Halloween 2013

                         Sidney- Batgirl

                                   Batgirl with Captain America- Jonathan

 

Jenny- Hawaiian girl

This year I only had three kids that wanted to go trick or treating.  I was a brave mom and let them go by themselves with no parental supervision.  I must be crazy!!  They had fun and of course, brought home too much candy! 

my cuties

                                  Jenny 6th grade

                           Jonathan 4th grade

                                   Meg 9th grade

                                          Rachel 8th grade

                                   Sidney 1st grade

Trip to California

We promised the kids that when Mike's chemo treatments were over and he was feeling better that we would go to California and visit the theme parks and celebrate.  Since we have already established that we like to go in October because of the mild weather, we did that again.  This time we hit up Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm, and Disneyland.   We had so much fun!  We fell into bed each night absolutely exhausted and that felt great!!  Here are a few of the memories from our trip.

                          with Bugs Bunny at Six Flags

                                 Meg with Batman at Six Flags

                              The Los Angeles Temple

                            Sidney meeting Minnie Mouse

                  To Infinity and Beyond!!  We met Buzz Lightyear.

                          Sidney with Ariel

                        All the kids with Merida

                The kids going down the log flume at Knott's Berry Farm

Jonathan turns 10

This little boy has my heart.  If anyone should ever have only one boy, it should definitely be THIS boy.  I love him to bits and pieces!  He is a sweet, kind, and considerate boy who is full of energy and curiosity.  He loves to do Karate and play video games and of course, tease. 

He found a recipe book in the school library and insisted we make one of the recipes in it for his birthday treat.  Guess what?  Angel food cake, green jello, crushed oreos, vanilla pudding, and gummy worms are NOT the yummiest treat.  But he LOVED it and that is what matters!

                                 Happy Birthday Bubbs!  WE love you!!

First day of school 2013

Who said my kids could get bigger?

Another school year coming around means more changes around our house.  I have some good kids though and they are always willing to roll with the punches.  I started working at a local elementary school in the lunchroom and that means we have to be better at our morning schedule.  We did it though and here is proof!  Yay for first days of school!!  That means kids are excited and ready to learn.  I know it only lasts a week or so, but hey, at least it is there for a time. 

Jenny is 12!

This cute, sweet girl turned 12!!  She is so excited to go into Young Womens with her sisters.  She is a total sweetheart and if you know Jenny then you know that she is the cheerleader for the underdog.  She finds ways to help out and be a friend to the kids sitting alone, or the functional skills kids at the school, or to help her teacher.  She is kind and thoughtful and I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming.  Yay for another birthday!!

         Happy Birthday Jenny!!  We love you!

No mas chemo!!

The pictures are a little out of order, but you get the general idea.  This is Mike's last chemo!!  He got disconnected from it and had a little celebration by ringing the golden bell!  He took the kids with him and they got to meet Lisa, his chemo nurse.  She has been a godsend through this whole thing.  She answered every one of our dumb questions and was a good listening ear every time Mike went in.  We are so grateful for her.  It has been a long hard road.  Chemotherapy itself is very hard on the body.  Mike was sick a lot and missed a lot of work.  He felt like not doing anything and that is hard when you have a young family like we do and they are busy and WANT to do stuff.  He was a trooper and never let him get him too down.  Radiation was also really hard on his body.  We stopped it early because of the damage it was doing to his digestive system.  All in all we have learned to be patient and not take any day of life for granted during this ordeal.