Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Friends,

Wishing you the very best this Thanksgiving! Here's hoping you find some time to enjoy all the things you are thankful for. Chuck and I spent some time this morning reflecting on all the things we're thankful for ... three healthy, happy kids, a house, cars, jobs, money to pay our bills, etc. Basically, it was all those things we sometimes take for granted. We also took a moment to reflect on how thankful we are for each other. Cliche perhaps, but the truth is ... after the last few years, "each other" is something we will never take for granted. Having someone in your life who cares for you and about you is always something to appreciate. :) 

Last Thanksgiving Chuck and the kids were on a cruise celebrating Grandma Jean's birthday.  There is no cell service on a cruise ship (instant communication: another thing we sometimes take for granted, methinks!), so Chuck and I relied on email to stay in touch. In that week we exchanged A LOT of emails ... keep in mind that we'd been dating for a little over a month ... and when he got back to town it wasn't too much longer that we decided this relationship was going to be more than just dating. I am thankful that we had the patience to make it through the custody battle and the long distance romance. It's been well worth the wait. 

Happy Thanksgiving ...

... and let the Christmas shopping begin! Yes, I will be one of "those" people hitting the stores early tomorrow morning. Mom and I will start at 6 a.m. ... actually, one of our later starts ... but I'm very much looking forward to it. 

Much love, 

--M

A bit of irony

Hi friends, 

I find myself laughing at our latest undertaking and thought I'd share the irony with you. We find ourselves in a bit of a conundrum. We have a great commuter car ... a 2004 Honda Civic. The car gets 38 mpg and is in great shape, although carrying over 103,000 miles. The problem is that the car doesn't fit three car seats and it's not a four-wheel drive ... something we'll need this winter to get through the snow.  

So we are in the process of selling our fuel efficient car in exchange for a larger SUV type car that will guzzle gas at a much quicker rate. The trade off, however, is that we will be able to fit everyone in both cars. The Saturn Vue, our other vehicle, holds everyone ... but the gymnastics that Chuck and I have to go through in order to buckle all the seat belts is exhausting! Once the seats are in, there is absolutely no room between the seats. 

On a side note, it's been amazing, and rather sad, to be a part of the car industry these days. Along the highway in Auburn, there have been several car dealerships along the roadside. So many dealerships use to line the road that I often wondered how they could all stay open. Are there really that many cars sold in Auburn?! However, the roadside has now changed. Many of the dealerships have gone under and have left behind large, vacant lots. 

Perhaps the most startling for us, was a dealership in Grass Valley. We'd found a Ford Expedition that we liked for a great price. We talked with a sales person and then set out to sell the Honda before purchasing the new car. Chuck had driven by early last week to see if the car was still there ... and it was. Over the weekend we went to the dealership and not only was the car gone, but the entire dealership had closed up shop. There wasn't a thing left. It took my breath away and brought reality to the entire economic situation. It's sad. The place was up and running early in the week and completely cleared out by the weekend. Wow. 

Anyway, just some interesting things I've noticed in the last few weeks ... 

Hope this finds you doing well. 

Much love,

--M

A monster blog

Greetings from the Ross household! :)

So sorry for the delay in updates ... it's been busy around here! A fourth birthday party (Zack), Halloween, jobs, school, etc etc etc. Anyway, I have included a large number of pictures ... yes, they are a bit out of order, but at least you'll get a pretty good idea of what we've been up to lately.

Enjoy!

First, we start with Zack's fourth birthday on October 16. At school he got to wear his birthday crown and it just so happened that his birthday was also my normal day for working in his classroom. It was a lot of fun to see all the festivities. We made cupcakes to share with the class and Zack enjoyed passing them out, but refused to eat one himself. Seriously, what's wrong with this kid?! Just kidding. Anyway, Zack also did some finger painting on his big day.

Here, Zack and his best friend Zander stand in front of the class with Miss Debbie. The class sang "Happy Birthday" to Zack. He wouldn't go up without having Zander stand with him.

