I know...finally.

Wow, I'm looking back through my pictures to see what I haven't shown you guys yet and I'm realizing I have to go all the way back to Quinn's birthday. Naughty of me, I know. Santa knows I have good intentions though. He just might grace my stocking with a lump of coal, if I'm that lucky. So, Quinn turned 7 in November and she decided that she wanted to have a party at Snip-its again like she did a few years ago. They do the girl's hair up with braids and curls and dress them up in dresses with boas and glasses and let them put makeup on. Some of the girls had to ask where the make up goes and some even had to hold one eye down with one hand so they could keep their eye closed to put eyeshadow on.







So cute. Then they walk down the red carpet like they are movie stars.



All the girls had a great time. Here is Quinn's cake I made off of a website Teresa gave. Yeah, it looks nothing like the picture but I tried. It's supposed to be a crown ;0)



Then we had Thanksgiving at our house with 7 guests not including us five. We had five extra adults staying over night here but we squeezed them in and had a nice time. It was nice to have family up for the holiday because it kept my mind busy seeing Thanksgiving was my dad's one year anniversary of his passing. Plus it was just great to see everyone.

Then it was Collin's 13th birthday and yes, I tried again with the cake thing.



Collin wanted to have his party where they do go-cart racing so dad took him.



Here is Collin.



Uhmmm, I don't know what he is doing.



They had a good time too and I'm glad I wasn't there because I think I would have a heart attack. I would probably run out on the track with the flag to make them slow down.

Now we move on to decorating the house for Christmas. We had never put up lights on the outside of the house while living in Maine so now that the addition was done, I wanted to do it. Sean was less thrilled. I knew he would be but I had bought the lights so he really didn't have much of a choice. So poor Sean gets stuck hanging lights on the upper roof line with this huge, heavy ladder. He was getting very frustrated and cold and was trying to measure them out so they were even. He proabably spent hours getting the lights up. I just stood at the bottom of the ladder, half smiling because I knew he was pissed at me for making him do this. I finally asked him if he was ready to divorce me. There was no reply. I laughed. Then at one point he freaks out and says, "AREN'T THERE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS FOR A LIVING???!!!! NEXT YEAR WE ARE GOING TO JUST PAY SOMEONE TO DO THIS!" He was wicked mad. I laughed. So he gets all the lights hung up and I'm so proud of him. Then I realize he didn't plug them into the extension cord. The good wife I am, I knew better than to ask him to do it so I grabbed the ladder and climbed it to hook up the extention cord. What a good wife I am, you know how I am with heights. I climb down the ladder and we both look up to see the weight of the extention cord pull down each light one by one like a row of dominos off the roof. All we could do was stand there and watch them ALL fall. OMG!!! I just slapped my hands over my mouth because I was afraid I was going to laugh and Sean would nail me in the head with a snowball. Multiple times. I glanced over at him and he just said, "What! There is nothing we can do about it now so there is no use getting upset!" I think he was trying to convice himself of this. I was just trying not to laugh. And in my head I'm thinking, damn, I'm never going to get my Christmas lights up now. So I hung the lights from a lower part of the house to compromise. Here's a little video.



We have more lights up now but we are in the middle of a blizzard and I'm not going out there go get pics.

So, I'm feeling a little guilty about the whole light debacle. Every year we put up a fake tree. The reason being is because I love Christmas and I'm usually the dork that decorates before Thanksgiving. Yeah, I know. I just love the lights. Sean has always wanted a real tree but you just can't keep one alive that long. So, this year I decided to surprise him. I went out, got a real tree, drove that sucker home, took it off the roof of my car and dragged into my house by myself. Then I proceeded to take our already decorated fake tree and carry it up the stairs to our dining room to put in our front window (not one broken bulb good people)! I then drag out lights and ornaments and put up our new REAL tree. All by myself. Well, the kids helped decorate. I can't wait to see the look on Sean's face when he sees it. It smelled so good. Surly that would make up for the lights. He finally makes it home from work around 10pm and I'm on the couch fighting to stay awake. He walks in the room and says...nothing. WHAT! I say, "honey, don't you notice something different?" He says, "yeah, I did. You have earrings on." ????????????? OMG. I could have killed him. Payback good people. It had to be payback and I took it like a man, pointed to the tree, complained a little, and went to bed.

