Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day from all the Barnetts. We are doing much better now. As I suspected, the Vincristin wore off and Ally has gone a full day now without Vicodin. She is also done with using the wheelchair. So this is good news. She has not looked good the past few days...this time you could see it on her face and I wasn't the only one that noticed. Very pale, eyelids drooping, and bloodshot eyes. I was thinking she might need a blood transfusion, but she has perked up today and looks a little better, so I think I will just wait and see at our chemo appointment on Friday. Unfortunately, the vincristin has a cumulative effect and I believe she has it almost every week until June now. I am hoping she will still be able to get around by the end of that time.

She got to enjoy a birthday party this weekend. This is something lots of kids her age do, but she has missed out on quite a few this year. I was so glad she could attend...and it was a cooking/crafting party which is perfect for her. And by tonight she was practicing her ski jumps and such on our Wii fit board...we were doing our own mini Olympics. We LOVE the Olympics! I love the human interest stories....

We also had a really nice Valentines. The kids made handmade ones (the best) and Ally made some really cute ones. Every year they get a heart shaped box of chocolates (just like I always got when I was little). We also always do a candlelight dinner with some sort of red fancy drink. We decided to make homemade heart shaped pizzas which was fun for the kids.

Star Wars Card for Evan

Elmo card and that is also Carly's big girl bed with Hello Kitty on it

The girls making the dough...

You can't resist her chubby cheeks

Turned out pretty good

Our other really big news of the weekend is that Carly spent her first night in her "Hello Kitty" big girl bed. We finally made the plunge. My other kids were in their beds right at age 2. Here is Carly 2 years and 7 months and I finally did it. I knew I should have done it back in the fall, but just couldn't handle it with everything else going on. I needed some sort of stability and a guaranteed nap. But now, she is a big girl, and she has done great. She loves it. Now I must retire my crib and changing table (weep, weep) It was purchased about 9 years ago, when I was pregnant with baby Ally. It is a little sad, indeed, but in the same sense it is nice to move onto another stage in our lives. I just signed her up for preschool in the fall too.
Last, but not least, I am making another plea out here for a couple of friends of ours. Lisa Walk (Ally's principal) and Will Hamilton (Ally's PE teacher) have taken on the huge responsibility of doing the Team in Training 1/2 marathon in honor of Ally this Spring. It will be the "Flying Pig" in Cincinnati. It is a huge time commitment on their part. They have to practice several times a week with the rest of the team...and the weather has been quite snowy around here. All of the money that they raise goes directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to further research and help all those fighting blood cancers. We are so lucky to have these friends who are willing to go the extra mile (literally) and show Ally and our whole family just how much they care. I would like to help them raise the money for the event, so I am enlisting the Army. If you would consider making a donation, there is a link here to their webpages. They both wrote specifically about how much Ally inspires them everyday on their page:

Mrs Lisa Walk:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/soh/flypig10/valleyprincipal

Mr Will Hamilton:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/soh/flypig10/whamiltykh

You can also send a check to me or to Valley Elementary School, 3601 Jonathon Dr
Beavercreek, OH 45434. It should be made payable to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

And thank you to both of them (and you) from the bottom of our hearts. Ally's Army will continue to make a difference....more news soon on some other events coming.