Raving Reviews

Mckinley has been in a singing group called "Applause" and they had their Christmas music recital tonight! Her favorite songs they sang were, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" and "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," She liked singing the Hippo song, because each of the girls had their own solo!

She also liked doing the Mele Kalikimaka song, because they got to put on sunglasses! Mckinley had another fun thing happen today she was given the 'Social Skills Superstar' award at school! When she was getting ready for bed, I heard her say, "This has been a GREAT day!"

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Oregon and had Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom and Dad and family. Vaughn and Barbara and two of their daughters, Becky and Tara, came with their families also. We had a wonderful feast and afterwards Tara had "Turkey Cookies" for the kids to make. I wanted to share these because the kids had so much fun making them.

She had the sugar cookies already made (you could even buy them). She put yellow frosting on the top of the cookie and the kids pressed the candy corns on for the feathers. Then they decorated the face and turkey feet with frosting. They were really fast and FUN to make! Thanks Tara for doing this! The kids still talk about the fun turkey cookies!


This is how Blake decorated...he pulled everything off and ate it!

We had a unexpected surprise...it snowed several inches on Tuesday, November 4th! Braxton wanted to make a snowman, so EJ helped him and it turned out to be HUGE! (Notice Braxton's nice purple gloves...he was so excited he couldn't wait for me to find his blue ones! LOL!!!)

My kids have all gone through a stage where they believe band-aids will help everything get better! Today Braxton was helping me clean the floor with the cordless shark sweeper (one of my favorite purchases, because the kids think it's FUN to sweep the floor!) Anyway, all of a sudden he stops the shark and yells over and over, "Mom come here, there is a moth!" "Him don't fly."
I walked over to the backdoor and said, "Oh, I think it is dead, it's ok you can sweep it up!"
He said, "No mom, you need to help it." "Him don't fly!" After a few seconds he added, "Mom put a band-aid on it, and then him will fly!"
I knew Braxton believed that band-aids would help him get better, like when he insisted that we put a band-aid on his tongue because he burnt it from his hot soup! And somehow that band-aid made his tongue feel better instantly!While he was talking I thought, I need to take a picture of this, so I went to grab my camera, and Braxton quickly went to get the band-aid.
I thought it was so sweet, he really believed that his 'magical band-aid' would help that moth fly, just like the band-aids helped him feel better so many times! When he leaned down to put it on the moth he got scared and he just looked at me. I asked him, "Do you want me to do it?"
He said, "Yes...it kind of freaky mom!"
Part of me didn't want to put the band-aid on it, while Braxton was watching because I knew it wasn't going to help it, but he insisted! After I put it on and he saw part of the moth on the band-aid he said, "Ewww gross!" The sight of the moth was enough to get his mind off the 'magical band-aid' and he started the shark up and continued cleaning the floor!

I only wish there was a 'magical band-aid' for my niece, who is still in the hospital. It would be nice to have an instant fix for her, but we are grateful for every step of progress she is making! Keep up the good work Kacie!!! We love you and continue to pray for you and your family.

Do you ever leave to get the door, answer the phone and come back to find the unexpected? That is what happened to me last night...I was talking to a neighbor outside around 5:00 pm and when I came back in the house to check on my kids I found this...


Needless to say I was NOT happy! Braxton took my container that holds all of my scrapbooking brags, eyelets, rivets, etc. and dumped them all over the floor! Oh, I was so upset I just had to close the door and come back to it today!

I told him he needed to stay with me and help clean it up...I was hoping if he realizes how much work it is to clean it up he won't do it again. While we were cleaning up, BRAXTON said the funniest things! He said, "Mom I hear Dora, I need to go watch it!"

I said, "No when this is done you can." Realizing it is going to take HOURS to clean up. There are so many small pieces that need to be sorted etc. It might be impossible to get it back the way it was.

