Race for the Cure

Hoda Kotb from the Today Show

Saturday morning, bright and early, the twins, my Mom and I, headed to the Race for the Cure. (I don't think the twins have seen the 6 o'clock hour in quite some time :) And all I had to promise them was Starbucks.) We, along with 70,000 others, packed the streets of downtown St. Louis and raced to end the devastating disease of breast cancer. This is near and dear to our hearts since 25 years ago my mom was diagnosed at the young age of 36. I was 12 at the time and my brothers were 3 and 5! I can not imagine how scared my mom was having kids that were so young.

There are so many things I remember about that time. I remember hearing the words "your Mom has cancer", I remember how dark my Mom's room would be after chemo and how I would sit outside of her door and wonder when she would stop throwing up. I remember when my Aunt Barb came to stay with us to help us and how she folded the towels differently than my Mom did. I would always try to show her how we folded them at our house (sounds bratty doesn't it?). I remember when my Mom's hair fell out and how frightening that was for me to look at her as someone sick. There are so many memories of that difficult time but the best memory was when she was declared "cancer free" a year later.

And so with feelings of thankfulness and pride we declared on our backs that we were celebrating that our Mom/Grammy was cancer free for 25 years. I saw many people taking pictures of our backs as we walked our 3 miles. My prayer is that we gave many people still fighting this disease some hope. We met a young woman currently in the fight of her life. She walked with her husband, parents and pulled her two little girls ages 2 and 4 in a wagon. She just finished chemo last week and is now starting radiation. Several of her lymph nodes were positive for cancer. Her father, Ed, told me that they take it one day at a time. He was so encouraged to hear my Mom's story and said he can only pray that she has the same ending to this disease as my Mom did.

I would love to make this a tradition and do this every year with my family. It is so moving to see how strong these women are that are battling this awful disease. It is also encouraging to see the massive support systems that get them through every day. Our family has been incredibly blessed by the healing of my mother and I thank God for her EVERY day! We love you Mom! Thank you for fighting for us.

Livi can ride a bike...FINALLY!

We have been trying to teach Olivia to ride a bike for quite some time now with no luck. Since we live on the Katy Trail we would love for everyone in our family to be able to ride. We have tried everything! Aaron's Dad who is an avid cyclist even bought us this contraption that mounts on her bike and we stand behind her to keep the bike steady when she rides. It has a release button to let go when she starts riding by herself...needless to say, we have never released her. She has even fallen off the bike several times while we are holding her! :) Last year, Aaron's Dad was practicing with her when she suddenly fell off and as her head was getting dangerously close to the ground she quickly exclaimed "Papa, look at all of the ants!" It was then decided that she wasn't really interested! So I am not sure what made Aaron drag the bike out of the garage the other night but it was the lucky night! She was focused and ready to learn. Within just a couple of minutes she was riding her bike all by herself. And now we are having a hard time getting her off her bike. :) Here are a few pics of the special night. Livi already posing on the bike..Lord help this child!

Olivia, her proud sisters and her "husband" (as she likes to call him) Sonny too.

Livi with her protector watching closely by...

I had a minor heart attack when she came VERY close to a mailbox...good thing Daddy is fast on his feet!

Following her Big Sis Jordan

Way to go Livi..We are so proud of you! XOXXO

Gala Fun

Saturday night some of my dearest friends and I headed to the American Cancer Society Gala downtown. We had so much fun getting dressed up and having a night out on the town. Aaron took our picture before we left and he pretty much acted like he was the paparazzi...he even had the grass stains to prove it! We had fun at the Gala in our VIP seating and yummy food...the drinks weren't bad either.:) After that we had a slight detour where Carrie and Carly did a quick karaoke performance (stellar of course...since they both have gorgeous voices!) and then we headed to Cafe Napoli in Clayton. This was interesting since the average age was about 22. We struck up a coversation with a guy we thought was close to our age and then discovered that he graduated in 2000! I was pregnant with my fourth child in 2000! We had fun although I mentioned that I felt like I was at Mom's weekend at Mizzou. :) (Maybe this is why I chose this song that is playing now...theme from Golden Girls...and not the Golden Girl cheerleaders, the old ladies!)

I always have so much fun with my girlfriends and love that we can talk about pretty much anything or nothing at all. We spend a ton of time together and have become like a family. Like any family there is happy and sad times but the most important thing is that we truly love each other and want nothing but the best for all of our families. God has put us together for a reason and I am so thankful for each and every one of you!

PS As I write this my sweet friend Mandy is putting her 12 year old St. Bernard to sleep... we love you Mandy and know how much you loved your sweet Switzer! She had a great life with your wonderful family. XOXXO

Another MIZZOU Graduate!

The New Graduates jumping into the work force!

Sister Kim, Brother Brian and the oldest of all ME!

The gang taking a break from washers.

Sonny..the graduate. Livi of course did this.

Our family has added another Mizzou graduate to the list...my brother Brian. We hosted his graduation party at our house yesterday and we had a great time. It was so much fun hanging out with old and young alike...reminiscing about our sweet boy Brian.

Brian has always been a great kid. He is a very hard worker, extremely responsible and a joy to be around. He has a way of always making people feel comfortable and also is a great storyteller. I always remind him that I was the first human to ever touch him since I was in the delivery room when he was born and the doctor told me to touch him...even BEFORE he was born. Too much info? :) He captured my heart that day in August and has had it ever since. He is a great brother.

