Le Bel Clan

Cards and Packages to Robert

2009-11-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been asking me about sending Robert Christmas Care Packages or Christmas Cards. I know he will totally love getting anything. Letters from home are completely priceless to our soliders. "Here is a link to care package ideas, most of the items on the list he has mentioned in the past. The fun ideas are all also really good. And itunes gift cards are good too, he can use these to purchase music, games, books on tape and more. If you have any questions just call me :) It would also be a good idea to have it in the mail before the 11th of December to ensure he gets it by Christmas. And as i mentioned even a Christmas card would be such a blessing to him. He loves and misses all his family and friends so much.
If you do send a package be sure to mail it in a APO box from the Post office to get special discounted rates for mailing packages to soliders

https://www.msu.edu/~sst/care.html

Robert Le Bel
ACO 1-186 IN 41/IBCT
Task Force Guardian
Camp Adder
APO AE 09331

New Robert Info

2009-10-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update everyone to Robert’s status, he called this morning and he is settled into his “home” for the next 7 months in Tallil Iraq. He will have email in the next day or so, so if you can send him an encouraging email that would be awesome!

Robert.lebel@us.army.mil

His address is:

LeBel, Robert
ACO 1-186 IN/41 IBCT
Task Force Guardian
Camp Adder
APO AE 09331

For those of you who are local…..I will be sending him packages every month or so, so if you want to include something in my package just let me know I am more than happy to send it for anyone. He sounded great, tired but great. He seems very upbeat and ready to see what the adventure brings.

We back home are doing just great too. We have had our share of challenges (i.e. broken down car, swine flu, etc) but the Lord has blessed us to see the silver lining in all of it. We are looking forward to the exciting events of October. We get to see Joe get home next week. The boys are so excited. Bobby has a taokwondo tournament on Saturday that is he super nervous to compete in and he finishes his testing next Friday for his next belt level. Then he will get to use weapons. And then of course there is Halloween which all the boys can't wait for. Soon we will be carving pumpkins and picking costumes. So Oct. will be over before we know it.

Fantastic End to Summer....

2009-09-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well that all dreaded end to summer has finally rolled around, especially dreaded for the Le Bel family because it means Dad is going to Iraq. But we have enjoyed our summer to the fullest. We were able to attend our annual family campout! It was great and so much fun. The weather was a bit chilly but we still managed to swim in the river, hike, toast marshmellows, play in the dirt, jumprope, EAT and EAT and EAT, visit two seperate lakes we have never been to, and enjoy the company of our great family.

We also spent many lazy afternoons curled up on the couch (yes all six of us on one couch) watching movies and some of our favorite tv shows together. We remodeled mine and Robert's bedroom and made it a beautiful retreat and restful place for me to spend time while he is away. This was a much needed project, it was a sad pathetic space before. I am sure this will help raise my spirits while Robert is gone. He also managed to finish my "office" space. Which I will brag is also beautiful. The yard is also clean and neat and life seems to be in order for the moment.

Because of the delay in Robert's deployment we were also able to have Cody's baptism. He was so happy that we didn't have to put it off and Daddy was here to baptize him. It was great day and we did it at the Skinner's pool. We had our closest family and friends there. It was such a blessing that we are so thankful for and we are so proud of our Cody.

We also reached anothergoal in our home. All four of our boys are now full time students.....So strange to have Carson start kindergarten this year. Tuesday was his first official day and here at Jewett they do full day kindergarten so he goes the same hours as his brothers. He jumped off the school bus today and looked and me and said, "School is AWESOME!!!" He is too stinking cute for his own good. All four of the boys love their new teachers (so far) and are doing well. It is weird to have a totally empty house all day. I am hoping it will help to keep it cleaner :)

So the next step is saying good bye to Dad on Saturday the 12th. He will head out to Mississippi and then on to Iraq at some undisclosed date. We are hoping that between school, flag football, karate, baseball, and the holidays and family activities thrown in there that the time will fly by. We are proud of him for his service to our country. The boys can't wait to start their activities and I really I can't either. Time will fly by. Please keep Robert and our family in your prayers as we embrace this adventure. I will be posting some more pictures soon, just needed a break from work today so wanted to get this post done. Have a great Fall!!!

Le Bel Update

2009-07-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a crazy month for the Le Bel family. Robert graduated Airborne school and has his "wings" now. We are so proud of him. I was able to fly out and watch the graduation ceremony and spend a few days with him before we flew home together. It was amazing. Georgia is beautiful, way too humid, but when you live in a greenhouse everything is GREEN!!!! The buildings are so historical and majestic, and the people are very diverse. It was so much fun. We flew in on Monday the 20th and Tuesday morning we found out that Robert is being deployed to Iraq on August 17th. :( Obviously it isn't what we had planned for, but we had prepared for it. We are trying to enjoy every minute of time we have together.

The first weekend Robert was home we loaded the family up and headed to the coast to camp for a few days. It was so nice to escape and hide from the world after such bad news. We totally enjoyed the time we had over there. It was cool, in the 60's, while back home was over 100...

Robert started work on Monday and is adjusting to the short time he will be there. He will work for about two weeks and then have a few days off before he leaves. We are planning on going to Bend on the 14th for a family reunion campout, however, it may end up not working out. We did just find out that the National Guard may not let him leave the area. Apparently he needs to keep his phone on him and ready to deploy at any minute. So being 3 hours away maynot be an option.

The boys love having their daddy home, and don't stop hugging and wrestling with him. They are taking the deployment incredibly well, but I suspect it will be very hard when he actually leaves again. Carson gets to have his Daddy Day and get his Kindergaten shots next week. Then he gets to pick any activity to do with daddy for the day and then have a nice dinner out. I think it will be the Family Fun Center, but we will see what he chooses. The other boys are so busy enjoying summer. We have swam a lot, watched tons of movies, played lots of games, and now are hunkering down in our air conditioned house till the temps drop below 100.

That pretty much catches you all up to date. I have a lot of pictures to post but just havent taken the time to do it. I will soon, probably after Robert leaves. We are staying positive and enjoying our time with him. The Lord has a plan for us and we are supporting and embracing it.

So now he wants to jump out of airplanes......

2009-06-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Friday Robert graduated from Basic Training!!! He finished the Field Training Excersize last week. They spent 7 days out in the woods being "attacked" by the enemy and fighting to defend their camp. His platoon won 5 of the 8 banners during the week. In fact Robert was saying that his platoon is historically one of the best performing ever. We are so proud of him. He has done amazingly well over there and impressed many people. So much so that they have offered him an Airborne contract. This means that he will be learning to jump out of airplanes. He is so excited to do this. Me not so much, one more thing to worry about. But I have been assured it is perfectly safe. (Yes I realize he is jumping out of an airplane and in no way can that be perfectly safe) This also pushes his welcome home date back to July 12th. I have decided that I am going back there to watch his graduation from Airborne. I booked my flight yesterday and am so excited to be there to support him. Bonus, as long as things go as planned, (weather, training, etc) they will be parachuting into graduation. How cool to see that!!!!! He was very excited to find out I would be there to watch him.
As far as us here at home, we are doing well. Jason is 95% recovered from his surgery (he had his appendix out two and half weeks ago), and loves to show his scar off to everyone that walks by. All the boys have finished the school year and are already driving me crazy with their pent up energy. I am already trying to plan some activities for the next month so we don't all end up in the funny house. Cody's last baseball game is on Saturday, Jason can't play due to his surgery, then we are done with our activites for now. All the boys were very disappointed Daddy isn't coming home this weekend, but they are really excited that he gets to jump out of airplanes. While four more weeks doesn't seem like a big deal, to a 6 yr. old who just had surgery it is too long. Jason is the one kid who CONSTANTLY reminds me how much he misses his daddy. At least fifteen times a day. :( Very sad, but sweet. I will send probably one more update toward the middle of his training to let you know how he likes it. Have a great weekend everyone!

