here is our girl selling hand made bracelets at our fruit stand fundraiser this year. she is our team leader and she will not take no for an answer "we need to find a cure"

if you'd like to donate...here's the page. thank you!

wow!!! this photo was taken the day after i was diagnosed. our girl was so little.

this still seems so surreal to me, i feel like i've been walking in a strange dream for 5 years now. i found a lump in my breast a little over five and a half years ago (our girl was 2 1/2). i went and had a needle biopsy and my first mammogram at age 35 we were getting ready to try for baby #2...move ahead 7 months~the check-up to be sure~the lump was larger. doctors thought not a problem...i thought not a problem. just to be sure before i became pregnant...let's take it out. august 5th 2005 surgeon calls and leaves a message have me paged at home~these are the words you don't want from your surgeon. i was truly blown away. i had become one of those people that really didn't worry until there was cause...cause had arrived.

this photo was taken at the 2007 making strides walk.

i need to share that we really did catch it early and in my hometown we have really incredible medical treatment, also i had great insurance and an incredible family and the most amazing group of friends i could dream of. i couldn't have been more fortunate. my diagnosis was good, i was healthy. we had so much help with our girl, the house, food, my sister-in-law provide acupuncture, herbs, research and support and the list really is endless.

please never underestimate the power of cards, calls, thoughts, visits and just the general feeling of love and caring...this was so important to my family.

so tonight i am getting ready for our making strides for breast cancer team leaders kick-off breakfast tomorrow...well actually in a few hours now. all of the team leaders in our area get together for a brunch to raise awareness and encourage strong fund raising. i have mixed feelings about the format, but i always learn something new and make great contacts to improve our fund raising. i know that some people have concerns about donating to organizations that can be somewhat top heavy. i really believe in the american cancer society for many reasons one of the most powerful is that they fund research for many drugs one of which i did use and in studies has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrence by 50% for someone with my diagnosis. to my family...this is a good reason.

in 2008 our girl cut the ribbon to begin the making strides walk. we have raised over $10,000 in 4 years.

i will sign off with this thought that many don't realize. when it comes to breast cancer when you reach the five year mark there is no reduction in chance of recurrence. vigilance, diet, exercise are the best prevention. please fight to get mammograms. i was diagnosed at the age of 36 with no family history and no known genetic inclination. (i've been tested for the brca gene)

thank you for all of you that have been there for all of us. be well!

we have been hunkered down since thursday night. lots of snow and no real reason to leave the house.

yesterday morning we made maya's yummy popover's. we made them today too. i have a feeling there is going to be a request tomorrow too.

helen decided that she didn't want maple syrup on her snow today. she thought that she would make chocolate ice cream instead.

we spent most of the weekend reading harry potter and the half blood prince. we finished tonight. movie tomorrow.

tonight as we finished harry potter my sweet girl and i worked on completing some beads that we started for our martin luther king day in event. we actually were able to get so many done in a short time, we are getting really fast at them. we have had so much practice now. i wish that i had kept track of how many bracelets that we have made and sold to raise funds for making strides against breast cancer. i think that it has been 2 or 3 years now. hoping to get some out on etsy soon.

here are some photos from our snowstorm earlier in the weekend.

sweet pea came up with a recipe for "raspberry essence" a few weeks ago and we decided to use it for our making strides for breast cancer "lemonade stand" this year at the park avenue festival. it was a really big hit. we used local homegrown raspberries and juiced and strained them with some filtered water and a touch of sugar. delicious, fresh and refreshing. so different too.

we also brought the bracelets to sell. we only sold a few of those but no worries we are having our making strides kickoff breakfast for the local walk on thursday morning when all the team leaders get together to be inspired to raised lots for research to FIND THE CURE. the event is mc'd by one of our very dynamic local newscasters and a personal friend of helen's (she is so proud of this), ginny ryan. we are so inspired every year.

my sunshine spoke at this event 2 years ago to over 500 people when she was 5. originally she did not want to speak, she was going to let me do the talking, not really my dream but anything for the cause. once we were up there, she was drunk with the power to hold the attention of so many and to bring them all to adoring response. it was a challenge to remove her from the microphone.

last year she did not speak but ginny let everyone know that she was selling her bracelets and asked her to stand on her chair so that everyone could see that for the past 3 years helen had raised over $2500. per year and they could do it too. i was so proud. helen was so thrilled just to be able to stand on the chair and to have everyone give her an unbelievable round of applause was almost more than she could stand!

i am hoping to get the bracelets out on etsy soon. i will include a link as soon as they are posted.

one of our old neighbors is 14 and she held a lemonade stand today to raise money for breast cancer (american cancer society).

we have been having lemonade stands for the past 3 years during our old neighborhood arts festival. helen has been raising money since i was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 when she was 3. she is a really hard sell. it is almost unfair. she has raised over $2,500 per year over the last 3 years and is already on target to meet the goal again this year.

we will be out tomorrow afternoon. our bracelets are beautiful. the kids and my neighbor jill have been working for the past few days on the the beads and bracelets. we have 69 bracelets to start. i have been having a hard time deciding on a price. they take a very long time to make the beads. we have been selling them for $10 which i think is way too cheap. i keep thinking about what marisa of creative thursday says that many artist price their pieces too low. we are going to try for $20 tomorrow. my sister-in-law was selling them at her office for that price and she was getting it so. we shall see.

we are really busy making beads for the fundraiser on sunday. the kids are really enjoying it and working so hard. i am really proud of them. our neighbor is helping too. so wonderful. i think that these are going to be our best bracelets yet.