UPDATE

Here is a quick update on the boys...  I know I should have pictures, but I don't. 

B-man

Turned 8!  We have really been dragging out his birthday.  In fact just today he got another birthday present from a friend.  He spent all weekend learning to fly his new remote control helicopter that he bought with birthday money from friends.  I think all men and boys should have one.  They are seriously fun, and watching his face while he concentrates so hard on controlling it is priceless.  Also he is taking a diving class at our city pool.  He has perfected a front dive, and now we are bribing him with candy for every time he tries a back dive off the board.  Mostly he just wants to do a cannon ball or a pencil dive.

J

Obsessed with going on an airplane.  If I kept track of how many times he asks me to literally take him to the airport so he can catch his airplane in a day, it would be more than 30 times.  That's a lot in one day, and he likes to pack his backpack and a little lunch box full of snacks for the flight.  It is so cute, but sometimes I wish he could just pretend to catch a flight.  Also he has recently decided that he loves frogs.  There are some that live on our deck, and he likes to go catch them, and carry them around with him.  I will not let them in the house, and I also am nervous the entire time that he is going to accidentally kill them.  He is only three after all.  Usually getting him back inside the house without the frogs is a bit of a struggle.  I am starting to wonder if we can count them as pets?  Just pets that live outside all the time.  Maybe we should name them.  J is also talking up a storm.  The other day we had this conversation...
J: Me like frogs.  Me love frogs.
Mom:  Did we find some frogs?  How many did we find?
J: Ummm 2.
Mom:  What color were the frogs?
J: Green!  And ummmm camouflage.

RM

Obsessed with being one of the big kids.  Not quite two, but wants to do what they are doing.  He's also talking up a storm and added "taco" to his word list.  He is by far our earliest talker, and says three to four word sentences all the time.  Also, he is perfecting his jump.  Tonight he was practicing jumping off the stairs in my bedroom.  The first was too easy so he stepped up to the second with J.  That boy loves a little danger... 

Raspberries = Poison Ivy?

I think I am allergic to raspberry plants.  Not the fruit... just the plant.  I had two tiny spots show up a week and a half ago.  I had transplanted some raspberry plants a few days before, but didn't even consider it.  Then Monday night we picked raspberries as a family for part of FHE.  Now one of my entire arms are covered in the red itchy spots.  Basically I look like I have a strange skin disease.  Don't worry, I won't include a picture. 

Also we just got done having my brother and his awesome wife and their little boy at our house for a week.  It was splendid, and we are sad to have them gone.  (I will include those pictures later...)

April 23, 2012

April 23, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

This is two weeks late, so I am going to do a very fast version before I forget…

Monday:  Matthias’ parents were still in town.  We toured Balls Bluff Battlefield in the morning the weather was perfect.  Then for lunch we had a very nice friend who watched the boys for us and the adults went to tour Matthias’ work and have lunch.  It was a great afternoon.  That night for FHE we took family pictures.  It was as much fun as family pictures can be…

Tuesday:  Matthias took his parents to the airport early in the morning.  Mid-morning we picked up Benjamin and went to try and see the space shuttle Discovery fly over our area and land.  The Udvar Hazy Museum parking was full but we were allowed to park on the off ramp and then walked to the over pass.  Our seats could not have been better!  We saw the Discover fly over us three times before it landed.  Each time it was thrilling.  The boys loved it, and watching all the police officers managing the crowds.

I love the boys in this... RM trying to explain something to J and B-man in his own world.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday:  I can’t remember anything.  Matthias was working nights; he had a few interviews, etc…  Oh!  I did have a little party with the women’s ward team to celebrate winning the championship.

Saturday:  I went to a community garage sale.  I didn’t find much, but everything I found was awesome and ridiculously cheap.  Benjamin’s football game in the afternoon.  He lost and was disappointed, but it was fun to watch him play.  That night Matthias went to an activity for the youth in the ward.

Sunday:  Matthias left very early for his meetings.  I survived through Sacrament meeting and a very hectic primary.  It will be much easier when Robert is in the nursery instead of me trying to find people to take care of him.  I’m glad he goes next week.  We came home alone and Matthias surprised us all by getting home at a reasonable hour.  (I had forgotten to ask what time he “thought” he would be home.)

We love you all!

The C Crew

April 15, 2012

April 15, 2012

This has been a crazy week, with most of the important stuff at the end of the week.  Monday was B-man’s last day of spring break.  We decided to go explore Great Falls National Park.  It is very close by, but I have never been.  The boys loved all the water and climbing on all the rocks.  The picnic we packed was also a hit with the boys.  We went early, and then made it home in time for naps.

