Emma's Army

I pulled this from Emma's Care Page....

I'M CALLING OUT TO MOBILIZE EMMA'S ARMY! It is summertime, which means its time for lemonade! The 2nd Annual Alex's Lemonade Stand in Honor of Emma Johnson is going to be held on Saturday, August 25th 10am-4pm at the Hershey Recreation Center (605 Cocoa Avenue, Hershey, PA). Last year's event will be hard to top, but we are determined to make it even bigger and better. All proceeds will go to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a unique foundation that has evolved from a young cancer patient's front yard lemonade stand to a nationwide fundraising movement for childhood cancer. Alex Scott had the same deadly cancer as Emma, neuroblastoma. She is truly a hero and an inspiration in the Johnson household. She said, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

If you aren't local or can't make the lemonade stand, PLEASE DONATE ONLINE. Donations will be credited to Emma's Army. Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation uses its donations to fund research to find cures for pediatric cancer. About 12,500 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the US, and 2,300 die every year. That's more children dying of cancer every year than from cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined, making cancer the leading cause of death in children 1-17. Now this is why organizations like Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation is important... the government's budget for cancer research in 2003 was $4.6 billion. 12% was allocated to breast cancer, 7% to prostate cancer, but all 12 major pediatric cancers COMBINED got LESS THAN 3%, and <0.5% went to neuroblastoma. So we can't just count on the government to fight this battle for our children. Last year Emma's army raised over $35,000 for pediatric cancer research, that means Emma's experience has made a difference in helping find a cure for children with cancer. Let's do it again!!

Emma is doing great. She is eating completely independently (no IV nutrition/TPN and no feeding tube!), and actually has a pretty good appetite! Her platelets are a bit of a problem, though. Attempts at getting her off the steroids (which help keep her platelet levels up) have not been successful, but we are optimistic that will get better. Emma is planning on participating in a soccer camp next month, so she better get some good platelets going by then!


The lemonade stand is held at the local Hershey recreation center which has a great playground! There are great raffle prizes (one being a FREE photography portrait session with me), last year our buddy Luke won a skateboard from FinalBoarding, and there were delicious baked goods galore which you could wash down with an ice cold lemonade! It's an event not to be missed!!!

Painted Portrait

An illustration was needed to accompany a story on breastfeeding for theADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners magazine, and our extremely talented and very good friend Mr. Paul Palcko, painted this beautiful portrait of me nursing Carver! He painted it from a photograph that Kyle took of us last month. Paul, La Leche League would be proud! I just love it!

Holly's Blooming Belly On The Beach!

This past weekend we packed up the wagon and headed down to Stone Harbor, NJ! I didn't know what to expect from Carver with our long drive and all but he was pretty good until we hit traffic on Rt. 47! He cried during the last 45 minutes of the trip and Kyle held his composure by allowing himself to go to his 'happy place'.
When we arrived at the shore the weather couldn't have been more picture perfect, for a blooming belly portrait session on the beach!
Holly's family was super cool and super friendly! They treated everyone to a delicious surf & turf dinner with loads of crab and Holly's husband Bill, grilled up two mean steaks a beer chicken and some good ol' grilled zuchinni!
Holly was in her element while strolling along the beach early in the morning, Bill was a great sport by jumping in a few of the shots too! We also had an impromptu photo shoot with 18 month old cutie pie Sierra, her mom Betsy and Mom-Mom Joey! We had a blast! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful home and wonderful food!

Ooh La La... Longwood Gardens!

Longwood Gardens has always been a favorite place to visit for me since I was a little girl. Now I can make new memories with my husband and son, what a better year to visit than the year the 'Century' plant blooms!
If Carver has a family, his children will be able to bring their children to see the century plant in bloom!


Unfortunately, we were unable to spend as much time as I would have liked at the gardens, the weather was just too warm for walking around with Carver. We spent most of our time in the conservatories and under trees. Here Carver stops with Kyle to take a closer look at a beautiful hibiscus, and strolls under the trees by the main fountains with me.

The topiary garden was looking great! We especially loved this bush sheared to look like a dog!

If you live in the area, I highly recommend visiting these majestic gardens! We may just make another trip out there before the summer is over.

For He's A Jolly Good Fellow!

Cappy might as well be wearing a red cape and blue tights, because we swear he is a superdog! He's going to be just fine, a little sore but just fine! Yay! Last night he wanted Kyle and I to throw his squeeky ball around for him, and during the day he did his usual daily sunbathing on the back deck!
Thank you to all who sent him well wishes and did little get well dances. Your thoughts and prayers worked! And I can't forget Dr. Cady Lyons and the whole staff at the Hickory Veterinary Hospital, Kyle loved how he was able to hang out with Cappy while waiting for blood test results and thought that Dr. Lyons was great! She even remembered Cappy from his body wall hernia operation last year.
You can't deny that Cappy is a jolly good fellow!

Hang In There Little Buddy

Cappy the dog had a fantastic time yesterday at Gammy's birthday festivities. He ran around with the kids, chased balls, swam in the pool and frolicked among the lillies. It was great to see our best buddy prancing around all day!
To make a long story short... Later on yesterday as the party was close to ending, Cappy was kicked by a horse. Kyle rushed him to the Frazer Animal Hospital and waited 3 hours for him to be released. The doctors couldn't find anything seriously wrong (like broken bones) but they didn't rule out any internal damage. We were told to look out for certain symptoms that would cause alarm, and today I noticed one symptom. He had blood in his stool. That's not a good sign, so now Kyle is rushing home to take Cappy to the Hickory Animal Hospital in Plymouth Meeting. We love our little dog so much, and we know that there are a lot of Cappy fans out there. I just wanted to let you all know about this event, and I'll keep you all posted on his condition. Please say some prayers, keep your fingers crossed, do a little 'get well' dance, send your good and strong energy his way! He's going to need it...
We Love you CappyDog!