It’s been a while since my last post… a long while! Well, everything with Maddie has been pretty smooth and she has been doing excellent with this new port. She’s had no signs of infection since and has been in wonderful spirits and has tons of energy! Here’s some pics of a few of the things Maddie and Trevor have been busy with since my last update in April…
****** AT THE BEACH.. AND THE ZOO ******
****** A LITTLE GIRL NAMED HAILEY WITH A BIG HEART ******
There’s a young lady named Hailey Silva that wanted to GIVE a special gift to someone else for her 7th birthday. Here’s a message from Hailey’s mom…
“Wanted to share mostly Hay’s bday gift she gave this year..all on her own! We were so proud of Hailey. She stuck to a wish she had when she was in kindergarten. She wanted to grow her hair long and donate to the locks of love foundation. We did this in honor of a little girl named Maddie. Hailey has never met Maddie, but knows of her story and fight with leukemia. Maddie was diagnosed w/ this at age 5. So for a special wish and gift this year…Hailey thought it would be a nice idea to help someone else!
The tears were flowing as she cut her hair..the whole salon even clapped for her when it was done! What a touching and emotional gift!
Of course after all the hoopla..all Hailey asked for was dinner AT McDonald’s…..simple kid!!”
Thank you Hailey for your gift of not only your beautiful long hair, but your gift of compassion and kindness. Instead of choosing a gift for yourself on your birthday, you chose to GIVE a gift to someone in need. The lucky person who receives your hair will be so happy and will always be thankful to you too. We’ve never met you before, but you are growing into a young lady who we will always remember for what you have done. You are as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside with your cute haircut!
****** KEELY (MADDIE’S BFF) SLEEPS OVER! ******
Maddie and her friend from preschool, Keely, have been inseparable! Now that the girls are older, they get to spend more time together. They don’t get to see each other everyday since Keely has been going to Kaneohe Elementary since Kindergarten, but they get together every chance they can. Keely will be attending Le Jardin school in the Fall for 2nd grade … congratulations Keely!
****** PENNIES FOR PATIENTS *****
Maddie’s school raised money in Pennies for Patients (for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society). Her 1st grade class raised the most money and won a pizza party on the last day of school! Thank you to all of you who contributed your spare change (and dollars!)
****** BYE BYE 1ST GRADE…. HELLO SUMMER! ******
Maddie’s hard work pays off! She finished 1st grade with almost straight As (except for an S+ in penmanship!) She took her first SAT test this year and did AMAZING … I’m so proud of her that with all she has to deal with outside of school, she doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to learning!
****** ARTISTS IN TRAINING ******
You all may not know this, but Nana is a wonderful artist. She loves gardening and nature, and so art comes naturally to her! She has been teaching Maddie to follow in her footsteps, and now Trevor is starting to enjoy art too!
****** MOTHER-DAUGHTER TEA and GIRL SCOUT COOKIE AWARDS! *****
Maddie and I had our first Mother-Daughter Tea Party with her Brownie and Jr. Girl Scout sisters and their moms. The Tea Party was at the beautiful Girl Scout Hale in Nuuanu, and all the girls looked georgeous! Before the tea party, the girls learned proper table etiquette and manners – they did a pretty good job too! The girls also received awards for their cookie sales. Although falling a little short of her crazy goal of 2000 boxes, she sold a total of over 1200 boxes and not only earned Priceless (over 700 boxes sold), but earned her way to the Cookie Hall of Fame! This was made possible by kind and generous friends, some who donated money for cookies to be sent to troops overseas, and others who bought cookies for Maddie to hand-deliver to kids at Kapiolani Hospital.
Maddie was an honored guest at the Girl Scout “Priceless” event for girls that sold over 700 boxes. The girls were treated to a special lunch catered by Diamond Head Grill and went behind the scenes at Diamond Head Theater to see how and where the actors and actresses get dressed and see all the sets. They came home with goodie bags filled with make-up and lots of other good stuff.
Being a first-timer, cookie selling was a wonderful experience for Maddie – one that she will get even better at next year… and the year after that! Thank you to all of you – whether you bought cookies for yourself or were kind enough to buy them for others – get your freezers ready for next Spring when it’ll be cookie time again!
****** TREVOR GRADUATES! ******
from preschool, that is… Trevor did well on his report card too (except for taking a nap and sitting quietly… no surprise there!) We are so proud of his accomplishments and will continue to encourage him. Our little man is growing up… He’s on his way to Kindergarten!
****** MADDIE GOES TO CAMP *******
Last, but definitely not least… Maddie is away at a one-week camp right now. It’s sponsored by the American Cancer Society and is called Camp Anu’enu’e. The kids are either currently in treatment or have completed treatment already, and have to be at least 7 years old to attend. Maddie just turned 7 the day before camp (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDIE!) and was ecstatic that she could go this year. She heard about the camp last June when she was in the early stage of her treatment. All the kids that go seem to LOVE it and so do the doctors and nurses too.
We dropped her off at Camp Mokuleia (so far away from us!) this past Sunday and won’t see or hear from her til this Saturday! It was harder for me, Scott and Trevor than it was for her. She’s never been away from us except for when she’s with Nana, but didn’t seem sad at all as we gave her a big hug goodbye at camp. She is at camp with Addie, her Brownie sister and friend who also turned 7 and just completed treatment for Leukemia in March. They must be having a blast with no parents for a whole week! I took a few pics when we dropped her off on Sunday:
Whew… we had a lot of catching up to do! We’ve been so busy, but we’ll try to update more often. If you’d like to be alerted when this blog is updated, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and click on “RSS Blog”. Feel free to let us know what you’re up to too! :0)