jenkins family seven

It's never gonna end....

2010-03-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

I got a call from one of Dr. Frieden's fellows today. The Vascular Anomalies Clinic met today at UCSF and Dr. Hess (their radiologist) looked over Maxwell's MRI/MRA. He discovered Maxwell does have the brain abnormalities associated with PHACE Syndrome. He said his cerebellum is abnormal and the structure of his Pons didn't form properly. They said he is going to experience developemental delays. This also explaines his facial palsy. He is also experiancing diminished muscle tone, that is why he collapses at times because he doesn't have the muscle strength to hold himslf up. For some reason Kiaser didn't put Maxwell's MRI on the disk that they have as UCSF so we will get more info when they receive that. They would like him to also get a true hearing test done when he gets his throat scoped as well as a GI swallow test. So I guess now Maxwell has P-H-A-E of PHACE Syndrome. He has many more appointments coming up and I will keep you all posted as we get new and more info. For now here is some info on what the abnormalities in his brain may mean.

Cerebellum - The cerebellum integrates information from the vestibular system that indicates position and movement and uses this information to coordinate limb movements.

Pons - The pons contains nuclei that relay movement and position information from the cerebellum to the cortex. It also contains nuclei that are involved in breathing, taste and sleep

The cerebellum is folded into many lobes and lies above and behind the pons. It receives sensory input from the spinal cord, motor input from the cortex and basal ganglia and position information from the vestibular system. The cerebellum then integrates this information and influences outgoing motor pathways from the brain to coordinate movements. To demonstrate this, reach out and touch a point in front of you, such as the computer monitor -- your hand makes one smooth motion. If your cerebellum were damaged, that same motion would be very jerky as your cortex initiated a series of small muscle contractions to home in on the target point. The cerebellum may also be involved in language (fine muscle contractions of the lips and larynx), as well as other cognitive functions.

The cerebellum, located beneath the occipital lobe and posterior to the medulla and pons, is an important regulator of motor function. It connects to the brainstem by three paired bundles of nerve fibers called the superior, middle, and inferior cerebellar peduncles. Integrity of the cerebellum is necessary to perform smooth, accurate, coordinated movements; to maintain posture; and to learn and regulate complicated motor patterns. Damage to the cerebellum does not produce muscle paralysis or paresis (weakness), but rather a loss of muscle coordination called ataxia

The cerebellum is a relatively large portion of the brain located near the brain stem that is primarily responsible for motor movements, but may also play a role in speech, learning, emotions, and attention

I haven't wanted to post....

2010-03-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

anything since there is nothing really new to post. Well I guess there is it's just not what I had hoped for. So friday we saw Dr. Frieden and she was very kind but we were expecting to see all of the specialty Dr's that day to get more info and that didn't happen. She bacisally told us that we are heading in the right direction and instructed us on anything else we weren't doing already. She would like us to get the following done on Maxwell.

-Scope of his throat by ENT to see if his airway is narrowing from the hemangioma in his throat. (this is in the process of being set up and the dr who is doing it said he can fix whatever if any problem there is while he is in there. Max will have to stay the night in the hospital after the procedure if that is the case)

-Talk to his nuero surgeon about his risk for stroke.

-have his opthomologist specificaly check his retnas

-have a hearing test that checks his brain waves instead of the one where he turns his head toward the speaker and toy.

Micah asked her can we hope for a normal life for him and she said sure you can but don't go bury your head in the sand and pretend there is nothing wrong She said some of her patients are in school now and doing good, they may be a little more clumsy than most (I guess from the lack of oxygen to the brain) but some of them are develpentaly disabled. We kind of have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime she doesn't want to see him in the Vascular Anomalies clinic but on the 12 of March she is going to speak to thier radiologist at UCSF to see what he thinks about Maxwells MRI/MRA since he has seen 70 of these PHACE kids. I guess looking at all we are doing now it does seem like we are moving in a forward motion with everything. I was just seriously finding it hard to not shut down after his appointment. That's a lie, I did shut down for about 20 minutes. It was then God spoke to me and said, Stephanie, he is not yours. He is MINE. You are puting your faith in all that you can do and all the Dr's can do. I want you to trust Me!!! He continues to shop me where my faith needs to be placed. And to be thankful for every part of this. It is through this where His glory is going to truly be revealed.

So my prayer now is that I would just be thankful for everything. Especially thankful for every malformed vessel in Maxwell's brain that was so delicatly fashioned by the Master for his eternal purpose because He IS good! Last night at church we sang this song. I have replaced a few words but this is what the Lord wants me to remember:

For I know that You are good

God I know that all you do is good

So I put his life in Your Hands

he's Yours alone

Surrender, Lord I raise my hands to You alone

to You alone

So if you want to pray for our family please pray for continued thankfulness and peace. It seems easy at the moment when everything is a little calm but if something does happen I would like to keep the same attitude of thankfulness. So I guess that's all for now. I will post again when there is more info.

I really stink at updating

2010-02-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

So I guess last time I updated Max was going to see the cardiologist. We got some great news in that department!!! His heart was totally normal!!! So I am guessing Maxwell's offical diagnoses will be PHACE Syndrome but he only has the H-A-E parts. Also he is being reffered to the Dr. who coined the term PHACE syndome. She is the one who knows just about all there is to know about and how to treat this mess. We are hoping to see her by next week since Maxwell seems to be having some issues right now. So anyways I will try to do better about the posts. We are hoping and praying for some concret info and treatment for him very soon!

hearing appointment

2010-02-11T16:07:00.000-08:00

So today we only had a hearing appointment for Maxwell and she said as far as they can tell he can hear out of both ears:) The only thing is we still don't know how one of the malformations in his ear is effecting him. I am gonna call the dr today to see what else they can do to find out why he is so fussy, vomiting, sleepy and crying all day long!!! Tomorrow is his cardiologist appointment at 1:30p.m. so PLEASE PLEASE pray!!! Thanks

2010-02-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the picture slice of his brain. I don't know if you can see it but the dr is pointing to the jumble of arteries that is probably making him deaf on his right side. Next time I will get one if the arteries in his brain. It looks very interesting.

Maxwell update

2010-02-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

So we had a narley week after my last post. EVERYONE in the house got a super bad stomach flu It was so bad!! Maxwell made a few trips to the hospital cause he was doing so terrible. Thankfully everyone is on the other side of it now!!!!! Man I felt like I was in the depths of hell these past few days! So anyways here is the update on Maxwell's appointments from yesterday.

Appointment #1 - Maxwell saw 2 dermatologist yesterday and they were very pleased with the way his hemangiomas looked. So pleased that she is probably not even gonna need to treat them at all!!! Praise the Lord for that one:) She also is in touch with a Dr at UCSF who actually named PHACE Syndrome. She is going to send all of Maxwell's info to her and see if she would like to join in on his case and maybe do a study on him. This was so great to here since one of the other PHACE mom's on my support group reffered her to us and I already tried to contact her. Praise the Lord, His hands are all in this. Maxwell's dermatologist is in contact with this Dr. everyday since they are good friends! So that was some good news!

Apppoinmtment #2- Maxwell saw the Nuero surgeon. He said Maxwell's brain looks good. He does have some fluid on the back of his brain but almost everyone does and that is fine. What is worring him is the tangeled mess of arteries that are everywhere. He doesn't know what to make of them and he said they are dangerous because if one of them ruptures he can have a stroke or die. So he is going to refer Maxwell to have an angiogram to get a better look at how his artieries and vessels are working. Some how (by the hand of God) he is getting blood to the right side of his brain even though his right coratid artery is a mess. He also said that there is a mess of viens that are most likly interfering with his hearing in his right ear. So he is going to have a hearing test done to see if he can even hear out of that ear. So we are kind of in a holding pattern for that part, again.

