You'd Have Thought I'd Gave Them $1,000

Stacy Moore had her four boys take a little cake to Kiersten on her birthday.

They took it to her at dance class and sang to her and everything!

It just made her day!

And so we had this little cake sitting around.......

well Kendall Moore came over to play with Hunter on a Thursday (it's the start of our weekend...no school on Fridays at DPA, which I LOVE!).

These two boys begged and begged for me to let them put their faces in their cake pieces.

You should have seen the look on their faces when I said "SURE!"

The only rule was that they had to eat all of it......even the stuff on their faces, no wasting!

They couldn't believe it!

It wasn't a big deal to me but man was it a BIG DEAL to them!

It was like I helped them with one of their many dreams. In fact that's just what Hunter said, "Ah thanks mom, that has been a dream of mine for a long time!"

And so they had a blast and I enjoyed watching them and their excitement. Mr. Grant and Logan even copied them and now I wish I had taken a picture of them as well.

Afterwards they all ran around the house cheering, dancing and screaming about getting to stick their faces in cake!

Silly Boys.......glad I could help make dreams come true!!!

Hunter's Actual 1st Day of School

Hunter was very excited to FINALLY get to start school.......a week late!

Stacy Moore, one of my Best Friends, is his teacher and he couldn't be happier!

Hunter is such a sharp kid! It's going to be a great year in 3rd Grade!

I do not have a child in double digits!!!

Forgot I had these pictures so I am adding them late....sorry!

The pool was the perfect temperature....

Kiersten had a ball as you can see. We even played "Marco Polo" a few times........yes just the two of us! Thanks Kiersten for a FABULOUS weekend! I love you very much!

YIKES I do!!!

Kiersten turned 10.

Once our kids turn 10 we have decided that they can choose to either have a birthday party or get some money instead. This year Kiersten chose the money...........I'd have to say I was a little bummed because I LOVE PARTIES!

So to help with my sadness I decided to surprise Kiersten and have a girls weekend in Mesa.

Thanks to my mother-in-law and my mom who helped me with the boys on Friday, Kiersten and I were able to head to Mesa right after her piano lesson.

She was way excited! We ate at The Cheese Cake Factory, Red Lobster, Panda Express. We watched the Movie Glee the Concert, we swam at the hotel, we went and painted at As You Wish, and of course WE SHOPPED!! We actually had dessert at both Red Lobster and The Cheese Cake Factory...... YUMMY!!! Kiersten and I loved spending time together. She was so fun to hang out with. And she is the sweetest thing ever.......with some of her birthday money she bought something for each of her brothers. How sweet is that! She also was ecstatic to buy a gymnastic outfit and the cutest lime green, black and white dance wear, plus a new dance bag. Let's just say she was in heaven!! I love you Kiersten! Thanks for being the best daughter EVER! I love being your mom and I feel blessed beyond words to have you be mine for eternity!

10 Things I Treasure About Kiersten

1. She has a gorgeous smile with dimples!

2. She is very thoughtful to those around her!

3. She gives 110% at everything she does!

4. She LOVES to dance and I LOVE to watch her!

5. She is an example in kneeling to say her prayers. I often walk in on her kneeling at night saying her prayers!

6. She is very girly but she also loves to ride quads, fish, swim in the river, play laser tag. So I have the best of both worlds!

7. She is kind and considered to everyone!

8. She is a great example to her brothers!

9. She applies herself at everything she does........she just started gymnastics and already learned her back hand spring. Heidi, the gymnastics owner, said very few people have ever gotten it this fast!

10. She is helpful beyond words.........and she just radiates a love for life that is addicting!

I could go on and on....... You Rock Sister

Ditching school the first week?

Hunter started with a few sores on his right calf........which quickly spread!

This was about the 3rd day of him having the sores......sadly he had to tell me ..."Mom if they still hurt tomorrow will you take me to the doctor?" We took him to see Dr. Sue, it was a Thursday.............she wasn't quite sure what it was, possibilities....

a staff infection,

chicken pox,

some form of strep.

So she put him on a strong antibiotic and we bandaged him up. She took a culture of it and we were just waiting for the results. She said to bring him back if they got worse or if they spread more.

The redness in his calf started to ease a bit but the sores started to leak out fluid.........and yes they spread.....and so

On Saturday we returned to see Dr. Sue. They were now on his left arm and the back part of his right thigh. They hurt and they were super itchy. This time we saw not only Dr. Sue but Dr. Monthierth as well. Together they decided to put Hunter on another antibiotic, but he was still to take the first one as well, plus they gave him meds to help with the itching, plus a cream to apply. Basically they were trying to cover their bases because the results from the culture hadn't yet yielded any great information.

