2009 Christmas Letter

Hello All,
We’re hoping this letter finds you all well. Last year we didn’t write a letter or even send cards - shame on us So we’ll try to hit the highlights on the last year (or two) We’ve been kept busy by the kids, Cadynce turned 4 in June and Camden will be 2 in April. Where has time gone?
In 2008, Cadynce and I went to see Elmo Live, my sister came to visit, Colby attended Carson’s college graduation at Stanford. I walked in the Susan G. Komen 5K with a group of amazing friends (Rhonda’s Renegades). Colby and I took a quick 2 day trip to Vegas for “work.” We spent some time on Lopez, I even managed to lock my keys in my car. We had tons of snow and loved it for the most part. I started a blog to try and keep everyone updated on our family happenings. You should check it out because it’s usually good for a laugh or two. tishaknudson.blogspot.com
How was that for short and sweet? Moving on to 2009 - Cam started walking around 10 months and hasn’t stopped running since. He got his first haircut back in March and he was so good, it was crazy. April brought Cam’s birthday and a trip and fall into the door that put two of his bottom teeth through his lip. Cadynce went on her annual Easter Egg Hunt with Nana and Papa at the airport and found about a billion eggs.
Colby coached JV baseball at Stanwood for the second spring in a row. But now, you can call him Mr. Varsity Coach. That’s right - head coach Come watch a game next season.
The first weekend in June Colby and I were supposed to run in the Susan G. Komen 5K with Rhonda’s Renegades again, but...we spent the weekend at the hospital instead. Camden had a low blood sugar episode and we had to have a sleep over in the CCU. We followed up with a visit to Children’s Hospital with an endocrinologist, the end result was he’s totally healthy and just to watch him. Update: the Monday before Thanksgiving we had another episode with Camden. Good news is they were able to get everything the specialist needed to run all the labs. We’ll have a follow up appt with her to find out her official diagnosis soon. Read our blog to find out, cause I’ll post it there when we find out.
We celebrated Cadynce’s 4th birthday with a bowling party We packed out the newly re-opened bowling alley here in A-town and had a blast watching the kiddos bowl. Cadynce has grown by leaps and bounds this last year, I swear she’ll be taller than me by the time she’s ten. Not hard I know She is writing her name pretty good now and practicing writing the alphabet, she’s very excited to go to school. You know, when you go
to school you get to take a backpack and ride a school bus?
The 4th of July we spent a week on Lopez. It was relaxing and the kids loved every minute of it. We went to the beach 2, sometimes 3 times a day and when it came time to go home at the end of the week, they did NOT want to, especially Cadynce.
August was our 6th anniversary, Colby’s ten year reunion, his aunt and uncle’s 25th anniversary and vow-renewal, and a wedding for some good friends. Oh, and Cam’s first set of stitches
In October, Colby and I went on a cruise to Victoria and Nanaimo; it was supposed to be the whole family, but Rhonda was really sick and unable to go. While we had a great time it was a little lonely without them and Ryan and Kelli. Rhonda had been very ill so the boys didn’t take their annual 10 day hunting trip. That did mean Colby was home for down town trick-or-treating, the punkin patch, and Halloween though. We had an all star baseball player and Strawberry Shortcake. October went fast and was hard, we lost Rhonda on October 29th after finding out that the cancer had spread to her brain. This holiday season is going to be a little rough for us without our fearless leader.
I was trying to get this written and done before the festivities started, but here it is Black Friday and I’m typing up our letter. We were thankful to have our family with us at Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a Christmas filled with love and cherished memories and more in the making. Hope you all get the same



Love the Knudson’s

Xoxo Colby, Tisha, Cadynce, Camden and Summer Dog

Life Goes On

During these crazy last few months our lives have literally been turned upside down, in and out, and sideways too. Somehow, we have managed to stick together as a large family and pull through. We made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving, our first two Holidays without Rhonda. I attended a 2 year olds birthday party that made me cry because I can't help but know that she'll never be there for any more of my kids birthdays. This sucks.
Guess what? Life goes on. While people are dying around us and there is turmoil everywhere I look, our life goes on. My kids keep growing and changing, and there is always laundry and dishes to be done and a house to keep clean.
Our friends welcomed a baby boy early this morning into the world; Braddock Scott Johnson! See, life goes on. At least there are lots of babies for me to snuggle with so I can forget my woes...

A sad sad day.

It's never easy to say goodbye. On Wednesday we said goodbye to Rhonda, sort of. We had graveside services and a memorial service, but we didn't really say goodbye. After all, we have a 4 year old who brings up her Nana constantly. Thank heavens for that.



