think pink??

for those of you who have heard this story, please bear with me... Ever since I was pregnant with my oldest, who is 8, I have had the bad habit of buying girls clothes whenever i found something adorable on sale. I ended up with this large collection of pinks, purples, and creams that could rival any best dressed child. It was totally an obsession, but one that has over the years tamed itself. 3 years ago, we found out after 3 boys, that number 4 would be a girl! I went totally overboard, and bought tons of (non-returnable) girls clothes from ebay. a few weeks later, we found out that my doc was wrong and we were really expecting baby boy 4...

so, for the past 8 years, my collection has grown with little use. Today we had a confirmation sonogram and we are excited to announce the clothes will FINALLY be put to good use in Oct! (we were totally going to be surprised, it was way to much work:-) ) so now the only question is what to do with the 10 Tupperware boxes of boys clothes?????

long time, no post

Wow! IT has been such along time since I last posted! We have been so busy these past few weeks.... I guess I will work backwards since that is how i uploaded pics! We have been hitting the pool everyday the past 2 weeks. The weather has been so hot, and we have the BEST amenities in our neighborhood! the boys are all getting so nice and tan! T started swim team last week, and the middle 2 will start swim lessons again next week. van is fearless in the water and can "swim" under water all by himself. never a dull moment with that one. i got a super cute maternity tank and have loved getting in the water as our a/c is broken right now.
School ended may 30 for the boys and we are in a great summer routine already. we are doing the summer bridge books, which are fantastic as well as the comprehensive curriculum for M. the boys so far enjoy it and there has been no complaints yet. we spend abt 1 1/2 each morning working on school work, then T reads for 1-2 hrs at bedtime every night while jo reads a few chapters during the morning. jo is reading slightly above grade level now, and only has 1 more speech sounds to master. he had such a great year, and worked so hard! I am very proud of him. the pic above is of his schools independence celebration. they learned abt America, and why we celebrate the 4th of July. they had a cute parade, ate watermelon and sang a ton of patriotic songs. This age is so cute, and he will do great in 2nd grade next year! T moves up to 3rd and had a great year as well! we spent memorial weekend in l'burg meeting Fredy! we had a blast, and our kids are so excited abt uncle Fredy from "guat-e-mala who speaks Spanish, and cooks good". we had a great time hanging out with the family, and cannot wait until heather and Fredy get married and we can make the uncle title (or tio title) official! We love you guys!!!!

the older 3 boys finished up soccer for the year. T will play academy next year, and jo and M will continue regular seasons. they all had a great time, and we will def. miss coach Tim who has been T's coach since kindergarten.
van at a visit to a friends farm in may
T's class musical: Disney favorites
in may, the binkie fairy came and took vans pacifiers. long overdue, he got lighting mcqueen bed sheets, and pokemon figures for releasing his pacifiers. He hasn't slept well since;-)
M ended his preschool year may 23rd. he is off to kindergarten next year, and super excited!

in other news, i got released from young women, and called to be the primary 8 teacher. i LOVE teaching T and have such an awesome class. John and i are also getting another new calling tomorrow:-/

we hit the half way point in this pregnancy this week! We saw the baby last Mon and have an idea as to what we are having... the cord was kind of in the way. john and i went out on a date tonight and picked a few names! it feels like it is getting so close! I read somewhere that staying off the comp. helps with morning sickness, and that is so true. i haven't been sick in almost a week, and have been off medicine for it for over 3 weeks now. it feels so good to feel more normal, and be able to cook, eat and clean the house. when i went to the doc Mon, my weight gain for the entire pregnancy was -1 pounds. I am hoping when i go back next time to have gotten back into the positive and added some numbers to that. i think i was just so sick at first it has been hard to get back into eating normally. despite that, the baby looks great, we get sonograms every 4 weeks bc my doc is delivering this one free (he has a buy 4, get the 5th free policy and so he turns on the machine every time i go in!!!) i have more pics of this baby already then i do of Van total it seems like! all right, i think that is everything! more soon

