He said that a boy in his class had given it to him and said he could keep it if Jace would be his friend.
An 11 cent friendship. Part of this made me sad- everyone has such a desire to be included and wanted, no matter the cost.
I told Jace to give the money back and tell him that he'd be his friend for free.
True friendship can't be bought.
If you ever have the chance to donate to childhood cancer research....do it! Do it for Rylee and all the other children who have fought and survived.
We had a great Halloween. We decorated (not carved or painted) our pumpkins. These pumpkin parts were a great find- very kid-friendly! I loved how fun it was for the kids to pick their faces, plus it was clean and the kids were able to do their pumpkins independently for the most part. Your pumpkins don't wither away either- I just took the parts out and now they are "fall pumpkins" on our doorstep for Thanksgiving. 
Jace (football player) had a Halloween parade and party and Rylee's (cute bee) preschool class dressed up too. Little bubs went as a skeleton and was as cute as can be. We went trick or treating around our neighborhood & the weather was actually great! I wish Idaho always had a warm fall.
Today is our DOD (Date of Diagnosis). 2 years ago today, we heard the news that changed our lives. Rylee has cancer. About this time, we were aboard Life Flight, fighting for our daughter's life. We are in a much better place today. 
Rylee has been a little trooper. She has fought a good fight. She's been through so much, yet she's never resisted. She took things as they came. She's never questioned it. She has made it all bearable for me.
This is her just waking up from the anesthesia after her spinal tap last month. She's probably had over 20 of these. She only has 1 left.
Today she had chemo. Her blood counts look much better than they did 2 years ago. When we arrived at PCMC her HCT was a 10! Normal is like 37. The nurses in the ER at Primary's all took a double take...they couldn't believe she was alive and had a count that low. That's a moment that takes your breath away.
Here we are this summer at Relay for Life. This photo is from the Standard Journal- did you see us on the front page? Don't mind me: I'm telling Rylee where the camera is. Don't mind Rylee: She was tired- of all the days to skip a nap!
What a journey! One leg of the race is almost finished- treatment. She has two more hits of chemo (Vincristine); 1 more spinal tap; 2.5 more months of her daily medication (Mercaptopurine); 11 more doses of home-chemo (methotrexate); 10 more doses of her once a week med (Dapsone); and 15 more days of steroids (Dexamethasone) left. You better believe I know all of these drugs plus spelling, dosage and everything else by heart. Some of them will only need refilled one more time. I can't even imagine. These drugs have become part of our normal routine. "Rylee, brush your teeth, go to the bathroom, come take your chemo, go to bed." It's amazing what you can learn to live with.
Today's treatment was basically October's treatment-just how the days fell. She gets chemo every 28 days. She gets to push October back by a few days because we'll be out of town, so her next one will be the first of November and then her last one will probably fall right around Dec. 1. We will then finish out home meds for another week and SHE IS DONE!!! Merry Christmas to us.
I've been a little nervous about crossing back over to the other side. I decided today that when treatment ends, we will be excited and hopeful, which is better than anxious and fearful, if you ask me. Rylee will continue to get blood checked monthly and if things continue to look good 6 months post-treatment, we'll be able to have her port removed. Of course she'll be checked her whole life, but checking beats treating any day.
I must say that 2 years out isn't so bad. Sure we hear a lot of "My belly hurts." or "My bum hurts." We still have our good days and bad days. But..Rylee is in preschool this year, she's in speech therapy (trying to catch up, since her body was a little busy at that point in development) and she learned to ride her bike without training wheels this past weekend. She's just like any other 3.5 year old girl....I am so grateful that we're here and that she's here with us!
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P.S. I'm wanting to put together something for Rylee to recap her cancer journey. If you have any pictures (10/2008-present), thoughts, perspectives, comment, etc. regarding Rylee's cancer journey/experience from anything that we've shared or you've seen first-hand, please leave a comment or email me (send pic here) at natalie-taylor@hotmail.com. I know I've seen some family members' pictures that caught moments that I can't even remember-- I'd love to have a copy.