God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be. So he put his arms around you, and whispered “Come to Me”. With tearful eyes we watched you, we watched you fade away. Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay. A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands now rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best.



This amazing saying was on the inside of our memorial program. Sorry to say, I'm not super inspired to write anything right now, I'll get back to it though soon, atleast I'll try.

Rhonda Lee (Hlavaty) Knudson

On Oct 29, 2009, after a 10 year fight with breast cancer, Rhonda, with her family by her side, chose to join her father and son; a decision her family supported.
Rhonda (Hlavaty) Knudson was born July 29, 1954 in Port Angeles, Wa. At the age of 14, she moved with her family to Arlington where they purchased Stilly Auto Parts and it became a family run business.
Rhonda graduated from Arlington High School in 1972 and married her high school sweetheart, Mike Knudson, in 1973. In 1987, Mike and Rhonda purchased the NAPA store from her parents where they have worked together ever since. Rhonda loved her NAPA family and customers, her community, camping, cooking, reading, Schweitzer, ‘da beautiful snow and most of all, her family.
Rhonda spent hours watching, cheering, and supporting baseball; it was her passion. She followed any sports teams that her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews played. She was known for always lending a helping hand and loving support to anyone who needed it, in any situation. Rhonda was active with the Silvana Community Assoc, Fair Board and Fire Dept. and she was the only woman on the National Ad Council for NAPA.
Rhonda is survived by loving husband of 36 years, Mike, their 2 sons; Ryan (Kelli) Knudson and Colby(Tisha) Knudson; and beautiful grandchildren; Syvannah, Alex, Cadynce and Camden. She also leaves her mother; Cleone Hlavaty, father and mother in-law; Ben and Evelyn Knudson, sister; Sandie (Tom) Cooper, brother; Wade Hlavaty and much loved nieces and nephews along with her dear friends; the Strotz family and the worthless cat; Edna.
Rhonda is joining her son; Adam, father; Roy and beloved cocker spaniel; Heidi .
Rhonda was the bravest, most courageous woman we have ever known. Her tenacity in her long fought battle with breast cancer amazed and inspired all who knew her. She will be missed and will live in our thoughts and hearts forever.
A Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 on Wed, Nov 4 at Peace Lutheran Church in Silvana. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Rhonda’s memory to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

she's coming home

After a week at UW Hospital, Rhonda is coming home today. There is no explanation for the fever she keeps getting nightly and we received some harsh news while she was there. Several tests later we learned that Rhonda has 3 spots on her brain, the spot on her liver remains and there are others. The pain in her arm is barely manageable with pain meds so they decided not to do any more treatment. This is something that has been coming for a while and have always known it would. It's just something you can never really prepare yourself for. So, today, she is coming home. We will make her comfortable and enjoy our days with her; however many we can get.
My kids have had a rough week not being able to see her; same goes for Colby. They've all been fighting bad colds. Now that they have chosen no more treatment they can all see her, the risks of getting sick don't really apply anymore. I can't tell you how awful it is knowing what the future will be like, watching someone die is never pleasant. In the meantime, we will be making the most of what we have left.

Rhonda Update.

We have a really rough weekend, just when I thought things were going to start getting easier: BAM! Not the case. Boy, somebody had me fooled. So, I had a really nasty cold for the last couple of weeks which made it especially tough on me because I couldn't go see Rhonda. Talking to her on the phone just isn't the same. Anyways, we thought we were in the clear, but then Friday we went to get flu shots and by the afternoon Camden had a fever. His low fever turned into a high fever. I had a photography class with Sarah scheduled for Saturday and I'd been looking so forward to that. Mike was going to watch the kids, but we can't take that chance when the kids have fevers. So, Mike went to work and Colby came home. While I was at the class, Colby took Cam to the walk-in all for them to tell us to take him home and watch him. Then by Saturday night Colby was taking Cam to the ER for an ear infection and upper respiratory infection. Borderline croup, but they wouldn't treat for that, YET. PLUS, Friday night we got a call at 3 in the morning from Mike, Colby needed to go help him get Grandma K up, who had fallen down. Sunday am brought another trip to the ER for Cam because of the croup. You could hear the poor guy wheezing from across the room. Finally no fever though. So, now that Cam is full medicated and starting to feel better, Cadynce also has a cold. I'm over mine, almost; and Colby is just getting it.
Phone rings at 930 last night. It's Mike. He's taking Rhonda down to the ER at the U. She's been really hurting and has had a fever or 103.5. Since she started radiation a few weeks ago, the fever has been the norm, but they couldn't get it to go down and that's too high for a cancer patient. Plus, she was refusing to eat, even though she was drinking it just wasn't enough. She's dehydrated, and when Mike called at 630 this am to update us they were already on fluid bag # 3. He said after about 1/2 way into the 1st one she was coming around again. Still now clue as to why the fever. Hopefully we will have some answers by the end of the day. We've been told that she's too weak to return home without full time care. So, it's a nursing home or home care. I'm thinking we are going for home care with family filling in the blanks. We'll see what the next few days bring...

