Land of Fisher

The Rhino Hat!

2012-02-10T07:28:00.001-05:00

We'll put up more pictures later, but had to go ahead and share Lily's new Rhino Hat! She loved, loved, loved it! We bought it on a website called Etsy from Marianne of BluePomGirl. (See her page HERE) Lily also got a new stuffed Rhino and a Rhino game. Who's ever heard of a Rhino themed birthday?

Lily's big birthday party will be tomorrow with ALL of the kids in her Pre-K class. She is so excited! We'll post more pictures this weekend after the big shin-dig! Thanks again to Marianne--this hat is so awesome!

Lily Turns 5!

2012-02-08T22:56:00.002-05:00

Our little baby is FIVE YEARS OLD!!! How did that happen?

Some days, it seems like a blip--other days it seems like decades have passed. It’s hard to remember what life was like before she arrived.

Things are really good with her right now. The only residual effects we’re dealing with are Physical Therapy to strengthen her upper body and we think that she will need more time with the eye doctor and perhaps a behavioral optometrist. She’s noticing her scar now and how no hair grows there but she’s fine with that--she has her own little version of a “combover” and you can’t really see anything.

She is an energetic and precocious kid. She’s creative and always wants to know WHY, not just WHAT. She’s nice to other people and has a keen sense of fairness and genuinely cares about everybody around her. Her favorite games are “Mommy and Baby,” “Playing Princesses,” Memory Games, Crafts, Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, Taking things apart and putting them back together, building stuff, telling ghost stories under a blanket with a flashlight, telling stories period with lots of details and usually with a cave and a princess involved, and she loves collecting stuff and playing Candyland. She’s a fierce little slice of awesome.

She gives us reasons to love her more every single day and we are so proud of the kid she’s growing into. She has her moments--but they are few and far between and she really is a happy little girl.

Liz and I thought it would be fun to revisit some of her milestones from the blog as we celebrate her upcoming BEST. YEAR. YET! Thanks for sticking with us all this time--there’s a lot more awesome coming...

Lily Comes Home in a Snowstorm!
Lily’s First Big Trip--to Cape Cod!
First Christmas
First Birthday
Dolly’s Birthday and Pics of the Hambone
A Visit with Paula and Grace
Lily’s New Language
First trip to the MOVIES!
Third Birthday!
Princess Party at the Mall!
Lily 2.0
Grandma, Grandpa, Mary, and Gaynor
Nana TT and Paw visit for Thanksgiving
Lily Pets a Penguin
VOGUE!
The One Year Surgiversary...
Dancing Machine
Starting School

Thank you all for your love and support. Our Lily is a marvel and we understand completely the gift we’ve been given. Birthday’s are momentous occasions--especially in our house. Lily is a wonder and we are so blessed to have her here, and to have the support of so many. Bless you all as we celebrate Lily’s 5th birthday!

Some New Stuff...

2012-01-31T06:59:00.001-05:00

SuperLily!!!

Playing in the snow.

At Princesses on Ice with Siobhan and Sarah.

Telling ghost stories under a blanket with Siobhan and Sarah.

Ready to go outside!

Kitty Pics

2012-01-28T12:59:00.001-05:00

Tribute to De'Bora

2012-01-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

My friend and mentor, and Kannapolis City Schools' Teacher, De'BoraParker, passed away this week after a brave and determined battle with cancer.While I will miss her terribly, I wanted to honor her memory with a messageabout her impact on my life.

When I first started teaching, I had no idea what I wasdoing. I was going to be a Marine Biologist. I'm supposed to be on a boatsomewhere researching with the Cousteau family. But, kids are fun to work withand hey, summer's off don't sound like a bad plan. Such naiveté I had.

I started in education at the elementary school that I hadattended as a kid, Aycock Elementary in Kannapolis. I had many good memories ofattending Aycock, but was completely unaware as to how this new situation wouldultimately shape me as an educator and as a human.

During my time at Aycock, I had the chance to work withDe'Bora Parker in a second and third grade combination class. I was De'Bora'sassistant and this was the first time I was ever in charge of (at leastpartially!) a whole group of students. I had no clue at the time that I wasabout to get a completely different education about being a teacher than what Iwas prepared for in college. Theory is one thing. Action is another. De'Borawas superior at her craft. She was an honest to goodness phenomenon in theclassroom.

She had her whole year mapped out from day one. She seguedbeautifully from whole group instruction to small group to individual students.She knew instinctively which kids needed more help and which were ready to moveon. She was motivating and engaging and awesome. A hurricane of awesome.

Here I was supposed to be one of the teachers. Instead, Iwas still a student myself.

