Fall 2014

Jaxon Ryder

        Jax is a few months into his Kindergarten year and it is going really well. He LOVES his Teacher. She makes learning fun and builds the kinders up to feel confident and like "smarty pants". There have been a few red flags she has seen and is looking into. She seems to think he may have a problem processing auditory information.She has taken extra care to make sure he understands instruction and directions. I expected to see the issue reflected on his report card but he is doing just fine. He is beginning to read and has mastered math concepts for the Kindergarten year. I am super proud of him.

        Jax is trying out wrestling.....He likes it, I think. He is not very aggressive but he has still won some matches and had some fun with it. Daddy is coaching and his good friend Kaden is wrestling too. Its been a fun sport for him to try and I like wrestling for kids in that they have no team to rely on. Whether or not they win or lose is completely dependent on them.

        My little stinker got in a bit of trouble at home several weeks ago. He came to me while I was in the shower and said "what can I do?" to which I replied "I don't care." His Dad then brought him to me only a few minutes later with his bangs chopped off to his scalp. None of my kids had ever cut their hair, and I really thought I was out of the woods on that one. Its growing back, and I am sure he learned a lesson. When asked why he cut his hair he said he was "trying to make it look better."

        Jaxon is into Pokemon cards, mine craft and power rangers. He loves having friends over, and has a bit of a problem playing alone because he would much rather have a friend to play with.He still has a thing for the pretty girls. I've heard about several girls in his class he seems to be quite fond of. He is getting over being sick. He had a double ear infection and sinus infection and is finally starting feel better. He is really tired still. He has been falling asleep at night by 7. He also seems to still be having a hard time hearing so he may need to go back for a follow up.





   Elissa Ryann

         My little second grader is all kinds of fun. She has been very emotional lately, and I have a feeling that current little issue isn't going anywhere. She has become very concerned with her looks, outfits, and hairstyles and has been know to have some major issues in the morning if she doesn't look quite the way she has envisioned. Its strange because she really isn't prissy or girls at all, but she loves to wear sparkly things and accessorize.
         Ellie is doing very well in school. She is super smart, and I love that her teacher has recognized it. She is trying to push her farther because Ellie tends to take the easy way out. Her assignments tend to be sloppy and Ellie tends to do the bare minimum even though she is capable of much more. Her teacher is working on goal setting with her so she wants to push herself harder academically. She likes school, and has good relationships with the adults and students there.
        Ellie is taking a "break" from Gymnastics. Well, I hope it is just a break, It was a lot of work, and a lot of hours a week. Once school started she really just wanted more time to relax. I hope she chooses to go back because she was really getting strong and flexible. Its been a parenting dilemma honestly, to let her quit. He Dad wanted to push her to stay, and I really didn't want to force it. I hope her taking a break  is enough and she gets back into it, She says she wants to play basketball again, and that starts after Christmas.

Chase Austin

           Austin is in a fun, challenging, awkward,irritating stage. And he can be all those things in one day.... Or even in one hour. He is an excellent student, has excellent friends, and finished up an excellent football season. The problems we are having are all at home, and almost all come into play when he is asked to do anything. He is a bit of a video game/ Internet addict at the moment. Football season was so good for him because it got him out of his bedroom for several hours a day. It was good exercise and very social for him. Now that it is over I feel like he is a bit of a hermit. He doesn't want to go anywhere with us, and spends lots of time in his room. Everyone says it is just his age, but I am keeping an eye on it.
           Austin has been so witty and funny lately. He makes me laugh all the time because he has my same sarcastic sense of humor. I wish he would open up to more people, and feel more comfortable in groups, so that other people could get to know him in that way and enjoy his humor.
        Austin still enjoys football, and video games. He is saving up for a newer game system, and he has told everyone he just wants money for Christmas. He is a good saver and likes to babysit because he earns money. When he is getting paid to watch his siblings he is mostly good to them. My kids fight ridiculously. Especially Austin and Ellie. It makes me sort of crazy. Its a daily struggle. I am sort of at a loss for ideas even. At this point arguing just gets them separated and both sent to their bedrooms, irregardless of who "started it".

   

       

     
       The last few months have flown by. I am definitely looking forward to Christmas with these three.

     

I'm back

Wow. The kids are all in School. ALL of them. ALL day. " What will you do with yourself with all your "extra"  time" is the question I've been most frequently asked. Well, on that list along with many many other Mom things is catching up on this blog. I love to go back and read and remember our life and how it changes as my kids grow. So I am back after my unplanned break from the blog. There is no way to catch up on everything.... Its been well over a year since I've blogged. I am committed to make more of an effort to get things worth remembering down, mostly for myself. Raising three kids is crazy, hectic, and busy, but I know life as I know it today will someday be gone and I want to remember everything.

