Darrel's fishing trip

In May, Darrel got to go with a friend fishing in Neaha Bay. They came home with a lot of fish. here they are before they were filleted and then they were able to pay a guy and his son $20 and they filleted it all for them. Darrel was so excited because that is the crap job@! He got to see a walrus sunning on the dock when they tried to pull back in. It was a great trip and our freezer is still full of black cod and reg. cod. In fact, he needs to get to eating it because I went grocery shopping yesterday and almost couldn't get the corn dogs to fit for the kids!

Mother-Daughter Tea for Girl Scouts

Kenzie's girl scouts had a tea party in April. It was lots of fun. The girls made everything and then the mothers got to come and enjoy. It was lots of fun.

Teacher gifts

Well, I have the gifts for the teachers done. Mikes teacher has the lap quilt up top that I crocheted. Mackenzie's teacher is a little older and I thought she might enjoy this shaw I made. It is actually very warm unlike Mike's teacher's lap quilt

Amanda's chick

Jake sure loves Amanda's chick. We were trying after dinner yesterday to get them to share because they were fighting grabbing it from each other. They finally got pretty good about sending it back and forth to each other. Jake still every once in a while would grab it even though it was Amanda's turn but he was so funny Amanda didn't mind. Mike kept trying to get Jake's attention so that Amanda could take it and run but she wanted to share. She loves playing with Jake! (I am so glad and hope it lasts)

Forks for Duane

We found this in someone's yard and immediately thought that Duane would love to have a tree in his yard like this. It took us a minute to see the bear in the yard. Hope you enjoy it Duane!

Easter

Easter here was a very relaxed and lazy day. It was raining hard when we got up and didn't lighten up until about 5 pm so we hunted eggs late. We didn't do a lot for Easter as we are trying to watch money like everyone else and save some so we can start deciding what we might do for getting a house rather than renting forever. They enjoyed hunting the eggs and found them all (yea@!) I don't think raccoons here finding eggs would be a good thing. They would probably come back thinking there was more.

We had a silver and gold egg. Amanda found the silver $5 was in it. Kenzie found the gold $10 was in it. They had fun.

3rd beach hike

3rd beach ended up being a 1 1/2 mile hike. We got about 1/2 way and then we turned around. Darrel was nervous because of the bears and the time of the year. They would be coming out of hibernation and they are known to be seen around here. He had no weapon and 5 noisy kids that kept running ahead aways out of view so we walked a ways and then went back. The kids enjoyed the walk and it wore out Jake and Mandy. I loved walking through the forest! I thought it was so beautiful! There was a huge whole in the ground under an uprooted tree where Kaylin and I wondered if there was a bear that had slept in it. It was pleanty big enough. When Darrel found a walking stick Jake had to have one two. He is starting to watch Darrel very closely and do what he does. Darrel has noticed and is very proud of it. He is doing good at watching what he does and says because of this. Jake is crazy about him@!

FORKS

Well, the household here has been crazy over TWILIGHT - a movie and book series. Forks, WA is where the ficitional story takes place. Because of being so close the kids (girls) really wanted to go there. Darrel and I decided to take them Easter weekend. Good Friday we drove 2 hours to Forks where there is a little town of 3000 people. Actually smaller than where we live now. The drive was long but once we got there the girls liked seeing the places were things were filmed in the movie. We got to go to a couple of stores with TWILIGHT things and the girls loved looking at those items. We got to see some pretty waterfalls but unfortunately not the one in the movie cause it required a hike and the little ones were not up to that. We then went to LaPush and got to see the beach. I picked up some rocks from there and they really are flat with different colors. Not as bright as I was expecting but definately different colors. The ocean was beautiful and the kids loved the beach including the little ones. We got some great pictures from that. The sand was black almost and the drift wood I thought was beautiful. The kids liked climbing on it all. Darrel thought it looked trashy and needed to be cleared out but I liked it. They have three beached named "1st beach, 2nd beach, and 3rd beach". The first is the only one like this. 2nd and 3rd are just flat where they filmed the movie at. The pictures at the bottom are of lake crecent on the way to forks. It is huge and beautiful because of the mountain backdrop and the clouds are always so low here. We even saw deer right here and they must be used to campers because the care was only 15 feet way when we took these.

Conferences...

Well, we had conferences this week.

They all went well.

Mike is doing much better with his reading. He is still not as high as he needs to be but he has grown throughout the year so that is a plus. Maybe since he has finally learned those basic sight words that make it so hard we will see a jump soon. His behavior has improved even though he slips up every now and then. Definately less than in the past! Mikes music teacher said he is exceptional with music but needs to watch his talking out. I am not surprised. He loves anything that has to do with singing or instruments.

