Focus on Our Family

Trevor's Tonsils

2011-06-17T17:17:00.005-05:00

The beginning of this blog post started back in January when we went to visit my family in Idaho. It was a great- see previous posts- but as with all trips, it came with the downside of having to share a bedroom with the kids. They behaved pretty well and slept well, but Michael and I didn't- for one very good reason- Trevor's snoring. We always knew he was a snorer but it wasn't until we shared a bedroom with him that we realized just how bad it was. Hour after hour of loud, rumbling bear-like growls emitting from my little boy. And it wasn't just the snoring- it was the unnerving break in the snoring when it seemed that he would stop breathing for a few seconds. We knew he had large tonsils and were afraid they were giving him sleep apnea- which could be contributing to his 4 hour long naps during the day and the fact that he was 2% on the growth charts.

When we arrived back home we set up an appointment to get him checkedout- which lead to to another appointment to get a sleep study done.

Here's my little boy the night of his sleep study. He and I had to stay overnight at the hospital. He was hooked up to all kinds of probes and wires- quite sad looking. But he endured it all pretty well. The biggest distraction for him was the oxygen monitor which was hooked onto his toe and glowed red. It didn't scare him, but he was so intrigued by his glowing red toe that it took him a while to get to sleep. He had a restful night, although I can't say the same for myself having to share a room with him. The next morning they took everything off and we went home and waited for the results.

The results showed up some weeks later. Turns out he had some full blockages of breathing and many, many partial blockages that would lead to him "waking up" about 17 times an hour. When I say waking up, I mean that his sleep was disturbed, but not to the point of opening his eyes. But it was disturbed sleep nontheless, and the doctor strongly recommended a tonsillectomy/adnoidectomy.

We prepared the poor kid as well as we could, and he was actually really excited to stay at the hospital for a while because he knew there were LOTS of fun toys there. Lynette was really upset she couldn't join us. Michael took off the morning and went through pre-op with me, playing with Trevor while we waited for everything to get situated. Because of a family history of malignant hyperthermia on Michael's side they had to drug up Trev with an IV and keep a very close watch on him- I knew they were taking precautions buts it was a little scary anyway.

The operation took less than an hour and when Trev was handed over to us he was very drugged and cranky with puffy lips. He really came out of it about an hour later at which point Michael left and I got to hang out with Trev all day watching cartoons, reading books and cuddling.

He did pretty well the first day, and even ate a large dinner of macaroni and cheese, ice cream and pudding. He did end up throwing up some that night (and how awesome to be in the hospital and let the nurses clean him up instead of me doing it!). His sleep that night was disrupted quite a bit, not only by nurses coming to check on him and give him more meds, but because his oxygen kept dipping low and this stupid beeper would go off at least every 45 minutes. Trev managed to sleep through the beeper, but it was pretty exhausting for me.

(The above picture is still post op). The next day it took a while to convince Trevor to drink enough to get us discharged- not to mention that he slept until about 11am. Finally they let us go. The next few days were a little rough. Trev was very clingy and needy, but seemed to be doing okay. By day 4 he was doing great. He regressed a bit day 5-7, but again recovered well. I think he was really starting to enjoy it all after a while- drinking all the liquid he wanted including chocolate milk- getting macaroni everyday and having mom's undivided attention. Two weeks after the surgery he was back to his good ol' self- although I had a little trouble trying to reteach him to eat what I serve and not just whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It is amazing to see him sleep now. He is SO QUIET. I often go in to check and make sure he's still breathing. He really hasn't gained any weight, so apparently his small size has more to do with the fact that his parents are very small people and that's okay. I'm glad this is all over now and hope it will mean less colds in the future. Sure love my little guy.

Josh and Kim Southerland's Wedding

2011-05-20T22:22:00.017-05:00

In April my dear little sister, Kim, got married. Michael was unable to go, but I packed up the kids and headed out for a week for all the festivities. It was a packed week, but oh so fun. We started with making the floral arrangements under the direction of a wonderful florist. Pretty much all of my dad's sisters came to help out, and it was so fun. We had a lunch together and then got going on the flowers. Kim's colors were dark blue, purple, and turquoise. We fondly named it the 'peacock' wedding. We even incorporated peacock feathers into the arrangements.

They were so pretty.

Aunt Launette showing her skillz.

While the ladies were doing that, I was indoors with the youngin's making Kim's scrapbook pages for her sign-in book.

The day of the wedding we sisters headed out bright and early to be with Kim for the wedding prep. To be honest, none of us were that helpful, Kim had a great hair/make-up stylist and her roommates were a lot more skilled at these kind of things so we sat back, fixed our own selves up a bit and gave support. Sadly, this is the only picture I got.

The wedding. A lovely ceremony and everything went off without a hitch. Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Southerland. Such a cute couple.

Awwwww, the kiss.

So happy. And how about that dress?! I LOVED it- it almost makes me want to go back and change mine from my own wedding.

The Ray clan with their newest member. Notice all the coats. It was mid April. The only thing we could have asked for was a few more degrees. It was CHILLY.

The sibs showing their joy at being out in the cold.

I was pretty proud of myself that morning getting my kids and myself all ready and on time. The one thing I forgot? Trev's coat. Poor kid was freezing. This was him enjoying my coat and muttering "I want to go back to the car now."

The reception was held at Spurwing country club. The boys felt it necessary to make their own visual of the "peacock" wedding.

The fam.

Sisters. Me and my big preggo belly. At least it took attention away from my pasty white legs. But at least Kim looks great.