Appointment #3- Maxwell saw the geneticist 3 to be exact. They said yes, Maxwell does have PHACE and that they can not really give us a good outlook on what his life is going to be like. This disease is so new to them that they have no road map to follow. So we kind of just need to have him followed very closely(which we are doing) to try and catch anything that is going on. They tried very hard to connect all of the different problems we have had with ourselves and our children and they really couldn't make any connections. We just happen to be really lucky when it comes to bad luck:( I wish it was the other way around so that we could play the lotto!! Wouldn't that be nice. But I guess we could be rich but we would still have all these medical problems so what will that make a difference?? Well I guess it would help we wouldn't have to worry about how we were going to pay for all of these appointments and procedures:) Oh well, we do what we can.

So this thursday Maxwell has his echo which every doctor stressed that we have done soon. I will post with an update on how that goes afterwards. Please keep praying:)
P.S. Will someone please tell me how to edit these post for spelling. My spelling stinks and I can't find the spell check on here!!

More info...

2010-02-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

Maxwell had his EEG today. His neurologist said it looked normal so we just have to keep watching him and that he may be having them but we didn't catch one today so we will see.

Monday we go back to Oakland to meet with the dermatologist, the neuro sergon, genetisis and the nuerologist. they will be able to give us a lot more info on each one of his problems. I am still trying to get him in sooner to see the cardiologist for his echo but as of right now he is set to see her a week from friday.

So please keep praying if you will. This is so stressful on our entire family. Thanks

Update on Maxwell

2010-02-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

Maxwell had his eye appointment today and got diagnosed with Right sided Horners Syndrome. I guess is caused by damage to the sympathetic nervous system. It isn't gonna make a difference in his vision at the moment and he will probably need glasses but that isn't that big of a deal. So that was some good news I guess. Here is a little bad news. Maxwells neurologist thinks he may be having multiple seiziers during the day so they got him in at 8:30 a.m. in Oakland for an EEG to see what is going on. Since we are going to be there tomorrow we are hoping to meet with dermatology, the vascular radiologist, the neuro surgeon and the genetisis. Please pray for us tomorrow as we battle rush hour traffic in the bay area, for our sweet cousin who is coming to watch our other kids and for all the doctors that they would know what to do for him and that they would squeeze us in since we are going to be there I will post another update as soon as I have one.

P.S. I stink at spelling and this new blog thing doesn't edit it??? so excuse the mistakes:)

Long time no write....

2010-02-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

So I finally was able to sign into my blog!!! Some of my family members were wondering if I was ever going to post again and I guess it is time to do that now.

ALOT has happened since my last post. Let's see I had cancer, chemo for a while and now it has been 7 months since my last treatment and so far so good. I should officially be cancer free in June! We are so thankful that the Lord brought us through that very hard time in our live. So so many people had a hand in holding our precious family together and I can't even begin to list everyone but am looking forward to Thanking everyone of you when we are together in our eternal home!!!

Now this year we were hoping that we could start off this year on a better note with no major illnesses and just a break from the stresses that once were. Well It looks like God had another plan. Last week we found out Maxwell is gonna be facing some tough hurdles in his little life. What seemed as just a problem with his Hemangioma on the side of his face turned into a major medical problem that we are going to have to face for the rest of our lives. Maxwell was diagnosed with PHACE Syndrome. Here is a little bit of what it's all about:

PHACE Syndrome which is a combination of different abnormalities. Each letter stands for a different abnormality:

Posterior fossa- These are brain malformations that are usually present at birth. These brain malformations do not form after the infant is born.

Hemangioma- The hemangioma usually covers a large area on the skin of the head or neck (greater than 5 cm). The term "segmental" is sometimes used to describe these hemangiomas.

Arterial lesions- The abnormalities of the blood vessels in the neck or head.

Cardiac abnormalities/aortic coarctation- These are abnormalities of the heart or the blood vessels that are attached to the heart.

Eye abnormalities.

So far we know for sure he has the "H" and "A" part of it. Only the Lord knows haw this is all gonna turn out and why He is allowing our family to go through yet another crazy rare medical situation. As if losing a child six years ago to a rare heart condition, getting pregnant with triplets losing two of them and then problems with my pregnancy Maxwell being born with facial palsy, me almost dying a few weeks later only to be diagnosed with a rare cancer????????

Looking back it is just so amazing to me that we have gone through so much! But you know what we are still here stronger than ever before and it's only because God's grace has carried us through! So here we go again Lord, clinging to the One who sacrificed so much for us. James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So as we go through this not only is God working we know He will work through all of you too. So please keep praying for Maxwell. Here are some of the things he needs prayer for:

2/2/10 eye appointment to check if his vascular abnormalities are effecting his vision.
2/12/10 Echo cardiogram to see if his heart has been effected by the vascular abnormalities

Ongoing would be for physical comfort for Maxwell he has been very fussy lately and we are unsure if the vascular abnormalities are causing him pain right now.

Right now the Nero surgeons, vascular radiologist and genetics are pouring over his file to see how we need to approach everything. Please pray for wisdom and understanding as they do this.

And last but not least prayer for our other children that they would give us grace while we are dealing with us and that we would be aware when they are struggling so we can make sure we are not being consumed with our own things and still loving and caring for them.

A few things to be thankful for already are Maxwell's liver and kidney's are NORMAL!!! And when the neurologist saw his brain scan she said is looked good:)So I guess that is all for now. Praise the Lord everyone else in the family is healthy right now. I will update again when we know more.

Another update

2009-04-22T13:12:00.001-07:00

The nodules in my lungs are where the cancer has metastasized to So I am having a full body cat scan tomorrow to see if it went anywhere else and will be seeing the oncologist on Friday or Monday. I will be needing chemotherapy and at my appointment I will find out how much and the stage of my cancer and everything else. I think my first treatment will be next week. Please keep praying for me. I know the Lord will take care of everything I am just really scared of all the side effects of the chemo. So please PRAY!!!!

Life update

2009-04-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

So I have waited quite a bit to post an update on our blog. It was a little bit on purpose but not so much. I believe everyone pretty much has found out what has happened these last 6 weeks if not here is the rundown. WARNING!!! This is a very long story and there is a lot of talk of blood and medical procedures so read at your own risk!

March 9 Th I went to the Dr for a check up on my blood pressures for my pregnancy. My pressures were no good so they sent me directly to labor and delivery to take Maxwell out.
Maxwell was born around 1 pm 5 lbs. 14 oz. 19 3/4 inches long (a very tiny boy, just skin and bones!)and we went to recovery. In recovery they noticed his face seemed a little different and they called in the pediatrician. Come to find out Maxwell has Facial Palsy on the right side of his face. Basically the right side of his face is paralyzed. It isn't really noticeable unless he is upset and his right eye doesn't blink and takes awhile to close when he goes to sleep. So you can often find him sleeping with one eye open. Good news is it doesn't effect him to badly right now. We just need to be careful to keep his eye moist and protected from any scratches so he doesn't go blind in that eye. So back on to recovery..
So they sent me to my room and 2 days after my surgery I was in alot of pain. I told the nurse while I was bawling in pain from walking and she checked my incision and called the Dr. Apparently I had HELLP syndrome and my body was destroying my white blood cells and I wasn't clotting so I was bleeding into my incision! The Dr immediately ordered two pints of blood for me stat and there was my first blood transfusion.
2 days later I was better and getting ready to go home when I spiked a fever! Then came a battery of test to find an infection. I had blood drawn, urine tested and chest x-ray done. I guess they found a bladder infection and also found nodules in my lungs. The nodules could have been cancer but I have since had a cat scan and they say they are benign and I just have to have cat scans every six months to monitor them.
So now I am home recovering and almost two weeks after being home I am having heavy bleeding. I went to the Dr and they put me on some medicine to get it to stop, sent me to get an ultrasound to make sure I didn't have any retained pregnancy products and told me to go to the er if it didn't improve. I went to the er that night and the put me on more meds to get it to stop.
A few days later I woke up bleeding very badly and in extreme pain. I had to call the ambulance to take me to the hospital. After 15 hrs of bleeding out in the er, seriously I was in and out of consciousness and my legs were turning blue, a Dr who knew what he was doing and came in and said "she is hemorrhaging and needs blood now!" I was then getting my second blood transfusion and then wheeled into the or for a DNC that was to take 20 min. 2 HOURS later the Dr came out and said he did everything he could to stop the bleeding and he thinks he did it but I was not out of the woods yet. I woke up in my room and didn't remember much.
2 days later the bleeding started back up again and I was so done so I said take out my uterus. They had my uterus out within a couple of hours and with one more blood transfusion I was on the road to recovery. The Dr's said my uterus was pretty much falling to pieces when they took it out. A few days later I got to come home.
One week after my total hysterectomy I got a call from my Dr. Apparently I had cancer. Choriocarcinoma to be exact. Luckily he said they did the right thing in taking out my uterus. So now I am getting my blood drawn every week for the next ten weeks to see if the cancer hormones come down. If they get down to 0 I will be cancer free! If they stop coming down or start going up I will be sent to the oncologist for chemo and whatever else they need to do.
I am praying that I will be cancer free but know that the Lord has it all under control and I WILL TRUST IN HIM!!! I am not saying I haven't lost it once or twice OR maybe a few more times then that but ultimately the Lord is good and He will be glorified no matter what!!! AMEN?