Bad, bad me!

I know, I know...I start to get better about writing more frequently, and then I get really bad about it again. So my apologies.
Currently, my son is waking up from his nap, so I'm going to go, but I promise, I'm going to do better!
We all got flu shots today, well, all except Colby, but he'll have to go get his soon.
Hope the cold weather is keeping you all cozy at home!

October already?!

I can't believe it's October already! I'm so far behind on posting pictures and telling you all stories... maybe I'll slowly put them all in here. Anyhoo, exciting news that I can't remember if I shared:


- I got a new camera! And I'm taking a photography class this month with my friend Sarah(who also got a new camera!)
- October means punkin patch time! And since Colby isn't going hunting for 10 days at a time this year, I won't have to go by myself!
- Adorable children in adorable costumes!
- Rhonda started radiation. Lost NO weight last week, aaaaand got the analysis back from the fluid that was on her lungs and it was NOT cancer!
- Colby and I are going on a short little cruise this weekend to Canada. Leaving Friday and docking early Monday morning!
- One of my "other" Sarahs is about to have her baby ANYDAY! (I'm praying she waits til we get home!)
- My friend Shannon found out she's adding a little girl to her family! She'll have one of each now!
- Her sister Renee (also my friend) just found out she's pregnant!
- Camden is spitting out more and more words everyday and starting to put some of them together such as: "cracka peeeeees" = cracker please and he constantly says "ma ma" and I say, "what Cam?" to be followed by gibberish and a nodding head from Cam as if to say, "you picking up what I'm laying down?"
- Cadynce has been complacently doing "homework" (pages in a kindergarten workbook I got) and doing very well!
- Beautiful colors to take pictures of!


Lots of happiness!

Hot Chocolate

This morning I ran (or drove rather) to Starbucks and got a mocha, I decided Cadynce had been being very good lately so I got her a hot chocolate. As we got home Cadynce started asking, "can you get me out first?" I told her no, that I'd get Cam out and then her. This has been a battle, she's always wanting to be first (don't know where that competitiveness comes from.) and so we've been working on that and patience. Since she'll be starting Kindergarten next year and all. OK, on with the story...I get everybody in the house and settled. Cadynce at the table with her hot chocolate and a gigantic napkin and have lectured her profusely about spilling it on her shirt. Can't tell you how many shirts we've lots to hot chocolate stains around her. Cadynce has a few sips and gets down to play with Camden. They were on the floor playing with the tools so I decided to grab a load of laundry and get that going; taking advantage of the moment since Camden has been so clingy the last few days. I walk back into the living room, there is Cadynce playing with the tools, but no Cam. "Camden, where are you?" "jabber jabber jabber" Fear washes over me and I knew before I could see him... he's sitting at the kitchen table perfectly content like a big boy in a hugemongous chair holding sister's hot chocolate and drinking it. Well, trying to. He definitely got some, but a large portion of it was poured all over his new shirt and soaking into his pants. In the moment, I was so angry; stripped his clothes off of him cleaned him up, lectured Cadynce about watching her brother (because she's 4 and it's her responsibility right? ha.) After fighting with the spray'n'wash and sending his clothes thru the wash on the stain cycle, I'm now laughing about the incident. He was so cute sitting there, and he thought he was so cool drinking out of her mini mocha cup.

whew......

I always think that things are going to start slowing down - ha, they never do. Between work, kids, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc I swear there is never an extra second. The past few weeks I did get to do a couple super fun things outside of the norm. I got to help celebrate Carly's 21st birthday! Woohoo Happy Birthday to her! And theeeeeeeeeeeen, I got to go to the P!nk concert with Carly, Jamey and her friend! It was maybe one of the best concerts I've ever EVER been to. Really, it was wayyy up there!
Kids are doing fine...well except for some colds. Bummer. Rhonda is hanging in there. Got a feeding tube last week, fluid drained off her lung and was supposed to start radiation last Friday, but was hurting too badly and canceled her appointment. None of us were happy about that. We all went on "family dentist day" and Cadynce of course had an awesome report, me not so much, have a cavity. And one of Colby's fillings has fallen apart. Darn. Had a physical yesterday, I'm fine. So, life is fine. I think. Oh, and I got my haircut!

