CAMP GERONIMO

Christopher is home from camp! It seems like this was a longer time for me. I really missed him this time and felt like it was to long. I know it was because he had been gone for 18 days at my mother in law's and went to a canoe trip before that. Camp was an experience for him this year. He was hiking up on the rim about 6 miles during the night and on the way down one of the leaders fell. When he fell he was knocked out and was paralyzed on one side of his body. There was another leader there however he was trying to get reception on his cell phone to call for help. The boys all jumped into action and helped out. Some of the boys were so frightened and emotional it was hard for them to handle. All the boys took off their shirts and covered him up and when it started to rain they even took out a poncho and covered him so he would stay dry. Christopher sat by his side the entire time which was about two or three hours. He kept talking to him so he would stay awake. The boys all prayed a few times up on the mountain and felt strongly that this helped. I know Christopher played a great part in getting help and getting him off the mountain safe. He was life flighted to Scottsdale and was treated and released within 12 hours. It was a very emotional thing for them to go through but I know they all walked away better and stronger because of it. I am so proud of Christopher and feel he really stepped up to the plate and acted very mature about the entire thing. After the helicopter got there and he knew there were professionals there to take care of he finally let his emotions play out but he was able to really keep it together until it was appropriate. You really never know how your child will react in an emergency until it happens and I can say I have no reason to worry I only have reason to be very proud of my son!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe that I forgot Shaundra's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm hoping the rest of you remembered to call and/or entertain her on her special day. I don't even have a good excuse............I just flaked and I am so embarassed.



I am publicly declaring that I would never intentionally wig out and forget someone that is as important in my life as she is.



Happy Birthday To One Of My Favorite Girls!!!!



I Love Ya Very Much,



Grandma Wilma

He got his hair cut!

This is the new and improved Christopher! (If you do not remember his hair before scroll down and you can see him on an earlier post). We have this philosophy that if our children are doing great in school and are not getting in trouble at school or or not hanging out with the wrong crowd than they can have their hair anyway they want. He started the beginning of the school year last September and continued to let it grow until last Friday. We had talked about it a few times but he just wanted to keep it long. Come to find out he says he hates his ears. He was trying to cover them up all this time and really did not like the long hair. Poor kid. I happen to think he looks great and I really do not notice his ears. I think I live with him and get used to it. I absolutely love the new hair cut. it really doesn't matter what his hair looks like he will always be the awesome person he is. Christopher has got to be the best big brother anyone could have. All the kids just love him. I even have other families tell me how good he is with little kids. He is a sweet natured kid that would do anything for anyone. I love him sooooo much. ( when he is not arguing with me). I am so lucky to have a son that has great qualities that will help him throughout his life.

napping NOT !

Yeah after the last post you are all thinking I never watch my kids. I was talking on the phone I know surprised to hear that I would be on the phone huh? Well anyways Abbey had her pictures taken today and we did not get back until late so I figured she would be out like a light. WRONG she had got into her sisters baby powder and was transferring it to from container to container! These are the kinda things that make people go mad right? Well thank goodness about 10 years ago I had the exact same thing happen except Christopher was pouring it on Alyssa's head and I walked in on them in the bathroom. The entire room was covered. So that being said I had experience with this and thought it was quite funny and just knew I had to take a picture and immediately emailed it to Steve at work. (Who by the way passed it around his work for everyone to get a laugh from). So since he got a laugh from it I thought all you moms out there would be relieved to know it happens to all of us.

Another Maui Post

OK So I am trying do the previous post to tell you all about my great trip when I have Maddy and Abbey in the background just laughing their heads off. I decide that i might just want to check out what is so funny right?? Well I go into the living room and this is what I find! They have taken all the movies out and the ones that are put back in the cabinet are all mixed and are put int he wrong cases! CRAZY! I guess this is why we go on these trips to get away from these kinda things. Well as I am cleaning up this mess, they come in here and hit POST. So the previous post is an unedited version of what I was trying to work on. I am actually enjoying my kids as they are all back now. We are definitely having more trouble with the little ones but the older ones are doing great.

HOME FROM MAUI :( !!

We are officially back to the real life. As you can see from the few pics we had a blast. I can not tell you in words just how many things we did and how awesome each one of them were. The two pictures of me and Steve were taken at the old Lahaina Luai which is supposed to be the most authentic one left in the island. It had great food and drinks as well as a great show.

The picture of the waterfall was one of a unlimited amount of waterfalls we stood by and drove by along the road to Hana. It is the most beautiful drive you will ever take along a 52 mile very windy raod in the rain forest.

The last pic here is of the sunset right out our balcony of the condo we stayed in!

I can not tell you how much I loved our trip and had a blast with my hubby. I can tell you though the best thing I have ever done in my life is swim with the TURTLES! As soon as I get my underwater camera pictures developed I will be posting them here. We found this spot off the beaten path and we swam off the rocks out to the ocean and there were about 12 different turtles that were about 200 to 300 lbs each! They do not swim away they just swim with you.

