Growing up Mildenstein

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-26T22:00:00.001-08:00

"Do you know what I think, Potter?...

2010-06-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Potter.... I mean Kaelten turned 11 in February of this year and we celebrated his acceptance into Hogwarts Potter style!!!

He received his acceptance letter from his owl Hedwig.....

He insisted on cookie dough for his birthday cake!

He had his BFF Ryan come over and they all dressed up!

Doe Ee tashi Ee Ma shitay!

2010-06-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

DON'T TOUCH MY MUSTACHE!

Thankgiving 2009--Still catching up!

2010-04-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

We got to host Thanksgiving for a lot of family for the first time ever in our home! We had 25 people there.

Diana and I got together a few days before and made pies. She had this incredible crust recipe that made our pies even more addicting!!

My Aunt Jenny sent a beautiful center piece that just made the entire table perfect!

The littlest of the bunch enjoyed hanging out together. I am just so glad our kids finally get to grow up together!

Our Tree House In Progress

2010-04-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

A weeks worth of effort, muscle and patients we finally have the extension to our tree house complete. We have some minor stair adjustments to figure out but overall it is the most popular thing in the backyard. This was accomplished back in November 2009. I am just back tracking because they are all so cute!

This was what is use to look like.

Did you know that you actually can drive a nail in a wall or board better if you leave your mouth open while hammering?

See???

WE ARE FINISHED!!!!

We have some more thing we want to do with it but for the most part it is done!

The Houston Space Museum

2010-04-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our first trip to the Houston Space Museum back in November of 2009! I am still playing catch up with our past year and thought there were just to many good pics for this one to fit it in my last post!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.............. BLAST OFF!!!

Liam and Bosko at the controls trying to land.

The Museum has a lot of great science hands on experiences

Kaelten and Koen trying to launch a rocket in the air.

Kaelten, Koen and Liam

Avonlea 9 months old and enjoying everything!

Asher Bosko Bear the Astronaut

Astronaut Liam

Astronaut Koen

Astronaut Kaelten

The last part of our day was spent on Mars.

Avonlea

Kaelten

Liam

Bosko

Koen

A year to remember!

2010-04-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

Help arrives for the big move! Thank you Diana and Maria! We love you! (June 17, 2009)

Our Adoption is finalized ! (June 18, 2009)

The packing begins! (June 18, 2009)

Making up an Anniversary at our favorite place the Rockefeller Cafe NY! (June 26, 2009)

Jared becomes a Chief! (June 30, 2009)

Saying good bye to one of the most incredible places we have lived! (July 1, 2009)

We arrive in Texas to stay with family and bless Avonlea Violet Mildenstein. (July 5, 2009)

We finalize and move into our very first home! (July 7, 2009)

Exhaustion!

The den before painting!

Mom and Dad spent THREE days with us to painting, fixing, and building for us! We love you and are so thankful you helped us!

Moving trucks come to move us in! (July 9, 2009)

Uncle Russel and Auntie Maria come to help us out yet again! We love you and are so glad we live close to family for once! Check out the den wall! Yep that is the beautiful paint color Mom picked out for us and helped us get up on the walls!

Avonlea (who Bosko calls On-ee) eats her first bite! (July 22. 2009)

Mista Kitty adjusting to his third home in one year.

Avonlea aka On-ee learns to pull herself around the room on her tummy. (August 19, 2009)

The wild life! A BOYS PARADISE!!

The weather!

Seeing more rain then any of us have ever seen before is worth pushing your face up against a window for. (August 21, 2009)

Koen turns 8 and is baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints (September 5, 2009)

Visiting the Zoo. Checking out what we have in place of all of the amazing places we have lived. Not to bad actually. (September 7, 2009)

She can stand and walk with help! (September 9, 2009)

Heartache and sorrow...
"Full-O-surprises Montauk Magic Mildenstein"
(Monty, Marmmy and Marfy)
March 2, 1997- October 6, 2009.
We love you so much and miss you Monty. Enjoy that big field in the sky until we see you again.

New beginnings and experiences.

Daphne Precious Ribbons Mildenstein was born August 8, 2009 and joined our family October 10, 2009 in hopes of healing our aching hearts.

A family building project! We took the existing tree house and put an addition on to it.
(October 20, 2009)

OHH THE RAIN!!! Yep that is a lake on our street! How could I say no to swimming in the street. (October 29, 2009)

Happy Halloween! Oct 2009

2009-05-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have not posted for so long! Our lives have been piled with major life events that most people do one at a time but we get four at a time. During this stressful time with not enough hours during the day to accomplish what needs to be done, my laptop died. As I made sense of what I was able to save I came across this picture. I saw it and teared up! It completely explains my life lately. God's blessing, beauty and plan nestled in chaos! For those who are not familiar with this temple it is the New York, New York temple. It is one of the most profoundly placed temples I have ever seen and yet it feels just like any temple you may have been in. I love the temple, I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for all he has blessed me with. I just wanted to share this because my heart is full....Rebeccah

Happy Birthday Bosko Bear!

2009-03-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Asher Bosko Mildenstein was born March 27, 2007 two days after my beloved Grandma Bosko's birthday. He was given the name Bosko to carry on my name and in remembrance of all those Bosko's that went before him. The hard work and sacrifices made to come here and stay alive and thrive in this great country by my ancestors are stories that are ones of incredible strength and survival. So when my sister Kara saw him for the first time and said he looked like a little Bosko Bear the name stuck. I love the name Asher and know someday he will probably go by it, but for now I love to hear the name Bosko ringing through our household.

Our tiniest boy at two, still being called Bosko bear was born at 4:14 pm and weighed 7 lb 4 oz. and was 19 inches long. He came into this world through c-section and when he was lifted over the curtain for me to see him for the first time I got a mouth and face full of pee. As he let it all out the entire room of medical staff were laughing so hard everyone had to stop what they were doing and the anesthesiologist was doing his best to wipe my face. This was the beginning of a life time of laughter with him. His name Asher means happy and this word describes everything he is. Bosko (Boskovic) means bare-foot or carefree, light hearted. Bosko is truly a very happy light hearted soul. We all say that our sacrifices we give to bring children into this world are worth it, but to me it is more then just worth it. With all I went through to get him here, I would never have known the amazing growth, power, strength and fight I have in me. My life is more defined, more incredible, and more fantastic than I ever could imagine. All this from a tiny little boy named Bosko. With every step I take he cheers me on and I have never met a soul so powerful as his. Each of my boys has given me bits and pieces of who I am today and for that I am truly indebted to them. Happy Birthday Bosko Bear!!

Bosko is a huge ball of fire and his personality keeps him ahead of all here at our house! He has recently developed his speech chit chatting up a storm. He can get his point across through words and sign language, which I thought with his speech getting better he was giving it up. I love how he can come to tell me he needs something by saying peas (please) ree rink (drink) while signing both! He truly is amazing!! He loves to spend time dancing to the wiggles, drawing out clues in his handy dandy note book (a note book I gave him with a place for his crayon) pretending to be Steve, screaming when the missionaries sing the mail song to him, but most of all playing with his most favorite people in the world his bruh, bruh's (brothers) KA KOH (Kaelten), KA KON (Koen), Mee Na (Liam) and Meow (Mista Kitty)! He can throw a mean toddler curve ball, draw a triangle, circle, and square when asked. He LOVES to draw and EVERY WHERE on EVERY THING. We have 75 ft of easel paper with tiny intricate swirls and circles with many colors it is amazing! He can tell you all his body parts sing 7 different songs, get you a diaper and wipes to be changed and help with shoes, socks and a coat to go outside. I mention that last one because I always remember chasing the other boys to get them ready to go outside. He is very helpful with his new baby sister too! When he hears her cry he says baby binta (binkie) and finds it and puts it in her mouth. This has created a few problems when he gets there before me and has climbed into bed with her lol! We run to check on sister when she cries not because we are on top of parenting five children but to make sure Bosko hasn't gotten there first. He is just too responsible at a very young age lol! Happy Birthday Bosko Bear!!

Here is Bosko singing "Here's the Mail" from Blues Clues for the Missionaries!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAELTEN!

2009-02-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Jared and I official have a child in the double digits!!

Ten years ago Jared and I became parents for the first time. I remember it like it had happened yesterday. I had an OB appointment that morning and I thought my water had broken. We went to the appointment they tested me and said nope it didn't. Drove 25 min home and as I got out of the car a huge gush! Yeah I love it when doctors don't take you serious. So we drove back went to labor and delivery and our journey began. I was in labor for 13 hours with no progression and ended up having a c-section. At 10:47 pm I was holding my little miracle for the first time. He was 7lbs 3oz and 19 1/2 inches long. As we brought our first child home for the first time, life truly began for Jared and I. Kaelten has continued to bless our lives for ten years and counting. He is an intelligent and spiritual person, who constantly reminds us of our need to endure to the end. He is an incredible example to his little brothers. I love his intelligence and his sense of humor. we are always in awe over the things he reads and shares. A true prodigy of his Dad. He loves to read, play basketball, soccer, skate boarding off ramps and bars, if it is a sport he can do it, he loves writing stories and comics, drawing, creating experiments, riding his bike, there really isn't much Kaelten can't do. He has really matured over this past year and with this comes a new relationship with him. There is very little he depends on from me any more and pretty much can do it himself. Luckily he still loves hugs and hanging out to read a book together. He is a lot of fun! He can now join me and Jared in discussion about politics, sports, science and well life. I was so impressed with him when he asked questions about the adoption that he understood how incredible a decision it is for Caitlin to give us her baby. His exact words were "Wow she would do that for us!" " I really love her" Daddy and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. You make our family complete Happy Birthday Kael!

Kaelten's birthday landed on a Sunday so his party was extra special!
He invited the missionaries to attend his party!

Thank you Auntie Ray and Auntie Kara!!! I love Madden football my arm is so sore!

The Boys welcome the Wii to our home!

2009-01-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Yep those are stares! In fact I couldn't get all 4 of them to respond to me for 30 mins. I kept trying to ask myself is this normal. Well it would have to be we have never really had a game console in our house before. It really was so funny watching them like this lol!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

WOW! We are so out of the loop lately. I would have been posting all month accept I lost my camera. Let us give a moment of silence to all those MARVELOUS Manhattan pics I took. My amazing 3 foot standing Christmas tree cake I made for Liam's birthday, and our breakfast with Santa pics.... OKAY moving on! I do have a new camera now (THANKS RAY!) and so we have many pictures from Christmas and so on. I wanted to recap on 2008. I have fully recovered from my many adventures as the a lab rat for my five specialist and now have graduated to just 2 WOHOOO! I am feeling awesome and back to my old self, but a more IMPROVED model! Jared has a bumped up on the list to become Chief for 2009 (cross your fingers) Kaelten is so tall now he top of his head goes past my shoulder. Yep I will once again become the shortest in my family. Kaelten is very talented when it comes to basketball. Koen is becoming Kaelten's prodigy in Basketball and is the neighborhood dare devil in high jumps with his bike. Liam is as tall as Koen and they wear each others clothes and is reading up a storm and even impressing the pediatrician the other day when reading the states on a map. Asher the Bosko Bear has finally learned that his name is Asher along with knowing how to sing all the Blues Clues songs and Steve and Joe are his BFF's. Our family is growing and growing!

HOLY COW HE IS 5!!!

2008-12-04T06:32:00.000-08:00

He was so excited when he found all the surprises Jared left him this morning!

Pokemon is HUGE in our house!! I Plan to video them speaking to each other about the different characters for the game and show. It is so hilarious! It sounds like another language lol!

Here is a video of Liam reading his balloon and then getting the joke lol! He is so funny!

