Thompson Family

ITS A GIRL

2012-02-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

So this pregnancy I have just been convinced that we are having another boy. The entire time I'd actually been calling the baby him. I've never done that before. I even decided that we didn't need to even find out this pregnancy we could just wait until he was born that's how sure I was. Then Ryan and I decided we should look at girl names just in case and then the arguing began. So, finally I decided rather than argue about it since it was going to be a boy anyway, we should just go find out. So to the mall we went. And guess what. GIRL!!! I don't think we really believed the tech and Ryan who has to make sure of things (I usually have to take 3 pregnancy tests before he believes it) asks how sure are you. So the tech looks from many angles. First he says I'm %100 sure. Then he keeps looking and by the end says I am %300 sure that this is a girl. He keeps saying aren't you excited but I think we were just both in shock and I kept calling her a him for a few more days. So at my last Dr. appointment I was 19 weeks and asked if they could peek at the gender for me and I was fully expecting them to say boy but she was still a girl. So we're adding a sweet little girl to the ranks of all things boy. This crazy house is either going to kill her or turn a little gentler to make room for a girl. I kind of think she's going to have a rough go of it and will need to learn to defend herself from the the flying balls, swords, and so forth fast if she plans on surviving.

Anyway, we're excited and I'm excited to pick out little girl clothes.

So Many Changes

2012-01-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

The last time I posted Ryan was on his way home. Well, he's home now!! He got home on Sept 8th and then my grandma passed away on the 9th. I was so glad to have him home to support me and help with the kids. We stayed at my parents for awhile deciding the next course of action. We ended up deciding to stay in Utah and Ryan took a job with the Utah National Guard and is currently learning another language. We then bought a house in Lehi and moved here the first of November. Everybody has adjusted well to the new house, schools and jobs. We all loved being near both families for the Holidays and espeically Caellum's birthday. This new year should be a lot of fun and work. We have a yard to install and boxes to still put away and the baby will be here in June. Javin wants another baby brother to play with and Cael says we should have a girl. So, we'll find out the first of February which one will be getting their wish. I'm sure either way will be a huge adjustment for Zadek who is a crazy momma's boy. I'll post again soon with pictures because really that's why anyone really looks at our blog is for crazy pictures of the kids.

HE'S ON HIS WAY

2011-09-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Ryan is finally en route back to the United States!!! YAY!!! He called Saturday to say after two days in an airport in Afghanistan he was now in Kuwait. This morning I got a call to inform me that he was headed to the plane to fly to Germany, then Baltimore, then Mississippi. By Monday night he should finally be back at Camp Shelby to do his demobilization and then he finally gets to come home!! We are so excited!! When we didn't hear from him for a couple of days Caellum told me that he was getting bombed again " and that's the 3rd time in a row" So when Ry called I let Cael know that dad wasn't getting bombed but was on a plane and his little face just lit up!! Dad has been gone for a long time and we're all getting anxious and excited to finally have him home. I'll update and post pictures when he finally makes it, which could be anywhere from 3 or 4 days to 2 weeks. I'm sure we'll find out the day before he flies home but it will be exciting no matter how much notice we have.

Zadek's 15 month stats

2011-08-26T19:36:00.001-07:00

So, Zadek went in for his 15 month well baby visit today. I'm super glad to report that he was in fact well, after the fever that finally ended yesterday which he had for 4 days. To go along with that fever he also had a sore throat virus that apparently has been going around. The poor little guy was just miserable. But, alas, he is well and went to his appointment today for a round of shots that will produce another fever! YAY!! So his stats:

Height: 30 1/2 inches 31%

Weight: 22 lbs 7 oz 21%

Head: 68%

So other than his head, he is still our smallest baby. And he is tons and tons of fun!!

ALL ABOUT JAVIN

2011-08-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Javin also did soccer camp with Caellum this year. He is a really fast runner and he was playing with kids a lot older than him because he turned 8 the week of soccer camp and he was playing in the 8-10 year old bracket. I think it's good for him to be with older kids that know how to concentrate and it pushes him to try a little harder. He's getting to be a really good player and here he is with coach Lucy. She was great with him!

This was the end of camp ceremonies. He had been assigned to team Spain and so he's carrying his flag. Javin was working the robot while the music was blaring. He was about the only one who danced everyone else just ran through. Those of you who know Javin well will not be surprised by this. He just can't contain himself and must dance at every chance he can get.

JAVIN GOT BAPTIZED!!

With dad away Javin got the rare opportunity to choose amongst his many worthy uncles and grandpas to step in and baptize him. He ended up choosing Grandpa Dennis to baptize him and Papa "Grandpa Thompson" to confirm him. We were so lucky to be close to family and all of Javin's family, including great grandparents were able to attend. I should have thought and documented the event better but I was a little preoccupied with the Skype call that didn't end up working to Ryan and my little crazy 1 year old. I have been so grateful to be surrounded by so many worthy priesthood holders to be such great examples to my boys while there dad is gone. I really do appreciate all of the grandpas and uncles who love my boys and beat them up while there dad is away. I'm also grateful for wonderful grandmas and aunts and cousins.

I'm lucky to be a mom to such great kids!!

Summer Update

2011-08-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Summer has been really fun and has gone by WAY too fast. I can't believe school is already starting. We went a lot of places, played really hard with cousins on both sides and had a ton of fun!!

I love that Zadek thinks the slide is to climb up!

Playing at the mall on our back to school outing with the Thompsons!

The Aquarium. Zadek climbed up by himself. He is just as big as his big brothers

Fall Soccer already started. It's crazy that we've already played 2 games of the season. Cael is also playing but I only had videos of him. I'll have to do more pictures as the season progresses. At his first game he scored 3 goals. Javin is old enough that he actually has ref's and they play by the rules. He's picking up positions well. He has lots of natural talent. Just like his dad.

My Sister came for a week this summer. It was fun to have her family here. We went to planet play and even grandpa had to get a game pass to play!!

Jessica was really nice to help the littler kids out.

All of the cousins!

The boys did the British Soccer Camp this summer. It was lots of fun and really good for them. Here's Cael chillin after camp in his crazy outfit of choice.

Coach Lee was Cael's coach. His age division of 4 year old's only had 3 kids so he got lots of one on one time.

Javin also did soccer camp and I have pictures on the other camera of him with his coach, Lucy. He learned a lot and had lots of fun as well.

JAVIN TURNED 8

With lots of family around and friends too there was a lot of partying to be had.

The combined party. It was also Nathan's and Jessica's birthday as well. We had the water slide up and did a massive combined party. I think that the kids love this tradition.

Grandma had just had knee surgery but that didn't stop her from coming to enjoy the festivities!

The Thompson party was equally fun. We had pizza and the water slide and fun times!

Opening presents and playing at the pinata with Liam

He decided to do a Mario party for this one and have brownies and ice cream!

I have never let Javin have a friend party before and I decided that turning 8 was kind of special so I let Javin have a party. I told him we could invite whomever he wanted thinking it would be a lot of kids but all he wanted was Emma and Paul. His two closest friends. We had a POKEMON party.

We played Pokemon games,

put up the slip and slide and went on a pokemon hunt in the back yard.

Javin doesn't like cake so he decided instead of a cake we should go to Orange Leaf. It was lots of fun

Then RANDOM PITURES of ZADEK

He's really into his sunglasses lately

We've been getting together with our cousins on the Thompson side of the family and the first time grandma got the water slide out I didn't bring a swimsuit for the little one because I thought he was scared of water. Turns out swimming in your clothes is just as fun too!!

His favorite place to be, the bathroom. He climbs on everything and gets into everything. He's LOTS of fun.

We've had a great summer. It's been really fun to be here close to family and the time has FLOWN by. We are excited to get back into the swing of school and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our other family member who should be leaving Afghanistan in about 20 days. It's getting CLOSE!!! YAY!!!

Random pictures

2011-07-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Cael being Cael. He was super excited to finally get a DS.

The baby was super tired and found his blanket under the table. He just couldn't wait for bedtime.

Javin and his fireworks. The 4th was really fun this year because they legalized a ton of fireworks and they were shooting off everywhere.

Zadek has an addiction to propel. He loves it!!!

The kid loves to ride in grandpa's truck!!

This was after pirate day. The kids did an adventure club this year and had tons of fun!! Everyday was a different theme. Cael was a little tired, can you tell?

Yes my boys do love music. I can't believe he's tall enough to play the piano but he thinks it's fun and we all have to clap and cheer when he finishes his concert.

This Is The Place Park

2011-07-08T14:45:00.001-07:00

I remember as a kid going to this is the place monument. IT was a statue or two and that's about it. Now, it's a park and it's super fun. We rode on a train, panned for gold, and rode on ponies. The boys also made Indian Spearhead necklaces and Javin was fascinated by the Blacksmith. It was a really fun trip. Here are a few of the pictures !!

This little train ride went around a pond and looked over the valley. The view was amazing

The goats were really funny. They came running over to the kids and we almost couldn't leave because the goats were so fast at getting to the fences.

