Happy Birthday

We decided to celebrate Maggie's birthday one day early since I would be in the hospital for chemo. Maggie was more than willing to do so! I think she had a GREAT day!

Slumber Party

Maggie planned a fabulous slumber party this year for her 11th birthday. She invited 12 girls and boy did they have a ball!

They had a water balloon fight. 150 water balloons barely lasted 5 minutes!

They ate pizza.

They played a fun game called spoons that mommy remembered playing in college. It was a lot like musical chairs...but with spoons and cards!

Maggie had a specially decorated peace sign cake to go along with the theme of the evening!

They even got to paint their own peace signs to take home!

She even found a few moments to sqeeze in a little DDR with a few friends...where are the others?

exhibition

Maggie's cumulative project in 5th grade was about making healthy choices...namely in nutrition. She did a great job...even put together a blog! I am very proud of the leadership role she played in putting together this year's exhibition.

Field Day

Maggie had a fun day at field day at school...she reports they came in last. She didn't really care. She was more upset about being a longhorn!

Shelling Cruise

We found live starfish and the big catch of the day...a big sand dollar found by Maggie!

We saw dolphins all the time...right up by the beach!

Pure happiness...I wouldn't change a thing!

We found lots of live shells that of course had to be thrown back...neat to find!

I believe this was one of our favorite activities of the trip...shelling cruise to Upper Captiva.

Bowman's Beach

We tried to go to a new beach each day...that was pretty easy!

Sunset Cruise

What a memorable evening we had sailing the Gulf of Mexico watching the sun set. The weather couldn't have been any better. We even sw a few manatees.

Captiva Island

We ate lunch at a restaurant called The Mucky Duck and stayed a bit on their beach. The water in Captiva was even bluer than Sanibel! We'll definetely have to come back!

Sanibel Island

We finally made it to our long anticipated visit to Sanibel Island! It's nice to miss the Spring Break crowds and come during their slow season...perfect for our little family to get a break away from our busy lives in Houston and MDACC!

Banyan Tree...wow!

We spent our first day on Sanibel Island going to Fort Myers to visit the Henry Ford/Thomas Edison Winter Estates. We were wowed by everything we saw...especially this single acre large Banyan Tree!

out of control

Ian is really working hard to keep out tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers alive...they are taking over our side garden area!

great news!

Good morning! I have good news from MDACC! Monica just called, and all looks really good on her scans. She is officially in “partial remission!” What a great word to be able to use! Monica had to clarify for me, “remission” = “not cancerous at this time.” The expectation is that it will come back at some point, but I’m happy to say that Dr. Seifker told her that the fact that she has responded so well to this treatment (less than 10% of patients who receive the same treatment get results as positive as Monica’s) is an indication that she should respond to other treatments, too. It makes me feel so much more comfortable to know that her doctors feel like they have a full toolbox for her.

Details of the scans: everything in her lungs continues to look good and is healing. There is nothing in the lungs that concerns Dr. Seifker. The spot on her spine continues to shrink and is closing nicely. It is even growing new bone, which is fantastic. The plan-forward is to continue chemo for 8 more weeks. After that, she will go through radiation treatment, essentially for good measure. Don’t know after that.

Today Monica will be admitted for her in-patient treatment. As y’all know, history tells us this will likely be a week of feeling pretty horrible for her. I am sure that going into it with such good news and realizing how worth it the chemo is will help her mentally. Even so, please continue the good thoughts and prayers. I know they hold her up. Thank you, all, for your continued friendship and support of the Phillips!

5th grade carwash

What a wonderful day for a car wash! Maggie started the day with winning her last volleyball game of the season and then on to help her classmates raise money for their 5th grade celebration after graduation. The weather was beautiful and they were able to raise $650!

Love Thursday

reader forever

I love that Maggie loves to read. It's about 7:00am in this picture...

yum!

Isn't this yummy? We all loved taking this apart! It took me a while to figure out who it was from...the grandmother of a student that moved away last Decemeber!

5th grade camp

Every year the 5th graders get to go away to camp for a week during the school year. What fun! It was a good week for this to happen for our family...as it was my first week back to school since October! Everyone had a great time and they are looking forward to going back this summer!