The Craziest Week in the Last Four Months.

2009-05-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

So I really haven't been keeping my blog up like I should but once you read this you may understand a little as to why. This last few weeks has been a rollercoaster! We will start with updating on Robert. It has gone back and forth for a few weeks now whether he would enter Airborne training, which would extend his stay until July 12. It is an honor to have it offered to a member of the National Guard, and a once in a lifetime experience. Plus Robert has been dying to jump out of a plane :) . Thankfully the Lord has helped to make this decision for us and Robert will not be going. Things didn't quite work out and there weren't enough open positions. So he will be home in 11 and half days!!!! Yahoo! He has had so many wonderful experiences and I can't begin to tell them all. But to give you a few highlights. He has managed to get his two miles to 13:22, which is a whole two minutes less than before he left. He became GFT (Ground Fighting Tactic) Certified, which was earned by getting beat up by a rather large drill sergeant. Well, not beat up but beat. He held his own and reached whatever the criteria was to qualify. So yay! He has also completed a seven day Field Training Exercise where his platoon is dropped in the middle of no where and they have to go through the experience of being at war. They are attacked, clear buildings and vehicles and protect their camp. On the last day, wearing all gear and carrying all supplies they hike around 20+ miles back to camp. They call it the Honor March. Once there they have a ceremony called Turning Blue ceremony where they are officially soldiers. I can not express to everyone my pride and love for Robert for what he has accomplished, sacrificed, and achieved. He truly amazes me.

Also this week has been CRAZY. My little Jason Wyatt has been a sick boy for quite awhile, probably three weeks or more. So we went BACK to the Dr. on Tuesday and to shorten the story a little by 10 pm he was being rushed into emergency surgery to have his appendix removed. This was probably the scariest thing I have ever had to deal with. I am sure it is probably a pretty common surgery, but in the moment on my own it was terrifying. He pulled through like a trooper and was released the next day from the hospital. He has been home recovering since. He is doing really well and we are hoping he will be back to school in time for Kindergarten Graduation. I have to thank Debbie for dropping everything to come and stay with the other boys, and all the friends who have stepped up and helped out. Oh then on Thursday morning I got notified by the school that Cody was in the office and had ran into a wall (funny story), and broke his tooth. Well upon inspection, he shattered his front adult tooth :(. So we got to spend three hours at the dentist office on another emergency visit getting it filed and reconstructed. Again, he was also a trooper and really didn't even cry other than from a little embarrassment because he ran into a wall. Apparently he was racing a fourth grader and trying to look cool and "lost control and slammed into the wall". I know it sounds like Nascar, but no, this would be elementary recess. So needless to say I am contemplating having the entire family committed to a padded room for the next eleven days. Here are some pictures of Jason in the hospital. We had to capture the moment for Daddy when he gets home. Next post should be about Robert's Homecoming.

Ok, so no pictures, it won't let me post them. I will try again later. Have a great week all.

Finally I am getting around to this

2009-04-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry the updates are few and far between, being a single mom is a lot of hard work! Especially during baseball season :) But I have had a lot of great letters from Robert and wanted to update anyone who cares! He is really starting to have some fun now. They have made it through the training and conditioning (i am sure it never really ends) and have started some of the application of the skills they have attained. As far as I can tell it just seems like a bunch of war games. Scenarios are set up and the soldiers have to accomplish their missions. This is the part that Robert has been looking forward to. He is one of four squad leaders in his platoon and is embracing this responsibility. They had shooting range qualification last week and Robert reached marksman. It isn't the best he says, but he is happy to just qualify and go to the next phase. We have passed the halfway mark until he comes home, so the end is in sight. We miss him like crazy and can't wait to get him back. He did get to call home for Easter and what a joy to hear his voice. He sounded fantastic! He said they have had two tornado warnings since he has been there and once touched down close enough to knock out power and slow down their training for a few days. He also said they have some of the most amazing lightening storms he has ever seen. He is loving the weather thus far. He only has about 4 weeks of actual training left. Then a week long Field training excersize and then a week or so to clean up, turn in equipment and get ready to graduate. I really have to admit time is starting to fly by. I still have some projects I want to get done before he gets back. His favorite day of the week is still Sunday when he gets a little down time to relax. He says to tell everyone who has written how much he appreciates the letters. They are what keeps him going. Even when he has to do pushups because there is no green dot (I too seem to keep forgetting this little detail.) He said as of this point he hasn't gained or lost any weight. Just maintaining. But he said he is hungry ALL THE TIME! They never seem to have enough to eat, or enough time to eat it in. He is definitely home sick and misses home and us :) a whole lot more than he ever expected to. All in all things are looking up for him it seems and he is ready to move forward and finish this little adventure.

We have been really busy with Taekwondo, baseball, yard work, school, scouts and all the other things we have going on. Life never slows down and it helps us to mark of the days. Jason will be turning 6 next week!!!! He is very excited about that, and Carson has Kindergarten Round up in May, he is beyond excited about that!!! Bobby has his first National Tournament for Taekwondo on May 8th, and he and I are going on a little road trip together while the boys stay with Grandma and Grandpa. Both Bobby and I are excited for it, we have never been able to do something like this together. I will keep you all posted on how he does.

Robert Update!

2009-03-16T16:25:00.001-07:00

Ok so I got my first letter from Robert since he entered actual Basic Training (BCT). He is doing well, and has managed to keep his sense of humor in tact, so that is reassuring. He says that this has been a drastic wake up call and his body is being pushed beyond anything he had ever imagined. He said he is hangin in there and trying to adjust to the sleeping arrangements. He isn't getting much at the moment. Other than the immature children as he puts it, he is dealing with things ok. He says there are a handful of really cool guys, and a whole load of obnoxious morons. They are really getting tired of being punsihed for their mistakes. He has endured a few injuries in his first week, but probably cause his body wasn't ready for what he is doing. He has a rib out of place, and he says his body is no longer sore, it just plain HURTS!

