Winter Time

During this time of year one of our favorite things to do is adventure up to Apple Hill. We greatly enjoy the crisp air along with all the different smells. We went up with some friends and had a blast. Here are a few pictures of Lea and her friend Jayden playing. They also have fun stuff for kids to do.

You are Caller 25!

I was sitting on the couch Friday (before Thanksgiving) late afternoon feeding my nephew Tyler when I heard on the radio to call and if you are caller 25 you could win Alan Jackson tickets. So I thought what the heck I will try. I started calling and was caller 10. I was shocked to hear the person on the line say anything, I had never gotten through before. I stared at the phone for a minute and decided to try again. I called two more times and all the sudden someone was talking to me. They asked me my name and what I was doing, I said matter of factly "sitting on the couch with my kids". The person then said well get up off the couch because you have WON! I started screaming with excitement like a kid in a candy store. I had really never won anything before even those little raffles that people have at work I just don't have good luck. But this time I had actually won! The only problem was it was 4:45pm and I had to pick the tickets up by 5:30pm. I had my nephew Tyler with me and the girls this was going to be a challenge.

Well, I shoved the girls in the car, crammed Tylers car seat in and raced over to the KNCI office. I was totally late because of traffic but the were awesome and waited for me.

The concert was the next night and we had a blast. The tickets were in the lower level and were perfect. We were only a couple rows from the floor. We got there a little late because we made dinner for our babysitters, my big sister who is the best big sister and friend in the world and Micah who is also great. James Otto was up first then Trace Atkins and then Alan Jackson. It was such a great concert. I liked it because it was really chill. Sometimes it is nice when the singer does not try and over perform.

The moral of my story:

Even though you might not succeed or have any luck for a long time just keep trying eventually you will! JUST KEEP SWIMMING! (If you don't know what I just said watch Finding Nemo)




I was trying to teach Brian how to take an America's Next Top Model picture.

Trace Atkins

Alan Jackson

Passed Out

Every night before I go to bed (like many other moms) I check on my kids one last time. Many might think it is because I want to make sure they are safe and sound in bed, peacefully sleeping and although that is probably true, the main reason I do it is to see how Lea fell asleep. I wanted to let everyone in on the laugh that I usually recieved one last time before bed.

Hope all enjoy!

Halloween (A Little Late)

Unfortunately, being late is a habit of mine. I really am bad a planning ahead and allowing my self enough time, as well as follow through and getting certain things done. In fact, I was late for my own wedding, sad but true! But I guess better late than never! :-) I am really working on it and God has been working hard on me lately. So because I have not posted in a while I realized I never posted a picture of my two little munchins in their Halloween costumes. Well, here they are and I hope that you all enjoyed eating your kids candy. I know I did!

"Big Girl" What?

Lea has officially been moved to a toddler bed! Most of you might think it is a little early but this is not by choice. About a month ago Lea began climbing out of her crib on a regular basis. I was coming up with creative ways of keeping her in her bed but I have given up. I don't feel right getting her a crib tent because my personal thought is I would be caging her in so we just moved to the toddler bed. She actually does good. She of course gets out of the bed and usually falls asleep on the floor but this way she won't hurt herself climbing out of the crib. She usually plays for a little while in her room and then ends up falling asleep on the floor. After it gets quiet I usually go in her room and put her in bed. I snapped this picture about a week ago. She fell asleep with the brush on her face. The other day she fell asleep with a shoe on her head. She is such a strong willed individual. I can't wait until she is a teenager!

Breast Cancer Walk

It is that time of year for our family that we celebrate and support Brian's Mom Sue and her victory over Breast Cancer. We usually enter most of the Breast Cancer walks/runs. This year the one at the Capital was a little more difficult. We had to have two children ready to leave the house by 6:30am. That is just way to early for me and our kids but we made it in time. All of Brian's siblings were there and the girls had a blast. After the race we came home and all took a nice long nap. It was a very fun family day! Here are a few pictures from the day!

Sister Love...Yeah Right!

I have posted about this before but it is becoming worse and worse. My two lovely little punkins are at each others throats. I know that there is some way to keep my sanity I just have not figured out how. Especially when Kiley, through her actions, makes Lea bleed, gives her a huge bruise on her face or hurt herself in some way at least once a day. Usually when the phone rings I hear a voice on the line but because my beautiful children are fighting I can't make out the actual words.

I love my children and I know that I am not the only one.

I know that many women have gone through this in the past and I know I will get through it I am just wondering if I will stay sane. Is that why most of us thought our Moms were silly when we were in high school or was that just me. Love ya MOM!

In church this morning we talked about the Developmental stages of children and of course sibling rivalry reared its ugly head. It was discussed that there is no stage and that it is always present so, what I am wondering is:

Is it ever going to end?

