Good Grief!

These past days have gone by so quickly. I hardly noticed that I didn't update the website. All was going so well. The Make-A-Wish Radioathon on Thursday the 18th was a blast. Kelby didn't talk into the microphone, but she was with me as I told our story. I hope that they taped the message and if they did, I'll post it on this website when we get a copy of it. My friend Missy, Kelby and I enjoyed a little shopping while we were down near Seattle in that wonderful mall! They even have a "Build-A-Bear" workshop there, so we got some new clothes for Kelby's bear "Hope". Then, last Saturday, Mike and I got to go to a beautiful wedding in Seattle. It was a wonderful, fun escape! The girls stayed with Gramma and Grampa Wright and had a great time too! Then the next week passed with breath taking speed.

This weekend we packed up to go camping Friday night. We found a spot about an hour away and set up camp. After we and our friends got our tents up, the kids were tromping around and apparently ran across a wasp nest. Kelby screamed and I ran to her. She ended up with about 20 wasp stings on her legs, hands, and one on her face. She was the only one to get stung. I panicked right away knowing that Michael had a bad reaction to bees when he was a kid. We had a first aid kit with Bee Sting Relief pads and used that, then I gave her some children's Benedryll right away. I can't believe it, but I had cell phone reception at that campground (no where else around there had service) and I called the consulting nurse. They had us drive home just to be closer to hospital facilities. By the time we got on our way, Kelby had calmed down and was just disappointed to have to leave her friends to go home. She was really looking forward to the roasted marshmellows! Her stings had swollen a bit, but by the time we made it home the swelling was gone. We thought for sure she'd be sore the next morning, but she was none the worse for wear. So, we jumped back in the car and met up with our friends for marshmellows as a mid-morning snack and a little hike. Kelby had fun picking "hunkle berries" with the big kids. We jumped back in the car to arrive home just in time for cousin Riley's third birthday party. Today was a full day! At any rate, all's well that end's well! Can you believe the luck this girl has? Wow...and she handles it all so well. Tomorrow I think we'll spend relaxing at home...just to be safe!

FamilyFun Magazine published my essay in their September issue! I just got my copy today. It is a bit strange to see my name in print...though very exciting. I am so pleased to hear from people that found our website through that magazine! What a blessing. Everyone should go out and pick up a copy of that magazine this month!

God bless you all...sorry no pictures this time. I'll find time soon. The pictures are the most time consuming part of updating.

On the Radio

Hello there everyone! We are all just doing so great right now. (I'm stealing this comment from my mom but) If anyone were to ask me how I am doing, I can say "fantastic"! Kelby is doing great. The girls have been having a wonderful summer. The weather has been beautiful. I am also very excited for my brother Bradley that is graduating from the Air Force Boot Camp this weekend! Things are just going so well.

I had to write today because I will be down at a mall in Seattle tomorrow doing a live interview for a local radioathon for Make-A-Wish! If anybody is close to Seattle and can tune into 92.5 The Mix, please do at 10:40 tomorrow, Thursday July 18th! Kelby will be with me though I'm not sure if she'll be able to talk on the Microphone. I'm thinking she might be a little scared. We get to tell everyone out there how wonderful Make-A-Wish was to us. I just want to do anything for them that I can. That trip to Disneyland meant so much to our family! If anyone could record the interview for me, I'd really appreciate it. We can't really get that radio station from our house. I've been working on our scrapbook from that trip and remembering how wonderful it was.

We had a wonderful week this past week. A friend of Mike and I from Montana came out here to visit. She stayed overnight. It was a blast. We had a picnic at the beach one night. The next night we got to go shopping. In the Skagit Valley, there are many u-pick fields, so we took her over to pick raspberries. Yummy! Mike, the girls and I had picked strawberries on Saturday. I think that Kelby really had a good time.

