Team Askew

James finishes Kindergarten

2011-06-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

James finished up his Kindergarten school year! We are proud of all he has leaned and all of his hard work. We can't believe he will be starting 1st grade in the fall!

Update!

2011-05-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

My oh my how time has flown by! So much has happened since I last updated this blog! It's a little overwhelming to try to think of all the events I need to catch you up on. So I guess the best thing to do is just start somewhere!

Since I last posted our family has grown to 8 children! We have competed our family by adding an amazing daughter named Gabby. Gabby is Julie's biological sister and we have had the pleasure of knowing her and spending time with her since Julie was placed with us. Gabby needed a new home and it was a natural fit to have her join our ever growing family! She is family and we couldn't imagine her going anywhere else. Gabby is 15 and a freshman. She is an amzing student and athlete. She was on cheer at her high school this year and is in the process of trying our for varsity cheer at the high school she will be joining her sisters at next year. Gabby has been with us for a month now but it feels like she has always been part of our family. It is always so humbling to watch God's plan unfold for our family and the children He has brought into it.

I had an amazing Mother's Day yesterday. I got to sleep in until noon which was the best present of all! The kids got me 3 diffrent types of flowers, a beautiful butterfly necklace, the thook pictures of all 8 of them together for me, and a poster board that they all decorated together. We all went bowling together then over to Putters for pizza and games. Aiden decided it was good timing to get the flu and barfed at Putters and in the car. Mother's Day wouldn't be authentic without a little barf! We finished off the night with a game of lazer tag between me and my teens. It was a blast!!! :) I am so blessed to be a Mother and have the world's best kids!

We have had many fun adventures the last few months, a trip to the tulip festival, a day trip to the coast, tball games, James joined Drew's tball team, Aiden moved into a big boy bed, and Easter. We also had to put our much loved dog Annie down and she is deeply missed. Here are so pictures from our adventures:

Father Daughter Dance

2011-02-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

Nick took Katie and Abby to a Father Daughter dance last weekend. The girls picked out fancy dresses and new shoes for their date with their Dad. They danced the night away, made some fun princess crafts, and ate some yummy snacks and desserts. The girls had an amazing time with their Prince Charming Daddy! They can't wait to go again next year!

Snow Day!

2011-02-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

So now that Spring is almost here we finally got some snow. The kids were up at 6:45 this morning ready to go out in it! It has been snowing off and on all day and the kids are having a blast in it. Aiden especially likes to throw snow and eat the snow! He has been playing outside for hours. Abby and Drew have been working on a snowman together and eating their fair amount of it. Katie didn't last to long out there before she had enough. She doesn't like to have cold hands! I don't blame her. James has been hanging outside for a long while too. Normally he gets bored in snow pretty quickly but not today! Here are some pics of them having fun on their Snow Day home from school!

Back from the dead!!

2011-02-22T14:25:00.001-08:00

Holy Moses! I havn't had a blog post in quite sometime! Turns out having 7 kids sucks away all my free time! I have been caught up in the daily taxi driving of my kids to all the places they need to be, the appointments they need to be at, and the events they want to attend, etc, etc.

I can honestly say there is never a boring day around here. I never know what surprise or challenge the Lord may have for us. We have been tested, grown, blessed, and changed in many ways these last few months. I am always in awe of the ways the Lord reveals Himself to my family.

So I'm realizing I need to slow down and bring out the camera more often to document the kids growing and changing. I was watching some old videos of the kids the other day and I realized that I can't even remember them that small. I'm thankful for the video I have and need to take more now!!

So hopefully there will be more posts to come soon!

A Growing Team!

2011-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Two days ago Team Askew increased its numbers once again! Our new foster daughter is named Julie and she is 16 today! She is a very sweet girl :) She and our first foster daughter Shai have known each other since 2nd grade. We love seeing how the Lord works with each girl He brings into our home!

We also wanted to let you all know that we are not able to post pictures of our foster children on this blog because the blog is accessible to anyone on the internet. We can however post pictures on facebook for our friends and family to see. Our settings on facebook are set so only people we are friends with can view our photos. We love our foster children as part of our family and it stinks we can't share those pictures on here but these are the rules we need to follow.

We have been as busy as ever lately! The kids are keeping busy with school, youth group, Awanas, girl scouts, church, and activities with friends. Drew is looking forward to baseball season starting!

We are excited to celebrate Julie today and look forward to continuing to get to know her! Thank you for your prayers as we continue to follow Jesus wherever He may lead us!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T16:57:00.000-08:00

My goodness so much has happened since I last posted! So much that I haven't had any free time to blog! So I will try to catch you up!

