The Irvine 6?

So my too smart for his own good son, Jackson, told me the other day that I need to change the name of our family blog. I asked him why and he said because there are 6 in our family, not 5. A little confused, I asked him to explain. So he told me that Dad is one, I'm two, he's three, Ryan's four, Hailey's five, and Rocky, our dog, is number six! Oh!!! Of course, I said. He then told me again, that I'd better change the name of the blog because we are the Irvine 6, not 5. Well, here you go, Mr. smarty pants! We are now the Irvine 6, because Rocky is afterall, my first child!

Praise God!

For Laurel, that is! I just talked to my Father-in-Law and he told me the best news! Laurel is doing wonderful! She is done with her surgeries, can walk with just a little help, and as long as she does her physical therapy, she can use her right arm and hand!!!!! All I can say is thank you God! She has a wonderful attitude about it all, too. The therapist told her in order for her skin to grow back smooth on her arm she has to wear a sleeve, kind of like a leg warmer, from her hand to her shoulder for 18 months! Laurel's response - COOL! How awesome is that!? He also told me that she will be moved to the rehab center in Washington, (a little closer to home then Portland) by Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Then she'll have about 3 or 4 weeks of therapy there, and then she can go home!!!! I am overwhelmed with emotion as write this right now. I am so thankful to our God, who can do anything and in this case has done everything! Thank you all for your prayers, as you can see God does hear them and he has answered them! Amen!

My Big First Grader!

Jackson had a great first day of first grade last week and has since told me he LOVES first grade! His teacher's name is Mrs. Conaty (pronounced con-a-tee) and she is very nice and Jackson just loves her, so YAY! I asked him what his favorite part of school was and he said that eating lunch was number one! Next was having triple recess and flipping on the bar in the playground! Of course! I know he's growing up too fast because after about the second day he asked me to just drop him off and not wait with him anymore. Then, this morning we walked and he kept begging me to let him go by himself (which I didn't!). Oh my baby boy is getting so big. I just know he's going to do so good and have so much fun this year. I just don't know if I am!!!

Laurel still needs prayer!

My sister-in-law still needs prayer! She had surgery Tuesday and it didn't go as well as the doctors had hoped. Her temperature kept dropping, so they didn't get to finish it all. She is in a lot of pain and has to go in again today, (Fri 8/29) to finish the skin graft surgery. According to her cousin she is putting up a very brave front and knows that this is what she must go through in order to get past it all and out of the hospital. So, please keep her in your prayers that her pain is minimal and that God gives her the strength to get through this time. Thank you!

Update on Laurel

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my sister-in-law. We appreciate them more than you know and they are working! Laurel was finally taken out of her medicated sleep state Tuesday night and she is doing remarkably well. She is in good spirits about the whole situation, which she does remember for the most part. She's had two surgeries, skin grafts, to her right arm and side, and has one more scheduled for tomorrow. The doctors are surprised at how fast she seems to be recovering, and that she has good pulses, even in the one that shows circulation to her right hand! Her right arm and hand were the most severely burned and there is still a question as to whether or not she'll have the function of them. She is drinking and eating on her own now, no more feeding tube, and she might get to go to the peace garden soon. That's an enclosed garden in the burn unit and in there she can actually get to be with her two younger kids who have only been allowed to wave to her through the window. So, prayers are definitley being answered and more prayers are needed as she is still in a lot of pain and has her third surgery tomorrow. James went to see her this morning, so I'll have another update soon. Again, thank you for your prayers for Laurel and her family!

Pre-school Days!

So, Ry-guy is officially in school now! He had his first day of Pre-school on Monday and things went way better than I had expected! For months now I've been asking Ryan if he was excited to go to school, like Jackson, and his usual response was "no, I want to stay home with you, Mommy!" Well this had me slightly worried that he wasn't going to have an easy time at school. The night before his first day things got even worse. He started crying and telling me he didn't want to go to school because I wouldn't be there and nobody was going to stay with him. I spent about an hour convincing him that it would be okay and that he should give it a try and then we'll see. So bright and early Monday morning we went to pre-school and he clung to my leg, just a little. Then he saw his friend, Alexa! Well, that changed everything and Ryan was good to go. When I went to say goodbye he actually gave me the quick head nod and wave! No crying, no screaming, no begging Mommy to stay. He has been fine all week, and really loves it. Way to go Ry-guy! I'm so proud of him, he's such a big boy now!

Jackson turns 6!