A year ago life changed

there are a few dates that will always stick in my mind, no matter what. some are happy, others not so much. For example, the births of each of my kids, my wedding day, the day i got sealed in the temple, the day Jo had a seizure and i thought he was dying, Sept. 11, 2001, April 16, 2007.....
April 16, 2007. Cold, wintry day. Surprised, as the day before hadn't been nearly that cold.
April 16, 2008. Warm and beautiful. Kids wore shorts to school. A lot has changed in the 365 days between these two very different days. This April, I didn't worry about where John was, but I recall the panic I felt last year when his emails went unanswered, how news was slow to reach the radios even though we already knew about the shootings (our preschool was on lock down at 9 am, due to my boss being on campus during the dorm shootings), and was anxious as to where he was, as he had gone to campus at 4 am to study for some big tests he had that day. I had planned to shop for a graduation gift for him there at the campus bookstore, but changed my plans and ran errands in C'burg instead, as I still didn't know where the shootings had been or had bad it might be. Standing in line at a store, it was announced the shootings had been in a dorm, relief FLOODED over me. He wouldn't have been anywhere near a dorm. Only a few minutes later, the emergency system at tech starts announcing a gunman loose on campus, lock down. the radios picked it up instantly: stay away from windows, lock your doors, get inside. the relief instantly disappeared. I had to pull into a Sonic so that the dozens of emergency vehicles could pass to head to campus. I felt as if I was drowning in fear. John called a few minutes later, telling me he had been in the building 2 doors down from Norris and a friend had gotten a text telling them to leave campus. John left class, passing Norris again, and made it off campus right as campus was sealed. he passed swarms of empty police cars, and turned a corner as police were swarming on. He had been one of the lucky ones that morning to have escaped lock down. I felt so much better, and was calmer as I drove back into Blacksburg. My kids were all locked down at their schools, so I headed home to see John, and begin phoning friends and family, making sure the ones we knew were on campus were ok at the moment, and answering calls telling everyone we were ok. When I left at noon to go get M from preschool, Blacksburg was a ghost town. the only ones out were moms in minivans picking up from preschool, and abandoned cop cars blocking off all streets leading to campus. a friend called as I was driving to get M who worked as a nurse at a Roanoke hospital. She was being prepared for 20 dead. I was sure she was wrong, as radios were only announcing 6 fatalities at that point. At noon, a conference was called, confirming that horrible news. friends who could see Norris from their rooms mentioned later how the police came out immediately, bringing only a few out with them, and they assumed it wasn't that bad, not realizing the police left the victims inside, as there was nothing to be done for them.

Within hours, our beautiful, quiet town turned into a media circus, full of nosy, intrusive and downright rude reporters. Though they were not at all that way, being in Blacksburg that week was like living in a bubble, where the only thing you see, talk about or hear about is the shootings. You couldn't walk downtown to get food without being interviewed. It has been wonderful this year to recognize how peaceful and quiet our town really is, so I guess that is a blessing in disguise.
A year ago, this was the victims memorial. 32 individual sites in a semi-circle on the drill field. A student added a final one for Cho.
A year ago tonight, the boys, John and I gathered for an emotional candle light ceremony. (the boys used theirs as light sabers, causing many around them to smile) chanting lets go hokies, and hearing one amazing voice sing amazing grace, the American flag being raised and the sound of taps are the memories from that night. It was so spiritual, as all ages gathered together to remember, pray, cry, embrace.

A year ago our campus was covered with loving memorials, pictures, poems, and flowers for us. It was a beautiful outpouring of support as people from all over the WORLD sent us pictures, memories of their Virginia tech, and love in general. I have never in my life witnessed something like that before. Who knew what so much good and love can come from something so black, cold, and hateful. You hear all the time that it does, and pray you never have to see it first hand, but it a beautiful uplifting experience. a year ago my young boys learned what it meant to pull together as a town, to see adults cry, and to know in their hearts what it means to be part of a community, proud of their town, and have a love for everyone around them. A year ago my boys got to hold hands with strangers, help them laugh, sign banners, learn how violent crime ruins lives, and they learned what suicide means. Though they didn't understand at the time, they have grown more this year, and continue to understand things they saw last year, and how 1 person can influence for good or evil.

a year ago, we walked campus, and saw blood on the sidewalk, police tape on the buildings and ribbons on all the trees. A year ago we froze when we heard sirens, and panicked when there were more then 2 or 3 at a time. A year ago we learned to respect all first responders, to thank police officers, EMT, fire fighters and red cross workers whenever we saw them, a practice that still happens here.

a year ago i watched the Bushes helicopter land as they came to grieve with our town.