What are the kids up to? Well, here is the basics of life as we know it.

Austin: My big boy just started SIXTH Grade. Sixth. Wowza. Napavine is a small town, in which sixth grade is still included in the elementary school unlike most larger districts. This helps me avoid having a middle schooler for just one more year. Austin turned 11 in mid August and didn't really want a party. We had a small family party and he had a small sleepover with his best friends. He got mostly cash, and has been hoarding it. Its nice for him to have money because it puts purchases in perspective. When he mentions wanting something I remind him he has money, he could buy it himself. Suddenly whatever the thing is really isn't that desired anymore.
      Austin had a good summer. He hung out with his friends, enjoyed camping and catching snakes. It was the Summer of Snakes and the kids caught several pregnant ones that had lots and lots of babies. By the time we released the snakes back at the park, the kids had around 40 snakes. Did I mention I hated them?
     Austin is in his third year of Football. Chase is coaching so our evenings are busy. Austin has been complaining about going to practice for the first time this year. It started because of some ankle pain. After a few trips to get it checked and then double checked the Doctor decided it was a growth pain issues. Austin's feet grew two sizes in about 6 months, and the doctor said that the ligaments grow slower than the bone, so they just needed to catch up. The issue seems to be resolving itself.
     Austin began seeing Dr. Crabbe at Northwest Pediatrics about 8 months ago. He is a psychiatrist that was helping us take a closer look at Austin's food issues. He has diagnosed Austin with OCD and Anxiety, that are both food related. Its been hard. The doctor says its best to let Austin eat what he wants, when he wants, and exactly how he wants. Doing so is supposed to give him the control and take the anxiety out of food choices. He prescribed a low dose of Zoloft. I have noticed some pretty significant changes in Austin's social anxiety's and interactions with people in general. Unfortunately it has not made any difference in the food and eating issues. That is frustrating, but I haven't given up hope that Austin could someday have a more normal pallet and appetite.
      Parenting a pre teen is frustrating. But I love that boy and can't imagine our family without our cool big brother.

 

 

 

Ellie Bell: Ellie is in second grade and her 8th Birthday is creeping up on us. Ellie doesn't love school, but she does love seeing friends, and has always been one smart cookie. She loves babies, and can not be around one without begging to hold it. She reminds me so much of myself as a little girl. She is going to be such a good mommy someday.

           Ellie has been in Gymnastics for just about a year. We switched last fall from dance classes to a gymnastics class. In the year that she has started she has learned so much and gotten so strong. Its really fun to watch her and it is something she enjoys very much. She moved up to a longer class and spends about 6 hours a week at the gym. She loves it all, but the bar is her favorite. Just last week she was able to land her front flip on the trampoline, and I loved seeing how proud she was.  She is not as advanced as the other, older girls in her class, but she is just as determined and gives it 100%. Its not always easy, there is hard work and conditioning, but even she has noticed the change in her body and strength. She says she doesn't want to compete, Just do it for fun, and that is just fine by us.

             Ellie had a good summer helping Mom. She helped a lot with our extra little girl, Autumn, and spent a lot of time outside. She loved park days, and swimming is always her favorite. Ellie is very very social, but prefers the company of kids a few years older than she is. She doesn't play with toys at all. She has her special doll she occasionally packs around but she is pretty mature for her age. When she gets money she spends it on clothes. She is quite the diva and loves to accessorize. Im sure her favorite day of summer was the mommy/Ellie Date for school clothes shopping. We made a day out of it with Cori and Molleigh and She is really pretty good and putting outfits together and spending money. I love my sweet, silly girl.



 

 

Jaxon: My sweet, quiet baby is five. This summer was especially fun for him because he was big enough to follow big kids around and do what they did, but also because he has a lot of friends of his very own that he had lots of playtime with . His best friend Nolan spent the night several times, and I always though it was so cute to see them sleeping side by side in his twin bed. Jax loved camping, and I think his favorite part would be riding his bike. At the end of spring he learned to ride without training wheels so he felt pretty awesome sailing around with his new skill.

