Expelliarmus!

I walked into the living room and found Emma and Nathan playing Harry Potter. It was adorable so I had to take a few pictures. You'll notice Memory Cards on the floor. We are back to playing Memory all day long with Emma.

Emma Wins!

I Know, I Know. Stop Yelling Already!

I'm back from Blog Failures Anonymous. I haven't posted anything in a long time and I've missed a few birthdays, too.

So quickly, here you go.

Nathan, I love you, happy birthday!! I'm so grateful to have you in my life. You are awesome and you will always be my Samwise.

 Jeremy and Emma

There aren't a lot of times where they get along this well, so we had to take a picture to document the occasion. Jeremy was reading to Emma and both were enjoying it.

Star Bellied Sneetch Brownie Balls!

I finally found a tutorial for making these that is actually helpful! yay!

More Lincoln

cause he's cute :)

Megan's Birthday!!!

This deserves it's own post, but time isn't really something I've got right now. So here ya go.

This is what we did to her door while she slept

this is what we did to her floor while she slept

more decorations

Love you, Megan!!

Backtracking

I realized that I've missed quite a few posts, and a couple of them I feel bad about missing. Others are more of the "this is what's been going on" vibe.

So here's the first of the I-feel-bad-for-missing-this-post post.

Wahoo for Jeremy's First Day of Preschool 2010!

Jeremy is actually doing really well so far this year. I know we haven't even had a full week of school yet thanks to Labor Day and Rosh Hoshanah, but he seems excited to go, he's practically running into the classroom (instead of me shoving him in and then running away), and he's trying to be obedient to his teachers even when he doesn't want to. He's told me the names of a couple other students in his class and has even admitted to me that one of them is his friend (huge improvement since Jeremy doesn't really like other kids much). He's enjoying gym, where last year those days were almost impossible for him. I'm really proud of him and all the growth and improvement he's made. 

The second I-feel-bad-for-missing-this-post post is . . .

Happy 30th Birthday, Nathan! Congratulations on being old!

Yes, we celebrated Nathan's 30th birthday at the beginning of the month. While I think this birthday should mark the end of his teasing me and calling me old, it probably won't. Nathan wanted flan instead of a traditional birthday cake this year and lasagna for dinner. It was all quite tasty. Nathan is now one year closer to having his age make sense of all the gray in his hair. Don't worry about it! You know it will make your patients trust you more than those young'ins.

It's So Nice . . .

I love having Nathan home during the week. I don't know what I'll do once school starts again. Cry, probably.

Anyway, today we have had lots of fun! Monday is the "free" day at the Cleveland Zoo. I say "free" because while all we have to do is show our licenses to prove we live in the county to get into the zoo, we also pay a lot of taxes for this one free day a week that we only take advantage of about 3 times a year.

However, today was more free than usual. We hadn't been in the zoo for five minutes when a lady came up to me and asked if we wanted her Zoo Bucks. Zoo Bucks work like money for the extras that the zoo charges for: the dinosaur exhibit, feeding the birds, riding the train, camel rides, etc. They were leaving and she said her son hadn't wanted to do any thing extra and so she had an entire book of Zoo Bucks (which equals $12, but costs $10 to buy). So this is what we did with them!

Megan wouldn't let go of a flamingo feather she found. She carried it through the whole zoo.

I wanted a picture of Nathan getting his head eaten by this dinosaur,

but there were lots of people waiting for pictures. Dang.

Jeremy insisted that he doesn't like robot dinosaurs, only real dinosaurs. That's too bad.

I don't think he'll find many exhibits with those.

And here's Nathan's favorite quote of the day from Jeremy:

"Tyrannosaurus is a meat eater and we're meat!" 

Megan and Jeremy asked if they could do the camel ride as we were driving into the zoo and Nathan told them no "because it probably costs $4 a person." Which is exactly what we found it does cost.

But with our Zoo Bucks . . . ta da! 

Free!

So a happy time was had by all. We also. . .

Peru

Well, Nathan is back and has almost fully recovered from his bout with food poisoning (airline food, gotta love it). I don't know if he was planning on writing a post or not and since he's at school while I'm writing this, I can't ask him. But I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pictures from his trip, and then when he gets home, I'll tell him to post his adventures.

Peruvian woman in traditional dress.

He had to pay the woman to let him take the picture:)



He didn't have to pay this lady;), but he said he thought about buying me one of these blankets, but knew I wouldn't use it. He said all the women there carry their babies this way.


I can't remember what Nathan said this is a picture of, but I think it is gorgeous.


Nathan by the stone of 12 corners. He doesn't remember why the stone with its 12 corners is significant, but he remembers it was important for some reason. I think it's cool because each of these stones fit perfectly together. To make a stone with 12 corners fit and all the surrounding stones fit is just amazing to me.

