Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Sorry for the delayed post, but I couldn't post it on my blog until I saw my sister Kim in Coeur d'Alene. We all (Kate, Whitney, Emily, Amy, Tabitha and myself) flew up to see her and surprise her for her 30th birthday. That was how I was going to surprise her, by telling her that we were having a girl! We are all so excited. I would probably say the same thing if it was a boy, but my boys wouldn't. They for sure wanted a baby sister and are thrilled about getting one. I was happy to find out that as far as they can tell, everything is perfect! My sister Kim already loaded me up with one travel bag full of 0-3 month clothes. I can't believe how cute all of them are!!! I'm so excited to get painting and make things a little more girlie around my house. Thanks to all of you for your congrats texts! It was so fun! Many of you may ask if we have a name picked out....maybe. Am I going to disclose anything before the baby is born? Absolutely NOT! Don't care for y'all opinions on why I shouldn't name her that. And you never know, I might just change my mind. I will definately be thinking hard about using some family names though, one of them being Hulet!:)

What a great day!

It was such a fantastic day. Max had an appointment with the hematologist. His platelet count went from 77 2 weeks ago to 142!!!!! Yipee!!!!! 150 is the bottom of the normal range. It almost doubled in 2 weeks. I know it might be too early to have high hopes but it has been almost 10 weeks since his last WinRho treatment and 142! So exciting. We are all so happy, no one more than Max. Thank you for all your prayers. They must be working!

Birthday boy!

Here are some pics of Simon having his birthday breakfast. He requested french toast with strawberries and ice cream. As soon as the ice cream started to melt (he hates soft, melting ice cream) I had to fix him a 2nd plate with just strawberries, syrup and powdered sugar. He is so excited about today, and as many of you know, his smile and energy is completely contagious. 99% of his life is spent with a huge grin plastered across his face. He is such a happy boy and is the driving force in our family for smiling and laughter. Even when he is naughty he is funny, so Jeff and I have a really hard time punishing him. We usually end up burying our face to conceal our real emotion, when it should be anger. What a lucky family we are to have him here with us. We love you Simon!

Happy Birthday Simon

Simon is 5 years old today.  I am having a little bit of a hard time with it actually, seeing how in a week and a half he will be starting kindergarten.  Where does time go?  It seems like just yesterday that we had his 1st birthday and moved to New York.  My baby really isn't a baby anymore.  Good thing another one is in the oven!

It actually happened.

Can you believe it! I got a new camera! Thanks to my family and their generous birthday money, I finally went out and got an up-to-date camera. I love it!  Here are some of the first few pictures taken.

What happens when your kids get hold of the camera...

Girls Camp

I'm sure you are all wondering why I haven't updated my blog with Girls Camp pictues and stories. Well, I've been too tired to even get on the computer and do anything, and because I'm in the middle of Breaking Dawn, of course.  Everything goes by the wayside now that I have a great book to read!  I don't have any pictures of my own, so here is the link to Brittney's Blog that has some pics on it.  Camp was so much fun!  I am so glad I am home an in my big comfortable bed with a toilet that flushes and that I can more easily control the smells around me.  Would I do it all over again, in a heart beat.  Great girls, great leaders, beautiful mountains, fantastic weather.  I missed my kids and husband, for sure, and what a sight for sore eyes it was when Jeff pulled up into camp Saturday morning (which left me shocked and speachless).  The only reason I could consider leaving for the week was because I knew my kids were well taken care of.  Thank you Les, Ginger and Riley for giving Max and Simon such a great time, and thank you to Kate and Zach for having Marshall all week.  Marshall had a hard time not "thinking about his brothers" all the time, but he managed just fine and things here are in full swing and back to normal with the fighting and teasing.  Thanks again for the help, family!  I know there isn't much, but I'm only on page 452 and Marshall has an awards assembly today!  Have a good one!

Update

Good Morning, all you early morning blog checkers! Haven't put anything in for a while, and I'm leaving this week for girls camp so I thought I would post a tid-bit before I go. Max has finished school (thanks to Ms. Josie doing double days for a week instead of 2x per week until Aug) and Marshall only has 2 weeks left! Max did exceptionally well, especially considering where he came from only 6 months ago. His confidence has been renewed and he is ready to start 4th grade - what a difference the right teacher makes! Max will be doing the K-12 Charter School, through Nevada Virtual Academy. It is a charter school (paid for by the school disctirct) that he does at home with me, on the computer. We are so excited! Marshall is enrolled with Odyssey Charter school, same concept, only a teacher comes out 1x per week to check on his progress. (K-12 is only offered for 4-8th grade, which is why they are using 2 different schools.) Simon just got his Kindergarten assignment and he will be on track 5 A.M with Ms. Pereira. You can't even imagine how excited this kid is to going to school. A little sad that my "baby" is going to be leaving me now, but how can I not be as thrilled as he is.

