Make A Wish Holiday Party

On Thursday night we attended Santa's Open House, hosted by the Make A Wish Foundation of Southern Nevada. It was held at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino, and was decorated like a winter wonderland. The buffet table had holiday cookies, candies, chocolates, lollipops and brownies as well as other foods. There was also entertainment throughout the evening with singers, clowns, balloonists and games for the kids. One of the main singers was Meaghan Jette Martin who played "Tess" in the movie CAMP ROCK. Leila, Rami and Deena enjoyed getting their picture taken with her. There was also a visit from Santa Claus, who gave each child a gift after taking a picture with him. They also had a special room set up for cookie decorating and each child was given two huge cookies to ice and decorate any way they wish. It was a wonderful night and the kids had so much fun.

SNOW in Las Vegas

This past week was very different for Las Vegas. On Wednesday afternoon it started snowing and continued throughout the night. The snow storm left several inches of snow on the ground, so of course the kids were very excited! This was a small fraction of the amount of snow that we are used to, especially coming here from Minnesota, but it was a lot of fun. Rami spent hours building a snow fort with his friend, and Leila and Deena built a snowman with mommy's help. All of the schools closed on Thursday, which made the kids happy!

Shop With A Cop

On Saturday morning we were invited by the Candlelighters organization to attend the Shop With A Cop program at a local Kmart store. Leila, Rami and Deena all participated in the event that was hosted by the North Las Vegas Police Department. The officers had raised money to be used for each child to shop and pick out toys, bikes, clothes, electronics and anything else they could find. There was also a visit from Santa Clause and each child had a turn to sit on Santa's lap and have a picture taken with the officer who helped them shop.



It was a great time and it was well worth getting up before the sun and shopping at 5:30 am. We also got to see a few of Leila's friends from Dr. B's office.

Leila's 7th Birthday

Leila had a great time turning seven! We had a party at our house with about ten kids and then three of her girl friends stayed for a sleep over. They played games, made crafts, chased the boys around the house, watched movies, ate junk food, painted Ziad's toenails (yes they did) , swam in the jacuzzi, stayed up all night and destroyed the house. She had so much fun and it was all worth it!!!!!

We were all very tired the next day, but seeing her so happy was all we needed.

Make A Wish Firefighter calendar event

The Las Vegas Firefighters teamed up with Make A Wish to create a calendar which will be sold to benefit Make A Wish children in our area. Leila was one of the children who had taken pictures with the firefighters, so she was among a few of the kids who went up on stage during the kick off event held at the Fashion Show Mall. All of the firefighters who posed for the monthly calendar were there to strut down the runway and sign calendars. Leila enjoyed getting the autographs and pictures with the firefighters.

Another tough week

Leila was back on the Dexamethasone (steroid) this past week and had a tough time. She had the same stomach pains as well as lower back and leg pain that she seems to have each time she takes this steroid. Now that she is in the maintenance stage, she will continue each monthly cycle which keeps repeating itself. Every month she will begin with a week of steroid and an IV chemo along with the other oral chemotherapy pills and antibiotics. This will continue for another year and a half. During the steroid weeks, we wonder how she will be able to go back to school and get through an entire day or week of class. Hopefully being back in school will help to take her mind off of how she feels when taking all of this medicine.