Jaco is 9!

Jaco's birthday was July 22nd. I can't believe I am a mother to a nine year old! He will start 4th grade this fall which makes me feel even older. Jaco is a pretty fun kid to have around. He keeps us guessing everyday with his constant questions about what everything means. He wants to know everything about anything and isn't satisfied until he is confident we have answered completely. He has an amazing vocabulary and has an incredible ability to retain knowledge. He will be tutoring me before long!
We got home past midnight on the 21st but the Birthday Fairy still came and decorated the kitchen and his bedroom door. She was pretty tired! Jaco was so excited for his b-day that he woke up at 6:am even though he didn't get to bed until atleast 12:30. Lets just say that this did not make for the best start for a birthday. He was extra emotional and grumpy until it came time for dinner and the family party. Jaco is really into Pokemon so I made him a cake that resembled a Pokeball. He thought it was great especially when he discovered the Pokemon inside his cake. I got candles that relight after they are blown out and he wasn't too sure about them!

Jaco wanted a Wii game and I was thrilled to find the one he wanted at a used game store for a fraction of the cost of a new one!

The next picture was when he was still excited about the candles. Then when they kept relighting he wasn't very thrilled. The last photo is of him finding the pokemon. Happy Birthday Jaco!

Port Townsend

On May 31 we took a short road trip to Port Townsend. We played at a beautiful park, we ran through old military tunnels and flew kites on the beach. It was a beautiful day. We went with our friends Spencer, Debbie, Stewart, Josh, Krystin, and Aiden.

Jaco, Care Bear, Spencer, La-La, & Josh on the ferry to Port Townsend.

Care Bear and Aiden hanging out in the sand. Spencer & La-La exploring the beach.

Spencer and La-La; best buds!

Jaco was picked to ride up front with the driver on the way back from the tunnels. It made his day!
Justin entering a military tunnel.

La-La, Spencer, & Jaco in a tunnel.

La-La in the military tunnels.

Care Bear & Aiden

Krystin, Me, & Debbie

Spencer, Jaco, La-La, & Care Bear at the park.

Finally connected!

We finally got the Internet today! I have so much to post but it will take awhile so be patient. Here is a brief update. We finally arrived at our house on July 3. Then one week later we took a LONG drive to Idaho to spend 10 days with family and friends. We returned this last Monday the 21st and now I am busy unpacking from vacation AND moving all in one. I don't recommend it. Stay tuned for pics and more details about graduation, moving, playing etc...!

WHOOO-HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I am done with my paper route! I don't ever want to lug 2000 papers up three flights of stairs, fold them in thirds, slide them in bags, stuff the tops of the bags in the papers, put the papers in a box and lug box after box of papers back down 3 flights of stairs. Then drive around for hours on end throwing papers to people who are probably just as happy as I am to never see my weighed down green van in their neighborhoods again! Check out that awesome paper placement! HEE-HEE! Just picture me holding the steering wheel with my left hand and throwing papers just like a frisbee out the passenger window while constantly watching for dogs, kids, moving and non-moving vehicles.

Mom's Group

Mom's Group Farewell Party

When Care Bear was six weeks old I took the girls to a local community center for an indoor playground. I didn't know anyone there. A lady by the name of Maria approached me and asked if I would like to join a local "mom's group" that was just being put together. I told her yes and gave her my contact info not knowing if I would ever hear back from her. She introduced me to some of her friends one being Michelle who became the group moderator. Michelle set up a yahoo groups account and I was officially invited to join. This group was an answer to my prayers! We had lived in the area for about 4 months but I really didn't know anyone and with Justin so busy with work I felt quite alone. I fianally felt like I belonged in my new town. This group of women that started out as a small handful of moms and is now at 74 mom's and dads is AMAZING! If you have a sick child they are there to give advice or just a shoulder to sleep on. If you have great news they are there to cheer with you. If you have bad news they are there to comfort you. There are playdates planned,Mom's Nights Out where deep dark and usually amusing stories are shared and lots of advice is given from potty training tips to how to tend to a sick baby. But most important it is a group of accepting people who care for you no matter what.
Today they threw me a little going away party. We met at a park with fun sprinklers and ate yummy food and just hung out. It was a great day spent with incredible moms! I will miss everyone so much but plan to stay in touch by being a long distance member. Thank you BMG for everything! You guys are the best!