Our family grew by one member on December 11th! Shai Ann is our first foster daughter. She just turned 16 last month and is a sophomore in High School. We are enjoying getting to know her and seeing her fit into our family.

Christmas was a wonderful day! The kids had a very magical morning full of Christmas wonder! I love that pure joy! We are enjoying the time Nick has off of work to hang out as a family. The kids are getting in a lot of play time with him!

We are looking forward to Nick's parents coming out to visit us on Wednesday. The kids can hardly wait! It will be Christmas part two!

So that is mostly everything. We have been busy busy! Hope that you are all doing well! I will leave you with some Christmas pictures!

Jolly

2010-12-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

We are working on our Christmas letter and Christmas Cards. The kids took a few pictures in preparation! Keep an eye on your mailboxes for a Team Askew Christmas card!

Giving Thanks

2010-12-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

James had a Family Feast at his school right before Thanksgiving. The kids preformed a few songs and we ate together. James is so dang cute in that Pilgrim hat! We enjoyed watching him sing!

We have so much to be Thankful for. I made us a yummy feast and we gathered around the table as a family to thank God for all he has blessed us with. Aiden discovered the joy of putting olives on his fingers and then eating them off! The big kids all got a kick out of teaching him how to do it!

The weekend after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree, Christmas decorations and our lights. It was Abby's turn this year to put the angel on top of the tree. The kids all helped hang stockings and the ornaments. We did not hang any on the bottom of the tree this year because Aiden loves to steal ornaments off the tree and run away with them! He is finding all sorts of creative ways to get things close to the tree that he can stand on to reach the ornaments! That crazy kid! The kids are so excited for Christmas! Our favorite family activity is to fill the kids cups up with eggnog and then drive around town looking at Christmas lights each weekend. More and more lights go up each week so it's always fun to see new ones. Aiden is thrilled by lights and likes to point to them saying"Lights! Lights!" I just love Christmas wonder on a child's face! We are looking forward to all the exciting things this time of year brings!

Snow Day

2010-12-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

The kids learned some old wives tales on how to make it snow at school. So for several days Abby and Drew slept with a spoon under their pillow, flushed ice down the toilet before bed, and had Nick carry them into bed not letting their feet touch the floor. They were stoked when it actually worked and we had a snow day ! It wasn't a ton of snow but enough to cancel school for the day and keep the kids entertained all day long! Nick got the kids to build an awesome snowman that greeted me when I returned from driving my sister and nephew to the airport in Portland. I wasn't stoked that the one day of the year we got snow was the day I had to spend 5 hours on the road! Lots' of slipping and sliding! It was nice to arrive home and see the snowman in the yard. My kids sure do love to play in the snow! It was Aiden's first snow experience this year. I think he loved it more than the big kids! My sister will send me some pictures she took on her camera of Aiden in the snow and I will add them to this post. The kids are looking forward to our next snow adventure!

Auntie Co Co and Cousin Cole come to Visit!

2010-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Auntie Co Co and Cole came to visit us over the weekend. It had been a very long time since the kids have seen them! The kids loved playing with Cole and didn't want him to leave! Drew especially enjoyed having a buddy to wrestle with! We had fun hanging out, playing dress up, eating out, visiting our friend Katie Leonard and her kids, Christmas shopping, and going to the A.C. Gilbert house in Salem. Lots of fun memories were made this weekend! As usual time flew by way to quickly! Come back soon Sissy

Katie turns 4!

2010-11-24T15:50:00.000-08:00

No matter how hard I try to keep it from happening the kids just keep on getting older! Our sweet Katie turned 4 on November 15th. She helped me make a strawberry cake with 'funfetie' icing. She loved being my special helper!

Daddy got home from work early and Katie opened her Birthday presents. She was super excited to see what she got!

Katie got to choose what we made for dinner that night for dinner. She picked tortellini and garlic bread and devoured every bite! We sang happy birthday and had some yummy cake for dessert!

The weekend after Katie's Birthday we had a Birthday for her at Putters Pizza. The best part of Katie's party was her cousin Cole and her Auntie Co Co were able to be there for it! Several friends friends from school and church, and our teens also attended! The kids played games, did some mini golfing, ate some snacks, played in the indoor playground, opened presents, and had some yummy cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Katie Bear! You are such a blessing to our family! You are one spunky fun loving gal! Your laughter is contagious and you make everyone around you feel loved! We hope your 4's are full of magic moments and treasured memories!

Congrats to our Abby who is student of the month for her class!

2010-11-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

We are so proud of how hard you work and your passion to learn! You will be an awesome teacher some day! You all ready teach us so much! You are so loved! Congrats Abigail!

