Updates on Us

Well it has again been a while since I blogged and though I'm sure no one out there is in panic mode for loss of my verbosity, I feel like I've been negligent in keeping up our little family history. So although I will not be giving true spotlight attention to all the happenings as of late, at least we'll be caught up a little bit better.

I am finding that my driving is starting to wear on me, and I am counting down to the end of school - we have about 4 1/2 weeks to go!!!!
MWF I spend 1 hour driving and T/TH I drive a total of 3 hours, and that is just for the mandatory getting kids to and from school and preschool. Any other driving for groceries, errands, bringing John to/from work just adds to that. Elayna has been a trooper and often times goes without a nap or has to be woken up from one to get back in the car. I think the end of school will be a happy day for her as well!

Weston:
Weston continues to do well at school and still LOVES his Montessori program. I will forever be grateful to Georgia and Paula for all the love and care they give so freely. Weston is learning so much all the time, and seems to be growing in responsibility, respect and maturity which I credit to their program. They will only be open one more year, Tyler will just make it through which is great since he too is growing by leaps and bounds, but Elayna is out of luck. Considering we may not be here I'm not as upset as I had been.

Weston just had his birthday and turning 6 was a huge deal. He had 3 parties, 3 cakes and lots of friends. Luckily the weather cooperated for an outside water-balloon party. John and I had a great time harassing him about getting underwear for his birthday and enjoyed his dismay every time we said his present did not have wheels. It was way too much fun to get him all worked up!




And after years (it seems) of his food strike and food wariness it is a complete but happy shock to have him start to express how much he likes what we are eating and to eat well at most every meal! He will ask "Is this a recipe" "you should make it again, it is so good". and if it's not a recipe, but an experiment with leftovers or odds and ends "you should give the recipe to other people, this is my favorite".

We went to the library the other day and Weston picked out all the books he wanted which happened to be the entire section of "Magic Schoolbus" books. Every monday he goes to the school library and he gets a new library book which is either a Magic Schoolbus or something to do with racecars or military vehicles. This kid is never going to grow out of this I don't think!

Weston asked the other day while we were watching the movie Enchanted "Do they have a kissing license?" as we watched the characters kiss. It was fun to think that all our harassment to our kids is sinking in and eventually we'll have some great blackmail material!


Tyler:
What a kick he has been! He has said so many funny things lately and I wish I had been more diligent to get them written down, but alas I can only share a few of the best ones.

for instance: talking to Weston about his birthday on the way home from school - Weston asked Tyler if he had already gotten a present for him.
Tyler: Yup
Weston: (covering his ears) don't tell me, because then it wont be a secret..... (uncovering ears) what did you get me.... Does it have wheels?
Tyler: yup
Weston: (covering his ears) no - don't tell me.... (uncovering his ears) Does it have wings?
Tyler: Yup
Weston: no - don't tell me
Tyler: It has wheels and wings and I got it for your birthday
Weston: You already got it?
Tyler: Yup for your birthday when your turn 7.
Weston: no - I'm turning 6
Tyler: I know.. I got it for your birthday when you turn 7
Weston: But I'm only going to be 6 not 7
Tyler: I know - it's for when you're 7.

*** Tyler is always pushing Weston's button - and is never fully aware of how good he is at it or how much that irks him! That was probably funnier in person, and knowing how into a wheel present Weston was, but still worth sharing!

Today on the way to church Tyler was reading 'his scriptures' (a little blue book of Mormon)
Tyler: chapter 1... stories about Jesus and Heavenly Father and when Jesus is resurrected. Chapter 2... the bad men are mean to Jesus Chapter 3... Jesus gets crucified and then resurrected and we get resurrected when we die, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Tyler and Weston usually have a good 1 minute fight over who gets to say the blessing on food or the family prayer. We are still trying to find a good way to work through that. But each time Tyler gets a turn he always will add in .... And thankful that Jesus was resurrected and that we will be resurrected when we die too.. It is very cute. Obviously the lessons on Easter Sunday made an impact.

Tyler is doing a great job not sucking his thumb.. We are really working on that and I am starting to think we're making progress.

Tyler has learned to ride his bike. We are in the beginning stage so he needs practice still and needs to learn to start himself. But he can definitely ride, petal and stop.. we just need to work on keeping the feet on the pedals even while coasting!

Tyler is into singing and dancing and loving everyone as hard as he can! He is doing great at staying dry at night and I'm guessing that in the next few months he will be growing up a lot.


Elayna:
Well her hair is starting to grow, and after cutting a good 4+ inches off the back at various points, we are now just waiting for the sides to grow, but she has a cute little bob if you ignore the area in front of the ears! And though we have lost a lot of the curl, it still is wavy and has the cutest little under curl. I guess we'll see how it turns out. I hope curly and cute on it's own because I haven't proved to be a great beautician in skill or desire.