That's right, our big boy is now even bigger! Jackson celebrated his 6th birthday with a whole day of fun and excitment. He decided that this year he wanted to spend the whole day at Sunsplash, our local waterpark and arcade place, instead of the traditional birthday party. So we set out fairly early, around 10am and started off with a very hot round of mini-golf (it was forecast to be over 100 degrees that day!) Of course the next thing to do was go to the WATER PARK! I have to say it was the perfect day for it. We spent about 4 hours swimming, sliding, splashing and jumping the waves in the wave pool. We rented a little cabana and had our pizza and root beer lunch delivered right to us without missing a moment of fun! Once we were all ready to drop dead from exhaustion we moved onto the arcade and played some video games, Disney Dance-Dance and MarioKart being the favorites! Now you would think that we were pretty much done for the day, but oh no, we still had presents, cake and ice cream to do!!! My favorite part of the day was when Jackson opened one of his presents from us. He really wanted a new Wii game for his birhtday, so I wrapped it in an old shoe box to trick him. Well it worked! I wish I would have video tapped it, he was so upset when he saw the shoe box. He kept asking why I got him shoes he didn't like and in the wrong size (the box was from Ryan's old shoes!) I finally convinced him to open the box and he went crazy when he saw the game! It was pretty darn funny, if I do say so myself! It was a great birthday and I think Jackson would agree. Of course he's already moving on to his 7th birthday... ugh! Why do they have to be in such a hurry to grow up!?

Please Pray....

for James' sister, Laurel. She was in a terrible car accident on Wednesday and suffered major injuries. Her car caught fire after the crash and she has burns on about 40% of her body, mostly her right side and arm. She is in the burn center in the hospital and will remain there for at least a month, undergoing several surgeries and skin grafts. Please pray for her to make a full recovery, including keeping the function of her arm and hand, and for her family during this very hard time. Also pray for James to be able to see his sister soon, and for their parents who are helping to take care of the kids right now. Thank you! God bless.

Our new house!!!

Yep, that's right. We bought a new house!!!! After months of searching and even losing out on one house, we have finally bought our dream house! We will be moving in early September and can hardly wait. Jackson will even get to go to his new school from the beginning, no switching schools after a month or year! We feel so blessed and thank God for this awesome home that He has provided for us. Yipppeeee!

Grammy & Grumpy!

Grammy loving on Miss Hailey!

Jackson being silly with Grammy!
Grumpy being silly with Ryan!

Family time is fun time! Upon returning from our trip to see Gramma Bubba we got to spend the week with James' parents, fondly known as Grammy and Grumpy! What a fun, and exhausting week it was. The boys got to go to the zoo one day while I stayed home with Hailey, thank you so much! We went swimming as often as possible, took a tour of the Old Auto museum, (very interesting), and even got to go to the firestation and see James in action. Well, not really in action, but he did let the kids spray the firehose and drop water (gloves) balloons off the roof of the firestation! Don't tell anyone, though!! Pretty cool week, I think. On top of all that, we even found and bought a house! I'm so glad that Grammy and Grumpy were there with us and got to see the house first! Thanks for spending time with us, we love you!

Gramma Bubba!

That's right, I said Gramma Bubba! My grandmother has always been named Bubba and I don't see anything wrong with it! We went down to visit her last week and had tons of fun. We got to go to the Long Beach Aquarium, Newport Beach, visit James' cousin and family in Ontario, and we got to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousin in Anahiem! What a great vacation!

Birthday Surprise!

What a fun birthday weekend I had! My best friend since pre-school, Anita, flew in to surprise me for my birthday! We had a great time playing around, getting pedicures, swimming in the pool and eating out at yummy resturants! I can't believe she did it all on her own, well with a little help from my hubby, and kept it all a surprise! Thank you for the best birthday weekend ever! I love you, Red!

Baby, it's hot outside!

One way to beat the heat? Go to the bounce houses! It was supposed to be about 108 degrees today, so I thought it would be best if we stayed inside with the air conditioning, and we found the Bounce spot to be the perfect spot! We spent about three hours just running around having a blast all day and then got to go see Daddy at the Firestation. We endend our afternoon with a nice little nap and it turned out to be the perfect hot weather day. I think the kids would agree, don't you think? Ahhh, the joys of summertime....

All ready for Pre-school!

We officially registered Ryan for pre-school today! He starts school on August 18th, at the same school Jackson went to! I'm so happy he got in, I think it will make it a little easier on him since it will be familiar to him. Plus his friend Alexa will be there too! Yippeee! I just hope he likes it and doesn't have too hard of a time! I'm praying everyday until Aug. 18th that it goes smoothly! I know once he gets over being away from Mom he'll have a blast and make a ton of new friends! Good luck, Ry-guy!!!

A new look!

Don't worry, it's still me! I was getting bored with the purple background so I thought I'd shake things up a bit! It's a little bright, but hey its's summertime and I liked it! Hope you do too! Unfortunately some of my pic's and fun little extras didn't survive the big change, so I'll be updating things over the next few days! Later!

My Cute Kids!

My kids are the cutest kids in the world. Okay, I'm biased, and all you other mom's out there are disagreeing with me right now. That's okay, I understand. I just had to share these new fun pic's of the kids and brag a little about how much I love them and how smart and fun they are. Hey, isn't that kind of the point of this blog? Anyway, we've been enjoying our summer break thus far. We've been swimming in the pool and getting better and better at it everyday. The boys have been a little hesitant about it, but they have made great strides this last week. I'm sure the 100 degree days might have helped a little. Even Hailey enjoys just floating in the pool. We have VBS this week and I'm a leader for the first time. I'm a little nervous, but excited at the same time. Hopefully the kids have fun and Hailey doesn't get too bored in the nursery for 3 hours everyday.