The one about James' surgery

2010-11-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday November 10th James had surgery to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. His extremely large tonsils were effecting his breathing and his sleeping. So far he is recovering well as long as we stay on top of his pain medication. He is enjoying eating ice cream for dinner and yogurt, pudding, popsicles, soup, applesauce and many other treats as meals right now! The other kids want in on that action! We are so proud of how well James is doing in his ability to recover and handle how uncomfortable he has to be. The doctors say the recovery should be 7-10 days long. So we still have a road of recovery left to go but so far it is going well. James has done so much better than we ever thought he would. What a super star!

Here he is right after surgery on the way home. He even tried to smile!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

We had so ouch fun on Halloween this year! We carved pumpkins, went out for pizza with some friends, and then went trick or treating! Our family sure loves dressing up! Even Dad and Mom got in on the action this year!

[

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Town!

2010-11-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

My parents came out for a visit with the kids last weekend! It was so great to see them! They hadn't seen the kids in a long time so we were especially excited to see them! We went out to pizza, visited a pumpkin patch, drove out to Sister's Oregon, and had a night out to celebrate my birthday a little early. It went by way to quickly! We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Team Askew does the Monster Mash!

2010-10-20T13:08:00.001-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Katie's 1st Field Trip

2010-10-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

After four years of having kids at Bethesda Preschool I was finally able to attend a field trip! Nick took off a few hours to hang out with Aiden so I could go with Katie to a local pumpkin patch. We took a hayride out to the pumpkin fields and Katie got to pick whatever pumpkin she wanted. After much searching she found the perfect one :) After the kids found their pumpkins we road back on the hay ride and got to see some of the animals they have at the farm. Katie got to see goats, chickens, a donkey and a pony. We looked around the produce store and then headed home. What a joy it was to have that one on one time with her. Katie is such a sweet and funny girl. She was bouncing around with excitement the whole time, and so was I! :)

Team Askew does Halloween

2010-10-10T21:41:00.001-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Girl Scout Fundraiser

2010-09-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Abby is selling candy, nuts, and magazines as a girl scout fundraiser. If you are interested let us know and we will send you a link so you can order online. This is a great way for our of state family and friends to still be able to order from Abby and have your order sent straight to you. You can also renew your current subscriptions through her. Thanks for your support!

Go! Fight! WIn!

2010-09-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

This week Abby attended cheer camp at Willamette High School with a bunch of her friends from school and from girl scouts. She had two days of practice to learn a routine and then preformed it at half time at Willamette's home football game! She loved every minute of it! She is looking forward to doing cheer camp again next year too. Check out some pictures and video from practice and from the game.

Katie goes to School!

2010-09-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well it's happened. Katie is a big girl now! She had her first day of preschool on Friday. She was beyond excited to go. She has watched all her sibling go through preschool and it was FINALLY her turn! You would have think she won the lottery! She went right in, put her back pack in her cubby, and made a bee line to the baby doll she discovered on meet your teacher day and turned to Nick and I and said,"Okay you can go now." We were totally kicked out by our kid! All the other parents were hanging out in the class with their kids but Katie was ready totally ready to stat her day. I have to admit it was the first time I was a little sad to see one of my kids go off to school. Katie is my little buddy and we do everything together. She on the other hand can't wait for the adventure of preschool. So I packed up Aiden in the car and headed home. It was so strange to only have one kid at home, even if it was only for an hour and a half! We were looking at each other like now what?! I am looking forward to some one on time with my little guy three days a week. We have never had that before. Katie is looking forward to all there is to learn in preschool and playing with her new friends.

First Day of School, First Day of School!

2010-09-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

Their backpacks waited by the door

The kids could barely wait for their first day of school!

Abby the 2nd grader

Drew the 1st grader

James the Kindergartner

Katie the Preschooler

(She starts school this coming Friday)

They paused for a few pictures

before running off to school

They all had a great first day!

They all love their amazing teachers!

They were excited to see their friends.

We are looking forward to another great school year!

Growing Up

2010-09-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Abby had to go and grow up a little more the night before starting 2nd grade! She lost her top tooth tonight! The tooth next to it is about to come out too. She's going to keep on wiggling it tonight. The poor Tooth Fairy is going to go broke.....

He's going to be a soccer player, he is, he is...

2010-09-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to an NCU Men's soccer game yesterday. This was Aiden's first time seeing soccer. After the game he started kicking around a ball himself. No one showed him how, he just starting doing it. Not too shabby for 18 months old!

James turns 5!

2010-08-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? It seems like not that long ago sweet baby James came into the world. Boy was he a beautiful baby! Now there is nothing baby about him! He's a big guy now. He will be starting Kindergarten in 2 weeks! Wasn't I just changing his diapers?