Our family wishes your family the Happiest Holidays. We wish you health and send love to those who are missing someone loved this year. We are blessed in so many ways and we thank you for keeping up with us. I realize I didn't mention anything about Wesley. He's doing well in every way and we are so blessed. Here is a final pic of the kids seeing Santa. Collin is just there for moral support.



Please stay safe.

Merry Christmas,

Sean, Kristin, Collin, Quinn, and Wesley

I know. I need to update. I promise I will soon.

Happy Birthday Daddy. We miss you so very much. This Thanksgiving will be so hard knowing it will be a year. You are in my thoughts all the time. I am wearing your shirt today. We love you. I'm very sorry about Rio but I hope he is with you and you two are reunited again. He missed you so much. We love you.

Pumpkin Festival

We've been busy here in Maine enjoying the best time of the year, autumn. We've been going to many fairs and went to the Pumpkin Festival held to raise money for Camp Sunshine and to try to break the Guinness World Record for most lit jack-o-lanterns. Camp has the record but it was held in Boston so they were trying to beat it here in Maine. Boston had over 30,000 pumpkins we had 23,000. We didn't beat it but it was soooo beautiful and amazing watching all the volunteers and families trying to beat it. We had to stay until dark because I just had to see it all lit at night. Can you imagine 23,000 lit pumpkins? It was amazing. There are pics in the slideshow above.

I feel like there is always so much I want to write but then I forget once I find time to sit down.

Wicked cute thing Wesley said to me the other day. He came into my office and said, "Mom, you're a girl, right?" Uh, last time I checked. "So that means you're a female, right?" I was so impressed! Yes baby that means I'm a female. "So, you're a female, and I'm an email!" HA!!!! I don't know if he heard that somewhere or not but it caught me off guard and I cracked up!

On a more serious note, could you please keep Sean's mom in your prayers. She's been diagnosed with cancer and is receiving treatment. They found a tumor where the esophagus and stomach meet. She is very positive and so are the doctors. They will do some radiation and chemo and then surgery. Please pray for her healing.

We haven't decided what we will be for Halloween yet. I keep trying to get Wesley to be Yoda because I think that would be so hilarious. He wants to be a sith instead. I told him not to go to the dark side. I don't think he understood what I meant. I will only let him watch the Star Wars movies that aren't too scary. We'll see if we can find a different theme.

Quinn lost her front tooth and we called her Nanny McFee for about a week until the other one fell out. She looks so cute. We are going to have to start looking into braces for Collin. That should be fun.

Wesley's counts are pretty good. Platelets about 116,000 and his ANC is about 1,100. His platelets went up 10,000 from last time so that is good. I can't remember the rest but they did drop. He missed three days of school last week and soccer because he was sick but he's feeling better now. Saturday Quinn has a Brownie outing and then both kids have soccer at night under the lights. Quinn did great last soccer game and didn't come out at all and no tears. SO PROUD! I think it helped that she got to play her best friend on the other team. Maybe that was some motivation.

Wesley should be getting off the bus soon and I have to go shower. Tomorrow is picture day and I HAVE to get that boys hair cut. Once it starts to grow out it gets kinky from his hearing aid headband. He looks like he has a bad perm ;0)

Hugs to you all and thank you again for keeping Maryann in your prayers.

