Fablehaven

If any one is not familiar with this series, let me tell you that I LOVE IT!! Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, who I swear is LDS, is so fun to read. Yes, it's adolescent lit, but I like adolescent lit. I really almost like his series better than Harry Potter. It is a 5 book series and I just stole the book #5 from my mom a couple Sundays ago who had just bought it and finished it last night. Your kids will love them if they liked Harry Potter. And what a great thing to read this summer. I have found myself thinking about different characters or events all through out today, which is a little embarrassing, but he just makes the imaginary world seem so real.

This is a great adolescent fantasy book and I highly recommend it. Not that that means much, but this is my blog and I can endorse what I want!

Teila's new addition

This is copied from Auntie Beth's blog:

"What do you think of an Auntie who doesn't (technically) ask first and may have (just may have) manipulated
a defenseless 10 year old niece into getting her ears pierced?
What do you think of a 10 year old who is easily persuaded by "Diamonds"?

What do you think of an Auntie who signed a parental permission form in front of a teenage "jewelery" sales girl and felt absolutely no guilt?

What do you think of a brave little one who did an "I got my ears pierced" dance afterwords
and couldn't wait to call her Mom?

Happy Birthday little T! I {heart} you and diamond earings too."

I love it!! Teila did just celebrate her 10th birthday. We didn't really do a big party, since the boys had their bdays in March, we are going to Amazing Jake's this year for their birthdays. But this obviously wasn't good enough for Auntie.

Teila is SOOOOO excited! (about the earrings). Please don't ask my mom how she feels about this. Teila went over on Sunday to show her, (She wasn't feeling well so we skipped our usually dinner and just dropped by before going to Jarman's) She called me at Jarman's to complain and wanted to know if Beth was going to take her to get a tattoo next. I think it might still be on the table. It'll say "I [heart] Auntie Beth". Mom of course is freaking out which makes us all laugh!

We love you Auntie Beth!!

Not for everyone...

This post is mostly for my neice Angela. If you circumcise your little boy, be prepared with this. Vaseline in a TUBE not a jar and some gauze. We usually buy a roll and cut it ourselves it's cheaper. The nurse used A& D on the boys, but she said only because she got it for free. So we have used this Vaseline with both boys and it's been fine and saved us money. Do the circumcision in the hospital, with the boys my old doc made us wait a month and I HATED it. This one will be in the hospital and I am so glad. (They told me it'll probably cost $160ish). You will have to put this stuff on every diaper change for about a month. It's been a while since I've bought Vaseline like this, and they don't have it at every store. The jar stuff is so hard to get on and around the area, the extra money for the tube is well worth it. In fact, if I can't find the Vaseline in a tube, I will buy the A&D. I know this is a little ways off for you, but it is getting closer for me. And with things like this, I like to be prepared and buy a little each time I go to the store, when I see it, or just stock up all at one time. Anyway, someone else might have some other recent advice, I just am sharing what I've done so I don't forget. It's been a while since your mom has had to do it, and I hate having to go to the store on the way home to get these things after the surgery. Esp. since I feel so strongly about the tube.
Love you honey, keep taking care of yourself!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Tegan & Nathan found out that he is going to
WEST VIRGINIA
for his med school residency!!
Congratulations you guys!
We wish you were closer, but it's only 3 years.
We're proud of you!!

Colorado

We went on a family trip to Colorado for one of Eddie's Great Uncles funeral. He was not LDS but was loved by many and was a very good man from a wonderful family. There was snow, unfortunately, I was not as speedy with my camera to get all the fun the kids had. Mostly with Grandma Jarman who out did them all. (Apparently, she really enjoys the snow.) They did do a little sledding down on some tupperware lids, but I was too late and other times, I just didn't feel like taking pics. But these are the ones I did get. The kids did well on such a trip, even if we were only outfitted in our wimpy Mesa winter clothes. Once their toes thawed out, it was all good. Joe liked the snow the most, but he was thawing out when I finally came out and then we left. What can you do.


