Tom's Trip to Tacoma

On Saturday, we took Tom to the airport for another trip to the Seattle/Tacoma area. He had a job interview on Monday and also started the whole business of finding a house to buy.

Since he arrived on Saturday, he had all of Sunday to visit with our friends Tyler and Laura.


Tom enjoyed playing with their kids Ethan and Ellie . . .


and little Miss Chloe.


They had fun doing magic tricks, wrestling, playing some basketball, and talking a nice walk.

I loved this picture because for some reason EVERYONE loves to snuggle and climb on Tom when he's sitting down. I first noticed it with my sister Karin, who would always sit as close to Tom as possible when she'd sit next to him; in fact, she practically sat on top of him every time. Then our girls always sit on him or around him. He's always got someone next to him, on his lap, on his shoulders . . . everywhere. There must just be something about Tom because Ellie had to do it too.


On their walk, they decided to go check out a house near where Tyler and Laura live that's For Sale and that we were interested in. The pictures online showed a really nice house with a nice landscaped lawn. Well they had that and more . . .


it's a green house in the backyard, but it looks like a meth lab. Goes to show . . . you can't just trust the pictures online. You've gotta see for yourself.

At one point on their walk, Ellie and Ethan rode ahead on their bikes. When the adults finally caught up with them, they found this . . .


They all got a big kick out of it. Funny kids!

When Monday finally came around, Tom started the day talking with our real estate agent and a lender to get things rolling to possibly buy a house.

Then that afternoon, he headed over to his job interview. The position pays well, but we're really interested in hearing about the other job he'll be interviewing for in April.

After his interview he spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning looking at houses. At this point, though, it's hard to know what we'll be able to afford, but it was fun starting the process and a bit overwhelming. It's still hard to believe that our years in school are finally coming to a close and that we'll have a job and could possibly buy a house in the near future. We're definitely ready for it.

This was his view off his hotel balcony.


I had to put this picture up. Tom found this while house hunting. He is so patriotic and LOVES anything to do with America, so he just loved this bench.


Well, Tom still has 2 more trips planned - 1 for a job interview (which we look forward to) and the other to find us a place to rent when we arrive in June. We look forward to these other trips and hope the time flies by quickly so that we can get the details for the next stage in our lives settled (because this being in limbo is killing me).

Thanks Tyler and Laura for feeding Tom and letting him be a part of your family for a few days. He really enjoyed it.

Our Page

We got a phone call one day from the vice principal at Shelby's school saying that Shelby was going to receive an award. They wanted everything to be a surprise, so the morning of the ceremonies I had to lie to her and tell her that I had an appointment (because she definitely noticed that everyone was dressed to take her to school instead of wearing our pjs like normal).

In the office they told us we'd be hiding behind the stage and then when our child's name was called we would emerge from behind the curtains and join them on stage for their award. Well, the place where we were hiding was wide enough for 1 row of chairs; basically our knees were almost touching the curtains as we sat there. I was a bit nervous because it was me, Taylor, Payden, and Declan with everyone else in such a small space. Taylor and Payden are hard to keep quiet as it is and then Declan had had a BAD night, so he was fussy; I was worried for sure. Of course Shelby was one of the last ones to be called, but with the help of cheerios, the church bag of things to do, a jar of baby food, and a pacifier, we made it alright. In fact, I was very grateful for Taylor and Payden because we didn't have any major incidences, which is saying a lot. There were quite a few bumps of the stage curtains that were hiding us and then Payden, when she got tired of not being able to see what was going on, kept lifting up the bottom of the curtain to see, but fortunately Shelby doesn't notice things like that, so she was still surprised when her name was called and we emerged on the stage.

I was so proud of her. I couldn't help but smile and even started tearing up. Taylor was sooooo excited and, as soon as Shelby got near, ran up and gave Shelby a HUGE hug. She then kept trying to talk to Shelby because she was so excited to be there and that Shelby was getting an award . . . she really loves her big sister. It was really cute, but made it hard for Shelby to get her award. I finally got Taylor to step back and then Shelby was able to get her award.

As she walked up from the audience, this is what we heard:

"This honor is bestowed upon Shelby Orme . . . for demonstrating the virtue of responsibility. Shelby is a great worker, always doing her best to complete her work and have it done on time. Shelby knows how to follow directions very well and make right choices. She also has a very helpful personality and can always be counted to help assist her peers. Shelby is very responsible and encourages others to be responsible as well. I believe Shelby is a wonderful candidate for being knighted for the virtue of responsibility. I know Shelby's teachers and peers all join me in congratulating her for this high honor. Shelby exemplifies the virtue of responsibility."

