For my husband, and any one else who wants to listen:)

I will start from the beginning and try not to leave anything out. This all started June 19th at 2:00 am. We left out house for a 80 mile drive to the Raleigh/Durham airport. We flew stand by (thank you Papa) that means there is no guarantee that you will get a seat on the plane. The first flight left at 6:00 am, and amazing enough we got on. First stop Chicago!!!




The boys had a great time they loved the take off, the last time they were on a plane was when Tanner was almost 2 and Kaden was 2 months, so they don't remember any of it. I did OK on the flight, the anticipation was way worse than the flight itself. Kali loved it as well, the first flight was only an hour and a half so she didn't get to antsy.


After landing in Chicago we had about an hour until the next flight, we didn't make it:(. We had 7 hours until the next chance out. So I though I concurred my fear of flying why not take it a step further and ride a train to downtown Chicago by myself with three kids. I had a great time the kids didn't want to walk so much, to bad for them. It was fun. There was no one else on the train so Tanner and Kaden ran around for about an hour until our stop. Kali slept.


A pretty shot of Chicago. It was so neat I have never been to such a big city before.


You can tell Tanner is having a great time!!




We walked a couple of blocks to Millenniums Park, it boarders Lake Michigan. The silver bubble behind the Kids was one of many huge art pieces in the park.


This is the kids standing next to the same art piece, it was really neat.


After walking around the city for about 2 and a half hours we needed to head back to the airport for our second attempt at getting on a flight. We made this one, we were so excited to almost be home. The kids had been up since 2:00 so they were pooped, they slept the majority of the 3 and a half hours home. We're home, we had a great welcome at the airport, everyone came, my whole family, it was very emotional. For weeks before we came the kids would argue about who got to hold Mylie first, they all got there chance.

Kali thinks she is big enough to hold , she surprised me and Amy one day by getting her out of her crib all by herself. What a big helper.
FUN WITH FRIENDS
I got to go out to breakfast with some friends from highshool and all there kids, its amazing how we have multiplied.


We all went swimming at Rachel's mom's house.
This is at the bountiful rec. They did a really good job with it, the kids had a blast.


BEARLAKE

we spent a week at bearlake, it was so nice to get out of the heat. We had smores almost every night.

We also spent a lot of time a the beach.
All the grand kids together for the first time. What cute kids.

This is all the kids getting pulled by the tractor in the boat. They thought it was funner than going on the boat in the water.

The whole gang at the beach.
arn't they tricky!!


CHERRY HILL

Amy and Jeff invited us to cherry hill, it was a lot of fun, it been a while since we have been there.

EAGLE WOOD FIREWORKS


What a view, I miss it, don't get me wrong NC is beautiful but this is unbeatable.

4TH OF JULY AT AMY'S

We had b-b-q and fireworks at Amy and Jeffs, with the Fraziers and the Clarks, it is so great to be able to see everyone so much while we are here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADEN

July 7th 1998 my cute Kaden was born. The day started with his favorite breakfast of pancakes and sausage. (thank you Amy)

Then he wanted to go see a movie.
Then Nickelmania,Then our favorite Uncle Nut and Ann, through Kaden a suprise party, he was very suprised he had know idea.



They got him a Baseball cake


and a Army Hummer pinata, we had so much, Thank you very much you guys are the best.


The day ended with dinner at Spanky's,and movies at Top Hat. We all had a great time thank you Kaden for such a fun day.

Well Kevin I hope these pictures help you not miss us so much, we miss you more then words can say thank you for working so hard, we are having a great time and wish you could be here with us. And yes I did chop off the boys hair, they look very studly.

we're off

Well we are out of here tomorrow if everything goes according to plan. We will be flying stand by so who knows when we will actually be leaving. I will probably be slacking on my blog this summer, but at least I will get to see you all.Happy Fathers day to all you dads out there, expecally mine, who I forgot to call. We went out to dinner with Kevin for fathers day, then came home and played baseball. It was great just to see him. The kids love to spend any chance they can with him, even if it is just for a few hours. Love you Kevin, you're the best. We will miss you very much.

Staci tagged me so I will pass this on to Amy and Lynette, enjoy!! Just copy and paste to your blog and answer the questions. have fun.

What were you doing ten years ago? Ten years ago, I was a newly wed of one year and 3 days, I just finished beauty school and was working at Dollar Cuts, Tanner was 8 months old. So for the most part I was being mom.

