Locks of Love

For the past year or so Cailin has had a goal of letting her hair grow long enough so that she could donate it to the Locks of Love foundation. This foundation makes hair pieces for children who suffer from alopecia due to various reason.

The requirement was that the hair must be at least 10 inches long. A few weeks ago she came to me with a ruler. "I'm ready to get cut my hair Mom, I'm tired of dealing with all the tangles." Oh but, the hair wasn't quite long enough.

She waited about a month longer. We measured again and this time she indeed had 10 inches of hair to donate. Yeah!

I called and made her an appointment. Yesterday we went to the beauty shop and Cailin got a hair cut. The stylist kept mentioning how thick her hair was....after many small snips the ponytail was off.

I had to laugh at Cailin's first reaction to shorter hair. Shock, disbelief yet, a happy sparkle in her eyes.

Oh she looks so cute! She hates it when I say that word, but she really does look cute!

I love my new hair cut!

Kitty Witty Voo Voo Meow Meow aka Amarica

Hi. It's me, Cailin. The cat laid before your eyes is my amazing dead cat, Kitty. Her real name was Amarica, but I always called her Kitty. It became more of a name than a nickname. When I got her, she was just a little kitten that had been born in a house across the street. I begged Mom and Dad for a cat. Mom had no problem with it, she loves cats. But Dad's more a dog person then a cat person. I like some dogs- dogs like Baily, which are middle sized dogs. I don't like big dogs, or little dogs. So I knew it would be a problem trying to get Dad to let me have a cat. But luck was on my side. Dad said yes! So Mom took me over to the house, to see which cat I wanted. We couldn't buy them yet, they were still suckling milk. But we wanted to see the little kittens. I only remember two of the kittens, but they had lots. I looked and wanted Kitty, but Mom wanted the grey one. But I wanted Kitty! We needed to get a girl, because Dexter, our other cat, is a boy, and might kill a tom kitten. Soon, we found out the grey one was a male, and my wish came true... I got Kitty!!!She loved to sit in the flower pots to take a nap.
She died because of a tumor that burst or a bubble of air in her bloodstream on March 16, 2010.

The Colors of Spring

I love the colors and blooms of spring. Daffadills, tulips, crocus. Red bud laurels, dogwoods. Blooms fruit trees and lilacs.

Our peach tree

Apple blossoms

Our apple tree is loaded with blossoms this year. As we had a handful of apples last year, I'm betting we'll have a few more this year. We're eating lots and lots of applesauce to empty more jars for the fresh sauce we'll get this year. Mmmmm I don't know what kind of apple it grows, but it makes the best applesauce I've ever had.

A handful of jumping beans

Because the ground was covered in 18+ inches of snow and Santa was very generous this past Christmas season, Barry and I were in no rush to give the kids our Christmas gift--a trampoline.

Now that the snow is gone and warm weather is here (and the dog's fence was put up to keep them from chewing and ripping it) it's was time to tell the kiddos about their belated gift and put it up. (Yes, we didn't even tell them about it in December. We didn't want to hear any nagging and whinning questions "When can we put the trampoline up?")


Barry and I helped get things started, but the kids eventually put the trampoline up themselves. Connor and Barry put the springs and mat on, but the rest of the work--like the safety net-- were put on by Ryan and Connor. Great job boys.

Four Months Old

If anyone would have told me 3 months ago that Bri would in a few short months develop a sleeping schedule that I will love, I would have never believed it. (None of the other kids did) But she has....and I do love the fact that I can count on her to crash out for the night by 9pm and awaken bright and cheery no earlier than 7am. No more late, late nights or early morning feedings. (although staying up till midnight watching back episodes of 'Lost' with Barry was enjoyable--that is until the show became to weird for me to follow). Now I'm going to knock on wood because bragging on a baby often brings about sad consequences around here.

