May we never forget...

On this solemn day I wanted to take a moment to reflect upon September 11th... 8 years, that seems like a lifetime. And for me it has been, everything in my life has changes since that day...not because of it... just because of life in general... life...divorce, remarriage, great jobs and friends... memories..babies...funny days and lately, alot of tears.. but these are all things and experiences that those who perished that fateful day... were robbed of... for them... it ended. Sadly, not with grace and dignity.. but with screams, terror and chaos.

I remember where I was that day... I remember hearing on the radio... and then hearing more.. I hurried back to my dad's house and ran in ... telling him to turn the TV on.. we watched.. stunned.. as a Tower fell...Tom Brokaw sat - speechless and then he turned to the camera and said " we just watched 1000's of people die...in an instant"....I don't remember what I said first.. but I remembeer calling my then husband and begging him to go get then 6 year old Brandon out of school and take him to Nana's house....

I remember....being afraid...and feeling o so vunerable...years later, I can look back and still recall that morning with absoluter clarity..

The 1st anniversary.. there were alot of memorials... then the 2nd.. a few less.. and today, it barely got more than a blip on the radar of the constant 24 hr news....this is sad...

this day

should

never

be forgotten

these people...

the innocent

the brave Fire Fighters

they should not be forgotten

we owe it to them

to their families

to remember

to stop for a minute

and thank God that we

still stand






I pray God gives their friends and family Peace..

~ Picture Perfect ~

A friend of ours literally took this outfit off her daughters baby doll and "loaned" it to Chloe.. I think she couldn't stand not knowing if would actually fit a "real" baby.. {giggle}... well, Stacy, it fits! Beautifully, so well, I was forced to sit down with Pooh and snap away.... I do this often { have you noticed.. giggle }.. Pooh knows just what to do and just played right along...She's just the sweetest "doll" ever ♥

The boys enjoyed a good amount of time outside this morning while Pooh was napping and I ever "coaxed" them { ever so gently lol } into letting me snap a picture...mind you, they give me about a millisecond, at best .. so many snapshots later.. they were tired and ready for a nap... and I had this amazing picture!

Our Pooh is not feeling well tonight.. a fever and congestion.. not her chipper self.. she just had surgery a week ago and I am so worried... please say a prayer that my little Pooh is feeling better in the morning....

~ Peek A Pooh ~

We are awakened every morning {and sometimes during the night } by this beautiful little girl peeking over our foot board.. hehe...she gets right up in our bed and proceeds to try and convince us it's time to play....hehe

~ A brothers love ~

Ethan adored Chloe the second he saw her. Wanted to hold her all the time and he always knows where her blankets and toys are. As she has grown, he has loved her still... he is so protective and gives her the sweetest hugs. He loves to play with her... it's the sweetest thing...
I happened to look up earlier tonight and what I saw was so sweet I had to go run and capture it on film...LOL

{ and just think, our beautiful Pooh has not 1, not 2, but 3 older brothers ~ what a lucky girl! }

Getting back into the swing of things...

School has started and after a 3 week break, Speech for Ethan has started again as well. So, back to the regular routine for the peeps . We took Ethan and dropped him at Speech to play with Miss Amanda & his little friend Aiden. and then I took Jacob & Chloe to our favorite stomping grounds. It had been 3 weeks since we were here and I really missed it. Jacob did too.... he got so excited as soon as we pulled up..hehe..



Jacob is so funny. Sometimes he is such a ham when he sees the camera and others he just runs and hides! Chloe LOVES the camera!!

Shoe shopping

Brandon & I took the little ones Shoe shopping this weekend.. For those of you that don't know...Ethan's Aprexia comes with some mild sensory issues and shoes have always been an issue for him. He has always been willing to only wear crocs and those sorts of shoes.. when he was 2 he refused to wear anything other than aqua socks! I spent the entire summer teaching him to be comfortable around to house without shoes and he is doing amazing! { There isn't a picture of him because he ran down the aisle anytime I tried to take one! stinker...{giggle}...

Pooh found herself... and was sooo very excited...hehe { I saw the cutest little pair of shoes I am going to just HAVE to go back and get her... } Jacob loved LOOKING at all the shoes...BUT.. when the time came to try them on.. o no.. not happening.. After watching his brother and his shoe issues Jacob has developed some shoe issues as well ( sigh ) and to boot {giggle} his foot is super TINY but really really WIDE.. making Crocs honestly the most practical... I tried .. and tried to find a regular shoe that would fit... we went 2 places.. at the last one , I found a pair I thought would work.. and Brandon and I both held him down kicking and screaming... desperately trying to get a shoe on.. he was having none of it... none of it at all...our sweet, mild mannered Jacob was behaving as though we were trying to feed him to the alligators... sigh..

we gave in..

and left...

without shoes...

We will go to the Crocs store next week..


Ethan did find a pair of superman shoe he fell in love with.. I will take him alone ( a special trip ) to get new shoes....