Over the course of my time with her, she taught me some ofthe fundamentals about education that I still hold on to today, and share oftenwith the teachers I work with now:

· If it's what's in the best interest of kids,then it's the right thing to do.
· If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing well.
· Sometimes, you just need to "drop everythingand read" to the kids. (DEAR!)
· The questions matter more than the answers.
· The Macarena makes everyone smile.
· Kids might take different times and differentroutes to get there, but they must get there.
· Teamwork is essential.
· Getting personal gets results.

I loved my time with her and I think about it often--thefriendships it brought, the learning that took place, the seeds of incredibleshe planted in me and those wonderful kids we had that year. They've all gone on to do spectacular things.(Thanks, Facebook, for keeping us connected!)

I want to take this time to thank her publicly. Everyonethat knew her knew that she was a powerhouse. She was a driving force whoshaped countless Kannapolis citizens. She has left a legacy of incredible inKannapolis, an indelible mark on hundreds of kids over the years. And severallucky adults.

I am who I am because she was who she was. A teacher. Anincredible, wonderful, awesome, unforgettable, amazing, and phenomenal teacher.I am honored that I had the opportunity to be one of her many students, herapprentice, her pal. I will miss her terribly and so will everyone whose lifeshe touched.

Godspeed, De'Bora!

Mike Fisher

Buffalo, NY

"Out of memory and time--

Don't say: We have come now to the end.

White shores are calling.

You and I will meet again." ~Annie Lennox, "Into theWest"

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

New Christmas Videos!

2011-12-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

2011-12-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Benji Claus

2011-12-17T10:55:00.001-05:00

Sent from my iPhone

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Lily paid Santa a Visit!

2011-12-12T21:33:00.001-05:00

Lily had a chance to see Santa tonight! She told him that she has been a good girl and that she wanted a doll and a kitchen play set for Christmas. (She loves the Kitchen Play Set at school!) Tonight we made treat bags for her friends at school for their holiday party next week. Lily is going to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other December holidays from around the world next week at school. She is SO excited!

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Thanksgiving Pics...

2011-11-27T21:26:00.001-05:00

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What We're Doing On Black Friday

2011-11-25T10:05:00.001-05:00

Lily is posing the kitties. And they are not trying to escape.

Happy Black Friday.

Also, Brian F., if you're reading this, this post is specifically for you.

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Lily's Thanksgiving Message!

2011-11-24T10:12:00.001-05:00

Saturday Fall Walk

2011-11-05T11:02:00.001-04:00

Lily and I took an early morning nature walk!

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Lily's Fall Creativity

2011-10-29T13:21:00.001-04:00

Lily had a really creative idea this morning.

She woke up and told me that she wanted to collect leaves and laminate them to make a leaf bouquet. I asked her how we would do it, and she told there were steps to follow:

We have to collect some leaves.
We have to collect some sticks.
We have to go on a nature walk to get the leaves and sticks.
We have to laminate the leaves. (Lily wanted to "save them forever.")
We have to tape the leaves to the sticks. (We used a glue gun.)
Then we make a bouquet.

So, we got dressed, and went out for breakfast to talk about our plan. Then we came home and went on our nature walk. We collected lots of leaves and sticks and then came home to laminate the leaves. We cut the leaves out, and used the glue gun to glue the leaves to the sticks, then we made the bouquet. Step by step!

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Fisher Family Films Presents...

2011-10-16T21:41:00.001-04:00

What Character!

2011-10-16T21:39:00.002-04:00

All the best Disney Pics!

2011-10-16T21:39:00.001-04:00

Here's all the best pics from Disney in a PDF file. You can download the file to your computer by following the download links in ISSUU! We had such a good time at Disney and look forward to going again, perhaps next year!

<div><div style="width:420px;text-align:left;">Open publication - Free publishing - More disney</div></div>

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iPad Not Charged? Never Fear, Lily is Here!

2011-10-15T14:09:00.001-04:00

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Disney Pics

2011-10-10T17:42:00.001-04:00

Here's some pics so far! We had a blast today...Lily got to meet ALL of the Princesses!

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So far, so good...in the Disney 'hood...

2011-10-10T12:49:00.001-04:00

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Lily's having fun in the tub!

2011-10-09T15:48:00.001-04:00

We tried to go swimming, but the weather is not cooperating. So, we came inside to swim!

Sent from my iPad

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Soccer practice!

2011-09-27T20:41:00.001-04:00

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Unbelievable Kitten Discovery...

2011-09-25T20:26:00.001-04:00

The kittens, so far, have been pretty good. I'm pretty sure our furniture, blinds, and all cords that go with our electronics have their days numbered...but the kitties are cute, and Lily loves them.

