May/June birthdays

I have missed several birthdays over the past month or so. Way back on May 22nd was my sister Tina's birthday. She turned 30!!! Tina and her husband John recently moved to Utah to start a Chiropractic practice. She still telecommutes a few days a week (her job just can't let her go ;) She would much prefer to just be a mom to her beautiful 2 year old Lizzy. Tina has 3 college degrees! In various fields(electrical engineering, computer programming, and Recreation Management/ Youth Leadership). She is an awesome sister, mom, wife, etc...

June 3rd was my BIL Stephen's birthday. He's 3o as well. Stephen is Aaron's younger brother. He and his wife live in Utah, with their 3 adorable little girls. Stephen always had numerous projects going on at once. Whether it's finishing the basement, or working on their massive garden, or working on their rental property, or playing with his girls, he is a busy man. He's a computer guy, and if Aaron has a computer question he can't anser he goes to Stephen. Happy Birthday!

June 19th was my SIL Amy's birthday. She is married to Aaron's brother Nathan. I feel lucky to have them live so close. We love to get toegether to play games of have a BBQ. Amy got her degree in Physics, and always had cool science facts to share with the boys and us too. She also plays piano, cello and flute! Her favorite thing to do though, is play with her daughter Evelyn. Happy birthday Amy!

And I already mentioned Timothy's birthday. Why do I always feel like I am forgetting someone?!!!

tomatoes!!!

I am so excited about the tomatoes that have started growing. We have a few on our bush champion tomato plant

and two on our roma tomato plant!

We even have a couple of zucchinis growing!

We have been told that corn doesn't grow here. I am starting to believe them. Not because of the soil or the climate, but because something keeps eating them. We lost our two biggest corn stalks to some sort of animal - maybe a squirrel? I'm so sad.

Also our spinach went to seed with very small leaves. I guess it was too hot and dry for them - imagine that! And our radishes are about done, we harvested most of them. They were going to seed as well, and a lot of them were getting eaten by little bugs, but I'd say we used about half of them - not bad for a little bag a of seeds. Next time I think we'll plant them in shifts so we have them for longer.

weekly report

I feel like I'm playing catch a lot lately. Sorry if this is boring, but this is kind of my journal, and I need to record these things. So much happened this week. I already mentioned Father's Day last week, but did I mention that I had pink eye? - yeah, it was no fun. I seriously considered staying home from church. Mostly because I looked hideous, and I really didn't want to scare anyone. I kept to myself, and didn't really talk to anyone. It helped that I changed Amy's diaper after sacrament meeting and walked in late to Sunday school and had to sit up front. And I avoided eye contact when they sustained me in my new calling - did I mention that yet? I am now on the Enrichment committee. I've never had that calling before. I'll help with the quarterly Enrichment meetings, but my main responsibility is taking care of the babysitting. There are a few brethren that are assigned to babysit on Enrichment nights, but I just have to remind them, come early to set up and provide snacks for the kids. Sounds good to me.

Anyway, my eye really hurt and it was hard to keep it open, which made it hard to stay awake. But we made it through and had a good day. I really wanted to nap so I could rest my eye, but it didn't happen. I didn't make a big dinner since Aaron wasn't there to eat it, but I did make this cake in a tube pan - yum! But it took almost 50 minutes to bake.

So Monday originally Aaron had off, but he covered for someone who went on the El Salvador trip. I mostly just did laundry. My eye didn't itch anymore, but it still looked pretty bad. And now Amy's eye was starting to ooze and get pink. I tried to hard to wash every time I touched or wiped my eye, but I obviously didn't do a good enough job. David had a friend come over that afternoon - I warned the mom about the pink eye. The boys had a lot of fun with Chet.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Aaron come home around 3:00! He decided to take the boys to the Science Museum. I declined to come, because I really didn't want to go out in public. So he took them to the grossology exhibit, and they have been talking about tape worms ever since.

Tuesday we finally got our security system installed. I haven't mentioned it in a while, because I really didn't want to advertise that we didn't have it yet. It took a really long time, but at least it was a beautiful day to have all the doors open for 4 hours. Aaron had to renew his PALS certification, so he left for the afternoon. After the system was installed we ran to a store quickly for birthday party stuff.

