Christmas Party

Christmas Party

I can't believe it's around the corner. Where did November go? I truly love this time of year! The kids have had such fun getting things ready for our big trip, we are going back east to spend the holidays with Sean's family. We don't get to see them much, so it's great to have 2 weeks with them. It'll be tough to spend it without Josh but he's doing great! It was hard to get Josh's stuff ready and mailed, but he got it. It was great to start the holidays with our ward Christmas party. We had a hawaiin party! We have a couple in our ward who taught the kids to hula and do some dances. We had traditional food that was great. We even acted out the Nativity play and had a visit from Santa. This was the first year no one cried on Santa's lap! It was so much fun!

Great Memories!

Recovering

I have been down the last few weeks with a Kidney infection. I am grateful to be healthy and grateful for my sweet husband who took a bunch of time of work to take care of me. It started when I fell down my back steps taking Lia to school, I was hustling and carrying one of the babysitting kids and somehow rolled my ankle and fell down the steps and took the brunt of the fall on my tailbone. It was a pretty hard fall, when I came too Lia was sitting by me just crying and worrying about how she was going to get to school. Nice eh? Anyway I called my friend who is an emt and told her what happened. She said I would be sore for a few weeks but not to worry. Oh my it hurt! I gimped around and managed to have a birthday party for Sam, then the pain got worse and moved up my back. I finally got into the doctor and turns out I had an infection and had to have a cat scan. They told me I had internal damage that might require surgury but couldn't get in till the next week. That was pretty scary! That weekend was pretty tough..for those of you who haven't had a kidney infection- I would do labor again before I'd want another one. I have never been in so much pain. Poor Sean did his best and it got so bad he convinced my doctor to get me in somewhere sooner. Well after another round of tests turns out there was no internal damage just a serious infection. Whew! So I'm on antibiotics for a month and then I'll be as good as new, well good as I was. People were so good to me, I had meals brought in and people calling or coming by checking on me and taking care of my kids. What a great place to live, and what a great family to be a part of! Now we are just getting ready to go to Utah for my Grandma's birthday and Thanksgiving. We just got to get everyone else healthy for the trip. Lia and Sam are so excited to see Shona and her kids! especially to meet Boston! I've had a change in babysitting, what a interesting job to have. Sometimes it's kind of scary what our kids have to deal with. You think they are safe, especially in your own home. I am even amazed at some of the stuff Lia comes home from kindergarten with. She's already had a boyfriend and been dumped. When I told her we don't have boyfriends she had a fit and argued with me (not a good sign for the future) but when I told her the prophet said we don't have boyfriends she said ok....hmmmm what am I? Anyway that's our update for the last few weeks. Hope everyone else is happy and healthy and going to enjoy a great Thanksgiving!
Cindy

Halloween 2008!

We had fun for Halloween. Lia was Cinderella and Sam was a fireman! We had to find him and axe, and the only one I could find was this nasty skull and bone one. He had to have something to chop down doors and save the people. Plus I hoped that having something might help him feel braver. Last year some scary looking guy grabbed him and scared him. Lia loved getting to wear make-up and I can't believe how different she looks when she has it on. They are growing up fast!

Picture day!

Lia had her 1st school pictures taken last week. It was so funny, she kept asking how she should pose, I was amazed she had so many! She got mad because I kept giggling. I love the fact that she is so confident. Had to post a few of her pictures. She loves the shirt she got from Mor Mor and her favorite part is the sparkly belt.

October update!

Lia is loving kindergarten...well by Friday she is pretty done and wants to stay home. It has been so fun to watch her learn. She has about 6 sight words she knows and gets pretty excited to see them outside school. We have our first parent conference this Weds. and I was grateful she let us go at night, so Dad gets to go to his first parent conference. The hardest thing Lia struggles with is the friend thing, one minute they are friends and the next they are not. It kills her. The other thing is she struggles to be the one in control and likes telling people what to do...hmmm could that be the reason her friends don't play with her. She'll have to learn. She has some posters up by the table and loves to play school. It's funny to hear how her teacher sounds. I know that to get called on in Lia's class you have to cover your mouth and raise your hand. She will get out her ruler and point to the chart, "okay class what is this letter? I'll raise my hand the "right" way and she goes, good job Cindy I like the way you raised your hand. In the mean time Dad will blurt out the answer and this sends her over the edge. "Sean (as she is shaking her ruler at him, with her hand on her hip) is that how we answer? You need to think about your choices...do you want to lose part of your recess?" Of course he can't help himself and continues to provoke her. She cracks me up. Sam is getting excited for his birthday. We are working on a huge sandbox for him. Railroad ties and a big hole. We'll see how it goes. If he's outside he has either a shovel in his hand or a rope or heaven forbid both. He's obsessed with tractors, especially since Uncle Dustin let him drive his Bobcat alone. Yesturday I made him mad by telling him he had to eat his vegtables at dinner...he said "Mom when we get done we are gonna have to have a talk, because I am angry and mad". Hmm at least he's learning to communicate. Can you tell Mom has been working on not yelling? I have started babysitting again. 3 full time kids and 2 part time. It hasn't been too bad, they are getting used to the rules and me. They aren't used to playing outside and definately not as rough as Sam is used to. He's happy to have kids to play with and I'm happy to not have to spend every minute entertaining him. Plus it forces me to get more orgainized with my time. Not a bad thing.