We discovered something today, though on Benji. He's got a tortoise shell sort of pattern but the pattern looks as though it is letters that make up the words "JOY" or "LILY," depending on how you look at him. I know I'm projecting onto the cat, but it is kind of neat to see. I'm including pictures with the original pic, and then highlighting pics so you can see what we're seeing...

Strange...but comforting...

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The Kitties are here!

2011-09-24T22:29:00.001-04:00

Lily is over the moon! We adopted two kittens today from the SPCA, with the help of our friends, Jenny and Brian, who fostered the kittens from birth. The kittens slept behind the couch most of the day, but are vivacious and lively tonight! Lily took many of these pictures herself--she's getting pretty good with the camera! Their names are Benji and Bitsy. Benji was already named, and Bitsy (the lighter one) is named after the nickname that Liz was called as a kid and my grandparent's bakery. We're letting them roam the house tonight as they get used to living with us. So far, they seem to be really loving and I'm thinking they'll end up being lap kitties!

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At Playland Beach in Rye, NY

2011-09-20T18:00:00.001-04:00

Visiting friends outside of NYC and walking on boardwalk where the movie BIG was filmed. There was a film crew there setting up to shoot the new PAN AM TV show tomorrow. They were trying to make it look like a Caribbean market. The beach here is off of Long Island Sound.

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One Year Ago...

2011-09-17T17:03:00.001-04:00

One year ago today, we were just getting the news that the surgery went well...

Today, we're celebrating being a year away from all of that. Lily is doing REALLY well. We still have to have MRI's every 3 months for another year or so. (She has the next one on Monday) But things are good right now...and she's having a fantastic time at school, at dance class, and starts playing soccer on Tuesday.

Also, she's the biggest ham on the planet. And we couldn't be more happy...

*the picture is from over the summer with Lily's Nana TT...

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Lily Starts Dance Class

2011-09-15T18:38:00.001-04:00

Lily started dance class tonight. Out of the 9,000 kids that were there, she was one of 6 that followed directions pretty well. I was amazed at how quickly a migraine could come over me. There were 3 rooms going with different aged dancers--all with different very loud music. I'm done with Nicki Minaj's Super Bass--I won't be listening to it ever again. Lily had a fantastic time, though. She can't wait to go back!

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Lily in Independent Health's Community Report

2011-09-13T15:48:00.001-04:00

Lily's story is featured in the upcoming Independent Health 2011 Community Report: http://bit.ly/rrZG08

The article talks about the personal service we got from Independent Health during the last year. (and CONTINUE to get!) Our care manager, Karen, was really wonderful, and continues to keep in contact with us!

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Days of the Week! (And some homework, too!)

2011-09-12T19:26:00.001-04:00

Lily's new song that she learned at school and some new pictures of Lily's first round of homework!

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Days of the Week! (And some homework, too!)

2011-09-12T19:20:00.001-04:00

Lily's new song that she learned at school and some new pictures of Lily's first round of homework!

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The Journey Begins...

2011-09-07T15:28:00.001-04:00

Lily started school today.

She hopped out of the car with confidence, told us goodbye, and walked right in. She already made a couple of friends, and was looking forward to being with all the kids and playing with her new teacher!

UPDATE: She just called me on the phone and said she had a FANTASTIC time. She even got a sticker!

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'Twas the Night Before Pre-K

2011-09-06T21:37:00.002-04:00

'Twas the night before Pre-K

and excitement rang out,

going to bed early,

I was beginning to doubt.

The supplies were all ready,

The backpack was full,

With gluesticks and pencils,

And notebooks for school.

Her mom and I are ready,

To start her school path,

We're excited she's learning,

Reading, writing, and math,

And new languages,

And Science, and History too,

All to get ready

For whatever she'll do.

New Common Core standards,

New ways to prepare,

We want her to be ready,

And world-aware!

We've anticipated

The things that she'll learn

As a student in school,

With much to discern.

We're proud of our child,

We want her to thrive

Beyond traditional constraints

Always flying high.

To her teacher, we pledge,

Our support to the max,

To her journey, we hope,

There is nothing she lacks.

As we begin our new life

Of bright public ed,

We wish Lily success,

In her journey ahead.

We love that she's ready,

Excited and glad,

To begin a lifelong love

Of the world to be had.

Every opportunity,

That this world can provide,

Is now in your reach, child,

Just step inside...

*Your mother and I love you very much, Lily, and are so excited for you to begin your educational journey. We know the value to your life that learning brings, and we hope that you take advantage of it. We're so proud of you already, and look forward to many great things filled with wonder and passion.

