The kids are out of school for a couple days so I have taken a couple of days off to spend some time with them. It is an off chemo week, chemo is on this next Wednesday.
Yesterday we started the day off by Ricki, Katie, and I going to a memorial service for Russ Ockey, he passed away this week. It was very nice. I wish it had been better circumstances, but I really enjoyed seeing Sister Ockey and her kids, Ryan and BJ and their families. Sister Ockey has aways been my mom away from home...can't believe she put up with my constant visits to her home when I was a kid. She is a great lady and I love her.

We hit Chilis last night thanks to some gift certificates from work, aways fun to eat for free! Afterwards we stopped at Target to "look" at the Halloween stuff...$150 later I realized that "looking" was expensive. Mark that one down as no more "looking" for me. I was bad too, we bought Pete's Dragon, Disney movie, and the kids and I watched it last night. We have a Disney CD that the kids play in the car all the time with a song from Pete's Dragon. When the movie hit that song, all the kids including 3 year old Katie sang word for word with the movie, was fun.

Should tell you about Taylor and Jacob playing flag football. They both play very well, Taylor is more timid about touching the ball, he does not want to make a mistake for his team. He plays great defense, pulls the flag often and is the nose tackle. They throw the ball to him here and there on offense, he even scored a touchdown on a catch a couple of weeks ago. Taylor has his heart set on playing tackle football, "so I can hit people and not get in trouble". Occasionally he hits a kid during play and lays them out, Taylor is thick and tough, so I think he wants to hit on purpose and not have to feel bad that he left someone crying by accident. Now Jacob is very interesting to watch play. He is the all-star on his team (in other words, the only one that understands the game and the direction he is suppose to run the ball...forwards). Last week he ran for 4 touchdowns and on defense he pulled the flag 17 times. The team has 3 Jacobs on it, so they call my Jacob, "Bob". That would be Katie's nickname for him. Jacob is a bit faster than the rest of the kids so he scores touchdowns every time he touches the ball. It is so funny to watch him cut, fake, spin, and jump his way past kids. He is pretty determined.

Megan is still hitting cross country like there is no tomorrow. I am very proud of her, she has stuck with it and seems to love it. She gets up each morning or stays after school without being prompted, she just goes on her own. It is fun to watch and cheer her on in her meets! Ryan is at the age I recall when I was a boy, school, friends 24/7, and family here and there. If he could live at the local fitness center and swim and play basketball every waking minute, I think he would be there.

My health is ok, I am still having a hard time digesting food. I am hoping to figure out what I can and should not eat to make my digestive track hold stuff longer than 24 hours. It is pretty debilitating to be stuck near a bathroom all the time. I want to get out and play with the kids and have experiences they can remember. I am not sure if it was the surgery or the chemo that my system nuts. I have to figure it out, I want to romp around some day soon, ward basketball is calling my name in spite of my frailty :).

I sure appreciate all of you who think about me and encourage me. I am like most folks, never know what to say other than thank you when every one is so kind and thoughtful. THANK YOU!