I have the funniest Christmas tree story ever. We cut trees with our family very year, and this was no exception. We cut our tree down on a Saturday along with many of our relatives, and my uncle brings the trees home in a truck and delivers them. On Sunday morning my mom asked how our tree was. I told her we didn't have it yet and she told me they had been dropped off. We called my uncle . He had droped it off the night before...at the wrong house! The people who who live one block away had our tree delvered to their driveway!

Happy to have the mystery solved, Ron went to the neighbors house with 2 of the kids and the neighbor was in the garage. Ron explained the situation. The guy said they had already decorated the tree! Sorry....

We were a little surprised. He said something about a friend who has a tree farm and he thought the tree had come from him. We have since gotten a very wonderful tree, and will have a much nicer Christmas than the guy who has our first tree....

Santa and other matters

How behind am I? Happy Halloween.

I had to include this picture. The kids were so cute. Josh was a zebra. Totally cute. The costume fit when we tried it on, and was too short by the big day! He is growing so much. Erin was Aphrodite an Mallory was... You guessed it...Dorothy. Poor Bryan was sick. He got plenty of candy and he s fine now....

So here is my crew with the big guy. Josh was still unwilling to get on his lap, and Ron was his go to guy this year. It is the first time ever that Ron has been in the Santa picture. Josh was perfectly happy to be standing near and he made a list in case he did not feel like talking. He will make quite as boy scout some day if he is always that prepared.

When last I posted, Mallory was having reading issues. I could not be more proud of her. She has worked so hard and come so far. When she started reading recovery in early Oct, she was about 9 months behind grade level, and now she is a little ahead. She has definately gotten comfortable. We are still reading and working on it, but she is definately out of the danger zone. The hero in all this (besides Mal of course) is our neighbor Jen. She has worked with Mallory every week and sometimes 2 times per week and showed me how to teach her. She rocks.

I am also very proud of Ron. Despite his worry, he is doing really well in his classes, and is working really hard around the house too. I wish he allowed himself to feel proud too, but I will certainly settle for releived:-)

I am not planning on moving to Montana and becoming an artist today, but I am leaving my options open.

Soccer and back to school shots.

Hello Friends.

The Debono Family is live and well. This fall has been a wild one. We are still steaming ahead. Let's see...Soccer. Soccer. Soccer. Soccer. Between the 4 of them, Ron and I have been through 5 practices per week and 5 games per week and all that goes with it. Ron coached Erin and assistant coached Mallory. They all did well and played hard. We were proud of them, and sort of glad to see the season end.

Ron is taking 3 masters level course this term. That is a lot of work! He is doing really well and liking his classes. I am proud of him too. He is being house dad and student extraordinaire, and I am working.

Work has had its good parts and its bad parts over the last few months. it is as they say feast or famine. Otherwise translated....I am never satisfied. I am quite busy most days, and I have the best patients any doctor could have. That is a blessing. I like what I do, and that helps too. It is really hard not to run late when you squeeze people in with problems, and such. Running behind is stressful, so is not being busy enough. I have had difficult cases too: young women who are suicidal over boys who are not worth it....27 year old with cancer who wants children and needs to have a hysterectomy...... lovely full term baby who despite my best efforts dies.

And I am doing that mom thing. I work because I love my job, but also because I have a family of 6 to support. I would like to spend more time with the kids, but there are only 24 hours per day, and I am trying to balance the best I can.

The other thing that has changed is Ron and I are basically home schooling Mallory in reading and writing. It is a long story, but the school she is going to has a really outdated way of teaching these subjects. We asked for help when we realized she needed it, and they really have not been helpful. The rest is a long story, and those of you who know me, know I don't take no for an answer where my kid is concerned. I have had to take a step back and think clearly about what my kid needs. We are seeing great progress thanks to our neighbor who is a first grade teacher and her friend who is a reading specialist... It is a small world because our neighbor is the best, and has 2 boys that my kids love to play with, and her friend is adopting from China! I am not a confident teacher, but Mal is doing awesome, so we will wait and then make some school related changes. This extra school work has completely cut into my exercise time. That totally sucks. I can't stand myself when I cant exercise. I haven't figured out how to do both. Remember? Only 24 hours per day....right now Mallory needs the time.

Some days I want to move to Montana and become an artist all by myself . Some days the stress seems to be too much, and Montana seems like a good idea, but l think artists in Montana have stress too, and they don't have my husband and my kids! I would not trade them for anything and they are worth all of it.

