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Christmas 2009

2010-02-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

I know I'm very late on this, but I did want to post about our Christmas.I've included highlight photos, but for more, please check out our slideshow above. There are a lot, so be warned. :) We had found out that Brian was going to be off the entire week of Christmas. His mom usually comes out for Christmas, but she decided that she wouldn't come this year so that we could take a trip to Ohio to see Brian's birth father and the rest of that side of the family. (Thank you, very much, Cherie! We missed you, but appreciated being able to go to Ohio!) The kids were supposed to be in school up through Wednesday, the 23rd, but we left on Tuesday to go to Ohio. It had to be one of the most pleasant road trips we've taken in a long time. Usually someone is cranky about one thing or another and rubs off on just about everyone else. But somehow we had a small Christmas miracle, in that no one really got cranky the whole way there!

We stopped a number of times for potty breaks and lunch, so we got to their home about 6:30 that evening. We were staying with Brian's birth father and his wife (Roy and Jackie, for future reference). One of Brian's half brother's was there with his wife and daughter and dog. We enjoyed an evening of pizza and visiting. Our girls played very nicely with their cousin who is 9, so right between our oldest girls in age. She even slept over 2 nights in a row and they all had a ball, staying up till midnight and gabbing, doing what girls do best! The next day we played and prepared for the rest of the family to come over for dinner that night. The rest of the family included another half brother and his wife and 2 year old son; a step-brother and his wife and 4 kids; and one of Brian's aunts with her daughter/son-in-law and 3 kids. So it was quite a houseful. 2 of the families came mid-day and the kids got to put together gingerbread houses. They had fun, although some of the kids had a hard time getting the frosting to stick the pieces together. 2 out of 3 of the houses turned out, so I guess that's not too shabby! We had a photo shoot to try to get pictures of all of us together. The grown-ups decided that we should just take pictures of the kids. So we took a whole lot of pictures! Each family, girl cousins, boy cousins, grandkids with grandparents, etc. We did manage to get pictures of Grandpa Roy and all 4 of the grown boys. From left to right: Brian; his half-brother, Aaron; father, Roy; half-brother, Terry; and step-brother, Tony.

Troy, the 2 year old, REALLY did NOT like having his picture taken. this is probably the best one we got! It looks like he's laughing, but oh, quite the contrary! That's why everyone else IS laughing/smiling. He was really a riot about the picture thing! Grandpa Roy had an ATV that he tied a sled onto and pulled the kids around in the snow. They hadn't gotten as much snow as we did in Philly, but there was enough to play in and go sledding. So they spent a good portion of Wednesday and Thursday doing that.

Brian's aunt and one of her daughter's and the daughter's family came over for dinner and we enjoyed a nice dinner with the family! After dinner, we had a gift exchange...mostly for the kids, although there were a few smaller gifts for the grown-ups as well. On Christmas Eve, Roy and Jackie, and Aaron and his daughter Haley, drove around with us, showing us family homes and some of the other family "sites". This is where Brian lived with Roy and Cherie many years ago, when Brian was just a baby. The girls received their traditional new Christmast pajamas on Christmas Eve. Since we were traveling for Christmas, we spread our presents out over the week, so the girls only opened a few in Ohio on Christmas morning. We did manage to bring the stockings and Santa found us in Ohio. It was a very, very nice Christmas. It was wonderful getting to know the Vollmer's better, to feel very much a part of the family, like we were never missing from their lives. And what a great time of year to spend with such fantastic people! Thank you, Vollmers!

SNOWED IN!

2009-12-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

If you've followed the weather recently, you would know that the east coast was pounded by a snow storm the weekend before Christmas. It was actually a pretty great event for us. We had nowhere to be that weekend. Brian even had the weekend off of work. We stayed home and played and spent time together! Church was even cancelled. It was a great snowfall, in my opinion. It ended up being close to 24 inches of snow! It was the nice fluffy kind, with no ice. That's the best kind, I think! We spent the weekend playing in the snow (snow angels, sledding,etc.), having hot chocolate, playing Wii, watching Christmas movies, playing Mad Gab and Apples to Apples, making cookies, sleeping, etc....

We also let the girls open a couple of presents....

!

It was a very nice weekend

Things that make my heart sing

2009-11-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

Ally to mommy the other day: "Mommy is my best friend...of ever".

Ahhhhh....need I say more?

Halloween and Stuff

2009-11-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

You didn't think you'd hear from me again so soon, did ya!? Well, here I am. I was reading all my friends' blogs and everyone had their Halloween pictures up so I thought I better put mine up!

With Halloween on Saturday this year, all the school celebrations were on Friday, which, as some of you know, was my birthday. So after being surprised with 2 big breakfasts from oldest daughter and hubby (they did not communicate about doing breakfast for me), the rest of the day was dedicated to Halloween stuff. I made pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies for the girls' class parties at school. At around1:30 Ally, who dressed up as Dora the Explorer, and I went to the school to watch a parade around the outside of the school. Always a fun thing to watch. There are some very creative costumes. The teachers always have a theme they work with. This year they were hippies, thanks to some new school merchandise (ie. tie-dyed shirts with the school logo). Anyway, that's not really relevant.....

Courtney wanted to originally be the wicked witch from Wicked/Wizard of Oz. But I didn't have time, money, or know-how to get/make that. We found a black/purple striped witches hat that's I'd bought for $1 last year and she decided to be a black/purple witch. We found a black/purple dress for $5 and a friend of our's had black/purple striped stockings. It was perfect and she looked nice.

Jessica went for my idea for her to be something made out of a box. There are lots of things you can do with a box. We came up with an ipod. She loves to listen to my ipod nano, so that was appropriate for her. She decided to make it a green one, because she had an "Apple camp" tshirt she had received from attending a computer class at the Apple store this summer. She could wear that underneath since we were leaving the back open. It had the Apple logo on it. Then she wanted to spray paint her hair green.

Ally would change her mind every day, sometimes twice a day, about what she wanted to be. Sometimes it was a princess, sometimes a monster, sometimes Dora...etc.... We finally settled on Dora since we had a costume that Jessica had worn when she was 3. She didn't wear the wig on Halloween night, but I did manage to get a couple of pictures of her in it at the school before she pulled it off.

I usually get a bunch of nice pictures of the kids before they go out, but we never got our act together to do that.....too much to do!

Something cool happened for my birthday later in the day. My dad came to visit. He had been working in Pittsburgh for the week and made arrangements to get over to Philly and visit for the weekend. Such a nice birthday present! We didn't do anything too exciting while he was here, but it was so super nice to have him here! Thanks, dad, for coming!!!

We attended our new ward's halloween party on friday night with my dad. We got there late, and had some chili and had the kids play games. It was weird because we didn't know very many people. Just a couple of families were there from our original ward. I did meet a couple of people, but it was weird to be at a new ward's activity.

On Saturday, Brian took my dad to go get a Philly cheesesteak and then Brian went to a Pearl Jam Concert in the afternoon/evening while we went with my dad to crash the new Broomall ward's (with part of our old ward) Halloween party. They also had chili and games plus they had trick-or-treating. It was a completely different feeling. I still didn't know everyone, because of all the people from the other ward, but it felt much more comfortable. I realized that this might be a harder move than I thought. I was trying to have a good attitude about switching wards but it is sad to not be seeing the same people each week that I've seen for the last 4 years. Especially since I did not actually move. I'm used to that....moving and going to a new ward, but knowing that all my friends are still in the general vicinity...that's different and a harder.

Anyway, enough about that.... We came home and made a quick dinner of frito salad and then got ready to go trick-or-treating. We have a tradition of going with the Murphy's and this year was no different except we didn't get going until 6:40 and they had to start without us. We met up with them eventually, but then it started raining. Not good for a cardboard ipod costume painted with washable paint....we only lasted about 40 minutes.

Courtney wasn't so much into the candy this year and only hit about 10 houses. She was ready to go home before the rest of us.

The Great Pumpkin came that night. He takes most of the candy away and replaces it with something more lasting and less tooth-decaying....this time it was a movie and stuffed animals. They get to keep about 20 pieces and have to give up the rest. Courtney actually only kept 15...just the KitKats and Smarties.

We had a nice Halloween weekend. And a nice visit with Grandpa!

Here are some fall pictures....I love this time of year here. I don't get the fantastic shots I want to of the trees, but hopefully you can get an idea of how pretty it is here.

I'm so behind!!!

2009-10-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

I know, I know! The last post said that I would try to catch up and I promised a more detail posting. Sorry! I don't know what happened. I do know that very recently my computer has been acting up so I haven't liked to try to do anything extensive on it. But now I am "allowed" to use Brian's computer as my own now....previously not allowed full access to it, in the sense that I couldn't put my pictures and music on it or download anything. Don't ask.... :) But he saw how frustrating the other computer was getting and broke down and realized there is no real harm in me using "his" computer. It's faster and newer and so far, better....for now. It is still a PC so we'll see....

Anyway, enough about that....

The latest, biggest news in our lives is that we went through a drastic ward boundaries realignment last Sunday, with only 4 days notice that we were even having a special sacrament meeting with 4 other congregations. Most people speculated that a few families from the northern and southern areas would get divided out, to balance out the other surrounding congregations. Here's what they did....

They released our Bishopric and everyone in the ward from all of their callings. Then they read the new boundaries. They read the changes by school districts. They basically eliminated our ward (the largest) and divided us up into the 4 other congregations, putting the school district we are in, in a ward that meets in the city! A not-so-great part of town....with a gate around it and, I believe, bars on the windows.

No one is happy about it...Some are deciding to jump right in, but are still not thrilled about it. It really was a ward family for many many people. I was sad and bummed, and I've only been here for 4 years. Some have lived in that ward their entire lives. I can't imagine how hard it is for them. What many were upset about is that there was no notice, no chance to say farewell, have a final party....I guess that's how it usually works, but changes like this are not very common here....it's been 10 years since they rearranged the boundaries. None of Courtney's and Jessica's friends are moving with us to the city so that's hard for them....Well, one girl from Acheivement days but she will be turning 12 in Dec and thus going to YW.

They also cancelled Halloween parties, Acheivement Days for the week, and postponed the primary program which was only 3 weeks away. They gave permission to do that in January. I was bummed about the timing since I was the primary pianist, something I have always wanted to do. And so to be released like that was disappointing.

So our first time in the city is this week and we shall see how it goes.....we know NOTHING about that ward. No one going with us seems to know anything either. Our new bishop is actually someone who just got put in from our ward, so that's good. Or is it bad? How soon before we get callings???? :) JK. I'm ready for it!

Everything else is the same. Brian works and works and works and works. The kids are in school---5th and 3rd grades. Jessica is playing piano, Courtney playing flute. Ally entertains by singing and dancing and acting! I am busy helping with school stuff. Not doing Girl Scouts, really this year, except helping occasionally in Jessica's troop.

As I look back at some of our pictures, I realize we've got a lot to catch up on....I'll try to do it briefly..

Courtney and Brian took a trip to NY to celebrate Courtney's 10th birthday! I can't believe we have a 10 year old!!!!! Double digits....She has wanted to see "Wicked" for the longest time and so Brian took her on a Wednesday to go try to get in to see it. We told her they would try but that the chances that they could get discount tickets were very slim. She was just excited to go to NY with her dad!

They got there and put their names in a lottery to buy tickets for the matinee. When Brian called and told me, I thought "you're crazy. If you get picked, there's no way we can afford to buy those tickets." He said he had to do it anyway and see if he got them. He'd figure something out. ahhhhh...stressed me out. Tickets can be in the $200 range!!! I hung up with him, and called my friend who told me that the lottery is to be able to purchase tickets for about $25 each! And good seats, too! A few minutes later, Brian called back and said he had been one of 4 people picked. I was so happy for them! And even happier that it was only going to cost $50 total for both of them to see it. Know where the seats were? (Well, you do if you've heard this story already) Front and center, right behind the orchestra pit! Courtney could look down into the pit by the conductor! She was on cloud 9!!! It could not have been a more perfect birthday gift! It really went well! (Picture to come later when I can track it down.)

After the show, Brian took her to the American Girl store because she had gotten a lot of birthday money and wanted to buy herself a doll. She had 2 dolls already, but there was something cool for her about buying her own doll (almost $100, I might add).

And aside from her leaving her purse on a train (complete with a small AG doll she had bought earlier in the week, 2 pool passes, and a few other things that were disappointing to lose), the trip was a BLAST for her. I only wish I could have gone and shared that with her. But it was special because it was a daddy-daughter thing she will NEVER forget.

We were able to meet our "new" family, Brian's birth father and everyone else, at a lake house owned by Brian's aunt. Only Brian didn't get to go, he had to work. But the girls and I went. It was the first weekend after school got out, so it was a nice way to kick off the summer. We went out on their boat, where the girls got to do some tubing, jetskiing and cliff jumping. It was such a nice weekend and we really felt included and like part of the family, even though we've only known them for a short time. Those who were there were...Brian's birth father and his wife, Brian's 2 half brothers and their wives and children (one each), Brian's Aunt, Uncle, and 2 cousins. It was pretty cool to be part of their family. We hope to do many other things with them in the future and hopefully Brian will be able to join us sometimes!

We met some friends down at the beach in Ocean City, NJ. Their family has a beach house a few blocks away and it was nice to spend the day with them. It wasn't the best weather, a bit overcast and chilly, but the kids didn't let that keep them out of the water. Ally was a little nervous about the waves but the other girls totally went for it with boogie boards and shell searches!