Today, this is what stands at the memorial site, 32 beautiful "hokie stone" boxes. Today people gather to pay respects, leave flowers, and remember the darkest day in our town.
today, wearing our hokie united shirts, we gather together as a town and embrace the year of healing and the hope we feel. We welcome the new classes as they bring an innocence back to our town, but mourn as the older classes leave us, taking their memories to their next homes.
today 32 flags fly on main street, one for each victim with their home place represented. It is a beautiful tribute. I am always sad when it goes down, and was grateful to see the flags flying again yesterday, as we celebrate the 1 year anniversary. yes, celebrate. It has been an amazing year. more love has been shown to our town then one can imagine. The world is still a good place. to quote Nikki Giovanni:

"We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech... We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibilities, we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness, we are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech."

and we have. we prevailed. we are proud to be hokies.

other news of great excitement to our family:

T turned 8 at the end of march. He started cub scouts when he turned 8, and earned his first badge in 1 week! Congrats T on your bobcat award!

Doesn't he look great in his uniform!!

getting his badge at pack meeting.

pinning mom

oh, and 1 more thing:

baby TBA, due Oct 08, and we are not telling anyone the gender, so you will have to wait!!!!

holiday spoilers, yankees games, and my brackets are doing horrible.

SPOILER ALERT: if you still believe in fairies, bunnies, leprechauns, etc. then this post is NOT for you!!!!!



So. My kids KNOW me and john are the tooth fairy, T has questioned abt. Santa and since we wont lie to them abt. it he is pretty sure we are Santa (and partly bc we want the credit for all the hard work, darn it!!), they question EVERY holiday or occasion where a animal or older person dresses up weird. M kindly pointed out sat. at an Easter egg hunt that you could see the Bunny's human arm under their costume, and the boys asked again if there really was an Easter bunny, T's voice heavy with disbelief at the time. By Easter, I think he had forgotten all of that and was just excited that he was getting a basket. Anyway. despite ALL of that. St. Patricks day morning, the boys woke up super excited. They were RACING around the house. I got up wondering what in the world they were doing. They informed me that they KNEW the leprechauns had come and were looking for the treat they had left. and then it hit me. Last year, after they had gone to bed, I thought it would be funny to have them "come" by putting green paint all over the kitchen to look like footprints and tons of glitter over that and leaving a candy treat on the stove for them. Well, i had totally forgotten abt that and had nothing for them. They were so upset. I was floored. My unbelieving, cynical children were totally shocked there was nothing for them. thinking fast, i assured them that they would prob. come while they were at school. That appeased them. John ran to the store and grabbed some sugar cookies and green frosting for them, and when they got home from school they got to decorate their own cookies. The next morning, i had moved Jo's booster seat and just tossed it over the back seat, where it landed upside down. The boys were so sure the leprecahauns had played a joke on him. My kids are so weird.
so, in other news: John was one of the 5500 last week who earned a ticket to the yankees/hokies exhibition game last week! He went with a few guys from church and they had a great time! I was so jealous I couldn't go, but it was only open to students at tech who were students last year in April, or current students, which he qualified under both. I am so glad he got to go though, and he got some great pics of Johnny Damon for me!
the hokies wore the coolest pinstripe uniforms for the game, and they sold special Yankees hats that had the yankee symbol in hokie colors. Very cool! A-Rod spent a ton of time in the hokie dugout, signing balls, hats, etc. It was so fun to watch it on tv w/ the boys since we couldn't be there in person. One of the kids at our preschool is the coaches son, who just came from Boston. His boys who were bat boys wore red sox shirts under the yankees uniforms! I thought that showed some nerve!





EASTER!!! I got the ties and the cutest argyle socks for the boys from Children's place a few weeks ago. I love matching them, and I can only get away with it twice a year, Christmas and Easter. John wore a 2 toned blue striped tie, and I wore a blue button down that had all the blues in it. It was fun to match everyone!
M- age 5 years, 5 months, Jo- 7 years, Van- 2 years 6 months, T- 7 years 11 1/2 months.