So that is it for now I will keep posting updates on my lab numbers. For now here is a few pictures of Maxwell :)

Baby update...

2009-03-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

So we had our pre-op appointment today and the Dr said baby is pretty ready to come out...But they are still waiting til next week on Thurs unless I go into labor. I have lost a few more pounds which is exciting giving me now only 18 lbs to lose after I have him to get to my pre pregnancy weight!!! Even though I would like to lose more than that I am sure it is going to take some time. But I guess that's it for now. So any day now or for sure on Thurs the 12Th!!! Almost there:) And here are a few more pregnant pictures I am now 38 weeks or 9 1/2 months!!

No baby yet...

2009-02-24T20:13:00.000-08:00

but baby Maxwell, yes Maxwell has pretty much stuck as his name. So yeah, no new news on him lately but I wanted to post a picture of the awesome crib and bedding Micah picked out for him. I was so excited to see Micah get so involved in getting this ready for baby Max! He even put the crib together all by him self! Something I don't even think I have ever let him do. So It was super cool seeing as this is the last one for us. So that's it for now. Hopefully next time I update there will be a baby in that crib:)

NINE whole months!

2009-02-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I am now Nine whole months pregnant! 36 weeks! I had a check up today and I am 1-2cm 60% effaced. Baby is big according to the doctor. I am measuring at 37 weeks right now. They did a NST today since he has stopped moving as much as usual and the test was fine, he is just running out of room in there. I have not gained any more weight since what I lost since the diabetes which is nice because I don't want to have a ton extra to lose after he's here. So as of today I have gained 21 lbs. I have a pre-op appt on March 5Th and then he is set to come out on March 12Th at 12 noon if he doesn't decide to come before than. I really doubt I will make it to that day I am guessing sometime between Feb 27Th and March 2ND so we'll see. I have never made it past 37 weeks and some change but I am sure there is always a first. So that's it for now. Here is another picture of my huge belly. I happened to be wearing the same thing from the last picture. So that's it for now. I hope the next update is when he is here but if not it will be after my appointment on the 5Th:)

And I am HUGE!!!!

2009-02-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am 33 weeks 4 days and I am HUGE!!! I think these are the first belly shots I have taken of this pregnancy and comparing them to my previous babies WOW I am HUGE!! So we are due to have him on March 13Th If he doesn't decide to come before then, which is quite possible since the last three babies I had have been born between 37 weeks and 37 weeks 4 days and I have this gestational diabetes thing. So that means he could be here in as soon as 24 days! Wow, I am by no means ready for him which is sad I know but it has been so crazy around here!!! But I am trying not to stress out about it because the Lord has got it all under control :) Also my gestational diabetes is going as well as it could be. I have been able to control it by diet which means NO SUGAR and following a very strict diet given to me by the dietitian. I have since lost 7 lbs because of it too and that was as of last week! I am hoping to stick to the diet even after I have him so that hopefully I can lose the baby weight too. Well I am praying it helps, we'll see. So I guess that's all the goings on in my pregnancy right now. My next appt isn't until the 20Th and I will be 36 weeks then. So I guess that is when the next baby update will be :)

Bowling

2009-02-02T23:39:00.001-08:00

Marcus bowling

Myles Bowling

2009-02-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

Here is Myles' first time throwing the ball down the lane!! I hate that we live so far away from our family and hate missing my nephew's and niece grow up but getting to be a part of these first make up for it :)

Here were the final standings. Jess' final score was a 120!! And Marcus and Myles did better than I ever could :)

Family comes to town!!!!!

2009-02-02T23:24:00.001-08:00

So we were extremely blessed to have Nick, Jess, Myles and Maggie come visit and stay with us!! We had so much fun hanging out. Micah and Nick went to work in the truck one night while Jess and I hung out with the kids and played a game called "beat the Parents" which Jess and I lost and watched a Movie after. We went to the mall one day, went to church together on Sunday then came back home and watched the Super Bowl with the guys. Micah and Nick have been really enjoying their nights together, last night they went to bed at 4:15 ion the morning and as I type this right now Micah, Nick and bobby are setting up their football teams on the PlayStation. I am sure they are going to have another long night. We also went bowling this morning with the boys while my girls were at school. Myles had never been bowling and so that was super fun to watch. So yeah, Marcus and Myles had a lot of fun and Marcus really really didn't want to let Myles leave :( I can't wait to see everyone else soon...I hope! So here are some pictures of the kids...

Here is Myles watching his ball

Marcus watching his ball

The boys

Here is my beautiful niece Maggie!!! She is too sweet and I love her so much!! I am very thankful that I have at least one niece :)

Here she is again :)

And Again:)

Here are the boys playing at the mall on this cool thing that is hard tp explain

The boys playing with bracelets at Claire's in the mall

And another of my niece, and Adrianne too of course

Here's an update..

2009-02-02T23:11:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of what we have done when the kids were not sick in January, which was only like a week. Matthew got a much needed haircut and when we were sure the kids were well we took a venture out to the park. My poor boys were cooped up for so long in january they were so grateful to be playing outside! It was very nice to see them running around and letting loose :)

Goin down the slide with daddy

Matthew was not at all scared to go down the slide by himself at all

Lunch before we played

Matthew Haircut after

Matthew before his haircut

Jenkins family soon to be SEVEN update!!!

2009-01-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

So we had quite a December and I finally have a chance to post about Christmas and such. So after we got back from our family vacation/brothers wedding in Indiana the boys got the stomach flu and were like that for a good week. Then we had Christmas which turned out better than I thought it would thanks to my awesome husband who loves us sooo much! Then a few days later we went to my moms for a visit and then to the coast and saw family, which was great and much needed!! We spent a quiet New Year with Rick and Tina and came home a few days later. We made it to church on Sunday and Monday the boys woke up with some nasty colds...of course I am now getting it since they are hacking all over me, but oh well it's just a cold and this too shall pass! And last but not least I went to the Dr today to check on the baby's heart one last time and the Dr's said he looks great!!! He is measuring a week bigger and is just an ounce shy of 3 lbs. right now and I am only 29 weeks! I really can't wait till he is here!! We are going to be spending the next 2 months getting ready for him...who by the way still doesn't have a name!!! Soon I hope we will figure that out:) So any ways here is a picture of our baby boy #3!!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years and I pray this year will be a great one for all of us!!! Love you, Jenkins Family Six almost SEVEN!!!!

Our last stop...

2008-12-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

was in Dayton Ohio. We stayed the night at Jeremiah and Lydia's home and took the family to Quaker Steak & Lube. They had some really good food (I ordered an appetizer that had pretzels, onion rings mozzarella sticks and fried breaded pickles, which were surprisingly good! and I had some ribs and wings for dinner) and a really cool atmosphere, for Marcus that is! Everything was race cars and motorcycles! He was so happy!!! So all in all we had a good time with our family on our trip! But we are sure glad we are home!

the Wedding...