Kristin

Outer Banks

So besides my strong aversion to bridges and sharks, we had a great time at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I will skip the part about the incredibly gross hotels that seem to plague Pokamoke, Maryland that we were forced to choose from on the way down. You will be thankful I am sparing you the details. I will however, share the details of Sean getting pulled over by the police. HA! I wanted to tell the officer to give him a ticket, just so I could gloat because Sean is always saying he is a better driver than I am, which is false because I've never been in a car accident, never gotten a speeding ticket, and never been pulled over. So, Sean was for sure speeding, we were so close to the house we were staying at, and BAM! Sean gets pulled over. I was fighting not to laugh as the officer is asking for his info. The kids are yelling, "DAD! Are you getting a ticket!" It was so funny...for us. The nice officer let him go, much to my chagrin and Sean claims that doesn't count for how many tickets he's received. I think it counts. We stayed with two other families that Sean and I grew up with in New York. It was fun to just relax on the beach everyday and hang out with everyone. Here's a video of Marcus trying to skinboard or whatever they call it.



Yup. We aren't as young as we used to be. I tried to boogie board, or whatever, I'm not up to date on the terms, and had fun but I constantly had the Jaws theme playing in the back of my mind. It was a good time though. Here is Wes running from the waves. And yelling at me not to tape him.



Here is a little slideshow.



Our friends brought their Wii and we got hooked on Guitar Hero. So the day we got home we went and got a Wii. Here's some video of Quinn and Wesley playing boxing. The room is a mess because we just ripped open the boxes and went to town.



We got back and the kids had school. Here is some video of Wesley's first time on a school bus. I was bawling, he...didn't care. Actually, I am so proud of him, of all my kids. They are just so big.



Quinn and Wesley have started soccer. Collin, Quinn and I are sitting on the sidelines watching Wesley play and you know how they play when they are small. All the kids are like a moth to a flame. Well all of a sudden, I say to Collin, "I think Wesley just scored a goal!" Mind you, in the many years I've sat on that sideline, my kids have never scored a goal. And that's okay. I just never expected Wesley to be my first. So we all jump up and scream! GO WESLEY!!! He looks over, smiles, winks and gives us a thumbs up. So funny. Not a minute later, he scores again. OMG! YAY WESLEY. Feeling a little guilty for our over-exuberance, but hey, I was honka excited. One minute later, he scores again. Slight clapping from us. We didn't want to push it. I was so proud!!! He actually scored again but it was after the whistle. SHOCK! Then I felt bad because it was Quinn's time to play. If you remember last year, she decided she didn't like soccer. That was okay. I thought it was my fault for encouraging her too much but this year I promised not to say a word, and I didn't, and she was great, until they started playing the other team and they stuck her in as goalie. Poor thing. Once the other team scored on her it was all over. She was very upset and came over to me on the sidelines. We talked and I told her she couldn't give up on her team, she needed to go back in and finish the game, but that after this game, if she didn't want to play anymore, she didn't have to. I didn't think she would go back in, but she did. I was so proud of her. She left the end in tears and we talked about how hard it is to lose sometimes. I told her half the teams that were playing that day won, but half also lost and that's okay, that's part of playing a sport, it's very disappointing and hard to learn, but that it's okay as long as you tried. I told her everyone is good at something different. I told her she can read well and ride a bike. Wesley can't do those things. He just happens to be good at soccer. She understood and decided she wanted to try to play again next week. So, we'll see how that goes.

Sean's brothers' family came up to visit for a week. We had a nice time catching up and hanging out. We finally got to meet their newest addition, Audrey. Here is Quinn and Audrey.



Here is Sean and Brian's mom with the grandkids.



It was nice to all be together. I hope everyone is doing well. Please keep our family in your prayers. Thanks for checking in.

Hugs,
Kristin

I have so much to update but some unexpected things have been happening so I will try to get to it all.

I did promise pics of my high wire act though. I know it doesn't look it, but I am really high off the ground. And yes people, I did go swimming in the ocean. I still have all my limbs, no sharks. BUT THAT FREEGIN' CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE!!!! Like 14 miles of pure H*** for me. Can you believe a bridge THAT long. OH, and then the FREEGIN' tunnels just to make SURE I'm sent into a full blown panic attack. I swear I could see sharks circling the bridge waiting for our car to plummet over the side ;0) I'm sweating just writing about it.





