A little Clarification on Dan and Tina

Well, in my recent attempt at surprising my husband with a video of the last 10 years, I have actually confused some people. Even the guy who married us!!!! May 18, 1997 is the day Dan and I started dating. We were married February 28, 1998. People that are close to me know that it was a LONG TWO YEARS before Dan finally realized that "I was the one." So, May 18 is a pretty big day as well as our anniversary. I also needed to make some video documentation for Dan to prove to him that his theory that we have no pictures together is blown out of the water. These were just some that I found. There are many more...So he can never hassle me about that again!

Saturday Fun!

Dan told the kids earlier in the week that he wanted to take them hiking on Saturday morning. It was a perfect day for me to join. I can't express how much I get excited for the overcast breezy 65 degree days. I feel like I can do just about anything on days like that. (Heat kicks my butt with the MS factor) So they took me along on the hike. I really have to take advantage of as many cool spring days as I can before the summer heat arrives. We hiked up into the hills by our house and reached the highest point we could find. The kids had a blast! Sophia wins the award for the most interesting hiking attire.....the knee high dress socks, camo skirt and tennis shoe ensemble was a hit....oh, least we forget the pretty blue sparkle purse! The look on Maddie's face in the picture with the nest they found is the look she had the entire time...she won the whine award. Everything was bugging her from her brother being the leader to the long grass brushing up against her legs. And she swears she saw a rat running into a rocky cave area. Spencer was yet again...the most excited and Dan has dubbed him the mountain goat...he climbs anything...he was all over the place. even with Maddie's tough day...the kids all had a great time. We ended the hike by hitting baseballs in the park and then going home to some good snacks and a movie!

A Little Mom...A Little Dad!

Now that our kids are getting a little bit older it is fun to see what characteristics they carry. Maddie is a very smart young lady who does extremely well in school. That is a Dad gene through and through. She is very much a people pleaser and that is definately both Dan and I. She loves to scrap book and journal and make crafts to give to people, that would be me. She worked very hard in the garden on Mothers day raking, hoeing, and planting seeds right along side of Dan and I. She loves to do these kinds of projects. I think she is really excited to see all the things grow and I know she is excited to eat it too.

Soccer is over ..here comes baseball!

Spencer just started baseball as soccer was ending...He had his first two games last week. They are on coach pitch this year...which is so much more fun to watch than t-ball. Sophia took this picture as Maddie is in the back taking video! fun night!

Saturday morning cartoons

Saturday soccer is finally over. So the kids got up and hit the TV for some early morning cartoons...notice Sophia is missing......she is still sleeping. The girl loves to sleep in!

Dan + Tina= 10 years!!!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Despite the retirement of her classic signature move (the thumb suck with index finger curled up over the bridge of her nose - see previous post), Sophia is by no means at a shortage for quirks. One thing she does that kills me everytime is hold up her finger in declaration when she is sharing something about which she is either very excited or proud. This is usually preceeded by the words, "Daddy, hear this."

Fools Gold

Tina showed me a copy of Sports Illustrated for Kids last night that she said Spencer checked out from the school library. This was on the way back from Spencer's first Pony League baseball game of the year and my boy was still decked out in his uniform. As a longtime subscriber to Sports Illustrated (the greatest sports mag of all time) and a freak who has read the sports section pretty much every day of my life since I could read (either online or in the newspaper) you can imagine the pride and joy that swelled up in me as I imagined my only son carrying the torch for the next generation. Yet, with the smell of the ballpark and his leather mitt still fresh in my nose, Tina opened the magazine to reveal the true reason dear Spencer checked it out....an advertisement on Page 4 for a new Wallace & Gromit video game. For the balance of the ride home, he proceeded to chatter about the merits of the aforementioned game as relayed to him by his schoolmate Parker V (not to be confused of course with Parker D). Without Tina or I having said a word in reply, we hear this from the backseat, "Did you say I could get this for my birthday in July?" How can I not love this kid.

JUST SUCK IT!

In the last few weeks Tina and I have truly witnessed the end of an era. Our little Sophia is no longer sucking her thumb. For five years running we've been able to count on a little chip on her shoulder, a precious smile on her face, lots of crazy jigs and her right thumb in her mouth. When she hit three or four years old she would often tell us what a big girl she was. When I'd catch her with her thumb in her mouth I'd say, "I thought you were a big girl now, big girls don't suck their thumbs." She would always tell me, "Daddy, I'm part big girl and part little girl still." For the past year she told us she would quit sucking her thumb when she turned 5. Sure enough, within a week or two of her birthday on April 3rd, Tina and I realized one day that we never saw her thumb in her mouth anymore. We asked her if she had stopped and she simply said (in her cute raspy little voice), "Yes." I asked her the other night why she quit and she said, "Because I wanted to be like you guys." When I asked if she missed it or if it was hard to quit she said, "Oh, yeah. I would keep telling myself 'Don't suck your thumb, don't suck your thumb' but my thumb kept saying, 'Suck your thumb, suck your thumb, JUST SUCK IT!" Tina and I both agree that while it's probably better for her teeth and her dry, cracked thumb, we both kind of miss our baby girl's signature move. No longer will we get to witness her in the bathroom 'plunging' her right thumb in and out of her left hand with soapy water (which by the way must always be cold) so she could "get all the germs off of her thumb before it went in her mouth." It seems unlikely she'll ever give up on lining any toilet that's not in our house with either toilet paper or paper towels before she sits down, or grabbing bathroom doors with either a paper towel or her sleeve pulled over her hand when she leaves one. Besides that, the chip, the jigs and the smile are still in rare form.

