What to call it

Hello out there is cyber land~

2011-05-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Have you all missed me? I keep telling myself that I need to come by here more often and post. Maybe I need to add it to my daily...well maybe weekly...list of things to do.

Life here is busy as usual. School is coming to an end. Track season is almost finished. We are halfway through tee-ball season. Makkiah was recently diagnosed with autism. We are working on IEP's for next year. Working on getting ABA therapy in place.

Business is doing great. I've started doing more sewing. I'm almost at 100 sales on my etsy. Still making hairbows. The store is continuing to do great.

I promise I'll try to stop by more often and post!

Taniyah's First Lost Tooth

2010-04-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Taniyah said "You want to see my shark teeth?" I thought she was being funny and said "Sure"

She opens her mouth and has a second row of teeth growing behind the first row on the bottom! She said they are "shark teeth" because sharks have two rows of teeth. That might be true but little girls aren't supposed to!

So we've been diligently wiggling her bottom teeth to get them to loosen up. This morning we got up early to take Jaleel and Makkiah in for a doctors appt. She was eating her cereal and all of the sudden says "My tooth. It's GONE!"

Do you know how hard it is to find a little teeny tiny white tooth in a bowl of cheerios and milk? Let's just say it's not easy.

She's so proud of her missing tooth!

Update on us!

2010-04-07T20:21:00.001-07:00

I've finally made it back here. I'm going to try to get back into the habit of posting here on my blog. I'll post an update on how everyone is doing and then I'll move forward from here.

In June 09 Tyreque graduated from high school! We are SO SO SO proud of him! He's overcome so much in his life and it was an awesome accomplishment for him!

Right after graduation Rod, the six youngest kids and I piled into the van and headed off towards Washington for our big move. The Navy had decided after 12 years to move us in a new direction. We've now been in Washington 9 months and are loving it!

Cavelle is 2.5 years old and is growing so fast! Last time we measured him he was 42 inches tall and weighed 32 pounds! He's such a happy boy most of the time and so very smart! He's got an incredible vocabulary and can't wait to start preschool in the fall. He gets upset when he can't stay at preschool with Taniyah on school days.

Taniyah is 5 now and in Headstart. She's got quite the personality. She chatters all the time and is a leader in her class. She knows how things should be done and gets upset when others don't do them. She loves all things girly, the neighbors dog and church. She played soccer last summer and can't wait for the new season to roll around so she can play again

Makkiah is 9 now. He's been through a LOT in the last year. He's been on a special formula for a year now. He had major surgery in October. I'll do a post to explain what's been going on with him as it will be long. He's gained almost 2o pounds this year and grown 2.5 inches! He's in 3rd grade and has an awesome year in school this year. He scored in the top 3% of the district on their standardized tests for his age. He played soccer and basketball this year and is currently playing baseball for the first time.

Jaleel is 12 and in 6th grade. He's excited for the school year to be over so he can go to middle school. He's such a sweetheart and has a very caring spirit. This year he's played football and basketball. He's currently playing baseball for the first time. He's also learned to ride the unicycle this year and surprised the instructor with how quickly he picked it up. He's so proud to be riding the 6 foot "giraffe" and is practicing juggling while riding.

Destini is 12 and in 7th grade. She's making great progress in school and has made many friends. So far this year she's been in a play and played basketball. Her basketball skills improved greatly this season and she was awarded "Most improved player" by her team. She'll start track next week and is looking forward to it.

Brayana is 13 and in 8th grade. She's also the oldest at home now. This year she's played football, soccer, basketball and will start track next week. Her basketball coach said she's the most athletic 8th grader she's ever coached and looks forward to having her play next year. She's also in honors classes and doing well.

Raquel is 16 and a Junior this year! It's hard to believe that it's been 3 years since she entered our life! She chose to stay in San Diego when we made our move to Washington but we love her and claim her as one of our own! We will always be Mom and Dad to her and we are so glad that she claims us also! She's doing great in school, playing baseball, staying active in her school and even finds time to call us and chat. She came to visit us over Christmas vacation this year and hope to have her back this summer.

Ladaria is 18 and a Senior this year. She decided to stay in San Diego with family to finish out her Senior year. She's taking AP classes and has maintained an awesome GPA. She's done basketball and track this year. She's applied to and been accepted by several colleges. We are so proud of her! She also came to visit us during Christmas and we had a great time.

Tyreque is 19 now and graduated from high school last year. He's turning out the be an incerible young man and we are so glad to have had the opportunity to play a role in it. He's currently working at In & Out and joined a band Lindburgh Skies. They've been on the radio a few times and done several shows! He's also an incredibly talented artist and is considering becoming a tattoo artist. Whatever he chooses to do I know he will be great at it. He also came to visit at Christmas and it was so nice to have all my kids home again even if it was for a short time.

Decisions

2010-02-22T09:47:00.001-08:00

So I'm trying to decide if I want to continue on with this blog or start a new one since we no longer live in the money pit!

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Honoring those who Served and now Rest

2009-05-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

If you click on the photo you can see the entire thing

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today is my brother Jeremy's 37th birthday! Happy Birthday Big Brother! I know you are watching us and close to us. We love you and miss you dearly!

Today was also the day that we took Raquel to her new "home". She'll be staying here in San Diego to be close to family. It was sad to take her and leave her as she's just like one of my own. My Mommy heart didnt' want to do it but it was a decision that she made and her worker backed up. Doesn't change the fact that I will always be there for her just like I am for all of my kids but I will miss her.

And today is also Memorial Day. A day to remember all those who served our country in order for us to have the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. There are many costs to those freedoms and to those who have served our country in the Armed Services - Navy, Marine Corp, Air Force, Army and Coast Guard I say thank you!

We want our children to understand the true meaning behind the day. We don't want them to think that it's just another day off of school so we took them out to Rosecrans National Cemetery. We want them to understand the sacrifice for their freedom and hopefully they will never take it for granted. It was amazing to see all of those flags out there and it makes you stop and think about all those who have served. Breathtaking. And it was awesome to see lots of people out there doing the same. So with that here are some photos from our day!

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there but most especially to my Mom!!

This year I decided to do something really different for my Mom for Mother's Day.

She loves wolves so I made her a nice warm wold blanket for the house in Coos Bay.

I also took one of the family photos that we had taken and made it into a pillow using material that matched the blanket

I thought it turned out great and she loved it! YAY!

Rod was gone for Mother's Day but he had my gift delivered to me

It was very yummy!

The kids made enough breakfast to feed a small army, cleaned the downstairs and then made everyone lunch.

I wasn't supposed to do anything but I had to get the car packed for Mom's trip north. She left shortly after lunch.

Then Destini took some of the little kids to the park near us. Tete ended up running into a pole, knocked herself and so my Mother's Day ended doing the motherly thing of sitting in the ER with her. She got a minor concussion but all is well!

Titan Football 3pm

2009-05-09T20:24:00.001-07:00

Mak before the game in his one size fits all jersey

The three smallest kids on our team for the coin toss

What happens when your smallest player plays center

He says "Look you get this ball and I WILL pull your flags"

But he stayed on him

Ok Coach I need a break

And the two boys he was guarding - one in the front of the photo and the other next to their coach

Warrior Football at 8am!

2009-05-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Our tackle team is the underdog in this league, big time. All the other teams in our division are "stacked" teams. Basically they are teams that play all year together and use this time as off season practice to train the new players that they recruit. Our team is made up of 8 players - 1 player has played 2 seasons, 2 players (Brayana and Jaleel) have played 1 season of football, 1 player has played soccer and the other 4 players have never played sports at all. We had two other players who had never played either but they quit. We are required to have 8 players on the field so our kids play the entire game. The other teams all have 14-16 players so we are REALLY the underdogs.

Today our team got out there and played the best they have played all season. The team we played is undefeated.

Up until today our team had never scored a touchdown. The most yards we had gained was 40 which happened during our game last week where we got massacred.

Today it was 4th down and 20 (thanks to an offsides penalty). Brayana got the ball, cut to the outside and RAN. She kept running for about 60 yards and literally 2 ft from the end zone she stepped to the side to keep from getting hit and got tackled from behind. She was SO close to that first Warrior touchdown.

So the next play the ball made it no where as they were watching Brayana. So they changed the play AND
Darius scored the FIRST Warrior touchdown!!

Then there was an on side kick and Devin caught the ball and made a SECOND Warrior touchdown! Two in one day.

We lost the game 12-24 but it was still an AWESOME game

2009-05-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd do a quick update and post some things that I've made.

