Ashey

Cambria is talking so well now. It's amazing how much her vocabulary has grown in just the past few weeks. She said her first sentence tonight ("Hi, Daddy!"). Just for recording purposes (this will probably bore most of you, so skip over it if you'd like), here are the words she can say, that I can think of off the top of my head anyway: doggie, kitty, that, Abby/Abbie, duck, hello, hi, drink, juice, up, out, down, done, Mama, Daddy, bye bye, yay, ow, owie, eww, book, eat, milk, mine, no, night night, uh uh, fish, uh oh, ball, treat, and my most favorite of all........

Ashey.

I just love it - her own term of endearment for her brother. The reason it's extra cute is because this child absolutely adores her big brother. He is seriously the only one she showers with kisses. The rest of us are lucky to get one once a week, but she attacks Asher daily. Attacks him so much, in fact, that he starts begging me to make her stop kissing him. :)

There's seriously no greater joy than seeing my kids interact with each other. Their personalities all mesh so well together, even though they're all unique. Perfectly complimentary.

Rockin' out!

Asher normally just turns right off the second I get out the camera, but he gave me a little action today. We were parked in the van waiting for Derk, and I decided to turn on the music and see if I could coerce him to dance for me. I'm pretty pleased with what I caught. I just love the look on his face! He was really excited to get into it this time, so I loosened his straps while we were parked so he could really groove. :)

Graduation!!!

I can't believe he finally graduated!! He's been in college since before I even met him in 2000, so it's been a long road. I remember back 3 years ago thinking that 3 more years sounded like an eternity.... While it has seemed like an eternity in some respects, it almost crept up too quickly at the same time. It's so strange to finally be done with school. It's a really surreal feeling. Derk managed to graduate at the top of his class (4.0, baby!!) on top of having 3 kids. It amazes me.

The fun began yesterday for us. My mom came down with my sister Abby, her husband James, their son Logan and my brother Jonathan. Derk's best friend Mikey came down last night as well. We had a fun evening going out to dinner (go, Mexican!), and then we came back to our place and watched Logan beat Asher up. It was hilarious, and Derk and I both decided we needed to start watching some wrestling, for poor Asher's sake. :) Those 2 boys are more than adorable playing together.

We had to be up early this morning because graduation started at 9:30. That meant we had to be at the Kibbie Dome by 8:30 to get good seats. Then, my sister Katie, her husband John, their daughter Jonni, Derk's mom, sisters Jenna and Jessica, Jenna's husband Kevan and their daughter Zariah all came down this morning. After much walking around, trying to figure out where the best spot to sit would be, we finally settled on a spot. The kids were so proud of their Daddy and had fun looking for him amongst all the grads. They got so excited when they finally spotted him, and I was grateful at that moment that Derk graduated when he did because it was just so special having our 3 kids there supporting and loving their Daddy.

After a few pretty long talks from several people from the college, it was finally time to start handing out diplomas. Luckily the Masters students were first in line, so it didn't take too long to see Derk graduate. We were pretty far back, so the only shot I could get was on the monitor (and it's really awful), but one of the Kibbie Dome staff told me they had people up front taking pictures of all the grads as they walked across the stage and that they'll be mailing the pictures out to the families. Whew. I just swelled with pride as I heard them say, "Derk Scott Stephens, Masters of Education".

We came back home and let the kids all have a blast playing while we waited for Derk to get home (the college asked all the grads to stay through the entire ceremony). We made a yummy lunch of tortellini soup and homemade breadsticks and took tons of pictures afterward. My mom made a really touching toast to Derk with sparkling cider, and I just loved seeing how proud of Derk everyone was.

Some family pictures.


My mom and Kyrie.


My mom and Asher (don't ask what's up with Asher's face, because I have no idea!).

Pictures with Derk's mom. The Dean (or whoever it was who spoke...too busy fussing with kids to remember) said the grads all needed to remember they wouldn't even be here without their moms, said it was no coincidence that the ceremony was held the day before Mother's Day and reminded them to remember their mothers. Derk's mom is such a special lady, and we sure love her!

Today was even more special because it was kind of a joint graduation party. Kyrie graduates from Kindergarten in about 2 weeks, so we took the opportunity today to give her a gift of her own as Derk was opening his. She was so excited! We've had it for about 3 weeks now, and it's been so hard not to give it to her before now. Okay, okay, I'll admit it. The reason we didn't wait until her actual graduation was because we were just too darn excited. She's so thrilled to have her very own iPod (mp3 player, but basically the same thing).

I'm so grateful for such a wonderful day to celebrate my husband and all his hard work and effort over the past few years. Our families were so awesome to come down and show their love and support. We love all of you and are so glad you got to share in this special day with us!

