Easter Morning Fun and Outfits!

As a tradition in my house growing up, we had a trail of jellybeans lead us from our rooms to our Easter baskets on Easter morning.  Sometimes my parents even dipped their fingers into flour and placed bunny paw prints on the flour.  We also hid our eggs around the house and search for them.  So, I wanted to try some of my traditions on the kids and see if they liked them.  Yesterday we colored eggs with crayons inside of dying them, something we'll have to wait to do until they're older.  It went alright.  Boston's interest lated as long as any of her other coloring experiences.  She mostly liked smashing the eggs on the table.  Valin liked the idea of coloring, but lost his desire when he smashed in two of his eggs because he pressed the crayon too hard.  So out of 6 boiled egg, only one remained whole, the one I did.  Then we filled plastic eggs with jelly beans, which I might have the easter bunny do next year.  Valin liked doing it, Boston mostly ate them.

Previous to this we watched the New bible video on the LDS.org website entitled "He is Risen" and the old 1976 tv special called, "The first Easter Bunny" on youtude.  I wanted to emphasize both parts of the holiday, secular as well as spiritual, so the kids can enjoy both.  I kind of found it hard really to explain the Easter bunny and it's connection to Jesus Christ.  Does anyone have suggestions? I've LOVE to hear them!

Here is a video I took of the kids waking up Easter morning:

Here are pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits:

Happy Easter everyone!

A New Post...yes, I can't believe it also!

It's high time for me to post.  It's a lot easier to post regularly when I have the internet at my house.  So, I hope to post more often now.
Anyway, so on to the updates:
We are officially living in a suburb of Salem, OR called Keizer.  It's been about a week since we moved, so we really don't have much of an opinion about it yet.  We're very optimistic.
I'm pregnant with our third and due about the middle of October.  I am now reaching the the part of my pregnancy where the sickness is starting to wane.  Thank Goodness!!!!  It has been a hard few months being sick everyday.  I stopped exercising and started eating things that I craved, mostly cheese and chocolate.  So I've gained weight and felt like such a lazy bum.  But now that I'm feeling better, I hope things will be better.

But a post, is not really a post without a picture, so I'm going to share one of my favorite pictures of my kids.  They are the cutest things I've ever seen! I love them so much!!!

Valin's Third Birthday!!

Valin wanted a "Mater" cake for his birthday...so I tried my best!

He loved his cake and showed it to everyone who entered the house.  He loved all of his gifts, especially the candy canes from Grandma Wheeler.  She also made him a Toy Story/ Cars fleece tie blanket, which he loves.  

We got him a piggy bank, some movies he wanted, and some puzzles.  It was a great time and thanks to everyone who helped and came!

November at a glance

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I feel free to deck the hall and am so excited about it.  I can’t wait for Christmas!

But first I need to start the newsletter with Halloween.  I was was excited for it because Valin was getting old enough to really enjoy it, which is also a reason why I’m way excited for Christmas.  If you remember for the last newsletter, we went to the hospital the Saturday before Halloween and found out that Bosto had ear infections in both ears.  Valin was also getting a cough, but we carried on and went to our ward’s trunk and treat anyway.  Valin was “Woody” and Boston was the cutest bumble bee ever seen.  Since Halloween was on a Monday, our ward was torn between sticking to the Church handbook where it tells us not to plan church activities that would interfere with family home evening, and keeping the trunk and treat tradition.  So what we ended up doing was joining the chili feed and trunk and treat of the other ward we share the building with.  We all had fun and Valin just loved running around with all the other kids.  Then we were a little late getting our car into the right parking lot, so the trick or treators didn’t even make a dent into our candy bowl.  Valin did great asking for candy and he was such a sweetie and made sure that Boston would get some too.  He is such a wonderful older brother because he really does take care of her.  Once I was sharing my food with Boston and he asked me if I was being a good big brother.  He loves her so much.  

Next this month we had my friend Jessica Baum take some family pictures.  I’ve wanted some for a while since we didn’t take any last because Patxi was in Iraq.  I had planned it earlier, but it rained and Boston woke up with a fever.  And then we were to get snow later that week, so it was then or never.  It was such cold day and to top it off, both Valin and Boston had runny noses.  But we did it anyway, and dressed the kids in four different layers of clothing, and had kleenex to wipe their noses between poses.  Besides the cold wind, it was a beautiful day.  Boston was done about halfway through and Valin wouldn’t sit through much of anything (which is way we only got two good pictures of him).  So by the end, I was doubtful that we got good pictures.  But then Jessica put them online and on facebook and I think they turned out really well. 