Mom and Poppa made it here safely on Monday from Florida. Mom is here for a week before she heads to Coos Bay with Rod's car. Since Rod is not a good distance driver she volunteered to drive one of our vehicles up there for us. Thanks Mom!! Poppa is is staying until June 8th when he'll fly back East for his class reunion.

Rod is off to Virginia for his school. As long as he passes this class we'll be headed to Washington in a few short weeks.

I'll be wrapping up selling things in my stores here shortly as we prepare to make out move. I've got some things that I'm hoping to get sold prior to our move though listed either on my etsy cart - Buttinskys Bows & More or Made by Military Wives

Rainbow of Bitty Baby Clippies

Made to Match Carters Dress and Bow

Crayon rolls for the purse or diaper bag

My Mom has started crocheting the cutest little newborn and infant sized caps. I absolutely love them

And I just finished this set today for a little girls 5th birthday. She's going to Disneyland and will be wear this "Sleeping Beauty" tutu and hairbow set to meet the princesses

Did you miss me?

2009-04-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I updated here that I actually forgot my password!! That's bad! I'll try to be better about updating.

I was going to try to go back and bring things up to date but I think I shall just start here with an update and move forward.

Tyreque - Can you believe that in 6 short weeks he'll be graduating from high school! I sure can't! I'm proud of him though. He'll be starting at Mesa College this summer and has a job at In & Out that he enjoys. I'm not sure that he enjoys working but he enjoys the benefits that come with having a job! He's such handsome young man and so very talented in Art. He's thinking of going into graphic design and I think he'll be awesome at it.

Ladaria is getting ready to finish up her Junior year and looks forward to the coming year as a Senior!! She'll be staying here in San Diego with her Aunt Marsha and Uncle Will to finish out her year. She doesn't want to move to a new state and a new school her Senior year and I can't say I blame her. Thankfully we have awesome family whose willing to let her stay so she doesn't have to. She's such a sweet person and I know that she'll do fine although I know that she'll miss us and be ready to come visit when she gets a chance. She got straight A's on her last report card and we were SO proud of her. Her hard work in the books really paid off!

Raquel is just finishing her Sophomore year and is doing well in school. She's made lots of friends at the high school and enjoys hanging out with them. Typical teenage girl stuff! She'll be staying in San Diego as well and heading to an awesome program where she will learn great skills for living independently.

Brayana will be heading into 8th grade next year! Where does the time go? Seems like not so long ago I was bringing her home from the hospital! Brayana passed her GATE testing -Gifted and Talented Education - and has been moved to advanced classes. She still plays the sax and gets better every time I hear it. This year has been a busy one for her. She played tackle football with the Clairemont Hawks, then she moved on to basketball with Tierra Hoops and is now back to playing football with National Youth Sports. She definetly stays active.

Destini is chugging along in the 6th grade and is bummed that next year she'll be back at the bottom of the totem pole. The school she'll be going to is a middle school 7th-9th grade instead of 7th-8th grade. She's been busy as well with choir at the school, basketball with Tierra Hoops and she's currently doing cheer with NYS. She's really enjoying playing sports and expanding her horizons.

Jaleel is finishing 5th grade up and is equally as bummed that he'll be in elementary school again next year. The current school is K-5th grade where next year it will be K-6th grade. The good thing is that he'll still be at the top of the totem pole and get to do all of the graduation stuff there. He's been equally as busy with sports playing his first season of tackle football with the Clairemont Hawks, then on to basketball with Tierra Hoops where his team earned 3rd Place and currently is playing football with NYS.

Makkiah is whizzing through the 2nd grade. His favorite sunject is math and he's a whiz at it. He loves doing mental math and being challenged. He's learning to tolerate when others make mistakes and is making great strides in this area. He's still a little guy and he continues to struggle with medical issues but it doesn't hold him back. He played basketball with Tierra Hoops and was pretty aggressive out there on defense. He's currently playing flag football and made a touchdown the first game!!

Taniyah started Headstart this year and is absolutely loving school! She goes half days in the afternoon. She's learning quickly and has made many friends. We are hopeful that next year she'll be in as great of a preschool as this one. She's a spunky little thing and takes after her big sister Destini as the girly girls in the house. Earrings, make-up and dress up and they are both in heaven.

Cavelle is coming up quickly on his second birthday! Can't believe my baby isn't such a baby anymore. He's by far my tallest one at this age currently over 3 feet tall. As Marsha says "he broke the mold". He's such a ham and he LOVES to dance. Turn on some music and he will get down and has a great sense of rhythm. He even does the stinky leg!!

As some people know Rod is being transferred. After 12 years in San Diego we will be packing up our household and heading to Silverdale Washington. He'll out to Virginia for 3 weeks for school, return here and shortly afterwards we'll be headed off for out new destination. We thought that we would never be going anywhere but San Diego so we were surprised when the Navy decided to send us off. It will be great to catch up with old friends up there and closer to home.

As for me I've been busy keeping up with the family, sports, getting people to doctors appts and being crafty. I started making bows and tutus for Taniyah and have since opened up an Etsy cart to sell things. The name of my store is Buttinskys Bows & More!! Mom has even joined in with me and is making the most adorable baby caps ever!!

And here's a few more photos from the photoshoot that I did with the kids. I enjoyed taking them all out to the park one Sunday afternoon and getting some great photos of them!

My BEAUTIFUL bunch!

My Handsome Guys

My Gorgeous Girls

Like Father, Like Son

Sister Love!

And in true Cavelle style

That's all folks!!

Pay it Forward

2009-02-27T22:12:00.000-08:00

I got this from Katherine's Blog

The Rules:

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!.

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

SO, REMEMBER... it is good... :) Pass it forward.

Taniyah's 4th Birthday

2008-12-21T23:40:00.000-08:00

Today is Taniyah's 4th Birthday. I decorated her cake in her favorite color - PINK!

She's growing up so fast. She's very smart and can't wait to start school.

She made a wish and blew out her candles - over and over and over again.....silly Daddy!!

Then she opened her presents. She got a dance mat from Amah and Poppa, Princess coloring pages and Rose Petal cottage stuff from us. She loved all of it!

13th Anniversary Weekend Getaway

2008-12-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated our 13th anniversary.

My Mom and Poppa were here and they agreed to watch the kids for a few days while we had a small getaway.

We went and stayed at the Bahia Resort in Mission Bay We had a beach front room that opened onto a private beach.

They have a pool with seals that have been rescued and rehabed

We went to Mission Beach and played glow golf and since there wasn't anyone else playing we took some photo ops

We went on the big roller coaster that's been there since 1925
The weather was beautiful

Found this cool shack thing on the jetty

USS Mobile Bay Christmas Party

2008-12-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

For some reason my dear husband does not like to go to his work Christmas parties. Something about spending months on end with them being plenty for him. A few weeks ago though he made the mistake of showing me the ship's schedule and it had the party on it. So I convinced him to buy tickets since it will be our last year there and we haven't been to one in several years. So we got all dressed up and headed out.

We got there and met up with some friends

Danced the night away

And even if he's already spent time with them I think he still has fun with at least some of them.

He loves the water

2008-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

And I guess he decided that since no one would take him to the pool for a swim he would take himself

Taniyah

2008-11-30T16:53:00.000-08:00

She's getting so big!!

Today after church I took some pictures of her near where we park. I wanted them to show off the bow that I made to match her outfit.

Happy 11th Birthday Jaleel

2008-11-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

Drop Dead!!

2008-10-25T19:08:00.001-07:00

I actually made it back here to update!

You can pick yourself back up off the floor now!!

I have so much updating to do and really need to find the time to do it.

So much going on and not enough time to get it all done.

I will be back though

Melt my Heart!

2008-06-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

I made four Remember Me pillows for my sister in law Melissa.

Justin headed off to "over there" from North Carolina the day Chloe was born in Arizona so they have not met yet. They also have two little boys Brandon and Levi.

Melissa saw the pictures of Taniyah with her Daddy and wanted four of them - one for each of the kids and one for herself.

She got her box today and said she was shocked when she opened the box -"It's just perfect size for the children and I love them. Thank you!"

Brandon started crying when he saw his and said "I miss my Daddy so very much".

Levi almost jumped into the pool at the beginning of swimming lessons with his Daddy and immediately exiting the pool grabbed him up even though he was soaking wet.

And sweet Baby Chloe well she's not big enough to talk but a picture is worth a thousand words sometimes.