I will update more later. My blood pressure is rising with all this bridge and shark talk ;0)

Hugs and please keep our family in your prayers.
Kristin

Camp

Aren't the boys hilarious? Wesley and Collin really do look like they are going to take you down with their machine guns (or blasters as Wesley calls them.)

Well, we are bad parents and our kids will be missing their first two days of school. This year for some reason they decided to schedule school before Labor day which to my knowledge has never happened. We already had planned a trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina which is with some old friends from New York and their families so I really couldn't back out, plus it was already paid for a long time ago. So we will just have to get caught up once we get back. I can't imagine they will learn too much in the first two days.

Wesley got to meet his new kindergarten teacher the other day. I asked her what she knew about Wesley and she just mentioned his hearing loss. So she made some time for us to talk alone afterward which I thought was nice. I ran down the list of multiple issues with her and she asked a lot of questions which was good. I think that means one, she was really listening, and two, she cared. I forewarned her that Wesley is good at trying to get his way and to make sure not to let him. He's good at trying to work it. I'm scared for this new school and I had to explain to Wesley that it will be different from his other school because he will be the only one with a hearing aid on and kids might not know what it is. But he is really comfortable with that part and I think he will handle it okay. It's his thumbs that might be a problem. He has trouble cutting with typical scissors so he has loop scissors and he has trouble writing. He gets very frustrated and sensitive when he can't do what the other kids can do so I hope he learns that it's okay and that we'll work on it. Everyone at Baxter knew us, knew Wesley and our situation. No one really knows him here and understands all the things he's gone through. Whatever, I'm sure it will work out and I'm planning to volunteer so at least I can keep an eye on things.

The Flynn's came to visit yesterday. Here is Julia and her lovely tongue.



Here is Wesley and Julia.



Jordan and the twins all have FA too. Jordan's counts are dropping and she is very close to transplant. Here is Jordan.



Quinny and Jorja.



At camp this year I felt different. I don't know why. I kind of felt out of place. I don't know what that was about. It's our fifth FA week there so it wasn't like I was new. There were a LOT of families and many new ones too which is great. I don't know. I'm just strange. I liked it once the end came and there weren't so many people I think. I got to know some old families better which is the part I like. I like really getting to know the families personally. Sean and I even did the activities course which is in the trees with high wires strung between them and you have to shimmy across them somehow. For those who know me and know my two big fears are heights and sharks (dork, I know) I was so proud that I climbed a huge ladder into the tree, then climbed up little staples in the tree even higher, then lunged for a rope that I had to hold onto as I VERY SLOWLY slid across a wire gosh knows how many feet in the air. One of the dads took pics so if I get them I will post them. Sean did it too but he's not scared of that stuff. It's a great bonding experience to do with the other parents.

We had a great time though, it's very emotionally draining and you feel bad for the new families knowing what it's like because you've been there before. The Tennessee family I think will be coming back, with the whole family next year, which is good because the second I saw Cameron in the airport I knew she had my heart forever. Benjamin and Collin just get along so well (Oregon family) that we hardly saw them because they played Yu-Gi-Oh every chance they got.

It's time to pack for our trip. I'm sure we will have lots to tell when we get back. Like if I went swimming in the ocean or not (yeah, that whole shark thing.) Quinn just asked if we were going to Canada. It sure would be a shorter drive.

Hugs to you all and have a great first day of school.

-Kristin

Camp-2008

I don't have time to write but I thought I would leave you with some videos and slideshows to keep you entertained in the mean time.



Wesley doing his skit at the celebration show.



Crazy Quinny at home.

