On the weekend (20th and 21st of December) we were blessed with a team of Merry Elves including chief ringleader Dean who built Imogen’s wall of Lurve for our pool. The wall building and completion was kindly organised by Dean’s wife Cherrie. We say a huge thankyou to all the men who donated their precious weekend family time. They all made an amazing wall, making the front of our house basically unrecognisable to what it was. We now have only have to organise the inserts between the pillars, paving and pool shade sail.
Vanya, Cherrie, Lauren and the bubba boys : )
We also received the account today for the most important part of this whole venture “Imogen’s Pool”. Barrier Reef Pools were very generous with a substantial discount on the pool and installation cost.
A big Thankyou to Barrier Reef Pools, Owner/Manager - Brad, Site Foreman - Matt, Excavation - Stefan, Installers - Jason & Andy, Truck Driver & Soil Removal - Syd, Side Iron – Concrete pool footings – Brad and Concrete Taxi.
Side view of our front yard
Thank you does not seem to us to cover the smiles and joy you have brought Imogen with her new pool. Though it is not only the happiness from her that brings us delight it is also from watching Imogen enjoy the pool with her two brothers, Kody and Ashton. The memories we will gain from this are priceless.
“Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.” Author Unknown
We hope you all receive a boomerang full of kindness : ), your generosity will never be far from our hearts and our minds.
We now have completed the whole fence, with Jason accomplishing a mammoth effort by assembling together the metal pool fencing, we purchased from Bunnings, over the last two days (including Christmas Day : ).
He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree - Roy L. Smith To All our Family, Friends and Imogen supporters We wish you a Happy and Gorgeous Christmas, it is with your friendship, love and support we have continued to smile and battle on this year and into this Christmas season and day.
Your love & support continue to amaze us,
We dared to dream that this Christmas we would be able to spend the day with our miracle girl. To our Christmas angels, Thank you for watching over Imogen and all of us, we are forever grateful.
I have wanted to blog again for weeks now, except life always seems to get in the way, which in its own way is a good thing. It is good because I have nothing but normal life to blog, Imogen is full of beans and it’s coming up to the fourth month since she
was again declared relapsed.
We have had many special moments this month, most importantly being the first dip in the pool. At first Imogen was cautious, may have been because the water was freezing!!. Kody was in there straight away, doing bombies and diving and swimming.
By day two he had some competition with Imogen swimming across the pool, and competing in the bombie competitions. Imogen loves the pool, constantly begging to
go in, even when it extremely windy. Actually all our fish love the pool, Ashton has even been in a few times.
We are getting the fence built this weekend, which would never have been able to be achieved without our friend, Dean. This incredible man, has been chief foreman for the cement footing. This part of the wall was never actually meant to be his job : /. Dean has arrived at our house from Chidlow every day for the last four days just after 6 am. He is also the main man behind the brick fence building which will commence tomorrow. A big thank you to Dean, and a big thank you to his wife Cherrie who nominated him for this “lurve” job : ). Without people like him Imogen’s dream would never have happened.
We have also been amazed recently by Kody’s assembly and year 6 graduations performance on the trombone. The school carols night and Imogen’s pre primary concert were also very proud moments. Imogen was the cutest star, and made us laugh when she would randomly decide to sing with the class (very casually and on her terms). Kody sang in the school choir at the school carols and did a great job. Kody has given us many proud moments this month, with his ability to give anything a go, his maturity and an awesome report. All our children constantly amaze us. Imogen also got a great report, she is enthusiastic at school and her zest for life is contagious to all who surround her.
Ashton is just gorgeous, big grins and baby smiles; he is such a placid baby and a wonderful time waster.
My Granny and Ashton
I must also mention we recently got to see my Granny, Ashton was very kind and gave her the loveliest smiles. We really appreciate the effort my Aunty Donelle went to organise this visit.
Our Friends Hannah, Anika and Peter, also came to visit and try out our pool : ).