The second reception at Filer. What Ray wedding would be complete without my sisters gettin' down on the dance floor? Kim started leading everyone in several line dances. You could totally tell she is an aerobic instructor.

I was glad this time around I had an excuse not to dance- no one wants to see a pregnant lady get down. Its so much more fun to watch these chicas anyway. I've also got video of my dad learning the macarena. Hysterical- I'll see if I can get it up here one of these days.

Lynette's first day of Preschool!

2011-04-27T19:40:00.006-05:00

My how the time flies. My baby girl's first day of preschool (in September). She still has two more years before she goes into Kindergarten but I felt like she needed a little more scheduled interaction with kids her age, and get used to taking direction from someone other than me. She loves it. Its two days a week, for only a couple hours but she gets to do art, singing time, play time, practice letters and writing. Its been a great experience for her.

She's in the purple bird class and adores her teacher. At her first parent-teacher conference I was told Lynette was doing great. She follows direction, plays well with others and meets all the milestones for her age. If there was any criticism to give, its that sometimes she takes a bit longer to get things done because she's so detailed oriented. Her teacher showed me Lynette's personal portrait and exclaimed "I mean look at this, she drew in holes in the ear and eyebrows. What 4-year-old draws eyebrows?!" She also told me "Lynette is the kind of kid that teachers go into teaching for." I couldn't help but feel proud at that. I'm also glad that she seems to behave well in class since she doesn't always do so at home...

She was super, super excited.

Trev kinda had a hard time without his pal at first, but he's adjusted well. Especially since he also gets to go to his own joyschool once a week at the same time....meaning 2 kid free hours for me!!!! Everybody wins.

Apple Picking at Eckert's Farm

2011-04-27T17:48:00.018-05:00

The upside to being stuck in doors for a week because of torrential rains is that it pushes you to get things done indoors that you normally would procrastinate. I have been blogging a whopping once a month for a while now and I am woefully behind. So, here's even more catching up.

At the end of September Lynette's preschool had a field trip to Eckert's farm to go apple picking. It was a day of excitement and adventure.
It began with Lynette's first ever bus ride. Lynette has been looking forward to this for years.

I didn't realize until I took this picture that my family all matched, except me. That was SO not planned. Funny.

Lynette got to share a seat with her good friend Katie.

We got to ride in a wagon pulled by an honest-to-goodness tractor. We had to wait quite a while for the tractor, but it was well worth it.

Apples, apples everywhere! We were each given a small bag to fill up and were allowed to eat all the apples we wanted along the way.

Trevor took that as a personal challenge. He ate and ate and ate.

It took a while for us to convince him that it was more fun to eat apples that were picked off the tree, than say the rotten ones that were on the ground. Once he got the hang of it, he was hooked.

Lynette also enjoyed this.

Family picture!

Take two- could not get the kids' attention, there was just too much to see and do.

And Trev ate more apples.

Daddy and Lynette going high for the good ones.

I always used to fantasize about apple picking. Thinking about Robert Frost's poem "After Apple Picking" and going out with a wicker basket with a sweater on, picking in the crisp, cool fall air. This was not quite that experience. It was 80 degrees and humid. Lovely day, but hauling around a bag of apples gets HEAVY and I was sweating! It was fun, but I sure needed a shower afterward.

Oh yeah, Trev ate some more, too.

The farm didn't just have apple picking. We also got to see pig races.

Introducing our racing pigs: Kevin Bacon, Hamgelina Jolie, Brad Pig...

We also got to feed goats, which is easier said than done. The food dispenser was right by the goat fence and as soon as I put in the quarter and turned the nozzle the goats swarmed. I never even got to touch the food, they nudged their noses in and ate it right out of the dispenser.

Their were games to place, a "maize" to go through, tricycles to ride, miniature golf. It really was one of those picture perfect days.

Trip to Idaho

2011-04-25T14:47:00.009-05:00

The second half of our winter trip was spent in Idaho. It was a whrilwind with lots of activities and LOTS of family. Baby shower, family pictures (the first in 4 years), homecoming...Just the way we like it.

But before I get into that, it must be noted that I worked out everyday with my sidekick Lynette. It was fun working with her, and she did a great job- but we squabbled a bit of the use of the transfirmer (the box step). Its a little difficult to share those.

The primary reason for this whole trip? To see this kid. Kyle came home to find everyone there waiting for him...eventually. As tradition, when everyone was present we all sat down one night as Kyle pulled out all of his souveniers, told stories of his mission and even gave us a demonstration of his yodeling techniques. Here he is singing "Eidleweiss" in his liederhosen. Classic.

We always love this part. We laugh a lot and cry a bit as he testified of the reality of The Savior and how his mission helped him get closer to Him. We laughed a bit more than usual with Kyle because of the interesting choice of souveniers. A wooden pipe. A collection of his alcoholic-free beer bottlecaps. A coffee pot. A beer mug. No wonder he had such a good time.

Along with everyone else going on that weekend, we had a baby shower for Melissa, who was due in just a month. Shot of all the preggos. As of today, Nicole, pictured above, is 2 days overdue. Poor thing.

Hot Mamas!

After many of my siblings left, the kids and I were left to a much quieter house. To keep them busy we took them to Monkey Buisness. Lots of thing to climb and on jump and not break (unlike Grandma's house!)

Michael got in on the action.

Brennan joined us too. Good times had by all.

