Just sittin' around

It may be a little late, but at 7 months, Brylee has finally decided to try her luck at sitting. She is still pretty wobbly, but if you prop pillows behind her, she does pretty well. Plus it breaks the fall, and makes her laugh! She does enjoy a good thrill. I always look forward to the day when babies can sit independently...they entertain themselves so much better. And hopefully, the flat spot on the back of her head can start to round out! Here are two of the pictures that werent as blurry from her wobbling.

Happy Birthday Katelin

We now have a 7 year old! Katelin came with a boom on the 4th of July, 2002. Ever since then, the fireworks have been just for her! Katelin has always had a fire-cracker personality. She is the comedian in the family, and one who really knows what she wants...and goes for it! At the same time, she is also our nurturing one. Her goal as a 7 year old is "to not get in time-out once" (does that mean it will be more than once?), to listen and obey and be very helpful. She even cleaned the whole house the other day without being asked, and her new favorite job is cleaning the toilets. This, I could get used to! 1 down...4 to go! Lets hope it sticks for longer than a week.

For her celebration, she wanted to go to a little family fun park and play games. So we invited some friends of ours to come along. We went the week before, since the 4th is always busy. Here they are with a handful of earned tickets!

Racing motorcycles.
Bumper cars.
She just couldnt wait another week for presents after that, so we let her open one...since it was hot out and all. A slip-n-slide. They spent a good portion of the rest of the day in the water.

Then the real day came. We did her cake and presents on the 4th. Here are some of her gifts.

A webkinz...of course it had to be a dog.

Pet Pals game...dog again. Notice her shirt...dogs. (Do we see a pattern here?)

Sisters are the best gift.

more games, for the computer this time.

Art set.

Fireworks.

Brylee getting in on the wrapping paper action. Yum!

Katelin loves her baby sister...and her baby sister loves to eat paper!

Finally, the cake.

She chose a flag this year. She hasnt had that since her first birthday!

Blowing the candles...with fireman Zack offering help. He cant resist fire!

Yummy chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, decorated with M&M's! What could be better?

Happy 7th Katelin!

Of course the day ended with fireworks. More on that with the next post...

Independence Day!

It was a busy 4th this year. To start off, the night of the 3rd, Ryan was gone helping prepare for the big scout pancake breakfast at the church for the 4th. Meanwhile, I was home watching the kids, watering the lawn, and baking cookies to sell at the breakfast fundraiser. When I finally got the kids to bed, Ryan came home with a box of sausage that needed to be prepared for breakfast the next day...so I went to bed while he stayed up late frying piggies (which were kept warm in the crock pot all night).

So, on the morning of the 4th, of course Ryan was gone again to supervise the breakfast at the church. I got up early to prepare Katelins birthday cake, and get the kids ready to go to the breakfast which started at 8 am. At 8:45, I called Ryan to inform him that we had not left yet, and to make sure there would still be food for us. Luckily, there was so the kids didnt have to go hungry. After breakfast, the kids played some games and we went back home.

Breakfast time. Thank goodness for spare hands to cut up pancakes when your hubby is busy!

Alissa trying her hand at the beanbag toss. She batted her eyes at someone later and cheated to get some candy. What a charmer.

Madi's turn.
Remember these parachutes in school? Ryan rented one from the library. Its not just for books anymore! This is the one he was helping out with toward the end.

Run Alissa...Run!

After we came home, I again went to work in the kitchen to finish Katelins cake; and make cornbread for a potluck with Ryans boss later. We had lunch, did some birthday partying, and then it was off to the bosses house for dinner at 4:00. After dinner, we headed out to see fireworks with our friends, and ended the night at their house setting off the "Utah fireworks" (small and less than thrilling) as Ryan called it, that Katelin got for her birthday.

When the fireworks started...Zack wasnt so sure.

Safer in Daddy's arms, everyone having fun.

At one point, Ryan was telling our little pyro. that the fireworks were just like a candle that should be blown out. Here is the attempted blowing!

Just chillin'. Ohhh...Ahhh...

The gang being entertained by the private stash back at the house.

Only responsible adults should handle the explosives...Hee, hee, hee.

The birthday girl got to hold the "sparkler tree" at the end.

