My Little Man is 4!

Owen has been BEGGING to be 4 since his buddies started turning 4 last fall... and he is SO happy he finally caught them. When November rolls around we're gonna start hearing about how much he'd like to be FIVE now... but I'll take this nice month of peace and happiness with Owen being the big numero cuatro. I cannot believe it's been FOUR years since I became a mom to a son. I love what Owen has brought to our family, he's spirited, full of emotion, loves his family and friends, and is very good about learning and following the rules -as long as they are rules that he isn't currently the one breaking :). He keeps me on my toes, and keeps me laughing with his cute, witty comments all day long. I am amazed by his growth, and can't helped but stop and stare at the BOY he's morphed into. He is no longer my LOUD talking chatter box, goofy-grinning little toddler. I sat in preschool and watched him lead his class in their morning calendar routine last week (in English and Spanish), and I was just lost in the moment. His teacher looked at me, and said, "What happened to that little boy that used to toddle around here?" It's crazy, he insists on signing in his own name and date every morning- he's on the fast track to Kindergarten now... and I kinda just want to push the pause button and slow it all down. Hold on speed racer... just soak it up, preschool is awesome- let's focus on finishing this year up, ok, buddy? But, I love my little man and no matter how much I miss those sweet baby days, I am so proud of him and his never ending passion for growing, learning, and exploring life. Happy 4th Birthday, Owen.

Purple Penguins

That's right. We are the proud Purple Penguins. And our first game was awesome.

Coach Dad gives some last minute tips. Now which way is our goal?

Owen got in there with the bigger kids and held his own.

Kylee is a second year player- so she's one of the veterans on the team. She scored the final GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLL of the game.

Great game- now tackle Coach!

Relay for Life 2009

This year our family participated in our 8th annual Relay for Life. This is a 24 hour event to raise funds and awareness in the global fight against cancer. Our county celebrated it's 10th year Relaying, and we had a strong turnout, as usual! We didn't do a lot of individual fundraising this year, with the economy the way it is. But, we did an awesome fundraiser at the event with our team- that was a huge success! We always walk a lot at Relay, because the goal is to keep someone from your team walking every minute for the full 24 hours. We learned of a "lap tracker" fundraiser that would have people keep track of how far they were actually walking by placing a bead on a necklace each time they completed a lap. We tracked mileage this way- and the biggest surprise was the enthusiasm the kids had for making their necklaces longer. I was shocked! My little Owen walked just under 4 miles, and Kylee walked 5 1/2 miles. I had no idea my kids could walk so far. My 8 year old nephew walked 13 miles! The children love being a part of Relay every year- and as they get older, they are learning more about why we are out there and why it's important to continue to walk for this cause. Here's some event pictures:

Kylee and Brynn sporting their shades


Our fearless captain, Linda, gives our teammate and SURVIVOR, Shirene, her 20 mile bead. She walked 25 miles by the closing ceremonies!

And, this year, there was some cause for worry at our opening ceremonies for the event. Our town's Lumber Mill burned to the ground. Bombers flew directly overhead shortly after the fire broke out- right next to our event.

This shot is from our site- our "Celebrating Life" Cake looks like we added some special effects in the background.
The mill is our town's largest employer, and they will rebuild... but it's going to be a rough road for a bit to get everyone back on their feet. Luckily, we live in an amazing town- every one really pulls together in times like these. Just like at Relay, where every year the American Cancer Society tell us- "we may be small, but we are mighty!"

August Recap and Labor Day Weekend

The past month has been filled with many milestones for all the kids. Documenting these wonderful moments in my children's lives seems to be harder and harder the more busy we get. But, I decided I need to start making time for the important things after a devastating loss this week. A close family friend died in his sleep from a heart attack at the young age of 27- and we spent the weekend saying goodbye with his family and mourning his very early departure from our life. His dad told us to treasure our kids everyday- and we are doing our best to be grateful for each day we are given with our beautiful, healthy children. Here are a few pictures to catch you all up on what we've been up to...


