This week Isabel and Gabriel visited it with their same aged cousins, enjoyed many holiday themed festivities at school and continued to humiliate our dog with various costumes.

This week we decorated our tree, experienced the thrill of sudden hail, and took a double decker bus around San Francisco to see all the holiday lights. We are all happy and healthy and excited for Christmas!

It's Nutcracker time again! We were so excited to see our family friends' son in his first show, playing a little mouse!


Isabel had a hard time picking just one favorite part, but Gabriel really liked the Arabian dance.

We got our Christmas tree this morning! We found the perfect plump tree for our celebration!

Isabel is NINE months off treatment!! She had her monthly check up and blood draw today which went fantastically! Isabel has perfect blood counts once more and is a happy, healthy almost 8 year old girl!

In three months she'll be ONE FULL YEAR off all treatment. Once she is two years off treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the odds of it ever reoccurring are slim to none. How's that for good news? Look at her hair! It's the longest she's ever had it!

I still can't believe we're living on the other side of that long, dark tunnel! Isabel took oral chemo meds every single day for two and a half years. She routinely went to the hospital for spinal taps and chemo injections. Just last March she was inpatient at the hospital for almost two weeks. You'd never be able to tell by looking at her. I swear, if you put her in a line up and asked someone to pick out the kid who fought cancer, they'd probably pick some other child! She's doing GREAT.

Left over sparklers from the Fourth of July!

I'm still in a little bit of shock that's it's December already!

Isabel's class went to a symphony this morning. I loved how all the girls dressed up in their fancy dresses for the occasion.

Isabel and her friend waiting to go in.

The symphony was wonderful! It was Isabel's first symphony experience and it was designed just for her age group. The conductor/teacher described what he does and explained all the instruments. He brought a 12 year old up on stage to help him conduct and the orchestra played along, going fast as she did, slowing way down, getting crazy if she didn't conduct right. It was so cute. I really liked it. They played Peter and the Wolf and I was instantly 7 years old again listening to it for the first time.


Tonight's advent activity was to dance to Christmas music after dinner. I like this whole homemade thing we did, spur of the moment. I couldn't find any stores that weren't sold out of advent calenders. I thought it was so ridiculous I told the kids we could make a better one ourselves anyway. So we did. The kids made all the envelopes out of construction paper in various colors (after they ran out of red and green) and different sizes. The kids numbered them and I glued the envelopes onto a piece of cardboard. Alan went to the store and brought home a bag of caramel kisses which I dropped in each envelope (and now have a bag in my cupboard - you KNOW I'm going to slowly eat the "leftovers" myself). Then the kids brainstormed and came up with family activities and wrote them on pieces of paper, folded them up and place in each envelope. Last night we played Twister and tonight it was dancing to Christmas music together (both were very loud and boisterous).

The kids were so proud of how it looked hanging up in the kitchen. I asked if they were disappointed we didn't get the store bought one. They, of course, said no way! Gabriel said, "Actually, I like ours better. We should do this every year."

And a new tradition begins. Very sweet.
(The next 10 envelopes are on another piece of cardboard)