We are all looking forward to a happy and wonderful Christmas together at our home this year. My family at lunch and Jason’s family at dinner. Christmas is slowly coming together around here, the festive lights made their appearance last night, and very quickly I managed to blow out the safety switch on the power board – hahaha. Might need a few adjustments I think, and even more lights (Jason is cringing in the corner at the thought ; ).
Life for us has been speeding forwards, though not without a few bumps, like an $800 vet bill, Thanks Molly or a sever shortage of people able to deliver the bricks we are short on for the wall. Though in comparison to where we thought we may be at Christmas in regards to Imogen we are very happy.
We are grateful for Mr Reniet’s incredible ability to help our girl, for the roof over our heads, Jason’s successful business and that we are all still living a “normal” life together.
Imogen and Mr Reniets
I was recently listening to a positive thinking audiobook and one phrase really stood out to me…
As we think, so shall we be.
This one sentence can be reflected into many aspects of our life. Take time out of your life to see the positive things, instead of focusing on all that is wrong in your world.
Thanks once again for all the support and love
Lots of love and fun over the silly season
From the Holmes Gang to you
P.S I just realized I never mention that my two big kids have finished school as of yesterday. An are next year going to be in Year ONE for Imogen and the finally year of Primary school for Kody Year SIX. We must thank all their incredible teachers for the last two years. Big Thanks Mrs Barker and Mrs McDonald from Imogen and Mrs Hodgson for Kody xx
Now I have completed updating the holiday I can begin with the next exciting amazing item on Imogen’s Dream list “THE POOL”.
Though first, I must also blog about the incredibly gorgeous thing that our friends at Caversham Wildlife Park have done. They were that inspired and in love with our Imogen, that have decided to name one of their baby Koala after her. To show Imogen her namesake they made up a beautiful framed picture of “Imogen” Koala. Imogen very proudly took it to school for news, and carries it around for all to see. We are hoping to make a visit to Caversham Wildlife Park soon, catch a glimpse of this little Koala.
I must also mention how incredible proud we are of Kody. Kody recently gave his speech to about 200 primary school students, to hopefully be elected into the 2010 counselors for his “LAST” year in primary school. Kody also just attended his PEAC art audition yesterday, even though I was not allowed in the room, I know he would have done a fabulous job. We find out the results of these two already huge achievements at the last assembly.
Ok one more thing, we all must thank our friends Karen and David for inviting us to their Thanksgiving last week. It was absolutely delicious and a real treat to be able to enjoy the special holiday with you. We are definitely having pecan pie for Christmas, I have been craving it ever since : ).
Now the grand arrival of the pool happened on Saturday the 30th of November. The lead up to this huge front yard transformation occurred over many days. Jason went to the front garden like a crazy chainsaw maniac, our once rusty, bird friendly garden then looked like a flat desert. With my favourite tree gone : (, the boys (as Imogen named them, who are actually the incredible men who have helped getting one BIG step closer to achieving Imogen’s dream) came and began to level out the front garden on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately there was a minor glitch in the afternoon with the phone line being temporary cut and the gas line being permanently cut off (only got put back on yesterday, and had the best shower last night ever!!!). We had to wait till Alinta gas arrived to cap off the gas, so that basically cut the afternoon off.
Very early the next day the soil and dirt truck arrived and the boys began to dig and load the truck up. Even to this point our little princess was still not questioning why her crazy parents would have done this to the front garden : P. It was not until the hole for the pool was being dug, did she ask “Why are you digging that hole?”, to this Jason replied ”to store all daddy’s customers cars”. Amazingly enough Imogen was quite happy with that answer. Within an hour that small hole, became an incredibly BIG hole.
Around the corner at 10am rolled a very long and big truck with the pool and crane attached. Imogen was down the hole helping the boys, so did not see the pool ‘sneak’ around the corner. Jason and I called her out of the hole and then she saw for the first time this big blue “bath”. Imogen took a split second to understand that big pool was going into the hole, not daddy’s cars. Imogen and Kody’s grins were huge and both were begging to go in, before the pool had even hit the bottom of the hole. Imogen and Kody were very spoilt and got an exclusive in the pool after it had landed helping the guys fill it up, with the whole 30cms of water allowed. After settling and organising some more pool requirements, all were ready for a sausage sizzle and salad. This then lead to the end of the first day of the pool’s arrival.