I thought it was funny when the kids got on the horses the first thing Javin asked was "are these real horses?" I know we've ridden on pony's before but I think the fact that they were tied up above their heads almost made it seem like a carousel

He's FINALLY walking

2011-07-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

Zadek has been really close to walking for a long time now. He finally decided to let go and is now unstoppable. I'm so glad he finally figured it out.

EARLY RELEASE

2011-06-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

We found out a week or so ago that Ryan will be coming home early!!! YEAH!!

He's scheduled to leave about September 10th and it usually takes at least a couple of weeks for him to fly back to the states and to demobilize. So by the time he actually gets back it will be around the 24th of Sept to the First of October. After that he should have about 20 days of pay available. We were originally talking about waiting for him to come home and then moving but have decided maybe it would be better to get the kids started in school in VA in September instead of moving them after 4 weeks. So, all of the original plans our gone and I'm on the hunt for a place to live. If I find something then we will move earlier but I'm sure we won't go until the end of the summer. This could still change depending on if we find somewhere that we like and if I decide to wait for Ryan to help me move the family. So I'll keep you all posted.

We're excited to finally have him home for good. It's been a long year and a half since he first left for Qatar.

Zadek's 12 month stats

2011-05-31T12:47:00.001-07:00

So he's officially one year and that means more shots!!! Poor kids, can't we just leave them alone. He finally cut his 7th tooth on Sunday and is now feeling better and I take him to the Dr for 3 more shots. So, my biggest question this time was is he still going to be small. Because he seems huge and at his last appointment I had just switched him to formula and he was only in the 10th percentile on weight. So I wanted to know if he started growing faster because of the formula, plus he just seems humongous. Especially next to his little cousins. Drum roll please!!!

Height: 29.75 in 50%

Weight: 21lbs 7 oz 25%

Head: 47 cm 60% (although there was some speculation that this calculation was probably off a little because last time he was in the 25% as well and as we all know not every calculation is correct. At Zadek's two week appointment he was 2 inches shorter than when he was born)

So, yes he is small for his age group!! And, my smallest baby at this point! Even smaller than Javin was. However, Javin was 25% on weight but 90% on height so he just seemed littler. And of course Cael was 90% on everything!

My monster is actually a little on the small side. CRAZY!!

Zadek's Birthday

2011-05-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

Living in Utah sure has it's perks if you're a birthday boy!!! So many people to love you and make a fuss over you! I'm sure glad we got to celebrate with everyone! Thank you so much for making his first birthday a great one

Party with the Parker Family

I loved this cake out of cupcakes. I was going to do the same type of cake for both parties but couldn't resist this one.

Opening presents was a little bit tricky at first but he soon got into the groove. And of course he had all of his cousins and brothers to help him.

While this wasn't the first cake of his life it certainly was the first that I've ever let him do by himself. At first he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. But he certainly got over that by the end. As you can see in the next picture.

By the end of the night he had just had way too much fun!! Good thing uncle Zane was around to let him veg with a toy for a little bit.

Party with the Thompson family!!

Grandma and Papa were nice enough to let us have Zadek's party at their house. We decided to make a dirt cake in a dump truck. Cael helped me pick out a construction hat pinata and another game.

We started the night roasting hot dogs followed by marshmallows. Of course there was a lot of jumping on the tramp and playing in the sand box as well. The kids love to play at grandmas. Even Zadek wanted his turn in the fire pit. I don't know if it's irresponsible to take this picture and then try to stop him from putting his hand in the fire or if I should have maybe just stopped him? Oh well it's a cute picture.

Zadek sure loves getting new toys and presents!! And his brothers sure love to help him open them.

This is a sucker from the pinata. I have to say it was the first one of his short little life. He really did love it!!!

And of course the famous cake pictures. Every one year old has to have one!!

As you can see not shy at all this time!! Although it did take him awhile to dig in because he was fascinated by the fork and gummy worm that were also on the plate.

Random pictures

2011-05-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

Since it's been forever since I've posted on here I decided to just do a short post with some random pictures from the spring.

Spring means soccer, well so does fall in the house, but we had a fun spring soccer season!! Javin was one of the best goalies on his team. He is super competitive and just can't stand to have the other team score. He will sacrifice his body in order to stop that ball. He's also great at all of the positions but played goalie a lot because he pretty much stopped everything that came his way.

Cael actually had fun this season. The kid can run forever! He isn't as in there as some of the kids but it will come with practice. I loved going to his games just to watch everyone run with the ball in a cluster even when it went out of bounds. Cael is a great ball handler and had tons of fun.

This is just a random picture of everyone playing. Zadek just loves to play with his brothers and they are super good about his crawling all over them and getting into all of their things.

Gina brought these back from Florida and they were super excited to eat them.

We all went to Park City this year with Grandma and Grandpa. It snowed while we were up there so instead of walking main street and shopping at the outlets we ended up at the new bowling alley. It was the nicest bowling alley I've ever been to. Some of the kids got bored after a few tries but not Javin! He not only bowled for himself but ended up bowling for a couple of the other kids as well.

Cael had a really great time in preschool this year. On the last day of school they had a circus party and their teacher dressed up like a clown and painted every one's faces. He says it was tons of fun and they even got to eat ice cream.

While he isn't walking on his own yet, Zadek sure loves to walk along all of the furniture and is always using things as walkers to walk across the house. He loves laundry days so he can push the laundry baskets all around. Now, he uses his dump truck and pushes it everywhere. I'm pretty sure he could walk by himself but he's just taking his time. Once he actually lets go he'll be unstoppable

He's 9 months old

2011-03-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

Can you believe how time has flown and my little baby is 9 months old now. On his nine month old birthday he was switched to bottles because those lovely teeth are not so fun when they are biting you!! He actually switched over really well and I think I have to say thank you to his cousins who have been frequenting my house. He has been trying with no avail to get their bottles and when I finally gave him one of his own he was happy. SInce switching he is now sleeping through the night for 8 hour stretches. Totally awesome!! anyway I took him and Cael to the Dr on Wednesday for their well visit checks.

Zadek
Height: 28 1/2 in 50%
weight: 18# 7 oz 10%

SERIOUSLY he's a small baby. You should see all of these rolls. It's hard to believe that he's small for his age because he's a huge baby

Cael
I know he turned 4, 3 months ago but with the moving and everything it took a little longer than planned. Hes' 50% on height and weight. He was also really mad at me because he got a flu shot and it hurt. I finally got him better and what do I do give him the flu on purpose am I crazy or what

Zadek is such a fun good baby. He yells when he wants to eat. He says momma all the time and loves to be big just like his older brothers. He can get anywhere he wants and is just generally crazy. He's tons of fun. Cael is about the funniest kid I know. I love the things he comes up with. I am constantly laughing. He has started writing his full name which is quite long. Caellum Mack Thompson. Javin is the best reader ever. He just got the DIary of a whimpy kid series and is reading them super fast. He's helping a lot around the house and of course he always loves the babies.

Generally we're doing well. It's taken a lot of adjustment to having Ryan gone. Speaking of which he left Monday night and is still not in Afghanistan yet. Who knows if he'll ever actually get there. We miss him a ton but are glad that he is fulfilling his responsibilties and as always working hard. I've been sending him tons of videos and when I get around to ever putting them on the computer I'll post them as well. I'm grateful for all of the love and support from everyone.

MILITARY LIFE

2011-01-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

Ryan left on the 9th of January. He went to Columbia SC first. He ended up staying there for about 12 days. Since we used to live in Augusta we have been to Columbia many times. He did some inprocessing and is now back at Goodfellow Airforce Base in San Angelo Texas. This is where he did his AIT training when he was in the military so he is familiar with the base. He thinks he'll be there for a few weeks and then be assigned a unit. The kids and I are living with my parents. Javin has started school here and I think is slowly making friends. We also found a preschool for Caellum and are settling into life here. It's really nice to be close to family.

Fall Fun!!

2010-12-14T13:52:00.000-08:00

I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving since it was just our family but as Javin would say, I made a feast!! It was the day after Thanksgiving that I was proud of. This is a turkey pot pie using our leftovers. The thing that the kids loved were the initials of everyone in our family on top. I have to say, I'm getting pretty good at pies. We had a great day and are thankful that Ryan got to be here with us.

Recently we had Zadek's 6 month check up. His stats:

Height: 27 in

Weight:17 lbs

I've been thinking he's humongous and then while I was packing and going through our important documents I found all of the stats from Javin's well baby appointments. I always remember Javin being super tall and skinny (I guess compared to Caellum anything was) Javin's 6 month stats were height: 27 1/2 in and weight: 16.4 lbs So, I guess Zadek really isn't so huge. He's right on par to what Javin was. He's gone down on all of his percentages but he's so full of rolls. The Dr's aren't worried about the drop. He's sitting on his own, can roll both ways, and generally wants to be just like his brothers. Every night we have to dance with him and fight with dad, Javin and Cael

Also, Caellum turned 4. Can you believe it!! My kids just keep growing and I can't make them stop. He had a toy story cake and then pirate decorations. He chose to make pizza and then we had to get a ton of decorations. He was super excited that Papa was here the weekend after his birthday so he could go for his traditional birthday breakfast. I can't believe how big he is getting.

