Summer vacation 2011

We've had a busy summer this year. The 3rd week of June we took a family vacation to Pennsylvania (a page of pics is up on our main site for the trip). We left after church on Father's Day and traveled to our hotel in Paradise, PA. Now we can truly say we have vactioned in paradise, ha ha. We got settled in, ordered a pizza, then went for a swim in the hotel pool that evening.
The next day we headed out to Strasburg, PA. It was a lucky coincidence that Thomas the Tank Engine was at the Strasburg Railroad that week, so, we took the kids for a Day out with Thomas. We did this a few years back and Jamie was so tired and grumpy he couldn't enjoy it properly. We are happy to report that it all went much better this time. They all 3 had fun, and, now Morgan is almost as fascinated with "choo choo"s as his older brother.
After we finished up with all the activities at the railroad, we headed on over to the Toy Train Museum just up the road. That was also a success. Seems I missed forgot to get pictures, but, the older 2 kids and Mom also got in a round of miniature golf in Lancaster in the evening.

The next 2 days after that were spent at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. I wanted to be sure we got in the Dutch Wonderland trip before they were too old to enjoy it. It was a good year to go. Jamie would have been too tall for some rides next year and Morgan was big enough to enjoy enough rides to keep him happy. They all had fun and I think Mom and Dad even had a little fun too. Corinne is going to be Mommy's roller coaster buddy when she is bigger, she road their coaster 5 times while we were there. Dad and the older 2 played in the water park portion of it the 2nd afternoon while Mom stayed at the hotel with Morgan for some much needed nap time.
The next day was our final day in PA, the comfort of staying in a suite may have kept our sanity, but, it also ate up more of our budget, so, we checked out of the hotel and drove over to Hershey, PA to take the kids on the Hershey Chocolate World tour. We then snagged up a big bag of chocolate in the store and head back home. It was Thursday, so, that gave us plenty of time to mellow out before getting back to real life.

The 4th of July weekend some friends invited us to their firework party. Basically, a large scale show of the small fireworks. Then, we lit off our own fireworks Sunday evening at home. Then, Monday there was a patriotic music presentation at the church and we tried to watch the fireworks in Woodstock with all our church friends, but, they were postponed due to rain. However, we didn't miss out. We made it home to Strasburg just in time to watch those fireworks. It was a good show, they sprung for a couple of cubes and smiley faces this year. We were by no means lacking in fireworks. But, the kids disagreed and we headed out to Woodstock again on Saturday for the postponed show. And, let me just say it was not a good year for fireworks in Woodstock. Shortly before dark the sirens went off and the emergency vehicles went flying down the road. Turns out, a man on the interstate over-corrected shortly before the Woodstock exit and ran his car into the deep ditch on the side of the road. He was thrown from the car and had to be sent by helicopter to the hospital, his passenger, another man, was also eventually flown out over 45 min. later after they freed his arm from under the vehicle. So, with all this helicopter activity they couldn't be lighting off fireworks right next to them. That meant the show was delayed once again. Our family gave up at 10 pm and drove home, others stayed and the show didn't begin until nearly 11pm. Made for an interesting day at church the next day with all those sleepy kids.

So, same day as the postponed Woodstock fireworks, we celebrated Miss Corinne's 5th birthday. She was a lucky girl this year and was granted her wish for a party at the Stony Creek Roller Rink (I'm sure I will get those pics up at some point). She and her friends had lots of fun and Grandma, Great-Grandma, Papa, and Aunt Heather even drove all the way out as well.

Next up was a trip to the beach. (I'm sure I will get pictures of that up at some point, too) We have never taken them before and Corinne has been asking to go for months. So, since we already took our vacation for the year, and since Mommy is not a big beach goer, we did a short 1 night stay trip to Virginia Beach. They loved it! We spent 2 hours on the beach Friday afternoon and then another 2 hours on the beach Saturday morning, then, ate lunch at a Mexican place on the boardwalk, and headed home. There was a little bit of sunburning, but, not bad. The worst of the aftermath was a bad blister that left Mom hobbling for a couple of days. Corinne is already asking us when we are going back.

