Party of Five-Atkinson Family

Okay, okay...I really need to catch up...

2011-02-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

Sydney Grace was born 2 wks ago and is doing amazing! I know that most of you already know she's here, but just in case, I wanted to show proof! :) Now that we finally have our laptop back (they had to give us a new one), I can take the time to go back in time and update you...it just may be/take awhile. :)

Baby shower weekend down in the valley.

2010-11-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Lori graciously offered to throw me a baby shower back when I first found out I was pregnant. She has a nephew from her moms side (whom I had never met) and his wife offered to throw it at their house in Gilbert. The planning took months and it was definitely a success! A couple friends couldn't make it, so we met up for lunch and dinner the day before (pictured way down at the bottom). I'm honestly exhausted from Corbin's croup, my cold (that seems to be ongoing) and writing my research paper, that this was just a small break from it all and wanted to post these. Maybe one day I'll come back and caption these. There are a lot more, but the upload is insane on this. I have more on my Facebook account if you have one. :)

Halloween in Flagstaff...for the 2nd time!

2010-11-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

We went to the Hartman's again for Halloween. I had borrowed a costume, but low and behold I would not fit into an XS maternity outfit..go figure (literally). :) Poor Daryl didn't have a thing planned as we didn't think too many adults would dress up...well they did. Oh well, we'll be better prepared next year.

Here we go again...

2010-11-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Sechrist Elementary is on of the last few schools to let the kids still celebrate Halloween and dress up. They do a little parade through the school, sing songs and have a fun party! I always volunteer for any kind of party such as these and luckily for me, they have all been on days when I don't have school. I'm sure when Corbin is in kindergarten next year, I'll be running back and fourth between his class and her 2nd grade class with a baby attached to my hip trying to be in two places at once. :)

The little boy standing next to Tatum has a HUGE crush on her and she finally confessed she has a little crush on him as well. I've had a few other parents tell me their boys have crushes on Tatum with one little boy already telling his mom that Tatum will be his wife one day. So it starts....

Carving pumpkins! Below this picture are the final masterpieces (we let Corbin use a butter knife this year and he actually cut out eye holes..Tatum also carved hers with a butter knife too).

Last Ultrasound (22.5 wks).

2010-10-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

For the past week, I've been having several braxton hicks contractions several times an hour. I had an appointment at the new office on Wed (I didn't get to see the O.B., just the P.A.) and told her about my contractions and although I'm not supposed to have anymore ultrasounds, she scheduled one for me today to check my cervix. So really it was a win/win for me. I went in today and she did the vaginal probe thingy and before she was done I told her a small fib that I wasn't sure about the sex of the baby. So when she was done she said, "well lets check things out then" and turned the screen towards me and put the other probe on my stomach. Immediately you can see a fully formed labia, so there is no question. Also, there is a profile picture of her with her shoulder/arm under her neck (looking like a growth). She kept rubbing her eyes too..she seems so sweet already. I can't believe how much bigger she's gotten in only a few weeks. My stomach bumps and moves all the time. I just really wish these contractions would stop. I'm almost wondering if it has something to do with the elevation. I started having them when we went down to Phx last weekend. I also had some major swelling Sat. night, but since I've been back, nothing as far as the swelling goes. Oh well, she looks healthy and that's all that matters right now.

New OB...maybe this was a God thing...

2010-09-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

(20 wks)

So unfortunately all of the ob's that I wanted are unavailable for the month I will be delivering. So I am going with Lindstrom. I went onto Babycenter and found a mom who lives in Flag and who's husband works at the hospital and has all of the dirt on the docs. This is what she said about my old ob Dr. Lin:

I heard that Lin is notorious for accidentally nicking body parts during surgery and that he's left tools in patients. Yikes!! I can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't know that before he cut me open! To Lin's credit, my husband did point out that he may do many more surgeries than the other OBs since he does infertility stuff, which would increase the number of accidents.

She did say she's heard wonderful things about Dr. Lindstrom and he's good with c-sections. So maybe this is really a good thing. Just thought I'd share..pretty scary stuff!!

19 wk, 2 day ultrasound...we finally know for sure what we are having..FINALLY!

2010-09-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

So we went in today and man was I excited. There was a student who was working on hours and I apparently was her patient (the main lady was in there overseeing her work). Because of that, what should have been a 20 min appointment, lasted more like an hour and a half. Daryl even had to leave early to pick up Corbin from preschool. They kept calling her HER the entire appointment and when they went for the gender shot, her legs were crossed (they snapped a picture below). She was very wiggly and towards the end, she kept yawning (pictured) and putting her arm over her face (pictured) as if there was a flash light in her face. At one point she had stretched her arm over her face and she was scratching the top of her head. Oh yeah, I keep saying her and yes, she is DEFINITELY a GIRL! They got a really good "hamburger" or "coinslot" shot of her and there was no way a penis would ever be sprouting from there. They had to put a question mark on there because of sue happy mama's who have sued before when they were predicted the wrong sex. She did say that that shot was one of the better ones they had seen in a long time, so they were 100% sure. They also kept commenting on her lips and how big and beautiful they were (you can see in a few few pictures..especially one if you click on it to enlarge it). I wrote in red pen (and arrows) on one of the photo programs so you can actually see what you are looking at (although you still may need to click on them to actually read it). I forgot to get her weight. I also just found out that my obstetrician up here is moving his practice (or quiting) to another state and the two ob's up here who are supposed to be the best, are all booked for Jan and Feb. deliveries. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do now that I don't have an OB.

Also, at the beginning of the appointment, the main sonographer had this horrible frown on her face and kept looking at the student sonographer to see her reaction. Finally after about 4 mins of me thinking the trainer was just mean and intimidating, I found out the student had the probe backwards (or upside down) flipping the baby's organs completely over. Once we figured that out, everything looked perfect. It was much more relaxed and joyous after that.

And about my dream, I now know Aunt Marcia really had a huge part (other than God of course) in us having our baby girl! I actually cried during the ultrasound (something I have never done before). We know this baby will be our last and for this baby to seem so real now was just overwhelming that having another girl was just icing on the cake!

The baby kicked my hand!

2010-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

**Okay, I've added one of me at 18 wks, 4 days (before breakfast). My tummy is usually much larger than this and that's why I have no problem putting it on here right now. ;)

A few nights ago, I felt the baby kick my stomach and put my hand there, she/he kicked again. So I pushed a little back and once again, the baby was at it again. It was like our first game together. :)

On another note, I've been horrible about taking pictures of myself. I promise, I'll put a picture up soon. My stomach definitely looks pregnant now and I don't have to tell people I am. I promised myself that if I ever get pregnant again, I would document it better (unlike my other pregnancies). Once again..I've not been so good at it.

The most amazing dream last night.

2010-09-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Marcia and I have been very close. We have always been very similar..like two peas in a pod. Most of you know she passed away in Nov. of last year. While she was sick, I remember talking to her on the phone one day and she liked to talk about the kids and if I would ever have another. I said I'd love another and would love to have another girl (now I would love to have either..so it doesn't really matter). I figured since she passed I would have dreams or feel her presence around me more. I did on two occasions feel her presence, but only for a moment and never dreamt about her. Well last night I finally had an Aunt Marcia dream. She came to me and told me that she knew I wanted another baby and made that happen. I could have sworn she said, "baby girl" in my dream, but I can't be too sure...maybe it just felt that way because that's what everyone has been assuming. She said she helped make that happen for me...it just felt so real. I always felt deep down that maybe she really had something to do with this baby and had already met our baby before she/he was sent down to us. It was such an overwhelming dream that it brings me to tears even to type this knowing she won't get to visit at the hospital or play with my third like she did the other two. I love you Aunt Marcia and you will always be missed.

Coconino County Fair!!

2010-09-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Man was it hot out that day! I invited my mother-in-law along with us and forgot my camera..luckily, she brought hers.

16 wk, 2 day ultrasound.

2010-09-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

So we went in for what we thought was going to be a chance to really find out the gender. Here's how this "lovely" appointment went:

I lay down and he puts the wand on my belly and starts measuring the head, body and femur. Right before we got to the "money shot", someones cell rings. I could have killed Daryl, but wait, it was the doctors. He actually answers it and starts talking...for a really long time. He was talking about another patient and their issues which to me was a little unethical because we were in the room and also non-professional since this was MY appointment. So after about 5 mins on the phone he gets off and was pretty much done with me as well and goes, "Okay, everything looks good and it's a boy". I look at him completely amazed..processing..processing..."Wait! Show me the penis!" So he starts to look some more so he can show me what he thought he must have seen. No penis. So after about 2 mins of that, he tells me, "Okay, it's probably a girl...but I'm not 100%. It really could be either". WHAT?!! I actually have to wait another 4 wks for my gender scan. This is going to kill me. So I asked for a few few pictures (since he normally will only give me one). I asked for a profile shot (which is the first one..really doesn't look like a profile to me...the head is on the bottom facing out and the body is on top. Then the 2nd picture is the "toilet shot" which is so blurry because I swear his machine is from circa 1972. I've had people mostly tell me they thought girl since you can't see any real nub shape sticking out in between the legs. Then the 3rd picture is...hmmm..what is it? I went to ask the doctor, but he was doing his dissertation. I have no clue if genitals were involved in that picture or what..or if it's just a femur mixed in with a slew of other body parts..really weird. I'm pretty bummed right now about the gender, but very happy the baby looks really healthy and is measuring really well.

Now these two bottom pictures are from ultrasounds at 16 wks from other people where it was confirmed girl or boy. Just to give you an example. (The arrows point to the girl and boy parts).

School Days!

2010-08-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last Monday the kids started school back up again. Tatum is now in 1st grade in Mrs. Treadway's class. She is amazing and has set the bar really high for her 2nd grade teacher. I'm happy to see that none of the programs have been cut (they did add computers to Fridays..it's just not on the schedule). Corbin started going to Mount Calvary across the street. He'll be going Mon, Wed and Friday mornings and on Monday, he will start back with Sechrist with their preschool program so he can still receive therapies (esp. for speech). He'll be going Mon-Wed afternoons. Daryl and I both start school again on Monday as well. So our schedules will be a little hectic for awhile. This will be my last semester for awhile so I can be home with the baby and do the mommy thing when she/he comes in early Feb.. Eventually I'll go back (but it will be a slow process now that things have changed). I'm really not in a hurry..we just need to focus on Daryl finishing up with school. Daryl has also been busy working for his brother's company on the weekends as well as painting and doing handy-man type jobs for people here and there and it's worked out really well so far.

Slide Rock!

2010-08-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we decided to take the kids swimming at Slide Rock. Things were great until I was walking in the shallow part with them and slide on a slimy rock and it knocked me right on my belly. I couldn't believe I didn't even try to put my hands out or bend my knees..but it happened so fast it was out of my control. So my family continued to have fun while I stayed out on the beach towel above watching and taking pictures. The baby (as far as I know it) is fine. I feel some movement and had bought a doppler awhile back, so I was able to find the heartbeat when I got home. I "officially" find out if the baby is still a girl on Tues. I will keep you updated on that one. :)))

Finally some swim time!

2010-08-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

My dad hired Daryl last week to come and paint his whole house (we could seriously use the extra money right now..so it worked out perfect). The weather was horrible since it is Aug in Phx (my van read 112 degrees..poor Daryl). My dad's neighborhood has a community pool that I used to swim at back when I was little like the kids..pretty nostalgic if you ask me.

(My dad tossing the kids in the air)

While we were down, I tried to visit people I hadn't seen the last time around we were in Phx (other than Melissa since she watched my kids for me on Thurs while I got my ultrasound). One of those places was my brother and his wife, Theresa's new place. I am so jealous they have their "own" place with a pool. Such a great house and they have already done a ton of work to it. The kids just love playing with their cousins (did I mention...a third boy on the way for them..poor Theresa). After that trip, I pretty much parked myself in Mesa for the next few days and refused to drive anywhere far because just the thought of it made me sick since it was so hot out (I am definitely accustomed to the 60-70 degree weather Flagstaff has to offer in the summer). So to those of you reading this wondering why you never got a call..that is why. Definitely next time though. :)

Some randoms over the past month..month and a half.

