A new angel in Heaven

Just wanted to let you all know that sweet, beautiful Ryan Oickle passed quietly early Saturday morning. His mother and father were holding him at the time and he was surrounded by many family members and friends. Our family is deeply saddened by their news and is praying that Heavenly Father helps them to have peace in their hearts. They are a very spiritual family :) and I know they trust that Ryan is in good care. Desma, Ryan's mother, has all the info. on his caring bridge site. Give your little ones (or your big ones) an extra kiss today :)

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ryanoickle

My Birthday

As usual, I am behind. I probably won't get any better with summer coming up, either! For my birthday we went to Chili's to celebrate with my sister and Meghan. It was nice to be out and have a great meal! April 10th has been difficult for me and Mel because it was our Dad's birthday too. The kids made it a wonderful, cheerful evening and I know it would make Dad happy :-)
P.S. The Marine background is in honor of my Dad and his birthday as well as for Memorial Day and his sacrifice in the Vietnam war. I will forever be grateful to him and others for their service and forever be privileged to be the daughter of a Marine :) Love you, Dad--Semper Fi!

Our silly girl, Kara Melanie-full from eating a great dinner!

Elijah, Daddy, Mommie and a portion of Ethan's head

Happy Baby-as usual!

Meggie and Noah

Meggie and Kara

The Oickle Family

Hello Everyone. I wanted to do a post in honor of our friends, The Oickle's. George and Desma have 2 sons, Colby (Noah's friend at school) and Ryan, 4 (Elijah's age). Nearly 2 years ago, Ryan was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer (after MUCH testing). He was about 2 1/2. With chemo and other treatments they have been able to keep Ryan's tumors from getting worse....that is until recently. Around April 1st, they found out that not only are Ryan's tumors not shrinking, they are getting larger (around 5.5cms). They have used all the medication they can at this time and are told chemo will only prolong his life, not necessarily improve the quality of it. George and Desma have made the agonizing decision to take Ryan off all meds. and enjoy the time they have with him.

As if that weren't enough burden to carry, George was diagnosed with lung cancer about a year after Ryan (in August 2008). His is in stage 3B, which is incurable. George currently undergoes chemotherapy and they are hoping to put it into remission for a LONG time. What George has is called Adnocarcinoma and Ryan's is Rhabodomyoscarcoma.

I know many of you that read this blog are believers in miracles. I wanted to spread the word as far as I could to request prayers for them. Desma is such a strong, wonderful, positive woman. I know George and Ryan (and Colby!) are truly blessed to have her! If you would like to read more about them, here are the websites they have set up:

Ryan Oickle

George Oickle

THANK-YOU!

And The Mother of the Year Award goes to.....

NOT ME!!!

I have no idea with all the postings of Meghan's birthday, Scott's birthday, Noah's birthday AND Elijah's birthday that I forgot to POST ETHAN'S BIRTHDAY! Is this a sign of what's to come as the 4th born...Everyone forgets you?!! Well I have to say at least we remembered him on his birthday and had a nice little party for him. We love our adorable ONE YEAR OLD! He is SO happy all the time and he's such a gift to our family!

Happy Birthday Ethan Scott Presby!!


Unsure of what's going on...

VERY happy about his balloons!

Cake-Good!

Wouldn't we all like to do this? LOL!


Yes, he did start chewing on this plate! We took it away
from him and he SCREAMED! So sad :( I can't believe
his parents wouldn't let him eat paper on his birthday!

"Oh, hey...there's people behind me!" -OR- is he staring
at his balloons??

Siblings & Cousins

I guess taste-testing the envelope was more fun than opening
the gift!

HI NOAH!

OOOhhhh...steering wheel!

NOW he wants to open the card!

P.S.-in case you're wondering, Ethan was born
on December 26, 2007! :)

HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY, ELIJAH!!

Our darling, busy, curious, adorable, spirited, beautiful boy turns 4 tomorrow. He was born on January 24, 2005-3 weeks early! I could tell when he was in my tummy that he would be active...Scott used to say "that baby is going to come out running!". Well, those of you who know him well know nothing's changed :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH-DADDY, MOMMIE, NOAH, KARA AND ETHAN LOVE YOU!!







P.S For those of you who know Michelle Murdoch, January 24th is HER birthday too! Hop over to her her blog and send some well-wishes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHELLE! LOVE YA! :)

Thanksgiving

These are in a kind of messed up order, but, you get the
picture...HA HA no pun intended...really.

MMMMmmmm...cool whip and pumpkin pie is GOOOD!

After dinner, before dessert walk.

What's funny about this is that I hate mashed potatoes!

Saying hello to the MacLeod's on our walk.

All of us together before dinner.

Cute Meghan with her baby cousin.

Matchy-matchy brown shirts.

Jim, our resident turkey baker/carver.

Scott and is 3 older sisters a few days earlier at his Dad's house.
L-R: Scott, Laura (2nd born), Mary (3rd born) and Sue (1st born).

SO TRUE!

One of my friends from HS posted this on facebook. How hilarious, but true! If you click on it, it'll blow it up so you can read it...