End of October update.

I have to say I'm a little annoyed that Blogger posted our latest entry "Autumn Vacation" below our previous entry "TFI 2008" so those of you who actually look at our blog (not via reader) might not know we put a new entry up (something about which one we created in draft form first...whatever!) Thanks for being patient while we finally got around to posting about our vacation in early October. Here's a summary of other things we did this month!

We drove to Fort Worth for the BYU v. TCU game. It was our first road trip in the minivan and we had a good time. The kids napped the first hour of the drive, then listened to kids music the rest of the way. They only drove us a little crazy, but all in all it was ok. We are proud that they still don't know about the entertainment system in the car! We got to TCU and attended the BYU tailgate party where Paul and the boys got their picture taken with Ty Detmer (former BYU quarterback for those of us not huge BYU fans!) The game was less then desirable. Having been undefeated, we thought BYU would do well, but they got squashed and it was sad to watch. The kids weren't that interested in watching the football game anyway, so we left early in the 4th quarter to begin our drive back home. The boys slept easily in the car and Paul and I talked and laughed and had fun the 4.5hr drive. We arrived home sometime after 3am, exhausted, but happy.

The boys with Ty Detmer

beautiful sleeping boys

We've still been having soccer games and practice and I took some pictures of the practice this week. All the kids love the practice (more than the games I think) and Paul lets whatever kids are at the park join in too. They all seem to have a good time.

stretching

red light - green light

I can...hop on one foot

freeze tag

Other things we've done this month? Hmmm...we've been busy with our church callings, got to see some of our best friends get sealed to their new adopted twins in the temple, have had friends over for dinner, and have tried several new recipes. We've had fun and played together and are looking forward to carving pumpkins tonight. Hopefully a Halloween post won't be too far behind.

TTFN

TFI 2008

The annual Thomas Family Invitational was held while we were in Utah. All the events were fun, here are the highlights.



Abe chose to play Mini-golf. And he should be congratulated for winning his own event.

Kate chose to play hide & seek. Jen may not have had the greatest hiding place, but won nontheless.

Grandpa chose to play Trivial Pursuit. And after leveling the playing field, Aaron proved his superior mental skills and won.

Aaron chose Chutes & Ladders. Thanks to Lis's new condo on the third floor she must be very skilled at climbing. She won this event.

Jen chose to play Yahtzee. Always a classic, this event was won by Tiffani.

Matt, as always, chose poker for his event. However Andrew came through with the victory in this Texas Hold-em nail-biter.

Tiffani brought back Shut-the-box. And as the person who introduced this game to the family, Paul came out on top.

Paul introduced to the TFI a silly game called Killer Bunnies. A riot of a game that anyone can play and anyone can win. But, Aaron won.

Grammy inflicted an 800M speedwalk on the TFI this year. And again, after the playing field was leveled... Abe came out as the speediest walker.

Lis, the avid outdoorsman, chose Go Fish. Tiffani was the best fisherman in the family this year.

A spontaneous event, the RUN, was an all out sprint where the fastest Thomas captured an extra bonus point. Andrew squeeked out as the fastest Thomas.

Sara wanted an event where strategy came fully into play; 'battle' (aka Rock/Paper/Scissors) The victor of the massive Thomas family 'battle'... Grammy!

The Signature TFI event, UNO was Andrews choice event. And like Abe before him, Andrew won his chosen event.

Without winning any events, but a competitor in all of them was the TFI 2008 Grand Champion... Kate Congratulations.

Autumn Vacation

Time to document our trip to Utah. We were gone Oct 2 - 12. Luckily, The boys fly well.

This time we flew up late at night and the boys, in their pajamas, fell asleep just after take-off. I imagine that the passengers sitting next to the boys were a little annoyed by stray feet as they slept, but likely preferred sleeping boys to crying, fussy, awake little boys.

We went up the canyons and saw the pretty leaves. One of the things I truly miss about living in SLC is the proximity to the mountains. We intentionally came to Utah in the fall this year. I love the fall colors, and Aaron and Brian really took to hiking. They wanted to keep climbing up further and further. I look forward until they are older and we can have some real adventures.

We spent lots of time with cousins and playing on the trampoline. Between getting 'bounced,' and duck-duck-goose there was a LOT of laughter on the trampoline:

Duck-Duck-Goose!

Crack-the-Egg

"I can jump so high"

We participated in the TFI 2008. (Thomas Family Invitational)

We went to the temple with others from our ward in Houston, went to the Saturday PM session of General Conference and had some truly great spiritual experiences.

I drove up to Idaho with my Dad and brother to visit my grandparents. My Grandpa had a special message for all his family.

He was in good spirits, and just wanted to know that we loved him.

Jen made a fantastic birthday cake, my mom made a delicious birthday dinner, and I had a very enjoyable birthday.

Sadly, there wasn't enough time to visit all the old friends that we have in Utah, let alone some of our extended family whom we miss greatly.

