The Osman Family

Jem's field trip!

2011-11-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Jem had a field trip to the same farm as they went to last year (when I went with him). Gil was able to get the day off and went with him. Jem really enjoyed that.

Halloween!

2011-11-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

The week before Halloween we had an FRG Trunk or Treat. It was at a park. It was a little cold, but the kids had fun. Walter wanted to be a Vampire this year. Jem was James Bond 007. Rilla was a fairy princess and Shirley was a pirate. They had fun painting their pumpkins and of course loved all the candy they got.

For Preschool, Rilla and Shirley got to dress up. Rilla dressed up the same, but Shirley wanted to be a vampire (because he wanted to be like Walter). They had a lot of fun frosting their cookies (Shirley frosted his rice crackers).

We had a ward Halloween party and trunk or treat. The kids really enjoyed it. I was busy helping at it (Primary was in charge of the activity and I am in Primary)so didn't enjoy it as much as last year. I dressed Shirley as a vampire but when he saw his dad dressing up as a rock climber, he had to dress up as a rock climber, too. The trunk or treat was fun. I enjoyed handing out the candy.

Halloween night, Gil took the kids around the neighborhood. They came home with so much candy. I was surprised. We now have enough candy to last a few months.

Rilla's 5th Birthday!

2011-11-20T16:29:00.001-08:00

Rilla had her 5th Birthday last month. We had a BBQ at a friends house and let her open her presents there. She was very cute. She loves getting presents. We got her a wig, beads, and twist up color pencils. From her friend she got play makeup. From Grandma and Grandpa Osman she received an apron and play dishes. She loved getting their package in the mail. Her great Grandma Shirley sent her some money and she had fun shopping with it. She bought a pony and a mermaid Barbie. I am glad she really enjoyed her birthday. She is such a sweet little girl and such a joy to have in our family. She loves to be my little helper. She also loves to learn and play games.

More pictures!

2011-11-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of James. He isn't all bundled up so you can see him better.

Our New Addition!

2011-11-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

James (not his real name) joined our family on Friday, November 4th, at 4:13 PM. He weighed 8 ounds 11 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. I had him 10 days early, just like my last one. The labor went smoothly until the end. I had enough time to get an epidural, which I was so happy about. But his vitals dropped shortly after and I had a doctor, two midwives, and 5 nurses rush in and deliver him as quickly as possible (even though I was still only 8 cm dialated). They ended up using a vacuum and did an episiotomy to get him out quicker. It turns out the unbilical cord was wrapped around his neck so when he stated descending into the birth canal his vitals quickly dropped. I am grateful for their quick efforts. I am happy he is healthy and strong. He is doing so well. He is nursing well and such a delight to have. His siblings adore him. He is quite a bit bigger than we expected. The rest weighed between 7 pounds 2 ounces and 8 pounds 3 ounces. We came home from the hospital today and I am happy to be home.

Fall Break!

2011-10-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

We had Fall Break last week. It was so much fun having Walter and Jem home for the week. With my ankle still hurting we didn't venture too far, but we still did get out. Tuesday we went to the Custom's House Museum. They have a great kids play area downstairs. Then ate a picnic lunch. Thursday we went to the park with a friend and her kids and had a picnic lunch. Friday was Rilla's Birthday and we went back to the Custom's House Museum. They were very fun outings.

Gil's Birthday!

2011-10-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Gil's Birthday fell on General Conference weekend. Friday night we had a ward temple trip. I arranged a babysitter and Gil and I left and before we even got out of town, we got a flat tire. Three hours later we had a new tire on it but of course missed the temple. I was disappointed since I am about to have a baby and it isn't easy to go to the temple when nursing.

General Conference was great. I really enjoyed all the sessions. The 2nd dession on Saturday was my favorite. I love being able to watch it at home. My older boys did a great job listening to at least half of each session (Walter even listened to the whole first session).

We made cup cakes for Gil's Birthday. Rilla loved helping make them.

Ward Campout!

2011-10-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

We had a ward camp out a few weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect. The kids got to run around and play and we had a lot of fun with our friends from church. We had a nice campfire and I slept very comfortably on a mattress in the back of Gil's truck. My ankle still hurt quite a bit, but not much more than it would have at home anyway. In the morning we ate breakfast around the campfire and visited.

Baseball!

2011-10-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

Jem did baseball this summer and Rilla and Shirley did Blastball. Blastball is a simpler version of baseball. I was their coach. I had 8 kids on my team (one never came. 2 were my kids and 2 were my friend Annalisa's kids. Jem was on a team with Annalisa's other daughter and my other friend, Teressa's, son. It was fun, although very hot at the end. I am not sure what happened to the picturesfrom one of Rilla and Shirley's games. Here are a few pictures from one of Jem's games.

Jem did really well for his first time playing baseball. It was coach pitch and he actually can hit really well. He almost always hit the ball and made it to base. He didn't do so great in the outfield. He wasn't very good at paying attention. Luckily, the ball didn't go to him very often. At least he had fun. The games were exciting to watch. Blastball wasn't nearly as fun. The kids (age 3 and 4) enjoyed playing in the dirt more than paying attention to the game.

Nashville Zoo!

2011-10-16T15:11:00.001-07:00

We went to the Nashville Zoo at the beginning of the summer. Gil hadn't been there before with us. The Nashville Zoo is really nice and has a great play area. It was very hot the day we went so we didn't see everything, but we had a lot of fun. I can't remember why Shirley was pouting in the one picture, but he sure can pout.

Memorial Day Weekend!

2011-10-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

We were able to go camping during Memorial Day weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and came home Saturday afternoon. Thursday and Friday were actually kind of chilly, but it was very hot on Saturday so we were able to go swimming. It was a really nice campground. The kids really enjoyed fishing. Rilla caught 2 fish and Shirley caught one. Walter and Jem tried and tried, but didn't have any success. We all really enjoy camping (as long as I have an air mattress). We love being out doors.

Cub Scout Day Camp!

2011-10-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Back in June Walter had Cub Scout Day Camp and I volenteered to help at it. It was Monday through Friday from 8am -2pm. Jem was able to do camp, too since he is old enough (although in our church they don't start until age 8). They had child care for younger kids of volenteers so Rilla and Shirley got to come each day. I ended up being a Wolf Den leader, with Jem in my Den. Camp was awesome except for the heat. It was so hot and humid (mid 90's with humidity). I enjoyed coming home to air conditioning each day. They were long days, too. We had to be there at 6:45 and didn't get home till after 3pm each day. The kids had a lot of fun. Even Rilla and Shirley. I worried about them and the heat, but they loved being outside each day. They got so dirty, too. Shirley even took a nap on Thursday because he was so tired out. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few I did take.

BB shooting seemed to be everyone's favorite activity. Walter is a pretty good shot. Friday was Family Day. parents were able to join their scouts for the BBQ and be there all day if they wanted. Gil was in Texas for training all week until Thursday night so he was able to join us on Friday.

Vacation Day 4 part 2

2011-10-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

I am trying to catch up on old blogs.

After eating at the Three Broomsticks I took Walter and Jem to Hogwarts castle and Gil took Rilla and Shirley on the Hippogrith ride. The line for the castle took forever. A couple of hours later we went again and there was almost no line. The late afternoon was a much better time for all of the rides.

Next we went to a couple other areas of the park and went on some more rides. One was a water ride. Rilla loved the water rides. Jem liked them but Walter was a little scared like me. I only went on one. Rilla was barely tall enough for them. Rilla also loved collecting flowers that were all over the ground.

We all enjoyed the Hippogrith roller coaster. Shirley was tall enough so we all got to ride. It was later in the day so we got to go many times without waiting in line.

Stake Family Fun Day!

2011-09-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

We had our annual Stake Family Fun Day today. We have enjoyed it the last two years, but it was even better this year because we had such nice weather, not as hot. It was in the high 70's with a nice breeze. I stayed in the shade almost the whole time and it was perfect. The kids had a blast and the food was great. It is so much fun watching my kids have so much fun. It is also nice visiting with friends. There were inflatable, games for the kids, helium balloons, and face painting.