Don't you love all of my pirates?

WE'RE MOVING!!!

So, on December 2nd we found out that Ryan's request for an exemption from deployment with the army was officially denied. In other words, he's going to be leaving for Afghanistan on Jan 9. After much debate we decided to hurry and move over the holidays so that he could see his family one last time before leaving and I can get Javin started in school at the first of January. We're really sad that he has to leave us again after only being home for a few months from Qatar but we're grateful that at least he gets to spend Christmas with us and see his family first. His approximate date of return is March 9 2012. Everyone cross your fingers that they don't extend him past that. When he comes home he will still have his job here so we'll be moving back. In the meantime, I've had 15 days to get the entire house packed up, into storage, and moved back to Utah. Let the craziness commence. Somewhere in there I need to remember that it's Christmas too. The boys have been super helpful and it's been nice to have Keith here on the weekends to help out a little bit too. So, Utah here we come!!

Tunk or Treat and School Parades

2010-10-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

JAVINS SCHOOL COSTUME PARADE AND BUG BALL

Javin's second grade class just finished a science unit on insects and to cap it off they all dressed as bugs and are having a bug ball this afternoon. He is obviously a praying mantis. Good thing we had a dad home to help put it all together.

This is Zadek trying to sit up in his car seat and look up the stairs in the school. He always wants to sit instead of lay back.

Caellum had to wear a costume today too since Javin was and this is what he did while we waited for the parade.

Pictures before school.

CAEL'S SCHOOL COSTUME PARADE

This was him coming off the stage. They had the kids parade into the room and then the classes took turns going up on stage to sing their songs about Halloween. I didn't really get a great picture because the baby was screaming and whilst holding screaming baby it's hard to take good pictures with left hand. Oh well..

Caellum's preschool had a Fall Festival that Zadek and I went to and helped. They had pumpkin bowling, an apple toss, balloon decorating, tattoos, and golf. He had tons of fun and I'm so glad he's in preschool this year to take part in festivities.

THE TRUNK OR TREAT

I love my little turtle and so does the cat.

Ryan decorated the car and then tortured the kids.

Can you tell which SpiderMan is mine?!? Cael and the other little one didn't leave each other's side almost the entire time. Isn't it amazing how wearing the same costume makes you instant friends!! (PS Cael doesn't have muscles)

Javin and Emma were both vampires. She's probably his best friend from church.

We love turtles but forgot to take his costume to the trunk or treat. Oh well at least we have pictures of him in it.

My Birthday

2010-10-29T12:11:00.001-07:00

For my birthday this year I decided I wanted to go to Georgetown Cupcakes. It's the bakery that's on the show DC Cupcakes on TLC. Since I probably will never get to go to Ace of Cakes or Carlos Bakery I wanted to go get cupcakes. It's probably a little silly but nonetheless off we went. Ryan came home early and we went downtown, yes during rush hour, picked up the cupcakes and then went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I thought it was super fun. Thanks guys for indulging me.

Cute package right!?

Yum we love cupcakes.

Good thing I have so many helpers to blow out the candle. Also a really good thing that once you hit 30 you go backwards in age. I love being 29 again!!

Aren't they cute. And, most of them tasted really good too.

Renaissance Fair and Blessing

2010-10-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

The week after Conference we had our parents here to help us celebrate Zadek. We did his blessing at our house and on Saturday we went to the Renaissance Fair in Md. It is our second year going and it's super fun. The kids were knighted, we watched the jousting and we had chicken on a lance. All of the usual things you do at a Fair. It was a beautiful weekend and we were glad to go with the entire family.

The elephant ride. How many of us ever get a chance to do this?

Caellum is a knight for doing a goodly deed.

This ended up being a scary spider with sparkles and everything.

Javin took the knighting a little more serious this year

The awesome skull

Zadek 4 month chekcup

2010-10-29T11:57:00.001-07:00

While yes he is actually 5 months old now I thought I'd give you his stats.

Weight, 16 pound 75%

height 26 in 70%

We always think he's huge but turns out Caellum has him beat on all accounts. He has found his toes and loves to get them whenever the occasion presents itself. He can sit for a few seconds by himself and he is such a GOOD baby.

Soccer

2010-10-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

So, both boys have been doing soccer this year. They both have games on Saturday and then Javin has practice two times during the week. IT's been fun and crazy and they are both getting really good. Soccer seems to be the sport for Javin, always running and kicking and he never has to stop for the entire hour. Caellum is an excellent ball handler but insists every week that he doesn't want to play. Good thing he always manages to have fun. As for me... while I've loved every minute I'm super glad that it only goes for two more weeks.

He's such a good hustler

Look-a-likes

2010-08-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

ZADEK

Caellum

Zadek 2 month check up

2010-08-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

It was hard to get the kids to look at the camera and not the baby

isn't he cute

Just chillin

So, we just got back from Utah where Zadek turned two months old. I couldn't find my camera before we left so I took a bunch of pictures on my mom's camera an forgot to upload them. But, I did get some new kiddie kandid ones. Anyway, today we took Zadek in for his 2 month check. Here are the stats

Height: 24 in 80%

Weight: 13pounds 3 oz 84%

I think he was actually a little taller. We've had issues with different nurses and how they do things. I have had to go to putting him in 6 month jammies because he is so stinkin tall.

Javin's own pose

2 Week Checkup

2010-06-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

So, Zadek had his 2 week checkup today. He is 8lbs 3 oz, 22 1/2 in. That puts him at 62% on weight and 99% on height. He hasn't quite gotten back up to his birth weight but is looking chunky nonetheless. He is such a good happy baby and I hardly ever hear him cry. The boys are being great older brothers and always want to hold him and give him kisses.

So, Ryan is officially getting back to Qatar tonight. He came home at 2 yesterday afternoon with the announcement that he was leaving on a 9pm flight. Luckily he was leaving from the airport that is 20 minutes away instead of the one in Baltimore. I was hoping he'd be here for his birthday tomorrow and since I didn't know he was leaving until a few hours before we didn't even celebrate or send a package. I know the people in Qatar are excited to have him back as they have been waiting for him to head up a new job.

The kids and I will be leaving for Utah on the 5th of July, since Javin doesn't get out of school until June 24th and will be there to visit/ have help until the 30th. We're excited to see everyone and hope the time flies so that we can have DAD back again.

SOME MORE PICS

2010-06-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Just a few new pictures!! Dad looks so happy to be in this picture. We are sure glad he is still here. I'll let you all know when we find out if he's going back to Qatar or not.

Look I have eyes. This is Zadek 10 days old.

My brothers love me!! Javin and Cael always want to hold him even when he isn't being the happiest camper around. Javin is always giving him kisses on the forehead and saying "He's so cute"

I think this is actually the day after we brought him home. Only two days old and a tiny jaundice. Glad it went away on it's own.

2010-05-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

2010-05-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Shan gave birth to Trysten/Zadek (to be determined) on 27 May 2010 at 1:30pm. He is 22 inches and 8 lbs. 11 oz. Both he and Shan are doing great.

He has been a little reticent to show his eyes, but they are there. Even more remarkable is that he has hair!!

Easter and Spring

2010-04-10T12:32:00.001-07:00

Javin has been wanting to blow a bubble for the longest time. He finally did it YEAH!! Practice makes perfect. Just don't really be around him while he's trying because we sometimes get spit on during the process.

This is the tree in front of our house in full bloom. The trees here have been beautiful. Just ask the million or so people who were here last week for the cherry blossom festival.

The Friday before Easter we had an easter egg party at a park with some people from the ward. The kids had tons of fun!

Here they are counting their eggs to make sure they didn't take too many. I only donated 12 per kid so that's all we could come home with.

More counting and hunting

Here are just a couple of the eggs that we died on Friday night. It was weird not having daddy here because this is usually the activity that he does with the kids. He likes to do all kind of crazy tie die ones. This year they were just plain solid colors.

Dying eggs is fun

Javin liked to draw on the eggs first and then see his design magically appear.

We had a great Easter the kids had fun at the park and at our house.

Spring and BYE BYE DAD

2010-04-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

So today was a beautiful day and a friend of mine recently told me of this awesome park that is about 20 minutes away from our house. Since Javin is home from school and we have no dad around I figured we could kill the day by playing at the park. It is on two acres and has 4 different themed playgrounds on it. Here are the boys getting caught.

On this course they have a raceway set up and so the boys of course had to run and race.

Here they are just getting to the park and climbing. Caellum is such a great climber I've always been impressed with his skills. Javin is too of course but he has three years on Cael.

We got to the park and there were so many people there that we actually had to park across the street and up quite a way even to get there. I'll be excited to take them back when it's not Spring Break and see if there are fewer kids but they had tons of fun and want to go back tomorrow.