Jeff is going to be crazy busy at work this week, which turns out to be a really good thing considering the rest of us will be gone. Max and Simon will be with their grandma and grandpa in Paragonah, Utah, and Marshall is spending the week with Kate and Zach (he is sure he is getting the better end, being able to stay with Lincoln and Reagan and McKinley for a full week. Yesterday he said to me "Mom, now McKinley will be happy every morning because I will be there!") I am so lucky to have such great family around so that I can take the week and spend it with the Young Women. I am so excited about it, I can hardly sleep! We are camping Mt. Charleston at a campground called Camp Stimpson. We went up Saturday to set up tents and I was really impressed. Not that bad, with the exception that is quite a walk to the bathrooms. Thanks to Zach and Kate that won't be a problem, because they are letting me use their hunting blind and portable toilet that I can set up right next to my tent! Thanks again guys! I leave tomorrow, Tuesday, at 6:30am and will be back before noon on Saturday. I am mostly sad about missing mine and Jeff's 12 year anniversary on Thursday! Kate took the kids on Friday night so we could go to dinner to celebrate, but I still wish I could be here with my hubby! Sorry Jeff!

That is about all the news for now. Oh, on Saturday my friend Becky and her family, Rob, Noah(5), Sydney(3), Sawyer(2) and Jade(8 weeks) stopped by on their way through to St. George. It was SOOOOO GREAT to see them. The last time I saw them was 8 1/2 years ago. I was flying home to NY with Max, (maybe 4-6 months old) and had a 3 hour layover in Detroit. She came and picked us up. Crazy, almost 9 years later we meet up again. She looks fantastic! Their kids are cute as can be! I kept trying to get my kids to go play with the other ones, but all they wanted to do was sit around little Jade and watch her and talk to her. It was so cute. They only stayed about 2 hours and the time went by way too fast, but I am so glad that they stopped. All night (on my anniversary date with Jeff) I couldn't stop talking about how great their family is and how much fun she and Rob are and how I thought they would get along so well! I miss my Cali-Crew friends! I'll try and dig up some old pics so you all know who I am referring. Not all of them have a family blog - come on girls, get with the program! There is Michelle (Pfaller) Call, Carrie (Wanacott) Dyer, Becky (Callister) Thompson, Heather (Shaddy) Nelson, Megan (McCausland) ? can't remember her new last name-sorry, Korie (Rogers) Ebmeyer, and Amy (can't remember maiden name) Clark. Great girlfriends! I love and miss you all!

Time is flying and I have way too much to do today. Thanks for getting updated on our family. I will post more about Max and his condition when I get back. He has another appointment next week...we'll see what happens!

Love, Rachelle

Up in Smoke!

Sunday morning and we are all running around getting ready for church. I am upstairs in my room finishing Marshall and Simon's hair and Max is downstairs eating frozen waffles for breakfast. Soon Max is upstairs with me, ready to get dressed. He asks me if I smelled something burning. I said I did and that it was probably the crumbs that were in the bottom of toaster buring. He accepted what I said and went to get dressed. 5 minutes later I met him in the hall to ask him if he was ready to have his hair done. I still smelled the burning smell, only it was getting stronger. I happen to look into the boys bathroom and my eye caught a towl that was thrown up onto the vanity lights. (I wonder which of my little munchkins did it?)
(the lights after I removed the towel)
Black was coming through the towl and it began to smoke. I grabbed the ironing water bottle and make a feeble attempt to spray the towl, after I turned off the lights, of course. I yelled for Marshall to get me the broom, which I used to lift the towl and put it into the toilet. The bathroom was filled with smoke and it was starting to come out into the upstairs. Holy cow did that smoke burn! Eyes, nose and mouth! I couldn't imagine being in a house that was really on fire. It was horrible. Here I am, covering my eyes with a towl over my nose and mouth, with a broom in my hand. After I got the towl into the toilet, I opened the window and put a box fan in there to clear the smoke. It smelled horrible! The smelled permiated every room, our hair and our clothes. Here is it 8:30 and we are ready to walk out the door to church. I spray on some febreeze and extra perfume and off to church we go. I know our hair and clothes smelled horrible but I wasn't about to change all 3 of us. Somehow I feel really lucky that I wasn't totally on time. Had we left 5 minutes earlier, we would have come home to a house of ashes, I'm sure. Fun little things we get to experience when we have boys!
(The towel that could have been the end of our house.)

4th of July in St. George

Kids watching the fireworks from the back of the van. It was really great, and lasted almost 20 minutes.



Eventually they all ended up outside, careful to not get too close to the guardrail where there was a steep drop off down a big hill.

Bowling Blast

My infamous 134!!! Hard to believe that I am so proud of that score but I totally am! It is so hard for me to hit 100, must have been the new velcro shoes at this state of the art alley(J/K)!

Me and Noelle and the boys!

This is how Simon would watch his ball go down the lane. Crazy kid!

Then and Now

Jeff and his friend Ben in Guatemala (on their mission)and then last weekend, together for the 4th of July!

"A Daily Scoop"

My friend told me about this amazing blog of one of her friends. I finally went on and I am so glad I did. Here is a mother, just like the rest of us, who has been through unthinkable trials and is willing to share her story and feelings with the world (It all begins on her June 14th post).  She is so inspirational and even though I don't personally know her, I love her and her family. I hope you find some time to enjoy it like I do.

Breaking Dawn

Interview with Stephanie Meyers on Breaking Dawn.

Shout Out!

A little shout out and thank you to my very sweet and thoughtful sister-in-law, Zelma. She brought them over while I was at pack meeting with all my kids. When we got home, the kids rushed in the house and then back out to the garage saying "Mom, there is a huge thing of flowers on the table, did Dad give them to you?" As much as I wanted them be from him, I knew better than to think that Jeff would spend money on something that would be dead in a week. So it made much more sense when he told me that they were from Zelma. She is always so great about celebrating any occation, even the announcement of being pregnant. Thanks Zel! You are the best!