We took the opportunity, on one of Brian's rare days off, to go to the NJ aquarium. We can get a nice picture of the city of Philadelphia from the aquarium, so we did that. We loved seeing sharks, stingrays, exotic fish, dolphins, etc.

During the summer we found out that Lowe's Home Improvement store does free kids' workshops twice a month. So we've started going. Sometimes we know what they are doing, sometimes we just go The girls seem to enjoy it and we've been lucky that Brian has gotten to go almost every time. I think he's only missed 1.

Here are more from the beach. I was too tired to put them in the right order on the blog, so I just left them here....

It was so very beautiful and relaxing!!

Uncle Bob letting Ally drive the boat. Everyone was so nice and kind to the kids and very helpful, since I was a single mom that day. They just really did a good job of "taking care of us" and making us have a comfortable and fun visit.

On the boat before going out. Courtney is still trying to get her life jacket on.

I'm not done updating, but I'm tired and I want to get this published tonight, so I hope you enjoy this new stuff!

New Post

2009-06-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

I am aware that I have not posted in a LONG time....I've been lazy. But some of my faithful followers have informed me that it's definitely time to update, as they are "bored" with my blog! :) I think they might be bored even if I update. Not much to report. But thanks for the reminder! I will try to update tomorrow. I have a primary lesson to plan today and a house to clean. Tomorrow should be more calm, I think.

Until then, here are a few pictures to tide you over till I can update!

Jessica's Special Day

2009-04-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today is Jessica's birthday! She is 8 years old and so we celebrated by having her baptized today! It was a very special day! Everything went so smoothly and well. IT was a bit of a miracle, really!

Jessica is a very sweet, sensitive and caring person. She has the spirit of a peacemaker. She has a strong desire to do what is right, even when it's hard. The last couple of weeks, as we have focused on her upcoming baptism, the mood in our home changed a bit. Not a day goes by where someone gets irritated with someone else and gets a bit heated. some days are slightly less than others, but at least once a day, we usually have some sort of drama. I mean, 3 girls? How does that NOT happen?? Anyway, lately, as Jessica has prepared herself mentally and spiritually for her baptism, and as we focused more on that event as a family, I definitely saw a change. When I mentioned it to Jess one night, and complimented her on her obvious change, she said she she was starting to feel different and that she thought it was because of the Holy Ghost. That brought tears to my eyes, as I rejoiced in the fact that my sweet little Jessica could recognize that. Even before she was baptized.

This morning she wanted to open presents first thing in the morning. Since we knew it would be a busy day, we agreed. She opened a bunch of presents that included, but weren't limited to, Jonas Brothers items, including tickets to a summer concert, an MP3 player, and various books and other items. She was thrilled with her gifts. We ate french toast, on which we placed 4 candles, that represented 2 years each (I had run out of candles, so we made it work.)

The girls played with a couple of things that Jessica got for about 30 minutes and then we proceeded to get everyone showered and ready for the baptism. We even had time for little photo shoot outside before leaving. My mom mad this beautiful white dress for Jessica! Another miracle that, even thought Jess wasn't there to be fitted to it, the dress fit her perfectly!!! Thanks mom, for all your hard work on it! It really is a perfect dress!

We had to go early to turn on the font and set up chairs and everything. So for a 2:30 baptism, we thought we'd get there about 11:30 and set up and then get to watch the first session of conference. Well, even though the morning was very smooth and relaxed, when 11:00 hit, I was NOT quite ready and then felt we had to rush. We didn't get out of the house till about 11:20. We still planned to feed kids on the way there, but felt we were running out of time to stop anywhere. It takes 2 1/2-3 hours to fill the font, so getting there early was crucial.

We decided to drop Brian off at the church, so he could do the font and start setting up and I would go with the kids to get something to eat and bring it back. He also needed to look for something to wear. Silly me, I picked a white jumpsuit out last week for Jessica, brought it home, washed it, she tried it on, etc. Didnt' even think about doing the same for Brian! OOPS! anyway, that was one of the reasons to get there early.

Turns out, we didn't get to watch any of conference, although we listened to the last 30 minutes of it.

The baptism was so nice. Many people from our ward came. We even had 2 of our on-member school friends and families (or parts of them) come, which we were thrilled about! Jessica's missionary spirit was jumping for joy with that! Many people helped make this a successful day...Katie Fewkes, Joylyn Brown, Amy Jorgensen, Troy Janes, Bishop Scott Stallings, Rita Ebeling, Nichole Neat, Courtney, Brian, Jessica, etc., all had a part in the program. And many others helped by assisting in the ordinances, helping with food, and others. If you are any of these people, and you are reading this...our heartfelt gratitude goes out to you for your love and service to our family!!

I gave the talk on baptism and I was a mess. I actually hadn't prepared as well as I would have liked to...I got swamped with other aspects of the baptism and other aspects of my life. I wish I had made that the priority. And the fact that I was a bit emotional about the events of the day, didn't help me get through the talk without crying every 2 minutes. Oy, vey!

Courtney and I played a piano/flute duet and Jessica played a piano solo. We all did a very fine job, if I do say so myself.

We wish those of you who weren't there could have been there, but we felt your thoughts and prayers were with us.

Jessica looked beautiful and really enjoyed her day. It was a sweet day, filled with happy feelings, good friends, good weather for picture taking, and yummy refreshments. Unfortunately Jessica started feeling sick in the early evening and 30 minutes after going to sleep, she woke up and vomitted! What a way to end your birthday! At least it didn't ruin her happy day!

We are grateful to have Jessica in our family and want to wish her a very special day today! We love you Jessica!

Courtney tells jokes

2009-03-31T17:32:00.001-07:00

Courtney told us a couple of jokes tonight. Here's the first one...

A mushroom walks into a boy's party. The boy says, "Hey, you aren't allowed here!" The mushroom says, "Why not? I'm a Fun-Gi!"

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Why was the celery so embarrassed when he opened the fridge?
Cuz he saw the salad dressing!

One of our favorites:

Why does Piglet need a bath?
Cuz he plays with Pooh!

My kids are so punny!

Ally Sings and Dances

2009-03-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Some nice pictures

2009-03-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

Back in January, we attended the baby shower of a friend who used to live next door to us. One of her friends went around taking pictures and snapped a couple of the girls. Except for Ally's eyes looking a bit droopy in the black and white, I think these might be among my favorite pictures of them. And I have a LOT of pictures of them! Oh, and Jess is a bit fuzzy but I still think it's great!

2009-03-21T18:18:00.001-07:00

I've been slacking on my blogging...would that be "slogging?" Or "blacking"? or "blocking"?

anyway, there are stories to tell, but I wanted to post a video tonight that made me laugh. It's not really anything super exciting, but I enjoyed it and wanted to share. Courtney was playing around with our camera the other day while I was frosting a cake.

I just loved her excitement so much that, even though I initially thought I wouldn't keep the video, I decided that I loved the sound of her voice and it should be saved.

(And as a sidenote, the cake I decorated was for a friend's baby shower lunch. I do not claim to be any sort of cake decorating expert, to say the least, but I had fun doing this and might do it again. The finished product is below.) I don't know why it ended up sideways and upside down when I posted it. Sorry. I tried to fix it.

Tooth Fairy concerns

2009-02-19T18:22:00.000-08:00

My darling older daughters made me laugh tonight! Courtney lost one of her molars while brushing her teeth. She has lost most of her teeth by this point, but she always gets excited about it. I mean, what kid doesn't get excited about an extra $1 for doing nothing except growning up? At one point she asked me if I would tell her who the tooth fairy was. Jessica asked if the tooth fairy was tiny or if she was big like me. I said I would leave that up to their imagination. Courtney again asked me when I would tell her who the tooth fairy is. She told me that if it was the parents who do it, then she should know for when she is a parent. She'll have to know to do it. The funniest thing came next. She asked me if I would tell her who the tooth fairy was when she turns 18. Of course, I promised that when she's 18, I will tell her who the tooth fairy is! (Jess wanted to be told at the same time as Courtney, but she will be 16.) She then thought that I promised that because my hope was that they would forget before then and I would not really have to tell them. I said "I will be happy to tell you who the tooth fairy is when you are 18!" I thought it was funny and had to share!

Please Touch Museum

2009-02-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

On the first Wednesday of every month, from 5-7pm, the Please Touch Museum offers admission for $2/person. Otherwise it's super expensive. So we decided to take advantage of it. It is just a big play place for kids...hence the name...

This was an elephant made entirely out of old junk toys and and gadgets and things. It was hard to tell what it was made out of until you got up close. Seriously, all broken toys and things. Pretty cool. Below is a replica of the Statue of Liberty Torch made the same way.

A giant floor piano, similar to the one in the movie "Big" and the one displayed at FAO Schwarz in NY. Always a fun thing to do.

A fancy display of Etch-A-Sketch art. Couldn't really get a good close-up on any one particular piece, but they were all animals, and so well done!

There was an Alice in Wonderland display, complete with the maze, Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter Tea Party.

A building blocks area. The grown-ups had as much fun as the kids...mostly knocking down the things the kids built! Courtney was proud of her Coliseum she built.

Our little baker...

Our shopper...she knows what to do...

Dress up time was the best!

A flying bicycle was fun. Pedalling kept you up in the air. Courtney was a little too big for this activity....little miss long legs....

A bulldozer for the balls...

Brian got stuck carrying Jessica's coat and he made it silly...Ally loves to pretend to drive...

A giant guitar sat in the lobby of the museum...

And of course, they all wanted to be the Statue of Liberty! We love America!

It was a quick 2 hours, but now that we know we can do it every month, we can do more next time! Time and money well spent.

Broomall 1st ward Family talent show

2009-02-06T17:56:00.001-08:00

Our family participated in the ward primary family talent show. Julie and Brian on trumpet, Courtney on flute and Jessica on piano. Sadly, the friend who was filming it didn't pan over to Jessica on the piano, and we were unintentionally hiding Courtney behind the music stand. And you can't hear the flute and piano over the trumpets But maybe you get the idea. I think it went well, we got lots of compliments.

Remember Brian and I haven't played in at least 10 years. This is our Page Family Band debut. Enjoy!

Under Construction....

2009-01-18T21:13:00.001-08:00

I've decided to try to switch the background on my blog and change it a bit. I've seen so many cute blogs and I want to find a nice one. I can't decide right now which one to do, so if you visit often, you may see a different background each time you visit. Sorry...be patient...Or maybe you like the variety, who knows? anyway, after I get a background I really like, I'll update it with interesting tidbits about our family's goings-on, of which we have none right now...

By the way, I'm trying to change the background of my posts...it's blue now, but even when I change my template background, it continues to stay blue...I tried to change it under fonts and colors, but it won't change. Any tips? Still a rookie here! That's why I kept it on the other one for so long! thanks in advance!

Post for some friends

2008-12-31T05:48:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of friends who are in need some help. My friends,Steven and Jocelyn Jones, are looking to adopt. Please check out their website http://www.stevenandjocelyn.blogspot.com/. If anyone out there knows someone who is considering putting their baby up for adoption, please let them know about Steven and Jocelyn. They are a wonderful couple! Thank you!

Christmas pics

2008-12-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. And we had a very enjoyable one. We had Brian's mom here until Christmas day around 2pm. We were very happy to have her. We had fun and were sad to send her away. Hopefully it won't be another year before we see her again!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at a friends house. She was married to an Italian guy and learned to do the 7 fishes for Christmas dinners. Yummy. I'm not normally a fish/seafood kind of person but it was quite yummy. Not what I'm traditionally use to, but I'll take it. Brian was in heaven! He LOVES seafood. There was crab, scallops (is that right?), lobster, flounder, shrimp, salmon, and I forget which other one. Anyway...she went all out.

Here are some shots from our Christmas celebrations!

With our friends Davis and Liana on Christmas Eve.

New pajamas on Christmas Eve are a tradition at our house! Don't they look nice? :)

Christmas morning....prolonging the torture for the kids...we have to take some pictures!

More torture....

Jessica loves the Jonas Brothers! She was very excited about this gift!

Ally loves to play with the Fisher Price Little People (And so does Mommy, that's why Ally gets them!) This is one of 3 sets that she got!

The long-awaited XBOX 360 finds it's way to Brian's hands!

Grandma Shumway worked hard on making little outfits for the girls' American Girl dolls! They look beautiful..Thanks, Grandma! (Courtney got blue, Jessica got pink)

The biggest surprise (from Grandma Page)!!!! They had NO idea they were getting this! It's already been tons of fun for everyone!

Christmas morning, after presents, we made breakfast burritos. Something that we have decided is a fun tradition for us. We've done it a few years in a row now. For dinner we went to another friends house with some other families from our ward. Ham, sweet potatoes, rolls, veggies, cranberry salad...the more traditional meal....but oh, so yummy. They make this to-die-for ham sauce. It's just a sweet mustard sauce, but that's why I say yes when they invite us for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. :)

We read Luke 2 before opening presents in the morning. It is another wonderful tradition that we started to make sure we keep the true meaning of the holiday in mind. I know I speak for all of my family members when I say we are truly grateful for this time of year to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

We look forward to celebrating the passing of this year and the dawning of a New Year. Wish you all the best in this coming year! 2009!!! wow!

Christmastime is here...happiness and cheer...

2008-12-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks...

Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays...

We wish you a Merry Christmas....

We love this time of year. And it comes early for our kids this year. Grandma Page came to visit! She flew in on Thursday but leaves on Christmas day, in the afternoon. We have been shopping, and baking, and eating, and watching movies and wrapping, and listening to never-ending Christmas music on the radio (2 stations to choose from this year!) and...well, you get the idea.

