I'll get caught up....eventually...lol

Ok, so I am way behind on keeping the family blog updated! I've been so busy getting Chase ready for his mission to Brazil and getting the kids ready for school! Time goes by so fast, which in a way is good for us because that means Chase will be back home before we know it! I am so thankful for his decision to serve a two year mission for our church. My heart is full and filled with excitement as we begin his journey. You can follow his blog at www.eldercaldwell.blogspot.com
Thanks to those of you that have helped prepare him for this great journey!
Love, the Caldwell crew
momofsix

Beaver's Bend July 18, 2009

There's nothing better than good fun spent with family! We went to Beaver's Bend on Saturday with the Chaix's. We took eight kids, two adults, four coolers, one stroller, and two walkie talkies for communication between van #1 and van #2. Twenty minutes or so, into our trip, Mark drove right past the road we were suppose to take, so we had to turn around in someone's driveway. As we pulled up, right there on a post was a sign that read...... YIKES!!! Not something you want to see when turning around.....

We continued on our way and made it there safely. We spent the day swimming, canoeing, kyacking, riding a train, and some got to run against the current from a snake....yes, she lost her flip flops! The day was spent squishing around in the sand, children collecting rocks, and lots of laughter!

Channing at Beaver's Bend Summer 2009













Channing is two years old and this was his first time to experience a life jacket, water, sand, and rocks..... He went to the beach as a baby, but this was his first time on foot!! He had so much fun!
This is one of my favorite pictures of Mark taking Channing down to the water......
All of the kids had so much fun!! It's been awhile since we've been to a lake/beach! Here are more fun pictures of our trip.....














Camri and Caden were playing in the sand and rocks!




Chloe and Camri posing.....


After we finished swimming at the beach, we found our way to the spillway.....the water was FREEZING everywhere we went!!! BRRRR.......
















































Here is Emily at the spillway....
She had so much fun! Shortly after this picture was taken, she had to run against the current of the water trying to escape a snake that had just came face to face with her cousin, Emily Chaix!! Sadly, she lost both of her favorite flip flops.....sniff, sniff! Luckily, no one was hurt!!

While everyone else was outrunning, snakes, Mark and I took Caden and Channing on a train ride around Beaver's Bend! As most of you know, the two little boys of our family LOVE Thomas the Train, so riding a train was a real thrill for them! Here are a few pics of the train ride......


















Shellie and I took my Emily and Katie kyacking...not sure how to spell it! It was so neat to drift along looking at the cliffs and taking in all of the beautiful nature around us! It was a beautiful place to be and I am glad that we had the opportunity to go!
On our way home, we stopped on the side of the road to take a few pictures with an old train....

Caden was glad to see a real train....















Here I am! Here it is! A train! At last, a train!




This last picture is my very favorite!! I'll let you be the judge....
Emily and Katie Beaver's Bend Summer 2009
















HOPE YOUR SUMMER'S AS FUN AS OURS!!!
Love, the Caldwell Crew

Time flew.....

Ok, I have no excuse for not updating except the fact that I've been so busy and I've gotten hooked on facebook. Sorry. We've had so much going on. I will try my best. Tomorrow, we are going to Beavers Bend, so when we return, I will post some pictures and start from there. Then, I will post backwards about our summer! How's that??? Everyone is doing fine. Thanks for being so patient with me!
Mom of Six......

Time flies when your having fun....

Sorry for the lack of updates! With three of the kids playing basketball, we have been super busy! Everyone is doing fine! Caden's tubes came out of his ears in November and he has kept up his record of getting an ear infection every month since, so it looks like he may be getting his fourth set of ear tubes!!! We will go the first week in March to see the specialist and we'll find out then! We also have our check up with the pulmonologist and the immunologist! Whew! Thank goodness that spring break is coming up so we can all take some type of break! Thanks for checking in on us and I'll try and do better about updating!
Love, the Caldwell Crew

And the beat goes on.....

And the beat goes on is the phrase printed on the back of Caden's new "heart surgery survivor" tshirt. Caden and Channing both had their checkups with the cardiologist this past week and we received nothing but GREAT news!!! Channing's heart has healed all by itself which means he has been completely released from the cardiologist!!!!! My heart is FULL!! I am so thankful that he doesn't have to endure heart surgery! Our other good news is that Caden doesn't have to go back to see the cardiologist for TWO, yes, TWO years!!! How blessed we are to be at this point in our lives! Caden still has other health/communication issues that we deal with, but the heart is good! Look how far we've come! The pictures above were taken when Caden was just two days old! What a miracle!!!

