My Little Gamer!!

Proof that Jesse still thinks the whole world is his personal game board...

Jesse: "mom, when will the date be 10-10-10 again?"

Me: "not for a very long time... let's see, 2110... That's like 100 years from now"

Jesse: "will I still be alive?"

Me: "I don't think so, humans don't really live that many years, if you were, you would be 109"

Jesse: "who knows, maybe I'll be the first to break the high score record"

~I love him!!

Autumn

Autumn, or Fall as some call it, is upon us. The little valley where I live is in a magnificent explosion of colors. It's a new experience every day. This time if year is both my MOST favorite and my LEAST favorite. I can't really explain it except to say that no other time of year makes me happier to be alive while at the same time makes me seriously contemplate the direction of my life, sadness and loss. This time of year brings out the best and worst in me... for many reasons.

These are the reasons I love the Autumn time:

~The colors.... Red, Yellow, Orange and every shade in between.
~Blankets of leaves on the streets and sidewalks. They make the most
delightful crunching sound when you walk on them.
~ Pumpkin, corn stalks and hay bail decorations
~ Candy Corn, Ginger and Pumpkin flavors
~ Costumes
~ Cold nights and warm days
~ Cooking comfort foods like stew and chili and shepherds pie.
~ Walking in the rain
~ Dressing in layers
~ The wonderful smells of burning leaves, fresh rain and cooking turkeys

These are the reasons I don't like this time of year:

~ Spelling word ;-P
~ Shorter days
~ Waking up in the dark
~ Flu Shots
~ No more spontaneous "What should we do today?" days
~ Watching negative campaign ads
~ Muddy floors
~ No more fresh veggies in the garden
~ Anticipating the holidays without my grand kids

and finally.....

~ The silent reminder of constant change, children grow-up,
adults age and people of all ages die.

While Spring is the time for cleaning out the house and garage, Fall seems to be the time to clean out the garbage inside me. Reflection seems to be the theme this particular Autumn... My favorite way to reflect is to curl up on a park bench with a pumpkin spice late and a bag of candy corn and watch the leaves blow. I'm going to make time for that in the coming week... right after my flu shot ;-P

Happy Fall Everyone!!

The Big Event!!

Killian James Fontenot
September 24th, 2010
8lbs 20-1/2 inches

Okay, now this baby is super cute! I know what you are saying, babies are not cute, they look like, just babies, aliens, wrinkled little pigeons... well, maybe some babies look like that, but this one is really pretty perfect. His face is round and eyes are big and his skin is smooth and soft. He has the most adorable little hair line and makes a grumpy face that is, in fact, quite adorable. He was born on Friday September 24th at 12:48 pm... but his momma and daddy started the whole "labor" process on Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm. He took his own sweet time making his debut. I think he was trying to build anticipation. His Gramz (Carole and I) and Papa were certainly filled with it by the time he finally decided to show his little face. My hats off to Demitri, she was a trooper and looked amazing after 40 hours of labor. Aaron stood by his gal the entire time and was a proud daddy when he finally got to hold his little buddy. This is a tight little family and I for one am very proud of them. I wish I lived close to them so I could love on both my grand kids any time I want,, It's much harder than I ever thought it would be to have 2 babies I can't hug any time I need to...

We did make it to SLC for the birth. While we were always planning to go there for a visit, the timing was very last minute, since Killian was 9 days late, we had a difficult time deciding the right time to head out. We were only able to be there for just a few days because of Jesse's school. We spent most of the time waiting to see our grandson, so unfortunately we were not able to visit as much as we sort of hoped we would. I guess we were so caught up in the excitement that we didn't feel the pain of not seeing everyone until we got home. If we didn't get to see you, or didn't get to see you ENOUGH, (because that happened too), I am truly sorry.

