Fall has arrived

Another summer has come and gone. Oh how I miss summer. Pool parties, bbq's with friends, kids squeeling with happiness jumping into the pool...

Now Fall has arrived, the jackets has been pulled out, warm boots and sweaters. Halloween costumes, yard decorated into a grave yard. Ahh the fun. But oh how I miss summer.

I love the season change, I must admit. But I am so much more a summer person than any other season. Even Summer wins out over Spring...my birthday season.

I have kind of come to the conclussion that unless I'm living in New England, fall and winter suck. California winters are rain, fog and more rain, and lots of wind. I hate wind! This Central Valley is not a pretty place to live while winter is here.

Oh why does summer have to leave? Yet I can't see myself living in Southern California. The traffic, the smog, the flat, the sidewalk jungle. So I am a Nor CA girl. I love my mountains, pine tree's, lakes and rivers. So I endure the rain, wind, fog and more rain.

We had our 1st ever Halloween party on the 26th. Costumes and all. What a fun time. Adults and kids all dressed in costumes. Ahh, I love a good party.

Monday was Halloween. Again, all adults dressed in costumes! Yes, I actually dressed in a costume to hand out candy! Ashley, Kyle, Anthony, and Danielle took Cassidy, Aidan and Amelia trick or treating. Oh did they have fun. John, Andie and I wore our costumes while handing candy. Ah, all the cute little gobblins, witches, angels, ballerina's, Green Lantern's, Superman, Catwoman, Farmer's, 50's girls...ya it was cute.

Oh the fun of Halloween and Fall. 

Sunday afternoon's

I love Sunday afternoon's. Family time, being lazy, catching a game on T.V., puttering around in the yard. Just took Kaili back to Dan and Angela's. She has been here since last Sunday after Andrew and Amber's wedding. Angela has been in the holding pattern of early labor. C'mon Dominic, it's time to make your grand entrance!!

Sunday's are such a nice reprieve for what's to come this week. But also a sad ending to a enjoyable weekend. Oh well, off to finally take a shower. I hear Starbucks calling my name! I think I need to get out of the house for a while.

A baby is coming, a baby is coming!!

This has been one busy summer so far. Working on the yard, hosting parties,lots of parties, baby showers and weddings to attend!

One of the most special baby showers is one we went to a few weeks ago for my friend Angela and her fiance Dan. Their baby boy Dominic James is due almost any day now.We became friends with Ang when I was pregnant with Cassidy and she was pregnant with Kaili. John and I chose to take childbirth class again since it had been so long since we had Ashley. 10  yrs to be exact. We came into the class that first night and sat next to a young couple. We started talking during break, introduced ourselves to Angela and Tyson. Through the 6 week class we became better friends. Ang and I traded numbers and started hanging out.I went into the hospital on March 9, 2003 to have Cassidy. Cassidy Noelle Hunter was born March 10, 2003. We ended up having to stay 2 days due to the Dr's thinking she had shoulder dystocia,they wanted to make sure she didn't have any nerve damage. As John and Kyle are walking back from putting some stuff in the car,who do they see? None other than Tyson, Vince, Angela's dad and Jeremy, Angela's brother. Come to find out Angela is in the hospital having the baby! So Cassidy Noelle Hunter and Kaili Lailani Harris were born 2 days apart. Basically they have known eachother their entire lives....Fast forward to now, Angela and Ty are divorced due to the fact Tyson really didn't want to be a dad, and him getting hooked on drugs when Kaili was about 12 months old. Angela and Dan  have been together since Kaili was 3. In all reality Kaili thinks of Dan as her dad. She thinks of Dan as dad,calls him dad and calls Tyson daddy Tyson, or Tyson. Dan and Angela are now expecting a baby boy. And in all reality, we couldn't be happier for them. We weren't real sure of Dan at first, he looks like a hard ass lol.But really,he's a big softie with a heart of gold. We couldn't be more excited for them, as we all anxiously await the next chapter in their lives!!

