So here I am again, sitting at the computer while my chatter box children eat their lunch, :~) Mommy made their favorite lunch today, simple really but a child pleaser... mini bagels, pizza sauce topped with mozzarella cheese, cooked in the oven till toasty brown and cheese all melted. Yep, bagel pizzas, this mom's saving grace when my kids are being picky eaters, which luckily they are not very often.

We have an accepted offer on the house!! YAY. It has been a long 5 almost 6 week wait, waiting for the bank to decide if our offer was a fair one in this real estate market. So if all goes well, we should be closing escrow in 30-45 days...of course we have to get through inspections and such, fingers crossed!!

Amelia has yet another ear infection, grrrr. My sweet baby girl is such a trooper, she takes it all in stride, she truly is amazing. I just got a call from the hospital, she is scheduled for her tubes next Tuesday morning. We are so lucky to have pediatricians who are pro-active and listen to us. Gosh, if I had been able to get tubes put in Kyle and Ashley's ears this early. So knock on wood, our ear problems will be over in a matter of days!

UPDATE: Well, now another house we had put an offer in on that we really liked but never heard from the bank on has come back on the market...so now we are contemplating which house...?hmmmm?

Prom

April 24, 2009 was Kyle's Sr. Prom and Ashley's Jr. Prom.

Both kids had a fantastic, great time, and neither one of them wanted the night to end. Kyle's date was a good friend of his named Brittany and Ashley's date was one of her best friends, a guy on the track team named Adrianne. As you can see both kids and their dates looked AWESOME!!!

Spring Break was awesome!! We rented a cabin and headed with all 5 kids to Tahoe. We were there from April 10-15th, and got to have Easter and my birthday in Tahoe. This is probably our last Spring Break as an entire family...Kyle graduates from high school in just a few weeks and will be a college freshman. Watching the kids hunt for eggs in Tahoe was quite a hoot I must say! John and I even drove over to South Lake Tahoe one night and did a little gambling at Harrah's. I won $140.00! The first 2 days we were there it was sunny and warm. Then a storm moved in, we were even sitting in the hot tub one night as snow was coming down, now that's what I call great. Oh how we miss the snow. Sometimes I wish we had never left New Hampshire, I miss the snow, the White Mountains, the Atlantic Ocean at Rye Beach...Anyway back to Spring Break, it was truly a great time, spent with our kids walking on the beach, playing in the snow, sight seeing, relaxing, watching movies. Time is moving so fast, my kids are changing by the moment. If I have learned anything since Kyle was born, is cherish each and every moment, time slips by so fast.

It's been quite a while since I updated the blog, so I figured I had better get my booty in gear and do an update! A lot has happened in the Hunter house and our little town of Tracy.

I guess I will start with the case of Sandra Cantu. Unless you live with your head in the sand, you have heard of Sandra Cantu. Sandra was a beautiful, sweet, intelligent 8 year old little girl who was taken from this life way to soon. An arrest has been made in the case, a woman named Melissa Huckaby. As a mother, I cannot fathom a mother hurting a child in such a way. When Sandra came up missing, everyone assumed it was an opportunist who knew the area, maybe visiting someone in the park (you have to know the area to find that mobile home park...it's not visible from the road or the highway), then hopped on the highway and was gone. To find out it was a neighbor, the mother of one of Sandra's friends.....how? why? just sickening. Now to find out the autopsy results have been sealed to prevent community outrage. John, Kyle, Ashley, Cassidy, Aidan, Amelia and I spent many hours at the vigils praying for her safe return, taping up fliers. I think we knew what the outcome would be, but the reality was crushing.

18 years and still going strong...

18 years ago John and I became Mr and Mrs John Hunter... Feb. 23, 1991 1:00 pm, Kelseyville Presbyterian Church...
5 kids later...
2 cross country moves...
3 company changes and back to the old company...

I fell head over heals in love with John the day I met him, I knew I was going to marry this man. Funny thing is, I met him because my dad had an angina attack and John was my dad's supervisor that day, the one who brought my dad to the Dr. to be checked out. From the moment my dad had me go out to the waiting room to find his supervisor our eyes met, that was it...A few days later John came to my apartment for a haircut, pizza in hand and a 6 pack of beer. After our dinner of pizza and his haircut John went to leave. Sneaky little devil left his wallet at my house so he had to come back and see me again. The rest is history.

The last 18 years have been a very exciting time, full of changes and twists. I can't wait to see what the next 18 years brings.

I just had to take quick moment to let out a shout for a friend of mine, Amber. She makes the cutest, sweetest and just plain ingenious baby leg warmers instead of dumb old awkward tights for your little girl. Please, if you know someone who just had a baby girl, have a little girl learning to crawl...live in frigid neck of the woods, have a gymnast who needs arm warmers? Check out the blog at the bottom of my page called 'knotty baby wear'...you will not be disappointed! Amelia has 8 different pairs, in all different colors and she LOVES, them. Not to mention all the compliments I get.......THANKS AMBER!

