It’s Not My Fault…
Archive for December, 2011
Meet Rainbow
I hope everyone had the most Merrylicious Christmas. We certainly did here! And the most prized gift from Santa by all three kiddos is our new addition to the Blair household…Rainbow Beauty Blair. She is our new, sweet and most rainbowlicious maltipoo puppy, which wondered down the hall Christmas morning as the kids finished opening their presents. Elizabeth just started to say, “This is the best Christmas ever, even though I didn’t get my pup….” Just then a Christmas miracle happened as she spotted a tan furry fluff ball prancing down the hallway. Elizabeth didn’t say a word as she made eye contact and ran over and picked up what appeared to be a mini ewok straight from Star Wars. All the kids then began to follow in disbelief saying “oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I can’t believe we got a puppy!” Kate cried with overwhelming amounts of love for her sister, not because they all got a new puppy, but because, Elizabeth’s Christmas wish came true. That chickee is such a sweetheart! Bryce rolled over in his new rockin’ rollerskates with excitement, Daddy video recorded the entire thing and I was snapping pictures, crying along with Kate. Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth all then agreed on her name within minutes of her arrival and there you have it, another Christmas miracle! Elizabeth carries her everywhere and refuses to share, but will be admitted tomorrow for her next round of chemotherapy so she will have no choice but to leave her brother and sister in charge of Rainbow’s care. I’m sure they will do an excellent job. We will hopefully be home before New Years, but if not you can bet Elizabeth’s room will be hosting the biggest count down to the new year in PCH history. I have the disco ball packed and the horns and confetti ready. We can hardly wait for 2012. We welcome it with flying rainbow colors and can not wait to see all the rainbowliciousness that is in store.
Cheers to the ROYGBIV,
The Blair’s
Merrylicious Christmas
Merrylicious Christmas Everyone! Elizabeth is home and doing great! My Christmas Wish has officially been granted. Elizabeth was released to come home from the hospital this past Saturday afternoon! With minor complications, Elizabeth conquered her chemo like a champ. She took a little longer to rid the chemo from her body, which in turn left mouth sores throughout her mouth as well as her esophagus. She lost her voice for a few days, which is a big deal for a little girl who LOVES to sing all day long. And honestly, I love listening to her sing all day long. Elizabeth has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in a five year old. I did not realize this until she came home from Valley Youth Theatre Summer Camp singing Little Boy Blue, this past summer. I was floored at the beauty of her voice and it is now my favorite request of her. In addition to losing her voice, Elizabeth also suffered minor mucositis and vomiting. But once again she continues to prove her strength and tonight Elizabeth is roller skating circles around the coffee table with big sister, Kate. We are looking forward to Christmas and Grandma Gee Gee’s visit from Florida. Elizabeth also casually and confidently informed us the other night at the dinner table that “Santa is bringing me a puppy, ya know.” “WOW! He didn’t clear that gift through me.” I said. “Well, he is.” as she rock-n-rolled her eyes at me. Hummm stay tuned for Christmas mornings report. We are also doing a secret Santa here at our house. So far the kids have all told who they have. Apparently, Kate has Elizabeth and Elizabeth has Kate. Bryce thinks I have him, but do I? Bryce has me and well I think you can figure out the rest. We are all looking forward (especially Kate) to daddy’s chocolate chip waffles with vanilla ice cream for breakfast on Christmas morning. I have also heard of a very special family serving Christmas dinner at the Ronald McDonald House this Christmas, too. I find this beyond amazing and so truly EBB! Way to go Howell Family! I hope that it makes your Christmas day that much extra special in a truly Merrylicious way! Love to you all!
Extravaganzalorious Helpers
Sweet candy cane! There is some extra special EBB going on up here on the 7th floor tonight!
Extravaganzalourious! That’s what the elves say at the North Pole, right? Well, we received a special letter from the North Pole today. The letter read as follows…
Dear Bryce, Kate, and Elizabeth,
I need your help tonight to deliver an elf to every boy and girl on the 7th floor. One toy gets passed out with every elf. I left a special game and movie for you. Thank you for elfing.