Surprisingly he has already gone through the gas chamber! This is a chamber they must all enter with gas masks on. It is filled with tear gas, once inside they must take their masks off for I think ten seconds, put them back on and "clear" them. It sounds similar to scuba diving, as far as clearing your mask. Then they have to take it off again, state their personal info like SSN and stuff, then wait for 45 seconds and leave the chamber. Needless to say it sucked! If you don't do it perfect the first time you get to do it again. Robert was very relieved he only had to do it once. They have also done the Eagle Tower, (repelling down a 40 ft wall) which Robert found really fun, and the confidence course, which is a basic obsticle course in a determined amount of time. All of this and it has only been his first week of training! I mailed all the letters I have written over the last three weeks on Friday so he should be getting those today or tomorrow, that will definitely raise his spirits, and make him realize he has a crazy wife who has way to much time on her hands, I bet there were about 15 letters!

That about sums it up for now. I am going to try to post any new updates as they come in. He says it is very hard to find time to write, they do get some personal time, but he has been using it to catch up on sleep. Please keep him in your prayers, and check back often!

A Military Man

2009-02-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I haven't wanted to say anything until it was official, and it can't get more official than this. Robert has joined the National Guard and ships to BootCamp on Tuesday the 24th. This is something we have been weighing and due to the current economic situation and the status of his current employment, we went with it. He will be gone four 4 months, and we will have little to no contact with him, other than letter writing. As scary as the thought of being without him for four months and being a single mom with FOUR BOYS, sounds in my brain, I am very at peace with our decision. This is something that Robert has wanted to do for a long time, and is an exciting opportunity for our family. We have definitely weighed the options and pros and cons of the sitution and know what we are getting into.

I am so proud of his desire to support our country and our family, and I support him 100%. I just wanted to fill everyone in on our crazy life, and let you all know if I seem a little crazy for the next four months, it is probably just because I am.

25 Random Things about me

2009-02-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

Ok so I need to update my blog and I don't have any pictures to share at this point. I definitly have news to update you all, but I need to wait till Wednesday before I divulge anything. So this is my cheating way of updating. I thought it was cute on Facebook so I just pasted it here. It may give some of you some insight into my crazy mind. Maybe not, but it was fun trying to think of things.

1. I am a twin, my mom is a twin, and my last pregnancy was twins, but one did not make it through the first trimester.
2. I have moved no less than 35 times in my life.
3. I love the Rogue Valley and have no intention of ever moving away. This is truely my home!
4. I wanted to have all girls. But most of you know I was more than blessed with all boys, and now I wouldn't change it for anything.
5. My graduating high school class was 16 people. ( This included me and my twin brother, we were 12% of our class haha)
6. I have only kissed three boys, including my husband.
7. I only knew Robert 8 days when he asked me to marry him, and I said yes.
8. I depise my natural curly hair, it actually makes me cry sometimes.
9. I was the cheerleading captain, homecoming queen (soph year), senior class president in high school, (keep in mind there were only 17 people in my class haha)
10. I have a Bacholers Degree in Accounting, and LOVE it. I thrive balancing checkbooks, auditing, and making spreadsheets.
11. I am INCREDIBLY clumsy. I trip over stuff not even there and have even fallen over file cabinet drawers I forget to close. It is great entertainment for those around me.
12. I was on a two person cheerleading squad as a freshman in highschool in Yakutat AK. We Rocked it to Vanilla Ice!!! Although pyramids were tricky.....
13. I had a mad crush on the New Kids on the Block, and love the fact they are doing a reunion tour!!!! They got the Right Stuff Baby!!! Joey is dreamy!!!
14. My first kiss was at age 16, and I had to stand on a rock to be tall enough to reach his lips, then I fell off mid kiss....so embarrassing.
15. I have never drank alcohol.
16. I drove off a cliff when I was 17.
17. I had a car in four hit and run accidents in two months, (two in one day). (No I wasn't the one hitting and running.)
18. I was a janitor for an office building and a school while I was in college. I had to quit cause I couldn't life the garbage bags high enough to get them in the dumpster.
19. I used to have a wolf puppy, that grew into a wolf dog and ate farm animals. (I had to give him away, after he ate two sheep and tried to eat a cow). He was great in Alaska, but not a good dog for the lower 48.
20. I am really a terrible driver, and I get distracted very easily.
21. I won a full ride scholarship to college and was able to graduate debt free!!!
22. I have a hard time coming up with 25 random things about me.
23. I played varsity baskeball in highschool (those who know me well, or went to high school with me knows how funny this is)
24. I never went to my high school prom :(
25. My best friend from birth is married to my husbands brother. (All part of our master plan!)

Christmas and Snow....

2009-01-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

These pics have been a long time in coming so I will keep the commentary short and get to the good stuff. I just want to thank all of you who care to follow our family through the year and experience life with us. We appreciate you all so much and love you dearly!!!!

Bobby being an awesome big brother and reading stories to the boys. He is so good with them.
Christmas Morning, we had a wonderful family Christmas this year. It was great to be together and the food was fantastic too!

Our first and only Snow Day this year, The boys started their fun at 5:30AM

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have to be honest I am more than happy to say GOODBYE to 2008 and HELLO to 2009. I have high hopes for this year. My first plan is to drop this last five pounds I have been working on. I am seriously rededicated to this. I am also hoping that our finances will settle down the first part of this year. We have a lot of exciting things in the works and are in a waiting pattern right now. I am feeling really optimistic and hopefull at the year ahead and can't wait to start it.

As far as our plans for tonight, we have decided to hunker in at home and play games with the boys and let them stay up WAYYYYYY too late and have our own little party. I am going to go get all their favorite foods, and make home made pizza. It should be a lot of fun, we will see. I have tried this before and realistically they just get cranky when they get tired and I end up sitting up alone. But to me this is better than just going to bed early due to lack of other plans. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to celebrate holidays, so I drive my family crazy putting together these little shindigs, I hope one day they remember how hard their mom worked to celebrate life!!!! :)

Happy New Year to all and be safe my friends. We love you!

5:30 AM Wake Up Call.......

2008-12-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke to the sound of children playing outside in the snow......AT 5:30 AM!!!!!!! I am laying in bed and hear giggling and laughing and screaming so I look out my beroom window and there are all four of my boys having a snowball fight and building a huge snowman. Robert gets up and runs in the mornings and apparently he accidently woke up Bobby this morning when he left. So Bobby looked out the window and sees a winter wonderland that he had been patiently waiting for all weekend. So being the thoughtful big brother he is, he felt it necessary to wake up all his brother and help the little boys get dressed and go play in the snow. I couldn't believe it when I realized what they were doing. First off it was COLD!!! I didn't even want to get my cozy hiney out of bed, let alone have a snowball fight!
Let me tell you about this great snow man they built. It was actually taller than Bobby! Considering their meager resources they did very well. They were going for a whole family of snow people, but Carson kept destorying them as soon as they were done. So they decided to attack Carson instead. Poor kid, he deserved it, but this was his first year to really go "play" with his brothers. It was a lot of fun to see it. I took some fun pictures once it was light enough to take them, but I can't find my cord to down load them right now. So I will post them later. I just had to tell you about all the fun we had this morning.

I have a good excuse!

2008-12-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

Ok it has been brought to my attention that I am slacking in the posting department and yes I am, but I have a good excuse. I have been without internet for the last few weeks. I have been able to check and send email at work, but that is it. We switched providers and there was a little snaffoo in the process. But I am back up and running now so on with the posts.