They were like little boils or blisters........poor Hunter!

We were also instructed to give him baths with Ivory dish soap several times a day. This kind of made up for the itching and pain..........Hunter was way excited once he saw how many bubbles it produced. And yes I helped Hunter strategically place these bubbles........LOL!

He always felt better after a bubble bath and a new bandage job.

This is his calf trying to heal.

So sad to watch him suffer and the doctors still weren't sure what it was. This is the back of his right thigh. It was the worse part..........it hurt him no matter what he did. When he would lay down it hurt, when he walked it hurt.........so on Monday I took him back to the doctor.

This time we saw Dr. Sue, Dr. Montierth, and waited extra long to get to see Dr. Kartchner.

They still were indecisive about what it was......

Dr. Kartchner was guessing chicken pox,

Dr. Sue was sure it wasn't chicken pox, thought it might be a staff infection,

Dr. Montierth hadn't a clue to guess he said.

At this point Hunter's leg was hot to the touch and getting more painful.

Poor guy ended up missing the whole first week of school.

My father-in-law told me to try putting Colloidal Silver on it.

By Tuesday morning Hunter wouldn't walk on his leg, he was in a lot of pain and I was getting super worried.

The doctors weren't calling with the results, the meds didn't seem to be healing it (at least not very fast) and I was stressed to say the least. And we had plans to leave the following day for Flagstaff to have a little fun with the Chicago gang!

I cried with Hunter that morning and told him how sorry I was that I didn't know how to help him!

I started applying the colloidal silver Tuesday and by the next day Hunter felt 100 times better. The sores were drying up but more importantly the pain, fever and itching were gone.

Thank you Grandpa Cluff!!!

It ended up being a type of bacterial infection called Bacillus.

It was a long 2 weeks of sores but I have to say Hunter was one tough cookie through it all!

Glad the meds started to finally work and with the colloidal silver Hunter healed up nicely.

It hurts just looking at it!

And to think we almost made it the whole summer without a doctor visit.........missed it by a few days!

First Day of School...........for some...

August 8th was the first day of school.

The kids were so so excited......except for Hunter he was seriously bummed.

He had sores all over his body and the doctors hadn't yet figured out what it was and so he couldn't go to school.

He was very sad to miss the first day of school.

Beautiful Kiersten, Poor Bandaged Hunter, and Ecstatic Logan Isn't she gorgeous! Glitter backpack and all........he is ready for the 5th Grade..... Mrs. Percell is her teacher this year. Logan just couldn't be happier to go to Kindergarten. He asked me on the first day if he could walk himself in to his class...........he is such a big boy. I told him not the first day because Mrs. Willis wanted all the parents to stay for a few minutes. So there is a story behind Logan's backpack and his Dinosaur shoes. My mother gave me a magazine and informed me that I NEEDED to get Logan his Dinosaur backpack AND that he NEEDED the light up Dinosaur shoes as well. She made me take the magazine home and then called me the next day to check to see if I had ordered it yet.........if I hadn't she was going to order them. It was so funny because my mom is not the type that cares what kids wear but she knew Logan NEEDED these............so to please Grandma and to surprise Logan I did just what my mom wanted. They both couldn't be happier! Logan has shown his backpack three weeks in a row for show and tell...........so I'd say it's a hit! Logan wanted to pose to show that his Dinosaur shoes are "Super Fast!"

My little sick boy....poor guy! He was a good sport about it and was excited because the Chicago cousins were still here visiting so he had friends to play with at least.

Outside of Discovery Plus Academy.........Logan still wanting to show off his Awesome backpack!

Man I just can't get over how beautiful Kiersten is!

It's going to be a great year.............plus all the neighborhood boys started Kindergarten too so life is going to be a lot calmer during the day with just Mr. Grant!

He needed one more picture of his backpack.

He LOVES school and he LOVES Mrs. Willis.

We are in the forth week of school and Logan is doing extremely well. They have a behaviour plan and each day Logan comes home with a colored dot on his hand. It's great because I know right when I picked him up how he behaved that day. I am so proud of Logan he has never gotten anything below BLUE.....which means he did FANTASTIC! The only thing higher then BLUE is PURPLE and it means they did something above and beyond just great behavior. PURPLE is HOORAY FOR YOU and they get to pick a toy from the treasure box. Logan has been very impressive because he has gotten HOORAY FOR YOU at least once a week and sometime twice or one week he got it 3 TIMES in a row. Mrs. Willis told me she doesn't give out PURPLE easily and said Logan does so much to be helpful in the class.

Way to go Logie Bear!!