YAY...

For any of you who may have seen our Facebook pages or our Box on the top of our blog.... We've all been voting daily for the Hannah's Hope Fund for GAN to win a Pepsi Refresh Project Grant of $250,000 and we're all so excited that they won! It's a national contest where entrants send in an application to win set amounts of money. If your application gets accepted, the nation gets to vote for their favorite idea... And they won! If you want to read more about Hannah and her illness visit www.hannahshopefund.org.
We had another proud parent moment last Saturday when Matthew decided he wanted to do the Run For Jon. (www.runforjon.org to find out more about this event). The kids fun run was suppose to be a 1 mile run but ended up shorter. So Matthew decided he wanted to do the 2.5 mile run after the fun run. I agreed to run with him. I was amazed at this 6 year old's ability to keep up with adults in the 2.5 mile trek through the apple orchards. He completed the race with a huge smile as event organizers and participants who recognized him from other kids fun runs, cheered for him as he came to the finish line and ahead of two other runners (of course I was one of them :) He was the youngest runner to compete in the event and the other youngest child was 10!

We're fast approaching the first day of school. The boys are excited to get back into a routine and are excited to be back with their friends after an eventful summer. Pool time is limited in these cool early September days. We think it's almost time to close it up for the season but we're hopeful to get a few more days in. Matthew is looking forward to his first soccer game next weekend. Andrew decided he didn't want to play after the first practice since he has a hard time keeping up with the other children. He asked if he could do wrestling instead. But with his surgery coming up in a few weeks we don't know what the future holds for him as far as his recovery goes. As much as we'd love to see him enjoying a sport he may be good at, we're also leery of what's to come after surgery.
As far as his surgery goes, we've spoken to the neurosurgeon and the Orthopedic surgeons in St. Louis and they are both pretty confident that this lengthening surgery will be a success. Andrew has been explained the procedure and we've given him the choice of whether he wants to go through with it or not. He's chosen to go ahead with surgery and he's not the least bit nervous about it. It's amazing that a boy who's been poked, prodded, cut, and been through hell, is not apprehensive about this surgery or doctors & hospitals at all. More on the surgery to come. Maybe this week we can post about what the surgery entails and what it's all about and what the expected outcome will be. But for now, We're going to try to enjoy our Labor Day weekend, our vacation and our little mini-vacation away just the two of us. We're taking a short trip to Lake Placid and Lake George. Going to do some kayaking, taking in the beautiful sights of the Adirondacks and maybe even a little shopping to celebrate our 9 year anniversary.