Now I'm not sure when we will get back to see everyone. But, we WILL get back, and next time I'll make sure we see everyone we missed. But please know, our home is always open if you ever make it up to our neck of the woods. If you would like to plan a trip, now would be the good time, this area is the most beautiful in the fall. It's views are breathtaking! I feel blessed every time I leave my house right now. Consider this your written invitation for a visit!!


In addition to baby Killian, back to school is happening at our house and we are very excited. Jesse started the 3rd grade on Sept, 7th... sort of later than our friends in SL. He is loving Mrs. Buck's class and is full of gossip about 9 year old friendship drama. He considers himself the 3rd grade problem solver. I hope he works as hard on his spelling and math as he does counseling on the playground. He's starting a drama class after school in October. I think it will be good for him and I hope he likes it. But he loves singing the most. We recently went to our good friend Tom and Marissa's wedding (Yes, I'm name dropping) after they exchanged vows, they had karaoke and he was ALL about it. He asked the music guy about 50 times if it was time to start singing (I hope that guys was getting paid to talk to Jesse all night ;-) and filled out his song list the minute he sat down. He waited and waited for it to be his turn. It was a great night, and although the room was full of people he appeared to have no fear. He was actually more excited than I have seen him in a long time. I wish I would have gotten it on video. He's definitely going to be an entertainer of some sort.. The wedding was amazing and beautiful and so much fun. I left there with 2 bottles of super yummy hot sauce (I hope I those were for me) and we met some great new people.

That's all I have for now, I actually hope you are still reading. I tend to ramble. Thanks for making it this far!!

~Allie

Good Bye Sweet Summer...

This has been a great summer... I guess you've noticed I've been a bit busy since I haven't made time to blog since June... But my heart was crying for some time with my family and that is pretty much what I got. So I just soaked up as much time as the summer would offer.

We started the summer with some nice visits from our good friends Jamie, CJ and Ellie, then Amy, and Alex.. Alex was able to stay with us for a few weeks and along with Gage, the 3 Musketeers made all sorts of trouble and mischief. It was wonderful for the boys to reconnect, especially on their new more mature levels.. Then as soon as Alex went home, Adrienne came for a few weeks. I know it goes without saying, but grand kids are just special. She makes our house a bit brighter just by being in it. Since we don't get enough time with her, 3 wonderful weeks was exactly what our hearts were longing for.

We spent a weekend on the coast, I wish I could say "soaking up the sun" but the truth is, it was sort of rough weather, cold and foggy... but no mind.. All my favorite people were there and I couldn't have been happier. We ate yummy food and just enjoyed being together. Steve and I even stole a long walk on the beach.. It was simply perfect.

Steve and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary... I'm so lucky to be married to the greatest guy around!!

Jesse celebrated his 9th birthday... Jesse only get's big parties on the even years, on the odd, he has to suffer just spending time with his family.. Which wasn't hard for him this year.. He was able to get lots and lots of that in, and he was totally content.

But now everyone one has returned home, life is going to resume as normal. School will be starting and our schedules will be busy with our regular routine. I have learned this summer that you can put hundreds of miles between good friends and the ties will only grow stronger. I know this is true for me, Steve and Jesse too.

But the coming months are not really without activity..

Jesse will have another PET scan to check once again for any remaining signs of that nasty tumor, Horrible Harvey. I know he is totally healthy, I feel it in my heart.. but still, there is a fair amount of worry and stress related to these check-up's. On the 28th of this month it will be 2 years since his diagnosis. Time goes by so quickly, but doesn't dull my appreciation for Jesse's life and his time with us. I am all too aware that things could be very different today.

Jesse will start the 3rd grade!! He is getting so big, it's simply hard to get my head around what has happened in my life in the last 7 years!! His new teacher is Mrs. Buck and I believe she has some classroom pets lined up for this school year. Jesse is VERY excited about that.. but you know what you get when you mix Jesse with excitement? TROUBLE!! ;-) Stay tuned!!

