The aMAESn Gang

Holy CRAP...we have been married for almost 12 years!!! We have been very busy the last 6 years!!! Life was sooooo easy when we only had one precious little girl!!! So, besides having triplets in December of 2002, Chris decided to fulfill his life long dream of opening his own construction company!!! The babies were only 10 months old when he started up...needless to say...I was a single mom of 4 kids under the age of 3 1/2 for about a year. Maes Trenching, Inc. is hanging in there despite the economy crash. Chris is a total genius when it comes to dirt and that kind of stuff, he is such a hard worker and I know Maes Trenching will stay afloat until the economy bounces back! This summer (2008) Chris opened up another company called M2 Concrete Cutting and Core Drilling. He and his buddy Matt have made it thier baby and it has been a nail biter so far but the boys are sure excited about it and its potential. Anyhow, I survived and the babies are almost 6!!! I can't believe it and Gabby turned 8 in July!!! I remember when she was just tiny and my mom said, "before you know it she will be getting baptized", I of course thought she was CRAZY...Gabby would NEVER be that big...but here it is!!!! I am enjoying being a stay at home mom, but I have to say, no one EVER told me how hard and thankless of a job it would be! I would never trade it and am very thankful that we can afford to keep me home. I pay the bills for Maes Trenching but that is where I draw the line in working with Chris. Ha, Ha! We are very blessed in sooooo many ways but a couple of the most important ways are, our children are happy and healthy and doing very well, and Chris and I actually still love each other and are still happily married!!!

What can I say about our beautiful, wonderful, happy, crazy, hard headed, smart, fabulous, oldest daughter Gabby?! She will turn eight in July of 2008 and will be getting baptized. WOW!!! Were does the time go? She is in second grade and FINALLY loving it and doing VERY well. It took her a while to get over some bad habits she picked up from a not-so-good 1st grade teacher. She is soooo tall and SKINNY (just like her dad) and i have to buy a bigger size for the length but then have to cinch up the waist to keep them on. She is taking guitar, hip hop (soooo cute), and a trampoline class. Her favorite thing in the world is her buddy Rilee, it has just killed me that they are not in the same school this year, they have been together since kindergarten. She is a wonderful big sister (most of the time) and is very big and helpful when I need her. She is VERY stubborn (like her dad!!) and loves to argue with me but I am glad that she has a strong personality.

Gavin, or BOY, which he is most often called is JUST like his Grandma Turner (and I am told he is much like his grandpa Maes but I don't know him). He is VERY mellow and never in a hurry for anything. I wish I had a penny for everytime I have told him to FOCUS!!! He is a love bug and has the most loving, sweet eyes. He is a lug (which was hard to imagine he would be after starting out at 4lbs 10oz) and has some big old feet but he is just so adorable. I can't believe that he turned 5 in Dec. 2007. He is still in the pre-school program at the school and he is doing very well. We discovered, about 1 1/2 years, ago that he has severe hearing loss in his left ear. We got him a hearing aid and it dramatically improved his speech. He still has a very hard time with his "s" sounds but it is soooooo cute that I am ok with it. He is taking a trampoline class and was taking a sports class but the studio where we were going up and left over the holidays. I try to go to the gym at least 3 times a week so he loves going the the nice big playroom they have there. He and Cameron "usually" have a blast together and they both sleep in 1 twin bed together every night...I am sure glad I spent money on 2 twin beds for them. He got a nintendo DS for Christmas and is glued to it most of the time, it is a GREAT discipline tool!!!!

Now for our little teeeeny tiny Cameron. He turned 5 Dec. 2007 and is still only 28 lbs and is a full head shorter that Gavin and Tessa. He is sooooo adorable and has a million dollar smile (and he knows it)!!! Excuse my language, but he is called a "little SHIT" most of the time 'cause he is just naughty, naughty. He is soooo much like Gabby, and his dad that it is just crazy. He too is in the pre-school program at the school and doing well. Last year we found out that he is completely, stone deaf, in his left ear. A hearing aid would do nothing for him so we are having his hearing tested every six months to make sure that the other ear stays a hearing ear. He had hearing in the left ear at one time so we are a little freaked out that he could lose it in the right ear as well. I have him in speech therapy with a girl named Miss Alyson, (Cameron has informed me that she is his girlfrien!!!) and he is doing well. He talks a mile a minute and knows exactly what he is saying...it is the rest of us that have no clue what he is saying. He plays a lot of charades and I do hear, "let me show you" a lot. He is so much fun and does the trampoline class as well. He loves to give hugs and kisses and all of his teachers just want to eat him up.

"Princess" is the very best way to discribe Tessa. She is sooooo girly and beautiful! Her favorite thing ever is any mermaid. Her and Gabby were in a little pagent last year and they asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said, "a mermaid"!!! She only wants to wear skirts and dresses and get very upset with me when I put her in anything else. She is 5 going on 13. She is a little smarty and was invited to go with the boys in their pre-school class as a peer model. She has loved it and has met a new little girlfriend, Quinn (but she calls her Quinny, soooo cute). She is my most coordinated kid and I can see her rippin up the Volleyball court when she is big, although she only wants to be a cheerleader!! (we will work on that) She is the same height as Gavin but is not near as heavy. She has a mind of her own and NEVER gives up when she wants something (it drives me CRAZY). She takes the trampoline class too and was the only girl in that sports class they were in, she rocked! She will be starting in a little singing group and I can't wait to see how cute! I have to beg for kisses and loves as she just doesn't give or want them. She idolizes her big sister and just wants to be and do everything she does. She drives Gabby crazy most of the time but, being a little sister myself, I am usually on her side. They too sleep together in the top twin bunk bed, I could have saved me some money there as well! I told the triplets that you they had to be 5 to get into Disneyland so that is what we did for their fifth birthday. Tessa was soooo fun to watch, she was in such awe the whole time and of course she got to see and hug Ariel so life was perfect for her!! She is always so thankful and appreciative for the things that she gets and does that it makes me want to give her everything (boy does she got me pegged!)

Nik is the first friend I remember having as a child!!! We have been friends ever since. She was sooooo beautiful and LOVED and LIVED life to the fullest. In June of 2006 she was killed in a horrible freak accident at her work. Anyone that knew Nik is totally devistated! I have TONS and Tons of awesome memories with Nikki as we were friends for 33 years. She left behind a wonderful husband, and two beautiful children. She is still missed terribly and will certainly never be forgotten!

(this picture is a classic shot of Nikki being Nikki, we were @ a restaurant for her baby shower when she was pregnant with Mazzy)