Crazy last few weeks!

(Twizzleberry with my kids for successful SEP conferences!!)

It's been awhile since I last updated my blog and oh boy so much has happened.  At 4:45 pm on August 30, I was on my way to take Tyler to his karate practice.

Mark called me and said, "Did you know that there are kids on their way to our house?"
Me, "No, you're just joking around."
Mark, "No, I'm being serious.  I just got a call and they are in our driveway right now."

I turned around and went back home to an empty driveway.  Mark called back the case worker and gave them our correct address.

Mark arrived home and we had a total of two minutes to prepare our children that more kids were coming to stay at our home.  Just as we finished telling them what was going on, the state car pulled up with the children.  Our family grew that day by six feet that day: a 17 year old boy, 10 year old and 4 year old girls.

Bewildered, I looked at Mark for an explanation while at the same time he was looking at me the same way. You see our stipulations for age ranges were 0-9 not 17!  To be thrown into raising teenagers is shocking and quite a learning curve for all involved.

To make a long story short, a couple numbers in the cell number were transcribed incorrectly.  Instead of calling the family that was expecting these children, they called my husband.  The possibility of that occurring is slim to none.  (There are not that many foster families out there.)  I firmly believe these children are to be in our home with us at this time.  I don't know how the end will be, but for now Mark and I will raise these wonderful children as our own.  Heavenly Father definitely has his own plan for us even though it greatly differs from what I was expecting, He knows what is best for us.

To add to all this craziness, I was also on the Walk-a-Thon committee for my kids' school's fundraiser which took place in September.  The committee I worked with are amazing and we pulled off a successful event!  At times I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it I was so busy with our extra kids, teaching piano, maintaining a household, and the walk-a-thon.  By some miracle I made it and life is slowly returning to normal.


In school, Tyler did a report on Benjamin Franklin.  He has been wanting to write a report on him since the beginning of the summer when he found out he needed to write a one page report on a Great American Hero.  I loved how dedicated he was to learning as much as he could about Ben.  Tyler did a one-minute class presentation on Ben and didn't even blink an eye.  He definitely takes after Mark that way.  I would have been so nervous!  Part of the report was to also participate in the Living History Wax Museum.  The picture above was the pose Tyler held for 1 hour.  The only time he could move was when someone waved a hand in front of him so he could share his speech.

 Maleina loves jumping into hay!

 Getting ready to start the corn maze!

For some fall fun, I took the girls with me to a Fall Harvest Festival.  We went through a corn maze, the girls slid down a giant slide, ropes course, rode ponies, and shot a BB gun.  I sure had fun with them.

And they're off!

Where has the time gone?  Tyler started 5th grade this year and his teacher is Mrs. Carlisle.  They have an award called 'The Great American Hero' and Tyler set a goal for himself to achieve it.  In order to receive that award he will have to name all the US Presidents in order with their first and last name, know all the states and their capitals, know where all the states are on a US map, recite the preamble of the US Constitution, recite the Gettysburg Address, complete a report on an American Hero, recite verse one of the Star-Spangled Banner, in neat cursive write the Pledge of Allegiance (neat being the key word), and take the citizenship test.  Over the summer Tyler memorized the US Presidents and passed them off to his teacher Monday, Aug. 26.  I was so impressed with him.  He is now working on his handwriting so he can pass of the Pledge of Allegiance, and also memorizing the Gettysburg Address.  I told him to get the hardest things out of the way first, then the rest will be piece of cake!

Maleina has started kindergarten this year and her teacher is Miss Chris.  She has been so excited to start kindergarten.  In her class, she has several friends from our ward and even two from her preschool class two years ago.  Maleina laid our her clothes on her bed yesterday afternoon, and has been planning her hairstyle she wore today since last week.  I'm not sure whether she was more excited for school or the chance to ride the big yellow school bus!  It seems like yesterday she was placed in our arms by her loving birth mother.  Five years have gone by way to quickly!

July in a nut shell.

 July went by in a blur.  The first week was full of fun: fireworks, family, parades.  So much excitement! My mom traveled back with us and stayed until July 9th.  We had lots of fun hanging out and playing games a midst all the chaos going on, more on the chaos a little later.

On July 10th, my wonderful mother-in-law passed away from causes of alheimer's disease.  She was a loving person and amazing grandma.  Maleina and her cute cousin, Ellie, hugged eachother as they wheeled her body out of the house.  They were both born at the time of grandma's diagnosis and didn't get the opportunity to know her well, but they still felt of her love.  It was a tender moment.  I am so grateful for eternal families and know that we will see her again!  She is no longer suffering and is at peace.

Pioneer Day

Tyler's martial arts group was in the Pioneer Day parade again this year.  He sure loved it!  

That night, we did fireworks.  Mark was in charge of purchasing fireworks this time.  I had bought fountain firework, sparklers, and flowers for the 4th of July and I got fired!

  The fireworks Mark purchased were just legalized a few years ago in Utah.  I will admit, they were pretty cool and the kids LOVED them!  

Maleina also lost her first tooth.

Above, I mentioned the word chaos to describe July.  At the end of our vacation in CA, I received a call from our RFC (resource family consultant) about a little boy who had stayed with us for 10 days in March. He had been removed again from his family, and she was wondering if we would be willing to have him stay with us again.  Of course I said yes!  He is so cute and his birthday was during this time so we had a fun party for him on the Monday we were back in Utah.  When we got home, I was impressed that he even remembered us and he gave each of us big hugs.  He is a loving boy and loved following Tyler around.  As it goes with any family, when you add a new member the youngest one feels displaced, and hence the chaos began.  Oh boy, the sibling rivalry going on was insane at times.  He was quite a talker and some days bedtime couldn't come soon enough.  Wouldn't you know that by the time he and Maleina started getting along was when he was able to go back to his family.  We love that cute boy and hope the best for him. 