Meet Dazzlin' Lady Madaline

Right now our hearts are breaking...you see our beautiful, sweet, loving and extremely loyal people puppy Maddy is very sick. Recently Maddy's health has started to fail so we took her to the vet for a check up and some dental care. Due to her age the vet did some blood and urine analysis to make sure she was healthy enough for the anesthesia. Unfortunately it came back bad. We found out Maddy is in 'uncompensated kidney failure'. I wish there was a magic button that told us the right thing to do. We watch Maddy have moments of clarity...but those moments are fleeting, less and less often. The majority of her time is spent sleeping, having no appetite and when we can get her to eat, she throws it up within minutes. We are even to the point of feeding Maddy her wet food piece by piece, just 3-4 bites at a sitting, and she still cannot keep it down. When is the right time? I don't know. Her moments of clarity are just often enough that when I think it's time to take her to the vet, she perks up and gets sassy, her happy goofy mutter that eventually turns to a bark all the while wagging her tail. HMM, the amount of people who have thought her mutter was a growl... no, it's not a growl, it's a term of endearment of Maddy's. My heart is breaking. Maddy was just 3 days old when I picked her out of the litter from my friend Jackie. She was the cutest, prettiest puppy. All the 3 puppies in her litter were pretty, but Maddy had these beautiful markings, big beautiful head and when I picked her up, she instantly settled down and went to sleep in my hands, so tiny, just 4.5 oz.

We have moved all over Gods green earth as you know. And all the while we had Maddy...and eventually her sweet funny daughter Sophie. No matter where we lived we had Maddy and Sophie, and they made it 'HOME'. When the inevitable time comes home will not be the same. I cannot even begin to count the arguments between John and I Maddy has broken up, or the times she got Kyle and Ashley out of trouble. You want to know how? By that famous mutter. Voices would be raised and guess who would interject herself into what was going on...yep Maddy. There she would be, at our feet, muttering, wagging her tail and if we did not stop in what she considered a timely manner, it would turn to a BARK. Our girl telling us off.

Ashley can't even remember a time when we did not have Maddy in our lives. Grandma and Grandpa Hunter don't appreciate dogie visitors, but ya know what Maddy and Sophie were ALWAYS welcome at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Many trips to Whidbey Island, Maddy even lost her favorite ball in the current at Fort Casey, WA on one of those trips. Grandpa felt so bad she lost her ball, he went to the drawer and knotted up a kitchen towel and gave it to Maddy, he even sat on the floor playing tug of war with her. If you know my father in law you know what a compliment that was. The day we brought Cassidy home from the hospital we laid her on the floor, Maddy came over and gave Cassie a kiss laid down beside her with Sophie laying on the other side and has been her loyal buddy ever since. Aidan was always ready and willing to throw her ball, this one special ball...Amelia she thinks is great, she will look over her high chair, screech and drop goodies over the edge to Maddy. Oh and how she lives to sas Kyle, and Kyle loves to argue with her. Yep, Maddy loves her kids, all of them.

When I had my miscarriage in November 2006, who did I have with me through it all, Maddy. She literally followed me, room to room, sitting at my feet. As I cried, she cried with me, cuddling, rubbing her face into me kissing my tears away.

I don't know where to end this, or how. I need my Maddy, she is my heart, my best girlfriend, a piece of our families foundation. To someone who does not know Maddy would probably think I am being ridiculous...but if you knew her, you'd understand. We have many friends who now have Shih-Tzu's, why? Because of Maddy, and they will all tell you that.

Dazzlin' Lady Madaline
adored, loved and perfect people puppy to John, Lori, Kyle, Ashley, Cassidy, Aidan and Amelia Hunter
Loving mommy to Sophie
big sister to Lexie
July 1, 1995

Kyle's Winter Ball

Not only was today Amelia's 1st birthday but Kyle had Winter Ball today. In less than 4 months Kyle will be graduated from high school. It seems like yesterday he was Aidan's age...

Miss Amelia is one!!

My Little Miss Amelia Leanne is 1 today! I cannot believe it's been one year...where has the time gone?

strange and shocking

I am sitting here trying to digest the fact that my niece Erin had a baby yesterday...Apparently no one knew she was pregnant and now there is this baby boy, Justin Anthony in the world. She delivered him at her boyfriends house. Now the baby is in the hospital in the N.I.C.U. Not quite sure what to think. I love my niece very much, but to say she is ready for a baby...hmmmm not to sure. How could it be that no one knew she was pregnant? Did she have the baby at her boyfriends house because no one knew or because he was early? Was she hiding it, or assuming no one cared? What in the world is going on? The only reason we knew is because my niece Corrine (Erin's sister) put something on her myspace about it. To think Jim and Carol are grandparents, strange. Erin a mom, really strange. I hope from this day on she makes some good decisions and not the reckless one's she's made in the past.

Some cute candids of the kids

daddy's beautiful baby girl, she is fascinated with the camera

Mimi loves her hats

Princess Boo! Peekaboo is so much fun

The cat loves to watch the kids take a bath

Amelia thinks the dog bed is a really cool place, just her size...

Cassidy's ginger bread house, we finally threw it away. Of course Hayden had started snacking on the candy...

and after all was said and done

Little Miss Amelia got her tubby and crashed!