Ella's Preschool Graduation

Ella's graduation was truly bitter sweet for her. She is excited to move on to Kindergarten but devastated that she will not be with her friends next year. Many tears have been shed about the matter.

The graduation was awesome. Listening to little kids sing is just so... so... I don't know how to explain it but it is definitely entertaining. Ella did a fantastic job! When she would look over at us and see our smiling faces, her face lit up. it is so amazing what a smile can do.

After all the songs it was graduation time! It amazes me how quickly kids grow. CrAzY I tell ya.

Ella receiving her diploma. Her teacher is awesome. I love the fact that Science was put into the curriculum and she always kept the class interesting.

 3/4 of the craziness called our kids.

 Ella was a bit cheesy afterwards which made it next to impossible to get a decent photo.

Ella and her "friend" Jordan... she will miss him a lot. In fact she is planning to Skype him at night while we are asleep. Those are her words, not mine. Boy are we in trouble when she grows up.

11 months

Audrey turns 11 months old tomorrow. I actually remembered today and even took a picture so I thought I would make things feel complete by having a post on time, heck this one's early!!!

Audrey has been busy this month. Three molars came in all at once which made for one unhappy baby. Thank goodness for Tylenol. It's weird to see her smile because she went from having 2 teeth to 10 in a matter of 1-1/2 months. To me, all those teeth make her look so grown up. The molars really did her in, to the point where she had no desire to nurse soooo, I took that opportunity to start weaning the babe. For the last few days she has only used a sippy cup. Momma is officially off duty.

She also has been army crawling all over the place and recently has decided to try the traditional crawl here and there. Her first time crawling was towards Ella. It was fun for Ella and I to see this first together. It made Ella feel extremely loved by her littlest sister.

Audrey loves exploring by looking inside all the boxes and baskets that hold socks, shoes and toys. She is one busy baby.

Every day when we drop Jonathan off at school the girls always yell I love you out the window. I think it was Thursday where the older girls were not as loud and I heard Audrey use the same pitches the girls use when saying I love you. It was so awesome to hear. Not a clear I love you but baby girl is getting there. She also does this when saying Ella.

Funny story... at least to me. When Audrey started saying Dadda we would get super excited, say yay and clap. This has become such a normal routine that almost every time she says Dadda and then notices me smiling, Audrey will automatically say what sounds like yay and then proceed to clap. Completely adorable and funny at the same time. LOVE it!

I think that's it for the update. Just one more month and then no more babies in this house! That's a crazy thought.

We love you Audrey!!!

The Zoo

It was a beautiful day today and I did not want to waste it in doors so I took the kids out to the local zoo. Plus it gave Daddy a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep. Jonathan protested a little but once everyone was in the car, the catchy primary song began and the kiddos started to sing along, the mood changed and it was the beginning of a great trip.

The drive is so relaxing this time of year due to everything being incredibly green. I am just trying to soak it all in before the move. The zoo is on one of the hills out here so when we are almost there we get a great view of the valley which is gorgeous. The kids also spotted a baby red fox which was fun.

We had another pleasant surprise by finding out the Girl Scouts were doing a special event at the zoo and the kids were able to play a couple games and make some crafts. The first one they did was a paper kite. The kids had so much fun running around the green grass watching their kites fly. As a parent now and then you have moments that just seem magical and watching them run around with the look of pure joy on their faces made me realize we had one of those moments today.

It did start to get a little hot so we stopped by a fountain for the kids to cool off. The fountain can spray rather far so when it was Leia's turn she decided to turn around and get her whole backside wet. There were lots of giggles coming from the other kids as she did this. The simple joys a 2 year old brings to a trip are priceless.

Once we were done seeing the animals, the kids ate lunch and then proceeded to visit the last booths the Girl Scouts had set up. Jonathan, being a very thoughtful brother, made a bracelet for Leia. At this point it was super sunny out so I let Ella wear my sunglasses because the glare of the sun was making it difficult for her to make a bracelet.

I hardly ever splurge on things but after the zoo I decided to treat the kids to Rita's... the kids were super excited and  enjoyed their watermelon Italian ice with frozen custard on top. Audrey even gave noises of protest until she too was able to have a taste of this deliciousness. I will sure miss not having these around when we move. While eating my custard I contemplated if it was possible to open a Rita's out west. That would be awesome.

Daddy & Me night

Once a year Ella's preschool has a Daddy and Me night instead of a normal school day. Ella loved staying up late, spending one on one time with her Daddy, eating ice cream, singing, dancing, and making this poster. I think they did a fabulous job.

Love is...

