Grandma's Visit

We finally got my mom to come out and visit us and boy did we have a blast. We haven't seen mom since the reunion a year ago now. The flight in was a little rocky but she landed finally and the boys were glued to her. She was so nervous the boys wouldn't take to her since they haven't seen her in so long but that was far from what happened.

I was so excited to have a whole week off my graveyard schedule...my poor body was just adjusting to it too.  Grandma was greeted in the mornings by little Jonathon's sweet kisses, Ben's big hugs and Matt's sweet smile. 

We took her on a trip to Laughlin for the night and enjoyed a walk down the river.  We even celebrated Mother's Day a little early and had a turkey feast.  I miss my mom so very much and wish she lived closer.  My mom has the biggest heart and the sweetest soul, I look up to her so much!!  She would do anything for anyone at anytime.  Sometimes I question her big heart but I know she is just trying to do all she can to help anyone in need. 

On top of a great visit, I sat down and was able to talk to mom about her family.  My mom's dad passed when mom was 3 and her mother passed shortly after I was born.  So I was never given the chance to know either one, makes me feel cheated some days because I know they both must have been really special.  Mom had a pretty rough upbringing and I am lucky to have an uncle and aunt who share pictures from those days with me.  (thank you Aunt Dean and Uncle Doyle)  So mom and I sat and looked through all these pictures of when mom was a kid and growing up through the years...the stories were just priceless...thank you mom for taking the time to share so many stories and memories with me and the boys.  Miss you already

TCO Week

I know not too many people read this, but I think it is very important to share a very special week with you all who actually do.  April 15-21 is TCO Appreciation Week....and I am sad to say that no one takes it seriously.  First of all TCO stands for Telecommunications Operator.  These are the men and women who answer your emergency or even non-emergency phone calls.  It can be a call about a noisy neighbor, sick member of the family, a wreck or as dramatic as a drowning.  These men and women live through everyone's problems, heart breaks, and issues on a daily basis and it is exhausting, but we continue to do the job and hopefully with a smile.  We try to leave the issues we encounter at work when we leave but there are days when there's nothing you can do but cry for someone else's call. 
So for one week out of the entire year, they give us a week to be honored.  I found out that sadly we are the only ones who show each other our appreciation.  I take that back...there are some great deputies out there that was nice enough to bring us food and drinks. 
I am not writing this to complain but to really let everyone out there know how much I appreciate what they do for their community being a 911 Dispatcher.  A job that only few are able to handle and the angels behind every call that comes in no matter what the urgency.  If you are able to remember next year...take a few moments and it can be as simple as a note to your local police, sheriff's office, or medical dispatch.  They really do deserve it!!  I am proud to be a part of this new family...

Where Has the Time Gone?

Holy Moly....I really didn't realize how long it has been since I have been on here...I am so sorry and hope you all can forgive me...

Unfortately I only have a few minutes before I need to start getting the kids to bed and be off to work.  So much has happened, don't know where to start from the last blog. 

Bill is still at MASH and sort of loving working with the dogs and cats.  He is trying to figure out how to run a business and seeing if that is where his future is...hopefully more details to follow in a couple of months on that. 
Me...I am working nights now and trying to figure out how people function and live a normal life while working nights.  I am still with the Sherrifs office and has its bad and good days.  It is a very rewarding job, and I enjoy doing my part in the community.  I have been trying to find the strength and motivation to start exercising...let me know if you know how to find them.  Other than that I keep myself awake and busy at night by working on my crochet and cross stitching....been loving that. 
Justice is hard at work in high school and especially his robotics class...he is the president of the robotics club and takes it very seriously.  They are currently having a competition this weekend against 50 other schools...wow!!  He is also now taller than his dad...they look identical actually. 
Ben still loves school and is enjoying making new friends on a daily basis.  He is truly a big hearted kid...he really enjoys all his friends and sees the good in all people...it really warms my heart. He also is a natural and loves all sports...can't wait to see him in action.  He is still a huge help for me...always a good big brother.
Matthew is all muscle and doesn't like people to know how smart he really is...he is always surprising me with what he knows.  He is such a sweetie pie...to mommy!!  He is still struggling with his speech so we are planning on getting his hearing checked. 
Then theres Jon....that boy is a bully and a hand full at times....he is such a cutie though all at the same time.  Him and his red hair makes him irresistable.  He enjoys attacking his brothers and getting into anything he knows he isn't supposed to.  He is saying more words everyday...he also likes to repeat everything he hears.  Makes for interesting days.
The boys have started singing all the music that we usually listen to...it is so cute hearing them and requesting music from us. I love that they know 80's music and bands....ah yah!!