Steven (Eddie's little brother) Him and Hannah would roll these snow balls all around to try and make them bigger.

Hannah and Steven

Steven and Johnny

The end result. Steven, John and Grandma J.

Teila's little snow ball

Annie

Steven made this at Aunt Shirley's. He was VERY proud of his "snowman on stilts"

EWWW!!

One of my children inspired me to do some spring cleaning today (I'm not sure which one) when they took all the cushions off my couch. Now, I knew there was already some questionable items under there, but honestly! I'm all about my kids eating healthy, but saving for later and then having it sneak down between the cushions is crossing the line. As Teila would say "DIS- Gus-Ting.
Plus I had just gotten done eating Mac & Cheese and hot dogs for lunch. I'm not sure which is worse.

Teila the Scientist

Teila attends Emerson Elem. which is in walking distance to Westwood High School, where it just so happens Auntie Mary attends. It fabulously wonderful circumstance allowed Teila to walk to WW for a science field trip the same time that Auntie Mary had science. Another fabulously fortunate circumstance is my neice Jayme, Kristen's daughter, also attends WW and is in the same science class! They both wanted Teila as their partner, but Mary "called" her first. However, Jayme did get Teila's good friend Savanna as her partner. They made some goo stuff. We are so lucky to have such wonderful Auntie's and cousins so close. Thank you Mary for taking these pics for me. I love them!!

Teila and Auntie Mary

Auntie Mary, Jayme, Savanna & Teila

Teila and Savanna

The goo stuff

The Boyle's visit!!

Eddie's sister has been here since before Christmas! I thought Iris was just teasing me when she finally bought her tickets back home for Feb. 10th. A special bonus was we got them for an extra week because of the blizzards in NY. We have had so much fun. What have we been doing since the Boyles have been here? Here it is in a nutshell:

Laughing, tons of playing, many dinners, hours of visiting, very little fighting, more enjoyment than I can express and:

a little of this:




A little of that:



too much of this (everyone knows how I feel about these creatures inside my house or too close to my face...DISGUSTING!!) Charlie knows though, once he was trying to ask for something to carry the lizards in and Teila brought the jar inside, I looked at the jar with what must have been a very displeased, uncomfortable look, and Charlie patiently said, "take the jar outside Teila" and continued with our conversation.



A little more than they are used to of these (and more than I will ever admit).

Here's a quick story; for some reason Iris doesn't like her kids to just take without asking. So recently when Iris wasn't here, Anja was getting ready to go and take Jane with her, Jane went to get a fruit snack for her and Opal, when I said "Jane, did you want a fruitsnack?" implying that she must first ask, she said "no thanks, I already got one." After Anja and I could gain control of our laughter, not easy I might add, we got her to ask politely for it.

A totally obnoxious amount of this (computer playing). With all of the little darlings squished on to this one chair as can possibly fit. The timer was indeed used so everyone could take a turn. But that is ALL they wanted to do some days.


We had such a wonderful time. I wanted to tell Iris when I gave her a good bye hug, but tears came instead and so I just said nothing. Petra and Charlie spent the night many times. They are all such a joy to have around. It was beyond words to have them here and be able to see them whenever I wanted. I will miss them all very much. But I guess Tim misses them more. Only 10 more months till next Christmas. I can hardly wait!!

Names

What about Luke? John, Joseph and Jacob? I like it, but there is also a little boy in the ward who is barely 18 mon. named Jacob and I have a cousin who named their kid Jake, which is probably what I could call him. Luke is kinda growing on me. I've never known a not cute Luke... Nothing is decided yet.

hair

My dilemma is I really liked my short hair cut...when I did it. But I did not like not having a pony tail. The pony tail wins, because it is so nice to just throw it back and have no worries. But I keep looking at that picture of me holding Creighton (Tegan's) in the backpack, and I miss it.

I'm just lamenting...(is that the right word)

New family pictures to come soon. Well, at least we've taken them.