Scarlet was a big helper with making carmel corn for the Young Women group. They all love our recipe...but they don't know that the secret ingredient is having Scarlet as a helper!

She loves "pop-pop", even the plain stuff. Yuck!

Scarlet is a chocolate milk fiend lately, which is awesome! Tons of calories, fat, and protein to help her grow a little faster. I've been too nervous to try regular milk since she seems to have a sensitivity to it. It's been about a year since I've tried and when we did...let's just say, I'm not ready to do that much cleaning again yet.

Debbie and I left Charlie with Scarlet during one of our many Seattle trips while she was getting infused. I was a little nervous because Charlie just can't get up and leave to use the bathroom or anything and leave her alone and the nurses said they wouldn't be able to come and stay with her if he needed to leave for any reason. But, it all turned out great and I got to go and get some awesome U district Thai food.

Scarlet is so used to her routine when we go for her infusions that she goes right to the scale and wall to measure her height. She knows that her feet need to be close together and her head touching the wall. She's a pro!

Scarlet and her musical talents!

Random December pics

Putting together gingerbread houses with friends.

We had a lot of fun...after they were all made. I was getting pretty frustrated with my lack of success with measurements, etc. We ended up making 7 altogether, mostly to give away.

Sometimes being laid off really isn't so bad. Lots of morning cartoons with Scarlet.

Random December pics

Not happy with me, while sitting on Santa's lap. She didn't cry or anything...but she came pretty close. It was her uncle Michael who dressed as Santa and even after telling her who it was and even after her actually seeing Michael put the suit on she was still scared.

Scarlet just looked especially cute one Sunday before church. She usually watches a movie while we get ready and was kinda zoning out a bit.

Another scared Scarlet picture. I don't know if Michael even got to ask her what she wanted for Christmas...

Beat that cousin Star! :) Sonny got the whole nativity on his face.

Watching Pa sing at the Christmas lighting in Leavenworth.

Happy Halloween!

Scarlet with her goods after trick or treating. This was actually the following day but she wanted to dress up again. She ended up being a witch again this year even though I actually bought her a lion costume. She threw the biggest fit because she didn't want to wear it. We were late meeting up with her cousins so I finally decided to put on her princess dress and make her a witch. She loved it and that's what matters, right?


Here they all are right before take-off. Scarlet was terrified of Darth Vader and wouldn't sit for a picture. Her face looks so scared. She was fine once cousin Parker put the visor up and she could see his face, but as soon as it was down she would run away. She had a great time trying to catch up with cousins and saying "Trick, Treat", she was so cute lots of people gave her extras...we even got 3 full-size candy bars from one house. I didn't like any of them, but you still feel like a winner when you get 3 big bars!

Fall Fun

This picture was taken before Charles tossed leaves at her, she ran away after that. She still likes to play in them but is a little more cautious around Charlie. She even has her very own rake to help with the leaves. This year was just training, next year she'll be raking the leaves by herself. j/k

Scarlet doesn't like getting her hands messy especially with pumpkin guts, so she watched as Charlie did the gutting. We toast the pumpkin seeds every year and every year no one ever eats them. hmmm...

Scarlet picked out her very own pumpkin at the hay maze down the street and got to use paint to decorate it. She loves the color pink!

Happy 2nd Transplant Day! Sept. 18th

It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since her transplant. I can still feel the anxiety that came along with it and waiting for the marrow to arrive. She also had her only dose of radiation that morning. I remember carrying her to the room and holding her until the sleepy medicine kicked in and then I was whisked away quickly so they could work. It was hard for me not to cry because the room looked so alien-like. There was this giant machine and gadgets everywhere and lots of workers in the room that made me feel fearful of leaving her. I was grateful that Scarlet was put to sleep so quickly and didn't have a chance to look around much. But, really, she was only 5 1/2 months old and probably wouldn't notice if machines looked scary or not. It was just me being a scared mom.

Anyway, we are so grateful for her to be here with us so we celebrate with a BBQ,Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake and lots of family and friends. We are lucky to have so many people close by to celebrate our happy day with.

I asked for red balloons, to symbolize the red marrow she was given. The kids all loved them and they all got a small gift, too. Thanks Amy and Debbie for working that all out. I'm still really bad about doing that.

Scarlet was watching Looney Tunes a bit at the time, I think Charlie has some ulterior motives about making her a cartoon/comic junkie like he was as a kid. I'm on it though, I counteract with lots of princess movies, stories, dresses, and dolls.

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate our special day with Scarlet Rose.

A giant thank you to Ralf, her donor, for providing for our family and allowing us to still have her in our lives. We are forever grateful and are excited to meet him someday.