Goin' on a Bear Hunt...

For all of you that thought he wouldn't survive... My baby is home and he is healthy. A tad bit skinnier and oh so hairier but absolutely loved his adventure in the woods. After listening to all the stories and the falls and the close encounters I am glad that I tried not to think about it so much or I would have gone crazy. Ryan is covered in bruises and I don't think he wants to see rain or snow anytime in the near future. He was such a trooper though, especially with his knee he pushed through and is paying the price now. I am so glad that he is home and safe where he belongs. We all prayed for him and the girls said the funniest things in their prayers about wanting daddy to bring them home bear claws. I don't know if they understood what it would take in order to get a claw but they though it would be pretty neat to see one. Bottom line we are happy that he is home and we think the "manly" trips need to be done for a while so that we don't have to sit and worry! Love you Ryan and I am so glad you got to have some bonding time with the boys!

Navies Water Day!

On the last day of school for Navie they had a huge water day.  For all of you that think that I cannot get up in the morning I would like you to know that I volunteered at it and it started at 7:45!  I am not going to lie it nearly killed me and I am sure that I have not seen a seven a.m. hour for many years (minus sick kids) and I didn't like it!  Ironically enough the water day turned out to be the coldest rainiest day that Arizona has seen almost all year long.  It was wet and rainy and needless to say the kids chose to participate in the activities that didn't involve water.  However the weather could not keep them away from snow cones or otter pops.  Towards the very end all Navie wanted to do was get her face painted.   There was a long table with volunteer parents doing the painting and after waiting for nearly forty minutes with no end in site I decided to sit down and paint the kids faces myself.  I sometimes think that I have my mothers art skills and that I can do these little tasks without effort.  After lightening bolts on the boys and hearts on the girls I look up to see that a line of ten kids has formed in front of me and they are all waiting patiently for their turn at face painting.  I had one boy ask for a dinosaur (it turned out looking like a lizard) another girl wanted "ROCK STAR" across her forehead and half of it ended up in her bangs.  A third child wanted a snack winding up her forearm hissing, this looked like a big green "S" with a red tongue.  Most parents were laughing when their kids returned to show them and thank goodness the children themselves couldn't see or I feel I would have owed many re-dos!  Hey that's what you get I warned everyone up front but they still wanted me to try.  Anyway it was a great end to a super school year and Navie will definitely miss Ms. Occimmio!  

Announcing!

Though most of you know we have yet to officially announce that we are "EXPECTING" yet again.  I think that Ryan and I are replenishing the earth single handedly.  As I mentioned before since most of you found out weeks ago due to me having an illness, this will be the LONGEST pregnancy known to man.  I seriously am not due until almost Christmas.  I am not going to put the baby ticker on my blog yet because I went to start it and the baby still resembles a tadpole more than a human.  I don't really want to see a frog fetus on the blog.  Therefore I will wait to put that up until I am a little further along.  Thanks to all of you who have helped me out, like before I am extremely hormonal and sensitive and you have all been so patient.  Especially to Ryan who hangs in there through all these baby things.  I think this is it for us so I am trying to treasure every single moment.  We will keep you updated as things progress.  Love to all!

Family Tidbits...

Here are some random pictures of the family as of lately.  I have no idea how to put the pictures in between the text of this post so you all are just going to have to suffer through this.  My Mac computer has no click and drag.  I can barely work this thing let alone figure out how to post properly.  As you can tell my boy is still up to boy things.  He walks around the house with a ball and bat all day and if you get in his way he will swing at you.  Unfortunately he has very good aim so he hits you more than you escape scott free.  He still loves his binkies and with one missing tooth (Ryan and I chose not to fix it considering he knocked it out twice in a week) he is able to fit two binkies in at once.  Blakely just finished her first year of preschool with Ms. Christie.  She absolutely loved her and can't wait to start again next year.  Plus at Navies school they celebrated all the summer birthdays on Monday so she got to have a birthday hat which she loved.  

Pictures

My girlfriend (actually she is a second cousin) took pictures of me and my children while we were in Colorado this past month for Jacquis wedding.  She used to live by us when we lived in Kansas and since then she has gotten married and has two beautiful girls.  She loves photography and was looking for some test subjects and I graciously volunteered.  I have always wanted some pictures that were professional of my children but I myself am not a fan of having my picture taken.  I wish Ryan would have still been there so we could have a family picture taken but he had to come home earlier because of work commitments. So here is the link to look at them I think they are wonderful and I cherish them daily.  Thank you Lacey for all of your time and effort that you put in.  You are truly talented and I think many people will benefit form your talents.  Love and miss you and can't wait to see you again!

www.burkinshawphotos.blogspot.com 

Mothers...

First off I just want to say Happy Mothers Day to everyone.  I think the whole world has been touched by mothers in one way or another so we all have reason to celebrate this wonderful day.

I am personally grateful for my own mother that has stuck by me through thick and thin.  I think I gave my mother a mild stroke in high school with some of my antics but she kept on truckin' and never gave up.  I can honestly say that I now know what she was talking about all those years and all the things she said to me.  I now feel the same way about my own family and my role as a mother.  I love everything about her and all that she does for our family.  She is a wonderful mother and friend!

I also want to say how appreciative I am for my mother-in-law Lenna.  She is a wonderful woman who is the backbone to the family.  She never gives up through everything that she goes through and still has enough energy to be there for you!  She is a great example to us and I am glad that she is such a good friend as well.  We love you!

Now to tell you a little about our very own mothers day experience, hold on guys our life never ceases to excite.  Jag was not feeling so hot on Saturday but I truly didn't think much about it.  He had no fever and I thought he just had a mild cold.  By Saturday night it was a different story and things went from bad to worse.  His fever climb to 104 and very rarely dropped from there all night.  He started vomiting early morning hours of Sunday to the point that Ryan and I felt it was time to get help from someone a little more educated than ourselves.  We took him to the new hospital and went to the ER.  There was no one there and we were lucky enough to get straight back.  The Doctor came in and checked him out and ordered blood work, IV fluids, and a chest x-ray along with a breathing treatment.  I have never gone to the ER with any of our other children and it was quite an experience.  They could not find a vein on him due to the dehydration and seriously four nurses tried.  They finally called down a PICU nurse who completed the job.  This nurse thought that for sure we would be here through the night due to the fever and dehydration and said that she would see us later on her floor.  We all prayed that she was wrong.  All the tests were run and the conclusion was Croup, Dehydration, and high fever.  Once they gave him steroids and a full bag of fluids he seemed to perk up and was doing better.  I am so thankful for all the doctors and nurses that were there to help us out and they were all so friendly and kind.  I am also grateful for the plasma flat screen TVs and cable that were in every room.  We checked in at 6am and didn't leave until 4pm.  Needless to say Ryan and I got to watch a lot of shows.  I am so glad the Jag is so mellow and sat there on my chest the whole time and let them all do their jobs he was so good considering the circumstances.  So that was our day and we are still playing recovery from the lack of sleep!  It takes me a long time to play catch up if I have missed my naps....  But you all know that already!  Love you all and hope you show all mothers respect and admiration all year long.  It is a tough job...