Wednesday was Timothy's birthday, and we did presents in the morning, then we went to the library to sign up for the summer reading program, then the store for more last minute party stuff, and then came home to get ready for the party. That evening was Bruder's BBQ. Every year Bruder hosts a BBQ to welcome the new interns. All of the residents and their families/ significant others are invited, to eat great food and socialize. They have grandkids that visit often, so they have plenty of toys for the kids to play with. They also have a roof deck with a beautiful view of the lake. It was a little windy up there, but beautiful.

Thursday Aaron only had to go to afternoon clinic, so we had to morning to play. Now I can't remember what we did hmmm, maybe I'll remember later. Aaron did have a meeting with someone about budgeting and funding his advocacy project. Aaron and I were supposed to go to the symphony that night, however we couldn't find a babysitter. Lots of people were either on vacation or had guests from out of town. We ended up giving the tickets to Lisa (a fellow resident) and John. It was Lisa's birthday, so it all worked out.

Friday we were going to go strawberry picking, but we discovered that the crop isn't very good this year because of flooding in January. One farm isn't even doing U-pick this year. So I ended up just doing some grocery shopping - with just Amy - what a treat! Aaron had another meeting about his advocacy project that afternoon. Aaron had a lot of fun playing with the boys this week. But as of Friday night he is on night shift at the ED. So he headed off to work and the kids and I went to the primary activity. They had an indoor campout. What a great idea. It was a lot of fun. Amy and I stayed (her pink eye was much better) since I really didn't want to have to put Amy in the carseat more than necessary, and have her fall asleep on the way to pick them up, only to have her wake up at bedtime. So we stayed.

Saturday I had a baby shower I wanted to go to. I thought I would have to miss it since Aaron wasn't available to watch the kids. However I got an email the night before saying that kids were invited to come! Yeah! So the kids played in the playroom, and I got to visit with friends while I held on to Amy - her pink eye looked worse on Saturday morning. So I kept her close to me, so she didn't get anyone else sick. We were the last ones out of there because just as I called the kids to go Timothy needed to go to the bathroom, and sometimes he takes a while.

We got home and had a late lunch, and played baseball in the sun, watched for shapes in the clouds and played downstairs until Aaron woke up. Then we watched a movie together, ate dinner, and Aaron was off to work again.

So now for today - Aaron came home around 7:30am, he went to bed, we ate breakfast, went to church, and came home. Aaron decided not to attend our ward since he still has 3 more night shifts. Instead he slept for 2 more hours and went to sacrament meeting in our previous ward. Then he got home about the same time as we did and slept for another 1 1/2 hours before dinner. After dinner it was back to work for him. And the boys and I had a tickle fest.

Now the kids are all sleeping, and I am working on our vacation trip. I feel better about leaving town now that we have the security system. We'll still have to have someone come and check on the house and water the garden. So I may do another post ( I have a few floating around in my head)tonight, or maybe I'll start it and finish it later. More pictures in the next one I promise!

standing and other things

Amy is occasionally standing on her own. I haven't gotten a picture of it yet. But she will stand for a few seconds at a time. Usually when she doesn't realize it. Tonight at the primary activity she had a blast pushing a small chair around the gym. She loves to climb on everything, especially over the chairs, searching for things to put in her mouth.



Not only does she put things in her mouth, she tries to put things in our mouths. Including things she takes out of her mouth. She also knows what socks are for. She tries to put them on her feet, or at least on top of her feet. Amy also loves to laugh, especially when she hears other people laugh. She has a fake laugh that she does when she hears laughter. She's so much fun!

Timothy's Birthday Party

The morning of Timothy's birthday we had breakfast cake, per his request. Then he opened presents from family.

He was excited to get a pirate Lego set from David.

He also liked the stomp rocket, picture Dictionary and microscope from Mom and Dad. He even observed that there was a picture of a microscope on the front of his dictionary.

The clothes were a bit of a let down ;)
He also enjoyed the writing and math games from Grandma and Grandpa G*.