        Jax is in Kindergarten. Its pretty strange because I have been waiting for this year, as a worn out, tired Mom, for several years. Yet that first day, watching Jax follow his siblings on that giant bus I felt sad. That chapter of my life is over. All our babies are school aged, and all are gone from me 7 hours a day. I won't say I don't enjoy more time to relax, and I know I deserve it, its just going to take a little getting used to. Jaxon's teacher is a super sweet woman, and I am certain that is why this transition has been so easy for him. So far, he enjoys school, and even though he is a home-body and wants to stay home, he hasn't complained much about going. He has been playing with Ellie at recess, and she had already convinced him to ask his friend Bailey (he was crushing on her in prek) to be his girlfriend. I only knew because she told her mom, who I know, and told me. Ellie got a talking to about it, and I let Jax know he can't have a girlfriend till he is 12. That little stink then needed clarification. "But mom, when we were in preschool, Bailey turned 5 and I was still 4..... So can  have a girlfriend when SHE is 12, or when I am 12??????" He is the only one of my kids that has an actual interest in girls. It really is cute, but makes me wonder why he is such a ladies man.

        Jax loves legos, lego chima, riding his bike, playing with friends and pretty girls. He is pretty shy, but is very chatty one on one, or when he gets comfortable. I am excited to see how he does this year and excited for all his big kid adventures.

 



 

 

 

 

Blog Catch Up

It had been so long since I blogged that I just spent hours trying to play catch up. It is hard to remember specific things when  something significant happens everyday with young kids, Adorable or irritating beyond measure!

My kids are awesome. With every trial I have with each of my three, there are joys times 1000. The pride in my heart when I see them accomplish new things is un-measurable. I am tired, stretched and weakened yet they give me the strength to tackle trials from our everyday. Our family is not perfect. We are definitely a work in progress. But I keep in my thoughts that everything that keeps me so busy these days will come to an end.  And I already know how  much I will miss the stress, struggles and exhaustion.    
                                 
Austin: Austin is almost to the end of his Fourth Grade Year. He really likes his teacher, Mrs.Mitchell and is excelling, Especially in Math and Reading.He is playing Spring Soccer right now, and Chase is once again coaching. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful that my kids have a Dad willing to put the extra time in, not only for our kids, but for the kids on the team.

Austin spends his extra time on his Xbox. And with his best friends Tanner and ColeJ.We still have daily struggles with his eating habits. I am at a loss on  how to help him develop more of an appetite. Austin walks home most days after school and enjoys the responsibility to do that. We went on a hike over spring break and Austin seemed to really enjoy it. I hope to hike more soon with my big boy.

Ellie: Seeing Ellie get so sick made me so thankful for her silly, spunky nature. Her mouth has been getting her into trouble lately, mostly because she has a sassy attitude to go with it. She has not been in love with Kindergarten. That makes me sad, but I am hopeful that with new challenges in first grade, she might come to like school a little more. Ellie is still in a very clingy stage. She is quick to tear up when I leave her, and although I am not sure why, she just seems to need me more than the boys do.
Ellie has lost three teeth already and she is growing like a weed. She is actually catching Austin in height, which is not thrilling him. We got a hot tub a few months ago, and Ellie gets in it, almost everyday. Shes so cute because she likes to hot tub, and then jump on the trampoline soaking wet, and usually in the rain.

Jaxon: Where do I even start with Jax. He is mostly good. But when he is bad  you better watch out. I think he is the most strong willed of my three and will express loudly when he is disgruntled with something. He is starting to skip naps. Most of the days it okay, but some days He has to go to bed quite early. Jax is doing well with Preschool and will continue with the same program next year. He loves to play with his friends, play power rangers and wrestle with Austin. He is a snuggler, an early riser and he gives the best smiles.  Often, he will say..."know how much I love you?" and I say, "how much?" and he will say "54!" or any other random number. He seems to like numbers. He is recognizing letters and numbers. He is a lefty like big brother, and I am almost certain that he is also color blind like big brother. He LOVES his Dog. They wrestle, play and snuggle everyday, and recently, Jax added Charlie to his fourth Birthday Party guest list. Precious.

Run Like A Fool

I was never a runner. In high school I dreaded mile day and usually ended up walking the second half. I just lacked the motivation, and I really don't think I could have even done it if I had tried. Over the last few months I have been running more and more. I still would not call myself a "runner" but it is actually become something I enjoy.

      My friend Rachel encouraged me to do my first 5K on March 30th 2013.It was two laps around Capital Lake and the weather that day was perfect. My goal was 30 minutes and I ended up finishing it in 30:28. It was really fun actually.I went with my friends Shanna, Rachel and Tara and we all said it was something we wanted to do together again.

Sickie Ellie

On March 14th Ellie came home, and was happily playing with a friend who was over for the day. In an instant (literally) she went from Healthy to pretty sick. For the first 24 hours she threw up every 20 minutes and had diarrhea just as frequently.She was drinking plenty so I was not too worried about her that first night.The second day she stayed home from school and continued to vomit all day with very little sleep.
     