I am a very practical person, probably to a fault, so I don't really understand love at first sight.  All the "big" moments in life were great, fabulous in fact, but I never fell head over heals in love or even fell in love instantly when I saw each one of my kids for the first time. Disappointing, I know... especially for my poor husband who is the complete opposite of me.

With that being said, taking care of our dying dog gave me a better understanding of unconditional love. Taking care of him made me realize how much I truly felt he was a part of our family and was willing to make him comfortable as much as possible, ignore the messes he made but felt sympathy and just love for him. It was more than just fleeing compassion but maybe unconditional love.

That unconditional love amazes me. I don't know how Heavenly Father has it for all of his children. I think of how frustrated I get when I tell my kids something, they don't listen and then they get hurt. I feel bad they get hurt and comfort them but I am not always patient because at the back of my head I keep thinking, "this would not have happened if you would have listened to me.".. and then sometimes I proceed to scream in my head. Heavenly Father does that with us. (Well, not the screaming part.) He gives us commandments so we can be safe and have the opportunity to experience joy while on this earth. Sometimes we listen and then sometimes when we don't.  We get hurt, sometimes really bad. But if we decide to ask for help, He is always there to brush us off, tell us He loves us and then sends us back on our way to once again exercise the agency we have. The agency He gave us.

How does He DO that! How does He have the patience to deal with us, His children, not following what He has asked us to do, and when we decide to talk to Him,  by means of prayer, how many times are the prayers repetitive, we don't stick around to actually listen to what He wants to tell us or even thank Him for all that He has given us. As a parent, if my kids did that, which they do, I would be furious. Yes, I do get mad and I only have 4 kids. How many kids does He have? I am amazed at Heavenly Father, his parenting skills and the unconditional love He has for all of His children.

Now that I have shared some of the inner workings of my brain and the pondering I have done, let me explain what love is coming from practical Amy. Last night Jonathan received some new Yu Gi Oh cards... from Daddy. The game is also a cartoon show. The only cartoon show I cannot watch because I am truly annoyed by it.. and Jonathan knows this. I can watch cartoons, reruns of the same cartoon for hours but can only stand a few minutes of Yu Gi Oh. Why you ask, because the characters ramble on for way too long about a move they are going to make and maybe, just maybe, they finally make the move ten minutes later.

Anyway, Jonathan was pumped up wanting to play the game. For the past month he has studied his cards, compiled the perfect deck, spent hours Skyping his friend about it and even scoured the kids at school hoping/ wishing he would find someone who enjoyed the game as much as he did and yet he has not had a decent duel. Well, last night I "dueled" him. He even gave me his best deck. To see the look of joy on his face as I did something unexpected and then he began to ramble on about all the different options/ moves he could make while totally sounding like one of the cartoon characters and yet I still wanted to play because I knew how happy it made him, that's love... unconditionally.

10 month mark

Granted this post is a few weeks late but I still wanted to document it because, well, Audrey has gotten the short end of the stick with Mommy keeping a record of all of her firsts and baby updates. So sad! After I had her and was able to get out, I purchased a baby book to make sure nothing would be forgotten. The baby book has yet to be written in. :( I keep telling myself I can easily update it using my blog posts, which is what I did for Leia. Unfortunately a lot of the blog posts are nonexistent. Poor Audrey.

Backtracking to the ten month mark... Audrey had some milestones happen. She was teething like crazy. Within 2 weeks her top 4 front teeth came in and also one tooth on the bottom making a total of 7 teeth. She has been using those chompers to much on blueberry bagels, crackers, bananas and whatever else mommy decides to give her.

Audrey is very aware of the toys around her and now army crawls to get to them. She also loves to stick everything in her mouth which has made mommy very proficient at the finger sweep. Luckily she likes to roll the object around in her mouth rather than swallowing it. She finds the tiniest things which definitely keeps me on my toes, especially since the other kids continuously drop things on the floor. Last week she choked on a candy wrapper a kid left behind at church and mommy didn't see. Daddy gave her the baby version of the Heimlich, and then she threw up in front of our CTR 4 class. Lovely. We cleaned the mess up with wipies and I continued on with the lesson while Daddy left with Audrey.

She can sit up by herself meaning she goes from laying on her back to sitting up. It's very cute to watch the little roll/ push up with my hand/arm maneuver she does. Finally! The girly girl has wanted to do this move for some time now and she finally figured it out.

Smiles and laughs continuously escape Audrey's mouth when ever she sees Ella. Ellla LOVES her. Unfortunately Ella likes to scream because it makes Audrey laugh and now Audrey screams. I think I have mentioned this before?  Audrey does recognize Ryan as Daddy and me as Mommy. When Ryan comes into the room her face lights up, she even squeals at times and it is not uncommon for her to say, "Dada" or "Dad" or even "Hi Dad". It melts his heart and he cannot help but pick her up for hugs and kisses.