For the past 4+ weeks we have had beautiful weather. I was bummed when rain was predicted for Timothy's birthday because we had planned a water party. It was kind of a mix between fish/under the sea/ and water games. The weather turned out OK. It was overcast, but the sun peeked out occasionally. And there was a little rain. The guests arrived ready to get wet. Well, none of them wanted to get wet, but it all worked out. My friend Gemille, (Benjamin's mom) and her older son (Michael- David's friend) stayed as well. We played fish, fish, shark. And tried to knock over a cup with super soakers. And then attempted water balloon volleyball. The games weren't a big hit. I forget how uncoordinated 5 year olds are. Luckily we turned the water balloon volleyball into Aaron tossing the balloons off the deck and the kids trying to catch them in the towels. Several people tried to soak me with water balloons. I was being a good sport, and let them, however all of them bounced of me and popped about 5 feet away.

Then we opened presentsTimothy got some cool Zoob building pieces from Benjamin,

a paddle ball set and stickers from Robby,

and a plasma dragon egg from Max.

Just as we decided to serve the cake it started sprinkling, but no one seemed to care. It was windy and hard to light the candles, so we had to do it inside, and let Timothy blow them out in the doorway.

In all it was a lots of fun.

PS I think this was the most fun cake I've done. It was really easy, and I think it looks pretty good too.

Happy Birthday Timothy

Timothy turned 5 yesterday. I've been so busy at home I haven't had a chance to post anything. But here are a few things about Timothy.
He is getting big!
He can make his bed, put away his clothes, button his shirt and pants - if only he would do then when I ask him to.
He is too big for the 5T slim pants I gave him. He doesn't look big, but ... well you try to pick him up!
He loves to make up scenarios, "What would happen if...?"
He loves to draw
He loves to look at books, and try to read them - he's getting better at sounding them out.
He wants to do everything David does
He is starting to interact with Amy more - wanting to pick her up and make sure she's safe (not that those two are one in the same ;)
He is great at sharing sometimes
His favorite reply to "Come here Timothy" is "I'm busy"
He is very friendly, especially to other adults, he will give them hugs, or ask them to come play with him.
He is great at giving hugs
He had a blast with his friends at his water party yesterday (another post will come soon)


Here are some pictures of him throughout the past 5 years:







Happy Birthday Timothy!!!
Now I have to catch up on all of the other May/June birthdays!

Father's Day

I am so behind in posting. So let me start with Father's Day. This year we had a small celebration because Aaron has to work. So we had cake and presents after he got home and before the kids went to bed. I feel bad that we didn't actually get him a gift. The kids drew numerous pictures for him, made things out of pipe cleaners for him and I wrote him a nice long letter. However the present he asked for was out of stock. It was a really good deal at Target, and I have a coupon, but it is out of stock. I even checked yesterday and it is still out of stock. So I'll hold on to that rain check for another week.

But I didn't want to forget to mention that I know many great fathers in my life. I have learned so much from my own father, and I am still learning from him. We love to talk on the phone and swap stories. I have loved getting to know Aaron's father. I can see where Aaron gets his work effort from. His father is always doing something. He is loving and kind, and loves to have grandkids around.

And I can't leave out Aaron. He is such a wonderful father, and the kids love him so much. He wishes he were around more, and that he didn't have so much to do when he got home. But he still makes time for them. He is the "fun" parent, and loves to take the kids on fun outings.

So this may be a little late, but Happy Father's Day!

More updates

It's been quite a busy week, so I haven't had a chance to tell what we did this week. Tuesday Aaron and I had planned a lunch date. I was a little nervous about it because I was leaving Amy with someone other than family for the first time. She was so clingy for so long, but I knew she was better at letting others hold her, and play with her. There were a few glitches in our plan though. The van didn't get done when promised, so we had to go pick it up before our date. I went to pick up the van, and Aaron drove the car back to the rental place. After waiting for a few minutes to get the key, I finally picked up Aaron and we headed to the restaurant. We had printed off directions, but forgot to bring them. We knew which exit to get off, but though it was closer than it was. We finally called them to get directions. We drove up, and I was surprised there was only one car in the parking lot. Then I read the sign. It opens at 4:00 pm. I was sure it was open for lunch, I checked the sign again. Open at 12:00 pm on SUNDAYS. Great!!! So we ended up at the seafood place next door. We'll have to try again.