What were you doing one year ago? This is a funny question, I was just thinking about that yesterday. One year ago I was letting my husband go for an interview for school in North Carolina. I was loving where we were at, I loved my house, neighbors and my job in my salon. WOW a lot can happen in a year.

Five Snacks You Enjoy: Chocolate covered raisins, cinnamon life, my mom's chocolate chip cookies, red vines, junior mints

Five Songs You Know All The Words To: Had a bad day, the dance (Garth brooks), I can't think of any more.

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire: I would buy some fun toys, boat, camper, I would travel the world, I would save for the future, school, retirement,

Five Things You Like Doing: Making craft out of wood, watching my kids play baseball, reading a good book, going on vacation, hanging out with my family, working on and reading blogs, sorry that's six.

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again: pants tucked and rolled at the bottom, a side ponytail, blue eyeshadow, stone washed jeans, you should never say never, stuff comes back in style sadly enough

Five Favorite Toys: That's a tough one I have know idea.

awards

It's the last day of school, I am both happy and sad, the kids had there end of the year award ceremony yesterday. My kids, like always made me very proud. It is so fun to sit there and have your kids names be called over and over to come receive their awards. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Tanner got honor roll for the whole year, he mastered math, the only boy in his class to get the music award, the last but not least he go the highest class average over all. He got a plaque with his name, the teachers name and it said highest class average. What a great kid.Kaden did awesome, he also mastered math, got Principals list again for the whole year, and the only boy in his class to get the P.E. award for outstanding performance in physical education. He can do it all!!
Kali had her Kindergarten graduation, I can't believe my little girl has graduated. She was so cute her class sang us a couple of songs, and received their certificates.
Kali got some awards too, she got the P.E. award for her class, her P.E. teacher is also the boys teacher, she just raves about my kids every time I see her at school, She was the only one in her class to get the Writing award for her personal success in writing.

I am so proud of my kids, they are amazing. The thing about it is I don't have to ever push them they do this all on their own, they are very smart and are very determined to succeed. I hope this is a quality they carry with them their whole lives.

a little catching up

My latest crafty projectI just thought I would catch everybody up on whats going on here in NC. Kevin is in school for the summer, he had 3 classes one is anatomy, he has to go to the lab and cut on a dead body, yuck, he is very stressed out. He mistakenly thought this semester would be easier than the last. He is hanging in there. Kali has almost ended her baseball career, we have to drag her to her games and practices. She does very well playing on second base, I get a lot of complements on how well she plays by the parents and other coaches, She has never stuck out and throws many kids out on first. But as with all the authority here, her coach is not very nice to the kids.
Kaden has finished the regular season of baseball. He is their 3rd baseman. He along with 2 other kids from his team are nominated to play on the All-Star team, There team is ranked 3rd to last but Kaden had fun and they had a great team they just were not able to win very many games. They had there first play off game on Saturday and won, so they get to play again on Tuesday, it is single allimitaion so if they lose that one they are out. I went on a field trip with Kaden's class last Friday to the Estuarium. (an Estuary is were the area where the salt water from the ocean meets the fresh water from the rivers, i learned that on Friday) There are some girls in his class that are obsessed with him, they kept hugging him all day, they kept asking me who Kaden likes more, one even asked me what she could do to get Kaden to like her. I got some pictures of them loving him but Kaden told me he would kill me if I put them up, so just picture a moppy head kid, with girls all around him trying to hug him, it was so funny. Tanner is also done with the regular season of ball, there team did OK they won as many as they lost. Tanner, along with 3 other kids from his team were picked to go to All-Stars. He was their top pitcher, and did well where ever they had him played (short stop, catcher, second, first) He has to move up next year and play with the 11 and 12 year olds. I'm a little nervous those kids are so big. They also won their first play off game so they move on. As for me I still stay home and keep myself busy cleaning and helping out the kids with what every they need me to do. I also have been excepted to Pitt Community College, I took my placement test and did OK, I placed right were I need to for English, and did OK in Math, I am going to take it one more time to raise my math score. I start in August if I get finical aid to pay for it. One more thing before I bore you to much, I thought I would let everyone know we are coming home for the summer, the kids get out of school June 8th so we will leave here on June 19th and come back on August 7th, So for all you bunco slackers you better get going I plan to organize a game while I am there. We can't wait to see everyone again.