1st Day of School!

2011-09-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

Walter and Jem started school the beginning of August. I haven't been able to post any pictures because our MAC keeps freezing up. I finally succeeded in getting three months worth of pictures onto a thumb drive today before the computer froze up so now have them on my laptop. I have several posts to make about things we did over the summer. I plan on getting caught up over the next few weeks while I am stuck on the couch with my foot propped up and being iced. I sprained my ankle 5 weeks ago and it sure is taking its time to heal. I tore two ligaments in my right ankle. Though it hurts as much as it did in the beginning, I have more movement in my foot and toes so I know it is finally starting to heal. I sure wish I wasn't pregnant and could take IB profen for the pain. Tylenol doesn't help at all. Crutches aren't much fun either. I just hope it is all healed by the time this baby is born (though the doctor told me I may have to do physical therapy).

These pictures were taken two days before I sprained my ankle at the boys bus stop. Walter is now in 5th grade and Jem is in 2nd grade. Walter rotates teachers for subjects and seems to be ejoyig it. He still finds math his favorite subject. Jem has adjusted rather well. He has never been good with change, but he has a few kids in his class from his last class, including 2 boys he was friends with. His teacher seems nice. One thing that really bugs me though is their spelling tests are multiple choince. What is up with that? It really annoys me. I think that kids should be able to spell words on their own (whether orally or written).

It's a Boy!

2011-07-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

We found out we are having a boy. For those who didn't know I was pregnant, I am due November 14th. Rilla really wanted a baby sister. Gil would have loved another little girl, too. I told Rilla that since she is going to be the only girl she will get extra spoiled. At least I have one girl. I love my boys so don't mind at all that I am having another boy. I am very excited and the pregnancy has been good so far. No morning sickness or anything. He sure is active though. he had the hiccups for the first time today (my other 4 had them all the time while I was pregnant with them).

Preschool Field trip!

2011-06-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends did a Co-op preschool this year with their kids and we joined them on their field trip. The kids were able to learn how to take care of a horse, take rides on a horse, and ride a horse by themselves. Rilla absolutely loved it. She has always loved horses. She wasn't at all scared and even rode the horse all by herself, guiding it. Shirley had fun, too but was not nearly as excited as Rilla. Afterwards, we took the kids across the street to a playground for a picnic lunch. It was a lot of fun.

Gil's Promotion!

2011-06-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Gil was promoted recently to Chief Warrant Officer 2 (WO2). We are very proud of him and all of the hard work that he does.

Nap time!

2011-05-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Shirley does not have naps most days now since he doesn't go to sleep until late if he does. He does occasionally fall asleep on his own though. The first two pictures are from when he came inside from playing in the sprinkler with a couple of his friends. When I went out front to say goodbye to our friends leaving, I came back in and found him asleep. In the third picture he fell asleep while eating chips.

Dress up!

2011-05-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Rilla is so cute when she dresses up. Here are a couple of her outfits:

Rilla also loves flowers. Even the flowers that are actually weeds. She is always picking wild flowers.
Here is a bouquet of dandelions she picked.

Storms!

2011-05-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had several really strong storms. We fared better than some areas in the south, never the less, we had quite a bit of wind and tree damage. The first big storm hit at 1 am. We awoke to a crash on our roof and we could hear hail and wind. Then the weather radio went off and declared a tornado warning. A tornado warning means that storm conditions are favorable to producing a tornado. We jumped out of bed and woke our kids and got in a hallway closet and bathtub. I did not enjoy it one bit. It was actually quite scary. We have had tornado warnings before, but I was never very scared. We also lost power right after the storm hit so it being dark didn't help. Gil got flashlights right away so we at least had some light. The kids were real troopers although didn't go right back to sleep after the tornado warning was over. After the warning ended we came out and tried to see what had made the crash against our roof. We could see that a tree had fallen. At first we thought it was one of our own (we have 15 trees in our back yard) but it turned out to be our neighbor's behind us tree. Luckily, the only damage was a bent gutter. The tree did hit one of our smaller trees and bent it over quite a bit so we have since cut that tree down. Gil got to use his chain saw for the first time to cut up the tree. I think he enjoyed that.

The next week we had several more storms. We lost power a couple of more times and had a middle of the night tornado warning but it wasn't as bad as the first storm. There were several tornadoes that did touch down here in Tennessee. One even hit the northern part of Fort Campbell. One of the night storms knocked down a tree in our neighbor's behind us to the left yard. It crashed through the 4 corners of our fences. Here is a picture of the fence taken a couple of weeks before the storms.

Here is after.

Vacation Day 4 part one!

2011-04-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Monday was the beginning of a very busy week. We chose to go to Universal Studios to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The weather was a tad warmer than was comfortable and the place was pretty crowded until the late afternoon. We didn't get there till around 11 AM. We were all so excited. We started out in the Dr. Seus area. It was cute. Then we were in an area having something to do with Poseidon.

Then we made it to the Harry Potter section. It sure was neat seeing the town of Hogsmeade, and the castle in the background.

One of my favorite parts was eating lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We had a great table in the corner, the food was really good, and the atmosphere was really cool.

Vacation Day 3

2011-04-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday was our 3rd day of vacation. We slept in and then got ready to go to Cocoa Beach. The weather was beautiful. The kids loved the beach. Rilla loved playing in the water and searching for sea shells. We made a sand castle and Gil buried Walter and Jem in the sand. We had a picnic lunch and then headed home. We were there about two and a half hours. We ended up with a lot of sand in our van. The only not fun part was me getting sunburned even with sunblock on. I hate that I sunburn so easy. Luckily, Walter and Matthew take more after their dad and don't burn as easy. Rilla takes after me and burned a little, although not nearly as bad as I did. We all watched a movie together that night.

Vacation Day 1 &2

2011-03-31T06:40:00.000-07:00

Last week was Spring break and we took a trip to Florida. We left the previous Friday afternoon and drove a few hours before we stopped at a hotel for the night. We stayed at my favorite hotel, Holiday Inn Express. I love their beds, bedding, continental breakfast, and they have a good military discount. Shirley's asthma unfortunately had been getting worse and that day we were having to give him treatments every 3 hours. So he slept propped up in the chair to sleep that night.

We had a great Breakfast Saturday morning and continued on to Florida. We had an uneventful trip. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop and the weather was beautiful. We got in to our town home we rented for the week around 6PM. We got settled in, ate dinner, and headed to Magic Kingdom for their fireworks. We really had fun. It was very exciting. We saw part of the electric parade and got a pretty good spot by the castle to watch the fireworks. After the fireworks we went exploring and found lots of fun rides to go on without any lines, Like Pirates of the Carribean and Splash Mountain. Rilla loved Splash Mountain. We really had a lot of fun and the kids made it till 1AM when the park closed. The last picture is them on our drive home to our hotel. They fell asleep right away in the car.

Jem's 7th Birthday!

2011-03-08T06:23:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Jem's 7th Birthday the Saturday after Gil came home. Jem was sick the weekend of his birthday and Rilla and I waere sick the following weekend so we waited until Gil came home to have his party. It was fun. I made him a Volcano cake and had a few friends over. It sure is amazing how fast they grow up.

Jem is such a joy to have in our family. His funny personality sure brightens our home. He loves nature and natural disasters (rocks, tornados, volcanoes, etc). He wants to be a Geologist and part time Storm Chaser when he grows up. He is also a great big brother. He can be quite a Drama King sometimes, too. Here are some pictures of him when he was younger:

Daddy's Home!

2011-02-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Gil's home! I am so excited. We had the Welcome Home Celebration last night. It was really exciting. We even got to watch the plane land and the soldiers get off the plane. The kids loved it all.

