It's About TIme!

Hello all! It has been a loooong time since I have blogged. Let me just tell you what has been going on around here. Tom has had to have his gall bladder removed. I'm glad to say that the surgery went well and he is doing fine. He is having a little trouble holding any of the gang and some trouble lifting. At the beginning of the month Fairytale town hosted a party with the Sac. 20/30 club for families of special needs kids. I took Julia, Macie and Thomas for games, crafts, music, and a bbq. It was very nice and they even gave us t-shirts. We were gifted some really nice and expensive carpet. Our neighbors across the street were given some nice carpet from a man who was re-doing his floors. The carpet he had was only a few years old. Our neighbors couldn't use it so they called us. We now have beautiful carpet in our living room. Please no shoes in there. Julia did you hear me? :) We had to have help moving all the furniture out because Tom can't and I have had a bad back since my accident last October. I also went to Tahoe the first week in October. I am serving on the Policy Council for Placer County Action Council. It is for Matthew's pre-school. The Tahoe trip was for training. I got my own room and they fed us some wonderful food. It was loads of nice alone time. Matthew went on a field trip and I got to go with him. It was a very rainy day so they just rode the bus to the Loomis Flower Farm, picked out a pumpkin, and got back on the bus for the trip back to class. I think it was a great field trip. To kids that little just getting on the bus is a trip. :)
The kids (Macie and Thomas) had their Tony Crane dance. They were cute. Thomas was awarded his Bear Badge at the last pack meeting, and Macie was declared the Grand Prize winner in the Rocklin Chamber of commerce Chili Cook-off coloring contest. She gets to go to a winners party at McDonald's this Thursday. They will give her her prize on that day. She is thrilled. Last weekend we traveled to Humboldt State University for my Dad's inductee ceremony. He was inducted into the HSU Athletic Hall of Fame. We all had a blast and went up on Thursday night so we could have some fun on Friday. We went to the beach which was gorgeous. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Then we went swimming in the hotel pool. We had the place to ourselves. In fact a couple of young guys came in and turned right around. Are we that bad? :) It has been a jam packed month, and I sure hope I can update a little more frequently than monthly.
Here are a few pictures from our adventures:

What's Happening?

Do you think the girls loved their drumstick ice creams last night?

School has started and we have been trying to get into a routine around here. The children that are in school go to 3 different schools. While this is probable nothing new to people with older children it has been a transition for us. Julia goes to school by bus which helps a lot. She does get on the bus at 7:05 a.m. and comes home by bus at 3:00 p.m. it is a very long day for her. She thrives when there is routine so this has been no trouble for her. Tom takes Matthew to school and I get the other 2 to their school. He is still taking swim lessons and is becoming a good swimmer. We're hoping he can get strong enough to be on the swim team next summer. Next week Macie is starting a before school reading program which starts a 7:20 a.m.. This just throws a minor wrench into things, but we will get it worked out. Macie and Thomas are both taking violin, participating in the Parker Whitney Choir, and going to after school homework club. They are very busy. We were supposed to go camping over Labor Day weekend, notice I said supposed to. Tom got violently ill and ended up in the ER on Sunday that weekend. He has to have gall bladder surgery and is still not feeling well. I have been doing most of the work around here and have a huge respect for those single mothers out there. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon, what is normal?


Should we start potty training Henry? He loves messing with the toilet paper and is very curious about what the potty does. :)

Our Family Vacation

We went on a family vacation a few weeks before school started. We had to wait to go until swim team was over. The day before we left we went to the awards night for the Loomis Basin Dolphins. You bring your own dinner/picnic and then the personal best awards and coaches awards are handed out. This year we bought the hot dogs and hamburgers that the team was selling. I didn't have time to pack a picnic as we were leaving the next morning. To our surprise Julia won the 6 and under girls most improved award. She received a trophy and coach Lizzie said some might fine words about our Julia. We were so pleased with her efforts this year and all that she accomplished she was even in the newspaper. Check out this article that ran in the Loomis news (front page), Auburn Journal (front page), and Placer Hearld ( page 3) click here There was a picture of her, but now it doesn't seem to be coming up. Anyway check her out!! She loves being a celebrity.
The next day we packed up and headed out on our 5 day camping trip to Collins Lake, which is near Marysville. We (Tom and I) are genius' when it comes to planning a camping trip in the Summer, we choose the hottest place near us and then go there. At least there was a lake for the kids to swim in. As is turned out it wasn't as hot as they were predicting, but it was hot enough.
I was very organized this year, or so I thought. I kept saying boy I have packed well, I just hope I'm not forgetting anything. Well, the minute we got there I realized that I hadn't packed the hot dogs, hamburgers, or sausage. I had to buy hot dogs and sausage at the little highway robbery store there at the entrance to the lake. We had friends from our ward go with us. Both families had a ball and we want to camp again, just not at the dirt pit we were at this year. :)
My mom and dad brought us dinner on Sat. night of our trip. I didn't have to cook and the kids loved seeing their grandparents.