We are looking forward to our vacation at the end of July. We're heading south to visit my gramma and my Mom. I can't wait and I know the kids can't either. We are also busy house hunting and hoping to find "the one" before the summer is over. I want to get Jackson registered in the school district we will be living in so he doesn't have to change schools half way through the year or even next year. Ryan will be going to preschool starting in August and I'm so excited. I'm not sure if he is excited or not, but I'm sure he'll come around eventually. Fortunately it doesn't matter where we live for his school! Wow, what will I do with only one kiddo at home in the mornings?

Okay, that's probably enough bragging for now. We are all good and hope you are too. Have a fun summer.

Mustang Ally!

This is my best friend Kelsey's husband, Matt. He took part in the Western States Mustang Challenge this year and we got to be a part of it. He was given 90 days to train a wild Mustang, which he name High Rock Ally, or Ally for short. He did a fantastic job, placing 5th out of over 30 other contestants! It was so much fun to watch the horse show and to get to hang out with Kelsey and her two beautiful girls, Mesa and Mylie. The kids had a great time, as seen in the picture above! Thanks Matt and Kelsey for letting us be a part of things this last week. Congratulations to you on your awesome accomplishment! (If you want to learn more about the challenge and what Mat did to train Ally, check out his blog at: www.mustanghorsetales.blogspot.com !)

Hey there Mr. Handsome!

Don't they look handsome! James and Jackson got to go to cousin Tracy's wedding last weekend! I was told it was a beautiful ceremony, and I believe it looking at the pictures! My guys sure clean up nice! Congratulations to Tom and Tracy, hope you are enjoying your honeymoon!

Happy Birthday to James!

On Friday, May 30th James celebrated his 31st birthday! He was on duty at the Firestation that day, so we brought the party to him, complete with games and an ice cream cake. What a fun time we had, all the guys were such good sports, participating in the games and wearing the birthday hats! I think this will be a birthday to remember for a long time. Happy birthday, James!!!

She's a big girl now!

Hailey finally got her big girl car seat this week! At first she was a little apprehensive, but once she realized she got to face forward like her brothers she was stoked!! Can you see the approval on her face! Now she can stretch her legs out and not hit the back of the seat, poor girl was so cramped in her infant seat! Doesn't she just get cuter and cuter everyday? I know, of course she does! I love my big girl!

Gram's 90th Birthday Bash!

This past Memorial Day Weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Cheyenne, WY with my Dad to join with the rest of our family to celebrate my grandmothers 90th birthday! It was so wonderful to see my Gram and to shower her with love and attention all weekend long. I also enjoyed catching up with other family members, some of which I hadn't seen in about 15 to 20 years! It's amazing to me that these wonderful people, whom I don't see very often can be so welcoming and loving. I guess that's what family is all about! A big, huge thank you goes out to my Aunt Muffy and Uncle Jeff for their hospitality and for her DELICIOUS cooking. She made homemade Chili Rellenos, enchaladas, tortilla chips... it was fabulous! Also thank you to my Aunt Kathy who kept my Dad and I in stiches the whole weekend, she sure can make us laugh. I also enjoyed getting to know my cousins again, who are now "all growed up"! It was a wonderful celebration of my Grams' life and the legacy she'll leave behind in all her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids! What an amazing time! Thanks, Dad for everything!

Steeeee-rike!

A couple of days ago, when it was really windy, Jackson came home from school and James decided that we should all go bowling for the afternoon! What a great idea! The kids love to bowl and it's a fun thing to do on a windy day! We had a blast and I even bowled a strike!! Only one though! I love spending time with my family.

Field Trip Day!

On Friday, May 16th, Jackson and I got to go on his class field trip to the Bishop Hamburger Farm! It was 100 degrees that day, but that didn't seem to deter the kids from learning about farms, plants, animals and all sorts of neat things! Everyone got to enjoy a hamburger lunch and then headed out to the fields to see where all that delicious food came from, right down to the cow that made the milk for the cheese!!! We got to dig up a potato, grind wheat into flour, and smell the dill that made the pickles. Did you know that cucumbers are a fruit? It was lots of fun and I think the kids actually learned a little along the way. I'm so blessed I get to go on these fun trips with Jackson, I really have as much fun as the kids do!!

Hailey's First Birthday!!!!

I can't believe it! She's already one year old!! We celebrated her big day with a cupcake and then packed up and moved! Yep, poor Hailey got a raw deal as moving day landed on her first birthday! I think the cupcake made up for some of it! It took her a minute to figure out what it was, but once she got some in her mouth, she was thrilled! She also got to open a few presents, with the help of her big brothers! We plan to have a big bash at the new house with all of her friends as soon as we can get things in order here. Happy Birthday, Hailey Baby!