Watching Daddy Fly

Bryan found a spot close to home where he could fly his paraglider. This morning, we all drove out to watch him. A few neighbors came with us to see just what Bryan had gotten himself into this time. We had a fun morning! The kids played around in the desert while Bryan set up.

Dalin loved watching his daddy fly and was so proud of him as he soared around over our heads. I love this video of Bryan flying and Dalin running underneath him.

As I watched Bryan take off, my heart jumped out of my chest. I was certain he would fall out of the sky. What a scary hobby for me to watch!! He says it is perfectly safe, but it sure didn't seem that way to me. The kids watched him take off and land several times and even the twins seemed to understand that they were seeing their daddy over head.

Now that Dalin has seen the paraglider in action. He is anxious to fly in it, too, and Bryan is dying to take him up. I'm not so sure I like that idea, but probably won't have much say in the matter.

Kamber's Garden

Kamber's favorite color was purple. So, in her honor we all planted purple flowers this year. My flower garden has new meaning now. I know her little spirit was with me as I planted, it was a time that won't ever be forgotten!!

Thanksgiving Thorns

Five years ago now, just after Bryan was diagnosed with MS, my dad gave me a Thanksgiving story that I will never forget. I will never forget the moment when he told me that I needed to read this story and then kissed me on the cheek and told me that he loved me!

(You can read it at http://www.mayimhayim.org/Poetry/Thorns%20Bouquet.htmquet.htm)

That year, I wasn't so grateful. I was back to work full time, Bryan was struggling to work, and Dalin's perfect, little word was turned upside down!! There was not a day that went by that I didn't struggle to keep it together and wonder if things would ever be "normal" again. Dalin had RSV three times that winter and had pnemonia twice. It was impossible for me to work with a sick husband and sick child that needed me home. Although, I quit teaching after that school year and returned to my life as a stay-home-mom, a new "normal" was created and our lives were forever changed. Now, five years later, I am more grateful for the challenges in my life. I have seen my family grow and be strengthed as we work through our struggles.

This year, I watch as my extended family tries to create their new "normal" after losing Kamber. I watch them struggle to find things to be thankful for because they so desperately miss their little girl. I send my love and prayers to all of them today and every day!! Please take the time to read this story. I promise that you will not be disappointed!!

Dalin's Friendship Feast

Dalin had a "Friendship Feast" with his class at school. He was so excited that his brothers were going to be there. He loves to show them off! I let them get out of the stroller and run around thinking I was going to regret that decision but they actually did pretty good. They wore their little turkey hats the entire time and loved sitting with Dalin and all of his friends.

Daddy!! What have you done?

Hmmm!! "Honey, I changed the time of the sprinklers, just so you know. Don't let the twins outside after 11:30." (Would have been nice.)

Wait until you see the pictures of the screaming twins!! They were outside playing when the water came on and the screaming began.

After I saved them from the big, bad sprinklers, I put them on the swing while I took off their soaking, wet clothes. They were still mad at Daddy!

But after watching the sprinklers for a while, they decided they weren't so bad from a distance!!

And once they were dry, they even smiled as they watched them switch from zone to zone.

What a day!!

How Old Are We??

I keep trying to tell Bryan that his is not 18 anymore, but he just doesn't listen. From jumping on his dirt bike (and breaking his back) and learning to paraglide (which almost got him killed after just two flights), he just doesn't seem to learn! This weekend, he took Dalin outside to ride rip sticks and skateboards. He usually rides the skateboard and leaves the rip stick to Dalin. Dalin is quite good at it, but the rest of us can't seem to figure that thing out.

Well, today Bryan was feeling adventurous, so he conned Dalin into riding the rip stick. An old man should not be zooming around on a rip stick!! It just isn't right!


Well, it didn't last long! Sure enough, at one point the rip stick slipped out from under Bryan and he went down, hard!! I took quite some time to bandage up his elbow and wrist. We also gave him ice to put on his ankle and other wrist. The biggest worry has been his hip, but it seems to be healing OK on its own, it just really, really hurts!! So now he is hobbling around here with all of his injuries. Maybe he will be a little more careful next time, or better yet, maybe he'll watch Dalin from the side lines.

Stink -- You must be kidding

My little book worm (aka Dalin) found a book he loved in his classroom at school. His teacher let him barrow it so that he could finish it at home. It is the first book that I've seen him read and read just to get to the end, as opposed to reading until I tell him he can be done. It is about a boy named Stink, I believe that he is Junie B. Jone's little brother. Dalin loves books about Stink, but this one really caught his eye because Stink enters a "Smelly Feet Contest".