         That night I decided to take her into the after hours clinic at Centralia Providence.The Pediatrician said she looked pretty dehydrated. They gave her IV fluids that night, and sent her home with some anti nausea medication.   That night she slept much better but was still having to get up to use the bathroom.

          The next day was spent with her laying on the couch. He eyes got very dark and she had to wear a pull up because she could not control the diarrhea. I stayed on top of the anti Nausea   medicine but at around 11AM she started heaving again. She could not hold any drinks down. Around 6 PM that night we decided she needed to go back and were expecting her to get more fluids. After a two hour wait in the clinic, The pediatrician decided to send her to ST Petes to be admitted.

          We got up there around 11PM and right away we got called back and she was hooked up to an IV. She was so brave, and we knew she was very sick because she was not complaining much at all, and was sleeping through most of the testing and poking.We got to her room about 4 AM. After some labs that diagnosed her with RotaVirus. They said she would need to stay until she was rehydrated and could hold fluids down on her own.
 

          She was so brave and I was very proud of her. We were there for two nights, but she started feeling better after only about 12 hours on the fluids. She begin to eat some popcicles, and the  nurses set up a system that she was earning stickers for every little cup of water she was drinking. She went 5 days with no food and lost 5 pounds.We were all really glad when it was time to go home. There were a lot of prayers for Ellie while she was in the hospital and we definitely felt the love.

  

Great Wolf Lodge January 2013

                                                            One of the kids Christmas gifts this year was a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge with our friends The Hertz Family. We picked the kids up early from school and headed out there around lunch time. The boys all had a blast hanging out together.The were all over that place and it was nice for them to be able to enjoy some freedom while hanging out together.Before bed that night  I took the younger two to the Pajama story time and they got to meet  the character named "Violet". 

 The kids also enjoyed some arcade time, and loved winning tickets.Big  Jax hit the jackpot on this big game several times.

We spent the last few hours of the trip back in the waterpark. Jax had fun playing in the water but got tired way faster than the bigger kids so Grandma came and picked him up early. His favorite part was the big floating snake that he could climb on.

I could barely get these three boys to stop long enough to take a picture. They had a great time. We made lots of good memories with Great Friends.

Christmas 2012

                                                       The kids with Santa at Capital Mall

The kiddos in front of our Christmas tree December 17th 2012

 Jax on Christmas Morning! His Santa Gift this year were Stompees. He also got a two wheel scooter, a batman playhouse and some little transformers.

 Austin Got a jersey from Santa. From Mom and Dad he got a new scooter, a pogo stick, The Hungar Games movie and a few XBox games.

Ellie was so excited to open her Kindle on Christmas Morning. Her Santa present was a CD player for her room and some of her other presents were a pogo stick and some new shoes.

Jack Richard Hertz

You will be forever missed Jack. I miss your smile and sweet spirit most of all. You were an amazing man. I feel blessed to have had the chance to know you at all, and still so sad that you were taken from this Earth while you still had so much to do here.We will never forget you.

                                                  August 25th 1968- November 15th 2012

Ellie is SIX!

My sweet girl, bigger than her britches, turned Six this year. We celebrated with two parties as usual... A "friend" party, and a "family"party on her actual Birthday.

Her friend party was at Thorbecks Gymnastics Center this year. It was so easy for me, and so fun for the kids. She had 10 friends attend and they got lots of Gym time to jump and flip and play. Then we had a party room for Cake time. Ellie has some of her old friends there, but she also had a few new friends from her Kindergarten class which was fun.

For Ellie's birthday we had pizza and cake and all the family came. Ellie got some fun gifts. Her favorites were a new doll, Pajamas with matching Doll Jammies and STOMPEE slippers.
The coolest thing was that there was a Giant rainbow right out our front door on Ellie's birthday. I told her God sent her the rainbow for her special day and she LOVED that idea. If anyone deserves a rainbow, its Ellie! My little love can be feisty and sassy, but she loves with her whole heart, and her smiles are a blessing to all.

Halloween 2012

This year for Halloween My Nephew Zane came down to go Trick or Treating with my kiddos....

Chase took Austin and his buddy out and I went with Judy with my younger two.

Austin was convinced that nothing could top his costume from last year, Chuckie. So he went with that again!

Ellie borrowed an adorable Rainbow Brite Costume from a friend, and although she has no clue who Rainbow brite even was, She loved it and looked so cute. Jax was a Power Ranger, which is adorable because Austin was a Power Ranger at that age as well. My nephew Zane was a Transformer. This was the first year that the kids were big enough to go up to the doors on their own. They had a blast, and got a ridiculous amount of loot.