Horrible Mom Moment

We spent the majority of Labor Day at Lake Tobias Wildlife Park about a half hour away from us. I can’t believe we have lived here for 3 years and I am just discovering this place, especially since I apparently have 2 daughters obsessed with animals. The park takes you on an hour long safari in a bus with the top cut off so you are up close and personal with the animals. They are not shy as they come right up to the sides to be fed. Lexi had a hay day with this! She couldn’t get enough of them as she was stuffing her arm down buffalo’s throats with her crackers. She caught on very quickly and would just hang her hand out over the side waiting for an animal to come and eat it. If they took too long she of course would nibble on the nasty wafer herself.

Luckily the day wasn’t too tainted from my HORRIBLE MOM MOMENT one minute into the safari! Somehow I managed to be the only one on the bus not to hear the guide say “You can feed most the animals, but do not hand-feed the birds. They don’t know the difference between the food and your fingers!” Needless to say when the first ostrich walked up to Kylee I started telling her to put her hand out and feed it. “Don’t worry Kylee, he won’t bite!” My trusting daughter proceeded to feed the ostrich and two seconds later I had a crying child in my arms, holding her finger with blood on it and saying “That was a BAD CHOICE MOM! he did bite me and I’m NEVER doing that again” I cannot even express how bad I felt! My daughter totally trusted me and I blew it. I felt so stupid and was just wishing I could erase the moment. We did recover and manage to enjoy the rest of the safari and as you can see Kylee did just fine feeding all the animals.

We later went on to a reptile show where Kylee got to pet a snake and a baby alligator. Lastly, we finished our adventure at the Petting Zoo where Alexis was absolutely hysterical. She all of a sudden could care less about feeding the animals because she was now able to hug them like stuffed animals and use them as her own personal pillow…(until they would get up and move). At first I was concerned about the disgusting goat germs but I quickly gave up as she was determined to enjoy this moment to the fullest. We had everybody passing by making comments and smiling at this 17 month old who was just one with the goats. So much for being timid around live animals. She has no fear and never once even hesitated. Kylee was off making sure each animal got their fare share of her crackers while Lexi was lounging out with the goats.

Lake Tobias Click on the little picture or the name in purple for a short video and as you can see we wore them out. Within 2 min. of our drive home this is what our back seat looked like!

FIRST NAME BASIS

More and more are becoming aware now that YES, my daughter Kylee calls me CHERYL. At least 50% of the time I am referred to as CHERYL not Mom. This has been going on for over a year now and I guess I've just become used to. When I stop and think about it, it is pretty crazy and I have no idea how it began or why it started but that's Kylee for you. Oh and don't worry Dad is Skylar or even Sky half the time as well. However, I"ve begun to notice it more lately as I've had others point it out more frequently. A Random laugh from someone passing in the hall at church when they hear from my little 4 year old..."Cheryl, you've gotta see this.'' or my siblings that brought it to my attention again as we were all together at the reunion and they heard it constantly. They just couldn't get enough of it and thought it was the funniest thing. I often hear from friends, "Did she really just call you Cheryl" with a chuckle in their voice and I assure them...yup we are on a first name basis apparently. When we are around people for the first time I do hesitate for a moment and wonder what they are thinking but it has become a great conversational piece at times. (ie: preschool parents) What's crazy is I don't think she has any clue that it's odd or unusual. With no hesitation at all it just comes out. I tried explaining once to her that she was the lucky one that got to call me Mom which sounded cool at the moment but it obviously didn't stick. It really doesn't bother me and I still get called Mom plenty during the day. I guess it mixes it up a little bit since I'm addressed more times than I can count in one day. She loves to chat and has me involved in every move she makes as many of you know. I promise I didn't teach her or ask her to do it. One of Kylee's little quirks that for now we will continue to let go and get some great laughs out of. Who knows maybe it's a phase that she will one day grow out of or maybe she will be that kid whose 8 years old and calling her mother by her first name. By then I think I will definitely have to kill the habit.