2010-08-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

My kids love boxes in the mail..so they went to town when Tatum's new car seat..oops..I mean big girl booster type seat (lol) came in the mail. Ever since I have found out I was pregnant..Tatum has been into dolls for the first time since she was one. She made this carrier and carries one of my old dolls around in it. There's a few of her friend Emily's birthday party and then I snapped a picture of Corbin at the Cats and Dogs 3D movie we went to over the weekend. Okay..I'm done for awhile. Hopefully I'll have some pics of myself and my growing waste line to post..although I'm mostly in the "fat" looking stage of my pregnancy rather than a smooth, round bump stage..more like several bumps of goodness going on ha ha. But hopefully by the time school start in three weeks I will look pregnant. :-D

Pioneer Days in Snowflake, AZ.

2010-08-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

My aunt has much better pictures and hopefully I can add those later...

This is the 2nd time we attended this. We stayed at the Johnson residence again (my cousins house) and just had a really good time. They do a celebration on July 25th every year to celebrate when the town was first founded. They do a parade, arts and crafts fair with bounce houses (it was raining..so no pictures), quilt show, rodeo (in the rain) and some fireworks. Daryl ran some sort of a half marathon early that morning. Snowflake is a picture perfect town. Seriously, it's like walking through that movie Pleasantville. So here are a few pics I took..really not my best work since I was having more fun eating and gabbing with my family...you know how that goes sometimes. :)

From the eyes of Corbin...

2010-08-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

I found these on my camera the other day. Corbin did a photoshoot of his sister. Not the best quality, but still cute!

Stay tuned...

2010-08-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

In three weeks, I will "officially" be finding out the baby's sex. I went to the ob today and everything looked great. Heart beat was strong and loud (169-171 range). He told me to come back in three weeks and we'll take a peak. I am so excited to start shopping the sales!!!

12 1/2 wk scan.

2010-08-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

Since we just happened to have a Mesa trip planned so Daryl could paint my dads whole house for some extra money..I went ahead and planned for the 12 wk scan to check the baby's health (among other things). I am most definitely pro-life and would never abort, but any chance to get to peak at our baby is always fun. The tech checked the baby out and checked the nucal fold and everything measured healthy (if it's extra thick..2.5 mm or more, there is a higher probability for Down's). Then I just had to ask (like with Corbin at his 12 wk scan) what the sex was. I've been doing some research on the "nub" theory. Basically, when I fetus is this early, they both still have nubs. But, if it is a boy, it will stick up at a 30 degree angle and if it is a girl, it will lay down at a 30 degree angle. Once the baby finally started to unfold it's legs and we got a good sagittal view of the baby (not pictured here with the nub unfortunately)....

I immediately saw the nub laying flat at a 30 degree angle. The tech wasn't saying anything and kept looking at the different angles and finally said she'd put her money on Girl! The heart rate was still 162 (which Tatum's was always at..Corbin's was always around the 140 range at the most). So I'm not buying any pink yet, since there's still a chance she could be a he. But I will definitely keep you updated. I'm just happy for a healthy baby with two arms and two legs. Tatum will be thrilled for a sister and I know Corbin would love a brother to wrestle around with..so either way..we are thrilled!!

Baby Atkinson UPDATE!

2010-07-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

So the head is on the right side if you are curious what you are looking at. Looks like a lima bean to me..but much better in the video since you can see the arms and legs moving as well as the little tush on the left side. He said the heart rate is still about 160, but didn't officially measure the heart beat since he doesn't like to until after 12 wks because it warms up the amniotic fluid (or something like that). He said I do still have a cyst (which is getting smaller) in my left side, but it's nothing to worry about. I'm gaining weight like crazy (much more than I did with my last two by this time). Oh well..it will eventually come off and now is not the time to worry about my weight. Overall, everything looks great and the doc said not to worry because it looks like a very healthy pregnancy.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

BFP!!!

2010-06-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

**UPDATE~I had someone comment as to why I was put on 400 mgs of prometrium right away..I really should have elaborated that my first two preg. ended in miscarriages due to low progesterone and my last two preg. (which resulted in my daughter and son), I took the meds for the first trimester.

So this is about as long as I could handle it. I've told a few select few, but other than that, I was officially waiting for my first ultrasound to tell. This was our first "not planned" pregnancy, but in our minds, we always knew we would have three. It must have been God's timing, so we are going to go with that. So a few weeks ago I had started feeling really tired and just had that feeling, so on the way home from class one day, I stopped and bought a two pack and went straight down to the basement to pee. Sure enough, two dark lines showed up right away. I called my old obstetrician down in Paradise Valley (who delivered my previous two) and he put me on 400 mgs of prometrium right away (progesterone). $230 bucks a month for two months which isn't fun and it makes me super dizzy in the morning and at night leaving me unable to concentrate or study for my anatomy and physiology class (which was fast paced and also taught by a first time instructor..really not a good combination). So after failing my last two tests and crying over the stress of it all..I decided to withdraw (which is really not my cup of tea)..but I'm so glad now. The only reason I was taking this course was to be able to get into the nursing program much faster (in the Spring)..obviously not going to happen now..so I can relax..some. I'll still continue taking classes (I'll have my associates in the fall..unfortunately those course won't go towards my nuring pre and corequesites). Eventually, I will get there.
So as much as I LOVE my old obstetrician, I knew it wasn't feasible to drive down to the valley in the snow every week towards the end of my preg., so I had to find someone new. Given that we are in Flagstaff..the pickins are pretty slim. I found someone who has been doing this a while and specializes in high risk pregnancies. I went in and saw him today (oh yay..I've already gained 4 freakin' pounds!) and expected the ultrasound to go a little like Dr. DeSanto's would have, but no. Very fast and I asked to hear the heart beat (like I did with my other two at 6 wks) and he said his machine didn't do that (it looked exactly like Dr. D's). He wouldn't even measure the baby until I asked him to and it measured at 6 wks, 2 days..so right on schedule. Then I had to ask him to check around for another sac, check my ovaries, check for any bleeds, etc..etc..(he kept trying to hurry through the ultrasound..really not cool). The heartbeat was sooo fast. He said 160. Tatum's was always that high and Corbin's was more like 120 in the beginning. I'm really thinking girl since I've been a little more queasy with this one. No throwing up which is good. The new doc went on to say he'd deliver me a week early by c-section (so Feb 6th, 2011) and I'd get another ultrasound in 3 wks. Then he went on to say that the prometrium my old ob put me on was a joke. He's kind of a know-it-all and has the driest..and I mean driest personality. It's like talking to a brick wall. But I do feel in my heart he will be great at my c-section. I just wish his bedside manners were a little friendlier. Not that Dr. D (my old ob) wasn't dry, but the ultrasounds were always super fun as well as the appointments. He was always very excited for me. Maybe since I don't know this doc yet, it's different. I just can't believe we are going to have our family completed soon. Financially we may be struggling some..but really, it will only be for the next few years. We can still put three kids through college one day. :-)

The baby is in between the two x's and the yolk sac is on the side. The dark spot is the amniotic fluid (sac).

If you look closely at the video..you can see the fast little flicker of baby Thumbelina's heart beat (Tatum already named her).

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shultz Pass Fire on Father's Day

2010-06-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

What a week last week as far as fires goes (we had 3 fires going by Father's Day). On Father's Day, we decided to go out and try the Lava Tubes with the kids and I look to my left (as we are about to leave the neighborhood) by the mountain that is nearby us and it looks like an explosion of smoke. I then ask Daryl if that was the one downtown that started the day before..he just looked at me in disbelief (obviously it wasn't..it was fire number 4). So we go and explore it (this was at 1pm). Apparently, another fire had broken out at 11am by some campers who didn't put out there fire and the winds were just out of control and really got it going. It is now 4 days later and the fire is finally 10% contained, but still going. We had neighbors knocking on our door telling us to pack our necessities because we'll probably get evacuated it was that bad. Later that night we went across to Baderville with some of our neighbors and looked on top of the mountain with telescopes and could really see the flames going. I have some more pictures on my camera of that, but haven't had a chance to download them.

Site from Flagstaff Medical Center.

In our neighborhood.

On the other side of the mountain. The smoke was pretty heavy.

They blocked off the street because of the fire and smoke.

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2010-06-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

(Example of what I just got)

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She's an official 1st grader...well in a few days.

2010-05-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we attended Tatum's kindergarten graduation. But because of the extra no school snow days we had this year, the school year has been extended out until next week. The one nice thing I have to say about going to college and not actually having a job right now, is the way the school days work out, we are able to be there for the first day of school, graduation and a bunch of field trips towards the end of the year. Since the kids are both sick right now and we are supposed to be in Cottonwood spending time with my mom and brother's family and now can't, this is what I am doing in the spare time I have in between cleaning up vomit, giving baths and washing laundry (again and again and again...). I'm so exhausted I can't even being to explain. Enjoy the pics though! :-)

Here is a very short video below..I was late videoing it because I didn't know that it was going to happen since it was right at the end...but it is the shortest one I have since all of the other videos are several mins. long and it would take forever to upload.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Summertime in Phoenix.

2010-05-17T22:18:00.000-07:00

Over this past weekend, Daryl and I decided to go down to Phx to get away some. Friday we stayed at the Point and went swimming (we were literally wearing a jacket when we left Flag and were in flip flops and shorts by the time we got to Phx..what a shock to the system). They had closed the main pool for the time we were there and could swim, so that was a little disappointing (they had closed it for a private party), but we still had a great time at the small pool by our casita. Jeremy and Becki came and so did Ryan and Christine's family to hang out for a little bit. Then Sat. Daryl went golfing with my brother and Ryan while I ran errands and visited some old friends with the kids (and not to mention, the kids and I got our fix on at chick-fil-a which we don't have in Flag.) as well as a Toys R' Us where I was able to find some clearanced out Astro Boy toys for Corbin (he is absolutely infatuated with Astro Boy). Sat. night Ryan and Christine let us stay over and had a small BBQ with a few friends along with my brother and his family. We had an excellent time and can't wait to do it again. Although I did like coming back to the cooler Flag. weather again even though our tans will fade within a few days now that we are back in long sleeves again. :-)

She still remembered how to swim.My dad came the following morning and took us out to breakfast at the hotel.

We met up with the Lamm girls for some lunch and some girl time (we first met them at our old gym in Litchfield Park a few years ago and was really nice getting to catch up although they are now moving to Texas). :-(

Corbin and cousin Everett had so much fun at Ryan and Christine's house (the boys both had T-Rex's on their shirts..too funny.

Tatum also had a blast hanging out with some of her old friends (Brooklyn, Jillian, Payson and Kennadi).My youngest nephew (my brother's boy), Samuel.

31!!

2010-05-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Well it's not like I'm that excited to turn 31..but I did have a fun birthday weekend. On Sat. day, we went for a family hike and then Sat. night some of my new friends up here (my daughter is friends with their daughters) took me out downtown and covered everything. It is so nice to have good conversation and company which I long for at times when I'm so wrapped up in school and the kids. 31 will be a great year!!

Tatum's first pedicure at the salon...

2010-04-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

You like???

And did I mention that is was super cheap!!

Bye Bye Tangles!

2010-04-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

So today was the day that we decided Tatum could finally get her haircut again from the last time she did (her hair does grow really fast). Her two really good friends from school recently have gotten their hair cut pretty short and she wanted to go shorter. We finally agreed to the length that Carly on ICarly has which was 5 inches off. The picture I posted was at the mall right after her cut. She loves having her ~~short~~ medium length hair now.

We finally have an answer...

2010-04-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

The blood work came back all normal, so no allergies. To recap real quick...he's been having issues since about June and then the frequent urination turned into him having pains in his penis. We have taken him to several doctors since we've been here and have had numerous blood panels, several urinalysis tests, 2 ultrasounds, 1 x-ray and finally a complete blood panel checking for all kinds of allergies which I was sure was going to give us some answers. Daryl took him to the pediatric urologist yesterday (even though he's done with his last bought of it, but we needed to keep it because it usually goes away for a week or two and then back for a month and then so on) and he told him since everything has come back normal, there wasn't much more we could do other than a few invasive procedures which involved putting a camera down his ureter yada, yada..not gonna happen..yada, yada...So he then checked out his penis and noticed the opening looked smaller than normal (which can happen sometimes with a circumcision I guess..which is funny since I felt so bad about it and the nurses assured me that he'd be more prone for bladder issues if we didn't).

So the doc. took this wax (crayon shaped) thingy-magigy with some K-Y on it and barely stuck it in and just kind of scooped out some of the dead skin that was blocking the hole some. He sent the kit home with Daryl and told him we'd only have to do it once or twice more within the next week and that would be the end of his problems for good. I was shocked to find out Corbin did not put up a fight or cry and really shocked to finally figure this symptom out. I think he was just happy to be done with needles.