Daddy built the treehouse for the kids just before school started! It turned out like a nice deck, the kids sit out there in their chairs eating snacks, enjoying the view, and chatting about life. It's very cute.

August 18 was the first day of school, Kylee's in 1st Grade and Owen's in Preschool. We jumped right into the school routine this year. Wes starts work at 6:30, so I know I'm on my own with the morning rush, and have been super organized with my routine. Lunch is packed, breakfast is planned, and clothes are layed out the night before- when the kids get up they know what they need to do and I can focus on getting Madison ready. We are out the door and walking everyday by 8 am, we drop Kylee at her class, then Owen, Madison and I take a walk through town and have Owen to his school by 9. I get home by 9:30 and have some time with Madi before she goes down for her nap. I love my school mornings, and so do the kids!

I pick Owen up at noon, and we get to have lunch together and play a few games and have some quiet time before Kylee gets home at 3. Since she is a big 1st grader, she doesn't need a parent meeting her at the bus stop anymore, and takes the bus all the way to the bottom of our hill (The full 25 min bus route)- I still like to make sure she makes it to our stop- and wait eagerly with the kids as she gets off the bus and treks up our steep hill. Owen usually feels bad and runs down to meet her and help her carry her sweatshirt or backpack. They are such good buddies!

Homework is a part of our daily routine now! Kylee's pretty good about sitting at her desk and getting her work done right after school, before she heads out to play with Owen.

We had a few short weeks of school when we first started, and one week night Wes was able to go kayaking at the river with friends. Since we didn't have school in the morning, the kids and I went out to watch them. It was awesome.

Owen and Kylee at the river.

Madison is seriously mobile now. She is super fun, and LOVES playing with the kids. She loves playing music with them, making towers, playing in the toy kitchen, with race cars, trains- here she really wanted to build in Owen's workshop right before bed. And Kylee and Owen are really good about playing with her and keeping small items away from her. Even with Ky and O as my back up eyes and ears, Madi STILL finds googly eyes, sequens, stickers and all sorts of other small things that end up in her mouth. I swear I don't know where she finds these things!

And she's climbing... I found her trying to get up to Kylee's top bunk when I was out of the room for a second. She is too quick for me! Oh and Madi finally got her first tooth a few weeks ago and is working on #2! She is hitting all those milestones so quickly now.

And August ended with the birth of a new member of my Franco family! My brother, Pete, and his wife, Sunita, welcomed their first child, Annelyse into this world on Monday, August 31. She is a beautiful baby, and I cannot wait to meet my new little niece! I don't have a picture to post- but as soon as I meet her, I'll post a ton :)

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend we missed our reunion with our college Houseboat friends. We couldn't make the trip down, and be here with the family for funeral services. We were so sad to miss a chance to catch up with our good friends, but ended up having some much needed quality family time. Wes and I packed up the kids for a one night camping trip at the lake 30 minutes from our house. His parents came out and joined us for a campfire and s'mores, which was really fun. So, in honor of HB weekend, the Trinity County HBers had a drink for the Folsom Lake HBers. We miss you guys!
Kylee, Owen, and Madison love camping!

Owen and Mama watching the full moon light up our night

Kylee and Owen return from some early morning fishing.

Lounging in our chairs before our hike.

Owen and Kylee LOVE riding bikes together. They rode all through the campground, and are even working on doing tricks now that riding with no training wheels isn't cool enough for them. So fun!

All in all, we are doing well. We are looking forward to more family fun, as soccer season starts tomorrow. Wes is coaching Kylee and Owen's soccer team (with me as his assistant, YIKES!) and the kids are thrilled. There's nothing like family and we are so lucky for all the blessings we have been given. Sending our love to friends and family near and far- we miss you all!