I won't tell you how it goes and ruin the ending for you, but it really caught Dalin's attention. He learned many ways to make your feet really stinky and decided that if you can make your shoes really stinky, your feet will stink, too. So he is on a mission now!!! He want to win a "stinky feet contest". He doesn't wash his feel anymore, he hangs them outside the tub. What have I gotten myself into now?? I wanted him to love books, but this is ridiculous!!

Fashion Statement

Thursday, Dalin threw up at school. (I guess he felt bad being the only one of our boys that wasn't puking.) I picked him up and he spent the rest of the day on the couch, with a puke bowl on the ground next to him in case he didn't think he could make it to the bathroom.

At one point, I was down in my bedroom folding laundry and realized that the twin were being awfully quiet which is usually not a good thing. So I went looking for the boys and the mess that always accompanies them being quiet. Instead I found them playing with their train set while taking turns wearing Dalin's puke bowl on their head. It was great!! I needed a good laugh this week! They didn't understand what was so funny as you can see from their expressions.

Luckily Dalin hadn't used the bowl yet.

From Crying to Communicating -- I love it!

I love it when my babies finally learn to communicate with me. Not just the obvious, I want my drink request or daddy's home, but really communicate something I don't already know. Well, today we had that break through with Matthew.
He has obviously not been himself because he is sick. Today, when he woke up from his nap, he was quite upset. I held him for awhile and finally convinced him to sit on his blanket with his monkey and watch Lilo and Stitch. He wanted me to stay with him, so I began talking to him and asked him if he was feeling yucky. He then pointed to his tummy and nodded yes. I asked him if his tummy hurt and again he nodded yes with a big smile on his face.

Finally, some of the quess work will go away, as he learns to tell me what is wrong instead of just crying. I love my babies and will miss them as they grow up, but wow, I love a toddler that can tell me what is wrong.

Will this day ever end??

Both babies were up at about 5:30 AM throwing up. We spent all morning comforting sick babies and cleaning up puke, so getting Dalin to school was a last minute rush. As we were getting ready to load into the car, Dalin smashed his finger in the door and immediately became hysterical!! There was no way I could take him to school until he calmed down, which meant he would be late.

At 9:00, I took Dalin and his two sick brothers to school and talked with the nurse about what happened. Then we raced to my mom's house where the twins were going to be babysat while I went to the doctor. An hour later, I was relieved to hear that nobody threw up on Grandma's carpet and both boys were asleep. (My mom is a miracle worker!)

At 2:30 we raced back home to get Dalin from school and then headed to another doctor appointment, for Matthew this time. About 5 minutes from the school, Matthew starts to throw up. I pulled off the freeway, not sure what to do, and decided to cover him up, puke and all, with a blanket and clean him up when we get to the appointment.

We arrive and I take Matthew to the bathroom and give him a little bath in the sink. He was soooo gross!! The doctor agrees to see us even though Matthew is obviously sick. While we are talking to the doctor, Micah throws up. I was so emberassed!!

We finally head home with our two sick babies and a very grumpy, bored, and hungry Dalin. I inform Bryan that he is on his own for dinner and I try to keep the kids happy. The twins continue to throw up throughout the evening until we finally get everyone asleep!!

What will tomorrow bring?? It can only get better, right?

The Newest Member of the Family

Here she is. Bryan always wanted a little girl.

Dalin put on Mareena's wig from Halloween. It was so funny!!

Is someone having a birthday?

In the past, Bryan has not wanted to celebrate his birthday with anyone. In fact, he would just assume nobody knew it was his birthday. With his parents far away, he was always allowed to boycott his own party and refuse to celebrate with the rest of us. Not this year!!

With his mom just 15 minutes away now, he couldn't hide from his birthday this year. His big day started early. Dalin could hardly wait to give him is present, so it was opened first thing in the morning. Dalin gave him to have a new tool kit that he can use with his new paraglider. Then, we went to breakfast without our kids. It was WONDERFUL!! It was so quiet without all of our boys with us. Bryan always says how much he misses me. He loves the kids but misses being alone with me, so I knew time alone would be the best gift I could give.

Then, in the evening, we went to Bryan's parent's for dinner, cake, and more presents. My parents met us over there and it was nice to have both families together for the first time in a very long time. Bryan was a good sport and let us sing to him and everything.

The babies had a nice, little table all to themselves that they refused to sit at. So, they ended up stealing seats at the big table where they could be buckled in to their booster seats. Unfortunately, that meant some of the girl got stuck sitting at the babies table. They said they didn't mind, but looked a little cramped.

Matthew loved the cake and ice cream!! When he finished off his bowl, he went to Grandpa and begged for more. Of course, Grandpa knew just what he wanted.

Bryan says it was great to turn 24. It took a while for his sister to realize he wasn't really 24. It wasn't they asked how long we'd been married that they realized he was lying to them. If we've been married for 14 years, that means he was 10 when we were married. We were young, but not quite that young!!

