Camping Out

This past Friday night my kids ( part of them ) decided it would be the perfect night to camp out in their tent. Troy used to join them but, has since decided if your bed is only a few feet away it is much wiser to make good use of it! I, by the way, DO NOT camp unless I have a room with a door and a lock, a bathroom, and a mattress ~ in other words a RV at the very least!! Luke, Tyler, Travis, and Andrea got their stuff together and headed out! Now I was thinking they would be right in the backyard where I could just look out the back door and check on them, but no..... they went way back in the woods much to my dismay!!! Troy and I went out around 11 pm to make sure they were okay and this is what we found....

Andrea having the time of her life with her great brothers!


Luke and Andrea and Travis. Travis is in the background with his burnt fingers in a bucket.....they had a nice little campfire with bricks around the edge and Travis saw that one of the bricks was out of place so not thinking about it being hot ( 8 year old boys don't always think first :) ) he tried to move it and burned his two middle fingers pretty bad

Travis with a very pained smile! Poor little man, he ended up coming inside and staying so I could play nursemaid

Tyler has a very shocked look in the pic...I'm not sure what the reason for this is!

Here they all are with Troy making sure everything is safe...

Since we couldn't see them from the house, I sent my cell phone out with them so I could check in or they could call if they needed us. About 1:30 am I started worrying about what could happen (worrying about what COULD happen is what any good mother does! :) ) out there so I tried calling about 5 times with no answer. I knew I would never sleep now, so I drug Troy out of bed with Lauren going along for fun and out we traipsed through the backyard and into the woods. Of course they were all very soundly sleeping so back to bed we went with me laying awake until around 3am still....worrying!!!!! :) Next camping trip is already being planned but all involved have been pre-warned that the tent with be within good view of the back deck!!!

Visit to Oklahoma

A week ago today Troy, and I, Lauren, Luke, Tyler, and my sister Penny made a flying trip to Oklahoma City. My dad had been in the hospital with a blood clot on his lung and we decided it was time for a suprise visit!! I am pretty sure it was a big suprise! :) He was shocked a we were happy to spend a couple days visiting him and his wife, better known as Nana Kim!

It was a great visit that just ended to fast!! Thankfully my dad is starting to feel some better!!

September 28th, 2009 will be a very remembered day in the Truitt house!! Andrea took her LAST dose of steroids tonight!!! I'm not sure how much she comprehended the significance of the moment but, I will say, the rest of our family sure did!! You could probally have heard the shouts of joy clear down the street!! She will take her last chemo on October the 3rd and I'm sure there will be more celebration!!!



Hugs of joy!!!


Opening up for the last dose!

The last swollow!

Help!!!

Can a person get any help around here???!!!!


This is what happen when you are a mom with an 18 month old who is left to his own devices while you are trying to teach 5 kids school! :) I guess Alex was hungry and he decided if he was going to fix that problem he would have to take matter into his own hands! He did a good job of it....at least he did a good job of making a HUGE mess! When its baby # 1 or 2 you promptly correct them, when it is #6 you quickly get the camera and then blog about it! :)

Family Vacation

September brought the long awaited date for our vacation in Branson, MO. We left our house on Saturday morning and landed in Branson that afternoon. We stayed at a beautiful condo right on Table Rock Lake. We could look out our back deck and see the lake. It was a very much needed relaxing week! We spent the first day, Sunday, just relaxing and enjoying the peaceful quietness! I think I would like to have a vacation that was a week of Sundays!!!!!
Monday the boys stayed at the condo and enjoyed some kyaking, playing basketball, picking up seashells and doing a lot of nothing. Lauren and I headed to town to the outlet malls and spent some "girl" time together. On Monday night we went to see "Shepherd of the Hills". It was a great evening although pretty chilly! Thankfully we had hoodies and blankets! Alex did great! He was a little scared when they started shooting the guns but got over it real quick!



The boys waiting....not so patiently!

Lauren, Alex, and Andrea.....waiting

Troy and me

Tuesday morning found us out on the Lake on a deck boat. This has become a tradition for us every year we come here. The kids probally look forward to this about more than anything we do! It was a picture perfect day and we had a great time! We always pack a lunch and do a lot of pulling the kids on the tubes. Here we are headed out with our trusty skipper at the wheel!

Alex wasn't to impressed with riding on the tubes...he kept himself entertained by eating anything and everything he could get his hands on!

I love this picture! Andrea and Lauren were the first two on the the tube and the boys looked so cute all in a row watching them.

Alex finally gave in and crashed for a hour or so.

Wednesday our great friends, the Boardmans, came and joined us. The kids were all so excited to see each other. Emily and Andrea are pretty much joined at the hip! We headed off to Silver Dollar City for two days of fun!

Andrea was so excited when she finally convinced the big kids to take her and Emmy on a water ride....none of us adults were willing! They rode the great American Plunge and got drowned!

Ben and Lauren were pretty much drowned rats after about 4 times on the American Plunge!

Troy doing what he always does....on the phone! :)

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get 6 kids looking at the same place with their eyes all open and a decent look on their face?! I tell you it is no easy job!! I think we did it.....?!!

17 years later and still smiling!

The Boardmans

Best Friends! Their shirts say " I found my prince and his name is Daddy!" Lets hope we can keep it that way for a long time!!

Harder than just 6 kids is 8 people! :)

Daddy and his girls

Tyler....10 years

Travis.....8 years

Lauren.....15 years

Andrea.....5 Years

Alex.....19 months

Luke.....13 years

We always have to ride the train and this time was no exception. We got robbed.....AGAIN!

Me, Alex, and Troy

Andrea and Emily with some incredible poodles...they could walk all around on their back two legs! It was amazing!

On Saturday before we headed out of town we went and road go -carts. Here is Andrea. If I judged her driving by how she drove this go-cart....she will never have a liscense!! :)

Troy and Travis making a lap around the track

Well as sad as it is....all good things to soon come to an end! We packed up and headed back home almost feeling more tired than when we left! :) How does that work? When you find out please let me know! We arrived home to 17 people and a semi family reunion at our house! More on that a little later! Hope you all have had a great summer! I am so sad that summer and the warm is soon to be gone! I DO NOT like the cold!!!!