What are we watching??

This all started because I had to go to the bathroom or I was fixing dinner, I can't remember. It was super nice to have K to hold SC while the girls wanted to dance, well, one girl. They were all involved in the movie, including K...for a little bit. He is happy to know that we have loaned it to a friend in the ward who hadn't seen it...so we won't be watching it for a week or so (instead of every other day).

Please note that SV isn't the only one moving in the video clip...there is someone else tapping his toes almost the whole time of the song. (c:

More Cuddles

Grampa

J
Gramma

SC...bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

These are all from the blessing weekend. It sure was nice to have family here.

Jane Austen, my hero!

One of my wonderful cousins had this on her blog and I had to take the quiz to figure out which one of Jane Austen's characters I am most like. I LOVE Pride and Prejudice, so this made my day!

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

On a serious note...

Some of you have known about J's job issue, but not everyone, so here is a quickie explanation. J was let go from his job in late February and has been unemployed since. He has had a couple of interviews here, but they weren't too promising. The field in which he works has been super slow, so no one seems to be hiring. Anyway, we sent him away for a week to a place we want to move to, and he ended up having 5 interviews there. It was fantastic! So then we were faced with too many choices (obviously thats good in the long run, but it's still difficult to decide). We hope that we have chosen the right one, but I guess we'll see soon enough. The unfortunate thing to this whole ordeal is that we are moving to a place where we have little family...great extended family...a few of Ss first cousins, some of Js 1st cousins-once-removed, some second cousins and even some of our girls' thirds cousins, but no moms, dads, bros, sisters or even aunts or uncles. Before you think about feeling sorry for us, please know that we have DEAR friends that want us there and are helping out for now.

J is leaving in the morning (with a dear friend who is driving with him) to drive to his new job. He will be staying with some friends for the time being, while continuing to look for places for us to live. I will be staying with our girls and Uncle K until who knows when...maybe June or even July. I am not sure how long I will last at the practically-a-single-mom thing. We do have fantastic friends here who continue to extend helping hands, which we are SUPER grateful for. More importantly, we have great family here too.

We are still planning on attending Opa's family's Family Reunion in June (despite that Opa and Oma will not be...they get to be world travelers again...yes there is a hint of jealousy there, but I am sure that my time will come someday...maybe I'll get a souvenir if I'm lucky). We hope to see as much of that side of the family as possible. It's something that we truly look forward to.

Uncle R's stay

Uncle R came for SCs blessing and we wanted to showcase some of the pictures he took while staying with us. Disregard the enormous pile of laundry next to him...it's been taken care of. (c:

R does fantastic self-portraits...actually, J's whole family does it.

Another great self-portrait of R and Gramma.

How sweet!! SCs hand with Uncle R.

Dosing off with Uncle R. Doesn't SC look relaxed?

Let's Paint...

J designed and built a camping box (a big box to house our camping gear...common to those who have been in boy scouts, but not to those who were in girl scouts), which he wanted to protect from the elements. What better way than to paint it with an entire gallon of paint? AND, why not do it when he has others to help who aren't doing much? SO, while J's parents and brother were here for SCs blessing, they painted the said camping box (which J and the girls...minus SC...had already primed). Here is J's dad, AKA Grampa, tackling one of the doors. I guess I wasn't really going for face pictures during this activity. Oops.

J's bro R was helping SV out a bit on this side. She was diligent at getting lots of paint on the box, just not as diligent as spreading it out.


The boys found these great mini-rollers and pans that the girls went nuts over. They were actually touch-up kits, but the were also perfect size for little people.

SV ran out of paint in her little roller pan and of course, she wasn't finished, so into the big pan she went.

Apparently, J had to help even out SVs diligence too. (c:

SC was super busy the whole time they were painting...enjoying her playmat. It's nice when she can keep herself occupied for a little bit. Not that she's starved for attention. (c:

SC's blessing

Oma made SC's gorgeous blessing dress (well, and SDs and SVs). We'll post more detailed pictures later. We will have to retake them because they didn't turn out as well as we hoped. There is simple beading on the bodice part that turned out beautifully. SC also had a bow that disappeared between the outside pictures and the inside ones.

This was towards the end of the photo shoot and she was getting a bit grumpy.

The first picture of the day...Opa with the girls. Thanks Amanda for the dresses! Too bad it was too hot here to wear the long sleeve shirts.

S's family...Opa, Oma & Uncle K. We sure missed M & K!

Uncle R, Gramma & Grampa with the fam. Where are the aunties, uncle & cousins? More family was missed.

SD & SV were ecstatic to hold SC, but she wasn't too thrilled. It was hot outside and the sun was super bright. Their sensitive eyes didn't last too long.

Swings and Trampolines...

SC's first swing ride.

SV is learning to pump her legs to keep her swinging.

SD is a pro at swinging. She doesn't even need a push to start.

The girls really enjoy jumping on the trampoline with J. They ask him to go jump at least once a day. SD can now sit down and jump back to her feet (we call it a bummer...anyone else know a better term?).

SV likes to jump as high as she can and then land on her bum. She can't quite make it back up on her feet, but she keeps trying. It shouldn't be too long before that happens.

TO ALL:

We are going to change our blog address in 72 hours due to increased protection of identity of our family (*please NO last names when you link to our page) & friends. We wanted everyone to know prior to this change. We will be sending out an email which will contain the new address. Please let us know if you want to be informed of the change, leaving your email in the comments section. Those comments will only be left long enough for me to add them to our address book. Thanks!