The other funny thing that was said tonight was a comment from Bryan's youngest sister, Mareena. She asked how come Bryan called her mom, "Mom." He explained that she was also his mom. She said, "No, Alishia is your mom." Bryan tried to explain that I was his wife, but I'm not sure that she really understood, but it was so cute!!

4 Adults + 14 Kids + the Zoo = Mass Chaos

I know, I know, are we crazy, or what?? We had a cousin's play day at the Zoo. I knew it was going to be a mad house, but really, for as many kids as we had, I think things went great. We didn't lose anybody, we found a nice little place to eat lunch, and only had two minor injuries that were easily fixed with a little love and a Batman Band-aid!

His best buddy, James was with us, they are pretty inseperable these days.

Dalin was excited to pet the sting rays. We ran out of time when we went with Daddy last week. He got pretty wet, but loved every minute of it.

The twins had more fun playing in the waterfall than watching the fish.

We had a great time, my boys love the zoo, but I think I've had enough zoo for a few weeks.

Childhood Dream or Midlife Crisis?? You be the Judge!

Well, it's official, Bryan's paraglider is reality!! (I sure hope he know what he is doing.) Since Bryan was little, he has wanted to fly. He's thought through several ways to get in the air, but they were all so expensive. Then, he realized that paragliding was much cheaper and didn't require months of training or a medical lisence.

I have sure given him grief over this whole thing, in fact, when he first showed me pictures of paragliders, I told him they looked like flying lawnmowers. I was hoping this would be like so many of his hobbies that comes and goes before it really gets underway, but I was wrong. I just didn't want to see him get involved with another hobby that would take up his time. I have to admit, though, that he has been great about balancing his time and even took us to the zoo on Saturday.

Apparently the paraglider is here to stay!! Mid-life crisis, or not, it is time to stand by him and support his dream!! He sold some of his other "toys" and his dad and uncle helped him buy his first paraglider. He is training this week and then will be on his own. He sure makes me nervous, but is so happy!!

He was so excited to wear the flight suit his uncle gave him years ago. He finally has a reason to wear it and will really be flying. When I asked why he needed it, he said, "It's going to be cold up there!!"

He had homework tonight after his first lesson. He had to practice "kiting" with his "wing". Dalin went with him and took this picture for me. I think he was a little disappointed when Dalin and I both said that we didn't want to go up with him once he knew what he was doing. We're too nervous!! He's dying to take someone along with him. Anyone interested??

To read more, check out his blog.

http://www.myflyinglawnmower.blogspot.com/

Bryan wants to go to the Zoo?

Bryan came home from work Friday early and said, "Let's do something fun tomorrow with the kids. Do you want to go to the zoo??" I nearly fell out of my chair. I was shocked, needless to say, and wasn't really planning on that for the weekend. After thinking it through though, I realized that I should jump at the chance to get our entire family to the zoo. It isn't everyday Bryan is willing to do something like that on his day off. So off we went! It was fun to do some things that I don't dare do alone at the zoo.

Like let Dalin browse through the gift shop. He used his own money to buy this obnoxious monkey that doubles as a sling shot and makes a very annoying money howl as it wizzed past your nose.

We rode on the train and the twins loved it!! Anything about trains is fun for them right now.

Wen Dalin was tired of walking, he was thrilled to get a ride from his Daddy. I ususally just tell him to stop whining and make him keep walking. He's 7, for crying out loud!!

I know that Bryan was just prepping us for the week ahead. He is starting his paragliding lessons and is not planning to see much of us, but it was still fun to spend the day with him. I'm not sure that he'd admit it, but I think he had a good time, too.

Bath Time is Splash Time

My babies are out of control. They love to splash in the tub and I cannot make them stop. Everyone says that I need to just take them out when they start splashing. That would be great, but if I did that, they would never get clean. They splash from the minute they get in to the minute they get out. Lately I've just closed the shower curtain and put a towel on the floor, I'm so tired of fighting with them.

Bruised Ego and Fractured Elbow

We were invited to a dinner party Monday night at a friend's house. Bryan and Iwere both looking forward to going and having a chance to relax and be with our friends. The night started off great! The twins loved walking all around the back yard to see the fountains and smell the roses and Dalin had plenty of friends to play with.
As dinner was served, we got our food and sat down to eat. Matthew immediately came over to me. He was hungry and wanted to sit with me to eat. As I tried to skoot my chair back to make room for him, I discovered a problem. I was moving backward, but my chair was not, it had caught on the brick patio and was not going anywhere. Well, I ended up on my back, having braced the fall with my elbow.

Go ahead and laugh!! It was quite funny to see, I'm sure.