2008-12-18T09:17:00.001-08:00

was beautiful! Jeremiah and Lydia were very happy! I can't wait to see all of the rest of their portraits. Here are a few pictures Adrianne and I took.

hanging out with the Ontiveros family

2008-12-18T09:12:00.001-08:00

This was the only time we got to hang out with my sister:( We went to lunch on Saturday at Pizza hut. I wish we could of hung out more but at least we had Pizza Hut!

the Creation Museum

2008-12-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

So here are some pictures of our trip to the Creation Museum(a museum based on the Genesis 1:1) in Kentucky. The kids had a blast and so did we there was so much information!! we spent 4 1/2 hours there and am sure we could have spent twice that easy, if we didn't have four kids to maneuver! But we had a blast and we glad we did get a chance to go!

A huge waterfall thing

A very detailed diorama of Noah's Ark

life size building of Noah's Ark

the girls in the Garden of Eden

A "Dino" as Matthew calls them, in the Garden of Eden

Matthew

Marcus being cool in his snow boots, race jacket and hot wheels sunglasses

Girls in the cafe

WE'RE HOME!!!!

2008-12-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

So we got home after a million hours of traveling we made it!! I am too tired to post much more than these few pictures! So now I am going to curl up on my couch with my husband and watch Dark Knight with my hubby before he goes back to work tomorrow:( So tomorrow there will be more pictures and stories to go along with them, for now...GOODNIGHT!!

Marcus

2008-11-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

So over the past week or so the gates that once kept the boys from going into rooms they shouldn't no longer serve their purpose any more, at least not for Marcus. He has found ways to get over them! I am actually surprised it took him so long to get into the kitchen because all he does is put a chair by the gate and climb over. And the one at the bottom of the stairs, I thought he was just strait climbing over that one but Micah told me that was not how it was going down. So we asked Marcus to demonstrate his craft. This is what he did:(sorry mom we had to show you and dad, he obviously got this gene from dad, Rick)

Don't worry we have started keeping the back door locked at ALL times and have thoroughly explained to Marcus how dangerous it is to play with the knives on the counter. Most of the time when he gets in the kitchen he just gets my stamps and stamp pads and goes to town, good thing I always have a magic eraser handy. And when he goes in the girls room he just plays with their stuff, stickers, glitter and Polly pockets etc. So yeah this is my life for the next ummm 18 or so more years!! BOYS ARE CRAZY!!!

this weekend...

2008-11-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

My parents came up to watch the kids for us. Originally it was so that we could go to a wedding and some how we ended up with more than just a wedding to go to and everything overlapped!! Our choices were Wedding, birthday party, USC Stanford football game or Rams Niners game. Micah and I have not really been able to spend any time together without the kids and since we will soon have five of them we decided to go spend the whole day together and went to Palo Alto to see the USC Stanford game and go to dinner afterwards. It turned out to be a great day, long but great. It was kind of weird to be all alone like that and I honestly don't remember the last time we have done that. Actually the only thing that comes to mind is when we went to Monteray for our 3rd anniversary(and we have been married 7 years!) WOW that is pretty sad!!! So I am glad we did what we did. I am sure Mike and Katie's wedding was beautiful and Emma's party was fun, I don't regret not going to the Rams game because they SUCK! So I am very thankful we got to spend the day together even if it was for a football game:) And THANK YOU to my parents for coming up to watch the kids it was AWESOME!!!!! Also here are some pictures of the kids from this weekend.

Our view of the game from our seats

Marcus in the tree posing because he is a dork

My mom took this picture of Matthew, I think it is so cool and he looks so cute!

Here are the kiddos

Jenna with no legs

Adrianne posing for grandma

Jenna's school picture

2008-11-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

So we finally got Jenna's school pictures, and here it is....

Jenna's Birthday party

2008-11-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

Today we had a birthday party for Jenna at the bowling alley since she turned TEN on Sunday!!! She had a great time! I had a great time too since I didn't have to do anything for the party, here is a picture of her and her friends and a video of them singing her happy birthday...

Adrianne...

2008-11-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

So I got her first report card in the mail today and she is doing AWESOME!!!! She Got A's in all of her classes except Wood shop (she got a B), which I don't think she would have if she was in a different class. For some reason she ended up in a class where the kids don't listen!! So bummer for her but we'll see what she gets next time. Other than that I am very proud of her 3.83 GPA!!!!!!!!

Marcus

2008-11-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight Marcus found some sweet tarts while breaking into the kitchen and when I woke Micah up to go to work he had a little convo with Micah that went like this:

Marcus: Daddy you want some candy?
Daddy: No thanks.
Marcus: It make you feel better, it'll make you feel happy...
Daddy: No that's okay
Marcus: It'll make you not so tired
Micah: okay

It didn't take long for Micah to be pressured into eating this feel better, happy, not so tired candy Marcus was slanging.

Family...

2008-11-02T22:10:00.001-08:00

So we were super blessed enough to have our family over this weekend!! We wish that everyone could have made it and maybe someday we can have a real family reunion so that we can all hang out again like old times. Here are a couple of pictures from our dinner and all of us together before some of them left. So thanks for coming over Auntie Shayne and Uncle Dan, Aunt Laurie Uncle Darren Derek and Zach, Aunt Diane and Uncle Randy and Mom and Dad! I really hope that all 54 of us from Grandma Flournoy to Maggie can get together real soon!!

It's a BOY!!!

2008-10-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

So today we had an ultrasound to check the baby and make sure everything was there and where is should be and the doctor said everything looked good. He does want to see me back at 28 weeks just to check the heart one more time but that is it. So yeah, IT'S A BOY! So now I am going to have three boys. I am excited that they will have each other as they grow up and will be close like Micah and his brothers although a little closer in age. I guess God saw that what he did in Rick and Tina's boys was good so he wanted to do it again!! Wow crazy isn't it!? So anyways here are some pictures of the little man in my belly...

here is his foot

I think he is practicing his karate chops in this picture. Smart kid since he is going to have two older brothers roughing him up

And here is his profile

here is his face

So here we see that it is a boy, the tech wasn't even trying to look at that she was actually checking some thing else and said "Um I am pretty sure that's a boy"

This is my family.....

2008-10-26T18:19:00.001-07:00

on a Sunday afternoon. Marcus and I left for a couple of hours so that we could get out of the house. Micah, Matthew and the girls stayed home and played Guitar Hero World Tour. So when we got home from our outing Marcus put on his new Tony Stewart costume (that I don't think is coming off of him any time soon) and decided to rock out with Micah and Jenna. And yes if you look on the couch behind all of the commotion Matthew is sleeping there. The video is a little long but worth watching, Enjoy!!

The Pumpkin Patch...

2008-10-25T21:26:00.001-07:00

We have been going to the same pumpkin patch for 3 years now. This year they added some bounce houses, pony rides and a DJ to their already fun couple of hay mazes, playground, farm animals and Fruit barn. So we were excited to get out and let the kids have some fun. Unfortunately Matthew is having some kind of allergic reaction to his antibiotics he has been taking for four days now and he started breaking out in a rash all over his body so we had to kind of cut it short. But I don't think the kids minded too much we were there for about an hour and they got their pumpkins, a treat from the fruit barn and got to hit up the mazes. All in all it was a good time. So here are some pictures from our visit. I have also put a picture up of the kids from last two years(the one from three years ago is Marcus only, the girls didn't go with me and him to that one) to see how they have changed. Hopefully next year we will be able to return since the farm is for sale:( If it is still there next year there will be five kids in the pictures instead of four. Funny little note, while there we saw a family who might have given us a glimpse in to the future. It was a mom and dad with their five kids the two older were girls about 14 and 12 the next were three boys probably around 5, 3 and one years old. I thought it was kind of weird. Especially if this baby we are having in March turns out to be a boy. By the we way we go in on Wednesday to find out what the baby is, WooHooo!! I can't wait!

yes, that is a Christmas tree at the pumpkin patch. This year they wanted to let us know they would be selling trees starting the 1st of December and if you take a tag off the tree and bring it back in December you get 10% off your tree.

