BLAH

January is so BLAH!  It's pretty boring and slow moving with nothing to look forward to.  Well, life isn't really that boring with the kids.  I will try and make this post worthwhile though:

Ellionna has pretty much had a continual ear infection since November.  She just finished her 4th round of antibiotics.  Ear tubes may be in store for her soon.  She is crawling all over the place and pulling her self up.  She loves taste-testing all the table foods and now has 3 teeth.

Gavin is now a Sunbeam in his primary class at church.  They tell me he continues to improve every week.  I don't know what they mean by that :)  He must be a wild child or something…  

What do you do for a kid who loves playing outside in his sandbox but it's 20 degrees outside?  Let him play with lima beans instead!

We have ventured out to a few places to stay sane…. a couple children's museums and a bounce house.  For some reason, I have only gotten pictures of Jordan while we are there.  Jordan has started playing on a basketball league.  It's been good for him to have an activity he can call his own. It's been a good experience for him and something his Dad hopes that he will continue to pursue throughout his life! :)

Makenzie has somehow not found herself in front of the camera lately.  No pictures of her this post.  She is staying active with her dance and tumbling class. And is really starting to like technology and the games it has to offer.  Unfortunately, to her dismay, we do put a limit on it.  2nd grade has been full of homework and expectations…. not a favorite for either of us.  I have not been that impressed with the school system here.  But, not so dissatisfied that I will homeschool yet :)

I have been cleaning and organizing, which seems like I am always doing.  I'm slowing finishing up the series, The Great and the Terrible.  I just started the last of 6 books.  Only took me a year to read them all!  I was able to sneak out a girl's night out last week.  It was heavenly!

Tyler is on the downhill of his 2nd year of residency.  He is getting to know all the doctors at the hospital and is getting quite a variety of training.  We are in the process of getting his official license (aside from his training license) so he can pick up some extra work from other hospitals and urgent cares starting this summer.   We are starting to pinpoint some areas that look like where we would want to lay down some roots next year after graduation.  We are hoping to see our "dreams" become a reality real soon!!!  We are even scheming up plans for a home that we will build and OWN someday.

And that is about it for now.

Rock-a-Bye

Tyler got a hold of this old rocker from a ward member a couple months ago.  Tyler loves working with wood and jumped at the opportunity to refurnish it.  This was his first time reupholstering.  When in doubt, just "YouTube" it!


Before:



During:

After:   Ta Da!!!  

Tyler, of course, can pick out all his flaws, but I am highly impressed!  It was a good little project for him to work on.  Some of my friends were jealous because Tyler would actually request to go to Hobby Lobby!  So we enjoyed a few dates to the craft store, per his request and not me having to drag him in there!

The last of 2012...

I'm afraid to say that I did not capture a single picture of Christmas day this year, except for Makenzie's note to Santa!  We enjoyed our holiday to the max, which means I was too lazy to worry about the camera.  My parents were able to come down from Chicago for a week.  The kids were happy with their presents and we feasted on all our favorite holiday snacks.  Tyler has been working in the Emergency Department.  He luckily had Christmas Eve and Christmas off, but other than that, he has been a working fool.  My dad was so kind to complete a long list of small home repairs that I've been saving up for him.  Thanks, Dad!    The stomach flu also hit our house, so we weren't able to do as much as we wanted with my parents around.

The first snowfall arrived on Friday, Dec. 21st.  It was only a dusting of snow though.  The kids were so ecstatic to see the white stuff!  They had school that day and I was afraid the snow would be melted by the time they got home, so I encouraged them to go out and take a couple rides on the sled before they caught the bus.  It was blistery cold, but they didn't care!

Luckily we got a real snow storm a week later that left about 4 inches.  You bet they were out there in a heartbeat! 

Here is their snowman.  

It's hard to see with all the white.

  Ellionna and I hung out on the couch and watched out the window most of the time.  It was great seeing pure happiness and hearing squeals of laughter come from my kids.  Snow can be very magical!

Kid Pics….

Here are all the random pics of the kids I have taken over the last few months…..

Ellionna:

Cat toys make great baby toys!

Enjoying the last few days of the fall weather!

Feasting on a graham cracker for the first time!

Tub time!

7 months:  Crawling and now wanting to climb the stairs!!

She is starting to pull some funny cheesers!  

Gavin:

 Getting into the Halloween face make-up

I let him pick out one toy at the dollar store. 

 He was ecstatic to pick this!  He even turned down a toy car, which was a surprise! 

I just finished the dishes and went upstairs to get Ellionna dressed for the day.  I came back down after about 5 minutes and found this….  His naked pictures will never get old!  There are plenty of them, too!

So serious...

Jordan:

I had to capture him with the iPad…. I don't even think he was playing it.  It just so happened to be on the bed when he fell asleep.

Jordan decided to draw a picture of his kindergarten teacher and he strictly told me right after that we needed to send a picture of it to her.  Don't we all remember our kindergarten teachers?  He loves school!

 Makenzie:

Makenzie just finished doing 5 shows of the Nutcracker with her dance and tumbling class for the community!  She was a peppermint.  The show was done very well and all the kids have so much talent!  She loves to perform.

 And this was just a day while we were at a park this fall.  We live right by the Ohio River that separates Ohio from Kentucky.  The bridge takes you right over the state line.

 

Coming home for a funeral….

The camera cord has been found!  Here are the pictures of our trip home to Utah.

One of the many fond memories for the grandchildren is watching cartoons with Grandpa on his bed. 

Tyler headed up a lot work that needed to be done around the house.  He finished the kitchen, which was halfway done being remodeled.  He also helped clean out a lot of Roger's "treasures" from the backyard.  "Another man's trash is another man's treasure!"  Roger was Mr. Fix-it.  Plus he loved to find things for free, or cheap, to restore and use again.  The Bug is one thing staying….and Gavin sure loved playing in it!

Roger was an avid surfer growing up and has always had a love for it.  Tyler and Will cleaned up his old boards to display at the service.

 A lot of the week was used to go through photos.  What a blessed time it was to hear lots stories and relive memories with everyone.  Lots of crying and laughing!

This was a cookie jar with Oreos.  When the lid opened, it belted out some surf tunes.  Not the most quiet thing to be displaying, but a good memory!

 We wanted the casket flower spray to be represent the ocean.  I think it turned out great.

The pall-bearers doing their job.  

Roger is being laid to rest in an oak casket, one of his favorite woods. 

The Sherman Family

Mandy, Eli, Scott, Wendy, Tyler, and Will

Roger's brothers- Richard and Jim.  His mother, Lena.  His sister, Lena Jr.  

 Wendy and her siblings-

Tim, Tyrone, Leann, Wendy, Connie, Keith

 

So after the funeral was done and we were all at home visiting, I made the rounds checking on all the kids.  Well, I couldn't find Gavin right away (which isn't a surprise.) I found him outside in the backyard, playing in the water….. (This was December 1 and not the warmest day!)

Heading to the airport…. It took a good week for us all to recover.  We all went on very little sleep for about 2 weeks straight.   It was worth it seeing so many family and friends!!