That being said I am dedicating this post to a plea for help! I am a realistic person. I know that I have four boys ages 8 and under and I work 30 hours a week, so my house will NEVER be immaculate. BUT is it too much to ask for these beings to clean up after themselves? I am working so hard to keep my house picked up and festive for the holidays. Yet everyday I come home from work my house looks like a backpack bomb exploded! (Don't get me started on the fact I have a standing "no opening back packs until mom gets home rule.) Being the realistic person I am, I also understand that I must pick my battles. My chosen battle is too keep bedrooms picked up. I am losing this battle. I am trying to teach the boys simple talents to make life easier. Their rooms will look like confined disaster areas on any given day, and there are tears, and whining and crying, and more tears when asked to clean it. The older boys are much worse than the younger at these fits. Now don't get me wrong, I have fantastic kids, who for the most part mind really well and are very respectful, but they realy are slobs. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas I am open for this. Very soon our schedules will be changing and I won't have my Enforcer around as much as I do now, and I am going to need all the help I can get.

I promise my next post will be festive and merry and full of good cheer. Just needed to get this off my chest. (Deep sigh) I feel much better, so I am going to go hug my little pigs and tuck them into their messy rooms....(Actually they are clean right now cause I was mean and made them stay in them till they were done.) :)

A great movie

2008-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

Ok so we went to Blockbuster on Saturday and rented a bunch of movies. One was called the Outlaw Trail. It was an excellent movie about a relative of Butch Cassidy and his quest to clear his great unlce's name. The more I watched this movie I kept thinking this looks like it was done by an LDS production company. Just the way people were portrayed and the dressed, and maybe the fact the whole story was about a group of boy scouts. By the time it was over I was OBSESSED with figuring out who did this movie. Well low and behold it was Ryan Little. All you LDS followers of my blog probably know who he is. He also did the Singles Ward and the RM. It cracks me up that just by watching the movie you can pick up on this stuff. Best part there was no language, no violence, and it was a great well written, and even funny movie. The older boys loved it. Anyway just thought I would share my found treasure of a great family movie for all

Tagging my Friends!

2008-11-14T09:34:00.001-08:00

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD.IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your significant other? HOT!
3. Your hair? annoying
4. Your mother? special
5. Your father? released
6. Your favorite thing? kids
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your favorite drink? pepper
9. Your dream/goal? eternal
10. Your fear? alone
11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
12. Where were you last night? karate
13. Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? chocolate
14. What you're not? perfect
15. Muffins? chocolate
16. One of your wish list items? money
17 . Where you grew up? everywhere
18. The last thing you did? read
19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV ? old
21. Your pet(s)? many
22. Your computer? crappy
23. Your life? happy
24. Your mood? great
25. Missing someone? brother
26. Your car? old
27. Favorite thing to wear? makeup
28. Favorite Store? Target
29. Your summer? short
30. Your favorite color? Purple
31. When is the last time you laughed? morning
32. Last time you cried? yesterday
A) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: work, home, store, church
B) FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME(Regularly):debbie, lindsey, nic, my boss
C) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS : mexican, thai, italian, Cheeseburgers
D)FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: home,hawaii, ireland, anywhere (I am at work!),
E)FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND: debbie, jenny, suzy, shawnel

Congrats Bobby!

2008-11-08T20:04:00.001-08:00

Congrats to Bobby he did amazing at his tournament. We are so very proud of him. He placed 1st in forms (this is a traditional demonstration of a tae kwon do form). He was pretty much flawless. He worked very hard and it paid off. Then he had to spar. He took 2nd place in sparring which was so good. He won every match except the last one, where he fought girl who was a purple belt. He did really well, but this girl was quick! Everyone was blown away at how well he did for his first tournaent. Here are some pictures of the awesome day.
Bobby introducing himself to he judges. The girl standing in the white is from his school. The other kids in the school of all ages were so supportive. They are wonderful. Mr. Rios (the instructor) made them these amazing hoodies to wear as a team. They looked very cool!
Bobby preforming his form in front of the judges.

The kids checking in and getting ready for competition. The guy standing behind them is Bobby's teacher. He is such a great instructor, and is so great with the kids.

Bobby showing off his bling! He is AWESOME!
This is a video of Bobby's last match. It happens to be the one he lost, but it took that long for us to figure out how to use the video function on my camera.

Anyone Interested????

2008-11-05T12:27:00.001-08:00

I won 4 tickets to a special Kids program at the Ginger Rogers Theater call CSI: Foresnics. It sounds wonderful, however it is for Nov. 8th and this is the day of Bobby's tournament so I can't use them. It is recommended for grades 4-8 and looks like it will be really really neat. If anyone is interested in these tickets let me know before I give them back for someone else to take.

Here is a link for more info on the program: http://craterian.org/onstage.html

I am heartbroken I can't go. Bobby would LOVE THIS!

Two more pics....

2008-11-02T08:44:00.001-08:00

The boys insisted I include these cause they were their favorites.

This one shows how much candy they really got. I have no intention of actually letting them eat all of it. Just trying to figure out how to "make it disappear" when they aren't looking.

And it just isn't Halloween without Jack o Lanterns. This year was fun because the boys all had a hand in carving them. It was a lot different because I wasn't freaking out and yelling at babies to put the knife down.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for.....

2008-11-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

The costumes

Carson was a Rock Star, I talked him out of being Carson Lee in favor of the only thing he thought was cooler than himself. I love his confidence. He put his costume togther totally by himself. Apparently Rock Stars wear baseball pants, mismatched shoes which you can't see, and vests.

Jason was the Incredible Hulk. He used Bobby's green baseball socks a green sweatshirt and face paint. We stuffed his shirt to make muscles. He was pretty intense and scary.

Cody was Indiana Jones. He was very convincing. He wore my jacket from high school and Dad's hat and actually put this together at the very last minute because he kept changing his mind.Bobby decided to be the Karate Kid. He is pretty focused on his Taekwondo right now with his tournament coming up and kind of has a one track mind. As you can see he is pretty intimidating.
Finally, my hubby. In case you can't read it his tag says From:God To: Women.......

That is right ladies, God's Gift to Women and he is all mine!!!!

You will notice I am absent from our line up. I had every intention of dressing up, however when I got to work on Friday morning I found our store had been broken into. Some moron threw a log through my window in my office and decided to dump all the drawers from everyones desks and spray our showroom with a fire extinguisher before the cops showed up and busted his hiney! Needless to say I spent the entire day cleaning and was completely wiped out when I got home. Too tired in fact to even think about dressing up.

Here is one last photo of the boys bounty after trick or treating. They made out like bandits and I will pay for it everyday until the candy is gone. They are meditating around the bowl, not sure where they got this but it was pretty funny.

Yeah those are my feet, see I am in one of the pictures! :)

Happy Halloween all, now bring on Thanksgiving!

Halloween Fun!