As for the rest of the family...Rosco, Bailey, Mr. Krabs, chickens...and Twitch...they are all doing well....

We are truly blessed and thank God everyday for what we have...not to say we don't have our ups and downs...this year has been very trying but we still try to enjoy life and keep swinging at what ever comes our way.  We love you all and appreciate you all for caring and thinking of us. 

I tried to upload photos...but it sys they are all too big...I will try again later promise...

Sibole Family Update

I know I am way overdo for a posting, I have just been so busy and tired that I am going to try to update you as much as possible without falling asleep.  So much has happened, so where to begin?  First of all we are all good...for the time being anyways.  Seems like we keep having bugs work their way through our household.

Lets start with the big boy...Jonathon.  He finally has one tooth, just shy of his first birthday.  His hair is still red and out of control with curls.  About a month ago he scared us with a really bad fever that no one could get to go down.  But it did eventually and he is all better.  He is also walking front place to place, not completely stable yet but he is trying.  He wants to so badly keep up with his brothers and fit in.  He is so sweet and just the cutest little guy ever.  He says uh oh, dada, mama and sometimes it sounds like he is saying hello to me. 

Matthew is also getting excited about starting preschool this next school year.  He will actually be going with his cousin Anna....I think they both will have a blast.  Matt can now write his name and is doing great with his counting and alphabet. Depending on what day it is he lets me know what else he knows.  He is very quite at times and reminds me of myself all the time.  Matt is a big animal lover, so he has greatly enjoyed all the new animals.  He is very stubborn and hard headed as well. 

Benjamin is graduating preschool and heading into kindergarten....he is just so excited to be finally going.  We enrolled him in a preschool that is just so awesome.  He is learning sign language, spanish, counting, spelling, science and everything else in between.  I just can't believe how much he learns some days...he will surprise me with some of his knowledge at times and I just can't believe how much he knows.  Matthew is the same way, he just doesn't like people knowing it.  His big thing is making paper airplanes and I was told today by his teacher that he has a girlfriend...how do they learn what this is?  My mother instict kicked in and I immediately had a talk with my 5 year old on the way home.  Oh goodness!!

Now onto the really big kiddo....standing almost taller than his dad now.  Oh goodness...what am I going to do when they are all towering over me.  Justice was 6th in his whole freshman class on his last report card...can't be more proud of him.  He is very active in his robotics class and loves school still!!  I just hope the other boys learn from him.  Justice is looking more and more like his dad everyday.  He continues to be a big help with the kids and is taking more part in the building activities around the house.  He is going to be a great man one day.

As for Bill and I, we are trying to keep up with our four boys, work, household duties and each other.  We just had our 6 year anniversary and I am so happy to have him by my side this whole time.  Marriage is a great deal of work at times but is just so rewarding.  I couldn't imagine my life without such a great and strong man like Bill.  Bill and Justice just got done making a chicken cage for our 8 new family members.  Bill also brought home a bunny rabbit...named Twitch....for the boys.  All the chickens and the bunny rabbit are all girls...I guess the only way to get them into the house.  I am so proud of how well the boys take care of all the chores as well.  I also decided to plant a garden, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, watermelon, and green beans...we are loving it and enjoy taking time to just sit and water it and pick weeds.  Sound silly but it is relaxing and a great way to enjoy the evening time.  My new job is going pretty good, trying to get the hang of it and be the best that I can. 

We are looking forward to celebrating Jonathon's first birthday and getting ready for the Walker Family Reunion trip.

Six Months Old!!