Tegan started spinning and circles this weekend. I couldn't believe it. She's just copying her big sister that already loves to get dizzy! Those girls really crack me up. I just can't seem to remember what else happened this week. I just know that I feel good and things have gone great. Kelby is just an amazing girl as always. She just plays and plays. She loves to play games on the computer. We got her some educational games for her birthday. The are fairly advanced and she does great. I can't believe how such a little girl can use the mouse so easily. She'll be a computer wiz when she grows up!

God bless you all!

At the Zoo

 

Merris comes for a visit.

Wonderful Fourth of July

I thought I'd better check in before anybody gets too worried. Mostly I have been waiting to get my Fourth of July pictures in order for the website. That is what takes the longest in my updates. For now I'll just give you the update and I'll put the pictures up later.

We are doing just wonderfully. We all had a wonderful 4th! We went to the parade in the morning. Kelby came home with a bag full of candy. It lasted almost 2 hours! Then, we went to a friend's house for a BBQ. They lit off tons of fireworks. Kelby stayed up until 11:00 pm at night without a problem! She had so much fun and really loved the sparklers.

We went to get the girls pictures taken at Sears on Friday. That was quite the exhausting experience because the girls really didn't want to participate. I needed their first and third year pictures. Thank goodness that's done for another year.

We had a pretty lazy weekend, which we needed and thoroughly enjoyed. Tegan is walking around and causing problems with her big sister. All of a sudden I have to deal with sibling problems. Wow! It just snuck up on me. Tegan picks on Kelby and Kelby gets annoyed. I'll figure it out. Also, Kelby is in a testing phase and likes to pretend she can't hear us. This too will pass...I hope! Tegan has also just started to try to say words! She says MaMa and DaDa pretty good. I swear she says "Amen" too. Just every now and then I realize that she is trying to copy us. She's a bit of a clown.

I took the girls to the zoo today. We went with Aunty Melissa and cousin Riley. The girls had so much fun. Kelby and Riley played and played until they were exhausted. They ran in circles and laughed and hugged. It was a nice trip. The zoo is about an hour away, near Seattle, so it was a little day trip.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon, but I'm sorry I just don't feel like working on it right now. I'm in too good of a mood! (Smile) I'm off to do some crafting or reading. Thanks for checking in on us! God bless.

Good Bye to Trooper

Well, we had to say good bye to Trooper. He had been on "probation" in my mind since Kelby's bite. He had started doing a little better around his food with Michael, but he remained a crazy nipping dog. He never fully got over being protective of his food when Kelby was around, and was still especially bad when other kids were around. He just never settled down. We had been trying all the tips and hints to train a dog, but he just hasn't responded to any of them. So after some heart wrenching time of thinking it all through, I decided to call the breeder to see if they would want him back. They said it was no problem at all and came to get him for me yesterday. On the web, I found some information about dominance aggression in Springer Spaniels. It seems to be a tendency for them. I think the better hunting dog you have, the worse it is as a pet. He was always trying to let us know that he was the leader of the pack...at least over the kids. That is what all the nipping was about. Mike said that if he would at least like to be petted and loved, he might have been an okay dog, but he was just never happy with us and was always nipping when we were just trying to love him. I will really miss him, but it will be better this way. He needs a family with no kids or much older kids that can be his boss. I made sure that Kelby got to say good bye. She did just fine. I told her that he was going back to stay with his Mom and Dad. She cried a little bit and said, "But, I wanted a puppy." So she'll miss him, but she also remembers him biting her and is a little relieved to be done with that. We are still thinking we might like another dog, but we'll have to find a much older dog that is just right for us. It was a lesson we had to learn on our own. I'm not sad that we tried...it was a good experience...all except the bite part.

I just can't believe how easy-going Kelby has been with this all. I really think she is amazing. Nothing really phases her. She has the strongest spirit I have met. She quickly forgave Trooper before and now she doesn't hold a grudge against me for making him leave. She has so much inner strength. She's my hero.