Elayna loves to be in charge, and just runs her own little agenda as best she can. Don't leave your keys around, or she will take them and go outside, undoing the deadbolt herself.. and go out to your car and try to get in. She loves to be inside cars and if by chance we are not quick enough and she gets in the car before we grab her, it is a time consuming task to get her out or even in her seat. I find that bribing with blueberries works rather well... or when John is around tag teaming and cornering her before she starts jumping head first from seat to seat avoiding us.

Elayna loves to kiss. We have taught our boys that only mommies and daddies, with a kissing license can kiss on the lips, so in all their very abundant love for their sister will do all they can to kiss Elayna on the cheeks only to find that she is going for the lips and the tussle that ins sues is so fun to watch. Elayna will use both hands to position John's face just so.. so that she can give him a nice sloppy kiss right on the lips. The other night she gave him a peck then licked his lips -it was hilarious! Though I'm a little concerned for what will be coming ahead if she continues along this path of free and easy affection to all!

She is learning so many new words and phrases on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Our favorite of the new ones is "let go".. we figure for a 3rd child, that's a great 1st phrase as it works for most any situation "let go (of me)", "let go (of the toy)", "let go of (mommy/daddy, their mine)".. nice work big brothers!

She and Tyler are little monkeys and are climbing everything they can and constantly be asked/told to not jump on the couch, beds or any number of other soft surfaces!

She is almost free of the binki and I am thrilled with that - it's a bed only thing. And after we get a few more weeks of practice on that down and a few more weeks of Tyler without his thumb.. it will be gone for good which is a nice thought.

Her newest thing is that she is constantly laughing. Sometimes it's genuine, but otherwise she look at you with a very cute sqwunchie face and do a forced laugh which makes us laugh, and then her laugh harder and more genuine!


John:
John has decided to go back to school and get his PHD. A PHD in Business Marketing with an emphasis on Basien statistics, funny considering all the cracks he has made at the expense of those holding a PHD. Well now he can now laugh at himself! So with any luck, we will get the house sold and be heading to Ohio State University to start our 4 year financial famine August 2010. There are still some specifics to work through - namely the gmat, securing an acceptance and selling our house. But we feel very strongly that this is what we should do at this time and we look forward to - I'm almost a little giddy about it all. Even with the absolute knowledge that we will be going from an income - to nothing for 4 years!

Just notice how she is holding on..... This is the good hold too - her first grab is for the bone around the eye and John one day may just loose an eye if she gets to agressive.


Weston has struggled with this - to the point of tears. But I guess has reconciled with John and as long as we look for another red house, he is okay if we move to a different place!

But that means that we are de-junking and thinning out our already thin belongings, knowing that we might end up in a very small apartment and not have room to store anything. But we are still very excited!

Jenn:
Well other than hoping for school to magically be finished tomorrow I am doing well. With our plan to go back to school and move from Sequim has brought a distinct sense of peace and relief to my life. I am still not the best housekeeper - but having to get better at that in hopes that we will have a presentable home for a future buyer.

Other than that I am not doing much. But my calling at church, visiting teaching, kids, driving, and various other demands seem to take most of my time and I find I am constantly wishing for more hours in the day just to breath for a while.

I have started to train for the Provo River Half Marathon Aug. 9th.. I along with about 10 other family members will be running this the day after our week long reunion at Bear Lake. I am not a runner and have actually detested it until this event. I am not always glad to leave my bed at 5:50 a.m. but find that watching the sun rise and running through the brisk 40 degree morning chill is quite nice! I am up to 6 miles now and hope to continue to add distance until I hit about 15 and then start really working on speed. But either way, I'm not worried about not finishing, now I just want to finish with a good time!

Well that is us. Not very exciting - just sort of day to day. But for us, it's great to see the kids grow and develop and be better friends with each other. I am falling more and more in love with John every day and truly appreciate all he does for me and for our family. It's fun to think that as we are very nearly out of the baby phase of our life we are ready to head back to student life and start a new path. I'm excited to see what our future holds - even the near future of the next year. Hopefully that includes a house that sells!!!!!

Irrigation (Irritation) Day parade. Kids parade where all three marched in the 3 (?) block parade before the real parade, which traditionally lasts 4 hours or more. But we skipped it this year so we could have Weston's b-day friends party.
I love Elayna's little hat!

Tyler so proud of his participation ribbon.
Weston - wondering why Grandma wanted a picture of him? But we're glad she did since my camera was having card issues! And Grandma we are sure glad you came!


Little Montessori field trip to the Coast Guard base in Port Angeles. The kids got the sit in and play with buttons and gears in a real helicopter, tour a boat and just have fun! Tyler wasn't so sure about getting his picture taken in the helicopter, but Weston had to be convinced to get out!
Elayna just liked that she was being allowed to roam in a vehicle!

on the Boat - Family picture minus Mom (me) and the other mom and dad and little brother. The Squires - they might as well be family!
Trip to the Seattle Zoo - just a lot of fun to see the kids so excited to see everything! Our pass is now expired so now we are looking at the science museum, the kids would love that!