october general conference

This year for General Conference, the kids and I set up their own little "stations" with coloring packets, paper, markers, scissors, etc.  They came up with the idea of the laundry baskets all on their own.  Pretty inventive. :)  They did a great job listening while the Prophet spoke, and coloring/playing quietly during the other talks.  I love General Conference weekend, and it gets nicer every year as the kids get older.

chris's 6th birthday

On September 30th, Chris turned 6!  I can't believe he's in kindergarten, and SIX!  Crazy.  Anyhow, his birthday was on a Thursday this year, and he got spoiled.  His school does birthdays up nicely!  He had his name said on morning announcements, and got to wear a crown all day.  

this kid never looks at the camera!

Dave and I brought him Sonic for lunch, and later that afternoon Naomi and I brought blue sugar cookies and juice boxes for his class.  They're not allowed to bring homemade treats, or cupcakes (I guess they're too messy??).  So, I got mine from Walmart.  Although I would have liked to have been able to make his treats myself, it was nice to just buy them and take them up to the school.  

He requested homemade pepperoni pizza, salad, and cooked carrots for dinner.  Ouma, Oupa, Jon, Katie, Jacob and Lily all came over to help him celebrate.  

Scooby Doo was the theme this year, so that's how I did his cake.  Don't laugh too hard at how the writing turned out.  Lately, by the time I'm done with the cake, I don't feel like filling up the icing bag to pipe the writing in properly, and just use those gel writers.  They don't work very well!

The next day, he got to go up on stage at Friday Live (something they do every Friday at his school), and get sung to.  He looked so little and cute up there.  We also had his friends party that day.  He wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's this year.  It was so nice; all I had to do was bring the cupcakes and balloons.  No games to plan, or food to make, or mess to clean up!  I forgot my camera (I really have been doing better, I promise!), so the only picture we have is this one that Dave and Naomi took together.  I love it!  

Even though it's not documented in pictures, everyone had a good time.  A lot of pizza was consumed, games were played, cupcakes eaten, and presents opened.  

naomi starts preschool

Okay. Here I am catching up again. I'm starting all the way back in September, and hopefully, I'll be all caught up soon.

Naomi started preschool on September 7th. She was so excited to get to go to "Chris's school", and be a big girl. She is so excited to grow up, which is cute; I do try and help her see how much fun it is to be a kid, though. She goes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am - 2pm, and is in the "Monkeys" class (which suits her just fine!)

The first day, we packed up her backpack with her green folder, lunchbox, snack, and cuddly things for quiet time. We had already dropped off her nap mat, and she chose her pink baby and pink blankey take to school that day (she gets to choose one stuffed animal/baby, and a blanket or blankey to bring every day). I forgot to take pictures of her first day, and I'm pretty sure that's one of those things I'll have mommy-guilt about for a long time. It was a bad year all-around for that, if you remember the non-backpack picture of Chris's first day. Thankfully, I have been pretty good about the pictures since then. I'm getting better at remembering the camera. Yay!

We got to school, and unloaded her backpack together. She has her very own cubby, which is so much fun. Up top is a section for the lunchbox, and the baby, blankey, and napmat have a section underneath. The folder goes in a bucket, and the snack has it's own bucket too. After we got everything where it belonged, she found her popsicle stick with her name on it. She gets to put her stick in a pocket, which is on a poster inside her classroom. That way they can all see which friends are there that day. It's also helped her recognize her name (which she can write all by herself now!). Once she had her stick, I signed her in, and gave her a big hug and kissed her goodbye. She went in without a problem, and had a great first day. I was a bit emotional, which was surprising to me since I didn't get emotional at all when I dropped Chris off for kindergarten the first day. Part of it is that Chris was SO ready to be in school. Another part was that Naomi is my baby, and I can't believe I'm already taking her to preschool!

She's been having a great time, and is making new friends, and learning a lot.

naomi, on chris's birthday (with pizza face :D)

ben's homecoming

Dave's youngest brother, Ben, returned home from his mission at the beginning of September.  Unfortunately, Sam (Dave's other brother) and his wife, Tanya, missed their flight out.  So, they weren't there as Ben got off the plane, but they did make it a few hours later.  The kids had fun decorating a sign for Ben.

not sure why i'm not smiling, but here we are. so excited he's home! not pictured: jonathan, katie, sam & tanya

mama and her baby.  can you tell she's happy to have him home??

about to meet with the stake president

I'll spare the guys, and not post the next pictures.  Not that they don't look good, I just don't think they'd like it very much!  The first thing they did after Ben had been released was to go and get him a swimsuit, and take him swimming at our pool.  Fun times!  We girls stayed home to get dinner ready, so we could head out to our next adventure...

Dallas soccer game!  Who hoo!  It was a blast!  Ice cream and cotton candy kept the kids happy, and the rest of us had fun cheering and chatting.  The game ended with a spectacular fireworks show - one of the best I've ever seen.  We had some serious fun!

