Make-A-Wish... Nintendo World Store!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has enjoyed this time of celebration with family and friends over the birth of Jesus! I know we have had a wonderful few days, but more on that to come soon!

For now, I want to apologize for leaving everyone hanging for so many days since my last post! It's been over a week that you've been patiently waiting to hear about Chase's big day at the Nintendo World Store in New York! And your patience has paid off, my friends, because here we go with all of the fun details!

Last Wednesday, December 17th, we all woke up waaaaay earlier than usual so we would be ready for Chase's big day once the limo arrived at 7:45 AM to take us to the Nintendo World Store. As you may recall, the Nintendo World Store (I will refer to it as the NWS just for simplicity's sake) opened an hour early JUST FOR CHASE to enjoy as part of his Make-A-Wish trip. There were some complications with the limo, but our Make-A-Wish representative worked everything out and we had a large luxury van arrive around 8:00 AM to take us to the store.

Chase was very excited, as you might imagine...

We arrived at the NWS and this guy was ready to check it all out! And of course you'll notice he insisted on dressing as Mario for the big day! LOVE.

He didn't make it more than 10 feet into the store before he had a 3DS in his hands, playing Mario Kart.

The downstairs of the NWS is dedicated to their handheld units (the 2DS and 3DS), and the upstairs level is dedicated to the Wii U. I was able to grab a quick pic of these two before they raced upstairs to the Wii floor.

Upstairs we were greeted by this awesome Super Mario Amiibo. It rotated around on its base and was so cool!

There were also SEVERAL Wii gaming stations set up, and it didn't take long for both Chase and LO to get involved on the GamePads.

Even Baby Luigi was happy to get in on the fun, although he had no idea what was going on around him. He just looked so cute!! ;)

See? Adorbs.

Not sure what was happening here, but her face is just awesomesauce. :o}

Here is "Mario" deeply engrossed in playing Super Smash Bros. He loved it! The NWS store employees that were there with us were amazing and had a great time playing the games with Chase.

Both of these kids... such concentration!

A quick break for a smile, but not at the camera, of course!

Aaaaaand... back to the game!

I just loved all of the facial expressions Chase was making while he played the Wii U.

This. Just. Slays. Me. These two REALLY enjoyed Super Smash Bros.!

Here is the super awesome NWS employee, Rey, getting in on the gaming action! What a fun day job, huh? ;)

The second floor of the NWS had an amazing compilation of historic Nintendo items, none more so intriguing than this guy--Mario!!!

So! Much! Mario!! Could it get any better??

You bet it can!!! Look who showed up JUST to see Super Chase!?

Mario himself showed up to spend a few moments with Chase. It was so neat to see him again after we just had the honor of spending time with him back at home the previous week!

Even LO was super happy to see Mario again. So sweet!!!

Mario wasn't used to being so much taller than Luigi! LOL!

Mario + Mario = LOVE.

Mario + Mario + Luigi photobomb = Priceless.

And here's the best shot I could get of ALL of them together. Such a precious memory of an incredible time for my family!

Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!! Hugs!

Back to getting some gaming on! This kid was having the most magical time having the NWS all to himself!*

Even the NWS employees thought it was pretty awesome to watch Mario vs. Mario in Super Smash Bros.!

It was absolutely hilarious to watch these two Marios battling against each other on the Wii U!

Seriously. It was epic!

As if having the store all to himself for an hour AND playing Super Smash Bros. against THE one and only Mario weren't enough, the NWS folks had a gift bag full of goodies for Chase, too!

One final hug for good measure. I think Chase was pretty happy with his experience at the NWS.

Somebody else was a wee bit tired from the early morning festivities. ;)

And back to these two. They would've stayed there ALL. DAY. LONG. had they been given the opportunity. It was so much fun and I truly believe Chase will always remember the sheer amazingness of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he was blessed with.

I have plenty of video from this big day, but I'm afraid I haven't had time to even watch it yet --- much less edit it for sharing online! I figured I'd rather post this now while the details are (relatively) fresh in my mind and so I wouldn't have to keep you waiting any longer than I already have.