We swam, played at the playground, rode bikes, ran from our camp to the Watfords camp, ate tons of smores, and slept on the ground. Who wouldn't love a trip like that. Now to get ready for our last camping trip of the season. We are heading to Plumas/Eureka State Park with the Bates and Techau's for Labor Day weekend. Could someone please remind me to pack the frozen items? :)

The First Day

Well, yesterday was the first day of school, and we, here at the Hay House, had 4 children going to school. Macie and Thomas are in 5th and 4th grades. They will be in a 3 teacher rotation and since Thomas is in the 4th/5th combination classroom he will be rotating with the 5th graders. We will see how this will go because as we all know brothers and sisters together in the same group of students doesn't always go well. :) Julia entered 1st grade at a different school. She is in a K/1 multi-age classroom (that's fancy speak for combination of two grades in one room). She has some of her friends from Kindergarten in there and some new ones to make. All is well on the 1st grade front. She starts school a bit early at 7:50 and gets on the bus at 7:10. I have to say that we were rock stars this morning and had breakfast, a good one at that, and she was ready to go waiting for the bus. One day down and many more to go. Matthew is at the same school as last year and his hours are 8-12 a.m. everyday. Now, what is a family to do about getting all these children to all their places on time. The daddy has valiantly accepted the job of taking Matthew to school before he goes to work. This means an hour change at work, but his job is very flexible on time to start the day. After Julia and Matthew are off to school then I can take the other children to school. I plan on walking them up to school and then taking Henry on an extended walk. Wow, a lot happens around here before 8:15 a.m. Now that school is on I guess I need to start thinking about Christmas, yes I said it. :)

We had some very special visitors yesterday morning. Ali came and did hair for first day viewing and Emily helped with dressing. Gram and Pa showed up because afterall it is the first day. :) Thanks for all the help getting us up and out on time. We love all of you!!!
Backpack time came and Macie got a plain black pack. It wasn't up to her liking, she wanted something a little more jazzy. So we went to town and jazzed it up. I think she may just start a trend. Nice job Macie. :)

She also looks like a fashionista. Before going school shopping Macie created 3 different outfit drawings. We were on the hunt for the looks that she created. We weren't able to find the exact colors, but we got the looks that she wanted. Maybe she has a future in fashion. :)

Here are the other children with their first day outfits. You might ask why Thomas doesn't have a fashion shot of his own. Well, he is a boy need I say more. :)

It's been a while

I haven't blogged in a while and I really don't have a good excuse for it except that a house full of 5 children, swim season, and Julia and me being sick with the flu for 3 days kept me busy. I got sick the night before my birthday and then Julia showed up sick. Tom had to take Macie and Thomas to the swim meet and then I took 7 loads of laundry to the laundrymat. Matthew had a show at his gymnastics class and then he turned 4 on the 25th of this month. The other 3 kids had swim champs this last weekend over Matthew's birthday. He is such a sweet little boy that he didn't even complain that his birthday was spent at Sierra College pool. Mom and Dad took us out to Home Town Buffet for dinner on his birthday so he was very pleased with that.
Macie had a great champs she came in 39th out of 144 swimmers in the 25 Yd Back stroke and she was 40th in the 25 Yd Free stroke. In the 100 Yd IM she came in 61st She had her best times in the free and back. Thomas made his best time in 25 Yd. Back and Julia made her best time in the 25 Yd Back with her time being under a min. She was 58.86. I loved it! They all did so well. :)
Tom's company had their annual summer picnic at Donner Lake on Sat. the 18th. We had a ball. The gang loves going to Donner, playing in the water and participating in the company picnic games.
Julia also lost her top front tooth to offically make her toothless. Then a few days later she lost one of the bottom teeth. She is rich with quarters. :)
Here are some great shots of the days since I blogged last.








Thanks Chris for checking up on our family every Friday. We are on vacation as of the 29. So I will not update until next week. Enjoy! :)

The 4th of July

What a blessing to live in America. Even with things the way they are we are truly blessed to live here. We went to the parade in Grass Valley. This has been a family tradition for many many years. My mother and father used to go to this parade when they were little, and when I was little we tried to go as much as possible. Of course, when we moved to Roseville 33 years ago we started going every year. Now we take out little gang to the parade and they love it. It wasn't too hot this year and we enjoyed it more than in years past. Then we went to Aunt Jacci's for some after parade food. We feasted and visited with cousins and played. Then onto to home and a great BBQ dinner and home made chocolate ice cream. And who could forget the fireworks. Matthew had a ball this year. He was literally break dancing in the street. We laughed and laughed at his performance. He is quite good despite it being so funny. I think I love the 4th of July so much because it is so close to my birthday and as a child I would anticipate my birthday with such excitement. What better way to start the it's my birthday coming up mantra then with a big celebration. It is also in the middle of the summer and summer is full of adventure and fun. Anyway I hope you all had a Happy 4th and I can't wait until my birthday. :)
The Hay gang before we went to the parade.
Henry enjoying some Grandma time.
The gang and their 2nd cousins. My cousin Shae has 4 children and here are 3 of them with our gang. Charlotte, Landon, and Ava.
Sparklers anyone? The gang loved doing sparklers. I remember loving those as a child also. F U N




One of our fantastic fireworks. :)

Another Summer Adventure! Six Flags

Well, yesterday we went to Six Flags with Grandma, Auntie, Uncle, Emily, Ali and Ashley. Grandpa stayed home with Henry. Thank heaven Henry didn't come. We wouldn't have had as much fun. Sorry Henry, but you are 2 and quite the runner. We would have had to lock him in the stroller and he wouldn't have liked that at all. We saw the whale show, dolphin show, visited the butterfly house (man was it hot in there), experienced the shark experience, saw walrus', petted a sting ray, rode lots of fun rides, drank soda and ate popcorn and cotton candy. What a time we had!!!! I had packed a lunch and dinner. We fed the kids before we went into the park and then fed them after we came out. They were troopers to wait until 8 for dinner, and walk the many miles we walked. Ali took Macie on many of the "scary" rides. Thank heaven I didn't know about it because I would have been very nervous. Thomas helped me out with the two little kids and rode rides with them. We didn't get home until after 10 with Julia and Matthew snoring away in the back seat. Matthew had a great day of potty training. He is now able to say when he has to go, well all except number 2. He does withhold it until he gets home. We have had 2 accidents today. He just won't go in the toilet. Oh well, he is getting there. It was hot yesterday, but not as hot as the previous few days. Wonder what summer adventure awaits us next week? :)