Summa UPDATE

I let so much time pass between posts, then I think there isn't really anything to post... but then there's a lot to post. My brain hurts trying to organize the past. Let's just keep it simple:

Trip to California - Awesome. Beach. Matthew make kids afraid of ocean forever. Love Suzy, Grandma and Grandpa. Yay for vacations with kids... which aren't really vacations, we discovered.

School for Amy - Awesome. Tiring. 4 classes, going well... still not sure on the major.

Patrick - Replacement tooth shooting through where he lost his first one. That adult tooth makes me feel like I lost my baby. He's taking skating lessons still and enjoying every minute.

Stephen - Wishes he could do everything Patrick does, has no idea he's shorter, still needs naps and not going to school. He's so sweet to William and loves him a little too much sometimes.

Matthew - Super excited we have a flag pole, he flies flags every day with good weather. Still table coordinator at Nu Skin, enjoying it, likes his co-workers and stuff.

Trip to Arizona - Me and boys went for 2 days to see family, Aunt Brenda-Uncle Tony-Cousin Brandon and Grandma Gerry all from Tennessee stayed near my sister Lisa and her family. It was a nice quick trip and I'm glad we did it!

Soap Box - How hard is it to stop an oil spill? We don't need to waste any time on who's fault, it's obvious... why the heck aren't people being held accountable for their inability and lack of imagination to block a pipe?

Baby William - Little dude just can't stay healthy for too long. No, it's not too bad. Yesterday he had a fever spike really quickly and poor little thing just wasn't himself. I hope it's a 24 hour thing and he'll be flinging his limbs around and rolling again in no time. And he does not like baby food.

SAD FAREWELL- Our beloved cat, Mufasa, is MIA. He never was gone for 24 hours. He loved the boys and was very loving and patient with them. He was super faithful and dependable, he just disappeared. We had a couple ideas on things that could've happened. Nonetheless, we've come to terms with the fact that he's gone for good - hopefully in a wonderful place. We miss him so much and it's so sad to have only had him in our family for one year, but that is a year full of happy memories we will all remember him by. Good bye Mufasa, we love you.

Pictures - and I'm done. Love you all!

Funny Random things the kids say

Matthew was play-attacking the boys and Patrick was heroic, rescuing Stephen from the terrible monster and he exclaimed, "I saved your life, that means I love you!"

Stephen picks up a rock outside while saying, "is this poop?"

Patrick was being tickled while restrained and was yelling for help, "Stephen, I like you a lot - come help me!"

Patrick's tooth was knocked loose and I started talking to him about losing teeth, "No! The toothfairy can just give me the dollar, but I keep my tooth in my mouth."

Stephen attempted building a sand castle in the kitty litter... thank goodness Mufasa prefers to do his business outside and this litter is fresh and untouched for weeks.

William must not have anything nice to say, because he doesn't say nothin' at all.

A whole month!!!

Wow - so a whole month has gone by. It's rather nice to know we don't have big news to report, because at this stage, unless we won 1 million dollars, it would probably be bad news. But, believe me, when that million dollar check comes in the mail - I will let you all know and dinner would be on us!

SCHOOL
So I registered my baby Patrick for classes, that was so emotionally traumatizing for me - who knows how I'll be when we actually take him to class for the first time. And guess what? I'm registered for classes for Summer semester! My sleep and the cleanliness of our house will suffer - but it has to get done. Don't let my changing of majors fool you, I am determined to get a Bachelor's degree! (I've changed my major 7 times only to end back up at the one I started with, go figure.) It will be 12 credits and I'm super excited. The end goal: A Bachelor of Arts degree: Art and Visual Communications with concentration of photography.

WORK
Matthew is still a Table Coordinator at Nu Skin and has had a very stressful last couple of weeks. Overall, he's enjoying it and has many good coworkers. I am still working graveyards too and still loving it. That's enough about work - it's boring.

Summer!
Summer is on it's way and I am super duperly excited. I have planted some flowers already and even attempted green beans in this little spot - but that soil must be terrible because they started dying the following day. I dumped a bunch of liquid miracle grow on them, let's see if a miracle comes through! We have a trip planned to go to California to see Matthew's grandparents and aunt Suzy - we are so excited! That's going to be the end of May. Stephen is going to be taking swim lessons and Patrick will soon be starting the next level of ice skating classes. (He is so good, he got to skip two levels - yay!) And Matthew would sure love to go shooting a bunch, I'm guessing. That's his newest hobby. William has every intention to keep growing... I try convincing him to stop every day but he won't. We'll see how NICU boy reacts to our blow up pool we use in the summer with cold water. (He hates cold, we're guessing from the comfortable high temp that was maintained for him in the NICU.) But he loves water, so we'll find out!

"Fix it" TICKET
Matthew would appreciate the honorable mention for his lovely fix it ticket. We finally got our van fixed - yay. It was still damaged from the hit and run in October. Anyway, we used my dad's truck while it was getting repaired and once in a while a front headlight will short out - which we didn't know at the time. Matthew has not been pulled over for 10 years and a cop decided it was time to shake things up; however, it was just a "fix it" ticket and the officer assured him there would be no charge. Matthew goes to address the ticket a few days later and, "$40.00 please." He was irate, to say the least - not only upset that there was a charge, but extremely upset that the officer mislead him. He gave his shpeel to the lady and she lowered it to $20.00. AND this stupid thing goes on his record... what's the point of putting a fix it ticket on a person's record? Oh this is a repeat light-outer, he's a menace to society. And it's not even his truck. Sorry, hun.

In the Middle
Stephen's been stuck in the middle, poor guy. Stephen went through this phase for about 2 weeks. He would be destructive to things, including his own toys, make messes - he PEED in the LITTER BOX, broke a mirror... it was making me so sad that we didn't know what to do. Then I realized, Patrick is old enough - we can give him instructions and Stephen will follow. Patrick's also learning to read and took ice skating lessons. William is so tiny, he needs help for everything - eating, holding, diaper changes... I realized Stephen was not getting much interaction. We were in the van and I asked Patrick if he was all buckled up - I don't ever ask Stephen because I KNOW he is because I buckle him. Still, I decided if I'm talking to Patrick - I can't ignore Stephen. So, I said, "Stephen, are you buckled up?" He excitedly said, "yes I am!" So Matthew and I put conscious effort into speaking up with him, hugging him more and trying to teach him things for his level and he's way better now. Lesson learned for us - all you other young parents, hopefully you can learn from our mistake and give attention to the "middle kid" on a constant basis so you don't have that sad, destructive phase.

We love our ward, love our home, love our cat and love having jobs. Life is good. :)