I am so happy the deployment is over. It has been a long but good year. I am a much stronger person.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice Christmas this year. Two days before Christmas we had friends over to make sugar cookies. The kids had lots of fun cutting out different shapes. Especially Shirley. This was the first year I let him since he is allergic to wheat. He loved playing in the flower a little too much and I finally had to stop him and tell him no more since he started scratching his wrists and around his mouth where he kept touching his floured hands.

Then some of the kids painted the cookies with colored egg yolk and sprinkled with sprinkles before the cookies were cooked. They turned out really cute. I meant to take pictures but I forgot. We made other cookies and treats and delivered them Christmas Eve day to our friends. Christmas was nice and quiet. The kids slept in till 7PM (yeah) and then we opened up our presents. My favorite were the blankets my Grandma made for the kids. She always makes them presents and I love that. The kids get to open up their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.

I bought this Barbie carriage with 6 ballerina barbies and horse for Rilla at a yard sale for three dollars a few months ago at a yard sale. She loved it. We even had a white Christmas. It wasn't a lot of snow, but it was still white.

The kids had lots of fun playing with their new toys. It was also nice spending the day together. Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Day.

Sentences!

2010-12-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

My favorite discipline when my kids get older is writing sentences. I like that they have to think about what they are writing. My boys haven't been putting the toilet seat up when they pee and It is really annoying to sit on a wet toilet seat. Rilla was constantly having to wipe off the toilet seat before she could sit on it. Finally, after several times telling them to lift the seat up I came up with the consequence of writing sentences. Their first offense was 20 sentences. Their second time was 30. I told them I would add 10 sentences each time they "forgot". They only had to write sentences twice and have been putting up the toilet seat.

About 6 months ago I was having trouble with Walter lying. He kept doing it so I finally made up 2 weeks of sentences for him. He had to write 100 sentences a day and each day what he wrote was different. I even looked up scriptures about being honest so some days he wrote a partial scripture. I would real him the scripture and talk with him about it. Twice during the end of the two weeks he went to get the papers for writing sentences and found that his sentence for the day was already written 100 times (by me). I told him I wrote then for him because I love him and that is what Jesus did for us when he atoned for our sins. He payed the price so we can return to live with Heavenly Father again. It worked great and he stopped lying.

Shirley turns 3!

2010-12-30T12:10:00.000-08:00

Shirley turned 3 years old at the end of November. We didn't have a party, Just let him open his present in the morning and he got ice cream (soy ice cream) for the first time. He was so excited to have ice cream. We put a candle in it and sang him Happy Birthday and he got to blow the candle out.

It is amazing how quickly grow up. The second picture was taken right after he was born and the first one was when he was a couple weeks old.

In Memory!

2010-12-24T20:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted about this yet because it has been a very hard for me, emotionally. In September My friend's husband was killed in Afghanistan. He had only been deployed there for two weeks when his HUMV was hit. He and the driver were killed instantly. My husband has been in the army almost 10 years and been deployed three times, but no one that I knew personally has died, let alone one of my friend's husband. I cried a lot for the first couple of weeks. I could easily imagine how my friend, Janelle, must be feeling. What it would be like to have my husband killed. She has four children, too, ages 18 months to 7 years old. Janelle has been so strong through it all and has such strong faith. I really enjoyed getting to know her better and becoming better friends. We got together quite often after and I am sad that she just moved back to Texas to be close to family (which I completely understand as I would do the same). I will miss her. I wanted to do something to help out that would make it a little easier on her kids so I made them Daddy pillowcases and blankets. They really liked them and it made me feel so good to give them to them.

R&R!

2010-12-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun having Gil home for two weeks. We didn't do much traveling, we just hung out at home for the most part and it was wonderful. The kids were so happy. The first couple of days Daddy had to do everything. Shirley even said, "Daddy wipe my bottom" and wouldn't let me wipe when he used the bathroom. It was so cute and funny.

I was able to volunteer more than normal and Gil went to have luch with them a few times and checked them out early on his second to last day. Gil and I even volunteered together once.

After Thanksgiving we had fun decorating for Christmas together.

The only part of R&R that I did not like was getting Strep Throat. I HATE Step Throat. When I get it I get it bad and get so sick. This time I even got a really high fever that left me so cold and my body ached so bad. It was so nice that Mike was home to take care of me and the kids. He did a wonderful job and of taking care of them. They had lots of fun. I must admit that I have a wonderful husband. It was sure hard to say good bye to him. The kids are handling it great, though. I hear a lot of , "I miss Daddy". especially from Shirley. I really looking forward to him being home for good (at least a while-you never know with the military).

Snow!

2010-12-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

Monday and Tuesday of last week the boys had no school due to snow. Sunday it began snowing and continued till Monday. It wasn't a lot of snow but enough to get school cancelled. If there is any ice on the roads or school parking lots, school gets canceled. We had a fun two days with the boys home. Rilla, Jem, and Shirley bundled up and played in the snow but Walter had no desire to go out in the cold (a boy after my own heart). I hate cold weather so I stayed inside where it was nice and warm.

Family Pictures!

2010-12-20T08:13:00.001-08:00

We get family pictures every year. We were able to get them taken while Gil was home on R&R.

Thanksgiving!

2010-12-20T07:56:00.000-08:00

Gil came home for R&R (two weeks of leave) right before Thanksgiving. It was so nice to see him. He had been in Afghanistan for almost 9 months. The kids were so excited and we had so much fun while he was home. We hosted Thanksgiving. Three of my friends (who's husbands are also deployed) and their kids joined us. We had 5 adults and 14 kids, 9 years old and younger. It was a great Thanksgiving. It is always nice to share the cooking. The food was really good and we had fun playing games as well. I am very grateful for such a great Thanksgiving.

Class Hamster!

2010-12-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

Walter has a class hamster and it was our turn to bring it home for the weekend in The middle of November. The kids loved Ramona. She was very friendly and loved going all over the house in her ball. She is eating her treat in the picture.

Halloween!

2010-11-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween. The week before Halloween we went to a friends Halloween party. I brought my camera but the memory card wasn't in it so I took some pictures when we got home. Walter and Jem were punk rockers, Rilla was a fairy princess, and Shirley was Tigger.

The Saturday before Halloween we had a ward Halloween party and trunk or treat. The kids had a great time. It is always fun to get together with lots of people. Shirley was a punk rocker like walter and Jem and Annie was a Ballerina.

Fall Break!

2010-10-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had Fall Break. It is just like Spring Break. The boys had a week off of school. Last year we were all sick during Fall Break. Luckily, not this time. We had so much fun. We even had great weather. Saturday we had a Stake Church Activit. It was out at a Farm. There were inflatable and lots of great food. The weather was perfect in the shade. It was a little hot in the sun. The kids loved it. They got to run around and have a great time.

On Monday we went to the Nashville Adventure Science Center. It is such a fun place. It is all hands on and great for kids. The only drawback is it is easy to lose your kids if they run off so I brought my neighbor girls, Nan and Di, who are eleven to help me out. We went with other friends as well.

Tuesday we went to the library and had a picnic with friends at a nearby playground. Wednesday was a recooperation/relaxing day. Thursday we had Rilla's birthday party. Friday we went to the Nashville Zoo. It was our first time there. Nan came with us. It is a great zoo. It is one of my favorite zoos so far. It is a great environment with lots of trees and hilly landscape. It also has an AWESOME playground. Again we went with friends.

Anytime there is an available seat in the stroller Jem hops in. The zoo was no exception.

Here is the coolest playground I have ever seen.

I try to be a fun and cool mom. I put up our family tent (it is a 3 room tent) in our living room and kept it up for 2 1/2 days. They got to camp out for 2 nights.

Rilla's Birthday!