Testing strength

There are days (or moments) that truly test ones strength. With Rhonda being sick those moments are coming more and more frequently. I'm in a tough situation. I have to be strong for my husband, my children, our family and for the employees. Although being strong comes on so many different levels, cancer really tests each level, tries to break you when you're least expecting it...one of the toughest things for me lately is trying to keep my tears in check. Mike stopped by tonight and it breaks my heart to see him so warn out; he's such an amazing man, and to be trying to keep Rhonda comfortable or busy enough to ignore the nausea or pain 24-7 has got to be hard. He sat in the recliner for 1/2 an hour with both my kids curled up in his lap, fresh out of the bath and ready for bed, just loving on them. He was saying how Rhonda had such a bad weekend and her arm is hurting her so bad that the meds aren't even helping. In all my years of knowing Rhonda only just now has she resorted to the pain meds. I can't imagine dealing with it day in and day out without them, only to finally give in and have them not help. Tonight was a truly testing moment, no tears, for my husband, my kids, and for Mike.
I made it through, just like I always do. But I can't help but wonder, when do I get to cry? When do I get to have my moment to let it all out? Who's strength will I be testing when I do?

Bowling Birthday

Getting back to all the festivities from Cadynce's birthday...we went bowling! Rocket Alley, the bowling alley in Arlington, was celebrating a grand opening and we swooped in and took advantage of that! We had everyone come, kids, family, and friends and whoever wanted could bowl. We had a ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, which was pretty good other than they screwed up and did white cake instead of chocolate cake. :( Here are a few pictures from the evening. Oh, we packed the place out and broke the new owner in good. Once again, Cadynce was spoiled rotten by all of our family and friends and she got really great gifts! Thank you all!

More from Lo-Lopez

So while we were on Lo-Lopez we got to "enjoy" the 4th of July festivities; anyone true Lopezian knows just how crazy Lopez gets on the 4th. We sat in town with Kira and co. however, the parade takes a loooong time to get to town. It was hot hot hot, so I ventured into the LVM to buy a box of Popsicles. It was pretty funny, I had to find some more people to eat them besides us because they were melting super fast. We killed some time by walking up through the booths, Caca and Lexi both got their faces painted.






And here is one of Kira and Caca waiting for the parade. I swear my kid gets so sick of me taking her picture, I'm like her own little paparazzi. Really she loves Kira and she did have a great time watching the parade and trying to collect candy!

Some more beach pics for your viewing pleasure:

We really enjoyed the beach while we were on Lopez. One of my favorite things is that we can go to the beach 5 times a day and it doesn't matter; we don't have to load everything up and drive somewhere, we can just walk out the front door. It is so convenient, uncrowded and beautiful. Everytime we are there, it gets harder to leave. Cadynce is always asking when we are going to be going back to Lo-lopez before we even get to the ferry landing.

beach pics

Dad's front yard on Lopez was the perfect place for Cadynce to get the hang of driving her new jeep.

And the suuuuuuuuuuuper long driveway back to grandma's house even Cam got a ride. Every time she'd stop he'd cry though because he knew when she gassed it his head was going to hit the roll bar.

She's a water baby just like me!

Cam was too.

whoops

looks like time has gotten away from me this summer. Life's been crazy... neverfear, I have lots of pictures and stories to share with you. I'll try for tomorrow.




Sweet Dreams...

6th Anniversary

Yesterday was Colby's aunt and uncle's 25th wedding anniversary and they renewed their vows. It was beautiful and touching. The weather was a bit hot though! After that, we went to Colby's 10 year reunion....it was interesting.


Today, is our 6th anniversary! It's so crazy to think of how far we've come and lucky we are. We've been blessed in so many areas of our life. Our family, and families around us, our home, our work, our Summer Dog, our friends, the list could go on for days.


I just want to say, Happy Anniversary Honey, I love you!

the bloody nose

Funny, but true story you're about to hear. On Cadynce's birthday we were headed to Baskin Robins when I turn and look at her in her car seat. She's picking her nose. I say, "Cadynce that is so gross, what are you doing?" (As if I can't see.) "Are you picking your nose?" Cadynce answers totally nonchalant, "yeah, mom I got a booger." Colby and I both are laughing pretty hard now, so I turn to her and ask if I can take her picture. She says, while shrugging her shoulders and a tilt of her head, "yeah."





Anyhoo, you know about us going and getting ice cream - well not long after we got home, guess who got a bloody nose. Yep, Cadynce.





Ice cream = dirty face.





As you can see, having the tissue hanging out of her nose, didn't really phase her at all. It was so hilarious to see her wandering around the house, playing, with a tissue just hanging there.