We are so so so so so so so so so so very grateful to Make-A-Wish and Nintendo for making this special day happen for Chase---and LO, too! She's been through her own share of struggles in adjusting to life not only with a little brother, but one with a special heart that required a LOT more of Mommy & Daddy's attention than a typical baby brother. But she's been SUCH a champ. We love her so much and are so grateful for the amazing, sweet girl she is!

I plan to share the details from the rest of our trip soon. And then a post about Christmas. But, one thing at a time. For now, it's late and I'm going to bed!

*NOTE: I didn't necessarily realize what an incredibly amazing treat it truly was to have the NWS all to ourselves until we went back the following day during regular business hours... along with the other thousands of New York City shoppers out during the week before Christmas! WHEW.

Make-A-Wish... Getting There!

The whirlwind continues! As I last mentioned, Chase had a wonderful day this past Friday (12/12) as part of Macy's National Believe Day! After the fun at Macy's, we came home and literally had just enough time for the kids to take a short nap while I left around 4:30 PM to pick up a cake and head up to the church to set up and decorate for the Children's Ministries' Christmas party I had organized, which was scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM.

The kids all had a wonderful time at the party, although Chase didn't eat as much as normal and wasn't really acting like himself. I figured he was just tired and overstimulated from a really busy, awesome day. He complained that his stomach hurt, and then even refused cake and ice cream. At that point, I knew something was really up with him!

I took him to the bathroom just in time for him to throw up. THREE TIMES. The poor thing! I felt so terrible for him after such a fun and exciting day! He obviously wasn't feeling well, so we left the party a bit early to get him home and into bed. He threw up again in the car on the way home and then again after we had him settled into his bed. The poor boy! Luckily he didn't have a temperature (whew!) and was able to get a good night's sleep. He woke up Saturday morning feeling more like himself and the worst seemed to be behind him.

We had a busy, yet relatively relaxing Saturday, trying to prepare for the next phase of Chase's wish: our departure to New York for Chase's visit to the Nintendo World Store. It was not surprisingly a late night Saturday night. Oh, and I should mention, we would be driving on our trip to New York. Of course we had the option to fly, but we I chose to drive because I'm not a big fan of flying. Plus packing enough stuff for myself and three kids as well as hubs' stuff, I couldn't imagine handling all of that on an airplane! Enough clothing and baby/kid gear for a week?? No way. Driving would be our only option as far as I was concerned. ;)

Sunday morning began early as usual as I headed to church to play the piano for our morning worship service, and the kids were all up earlier than usual as they were singing a special song during the service. They did great, even though Chase refused to sing and eventually sat down on the floor while the rest of the children continued the music. I've learned to let that boy march to the beat of whatever drum he's listening to at the time. Lol!

After the service it was time for the Quiz Class Christmas Party and the craft/activity I had arranged for them. From there? LO's friend's birthday party at the skating rink! So much glow fun!!!

Then, home for a BRIEF moment before it was time for mommy to head back up to church for an amazing Christmas worship & media concert where I played piano, sang a few songs with the choir and even had a very rare solo! Whoa! Would you believe me if I told you I purposefully made the decision NOT to take on too much this holiday season?? ;)

After the worship service, it was crunch time! We had a lot of packing and laundry to do! Another late night for mommy and daddy. WHEW. Luckily we were able to get a decent amount done although we knew there'd be plenty to finish up Monday morning.

So Monday morning arrives along with a phone call for hubs from his mom telling him the news of his grandma passing during the night. This wasn't completely unexpected but it was hard to hear nonetheless. So as we made preparations for Chase's amazing Make-A-Wish trip, we also had to process this incredible loss and the impact it would have on our trip.

We finally hit the road Monday around noon with a plan to stay in Harrisburg, Pennsylvsnia for the night so we wouldn't have a very long drive into the city on Tuesday. Overall the drive went well, the stay in PA was uneventful and we arrived in New York City around 2PM on Tuesday.

The Lincoln Tunnel!!!

Manhattan!!!