August already. Man, where does time go? I haven't posted in a while, and we've been doing too much to try and go into too much detail in one little post. The past month has been full of visitors coming here, and us visiting my family in the Bay Area on two seperate occasions. We have been keeping close to home, otherwise- just enjoying the beauty that surrounds us right here in our mountain town. We have been attending the county library's summer reading program, have been swimming in our local pool, have been hanging with good friends in the park, and all-in-all taking advantage of a nice and hot SMOKE FREE summer (unlike last summer, where we endured wildfire smoke from June through September.) For those who've been wondering, Wes started his new job and is slowly getting used to his new role. He is currently working mostly on the 5 county airports, which he has thrown himself into, and has already enjoyed a flight on a small four passenger plane. He loved it, and needless to say is looking into getting his pilot license- oh my goodness!
I have been enjoying my summer with the kids, and have finally found the time to pick up a book and start some liesurely reading. Upon a friends request, I started the Twilight series... and I cannot put those books down. My "liesurely summer reading" has turned into an obsession, and I'm currently between book 2 and 3 as I am waiting to borrow a friend's book later this morning! I guess my lack of blogging might have something to do with every free moment reading a few more pages of these insanely addictive books!
Kylee and Owen have been doing great this summer- are generally great buddies and playmates... except for yesterday when they wanted to tear each other's heads off and I had to give them a break from each other. I shipped Owen off to his buddy's house, and had Kylee bring a good friend over for a much deserved break from spending WAAAAAAY to much time together this summer.
And Madison is on the fast track now, she is crawling everywhere and pulling to standing and falling over a bunch. She said her first word two days ago- and it was "Ma-ma"... which just melted my heart! She still has no teeth and were wondering if it'll ever happen for this poor kid! She's been chewing vigorously for months, but can't seem to cut any little chompers.
School starts August 18, which is approaching so quickly. Our one last big to-do before summer ends... is make good on our promise to build a treehouse with the kids this summer. Hopefully, now that it is in writing, we'll get going on the project... the kids have been saving up all their spare funds for months and definitely deserve it!


Madison is exploring the house at her own free will. Look out world!

Our Family pic at a good friend's wedding

My favorite Daddy and Madi shot

4th of July 2009

It was an unforgettable weekend, jampacked full of fun right here in Weaverville. A big part of my Franco family came up to join in on the small town 4th of July festivities and be a special part of Madison's Baptism! Along with her baptism, we were able to spend time on the lake wakeboarding, on the river rafting, in the park for kids games, at home for fireworks and dinner parties, and finally at the Scribner Grandparents celebrating my nephew, Taylor's 5th Birthday. It was so much fun having a house full of Francos for the past few days, we are sure glad you made the trip up! Thanks to everyone who was a special part of this awesome weekend.
And we hope all our friends and family out there had a happy and safe 4th!

The Bi-Monthly Update

WE LOVE SUMMER!!!!!

The kids and I are still loving these fun summer days! I was hoping for a few "lazy days," but we just haven't made time for those yet. I thought there'd be more time for me to post about all we've been up to, but that just hasn't happened. So I'll just do a big summary now... and try to catch you up on some of our lastest adventures!

Madison is 8 months old! She loved her first swim lessons, and is enjoying having the kids around all day because they are always amusing to watch. Madi's definitely our quite one. She sits and smiles and plays independently, but doesn't make much noise... until nightime. She lights up as the kids are having their last bedtime story- she starts squealing and pounding on Owen's head and laughing. She knows her competition will soon be off to sleep, and she'll have a bit of alone time with mom! She is not quite crawling yet, but can get where she needs to go by sliding, and rolling. I am trying to sneakily throw out all of Kylee's teeny rings and jewels and beads... but somehow I keep finding more and more on the carpet. It is much more dangerous in our house now than it was when the other two were babies... these big kids have way too many small chokable items to keep up with! Luckily, Madi's still safe in her play pen and crib, and of course in her favorite place- mama's arms. I just love my sweet baby girl!