He was born December 4, 2003 at 10:47 am and weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 20 inches long. His delivery was only 4 and a half hours from start to finish and all natural, on purpose. He was my absolute best delivery every because of this. I was up walking around fully dressed and ready to leave the hospital 5 hours later. I will never forget how amazing he was as an infant. His brothers would yell and scream and play all around his bassinet and he would sleep through it. He has always been our quiet and VERY imaginative one. He also went through a very stealth disaster making period due to his extreme curiosity! We use to call he Curious George. He has since grown out of disasters and into a very responsible guy! For being our tiniest baby he is our biggest child. He weighs in at 50 pounds which is as much as Koen and is only a few inches shorter then Koen. He can and does wear Koen's clothes and when the two of them are out people think they are twins. Although he and Koen do act like twins with there own language and secrets, he has grown closer to his littlest brother this year. Instead of our usual jealousy of the baby and keeping the baby from there toys like all the other boys have done, he will find Bosko Bear and play with him. He also is very protective of Bosko and I love how gentle he is when he helps him. I am just so amazed at how one year can make him grow so much. From discovering that the signs and stores have words he can read and understand, reminding his brothers of the rules, Making his bed like an expert, and being able to fold laundry and clean up after himself, he is just not the same boys he was from last year! He loves riding his bike, going to basketball, video games, Transformers, Karate, Pokemon, Blues clues and drawing and when we aren't doing school he is playing pretend school with his brothers! Daddy and I Love you so much Liam and we are so proud of the big boy you are becoming! Happy Birthday Lee Lee!

Liam Michael Gilbert Mildenstein

Mom I thought you would love this picture! This is when you came out to help when Liam was born.

Liam at 12 months old! Love that bum chin!

Mormon Synchronized swimming

2008-11-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

This is a must see if you haven't already! My good friend Sallie sent it to me! Jared and I were laughing so hard! Thanks for the pick me up Sallie!

Halloween Traditions!

2008-10-27T18:50:00.001-07:00

Every family home evening before Halloween we make our Halloween sugar cookies. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term family home evening, every Monday night LDS church members set aside time to do a lesson or just hang out with there family. The boys had so much fun with decorating and displaying there cookies. They all take after Jared where perfection is key.

HE HAS ARRIVED!!!

2008-10-17T19:50:00.001-07:00

Nathanael Jared Mildenstein
8lbs 9oz 19 inches
born October 16, 2008

We would like to introduce the newest member of the Mildenstein family. Our little nephew that Jared was privilaged to be named after. Uncle Jared and I got a phone call about a week ago with Aaron and Diana letting us know that they will be naming there son to be born baby boy after Jared. What a privilage!! Jared was so excited although I don't think he expressed that well enough on the phone. Jared says "after all it isn't everyday you get someone named after you. Kaelten is so excited because he feels it was after him. Since he is Kaelten Jared Mildenstein. He also threw in that Nathanael has and "AEL" Like his name. I just love how they all fight over who it is after. Logical debate more like! I think Kaelten wins on the last comment. Either way Nathanael Jared we are so lucky to know you and Happy Birthday!!

Love Jared, Bek, Kaelten JARED, Koen, Liam and Bosko Bear.

The Tooth Fairy goes broke!

2008-10-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

In the past two months Kaelten and Koen have lost over eight teeth and the Tooth Fairy is broke I think. When telling this to Koen (the logic one) he says panicked "you are out of money???" Then explains "I was hoping for 2 dollars for this tooth." Ummmm... wow! Is he my kid? I think we have a miscommunication on exactly were money grows. The strangest thing with his teeth falling out is that you can't see the adult one underneath. Now I know they exist because I have seen an x-ray at the dentist office. The weirdest is that usually the tooth is loose and coming out because the adult tooth is pushing it out. Koen on the other hand get loose teeth from...well...um..... we have no idea! So I put a great picture on here of two large Bugs Bunny teeth (his only adult teeth we have ever seen) in front and all the gaping holes lol!

Thank You continued...

2008-10-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

This was another day of pick me ups! I am just thankful to know how many people where thinking of me and wanting me to feel better! This beautiful gerbera Daisy (my favorite flower) with a bear (my favorite stuffed animal) and tiny balloon could have only been sent by my sisters who know my favorites!! I recieved this around the same time as the other beautiful flowers and when Jared brought it to me I was all huh? I just feel so loved!!! I just am so overwhelmed with gratitude by all your emails of love and support, prayers for our family and me and then all of the get well gifts. Thanks Kara and Rachael!! Also thank you friends and family for the prayers and words of support! Life should never been done alone!

Thank you!

Love Jared, ME, Kaelten, Koen, Liam and Asher

FYI-This is a potted plant and not dead on arrival lol! Kara said it looked dead in the picture. Nope just a baby ready to bloom a million blooms I hope!

Thank you!!

2008-10-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

After my surgery on Friday I was feeling the full effects of all they had done the next day. Thursday the day before the surgery I was really nervous and ended up never going to sleep. Friday the only sleep I had was the 2 hours they had me under anesthesia and then waking up to more pain then I can remember. Sadly resulting in no sleep for all of Friday. I was just in some groaning passed out state by that night. Saturday was the 24 hours after surgery and just when I thought I was in a lot of pain I found it could be a lot worse. I was convinced at one point the pain meds were placebos lol! I was not in a good frame of mind and I think lack of sleep, surgery and anxiety are a terrible anti-pain killer mix. Through my once again pathetic tears of pain and feeling like I must be the biggest baby on the planet I finally feel asleep that Saturday morning. The pain meds were finally helping, I guess. This giving me a 4 hour window of a 36 hour deprivation of sleep. At this point you are probably asking yourself why is she sharing all this. I am telling you all this because when my pain woke me up four hours later and Jared came in heeding my call through the baby monitor (yep life got this pathetic for me lol!) he was holding a beautiful vase of flowers. I of course thought at first they were from Jared. When Jared then explained that they were from my mother in-law, Melissa, Diana, Alicia, Heather, and Rachel, I started to sob. I know I know I was even thinking is there nothing I won't cry about. I am not usually a crying type, that is why I have been embarrassed for myself this past week. It really made my day! I hate how we live so far from everyone but on Saturday it felt like you were all here with me. I can't explain why this happened next but I was so excited over getting the beautiful flowers and I mean BEAUTIFUL, that the rest of the day although painful got better and better. I think in my head I must have gotten myself in a rut and with this I was making myself more miserable. This little ray of sunshine actually pulled me out of it and enabled me to cope with the pain and anxiety I was feeling. I just needed you to see what effect it had on me in hopes that you can feel how eternally grateful for your sweet gift you sent. I love you all very much and hope that I can return the favor to you someday soon.

Happy Conference Weekend!

2008-10-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

I look forward to this weekend every six months and embrace the traditions Jared and I have started 11 years ago, as we sat down together and watched our very first conference as husband and wife. For the Sunday session I was blessed to sit in my in-laws house with Jared's brothers and sisters and feel family unity all there for the purpose to learn and grow in the gospel. It was a memory I will never forget as I sat with them reflecting on how I someday wanted this for my own family I would create. Knowing how things were for me growing up, I set out on a mission to create what I never had. Now 11 years later I sat with my four sons and husband, experiencing all my hopes and dreams. I listen to each one of them expressing the warmness in their heart and making comments about the different speakers. I have so much gratitude in the Lord for blessing me with a household bursting of priesthood power. I look forward to the sacred day when my sons will follow in their fathers footsteps and recieve the priesthood themselves. I am so thankful for those who went before me preparing all I have and live for. I wanted to share this because I know what it is like to wonder if you are doing enough to help your children see the real reason we are here and truly engrave it into their hearts that they are Heavenly Fathers elite and through serving him they will find eternal happiness. I just needed to express my testimony and thanks to Heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ for making this beautiful weekend possible. I say this humbly in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Here are cute highlights of our weekend!

We have this cute little book I found a few years back call CTR Boy! From the first time we have read it Liam has called himself CTR Boy and runs around the house making right choices lol!

When things go bump in the night....

2008-10-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

He has done it, broke the family record of being the smallest and youngest boy to climb out of his crib! He climbed out during nap time and hit the floor and side of crib hard. We have a crib from IKEA so the height he fell wasn't much. The bump on his head however is another story. The picture doesn't do it justice and he wouldn't hold still enough to get a good shot either. His head has a big lump though. We hoped unlike the other boys that he might have scared himself enough to not do it again. NOPE!! The other boys were old enough to actually just use a toddler bed from then on. Bosko on the other hand is way to young and we did even want to try. I have always wondered about these crib tents and well we got forced into forking out a wad of cash for it! I hope it helps our situation. He does not like it and it has been three sleepless nights for us. Nap times are getting less anxiety filled and there is hope for the future. The best up side to this tent? He can't throw binkies out or BIN TAS is what he calls them. Jared and I have found ourselves with each boy, spending countless nights under the crib rubbing around the floor frantically trying to find where the binky was thrown or fell. Wow could have used this tent so long ago! The thing that amazes me the most is that he is a very very small boy. Yet he has been climbing stuff since before he could walk. His strength (which a few family members have seen) is like hulk or superman. He at 15 months picked up a gallon of milk and walked across the room with it. He picks up his freestanding toys like his activity table and walks with it. He is a freakishly strong child and because of this it was only a matter of time until he was climbing out of his crib. Future plans? Teach super-smidgen to use his powers for good and not evil lol!

It is bigger then the camera is showing!

He decides to try out his crib with the tent. Keep in mind he hadn't even tried getting out of his crib until today. Yet here he is climbing back in it.

Once he is in he is not happy with the tent. This picture was taken after he got in I zipped it up and then he freaked out when he realized he was trapped. I of course unzipped it to reassure him that he was safe. Not that it mattered he was so mad!!

Number one rule in our house. Never go below waist level. Nope not even to pick something up!

2008-10-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

This rule is very very important in our house. Even I have to check my surroundings before bending down to pick something up off the floor. Here in our house that is grounds for attack! This poor defenseless animal never knew what hit him! I am guessing you are laughing by this point. It really is funny, but it is a real thing in our house. No adult can go below a certain level of height without one of the boys thinking it is an invitation for a tackle or full out attack. If this was the wild Jared just became the packs next meal or in his case several meals LOL! I love living in a boys world!!

Losing teeth...

2008-10-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Kaelten has lost three teeth in 2 weeks. I love how full his mouth is getting with adult teeth. Jared and I just today were talking about how much he is starting to look like a young man. My how fast time flies!

Twister for family home evening.

2008-10-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

I found this picture from when we first moved in. I just wanted to share it! They love this game so much.

I little desk and a tiny smidgen!

2008-10-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

In this household Asher A.K.A Bosko Bear is also known as the smidgen. He is the tinest little boys we have ever had. He is finally 18 months and still fits in 12 month or less clothing. I decided to get him a desk so he would have his own place when we did school. See how big Liam is compared to this desk. This is how tiny this desk is. Now look at Bosko in it, he has to climb into the chair. Just was so surprised that he has to grow into this desk lol!

Visiting Family!

2008-10-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

We finally got to visit my Aunt Connie here. Surprisingly she lives really really close. My cousin Michael (who is my brother Danny at 48) was there as well as my Cousin Jeff. Jeff had to leave before we got the picture, so next time he will be in it.

oooohhhhh!! Tolouse!!

2008-09-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

He was lost along on our trek across the country! It was devastating for Bosko Bear and we looked and looked for a new one all over the internet. The ones we found were 30 or more dollars and we just couldn't justify that. He has since forgotten him..... we thought? Today we opened a package from Auntie Ray and in side the tiny box was his favorite companion Tolouse!!! Oh thank you, thank you Auntie Ray!!! He grabbed it hugged it, even kisssed it and is still playing with it right now. He even in some freak way remembers the cats name is Tolouse He can't say Tolouse but if you say where is Tolouse? He will run and find him and then hug him say ohhhh and kiss him lol! He now wanders the house with his snugs (favorite light green blanky) in one hand and Tolouse in the other.

Our beautiful beach and boardwalk!

2008-09-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that just outside our door is a beach and then a beautiful boardwalk? I still can't! Here are photos of our many trips there. From riding bikes, ice cream, swimming, getting in my 2 miles of exercise, playgrounds, super hero training to teaching the boys the art of body surfing we can't get enough of it!!

This is the view we see driving down the street to our place!

Riding bikes is every-one's favorite on the board walk!

The Bosko Bear even loves it!

We try to go at least once a week!

The Beach was incredible this day so I had to put these in. It was the left overs of hurricane Ike coming up our way before it went over to Houston. So during school that day I glanced out the window and saw the waves were crashing and thought today would be the perfect day to really teach them body surfing!

Finally some good body surfing!

Playing at one of the board walk parks!

Kaelten showing Asher the slide. He was scared at first but then really got into it and went down himself!!