See, I told you they were best buds! These two are so cute together and it's been a lot of fun watching them in class.
Gotta love that smile! :)
No, he's not hurt. This is the face we get when we ask Zack to say, "Cheese!" Sorta funny, but awfully cute, too!
A few weeks ago, Gavin earned his first stripe (yellow) in Kuk Sool. Way to go, Gavin! :)

Ah, yes! Halloween. What an event! I made Gavin's Air Force costume and Chloe's witch costume. Zack wanted to be Bob the Builder. The kids looked adorable! Here I'm putting some of the finishing touches on Zack's costume.

Gavin shows off his Air Force costume. He said he wanted to be an army guy, but I couldn't very well let that happen! (Having been born at the Air Force Academy and raised in an AF family!) Anyway, Papa Clint bought and donated the patches for Gavin's costume. The other side actually has a "Ross" patch. He looked great, if I do say so myself!

Playing dress up before Halloween! Chloe's costume came with fur around the collar of her cape. The same purple fur was also around the top of her hat.

Like I said, the pictures are a little out of order here ... This little guy standing with Zack is Riley ... a friend since Zack was born. Actually, these two were born 21 hours apart in hospital rooms next door to one another. A couple of weeks ago Chuck, Zack and I drove to the Bay Area to celebrate the boy's birthdays. Here, the two of them check out one of the toys Riley had just opened. Just below the picture is the first ever picture of these boys. It was taken just a few hours after Riley was born, but among my favorites! By the way, Zack is the one not wearing the hat ... his head was too big for the hats ... :D

I know this picture hadn't made it on the blog yet and it was taken in the last few weeks. It made me laugh so I had to share!

On Thursday, Oct. 16 we hosted a family party to help celebrate Z's big day. Here everybody checks out the Cars race track that he opened. It's a fun toy that races Doc and McQueen around he track. For the record, no matter how things get set up, Doc is the faster car!

When we sang to Zack and brought out his cake (Bob the Builder, of course) he screamed! Can you see the fear in his face!? I guess we scared him. It didn't take long for his mood to change though ... it's amazing what a little chocolate ice cream will do!

See?!
And long before the costumes and birthday party, I was lucky enough to accompany Chloe's class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. This has quickly become one of my favorite photos. We had a great time picking out a pumpkin and spending time together!

Chloe was very excited about finding feathers and sunflower seeds, in addition to the pumpkin she got to choose!

The end!

Whew!

Much love,

--M

School pictures

Greetings and salutations! :) 

Just had to share the wonderful school pictures our brood brought home. I think Zack's smile makes me laugh the most ... can you tell they asked him to say cheese!? 

Will have to post more later. Dinner calls ... 

Much love,

--M

Our weekend

Hey there! :) 

So, we had a very busy weekend ... the school carnival, a visit to the pumpkin patch ... and a tea party. Man, we're tired ... good thing school starts up again tomorrow! :) Pictures from our weekend follow, although they are a little out of order. I have no idea what's going on ... I just want to blog and it has to get complicated! So, bear with me ... 

Union Hill hosted a carnival on Saturday. Chuck's mountain bike team had a booth (a tire toss game) and the kids and I headed out to explore the rest of the festivities. Here, Zack can be seen taking a turn on the drum set. He actually did a pretty good job with it! 

And then it was Chloe's turn. The girl has rhythm to be sure! 

This was Sunday morning. We decided to sleep in and take it easy. The kids humored themselves with a tea party in Chloe's bedroom. Man, they made a mess fast ... amazingly this only took about 15 minutes to clean up. Is fun proportional to the amount of toys on the floor? Not sure, but I'm thinking yes! 

Sunday afternoon, Chuck, Gavin, Chloe and myself decided to check out a pumpkin patch on our way home from dropping off Zack. Here Chloe feeds the horse and Gavin rides the horse. This pumpkin patch wasn't so much about choosing a pumpkin ... for $5 each, the kids got to spend 30 minutes playing in jump houses and going down slides. Perfect way to burn off some energy! 

Back to the school carnival on Saturday, Chloe got a butterfly painted on her face. It lasted about 10 minutes until Chloe had an itch and scratched the whole thing off!