Some highlights of the party were my Dad's tearful speech about his boy, a rousing washer tournament with many new Mizzou grads (mostly AKL's which made Aaron happy...ALL of my brothers were in the same fraternity with Aaron being a founding father...pretty cool) and the many photos taken while jumping off of ledges.

Brian will do great in whatever he decides to do and any corporation will be lucky to have him on board. So if anyone has any accounting/finance opportunities let me know! Way to go Brian. We are SO proud of you.

FUN Weekend!

Memorial Weekend 09' is complete and the Crowell household is still recovering. We are a tired bunch after our crazy busy weekend. We started the weekend with an impromptu dinner with our friends Phil and Heather Reichert. They are our 'go to' couple when we have a free evening or if we want to go on vacation. We plan an outing with them once a month but every once in a while can sneak in another. This is what happened Friday. Within an hour of deciding to go we were headed to Tony's..our favorite dinner spot. We always have a blast and can literally talk about ANYTHING...and we certainly do. And after a rousing game of "name that 80's song on Sirius radio" on the way home we called it a night. Saturday we had a BBQ at our house and enjoyed the company of some of our favorite people. We enjoyed a delicious meal, great conversation, dancing on the deck, and even a movie outside on a big ol' screen...someone gave Aaron the new Star Trek movie that is in theatres right now. Shhhh...don't tell. And although there were no "trekies" at the party, they enjoyed it none the less. Sunday we headed to the Malterer's and had a big ol' BBQ with our new Messiah family. All of the girls had at least one classmate there, so everyone had a blast. We have thoroughly enjoyed our first year at Messiah and have been amazed at how friendly and welcoming everyone has been. We can't wait for many more years in this wonderful community. After that we headed to the Reichert's house for swimming and more food. We always have a blast at their house and have a hard time leaving. Most of the time Aaron and Phil are snuggled on the couch sleeping as well as Jordan and Olivia. :) We finished the evening off with delicious homemade ice cream. Yum! Olivia caught some zzz's with Goliath. On Monday we headed to the Loop with the Martins and had lunch at Blueberry Hill. The girls always enjoy looking in the shops...hopefully we will not get hooked on piercings and tattoos though. :) And what holiday weekend would be complete without shopping? We finished off the weekend with a trip to the Galleria...swimsuit shopping and Cheesecake Factory...probably not a good combination. :) And so tonight (Tuesday) by 7:30 pm every Crowell was snoozing on the couch after a yummy pasta dinner. Some of us took just a nap while others (the twins) were in bed for the night! Summer is right around the corner...2 more days of school. Yippee!

Ryan Update

Well, Baby Ryan is amazing everyone with his progress. He is tolerating all the poking and prodding like a champ. We are even getting glimpses of some attitude peeking through. :) But the most amazing and exciting news of all is that yesterday he had a poopy diaper! The nurses were ecstatic especially since this wasn't to be expected for some time. The bowel is getting absorbed very fast and he might have surgery over the weekend or early next week if everything continues to stay on pace. He is doing remarkably well and is such a cute baby!

My last post I mentioned that Ryan had David's nose and Jack's mouth. Well, I thought about that and realized that I didn't give any credit to Erin...my adorable sister-in-law. So let me rephrase....Ryan has the Mattingly mouth (not sure if Erin has it.. but definitely her dad and brother).

While I am on the subject I just wanted to brag on my sister-in-law a bit...she is a fantastic mother and my nephews are the luckiest boys around(not to mention my brother)! She has been such a trooper during this pregnancy and fiercely protected and loved this precious baby. She has been such an inspiration to everyone in our family and has handled this challenge with such dignity and grace. My heart skips a beat when I think of the moment when Ryan is placed in her arms for the first time. It won't be long!

PS I took these pictures yesterday...he doesn't even flinch now. He is getting used to Aunt Jenn's camera...:)

PSS Another update: Ryan has now had the respirator removed as of tonight and is doing fantastic. He now gets to suck on a pacifier that every once in a while gets dipped in sugar water! Yum! This boy is making progress faster than I can update. Keep it up Baby Ryan!

Ryan Mattingly Killion

On May 14, 2009 our family welcomed with love Ryan Mattingly Killion into this world. At 11:10pm he let out a cry that was music to everyone's ears...since he was 5 weeks early we didn't know what to expect. We immediately began analyzing our little miracle and quickly determined that he had David's nose and Jack's mouth, beautiful dark hair and the biggest hands I have ever seen on a baby (possibly my gigantic hands?). He was absolutely precious!

We knew that his birth would be quite a roller coaster since at his 20 week ultrasound it was discovered that he had gastroschisis. This is a condition where the intestines form on the outside of his body. We knew that he would need to quickly head to surgery after delivery which is exactly what happened. At around 12:30am he was brought to surgery where they attempted to place the intestines back in his body. It was determined that there was too much on the outside so they are slowly going to insert them back inside over the next few weeks.

We are all so incredibly blessed that Ryan has tolerated everything so well. He is a fiesty little guy that will be wrestling with his big brother Jack in no time. Lucky for him, he has wonderful parents that adore him... not to mention grandparents, aunts and uncles, and 7 cousins that can't wait to get their hands on him. I do believe though that as his Godmother I should be pretty close to the top of that list. :) We LOVE you Ryan and pray for a speedy recovery. We will be counting the days until you can come home. We are so thankful that our tight circle just got a little bigger with the addition of YOU! :) Love, Aunt Jenn XOXXO