Koen going all the way across and his first time. He beats Kaelten!! Which is a big deal for him lol! ahh boys!

Liam pretends he is on a trapeze!

Who can stay on longer! What? MOM STOP SPINNING!!

Happy Birthday Koey H Bear!

2008-08-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Cousin Holly lovin on Koen.... He just loved talking to her the whole time we were there!

He loves all the littlest cousins so much!

Koen and Bosko Bear watching a show!

Thanks Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Rachel!!!

Fireworks at 6 hmmmm??? lol!

Seven years ago at 7.47 a.m. today I gave birth to a 8lb 5oz. 20 1/2 in. baby boy named Koen H.A.W.K. Mildenstein. He was a very special birth for me because he was born while daddy was in boot camp. Jared didn't get to meet him until 3 days after his birth. Koen got to meet him at the airport gate back when you could go to the gate! The whole family was there to greet Jared! Jared had been gone for 2 months and we all missed him (especially me). Koen got to watch this video last year for the first time (thank you Aaron) and plans on watching it again today. He got to see his auntie Melissa hand him to his Daddy! This delivery was my biggest lose of blood and I was so weak I could barely stand. So Melissa held him.....Back tracking a little....... I remember my sister Rachael taking me and the boys out for dinner before hand and then practically carrying me to the gate to wait for Jared. Then Melissa holding him and people ewwing and awing over how little he was and then a lady asked "how old is he?" Melissa then replied " He is only three days old and going to meet his daddy for the first time" Well that stirred the crowd of people and you could hear the whispering of meeting his daddy for the first time spark threw the crowd of people. When Jared finally walked in no one recognized him because he was so tan and really skinny...... We new when Jared joined the Coast guard that he might miss his birth. Koen was due the 28th of August and Jared was due to come home the 31st and so it was a tear filled moment as Jared held Koen for the first time. He is such a amazing little boy! Jared and I always feel so honored and blessed to have the boys we have. Koen is a very intelligent, clean, organized boy and someday maybe a stunt man since he loves high places and jumping! He loves reading and video games odd combination but how many parents put there kids to bed last night with them sobbing that they need to read 15 more min lol! He is such a spiritual kid too. This months fast and testimony meeting he got up and bore his testimony for the first time all on his on will. We are big about letting them do it and won't go up with them because it should be there thing not ours. He sat next to me before he did it and I mention to him that today is fast and testimony meeting like I do each month for all of them and then sometime Kaelten will get up but Koen never has. Well he said to me "mom I feel weird, but not like I shouldn't go up but that something is telling me to go up" I was stopped I didn't know what to say for a sec then said that is the spirit telling you too and he said yes I think it is. I was so shocked that he understood something so deep and profound. Our boys never cease to amaze us, but this was very much above anything I thought I would experience with my 6 year old. So he went up bore his testimony and talked about what was in his heart ready to come out it was so amazing. Kaelten of course got like he usually does, right after him. It was such a neat day for our family. We are so glad to have Koen in our family and love his enthusiasm over everything. He loves to play with his brothers, ride his bike, fearless of anything and had to drag him in shore a million times because he will swim out to far at the beach, claims someday he will go sky diving and wants to make money doing it, he loves climbing this new tree here by our house and swinging from the rope and well he may end up being our first broken bone I swear. I love your fire for life Koey and I am so proud to be your mom Happy Birthday!

Turns out, the millionth kiss is even better then the first!

2008-08-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is what my card from Jared read this morning when I opened my laptop and found it hiding there!

Today is our eleventh anniversary! What great adventures we have had this past year. I know most of you that know us personally will either laugh at that or think it is an understatement. I am just so thankful that I have someone like Jared to share life with. He is my best-friend and can make life's really hard trials seem conquerable and he always allows me to be who I am down to my grumpy, quirky and insane self. He know how to be selfless and anticipate my needs. I am so excited for all the future and all it has to throw at us. Good or bad there is never a dull moment and I love that about my marriage! I love you sweetie and love that we get to spend eternity together!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

2008-08-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

31 years ago, the amazing Rebeccah Jean Bosko was unleashed upon the world in the confines of a Long Branch New Jersey hospital to the theme music of Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It." (Her Mom swears by this. I had the good fortune of meeting this princess 19 years later in Orem, Utah (and in an incredible stroke of luck on my part she saw something in me!!) and missed 19 of her birthdays as she grew up. I have now been privileged to be a part of 12 of them. The smart, funny, outgoing, social and marvelously talented performer that I married has used her powers for good instead of evil and has become the superhero wife/mom/teacher/guitar playing/sign language using sweetheart I can't get enough of. She followed me to California for 7 years and serves as the real backbone that keeps our Coast Guard family in the right direction. As fate would have it, she is back where she started from since we moved to Staten Island, New York--- only 30-40 minutes away from where she was born. Watch out NY/NJ--- "Looks like we made it!" She's back! I love you sweetie!! Happy Birthday!!!

Jared- She is STILL good friends with people from High School! (am I doing something wrong?)
Bek-These are my friends Deborah and Sarah! This is was at my 30th bash last year in Utah. Jared and Rachael put together everything and flew me there it was such a great surprise!

Jared-They went to see BRATZ! The best I can manage is some random sci-fi movie... like standing in line for hours to see Star Trek (fill in the blank). Once again-- she has lots of friends and family that plan fun things with her...(am I doing something wrong?)
Bek- Diana, Me and Deborah (Rachael was there too) we went to a movie and saw BRATZ! That is right! We decided to go to it (more like I forced them all to go) in celebration of living our teenage-hood behind and embracing 30! My best friend Deborah was turning 30 too! We Share the same birthday month.

Jared-The queen and her five court jesters. All of us fight for her attention to be the current one to entertain her. Sometimes it drives her insane, but usually she enjoys it!
Bek- Our family pic well, one of them it is cute one though!

Jared- I am really proud of Bek for this one-- it was our second Guts and Glory walk in hopes of a cure for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We all went to support her, and we all love her so much that the boys all walked the entire 5K also --- Go Mom!!!
Bek-I was glad Jared picked this one. It is such a tear filled day for me full of people who understand and experience what I do, all gathering together hoping for a cure! So weird to think I was running 3-5 miles a day before I was hospitalized. Someday I will again, I can only hope!

Jared- Rebeccah's favorite pastime--- shopping.
Bek-Ahhh my favorite past time! With my sister Rachael and Step Mom Denne (who is taking the picture) and well sadly my sister Kara couldn't be there for our special day. Denne was the one who taught me shopping therapy and the love for even window shopping (which Jared also has a love for) and with her and my sisters we have a once a year shopping day! We had to make it once a year since we all live in different states now.

Jared- At Red Lobster with her parents. Seafood-- Bek's only TRUE food group. Well, and brown sugar, candy canes, syrup......
Bek-Yeah and I am an Elf too! lol! I do love seafood though...man I love seafood!

Jared- Bek's amazing Mother's Day orchid from the boys that she clung to the whole trip to NY hoping desperately that they would make it--- for now, we can only hope for a miracle comeback. :(
Bek-I am so sad because the poor plant really isn't doing well. I hope to find another one.

Jared- This is Rebeccah in the Pit of Despair after having all four of her wisdom teeth removed at a very advanced age. All I can say is 1--ouch, 2-- open heart surgery looks more fun, and 3-- she is still recovering. She is one tough girl I have to admit. The surgeon said she had really long roots which led to not being able to recover all the bone spurs. She had multiple (lots) of bone spurs, an exposed piece of jawbone, dry socket(S) and a raging infection. It was a worst case scenario. But hey, she can still pose for a picture pretty well, right?!
Bek-I don't even know what to say. I felt like such a baby the entire time. I am in pain everyday from my disease and medical things currently going on. I have a really good pain threshold becuase I am forced to just get used to the pain. Yet mouth pain must be the one pain I just can not handle. As embarrassing as this sounds I think I cried the entire 4 weeks of recovery. I guess we all have to have our moments of being a baby lol!

Jared- This is us today at the Coast Guard (I mean Rebeccah's) Day Celebration at Sector New York. We all had a blast with catered barbecue, huge bouncy houses for the kids, face painting, balloon art from a hilarious clown, and free ice cream from an old school ice cream truck that serves actual cones with sprinkles and everything. Since she shares the birthday of the organization that employs us, we get a day off with mucho festivities every year. Can't be beat, right? Wrong. She gets presents too! :)
Bek- Let us not forget the shopping! lol! I love that Jared gets off my birthday every year to celebrate!

Dressing up like Daddy!

2008-05-29T19:30:00.001-07:00

Jared didn't realize it until I pointed it out that he had dressed Bosko in the same shirt as him lol!

Bosko Bear tries to escape

2008-05-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

The kid is smart! He can't turn the door knob yet and he is still too short to really reach it. As you can see it also has a child proof door knob on it, but he is a few steps away from escaping! lol! Smarty pants!

Kaelten The Snork!

2008-05-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

Kaelten went in for a 24 hour back pack EEG. He needed to be monitored for 24 hours due to somethings he is dealing with. He wanted me to share the cool pictures I got of him! Does anyone remember the show snorks. Well that is exactly what he looks like lol! He has seen the show too becuase Jared and I have introduced him to it. So when he saw himself he said I look like a Snork!

My boys love to read!

2008-05-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Knowing Jared and myself I figure it is just normal for kids to love to read. I was talking with some of the fellow mom's from Kael's and Koen's classes and started to realize in some weird twist that there kids didn't like reading. There of course were a few numbered with us but only a few. I guess I could blame television as we don't really watch much in our house maybe that is why they love books. Later that week I was discussing some of this with with Mr. Neilsen Koen's Teacher. I told him how in our house we have to pry the kids fingers and take away book lights because all they want to do is read. So many times you will catch one of them hurrying to flip off there book light cuz they got caught and are up way past there bedtimes. Kaelten will steal time to read anywhere. He argued with us when we went to the grocery store the other day because we told him to leave his book in the Van. Mr. Neilsen said I wish I could get all my kids in class to be that in love with books. Who really knows why they are obsessed, but I know it sure makes me feel like I am doing something right as a mom.

I love cathcing them in action too. Here is Koen curled up in is snugglies reading his favorite series "The Magic tree house" This book series has like 38 books. He is on book 13 which he started not to long ago after he finished Junie B. Jones. On July 16 Junie B. Jones will be signing books at our Exchange and Koen is so excited to go and have her sign one of his books. Auntie April I know you would be so proud of this! lol!

The beginings of a boys band!

2008-05-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

They love to bang anything in the house. Even at 9 Kaelten comes running to join in when Bosko bear finds the bowls! The three of them do this practically everyday! I love it!

The Bear discovers a tambourine for his first time!

2008-05-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

He loves banging and druming anything in the house. Part of his morning routine is going from one cabinet and drawer to the next banging them. He then pulls out the bowls and pans and grunts to me to get him his spoons. So in this clip you will see him examine the tamborie and look at us like what do I do with it.

So watch this next one he finally figures out how to play it and will only play it with his mouth wide open. Because didn't you know that when playing the tamborine to a good warm tone your mouth must be wide open!

Happy Mothersday!

2008-05-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox free ecard

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

2008-04-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Jared's 33rd birthday. Last night he celebrated by buying a ton of junk food for himself and watched the Jazz in the playoffs. Today he will be eating cake and lounging LOL! I am telling you all this because this is all well deserved. Jared is one amazing man and I don't need to say this just because I am his wife. I could go on forever about all he has done in 2 years alone for his family, work, church etc. I won't because I thought everyone would enjoy him actually typing up stuff about him. So without further ado here are 7 things about Jared Everett Mildenstein.

1-- I can read things backwards pretty quickly. Not just word order, but the actual letters themselves. Not that this is in anyway useful, but it can be really funny--- Ask my older brother Aaron.

2-- I really like Scrabble, Boggle, and word games in general. From spelling bees to knowing all of the legal 2 letter Scrabble combinations--- I love it.

3-- I love my job! This past month I have gotten to walk over 15 miles of beaches on beautiful sunny days looking for any signs of remaining oil from the spill in San Francisco Bay last November. We didn't find any, I got a slight sunburn, and had a "work" day people pay big bucks to go on vacation to find. I get to protect the environment, make ships and ports safe places for people to work, and respond to emergency situations. Doesn't get any better than this.