Ya, he's great with the kids! He's a natural

The water fight

Miss Amelia being adorable as usual

Look at that perfect preggy belly

My beautiful Cassidy

Precious and precocious as always

Here I am again

Boy, it's sure been a long time sinceI've been here...

The kids are all doing great.

Kyle is still going to Las Positas, and now working at Extended Stay America.

Ashley has graduated from high school, going to Las Positas and working at Starbucks.

Cassidy will be starting her 3rd grade year in Aug.

Aidan has sucessfully finished Kindergarten and will be starting 1st grade in Aug.

Amelia is 3, sassy and full of herself.

Kyle has a new girlfriend named Corryn.She is a very sweet girl. He has already asked her to marry him....

Ashley is still with her boyfriend Kyle. They have been together for 2 yrs now.

Cassidy, Aidan and Amelia are all doing gymnastics now, and love it. Cassidy has already been bumped up a level, so she's feeling pretty sassy about those gymnastics.

Anthony is still living with our family and has graduated from Kaplan college in Modesto as a Dental assistant. Magaly is back in school, studying to become a certified physical trainer.It's a 6 month course. So she is well on her way. Ashley has decided to study speach therapy, with a minor in ASL. So she is one busy girl. Kyle is still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. But at least he's in school still.

Ok, that's about all I have time for now. The pool is calling!! I will try and get back more often. I know this short update is WAY overdue! Will come back and add some pictures over the last year.

life's twists and turns...

Wow, so much has changed, a lot of time has passed since I've been on here blogging away...

Kyle has graduated from high school
Ashley turned 17 and started her Sr year in  high school
Amelia has turned 2
Cassidy turned 7 and has a had a successful 1st grade year
Aidan turned 5 and had a great year in preschool

fast forward to now....

Kyle has been going to college at Las Positas and working at HomeTown buffet
Ashley has a serious boyfriend named Kyle. He's also a Sr. and a great kid! Treats her like a princess, his princess.
We bought a home and have been busy painting all 4,051 sq. ft of this 5 bedroom, 3 bath house...
Kyle's best friend Anthony moved into our house
Amelia is talking up a storm and going into have her second set of tubes put in her ears on June 2nd....
Cassidy is getting ready to move onto 2nd grade and is so very excited
Aidan is graduating from preschool and going  into kindergarten in August....
AND..........ASHLEY IS GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL ON MAY 29TH @ 10:30 a.m. So hard to believe this day has come.

And in between a lot more has happened, a lot of good and a lot of sad....

In Feb. I got a call that my uncle was in the hospital with a collapsed lung, and they thought he may have lung cancer. So I spent the next 16 days driving up and down I-5 between Tracy and Sacramento to the V.A. Hospital at Mather taking care of my uncle, being there for his surgeries and talking to his Dr's since he was unable to remember on conversation to another and could not remember what the Dr's were saying.  Luckily he recovered and no lung cancer was found.

March 10, 2010 my dad went into the hospital for bypass surgery. On March 19, 2010 at 3:05 p.m. my dad passed away. Quick synopsis: Essentially what happened is he went in for bypass, took a fall on the 16th, injured himself and instead of them taking him back into surgery to find out the damage they continued to watch him. On Friday the 19th in the morning they found he had contracted a staph infection...I got to the hospital to see him in the early afternoon, was into his room by 1:45, instantly I knew something was wrong! I started asking all kinds of questions, the nurses always had an answer, but not any that made any sense to me, no answers that satisfied me, so I kept asking questions and more questions...like why was bright red blood coming out of his chest tube when 3 days earlier, before the fall it was draining clear!, why was he ice cold!, why was his blood pressure so damn low!, why was there hardly any urine in his cath bag!, why the hell was he so swollen he looked pregnant!...Next thing I know they are telling me I needed to leave his room and they would come get me when I could come back in...well they never came to get me till the Dr came out at 2:55 telling me they were taking him back into surgery...by 3:05 my dad had bled out on the operating table and was dead. When the Dr came into the room they took Roni and I into, I asked him what happened...he gave me some explanation that he thinks the staph infection attacked the weakest point of his body and destroyed his new bypasses causing him to bleed out. Of course had they taken him to surgery on Wed, maybe they would have seen this...and why was the staph infection not found until the morning of March 19th! A staph infection does not attack and kill someone in 4 hours! He had to have had this infection for at least a week to have reached the point it did to have killed him.