Here we have Ryan's last day here. We took him to the airport and found out that since the flight was run by the Air Force we could get family boarding passes to go through security and to the gate with him. IT was nice that we got to see him up until the end.

My parents were here because they had already scheduled time to come and see us for Spring Break and it was nice to have their help with the kids at the airport.

I took the opportunity to take some flattering picture right after security. When we were getting Ryan's seat assignment it was just he and I at the airport and the lady looked at my humongous belly and then asked Ryan how long he was going to be gone. When he said 4 months you should have seen the look she gave him. If looks could kill he wouldn't be here anymore. HAHA I said you know maybe on my first child I'd be a little upset but by the third it's kind of like just make sure you are there at the hospital I can handle the rest by myself. Anyway, it made me laugh.

You can't tell that the boys had had a long day and were pretty much done by this point can you.?!? As the plane started to board it called for officers first followed by anyone ranked E-15 or higher and then they started boarding by row number. Ryan was in row 22 and they started with 1-14 and 35 and above. This took a long time and we were joking how Ryan was going to be the last person on the plane. When they called for the next number they called for 14-20. Next came, 25 and higher. We all started laughing because Ryan literally ended up as the last person on the plane.

Here he is getting on. He told me he wasn't going to turn around but I got a pretty good one anyway. We'll sure miss him but we've already talked to him on the web cam twice and once on the phone. Good thing for modern technology.

Here's a shot of Grandpa and the kids during Spring Break

Here are a couple of shots from the National Zoo a couple of weekends ago. We knew this was going to be the last warm Saturday before Ryan left so we headed to the metro and downtown to see the National Zoo with Grandma and Papa Thompson. The kids had a ton of fun. Caellum has always loved zoos and Javin not so much but this time he stopped to read every sign and was excited to find the male and female of each thing he spotted. It was lots of fun followed by a yummy dinner of Thai food.

We've had a great time since the weather has started warming up and can't wait to play some more.

Happy Green Patrick's Day

2010-03-18T10:06:00.001-07:00

Cael helped me pick out decorations for our Green Patrick"s day party (that's what he kept calling it) We made split pea soup, had green salad with green veggies, I got lime sherbet and sprite and then sugar cookies and gold treasures.

I found these ties at Target and they both insisted on wearing them all day long. Every body made a fuss over Cael all day and Javin said that all the kids at school liked it. Hope everybody had a fun holiday..

Chuck E Cheese

2010-02-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

So, since Ryan was off so many days because of the snow he has been having to work weekends to make up for it. We decided since he'd be working all weekend that we would take the kids to Chuck E Cheese's for dinner and fun on Saturday after he got done with work. I forgot my camera (of course) but when Caellum won the jackpot on a game Ryan got his phone out for these pictures.

He won like 105 tickets from the jackpot which was awesome when it came time to get prizes later.

The kids had tons of fun and we were glad that Ryan and grandma and papa could come with us. Cael not only loved getting the tickets he also loved feeding them to the ticket counter machine.

SNOWMAGEDDON 2010

2010-02-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

So over this last weekend we got over three feet of snow. We finally dug ourselves out and then came round two of the blizzard. Tuesday and Wednesday brought another 8 inches. The roads were horrible. They canceled school all week. Ryan hasn't been to work since last week and the metro is shut down and so is the federal government. CRAZY!! We took advandtage of the beautiful sun today to dig ourselves out. AGAIN> The boys love playing in the snow!!!

AND Eating it!!

These are the icicles on our neighbors house. Crazy.

Did you know I have a deck. Also, check out my garbage can buried under three feet of snow. Needless to say I had to have Ryan dig this out too so that I can use it this week.

This tree usually has a trunk!! This is where we have been having to pile some of the snow when we dig our cars out.

It's been a fun crazy week. It's been nice to have Ryan and Javin home with us all week long especially if Ryan ends up leaving us at the end of the month. The boys sure do love to wrestle with him.

EVEN MORE SNOW!!!

2010-02-09T05:09:00.000-08:00

So, the federal government has shut down. Schools are canceled. The metro is closed and busses aren't running. Even our 4 wheel drive SUB got stuck in the snow in our neighborhood. Where the heck do we live. Alaska. NOPE Virginia. Crazy!!! Over the weekend we got about 30 inches of snow. Which is really pretty and tons of fun, but not when the place you live isn't used to getting snow. They were prediciting that it would take them 6 days to clear the main roads and the metro is completely covered in snow. Ryan and Javin both had yesterday off and it hadn't snowed since Saturday night so we ventured out to get out of the house. The sun was shining, all of the snow on and around our cars was gone, we have a vehicle with 4 wheel drive we can totally get around right?!? WRONG> Our neighborhood hasn't been cleared and there is only enough room on the road for one car at a time. After going to lunch and the grocery store we were on our way home and another car was coming so Ryan scooted over to let him pass and then we were stuck. WE were lucky that a tractor came by after about 10 minutes and helped dig us out. The roads were really bad and after being out and about I can totally see why school buses aren't out in this. The real cincher is that today and tomorrow we are supposed to get another 10 to 12 inches more. They haven't even cleared off the other storm yet. Crazy snow. At this rate with all of the snow days the kids last day of school which is already June 22 is going to be even longer into the summer. Fun to not have to go to school now, sad that we aren't really going to be getting a summer break. Ryan has loved being home and not going to work. He is home again today. So, we are going to go to Dicks Sporting Goods today to see if we can track down some tubes because apparently the golf course that we live on has some amazing tubing hills. I love getting all of this snow it's beautiful and fun but too bad they don't really have the resources to clear it all. The state spent their entire snow removal budget for the year on the storm back in December. Luckily we weren't in the areas that have been without power since Friday. So glad to have power. Also, I still haven't found my camera since our trip to Utah at Christmas so if I find it soon I'll take some pictures of all of this crazy snow!!!

NEW DUE DATE

2010-01-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

NEW DUE DATE:

So I went to my 21 week ultrasound on the 18th and the Dr's at the hospital were concerned because the baby was small for 21 weeks but great size for 20 weeks. So, they decided I should do another ultrasound to make sure that the baby is growing. I called my DR for a second opinion and he said that the ultrasound we did at 8 weeks actually projected a due date of June 4th so he thinks the baby is growing just fine and pushed my due date back a week. We will continue to measure and if it looks like I'm small in my measurements then we might do another ultrasound. So, now, the due date is June 4th instead of May 29th. Other than that things are going great.

Javin just started a sports and games class on Monday's which he loves and Cael is of course three and full of temper tantrums which are awesome. Good thing he's so cute and fun when he isn't mad.

SNOW SNOW SNOW and MORE SNOW

2009-12-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

We had a huge winter storm this weekend. I think they officially called it a blizzard warning and our state was in a state of emergency. I believe we got around 21 inches of snow in a 24 hr time frame. The plows couldn't keep up and yesterday we got to dig ourselves out. Church was cancelled. Ry's work got cancelled today and they cancelled school for the rest of the week. We thought it was tons of fun and nothing compared to Utah but here it's a big deal. Here are some of our pictures from all of this snow.

These first ones are form Saturday during the day so before the snow had finished.

Ryan thought it was super fun to throw the kids in the snow. Javin did a snow angel. I think Ryan did a face plant but sadly I didn't get that picture I was up getting Cael nice and warm everyone ask papa if you can see it!!

By this point Javin was in tears because he was so cold. We don't have winter clothes.

Just one on the deck to see how much there is

Both boys were so cold after this. A Little bit later Ryan threw both the dog and the cat out there just to get a reaction. Needless to say they hated it.

Papa's car was totally buried.

The digging out of our car on Saturday. We had to run a few errands At this point it had only been snowing for a little while so it wasn't such hard digging.

Sunday the sun was shining and the day was beautiful. My camera died so I didn't get very many pictures to show just how much snow was on the cars. The entire neighborhood was out digging themselves out and enjoying the beautiful snowy weather.

Snow Fun!!

2009-12-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Who can believe Cael is actually 3. He is getting so stinking big. He was really funny because he thought that now that he was three he had to give up all of the toys that were his when he was two. I had to talk him into keeping all of his toys.

Cael wanted to help decorate so after his nap he helped me blow up balloons and cut crepe paper. Daddy came home early to put it all up. I think he did a great job!

Javin really got into the heavy heavy hang over tradition.

More decorations! I think it's the most we've ever had.

On Saturday we got up to SNOW!! YEAH!! IT's been quite a few years since we've lived where it snows. We went to get our Christmas tree in it. These are the kids roasting marshmallows at the tree lot.

The kids, especially Javin, were so excited to throw snowballs. Javin almost hit Santa with a snowball. I wonder if he would be getting Christmas this year if he'd actually hit him!?!

Even daddy had to get in on the snowball fight. This is me getting mine for trying to take a picture of him!!

This one is on our way to get the tree. I let the kids play for awhile first they were so excited.

We got our decorations up and have been enjoying that its Christmas time because of the snow.