4-- I have held Plutonium in my hand, fulfilling a lifetime dream ever since I first watched "Back to the Future". Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a cool place!

5-- I am a closet geek, only revealing the depths of my nerdiness to those who have known me for a while, or those who can truly comprehend whatever it is I am thinking about. I love Physics and regularly read several online journals regarding string theory, dark matter, Higgs bosons, light, gravity, etc. I know.... not really a huge shocker.

6-- I consider myself well rounded, musically. I play piano and clarinet, and listen to every kind of music there is. Notice: rap isn't music--- art, maybe but music... uh uh. I have to give a shout out to the Mildenstein boys air band--- Van Halen, Boston, Bon Jovi, Scorpion, various country and pop artists, and even classical music have all been air banded by us. Introducing Kael on solo guitar, Koen on drums, Liam on bass, myself on lead vocals and keyboard, and Boskobear on accompanying lyrics and screams. Seriously, we have fun.

7-- I have an amazing marriage. From the very beginning, ever since we first met, we have been a team. From performing together, to the Wymount rabbit cages, to having a child while separated by Boot Camp, through hospitalizations and injuries, relocation's, job changes, we have been side by side. We are yin and yang, two halves of a whole. I can't really remember life without her, so my seven things isn't complete without her either. Thanks for the birthday love sweetie!

Happy birthday Daddy! We love you mosty toasty!! Kaelten, Koen, Liam, and Bosko Bear, Mista Kitty

Bek-I married him for many reason's but one of my favorites is his big blues eyes.
Jared- [from Emperor's New Groove-- like Kronk's shoulder angel]No- she's got a point.

Bek-He really wanted these for his birthday cake. Last year was sugar doughnuts. He is so creative and original. That's right 20 Costco cup cakes! Who will eat these??
Jared- She thinks I bought them for all of us.....

Bek-Those are some mighty fine guns!!
Jared- pose once for the wife and you get betrayal on the internet....

Bek-Yep they are both sound asleep! He even has the covers pulled up over Mista Kitty!
For those of you that know Jared and Mista Kitty's relationship you know it is a tight one. One time the neighbors kept taking Mista into their house and we wouldn't see him for days. When Jared finally figured out what was going on, our poor neighbors the Gongazallogan's (name made up by Kaelten) had a very angry 6ft 2 boy show up on their doorstep demanding him back.

Jared-- Mista Kitty's REAL name is Oscar Garfield, but has gone by his nickname since 5 minutes after he was given a name. Mista is my buddy-- he talks in a low bass voice like Morris on the old cat food commercials. He is kind of my feline avatar, if you will. Life isn't the same without his royal highness.

Bek-He loves loves!!!! This truck and will own one just like it someday. Different color of course he says.
Jared-- Huge diesel engine and can seat 6-- need I say more?

Bek-Four generations in one picture WOW! Yes, that is right he wore these glasses. Why I don't know??? LOL!
Jared-- Love the picture, hate the glasses. I hate allergy season. Better than boot camp glasses though... barely. Miss you Grandpa!

Liam gets his first big boy bike!

2008-04-20T20:56:00.001-07:00

He spent two months learning to follow instructions better and putting up stickers each time to fill a sheet. Grand total 153 stickers and a big boys bike earned. He has wanted so badly to ride with his brothers and his tricycle wasn't fast enough. All the boys in this house have had to earn there bikes, in hopes they would value them more and understand the importance of hard work. For Liam it was actually following through on instructions. From chores, teeth brushing, be polite and stop licking the wall, he finally succeeded after two months. It was hard in so many ways. First, he is in charge of unloading the silverware in the dishwasher. Liam 2 months ago would pick out one fork lay on the floor next to the dishwasher and pretend to swim, 5 min later and 20 reminders that fork would make it in the drawer. Now don't be deceived on weather he knew how or not, he has been helping with the silverware since he was 2 years old. Second, my heart strings were tugged on quite a bit through the 2 months too. He would come in on occasion with crocodile tears in his eyes saying in his sweet Lee Lee voice "they are riding to fast and I can't win! I need a big boy bike." This was so hard because I wanted to just give in and say you did enough earning, but I stuck to my guns. Now I can ask him to unload the silverware and he will walk right into the kitchen and 5 minutes later be done! GREAT WORK LIAM!!

Piggy has surgery!

2008-04-20T20:37:00.001-07:00

Auntie Ray gave Koen his piggy when he was only 3 1/2 weeks old. Piggy is also Koen's favorite person on the planet and reason he loves the color pink. He is a very old pig and because of that when he got to take his favorite stuffed animal to school for math time activities, his eye fell off. My favorite was picking him up from school and Mr. Nielsen handing me an envelope with Piggy's eye in it. Treating the eye and piggy with such care and respect as though he were real. That is qualities only found in great teachers. Piggy's eye sat on a shelf for awhile as I contemplated the best plan of action for his eye to not fall off again. The day of his surgery Koen insisted we set up a hospital room for him so that he can be put out and not feel pain. With pig in tissue box chair and hot glue gun heated, I was instructed to give him pain meds (where he has seen this I know not) and then began to glue. Piggy is recovering nicely and Koen is helping him with his eye physical therapy twice a week. I love boys and their imaginations!!!

Asher Bosko's PASSIONS!!!!

2008-04-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

So he is so madly passionate about vacuums he will drop everything to run over and touch, play and take apart our vacuum. Family that has been here has seen his obsession. No other boy in this house has ever been so in love with the machine. In fact when you turn it on all the other boys would run from it at his age and Liam still does and he is four. Not Bosko bear he crawls fiercely towards it and holds on to it. He especially loves when the vacuum is on. My sister Rachael got him a toy vacuum for his birthday and he played for 50 minutes with it because it made real vacuum sounds. Then one day Jared was mowing the lawn and he was outside with me. I think he his heart skipped a beat when Jared started the lawn mower. What does this say for the future of Asher??? I do have to say I love to vacuum myself. I could vacuum all day and yet sadly we are stuck in a house with all flooring and one small rug to vacuum, cruel....so cruel. I think this vacuum passion must be genetic. Luckily we discovered the floor mate which is a floor cleaner which to me is a mopping vacuum. Here are some photos catching him in action!

Look closely at his facial expression as he helps me vacuum LOL!!!

This is about 45 minutes in, to playing with his toy vacuum!

A shot of him trying to take his first steps and it of course involves vacuuming.

He is trying to run onto the grass to check out the lawn mower.

We tried to get him to look at the camera and not touch the lawn mower but he just could not help himself. He kept pusshing against Jared to get closer LOL!

Easter, Auntie Ray and the month of March1

2008-04-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun with my sister Rachael and my nephews Gavin and Keaton visiting. They came out to celebrate Bosko Bear's 1st birthday and have an easter egg hunt. We also celebrated Keaton's birthday too!

Decorating the easter tree!

Bear's figures out how to hunt!

Kaelten and Koen hunting for the hard spots!

Gavin, Liam, Keaton and Bosko hunting for eggs.

Liam and Gavin racing to get the eggs!

Keaton inspecting the goods!

Gavin and Uncle Jared helping Bosko Bear get eggs!

Birthday toys galore for both Keaton and Asher (the bosko) and Liam enjoying all of them!

This was Gavin and Keaton's first picnic and Gavin loved it so much he went home and recreated it over and over! They had so much fun too!

March funny moments!

2008-04-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

We had such a great month in March and here are some of the highlights! The pneumonia we all had was not one of them lol!

Playing House

Yep those are bags on his well greased hands, Koen and his exzema Poor Boy!

The kid can't give me anything but silly with pics! If you new how many pictures I take of him until I get one that isn't silly I get into the 10's to 20's. He is why we have digital cameras.

They love Love LOVE!! Boxes, cars, trucks, blocks.....

2008-04-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Seriously why buy any toys??? I say give them a box and they are satisfied! Liam insisted I post this picture of him with his motorcycle. They use to call it and "I" ti-cycle it was way cute (sigh) why do they grow so fast!

February 19, 2008 Liam the carpenter

2008-04-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

I found this cute shelf at IKEA! Oh how I love IKEA!!! I thought they would be cute to put up on the wall next to there bed, since Kaelten is sleeping wiht his books. Liam had so much fun putting it together and painting his.

February 19, 2008 Capturing the joy in being brothers

2008-04-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Liam and Bosko are 3 1/2 years apart yet they play together and communicate with each other as though they were closer in age. I love how concerned Liam is as he interprets Bosko's needs. Here are some highlights of moments playing together and of course not leaving out the most important brother Mista Kitty!

February 15, 2008 Four boys and Four salamanders!!

2008-04-06T19:35:00.001-07:00

Kaelten came running in from the back yard where he and his brothers had been digging and explained he had found a very weird snake. He explained that it had weird legs and well snakes shouldn't have legs and so he was concerned that he and his brothers might be in danger LOL! Keep in mind if the black widow looks like a black widow then we are all safe. Only when it doesn't look like what it should it might just be the end of the world lol! So Jared followed him outside. Next thing I know all four of them are walking in with salamanders. I decided in the house wasn't the best place for them and so we built a habitat for them and had them for a few days until they just had to be set out into the wild again. I love how much Jared becomes a boys when stuff like this happens. It shows me how much his boys are like him and what he was like as a kid I just love it!

February 14, 2008 An unusual way to lose your tooth

2008-04-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

As we were driving back from yet another doctors appointment for me, Jared and I were discussing how Koen's front tooth should have been pulled out weeks ago because it was so loose then. Now that it was sticking straight out from his adult tooth pushing on it we were concerned about how we could even get it out. Kaelten in the very back seat sitting next to Koen yells "well mom I can punch it out for him!" Jared and I immediately yelled back NO!! As we turned onto our street a blood curdling scream came from the back of the van. I pulled over and we saw Koen at this point standing out of his seat and holding his tooth with blood all over his face. WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!! Kaelten had succeeded in punching his brother in the mouth and getting his tooth out. Kaelten was huddled with his head down holding his fist with a very shocked I can't believe I did it and very scared look as to what was going to happen next on his face. You could almost see the whole scenario pan out in your mind. Kaelten suggests punching it out of Koen's mouth. He battles back and forth in his mind I should, no I can't. Then he sees Koen's tooth sticking straight out of his mouth moving up and down as Koen is talking to him then...... BAAM!!!

Koen's screaming and crying went for about 30 seconds until he stopped in mid scream and said calmly with a bit of excitement "Hey now the tooth fairy will come! Thanks Kaelten!" We all burst out laughing and tried to get control of our laughter to tell Kaelten he will never do that again and although he helped Koen he was still in trouble. Kaelten then showed us his cut from hitting Koen's tooth and Jared looked so proud LOL! Seriously, I can only use my best descriptive words to let you know what it is like to live in a boys/mans world here in this all boy household. No amount of words will truly get you to understand what it is like unless you are me though.

February 14, 2008 Happy Valentines Day!

2008-04-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentines day! Today was so much fun as we had parties in classes and a valentines day box making contest! Which Kaelten made a toaster and won!

February 13, 2008 A night of rest and milestones

2008-04-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight Liam got his first big boy bed and Bosko Bear got a new crib and slept in his own room for his first time. Hooray to sleep!!

February 10th 2008 Pokemon is on!!

2008-04-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

They are obsessed with Pokemon! They duel each other any chance they can get. They really have never seen the show (because we don't really have TV for them to watch)but it is all the rave at school so they got into it! For Kaelten's birthday party

February 9, 2008 Kaelten's Birthday party with Pokemon!

2008-04-06T12:00:00.002-07:00

His party was a hit on Saturday as 6 friends, Koen, Liam and Kaelten Dueled Pokemon for 2 hours. Then they played flag football and basketball after eating GINORMUS cup cakes from Costco. A new item they now make at Costco where instead of just the traditional cake. The day was fun and the boys passion for Pokemon increased.