When we went to pick up the kids Timothy was still eating his lunch, and Amy had just fallen asleep. The babysitter said she was just fine. I don't know why I worried. It's not that I didn't trust the babysitter, it's just hard to leave my baby. Aaron stayed home while I took the kids to pick up David from school. We didn't have any big plans for that evening, so Aaron took the boys fishing after I brought them home. We had dinner and a movie too.

Wednesday Aaron had a day shift (7am -7 pm) and we had a pretty normal day - running errands etc. I also took the kids to playgroup with our new ward for the first time. It was fun to chat with the moms, and meet new people. Timothy had a lot of fun, and we met Molly who is one day younger than Amy. We shared a lunch and then went home. I'm excited to go to the next one.

Thursday was field day at David's school. The plan was for me to walk with his class down to the park, but I wasn't feeling well (before anyone reads into that - it has to do the the acid reflux problems I had at Christmas time.) So I stayed home with Amy and Aaron took Timothy to the park. I met up with them when I was feeling a bit better.

I still wasn't feeling that well, so we didn't stay long. The kids had a lot of fun playing with bubbles, chalka parachute, tug of war,

frisbee, etc. We went home and Aaron and Timothy ate lunch before Aaron left for his Thursday afternoon clinic. It was a blessing that Amy and Timothy both did really well that afternoon. I put on a movie for Timothy, and Amy just wandered around and played. When she was tired I out her in her crib and she slept great. I still wasn't back to 100% when I picked up David after school. I'm sure the other parents noticed that I sat the entire time and wasn't talking much. But only one said anything "You look tired" she said. So I talked to her a bit, mostly because she is a family physician, and she would know what I was talking about. I told another mom when she asked me if I wanted any cake and punch - there was a farewell gathering for an office staff member who was retiring. Ironically it was there in that setting, with the cake in front of me, that I finally felt better. But I knew eating cake wasn't going to help. So I went home and got me some nice bland applesauce.

That night I watched Michael for John and Pamela. They recently moved closer to us (still not in our ward though), and needed a babysitter while they went to their own end of the year dinner/graduation from internship. So we got to play with Michael - who is a sweet, talkative, well behaved little boy. The boys had a lot of fun with him. They thought he was funny because he kept saying "beep" during dinner.

Friday was the last day of school for David! Finally! Those snow days pushed the last day until Friday. The I took a few pictures of David, but he really didn't want me to.

It was a rainy day. Imagine that after 30 days of no measurable rain, it pours on the last day of school. It stopped by the afternoon though. David has left his backpack outside overnight, so it was soaking wet. We had to find another backpack for him for one day. It was a great for him. He's no longer a 1st grader! Report Card looks great, and he's excited for 2nd grade, at least most of the time.

That evening we went to the annual kickball game. It's where the incoming interns are introduced to the residents. We play kickball and have a BBQ. By the time we got to the field it was raining. Then it started coming down a little harder. Timothy, Amy and I tried to stay dry under the quilt. One of the new interns ended up going to the ER. She jumped up to catch the ball and landed on her back, and hit her head. Luckily we also had on ER doc there (spouse of one of the residents). When the game was over we headed to John and Lisa's for the BBQ. It wasn't too rainy at first, but eventually it was really bad, but everyone just stood outside in the rain. There wasn't much room inside anyway. We had brought a rhubarb crisp to share. We made it from the rhubarb Nathan and Amy had brought from Mom's house in ID. It was really good, and disappeared quickly. We finally left when Amy was very tired. I hadn't brought a blanket for her, and she was not going to sleep easily. The boys were getting bored too.

Today Aaron had a day shift. We didn't really do much today other than clean the house, and play. It was a fun day though. Then downside was that I developed pink-eye somehow. I didn't get it from the kids, and I don't know anyone who had it, so who knows? It's rather annoying. I hope it goes away soon.

Aaron works again tomorrow, so perhaps I'll have more time to post again.

Very long recap

I've been meaning to post about what we've done all week, but I haven't gotten around to it. So get ready for a really long way too detailed post. There are a few pictures at the bottom if you want to scroll down.