2008-10-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun last night getting ready for Halloween. I have to say the older the kids get the more fun holidays become. Let me start this post by saying that we have been going through a financially challenging time in our family. With both mine and Robert's jobs relating directly to the state of the economy we have been dealing in some difficult times, and been dealt some serious blows to our income. That being said I decided this year I was not going to spend ANY money on cosutmes. The boys could decide what they wanted to be, but they had to MAKE their costume from what ever they found in the house. So last night was our Halloween party at our house. We carved pumpkins, ate pizza and put together costumes. While I was slightly afraid the boys would maybe not look quite as "cool" as their classmates at the halloween parade, we went ahead and put some costumes together. I don't have pictures yet, I will post those later tonight, But the boys actually looked really great. Bobby is a beat up karate kid with bruises and a black eye. Cody is Indiana Jones, Jason is the Incredible Hulk, and Carson I think is going to Iron Man (He has decided he wants to be Carson Lee Le Bel for Halloween, the only not "stupid" costume he could think of.). Overall the costumes look good, definately homemade, but creative, and the boys had a BLAST putting them together. Then we watched halloween cartoons; the boys love "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", and it is so fun watch them laugh hysterically at Snoopy. I think we have created a new tradition in our family. Hopefully next year we will have some extra money to help the boys create costumes, but I think creating them and putting it all together was fun and excting for all of us.
Watch for my pics later, Robert also dressed up today, but I don't want to ruin the surprise you will have to check back for a picture later :) !

Yes I am fully aware that I am a slacker!

2008-10-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

Ok I know I have been really slacking at the blog thing lately. But I do have a valid excuse, we have been going through a lot lately. It has been a challenge just to keep up with the boys. But we definately have a strong faith in God and know we will pull through the hard times. That being said let me up date you all on what has been happening in the Le Bel home the last month.

First of just in time for Halloween Bobby is orange.......well his belt is anyway. We are so proud to let everyone know that Bobby passed his test on Friday and is now an Orange Belt! He did so fantastic at his test and barely made any mistakes at all. We are pretty excited about this he works really hard at it. He has his first tournament on November 8th and his coach has really high expectations for him. We will definately post some pictures when that time comes, but until then here are some of his testing. (Keep in mind these are from my cell phone, so they aren't the best quality.)Next Cody decided he wanted to play Flag Football this year. We were a little surprised because he has never mentioned it before but we went ahead and let him do it. He was on the Jaguars and actually did really well. He even got to pull someone's flag this year which is a big deal when you are only a second grader. He learned a lot and will be playing again next year I have a feeling. He was great at defense. He would step up to the line and growl really mean at the other players. It was awesome! We are so proud of him as well. It is so much fun to watch the boys get older and excel at what they love, and learn new things. Robert and I are going to be really busy running to Taekwondo at he olympics then over to NFL football games when they grow up :) ! Here are some photos of Cody and his team, they won about half of their games (weren't supposed to keep score, but those darn dads just couldn't help lol!) But trust me they definately had the coolest color of shirts.

We also had our primary program at Chruch this month and I have to tell you it brought me to tears. The boys were so cute up there, all the kids were. Bobby sung with a small group for two songs and did wonderful. They all did well on their "parts" and I was a very proud mom! Carson was so cute, he got up and said part which was "I am a Child of God" (no one could understand a word of it), then sat down and looked out at the crowd and started crying. So he sat with mom and dad the rest of the time. Did I mention his was the first line of the whole program. He was so funny though cause he sat in the congregation with the rest of us and sang right along with his classmates. There is something about children singing for God that opens your heart. I have to give a big thank you to the wonderful teachers who helped. They out did themselves.

Bobby also had the honor this month of reading a poem he wrote at Author's Nite at school. It was very exciting and he was very nervous. He read a poem he wrote about himself and each line started with a letter in his name. It was very well written and so neat to see him up there in front of the whole crowd. It was a pretty full house. The picture isn't very good, but I am so proud of him I am posting it anyway.

Finally to close I would like to share with all of you what happens when you make your kids go to bed early and they aren't tired yet........

Jason woke up like this, this morning. I asked him what was wrong with his face and he looked at me like I had gone crazy and informed me that he was born with that face. I told him to go look in the mirror. He had forgotten that he had drawn on it while he was in bed waiting to fall asleep. When asked why he would do such a thing he said he wanted to look like Cody (Cody had a party at school and they did face painting, it was washable) Jason's face on the other isn't washable and will probably take days to get all of it off. The good news is Jason wants to keep his face looking like this, it is "cool".

I appreciate all of you who read my blog and am sorry it has been so long since a post. I will try to do better, thanks to those of you who push me to post something. I am glad someone wants to read about my crazy life.

I love my kids!

2008-09-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have had so much fun with the boys as they have been getting older! We have been cooking and gardening and going on walks. The older they get them more we get to do. It is so awesome. Here a few photos of my boys growing up!

2008-09-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ward Campout

2008-09-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had our annual Church Ward Campout. We had a great turnout and it was so well done. The food was amazing, the entertainment was awesome, and the activities were a blast. I ventured out on my own with all four boys because Robert had to work and they look forward to this all year. I was totally prepared for the worst and let me tell you I had so much fun! The boys were so good, and it was actually pretty easy to do! I had a great time spending this weekend with the boys alone. It was a great bonding experience and has definitely taught me that I need to spend some mommy time alone with them. Here are some pictures of the campout, and I have to say thanks to Grandma Debbie and Popo Bob for their help! Carson was so proud of how far out he went in the water. Last year he was so terrified he barely passed his ankles! Cody swam out to the dock all by himself (with a life jacket) for the first time and he was beyond stoked! During craft time they got to make these cute little backpacks with bears on them. They had so much fun. Lunch time on the Lake! Time to pack up and go home. Good think I had so much help!

First Day of School.... Better Late than NEVER!

2008-09-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

So it hasn't been a long time since I have posted but a whole lot has happened. I am going to start off with the first day of school. The boys were so excited to start, and more than ready. They all love their teachers and so far LOVE school. Bobby and Cody started last Tuesday and yes I made them pose for the infamous first day photos.... Jason started his first day of Kindergarten this Monday and he was so cute and excited. His favorite part was riding the bus and learning criss cross applesauce. He told us school was "Sweet" and "Awesome" and "Great". I still can't believe my Jason Wyatt is in Kindergarten. In his photo he wanted to be spiderman going to school so hence the pose. Then I made the big kids take a photo with him, as you can see they will be watching out for him this year! Poor Jason! Just kidding. The boys are so excited to have him at their school and take great pride in being awesome big brothers and walk him to his classroom every day.

And I will end this post with Jason getting off the school bus. Like I said before this was his FAVORITE part of the whole day. He is such a big kid now!
Well I have to get the rascals off to school right now so watch for more posts to come, we had our annual Church Ward Campout which was amazing, (and I went by myself with all four boys!) Can you tell I am proud of myself!

I decided to go with a more "boy" theme

2008-08-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

I figured since my life revolves around boys, that at least for the short term my blog should too. Hence I got rid of the pink flowers and went with blue plaid.

Now I have to ask all you families with girls, what do you do in your evenings? We just got done having the "sweetest" (that is a quote from Jason) nerf dart gun fight in our living room. Everyone was hiding behind couches and chairs and shooting each other. I am not sure if it was before or after Robert shot me in the forehead that I began thinking I bet we wouldnt' be doing this if we had four girls......

