Nicki Minaj Little Dancer

Kindergarten graduation

12 more years and we will be taking the same picture except he will be 18 yrs old and preparing for college. YIKES!

A few cute pics

Can anyone believe that Hudson is 7 yrs old? I tried to trick him into believing that everyone must remain 6 yrs old for two years, but he is smarter now too and wouldn't believe me. This is his first summer of being able to run around the neighborhood with his friends somewhat unsupervised. He has gotten into a little mischief, but I would say it's all pretty normal for a group of 7-8 yr olds.

I love this pic of Addy. She was holding the baby and I snapped it with my cell phone. I cut the baby out! Addy was cuter.

Growing up way to quickly

Addy is enjoying what will probably be her last carefree summer with few responsibilities. Next summer she will be working to help pay for her auto insurance and to have her own cash. It's hard to believe that we have already arrived to this point in her life. It went by too fast. She is an amazing young woman and I'm so proud of her. I love you, Addy :)

Savannah is tired of doing Summer work, SO...

She Broke her hand! In truth she is still the hardest worker we have. We were all shocked to find out she had actually broke it. She apparently tripped in the garage and slammed her hand into a metal post filled with concrete. She said she stubbed her toe and it hurt so bad that she ran circles around the truck saying ouch ouch ouch! Her hand had no marks or redness.  She went about her day playing with friends. I noticed over the next few days that she asked for some pain medicine and she said it hurt to touch her hand, however there was no swelling or redness. I figured it was only a sprain. Vannie went about her carefree summer days and was having a blast until the seventh day. I noticed her hand was swelling so I took her to the urgent care clinic and they shocked us all by saying that it was broke. They also informed us that she would need surgery to have metal pins placed inside. GUILT GUILT GUILT. Savannah was somewhat excited because she is the first person in our family to break a body part. I on the other hand was feeling like a horrible parent. So I did the best thing possible, I gave her Daddy's credit card and sent her shopping at WalMart. She only spent $40, but it made me feel a little better. We saw the hand surgeon a few days later and he decided that we would try to fix her hand by casting it first and if that didn't work then she would need surgery. Anyhow, this has not slowed her down one bit. I think she may be trying to break another body part because she desperately wants to earn money for school clothes!

One day Hudson will learn to read and...

And when Hudson finally does learn to read, there may be a few issues that need to be worked out with dad. At this point in Hudson's life, Dad is still his hero. He is the kind of dad that manages to always find batteries when the old ones are worn out. He can super glue the tiniest of parts back together. He can put together any toy (even the ones with 10,000 pieces) that the Grandparents gift us. He can always find a way to plug the tiny holes in everyones bike tires. He gives the best airplane rides and he always has money for the ice cream truck. He always shares his tools (except for the drill, hammer, nails, screws, saw, and everything that plugs in.) And he is the best frogging buddy a boy could have.

Well Robert has really out done himself this time. When Hudson's favorite Toy Story arm shooters broke after the elastic bands snapped off, dad once again got to work fixing it. I usually don't get involved with any of this manly bonding time, but when Daddy starts taking old undies (the ones that were thrown away months ago) and uses them for spare toy parts, thats when I get concerned. WHY? Because it always seems to be a struggle getting him to part with articles of clothing that I deem no longer able to serve its purpose or a personal (possibly enviromental) health risk. So now everytime I say its time to toss out the whitie tidies the ones that bare more skin then cover it, I am going to hear all about the many more uses they still have in them.

And let's not forget about poor Hudson and the emotional trauma he will surely suffer. I don't even want to think about what's going to happen this weekend when little Hudson runs outside to play with the guys and he takes out his "Fruit of the Loom" Toy story disc shooters. Poor kid.

Hudson's big day

Hudson has been having some serious issues with his digestive tract. If you remember, Hudson was taken by Life Flight when he was 2 yrs old to a Children's hospital in Spokane. They were concerned that his bowel had ruptured. After 5 days in the PICU and many tests, we decided to take him home and continue the testing from there. However, after returning home, Hudson seemed to be better. Things were great for a few years and then in the past year he began to have the same issues. (I won't go into them on the blog for his sake) Anyhow, it was decided that we needed to have a quick look around inside. The findings made us overjoyed because our biggest fear (Cancer) was not found. We are now deciding what to do about what they did find. (*It's nothing life threatening. Just something he will deal with for the rest of his life. We are looking into ways to make it easy for him to deal with.)

In the first picture, Hudson is a little concerned, but he has his blankies (Bow & bow 2 & new blue bow) and he is thinking about the food he will soon be able to eat.

In the second picture, Hudson is still smiling. (Although, he hates the hospital PJ's he had to wear.)

The Third picture is Savannah playing nurse to Hudson.

The fourth picture, Hudson is being wheeled to the surgery room.

Last picture, It's lights out! Although it didn't really go that quickly. Hudson got a little panicked when they put the gas mask on his face. We requested they do that before starting an IV. We thought this would make things less scary. We thought wrong! Now Hudson keeps asking why I pushed the mask down on his face? They allowed me to stay until he was asleep and I tried getting him to accept the mask, but he wouldn't fall for any tricks. So the process was very disturbing to both Hudson and me.