Then Braxton said, "Mom last night Santa Claus came and made the mess and then left." I asked him what he said again...and he said, "Santa made this mess and I said no, no Santa Claus!"
I was trying so hard for him not to hear me laugh!

Then he said, "I need to check that paper!" I said what paper...that paper over there and he pointed to a piece of paper on the floor. He got up and walked over acting like he could read it..."it say, no clean up for Braxson!!!"
I was laughing so hard, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was shocked that my 3 year old could come up with all of that stuff just so he didn't have to clean. He helped put some humor on the situation and we had fun talking while we cleaned up this crazy mess.

Yesterday Kacie's little brother Brady (almost 4 years old) was admitted to the same hospital as her. They are worried he might be getting what she had. Luckily they don't think he has it as bad as Kacie, but he is following the same pattern as her.

Last night I sent a text to Tammy, with tears in my eyes, asking her, "What can I do to help?" She simply responded back "PRAY!" I don't know why that hit me so hard, because I have been praying for them all along, but I was grateful for her powerful example of FAITH! I live so far away and can't physically be there to help them out, but I can PRAY for them! So, I thought I would share what she said, and ask you to please pray for their family!

We went home for Labor Day weekend to see Kacie and Family! It was good to see everyone, we wish it was under different circumstances...but it's always good to be with family!

Kacie is still in the hospital, but making improvements since I wrote last! We were able to see her get up and walk while we were there! It was a struggle for her, but she did it! Way to go Kacie!!!
On Saturday Grandpa, Kyle, Mckinley I went to the hospital to hang out with Kacie and her Family! EJ and Mom were so wonderful and kept Brady, Braxton and Blake at home so they could get a good nap and not be running all over the place while Kacie was in PICU. Kacie requested that we bring the "Whoonu" game over to play with her! She started getting a little tired while we played, but she still won every game we played!
I LOVE this photo of Tammy and Kacie together! Tammy you are such amazing mother!
Grandpa was really tender with Kacie! It was really sweet!

On Sunday Kacie was able to get out of PICU and be in a regular room! We were all excited to see her new room when we came to visit!
We played "Go Fish" with Kacie in the hospital waiting room. She was out there for more than two hours! We love you Kacie and pray for your kidneys to continue to get better. We hope you get to come home soon! We also pray for the rest of your family! We love you all!I've heard since we left Grandma and Kacie have become quite the Yahtzee Players! Kacie told me on the phone today that she rolled a Yahtzee on the first roll! She was so excited! A little healthy competition is always good, right?

My niece, Kacie got really sick about a week and a half ago! On Saturday, Aug. 16th she was transferred from Holy Rosary to St. Luke's due to complication from Ecoli. Then Doctors diagnosed Kidney failure, pancreatitis, and colitis. That night they did surgery and put in a catheter for kidney dialysis. The next day she aspirated, (got liquid in her lungs) and she had to be put on a ventilator.

Things were the same until Wed. Aug. 20th, Doctors were concerned because she was not breathing above the ventilator. They ordered for her to have MRI to rule out a possible stoke. We are very so excited, because this morning they got the results from MRI everything looks normal! Doctors felt comfortable to get her off the ventilator, so they did and Kacie is doing well! She is still pretty sleepy, but that is to be expected because of the kidney dialysis the medication is taking longer to leave her body!

My sister has started a blog to keep us updated on her progress! Her blog is kaciet.blogspot.com! Kacie we are praying for you and your family! We sure love you and hope you get feeling better soon!

Braxton is Three! He got a crown in Nursery a day before his birthday and he didn't want to take it off, he even wanted to wear it to bed that night! LOL! The first thing he wanted on his birthday was his crown! Thanks Laura and Lauren for being so good to him! He loves Nursery because of you guys!
This year was really fun, because it was the first time that he really understood what was going to happen on his birthday! He knew he would get a cake, blow out the candles, open presents etc. Every morning for about a week he would wake up and say, "Is today my birthday?" He just couldn't wait! Right before he blew out the candles, Kyle taught him to close his eyes and make a wish! He kept wanting us to sing Happy Birthday so he could make more wishes!
Braxton loves BIG TRUCKS!!! Ever since we went to Grandpa and Grandma's Farm last year he notices big trucks and tractors everywhere we go! It will be interesting to see what he does when he gets older!