The bounce house on Saturday was a huge hit, too! I love the next two pictures ... the excitement in the faces of Chloe and Gavin and then Zack's big smile. Very cute! :) 

The fire truck on Saturday afternoon also allowed for some fun. Here, Zack is checking out the instruments on the back. 

 

And finally, the bat that Gavin had painted on his face! 

Another big milestone was that he lost a front tooth this weekend. He and Zack were wrestling and out popped the tooth. There was a little blood, but after we got everything cleaned up, Gavin gave Zack a big thank you ... that little tooth had been dangling for what seemed like weeks! 

And so, we get ready for one more busy week. Wednesday there are field trips for both Chloe and Zack (to the local pumpkin patch) and Thursday is Zack's fourth birthday ... HOLY COW! 

Hope you're doing well! 

Much love,

--M

An anniversary, of sorts

Today, October 10, marks one year from the day I received an email from Chuck. This was no ordinary email. We had met in church on October 7, 2007 and I wasn't exactly sure what to make of Chuck at that point. :) We sat in Sunday school with Gavin and Zack and I couldn't get Chuck to say two words to me. (I later found out that he was so nervous he was too afraid to say much of anything ... apparently my smile had pretty much done him in!) Anyway, that was on Sunday. On Wednesday, October 10, 2007, I had an email asking if we could meet and talk some more. And the rest, as they say, is history. It had taken some effort to find my email address and I'm so glad he did! :)

The fun part was that tonight as we were eating dinner, Brad Paisley's song, "She's Everything" came on. (It's the song that Chuck sang to me at our wedding!) Right in the middle of dinner tonight Chuck asked me to dance. It was a great moment ... about a two minutes later we had Zack and Chloe asking if they could dance too. So, we had some family dancing time. :)

And what a year it's been! I've spent quite a bit of time today reflecting on all the changes in my life and I can't help by tear up when I think of where I was last year and what a different place I find myself in now. I have a beautiful family, three amazing kids, an incredible husband, a fun job and some time to work in classrooms, make halloween costumes and take care of the house. Sure, it's exhausting at times and overwhelming, but at the end of the day I can truly say that I'm happy. And that's a nice place to be.

Here's hoping you find some time today to stop and appreciate the finer (albeit sometimes crazy) things in your life!

Much love,
--M

A few more pictures ...

Hi there, 

Just a few more pictures to share with you! 

Chris (left) and Chuck at the starting line of the State Championships in Big Bear. The course was set up in such a way that we could watch them take off and then didn't see them again until they crossed the finish line. In the hour and 45 minutes that it took for Chuck to complete the race, we (myself, Chuck's mom, my mom and my aunt and uncle) headed  for Starbucks. What better way to root on your honey! :) Just kidding. 

And, there's the finish! I was jumping up and down as I watched Chuck come into the final part of the race and I'm shocked I was actually able to snap a picture. But yes, he did win ... and by a HUGE eight minute margin. What a stud. 

Hanging out at the finish line! :) 

Chuck received a plaque and a medal for his efforts. Both the medal and the plaque are hanging on his wall at school. :) 

And the very next weekend we packed up our house and moved. No rest for the weary in this family! :) Before moving we needed to properly decorate the trailer. Thank goodness the kids were here. Chuck can't draw and I was busy packing. Like I said, no rest around here. Geez, you spend all weekend cheering someone on at a bike race and you can't even take off the next weekend to rest. What's up with that? 

So, I guess that gets you all caught up with our family. I will post more when something happens. See you in five minutes. Just kidding! :) 

Much love,

--M

I'm catching up ...

Hi friends! 

Since I have been so lacking on my updates, I figured the best way to make up for lost time would be with lots of pictures. So, here goes ... 

First up is Chuck's race in Folsom on Sept. 13. This was the first race of the season that Gavin and Chloe were able to attend. Not only did Chuck capture first place (HOORAY!) but it was also the first day Gavin got a nosebleed. He went face first off a fence post. *sigh* At least the nurse at the First Aid station was cute and Gavin was well-attended too, but he didn't really seem to care too much! Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun! Chuck's mom joined us for the race as well. 

 (For the record, I have no idea why all my words are coming up underlined in blue. Just go with me here ... hey, at least you're getting an update!) 