February 1, 2008 Kaelten's China town Field Trip

2008-04-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Jared decided to chaperone with Kaelten's class to china town in San Francisco this February. Let us all Utah grown people reflect on what our field trips where..... That's what I thought nothing in comparison LOL!!!! Seriously we have the absolute coolest places we get to live with our boys. Where they get to grow up and experience everything fascinating in this beautiful United States! Going back... That is right his class got on a bus and drove to SF to see the famous china town for Chinese New year and I loved to hear Kaelten's excitement in his voice as he told me everything he saw. I have to admit I was a little jealous that as a kid I never got to do all this. I just love the fact that I can at least have my boys doing it. Last year Koen go to go to the teddy bear factory in SF and make teddy bears so darn cute!!

...and then he was One

2008-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Before you were conceived I wanted you.
Before you were born I loved you.
Before you were here an hour, I would die for you.
This is the miracle of love.

Asher Bosko Mildenstein was born March 27, 2007 two days shy of my beloved Grandma Bosko's birthday. He was given the name Bosko to carry on my name and in remembrance of all those Bosko's that went before him. The hard work and sacrifices made to come here and stay alive and thrive in this great country by my ancestors are stories that are ones of incredible strength and survival. So when my sister Kara saw him for the first time and said he looked like a little Bosko Bear the name stuck. I love the name Asher and know someday he will probably go by it, but for now I love to hear the name Bosko ringing through our household. This little boy was the hardest most trying and physically draining pregnancy and birth I have ever endured. I mentally can't see today as an actual year gone by because I am still recovering from having him and to me it was yesterday that I had him. He was born at 4:14 pm and weighed 7 lb 4 oz. and was 19 inches long. He came into this world through c-section and when he was lifted over the curtain for me to see him for the first time I got a mouth and face full of pee as he let it all out. The entire room of medical staff were laughing so hard everyone had to stop what they were doing and the anesthesiologist was doing his best to wipe my face, as my arms were tied down. This was the begining of a life time of laughter with him. His name Asher means happy and this word describes everything he is. Bosko (Boskovic) means bare-foot or carefree, light hearted. Bosko is truly a very happy light hearted soul. We all say that our sacrifices we give to bring children into this world are worth it, but to me it is more then just worth it. Without all I went through to get him here and then this past first year with him, I would never have known the amazing growth, power, strength and fight I have in me. My life is more defined, more incredible, and more fantastic than I ever could imagine. All this from a tiny little boy named Bosko. With every step I take he cheers me on and I have never met a soul so powerful as his. Each of my boys has given me bits and pieces of who I am today and for that I am truly indebted to them. Happy Birthday Bosko Bear!!

He loves big trucks!!

2008-02-13T23:07:00.000-08:00

We rented a truck to take all our spring cleaning junk to the dump! YAY US!!! Liam pulled out his owl chair set it up in front of the Uhaul and said Mommy go get your camera I need a picture. So without further ado, I give you Liam, Liam's passion for anything that has an engine and the Uhaul we rented!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAELTEN!!!

2008-02-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

Nine years ago Jared and I became parents for the first time. I remember it like it had happened yesterday. I had an OB appointment that morning and I thought my water had broken. We went to the appointment they tested me and said nope it didn't. Drove 25 min home and as I got out of the car a huge gush! Yeah I love it when doctors don't take you serious. So we drove back went to labor and delivery and our journey began. I was in labor for 13 hours with no progression and ended up having a c-section. At 10:47 pm I was holding my little miracle for the first time. He was 7lbs 3oz and 19 1/2 inches long. As we brought our first child home for the first time, life truly began for Jared and I. Kaelten has continued to bless our lives for nine years and counting. He is an intelligent and spiritual person, who constantly reminds us of our need to endure to the end. He is an incredible example to his little brothers. I love his intelligence and his sense of humor. we are always in awe over the things he reads and shares. A true prodigy of his Dad. He loves to read, play basketball, soccer, kick ball, if it is a sport he can do it, he love writing stories and in his journal, drawing, creating, riding his bike, scooter, skate board there really isn't much Kaelten can't do. I love sneaking peaks of him with his brothers outside exploring, on a mission to discover a new bug, make mud soap or take is bike off another very high ramp. Nothing is more satisfying as a parent then seeing the look on your child face as he discovers the world around him. If I was his age he would be one cool kid to hang out with. There is truly never a dull moment with him. He is so artistic and full of vision in all he does. I just can't believe you are nine! Daddy and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. You make our family complete Happy Birthday Kael!

Student of the Month"s" first one for 2008!

2008-02-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Koen was made student of the month for January. Last school year (2006-2007) he made it for spelling. This school year he made is as the student of the entire month in all categories! I am just so amazed that I now have a third sticker for my bumper (one of them being Kaleten's in science last year). Koen is one excellent student and fully deserves it. He is advanced in all his studies. He was telling us the other day that Mr. Nielsen had sat him down to inform him that he had completed all the reading and now gets to do 2nd grade reading. On a side note Koen has been reading novels since the beginning of school at a 3rd grade level. Which unfortunately is the down side to public school. As great as the teacher is (which hands down Mr. Nielsen is so involved with each individual kid, more so then I have ever seen) they truly have too many students to focus on. I really have to press the importance of kids learning to read before they go to school. I was always worried with them knowing everything already, would they be bored. That has never been the case and in fact the confidence in school has made all the difference in there attitudes and passion for it. Koen also informed me and Jared that he was at a 3/4 (which is there grading a 3 means almost mastered and 4 is means ready to advance to the next grade) according to Mr. Nielsen in the same discussion. Congratulations Koey H. Bear you are one smart boy!! I realized I forgot to post this but well I am glad I forgot too. Koen is Student of the month for February too! Seriously 2 months in a row!!!! Wish our clearing house odds where this good LOL!! Congrats again Koey!

What do you do all day???

2008-02-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

My good friend Cherie emailed this to me and I was laughing so hard. Seriously let as all just agree here fellow homemakers, child rearers, MOMS, how many times have our husbands thought this or even risked there lives asking this of us? It isn't they don't really think we do nothing it is just the thought of getting to stay in the comforts of their own homes makes them forget there is a thousand things to do there to. So all you moms out there read and enjoy!

What Do You Do All Day?

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in
their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on
the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the
floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread
by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the
bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys
strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had
been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the
bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked,

'What happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?'

'Yes,' was his incredulous reply.

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

Eve

....AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!

2008-01-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

Kaelten Won the Pinewood Derby last night. He insisted on designing his own car with no help! We heard about what he wanted to do since the day after last Pinewood derby. "I want it to be in the shape of a rain drop. I know that is what it needs to look like for me to win!" He would tell us over and over. Jared and I have to admit, we were skeptical. How on earth would a rain drop shaped car win?? We never said how we felt about his decision, we just supported it. Little did we know how wrong we were. He new some how he just new that his design in his mind would make the car fast. The whole night all we heard from kids and parents was "WOW Kaelten is first again." He was neck and neck with another scout named Mason, but in the end he was with our a doubt the winner. Can you see the size of the trophy!!! It is almost as tall as him. Congratulations Kael you are one incredibly smart kid!

This picture only shows a moment in hours of preparation!

Adjusting the wheels...

Putting on the weights..

Getting started..

Place your car perfectly on the track...

Winning 1st place!!!

All of us making together! WOW what an incredible night!

Happy Birthday RAY!!!!

2008-01-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

I am the luckiest person in the world because I have sisters!
(Lft to rt) Kara, Me, Ray.

My sister Rachael A.K.A Ray had her 26th birthday today! She is such a life saver to our family in 2007. Living with us for two months and taking care of (including her 2) five boys, while I finished my horrible pregnancy. She is the one to go to when you are having a bad day because her Wit and personality turns anything sad into hilarious. She knows just what to say and is selfless in all her actions when you are in need of help. She is an artist in photography and owns her own business, where she has won awards for many of her pictures. She was also made a member of an elite Flikr photography group. When Rachael isn't capturing the beauty of the world through her camera and eye for detail/beauty when editing, she is running a full household with two little boys Gavin (3) and Keaton (21 months) and keeping her husband John happy. Last year they found out my nephew, her oldest son has autism. I couldn't imagine any other mom on the the planet that would be better in trusted with such a special boy, then my sister Rachael. She in my eyes is one incredible mom. Rachael is also known for her sense of style and anyone who knows her and has seen her boys know this. She could literally start her own boutique for children's clothing. She is the one to go to for ideas and wardrobe updates. Rachael also is an amazing writer and blogger. She first started a website for Kaelten when he wasn't even born yet back in 1998 and then when she finally had a family of her own handed it over to me. I have since then done my best but have not done it justice. I love you Ray and hope your birthday is a blast!! Here are a few of my favorite pics she has done, as well as a picture of her birthday gift that unfortunately will be there on Monday.

Here is what you are getting for your zune! I got it for you to use at the gym!

These are just a tiny few of the amazing pictures my sister takes and personally designs, enjoy!

Our New Years tradition!

2008-01-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

We have a tradition that every year for New Years eve we do a fondue night. The boys love it of course, because what little boy wouldn't love the power of taking food on a stick and dipping it in cheese! The boys are not old enough to stay up late to watch the ball drop and so we have a little party at dinner time instead. Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Bed making is an art form.

2007-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

In our house we have competitions much like sand castle competitions at the beach. Ours involves beds, pillows, comforters, sheets, stuffed animals and individual style. They are required to make there bed every morning, but Saturdays are extra special days where they have a little more time to create art. Here are a few pictures to show off there hard work!

Bosko Bear wants in on the action

Koen explains that he stuffed animals are in the shape of dragon fire, coming out of a dragons mouth at the top of his bed.

Kaelten explained that his bed and stuffed animals were placed to that Mista Kitty had a thrown.

As you can see Mista Kitty approves of this thrown lol!!

Liam says that his is just decorated neatly and that tow truck mator and lightening da queen (his pronunciations) are liking the bed made.

Christmas and Christmas Eve!

2007-12-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Pics!

As always the boys opened up their pajamas as their gift to open for Christmas Eve, a long time tradition on both sides of the family. This year we did secret Santa's since they are all old enough to figure it out or at least follow along with the older brothers. It was funny because we want them to understand how important it is to give not receive, yet they all had a hard time at first because they of course picked the one thing they really wanted and then realized they were wrapping it to give to their brother or parent lol! I also started another tradition since they are old enough. This tradition involves giving them one more gift, a visual reminder of Christ. My boys are so very very visual. They are there fathers sons. They remember everything seen or heard. I know that giving them something like this every year will be remembered in their minds. I got them each a framed picture of there favorite temple. This is what they chose and why Kaelten loves the San Diego temple because he got to go to it for Uncle Matt and Auntie Heathers wedding. He has since decided that he too wants to be married there. Koen loves the Oakland temple because he loves that you can go up on top and see everything. He also loves that it is right by us and I think he feels that it is his because of that. Koen too says that someday he will get married there. Liam loves the Salt Lake Temple because they have a picture in primary of it and he thinks it is a castle. I know I am biased but when I asked them a few months ago what their favorite temple was, to order them, I was so impressed by how they had decided which one was their favorite and why. So for Christmas Eve right before bed we read "Twas the night before Christmas" to them as it was read to me by my Dad every Christmas Eve. Then the scriptures leading up to Christ's birth were read days before leading up to his birth, where on Christmas day we read about his birth then watched the movie put out by the church. Then in my family my Dad and Mom would always make a huge christmas breakfast, which ours consisted of a added treat toaster strudels. Our boys have never had anything like this for breakfast so we thought they would totally love it! NOPE! Kaelten enjoyed it (but that kid eats anything) The other two hated them. The boys had a blast the rest Christmas day opening presents and playing all day. We bought everyone light sabers this year because Kaelten has been the only one with one and I am so tired of getting hit in the face (cuz I have a old sword of theirs) in battle. We also started a new tradition of a Italian feast, since by the time Christmas comes we have had so much turkey from Thanksgiving and Christmas parties etc that we can't stand anymore turkey. It really was a special and spiritual day for all of us! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas day pics!

Koen disgusted with a Pillsbury Toaster Strudel

My creations for our Italian feast!

Lighting the four candles on our adventskrans

Our ward christmas party!

2007-12-22T21:05:00.000-08:00

We had our ward Christmas party tonight. The missionaries sat with us and the food was tasty. Jared got to play for the program in the chapel before the dinner. He was so excited to play and did a incredible job.

Dancing with the Stars tour!