* "Once you learn to read, you will forever be free." - Frederick Douglass

What the First School Night Looks Like:

2011-09-06T20:47:00.001-04:00

School Night Number One: Lily has NO INTENTION of going to bed at a decent hour. It's only 8:30, but I sense we'll be up again momentarily...

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Beautiful Sunset on our first school night...

2011-09-06T20:13:00.001-04:00

Lily is SO excited about school tomorrow! We'll have many more pictures to follow, but we're putting up a couple teasers tonight, plus our gorgeous sunset!

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Goodnight, Brody...

2011-08-27T12:52:00.001-04:00

You're a good girl, and we love you.

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Full Moon!

2011-08-13T21:23:00.001-04:00

Lily and I went outside tonight with the iPad and the Telescope to view the Full Moon. We couldn't see a lot of meteors last night because of the cloud cover...but tonight was fairly clear with a few passing clouds.

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Lily's Video Bedtime Stories

2011-08-10T21:32:00.001-04:00

Lily's Baby Story

2011-08-07T09:46:00.001-04:00

Lily told me a new story this morning. She wrote it out first, as you can see in the picture. (She knows about 1/2 of the alphabet, but seems to think when she writes it she has to fill up the page. She knows the direction the writing is supposed to go, but doesn't yet get that words beyond her name are made up of letters.) When she was done "writing," she retold the story to me.

Listen to the retelling here:

http://audioboo.fm/boos/432610-lily-s-baby-story.mp3?source=embed">Lily"s Baby Story (mp3)

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It's been a whole year...

2011-08-05T22:27:00.003-04:00

It was one year ago that we found out.

We’ve been through hell and back, and found heaven. We know that we are luckier than others, and blessed beyond belief. We know that we are loved. We know that we are supported.

One year later, we know that Lily is vibrant, and we have every reason to believe that the largest part of our ordeal is behind us. She is good. Really good. And while we have to have MRI’s every few months for awhile, she is here. HERE is all that matters.

She is goofy and creative and funny and moody and all those things that a four year old should be. She explores, she investigates, she questions, and she thinks. With her brain. With her soul.

After a year, we’ve learned that the most important things in life are right in front of you. That NOW matters. That FRIENDS matter. That FAMILY matters. Nothing else. We are granted today only, and tomorrow doesn’t matter until it gets here.

We know the blessings that we’ve been given. We appreciate the gifts that have been granted and the prayers that have been answered. While we will never forget what we’ve been through, we will also never forget the support we’ve had.

We thank you all. We thank our friends and family. We thank the doctors and nurses. We thank the Disney Princesses. And above all, we thank God. We thank God. We thank God. We thank God.

We recognize the blessing we’ve been given, and we celebrate the God that granted our prayers. And we’d like to share Lily’s favorite prayer with you, the one she’s learned to recite on her own:

Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love commits us here,
Ever this night be at our side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

She is our Angel. And we thank every single one of you who is reading this for being Angels in her honor. We needed you and you were there. And thank you for every single moment we’ve shared together.

We want to also share with you one of Lily’s favorite movie scenes from her newest favorite movie, Tangled. In this scene, the parents of Rapunzel are seen lighting lanterns on the birthday of their daughter who disappeared when she was young. Rapunzel knows the lights are for her, but doesn’t yet know all the meanings behind the lights. Lily might not know many of you personally, but you’ve been lights for her this entire year. And we want you to know how much we cherish and appreciate every single one of you. God bless you as much as you’ve blessed us.

Mike, Liz, and Lily- August 6, 2011

P.S. The picture above was from the Lawn Fete at St. Leo's a couple of weeks ago. The caricature artist captured Lily better than a photo could.

Buffalo Harbor Boat Cruse

2011-07-31T09:22:00.001-04:00

Here are all the pics from our Harbor Cruise last night. This was a Christmas gift from our friends Janet and Johnny Hale, and we've just now had the opportunity to use it! We took our friends Scott and Eileen, as well as cousin Siobhan, and had a two hour two of the Buffalo Harbor. Lily was a little green to begin with, but we were barely out of the dock before her and Siobhan had started tearing into their snacks. She was a little tentative for about an hour, and then she was FINE! We had a fantastic time with our "Christmas in July" cruise! It was cool seeing Buffalo from that perspective. Perfect night for it too--sunny, good winds, calm water. We'll definitely do this again!

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St. Leo's Lawn Fete

2011-07-29T20:17:00.001-04:00

We're out at the fair ...

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Lily's Night Prayers

2011-07-24T22:03:00.001-04:00

Lily is becoming "prayer-independent" lately and is able to do some of her prayers herself!