1st Official Hockenjos Reunion

My parents pulled it off! We just returned from a family reunion from the Outer Banks in NC and had an absolute blast. It had been almost 2 years since we had all been together under one roof. My parents rented a gorgeous beach house for the week and all my siblings with their families from different states traveled in. Together we may have set a new record for the amount of pictures taken on one trip. Cameras were constantly clicking and now we are all awaiting each others results. What will we do with them all? Good question, but hopefully we will remember every great memory and all the laughs. Nothing much sweeter than being together as family at the BEACH! You all know how much we love it there. This area was full of childhood memories as we vacationed there a lot growing up and haven't been back for years. So here are a few highlights. I narrowed my 100 pictures down for now.How High can they go? We had perfect swimming conditions most of the week and Kylee couldn't get enough of the ocean. The cousins went back and forth among grandparents and aunts and uncles arms swimming as much as they could.Uncle Taylor was a definite highlight as he was always full of energy and ready to tease us all. The older ones had a blast burrying him while some of the younger ones were a little concerned. We finally made it through without too much sand in his eyes. They all had a blast building sand castles, catching jelly fish and we can't forget bachi ball. Skylar and I will still claim being the paddleball champs! Sky and Lexi hanging out in our own personal hot tub! Lexi finally warmed up to the crew by the end of the week!
We successfully pulled off crabbing. Grandpa took the grandkids crabbing and after waiting "patiently" for a short while they began pintching and enjoying those chicken necks. We caught quite a few and of course Kylee wasn't shy to hold one at all. She even helped put them to sleep by rubbing them between the eyes. We didn't lose any kids in the water but there was plenty of jumping in to fetch lost nets, scissors, and rope!!!The sand dunes were a ton of fun. I was worried Kylee may get worn out but I was definitely wrong. She absolutely loved running up and down them and even Lexi did great! This sure put me down memory lane as I remember running up and down the same ones when I was a kid. It was crazy being back in the same area with now my own family creating new memories with our kids.My parents willingly kept the grandkids one evening for all of us to head out for dinner. It was awesome to sit around a table with my siblings and their spouses eating and chatting. We racked up one fun bill that night as you all know how much this crew loves food!We splurged towards the end of the week and took Kylee out for her first waverunner ride. We had a great time out on the Bay and Kylee sure warmed up to the event as she quickly moved to the driver seat.

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids! Pretty sweet! Even if they aren't all looking which is close to impossible. We did attempt the dreaded family pictures on the beach including every pose you can think of. My brothers camera probably has close to 1000 attempts among all of us so we will see what results we have later. The kids were absolutely done but we pulled out all kinds of tricks to get as many looks as we could at the camera.

All in all it was an amazing trip and I definitely want to say thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible. Despite the elephants pounding above my head at night we loved every minute of it. Kylee was off in her world the entire week playing with her cousins and is still talking about them daily.

Gifford Pinchot State Park

We are continuing to have a blast with our friends here in Hershey. I'm so thankful for the fun activities we are able to be apart of especially during these summer months. This past week me and 6 ohter crazy and exciting Mom's decided to take off with our 13 kids (all 5 and under)and leave our husbands behind for an afternoon at a nearby lake and an evening by "our own" campfire. For awhile there we wondered if we would ever eat our tin foil dinners or have a fire that would last us through the evening...yes we successfully finally did! We definitely know how to pose! Thanks to the self timer we got a GREAT group shot. (Apparently, I'm ready for Prom)
We also got some killer looks from those passing by. You'd think no one had ever seen 7 ladies with 13 tiny children all at one campsite having a blast together before.
What a group! Despite the millions of mosquito bites and getting lost on the way there we had a blast. I was able to leave Alexis home and hang out just with Kylee. We all know Lexi would have been on the go non-stop and wanting everything to do with the fire. Kylee had a great time romping around the campsite, cooking on the fire, catching lightning bugs, going on adventures with the flashlights, staying up late, and riding in our friends minivan.
Somehow, I became the official tinfoil dinner cooker and am glad for all those past camping experiences. I enjoyed the smores and Kylee enjoyed just her plain uncooked marshmellows and chocolate. Apparently, the fire was too hot and it was more fun exploring the campsite. She only lasted a minute trying to cook her hotdog before she handed the scewer over to me saying, "my face is getting way too hot!" We had a good time together. Most of my friends have already blogged about this fun adventure and awesome crazy day. I just always seem to be the slow one. We enjoyed our mini camping experience but next time I'll go for the husbands cooking the meals so we can lounge around even more. I love living here in Hershey and can't believe we have already started our last year. I'm not ready to leave and guess it's time to pack in as much as possible in the next year. I don't want to have to say good-bye to my awesome friends.