Apparently, the Oak Hills Rotary Club has a character education and service program that they started doing at Shelby's school this year. It's called EarlyAct FirstKnight. They started the program with a tournament like knights used to have - with jousting and everything. They then talked about service, making going choices, being responsible, and being good people. This ceremony was to award a student from each class who had exhibited the virtue of responsibility. The kindergarten and first grade students were given bronze medals and made pages. The fourth and fifth grade students were given gold medals and made squires (I'm not sure what the second and third graders were called). At the end of the ceremony, they encouraged all the students to continue working on serving, being responsible, and so forth because they would be having another ceremony to give more awards. I love when you see the community working with the schools to promote student excellence. It's definitely something we need today.

Here's Shelby getting her award.


This is a member of the Rotary Club trying to shake her hand.


Her she is shaking the hand of her principal Ms. Blattman.


Here's the stage. We were hiding behind the curtain with the shields.



After the ceremony ended, they started dismissing the classes, and the vice principal asked the first graders to leave first. Then a minute later she announced that the families could come and take pictures on stage with their award winners. Well little Miss Shelby, as soon as she heard them dismiss the first graders, jumped up and joined her class and was out the door before I could grab her. Fortunately, her teacher's daughter had gotten an award too and had stayed behind a minute to get a picture, so I asked her to please send Shelby back when she got back to her classroom. I just laughed at the whole thing. Shelby is extremely obedient and did exactly as she was told.

By the time Shelby got back, we were the last ones there to get our picture taken.


Right after we took our picture, up came Sandra, Christian's mom, to see if Shelby would take a picture with Christian, who had won an award today as well. I smiled. Let me tell you about Christian. He was in Shelby's class last year, and he has a HUGE crush on her . . . still . . . even though they're not in the same class anymore. His mom was telling me a few things the other day. Apparently about 5 girls in his class like him, but he doesn't care. He doesn't like them; he still likes Shelby. Then, they went to watch Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler, and apparently the main little boy, who had been crushing on this girl throughout the movie, finally got a kiss from this little girl at the end. Well the little girl had red hair, and Christian commented that he wished he was that boy because he thought the girl looked like Shelby and he wished he could get a kiss from Shelby. I laughed when she told me this. He's a cute little boy (I'm sure I would have minded if he was a punk). Anyways, so when he wanted a picture with Shelby, I was not surprised and just a bit amused.


We're so proud of Shelby and the good choices she makes. Way to go Shelby!!!

First Haircut

So Declan really has hardly any hair at all. I mean you can see the veins in his head and everything. Anyways, the one place you could actually see hair was over his ears. Of course the only reason I could see that hair was because it was so long it would hang over his ears. It was driving me nuts.

Well, Tom was cutting his hair one Saturday morning, so I took Declan in to trim the hair hanging over his ears. Tom looked at him and took the clippers he was using to shave his own head and ran them up the side of Declan's head. Well that was that . . . I had to finish cutting the rest of his hair.

Of course no one can even tell that his hair has been cut until they put their eyes a few inches from his head, but I decided to take a few pictures anyways. I even put gel in the top of his hair to spike it up and this is what we get . . .


The crazy thing is Payden still hasn't had her hair cut yet, but I'll have to admit . . . I think little boys look so cute with their hair cut and spiked.

Silly Kiddos

Taylor decided to not cooperate when I went to brush her teeth. Despite how frustrating it was, we did get to end the moment with a good laugh as we looked at her messy, messy face.


Payden had poopoo in her diaper and decided to tell Tom like this . . .



Apparently the poopoo was "in dere." Why she had to lift her leg so high . . . I have no idea, but it was funny.

Visit with Nana and Papa

My mom's spring break started at the end of March 14. Since we were on their way to Arizona to visit with my dad's parents, they stayed over the night so they could head out to Arizona City the next day. The girls were excited to wake up and see Nana and Papa, but not so happy to learn that they would have to wait a few days before Nana and Papa would be staying with us.



After 3 days in Arizona, my parents headed back our way to be here in time for Taylor's birthday. They stayed a few days so we got to enjoy a visit with Nana and Papa.



Of course they had fun playing with Papa.


We enjoyed being together for Taylor's birthday.


We also enjoyed: watching movies, buying and planting new flowers in the front flower bed, going to Costco, getting 1/2 price drinks from Sonic, going out to eat, and just having time to talk and enjoy one another's company.

Thanks for stopping to visit Nana and Papa. We look forward to the next one!

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!!

Really . . . has it been 5 years. I can't believe it. A few months after we moved to San Antonio to begin this whole dental school adventure, I found out I was pregnant with Taylor. Here we are at the end of our adventure, and our baby will be starting kindergarten. I just can't believe it.

Fortunately Nana had spring break that week, and Nana and Papa were returning from a visit with Papa's parents in Arizona, so they stopped for a few days so that they could be with us for Taylor's birthday.

Taylor was just DYING all day long to open her presents. She awoke to decorations and a pile of presents on the kitchen table. Unfortunately, Dad and Shelby had school that day, so she had to wait until everyone was there before she could open gifts. At the doctor's office, we learned that she is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight . . . which is not a surprise because she wears some of the same shirts that Shelby does and we are constantly being asked if she and Shelby are twins.