Aaron had last Monday and Tuesday off. Monday he was busy with all sorts of things, but was able to pick up David from school - which David loves. Aaron even brought his bike, but kickball is now the after school activity of choice. Monday is laundry day around here, and I was anticipating the arrival of the modem. We realized at 7:00 am that our new phone service was up and running, when we called our phone to see if the caller-id worked. I know we are dorks, huh? The funny thing is after about 9:00 our phone wouldn't ring. The line worked fine, but they must have messed up something when they hooked up the DSL. I could see the call come in on the caller-id, and answer it, but it wouldn't ring. The tech support guy said it must be our phone that was the problem. Are you kidding me? It worked fine at 7:00 am, DSL gets installed, and now all 4 phones won't ring (the base, 2 handhelds, and a corded phone-in case of a power outage), I don't think so. He told me they would check to see if there was a problem on their end, and call me back on my cell phone within 20 minutes. He never called back. In the mean time the modem arrived, and I installed it myself, I am halfway capable of setting up electronics. Hooray DSL, now if only the phone would ring. When Aaron got home he called them back, low and behold there was a problem on their end, and they would get to it either that afternoon or in the morning. Whatever. So we ate dinner and helped some friends pack up their moving truck. And got back in time to put the kids to bed. Surprisingly the phone was fixed when we got back - hooray!

Tuesday was a wonderful day. I haven't been able to to to the temple for a long time (since Amy was born). But since she now eats about every 3 to 3 1/2 hours, Aaron offered to take her while I went by myself. The timing worked out perfectly. I walked David to school and Amy feel asleep on the way back - like I hoped she would. She woke up, I fed her, and then drove myself to the temple. I gave myself plenty of time to get there since I was by myself, and couldn't use the carpool lanes. I got there with about 4 minutes to relax in the chapel. I couldn't stop smiling. It felt so good to be back at the temple, to feel the peace. I tried to to all the things Elder Scott mentioned in his Conference talk in April. I used it for my visiting teaching lesson, so I thought I should use it too. It was a great morning activity, and I can't wait to do it again. I got home just as Amy was waking up from her next nap, and was ready to nurse. Perfect timing! And I came home to a clean house. Aaron have cleaned the kitchen, the bathroom and the play room! How come he can get more done in 3 hours than I can do in a whole week? I can't remember what else we did that day. Aaron had a meeting that afternoon, and on the way home he went to Trader Joe's. That's where he picked up the basil plant, and some flowers for me. I love random gifts.

Wednesday I walked David to school with just Amy, Timothy stayed home with Aaron. Aaron started nights, and had an appointment in the afternoon. So he ended up heading out before lunch. I thought I would get a lot of blogging done at night, but I ended up wasting my time in other ways:) It was a pretty normal day with David in school, and me hanging out with Timothy and Amy all day, talking to the moms after school, while the kids play, coming back home with tired, hungry and fighting kids. David does his homework and begs for another snack (after eating the rest of his lunch on the playground and getting a popsicle from another kid). I have decided not to bring popsicles for the kids after school, because there is never enough and someone always ends up crying because they didn't get one. Anyway back to Wednesday, OK, there's nothing else to day about Wednesday.

Thursday Aaron got home from work in time to say hi to the kids and go to sleep. I tried to keep the kids quiet until it was time to take David to school. I think I did some shopping, but not much else. Aaron worked again that evening.

Friday - pretty similar to Thursday during the day. That evening was the end-of-the-year banquet for the residency program. A nice catered dinner, where they present awards to some of the residents, and say good-bye to the 3rd years that are leaving. Aaron had an ER shift starting at 7:00, but they provide coverage for him until 10:30 pm. So we left the boys with some friends and took Amy with us. We enjoyed some good food, and got to mingle with lots of friends. Amy fell asleep toward the end, and stayed asleep until we got the boys home. They were out pretty fast - it was 10:00! Aaron headed out to work, and we all went to bed.