This morning...

The morning began around 6:30am when Audrey and I both woke up. I quickly realized for the first time in the past 10-1/2 months she slept through the night... wooo whooo!!! I thought to myself," Today is going to be great!" I was able to take a shower, nurse Audrey and then get her ready to eat some Cheerios BEFORE the other girls woke up... fabulous! Jonathan was even already up, studying for a test. I grabbed the potty incentive jar with a step in my walk and a smile on my face, went into the girls' room for a nice wake up and then I smelled the most awful smell... like puke.

I looked at Leia's face, since she is sick right now, but no traces of puke. I looked at her bed next and found something suspicious and realized she might have had diarrhea, checked her pull up and yep, I found the cause. She needed a quick bath since it was plastered to her very red, sore bottom. This side distraction could possibly make us late so I yelled down to Jonathan telling him he needed to get Ella's breakfast while I helped out Leia. Once everything was OK, and Leia was now calling me Dr. Snail for helping her out, we went downstairs where I started started to make Jonathan's lunch, breakfast for Leia, and fed Audrey some baby food while Jonathan took a much needed, but quick shower.

Once Ella finished eating I told her to go get dressed. She left and quickly came back explaining her room smelled like throw up and could not get dressed. I completely understood since I got nauseous from being in it earlier so I grabbed some deodorizer to make things smell nicer. I walked around her room spraying this and that and then left to tend to the other kiddos. About 30 seconds later I heard Ella screaming that her eyes hurt. Somehow she walked into the spray? Anyway, I ran up the stairs, laid her on the bathroom counter, filled a cup with water, made sure her eyes stayed open and then splashed her eyes. She cried some more but the water worked and she began to calm down while I wiped the water/ tears away. Then I went back downstairs to help the other kids.

 Some time between getting Audrey dressed, getting shoes and socks for Leia, I realized Jonathan would probably be cold in his shorts and t-shirt since it was 44 degrees out. I told him he should change to jeans but I got a, " no mom, I'll be OK. I'l just wear my vest." With Jackets on the girls and Audrey in her car seat, we headed for the car. Once everyone was in and buckled Jonathan mentions about how it was cold, very windy and wished he would have changed but knew it was too late to go back inside. Me not wanting him to freeze, quickly ran into the house, grabbed his jeans and told him to change while I drove to school, but first family prayer. Scripture study did not happen... again... hopefully I'll remember to read later.

 Once Jonathan was dropped off on time, the rest of us headed out to the grocery store hoping Leia would not have to go to the bathroom. Sigh of relief for me because the craziness was behind us. About to get the girls out, I actually heard my phone ring but was unable to answer it on time. I called back the number to find out it was Jonathan's school. I began to wonder if he was OK, if something bad happened but they transferred me to Jonathan where he "needed" to tell/ remind me that today he was getting out early. I graciously thanked him, told him I loved him and then wondered how "out of it" I appeared to the boy who in our home is notorious to forgetting homework, forgetting to bring his trumpet home to the point where after two weeks his teacher wrote a reminder on the board, that he felt he needed to remind me about the short day. I had forgotten and yes today I sunk to a new low :( which took only 2-1/2 hours to accomplish.

PS. I'd better stop writing now so I don't miss the bus dropping him off!

Jak Jak

 

I don't really know how to start this post so I I'll just simple say it. We had to put Jak Jak to sleep about a week ago. So, so sad.  He is greatly missed.

About a year ago Ryan noticed Jak Jak's tumor was growing and felt he only had a year left. Around Thanksgiving time the tumor looked massive and I wondered if he would make it until Christmas. About a month ago he really started to get bad and I became his hospice care and watched him get weaker, his breathing changed into sounding rougher, he could no longer walk up steps or control his bladder as well and the last few weeks he stopped eating his dog food and always seemed to be thirsty. As these changes took place the question came to pass what should we do if he gets really bad. Ryan had been extremely busy and we never had a chance to answer it. Then Ryan went off to Arizona for a few days and that's when it became apparent Jak Jak was in too much pain to continue his life with us.

Ryan left Thursday morning and that night I woke up to Jak Jak barking. I came into the kitchen and found him lying in the middle of the floor. Since his back legs were weak I tried to help him up and as I did he started to have a seizure... at least I think it was one because I did not have my contacts in or glasses on so my eye sight was extremely poor. When it was over I just stayed with him, gave Ryan a call and eventually Jak Jak started to look better. This happenend about 3am on Friday. The Friday of Ella's b-day party.