Day in Salt Lake

2011-04-25T14:23:00.011-05:00

During our visit to Idaho and Utah in January we decided to take a day to introduce our kids to Salt Lake. It was a mushy, snowy day- so it was chilly, but pretty. The kids really liked looking at the temple, the visitor's center, the temple grounds. It was a nice time.

We got to have a tour at the conference center, which the kids tolerated pretty well. They liked looking at the paintings and talking about the scripture stories each painting depicted. The couple missionaries were really sweet and accomodating for the kids. It was amazing being in the conference center again and the kids loved running up and down the isles. I'd say the highlight of the whole thing, though was probably the escalators. Kids can be so easy to please sometimes.

Visiting the spot where Michael proposed.

Happy face.

The real highlight of the day was visiting the children's section of the Art Museum. What a fun new addition! There were a lot of things to play and interact with. Lynette was fascinated with the kid computers should could play memory on.

Trev enjoyed stacking foam blocks to build a structure- with just a bit of help from dad.

There was a storyline of an LDS family in Mexico with a lot of little things to play with along the way- like this car. It had something to do with the father picking up neighbors and taking them to church.

And dress-up! There was a video demonstrating how to dance with large skirts and Lynette and I got a kick out of.

And Pose!

Lynette's room

2011-03-21T16:29:00.020-05:00

It is high time I showed you some of the fun we've been having with our new house. I've been dreaming of decorating my own home for years now- there just seemed little point in trying to do to much before now since we kept moving apartments and couldn't ever paint...not to mention we had no income to spend on anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. So this whole process has really been as educational as it has been fun. The number one room I've been wanting to fix was the kids' rooms. As you know, beggars can't be choosers, so their room has always been a collage of anything and everything we had available to make things work. Sure I tried to spruce things up a bit every now and then, but it never looked like more than what it really was- a room full of hand-me-downs. To see just how far we've coming I'm going to show you my greatest embarassment- the room my kids stayed in while we were in Chicago. Keep in mind, our apartment was itty bitty and we were just trying to survive. So without further ado...the kids' room.

Lynette's bed, squashed between toys and book. Trev's crib. And..uh...*shudder* the closet. We had virtually no storage place in this hole of an apartment, so everything we had was shoved into the closets, under beds, behind couches...everywhere you could imagine.

After leaving this place, this room would later be split into 4 different rooms in our new house. The girl's room, the boy's room, a toy room, and a storage room. I only went in this place if I absolutely had to, it was so depressing to me. Even when clean it still felt so....dirty.

Lynette's room on the day we moved in. Cute and spacious with a color combo that Michael loved and I absolutely detested. I'm sorry, but I just can't handle pink and purple- it makes me want to barf. I think I might need psychological counseling about my unwarranted feelings about the color, but what can ya do? I know its Lynette's room and all and she would have been happy with it, but ya know what? Its my house. I clean it, I work in it...and after years of "making do" I wanted to enjoy it. So that pink had to come down.

So after looking EVERYWHERE for a decent bedspread that wasn't pink we finally settled with this one. Its brighter than my dream girl room (I was thinking maybe red, black, and white...like ladybugs, but I seriously couldn't find anything in my price range). My cousin helped out a ton on this. We painted and kinda freaked out when I saw how BRIGHT the yellow was (the picture really doesn't do it justice), but decided it was okay and we could work with it. Like the stripes? I borrowed the idea from Thrifty Decor Chick. Michael did the strips all by himself- not too bad, eh?

More stripes.

The finished product. I made some wall hangings- they're not perfect, and little too "homemade" for my taste, but they work.

Our reading nook. The blocks spell out "storytime" I kinda like them- made them myself. And that rocking chair? That used to be Michael's when he was a kid. We've painted it, and I think I'd like to repaint it red/orange to match the bedspread and make it pop. Thoughts?

The curtains- also homemade. When I was a kid my mom used to make us sew something every summer before we could buy new school clothes. I really don't enjoy sewing too much- especially when I was young- but I'm grateful to her. She kept saying "Girls, one day you're going to have to make your own curtains." She was right.

This still needs some work. Those are diaper boxes that were painted. I think I'm going to cover them with canvas one of these days. The Christ picture really doesn't go with the room- but it'll stick until I find something better. I was pretty happy with how the name turned out, though.

Cute, huh? Some of the letters were painted, others had scrapbook paper modgepodged onto it. I know they looked cramed, they're actually staggered back and forth- it looks better in person.

The closet corner.

Better shot of the flower frames.

So that's what I've got so far. What do you think? I am open to suggestions. Not too bad for my first room, though, huh? And Lynette loves it, by the way.

Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

2011-03-09T17:00:00.016-06:00

In January we visited out west for a much needed trip to see family, particularly my brother who was coming home from a mission. During our stay in Utah we joined up with Michael's brother Arnie and his family. They took us to Thanksgiving Point where the famed Dinosaur museum was. It was AWESOME. There was so much to see and do. The kids loved it, the adults loved it. We highly recommend it.

There were plenty of fossils.

Dinosaur statues.

There was a station filled with soft dinosaur parts with velcro on the back for the kids to create their own dinosaur.

Ours was six legged.

Kathy and Nathan

It really is remarkable seeing just how HUGE those things were. Its hard to wrap your mind around it even when you here descriptions like "the brontosaurus was as long as 3 school buses" but seeing the skeletons...yeah, they're big.

Our favorite place by far was this circular stream filled with sand the kids could dig up and move around and try to dam up the water with. You could make your own environment complete with tiny dino figurines and tree.

It was nice that the kids had those little smocks- even though they got pretty wet anyway.