There are lots of presents under the tree and Ally decided to help herself to one a little bit early. She loved the book and games and bag that was all part of the same present, but she seemed most excited about the candy that was included. (Thanks, Tony and Becky!) :)

We took the kids on a surprise drive this evening. We would NOT tell them where we were going. This is one of Courtney's Christmas presents from Grandma Page....

When Courtney was 5, we went to the mall with some friends. Her friend, Sally, ended up getting her ears pierced. Courtney was so distraught because "Now Sally was the prettiest!" Those were her 5 year old words! Anyway, to calm her down, I promised her that she could get her ears pierced when she was 10. Well, when I said that, I thought that she might forget by this time. Boy was I wrong. So as she is getting closer to turning 10, she talks about it more and more. When Grandma Page was asking about Christmas ideas for the girls, we had a hard time coming up with something super great for Courtney. At some point, I briefly thought about the ear-piercing thing...but didn't want to go back on my word about her having to be 10. But it would be a fantastic surprise. So after some serious thought, Brian and I decided that it would be fine. We also thought it would be fun for Cherie too. So that's what we did....

She tried to be brave...she did really well. But when it was over, she hugged me really tight while she cried for 30 seconds. :( Poor thing. But she said it was definitely worth it. Anyway, it was really a sweet and exciting night for everyone.

Jessica got to come home and unwrap a present too....not to be left out of the early present opening experience. She opened hers from Tony and Becky. (new family members) And was thrilled with writing tools, and journal. And a bag with her initial on it.

We look forward to being able to spend time with Grandma Page, but we are sad we can't be with all of our other Grandparents and family members this time! We did discover the wonder that is the webcam and we look forward to being able to visit that way!

Have a great week, everyone!

Connecticut trip

2008-12-14T13:18:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, Brian started thinking it was time to start sending feelers out for jobs. He's not done until September but he thought he'd see what was available. He got a hold of a The Hospital of Central Connecticut and after a few emails and phone calls back and forth, they offered to bring us to the area for an interview. We don't know much about Connecticut, but figured it usually is pretty during fall and spring months. Cold during the winter...etc. That's about it. But since we haven't really ruled out going anywhere if the job is right, we jumped at this chance. They wanted to bring me up as well. And when I mentioned that we had kids they offered to have us bring them too, they would even spring for an adjoining hotel room. (They were paying for all travel expenses. One of the perks to interview most places). Anyway, so we drove up on Monday this past week.

It didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. We borrowed a GPS from some friends, thinking "this will be a breeze, how hard could it be?" Well.....a trip that should have taken 4 1/2 hours or so ended up taking 7 1/2!!!! I won't go into too many details...but GPS, turns out, not so easy to use the first time! We shouldn't have put all our faith in that thing! On the way home, we used Google Maps, printed out on paper. GPS helped more once we reached our destination, and driving around town. Long trips....don't recommend using just GPS.

Anyway, we stayed at The Farmington Inn, in none other than Farmington, CT. :) The kids did get their own room, that was adjoining to ours. They loved it! They each had a 4 post, queen size bed. Well, except Ally who was in a port-a-crib. But she thought that was just as fantastic! I was glad she felt that way, it made it so she slept all night! YEAH! Anyway, the kids loved the sheets and the beds, and that they had a tv in their room. (Which went off fairly early, before they fell asleep.)

The hospital also told us to go to the restaurant next to the hotel for dinner. So we did. It was called Piccolo Arancia, or something like that. It was probably the nicest restaurant the kids have gone to in years....at least since we moved here! It was just a nice Italian place...Brian and I have been to fancier. But it was pretty nice. The kids stuck to their tradition of chicken fingers and pizza...good pizza, mind you...and they were complimented on their polite behavior by the waitress. We had a nice time...

Brian had 2 interviews scheduled for Tuesday morning. And long story short...he liked both of them, for different reasons. One hospital told him he was #3 on their list, out of the top 5 of their favorites. They are only hiring 2 though. The doctor told us that they hoped to make a decision before Christmas. So we'll see if he even gets an offer....stay tuned.

We originally planned to stay two nights, and have him interview at two other hospitals the next day. But we couldn't guarantee that one of those hospitals would pay for the second night in the hotel. At a corporate rate of $150/night/room, we weren't in a position to pay for the second night ourselves. After some real serious deliberation and discussion with a recruiter that helped organize all this, I decided to cancel the second night. We drove home on tuesday after Brian's second interview... (and after backtracking 30 miles to the hotel to pick up an ipod and headphones that I had forgotten to pack when we checked out)

So we'll see what happens....but we are beginning to look for jobs which is exciting..!!! yeah!

Meeting new family...the Vollmers!

2008-11-30T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hi...long time no see! So I've been told I need to post something new. So I guess it's time to catch up on what's been going on.

One of the biggest stories in our lives is that Brian has been reunited with his birth father, after about 25 years. Without going into detail, they were unable to get together most of Brian's life. After Brian and I got married, we would periodically try to find Roy, his birth father, but didn't really know where to find him or what would happen if we did. Sometime after Greg passed away, Brian thought it was time to try to find Roy again. So we started with the internet...wow what an amazing thing!!!

So, we looked up his name in the white pages, found a guy with the same name in Ohio, where we knew he was from. We actually called the number...that led to getting phone numbers for 2 sons he had from another marriage. Brian left a message with one of them. Before we heard back from them though, I thought I'd try finding him on facebook.com. We didn't know much about him, and didn't know if he was a facebook kind of guy, but there was a Roy from OH listed. I sent a message to this Roy, to find out if he was the one we were looking for. A day or two later, I received a message from Tony, Roy's stepson, saying, that it was indeed the Roy we were looking for, but Roy didn't really use the facebook site. Tony put us in touch with his mom and Roy!!! This all happened inside of a week!

After a day or two of emailing back and forth with Roy and Jackie, I emailed them our phone numbers for them to get a hold of us at their convenience. The end of that week, while at the pool with my kids, I got a message on my phone from Roy for the first time. Brian was able to talk to him for the first time 2 days later. (He had been working 12 hour shifts and couldn't connect with Roy sooner.) Anyway, they had been actually living in GA for the last 3 years or so, but were moving back up to OH soon. After a few weeks of phone calls and emails, we made a plan to meet!

They happened to be going to be in Harrisburg, PA for a family wedding the weekend of Labor Day. Brian was off, so we drove over to Harrisburg (just under 2 hours away), and met them in their hotel. WOW!!! I was overcome with emotion, partly because, as a parent, I couldn't imagine being separated from my child for so long! And feeling happy for Brian because that part of his background was no longer going to be such a mystery!!

Turns out we met not only Roy and his wife, Jackie, but Jackie's son, Tony and his wife and 4 kids; one of Brian's aunts; and one of Brian's half-brothers, named Aaron and his wife and daughter. He has 2 half brothers, but one of them didn't make it. We met 5 of the 6 cousins that my kids now have on that side. We went swimming in the hotel pool with Tony's family, while visiting with Roy, Jackie and Jane. Then we met up with Aaron and his family to have lunch and then go back to the pool and swim some more. The wedding they were going to wasn't until 4pm or so, so we stayed until about 2:30 or so visiting. It was surprisingly comfortable, everyone made us feel so welcome and part of the family from the get-go. The only regret is that we didn't get together sooner in our lives. The kids are very excited to have more family in their lives. Not that we don't like the ones that we already have, but more is even better!!!! We hope to develop good relationships with them!

Here are some pictures!
Brian and Roy for the first time in 25 years!

This is the kids at lunch making Ohio State and Arizona State signs. Turns out the brothers are all OH ST fans.....something ASU fans don't like. :) But good to know that the brothers are HUGE football fans! Brian alwasy wanted a sibling and would even tell his mom that he'd take a sister! Turns out he has 3 "brothers"! And the have similar interests! What a great thing for Brian! (One of the little girls was actually in the wedding so she was busy getting ready for that and didn't get to go to lunch with us.)

This is the girls with Grandpa Vollmer. Can't say much about this except...wow!

Apparently Grandpa is a BIG hit with grandkids, and he loves them to pieces! Enough to let a turtle sit on his head for a picture! Kobe is behind Roy, Haley in the back, and Keegan next to Roy and Courtney. The kids seemed to hit it off!

Our family and Roy!

This is Jackie, or Grandma J, as she is called by the grandkids!

So that's been a big event in our life! We are trying to figure out a time during the holidays that we can all get together...we hope it works out! But they are going to be part of our lives from here on out and we are thrilled!!!

Going underground...

2008-09-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. School started and we've been busy with things. I want to update and I will. We've had a lot of interesting things happen. However, we think we have a virus on our laptop that we can't get rid of with the 3 antivirus programs that we have. SO.....sometime this week I will be taking the computer to the shop to hopefully get fixed. We will be without for about a week, maybe a little less. It's the cheapest route. Anyway, I will still check my email from the library when I can, but hopefully we'll be back on board soon and I can update you on what's been happening in our lives.

In Memory of Greg

2008-08-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

We had a sad occurance recently that actually was not too unexpected, but sad, nontheless. Brian's dad (really step-dad who raised him from a very early age), passed away on Monday, July 28, 2008, in the wee hours of morning.

He had been quite ill for some time and his health had become extremely poor in the last months. Brian's stepbrother called on Sunday night, the 18th, and said that things weren't good. We managed to get a plane ticket for Brian for 2 days later. He flew out to California where he spent the next 6 days spending time with his dad, stepbrother, 2 uncles and a cousin...all boys. (Brian hasn't been around that much testosterone in quite some time!) Anyway, things were taken care of and the family was able to spend some time together.

Just less than a week after Brian returned home from CA, he got the call. In some ways we are relieved that he's not suffering from his horrible bout with cancer, but it is sad to have lost him. He will be missed!

Here are a few pictures that I could find of him. I may try to scan some more in later on. The first one is Brian, Greg, and Darien (Brian's step-brother)

Greg came from California, despite not feeling well, to attend Brian's medical school graduation in 2005. It was very sweet of him to do that, it meant a lot to all of us.

This is lunch after graduation with Brian's mom and family friend Ed.

I have only known Greg for about 14 years, and we, unfortunately, didn't get to spend a whole lot of time together, since he lived in various places, as did we. But we made some great memories when we were able to get together. The kids loved going to California to see Grandpa. We were able to visit him there about 3 times. One time we got to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific, which was grand fun. He also was able to travel to Arizona a number of times. One time we went some place like West World, (I think that's what it's called) with Grandpa and Uncle Darien. We went on a small train ride, rode ponies, and ate some BBQ, while meeting Darien's new wife Nana.

One big thing I'm grateful to Greg for: when Brian wanted to join the church, even though his parents didn't, they were completely supportive. His dad told him that if he was going to do it, he needed to do it all the way. They took him to his church meetings and scouts and even spoke at his missionary farewell. I'm grateful that Greg made sure that he did the thing that changed his life and mine! Greg, you will be missed! We love you!

Ally is a climber

2008-08-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that was actually short enough to post here. Ally learned to climb up the ladder to the bunkbed a few months ago and we thought it was cool. Now she climbs all the way onto the top bed. We don't really like that since she gets very excited when she's up there, and could just topple over. But it is fun to see her do new things!

Spotlight on Jessica--3rd time's the charm

2008-07-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, I tried to publish this post a couple other times in June. I finally finished it, but when I went to publish it, I couldn't put it as the most recent unless I started a new one from this date...if that makes sense. Anyway, here is Jessica's spotlight blog.

The above picture was taken in front of the Palmyra Temple on a recent family trip(minus Brian, sadly) to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and some of the sites. (more about that later)

Jessica has become an AWESOME reader. Sadly, I have to admit that I did not read as much with her as I did with Courtney. (The first kid always gets the most one on one attention, right?...please say "right"...) Anyway, Jessica does not seem to have suffered very much for it. She has grown by leaps and bounds in her reading skills this year. She doesn't mind reading now, although she would much rather play. When we read scriptures, she sounds out words that I don't think I knew when I was her age. She continues to amaze us! She reads to Ally a lot and Ally loves it!

She is very active right now. She has a hula hoop that she uses for jumping with, like a jumprope. She's getting pretty good at it.

She just got her hair cut a few weeks ago. She likes to get it short when summer comes. I don't blame her, I like short hair in the summer better too. We all have such thick long hair that becomes a pain to deal with in the summer. It either gets put up in pony tails or cut. Here are some pictures...before and after. I wasn't happy with the way the Supercuts lady did her bangs and she pinned them back after cutting them, so the after picture is not right after. We waited until it looked a bit better. It doesn't look like a major haircut from the pictures but it was significant.

She is our little missionary. Since kindergarten she has talked about different things she can do to tell her friends about the church. She wanted to have one friend over for Family Home Evening. (I'm embarrassed to say we never got to that.) During the school year, she decided to start a "Missionary club" in her class and she said lots of kids were in it, but she hadn't really done much in it. Now, when she has friends over or goes to their house, she has a little "Mormon museum". One day she set all kinds of things in front of and on her dresser. When the two kids that I babysit came over 2 weeks ago, she invited them to come in to the "Mormon museum". The display consisted of her scriptures, the Primary songbook, many different pass-along cards, a picture of a temple, and a few other things I can't remember right now. The kids (ages 9 and 5) were so sweet to sit and listen, even Courtney played along. I don't know if anything will happen with these two kids and their mom as far as the church goes, but we are planting a seed. No....Jessica is planting seeds! All over the place! We are so proud of her and hope be as good as she is with our missionary work!
This sunflower picture was taken in Rochester, NY, when we stayed with cousin Rebecca for the pageant. We love sunflowers in our family.