2010-10-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

Rilla turned 4 a couple of weeks ago. She was so excited the whole week before. She loves parties. We had a Princess/Knight part. There are only a couple of girls her age here so most of her friends are boys. It was a lot of fun. Gil and I bought her a lot of the small My Little Pony toys. I bought it on Campbell yard sales for $40. I didn't want to wrap it all so I set it out in the living room so she saw it when she woke up. I must admit I love buying girl toys. I also like playing with them with her.

She wanted a My Little Pony. I had fun making it. She loved it.

When it came time for her party she didn't want to wear one of her Princess dresses. She wanted to be a Ballerina Princess.

Rilla is such a blessing in our lives. I love my little girl, not to mention that she is Daddy's little girl as well. Here is a picture of her when she was 2 months old.

Our Trip to Colorado!

2010-10-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

At the end of July we were able to go visit my sister in Colorado. It was a last minute trip. Her husband was going to deploy in August but he left early so we planned a trip to visit for two weeks before school started here. It was a two day drive there. The kids did really well. We all had so much fun. We were able to make it to the Zoo again. They have a wonderful zoo. We all especially enjoy the Giraffes. The kids love feeding them. I also like the bird atrium. Last year we got a great view of the bear playing and swimming, but were not so lucky this year.

A Fun Saturday Afternoon!

2010-10-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

A few weekend ago, we went down to Dunbar Cave park and joined in on a community event. A Children's Theater put on a fun activity. The kids loved it. The weather was perfect. We got to walk to the opening of the cave and then explore around there. Then the Theater put on a little skit called "The Squirrel and the Acorn". After that we went to the cave museum and got to see an touch things from nature. It was a lot of fun.

New Hair cuts!

2010-10-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

I always forget my camera when the kids get hair cuts, but my camera happened to be in my diaper bag this time. The boys were in dire need of hair cuts. My older boys hate getting their hair cut because they like it long. I let them keep it somewhat long on top but it has to be trimmed around the ears and neck. Rilla wanted her hair cut, too. It has grown quite a bit and gets in her face a lot because she hasn't wanted me to put ponytails in it.

Rilla:

Shirley:

Jem:

Walter:

I Pick My Battles!

2010-10-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

Shirley is two almost three years old and he definitely falls into the terrible 2's category quite often. he has thrown so many fits these last couple weeks. I don't remember any of my other kids throwing so many. I literally have to pick my battles because the smallest thing can set him off. He is especially prone to fits in the morning after waking up. So, one morning last week I decided to give into his request rather than deal with a tantrum during my busiest time of morning getting my oldest two ready for school.

Yes, I made his Doggies breakfast, too. I did, however, put my foot down to adding milk (soy milk, which Shirley uses). At least I could reuse the Corn Chex. It was actually kind of cute. He loves his Doggies.

Labor Day Picnic!

2010-10-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Labor Day Monday two friends and I had a dinner picnic at a playground. All of our husbands are deployed. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time. We even did Family Home evening together.

My Birthday!

2010-09-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

I had my Birthday last month. I had a great birthday. My friend made me a chocolate cake (my favorite) and we had a BBQ at her house the Friday before my Birthday (3 of my friends' husbands are also deployed now so we have dinner together on Friday nights). My husband gave me a wonderful Birthday present. He bought me a 1 hour massage for me and a friend. I took Annalisa. It was wonderful. I have never had a professional one (I get lots from my hubby when he is home) and it was very relaxing. It was fun taking a friend, too.

The BBQ was a lot of fun. The weather was warm but not as hot as it had been. The kids played in water, we had great food, and of course the best part was the cake. I am very grateful for such good friends.

School Open House!

2010-09-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

We had Open house at Walter and Jem's school a couple of weeks ago. I took pictures of them in their class and with their teachers. Walter loves school. He always has. He is very much like me in that respect. He really likes his teacher and I am so happy that he is enjoying the school year so far.

Jem on the other hand "hates" school (quoting his own words). He seems to be having a difficult time adjusting back to school with a new teacher and all new students in his class. Jem never has dealt very well with change. He has a great teacher that he likes and he does great in class, he just doesn't like school. Getting him to do homework has always been a battle. It would take him 2 or 3 times as long as it should to get his homework done because of complaining, etc. So, a few weeks ago I resorted to bribery. I do not want to have to fight him for the rest of the school year. So, if he does his homework without complaining and does it in a timely manner, then at the end of the week, he gets to choose a rock or crystal from the treasure box I made for him. I ordered a bunch of crystals and rocks on line and he is so very excited about them. He doesn't complain and he does his homework quickly. It is amazing the transformation. If he is motivated, he can do it just fine. He even finished a whole book on his own that he would have refused to read before saying it was too hard. I was amazed. He is actually very smart. He just needs to be motivated. Last week he came home one day from school all excited about his day. They had a hands on science center involving worms. He loved it. Now if they could always have something science related he would love school. The last picture is the crystal geode he earned that week for doing his homework.

Legos and flowers!

2010-09-03T19:54:00.001-07:00

I finally planted flowers in my front flower bed and bought two plants to spruce up my front porch.

I also stained my mailbox and started on the bench. The mailbox really needed it.

Something my older boys and I love to do together is build with legos. Rilla and Shirley are starting to enjoy it, too. I bought the train table at a garage sale this summer for 10 dollars. It is perfect for displaying our creations. We had so much fun this summer building with them. Gil's mom saved all his legos from when he was a kid and we have added to them.

Dress Up!

2010-08-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here is what happens when you are a 2 year old boy with a 3 year old sister:

Rilla loves playing dress up and Shirley was happy to dress up with her. He often says, "I want to be a Princess" since he hears Rilla say it often. It is so funny and cute. I need to get some boy dress up outfits for him. Kids can be so cute.

Nice Weather!

2010-08-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

It has been so hot and humid here this summer. I haven't liked it at all. You just walk outside and start sweating right away. By the time I finish mowing My shirt is soaked with sweat. So, it was so nice to have a nice cooler morning this morning. When I took the boys to the bus it was wonderful. We had a couple of thunderstorms come through yesterday and last night that must have cooled it down. Of course I took advantage of the weather and worked in the yard all morning. I spent most of my time weeding since I have rather neglected doing since it has been so hot. Rilla loves helping out with almost anything I do so she joined me. She is a great little helper. She had to have a hat like me and gloves (we used socks). She did quite a bit, too. Shirley loved playing outside. He loves looking for worms. It was a great way to start out my week. I am hoping it will be cooler tomorrow morning, too so that I could weed the back yard. We will see.

Big Changes in July!

2010-08-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on blogging I am going to try and catch up this week. July was a great month. We had a lot of fun. 4th of July was fun. Fireworks are legal here so we bought fireworks. I was excited. After setting them off though, I prefer to watch fireworks rather than being the one lighting them. I really didn't enjoy doing that. Rilla and Shirley did not like the loud ones so sat in Daddy's truck and watched them. When I had had enough of lighting fireworks we walked around the neighborhood and watched other people's fireworks. There were a lot of great shows to watch. We had fireworks left so we set them off the following night for our FHE activity. I was very happy to be done. Next year Gil can light them off if he wants too. If he doesn't, then we will watch other peoples fireworks. Walter and Jem took all the pictures since I was lighting of the fireworks, so not too many good pictures to share.

