He's 7 !

It is official! Jamie has turned 7. How did he get so big already? He already comes up to my chest. At this rate he and I will be the same height by the time he is 10. We have been through so much with him in his 7 yrs. of life. From 3 weeks of bed rest to 2 hours and 20 min. pushing him out. From the days of his needing a DOC band, to the day he was diagnosed with Autism. From all the many teachers and meetings, to the functional, almost normal 1st grader he is now. He has been such a challenge for us and yet such a joy to see his intelligence, sweet nature, and self-mastery despite the disadvantages he came equipped with and the large doses of discipline we have had to apply to try and free him of those disadvantages.
There are still and may always be struggles keeping that active mind and body focused on the tasks at hand, but, you have come so far little buddy, we love you, and can't wait to see the great future you have in store for you!

Back to School 2010

It is that time of year again! Heading into Fall means Back to School! Once again, there are 3 students in our house. Three? you say. Yes three. Seems Jim just can't stay away and has found another excuse to go back.

Jim started taking a class at LFCC 3rd week of August. Not only does he plan to be an engineer, he is going to be a surveyor too (mostly on the paperwork end of it). Luckily it is only 1 class and the campus is only about 10 min. from home. There will be no need for 4 more years of school, maybe 1 more class and another very lengthy exam and that part will be done. He is still roughly 2 years away from his PE Exam which will make him a full fledged Civil Engineer.

Jamie started school on Tuesday, Sept. 7th. He is in 1st grade this year. He was a buzz of excitement Tuesday morning. He even made his bed completely unprompted. He loves riding the bus and seems to be happy with his new teachers Ms. Strickler and Ms. Ramsay, who is his resource teacher.

Corinne started school, today, Wednesday, Sept. 8th. She is in her 2nd year of preschool, but, already eager for kindergarten and riding the bus with her brother. Despite wishing she was already in kindergarten, she was still happy to be going to school this morning. The 4 yr. old class goes 1 more day a week than the 3 yr. olds, so, she now goes Mon., Wed., and Fri. Great for her. More chaufering time for Mom and Morgan (not quite so good for us).

Utah Visit June 2010

It had been roughly 3 years since we had been to Utah to see family, so, for this year's vacation, to Utah we went. We are happy to report that the trip went well. We left on June 22nd and returned home July 1st.

While flying out there makes for a long day, the flight out went quite smoothly. We flew out of Dulles and stopped in Denver for our connecting flight to Salt Lake. Mom C. dropped us off at Dulles and Jim's brother picked us up in Salt Lake. We had no difficulties getting through security and our fights took off and landed on time. The baby was very wiggly, but, overall the children behaved themselves. The only glitch was when I forgot the baby's antibiotic on the plane and had to race back for it before they had a chance to take off again. Jim's brother, Jake, had their big family camping trailer set up for us to stay in while we were there and Mom K. pretty much insisted we use her car, so, we drove her car while we were there. We had dinner with the family our 1st night there and then called it a day.

Day 2 - We had planned on just recovering and relaxing, but, we get bored too easy and Molly and her kids made a trip to the Hogle Zoo and then had lunch at Crown burger with us.

Day 3 - Grandma was nice enough to watch our kids while Jim and I did a session at the Ogden temple. We don't get to the temple as much as we used to, so, we didn't want to pass up the opportunity to go and have a break from the children as well. It also gave Grandma, Grandpa, and the kids some bonding time. Then, in the evening, the bigger kids/cousins watched the younger kids while the grown ups (and baby) went out to dinner for Mom K.'s birthday.

Day 4 - We spent the day with the Totten family. They are friends from our Singles Ward days. We got married just a few months apart and their 2 kids are the same ages as our older 2 kids. They took us to the Red Iguana for lunch. It was very good Mexican food. It has even been featured on the show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Then, we spent a couple of hours at This Is The Place park. That got to be quite hot, so, we headed over to the Gateway mall in Salt Lake and let the kids play in the water feature thing they have there. We got some ice cream at the DQ in the food court and then headed to the Totten's house to visit some more and order from Kneader's for dinner. It was good to visit with them again.