Rod goes to school

2008-06-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share some fun pics of Rod on the go:

Cavelle wants to share her Daddy

She LOVES her Daddy. Hope he enjoyed his time there. It's nice to have him "with us" wherever we go and the kids have fun talking about how much Dad would like being there.

Remember Me Pillows

2008-06-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

My kids all love their Daddy and miss him a lot so I thought I would try to come up with a way for him to be close to them. He has sent them several dvd's where he talks to them and they LOVE it.

One day I was making pillows for Ladaria and Raquel's room while the kids were watching a dvd and I was thinking of a way to put Rod's picture on a pillow for them. I did some research and found some fabric sheets that you can print on. I knew that there were iron ons as my Mom has used them several times to make shirts for Rod and I but I was pleased to find fabric.

I thought some more and decided that something that was small enough to carry around with them would be great. If it's small enough to carry then they can take him anywhere without really being in the way.

I told a friend about my idea and she suggested a ribbon on it so that it could be easily carried around. That made me think of the "bite toys" they used when we were teaching our dogs personal protection. They were long, skinny stuffed canvas with a canvas handle that you held while the dog bit. I used the same idea but with Rod's picture printed on the fabric, a colorful background and a loop of ribbon at the bottom.

This is what I came up with:

Taniyah hugging her Daddy for the first time in two months

I think she loves him

I asked her if I could see it for a minute after I gave it to her. Her response:

Hairbows and Bowholders

2008-06-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

I made some hairbows for Taniyah

Along with the hairbows I'm making bow holders to sell. Lots of people make the initial holders which I can also do but I thought I'd try something a little different and fun. I went to the store and bought some picture frames and wall plaques to make.

My SIL Melissa and I are working on an online store. When we get it put together I will post a link to it.

Prom 2008

2008-05-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

Tyreque went to Junior Prom last night.

Him and his date looking all purdy!!

Best group shot out of the pictures that were taken on my camera (not by me)

The three couples

They took limos to the prom

Preliminary hearing

2008-04-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Today was the preliminary hearing in Angie's death. There were only a few witnesses called but it could have been a million. There were two things that I decided today while hearing the testimony - 1) Dania isn't going anywhere. I am confident that she will be punished for what she did and 2) We had some awesome detectives who worked Angie's case. I can't imagine what it must have been like to work her case but I could tell that they were thorough and worked their tails off to make sure that Angie will get the justice that she deserves. To them I say a huge "Thank you".

If you are interested you can watch the video here:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/15972263/detail.html

The woman accused of beating her 4-year-old foster daughter to death appeared in a Vista courtroom as a medical expert described the girl's cause of death.
Prosecutors allege that Dania Haros, 23, of Oceanside beat Angelina Espalin to death in November 2006. Haros has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault on a child causing death. Her preliminary hearing got under way Wednesday.
Deputy Medical Examiner Christopher Swalwell testified about the wounds he found on the child's body during her autopsy including more than 30 head wounds.
"There were 15 bruises in the facial area... a few on the chest and abdomen, several on the lower back area," he said. "What she really died from is not the bleeding into the scalp but the damage of the brain beneath her skull led to her death."
A photo was shown of Espalin taken the night before her death. Officials said she was at a birthday party and the picture shows bruises on her face and eye.
Detectives said Haros told them she got frustrated with Angelina because she wouldn't go to sleep and forcefully put her to bed. They said she also told them the 4-year-old fell and hit her head. An investigation found several instances of prior abuse, including teachers who thought they saw bruises.
"She said she tried to move Angie's bangs out of the way to see what it was and basically said that the hair had been plastered or stuck to her head with what she thought was hairspray," said Gregory Stahley, Oceanside police detective.
Haros was a foster mother to Angelina and her younger sister Elisa. Haros had been the girl's foster mother for six months.
S'te Elmore, a previous foster parent of Angelina's was in court for the hearing. Elmore, of Spring Valley, helped raise Espalin in 2005. She said she wanted to adopt the girl and was horrified when she learned of her death.
"I don't understand why nobody else said anything," she told NBC 7/39.

Something exciting from today. While we were out in the hallway for a break we saw Bill Murray who was at court for a property dispute. He was in the courtroom next to ours.

All by himself

2008-04-18T23:11:00.001-07:00

He's been letting go of the table and standing for a few seconds but tonight he stood long enough for me to get a photo!!

Finished!

2008-04-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

The girls fixed the ceiling their room. I think they did a great job. I told them how to peel the old paint and stuff off and then to use the joint compound to repair it. They painted it and tada a fixed ceiling.

I made the curtains for all three windows and the one for the closet.

Next I will make matching pillows in coordinating fabric

Bedroom progress

2008-03-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to IKEA and picked out bed covers, then we went to the fabric store to pick out a material for pillows and curtains to go with them, then we went to Home Depot to get paint to match.

So yesterday the girls painted the two main colors on their wall. This morning they painted the second coat of brown and I made the curtain to go over their closet and got it hung up.

So this is where we are at right now. I wasn't to sure about the paint colors that I chose to go with the fabric but I think it will look really nice. I have two pillows sewn also but don't have them stuffed yet.

We are going to put a black stripe where the two colors meet, around the the door and window trim

Easter

2008-03-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

Baskets all in a row

Tradition is to read the story "Easter Bunny are you for real?". We read the book after we have gone to church, after everyone has eaten lunch and before anyone touches their basket. I want my kids to know the REAL reason for Easter.

This is what happens when you buy the 17 year old candy but no basket. He finds his own!

They eat the candy

And this is the effect it has on them

And he wanted a hat like his big brother

Replacing the door

2008-03-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

With Rod off on deployment my projects have started. It keeps me busy and helps to keep my mind off the fact that he's not here. It's also a form of stress relief for me I guess.

So my projects have started.

My first project this deployment has been replacing the door in to LD and RQ's room. They had huge wooden double doors that went into their room. I'm not sure what the intention of the doors was when they were installed since they did not have any way of latching or closing the doors.

This has been a project that we've been wanting to do for quite some time. It kept getting put on the backburner as I thought it was going to be a hige undertaking and would leave the girls with a large hole for several days.

I was so far from wrong. It's turned into one of the easiest projects we've done in this house so far!

The first day we took the molding off and the old doors out. The old doors were picked up by someone whose going to use them for a haunted house.

We hung a sheet up over the hole as their "door" for bedtime.

Then the second day I got the door framed in, installed the door, and got the drywall up. It went really quickly. After I had the drywall up I taught the girls how to tape and mud. Since the drywall was up and mudded the door was functional and there was no hole in the wall. One say is all it took.

The third day I taught them how to texture the wall to match the surrounding wall. They learned quick and did a great job.

The fourth day the newly textured wall got a coat of primer and the hallway side got a coat of yellow paint to match the rest of the hallway.

The only thing I have left to do on the hallway side is to install the molding back. While the girls were doing the texturing I went around and did touch up patching on the cracks and screw holes that had appeared. I also did touch up painting and installed new hardware on the living room gate!

Not only is he upright

2008-03-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Not only has he learned how to stand up

He has also....................

learned how to do it AND get toys out of the basket!

My Daddy is a Sailor

2008-03-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

This is a photo that I took of the ship as it was leaving on deployment. I found the poem online and added it to the picture. A lot of times the kids who are left behind during a deployment get overlooked. I try not to let that happen to my kids.

A piece of my heart is gone

2008-03-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

And I just thought I would make a signature tag to let everyone know. Please keep our family in prayer as we go through this extended deployment. Aside from the deployment we have a lot of stuff that our family is going through in the next couple of months. Pray that the Lord carries us safely and swiftly through it all.

Saying goodbye

2008-03-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Photos from the ship leaving. We took him lunch and watched the ship leave

Doesn't happen very often but a picture of me

Hanging out in the XO's chair

Not impressed that Dad is leaving

Working

Dancing with the kids - Rod on the ship and the kids on the pier

Fun with Dad

2008-03-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Today is our last real day with Rod before he leaves on deployment.

We took the kids to the theater and watched the VeggieTale movie "Pirates who don't do anything".

The kids really enjoyed it.

We then walked over to the bowling alley and played two games.

Then we took all the kids out to dinner.

All in all it was a good day and I think the kids had lots of fun.

Friendship Festival

2008-03-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight Makkiah's class had a Friendship Festival.

Each of the kids drew "pictures" of themselves with the color of the shirt that they were wearing.

They sang songs - both as a complete group and as seperate classes.

As I sat watching them I couldn't help but think back when I was in first grade doing my own school program.

I actually remember two of them - one had a summer theme with pools or something, the other was a Christmas program.

It's hard to believe that my own children are now repeating the same process.

