In Loving Memory of my Dear Aunt Marcia

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.

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

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

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. :)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grandparent's Day at Sechrist

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...

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 :)

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...

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

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.