Tonight's prayers also included "Howard be thy name," but we'll address that issue on another night...because tonight she was really cute!

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Saturday Morning Flower Walk

2011-07-09T11:49:00.001-04:00

Independent Health

2011-06-28T21:23:00.002-04:00

A guy from Independent Health came today. Since all of this started with Lily, we've had our own personal counselor, Karen, provided by Independent Health to be our liaison to services and just in general be our anchor to the real world.

John, the company representative that visited us, was wonderful, asking us about our experience with Independent Health and, to be honest, we got a little choked up thinking about the level of service that they offer. They are real. They really care. And we couldn't be more happy with them.

They are looking to feature our story sometime soon in their promo materials. We'll let you know what happens. We just wanted everyone to know how comforted we've been by this company, who act more like concerned neighbors than corporate entities. They know us. They talk to us. They walk the road with us.

Went to the movies!

2011-06-25T21:46:00.001-04:00

Lily and her friend Sarah went to see Cars 2. It was pretty awesome. We ate lots of popcorn and played the Crane game on the way out!

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Lily Says Thank You!

2011-06-25T10:45:00.001-04:00

We made a quick video to thank our friends at Eye on Education for sending Lily a 'Get Well' Pillow Pet after her recent eye surgery. We thought we'd share the Thank You video with everybody--because we Thank all of you for all you do!

<p>Thank you from Lily! from Michael Fisher on Vimeo.</p>

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Lily sending her Windvitations.

2011-06-19T10:43:00.001-04:00

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Lily Update...

2011-06-19T07:24:00.007-04:00

Not a whole lot new to report, but we thought we'd do a quick "bring everybody up to speed" post. Lily's been doing really well lately, aside from the typical 4-year-old angst, independence, and crazy creativity. Her latest inventions include a "Duck Dog," which is a dog with wings and who quacks, and "Windvitations," Invitations that are written on paper kites and delivered by the wind. She dreams these things up while wearing a Tinkerbell costume, ladybug wings, a witch hat, and Mardi Gras beads. Oy.

She's been loving being outside lately, and watches for her friends Reagan and Sydney across the street to come outside. (See the video below!) Her friend Sarah and her cousin Siobhan are favorite playmates too and we are all collectively enjoying the finally warmer weather!

Her latest MRI was last week and we met with the Doctors who told us everything continued to look good. The "little piece of something" that we've referred to for months is now being called residual tissue versus leftover tumor. The doctor said the MRI looked great and we would continue to monitor. We have another year or so of MRI's every 3 months, and if those stay clear, then we go to every six months, then once a year and so on until they are sure we are in the clear.

Tomorrow we have Eye Surgery to correct the nerve damage from the brain surgery. It's outpatient, so we will be bringing her home tomorrow afternoon. While her vision itself is in good shape, her eyes wander and she still tends to be more left side oriented. For the week after the brain surgery in September, she had real difficulty even glancing to the right. That has since largely resolved, but her eyes still lack the muscular control they had pre-surgery. We're hoping that this surgery fixes that.

Other than the Eyes, balance and coordination are still a minor issue, but the more she plays, the better we see that getting. She also hops a little when she runs, but we think that's more from coming from a family that is not known for their running skills, unless they are being chased.

All in all, things are good, and we are grateful, blessed, and happy. We sincerely appreciate all that people have done and continue to do for our baby. (Who will tell you matter-of-factly that she is no longer a baby, but a "Big Gull" and please do not call her baby. But, she's still our baby.)

One Night in the Neighborhood

2011-06-19T07:21:00.001-04:00

Pictures we took on one night in our neighborhood: taking a walk, playing with neighbors, and laughing at the roof-walking duck!

Neighborhood Night from Michael Fisher on Vimeo.

Just too cool...

2011-06-15T22:05:00.001-04:00

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Lily's driveway art.

2011-06-14T16:51:00.001-04:00

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Summer Fun!

2011-06-01T20:02:00.001-04:00

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Memorial Day Fun!

2011-05-30T16:06:00.001-04:00

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Lily has a not so sweet moment!

2011-05-27T21:07:00.001-04:00

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Sunny day walk! (Finally!)

2011-05-24T14:09:00.001-04:00

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We VOTED!

2011-05-24T13:37:00.001-04:00

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The Duck-Dog

2011-05-12T07:37:00.000-04:00

Lily woke up this morning and came to me looking like this. She claimed she was a dog with wings. I told her that dogs don't have wings. She responded, "They do if they are Duck-Dogs."