I uploaded some pictures from my camera below. :-)

This was taken a few weeks back at one of our fav. restaurants downtown (Monsoon). That boy loves his Miso soup.

At another pediatrician vist.Eating some egg drop soup at some hole in the wall place after his new haircut (he seriously needed one).

And finally, his newest prized possession Astro Boy (Wii game). He can't get enough of anything that is Astro Boy.

Corbin and Zach

2010-03-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

On the way to Phx to deliver cookies and then celebrate our 10 year anniversary (yes, 10 years..although it's really on the 18th), we stopped in to visit my mom and her farm (literally). When we showed up, Zach was just hanging out like he was a dog. He kept coming over to me, Daryl and the kids and would nudge us if we didn't pay any attention to him. Love, love that horse. Corbin loves animals and one of the first thing we will be doing when we eventually move out is buy a dog (although, Daryl now wants a horse). :o)

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Tatum...

2010-03-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

Family portrait.

She writes on the white board almost on a daily basis. Here is a sample of what you may find on it on any given day.

The picture above is a picture she drew of her jump roping with her daddy in the kitchen/living room area. I love how she was able to draw the table and chairs along with the lights on the ceiling attached to the wood beams. She is very detail oriented with her masterpieces. :o)

Nanny Goats..One, Two and Three...

2010-03-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

Tatum was the flower.

Corbin taking pictures of the performance with daddy's phone.

Showing the pictures to Ben.

Pictures after the performance with friends.

She had a class party after the play. I swapped my clinical with someone to be able to come to this and I'm so glad I did. :)

I took a short video (below) for your viewing pleasure. :)))

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Melting Winter

2010-02-25T13:19:00.001-08:00

The day has finally come for this much anticipated event, Tatum's first Science Fair and boy did we work hard on it.

Tatum's 6th grade buddy. She is so good with Tatum.

About 20 of the other classrooms had different stations set up for us to go around and try different Science experiments (obviously I stopped snapping after the first two rooms, but you get the point). :)

One.......................................................Two.............................................

and POP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doing a Chemistry experiment with baking soda, H2O, orange juice, vinegar and lemon juice. They got to see what reactions happened.

Both were thrilled and
while Tatum documented the results, Corbin looked bored to death. ;oD

Overall, it was a fun family night out.

I have been so busy making sure Tatum gets her reading, homework and projects done (cookie selling, poster making etc..etc...updating this blog ha ha...), that I'm starting to neglect my own schoolwork some (believe me, not like one of the fresh out of high school kids who do, but more like the leaving it to the last min. kind-of stuff). I have to say, going back to school while having kids is one of the hardest thing to do once you decide to do it (and continue to be a good mom/wife). I've asked Tatum what she wants to be when she grows up and she said a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) and that's it. Her reasons for it are that she can watch t.v. late that are "parent" shows and eat candy whenever she wants to. Yup, that's pretty much me in a nutshell ha ha. I said, once you're done with college, you can do and be anything you want to be. I'm happy she wants to stay at home (if she wishes to) and raise her children, but she needs to get a degree first because one day those kids will start to grow up and go back to school and then what will she do. It was more or less an option for me about college (not for my brother who now almost has his Masters. We both grew up under the same roof, but had very different expectations/rules for each of us). We are just making it known now that college is like high school, you go and when you are finished, you can live your life the way you choose to. We both wish we would have finished (obviously) way back when, but at least we are doing it now. I just don't want our kids to follow in our footsteps. Okay, off of my soapbox for now...

What your face says about you...

2010-02-22T16:57:00.001-08:00

...in regards to your health. Click on this to find out more. Interesting article.

Potty issues with buddy :-(

2010-02-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

I know...really mean of me, but I needed a picture.

So I've told a few of you some of the issues that Corbin has been going through since the move (well a few weeks before the move, so I'm sure it wasn't the move that triggered this now). Basically ever so often he has to pee ALL THE TIME. My friend in the valley was watching him and was concerned right around the time when I first noticed it (about 3 wks before our move). Daryl thought it was a phase, but honestly he wasn't in pain (at the time) and I didn't have the time because of our move and how fast things were going to take him in (I know, bad mommy). When we finally settled in, he started up again and finally I took him in. To make a really long story much shorter (or as short as I can), he's seen about 5 pediatrician's since we've been in Flag (starting in Aug.) and one urologist. He's had numerous urine cultures, a few blood draws, 2 ultrasounds and 1 x-ray (we are still waiting the x-ray results). The first Doctor (for kicks) put him on antibiotics (although his urine was clean meaning no blood/sugar/bacteria) and for whatever reason, it worked after a few days. Then a few weeks went by and the preschool teachers started to complain about how much he was peeing and if I was aware. So back to the doctors and this time around, the antibiotics did not work. Over time the bouts of this have gotten longer and much worse and at times, he's grabbing his penis and crying out in misery as he throws himself onto the floor. So I dose him with children's Ibuprofen and spray some Dermoplast on him (I know..silly, but it seems to take his mind off of it at least until the meds kick in). The last pediatrician we saw last week kept trying to distract him from wanting to go (which we are all so used to at this point) by having him draw a picture of his sister (scribbles and frustrations follow and that was fun) or having him write his name (again, more scribbles and frustrations). After about 15 mins. of talking she wanted to test for strep and then made us wait for the results, finally I was going to take him potty (which you have to understand, when he goes this much, it's usually a drop and he gets so frustrated...kind-of the same feeling you would get with a UTI or kidney infection which is why this puzzles me even more why this has not been the diagnosis). I told her that the kid could be watching his favorite cartoon eating an ice cream cone and he'd still urgently have to go pee. You really can't distract him because he really feels he has to go when he gets the feeling (not matter what is going on). Then she went on to tell me he probably needed OT and Play Therapy (in addition to speech). So now I need to try and get him signed up for that now.

So we will wait for the results of the X-Ray and continue to be stumped. I will keep you all updated and yes, this did turn more lengthy than originally planned. I really hope we will have a real answer soon and not just 'oh, maybe it's just a phase' just like his head bonking. Just an FYI for anyone reading who is in the medical field (and I know a few of you are). I don't know if this is anything, but he has always had the foulest smelling breath (even minutes after brushing his teeth, but no caries on his teeth)..I mean, it literally smells like he ate dog poop and sometimes it's very sweat smelling, but very pungent at the same time, he has always had a strong, musky odor (actually, it's quite manly smelling, but still very pleasant) and he has very sticky poops. I asked if he possibly had a wheat allergy and they said there was no way (I was also thinking juvenile diabetes, but no sugar was in his urine). Soon, I will just need to take matters into my own hands and try and find a cure on my own if nothing seems to work. We are scheduled to see a pediatric urologist in a few weeks (one travels to Flag. from Phx once a month). I will keep you all updated as soon as we know anything. Poor Corbin, this can't be fun. I went through this when I was preg. with him when I had my multiple kidney stones that I was passing, UTI's and kidney infections (but at least I had answers and at least they finally when away when I had him). I have always wondered if he was in some way affected by that, but the doctors seem to think otherwise.

To be continued...

A small reunion with some of our West valley friends :)

2010-02-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

The same weekend we went down for taxes and after our fun trip to the mall (posted below), we stayed with the Gerdes family and got to hang out with some of our old friends (I know these posts are a little out of order, but I'm trying :)). Both Gerdes families were there along with the Arensberg family and Jeremy with his girlfriend, Becki. It was nice catching up with everyone and Corbin thoroughly enjoyed P and K's new doggie, Squirrel. We were at the mall and I was having a watch sized the other day (I start clinicals for my CNA class on Friday..eek) and the jeweler had his golden retriever at the store with him (only in Flagstaff). It was love at first pet for Corbin and I. I would normally never consider a heavily shedding dog, but I'm really coming around to that breed. Who knows, maybe when we move out we will adopt one. Daryl said he gets to pick next and no more boxers :(. We were royally spoiled with Bailey Sue and the other boxers we've had since her just haven't had the brains and the bar had already been set so high. I really miss having a dog though (despite the work).

Oh how we miss our friends/family from the valley.

Spend it girl!

2010-02-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

Tatum has been saving her tooth fairy money, allowance money and some left over birthday money for awhile now and with our recent trip to Phx to meet with our accountant to do our taxes, she had the perfect item picked out, an ICarly Build-A-Bear at the mall (we don't have a Build-A-Bear here in Flag.). It was really cool that she could pay for it herself (along with a coupon) and it's something she worked really hard for which is really good for her to learn as she grows. Really, money doesn't just grow on trees and every commercial you see on t.v. (especially infomercials), she can't just have them, you have to earn them.

Valentine's Friends!

2010-02-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

I had parent/teacher conferences the morning of Tatum's Valentine's party at school, so I was able to stay and help with centers and preparing for the party with a few other parents. When I had my recent "girls weekend" with my Flag. mommy friends, we hit up the outlets in Sedona and bought matching outfits for the girls. They looked adorable!
Pictured above:
Tatum, Emily and Jordan.
Pictured below:
Tatum, Robin and Logan.
Oh and of course Tatum wanted curls, so we did rollers again the night before :).

Oh and as far as how well Tatum is doing, she still can be messy as far as getting her homework done so she won't have to work on it at home, but other than that, she is one of the top readers/spellers in the class, she's doing really well in Math (just like her dad) and she said if they offered a TAG program at the school (gifted), she should be tested for it. She also gets along really well with the kids and never gets in trouble with the teacher. I was beaming from ear to ear. I know it's a little braggy, but I'm one proud mama that I just had to share. ;o)

Snow!

2010-02-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

So with this being our first winter in Flagstaff (or anywhere other than Phx.), I just assumed that "this" was normal. Now I've learned that this isn't. We've had 2 blizzards so far this winter with one being so bad they shut down the colleges and schools for a few days. Then the other one, the elementary school was shut down for a whole week because it had snowed 5 1/2 feet out by us. Because the roads aren't paved and it's a private road out by us, the roads can be a bit rough out here for the minivan, but at least we can use the all-wheel drive truck on those days which helps. There's nothing like getting your van stuck in a neighbors driveway while trying to sell Girl Scout cookies for your daughter's troop 2 wks after getting stuck in the same neighborhood pulling over for a Suburban who was trying to get by which made the van slide into a small bank on the side of the road. This may be our last winter with the van :(. I will miss it, but we may need something more rugged. There's nothing like trying to drive up a steep driveway while your van wants to slide backwards and to the side because of the black ice while your skid light is on.

Happy Birthday Boy!

2010-01-21T07:40:00.001-08:00

I know this is a little overdue. On the actual day of Corbin's birthday (a week after his party), we celebrated again. We sang Happy Birthday again (which he LOVED), ate ice cream cake and since we just had Christmas and a party recently, we didn't find it necessary to splurge on a bunch of presents. We did however buy him a few things which would have definitely been on his wish list had he had one. This present (for instance) he's been wanting since he was two. He LOVES it. We also made him wait to open up the other presents every couple of hours so he could really enjoy each one and it helped really make his birthday last all day. I do this with both of the kids and they really enjoy it.

You can FINALLY say you're 4 Corbin...well in a week..

2010-01-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

For about a year now, if someone asks Corbin how old he is, he says, "Four". Now it can finally be official (well as of next Sunday, the 10th). We decided to throw a small (and I mean small) birthday party for Corbin while my brother was up this weekend. We also invited Ben and Emily and Corbin's really good friend from Acorn Preschool, Cydnie (he would only play with her). We could have done it next weekend, but it was nice because Daryl and I can both get ready for school (which will begin again the following Monday) and not have to focus on throwing a birthday party for him that weekend. Peter Piper didn't start to get "crazy busy" until we were about to leave which was really nice. He really enjoyed himself which is all that matters. It was also very low stress for the parents (which has not always been the case in the past).

Corbin w/ Cydnie. Tatum also got to have a friend come (Ben is her brother).

Ben, Corbin and Cydnie (his favorite Flag. buds).

Tickets!!!

Karina even joined us.

Opening up some presents.

Digging into their goodie bags.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Weekend with my brother's family

2010-01-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is the first time my brother Dan and his family have been up to see us. We had so much fun hanging out and the kids had a ball sledding on the side of the house together. Corbin and my nephew Samuel definitely have a special bond and I can't wait to watch it grow as the years go on.

Merry Christmas to all and to all...I'm going to bed.

2009-12-28T23:40:00.000-08:00

One tradition I am passing on is every single item in the stockings are wrapped. My Aunt and mom would stay up all night and wrap all 8 stockings (my aunts 6 kids, plus my brothers and mine) and when I stay stockings..these were HUGE, bottomless, handmade stockings..so that was a huge job for them.