Not only was Chuck looking like his handsome self in his kit, but each of the kids had a jersey to wear as well. No wonder he won ... he had the best looking cheer squad around! :) 

That could well be one of my favorite photos! What a good looking group! 

When Daddy is racing, it can get a little boring. Good thing there was plenty of dirt to play in. This was taken before all the playing got started ... you should have seen how quickly the dirt became part of the outfit. Ah well, the riders get dirty so why can't the spectators, too!? 

This was taken after the race. Chuck's friend (and former student) Chris Thibodeau laid down to rest after the race and Nurse Chloe stepped in to make sure he was doing okay. 

Adorable, if you ask me. :) 

There's my guy! First place! Way to go, Chuck!! :) 

Something tells me it won't be long before 

Gavin is actually big enough for his own mountain bike. 

Oh yes, and there's the wife. :) 

And there has been a lot that has changed since that point. Heck, that was nearly a month ago. I do have more pictures to share, but it would appear the camera is currently playing hide-and-go-seek and really, I 'm not in the mood to seek ... so more pictures will have to come at a later time. Instead, I'll use words to give some more updates. We'll run through the family here: 

GAVIN: The little man still has a front tooth holding on for dear life! My goodness, I'd have thought it would have fallen out this weekend, but instead it's dangling with whatever small bit of effort it can muster. Other than all that, Gavin is doing great. We continue to get good reports from school and he's actually been singled out as a helper on campus. He's going to start working in a friendship club to model good behavior for some of the students who are having some problems. He's also reading up a storm which is a lot of fun to be a part of, too. He's still loving Kuk Sool and should be getting his yellow stripe very soon. 

CHLOE: What a love bug! We've had a few rough patches, but our refrigerator is currently covered in several good notes from school and we couldn't be happier. Last weekend Chloe and I played dolls together ... and boy did we  have a good time! She laid them all out in the living room and then we took turns feeding and burping them. She taught them how to use the potty and then the babies started saying their first words so Chloe kept me up to date on what they were saying. It's been a while since I've played dolls, but we had a great time. I continue to enjoy doing Chloe's hair and she's loving french braids right now. 

ZACK: Z is doing great. Last week he had an MRI (his third in his short little life) to check out his head. Originally, the doctors did the MRI to make sure there wasn't an issue with the size of his head and his speech delay. The good news was there wasn't a huge issue there, but they inadvertently found a cyst on the back of his brain. (GULP!) The did a second MRI a year later to make sure the cyst wasn't changing. It had actually gotten a bit smaller, but they wanted to do third MRI one year after that to check again. 

Last Monday was the MRI and we just got the results ... the cyst has gotten bigger, but in proportion to how much Zack has grown, the cyst is actually small. Did that make sense? Anyway, they won't do another MRI for two years. It's not really a cyst to worry about too much (although when people are talking about your child I'm not sure you don't ever worry about it ...) Apparently we can all have these particular type of cysts, and as long as there aren't any major things happening (slurred speech, falling over, trouble walking, etc) they won't do anything but monitor. Whew. 

Zack is doing great in school and is now seeing a speech therapist twice a week. He really enjoys working with her. :) Believe it or not, Z turns four next Thursday. I'm in shock ... where has the time gone!? 

CHUCK: Well, racing season is officially over for the year! :) Chuck finished very strong ... winning the State Championships in Big Bear. He is coaching the mountain bike club at school and continues to find time here and there for rides in between other activities. He has DJ'd a couple of dances for the local schools and is enjoying his wellness class (health/pe combo) at school. He's hoping to find time to get back into Kuk Sool more regularly ... he'd still really like to earn that black belt. 

ME: What can I say? I'm having a blast keeping up with everybody else's activities! I'm now volunteering in all three classrooms each week and I really enjoy it. Where else does a high school English teacher get to spend time cutting out the pieces for art projects or directing kids in gluing beans onto a letter B? Seriously, I'm loving it. I could never work in a preschool classroom full time, but my two hours a week is enough to get my fix! I am also making the halloween costumes. Gavin will be an Army guy, Chloe a witch and Zack would like to be Bob the Builder. We have a week off in October and my plan is to sew, sew, sew! :) 

We've pretty well settled into our new place. This just started our second week here and there are only about four boxes left to unpack. We'll have the place ready to shine next week for Zack's party ... that will be the first time most of the family sees our new digs. 

