alert! alert! front tooth missing!

Zane has started his own blog. If you are interested in following it, email me and I will set you up. I'm keeping it private for obvious reasons! He has typed his own titles, posts, and everything. He comes up with what he wants to say, and how he wants to say it. I have very little to no influence (except to keep it safe and appropriate), and I think it's been turning out great. He is such a little smartie.

Thus, I stole this post title from his blog. He lost his first front tooth a couple of weeks ago, and then just this weekend lost the 2nd. It is so fun to see kids with their front teeth missing. Here he is in his toothless glory!

summertime...

Since most of our summer was spent moving and getting ready to move, we haven't done much else. Just getting settled and enjoying being around family. School starts in less than 2 weeks. Doubt there will be much in the way of vacations. So, I don't have any cool vacation pics to share. I'm still not used to the fact that you can actually go outside in the summer here. We end up not going outside a lot unless it's swimming at the Lindsey's pool (plus our yard is all weeds - the hard stick kinds, not fun to play on). I imagine I'll get acclimated back again at some point. Enjoy the pics I have and don't complain...

moving in...

Note: I have posted a LOT of blog posts today - so make sure you scroll through, and see them all

Moving in to our new place has definitely been an adventure. We have been so blessed to have family help us so much. John's parents own a home that they have been fixing up to sell or rent - so it worked out perfectly as a temporary place for us. When we got here, there was still some work to be done. Turned out to be a blessing that we didn't have our trailer full of stuff for a few days. It's much more liveable now!

(hanging out in the packed car)

Three days after we arrived, we were treated to a nice severe thunderstorm. The kind we remember from Texas. Only - obviously I had forgotten. My parents were visiting on their way back from Branson, MO, and my mom and I went to Walmart during a small break in the storm. (A warning to ya kids - really, DON'T drive in severe weather, REALLY). There was ping pong ball sized hail hitting my windshield. I honestly don't know how it didn't break. Sooooo scary. There was a lot of hail damage to roofs and windows around town.

When the trailer arrived, John and I started unloading a few things before we got help from people in the ward. John was carrying our heavy TV, and tripped over the dolly that was in the driveway. He really scraped up his leg, badly. Somehow he managed to not drop the TV, and gently set it down. His leg immediately began to swell. It looked terrible. We sent him off to a clinic, while people arrived to help. Dr. visit and xray later, he got back home just as we unloaded the last thing off the truck. I think he planned it, don't you? Even now, 2 weeks later, his leg is still swollen and healing (but not broken).

We are slowly getting adjusted to the move. Our place is still a wreck full of boxes, but it will get there. I'm definitely still adjusting as well. I miss our old place, and it's hard to think about it sitting there empty while we are here - but being around family sure has been NICE!

(can you see the dent?)

(this was taken just a few days after the injury - it actually looks much yuckier now)

moving out...

I'm not sure if I had ever mentioned on the blog that we decided to move. It has been a long couple of years for us. We have struggled with making a decision of what to do about John's job. He wasn't happy with the way things were working out at his firm - so we started looking. He interviewed in Phoenix, and Las Vegas, with nothing really working out. Most all of John's family live in Clovis, NM, and we always had the opportunity for him to work there (with his bro-in-law - an attorney as well). To be honest, we weren't really thrilled about the idea. It's a small town, and not really our idea of where we wanted to end up. We prayed about it, and knew that it was the right thing. (Even though I didn't want that to be the answer!)

We packed up the truck trailer on June 5th, Saturday. We had a lot of help from ward members, which was a great blessing. I somehow forgot to leave out tennis shoes for myself, so all I had were flip flops. Great for summer, not so great for carrying furniture. Our helpers will receive many blessings for carrying our heavy furniture (piano included) down our driveway and then climbing back up to get more. It went pretty smoothly.