Am I the only one?

How do I help or hurt the situations? (besides praying because you know I am doing tons of that)

and for my final question:

I know that there are moms that have more than two kids (Christine), which is a huge handful, but how do you do it (Keep your sanity that is)? and What is the secret if there is one?

DON"T FALL FOR IT I GOT SCAMED!!!!!!!!!

866-422-7941

Of all the people for this to happen to I never in a million years thought I would fall for it.

This morning as Kiley was painting (the inside of the house) someone called claiming they were from citibank. They stated that they recieved a payment for a citiflex credit card from my hubby and that it was .30 Cents short and that we incurred a late fee. At that point I should have hung up the phone. Instead I began to argue with them telling the person that we did not have a card with citibank and we traded information back and forth. Meaning they gave me bogus information about the person I thought had opeded a credit card in Brian's name as I acted like a dummy and actually gave them Brian's real info.

866-422-7941

As I look back on the conversation I think to myself that I was a fool! I was unaware as to what I was doing. The person got of the phone with me and probably laughed. OHHH, I am so mad I could spit!

PLEASE DON'T BE AS DUMB AS I WAS!!!!

I called Brian right after it happen and gave him the number, thinking someone had opened a card in his name. He tried to call and it was a nonworking number. He looked the number up on google and you bet it says it is a scam!!! Somehow they put a forward on the number so that if you call it then you really do get citibank, but there is no record of the account.

Here is the number : 866-422-7941

I put the number in here several times so everyone now has the number and does not make the same mistake I just made. PLEASE, PLEASE remember it!

I had to spend all morning and afternoon on the phone with every credit card company as well as Experian, Equifax and transunion in order to put fraud alerts on everything. It was time consuming and very frustrating!

Be safe and don't give personal info to anyone!

Pray for those who got our info that they wont use it!!! Thanks!

Here we are!

So I checked out of the blog world for a little while. You know life gets a hold of you (I really mean my kids) we have been so busy lately and it seems like the only time I get is either late at night when I am too tired or during their nap when I have so much other stuff to be doing. But, I am working on the whole time management thing. Unfortunately I will probably always be working on it with of course the hopes that one day I will be better. I am so glad I have friends that know how to bug me enough (lovingly of course) so that I will find the time to post.

So, ok here are some of the fun events the girls have been involved in over the last couple weeks:


Leas first experience with Jello... Oh, and using a spoon!

Ok so the next two pictures tell their own story. If you have a sibling then you can tell what happen. For those of you who do not have a sibling, I am sorry you never got to experience what it feels like to have them make you their human canvas.



Haylie and Kiley just love each other so much...

We took a day trip to Apple Hill last week and we had so much fun. A ton of the place were closed but there were enough open that we were still able to see some ducks, get pony rides and of course buy some delicious apples.

Kiley found a friend when we first got there and would not leave her alone. She wanted to play ring around the rosey over and over again. Here is a picture of her and her new friend. She is such a friendly little cutie pie, isn't she?
Water Park to beat the heat.

Sleep over with Haylie. The girls had so much fun!

The girls love going in the jeep so we started going for rides on days when it is not to hot. Most of the time they just like to play in and through it. But here is a picture of them after church one day.
Ok, so when I said I was cleaning and doing other things...what I really meant was I was taking naps with the Kiley (this actually happens very rarely). Brian came home for work one day and caught me snoozing. If you don't know Kiley does not take a nap very easy. So every once and a while I will lay down with her and pretend to be asleep until she falls asleep. Well, this time sleep got the better of me.

Brian won tickets to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at Raley Field. It was a very interesting concert to be a part of and not one I would like to attend again.

This is the first time Lea had enough hair to put in piggy tales.

Kiley was mad because she was in time out....oh that is a mean face.

I think I am going to end there, I hope that you have enjoyed the array of pictures. There will be more to come...stay tuned!

Praise the Lord for Lea's Doctors

Lea is the toughest little thing I have ever met.

I will explain.

When we got to the appt. poor Lea was starving so she was not the happiest girl. The good thing is that there were enough toys and other kids to distract her from her hunger. When we finally got called in Lea was given "Silly Juice". OH MY GOODNESS!! She became the most hilarious child I had ever seen. It was almost as if she was seeing hundreds of stars fly in front of her face. I was laughing so hard it was hard for me to hold her. When they took Lea away Kiley cried because she did not want the doctor to take her.
We waited what felt like forever but it really was only an hour. The specialist finally came out and showed us the pictures of the inside of Lea's stomach. She explained everything and said that it all looked normal. PRAISE THE LORD!!! She told us that they would call us back to see her. When we went back to see her she was screaming and kicking in the arms of one of the nurses. We got her some apple juice, sugar water and believe it or not a pacifier. She did not care much about the pacifier which was wonderful (I was a little scared). She was typical Lea: screaming, kicking and being demanding. The nurses told us that she should sleep on the way home considering that she did not sleep very much after they wheeled her out.
Lea of course she did not sleep the entire two hour car ride home. In fact she screamed her head off unless I was stuffing her face with food.
You know I feel truely blessed that there are people out there that God has picked out to do this kind of work and really love what they do. I was so happy with each and every nurse or doctor that we came in contact with. They all treated Lea like she was their child. It made me feel very blessed to be able to have and pay for health insurance.