It's that time again. Camp. I am frantically trying to clean the house while the kids are frantically trying to mess it up again. This year Rachel and Benjamin will be staying with us tonight and then tomorrow a new family will be staying with us and coming to camp too. They are a little nervous but I'm wicked excited to meet them. The mom sounds like a goof ball like me so we should get along well.

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN every day, but I don't think it will be all day rains. It's gloomy out right now but at least it isn't too hot. I get cranky when it's too hot. Okay, many things make me cranky, that's just one of them ;0)

I will of course update when we get back with lots of pics. It's like a big family reunion. It's so much fun, and emotional, and confusing, and tiring. AND FUN! Got my smores for everyone, and a HUGE box of glow sticks that my mom gave me to give out. I'm excited.

So, Alicia, baby girl, I will miss you being my dance partner this year. Who am I going to swing around all night until I pass out? Get better soon, start those new healthy stem cells growing and don't get any bugs! No germs. Hope your belly feels better soon too. Hugs Michelle.

I MIGHT even be interviewed at camp for a local magazine called the Downeaster. We'll see, I'm going to try to get out of it but I have a feeling I will have no where to hide.

Hugs,
Kristin

Water Fun

Here is a slideshow of the kids having some fun playing outside. ENJOY!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I added a new slideshow in case you're interested. Clicking play takes you to another screen and then "play" will show again. Just click and enjoy some of our old pictures. I also added a permanant link to the bottom of the page.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I promised some video. I hope you can watch it. Some I've heard can, some I've heard can't but I'm going to post it anyway. First is Quinn in her room. I was very surprised to walk in one day to see her doing this... And I wonder why she has so many bruises.




Then one day I asked Wesley how things were at school. Here's his response...



Is he too much or what! What a stud. I cracked up when he said Ainslie "stepped in." I asked him what about Adrianna and he said she was okay with it or something to that effect. He makes me laugh. He is obsessed with saying either "turkeys" or "chicken leg." I don't know why but that is what he's saying at the very end. I can't wait for Kindergarten.

Well, we have more storm warnings and it just finished downpouring. The weather has just been so crazy around here. I didn't take Wesley to school today because last night we had another rain storm and the power went out at 2 am. It came back on 3 hours later but I had trouble sleeping because it was such a bad storm I was a little scared. Needless to say I was up most of the night and the mugginess that this rain has been having gives me migraines. I've been miserable. So, I ditched school today and did laundry instead.

I know this is slightly cruel, but the dog really didn't seem to mind. Here is a pic of Quinn putting clip on earring on Wesley...and the dog. Yeah, thanks mom for the costume jewelry.



Congrats Teresa on your new baby girl, Violet Rose. What a beautiful addition to your family.

Hugs, Kristin

Things have been good here. You can see everyone is starting to clean up all the fallen trees, lots of chainsaws going. I'm so relieved that our house made it through okay, cause if you know us, you know how natural disasters seem to be attracted to us.

Sunday we took the kids to the Yarmouth Clam Festival and we had a good time looking at all the craft vendors. One booth was selling shirts that seemed just perfect for us. They had one word on them that said different things like, "patience, love, simplify, inspire, trust." I bought one for myself that says "breathe" and one for Wesley that says "courage." He looks wicked cute in it. And besides, I don't know anyone else who has as much courage as he does ;0)

So, we promised the kids that after we looked at the crafts, we would go on the rides. We grabbed something to eat and by the time we were done, it was raining. Not too bad where they had to close the rides so the kids were insistant that we go. Alright. Soon it was pouring and I at least was smart enough to pack an umbrella. Poor Sean got his hair all messed up and wet (for those who don't know, he has no hair.) Quinn and Collin decided they wanted to go down one of those slides where you sit on the mat. As we were watching them walk up the stairs I pointed to Sean to look at the mats they were carrying up. They were DRIPPING wet and heavy with rain. Didn't bother them one bit, until they stood up after going down and their butts were DRENCHED! Yup, they were pretty much ready to go home after that. They had a good time though and Quinn got a new headband that matches a new collar we got Rayna so they can be cool together.

