March 2011

Even though M had the flu and C-sta had bronchitis when the month began, March ended up being a much better month for us than February.  Another plus to March?  The weather was picture perfect for much of the month and we were able to take our first few dips of the season in our pool.  Nice!

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Li'l Sis

~C-sta's 1st treatment.~

Thanks to having bronchitis, C-sta had to have a series of breathing treatments early on in the month.  Since the boys have had to do breathing treatments often due to their asthma, we were already very well prepared with our own nebulizer and solutions.  C-sta sat very well for her treatments and thought herself such a BIG girl because she was finally getting to do what she's watched her big brothers do so often.  We are really hoping she won't follow the family trend of having asthma and allergies, but understand that with our family history it might only be a matter of time that breathing treatments become routine for her too.

It was also in March that C-sta began speaking much more and a lot more clearly, as long as the binkie wasn't in her mouth.  It's fun to hear her sweet little voice share with us what she is thinking and/or how she is feeling.

~3 of many favorites~

~She calls this one her 'Belle Dress'

and wears it with her Belle shoes.~

A new obsession for C-sta began in March: changing her clothes multiple times a day.  Oh joy!  Last year in the Spring and Summer we could not get her to wear a skirt or dress except on Sundays.  Nowadays ALL she wants to wear are her "pretty dancing, princess dresses" along with "fancy" shoes.  I believe her motto is: "I am a toddler, watch me change clothes!"  Fortunately each outfit she changes out of doesn't get worn for too long so most of them are clean enough to save for the next day which keeps the pile of laundry from getting out of control.

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Friends

Early in March C-sta and I got to doggie sit for our friends the H family.  They got a new puppy that was young enough to still be bottle fed so one day while they had to be in numerous places other than home, C-sta and I got to have their dear little Miss Maggie over at our house.

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~The Ag Show~

For much of the month M was convinced that he really wanted to buy, raise, show, and eventually sell at market...a pig.  Why?  A friend of M's from school, T,  has been doing so to raise and save money for his mission and college and this inspired M.  So...early in March M, Li'l J and I went to a pig show to support and cheer on M's friend and found a number of friends from the area competing in it too.

Wow.  Was that event an eye-opener for me!  This city girl was SO out of her element there it was actually rather funny!  Just ask anyone of the number of people we knew there that day, and they'll tell you I had the "deer in the headlights" look on my face the entire time.  J-rod's dad showed pigs for 4H and FFA when he was a kid and did well doing so.  G'pa S won awards and we've gotten to see his trophies when we've gone home to visit G'pa and G'ma S, so if M ever does go that route he'd have an expert to show him the way.  For that to happen we'd have to live closer to G'pa and G'ma S or at least live on land where we could legally keep a pig.  Since neither of those is going to happen anytime soon sorry M, no pigs for you!

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~Do you know where your patches go?~

At the March Cub Scout Pack Meeting, our boys were given the opportunity to show what they know about their uniforms: what the correct placement of the patches is on their uniforms; the significance of the patches, why it's important to wear a uniform, etc.  It was a very informative evening for all present.

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~Recognize these cute faces?

Li'l J and H 

Here, November 2007~

~Now?

H and Li'l J

There, October 2009~

~How about now?

H and Li'l J

Here, March 2010~

Whether it's here, there, or anywhere we might be...we love it when we get to visit with our friends the L family!  It's been fun to see how the kids have grown over the last few years and how they enjoy each others company too.  We look forward to seeing them again, hopefully sooner than later.

~C-sta, Li'l J, H, G, and M

Here, March 2011~

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~Oh yeah...uh-huh!~

Remember that in February Li'l J finally got a loose tooth? Well, a few weeks into March that loose tooth came out while Li'l J was at school.  The nurse sent Li'l J home with his tooth in the cutest little envelope for him to keep his tooth in and put it under his pillow. Li'l J was SO excited to have lost that tooth, he did a little happy dance when I took his picture.  Cute? Absolutely!  The same day Li'l J lost his first tooth so did one of Li'l J's cousin L and one of Li'l J's friends from church.  The tooth fairy was one busy lady that night!

Family & Pool Fun

~This was a FUN activity!~

After having spent a fun-filled morning playing kickball at a great ward activity on what seemed to be the warmest day of the year so far, a dip in the pool seemed like a good idea to the kids.  While yes it seemed really warm after being outside and active all day, J-rod and I weren't too sure the pool was quite warm enough but there was no convincing the kids that that might indeed be the case.  So...we pulled the cover off the pool and let the three kids and a friend that was over give it a try.

~I LOVE the look on M's face

after he surfaces 

from his 1st jump into the pool!~

~Li'l J, our friend I, and C-sta~

Even though the kids were FREEZING once they got out of the pool, they did last much longer playing in the 72 degree water than we thought they would and much longer than either J-rod or I would have!  It wasn't too long after this first day in the pool though that round the clock warm temps arrived and we were using our pool more often.