7.46 miles=2:04:03=A NEW BEGINNING

I walked Bloomsday this year with Josh and Sarah, or should I say they walked with me. They are both runners but stuck with me this year on the walk. Since last summer when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I have spent much time putting things into a new and different perspective. This was a huge milestone for me to accomplish. For so many reasons. I think through the fall of last year I was in a place of wanting things to be better but scared of what I could do..or what would happen if I did. Not just speaking of my physical body but also the things that I have struggles with about myself. How I emotionally handle things...being scared of things, being to shy to try things new or fearful of saying hello to someone I didn't know..let alone try and have a conversation with them. My mom always told me as I was growing up (and still today she says it all the time) "Life is to short" Well that is such a bell ringing statement for me at this point of my life. Being told that I have a disease without a cure that in the long run could lead to some pretty serious disabilities. How do I balance those thoughts. You can't just live on the edge all the time for the physical aspect of this disease but you don't want to live sheltered and protected. This is just the speck of information that flooded my head in late summer and fall. By winter I was totally shoving all emotions aside. Out of sight out of mind. If I didn't acknowledge the disease then surely it would just go away. I didn't want to read anymore articles and I definately didn't want to get my blood draw to make sure my therapy drug was not attacking my body. I found myself having some really tough days, battling depression. I just wanted to be where I was a year ago. Though I tried to shove the emotions aside my brain was still working overtime. In early February I started thinking about how hot it was going to be in the summer and heat is a horrible thing for MS. I kept thinking about how with my body being out of shape and the heat coming I am pushing myself into the perfect catch for an episode. I started realizing that I can't control the disease and the limitations it will throw at me, but I can control what I am throwing at myself. So about February 6, I started really watching the foods I was consuming and the activity I was involved in. It was like gear finally grinded into place and I landed feet first and ready to move forward to a new life. The life that I always dreamed about and just never thought I could have. For some reason not feeling like I deserved it. I'm not sure where along the line I got to that thinking place but I did. I am now working hard at understanding the disease, how to manage and what to expect from my body and find any limitations. I am also learning more and more about the important day to day nutrition and exercise that my body needs to maintain the best health possible. In March I decided I wanted to walk bloomsday and I started making sure that I was exercising a fair amount each week and well..Blooomsday was a huge success both physically and emotionally. For me I see it as the kick off to the life I really want. Here are a couple of picutres of the sea of people along the way. It never really thinned out. But I wonder..how can it when there are like 40,000 people. It was crazy! BUT SO WORTH IT!

Madness

oh...what we do for our kids. Logan had his birthday party this last Sunday..these pictures are from Saturday night! Oh...about 11pm or so. not hard to guess what his parents got him for his birthday. And no....he didn't get flowers...that was just one of the zillion things Sarah was doing that night while the guys worked on building the trampoline.

Garden work day!

We decided this year that we would go in on a garden with the Hurley's! Since we have a really open big back yard, we opted to plant it here. These are pictured from the recent ground breaking! Our friend Chris came over after church to help us with the project. Thanks Chris! Sarah planted onion starts with me while Kim sat in the grass with her son. The kids helped moved bricks and rocks and Spencer found a the biggest earth worm he had ever seen! It was a fun day!

Remembering the life line

time for a tender heart

This last week we had yet another tragic loss. My mothers cousin died in a horrible accident. I think that my emotions have been on overload with the also recent loss of Dan's grandfather. I have always had such emotions come over me when people pass away. At Grandpa's funeral I kept pondering what was he like when he was 30 or 18...he felt love for a spouse as deeply as I. He loved his children like any parent does. He was young, ran, rode a bike and laughed much. But when I met him he had already endured a couple of strokes and spoke few words. Which makes my mind ponder all the more what he was like when you could see him living life beyond his disabilities. I saw many pictures at the funeral of young and old...my heart simply fell tender.
In the recent loss on my side of the family it hit yet another tender spot. My cousin was only 54. He had just had a conversation with my uncle, not even two weeks prior about how he and his wife were beginning to feel like they could move into the next phase of their lives..that their children were all out on there own. It was time to begin to grow old with one another. oh, the grief that fills my heart. With the death of this cousin, it hits a second emotion for me. I have always loved the fact that my family came from Hawaii. This branch of the family seemed to have still such a way of carrying on heritage and tradition. I can't recall a time that we got together with them and didn't have hula dancing or conversations that surrounded life in Hawaii. My grandmother and all of her siblings have all passed away in the last 8 years. The passing of that generation was difficult in itself, but we wouldn't be here, had they not moved to the mainland. Each person that passes from this part of my family only makes me feel the years and distance from the family heritage. My heart breaks when I wonder what my grand kids will know of about Hawaii. I guess it should teach me to retain more from my history and pass it along the generations. I will be calling on my Uncle Pug soon...as he seems to have done a fabulous job at researching and keeping our history. In times like these it really makes me stop and remember and take time to appreciate the things and people I have in my life. I am thankful that God gave me a heart that is tender...but oh the pain...in times like this.