100th post

We started this blog in July of 2006, before Brian was born.  We didn't know then how much "blogging" would catch on, but we love being able to share our thoughts and pictures with our friends and family around the world.  Here's a not so quick family recap to celebrate post number 100!

Go Us!

Due to the aftermath and cleanup of Hurricane Ike, school has been out this past week and Paul has been working at home all week. We've had the opportunity to hang out at home quite a bit and have gotten a lot accomplished. Here's some of what we have done.

BOTH:
We went to my moms house and helped her clean out all the food from her freezers (the power was out for too long there) and checked out her lake house. Luckily neither home sustained any major damage, she just lost some food and her 30 year old freezer never came back on. Thursday night we went out on a date and tried a new Latin restaurant we had coupons for and rented some movies, Lars and the Real Girl and Juno. Both shows were....thought provoking. We enjoyed them, but thought they were "interesting."

JEN:
My mom is a great cook and she taught me well. I cook a lot and enjoy it (dishes are something else though!) After this storm I helped mom make 30+ jars of strawberry jam since the berries had been in her freezer and were now defrosted. YUMMM!!!
One thing my mom doesn't cook though, and therefore never taught me how to make, is bread. I checked out a book from the library called The Best Make Ahead Recipe which talks about foods you can make ahead of time and put in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a month and I decided to be brave and make some bread. The rolls never really rose, I don't think it got warm enough in my kitchen, but I kept trying and decided to make cinnamon rolls and they turned out pretty good. I was proud of myself for being brave and trying bread!

Paul:
Granted Katy TX wasn't hit as hard as east Houston, but there were still some trees down, fences blown over, and roof damage. Paul went out on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and helped folks clean up. He got to put his new chain saw to use. (purchased 3 years ago after hurrican Rita, just in case) One of the neighbors captured some pictures of him cutting down an uprooted oak tree in their backyard. There will be many weekends filled with 'work parties' going to east Houston to help clean out homes, and clean up debris.

Once we got the minivan we cleaned out one side of the garage to put it in, but we hadn't bought a garage door opener until last week. The garage was pre-wired for it (we are pretty sure the previous owners took the garage door openers with them when they left!) so we thought it would be easy to install. Paul got to use his circular saw, his dremmel tool and lots of other tools so he was pretty happy. We actually had a difficult time with the wiring because it wasn't labeled, but we finally got it done and we are SO happy! Now we just have to clean out the other half of the garage and HOPE we can fit Paul's car in. The garage is really quite small though, so with the workbench and bicycles and tools and such we aren't sure if it will fit or not.



Also, my computer which I purchased in 2000 finally went the way of all the earth. (Anyone know of any good electronic recycling programs?) We purchased a very inexpensive pc, and continue to use our old 17" monintor. Paul set it up and configured it with all the software we use and cleaned off all the garbage software that we don't. It's much faster and has much more capacity than my old computer. I hope it lasts me another 8 years.

Sexy Huh!

We blogged too soon?

We thought our adventure was over yesterday afternoon when the power came back on, but not quite. Early this morning, like 3:30am or so, a huge thunderstorm came through our part of town. The power went out again and when we woke up this morning our rain gauge had overflowed, meaning we had received OVER 5 inches overnight. Parts of the city are flooding again, but our street is nice and clear. We are very pleased with how our neighborhood has fared with the storm. Power and water were restored about 10:30am so we were only inconvenienced for about 7 more hours.

We drove around Katy today and saw TONS of fences down, tree branches down, whole trees snapped in half or uprooted, traffic signs and lights down...Katy wasn't hit very bad at all, but there still was a lot of damage and we got off pretty easy. Paul is out with our church group helping clean up now. I bet he'll have even more stories to tell when he gets home. My mom is still without power in her house, and while there is no damage to her home, there is tons of debris in her yard. If her power doesn't come back soon she'll loose the food in her 4 fridges and freezers.

Let's hope this is the end of our adventure, but again, we can't complain, we feel pretty blessed.

We survived IKE!

For those who read our blog who live near us, you can probably skip this entry, it's similar to several of the entries you have posted already. But for our friends and family who don't live in Houston, here's our summary of what we experienced with Hurricane Ike.

The good thing about hurricanes is that you know they are coming, you can track them, and you can be prepared. The bad thing about hurricanes (other than the obvious) is that you wait and wait and get nervous and nervous. That's where I sat with Ike. Thursday at 1pm the tracking models showed the eye of the storm would pass directly over our home, go to my moms house, then continue to her place at Lake Conroe. Great! But tracking models change a lot and by later that evening the experts had it on the track it would stay on and actually take, going through East Houston, not West.

Paul had the day off on Friday as the entire city was essentially shut down for preparations. The coast began seeing huge waves pretty early and we sat and waited for the rain. We made sure all our preparations were in place, including packing a bag for each of us in the car just in case we had to leave at a moment's notice. We nervously sat around all day, all afternoon and all evening...nothing happened.