For his Birthday we threw together a little party with some of his friends. We went to Putter's and the kids played on the indoor playground, we sang Happy Birthday, opened presents, and ate gummy worm cupcakes. James had a blast. We were all wiped out after the hours of fun. That night we went to Izzy's Pizza Buffet for dinner and James got a yummy ice cream sundae and a birthday song!

The day after James' Birthday we took him to the Portland Zoo to celebrate his special day. We got to go through the dino exibit they have out there this summer. The kids loved the dinos that 'spit' water on to them! We saw lots of awesome animals and got an annual pass so we can go back again soon!

Peach Picking

2010-08-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed out to a local farm with some friends to pick some peaches. The small size of peach trees was perfect for the kids! The kids sure do love picking fresh fruit!

Scandi Fest

2010-08-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

This year we finally made it out to the Scandi Fest. Oh man was that some good eating! Holy cow there were some yummy treats! We had a great time trying different foods and watching the dancers. This will defiantly be a new yearly tradition! Check out the video below of Aiden enjoying his cotton candy!

Strawberries and Watermelons

2010-08-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend we headed over to Lone Pine Farm after church with our kids, our teens, and our friends the Crockett's. They were having a Watermelon Feed with free watermelon and hamburgers and hot dog lunches you could buy. We fed the troops and hung out on their fun playground for awhile. The kids could play on that thing for hours! Aiden especially enjoyed chowing down on the watermelon! After the kids had run off some of their energy we packed up and went to another small farm to pick strawberries. We all got some buckets and picked away. It wasn't until after we picked strawberries that we found out how much they cost! Needless to say we came away with $30 in berries but we had fun gathering them. The kids are having even more fun eating them every day.

Safety Town

2010-08-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

Each year the Eugene Police Department and the Kiwanas put on a thing called Safety Town for kids going into Kindergarten. This was James year to go! He went for 2 and 1/2 hours every day for two weeks. He learned all sorts of safety things! Like how to look both ways to cross the street, bus safety, bike safety, playground and pool safety, stranger danger and much, much more! He made some new friends and enjoyed seeing two of his babysitters there who were there volunteering. At the end of the two weeks they had a graduation ceremony for the kids. After it the kids got popsicles and balloons and got to check out a police car, motorcycle, and McGruff the crime dog. This program is so awesome and so well run. My kids always learn so much and have a super fun time doing it. When it comes time for your little one to head off to Kindergarten put them in Safety Town. They will love every minute of it!

Check out my new Nephew!

2010-08-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

My best friend in the whole world Abby and her husband Dennis are adopting this cute little guy from Korea! His name is Gabe and I all ready love him to pieces! I am totally taking Auntie status! We are hoping he will be home by Christmas. I can't wait to kiss those cheeks! Please pray for his development and a speedy process to get him in their arms!

Willamette Festival

2010-08-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

We went to this really cool festival this summer. A bunch of churches got together and put on this free event called the Willamette festival. There were games and prizes for the kids, face painting, magic show,BMX bikes and skateboards doing tricks, motocross, food, cotton candy, and best of all live concerts! We were lucky enough to get to see SuperChick and The Newsboys! Katie even learned how to do the 'rock fist'! That girl loves to dance! When she hears music she just can'y hold still! Mickey came along with us and we also had a 7 week old baby with us that I was watching for my friend. We hope they have it again next year!

Nick turns 32

2010-08-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

Nick celebrated his 32nd Birthday. We went out to dinner, opened presents, sang Happy Birthday, and ate some cookie cake. Happy Birthday Dad!

Elephant Car Wash

2010-08-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Nick's Mom came out our way to visit some good friends of hers this summer. We drove out to Roseburg to pick her up and ate some yummy lunch together. We then headed over to the Wildlife Safari.We are sure getting good use out of that pass! They had a special thing going on this summer where you could pay to have an elephant wash your car. Grammy being as awesome as she is, payed for us to have this one of a kind experience! An elephant named Alice came out and sucked water up in her trunk, pressed her trunk right up to the car window and blew all the water out! The kids were screaming in pure joy. They thought it was the coolest thing ever, and trust me, it was! After making her way all the way down the car blowing water as she went, she got out a sponge and wiped the windows down. The kids were laughing so hard! it was so cool to experience an Elephant up so close. After the car wash was over we got to ask her trainer any questions we wanted to about elephants. Abby asked her how long they live and what kind of food they eat. What a cool day!

Updates

2010-07-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

More fun Team Askew moments are coming your way! My power cord is shot on my mac so it will be 2 more days until I recieve a new one and can post. Coming soon:Whittenburg wedding, cherry picking, wildlife safari elephant car wash!

