in the sand. It was a bit cold for swimming so he just had fun digging for buried treasure in the sand.

Meanwhile, Tootie found yet another swing she had to try on for size.

Oh, yeah...did I mention that she is going through a bit of a "stick out your tongue" stage now? It is kinda funny cause she mostly does it too her Dad because he always laughs at her.

But it's hard not to when she is just so darn cute!

Grant was also having fun climbing up the slide. What is it with kids always wanting to climb up slides as opposed to climbing the ladder? Must be the challenge!

So far we have been having a nice relaxing weekend. Yesterday we drove up to Duke's parents home that they are building on the lake. It sure is coming along nicely and can't wait to see it all finished! We went on a pontoon ride around noon but ended up getting caught in a downpour. Luckily there was a canopy and an umbrella on the pontoon but we still ended up getting soaked. After drying off a bit, Grandma and Grandpa kept the kids at the house with them and we went over to our friends, Dan and Lisa to visit for a bit. There little boy, Gage is now 1 month old so I had to squeeze in a little photo shoot of the adorable little dumplin'. Once I get them all edited I'll have to share a few.

Today is a rainy day so I am using it to catch up on the mountains of dirty laundry we have and we are all just lounging around. Gotta love rain days every once in a while!