Since then a temporary fence has been erected, more work has been done on the plumbing etc (BIG thank you Matt!!) and bricks order and arrived (within 4 hours of ordering..no flies on Midland bricks). Compacting around the pool should be done by Friday, with hopefully a dip into the pool by Friday afternoon or over the weekend. Which would be awesome as the temperature for Sunday is forecasted into the high 30’s.
Imogen’s dream is official on the way, we all can’t wait to be able to share with her a care free and happy Christmas and summer holiday by the pool. Without the assistance of the boys : ), your generous donations and the incredible support of the Kids Cancer Support Group we would never have been able to reach this goal in such record time.
We send a big Thank you to all with Love and Hugs from the Holmes Gang.
Blog again soon
With Love and Hope Fiona, Jason, Kody, Imogen and the incredibly cute Ashton : ).
Wednesday our 5th day was our quiet day, the weather was bleak. Mum, Dad and me went to Pacific Fair Shops again for a look and a few purchases, like some extremely cute bathers for Ashton : ). Meanwhile Jason and the tinlids swam and watched tele. In the afternoon, we relaxed. Later on My Aunty Anne and her grand daughter Erina arrived for a visit. They both live in the outer suburbs of the Gold Coast an Hour and half drive, a fair trek from our hotel. It was great to see them both, it has been a long time since I saw my Aunty Anne, but an even longer time since I had seen my cousin Erina who I remember as a little kid. Another day came to an end on Imogen’s magical Make a Wish.
For all the relaxing we did on Wednesday, Thursday our 6th Day at Dreamworld made up for it. Dreamworld was awesome; there really is something for everyone. From Wiggles land to Motorbike racing to Nick world to TigerIsland, everyone was covered.
We spent a lot of time in Nick world, where Imogen and Kody test trialled every ride at least 3 - 4 times. Imogen must have gone on the ride Angry Beaver’s Fishing over 10 times, she actually did not get off for about ½ hour : P. The tigers were gorgeous and very clever at their show, jumping and catching, just like “extremely” big kittens.
n Wiggle world, Ashton and I had a photo taken with Dorothy the Dinosaur. Both of the big kids had a heap of photos taken with Sponge bob, Patrick, Dora and Angelina.
The highlight of the day was when Kody entered the “Slimebowl”. This live TV show involves a red and blue team fighting it out through mini competitions, with the ultimate prize of being slimed. Yes, I know to any adult this sounds crazy…you get slimed for winning…but to an 11 year old boy named Kody this was an awesome idea. Anyway, first you must get picked to be one of team captains out of a crowd. Kody was going to make sure it was him picked, by jumping up and down and pleading with the hosts to pick him. Luckily he was chosen : ) for the red captain, now he just had to cheer his team on and hope they won the competitions that would allow (??) him to get slimed. Game one, red was winning, game two, blue was winning and game three red WON!!!. Team Red won the whole competition, and Kody GOT SLIMED!!!!. He was so happy to be slimed and I think he thought he could have now walked on water, taken by the huge smile on his face.
It was great to see Kody get to do something he really wanted to do, without the influence of his little sister’s illness. At times even though he knows Imogen has been very sick and had to endure many procedures it is hard to watch her get so much attention. Getting slimed was a win for Kody, which made Jason and me very happy.
After a few more rides and purchases, the day came to a close, with everyone leaving the park with beaming smiles.
WE LOVED DREAMWORLD!!!.
The next day it was time to pack up. We had an early check out, so we walked down to Broachbeach shops. While Immie and Jas hit the beach for a swim with no bathers, hence rudey girl, Dad, Mum, Me and Kody hit the shop for a few staples for a Virgin Blue Flight.