Diana moved out the middle of July. I finally gave her a month to find another place because she continued being rude and disrespectful to me. I am very sad how it all turned out. I told her when she moved in with us that I would treat her like I would my own kids. She did pretty well at doing the few chores I gave her, although had to be reminded sometimes. We developed a pretty good relationship right away. I discovered pretty quickly that if she was in a bad mood about something she was very unpleasant to be around and could be very rude. She began to be rude to the children when she would get frustrated with them, and I knew I had to address the issue. I talked with her and told her that it isn't okay to be rude or speak unkindly to others. That she needed to work on that. I explained to her that she could lose a job, a friendship, etc if she continued acting the way she did. When my kids are rude or disrespectful to me or their siblings, they get a warning, must apologize and then get a time out if they continue or do it again. So Diana got the same, only the time out was from her phone for 20 minutes (that may not sound that bad, but it was for her). She got much better with the children. I had to warn her a few times and take her phone away a few times, but she got much better. She got a boyfriend a couple of weeks after moving in and that started to create some tension between us. She had a curfew and couldn't go on single dates since she was still in school. Another thing she really didn't like me doing was pointing out when she was wrong about something or me showing that what she said or did wasn't fair or correct. I wasn't going to sit by and let her deceive herself when I can help her see the truth and teach her that she needs to look at things from a different perspective (example-her complaining that she was failing history because she had a terrible teacher- then I asked her how come he was was a terrible teacher: no specific reason. Are you taking notes? No. Are you reading the chapters? No. Are you studying for the tests? not really. So I explain to her that even if he wasn't a very good teacher, you cannot just blame him. There were so many things that she could have done to pass the class). Basically, I was trying to teach her to be responsible. I can't stand when people blame everyone else for their problems. She seemed to resent it more and more when I would try and teach her lessons I guess you could call it on being responsible. Like having to wake up at 7am on weekdays during the summer instead of wasting the day away sleeping in. (She had plenty of free time during the day and got to sleep in on weekends). We finally had a big argument when she was really rude to me after a doctor's appointment that I had taken her to. She had had to wait a really long time in the waiting room so was in a very bad mood. I got really mad when she was rude to me and told her that it was not OK to be rude just because she was in a bad mood for having to wait so long. I finally told her that if she wanted to stay with us she would have to work on her attitude and not being rude just because she was in a bad mood. She got mad and felt that I was kicking her out. I told her I wasn't kicking her out, but giving her a choice. I told her I would do the same with my own children when they are her age If they don't want to obey the rules and are rude and disrespectful. She promised to work on it but it didn't get much better. IAfter a little while I gave her an ultimatum. I asked her if her boyfriend would let someone treat her the way she was treating me and she didn't hesitate to say "No". I asked her "then why are your treating me this way?" She didn't really answer and I told her I had talked with Gil and that he wasn't going to let it continue. She said she would stop. It was better for a while, but it seemed like the more time she spent with her boyfriend (by then fiance) the more she didn't like having to check in with me and getting my ok on what she did, etc. I finally had it when she was upset and rude to me all day at the end of June because she blamed me for making her late to family pictures with her boyfriend's family (although I didn't know this was why she was upset at me because she didn't tell me until later that day). When she finally told me why, I was very upset with her because she never told me they were going to have pictures taken. She didn't tell me that she would be going anywhere with her boyfriend. Plus, she wasn't done mowing half the lawn when he got there and they were supposed to leave (which I had no fault in). When I realized that she was going to go somewhere with him, because I asked her, I told her she had to clean her room first. It was a Saturday and that is our Saturday chore. We have had it since she moved in in February and we all do it, the kids included. Then we vacuum the rooms. She knew that if she was going to do something on a Saturday that she had to have it cleaned even if that meant cleaning it on Friday, but she had forgotten. She went off to clean her room while her boyfriend finished mowing (he had asked if he could). So in reality, It was not my fault she was late because she hadn't even finished mowing. She, however, blamed me and treated me as if I had purposely made her be late. I finally got her to admit that I could not have done it on purpose because she hadn't told me of their plans to begin with. So after a long frustrating day Gil called on Skype and I told him what was going on and he talked with her. He agreed with me that all her actions (not just from this day- it had been going on for a while) said that she didn't want to answer to us but wanted to be on her own. Well, the truth of it was she wanted to have total freedom, but she didn't want to be on her own. I told her she couldn't have the freedom and still live here. she could be on her own and do whatever she likes, but she would have to be responsible for all of her life- like financial,etc. We decided to give her a month to move out. She seemed very surprised at this, even though we had given her two chances already. I took away her phone, which she was very upset about, and made her a "guest" in our house. She no longer had to do chores or ok what she did with me, she just had to treat us as guest would. I explained that I took her phone away because I wouldn't pay for a phone for a guest. She moved into an apartment with her boyfriend a couple weeks later (her boyfriend lived with his parents until they moved into the apartment together). I do worry about her. I have talked with her a couple of times. I am sad that she is going to have to learn the hard way about responsibility. We parted on somewhat friendly terms. I hope someday she realizes why it ended the way it did and realizes that we really do care about her and that I was trying to help her be successful in this world.

I didn't mean to take so long talking about Diana leaving. Since she left there were three bedrooms for the kids again and Shirley didn't have to share with me anymore. Walter has always wanted his own room, so he now has his own room and Jem and Shirley now share a room. I let them (all but Shirley) pick out new comforters (I got a new one too) and then we bought some paint to match. I have wanting to paint the bedrooms (all but the yellow one-that one we like-it is Rilla's room) for a long time, especially mine. I hate the green it is. I know hate is a strong word, but I really don't like it. We have half of Walters room painted. Yes, I even let the kids help me with some of it, even though it made more work for me. The new color for Walter's room is "Anvil", a dark bluish gray. Walter picked it out himself and I love it. It looks much better than the light grayish/blue it was before.

Jem picked "Chocolate Truffle" for his and Shirley's room. I loved the comforter he picked out. We were able to paint it all , it did take two days, since it was Diana's old room so there wasn't much in it furniture wise (since her bed went back to Rilla in her room when she left). I like how it turned out. It was just white before and looks much better. Shirley loves his new room. I love having my room to myself again. While sleeping in my room he almost always joined me in my bed. I was afraid it would become a bad habit. He will occasionally come in to my bed in the middle of the night, but mostly sleeps through the night in his bed. I am very happy about that (Now, if I could get Jem to do the same).

Rilla loves her new comforter. The only big change to her room, except for getting her big bed back, was moving the toy shelf into her room.

I love the new comforter for my bed. I built a headboard for my bed. I got the idea from my half sister, Taya's, blog. I really like it.

I have wanted to paint my walls a shade of brown or a dark gray for a long time (saw both colors used on HGtv). My new comforter solved that choice for me and I picked out "Monk's Cloth" for my walls. I only have the one wall done so far. It isn't easy taking care of four kids and painting. Plus, I learned that painting is physically hard. Doing one wall tired my arms and back out, making them sore for a couple of days. I look forward to getting the rooms finished soon. I still need to buy new curtains for my room to match. I am thinking green. I will take a pillowcase with me to decide. I will post more pictures when I am all done.

Ist Day of School!

2010-08-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

School started last Friday with a half day and the first full day was Tuesday. We didn't get back from visiting my sister until Saturday so their fist day was Tuesday. Walter is in fourth grade. and Jem is in first. Walter is very excited to be back in school but Jem isn't very excited. He does well in school and always listens and does what he is supposed to, but he doesn't love school like Walter. He likes parts of it. He loves Science and PE. He absolutely hates homework. I think he thinks that he has had to do enough "work" at school and homework is just plain torture to him. It can be quite amusing sometimes. I know exactly the expression he will make when I tell him it is time to do homework. Rilla would love to go to school with her brothers, but she still had two years to go since her birthday is in October. I will do a Co-op preschool with her next year like I did with her older brothers. These pictures are actually from the second day of school as I forgot my camera when I went to the bus stop and forgot to take pictures of them before school.

Lemonade "Tea" Party!

2010-07-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

I love having a little girl. Two days ago Rilla set up a Lemonade "Tea" Party all by herself. She arranged the food and put her stuffed animals around. It was the cutest thing. Walter and I then joined her for the part. She was so cute pouring us Lemonade and giving us play food to eat.

Walter's 9th Birthday!

2010-06-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

Walter turned 9 years old last week. I can't believe he is 9 already. I don't know why, but 9 seems so much older than 10. He will be starting 4th grade in August. Wow. For his birthday we had a party at Chuck E Cheese. It was a lot of fun. Two of my friends had kids with birthdays close so we had a group birthday party. With Gil being gone, I loved having to do very little for his party. I even ordered a Chuck E. Cheese birthday cake. One of the best parts was not having to do any clean up. Walter's favorite part was getting to go in the Ticket Blaster. He caught 950 tickets (not all individual tickets-some were worth more than others). Walter is such a great son. He has always been such a great big brother. He is a very good example to them.