The next day, Sunday, we all attended church together.  It was the first Sunday of the month, so it was fast and testimony meeting.  It was really nice to get to hear all the guys' testimonies, and be all together.  Monday we headed up to the lake for a picnic, swimming, and sand castle building.  We didn't get to see him for very long, but it sure was a fun visit.  Welcome home, Ben!

balloon festival

In September, we went to a balloon festival that is held every year around here.  It was so fun to see it all.  We went with Jonathan and Katie & co., and also met up with our friends Jared and Melissa and their kids.

getting ready to lift off

a pirate

i know this is sideways, but it's too much of a pain to change, and too cute to leave out :)

a shot of the boys, by naomi

light show after it got dark

arboretum

The Tuesday after Chris started school, Naomi and I took a trip to the arboretum.  It's so hot in August around here, that they only charge $1 to get in.  Tuesday was our last chance to take advantage of that, so we went for a little adventure - just the two of us.  We had a lot of fun.  It was a great mommy-daughter thing to do.

explored cute little houses

walked under beautiful trees

saw all sorts of beautiful flowers

and fun water features

checked out the kid-sized pioneer houses

chris starts elementary school!

Chris started kindergarten on the 23rd of August.  I can't believe he is old enough to be in kindergarten!  The Thursday before, he got a chance to meet his teacher and see his class room.  His teacher is really nice, and things have been going great so far.  On the first day, Naomi and I walked him to his classroom and got him settled in.  I explained to him that I would be there after school to pick him up, and gave him a big hug and told him I loved him.  I didn't get emotional that day; mostly, because I felt that he was so ready to be there, and had been so bored at home.  I did have a bit of a time the next few days, though, when I had to drop him off at the front doors.  After the first day, he had to make it to his room by himself.  He did do carpool drop-off at preschool last year, so it wasn't a totally foreign concept to either of us.  I guess it was just that there were so many kids, and he's expected to find things on his own a lot more.  I kind of felt like I was feeding him to the sharks.  Fortunately, that's just my over-protective motherly instincts kicking in.  He has done great, and is loving school.  I am realizing how important it is to make sure he has the skills necessary to make the right choices, since he's home so much less, and making his own choices so much more.  I love this kid, and am so grateful to be his mom!

dave gets his tonsils out

After dealing with strep, at least twice a year since moving to America, I finally convinced Dave to see an ENT and get everything checked out.  Especially since we had been passing it back and forth multiple times between our vacations.  The doctor took one look at his throat and said, "Those are some angry looking tonsils!  They need to come out".   It is an outpatient procedure, so we were in and out in about 4 hours.  The doctor also decided to take his adenoids at the same time.  He felt great as he was coming out of the anesthetic, and was even chatty. 

I brought him home, got him settled, called everyone to let them know how things had gone, and headed out to get his prescriptions.  The first and second days were okay.  He'd get sore if he talked too much, but was pretty mobile and not too sore.  Day 3 and 4 weren't as nice.  Getting your tonsils out as an adult is a pretty major deal.  I was worried about him, and did a lot of research before he went in to the hospital about what I could feed him during recovery.  What I discovered is that everyone is different as to what is tolerable, so I stocked up on lots of things so he would have choices.  He ended up going with stage 1 baby food (found that idea on a website - brilliant, right?!), tons of blue Gatorade, some water, avocados, natural Cheetos (since they're mostly air, and dissolve), boiled eggs after a week or so, and occasionally a popsicle.  From what I read, dairy products aren't good for people recovering from getting their adenoids/tonsils removed.  They cause a build up of phlegm, which creates a need to cough.  Coughing can rips the scabs off prematurely, and cause a lot of bleeding.  Something I didn't want either of us to have to deal with!  He did bleed a bit a few times, but didn't ever have any gushing.  It took him a full two weeks to recover, but now he's back to full health.  We're hoping to have put the strep behind us!

july {condensed}

July was another traveling month for us.  After we returned from Arizona, I unpacked and did all the laundry, so that we could pack it all up again for a trip to New York and Ontario, Canada to visit my mom's side of the family.  We had a great time!  We flew into Buffalo, and drove over to Palmyra where we stayed for a few nights.  It was nice to see all the sights and the pageant again, and especially nice that Dave and the kids were able to experience it too.  We asked the kids to be reverent while we were in the sacred grove, and they did a great job.  They both said that they could feel the spirit while we were there.

Saw some church history sites

Grandin printing press

Standing on original Joseph Smith family farm, with the Palmyra temple in the background.

Saw some church history sites.  Naomi LOVED my cousin Derek.  Everyone else, too, but especially Derek.

Pageant getting set up.  It was wonderful, and the kids were amazed.

Funny group shot.