Collin has started an arts camp for two weeks. He seems to like it and is taking classes like impressionist art, musical theater, voice, and science. He seems to be making new friends so that is cool.

Rayna is doing well. Still not housebroken and today I could hear her doing something while I was in my office working. I go out to check on her and she's dragging by the handle my dustpan and broom. I don't know where she got it from, especially because I never clean, but she was dragging that thing around my kitchen.
She's getting so big already.

Wesley is doing well too at summer school. Today I walked in a little early and he's got a smock on with his hands COVERED in shaving cream and he's smearing it all over the table. I wish I had a camara with me. It was cute.

Quinn is doing well too. I have to get some video of something she does in her room. It gives me a heartattack every time she does it. I won't spoil it though.

Hope everyone is having a safe summer and for Leighsa and her extreame dislike for the Yankees...yes, we are from NY and have only lived in New England for 8 years. That is why we are Yankee fans. Am I to assume you are a Sox fan??? Don't you live in Tenessee? What's up with that ;0) You always seemed like such an intelligent person ;0) Really, I can't wait to meet you next year at camp.

Hugs,
Kristin

Well good people, I thought I'd update seeing we just got our power back after a 24 hour outage. My neighbor and I decided yesterday to take our kids to the movies and then out to lunch after. We took the kids to see Journey to the Center of the Earth which was a good movie, but not for little ones that are scared easily. We left the movie and headed to lunch and as we were walking in the parking lot Collin said he had just seen a huge bolt of lightening. Once we placed our order you could barely see out of the windows and the sky turned dark. It was very ominous. By the time we were done eating we commented how we were lucky because the rain had stopped. As we started to drive home we were in shock because the road was littered with debris from the trees. As we turned down the main road to our house the streets were scattered with trees and limbs. You should have heard the ride home with all seven of us shouting at the same time, "Oh my gosh, look at that!!! Look at that house. Look at that tree. Look at those power lines." I started to get scared as to what our house was going to look like. People's flag poles were snapped in half, trees were ripped down with their roots exposed. It was really like there was a micro burst or something. It was so shocking to see that all happen while we ate lunch.

Only a couple of limbs fell from our trees but didn't hit anything. I'm so glad we just got rid of a big maple tree that was hanging over our pool. Sean finally came home and got the generator going so we could hook up a few lights and the fridge. WHEW! There was just a huge thunder boom. Just scared the crap out of me. I'm waiting for little footsteps to come running because the kids are napping.

So, we are slowly getting back to normal. Unfortunately two people lost their lives going out in the storm to retrieve some eye glasses and they got struck by lightening. Thunderstorms can be so scary.

Well, another storm is here right now so I should get off the computer.

Hugs,
Kristin

I wanted to include some pictures of our visit to NYC. Some are of the suite at the Yankee game, some are of our first subway trip to get there. One is of Quinn with her American Girl Doll. They have the same outfit on which I thought was pretty cool. The kids were amazed at all the tall buildings, especially since the largest one in Portland is only 17 stories. I found this slideshow that makes the pictures look like an old movie.

We had another day at the beach while Wesley was in school. This time we went to the one where they had the Polar Plunge. The water was much nicer this time around. The kids new thing is looking for "seaglass." I think they weren't as impressed as I explained to them it was just old broken beer bottles they were finding that had been sanded down from being in the ocean. I'm such a buzz kill. This time we threw Quinn in the water to see if she could swim. Nadda. Here's a bad cell phone pic.




Not much else going on today. Next time I will try to include some pics of our new addition. I have to get off my lazy bum and make some beds first ;0) Maybe I'll teach my kids to do laundry like a friend of mine does. A little whip crackin' and she gets those kids to work -just kiddin' Teresa ;0) She really uses a taser.