Holy Smokes, Fireworks!

2010-07-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

The kids and I started off the 4th of July by attending Camp Harlow's annual 4th of July picnic. Elo and Wheat joined us this year. Nick was on a work trip so it was super helpful to have them along. The kids all sported their 4th of July shirts and USA necklaces(Elo got those for them) We ate some burgers and other goodies, saw and fed some horses, played on the play ground, rode the giant swings, took a ride on a fire truck, visited with church friends, and enjoyed some time together!

Nick and the Colochico family joined us that evening. We BBQ'ed and had some lava cake together. Then we headed outside to enjoy some time riding bikes, playing games and watching fireworks. The kids continued their tradition of yelling HOLY SMOKES, FIREWORKS over and over again all night. Our neighbors had some awesome illegal fireworks (the type that shoot up in the air) that we also enjoyed. The kids rocked the sparklers and finally hit the hay around 10:30pm. It was another memorable 4th of July for Team Askew!

Mel and Kate plus 8

2010-07-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Katie and I took our 8 kids to the Wildlife Safari today. Let's just say there was more wildlife IN the car than outside of the car. It was so funny to see all those kids in the back of Katie's car. They were more focused on the novelty of that then checking out the animals! We spent some time exploring the village before we headed home. It was such a fun day. We had a blast with the Leonard's. We love you guys!

Our first family camping trip

2010-07-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

We did it! We finally took the kids camping! It was sooooo much fun. The kids did awesome and loved every minute of it! We went to a state park called Honeyman. It is on the coast and right next to a lake. We went for 3 nights and that was a perfect amount of time. It felt so good to camp again. I really missed it! Camping as a kid and young adult are some of my favorite memories. I am so excited for my own children to experience this through their own childhoods. We are an official camping family! Months ago I told Aiden that he had until our camping trip to start walking and he made his deadline! It was a lot easier to have him walking instead of crawling! We took 5 of our high school girls along with us too. They are always a huge help. It was fun getting to have that time with them too. Two of my friends families ended up being out there also and we got to meet up with them and enjoy some campfire time!

We went to the lake and played in the sand and water, explored the old town section of Florence, had some ice cream with friends, played on a play ground at the camp site, made s'mores, enjoyed the campfire and time as a family. We can't wait to do it again!

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Father's Day started out with a little breakfast in bed

We then went to church together and celebrated our one year church-aversary along with Father's Day.

After Church Daddy opened his presents:

A quilt decorated by the kids along with pictures of him with the kids!

A worlds Best Dad sports trophy

Later that night we went out for Mexican food for Father's Day dinner. The kids showered their Dad with hugs and kisses all day long. What an amazing Dad they have. In fact, they have the Worlds best Dad!

Safety Fair

2010-06-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to a Safety Fair this weekend. The kids all got free bike helmets which was a total score! There were lots of fire trucks for the kids to climb on and lots of free pencils from local companies for them to collect. A girl's gotta stock up for back to school some how! We even got to see a helicopter land on the field. The kidos thought that was pretty awesome! There were games set up at different booths for the kids to play too. We got to see several police and fire dogs and even a police horse! It was a nice way to spend some family time.

Look what Aiden can do!

2010-06-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

Kindergarten Graduate

2010-06-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

Drew made it through Kindergarten! We attended his graduation yesterday and enjoyed listening to him sing some songs about the ocean. They have been studying the ocean for the last month and took a field trip to the aquarium a week ago. Drew picked out a special outfit to wear to his graduation. When I picked him up from school the day before he asked me, " Mom can we go shopping to get me a fancy outfit for graduation? But boy fancy, not girl fancy!" How could I say no to that! So Nick took him shopping and they picked out an outfit and made me wait until the morning of to se it! Drew was really excited to wear his special outfit! We also watched a slide show and celebrated with some cake. We are excited for all that Drew has learned this year and for what 1st grade has in store for him. Way to go Drewgy!

The last of the Middle Schoolers

2010-06-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

So now all my 'girls' are high schoolers! The last of the middle schoolers have graduated! I barely survived through their horribly boring 2 hour ceremony with speeches in 4 different languages, in an extremely hot over packed gym! You know I really love you if I attend your graduation because, to be honest, I pretty much hate going to them! I managed to entertain myself by doing really mature things like this:

And some people wonder how it is that I can hang out with 13-18 year olds all the time! :)

So a big ol' congrats goes out to

Noodles

Maggs

Lilly

And the rest of the gang

A special thanks goes out to those who endured my attempts to humor myself, and those who are just as mature as I am!

Thinking of my Aunt Janet

2010-06-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Miss you!