At 11pm the electricity flickered and we decided it was time to get down to business and bring the sleeping kids down to our room for the night, Aaron on a bed on the floor and Brian in bed with us. The power did finally go out at 11:30pm and we saw our first drops of rain about midnight. Brian tossed and turned all night, so between that and the storm Paul and I didn't sleep well. The wind and the rain was pretty intense, kinda scary at times, but wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

In surveying the damage after the fact, we've lost a few dozen shingles, received 4 3/4 inches rain, were without power for 15.5 hours and didn't have running water for probably 12 hours. That's it! Our fence is fine, our windows are fine, we are fine, we really can't complain. Several others in our ward had tree or fence damage, some evacuated, but everyone we know of is fine. There are parts of town that have major damage, especially those nearer the water and those directly in the path of the storm, but we feel very blessed.

Here's some pics we took of our "damage" such as it was.

Silver Streak

Today was Aaron's very first soccer game. 3-on-3 soccer with 4 year olds is a lot of fun. Let the pictures speak for themselves. One thing I might not have mentioned. I (Paul) am the coach. I haven't played soccer since I was 10. My understanding of the game is just above that of my players. But... we have fun!

Falling down the stairs

The first time I heard Brian flying down the stairs I jumped up and ran to see the crying mangled boy at the bottom of the stairs. Instead I see a laughing, smiling, "I love you daddy!" Still the sound of him going down the stairs like this can make me jump.

First Day Part 2

Not much news to report now...but no news is good news right!

He came home happy as a clam, told me some of the songs they sang, didn't know any of his classmates names, but is excited to go again tomorrow.

I told him I'd take him anywhere he wanted for lunch today to celebrate his first day of school. He choose Bennigans...we showed up to find out it closed. Sadness! But he was happy with Wendy's too.

He's pretty cranky though, so I've told him to take a nap, but I hear noise from upstairs, so I'm not sure it's working. Time to put on my stern Mommy face and go back upstairs. Wish me luck!

First Day of School

I had been told by the school district there had been a mistake with Aaron's paperwork and that the school bus would not be picking him up the first week, that I'd have to drive him to his preschool (He's going to K-T Private Preschool). Imagine my surprise when the bus showed up at 7:35am! Luckily we were ready, but since I had been planning on taking him, as he drove away I was filled with sadness seeing my little 4yr old leave on the school bus.

I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he said blueberry muffins, so I got up early to make muffins before Paul went to work. I helped him get dressed in some of his new school clothes, and as you can see he looks adorable, of course! I told him it was ok to be a little scared or nervous your first day, but he said he was just excited so more power to him!

I have some errands to run, so maybe I'll drop by the school just to make sure he got there ok! It's ok for me to be a little nervous the first day too...right?





About an hour after he left I was composing this blog when I got another surprise. Aaron's school called to tell me he threw up! I guess he was more nervous than he thought! I quickly drove down there, and he was doing just fine so I left him there for the rest of the morning. I've got another 2 hours or so before he gets home, and I've got tons to do, but I'm just worrying about him.

The other thing that surprised me, was Brian's reaction to Aaron going to school. I guess I had prepared Aaron for his first day, but hadn't really talked to Brian about it. He cried when Aaron's bus drove away and threw a tantrum as I tried to get him to come back in the house. When we went to the school he immediately ran over to Aaron repeating his name numerous times and joined them in circle time. He was sad again when we left. I'll have to spend some really good one-on-one time with him this week as he gets used to Aaron being gone.

Well, it's back to the laundry and dirty house, I'll post again when Aaron gets home!

The next summer update

It's only been two weeks since posting, but I already feel like there's been a ton going on. The big ones though, were me going to Girls Camp with the Young Women in our church and Brian turning 2 years old! Unfortunately, right now the computer we put our pictures on is not connecting to the internet which makes it difficult to post lots of pictures. I can load a few onto my flash drive and do it here on my laptop, but it's MUCH slower than I'm used to doing, so it's kinda annoying. Sorry to all my friends who want to see all the Girls Camp pictures...I took over 100! Instead I'm going to write a bunch and just add a few pics.

Have I ever told you guys I have the best mom? Well I do! She watched my two boys the whole week I was gone, and my fabulous husband moved into my Mom's house so that he could take charge of them in the evenings. I knew the boys were well taken care of, so I left and didn't look back. I was gone Tuesday through Saturday.

Now I'm not the best camper, in fact I never really went to Girls Camp when I was a youth, but since I'm in the Young Women's presidency I felt it was a great opportunity to get to know the girls and have fun with them. And that I did! I got all girly with them and stayed up late at night chatting about boys and books and the Young Women's program (but mostly boys). It was a lot of fun and while I'm exhausted, I'm really glad I went. I'm glad I wasn't in charge, we had a fabulous camp director and assistant camp director, but I'm glad I took the opportunity to participate.


We got back Saturday afternoon (Brian's birthday), and after showering and relaxing a little, took the boys to Chuck E Cheese so I wouldn't have to cook. We were negligent in getting good photos there, but the kids had a blast, and to be honest, so did Paul and I! The pizza is marginal, but who doesn't like Skee-ball or Whack-a-Mole?