Brandon deserve a medal... { see him there with the shoe sizer }


~ no clerks, small children, bystanders, or shoes were injured during this outing ~

What have the Peeps been up to?

We have been busy... a long weekend with Brandon...getting Ethan back into Speech this week...falling back into a schedule...a Pooh still recovering from her surgery but almost back to speed.... she finally got back in the tub Sunday night and a happier Pooh I hadn't seen in days! She just LOVES to be in the tub.... what a girly girl..hehe

I made pasta tonight and Chloe tried out a Penne noodle...she liked it.. she liked it better with the sauce...hehe Ethan just absolutely adores Chloe... it is so sweet!

Look who can stand up now! yep, that's a Pooh... trying to unload the dishwasher...already helping mommy...

Adorable Jacob...hamming it up for me one morning...

A sleeping Pooh.. in her beautiful Princess Bed....

How is Chloe doing? ~ Catching up with the boys...

We know that you are all anxious for an update on Chloe, since her surgery. I am happy to report that she is feeling better with each day. She is still having some sleep issues, I feel like it's mostly due to the fact that she got her naps and such all messed up ( understandably ) and also some pain still in the ears. She is eating like a horse { giggle } ... and she plays a little more each day, she gets all excited and peters out quickly..but she is on the mend! Chloe will FINALLY be able to get back in the tub on Sunday, and that's one of her favorite places to be, so happy times this weekend! We can not tell you , how terribly proud we are of our little Pooh ~ she is such a brave little girl ♥
Ethan has learned to put his shoes on all by himself...:)
a truly special friend, for more years than I can count, dropped by this week with treats for all the peeps.. she thought these sunglasses would be so cute for Chloe next year, but it looks like Jacob has taken a liking to them!! { Thank you Stacy!! }
The boys have really, really gotten into reading lately, and Jacob literally takes a pile of books with him to bed { this is something I did as a child - still do really - so I really love it }... here he grabbed his favorite TRUCKS book and hopped on the sofa for a good read...

Our brave Pooh ♥ Chloe's surgery day...

Today..was the big day... Surgery day for Pooh.... she was having 3 procedures done at one time..
(1) upper endeoscopy.. to find out the cause of asthma like wheezing that isn't asthma
(2) to remove the extra skin "tags" on her ears...
(3) and finally....tubes in the ears, to hopefully prevent any more ear infections....

We heard from the Dr the day before and Chloe could not eat of drink after 4 am... uugghh with surgery at 230 pm this was going to be a LONG day... I set the alarm and got up at 3 am.. literally woke a sleeping Pooh anda made her eat.... she was a good paitent....a little confused for sure....but she ate.. and then she played and played and played... we tried to have the boys keep her busy so she wouldn't notice she wasn't being fed... we tried to get her to take a nap... but o no, not our pooh....she didn't want to miss a thing...The hospital called and wanted us to come in a little early.. so off she and I went ( after stopping to get hugs and kisses from the boys of course...hehe).
All the kiddos love to ride in those neat little red wagons and Pooh was at first a tad confused about what she was doing in one... but then you can see she got in to it... She took 2 hospital bracelets off...they finally made a 3rd one and put it on her ankle...what a pixie!
I think I was making a funny face at here....hehe...she has "jacob cheeks"...too cute!

Look at her sticking that tongue out!

I can't believe I took this picture.... shortly after we got back to the room, she just fell apart...too tired and hungry... poor thing..

The nurses tried to get her happy again with toys...( she's no pushover )


There you can see a little skin "tag" on her ear...



I tried to snap a pic of us....she was going after MY tag now...hehe

Why can't I look this cute from behind in a hospital gown?

Aww...we got the GOOFY JUICE.. hehe...she's all happy now....Love this!!

Can you tell she's a little stoned??? hehe.. the nurses were fighting over who got to carry her back... some of them remembered me from Jacob's surgery in June....

When I carried her down the hall... with her beloved caterpillar.... you hand her over to a fabulous nurse and they carry them the rest of the way to the operation room.. I have done this many times, with all my babies...for different reasons, but it never gets easier.. that moment, when you hand your baby to them and pray that all goes well...my heart always skips a beat and I admit to just wanting to sit and cry for a minute....

I was so happy to see her again. She was in surgery for about an hour and in recovery for almost an hour before I could go back..



Happily curled up with mommy again...aww... love this!

she has such long and beautiful fingers..
div>div>
We were supposed to spend the night but the Dr. decided that she was doing well enough to go home.. she sacked out as soon as I laid her down... woke up 4 hours later and ate almost continuously for 9 hours!! Hungry girl! She didn't want to nap...was a little cranky and wants to bother her stitches....her ears are still bleeding .... but, she's doing better than yesterday and hopefully she will get a good nights sleep tonight...
She saw me with the camera tonight and flashed us a winning smile!!

Our bravest Pooh... we are all so glad this day is done...she did fantastic and we are all so proud!