Matthew thought these scarecrows were fascinating

Here is one of the classic pictures, these ARE Micah's boys!

Here is a better one

Here is the one from last year

And Marcus from the year before

Some pictures...

2008-10-15T21:17:00.001-07:00

The first one is of the girls both of them together hugging and smiling, a rare sighting. Also Adrianne is wearing her new glasses. and the other is of Matthew David he is just to cute to handle!!!

Another video...

2008-10-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

I am never able to catch Marcus and his crazy obsession with racing on video because every time he sees me grab my camera he hides. Well yesterday I was able to get a short clip of him playing. He took down one of my curtains and was pretending it was a checkered flag...But not just any checkered flag it was "The checkered flag 3000" as he calls it in the video.

Football

2008-10-13T22:41:00.001-07:00

Matthew is finally starting to repeat a lot of what we say now and it is so cute!! Check out this video of him below:

A video

2008-10-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Marcus wearing his sweater

Some pictures...

2008-10-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the kiddo's

While having lunch with Jenna at school Marcus drew who else but his daddy...he also wanted to give him a lot of hair on his face.

This is Marcus' new sweater. We found it at Walmart and he wears it all the time!!!

This is Jenna's class, every week they have a time for "Parents Passion". One students parent come in and shares about their "passion" (their favorite hobby or job) since I didn't want to go in and share how passionate I am about being a stay at home mom Micah went and took his truck. The kids had a lot of fun asking Micah questions, climbing in the truck, seeing the engine and of course hearing the horn. I think Micah had just as much fun as the kids.

Matthew

2008-10-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Matthew is growing up so fast, He is finally starting to use more words instead of grunting at everything. He also likes to copy everything Marcus does. If Marcus is talking Matthew is talking, if Marcus is yelling Matthew is yelling. If Marcus is playing with cars Matthew is playing cars. Everything Marcus does Matthew is right along with him. It is nice to finally see them playing together. However I still have to be careful leaving them alone together...The other day I was in the living room and I heard Matthew start screaming... I run in the room to find Marcus crawling under Matthews bed to hide and Matthew just sitting there trying to catch his breath. It took me a minute to figure out why he was crying. Apparently Matthew sat on Marcus' race track so Marcus decided to whack Matthew across the head with one of his toy buckets! Poor Matthew ended up with a small cut and large line down his forehead, eye and cheek! But he did survive. Soon Matthew will be able to fight back and Marcus better watch out because I think Matthew is going to be bigger than Marcus very soon. Anyways I just thought I would also post these videos of Matthew, he seems to really enjoy music and dancing...something Marcus never really was interested in. It's really funny to watch him. Whenever we are watching t.v the moment he hears music he just starts going. So I thought it was pretty funny and I thought I would share.

Egg drop update

2008-10-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

ADRIANNE'S EGG DIDN'T BREAK!!!!!!!!! out of the 30 students in her 1st period class only 10 of them built a contraption that kept the egg whole, and Adrianne's was one of them!! YEA!!

Tattoo Pictures

2008-10-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

Okay so here are some better pictures of Micah's New First tattoo. So he got it on his arm and so he had to shave his arm before he went to get it. Since Marcus is all about being like daddy he decided to shave his arm last night after daddy was done! Luckily he didn't cut himself and he only has a few bare spots. At least it wasn't his head! So After seeing daddy's tattoo today Marcus wanted one too and so there is also a picture of Marcus proudly displaying his "Wow Wow Wubbzy" Tattoo.

2008-10-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

He did it! Micah decided to get a tattoo! Chris designed it and Micah had Aaron from our church do it. I haven't seen it in person yet but when I do I will take some better pictures for everyone to see!!

Egg drop update

2008-09-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

I was sure bummed when I picked Adrianne up today... The egg drop is set for Friday not today! So we will see what happens Friday!

Adrianne's first Jr. High science Project

2008-09-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

I really need to charge my camera battery and since I haven't here is another video. This one is Adrianne showing and explaining her "Humpty Dumpty Egg Drop Experiment". This was kind of a hard one. She had it all planned out a few weeks ago but once she got all of the specific materials from class she had to change everything except the original shape. I believe it came out very well and am hoping it works. Her science teacher is very tough. It is the only class she doesn't have an A in right now. So pray for her first thing in the morning because in 1st period it will be dropped!!! I'll let you all know how it does tomorrow!!

Worship

2008-09-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would post this video Micah took of worship today. The message was awesome today, as always and worship was the icing on the cake...Our church is so RAD we love it so much!

Another video from the circus

2008-09-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of the opening act the boys really loved it. You might catch a glimpse of their expressions in the end.

The Greatest Show on Earth....

2008-09-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

So Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus was in Stockton this past week and last night was their last showing. Micah and I though it would be fun to go and see. We purchased some really great seats only 5 rows from the floor! The kids all had such a great time and it really was a great show. My favorite part was when they brought out the elephants. The baby elephant skipped around the floor it was so cute!! I wish I could post the videos I did of them but it was 6 minutes long. too bad for everyone, They are such amazing things. The girls and I thought they looked fake! Matthew and the girls loved everything and Marcus loved the motorcycles, of course. The video below is of a motorcycle and a lady on a tightrope. They were right above our heads and at one point Marcus decided to crawl under his seat because he was scared they would fall. When you play the videos you might want to turn your volume down because they are kind of loud. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead so I have no still pictures to post but will post a few videos from my new flip video I got from Micah for my birthday.

Here is another video of motor cycles in this really small metal ball. I think at this point there were seven in there. That was pretty scary, one wrong move and they could all crash and they could all be seriously injured or dead. I think those drivers had a death wish! This is just crazy!

Adrianne school pictures

2008-09-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

We have been super busy lately and I don't have much time right now but I did want to share Adrianne's 7Th grade school pictures with you. So Here she is in all her oldness!!

More marcus stuff

2008-09-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

So Marcus was drawing with his Magna Doodle and decided to draw our family. His people he draws always make me laugh. He give them these enormous head/bodies, eyes, noses, smile, feet, sometimes shoes, sometimes ears, arms and hands he even makes sure his people have five fingers on each hand! When he was drawing Micah (the biggest person on there in the very center, he is not all about daddy at all!!!) he gave him a big head and big feet and said he was happy too so he gave him a nice smile. He is still working on drawing clothes on people so for the most part the clothes look like scribbles. He also was kind enough to draw a blanket around the new baby. This kid amazes me at all the new thing he is doing, this is such a great age. I can't wait until Matthew starts doing things like this too. I am so thankful that in the craziness of my life these little joys make it all worth while!

In the picture from left to right: New baby, Mommy, Matthew(in between Mommy's legs), Adrianne, Daddy, Jenna and Marcus

Marcus marcus marcus

2008-09-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

So here is a a sample of one of Marcus' many talents. He seems to have an eye for decorating and re purposing items. Tina thought this was pretty great so we are showing all of you.

Yes, those are pantyliner's and no they are not used. Glad he's not trying to be green!

Adrianne's new id

2008-09-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Adrianne got her Id for Jr. High today!! Big deal huh!!

baby update

2008-09-01T12:40:00.001-07:00

Please pray for me and the baby. I had to go to the hospital yesterday because of some more bleeding. They found out I have a Subchorionic Hemorrhage, which is bleeding between the placenta and the uterine wall. My chances of miscarriage are high but as of right now the baby is fine. They said I must be on bed rest until I stop bleeding. I am not supposed to do anything. I am not sure how this is going to work since i have four kids who depend on me for everything. So I just pray that this will resolve quickly. Here is a picture of the baby they gave us. he/She is actually measuring bigger than the first time we saw it. So I am measuring 10 weeks 5 days, which is kind of weird because that gives me a due date of March 25 which was Charlotte's due date. Weird huh?

Bummer...