Of course the boys (Mostly Robert the dad) got carried away and we had to put the guns away, but for the short time we played it was a lot of fun. i am positive we totally taught the boys a really bad habit of shooting people with nerf darts, but they were so funny rolling around like action movie stars. In my defense I didn't buy them the guns, grandma and grandpa did for Cody and carson's birthday. I am sure that in a few days I will be ripping nerf darts in half and silently murmering at my mother for buying them. But dang I say let boys be boys, and shoot the heck out of each other!

Family Campout and other news

2008-08-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well we had our annual family campout, and while it was sooooo much fun, it was also really really cold! Back here in Oregon while temps were reaching close to 110 degrees, we were all freezing, and lucky if we hit 60. Then on the last night, which I loved, we had about a 12 hour lightening and thunder and RAIN storm. It poured all night long. But our tent stood strong. The boys loved it! The bad part was packing up the next day in the down pour. We got home everyone and everything was drenched.
The next day the boys and Robert headed up to Uncle Derek and Aunt Nic's house and left Mom home all alone for three days. Now first reaction is "Oh wow you must have loved all that time to yourself!" Ummmm no I absolutely hated it. It was way too quiet, and I have an OCD need to over worry about people when they aren't near me. So needless to say I made myself sick the first night and then pouted for two days. I pretty much wasted the whole time. But I think next time I will be able to better embrace the peacefulness. This is the first time I have ever spent more than a night away from the boys. On thing I definately liked was not being responsible for anyone!!!! I could go and do or not do what ever I wanted. I didnt have to check in with anyone. That lack of stress was definately great. But I am very glad to have my family all together in one house.

So the day the boys got back, was the day their cousins from Idaho came over to visit. They ended up spending he night, and I now owe my mom a huge apology! Here I was laying on the couch at midnight trying to get everyone quiet so we could go to bed, and all I hear is constant giggling, whispering, and more giggling, and I started having flashbacks to my childhood, when my poor mom was laying at home at midnight telling us if we didnt' be quiet and go to bed we were in trouble. It actually made me laugh! So I just left them alone and let them giggle and considered it my punishment 25 years later. We had so much fun while they were here. We swam, went to the park, had dinner parties and watched movies. I was totally exhausted by the time this weekend was over. We miss you guys so much and can't wait till we come to visit at spring break. It is going to be so much fun. Unfortuneately, I have no pics yet!!! They are coming though. I am going to steal them off the rest of the families blogs. My camera wouldn't cooperate with me so I got mad and put it away for the whole weekend.

School starts on Tuesday and Mom couldn't be happier!!!!! I will have three in school and only one at home, YAY! I seriously can't wait. We need some routine restored to our home. And the boys need some new faces to stare at all day. I think they are sick of each other. I am so ready for homework, reading, and a cleaner house. Not sure how Carson is going to react to being the only one home, but I think it will be good for him.

Oh yeah today just happens to be my baby's FOURTH BIRTHDAY! I can't believe he is four!

Happy Birthday Carson! We love you!

Le Bel Update

2008-08-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a personal post in a while so wanted to catch some things up. Life is going amazing at the moment for the Le Bel Family! We are enjoying our summer and getting ready for our Family Campout! The boys can't wait to see their Cousins! Just a couple more weeks unless someone explodes with excitment and anticipation.

Carson is busy being a kid! He is making a transition from baby to boy, and as fun as it is to watch, it kind of makes me sad. He is my last, so that means no more baby in our house. It is officially all Boy! And of all the boys, he is definately the most rowdy, rough and tumble. He is a blast to watch and has such a clever sense of humor. Plus he is smart as a whip and you always have to keep your eye on him.

Jason got his Kindergarten shots last month and went to see the movie Wall E with Dad. Neither of them were that thrilled with it. But Jason had fun on his Daddy Day and getting ready for school. He didnt' even cry when he got his shots, he is such a trooper! I am so proud of the rascal.

Cody is doing so well with his speech! He seems to improve everyday! He can say all those pesty difficult sounds he has had so much trouble with, and his conversational speech is great! We need to work on his speech when he is upset or excited now and he will be perfect. He works so hard and keeps up such an excellent attitude about it.

Bobby was able to learn an important life lesson recently, one that dad couldn't be more excited about. He learned to mow the lawn all by himself! Ok so Robert was right behind him, but it is a start. He needs to work on keeping the mower moving, it is still pretty heavy for him. But he was so excited and proud of himself.

Robert has also been able to enjoy the fruits (or vegatables) of his labor, as his garden is finally starting to give us a bounty. I was so impressed with the first cabbage of the year that I made him pose with it! Take a look it is way cool!

My hubby Rocks the Garden thing I am telling you! And just so you know ALL of Robert's pictures tend to look like prison photos! It is a Le Bel thing I think. How can you be so serious when you are posing with cabbbage?

Well I am going to close this post for now. Robert and I get a night to ourselves! My mom is taking all four boys for the night and I can't thank her enough. This doesn't happen often and it is greatly appreciated. So I have to get them all packed up and off to Grandma's. Oh here is a picture of Cody and I being "tough". I get complaints that I never post pictures of myself. So here ya go all you complainers.

I've been Husband Tagged!

2008-07-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

1. What is his name?
Robert J. Le Bel III (Fancy huh)

2. Who eats more?
Without a second thought he totally out eats me!

3. Who said "I love you" First?
I really don't remember, it was kind of a whirlwind romance. We were engaged after eight days! I am sure he probably said it first, but we were both thinking it at the same time.

4. Who is taller?
He is, I am only 5'3"

5. Who is smarter?
Depends on the subject, we are both brilliant ;)

6. Who is more sensitive?
Definately Me

7. Who does the laundry?
Mostly me but he helps when I get behind

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
I do

9. Who cooks more?
We both do the cooking, but Robert is a much better cook than I am. He cooks a lot and does all the baking.

10. Who pays the bills?
I do...Robert is clueless when it comes to the finances.

11. Who is more stubborn?
HE is! I am a push over!

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong?
We really don't argue that much. I can't remember the last time one of us had to back down.

13. Who has more siblings?
He does by almost double!

14. Who wears the pants in the family?
I think it depends on the topic.... Sometimes I wear them sometimes he wears them. Most of the time we both wear pants.....lol funny image......

15. What do you like to do together?
Talk, be with our boys, cuddle, eat!

16. Who eats more sweets?
Oh my Gosh it would be me, Robert doesn't like anything that isn't whole grain!

17. Guilty Pleasures?
Working out..... sick isn't he!

18. How did you meet?
We met at a singles church party. We didn't date until a moth or so later, but then things moved quite quickly!

19. Who proposed?
He did, on the spur of the moment after eight days of dating. And the crazy person I am I said yes instantly.......sometimes you just know!

20. What are his best features?
He is his best feature, he is gorgeous! I would have to say his best feature is his smile, it makes everyone happy and is totally infectious!

21. What are his greatest qualities?
He is very spiritual, and a great husband and father. He is loving and treats me better than I knew anyone could! He is very respectful of women, and especially me.

I am tagging, Suzy, Megan, Jenny, Shawnel..... anyone else that reads this and wants to do it. It as a lot of fun!