Sean got his Masters Degree!!!!

Woo Hoo!!! After a very long, rough, and exhausting year and a half; Sean got his Masters in Politics from Brandeis University!!!!!!! He started it when he lived in NY and life changed and he never finished it. After coming to Arizona he was able to petition the universtity and was able to finish. What a blessing! I am so proud of how hard he worked to finish this while working and taking other classes to get his supervisory certificate.

Our little farm!

One of our kids favorite things to do is ride the pony (Trixie). Lucky for us the pony is a real sweetheart. She had a foal this spring and they are lots of fun. Dad and Sam are working on getting a cart for her to pull. Add to the ponies the 2 goats and I don't even know how many chickens we a have a nice petting zoo. Too bad we can't charge admission!

My Sam!

Sam is my little man and has been struggling with so many changes in our family. We have to remember to take time to play and do fun things. He has lots of energy and loves to wrestle with his Dad.

Kindergarten

Lia started school this year. She is so excited! The first few weeks were a little tough on all of us. Sean was home all summer and then went back to work, Josh went on a mission, Mom didn't start babysitting for awhile and Lia went off to school. It was a tough adjustment. Sam took it the hardest. Lia was tired the first week, so I was glad they went on a short schedule for the first few weeks. She struggled for a bit, she is a perfectionist and got real frustrated when she couldn't do things right. I visited with her teacher and things seem to be going great! We miss her at home though.

Lia got a haircut!

Lia got tired of her hair being in her face and she hates pony tails, clips or anything in her hair and wanted it cut like a girl from cheer camp. She wanted her bangs cut completely off but I talked her out of that. She loves it and likes how easy it is to take care of (mom likes that especially since getting her ready for school takes awhile).

Picnic at Weinema 2008

It seems that every spare minute of the past summer was spent either getting Josh ready or working on the house. The kids had had enough!!! They begged for a picnic and Sam was desperate to learn how to shoot Dad's gun. So we went for a picnic. Of course Dad manged to squeeze in a trip to the cinder pit to fill in a hole in the driveway. Poor guy can't help himself. The picnic area was beautiful, the hills are green and the wildflowers are blooming. We had a great time. Towards the end of the trail it connects with a river, which the kids and the dog love playing in. They splashed and threw rocks forever it seemed. Lia filled her pockets with beautiful rocks, she must have weighed 5 pounds more. When we were done we went to the cinder pit to shoot. The kids were so excited to be "big" enough. Was weird to go shooting without Josh. It was a great day and everyone had lots of fun!

First Football Game

Well football season is here, it's still not the same when you don't have anyone playing. But...we did have a cheerleader!!! Lia went to mini cheer camp this summer and got to cheer at our first game. She was so disappointed when she realized that she couldn't cheer at all the games. She was so excited and did great!

We survived sending off our missionary!

August brought many changes for our family. We got to take Josh to the MTC on the 6th of August. It was such a special day, but was hard on all of us. It's tough to say goodbye for two years. Sam took it the hardest and just cried, "please no, stay with us!" Poor Josh had to be strong but I know it tore his heart out. It was so sweet to see the tenderness he had with the kids before he left, not that he didn't tease them still but he wanted them to remember him. What a neat place the MTC is! They made it easier to leave him there. We have heard from him once and he sounds like he is doing great! One of his roomates had trouble and had to be hospitalized, hopefully he recovers soon. With Josh gone we decided the kids were ready for their own rooms! So we painted one pink and moved Lia into that one and are busy getting it all girlie. Sam's is still in the works and he definately struggled with being alone. He begged for a fish that way someone could still sleep with him. Lia also started kindergarten! She was so excited! Her teacher is Mrs. Larsen and she is having a blast. It's so cute to get her out the door and before she leaves the driveway she'll turn and tell Sam, "now you be good, I'll be home soon and we'll play, I just have to go learn to read!" She's doing better about not stressing if we do something fun without her. She's adjusting to her long days, but still gets off the bus looking worn out. Sam and I are trying to finish lots of summer projects. So far we are not babysitting yet so we are taking advantage of one on one time. It's great to see how different they are becoming. Sean is back at the alternative school and is doing great! He had so many students the first week that he had to order more computers. We miss spending time with him. Between work and the Bishopric and teaching the adult institute class we won't see a lot of him at night.