IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

We hope that everyone had a relaxing, fun, and FULL Thanksgiving -- we certainly did. It has been like an extravaganza more than anything else! Nonstop people -- but that's the way we like it baby! I've been to the beach twice today, once in the AM and once in the PM and both times it was packed -- the weather has been perfect! One of the reasons I even mention it, is because it is rarely perfect in Houston, much less G-town.

Yesterday we stuffed outselves with LOTS of turkey and all of the fixin's, both sides of our families were here to help us celebrate our first offical T-day in G-town. It was prefection! Walking on the beach at sunset -- the girls running naked on the beach (no -- not me and my sister, Emma and Sophie). It was such a nice time as a family. I hope that the rest of our families and friends had a memorable time as well.

The Adio site had another post about the MAW event at the begining of the month. Check it out @: adiofootwear.com

Hugs to All!
J

I ALMOST FORGOT...

If your interested in looking at more photos from the Skate Jam for MAW, you can go to the Deluxe website @ DLXSF.com, Jim wrote a really nice note about his experiences, and you can also go to the Adio site @ adiofootwear.com.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

LONGHORN UPDATE: They caught the bull about 2am, finally! One of our neighbors roped him and they loaded him on a truck and took him home.

Anyway with all of the hullabaloo about the bulls running through he neighborhood, I forgot to update you on Johnny. Tuesday night he wasn't feeling too well from the chemo on Monday, he didn't go out to play or skate, so I knew he felt yucky. I kept him home Wednesday and took him to the clinic to get his labs. We didn't stick around afterward to get the official word, I just said call us with the numbers.

About half way home we got the call that said Johnny's ANC was 150, everything else was fine, but he can't be around kids/crowds/germs until his next visit on Tuesday. His ANC has to be at least 500 for him to be able to go back to school. At least the kids get the whole week off for Thanksgiving next week, that should give him plenty of time to recover. Today we made him get dressed so Mike could take him out to lunch.

Johnny has a cough and runny nose, hopefully it won't get much worse. I think it's because his oral chemo is up to 75%, then all of the hard chemo on top of that, it just makes him feel weak and yucky.

For Thanksgiving, everyone will be in Galveston -- we have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for Mikey, my family, his family, buttercup, and that Johnny is still with us and will be for a long time. I read and keep up with families at TCH what they have to go through, transplants, harder protocols, longer hospital visits, and then still lose a child. Since all of this started, and we've made friends with other families, there have been about 3 kids a month that have lost their battles with cancer. All different types of cancer, circumstances, male or female, all ages, some babies as young as 6 months. So when I think about Johnny's counts only being 150, I'll take that any day, over the alternative.

I'm thankful for everyone that has supported us, wished us well, and said a prayer or two, it gives us strength to make it one more day.

We'll see how sappy I am next Wednesday after F I V E long days with the kids. Maybe then I will be thankful for tequila, wine, and Xanax!

Oh, and school photos.


JOEY! I can't believe that he will be E L E V E N in a week!



When people told me that Mike and Joey look like twins, I always went along with them but wasn't 100%. Okay, so Mikey is sporting a perm and a stand-alone mustash, and other than the resemblance to Napolean Dynamite, he and Joey could be dead ringers. Luckily after the perm wore off, Mike's grandmother never let him do it again. I think he learned his lesson.

IT'S FUNNY...

When we moved to the beach house I thought it was really cool when we saw lots of toads hopping around the house at night, and even the stray crab or two. Then earlier this summer coming home on my bike from my parents house about dusk, I saw a fox running through the yard. The boys were even on the slip n' slide, but the fox didn't seem to mind too much.

Sandy, our neighbor across the street told me that last Friday night she saw a coyote jump up from our ditch in the front yard and run across the street. WOW. You don't see that in Houston. Gordon, our neighbor behind us, was telling Mike and I a story about a coyote that was trying to play with his dogs at 2am few weekends ago. Cool stories to hear about, but this one takes the cake:



Okay, the photos are difficult to see at best, and yes, that is the local Sheriff in front of our house. Nothing out of the norm you say? Well most of the time I would have to agree with you, but this time it had nothing to do with us. They are looking for a bull. In our neighborhood. In our yard.





I first saw the crew (do they still use the term "cow-hands"?) going up and down our street about 8pm. They were in a huge pick up truck with one of those "cop spot lights" looking under the houses. I thought maybe they were looking for the coyote, and then my "city" instincts/mind started working -- "I bet it's a burglar! Quick lock the doors!!!" About an hour later Mike told me they were looking for a cow and it's already been through our yard about 4 times.

WHAT!?! This I gotta see.... so I went outside and did my own steak-out. I think he's still on the lam, because a truck just drove by flashing the lights they use to find under-age kids drinking -- not that I would know anything about that, it's just what I have read and what people have told me...

Johnny also had chemo today. No counts -- they forgot to draw labs, which means back to the clinic tomorrow.

After the clinic today, we barely made it to Johnny's Thanksgiving Day Program -- he did really well.


He's the letter "K"...



I will keep you posted about the bull -- who knows, it could be an old fashioned Texas Style BBQ!

10th ANNIVERSARY TEXAS SKATE JAM FOR MAKE A WISH

Silly boys


Johnny, Travis from Adio and Damian accepting a MAW Award


Johnny


Jim and Jack ridin' the bull!


