Month: June 2013

    Our Week – june 10-15th

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    OUR WEEK
    Ben left us and went to hang out with the boys at scout camp all week. The kids and I have stayed pretty busy and had lots of people check in on us. We played with cousins all day Thursday! LaNell came and checked in on Tuesday. Brady came over on Wednesday and babysat while I went to the post office and ran some errands. Ben’s parents also came on Wednesday to check on Packer. The 3 oldest got to have a sleepover with Pete and Amanda’s kids. I thought it would be therapeutic for Amanda’s brain tumor recovery! Not really but it seemed like a good night for a party and my children LOVED it. If Amanda crashes in the next day then I am to blame. I had a regular prenatal check up this morning and everything looked good with the baby. Now it is Friday afternoon and we are taking it easy, letting Raymond nap and MAYBE going to the pool when he wakes up. Benji is across the street making friends with the new boy that is 1 day older than him and the other 3 are playing with Mia and Luca! Love living by cousins!

    I have all of the upstairs unpacked except for the game closet and I need to do some organizing in the boys closet. The main level just has one more box! 1. Maybe I’ll go unpack it now so that I can call it done! One kitchen counter is piled high with things to be put away but I am so close in there. The TV got installed. The drinking fountain got installed. The bathroom mirror got replaced… now i am starting on a new list… the toy room door just started sticking. The trim on the island needs some love. Anyway, like i said I have stayed busy with the house and entertaining the kids. The garage and basement are still screaming my name but those aren’t as urgent.

    NOW IT IS SATURDAY and Ben is home!! Hip Hip Hooray! We did chores all morning and had a cousins water party at Grandma and Grandpa’s all afternoon. I’m exhausted, goodbye week…

    Raymond and Rose love this car!

    Raymond and Rose love this car!

    Ray Tom being a grouch

    Ray Tom being a grouch

    These girls want to wear princess dresses everyday! and spend their play time doing hair and makeup

    These girls want to wear princess dresses everyday! and spend their play time doing hair and makeup

    Packers Skylander Organizing

    Packers Skylander Organizing

    front porch and popsicles

    front porch and popsicles

    failed attempt at capturing the thursday night pizza party

    failed attempt at capturing the thursday night pizza party

    5:00 at the PG pool = empty

    5:00 at the PG pool = empty

    Rose learning to slip n slide at the Grandparents house

    Rose learning to slip n slide at the Grandparents house

    Packer Bouncing

    Packer Bouncing

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    Cali with cousins

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    the newest trio – Ellie, Rose and Christian!

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    We have a BIKE RIDER!

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    WE HAVE A BIKE RIDER!

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    We have been trying to get Benji to drop the training wheels since he was six but he just couldn’t do it. This last time I tried teaching him but he just wasn’t ready so I put the training wheels back on as crooked and lopsided as possible to try and force him to balance. Anyway, now that we live at the new house, in a cul de sac, next to cousins that know how to ride – it was time to learn. And he turns 8 this month and I told him that cub scouts have to know how to ride their bikes. So as Ben left for scout camp he promised him a skylander if he learned how to ride! and we were both determined…
    I took him out Monday morning and he did better than ever. Like he actually kind of did it and I knew I was not putting those training wheels back on. We went out Tuesday morning and he started practicing before I could go help him and he just took off! and he hasn’t looked back!! He loves his bike. He loves riding fast and pushing his limits. We had to practice turning on Tuesday and braking on Wednesday and driveway on thursday… I love that he can ride his bike and he is pretty good at it already! He grips the handles so tight that he rubbed the skin off of his thumbs and he has bruises all over his legs. And I am not replacing his shoes until he learns how to use his brakes.

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    AND CALI CAN RIDE!!

    Cali has been on her bike way more than the boys. She has that natural desire to ride. So she had me take her training wheels off on Monday and on Tuesday morning she also just took off all by herself! She is still a little wobbly but she can do it. She races Benji to the end of the street and is so proud of herself. She is pretty cute on that little bike! and has only ran into 1 car so far 🙂 She can go down the driveway and is getting better at turning and stopping. Love that Girl – finally the strong willed, stubborn streak is paying off.

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    Packer is still a little timid but I am determined to teach him this summer. They have all spent more time on their bikes this week than possibly all bike riding put together at the old house. It’s been a great distraction for all of us while Ben is gone at scout camp this week.

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    now if we could just get all of the work trucks off of our street!

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    Categories: Benji, Cali, Packer

    Eat DIRT

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    EAT DIRT and then suck your thumb 🙂

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    I’m afraid we will see a lot of this throughout the summer 🙁

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    Categories: Raymond

    Packer’s 13 Stitches

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    Packer had to have stitches! Last Saturday we were organizing the house and getting ready to go to the library and around lunchtime Benji came running in to tell us that Packer was hurt. I came down stairs to a bloody faced Packer. His eye, his cheek, his nose and his tongue were all bleeding. We got him cleaned up and took him in for stitches. He ended up with 13 stitches – 8 above his eye, and then each cut on his cheek needed 3 or 4. He and Benji had been playing on the basketball hoop that we set up the night before. Benji climbed on a toy car to dunk and the whole hoop fell over on top of Packer. We are glad that he only needed stitches and didn’t have any other injuries.