Trev didn't bother with the sand too much- he just liked the little dinos.

Shark attack!

Local neaderthals hunting mammoths.

They even had a little sand pit to try out your mad paleantology skills.

As well as give you one last chance to get sand in your shoes and hair. Such a fun time!

Consider the lilly...I mean crocus

2011-03-09T16:41:00.002-06:00

You know what makes me really really happy. I'm talking skipping down the grocery isle while 5 months pregnant happy? Seeing the crocuses coming up. They are the first flower to bloom, often making it at the end of February and at my latest trip to the Botanical Gardens on an absolutely HEAVENLY day I spotted them. It really is such an unfortunate name for such a tiny delicate, but obviously hardy flower (pretty gutsy to come up in Februrary don't you think?) You know what's even more exciting? The flowers I planted last fall are starting to come up. No buds yet, but the shoots are there. I swear I look out the window and check them at least 10 times a day. Love my crocuses.

And so does Trevor.

So pretty!

My gift to society

2011-01-19T14:43:00.008-06:00

Lets take a moment, shall we, to look at these kids. Adorable, aren't they? I mean, really, have you ever seen such enchanting children?

Such lovely eyes and engaging smiles.

Filled with infectious laughter and a love for life.

And their charm goes so much farther than just physical appearances. They are quite brilliant, too and brimming with talent- so much talent. Their singing voices are magical, their dancing abilities are awe-inspiring. And talk about athletic prowess- they are bound to set records. And they're polite too, witty, and thoughtful. Yes, I think its safe to say these just might be the most perfect children the world has ever known. I'm just as surprised as you are, but it seems that my husband and I have have some magical combination that produces incredible offspring. The only real tragedy is that there are only two of them. Heartbreaking, really. It just doesn't seem fair that in all the world there are only two perfect children, so after some soul-searching my husband and I decided to grace the world with one more perfect child. It seems the right thing to do. Its entirely selfless of us, I know, but the world has been good to us, so it seems the least we could do.

The expected arrival of the next perfect child is June 29th. I am 18 weeks along and so far, everything seems to be healthy and normal. This particular child, seems to be even more thoughtful than the other two- with a less sickness-laden first trimester, and for that I am grateful. Lynette is thrilled beyond measure and asks me at least 10 times a day if the baby is still growing, if it is sleeping, or if it is awake. She is quite determined that this baby will be the little sister she's been longing for. Trevor is happy that Lynette is happy. I just started noticing the baby kicking this week, so that has been fun, and we eagerly await our ultrasound in two weeks.

I know you will rejoice with us in this news and I promise to keep you updated on the progression of this latest perfect child. You're welcome.

Nauvoo Take 2

2011-01-12T11:24:00.032-06:00

Its the middle of January and terribly cold. To distract myself from the chill, I decided to post about the hottest days we had during the year- which were spent outdoors in Nauvoo. It makes sense to me, and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I am 6 months behind and don't want to go out of order. And since this blog is more of an archive for me anyway, here we go.

When visiting the Nauvoo pageant, always be sure to get there at least an hour early for the pre-show entertainment. There's stick-pulling...

I'm not sure who won this one...

The kids, enjoyed getting into it, well, Lynette did. Trev was just confused.

Lynette's grand victory!

You can also pull a handcart.

Do some sack races.

Go, Lynette, go!

At the kiddie center they can color and learn how to use a pioneer yo-y0.

It really is a super fun time, even in 100 degree weather.

There's also pioneer pastimes center where you can learn to make rope by taking three strands of string and using this thingy, twist it together...

And once you have three separate strands of stronger string, you reattach it to another thingy and spin it together...

Keep spinning...

Until you get a nice, scratchy piece of rope.

You can play with pioneer dolls.

And try on hats...he's such a good sport.

And give some attitude while trying on hats.

There's a play sheep you can ride on, adorned with real wool.

And outside the visitor's center is the Women's Garden, or Relief Society Garden or something like that. This was our first stop as you can tell by the fact that we are less sweat drenched than in later pictures.

Trev did us the honor of waking up for this part.

Lynette really liked all the statues.

I love how dated they all look, so 70's, but the workmanship really is beautiful.

And the Christus Statue in the Visitor's Center. What a great trip!

Grrrrr

2010-11-04T15:21:00.002-05:00

So I recently changed my background page, not only because Halloween is over but also to stop my son from begging me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at least ten times while I check my blog. Don't get me wrong, I love singing it for him since it makes him so happy, but it makes my time on the computer a lot longer and more distracted. Anyway, after changing it and changing my template I found that all of the my sidebar items had been moved down to the very bottom of the page. I find this really annoying and I've looked all over- especially on "layout" to try to fix it but to no avail. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Its really starting to bother me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Nauvoo

2010-10-31T22:05:00.020-05:00

One of the many perks of living in St. Louis is that historic Nauvoo is only 3 hours away. We try to get up there at least every summer, particularly during the pageant, there is so much to see and do, we always have a good time. The one downside to being there during the pageant is it's usually during the hottest part of the year so you may notice we are a bit sweaty and drab in all the pictures. But don't let our appearance fool you, we had a great time.

The pageant really is spectacular. Its incredible to think all of those extras only had 2 weeks to learn all the music and their places. Its touching, fun, and really speaks a testimony about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the highlights about the updated show is how they build this make-shift temple on stage, which is torn down after the saints have to leave, but at the very end of the show they light up the real temple which is back in the distance to show its resurrection. Its pretty cool.

