This post was written by Tanner…… he saw a video at school a few days ago and it really hit him…. he asked me to post this.

This is a serious matter that requires serious attention. During school, I saw a movie about a war going on in a small country, smaller than the state of Washington in the U.S., for quite some time now. One man, the leader of this terror-causing force known of as the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) has been abducting the children of Uganda while they sleep. this man’s name is Joseph Kony. There are arrest warrants out for him, but he continuously evades capture, peace talks, and any signs of peaceful end to this war. His reign of terror has started spreading to multiple other countries such as Congo and Sudan. please help end this man’s reign of terror. Check out the project for saving these children from being used in this sick, twisted man’s evil plots by clicking here. These children, once abducted by other children who were already abducted by Joseph Kony, adults who work for Kony, or Kony himself are abused, and trained to be soldiers. They are told that if they try to leave they will be killed. These children are forced daily to do terrible things that many full grown adults would be scarred from. Kony has been known for slicing off misbehaving children’s noses and lips with machetes. I beg of you to donate and do your part for this organization, even a small donation will help tremendously. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The name of the project “invisible children,” actually was thought up because these children are being abducted in such a small country, and not many efforts have been put forth to stop Joseph Kony’s tyrannical actions.

~media of the invisible children project here

~invisible cildren merchandise store here (all proceeds go towards the efforts to help the children in uganda)

~donations to this cause are here (all are for helping these children abducted by Joseph Kony)

~more info. about the “invisible children project here

~how you can help is here

~news/press updates on the ugandan war and invisible children project here

~programs by invisible children here

~invisible children campaigns here

Please remember, that this is almost like what Hitler was doing. Manipulating people to kill other innocent lives. but also remember that you can help stop this madness. please, please help… thank you.

Yay, boy is following a bit in mama’s footsteps! Tanner is taking a school publications class where he’s been developing in his picture taking skills. My budding photog! I worked on the school newspaper and loved it. He snapped a pic with our old jacked up digicam, it is in a very sad state, LCD screen is cracked and broken, but I was surprised at how well the pic came out. They used it for the banner on the school website, which I thought was really cool! WTG Tanner!

Santa if you are reading this: Tanner is wishing for a new camera for Christmas. A DSLR if you are feeling particularly jolly

Tanner was inducted into the National Jr Honor Society yesterday at school, by maintaining a 3.5 GPA for his entire 7th grade year. He’s really owned up to his potential this year and has been incredibly active with volunteering, band, Knowledge Bowl, and track. I am really proud of him! You will achieve greatness son, I know you will

Tanner getting a certificate from the 8th grade chairs. (click to enlarge).

Tanner was in the Loyalty Days Parade in Long Beach today. We drove up for the day, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and had a great time. The kids loved that the people on the floats were throwing out candy! McKenzie got most excited over a John Deere tractor of all things. Bailey was practicing her “princess wave” all afternoon. Lane had more fun playing in the yard behind where we were sitting. Bailey was having fun making grass angels. LOL. Ashlyn had fun on the bumper cars with Dad and Grandma Lisa. We all enjoyed dinner at Chico’s… good times!

I took two typing classes in college… that was over 10 years ago. I used to type over 100 minutes per minute so I was curious to see what I officially type now. I’ve gotten kind of lazy… but am still pretty proud of the results

I type 96 words per minute

Tanner was the only one awake when I took this and I asked him to take the test too. He’s being a good sport and sharing his results Not too bad for not yet taking any classes on this.

Tanner types 36 words per minute

Find out how fast you type here: Speedtest
If you take the test, I’d love it if you posted how well you did in my comments!

Two slideshows for ya…. one is a collage of pics of Tanner over the last 13 years. The other is from his birthday weekend. Enjoy!

I am so proud of my son and I can’t believe he is 13 years old! I love how smart you are. I love that you still hug and kiss me goodnight. I love that you say thank you for dinner every single night, even when it’s not something you particularly enjoy. I love that you are such a big helper to me and your dad, and help us out when we need you to. I love that you still watch Spongebob and play board games with your little sisters. I love that you offer to let your sisters sit up front in the van without a second thought or argument. I love that when something falls on the ground, you pick it up - no matter who dropped it. I love the way you relentlessly try to tickle my feet. I love your giggle and your bright smile. Your goofy jokes drive me nuts, but I still love them. You are a wonderful young man and you make me proud every day!

My baby boy is 12 today! I say “baby” because it seems like yesterday that he WAS a baby! Where have the last 12 years gone? Holy cow. TWELVE YEARS OLD. And he’s not even my oldest. Talk about making a person feel OLD. Tanner came into the world just after 2am on February 23rd, 1995. I was due on 2/24 and had been to the doctor the day before on 2/22. I went to my mom’s for dinner with Katy and we went for a walk after dinner. I started having mild contractions that were like 10 minutes a part for about an hour and we started getting ready to go to the hospital. Myndi (my sister) and Ron (my stepdad) were going to watch Katy for us, while my mom and I went to the hospital. Just before we left, Katy was “painting” makeup on Myndi with a paintbrush and accidentally jabbed the paintbrush into her ear and it was bleeding, thinking maybe she’d poked a hole in her eardrum or something, they thought maybe she’d be needing to go to the hospital with us. Everything turned out okay with her, and off to the hospital we went….