I really had hoped another daughter, who shall remain nameless, would fall asleep during the Pageant that started at 9:15 pm. Jessica made it through all but the last 10 minutes or so.
We visited the Joseph Smith homes in Palmyra, this is the log home, a replica, and the room, where Moroni visited Joseph Smith that night.
We took a walk through the Sacred Grove in Palmyra...such a beautiful, peaceful place.

This summer Jessica is just trying to keep busy with swimming, playdates, trips to the library and the zoo, the AMC $1 movies, a book club with some friends, and playing with her sisters. She can't wait for the mail to come in late August to find out who her teacher for 2nd grade will be! She's excited to be a 2nd grader! WOW!

That's Jessica!

Baby Squirrels

2008-07-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

So today we had an interesting experience. There were some men that came by the complex to trim some of the trees around the buildings. They really cut off a lot of branches and most of them from the tree right by our apartment that provided some shade. I was a bit upset about it, their explanation being something about growing into other tree branches, or on the roof, or something...whatever.

Anyway, there had been a very large squirrel nest in that tree right above the sidewalk that goes in front of our apartment. It has been there almost since we moved in 3 years ago, if not longer...can't remember. Anyway, sadly, the horrible tree cutters cut that brance with the nest on it. Turns out there were really young baby squirrels in it. Tiger had gotten out and Brian saw him discover something...the babies. Brian was able to get Tiger away before he did anything to them. There were 4 hairless babies that he could find. He called me (I was out), and asked me what to do...(like I'm an expert in squirrels..heehee) He decided to put them in a small box with some leaves and a small towel.

(That's the only closeup I got of the babies) When I got home we called Animal Control/Rescue and they told us to put something warm in it and open the box up. The lady then told us that the mom would come and get the babies and take them away. If the mom didn't come by 6 pm we were to call Animal Rescue back and they would come and pick the babies up.

So we left the babies out by the tree for about 2 1/2 hours before Brian noticed a squirrel in the tree near where the nest had been. Then our whole family watched as the mom squirrel, who looked a bit frantic at first, finally realized where her babies were. She made her way to the box and started to take each baby, one by one, in her mouth, to another nest in a not-too-far-away tree. She would position the baby in a certain way so as not to hurt it, scurry off to the new home, and come back and retrieve another baby. I actually managed to load a video about it...(I don't know why this video works and others didn't before.) I apologize for the blurriness of it, but I think you can see it well enough.

It was a pretty cool thing to witness, and we were glad to be a part of it, in helping a little squirrel family reunite. As a mother, I can relate to the need to have all babies home and safe. How traumatic it must have been for both mother and babies to be separated in such a horrible manner. I'm so glad Tiger found them and Brian got to them. They were actually quite difficult to spot in the vines and ivy and such on the ground. Anyway, that's our feel-good story of the day....I've got a lot catch up on in other aspects of our lives, but that will have to wait...

Stop the presses!! Courtney turns 9!

2008-07-10T17:58:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Courtney's birthday! YEAH! We started the day with presents...early...before breakfast. She just couldn't wait. Breakfast (Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream) followed. Then it was off to a friend's house where they were having their second meeting of a summer book club. The book that was discussed was "Prince Caspian" of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series.

After the book club, we just went home where Courtney could play with her presents. She loves books, so she got a bunch of those. She also got a Webkinz collie dog. And Jessica gave her some knock-off Crocs, aka Gators. (For those who don't know about such things, they are really ugly plastic sandals that are all the rage now.) Thanks, also to Grandma Page for helping her buy ANOTHER Webkinz (the Clydesdale horse). Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Shumway for the great books! And thanks, Ed for the Hopscotch game and Star game. We will have fun with both!

Her "big" gift this year was an iPod Shuffle. Something she was NOT expecting. We didn't really expect to get her an iPod of any kind just yet, but we figured she was responsible enough to take care of it and she loves music. So we splurged. (Thanks, Pres. Bush for the stimulus! Although I think I'm supposed to be opposed to it, the money sure comes in handy when your husband's a resident!) Anyway, Courtney LOVED(S) the iPod. We had thought about a bike, but now it's a good things we didn't do that since...(well, refer to previous post).

Later in the day, I took Courtney and Jessica to see the new American Girl movie. As I was standing near a guy and his 3 girls, waiting for snacks, I heard him express his annoyance at the fact that the first 3 American Girl movies had been on TV and completely free. But then he shelled out $40+ for snacks too, so he must have not been too annoyed....he was there! He bought into it. Well, anyway, the girls both loved it.

For dinner we had baked potatoes and I made an ice cream sandwich/oreo/fudge cake. She had that last year and it was yummy. So she asked for it again. I'm not a cake decorator so it looks pretty boring...but it's yummy!!!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Courtney! We can't believe she's 9! Double digits next year. She's brought our family so much joy and we are so proud of the good girl that she is!

Learned a lesson

2008-07-03T11:06:00.001-07:00

Well, I am fuming today. At myself mostly, but also at the intolerant attitude of the people that own my apartment complex. Brian moved here before I came out with the kids and found this great complex...beautiful area, convenient to many things, great school district, "nice" management, etc. The downfalls were a few, but we overlooked the fact that we didn't have a washer and dryer and rent was twice what we paid in Phoenix. We thought we were getting a decent deal for the area. It was a tradeoff. That was 3 years ago. When I moved out, I just signed the lease without looking at it really...something I know I should have done, and regret now.

Yesterday, I got a knock on my door, while my kids + 2 friends were out playing, riding bikes and scooters, and hula hooping, etc. It was my apartment manager saying that bikes and scooters and large items were not allowed to be outside on the property. I said "even if the kids are riding them and playing?" "Not on the property", was her reply. "What? They can't ride their bikes out here?" "Not on the property", she said again. "It's in your lease."

Apparently, in the contract it does say that there are not supposed to be any large items, like baby carriages or bicycles or other things out on the property and also it says that there is to be no playing in the "common areas" which include sidewalks, any passageways. She said it poses a tripping hazard and they are always showing apartments and don't want to risk anyone tripping. B-O-L-O-N-E-Y!!!! They don't want to attract families and they don't want it to look like there are families around. We don't leave our stuff out when we aren't using them. My kids get out of the way when someone starts coming. And we have lived here for 3 years and have spent LOTS of time playing outside.

It makes me so mad. I used try to recommend this place to people. In fact late last week, someone was just asking me if I enjoyed living here. I told her that we pretty much liked it. The problems I had with it stemmed from having a large family in a small place...no laundry in the unit, one bathroom, no playground. But those were things we were dealing with just fine. Now to find out that we can't PLAY outside? They might as well put a sign up that says "NO KIDS ALLOWED".

They seem to be more concerned with renting out apartments to new people than keeping the current tenants happy so they will stay. It seems like it would be good business to not alienate their tenants...word of mouth and everything... but what do I know?

And what about tolerance???? I say "Let them PLAY!" We aren't hurting anyone. We are basically pleasant people. Everyone seems to love seeing my kids.

By the way, I asked a few people yesterday afternoon if it bothered them that we played outside and had bikes and scooters and stuff. AND 3 out of 3 people said things like "No, on the contrary, I love it!" "It's a bright spot in my day!"

Anyone got any tips on how to handle this? We are in this for another year. Not sure we can break our lease and get a new place, without tons of penalties, but it's a principal that's important to me!

Sorry for the ranting and raving....I'll stop now....

Spotlight on Jessica

2008-06-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting photos and tidbits about how Jessica is doing. The above picture was taken in front of the Palmyra Temple on a recent family trip to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and some of the sites. (more about that later)

She is very active right now. She has a hula hoop that she uses for jumping with, like a jumprope. She's getting pretty good at it.

She just got her hair cut a few weeks ago. She likes to get it short when summer comes. I don't blame her, I like short hair in the summer better too. We all have such thick long hair that becomes a pain to deal with in the summer. It either gets put up in pony tails or cut. Here are some pictures...before and after. I wasn't happy with the way the Supercuts lady did her bangs and she pinned them back after cutting them, so the after picture is not right after. We waited until it looked a bit better. It doesn't look like a major haircut from the pictures but it was significant.

She is our little missionary. Since kindergarten she has talked about different things she can do to tell her friends about the church. She wanted to have one friend over for Family Home Evening. (I'm embarrassed to say we never got to that.) During the school year, she decided to start a "Missionary club" in her class and she said lots of kids were in it, but she hadn't really done much in it. Now, when she has friends over or goes to their house, she has a little "Mormon museum". One day she set all kinds of things in front of and on her dresser. When the two kids that I babysit came over 2 weeks ago, she invited them to come in to the "Mormon museum". The display consisted of her scriptures, the Primary songbook, many different pass-along cards, a picture of a temple, and a few other things I can't remember right now. The kids (ages 9 and 5) were so sweet to sit and listen, even Courtney played along. I don't know if anything will happen with these two kids and their mom as far as the church goes, but we are planting a seed. No....Jessica is planting seeds! All over the place! We are so proud of her and hope be as good as she is with our missionary work!
This sunflower picture was taken in Rochester, NY, when we stayed with Julie's cousin Rebecca Matheson for the pageant. We love sunflowers in our family.

I really had hoped another daughter would fall asleep during the Pageant that started at 9:15 pm. Jessica made it through all but the last 10 minutes or so.
We visited the Joseph Smith homes in Palmyra, this is the log home, a replica, and the room, where Moroni visited Joseph Smith that night.
We took a walk through the Sacred Grove in Palmyra...such a beautiful, peaceful place.

This summer Jessica is just trying to keep busy with swimming, playdates, trips to the library and the zoo, the AMC $1 movies, a book club with some friends, and playing with her sisters. She can't wait for the mail to come in late August to find out who her teacher for 2nd grade will be! She's excited to be a 2nd grader! WOW!

That's Jessica!

Spotlight on Allyson

2008-06-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

So, a week or so ago, I took the markers from the front room, where the kids were able to access them whenever they wanted, and put them in my room to keep Allyson from getting them...she wants to create fun body art masterpieces, or wall murals. Well, Jessica had borrowed the markers from my room and put them in her room, on the dresser right next to the baby's bed. I swear Allyson turns into Elasti-girl when she's alone in her room. I have no idea how she reaches some of the things on the dresser...we try to put things out of arm's reach but she still gets them. Anyway, two days ago, I heard Ally make some noise like she might be waking up from her nap. Then she got quiet so I thought she was going back to sleep. About 20 minutes later, she was making noises again for me to come get her. I went in and.... Ta DA!

She not only had drawn all over herself, but all over her crib sheet, some of the crib and some of the wall. (I should have taken a picture of that.) Thank goodness most of the markers were washable. We were able to clean off the crib quite easily, the wall almost as easily, but Ally was decorated for a day after that. Even after a bath. Oh, well!

(I tried posting a video of Ally showing some of the many signs that she knows, but the video won't load. I'm sorry....I'm quite annoyed about it. Again, my lack of expertise with the blogging world may be to blame, but it seems like it should be pretty easy...I'm just missing something. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.)

Update...

2008-05-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much of a desire to post anything lately, so I will attempt to update as best I can remember! This says May 23rd (which was actually our anniversary, but I didn't get around to finishing this post until June 16th...that's today's real date! Sorry!)

Two days after my last post, Brian and I reached another milestone in our life...our 11th wedding anniversary! YEAH!..."Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of miracles"...Unfortunately we were not even able to be together, let alone celebrate. Brian had been doing a rotation in Allentown, PA that month and was not able to come home very often. We were able to finally celebrate on the 28th by going to The Melting Pot, thanks to his mom! (Thanks, Cherie!) We've been there a few times now, but it never gets old. It's YUMMY! Anyway, the exciting thing is that we've made it to 11 years!

I thought I'd do us by the numbers:

we own 1 cat
we dated just over 2 years
we have 3 beautiful girls
we endured and experienced 4 years of medical school
we've lived in PA about 5 years total
we've lived in 6 different wards
We've lived in 7 different homes
total years of medical training by the time we are done....8
Our favorite number is 9
How many kids we hope to have...10...JUST KIDDING(Couldn't think of anything for 10!)
WE'VE BEEN MARRIED FOR 11 YEARS!!! YEAH
(This really isn't the best picture of us...we were still stuffing our faces!!)

I love my husband with all of my heart and am grateful for the love he has for me and our girls. I'm grateful for his endurance through all of this training so he can provide for us and I don't have to go to work. I can stay home and raise our girls. We've been through a lot. It certainly has been an interesting 11 years, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

To sum up other things we've done in the last month...

Courtney has finally learned to ride a bike! It's not her fault she hasn't until now. Living in apartments makes it tough to keep bikes around. We have storage units but they are downstairs in the basement and it would be such a chore to keep them there and get them out when we want. But a friend gave us a bike for Jessica last month, and we just decided we are keeping it around so the kids can learn. So it's a bit small for Courtney, but she just practiced and practiced and now she can do it!