Going Digital...HELP

I'm looking for some advice and help! What do you all do with your millions of digital pictures? Before, it was boxes of negatives but I at least limited the amount of pictures I took. Now, it is just so easy to click click click and hard to erase. I'll print some or use them for various projects but I just don't want to lose them. I assume I should clear them off my hard drive but then I'm affraid I'll want some of the old ones for a montage or some other quick project and don't want to hunt through the CD's to find them. However, at times it takes a few minutes to find the one I may be looking for on my computer since there are so many to go through. As soon as you start looking for the picture I begin heading down memory and well we all know where that takes you. In addition, I'm just not sure how to organize them. I'll begin to name some but they seem to get shoved into some alphabetical order by doing so and are intermixed with the numbered ones and I begin to feel like I have too many folders. I just feel overwhelmed and I know I sound pathetic. Why do we all have such cute kids that are so fun to take pictures of? This digital world almost makes it more difficult for me. I feel more and more behind and neither one of my girls have a scrapbook. So all of you out there who are up to date on logging your kids lives I give you a HUGE pat on the back and I'm ready to hire you! I keep thinking I will start when they are older and I can find some free time but who am I kidding. I guess at this point I should just hand them a stack of CD's with their pictures on them. So if you have any tips on where to begin or how you organize your digital pictures send them my way. I hope all of this rambling made some sense. This is the current project on my mind right now as I'm trying to clear my memory card off for an upcoming family reunion and just wonder if I should keep downloading all these pictures onto my computer.

My Eating Walking Machine!

One of Lexi's happiest moments of the day...EATING!!! I don't think I've ever met a 1 year old who could eat more than Alexis. She never acts full and truly enjoys her food. She definitely has some Hockenjos genes there. If anyone in the room has food (even if she just finished eating) she comes waddling over as fast as she can with a grin on her face or with her mouth wide open. You gotta love her! If I even open the pantry door she starts kicking her legs and making her funny grunting noise as she anticipates what I may bring out. I can't believe how fast she is growing up! My little baby took her first steps on Kylee's birthday and now pretty much has the hang of it. It has taken me forever to get this post up. I know family has been asking to see some video of her walking. This clip has her first steps from a few weeks ago, a little in the middle and her current walking from this evening. I know it is on the long side but we've had fun watching her progress. Don't mind my high pitched squeels at the beginning. What can I say I am a proud excited Mom and Kylee is right along with me. We love watching her accomplish every milestone. She is still doing great and pretty much on track.

She is very proud of her walking skills and her big belly! She is into everything right now and is developing quite the little personality.

Be Aware!

I thought if I just didn't write about it maybe it would all go away but at least I think we've actually solved something. As many of you know, for a month now I have had horrible knee pain, even to the point where I could barely even walk. Doctors visits, x-rays and later an MRI showed nothing. I was left with taking tons of pain meds and going to physical therepy 2x a week just hoping it would get better. However, for the past 2 weeks I've been feeling absolutely exhausted, week, dizzy spells, headaches, irritable, etc. Kylee has been asking, "When is mom ever going to be better?" and has tried hard to comfort me at times when I begin to break down. We have been quite the scene at Hershey Park as Sky pushes me in a wheelchair with Kylee on my lap and Lexi in the backpack. Anyway, I know I should get to the point. After more blood work this week it looks like I probably have Lyme's Disease. Sooooo BE AWARE...I had no rash, no bulls eye, haven't been in the woods, don't ever walk in long grass and just hope my kids don't show up with a tick on them. Dude, I'm shocked!!! I know I should be happy to have an answer, but can't believe we've gone through what we have for a month now to discover that it is probably Lyme's. I hope the antibiotics kick in fast and can clear this mess up. It has been one crazy year of health issues for me but I have definitely learned not to take my health for granted. Every healthy day I have I've learned to cherish. The simple joys of just running up and down the street with Kylee or pushing the girls in a stroller are activities I am even more thankful for now. I have to put a late Happy Father's Day in for Skylar who continues to be amazing through all of this. Wow, am I happy to have a husband that understands all the medical lingo and can explain many things in terms that I can maybe begin to understand. It has come in very handy over the past year. He has been awesome picking up all of the slack lately and being Mr. Mom. I love watching him play with the girls and he truly is one of Kylee's best playmates. They have non-stop energy together................Anyway, beware of LYME"S!!!!!!!!