The falls and me trying to keep the boys on the right side of the railing.

"Hey Mom!  Look what I did!"

M with his helpers

We have been working a lot in the house trying to get some projects done and the house cleaned in time for M’ parents to come into town.  We switched out all of our lighting fixtures, and planted a tree.  Thursday night was a Relief Society meeting where we discussed conference.  I was asked to share my favorite talk from Saturday morning of Conference.  I shared my thoughts on Elder Oaks talk on sacrifice.

Grandma was there... this is about the only picture we got with her.

Friday I tried to finish all the last minute cleaning that needed to be done for our company.  Late that night I got a babysitter to stay at the house (M was working the night shift) and went to the airport to get his parents.  I felt terrible that I was a few minutes late.  Once we were home I tried to get them settled and then went to bed as quickly as possible.   RM had a rough night and I didn’t get much sleep.

B-man loves being on defense and pulling flags.

Saturday morning the boys were so excited to know that their grandparents were in the house.  They really wanted to wake them up, but I made them stay downstairs until they woke up on their own. We aren’t the quietest group, so I am sure they were awake much earlier than they would have liked.  The morning was very relaxed, and eventually M made it home and was able to join in the party.  At 11:30 B-man had his first flag football game, so we packed a lunch and headed over to the field.  He had scored a touchdown in the scrimmage he had on Thursday night, but no such luck in the game.  He did pull several flags and felt like that was just as exciting though.  Sadly they lost by two points.  After his game we all split up.  M took a nap while the little boys were also napping.  While they all slept I took a car and we went to get some pies, and we also went through Costco.  It was fun to go through with M’ parents and have them point out things they couldn’t get at their Costco.  Once we got home I watered the plants and visited with M’ parents.  When M woke up we quickly started some pizza dough, and then we took them to Wegman’s another fun grocery store.  That night we had pizza for dinner.  The boys didn’t like it when the smoke alarms went off, but they sure enjoyed the pizza.  After the boys were in bed M shared some dates he got while in the Middle East.  I don’t know much about dates, but I could tell they were fancy.

J called Grandfather "guy" and Grandfather always had these three little people following him around.

Sunday was a big day.  We got up and going so that we could be to church on time.  After the Sacrament our bishopric was reorganized and M was sustained as our ward’s new bishop.  We have known about this change for quite a while, but even still we were both pretty nervous sitting in our seats.  M left our row and sat on the stand.  He was also asked to share his testimony.  B-man didn’t know before what was happening (he isn’t great about secrets) but luckily he was super excited about the changes.  Even with the grandparents there it was still a crazy Sacrament meeting.  It made me nervous for the next five years with me doing Sacrament meeting all by myself.  Actually I was already nervous…  Immediately after Sacrament meeting I got J and RM taken care of and then we grabbed B-man so that he could be there for M’ ordination and setting apart.  We were so happy that M’ parents were there and that his father could ordain him to the office of High Priest.  It meant a lot to us.  Once that was over I ran back to primary.  After church we came home and immediately noticed an increase in the phone traffic to our house.  M got back around 4:00 and then we ate dinner.  It was a very warm day, but there was a good breeze blowing through the dining room while we ate.  After dinner we took a drive to show his parents the rest of our ward boundaries.  It was a lovely drive.  That night after the boys were in bed we had the Terry’s over.  They are long time friends of M’ parents that live in our stake.  It was fun to have them and hear some of their old stories of adventures together.

M with his new counselors.

We love you all!  Big changes this week, but we will make it!

The C Crew

Bragging

I know you probably saw this on the news... but we saw the Discovery in person THREE TIMES!  

Second Fly Over

Heading north before turning east towards DC.

We took B-man out of school and then drove to the Udvar Hazy Museum.   The parking lot was full and cars were parking on the side of the road.  We decided to park on the freeway exit and walk to the overpass to try and see the shuttle.  As we were walking up the ramp, less than three minutes later the shuttle flew by the first time.  We had to wait while it did a lap around DC and then came back for another fly over.  The shuttle then looped towards the west and then finally landed.

Coming in for a landing.

I'm not going to lie, it gave me goose bumps, and we all thought it was worth the effort.  Our spots for viewing ended up being perfect, and we were so glad the museum lots were full and the police were being nice about people parking all over the road.

Notice the jet escort.

April 1, 2012

April 1, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a busy week for us.  We are adjusting to M’ new schedule at work, and trying to settle into the new routine.  Monday was a fairly normal day.  We had FHE without M since he was working.

Tuesday was a quiet day.  On the days that M works he jumps right in to help get B-man ready for school in the morning and then plays with the little boys before he has to leave for work.  The mornings go quickly, but it’s nice to have him home even for a little bit. 