Hubs' parents were meeting us at the hotel so we would have some extra help with the kids for Chase's visit to the Nintendo World Store. We hit the town for a nice dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner, definitely a fun spot for tourists!

A balloon artist made a lovely custom pink and purple unicorn for LO during dinner!

Guess what (or should I say WHO) Chase requested?

Yep! Mario!!

Dessert? Yes, please!! A slice of Wicked cake! It was delish!!

On the walk back to the hotel, we happened to notice a few of the more notable highlights of Midtown!

Finally we returned to the hotel and settled everyone into bed for a quiet, restful night.

Or so we thought.

Literally moments after hubs and I finally let our heads hit our pillows, we heard the unmistakable sound of vomit being expelled by our 19-month-old in his pack n' play in the darkness of our hotel room.

Lovely!

A late-night clean-up and pajama change for E, then he fell asleep in the bed next to me. Poor, pitiful boy!!

I gave him about 10 minutes or so before I made the transition back to his pack n' play. Literally seconds after hubs and I attempted to settle in for the night the second time, we heard that oh-so-familiar sound again.

Fast-forward through another late-night clean-up and pajama change for E, and you'd find him asleep in bed next to me again. This time I was smart enough to let him be. So hubs got to hit the couch. Ha! But happily, E slept great and seemed to be feeling much better by Wednesday morning... just in time for Chase's trip to the Nintendo World Store!!! :))

Make-A-Wish and Macy's... National Believe Day!

Whew!

It's been a whirlwind few days and we are still very much in the midst of the fun, but I wanted to take a few minutes to write about our day last Friday... Macy's National Believe Day!

In case you happened to miss it, Chase's Make-A-Wish wish was to MEET MARIO. Or Mario come to life. Or have a Mario experience. However you look at it, this boy wished for MORE MARIO in his life.

The fun started on Friday with a phone call from Mario himself. Literally, THE guy -- the one and only guy -- from Nintendo who is responsible for voicing Mario. Really, THE guy. It was amazing!

Of course, we were all so excited about the call that we didn't answer it in time... but he left us a voicemail. Hilarious! We had been expecting that call for WEEKS (hubs and I, not Chase) and yet we couldn't even answer it in time. It kind of worked out in our favor because now we have the sweetest voicemail from Mario! And he called back a few minutes later, which was AWESOME.

Chase doesn't get many phone calls, so he wasn't exactly sure what to do. He answered Mario's questions by shaking his head yes or no, but didn't interact very much or ask any questions himself. But it was still adorable.

A few pics of Chase on the phone with Mario...

Somebody else was pretty excited to hear Mario was coming all of the way from the Mushroom Kingdom for a special visit with Chase!

Love this beautiful girl. She was so excited and so happy for her brother!

Next thing we knew, a limo arrived to take us to Macy's to meet Mario! Chase was excited about the long car. :)

Here he is posing for a picture before getting in the limo.

We have some pretty excited people in the limo -- ready to meet Mario! Everyone was there... Mario, Luigi and even Princess Peach!

In the limo on our way to Macy's!

We pulled up to Macy's and met with our amazing wish coordinator, Jodi, who was ready to walk in our star to meet his hero!

There were lots of balloons and people waiting inside to greet Chase on the other end of the red carpet!

Here's our boy Mario as he entered Macy's on the red carpet. I was SHOCKED at how well Chase handled the attention. He does NOT like surprises and I could easily tell he was overwhelmed, but I also watched as he processed everything and ultimately made the decision to go forward, one step at a time. I was so so so proud of him! I know it took a lot for him to react the way he did instead of hiding behind us the entire time, and I just can't say enough how proud of him I am!!!

And there he is... THE one and only Mario!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After meeting Mario, Chase was excited to be given the opportunity to write a letter to Santa (along with big sis, LO). It seems he'd like a Mario Movie! I was so impressed that he took the time to write out his letter and sign his name. Such a sweet boy!!!

Time to mail the letters to Santa!

After the letter-writing and mailing, it was time for Chase to ride on his very own Mario Kart! Yes, Macy's gave him a Mario Kart and let him drive all throughout the store! He even chased Mario around a few laps!