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As a family we had a whole lot of fun watching and cheering on the BYU Men's Basketball team finish up their regular season and then we went completely crazy when we got caught up in the 'Madness' that is the NCAA Tournament.  A few years ago I posted about how J-rod took M and Li'l J to local basketball tournament to cheer on a certain young man that J-rod had the opportunity to work with while we lived in NY.  Well...now that he is has become a 'household name', it was extra fun to cheer on 'the Jimmer'!

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1. Sometimes after family prayer, C-sta likes to climb into Li'l J's bed.  Most of the time she just stays for a few minutes and then she is ready to be tucked into her bed.  One night though, this is how we found C-sta and Li'l J when we went back to get C-sta to take her to her bed.  They were both SOUND asleep and lookin' SO sweet!

2. M entered a LEGO contest to build an original ninja vehicle.  This was his entry.   Our boys sure do enjoy the LEGO magazines!

3. It's so fun when our kiddos enjoy each other's company and have fun together!

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Birthdays

~Papa, Freshman year at BYU 1954~

~Papa's Missionary Picture, 1957~

~Remembering our Papa~

At the end of March my Dad, Papa, would have celebrated his 79th Birthday.  Since he is no longer with us, we had a special FHE the night of his birthday to remember him.  We talked about some of the special memories we have of him.  M says that he will always remember that he was baptized on his Papa's birthday, that his Papa was able to be here when he was baptized, and that Papa loved to talk to him about what book M was currently reading.  Li'l J says he loved how Papa enjoyed talking to him about soccer.  Afterwards we took the kids to the park where we wrote messages to our Papa on green tags, attached the tags to green balloons, and then let the balloons go.  Green was Papa's favorite color.

This is one of those family activities that I saw working out much more differently in my head than it did in reality.  While we were happy to remember Papa's birthday, talking about our memories of him, writing him a message, and then sending off the balloons touched on many tender feelings for each of us and was actually much more difficult for us to do than I had thought it would be and as a result, there were a LOT more tears from each of us than I had ever anticipated.  In fact, the boys asked that next year we do something different to remember Papa's birthday because, "this was too hard Mom."  I guess it just goes to show how much we LOVE and miss our Papa!

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Family News

~Welcome home Copper!~

And last but not least, it was at the end of March that we brought home a wonderfully and completely spastic beagle pup named Copper.  Copper is a sweet dog that looks quite a bit like the beagle in the movie "Underdog".  Thanks to how incredibly social Copper is (he acts as though he were attention deprived ALL the time) we are the third family Copper has been with since the time he left the breeder.  We decided not to change his name for a third time.  Before he was "Copper" he was "Lefty" because he was the last puppy left in his litter.  Ironically, the first family Copper went to from the breeder is a family in our ward.

Over a year ago we made the decision to get a dog.  Beyond making that initial decision though, not much materialized until the beginning of March when a friend in our ward posted on facebook that one of her brother's was looking to place a 1 yr. old male beagle in a home where the pup would get the love and attention his teenage boys could no longer give him.  When our friend posted this and asked if anyone was interested my immediate response was "oh YESSS!!!".  An adoptable male beagle was exactly what we had decided we'd get when the time was right.  We were happy to discover that we'd actually met this friend's brother and his family when he stepped in at the last minute and helped out at our ward Christmas activity.  Once we got in touch with this family and determined that Cooper was indeed an outdoor dog (J-rod's main requirement due to all of our allergies) the ball started rolling and it was just a matter of time before we were able to coordinate schedules to go pick Copper up and bring him to our home.

In preparation to bring Copper home, we had a contractor friend pour a concrete pad in our side yard and gate it off to turn it into a 'dog run'.  Ironically, Copper is NOT a fan and absolutely refuses to spend anytime in the dog run or the dog house he was sent to us with.  He would rather sleep on the glass deck table, little stinker!  We now use the 'dog run' to store things in it we don't want Copper to get to since he has a tendency to chew things up.  It's actually worked out well as the concrete pad is the perfect dimensions for a shed J-rod is now planning to build on it.

On the drive over to pick up Copper M said, "I'm so happy we are finally getting a dog I could cry!"  Well, because I was so excited to finally be getting a dog after having gone about 15 years without one (and because I'm such a nerd) I was crying.  That night M wrote in his journal (and then shared with me) "Today was the BEST day of my life!"

~A LOVES Copper from a safe distance.~

Li'l J's initial and biggest concern was that Copper "barks too much" and "too loudly".   Since Copper is so-o much bigger than the two tea-cup Chihuahua's that belong to our friend's the H family that C-sta is enamored with (see above pictures), to say that C-sta is overwhelmed by Copper's size and enthusiasm is an understatement.  Hopefully the longer he is with us and the more C-sta grows, the more she will grow to love to interact with him.  For now, as long as the sliding glass door is between them C-sta is very happy to visit it with him, share her toys, and tell him stories otherwise...forget it!

J-rod's main concern is still for the boys and I and our allergies that went a bit haywire after playing with Copper his first night here.  Thank goodness for Zyrtec, Claratin, and the weekly allergy shots the boys began having in March!