Her "real" birthday

On Cadynce's actual birthday, we really didn't do anything - it was a typical Thursday for us. The kids went to daycare and we went to work, we picked them up, we came home, cooked dinner, relaxed. John and Lauren came over and brought a gift for Cadynce so she opened ours while they were here too. Nana and Papa called and we went for ice cream (one of Cadynce's most favorite things to do). We all went.




Gee, you think these kids love their Papa or what?




Like I said, she loooves her ice cream.




Everyone says she looks like Rhonda so much.





And the little man with his Nana.



So Cadynce got this really cool Barbie doll that she can fix the hair on. Yeah, it's not mine! And even better, my favorite gift is a chore chart. It has magnets that say the chores/things to do (everything from cleaning room to being nice) and magnets that are like rewards that they get to put under each completed item for each day. It's really great even for a 4 year old because of the things like being nice, no hitting, brushing teeth...all things we try and work on every day.

I'm baaack

I'm going to make every effort to get back to blogging on a regular basis. Can I get an "A" for effort? I'm not sure why it's so hard to find time to do this... just like scrapbooking; it's something that I love to do, but can't always justify the time to do it. Oh well, it's important to keep people in the loop.


There is so much to catch you all up on. We had Cadynce's official birthday party at the bowling alley here in town. It's newly refurbished and it was sooo fun! We went to Lopez for a week (or almost) and that was a lot of fun too. We had the fly-in going on for a week and got to watch lots of planes and jets. It's been super-duper hot and we put up the slip'n'slide and last weekend bought a 30 inch deep pool. The darn pool sent me on a mission though. We heard they were on sale at Target so I headed off to get one and of course they were sold out and wouldn't write a raincheck. I ended up at Freddies too, finally found one at K-mart. It's actually 2 feet wider (a 10 footer) so we're pretty excited about it. Got it up and filled and realized it's on pretty crooked ground. The filtering system doesn't like that because it's on the high side and the pool edge kinks up there.


The Silvana Fair is this weekend and I'm back to helping out there...so that will be fun! What else?? Oh, I'm sure there's lots...on a high note--- Cam has been sleeping through the night again!! THAT is amazing! I think I had forgotten what it was like to sleep for a full 8 hours in my own bed without little feet or arms beating me or a small body laying half on top of me. Actually, in all honesty, I think I'm more tired now; it's like my body got a taste of sleep again and can't get enough.


Bare naked babies: they're good for the soul!

So Tired

I have so many pictures to post and so many things to write about, but I'm just to darn tired. My little man refuses to sleep in his own bed these days. We were so blessed with Cadynce, she was a good sleeper from the get go. Cam not so much. He really hasn't slept through the night consistently, EVER. He was just starting to do a whole lot better before we had the "episode" which left us paranoid and him wakeful. And he started sleeping in our bed most of the time. After swearing we'd never do it, we have a little boy who sleeps sideways in our bed and most of the time directly on top of me. Nighttime is especially rough, it's just been getting worse and worse. It went from him getting up around 4 am to 2 am and now he's up by 9:15 (not even an hour in bed). We've tried going in and rocking him back to sleep and putting him back to bed, he's always back up in 1/2 hour or so...and we just can't keep up with that all night long. We've tried letting him cry himself back to sleep and that doesn't work either, by the hour mark neither Colby or I seem to be able to stand it. Ultimately due to exhaustion he always ends up back in our bed where we all at least get a little sleep. UGH! Now things are getting more serious though, he won't even NAP in his crib. So, today, I decided, it's on. Crying it out worked for Cadynce and I'm out of options with him. Today is day 1. He fell asleep on the floor at 12:30 I picked him up and put him down in his crib, he woke screaming. Picked him up, put him back to sleep, laid him down, more screaming. Tried standing and patting his back, haha what a joke. At this point, I decided he could cry himself to sleep. At 52 minutes and almost a mental breakdown he was asleep. Half an hour later he was fussing again, this time for a few minutes, back to sleep for five or so and fussing again. He's back to sleep again now, and I'm hoping he at least feels a little bit rested after this so he isn't too cranky tonight. I've made up my mind and there is no backing down now, he's gonna cry it out until he gets used to it. It's miserable for all involved, breaks my heart, and I can't stand it... but what else is there to do? What has anyone else done? What's worked and hasn't worked?

p.s.

We are headed out of town tomorrow morning! Going to Lopez until Tuesday and we're pretty excited about that. When we get home, I'll try to get caught up on all the pictures and stories I have, and I'm sure I'll have a whole lot more from "lo-lopez" too!


Hope you all have a Happy 4th!

