Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Skiing with the B boys

We did it! We finally took the B boys skiing and they loved it! I guess now we'll have to figure out a way to fit this new hobby into the budget. They were troopers and didn't complain about falling at all. I can't wait to take them next year!

Brendan thinks he's pretty hot stuff.

Bryce in his silly hat.


Daddy and Bryce lookin' good.


Made it off the ski lift.



Brendan always the ham.


I love my boys (all 3)!


Poor Bryce. This is what we'll be doing for the next few days. He had his tonsils out this am and is doing well. I've never seen this kid fall asleep during a DVD but I guess anesthesia is powerful stuff! I imagine he'll be running around in no time and our biggest issue will be keeping him still for 2 weeks with no school. He's a trooper and did well during the surgery.
YEAH! NO MORE TONSILITIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Ring in the New Year

Hello to all our family and friends.
We hope the New Year has been good to you so far!
We have been busy this Holiday season.
I now feel a deep sigh of relief that all of the activity is over and I can catch up on my blog.



We had a snowy December but unfortunately nothing since. The boys enjoyed a couple of inches at Grammy's house a week before school got out for the holiday break. Grampa made the snowman - he's packing some heat.



Christmas Eve.
We tried the annual picture on the piano bench but the boys were too excited to go play with their cousins.



Christmas morning just before the tearing open of the gifts.



Christmas evening.
It snowed again at Grammy's just at sundown. We enjoyed watching the boys (including the adults) engage in snowball fights.



Brendan donning his new Darth Vader costume.



We took a last minute road trip with Auntie Denise and Uncle Mark down to Yorba Linda for a few days after Christmas. We managed a trip to Disneyland amidst the crowd. The boys (especially Jeff) had a great time and can't wait to do it again.




The boys really loved the parade - they got to see all of their favorite characters including Lightning McQueen, Woody and Buzz Lightyear.


We are now back in the swing of things. We register Brendan for Kindergarten next Monday - YIKES! He is very excited to be a big boy in Kindergarten. Bryce of course wants to stay in Kindergarten and never go to first grade (remember his motto - "We fear change"). He knows there is no "choice time" with toys in 1st grade and more homework. Poor baby has been very sick all fall/winter with tonsillitis. He came home from school today with a fever and a sore throat. He's still on a low dose antibiotic but it could be another infection. We'll have to wait and see how it progresses.


We love and miss you all.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday.

Hopefully I will be a little more timely with next month's blog.


Monday, November 3, 2008

A very busy October

Wow! What do we say about October? Guatemala was an incredible experience for Mommy and a tiring experience for Daddy and the B boys! I am so thankful to my husband for supporting me on this mission trip and for my boys for letting Mommy be gone for a whole week!
The trip was very successful - 71 surgeries in 5 days. The surgeries were OB/GYN and general surgery and everyone seemed to recover by the time we left.
Thank you for all of your prayers. It is impossible to capture the moments in a blog but I thought I'd show a few highlights to share the experience.





The bus we took for a 3 hour ride from the airport to the clinic. We stopped at a gas station for a little break. There was a guard inside the little snack store sporting a huge automatic rifle of some kind. Welcome to Guatemala!



Clinica Ezell. This is the compound where we worked and stayed. The accommodations were excellent. Of course, I don't know if I slept well because the bed was decent or because I was so tired! We showed up on Saturday late afternoon and the docs began pre-ops immediately. Surgery began as soon as church was over on Sunday. By Monday all beds were full.



A view from the truck on our way to a mobile clinic in a town about 30 minutes away. People show up at the clinics for a kinds of medical issues. I treated a few patients for occupational medical issues - achy joints and sore muscles from their hard lifestyle.


This is Valentine. He works for Health Talents one week a month during the surgical clinics. He lives in the town where we had the mobile clinic and invited us (Mike Martinez and me) for lunch. This is his one room house with a cook house in the back and a wash basin in the front. Clothes are washed on a washboard in what looked like dirty water but apparently clean for them. Chickens ran around at our feet in the house while we ate. I felt so guilty eating their food as lunch is their big meal of the day and all they can afford. Other meals consist of tortillas and beans.





This is a Cacao Tree with the Cacao seeds in Valentine's hand.
In other words, CHOCOLATE!
They roast the seeds to make chocolate. This is in his backyard.



This is what Valentine does when he's not working with Health Talents.
No wonder they all have achy muscles!
That's about 100 pounds worth of wood that they hike down the hill. They use the wood to cook. The pay is around 1-3 dollars a day.


This is a common site everywhere.
These women can carry loads on their heads and chase after their kids at the same time.




A local visiting one of the patients. I had to take his picture for Mom and Dad. All in all, it was a great trip. Everyone asks, "Would you do it again?". The answer is "YES", when my boys are older and my husband can join me!




A Jack O' Lantern party at the neighbors.



Daddy's marvelous Bat O' Lantern. Unfortunately, it was too rotten to use on Halloween.
I warned the neighbors it was too soon to make them!







The boys as Spider man 1 (Bryce) and Spider man 2 (Brendan).
They had a great evening with lots of candy. They loved their costumes!

Monday, September 29, 2008

September (but it doesn't feel like it!)



Well, it's been a very hot end of August/all of September after such a decent June and July. We have been very busy with school for both boys, soccer, church, etc. I barely have time to check my emails let alone work on a blog for the boys. They sure miss their grandparents and Lindy. Hopefully we can see each other soon.


We've had some fun hiking. This was on Labor Day.
The boys love to throw rocks more than they like the hiking.


It was hot but they did great (with snacks, of course).




