Can't believe it's that time already!

It is almost Charlie's first birthday!  Where has this year gone?  This past weekend, we went to Louisiana to celebrate my stepmother's birthday and also have a party for Jeff and Charlie.  It was a very busy weekend, but very fun.  We had my stepmother's party on Saturday night.  Then on Sunday was Jeff and Charlie's party.  On Monday we had family/birthday pics done by my friend Mindy and then drove home.  Here are some of the pictures from the weekend.  (They first ones are random ones from the house).

NASA Tour

A couple of weekends ago, NASA had a family day where they opened up the entire center to employees and their families to come and look at the facilities.  This included areas usually restricted, ones that many people (including employees) don't get to visit.  So Jeff, Charlie and I decided to go and take a look.  It was really neat to see the simulators and mock ups of the shuttle and space station.  We had a great time and took lots of pictures.

Grandpa Mauldin

Last week we got the unfortunate news that Jeff's grandfather had passed away.  This was his dad's father.  He passed away in his sleep, so he did not suffer at all.  He was a generous, kind, funny man and will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

4 Generations of Mauldin men

Jeff and Charlie with his grandparents

Bromley snuck in the picture!

Picture post

Some random pictures I had-still practicing with the new mac and putting pics up...

Lauri's Checkup - Good News!

Lauri and I returned to M.D. Anderson today to get the results of Lauri's chest CT scan, X-ray, and blood tests.  We have these checkups every 3 months to check to see if the cancer has returned.  The good news - Lauri got a clean bill of health!  The radiologist report reads "No evidence of metastatic disease"!

This was a nervous appointment for us; it marks about 1 year since we found the last nodule in Lauri's lung.  For the past four years or so, we've returned to M.D. Anderson to find out the cancer had returned about 1 year after the previous finding.  So while we were very hopeful, we were worried we'd remain on schedule, and find another nodule this time around.  Thank God, not this time.

We are due to go back for another checkup in December, and I'm sure we'll be nervous again.  But for right now, we've broken through a barrier we've been working a long time to break.