Then, the next day Patxi was tickled pink to finally be able to buy some cows.  The was more unexpected paper work then from county program supplying the grant to up which was slowing up the process.  But this month he bought them, put them on Uncle Reed’s property, and came home smelling like them.  The smile on his face and the twinkle in his eye more than made up for the smell and tracked dirt into my house.  This whole week of Thanksgiving, Patxi has been feeding them since Uncle Reed was out of town and a few times he has brought the kids.  They loved the experience and Boston even almost said, “cows.” 

Next was stinking Daylight savings time.  When I was in high school, I thought it was great because I got to sleep in.  But with kids, it’s a totally different story.  On facebook, one of my friends put a picture of a man passed out on a cough with a captions of: “Day light Saving, a week of not getting enough sleep because kids and pets can’t read clocks.”  So for a week, Patxi and I were close to zombies.  Plus, who really like the fact that it gets dark at four o’clock? We were going to my parents for dinner one day and Valin commented that it was dark outside.  And then, with a yawn, he said, “I need to go to bed.”  And it was 4:30 in the afternoon!  

During the following week we had a Relief Society dinner which I helped plan since I was on the Relief Society board.  I’m over the lesson portion of our meetings and I had an idea to hand out a “Gratitude Journal” to everyone.  I told the sisters that gratitude can greatly increase our happiness and is a commandment from the Lord.  I share with them some personal experience and insight about gratitude I learn since Patxi was home.  When he came home, we were both totally blissed-out, absolutely beyond happy,  and I think one of the main reason was because we both felt appreciated by the other.  I wanted to keep that feeling so I determined to keep that gratitude for him.  So when he would track dirt into the house I would say to myself, “Well, at least he’s here.  At least he’s not in Iraq.”  And it would put things into perspective and my frustration would melt away as gratitude filled my heart.  After I shared this experience with the sister, I instructed them to write every night in the gratitude journals something that happen that day which they are grateful for.  I’ve been doing okay keeping the journal because i get pretty busy.  But when I have written, an amazing peace fills my soul and I am filled with appreciation for the wonderful things I have.  

That weekend, we watched William Shakespeare's “Richard III” that my father directed at the college.  He placed it in contemporary big business.  So instead of being about the throne and kingdoms, it was about being Richard trying to be CEO of a large company.  It was very interesting.  And then we went to Jacob Mitchell reception in Pilot Rock.  It was so beautifully decorated and they looked so happy. 

Then the next week we started potty training Valin.  It went so different then last time.  It’s amazing what eight months and a Lighting McQueen training toilet will make.  It took him wetting he’s pants twice and then he got it.  He even remembers to do it at his grandparents house.  He only now has trouble now get to the toilet for a BM.  I don’t know what to do to help him but to keep trying.  Any trick or advise to help, I am all ears!

Then next weekend we went to pilot rock for a visit, Patxi’s National Guard yellow ribbon, and so Peni and Dennis could babysit while we went to the temple.  I was little nervous because Valin had just a few days of potty training, but he was doing so well.  Anyway, everything went really well.  I decided not to go the yellow ribbon, which turned out to be a good thing because there was nothing for me to do.

Next was thanksgiving week.  My mother’s father came up from California which was a great achievement for my mother because he hates snow and well, we live in north eastern Oregon.  But he came anyway and he got to see both of my sisters and meet Boston for the first time.  She won him over in just a few minutes.  It was a great visit.  He took the kids to the store and bought their future Christmas and birthday presents.  He was very impressed at how quite and well behaved the kids were at the store.  I mostly think that’s because they are awesome kids and I’ve giving them lots of practice, because this last year, I had to take them to the store.  They got pretty excited about their gifts, and I was too.  He wanted to get us something for Christmas too, and I really didn’t know what to ask at first.  Then my vacuum decided to suck, or really stop sucking, so I asked him if he get us a vacuum and he did.  The rest of the week was filled with laughter and way too much food.  Patxi was stress for most of it because he had a 10 paged paper due the following Monday.  Which turned pretty stressful on Saturday because Patxi needed a full, undisturbed day to write his paper and my sisters and mother had planned a girl’s day in Boise so I needed to be with the kids.  So we scrambled around for an alternative option.  I stayed home and we went out to dinner as our girl’s night.  It worked out pretty good because I got to have dinner with Seren and her best friend Hannah.  It was so fun to see them.   