All the early intervention exercises are starting to pay off.....she is beginning to arch her back some and kick her legs over a bit; all the beginning moves of rolling over. She's getting better at holding her head up on her own. Sometimes she'll keep it up for 15-20 seconds, maybe even more. She's tollerating tummy time more now. However, at the end of therapy sessions, with intense exercising going on, she's quite unhappy and just wants to be left alone...or eat, depending on her mood.

We had a swallow study done a few weeks ago. The good news is that there is no hole between her esophagus and trachea. However, she has problems with aspirating while she drinks. We now thicken her milk and we'll soon have another swallow study to see if this is working. If this doesn't help her GI doctor is talking about a G-tube to have the liquid go directly to her stomach and bypass the throat. His reasoning is that her lungs need to dry up (he doesn't want her to have scar tissue in the lungs due to aspiration.) She's always gurgling and has a wet breathing sound. The ultimate goal is to get her off oxygen and let her lungs do the job alone.

The speech therapist who administered the swallow study is also concerned that as she gets older she'll have a deficit of caloric intake, meaning that calories she uses to actually work at eating will be used before she's even finished drinking the bottle. As she gets older she'll need more calories to grow with but she will have used them all to have the energy to just eat. It still takes her quite a while to finish drinking a bottle because of all the energy she uses to eat (due to once again....low muscle tone) and she still falls asleep taking mini cat naps during feeding time. I'm not worried about this, my sweet cherub is 15.2 pounds, with lots of cute rolly polly legs to boot. She's a chunker....she's growing just fine.

Her pulminologist says that she'll hopefully grow out of the need for extra oxygen as she develops stronger muscle tone. He doesn't seem overly concerned. He just wants to keep an eye on things and let time and a growing body do it's thing.

As for that cute little growing girl, she's our a treasure. We get lots of smiles, gurgles, coos, goos, a few maaa's and Barry still gets plently of grunts. It's fun to see her eyes light up when he comes home from work and holds her. She now starts the conversations with him...let the grunting begin.

As for me, one of my favorite moments are when she's tired of being held by siblings or my friends and she just wants me. She wriggles and snuggles into my neck, breathes a calming breath and goes to sleep (or sometimes not, as was the case today during church, all she wanted was to be in my arms cuddling close).

Dandylion Boquets

I can still remember where I was sitting when I recieved my first dandylion boquet from Ryan, at the tender age of 2, on the hill of our new home on Crestline Drive. He was precariously walking up and down gathering all the yellow flowers he could give me--stemless--of course.

I sure do love dandylion and other weedy type flower boquet--not for their aromatic pleasure, but for the love that is in every petal picked. Especially for the joy that engulfs their face--eyes sparkle and smiles are grinning wide--"Here mom, I picked these for you".

Delaney has given me my first dandylion boquet for this year. --with a sparkling beautiful smile of course.
While driving north for a temple excursion with the family we stopped for a pizza--well, 2 to be precise, we are no longer a 1 pizza family--we stopped for a lunch break. We found this wayside stop and enjoyed an hour in the breezy sunshine.

The wayside stop just off the Buena Vista exit.

Ahhh, another gift of love, water--as long as there are no floaties--Thanks!!

I Love to See the Temple

A day at the temple with the whole family....what a wonderful day that was.

The stake primary, for the past year, had been planning a special day to help the children develop a love for the temple and hope to instill in them a desire to one day enter this holy building.
They spent the day on the temple grounds learning about its importance, a wonderful story about a dog named ____ who protected the building while it was being built.

Ryan, along with other youth, joined in to help chaparone the primary kids. While they were busy with their activities, Barry and I were able to attend a session --TOGETHER--what a treat. I love going to the temple and being there with everyone was a wonderful bonus.

I believe it was President Monson who said...When you touch the temple, the temple touches you." that was the quote behind having them touch the temple door. Connor, Cailin and Delaney said they all felt the warm comfort of the spirit while they were there.

Liam's had "I love to see the temple" added to his list of songs that I sing to him as I rock him to sleep. I'm sure he won't remember this day, but I hope the others will and want to come again someday.