Reality Check.

My life is a bit of a roller coaster, most of you close to me will know that. I think most people's lives ARE, whether they are willing to admit it or not. Something most of you don't know about a woman in my life is that she is amazing. I'm talking about Rhonda(also, my biggest loop-de-loop in said roller coaster). She shields us day to day from her pain and suffering from her battle with cancer. For the most part we go along with her efforts and let her think she's doing a really good job. She comes to work, plays with her grand babies, and tries to carry on with life as if nothing is wrong. I know when she is having bad days and trust me I've seen the really bad days. We've been there when she's sick, taken her to the hospital and visited her there. It's just the way her life is; it's unfair, and it sucks, but it is. Some people may say we're living on stolen time, since she was diagnosed with "stage 4" breast cancer(terminal) about 4 years ago; that could be wrong, I've lost track of time. Stolen or not, I'm taking every second of it. For those with cancer knowledge Rhonda has 2 types of breast cancer, hormone receptive and non-hormone receptive; meaning, they are treated with different types of chemo. On the chemo she was on a while ago she had some soft tissue sarcomas start popping up and so they switched her to a different chemo. That treatment wasn't working, so she's on a derivative now. When she started she had a lump the size of a golf ball on her chest (yes i felt and saw it) NOW that piece of crap lump is the size of a softball. This awful toxin she is taking in now made her hair fall out and it didn't work! Not to mention it makes her feel like crap. She had to have an "emergency" pet scan today, why they call it an emergency pet scan, beats me because they never give you any results until a few days later. We've definitely had our dose of reality checks lately. We had a bowling birthday party for Cadynce on Tuesday night, Rhonda actually was feeling so badly that she left and went home about half an hour in... I've never seen her do that.






Camden rubs nana's head every time he sees her. It's their "thing." It is so precious to see his tiny hands rubbing her bald head - it breaks my heart. Cadynce does it too, but mostly just because her brother does.


Well, there's your reality check about how much life sucks and how unfair it is.

"holy crack mom"

While I was sick last weekend (sun - tues) Colby had Cadynce go pick out a shirt which led to the drawer falling out and the shirts becoming a big mess. So Tuesday night after I was feeling a bit better, I had done laundry and decided to tackle the messy drawer. I took all the shirts out to refold them. Cadynce comes in, sits down on her toy box and says, "Holy Crack MOM!"


"Excuse me, what did you say?"


"holy crack."


"Cadynce, that's not something appropriate for you to be saying. Who taught you that anyhow?"


"Camden."


"Cadynce, Camden doesn't talk."


"Summer Dog."


"Cadynce, just don't say it anymore OK?"


"OK."


And that's it, just like that it was over. That was one of the hardest ones not to laugh at. Definitely one for the memory books though, that's for sure!

She's 4

Well, that's it, she's 4. And I was informed, she's "a dult" (pronounced a -- dult)now. Yesterday was Caca's birthday...and we were feeling pretty bad because we had no party planned due to all the crazy happenings, but everything turned out good. We sent cupcakes to daycare and the kids got to frost and sprinkle them to their likings. We had a nice dinner at home. John and Lauren came over to wish happy birthday. She got to open their present and ours. And then they joined us for ice cream at Baskin Robbins with nana and papa. Pictures to come I promise!
We found out that the bowling alley's new owners really opened up a great place in town so, I called today and we are going to have a party on Tuesday night. I'm pretty excited to see Cadynce try and bowl. Should be entertaining at the least.

A little bit of sunshine

Enter Shawn:





Shawn is Colby's brother's wife's sister's baby. Ha, say that 3 times fast. Shawn is about 19 months old, and last year in June (I think) he was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. It literally grew within a week inside his tiny little body. He had his 9 month check up and just a few days later as his momma was changing him, she felt a lump in his lower abdomen. Her peds doc immediately sent them to Children's Hospital where he was diagnosed. That lump she felt was actually a tumor the size of a softball, or small grapefruit growing inside his little abdomen. It was surrounding a couple arteries and tendons so surgery was not an option right away. He did four or five months of chemotherapy and then underwent surgery. Shawn is such a tough little guy (not to mention his momma is super tough.) They have been living at Ronald McDonald House because they lived too far away from Children's. Back in December little Shawn had his surgery and did great. Here's where the sunshine comes in; just this weekend Shawn had his last chemotherapy treatment!! Of course, they will have to stay in Seattle for a few weeks longer to finish up the last of their tests and figure out when he'll have to come back in for testing to make sure he's still good to go.
I hope you can find some sunshine in this story what with all the nasty stuff that's been going on! Things are looking up people, I can feel it!