Day 5 - Was Saturday. Uncle Jake wanted to have a guys day on the sand dunes with the 4 wheelers. So, Jake, Jim, Case, and Jamie loaded up the 4 wheelers and spent their day out at the dunes. Jamie freaked out a little at the sight of the hills, but, by the end, he even drove Case's small 4 wheeler himself. He then proceeded to crash it 3 times tearing his shirt in the process, but, he did it none the less. Would have been nice for everyone to go, but, they didn't have enough 4 wheelers for all of us. So, while the boys played the girls got some chores done, dropped off the 2 little ones for Grandma to watch and then headed out to the movie theater to watch Toy Story 3 and have popcorn. The Megaplex is a pretty nice theater.

Day 6 - We attended church with Molly and her kids and then made the rounds visiting former neighbors Gerald and Georgia, Uncle Gil and Aunt Lyle Ann, and a final stop to see Jim's step-grandmother Pat. I had finally reached the point where I was kind of worn out, so, we kept the evening low-key and just hung out in the trailer watching TV.

Day 7 - Grandma wanted to take the grandkids to the Dinosaur Park. So, we spent the morning there, had some Jim's burgers for lunch (no my Jim didn't make them, the place is called Jim's Burgers) Then, we met up with Bethany and Jonathan Peterson for dinner at the Pie Pizzeria near Weber State. They are old friends of ours, I have known them since we were kids, and Jim met them when we were in the singles ward.

Day 8 - Jim went to work on machines with Jake out in the desert. Grandma, Molly, the kids and I all went to the water park. It started out ok, was a fun enough place, but, Corinne threw up her sandwich, Jamie got out of sorts over sharing and being sprayed with the hydrants they had, and the baby needed a nap, so, the 4 of us called it quits early and headed back to the trailer for some down time. We scrapped plans to go out to dinner with Jake and Molly had dinner at the house instead.

Day 9 - We just hung out. We packed as much as we could and mailed off a few things that made our luggage too heavy for the plane ride. I was one of the guinea pigs for Molly's sister to meet her Mary Kay facial quota, while Jim and our kids visited with his Dad for a bit. Then, Jim and I made Navajo tacos for the family dinner on our last night there.

Day 10 - we started the day at 6am Utah time (8 am VA time) Left for the airport at 6:45. Flight was supposed to leave at 9:23, but, even though the plane only came from a hangar, it was late, and then, when we finally boarded it, not only was it warm in there from sitting in a hangar for a day and a half, but, we also had to wait around on it while their paperwork cleared to be allowed to fly it. All that put us at about 45min. - 1 hr. late taking off. We had just enough time to find our gate in Denver, grab a quick lunch from the McDonald's there, and board our last plane of the trip. That one luckily took off on time and actually landed a little early even (5:38 pm VA time). Good thing too, because the baby had decided he was getting tired of all this flying business and was fussier than before. Dad C. picked us up in our van. Mom C. had dinner for us at their place. We stopped at Walmart on the way home because we were out of formula for the baby and we finally arrived home Thursday, July 1st at about 9pm Virginia time. And, thus ended our trip, and started the holiday weekend, and now it is Monday and life is still trying to get back to normal around here.

9 month Check Up

So, he always gets sick when it is check up time, so, he was already over 10 months by the time we got around to his appointment. But, it was finally accomplished. We now have us a 30 1/2" 20.8lb baby boy. That is 90th% for his height and somewhere around 40th% for his weight. Tall and skinny.
He had been sick for 2 weeks before the appointment and we thought perhaps he has been teething (maybe he has maybe he hasn't on that one), but, it turns out he developed an ear infection at the end of his illness and that was now his problem. Now we are on a 10 day run of Amoxicilin and will have to finish it out while we are on our trip to Utah. At least we will be most of the way through before putting him on a plane where his ears will be under extra pressure.

I had myself all set to deal with a grumpy kid who just got shots. Turns out, you don't get shots at the 9 month check up, so, I could have just taken him for the check up earlier anyway. Oh well.