I was definitely the most worried about Owen adjusting to a big change in his routine when school got out, but he is actually thriving! He's still my determined little guy, he had his heart set on riding his bike just like Kylee does- and made me take his training wheels off his two-wheeler. After a couple days of practice, he's been riding around like a champ... and his favorite summer activity is going to the black top at the elementary school so he can race around like a maniac. His second favorite activity is fishing with dad. I am a self proclaimed non-fisherman, and have no idea how that fishing pole thing works. So, I'm not much help when it comes to teaching the kids some fishing skills. But, we got lucky on Father's Day, and Wes, his dad and brother took a day off for the first time in so long, and we went to the lake! After a few miutes of watching Dad cast... Owen could do it all by himself. I even tried to do it on Owen's pole, and did it all wrong... but Owen has it down. He'll sit there for 20-30 minutes, just casting and reeling in the lures- and it's hard to keep Owen focused on one activity for more than a few minutes (anyone who has eaten a meal with Owen can vouch for that. The kid just can't focus on sitting at that same table with that same food for that long.)


Owen did great at swim lessons, and can swim underwater like a fish... well, with his unique style, it's kinda more like a worm!

I'm just super happy that Owen is now well past the 3 1/2 year old mark, and he is physically thriving, he is actually able to do the things he has his heart set on- which means he doesn't have all the frustration and anger issues he's been battling (don't get me wrong, he does still have his temper... but it's much more manageable!) Yay!

And Kylee is loving these summer days. She is definitely the social butterfly of the group. Every morning she wants to know what we are doing, where we are going, and who we are meeting up with. She loves our playdates, library days, the community pool days, and is really excited for many July birthday parties, our upcoming travels and all the awesome people we plan to have up for visits this summer. We were so lucky to have Katherine, my next door neighbor from my childhood, and her fiance, Fred, come up for a visit last week. We had such a great time together! The kids are still talking about all the fun they had with them, and can't wait to go to their wedding in August. And Katherine & Fred were troopers, some of the plans I had for fishing at the lake and what not didn't work out, but they didn't mind just hanging in town and helping us get ready for our 1st ever Yard/Lemonade Sale extravaganza. Next up, we've got a huge bunch of my Franco Family making the long drive to join us in some 4th of July fun!
Thanks for all your help, Katherine and Fred!
>
Kylee is becoming a swimmer! She can tread water like a champ... and can swim halfway across the pool with her "treading water" form.


Probably the guy with the most going on in our house right now is Wes. He's got some big life changes on the horizon, and we are very excited. He's been working with the family construction business since we moved up in 2002. This winter, for the first time since we've been here, work really slowed down. The slow down in the economy actually reached our small town, and the business struggled. Wes' dad is an amazing father, grandfather, boss, all around person... and the weight of carrying his employees, and not only his household, but the households of his two son's and their families... is a lot of a load for one man to carry. When there were no homes to build, Wes, his Dad, and brother had to find a way to keep the families a float. They started a new business, and have been building custom shower trailers. They are signing these trailers up to be called on when wildfires break out, and camps are set up for the crews fighting these fires. The guys have been spending every free moment since February building these shower trailers and are almost done. They picked up a water truck and will be ready to go if there is a need for shower trailers at fire camps this summer.


And, this April, a job opportunity came up at the Dept. of transportation. Wes has been thinking of getting back into Engineering, and this opportuntity seemed too good to pass up. It was a long application and interview process, and he found out last week that he got the job! It is an entry level position, so he'll have a pay cut, but in the long run it'll be so great for him. He is ready to have a job that he can leave at the office, that doesn't call him at all hours of the night, that'll allow him to have dinner with the fam and time in the evenings to coach the kids, or help with homework. He's excited for the stability, looking forward to some of the road projects he is going to be involved with in his new role, and to finally be able to take some of the financial burden off his dad. He is going to miss the crew, the comraderie with the guys and working with his family. But, he knows he'll join in where he can on the weekends. And one of the absolute best parts of the new job has got to be the commute... I don't think you can get a job much closer to home without working from home! Yep... we look over the roof of the DOT from our driveway!
Next on the agenda... sell the truck!

Whew... sorry that this update is so long, lucky for you readers all I have going on in my life is exactly what I already posted about, just keeping up with my family and maintaining the maddness! Oh, and my awesome hubby took the evening off last night so I could get my hair done. Yay for much overdue mommy time!