Although Brian's birthday was Saturday, we celebrated it Sunday with Grandma. I made him a racetrack cake, and it looked like this,

although it was supposed to look like this.
Not too bad for a beginner I guess. At least it tasted ok! Brian got lots of great presents and I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite.

He went to the doctor today for his 2yr old check up and was in the 90% for height and 75% for weight. He's a happy healthy little boy though and we couldn't be happier that he's part of our family. He still just loves to laugh and is totally into kissing everyone. He requests tickle time often and likes to try to tickle us as well. He and his brother get along most of the time, and I'm sure he'll miss Aaron when school starts next week.

Brian is a joy: He loves his ABC's, singing (singing his ABC's), being read stories, & playing catch with his dad - or anything involving a ball. He's addicted to TV and movies, but loves playing any games and just playing with us. He is easy to laugh. Even in the middle of throwing a tantum, if we start laughing, he'll start laughing, then he'll go back to throwing his tantrum.



It doesn't have to be said, but we'll say it anyway. We love Brian.

My new car!

Ok, so technically it's not new, it's a 2005, but it's new to me and I love it. And it only had 21,000 miles on it when we first looked at it. We are very excited and the kids love it too so far. It has leather seats, a navigation system and DVD player, can seat 8...it's totally awesome! Yea us!

More from this summer

We had a great July with lots of fun activities, but not nearly enough pictures to show for it. Here's some highlights though.

Fourth of July we went to Lake Conroe with Mom Fuller, Gary and Rene Wojnowski (friends from when the Fuller's lived in Oklahoma) and Chandler and Heather Knies (friends from our ward). We went fishing and boating, relaxed in the house, ate some great food, and watched the fireworks across the lake from the comfort of our home. It was a great weekend and we were glad we were able to spend time with friends.

Aunt Lis (Paul's sister) came for a week and we went to Moody Gardens, shopped, watched movies, went to the library, hung out, played games...we had a great time. Thanks for coming Lis! Paul took one day off and we went to Moody Gardens and saw the Aquarium Pyramid and the Palm Beach. The kids did well and everyone had a great time!



The air conditioning went out on my car :( so we've spent the past month looking online for the right car for our family. (Thanks mom for loaning us your car for the past few weeks!) We sold my car to CarMax and bought a 2005 Honda Odyssey. It is fully loaded, lots of bells and whistles for us to play with and get used to and we are VERY EXCITED! I'll post pictures later this week after we get it detailed and looking perfect.

Tropical Storm Edouard hit just East of Houston on Tuesday. We made sure we were prepared, and it was good practice, but not necessary for this storm. We got less than 2 inches of rain, no strong wind and no power outages. Paul got to work from home though and the boys had a great time playing in the rain! I'll take storms like this any day!




Brian has turned into one kissy boy! He kisses us constantly. We love it and encourage it! He went from being a very non-cuddly baby to quite a cuddly and kissy toddler. Here's some pics of him kissing everything in sight!



Here's one last slide show of some of the cute pictures we've taken in the past month of the boys in the shower, at the Astros game, and with their dad..

So far this summer...

It's been a month since I blogged...and I don't really have a good excuse. We've just been regularly busy, but not with much exciting going on. I haven't taken tons of pictures, so I apologize, but hopefully this weekend we'll get some good pics from the Lake Conroe. Here's some highlights of June.

We spent a weekend at Lake Conroe relaxing and Aaron and Paul spent the morning and evening fishing. My dad would be so happy!



Aaron had his 4 yr check up. He's 50th% for height and 75th% for weight, but somehow his BMI is only 25-50%. How does that work? We met with a new pediatrician and it was fun to sit and brag on my smart boy. She was impressed!

Both boys went to the dentist, but Aaron had to go twice because half way through the exam he freaked out and wouldn't let her finish. Luckily, both boys have great strong teeth with no cavities!

Aaron went to a week long day camp hosted by some young women in our ward for 3 hours a day one week. He had a great time.

Aaron is taking swimming lessons and is over half done. Some days he likes it better than others, but overall he is learning lots and doing great. Brian loves to swim too, but mostly just loves the suckers that Chandler gives them.





Aaron finished his turn in primary by giving 2 talks, saying one prayer and reading the article of faith, scripture and theme about 3 times. We were so proud of him having no fear and just being a pro.

Uncle Andrew (Paul's bro) came in town for Father's day and he and Paul went to the Astros v. Yankees game (we lost). We loved having Andrew here even for a short visit, but somehow we didn't take any pictures, silly us.

Paul and I went to the Astros v. Red Socks game last weekend and we won! It was an awesome, close, action packed game!

We've spent time at the park and the library, but most of our time is spent hanging out at home and just relaxing. The boys love helping us wash the cars!





I just made pickles, salsa and crushed tomatoes for the first time. We haven't tried them yet, but will this weekend. Wish us luck!





I feel all domestic now...like a real Mormon Woman or something! Anyway, that's it for now. I'll update again soon!