After Palmyra, we drove up to my Aunt Marsha’s house.  I wasn’t feeling too well on the drive, and hoped that it was only a cold.  Unfortunately, it was strep – again!  Luckily one of my uncles was able to call in a prescription for me to a Walgreens in New York.  Dad and Dave drove down to pick it up for me, which was very much appreciated.  Unfortunately, having strep meant that I missed almost everything about being up there.  I was able to sit out on the porch for a little bit while everyone swam, but didn’t do much else.  I am glad I wasn’t sick at a hotel, though.

They did lots of fun stuff without me.

Niagara Falls was our next stop.  We saw the Canadian side, rode the trolley on the American side, and rode the Maid of the Mist.  Riding the boat up to the falls was a blast!  There is so much water coming over; it is amazing.  I recently read a book that said that only 50% of the potential water actually goes over the falls – the rest is diverted for the hydroelectric plant there.  And, during the night only 25% is allowed to go over.  I can’t imagine what it would be like with twice as much water going over.

crossing the border

cousins

The next morning we woke up early to make it to the airport for our flight.  It was delayed because of mechanical issues.  Dave called to see about our connecting flight in Cincinnati, which was a good thing!  If we had taken the flight out of Buffalo, we would have been stuck in the Cincinnati airport over night – we wouldn’t have been able to make any flights to DFW because of the delay.  So, instead of sleeping in the airport we decided to stay in Buffalo, where we already had a hotel.  Mom and Dad weren’t able to fly out either, so we had another day to spend together before leaving for home.  It was a fun vacation!

That left only one week remaining in July, which I used to catch up with everything around here.  What fun summer vacations we had!

june {condensed}

At the beginning of the month,  I helped plan the first Primary activity our presidency had done.  I think it turned out well.  The kids had fun, and learned about the prophets as well.  We had four stations, where a prophet of the Book of Mormon came to talk with the kids.  We had Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty, Nephi building the boat, the brother of Jared and the smooth stones, and I was in charge of Samuel the Lamenite.  I had someone from the ward dress up, and come tell Samuel’s story.  The kids were so excited to get to meet him!  After he told us his story, I had shields that I’d made for them, which said, “When I obey the Lord, I will be protected”.  I gave them each a sheet of aluminum foil and a piece of paper.  On the paper they wrote down something that they needed protection from.  Then they wadded up the paper in the foil, which represented a rock.  They practiced being protected with their shields and rocks.  As you can probably imagine, they had a lot of fun throwing the “rocks” and deflecting them with their shields.

Father’s day started off well, but didn’t end so great.  I made Dave a nice breakfast, and the kids gave him some presents and picked some flowers for him.  I had a little sore throat, but I thought it would get better as the day progressed.  Unfortunately, it got worse!  By the time the third hour of church came around, I was completely miserable and nauseous too.  I got Dave and the kids, and we left early.  I spent the rest of the day in bed, and went to the doctor the next morning.  It usually takes me a while to decide I should go to the doctor, so the fact that I went straight away shows how sick I really was.  I was diagnosed with strep, and got some antibiotics.  Man, was I miserable!  Unfortunately, Dave’s birthday was that Wednesday and I wasn’t feeling well enough to do anything for him.  He worked extra hard and took really good care of me and the kids while I was sick.

I finished up my recovery on the road out to Arizona, for a family reunion on my dad's side.  I like road trips, and the kids seem to enjoy themselves as well.  It was so fun to be at the family reunion and see everyone again.  We spent a few days at my grandparent's house, then traveled up to Sedona.  It is so gorgeous up there.

We had a barbecue

Watched the sunset over the red rocks

We all rode a ski lift up a mountain.  Some of us, are a little tinsy bit nervous about heights.  It's definitely genetics for me, from my dad's side.  Kind of a crazy vacation for a family of people a bit anxious when near the edge of things.  There was also a hot air balloon ride as well.  I found out on this trip how nervous Dave gets.  I guess I hadn't realized that about him before.

Posing for pictures at the top

We made it!

We also got to spend a day at the Grand Canyon, which I had never been to  before.  

Cousins

A rainbow over the Grand Canyon!

We stayed for the sunset

Which was amazing

We spent the night at my aunt's house, and then it was time to head back home. Unfortunately, on our way home, Dave got strep AGAIN!  He had had it on our way out, and then got it again on our way back.  He went to an ear, nose, and throat doctor when we got home.  The doctor told him that he would have to have his tonsils out.  That got taken care of in August.  Kind of a crummy end to our vacation, but we had a great time seeing some beautiful places, and enjoying family.

swim lessons

June started with swimming lessons, which are one of my favorite parts of the summer.  Both kids did fabulous in the water, and are doing even better now.  Chris was in level 1, and can swim across the pool by himself.  We're working with him on his strokes and kicks, but he can swim independently.  Naomi had her first year in the toddler class - without me in the water with her.  She had such a great time playing the games and practicing floating, kicking, and scooping the water.  Since lessons, she has started swimming short distances under water.  We're pretty impressed with her lack of fear - it also means we have to watch her pretty close!