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The Bat and the Burrito

2011-05-10T07:21:00.002-04:00

Lily woke up this morning and told me this story.

http://mikefisher821.posterous.com/the-bat-and-the-burrito

Lily goes for her UPK meeting!

2011-05-04T15:35:00.001-04:00

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Lily Update

2011-05-03T13:12:00.001-04:00

While interacting with several of you on Facebook and Twitter, it dawned on me that we haven't posted an update on the blog. Things are going relatively well at the moment. Our only issue is the nerve damage in her eye. We are scheduled for surgery mid-June for a corrective procedure. It is outpatient, and the doctor feels confident that he'll be able to correct the problem, which involves the drifting of Lily's eyes when she focuses on something. Her visual acuity was slightly different between the eyes, but we'll test her vision again later in the summer after the procedure. With the laundry list of things that could have gone wrong, we're grateful that it's just this one thing.

She'll also have another MRI in June and we'll have another clinic for them to tell us the results, but so far, so good--we'll just keep our fingers crossed and keep on praying!

Tomorrow we have her introductory meeting with the school district where she'll attend Pre-K this fall. I don't know if I'm thrilled or scared, but it's happening irregardless!

The pictures are of Lily in her new outfit from China, with her new charm bracelet and playing out in the front yard.

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All the China Pictures...

2011-04-28T08:40:00.000-04:00

Visiting Changsha Today

2011-04-22T19:02:00.001-04:00

Today we are taking a bullet, high speed train to the Hunan Province to visit a school in Changsha. (On Saturday! Are the American kids paying attention? That's 14-15 hour days during the week AND school on Saturday!)

Their website is here: http://changsha.newchannel.org/ You'll need Google Translate to read the page.

This has been an amazing experience--and we still have two more days. I'll post some pictures later today/tonight of what we see in Changsha!

-Mike

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iPads in China!

2011-04-22T02:24:00.001-04:00

More pictures and a Digital Story!

This is a story shared with you by the StoryKit iPhone application.

Click here to read the story.

Sent from my iPad

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Sightseeing Day!

2011-04-20T10:49:00.001-04:00

Today was a sightseeing day around Wuhan. We had Steamed Buns for breakfast, visited the Wuhan Provincial Museum, saw an enormous lake, and walked around the downtown area. Tomorrow, we visit several other classrooms, including traditional Chinese classrooms, and classrooms that are being taught by American teachers. Then, we get to meet with administrators at Central China Normal University. Tomorrow night we have American Pizza---though our food here in China has been pretty good. Lots of steamed dumplings, rice, and noodles! On Saturday, we travel by bullet train to another school in Changsha to visit with their students and teachers!

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Now in Wuhan

2011-04-19T03:28:00.001-04:00

We are in Wuhan today at the Number One High School associated with Central Normal China University. We got to see the students (all 6000 of them!) doing group calisthenics and we got to visit a classroom that has the first iPads in a Chinese classroom in the whole country. The students were using them primarily to play word games to develop their English fluency as well as investigating other apps for educational purposes. I'm going to try and blog about this later tonight, but wanted to check in with some pictures here while I have a moment. If you are trying to contact me by Facebook or Twitter, please just email me: mikefisher821@gmail.com I can only access Facebook and Twitter in the Faculty Office and even then, it's inconsistent. More to come, stay tuned...

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More from Shanghai!

2011-04-18T10:47:00.001-04:00

We left Shanghai today and flew to Wuhan, where we'll be working this week with the No. 1 Middle School associated with Central China Normal University. I'm attaching a few more pictures and will upload more as the week goes on and the internet connections are stable!

Things are good here. I'm still getting used to eating with Chopsticks and being immersed in a language that I understand none of, but it's fun, and we're having a blast and enjoying all that we are taking in!

More to come! Love to all!

-Mike

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Where we are staying in Wuhan.

2011-04-17T06:25:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPad

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Breakfast in Shanghai, a Digital Story (ish)

2011-04-17T02:24:00.001-04:00

This is a story shared with you by the StoryKit iPhone application.

Click here to read the story.

Sent from my iPad

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Statue near our hotel...

2011-04-17T02:17:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPad

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Steve and Xiao Lei, our hosts.

2011-04-17T02:16:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPad

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Shanghai view from top of one of the tallest buildings in the world!

2011-04-17T02:15:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPad

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In Shanghai!

2011-04-17T02:13:00.001-04:00

My connectivity is not great here, but we just found the Apple store, and there is WiFi! Love to all and I'll post more when I can!

Sent from my iPad

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Lily at band practice at Starpoint!