2009-09-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to a Renaissance Fair in Maryland with the kids and Ryan's parents. We've been hearing about it and it was GREAT!! Can you believe they even had jousting?!?

These are the fair maids who gave us a map of the grounds. The one in the peach dress even helped us find a few places and helped in the knighting of our kids

No fair would be complete without face paint!

The knighting ceremony. The Lady Mary dubbed the children knights for doing a goodly deed. They were so excited!! Caellum even got up to do this without our help. They got certificates declaring them official knights of the realm. Javin is so excited to be a knight but Cael wondered where his outfit was.

At one of the children's plays they asked for volunteers. OF course Javin volunteered. They had all of the kids yell as loud as they could and then picked the loudest two girls and boys. Javin wasn't the loudest and was extremely sad, (of course crying) but the Hero of the show George, decided that he didn't want to rescue a princess so the crew member said he'd take the first hand he saw to be the replacement and to every ones excitement Javin is extremely fast. He got to be the HERO and he was amazing. The play masters even had to step in because Javin really knows how to fight with a sword and could have taken the dragon out. He did an excellent job and was super excited. This was the best part of the day for me. I love how excited Javin gets for everything and he loves to be the center of attention.

As always good things must come to an end but I have to say if we are still here next year this will definitely be a repeat event.

DC and Grandparents

2009-09-16T10:27:00.001-07:00

Caellum seriously loved this huge tower. We kept trying to tell him it was a monument but that tower was just so huge

We made Javin run around and read every state. He got especially excited to find the ones that we had lived in.

Just a friendly game of swords.

I love that Ryan isn't going to give the ball up for anything.

Caellum could barely even hold his sword. He did a great job getting dad though

I was really proud of Javin for the way he was going after the ball. I'm sure the day is coming when he may actually beat his dad

Wouldn't it be fun to be little and get tossed around like this?

Anyway, we're having a great time here and enjoying the extra time we get to see Ryan. It's weird to actually have a weekend and get holidays off. But we sure do like it!!

UPDATE

2009-09-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

WOW it feels like years since I have posted anything. We had a great summer complete with the trip to Utah for a month to bask in the love of cousins, grandparents, and friends. After getting home, Javin started school at the beginning of August and then two weeks later we moved. School here didn't start until after Labor day so he got an extra couple of weeks of summer. WE love Virginia but miss our friends in Augusta. Our ward here is going to be a good one but probably not the home that the Augusta ward was. Javin loves everything about being here and is making friends in school. One of the things that we like about moving, besides just a little more space to live, is that we are now close to grandma and grandpa Thompson who will be coming to visit on weekends. YEAH! Also, we took the kids to DC one day and rode the metro in. They were super excited and can't wait to go back. I still haven't found my camera yet. It is in a box somewhere but once I get it out I'll get pictures up here. I'm super excited about Javin's school he gets recess everyday and has Spanish twice a week. Schools here are excellent. We really like the area we're living in and can't wait to make more friends and memories in a new state.

Field Day

2009-05-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

So, much has happened since the last blog! We successfully got Javin out of his hand brace and now all he has is a band aid!! Caellum has gone 3 days without and accident (I seriously thought this would never happen) We had a great mothers day I was super proud of the job Javin did singing in church if he wasn't there I would have been doing a solo as only about 7 kids helped me out. And he started wishing me happy mothers day on Friday and is still doing so. We've been walking to school in the mornings and afternoons which is great because it means I get in 4 miles and Javin gets in 2 (which the kid needs because he has soooooooooooo much energy) and Cael loves riding in his blue stroller and picking dandelions along the way. Javin finally got tested for the gifted program in school next year (cross your fingers) He told me he got them all right and I said how do you know and he said "I answered everything" I guess if you answer it you automatically get it right, well this is kind of a true statement for him. And amazingly Javin is up to 46 stickers and only has a week left of school.

Cael and I went over to field day today and got some pictures.

Javin in all his field day glory. This has been his favorite pose for years!

They were split into teams and then had different events set up all over the place. In this one they had to race to the sand and get treasures and race back I think the ones with the most treasure win

He was really coordinated at this one, they had to hit the ball around obstacles and race back. Javin was super fast.

The stroller lasted about a whole 5 minutes!

This is Cael's version of field day!

Waiting in line is just too hard. Here is Javin with friends playing in the pine needles making a fire while they waited for their turns. There were a ton of events but Cael was only up for watching and not participating for about 45 min. I'm so glad Javin is feeling better so that he could participate!!

2009-05-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

So, we started out to go get pictures for mothers day and this is what we ended up with instead!! (The actual image of the finger is way to graphic to be displayed and it's a good thing Javin never saw what it really looked like)

He has to keep this soft cast on for a week and then he goes to see the hand surgeon again.

The other band aid is from where they put the iv for all of the drugs they were pumping him full of. They gave him morphine to start and then some sedatives for when they actually reattached the finger. And all of this started over that stupid dollar that the tooth fairy brought.

Here is a picture of Javin missing both top teeth. He had just eaten spaghettio's and that's what's all over his mouth, gross. Anyway, We went and talked to his teacher today and she says not to worry about homework because she knows Javin can do it and to take our time coming back to school. We also went to the school that he was supposed to test at today to see if he gets into the gifted program and they are going to come to his school and let him make it up in a couple of weeks. So, Javin is doing better, his finger should heal completely and I am finally over the initial shock of it all. It's really amazing that a door can cut off a finger but now I've actually seen it done. Everyone watch your fingers!! I'm so glad that Ryan and I were right there when it happened so that it didn't end up being any worse. And saying prayers was about all that could calm Javin down initially. I'm glad that we knew where to go and had good Dr's attending him and that all seems to be well now.

Spring 2009

2009-04-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

These are some of the pictures that I've been meaning to get on here. They're totally out of order so sorry!

Javin's first official baseball game. He's on the pirates this season!

I swear Cael always looks drunk in pictures because he says cheese and then starts to run away or do something and that's what the camera captures.

Javin lost his top tooth. Sorry about the gross wide open mouth

With his treasure box that he got from school.

This is the scene that happens everyday now when daddy wakes up in the afternoon. There is usually lots of throwing around, tickling and sword fighting.

Javin's baseball team

Cael was really sad when I took this picture but getting his picture taken seemed to cheer him up. He loves this Cat in the Hat and sleeps with it every night. I have to tuck it in!

Cael wants so badly to be just like his older brother

Cael being a trooper.

Coloring Easter Eggs.

Another one's gone

2009-04-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

So I went to pick Javin up from school today and noticed he was missing his front tooth. YEAH!! It's been loose for awhile and about a week ago i took the kids to the park and Javin was doing the monkey bars and fell. Well he was doing this the whole time so I wasn't really watching him and on the last fall his knees hit his face and knocked his teeth. He was crying and I said "I think I see blood" To which a whole new level of hysteria arose! I then said "No I didn't" and of course the other moms were laughing at that. I had him get a drink of water spit some of the blood and then came home to assess the damage. All that had really happened was he knocked the front of his two top teeth totally off and you know some swelling. I was telling him how awesome it would be if he knocked his teeth out but he didn't seem to think so. So, after getting the swelling down we've been trying all week to get those teeth to come out but they were pretty stubborn. Today it started bleeding at lunch and one of the teachers got the tooth out. It's probably a good thing because he didn't' cry for her and for us it's all about the drama. Anyway, if you loose you tooth at school they put it in a treasure box and tape it up so he's so excited to have a treasure box and have the visit from the tooth fairy! Also, just as an update he's up to 35 stickers in a row at school. The new goal is to get a sticker everyday until school is out. I think he's up for the challenge. Also, I'm finally done with work and get to just be a mom again. I'm so excited. More pictures will be coming I just need to figure this computer out and I'll try to get them on tonight after the kids go to bed while Ry's at work. Sigh, I don't really like his new schedule, but it is the reason I got to quit working and he does get to come to church with us so I guess every down has it's equal ups.

HE DID IT

2009-04-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

For months now Javin has been working on getting 20 stickers in a row from school. He's almost done is twice. But alas, has not succeeded! Well, the wait is over. He DID IT!! So, to celebrate and let him know how awesome we think he is I am going to check him out early from school tomorrow and take him to see Monsters vs Aliens, just the two of us. Now the count is on for thirty and he wishes that he had 29 right now so that he could get 30 tomorrow! YEAH JAVIN!!

On a side note, we had a great Easter. I have a few pictures of coloring the eggs and such that I will get on here after Ryan decides how to do that. Apparently with a new computer comes all kind of new things that you have to have. For those of you who don't know the old computer finally gave in. I think it was about a year and a half ago that the repair shop told us we should just call a lemon a lemon if we have one. Glad it lasted as long as it did but I don't know how to use this one yet.

