Life on the other coast

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The twin's turned 12!

A few days after losing Bella, the twins turned 12 years old. Their Birthday was a little bitter-sweet for them. They couldn't have the one the that they really wanted, but we did manage to have a good birthday for them.

For Mother's Day, Alaina had given me this impossibly cute and crazy cake book made by some extremely pinterest-y people. I told her that for her birthday, she could pick one out and we would try and make it together.

Well, she did pick one out (thankfully, one of the lest-insane cakes) and we stayed up late trying to put it together. It was (of all things) a tree stump. :)

Mom and Dad Jones came down to visit and to help Robert watch the kids while I went back to Utah. Their visit gave everyone even more reason to cheer up and we ended up having a wonderful Birthday dinner and dessert.

My newest tweens. I sure do love these two kids.

The next morning Robert made a mountain of crepes and the kids had every sort of topping possible. Fruit, chocolate, ice cream, strawberry sauce. It was absolutely delicious.

Poor Emmett started coming down with a fever and ear infection that morning. (although he did managed to eat a couple of nutella crepes regardless!)

After breakfast I was off again, driving back to Utah for week 2 of radiation. With the twin's Birthday, Bella passing away and Emmett coming down with such a high fever, I never would have been able to tear myself away if I didn't have Mom and Dad there to take over for me. They have always been there whenever we needed them, taking care of the kids, helping Robert out or just visiting. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

This visit was no exception. Not only did Emmett get sick but so did Jason. They were able to get them to doctor appointments and care for them when Robert was working. That's exactly what those kids needed...sugar, spice and penicillin. :)

So, knowing everyone was in good hands, I made my way back up to Utah for a two week stretch.

1st Week of Radiation

The last week of May, I headed to Utah with the little boys in order to start my radiation treatments. The boys did such a great job in the car, but we were all so happy to get to Grandma's house. Utah had experience a whole lot of unusual rainfall and everything was just gorgeous. The little boys ran out of the car and played until sunset.

The little boys up to their regular shenanigans.

On Thursday, I got a call from Robert telling me that our sweet dog, Bella, was at the vet. She hadn't been eating for the last few days and it turns out that her kidneys had started to fail. Bella was roughly 100 years old and so we knew that she wasn't going to live too much longer. Still, it was a shock when it happened and we were all so sad to watch her go.

Robert had the vet treat her but in the end, she was just too old and sick to continue on. I raced home on Friday after my appointment and we got home in time to pack up Robert and the older kids and get to the vet's office. There we were all able to say our goodbyes to our faithful dog.

It was hard to say goodbye, but it was harder to see her so frail and sick. Finally, Robert took most of the kids out for a walk and Ethan and I stayed to help make her comfortable while she was put to sleep. It was difficult to watch but I think that by having us there, she wasn't scared. She peacefully fell asleep and we made our way back home.

The next few days were emotional for everyone. The little boys would talk about Bella going to heaven and how they wanted to go and visit. One day, maybe, but not for a long, long time.

Here the boys attached themselves to Robert. They really missed him while we were in Utah.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Mother's Day 2016

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, filled with my very favorite people. I got a great breakfast in bed, complete with a Mother's Day song and bed full of chatty kiddos. (I was surprised that everyone fit!)

This has been a bit of a crazy year for me, but no matter what I deal with personally, life doesn't stop moving forward. Every time I come back up for air, these kids have changed. At Easter, Ethan finally got as tall as his Mama (I know, not the hardest milestone to hit, but still a big one to see happen.) One my last visit home, he was 1 1/2 inches taller than me. It's like he's taking growth pills. The twins went ahead and turned 12 without my permission. My babies are moving through toddler-hood faster than I can handle. I love these kids, but they refuse to stay put!

Being a mother has been the single greatest adventure I've ever had. I can't imagine my life without these kids. I am extra-blessed on Mother's Day because I happen to have two wonderful, generous mothers in my own life. They have helped to guide me through all of our challenges and I would have been lost without their advice and help. I've also feel lucky to have had so many sisters, sister-in-laws, and friends who have been excellent examples to me of how to survive each stage of these kids' lives. I've learned so much from those around me and I plan on continuing to steal great ideas (all of which I unashamedly claim as my own!) and patterning my parenting style after them.

This Mother's Day I really wanted some good pictures with all those kids together. As usual, it was difficult to get them all happy at the same time, but we did get a few good shots and some even better ones of them by themselves.

These little boys! Seriously!

After that awesome shot of them above, we had a terrible time of trying to get them both smiling at the same time. Emmett was willing...Jason looked pained!