Aaron's latest

Aaron gave his first talk in Junior Primary today.

For the month of June, the 3-4 yr olds in our ward at church are responsible for the opening prayer, leading the 3-8 yr olds in saying the monthly theme, scripture, and 12th article of faith and giving a short talk. Aaron's job this Sunday was the talk. The theme for the month was "The temple blesses me and my family" so on Wednesday Aaron and I sat down and talked about it and wrote his talk.

We then practiced having him read it a few times then on Friday Paul suggested he memorize it, and he surprised us by having already memorized the whole thing. Saturday we went to the church so he could practice saying it in front of the podium in the primary room with the microphone on. We talked to him about it a lot and he didn't seem nervous at all, but we knew that come Sunday afternoon it could be a totally different story. We were prepared to have to help him if needed as we know most parents have to whisper in their kids ears what to say.

But not Aaron. When it was his turn he stepped right up on the stool, grabbed the microphone in his hand and spoke right into it. He said his talk perfectly, and while maybe not everyone could understand him, he did a GREAT job and we were so proud of him. We sat in the back of the room and just beamed at our amazing son.

Here are some pictures of our adorable boy taken right before church. The fat lip was from falling at the play place in the mall, it bled for just a second, but then he was over it and thinks the ice cream he had for dessert last night erased the bump!









He fell asleep in the car on the way to church...precious!

Also, here is the talk he gave and again...we are so proud of him!

The temple blesses me and my family
Heavenly Father has asked us to build temples
A temple is also called the house of the Lord
In Doctrine and Covenants section 97 versus 15 and 16 it says:
“And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, my presence shall be there, for I will come into it.”
In temples families can be sealed together for eternity.
I’d like to bear my testimony that I know the church is true and I know that because of temple blessings I can be with my family forever.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Brian's latest

In General Conference in April, Elder Ballard told a story about being in church with his kids and the "cheerios got away" from him. Well today, the cheerios got away from Brian. He tried to bring me the whole bag, but he grabbed it from the side/bottom and it spilled all over the floor. I cleaned up about half, then took a picture of what was left.



We started working on transitioning Brian to the "big boy bed" in his room upstairs this week. Brian typically doesn't sleep well anyplace other than his crib. After several attempts each day, he's now napped there two days in a row. When he finally fell asleep Friday I braved the possibility of waking him up and took some cute pictures. Here's one of them.



He's such an angel!

One more thing...
Aaron:
Mom, what is tuba plus tuba?
Me:
I don't know, what is it?
Aaron:
Fourba....hahahaha!

Fun weekend with Friends

Gotta love the three day weekend!

Our friends Amber and Warren and their 3 daughters visited us from Kyle, Texas and we had a great time! When they showed up Saturday afternoon we made some of my home-made strawberry banana ice cream (turned our pretty good if you ask me) which won me a prize at our church end of summer party last year. Unfortunately for my waistline, I think we've eaten over half of the batch already! Paul was at a baptism at the church, so we went to Mary Jo Pecham Park in Katy near the church so he could meet us there and play. Silly me, I forgot to bring my camera, but Amber took a few great pics so check them out on her blog referenced above.

Amber and Warren brought us dinner Saturday night from Papa Murphy's Pizza. There aren't franchises here in Houston, but there were in Logan where I went to school and I miss it! I don't know whether it was a gift to get it again, or just mean since I can't have it again for a while! Delicious though! That night we stayed up late playing games (kazink and killer bunnies), chatting, and having fun.

Sunday was church of course, and Aaron (4) and Taryn (6) sat very nicely on the pew next to each other reading The Friend and doing puzzles. Brian (1) and Haleigh (3) were a little more all over the place, but it was a good service with great talks on family history and the new website the church has put out to help us with it. My mom and I plan on working on dads genealogy so I'll have to check out the site soon.

Sunday night we had some emergency home repairs of replacing our garbage disposal (Seriously Amber, it WASN'T your fault) but luckily Paul and Warren are both really handy and were able to fix it all after 3 trips to the Home Depot. Silly us though, we set the delay start for the dishwasher when we thought the disposal was fixed, then later took it back out and while we played games that night (more killer bunnies) the dishwasher ran and water filled the bucket we luckily had placed under the sink, then overflowed in on kitchen floor. It's all cleaned and fixed now, so no big deal!

Monday we had plans to head to the museum of natural science, but Brooklyn (2) wasn't feeling so well so they all headed back home.
Memorial day Paul ended up playing volleyball at the church with the missionaries, I started cleaning the house a little, we went shopping at Target for nothing special, then we had some other friends, Julie and Justin over for dinner and more game playing (pinochle) and chatting.

Now life is going to have to get back to normal, I've got 5 loads of laundry to do today, Aaron still has 3.5 days of preschool, the house is still not really clean and dinner will need to get made like always. Thank you Amber, Warren, Julie and Justin for helping us have a great Memorial Day weekend. It's always nice to visit with friends and I hope more people come to visit us soon.

A Million Dollars

Aaron randomly asked me at lunch today, "Mommy, what would you do with a million dollars?"