I have to admit that the kids did get a lot of gifts this year despite our economic state. But what many of you don't know about me is if I see a good deal (and I mean $6 and under for what would typically be a $25+ item, I buy it and save it). So Target has this huge winter clearance sale in January every year and everything is 80% off of the already sale price. So last year, I spent around $200 on $800 worth of items and just saved them. I used them for future birthday parties (which worked great since I didn't have to buy anything all year). I had three 39 gallon bags left over from the move that I packed and then shoved them all up high in the closet. I finally got to a point where I was done storing everything (hey, the Jan. clearance is coming up again ya know) and so needless to say, I was overly generous with Christmas with the kids and other kids we were buying for this year. I did give away a ton of things when we moved because we weren't sure about what kind of space we would have and I didn't want to move everything. So basically, they are restocked. :)

I will miss that this time of year is almost over. I love lighting my Holiday Wreath candles, decorating, baking (and eating) and watching all of the different Christmas movies. We have always made Jesus a huge part of Christmas and really have always wanted the children to focus on him and doing for others versus just the material part...the gifts (although this post does seem a little materialistic based on the pictures alone, but hey, I didn't want to post a pictureless post). I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas this year. We love you all and now I'm signing off after a very long night of catching up on this blog.

A very small Christmas at my dad's house

2009-12-28T23:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas at my dads this year was pretty bittersweet because this is the first Christmas since my Aunt Marcia's passing (she wasn't with us last year because she was going through chemo). My Aunt Jany is having the hardest time of all and decided it be best if she stayed home. We definitely missed having both of them with us. I had taken over hosting Christmas for the previous 2 years, but obviously, I had to pass the torch back.

My dad and Kay bought Corbin the Leapster 2 and Tatum got a dress up box and a Zhu Zhu hamster play pet. Zhu Zhu is this years most wanted toy. Priced at $9.99 each, I can see why. But because of that, people were trying to sell these babies on craigslist, Ebay and Amazon for $35+ and being the kind of girl who would never pay more than something is worth, I wouldn't go for it. When Melissa told me that Toys R' Us had a huge shipment in a few days before Christmas, I called my dad and he was able to pick one up (limit one per customer of course).

Cheers to 2009..may 2010 be a better one.

Christmas at my cousins house.

2009-12-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Theresa with my nephew, Sammy and my cousin Cameo and Ezra.

Arianne, Dayton and Dave. Dave made this awesome book for Dayton. He is truly talented!

I have been celebrating Christmas with my Aunt Renee and her kids since I can remember. Then one day we all grew up and had families of our own and having Christmas at Aunt Nay's house on Christmas was not going to work anymore, so now we celebrate with everyone the weekend before so we can all still have it. This time around, Daryl had two finals to work on and decided to stay back. I took advantage and went up the night before and stayed for 4 days total. It was so nice to get to stay with Aunt Renee and when we went to the Hayward's for Christmas the following day, I got to stay with the kids and really hang out (all day) and it was so much fun (instead of leaving after a usual 3 hour visit). The following day, I met up with Melissa and her kids at the mall over on my old side of town and then we went to see The Princess and the Frog and out to Arriba's for lunch (it was also Mackayla's birthday) and then back again to Mesa that night for more family fun. Hanging out with my amazing family back in Mesa and some friend time was just what I needed.

Reading to the children the story of the Jesus to the children before they opened their presents from one another.

Tatum with Cameo's little girl, Cora.

Tatum with her My Twinn doll (and matching outfits). A birthday present from Grandmommy and Papo (Daryl's parents).

Meeting Bo and Ezra for the first time (Travis and Cameo both had babies recently) :).

My nephew, Sammy (my brother's little guy).

My Aunt Lori spoiling the heck out of my children.

The end of the night: Kate, Brooklyn, Cressenya, Tatum and Liberty coloring :).

After the movies: Corbin, Xavier, Tatum and Mackayla.

Later that night back at Aunt Renee's house. Cameo stayed over with her kids and we all stayed up late and had some fun munchies. My cousin Darce and her girls also joined in on the fun (as well as Aunt Lori). We had such a fun night!

Cameo lives in Snowflake and of course, we now live in Flagstaff. A huge storm was rolling in the following day and I still needed to stop in at my dads house. By the time I got back in town, the snow was really coming in. I pulled into the neighborhood and saw a Suburban coming down a pretty narrow path in the neighborhood, so I pulled over some (to be nice) and then my van just slid off the side of the road and was stuck (the Suburban slowed some and then kept going..real nice). Daryl had been in town buying salt and eventually pulled me out with the truck. My van kept sliding and slamming against the side of the snow constantly. I'm still shocked there isn't a single dent or scratch in that area. What a trip!

Zacky!

2009-12-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, the kids and I visited my mom on our way out to stay with my Aunt (my moms sister) in Mesa for a few days. She is living on horse property and finally has a horse she can board. Zacky is the coolest horse ever! I swear he's almost human the way he responds to people and other animals. Corbin loved feeding him, but Tatum wouldn't dare.

Corbin loves carrying around my moms cat everywhere (he's really a cool cat and would love to have one like him one day). My mom has also adopted Asta (my late Aunt Marcia's dog pictured in the pink sweater). She is doing really well living on the farm with all of the other animals getting royally spoiled right along with them and is adjusting really well. I can't wait until her hair grows back in again. The groomers went a little crazy with her..poor thing! :(

Some more updates...

2009-12-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

We went sledding over at our friends house (they live really close to us) who have the perfect backyard for sledding. I even got in on the action :)).

Tatum's school had a performance with celebrations across the world and she represented Mexico for Christmas. She has gotten so shy now at performances where last year, she was not shy and her voice was the loudest of all. Now, you really can't hear her anymore :(. I have video, but the upload is really slow and I don't feel like sitting hear all night...so you'll just have to enjoy the pics instead :).

One night we made a gingerbread house and watched A Christmas Story (love this time of year).

Okay..onto the next update...

Tatum's "spa" party!

2009-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to have a birthday party (very last minute) for Tatum. We only invited the girls from her class. We didn't want anything big because we always do it big and this year it was small (7 girls including Tatum). Two of my mommy friends stayed and hung out. The theme was "spa day". The girls wore their slippers/pajama's/robes, painted their toenails/fingernails, did their makeup, played dress up and made fancy flip flops. I bought some fabric and cut strips (sort-of like a no-sew blanket). I really don't have any "good" pictures of them, but one of the pictures below shows one of the girls wearing her pair and you can sort-of get the idea. It snowed last night and today, but we didn't have a blizzard like on Monday. It's funny, every year it seems it always rains on the day of her birthday party and it snowed today. She had a great day and...

she pulled her own tooth out tonight! What an exciting day!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Corbin's Holiday Party at Acorn.

2009-12-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...it's been a really long time since I've updated. I am finally done with this semester (as of Thurs.) and since then, I've cleaned, baked, put a tree up and decorated the same day I finished finals and threw a last min. small birthday party for Tatum earlier today.

So now I can focus on my blog some and update you all...

A few weeks ago, Corbin had a "holiday" party at his school. His teacher is from England so they celebrated it the way they do in England complete with poppers, silly hats and mince pies. Corbin really is not as social as his sister and still will mostly play side by side and not with most kids. He really has found one friend named Cydnie (sitting next to him) and all he talks about is "Cindy". She's in extended day on the days that he goes, and only 4 kids stay for that, so he gets to play with her all day long. They will usually hug for a really long time when I pick him up and he will say to her, "Cindy, I lub you". I know he will really miss her when he stops going to Acorn after Christmas break (we've arranged our schedules so he can continue going to Sechrist where it doesn't cost anything and one of us will always be around to take care of them since we will be going to school on opposite days).

I posted a short video of their little performance below (just click on the play arrow to view it). Corbin definitely has his sisters loud voice and you can hear him over everyone else.

(This is not another video of Tatum's party, it only looks like that and once you click on the arrow to play, it changes. I think it's because I was uploading the videos at the same time and it got a little mixed up).

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Thanksgiving with The Atkinson's.

2009-12-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

I was horrible at taking pictures the weekend everyone was here. Daryl's brother, Craig (from Idaho) and his family came down, Aaron (who lives in New Orleans..because of work) and his family from Glendale came up and Byron (who's family lives in Flagstaff, but will soon be moving to Georgia) and his family were here. We ate tons of great food and had a really good time. It probably will be a really long time before we get everyone in one place at the same time again.

School Picture Time!

2009-11-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Tatum's class picture this year- 5 1/2 (Oct. '09)

To the left: Preschool-4 1/2 years.

Corbin's school picture at Acorn Preschool- 3 1/2
Corbin's class picture at Acorn. (Oct. '09)

On the bottom: Corbin's class picture at Sechrist Elementary (I'm still waiting on his class picture). Oct. '09

3 1/2 years.
On top: Last years preschool picture-3 years old (I believe Feb. '09..although the date is off fromthe picture for some reason).

(I almost feel like he looks older last year than he does this year. I do love his picture from Acorn the best).

When his preschool class picture comes in from Sechrist Elementary, I will post that on this page as well, so check back :).

In Loving Memory of my Dear Aunt Marcia

2009-11-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

This was our last Thanksgiving together (before the diagnosis) and the last picture I have of her before she started receiving her treatments.

Despite not feeling well, she still made it to Tatum's 5th birthday party (a few weeks before Thanksgiving last year) and insisted on bringing sides and helping out in any way she could. That's just the kind of person she is.

I insisted we get the family together last May and I am so glad we had the chance to have it done (this is from my dad's side of the family only). She loved getting down on the floor with the kids to play. She never talked at them, but with them. She is an amazing woman and teacher.

This was at Theresa's baby shower for Everett. Much happier times! (pictured from left: Aunt Jany, Aunt Marcia, me and my mom).

The first Christmas I ever hosted at my house (Dec. '07). This would also be the last Christmas we were able to all spend together.

Tatum making Aunt Marcia crack up! She gave Tatum a doggie purse, a princess pillow and a stuffed animal (whom our last dog chewed to bits). I am currently in the process of stitching up a small tear in the side (it was well loved) to try and preserve the purse (she would carry around about 10 lbs of change in it that it just started to give one day). She was always so loving with us and our children and so giving/caring.
Corbin's first Easter (April '06).

Another great pic. of the two. Watching them was always like deja vu because that is always how she was with me as a child and I loved reliving those moments again (I was very pregnant with Corbin at this time).

I am so glad I found these pictures of Aunt Jany and Aunt Marcia. What a spoiled little girl! :)

These were unfortunately the last pictures of have of my Aunt Marcia. I was able to bring the kids over for an afternoon before we moved to Flagstaff (April 24th of '09). She seemed to be doing really well and was healed from her Leukemia and in the process of growing her hair back. It is so obvious how much she adores my kids and how they adore her (poor Asta looks like she's being strangled with her tongue hanging out).

If I had only known that this would be our last visit, I never would have wanted to leave or at least would have made several attempts to visit her more (I just figured she'd come up to see us in Flagstaff soon since she was going to the movies and out to dinner weeks before she passed on). I really just don't get it...She passed on Nov. 4th at 3:30am. She will always be missed and loved. I am so glad for the 30 years of knowing her and am not looking forward to family holiday/birthday parties without her or Mark. It just makes me sick that this had to happen to such a special person. I know she believes in God and will go to Heaven and will see her one day again. That is the one thing that keeps me going with all of this.

I love you Aunt Marcia.

Everyone can go online and sign her obituary. This is what I put:

November 09, 2009
Aunt Marcia, I couldn't have asked for a better Aunt/gossip buddy. We were like two peas in a pod when we hung out/talked. You taught me and my kids how to put black olives on our fingers (which to this day, every time I eat a black olive, I think of your famous relish dishes). You love the same gossip magazines that I read and you share the same fascination for reality tv shows as I do. Really, how can we not be realated? Holiday parties will never be the same. I loved how we would amaze people by how fast we would gab and could always keep up with another. I remember when I was little and my mom no longer wanted to keep our "rescue" dog Pokie and she gave her to you. You always reminded me on how I told you he ate cat poop in hopes that would change your mind and we could still keep him. Little did I know, he would be better off with you. You have such a loving heart and your "rescues" were your babies and they knew it. Asta will be will taken care of by Mark since he loves her as much as you do. You were always so full of compliments for me and always quick to volunteer. Last year when you came to Tatum's 5th birthday party, you insisted you bring some sides and went out of your way to buy her the perfect gift (when it comes to gifts, I have found myself using the comics as wrapping paper when I don't have any..thanks passing that down). Little did I know that Tatum's birthday and Thanksgiving last year at my dads would be the last holiday we would ever spend with you again. I am so glad I was able to bring my kids over before we moved to Flagstaff (the end of July). My kids really enjoyed polishing off your red vines and you were an amazing hostess despite not feeling top notch. Had I known that would be the last time I would see you, I don't know if I could have left that day. I really am shocked by this. I remember thinking one holiday that you and Aunt Jany would probably outlive me because you guys are so healthy and happy and couldn't have imagined the worst thing possible happening to either one of you. I know you are in heaven looking down on us and one day we will all be together again. I think that is the one thing that keeps me from breaking down all day. I will always love you and you will always be my Aunt Marcia.