Our new grand baby will be making his grand appearance in mid September. His name will be Killian (middle name to be announced later) Fontenot... I'm very excited to meet him. As soon as he arrives, we'll be making a quick trip to Salt Lake to introduce ourselves and love on him as much as possible. I'm so happy that our family is growing, but sad that it's happening in Salt Lake!! ;-) Another person I will miss like crazy!

Thanksgiving will be another Fontenot Full House.. All my Salt Lake people are planning to be here.. I'm so excited and already planning the menu!!

Roughin' it the ACS way...

This is my big boy Jesse... as he crosses the bridge to 6 days at camp.. All by himself!!

Camp Ukandu is sponsored by the American Cancer Society and is an amazing place for kids who have battled Cancer to come together and just be kids for a while. We took Jesse on Sunday and will pick him up on Saturday. He was so very excited to be going but when we finally got there the real excitement set in I think. The place is simply dreamlike. Where we live it is very wooded and the camp is nestled on a mountain under a forest of trees. I'm fairly sure that if you were to fly over, you would not even know it was there.

Jesse's Cabin

Jesse's Bunk (Of course on top!)

Things I didn't want to know about...

Jesse will get 6 days of arts, crafts, science, horseback riding, canoeing, swimming, archery, games, campfires and more fun than I could pack into a whole summer. He will make new friends and be able to have something in common with every single kid at camp. I'm so happy for Jesse to have this opportunity, he deserves it.. I just hope he wants to come home when it's all done.

Yes, It's true I miss him like crazy, He's been gone one day and I have mailed him 2 letters.. There are also several hidden treats and messages in his bags I hope he finds and enjoys. I spend about every other second thinking about what he might be doing and if he's staying out of trouble... I wonder if he misses me, and if he's okay, and if he's getting his meds, and if people are being nice to him, and blah, blah, blah... more thought from a psycho mom than are probably normal.. but the packet of information they sent says that this is a huge exercise for both parent and child to help regain a more normal relationship after cancer. Normal? What is normal anyway.. I guess it's probably true, I think I can count on 1 hand how many nights I've spent away from Jesse since we brought him home in 2004... I'm thinking we weren't exactly normal before the cancer... =)

I have plans... I have made a list of things I'm going to do while he is at camp.. It goes like this..

1. Sit
2. Watch the news
3. Read a book

YUP... that's pretty much it.. those are the things always think I would do if I didn't have so much Jesse in my life, so those are the things I'm going to do this week.. I guess if those are the only things I can't do so much of because of my precious son, I'm really the winning-est one!!

Speaking of The American Cancer Society.. This past weekend was Relay For Life!!

I'll just go over the highlights because they were good ones...

First our little relay made over $61,000 to help fight the battle against the big "C". Yeah!!

They asked Jesse to speak at the opening ceremonies.. He was very excited and did a great job, but got really nervous and started whispering to himself.. "I forgot, I forgot, what, what, what".. but of course his mouth was on the microphone so everyone heard.. and he tried telling his story and got some of the facts mixed up and ended up saying he had a hole in his belly the size of a football... He totally cracked me up. If they ask him to speak next year, I hope they give us more than an hour notice so that we can actually put something together that makes sense. But he was brave and excited to do it, and it was perfect anyway he did it..

Our Survivors Lap!!

Zoe and Cloe, The twin "Mr. Relay" contestants who dressed up and marched around the track collecting money in their purse.. They raised $121.00 for ACS!! Go Cute Girls.. (I mean boys)

p.s. This is really Jesse and Gage.. Weren't they simply beautiful??

It was a fun weekend and an honor to be part of the festivities again this year.

Well, school is out, we now have a big 3rd grader (shake head)... We have a great summer planned.. We started with a visit from some fabulous girls from Salt Lake!! Jamie, CJ and Ellie, we love you and had the most fun visiting with you!! Amy and Alex arrive this weekend and we are lucky enough to be keeping Alex for a couple of weeks, then we will get Adrienne for a couple of weeks after that!! We couldn't be more thrilled! I've missed my family and am OH, SO excited to spend some time this summer with them all...

