6 months is better then a year right?

I must be getting old because time just seems to go by faster and faster....

In December Cloey and cal performed at a ward party, they even learned little dances and It was so stinkin adorable! and Ty was home for Christmas for the first time in 3 years! the kids were actually kind of bummed that Santa wasn't gonna come early this year, but It was really nice to Have Christmas Morning with our little family all together.

January brought my 29th birthday (once again, I'm getting old) and general crazy business. I was really starting to get involved with my apprenticeship and helping with my grandma, so there was a lot of adjusting going on. Ty and I entered the world of smart phones and now we don't know how we lived without them :) Cal also earned a lot of badges and arrow points at scouts. Lainey had her first teeth cleaning at the Dentist and brought along her American Girl "Laine" doll. the dentist cleaned her teeth too ;)

February I was invited by MGA healthcare to attend an IPPC conference on Palliative care for children. The conference included doctors from the pediatric hospitals in the valley and many other pediatric organizations here as well. Our input as parents on how things should be, was received very well and I have already seen changes happening. Mostly it was great to see Doctors actually care and express their frustration with the system too! And then make action plans to change it. I hope my input of what I have learned over the last 10 years helps make things better for other children & families just starting on this painful road.

March Cloey is freaking 10! I still can't believe it. We had a "pretend" sleep over and it was so fun to see what a young lady she is becoming. We participated in the Ryan House Run, on of the organizations most dear to my heart, Cloey got to be a celebrity and see a lot of her friends from the house there. Grandpa Cherry was with us and that was a special treat! And Ty started working at a (what we thought) was a permanent station, turns out he will be moving to another one in January, but at least he is not a rover moving around everyday anymore.

April My baby turned 5! we had a fun little party with her preschool friends at peter piper. She has really blossomed into a big girl so far this year. I got to run away to Colorado to visit my Best Friend! I had never flown on an airplane by myself before. It was a much needed break, and so great to spend time with my bestie! I did miss my family though, so maybe next year we can all go. We had a ward egg hunt and Cloey guessed right on the jelly bean jar and won it! Cal man turned 9 and he came up with a Star Wars Party all on his one, he made the invitations, gave us a shopping list and everything. He and Ty had a lot of fun ;) We attended the Easter Pagent at the Mesa Arizona Temple and on Easter Sunday we visited Grammy and roasted peeps, I think that might become a tradition everybody loved it so much! Then we came home to a water spot on our carpet and so began our woes with our rental agency. After 2 days of no hot water and a huge puddle in the middle of our house, we received permission to stay at a hotel. It took them nearly a month to reimburse us and they were lying and rude the whole time. It has been a stressful mess and sucked away a lot of our precious time. Ty also took Cal to Father's and son's while all this was going on and he got a flat tire on the way out of town! Some great people from our ward saved us so they could still make it. When Ty got back, he went straight to a camp out at Lainey's preschool.

May We had our annual family birthday party for the kids. We love to see all of our family together supporting our little one's as they grow. I also attended a mother's day tea at Lainey's preschool. She was so proud, it was a joy to see her being such a big girl. May is almost as crazy as December with all the end of school year activities. Thankfully I won't be dealing with all that next year since we have chosen to home school all the kiddos. I also started doing respite care through the state for my grandma, which basically means I am more consistent with helping, and I am getting paid a little bit too, which we can really use, so it has turned out so far to be a win/win situation. We also signed Cloey onto Hospice service. (princesscloey.blogspot.com for details)

We have also been able to attend fun events through HopeKids, Make a Wish and Ryan House. We got to meet Elmo and Grover after attending Sesame Street Live, Meet Mickey and Minnie, go to Cracker Jacks when they were invaded by Star Wars characters, See an Annie performance, and probably more that I am missing. We are fortunate that it seems like every week we have an opportunity to attend a fun event, gives us something to look forward to and a way to spend this precious time together having fun.

JUNE

• The Lobdells came to visit us! we had a great time and the kids were so happy to see their friends again, it has been almost a year since they moved.
• Cal & Ty went to scout day camp for 3 days and judging from the pictures and shear level of exhaustion, I think they had a good time.
• We are doing the summer reading club at the library and the weekly summer movies to keep busy this summer and the kids are all enjoying looking forward to those activities.
• Cal and Cloey are also buddy bowlers in an adaptive legue for Tempe.
• We had a second leak in our house, and Cloey and Cal suspisiouly got pnemonia (posibly from mold?) The agency refused to even send us somewhere to stay while they repaired it, which included a jack hammer to the cement with dust everywhere for all of us including Cloey through her trach, to breath in. After 6 weeks of wet carpet and being treated horribly we requested to break our lease. They agreed, but now we have to be out on June 30th, our 11th anniversary. The last thing we wanted to do was move after 7 months and with Cloey on Hospice, but we have spent too much precious time fighting with the agency or dealing with a mess or no hot water. I don't want to bore you with all the tedious details, but basically moving is the lesser of to crappy options. My stress level has been almost unbearable, which is saying something. We have been crying (well not Ty so much), praying and worrying more then usual. We have also had angels all around us, helping us here and there, with a meal, paying for the hotel stays, an ear listen, listings for houses, legal advice, fans to dry out the carpet, and so much more. Otherwise there is NO WAY I would have survived and be able to move forward after having this happen now, while we are adjusting to Hospice. So, here we go again and hopefully we will find somewhere close, big enough, in our price range & stable, which is exactly what we need right now.

• My next post should be from our new house! wish us luck......