Yes, you can.

Today was the first time in two years that our entire family was able to go to church together. It's one of those things you take for granted until you can't anymore. There is something about seeing your whole family there on the pew with you that is just better than only seeing half.

Last night I asked Chloe if she was looking forward to going to primary again. She said she was really excited but a little scared. Scared, she says, because everyone might stare at her like they do at School. They look at her 'because she had cancer and maybe they think she still has it.' Maybe she is just self consious about it. Maybe she's been away from lots of kids for so long that she just isn't comfortable with it yet.

The first couple of days of school for her were bitter sweet. She was really happy to be there, but cried to us at night because she didn't have any friends there. She said she tried to play with them, but they already had friends to play with. We told her to pray that night that she could make a friend and just give it time.

She came home so happy the other day because she had finally made a friend in her class. She is so anxious to be a normal kid, and who can blame her. But, how can she be a normal kid when she has been given greater perspective and outlook on life and she is just eight.

Her day at church went better than she thought. She was excited about the people she saw and wanted to say hi to those she did know. We are saying a prayer of thanks for slowly returning into a yes you can, instead of a no you can't life style.

Stacie just informed me that her lifelong dream is to own a label maker.

Tony's Grove Adventure

We planned to have a delightful picnic when we got there but it started to pour down rain.

Chloe and Elsie weren't about to let the rain spoil things and did some exploring while the rest of us stayed dry.

luckily we had shelter in our car and had a picnic indoor. The back door of our car seltered our preparation.

We waited out the cold and ate a scrumptious lunch, we waited some more, didn't think it would let up.

but it did and we had fun running in puddles posing for pictures, climbing rocks, running throught he flowers, we were glad we waited.

Pregnant belly and broken arm won't keep Stacie from puddle jumping.

Stacie thinks we were both pondering "That sure is pretty!" She's probably right.

Peek-a-boo

Stac and chloe were tired at the end, but of course Elsie was no where near tired.

Evidence of Chloe's short legs.

Back to School

Addie is in the big leagues now! Sixth grade here goes into intermediate schools with lockers 5 different teachers and hopefully better lunch choices. Up and attom at 6:20 to get to school at 7:25 will most likely get old, but today wasn't to hard because of the excitement of it all. How grown up she looks!


Down below the two early risers up at 7 and elsie yells they will be late!! (they dont go until 8:40). So saying they are excited is an understatement. Chloe most of all, she has every right to be too! I went in to her class this morning to educate her classmates about the super heros they have in their body know as their immune system to fight off the bad guys known as germs, why chloe doesn't have as many or any at all, and why we need to wash, wash, wash! I had to stop myself from getting teary eyed seeing her sitting in a desk being a normal 3rd grader!




It was hard for me to let chloe get on the bus, to not be there with her at school and tell her what not to touch or watch what the other kids do and then touch and make sure she doesn't touch the same thing, but I pray she will be watched over and taken care of in her first year back to school!

ps we used our old crappy camera (sorry for the blurr)

well....

Jake and I had a bet, Jake was for a girl and I was for a boy, there was 500.00 on the line, and I guess Jake gets to go shopping. It is a girl!!
It isn't the first or the last time he will be right. I was in shock, made the lady check twice, and asked how often she was wrong (she is never wrong she informed me). She is healthy and that is all that matters. She is on the small side, but that isn't new for my babies. It will still take a few days to let this sink into my brain that is for sure, but we are excited. We put the older girls on speaker phone and told them the news and they all shouted, WHAT? I guess they were as surprised as me.

At least wolf, for a name, is out of the question (Jake)

Huckleberry Heaven

One of the fond memories of growing up in the England house was huckleberry syrup over pancakes, waffles or french toast. We used to take camping trips up to Idaho and pick buckets full. Picking huckleberries is pretty time consuming, but with 6 other siblings and my parents all working together we were able to gleen a pretty good harvest.

This last weekend we had a family reunion up in Idaho. We all picked a bunch of huckleberries just like old times, except with a bunch of grandkids helping too. There was a lot of great food, a spectacular jumping contest with Spence's "not quite mint" Honda Trail 70 and well, Josh was there. You can pretty much count on Josh to liven things up whether it's with a potato gun, a Three Little Pigs pyrotecnics performance, or seeing him walk out of the forest wearing daisy dukes and aviator glasses - I'd explain more, but there just aren't words to describe it.