He's totally Paul and my son...we talk about stuff like that all the time!

I responded that after paying 10% to tithing, I'd pay off the house, buy 2 new cars, buy new clothes for me, give some to each of mine and Paul's siblings and save the rest.

Aaron said he'd buy 3 new cars...one in yellow, one in orange and one in red!

Paul later said he would pay tithing, pay off the house, buy two new cars, heavily invest in college funds for the kids, then save the rest.

We're pretty boring I guess...but what would YOU do with a million dollars?

Busy Day

I am the only one awake at home...my 3 boys are all asleep. I should be asleep too since I have had a very busy day.

I just typed a nice long blog explaining everything exhausitng I did today but then decided no one really cares what I do all day, so instead I'm going to discuss some stuff that's been on my mind.

Via my Google Reader I routinely monitor about 50 of my friends or family members blogs. Sometimes I check my reader multiple times a day and read one or two new posts here or there. I didn't check it for about 2 days and there were over lots to read today. Several of my friends had very interesting entries which I left comments on. That brought up a thought about a discussion Paul and I had lately about this blog.

Paul started this blog about 2 years ago for the purpose of sending information to his family in Utah. Since then (and against Paul's wishes) I've kind of hijacked the blog and my audience is more of my friends from church and school who are moms too and who we all read each other's blogs. I TRY to keep it describing the kids and stuff that my extended family would enjoy reading, but sometimes I just want to vent my thoughts, feelings, frustrations, or excitements about whatever goes on in MY life (church, teaching classes, kids driving me crazy, fun things I've done with Paul or other friends). I know Paul doesn't approve (and probably won't like this entry either...then again he's asleep right now!) but getting comments on my blog makes me happy and my girlfriends in the trenches comment (and probably read it) a lot more than my family or Paul's so I feel justified. Keep those comments comin' girls!

Anyway, there's my post...ramblings and all. I really should get to sleep though since it WAS an exhausting day!

Bunnies, Bunk Beds and Brian

For those of you that don't know, our house backs up to the pipeline easement, so we will never have neighbors directly behind us. Instead, we have a grassy field or sorts behind our house. My father suggested we plant a vegetable garden back there, but I think that would be weird and think our vegetables might get eaten by others such as...



This bunny, (maybe there's several bunnies, we don't know, we only ever see one at a time) shows up in our front, side and back yards on a regular basis. The boys and I went out to see it in the backyard on Monday and he stayed long enough for me to get several pictures of it. I'm sure he was scared of us, but I was pleased my boys weren't scared of him at all. As long as it's a bunny and not a snake I'll be fine.

Our fun news for the week (so far) is that the bunk beds arrived. Last Thursday we went to Star Furniture because we had gotten a coupon for 10% off which was only good on Thursday. We bought Aaron a set of bunk beds, a chest of drawers, and a nightstand for his room. We later went to The Mattress Firm and bought two new mattresses. Everything looks great and we are very excited! I can't wait to go shopping with my mom to buy some new bed linens! Aaron's old furniture is now in Brian's room upstairs and we plan on moving him from his crib to a big boy bed in about 2 weeks. Please wish us luck!



Lastly, Brian continues to learn how to do new things all the time. He is now tall enough to turn on and off all the light switches and I either see things flashing or just find random lights on now. He's been able to open door knobs for a while, and has even wandered outside the house by himself before (luckily it was moments before Paul arrived home from work!) The cutest thing he can do though is verbal. Not only does he have a good grasp on the alphabet, both recognizing and saying, but he'll randomly be heard around the house saying "I love you" and even says "I love you Mama" or "I love you Dada." Is there anything better in life than that?

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a busy weekend, but it was great!

It started with Friday night where we chatted with some family friends, Derle and Marjene Thorpe, until late in the evening. They were in town visiting Mom Fuller from Cache Valley, Utah and we really enjoyed their visit. Derle Thorpe was an engineering professor at Utah State University and was one of Mom's college Bishops. Simultaneously, he and Farrell Edwards, a physics professor, befriended Dad and lovingly taught him about the gospel through their examples. We are all eternally grateful to Derle and Farrell!

Saturday though, we got to work. Our goal was to hang the microwave in the kitchen and hang one ceiling fan. We out did ourselves though and not only hung the microwave, but hung 3 ceiling fans and purchased the new mattresses needed for Aaron's bunk beds which will be arriving on Tuesday. Thank you President Bush and your economic stimulus check! We've stimulated the economy alright! Here's some pictures of our handy work.



Paul did MOST of the work, but I helped and handed him things as needed and even helped lift the microwave which Paul thought would require asking for help from the neighbors!

We then put the kids to bed, had a relaxing dinner, and veged on the couch!

Sunday was a great Mother's day. Paul let me sleep in, made french toast (yummm!) and didn't have early morning meetings so he was able to help me get the kids ready for church. We had Mom and Derle and Marjene over for dinner and sat around chatting and opening our present. Unfortunately, Aaron wasn't feeling very well, and had a little bit of a fever, but that makes him extra cuddly with we love. I kept him home from school on Monday and he's already feeling better.