Saturday Aaron came home and slept and I ran some errands with the boys. We went to the zoo to look for a lost hoodie - it wasn't there, and to Sears to replace David's shoes again - I love the KidVantage program. I was ready to take the kids home, but it was 11:30, and Aaron had only had 3 hours to sleep, so I decided on a park, but I didn't have anything for the kids to eat. I was debating what to do when I drove passed a store I needed to get one thing at. I got some day old doughnuts too, and we headed to the park. We ate doughnuts, and played. This park also has a beach by the lake the kids wanted to go down to the water. I didn't want the kids to get wet, they weren't dressed for that. Then Timothy took a shovel, laying next to a little boy, and I asked him to give it back. The little boy looked up and it was his friend- Robby, and his sister Erica was there, so I looked around for their mom- my good friend Julie. There she was right behind me. So I went to talk with her for a bit. However David was getting his brand new shoes wet and throwing rocks into the lake way too close to people. I gave up and decided it was time to go home. I left Amy on Julie's towel, and had to chase down Timothy. And home we went with two crabby boys. I fixed them lunch, and let them watch I movie. It would keep them quiet and give me some time to relax.

When Aaron awoke in the afternoon he took David to the store to spend his gift card that he got from Aunt Eva, and to get a present for Timothy for his birthday (next week!) We BBQed hamburgers and then Aaron was off to work again.

Sunday was a good day. Aaron came home earlier than expected. He was supposed to stay late to cover for someone (she came in early for him one day), but she ended up sick, and her replacement came in on time. So he got 2 hours of sleep before church. Church was great as well, I even got a new calling - can I tell you what it is if I haven't been sustained yet? Nope, I'm going to leave you hanging! We had a linger longer - cereal bar. Then a pretty relaxing day after that. Aaron got another 2 hours nap in there. We did Family Home Evening on Sunday night again, it wasn't nearly as successful as the one the week before. But we still did it, and had Eskimo Pies for dessert. Did I tell you I only paid 50 cents for that box of Eskimo Pies?

Well Monday was pretty crazy. Our van has a warped rear bumper. While it was under warranty they fixed it, but really they just replaced the scratch pad. So this time they replaced the whole bumper fascia. However they had to match the silver color, paint it, wait for it to dry and then replace it - so it need to be in the shop all day. Aaron was off that day and decided to take the van in himself, and use the local library to work on some things on the laptop. He had a pretty productive day, until he called to see if it was going to be ready at 5:00 like they promised, and of course they said it wouldn't be ready. There was no way I was going to squish all the kids in the back of the Saturn and fight traffic to pick him up. Luckily the body shop realized it was their fault and gave Aaron a rental car. He had to hurry home, grab some dinner, then go to a meeting (for the El Salvador trip) and then go home teaching - what a day! And what did I do all day??? Hmm, I made these:Timothy frosted, some, can you tell which ones? It was a very easy and yummy recipe. I'll have to post it on my recipe blog.

OK now I'm sure you are all completely bored, so I'll save today's adventures for another post.
So I'll leave with some pic of my roses!

and the blackberry bushes that will be taking over

FHE lesson

We helped some friends move on Monday night, so we had our FHE on Sunday night instead. Aaron and David planned the lesson. David looked up the word testimony, and wrote down 4 definitions. When it was his turn to teach he suddenly turned into a polite little teacher. He asked: "What do you think testimony means?" He waited until I raised my hand and said, "Yes Mom." When I gave my answer he said, "yes, testimony means..." and then read the answer on his paper that coincided with my answer. When no one else raised his their hand David said, "Daddy, what do you think testimony means?" It was so awesome. The second part of his lesson consisted of how we gain a testimony, and he did the same thing, called those who raised their hands, and asked directly those that didn't. I was very impressed. If only he were that reverent for ALL family home evening lessons. I planned banana splits for the treat, so Aaron came up with an activity when he made cutouts to build banana splits with paper. Everyone got a few chances to build their own sundae, and think about how it would taste. The teaching moment came when he said, so we talked about it and thought about, that's good enough right? We don't have to actually eat it. Of course the kids protested. Thinking about it isn't the same as eating it. The same goes for our testimony. If we just think about it, but don't share it, or help it grow, it doesn't do us much good.

chocolate

Have you heard about Free Chocolate Fridays? It's put on by the Mars Candy Company. If you visit their website, you can sign up to receive a coupon for a free chocolate bar. The first one won't come for about 6 weeks, but you can sign up for one every Friday - for the entire year! I love chocolate, and free chocolate is even better.

More of our growing garden

Introducing the newest addition to our garden.

No, we didn't grow it from seed, but it was $2.99 at Trader Joes, and Aaron couldn't pass it up.