DISCLAIMER:
Ok, so I am at a scrapbooking party and since my sister got all the creative genes in the family I don't scrapbook. I have tried many times and I just can't seem to stick with it. Plus I think I have ADD because I can't stay focused I always spend a long time looking at my pictures and not scrapbooking. See I just did it I got completely off topic so anyways I just am putting the disclaimer so that if there are errors you will know why and forgive me. It has taken me two hours to write this blog and now I am finally going to be done.
Oh, yeah I will post pictures of Lea in her little hospital that I actually ended up taking home (with the permission of the nurse). It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Oh yeah I also got a video of Lea on her silly juice. It is so cute!!!

PLEASE PRAY!! Doctor Doctor!!!

Right now we are on our way to the Children's Hospital in Oakland for Lea. On Wednesday around 11am I got a call from her specialist that she scheduled an appt. for Friday for a colonoscopy and an endonoscopy. She told me where it was and then said she would call back with the rest of the details. I was a little taken back at first due to the urgency (tone) in her voice. By 4pm I still had not received any more details. I finally called and learned that we needed to be there by 11am. Oh, and that Lea was not allowed to eat or drink anything before the procedure (the actual procedure is not until 12:30).
I am really concerned how this is going to affect her. I know that she is not going to remember but I am. So, maybe I am more worried about how I am going to react. I know and want to believe that the Lord has his hand in this and that He will keep her safe and at ease. I just pray that I can stay at ease during the whole day. I am also really concerned about Kiley because she is beginning to understand so much, much more than I realize. I don't want to shield her from this but I also don't want to scare her. It is such a tough place to be in. The only thing that I have left in me is to pray and ask our friends and family to do the same. Thanks to all!!! I will update after we know more.

The Bravest Girls I Know!

You might be wondering why I used this title for the post??? The reason is because I was blown away at how brave Kiley acted at the water park that we went to in Montana. There was a kid section with two slides and then another part with about five or six big slides. Brian decided to ask Kiley if she wanted to go down one of the big slides with him and after a little persuation she went. I got a few pictures of her sitting in his lap on the way down. I was so proud of her because when I went down that one later in the day I will admit it I was a little scared (I just never told anyone). After that she acted as if she could accomplish anything. She was going up the ramp to the kiddy slides and down them like it was no problem. She even got taken out on the slide by and older kid and did not skip a beat. She is such a brave girl.




Look at that huge smile on her face. She had such a fun time.

Lea had a little bit more of a difficult time adjusting to the water. She took about an hour to get used to the water but once she adjusted she was a happy girl. Of course here are a few fun pictures. The funny thing about Lea is that she would rather eat food any day then play in the water. She is definitly food oriented.

Brian and his cousin Mark went down a slide that looked like the cliff hanger at Water World (I use to visit there frequently when I was in Jr high).

This is Brian and his cousin Mark after they went down the slide.
This is Brian flying down the slide. He was sitting up it looked like a huge rush.

The Family Fishing Trip

One of the days early on in the trip we decided to take the whole family fishing. The place we went you were guaranteed to catch a fish. The girls each got to take their turn trying to fish. Lea was more interested in playing in the water and Kiley want to sit and do my hair. They each fished long enough for me to be able to take a picture which was good enough for me.

Brian and Kiley are actually reeling in a fish. I tried to get a picture of the fish but was unsuccessful. Oh well, it is still a really action shot.
After they reeled the fish in Brian wanted Kiley to touch it. But, that was a no go! She folded her hands and said ewww gross.
This is Brian's Aunt Keri, cousin Greg and his kids Abby and Luke.
This is Lea after she went head first into the icy cold water. She went home naked.
Since I took a picture of Lea, Kiley wanted one too.

Overall the kids had a "super fun" (according to Kiley) time. If was fun to see them let loose and try something that we don't get to do every day. The water was so crystal clear that you could see the fish swimming all around the fishing line. I think that was the girls favorite part.

On the way home the adults got to have some fun. We stopped at a brewery and each had a quick beer. It was nice and refreshing and we did not have to pile out all the kids. Brian's aunt Keri stayed in the car with all the kids while they watched a movie. But, like I said it was a quick one because I could not imagine being in a car with six children by myself (crazy). She is such a wonderful grandma/aunt.