I started having really horrible contractions that I felt more in my back then anywhere, I was in SO much pain, they gave me an epidural right away and I was able to sleep for a good hour before I was ready to deliver him.

He came out upside down, which was the cause of my back labor, I should have known he was trouble right from the start. LOL. He was 8lbs, and the perfect picture of health. He was a very good baby and I had the greatest helper in the world in Katy. She loved being a part of everything, changing him, dressing him, all of it. She loved her baby brudder. The one thing I remember the most were Tanner’s toes, they were the longest toes ever, we used to say he could hang from a tree like a monkey. He also looked like a little old man. We’d say that he’d look the exact same at 90 years old, with a few more wrinkles LOL. I’m hoping to get some baby pictures to post if I can get my other computer w/scanner working.

We are taking Tanner and a friend to the movies tonight and having cake and ice cream after.

Happy 12th Birthday
Buddy!

Bailey
wanted Tanner to wear her birthday crown.
No, he wasn’t super happy about wearing it. LOL.

I suck at this
updating thing!

February has been such a busy month and I have thought of many things that I
want to run and post on here, but I just don’t get around to it! Bailey turned 3
on February 14th.

Tanner turned 11 on February 23rd.

And, we went to OMSI on February 18th, to sort of celebrate both birthdays with
something fun, they both could enjoy. Needless to say, I can’t believe my babies
are another year older. How does this happen? I say this every doggone year, I
just get adjusted to the fact that they are another digit older and WHAM, they
are having another doggone birthday! Bailey keeps telling me that she’s still my
baby, now if only she will say that for another 15 years, I’ll be good ;o)

A tradition I started
a few years ago, the kids get to pick their birthday meals on their birthday
from breakfast to snack, to lunch, to dinner and their cake. Bailey chose heart
shaped toast with butter and red sprinkles for breakfast, chicken nuggets for
lunch with daddy, and pizza for dinner. She wanted a heart cake, so Elaine
(grandpa’s girlfriend) made her a chocolate cake with ice cream in the middle
and purple frosting, in a heart shape. So cute!  Tanner’s choices were cranberry
and orange muffins for breakfast, a cold lunch of bologna and cheese sandwiches,
cookies, a banana, chips, and HiC, and for dinner he picked grandpa’s famous
corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots w/fresh french bread. Grandma picked
up an ice cream cake from Baskin and Robbins that ended up melting a little bit
as we were opening presents, but it was VERY tasty anyway… chocolate cake
w/chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

The kids were spoiled
as usual, with gifts.
They
got lots of fun things. Bailey got a jacket that my mom made for her (I’ll have
to take a picture) and $$ for dance classes, Dora’s dollhouse toys, a new trike,
some clothes, and the list goes on… Tanner got a PSP, which he was totally
excited about. I had him believing that his big present was ordered online and
it wouldn’t make it until Saturday, so he was SHOCKED and HAPPY. He deserved
it… last year we got him a gas powered RC car that was over $200 and it never
did work right from Day 1. So he really deserved a wow gift this year. He got
$100 from Grandpa, which he will probably turn around and buy some new PSP
stuff, and my mom made him a beautiful quilt (again, I’ll take pics) and got him
Globetrotters tickets. Which, she got two of them, so dad and grandma are both
campaigning to see who will get to escort the man to the game. LOL. Maybe, I
should just tell Tanner to ditch them both and take me instead? haha!

 

OMSI
was fun! Tanner invited his friend Timmy to go along with us. Tanner’s dad from
TriCities and his wife and son came down to join us for the day. Grandma Lisa,
Myndi, Jack, Lane and my mom also joined us. So we had quite the crew. We ended
up buying a family membership, so we can go back for free for a year. There was
so much to do and see that we are already planning another trip. They had a fun
little playground area for younger kids… with arts/crafts, building blocks,
train tracks, a grocery store, water play, etc. Bailey didn’t want to leave at
all! They also had a Cartoon Network Animation exhibit that the kids had a blast
playing with.

So, as you can
February has been a BUSY month. Bailey is starting dance here shortly, McKenzie
& Ashlyn are both starting softball. Katie is graduating MIDDLE SCHOOL this
year. My baby will be in high school next year, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? Because I
can’t. OMGosh!

I will leave you with
some picture albums from this month… enjoy! Click each picture to go to the
corresponding photo album. These can also be found in our

photo gallery

Valentine’s Day & Bailey’s 3rd Birthday

Tanner’s 11th Birthday