2008-08-30T20:49:00.001-07:00

So Matthew got some immunizations on Tuesday of last week, one of them being the chicken pox vaccine. And of course he was one of the few who develops chicken pox due to the vaccine! What a bummer! I have only seen him rub them once but they are multiplying pretty fast. According to the information I have gathered from the paperwork I received when he got his shots and speaking with a nurse, he should only get a mild case. I sure hope so, The nurse also said we should all be okay, in other words the chance of us getting them is pretty slim. So anyways please pray for us the next few days may be a little rough for us. And here are some pictures of the beginning of what is to come:

Firsts...

2008-08-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day of school for the girls! It was very hard to drop my baby girl off at Jr. High this morning. yes, I did cry as I drove away. I still remember dropping Adrianne off at her first day of school like it was yesterday. Time sure has flown! She looked so small when I left her there. She told me this morning that she was nervous. I really hope she is okay. Anyways, below are some pictures of them I'll post more after I pick them up!
Jenna and her teacher Levi
Adrianne in the car, can you tell she is scared

Here is here leaving me.

Visit with my brother and his fiance

2008-08-25T10:50:00.001-07:00

So my parents and my brother and his fiance came to visit us. We were so glad we got to see them! We had a great time. While they were here we just hung out and swam and played some Wii (see video below) we also played Rock Band, our band name is tasty and man did we ROCK! My soon to be sister in law was just a hair away from perfect, I think she was born to be in our band. Unfortunately there is no video of us playing all together but it was a blast. We also celebrated Adrianne's birthday while they were here. I don't remember the last birthday for any of my kids that my brother was here for. So below are some pictures of our weekend with them.

Here are the girls wrestling with my brother

My brother and Lydia in the pool

Above:Singing Happy Birthday to Adrianne
Below: a video of my brother and Marcus doing the hula on the Wii, I don't think you can see Marcus though because it was dark in the living room. Which is sad because it was supper cute.

Bye bye curls...

2008-08-22T12:46:00.001-07:00

Here is the new Matthew (with some boogies and a Cheeto mustache, He kinda looks like Marcus a lot more now

Here is a clip of him yesterday falling asleep while eating lunch also before his
1st hair cut. Check out how crazy his hair was!

Rock Band anyone??

2008-08-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

So Nick, Jess and Myles came up for a shower for baby Maggie and while they were here they came over, so did Roro and Alyssa and we played some Rock Band! It was very fun and they are still in town so we can't wait until they come over tomorrow to play again! So here is a clip of everyone playing. I love having family over!!!

Some pictures for you

2008-08-10T21:44:00.001-07:00

So I haven't taken that many pictures lately because my camera battery was not holding a charge anymore, so I ordered a new one and now that I have it I can resume taking and posting pictures. So here are a few from today and yesterday.

Here is one of Matthew's shaggy hair, which I kinda dig

And marcus he just does the sillyest things!?

my new table

2008-08-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

My new table what do you think? Don't worry 4 more chairs are on the way. Also a picture of my new computer desk area

YES!!!

2008-08-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

We are all better today! What a relief! Yesterday was pretty miserable and we glad that we are all feeling much better! YEA!!!

My poor family...

2008-08-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

So we all caught some stomach bug! Matthew puked and had diarrhea on Tuesday, Marcus Puked Wednesday and the girls, Micah and I are all very sick to our stomachs today. Not to mention that my all day "morning sickness" was bad enough by itself! So please pray for all of us! This has been the worst year ever for sickness! Thankfully it seems this is very short lasting so we should all be good by tomorrow. We'll see!?

Baby update

2008-08-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

So here is our baby update. we did lose two of the babies:( However one of the babies is healthy and well! We are so thankful that the Lord has given us so much peace throughout this whole experience and are excited to watch this baby grow! We are also very excited to see what the Lord has planned for us with this baby! So thank you for all of your prayers! We will keep everyone posted on how this one goes:)

WOW!

2008-07-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

So I am pretty sure all of you knew we were pregnant. Well we had an ultrasound today because I have been having some slight bleeding and the Dr. saw THREE sacs! That means THREE babies! It was still to early to see the babies though. So next week I will have another ultrasound to try to see them again. Please pray for them and our family, the Dr. said there is still a chance we could lose one two or all of them because of the bleeding and it's still early. So hopefully they will all be okay. We are still very much in shock! Every time I think about what we saw or the word TRIPLETS I laugh and cry at the same time. I laugh because it sounds so crazy and cry because well it is just so amazing that that happened to us! I did a little research on the odds of conceiving multiples with out the help of fertility drugs and this is what I found:
the general odds of having multiple babies (both natural and with fertility treatments) is about 3 percent — or 1 in 33. The chance of having natural fraternal twins: 1 in 60; the chance of having natural identical twins: 1 in 250; the chance of having natural triplets: 1 in 8,100 — though only about 30 percent of triplets are conceived naturally. (Other statistics put the incidence of spontaneous triplets at 1 in 300,000!! Wow!!! God must really have a plan for us and these babies, ya think!? Well again please keep praying for the health of these babies and myself through this pregnancy. We will keep you all posted! Love, Stephanie, Micah and Kids

Laura and Roro tubing

2008-07-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Roro and Laura tubing

2008-07-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Check out what happens at the end

Another tubing video

2008-07-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Here is Adrianne tubing with Brad

Tubing with the Baer family

2008-07-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

So here are alot of pictures from going to the lake with the Baer family. It was so much fun! Laura had never been tubing or on a boat that size so I am really glad we went. She had a great time although today she is very sore:) I asked her if it was worth it and she said yes it was very fun! so anyways There are a ton of pictures but we just had so much fun and there were so many good times I had to post all of these! Enjoy!

Roro and Jenna on the tube

Roro and Laura on the tube

Roro and Laura tubing with no hands and going just as fast as the boys were going!

after the Chicken Fights...oh to be young again:)

Matthew hanging out with Captain Boomer

Roro Jenna and Laura taking a swim break

The following pictures are of the adults jumping off the top of the boat, something I would never do because I am a chicken and thankfully I have the excuse of being pregnant right now so I didn't have to be forced to do it too!
Here is Bobby

Boomer

Laura

Roro

Laura again

Jenna had the privledge of being the flag girl. So she was very intent on watching to make sure no one fell in the water and if they did she was quick to let Boomer know and raise the flag.

Adrianne and Brad on the tube

Brad flying off the tube..Right after he flew off so did Adrianne. sadly I didn't catch her flying off!

Taking break

Here is Brad jumping off the top of the boat

The kids playing

Marcus and laura

Matthew hanging out

Bobby and Brad tubing

Marcus and Adrianne hanging out on the boat

The Giants game

2008-07-23T15:24:00.001-07:00

I tried to take a picture of our row but it didn't work very well

Roro, Laura and Jenna

Rude guy with sign, well I guess we are the rude one's if we ignore it but he was very rude if you accidentally passed by with out noticing the sign!

Me

Matthew

Marcus being a stinker and not letting me take a picture of him

The field

More of the field

The scoreboard

First pitch

The lady sitting next to me said she just saw this boat thing driving on the street. She said you guy probably thing I've been smoking something but I am sure it was just driving through the parking lot..Sure enough (although we were not quick enough to catch a picture of it) we also saw it drive through the parking lot.

Some random funniness at home...

2008-07-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Marcus really likes wearing this way too small for him dog outfit while he walks around the house with Adrianne's build a bear dog that he dressed up. It's his baby.

Marcus swimming to me in the pool

Matthew sticking out his tongue

Marcus giving RoRo kisses

The girls being silly on the back porch

pictures from a mid week birthday party

2008-07-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

Micah and Matthew

Laura and Matthew

Micah and Marcus

pictures from the coast...

2008-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Laura putting her feet in the Pacific ocean for the first time

A little crab Laura found on the beach

A jelly fish on the beach

Matthew trying on some shades

Matthew and I on the beach, actually this was Matthews first time at the beach

Adrianne and Marcus in her grandpas class hot rod at the Santa Barbara county fair

Marcus and Myles playing drums after church
Matthew on pa pa Ricks shoulders with his cheesy face on

Matthew waiting to eat lunch at the Splash Cafe in Pismo Beach

Don't have much time...