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    We already got the stitches out on Thursday and it seems to be healing well. He was pretty tough about it. Now we are supposed to prevent sunburn for a year!

    Categories: Packer

    unfamiliar, lost, newby …

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    I’m feeling a bit out of sorts in my new home. Lots of things are still in boxes. I don’t have internet or TV yet. It’s hard to find what I need even if I have unpacked it because it is in a new spot. I’m not sad or lonely I just feel like everything is unfamiliar and different. We were so comfortable and now we have stirred the pot and are searching for that comfort. We know it is out there and that it will be ours shortly but in the mean time… Like at church we were surrounded by good, friendly people but they felt like strangers compared to the familiarity and family feel of the people we had been with and served with for 9 years. Change is hard, to me it’s hard simply because it is change.  Finding that balance of nurturing my children and arranging and unpacking the house has been a challenge. Trying to start summer but needing to be devoting the majority of my time to the homes has been hard. Keeping our other home and renting it out took most of our time last week – but now the renters are in and ALL of our stuff is out. It’s mostly done except making sure utilities get switched over under a landlord account and following through with rental insurance and fixing some blinds that the cleaning girls broke and… (really there is just always one more thing and I haven’t even told you about my credit card getting switched in the middle of the move and writing a check to an empty bank account and… things that never happen and shouldn’t happen except we were moving and I didn’t pay attention to the mail that closely and I couldn’t find the right check book but the other checkbook would have been fine except we had just emptied that account to buy the new home and… Oh yeah – we are a brand new sub division so there is no mail here. They won’t put a mail box in until all of the homes are built so I’m supposed to go pick up my mail everyday! and I typically have my diapers delivered and we shop on line for lots of stuff but our address does not exist – do you see what I mean about lost and out of sorts???? I see a beautiful big light at the end of the tunnel but I just need to get there! And now Ben is away at scout camp so the blogging world gets my thoughts for the day 🙂

    friday May 31! goodbye and hello

    friday May 31! goodbye and hello

    I am getting settled and starting to see glimpses of normalcy and possibly the rest of our lives here on this street, in this cul-de-sac, by these people.  Each day they are building the homes around us and digging and pounding and prepping and waking us up extra early on Saturdays. Each day several cars drive through our street to see the progress. Each week we meet new future neighbors! Each neighbor has 4 kids (that’s what happens in UT). Friendly neighbors knock on our door and bring us cookies! Each day 1 more thing gets ‘taken care of” on our “not quite done” new home checklist. Tomorrow the TV should be installed. And a new mirror in the bathroom that isn’t scratched. The plumber should be coming on Wednesday morning… I emptied 8 LARGE boxes today. Tomorrow I WILL organize the toy room…

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    So we have jumped in with both feet. My absolute favorite part about the change is living next door to family! My kids have played with the cousins every day. Today they played from lunch time until dinner time. They go back and forth between houses. They all have a friend and I don’t have to take them or drop them off or worry about getting them home or wait for Ray’s nap… GLORIOUS!

    we don't have grass but we are making the most of our front porch

    we don’t have grass but we are making the most of our front porch

    Categories: General

    Benji

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    Benji is getting so big. He has been my little shy guy for so long that it is weird to watch him grow up. It’s the little things I’m talking about. He actually comes home with skinned knees from trying the monkey bars or jumping off the ledge. He finally puts holes in his jeans and wears out the toes of his shoes! these are firsts! He likes to climb and wrestle and has even started to throw a ball just for fun, or practice kicking and dribbling! He asks us to play sports with him!

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    He is still sentimental and tender hearted but he is getting more adventurous. He saw Ben on the roof so he climbed up to join him. They cleaned the gutters and talked about how much they were going to miss our house with the big tree! 🙂

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    Categories: Ben, Benji

    Catch Up: May 25th-30th

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    school is out? summer is here? the Hancock’s stayed with us for a week?

    Cali and MIa

    Cali and Mia

    Cali finished Preschool! She will not be old enough for kindergarten so she will be going to the same preschool again with Mia. She knows most of her letters and counts to 50ish. She watches her brothers and wants to read and write like them. I think she’ll be doing both very soon. She loved her teachers and had a great end of the year party.

    Packer and Luca

    Packer and Luca

    The boys had the end of the year dance festival! and they had field day! and Packer got to go to Cabela’s and we went to kindergarten graduation! The boys were great students and good examples in their classes. We are proud of them.

    proud sisters

    proud sisters

    Packer LOVED his teacher

    Packer LOVED his teacher

    Erica and her kids came and stayed with us that last week of school and last week in our house. We had lots of last sleepovers in the most awesome play room. We tried to keep the house clean while people came to see if they wanted to rent it! We played at the park. Erica babysat my kids MANY times while we had our final walk through and drove to SLC to close on the new house and … it was fun having them. It’s always amazing how much fun our kids have together and how they just know that they have to be friends 🙂

    at the park

    at the park

    these 2 have very similar personalities

    these 2 have very similar personalities

    breakfast

    breakfast

    Categories: Benji, Cali, General, Packer, Rose