From: Squirt, Stacy and Santa
(Squirt = our elf at home. Stacy = Elizabeths elf at the hospital and Santa we all know)
Now can you believe along with this letter were 45 boxes containing The Elf on the Shelf as well as 50 or so toys for all the boys and girls on the 7th floor! Rumor has it that one of Santa’s helpers went to this magically toy store today by the name of Kidstop! This place is so SO magical! They magically had 45 boxes of elves! The exact magical number needed for each and every kiddo to receive one on the seventh floor! And in addition to all of this excitement, Kidstop donated 50 plus toys for all the kiddos, as well. Kidstop is down with EBB! Well, somehow Santa chose the Blair kids for this task. As the kids all walked into Elizabeths hospital room, pure and absolute joy filled these beauties! Bryce had a smile from ear to ear and immediately said, “What’s our mission?” Kate read the letter and so we were off down the hall! Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth followed through with what Santa asked them to do. They delivered those elves one by one. It brought each and every child to a smile. I could tell, everyone’s heart fluttered including mine. Ages 1 to 16, they all LOVED them! And well, Bryce, Kate and Elizabeth, they are hoping Santa sends them on another special mission tomorrow, too. The toys are still waiting to be delivered sooooo it looks like another busy night for Santa’s helpers tomorrow! Beauty comes from within the heart. That is what EBB is all about. A special thank you to everyone who came out to support EBB Foundation this past weekend. A portion of the money from this weekends event was used to make tonight possible as well as make Christmas extra special for one sweet girlie in Pennsylvania who is working really really hard to recover from Mr. C’s Stink, Stank, Stunk!
With extravaganzalorious love,
Santa’s Helpers
Love Elizabeth
We have been a very busy family the past couple of weeks. Trying to fit all sorts of fabulous holiday fun in before counts go down. It has been exciting as well as exhausting. Elizabeth’s counts are finally up. We attended the Nutcracker Ballet, which is always so beautiful. The girls recognized many of the ballerinas on stage this year, which they were super duper excited about. We also witnessed and learned an important lifeskill at the ballet this year. One of the candy cane girls slipped and fell extremely hard during the performance. There is no way she was not hurt. She was in full toe point and every muscle in her body was flexed as her foot slipped on some snow and crashed down on the stage. As I gave Bryce a dirty look for laughing, after the show we as a family had a full conversation about never giving up. We witnessed first hand this girl picking herself up and continuing on with such bravery. I thought to myself, this girl will never be the same on stage. She will be stronger and braver than she has ever been before. The same is true with Elizabeth and cancer. She is stronger and braver than she has ever been and it’s true she will never be the same, either.
So our Christmas tree is up and we are ready for Santa to visit. Each year the kids pick a new Disney ornament and add to the collection. Disneyland is one of our most favorite places to visit as a family. Brooke and I both grew up going every year and we wanted to continue the tradition with our own children. It’s hard to believe at this time last year we were on our way to Disneyland with three healthy kiddos, well actually Miss Kate got the stomach flu while we were there and so we returned home and went back for New Year’s. Disneyland is also where we celebrated Elizabeth’s 5th birthday this year. And now we are decorating the same tree that we do each and every single year with all our Disney ornaments. This year it all seems so very different. My head keeps saying “what if this is the last time we get to do this together. I have been saying that a lot lately with many things. I try really hard not to think like that but that’s what cancer does. And it sadly stops me in my tracks. I don’t have it in me to Christmas shop this year. Brooke continues to pick up all my slack. Some days I feel like I can take on the world and other days I just can not. I heard the song by Tim McGraw the other day “Live Like You Were Dying”. You love deeper, you talk sweeter, you give forgiveness that you’ve been denying. I don’t know from one day to the next what life holds but life is definitely a gift not a guarantee. Make every moment count. It kills me to hear about the families that have lost their child because they died from childhood cancer or other devastating circumstances. I cry for these families and how hard it must be for them. I pray that we never know. As I sit next to Elizabeth tonight I again hear the baby crying next door. Elizabeth has received very intense amounts of chemo over the past 24 hours. Her Dad and I have been very anxious about starting again. Anxious for a couple of reasons.. Not only because of our fear of cancer coming back full force due to no chemo, which is constantly on our minds but also because this current drug Elizabeth is receiving is the drug the doctors believed caused all the stroke-like complications before. Things were getting back to somewhat “normal” around here. If there is such a word. Watching chemotherapy poison enter your daughters body to kill cancer cells should not be “normal” for anyone. Which is why EBB Foundation is so important to Brooke and I. We want to help make a difference for families who have to call this life “normal”. As I sat in the ER with Elizabeth and our new “normal” life Thursday night, she like always makes me laugh when I need it most (just like her daddy), she decided that she wants