WE had a great Easter and the Easter Bunny left us fun things on Saturday this year. I like to do that so that on Sunday I don't have to worry about the chaos of Easter right before church and getting ready and I also wanted to be able to leave Sunday so that we could celebrate the true meaning of Easter and what it's really about. But, this year I had to get creative as for the reason that the Easter Bunny was going to come to our house on Saturday since I have one child who believes and one not old enough to understand. So I told Javin that the Easter Bunny isn't as magic as Santa so he can't get to everyone's houses in just one night but that he had to take two to do everyone. This explanation seemed to appease Javin and then it was exciting to try and figure out which day he would come. Lucky for me it was Saturday so that I could just relax and enjoy Easter on Sunday. Javin gave our family night on Christ's Resurrection and it was a great day!! I will have Ry teach me the basics of the computer tonight and then get some pictures up soon. Happy Easter everyone (just a little late)

PS: We had a great Spring Break and were glad when the Master's were finally over so that we could actually go somewhere without all the traffic of the golf course. I did like calling dad though and rubbing it in that I could actually hear the cheering from hole 10 (I think that's the one we decided we could hear) Anyway, it was fun to have Javin home but glad to see him back at school and on schedule again!

It's SPRING

2009-04-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Our Ward had the annual Primary Service Project and Easter Egg hunt today. The kids had tons of fun cleaning the rooms in the building and cleaning the toys in the nursery room. Caellum went potty with me every 20 minutes and hasn't had an accident yet today and he didn't have any yesterday! He's doing so well with potty training I'm glad that I can take him places and not worry so much. Good thing I have been blessed with smart children!

Javin wanted to find 100 eggs. He fell a little short but did find the golden egg!!

The nursery kids went out hunting first and Cael had lots of fun finding eggs and opening them up afterward.

They also had crafts set up and the kids got to make posters, color, make hats, and do word searches.

Cael's hat! He was pretty adamant about getting this particular blue one!

Javin ended up putting a lady bug and flower on his hat.

Amira's nap time.

This is a super cute picture of me after I just got done with a run. Ryan was testing the camera.

Ryan got a gun for his birthday this year. I know it's a little early but we figured while I still had an employee discount we might as well take advantage. So far he has gone shooting every week at least once and loves his gun!

Javin had kite day at school a little while ago and I went over and took pictures. He got his kite going really good because he sure does love to run.

Potty Training update

2009-04-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

So, We officially started potty training the other day and here how it's been going. First day: We went though 7 pairs of underwear and mom was very excited to be working so that I could leave and let dad do the rest of the potty training. But, right before I left, Cael finally used the potty instead of his clothes. Day 2: Wake up take off diaper and he immediately goes in the potty and we put underwear on! Success. I had to do many errands and was all set with change of clothes a diaper wipes and towel on the car seat and guess what!! Caellum went potty in 3 different stores and didn't have one single accident while we were out. You can't catch everything though and we ended up going through 2 pairs of underwear. So far today we've had 2 changes of underwear and mostly success with the potty. I have to say though, I'm always grateful when bedtime rolls around and I can stick that diaper back on him. Last night I was rocking him and we were talking about what a good job he was doing and he says "I potty again mommy" and I'm like you want to go right now and he says yes so we go into the bathroom take off the diaper and he uses the potty and then puts his diaper back on and goes to bed. I really thought on that first day that he would NEVER get it but he's doing much better and is starting to really get it. IT's so frustrating because with Javin it was like he had one accident. Realized he wasn't supposed to get his clothes wet and we never had an accident again. He was just like oh that's what it feels like to not have a diaper and he was potty trained. Cael is more of a trial and error, error, error, type learner. I guess I needed to learn patience!
But, he is doing AWESOME and loves getting those potty treats!

POTTY TRAINING

2009-03-31T08:06:00.000-07:00

So, Caellum is officially in underwear. We've been working up to this but I've been scared and so we haven't started yet. Cael finally decided that he needed to wear his transformer underwear like Javin was today so he kept saying "Potty train, underwear please" So what can I say he is now in underwear and this means we will never go back because he has to learn sometime so today is as good as ever. Wish us luck I think we're going to need it.
Last night the kids went upstairs and after about two seconds Cael started crying. So I yell up what's going on and Javin was in the bathroom and he yells back "I was just shutting the door so Cael couldn't see my privacy's" Anyway, the kids things say.

My Super Smart Child

2009-03-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Ok!! It's been FOREVER I know!! Just thought I should let everyone know about Javin's firsts this week. He has his first baseball meeting of the season tonight and is super excited. On Friday last week he had Kite day at school and I went over and took some pictures so I'll post them on a later date. His six year molars are coming in and he went to the dentist today and still loves it and gets excited for it. He does have cavities but they're small enough that the dentist is still just watching them. Because Javin loves the dentist so much Cael has now learned to love it too and also can't wait to get his x-rays and get on the chair for his turn at getting is teeth brushed. I think it really makes a difference to start them going so young. I'm still working and hope to be done soon. Ryan is done with his Arabic course and is back to working his regular schedule and he did well on his test. He always does. When we got home from school today I was reading Javin's weekly school newsletter and there was a section on the Georgia Young Writers Competition with congratulations to the school winners and Javin won for the kindergartners and his story is going on to compete at the district level. I was so excited and he didn't even know about it. Good thing I read the newsletter or we may have never known.
All I ever hear from Javin anymore is spelling. Which is great and also sometimes annoying. It takes him much longer to do anything anymore but he is getting great at reading and spelling. He's so smart. I'll get some pictures on here soon.

Happy Holidays

2009-01-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

I know I'm just getting around to posting the craziness. I finally got the decorations down yesterday. And for those of you who know about my finger it is soooooo much better. I go to the Dr again today just to double check before coming to Utah but it is almost healed so no trip to the hospital this time. Anyway here are some pictures from Christmas.

Cael got a batman mask from Santa and so he's been pretty much wearing it nonstop. We have to call him batman when he's wearing it and then he'll take it off and say "me" so we know we can call him Caellum again. In this picture Javin thought it would be fun to wear Cael's mask from Christmas so they could both be Batman and fight the bad guys.

Cael is quite the drummer. Usually he sits in daddy's lap but in this picture I was cooking (which pretty much sums up my Christmas day) and everyone else was downstairs. Cael climbed right up and decided to drum by himself

I think my lemon meringue could almost rival mom's I was so proud!!

Everyone opening presents. Looks like Amira even got in on the action

Javin was so excited to go downstairs and just couldn't wait. Notice the batman stocking.

Our tree was really pretty this year. It was even more pretty before Javin decided to put the "snow" on it. All of the green fuzz is from a cushion on our folding chair that was coming apart. Caellum and Javin loved putting it on the tree and I figured what could it hurt.
For those of you who are wondering about New Years. We all ended up in bed about 8. We told Javin he could stay up so I went to lay down with Cael and fell asleep. At 10 Ryan came to wake me and told me he was going to carry Javin up to bed he had fallen asleep about 5min after I went upstairs with Cael. So, I ended up in bed earlier than any night in history and the kids were asleep too. the next morning Javin woke up crying because he had wanted to stay up until Midnight. Oh well there's always next year.
Hope everyone had a great 2008.

Santa Sightings

2008-12-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

This year Christmas has been so fun. Javin is so excited for Christmas and has been counting the days. Cael loves to hear about Santa and loves to see the lights, presents and trees. They are both so excited and we're glad to get to start our own family traditions for the kids but miss the fam in Utah!!

Robby (our apt complex manager) dressed up as Santa and walked through the apts today yelling ho ho ho and merry christmas

He then was at the office for the kids to come and see him. Javin spotted a fake right away and Cael was super excited.

We went to lights of the south this year with the Winn's and it was really cool. This is one of the castles sitting on top of the swamp. You ride through the lights on a tractor drawn hay ride. Javin of course could not contain his excitement.

Playing after the lights

Javin and Kade! Javin was so excited to go with these guys!!

Cael didn't want to look at me.

We couldn't get Cael to smile but the kid was so excited to see "sasa" and sit on his lap.

Good thing the real Santa was at lights of the South since the one at our apt was "fake"

Cute Kids

2008-12-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

I like to cuddle with my daddy!!

Most of the time they love each other and play super cute.

Javin's homework time. Usually Cael wants to do homework too so we get out paper and crayons for him to do his homework.

Caellum helped me set the table by putting every single piece of silver ware that we own on the table. He is such a good helper

I just thought these pictures were cute and wanted to let you all see them.

Birthday Fun

2008-12-03T10:57:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday

I can't believe Cael is 2!! He's getting so big and is such a little boy.

He didn't quite understand Heavy Heavy hangover and of course none of us got him to wish us anything but one day he'll get it.

Javin is barely taller than the chair. He had more fun than Caellum did.

The official BATMAN cake. Caellum loves him!!

The next day playing with birthday presents.