2007-12-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

My BFF Janet who works for the Bone radio station here in SF, got free tickets to the Dancing with the Stars tour. She of course took me and it was so much fun! I love that we live in a area where you can do and see everything. It has been such a dream come true living here. I am going to miss it all when we move. Hopefully our next place we live will be just as interesting. The show was great. I love watching Sabrina dance and Derrik, who BTW is LDS. Sabrina's original partner was injured so she had to partner up with Derrik. They did a great job. Here a few photos of the night! Sorry they are a little blurry. We were close to the stage but it was just too hard to really get a good picture.

Home for the holidays!!

2007-12-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of school before Christmas break. Koen's class had a heritage lunch and Kaelten's class had a Christmas party. For Koen's class we were suppose to bring something that represented our families heritage. We did vegetables since I couldn't decide between stuffed peppers and sausage with sauerkraut. He had a beautiful tray of green and red bell peppers, Carrots, and celery. Since he is German and Polish with a dash of Irish, English. I decided to leave a little card describing how most people are under the impression that German and Polish people are Dark hair and Dark eyes. That it is actually common to see blond hair blue eyed people like here in America. Kaelten's party was a blast. Yes I am totally bias since I am the room mom LOL. We decorated gingerbread men and had hot cocoa. We made reindeer out of clothespins and turned them into magnets. We also did stain glass windows with black construction paper and tissue paper. Liam and Bosko Bear got to tag along. Liam enjoyed everything so much! From making projects and eating goodies to cocoa and story time, he was a perfect little gentlemen. He blended in with the class so well Mrs. LaRosa forgot he was there. BB of course stole the show with all the adults. He loves smiling and flirting and dazzled everyone with his many dimples. The whole day was a hit!

Koen's first Christmas performance

2007-12-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

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Every Year the 1st and 2nd graders get to do the holiday concert. Last Year Kaelten did it, this year it was Koen's turn. Koen got to do the opening announcement. He was so cute trying to read what he needed to say. He sang beautifully with his fellow 1st graders and there were many tear jerking moments on my part. I love being a Mom and I just can not express that enough. The picture you see above is Hannah, Koen's BFF. She was sweetly and softly telling me (as I took the picture) she doesn't want Koen to move. She looked like she was going to cry. I never have in my life met such a polite, Innocent, and sweet little girl like her. I teared up with her as she kept repeating softly "I don't want Koen to move" Until she new for sure I had heard her. I wish we didn't have too" I told her. I hope with all my heart Koen will someday marry someone as genuine and sweet as she is. I know he I six, I have such a long way to go. One great thing about Koen is he picks some very good friends and his personality seems to always land the girls.

Ice skating at San Francisco Zoo

2007-12-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

We surprised the boys this morning by going to the member only morning at the San Francisco zoo. They had an ice skating rink and reindeer. It was the most perfect day our family has had in a long time. The boys loved there first experience of getting to ice skate. They fell a lot and there were pretty big bruises afterwards, but boys love to show off bruises. We then went and saw real reindeer followed by hot cocoa to warm us up. There were also dance performances going on throughout the park. Which we got to see as we went to look at all the animals. The boys favorite is the Grizzly cubs. They are so playful and will come charging at the glass. Over all having a season pass to the zoo pays off!! WHAT A PERFECT DAY!! Don't forget to look right below for all the action shots of us skating.

I have been tagged twice now!

2007-12-07T23:09:00.000-08:00

Since I have been tagged by my Sister and BFF Shannon from college, I am bound to write 7 things/ habits about myself!

1-Weird thing about me I love straws in my drinks. I say because my teeth hurt from the ice, which is pretty much true. The real reason is because is makes me feel special and I can't really tell you what that is. I have some weird link somewhere to straws and one very rare happy moment in childhood. Who knows!!

2-I love to organize, make list and charts. If one of my kids ever went insane it would be from being list and charted to death. I actually can't function with out it. Ever since I got pregnant with Kaelten I have developed amnesia. I just can't remember to do things. So I have to have my palm beep at me to remember things. I really am more OC and organized then my disease or children allow me too be. Which once again will result in a large psychologist bill later. Jared hears me often say "oh if you could have seen me before I got sick, I was amazing and efficient."

3- I am left and right handed. Which played a huge roll in sports in high school. It also made dancing a breeze! Jared secretly hopes one our boys get this so they can be an all star in something.

4-If I could give the amount of motivation and drive I have to do, to be me. There might be less homeless people. Example: Lets say your weeks worth of responsibilities as a mother was measured in one mile. It take me ten miles of effort to get to your one mile because of all my health issues. Not to mention every so many weeks my disease comes out of remission and I have to take 3 days to a week off and then motivate myself into life again. While making it look like everything is fine and normal to my kids and everyone sometimes including Jared. It's that darn pride and self respect that makes me put on my game face. Which this leads to sometime appearing as though I am thoughtless and lazy. Making me just except this title and smile since there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Things I have gained from this. I have such a powerful understanding of who I am, that I mainly don't care what people think. I do care if I have mislead them and hurt there feelings though. Which gets tricky at times because I am so private about things. I have made it a goal to be less private and well this past year has been weird and hard to come out of my shell lol! This blog is therapeutic I think.

5-This one might not go over well with my parents and well Jared and some of his family, except Aaron and Diana! I am way more on the Democratic side. I agree with some republican views, but I am Democratic. I like Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama. I like there views and there platforms in fact when I was just out of high school I did a beauty pageant, Hillary was my platform of someone I admire as a women. I know I know Dad you are freaking lol! Yes there are things I don't support in a moral/religious stance on well either side actually. I like the government programs, tree huggers and their scientist to back them. I think providing more government for the people as well as this nation taking care of its people is crucial. I believe that people who want to live here should be given that chance. I think this nation is a great nation and all people should have a chance to live here short of making it do able with keeping our economy. I have a good friend Lisie and her mom Karen, they are true inspirations in this department and people I look up too! They have both taught me some valuable things about Democrats and being Mormon. I got this crazy idea in my head that I had to keep it a secret and not be a Democrat because people in my life growing up made it out to be a crime. Then we moved to Alameda and I met Lisie and I came out if the political closet. I remember never agreeing with things. When I was growing up I constantly had my heart swell with confusion and disagreement over things discussed. I for so long opted out on any political opinion until now. Jared supports me and we meet in the middle on a few things. He of course is Republican and yet we are living in the same house together in harmony. Phew there I said it now I can go on with my life LOL!

6-I love love love Garfield the comic. I use to own every book made (stop laughing) and then stupidly gave them to my little brother Danny when I got married and well no more needs to be said. His outlook on life is hilarious and I am all about the jokes.

7-I love make up and hair. Yes you are saying to yourself as you look at me REALLY!! Well lets not base this off of my past year. I love shopping for makeup and owning makeup that I haven't even opened and used yet. I love doing all kinds of colors in my hair, natural hair colors that is like darks and blondes. I love trying new things and even cut every one's hair here including my own. I am passionate about having it just right and have yet to find the person who can make it just the way I am feeling at that moment. OH WAIT there was this guy Scott in Utah he could do that. I am really hard to please. I get mesmerized over the beauty counters in the mall and can't be disturbed when I am at Sephora. This is truly why I do not understand why God gave me all boys. I can say though that I am the prettiest one in the house though LOL!

Wow this was hard to do! I am tagging my BFF and sister in-law Diana and Jared My hubby. Look back later for his 7 things on this site. I am also tagging Heather my sister in-law!

Kaelten's EEG

2007-12-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

As most of you know when Kaelten was 2 1/2 he was diagnosed with Epilepsy and put on medication. When he got closer to starting kindergarten we decided he should be off the medicine to avoid the side affects at school. Since his EEG's where clear for a year (from the age of 4-5) the doctor allowed us to taper him off the Depakote. From 5 1/2 on he has seemed somewhat fine but this past year or so things have started happen again. So on December fifth he went in for another EEG. He really liked the picture I took so we are posting it. When he was little and they had to put the sensors all over his head I would tell him they were spider man stickers to make him look like spider man. This worked every time. He was and still is big into dressing like a super hero. Now that he is almost nine he just giggled and said "mom I know they aren't anymore" LOL I totally love Kaelten and his sense of humor!

"My taste buds have changed now that I am 4!"

2007-12-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

He was born December 4, 2003 at 10:47 am and weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 20 inches long.

Liam's thoughts.....I like to be four! My taste buds have changed because I am four,so now I can eat big boy things! I can run faster now (starts to run everywhere in the room) cuz I am sonic mcspeedy and I am four now!

My little boy and angel has turned four today. I will never stop being shocked each time one of them gets another year behind them. Now to brag for all the Grandparents reading!!! Liam can write and read at a early kindergarten level. This was done in record time since in our house this usually happens before 4, so I am so shocked he is where he is at after 3 months. Just to back track, due to my really bad pregnancy and recovery we got behind with him. So the past 3 to 4 months I have been working with him. He loves painting, super hero's, super why, letters, numbers, bugs, dirt, art in general and has Jared's photographic memory. He observes things on a deeper level then any of the boys have. Which in this house of nerds...excuse me, intellectuals, that is saying a lot! He will recall things, places, objects and situations from the oddest times and then use correct wording to describe it. In those moments I forget he is three and well now four. He is STUBBORN and really plays the "I am mommies baby card." So due to this he has refused to learn to make his bed until a month ago. He can unload the silverware from the diswasher, fold wash cloths, hand towels, pants and shirts. Liam really is the type that does things on his terms. Luckily that is starting to work in my favor! He loves riding his bike too and playing outside with "brothers," collecting bugs. As evidence by his "things he is thankful for," his brothers are his world. He was making taco soup, mud soup with zing (a favorite among all the boys) and decided to eat it. It wasn't until Koen came running in to let me know, that he stopped eating it. Liam has eaten more disgusting and odd things then any kid I know. His curiosity has made mounds of mess and disaster from paper clips to all my makeup and creams painted on the walls of the bathroom. His recent one this week is using his tooth brush to scrub the crevices of the sink. He is so insistent on doing everything himself. He tells me "Mommy leave please, I can do it" so often that his teeth brushing has been his since he turned three. Because of this me and Jared take Friday's to watch him and review that the task is being done right. So knowing all this I haven't a clue how long he has been cleaning the sink with that particular brush. The fascination he has with needing to know how it works, feels, tastes and looks mixed with water, make me think he will be a scientist someday. For now he is just keeping me on my toes. Liam's favorite thing in the world is sugar and veggies. Such a contradicting combination of food. Today he had V-8, celery, PB and J and a huge cookie. He can do and create anything with Lego's, kynex, and paper. He loves cars and the movie of course. I think at times he actually thinks he is a car. His favorite stuffed animals (as he puts it "they are not stuffed animals, they are stuffed cars") are Lightening DaQueen and Tow truck Mator (his words again). He and Koen have their own Pokemon language. Which of course is there favorite inside game to play. I am so lucky to have him as my son and love to learn and grow with him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Liam!!

Christmas lights at the temple!

2007-12-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

Every Year we go to the temple to see the lights and go to the visitor center for a movie! The boys love this tradition! Christmas is so magical when you are a child and although Santa is fun to visit at the mall, Jared and I decided that the temple gives the true meaning of Christmas. They had so much fun looking at all the lights and going to sit in front of the Christus in the visitor center. The tour was a lot of fun! They have this large life like display of Jerusalem. We of course reminded the boys that this is where Auntie Rachel is at, doing school. They love pushing the digital screen buttons and listening to the life of Christ. The whole visitors center has little screens and shows with digital buttons for them to push. All temple visitor centers have such things but to them it is heaven on earth literally LOL! One of the most amazing things they had this year was the first Book of Mormon printed on display, with the possibility of Joseph Smith's autograph in it. We were told that the church is still researching to see if it is his actual signature. This make things so real for little boys. Kaelten's hero is Joseph Smith. One of his first testimonies expressed in sacrament meeting was about him. So when Kaelten saw it he was so amazed. He also informed the President there, that the picture of the first presidency needed to be updated since Elder Faust had passed away. The Missionaries and President just beamed at him and told them they had ordered one. I love that my boys know there apostles and church leaders. Koen kept watching the little videos and expressing his concern on the kids that were not making good choices and explaining what you should do. Liam of course was engrossed in all the Book of Mormons from around the world table. The different languages were so fascinating to him. We then went and watch "Joy to the world." The night was filled with the spirit and really set the mood for Christ instead of just Christmas. I love that there are places all over the world that we can go to be close to Heavenly father and Jesus, especially during this time of year.

