Update time (January through March 2011)

In January, Kaile had one of her first choir concerts.  She loves choir, loves her choir director, Mr. Leonelli, and loves to sing.

In February, Claire took a cheerleading class.  It wasn't the best experience, but that wasn't because of lack of effort on Claire's part.  She loved it and I loved watching her.

They also had a Chinese festival at their school in February.  Mrs. Turley, Garrett's teacher, made this amazing dragon that the kids danced with.  Garrett was even in the paper.

And Claire did a tangram of a rabbit for the "year of the rabbit."  

Kaile turned  11.  Yes, I know.  Too old.  She is becoming quite the young lady and I appreciate her so much!

She really wanted a horse cake.  So I came up with the idea, and Jan put it together. :)  That's my kind of team work!!!

My kids love their Grandma Hazel.  They love when she comes over and reads to them, or when they get to watch movies with her, or simply have her around.  I love that they were able to spend time with her.  What a wonderful woman she is.

Nana Peterson gave us fun valentines.  This is my 3 hunks hamming it up.

Everyone at Nana's.  Happy Valentine's Day!

My two pretties!!!

We have found a wonderful little nature preserve by our home and have enjoyed taking family walks there.  Every once in awhile my kids want to pose for a picture.  All of the next couple of pictures are from our walks.  What fun family time.

My mom gave each of the kids a trip to Build a Bear for Christmas.  I thought it was a wonderful way for them to spend time together.  My kids have never been there before, so she would take each of them individually for a weekend, and as part of the weekend take them to find their "bear."  In April, my mom and I took Ty.  What a fun day, picking out his bear.

Washing it.

Dressing him.

And naming him.... bear.

One of the things that makes my heart sing is watching my kids work with their dad.  Jan works a lot, so he doesn't get much time to do manual labor around the house, but here he is fixing a fence at his parents house.  Claire was such a big helper and loves to help her Dad.  Who wouldn't, he is so fun to be around!  (Well, unless the house is dirty.  haha)

Claire lost her two front teeth within a couple of weeks.  This is her Nanny McPhee look.  :)

Almost time

So, I finally found an OB/GYN that will deliver me.... and we got into the house after two weeks in a hotel and two nights at our new Bishop's house..... and we are mostly unpacked....  so things are looking up in my world.  My feet have decided to join the party.  I will try and take some belly pics this week.  I don't look so good, even though I'm not as big as usual, so bear with me.  This year has been tough on my body and my mind.  Hopefully I'll update again before the baby comes, which will be July 29th, or sometime thereafter. :)

Moving to Austin!

Whew! What a month! Packing, sorting, throwing things away, giving things away, finishing school, selling things, packing more..... it was crazy! And I am exhausted. We finally made it on the road though!

The car was packed and everyone seemed to have their own little "compartment" to fit in. Can you say crazy???

On this trip Ty and Elvis became good friends. Elvis has always run from Ty (can't say that I blame him), but now Ty calls him "his dog."

This is them awake. I think Elvis liked the fact that Ty couldn't chase him while buckled. We spent the first night in Yuma, then Van Horn, then finally made it to Kyle!

We were so excited to get out of our car and see our new house!

This is the road to our subdivision.

This area is full of water towers. Each unique. I think they will become my landmarks to know where I am since there is no mountains to guide me.



Here it is! We thought we would be signing escrow papers the next day and getting our keys.... well, it is Saturday, and we still haven't signed anything. Waiting on the government I have heard.

We finally got permission on Wednesday to unload our moving truck into the house. Unfortunately that is when I was still under the impression that we would probably close our escrow the next day, so I put everything that we absolutely "didn't need" in the house from our car. This included important papers, and the kids bathing suits.....

So here is how we are sleeping the kids in the hotel. 3 across the top, one across the bottom. It seems to be working out fine other than Ty isn't getting any naps and they are all getting to bed too late, so Claire is cranky at times. This pic is from a cruddy motel we were staying in to save money. We feared for our health here, so we have since moved to a La Quinta that while more expensive, is very nice.

All in all, we are hanging in there. Our AC has broken on the suburban. Hoping that will get fixed on Monday with 100 degree temperatures here. We can't leave the animals in the hotel room alone, and can't get anything done with animals in the car...... so we are playing quite the juggling game trying to figure out who to leave where and for what and how long. The kids and I got to spend 6 hours in the hotel today while Jan drove to San Antonio to look at vans for work. That was fun. Especially when there is NOTHING good on t.v. (so glad we are not getting cable), and Ty hasn't had a nap. It has been great!

So, Yes we are here. No, we are not settled. And hoping you will all pray that we will close on Monday! This is one pregnant lady that is tired of hotels! :)

I love spaghetti.....

because it always seems to make cute picture time!

Here are a few of Ty's other cute moments so far this month.

Ty's counts are up to 127! Mommy is happy, the Dr. is happy, and Ty will be happy since he doesn't have to get poked for a month!!! :) Our goal right now is 150.

Starting 2010

This is Claire's last "cute" picture. You'll see why later. :)
I love to watch Garrett's tongue peek out as he concentrates!

This is Kaile's hair for "Crazy Hair Day". It is amazing what you can do with Christmas clearance items!

She said that she wanted her hair to "stick straight up". I think she got it. Amazingly enough, it stayed up all day!

And my kids favorite...the park.

This is Garrett's "after school" picture - notice the lunch all over his mouth. He is such a boy!

Kaile having fun with Ty!

And here is Claire's first "more grown-up" picture. Yep, she lost her first tooth! My baby is growing up! She really does seem older now. It is amazing how loosing a tooth will change everything!