Road trip back to Florida

2008-03-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

Since we got home so late last night we didn't pack.

I crashed before I even ate dinner and slept hard.

So this morning I got up and started packing.

We cleaned out the van, got the luggage packed for the plane trip and headed back to Florida.

The plan was to go back to Ahma and Poppa's house for the night.

About three hours from there the plan changed and we decided (well Rod and someone else decided) that we should just stop for the night in Orlando.

We had gotten a late start, it was later than we had planned on being on the road and we had to be at the airport early for our flight.

So we found a hotel and stayed for the night.

All the girls in one room and all the boys in another room.

Church and visiting family

2008-03-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

Today we ventured off to church.

We spent a lot of time at church.

It was hot in there.

We left at 1:30 or something like that and they were just getting ready to do communion.

It was hot in there.

We had to leave to feed our hungry kids.

Rod and Gregory went to visit someone in the hospital and I headed back to his parent's house.

I made it there before anyone else so we had to wait for his Mom to get home and let us in.

Fed the kids and waited for Rod and Gregory.

Headed off to his Aunt Jan's house to visit with her since she wasn't able to come the day before.

I fell asleep on the couch while they visited.

We then headed home again as it was late and we were all tired.

Combined Family Dinner

2008-03-01T17:20:00.001-08:00

Today we had a family dinner. Rod's parents each have lots of siblings. I know that if I try to put the numbers down I will probably get them wrong. I think his Mom is one of 8 and his Dad is one of 7.

Since we were only going to be there for a few days we had a large combined dinner with aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc from both sides of the family who came to fellowship with us. It was a great time to catch up and of course to listen to stories about "Spike".

Since we had all the family gathered I decided to do pictures. Mind you this was not an easy task. The living room was not large enough for everyone to gather for a photo so we decided to do two groups outside. The next problem being that it was dak outside so we got the floodlight out. Some people managed to sneak out before the pictures were taken.

Rod's Mom's side of the family

Rod's Dad's side of the family

Since Rod's Grandmother is frail we chose to take seperate photos inside with her.

Rod with his Mom and Dad and his Mom's Mom

Grandma "Boil"

Fun Day

2008-02-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History

We watched the IMAX movie "Journey into Amazing Caves"

It was an awesome experience and the first time that we had seen an IMAX movie.

The screen was five stories high and 72 feet wide.

Then we went home, went and did a little shopping, and visited with family who stopped by.

It was a fun day

Road trip from Florida to Georgia

2008-02-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

Last night we packed up all of our clothes and got luggage loaded into the van. I still wasn't feeling 100% and was really tired so I left the packing to Rod and the kids.

This morning I got up and repacked the van so the rest of the luggage could be added. Got waterbottles filled, kids fed, odds and ends gathered and then we headed off to Georgia.

We had made the decision to take the scenic route along the beach with a few stops along the way.

We stopped at Daytona Beach and Cocoa Beach just so we could say that we had been on the beaches there.

Then we drove way out of our way to a lighthouse that we had seen a sign for. We didn't realize that it was that far out of the way until we were almost to it. It was really tall and neither of us felt like climbing the 200+ stairs to the top so we just took pictures of the kids in front of it.

We passed the Disney Cruise Ship

We also saw a lot of damage still evident from the last hurricanes

and a lot of scenery

and pretty much enjoyed the day.

When it was nearing dark and we hadn't made the 5 hour drive to the Georgia border we decided that we needed to get moving.

Last day in Florida

2008-02-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

Today is our last day in Florida.

I went with Mom to drop the baby off at his visit.

Then the two of us went out to breakfast and had some good conversation.

Went back to pick the baby up.

Stopped by Sam's Club on our way home.

The kids had one last trip to the pool.

Rod had one last trip to the hot tub.

We went to Bible Study at the church which we really enjoyed.

Then we headed home to pack and het ready for our road trip.

ACTION Presentation and the Waterpark

2008-02-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up SICK. Well really I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever close to 103. I took tylenol, a cool shower and laid with my wet towel on the bed trying to cool down. I was hot and miserable. Add to that the fact that I could breath and was coughing. YUCK!

The kids had a presentation at the Lakewood Clubhouse and I was not going to miss it. I got up, took more tylenol, wet washcloth, did hair and headed off with the family. Since I was sick I even got a coveted ride on the golf cart, however, because I was sick I did not get any pictures of them.

After the presentation we went to the waterpark. When we arrived we were the only ones there! We had the entire pool, waterslide and spray park to ourselves.

The kids had a blast. They went up the stairs and down the slides.

They spalshed

They floated (you can click on this photo to watch the slideshow)

And I slept

Then it rained and the kids still had a blast, well Tete ran to the canopy cause she didn't want to get wet. You can see the rain in the picture if you look close enough.

SEAL Museum and the Beach

2008-02-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to head back to Fort Pierce. Rod really wanted to go to the SEAL and Underwater Demolition Team Museum. Destini and Makkiah weren't feeling well so they stayed home with Ahma.

The rest of us loaded up and headed off.

It was really neat. We walked through the entire history of the SEALS. I'm not a big history person but even I enjoyed it.

Outside they had different vehicles that have been used by the different teams.

The museum was right near the beach and we hadn't seen it yet so we headed over the boardwalk to the beach.

It was beautiful. The water was so blue. Very different from the west coast beaches.

The kids enjoyed running in the water and collecting shells.

I got some great pictures of Rod with Cavelle

and the other kids as well

As we headed back to the van we saw a "Wisconsin beach" as the kids called it -

Afterwards we headed home to go swimming

Presentation and lunch

2008-02-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

Today we had a busy morning. We got up, did hair, got everyone dressed and headed off to church.

The first church was in Lakewood called The Crossing at Lakewood. This is a second location of the church that my Mom attends.

The oldest five kids did a 15 minute presentation and got a standing ovation. The group really seemed to enjoy it.

Then we left and headed over to the The Crossing in Vero Beach which is the site that my Mom attends.

The kids did a presentation there also and once again got a standing ovation.

After the presentation was done Rod went to teach the youth and I helped out in the nursery with Ladaria.

After church was over we went to lunch at Sloane's. They have a buffet style lunch and it was good.

The babies weren't very impressed though.

Cavelle thought he would eat some grass instead....

and was not happy when he was not allowed to eat it

McKee Botanical Garden

2008-02-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

Today Mom took the kids to the pool while Rod and I went to the flower garden with Cavelle

We took some pictures

Found lizards

snakes

and slugs, just the things that boys love!

And yes we even saw some flowers

Sebastian Inlet

2008-02-22T13:22:00.000-08:00

After we finished at the treasure museum we met Ahma and Papa at the park in Sebastian.

We had lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips and lemonade

Then we went down to the shore to explore

After exploring the shoreline we walked across the street to the Military Memorial and took a photo with the Navy plaque

And I had to take a shot of the guy mowing the shoreline

Mel Fisher Treasure Museum

2008-02-22T13:07:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum. The kids all thought it was really cool. Destini had just finished reading a book about the shipwreck Atocha that all the artifacts were from so it was even educational for them.

They got to watch a lady in the workshop clean a silver medallion from the items that were salavaged

They got to hold a gold bar. Boy was that thing heavy!

And there were cool pirates to get pictures taken with:

Manatee Boat Tour

2008-02-21T21:46:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to head out to Fort Pierce to the Manatee Place. The 1pm tour was full but we were told that if we had at least 5 people they would go out on a second tour. Well we had that so we paid for our tour and headed off to find some lunch.

Fort Pierce is a small town place and we walked two blocks to downtown and found a small greek place to eat. The kids enjoyed it and by this time there were a few sprinkles. It was still pretty warm outside so we didn't think anything of it.

We headed back to the Manatee Educational Center where the kids spent some time learning about manatees.

Soon it was time to load up onto the boat. It was us, the kids and another family of three people. So we had a private boat tour for the most part. It was great.

They stopped several times as the dolphins splashed and jumped around us. The kids really enjoyed watching them.

We did see one manatee but he was to quick for me to snap a photo. We did get to see a crane take a bath though!

The tour guide explained how mangrove islands are made.

We saw pelicans and other birds.

And then it started to rain.

At first just a little.

Then the sky opened up and it poured!

We had fun even if we did get a little wet!

Recovery Day!

2008-02-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Today we didn't do much of anything.

We hung out at the house, went to the swimming pool and recouped from our trip. Chatted, got caught up, and relaxed.

And I found an interesting bug. It was dead but Rod had fun "posing" it to take pictures.

