February? Where have you gone??

So this year is off to a breathtakingly quick start! I know February is a short month, but its almost over and I don't quite know how that happened! We have been staying busy to say the least. Jake finished up his basketball season by placing third in the league. The last game was incredible. They were down by 16 and in about 30 seconds and 8 steals in a row later, they were tied. They kept working hard and won the game! Dad got to come watch the exciting victory, which of course made it all that much more fun! Jake has now started track and stays after school each day for practice. He is enjoying it so far and I am looking forward to his first meet! He is also manager for the Varsity team at Glencoe, so some days he goes to track, then the Varsity game and doesn't make it home until 9pm. He is one busy guy!!

Sunday I took Annalina and Jake over to see baby Kathryn. It was so fun to hold her and talk to Megan! It was also great to see Jake hold such a tiny little thing. He has gotten so big and she looked so tiny in his arms! On Wednesday I got to be part of our Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts and it was pretty fun. I learned a lot about Oregon along with my Bears! We woke up to more snow on Thursday morning. It was all melted by noon and my class did not get canceled, which was good. I had two huge tests this week and I have been having a much harder time this term. I did better on these tests than I did on the last ones, so that is good. I don't think I will get my grade back up to an A, but I think I can be happy with a B. And this is not just me being a perfectionist, I promise!! I need those A's to get into the affordable nursing program!

Oh, the coolest thing happened this week! I found my best friend from grade school on facebook! I got an account to keep an eye on Adrienne's online social life. But every now and then I look for old friends and its so fun to find them! Anyway, Michelle and I were best buds in Utah through grade school and Jr High until I moved to Oregon. We lost touch after a while and its been over 20 years, but it is so good to exchange emails with her and get to know her as an adult! She is such a fun person! We are hoping to both end up back in Utah someday!

Baby Kathryn Makes her Appearance

The highlight of the week around here was the arrival of sweet baby Kathryn! My sister Megan went in to St Vincents on Tuesday morning. I had the pleasure of making it there after my lecture class to be with her. It went quickly and Kathryn arrived at 2:42 in the afternoon. I took tons of pictures and got to watch her get to know her family! What a sweet baby girl she is. She is so tiny and has a head full of lovely dark hair, perhaps with some red in it, maybe some waviness? Its hard to tell. She has sweet little dimples and is perfect in every way! I am grateful to Megan for allowing me the experience of seeing her baby come into this world. I was there when Leila and Nathan were born as well and they are all experiences I will treasure forever. Megan makes the whole process of birth look so easy! She handled everything incredibly well and I am so proud of her! We will be going over later to spend Sunday afternoon with the Conser family! I can't wait to get my baby fix!! I am including my favorite photo that Megan put on her blog. Doesn't she look great for one who just gave birth?? And isn't Kathryn so cute with her dimples and the way she is looking up at her mommy?

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a nice day. We spent the morning cleaning the house and playing with Becky Castillo's cute kids while they went to a memorial service. Abe is a little younger than Joseph and they had fun playing trains. Sol is a little over a year old now and is so cute! I was cleaning the kitchen floor and he started crying so Jake went over, picked him up and played with him for a while. Jake does not babysit, except for the occasional 15 minute stretch, but he has a definite natural ability with little ones. It was sweet to watch.

Weeks ago I signed up to have the missionaries over for dinner tonight. What could be more special than sharing valentine's dinner with two great guys in suits?? The little ones have been so excited about this. We made a special dinner, pan kabobs with rice and even splurged on ice cream, hot fudge, bananas and brownies for dessert. Yum! They didn't come at 5:30 as is the usual time. So Richard called and they did not answer. By 6 we went ahead and ate without them. Annalina was crushed, she was so looking forward to dinner with them! They called shortly before 7 and apparently they had called the night before and left a message, but did not hear back from us. So they ate at their apartment! We never got their message, I can only guess they had the wrong number! So sad. We will take them a big dish of dinner tomorrow, so they can eat it for lunch next week. We will try again soon. There is something very special about having them over for dinner. They bring a wonderful spirit into our home and its so fun to get to know them!