Is it ever going to end?

Our life has been in super crazy mode lately. After Camden was in the hospital, Colby's grandma went in. I went to Lopez for a day and a half, his grandma came home. The family has been taking turns taking care of her. Ali fell down the stairs and broke her right leg and left foot...I could go on.


Kira thinks that all the bad stuff is going to happen in a few short months and then things will turn around and we are going to have a stellar couple of years. Man, I hope she's right. We are exhausted, mentally, physically....


Also, my daughter still has an attitude and a half.

New-ish

Here are some new pictures of the kids to hold you over til I get back and can get back in the swing of writing more often:

Children's Specialist...

So, we took off and went to Children's Hospital yesterday. It's an amazing place, everyone was so great to us and we were in and out in no time. The endocrinologist doesn't think that there are any major issues with Camden as most kids with any "major" medical issue that can have an effect like low blood sugar, do not develop properly. She said he looks super healthy and acts exactly how any 14 month old boy should. I was so relieved at that. We did have to have some blood work done and she was trying to get some tests tacked on to the blood work from the hospital, but that didn't work out. So, if/when he goes low again, we have an order from her (a big ole long list) of all the lab work that needs to be done. For now, we check his blood sugar every morning and if we feel like he's acting funny we can check it whenever just for reassurance. We got a fancy glucometer now. Ha, we had to get the prescription filled for those stinking little strips. 100 bucks! Can you believe that? And we have good insurance! Ouch! I feel for anyone who has to buy those on a regular basis. That's the update on Cam and I'll keep you all posted if anything else goes on. I'm headed to Lopez tomorrow morning alone for the night because they still don't think Cam should be that far from a "respectable" medical facility. Family reunion by myself...should be interesting.

crazy life

It's never easy that's for sure. Camden spent the weekend in the ccu at Cascade Valley Hospital, which translates into we all spent the weekend there. We still don't know whats wrong with him, he had some very low blood sugar. He's stable and acting totally normal now. We find out in the morning when we have an appointment at Children's Hospital in Seattle. More to come....

my chocolate croissant

Ali came to visit Thursday and Kira sent her with a bag full of Holly B's goodies! I was sooo excited because I have been waiting oh-so impatiently for a chocolate croissant from the bakery.
Saturday morning I am finally just getting around to eating that thing! Oh heaven, it is so good! I set it down on the bag on the kitchen counter to go and fold clothes or something.


Promptly, Cadynce appears in my room, holding MY croissant.


Please note: she is licking it. Yes, that's right: LICKING IT!


"Mom, this tastes like chocolate, can I have a bite?!"


"No, NO YOU MAY NOT HAVE A BITE!"


We then had to have a discussion about licking people's food and getting it down off the counter when you knew it was someone elses. Sheesh, some people's kids.

no fear

It appears that my little man has no fear. He is constantly falling down, getting bruises, or bloodying himself up. I'm close to being afraid to take him out in public unless he is swathed from head to toe in clothes so that no one can see all his bruises. The other day, he was doing "tricks" on his quad. He'd fall off and just get right back up and do it again. Last night he was doing it again when our friends were over for dinner, what cracks me up the most is that he does it and then looks at me and grins.
p.s. Another bloody mouth last night when the box he was pushing got away from him and he caught the inside of his upper lip on it. That little skin flap up there bleeds like no other!

Dialogue.

Cadynce: "Momma, can I sit with you?"

Me: "Sure thing."

She climbs on up in my lap. It's been sunny, we're wearing shorts.

Cadynce: "ooh, Momma, something is wrong with your legs."

Me: "What?"

Cadynce: "They're all knuckly."

Me: "Knuckly?"

Cadynce: "Yeah, knuckly, here feel."

I feel. And all at once, it dawns on me. I didn't shave my legs.

April snow makes kids grow! (?)

Here are a few new pictures of my kiddos.





Camden likes to help vacuum; not at all like his sister who runs screaming from it the minute I get it out.





Who doesn't like piggies?





Yeah, Cadynce is totally rocking out, with a golf club. Maybe we need to get her a guitar?





Cam got all 8 of these teeth at once quite a while ago. He's been teething again for over 2 months and no molars in sight. He definitely knows how to show off his pearly whites though.





Last, but not least: little miss. She looks so innocent and cute here... someone needs to superimpose some horns on this picture! I can't believe she is going to be 4 so soon.

The April Happenings

Yes, I got behind, so now that we are into May, I'm going to give you a condensed version of what all went on in April around the Knudson family.
We started off April celebrating Camden's birthday, we had one birthday party here and one at Mike and Rhonda's on Easter.