Spouse's Tour!

2010-06-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

My FRG (family readiness group) group was able to do the Souses Tour on post. It is a day spent getting to learn about the post, do a flight simulator, go repelling, and do an indoor shooting range. I was very excited to get to do it. I really enjoyed the flight simulator. It was a blackhawk simulator.

We had lunch at the DFAC and then went to the repelling course. We got a tour of the obstacle course and then were supposed to go repelling, but the key for where the equipment for us was stored could not be found so we did not get to repel. What we did get to do was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed myself.

Last Day of School!

2010-05-27T05:50:00.001-07:00

Walter and Jem had their last day of school last week (it was actually a half day). They had award ceremonies and I was able to go. Jem received Good Citizen Award and Academic Excellence Award. Walter got A Honor roll and Good citizen. I am very proud of both of them Walter has always done well in school. He loves school. I was worried at how well Jem would do in school (because he could never sit still for very long, etc) but he did great. He never got in trouble and always listened (I wish I could say he was always like that at home). He doesn't love school like Walter does, but he liked it (he thought it was too long). I am excited for the summer. I love having them home all the time. We are going to have a lot of fun over break.

Rilla!

2010-05-23T07:13:00.001-07:00

Rilla is such a sweet little girl. She loves reading books together and by herself. I love listening to her "read" a book to herself. Here is a picture of her after she fell asleep reading a book. She loves Princess, Dora, and learning books. Anything pink or purple is good, too.

Sock Hop!

2010-05-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we had a Sock Hop at church. It was fun planning and setting up for it. I dressed the boys in jeans and white teachers and slicked back their hair. Diana, Rilla, and I wore skirts and colorful shirts. We had such a great time dancing to 50's music and playing games. Walter won the hula hoop contest. He is pretty good. The only drawback was that was the weekend that we had all the rain which caused the flooding in middle Tennessee. It literally rained all weekend. Poured would be a more accurate term. We luckily weren't directly affected by the flooding since we are a higher elevation, but we saw small ponds of flooding in our surrounding neighborhoods. Nashville was hit hard and downtown Clarksville by the river was flooded and bridges and roads around them were also flooded. Because of this the whole school district was closed for the entire week. It was a lot of fun having the kids home all week despite the circumstances.

Walter's Field trip!

2010-05-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I was able to go with Walter on his school field trip. I went with Jem last Fall on his field trip. Jem went to a Pumpkin farm and Walter's was also a farm, just a different one. Their were two Indian mounds at the new one. I had a lot of fun. I even enjoyed riding on the bus (several Mom's couldn't handle the noise). I can zone out noise very easily. Plus, riding the bus means I didn't have to drive, which I don't really like doing. I especially enjoyed spending the time with Walter. It isn't often that I get just one on one time with him. They had a fun tube slide and a hay hill to play on (when they had free time before lunch). The hay ride was my favorite. Feeding the animals was Walter's favorite part.

Fine Arts Night!

2010-05-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

We had a Fine Arts Night at Walter's and Jem's school on Thursday. It was a lot of fun going to their school. The grades each sang a song (was optional so Jem did not go up and sing). Walter sang with his grade.

After the singing we visited their hallways to see their artwork. Walter's theme was Australia and Jem's was Asia. I took pictures of them with their teachers, unfortunately Jemls picture turned out blurry.

Rilla and Shirley loved it. They love going to Walter and Jem's school. Shirley especially liked the water fountain that was low enough for him to drink out of by himself.

Easter!

2010-04-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice Easter. It was general conference weekend. Our church has it twice a year. Our leaders (Prophet, Apostles, Etc.) speak to us in four sessions, each 2 hours long. We have two on Saturday and two on Sunday. I love that we can watch them on tv or the internet so I actually get to pay attention to them. I really enjoyed listening to their talks. They were very inspiring.

Saturday we colored Easter eggs and in the evening we had an Easter egg hunt at my house. My friend and her boys joined us. The kids really enjoyed that. For Easter my kids got church outfits with their Easter baskets. Walter and Jem received their first suits. They look so handsome in them.

Our newest addition!

2010-04-18T06:33:00.001-07:00

Right before Gil was deployed, we had a new addition to our family. her name is Diana (nickname for the blog) and she is 18 years old. She has been in foster care for 6 years and at 18, officially is out of foster care and needed a place to stay. She goes to our church ward and was our babysitter. It was an easy decision to have her join our family and we felt right about it. She is a junior in high school and we have told her she is welcome to be live with us until she graduates and goes off to college. She is planning on attending Austin Pea University here in Clarksville. It has been a great experience for me having her here. I am really enjoying being able to help her. She goes to Seminary now. I am getting up at 5:15 am to make her lunch, get her breakfast, read scriptures with her, and saying prayers before she leaves for Seminary at 5:50 every morning. Luckily, seminary is a block and a half from my house so she can walk there. Getting up early is really good for me. I am able to read scriptures after she leaves and before my kids get up. I usually have a half an hour to an hour before my kids wake up. The only hard part is getting to bed early as I have always been a night person. Even when I am very tired, sometimes it can take a long time to get to sleep.

I am also teaching her how to cook and do a lot of other stuff she has never learned to do. She wasn't used to home cooked meals and in the beginning was positive she wouldn't like some of the meals I cooked, but ended up liking all of them. She also wouldn't drink plain water when she came and I got her to start and now she drinks lots of water. It has felt so great getting to know her and being able to know her. I have helped her bring up her grades, too. That has been fun. I always loved school. The kids love having her here, too. She is great with them and is very helpful.

It hasn't all been easy. It is definately different having a teenager. Her communication skills could be better, or should I say lack of communication. Maybe most teenagers are like that. I got tired of the "I don't know" answer she would give quite often in the beginning. I learned that it could mean that she didn't know, she didn't remember, she didn't care, or she didn't want to talk about it. I just ask for more clarification now. The whole texting thing is new to me, too. I got her a phone and switched our plan to unlimited texting. I set out the rules for it and the time and then checked online a few days later and discovered she was texting during Seminary and school and after curfew. She lost her phone for a week and hasn't used it when she is not supposed to since. She loves having her phone. She wasn't mad at me either when I took it away. She new she was wrong for using it when she wasn't supposed to. I relationship actually grew stronger after I disciplined her.

Wrist fracture!

2010-04-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

Shirley broke is wrist two and a half weeks ago. He was playing in the back yard with his brother and sisters and my neighbor girls who come over 3 nights to help out with the kids. No one saw how he broke it. He fell and must have landed on it wrong. He has a buckle wrist fracture. I was pretty sure is was probably broken because he acted similar to the last time he broke his arm. I took him to the ER. When the doctor came in to look at it Shirley didn't act like it hurt when he held and felt his wrist and arm. He did the same thing the last time. An ex-ray was done and it was broken. He know has a cast. He had a temporary cast on for the first day and a half, then had the permanent one put on. I chose orange because he seems to like orange, it is the only color that he gets right all the time. I was grateful for the permanent one since he was able to get the temporary one off. Sometimes he wants the cast off because it gets in the way, but he doesn't act like it bothers him the rest of the time. We go in tomorrow to get this cast off and a new one put on for the final 2 weeks he will be wearing it.

Skyping!

2010-04-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Gil tries to Skype at least once a week. Skype is a program that lets you talk and see someone from another computer (and for free). He Skypes me in the evening, after the kids go to bed on Saturday night and then the kids on Sunday morning. The kids love it. They love seeing their Daddy. It has been a little over a month and they are doing so well with him being gone. They get a little sad occasionally, but that is it (at least so far).

Gil's Deployment!