2011-04-08T15:30:00.001-04:00

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Digital Stories on the iPad

2011-04-07T21:08:00.001-04:00

Lily and I are playing with an iPod app called StoryKit. (It's free in iTunes)

We created two stories tonight:

AT THE PARK

and

BATH TIME

You can click on the sound icon to hear Lily read them!

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Morning Triptych

2011-04-07T09:57:00.001-04:00

The sun was out this morning, so we took advantage of it!

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VOGUE! (with Lily)

2011-04-04T23:30:00.001-04:00

Vogue! (with Lily) from Michael Fisher on Vimeo.

Lily April Update:

2011-04-02T06:22:00.001-04:00

Lily saw her doctors this week as a follow up to the last MRI. (Which we had previously posted about briefly...)

The neurologist, neurosurgeon, and oncologist all work together and we get to see them all at once at these appointments. They are an incredible collaborative team!

They re-affirmed what the surgeon told us just after the MRI, that it looked, in his words, "WONDERFUL." The area where the tumor was removed was still pulling in contrast, but he said that it looked better than before. The small piece of whatever is still there seems to have shrunk significantly and the surgeon indicated that it is most likely just scar tissue.

The fluid on her scalp has COMPLETELY been absorbed, so there's no planned future surgery at this point. Thank God! She doesn't have to wear her skull cap anymore! Also, at the beginning of March, she came off of ALL seizure meds. We've noticed significant improvements in her mood and personality since coming off those medications! She's losing a little hair around the scar area on her scalp, but you can really only tell if I'm the one responsible for combing her hair. If Liz combs it, you'll never notice it!

Right now, she's about as normal as they come, and then some. She has 5 imaginary friends: Lily #2, Tiny, Shiny, Don, and Buddy. She is VERY creative and loves playing with her friends at "Grandma Janet's" (Kristen Marchiole's Mom). She loves to draw, she loves technology, and she loves her rhino. She says "I love you" a lot, and always follows it with "Can I Have ______?" She's becoming very expressive and wants to know what everything means. This week's words were "cooperation," "compromise," and "comfortable." (Just a coincidence that they are all "C" words!)

She's trying to decide what she will be when she grows up, and we have it currently narrowed down to a: Chef Princess Gardener Paleontologist.

We will continue the cycle of MRI's every 3 months for the next year and a half. Our next hurdle is the ophthalmologist as we get her eye checked out. Right now, that's the only significant issue we're having. Before the surgery, they warned us of all of the possible complications that could result from the brain surgery, and the laundry list of issues was very overwhelming. To be in the spot we're in now with only having nerve damage in her eye is almost a relief. We can deal with that. She can see perfectly fine, but her eye "wanders" when she focuses, and she seems to have lost some depth perception. Her appointment is later in April, and hopefully we'll find out more when she's examined.

I know we say this often, but it can't be said enough: Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers, and support. Thank you for loving all of us, and thank you for loving our Lily. We appreciate every single one of you...and feel so blessed to have each of you in our lives.

-Mike, Liz, and Lily (and Lily #2, Tiny, Shiny, Don, and Buddy!)

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New iPad, new woot shirt...

2011-03-30T07:44:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPad

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How To Eat Smores - A Digital Story over Skype

2011-03-24T19:19:00.000-04:00

Everything's cool!

2011-03-07T18:03:00.001-05:00

We're home from today's MRI. We don't know anything yet, but they didn't come running up to talk to us before we left either...so that's a good sign. We should hear results later in the week and our clinic is scheduled for the end of the month. Whew! Glad this is over! We're enjoying Chinese food for dinner!

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How To Make A SMORE!

2011-03-06T20:50:00.001-05:00

A New Digital Story by Lily!

Open publication - Free publishing - More smores

Lady Gaga in Buffalo!

2011-03-05T09:54:00.002-05:00

Liz and I went to see Lady Gaga last night at the HSBC Arena--incredible show!

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THE PICS!

Happy March!

2011-03-01T10:29:00.002-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Lily Got to Pet A Penguin!

2011-02-28T14:47:00.001-05:00

We went to the Aquarium of Niagara in Niagara Falls today and Lily got to go "Behind the Scenes" of the Penguin exhibit!

One of the Penguin Wranglers brought a penguin out for Lily to meet and give her an opportunity to ask questions! She LOVED it!

The penguin didn't like me though. It was fine with Lily giving it a little pat, but it snapped at me. I did get to rub it's little back some...eventually! The feathers were very smooth. I've never touched a penguin before! We talked about it being a bird with wings but it can't fly. The guy from the aquarium explained to Lily that it uses it's wings like flippers or fins. Lily said, "so it can swim, right?"