As if the visit wasn't amazing enough, it seems Macy's wasn't quite finished making this boy's dream a reality. They gave him a H-U-G-E Macy's gift card, his very own RED Nintendo 2DS and three DS games he really wanted.

Our littlest one, baby Luigi, certainly wasn't left out of the fun. Here he is posing on big brother's Mario Kart!

Here are just a few of the outstanding Macy's friends who made this day possible. We are so grateful to Macy's, Nintendo and Make-A-Wish for making our little heart warrior's wish a reality!

And here's a short clip from Macy's that summarizes Chase's day quite nicely!

As if all of this weren't awesome enough, next, Make-A-Wish would be sending us off to New York City to visit the Nintendo World Store! Stay tuned for more!!!

TODAY is the BIG DAY!

Today -- Friday, December 12th -- is the BIG DAY for Chase's Make-A-Wish as part of Macy's National Believe Day! We hope our friends and family will be able to join us for this spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime event! And I promise I'll share pics, videos and details here as soon as I possibly can!

We are scheduled to arrive at Macy's by 1PM, so we'd love to have everyone who is able to be there at 12:45 PM to greet Chase upon our arrival. Make-A-Wish and Macy's have a LOT of fun and excitement planned for our brave boy... and I've even updated the blog with a bit of a sneak peek... Haha!

See you all soon! ❤️


#ChaseSC
#MAW4Chase

A HUGE Announcement... #MAW4Chase!

NOTE: Chase doesn't know ANYTHING about ANY of this except that something AWESOME will be happening next Friday. So please help us out by not mentioning anything to him or his siblings. :)

We are completely thrilled, humbled, grateful, excited and honored to announce that our amazing heart warrior, who you may recall was approved to receive a wish from Make-A-Wish^® back in June, will be receiving his very own wish...

NEXT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12th!!!!!

((gasp!))

Can you even believe it?! We are literally (okay, you know me too well---"figuratively") speechless at the incredible events that are about to unfold in our sweet boy's life in just over a week. And I am going to reveal ONE of the MANY astonishing components of his celebration to you today!

Surely you've heard of the Make-A-Wish^® Foundation of America, right? If not, here's a little introduction to this amazing organization:

Make-A-Wish^® grants the wish of a child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition in the United States and its territories, on average, every 38 minutes. We believe that a wish experience can be a game-changer. This one belief guides us. It inspires us to grant wishes that change the lives of the kids we serve.

And you've probably visited a Macy's department store at one time or another in your lifetime. But have you heard of their partnership with Make-A-Wish^® called the Macy's Believe Campaign?

Beginning on November 7th, children across the country are invited to drop off their letters — stamped and addressed to Santa at the North Pole — in the Santa Mail letterbox at any Macy’s store, or create and send letter online at macys.com/believe. For each letter received, Macy’s will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to 1 million dollars, to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

A big part of Macy's Believe Campaign is National Believe Day, which will be celebrated on Friday, December 12th:

Friday, December 12th is National Believe Day! On this special day, Macy’s will help grant wishes across the country for children with life-threatening medical conditions. Join in on the magic that makes these wishes possible by visiting your local Macy’s store and dropping off a letter to Santa.

If you've been following along so far, you may have already come to this exciting conclusion: Chase will be granted his wish at our local Macy's on Friday, December 12th as part of National Believe Day!!!!! Can you believe it?!?! What an incredible privilege for our family but most especially -- our Rock Star, Chase!!!

***** To our local family and friends! *****

PLEASE join us at Macy's (at our local mall) on Friday, December 12th at 12:45 PM to witness Chase's arrival and his amazing wish unfold -- just look for the red carpet! I know it will be extra special for him to see familiar faces and it will be so meaningful to us to have the love and support of those of you who are able to join us for this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience for Chase!

