* * * *Our First SNOW!!!!* * * *

Our first snow since we left Tokyo, no further explanation necessary :) ...............

Here is "Freddie"..... the first. :) Josh loves Freddie, (he told me to write that)

school carnival

Yesterday was the school carnival. Kids had a blast of course.......
Josh takin' a shot at big sis in the dunk tank...... and down she goes!

........but she forgave him

Jade with her friend and neighbor, Morgan....... both got dunked by their 5 yr old siblings :)

The Three Amigos..... Josh, Cheyenne, and Gracie (Morgan's little sister)...these guys play together EVERY day possible, and have emotional withdrawals when they can't.

It's fun to have neighbor friends!

My Joshy-boy

For those of you who know Jade well, you know she is absolutely AMAZING and UNIQUE as anything. I have been trying to watch Josh and find the qualities that set him apart as well. He is so different from Jade, but I have found since I am so used to Jade, some of those differences frustrate me. Like how is in not as independent, organized, self-starter, etc. But when I started to really look, I have found some treasured qualities in my little mamas-boy, and I just love it so much!
He is more relaxed and easy-going, just kind of takes his time in life. He is SUPER thoughtful and sweet, very lovey-dovey and affectionate. For example, here are a few pictures from this morning when I dropped him off at school. Every time I drop him off, he turns around after we blow and catch kisses several times, and says very sincerely " I love you so much mom....... oh and mom, have a great day, get some rest, get some sleep, take care of Eddie, run your errands, and just have a great day, OK?"
Yes, he knows he is a sweet-heart.
I also love how tough he is. He just bull-dozes through kids at soccer, even if he doesn't have to. He gets right back up when he gets knocked down, and just looks even more determined an tough. But he is still a good friend, and will stop to talk to other team-mates anytime. :)

Eddie update

Here are a few recent pics of Eddie, I think he looks SO little and sweet! It is still a trip to think of this little BABY, doing the things he is doing. We finally took him to the doctor for a check up, that last doc visit was in Vegas for his 2 mo check. He is only 17 lbs, and his doctor is concerned that we keep him crawling through december. That is crazy! At first I thought, how in the WORLD am I supposed to keep this child, who is already starting to balance (what I learned is the 3rd step out of 4 towards walking), and I'm supposed to keep him from progressing? But I learned what to do so slow this process, and I will do my best so he spends as much time crawling as he can. He went up 3 stair steps a few days ago before I got to him. He is still not really quick, just quiet and controlled with his movements. I kind of wish I had known about the 4 stages to walking with Josh, and how to control the progression. I love civilian doctors!

He fell asleep on the floor, that is amazing since he is used to his hammock. His poor little face, this was right before a few additional marks and bruises showed up. I think he will be just like Josh in that respect. Josh had a new mark EVERY day on his face, and his head is still bumpy-looking from his baby/toddler years. :)

He likes getting up and pulling all my fabric rolls out of my red bowl on this table. I really need to redecorate, Eddie-proof style.

Things I love about...........

Too many things to list, but I will try to sum up........

11 years, 3 kids, 12 moves over 3 continents, 4 degrees, changes through 5 pets, jobs and careers, dreams, and body composition.

I can NEVER stay mad at you for long, you always do something endearing and goofy to make me laugh, dang it!

11 years of hard work, faith, sacrifices, sweat, blood, and tears, and a TON of giggles and laughter!

Even when your not with me, I almost feel like nothing can hurt or touch me, I am safe, because I know you will protect me.... or beat the living tar out of anyone who harms me!

You keep me grounded, you are the "right side" of my brain. (and maybe the left as well)

So here's to 11 years of real-life-marriage, I wouldn't change a thing. The last 11 years with you have brought out the best in me so far, thank you Bill! Looking forward to continuous laughter in the years to come! I love you with all my heart, Thank you for everything you have done for me, Happy Anniversary Bill!



1996 - we had no clue

2005 - still working on getting a clue, and having a blast in the search!

2007 - ;) I'll try to get a picture of JUST the two of us soon, (with kids, that doesn't happen much).................and where in the heck is that clue?

When you have a little free time......

