Family Member Updates!

So.... What we're all up to. I'll start with the kids, because they're FAR more interesting than Jerrod and myself.

Esther ~ Essi ~ is 3 years old now. Daily, she'll remind me that her birthday is in December, and she'll be 12. She was quite upset to learn that she'd really only be 4. I guess Sariah had somehow given her the mistaken impression that she'd be older. Along with the "My birthday is in December." comments, she'll also tell me daily about what she wants for her party, who she wants to be there (everybuddy) and what kind of cake she wants. Jasmine, Polly Pocket, Giselle, Princess, Petshop. I keep telling her that she doesn't have to make up her mind yet, and she can tell me in December.

Her life's ambition at this point is to "Get married in the temple, to a missionary" so she can "kiss on the LIPS!!" For some reason, the idea is quite thrilling to her. When I asked her what she'd do if he had bad breath, she replied, "Oh, Don't worry. I can fix that, I'll take care of it." lol! Okay, well, it's all okay then! Now, if through the teen years, she can continue thinking that she needs to wait to be married to kiss, we'll be doing pretty good!

She adores her big sister Sariah, except when she doesn't. Several times a day, she'll give Sariah a big hug, and say, "I love you Sariah, you're the best sister in the whole world! No one could ask for a better sister dan you!" I think, "Oh, how sweet! They love each other SO much," as a tear comes to my eye. 5 minutes later, "Sariah, you're the annoyingest sister in the whole world." Sigh.

Sariah~ Now 7 years old, and she is my little bookworm. Sariah is almost constantly found snuggled somewhere with a blanket on her lap, and a book in her hands. This summer, she's already read, "The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe," the three "Fablehaven" books, a bunch of the American Girl books, (at least 7, but don't ask me which ones they were.) all her A Beka reading curriculum books, and a couple other shorter books. (Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary) She's also devoured several "How things work" type books and has learned about all sorts of stuff, from bugs, to quicksand. I love that I can have her read books to Essi now! They both love it, and if I'm lucky, I can take a nap while they do it! Thank heaven for libraries!!

Her biggest book accomplishment this year is that she completed the entire Book of Mormon on her own!! It took her just under 5 months, of daily persistent reading. (Well, minus the week where she figured she could just pretend to read, and say she'd read and get on to playing. lol! But, then she realized that it was her goal, and she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to, but she wanted to, so she did it.) She started at the very end of January, with the goal to finish by her baptism the first week in September. She finished early, on June 20, 2007. GO SARIAH!!

Her other big thing this summer is "crafts." Any piece of trash in our house is that gets thrown away is mourned with, "But, mom!! I could use that for one of my CRAFTS!!!" Our apartment is full of pictures, puppets, pop-ups, etc. etc. and we've only been here two months! Oy Vey! Fortunately, I mean, unfortunately, most of these will disappear, or get lost when we move back to Idaho at the end of September.

This last year we homeschooled Sariah, and that turned out to be a really good thing. She's been much happier this year, and has been able to move at a perfect pace for her, and with our moving, it's been great to be able to pick up where we left off before each move.

Mom ~ Me ~ I'm 27 now. I'm staying home with mt chiclets. I enjoy libraries, bookstores, and reading. (I'm realizing it's a LOT easier to talk about the kids, than it is to talk about myself. I'm also realizing I need to develop more interests, hobbies and passions. Yikes.) Okay, well... Next..

Jerrod ~ Dad ~ Dad is working with APX Alarm again this summer. It's going well, and he's on track to do at least as well as he did last year. (But, fingers and toes crossed that he'll do better! Prayers please!) He's planning on going back to school part time in Idaho and starting a new job with a debt managing company. (More on that later, much later, like September or October.) He's a wonderful dad, and the kids adore him. Essi will come tell me a few times a week, "Dad's got a new wife. It's Essi." They love Sundays where they get to be with him the whole day. The favorite game of dad and the kids is "The Sleeping Troll" game. This was inspired one Sunday, when dad just wanted a nap, but the kids wanted to play. So dad got to half-sleep on the couch, and the object of the game was for the kids to come kiss him on the cheeck and get away before he could grab them and tickle them. He's sweet, and loves the kids. We couldn't ask for a better dad (or husband.)

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Now, for a general update on our family. This last year has been crazy. In April of last year, we moved from Oregon to Virginia (Norfolk) to work again with APX (though we swore to ourselves it was our last year the year before!) Then we decided to extend in Las Vegas. That didn't go as well as we'd hoped, so he transferred to Salt Lake for three more weeks. Then we moved to Blackfoot. (My hometown) We lived there from October to the beginning of March, and really loved it. It was quite surprising because I'd always sworn that we'd NEVER live in Idaho, especially not Blackfoot! lol! But, we all loved it. It was fun for the kids to live so close to Grandma and Grandpa, and their aunts and uncles (some just a couple years older than they are.) Then at the beginning of March, we moved to Arizona for a month, and we are now just south of Atlanta until the end of August/first of September, when we'll be moving to the Rexburg area for Jerrod to go back to school. APX has been a unique opportunity, and it's been really good for us. But, I think we're ready to be done. If things go well this fall/winter/spring with Jerrod's new job, we won't have to move for the summer!! But, I think even if we have to do this a few more years, we'll just keep renting a house in Idaho even while we're gone for the summer so we don't have to do all the packing that we've been doing, and we can know who we'll be living by when we get back, what the ward will be like, and start building some stability. (What's that?)

Other family updates. In October, we had Felix, a foreign exchange student from Germany, come live with us. That was a neat experience. We all loved him, and the kids really enjoyed having a "big brother." In January, we got to go sledding a few times with Grandpa and aunts and uncles, and that was a blast! At the end of January, Jerrod and I got to go on our first cruise! It was all paid for by APX, and it was with a lot of the people that Jerrod has worked with over the years. It was really fun, though for some reason, I kept getting incredibly emotional. We went to an art auction, and when the auctioneer was describing the work of this (completely obsure, I've never heard of, and don't even remember who it was) artist, I was just weeping with emotion. Very strange. Also, when our dinner table was pirated, that brought forth fresh tears, even though it really was NOT a big deal. I'm not a teary person, so that was all very very weird for me. We got back from our cruise, and I had bronchitis. We went to the doctor, and found out through a routine screening before getting an x-ray, that I am pregnant! Wow! That was a shocker. (But, it explained the emotional breakdowns I'd been having.) We'd needed fertility treatment before, and were planning to use it again in a few months. The timing is a bit of a challenge, but we're excited to be welcoming our first baby boy to our family in early October!

So, that's what's happening/happened with us for now! (Well, and for the last while) All my posts won't be this long! Promise!

Quote/Conversation of the Week: Stepmothers. (After reading Snow White)

Mom: So, does a stepmother sound like a fun idea?
Essi: I'd want Daddy to marry Aunt TRISTA!!
Mom: Aunt Trista? Well, she probably wouldn't be an evil stepmother.
Essi: No, I'll find a prettier wife who won't throw FORKS at Daddy!
Mom: (laughing) One who won't throw forks at daddy? (wondering where ESSI got this from) Well, that's probably a good idea. We don't want daddy getting forks thrown at him. (Really funny if you know the history)
Sariah: I could probably marry dad, and then I could take care of Essi.
Essi: No, I'LL marry dad!
Mom: How about if I just stay alive..