After dinner we played some games, I was trying to cheer Annalina up. First was the I Love You game. We each had to go around and tell everyone one thing we love about them. It was actually very fun for a last minute thought up game. It was fun to hear what the little kids had to say. Annalina loves Dadddy because he makes the best Sushi, Annalina loves me because I am the best mom ever(really, that is what she said, I didn't make that up!!). Annalina loves Joseph because he is funny, and Jake loves Joseph and Annalina because they are crazy. Joseph was last and he said, "I love mommy, because...because...just because!" Adrienne missed out on this fun tonite, she spent the evening at Tim's house. They have been best friends for a while now, but last week they decided it was more serious than that. Tim is a very nice guy, I liked him from the start when Adrienne first told me about him. But don't tell her that, I understand it never lasts once the mom approves!! Check out my previous post for Winter Formal if you want to see a photo of them together.

Since it is Valentine's Day I just want to say how much I love and adore my husband. He is such a good, strong, loving man. He is a wonderful father to our children. He sees their needs and he is always there to offer his love and support to them as well as me. Thursday was a rough day and that night I was so so so very tired. He had Friday off, so he told me to sleep in and that he would get the kids off to school. I wasn't sure there were even clean clothes for them to wear, but he said he would take care of it. What a rare treat for me to get to sleep in!! I woke up shortly before Joseph left and I could hear Richard playing trains with him in the front room. Shortly after that Joseph's ride to preschool arrived and I heard my sweet husband tell my son that he loved him and to have a great time at preschool. When my little ones got home from school, much to my surprise, not only were they in clean clothes, but both were dressed in red for their valentine's parties! Isn't that awesome?? My husband is such a support to me. We have had some very difficult trials lately but I have never felt alone. I know we are in this together and I am so grateful to be loved by this wonderful man! Richard, you are the love of my life and I know we will be together forever!! I adore you!

Joseph gave me a wonderful Valentine's gift tonight. After the games we watched an episode of Firefly on Hulu and Joseph fell asleep on me. He rarely goes to sleep unless he is in bed, so I got the rare pleasure of snuggling my sweet little guy for a while, while he sucked his bottom lip in his sleep. I cannot believe he is almost 4! My baby! He is getting so big, but when he laid there asleep in my arms, he seemed so tiny. I am grateful for times such as these, they truly are priceless to me. Richard took some photos, and I will get them added tomorrow.

I'm a good gril (not a typo)

My dear sister Megan was so kind as to take Joseph for me this morning while I went to school for three hours. My last minute scramble to get someone(I forgot all about it till yesterday) to take him was not successful and the last thing I wanted was for my super prego sister to have to listen to TWO screaming, running, sweet but LOUD boys for the morning, but she graciously offered and I love her for that! I picked Joseph up after class and on the way home I told him how much I love him and I told him he was such a good boy. He said, "Mom, you are a good gril, and I love you too". My heart melted! He has always said boys and grils. I don't know why he says it that way, but I have always thought it was cute and only tried to correct him a time or two(he ignored me). Perhaps its time I work with him on it. ::sigh:: It was a fun conversation!

I haven't blogged in a while. I have missed it, but its been a rough few weeks and I kinda thought "if I can't blog something nice, I shouldn't blog anything at all". My second Anatomy and Physiology class is not going as well as the first and my turbulent roller coaster of a personal life has not helped with the concentration and attention this class requires. My instructor last term was great, she actually cared that we learned and wanted us to succeed. I get the feeling this term the instructor secretly delights in the struggles his ambiguous questions cause! Perhaps its entertaining to watch us struggle so with things that are second nature to him. Or maybe I am just a perfectionist who does not like the fact that she cannot seem to do A work! Grrrr! This week starts the last half of the class, so its time to stop whining and start studying!

I am blogging while watching the snow fall. I will never tire of it and have actually enjoyed the many episodes of snow we have seen this winter. We so rarely get snow more than once that it is a beautiful treat to wake up to snow falling from the sky! A couple of weeks ago it snowed pretty hard. Everyone headed off to school and it was the day of my first big lab exam. I drove carefully all the way to PCC, only to hear they had JUST closed the campus for the day(the directing guard was posted near the buildings, NOT the entrance). So the next 45 minutes were spent getting turned around and getting in line behind EVERYONE else who was also leaving. What a mess. And honestly, the streets were fine, they truly did not need to do that. But it was not up to me. Our test was postponed, but as it turns out, I probably would have done much better taking it that day then waiting. My concentration levels were zero, but what can you do??