Trip to Grandma's & Grandpa's New Home

In June, the kids and I left Mark home and took off for Fair Oaks, CA to visit grandpa & grandma.  They were so excited.  It's quite a long drive (11 hours), and I like to speed so I thought I would be able to cut the time down to less than 10 hours.  Little did I know, there was sooooo much construction going on in Nevada, that all the time I should have shaved off was lost to all the construction.  We made it there safe and sound though, and I never got lost thanks to google maps on my phone.

Our first day there, Grandpa had taken work off and we headed to the Jelly Belly factory.  The kids love it! Tyler was a volunteer and had the pleasure of trying a vomit flavored jelly bean.  He was able to swallow some how.  Thankfully grandma had mints in her purse!  That morning, Tyler work up with a headache.  I thought a Tylenol would work and he would be fine the remainder of the day.  Unfortunately, the longer we were at the Jelly Belly factory

the worse he got.  Tyler was a trooper through the who day and even made it to the train museum after we finished the Jelly Belly tour.

On the second day, I went with my mom and sister to the farmer's market.  It was hot!!  We ran a couple more errands and then went back home for lunch.  After lunch, we left the kids with grandpa and took off to the Roseville mall.  It is HUGE!!!  We had been there about 30 minutes when my dad called and told me Maleina was crying because her ear was hurting.  (Oh yeah, and Tyler had woken up with a raw throat.)

After my dad's call, we left the mall and went home.  I was hoping that Maleina would be fine.  I had come prepared this time for sick kids and had Tylenol, ibuprofen, and throat spray.  (I learned that lesson over spring break when I had nothing and Tyler got sick.)  I treated her using the meds I brought and a warm rice pack.  It worked, or so I thought.  She would be fine for a few hours then suddenly need the rice pack and more medication.  Sunday night to Monday morning, after getting no sleep because her ear was hurting so badly, I found an instacare (which happened to be 1/2 mile from my parent's house) and took her to get treated.

Since I had sick children, we low keyed it for a few days and stayed close to my parent's home.

Fairy Tale Town

Finally, on Wednesday we ventured out to Fairy Tale Town and the Sacramento Zoo.  They were both fun! Tyler was a good sport and even had a little bit of fun at Fairy Tale Town.

Sacramento Zoo

The zoo was pretty cool (Hogle Zoo is better).  Maleina and Tyler both touched a snake.  I was so impressed!

Grandpa took another Friday off work and we went to Old Town Sacramento.  It was pretty cool.  The kids were good sports again and loved going into the candy shops.  Those candy shops sure want and arm and a leg for their candy though.

Our trip there was a lot of fun, even though the first five days the kids were sick.  We managed to go to some of their favorite restaurants, Mel's & Smashburger.

Preschool Graduation

Wow!!!  Where has the time gone!  My baby graduated from preschool last May.  I can't believe that in just a couple of days she will be starting kindergarten.  Maleina loved her preschool teacher, Miss Jill.  She made so many friends in preschool.

Ellie, Maleina's cousin, has been going to school with her for the last two years.  They are both disappointed that they won't be going to kindergarten together this year.  The next time they will be in the same school will be 6th grade.  It seems so far away but I'm sure the years will fly by!

Monster Trucks

Monster Trucks are coming to the fairgrounds this year.  To advertise the event, they have parked monster trucks around town.  On our way home, they had just parked one at the Maverick near our house.  I love to over document my children's lives with pictures, so of course I pulled over and took their pictures with the truck.  I'm so grateful I had my smaller camera in my purse and didn't have to rely on my phone's camera.

Summer Time!!

Summer time is here and in full swing!  I love having Tyler home from school. He is amazing and so much fun to be around.  He loves to make up his own jokes and says the most funny things to get us to laugh!

To start off the summer, I stained the deck, scraped, sanded, and repainted the outside doors and their frames.  Those jobs started off simple and then I would add another door, or frame, so it ended up taking all day.  The inside of my house got completely neglected for a few days but I was too exhausted to care too much about it.

Swimming lessons started the second week of summer.  Tyler is learning how to dive into the pool and also to flip under water to lap swim.  He has done so well and improves each lesson.  One belly flop last week injured his neck and he ended up with a stiff neck that took him out for a few days.  Today, (Monday, June 17) was his first day back and he didn't miss a beat.  Maleina is learned how to float quickly so the instructor is now starting her on proper kicking techniques.  Both kids are little fish in the water.  They never tire of going to the pool and beg us for a bigger pool out back daily.

Last week ended with a trip to the Dinosaur Museum.  Tyler invited his good friend to come with us and we met my sister in law, Emily, and her children, Braxton and Natalia, at the park.  The kids had so much fun seeing all the dinosaurs and posing for some fun pictures.  A few highlights they enjoyed were digging for dinosaur bones, mining for gold, and seeing the robotic dinosaurs they have inside the museum.

How they measured up to the dinosaur prints.

 I love their faces!!

 Maleina loved the baby dinosaurs.

 Mining for gold!

 Digging for bones!

 Again, I love their faces!

Fun in the rain!

The pictures say it all!  Maleina had a blast and all that rain fell in a matter of minutes.