When we got home from church, it was time to hunt baskets. vans favorite was his Reester bunny. (in fact he liked it so much he did Jo a favor and finished his this morning....) I hid them while John fixed the kids lunch. T found his in the laundry hamper in the laundry room, Jo in the extra shower downstairs, Min the goodwill box, and vans was hidden in plain view in my closet. The boys had a great time hunting, and it took longer then i thought it would.

Later that afternoon we had a few friends over for Easter dinner. Johnny Stackhouse makes the BEST ham, so we put him in charge of that, Others brought green beans, bread, dessert, and the best ranch red potatoes. I made a pot. casserole and John made mashed pot. and we had a feast! It was so great, i love not having to cook a full meal for holidays and sharing the workload! After that we headed back to church for a devotional, which was awesome! A Methodist church sent their partial choir, which was amazing! I played prelude with some friends, and it was just such a great evening! I love holidays that center around Christ. They are just so special!

great self pic. from Ginger!

oh, and before i forget.... my brackets are doing Terrible... I won the ward brackets last year, and this year 25% of my final 4 have been knocked out... Yikes. I am currently in 10th place out of 23rd.... so sad.

On better news: John and I have been clinging to our poor digital camera last leg of life. Sat. morning we went to a fun town egg hunt. WE pulled out the camera, which had been VERY temperamental lately and it would not turn on at all. Sat. night we finally opted to just replace it. We had missed so many awesome things, the egg hunt, Jo's birthday pics came out bad, John wore his army uniform for the first time, etc. We went to best buy for date night and picked out a Cannon power shot. The price was under our budget price, it was on sale, and it has everything we needed! WE are so excited to finally have a reliable camera back in our hands!!!

Catching Up...

I spent a bit of time last week updating, adding photos, etc. and then when I went to publish, my computer froze, and I couldn't even access the saved draft. I gave up and decided to just come back to it, so over a week later, here is my update:

I went to L'burg in mid Feb. for a 3 day scrapbook retreat with 2 of my good friends, Melanie and Elizabeth. We had a fantastic time staying up late, eating GREAT food (mmm, kotos!!!), and running around my home town shopping, browsing, and enjoying great conversation with our friends. This is my third year going, and about 50 people turn out every year. I LOVE it!! Unfortunately, I came home SICK... I spent 2 weeks trying to recover afterwards from catching a flu while I was there. After being great for a week, a stomach bug swept through preschool and I got that too... It has been a long month for us, but John has been AWESOME! He has had to cook, take all of the kids to church by himself, and clean for me while I was drugged up on sudafed (and that stuff knocks me OUT!). THANKS JOHN!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!! We celebrated Jo's 7th birthday a week and a half ago. He invited 2 friends over and we took them to pizza, then home for a transformers cake, ice cream and tons of pokemon play time! HE had a great time, and I love his friends. It is always so nice when your kids have GOOD friends. (now we have to plan Ts 8th birthday...)

Feb. 24 one of my former students passed away. It was so hard. His family had gone to Switzerland in Jan for sabbatical, and while there, he developed a stomach ache and turned critical in minutes. He stopped breathing, and rescue workers were unable to revive him. (he is one of the sweet boys in the front row of the top picture). His funeral was March 4. It was so hard, as he is just a few months younger then M, and I look at all the things happening in his life right now, kindergarten registration, soccer starting, etc. and my heart just break for the family. 5 years is such a short time.

Soccer stated this week for the boys. T has 1 1/2 1 day a week, 1 hr another day, and games on sat. Jo has 1 1 hr practice/week. M starts on the 28th.

Violin lessons..... well.... we have refused to rosin vans bow. he is just so loud anyway, I cannot imagine how loud he would be. T has a great bow hand, and we start with music tomorrow.

We took a while to get started as the kids who the boys are taking lessons with had parents in hawaii..... so lucky!