Unfortunately, Stacie wasn't able to come because she had just broken her arm and being pregnant didn't feel like camping. As a result at our first meal time I realized all I brought was 4 bags of chips, some powdered doughnuts, licorice and lots of Shasta (cause what's camping without Shasta). I left all of the actual meal food at home. But, Grandma pulled through like she always does and we ate well. We missed Stacie and the Texas Englands a whole lot.

Hike

Rhen and I went for a hike the other day. It's fun to see the difference bewteen boys and girls, even at just a year and a half. He makes driving noises for cars, noodles, corn and anything else he can push across a surface. He loves motorcycle rides, riding in the bike trailer, driving in the mountains and hikes. Here are a couple pictures from a little hike we took the other morning. I couldn't see him behind me so it was difficult getting a good pic, but i finally snapped a couple of cute ones that weren't blurry.

A Year

With Stacie's recent flower watering accident, she is unable to type. So i guess I'll have to post up some pics of whats been going on.

This is Chloe last year on the way home from our weekly onc. clinic visit. She and I like to take a shortcut through the mountains on the way home. Takes a few minutes longer, but it's better scenery and by then we can't wait to get out of the traffic.

This last week we decided to take the same picture so we could see what changed in a year. Her hair is getting long and silky now and she feels much better than she did last year. The biggest change for her is that she gets to go to school. She is soooo excited for that. Some things though, never change. She still never finishes the drink she is sooo thirsty for on the way there, and always wants the Noodle Company take out on the way back. She loves noodles of pretty much any kind - which is how she got Noodle as one of her many nicknames.

Stacie and I were filling up her meds the other night and couldn't beleive she is down to so few pills each week. So we had to take a pic. I guess we should have taken one last year so there was something visual to compare against. She used to take a lot more and finally gets off Prograff on Wendsday! That's a milestone for her to finally get off that drug. It will be nice when she is down to the flintstones vitamin only, but for now we're stoked about the progress.

broken bones

Monday morning while watering the flowers Stacie stood on our planter box to reach her hanging pots. On the way back down she lost her balance and her arm cushioned the fall to the concrete. Despite the pain, she's been handling it like a champ. Can't slow a mom down with a broken arm I guess. Luckily the baby is ok and she didn't need any hardware to put her bones back together. We went to the bone doc this afternoon and she is now sporting a shiny new red cast.

finally at 18 weeks...

I haven't been sick this whole week! (knock on wood) I even felt good enough to clean the basement, toys and all and conquer the girls bathroom, AND after eating dinner I felt good enough to give my man a haircut, which took years off (sorry Jake, embrace your grey, or we could always dye it that cool pinkish, purple old men sometimes wear).
Chloe is down to once a month for clinic! It is about stinkin time. She ran in the door yesterday and that is the first thing she said. She looks good they say, just drink, drink, drink. Her prograff pills are down to one pill a day instead of 12 pills a day! They are keeping her on a small dose of steriods for a while to see how she handles no prograff. Progress feels good

Camping in WY

Over the weekend we went camping up in WY. We haven't been able to go for a couple of years so we were pretty excited that Chlo could finally go. All of the girls have been begging to go for quite a while. It was also Rhen's first campout and he loved it. We'll have to remember next time not to give him a jolly rancher because he quickly became a dirt magnet.

Rhen wouldn't eat his breakfast, but when i opened the cooler and he saw the left over hot dog from the night before he was pretty excited. Yeah, i let him eat it raw. And he washed it down with orange juice. It was probably as gross as it sounds, but he was a happy camper.

A little frustrated after many attempts to thread the cap onto the threads. This kept him occupied for a while.

Close-up of dinner, dirt, and Rhen.

Our early riser trying to see what was making the noise in the woods.

Beating up Moose.

Trying to block the paybacks from Moose.

Relaxing with Mom by the fire.

Elsie - the queen of marshmellow cooking. If she torches the outer shell, she cooks it for a second try.

Elsie riding around the place. Chloe spent the whole time riding around on her bike and exploring in the woods so we only have a couple of pics of her. She had so much fun and was sad to leave.

Chlo-pants. Finally caught her by a tree and took a pic. I think this girl is more excited to go to school than any kid I have ever met.

Addie. She's blowing out the flame.

I asked Addie to make a really serious, annoyed with her dorky dad face. I think she nailed it.

This was Elsie's attempt at being annoyed with me. She keeps telling us all about the things she will do when she is a teenager. It has us a bit worried. Maybe she should focus on the now.