I kept thinking about him and wondered if I should cancel the party mostly in fear he would get worse but the party went on. He only barked when the first kid came to the door and just layed down for everything else. He looked so sad. It broke my heart.

On Saturday he had two seizures and Jonathan saw the second one. During these weeks I kept Jonathan in the loop on what was going on so if/ when we had to take Jak Jak to the vet it was not a surprise. We adopted Jak Jak when Jonathan was 2 years old. Anyway, that night I brought Jonathan's mattress down and he stayed with Jak Jak through the night. Before that we gave Jak Jak a fantastic meal of waffles and bacon. We even had one waffle with bacon inside of it. I told the kids tomorrow Jak Jak was going to the vet and he was going to die. Ella had a lot of questions about death, how was he going to die and cried a lot. I tried to ease her pain by telling her he would be OK and would be with  Daddy's mom. She would be telling him to stop snagging her food and eating her crayons. It made Ella Laugh and she felt a little better. The kids drew pictures of Jak Jak and gave him lots of hugs and more bacon. Jonathan was fasting that Jak Jak would be comfortable until it was is time to go.

Sunday was basically a day of waiting until daddy got home. The kids continued to give Jak Jak random hugs. When Ryan came home he took one look at Jak Jak and knew he was not the dog we remembered him being. Ryan spent a little time saying goodbye and then carefully put Jak Jak on a towel and carried him out to the car. Ella and Jonathan went to the vet with Ryan while I stayed at home with the 2 little ones.

At the vet, Jonathan and Ella both had a clay imprint of Jak Jak's paw with their finger print next to it. Ryan said he went peacefully. They gave him the medicine/ drug and Jak Jak looked at Jonathan, put his head on Jonathan's lap and peacefully slipped away.

The past week has been a hard adjustment for me which for some reason I didn't think it would be. I never realized how much Jak Jak was a part of my life. Every time I make a sandwich I have to stop myself from throwing the crust on the floor for Jak Jak. I no longer have to worry about him getting out of the house when someone comes to our front door or open the back door for him to go potty. No more hearing him bark when the screen door moves from the wind or seeing him get super excited and run to the door when Ryan came home from work. I now pick up cheerios off the floor and continuously remind myself he won't get into the trash or kitchen sink and won't jump up and eat the kids' food when they walk away from unfinished meals.

The hardest part was Jonathan kept Jak Jak's collar and as I was moving it from 2 hangers to 1, the clinking of the tags instantly made me think of Jak Jak. That he was walking somewhere next to us but he wasn't. My heart sank.

I don't want to end this on a sad note and I am feeling extremely sad so I'll share some funny/ good memories about Jak Jak.

When we first got him, one day I came home from work and found a 5lb bag of sugar opened and a trail of it left through out the house. We had to put a baby gate up so he would not get into the kitchen and try to eat anything else. (This was when we lived in CA)

A side note. Even though Jak Jak could walk over or jump that baby gate, he never did. He would only try to push it open.

Speaking of food, it was Jak Jak's love. In addition to food he ate crayons, a nice candle from Hawaii, dirty diapers, tin foil that was used in making dinner, and whole bananas if left on the counter. A few years ago he finally discovered he could easily get into the kitchen sink where he had a field days taking the pots out of the sink, drag them across the floor and then would eat the food off of them.

If I would leave the room to get something for one of the kids or heaven forbid use the restroom, he would try and swipe the kids' food and I would always hear someone yell his name or cry because their food was gone. Then I would walk down the stairs and his guilty face looked back at me.

When Jonathan was 4 or 5 I made him a cake for his party and I left the room for a second and Jak Jak snagged on of the two cake cars. Luckily I had one more cake mix and made cupcakes spelling out his name.

When I fixed dinner he would always walk over and plop himself on the kitchen floor wondering if he would get a nice snack of something. When dinner was served he would walk over to the tiny step, put his bear head and paws on the step and wait for left overs. If anyone left their seat, especially me, he would sneak in and try to snag something. He LOVED food.

I have never heard Lynnie laugh as much as when Jak Jak would toot because his toots could be deadly.

Ryan drove out to PA with Reuben, Jak Jak and all of our stuff.  

Jak Jak was so good with our kids and never bit anyone. He just wanted to be loved and would follow anyone around who showed him the least degree of affection. At times he would get too excited and would jump on a person, which because of his size was could be overwhelming, but he really just wanted to play or have someone pet him. He did know his place in our little family pack and would even sit when Leia told him too.

