Mia's 68th Blood Transfusion

Mia had some special people with her at the hospital for her blood transfusion today. Her two big sisters Ashley & Alyssa. They watched her get her IV poke... Helped her pick out a cool toy... Cheered her up... And just hung out. Sisters are the best. *(Well, they can be. Unfortunately they bickered all day at each other - hence the grey hairs.) However Mia was glad to have them with her. I can't believe we are up to #68. When we reach 100 transfusions, we are having a party. Time to play the Wii! Lets not forget about the laptop...a special request. What would I do without technology to keep these girls busy?!?

This might look like a posed picture, but it's not. There's something about being at the hospital all day (doing...nothing) that is exhausting. All the girls were so tired...and lets just say that when we got home...there was a lot of drool. Right Ashley?

Madison's 1st Soccer Practice & Game

Spring is here, and so is spring soccer. Matt decided to coach Madiosn for her first soccer season ever. Thank goodness for hand-me-down cleats, socks, and shorts.


Madison practicing kicking the ball.

Lets just say coaching 3 & 4 year olds is WAY different than 10 year olds. Lets face it, we all know Matt can be competitive. (They're only 4 honey:)

But by the end of practice they had so much fun, even after a few tears. Avery wanted the team name to be the Mermaids. Perfect!

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Madison's First Soccer Game - Go Mermaids!

Time to warm up for the game. The only way Matt could get some of the girls to run and kick the ball was to chase them. Here he is chasing Madison...that'll get her moving.

But once the game actually started...there was a lot of standing and watching. (LOL)

Madison didn't like how the other team kept taking the ball away. It made her sad. A lot.

At the very end of the game all the kids get to dribble the ball and score a goal. Go Maddy!

Can't forget about the parent tunnel...the kids love it! It works best when they all go the same way :)

Of course the best part about playing soccer are the snacks, treats, & drinks after the game ends.

Way to go Mermaids!

A Trip to Visit Dad

I got the chance to go to Seattle to visit my dad for 8 days. It was such a blessing in so many ways. As most of you know, he was diagnosed with cancer last June. It's been really rough on him and the family, but God has used his illness and suffering to grow us all closer to Himself (especially my dad). I also got a chance to reconnect with my Seattle family, including my sisters, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends.


Watching the Huskies basketball team win the PAC 10 tourney my first night there...against Arizona!




The Graue boys played me in a little horse...and beat me! They are sharpshooters. We finished our games off with lowering the hoop for a dunk contest.

It was a pleasant surprise when my dad came out to shoot with us. Thanks for shooting hoops with us dad. Since the cancer has wiped out most of his energy, he got too tired after a few minutes. I tell you what, I will always cherish that sliver of time spent with him on the court.

The original Dennis McPoland family - 2011

Dennis McPoland with the grandson's.

I must admit that I played some serious Xbox with my nephews...mostly Madden 11 and NBA Live. I was unstoppable in Madden...not so much in NBA.

Ryan and I strategizing our NCAA tourney pools.

Talking life with grandpa...aka "dad" to me.

OK - The tickle monster came out to play with the younger nephews. They were overpowered and totally caught by surprise. This moment was fun for me, I already knew that my girls like the monster so it was cool to see that the nephews enjoyed him, too. :-)

I finished off Ryan with the excruciatingly ticklish thigh/hamstring tickle.

Watching some tube with dad.

I finished off the trip with a family reunion with my dad's siblings, their kids, and their kids families. I remember all the holidays playing with my cousins...it was GREAT to see them all again. We're all a bit older, but still love and care for each other. They all absolutely love my dad especially, I'm really glad he got to see the family again, too.

This is my first blog post ever...posted by: Matt (more pictures to come)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

It's been a tradition for the past 3 years that my sister flies down for her birthday. We always have so much fun but I think this year was the funnest ever. The day she flew in from Seattle we went to the Living Room for a girls night out. Matt dropped us off for a few hours so we could catch up and just be together.

Some of my boot camp friends were there too!

I love this girl Remy...we do coffee and play dates with Mia & her daughter & she happens to be the best hair stylist in town.

It was a fun night to be with my sis & my mum!

Mia had her friend McKinley stay over the whole weekend...and she even called my sister 'Auntie Michelle.'

Ashley helped all the girls to curl their hair for a fun night out at San Tan Flats to celebrate my sisters birthday...it's a country western place with smokey firepits and country dancing.

Lets just say we didn't get there early enough to get a table...long line to order food (1.5 hours standing in line) and we didn't get to stay long enough for the live music.

But it was still fun...

I think the funnest part of the night was the drive home...there was loud music and funny dancing.

Kids Cancer Network Fashion Show

Mia's nurse Miss Christine bought us tickets to attend this very special fashion show which 41 patients who has or had cancer were the special people who walked the runway. Oh it was so cute. The theme was 'Carnival'...hence the clown noses.

Players from the AZ Cardinals were there...Mia thought her dad would think this was so cool! She even got their autographs.

Thank you Miss Christine for letting us be a part of something so special! Wow ~ what a great cause. CLICK HERE to see how it got started. Amazing. All these nurses are SO good to Miss Mia.

Shopping @ Macy's...is ALWAYS fun. That's all there is to it. Plus, we scored for Michelle for an extra special birthday splurge.

Madison the model @ Macy's...

The MAC counter @ Dillard's is fun too...

My sister sporting the natural look ~ thanks to MAC make-up.

All the girls...for the last night of my sister's visit we had dinner at my moms house. This was really fun. We had pizza, salad, and dessert...then we roasted marshmellows under the stars.

It was so fun for all of us to be together. We had a gret time and did so many fun things. I wonder if my sister is missing the 85 degree weather we had while she was here from up in rainy Seattle?!