Jonathon has reached the big six months and he is growing up way too fast. Growing up is all he is doing though, he is actually a little guy. He weighed in at 14 pounds and 26 inches. I have always seen other kids his age and knew he was small but I didn't know he was only in the 7th percentile for his weight. That is alright though, he is healthy and beautiful. He checked out perfect and so adorable. Jonathon is so happy and is hitting so many milestones like eating lots of baby food, sitting up without any help, pulling himself to a standing, moving around on his belly and the most recent is waving. I kept trying to get him to do it and I turned around at the grocery store for one second to find him waving to some stranger. I almost cried he looked so darn cute. Anything within reach is fair game to him and it will automatically go into his mouth. He is really enjoying all the lights and colors of Christmas and is looking forward to some sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.

Spooktacular Balloon Festival

Thanks to a friend I heard of Groupon.com and when I signed up I got a $15 credit. When I saw a balloon festival I thought it would be great. I got the whole family in for $5 and I saved $55 with all the savings. They had a bunch of booths for people to go shopping at and for the kids to trick or treat at. It was great to see the businesses having fun with the kids and seeing all the costumes. The two that we really loved was the first was the ghost from Nightmare before Christmas (I think)...well put together though.

The other one was a headless bride with her head coming out of her stomach. Wish I would have gotten a picture because it was a great costume.

They had all kinds of balloons there: Spiderman pig, bees, butterfly, clown, scary house and many more. I had a lot of trouble getting pictures to really come out because of the lack of lighting but it was great practice for me. Nothing a little Photoshop can't fix right? If you have never seen a hot air balloon get filled up, you got to. It takes a whole team to do this and it was neat to see. The balloons are so big and beautiful, I was like a kid in a candy store. The kids had a blast and enjoyed just being able to run around like a bunch of monkeys.

Happy Halloween

The kids are still buzzing from the sugar high this morning, but they can't stop talking about how cool and awesome trick or treating was. Benjamin was a great Spiderman, Matthew was a fierce Batman and Jonathon was a happy little puppy. The boys were of course thrilled to go with their cousins Anna who was Raggedy Anne and Andrew who was a cute little cowboy. They all did great and weren't too scared of any of the decorations or costumes. None of them even fell asleep and got a lot of goodies and I don't think any tricks. After every door Benjamin would announce to Bill "no tricks Dad." It was just too cute, what a bunch of troopers.

Justice is 14?

Holy cow, can you believe Justice is already 14 years old? He is just growing like a weed too. I don't know what the kids are eating these days to make them grow so tall but Justice is almost taller than Dad now. We have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to take any photos and this time I only got about 5 minutes to take these ones. He is in his first year of high school and doing great in his honors classes. As you can also see, he is a darn cute kid. We are just so proud of him and trying to keep patience all at the same time.

Jonathon at 5 Months...

Well I don't know about you, but I think he is just the cutest little guy ever!! Jonathon is growing up so fast and I just want him to slow down...but at the same time I am so excited for him to get up and run around with the other boys. He watches them intently, wanting to play too. He adores his brothers, he loves watching them and talking to them and just being around them.

Jonathon is now eating all kinds of vegetables and has tried a couple of different fruits. He also likes his rice at night with his milk. He really doesn't favor one flavor over the other just yet but he sure did love Mango the other night. He is still breast feeding great, yah for Jon!! He is sitting up almost unassisted, still is a little wobbly. He is starting to move backwards on the floor with belly time. He also loves to grab anything in sight and of course whatever it is it instantly goes in the mouth. So needless to say you have to watch him around everything. He is such a drool head too, it just pours out all day long. It is fun sometimes to chase the kids around with it too...they love it though.

Well I can't believe how fast time is flying, I feel like in a couple of weeks I will be chatting about him turning one. He is just so precious...just like the rest. It is amazing how much your children change your life, they mean the world to me and I just love them so much!

Let's Play Ball and Eat Pie

The weather is trying to get cooler out here but we are still stuck with the 90's and I am not enjoying it one bit. Benjamin has started t-ball and is doing good. Ben is such a lucky kid to have a dad that helps him understand all the fundamentals of baseball. You can really see how much he is learning and he is a fantastic baseball player. He is on the Avondale Yankees and is number 5. He had his first game on Monday, he got 2 RBIs and scored two points for his team as well.

In t-ball every player hits the ball and proceed to first base and proceeds with the next player until they have all rounded the bases. No score kept and no outs.