Mikey and Sophie just about to get thrown from the bull


Jack Joey and Johnny


Johnny and the Deluxe Team presenting his check from the sale of his boards


Jim with us



dinner



Johnny and Jack T. (Jim's son)



Sean, Joey, Joel and Johnny


Johnny having fun


We had so much fun! We all were looking forward to seeing our friends from Deluxe, Adio and Southshore distributing. It was the one year mark since the last Jam, when Johnny and Jim from Deluxe became friends and he made Johnny his own signature board.

The weather was awesome -- perfect -- almost like CA weather. Because it was a big anniversary for the Jam, they went all out (food, booths, mechanical bulls...), Damian's goal was to raise $75,000 (up from 45k last year). 100% of the proceeds go directly to MAW, the companies donate product, the pros come on their own time and money, it's pretty amazing what these guys do for the kids.

We arrived about 9:30am, doors opened at 11. Plenty of time for Johnny and Joey to skate the park (empty -- how cool is that?), and say hi to some of the pros that came. Our friends from H-town also made the trip to see Johnny, Joel and Sean (Wendy's kids), they were able to skate together before the flood gate of kids was opened and descended onto the park.

It was cool to see the guys from the Deluxe and Adio teams come up to Johnny and Joey and say hi. Damian (the owner of Southshore and the person behind the Jam) gave all four boys special arm bands that allowed them to skate the park even when it was open to the general public (it was only our guys and the team riders that were allowed to skate the whole day). I thought once it got crowded and the team riders started, the boys would just step aside and watch. Nope. Not these kids. Joey and Joel were on the street course most of the day until Mike stepped in and told them to stop hogging the park and let the Deluxe and Adio guys to their thing. They finally did -- it was just a funny sight to watch our little ones among all the other team riders just tring to keep up.

They had the award ceremony with all the "winnings" for each skater going to MAW. They asked Johnny to come up and present his check for the proceeds of his board and it was $5,818.60! The person accepting the check was the very first person to grant a Wish. Everything finally ended about 4 or 5 and Jim asked us to come to dinner with him, his guys, along with the Adio Team. That had to be my favorite part, we could just SIT (yeah!), and talk without all of the loud music (I can't believe I just said that), and mobs of crazy kids (I CAN believe I just said that!). Erine Torres, Kenny Anderson and Peter Ramondetta C R A C K E D me up. Altoghter there were about 30 of us and although most folks would think that it be out-of-control with 30 pro skaters, they were actually very well behaved and down right normal. Maybe because I was there ("look out, here comes Johnny's mom!").

Anyway, Damian called yesterday and invited us to a quarterly MAW meeting for the board members and volunteers, because they had something to present to Johnny. Turns out Damian's Skate Jam pulled in over $83,000 -- for one day! 100% of that goes to MAW! They gave Johnny an award for his contribution to the event as well as Travis from Adio and Tommy the owner of Southside Skatepark.

It was an incredible weekend, something our family will never forget! Thank you to all of our family and friends who bought a board to support Johnny, Deluxe and MAW -- we love you all!

I hope this makes sense -- I am still recovering from the weekend!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Joey was Anikin Skywalker, or Darth Vader: The Early Years
Sophie was Buttercup
And Mike and I made Johnny be Napoleon Dynamite. He has the curly hair, and wears the Vote For Pedro shirt 24/7. We actually got in a fight because he refused to dress up. I said if he is going trick or treating, he HAS to dress up. I think in the end he was glad, all the teenage girls in the neighborhood were all over him, like flies on a rib roast.



The gang before the "raid". Johnny's glasses are the ones that Mike and I use when we weed eat the yard.


Do you ever wonder what your dogs do when you are gone?

Wonder no longer.



Luckily, no bunnies were harmed in the making of this mess. Mike told us not to get to attached to her... we keep the door closed or the gate up at all times now.



Me and Tessa, my new God-daughter!



Suzanne asked Sophie if she slept with Buttercup. There was a long pause and Sophie looked at Suzanne and told her "I'm too big to fit in her cage you silly!"



I L O V E Buttercup so much! ("I" meaning me, Julie)


We had a great time trick or treating in the 'hood. Especially since last year was spent in the hospital -- I don't want to jinx us, but it has been quite a few holiday's since Johnny had a hospital stay. For the first year it seemed like every major holiday and family birthday was celebrated at TCH. I think we are over the hump now. I was thinking about 2007 -- the home stretch or at least the light at the end of the tunnel (Johnny's treatment is scheduled to end Nov/Dec 2008)!

Johnny's next doctor's visit is 11/10. His hair is starting to fall out again. he won't let me brush his hair or even touch it. He said the kids at school found out how easily it comes out and all they do is pull it out. He was laughing about it when he told me, but I think it bothers him. Each little strand that falls out he keeps in a container, yes, it's gross, but I think he wants to keep track of how much he's losing. I think it's just because he has hair to lose that makes it so noticeable. We were looking at photos from last years Texas Skate Jam for Make A Wish, and there are a bunch of ones with Johnny not wearing a hat. He was so proud that he had some fuzz -- If you go to the Adio website and click on Texas Skate Jam for MAW, you can see photos from last year.

Which brings me to this year's Jam -- this Saturday. The boys are pretty stoked, we get to go early to hang with some guys and friends of ours from Deluxe and Adio. I can't wait. I'm not sure if the boys are excited about seeing everyone or having Southside all to themselves. I'll post photos Sunday...