Kenzie is doing great and her teacher says she is wonderful! Her reading and math have jumped from border low to average to border average to above average. This is huge since it is in both areas. We also put her in an extra writing lab for six weeks. I didn't know how much it would help but it was something extra she wanted to do. It just ended but her teacher saw so much growth in her writing during that time she is amazed at how great she is doing across the board and of course her behavior is exceptional for 4th grade. Her music teacher also said that she exceeds expectations with her class.

Kaylin is in middle school and they do student led conferences here so she had to put together a LOT of her work from all her classes and then set down and present it. She did great and her work is wonderful. She does so good in school compared to a couple of years ago when I remember having to force her to finish anything. Her teachers all love her and are so glad she is here. She has made friends in her classes and is very "chipper and friendly" at school. I was so excited because while she is wonderful at home and is not a problem I don't think those are the words I would have chose to use with her personality here. We are so proud of how well she has done in just the short time she has been here. 3 months and completely adjusted is great!

Three great conferences.. . What else could I ask for!

Kenzie's Doll clothes

I am so proud of myself. I have had fabric since November wanting to make doll clothes for Mackenzies American Girl Doll. They are so expensive to buy. I didn't have to guts to try it before when mom was here because she didn't feel up to helping me. I have been sewing more since the playgroup moms in Amanda's playgroup have all been making quilts. I took my sewing machine and my serger (than you mom) and a couple of the ladies were able to give me basic lessons. I then worked on a lap quilt and finished the top which I don't really like how it turned out (probably because of the fabrics I chose but it was just for practice and my first one and using what I had) and then I decided to try the doll patterns. I figured since the money was already spent on the fabric it couldn't hurt any. I did the easiest pattern I had and this is the result. I love how it turned out. Mackenzie is going to be so excited! I think I will be able to make a few more for her before she gets back. I already have another one done (they only take me one evening - couple hours each). I have another quilt to start on but I think I feel more successful with the doll clothes and the end result so I don't know when I will get it done.

Amanda's birthday

Well, Amanda is 4! She had a funny day. We didn't celebrate until dinner so she kept saying it wasn't her birthday and around noon she wanted to know if we could go out to a party for her birthday so we decorated for dinner and had cake and presents for dessert. She loved them all. One just as much as the others. It takes very little to please her... Her cake was Dora in the Mucky mud. She loved that! Happy Birthday Amanda!!

she got a scooter from granny and papa, movie from Bill and Kimmy, austin and Lexi, Baby doll items and a dora coloring book from Missy and Benjamin, a panda light up bear for bed time from Kaylin and Kenzie, Tights from Jake, Playdough from Mike, and a big backyardagain doll from mom and dad (Uniquea).

Jake and Amanda

We took the kids to the mall after we dropped off Mackenzie at the airport. We don't make it to Seattle much and I wanted to see the mall up there. Amazing, one of the biggest malls here and it is the size of one of the smallest in AZ. Just not bigcity feel even up here. I guess there big mall is really outside the Pikes market. I am still dying to get there. I think Kenzie Kaylin, and I would love that one. We will have to pick a day and just the three of us go there.

Jake and Amanda love these little rides. It takes very little to please them. I love it....

More on car accident - Larry

Well, mom posted about Larry and the car accident. Now 24 hours later we have more details and pictures.

Larry was the one ejected from the Tahoe. Kristen was driving (32 weeks pregnant). She was seat belted in. Larry got everyone out of the vehicle after it stopped flipping (the car flipped front over tale 5 times per the police today). The airbags did not deploy at all. When Larry got Kristen out of the car her water broke. Probably from hitting the steering wheel. The first two people on sight of the accident happen to be two nurses. They waited until Kristen was air vaked and then they drove Larry and Rylee (3 yo) to the Tucson Hospital 80 miles away and waited with them for 2.5 hours until Kristen's parents arrived. They were blessings in disguise. Larry was sleeping in the car when they had the accident and remembers nothing until right before they pulled into the hospital parking lot. Kristen was in labor but by the time they landed the air vak the baby was in distress and they did an emergency c-section. They worked with the baby 1.5 hours to get her breathing again. She has been strong every since.

Rylee has a cut on her face, goose egg on her forehead and two black eyes. The baby is doing good and they are hoping to take her off the oxygen by tomorrow (Tuesday or Wednesday). If she continues to do well doctors think she can go home in two weeks. She was 4 lb. 2 oz. and 17 in long so she was good size as you can see in the pictures! Kadence Elizabeth Sanders. By the way mom, Kristen has her own blogspot that she tries to keep updated. This of course has not made it on there but she did blog right before she left Jeanie's and Duane's. It is www.ryleeandkadence.blogspot.com You can flag it and pop on there every once in a while now.

Everyone is doing well and recovering and not one broken bone - Thank God!