Camden had come off a week of not feeling super hot, a high fever and putting 2 teeth through his lip. We made the most of the day, but you can tell, he wasn't feeling the best.





Nana gave him a bath in the sink. He thought the water was pretty cool how it sprayed out of there and better yet, Molly (one of Mike and Rhonda's Springer Spaniels) was hanging out on the bench outside the window watching. Too cute!


The Saturday before Easter I was supposed to take Cadynce to the Easter Egg Hunt at the airport, but with Cam being sick, I opted out and let Nana and Papa take her. There were tons of kids there....





You can see all the people! Papa was coaching Cadynce on where to go, "head straight out to the middle and start getting eggs!" She did just that and came back with 20 eggs. Not really too much of a hunt, the age groups were sort of silly, but oh well, she had lots of fun!


Got a bit out of order here. Two days before Easter I made Kelan's birthday cake. It was fun to make, but proved to be a bit trying as my kids weren't entirely cooperative. Cadynce was being a twit and Camden wasn't feeling that great. The cake got finished though:





Then, my sister came to visit. Her dad lives in Seattle; she lives in California. She usually comes up twice a year and it's so great to see her!





Sorry it's not the clearest photo, Colby isn't the greatest photographer.


So that pretty much sums up April for us. Of course, there were lots of baseball games, but no pictures to prove that. Following one kid at a baseball game was easy, 2 is a bit of a different story.

4 generations.

We are so blessed that Colby's family is all so close. I mean, REAL, close. Like, we all live within about a 20 minute drive of each other, max, except Ryan and Kelli who live out on Camano Island, but still, that's close, right? Not only that, there are so many of them, on both his mom and dad's sides of the family. It's so amazing, and I'll admit it's daunting too...I can walk down the streets with my kids and people that I don't know, can identify me and my children, for the simple fact that they look like Knudsons. Seriously - I have people stop me and say, "Oh, those MUST be Knudson babies." It's really amazing when we can share our children's birthdays and Holidays with such a large family. So, at Easter when we celebrated Camden's first birthday with everyone we took advantage and took some pictures of 4 generations of Knudsons. Colby's grandpa Ben, his dad Mike, Colby, and Camden.

Biggest Loser

Okay.....I need help! Anyone know any Hollywood producers?! Or have an in with someone from the Biggest Loser show!? I want the Biggest Loser to do a spin-off show. Something for moms. Like me, and Jazzy, and Tiff...and I could go on. I've put on a lot of weight since having my kids, and yes we are doing the Biggest Loser at work, and I've lost some - but I want to lose more! And be healthier, and more fit. I understand that the people who make it onto the show really need to be there and all that, but come on, what about the people who aren't hugely overweight and just need some help getting going. Mothers especially need the tools to eat right and to cook healthy for thier families; also the tools to get in a quick and effective work outs that maximize results in less time. Let's be honest here people, the mother of 5who got voted off the Biggest Loser (Aubrey) how is she going to work out for 3 or 4 hours a day. She's not! Not with little kids running around. There's too many factors, kids practices, or swim lessons, cooking for the fam, cleaning, laundry... work. So, now, somebody has to know somebody who knows somebody who can help us!

Sunshine!

Camden is finally starting to have a better time of being 1, a little bit anyways. He's not quite so cranky anymore although he is fighting off his sister's cold ( me too.)
Cadynce has some major attitude.. hopefully the sun being out and getting to burn off some energy OUTSIDE will help.
Today I got new running shoes and laid in the sunshine on the back porch while my kids were napping. Having to do so without getting any tan lines due to a fantastic dress I will be wearing in the end of August at Kelly and Travis's wedding. Lord knows, if I get them now I'll never get rid of them before I have to wear the strapless little number.
Later this afternoon, the kids, Rhonda and myself are headed to Stanwood to enjoy a baseball game. Go Spartans! Go Daddy! :) Today is a good day.
Oh, and Colby mowed the lawn. Hallelujah!

She Slams Doors

She says "no way Jose" and she screams "I told you to go away." She likes to have her toes painted, her hair in a pony tail or braids, but heaven forbid you should brush it and "hurt her hair" and she likes to play in the dirt. She loves to wear jammies all day, sweatpants just like mom, and a dress like sissy bug. She's got enough attitude to fill a hot hair balloon that will cruise around the world and back again.

In a flash her horns have come out and she has done something mean, she's sent to her room and she slams the door.

She's quick to say she's sorry when she knows she has really done something wrong. She gives the best hugs and cuddles; she's mine through and through.

I'm hoping she's getting all the tude out now so there won't be any left when she's 16. I have this feeling she's exactly like me.