Brianna Graduates!

My little Brianna graduated from preschool today. It was so cute. I found myself getting a tear in my eye. They sang 2 very cute songs and each walked up and got their diploma from their teacher. Now she is officially ready for kindergarten. They grow up too fast!! We are enjoying the summer and trying to stay cool. I took the girls to Disneyland yesterday. They had the best time playing in the water in Bug's Land at California Adventure. They were soaked so we decided that was a good time to leave. On Wednesday we went to Temecula and fed the ducks at the duck pond and met some old friends, Heather and Daniell. I got to see their moms who I haven't seen since I was little and meet Heather's 2 kids. It was amazing. It brought back wonderful memories of my childhood. Not to mention, the kids had a great time.

Fragile Little Lives

It is one of our jobs as mothers to be the protector of our children. Today, I felt vulnerable. My friend, Bernadette, and I took our kids to get their pictures taken today at JC Penney. It was one of Brianna and Alyssa's best photo shoots. They were happy and cooperative. Bernadette had already paid for her pictures and was waiting for me. I was still trying to decide on mine, since they were all so cute. The girls were excited to go eat lunch and were a little hyper. I was looking at the computer and all of a sudden I hear them start to cry. I turn around and see that they have fallen off the bench and Brianna is laying on Olivia (Age 4), Bernadette's daughter. I pick up Brianna and start to comfort her and Bernadette does the same. All of a sudden Bernadette starts yelling and Olivia is no longer crying and starting to convulse. Her lips start to turn blue and our nurse hats go on. Bernadette lays Olivia on the ground, yells at the worker to call 911, and starts giving rescue breaths. She gave 1 or 2 and then Olivia gasps and starts crying. They start hugging and crying together. Olivia complains of her head hurting but is oriented and a little shaken up. I think we all were. I then look over at my girls and see Brianna with tears in her eyes. How do you explain this to a 4 year old? We warn Olivia that an ambulance is coming and some people will be checking her out. By this time, she is walking around and doing fine. The ambulance took an incredibly long time to get there. Around 10-15 minutes. The EMT saw her and asked if we wanted to take her to the hospital. At that point, we weren't really sure because she looked ok. So we thought maybe we could just drive her. The EMT quickly cancelled the call and started to leave. Didn't even ask what happened. Bernadette and I looked at each other and thought, aren't they even going to take her vital signs? The security guard chased them down and asked them to come back. The rude EMT said, if you want us to look at her you'll have to sign a release and do some paperwork. OK, no problem. We decided to have Olivia go to the hospital in the ambulance just to have her checked out. She was so brave and jumped right in. We waved goodbye to them and went back to pay for our pictures. I looked at Brianna and saw more tears in her eyes. Lunch at McDonald's wasn't nearly as fun without our friends. I think it hit me then. I felt stress, fear and guilt. They are so fragile yet so strong at the same time. When we were driving home from the mall, Alyssa kept asking, "Where's Olivia? Is she at the hospital?" Brianna kept telling her not to talk about it. When we got home, Brianna broke down. She didn't want me to come in her room. When I went in anyway, she starting crying and kicking me. I knew this hit her hard. I just held her in my arms and let her cry. We laid in her bed and I tried my best to explain that it was OK to be scared. I reassured her that Olivia is just fine. We read a story and she fell fast asleep. Being a mother is not an easy job but it is the most rewarding job in the world.

Summer is here!

It is starting to feel like summer. It's in the 90's today. I guess Alyssa got a little hot during her nap yesterday because when I went in to wake her up, she was completely naked. I had to take a picture, it was too cute!
Bill and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary this past week. We watched our wedding video (Bill's idea, believe it or not). We looked so young! What happened? It was fun to see us all dancing...especially the Kongo line. We had a fun crowd! Bill still gets mad at me that I smeared a little cake on his nose. I gave in to the peer pressure. That's OK, he got me back at Brianna's first birthday when he told me to smell the cake and then he pushed my face into it. Fun times! Anyways, we went out to a wonderful dinner and then to the movies. We don't do that enough. My parents were gracious enough to watch the girls. God has definitely blessed our marriage. We are looking forward to many more years together.
Last week I was reunited with a childhood friend, Heather. She was my best friend before I moved to Grass Valley at the age of 9. We lost touch around 7 years ago. Another friend that we had, Daniell, starting working at CHOC last month and told me she was still in touch with Heather. It was so great to see both of them. We were all neighbors when we were little girls. It is a small world. The 3 of us went out to dinner last week and had so much fun catching up. It's amazing how much we haven in common. Unfortunately, Heather and her family are moving to Hawaii next month. Must be rough! I better get going. I have to clean the house before the house cleaner comes tomorrow. :)

Love from Brianna

I love you, Shannon. I know I love you. Have a nice home. Thank you for coming to Grandma's hotel. I love you very much and I wonder what you're getting me for my birthday. I hope you have fun and I miss you. I found a bug at school today. I hope you have fun in Ohio. I hope Chad had fun at his graduation. I love you. You're very sweet. Love, Brianna

Our First Blog Spot

Hello Family and Friends,
I thought I would try out blogging (is that a word). It seems like a great way to update anyone who's interested in what is going on in our lives. We'll see if I can figure this whole thing out. So far, it's been easy. We had a wonderful weekend in San Diego. My parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary and my brother-in-law, Chad, graduated from Med. School at UCSD. It was great to have all 5 of the kids in my family together. I teased my parents by checking them into the Best Western that we were staying at. While my mom was unpacking, we let her know that they were really in Sheri and Sandi's room and we were taking them to their real hotel, The La Valencia in La Jolla. It was beautiful. We had a wonderful weekend together. Then Shan and Chad left on Monday for their long drive to Columbus, Ohio, their new residence. Very sad! Exciting for them, sad for us. We will miss them tremendously.
Brianna and Alyssa are doing well. They are getting so big. Alyssa turned 2 on May 17th. She is doing very well with potty training right now. I'm quite proud of her. Brianna is getting ready to graduate from preschool. She has a fancy, red graduation cap and gown. What ever happened to the paper caps they made in preschool? She's really excited to start kindergarten. Well, I think I've written enough for one day. Hopefully, I'll keep up with it.
Shelli