Thanks!
He keeps me going. He's constantly on top of the tables. He eats soap. He drinks bath water. He bit a fake baguette in my sister's table center piece. He put our neighbor dog's tail in his mouth (the dog is in the pit bull family)! He picked up a dead mouse in my parents' garage with his bare hands(YUCK!). He's a hitter...and a biter...and a pincher....and climber. He's almost always in full throttle mode.
He is trouble with a capital T. A complete rascal. Dennis the Menace in training. He never ceases to amaze me. I can't believe all that he can do or come up with, especially for his age.
He can be completely sweet & charming. He loves Jace & loves to climb up onto his bed in the morning, lay his head on top of Jace's and be totally sweet. When he wants to give kisses, he'll come up to your cheek and say, "hi" in a soft and sweet voice, then have you kiss him. 
But...you've gotta watch your back because the next minute, he could very well be trying to bite your neck. He's as quick as a cat- he catches you off guard and can get you before you know it. And...he leaves a mark every time. Little stinker!
He NEVER Gives up.
These chips? Oh yes, they were in the pantry with a clip on the top, folded several times, very secure-{because I know better}. Well...he took them and shook it until he got the clip free. This is him claiming victory over that clip. 
Jaden can be a little goof and has a funny personality. He knows when things are funny. He's also a little stink and turns not-so-funny things into a laughing matter. He'll do something that he knows is naughty, {like running into our road}. When I say Stop! or No! he just keep running and looking back dieing of laughter at that fact that I'm chasing him like a wild turkey. He's hard to discipline because he'll laugh a long time before he'll cry or learn a lesson . He's a little mess around for sure.
This little happy dance on top of the table. 
Combined with this sitting trick on the chair. Resulted in this tie-down:
I had to rope off all of our dining chairs. The rope solved the dining table problem, but that just gave him the challenge of the snack bar. He can now get up to the snack bar from the attached swivel chairs. AHHH! It's worse. It's already resulted in a fall, which resulted in a double bloody nose and goose egg on the forehead. You cannot take your eyes off of him for a minute.
He thinks he's one of the big kids. His little mind is definitely above his age level. He'll try anything the older kids do. One morning he tried jumping off our king-sized bed. He can also hold a baseball bat in position, extend a normal sized basketball over his head and make multiple baskets (when lifted up to the hoop), he can jump on the trampoline & get both feet off the ground. He can climb a ladder up to our slide, he jumps from the coffee table to the couch. And he can get up to and on top of anything, I swear. It's unbelievable (& nerve wracking!)
He definitely takes life by the horns, so to say. He has a lot of courage. When our older two kids were being wanny's, clenched to Justin's leg, bubby walked right up to these lambs by himself. He wasn't afraid of them one bit- he would grab their tails and chase them around. They are interesting to him. I love his curiosity and willingness to give anything a try.
He makes a mess of everything. He's so independent & refuses to let you help him in anyway. He refuses a bib. He does not enjoy being spoon-fed. He wants the spoon or bowl or whatever himself and he'll figure it out. Needless to say, his clothes and eating area are a big mess.
Jaden is one strong kid. Does this amaze anyone else that he can hang from these bars? I can't believe it. He wants to do it over & over again too. He also had to get a CBC/lead screening test, which required a needle to take blood in his arm. Bubs sat there & didn't even cry. He is tough as nails, has a kung fu grip and super-baby strength. He's certainly has a lot of athleticism to him.
He's such a little wild man. He loves life and is curious in everything it has to offer. 
He jumps right into situations, without fear.
He loves mischief...
But....there is just something so sweet about him at the same time. He knows how to wipe and blow his nose and it's just too cute. I love hearing his language take off as well.
There is no doubt about it- He is hard to handle:
But how can you resist the little rascal?