And, summer is still not over. Next up, this weekend we will have a mini family reunion and meet a young cousin of Jenny's for the first time. There will be a family dinner and manicures for all the girls in the family. The week after that, our little man Morgan turns 2. And, the week after that the older 2 kids are signed up for swim lessons. This summer has been fun and flying by fast.

Update on life May 2011

Been so busy I can't even remember what all to post. Let's see what I can remember.

Jim - Just finished his last surveying class last week. Next up he will possibly take a PE prep class in the fall to get ready to take the exam in the spring. After that he will likely begin preparing for the surveying exam. It never seems to end. But, he will be a full fledged engineer next spring as long as he passes the PE.

Jenny (a.k.a me) - I finally got myself to the dentist for a cleaning only to find out I had an inactive abscess and a broken filling. Ended up repairing the filling and having the wisdom tooth pulled that had the abscess under it. Thank heavens for the Health Savings account we have now. Didn't have to spend so much as a dime out of pocket. Been doing a lot of running around for other things too. Jamie's IEP, signing up Corinne for Kindergarten and getting her shots, starting up Morgan with a bit of speech assistance, friends have been in to visit from Utah, made a cake for the Relief Society birthday activity, the usual preschool back and forth, and the list goes on.

Jamie - Jamie had his 1st trip to the orthodontist, he did quite well. It was recommended he get a tooth pulled that hadn't fallen out, but, the adult tooth was already in behind it. So, I finally got around to setting up the appt. only to turn around and cancel it because the tooth is finally loose. We are glad we should be able to avoid the tooth pulling and let the tooth fall out on it's own. He is almost done with 1st grade and seems to be finishing it out well. His last report card had all good marks on it. He has also been displaying some more independence of late by getting his own breakfast by himself every morning.

Corinne - Like I mentioned before, Miss Corinne has been gearing up for the big K. We signed her up in March and she got her shots at the end of April. She was a real champ and never shed a single tear, which is impressive for her. Her last day of preschool is the 27th of May. It will be nice not to have to make the drive to Woodstock 3 days a week next year.

Morgan - is now 21 months old. My baby is growing up so fast. He is so big he already looks like a 2 yr. old running around. He is cute and affectionate and frequently driving us crazy with his independent ways. He is at or above age level in every way but one. He just hasn't put much effort into speaking yet. He prefers to tug on us, scream at us to communicate. So, the Pediatrician recommended we work with the Infant and Toddler Connection. They handle speech services for the under 3 crowd. They work with children that have at least a 25% delay in 1 or more areas of development. Morgan's delay in expressive language qualified him for assistance. We have had a lady come work with him and I twice now. She should be coming twice a month for a while. We shall see if it helps or not. Rest assured we are not worried about him talking, we're just willing to give this a try and see if it will shorten the length of the frustrating can't communicate with words phase.

A published artist

So, a few months back my kids were begging me to let them send in a picture and win one of the monthly prizes in the magazines they get (or should I say mazagine, cause that is what Corinne still calls it). Anyway, I said, sure, why not, as long as they made the effort to draw a good picture and not scribble. So, they did and I sent them. After a while, we all forgot about them, that is until yesterday.

Yesterday, in the mail, there was a manila envelope. I wasn't expecting anything, not only was I surprised to see a package, but, even more surprised to see that it was addressed to Corinne. Sure enough, her's was one of the winning entries for this month's magazine issue. Inside the envelope was this month's Sparkle World magazine, in it a page with her picture on a page with the other winning pictures, and the Strawberry Shortcake book she won for being selected.

Needless to say, she was excited. We showed her Daddy, Grandma and Papa, and her teachers at preschool. She read and hugged her new book for over an hour after she got it. It was such a fun surprise! Never did I expect one of them would actually win.

Responses Are In

Ok, Ok, so, it seems some of you all are still checking out our site. Thanks for the responses. I will keep plucking along with it.

Update February 2011

I would like to take a poll. Does anyone read this blog. Or would you read this if I actually started posting to it?