Basketball Fever...

WOW!! Basketball season has kicked in and things are gettin crazy!!
Casey plays high school basketball and the boy scored 30 points at the game the other night! Talk about exciting!! I don't know where he gets his moves, but the boy knows some moves and loves the game!
Em is playing her second year of basketball and she's pretty darn good too! She can handle that ball and plays some mean defense!! Oh, and then there's Cam! This is her first year to play and she scored the first goal of the first game! She too can handle the ball like a pro!
Where do my children get this ability?? They were all born knowing how to play ball. I just don't get it. Whether or not I get it, doesn't matter, it's so awesome to sit back as a parent and watch them play and hear myself cheer them on! (especially when they have the ball) I think, yeah, that's MY kid!

The love of the game.

The cheer of the crowd.

The look on their face when they know they've done their best.

Basketball...
It doesn't get better than this!

TIME, where does it go?

Time flies too fast! I thought I would be able to update everyday, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done. It is getting hard to schedule some ME time, so , not everyone is happy! Let's see, it's wake up, wake everyone else up, fix breakfast, iron clothes(I keep running out of time to do this at night!), walk back and forth, room to room making sure that all are still awake and eating, remind everyone go brush their teeth when they are done eating, who's first to go, who's last, who's ready for their hair, fix hair, look through backpacks, decide who is eating lunch at school and who is bringing lunch from home, pack lunches, find money, stop to change a diaper or wipe a runny nose, stop to give medicine/inhalers, find socks, find shoes, sign papers, make sure everyone has a coat, go crank the van, come back in, finish hair, finish putting coats on, look for a pacifier/blankie, put socks BACK on the baby, watch the clock, put everyone in the van, make sure that everyone is still in the van when we are backing up, drive to school, drop everyone off, look for paci that got chunked into the bushes as we walked back outside, watch the buses, get in the van, drive back home, coats off, hungry baby, feed baby, lay baby down for nap, fall on the coach and take a breather, eat breakfast, clean morning mess, look at the dishes in the sink(they can wait), start a load of laundry but have to decide what to wash first, start laundry, make sure oldest is up and off to school(college), clean up trains that are all over the floor, pick up pj's that are everywhere, wipe up toothpaste mess, find me some clothes for the day, take a bath, get ready, baby is stirring around, got to hurry with MY hair, don't know why I am even worrying about fixing MY hair cause there's no where to go and nothing to do(outside the home), baby wakes up, change diaper, baby is hungry again, fix snack, baby does NOT want mommy on the computer, but sitting next to him watching Elmo or Super Why, watch tv until it is safe to sneak out of the room, clean up snack mess, find clothes for baby, give baby a bath, clean up mess, play with baby, try to get on computer again, successful!, oh no, here comes baby!, got to check email fast, get off computer, baby is fussy, don't know why, teething?, possible, who knows, maybe it is his ear, cant find baby's giraffe, here it is, happy baby again, clean up the soggy cereal bowl that got left on the table, notice some crumbs that didn't get swept up, sweep, again, sippy cup found on floor leaking, clean it up, baby wants more drink, get NEW sippy cup, baby happy, oh dear, it's already time for lunch, find something for lunch, fix lunch, feed baby, feed ME, clean up lunch mess, time to lay baby down for nap, switch laundry, start a new load, answer phone, talk to husband, check on future doctor appointments, check calendar, look at the dishes again(later), sort laundry into colors, straighten girls room, get on computer, check blogs, websites, email, talk on phone, try to decide what to cook for dinner, make arrangements to take one child to the orthodontist, wake baby early, change diaper, time to pick kids up from school, give baby a snack, sit in van and visit with friend while I wait for kids to get off the bus, say hi to Nana, get kids, drive to next school, get next kid, drive home, get home, listen to kids fuss, kids are tired and hungry, get kids a snack, move shoes/backpacks out of the middle of the floor, put on a movie for the little guys, tell girls to start picking out clothes for next day, clean up snack mess, oh no!, I look at the dishes again(later), switch laundry, fold clothes, put clothes in rooms, change a diaper, answer the phone, move baby away from trains, clean up trains that baby knocked off the table, put baby's socks back on, see if anyone has ball practice, go to ball practice, fight little ones, come home, exhausted, cook dinner, listen to everyone gripe about not liking it, clean up dinner, oh yeah, those dishes, husband gets aggravated, does the dishes himself, sorry, oops, I'll try better, get baths going, homework going, TRY to iron clothes at night, change baby into pj's, get all in bed, ready to start a new day.... WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???