Ally is quite the ham! She continues to come up with humorous expressions, moves, and sounds to delight her entire family and friends and all her meet her! One thing she likes to do is put sunglasses and a hat on, do the peace sign and say "Dude". The older girls taught her that. Her verbal vocabulary is slowly growing...she says "rea.." now, which means "read", when she wants a story. That's helpful But she is still signing up a storm...even more helpful.
She is a climber, too. She is trying to learn to climb into her crib. She hasn't made it all the way in yet and the climbing out seems to not be on her radar...yet, thank goodness.
The other day when we got home from a BBQ with some friends, it was raining. Brian has eagle eyes and spotted a baby toad and, being a boy, grabbed it. Courtney isn't too girly that she's afraid of things like that, so she wanted to hold it as well. We spent a considerable amount of time outside with the baby toad. Jessica and Ally would only lightly touch it one time and then they were done. Jessica, Courtney and all their friends are into WEBKINZ...(in case you live in a bubble and don't know what they are...they are stuffed animals that come with codes to log on to the internet, into a virtual pet world, where you can play games and take care of your pets.) The kids each have 4 but have hopes to get many more than that. They "collect" them. Anyway, Jessica got a turtle Webkinz for her birthday and one of her friends has a turtle also. The new thing to do with them is to have them marry each other. Jessica decided that her's was a boy, named Squirt (after the turtle in FINDING NEMO), and her friend, Nehama, has a girl turtle named Shelly. So they cooked up a Turtle wedding for a playdate after school. They went all out. I asked Nehama's mom if I could do anything to help (I heard she was going to get way into it), but I was reminded that "Traditionally the bride's family pays for the wedding." So we merely made a top hat for Squirt and showed up. She had indeed done a bit of preparation for this wedding, including a veil for Shelly, punch/tea, flower petals, a videographer (Nehama's older sister), and....cupcakes that had real roses stuck in the frosting. There were about 15 kids and each of their 5-8 Webkinz in attendance, and, oh, I almost forgot, Courtney's Chocolate Lab Webkinz was the officiator of the ceremony. So, we had ourselves a little stuffed animal wedding. There were also people who brought presents (including a log for the turtles to sit on) that Nehama and Jessica had to try to split up. It was clever, it was fun for the kids, but I would never have thought to do something like that. Here is a picture of the bride and groom. The picture doesn't really due justice to the outfits, but they look happy, don't they? :)
The kids had a number of birthday parties to attend over the last couple of weeks. One was at Club Libby Lu at the mall where kids can get their hair all done up like rock stars and sing and dance.

They also had an interesting last week of school. Due to "excessive heat advisories", they were released from school around 12:30 on Monday and noon on Tuesday. It got up to about 95 degrees, but with the humidity it felt hotter. The main problem was there is no A/C in the school building so it makes it pretty tough. I think they would have cancelled school, except they didn't want to have to make those days up this week. Friday was the last day and they had a 1/2 day then too. We celebrated with some friends by going to lunch and then the birthday party at Libbly Lu later that day. This is the girls before school on the last day! YEAH!
We have high hopes for the summer! Lots to do! We sat down today and planned our routine and activities. We have to have some sort of routine or else all heck breaks loose. Jessica wants to always play, Courtney always wants alone time to read....that is a recipe for disaster. We have to have some order! We also want to be productive but lazy too! Gotta strike a balance somehow. We shall see how it goes...stay tuned!

(I do need to mention that we finally got a new digital camera...one that will transfer pictures to my computer! YEAH! so pictures will be coming by the dozens, I'm sure! I also finally figured out how to enable the comments thing...so leave comments! I love hearing from you!)

I'm such a rookie

2008-05-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

As you can tell, I've changed my blog template a couple of times recently. It's been a challenge to figure out how to get page elements and things back to the way I want it. I used to be able to let people post comments, but for some reason it won't allow it now. For you blogging expert friends of mine...is that a template feature? I tried changing my settings, but it doesn't work. Also, how do I access any past comments? Please help!
email me if you can help! thanks!!

Love the 80's!!!

2008-05-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

My wonderful sister in law sent this in an email to me today. I'm not sure where it started so I can't give credit where credit is due, but I had to post it. I grew up in the 80s and I loved this list! I laughed when I remembered each one of these. I have to say guilty as charged to just about everything! I hope you enjoy...(I sent this to some of you in email form, so you have my permission to cease reading at this point, if you want.)

You know you grew up in the 80's if...

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.

2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton

3. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom

4. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"

5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

7. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

9. You played the game "MASH"(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.

11. You know the profound meaning of " WAX ON , WAX OFF"

12. You wanted to be a Goonie.

13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe)

14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.

15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

16. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.

17. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.

18. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.

19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

21. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.

22. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"

23. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"

24. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

25. You have ever played with a Skip-It.

26. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

27. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.

28. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.

29. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

30. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB"

31. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class.

32. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

33. You just sang those words to yourself.

34. You still sing "We are the World"

35. You tight rolled your jeans.

36. You owned a banana clip.

37. You remember "Where's the Beef?"

38. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"

39. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!

Thanks for coming, Mom!

2008-05-18T22:47:00.001-07:00

Well, last week we had a very special visitor. My mom was able to come visit for a week and we really enjoyed having her. This is kind of a late "Happy Mother's Day/thanks for coming to visit" post. My dad had bought her a plane ticket for her birthday back in February, and she chose May to come visit...not real cold, not hot yet, flowers in bloom, and lots of green. Very different from AZ. We didn't do a whole lot of exciting site-seeing things, mainly because she's seen a lot already. And she wanted to sew some doll clothes for the girls while she was here. We just mostly enjoyed having her here and being with her.

I have seen a lot of blog tributes to mothers recently and I won't be as eloquent as everyone else, but I want my mom to know how much I love and appreciate her and all she did and currently does for me and my family.

Here's my Top Ten Reasons why I love my Mom:

10.She is a talented seamstress, took time to help me make special dresses and other clothes while I was young. For that matter, still teaches me things about sewing, whether she knows it or not. And now, she is teaching my children about it.

9. She cooked and for many years we ate together as a family. She still makes dinner for us when we are around!

8.She has a passion for the arts: ballet, music, theater...taught us to love them as well, and to develop our talents, which mostly happened to be somewhere in those categories.

7. She is a talented artist. She now has in her home some of her artwork displayed, that portrays some of her favorite things...her children, her pets, etc.

6. I love that she was a stay-at-home mom and was there for us kids "at the crossroads".

5. She made summers fun for us...I have fond memories especially of lots of pool time and library time. ("Alexander, who Used to Be rich Last Sunday" on tape...)

4. I love that she went back to school and got a degree after many years of being "gone" raising a family. I'm glad that she made her kids a priority, but I'm happy she went back to school.

3. Family road trips were made fun with singing, games, merits/demerits (ok, that last one, not always fun) to earn prizes (or not)...

2. Alice's Restaurant

1. She is a great example of scripture study and prayer to me. She knows a lot about the Gospel and I hope someday to know as much as her.

I love you mom! Happy belated Mother's Day! Thanks for coming to visit! (I might post a picture later, when I can find the one I want.)

Signing Time Testimonial

2008-05-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned before that Ally has been using Sign Language as a way of communicating with us. She is almost 20 months old and does not have a very large speaking vocabulary. When she was much younger, maybe 6 or 7 months old, I started using signs with her. Past experience with speech issues with Jessica taught me that babies and toddlers could pick up signs much faster and communicate much earlier than kids who don't know signs. In fact, kids often use their own signs to communicate, such as pointing. Anyway, I decided to start signing with Ally at an earlier age than I did with Jessica and, darn it all...Ally signed her first sign at 9 months old!!! She signed "more" when she wanted some more food! We were soooo excited! So now she is 20 months old and only says about 5 words with her voice but she uses at least 30 different signs to communicate with us!!!

Part of that is due to my limited knowledge of sign I learned from family members and from a class I took in college. More of it is due to a show we watch on a PBS station here in Philly, called Signing Time. It's a wonderful show geared towards toddlers and kids (great for beginning parents too!) that teaches them signs for all kinds of things! Every show is a different theme! It's a great show! It's the only show Ally will watch! When I turn it on, she gets so excited within the first 2 seconds! It's also been very good for the older girls. They can communicate with their baby sister without the help of mom. Courtney has become a very proficient finger speller, thanks to a segment they do called "ABC Time". She practices non-stop, spelling every thing she can think of.

My regret about my Sign Language education, is that it wasn't extensive enough or early enough in my life or in the life of my very special family member who needed more of us to learn it! If that makes any sense. I hope that my kids will be able to utilize this valuable skill!

I have a link in the list that is the Signing Time blog. There is a great video of the creator's daughter leaving a tribute to her mom! Check it out! Also there is a website... www.signingtime.com

Thanks for reading my commercial!

Back from trip...

2008-05-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my trip to AZ, aka, home...I know that I miss AZ, but I never realize how much until I get the opportunity to go back. Besides the huge factor of family, one of the other main reasons I miss it is the familiarity I have with the Valley of the Sun. Even with all the construction(yuck) and changes that are going on, and how big it's gotten. I still know how to get places. Part of that is due to the geniuses that designed the layout many years ago...North means North, East means East. Main roads run in straight directions, for the most part. I actually know which direction I'm traveling at any given time. I have NO CLUE in PA. I have a newish car that tells me, but I sometimes think it's wrong based on my "feelings". "It says we are going W, but I feel we are going North!" Anyway, I digress....

It was wonderful to be with family, even though 3 very important members of my little family were missing...

Ally and I had a really wonderful flight on the way out. We had a layover in Houston which made a not-quite-5-hour flight into an almost-8-hour flight, but Ally (who hadn't not slept a wink since getting to the airport) was an "angel baby" and those are other passengers words, not mine...well, I agree with him...She was able to sit in her own seat, for which we hadn't paid, but was empty, minus the car seat, on the first leg of the flight. She had a couple of moments of insanity, but overall was almost perfect. On the next leg, I completely expected her to fall asleep. We were on a much smaller plane, only 3 seats across the plane, (2 on one side, 1 on the other), and it was completely full. As before, I apologized, in advance, to the other passengers around me, since I did not know how Ally would do. I hoped for the best (her sleeping the whole time), but expected the worst (too tired to fall asleep, but very, very cranky.) We lucked out!!!! It was a miracle for me. She was pleasant, she made friends with everyone as we walked up and down the aisle a couple of times. She even danced in the aisle for everyone. Played peek-a-boo with people 2 rows behind...just amazing behavior for a 19 month old stuck on a plane all day. When we landed, everyone around raved about how good she was, they couldn't believe it. The man behind me, father of 5 kids, said she was an "angel baby". I couldn't believe it either...really a good experience.

Being with my family was very nice. I had gone out for a specific event which took place on Thursday evening. A very blessed sacred religious event, and extra special because my parents and all my siblings were able to attend and be in the same sacred place at the same time. Afterwards we gathered with family and friends for sub sandwiches at my parents house.

Over the next two days, I was very lucky to get together with some (but not all--I'm sorry) of my closest family and friends. And do things that I don't normally get to do...like go to Sonic for lunch with my sister! Loved it! Spend quality time with Brian's mom! Loved it! Also, go to a movie (and walk out of a movie and get Gelato instead) with my sisters (including sis-in-law). I was able to make some fond memories and I will be eternally grateful to both of my sisters for making it possible for me to go to AZ!!!! And also very grateful to my sweet husband for doing such a wonderful job with the older girls while I was gone! I couldn't have gone if he hadn't been able to stay home. (Is it me or is this starting to sound like my "Emmy" Speech that I'm going to give someday!?!?) Anywho, it was a nice time. Ally was able to get to know some of her family that she didn't previously know. the last time we were together was last summer.

Here are some pictures of us with with some of the family...(I couldn't get many transferred from my stinky camera...so take them as they are... I just realized after I posted these pictures, that Allyson is not really smiling in them. The pictures of her were taken late in the evening and she was having fun with the dog and kids but she was tired...I just didn't get any good smiling shots...sorry!

Me with mother-in-law Cherie. We spent some fun time together and she watched Ally on Thursday evening for us! THANKS, Cherie!

Allyson loves bubbles, and she got to do that with Grandma Shumway and cousin Matthew.

We got together with cousins Megan and Matthew a couple of times...unfortunately Ally was asleep most of the time. Here she was actually awake, so we snapped a bunch of pictures. I'm sorry about the date in the way.

Ally loved Aunts Karen, Stephanie and Valerie. She also loved the "woofwoof" that she still asks about today. This is Aunt Karen and Jack!
Stephanie was doodling with her, and Allyson kept asking for "more", using sign language.

Allyson loved Valerie, who didn't let her broken leg stop her from a night out on the town with the girls.
Thanks again, for a fun trip everyone!

5 days later....my mom flew into Philly to spend some time with us at our home. She had received a plane ticket for her birthday, before my trip to AZ was planned. But we are happy to see so much of her. She is currently still here...until this Friday. She has been to many of the Philadelphia sites and we have no money, so I'm not sure what exciting things we will do while she's here. She claims to want to just spend time with our family...we'll see how long that lasts! We aren't very exciting...Today was too cold and rainy to do anything so we stayed inside all day, except when I took the kids to school and got them off the bus. The weather isn't supposed to be that great this week, so we'll see how the next few days go...but it is still nice to have her here.

Brian is working in Allentown this month. He's not thrilled about it...But he'll learn a lot and he'll do great!

Jessica has glasses now...she looks beautiful in them, unfortunately I can't get the any pictures of her to transfer to my computer just yet. I'll work on getting a couple on...

That seems to be about all the exciting news for the month...thanks for being interested in our family!

This time next week....