2010-03-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

So the time finally came for Gil to deploy again. We have been very lucky to have had him home for 3 1/2 years since he was deployed last time. I am glad we had plenty of time to get settled in here before he left. It has made it much easier. I am blessed to have some great friends here. The few weeks prior to him leaving were a lot of fun. He had two weeks off. We had a lot of family fun time and Gil and I got to go on two really fun dates. One of the days we all went down to Nashville. We went to Build a Bear Workshop for the kids to get a stuffed animal with a message recording from Daddy. It was a lot of fun.

Walter and Jem got wolfs. Walter's is called "Darth Wolf" and has a Darth Vador outfit. It is pretty cool. Rilla got a pink bunny and added all the frills. It is so cute. Shirley got a little doggy and picked out a plaid shirt for him. Gil recorded a message for each of them and it is in their stuffed animals.

The kids love them. It has definately helped them. They sure love their daddy. He is a great dad. They will really miss him, and so will I.

Jem's 6th Birthday!

2010-03-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

Jem turned 6 on January 30th. January was a long month. Shirley was very sick during it, so after attending another child's Chucky Cheese Birthday Party we chose to do the same for Jem. He was very excited about it. It ended up costing less than I expected it would, and I hardly had to do anything. That was nice. Plus, with Gil deploying end of February, it was nice to do something extra special for Jem who is going to miss his dad terribly. We,b scheduled his party for 9:30 Saturday morning. That way it wouldn't be too crowded. We lucked out and had a snow storm the day before so there was about 7 inches of snow. that kept people from going to Chucky Cheese (that didn't have a birthday party). We were the only ones sceduled for 9:30 so we had the place to ourselves (and the few families we inviting). That was really nice. There were 8 or 9 parties schedules after us, so I was glad we picked the early slot.

We had a blast. Jem absolutely loved it. It was worth the money we spent. I plan on doing the same for Walter's birthday in June.

Jem is doing great in school. I wasn't sure how school would be for him since he had a hard time sitting still when he was younger. He has no problem, however. He is all about following the rules and doing what he is supposed to. He is a great little boy. He is a very good big brother. He and Shirley get a long great. Shirley just loves him and Jem is so patient with him. They are very alike. Jem is still into Crystals, rocks, and bugs. He got two crystal making kits for his birthday and a crystal mining kit. He loves them. The crystal making kits will last for months, too. His newest obsession is diamonds. He really wants a diamond. I have been trying to get him to understand they are too expensive. I am tempted to buy a fake one and pass it off as real. Would that be wrong?

Military Ball!

2010-01-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

We had a Military Ball on the 6th of January. It was on a Wednesday and I wished it could have not been on a weeknight. The Ball was a lot of fun. The Food was very good. I thought dinner started too late (about 7:45 and it was buffet style-luckily we were table 30 so we only had to wait about 10 minutes). I was so hungry. But after the formal part they had three country singers singing and they were really good. I would have loved staying for more of that but we had a teenage babysitter that had school the next morning and I didn't want to keep her out too late. This picture was taken after the Ball. We had professional pictures taken at the Ball, but we have not received them yet. I made my dress. I like how it turned out but I need to make some modifications to it (I didn't have time before the ball to make the modifications)

New Years Eve!

2010-01-31T18:59:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun New Years Eve party at church. I was in charge so I had to go, but I would have anyway even with young kids. I brought blankets and pillows and laid Shirley down a little after 10. The other three were awake the whole time. We played games, had kereoke, and had lots of good food. The music was fun. It was fun dancing with the kids. Rilla enjoyed helping her dad vacuum after the party. We let our older kids stay up as late as they want on New Years Eve. Jem made it until 1:15 AM, Rilla made it until 1:30, and Walter made it until 2 AM.

Rilla's haircut!

2010-01-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break we built a fort in our living room/dining room and the kids, except Shirley, slept in it. Jem slept in the middle and must have been playing with his silly puddy when he fell asleep. Somehow it rolled under Rilla's head and got stuck in her hair really bad. There was no getting it out without cutting it. So I gave her her first real haircut. I am not great at cutting hair but it looks Ok. She is very cute with short hair. In these pictures she got Gil's work out gloves (that he does pushups in) and Gil found her trying to do sit-ups and pushups on her own.

Hutch!

2010-01-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

I love my house, but the kitchen is a little on the small side and not a lot of cabinet space. So A little after I got here I bought a hutch of Craig's list. I added two shelfs and bought baskets to keep my stuff organized. They are for things such as tools, batteries, kitchen gadgets, potatos, extra cups, etc. I love having it all organized and out of view.

Christmas!

2010-01-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

This was my favorite Christmas so far. We were able to make it a very spiritual one. What a wonderful day Christmas day was. After opening our presents we spent the morning playing together. We had Annalisa and her family over for dinner. I made a ham. It was a lot less time consuming than a turkey. I even bought the pies. I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen all day. We had a mid afternoon dinner so we had plenty of time after dinner to spend more time with our children. I was so content and happy when I went to bed that night. I hope I can make all of them just like this one.

We gave service for the Salvation army the week before Christmas. We had Walter and Jem participate with us.

A few nights before Christmas we made a gingerbread house together. I think the kids enjoyed eating the candy more than making it.
The kids opening their stockings Christmas morning.

Jem got a crystal making kit and a crystal mining kit and was so happy.
Walter got a gig lego set. He loves legos.. I love building with him.

My grandma always makes her Christmas gifts. I love them. It sure makes gifts extra special when someone takes the time to make them. This time she made the boys hats, Rilla a hat and shawl (they are so cute), Gil knitted socks, and me a knitted sweater.

Jem with his crystal mining kit.

Walter building one of the houses with the lego set he got.
Jem making his crystals. He couldn't be happier.
Gil got a harmonica and is excited to learn to play.

Shirley's 2nd Birthday!

2010-01-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

Shirley had his 2nd birthday at the end of November. It sure is amazing how fast they grow up. We didn't have a party (I don't really see the point when they are so young). We sang happy birthday after dinner and he opened his two presents. Since he can't have cake we made rice crispy treats (with canola oil substituted for the butter) and put two candles on the top. He talks quite a bit already and has already initiated potty training. I can't complain about that. He now sleeps in a toddler bed. He does love to pick on his sister, but other than that is a very sweet little boy.

Here are two pictures of hime when he was born and a few days after.

Washington DC and the Flu!

2009-12-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

September 26th Jem and Rilla started fevers in the middle of the night. Jem's stayed at about 100.8 and Rilla's was a little lower. Rilla's lasted 2 1/2 days while Jem's lasted 4 days. They had a little cough and sore throat. Walter had a little sore throat for about one day and that was it. Shirley didn't get it until the 2nd of October. But because I was sure it was the H1N1 Flu (my neighbors girls were confirmed with it and I watched their brother before and after school during that time, and we were at there house several times, too) I started Shirley on his asthma medicine before he even started showing symptoms. I think that helped since his asthma didn't get as bad as it has in the past. It was also a stressful week since I was flying out the next Sunday, Oct. 4th, to go to Washington D.C. for six days. Gil was also flying out the same day for a military class in texas for seven days (Gil found out about his TDY a week and a half prior, but I already had my flight scheduled and paid for by a friend here who paid for my ticket so I could help watch her toddler while she was in her FRG classes in Washington D.C.) My Grandma and Uncle were already coming to visit us the following week, so they came early to watch our kids. Of course, having sick kids made me stressed and I felt bad about leaving. Luckily, it was just Shirley who was sick by the time we left. Luckily, his symptoms were mild, and he had no fever, but his asthma had kicked in a little.