Thanksgiving 2011

This year, Thanksgiving was at the Wheelers and we all had a wonderful time!!!!

Food,

Food,

And more FOOD!

My Grandpa Lemmond (mother's father) visited us from California.  It was so great to see him.  He had never seen Boston, so I was so happy for his visit.  With Grandpa here, Patxi had someone to watch football with. :) 

It was so fun to be with family!  

We all had a great time!!!!

Potty Training adventures

So here I am, sitting on a couch cushion outside of Valin's bedroom while he naps.  It's day one on our potty training adventure and all is going well.  I changed him into his underwear and showed him his special "McQueen"toilet that I was bragging about for a few days now.  He was way excited about it, especially when he pushed down the handle and a revving engine sounded.

The first two releases never made it to the toilet, but the next two started in the underwear but finished in the toilet! I was excited about the progress.  Then, while we were having lunch I was marching back to the table while Valin followed me and he totally made the connection between feeling the need to go and then going to the bathroom because he asked to go to the bathroom!  He only went a little bit in his underwear, which showed that he realized the need to hold it until he gets to the toilet.  I was so impressed, shocked, and so happy.  Then the next time, he was playing so, he released first in his underwear and got the rest on the toilet.  I know that it's going to be tough for Valin to make the potty connection while playing.  Valin has always been blindly focused on playing and has a hard time doing anything else.  But then he went a few times on the toilet as we got ready for his nap.  While I was in there wanting for him to go, he asked me to say "Vroom, vroom" while he pushed down the lever to sound the engine and whenever I did he would then release in his toilet.  I guess "Vroom, Vroom" are his magic peeing words.

So now I'm here, sitting at his bedroom door, listening for any movement to indicate that he needs to go to the bathroom so I can help him realized it's okay to wake up and go.  I'm a little worried because he is a pretty hard sleeper.  But I guess we'll see what happens when he gets up.

Wish us luck! and please keep us in your prayers.

I need your help to choose which one is best!

 So I need to pick one image that's the best of the family.  Which one is better:

A:

B:

C:

Family Portraits

So here are some more from our photo shoot:

Now tell me, which one is the best of Boston? This one:

or this one?

Which is the best of Patxi and me? This one:

or this one?

Family pictures!

Last Wednesday, the last day before snow fell on the Grande Ronde Valley, we decided to brave the cold weather and take family pictures.  I asked Jessica Baum to take them for us and I think they turned out so well.  We still need to decided on the ones we want to buy, but Jessica put these on Facebook and I wanted to share them because they were so great!

Happy Halloween!

I was excited for Halloween this year because my kids were getting closer to the age where it's fun for them, plus Patxi was here.  It was going to be great.  Valin decided that he wanted to be "Woody" from Toy Story (probably with a little coercion from mom because I had no idea how to make a "Lighten McQueen" costume).  So I went to D&B planning on getting a great cowboy outfit with the same colors as "Woody" and I was sadly disappointed.  So I finally bought a tan hat from D&B, a yellow plaid shirt from Bugs and Butterflies, borrowed a red bandana from my mom, and used the boots from last year -luckily they still fit.  I bought a sherif badge, by I forgot to put it on.  Other then that, everything this was pretty good, especially since he probably won't remember it.

Then, for Boston, my mom found the cutest bumble bee costume.  She looked soooo cute!  Especially since she's starting to walk now.  It's still kind of a "Frankenstein" walk, so it made everything so much cuter. 

Pictures of them together.  I couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time, the little stinkers!

There was a chili feed and then a trunk and treat for our ward and the other ward we share the building with.  This is Boston enjoying her chili. 

   It was a pretty fun night, even though we had just started to treat Boston's ear infection and Valin had a cough.  But that didn't even seem to phase them.  Valin was such a sweet brother because at every trunk, he would make sure Boston got some candy too.  It was so cold that I had to bundle the kids up with almost anything I could find.  I think they had about three to five layers on by the end.  We also bought way too much candy and had tons left over.  I got so sick if it, because I would eat it even if I didn't want it because it was there.  So I put the candy in bags and hid them in the car so we could give them away.