♥ Your favorite niece, Xandi :)
~ Xandi Atkinson, Flastaff, Arizona Contact Me
(and I was her only niece by the way..so I could put that).

Our first Halloween in Flagstaff.

2009-11-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

Corbin's Teachers (Mrs. Jackie and Ms. Stephanie). I loved how they were able to dress in costumes and have a Halloween party. Reminds me of back when I was young and schools were still allowed to have Halloween/Holiday parties (this is at his other preschool, Acorn).

Another little boy in his class had the same costume. Just had to snap a pic of how cute they were (this boy is 4 1/2, hence the height difference).

Tatum's classroom also celebrated Halloween and allowed the kids to wear their costumes to school. Now many of you may not know, but this is very rare these days. I know many of my friends kids whom are back from the valley aren't allowed to have these kind of parties or have any kind of Holiday party. Sechrist is one of the few left in AZ who still will do it and I LOVE it!

Going on the parade through her school.
I had lunch with Tatum and Ceasar (sitting next to her) specifically asked if she would sit and each lunch with him. Such a cute kid!

I snapped these two pictures off of the wall from her classroom when they went to the pumpkin patch on a field trip recently. I unfortunately was in school on that day or I would have been there :(.

On Halloween, we went over to the Hartman residence for a BBQ and some trick-or-treating. The Leopold's were there as well as the Gerdes' (who stayed with us) along with another family whom we didn't know. We ran into a ton of Tatum's school mates around the neighborhood. We trick-or-treated in Cheshire which is more "family friendly" than our neighborhood. Everyone had a blast and I of course had no problem helping to polish off that dang Halloween candy :(.

Tatum's new ride

2009-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

I know I've been seriously slacking with posting lately (except for these past few days of course). So hopefully these will hold you over for awhile. Before we moved, we gave Tatum's old bike to Aunt Theresa's mom (they have tons of grand kids in their family to pass it on to) and since then, she's been really wanting one. She learned how to ride without training wheels on her brothers bike and it hasn't been fun taking the training wheels off so she can ride his tiny bike and then putting them back on so he can (every 5 mins. lol). Tatum doesn't officially turn 6 until Thanksgiving Day, but being that we now live in Flagstaff and there's a pretty good chance that there will be snow on the ground, we decided to give her her bike now so she can get some use of it before it's too cold/snowy for it. My dad and Kay went in on it with us and she absolutely loves it! Thanks again Grandpa and Grandma Jones!!

(Oh, and I added music again, so you can scroll down to the bottom to pause it if you'd like). :)

Video at Grandparent's Day

2009-10-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

I took several videos and saved two for you. The first is a little long, but keep watching since the 2nd one is the cutest (and the shortest)! The whole thing is around 2 mins. Just wanted to share with you. :)

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Grandparent's Day at Sechrist

2009-10-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Tatum showing off her skills on the playground at recess. She comes home with calluses on her hands everyday.

A mom came up to me (her son is sitting to Tatum's right with the tie on) and said, "My son talks about Tatum everyday and says he wants to marry her". Tatum is definitely not into boys yet which is fine with me. I know I had a crush on a boy in kindergarten that lasted about 4 years (he came to my wedding). And so it begins...

And a few more...

2009-10-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of our kids with the Leopold's kids that I just had to post it. These kids get along so well together and we absolutely adore their parents.

At the Fall Festival at Tatum and Corbin's school. I don't have too many pictures since I was working a booth for awhile and then Corbin had a meltdown shortly after, so we had to leave early.

Corbin with his best buddy, Ben Leopold (he asks everyday to go and play at his house). It's so nice since they only live about 5 mins from us.

Open house night at Corbin's preschool. He was showing off his Science lab skills for us.

Finally, some pictures :)

2009-10-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

My dad and Kay came to visit us a few weekends ago and we headed off to the pumpkin patch. We ran into Tatum's friend, Brian from school.

Our first time driving a tractor.

Yeah, I was crazy joining in on this fun.

Brian's bug birthday party. I can't believe how brave Tatum was (although she wouldn't touch the cockroach..which I really don't blame her).

Just like like the stick bug on A Bug's Life!

Looks like I'm not the only one who got mom of the year award at school so far...

2009-10-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Just because they are celebrities, does not mean the rules change for them. I am happy to report that Pirate Booty is not banned from Tatum's school. Veggie Bootie is her favorite (and mine too) :).

During a recent visit to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, actress Courteney Cox-Arquette dished on the “big summer” she just enjoyed with husband David Arquette and their daughter Coco Riley.
Birthdays aplenty (Coco turned 5, while Courteney turned 45) and an anniversary (the couple’s tenth) were celebrated, but now the family-of-three has moved on to bigger and better things: Kindergarten! “There are a lot of rules,” Courteney notes. “I mean, so many rules you can’t believe it.”
“You can’t bring certain snacks because other kids are allergic. You can’t wear certain clothes because, I’m not sure, they’re too risqué? I’m not sure. And, you know, Coco loves to dress up.”
Prior to the start of class Courteney attended a conference for parents where the rules were unveiled. “It’s an amazing school, but … David was out of town, we’ve been known to be late, and the lady was like, ‘I’ll say this: it’s very, very important for you all to be on time.”
When David returned from New York City the next day, he was anxious to handle Coco’s dropoff himself — but Courteney didn’t have a chance to debrief him on all she had learned. “He’s like, ‘I was a little late,’” Courteney recalls. “I said ‘How late?’ and he goes, ‘Fifteen minutes.’ ‘What time did you get there?’ ‘9 a.m.’ I said, ‘No, you weren’t 15 minutes late. It starts at 8:20 a.m. You were 40 minutes late!’”
The bad news didn’t end there, however! David went on to reveal that he dressed Coco in a spaghetti-strap top and packed the banned snack Pirate’s Booty in her lunch, as well.
“I said, ‘David, that’s three rules!’ Our communications went through a breakdown, but we’re gonna get through it. We’re going to get expelled.”

Once again, another pictureless update

2009-10-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Our lap top's battery completely died and since we are still in the process of buying a new desktop and ordering a new battery, I have to use my in-laws computer. I don't use it near as often as my own and obviously don't upload pictures on here, so another reason why my updates have been so scarce...and pictureless.

Corbin: I'm proud to say he wears underwear at night now and has been for some time. He has had a few accidents along the way and that's primarily due to his bladder "issues". I've taken him to a few doctors including a urologist and no one knows why the kid says his pee pee hurts and he has to pee all of the time. He's had blood work, numerous urine samples and even an ultrasound of his kidneys (we go in again on Monday for a more thorough ultrasound). I really don't know what the deal is since everything keeps coming back negative.
He has also started attending Tatum's school on Mondays and Wed mornings. He is in the special needs preschool program next door to Tatum's classroom which she loves. He receives speech therapy on those days. They have two special needs programs there. One for more typical needs such as speech delay (which is where Corbin is) and one for more severe needs. There are only 5 kids in his class with one teacher and 4 aids (not to mention his speech therapist who comes in on the days he's in class). So that is really nice! We went to his other preschools open house last night and saw all of the neat things he has been doing. Mrs. Jackie had the kids draw a picture (Corbin's was all scribbles of course) of what he sees outside and he said, "Motorcycles go boom, boom, boom and loud". Daryl and I were cracking up at that since he's been obsessed with motorcycles lately for some strange reason. Other than his bladder issue and small speech delay, he's really doing well.

Tatum: Tatum has joined a Daisy Girl Scout Troop at her school with a few of her friends. I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout, so it's only fitting that she does this as well :). Tatum has FINALLY learned how to ride without training wheels. We just got a bike trailer and will take the kids out occasionally (although I can't keep up with Daryl since I'm such a whimp on the bike). I have a feeling this won't last too long since Corbin is now pretty eager to ride without the training wheels on as well. Tatum is also reading really well. She's in the top percentage of her class with reading and everything else you would expect from a kindergartner. Her only downfall is she is always in a hurry to finish her work, so she can be a bit messy (so her teacher says), but I'm definitely not going to look down on that as long as she's excelling and not getting into trouble (which she's not...must be a girl thing lol). :)

Daryl: Just started on-line school last week and is doing really, really well. The guy is so book smart and if only I could steal just some of those brains I would. He painted this house with his uncle and cousin last week and then had 3 assignments all due and had pretty much one and a half days left to complete them and did. :)

Me: Am finally starting to really adjust to our new life. It was definitely pretty hard at first, but now that my brain is finally starting to work again (in school mode) and I am making friends, it's making things much easier. The people here are super nice and the weather is just starting to get cold (we have the heater on in the basement now and it's been on for a few days). I've talked to a few neighbors about how the electricity will go off for days in the winter and your just stuck since no one will plow the road back here...I'm really just trying to block those thoughts out of my head since that sounds like no fun.

Another Update (sorry no pictures this time)

2009-09-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

While Daryl has been waiting for that company to call him (pretty much blowing everyone else off since they really didn't have any work for him anyway), he made the decision that maybe he should just make the most of his time while we are here and go back to school as well to finish up his degree. He has pretty much decided to stay away from anything construction related and has enrolled at Rio Salado online for the remaining of this semester taking accounting, a business class and another one..I think Psychology..not sure though... So in addition to helping me with my online Math class (which I am SO glad this is the last semester of that), he will be doing that. He's really thinking along the lines of Hotel Management..but he could still change. He's just too smart not to go back and do something else. Next semester he will have a pretty full load along with myself at CCC (he will eventually have to transfer on to NAU). We have been approved for financial aid (our special circumstances was approved) and he will now apply as well. We are definitely doing things backwards as far as marriage/family and going to school, but at least we are finally now doing it. He still may try and pick up something very pt, but we figured out our bills and what we need to live and we should still be fine despite everything. I know many of you have been curious as to what we are doing or are going to do, so I wanted to give you a brief update. Hope this answers any questions :)).

Oh and I forgot to add that that company decided to "finally" call him the day before he enrolled at Rio saying they just couldn't pay him what he was worth and didn't think they'd have the work for him come winter, but really wanted to hire him..but just couldn't. The guy who interviewed him didn't even have the gonads to call him, he had the guy from the Phx office call. Fine for us...this ended up working out well and I know that God has a plan for us and I really feel now that school is in "his" plan :). It also works out nice with the kids and organizing our time around school and around them not having to leave them at daycare for 40+ hrs a week while we are in school, since we can schedule classes at various times (or at least that's what we are hoping for).

Fair Time!

2009-09-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

This was our first time at the Coconino County Fair. We have been looking forward to this for a few weeks now and our friends (the Moreno Family) have been wanting to come up, so we figured this would be the perfect opportunity to have them up. The best part was the livestock. There was a HUGE rain cloud over us the entire time, but only dripped a few times (but soaked our neighborhood). So we really lucked out!

This is Corbin's "smiling" face. He almost looks a little creepy when he does it lol. He's definitely not as photogenic as his sister. It's either this face, frowning or just looking in another direction altogether lol.

This is what our van read on the way home from the fair at 7pm. There was snow on top of Snowbowl as well..the pictures were just a little too blurry to post.

The girls first sleep-over.

Corbin enjoyed taking the boys (Max pictured) for some driving time. Corbin is now "officially" potty trained. He has been day trained for a while now, but night trained for a little over a month (Tatum didn't night train until 4 1/2, so this is awesome). He had one accident up here at night in his pull-up, but tell him he can't go driving the following day if he goes pee in his pull-up that night and that has really worked like a charm!

Eating kettle corn at Art in the Park (love it)!

Tatum is a hula hooping Queen now!

Finishing off our visit at Oregano's for lunch :)

It's a small world afterall...

