Thursday, July 26, 2012

Where has all the time gone?!

I feel like I'm saying that a lot lately. . . but seriously, I can't believe how the summer is flying.  Gosh, let's see, in the last month and a half, we've experienced a lot of change.  I've attached a slide show so you can see a bit of what we've been up to but here's the run down.


Did you catch that last picture?!  Yeah, we're pregnant!  We think we're in control.  We live like we're in control and really, we are NOT in control!  We are due to have baby #3 at the end of February.  :)  Good grief, we'll have 3 - 3 1/2 and under.  Whew!  We weren't exactly thinking we'd like another one so close to Elsie, but God apparently thought that was a great idea.  Elsie and the baby will be 22 months apart.  Really our biggest problem is where the kid is going to sleep!  I am a big fan of everyone (including me!) having alone time.  We'll see.  I've been feeling pretty yucky and tired and so the groove I was getting into with managing our home, the girls and planning fun activities has come to a screeching halt.  I have been enjoying naps and books though.  That's one benefit of having kids close together. . . they all still nap and stay on a similar schedule.

In the last month and a half, we've had fun family outings to the pool, the foster care foundation chalk art festival downtown, we celebrated the 4th with neighbors again and we had a road trip to NM for 'Thanksgiving in July' with my mom's family.  We also extended that road trip to include Pagosa Springs and Mesa Verde on our way home.  Long driving days, but lots of fun.  Our garden as taken off but the only thing we've eaten so far is the mint, basil and cherry tomatoes.  We've picked one squash but veggies gross me out these days so I haven't cooked it yet.  We have 2 big pumpkins growing and the tomatillos are cross pollinating like crazy!  

Elsie is 15 months old now and she has been walking since June 1st but she really took of about a month ago.  And, in the last few weeks she's started talking.  She says (in order of acquisition) DaDa, Hi, Ada (Addy), Arra (Arrow - the dog down the street), Ba (Grandpa or sheep), MaMa.  Yep, I was beat out by the neighbor's dog.  :)  She's also using about 15-20 signs so it's getting a lot easier for her to communicate.  Yeah, the whining is being replaced by words.  :)  She is really getting into books lately, and she's not eating them quite as much as before. 

Addy is just a month and a half from turning 3!  I can't believe it.  What a talker.  Today she ate lunch pretending to talk on the phone all the way through.  She's also enjoying 'reading' alone and making up songs.  She has so many books memorized that she practically can read books to herself.  And her songs. . . the other day one went like this "Jesus the Risen Christ, short and stout."  She sang that over and over.  :)  She' really getting more competent in her fine and gross motor skills which is really great!  She's started helping to unload the dishwasher, clear the table and sweep and clean up spills.  She is a big helper and she always wants to do whatever I'm doing.  I'm working on letting her help.  :)

Brad's work has gotten a bit busier as he created a development plan for himself to learn the liability side of Farmers so that he knows more than just what's going on in auto.  He's doing great.  He also got a juicer last month and set to work juicing cucumbers, celery, carrots, beets, apples, and oranges and he froze them in ice cube trays to add to his shakes.  What a crazy contraption!  The orange juice was really good though!

We've officially started going to a new church and we are really enjoying getting to know the families that go there.  It is called EVFree of Salt Lake City.  The pastor, Steve Clark, has a real gift for preaching the Word AND he shepherds his church and gets involved in people's lives.  It's a small church but it has several large families.  3, 4, 5, 6, 7 kids in a family is normal.  It's neat to have families to learn from as we try to raise our girls for the Lord.

We celebrated our 7th anniversary this month but our plans were a bit thwarted.  First, we decided to spend July 21st up at Snowbird (without the girls) to do all their high adventure activities like the zip line, slide, gondola, etc.  Great plan, right?  Well, then we found out we were pregnant so I was only going to get to do a few of the activities.  And then we got up there only to discover that it was raining and most everything was closed due to rain.   Grr.  So we ate an ice cream cone in the rain and headed back to the city.  We redeemed the afternoon and evening by having Thai for dinner (why is it that is the only thing I want to eat when I'm pregnant?!) and watched The Dark Knight Rising.  It wasn't exactly what we were thinking but we did get a great date out of it. 

Speaking of the Dark Knight. . . why do tragedies seem to flock to Colorado?  I found out that a former student of mine was shot (along with his mom) at the film but is fine.  His story is here  http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21125778/wounded-teen-helped-victim-theater-shooting?IADID=Search-www.denverpost.com-www.denverpost.com  Also, you may have read Mike White Jr and Sr's stories from the shooting.  They both work at the middle school I used to teach at. Mike Jr. is a security guard and Mike Sr. is the custodian.  Their story is here http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/aurora-survivors-recount-massacre-in-vivid-detail/6ptopuk?cpkey=566a1eab-a036-49e6-bd41-e55fec177b2b%7C%7C%7C%7C.  Please continue to pray for the Aurora community.  The stories are heartbreaking and there is a lot of healing that needs to take place.

On that note, may you have a blessed summer.  I'm going to take a nap.  :)