MOTHER'S DAY

Sprints!!!

Yesterday I was sick with a cold. I sat in the boys room and cried because I wished I felt better to take care of them properly. James sat on the floor next to meet and rubbed my face and said "It's okay Mom, we'll figure it out". These sweet words from my darling 3-year old put me at ease and comforted me. Ben gave me a big hug and said he loved me. Then in the evening Ali said "Mom, I hope you feel better, I will pray for you in my dreams". What amazing children I have. And, Ali's prayers must have been answered because I feel much better this morning.

My Birthday

I started off my Birthday with a beautiful run. I love having a May birthday!!!

Beautiful Birthday cake from Trudy, Victoria and Gabriella. I feel so loved ♥

 Dave and I toasted champagne to celebrate my 36th Birthday and the closing of our Chelsea Road house!!!!

Today I am grateful to have lived 36 years. Today I am thankful for my parents who have raised me with kindness, selflessness and love. Today I am thankful for my husband David and children Ali, Ben and James. Today I am thankful for all of my wonderful family and friends. Today I am grateful for life.
Thank you to all of my family and friends who have been apart of my life, whether near or far, whether past or present. Each of you has touched my life in someway and helped mold me into the person I am today. My wish for the next year is that I will be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. I feel loved by all of you ♥

Today Ali learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!!

James picked me a flower and said "It's to make your heart sweet". Awwww, precious!

Ali's card from Mom

I like to send cards to Ali in her lunch while I can. Pretty soon she'll be too old for that and it will be too embarrassing! I just want her to know how much I love her ♥

James loves coloring

I thought these coloring pages were pretty impressive for a 3-year old! Maybe James will be an artist like Grandma Chris?!?

Potty Training Blues

I am so glad this is my last experience with potty training! James has been so resistant to it. Today he agreed to wear underwear. I wish I can say I didn't have to wash off his entire car seat of pee! (By the way, cleaning a car seat is my least favorite job. You want to avoid this task at all cost)! I was teaching James to go #2 on the potty. He agreed to try it and I explained to him that he needed to push and squeeze. James then proceeds to squeeze his penis! I GIVE UP!!!!!! Dave....you are going to have to handle this one ;)

Getting ready for summer time at the Dennison's house!

The kids!

Fun with bubbles!!! Priceless bubble photo's of Ben and James!

1st place female relay team at the Granite Bay Duathlon. Woo Hoo! Thank you Renee Tapia Takkunen for being such an awesome teammate. And thank you Smile Generation for sponsoring us. What a great day!

Friends ♥

Here is a video of Ben practicing his Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme that he will recite at his graduation from preschool. James learned it too!

It's almost been one year since Ben was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The brain tumor turned out to be Histiocytosis which is a non-cancerous group of cells that eroded the clivus bone in the base of his skull. The cells were removed and replaced with fat. We met with the neurosurgeon this morning to review Ben's follow-up MRI that took place last week. The results came back great showing no issues! I am overcome with joy and relief. To all my family and friends, thank you for your thoughts and prayers this past year - you are the best! Glory to God!

The boys are playing with Oobleck!
2 cups cornstarch + 1 cup water = Amazing Fun!

Our neighbors invited the kids over for an Easter Egg Hunt and cake. They had so much fun!

Nathan, Daniel, Ali, Ben and James

James drew a picture of his family. He told me where to write each family members name. I love this drawing! James says he wants to be an artist when ge grows up (like Grandma Chris)!

Laughing and fishing at the pond!

Ben had his 6-month follow up MRI yesterday. He had general anesthesia and did great! He had a 45 minute scan and it took about 30 minutes to come out of recovery. He was so brave and didn't cry. I was so proud of him! We will get the MRI results in about a week, but we aren't anticipating any problems.

In addition, Ben has had a skin rash on his face (under his right eye) for two months. We've been to the doctor once and the dermatologist twice. The second visit to the dermatologist resulted in a biopsy. We just received the biopsy results and he has a form of Rosacea. He has to take oral erythromycin for 6-8 weeks. I'm so relieved the rash isn't related to his Histiocytosis.

Everyone else in the family is doing well. The kids are currently on Spring break. Tonight Ali is having a sleepover with her BFF, Hanneh and Jeffery is spending the night here. Ben and James are enjoying an older male influence. Jefferey is teaching them the Wii, legos, Kinnex and more!

Uncle Harold and Auntie Jen came to visit us for 2 days!!! We had a great time. The boys loved Uncle Harold's cool car!

Glow Easter Eggs!

I filled the plastic eggs with a glow bracelet! The kids are going to have fun with this!

Ben's 5th Birthday Party!
Lego sign on the front door - Ben 5

Lego brownies with colored frosting and M&M's as well as ice cream scooped in paper baking cups (this works great because you can scoop the ice cream ahead of time and then it's all ready to serve at dessert time)!

The kids got to guess how many legos were in a jar. They also got to play "I spy the lego guy" where they had to find 6 paper lego cut-outs that were hidden around the house. Another fun game was to have one child be "it" and leave the room while the rest figure out who is going to hide the Lego in their hand. Then they call the "it" child back in who now has to guess who has the Lego. Once they figure it out, the child who had the Lego is now "it." The kids love it because they try to pretend to have it and fool who ever is "it."

The gift bags were fun! I used a large Lego to stamp the outside of the bag. I made key chains out of Legos simply by drilling a hole in the Lego. The bags had play dough, glow sicks, button candy and punching balloons in them.

Here is Ben with his friends! Ben didn't have school today so some of his friends and preschool buddies were able to come celebrate the day!

Happy 5th Birthday, Benjamin!

Ali's 1st Grade Leprechaun Trap

We made the trap out of a large granola bar box. We cut rectangles out of the side of the box to make a ladder. We covered the box with shiny tin foil (since all Leprechaun's love shiny things) and we covered the top with black tape and black sparkly paper. We made a net trap in the middle by using netting from a bag of apples. Then we glued gems and chocolate beyond the trap in hopes that our Leprechaun would fall in the net on the way to to gems/chocolate. This project required my help, but it was fun and the kids have enjoyed trapping their lego guys in it!

Yummy artichokes and tomatoes

Steam or boil the artichokes. Once they are cooked, cut them in half, scoop out insides and drizzle with garlic/parmesan sauce (below). Bake in oven for 10 mins and then broil for 3 more min to get crispy.
The artichokes have butter, fresh garlic, thyme and fresh parmesan on top.
The tomatoes have fresh parmesan, thyme, basil & pepper with olive oil drizzled over them.
It turned out Amazing! I will be doing this again :)

Ben practicing brushing teeth at preschool

 

Playing around with Ali's hair - Fun :)

 

Dennison's Birthday Bash! Suzette and Ali with their adorable face paint. I love this picture!!!

Grandma Chris and James at Kemp Park in Folsom