Dr Johnson

Justin performed a surgery to place an external fixator on a child with a tibial deformity. Here is the Dr at work! It even looks like he knows what he is doing! :-)

New house!

Everything looks good for the house we wanted so here it is! Isn't it cute?!!

All Done!

Jaco finished 3rd grade today. He had to say final goodbyes to a lot of people since he won't be back next fall. He is sad to leave but excited to start fresh at our new home. Unfortunantly he was known as the small, smart boy which wasn't the cool thing to be in school. So we are praying that things will be better in 4th grade with new peers! Jaco loved school and did very well; he just wanted to do things like algebra and read in the library rather than play outside for recess. Thank goodness he had great teachers who accomodated his needs and let him hang out with them. His second grade teacher was especially kind and understanding. Mrs R will forever be loved by us and we hope and pray he can have more teachers like her!

First day of third grade with the lunchbox that never made it home again.

Last day of third grade! Jaco holding a picture of his favorite teacher Mrs R.

Happy Father's Day!

To all you fabulous fathers out there I hope you had a great day! Thank you to my own dad who is an amazing example of faith and love. And thank you to my hubby who works harder than anyone I know, is smarter than anyone I know and who makes beautiful children! And to all the men who have been "fatherly" to me or my family, thank you for everything! And of course thank you to my Father in Heaven for his eternal love and patience with me!!

Justin helping Jaco hold Care Bear for the first time. Daddy's strong hands helping as they always do!

Road Trip

We decided on Friday afternoon to make a quick trip to our future town to try to find a house! Since we are moving in two weeks (YIKES!) it sounded like a good idea. We have decided to rent for the first bit since we are not from there and really don't know where we want to be. The same realtor who took us on our speedy tour of the community when we were there in May was very kind and agreed to help us find a nice rental home. We left first thing Saturday morning leaving Care Bear with a great friend so we didn't have to worry about her and headed south. La-La was so excited to come mainly because she couldn't wait to sleep in a hotel. She asked questions all the way down about what the hotel would be like. It was pretty cute. When we got into town, our friendly realtor took us around and showed us several houses she had researched for us. We saw some great homes and are hoping to rent the first one we toured. I have always wanted hard wood floors, a jetted tub and to live on a street that the kids could ride bikes and play safely. The house we are hoping to get has all three! It is near the end of a quiet cul-de-sac and has a decent sized yard. The kids loved it plus we would be able to get a dog as it has a built in dog run with a doggy door! It is a beautiful house that will be easy to turn into our HOME! We will fill out and send in the rental application tomorrow so pray everything goes well.

Our drive home today was quite entertaining. When we stopped for lunch Jaco said the quote of the trip! He was trying to balance playing his DS while eating a large rootbeer float and in frustration said "My underwear is on backwards and that makes everything worse!" I laughed so hard! La-La's qoute was said when she saw an airforce fighter jet doing tricks over the freeway including flying upside down.She said "I bet they are screaming in fear up there!" Then as we were driving we noticed a guy driving along on his Harley. All of a sudden he rode with no hands! For about five minutes he rode going 70 mph with both arms outstreched like he was flying. La-La even said that she thought he was flying. Then as he passed a Harley shop on the side of the freeway he bowed to it still with no hands! Pretty stupid if you ask me but entertaining to watch! I wanted to get a picture but we never got close enough.

So now it is back to packing and cleaning and praying that we get the house!

Jaco getting out some major wiggles before heading home.

La-La in front of the much anticipated hotel.

The high school's mascot is a caveman so we had to get a picture next to one of the locals.

Bug Love! (look with caution!)

La-La loves anything alive and tonight she took that love to a whole new level! Watch this short clip and you will see what I mean. This was all La-La's doing and I don't think any bugs were harmed in the filming of this show. : )

Here are a couple of photos too! If my sisters Miranda and Maria thought starfish were gross they will LOVE this!

La-La is all girl when it comes to dressing up and playing princess but she is also a pretty capable tom boy!

Starfish Galore! (New pics added to slideshow!)