Camp Harlow

2010-06-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Camp Harlow is a huge Camp that our church owns. They offer summer and spring break camp for kids. They also teach horseback riding and swim lessons there. Today Camp Harlow had an open house where all the activities were open for families to come out and do. We packed the kids up and headed over there this afternoon.

The kids played mini golf

They rode on the giant swings and the tire swing

Had a blast on the bumper boats

Ran around in the fields filled with little white flowers and explored the huge trees

The kids had so much fun exploring Camp Harlow. We really hope we can send them there for summer camp this year if we can come up with the money. The camp also has a swimming pool, horse back riding, disk golf, a zip line, an arts and crafts hut and so much more. It's a really awesome place.

The kids had so much fun that they looked like this in the car on the way home

Congrats Wheat!

2010-06-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend my first high school girl, Elise,(better known as Wheat around our house) graduated! I sat with her sisters and we cheered her and her boyfriend, Shay, on. It's hard to believe I met her as a freshman and now she is a graduate! I am so proud of her, she really worked hard to accomplished her goals! She will be starting beauty school in the fall. It is such a blessing to be part of her life and I can't wait to see the next adventure the Lord has for her. I sure do love you Wheat!

Elise's graduation kicked off graduation week for me. I have a bunch of middle school girls graduating Tuesday night and Drew graduates from kindergarden on Wednesday morning. I'm hoping I still have a voice left to cheer them on! :)

Dad's and Donuts

2010-06-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Abby and Nick went to a Father's Day Event that Abby's class put on last night. Abby served Nick a donut and juice and the class sang some songs for their Dad's. They decorated a donut for their dad that listed all the reasons why they loved their Dad. The last thing Abby gave Nick was a portrait she made of him wearing a hat that listed the qualities she loves about him. Super cute! Nick has a great night with Abby!

Family Ties

2010-06-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

My sister Liz and her boyfriend Sam came out to visit us for a week! It was so nice to have them around for our daily events. They attended James' pre-school graduation, Drew's last T-ball game and end of the season party, came with us to pick kids up from school, hung out around home and played with us at the park. We didn't end up taking many pictures while they were here. We were too busy having fun! We did take a few pictures when we went to Skinner's Butte for a picnic and time on the playground. I can't express in words how much it means to me that they use their vacation time and money to come see Nick and I and the kids. My kids are so blessed to have such an awesome Aunt and Uncle! I look forward to the next time we are all together again!

The Graduate

2010-06-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

James is an official Pre-school graduate! His pre-school had a little program where each class sang 5 songs that they have been working on. Then each child got called up to receive their diplomas. Afterward we had a picnic lunch and ice cream. We are so proud of James! He has learned so much over the last year. We continue to be blessed by the teachers and staff at Bethesda Pre-School. Katie can't wait to start there in the fall! It's hard to believe James will be joining the big kids in Elementary school next year. My how time flies...

Picture a Day in May- May 31st

2010-06-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

This picture was take at OMSI. Nick held Aiden over the wind blower machine. He has a ton of hair!

Picture a Day in May- May 30th

2010-05-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 29th

2010-05-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

The blessings of Friends!

2010-05-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all my friends who took the time to see me when I was out in California! I sure do love and miss you guys!

Another Eldridge joins the family!

2010-05-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

My brother Mark is a married man! He married a wonderful women women named Lisa, who was the most beautiful bride! They had a beautiful wedding and we had a great time celebrating their marriage. It was so good to see all my cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, and friends! It's so hard to believe that my bother is a grown man! Time sure does fly by!

Happiest Place on Earth!

2010-05-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

While in California for my brother's wedding I took Katie to her first trip to Disneyland! My awesome friend Heidi from high school signed us in for free! Score! We got there when the park opened at 9am and stayed until it closed at 10pm. Katie cried when I told her the park was closing and we had to go home! She probably could have hung in there a few more hours! Her favorite part of the day was meeting Mini Mouse and Playing in Mini's house. She loved the dishwasher and stove that came to life when she pushed a button! She had me take her back in a second time! It was such a fun day and I will always cherish the memories made that day!

Picture a Day in May- May 28th

2010-05-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Here is Abby with her girl scout troop! It was taken on my cell phone so it's not the best picture.

Picture a Day in May- May 27th

2010-05-29T09:36:00.001-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 26th

2010-05-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

I love my Cyndi!

Picture a Day in May- May 25th

2010-05-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with cousin Tricia and Addy at the park!

Picture a Day in May- May 24th

2010-05-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Katie's 1st trip to Disneyland!

Picture a Day in May- May 23rd

2010-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here is another favorite shot from the wedding of my sister Crystal and my nephew Cole.

Picture a Day in May- May 22nd

2010-05-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Here is my favorite shot from my brother Mark's wedding!