to start her own web show. “Really”, I replied “well, what are you going to call it?” I asked her. She said it’s going to be called…”Love Elizabeth”. Of course it is! Speaking of Love Elizabeth. Did everyone hear about the amazing fundraiser that took place this weekend for EBB Foundation? I’m convinced if you were looking down from the sky at our little community there would have been a big giant rainbow heart appearing overhead. Super duper generous love filled the air at 5202 N. 7th Street this past Saturday and Sunday. If you are down with EBB, then you know me and that I was so emotionally touched to see so many of you come out to support Elizabeth and her fight against childhood cancer. From the so special silver angel pocket token I received as well as the beautiful silver soldered necklace gifted to me that says “I can do hard things” to all the tight hugs and the kindest of words. It was beyond amazing! I feel like putting it into words could not possibly do justice to how I feel about each and everyone of you that came out full of EBB. Now for the mom who has a problem with the wording on our new “Kicking Cancer in the Buttcrack” t-shirts. And yes, really someone had a problem with letting their child wear a t-shirt with the word buttcrack on it and apparently had to verbally express this. I have two things to say to that person…GET THE STICK OUT OF YOUR BUTTCRACK and if that doesn’t work then KISS MY BUTTCRACK! Because if your child had cancer (and I pray they never do) and you saw first hand the evil that it brings, you would know those shirts are rated G compared to what they should say. And FYI the most beautiful five year old you could ever meet, came up with the wording on those shirts. And I’m not talking beautiful on the outside (because she does have that, too) I’m talking about beauty that comes from within the heart. Which again, you know nothing about. However, I do pray that you do figure that one out someday. And also FYI, I wouldn’t sell you either shirt because you don’t deserve to wear them. But for the rest of you lovely people who came out to support Elizabeth, Kate, Bryce, Brooke and myself this means so much to us all! Bryce worked so hard all day on Saturday. I didn’t have to wake him up. He just set his alarm clock, got himself up, made his bed and said, ” I’m ready to work, mom.”. And that little guy worked so hard monitoring the kids candy station and donations all day. He kept a tally all day long and every time he would receive another dollar, he would run over and tell me in the proudest way possible. Which in return makes me the proudest mommy possible. I’m sending a big big thank you to everyone who came out and bought t-shirts, entered the raffle, bought items from local vendors including my boutique, Vintage Style and especially helped make this a great beginning for EBB Foundation. It was a great success and brought in $12,000!! This money will be used towards a bigger fundraiser to raise awareness for childhood cancer (hopefully in the Spring) and to eventually fund The EBB Book Project, Elizabeth and I have been working so hard on. With Christmas so close, Brooke and I have been also talking about purchasing some special gifts for the kiddos who will be on the 7th floor on Christmas day. I will keep you posted on what we come up with. In addition to all of the above, Elizabeth started back to Crossroads Preschool this past week. Did I mention that Crossroads Preschool is the most absolutely, amazing and beautifully loving preschool I know! We are thrilled and are looking forward to many fun days to come. Did I also mention, Elizabeth was also approved for Make a Wish this week, which means she needs to decide what her Make a Wish will be. I will say she has mentioned meeting Jaden Smith and Justin Bieber, cheetah pants and a shopping spree. So we will see what she ends up deciding on. It is all very exciting for her! Well, signing off from the 7th floor tonight.
Love,
Elizabeth (and her mom)
P.S. We have t-shirts still available if you couldn’t make it Saturday and would like to purchase one, two or more. They are $30.00 and showcase Elizabeth, the cancer slayer, Kicking cancer in the buttcrack! We also have our original t-shirts Beauty comes from within the heart, as well. Let me know!
The Mr. C Song
This is my new favorite Christmas song this year. I changed the names of all the cells involved….This song is dedicated to all my favorite peeps who are dealing with the messed up aftermath of Mr. C. If you feel like you need to burst, add another verse. Love to you all!
You’re a mean one, Mr. C.
You really are a heel.
You’re as cuddly as a cactus,
You’re as charming as an eel.
Mr. C.
You’re a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.
You’re a monster, Mr. C
Your heart’s an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You’ve got garlic in your soul.
Mr. C.
I wouldn’t touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.
You’re a vile one, Mr. C
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crockodile.
Mr. C.
Given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the seasick crockodile.
You’re a foul one, Mr. C.
You’re a nasty, wasty skunk.
You’re heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. C.
The three words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quote:
“STINK, STANK, STUNK!”
You’re a rotter, Mr. C
You’re the king of sinful sots.
Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. C.
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.
You nauseate me, Mr. C.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You’re a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked hoss.
Mr. C
You’re a three decker saurkraut and toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce!
Got EBB? 