Super Hero Cooper

If you've never heard of Give Kids The World, we're here to tell you that everyone should know about this place. The story is amazing. It is a resort near Disney that was started by a Holocaust survivor named Henri Landwirth. He missed his entire childhood by being in concentration camps and he believed that no child should ever miss their childhood for something out of their control. Thus, he created GKTW, a resort specifically tailored and 100% donated to kids with critical illnesses.  This was our house for the week! In this hall, every child gets a star which is put up in the castle of wishes.  Evyn was 100% obsessed with the merry go round. Every time we passes it she had to hop on! Cooper at GKTW GKTW is a wonderful place where kids make all the rules. They serve ice cream starting at 7:00am! They also have a holiday every day of the week since many of the kids are in the hospital for Christmas, Halloween, their birthday, etc. They li...

Cooper had his wish granting dinner with Make a Wish Mid-Atlantic. These are Cooper's 2 wish granting volunteers Tracy and Sandi. They are beautiful people who donate their time to Make a Wish kids to help them decide on a wish and make their wish possible. In true Cooper fashion, he wanted to have his Make a Wish dinner at Ayse Mezze Lounge (The Opah! Cheese Place) for his wish dinner. Off to Disney we go in 2 weeks!!!!!  Evyn clearly loved the food!

 This weekend we also got Santa pictures done! Whew! It was a busy and crazy weekend. Warrior mom retreat, Santa pictures, and trick or treating rescheduled all in one weekend! We did our Santa pictures early because of our make a wish trip coming up.  Nicole Pellegrino, the owner of Snips and Snails Photography is near and dear to our heart. She took pics Evyn as a baby and Coop with Evyn days before Cooper was diagnosed. She then gave us pictures with Santa last year so Cooper could still visit Santa as we wouldn't have been able to go to the mall or a public place. She does the photos in her home studio. She is so kind and good to our family and she is incredibly talented. She did our Santa pictures again and we are always so excited to see her amazing work! AND Evyn didn't even cry!!!!! I was shocked because I feel like every baby that is around 15-18 months cries at Santa pictures. This girl is just so portable and rolls with it! ...

 This weekend I got a very random invitation that I will be forever grateful for. It's odd how some people come into your life and make a huge impact. Cooper gets his hair cut by the same barber who also cuts another child's hair who is a leukemia warrior. I had been talking to his mom Krista, chatting through texts and such for a while, and were hoping to meet soon because they only live 5 minutes from us. This week she called and they had an opening in a warrior mom's retreat sponsored by Mason Strong, a wonderful foundation run by wonderful people in honor of their son Mason. The retreat was at Tusculum farm with 6 other women I had never met. All of these moms were cancer moms but their children are treated at Children's National. I took a leap of faith and went on the overnight retreat and it was one of the best decisions I have made. This group of women, who had never met me, accepted me as one of their own with open arms. We laughed until we cried and had such ...

We got out for some awesome family fall activities. We went hiking at Cunningham Falls and I am proud to say that after last year where Cooper had to work hard to walk to the park which is a half a mile away, he did the entire 3 mile hike!!!! What a long way he has come. We hiked, collected, leaves, went to the apple orchard, made apple dumplings and monster cupcakes and soaked up every bit of fall fun that we could.     Cupcakes!!!!!  A little Halloween fashion and pumpkin carving. This year Cooper chose to do the Disney castle with Micke mouse ears since we were leaving on our make a wish trip soon.  Evyn at daycare. She has so much sass and we just love it!  Can't forget football Sunday with our tiny Raven Greene fan in the house.  This year for halloween we did a Star Wars theme since we are heading the Disney's Star Wars Galaxy's Edge in 3 weeks. Cooper was Darth Vader...