Beginning our trip

2008-02-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

We are all packed up and headed off to Florida and Georgia for two weeks.

We got up really early, really really early. Got all of the kids and luggage packed into the van.

Deacon H drove us to the airport and dropped us off. We did curbside check in and headed off for security.

What a process. Shoes off, medications out, baby food out, laptops out, camcorder out, pockets emptied, belts off, earrings off. Stroller and carry on bags pushed through. And then on the other side all of that stuff put back on.

I found the kids a place to park and started carrying bags over. Thankfully I didn't pick up any bags that weren't ours.

We got through in plenty of time and hung out in the terminal waiting for our flight.

We learned that they no longer preboard people with small children. Nope you just have to board with everyone else. So with nine kids in two we boarded and tried not to hold up traffic to much.

We made it to DFW and had some time to stretch out legs and run around. They have this really cool structure in the airport that the kids enjoyed playing in.

After a while we were on our second leg of our flight to Orlando. Once we boarded the flight we were delayed, by an HOUR! One extra hour sitting in a plane with nine children and no change of scenery, they were wanting a war. Thankfully my kids did very well, the baby was tired and went to sleep and the others listened to music and had snacks.

We got into Orlando much later than we should have and I knew that Mom was probably beside herself. I was right. She was waiting, as patiently as she could, for us to come through the gates.

By that point we were all tired but we still had to get the rental and drive to Vero Beach. After a stop at McD's and some coffee I was good to go. I think I did much better than the semi driver who was swerving anyway.

Off to camp

2008-01-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

Brayana is headed off to sixth grade camp.

Last night we went out and bought the last few things that she needed.

The list grew since it's decided to rain and the snow elevation is dropping today.

She might get snow while she's there.

We had to make sure that she stayed warm and dry.

Thankfully several of the things she needed were on clearance but still available in the sizes that we needed - WHEW!

Who would think that the stores would bring out the swimsuits and flip flops when we are in the midst of winter storms?

We couldn't find rain boots in her size, and for some reason I couldn't convince her that the cute little lady bug boots might squeeze onto her foot if she tried hard enough - LOL.

So with a bigger dent in the pocketbook, a bag filled to the brim and nice cozy sleeping bag -

off she goes!

He's mobile!

2008-01-27T21:34:00.000-08:00

Who me?

Yes!

He's figured out how to scoot.

Last night Cavelle was laying on the floor and he figured it out.

He's been getting up on his hands and knees and going nowhere.

Funny thing is that's not even how he gets around.

He looks like a seal more than anything else.

It's funny to watch him on the go -lol

and he is quite proud of it also!

RAIN?!

2008-01-26T09:40:00.001-08:00

I almost forgot what it looks like!

Not really.

But it's been so long since we REALLY got rain.

And it is supposed to RAIN all weekend.

I'm excited!

I love the rain!

Well, most of the time anyway.

Playing around

2008-01-25T09:43:00.001-08:00

I've been playing around with my camera

Trying to learn to use the manual settings

These are a couple that I took while playing with the f-stop

She really didn't want to get out of the tub

Isn't he handsome?

From kitchen to playroom

2008-01-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

This is where the original kitchen in the house was. The sliding glass door had drywall over it, there was a REALLY old dishwasher, and these cabinets that you had to stand on a step stool to reach. This was the only real kitchen out of the four units that our house was broken up into. So we took down the cabinets

We took the drywall off so that we could put the pet door in the slider on this side. Tyreque did an awesome job of repairing the water damage that had been done

The sheet is covering the wall that is missing since we took down the cabinets. We need to redo some wiring and it's more of a project than we want to start right now so the sheets work. At the bottom of the wall a piece of plywood is screwed so that the wiring is covered up though. Notice the UGLY tile on the floor :puke We also put the door in that goes upstairs. The stairs went through the guest bedroom before. After we took down the cabinets down we brought the steps straight down through the wall and walled in the stairwell.

On Saturday we went and bought a piece of remnant carpet and layed it down. We screwd carpet onto the steps also. It's nothing permanent but it sure looks a lot better than it did!

So we turned it into a play area and took all the toys out of Tete and Jayda

And a view from the steps

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T22:24:00.001-08:00

Justin, Melissa, Brandon and Levi came to visit us from Arizona.

We decided to go spend the day at Seaworld with them. 5 of our kids were gone so we had a small group.

We went and saw the Shamu show

Makkiah was FINALLY tall enough to go on a ride and was so excited

Then we went to check out the starfish in the tide pools

We also went on the ride "Journey to Atlantis" but by the time we got through the line it was to dark to take pictures. Makkiah was tall enough to go on that one. Jayda and Brandon went on both of them also.

And just cause I think he's so darn cute here's a picture of my nephew Brandon:

Winter pictures of the kids

2007-12-29T16:20:00.000-08:00

Cavelle

Taniyah

Jayda

Makkiah

Jaleel

Destini

Brayana

Raquel

Ladaria

Tyreque

Baby Push Ups

2007-12-25T23:48:00.000-08:00

My little guy is growing to fast.

This is his newest trick aside from the new tooth.

He says first you get in this position:

Then you keep you back straight like this:

Make sure you keep your chin up:

And then strike a pose:

First tooth

2007-12-25T23:13:00.000-08:00

The first tooth came in on December 1st.

Unfortunately my camera was not working and I didn't get a picture of it.

It got knocked off the table by one of my kids while I was transferring pictures.

Thankfully I had bought insurance on it and it was replaced.

I wasn't sure that I was going to have a camera for Christmas.

I sent it in on December 4th.

It was supposed to be repaired or replaced in 10 business days.

On December 21st when I still had no camera I called.

No one knew what was going on with it except for the fact that I was getting a new one.

The problem - no one knew if it had shipped or not.

An email was sent and I was told to call back on Monday.

Monday I called back and the one person who could answer the question was not there.

I was told I could buy a camera and return it when mine came.

Not what I wanted to hear at all.

So I went and took a shower so I could get ready to go get a new camera.

When I came out there was a PINK box waiting for me.

Christmas Eve and what showed up?

My new, upgraded, 2 lenses included CAMERA!!

And along with it -

The ability to take pictures of this:

An arrest has been made

2007-12-11T21:48:00.001-08:00

Family photo
Angelina EspalinOCEANSIDE – A year-long investigation into the death of a 4-year-old girl ended Monday night with the arrest of her young foster mom, Oceanside police announced Tuesday.
Dania Haros, 23, is being held without bail on suspicion of murder and violent assault on a child. She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Angelina Espalin died on Nov. 19, 2006, after suffering blunt-force head injuries, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.
Haros and her husband took the unconscious girl to Tri-City Medical Center at 8:30 a.m., and concerned hospital staff members reported her head injuries to police, said Oceanside police Sgt. Leonard Mata.
She was airlifted to Rady Children's Hospital, where she died later that day.
The death was ruled a homicide a few days later after an autopsy.
Investigators said it didn't appear a weapon was used.
Angelina and her 2-year-old sister lived with the couple for five months before she was killed, said Oceanside police Sgt. Karen Laser. Her sister was placed with another family after the death.

Sweet Angie

2007-11-19T18:22:00.000-08:00

Sweet Angie
It's been one year since you were taken from this earth. One year of sadness, of pain, of heartache.

You were not born of my body but you will always and forever be a child of mine in my heart. You will always hold a special place in my life.

You were very much loved. Very much wanted. I'm so sorry that the wrong people were able to make such life altering choices for you.When I sit and think about what you went through and how you must have felt it hurts my heart. It rips it to shreds.

The peace I have is in knowing that while you were here with you knew that you were loved. You knew that you were wanted.

I remember the smile on your face, your laugh, your little way of doing things "Angie style" and it makes me happy. It makes me smile to know that I was a part of your life and you were a part of mine.

I thank God each and every day that he gave me the privelege of being your second Mom. Of holding you in my arms, of loving you. I am thankful that you are no longer in pain. That no one can ever hurt you again but how I wish that things had been different.

I wish so much that you were still here on this earth. That I could still have the oppurtnunity to share you and your life with your family. But it is not to be and it is not for me to understand at this point. Maybe someday, maybe never.

We all love you sweet baby girl!

Making biscuits

2007-11-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

First you roll out the dough.

Then you put it on the pan.

Then you have yummy biscuits.

It's finished

2007-11-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

The fence is finished! 150 feet of new fencing.

It looks so different now that the old falling down fence is gone. Both the old wood and chain link has been replaced. So we now have new fence all the way around the house.

Once we get the front cleaned up I will take a picture of the front of the house.