And Happy Birthday to my older sister, Jen and Grandpa Lemmond!  

October at a glance

      This month started with a whole lot of stress.  Buying a new car isn’t easy.  We did a little research and then thought that we should go test drive so we could decide what we like.  The first day, we just planned on driving to the Tri-cities and finding some dealerships to test drive vans we thought were good to look at.  We could have used our time much better, even though we actually ended up test driving and placing a bid on the van we eventually got.  We even got sucked up into committing to a van we had never test drove so that they could bring it there.  We  didn’t like it that much, but kept our word and came later to test drive it and make our final decision.  That Friday we went back and decided that that van wasn’t what we wanted and kept looking.  But after that experience, we decided that we better put forth more effort and do more research.  We finally decided on what exactly we wanted, and first called around to see if the dealership had what we wanted and only then would be visit them.  So our third visit to Tri-cities went very well, we found two that we wanted and finally made a prayerful decision to get a 2007 Kia Sedona with 63k miles.  We did the bartering game and paid about what we thought we could.  As apart of the deal, they promised to fix the sticky lock on one of the sliding doors, so we paid for it and left it there so the service department could fix it.  Well, it took about a week and a half before we could take it home because the part was on back-order.  So now it’s the end of the month, and we’ve used it twice.  It’s really a great van and we hope it’ll serve our needs for a long time.   

The other big thing that happened this month was smashing my pinky finger on my left hand in the car door.  We had just arrived at Walmart and I got Boston out of her car seat.  I was holding her in my right arm and I guess I was a little slow at moving my hand away in time.  At first I only realized that something happened because my hand was stuck as I turned to walk away.  Then I felt it!  I had to put Boston down so I could open the door and release my finger.  It felt like I had ice crawling from my finger tip up my arm and then my fingernail turned purple.  There was a few times were I felt like I was going to faint, however there was nothing to do but get what I needed at the store and then go home.  It took about a good week before it stopped hurting and now I’m just waiting for the nail to fall off.  

Yesterday Boston woke up from her nap with a fever and a nasty cough.   Today I took her to the hospital when her fever continued and found that she had ear infections in both her ears.  It was a little bit of a shock because she didn’t have a runny nose or pulled on her ears.  Valin never pulled his ears either, but I was banking on some sort of the outward signs.  I’m glad I took her in when I did.  Luckily the hospital gave us some antibiotics so that we didn’t have to wait until the pharmacies opened on Monday.  I hope she gets better soon.

Since we have wood floors in our house, we lined the path we walk on with every extra rug we had so that Boston would have a better walking surface.   She really took to walking this month.  She even stands for all of her bath because she’s seen the advantage of being able to walk around and discover things around her.  She’s still a little shaky on her feet, but she is a walker now.  This month she also started to do this thing where she verbally enjoys her meals.  I have to admit, I love to hear her loudly say, “Mmmm!” as she eats the food I’ve prepared and put so much effort into.     

Valin seem to have turned into a parrot this month.  I often here him say things he’s heard us say or heard from a movie.  One time, as Patxi was getting ready to leave for school, Patxi told Valin after he ask where he was, “I’m in the bed room.”  Valin says, “I’m in the bedroom?” Patxi says, “No, daddy’s in the bedroom and Valin’s at the table.”  Valin replies, “No I’m daddy.” Patxi said, “are you named daddy? Is your name Patxi?”  Valin said, “yes.” We all laugh and Patxi says,  “Oh, you’re name is Patxi and not Valin?” and Valin replies, “Of course, silly daddy, I’m Patxi!” It was quite cute.  Then at dinner the other day he randomly says, “Are you my conscious?” It took me a little while to realize that he was quoting from the movie “Finding Nemo.” It’s interesting what things kids remember.

