And June Is Almost Over. . .

I've thought about blogging maybe twice this month. I guess I'm out of practice :)

Here's an update of our lives.

Mark- Just moved offices at work. Now he's by himself, with a lot of room. Apparently the person before him was really messy and had a lot of furniture so people walk by the office and do a double take. He's enjoying the slightly shorter commutes of the summer.

Me- Teaching Zumba 5 times a week. Four at Fitness Works and once at home/ in a studio soon. Check out my Zumba blog for more info. I'm also considering going back to school to get my MBA. I still have a lot of other ideas on the table right now, but since Mark's program seemed so easy (because Mark makes everything look easy, even parenting) and it's a pretty diverse degree, I'm thinking about taking the GMAT and applying for next fall.

Jaxon(8) starts 3rd grade next year and we anticipate success. Second grade was a real turning point for him, as his behavior and reading improved a lot (thanks, Concerta). But honestly, we're really proud of him! He went to Hemophilia Camp for the first time, or as he would say, "Homophilia Camp" and LOVED it. On the way home he said to us, "I can't wait to go back. And when I say I can't wait, I mean I can't wait." Of all the things he did at Camp HONOR, learning to skip rocks was on the top of his list. Jaxon turns 9 next month.

Asher (5) starts kindergarten this fall and will ride the bus with Jaxon and stay all day! We're excited for him. I think he'll love it. He's busy being a little bear cub around the house. He's rough and wrestling, but still loving and sweet. He's my biggest helper around the house, helping me cook and volunteering to take out the garbages and vacuum. Both of his brother's play well with Asher and he's a very brave swimmer, jumping off the diving board at the public pools!

Finn (3) will go to preschool 3 days a week this fall (both of us can't wait!). He is our little social butterfly. He's always asking for friends to come over, or to go to a friends house. More mature than our others, Finn generally asks to play with girls who are older than him, including his long time crush, Mina (5). He's taking swimming lessons for the first time and loves it. He's so independent he doesn't want help and just swims as far as he can holding his breath. Finn is also our most responsible child. He comes into our room at 6:30 AM already dressed and continues to help me out throughout the day.

Our kids are all in swimming lessons for just 2 weeks. I also do a playschool (or I try) a few times a week to keep them interested in something other than the TV.

Big news for our family-

1. My mom is moving in with us for a few months. She and my dad recently divorced and she's going to stay with us for a while to figure out if she wants to go back to school, get a new job, etc. We're excited to have her and hope that we don't drive her crazy with our noise and mess.

2. We're headed to Michigan for July! I've been trying to make this trip happen for a few years, but this year I finally convinced Mark. And while I've been planning the roadtrip since January, I only yesterday decided it was better to buy plane tickets. I'm going to give the credit to my friend Danielle and also to Jaxon who says EVERY TIME we talk about the trip, "I don't want to drive to Michigan. I want to fly." And he has no idea how long 31 hours each way would be. So we dodged a bullet on that one.

Thanks in advance to Mark's family for hosting us while we're out there. We hope that we don't drive them crazy with our mess and noise (Is there a pattern here?).

3. We just returned from a trip to San Diego for Mark's grandfather's memorial service. Grandpa Barney was a wonderful man and we'll miss him deeply. You can see the photos from the funeral here and from our quick visit to the beach (it was 68 degrees!).

Mark's Family at the Gravesite

Grandkids and Greatgrandkids

Super-Dad Mark in Action!

Almost the whole family. . .

(Notice my necklace, it's a photo of Barney when he was young in the Navy) Thanks, Margo!

On the First Day of Vacation . . .

Really, I'm not going to blog about every day of our 10 day vacation. I thought about it, though.
This was our first day in Grand Rapids, MI. We were visiting Mark's brother and his family

(Hi, Nate and Sandrine, you guys are the best to let us tear your house apart for the better part of two weeks! Let's do it again sometime. How's this summer?)

Jaxon and I played in the snow, he made a baby snowman (the snow was too powdery for a good snowman).

After Sandrine and relieved the in-ground trampoline of the 3 feet of snow, I decided to jump and land in the snow. It was quite the childish adventure.


Ahh, good times. Jumping, building, sledding in the snow and then we got to leave it all behind and enjoy our 60 degree picnics at the park today in Arizona.

How They Play

Jaxon really loves to play with Finn. Here's a clip of them playing together. (You'll hear Asher in the background singing the Green Jellybean song from the last video post.)




Next is our little family Ring Around the Rosies. Asher thinks he's the camera crew, so watch out.)

Jaxon and Mommy at the Lake

Jaxon and Cami on the tube


On Friday, my mom watched Asher and Fin so I could take Jaxon to the lake with my dad, brother David, and sister Cami. My dad's friend, Dave owns the boat and invited us along with his kids, Alexis and Joey.
It was a full boat. (I estimated that our 8 persons exceeded the 1150 lb maximum capacity, but it just made a deeper wake)






Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful getting up on the wakeboard (It's been years since I've done it!). However, Jaxon and I had a great time on the tube. He went with me, with Cami, and with his Uncle David and favorite friend Joey. They had a great time.

While we were riding I told Jaxon, "Let's go home and ask Daddy if we can have a boat!"
(what is with my hair? wow!)










Here's David on the wakeboard. He was trying to get up, then go over the wake 4 times for his boy scout merit badge.


















Alexis (our new favorite babysitter) and Aunt Cami.
Aren't they darling?











Jaxon with Joey and David





Obviously they were going pretty slow if Jaxon could put his arms out, but he was having such a great time!

Double Whammy

Saturday, the morning of the Salsa Challenge I had a sore throat. After talking all day to volunteers and the public at admissions, my throat really hurt. Sunday morning I woke up with laryngitis. (see post here)
My sweet sister, Tacy, picked Jaxon up from school and took him and Finley back to my mom's for a few hours, so I could get some rest. Then Mark picked up the boys on his way home from work at 4 PM. When Jaxon walked in the house holding an untouched sucker (his favorite candy), I knew something was wrong. He grabbed a 'throw-up bowl' and laid on the couch and promptly went to sleep. Mark said he had been shivering and trying to sleep on the way home. After a great deal of searching I found a thermometer that works and took his temperature under his arm. He didn't even move. 102.9. Uh-oh. He was really sick. And he had been fine at lunch. Weird. Because of his hemophilia treatment, Jaxon has a port-a-cath which is a central line to his heart. With this foreign device in his body, there is always a risk of infection, although we have avoided it for nearly 5 years (knock on wood).
The rule is that if either kid (both Jaxon and Asher have ports) gets a fever above 101.5 we have to take them to the ER in Phoenix as a precaution. So, we call our hemotologist nurse and she says to bring him right in. As we hang up with her, Jaxon sits up and vomits into his bowl. So, now we think he's got the flu (How am I supposed to battle that while I'm fighting this cold? Geez) but the nurse says to bring him in anyway.
Mark takes him and I stay with the little ones. I get a text message that his temp is 103. That's really high for Jaxon, the highest he's ever had. My family usually has ultra-low temps. Anyway, they take some blood samples and decide that he can go home, but they want to wait for a while to see if his temperature drops with Tylenol. Well, it doesn't. Jaxon wakes up to pee and is incoherent, can't answer questions and is just really out of it. So, they tell Mark he's going to have to stay the night. Yeah, so that's no fun. I really hope he's doing okay. It's always so sad to see my kids sick.
Anyway, keep us in your prayers.