My brother Ian graduates from Air Force basic training on Friday. I'm flying out to see the ceremony with my buddy Jefferson. Jefferson has no clue we're going anywhere. I'm so excited to keep this a secret from him. He is going to FLIP OUT when we get onto the plane. I'm not saying a word! "It's a surprise, I can't tell you anything" is all I'm going to say the whole day. Granted we're leaving at 10:45am and arriving in TX at 7:45pm.... I'm sure I'll give in.

Yeah Ian!!! I'm so excited to be able to go and show my support. This is awesome. Ian is awesome! I am going to take WAY TOO MANY pictures, so be prepared.

Cute kid stuff

We were having ice cream and asking the kids if they wanted a bowl or cone. Grant says "I want my ice cream in a Pine Cone"

Jefferson: Daddy, how do eyes see?

Shawn: That's a long answer

Jefferson: That's okay, I like long answers

Shawn: all right… light enters your eyes and receptors called rods and cones…..

Jefferson: Stop Daddy, can you just turn on a cartoon now

Sporting a mascara mask

I asked Grant why he was rubbing his eyes so much and he told me "because I have boots in my eyes (pulls his fingers out of his eye) See, here's a boot right here!"

Grant is crying that he has an owie. Me: Where is your owie?

Grant: on my thumb toe

He's stuck up there…. And it was tough to get him down!

When I found random toys spread through the house in weird places Grant told me, "those are my bear tracks, you have to follow them to find me."

Jefferson: Can you read me ALL the stories?

Me: No, I'll just read one right now

Jefferson: If I was a grown up and my children asked me if I would read ALL the stories, I would say 'yes' to them.

I lifted my arms and Jefferson said "whoa… you need to clean in there… it's gross."

Neighbor: Hey, Gwanty

Grant: I'm not Gwanty, I'm GRANTY

Neighbor: No, you're Gwanty

Grant (yelling): Hey, I know my own name. Let me tell you…. It's GRANTY

Just one of the guys… I don't think she realizes she's a girl

Jefferson: How does Luke Skywalker stay up in the sky? Does he walk on the clouds?

Grant (talking to Jefferson): If we got in a car accident then mommy would go to jail.

Jefferson: No, the car would go to jail, not mommy.

Grant (confused): why?

Jefferson: Because the car is the thing that got in the accident, mommy is just sitting inside of the car, she didn't do anything bad.

Snap a picture, QUICK… this never happens!

I dropped a bowl on the kitchen floor and it broke. Grant says… "ut-oh, Daddy is going to put you on time out when he comes home."

The kids are playing trains when Reagan starts screaming. This battery powered train got stuck in her hair. The wheels were still spinning and tangling in her hair when I found her. I had to cut it out. Does that count as her first hair cut? I hope not.

MUD… we love mud!

So long... farewell

The past couple weeks have been wild!
With Shawn starting his 2nd year of school
Jefferson starting Kindergarten
Moving and all that goes with that headache
Reagan's procedures
Grant's Dr. appointments and surgery
and me researching local mental institutions for myself....
I totally forgot to say goodbye

So, goodbye little house we loved so much!

Goodbye to these lovely amenities who I will miss dearly every week.

Goodbye garage

Goodbye to the greatest neighbors ever. (But not for good because we built a lifelong relationship)
Goodbye good friends
Goodbye to shopping centers so close by, (Shawn thinks it's a blessing)
Goodbye to the elementary school behind our house where Jefferson was going to attend

Goodbye to the best parks I've ever been to... and the one right down the street

Goodbye to the trail I would run on

Goodbye to some awesome fireworks shows in our neighborhood

Goodbye to the Air Show that entertained us out our front door
Goodbye backyard

Goodbye to a church we loved and to the 5 5year old boys Shawn taught in Sunday School
Goodbye to our garden we planted and wasn't quite ripe enough to eat

Adios, Ciao, Au revoir
Really, I didn't want to leave.... Shawn had to drag me kicking and screaming from the house. It wasn't anything spectacular, but we built a little life there over the past year and a half. I get attached to places and I never want to move. This is how it's been with every move we've made… I don't think I can ever love another place as much. (with the exception of Rexburg… I was begging to leave!) With that perspective in mind, I realize in time I will love Forest Grove. I will be raving about how awesome it is and how I could never leave… unless someone drags me kicking and screaming.