We spent a chilly day at the beach On Thursday June 5th. This week was the lowest tide of the year so we went to explore the tide pools. We saw a ton of starfish. There were even purple ones! We were cold and wet but it was still worth it! Jaco and Daddy weren't able to come but the girls and I had fun with lots of our friends.

I will miss....

...All the beautiful colors! Everywhere you look there are vibrant colored flowering bushes surrounded by every shade of green imaginable. Our new hometown will be beautiful too just different and not so colorful. Here is a small sample of what I saw yesterday while delivering papers. I guess that is one good thing about my route! : )

Preschool Graduation

La-La is an official preschool graduate. She went to a class that high school students helped teach and she LOVED it! She also loved to go because she went with her best friend Ly. They are together all the time and have a ball. La-La and Ly performed a very serious duck song. I don't think either of them smiled once!

3rd grade concert

Jaco had his yearly concert the other day. His music teacher does a great job and the kids have a lot of fun. Here are some pictures but they are not very clear because we were at the back of the gym.

pool time

We will really miss our pool when we move in a month. It has been one advantage to living in an apartment! As soon as it opens memorial day weekend we spend as much time as possible there. La-La has always loved it and has taught herself to swim. Care Bear was wary of the pool last year but the two times we have gone this year, she has shown little fear and can be shivering uncontrollably and still won't want to get out. Jaco is content to play Pokemon out of the water and has not gotten wet this year. We will use the pool as much as we can before we have to leave!

Breakfast of Champions

Care Bear was a little too quiet in the kitchen so I knew I had to go investigate. This is what I found.

She was dressed like this because after her bath she REFUSED to put on the clothes she had picked out for herself and when I put them on her she instantly took them off.

It's official!!

Justin got the job! He received the phone call this afternoon saying he was unanimously voted as the newest Dr to be employed by the group. WHOOOO-HOOOOO! So he graduates June 27 and sometime very soon after that we will head south to our new home. We don't have an exact start date because he has to get licensed and everything but hopefully we won't have to wait too long.

I'm Home! (Lot's of words and no pictures)

Some of you know I was able to take a little road trip to check out a prospective job for Justin when he finishes his residency in June. We got back today and it was a great little vacation. Justin got home from Germany on Monday night and everyone couldn't have been happier! The whole way to the airport Care Bear said, "I so sited to see Daddy! I give him big hug!" The kids were like jumping beans all day. I even got a call from the school nurse asking if Jaco got his ADHD meds but it was just his excitement for daddy coming home.
So Tuesday we packed our stuff all up and packed newspapers all night so as soon as Jaco got home from school on Wed and the route was delivered we could leave. Wonderful ward members and friends kept the kids for us and that was the best part for me! A month with no support at home was ok but not easy so I was excited to have some time with Justin and no kids! It has been 8 years since we went anywhere overnight without kids and our 10 year anniversary is coming up so it was good timing all the way around. Justin met with the doctors from this office we are hoping to join, right before he went to Germany and they invited him back and asked for me to come too. The kids were also invited but that would have been a NIGHTMARE! Too many formal meetings in small rooms! Thursday and Friday we met with different staff members and doctors of this multi-specialty group. They talked income, benefits, ect... and just got to know us better and us them. They provided all meals with dinners at amazing restaurants that made us even happier to not have kids with us to worry about. They had a local realtor take us on a community tour. She was a young 65 year old lady who drove a car that could go 0-60 in 5 seconds and let me tell you she proved it several times! It was pretty funny. This job opportunity feels so right so we are very hopeful that it will all work out. We are pretty sure it will because Justin will bring to the community a skill that doesn't really exist there right now and they specifically wanted someone with the training Justin has received. Through his residency he has focused mostly on rear foot and ankle surgeries. The town has some orthopedic Dr's who know how to repair ankle fractures and such but not to the degree Justin can and they don't really like to do them. The other podiatrist who he would work with is not able to do these procedures so the office has had to turn away a lot of business that Justin will be able to keep for them. There are so many positive features about this job. The office staff is amazing and the group of doctors have a strong positive energy that you feel immediately. The group of Doctors own a small insurance company and the building they use is accessible to the community free of charge for classes such as healthy cooking, childbirth, and anything else a community center might be used for. The group has no debt except for the mortgage on the office building and I think that says a lot for the business side of the practice. The orthopedics respect the podiatrists in the community which in a lot of areas is not the case. Justin will only have to work a 4 day work week which he thinks will mean more golf but we will see! The group really encourages a balance between work and family. His first year in the practice he would be a salary payed employee and then after 12 months he would be given the opportunity to be a partner in the group. They will give us a moving allowance, the cost of living is a lot lower than what we are used to and it is a smaller community without the traffic we have to deal with now! The schools sound great and we could camp and hike everyday and still have new places to explore ten years from now. By the end of next week we should know for sure so I will keep everyone posted. I prefer to not say where this is specifically for internet safety reasons so if you are dying to know where I am talking about let me know!
Before the trip I was worried about what I should wear and how formal everything would be. I ended up probably overdressing because everything was quite casual. I had a feeling it would be pretty lowkey since this is a community that goes fishing and camping for fun not attending an opera but I figured for a first impression it would be better to over do it! Overall it was a wonderful trip and now we are just waiting to hear from them next week. So if anyone is already on their knees in prayer, if you wouldn't mind throwing our names in we would appeciate it! On that note I have to say that from the moment Justin received an e-mail from the group letting him know of this opportunity, it has felt so right! We are just ready to move on to the next stage of this medical school journey and are very excited!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you wonderful mothers out there, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! We have the hardest job in the world yet each day and night we continue to do it with no pay and sometimes little thanks. But I thank all of you and pat myself on the back because even if I lose my patience or raise my voice I know I still love my job and wouldn't want to be doing anything else because I have the most important job in the world!