This is the great husband that I get the priviledge of spending the next week in Maui with. I am soooooo excited to actually get some time with him and no kids. He works very hard every day to make it possible to stay home with my kids. I love him more than words can explain and appreciate everything he does for our family. I just can not wait to get to spend this week with him.

MAUI BOUND!!! Tomorrow at 6:45 am my hubby and I are getting away for the week in luxurious MAUI. We have been together almost 15 years and we have never been on vacation together (with no kids). We all know how much I love my kiddos but it is definitely over due to get away. I am extremely EXCITED, nervous and just plan giddy. I have the serious anxiety today with the getting ready to leave, setting Grandma Swanson up to watch my 2 Little girls, and to get Hunter off to Grandma Santos! My kids will be fine but I am not sure how I will do ha ha! Although this am has been tough with Maddy spreading poop on her and blaming Abbey, cereal all over the floor and Hunter with chocolate on my couch. Kinda makes you a bit more ready than you thought! Here is a pic of the Swanson Grandparents who are taking care of the girls and really made this possible. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and will never forget this opportunity you have given us. Thanks.

When our house was remodeled this was the ohhhhh soooo AWESOME craft room addition. THE MOST ADORABLE WINDOW. I always had this little room that was adjacent to the laundry room and it is about 8 feet by 5 feet. Very small room. I rarely used it because it made me so claustrophobic in there! So when the remodel happened it just so happened to be Mothers Day week so I was able to squeeze a nice cute window and the counter you see out of my very cool husband. The window absolutely makes the room. It gives this space a very warm feeling. I had to completely get rid of all the clutter and excess scrap crap to really make the room perfect! However, now I have the most happening scrap room I could have ever asked for. These cute letters are my first creation for the room and I love love love them. Thanks to Ronny and Julie for the late night we had to finish these great projects. ( Julie's teacher gifts too.)

This is a great pic added by Wilma Otherwise Known as Grandma. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love that my kids get to go there! Look at all those kids. They are My three and then three out of the four cousins that live there in the bay area. Its just too bad we do not live closer so that we could have more times like these where they can all just hang together.

MADYSON'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

I can't believe she is already old enough to go to preschool. Her teacher is Mrs. Christi. Hunter had changed to her preschool in January (after we had a hard time with his previous school) so she was a bit familiar with who she was. Last week I had enrolled her in dance and it just didn't work. She cried and said" you just left me there". We tried one more week and that ended with her stuck to my leg and not budging! I decided to quit dance until she was a bit older. So with that being said I was very apprehensive to take her to school and see what was going to happen.Her teacher was offering a art literature class over the summer that was a shorter amount of time and only 2 days a week rather than 3. We decided to try that as a transition to her going in the fall. The final result is she LOVED LOVED LOVED it! She can not wait to go back and is asking if it Thursday yet about 2o times in one day. I was having a bit of a hard time sending her but my mother in law put it a good way, I already trust this woman so its not quite as hard as I thought it was going to be but still hard for me. If you know me well you know I have a hard time with leaving my kids and having a small attachment to them hahaha. Another point my mother in law made "you have the problem not the kids". Ok so I admit it here for all to read but hey I can think of thousands of worse things for my kids!

1st day at grandma's

This is a pic within the very few moments of them being at grandma's. (read her comments in the post from her picture)

The Trio Is Off To "Camp"

They are officially there! I took them to the airport this morning and they have called and they have landed in Ca. We had to tell Hunter they were going to camp because he has been asking "Is it Grandma day?" everyday for about two months. We thought it would be bad to tell him that his siblings were going before him. However, he is a bit smarter than we thought. He said to me this am "Where are they going?" I answered that they were going to camp and his reply was "No they are not I am too big they are going to Grandma's" I guess we couldn't fool him.

Here are a few pictures from the airport. The first one was before Christopher could realize I was taking a picture. The one of Christopher alone is when he realized what I was doing. He said I do not want you to take my picture you will probably put it on that "STUPID" blog! So here it is my 13 year old and yes I put him on my blog.

Grandma Santos

So here is a picture of Grandma Santos so everyone who read the earlier post now has a visual as to who I am talking about.

Getting ready for Grandma's

When Christopher was five Grandma Santos started a tradition (sorry grandma it is a tradition now) for him to go to her house for a week over the summer. It then moved on that each child would be able go when they turned five. After a few years a week turned into two and even three at times. This year is Hunter's first time so he will be there one week and the others will be going for 16 days! So they leave tomorrow and Hunter will follow in a week. The kids are SO excited. They are trying to pack as if they are going forever. Today I have to deal with the giddy, excited kids but tomorrow I have three less so I guess that is a trade off! Steve's entire side of the family live there including Great Grandma, great Aunt, uncles, Grandpa and cousins too. I am ever so thankful to Grandma Santos for both providing them with this great opportunity to spend time with their family as well as giving me a bit of a break. I miss them so much every time they go! Well I am off to go check all the bags to find what crazy items they have tried to slip in there!