Bryce's first field trip. His class went to Apple Hill and he got to ride in the big yellow school bus.
He, of course, thinks it's a treat. Daddy keeps trying to explain that the bus was the only way for him to get to school when he was little.


Another hike this weekend. We hiked back to a little lake called Granite Lake. The water was absolutely freezing but the boys wanted their swimsuits on. Bryce ended up with a cold and missed school for the first time. He was catching a cold before we left but we thought it was just allergies. He managed the hike and by the time we got back to the car he said he felt like he was getting a fever. Poor baby! He's much better today.


The mountain man.
A patch of thunderclouds passed over us and we caught a tiny sprinkle. We loved it as it was 96 degrees back in Sacramento.

Pretty obvious he doesn't feel too well.
Overall things are going well. Bryce loves school and has a new best buddy. He loves soccer even though he looks a little lost out there.
Brendan loves preschool. He is learning to read which is a little scary.
Jeff is very busy with work and church. Running the Adult Ed. at church is giving him headaches but hopefully we can organize it a little better soon.
I am leaving for Guatemala on Friday. I am very nervous and can't believe I'm going to do this. The reality of leaving all 3 of my boys really hit home last week. Hopefully the week will go by quickly for all of us but the experience will never be forgotten. I have typed out about 10 pages of notes for Jeff and my parents, detailing everything I could think of!
Please remember all of us in your prayers.
Pray especially that we are able to assist the people in Guatemala and that the surgeries all go well.

Monday, August 11, 2008

First Day of School



Today was the day, the day we've all been waiting for...Bryce's first day of Kindergarten!
He had a blast and can't wait to go back tomorrow. His only complaint is that there is 8 boys and 22 girls! (Yes, our class sizes are huge - welcome to California). His favorite activities were the free time in which he played with cars and snack/play time outside. Perhaps not the most academic interests but it's a start. Tomorrow he wants to ride his bike to school and lock it up in the bike cage. What a big boy!
Hurray, Bryce - We are so proud of you!







Monday, June 30, 2008

June was a blast!


Hello to our family and friends. Summer is here and we have been very busy. It has been nice to be out of the daily routine of driving to preschool and therapy. The boys seem to be enjoying their summer. They completed two weeks of swim class and Bryce is really learning to swim. Bren is much more comfortable in the water. We've been getting together with cousins and friends and spending a lot of time outside.

Here are some of the highlights of June.



The Saturday before Father's Day is Grammy Dixon's annual Father's Day reunion. We had around 50 people attend, some traveling from Atlanta (Uncle Doug and Aunt Duffie), Oklahoma, Idaho and throughout Northern California. It's a busy weekend and unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of the B boys with their Daddy.


The last week of June my dear friend Lori from Alaska came to visit with her two boys, Mitchell (6) and Quinn (4). They enjoyed thawing out as they are experiencing a very cold summer this year. Unfortunately, we are having EXTREMELY bad air quality from all of the forest fires in Northern CA. Our sun/sky has a constant orange glow. Some days there are no shadows because of the thickness of the smoke. Lori and boys didn't mind, though, and we played outside as much as possible amid the smoke.



Mitchell playing at a water park.


Scrub a dub dub, four boys in a tub.


Story time.







Lori and cousin Scarlett




Brendan and Quinn playing with sticks.
These two are a crack up with similar personalities.



What a smile!



Mitchell and Quinn at the community pool.
Obviously we had a water theme going on the whole week.



The stick boys playing at Funderland (a.k.a. Grammy Dixon's house).




Bryce on the water slide at Funderland.


Brendan crashed on the couch after a long day.

The boys really got along well and the mommies had a wonderful time catching up after 5 long years. It was truly a blessing to have the Guyers come visit this summer and we hope it becomes an annual trip.



Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Month of May


Hello to all of our family and friends. It has been a busy month with some new adventures. We will recap it all with many pictures and few words.


The beginning of the month was birthday week for Mom, Dad and of course cousin Lindy. Mom's B-day was spent at the zoo with Bryce's preschool class. The giraffes were his favorite and the turtle was Brendan's favorite (he got to pet it). Mom got to go to her favorite restaurant (Piatti's) for her birthday, thanks to a special gift from Lisa and Don.


Daddy's 37th birthday


Bryce's spring sing at school. He sang loudly - it was adorable!


Bryce learns to ride on 2 wheels!!!! He was quite proud. We put him in full sweats to protect the elbows and knees in case of a fall. Wasn't necessary - he took off like a champ.


The boys run their first race! They ran a half mile (with Daddy) and each won a gold medal (actually, every kid won a gold medal and every kid had the number 1). Mommy ran the 5K ever so slowly. Oh well! It was almost 90 degrees by 8:30. The boys are quite proud to have their very own "sponsor T-shirt" - the race shirts with all of the sponsors listed on the back.



Memorial Day Weekend. Our annual trip to Camarillo to see our wonderful family by the ocean. We got to see (and hold, feed, change, bathe) new baby cousin Garrett. Erin was a trooper letting us bring our clan to her house with little sleep. The boys had a great time, especially playing with Noah. He is such an angel and easy to get along with. Baby Garrett is as cute as can be and seems to be a good, easy going baby.


The boys on a hike - trying to tire them out to take a nap.


Four boys to run around and play.

Approximately 2 weeks after big brother learns to ride on 2 wheels, little brother decides to follow suit. Can you say 'competitive'? Hurray! Mommy can now retire the jogging strollers!
May was fun, now summer is here. The boys are out of school (Bryce's last day is tomorrow) and ready for play! It's been a busy school year trekking 2 kids to 2 different preschools and Bryce to therapy. We are ready for a break. I'm sure after 1-2 weeks at home, Mommy will be ready to send them back to school!