Why do's I gotta cry, Mom?

After surgery, Hudson's first thoughts were of the food everyone had promised him. He had gone 2 days on a clear liquid diet and now he was ready to cash in on some real food. The first picture is Hudson reminding dad of his promised food. The nurses had promised Goldfish crackers and apple juice and that was great because that was his favorite treat. However, as seen in the second picture, Hudson is upset because he can't quite get a hand on his Goldfish crackers because his hand is wrapped really big to prevent him from pulling out the IV. In the third picture, Hudson can't stop crying (poor baby, he looks so pathetic.) and he asks us over and over, "Mom, Why do's I gotta cry?" The side effects of his anesthesia made him really emotional and everything made him cry. The recovery room was one big room with 15 other crying kids who were all struggling with the same problem. It was somewhat funny when Hudson would stare at these crying strangers who all seemed to be sharing his problem. Hudson would then ask us, "Mom, Why do's they got-sa cry too?" Then he would start crying because he felt sorry for their situation! Goldfish were going everywhere but into Hudson's poor mouth and he didn't want any help. Finally he figured it out and managed to get a few in his mouth. He then demanded another bag of backup fish crackers for when the first bag was gone. All the sugar made his BP and heartrate jump for a few minutes, but the nurse assured us all was well after watching it closely. Hudson was up and running an hour later. He wanted to get back to the hotel where he knew there was a suitcase full of presents!

Homework comes first

This is what happens at our house everyday at 4 pm. It can often last late into the night for Addy. I can still help Hudson, although I did learn that the shape I once knew as a diamond is no longer that. It is now a rhombus! I still manage with Savannah because even when I have no clue about what she is asking me, I just give her a very long answer with huge words and she has no clue that I made it all up. Either that or she feels sorry for her obviously confused mama and she is just leading me to believe that she thinks I'm still smarter then she is. Things are easiest with Addy. She and I both know that I have absolutely no idea about what she is learning and there is no way of faking it either. She is clearly smarter then me and there is no denying it!

The Happenings in Vanna's life

WOW! Another year gone by and another daughter to attend the churches annual ball. Savannah was so excited to attend the ball this year and I was happy that big sisters dress would fit her with only a few minor changes. I can't believe how much she has grown up. She becomes more beautiful with each day. (I'm at a loss for words. I keep staring at the picture and reminding myself that this is my baby girl.) love you, Vannie.

In other pictures, Savannah got her face painted at a local event. She and her BFF Hannah, talked me into attending the event and I'm glad they did. It was so much fun. I only wished I had taken Hudson along with us. Nonetheless, I made sure to get a bagful of freebies for him to enjoy later. A special thanks to Hannah for telling us about it.

The second pic proves that no matter the age you never grow to old to play in the snow! Addy and Vanna couldn't wait to put on a few layers of snow clothes. Instead they ran out to play in their PJ's at 5 am.

Busy School Days for Addy

Addy has been super busy with several school projects. In the top Picture, Addy was chosen to attend the NHD event up at Eastern Washington University. She and her friend, Brooke, presented their NHD project to a panel of judges. They both designed a website with graphics (pictures, slide shows, and videos) about the Ku Klux Klan. They did an awesome job, but sadly they didn't win :( Addy had other things to worry about, like forgetting her coat and nearly freezing to death during a sudden blizzard!

In the middle picture, Addy and her teammates pose for a picture for their power point presentation in which they built a light bulb. Addy attends a STEM school (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) which is a very progressive and forward thinking school. They challenge the students with very high standards and then expect them to set goals for creating an even higher standard. Simply put: They have SO MUCH HOMEWORK! Addy just amazes me at how well she is handling this all. By her second week of school, Addy built a reed switch motor after designing it on a CAD program called, Solidworks. She is currently building a circuit board. I don't know what it's for (probably for a NASA space shuttle!)

And finally, I stole this last picture from one of her social network sites. (How else am I to get these pics?) Way to go Addy. I am so proud of you.

Merry Christmas

Yes I know, our Christmas tree is pathetic. We were late with decorating and I didn't want to waste money on a real $70 tree when it would only be enjoyed for 2 weeks. Next year we will make sure to get the decorations out by Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a good Christmas and an even better New Year.

Oh the joy of presents!

And then.... Clean up time :(

X-Mas Morning Pics

Can you believe we all slept in until 10:00 am. I set my alarm for 8 am and figured that at least one of my kiddos would be shaking a few presents, but to my glorious surprise... they were all sleeping. So I went back to bed too. We tried to get a half way decent Christmas morning pic, but it was such a challenge with all those presents waiting to be opened. Merry Christmas!

Hudson's photo shoot

Hudson always loves his time in the spot light :)

6 years old!

I can't believe my baby is already 6 yrs old! He practically doesn't even need me anymore. He has his own style of hair and clothing and an attitude to fit each one. When I walk him to his bus stop he quickly leaves my side and joins his friends and they laugh about things that I'm no longer privy to. And worse yet.... the eye rolling thing has already started. When I ask him what is so funny, he rolls his eyes and says, "Never mind Mom!"