Wednesday was a very busy day.  We had mulch that needed to be laid, and we knew that the Scouts would be delivering more mulch that night.  We really wanted to know if we needed more mulch before M helped them.  So we got up and going very early.  By 8:00 in the morning we were out working.  J and RM definitely did not help with our productivity levels, but somehow we made it work.  We first weeded all the beds, and laid the mulch in the areas that we could.  Then I spray painted on the grass where we were going to put in some flower beds on the sides of the house.   Then M went to go get a sod cutter so that we could easily get the grass up and ready.  He went and got it; it was SUPER heavy and brought it back.  I helped him unload it, and we had to use a ramp, because there was NO WAY I was going to be lifting it out of the trunk.  We rolled it over, M started it up, and although it did a lot of shaking and made a lot of noise, the blade was not engaging and no sod was being cut.  We spent about an hour trying to figure it out, in any way we could and finally gave up and took it back.  We were so frustrated.  While M was returning the machine I started lifting the grass by hand.  I had done a little bit of work because I had planted a few bushes, and I just decided to start working.  When M got home we both got to work with our shovels.  It was hard work, but we were able to finish taking out the grass for one of the flower beds.  The flower bed runs the length of our house; it was probably about 150 square feet of sod.  We also finished planting the bushes that we had for that side of the house, and we laid the mulch.  A thunderstorm blew in while we were working, but we just kept working through the rain.  The boys were messy, but loved it.  At one point we paid B-man to entertain RM in our van.  Then by the end of the day RM was sitting under a down spout covered in water and mulch and collecting water in a cup and pouring it into a little planter.  We were just happy to get the work done.  Since we hadn’t spent money on a sod cutter we went and got pizza from Costco for dinner.  (We finished about 4:00)  Then after dinner M got to go move bags of mulch again.  I also had a presidency meeting with the primary.  So M had the kids for half of the mulch activity.  It was a very, very busy day.

Thursday was another busy day, although slightly better.  We started in early again and worked on the other side of the house.  The boys were harder to entertain.  It was a lot colder and it probably had something to do with it.  I did at one point get some popcorn out for them to eat, and that helped for about ten minutes…  I was less helpful because I kept trying to help the boys.  M worked hard though, and thankfully the boys took a better nap, so we were able to finish much earlier.  We took out all the sod, planted six bushes, and then laid the mulch.  I also planted peonies, dahlias, and columbines.  I am hoping that those come up and actually blossom.  We had just enough time to get sort of cleaned up before B-man came home from school.  M worked very hard, we pulled out some ENORMOUS boulders during the planting session.  For some reason there were many more rocks on the north side of the house.  That night we took B-man to his first flag football practice.  He was so excited.  M left halfway through so that he could go to dance practice for mutual. 

Reading a book together.

RM decided to tackle J.

J decided to return the favor.  Notice how RM is loving it.

Friday M was back at work.  Since we had pizza on Wednesday we skipped it and had taco salad.  Then we watched a video for our family party.  B-man was a little sad that M was missing out on our family party.

Saturday was a great day.  We ran a bunch of errands in the morning and then went straight to B-man’s football practice.  M was working, and sometimes it was a little tricky watching the boys without him.  The practice is right next to a slightly busy road, and the boys sometimes like to go in different directions.   After practice we then went home to get ready for conference.  I fed the boys, and then put them to bed.  B-man and I had a great first session.  In between sessions we played and ran one errand before heading back home.  The afternoon session was also great, but with all the boys up it was slightly harder to pay attention.  I fixed dinner and we ate as soon as possible after the last session.

Sunday M was home.  We were so happy to have him home.  We had a fantastic breakfast, and then a relaxing morning. We went on a walk and then we had a friendly chat with a fellow who bikes a lot while wearing about fifty American flags.  He gave each of the boys one and then we continued on our walk.  Then just as we were almost home there was a garage open with a sign that said “free.”  We hesitated for a few minutes and then knocked to make sure it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.  Then we started gathering what we could use.  We were quite a parade on our way home.  B-man was helping to carry stuff, I had the stroller with things on top, and M had a wheelbarrow full of things precariously balanced.  Thanks to the nap schedule, we had a great morning session.  Then afternoon session was much crazier, but we made it through and then ate immediately after the last session.  Conference was wonderful!  The talks were amazing, and M and I are both anxious to read/listen to lots of them again without interruption. 

We love you all!

The C Crew

Hot Balloon

This video is for my sisters.  J is obsessed with hot air balloons.  He calls them "hot balloons."  This is my attempt to get him to sing a song he made up about hot air balloons.