He's 2

2008-12-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Today is Cael's birthday!! Poor kid had to endure the doctor with all of the shots that go along with it. They also wanted to do blood work so I had to hold him in my lap while they stuck him with a needle and drew blood. I felt so bad for him. Luckily he isn't quite as dramatic as Javin and once it was over he stopped crying and only said ow a few times. He's so tough.
Last Tuesday I went to Javin's school for a party and had so much fun with him. He's such a great kid and was all excited to see me. And then Thursday we went over to the Weiler's for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun and such good food. Thanks guys we loved it. We then went over to some of our friends from the Star Wars game for desert and the kids loved their older boys who made them oragami and let them play with their cool toys.
On Friday, After the craziness at work, we dropped the kids off at Cari's (thanks so much) and Ryan and I went to Atlanta to the Manheim Steamroller concert!! YEAH!! Before the concert we went to dinner at the melting pot and it was delicious. It's been a long time since Ryan and I had good quality alone time and we had lots of fun. The food was delicious and the music was excellent. The only down side is that because of work I didn't get to see the kids for 2 whole days. I missed them but at least Ry got some good quality time in. I wanted to take pictures but the battery has been dead forever and i can't find the camera stuff to charge it. Hopefully we can find it and get pictures of Cael's Batman cake and opening presents.
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and love you all

TWILIGHT

2008-11-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

SO, I know this is a huge deal but last night I went to the opening of the movie Twilight. Cari got me hooked on the books and she and a bunch of friends were going to the movie so I tagged along. It was a lot of fun!! I love hanging out with the girls and just being silly. We laughed and even giggled at those awkward moments and the crowd cheered when each new character was introduced. I must say I think I liked it more having read the books because you know what they are thinking better. We had fun and I was extremely tired at work today but so worth it. Next time there's a fun movie premier sign me up. By the way, thanks Lynds for the pictures that I stole from your blog. Love ya!!

It's finally gone

2008-11-18T09:44:00.001-08:00

After months of saying we need to get rid of Cael's binky it's finally gone. We cut two of them and were on to the last binky. It was being used for nap and bed time and anytime that Caellum just needed a little extra comfort. through no magic of our own the last one is gone. Cael lost it and Ryan and I have searched this house like crazy. He went to bed last night without it and i have been searching on and off today and can't find it anywhere. Caellum is now down for his nap without it and now I think if we do find it we will have to throw it away and never let him know about it. We wanted it gone before we come to Utah so I guess fate has stepped in and made the decision for us. I have to say I will probably never let a kid get this hooked again. Javin never used one but Caellum kind of needed it. Anyway, it's gone
On a fun note Cael and I went to Javin's school to eat lunch with him today. He was so excited to see us and couldn't stop jumping up and down and giving me hugs. I love how excited he gets about things. and I probably should cherish the fact that he's so excited to see me and doesn't care who sees him giving his mommy a hug and kiss. It was fun and Caellum loved being at school.

School's out

2008-11-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

I'm so retarded I just created this post and published it and then realized I'd put it on the wrong blog. So, it will be posted both places. Javin's out of shool today and it's been so nice to have him home to play with Caellum and help with the chores. We're washing every single blanket and all of our bedding today and trying to sterilize the house so that we don't all get daddy's sickness. We may bathe the animals today too but that's only if I get really ambitious. I like having the kids home with me during the day especially when I have to work at night. This way I'll get to see Javin so much more today. We're also working on his piano skills. He's been wanting to do more every day. I realized that other day that it's been forever since I've played the piano so I got out some of my music the other night and I stink!! I have lost so much of what I used to have. I guess I'm going to need to start practicing more. I also think it's interesting that in almost every place we've lived I've had a piano calling in the ward and that has helped me keep up with the skill but now that I'm leading music and not playing I haven't really been playing at home either. I love to play so I need to start again!!

Mini Ryan

2008-11-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

I bought Javin some new Sunday clothes a little while ago because he has gone though a growth spurt and I didn't have anything that fit him. Caellum on the other hand now has an array of clothes to wear since he can wear shirts from a 2T to a 4T and he gets all of Javin's hand me downs. So, I got out Javin's new clothes this Sunday and realized that I had unknowingly purchased the same thing that Ryan wears to church (when he is able to come) and thought how much more Javin looks like his dad when he's wearing the same clothes. Of course Cael can't be left out of anything so I took his picture too.

New Monster Tooth

2008-11-06T06:30:00.000-08:00

Javin came home from school the other day to inform me that his tooth was hurting at school so I took a look and sure enough he has another loose one and right behind the loose tooth is another monster tooth. I think there is a reason kids are supposed to loose the teeth before the new ones come in and for some reason Javin has not gotten this memo. His new teeth come in and then knock the other ones loose. I don't know how those ginormous teeth are ever going to fit correctly into his mouth. The dude is going to need some major orthodontic work when he gets older. oh well such is life.

Also, Yesterday Javin came home and told me that one of the kids in his class was throwing up and then he was up throwing up last night. Poor kid slept in the bathroom and everything. He stopped throwing up about 1:00 this morning and went back to his bedroom and then he said he felt fine this morning and ate breakfast and wanted to go to school. Everyone cross your fingers that he doesn't throw up there. Anyway, It's hard to know what to do when it comes to sending kids to school but if he's feeling better I don't see why he shouldn't go but at the same time I would hate to have him sick there. Luckily Caellum slept through all of the madness of last night.

Halloween and Trophy

2008-11-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

It was a fun Halloween. We made pizza's and let the kids pick their favorite toppings and after dinner we went around our apt complex. There weren't very many kids or lights on but because of that everyone was giving out handfulls of candy. The kids made a killing all of which will probably be shortly thrown away. SAD!!

Javin was Jango Fett from Star Wars this year. He's a little obsessed just like his dad. Caellum was Batman and couldn't quite figure out the mask

For some reason he wanted it to cover his entire face!

Javin's baseball season is officially over and to celebrate the kids went to Adventure Crossing. It's kind of like a small amusement place, arcade games, roller coaster, go carts etc.. Anyway he had tons of fun with his teammates. I love the trophies and the cake.

Javin's team, including the coaches. They loved their trophies!!

So cute

This cake has the team picture on it and the baseballs are rings so each kid got a ring with their piece of cake.

He won this game and was super excited. Thanks for playing Wesley.

Javin and Conner

It was a fun season but I'm kind of glad it's over. Two games every week so far away is kind of a lot for a little kid and the mom whose taking him. They do baseball again in the spring and apparently it's a little more competitive. I'm glad we introduced it to Javin early and we'll see when the spring rolls around if he likes baseball enough to play again.

Also, Ryan cut Caellum's binky last night because I'd heard it was a good way to make them not want them, however he didn't go far enough away and Caellum caught him in the act of cutting. I guess he was really upset and all morning he's been telling me "Binky, daddy cut cut." Oh well, live and learn. We'll be cutting one every other day or so until they are officially all gone. Sorry Cael.

Fall Fun

2008-10-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

With Halloween coming up the kids have been so excited to wear their costumes. Caellum has asked to wear his every single day and has started calling himself batman. He loves it and We'll get pictures up soon of them in their costumes!!Also, I had Saturday off and was so excited to get to spend time with the family and so we went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, made dinner in a pumpkin and made homeade cream soda. It was supposed to be root beer but we couldn't find root beer extract anywhere so we improvised. It turned out so good and the kids loved it!

Javin recently lost his first tooth. YAY!!!! We were so glad because we didn't have to take him to the dentist. Anyway, here are some pictures of him without his tooth and putting it under his bed for the tooth fairy. Not to be outdone, Caellum had to pose for some pictures too.

Javin also got to play catcher again at his last game and was really excited. The weather has started to change and Cael has had a little cold so we left him home and Javin and I went to the game. We were freezing. Javin had on long johns under his uniform and still wore his coat, gloves and a hat. It was fun but cold I was so glad we didn't take Caellum and so was Javin because he didn't have to share his snack after the game. I wish I had had my camera all these pictures are from previous games!

Ryan recently got an award for being a wonderful linguist!! If only the army could give advance notice on things, I ended up being over 2 hours late for work. I'm glad they like me. And it's good that Ryan keeps earning these awards!! He was also linguist of the year a little while ago and has been soldier of the month twice. We're proud of him and his great linguistic acomplishments. Hopefully they'll help him get into the army green to gold so they'll pay for us to go back to school.

Javin's first field trip is today and they are going to a pumpkin patch and the library. I hope he has fun and he was really excited and hand picked all of his lunch items for today.

2008-10-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

So Gina tagged me and I'm supposed to write six insignificant things about myself, which I will do at the end of this post. Ryan and I went to Javin's first parent/teacher conference today and his teacher says he is very smart (of course we knew) and that he is doing really well. We asked about his behavior because the boy has so much energy and she says he is doing great there as well. For those of you who know about the stickers Javin got up to 18 before getting a yellow again. We were so sad because at 20 we were going to do something totally cool (don't ask what yet) but we thought it should be awesome because it's a huge accomplishment. Anyway, he's started over and is only at one again. Caellum came with us to the conference and was great and I took him to story time and lunch the other day and he is so good. My only concern with him is how shy he seems to be but hopefully he'll grow out of it a little bit.