Everyone came running over to see if I was OK and help me up. I've never been so emberassed!! I realized right away that I was in horrible pain. I began to worry that maybe my arm was broken. It was swelling and turning red and purple and it really hurt. I couldn't move it and wondered how I was going to take care of two babies with only one arm. After x-rays, we confirmed that it wasn't broken, but was fractured inside the elbow. At least, that doesn't require a cast to heal. The doctor said I'll just be in a lot of pain for a couple of weeks. Great!!

So, now what?? For a mom that was already stuggling to keep her head above water, I was officially drowning. Bryan hasn't felt good, Matthew is getting teeth and crying all day long, Micah is into everything, and Dalin needs constant entertainment. How could I take care of them with only one arm and extreme pain? I struggled to change a diaper, couldn't bathe the twins, could only dress them if they cooperated, and still had to make dinner, do laundry, and load kids in and out of the car twice a day to get Dalin to school.

Well, my only saving grace was all of the friends and family that came to the rescue. Heidi and Amy brought dinner. Amy came over to dress kids and help with my hair. My mom sat with me and the twins at urgent care and came to help get kids in bed. Bryan's sisters came one night to help with baths and dinner and his mom brought over food for at least three days. What would I do without people like that?? I keep thinking that things can't get any worse, and somehow, they do. Aren't we due for some good luck now??

Dr. Rychlik and his celebration

Two and a half years ago, Bryan and I were at a loss as to which way our lives would turn. Dalin tuned five and was going to be heading to school. If we weren't having more children then I really needed to go back to work. We were at the end of our rope. As I tried to convince Bryan to let me go to China to adopt a baby, he said, "Everytime we try to adopt, something happens to stop the adoption. I think you need to go back to the doctor." I was frustrated and didn't want to trust him. I'd been to doctors before with no success.

As I went to my inital consult with Dr. Rychlik, I sat accross a desk from him holding onto my file folder of dates, test results, and medical records that I always carried with me to see fertility doctors but they never wanted to see. As we started to talk, he said, "I sense a lot of desperation in you. More than I typically see in my patients." I got teary-eyed and told him he was our last hope in giving Dalin a sibling. If he wasn't successful, there was nowhere else to turn, we'd done it all. He said to me, "If you will trust me and let me treat you the way I want with the types of drugs I want, I think I can get you pregnant." I'd never had a doctor tell me that before. He then went through each page of my file folder one by one and gathered information for the next two hours.

Two month later, I was pregnant, with not one baby, but two. Dr. Rychlik is a miracle worker in my book. Not just because he was successful, but because he cared enough to listen. Every year, he has a celebration party for all of his old patients and their kids. It is like a giant, free carnival!! It is fun to remember what he did for our family and fun to watch the kids have so much fun. As I look around at all the other sets of twins, triplets, and quads, it is amazing to think that ten years ago, none of these children would exist. They were all created with the help of new technologies and a great doctor.

Dalin got his face painted as the Hulk this time and a clown made him an alien balloon.

There was a fire truck for the kids to climb around on. Eventually, the fire fighters got a call and had to leave, but not before turning on their lights and sirens. Now, Micah says, "Wee Ooo, Wee ooo, wee ooo!" whenever he see a fire truck.

We ate lunch together. Mahala came with us this year to help my with the twins. I wish she lived a little closer now that she is babysitting age. My boys all love her!!

The boys got to ride on a train! The twins were grinning from ear to ear the entire ride. They love trains!!

My 4th Child

Today, I was in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast. Bryan was outside checking the pool chemicals and the babies were outside playing with their sand table and their wagons. Everything was going great! Then, I hear Bryan start yelling, I see the cat race into the house, rocks are being flung at the kitchen window, and then I hear a very loud splash into the pool. I thought, "What in the world, we are taking fire!!"

Oh no! It's my 4th child, (that's what I like to call him). Apparently, the cat was scratching at our tree, which Bryan thinks is killing the tree. He also hates the cat and looks for ways to torment it that have good excuses, so he doesn't get in as much trouble with me. He yelled at it to stop, and started throwing the rocks, not realizing that he just about broke a very expensive window. In his haste to make peace in the backyard, he lost his balance and ended up in the very cold pool water. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!!

Later, he said, as he tried frantically to dry out his cell phone which is not working, "you should have taken a picture." I didn't dare!! So, although I don't have the picture, I can still blog about him. Somedays I definitely feel like I have a 4th child!

Halloween 2008

I love to watch my boys on Halloween. They have so much fun as they dress up and trick or treat. This year the twins were old enough to do a little trick or treating and it was fun to watch them try to figure things out.

Micah really didn't seem to get it. All he cared about was hanging onto as many glow sticks as possible and running around.

Matthew, on the other hand, totally got it and loved it. He walked up to each house on his own and even started to say, "Treat. He was very determined and wanted to go to every house on the block.

Dalin was so patient with his brothers but is looking forward to trick or treating without them next year. They are too slow for his liking.