She was so excited with her adventure this morning, and talked about the penguins the entire rest of our visit. When we got to the gift shop, she looked at all of the stuffed animals, and guess what she got?

A Baby Seal.

She's a Fisher after all. Predictability isn't in her genes.

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Crazy

2011-02-24T21:28:00.002-05:00

Love you, Grandma...

2011-02-21T00:25:00.003-05:00

Grandma Fisher (Marguerite) passed away tonight.

Bless her heart...we love you, Grandma!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T13:09:00.002-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Lily turns 4!

2011-02-09T22:19:00.001-05:00

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Four Years Old...

2011-02-08T21:54:00.004-05:00

I don't know how we got here...where has the time gone?

My baby is Four Years Old tomorrow.

FOUR!

About 15 hours from right now, four years ago...I told her welcome to the world.

I'm so grateful...We're so blessed...

I love her.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Lily's 8-Step Process...

2011-01-26T08:51:00.002-05:00

Lily had Liz write down the following 8-Step process for making a carriage:

Find a seat.
Find wheels.
Get babies.
Find a prince.
Find a queen.
Find a king.
Find a place to go.
Get snacks.

Now you know.

Lily just did the cutest thing...

2011-01-21T22:53:00.001-05:00

Every night, Liz and I go into Lily's room and sit with her while we say prayers. Sometimes, Lily holds our hands, and sometimes she just giggles.

Tonight, she fell asleep right as she laid down, so Liz and I whispered the prayers we always say. As we were wrapping up the last prayer, Lily's little sleeping face smiled, and she opened her hand.

Liz put her finger in Lily's hand and Lily squeezed it, trying not to laugh. She was so sleepy, and cute.

We've never been so grateful for these little moments. We cherish every one, in a way we never did before...

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Lily's Party Recap...

2011-01-17T19:27:00.002-05:00

We had Lily's party last weekend and wanted to share some pictures. We're working on sending out personal thank you notes as well, but wanted everyone to be able to see the good time we had! We also wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone again. We are inspired and humbled by your generosity and genuinely appreciate the love you've shown our child. We can't tell you how much easier this process has been knowing that we've had the love and support of each of you. We know that there are others that aren't as lucky, and we are so grateful to have you be beacons for us on our journey with Lily.

We hope to do more in the coming months to benefit two programs at Children's Hospital that are so supportive of us each time we have to be there: Owen's Toy Box and the Child Life Team.

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all!

Aunt Ginny Would Have Loved It!

2011-01-15T22:38:00.001-05:00

Today we said goodbye to Aunt Ginny, who passed away just before Christmas. Her memorial service was today.

Lily was a very well behaved little girl during the service, but did something really sweet that we wanted to share.

At the end of the service, when everyone was paying their respects at Ginny's urn and saying a prayer, Lily walked up and said the prayer she made up, that she says after our nightly prayers at bedtime.

She whispered to the urn, "Princess, Princess, Princess, Princess, Princess."

Ginny would have loved that.

Also, at the breakfast following the service, Ginny's daughter Laura did a really touching thing too. Ginny was an avid reader, and Laura & her new husband Patrick had bookmarks printed for everyone, with a quote from C.S. Lewis ~~ "We read to know we are not alone."

Very touching day...

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This morning brought to you by the number 18. As in 18 degrees.

2011-01-14T09:45:00.002-05:00

It's COLD this morning!

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Lily's Party

2011-01-08T21:49:00.005-05:00

Lily's big party is tomorrow. We just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their incredible support these last six months. We still can't believe the outpouring of love and kindness both local and worldwide. We appreciate it ALL, more than any of you will ever know.

We're in a pretty good place at the moment. Just sort of playing the waiting game, again. The current MRI still showed a little anomaly, but we won't be able to tell what it is or whether it's a concern until March. So, it's not a concern until March. We're still dealing with some fluid on her scalp and we have a little nerve damage in her left eye that we'll have to have checked out. But we've been lucky and blessed and while we're still on the train--it's a more comfortable ride at the moment.

We look forward to our celebration of Lily tomorrow! And we look forward to all of you that are able to be with us...physically, and in spirit!

-Mike, Liz, and Lily

Lily's Party - special thanks to our neighbors, Paul and Nicole Blarr, who put the whole thing together in our honor. We love them like family! They ARE family!

The awesome photos are by Ali Beck at Ali Beck Photography...

Happy Birthday Siobhan!

2011-01-08T19:56:00.001-05:00

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Breakfast picnic!

2011-01-06T08:48:00.001-05:00

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Lily shovels the snow!

2011-01-04T12:37:00.001-05:00

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Lily walks her new dog...

2010-12-26T11:47:00.001-05:00

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