I just had to get a picture of this bridge. After waiting 10 minutes for a train to cross we entered the bridge just in time for it to shut down for 20 minutes for a barge to pass through. I will say, though, that the bridge was interesting. Instead of lifting up as many do, there is a main pillar in the middle of the bridge that the whole middle section swings out 90 degrees from. Interesting, annoying, but interesting.

I believe this was Heber C. Kimball's home

More historic homes.

This was an adorable little kid show called "Just Plain Anna Amanda" you typically have to reserve tickets at least a week in advance, but luckily we got in at the last minute. Super cute.

Lynette meeting Anna Amanda. She was so delighted.

Trev in his pioneer garb. I love that hat, I want to get one.

Lynette dolled up in hers. The kids liked the clothes, but it was so blasted hot they couldn't keep it on for long. At least we got a picture of it.

This section was called "Pioneer Pastimes". It was an area where you could play old pioneer games and the kids could make-believe they were pioneers. We all had a good time. Trev found a horse.

Michael found some mind games.

Trev loved the play houses. He wanted to go really authentic so he decided to take his shoes off.

It was sweltering in those houses, but Trev didn't care- he was having too much fun starting fires, cooking, and playing school.

Lynette tried her hand at hand washing.

And water carrying. Good times had by all.

Summertime Fun

2010-10-26T19:23:00.011-05:00

I love summer. I just cannot get enough of the sun. I'm a junkie. And this year we spent a lot of time basking in the rays at a friend's house. Everyweek she'd pull out all these fantastic slip'n slides and three different kiddie pools and the kids had a blast while we ladies did what we do best. Sit around and talk. So fun. And what a great way to get to know new friends from our ward.

Lynette and her new buddies.

She could not get enough of the swing.

Trev wasn't up for much sliding but he did like splashing around a bit...until he got too cold. This boy is definitely my child.

And though he wouldn't slid he still enjoyed sitting by the slide and playing with the water. We just had to keep an eye out to make sure none of the kids whacked him as they slid past.

Lynette dove right in.

I love summer!

All Tuckered out

2010-10-26T19:10:00.004-05:00

Trev is such an easy going kid that sometimes I like to push his schedule to try to accomplish things in the morning. He naps in the morning and usually wakes up right when Lynette needs to go down for her nap. Can you see why this might be a problem? So I push it a little so I can shop, and run other errands and most of the time its great...so long as I don't push it too hard because then I get this....

Right in the middle of lunch. Now the question is you do you put him down in his bed immediately or try to wipe off some of the peanut butter first so he doesn't smear it all over his bed and risk waking him up? Lets go in for a closer look shall we...

You gotta love that piece of bread glued onto his lip. Poor kid.

Home Sweet Home

2010-10-10T21:09:00.025-05:00

You may notice my posts are a bit late- sorry. Better late than never! As our year in Chicago finished out we could hardly contain our excitement to be back to a place we loved so much and have so many friends in. But perhaps even more thrilling to move into our very own house!

I still can't believe we managed to buy a house. It was tricky finding weekends to head down and check stuff out- in fact Michael was able to actually see the house only once before we bought it (I went back a second time with the kids). We were pretty much in love with it when we saw it. It was just what we were looking for, comfortable, quiet neighborhood, good schools. Its a bit older than we like, 50 years, but to be honest by St. Louis standards it's still a baby. It was rough getting all the paperwork done long distance. I can't tell you how many hours I spent in the library scanning documents and emailing them to our amazingly wonderful, spectacular, super awesome real estate agent, Kim Welch. Seriously peeps, if you're in the St. Louis area and need an agent she's pretty stinkin' great. Some of those documents were irritating, like the ones that demand you sign and email back within 24 hours...which was hard to do when my husband was on a 30 hour shift! But I got it done, cause I'm awesome like that. Inspections passed without too many problems and negotiating the price was very interesting. In the end I think we got a nice deal, and thanks to the bad economy we got a great interest rate to boot. Yeah! Such an interesting experience and now we have a house to call our own! Feel free to "ooh" and "ahhh" during the following tour:

Front. My folks think we did alright with the house (granted my dad's a general contractor and picky about this kind of thing). My parents were surprised we would buy a house so ANCIENT, but to be honest, it was one of the youngest ones we looked at. They also think, though, that the front of the house looks a bit mobile-home-ish. I guess I can see that...but I don't care.

Front room. The curtains they left in here actually matched our decor so we kept them up...score!

Trevor's room. Its a little small, but just right for him. We have since painted all the pink circles blue to make it more masculine. I'll be showing pictures of that one of these days...

Still Trevor's room.

More Trev's room. The previous owners were quite stylish. I was a little sad to take down that "Thank goodness for little girls" thing, it was so cute! But, ya know, not the best thing for a boy's room.

Kitchen. If there were one thing I would alter about this house I would find a way to add a pantry. I've managed to fit everything I need up there, but a pantry would be nice. We've also since painted the kitched a boring, but more suited khaki/beige color that works with my decor. Thanks honey for letting me me paint it! (And for assisting me in that project!)

Front room again. The front room opens up into the kitchen. I like how its so open, I just wish I had a better way of hiding my kitchen mess when guests come over....I still love it, though.

See, Lynette is in the front room, with the kitchen/dining area behind her. Behind that half wall with the orange and green paint is the door to the carport, as well as stairs to the basement.