OK, for you mothers, and anyone who enjoys a simple and witty read, check out my friend Naomi's blog http://letters2thevoid.blogspot.com/. She just started it, and I have to say, I find it quite an enjoyable way to spend an extra few mins on the computer, it makes me smile. (I have never announced another blog other than Jade's, but I really like this one) She just writes letters to the insignificant, (and sometimes significant), things in our lives, as they happen and as they are seen from her point of view. It's just cute, so check it out when you get a chance. :) For those of you from my hometown, she's the Naomi we grew up with. :)

Misc. updates, and Eddie of course!

Well, things have been crazy busy around here, as well as people STILL sick. (had the flu first, now colds) I have not taken a whole lot of pictures, all my energy has been put to use just trying to keep up with day to day needs. :) I'll try to sum up a few of the fun events......

*We FINALLY got together with some of our really good friends from Spain, who now live in Provo. It was SO fun to catch up with them after it has been more than 3 years since we left Spain. The kids ran around having fun, we got to visit, it was great. We love you Darby's! (Emily's blog is on our link)

*Another one of my really good friends had her second baby, an ADORABLE baby boy. I felt like I was on pins and needles waiting for that little guy to arrive, he is just so cute! (Jen Myers blog is also on our links)

*I discovered a way to get a salad, miso soup, and 3 whole California rolls for under $10 at our favorite little sushi restaurant here in town, (during lunch only), so I can feed myself and the kids some good food and spend less than I would at a drive-thru. That was a highlight! :)

*The kids looked fantastic this morning, it was picture day. They both LOVE school, AND thanks to Bill's sister and her kids, Jade nearly had a heart-attack at school because her class is now in the LEAD for the Postcards of Utah Counties contest. Those of you I sent the email to, it's not too late, send those postcards, she can use every postcard she can get, as many as she can get! :)

*I made it to Jade's orthodontist appointment ON TIME, WITHOUT getting lost and ending up in the next town! (like with her last appointment) I feel like I know my way around this place TONS better now too. :)

OK, now for the frightening part of the update. In the last week and a half, Eddie has made some major progress with his physical abilities, and most of my mental energy and time are spent keeping him from sending himself to the next life. He has been fully crawling for a while, he is just getting better and better. When I mentioned that he sits up now, I mean that HE gets himself to sitting position by himself, and last week he pulled himself up to standing at the coffee table. Yikes!!! He just turned 6 months! I need at least another month to get the house ready. He almost strangled himself in his hammock because he flipped himself over and tried to crawl out, but just got his head stuck over the edge. It was scary. These pictures do not do his new found abilities justice, I was kind of in a rush to take them and it was nap time, so this is what I have for now........
We keep his toys in this bowl, he likes to get into that a lot more than if they are just all over the place, it gives him something else to do.

He gets so excited to see me, he just fell down after he crawled to HIS bowl.

I always post cute pictures of him smiling, so here is the other side of "blog reality"

Thank goodness for these contraptions, it keeps him in one place for a while!

*

I also have to add, since some of my friends tell me they are in awe that my kids crawl and walk early, I am in awe at children who talk early. My girlfriend Jamie, her kids, especially her last one Peyton, are such scrumptious little chunks as babies, and do not crawl or walk as early as mine do, but I can't forget how well her Jordyn was talking at such a young age, (when she was 3 you would have thought she was 10), and Payton knew sign-language at 8 months! Kids just work on one thing or another, mine just end up being movers first and the talking comes much later. (Personally, I think it's more dangerous for children to be as active like Eddie at such a young age, they do not understand their surroundings as well as when they are older, and can get hurt easier). So I have to keep and extra eye on him now, my adorable little bug.

Chocolate Moose!!!

My FAVORITE dessert is Chocolate Mousse-ANYTHING!
My girlfriend and fellow chocolate connoisseur, Juliann, gave me this outfit for Eddie. I have to say, it is the most perfect outfit for MY child, considering my long-time, (and on-going), affair with Chocolate. So before he grows out of it, I figured I had better get a picture of him in one of my favorite outfits. I know it might be hard to see, but the T-shirt reads "Chocolate Moose", and the worn jeans have a brown wash on them, so there is another hint of chocolate-baby-ness. :)

Thank you Joshy for taking the picture! And thank you Juliann, I miss sharing chocolate experiments with you!!!