So now we know what a slow blogger I am. We had a wonderful reunion with our China family. We all missed the Edmonds, but we had a wonderful time! Having 3 families and 10 kids sounds like chaos, but it was very calm chaos. The kids got along great, (and the adults as usual did too!) I was so greatful to Ron for organizing it all.

My sister gave Bryan a Mohawk.

Marissa

The kids getting ready for the obstacle course.

Perfect Raft Jump

These pictures are from our week up north with our family! We always have so much fun. There were a lot of people as usual, but that is one of the things that make it fun. A week full of conversations and your favorite things to eat and drink, and people who know you well enough that you don't have to worry what they will think.They love you no matter what!

DISNEY WAS GREAT!

We had a great time. The weather was sort of how can I put this....WET! It did not hamper up though. We went to the parks, and did all the important things...realizing this is a totally subjective list!

Ron had the chance to ride with a stock car driver on the track! He really enjoyed it and he looked like quite the professional.

There was the flower show at epcot.

How lucky are we to have such a great vacation!

Every Mom in the world recognizes this sure sign of spring. Mallory and Josh gave these to me at one of our soccer games. There must have been 50 of them!

These are Just Happy people outside when the weather FINALLY gets nice!

Hi all. As some of you know and some of you might not remember, 2 years ago on May 8 we met Joshua Lu for the first time. He was a little old man at 2 and 1/2 and it was a scary and intense time for all of us. I am so glad we were able to work through the tough beginning. We are so proud of our youngest son. His growth and emotional connectablity (this may not be a word, but you get it!) and his becoming the 4 year old that he is has been a great pleasure not only for Ron and I but for our entire family. He is clearly pleased with himself as well. I would not change one thing. To celebrate Family Day we grilled steak and went to the ice cream store. Low key, but everyone gets it. It is a good thing to celebrate our family. In the middle of 80 thousand soccer games and arguments about everything from singing to the radio to who is wearing whose clothes and who is looking at who the wrong way, it is good to take time out to remember that we will always be there for each other, and that we are a family!( And yes they have argued over all these things in the last 2 days,except the looking the wrong way, that was Ron and I.....just kidding)

I love Josh's drawings. Here is a picture of Ron. Ron likes it because of the hair. I like it because of the smile.

Here we are! We do this every Easter. It is the only time you can count on seeing me in a shot.

Candy can be exciting and sunglasses were a specific request.

Easter was fun and sunny, and beautiful. The kids had a good time as usual. Note Bryan too cool vs. Josh too cool. It is all about being 4 vs almost 12 years old.

We cruised through Easter break. No vacation for us until memorial week, so we kept busy at home. I have to say Ron is doing an awesome job. He went swimming at the rec center, had a movie day, and we went to Greenfield village for a day. I felt a little like the bald headed step child, because I had to work, (pretty hard as it turned out) while everyone else had vacation. I am lucky to like my job, and I am happy to be able to keep everything together for us....

Soccer season has arrived. This means 3 people playing 1 or 2 games a week and one or 2 practices depending. We are all well, and watching the kids is a fun. Sometimes I wish I could be out there playing. (actually one of the other moms is trying to get a team together, and although I have never been on a sports team in my life, I would do it!) I was telling a friend of Ron and mine that I was not very competitive (I don't even like to play cards), and he made an interesting observation. He said he sees me as very competitive but with myself. I think he may be right.

Here is Josh ready to play! he loved the whole IDEA of playing soccer. He loved the cleats, he loved Bryan making a big deal about him playing. He liked running and running and running! Ron said he was a little shy for starters, but he got the hang of things, and really did well. I am glad the Cardio folks told us clearly to let Josh make his own limits. They were really good about explaining that he can do as much as he wants as long as he is allowed to rest if he gets tired. If the rest periods become more frequent or longer, then we do some stuff to figure out if we need to fix the valve or do something different. Josh never, never stops to rest. He hardly ever stops for a drink. He seems like he would run for days. Nice to be able to say almost 2 years after his surgery.

This is Bryan....

We went to the Pistons game last weekend. We sat in the upper seats, and had a good time. We had the chance this time to so on the court to have a family picture taken during the shoot around. Even Bryan was impressed with being on the court. Mallory was really cute. She stage wispers....Mom ! That's Rodney Stuckey!Josh loves the games, but this time his time his biggest concern was the cotton candy.

The Girls in uniform

Working on Grandma's birthday gift.

This is bryan's project. He worked really hard on it and was really proud of himself.

Ron and Josh doing puzzles. Josh likes puzzles and is really good at them, but likes the interactive aspect of puzzles. He wants "a lill help"