2009-09-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

Corbin, Tatum, Jordan and Emily :)

Tatum had her first ice cream social the other night. So we packed up the van and made the 20 min drive to her school. As soon as we were walking up to the front door of her school, these random kids whom I've never seen before are saying, "Hi Tatum". I'm proud she has many friends and she is so social, but it was also really weird since I have never met any of her "bus" friends before. I don't know..maybe it's just me, but since she's been little, I've known everyone she knows and now she is so independent..I kind-of like/don't like it..I'll let you know when I figure it out lol.

So on to the story...Tatum has this girl in her class, Emily (pictured at the very top with Tatum). Tatum talks about her every day and how they share snack on the bus and Tatum just thinks the world of her. So we walk into the cafeteria and Emily runs over to us saying, "You're here!" So her parents immediately come over and introduce themselves to us. They have 3 other boys (she's somewhere in the middle). Their youngest one is Corbin's age. So we get our ice cream and sit with them. Her husband is an nephrologist which is awesome, since I've seen a few urologists in my life due to my kidney issues when I am preg and it was really refreshing to find someone who actually helps to prevent them vs. getting rid of them. Okay, so on to my story. So I get to talking with Emily's mom and she tells me they just moved up from Phoenix about a month ago (well the PV area). They live about 5 mins from our "new" house. Then we talk a little more about where we grew up and come to find out, we grew up in the same area and went to Encanto and Clarendon elementary school (not the same years though). For about 6-7 years, I swam on a private swim team called the Rons Club. Our rival team was The Terrace Club and she swam on it. So we talked on finding out we were both in Brownies and Girl Scouts (she's going to start a Daisy troop in Flag and Tatum will join it with Emily..can't wait)...then I find out her mom was my brother's 3rd grade teacher! So her mom Facebooks me today asking me about my brother and saying how she remembered me and has already met Tatum when she was helping out the other day. I really had needed that since I was starting to feel so isolated and lonely and that really helped. So we are done eating our ice cream and Emily comes over and starts cleaning up everyones bowls and putting them in the trash. My jaw literally dropped to the floor. Her mom said that she has always naturally been this way. Definitely a great influence for Tatum :)).

Gotta love these kids!

2009-09-02T23:20:00.001-07:00

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Homesick :(

2009-09-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I'd ever have to post this in my blog...we've literally been on fast forward for the past several weeks, that I really hadn't had the time to really let it all sink in. So Sat morning, we are driving around running errands and I start to get choked up. I mean really emotional and I feel silly since the kids are happy and so is Daryl. I'm sitting there thinking, "Okay, I'm done with my vacation and ready to go home and go back to my life". You know the feeling you get towards the end of any vacation where you know you are just ready to get back to reality. Well that reality is this reality and it never really hit me until a few days ago. It helps to have a Facebook and a cell phone to stay connected, but it's really not the same. I really miss my gym classes, my friends, the ability to just send my kids outside to burn off energy (in a fenced backyard) without worrying about whether or not a mountain lion is going to eat them since there is no fence here, being able to meet friends at the drop of a hat for a pizza play date, the e-vites to birthday parties or GNO that I will have to miss due to us being 2 1/2 hrs away and I miss the kids having their own rooms and their own space which everyone really needs. I worry whether or not I will be a good student or not or whether I will pass my classes and really fulfill my dream of becoming an RN. I miss my house and my things. My house is still there (it's being rented), but our things are gone. We do have Tatum's bedroom set in storage since it was our first set and a few other small things. But as far as couches, tables, tv's...all gone thanks to craigslist. Tatum even told me the day after my meltdown that she missed playing in her room and all of her other toys that I gave away since I had no choice (we just don't have the space). Her play area is literally next to my bed. We are living in a 700-800 sq ft area in the basement and are trying to make it "home", but it's still really an adjustment. The kids are doing well a few flights up sharing a room together. But it's still not the same since they just have beds up there and it's really not their bedroom.
And to top it all off, those people never contacted Daryl about the job that they supposedly wanted to hire him for. We still have a fund set aside for our van and house payment, so that won't be a problem. But still no fun! Our in-laws have been here the majority of the time we have been here so far which is great, but is hard because I feel like I need to keep a close eye on them at all times so they won't bother them (even though they told me they are fine), I just still naturally feel that way, so it just adds to it. I feel somewhat guilty for even posting this post, but it's only natural and I'm sure most of you would be feeling the same way. Yes, we are very blessed for this opportunity and it could have gotten pretty bad for us. We'll make it through and things are only going to keep going up from here and one day we'll look back at this time in our lives and just be so thankful for everything we have.

Time for another round of randoms...

2009-09-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

These will be in no particular order...just a few over the past few wks I've had a chance to snap :).

I took this one today. I had an idea this morning to take Corbin out on the trail nearby the house for some exercise. Might as well get out in this fresh air and enjoy it before it gets too cold. I also figured I should get a few more uses out of this brand new stroller before he decides he won't ride in it anymore and then have to realize it really was a waste of money ;P. I miss my gym :( But hopefully if I do this a few times a week, it will help offset the extra snickers/chips/drumsticks that come fully stocked at this house that I can't stop eating lol.

Tatum started riding the school bus a few days after school started. I was always the type of mom that said I would never do that. Corbin sort-of broke the mold last year when the parking at Litchfield Elementary was just too much to handle and the fact that they would drive right up to our house and buckle him in a car seat made me agree to it. This on the other hand is not right up to our door since we live in a private neighborhood in the backwoods. So we have to go out to the main road to meet the bus. We LOVE the bus driver. He is a pastor for a Baptist church up the road and I fully trust him and his driving capabilities (we followed him the first day as you can see from the picture above lol). Tatum rides with her best friend from her kindergarten class and she has made friends with a few other 1st and 2nd graders which she loves.

This was how Tatum's classroom looked the night I went to the open house for parents only. So far no homework which is shocking to me because Sechrist is the top elementary school in Flagstaff with top notch grades, parents/students and teachers, but I've been told it is to come. I am practicing with Tatum every night on her reading skills and she's getting much better, so at least I don't feel she's falling too far behind everyone else. So far, I have not been a top notch parent though. I failed to put a note that she would be riding on the bus home in her backpack, but attached it to the outside (so I got a small lecture that night from her teacher lol). Also, I guess the girls are not allowed to wear spaghetti strap tops or tank tops to school. I should have gone over the manual (hey, I have been a little busy these days), but didn't and Tatum had to come home and tell me no straps like these (pointing to her spaghetti straps). Then I sent her to school on another day with thick straps and once again, got another lecture from Tatum passed down from her teacher (I don't get it, she went to a Christian preschool last year and I never got that lecture..must be her class only since Tatum said plenty of other girls wear shirts like that). So so far, I'm not parent of the month..but oh well..I'm trying...I have signed up for a few days of helping out in the class, so hopefully that will make up for it.

The kids usual position after a bath lol.
A self portrait of Tatum she drew at home one day..she's even designing outfits now for them.
Corbin now insists on dressing himself from head to toe. Usually he does pretty well as far as what he pairs together. This is just another random picture of him playing in the garage with a toy. He's been really into remote control cars and driving the hot wheels lately.
This was awesome! So I'm driving Corbin to school on the first day and right there (at 8:30am) on the side of the road (across from the house) was a young deer...just hanging out. Because I had my camera on hand to take pictures of Corbin's first day, I just started snapping away. I must have gotten at least 10 pictures. But I won't bombard this post with them..I think you get the idea :))

Corbin's Turn...

2009-08-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Corbin started his first day of preschool at Acorn. I searched for the perfect preschool for Corbin and was having the hardest time since we are still so unfamiliar with Flagstaff. Places were either not good enough or just too expensive. I found a lady who did a Montessori program out of her home, but couldn't start for another month (my first day of school was today as well, so needless to say, we needed something sooner). I went into another in-home Montessori school (or so they say) and was not impressed. The problem with these in-home places are is they are swarming with babies and two-year-olds and that really isn't fair to Corbin now that he is 3 1/2 and really ready to learn. One of the parents at Tatum's school told us about Acorn and how their son went there and loved it. So we checked it out...we immediately knew this was the place for Corbin. At Acorn, they have converted a house into 3 classrooms. His teacher (Mrs. Jackie) has about 8 children in her classroom. She also has a full-time aid and another aid who floats in from time to time. It's a really neat program. He will go Tues and Thurs from 9-3:30pm while I am at Coconino. They are also one of the only accredited preschools in Flagstaff and all of the teachers at least have their Masters. His teacher is so loving, but structured and that is what we were looking for. Not to mention, the location is perfect since I will be going to two different campuses and it won't matter since it's smack in the middle. He will still qualify for free private speech therapy at Tatum's school twice a week. Other than that, he's doing phenomenal!
*check out the Acorn website if you get a chance..just click on the link on Acorn*

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Her first day of many years to come...

2009-08-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

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Tatum started kindergarten in Mrs. Roth's class today. There are 9 girls and 16 boys this year..so a very big class. Thankfully she has an aid as well as plenty of parents that want to help out. Today was a short day just to get them accustomed to going and Fridays will always be half days. We put rollers in her hair last night so she could have hair like her cousin Devin for the first day of school. She loved it! The weather was 70 degrees out and drizzling out when we got there. What an amazing school!!

Keep your fingers crossed...

2009-08-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that Daryl "officially" (I use that word in quotes a lot don't I lol?) started looking for a new job. He had his resume updated, printed out on really nice paper and looked like a total stud heading out the door. The first place he went to took one look at his resume and grabbed someone to do an immediate interview right there on the spot. They said their lab manager just left for Phx and he would be perfect fit (he was already planning on just getting a lab technician title if he was lucky..he even thought he'd be stuck busing tables if he had to), but management! He has years of experience, but usually it's much harder to find a job like that...especially in Flagstaff. He could also do field work as well (I'm really hoping for a company truck..but we can't be too picky in this economy now can we). They are going to call his references and then if everything checks out, he's hired. He went to two other companies and they were giving him the whole song and dance of the winter is coming..so we won't have much work...really can't pay much...So the first place (I forget the name), calls him later today and told him the pay range obviously won't be nowhere near what it was before, but it will be more than he thought, so of course we were all elated at that. In addition to our usual bills, we will actually have some spending money..hooray! Sure we spend now, but at least it won't be on the credit card lol. We should know more in the next day or two. The place is also about a 15 mins drive from the house which is awesome! At least he will get to go with Tatum on her first day of school on Thurs. It might be the last time for a while where he'll be able to do that now that he'll be a working man again. We have been so spoiled having him home (or should I say I've been spoiled). You always have to look at the positive when the negative comes around. The biggest thing that has come from all of this is Corbin. He has come such a long way. I really feel that with the combination of his therapies (speech and OT at school), his preschool and having his daddy around ALL THE TIME, has helped so much. And now of course we are living in Flagstaff (which probably wouldn't have happened had he not lost his job). Everything is really falling into place around here and we really feel like this was meant to be. The timing couldn't have been more perfect!

We love it when friends come to visit :)

2009-08-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

My good friend from my childhood (Melissa) came up with her family this weekend. We had such a blast showing them around town. The guys grilled, we scoped out elk on Sat night (we saw at least 20), the three older ones slept in the game room together watching a movie together...we just had so much fun. I have too much to do, so I can't really "blog" right now, but I wanted to throw some pictures up for your viewing pleasure lol.

Tatum officially starts school on Thurs. I'm sure I'll have more updates soon..so stay tuned. :))

We're officially unpacked..but I don't have the pictures to prove it...

2009-08-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's pretty pathetic since I am all about taking pictures and documenting certain events going on in our lives...but we've been busy (I don't have a single picture of our empty house, a before picture when it was clean and ready to rent or a picture of boxes piled high everywhere). So Dan and Jeremy came over Friday night and loaded up the Uhaul.