Not a day goes by I don't miss my dad. I still find myself picking up the phone to call my dad... something will happen or I need advice on something and I will find myself reaching for the phone to call my dad, I always turned to my dad for advice. I have to remind myself he's gone, he's never coming back, I will never get his advice again. I have called his cell phone just to hear his voice. God I miss my dad, every day, every minute. I feel so jipped and robbed...my kids have been robbed of their Papa...my husband has been robbed of his best friend. I can't even type this without crying. I just want to turn the hands of time back. It's been 2 months and 6 days since my dad died and the waves of emotion are the damnedest thing, how they come out of nowhere...I'm trudging along doing my thing and all of a sudden I am paralyzed in grief, crying, just out of the blue. Strange how grief hits you at the strangest of times. I just want more time, I just want my dad back...I want to tell him all the things I had been holding off on telling him, thinking I would tell him when his heart was strong again, things I would have told him in Sat. at Ashley's graduation. I just NEED my dad. So now here I am, I have lost all my grandparents, my mom, my dad, my brother Darren is gone....It's a strange feeling being a 41 year old orphan. And for the rest of his life my sweet Aidan will know his Papa died on his 5th birthday...my heart breaks.

We have also lost my mother in law. 3 weeks 1 day after my dad died on April 10. 2010 Marion passed away of complications from Emphysema, congestive hear failure and COPD...the care my mother in law received at Providence Medical Center in Everet WA was amazing, they even let all the grandchildren and great grandchildren come in to see her....when the decision was made to switch her from maintenance care to comfort care, they had promised us she would feel no pain, no panic, just peace and comfort was true. She slipped into a coma around midnight on the 9th of April and passed very peacefully on the 10th. We had gone to Washington to see John's family for Spring break, it went from a 5 day trip to a 10 day family gathering and vigil of love for a very strong and loving woman. The night she was put on comfort care John had gotten very, very sick with strep throat and had gone home to his parents home on Whidbey Island. I remained at the hospital with my father in law and sister in law Debbie. Through the night Debbie and I checked on her and my father in law Orville who had fallen asleep around midnight. We came into her room at 7:30, stayed by her side, a little before 10 my father in law said he could really use a cup of coffee, so Debbie and I went to the cafeteria and were back in her room by 10:19 a.m.. In the meantime my brother in law Jim had arrived and was sitting at the foot of her bed staring, he looked at me and said I think she's passed away, but I can't go look. So I went over and checked for a pulse....sure enough she was gone. I went and got the nurse, she confirmed what we already knew and they called it at 10:20 a.m. April 10, 2010. The time we got with Marion was precious and a moment I will never forget. I got to tell her how much I loved her, what a wonderful woman she was and what an amazingly loving man she had raised. She and I had some wonderful conversations in those last days. I wish I had that time with my dad...She was an amazing woman, my mother in law for 19 years, 1 month and 19 days...I will miss her terribly.

The last few months have been hard, I have to remind myself everyday when I get up that my dad is gone, and today will be a better day than the previous one. My dad won't be here to see Ashley graduate from high school, any of my kids get married, live to be a great grandfather. I will never be able to tell him how much I love him ever again. I just want to feel his strong arms giving me a hug, hear his laugh one more time...hear one of his off color goofy jokes...I want to tell him to watch his Marine Corps mouth around my kids just one more time. So much more I just want, want to say, want to do, want to talk about and will never get the opportunity again.

I think I could ramble on and on, so I think I will stop now....so much prep still to do for the graduation this weekend. The house will be full of friends and family starting on Friday night. I think this is a good distraction for me...just what I need, good food, good friends, cocktails and lots of laughter.

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...