2008-07-21T12:46:00.001-07:00

So we have been really busy lately! We went to the coast for a week and while we were there we went to the Santa Barbara County Fair, had a birthday party for my nephew Tyler who turned one, went to the beach, ate lots of yummy food, went to Bakersfield on the way back, hung out with my parents and the Bako Jenkins/Love clan, came home swam, bowled and went to a giants game and today we are going to hang out and BBQ for a late birthday party Myles! Whew!!! And somewhere in all that as you all know now found out we are pregnant! July has been a busy, exciting, crazy fun month! So what I am getting at is; slowly but surly I will begin to post pictures of the past few weeks. It may take a while so check back often.

A trip to Costco with the boys

The kids going for the candy at Tyler's b-day

Laura holding a baby crab she found on the beach

A beautiful Bakersfield sunset, hmm..I never thought I would ever say beautiful and Bakersfield in the same sentence!

At the Giants game!

Quick update...

2008-07-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

So Micah finally bought a new truck! We are so excited this is going to make a huge difference for us financially and we are just too excited about it! Not just because it's going to be basically an increase in pay but the Lord planned this at the perfect time! We are going to need the extra money since we just found out we're PREGNANT! Yes, I said Pregnant! It was quite unexpected but we are very excited to go through this one last time and complete our family! I am sure any other time we would have been a little stressed. But the Lord has a perfect plan and we can certainly see his provision for this great change that will be coming in about 7 1/2 months! So anyways I just thought I would post this update for those of you who haven't heard yet. Here are some pictures of Micah's old truck and his new one...

Old Truck

New Truck, we haven't got our company name put on yet I think it's getting done next week!!!

Update

2008-07-10T00:25:00.001-07:00

So our computer was down for almost a week, it got a virus and had to go to get fixed:( However now it is back and I get to post all our pictures from the past 10 days!! So what you are about to take a gander at is our crazy lives so far this month! Here is whats been going on:
We got an exchange student from France. Here name is Laura or as Marcus calls her "Warwa" she is supper nice kind and kind of quiet but we have been having a great time!

We took Laura to San Francisco

Had a fun July of the Fourth with Laura and RoRo

And have been swimming a ton! Check out how tan my boys are getting it the pictures that follow (I know I know they look so Mexican! But hey that's what happens when they are part Mexican:)Right?

So anyways scroll down to look at the pictures and I'll post more soon!

Matthew melts my heart...

2008-07-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

So Matthew is doing new things all the time! As you know we have foreign student from France "Laura" staying with us right now. Matthew has taken a liking to her an will sit next to her on the couch and stuff it is pretty cute! So the other night at dinner he looks over at her and starts winking at her! Mind you I nor Micah or anyone else for that matter have ever showed him how to do this! I thought maybe he just had some thing in his eye so I tried to see is he would wink at me too and he did! So I had to get a video because it was just too cute!

Random Marcus stuff...

2008-07-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

So among racing(or pretending to race cars), pretending to announce races(Pictures and video of this will soon follow, cause it is pretty darn funny!) and his plain old love for all things fast and dangerous Marcus may have a more artsy side. I should have know since he is awesome at drawing race cars and people, he now very much so enjoys taking my camera and finding things to take pictures of. It's great! So the following pictures were taken by him except for the ones that are of him of course! These are just the most recent ones so enjoy I am sure there will be more following very soon:)

One of the many pictures of some of his race cars

Marcus trying to drive the girls old Barbie Bug, and yes both feet are in the car!

One of his motorcycles

After Micah's softball game, man was he dirty!

And my phone

July of the fourth

2008-07-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

So for the July of the fourth we swam most of the day,played some Wii, BBQ'd, went to the golf course in Modesto to watch the fireworks show, did some of our own while we were there, came home put the boys to bed, went outside finished off the rest of the fireworks just us grown ups! It was very fun and tiring!!!

Me , Laura and Roro

Marcus and Matthew in awe of the big fireworks in the sky, can you tell?!?

Matthew and his wild hair

Marcus eating some junk food waiting for the show to start

Matthew trying to get the camera

Marcus doing some work with his safety goggles on

Marcus' Crazy lifestyle

2008-07-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

So here is a tid bit of video of Marcus doing some "Extreme Bungee" (well it is pretty extreme for him, he's 3!) Micah did the video, that is why it is sideways. Which actually makes sense because it wouldn't fit on the screen other wise. So anyways, enjoy this little taste of the joy, crazy, dare devilness, no fear, down for anything life of my son Marcus!

San Francisco with our student from France

2008-07-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in San Francisco with our Student from France. Here are some pictures to prove it...

Marcus Had to have these glasses but then didn't want them once we left the store so we had Laura put them on:) And then here is one of Marcus and Micah at the Golden gate bridge.

Okay so Marcus really wanted to do this bungee thing. He absolutely has no fear! There were a bunch of people cheering him on while he was on there! unfortunately he did have to get off at some point which was not his idea of fun. The other picture is a photo opportunity provided to us by the makers of Kodak of our student Laura.

here again is Marcus after a nap, I think he may still be sleeping!? And another of him on the bungee thing.

Laura and I at the Golden Gate Bridge.

Masters of mischief

2008-06-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

So since the girls have been gone for the summer the boys have started playing together more. It is pretty cute at times, the only thing I have to watch out for is that scary silence. All you mom's know what I am talking about. That sudden realization that the kids are being way to quiet and they must be up to something.. Why is it I wonder that they do get silent when they are up to no good? Is it because they are so wrapped up in what the are doing ? Or are they truly genius to know that if they are really quite that we may not notice? I am not sure how this all works but this act of silent up to no goodness is happening quiet frequently in my house these days. Here are a few pictures of what is happening when all is silent....

Matthew standing in his toy box (which is dangerously close to our brick fireplace, note to self: move toy box to a safer location!!)

Matthew(again!) getting into the entire box of Cheerios, he was not happy when I took these away

Matthew eating a motorcycle while hanging out with Marcus in his room while Marcus colors on Matthews face

Oh yeah he also colored on his back

Here they are together again, Marcus reading and Matthew just playing beside him...or are they plotting their next act of mischief??

Here is another look at Marcus' handy work on Matthews face

This is great!!!

2008-06-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

Matthew is WALKING!!! It is so exciting! Play the video to check him out!

Marcus Swimming

2008-06-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Marcus is finally getting brave enough to swimm without Micah or I holding on to him!!

Crazy few weeks..

2008-06-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

So we have had a wild and crazy few weeks since the girls got out of school. I have been so busy I haven't been able to post any pictures of our fun. So following are some posts of our travels from Auntie Toes house to home for a few days and then to Aunt Diane's house. We had so much fun with everyone!

Aunt Diane's

2008-06-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Pictures of some cute kids at Aunt Diane's...

Jackson

Elliot

Marcus looking through his bug catcher that Aunt Diane got the kids. ( Marcus had some bugs in here that Micah and I caught for him. One was a mosquito hawk he called "Skeeter and the other a moth he called "Jet")

Marcus saying cheese a "Skeeter"

Back at home for a moment

2008-06-22T16:04:00.001-07:00

When we were back at home for a few days...

Matthew standing by himself

Marcus hadn't had a bubble bath in a super long time, so long I don't even think he remembered! So I had forgotten that I bought him some bubble bath a while ago and we used it. He had a blast plying in the bath for a while.

Marcus enjoys taking my camera and being a photographer. The picture above and the two below are some examples of his favorite subjects. Matthew....

His cup...

and his favorite racing DVD on t.v.

trip to Aunti Toes...

2008-06-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Auntie Toes house...

So one of the days at my sisters house my sisters-in-law came over to hang out and I got to have all my nephews in one place which I thought was pretty fun and cool. I am realizing now as I posted this that I should have taken one with Landon and Tyler in it too:( This one was taken for Tina, Sorry Tina, I don't think I ever sent this picture of you boys to you. But it came out blurry anyways. If you want I can still send it to you.