The way the "trailer" works - you load it up, they pick it up, drive it for you, drop it off, you unload it, and then they pick it up again. So nice to not worry about having to drive a big Uhaul. However, it also meant that our stuff would not arrive at our new house until June 15th (which actually turned out to be a good thing). We decided to spend a couple days at home getting it cleaned and fixed up (since we are going to rent it out). So it meant sleeping on air mattresses, no tables/chairs/dishes. Just basically camping out in our house. It was a little rough on the kids, but we made it through. We ended up driving to New Mexico the following Tuesday, staying in Flagstaff, AZ overnight, and arriving in Clovis that Wednesday evening.

(Zane was sleeping in our room for a couple of nights, and we guess that Lily must have been looking for us in the middle of the night, and found Zane instead)

zane's birthday...

So - the day before we packed up the truck was Zane's 7th birthday. We have planned to only have big friend birthday parties when our kids turn 5, 8, 12, 16, etc. - you get the idea, milestone type of birthdays. However this year, since we were moving, we decided we would throw a big friend birthday for Zane. Since it was in the middle of packing and moving, we had it at a local swimming rec center. It worked out perfect, because they do everything for you - decorations, food - all you have to do is bring the cake! Zane decided he wanted an "only boy" party, and didn't invite any girls. He even tried to tell me that Lily and I weren't invited!! He picked out a dinosaur cake complete with volcanoes (of course). It turned out great!





For his presents from the family - he said he wanted a skateboard, hot wheels track, a club penguin membership (his favorite computer game), and books. What a lucky kid, he got everything he wanted!!




We let him choose a restaurant to have his birthday dinner as well. He picked Red Robin. We had a really fun dinner as a family (and great service too, which is always nice). Happy Birthday bud, you are such a wonderful kid!

lily's birthday...

Miss Lily turned three years old May 31st. We celebrated with cake and presents! She picked out her own cake. I have to admit that it is sort of a cake wreck (see this blog). But it was perfect for her. She wanted a pink tricycle, pink roller skates, pink shopping cart...are you getting the theme here? She is really turning into a cute smart little girl. We love her so much!

superhero day and school's out...

I'm catching up on my blogging, now that things have started to settle down. One of the last days of spirit week at school was superhero day. Zane dressed up as Super Z - his own brand of superhero. Silly!
Zane finished up first grade this year, and he did great! He has been doing really well in school. He's reading around a 3rd grade level and really enjoys his math. His teacher was just great and loved having him in her class. Thanks Mrs. Merrill. We will really miss the school!

crazy hair and sock day...

It's almost the last week of school! Each day this week has been themed - today being crazy hair and sock day. I don't know if you remember earlier this year - Zane chose to have his head shaved like the cartoon Avatar. This time, he decided he wanted "old man hair". Too funny!

the uncalled four...

John has been singing with a quartet of guys (uncalled four - clever, eh?) for a couple of years. They met while doing Music Man - and one other joined them later. They sound really good, and have just been doing "gigs" around town. One of the things they have been performing at is an outdoor market at Tuacahn Ampitheatre. It's been fun to go out and listen to them sing. John will really miss singing with them when we move. I told them they need to record a CD before we leave, but I don't know if they will get around to it. I have a couple of mp3's of them singing but I can't figure out right now how to upload it to my post.

Here's some pictures from his last weekend out there:

science fair...

This year Zane decided he wanted to enter the school science fair. He did all the work on his project. The idea was his own - he wanted to know if rocks absorbed water. His project title was "Rocks That Suck". (I might have helped him come up with that title, a little). He took 5 different types of rocks (one of which was pumice - because I knew that would actually work), weighed them, let them soak in water various times, weighing after each. He typed out everything on his board. Cut and pasted all the pictures and words. Did a GREAT job I think. He got a "Teacher's Choice Award". The teacher's vote on their favorites I think is how that worked. SUPER JOB ZANE!!

easter...