Apparently the roses out front are pink:

Our zucchini is doing well

As is our corn, so far

Our carrots finally look like carrots

Our tomato plants are starting to flower!

And this plant popped up in our front yard a week or so ago

And this morning it bloomed!
I love it!

Timothy update

Timothy is sad that preschool is over. He is learning lots of things right now, that have nothing to do with preschool. He is working on his new chore chart, and doing better at getting ready in the morning without me nagging him. He's been working on buttoning by himself and can finally do it! I did it once almost a year ago, but hasn't really tried to do it since. He still acts out some, but we just have to be really strict. And also play lots of games with him. And listen to and answer his endless questions.

David update

David is having lots of fun at school. He is learning a lot. They are studying the solar system for the last few weeks of school. He keeps counting down the days, but really doesn't want it to end. He's a had a really great teacher. I hope next year will be good as well. I hope we have enough to keep us busy over the summer.

Aaron and I feel really old to have a seven year old. Especially since we had a talk with him about modesty, which turned into THE TALK. Crazy huh? Aaron was talking to him at bedtime last night, and they were downstairs for a long time. Somehow I kind of knew what was going on. Aaron said his reaction was, "That would be embarrassing." That's probably a good thing.

So he is growing up. He's very helpful, when he wants to be. He loves his sister, often too much, and loves to play games, as long as he wins. He and Timothy play together sometime, but more often than not they end up fighting. This could be a very long summer...

Well, it's getting late, and I need to spend time with Aaron 'cause he starts nights tomorrow. I'll do a garden and Timothy update tomorrow.

Sleeping like a baby

Have a mentioned that Amy used to sleep well, but doesn't anymore? Well, she still wakes once or twice and night, and wakes up way to early - often around 6:00 am - sometimes earlier. And she still takes 3 naps a day, that last about 30 minutes each. Oh well. She's a pretty happy baby, so I can't complain. She does fall asleep in strange positions though. Usually she gets a little fussy when she's tired. On Saturday she wasn't even fussing, and I didn't think it was time for a nap yet. She was still in her pajamas. I was in my room cleaning up and David came in laughing, saying, "Come look at Amy". She had fallen asleep on the living room floor like this:

View from the top

Needless to say, that wasn't a very long nap.

This one is from a week or so ago when she had fallen asleep again after she woke up from a nap.

Funny girl.

Oh, and we had her 9 month check up last week, while I was without high-speed, so drum roll please..... Her 9 month stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz
Height: 27 inches
Both are about 50th%ile.

She'll probably hit 20 lbs by 12 months, but she's no where near as big as the boys at this age. Let me see if I can think of any other Amy updates. Have a mentioned that she loves to stick her tongue out a lot? Here's a picture of that.

She is getting faster at climbing the stairs, and that's about all I think of.

Back online

We have our internet back - yay!!! But it's late and I don't even know where to start. Aaron is working ER night shifts this week (starting Wednesday), so I might spend my nights blogging. I have quite a few posts running through my head. I am so glad we have high-speed again. Working with dial-up was a pain. It was so slow, and since we only had 10 hours worth I didn't want to waste it waiting for everything. I was quite overwhelmed to see the 100+ blog posts that my bl0gging friends posted in the 6 days I didn't read. So I don't think I will be commenting on any posts while playing catch up. Unless something extraordinary happened. I still ahve to sort through all the emails I didn't check. So I'm back, and you'll hear all about our weekend, and our growing garden, and the beautiful weather we are enjoying. Soon, I promise. Oh and pictures, lots of pictures.

Blogging break

I am taking a blogging break. Not by choice really. We are switching internet companies, and in order to not have to pay for this month we have to send back the modem today. (As soon as they email us the return label). The new internet will be set up sometime on Monday. Until then we are using a free dial-up. Which is limited to 10 hours. So I won't be using the internet a whole lot until Monday. So no time to read or write blogs, or play on facebook. On the flip side, once our new internet is set up I will also have unlimited long distance. I can finally call people when ever I want as long as I want, and not worry about a bad internet connection, or using minutes on our prepaid cell phone. I hope this ISP is more reliable. And I'll be getting back in touch with people next week. Of course you are always free to call me anytime ;)!!!