2008-04-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

I was recently trying to figure out a way to get home to AZ for a special family event. We almost could afford a plane ticket, but not quite. I received a nice gift from my sister, Valerie, who offered to buy a ticket to fly me out there for a few days, from Wednesday to Sunday, to be exact. I am taking Allyson, but the other girls are staying home with Brian who has Thursday through Sunday off. We just have to have a place for the kids to go after school on Wednesday until he gets off...mission accomplished! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members and friends to help us and do kind things! So anyway, this time next week, I'll be in AZ! Yeah! I can't wait to see my family,it's been since Summertime. Ally has changed so much since we were there.

Just a follow-up to my last blog...

In case you didn't see...Barack did NOT win PA. I don't know what difference it will make in the end, but I had some moments of "Ha-ha" this week...:)

O brother...Obama

2008-04-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a chance to try to stand up for what's right today. Barack Obama has been campaigning in PA the last few weeks or so. Well, as a last big push, he decided to do an old-fashioned "whistle" tour, or whatever they call it. He was traveling by AmTrak from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. Well, he was making a stop in my little town of Wynnewood, very close to my house, so Jessica and I walked over there. I found out on friday afternoon that he was going to be there Saturday at 11:30, but honestly didn't care. I am not a Barack supporter by any stretch of the imagination. Had no plans to go see him. But Saturday morning, I woke up and thought, "I should go hold up signs that let him know that not EVERYBODY in Lower Merion Township is ga-ga over him", although it does seem that way. I figured I had time to run some errands in the morning and be back in time to see him at 11:30.

So we made a couple of signs ("A baby is NOT a punishment" and "I don't cling to religion, I believe in religion") and then started on our way to run errands, the girls with me, Brian home studying for a bit. When we drove by the train station at around 9:30, there were a number of police cars, and lots of pedestrian traffic already there waiting for "His majesty". I decided, when my adrenaline started pumping, to postpone my errands, and go straight to the train station. We went home, dropped off Ally and Courtney (who didn't want to attract attention to herself), and Jessica and I walked to the train station.

While on our way, one of Jessica's classmates and her family drove by us and stopped, asking us if we were going to see Barack. I said "Yes, but probably not for the same reasons you are." They looked at my signs and said "yeah, not for the same reasons." They then said "they're going to confiscate those." To which I said, "they can't do that, it's my free speech." Then I did start getting nervous because, what if they did? I was a lone mom, with my 7 year old daughter, and we didn't want a confrontation, but I didn't want them to squash my free speech rights. I knew they would though.

As we got closer, each Barack volunteer I passed kept telling me that I couldn't take my signs "in there". (First of all, we were at a train station, in a very outdoor, free area. Second of all, I wasn't even "in there", meaning the parking lot.) So I held my signs right outside the entrance to the free train station parking lot and continued to have volunteers tell me I couldn't have signs in there. I would say, "I can stand right here with my signs." They would say, "well, yes you can." I even had a couple of volunteers try to be sneaky and stand sort of in front of me to try to block me. I just moved over a bit, and people still saw and read my signs. Anyway, I guess they were taking away all home-made signs, (they just wanted official Barack signs, of course) although I didn't see another single homemade sign, let alone any other anti-Barack campaigners. Very distressing and very lonely.

Anyway, like I said, I didn't want any trouble, but I did want to go in, so we had some time and Jess and I walked back to our home and made stickers that said the same thing as the signs, only displayed in a way "they" couldn't force me to get rid of. Thinking back now, I should have just stayed outside with my signs and stayed where Barack could see me when his train pulled up. But Jessica wanted to see him. Regardless of how creepy I think he is, he is still a candidate for the office of President of the United States, and it was kind of interesting. No one made me take off the stickers, and no one said anything, but it didn't really accomplish what I wanted to do, to let Obama himself see that someone out here stands for the right.

It was a bit of an eye-opening experience for me, a bit of a rush, outside of my comfort zone. Jessica was really into it too. I hope that she, and Courtney, will remember that we tried to stand up for what we believe in...that which is right.

Obama in the blue shirt, towards the top of the picture, Senator Bob Casey of PA is behind him.

Our "fancy" last minute signs and stickers! Boy, am I creative!
Never too early to start them "protesting" for what is right, right? :)

Things that made me smile this weekend

2008-04-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

Allyson has been able to go to the nursery at church for 3 Sundays now. She loves it and almost immediately bonded with 2 of the teachers. In our ward they alternate between 2 women one month, then 2 men the next month. I'm not sure this is really the best thing for all the kids, but the leaders in the ward feel like they want to allow nursery leaders to be able to attend their meetings sometimes. Ally, so far, doesn't seem to mind, she likes being able to play with toys and doesn't really care who is in there. But her first two weeks, Debby and Robin were in there and since then, everytime Ally sees them, she gets very excited. She waves to them during sacrament meeting. One thing that especially made me smile happened after church as we were making our way around the church to get to our car. She was walking along and all of a sudden saw Debby and started "running" while waving to her. She really wanted to say HI. Then a missionary stepped in her way, and she was halted for a minute but found her way around the missionary, who didn't see her and almost stepped on her. She finally got to Debby and waved as big as she could to say hi! It was so cute, I must say. I could also see the almost urgency on her face to get to Debby. :) I'm so glad that she likes her nursery leaders so I don't have to go with her. I had to with the other two girls for quite some time...

Another thing...the weather is FINALLY looking promising. It was a bit on the chilly side yesterday, but it's supposed to be nice Spring temperatures all week. I have to smile when I walk out...it's such a huge difference in everyone's mood when it goes from winter to spring!

Other things that made me smile...

Jessica learning how to dribble a basketball and swing her leg over it.
Courtney sitting down to write her stories and draw pictures...she'll be published someday.
Brian starting his 3 days off.
Getting to take a 2 hour nap on Sunday because Brian was home.
Ally signing "potty" after she wets or messes her diaper. (Okay, that would be a bit embarrassing for her if she knew what I was doing.)
Getting to watch "The Office" for the first time in a VERY long time!
Finding a Smurfs template for my blog! Love the Smurfs!!

Winter blasts and Springtime fun

2008-04-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty mild winter this year. I recall only one major snow storm. The kids got to stay home from school that day and play in the snow. They always enjoy that. Ally got to really know what snow is like and seemed to enjoy it. It was very cold, but lots of fun.

Here are our beautiful "snow angels"!

Ally loves to pose for the camera these days! We can't help but think she's the most adorable toddler in the world!

Here's our little "Ally-cat"!

Jessica has lost 4 teeth already. This is after her 4th front tooth fell out in March.

One of Ally's favorite things to do is have someone read her a story. Both older sisters are always happy to oblige.

Recently the kids had Spring Break and Brian's vacation overlapped two days so we took a family day trip to New York. We've been there a number of times but we have never gone to Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty. So we ordered ferry tickets, parked in New Jersey and took the ferry to both Ellis Island and Liberty Island. It was a great experience to see such a grand part of our history. We didn't have a lot of time to see very much of Ellis Island since we had to get to Lady Liberty by 3:30 or we couldn't go in. When we got to the Lady, we were able to hike up the 160+ stairs in the pedestal. The girls were troopers. Brian carried Ally part of the way and then handed her off to Julie. What a difference that was! It was much tougher to carry her up the stairs, which just goes to show how out of shape we are! YIKES! Anyway, despite the wind and chill we enjoyed the view from the top of the pedestal and the whole trip in general. And the girls did great! No complaining at all! That was a miracle in and of itself!

We actually bought Easter dresses and shoes this year. We found matching dresses for Jessica and Ally at Costco. Unfortunately they don't sell Courtney's size there so she was out of luck (although she didn't see it that way. She was a bit relieved.) The Easter bunny filled baskets with a little bit of candy, including "Reester Bunnies" (Reese's pb bunnies...I loved that marketing idea!) and certain Webkinz stuffed animals that the girls have been wanting for a while now. Courtney wanted a reindeer (wrong holiday, I know), and Jessica wanted a turtle. They love Webkinz...they each have 5 now, I believe.

Courtney may have lucked out in not having to match with a sister for Easter, but we bought these matching outfits at Old Navy that were so adorable. She didn't mind this time because she wanted it so much and didn't care whether Jess got one or not. So she did and they both looked so adorable. Nice little Spring outfit.
We took a walk one day when the weather got up to 70+. The flowers were out...we think our favorites are the daffodils. But the tulips are nice too. It did get cold and rainy the next few days so Spring is still teasing us, but I'm sure it will be here soon!

Finally some pictures to post!

2008-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out how to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer. Let me clear up, in case you haven't read previous blogs, and lest you think that I'm a complete amateur at this picture thing. I was having trouble with my Kodak software and the connection between the camera and the computer. It wasn't transferring anything. So I finally took my memory cards to a photo place and had them put all the pictures on CDs. Now I have the pics on my computer so here are a few of the shots we've taken in the last couple of months that no one has seen yet. None of them are fantastic...I've kind of slowed down on taking pictures lately because it was such a frustrating feeling not to be able to share them immediately via this fantastic World Wide Web.

As you can see by the date...New Year's Eve. Ally didn't stay up very long...she had her regular bedtime, then the older girls and I (Julie) went to a party at a friend's house. Brian had come home from work in time for us to go for a little bit. We were driving home when it hit midnight, Jessica had already fallen asleep. Courtney was wide awake, so we wished each other Happy New Year, and saw some fireworks when we were about 5 minutes away from home.

In this picture, I think we were trying to get Ally to do some of the Sign Language that she knows, but obviously that doesn't come across in this picture very well. And I thought her outfit was cute. Isn't she adorable? We are so blessed to have such wonderful, adorable girls!!

Ally loves the bath...most babies I have known do eventually. Bathtime usually comes right before bed for AllyJessica and Courtney, while they usually take showers in the morning, like to get in the bath with Ally for a bit. She loves that. They can be a bit silly sometimes. This is Courtney with Ally.

This is Roxy, the toy pug we watched for a weekend for some friends. She was so tiny, very cute, but a big bundle of energy. (Refer to a previous post to find out more, if you want! )

This picture makes me laugh. The girls played a bit of XBOX one day. They don't really spend much time with XBOX because most of the games are geared for Daddy. We have a few fun ones for them. (We inherited a ton of games from a friend of ours, but they didn't have any kid games.) Ally loves to mimick her sisters in whatever they do, so here she looks like she is really into it, but she's not. Funny, huh?

Is Santa here yet? This was Christmas Eve, but they weren't really looking for Santa. The older girls told Ally that the mail slot could be her "peek hole".

Anyway, those are a few pictures I thought were fun.

As for what we've been up to since my last post...not much. We were very sad about the passing of President Hinckley, but we were comforted with the fact that we know where he is and that he is with his sweet wife again. Also, we love President Monson and look forward to hearing more from him in April at conference.

We were also sad that Mitt dropped out of the race for president. I really can't see myself voting for any of the presidential candidates this time. We'll see what happens.

Jessica lost her first top tooth today. (I meant to take a picture of that and post it, but spaced once again.)

The girls had today off of school. I'm assuming some sort of teacher work day made that happen, but I never found out for sure. And with President's day on Monday, and a half day yesterday, they end up with a very long weekend!

I had mentioned in a previous blog about some "missionary work" that I got to be in on and help with. Well, the lady that was taking the lessons has now transitioned to the branch in our stake that she actually belongs to and I haven't seen or talked to her for a while. She hasn't gotten baptized yet, but hopefully soon. There was another lady that I had had a brief discussion with at the kids' school. Well, I run into her ALL the time at the grocery store. One day, she invited me to grab some Starbucks with her, and after almost turning her down because I had other things I had to do, I was stopped by the Spirit, and graciously accepted her offer. We talked about a bunch of things while she sipped her coffee and I, my hot chocolate, and somehow the topic of the church snuck in there. We discussed things for a few minutes before the subject turned to something else. It wasn't an earth-shattering Golden moment, but I was grateful for the chance to mention the gospel again. Hopefully we'll have enough encounters that she will get a chance to hear more. I've stopped going to pick up the girls outside the school for now, due to the weather, but maybe some more encounters at the grocery store and visits at Starbucks, will provide the opportunity.

Jessica started a "missionary club" at school. She has a bunch of friends that "joined" and she says that she talks to them about the church. I don't know how long it will be before someone from the school, whether parent or teacher, complains, but I'm just waiting for it to happen. I'll be surprised if it doesn't. But I'm very proud of Jessica. I can see her going on a mission someday. She seems to want to tell everyone what she knows about the Gospel! She's such a great example to me!

Brian is busy with ER this month after finishing up a very busy month at the ICU in the Children's Hospital. He will have a couple of Sundays with us at church over the next month and a half or so.

BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

2008-01-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

We have been pretty fortunate this winter so far, that it hasn't dipped down below mid 30s very often. However, we had a bit of snow earlier this week...then it climbed to mid50s, before dropping like a rock to mid 20s today. BRRRRRRR!!!! I can't take it! This is when I miss the mild Arizona winters the most!

As I look back on the week, I realize we have accomplished hardly anything. We spent the week trying to sell Girl Scout Cookies (pre-orders, anyway), and (Julie) stressing about a paycheck that was due to come about 3 weeks ago but has yet to find it's way to our home, let alone our bank account. The latter has been a source of great anguish for me...not so much for Brian because he doesn't worry about money like I do. He's too busy earning it. I pay the bills. So when one is expecting an extra $1000 to help with things, and it doesn't come when they say it's going to come, it adds a great deal more anxiety to one's life. The last we heard was that it was mailed this past Thursday, so it should have been here no later than Saturday(yesterday). Guess what...no check! Argh! And with the MLK holiday..it will be at least Tuesday...if they mailed it when they said they would. So cross your fingers for us, please!