Kelby won't let me stop swinging her now that she has her own swing set. I am glad we have it, because it has served as a great distraction from Trooper. At least we still have something fun to do in the back yard. I need to go get a special swing for Tegan because she is jealous of her big sister. She's not quite big enough for the regular swing.

Overall we are doing really well. I am taking a big deep breath after all the partying. I think this week will prove to be relaxing. We hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July! We'll be going to a parade tomorrow, so Kelby should be happy! God bless.

Kelby Turned Three!

WOW! We have been ever so busy! It was a wonderful week last week. On Sunday we celebrated the our little niece Naomi's first birthday party. The girls played and had lots of fun. I spent the week planning Kelby's birthday party and making some "announcements" to celebrate her making it to this momentous day. I just had to make a big deal over it because it was so important to me. Now that it is all over, I am very glad that I did make it a special event. I think Kelby loved it.

On her actual birthday, the 27th, we took Kelby to a movie and went out for dinner at Red Robin of course. Uncle Zach and Auntie Melissa watched Tegan, so we could take Kelby to that "Lilo and Stitch" movie. She liked it, but was a little bit scared towards the end. We picked up Tegan and went out to dinner. Red Robin was really fun. The whole crew came out and sang her their special "happy birthday" song. She had to wear these great goofy glasses. She was chewing on a chicken strip as they were singing, so it was half-way sticking out. I have never seen anything so funny. She was pretty excited about the sundae and balloons she received. When we got home she opened a present from Gigi & PaPa in Arizona. She got princess panties and a cool art set! She LOVED the panties! That was the first thing she asked for the next morning.

On Friday I went to a speaker's training seminar all day. It was so exciting. I learned a lot. Someday I'd like to tell our story, so this was my first step. The lady explained how to get started. It was a nice chance to do something for myself. That is why I had to get so much planning and preparing for Kelby's party done earlier in the week.

My parents came out for Kelby's birthday. It was great to have them here. My dad and Michael got the stuff and built the neatest swing set for Kelby! She just LOVES it! Of course, now I am forced to push her all day, but I don't mind. The guys did a great job and it seemed to go together really fast. That night we all took the girls to the LoggerRodeo carnival in Sedro-Woolley. There was also a blast of a street dance too! The girls got to stay out really late, and amazingly, they did great.

 

On Sunday, we didn't make it to church since we all were feeling tired from staying up too late. That's not a very good excuse is it? Anyways, we had a ton to do for the parties that afternoon. I had ten kids over from 3-5 and family over for dinner from 5:30 on. Thank goodness I had my mom to keep my mind straight.

The kids had a great time. I think Kelby thought it was neat. It was all a "happy face" theme. We had them make happy faces out of refrigerated bread dough. They decorated it with raisins and sprinkles. It was allowed to rise during the rest of the party and my mom remembered to put them in the oven so the kids could take them home at the end of the party. We had cake and ice cream next. Of course, they were happy face cupcakes. All the while, the kids played on Kelby's new swing set. Thank goodness the weather cleared up just in time for them to be able to play outside. I think we did the pinata next. I made it myself. It was a little too strong because it took the oldest kid a few good whacks before he could break it open. After a game of pin the tongue on the happy face and a "musical chair" type present game, Kelby got to open presents. I think she loved everything! (We played with everything today and had a great time.) We kept them busy for the whole 2 hours! I think the party was a success. I'm so glad we did it. Most of the kids left...all except the cousins...and then our family came over for dinner.

It sounds like a lot, but it all came together really well. I am glad my mom was my second brain. The hardest part was Mike having to cook the hamburgers and hotdogs. Last time we used the BBQ I had left our BBQ tools inside it...and this time I lit the propane without looking. Needless to say, he had to make due without any BBQ tools! Amazingly, Kelby made it through the whole evening. She had more cake and ice cream, so that's probably what kept her going...not to mention the additional presents she got to open! We took a deep breath at the end of the evening. I looked back and was very happy that I had made such a big deal of Kelby's third birthday.