He was afraid of the vacuum which I would chase him with it if I was cleaning up after a diaper incident. He didn't like the thunderstorms out here in PA and he would sneak up to my room when they were extra loud. At night he would wait for me to go upstairs and then would hop on one of the couches to fall asleep. Speaking of sleeping, he use to snore rather loudly and Ryan would throw a pillow at him when he became too loud and we could not hear the tv.

During three of my pregnancies he would follow me around more. He knew something was up and he became extra watchful and would try to sleep next to my bed.

Even though he was super friendly there were a few instances where he thought someone might harm Jonathan and suddenly became very protective.

The most precious memory was days after Ella was born Jonathan came down with Rotovirus and became extremely sick. He spent a night on the bathroom floor and ended up going to the ER. While at home, Jak Jak NEVER left his side. He laid next to Jonathan until he got better. That is why Jonathan wanted to stay with Jak Jak during his last night with us because he wanted to make sure Jak Jak  knew he would always be loved.

Check up

We have so many kids now that lately when I go to the doctor it's usually for 2 kids. This time around it was Ella and Audrey.

Ella's 5 year wellness visit was great. She did the vision test and hearing test while I took Leia to the bathroom. Everything else was normal. Her stats:
Height: 41.5"
Weight: 42 lbs.

I thought it was rather amusing she was almost 42 42.

They are so nice at the doctors office that they let Leia also get her height and weight measurements. She is:
Height: 37"
Weight: 28 lbs. (our light weight child)

For Audrey, her checkup was normal. Audrey is still not crawling, and also doesn't stand with the help of furniture or scoot across it, but since she is beginning to talk and has fine motor skills the doctor was not concerned.
Audrey's stats:
Height: 27"
Weight: 18.5 lbs

Both girls needed shots and Ella insisted Audrey go first. Audrey only had one and did not even cry. Leia on the other hand started to freak out, once again,  when she saw the needle and did not want anyone to hurt her sisters. Ella did pretty well... she panicked a little. The nurse got her quick with the first shot and then I distracted her, and Leia, while the second shot took place. We couldn't have another episode from Leia.

Only Audrey's year check up in a few months and then the move. Yikes, it's coming up soon. I did get a record of all the kids' shots so Ryan can enroll the kiddos in school when he goes back to Arizona. I still can't get over Ella will be starting Kindergarten!

Ella's 5th Birthday

Ella turned 5!!!!

She started out the day with a surprise of balloons all over her bedroom floor along with a Happy Birthday note  taped to her wall. Jonathan also had a nice surprise. He brought down his trumpet and stand to set up camp. He asked me to help him out and  sang Happy Birthday while he played it on the trumpet. When it came to the end of the song he held the last note, so I held it as well but looked at him to see when we would be stopping. It was incredibly wonderful he wanted to make her day extra special. Next it was a breakfast of her choice, pancakes with white chocolate chips.

Since it was a school day she had a birthday wish waiting for her on the sidewalk next to the building. I dropped her off, along with some cupcakes and so far it seemed like it would be one fantastic day for her.

After school I made a cake and she decorated it. When everyone was home, it was off to go bowling. It actually took us awhile to get through one game but we had a lot of fun. WE were the only ones there until the very end when people from the bowling league began to show up.

At home she opened presents and then we ate cake. She did receive some phone calls but unfortunately was not very polite. The time difference with family is still a tricky thing. She received so many wonderful things. Hopefully one day she'll understand how lucky/ fortunate she is.

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Ryan was scheduled to work on her b-day and since he had to sleep during the day so he could go to work at night, Ella's party was scheduled for Friday, his day off. BUT then Wednesday night he decided to fly out to Arizona to look at some potential houses so he ended up not being there. So much for planning. He did find a house and the party was not stressful to throw, especially since Audrey slept the whole time, so everything worked out.

For weeks I kept asking Ella what kind of party she would like and her response was, "a fancy meal". This girl is in love with the idea of romance and I have no idea where she got it from. After much thought I came up with a tea party theme using milk. The kids could choose from strawberry or chocolate powder, put it into their milk and stir. We had real tea cups to make it super fancy. Man, our house is becoming a little too girly. Along with that was little tea party foods which the kids seemed to like. After the meal the kids painted a little home for a small stuffed animal, cake, and then played a couple games. Short and sweet!

The first game was really cute. It's called something like Cinderella lost her shoe. The kids get in a circle and everyone takes off one shoe and puts it in the middle. All the kids are blind folded and then one kid at a time chooses a shoe from the pile. Once everyone picked a shoe, they take the blind fold off. The kids' reactions were priceless... lots of giggling.

Ella loved the party and most of all enjoyed spending time with her friends. Leia had a blast as well.