I found my Camera!!!!

2008-07-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

And I think I am the dork that hid it! It was on my tv behind a picture! Well just wanted to update cause more pics to come! We are all going swimming tonight and Cody learned to swim without his jacket. He is so excited.

Update on the Fourth

2008-07-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well we lived through another one and no one was mamed....although one was pretty close (those of you there know what I am talking about). Boy was it so much fun! The boys had a blast! I can't thank the Dell's enough for continuing to include us in this event. It is so much fun and we just love them so much! The boys think of them as family, so hopefully they don't mind.
Overall it was a great day. We had a great parade, and we were mean parents who made the boys walk there and back, carrying their chairs. It was only about a mile, but you would have thought it was more like ten! What a bunch of whiners. I take it back only the older kids whined. The babies were real troopers.
Unfortuneately we have no pictures! Again my camera has mysteriously vanished! I know I will find it again, proabably under another couch cushion. I am pretty sure an unnamed Le Bel boy was playing with it when I walked in and hid it somewhere. I can usually tell by the pictures I find when I find it.

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did on the fourth!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

2008-07-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July! We just got home from the CP Parade, and are getting ready for the BBQ with Robert's Parents. This happens to be his birthday party too! He is finally as old as I am! This only happens six months a year and then I am older again....LOL.
After the BBQ we are off to Gold Hill to watch our old neighbors create their own fireworks display, it is fun and scary and probably stupid, but this is year six and so far no one has gotten hurt so we blindly keep moving forward.

Anyway BE SAFE and HAVE FUN tonight everyone! We love you all.

Congrats Bobby!

2008-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know Bobby is officially a yellow-one belt. He was very nervous and his teacher tourtured him (haha), but he passed his yellow belt test and now gets to start sparring!!!! We are beyond proud of our karate kid!!!

Sorry no pics, we didn't want to make Bobby any more nervous with flashes, he was pretty freaked out, and needed to concentrate.

Saturday Night Movie in the Park!

2008-06-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday night enjoying the sun and good food at Bear Creek Movie in the Park. It was so fun. It is a great program. Every Saturday in the summer they have a movie in the amphitheather. You bring a blanket and food, and games whatever. Hang out with friends , they have games and prizes for the kiddos. We packed some hotdogs, and chips, and of course popcorn for the movie. They give out free snacks and water. Then just before dark, they inflate a HUGE screen and play family friendly movies. Last night was The Bee Movie. And although we have seen it a millon times before, we have never watched it under the stary sky! And yes it was still pretty funny. However, because it was the longest day of the year the movie didn't start until about 9:30 and withing five minutes of the movie, I had three boys sleeping. It may have something to do with the fact they played real hard for the two hours before that.

Oh yeah I forgot to tell you the best part of the night......it was FREE!!!!! How many things can a family of six do these days for free? It is nice to have a fun, affordable, and family oriented thing to take your family to do. We will definately be taking advantage of this awesome event. We have Surf's Up, Shrek the Thrid, Waterhorse, and Ferris Bueler's Day off (Date night for me and Robert :) still to look forward to.

Here is a scary story for you!

2008-06-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

It was a bright sunny spring day. Birds chirping, warm weather. I decided to go shopping with my mom for the afternoon. Robert took the big kids fishing with a friend of ours and my step dad decided to take the little boys to the car show, aka the Medford Cruise. This is a big gathering at a park in Medford with tons of classic cars all fixed up. About an hour and a half into my shopping trip I get a frantic phone call from my step dad...."Cindy I need your help, I have lost Jason." Every parents worst nightmare right? Well if you know Jason Wyatt, he is a slippery little bugger. Apparently they were watching people climb a rock wall, and he let go of his had looked up at the wall and when he looked back down, Jason was gone. He really is that quick. So I was thinking no big deal they were at the park and he wandered to the playground or something. I told Larry I would be right there calm down. Well I showed up at the park and my heart broke. There were no less than a hundered cars parked EVERYWHERE, and at least a thousand people roaming around. I almost hyperventilated. But I didn't, i calmed myself and started my search. Two hours passed and we still hadn't found him. I was frantic at this point. We had the Medford Police involved at this point and they had called for back up! We had a total of six police officers on the hunt. To make matters a little more difficult, there was also a "tent city" of sorts set up with booths for different vendors.

A very nice lady at the playground recognized that I was at my breaking point (I later found out she was an ER Nurse) and helped me. She had heard they had found him at the trophy booth a few minutes earlier. We went there, and there he was. Sitting on a cute blonde girl's lap drinking water and reading a book. He said "hi momma". He was having a blast. Perfectly calm after being missing for more than two hours. After I was done sobbing for a while I asked what he had been doing. Come to find out, he had WATCHED us look for him, HEARD us calling him, and didn't come to us. He said no I didn't want to come to you cause you were lost. For those of you who know and love Jason Wyatt, you will understand. He wanders off, he always has. This wasn't the first we have lost him, nor will it be the last I am sure. But it was definately the scariest. He is so clueless to what happened we aren't even sure how to "teach"him anything from it. All I can say is it is a good thing he is so adorable, it got him out of a lot of trouble that I had planned to put him in.

Family Weekend

2008-05-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. The weather was ok, kinda rainy but warm enough. We had tons of family stuff going on. We had Nic and Derek over for dinner Friday night, then we went to the Family Fun Center on Saturday with Nic and Derek.....let me tell you they are fun!!!!! to go to the Family Fun Center with. The boys had a blast, and won all kinds of green army men prizes. (Don't ask, I will be picking them up for days). Saturday Morning the boys and Robert planted the garden.

It is so pretty, and will soon be full to seams with fresh fruits and veggies. Our bishop is pushing really hard for every family in the ward to have a garden, and it is a relief to have ours planted......now to work on the three months of food storage. Sunday was our rest day of course and we had dinner at my brother's house. My sister came home from San Diego to visit for the weekend and although I didn't get to see much of her, it was nice just to see her face in person. I really really miss her so much. Monday we had a BBQ at our house and the missionaries joined us. It was so much fun. I love spending all this time with family. Now that everyone has moved away it gets kind of lonely around here.

Memorial Day

2008-05-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

We are trying to start a tradition of going to the cemetery on Memorial Day and putting flowers on Grandpa Le Bel's grave and on Uncle Mark's grave. I really want my kids to understand what the holiday is about, especially since they are living through a war now. It makes it so important for them to understand that poeple have fought to protect our freedoms long before we were even here. It has been very moving and such an emotional experience going there on Memorial Day. They put flags next to every grave, and there are soooo many. The boys have tons of questions and definately make you think about the significance of the moment. Here are some pictures of the great afternoon.

Half way through Baseball and I finally have some pictures!

2008-05-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

So two things happened yesterday, it was warm and the boys had a baseball game. So as promised I FINALLY got some baseball pictures. The boys did really good. Both hit the ball. Half way through the season they switch from Coach Pitch to Kid Pitch so Bobby got to be pitcher for an inning, and after finding some strength he did really good. I have to tell you all he has amazing form. The ball sometimes has a hard time making it over the plate, but he looks really good throwing it. Unfortunately he also had to feel the wrath of the picture from the other team who threw the ball much harder, amazingly hard, and begged Bobby right in the leg. The next inning the next pitcher pegged him in the back. It hurt really bad but he was a trooper.