We finally stopped at 11:30 pm, when we got home and crashed hard! Happy 4th!

Early Morning scare

6:40 am. I wake up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. I look to the other side of the bed, where Zack had been laying since 4:30am. It was empty. I jump out of bed and run down stairs, looking and calling for him. I look out the window to see who is there, and yes...it was some lady holding Zack, still dressed in his pajamas. I answered the door relieved, and heart racing.

She says "Is this your little boy?"

I say "Yes!" as I grab him.

"He has been out here for quite a few minutes kinda just crying. I called the police, because I didnt know what else to do, so they might come to your door."

With my messed up hair and puffy eyes, I try to explain to her that he has just figured out how to open the back sliding door, and that I need to get an extra lock installed to keep him in. I tell her thank you and close the door. I watch her walk back down the sidewalk to what I guess is her home, and see her call someone on her cell. Probably child protective services to come and check me out!

So all morning long I have been waiting for the cops to show up at my door with child protective services to declare me an unfit parent, and do a thorough investigation of my home. Of course I cleaned and got the kids bathed and dressed to look presentable. It doesnt help that Zack's whole face is covered in mosquito bites from being out yesterday for a whole 2 minutes. Those blood suckers are horrible right now! Needless to say, as soon as Ryan gets home we will be heading to the store to purchase some sort of lock for the sliding door, and a mosquito bomb for the backyard! All I can ask is...will you testify for me!?

mosquito bitten, non-guilty face.

Congrats to the Grad!

After almost two long years...drum roll...

Ryan has finally finished school!

He will soon officially be a Master of Business Administration! (meaning he hasnt received his piece of paper yet). Sounds impressive, I know. I am so proud of all his hard work, and late nights he put forth in order to try to spend more time with our family. Many nights he woke only having 4 hours of sleep or less. I really dont know how he functioned! And through all the exhaustion on top of being a good Dad and husband, and excellent Young Mens President...he still pulled off all A's with the exception of 1 B. He is our Superman! So now he can take a deep breath, get some sleep, and get back to enjoying all the fun times with our family! Way to go, and Congratulations Ryan! We are proud of you!

In celebration of his accomplishment, we threw him an impromptu surprise party for family home evening. Complete with homemade chocolate graduation caps, cards (not chocolate), balloons and even a present. It had to be impromptu, because otherwise he would have found out about it because I am so not good at keeping surprises a secret. I always tip him off with all my nervous habits! So yay...he was actually surprised this time!

Heres some pictures of the fun.

Summer's here!

Its finally warmed up enough to play in the sprinklers! Kids and Adults!

Help for the Hess'

We were asked by a friend to post this to our blogs. Please read through this to see if you can help, or know someone who can...and pass the word along! This is a really great family in need of prayer and support! Together, we can work miracles! Thanks!

The Hess Family

***FEDERAL EMPLOYEES- PLEASE DONATE LEAVE TO RYAN HESS***

My name is Margie Hess, my husband Ryan was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since this is an aggressive form of T-Cell Lymphoma, his doctor has put him on an aggressive chemo regimen that will result in him being unable to work for the next 4-6 months and possibly longer. At the time of diagnosis he was finishing up his 1st year as a Podiatry Resident at the V.A. in Tucson, AZ. Ryan is a devoted husband and father of two children, Hallie (5) and Max (2). By the end of this month (June 2009), Ryan will use up the last of his vacation and sick leave and will have to go on unpaid leave. Ryan is the sole provider for our family; I stay at home with both the kids. Without him working we have no income. I need to stay home to help care for him, so I cannot get a job right now, either. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time. We were told that any federal employee (ie: military, Border Patrol, DEA, FB I, Dept of Justice, EPA etc. EXCEPT Post Office employees) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee. We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate. Thank you so much.

How can you help if you ARE a Federal Employee?

Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave) Once filled out and signed, the HR person will then need to fax or e-mail the form to:

OLIVIA McCLURE - Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)

Phone #: (520) 792-1450 x 6076Fax # : (520) 629-1849

E-Mail : olivia.mcclure@va.gov

ALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook...whatever you can think of.Thanks again everyone- this will help SO much!

GO TEAM RYAN HESS!