Our family Tradition for decorating a tree!

2007-11-30T20:01:00.000-08:00

Every year we get a tree and drive it home. This year because of Bosko bear getting into everything we decided to just put up the fake one and on top of something away from his reach. Every year we go and get one ornament each and then I write names and years on each of them. Every year we take a picture of each person putting up theirs. Jared and I share and ornament and we trade off years. As of last year we were trading off years of tree decorating colors too. We either do blue and silver or red and gold. This year we did both. We have to many people and well for Jared and I alone 10 ornaments for us, 8 for Kaelten, 6 for Koen, 4 for Liam and well you get the point. We have a lot and so since we couldn't get our usual as I like to call "Clark Griswald tree" (a tradition from my side where every year my Dad would buy a tree to big for the living room) to put up. We had to do a second small tree too. Plus Jared thought both colors would look great! I totally think it turned out so nice. Happy Holidays Everyone!

He can pull himself up YAY!!

2007-11-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

One day past his 8 month mark and having crawled for a while now, he decides to pull himself up. YAY!!! Bosko Bear!!! He was totally giving that look of yep did this myself. From the famous words of Kaelten at three "I don't know why I am so smart I just am!"

Mista Kitty loves the boys! Especially the baby so here he is encouraging Bosko Bear to play with him. I am so amazed at how an animal can actually know when to be soft and rough, depending on the child. He loves chasing, scratching and rough housing witht the boys. When it comes to Asher he just lays there and lets him pet him.

Three candy corns isn't enough, continued!

2007-11-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well I have tried to upload my video on what I am thankful for. It just won't do it, because it is too long. Go figure!! So here it is in writing instead.

1- I am thankful this year for all the people that have given service to our family. I am especially thankful for my mother in-law Debbie for flying out on a moments notice to care for my boys while I was hospitalized. For my sister Rachael who lived with us for 2 months. Sacrificing her time to take care of all of us and her own boys in such a small place. For my Dad and Denne calling me daily to give words of encouragement and who continue to do so. For the people in our ward who took over driving and dropping of and cleaning (thanks Melanie!!) when we had a little 2 week space of no one here to help while we waited for my sister to come back. For a sister in our ward and her son who still, to this day take our garbage cans to the curb for garbage day! Through all this service I have learned a valuable thing. God only gives us what we can handle and sometimes that means we need to have others help out. Only then are we truly left with what we really can handle. We can not live alone and to ourselves because we may miss the chance to help someone handle there trials and burdens. This is why Gods church is set up the way it is. To be in each others lives. To serve each other and hold each other up when we can not do it ourselves! Thank you everyone! We love you!

2- For my boys who had to maybe grow up a little more then they should and help out in our house. They do more then most kids there age and although that prepares them to be successful adults someday, Mommy is aware of how hard it has been for them. We truly are given the spirit children we are suppose to raise for a reason. I couldn't have done this year without there constant strength. From Kaelten anticipating things his younger brothers need, without being asked. To Koen grabbing Liam's hand and saying "Mommy needs to lay down, lets go play with marbles." Liam waiting patiently and not being demanding as I slowly regain my strength to be able to play super hero's again. I truly can not deny Gods hand and his protecting angels who have been here in our home over this past year.

3- My most important thanks is to my husband, who tells me with smiles everyday that he is privileged to be my husband. When I know how much of a burden I have been. Who has held me up "literally" when I have no strength to go on. He is an endless sea of selflessness. I learn so much from his Christ like attributes, on how to be better. I love you sweetie and I hope someday to return the kindness, selflessness and mercy you have shown me daily.

This year has been the worst, yet the most rewarding. I would never trade the growth I have been given. This was why the video was too long Truly three candy corns was not enough!

Three candy corns is not enough!

2007-11-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful for so many things this year, above and beyond any year in my life. I was given a fourth miracle, my littlest Bosko Bear. I could literally go on, but instead I thought I would show you all the videos of each person on here. Jared, Me, Kaelten, Koen, and Liam all have our individual videos of three things we are thankful for.

This is what Liam is thankful for!

Liam's 3 things he is thankful for!

Koen's 3 things he is thankful for!

2007-11-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Koen's 3 things he is thankful for!

Kaelten's 3 things he is thankful for!

2007-11-22T20:30:00.000-08:00

Kaelten's 3 things he is thankful for!

Jared's 3 things he is thankful for!

2007-11-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Family Home Evening

2007-11-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

Kaelten was incharge of the lesson. This was his first time doing it with no help at all. He did so great!! He of course did it on gratitude for Thanksgiving. Liam was incharge of the treats so we made cupcakes.

Liam under the table eating chocolate crumbs! He seriously cna't resist anything that is chocolate LOL!

Highlights and Milestones!

2007-11-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

With four boys a dog, cat, Me and Jared there is so much to tell and post here is a some accomplishments and cutest ever pictures! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Bosko Bear has learned he can splash and splash and splash. We can't actually keep him in for very long because everyone get wet and well fun for him not so much me.

See the red square in his hand. That is a coaster from EQ3 one of my favorite stores on Bay Street! For those that don't know Bay Street, you could practically just live there. You can eat, shop, eat, go to the movies, eat again, shop some more and then Ikea is next door. Talk about heaven on earth! Coming back to earth here. So I got this at EQ3 and it is a coaster. He can't put it down I have to hide them from him. He will inch worm all over with it in his hand.

I know we all think our kids are geniuses!!! In this case Liam has to be. All my boys love kynex, legos, kid kynex and bionicles. Liam since he turned three last year has been able to go from following the instructions to creating his own things. From this creature he is holding (one of the harder creations in his kid kynex "map" as he calls it) to actual cars and three wheelers that he makes up on his own. I think that is amazing!!

He is very close to just regular crawling everywhere. Since almost 5 1/2 months he has gone from rolling to inch worming everywhere. I ordered specialty gates they are being shipped to me this week. I had to disinfect with my floormate (this is truly something you must have it is like a carpet machine for your flooring) all my tiled flooring since he has been very sick and yet needs to explore everywhere.

I love that he loves his mp3 player. He will walk around the house or in the back yard singing out loud (not realizing that we can hear him)just being in his own dimension. The kid can sing too. It has taken until age 8 to really hear his voice develop. You just can't really tell until this point and man the kaelten and a beautiful voice.

Koen has learned how to take a "big boy shower" all by himself. He was nervous at first (because he is so use to me getting it all ready for him)but today was marked as his first start to finish on his own. I also got Kaelten and Koen adult body wash. I know you are all thinking why would you get them adult body wash at such a young age. Well at least I thought long and hard at first so I figure you may be thinking that. Well this is why BOYS SMELL!! I am not trying to sound mean, they really do. Liam and Bosko Bear can some how maintain there baby smell all the time. Kaelten and Koen smell like dirt and grime....they smell like recess, but all the time. They can even shower everyday and baby lotion up for the fragrance and then two seconds later smell like boy. I needed something that would really get rid of the smell and maintain a fresh scent. The kids Johnson and Johnson stuff that smells fruity doesn't cut it. It has to be short of actual deodorant (which they of course are to young for)which there smell really isn't b.o. I don't think. I have finally seen what our future is going to be like when they are teenagers. OH NO!!!

Bosko Bear on the nebulizer with his medicine treatments. He eventually got croup/bronchitis with pneumonia. SO with this and antibiotics he finally feels better today. He had been sick for about 3 weeks (kind of a lingering thing) before it just got worse.

He loves Mista Kitty!!

His first zwieback toast. Liam loves these too, in fact he still eats these and Gerber puffies as snack. So when I told him to go get one and give it to Bosko Bear he took a bite first and then handed it to him LOL!! He was "sharing" as he put it.

Pizza Night mmmm!

Pizza Night MMM!

Seriously they all love getting there picture taken LOL!

Monty sporting his new fleece lined coat for the cold morning pee!

The famous Halloween parade

2007-11-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

We all remember those really fun parades in elementary school. Well here is our first one with the boys. Last year everyone missed it because we had a nasty cold. This year it was so great even Bosko Bear and Liam got to be apart of it. Mostly because I am Kaelten's room mom and had to be there for the party. Jared came to see everyone too and man the younger ones. Mrs. LaRosa (Kael's teacher) held Bosko Bear the entire time and people where stopping her and getting pictures of him in his chicken costume. Thank you Ray for letting us borrow it! As you can see by the pictures it was a blast. Koen's teacher Mr. Nielsen was hilarious in his tin man costume. I really love this school and my heart is totally breaking that we will be leaving this wonderful state. Happy Halloween everyone! By the way yes that is me in my finest hair and makeup. I really hated it when my mom would embarrass me at school. SOOOO of course it is my right of passage to be hideous for Kaelten's class. The kids were all "look at Kaelten's mom!" Kaelten was all "mom you're such a nerd." Which translation for me was give him a kiss and leave some red lipstick on his cheek LOL!!! AHHH sweet satisfaction

The Sacred art of pumpkin carving!

2007-10-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

In our house pumpkin carving is sacred. Every year we either grow our own or pick a pumpkin a week before Halloween. Every year Jared says the same thing...."hmmm should I get one this year or should we just get the kids one?" Keep in mind that he looks forward to carving one every year. He spends 20 mins picking out the right one at the store or one we grew. This year instead of me spending the whole time helping the boys carve theirs, while Jared sits in the corner for hours practically bring his to life. He had to help the boys. Another repercussion of my health. I know you are so getting sick of hearing it. I view this blog as a personal journal of my life raising boys and well I am sooo looking forward to reading all this over, next year and weeping tears of joy that it is all over. My rehabilitation (for all who want to know Dad & Denne) is going great. I will expand on all that in a bit. Jared loves, loves, looovvees, pumpkin carving! So why he asks every year if that should be the year he shouldn't, no one knows. His pumpkin every year trumps the one the year before. In fact when we were living at wymount (BYU housing) he won a first place award for a Picasso pumpkin he did. If I find that picture I will put it up with this post. This year he did a tribute to Bosko Bear. His creations are all original, but you would think they came from a book. All of them had a blast carving. Kaelten was given the OK to do his alone with very little supervision or help. Kids are so funny when they get to advance to the next stage closer to adulthood. He was beaming the whole time and assuring us (or maybe just himself) that he was being careful with the knife. Koen kept showing us the face he was drawing on his pumpkin almost as though if he made the face he could draw it better. Liam kept coming up with markers and coloring his. He is still grasping the whole carving thing. Bosko Bear was watching from afar. As for me I usually have to spend the whole time making theirs I never get to make one. Not really a sad thing for me though. I mean next year I will have to help with four of them. That right, theirs counts as mine.

Liam, Mommy and Bosko Bear at Oakland Zoo!

2007-10-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

This was a fun and free, compliments of my good friend Lynn. We have a yearly pass to San Francisco Zoo since we use to live closer to that and well I just really love the that zoo. Liam really enjoyed the kids section since he has never been. He has the San Francisco zoo memorized(6 1/2 years will do that), so this was fun to have something new! Thanks Lynn!!

Trunk or Treat!!

2007-10-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the church to do the annual trunk or treat. We usually go to our old ward and do there Halloween party the next day but I sadly was so exhausted (as usual blah!) from the trunk or treat, so we didn't get to go. I miss my friends so much in our old ward. I wish we had planned things better. This is going to be our last Halloween here and so that was our last Halloween party with them. OH WELL..... On a happier note the kids had a blast! People are constantly asking if Koen and Liam are twins or confusing them and never getting who is who right. I usually think they are insane because I can see the age difference and well they look so different! As I was putting this post together and looking through the pics I was SHOCKED!! They looked so much a like how could it take a picture for me to get that. Liam sat next to me the whole time too naming off people. As I scrolled through the pictures he would actually pause on his and Koen's for a brief sec before saying who they were. Even Liam couldn't really tell!! Here are a few pictures from the party/trunk or treat. The rest is all on flickr which there is a link to our flickr pics on the right hand side of this page. So if you ever want more pictures go there. I take a lot of pictures all the time and lots of them don't make it on the blog but they are all on our flickr site.