Even if my kids hadn't been sick, it still would have been hard to leave. I have never been away from them except when I have been in the hospital having a baby. I was excited to go to Washington D.C. I went to help my friend but also to get to visit with my sister who was going to the same FRG conference. The flight there was quick. I read and almost finished a book. It was so nice not flying with kids. I love reading, so I enjoyed the time. I finished the book while waiting fo my sister's flight to arrive in Washington D.C. Then we went to the hotel and checked into her hotel. It was a very nice hotel. We were on the 11th floor. The first half of Monday the three of us were able to do sight seeing. The first place I wanted to go was the botanical gardens. They were beautiful. I really enjoyed them. Then we walked by some sights, like the capitol, and then had lunch at a street cafe. Then Christina, my sister, and AnnaLisa, my friend, went to FRG meetings and I headed back to the hotel with AnnaLisa's little boy for nap time.

Tuesday through Thursday we were able to do a little more sightseeing, I watched Annalissa's little boy while they were in meetings, and spent time together. It was fun taking the subway. We took a shuttle from the hotel to the subway and then the subway into Washington DC. I enjoyed eating out as well. One night we had chinese and another we went to a Thai resturaunt. That was my favorite out of all. I had a curry and it was so good. I had, however, caught what my kids had and had a little cough and was more tired than normal. Other than that, I really had a wonderful time. I even visited some of the Smithsonian museums.

I flew home Friday morning and was very excited to see my kids. I really missed them. I got home just in time, too, because my Grandma and Uncle started not feeling well Thursday night. They caught the flu, too. My husband got home Saturday and had the following week off. He took it off since we had family visiting. We had planned on doing a bunch of sightseeing, but didn't end up doing much because everyone was sick (we did go to Mammoth caves in Kentucky-that was fun). Jem and Shirley got sick again with another flu. Jem got pnemonia. We caught it early and took him to the ER when he started spiking a fever and complained that his chest hurt. Shirley just had the normal coughing and wheezing from his asthma he gets when he gets sick. Luckily, that week was fall break from school so Jem only missed one day from school the following Monday. I enjoyed having my Grandma and Uncle. When my Grandma was better I took her to a spa and she had a foot pedicure and body massage. She is 81 years old and had never had either. Her and I also went out to lunch at the Cracker Barrel before the spa. It was nice spending time with her.

Family Pictures!

2009-11-25T07:22:00.001-08:00

We had family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. I bought the cd so I have all of the pictures that were taken.

Rilla's 3rd Birthday!

2009-11-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

Rilla turned three years old last month. She has been such a delight to our family. She has to put up with three brothers and does a very good job of it. She has always been a very good big sister to Shirley. She was almost never jealous of him (and she was only 13months old when he was born). She is very easy going, can play well with others as well as by herself. I love her personality. She loves learning. She can count to 12, knows most of her shapes and colors, and loves to sing. She carries a pretty good tune as well. I feel so blessed to have her as my daughter.

For her birthday we all went to the Jump Zone (my Grandma's treat). Then had cake and ice cream after dinner. She loved her birthday.

Here are a few pictures of her when she was younger:

Jem's Field trip!

2009-10-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

Jem had his first field trip last week to a pumpkin farm. I was able to go with him and really enjoyed it. It was nice to spend time with him. I am amazed how much he has grown up in the last 6 months. We learned about the importance of bees in fertilizing pumpkins, went on a tractor ride, saw farm animals, and went through a corn maze. The kids also got to milk a fake cow and each pick out a pumpkin. The even had a nice play area for the kids to play after they ate lunch. It was also nice to have good weather. The whole week before it rained and was cold. But we had high 60 degree weather and lots of sunshine.

Decorating for Halloween!

2009-10-27T13:05:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we bought Halloween decorations and decorated the front of our house. It was a lot of fun, especially doing it together as a family. We also had great weather to do it in. My favorite Halloween decoration is fake spiderwebs. I like how it looks on the window shutters.

Last week we also had fun raking up leaves and playing in them. I haven't done that since I was a little kid.

Fall 2009!

2009-10-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

We had a great Fall. My mom came and visited for a couple of weeks. She helped me make a sand box and flower area in front to plant flowers. We were also able to do some sightseeing in Nashville together. I was glad she came. The kids loved seeing her. She is a very cool Grandma in their eyes.

We sure had a lot of leaves to rake by the time all of our trees lost their leaves. We did have some fun, though.

School!

2009-09-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Walter and Jem started school August 8th. Walter started 3rd grade and Jem started kindergarten. I love that they take a bus and that it is so close, about half a block. I can see it from my front yard. The first two weeks the kindergartners had testing so they only went to school one day each week. Jem was not happy on the other days that Walter got to get on the bus and go to school and he didn't. I really like their teachers. I will be volunteering once a week in their classrooms (swtiching weeks). I started last Tuesday in Walter's class. I really enjoyed it. Jem is doing great. I was a little worried that he would have a hard time sitting still and stuff, but he is doing so well. We had an open house a couple of weeks ago and his teacher told me he waits for the appropriate time to chatter away (like lunch and recess). Anyone who knows Jem, knows that he can talk you ear off. I am enjoying spending more one on one time with Rilla and Shirley, especially Rilla who has had so little of my time compared to the other three.

Pictures at last!

2009-08-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not putting up pictures sooner. We bought a new camera, a very nice one, but it has a much bigger lens so I am not able to get a single pictures of most rooms. When I find my old one, which is around here somewhere I will take some pictures with it. The following pictures are of our living room and dining room with the new flooring.

This picture was taken right after the floors were installed. I hadn't finished putting all of the chairs together yet.

This is the final product, only the lighting isn't very good in the picture.

Here is the living room before I got the area carpet or put up pictures and lamps.

Here is the final product.

Another view of the living room.

Here are pictures of our kitchen. The new granite countertops were installed yesterday. I also changed out the handles and I think they look much better. I still have to replace most of the hinges still (I have bought them, I just need to do it).

The first three are Rilla and Shirley eating lunch at the breakfast bar. I love having a breakfast bar.

The rest are different views of the kitchen.

I will post more pictures of the house later.

Truck!

2009-08-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

So, we bought a second vehicle. It is a 2005 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 pick-up truck. Gil is very excited. I like it, too. It will be so nice having a truck. We have been fine with one car until now. It is a 20 minute drive to work for Gil, so sharing the care wasn't very easy or

cost effective. In Arizona Gil worked 3 blocks from home so always walked to work. The truck came with a pretty nice cab as well.

Rilla Paints Her Toes!

2009-08-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

While we were at my sister's house, Rilla got into my nail polish and painted her toenails. Amazingly, she didn't get any on the floor are carpet.

Walter's Birthday and Baptism!

2009-08-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

A week and a half before we moved from Arizona Walter turned 8 years old. The Friday after his Birthday we had a BBQ to celebrate his birthday and say goodbye to our close friends. It was a lot of fun.

The next day, Saturday, Walter was baptized. We are very proud of him. He is such a good example and such a sweet boy. Sorry, these pictures are blurry. We forgot our camera and took them with our video camera.

Now Walter gets to be in cub scouts. He loves it.

Quick update and 4th of July!

2009-08-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

I just looked back through our pictures and I am so behind on blogging. Wow! I have been so busy during the day and then so tired by night time that I haven't done any. I will try and catch up quickly. Our floors were done last week but I don't have the pictures on the computer yet. I love them. It looks so much nicer than the old carpet that was in here. I bought an area carpet for where the couches are and it looks so nice now. We have a lot unpacked now, which is nice. Still quite a bit to go. My next big project is putting the desk together. Walter and Jem started school last Friday. It was only a half day. They were off Monday and had a full day Tuesday. Jem only had school yesterday for this week and next Tuesday for next week (for kindergarten testing). Then he will start full time on the 25th. I will post pictures of them when I get them on the computer.

For this post I will tell about 4th of July. We went to Colorado to my sister's house for a week and were there for 4th of July. It was a lot of fun since we could buy fireworks to set off ourselves. I haven't been able to do that since I was a little kid (because it became illegal in Spokane, where I am from, when I was about 10 or 11). We set off the fireworks we had bought and then walked around the block and watched lots more fireworks (there were a lot). The only thing I didn't like was it was pretty cold.