Hugs,
Kristin

At the beach

Today was a fun day. It was so hot out but at least there was a breeze by the coast. Collin, Quinn, Rayna and I dropped Wesley off at his school which is on an island in the ocean and then ran a few errands and stopped by a playground. A teacher came up to me and said she had a daycare and asked me if her kids could pet Rayna. It was cute. So they all crowded around and pet her. She did good until she decided to eat the woodchips and was gagging on them. Later one of the girls who had pet her said something about her eating the woodchucks. I thought that was funny. Her mom is going to ask her how her day went and she's going to say she pet a dog that ate woodchucks.

Later we went back to the island and walked to the shoreline. As we were walking a lady walked by with her stroller and Rayna freaked out trying to get away. I wasn't sure why at first she was flipping out but then I realized that she has never seen one before. After some reassuring she was fine. Then I tortured her some more by throwing her in the ocean to see if she could swim. We had bets going. I'm just kidding. I just put her paws in. She didn't seem to mind it but didn't stay in. She was much more interested in eating the seashells instead. The kids played in the water and then we picked up Mr. Messy Wessy. Rayna and Wesley are napping hard now after their busy day.

So, that's it so far for this crazy day. I'm learning a little more each time I log on here. If you haven't scrolled down to the end of the page, do it. I found some fun little things to add to the site. You know, just to embarass my kids.

And hey, don't be afraid to add a post in the guestbook. I love to read them and I check everyday. Just click on the "comments" under each posting. I had to be the first to write in Wesley's book but you guys count too ;0)

Hugs,
Kristin

I am slowly getting the hang of this site. See, I've already updated twice in one day! So much progress. Wesley's biopsy results were great, I think. I haven't heard anything from Minnesota so I guess that is good. The preliminary results showed no signs of leukemia and his cellularity went up from 30% to 50% which could mean the last time they did it, they just got a bad pull or this time someone just counted differently but I'll take it no matter what the reason. Thank you for another year!!! So, I'm trying to figure out how to add video. Seeing Camp Sunshine is coming up, I decided to add this one just to get everyone in the mood and practice your dance steps. If you look, Wesley is dressed up as the lion worshiping on the floor. Strange boy. Quinn is Dorothy.

(couldn't upload video. I will have to try again tomorrow.)


We recently took a trip to NYC with the kids. We had a good time and the kids were amazed by all the people and big buildings. Our tallest building in Portland is 17 stories. Pretty sad. But then all the nice view aren't blocked so that is a good thing.

Oh, Sean is going to kill me for sharing this but I thought it was funny. He took Collin and Wesley to the store the other day and forgot to put pants on Wesley and didn't figure it out until he was at the store taking him out of the car seat. I called him on his cell phone and I could tell he was irritated. I asked him what he was doing and he said he had to go in the store to buy Wes pants because he didn't have any on. DAD!

The house is coming together but the yard is a mess. I'm trying to just drop all the drama in my life and just relax. Not always so easy but I'm trying. The kids are just doing great and doing their jobs well of driving me crazy this summer. My mom and Jim just came up to visit this summer and we had a good time eating out, sightseeing, and catching up. We are all very excited for camp and then we will be going to the outer banks with some old friends at the end of August. Well, I will try to update more often. It seems to be easier putting pics on here, video is still a pain. Hugs to you all and have a safe summer.

-Kristin

First steps-for the puppy and me

First steps-for the puppy and me
Here is our new Rayna girl. She's cute as a button. She's looking at me like that because she is at the top of the stairs and I'm trying to teach her to walk down them. She doesn't want to do it. How can you resist that face?! Well, I did, with a little yum-yum to convince her and she did great! We started with one step down then two and soon she was going down all of them. We're very proud. Now as for the house-breaking...yeah, different story. That's my face whenever I see she had an accident.

So bear with me as I try to figure out this blog thing. I am sure I will include some things that aren't too interesting just because I'm playing around with the videos and stuff so once again...welcome to Wesley's World.

-Kristin