Cody got to play catcher and first base which is his two favorite positions. Although he gets really distracted, he has the potentional to be a natural at baseball. Well here are some pictures for you to enjoy. They have a game Thursday and the temperture is supposed to be in the 90's!!!!! See what happens when you wish for warmer baseball weather!!!

Their Team is the Diamond Jaxx, and Cody is no. 7 (the leftie) and Bobby is no. 8 (the rightie)

Yardwork, Sprinklers, and Friends

2008-05-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

We had the best weekend ever! We did a lot of Yardwork on Saturday, and boy did it need it. But I have to say having four boys is starting to pay off. They all worked so hard and our yard looks great to show for it. Even the little boys were pulling weeds and helping out. We even got the missionaries over here and put to work, which was really great for the boys. They had a blast. Then we went on a family walk and even brought Ben the Dog with us. It was such a nice day we just wanted to stay outside. The boys raced each other, and carson did his best to catch up. And Jason and Ben took up the rear. He isn't the easiest dog to walk. But Jason definately held his own.Finally we had some friends over to play in the sprinklers. It was probably a little cool but the kids were dying to have the first sprinkler run so we did it.!
Before I post those pics here is one of my favorite pics from this weekend. It is of a blue Power Ranger working on a top secret mission saving the world with his special remote........at least that is what he told me.

Ok Ok ok, as promised SPRINKLER PICTURES!!!!

A Field Trip to Table Rock

2008-05-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Last week Cody had the opportunity to hike Table Rock with his class. It was a beautiful day for a hike and he was so excited because Dad got the day off to go with him. The sun was shining and he was with friends which is probably the most important thing to Cody, he is really really really social. This is him and his friend on the way up the rock. They had a ton of fun, and even saw a 4 foot gofer snake that Robert thankfully wasn't quite fast enough to catch. I can only imagine the phone calls from other parents if he had. Once they got to the top they had a lesson on the environment in the area and ate lunch overlooking the valley. There was even a fire in the hills and you could see the plume of smoke coming up. For those of you who don't live here or have forgotten how beautiful this valley is here is just one of the many gorgeous pictures we got from the top. It also shows what an awesome day it was. All in all it was a fabulous day and Cody had a great time with his Dad and his friends.

We have had an exciting month....

2008-04-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

This month has been really crazy. Baseball has officially started, and unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post because it has been too cold at the games to take photos haha. But they do have a game tomorrow that I should get some pics at so keep watching. The boys are doing great and both have the goal to hit a homerun before the season is over. They are trying really hard.

Today is Jason's 5th birthday!!!!!! He is so excited to turn five. He can't wait to go to school. Here is a picutre of us having a birthday/going away party (I will get to that a little later) at Angelo's pizza.

This is right after Jason got one of his many Disney Car's toys. He also got a magic set from Uncle Clint and Aunt Candy, which I am sure he will be entertaining us all for a very long time. Ok, now for the going away part. My little sis, also pictured, is moving to San Diego in the morning, and I am going to miss her like crazy. But I am excited for her to start this part of her life. This is my adorable brother-in-law who is a marine and stationed in San Diego. This is the first time in their two year marriage they actually get to be husband and wife and live together and trust me, they deserve it. This month was also there wedding ceremony. They have been married two years, but Carl just got home from Iraq. So they just had there ceremony this weekend. And it was amazing. My sister planned the party and man, she can plan a party. I am going to post some pictures as soon as she gets them for me. I was a bridesmaid for the first time in my life and it was so much fun. And guess who the ring bearer was.............

That's right it was Jason Wyatt (that is what he likes to go by). This is his third time being a ring bearer, and I think it has something to do with his dimpled grin and curly blonde hair. He definately made a cute ring bearer. Oh yeah and walking my sister's dog down the isle dressed in a doggie tux made it even cuter.

Finally I am going to end this post with one more picutre of Bobby's baptism. This is my favorite one from the day, and it is of my boys, I am so blessed. I love the goofy one, but the other one is good too, I couldn't decide so posted them both. Oh i found my camera yay! so more pics will be on the way. And a future baseball post and wedding post are in the works. Life is really good!

Bobby's Baptism

2008-04-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

Bobby was baptized on April 12th, by his dad. It was such a wonderful event and so spirtiual. We had a lot of family join us and it means so much to have that support. I hope someday my kids understand how blessed they are to have grandparents and aunts and uncles who care so much about them. I can't say thank you enough to all you that show my kids your love and support.

The baptism was so wonderful, and then we had a small party at our house afterward where everyone was able to visit and congradulate Bobby. It was so much fun. We are so proud of the awesome example he is to his little brothers, and they really look up to him.

And another fun and exciting fact, Robert baptized me before we were married, so when he baptizes the boys, he will have baptized our whole family. Not sure why, but I find that so awesome.

We have had a very exciting and busy couple of weeks with more fun to come. I will be posting more and adding some pictures very soon. Here are a couple of pictures of the baptism.

What a Great March we Have Had!!!!!

2008-03-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well we have had a busy and exciting March. We got to go on a family trip to Portland to meet our newest edition to the LeBel (McGraw) clan, baby Kayla, and the boys fell in love. Especially Bobby and Jason. They could sit and hold her all day. Then Bobby turned 8 years old to start the month off and of course that was so cool.

He is doing so good in Tae Kwon Do, we are really proud of him. Here is a picture of him with his new headband that Grandma June made him. He is also looking forward to his baptizm this month. We can't believe how much he is growing up every day.

Also in March BASEBALL started. Bobby and Cody are on the same coach pitch team this year called the Diamond Jacks, not sure what it means but they have very cool uniforms. They are both doing absolutely great and looks like we will have a lot of exciting games coming in the near future. Dad is assitant coach on the team which makes it that much more fun, and our good friend Brian Fisher is the coach. It should be a really fun year.

We also had parent teacher conferences.........and of course the boys got glowing reviews from their teachers. Both boys are doing great and excelling at school. The conferences were very posititve.

And we definately can't forget EASTER. The easter bunny was very kind to the boys bringing them lots of candy and eggs. Carson was finally old enough to keep up with his brothers, and boy did he. He has so much fun and really got it this year. We all had a ton of fun, and had some friends join us for dinner. It was great.

That pretty much sums up our March, I will hopefully have more pics to post soon. But this is it for now. Ok, one last one of the boys with their cousin Chanel. She spends Friday's at our house and Carson has finally learned how to act around girls. It has definately been challenging for him.

Ok so finally.....

2008-03-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

So I am finally getting around to actually posting something here. Not sure if I will stick to this but I would like to try. So here begins the tales of the Le Bel Clan. Robert, Cindy, Robert, Cody, Jason and Carson. Yes....that is right. I am totally out numbered. Life is good. We are in a small town in southern Oregon and we are happy. We have good jobs, and amazing boys! Hopefully I can keep you all that love us updated with our CRAZY world throught this blog. Please know I am going to do my best. Here are a few recent photos of my fun group.