Friday, January 18, 2008

A Good Week

Kelly has had a good week. This is her week off from chemotherapy. Her wish granters from Make A Wish came over last night and she asked for a Disney Cruise. That was a hard decision for her. She had so many ideas she wanted to do, and she really liked the idea of a cabin in the snow, so this weekend we are headed to the mountains to visit our friends, Laurie and Mark, at their cabin. (Unfortunately, it has been so warm this week the snow is probably melted!) We are really excited to get away as a whole family - that is a first for us for a long time since Kevin has been away for so long. Snow or no snow, we are really looking forward to the weekend together. We even changed Kelly's next chemotherapy treatment to Tuesday instead of Monday so we can stay a day longer.

Her tutor came over this week also and she is trying to do more schoolwork now. She had so much going on in the fall with her recurrence, surgery, and treatments, it was hard to get much schoolwork done. Her school is going to just start her now on second semester and we'll have to find a way to make up her first semester work. Ideally, she is supposed to stay on track with the rest of the high school. School just wasn't our priority when we just wanted her to feel better and focus on her health.

It was nice to see you at the clinic today Cheyenne. I'm glad the platelets are hanging in there and hopefully they'll come up with a treatment that is a little easier for you to take. We'll see you Tuesday!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kelly,

You are always welcome at my house!!! there is snow right now, its auctually snowing as i am typing, and there will probably be snow untill april may-ish

love ya!!!

love,
~Jeannine (8)

Tracy said...

Snow or no snow I know you guys are going to have so much fun together! ...But snow sure would be icing on the cake! And if you really miss snow come on up here anytime!

It's good to hear so many good things are happening - your Wish trip, feeling good enough to do school work, going away for the weekend (like how I snuck school in between really exciting things? ;))- hope things keep going well!! Have a great weekend!

Lots of love,
Aunt Tracy

Anonymous said...

it sounds like you have been having a lot of fun lately!! im so glad to hear that you are doing much better! luv ya!!
<3christina
p.s. i love that moose blanket that your friend made:)!!!!

Heide said...

Good morning, Laudes!! I hope you have a WONDERFUL time at the cabin!!! And I think Kelly made a perfect choice with the Disney Cruise. You will have a BLAST, and I can't wait to hear all about it.

~Heide
m/o ^Jessica^
http://caringbridge.org/visit/jessicarandall

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelly,

A weekend in the mountains AND a Disney cruise. That's the best of both worlds! Enjoy it all!

Your tutor must be an extraordinarily clever person to be able to teach math, science, English, social studies, and possibly a foreign language, all at the high school level. I must say, I'm impressed. I hope the schoolwork is going well.

Sincerely,
Henry

Anonymous said...

Hey Kelly,

Wow, I'm jealous about that week-end in the snow! I hope you see at least a little. The Disney cruise sounds great too. When is it? I'm so glad you're feeling well enough to do some schoolwork also. It might not be your favorite thing to do, but it must mean you're feeling better. Have a great week-end with your family!

Silvestris

Aunt Jenny & Uncle Bob, Kylie and Ryan ie & Ryan said...

Hi Kelly,
I imagine you are all having a wonderful weekend with your friends at their cabin! I do hope you get a chance to play in snow!

We had so much rain here last night that if it was snow, the ground would definitely be covered!

We are so excited for you that you decided on your Make a Wish trip! The Disney Cruise will be wonderful!!!

Love,
Aunt Jenny, Uncle Bob, Kylie and Ryan

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! Disney Cruise!!!!
You are going to have so much fun! I wish we were going with you! It was fun having lunch together the other day. We will have to do that again soon. I hope you and your family have a wonderful time up in the mountains. Your dad is so funny, I know he will keep you all laughing. I bet you are so thrilled to have the whole family back together again. Lauren and Kristina want to come visit you soon. Let us know what day works for you guys. (after you have all recuperated from your cabin adventure! Love, Debbie

Anonymous said...

Dear Kelly,

Carnival (Mardi Gras) comes early this year, and I thought you might like to hear about a couple of German carnival traditions. I hope I haven't told you about them already.

As you may remember, I was an exchange student in Freiburg. There, unlike Munich, and some places in the Rhineland, they celebrate Carnival for two days only - Rosenmontag (which means Rose Monday) or Maundy Monday, as we call it in English, and Veilchendienstag (which means Violet Tuesday)or Shrove Tuesday, as it's called in English.

At the stroke of midnight on Sunday night, the mayor of Freiburg leads a solemn procession along Bertholdstrasse. At the intersection of Bertholdstrasse and Kaiser-Josef-Strasse, there's an island with a statue and a fountain in the middle of it. At the base of the statue, there's a small but heavy iron door with an oversized keyhole. The mayor reads a long proclamation and takes out a correspondingly oversized key and he opens the door. There's a tiny coffin inside. He opens the coffin and says that he has just released the Spirit of Foolishness throughout the city. For the next two days, it's party time. People DO go to work, but nothing gets done, really. They wear silly hats, blow party horns, throw confetti around, and generally goof off. And Heaven help any man who wears a tie to work during those two days! The cleaning ladies come in early, armed with long shears, and if they find a fellow wearing a tie, snip, snip, it's gone.

On Tuesday night, just before midnight, the mayor heads up another procession to the statue. This time, he brings the open coffin with him. He opens the door at the base of the statue, closes the coffin, puts it inside, closes the iron door and locks it, and delivers a speech about how the Spirit of Foolishness is locked up for another year, and he warns people that it had better be business as usual again.

I would have sent this to you a bit later, but I just got an excerpt of a German law to translate for somebody. It's 3 pages, double columns, small print. It will definitely take a while, and I thought this story might be fun for you.

Take care!
Henry

Anonymous said...

Kelly --
Who is this Henry that sends such interesting messages.

I have a friend that went on a Make-A-Wish trip and said it was the most magical trip she had ever been on.

I hope it is magical experience for you too!

Mag

Anonymous said...

So glad you had a good week Kelly! Look forward to all of us girls getting together soon.

Love & prayers,

The Diemer's

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelly, Katie and Heather here. You have been a BUSY BUSY girl. We just want you to know, we follow your progress and send MANY WELL WISHES your way on a DAILY basis.
Your website has been on my desktop pc from day 1.
Thinking of you,
The Flahertys