October Missed pics!!! This is a must see!!!

2007-10-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ok I have been so sick and busy and well life goes by so fast. Here are pictures of highlights of October that I forgot to blog but need to brag!! Please take your time to see some of the things that the boys have enjoyed this October. I am showing them off in a slide show. Bosko Bear has come along nicely in the sitting, to crawling, to rolling department. As well as spouts on gibberish. Liam has been coming along with his reading. So get this Kaelten and Koen both were reading for Kindergarten. Which was a huge plus and now Koen is reading stuff Kaelten's class is learning to read (3rd Grade) in first grade, because he is ahead. While Kaelten according to the computer system (they test them weekly for 5 min to see where they are at and match them up to books) has to track down a fifth grade teachers Jr. High stash to get something challenging enough for him to progress in his reading. Kids are so easy to teach reading too and once they learn they fly through it. So I really only get a small pat on the back but YAY ME!! So back to Liam. As you all know I was deathly ill during my pregnancy and hospitalized at one point and became a zombie for the last trimester. Because of that I feel sad to say I am lacking in Liam's learning. I am currently doing catch up with him and I have to say the kid has picked up a lot on his own. I gave him a mini assessment to find out where he was back in August. I have been so impressed by what he knows. Thank goodness he learns so fast too. Genetics LOL! My Dad would be proud and of course Jared's. With all this going on I haven't had much time to do anything. We also found out today that if we get sent to NY Liam will be going to Kindergarten next year. I freaked when I heard this and spent hours on way to increase his knowledge to put him at where Kael and Koen were when they started school. Since I know that what I did with Kaelten and Koen worked, I need to give him the same advantage. I must express the importance of getting your kids to read before they go to school. It really helps them focus more on math and other things, having confidence in reading.

Conference weekend!

2007-10-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

How I love conference weekend. We had such a blast!!! Saturday we made apple sauce compliments of a wonderful lady in our ward that let us pick them and then gave us the equipment to make the sauce. We ended up canning about 22 jars! We set up a tent and surprised the boys after that. They had such a blast making smores on our "campfire" they called it, compliments of the left burner on our grill. Then we layered up, told stories and slept in the tent. Well they slept. I just was so uncomfortable and having to wake up a million times for Bosko Bear. It was all worth it. When the boys woke up the next morning, they were so excited that they got to sleep in the backyard in a tent. Sunday was another wonderful conference day. I just love the spirit in our home during conference.

The picture does not give its size justice!!!

2007-10-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

Not kidding this beauty was outside my front door! This morning when loading the kids in the van I went to go back in the house and it stood right in front of me. When I say stood I mean stood!!! I called Jared (had my cell phone in my hand) and was all "what do I do?" Jared was all "well how big is it?" This thing was the size of a small tarantula. I am not exaggerating either! the picture gives it very little justice. Jared then was all telling me he killed a huge spider in the garage 2 days ago and looked it up on the Internet and said it was a wolf spider. Well after he described what he had killed, I confirmed that it must be another. We have spider issues and we have killed over 20 black widows at this point. I pray none of the boys get bitten ever, literally I pray. My boys would live outside if they could....... Back to the story. I quickly went into the house grabbed the spectracide out of the garage. When I got back, it had traveled a bit. At this point the boys were squealing and yelling with every step it took. I then began spraying it from behind. It turned around and started towards me stopped and then started kicking its front legs up at me as though it was fighting back ( I felt a little bad for it, well for 1 second) as it slowly died from 30 sprays. NOT KIDDING 30!! I began to curl up. So the picture you are seeing is it curled up from dying. It seriously would have covered the palm of my hand. So creepy and so Halloween!!

Jared the Celebrity!!

2007-10-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Jared on a case! He was in the news paper with this picture. Some huge fire in on of Stockton's marinas. The pic is really distorted so he looks weird. GREAT WORK SWEETTIE!! If it weren't for his job and the Coast Guard our environment would really suffer.
Here is the link to the article if you want to read. He is mentioned in it and everything.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071009/A_NEWS/710090318

Jared loves this Truck!

2007-10-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Jared in action!

The moving list is out!!

2007-09-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

Ok so the list is out! For those of you that aren't sure of what I am talking about, this is the list we get when it is time to transfer in the military. Jared and I have been so nervous for a month now. We have looked and talked about a bunch of places that could be open before they actually put out the list. I have started spreadsheets and lists and pulled up old documents of our last move to get a glance/idea of the areas we could go. Also to have an at a glance list of expenses and needs for the move since we are DITY(or now known as self procured moving) which means we are doing the move ourselves. All I can say is that I am so thankful for technology and Microsoft excel. We are now officially looking at the list today. Due to all the sheets and data I have saved from previous moves, I was able to just plug in the data and see the outcome. WOW once again I love Microsoft excel and that I can actually use it. Who knew that all the previous moves would make this one even easier. I knew I had all these things sitting around and also deep in my hard drive. I just never realized that my OC would actually come in handy lol! So now what??? Well we get the wonderful opportunity of stressing on how to carefully and strategically place our wants on this list so that the detailer (the person who picks our place to go) will end up picking something we really want. Looks like all our possibilities will bring us to the East or Texas. Pray we get the place God wants us to be.

Does "Diet Dr. Pepper" really taste like regular???

2007-09-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

He is 6 months!!

2007-09-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Bosko Bear turned 6 months today! I am so sad. We are always told to count our blessing which I really have so many, I just never planned to have life decide for me that I can't have more kids. Since I am the type that plans everything out (well in life decisions I do) I feel fully ripped off. I don't usually open much on stuff like that but really there has to be a point where with my body enough is enough. I find myself becoming a control freak on other things around me lately because I can't control my body. It has been six months since I had Bosko Bear and yet this week (due to my disease) I could barely stand to do my dishes let alone get the kids to school. I am so trapped some days I can't even do normal daily things and yet I am trying my best to enjoy my baby and 3 other boys. I keep saying give me a year I will be so much better but yet 6 months later I feel like I just left the hospital. I use to be able to push through maybe rest a bit and well back to life. It is so disappointing when reality hits that I can't do that anymore. I have found solutions (I think) to my adrenal fatigue and cushings issues but not a chance, the moment my disease kicks in I am just fending for myself to get through the day with my disease. I have no energy left to continue my complicated and elaborate plan to cure my adrenal fatigue. My body has literally too much going on. It is like when you pull open to many programs at once on your computer and it freezes. I need something that can really solve this quickly and less complicated. So that I am only dealing with my disease. blah blah on the time will heal, I am forced into that already. Regardless of all this I have four beautiful boys. Just wish I could give get back to giving them a cleaner house and that after school things wouldn't be so chaotic that we just rush through dinner and barley get enough organized to make it the next day, because I have to go lay down again. I did however for the first time in a year go outside and play football with the boys. I was a very mellow version and I just passed a ball. I do average about 3 times a week at ballys for 30 min workouts. The days I get to the gym seem to be my better days. So you say sure then get to the gym more right. Well I won't go into to detail on why I can't get there some mornings it is just to private. My kids deserve a whole mom not one that is the equivalent of an 80 year old grandma who can only be in there presence and they take care of me. I writing this all now in hopes that I will read this in 6 months and say wow I am so much better. For now Bosko Bear is reaching all his normal milestones and is happy and adores his brothers. I can tell he recognizes he hit the jack pot joining our family, because he can't get enough of all 3 of his brothers. He is the first kid we have had that prefers his brothers over Mommy and Daddy.

Family Home Evening Mildenstein style!!!

2007-09-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

BOYS!!!! They love football, dirt, wounds of war ( in this case cuts from football), grass stains. Grass can and will go everywhere and be eaten....yes I said eaten! Todays family home evening lesson was on grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. LOL!!

Please forgive my I forgot to post this! Happy Birthday Koen!

2007-09-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

THIS IS KOEN'S BLESSING DAY! FOUR DAYS OLD BECAUSE WE HAD TO GET GOING AND MOVE TO CALIFORNIA!!

Koen turned 6 today! I remember having him like yesterday. They grow up so fast and I wish I could stop time. He was a very special birth for me because he was born while daddy was in boot camp. Jared didn't get to meet him until 3 days after his birth. Koen got to meet him at the airport gate back when you could go to the gate! The whole family was there to greet Jared! Jared had been gone for 2 months and we all missed him (especially me). Koen got to watch this video (thank you Aaron) the other day. He got to see his auntie Melissa hand him to his Daddy! This delivery was my biggest lose of blood and I was so weak I could barely stand. So Melissa held him.....Back tracking a little....... I remember my sister Rachael taking me and the boys out for dinner before hand and then practically carrying me to the gate to wait for Jared. Then Melissa holding him and people ewwing and awing over how little he was and then a lady asked "how old is he?" Melissa then replied " He is only three days old and going to meet his daddy for the first time" Well that stirred the crowd of people and you could hear the whispering of meeting his daddy for the first time spark threw the crowd of people. When Jared finally walked in no one recognized him because he was so tan and really skinny...... We new when Jared joined the Coast guard that he might miss his birth. Koen was due the 28th of August and Jared was due to come home the 31st. There was a good chance that I could go over my due date and he would get there just in time to be apart of the birth, but it was fate that he didn't. We didn't know at the time that this huge sacrifice, to join when we did set us up for a down pour of blessing on our little family. It is funny how when we ask for help from Heavenly Father our answers some times require great strength and faith in him. Koey Bear has grown so much since then he is now 45 inches tall and 46 pounds. He loves to organize and clean things. He still asks " mommy how can I help you?" He love to read and it incredible at it! He also excels at math. He is truly his fathers son in all academic aspects. I love how I can give him something to do and know it will be done with out another question. Koey H. Bear is a blessing to this family and make it complete. What an amazing little boy!!!

TOUCH DOWN!!!!

2007-09-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit us this last Saturday, on there way to Hawaii. The boys had so much fun with Grandpa Bosko. He played with them the entire time outside. I love that about my Dad he was always so much fun to play with. For all you Bosko kids who need to reminise, he play the monster game with them. He ended up playing football with them most of the time. At one point he and Jared were trying to peak at football on tv and Jared ended up having to give updates outside, because the boys just had to play! It was such a cute day of them snuggling and playing with Grandma and Grandpa. They were all in tears as they watched them drive off that night. This day is an imprint in there minds forever! Thanks Dad and Denne.

PLEASE PRAY!!

2007-09-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

My sister Kara had an emergency c-section yesterday. She was only 33 weeks along and so Jocelin is very small. She was 3lbs 11oz and 18 inches long. She is doing well and so is Kara, but please pray for them to continue this good health. Congratulations Kara we love you and we love you little Jocelin Rae!

We got Guts and Glory!!! Go Team Bek!!

2007-09-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well the day was successful! We got up really early and drove to Golden gate park to walk 3.2 miles for a cure! This year the walk raised a grand total of 147,000 dollars. Not to bad I say. Two years ago due to donations, research was done and they created a new drug for me. It was finally put out on the market 3 months ago. This drug only has to be taken once a day. That means instead of 12 pills a day, split up in 3 doses, making a grand total of 4380 pills a year. I take 2 in the morning and 730 a year. Thank you to all who made that possible for me through donations!! This is the difference you are making just for me! I hope someday they find a cure, but for now this is such an improvement in my life.

The boys enjoyed the beautiful view as we walked and I then later at the ending ceremony they danced and Kaelten dazzled everyone with his worm (break dancing involving getting on your stomach)and Koen dazzled with his crazy dance! Liam of course followed suit and Bosko Bear slept. Jared and I would like to thank all those who participated in donating. If you still would like to donate to Team Bek you can at this link

http://ccfa.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=227178&lis=1&kntae227178=3390019979024A9C9CA1357063620CDB&team=2014681

First Day of School for 2007-2008!

2007-08-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

So here we go again! Kaelten will be in 3rd Grade. Koen will be in 1st grade and Liam will be doing preschool with me. I have sucessfully taught all my kids preschool and reading before kindergarten and I have to say it pays off. So this year Liam will be reading. He of course won't start kindergaten until 2009. So he has plenty of time! Bosko Bear will be of course going through his ups and downs of 0-1 year milestones. Man our house is full of a lot of growing

boys!!