My favorite present was from Paul and was an addition to my Willow Tree statuette collection. It's of the mom and her 2 boys...which I think look A LOT like my 2 little guys. Love it!



I hope the rest of my week is as good as my weekend was!

Computer Time

I love my computer. I love the things that I can do on my computer. Technology amazes me, and I don't understand a lot of it, but I love it. My children watch me. They watch how much time I spend on the computer and they both love to play on the computer themselves. With Aaron, when he first got interested in the computer, we gave him an old broken keyboard to play with, then later we would just let him type on a word document. We'd put up a large, fun, colorful font and just let him type for fun. Then as he got older we moved up to starfall which is a great learning program. Now Brian loves starfall too. He's too little to move the mouse or touchpad, but he loves to watch us do it and even will sit and watch Aaron play on it.



They both are mesmerised. I feel as though I can already start to relate to my friends with teenagers who worry if their children are spending too much time on-line.

Likewise, I feel as though I probably spend too much time on-line. I love all of Google's products. Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, Google Documents, Google Maps, etc. It is very addicting...checking to see who has updated their blogs...checking to see who has sent me e-mail...checking to see who has played me on facebook in the latest scrabble game. There are lots of legitimate reasons for me to be on-line too. My work as an environmental consultant, helping my mom sort out the medical insurance bills from my dad's last year, my job as a baby sign language instructor, paying bills, etc. but I feel as though sometimes I sit here in front of my laptop too much. Do you ever feel that way?

In April, our church had what is called General Conference. Twice a year the leaders of our church speak from Salt Lake City, Utah to give us counsel, advice and doctrine. Elder Ballard, one of the Twelve Apostles, gave a great talk about women and spoke to the mothers of young children in particular. Part of what he said was a wake-up call to me.

"Third, even as you try to cut out the extra commitments, sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things that you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life, and make time for them. Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give to others, even to your children. Avoid any kind of substance abuse, mistakenly thinking that it will help you accomplish more. And don’t allow yourself to be caught up in the time-wasting, mind-numbing things like television soap operas or surfing the Internet. Turn to the Lord in faith, and you will know what to do and how to do it."

That last line about not being "caught up in time-wasting, mind-numbing things like television soap operas or surfing the Internet" was directed right at me for sure. I'll admit...I watch soaps. I have 4 soaps that I've watched for years. I now try not to watch any of them during the day, but I set my DVR to record 2 of them and I have one or two story lines on each show that I watch and fast-forward through the rest. I often wait 3 days or so and watch 6 hours of programing in about 1 hour. Does this qualify as being caught up in time-wasting behavior? What about checking to see who has commented on my blog? Is that a waste of time? I am trying to be more conscious of my time...not having the TV on...not playing on-line as often...reading more and checking on-line less. Hopefully it'll make me a better mom and a better person. I'll let you know!

Buzzzzzzzzz

For my birthday I requested, and received, a set of clippers so that I can try to learn to better cut my sons hair. On Wednesday we had an extra hour before I had to go to my Young Women's activity, so we tried them out.



I know that it's not perfect, and hopefully I'll continue to learn as I do it, but I don't think they look terrible. They definitely look different than they did Wednesday morning though! Hopefully these will be good summer haircuts! (sorry to those in Utah still dealing with snow, but it is summer in Houston most days!)

While it's been a busy week of birthday parties, play dates, lots of cleaning and shopping and baby showers, there hasn't been much new to really report. We've gotten a lot done, but I still feel like there's tons to do. We're trying to decide what to purchase next...ceiling fans for the upstairs bedrooms, garage door openers, landscaping stuff, bunk beds...when we decide on our next project we'll let everyone know!

Paul wouldn't let me kill him

When I went to pick Brian up from his nap before church I screamed and told Paul "Don't let me kill him." Here's what I saw.



He didn't just pull down one little piece of wallpaper, it's like one BIG tear and LOTS of little tears. Tons of little pieces on the floor actually. It's partially my own fault, I knew he wasn't asleep, but I thought some quiet time before church would be good for him. I was livid though and am still a little mad at him. I guess we'll have to put his crib in the middle of the room now, instead of next to the wall. GRRRRR!

Maybe we'll buy those bunk beds we have been talking about and put him in a bed instead of a crib. Question to other moms and dads out there...when did you move your kids from a crib to a bed? Any advice would be appreciated.

So many Birthdays! and an update on Aaron

I've recently found out that in addition to all my family members birthdays in April, I also have several good friends with birthdays right around mine. So...to all my fellow April birthday friends
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Last week Aaron started going to PPCD, a pre-school program through the school district, in the afternoon. He now is enrolled in 2 pre-schools, one at a Presbyterian church on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings from 9am-noon, and now goes every week day to a local elementary school from 12:40-3:40pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays are a little crazy as I have to pick him up, bring him home, feed him a "quick" lunch, then go drop him off at his new school. He obviously no longer gets an afternoon nap, which used to take place about half the time. He's definitely more tired, and a little more cranky, but he does sleep in a little later in the morning.