Then the following day, I'm going to clean our house to get it sterilized and clean for our renters and my vacuum goes out (the one I've been telling Daryl it's time to replace for about a year now). So I call Christine and she comes over with their vacuum and then in a round about way, asks us if we'd like help going up. I of course jumped at that since I knew we'd need the help and then they'd get to get out of the heat and have a place to stay. We took off about 1pm and right around the Anthem area, I notice black rubber flying at my van. Then I start laying on the horn and flashing my lights at Daryl. It was the damn Uhaul (I even thought about what we would do if that were to happen moments before). It was in the worst spot imaginable. I called Ryan and Christine who were about 5 mins behind us. We then decided to drive a little more to get out of the way. People were whizzing by us at 85 mph and not getting over (really pisses me off when people do that). We then had no choice but to drive the wrong way on one of the off ramps to pull off into a dirt field (I mean, we had 4 children with us). After 45 mins of Daryl getting put on hold with Uhaul, he finally got ahold of someone and they told him it would be about an hour. So they told Christine and I to go ahead with the kids while they waited another hour (well that's how long they thought it would take). Come to find out, the guy who was coming to "rescue" them with a new tire also had a blow out and had to wait for someone to come and bail him out. By the time we got to Flagstaff, the guys had just left. I was able to get the vans unpacked by the time they came. My cousin and her husband (who live in Flagstaff) had a load of their things as well (they were in Phx at the time). So all three guys unloaded (with some of my help of course) that night (thanks again Arianne and Dave..we owe you). We have stuff in storage in Glendale, stuff in the storage outside our door (down in the basement) and the basement is now fully cleaned, organized and fully unpacked as of about an hour ago. We got to sit out on the back porch while it poured down eating dinner tonight. Ah..this is the life!

Corbin visibly upset that his tires wouldn't work in the dirt and would just spin out (it was 105 degrees out..at least at the time). *this is when we were stuck*

Proof of our "fun".

Ryan trying to keep the kids entertained while we waited and waited...Corbin was not having it though (he was also having potty issues because of his UTI, so it was not a fun ride up).

Our first Farmer's Market. One of many I'm sure. We all took a day on Sunday and checked it out and then went to lunch at Collin's Pub.

This was halfway through the damage (it was much worse before). I just thought I should grab my camera and snap a few pics to give you an idea from yesterday...

I'll get more pictures later on of our finished job. Just wanted to give you a quick update :)

Our friends are the best!

2009-08-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan and Christine threw Daryl and I a going away party. It was very last min. and we still had a really nice turnout. I didn't want a lot of people so we could keep it a little more intimate. Well most of our friends already have 2+ kids and needless to say, there were more kids there than adults. It was nice to take a break from the packing to have a few drinks with a few good friends.

This blog is going to be short since I'm exhausted from a long day at urgent care with Corbin and lots of unpacking (but of course I had to include a few pictures of the party). We've been in Flagstaff since Sat. and the weather couldn't be more beautiful. My poor little buddy has been peeing excessively lately and I've been telling Daryl we need to get him seen. Melissa watched our kids on Friday and noticed how much he was peeing. Finally it got to the point on Sunday where he was starting to just stay on the toilet since as soon as he would get done, he would have to go again. I completely empathized with him since I've been there done that before. We went to urgent care today and spent several hours there, but I'm glad he's on antibiotics now and he can get rid of it. They are sending his urine out for more testing just to make sure it's nothing more than a UTI and we have to go back on Thurs. It's definitely not diabetes since there was no sugar in his urine (thank God). I'll update my blog another time with more pictures of the move.

Almost there...

2009-07-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

My dad plans a trip every summer and rents a home in Kachina Village for the weekend. It just happened to be this weekend (which obviously was planned over a month ago). So we made the most of not being able to be home to get things done, to be there getting things really done. I enrolled Tatum at Sechrist over the internet and the principal gave us a private tour on Wed. What I didn't know is that her new kindergarten teacher would also be there to meet her. What a wonderful principal and teacher. I couldn't have been more impressed with the school. Just the fact that they opened it up for us when it was closed said a lot. It's also an excelling school. She will have P.E., computers, science lab, art, music and library time. We met at the school after dropping Marley off at her new home. So far so good...

Then the following day we were hanging out at our new home in Flagstaff and I got a call from my friend Nicole (her daughter Mia went to preschool with Tatum) and she said she was in Flag and wanted to stop on by to check it out on their way to New Mexico. It was so much fun for Tatum to have her first official play date with a friend from home and we haven't even moved in yet. I'm sure they will be up here lots to play. My dad and Kay also came over to check it out as well.

And one of my favorite things to do (so far) in Flagstaff is to go downtown for dinner and actually eat outside and enjoy the scenery, music, people and most of all, the weather.

Yes, I did take him to get his haircut (yet again), but this time, I had her go much shorter. I just got sick and tired of fighting him over combing the knots out. I also had them chop 4 inches off of Tatum's hair. It's still shocking when I look at both of them, but she had some nice split ends going on herself, so this will help as well. Her hair grows so fast, I'm sure it will be grown back by her birthday.

So I checked out Coconino (the main campus) where I will be attending. I am SO excited. I peaked around the school and was really impressed. It's nice and small and well...the whole thing is just so exciting. I was however, not impressed with the preschool that is connected to it (The YMCA), so he will not be going there while I attend (which would have been so easy and really nice to get to check in on him in between classes..but like I said, not impressed). He does still qualify for the special needs preschool at Sechrist. But unfortunately, it won't work out either. The days/hours are Mon-Wed from 8:30-11:30 and I will be in school for the first 2 months on Tues and Thurs starting at 11:30. But I spoke with the speech therapist already and she said she would meet privately twice a week (for free) at the school for one on one speech therapy with him until she feels he doesn't need it anymore. I've been calling on some preschools and man are they expensive there. I did find one that is a little more price friendly and plan to check it out next week. The speech therapist said she's heard good things, so hopefully that will work out.

A new home for Marley

2009-07-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Because of our new situation, Marley could no longer be apart of our family :(. We really had no other choice and sometimes you do what you gotta do to make things work. I posted an ad on craigslist in Phx and in Flagstaff and worked really hard on finding her the perfect family. I had about 5 people contact me in Phx and 2 in Flag. I'm so glad I posted in Flagstaff because the new family we found for her couldn't have been a better fit. She is not yet house trained on chewing up kids toys and it's perfect since they have college age kids. They also have a 1 1/2 year old Boxer mix named Ozzie. The family is extremely active and spend the majority of their time being outdoors doing things like hiking/camping/canoeing and they take their dogs with them. We met up with them on Wed. Tina had some of her friends/family over to meet her for the first time. They had a welcome home party for her today (Sunday). She gets to share a room/bed with Ozzie now that her son has moved out. She honestly couldn't have had a better deal. Now she gets to live in cooler weather, have a nice bed to sleep on and she gets to get royally spoiled with her new lifestyle. Tina called me today to say she definitely misses us, but they are very happy to have her. She went on her first big hike yesterday with them and another one today. In a few months once she gets settled, we are going to go over for a visit. I'm glad she's agreed to keep in touch and will send pictures and we will get to visit on occasion. She really has a much better deal with them and it makes my heart feel good that we were able to find her the best situation for her.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New tenant update

2009-07-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

So after that lovely post about our supposed lovely new tenants...well it wasn't a happy ending after all :(. I am so glad they weren't meant to be because if they weren't, we wouldn't have found who we now have. Basically what happened was we were talking with our friend Ryan (who happens to be a Realtor) and he said that we needed to get first and last months rent, a $300 non-refundable deposit, run their credit/background, verify employment...We e-mailed them the list the following morning and then didn't hear anything. I thought it was really odd since they were so excited and kept calling us to say how they couldn't wait to move in yada yada. Then 6 hrs after that e-mail, they pretty much sent us a John Deere letter in a sense. They started off with "Unfortunately, those extra costs are going to be too much...good luck.." So I immediately called them because I couldn't understand how they could be all excited just hours before and then they were getting cold feet. So Daryl spoke with them and said we would waive the $300 fee and let them do first and half of last but we still needed to check their background. They said they would think about it..but it still didn't make sense. In the meantime, I called back the previous people who were interested and one other whom I pretty much blew off since we thought it was a done deal. Both were very excited to come back and see it (the other ones wanted to buy..but we weren't interested in that at this point). So the previous couple called and asked if we would consider $100 less a month in addition to no deposit, no background check and first and half of last months (which was nuts). We told them we had two appointments and would let them know. The first couple that showed up walked in and immediately fell in love and wrote us a check to go towards their deposit and first and last months. They agreed to maintain our large yard which is awesome. The really want to lease for 2 years and then buy it and we had to have it in the contract that they get first dibs to buy it after two years..maybe three (which obviously we had no problem with since we plan on selling it when we are done renting). Ideally, they would rent it for 3 years and then after I graduate, we'd sell it to them and then buy another house (we still aren't sure if we will stay in Flag, move back here or even move to another state). Ryan wanted us to do a year by year lease in case our taxes go up and we have to adjust the rent. They weren't thrilled with that, but I assured them if they took good care of our house that we would take good care of them and that seemed to ease his mind a bit since they really didn't want the rent to skyrocket. Not only that, he knows we are going to be in Flagstaff for a minimum of 3 years and wouldn't plan on moving back in before that.
They are the most ideal renters. They are in their 50's with college age kids and one older Labrador. Ryan even said we lucked out with these guys. I love that they love our house and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and I know it was worth my time of being anal retentive on keeping it so clean all the time...I guess it really paid off lol. They don't need us to move out until Oct 1st, but we need to be out by the first few days of Aug just because of school and getting set up. So they agreed to meet in the middle and we would pay for Aug and they would start paying in Sept even though they don't need the house then. We are truly blessed we found them.
It's going to be very interesting living as minimalist for a while. I look around Corbin's room with only 3 toys that have not been packed and it's quite nice. He plays with them, doesn't complain or make a mess and well..it's just nice. Plus, we don't plan on really needed that many toys when we go there since the kids will have plenty to do with school, sports, dance, gym, etc..etc..We plan on being a very active family once we move there...and very, very busy.
The quality of life will be so much better for us. We can't wait!!

Aren't they the cutest?!

2009-07-15T18:18:00.001-07:00

Seriously..flashback to 1982 and this is what I was doing with him. We were all about building forts, playing in the mud and of course, I always had to pull the wagon with the two boys riding along. My mom baby-sat Rusty (who now lives in Las Vegas) from the time Dan and Rusty were in diapers until they were around 5 and we've remained in contact ever since. Love him!!

Flagstaff Here We Come!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-13T17:29:00.001-07:00

Well it's officially and I can finally blog about it. We have until the 24th of this month to get outta here! Daryl's Aunt and Uncle have decided to move out of the basement and to another state and so we will be taking there place at the Flagstaff house. I have been selling so much of my stuff on craigslist. The bunk beds went in an hour...same goes with most of our other furniture. A few things we are going to try and store somewhere and I'm giving away and selling most of the toys :(. The basement is full furnished, so we can't bring too much up. We had been worrying about what to do about the house because honestly, we can't really sell since we owe more than it's worth and renting kind-of scares me...so for kicks, I took a few pictures and slapped it on craigslist for rent and sure enough, we've had 5 people interested. Two came out to look at it and we fell in love with the first couple. They wanted it the moment they walked in, as well as the 2nd couple, but we really want the first to work out. They want a long term rent (2-3 years) and will take care of our yard for us as well (we are giving them all of our lawn equipment). I will be attending Coconino in the fall and Corbin will attend the preschool there as well (YMCA). Tatum will attend an amazing school up the street from the house and Daryl will most likely try and get a job and take online classes the first year until he can quit and go to school full time with me next year when we can both apply for financial aid and be good financially since we won't really have any bills other than a little on our mortgage and our van payment... I have one year or prereq's and then 2 years after that of Nursing School and should be done in 2012 if everything works out (just like Jen *wink*). I can't wait for the weather. Unfortunately, we can't take Marley :(. There is no yard for her and we wouldn't be allowed to regardless since she is so big. I found a wonderful home for her in Flagstaff with a huge yard, dog door and another boxer for her to play with. They are a very active couple who camp, hike, go fishing and take their dogs with them everywhere they go. So honestly, she'll have a better deal with them. We can also visit her anytime which is always nice. I will keep you updated though. My house is turning into shambles (especially Corbin's room right now), but hopefully we can get our act in gear and get a lot accomplished each day. :)

Time for a few randoms...

2009-07-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

Cousin Devin's 6th birthday party!!!

I found him sleeping like this the other night. Corbin and Marley are such good buds.

We went over to Eric and Marissa's a few weeks ago and because of the time of day, my freakin' camera wouldn't work too well. We hung out with Ryan and Christine and our kids played until pretty late. It was nice because Marissa, Christine and I hid on the front porch with our wine/beer and chatted while the guys manned the kids.

Tatum has a really good friend from preschool named Mia. The girls are constantly getting together for play dates since we all live so close. Tatum has some really great girlfriends in her life and hopefully these two will remain friends for a really long time :).

Gotta love Flagstaff!

2009-07-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Flagstaff and stayed with the in-laws for the weekend. Daryl's brother, Byron was having a white trash 4th of July bash and we all had to dress up. Note the (new lol) tighty whitey tank top I'm sporting.