Fence Progress

2007-11-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

An update on our fence progress as we got a lot accomplished today.

We got the brackets and rails put up

Here's one half of the fence line with some rails up

And the other half of the fenceline before the rails got put up

Then we started putting up faceboards.

We got about 40 feet of faceboards up in the back and it looks so much better than it used to

We called it a day as the sun was setting and the sky was beautiful

Rod's shoulder

2007-10-25T11:50:00.001-07:00

On Friday before all the craziness began Rod injured his left shoulder playing softball at work. I got a call from one of the guys saying that he was hurt and he'd bring him home when they were done.

So he came home in obvious pain and off we headed to the Balboa to get a sling as they didn't have any left. They made a make shift sling for him to stabilize his shoulder.

Monday morning we headed to the clinic and found out that he has a complete Grade 3 AC seperation. A complete tear of the AC ligaments and the coracoclavicular ligaments is a grade three AC separation. This injury results in the obvious bump on the shoulder. You can read more about it here - http://www.orthogate.org/patient-education/shoulder/acromioclavicular-joint-separation.html

Yesterday we went back to the clinic and he did some ROM excercises. He will be temporarily assigned to a training center on base right across the street from the clinic so he can walk over for his appointments since he can't drive. He sees the doctor in two weeks to be reevaluated.

Back Home

2007-10-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

The wind changed directions and the fire has headed in a different direction so we felt it was safe to come home.

We came home last night around 9:30pm and we all crashed.

Will and Marsha were so gracious to let us stay at their home for three days. The kids all did really well and spent most of the time playing games and watching tv since they couldn't go outside.

But it's always nice to be home. The vehicles were covered in ash as well as the sidewalks. The newspaper was discolored from sitting outside but other than that the house is still standing!

Hopefully we are here to stay

Firestorm 2007

2007-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sure that everyone reading knows that San Diego is being consumed by fires at this time.

We live in Spring Valley and we were evacuated last night from our home.

The fire is less than 4 miles from our house.

We live near the 94/125 connector and just above the Sweetwater Resevoir.

We are at a friends house right now and doing well.

To see updated fire maps you can go here - http://cbs8.com/ or here http://www.fox6.com/

The Harris Fire and the two smaller fires on the same map our the two fires that are threatening us.

A Birthday In Heaven

2007-10-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I heard you crying yesterday

And felt your heart-sent love

So I’m sending you this message

Now, from Heaven up above.

You’re wondering if I’ll celebrate

My birthday (way up here)

I know you’re missing me today

I feel your essence near.

God planned a special day for me

He told me with a wink

He’d ordered me a special cake

(It’s Angel food, I think)

I’m getting lots of hugs from God

He’s really good at that

And every time that I walk by

He gives my head a pat

Balloons will fill the streets for me

They float up through the clouds

And we have lots of clowns up here

That make us laugh out loud

There is a birthday carousel

Jeweled horses ride the wind

With music playing oh so sweet…

The magic never ends

I’ve made so many friends, you see

We laugh and play and sing

We ride our bikes and play jump rope

And sleep in Angel’s wings

We’ll have our cake and ice cream

And open gifts, surprise!

But we don’t blow out our candles here

Instead, they light the skies

© 2005 Written by Kris Smith

Another fence

2007-09-26T21:36:00.001-07:00

Two years ago we did one side and the back fence. We weren't going to do it yet but the windstorm that we had that year had other ideas.

Then we did the sideyard fence.

Then we took down the chainlink fence in the front and replaced it with a picket fence.

Then we did the fence around the BBQ area to keep Taniyah in the backyard and all of the kids out of the BBQ area. We still have the gates to do for that part but they should be pretty easy.

Now we are starting the last side of the fence. Once this is done we will we be finished with all of the fences.

Today I took down the wooden fence on the last side and the posts. Let's see how long it takes to get this side completed.

Jenny and Andrew's Wedding

2007-09-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Today after church we were honored to attend Andrew and Jenny's wedding.

We've known them both for 7 or 8 years from the San Diego Youth in Action. That is the team that Tyreque and Ladaria originally got involved with when they were much younger.

Several years back we were honored to attend Jesse and Stuart's wedding - Jesse being Jenny's twin sister. What a blessing to be able to watch these two girls grow into beautiful Godly women.

The wedding was beautiful. I teared up when Jenny was walked down the isle. I told Ladaria I'm gonna be a mess when they start getting married - I cried at Jesse and Erin's wedding also. Jenny looked absolutely stunning.

Rod was armed with his camera and took photos to give to the bride. They had a photographer but Rod got some fun shots that really show the personality of the bride and groom. I need to do some editing before I post them.

I do have one photo that I will leave you all with tonight though.

Shelves

2007-09-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago we redid our living room. We built steps from the living room into the library changing the flow of traffic between the two areas.

In the process we also built a closet on each side of the stairway.

One of the closets has the hot water heater in it. The other closet I put a small set of shelves in with the intentions of doing built in shelves.

Today it rained so I thought it would be a good time to do them.

Rod and I bought the boards to make shelves and the supports. Cleaned all the stuff out of the closet that was piled in there and set to work.

It was actually much easier to do than I thought it would be and in no time at all we had the shelves in.

I got the stuff from the closet sorted out and put into bins and back into the closet. Everything is neat and organized. I also cleaned out one of the hall closets and one in the kitchen. Now all my photo props are in this closet and easier for me to find as well.

We also replaced the track to the closet door. It works so much better now!

And a picture of Cavelle from this evening as a bonus in one of is rare quiet moments.

Somebody said.............

2007-09-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

that Taniyah always has the same face in her pictures.

This just proves that she doesn't -

New Climber

2007-08-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

I love Craigslist! I had been looking for this particular climber. It's big enough that more than one child can play on it but small enough that it doesn't take up the entire backyard. It also has no swings on it so need to worry about kids getting kicked while trying to traverse the backyard.

Well I had looked around for this climber but I couldn't afford to pay full price for it and I had only seen one or two listed on craigslist. Well I went on Thursday to look at something and decided to search for this climber to see if any had been listed. This one had JUST been listed and was half the price of it new.

I emailed the person and they said it hadn't been spoken for so we drove up to get it after church today. It was up in Carlsbad but still cheaper than buying a new one AND it was already put together. We took the seats out of the van, removed the bridge and all the pieces fit right in.

Now we just need to get the rest of the fence finished. The climber is two years old and it still looks brand new!

A day at the park

2007-08-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

With all the other kids in school we headed off for a playtime at the park and to get some pictures.

Well we got a few pictures of Cavelle and Taniyah

But true to his nature Cavelle didn't last long in his stroller

and Taniyah pretty much just wandered around seeing what all the other kids were doing but didn't want to play with any of them so our trip to the park was short lived!

First Day of School 2007

2007-08-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

All the kids are back to school for another year.

Makkiah is in 1st grade, Jaleel is in 4th grade and Destini is in 5th grade.

Brayana and Micheal (our neighbor who practicly lives at our house) are in sixth grade

Raquel is a Freshman this year!

Ladaria is a Sophomore!

Tyreque is a Junior!

The younger and middle kids all started school on August 15th. The high schoolers all started school on August 20th. They are all glad to be back in school. Glad to see old friends and make new friends. Glad to see some teachers but not others.

Looking forward to another year of growth and learning. It's hard to believe that next year I will have my first graduate!

Is it time

2007-08-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

to update yet? I'll try to come back this evening and do that. I have pictures from the first day of school and the baby.

Hello Everyone!!

2007-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

I was taking pictures for my Mom to update my blog and while looking through the ones that I had taken I came across this. I thought it was funny that he's got the same posture in both pictures.

13 week ultrasound picture

20 days old

Birth Story

2007-07-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I went to see the midwife and was a good 3cm dialated but she said she could easily stretch me to a 4. She said she didn't think I would make it through the weekend without having a baby. I was hoping for a 7/7/07 baby, a Sunday baby as my normal midwife would be there or a Monday baby since Rod was supposed to be home by then.

On Friday I woke up and wasn't feeling very good. I ate a bowl of cereal and then walked around some. About 11:30 or so I started having "contractions" that hurt in one line across the top of my belly. My belly was staying hard most of the time but the "pain" was every 5 to 20 minutes.

I walked around, sat on the couch, laid on the couch, laid on my bed, and walked some more. I also decided that maybe I should pack my bag and get the camera together since I hadn't gotten anything together.

About 2:30 the "pain" across the top of my belly was happening pretty consistently at 7 minutes and had been going on for a few hours now so I decided to call the midwife and see what she said. Since I have pretty fast deliveries she told me to come in so we could see where I was at.