The other night I went in to check on Braxton before I went to bed, and he was asleep on the floor in this position! I just had to take a picture to show Jenny R. that Braxton sleeps with his hands under his head also! It cracks me up everytime I see him sleep like that!

Today is my Dad and his twin brother, Vaughn's Birthday! We wanted to wish them a wonderful day and remember some fun memories together! Happy Birthday Grandpa!
(Just a side note: on the second page click on the pictures in the small box and they will get bigger!)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

After the kids last baseball game we went to a Peter Brienholt and Ryan Shupe concert in Midway! (Ryan Shupe in green shirt, Peter Brienholt is in the back in the yellow shirt)

It was so fun because they made it very casual for the kids. They didn't care if kids danced and ran all over the place. They even invited them to come dance in front of the stage! Towards the end of the concert he did a song where a little 5 year old girl went up on the stage and sang. Mckinley and her friend Sara were dancing until they heard her sing, then they went in front of the stage to check out what was going on! While they were there Peter Brienholt leaned down with the microphone and Mckinley got to sing a little solo, he let about 4 other little girls sing a solo also! I was so sad because my battery died right before she got to sing, but here is a little video so you can picture what I am trying to say!

(This video shows Mckinley dancing and the little girl singing in the background is what Mckinley sang in the microphone...FYI you can hear it better if you pause my playlist music.)

This was our families first concert together! We had a picnic in the park and just relaxed! Kyle liked it, but his favorite part was playing catch with his friends. Braxton eventually fell asleep because he didn't take a nap, which made it more relaxing for EJ and I. Blake stayed up the entire time and danced all over. He really LOVES music!

A couple of weeks ago EJ rented a Yamaha Rhino for the Father and Sons camp-out! He called me Saturday morning and told me to bring the kids up so they could go on it before he had to take it back! It was really awesome, because it has five seat belts so a lot of people can go at one time!
Anyway, EJ told me to take it for "a spin" with our 3 older kids and his brother Lance's older boys. Well, to make long story short we found a mud puddle and naturally the kids wanted to go through it! The first time we went through Kyle was steering on my lap so we were pretty careful, the mud just splashed up on the wheels. The kids yelled, "GO Again...Faster!" So we turned around and went again, this time a little faster and hit the mud puddle just right to where we all got blastered with mud!





(Can you tell Braxton had sun glasses on? LOL!)




We figured since we were already dirty we might as well go again! Each of the older kids wanted to drive through the mud and each time we got a little more MUDDY!
We had a blast, but getting the kids clean that night was another story... they had mud caked in their hair, ears, face and all over! We ended up throwing away some of their clothes because they were already worn out and too gross to clean!

After watching Kyle play baseball for 3 years, Mckinley decided she wanted to try t-ball. At the beginning of the season she only knew one boy on her team, but she quickly became friends with the other/only two girls on the Mets team.
(FYI Mckinley lost 3 teeth during the season and Kyle lost one.)
She really liked t-ball, and didn't want to miss a game! We aren't sure if she didn't want to miss baseball or the treat at the end of the game, but either way we had fun watching her little red braids flip around while she ran the bases! __________________________________________________
Kyle had fun playing for the Red Sox. He tried something new this year, switch hitting (one inning left and the next right.) He surprised us how good he could hit left!


One of his favorite things was seeing his friends on the other team, like Gavin!
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Braxton and Blake did pretty well considering Kyle and Mckinley had games on Mon. and Wed. nights the entire month of June! It got a little crazy a couple of times when they had games scheduled at the same time, but we survived and had fun watching them play ball!