Cody's 9th birthday party

and my 1000th post!!! I'd do a contest, but a contest for What??? IDK, LOL.


Cody and I before we left for the party.

Cody and Breanna. Cody was so impressed that she played like a boy, lol. I told him she is a Tom Boy. He thought all girls were girly.

Kaitlen and Cody

Some pics of the cake


Cody and his friends set up the war scene


The whole table

Ashley and I

Ashley and Lily Mae

Me and 4 of the kids

I love this pic of kaitlen

and this one of Cody

Lilykins, as the day went on the kids removed their hats and aprons. It was so hot.

Emily and Kaitlen

Some of the kids eating lunch

WATER BALLOON FIGHT!!
it was a huge hit. The kids loved it.


I was surprised at how wet they all got. they were soaked






TUG OF WAR

Boys vs girls and the GIRLS WON!!

William, my sweet nephew.

Parents against the kids

We let go so they would fall, lol.

cake time

Presents... An Ant farm from Gabe

a bow and Arrow from Breanna

We have been thrown into the world of Webkins!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bahhhhhhhh. He also got a shark puzzle from Finn and several really neat little things.

Guiness book of world records from Auntie Tina

The shark jaw



All the kids were so excited about the metal detector

a Ginormous Nerf gun


Happy Birthday Cody!!! You picked an awesome party theme.

Some Childhood Cancer facts

I have been very busy these last few days with Codys party and now that it's all over I'm trying to play catch up. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Sept 13th was Childhood Cancer awareness day. Peggy, Colemans Mom posted this on his page today.
I don't understand how these kids are being overlooked. Children are our future. All these numbers are way to high EXCEPT the funding number.

*Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.

*On the average 12,500 children and teens will be diagnosed with some form of cancer each year in this country.

*One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.

*Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.

*Cancer remains the #1 disease killer of America's children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.

*In the U.S. almost 3,000 children do not survive cancer each year.

*Over the past two decades, only ONE new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use.

*Currently there are between 30-40,000 children undergoing cancer treatment in the U.S.

*As a nation, we spend over $14 BILLION (that's with a B!!!) per year on the space program, but only $35 MILLION on Childhood Cancer Research each year.

*There are 15 children diagnosed with cancer for every one child diagnosed with pediatric AIDS. Yet, the U.S. invests approximiately $595,000 for research per victim of pediatric AIDS and only $20,000 for each victim of childhood cancer.

*Research funds are scarce as most money is diverted to well-publicized adult forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate.

*Right now, this second, somewhere in America, there are 7 children fighting for their lives who won't live through the day.

7 years ago

Ben woke me up saying we were under attack. He had a weird look on his face. We had an ant problem and i really thought he woke up to a bunch of ants in the kitchen or something. I walked into the living room and saw the TV. The first tower had already collapsed. I was watching FOX and the second tower started to go and they initially thought they were showing a replay of the first tower and then they realized it was the second tower. I was crying and immediately called my mom. As the day went on I just watched and watched. I waited for the victims to be rushed off to the hospital. There should have been hundreds of them, thousands of them. It didn't happen. The fences covered with loved ones faces. Moms, Dads, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts, Uncles, Grandma's, Grampas, Sons, Daughters and Friends were lost that day.
I am glad that they are all honored every year on the anniversary, but I wish you heard it more often.
I didn't know anyone that was killed that day. I did know of Angel Juarbe He played in and won in the tv reality show Murder in small town X. I watched every show, it was an ok show, lol. FOX station very quickly and only once said that he was among the missing. He was a FDNY. My heart sank. To see someone alive and in a show and then he's gone, it was so sad.

i'll be back................ crying kids

Year book yourself, lol

1968

1972

1976

1978

1994- been there, lol

1960

1966

Birthdays

We are in birthday season here. So you'll be hearing a lot about birthdays.

July- Matthew
August- a brief break
Sept- Cody and I
Oct- Kaitlen
Nov.- Abigail
Dec- Thomas- then of course Christmas.
Jan- no birthday, but it's our wedding anniversary. We never celebrate it because we are normally wiped out from all the previous gift buying.