Anyway, about the Girl Scout Cookies. We are having fun with that. The girls are both in Brownie Girl Scouts this year, I'm one of the leaders. We are taking pre-orders and both girls have their sights set on particular prizes for selling a specific number of boxes of cookies. Courtney wants a prize that requires at least 140 boxes sold (she has 60 so far), and Jessica wants something that requires 120, I believe (she's sold 80+). Jessica has proven to be quite an eager seller. She gets out there. Courtney is not so brave, so I'm not sure she will hit her target. They may have to get the prize the other one wants and then switch. Who knows? We haven't even received the cookies yet or done any "cookie booths", so they will sell many more before the end of February. If anyone would like to help support the girls, we'd be happy to ship some boxes...already doing it for some family members! Who doesn't like Girl Scout Cookies? YUMMY (or ask me about "Cookies from Home" for the troops). (That's my one and only plug)

We had a nice Sunday. Brian was actually able to go to ALL of church with us. We drove together. He wasn't post call, or working, or sleeping, so we enjoyed that. For dinner, we had the missionaries over with the lady that I wrote about in a previous blog. Lisa and her daughter, Samantha, came over with 4 Elders. It turns out that Lisa lives in the boundaries for the Chester branch in our stake. So she is being slowly passed over to the Elders that cover that area. We had the two from our ward and the two from the branch. I don't think we have ever had that many people over for dinner at one time. Our apartment is small and not conducive to big gatherings...and it turns out I didn't even have 10 normal size plates for them to eat on. (Jess used a small plate.) Anyway, it was a nice evening. The elders gave us a lesson on "The Proclamation to the World" about the family. My girls and Samantha get along swimmingly!

I hope my coming week is more eventful so your blog reading is more enjoyable next week!
Love to all!

Saturday night and I ain't got nobody...

2008-01-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I would go for a bit of a musical title there, for you oldies buffs. The kids are all asleep and Brian is at work tonight. I do have a little someone keeping me company. We are dog-sitting for some friends who had to go away for the weekend. The dog is an 11-week old toy pug, named Roxy. She is an adventure, to say the least. I have not been around a puppy for a very long time, and when I did have a puppy, I certainly wasn't the one to take care of it completely (thanks, Mom). She has TONS of energy and has some really sharp baby teeth! Luckily, the owners gave us a crate, that I have to say has been a life-saver. I am learning quite a bit about puppies. For example, they are very unlikely to relieve themselves in a crate/carrier, because they are smart and don't want to be sitting in it. She will sleep in there also, but she will not sleep when she's outside of the crate... I mean, wouldn't you rather run around and chew on things and people?

Courtney and Jessica love to watch her. Courtney will pick her up, but Jessica keeps her distance. Ally does NOT like her so much. The only way Ally loves to see the dog is if I'm holding Ally or she is safe in her high chair. She freaks out when I take Roxy out of her crate. Roxy loves to nibble, which actually hurts quite a bit, so both girls spend a bit of time on the couch or on a chair while Roxy is out of her crate. They have bugged us to get a dog for a long time. This is a bit of a practice run for when we have a house. (I am never getting a dog while in an apartment.) So we'll see how the rest of the weekend goes.

So an update...The lady that I met at church last week who is not a member met with the missionaries on Wednesday morning at the church, so I went so she would have a "friend". Our ward's playgroup was also meeting so a friend of mine was sweet and took Ally while I met with Lisa and the missionaries. It was a very good meeting. I felt the Spirit very strongly in that room. She had had experiences in her life that were preparing her for this. She seems to be one that followed the promptings of the Spirit when it told her to do something that led her straight to the church, literally, even though she didn't know what was telling her to do it. She told the elders that she didn't need to pray about it, she already knew. I think that's what the missionaries call a "Golden" contact, right?

We met again on Friday night, this time with the kids, since she is a single mom and, at least for that night, I was too. I also thought it would be good for the kids to get involved a bit, even if was to "just" befriend Samantha. The lesson was supposed to be on the Plan of Salvation, but they changed it to the Word of Wisdom since she's a smoker. It was another good meeting but this time, since the kids were there, inlcuding Ally, who was up past her bedtime and quite cranky at points, it was a different kind of good. :) She will be at church again on Sunday and has promised to try really hard to quit smoking. She wanted us to give us hot chocolate or caffeinated sodas (she thinks those are just as bad...not quite sure why hot chocolate, but okay). In keeping with the "Do's"of the Word of Wisdom, I told her I would try to eat more fruits and veggies for a late night snack instead of chocolate. That's a huge thing for me, so wish me luck! She also expressed desire to get baptized but of course there is a bit of preparation that goes before that, so we'll see what happens, but YEAH! It's fun to be in on the beginnings of someone learning about the church.

So since we are dog-sitting this weekend, we haven't done much else this weekend. I have a picture of the dog on my camera, but having trouble transferring pictures still. I'm so frustrated.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll post again soon, hopefully with pictures next time.

"Flyin' high now"

2008-01-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

(When my sisters were here, we had our "Rocky" experience with the steps to the Philadelphia Art Museum...yeah us!)

Okay, so I read my previous blog and I know what I'm going to do about the party thing. I just had a moment of feeling bad for my friend. And I don't like to hurt people's feelings so that played a role in my momentary lapse of judgement.

So Sunday was nice. Even though our ward changed times, from 11am, to 9 am, we managed to make it in time for the sacrament. Not in the chapel, but we still were there for the important part. Brian had worked ALL night the night before, had returned home around 5:30 that morning. He woke, to my surprise, around 8:30 and threw some Sunday clothes on so we could go to Sacrament meeting together, in separate cars, of course. He needed to come home and sleep some more. We don't often get to attend church together because he's works A LOT of Sundays. He does have a lot of time off...it just never falls on Sunday. I feel bad for him...and for me. :)

Anyway, he offered to take Ally home with him after Sacrament meeting because she technically needed a nap around that time. I was hesitant to expect him to do that. Past experience has shown that it might backfire and she would not sleep at all, making it so he doesn't sleep. But he insisted...crazy boy. While on my way home, he called to ask where something was and said that she hadn't slept a wink. I felt bad, but didn't really want to say "I told you so". He slept a couple of hours after I got home....Ally ended up not sleeping ALL day. She had some form of separation anxiety or something that day.

I got a taste of some missionary work on Sunday. While sitting in the foyer during church, we saw a lady and her young daughter come in and stand for a while and then sit. Ally made friends with them. I had no idea who they were. Maybe they were there to visit a friend but hadn't made it in time to sit with the friend in the chapel. I didn't visit with them right away. After Brian and Ally left and the other girls went to class, I saw that no one was coming to talk to them, so I decided to be "brave" and go be friendly. I found out they were just visiting, but didn't know anyone. They had decided to come and "see what was up". It became apparent that they were not members. So I put on my extra friendly face and got the daughter excited to go with the other kids. We took her to primary and found her class. She is 9 so ended up in Courtney's combined 9-10 year old class. I was happy about that, because I knew Courtney would be friendly to her. Then I went to the missionary class with the mom, Lisa. I introduced her to the missionaries who jumped right in...

We checked on her daughter, Samantha, between classes and she told me that Sam loved to sing. I told her primary was the place for her then! Lisa said she would like to stay for the 3rd hour, so we went to Relief Society where the lesson was, of course, on Joseph Smith and the basic timeline of the beginning of the church. She had heard of Joseph Smith before. I'm not sure of her opinion of him. I found an extra manual to give her...she wanted to borrow it, I told her she could have it...Set her up with a Relief Society directory and afterwards, she mentioned that she used to have a Book of Mormon but did not any longer. She said she would like one, so we went to the library and found a copy for her. She seemed very happy and was very grateful that I had taken time to help her and show her around. I tried to introduce her to everyone I could and I had so much fun. In talking to Samantha afterwards, she seemed to really enjoy herself also. I told her that I hoped I would get to see her again.

I talked the missionaries later on and they had set up an appointment with Lisa for Wednesday morning at the church and they invited me to come. So I plan on going. I hope she doesn't back out. She lives in a town near Delaware, so she's not in our ward, and probably not our stake either. I'm not sure why she chose our building but I look forward to seeing her again hopefully.

Today the kids started their first full week back at school and Jessica informed us beforehand that she had a tummyache, like she might throw up. She didn't really look or act sick, so I told her to try to go to school and if she still felt bad, I would gladly come and pick her up. An hour and half later...I had 2 messages on my cell phone from the nurses office (I had an appointment that I had to turn my phone off for.) They insisted that Jessica said she was feeling like she was going to throw up and that she said she's felt that way for a couple of days now. This morning was the first I had heard of it. :) But I went and picked her up (she was not actually in the nurse's office when I got there, she had gone back to class.) As we were walking up our sidewalk, she was holding my hand and SKIPPING. The rest of the day, she did not act sick at all. She ate, she played, she wanted to wrestle and tickle with Brian. I told her "If you are going to fake sick, then you really should fake sick. Moan, groan, pretend to have no energy." Anyway, she's fine and will be going to school tomorrow. :)

I hope you don't find this blog too boring. I'm happy to write about daily stuff that goes on so close family and friends can keep tabs on us!

Oh, what a day!

2008-01-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

My mood for the day:

I want to try to write more frequently and let you know more of what's going on in our lives. (WARNING: It's got more of a serious tone in some places and more detail than I usually write, so only read if you have some time.)

I woke up today very "on edge". It didn't help that I had stayed up until 2am and had to get up with the baby at 7am. I guess I just can't live on 5 hours of sleep anymore. So I was tired and moody and I could tell that I wasn't going to be productive or happy or patient or any of those other things that good moms are supposed to be. :) No one had done anything (yet) to irritate me or "cause" me to be that way. I was just well aware that I had to do something quick or everyone better watch out. So I went and said a prayer and took a 5 minute breather before starting to deal with everyone. Brian had worked all night last night, so he was getting home and going to bed...somewhere I wanted to be (not with him, mind you, just by myself in my nice warm bed.)

Anyway, to make short story long, I was accutely aware of my attempts to fight through this feeling of negativity. I read bits and pieces of the Book of Mormon with my girls throught the day. We didn't turn on the tv at all....a huge deal for us. (We don't usually spend too much of a normal saturday watching tv until work is done, but this could have been a day that I said "ahh, forget it. I'm not in the mood to deal with anyone, let them watch tv.") We did not get a whole lot of housework done until later in the day when it was obvious that my bad mood had changed into something more pleasant for all involved. I felt much better by the middle of the day or so. HMMM, coincidence? I think not. :)

Between Ally's naps we ran errands for a bit, getting milk and a few other things, and helping a friend get her car into the shop. I made lasagna for dinner, preparing it during Ally's nap (I find that helps to eliminate some of her angst that stems from me not paying 100% attention to Princess Allyson.) Later, we were getting ready to eat dinner and go to a "Cookie Rally" with our Brownie Girl Scout troop. We thought the rally (a big "party" gearing us up for the GS cookie sale) started at 7, but after calling the woman in charge to make sure, we found out it was from 6-9:30! So much for eating dinner before we left. Brian is the only one who ate any lasagna tonight.

We quickly got ready to go to the YMCA where the cookie rally was being held. The activities were swimming (who can even think about swimming when it's this cold, even if the pool is indoors?), pizza, games, crafts, and lots of line/party dancing, with a DJ. Brian had to work again, so I had to take the girls and the baby. I'm one of the leaders, and the only one who could go. I did arrange for other parents to come and help out for the second half so I could get the baby home at a somewhat decent hour.

Now a bit of background to lead into my next internal struggle. I have been blessed in my life to not have too many temptations to break many of the "big" commandments. I have many, MANY things that I leave out or forget to do, but I don't smoke, drink, steal, kill, injure, commit adultery...you know the ones. I've even been pretty good about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Until now. Well, no, I'm still pretty good about it, but now I'm having some small issue with it.

We live in a very interesting area. Largely Catholic but also very Jewish. My girls are 2 of the only 4 LDS kids in their school. And birthday parties are plenty out here. Everyone invites everyone in their class. If you miss one, chances are there's another one just around the corner. Can get pretty expensive. Anyway, many of them have been on Saturday and we've been able to go to a lot. See where I'm going with this? With the Jewish population, many parties are on Sunday. We've not had a problem turning almost all of them down. The kids are sad for a moment but they understand the reason and know that another party will come along. However, recently we had a very good friend who had a party on Sunday. They really tried everything they could to do it on Saturday just so my kids could go. However, due to the dad's work schedule and the only open time slot for the facility they were using, the party ended up being on Sunday. They asked if there was any way we could go "just this once". I was really torn about it, only in the sense that I wanted to stick to my guns but didn't want her to be upset, or think I was being "holier than thou". I did not want to set the precedent for my kids that it's not okay to go to a party on sunday, EXCEPT for (fill in the blank). It makes it hard to say no the next time. Anyway, we managed to get through that one and still have these people as friends. (It also made it easier that the party was during our church block and there was no way we were going to miss church to go to a party.)

(See I told you this was going to be a while.)

So that leads me to tonight. ANOTHER very good friend, asked me tonight if I would consider "letting my kids have fun just one sunday". Those were her words. I was as nice about it as I could be but I think I hurt her feelings by saying we just really couldn't. I don't think she has a lot of friends and she is divorced and shares a weird custody schdule with her ex husband. She has also really helped us out quite a bit, so I am feeling a bit conflicted about this. I see either way could be good for a different reason. Perhaps she could see that I'm serious about my faith and trying to do what's right, or maybe it would be good to do some more fellowshipping with her, if that's the right word for it. It doesn't conflict with our church meetings. But I would also feel bad if my other friend found out we went to this party and not hers.