I left my camera at home before we left for the party and need to still get the pictures from Jen, but figured I'd post a few for now.

Posing with Aaron and Jen's new doggy, Freddie.

Umm...yeah, you can ignore the previous post lol

2009-07-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

So I thought about deleting the WW's post, but figured most of you have read it by now. I just wanted to clarify that I did do weight watcher's for 3 whole days and then a Wed night freakin screwed me up. I lost like 2 lbs (I'm sure water weight) in those 3 days, but it's all back and then some. I guess I'll just stick to the gym a few days a week and call it good :)).

I think I can, I think I can..

2009-06-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

Weight Watchers that is. Well I've already cheated on my first official day yesterday. I'm doing it from home since we can't really afford for me to go to the actual meetings. It's funny, I've never done it when I wasn't breastfeeding, so this is definitely more of a challenge since I get 10 points less a day. I know the first week is the hardest, but it's funny how fast your points can add up if you don't pay attention to what you are eating. For instance, yesterday I was making the kids lunches and had a bag of mustard pretzels open grabbing handfuls at a time and then going, crap, I need to look up the points. Half a cup was 3 pts and I get an allotted 20 pts for the day and I hadn't even had lunch yet and had already had a big breakfast. I mean seriously, by the time it got to dinner time, all I could eat was water, so of course I cheated because that was not going to cut it lol. Then we went to the baseball field that night and (of course) divulged in a snow cone and then fries later. So today is a new day and I'm being "good" so far and saving most of my points for tonight since I'm making chicken chilli and I probably dump about 2 cups of cheese in my bowl alone lol (I hate to skimp on the cheese). I felt I should post this so it would force me to stay on track since I've now officially admitted to my blog followers that I will be doing this. Wish me luck!! :))

A much needed break...

2009-06-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, my good friend Christine had a birthday party at her house celebrating her 30th along with Jordan's. I took the night off while Daryl watched the kids and I got to play. We ALL had a blast!! What a fun night! Thanks again Christine for hosting :)

Happy Father's Day to all you Super Dad's!

2009-06-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

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Allergies??

2009-06-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

When we get health insurance again (hopefully soon), I am taking her to an allergist. I don't know why, but occasionally she gets these really dark circles under her eyes. We've broken it down and know it's not from lack of sleep, not the sunscreen (since she pretty much wears it every day and it doesn't happen every day). It's gotta be something she's eating right?? Maybe the environment?? It's just really annoying when you don't have a diagnosis for it. She said it doesn't hurt. She does have eczema, which flares up occasionally as well as keratosis pilaris (lovingly inherited from me..poor girl). Hopefully my cousin (who is a doctor) will have a better clue than we do.

Not again :(

2009-06-18T18:06:00.001-07:00

So I'm not sure if I ever blogged this or not, but about a few weeks after I first bought the van, I accidentally hit the trunk release button on the key chain instead of the sliding door button while the van was in the garage with the garage door down. I was working for Avondale Toyota at the time and my boss told me they'd fix it up for free. It really was pretty small (nothing like what was pictured above). But since it was new and free, I figured I'd definitely take him up on it. Then a few days before it got fixed, Corbin got inside my van as we were loading up and went up to the front and hit the trunk release button on the inside of my van (with the garage door down again). No biggie since we still were getting it fixed.

Well everything was going good until last Sat when we were watching our nieces. Daryl had gone ahead to the gym (we are borrowing Jeremy's Tahoe while he's away) and I met up with him with the kids an hour later. I went out to load the a car seat and booster in the van and went back in to get the kids. I must have put my keys in a very desirable spot because roughly 2-3 mins later, I find my niece holding my keys smiling. I don't think anything of it and just say, "thank you" and round up the kids to get going. I immediately hit the garage door button in my garage and then I start to hear a grinding noise and run for my van. It was too late though and the damage was done. What I'm assuming happened was my niece hit the button and it released the trunk easily since it was already unlocked. I (of course) didn't think to check my van before opening the garage door..but why would I. I ask her if she pressed any buttons and she is just grinning from ear to ear. I can't get mad at her, but inside I'm shaking because it looks awful and right now we can't afford to get it fixed. Hopefully one day when we finally have an income we can get it fixed...but until then I get to cringe every time I look at it :(

Oh well, the life of having kids right?

Music

2009-06-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to add music. If it annoys it or you'd like to view a small video and the music gets in the way..scroll all the way to the bottom and you can easily pause it. Just an FYI! :))

Getting ready for the new school year...

2009-06-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to update you on what is going on. I have the kids enrolled and now and as of today, so am I. We were up in the air about going to Flagstaff, but we really couldn't afford to live there on our own and we'd have to try and rent/sell our home in the next month for it to be able to work. So for the time being..Corbin will be returning back to Litchfield Elementary next year for special needs preschool. Instead of the usual Monday-Thur (8-10:45), they are taking Monday away from us due to the budget cuts. Tatum will be going to Crown Charter for kindergarten. I checked into it and it is an excelling school with great feedback. The main reason is for the simple fact that it is free and is full day (8-1:40), whereas the other hours would only go until about 10:45 in our district (I did have to order uniforms though). So that doesn't really work with our schedule. Daryl and I have been procrastinating about what to do, so that is why we have waited for me to sign up at Estrella Community. Finally yesterday night, he gave me the green light to do it and the two classes I would need (Math, Bio/lab) had only one seat available in each. I tried doing it online last night, but my page was not up to do date and it wouldn't allow me..so I tried first thing this morning at 8am and sure enough, the Math, Bio and the lab were already filled for the days/hours I needed. I was livid! I went ahead and signed up with whatever I could and hopefully someone will drop out of the ones I need and I get can the better teachers. If you go to ratemyprofessors.com, you can look up your professor to see if they are good or not (although some teachers won't be on there). So the original professor I wanted for Math (which is my worst subject) scored really well and now the one I'm left with has things on the site that say DO NOT TAKE A CLASS FROM HER, SHE IS HORRID! So I'm a little freaked, but have a few months still to try and switch if someone drops. I checked into Tatum's old preschool at Trinity Lutheran and they offer a daycare program there. So on the days I go to school and he's not in school (and she is), I will take him there for a few hours. They do circle time, crafts and bible study, so it will be fun for him. I really wanted to wait until my youngest was in kindergarten before I went back, but things have definitely changed in our household lately. The plan is for me to go to school and receive my RN. Maricopa has a wait list of two years and Coconino does not (although I need more prerequisites for Coconino). I did go for 2 years before I married Daryl, but I took no Biology. If I would have, I could already been on the wait list..but I didn't know. I am taking Math here even though I don't need it in case we eventually transfer to Coconino (which they require) and it will only help for the NET test. Daryl is still looking for work and may try and take a few online courses as well. When I'm done and working, it will be his turn to go back to school. We wish we could both go at the same time, but obviously that won't work. It's a very exciting/unnerving chapter in our lives right now and I will be sure to keep you updated.

Seriously, it's like a squeegee for your butt!

2009-06-14T11:09:00.001-07:00

...Not to mention that you have to clean it every week when the flies start having a party on it. Well, I guess it gets clean when you use it to scrub your back in the shower lol.

Our summer plan

2009-06-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Daryl and I belong to a gym/spa/cafe called Lifetime Fitness. This place is AMAZING! They have the best childcare watch, classes, pools, spa, etc..etc..Unfortunately, after having a membership for so long, we had to put it on hold due to our family's economic situation. For $10 a month, we could keep it and then join back up with no fees. We are still having an economic situation, but since Daryl has been home, we've been doing more things such as eating out, movies..stuff that costs money. Not only that, we've been finding ourselves putting on a few pounds because of it all. We've been wanting to put the kids in activities over the summer since they have been starting to get a little bored, so we talked about it and decided that we would rejoin only for 2 months..well almost since we were already into June when we joined (school starts the 3rd of Aug). That way, we could work out, the kids could play with their friends they made months ago (we hadn't been in about 5 months) and then we could top it off with an hour of swimming. Amazingly, Tatum has really started getting good at it. I finally talked her into going down the big slide (pictured) and then she just swims to the side and gets out. The first day, I stood there waiting and watching to make sure she made it (there is a lifeguard at the bottom, but parents aren't allowed in). Now she just goes by herself. It makes Corbin so mad that he's not tall enough. We watched our nieces yesterday, so we took them. I had my phone with me and snapped a few pictures. Devin and Tatum practically lived at the slide. I took a class and Daryl manned the little ones. Then we went to Jillian Pings birthday party and then brought them home and had them take a nap at 5pm and then went to Ryan and Christine's to help celebrate her 30th. You should have seen all the kids. I mean, it's like 11pm and everyone's still going strong. Our kids (of course) lasted the longest. We left at 12:30 am and they stayed awake the entire time. It's 9:30am the following morning and they are still sleeping. I wish I had pictures...

Marissa wants me to post more, so Marissa, this post is for you lol.

First Drive-In

2009-06-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

We had big plans of putting the kids to bed early tonight since they needed it..that is until Daryl suggested we try taking them to a drive-in to see how they do. The thing is, the movie (Imagine That) didn't start until 8:20..but what the heck..we still did it. Ate way too much candy and Corbin had to pee one too many times. Daryl and I took turns taking him over by the trash can where no one could see him so he could pee lol. Cute movie, although the sound kept going up and down throughout the entire movie, so that was a bit annoying..other than that..it was a super fun experience!

**My mother-in-law and I decided to give up sugar together a few weeks ago. I lasted a week, but then gave in to my one true guilty pleasure once again..and again..and again... I seriously need to kick the habit again. I did have more energy that week, despite the major cravings I started having on day three. I feel so guilty and she doesn't know I cheated yet..well maybe now she knows if she reads this ;p

Happy 62nd Mom!!

2009-06-12T23:22:00.001-07:00

My mom turned 62 last Sat. We went up to visit her in Cottonwood with my brother, Dan and his family. Since she has a tenant now renting her main house..she now lives in her barn which has been converted to a guest house (Daryl was seriously impressed). Since we were a little crammed for room/space, we decided it would be in everyone's best interest to camp. It's getting me one step closer to actually doing it with the kids. Granted, we had a toilet, kitchen and I slept in the guest house with my mom, Theresa and baby Sammy while everyone else did their thing. I'm SO thankful that I did since I got up to go pee at 5am and heard the roosters going like crazy all around her house (Daryl said they lasted for around 2 1/2 hrs). She said three of her neighbors have farm animals, but you can still hear them on all three corners despite the fact she's on 2 acres. The kids actually ended up sleeping in until 8 which I thought was nuts. They must have been really tired though.
On Sat, we went over to the creek in Sedona and my mom ended up slipping and seriously spraining her wrist. Now my mom is tough and for her to compare it to labor..it must have really hurt. I've seen pictures of her where she's whacked herself in her face with a shovel after furiously digging a ditch for pipe in her ground, she fell off her bed and bonked her head on the side and drew blood..but no biggie. So she has it in a sling, but of course doesn't have medical insurance and is hoping it will just go away. Her tenant does healing, so she's working with her with that. I've been calling her several times a day for updates on her wrist and she said she's fine, but she can't even see her wrist bone anymore and thinks it might be shattered. Well that's great! Nothing like shattering your wrist on your birthday. Good thing social security kicks in soon I guess..that's one bright side to this whole ordeal.
We were supposed to go to some crawdad festival that night, but skipped it because of mom (not to mention we were all exhausted). So we went back to the creek the next day and worked on our tans while the kids/men swam :)

He said he was tired, but really only wanted to be able to be alone so he could play lol.

Right after the incident..she was all smiles since she had an ice cold beer in her hand to numb the pain some..that is until the pain really kicked in later.

Pool party at the Moreno's.

2009-06-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Tatum being brave and finally jumping in on her own (even though she has a noodle)..she'll get there :)

This won't be a wordy post since I am packing for Cottonwood for the weekend, but I figured I'd throw in a few pictures for fun!

Now for a Tatum post :)).

2009-05-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd been posting more Corbin posts than Tatum posts lately, so I figured I'd post one of her. Pictured above are some of Tatum's favorite friends from preschool. Kimberly (pictured far left) was moving the following day, so we all met up for pizza that night for a farewell party.

Tatum's best friend from gym/church is Morgan. Those girls are inseparable once together. Her sister, Marianna was having a birthday party this past weekend. I was so proud of Tatum at how brave she was on that big slide. A year ago..wouldn't have happened. I posted a few short videos below of Lil' Miss Bravery.