First Day of School!

 So today is the first day of school for my older two!  The years seem to slip by faster and faster and my babies are growing up so fast!
Here is my big 3rd grader!

And my big 1st grader!

 They do love each other :)

 And little brother has to get in on the action!

 The picture in front of school!

 Adriana in her class.

 Andrew in his class.

And here is to another great year!!!!!

One year anniversary!

 It is already the one year anniversary!  Honestly it doesn't seem like it could be a year already, but in another way it seems like it has been so much longer.  When I think about Chris, it seems like I just talked to him yesterday and doesn't seem like it could possibly be a year since I said goodbye!  But when I think back to his sickness and everything my family has been through, it seems like it was ages ago!  I miss him so much everyday and would give anything just to have a hug and kiss from him and ask him all the questions the kids and I have about him.  I try not to have a pity party for the kids and I, but sometimes it is just so hard.  It's not fair for us to keep going on without him.  I hate that he isn't here with us to watch the kids grow up.  I know he would be having so much fun with them right now and it makes me so angry that he can't enjoy them with me!!!!!
Well I didn't come on here to make this a depressing post.  Actually the day was anything but depressing.  I had talked to the kids about what they would want to do for the day.  We decided it was going to be a happy day and we were going to celebrate daddy's first birthday as an Angel!  I asked the kids what they wanted to do that day. We could do anything, go to Chuck E Cheese, Planet Fun, Incredible Pizza.......anything!  Well they chose to do none of those things!  Instead they chose to go fishing.  Since this was daddy's birthday, this is what he would have wanted to do.  So this momma (who has never fished by herself or taken a fish off a hook in her life) took the kids out for our first fishing trip together.  I had hoped that no fish would be caught, but I was wrong!  They did indeed catch several fish, which I had to get off the hook!  It was very comical to watch and I will never be doing it again anytime soon!  But the kids had a blast and it put a smile on their faces so that made it all worth it!

That evening the kids decided to make wax candles and put notes to daddy inside of them.  When the notes burned, the smoke would deliver the notes straight up to daddy!

While I was putting them to bed, they all hugged me and told me thanks for making the day so special for them!
I miss Chris so much, but I know he is watching over us all!  I see it everyday it little things and I feel a little better knowing he is here with us even though I can't see him anymore!

Stepping Stones Camp!

 This summer Adriana and Andrew attended Stepping Stones camp, which is a camp specifically for grieving kids.  I was very nervous about the kids going since this was their very first camp away from me and I wasn't sure how they would handle it.......alright, lets be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it!
But the kids did AMAZING!  It helped that I knew adults who were going to the camp and had a little inside knowledge of how they were doing :)
Since I was so teary eyed when I dropped them off, I only have pictures from when I picked them up.
Here is Andrew with everyone that was in his group.  The little boy next to him we had actually met before hand so that Andrew would know someone already when he got to camp.

Here is Adriana with one of her camp counselors.

 Adriana and her new friend that she met at camp.

 Andrew and his friend that we had met before camp.

 All the kids at camp.

 Before we left the kids had to bring me to their cabins and let me see where they slept at.

This was a great experience for the kids.  It was a safe place where they could openly talk about their grief and meet other kids who have also lost someone special to them.  I know it took a lot of courage from both of the kids to go and I'm so proud of them!  I'm so grateful that there is special camps like this for kid who are dealing with such a tragedy in their life!

Fun night at City Museum with friends!

 The kids have their savings account at First Community Credit Union which is an amazing bank for kids!  They do fun things all the time through out the year for the kids.  This particular night they rented out the City Museum for members and had a pizza dinner for everyone as well.  The cost is cheaper than to go on our own to the City Museum!  So this is one that we usually always take advantage of.  My friend Debbie is also a member there and came this night as well so it was lots of fun for the kids!
Here is Adriana going down one of the slides.

Andrew going down a big slide, I love the expression on his face even though the picture didn't turn out that well.

 Adriana swinging on the swing.

 Joey climbing around.

 Adriana and Reece going down the big slide on the roof.

 Andrew and Chase going down the slide.

 Joey was afraid to go down the slide so Pete was a great help and went down the slide with him :)

 Adriana and Reece on the Ferris wheel.

  A view of the ferris wheel on top of the roof.

 Joey driving the bus that is only partially on the roof.

 I finally had to lock him up!

We had a great time!  City Museum is always one of our favorite places to go and the kids all love to explore everything there!

My Angels!

All I have to say is I love my little sleeping angels!  And they love each other!

A small vacation to Dragonfly-Inn :)

 Once again, Miles Against Melanoma gave us an amazing gift......two night stay at Dragonfly Inn!  This place was amazing!  Not only did we stay in a fully furnished cabin, they also had a lake for us to swim in just walking distance from our cabin!
The first day we took full advantage of the lake and spent most of the day swimming in it and jumping off the dock!

 

The next day we headed over to elephant rocks state park for a day full of hiking and climbing on very large rocks!





 After spending several hours at elephant rocks, we decided to head on over to Johnson Shutins to cool off a little bit since it was starting to get rather hot out.  The kids had a blast playing in the water and watching some of the big kids diving in.

 Then it began to rain so we decided to call it a day and head back to the cabin for dinner and play some board games.
The next day we headed back out to elephant rocks since it cooled off a bit and I wanted to wear the kids out before our drive home.

 

It was a perfect little get away for us and best of all, it only cost us gas since we brought all our food from home and we ate at the cabin or made a lunch for the day.  Once again we are so blessed to be a part of a great organization like Miles Against Melanoma!!!





Night out at Sweet & Sassy!

 Miles Against Melanoma was gracious enough to get Adriana a night at Sweet & Sassy for her and her friend, Clare!  Adriana was super excited!  They started the night off with a limo ride in the special pink limo!

 Then they had a dance party for all the girls....

 Then came the makeover.....getting their hair done, makeup done, and nails done.  What a special treat for two little 9 year olds!

 And now time for striking a pose!

 There's no better way to end a fun night than with a sleep over!

We are so blessed to be a part of such an amazing group as Miles Against Melanoma!!!

Camping in 108 degrees!

 I realize that you do a lot for your kids, but I think this tops it!  We went to girlscout camp on what I think was the hottest weekend that summer!  We stayed in a cabin with NO air conditioning and 108 degrees outside!  The girls never seemed to mind it and did great.  We brought a sprinkler for them to play in and they also got to go swimming for a couple of hours. 

And they also learned new things since we were limiting their activity during the day.  One of the things they learned was to finger weave.  Adriana was really excited about this and happily taught Andrew how to do it.  He quickly learned and became as addicted as his sister!

So I guess I can honestly say that there is not much I won't do for my kids :)