Matthew, I know I say this about every picture of him but man he is getting so big!

Here are Matthew and Tyler playing

Look at these crazy boys!

And more pictures of the crazy boys in their matching pj's

Matthew is ONE!!!!!! (Really he's one tomorrow but close enough)

2008-06-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my baby boy is already one!? This year flew by so fast. So today we had his birthday party and we had alot of fun hanging out with family and friends. Here are some pictures of the birthday boy at his party!!!

So Matthew wasn't sure about his cake at first... he just wanted to poke and play with it so...

I put his hand in his mouth so he could taste what he was missing...

And he definitely liked what he tasted!

I ended up taking it away shortly after this and he screamed at me for doing so!! It was pretty funny!

He really enjoyed opening his gifts. I am not sure why I thought he wouldn't know what to do with them but he did, I guess I still think he is such a little baby still. Also I love that in this picture even though it was taken from above him you can still tell that he is smiling really big!

there he goes reaching in for his present inside

I think this present was pretty much a favorite. He couldn't stop smiling!

Adrianne is done with elementry school!!

2008-06-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

So today Adrianne graduated from 6Th grade! I know crazy right?! I am the mom of a Jr. high school student, the mom of a teenager(well in the process) man I 'm getting old!!! Time flew by so fast, I still remember dropping her off at her first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday! So these next few years I know will fly by fast too. Please feel free to pray for me as often as you can because my little girl is turning into a teenager and it is very scary to me! Thankfully she has been a good kid so far I myself am praying that she will not change too much but we will see!! So anyways here are some pictures of her from today.

Here is the graduate!!!

Here she is holding her diploma

Here she is with one of her BF's

And here is Adrianne and I

some randomness...

2008-06-04T14:28:00.001-07:00

So this is what Marcus told me: "Mommy you hold these flowers?" "Mommy you hold my hand?" "Mommy, you walk me?" "Mommy you sit with me?", so we sat and Micah took a picture of us.

this was Matthew's first time in the pool and he liked it a lot!

Here is a picture of Jenna and I

Charlotte Ann

2008-05-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

So i have always wanted to get someting to remember Charlotte by and here it is....

More pictures

2008-05-18T22:30:00.001-07:00

This was too funny! I know this looks posed but I promise it's not! When Marcus plays in the sprinkler in the back I have him put on his life jacket because of the pool. So he went and put on his turtle goggles too and was cleaning the pool with the pool skimmer. Cheese!

Marcus got this orange Tony Stewart racing outfit on Tues and has only taken it off a few times since. Which included 2 times for me to hand wash it only to have him put it back on while it was still wet because he wanted it back and yesterday(Saturday) he finally took it off to put on swim shorts.

So we decided to drain the pool and start fresh. After almost a month of trying to get the pool swim ready we got it clean but can't seem to get it clear! It has been so frustrating, so yesterday and today we have been draining it. In the mean time we have had 3 days of 104 degrees!! So Micah and the kids got in. I went out to check on them and this is what I saw(the big splash is Micah)! My family is crazy!

Marcus and Micah. And of course Micah is making his signature picture face.

Matthew has been enjoying the little pool and I can't believe how big he looks to me in this picture!

Another one of my smiley boy!

And look at this big boy!

And another of Marcus all decked out! Funny funny!

How were doing...

2008-05-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

So were are at last feeling better. Micah is almost over his cold and we hope and pray that this craziness is over. Since I was feeling better we have been spending some time pool side (not in the pool because it is not quite ready yet) and at my mom's. It has been great to pretty much be back to normal the past few days. So I thought I would put up a few pictures of our fun times. Here they are:

The kids playing in the sprinkler

Matthew smiling of course

Marcus and Adrianne

Marcus wearing "Iron Man Glasses"

Marcus watching the NASCAR Sprint 500 with my dad and copying him.

I am not sure why I label this pictures it is obvious who is in them and what they are of but oh well!

Crazy fun filled weekend!!!

2008-04-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

I don't think Matthew was quite awake here, actually have you ever seen him so serious?

Cool book Marcus! Anything with wheels will get him!

Mom and Dad with the birthday boy

Cheese!

Tyler aka"Moose" and Matthew playin'

Get it Landon!

Blowin out the candels

The Birthday boys!

Tyler's first nap of the day (3 pm)!!

Cheese! Hey check out those ears!?

Myles' turn!

Cool helmet Parker!

Micah and I at the wedding...

So we had such an amazing time this weekend! We got to spend time with our family and see lots of old friends while going to a wedding and celebrating Marcus' 3rd birthday! Thanks to everyone who came to Marcus' party, It was so great! Can't wait to do it again, well maybe we can wait a little while;0 it was kind of tiring!

Adrianne and Marcus

2008-04-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Adrianne with her new top braces..

A close up

And there he goes, ain't nothing gonna stop this kiddo!!

So here are a few pictures of Adrianne with her top braces on. She chose metallic blue for her bands this time. She is pretty sore today, I think I will be taking her for a smoothie later! And Marcus well there were no breaks or fractures in his foot the podiatrist said most likely he injured the growth plate and his recommendation was to put a cast on him to immobilize it. He goes back in 2 weeks and they will take it off. By then he should be good. So he choose red and blue for his cast. The doctor said he will probably wear out the cast by the time he comes back in, I am sure he will!

here is an update and a few pictures

2008-04-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we got to spend some time with our family! We had a blast, on Friday night we went to Chris CD release party which was awesome and Saturday we spent the day with my sister and her family and the Nick Jenkins family. It was too fun. However I did miss out on some of the Karaoke because earlier in the day Marcus flipped off the play structure and was limping alot. So I took him to the E.R. and they couldn't see anything on the x-rays but because of the growth plates and stuff and the way he was limping the splinted it up with a half cast. So he also saw his own doctor on Monday and they repeated the x-rays and she is going to let the radiologist read them and he has an appointment with the podiatrist on Tuesday. So be praying for him, poor guy the limping seems to be getting worse and every now and again he will just start saying "Ow!Ow!" So I am sure we will know more on Tues. well I guess that is it for now. I hadn't posted in a while so I wanted to at least put something up. And again no pictures of the girls are up because the were with their dad for most of the weekend. However I will be putting new one's up of Adrianne next week because she is finally getting the expander out of her mouth and her top braces are going in!! This is all happening on Tuesday so I will post again then!!

The ants go marching...

one by one, Hurrah! Hurrah!

Jess and Myles doing some karaoke

Marcus looking through his "hand made" binoculars....

Which he calls squishing his eyes

Easter Sunday

2008-03-24T00:06:00.000-07:00

So we had had a great Easter!! The kids had a great weekend and so did we. Here are a few pictures of our fun....

Here is Marcus' first Easter egg he did by himself!

All the kids doing their eggs

The kids on Easter Sunday before church...

Gosh there were so many Great pictures to choose from it was very hard to pick just a couple. Seriously there were like 10 good ones and when you have as many kids as I do that is pretty amazing!!

Here is where we had Easter service. Officially the very center of Stockton! What an awesome place since the heart of our church is SO for the salvation for the people of Stockton. So lets hear Gods word, worship and pray right in the center! Awesome!!!!

More pictures of Matthew

2008-03-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

I know that I put a lot of pictures of Matthew but he changes and grows so much everyday! And if you are checking my blog than you are probably interested in what is happening with him too and in the next couple of days I will put pictures of my other kiddo's on here. So these pictures on here are of him riding Marcus' bike and 2other cute ones...

What's going on

2008-03-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

So We have been pretty busy over here lately. We love our church Reality Stockton!!We have opened our home up for bible studies, Matthew is crazy and everywhere, Marcus is potty trained(YES!!!!), Adrianne is going to camp in a week and a half and had orientation at Roosevelt Jr. High yesterday and Jenna is doing great in school! The Lord is so good! I guess that pretty much sums it up!