I called Marsha to let her know that we were headed to the hospital. Mom and the girls got stuff loaded into the van and we headed for the hospital.

They put me on the monitor and I was contracting every 7 minutes or so with lots of smaller "irritability" contractions in between. The baby had one decel when I first went on the monitor and when the midwife checked me I was 5 cm so that earned me an admission without the ability to go walk around.

So we headed over to a LDR room and got hooked back up to the monitor, got an IV and blood draw, and Mom went down and got my bag from the car. In amongst all the people coming and going from my room Mom and Marsha fixed the curtain which was not hanging correctly.

About 6 pm I sent Mom and Marsha to eat with the promise that I would not have the baby while they were gone. Since I had not been able to get up and walk things weren't going anywhere quickly. I called Apryl to let her know that I had been admitted and didn't have Jen's phone number in my phone.

The dr came in and I was 5-6 cm so not much progress had been made. At that point the plan was to run a course of antibiotics and to then start pitocin.

The dr then came back in and told me that they had decided not to do the antibiotics and they would start pictocin instead.

Marsha and Mom came back and Marsha was looking for something when she discovered a bag of M&M's stashed in the bedside table. She asked if they were mine and my response "Where would I have gotten a bag of M&M's from?" She discovered that housekeeping hadn't done a very good job and took a picture of the evidence.

About that time the nurse brought in the bag of antibiotics and pictocin. The nurse was laughing because she had gone into the wrong room before coming into my room. I questioned her about the antibiotics since the dr had said he wasnt going to do them. She didn't seem to believe that I wasn't supposed to get them and finally decided that she would check it out. I wasn't supposed to get them.

They started the pictocin and let it run for a while. The contractions started getting closer together and they were going up off the monitor but they weren't hurting at this point. I was watching tv while Mom and Marsha watched the monitor. They couldn't believe that I was still smiling at that point.

The new dr came in just after 9pm and broke my water. There was a LOT of fluid in there and I felt like I lost about 10 pounds and was sitting in a swimming pool! You could hear the fluid pouring out. I got up and went potty while Mom and Marsha changed my bed out and the nurse came in to say that I needed to get back on the monitor since the baby was having decels.

I'd had about 3 contractions that hurt (I'm not sure that it was the actual contraction that was hurting. It felt like the baby's shoulder was stuck on my pubic bone and that's where all the pain was at) and the baby wasn't liking them at all so the nurse laid my bed flat and gave me an oxygen mask to put on. At 10:03pm the nurse checked me and I was 8cm. She said she didn't think it would be long at that point and left the room.

With the very next contraction I felt the need to push and couldn't say anything. Marsha went to tell the nurse that I was pushing and Mom stayed right there by my bed. The dr came in and I was +3 and they didn't have anythign set up. She keeps telling me NOT to push so they can get the bed broke down and the table set up. I was trying not to push but at that point it's a little hard not to.

After what seemed like forever they had everything set up and I was ready to push. I kept hearing "Push, push, push" but I couldn't get a good breath with the oxygen mask in my face. I kept putting it on top of my head and it wasn quickly replaced on my face. At that point all I was hearing was "You need to push this baby out!", "Push", and "You need to take a deep breath, hold it and push". My response was "I AM"! I finally managed to get the oxygen mask off my face long enough to get a GOOD DEEP breath and pushed him out and heard "IT'S A BOY!" Official time of birth was 10:16pm.

According to Mom the baby's heartbeat had gone down to 40 and the doctor had paged another doctor and was looking very concerned so the baby needed to be out. He came out looking at my leg instead of facing the floor!

Rod called right in the middle of the pushing. Mom told him to call back as we were having a baby right then. Right after that they hit a dead spot so he didn't get to call back for another couple hours.

Meeting Dad and Going Home

2007-07-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we were finally ready to be sprung from the hospital. I was so glad to be getting out of that room!!

I got all my discharge paperwork done. Cavelle had his last physical and was given the thumbsup for release.

Mom went by the ship and picked up Rod who had just came in that morning and they headed up to get me. This is Rod and Cavelle's first picture together.
And then we were off for home!

Meeting the siblings!

2007-07-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

All wrapped up and ready to meet the siblings!

The board in my room

Mom brought the kids up to visit in two groups and they all seemed so proud of him

Tyreque and Cavelle
Ladaria and CavelleRaquelle and Cavelle
Brayana and CavelleDestini and Cavelle
Jaleel and CavelleMakkiah and CavelleTaniyah and Cavelle

Cavelle Braydon has arrived!

2007-07-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

Cavelle Braydon

July 6, 2007

10:16 PM

8 pounds 10.5 ounces

22 inches

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

We spent the day today putting together cabinets for the laundry room.

We sorted out Rod's tools, the gardening tools, the electrical stuff, the plumbing stuff, and the odds & ends.

We cut off the end of the steps for the gardening tools and filled a hole with cement.

After we were done all the kids got ready to go to the beach.

We went out to NASNI and watched the fireworks.

When we got there people had dug these holes in the sand that the kids enjoyed playing with.

Hopefully there will be a baby soon.

Happy 11th Birthday Brayana!!

2007-07-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Brayana!!

I remember the day you were born.

It sure doesn't feel like it's been 11 years!

The time goes by so quickly.

This year you graduated from elementary school.

Next year you will be headed off to middle school.

Where does the time go?

You are my tom boy,

the one out catching lizards,

and frogs,

and crawfish.

The one climbing the tree,

or the fence,

or onto the roof.

The one who likes to wear cammi pants,

and holey jeans,

and a pony tale.

Your favorite colors are orange

and black.

Sometimes we can manage to get you in a dress,

and your hair done up,

and something besides tennis shoes on you.

You have a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh.

Can't wait to see what the next 11 years will bring.

Summer Fun!

2007-06-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

We took our first trip to the pool today.

We started a new "incentive" program for the kids. Each day they get a star and at the end of the week if they have enough stars they get to participate in a fun activity.

The first week only Makkiah got enough stars. I had let all the kids know that we would be headed to the pool so they had plenty of time to earn the stars.

Our first trip allowed Makkiah, Taniyah, Raquel and Ladaria to enjoy the fun. Tyreque didn't come with us and the other three sat with me.

Hopefully this will give them some incentive to have a better attitude this week.

Tyreque's 17th Birthday

2007-06-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

Happy 17th Birthday Tyreque!!

This year had been an interesting year.

One of testing limits, growth and well, testing more limits.

Grades have come up, all classes were passed and given credit for (he learned the hard way last year that doesn't matter if you pass, if you don't show up they still don't give you credit).

He played varsity Lacrosse and earned his letter.

He's improved his skating techniques.

He's learned that although he's getting older he's still not the adult in the house and well, that he's not yet an adult.

Some lessons have been learned the hard way and some lessons have been learned the easy way and there are still many, many more lessons for him to learn. In time I'm sure he will!

37 weeks and no baby!!

2007-06-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Made it to full term and now nothing!

No contractions, no nothing.

I was hoping to have the baby before Rod left for 2 weeks but no luck.

We went to the park and took some pictures.

Hopefully this baby will decide to wait until Rod comes back.

I'm not holding my breath though.

Raquel's 8th Grade Promotion

2007-06-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

She DID it!!!

Raquel has finished 8th grade and is headed off to high school.

She was so excited to finish 8th grade.

She really didn't think that she would make it.

She finished with a 3.5 GPA and was excited about that also.

Brayana's 5th Grade Promotion

2007-06-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today was Brayana's 5th Grade Promotion.

The day started out with Dr Parsons greeting all the parents and family. Then all of the 5th graders were brought into the auditorium.

Each class had 2-3 speakers who talked about their teachers.

After the class speakers they presented awards to the top students and then

FINALLY they gave out the promotion certificates.

Brayana's class was the last class to go. By that time I had a ton of parents who had decided that it was ok to come and stand in front of me.

The one that really got me was the guy who came to talk to someone right in front of me RIGHT before it was Brayana's turn to cross the stage.

Mom yelled at him to get down before I could say anything. She must have seen him coming.

Karate Promotion

2007-06-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last week the kids did all of their karate testing. Today was their promotion to the next belt or degree.

Makkiah advanced from white belt to yellow belt.

Brayana, Destini and Jaleel advanced to second degree yellow belt.

They also got to show off their trophies from tournament.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

2007-06-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

A Father and a Dad Are Not the Same

A father and a dad are not the same:

One can be a dad and not a father,

Or one can be a father and not bother

To earn through love the more endearing name.