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads, especially my cute one!!

We love you all!!

Touch N Brush - Best Of As As Seen On TV

Jesse has been grounded from the TV... My jaw dropped when I learned that he knows EVERY single word from this commercial. In including all the voice fluctuations and the very fast "small print" verbiage at the end. Why can he be a pro at Touch N Brush, yet still struggle to tell time? He continues to amaze me in ways that sometimes scare me just a little...

Actually it's quite cute, I wish I had a way to post HIM here doing the commercial, He's much better than this guy!!

Tweets, Blogs and Wall Posts...

I really enjoy blogging, I enjoy facebook too. It's a great way to stay connected... listening to random little thoughts of your friends and family is almost like having a conversation.. although not nearly as personal.. Blogs are fun because you get caught up on all the random BIG thoughts of your friends and family. I find myself thinking... "This person has not posted for a while, I wonder if she's is okay"... and sometimes, I've heard comments about all the useless information that gets posted to these social networking sites as being silly, or dumb or stupid... but for me.. the more random and meaningless the better, and I find myself smiling and saying... "That's just like her to say something like that..." Personally I love it!! But as much as I enjoy reading everyone business, I don't post as much as I would like to.. I think in posts... but I don't really post much.. So here's a big catch up on all that I've been considering posting about but haven't gotten around to doing.. A mash-up of information if you will...

~ TWO BABIES!! That's right folks, I'm going to be a grandma AGAIN!! My son Aaron and his girlfriend Demitri are going to be delivering late this fall and Heidi and Big are expecting right after that! The family just keeps on growing and I'm so excited... Of course this makes me miss my Salt Lake people SOOOO much more knowing a new baby is on the way.. Aaron, you're officially grounded, pack your stuff and GET HOME!!! (and bring Demitri and the baby too :-)

~ BASEBALL!! My Jesse starts Baseball today. His first game is this afternoon. He's actually pretty good from what I can see at practice. He's very excited and when asked what position he wants to play he said... "batter". I'm excited to having him doing something active again, it's been too long.

I love Lee Dewyze!!
Vote for Lee!!

~ I Farm.... I'm a Farmer... This will eventually be salad on my table and I'm so excited I can't stand it!!






~ Funny thing about this plant... When we were in Salt Lake City last July my good friend Merrill gave me this cute little cabbage plant. It didn't really like the 14 hour drive home and sort of just wilted the rest of the season.. but Steve brought it in the house and babied it all winter and now it seems to be happy and strong. It will go into the garden and hopefully produce something yummy for my kitchen table soon...







~ ACS Fundraiser!! I am Co-Team Captain for our Relay For Life team this year so I felt responsible to come up with a fundraiser. We are making these cute pillowcases and selling them. The money will be donated to The American Cancer Society!! Let me know if you are interested...



$10.00 each... Cotton and Flannel
So Very Cute..

Do you love that new show Parenthood? I have a brief moment of mourning each week when the episode ends... I live for Tuesday's!!


and finally......

~ I'm working really had to make my business work... I'm going to start FORCING people to use me to walk their dogs.. I'm thinking about hiring a couple of really big guys to persuade folks into needing a dog walker... ;-)

That about catches me up... Now it's your turn to fill in the gaps!!

Love and miss you all much!!

Happy Earth Day!!

Jesse's AHA moment...

Jesse has always been a fan of the "girls"... I think because of his medical problems he's been less active and rough than boys his age, and girls are a bit more tame... so he's always gravitated towards hanging out with the gals in his world..

He has 3 best girls at school.. Zoey, who he loves and she loves him back, as a matter of fact, don't tell him I told you but he has been caught several times kissing Zoey on the school bus... Then there is Emily W., (or E.W as we like to call her, there is currently only one Emily in his class, but we still call her Emily W. for some reason???)... she loves Jesse and frequently sends home love notes and small trinkets to prove it.. but Jesse only loves that she loves him... he does not want to kiss her on the school bus or anywhere else.. (thank goodness). Then there is Payton, she just likes him and he likes her back... no love, no kissing... sort of like Vada and Thomas J...