Anyway, I hope this finds everyone doing well. I will search out the camera soon so I can add more pictures. 

Much love, 

--M

Don't give up!

Hi there, 

Okay, so life has been a little busy and my free minutes have not been spent updating the blog. My sincerest apologies for that! We moved into our new place last weekend and haven't had a spare moment ... rather, the moments we have had have usually been spent collapsing in sheer exhaustion. :) 

I promise to update the blog this weekend. Don't give up on me just yet! 

Hope this finds everyone doing well! 

Much love,

--M

PS -- A few highlights: 

* Chloe has had several, several good days at school in a row. 

* In just two weeks Zackary will turn four. HOLY COW!

* Gavin is about to lose another tooth. 

More to come ... :) 

Catching up ...

Hello Friends!

I keep telling myself that I need to post on the blog, but I keep thinking that tomorrow will be an easier day to find a few minutes. Now as I log in I see that my last post was about 14 days ago. So much for tomorrow!

Although I don't have a lot of free time at the moment, I wanted to post a few highlights of our last couple of weeks. Very soon (I PROMISE!) to provide some more details!

FIRST -- Chuck won the State Championships! We had an exciting time last weekend ... both our moms went with us to Big Bear to watch him race. My Aunt Pat and Uncle Tim, cousin Tricia and her husband Lee met up with us and we were all there to cheer Chuck on to victory! He completed the course in about 1 hour and 46 minutes. The second place person in his class was about eight minutes behind him ... what a great way to end the season! Way to go, baby! :)

Let's see, what else is going on these days? OHHH, right ... we're moving. Minor detail, right!? It's been a lot of work, but we're very excited about our new place. The new house is about four years old, 1700 square feet and very open and bright inside. We've been moving loads each night after school and will finish the move on Saturday. Whew ... it's been rather exhausting! I'm very excited though, the new kitchen is unreal ... tons of space!

Anyway, time to wrap things up, but I promise to provide some more information after we get through this weekend. Hope this finds everyone doing well.

Much love,
--M

A perfect day

Can you hear the sound of the trumpets blaring? Of the angels singing? No? :) 

The reason for all the fanfare? 

Well, I posted a copy of Chloe's note home from school today. I hope you will take notice at the huge number of stickers and wonderful comments that decorate this piece of paper. In case you can't read them, please allow me to point them out. 

1. Great AM also! 

2. Good effort today; she got to be a helper, "The Door Monitor."

3. She loves food! :) 

4. Very happy and friendly today

5. Nice listening and good participation since it was her share day.

6. She loves to color and practice writing her name.

7. She loves to be read to

8. Very attentive today

And then there is perhaps the most wonderful comment, the finishing touch to such a fabulous day ... 

BEST DAY EVER!! WOO HOO!!!

Excellent work, Chloe! 

Love, 

A very proud Daddy and Megan

A mother's guilty pleasure ...

It is a Friday night and I find myself enjoying the peacefulness of an empty house. I'm torn though, should I be sad and missing my kids and husband? Or, is it okay to enjoy the peace and quiet and my glass of red wine? I'm guessing it's okay for a mom to enjoy these quiet moments ... but that's not to say I miss the other four a whole bunch right now, too! 

Sure, I've spent most of the night grading papers and planning out the rest of my Crucible unit, but there really is something to be said for being able to spread out papers on the table without fear of spilled water or the disruptions of arguments over toys and sharing ... or lack thereof. 

I thought I would take a break from school work to share a few more fun stories from the week.