Church drawings

(*sorry the pics are so dark, including the one of Jade with her poster, you might need to click on the drawings so they will come up and you can see them better!)

This is Josh in outer-space, complete with a star, planets, moon, rockets, shooting star, another weird-looking star-thing, and the line is all the blackness. :)

Jade has been drawing "snail comics" for a while now, and during church she said she wanted to experiment and try out a new style of drawing. You will have to wait till she posts these on her blog to get the full story, but I know it's something to do with the bird going after the caterpillar hanging off the flowers, and the monster is getting a lecture from his bird friend.

These next drawings are supposed to be a comic. I think is has to do with some sort of "love-triangle". The monster has a little friend the worm, he also has a friend the bird, bird wants to eat worm, there you go.

I know every mother thinks her children are artists, and tells them so. I sure love mine!

Vice Chairperson Jade

Jade's school has a little micro-colony for the 4th grade, with each class a city. Students have jobs, get checks, go to the bank, have markets, etc. Each "city" is run by the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, with the help of a treasurer, banker, secretary, and then the rest of the jobs like garbage man, paper-distributor, etc. Jade ran for Vice-Chairperson, made this poster and handouts the night before, (she was sick the day that the rest of the class worked on elections, so she had to hustle). She said everyone liked her drawings, and she won. :)

The 4th-graders also have something called "The University of Learning". They actually earn degrees from Technical all the way to Doctorate. And have a big-to-do graduation ceremony at the end of the school year. They have to put in certain number of hours, do research, and each degree demands more "credit" hours and research. She has to do a thesis and dissertation for her graduate degrees. All students are required to get up to a Bachelors, but Jade wants to go for a Doctorate. She has to write out her plan and get it approved, but from what we are told, those degrees usually take most of the school year. Her doctorate needs to be based on a service project. I told her it would really help me if she read to Joshua throughout the school year. The first night, they had so much fun, they spent 50 mins reading the youth version of Moby Dick. Jade would stop every few sentences and explain what was happening, they both loved it. I doubt once the novelty wears off that they will read for that long, but I told her to shoot for 10-15 mins at a time.

For her Masters, she is going to keep track of how far she swims during swim team this year and trace her distance over Western Europe, learning as much as she can about each place she stops at. My favorite part about this one is that I will get to try all sorts of new recipes from those locations, it will be fun!

What's this??? mmmmm.......

Eddie has discovered another love.... baby snacks. He pretty much gums them to death, and makes a huge mess, but he loves 'em! (he is sitting up on his own a lot better too, I never thought I would get so excited over little milestones for a third child!)


No matter how dirty he gets, he just has to give me this look, and I melt!

Kindergarten Boy!!!

It's no surprise Josh LOVES school. He has been in pre-school for two years and had a wonderful experience, (Thank you Miss Judy!!!). Going to Kindergarten seemed so natural for him. Since we have all been sick this whole weekend, except for Josh, it was all I could do to drive him to the school and drop him off at curbside, on his first day! I felt a little bad that the courtyard seemed PACKED with BOTH sets of parents taking pictures and waving frantically at their perfectly dressed children. Josh decided he didn't want to wear his new clothes, just his old stained ones, nothing matched, and he looks so worried in this picture because he was trying to win a battle with me, saying that "kids don't use gel in kindergarten". Well, I insisted that his hair look decent at least, I won that battle. So the poor kid jumped out of the car, blew me a kiss, and ran off on his own to face the first day of school. Well, it was the best I could do yesterday morning, and the next picture shows he was none the less for it. He thought his first day went perfectly! That's all that matters. :)

This morning, Jade was feeling well enough to go to school, so she and Josh had their first adventure of walking to school together. As you can tell, Josh is thrilled! I'm guessing it's about a 1/2 mile walk, give or take. It's a good little walk for my guy. I love my kids!

My "dream room" (sort-of), by request :)

OK, here are a few, (just a few:), of "before and after" pics of my art room. (Thanks for the requests, I wasn't sure if anyone was interested in seeing it, that's why I didn't post it earlier.) This is just a start, to make it functional for now........we have a lot of fun plans, but it will probably be a few years for it to be just the way I want. I think I mentioned this before, the previous owners took the old kitchen and put it down here when they remodeled, that was brilliant in my opinion.