Some find fatherhood a bit too tame,

Leaving all the details to the mother,

Or dumping the sweet burden on another

Man with just a passing twinge of shame.

You have been our dad so many years

That you've become the landscape that is home,

The mountain that we look to from afar.

No matter where we go we're not alone,

For you remain within to still our fears

And be the word that tells us who we are.

I am so thankful for the wonderful man that God has given me to be the father of my children and DAD to all those children that God has given us. Not many men are willing to take a child totally unknown to them, love them and care for them as their own. Many of the times not knowing how long that child will even be in our home. Makes no difference to him. He sees them all the same no matter how they came into our home. Just wanted to wish you a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Destini's 10th Birthday

2007-06-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today is Destini's 10th Birthday!!

She's been waiting for this birthday for a while now.

10 years old in this house means that you get a razor and shaving cream.

She is just beside herself with the knowledge that she will be getting one.

She's asked me everyday for the last week if she can shave yet!

Not until she is 10 - not a week before or a day before.

Honestly I'm not sure WHAT she is going to shave.

The hair on her legs are super light but she says that her friends look at them.

With Ladaria and Brayana it was a little different since they both had lots of dark hair on their legs.

She is definetly my "girly girl" though, the DIVA, the hair needs to be "perfect" girl.

The last year has brought her a long ways and I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

She's finishing up 4th grade. She likes school but I think it's more for the social aspect than the learning aspect.

If she could go to school to chat with friends and play she would be happy. Throw in a little art and life would be grand.

Darn teachers actually expect her to do work! What a travesty as far as she is concerned.

I think the fact that Jaleel is passing her up in reading is helping in that realm.

Some day she will make an awesome lawyer!

If you don't know the exact question to ask her you aren't getting any information from her. Unless it's a secret that someone doesn't want told!

She is unique, she is fun, she is dramatic, she is DESTINI and she is 10!!!!

Karate Tournament

2007-06-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Click on the picture of Tete and me to view the slideshow.

Our BIG event on Sunday was the Karate Tournament.

We spent from 9am to almost 5pm at the tournament.

Makkiah was our only white belt competing in the tournament and his "events" were in the morning.

All the white belts warm up together and then they are divided into age groups.

They all do forms and then sparring (fighting).

The organization comes together four times a year to compete. Each instructor jas their own way of teaching the kids moves and each judges a different square. The kids are broken up by belt color and age.

All the kids in the 4-6 age group looked a little confused by the instructions given by the judge for the forms part of the competition but it was still fun to watch them.

Makkiah placed third in forms.

He placed second in sparring-

We brought chicken, potato salad and some other stuff for lunch. Rod and Tyreque brought the wagon around back and we all ate.

After we were done we watched the black belt demonstration and the prize drawing.

In the afternoon all the colored belts have their events.

They all warm up together and then are split into belt and age groups as well.

Brayana and Destini were in the same group and Jaleel was in a different group for both forms & sparring.

None of our colored belts placed in forms. They were competing against yellow and orange belts and know now that they need to practice harder.

Brayana placed 1st in sparring and Destini placed 3rd. Destini ended up giving one of her opponents a bloody nose so she automatically lost that match. If she has won then she would have faced Brayana to determine the 1st and 2nd place spots.

Jaleel faced a harder group of competitors. He had a good round that lasted a long time but in the end he was eliminated and his opponent moved on to the next round. Probably didn't help that his Dad picked out the wrong size athletic protector.
He did receive a participation trophy though.

Burial at Sea

2007-06-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Rod sent me some pictures that were taken of him. He is the one who recieves the flag from the captain on behalf of the family and scatters the ashes at sea. What a privelege to be the one to help these people realize their last wish.

School Play

2007-06-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

The fourth and fifth graders in Building 1 do a school play. This year the name of the play was "Team Me Up". 9 kids had to work together to finish a project that was assigned to them by the teacher. The problem was that there were three "groups" of kids - the nerds, the athletes, and the actors so none of them understood each other.

Each class sang a song from days gone by. Then some of the songs were sang by a combination of classes. It really was a fun show to watch. Even Tete did pretty good through it.

Rod was out to sea so he didn't get to watch it. I did buy the DVD though so he will be able to watch it when it comes in.

My 30th Birthday

2007-06-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today was my 30th Birthday!!

"People" try to tell me I'm getting old, but they were there first!

Poppa was in Florida but he called to tell me Happy Birthday. He says I'm not getting older, I'm getting better! I tend to agree.

Rod was underway but he also called to wish me a Happy Birthday.

Mom and Makkiah baked me a cake and it was yummy.

All the kids got me gifts. After dinner I got to open all of my gifts. Makkiah worked REALLY hard on my gift. He got me a nightshirt that says "Best dog-gone Mom". He also got me a "bedtime hat". I am not a hat person but everyone, including my precious son, seems to think I should wear one. Wonder what they are trying to tell me?
Tyreque was out getting job applications so he didn't make it for the party and missed the picture. He came in after we had finished the festivities and no I did not wait for him before I opened his gift!

All in all the kids did a really good job choosing gifts. I got lots of chocolate, ice cream, foot rub cream, shampoo & conditioner, some age defying lotion, sudoku puzzles, bubble bath, lip balm, nightshirt & nighthat, spa brush, scrubby thing, and a movie.

34 weeks

2007-05-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

THIRTY FOUR WEEKS!!!!

We need one more week and we are in the "safe" zone.

I had my follow up ultrasound today.

The right foot looks normal and she gave me a picture of it.

The left foot was "in a funny position" and she said it could possibly be clubbed or it could just be the position. She said that we won't know until the baby is born and then it will be obvious.

She had a hard time getting a good picture of the head because it's so far down. She was able to get a pretty good picture of the baby's face. The left ventricle was still dialated and it's being called borderline hydrocephalis. The baby will have to have a head CT done before leaving the hospital to follow up on it.

I also did my weekly NST today and got done much quicker than last week. Baby was moving all over the place. I was the last one into the NST room and the first one out. Last week people came and went and there I sat.

And as an added bonus here is Tete checking out the baby.

33 weeks 3 days

2007-05-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've made it to 33 weeks 3 days.

I missed 32 weeks and 33 weeks so we are a little later into the week than usual.

On Friday I went to in for my weekly non stress test (NST).

I was really thinking I was going to get by without them this pregnancy.

Not only did I not get to by-pass them I am starting them earlier than I did with the last two pregnancies.

My next one is scheduled for this Thursday along with my follow-up ultrasound in the Fetal Assessment Unit (FAU).

So far I've only had occassional contractions here and there so no more trips to the hospital.

Speech contest

2007-05-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

For the last six weeks or so Brayana, Destini, Jaleel and Makkiah have been going to Reading Club at the Rec Center.

They really enjoyed Math Club and were excited to go to Reading Club.

One of the things that they do each day of Math and Reading Club is practice public speaking. At the end of Math and Reading Club they have a Speech Contest.

There is always excitement about this as well since the first five places earn cash prizes.

Each grade competes against each other on Wed and on Thursday they get their certificates and find out who won.

Brayana won 3rd place and $5 in the 5th grade category.

Destini won 2nd place and $10 in the 4th grade category.

Jaleel won 4th place and $3 in the 3rd grade category.

Makkiah won 5th place and $2 in the 1st grade category. Reading Club is for 1-6 grade and he is in Kindergarten but is an advanced reader and was allowed to participate with the 1st graders.

They all had fun and worked hard and learned at the same time. That's the way we like to do it!!

Makkiah's Surgery

2007-05-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

Makkiah had his sinus surgery today.

We got there around 9:15am and did all of his pre-op stuff.

10:35am he headed back to the OR with his awesome OR team.

11:45am his doctor came out to let us know that all had gone well.

His anatomy is a little different than normal and he had what they call a "bubble".

His "bubble" had grown out and was blocking his sinus cavity on the right side. When they opened the sinus cavity it had emptied of the infection prior to the surgery and was just inflammed which was great news to hear.

They put some gel in the sinus cavity that will dissolve over time and helps with the bleeding.

By 12:15 he was on room air and around 12:30 they Rod and I come back to the PACU to see him. He was still pretty groggy but slowly waking up.

By 1pm we were on the same day surgery floor and he was more awake. He ate some graham cracker and had apple juice.

By 3pm we were headed home with nasal covering in place. He was still unsteady on his feet and got a wheelchair ride down to the car.

By the time we left for the Awards ceremony he was ready to go. I wasn't to sure about taking him but he was excited to see if he had won anything.