CONGRATULATIONS, DERK!!! I love you so very much,
and I am so proud of all you've accomplished!!

WE DID IT!!!!!

Caught on camera!

I'm risking pure torture for posting this, but I cannot resist. Once again, I'm using my hubby as a form of great entertainment. Derk was belting a song at the top of his lungs earlier, and I just HAD to record him because it was just too funny. I stood outside the door to be extra sneaky. :) This is just him being crazy, but he normally sounds AMAZING. Anyone who knows him in real life knows how talented he is!

Here's another one I took right after that, just to prove that he really does sing much better. Although, this one isn't quite up to par either because I'm sure his throat was a bit sore after the first song. :P

Black beans, anyone?

After dinner the other night, I took Cambria upstairs to hose her off. When I came back down to get Asher for his turn in the tub, this is what I found. Apparently the kid really liked the black beans I put into the taco meat.... :)

A fun-filled day outside!

We're finally being blessed with beautiful weather and have been enjoying being outside the last few days, sans jackets! We spent over 2 hours at the playground and then went for a walk (per Bri's demands) around the neighborhood to explore for a little while.

Bri's trying really hard to learn how to climb up the ladder to the slide all by herself. She still needs some help, but she's getting much better and gets so proud of herself when she makes it to the top and even more so when she goes down the slide like a big girl. The kids had tons of fun and even picked me lovely "bouquets". :)

Then we went to the Renaissance Fair. It was lots of fun, and we got to see a lot of really cool stuff. The kids got to see a suit of armor and got to touch all the different parts and feel the chain mail. There was a group of people set up with several different kinds of birds, and the kids got a kick out of the huge eagle. We watched them dance the maypole, ate some yummy food, and Kyrie got her face painted. For your convenience, I resisted the urge to snap a picture of the guy that was walking around, wearing NOTHING but a leopard print thong speedo. :P

Brush up on your CPR/first aid!

You really never know when you'll need to put that knowledge to use. And it's even more crucial to really understand what to do because, when it's one of your own kids who's choking or otherwise injured, it's even harder to keep a clear head and to remember what to do. I wish I wasn't speaking first-hand here, but today I had quite the scare!

Asher's been doing great with his nighttime potty training, so I asked him this morning what he'd like for a treat. He wanted to get McDonald's for lunch, and I thought that was a great idea. We picked some up and came home to eat. I set Asher and Bri up with their food at the table and then went into the kitchen to get their milk. Derk called to check in (he was in Lewiston at a conference), so I started chatting with him and noticed something wrong out of the corner of my eye.

I looked over and noticed Cambria's face and lips were completely purple. It took a second for it to hit me that she was choking. I screamed and threw the phone down (poor Derk - how scary it must have been to be on the other end of the line and a half hour away at that!). I kept frantically thinking, "I can't remember my first aid! What do I DO?!" I started screaming for help because I just couldn't think straight, but nobody heard me of course. Then I realized that I HAD to pull it together, Bri's life depended on it, so I started praying (screaming) for help and guidance.

I'd taken a CPR/first aid class when I was about 15, so I knew I knew it and had to have it stored in some part of my brain. I kept telling myself, "You KNOW this stuff! Pull it together! You can do it!" I started doing all I could remember to help her dislodge whatever she was choking on. After seriously 1-2 minutes, she was still choking, and I was about hysterical. How could I call 9-1-1 when I had no free hands and when I had nobody around who could make the call?! (Asher will be learning how to dial 9-1-1 immediately after today!) I started praying harder and harder, and she finally threw up everywhere and coughed up a french fry that she'd tried to swallow whole.

She was SO scared afterward and refused to stop hanging on to me for dear life for at least 5 minutes. When I finally had her calmed down, she told me she was still hungry, so I put her back in her seat (talk about not ever wanting your kid to eat ever again! So soon?! Are you KIDDING??!). She thought I was going to walk away again, so she grabbed onto my arm and started whining. There was obviously no way I was leaving her side, so I sat down next to her and tried to keep her calm while she tried to eat. She was way too scared and kept spitting out every single bite and would just whine each time she tried to swallow. Then she was exhausted (it was naptime on top of the trauma she went through, so she was even more tired than normal), and of course I didn't want to let her go for one second, but I managed to put her down after praying yet again for peace and comfort.

I was telling my best friend about this shortly after it happened today, and she gave me a link to a great website that I read over several times today. Please read over it so you don't have to be more panicked than you need to be. And please take the time to teach all your kids how to dial 9-1-1, if they're ever the only ones who are able to, so they know how. I didn't realize before today that even Asher, who's only 3, should know how to call for help, and I sure regretted him not being able to when I was desperate. I also fully intend on teaching Kyrie the basics of first aid and CPR.