Anyway, i really don't know of much else... i feel like we are so busy right now, but that we aren't DOING anything...

odds and ends

Our camera has been acting funny lately but I have been trying to squeeze the last remaining use out of it before having to replace it. So a few weeks ago, we got the most lovely snowfall. All the trees were covered, there was plenty on the group to go sledding, and the kids had the day off of school. We spent over an hour getting everyone dressed and ready to go, grabbed the sled, and 2 extra SETS of batteries (I have yet to get good snow pics of the boys...., plus, sadly, this was the boys first real time ever sledding, we have just never lived in a neighborhood with hills....) I was determined to get great pics, and i had plenty of battery juice to accomplish my task. I got outside, turned the camera on to capture the beautiful evergreens in our neighborhood, and the camera died. I tried every battery to no avail. It is officially dead. It will turn on sometimes, but even when it turns on, the lens cover wont clear the lens. Def. time to get a new one. I recognize a lost cause when I see one. I am planning on selling my 35mm Nikon and get a new digital Nikon, bc I wont have to replace lenses that way, and just throwing the old digital away.... I feel lost without a camera... So, no snow pictures. I am hoping that we will get another great snow after feb. 15, when we can get a new camera. HOWEVER, I am enjoying the mid 50's we are experiencing today, and will be OK if no more snow falls, as long as it stays this warm or warmer....
We went to Richmond yesterday for my grandfathers 80th birthday. We had a great time, and the kids were awesome even thought they spent 8 hrs. in the car. My uncle and aunt, who hosted the party are so fun, and my uncle spent a lot of time entertaining my boys yesterday. Terry is a hunter, and spent tons of time showing my kids cameras he has on his trees to catch wildlife and so forth. He has in his yard a target deer for him to shoot w/ his bow. The boys were all walking around and were pretty close when van noticed it. It must have scared him, and I wondered if it scared him BC we hit a deer a few weeks ago, it rolled across our windshield and flew off the other side, or if he just wasn't expecting to see something like that, but regardless, he saw the deer and back peddled as fast as he could, into taking his eyes off the animal. My uncle walked over to straighten in bc he was going to show the boys how he shoots it when the back half fell off of the deer. van turned around and ran for it at that point. He was so not happy w/ it!
Van has turned into such a 2 year old lately. He is full of sayings like "get out of my room Jo" (Jo shares a room with him) "get off my bed" (as we are trying to tuck him in for the night "get out, my movie" (as he is watching cars, bob the builder, or little einsteins- which is our fault. Van saw cars, toy story and bob for the first time less then a month ago, and he is hooked. I don't think he knew kids shows existed, he has always just watched ben 10, pokemon, or whatever the older kids were watching...) and then at night, when we kiss him, he wants to spit on us. Actually, he tries to blow zerbits on our cheeks, but mostly it is like spitting... such a punk.
So, the violins at the top of the page. I was raised a music nerd. I started violin at age 5, which is considered late for suzuki method, and was switched to cello at age 7 due to my lack of um, ability to stay still while practicing. According to my mom, she switched me to cello due to my tendency to hit everything with my bow, wander aimlessly around the house and attempts to sit on my bow while practicing. She felt that by switching me to a more stationary instrument, my practice quality could improve. I am not sure whether it did or not. However, 20 years later, I am still playing, and enjoying it. The time has come to pass this down! I ordered 2 violins today, a 1/2 for T, and a 1/4 for Jo. I still need to order another 1/4 for M, and a 1/16!!! for van. yes, even van will start, as suzuki tends to start at 3. I will find him a super durable one and let him "practice" for now. I cannot wait!!!! I have done so much research and reading and am so ready for this to start. i will be teaching a class of 6 boys, 3- 7 yr. olds, 2- 6yr., olds, and a 5 yr. old (half are mine) and van will get PRIVATE lessons for now;-) I am so excited for the violins to get here!!!

new years!

WE went to a friends of mine house for new years last night. A family party that started at 8... So, we thought we would go, stay until 10, then head home and put the kids to bed... WE stayed til 1, and the boys ran strong the whole time! we finally got everyone to bed around 130, and T was up by 620 ready for the day, with everyone else getting up before 7. I was so surprised that they didn't sleep in at all.... Overall though, we had a great, safe time ringing in the new years and hope everyone else did as well! ok. so new years means resolutions, and here are mine:
Family: to cut non-student loan debt by 50%
to teach the boys tennis, and spend more time as a family playing sports and being active (we have been such bums lately...)

personal: to lose 5 pounds
to cut all soda (big deal! end of day 1, doing great!)
to catch up my scrapbooks (i am 199 months behind, not even counting mine and johns childhood albums)
to be more patient w/ the boys by planning ahead better and not rushing them as often

ok, off to watch football!