Update June 1, 2010

We have had ourselves some firsts around here lately. We experienced our 1st family camping trip April 30th - May 2nd. My sister and her husband and their dogs came along. It was a little warm, but, went pretty well on our end. We stayed at Bolar Mountain recreation area which is by Lake Moomaw, Virginia. Jim didn't have much luck fishing, but, Jamie caught himself a little fish. He was so excited for his 1st catch that he begged to eat it and then refused when he finally saw it cooked. Sleeping was a little rough the 1st night. The children were too excited and not accustomed to sleeping on the ground and there was a woman and 2 guys celebrating the one guy's birthday at 11 at night at the neighboring camp site that were quite noisy. But, the 2nd night we slept better and our tent held up pretty good when it rained.
My sister, on the other hand, didn't handle the warmth well and discovered that their tent had not been waterproofed when the rain came leaking in. She also locked her keys in her trunk leading them to eventually break her car window in order to get in. And, because the window was broken and she refused to tape a bag or whatever over it on the grounds that it was tacky, their little dog Lucy almost fell out of it on the way home and then, after that, the pillow they shoved in the hole got sucked out of the window onto the road. So, it was a bit rough for their 1st go at camping. Hopefully, that won't deter them in the future.

Another 1st for us was Jim and I building our hall tree (what is a hall tree you say? Well you can look at the picture of it on our April 2010 picture page, but, I will also tell you that it is a piece of furniture for hanging coats, book bags, and storing shoes and such). We have a few pieces of furniture that we had made with the help of my Dad, but, this was our 1st solo piece and we think it turned out pretty well. There are some imperfections in the finish work due to our limited staining experience and some unfavorable weather, but, the flaws are not obvious and it is proving to be a nice functional addition to our home.

I have never had much desire to host a party where products are sold, but, something must have come over me at that Tupperware I attended because next thing I knew I was hosting a Tupperware party myself. I had never done such a thing before and didn't know what to expect. It even looked like it might not come about at one point, but, in the end it came together with 3 outside orders and 5 guests in attendance, who placed enough orders to help me get a bunch of free stuff. Only now, Mom and Heather have agreed to host a party (which allowed me to get some of that free stuff) and that means I need to help them out now and have to come up with some things to get at their party too. Yes folks we are going to be overflowing in Tupperware at this house.

Also of note, Corinne finished up her 1st year of preschool. Our little Mr. Morgan got his 1st 2 teeth in May 28th. He will be 10 months old on June 5th. And Jamie finishes kindergarten June 11th. Then, roughly a week and a half later we will be boarding a plane to Utah for a trip to visit family and friends.

Growing up so fast.

Our little guy is now 8 1/2 months old. Since the last post, he has learned how to crawl and has begun his baby brother duty of terrorizing his siblings by crawling up and trying to grab their toys from them and pulls everyone's hair any chance he gets. He has also added Mu Mu to his vocabulary. Unfortunately, he only says it when crying for mama. Never when he is happy. That is usually when the da das come out. Why is it always like that with kids?

Our not so little guy has also had a new achievement as well. Jamie has learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. Yay! Jamie!

New callings, carpet, and Growing up fast.

I was just trying to remember what all has been going on around here the past couple of months. Sadly, this process seems to be too much for my mommy brain and I can't remember most of it right now, but, here is an account of what I can remember. I can't guarantee it will all be in order.

1st - Jim had been serving as the facilities director and family history consultant at church. On Sunday he was released and called to be the Branch clerk. So, no more riding to church together for us. He has to be there at 6:30 am for the morning meetings every Sunday. And, that leaves me here to get myself and 3 children ready for church every week. And, my 1st week at this we are supposed to be at church 30 min. early (8:30 am) for Choir practice cause they are doing the Easter program a week early since General Conference is on Easter Sunday. Not sure if I am going to be able to make it on time yet. My own recently acquired calling is RS Newsletter person. Which I have yet to do anything with.

2nd - We are enjoying our newly carpeted basement. It makes it a little warmer down there and took away some of the echo in the stairwell.

3rd- Our little Morgan is growing up so fast. He is now 7 1/2 months old and his recent achievements include learning how to get onto his hands and knees, being able to slide backwards across the floor, and he went from only being able to give us ahs and uhs to being able to say da and du as of just a couple of days ago.

4th - The compressor and fan for the A/C unit outside our house has now blown for the 2nd time in 6 1/2 yrs. Grrr.....what an expensive piece of junk they put in. We would need at least $2500 to replace the whole business, so, not happening, it will be repaired. Good news is that the compressor is still under warranty. So, the part itself is free of charge. Bad news is that the labor costs just as much as the part and is not free. Sigh, I guess God blessed us with a raise at Jim's work just in time for life to get more expensive.