He can sing all the words to “I am a child of God,” “Popcorn Popping,” and “Steppin’ time” from “Mary Poppins.”  He loves to act like animals and reminds us how a lion sounds and eats.  The other night before bed he and Patxi were pretending that they were cats and so I wasn’t surprise that he was still pretending when it came time to say his prayers.  We were kneeling down and amongst his moewing, I asked him to start saying his prayers.  He said, “mom, I’m a cat!” and I said, “Not right now, sweetie, it’s time for prayer.”  So then I ask, as I do every time I help him say his prayers, “How do we start?”  And then Valin said, “Meow, meow, meow meow” in the same tone of voice as his usual prayers. “No, Valin, say ‘Dear Heavenly Father.’”  He replies, “Meow meow meow meow.”  Which I’m sure is cat language for “Dear Heavenly Father.” After suppressing a laugh, I told him to be a boy and said his prayers.  Then today while I was trying to get Valin to finish his lunch, he grabs my smashed finger.  I told him to be careful because I had an “owey.” He looked at my finger and asked if I wanted him to kiss it better.  After he did, he then got a sad look on his face and started to pat my face and ask if I feeling better.  When I realized that he was doing what I’ve done for him when he get “owies,” I smiled. I have such a sweet boy. 

Here's a few pictures from this month:

He is such a handsome boy!

He went a little wild with the stickers Grandma Wheeler gave him.  He put them all on one side of his face, even covering his eye.  Silly boy!

Boston woke up with crazy bed head!

We tried spaghetti squash for the first time.

And we loved it!

Wahoo!

September at a glance

This is a taken form our newsletter we write each month about our month:

(Patxi started writing it) I’ll start with my trip home starting in August. The unit replacing us is a Guard unit from Kentucky and they started arriving at the very end of July so that they were all there by about the 5^th of august. We had one mission which was my last up to Habur Gate, this was also the destination of the very first mission I did back in December. Their truck commanders came on the trip with us so they could see how we did everything and they saw pretty much everything from break downs of each group we escort, KBR trucks, Green trucks TCN’s trucks and even our own. We had to also stay an extra day at Habur Gate because of our own breakdowns so they were able to see how to handle Battalion when they get mad at us for things we can’t control. The only thing they didn’t see fortunately was and IED. For the last month and a half there I was probably averaging about four hours of sleep a day mostly because they changed our mission leave times to two and three in the morning and because we had to get everything accounted for and signed over to the next unit. By the 16^th of august we were done with our hand over and were living in tents waiting to leave. This was a very boring hot time because about half of the time the air conditioning and or internet didn’t work. There was a not very good gym without AC that I went to and to help pass the time I would take the 45 minute bus ride over to the main D-FAC to eat instead of going to the close one. On the 29^th we loaded up our gear and flew in a C130 down to Kuwait where we stayed a couple days and then flew to Shannon, Ireland to Bangor, Main, to Joint Base Fort Lewis McCord outside of Tacoma, Washington. From landing they said it would be less than 14 days probably six to get done with demobilization paper work and medical checkups. On my sixth day I was getting ready to sign my final paper so I could go home the next day when they came in and said that there were problems with about half of the soldiers’ medical paper work so for the next couple days we went and waited in line hoping they would figure it out and let us go which happened on our 11^th day and I rode the bus home to La Grande calling Jess on the porch to surprise her and ask if she would help bring in the bags. 