So now I'm sitting her having a debate with myself and while it's partially helping that I'm typing everything out, I still am a bit torn. So if anyone has any ideas...

Anyway, the kids got a ride home with a friend after the Cookie rally, getting in about 9:45pm. Very late for them but especially Jessica. She gets very tired. They each took a very quick shower because we start going to church at 9am tomorrow, as opposed to 11. Two hours earlier is a HUGE difference when you need to get 3 kids moving and ready. I will have to write about how it goes. The kids are in bed and it's almost midnight now, so since I didn't get too much sleep last night. I am going to end this (whew!) and go to sleep! I promise not all of my blogs will be this long, but there might be some. I can be a bit detailed in my writing and talking, as anyone who knows me can attest to!

Have a great SUNDAY/SABBATH! Love you all!

And...We're Back

2008-01-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

A few people have been after me to update my blog and after, what seems like an eternity, we finally have a computer again! Thanks to my dad and mom, we received a computer for Christmas! YEAH! So we are back in business, as far as blogging goes. The one other catch that might affect future blogs, is that my camera software is wigging out on me and I don't know if I'll be able to post too many pictures after this blog. We'll have to see how it goes. This particular blog is chalk full of pics so we can catch you up on the happenings of the Page family. (Caution: because it's been a while and I've forgotten how to organize this, the pictures are not in any order.)

This is Allyson just hanging out first part of December. She is so much fun these days. She is happy, loves her sisters, knows how to communicate through some sign language. Her favorite signs are "where" and "please". She has discovered baby dolls and loves the cat, who really couldn't care less about Ally. She folds her arms when it's time to say prayers. Ally just turned 15 months in December.

In October, Julie's sisters came to visit and one of the days there were here, we took a day trip to NYC. Everytime I go, I forget how chilly it is in the city so we weren't exactly dressed quite right for it. The Aunts had to buy the girls some beanies to keep their little heads and ears warm. We survived, but next time, we'll be more prepared. This is Jessica, Julie and Courtney at the one and only Rockefeller Center.

This was our Ward Christmas Party where Santa made a visit. Courtney thought that since Ally had met Santa last year and didn't cry, that she wouldn't cry this year. Oh, the sweet naivity of a child! Ally wanted nothing to do with him, but we managed to keep her long enough for a picture. (You can tell she was trying to squirm away cause her pants are pulled up!)

At the historic Wanamaker building where Macy's is, in downtown Philadelphia, they have a special display they call "Dicken's Village" There were some murals on the wall of an old village. Then when you walk down the hall, there is a walk-through display of figures and scenery, (like a museum, I guess), that is the story of "A Christmas Carol". (I dont' have the right words for it, but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say.) We weren't allowed to take pictures in that part, sadly. It was very impressive though. Lots of details to each scene of the story, with the statues and props and stuff.

At the end of the Dicken's Village, Santa was waiting again for us. Thought we'd try again to get Ally to smile, but as you can see, no such luck. He was kind of an old-timey Santa. The older girls always enjoy seeing Santa and telling him what they want for Christmas. It's always something different this year.

Okay, we jump back a couple of months. Halloween brought us a veterinarian, a cheetah, and a baby in a candy corn outfit. Julie is not creative enough to get a baby, who's not going to be trick-or-treating, into a costume. Maybe next year. The girls had fun. Aunts Karen and Valerie were still here for that. They didn't dress up. :(

This is Aunt Karen and the girls in Central Park after lunch. (See I told you these pictures were not in any order).

Just a bit of the loot from Halloween. The Great Pumpkin came later that night and took most of it, leaving behind some "Webkinz" as a trade. The girls get to keep about 20-25 pieces of candy and the Great Pumpkin gets the rest. They are so generous to share. And we don't have kids asking for candy every day till Christmas. They get SOOOO much here, including full size candy bars.

Here's Ally folding her arms. This was right after she learned how to do it, just from watching us do it. It's amazing what they pick up even when you are not trying to teach them anything.

Jessica learned how to climb a tree recently. This is the only somewhat decent climbing tree in our apartment complex. She's sad that it's now too cold to spend a lot of time outside climbing it. She loves 1st grade and is doing a wonderful job of reading. She asked for scriptures for Christmas and loves to read bits and pieces on her own.

I took lots of pictures during the fall. We had an exceptionally long and warm fall so I was snapping pictures all the time. I thought this was one of the best ones. This is a major reason I love being on the Eastern part of the country. SEASONS! My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall. I'm not used to it, so it is such a novelty.
Carving the "Magic Pumpkin". Every year, somehow we get a magic pumpkin. Candy inside is what makes it magic. The kids still can't figure out how we manage to pick out such and exciting pumpkin every year. This year it had Kit-Kats. YUM!
Valerie, Karen, and I took a day trip, on my birthday, to Hershey, PA and Chocolate World. Just the three of us. Brian was off that day, so he stayed home with the kids. It was nice to go out with just my sisters. We were so stylish that day, wearing matching 3-D glasses. (we saw a 3-D movie about chocolate.)

So those are a few of the highlights from the last few months. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. WE DID! We are finally back to a normal routine, the kids went back to school on the 2nd. They waste no extra time here away from education. Tat's a good thing, I think. Brian is a year and a half away from finishing! YEAH! we should start the job hunting process in a year or less. SCARY, but very exciting. We have no idea what the future holds. But then again...who usually does!?? HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Sorry no updates....

2007-10-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone. I have to write something, in case someone actually looks at this.

We have no home computer right now. Our laptop has decided to die on us. So the only way we have been able to check email is if we go to the library or a friends and that doesn't give me a lot of time to update my blog. So sorry!

So just to highlight some recent events (sorry I can't add pictures right now)...

Ally and Brian had birthdays at the end of September. Ally turned 1 and Brian...well, of course he is a lot older. We had a busy birthday weekend.

Courtney and Jessica enjoy there new classes at school, lots of friends and nice teachers. They both do well at school.

Brian had a week and a half of vacation in October. We enjoyed spending time together as a family, even taking a little road trip to Pittsburgh for a couple of days last week. The older girls were both born there, and we have some friends still there, so we thought we'd show the girls around. It rained the whole time, Ally cried most of the 6 hours there and the 6 hours back, she fell out of her stroller and scraped up her face, but it actually was nice to be together and see places that we were part of our lives a few years ago. We made the most of the trip and had an otherwise pleasant time.

Julie's two sisters came to visit for over a week (they are here right now, that's how I have time to update the blog...Valerie brought her computer.) The three Shumway sisters celebrated Julie's birthday yesterday by going to Hershey, PA. It was nice. Since Brian is off, he was able to do all the kid stuff.

That's basically it. We just have busy days with kids and work and church and stuff. I hope I can add to this again soon, but don't count on it. :)

Last month of summer

2007-08-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

The lazy "cat" days of summer!

We are trying to find fun things to do during the last month of summer. Here's what we've come up with.

We bought a 1/2 season membership to the pool, but turns out that Ally and Julie don't like to swim unless it's at least 90 degrees. We've been about 6 times all month. The weather in PA in August is weird...we've had rainy, cold (68 degree) temps....kind of puts the kabosh on swimming!

Ally is practicing standing all by herself, instead of playing in the pool.

Courtney and Jessica LOVE the water (and don't mind it being cold)...especially with new goggles bought after each lost 2 other pairs this summer!

Jessica always ready to strike a pose!

We are also spending lots of time playing, reading, cleaning, and shopping the sales for school supplies! School starts after Labor Day!

Some fun stuff

2007-08-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun things about living on the East Coast. We are close enough to DC, NY, and the ocean to have some fun day trips. Our schedules don't allow for many, but we do hope to take some more before we leave.

Family trip to DC. Brian and the girls in front of the Capitol building.

This is a pumpkin patch at a place called Linvilla Orchards. They have food you can pick all year long and fun activities to do, although, so far we've only been the once to pick out a pumpkin.

Obviously one of the most recognizable symbols in Philadelphia...the Liberty Bell. We've gone every time someone has come to visit. But we love to see it and be reminded of our history! This is Julie's sister Karen, with Courtney and Ally a few days after the baby was born.

This is the Cape May lighthouse in Cape May, New Jersey. Julie likes lighthouses and hopes we can see more before we leave. There are a bunch of them.

Something the family finds somewhat bittersweet...SNOW. It is pretty and can be fun to play in...for a short time, but can also be a nuisance. Julie and Brian have both had to dig out cars (separate times) from the ice and snow.

Tiger

2007-08-13T06:54:00.000-07:00

Tiger is our cat. He thinks he's the king of the house. We love him.

He loves to curl up in baskets or small boxes.

I've never seen a cat lay on his back and sleep like Tiger does!

This is his throne. It's a huge "tree" scratching post we got from a friend.

He had to check out Ally when she arrived.

Just some pics

2007-08-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pictures we thought we'd share! ENJOY! They are not in any chronological order, since I can't figure out how to make them go in order when I publish them. :) Sorry!

Ally when she only had one tooth! At about 8 months old

Courtney found a turtle at a church picnic. She wanted to take it home, but ended up letting it go. Thank goodness, says Mom!

Courtney and Jessica in a medical helicopter that came to a church emergency fair.

Jessica turns 6 and received this doll and the matching outfits from grandparents.

This is Ally and Grandpa Shumway on her blessing day in December 2006

Ally in her blessing dress

Grandma Shumway made the blessing dress for Jessica in 2001.

Bishop Scott Stallings, Glenn Fewkes, Dad, Ally, Grandpa Shumway, and Eric Fillmore.

These are all the Shumway grandkids at Courtney's baptism
Allyson, Courtney, Jessica, Megan, and Matthew

Pioneer celebration at Grandma's church

4 generations of women:
Great Grandma Ouida May Matheson (Allyson's middle name is May, after Grammy)
Grandma Kristen Shumway
Mom Juliet Page
Daughters Courtney Ann, Jessica, and Allyson May Page

Girls with Grandma Cherie Ann Page (for whom Courtney's middle name is taken)

Julie and sister, Karen! gorgeous, dahlings!

Allyson

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Allyson is our newest addition, and will turn 1 in September. She has been a joy to have around. We had almost forgotten what is was like to have a baby in the house. There is 5 1/2 years between Jessica and Ally. So it's been fun and a challenge. She keeps us busy.

We don't know if this child is more predictable than the others or we just finally know what we are doing and can read her better. We usually know what she wants from her cries and gestures. She goes to sleep when she's tired, but for a long time had problems staying asleep at night. She is usually a good-natured baby, but really does love to be entertained and held.

Ally is getting ready to walk. She is cruising around using the furniture and our hands to help her! She has about 8 teeth and knows how to use them. She has a favorite item---a soft Winnie the Pooh blanket given to us by a friend in our old ward in Phoenix. She has loved it since she was very young, maybe 4 months old. She would pull it over her head and go to sleep. She knows it as her "blankie" and cuddles with it often. We look forward to many fun adventures with her, as we have experienced with the other 2.

Jessica

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Jessica is 6 and will be starting 1st grade. We also can't believe how much she's grown. Her language and vocabulary always surprise us. To any outsider, Jessica is very quite and reserved, but at home, she is anything but! She can be quite feisty and stand her ground with anyone or anything. But many times she is also a peacemaker, which we also love. She loves to cuddle and be close to us.

Jessica's favorite thing to do is PLAY, PLAY, PLAY. She is so used to having someone to play with, and there tends to be some conflict if Courtney decides to read instead of play. Jessica is doing well with her reading, but she definitely does not prefer that activity. She wants to be a dancer and, if we ever get around to getting her some dancing lessons, she will probably do well. She is very graceful and seems to have some sense of rhythm.

She is also a very big help with Allyson. She adores her and will entertain her if I ask her to. She is happy to be a big sister.

Courtney

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Courtney is now 8 years old. She just was baptized into our church, on July 7, 2007. It was a very nice experience.

She is quite tall and we can't believe how grown up she seems! She is very helpful around the house and especially with the baby. She will be starting 3rd grade. Her favorite thing to do is READ, READ, READ! She has read ALL the Harry Potter books, finishing the first 6 in about 6 weeks! Mom doesn't read one book in that time! She also loves to swim, and play with her sisters and friends. Most of the time, she and Jessica play really well together. They can get quite imaginative!

Courtney loves animals and helps take very good care of our cat, Tiger. Courtney was so thrilled when we took a trip to AZ to see family in July, and she was able to see her favorite canine friend, Jack!

Welcome to our Blog!

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Hello, friends and family. Everyone else was doing it so we thought we'd start a blog, too. Really new to this so we'll see how it goes.

Brian is halfway through an ER residency program at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, for those of you who we haven't seen or talked to in a while. We will be here 2 more years and then hopefully get a good job somewhere...maybe back in AZ, but we'll see. We have enjoyed being able to make some quick trips to NY and DC since we've been here, but there is a lot more we would like to see. Brian's schedule is just too crazy, (and the funds are very tight), that it's hard to do too much.

Basically Brian is busy working and learning, and Julie is busy with the kids. We try to go to playgroups with our church friends and the kids have playdates with friends from school. They start school after Labor Day, and they are anxiously awaiting news on who their teachers are going to be. Julie is interested to see what life will be like with just a baby at home most of the day...well, a toddler by then, really.

We hope to keep this updated and hope you'll come visit often!