KAITLENS PARTY!!!! Her party is pretty straight forward. It's her first party were she is going to invite friends. Only the girls from her Kindergarten class. She had originally wanted a Chuck-E-Cheese party, but it is so loud and you can't really talk to the other parents.

we have already picked out the theme. Pink skull party.

I got her these cute little earrings.

Im going to have Ashley make her two piggy tail korker bows

Then we are having it at bead it and all the little girls get to make a bracelet. Well, so do all of my kids and my BIL's kids. So there will be boys there, just not boys from school. I'll probably have to send the teenagers off to do something. I don't think they want to make bracelets :)

The place has a back room that I can decorate. A table for the girls and a CD player. I'm thinking Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus would be a hit. The little ones can't run around like maniacs grabbing beads and such. It's a pretty cool place. When I took Kaitlen there she was SO EXCITED. : ) wiped CEC right out of her head.

Abigail's party- super easy. At home with family. I'm using Kaitlens left over Strawberry Shortcake decorations from last yr. :)

Thomas- I HAVE NO IDEA. He'll be 17. Send him to the movies or something. have some friends over.

Mocha

Here is mom of the year Mocha. She was still young here. Who knew when I did this pic that she would think little pits are delicious. gag.

Side note- I got Cody the book from the library and he's been reading it.

How cute is this?

This was on my friends Myspace. She has a little boy and she is pg with boy/girl twins.

I've been super busy getting everything ready for Codes party. I am almost done with every ones era clothing. I've done 4 dresses, 4 hats, 4 aprons, a skirt, a sash, Cody's whole outfit (shirt, pants, suspenders). I still have one hat and Matthews outfit and Im done :) I'm so temped to send matthew as a cowboy, lol. It's him and I wouldn't have to do anything. I will make his though. He is expecting it. I did cheat on my outfit. I bought it on ebay for a great price. I like the hats I make better than the hat the ebay person made, but thats ok.
My absolute favorite dress i made is my neices dress. It is super cute. Even Kaitlen said she is going to LOVE it. It wasn't the fabric i had initially intended to use, but I royaly messed up a piece of fabric that i was going to use and couldn't use it for her anymore so i went through my stash and saw the fabric i ended up using and was so excited because I loved the fabric but didn't know what I wanted to use it for.

Oh, before i go to bed

Cody has informed me that next year for his birthday he wants a gold digging party. The whole miner 49er, west coast rush for gold. Yeah, it could be cool. I could make it way awesome, the wheels in my head have already started turning, but really, right now, I'm pulling my hair out one by one.

Puppy pic

The latest picture of the puppies. I bathed them today so they smell clean. I was using fleece under them because I thought it was suppose to be absorbent but all it did was leave them wet with their pee. So i switched to flannel and will get some puppy pads for underneath them. From top to bottom is Patches, Dan and Spot. They are eating really good with the new bottles. Dan is a pig and will eat until he moans with a belly ache. He eats about 2oz per feeding. That's a newborn baby!! lol

King Julian- Stand up to cancer

Where the red fern grows.

In Cody's class the teacher is reading Where the red fern grows. Last week on the way home from school when he told me this I got so excited for him. This was my favorite book growing up. We talked all about his trip to go get Dan and Ann. Today he asked me about the red fern. I told him he had to wait until the end of the story. He said that that is what his teacher told him too, LOL. Tonight it dawned on me that he has no idea that Dan and Ann are going to die. He's reading about the love and passion this boy has for his dogs and the dogs love for him. Then they are going to be gone. Then it hit me, I think Cody might cry at school. If he doesn't cry he's certainly going to be shell shocked.
Tonight he talked and talked and talked about redbone coonhounds. For like an hour. I'm not joking. When Cody becomes a Dr he is going to buy us all redbone coonhounds. They are only $300 a piece and on a Dr salary he says he can afford it. I told him thank you... then he went on. We looked at them online, we read their traits and characteristics. I told him that they are hunting dogs and are going to want to hunt and that he need to learn to hunt. He said he will. He said he would probably hunt just rabbits at dusk instead of ringtailed racoons because he can't be out at dark, LOL. Good Idea Cody. THEN it went into big game hunting. He's going to do that too. aye, aye, aye..... I hope Ben likes to hunt because I'm not doing it. The last thing before i kicked him out of the den and into his bed was If i didnt want the redbone coonhound what kind of puppy do i want......... Cody the coonhound will be fine. Thank you. So in about 20 yrs I'll be getting a coonhound. I'll tell you how Cody takes the news of Dan and Ann when they get to that part.