Anniversary/Graduation trip to Washington, DC

Jim and I took advantage of a school holiday to leave the kids with my parents and enjoy some together time in our nation's capitol. It was a much needed hiatus after the completion of 6 yrs. of school completing Jim's Civil Engineering/EIT degree. And, a nice way to celebrate the completion of 7 years of matrimony as well.
We dropped the kids off on Thursday morning and made a trip to the temple for some initiatory. Then, we stopped for lunch at a Bolivian restaurant in Falls Church, VA for some saltenas. Yum... From there, we headed into DC to check in at our hotel. The Hilton Garden in just 3 blocks from the White House. The remainder of the day was spent with a visit to the Crime and Punishment museum where America's Most Wanted is filmed and dinner at Fuddruckers.
Friday, day 2, we started the day with breakfast at a French bakery near the hotel, then we toured the Capitol and visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (stopped for lunch mid museum visit). We also finished out the museum visit with an IMAX show. From there we returned to the hotel and ordered a pizza for dinner before getting ready for an evening at the Kennedy Center watching Shear Madness.
Saturday, day 3, we awoke to snow. The snow blew in our faces and my hands were freezing by the time we reached the American Indian museum from the metro stop. It is an interesting, if not slightly strangely laid out museum. From there we had a few more blocks of snow walking and another metro ride to Chinatown for some freshly made chinese noodles. Also of note, twice that morning we encountered someone from our church congregation out in the Shenandoah Valley when getting on the metro. He was there with a friend for a car show. What are the odds that that would have happened not just once, but, twice in a day? Anyway, my legs had gotten rather achy from all the walking around and it was snowing out and not pleasant to be in, so, we headed back to the hotel for a break and time to come up with a snowy weather planning. In the end, the mall at Pentagon City seemed the best option because the metro stop was right underneath it and required no extra walking in the snow. We wandered the 4 levels of shops and found a good deal on some needed sleepers for the baby, then, ate dinner in the food court and got some bagels for breakfast the next morning and returned to the hotel.
Sunday, we slept in a little, had our bagels for breakfast and then got ready and checked out of the hotel. It was cold, but, a nice, rejuvenating, weekend away.

8 of us

Chante and her 2 girls moved in on Jan. 23rd. They occupy the guest room, half of Jim's office, and the downstairs bathroom. We take turns with the laundry and share the kitchen and playroom.
So far so good. She pays for their share of utilities and helps with buying and preparing food. We help her out by offering a cheap place to stay and occasional babysitting, which should help her save enough money to get established on her own elsewhere. And, the kids all have extra playmates every day. Her goal is to be set for independence by the end of the school year.

Corinneisms

Our 3 yr. old daughter says some of the craziest things. Like.....
"Mommy my leg is all skinny. The peanut butter toast made my leg skinny"
"My tummy is making me upset" "My tummy is making me nervous"
When she had a fever, "There are lady bugs in my head"
After a spat with her older brother, "Mommy, Jamie ruined my life"
A week later, after getting after her for something she did, "You ruined my life too Mommy"

The day after I told her I wouldn't play with her dolls because she wasn't being nice, she says "I'm nice, you can play with my dolls now."

When helping her get dressed, my daughter said "my ear is itching, me: it is? her: yeah they're making something in there. me: oh, they're making something? her: yeah, Jideeps. Me: Jideeps? what are Jideeps? her: they're makin hammer and breches" (not sure what that is supposed to be). No lacking of imagination with this kid.

Also she has picked up the phrases, Good Grief and Goodness Gracious. And, a granola bar is a roller bar.

Hmm...I am drawing a blank, more to come later I guess. Feel free to share if you know of any to add.

Update

Jim has officially graduated from GMU! Hooray!
Papers have been sent in to the state, and soon they should be granting him his official EIT (Engineer in training) status. As a graduation gift his boss purchased him a company truck to drive that is exclusively his. That was a very big surprise and took a big weight off our shoulders since we did not know how we were going to replace our aging Civic.
For our final phase of celebrating graduation, and our 7 yr. wedding anniversary, Jim and I will be sending the kids to grandma's while we spend a few days visiting our nation's capitol. Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and maybe the Spy Museum are all on the list of activities for our weekend escape/celebration.