TJ's party

Today we had a party for TJ's 12th birthday, which is coming up next Friday. Had a fantastic time! The weather was absolutely perfect! I love getting the kids together with their cousins. We had six of them together this time - TJ, Brian, Jason, Brandon, Freya and Nolan - they all get along so well! TJ and Brandon, as the "senior members" of the Sayah grandchildren, seem to share a special bond, even though they are six years apart in age. Of course, we had our share of bumps and bruises along the way - but smiles and laughter always quickly returned. Jeanne (as usual) created a great feast for us - she really knows how to put together delicious salads! This morning, when I cut the grass, I came up with the idea of mowing a baseball diamond into our side yard (which TJ dubbed the "sports field" when me moved in). TJ got a real kick out of it. Of course, now he'll be wanting me to do it every week! :-)

The fundraising is off to a good start. It's been around two weeks now and our official tally is $515, which is pretty good considering we're just getting going. Jeanne and Mom haven't even gotten around to sending out their emails yet. I've written up a letter to send out to people who we don't have addresses for and hope to start getting that out over the next few days. TJ and I plan on heading off to the store tomorrow with all of the deposit cans and bottles and cashing them in so we can send that money along. TJ came up with that idea months back, so I told him since it was his idea, he got to count all of the money as his fundraising. You can follow our progress (or better yet, become part of our progress) at www.pkdcure.org/goto/teamteddybear

Unfortunately, Jeanne's "old kidneys" have been bothering her a lot the past week or so. It's probably some kidney cysts bursting on her. It's been a long time since I've seen them bother her like this. I hope it passes soon - it so hard watching her in pain and not being able to do anything to make it better.