The Kylee Girl

I tried to post this on Kylee's Birthday but it just wasn't done in time. I've been down memory lane the last week looking at tons and tons of pictures. I don't know if this whole digital camera thing is the best situation for me since I have more pictures than I know what to do with and each little expression is great, so how do you erase any of them? This is a little montage of Kylee growing up so far. She loves watching these little videos and enjoys hearing the stories of what we were doing in each picture. Sky and I can't believe how fast she is growing up and feel privledged to be her parents. A few things have stayed pretty constant over the 4 years. Her great smile and laugh, her energy and always wondering what is next in terms of entertainment and thrill seeking, her desire to take care of or be concerned for others (i.e. all animals, creepy crawlers, babies, or anyone crying) and her constant love for life! It is neat seeing all she has learned in just 4 years!

Some of Kylee's Latest enjoyable Moments that make me laugh
- "Playing Primary" she sets up her own Primary at home with all my visual aides and does a dang good job imitating me from singing time or her teachers (Educational as I sit on the side listening in and hearing how much she actually remembers or is learning)
- Already starting to enjoy the love scenes in movies (a new favorite is lion king 2 when they sing to each other). Our first of many mommy daughter nights was last month watching "Enchanted" and she was hooked every minute. My side kick for chick flicks is in the making
- Still enjoys taking care of her babies (all 5 of them) good old me provided duplicates from my lovely garage sales so we would have plenty when friends come over to play but she is able to provide enough love for all of them as she has formed her own parking lot in her room with strollers and carseats. They each apparently belong to a certain one and go in a certain spot.
- Tickle wars and wrestling with Daddy which Lexi has now become a part of. Is there anything better than a little kids laugh?
- Planning out the schedule. She has always been very organized and loves to tell us the order of the next several things that are going to happen. "Ok guys, I have an idea..."

Happy 4th Birthday Kylee!

My little girl turned 4 today and I'm an emotional reck. I feel like she is growing up way to fast and I often wonder if I am capturing and enjoying every moment enough. I am thankful for all my Kylee girl has taught me over the past 4 years and very proud to be her mother. Her precious smile brings joy to me everyday and carrying on conversations with her is often like talking with another adult. We pulled off her "Wild Wacky Water Birthday Party" today! She has been counting down the days for weeks now and had the hardest time even making it till 2:00 today. Skylar and I stayed busy entertaining our crew of 10 girls with over 100 water balloons, slip and slide, kiddie pool, squirt guns, etc.! I never knew how fast you could burn through 150 water balloons! The tossing back and forth and catching wasn't going so well!

Kylee loved opening presents of course and got some great things. Several items even had to go to bed with her tonight! The party was a success and we are glad everyone was able to make it. One of Kylee's favorite things to do is hang out with her friends and she sure has a great group of them. I have tons to say but am just exhausted so stayed tuned. I hope to put a little montage of Kylee's 4 years up as soon as I fined time to finish it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLEE!!!!! We love you sooooooooooo much and are thankful for everything you bring into our family.

CELTIC PRIDE

So, here it is. My first post. I had to get Cheryl’s permission, but what I witnessed last night has inspired me beyond words. The greatest team in sports is finally back in the NBA finals! I have waited 21 YEARS……….SERIOUSLY…….. for this moment!!!!!! One of my earliest childhood memories (I was 4 or 5) is of my father and I watching the Boston Celtics and falling in love with Bird, the Leprechaun, and that sacred parquet floor. I remember listening to Dick Stockton call the games like it was yesterday. There was nothing in sports like Bird vs Magic, the Celtics vs the Lakers and I lived and breathed every minute of it.
Watching Pierce and Garnett hit those amazing shots down the stretch last night, taking their place along side the Greats in Celtic history, was nothing short of ecstasy. Seeing them finally start to understand what it means to wear that Green jersey…wow…I have the chills all over! I can already hear the scream of the 20,000 Boston faithful chanting BEAT L.A.! BEAT L.A.! BEAT L.A.! Heck, I might just have to drive up to Boston and become part of history. I would give up my pinky fingers and a few other body parts for another Celtic Championship! Sports fans, it just simply doesn’t get any better than this.