He has a great arm and can catch the ball great, that is if he isn't sweeping the dirt with his hat, dancing or bowing to the audience. I have to remind myself that he is just five years old and isn't a professional...well not yet...maybe next year. He loves it though and is already making friends with the whole team.

This last weekend Bill and Justice or should I say Callaboose Bill and Eagle Eye had a competition shoot at the Glendale Wild Western Festival. The boys were in a costume contest...it was funny because they kept asking me where their costume was. They are so used to wearing their little western outfits, it was a costume to them. Anyways, Ben also participated in a pie eating contest.

Tonto Natural Bridge Hike

Tonto Natural Bridge Hike

Well we couln't get enough of the beautiful weather so we headed to Payson once more. This time went smoother though and it was so much fun. We got up there Friday and fished at the Woods Canyon Lake where we got rained on. It was so beautiful though and we just loved the rain and thunder. We headed to Heber to look around and got some delicious ice cream and looked around. We headed back down the hill when the rain subsided and stopped by Willow Springs Lake where Justice caught the first and only fish. This was a three inch Blue Gill, as small as it was we were glad to have caught something.

The next day we headed down to Tonto Natural Bridge that is only a mile hike, but it is climbing over 3/4 mile of rocks and boulders. It also included sliding down a 10 foot rock with a cliff down the other side into the water. The bridge is a natural bridge that is a huge cave with a river running through it. We were so excited to finally get to it and be showered on with ice cold drops from the ceiling. Then the rest of our hike was straight up the hill. We had another wildlife encounter...Justice leading the way again and got smacked in the face with a huge two inch frog. It was a bit funny after our last encounter but it was fun. Other than Jonathon getting a little motion sickness from being carried in the snuggly, we all made it without too many bruises. We were so proud of those boys being such great troopers on a "difficult" trail. Then we were off back to Phoenix where the temperature was well over 100...ugh. We had a great time though and enjoyed every minute of it. Love these weekend trips.
Ben enjoying the end of the hike

One Day Trip to Payson

Our one day trips seem too be just so much fun, our trip to Payson didn't seem like it was on the right path. Our tire was low, we had to get gas, food, ice...ugh we left about one and a half hours late. We were off though and we were excited!! We found the trail with no problem...and we were off...on the wrong trail. We didn't make it far until we realized this so after redirecting ourselves we were off again!! The weather was so beautiful, the trees were so beautiful, the kids were full of so much energy and we were enjoying everything about the hike. We thought the only nature we were going to see was a cow grazing all alone along the trail. Then we stumbled across a black rattlesnake. It was nice enough to warn us that he was there and to watch out. I was a little dissapointed that the creek and falls were completely dry but the hike and time with the family was great. The snake was a good lesson to teach the kids and neat to see nature.

We were then off to Woods Canyon for some fishing. Matthew didn't realize that the water was there and jumped in to begin with. We even saw a bald eagle, that was so awesome. No fish but the eagle made it all worth it. We were all completely worn out and ready for the ride home.

Two Months Old Already!!

Who can believe Jonathon is already two months old? He is doing great and getting so big!! This is the outfit that he wore when he was born, he almost fits into it...maybe at his 3 month old photo shoot.

What Handsome Boys I Have

First of all, it is hot!! Maybe not so much hot, but very humid these last couple of weeks. We are doing good though and just wanted to share this beautiful picture with you all. I have to say that Bill and I are the luckiest parents in the whole world, we have some of the most handsome boys ever. They are all enjoying the swim weather.

Justice is done with summer school and is excited to start high school. Not only is he going to high school now, but he has also grown almost as tall as Bill over the summer as well.

Benjamin has mastered swimming under water without the floaties and asks probably a million questions a day. Today he was looking at a book and commented on how cute the girl was...he said "look at this beautiful girl mom, I will whistle at her...woohoo." I could go on with the funny things that come out of his mouth but I have to move on to the next one.

Matthew is a couple of inches shy of his brother and is growing up so fast. I believe he is trying to catch up with Benjamin. He just had his third birthday party and got some really fun things to do.

Jonathon is almost 10 pounds and is growing like crazy too. His colick seems to be getting a little better and he gives me at least one good smile every day. Bill is keeping busy at work with the horses and soon to be with the dogs and cats. I am keeping busy with the kids and I am not looking forward to starting work next week and school next month.