Misc...

Since this blog idea is kind of a way to journal, I wanted just to share a couple thoughts from this week.

KINDNESS OF A STRANGER

You know how much I "love" my paper route. I look forward to Wednesdays every week! J/K!! This week was especially stressful because we did not get our papers until late Tuesday night but still had to be done by 3 on Wed. I was very grumpy and not very patient with the kids. I was out delivering and a complete stranger stopped to ask me if I lived in the neighborhood. She was very kind and seemed so happy with life. We chatted for about five minutes and she helped me feel better about what I do. She even said she loves receiving my paper every week which really improved my mood. A lot of people HATE it. I have even been chased down after delivering to someone who didn't want it. Anyways, this lady has no idea who I am and I probably won't ever see her again but her positive attitude and kindness to me significantly improved my day. So thank you stranger!

NEW BIKE

I bought Miss Care Bear a bike this week. I was going to fix La-La's old bike but it was pretty trashed and had already been through several kids as it was a hand-me-down from friends at church. It would have cost almost as much to fix it it as it was to just buy a new one. So my little 2 year old is THRILLED with her new bike. It is all she talks about and she would ride it all day if she could. I thought La-La was brave on her bike but Care Bear is even braver. She has no fear and rides like a pro. One time after she tipped over because she took a corner too sharp, she jumped up and said "That was really fun!" La-La was done with training wheels at 4 1/2 but I have a feeling Care Bear will be even younger.

TWO BUMS

One more quick story about Care Bear. (I feel like I talk the most about her but she is at that magical age of discovery and does not go to school so I have more time with her!) Anyways, she was taking a bath today and said "I have two bums! One in front and one in back but Jaco only has one bum!" It was pretty funny.

I want my Binky!

Two days ago I decided to limit Care Bear's binky use to bedtime only. She would have her binky ALL DAY if I let her.
When she asked for her binky Thursday morning and I refused to give it to her she had a grand mal tantrum with true ear splitting screams that lasted for 30-45 minutes. I held strong and did not give in.
Yesterday morning she woke up around 6 like usual and I told her if she came out to watch Barney like usual then her binky would be put away but if she stayed in bed awhile longer she could keep her binky. She didn't reappear until 7 which meant more sleep for both of us!
Well today she attempted to start her day at 5:45 so I told her again that if she stayed in bed she would get to keep her binky but if she chose to come out it would be put away. She stayed in bed again until 7!! Whoo-Hoo!!! I am keeping her binkies in a container that twists open and she can't get it open! These pictures are of her trying everything she can to open her beloved binkies. Don't worry, I took away the knife and hid the binkies.