At Javin's last baseball game he got to be the catcher. He has been wanting to be catcher since the beginning of the season because you get to catch the ball after every play and at the end of the batters you actually get to get people out. He thought it was awesome and I wish we'd had our camera so you could see how he looked in the catcher's helmet.

We're going tonight to get costumes and to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday so I'll take pictures and get them on here.

OK for my 6 insignificant things
1. My favorite time of the year is the fall. I love the changing weather and the changing leaves. I love the colors and everything about it. It's seriously the greatest time of year
2. I love to wear layers of clothing. I really like to have on long pants and long sleeve shirts and just be completely covered. Weird I know but it's just how I am
3. I love watching Caellum walk the dog. It's my favorite times of the day she's the perfect size for his little body. It's totally cute
4. I get stuck in ruts a lot. So I totally have to try and break myself out of them and do something totally new. It's why I like adventurous friends who keep me always going because sometimes I'd be content to never leave the house
5. Being a mom is the greatest thing ever and I love having so many great friends and family members who are great mom's because it's something that I need to be constantly improving.
6. I'm hooked on People magazine. After living with mom for so long and always reading hers I can't pass one up!

I'm not going to tag anyone but if you want to put yours up I'd love to read about your insignificant things too.

Crazy things

2008-09-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

My kids are very funny!! The other day I let Javin go to the dumpster with me and help with the garbage. It was an unusually stinky day there and I told him he better hurry up so that we didn't throw up. When we got back to the car Javin said "Mom maybe it's so stinky because there are so many flies and they all pooped there" Apparently it had nothing to do with the garbage but with those stinky flies.
Amira was extremely doggy smelling the other day and I looked at Cael and told him that Amira is so stinky. A few minutes later Caellum brought me his diapers and wipes. When I asked him if he needed a bum change he nodded his head no several times and pointed at the dog. He was bringing me new diapers and wipes because I had said Amira was stinky.

Update on Javin's monster tooth. We went to the dentist and he said that because the tooth in front of the one that is coming in is loose we should just wait for that one to fall out and then the other tooth will gradually work it's way into the empty space. If the tooth hasn't fallen out by Halloween he will pull it to help in the process.

The primary program was Sunday and the kids did an excellent job. Javin always steals the show and was the only one with his part memorized. Good thing he's not shy. I will say that while I was extremely proud of the kids (all of them). It's a lot more stressful to be a part of the program than it is just watching. Caellum of course wanted to sit with me or up with Javin and wasn't' super happy that he couldn't. Ryan took his lunch break at work so he could come and we're glad he was there.

Baseball is going great and Javin is learning some important skills. I'll get more pictures on here when I can (hopefully soon). At this age they don't keep score in the games and the team who is up to bat bats until all of the kids have had a turn then they go to the next team. Pictures are tonight before the game I hope they turn out well.

2008-09-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

2008-09-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here are our family pictures from California. It's amazing how Ryan is the biggest kid of all and ended up soaking wet and throwing his sister and children into the ocean with him (fully dressed). i love these ones of the kids

2008-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Javin has a tooth growing in behind one of his front baby ones. We've been calling him monster and have been glad that he's going to the dentist on Friday for a checkup so that he can look at it. Because he has a permanent one coming in I was telling him that if the dentist decides to pull the tooth in front of it we can put it under his pillow and the tooth fairy will come. I didn't mention how much money she brings because I swear Jeffrey and Zander get like 5 dollars for every tooth and Javin will probably get like a quarter or something. Anway, on the way home from school yesterday Javin was telling me that his tooth hurt and it was wiggling. Luckily it's the one in front of the tooth coming in, so I told him that if it's loose and has a tooth behind it the dentist probably will pull the one in front. He then said "So if the dentist takes it out the tooth fairy will smell it and bring me something?" I thought it was funny but I guess how else does the tooth fairy know you lost a tooth if she doesn't smell it.

2008-09-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I'm going to be adding pictures this time but it's been awhile since I've done this so I may have already forgotten. Last week Ryan's dad came to visit and the kids loved it (we loved it too). Caellum played with him like crazy and so did Javin. It was so cute to hear little Cael asking for papa first thing when he woke up. I'm glad they got to spend some one on one time together. Javin has been doing way better in school. He almost always comes home with a sticker now and is doing really well. He also has started playing t ball and loves it. At first he wasn't super excited but now he cheers when I tell him that he has a practice. Also, it means that Ryan has to get over his dislike of baseball and actually throw the ball around with him. I think it's good for them. He is excellent at hitting the ball and is getting better at throwing (Cael actually throws better) and he is even getting good at staying in his position instead of running after every single ball. They've had two practices a week for a couple of weeks now and the entire team is doing much better.

Work is going good. They've been scheduling me during the days lately so I've been doing projects instead of just cleaning up after people. I like it and I've gotten really great at ladders. I've always been a little afraid of heights but have gotten over that on a ladder. Also, Ryan has gotten us started in a Star Wars role playing game. He loves it and does his research and has found a few friends from work to come over. They come over every Thursday and so far I've been able to play too. It's fun but really I could take it or leave it, I'm just glad that I was invited. I've never role played before so maybe as I get better at it I will love it too. Anyway, I'm going to put some pictures of the boys on here playing the wii. Javin only gets to play if he got a green at school and since Caellum thinks he has to do everything Javin does he has his own special remote without batteries so he thinks he's playing but he doesn't mess anything up.

2008-08-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

We got through the first week of school. Things Javin loves: eating lunch at school (They even have pink milk and a brownie), riding the bus home (he doesn't have to wear a seat belt) and Gym because he doesn't have to sit still. Things he hates: Sitting, and not talking. Since that pretty much encompasses what is expected at school there is a little problem. However, it's totally good for him to learn to do this and he is getting better at it. Also, I've noticed that when he talks he isn't yelling as much. I think he's learning to talk in a quiet voice. Caellum hardly ever gets his binki anymore and he's talking tons more. He is so funny. He just chats away and is always trying to say new words. Javin loves to get him to say silly things like peacock and you know whatever else he can think of. He still cries every morning when we drop Javin off and he gets so excited to see the bus come home at the end of the day (although he thinks he needs to get on it and go for a ride too) I am totally baby hungry and would love to have another one soon but I think it's been determined that we will wait until we get back to Utah because I just love our doctors there and hate the army ones. I'm horrible with pictures but love to see all of yours. Also, for any of you that know him, Joe Rowe is in our ward here (I went to Jr high and high school with him) and I conned him into playing the violin for our primary program. Bet he never thought he'd move all the way to Georgia and run into someone who knows all about his musical accomplishments. Have to say, I'm glad he's here to do it for me. Anyway, I'll try to get more pictures and post them soon.

2008-08-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

So, Javin is officially in school. I think he likes it but he says he doesn't really because all he has to do is sit sit sit. For those of you know him, this is a very hard task. The boy can never sit still. Anyway, we are zoned to have him bussed but I've been taking him and picking him up because you know he's my first in school and I'm worried about him. I finally consented to let him ride the bus home today and he was so excited. I will still take him to school because in order to catch the bus we'd have to leave at 7:30 and school doesn't start until 8:30. It's much easier to get us all ready at the later time. Here in Georgia kindergarten is all day long so he doesn't get out until 3:15 and then I work nights so it doesn't leave much time to see him. I'm going to ask for less days so that I can see the kid more. Caellum cries every morning when i drop Javin off and my days are so much quieter. Cael hardly says anything and I'm so used to Javin (who never shuts up) that the silence is a little unnerving. Anyway, maybe Cael will start talking more because I think he misses the craziness too. Well, I'll try to remember to take my camera to the bus stop and take a picture of Javin getting off but it's been raining all day so we'll see how that goes. We love you .

2008-08-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I have some explaining by way of our address. The goat and mouse are what Ryan has called Javin and Caellum from birth. He has this thing with nicknames and Javin has always been goat because of the way he laughed. Ryan has always called him that. Then when Caellum was born he squeaked all the time so Ry took to calling him Mouse hence, goat and mouse. I figured it would be unique enough that no one would have already chosen it. Anyway, I still have to figure out the picture thing and thanks to those of you who have given me some insight. I need all that I can get. This week has been different for me because i had to work Sunday because of some tax free business and then i don't work again until Friday. It's been crazy being at home every night with the family and I forgot how much i liked that. Anyway, Javin's open house for school is tomorrow night and needless to say I guess I'm the worried mother because I can't believe he's going. I'm trying to be all excited because he is but I'm a little nervous for the kids. Hope it goes well.
The picture is just a random one from Myrle Beach last October. Just thought it was funny and wanted to see if I could get the picture thing right.

2008-08-05T12:29:00.001-07:00

2008-08-05T11:57:00.001-07:00

I guess I am the only one in the world not blogging so I figured I better get in on the action. I'm new at this and a little computer illiterate so please bear with me in my attempts to share our family with all of you who now live so far away from us. I swear you should just move with us everytime we do so that we can just always see you. But, since you choose to stay where you are we thought it would be a good idea to have a place where you could see how much our family keeps growing and changing.