A Boy and His Donut

While we were at the temple Liam and Brianne spent the day with Aunt Risa and Uncle Brian.
They took them to this fabulous joint that allowed them to make their own donut.....can you say sprinkles galore!! Mmmm, boy did Liam enjoy this sugar fest.

A bit of milk to wash down this fine feast.

All that sugar induced a coma like sleep that lasted for a few hours.....ahhh the bliss of a sleeping child.

20th Anniversary

Twenty years ago we started out on a wonderful adventure together. During that time we've--

Had six (yes I'm still getting use to that number) amazing children join us. Who would have thought that starting out that we would reach this mile stone and have another 4 month old making sure that we don't sleep too long.

Lived in 4 different homes.

Planted 15 gardens together

Traveled to 13 different countries (Barry went to 5 of them on his own, none of them exactly vacation spots).

Attended five different wards.

Attended 3 Stakes

Driven through or visited 32 states.

Owned 9 different cars.

Owned 4 dogs and a mess of cats

Changed numerous diapers, too many to count, besides that would be rather weird.

Broke up and negotiated many fights between children, most without physical contact or the police having to be involved.

Dealt with numerous colds, flus, and other yucky illnesses, but luckily no broken bones and only 3 hospitalizations.

Had numerous dandilion and weed flower boquets brought to me by sweet chubby toddler and preschool hands.

Fun windy days of flying kites, riding bikes, taking walks along the New River Trail.

Many warm spiritual moments as a family during FHE, scriptures or any teaching moments that came around.

Dozens of books read--read aloud chaper books started; not quite as many finished, but still great reads to be had.

Attended one RUSH concert, where Vicki learned for herself what the smell of marijuana is like.

Visited multitudes of various history sites throughout the world.

Two Military deployments to the sunny middle east.

Added girth and lost a lot of hair.

throught the thick and the thin, the ups and downs, the good and the bad....
I love being married to my best friend.

Twenty Years Ago....

Easter Day

This year we had some of my family come in a join us for Easter. Elizabeth was coming back to Charlottesville after a few months in Spokane finishing up on a math class for her bachelors degree. She bought a new car so she, Mom and Dad drove here. (They stopped in Texas to visit with Sarah Ann and her crew) Brian and Risa came down from Maryland to join in the fun.

As, this weekend was also General Conference weekend we gathered around the computer to watch a live feed from Salt Lake to hear the words of our Prophet and other church leaders. In between that time Dad and Liam worked hard putting up a fence so that the dogs would no longer have free reign of the yard. Yah! I'm not a dog lover, but I don't hate the dogs (really I don't), but I'm tired of them ruining the yard and not having a nice outdoor area to sit and relax.
The rest of us worked at cooking, shopping and catching up on the latest news.
(The humdrum daily work is more fun when you're doing it together.)

An Easter breakfast celebration. Barry had to work this weekend but, lucky for us he was in Pulaski for the day. He joined us too.

The Easter Bunny came...

and brought yummy treats to eat.

Even for a sleepy, grumpy teenager.

This is the face of pure delight, sweetened by sugar of course.

The Easter Egg Hunt

For the past few years our friends the Buchinsky's have held an easter egg hunt at their home. It's always a fun day. This year was cool and breezy but sunny (a few years ago we hunted eggs in the snow and warmed up with hot chocolate inside afterwards)


The kids enjoy a tractor pulled hay ride while the Mom's hide the eggs.

The the race is on......the quest to find the wonderful candy filled plastic eggs.

I'm told, at first, as Liam would find an egg he would sit down, open it and try to devour the contents. It took Barry a few moments of prodings to get him to get up and go find another egg.

Gavin, a friend of his, was especially sweet. He would walk around and help Liam find eggs and G. would actually put the egg in L.'s basket. what a sweetie.

"just me and my Dad"

The girls with their friends. The boys were at RU for a scout merit badge college....hey, they may not have gotten any candy, but they did complete a required merit badge for their eagle award.