I'd told her I had a surprise for her at lunchtime. It was a cool surprise, but she was disappointed because she wanted the surprise to be that she could open a present. Instead, she got her sandwich cut into 2 dinosaurs (which I thought she would love). She'd have rather done the gifts at the time, but now that there's not presents staring her in the face, she LOVES the dinosaur sandwiches. My visiting teacher knew that Taylor LOVED dinosaurs and saw this sandwich cutter that would cut a sandwich into 2 dinosaurs and bought it for Taylor. It was very sweet of her and the girls do love it. In fact, when Payden wants sandwiches, she asks for dinosaurs to eat.

Finally, when dinner had been served and everyone was home . . . it was time. We had to wait a few minutes for Mom to finish her birthday "cake." She was soooo excited.


She kept asking if it was time yet.


Finally, it was time and she was ready. It was really, really easy to shop for her. She is a very passionate kid and right now she LOVES LOVES LOVES dinosaurs.


She ended up with 3 dinosaur books. Then she got another gift that she'd been asking for . . .

The movie Thumbelina. Thanks to commercials, she knew that Barbie Thumbelina would be coming out right before her birthday and so she kept asking and asking for it. She then got one of the new dinosaur animals (like FurReal friends), which she just KNEW she was getting. I also like giving them a game for their birthday, so she also got some Legos.

She ended by opening the card from Nana and Papa. They gave her some money, which she used to buy one of the other new dinosaur animals. When we got Grandma and Grandpa's money, she bought a third new dinosaur animal. It's nice that she's easy to please.


Then it was time for her birthday "cake." In our house, cake doesn't get eaten very well, so I told Taylor about a big cookie that I could make instead, and she quickly decided she wanted that. That was definitely a better idea as it was all gone by the next day.



Then it was time to dig in. With a cookie cake and cookies 'n' cream ice cream, we were all cookied out by the end, but it was delicious.



We laughed at this one . . . Shelby was talking when I went to snap a shot of her and we all laughed at the shot.



It was a good birthday, and we are so amazed at big Taylor's gotten. It's so hard to believe she'll be going to Kindergarten next year, but she's ready and excited.

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!!!!

Poor Boy

Now we all have poor me moments. Declan's had a few of these moments recently and unfortunately, some of them have come because he is the only boy.

It was time to eat and this was the only bib out . . .


Sorry bud!

I sat Declan down one day, and Taylor starts yelling at me about this dirt he had on his butt. I asked her if she saw any other problem he had, but she couldn't see anything wrong . . .


When I went to fix his diaper, I found that he had pooed . . . I am SOOOOOOO glad his crack was the only thing that decided to fall out of his diaper that day.

When Declan falls . . . okay well Payden says he falls over when often times he gets knocked over by her or Taylor . . . but anyways when he falls or "falls" over, she tries to help him up and tends to end up with him on her leg. Well I looked up one day and saw this . . .


In "helping" him up, I guess she decided she wanted to play baby with him. She was patting his back and whispering sweet things to him, and he was just sitting there. Calmly. I looked closer and realized that his arm was pinned underneath him and he was completely stuck, but I couldn't figure out why he wasn't squawking to be released.

Anyways, she then got a blanket and covered him up.


Although it was cute, I felt bad for him and made her remove her leg from underneath him.

I was able to get just a few shots before he realized that he was free at last, at which point he immediately rolled over and ended Payden's fun.


Poor boy!!

Train Ride at the Zoo

Tom was home for the morning during Shelby's spring break, so we decided to head to the zoo before he had to be at school. By the time we got to the zoo, we realized we'd been too slow and didn't have time to walk around the zoo, so we decided to take a ride on the train (even though it was wet and cold . . . yes most people thought we were crazy, but we didn't mind at all).

As we headed to the train depot, we had to walk under these trees. I looked down at Declan and discovered . . .


He'd been pooed on by the birds. It was soooooooo disgusting. We were told by someone that that's supposed to bring good luck. I just think that was someone's way of trying to make something nice out of a a nasty, unpleasant situation.

Because hardly anyone else was as brave as we were, we were the first ones on the train and got to sit right behind the conductor.


Now we weren't the only crazy family, but we were only joined by 1 more family before the train headed off. It's nice relaxing ride, and of course to kids, riding a train is just exciting - no matter how small it is.



After we got going, I realized we hadn't been very smart and had put Payden on the outside sedge. I'll definitely have to remember to not do that again. It made for one nervous mama!!! She enjoyed it nonetheless.



For some reason, we didn't have a hooded jacket for Declan, so I tried to bundle him up nicely next to me to keep him warm. He looked too cute.



You can see in this picture how cold it was. Her nose was soooooooo red and cold, but can you see that smile . . . totally worth it!


Although Taylor was SOOOOOOO upset to not see the animals, it was fun taking a short little train ride and the kids loved it . . . even Taylor.