The airport transfer arrived at 12, to the airport for a big delay. This then made our stop over in Sydney, extremely short – woo hoo. Ashton was a saint the whole way home, Imogen made a new friend and Kods went and sat with Mum and Dad. For some reason the company who organised the flights for Make a Wish thought it would be a good idea to place me, with all three kids about 20 rows apart from Mum, Dad and Jason…hahahaha…I don’t think so, I was quick to swap some seats around.
Finally home, we were greeted with the PerthAirport beginning to shut down due to a fire alarm. Luckily the kids and Jason got out before the entrances were closed, which just left me and the old folks to walk out to the entrance. We arrived home and collapsed, very grateful for an incredible once in a lifetime Make a Wish for Imogen and Us.
I am finally going to blog about our and Imogen’s most special though rushed day on her Make a Wish Holiday. Tuesday was SeaWorld - the place of Imogen’s dolphin swim/pat. We started the day by getting transferred by bus to the park, which seemed to take forever to get too. (Thanks to all the people who didn’t seem to think the pick up times actually referred to them..grrrr).
In the gates we went to pick up all our passes for the special events we were doing during the day. I then also found out that I was going to get to pat the dolphin with Imogen : ).
Off we set towards the Dolphin swim area, when I suddenly decided it would be a good idea for mum and dad to have a SeaWorld experience too. So I sent them on a joy ride on a helicopter right there and then : P. They had a blast, check out the gorgeous pictures of the Gold Coast sky views on the Picassa Web Album.
We continued on to the dolphin swim, quickly hopping into our beautiful “get up” gear supplied by the park. After a while a lady dolphin trainer met us and took Immie and me to met our dolphin for the swim/pat. At first Imogen was a bit scared of the big dolphin, but after a while of patting, throwing him a ball, watching him gracefully swim and having a splashing competition, she was over the moon. We all had a gorgeous time with the dolphin.
Next stop the dolphin show – amazing. Then SharkBay for the snorkelling for the boys, which we missed for a second time (whoops), so instead it was time for lunch. After lunch and a ride on the dragon ride, it was back to watch the guys get up close with the fish, sting rays and baby sharks.
Then we headed to SesameStreetBeach, for more rides, under the carefully watch of the Granpa. The rest of us hit some of the other rides. The day came to end with the running collection of the many park photos and videos (hahah..including one of dad and mum on the helicopter). We quickly dashed out the front to find I had rushed and gathered everyone together an hour early – whoops. We waited around taking pictures of ladybirds and long legs, and then jumped on the bus back to the hotel. What a Day!!!.
Check out the incredibly big Picassa web album of Day 5 at SeaWorld, I could not decide which photo to pick; I have included all of our favourites.
Just a break in the updated version of Queensland..I promise I will finish it. I just had to share with all our delightful sneak peak of some very gorgeous pictures we had taken of Imogen and Ashton yesterday. A lovely lady named Brandy and her “spot” helper Kasey : ), offered to take some pictures of us and my gorgeous kids. Yesterday was Immie and Ashton’s turn, as Kody was away at his Nana & Pop’s. I can’t really explain how lovely they are so here instead is the link
Thankyou so much Brandie and Kasey – we all love them.
Once again since we have been back we have been extremely busy. Imogen and I attended (well actually gate crashed) a Halloween Party. Thanks must go to Karen for getting us the invite and Kath for having the Halloween party and helping put a huge smile of Imogen’s face. We have as I said in previous blogs the silver chain nurse visit and then followed by the silver chain doctor. We are still doing swimming lessons on Mondays with my two fish. A visit from my cousin Karly, apparently my favourite cousin ( sorry Sharon and Lisa : P). A trip up the hill to Mt Helena to see Nana and Pop and play a game of very one sided cricket and footy.
A huge highlight of the week was last night attending my mum’s exhibition of her glasswork. Included in my mum’s glasswork she produces glass ladybirds to raise money for the Childhood Cancer Research Institute. We are all very proud of you mum – WELL DONE!!!.