My little Mr. Bump

 

Grant had surgery yesterday to take care of his hernia. It was outpatient and he came home the same day, so it was minor, but not so minor to a 3 year old! He did great going to the hospital and getting ready, although he wouldn't let go of his buddy Superman. The hardest part for him was not eating all day long. But he was surprisingly easy to reason with.

He really let loose in the play room and was able to relax more.

About 1 ½ hours later I was brought in to find him sleeping. He slept for almost 2 hours. The sweetie was wiped out!

If you say POPCICLE loud enough, he'll wake up

Here he is showing off his cool arm band that pumps
Superhero power into his body. This stuff can make me
run really fast and even fly, he told me, but it's kind of itchy and I want it off now.

Everything went great his Dr. said. And everything was
great, until about 8pm when his medication began wearing off. He had been completely numb and couldn't even walk and all of a sudden he was in intense pain… and the codeine wasn't doing anything! I was in a panic thinking something was wrong so I called the Dr. He said everything would be okay and just to wait it out…. 5 hours later he finally stopped crying and fell asleep. What a night! As for today…. It's as if nothing ever happened.

This was actually our second trip to the Children's Hospital in a week. Reagan has a procedure done and we found out she has Vesicoureteral Reflux. She was given a grade 2 (5 being the worst). So the Dr.'s are confident that she'll outgrow it. She'll take a low dose antibiotic daily until they do the procedure again. She's happy and healthy, they just have to monitor her because she's at risk for kidney damage.

What a week!

KINDERGARTEN

Today was Jefferson's first day of kindergarten. I still can't believe it. The entire school topic kept me up for nights. After deciding to enroll him in public school and feeling good about the decision... we find out we're moving. I had to decide again what to do. It shouldn't have been so hard, I know. But this is my baby we're talking about and I just want the best for him. So, after researching, visiting schools, talking to faculty, I made my decision. He's attending Gales Creek Elementary. The school is out of town so I have to drive him there, the bus will bring him home. The school is really small, about 110 students TOTAL, in a small town. There is only 1 classroom per grade. I just love the intimacy and warmth of the school and teachers!
Jefferson has gone to preschool the last two years, so I thought this would be a breeze for me. But it was actually hard. Driving home after dropping him off in the morning I just couldn't believe it. He's actually in school... real school. It's like he's stepping over some imaginary line that separates a little boy from a big boy. To me that line is HUGE.
He has been ready for school for months! The "first day of school" finally came and he was excited. You can't really tell from these pictures because he was also VERY tired. We'll have to go to bed earlier from now on!

Showing off his new backpack

Jefferson with his teacher, Mrs. Schramm.

It was just one of those un-photogenic days

He normally will take the bus home. But it was the first day, and I just wanted to pick him up at the classroom and see how his day went. Bad idea mom! He wasn't excited to see me AT ALL because he wanted to ride the bus. He didn't speak to me the entire ride home and whenever I looked at him he hid his eyes. It wasn't until around 5pm that he finally said "okay mommy, I want to tell you about my day now." He went on and on about a class fish, and the playground, everyone saying "Hi Jefferson" in unison, coloring, listening to a story, playing basketball and more!

This year is going to be AWESOME!

What a surprise

We moved this last weekend. It's been a lot of work, mostly because it's virtually impossible to get anything done with 3 young kids around. And Shawn just started school again, so he's been busy. This is the part when I continue to complain and go on whining, but I'll stop.
So, I was pulling into the parking lot when I recognize a blue honda with CA plates. No way, it can't be I thought. I couldn't see well because it was raining. But sure enough when I parked I could see my MOM sitting in the car. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! That crazy woman drove 11 hours up here to help me unpack for 3 days before driving all the way home again. I love her! Only my mom would think to do something so spontaneous and thoughtful, I cried. Wow, and what a help she was. If you can call this help.....

We went and cleaned the old house. I had already moved my dish-washing soap to the new house. My mom says, No problem, I'll just add a dab of dish soap.


Here's the hard workers resting after putting together the bunk bed.
What a surprise it was to have her come up and help.... thanks to such an amazing mom!