I know so many of you have followed our journey with Chase from his prenatal diagnosis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, through his 1st heart surgery, 2nd heart surgery, 3rd heart surgery and every procedure in between. But you've also been there to celebrate with us over the past 5 years, most recently with his amazing milestone 5th birthday party -- and all of the holidays and celebrations in between! We are truly so very grateful for the love, support, prayers and kindness of each and every one of you who have impacted our lives in such meaningful ways. And we know, if given the chance, you would want to do something special to honor Chase and your loving support of our family.

I want to tell you that YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! It's super simple, a lot of fun for kids of all ages, and super easy to do. And it would mean the world to us as we prepare for an exciting, eventful few days courtesy of the amazing folks at Macy's and Make-A-Wish. Here's all it takes:

Write your letter to Santa and drop it off at your local Macy’s store, or create and send your letter online at macys.com/believe today. Ask your family and friends to write letters, too. Spread the word and help support Make-A-Wish this holiday season.

Easy enough, right? Make-A-Wish will receive $1 from Macy's for EVERY letter sent to Santa! Would you please consider supporting Chase's wish coming true by helping to give back to the incredible organizations making it possible? I believe in you!

Once you've either dropped off your letter or submitted your letter online, please post a shout-out (or, even better, a photo of you/your child with their letter) using the hashtags #MAW4Chase and #MacysBelieve and tag @makeawish, @makeawishsc and @macys to show your support for Chase as well as Make-A-Wish and Macy's Believe Campaign! Twitter, Facebook or Instagram... any/all social media options would be great to help raise money for Make-A-Wish to grant the wishes of other incredible children like Chase!!! ((Sorry, Mom, if all that "hashtag talk" was super confusing for you!))

A certain special someone is going to be THRILLED by some special magic that is about to enter into his world in 8 short days! Stay tuned...

Chase -- Halloween 2014

DISCLAIMER: Hubs and I have worked with the amazing representatives from our local Make-A-Wish chapter and are VERY knowledgable and informed of the entire wish awesomeness that is about to go down. However, we have decided to guard the details VERY closely so we can ensure all of this will be a GINORMOUS surprise to our sweet little guy on Friday, December 12th. We look forward to seeing him receive his wish and to sharing this exciting surprise with each of you who are able to join us for the big reveal! Thank you for your understanding!!!

18 Months!

I can hardly believe my littlest E is now a full-fledged 18-month-old! He's walking (and occasionally running) all over the place these days and his vocabulary is increasing by the minute! He LOVES all things "ball!" (basically anything remotely round or spherical, whether flat or 3-dimensional, is considered a "ball" in his world) and has a pretty hefty appetite, as his sister and brother did when they were his age. His smile is the BEST and his giggle is killer! He is SO MUCH FUN and I just adore him to pieces! I can barely recall when LO and Chase were still little like him, but I'm pretty sure this age is just all-around the best and so totally fun!

He had the privilege of visiting the doctor's office today for his 18-month well visit, which included TWO shots (the poor babe!). He did super great and overall the doctor was pleased with his growth and progress. He's sitting at a whopping 9th percentile for weight, 14th percentile for length and 41st percentile for head circumference. So basically he's a tiny, short toddler with a big ol' noggin! LOL!

He's still working on getting some new teeth in, most of which are now molars. That's fun. But for the most part, he's been a real champ! Last week he had a bout of high fever and needed some extra cuddles. Lucky for him, not only was Mommy nearby, but his Mona was there to snuggle him, too!

E is such a clown and LOVES to make everyone laugh! He finds that if he does something once and someone laughs at him, then it's totally worth doing again. And again. And again! He especially loves to act crazy and imitate his big sis and big bro, almost always garnering a chuckle from one or more of his audience.

Here are a few more videos of this silly boy of ours!

 

Phew. I feel such a sense of relief to have finally written a post about little E! I think it's been since his birthday 6 months ago that I wrote a post devoted to him! Seems I did a great job of blogging LO's early years, and of course I obviously posted a LOT about all that was going on with Chase when he was a baby, but I guess this whole "third child" thing combined with homeschooling combined with all of the other things that vie for my time have left me with little time to blog! I'm really trying to do better about that because this blog basically serves as my memory because, as the three kids may indicate, I can't remember much about anything anymore! LOL!