Well this week is not that different …busy busy…Ashton had his 6 week (though he was 8 weeks) check up and needles. Our little chubbier has put on a kg in 3 weeks, that why I thought he was getting heavy carting him in and out of school. Today I found out that our Immie is going to be a star in her Pre Primary Christmas concert – too cute. Kody has once again been asked to Peac Art..and now has to pick three pictures he has drawn to talk about them.
Well better go make some dinner Love and Hope to all Fee, Jas, Kods, Immie and Ash
P.S. Guess what is penned in to arrive on the 28th of November...yeap a very big duck pond : P
Now where was I,day three, Monday, was rest day, I hear you laugh, The Holmes Gang – REST!!!. Well you got it right, Jason and Ashton would have loved to be snuggled up in bed, but unfortunately in our family that generally does NOT happen : P.
We hit the bus to Surfer’s Paradise, once again the weather forecast was predicting rain and miserable weather, but instead Surfer’s greeted us with sunshine. First thing we did when we got off the bus was do the tourist thing and hit the tourist bureau to book a ride on the Aqua Duck (thanks for the recommendation Sam : ). We then had till 1.45, to find something to do.
By then it was time for the Aqua Duck, we ran down to our meeting spot to find everyone was there and waiting for us : P. Hoped on and Ashton had a very bumpy feed all the way down to the river. The kids thought in was amazing how the bus turned into the boat. They then got to steer the boat, we got a tour of the canal and then when we exited the water a tour of the streets of Surfer’s included the car racing course. It was heaps of fun, and something we too would recommend.
After that it was a coffee buzz, and the bus home for a little rest. Another gorgeous day on the Gold Coast came to a close with kebabs and salad.
Wow where do I even start this blog update..Imogen’s Make a wish trip was awesome, super fun, relaxing and full of big belly giggles.
We left on the Friday, at 8.30am from Perth, arrived in Sydney at 2.05pm and then after a few plane shuffles and delays got on the plane to the Gold at about 6.30pm. We arrived into Gold Coast and were transferred to our accommodation, arriving there at 8 pm. Our shack for the week of fun was a penthouse in Broadbeach, 316 sqm floor space for just us, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, three toilets, panoramic views of the mountains to the sea, white carpets (very funny with kids), plush everything…far away from our normal life.
Saturday we spent the day adapting and catching up on rest, by the pool, then on the beach…then a little trip to the Oasis Shopping Centre and Pacific Fair Shops.
Sunday was the big guns..MOVIEWORLD!!!. The look’s on Kody and Immie’s faces was priceless they were so excited and happy just to see the front gates. Once inside we spotted Tweety Bird and Bugs Bunny, after travelling all this way Imogen would not even have a bar of them, so hence there is a picture of me, Imogen, Tweety and Bugs.
Just a skip down the streets of Movie world Imogen was in her heaven, rides everywhere and you could go on as many times as you liked. Her favourite was the Little Bummer Cars. We dragged Kody on a few rides too (he is a bit more hesitate than Immie when it comes to rides etc.). After Jason, Granpa and me ventured on the Scooby Doo ride it was time for lunch. Junk..Junk..and more junk, isn’t that what holidays are about : P. After that everyone had a go on the White Water Raft Ride, with everyone's funny faces photo snapped and plastered onto key rings and in albums. Then it was time for the Stunt car drivers show, an action drama involving Batman, more rides for Imogen, 3 D Shrek movie and the end of the day parade. Granma, Ashton and me thoroughly enjoyed a coffee and ice cream, while the rest ran around like crazy people. The day come to a close with two,,ok six happy smiley people (Ashton was not that appreciative being dragged around – funny that!!).
We went back to the hotel and collapsed, with a yummy serving of Chinese : ).
This is the first instalment of Imogen’s and Our Make a Wish Trip, we had way to much fun to post it into one blog update. Continue to watch this spot for more updates and photos to come.