Why I'm nursing 3 pups

Our dog Mocha looked a little bit pg and we thought NO!! how, we took her out of the yard when she was in heat......... well, obviously not soon enough. She had a small tummy so we were thinking either just a couple pups or a false pg. We were hoping for the false pg. I was in the bath with the kids and Ben comes running in yelling she's having a puppy. So i hop out throw clothes on while i was wet and I get out there and she has the pup in her mouth all cleaned off and everything. I think, oh good. All is good. Then i realize she was going to eat it!!! so i grab for it and she runs into the barn. Chomp, Chomp, Gulp... The puppy goes down whole (and dead, died on second chomp). I absolutely could not believe what i just saw. I am still bothered by it. I walk back in the house and tell Ben what just happened. So we were trying to figure out if that was her first puppy?? the last one or what. I tried to feel around and couldn't feel anything so I thought that was it. We picked the kids up from school and got back home and Ben and Thomas went over to her just in time to rescue Dan from her mouth. He was fine. So we leave thomas home to watch Mocha while we go get puppy milk and a bottle and while we were at the co-op she had another one and Thomas held it while she licked it and once it was clean took it into that house. I believe that was Patches. So we get back and Im holding abigail and I take Swayze out to go to the bathroom and while outside I go check on Mocha. She seemed fine, just sitting there. So I head back to the house and Swayze heads straight to Mocha so I go back over to get Swayze and another pup comes out. I'm holding Abbie in one arm, grabbing the puppy with my other hand and holding swayze back with my foot. I let her clean the puppy (spot) and we go in the house. I get them all cleaned and fed and I take one back outside just to see if MAYBE she might be a momma to them. She looked worried and was trying to lick the puppy as i got closer, but as soon as I got close enough she wanted to eat it. So that is how i have 3 puppies. Mocha is a good dog and this behavior is totally unexpected. Bah, still freaks me out.

Swayze and puppies 2

Swayze and puppies 1

Hand raising puppies

I'll get into the story of why im hand raising these pups in a bit. For now here there are 3 boys. There names are Spot :), Patches and Dan (From Where the Red Fern Grows)

Swayze, who is a young fellow himself was acting like a total nervous daddy around the pups. He'd climb on my lap when i was feeding them. I started to let him smell them and eventually i let him in their container.
He is such a good adoptive daddy. He moves them around, licks them and lays with them.
The funny thing is Swayze is really just a puppy himself.

The pups are about 3/4 pitbull and 1/4 of i'm not sure.

They are chow hounds and poop ALOT!!! yesterday i was feeding them every hour and every 3 hours overnight. now they are at every two hours. The little puppy bottle is to small for them now. They get the whole nipple in their mouth and try to get the ring in their mouth too. So i'll be going to the store and getting those original evenflo bottle for the puppies. I thought my bottle days were over. I have hand raised Kittens but never puppies. We always kept the kittens. This is going to be hard because i'm going to have to get rid of these little guys. the kids are going to be so upset. YIKES!!

Kaitlen helping feed them. Not because i asked her she just did it. The kids are just NUTS over these puppies. Abbie is a maniac with them.

Chubby hands and feet

Kids- lol

I've posted this pic before, but when i saw the goats i had to repost this.

Gustav

We are just starting to get some sprinkles.

Labor Day- cute idea

eta- Im so bad about linking. I got this from My special K's. who got hers from Rocks in my dryer. Which is funny because last week i found rocks in my washer. lol.