Picture a Day in May- May 21st

2010-05-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Visiting my best buddy Abby while in California! I sure love this girl!

Picture a Day in May- May 20th

2010-05-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Here is Katie in a dress that my sister and I wore when we were little girls! Grandma found it packed away and we just had to try it on her!

Catchup

2010-05-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

My poor blog. My vacation to California meant the lack of ability to post to my blog. Right in the middle of my picture a day extravaganza! So it's time for me to catch up. So here they come!

Team Askew's Newest Member!

2010-05-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Introducing Jack!

Picture a Day in May- May 19th

2010-05-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 18th

2010-05-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Abby helping Aiden learn to walk.

Picture a Day in May- May 17th

2010-05-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

My Rhodes finally bloomed!

Picture a Day in May- May 16th The Bean of Doom

2010-05-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday at Drew's T-ball game I was putting sunscreen on James and he started to cry when I put some on his nose. I asked him why he was crying and he said it was because he had something in his nose. I asked him what was in his nose and he replied that he had a bean in his nose. So I look and sure enough there is a dried pinto bean from his reward bean jar all the way up his nose! I call the doctor and get an after hours appointment with a doctor over at the hospital. The doctor saw James and was unable to remove the bean. The whole process was torture for the little guy. So the doctor sends us down stairs to Urgent Care to see if they can remove it with their tools and suction machine. So we go down stairs and wait almost 2 hours to have them unsuccessfully try to remove the bean of doom. There was more prodding and scraping of metal tools up his nose and a failed attempt to vacuum it out. All the while my kid is screaming in pain. So they decide we need to go to the ER to have them sedate James and use their tools to remove it. They call over to the ER and discover there is 5-6 hour wait time over there. So the doctor suggests that we just take him in early the next morning when there would be a shorter wait time. So this morning we woke James up at 5:30 am and headed over to the ER. There was no wait and we got right in. They ended up giving James Ketamine to put him in a sleepy but awake state where he has no control over his body and is out of it. He still whimpered at certain times during the procedure so I don't think it was pain free for him. This was very hard on both Nick and I to watch. After some time the doctor was finally able to remove the bean. It was huge! At least 2 times the size it was when he put it up his nose. Got to love all the snot and moisture the bean sucked up over the 20 hours it was up there. We saved the bean as a lessen to all the kids NOT TO STICK THINGS UP THEIR NOSES! Some how I'm sure it won't be the last thing to get stuck in an Askew nostril! After the doctor got it out we had to hang out in the ER for another 2 hours while the meds wore off. We got some laughs out of James' double vision that made him think we had 4 eyes and 2 heads! We are sure glad the bean of doom has been removed! James has a sore leg from the shot and a nostril that bleeds on and off , but he is bean free!

Picture a Day in May- May 15th

2010-05-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 14th

2010-05-14T23:12:00.001-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 13th

2010-05-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist!

Picture a Day in May- May 12th

2010-05-12T23:31:00.001-07:00

Happy 18th Birthday to our daughter Elise!

Picture a Day in May- May 10th

2010-05-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Word to your Mother

2010-05-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Day started off a little sad today. My dear sweet bunny Manny died today. I am really going to miss him. He brought me a lot of joy. Manny was also one of the most romantic gestures Nick has made. When I saw him in the pet store I fell in love with him right away! I sadly put him back in his cage when it was time to leave. Later that night Nick went back and bought him and brought him home to surprise me! I didn't even have to tell him how much I wanted him. He just knew. It was the sweetest thing ever. I'll miss him.

My day really picked up as we all got in the car and headed to church. Abby was baptized by Nick at church today! I was such a proud Mama! My little girl is really growing up! It is such a blessing to see her personal relationship with Christ!

Nick came up with the coolest thing to have the kids make for me for Mother's Day! Each kid decorated 2 fabric squares and then Nick put them together to make a quilt for me! Even my high school girls decorated squares. It turned out so awesome! I am going to hang it up on our bedroom wall! I love it!

The kids also made me sweet cards at school and at church. At school James planted seeds and watered them until they grew into plants and decorated the pot they were in. Katie made me a magnet with her picture on it at church and Drew made me a flower pot card with his picture in the middle of the flower at school.

Abby had a Mom's and Muffins event for me and her at school on Friday. She served me apple juice and a blueberry muffin. Her class sang 4 songs to the Mom's and read out loud why their Mom was as sweet as a muffin. Abby made me a cut out of 'me' decorated with fabric, yarn, and buttons. She made me a coupon book and a book that talked about all the things she loves that I do for her. It totally brought me to tears!