Lynette's room. Isnt' that pink and purple with butterflies just darling? It would be perfect for a girl's room in anyone's house...except mine. I can't stand pink, especially when it's coupled with purple. It makes me want to throw up cotton candy. I think I might have some psychological issues with pink, or at least an allergy. The first time we saw this room Michael thought, "that would be perfect for Lynette" and I thought "oh, boy that's gotta go!" Can you guess who won? Oh yeah, me baby. Don't worry, though, I paid a great deal in back massages to my ever so complying husband. Details on this room's transformation later.

Master Room, sorry for the blurry. I don't love hardwood floors in the bedroom (my feet get so cold!) but this hasn't bothered me as much. And it is a nice look.

More of the master. Could definitly use more closet space. I have my wardrobe divided up into this room, Lynette's, and the front closet. How ridiculous is that! It is a lovely closet, though.

Lynette and Trev breakin' in the new house.

Cut little coat hanger, huh?

Bathroom upstairs. Sorry for the blurryness.

And the basement. Oh how I love this basement. This is our entertainment area where the computer, t.v., and ALL of the kids toys go. Its so nice to have the toys downstairs. It makes it so much easier to keep my house clean! I cannot believe how much easier it is! And this place is like twice the size of our last apartment. What a difference. Love it! That being said I currently have a lot of work to do to clean up my basement as I write this...

Basement bathroom. Love it. I don't think the previous owners ever used it. I can't wait to have guests over to show them "their" bathroom to use while they stay. So excited!

The back porch. We already love this thing. This is what I had in mind when I got Michael that BBQ set. We really enjoyed this porch this summer.

View of the back. I don't have a picture of it here, but our yard backs up into this lovely little wilderness area. There's just a bunch of trees framing up the our yard, and it is not uncommong seeing a family of bunnies out in that wilderness trespassing in your yard. The silence out here is stunning. No ambulances blaring, or school buses screeching, or loud neighbors yelling. Just crickets. And wind. It's intoxicating.

The kids checking out our front bench.

My old Gidgit gettin' comfy. I doubt we'll have anymore problems with people stealing its hubcaps our here.

One happy little family.

Old Man Approaching

2010-10-10T18:10:00.008-05:00

Two weeks before the big move my big man turned 30! What you say? Whaddaya mean he only looks 16? Yes, yes, we know we know- this poor man has gotten enough Doogie Howser wisecracks to last him a lifetime. But yes, Michael is now 30 and even though everything in our house was packed up we did out best to make it worthwhile for such a milestone.

From the folks Michael got a red-rider-bb-gun....oops I mean a GPS. He loves it- that being said since he's a walking GPS I have definitely used it more than he has. I've come to find he wanted it most not to find his way around but to stop me from calling him in the middle of the day screaming "I'm lost!"

And the big finish....

Could it be?...

Yes! A grill set from his beloved wife.

We went out with out dear family/friends The Chandlers at our hands-down favorite place in Chicago. The Bongo Room. We had to wait 45 minutes to be seated at 10 in the morning but it was so, so, so worth it. The Bongo Room serves groumet breakfast food. To die for hashbrowns, killer croissants, and absolutely heavenly pancakes. The menu changes frequently so there's always something new to try out.

Here's Trevor trying his pancakes with vanilla sauce and bananas. We had to beg him to share.

And Lynette's pancake was this vanilla sauce with caramel sauce drizzled on top with bananas and nuts. Michael enjoyed was Blueberry pancakes with a lemon ricotta topping. And mine was a pancake with bacon bits cooked inside, topped with bananas some sweet topping. It was AWESOME. Love this place.

Our day ended again with the Chandlers, cake, and birthday song. Such a great day. I can't tell you how much I love this man. He worked so hard this last year it was really a great way to finish it out by celebrating with him. Happy Birthday Babe!

All Aboard Train Restaurant

2010-09-12T19:00:00.011-05:00

For Lynette's closest buddy's birthday, no place was better suited to celebrate it at than All Aboard Train Restaurant. This kids loves trains and this place is decked out in them. There are several motorized trains to see and play with. The kids were in heaven.

This birthday boy couldn't be more excited.

Your food was served out on a train, and when it was your birthday they played a special birthday song as it chugged along.

The kids were enthralled with this play area. It had several trains and things moving around. There were buttons the kids could push to make things go, turn lights on and off, and make the train whistle. We could have spent all day there.

A group of buddies. It was REALLY hard to tear them away from the trains long enough to take this picture. In every shot at least one of them was looking back at the trains.

This little girl way too happy to be riding this train. D rubbed off his love of train onto Lynette, she's been hooked ever since.

One more BIG hug from the birthday boy.

Last zoo post...promise.

2010-09-12T18:18:00.018-05:00

I'm sure you're sick of zoo posts, but this blog is intended more for recording the doings of my family, so here they are...again. I told you we went there a lot.

Brookfield Zoo is one of the finest in the nation and we felt very fortunate to visit it so often. One of my very favorite things about this zoo is it has not one, but two playgrounds. BRILLIANT idea. So often when you go to the zoo the parents walk for miles and the kids just sit in the strollers. The playground is a much needed break for both parties. Usually we ate our lunch and then the kids played. It was great.

My little climber.

Don't you love it when they play nicely?

The brand-spankin' new Great Bear Wilderness. We got to enjoy for only a month before we moved away. Though there are none present at the moment, Bison graze in the field around this archway. Their land actually goes over the archway and sometimes you walk right under them.

Measuring up...

The Bald Eagle

A very lazy grizzly.

