Just Normal

Things around here are just normal. I haven't posted lately because there's just not much to post about.

Joel has started working as an RN at the hospital here (actually he's working as a Graduate Nurse. He will technically be an RN after he passes the boards).

We were finally able to go to the kiddie pool at the park by our house. The weather was actually sunny in the afternoon instead of cloudy and windy. The kids had a great time. Jenna and Will hopped right in and had a blast the whole time, even though the water was quite chilly. Adam took a little more coaxing. First I tried to walk him in, but once the water got past his knees he turned around and headed for the towels! Then I had him sit on the edge and splash his feet. This he was okay with, and did for the majority of the time. Near the end he was finally brave enough to wade around in the water, until he tripped and get his face wet. Then he was done. :)

We had a nice Father's Day. Jenna was quite excited for it, as she is for every occasion. And Will was pretty layed back about the whole thing. :) But the kids picked out a card and a tie, and drew pictures for Daddy. I got Joel a new creel and some 2-way radios. It was a nice day, topped off with root beer floats. Can a guy ask for more?

I've notices something interesting with my children's eating habits. Jenna and Will could almost not be more different in the way they eat dinner. Jenna eats like she means it (when she's not talk-talk-talking), and it's not at all uncommon for her to have seconds. Will is usually pretty lazy about his eating, and is almost always the very last one at the table. We have to continually tell him to take bites of his food. Another difference: Jenna saves her favorite thing for the end. If we are having scrambled eggs and coffee cake and apple slices (like we did tonight), she will try a bite of each, decide she likes the coffee cake the best, then eat her eggs and apples and save the best for last. Will, on the other hand, will eat what he likes and put off eating what he doesn't like until the bitter end. This usually means anything with meat in it will be the last thing on his plate. (don't ask me why he doesn't like meat, he doesn't get it from Joel or I!).

Adam loves hot dogs. He calls them "gogs". He loves popsicles. He calls them something like "opicle". He can open the fridge by himself now, and he does this continuously much to my dismay. If he had his way he would be outside all day every day; he loves it. He loves when Daddy comes home from work, and hates it when he has to leave again right away, like for a softball game. Adam has a scream that could take the paint off the walls. It pierces the eardrum like a freakin claymore; I'm not joking.

I was supposed to get a haircut tonight, but the lady that was going to come do it (she now does house calls for some reason) is sick. I'm pretty bummed because we are leaving on Thursday morning to go up to Lovell to see people and then to a family reunion. This shag I have on my head just will not do; I am in desperate need of a trim. I'm pretty disappointed that this girl decided to get sick just so she wouldn't have to cut my hair. JK! :) We rescheduled for tomorrow morning, so hopefully I'll be nice and trimmed up then. And I hope she feels better, not just so she can make me look better. haha

Okay, this has been one long, rambling post and I'll be surprised if anyone is still reading. I'll bet Joel will be rolling his eyes and shaking his head when he reads this. :) Am I right, hon? Hopefully I won't be so tired next time I post, so things will be put together a little better!

Great Minds Think Alike?

A few Sundays ago I showed up at church in a jean skirt with a black shirt and white undershirt. Lo and behold my bf Sarah (cool name, right?) has shown up in exactly the same thing. Ha! Joel snapped this picture on his camera phone so it's not a great pic. How does stuff like that always happen to us, Sarah? I guess that great minds just think alike... :D

Our Week

We have had quite a week here at our house! To start things out, Joel's Mom and sister, Erin, came down to visit for a few days. We wished the weather would have been better while they were here, we were sort of stuck inside a lot because of the rain. But we still had a great time with them, and we were so happy they were able to come!

A quick story: on Tuesday I was making brownies to take to some friends who were moving. After they came out of the oven I was reaching for a cooling rack and next thing I knew... splat. The brownies were upside down on the kitchen floor! Arg! I was getting ready to scoop them into the garbage, but Joel made me put them onto a plate so he could eat some! Ha!




Wednesday morning was Adam's 18 month check up at the doctor. He is doing well in every way. He is still teeny, of course. Not quite 21 lbs, and not even on the lowest curve of the growth charts, but he is growing consistently and healthily. He eats just fine and he is obviously not malnourished, so it's nothing to worry about. He had to get one shot, poor kid, but he only cried for a minute.

Wednesday was also Jenna's last day of school! Yay! Finally! :) We were all excited for her to be done for the summer. He report card was very good, and we are very proud of our girl, how smart she is, and what a hard worker she is. I can hardly believe she's going to be in 2nd grade this fall!

Wednesday afternoon we went down to Ft. Collins for a bit of shopping and dinner. Erin had never been down to Colorado before, so we had to get her down there. :)

On Thursday Joel went fishing with a friend, and here's a picture of his first fish of the season. :)





This afternoon we were finally able to make it up to the mountain. We went hiking up at Veedawoo for a few hours. The weather was quite nice, except for some serious wind! I have to mention how proud and excited I was for our little William boy! He did so excellent! He's never been the most enthusiastic hiker, but this trip was totally different! He was all over those rocks, crawling up rock faces with no problem, jumping between them, not whining or complaining at all, and keeping up with no problem. When I would try to take his hand or help him he would immediately tell me, "I can do it by myself," or "I'm okay, Mom!" Once when I was going up a rock to scope something out he was encouraging me, saying, "You're doing good Mom! You're almost there. You're there!" Joel and I were both truly impressed by him today.

Jenna struck this pose with no encouragement from us. What a cutie!

Joel picked some wild flowers for me.

Jenna was nice enough to take a picture of Joel and I. A budding photographer? :)


Adam was happy to get a chance to run around instead of being carried.

Another pose.

Joel starts work on Monday, so the carefree summer vacation is no longer. However, after the first week of orientation he will only work three days a week (12 hour shifts), so we'll still have a lot of time to do some fun family things. Yeah!