My greatest blessing is being a Mother. God has blessed me beyond measure by gifting me with 5 amazing children who are each different in their own ways. He has blessed me with children who are not mine by blood but are mine through His perfect plan. I have learned that family is more than blood. Family is those you love and call your own. I am so lucky to have such a large family that always continues to grow. My heart is open and flowing with love for my children and the children God calls me to make my own. God has really given me the desires of my heart and I am eternally grateful to Him.

Best Mother's Day gift ever!

2010-05-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today I received the best Mother's Day present a Mom could receive. Abby chose to be baptized at church today! She had Nick baptize her which also really blessed him. I totally cried with joy. Abby was bouncing off the walls with excitement afterwards! We are so excited that she chose to express her faith in this public way! We are excited to watch her faith and personal walk with Jesus deepen and grow. Congrats Abby! We are so very proud of you!

Picture a Day in May- May 9th

2010-05-09T21:32:00.001-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 8th

2010-05-08T21:46:00.001-07:00

Infront of Carver Cafe where some scenes in Twilight were filmed with the girls!

Picture a Day in May- May 7th

2010-05-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 6th

2010-05-06T09:29:00.001-07:00

Picture a Day in May- May 5th

2010-05-05T21:43:00.003-07:00

Sleeping Beauty!

Picture a Day in May- May 4th

2010-05-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of our Student of the Month!

Picture a Day in May- May 3rd

2010-05-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Katie loves her Ducks!

2010-05-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Nick won two tickets to a Ducks' Baseball game on the radio this week. Katie had been bugging him to take her to a Ducks game all year so this was a perfect fit! So they put on their Ducks gear today and headed out to cheer them on. Katie's favorite part of her one on one time with Nick was getting ice cream in a Duck's helmet and Daddy's undivided attention!

Picture a Day in May

2010-05-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

So I have some friends doing this thing called "A Picture a Day in May" on their blogs and Facebook accounts and thought it would be fun to do it too! So each day I will post a picture I took that day on here and my Facebook page. It may be one I took on my phone or with my camera of anything that strikes me. Fun right?!

So I totally thought I would use a super cute picture of Katie and Nick going to Katie's first Duck's game today. Turns out that there was a better photo opp that just sums up how life can be some days around here. So here is todays picture of Drew compliments of Aiden:

T-Ball

2010-05-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

Drew continues to love playing t-ball. Each week he has games on Saturday's and Monday's and he has practice on Friday's. He has played all the positions now and says short stop is his favorite. It's his favorite because he says a lot of plays happen to that position. :) He is learning the basics and sharping his skills as a batter and a fielder.

But no matter how much we tell him not to do this:

He still does. All the boys do. What is up with that anyway?! This just continues to support my theory that, boys are weird!

Drew is making some good friends and Katie really likes playing with one of the boy's little sisters. The little girl is also Katie's age and is in Katie's Sunday School class at church. She brings extra baby dolls and toys to share with Katie. It is so adorable!

Family Time

2010-05-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we spent some family time on a walk to the park at the kids school. The kids had a good time playing on the equipment there and Nick and I had fun being kids with them!

Slide show from the Tulip Festival

2010-04-25T13:33:00.001-07:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Baller

2010-04-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

It's official. We have entered a new stage in parenthood. We are now a family with a kid who plays sports. Drew is now an official t-baller! This is a big change. Practice and games three days a week is a big commitment. I can feel the shifting in our family. It's crazy to realize that are kids are getting older. They are starting to discover their talents and interests and it is exciting to encourage them to pursue them.

So I have a confession to make, I'm not a big sports fan. I don't enjoy watching them on TV, or even going to them live. It's more of a social event for me. Most of the time I forget there is a game I'm supposed to be watching! All of this said, it's so different when it's your son out there! I love cheering Drew on from the sidelines! I know I'm not the first or the last to think my kid has a lot of natural talent. Above all he really loves playing and being part of a team. Not to mention he looks super cute in his uniform :) (Insert eye roll from Drew here!) So the time has come, the Askew kids are growing up quickly. But just for the record I'm not a soccer Mom, I'm a T-Ball Mom!

Camping In

2010-04-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

Last night we had "family camp in" night! I made hotdogs, beans and had BBQ chips for the kids for dinner. For dessert we had super yummy s'mores! The kids got to put their own s'mores together which they totally dug. It blew their mind when the marshmallows grew in the microwave. :)

Nick got out his guitar and played some songs for us. The kids all sang along and had a dance party! Even Aiden was shaking his booty! Drew got his guitar out too to join Nick in the jam session.

When bed time rolled around the kids camped out in their tents in their rooms. They loved it so much they asked if they could do it again tonight. It was a really cool way to spend Family Friday!