We were really low key for Easter this year. Didn't even do eggs. Lame, I know. But, to be fair, I did get the dye kit out - looked at the directions: "dye will become wet again if eggs are refrigerated" - something like that. THAT went right in the garbage. Who really needs to dye easter eggs anyways. It's not like anyone (but John) in our family will eat them. Waste. Sorry for that little negative rant. Our Easter was nice and cozy - we didn't even make a fussy meal. The kids did the usual look for their hidden basket (that crazy Easter Bunny!), and the easter egg "hunt" outside on the front lawn. We (ahem, I mean the Easter Bunny) scaled way back on candy this year, and honestly didn't miss it. That crazy EB always goes overboard anyways.
Enjoy the photos.

(and I did start what I hope to be an annual tradition of a strawberry crepe breakfast- doesn't this look YUMMMM?!)

the easter dress...

I realize I haven't been blogging much, and I really have a bunch to catch up on still. Here is an "oldie". I really enjoy sewing. I enjoy doing blankets, burp cloths, taggie squares, those sorts of quick things for baby shower gifts. But, I really really enjoy making things from patterns. I love the time and effort it takes and the finished product to say to myself "hey, I made that!". It is a nice feeling of accomplishment. So - I do things like make halloween costumes, and easter dresses. This year, I got a slow start to Lily's dress, and then Easter was on General Conference so - she didn't need a dress for that day, etc. I ended up not finishing her dress until the 3rd week of April - but - it turned out AWESOME! I love it. It is adorable, and "hey, I made that!"

the boring stuff...

So many little things have been going on that I haven't blogged about - don't know why I haven't been into it lately. So here is a long update of what's going on with us, then back to your regular blogging program.

About John and I:
We celebrated our 9th anniversary in March, didn't do anything exciting. We never do. Sad story. One day (maybe number 10??)! John is stressed with his situation, but he really has done a good job lately of staying positive (or just pretending really well)! I am trying to find the time to get my jewelry business going again, but it seems something is always going on. Computer problems have not helped either.

Off the subject note about cockroaches...I don't think I understood before moving to the desert that cockroaches lived here. If I had - I really think I would have thought twice. When we lived in our apt. I don't think I ever saw one (we were on the 2nd floor). Since we have moved in our house - I can't tell you how many I've seen. They are the yucky big black kind. GROSS. But, what is even grosser... they seem to like my BED! I've woken up in the night to one crawling on me, not once, not twice, but THREE separate times! AAAACCCCKKKK!!!! We spray religiously, and don't see tooo many in our house. I've pulled my bed out, scrubbed it clean, taken all the bedskirts off, pulled apart mattresses, cleaned sheets, vacuumed under the bed, everything. Any tricks out there??


Zane:
He has been doing great on his medication. Really, the fits have all but disappeared. He seems to not have any side effects and feel just fine. Occasionally, he has some attitude and moodiness, but I think it is related to the stressful situation we are in, and he can "feel" that. When we are having a bad day - even though we may be hiding it - you can usually bet that it will translate over to him in some way. Things have been so good though, it's almost like all that stuff that used to be a regular occurrence - never happened. He's able to be him, and we love it!!


Lily:
Lily is potty trained! She has been doing great. We started around Spring break time (1 month ago) and she already sleeps through the night dry. She still has #2 issues, but I'm beginning to think all kids do. She already had those issues before we potty trained, so nothing new. She is getting better though. She talks so much now, and just adores Zane. She is starting to get a little bit annoyed with her little brother, which is funny to me. I think she has hit the "terrible twos" which really aren't so terrible. But, she has her days. She LOVES nickjr on TV and really would watch TV all day long if I let her. It is really hard to get her away from it (which means she really does watch a lot more than I would like, or admit!). At least they don't have those yucky commercials. I love to hear her little sing-song voice and her singing is so stinkin' cute!


Evan:
I already posted a bunch about him on his birthday post, so I will just say I love this kid! He has started to take a few steps (which I actually can't wait for). He loves to be outside, but our yard is not crawling baby friendly at all. Where did my little baby go?