While the kids are away, mom will play!!!

I love this time of year. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the air is clean & the kids are BACK TO SCHOOL! YEEHAW! This means I will have 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the next 9 months of cleanliness & peace & quiet. Who could ask for anything more?


Angelea is in 9th grade now. A freshman at Snake River High School. Hopefully the teachers give her a fair chance once they find out who she belongs too.
As you all know Angelea has had some health issues over the past year. An auto immune disease called eosinophilic fasciitis, which has caused some pretty serious, but curable, health problems. Last year at this time, upon receiving the original diagnosis of Schleroderma, we were concerned she might not survive. But after much testing, medicine, & therapy, I'm thrilled to report she is well on her way to a healthy, normal future. She is under the treatment of Primary Children's Hospital and we try hard to keep her active.
During the summer of 07 she had lost 30 lbs (which was scary because she was already skin & bones) and her body turned hard & crippled up. She felt like she had rigormortis. We spent many months at doctors offices, physical therapy, and naturalists, and she has shown huge improvements. In fact her greatest dream came true. At the end of school last year she made the cheer squad. Unfortunately she hasn't improved enough to do all that is required for cheering so she has been put on hold until basketball season. If she has improved enough by then, then she can cheer. So hopefully these next few months will include lots of progress for her!
By the way, what do you think of her new hair do? I love it!!!



Nakia is in 8th grade. She believes, however, that she is 17. I don't know what gave her that idea.
When I was in my youth, I gave my mother a magnet that said "Ask your children while they still know everything". I thought it was really funny, my mom didn't, but she used it on her fridge anyways. Although I found this to be a funny little saying, Nakia believes this to be gospel doctrine. I no longer think that saying is funny and if my mother does still have that magnet I will be sure to take it out and burn it!
When Nakia wants to get along and be my friend, she is the coolest, funniest, most awesome teenager ever! The problem comes when she doesn't feel like getting along with me. She has got quite the stubborn temper.
She is a natural beauty, that's for sure, and I am reminded of this fact every time the phone rings and its another boy, for her.
Nakia is also a natural when it comes to horses. It's very common to find her riding a horse along the rail road tracks, quite often racing cars! Her greatest desire is to be a Pat Parelli Certified Horse Trainer & or a jockey.

Ben is in 4th grade at Rockford Elementary. His teacher is Mrs. Johnson & when he went to back to school night, yesterday, he was pretty impressed with his new teacher. Ben has a tendency to be a bit of a suck up to his teachers, which is fine because the teachers love it! He has obsessive compulsive tendencies, which prove to be extremely beneficial when it comes to sports, school, guitar, and other activities that develop his talents. It can be a bit overwhelming when he's not getting his way, or he can't do something he wants to do. Did I say a bit? I meant insanely overwhelming to the point that the Chinese torture treatment doesn't sound all that harsh!

Ben is great at most every sport he tries, but his all time favorite is soccer & he loves to show boat on the soccer field. Ben is also VERY protective of his baby sister, Francine, who just so happens to absolutely adore him!

Andy is also in the 4th grade at Rockford Elementary and his teacher is Mrs. Nelson. He seemed fairly impressed with her. Not for sure, it was kinda hard to tell. He was however totally stoked about the back pack he picked out from Walmart afterwards. It's black with a skull on it, every kids dream:)

Andy loves to pull pranks on people, which usually get him in trouble. (I wonder where he got that from.) He tries really hard to look cool. He's the kid, that if his mom wasn't such a drag, would show up to school with a mow hawk & about 10 different colors of dye in his hair. Unfortunately for him, his mom is a bit of a drag. (Not always though, refer back to the "Hair do gone bad" post)
Andy has got an obsession with Pokemon cards. Not sure what the obsession is since he never seems to do anything with them except to move them from one box to another. He asks to go to the store all the time just so he can druel over Pokemon cards. I usually get him a package or two for his birthday and Christmas, but that's the only time I will waste my money on them. Seriously, of all the pointless, waste of money doo-dads a kid could possibly engross them self in, why Pokemon???
He is pretty funny. The first year we put him in a sport (Soccer) we were all cheering for him when he had control of the ball. Suddenly he just stops and stomps over to us bawling & is all, "Why does everybody keep yelling at me?" We had to explain to him cheering & yelling are not the same thing.


Francine is 18 months and is not sure whats going on. But she's not going to put much thought into it because she's got her wubby, a plethora of cool shoes & it's almost time for a bath!
Poor kid woke up the smorning (he he, a bit of slang only a select few will get) with either allergies or a cold, dang.
She is so much fun! She is my little toy and I just love to love her to pieces!!! She has learned a few words which she says quite fluently. "Mommy" is of course her & my favorite. And her voice is so sweet and angelic.
We are going to have a great time this year, just mommy and Francine, hangin' out doing the home thing!!