This photo is dusky because its actually shot through a large pane of glass. No zoom was used in this photo. He really was that close. The first time we came here we saw a polar bear that had just rolled around is a big dirt/mud puddle. We honestly thought he was just a wierd lookin' brown bear for a while.

Ah the hippos.

Pygmy hippos. My favorite.

Hop, joeys, hop!

Our Favorite Thing

2010-09-10T15:05:00.019-05:00

You may have noticed by now that we went to the zoo a lot last year. A LOT. There's a reason for this, it was nearby, it was excellent, and we decided that it was worth it enough to get a season pass. So far be it from me to let that go to waste. I could practically give tours there. It never got dull to me- it certainly beat being at home, and we all loved it

Anyway, one of the best times we ever had there was when we took our close friends/cousins along with us. Much fun was had by all.

We played on the carousel- the only time I allowed my kids the splurge of spending additional money there.

Pretended to be animals- and learned a bit about the zoo history while we were at it. I learned from this board that one of the parrots I had the pleasure of seeing was actually there when the zoo opened, back in the 1930s. Cool stuff.

We monkeyed around a bit.

The kids, and adults, were fascinated by these ADORABLE little monkeys. I don't know what they are but they had a lot of energy and were super-duper cute.

This gibbon family provided a lot of entertainment. The black one was swinging all over the place. It was amazing how he could just fly around, hundreds of feet above the ground. Show off.

These gorillas are amazing too. Though it didn't happen on this outing, I need to tell you about the grossest thing I ever saw. In about a 5 minute timespan 4 of the gorillas all started urinating, while one of the gorillas caught the urine in his hand and splashed it around toward the crowd (thankfully it didn't hit any of us). As if that weren't bad enough another gorilla starts pooping, catches the poo in his hand and then EATS IT. So so so so gross.

Lynette and D giving us a demonstration on how gorillas move.

The dolphins. Oh I love the dolphins. So calming, and I LOVE that its one of the only places where the adults can sit and relax along with the kids. While we were there a dolphin show started up, it was fun watching it from below.

We checked out the gift shop. It is so hard to tell him "no" when he looks so darn cute in that hat!

Please don't judge me by my daughter's appearance. Yes, I did her hair, but it was a hot day, she was running around and this is what you get. Luckily, it doesn't affect the amount of fun she had riding on the carousel. Tigers are her favorite because she IS a tigress, she informed me of that almost daily.

These two are the best of buddies. They really love each other.

These two enjoy each, but really needed a nap more than anything.

So you may have thought that our favorite thing about Chicago was the zoo and you would be close. But you would be wrong. Our favorite thing about Chicago? These guys. Love you Chandlers! Miss you tons!

Piano Party

2010-08-13T20:44:00.013-05:00

Chicago was a fascinating experience for me. It was several times larger any other city I had lived in and presented all new kinds of experiences I didn't really think I'd ever have. It was a good year, although certainly difficult with having Michael gone so much. One thing it did give me, that I was not expecting, was an opportunity to teach piano for the very first time. I didn't advertise or anything, but individuals from our church would just approach me randomly and ask if I would teach their children. I was hesitant since I had never taught before and knew I would be leaving soon- but they were eager and my rates were low so I didn't feel too bad if I wasn't that great of a teacher. I was amazed at how much I LOVED teaching. It was so fun spending time with the kids and sharing my love of music with them. They were all wonderful. Before we moved I thought the kids would enjoy a little recital of sorts just as students. I wanted their first performance to be casual and fun, without stress so I asked the parents not to join us. I'm sure some of them didn't love that, but I think it was in the best interest of the kids. Each played a piece they had worked on, memorized, and perfect for a few weeks. We also played a few music games, like music note bean bag toss. Afterwards I astounded them all with a glorious piano cake. It was so simple, but they loved it. What a great day.

Here's the cake. A simple white cake, with white frosting. The black keys are actually Kit Kat bars.

A closer look- I'm no artist so its not perfect, but they didn't cared. I used floss to score the keys.

My youngest student, Gracie. Such a doll. It was fun trying to keep her attention- she really loved playing with the pedals and enjoyed making up her own songs.

Sierra, sweet and soft. She was a diligent student and a delightful girl. My kids loved her.

Samantha- my pefectionist. This girl had a lot of energy and had my heart the moment I met her. She was disappointed that she didn't play her dynamics exactly the way she practiced, such is her drive for excellence. I can see this girl going very far in life.

Emma, Samantha's best friend. The two were peas in a pod and it was a challenged to keep one from distracting the other during lessons. Samantha has cute sense of humor and often can be found with a mischevious twinkler in her eye.

Ruth, Gracie's older sister. She is a fellow bookworm, eager to learn and grow. We often had fun, rather mature conversations together. She's a wonderful big sister and delightful student.

Nathan, a soft, quiet boy around me but I bet he's pretty lively around friends. I loved to see him interact with his mother, you could tell they had a good friendship.

Jeanie, my first student. So kind and thoughtful and loving.

The whole gang- what a fun bunch.

Valentine's Day

2010-07-07T14:20:00.007-05:00

As mentioned earlier, February was a rough month. My man worked hard and was very tired so I knew Valentine's day wouldn't be much- but I made a little effort to make it special anyway, whether he was conscious enough to appreciate it or not. The Friday before I made a nice dinner with orzo and shrimp and rolls. Michael was going to be on call the night before Valentines day, so I knew I could count on him sleeping a lot, which is why we celebrated it early. The dinner was yummy and the kids actually did pretty well with it. The day itself was just as a predicted with a my hubby dead asleep for most of it and me trying to not let the kids drive me nuts (I really hate when he's on call Saturday nights...it makes Sunday really long and tiring for me having to do church all by myself and not even having t.v. or outings to distract the kids). I made a little effort to have a cute dinner anyway and even though I was a little stressed the kids loved it!