The teachers at this new school are supposed to help him out with his social issues and specific goals for him include initiating conversations, questions and comments with his peers. Since the PPCD class often moves slowly, he spends most of his time in the pre-K class. He likes that he gets to ride the school bus home and now suddenly notices school buses whenever we are in the car. I guess now I notice how many buses there are too! Don't you love being able to see the world through your kids eyes?




For those of you who don't know, the school district thinks my genius boy might fall somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. While I don't want to think that he has any problems, I'm glad that the school district is taking the initiative to help him at this young age. Next year they'll put him in a regular community pre-school program, but send a teacher to his school to help him on his issues. Please wish us luck as we continue to try to find what is best for him!

Birthdays, Lots of Family, Austin, and Fun!

You know how sometimes during the year, especially around the holidays, you wait for life to calm down...look forward to things getting back to "normal"? I'd still like to believe that someday life will achieve some semblance of normalcy, but I'm waiting to find out what "normal" will look like.

After my dad's funeral we were lucky enough to have family around for quite a while. My brother and his wife and baby stayed for 2 weeks. My sister and her newborn are still here, but will go back to the east cost the end of this month. Her wonderful husband has been commuting on weekends to see them and continues to help out around here. We've had a great time with them all in town and will be sad to see them go back to their lives. I hope they find their own "normal" soon!

During all this time, March and April is birthday time for our families. During these months there's 4 siblings, one niece, one grandparent, 2 parents, and Aaron's and mine. Those that took place the week or so around the funeral didn't get the attention they usually get, but everyone was very understandable. We do have pictures though from Aaron's birthday in March and my birthday in April. We all got lots of great stuff and appreciate the generosity shown by all.


In between Aaron's birthday and my birthday, Paul's parents came into town. They had been planning on coming earlier in March, but kindly rescheduled for us. We had a great time with them. We went to the Museum of Natural History and saw Lucy. (Thanks mom and dad for having a membership to the museum! Dad would have loved it!)For those of you who don't know who Lucy is, find out here. I think the exhibit is only here for one more week.

While there we also visited the Cocheral Butterfly exhibit and got some great pictures too. Aaron enjoyed it right away, but it took Brian a while to figure out what was going on. When he did though, the look on his face as he watched the butterflies dancing in the air was priceless...definitely worth the price of admission!


While they were in town we also went to Austin for the day. We drove up by way of Bastrop State Park and drove around the scenic park before having lunch at a great roadhouse in Bastrop. Then we continued to Austin and toured the LBJ Presidential Museum and Library. If you haven't been there I highly recommend it. Aaron and Brian got their pictures taken with the actor portraying Senator Johnson and though we didn't stay long, it was fun. While Paul's folks continued to tour the museum we sat on the grass outside on the University of Texas campus and just played. Great times.

After driving around Austin for a little while longer we drove out to Lake Travis to eat at the Oasis Restaurant for some good food with a great view.


Before they left to go back to Utah we spent a day relaxing at home and played at what we call Airport Park. We drive to Cullen Park, then take the 1.6 mile walk to a playground and grassy field where we fly the kite. The local small airport is nearby and we can see the planes right after the take off and before they land. We had perfect weather while they were here and it was an awesome day!


Before they left we had a Family Home Evening testimony meeting which was great. I'm amazed by the wonderful spirits our Heavenly Father has blessed us with so far!


Well, that's my current update, I hope to get more "normal" postings done on a regular basis soon. Wish me luck!

Fuller Family Cousins

The good thing about the last few weeks is that my whole family has been in town. The last day before my brother left we were able to get a picture with all the cousins. Here's Aaron (4), Brian (1.5), Jackson (5 months) and Brycen (2 weeks).



I, (Jen), haven't blogged much lately, I've been leaving it up to Paul mostly, because it's just too hard to put any of my thoughts into words. Hopefully I'll get back to it soon.

(Check out some of the new pictures we posted on the right...I love the new slideshow feature! Expect more of those!)

Skidamarink

A few months ago, Aaron found an old children's song book at Grandma and Grandpa Fuller's house. He brought it downstairs and he and Grandma started looking through it. Grandma remembered this song and taught it to Aaron. It has been sung many times since.

Skidamarink is a very popular children's song with a long fascinating history. It was originally the grand finale song of the 1910 Broadway musical, "The Echo". Since the title is not a real word it has had various spellings over the years.

Though the original musical only lasted a few months, the song endured and was re-popularized in the 1950s by Jimmy Durante.

Typical Version of Lyrics

Skidamarink a dink a dink,
Skidamarink a doo,
I - love - you!
Skidamarink a dink a dink,
Skidamarink a doo,
I - love - you!

I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon,
I love you in the evening
and underneath the moon;

Oh, Skidamarink a dink a dink,
Skidamarink a doo,
I - LOVE - YOU!

Thank you Aaron and Brian for your fantastic rendition!