It's hard to see, but Jade has her space under the window with her canvas boards leaning against the wall, and her easel will go right next to the counter, it's a perfect spot for her!

There was a wall separating this long room from the storage room on the left. Right before all our stuff was delivered, Bill took out some stress on that wall. (it was planned, don't worry!) So it is partially removed in this first picture.

Once Bill's dad came and helped him remove the rest of the wall, the space really opened up. It's coming along!

We are planning to put a kiln against this back wall somewhere, (depends on what safety code will allow), and there is a nice little empty corner in the storage area perfect for a wheel. We are going to stain the cement, paint everything else white most likely, including the cabinets, but I'm not sure what color I will paint the storage shelves, and we will put in additional lighting, (it's pretty dark in there now). There is a space about 4ft by 6ft and maybe 4 ft tall, under the back shelves, I'm giving that little space to Josh for HIS alone space since he has to share a room. As he puts it, he has no special place to go when he gets frustrated and needs alone time. (We have a portable DVD player, little table for some books, cushions, etc for that space, lucky kid) I also plan on getting creative with my trusty Dremmel tool and doing some cut-out designs in the upper cabinets and place some of my hoarded Japanese paper behind it.

Can you tell I'm excited? It is SO much fun to have a space ALL my own, without worrying about how it is decorated or functions for anyone else but ME.

Thank you, thank you Bill my love! This is the best gift!

Scootin' Eddie (plus a tiny flashback)

Well, these next few posts may not be that exciting, but I have been SO busy working on my art room, I even forgot to take a picture of Jade on her first day of school! She is LOVING school by the way, they have some great programs and activities planned for this year, I am really excited about what she will be doing. Josh is also excited about Kindergarten, I will try not to forget the camera on Tues when he starts school. :)

So here are some quick pics I took of Eddie. He is in that "in-between" stage with the army-crawl, (which he hasn't really mastered yet, kind of skipping over it), going into a full crawl. He is still very slow and controlled when he moves forward, but he is getting there. He will take a "crawl-step" forward, go back on his tummy to reach for his toy, if he is still too far, he will get back on his hands and knees and take another crawl-step, and check his distance from his toy again, if needs be, take another crawl-step. He repeats this process until he gets what he wants. This is a different approach than I remember my other kids taking. They went to the army-crawl, got that down at full speed, then went to full crawling. Eddie seems content to take his time, he seems to have patience. But if he is not interested in reaching for something, he is content to just rock back and forth on his hands and knees. Funny kid. :)




And little me, maybe a few months older than Eddie.

This is Cheyenne, she is the granddaughter of our next-door neighbor, and comes over almost every day to play with Josh. They are the same age, get along great, and it is SO nice to have someone close who brings out the best in Joshy. She is such a little sweet-heart, and a bit feisty too. :) He said she is like his old girlfriend, Dana, who used to live next door to us on base in Vegas, because she is cute and really smart. Isn't that sweet?

The playful kiddies

As I was working on organizing, (the endless task), the kids kept asking me to take pictures of them. They had so much fun getting dressed up. I am grateful my kids are capable of "imagination play", (and capable of playing nicely at times). They are really good kids, I just love'em!!!

Happy Mica

I know this is ANOTHER post about my sister, but she just sent these and I love how happy she looks!

On a side note, Bill and I had a discussion about this blog, he thinks it is less a "family blog" and more a "Tara blog". I have less than 30 friends I sent this link to, and he sent it out to over 60 of his former students and Air Force buddies. Well people, the only ones who ever leave a comment or email me back and tell me they looked at the blog, are MY friends. So until I get some sign that Bill's friends are checking this out, I will continue to post the happenings in our family from my point of view, and throw in a bit of "Tara stuff" like this post. OK Bill's buddies, prove me wrong, and Bill right, that there are people checking this blog other than my 5 or 6 loyal girlfriends, leave a comment!

Back to Mica, this is her "good friend" Matt. He is even cuter than he is in these pictures, but my sister looks radiant, and she gets priority. ;)

Also, I would like to know what "friends" are doing having a tickle fight on the floor?