Can't go wrong with a heart pizza and ..do you see it? Heart pepperoni pieces. I could just die of cuteness.

Lets take a closer look shall we..? Fun. and it didn't actually take as long as you might think it would. I obviously wasn't trying that hard to make them perfect and you can fold in half and cut several pepperoni at a time. It was worth the effort.

The finished product. I woke the man up for this and once his eyes came into focus he loved it!

Five years of Bliss

2010-06-20T20:29:00.017-05:00

Five years ago my husband and I were sealed together in the Boise temple. To commemorate this milestone my Michael arranged a weekend get away for us at Starved Rock State park. We dropped the kids off at a friends house and after getting a little sleep from being on call the night before, we first went out to Olive Garden with the kids. It may not have been as romantic with them there but it was more entertaining! Trev LOVED the bread. Every time a waiter passed by with a basket of bread he'd stand up and shout "bed, bed!" often with a breadstick in each hand and his mouth stuffed full with one as well. After our dinner we dropped the kids off and headed off on our trip. Michael didn't tell me before hand where we were going, it was fun to be surprised. There was a hot tub there for us to soak in- something we both REALLY needed and hiking trails in the surrounding area. We learned that Starved Rock was named for some rumor that the area was once the place a tribe of Native American's hunkered down and starved to death instead of giving into the enemy, another warring tribe. Eek. It was still pretty though.

There were beautiful waterfalls everywhere and the trails could take you over the top or at the bottom of many of them.

We found this hollowed out tree that looked a little dangerous...but still pretty cool.

I didn't realize 'til we were almost done that my flash wasn't on so many of these pictures are blurry. Sorry 'bout that.

One of the many overlooks. It was like a sea of trees. It was also a little chilly for May. Good thing we brought our coats!

Can I tell you how much I love this man? Love him- he's pretty awesome.

Stud.

I just thought this was kinda funny.

It was a wonderful weekend- many thanks so those who made it happen! After such a long and exhausting year Michael and I really needed some time together. General surgery is rough stuff! But thankfully its over and we're on to radiology and I will be seeing a lot more of him. I'm so happy to be married to this guy- married life has been far easier and happier than I ever could have imagined- here's to many more years to come! Love you babe!

Museum of Science and Industry

2010-06-17T22:55:00.004-05:00

Chicago has a lot of great museums. Unfortunatly for me they are really expensive great museums. Luckily, each musuem has a free day about once a month. These days are usually jam packed with people, but hey at least I get to go with the kids and have an experience and only have to pay $20 for parking (yes, 20 dollars just to park for a lousy 2-3 hours, this city drives me nuts.)

So I heard that the museum of Science and Industry, nerdy as it sounds, it actually pretty fantastic, so on a free day I packed up the kids and off we went. It was REALLY crowded, but we managed to find enough to entertain us and even got a few pictures in before my camera died. This museum features really anything science-y. They have a weather sections with a huge wind tunnel explaining how tornados are formed, a chick farm explaining genetics, machinery and nature and way more then I can ever remember or tell about. Just know that its pretty dang cool.

The farm sections showed how modern science is helping the farming industry to increase output and be more efficient. Trev liked the plastic cows. Lynetted liked the big tractors.

The transportation was by far the hit of the day. My little girl loves trains (and its really fortunate for her to be in Chicago where you can find trains in abundance and get to sit and watch them at intersections for 15 minutes until they finally pass by). They had a large model train area that both the kids could not get enough of. There were multiple train of different sorts driving through towns, cities, forest, mountains, and more. They were so happy you'd have thought it was Christmas. Way fun.

The best I could get of the two of them in front of a steam engine. Shortly after this Lynette had an accident and we had to go home. I detest potty training- it really is the pits as my good friend Angela once put it "If I knew how hard potty training was I seriously would have reconsidered having children." Amen, sistah, amen. Well, at least until that very abrupt ending we still had a really great time.

Monkeying Around

2010-06-13T20:17:00.009-05:00

Overall I have to say the winters in Chicago are overrated. Yes they are cold, yes you get significant amounts of snow, but it's livable. Its not like Minnesota. Or North Dakota. Or Maine. So the great thing about having expections of a terrible, horrible winter with a blizzard everyday can leave you feeling pretty grateful when you end up getting one only every two weeks. That being said, by February I was definitely starting to get cabin fever. This happens to me every year, but having the native Chicagoans warn me spring won't come for another good 3 months didn't help. Neither did the fact that we had a pretty mild January, which brought up my hopes of an early spring only to be slammed with snow in February. So I was going just a little bit crazy. Thank goodness for Monkey Bizness.

Monkey Bizness is this great little indoor play area with inflated bounce castles, little slides, and lost of cushy, comfy mounds to jump on, crawl under, and roll around in. My cousin, Natalie, met up with me there one night and we sat and talked as the kids went at it. It was so great- I wish I'd known about this earlier. Yes, there is an entrance fee, and for those that know me know I hate spending money- but this was well worth it.

Lynette had some serious time on the duck.

I mean really serious time- look at that face- playing takes a lot of concentration with a duck like that.

Nice action shot.

Peek-a-boo

Look at the stains on that shirt. That poor boy! Where is his mother?

Many good times had by all.