How long were your labors?
Thomas 18 hours
Cody 14 hours
Kaitlen 12 hours
Matthew (Sheryl help me out here, I don't remember how long it was)
Abigail- I dilated to 10 in 1 1/2 hours but pushing took a bit. i wanted an epi

How did you know you were in labor?
Thomas- I woke up to go pee and went back to bed and felt my water pop
Cody- I left football practice early (Ben was coaching) Went to my MIL's house and i was sitting on the couch and cody kicked me really hard and some fluid came out. I told my MIL that either my water just broke or that I just peed on her couch,LOL. I stood up and it was definitely my water.
Kaitlen- It was about midnight and i couldn't get comfortable and i went out to the couch to try to sleep and after a little bit i realized by back was bothing me then i realized it wasn't a backache it was back labor
Matthew- induced but the meds did NOTHING. As soon as Sheryl and Ben left the room for lunch the Dr came in and broke my water. Nevermind that i had been 4cm for months and he could have broke it the minute i walked in there.
Abigail- I was just about to fall asleep. Matthew wouldn't go to bed and it was passed 11 oclock. he was wound up. Earlier that day was so busy. I was so worn out. I thought great he's going wacko cause im going to go into labor. I may have fallen asleep for a second because it felt like i woke up, but it wasn't much later than when matthew finally calmed down. I woke up with the shakes. Really bad. I was afraid to wake Ben while i was having them because I was afraid he'd freak out (turns out i was in transition, lol) i get under control and go pee. Have my first contraction. by the 3rd i wake up Ben because baby #5, 4 kids to load up and then drive a half hour to the hospital. We get to the hospital and i was 7 and half hour later i was 10. ok, abbies story got long

Where did you deliver?
Thomas- Humana West Anaheim, Ca
Cody- Kaiser Hospital Bellflower Ca (same hospital as Ben)
Kaitlen- kaiser hospital Bellflower Ca
Matthew- Fayetteville Ar
Abigail- Fayetteville Ar

Drugs?
Thomas- Morphin (that stuff is horrible)
Cody- something in the IV. I told them i didnt want any narcotics because i didnt like how they made me feel but i had to wait forever for my epi that they gave me something. Epi only worked on half my body. sucky.
Kaiteln- took forever to get me epi again but he got it on the second try and i was numb!! i was actually 8cm by the time they gave it to me. i was thankful
Matthew- epi with in 20 minutes of them breaking my water :) easiest labor EVER
Abbie- gave me something in my IV worked as well as tylenol would have worked. LOL. They were hell bent on not giving me an Epi and eventually i said im not pushing anymore and stopped, lol. I got my epidural. :) here's abbies birth story.

C-section?
nope, but they thought i would need to with abbie.... NO just need some proper pain control.

Who delivered?
Thomas- Some nurse
Cody- Some nurse that looked like a blond rosie odonnell
Kaitlen- same nurse as Cody
(on my 1st 3 if you were a healthy pg you were delivered by a nurse not a Dr.)

Matthew- Dr Ellis and nurse Beth. He was a resident i believe he finished this summer?
Abigail- some resident or student. IDK, but she was clueless. Dr Sailor was the Dr on duty.

cool stuff

My kids are such little dippers that this would be awesome for them!!




















I think this is pretty creative. Keeps it up and out of the way. We have a little basket under our plug that the phones sit in but it also collects little odds and ends that don't need to be in the basket.

Gustav

Today after leaving Ashley's I went to get some groceries at Walmart and I was just finishing up and there was this adorable little boy. I thought he was close to Matthews age, but he was two, just very tall. He smiled. I smiled. I waved. He waved. So I started talking to his mom and they were all the way up here from La. They left at 4pm yesterday and drove to the first area with vacant rooms and it was here. NWA. She has a daughter on dialysis and couldn't go without power so they had to evacuate. (sounded like they did alot of her medical stuff at home. They brought all her equipment and it filled the back of their truck) So it sounds like they are going to be here for several days. She had called her neighbors and the neighbors house had no roof. Hopefully their house will be fine. During Katrina they had stayed home and a tree had fallen on part of their kitchen but that was the worst. She didn't mention any flooding from Katrina. Back to the little boy. I asked him if i could take him home. He said no, lol.
On Tues and Wed we should be receiving torrential rains from Gustav. We are at the green X.

Happy Labor Day