Yesterday Jesse came home and said that he had a terrible day.. I asked him why and this is what he said:

"Emily W. doesn't love me anymore and she only wants to play with Payton... so I asked if I could play too and they said yes... so I played with them..."

Here comes the aha moment....

"but mom, girls are so boring when you play with them, nobody is ever the bad guy and they don't want to run around and scream for their lives.... I just want to play boys from now on...."

Hopefully this means the school bus too!!

Hit the "pause" button PLEASE!!!

I'm fairly convinced that not many people read this blog... so I think it will be okay if I whine a little, just this once...

Some friends of mine moved out of Salt Lake several years back, they liked the new place well enough but constantly missed the family and friends they left behind. This feeling was shared with us before we made the big move to Oregon but we were so "on board" I think we though that would never be us..... And it's not really.. I LOVE it here.. I love every little thing about Oregon, especially Newberg where we live. It's beautiful here even in the dead of winter, the sky is always clean and smelling of outdoorsy smells (even skunk frequently, which I'm not so fond of).. I love driving into Portland and seeing the amazing view of Mt. Hood and the river, and I've become so attached to the Fremont Bridge I can't imagine not using it. The bridge takes us right to the doorstep of the hospital where I am constantly reminded of the things I am thankful for. It sort of serves as my personal reality check station... where I'm forced to think about all things good and bad.. and realize my appreciation for both.


But lately, since December I think, I have been longing for a previous time... My older kids are busy, and I love that about them, they are ambitious and motivated and living full lives like all adult kids should be. I'm proud of them and only want for them the best of what they want for themselves. I totally support them and their decisions because they are smart, good kids and have plans any parent would admire. So, even if I were in Salt Lake, they would still be moving on and I know this.. But it's even Jesse too...

This morning he gave me a full report on the life and times of Helen Keller... and filled me in on all the ways she was an amazing woman and told me the book they read in school was "pretty awesome"... Seems like just yesterday we were reading the Yummy Yucky book.. Then, just before school I made him pull up his shirt so that I could rub some lotion on his dry itchy chest and back and he said to me... "Mom, do you have to embarrass me with that lotion?" WHAT? He has never cared about stuff like that... Then he proceeded to tell me that a girl can't ask a boy to be girlfriend/boyfriend... it's the boy's decision... AHHHH SLOW DOWN!!! I am so totally overloaded with my children's apparent overnight maturing I simply can't take it anymore.. Someone please hit the pause button before I have a total meltdown..

I miss baby Jesse, tween Jamie and little boy Aaron.. I never got enough time with any of them.. It feels like I just met them and now they are all grown up.. and I love the people they are today for sure.. They are all great friends and wonderful children still... so I rejoice in my new people, but seem to be mourning the ones that are gone..

So it's not the move that's got me feeling sort of blah... although what I would give to have my family back in the same city... (I just want it to be THIS city..) it's just the natural progression of time that I seem to be angry at..

I'm sure I'm not the only parent to suffer this same of out of control fast forward feeling.. As a matter of fact, I know my own parents have felt this way too.. I suppose it's just my turn.. But it's not fun and I just don't like it...

To make things worse, I'm going back to work full time which will take even more time away from my little man who seems to speeding to adulthood.. I remember the days of being a working mom... As soon as the morning alarm goes off, it's a race against the clock to get to bed... but on the other hand, I suppose it will be good to get my mind busy so that I don't focus on such things...

I am constantly reminded by some very special angels that it could be much worse... I am glad my children are here... a phone call away, or parked in front of the TV. I can at any time call them up and scold them for growing up so fast.. not all parents are so lucky and I know this.. so today, I am going to call my big kids and hug my little ones, then I'm going to go park myself on the Freemont Bridge and try to get a better perspective on things...