If it’s okay with Patxi, I’d like to into a little more detail because I think it’s a hilarious story that I want my kids to remember.  So like Patxi said I was first told on Monday night that everything was set and ready to him to leave on Wednesday morning.  All He had to do was sign that ridiculous DD214 form taking him off active duty.  So then I get a call Tuesday evening telling me that his paper work didn’t get into the system.  I felt like my insides had shattered into small pecies.  It was bad enough finding out that the moment that I had look forward to wasn’t happening, but also no knew when I would get my husband back.  So I did what I could to put myself back together, prayed, got Papa Murphy’s, and watched “Mary Poppins.”  There’s nothing like greasy pizza and the song, “Stepin‘ Time” that can raise the spirits.  So then Wednesday passes without anything progression and then finally Thursday Patxi texts me and tells me that he signed the pivotal form and hopes to come home the next, if they find transportation.  I tld me that he would finally find out wehn he was coming home at his formation, Friday at 1:00 ing the afternoon.  I felt that they wouldn’t be sending them home so late in the day since it take about seven hours to get here.  My feelings were confirmed when Patxi texts me friday afternoon, “Well, I have good news, looks like I’ll be seeing you Saturday.”  Now what would you conclude from this.  I totally thought that they couldn’t get a bus from them until Saturday.  And to tell you the truth, I was livid!  Usually I don’t boil over and lose my temper, but I did.  I was so furstrated at the people who got Patxi’s paper work wrong and could find a bus to send my husband home.  I pretty much lost it when I thought another day was going to go by without Patxi being home.  It’s hilarious now, considering that Patxi was receiving my abusive texts as he was exactly on his way home.  Anyway, so Patxi got my parents in on his surprise and they delivered a car to the armory, while I was having a girl’s night.  I finished cleaning up, putting the kids to bed, and changed over the laundry, when I sat down ready to talk with my friend Shanel and my phone rang.  I got up to answer it didn’t know what to think when I heard Patxi say from my phone and the front steps, “Can you help me with my bag?!”  I was so surprised! I was unbelievably happy but didn’t know what to think about not being told about something so crucial like him coming home.  I felt ashamed for losing my temper earlier and a little crushed because my plans for his home coming were ruined.  But those feeling quickly melted away when I realized that I had my husband, the father of my children, and the love of my life back with me.  Valin hadn’t fallen to sleep yet, so we got him up and he was so happy to see his daddy again.  We accidentally woke up Boston so she wasn’t as excited to see Patxi but the next day she was.  It’s an extreme understatement to say that we love having Patxi back home, but I don’t know how else to say it. 

Anyway, back to Patxi...        

From then on it has been getting more hectic every day. I decided to go to school for a term at EOU while I put in an application for the paramedic program at Chemeketa that starts in the spring. I hadn’t signed up yet so I applied for winter term and talked to them hoping to get in this fall which took some explaining and fortunately they let me in, so then I had to figure out the classes I would take. First I was waiting for an assigned counselor. When I didn’t have one by the Friday before classes started so I called Kenn, my father-in-law who teaches theatre at EOU and he helped me sign up for History 201, Applied Anatomy 311 and Intro to theatre because it was the only one that would work time wise with the others. For some dumb reason it seemed 80% of the classes offered are at 9:00 in the morning. The application packet is 20 some pages of paper work showing I meet all of the prerequisites to get in which has to be done a certain way and turned in by the 12^th of October.  We hope and pray that I can get into the spring class, if I don’t then we will move to Salem and I will start on the fire program as soon as I can and then do the other.  During this time I have been trying to buy cows using the small business grant offered to Union County. This is taking longer than expected because they haven’t answered my e-mails so I don’t know what to do next. We are also looking for an affordable reliable minivan as well as a good, working pickup. Adam Kerns also called and lets me work for him whenever I can, helping put sprinkler pivots together. 

It is great to be home and with family and hopefully I will see you all sooner rather than later. It is fun going on walks around the block and to the park with Valin and Boston. By the end of the walk Valin will be carrying two hand fulls of sticks because he can’t pass one by. Boston wants to walk only holding on to one hand which is slower so it is like herding cats trying to keep Valin somewhat close. He has learned to stop at the end of a block and wait for us to cross the street. Boston has been taking three or four step by herself here and there for the last week now. She loves to do things by herself like eating and playing. Jess does a great job of teaching and caring for them and it is wonderful to see their love and trust for her. 

(Jessica) This last weekend we traveled down to Slat Lake because my parent got tickets to watch General Conference at the conference center for Sunday morning and my sister’s hadn’t seen Patxi since he left last September.  I was way excited because it had been about 10 years since I’ve seen it at the conference center and Patxi had never been.  Well, come Sunday morning and we ended up leaving way too late.  We got to the Center right when they let the stand-byes into the empty seats.  So, needless to say, we didn’t get seats but ended up watching it in a little theater off on the side.  But during the intermediate hymn we decided to go and enjoy the beautiful weather on Temple square while listening to Conference on the loud speakers.  It was a great way to listen to it and would have been better if we had brought a picnic with us.  Even though we were disappointed, we still really enjoyed ourselves. 

goal adaptation

Since I just found out that Patxi will probably come home in the beginning of September instead of the middle or end, I decided to change my weigh lost goal to weighing 102 lbs. by then time Patxi gets home. I still want to reach 110 lbs, but that just won't be healthily attainable in the time frame I have now.  Sorry if I disappoint anyone, but after I made the decision, it just felt right.  So now it's back to the grind stone.