On a slightly back down to earth note, we had our first visit from the Silver Chain nurse today. This was to admit Imogen to Silver Chain. They will come every Tuesday after school to check on Imogen, this allows us to escape the walls of the resort. The nurse who came was very nice, and only stayed a short time. My favourite moment of it all, (yes you have to look for the silver lining in every moment) was when the nurse filled in the routine chart on pain levels etc. and all the scores were 0. The nurse said “I never have filled out this form will this many 0’s before”.
It has now been 2 months since we received Imogen’s relapse news, she is still going forth into the world in “Imogen style : )"
Please keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming,
What a gorgeous week of sunshine, we have had this week in Perth. On Sunday, Imogen, her friend Penny and ourselves were picked up by the trekkers via fire truck and taken to WhitemanPark. The top of our cul-de-sac was full of trekker vehicles and people. These incredible people travelled from place such as Bunbury to Donnybrook, just to put a smile on our girls face. Imogen was also then officially declared the princess for the trekkers for 2009.
Imogen was very privilege as she got to hold a Joey, baby possum, rabbit, baby rabbit, guinea pig, bob tail lizard and a most precious Koala named Karen. Imogen had an awesome time at WhitemanPark, thanks to the very generous Pat for allowing us all entry and organising a VIP tour with the lovely guide Tracey. Then as if that was not enough the Kids Cancer Support Group (Thanks Sue: ) organised a little car ride and BBQ for us and all the trekkers.
Both the trekkers and Kids Cancer Support Group are incredible people who tirelessly volunteer their time and hearts to supporting Kids with cancer. Without them our jobs as parents and families with children with cancer would be even harder. A Big Thankyou to both groups with Love from the Holmes Gang.
On Monday this week Jason turned 1..ok 31, but Immie has been telling everyone he turned 1, so who’s to tell her any different : P. We celebrated this special birthday by having breakfast at Hillary’s Boat Harbor. This time last year Imogen was doing her stem cell rescue.
Back to school on Tuesday for Imogen and Kody …a much welcomed moment by all. I can tell you the silence on Tuesday morning was deafening.
On Wednesday we had our official appt at the resort. It was here we experienced a priceless moment. Jason and I had been talking about sad and serious stuff with Immie’s oncologist, the liaison officers, and then it was Imogen turn to be checked out. Imogen had been busy playing with the gorgeous OT Beth in the OT room. Suddenly into the appointment room bounded Imogen with a huge smile on her face, without a worry in the world. When checked she had full movement of her legs, had lost a little weigh due to being sick recently and looked great. Imogen oncologist was shocked, so much to the fact she repeatedly said “She really looks great”. We walked away from that morning, very comfortable in the fact we are doing the right thing for Imogen. We also firmly believe Imogen’s health and happiness right now stems from previous radiation, Mr Renier’s natural medicine, our faith in him, positive thinking and the powerful thoughts, prayers and hopes from everyone for a true miracle (please keep it up!!!). We now move away from the hospital care, just slightly and get linked up with Silver Chain. What happens with Imogen now will be played out by how Imogen is in herself and how she seems to us. Imogen and Kody finished the school week, happy but very tired.
Ashton and I have been trying to forge some normality in our crazy world this week. We have really enjoyed being home, having some regular sleeps, feeds and exciting household duties – oh yay.
To more exciting news, we fly out to the Gold Coast next Friday. Make a Wish have organised some incredible experiences for our beautiful girl Imogen and all of us. We are very lucky to have my mum and dad joining us too. Kerry the Make a Wish representative will come out next week and present Imogen with her trip. We can’t wait to see what they have come up with…woo hoo…
Looking forward to capturing some more gorgeous pictures of the girl and us next week and when we fly out to our once in a lifetime trip.
Love, Hope and Positive thoughts,
The Holmes Gang
P.S. There is a whole heap of new photo albums located on the Picassa website link below, even of all the fun we had on Sunday at WhitemanPark.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/theholmesgang (you may need to cut and paste this link into the browser, I can't seem to get the direct link to work)