In case anyone takes the time to stop and read this, thanks for stopping by and showing interest. Life keeps rolling along. I am trying to remember things that might be of interest since the last post. I guess most notable were the major holidays that occurred. Thanksgiving was spent at the Chamberlin house like usual. The Christmas season involved taking a trip to see the lights at the DC Temple (some pics of that are on the December picture page of our site), Jim and I hosted the annual couples Christmas party this year, and we managed to attend 1 or 2 other Christmas parties as well. Jim's Christmas bonus went to the purchase of his long desire projector, he has had us down there every night watching shows or playing games on it ever since. Christmas day started at home, we bought an Xbox this year to go with the projector, so, the kids were initially disappointed by so few presents under our tree, but, our big present instead of a bunch of little ones hasn't disappointed in the long run, they love the Xbox. And, their disappointment for quantity didn't last long that day anyway. After gifts were done at our house, we headed to Grandma and Papa's house. There are always more gifts at Grandma's house than we can keep up with. Jim and I have also been honing our furniture making skills, we have built a new cabinet since Christmas to hold the sub-woofer and all our movies. It also serves as a place to set the Kinect sensor when we play Xbox.

Last post, Jamie had just turned 7. He is getting so big. I think he will have outgrown his Mommy by the time he is 10 or 11. He still really likes school and riding the bus. However, he went through a rough patch starting around the beginning of November and lasting until around mid January where he was really pushing his boundaries at home and at school. His teachers started having difficulty getting him to do his work and he was becoming more and more disruptive to the class. It was getting so bad that Santa nearly didn't leave anything for him this time around.The worst day of it he actually became physical and, not only had to be picked up from school, but, also refused to leave the school and had to be escorted from the building by both vice principals. It was a relief that he finally started getting back on track not long after that. There is a strike system they use with him now where he loses recess if he doesn't get his work done before he reaches 3 strikes, if he makes it to 3 his work comes home to do and, if the work comes home, he loses Xbox time for the day. We are grateful that he has so many teachers and aides that are willing to keep working with him. As difficult as he is sometimes, it is still so inspiring to see all the hurdles he has overcome and how he doesn't seem to get resentful despite some difficult disciplining that we have had to put him through in overcoming those behavioral challenges.

Next, I move on to our Princess. Miss Corinne remains a cute and funny and overly dramatic little lady. The tears come at the drop of a hat sometimes, like the other day she became upset over being told to hold her head still so I could get the barrette in her hair. She still says some of the strangest things sometimes in her constant endeavors to communicate every random thought that enters her mind, a recent example is when she told me she wanted to do something "yesterday tomorrow". She is doing well in preschool and has recently been learning how to make her bed.

Last but not least, I shall mention a bit about how it is going with our Mr. Morgan. He has been growing by leaps and bounds, it is hard to believe that we could produce a kid that is probably going to be even taller than his brother. He is very cute and good natured for the most part, however, he also has a very stubborn side. His independent nature is both cute and frustrating for us. I shall offer up a few examples. Up until about a week ago, he adamently has refused to let us help feed him (what a mess that has made at feeding time). He has never let us help brush his teeth, and when we pushed the issue, he began to refuse to do it all together, so, now we try and get in a swipe or 2 where we can and let him do the rest and hope and pray he doesn't end up with lots of cavities. He always wants to do everything that us bigger people do, the high chair has been packed away because he wanted to be at the table, sippie cups are rarely used because they are not grown up enough (even if he is still too young to not spill), he insists on trying to talk/play with the real phones, he tries to hold the railing and walk up the stairs instead of crawling up, and he is very put out that we don't let him play Xbox with us (but, the line must be drawn somewhere, we are holding our ground on that one for now). He is really coming along with all the physical learning, we just wish wish he would put some of that drive of his into talking, no interest in that one yet, he understands much of what we say, just doesn't want to try and say it himself.

Ok, well, I think that catches things up sufficiently, please leave a response so I know that our blog has been seen, if not we just may be calling it quits for a while. Thanks.

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.