Maybe this is the effect of a rainy Oregon winter... good thing spring is almost here~

Spread The Good News!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Jesse had a PET Scan on January 29th to follow up on that pesky little spot in his belly that has given us so much stress and a general feeling of uneasiness for the last year... and the results are in....

"Whatever was going on in his belly seems to have resolved itself.." His scan is TOTALLY clear!! This means that Jesse is for sure, 100%, without a doubt, genuinely Cancer Free!!

Taking a full breath for the first time in a year and a half feels pretty dang good!! Thanks for all your support and prayers!! We truly love you ALL!!

Allie

Amazing Jamie!!

Meet my daughter, The Nurse!!

When I first met Jamie, she was.... let's see... 8 maybe 9? (I'm never good with that sort of thing.. I want to say 3rd grade).. She looked EXACTLY like her dad... But where he is calm, she was not... she bounced.. not like regular kids, she was up and down and back and forth and hopped from one leg to another, skipped everywhere she went and never, I mean NEVER held still... Do you remember that song by Van Halen, "Jamie's Crying"...? We used to change the part that says "Jamie's crying" to "Jamie's whining"... partly to tease, but also because, while she was not a brat, she had the most amazing way to get her dad to do whatever she wanted, which included a bit of a whine.. She and Aaron visited us on weekends, I couldn't wait for the kids to arrive so that I could listen to Jamie talk endlessly about was happening in school, with her friends, and with the smelly boys... She never held back and enjoyed filling us in on all her activities.. Back then she wanted to be a veterinarian and live in a Garfield shaped house and have about a million kitties..

Fast forward to high school... An amazing student, serious about school and making super grades.. When faced with a make you or break you situation, Jamie threw out the whining and took all that energy and turned it into ambition, drive, and a dedication rarely seen in kids today. I'm sure that was partly due to some pretty stellar parenting and support by Steve and Carole... (they are amazing parents). But really, it was mostly just her.... blowing us away with every decision she would make..

Before our precious Adrienne even arrived, Jamie had a plan, a good plan and she was well on her way to reaching her goals. She earned her CNA certificate, and got a job. She continued to do well in school. She took enough classes in high school to have a good head start in college. She took classes every semester getting herself ready to join a nursing program and become a Registered Nurse.

Oh sure, there were doting grandparents available to make her life easier, but Jamie was always determined to take as little as possible from us. She worked, went to school and somehow made sure Adrienne was fed, cleaned, loved, played with and ALWAYS a good 10 feet from the nearest germ. She never missed an opportunity to make a memory with her or make sure she had exactly what she needed. She got an apartment when she could, bought herself a car, paid for daycare, even began picking up her own tuition, and never whined for even an instant.

It's been a long six years of college for Jaime, with up's and down's and both good and hard times. Her life didn't always allow for full time everything, so some semesters she was only able to take a class or two, but she never gave up and finally, just last month, graduated from Davis Applied Technology College with a degree in nursing from Weber State. Carole, Steve and I simply couldn't be more proud of this gal and what she has accomplished. She never questioned her decisions and fought for what she believed was right for her and Adrienne. She is a wonderful student, daughter, mother, and I have no doubt she will be a fabulous nurse.














One last note.... She took her NCLEX exam last week and of course passed with flying colors... :-)

Congratulations Jamie on the most AMAZING job ever!!

And....

Congratulations PCMC for getting what I'm sure will be the most AMAZING nurse ever!!
(that's a mighty big statement... I know some awesome nurses at PCMC...)

J.... From your moms and your dad and your kid... You deserve everything you have worked so hard for. Thanks for being simply the best!! We love you so much!!

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!!

Happy Gotcha Day to our sweet Jesse!!

It was 6 years ago today when Jess was just 2-1/2 years old, we took him in our arms and never had to let him go!!

We love you so much Jesse... Thanks for making our lives complete!!

Mom and Dad...