Children's Festival

Maggie was pretty excited when Ian brought home backstage passes to meet/greet Chelsea Staub...star from Disney Channel's show, Jonas.

watermelon season

Watermelon seems to be the only thing I want to eat when I am feeling sick...and we found a good one!

Prayers for Monica today, please. She's really having a tough time getting over last Monday's chemo. That was the day she got Cisplatin + Gemcetabine; Cisplatin is the really nasty one. It sounds like it's normal to have more of a problem with it as it accumulates in your system through prolonged treatment, but it's been more than a week, and she sounds miserable. She's trying to sleep as much as possible and isn't talkative, so prayers, thoughts and emails are the best way to go to hold her up in this. Thanks for all of it! - Jennifer

garden update

Our garden is taking over and out of control...help!!!

the hunt is on!

Today was our Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Helen's Park with our lifelong neighborhood friends. We've had this hunt since the girls were toddlers. I can see doing this on into their high school years...they seem to enjoy it every year!

Rosie girl

Look what Rosie looked like when we picked her up from the groomers...she doesn't look very fierce with little pink bows!

Palm Sunday

Guess what Maggie did during church services today?

middle school

Pershing is our neighborhood middle school and our 1st choice of middle schools...until we got the mail today! Maggie was accepted into Hamilton Vanguard School (which we didn't even apply to) and wait listed at Pin Oak and Lanier. Lanier is out of the question but we have a pretty good of a shot getting into both programs at Pin Oak. All her friends now want to go to Pin Oak...the choice is Maggie's. Stay tuned...

volleyball

The girls wear crazy socks this year on game days for good luck!

OMG !!!!!!!!!

We were woken up at 4:00 am when the police rang our doorbell during a crazy rainstorm. He was concerned about our car. The storm drain in front of our house was spewing mud and water 4-5 feet into the air. The sidewalk had already flooded and a 1/4 of our corner lawn was gone. An hour later Maggie looked outside and said something was wrong with the stop sign...you couldn't see the pole anymore. It sank into the ground. When the rain stopped, we found a huge sinkhole in our yard...it was quite amazing!

Grandma Marion's

Maggie spent the long weekend at her Grandma Marion's house. She loves it there because there will always be a handful of little cousins to play with and of course, Grandma Marion! We always miss her at home but know she's in good hands and having fun being spoiled!

Love Thursday

pig pen at Barrington Living History Farm

Washington on the Brazos State Park

Today we visited Washington on the Brazos State Park. Within the park they had a real working farm called Barrington Living History Farm. We especially loved all the period clothes and houses. The 5 day old spotted piglets were adorable! Recently, Maggie and I finished watching the PBS series, Texas Ranch House 1867 and Frontier House 1883...it made today's field trip that much more interesting and real to her. I love that Maggie loves pioneer history like her momma!

Maggie completed a scavenger hunt within the Star of the Republic Museum. Ian would have been jealous...he is the Texas history buff of the family! We also visited a really cool replica of Independence Hall which is revered as the one of Texas’ most significant historic places, it was here in 1836 that representatives of the Texas settlements met to make a formal declaration of independence from Mexico. This replica of Independence Hall marks the place where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed and the government of the Republic of Texas was created.

We also managed to find 2 letterboxes on site!

Our day wasn't complete until we stopped in Brenham for lunch and Blue Bell ice cream at a restaurant called Must Be Heaven on our way back home!

Little House

Today we went to go see a Little House on the Prairie play at A.D. Players. It was adaptation of the book series that I loved as a child. It pleases me that Maggie loves it, too. I hope someday she is able to go see the Little House museums and houses up north...I always wanted to do that, too.

rodeo carnival

We went to the rodeo carnival today despite it being Spring Break. It was crowded but for some reason the ride lines were not that long. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time being together.

Love Thursday

Maggie came home with this from Girl Scout camp recently...her first attempt at whittling!

Jonas Bros.

We lucked into some tickets to see the Jonas Bros. at the rodeo at the last minute. Maggie was quite pleased at the surprise!