My story about Gavin warms my heart for so many reasons. As an English teacher it's been quite fun to see his reading ability increase. Since I work with high schoolers I don't get to see the early reading growth very often. He's learning new sight words each day and got a 100% on his first reading test ... it's not just the English teacher in me though ... a mom (step mom or not) always loves to see her kids do well! On Wednesday night I made cupcakes for dessert. Gavin (as usual) was the only one to finish enough dinner to earn dessert. As he and Chuck and I were sitting at the kitchen table, Gavin told us that cupcake was a compound word. It came out that simply. No fanfare. Nothing ... it was so matter-of-factly that I think it made his announcement all the more adorable. We quizzed him a bit more and he told us that railroad was a compound word as well. Nice work, Gavin! :) 

The next story is about Chloe. After dinner on Wednesday night she went into the living room to play with the boys. The first thing she says ... "Gavin, can I be a man?" Chuck and I looked at each other and cracked up ... and then went in to see exactly what she was asking. It was simple really, Gavin had action figures and Chloe wanted to play with one of them. Cute phrase though ... although it did catch us off guard a bit! 

Master Zack has learned that if he smiles big and says please in the most adorable tone, he can get just about anything he needs from the teachers at school. Several of them have commented on how difficult it is to tell him no, as they all seem to melt when he asks. What a flirt! :) 

Happy weekend! 

Much love, 

--M

Playing catch up!

Hi friends! 

So much has been happening in the last week and there just hasn't been time to share all the fun. :) So, I decided to post some pictures and write some captions (sorry, that's the yearbook geek in me) to catch everyone up on the latest stuff around our crazy house. Here goes ... 

Pictured above is Chuck's ever-growing Union Hill mountain bike club. The group meets each Friday after school and rides for an hour through Empire Mine. Last Friday, 18 students showed up to participate! Pretty incredible numbers, then again ... when the "coach" and teacher is ranked No. 1 in the country it would be hard to pass up the chance to ride. On a side note, several of my high school students know Chuck from his days as a Nevada Union mountain bike coach. A few of them have actually started showing for the Union Hill Friday rides to participate. What a great experience all the way around! 

On July 23, Chuck and his good friend and riding partner, Chris Thibodeau left at 6:30 a.m. for an all day ride in Lake Tahoe. All day, by the way, was about 12 hours, as they returned home about 6:30 that night! The ride took them through some beautiful country and Chuck was able to figure out the timer feature on our new camera to snap this photo. There were lots of pictures that came back and after seeing them I had a hint of jealousy. I would love to get to see some of that area with my own eyes, but I know there's no way I could ride through the terrain they did. I suppose I'll settle for the pictures and stories!  

August 24 we celebrated Chuck's birthday with my family at Mas in Roseville. This was the day after the big bike ride and Chuck enjoyed the mojitos (a Dickson family favorite) with his meal. 

(Now that's saying something!) It was a great little party. 

Monday night we enjoyed another Kuk Sool class, but this time it was Chuck's turn. I love watching him run through the forms. His body movement with the kicks and such is amazing. Yup, I'm in love! <3 

Labor Day weekend wasn't just for an extra day off school. Nope, we put those kids to work! :) Just kidding. The weather was so perfect that we had some fun playing outside. The kids managed to discover "treasure" while digging. (Between you and me it looked amazingly like an old piece of bike chain, but our "pirates" were able to make it into hidden treasure and keep themselves occupied for quite a while!)

Chloe stops to pose for the camera. She loves when she's asked to smile! :) Outside she's usually the one showing the boys the best way to get dirty in the dirt and leaves. I love that she just jumps right in. A bit of a girly girl at times, but certainly never afraid to get her hands dirty. Thata girl! :) 

Zack, on the other hand, would not let me take any pictures of him digging or playing ... his new favorite thing to do is turn away from the camera so his face can't be seen. But, at least in this picture you can tell how much fun he had. Either that, or he's prepping for an audition in Annie as one of the orphan kids. Hahaha! JUST KIDDING. :) 

Saturday night we celebrated Chuck and Aunt Donnie's birthdays. What a fun family get together! The kids even found time to play in the pool. By the way, we don't usually put Chloe in a shower cap to swim, but we forgot her earplugs. Personally, I think she may be on to something ... bringing shower caps back. She is a fashionista! Veeerrry nice! :) 

I think that pretty much wraps up the week. The upcoming week will have more Kuk Sool, school pictures, bike rides, mountain bike club, Chuck's first school dance, a slumber party at Grammy and Papa's for Zack and so much more! Hope your long weekend was great! 

Much love,

--M