You might have noticed that I haven't posted many pictures of Nathan. That's because he took a lot of pictures of the other student that went with him and the other student took pictures of him, but they both did this picture taking with their own cameras, so we have some exchanging to do before I have any pictures of Nathan.

Like I said, I'll try to get Nathan to write a post about his trip when he gets home from school.

So, If You Haven't Heard . . . .

Nathan called Thursday at 1:30PM to tell me he was in the E.R. He hasn't been feeling well since last weekend and it's just gotten worse and worse with fever, back aches, severe head aches, and more that I won't mention now. He went to the student health clinic to see his doctor and tell her the last round of antibiotic she gave him didn't work and that he was feeling worse. She took his temp and he was over 103. She sent him to the E.R. and there he called me.

Very kindly, a friend came over to be with the kids while I met him at the E.R. a couple hours later (Thank you Claudia! We totally owe you dinner!). I got there in time for some testing, cultures and a CT scan.

Turns out he has a kidney infection from a previous infection he had that didn't get resolved on his first round of medicine. So now he's on a stronger antibiotic that he'll take for two weeks and that should clear it up.

We were finally able to leave the hospital sometime after 8PM. I'm happy to have him home and somewhat healthy.

Love you, Nathan! Get Better!

Probes are of the Devil and I Feel Lame

. . . and sore. So I went back to good ol' Case Dental School today. I was reminded why I hate going to the dentist. Seriously, I love you Nathan, and Ryan, you're cool, and all y'all dental students or dentists (hey Adam!) who may be reading this, you know I think you're great. But seriously, it takes one messed up person to want to be a dentist.

Probing my gums was not part of the dentist experience growing up and now all of a sudden they are sticking this thing up my gums and calmly calling out random numbers one through five, and I'm laying there on my head thinking, I'd rather be in labor without an epidural right now.

I actually cried. For a while. Nathan had to stop probing and ask someone in charge if he actually had to go on. He did. Now my gums are so sore that I don't want to eat anything. And I have cavities. Plenty of them. This isn't fair!! I brush. I floss, dang it! Almost every night I'm there pushing that stupid string between my teeth. Now I actually have to go back. And not just in six months, but within the next six days.

Anyone wanna babysit? Jeremy climbed all over me during the probing. Tell me that didn't make things hurt more. At least our friend Pete took Megan to class with him. She actually sat through an entire lecture with him and quietly played on his laptop.

Also, I actually fell asleep no less than 4 times while in that blasted dental chair. I am so tired that I can fall asleep during a painful cleaning. Get that? This was just a cleaning and I was in tears. It wasn't Nathan's fault, let me put that in. I just have awful teeth. So yeah, I actually fell asleep in the chair. Two of these times though was when Nathan was trying to decide which tool to use, trying to read the size of the scraper thingies. And this wasn't my first time falling asleep in a dental chair. I did it last time, too. (Hey Adam! Don't know if you noticed it or not.)

At one point I compared/contrasted the dentist experience to the hair cutting experience.

Dentist Experience: pain expected

Salon Experience: not usually painful unless your ear gets clipped by idiot hairdresser

Dentist Experience: painful all the way through

Salon Experience: usually only painful at the end when I look in the mirror and see the damage

Dentist Experience: I can fall asleep assuming they don't ask me questions about myself while their pain-inducing and of the devil tools are in my mouth

Salon Experience: I can fall asleep assuming they don't ask me questions about myself

Dentist Experience: I visit the dentist about twice a year (not counting visits for fillings)

Salon Experience: I visit the salon about twice a year (sad, but true)

Anyway, I thought it shocking that the two things were so similar. Still, I'd rather get my hair cut than go to the dentist. Like I said before, I'd rather be in labor without the epidural than go to the dentist.

Seven Years

Happy Anniversary

Seven years ago today Nathan and I entered the Salt Lake Temple and were married for time and eternity.


I am so grateful to have Nathan as my husband. He helps me be better, reminding me to be happy and calm; and he never fails to remind me I am a better wife, mother, and person than I give myself credit for.

Nathan reminds me to have fun. Sometimes I get trapped in the stresses of life and forget that life is meant to be enjoyed. Nathan is always there with a smile and something funny to help me laugh.


I am thankful I get to spend not only the rest of my life, but eternity with Nathan. We've had many adventures together and I am excited to see what adventures lay in store for us.

I love you, Nathan!

Hail, the Conquring Hero

Nathan graduated from Officer training on Monday. YAY! It's over! We have him back! (Almost. He's on a plane to Cleveland only to turn around and fly back in a couple hours.)

We attended his graduation, which I have to say, was a hundred times better than my high school or either of my college graduations. This is because it was short and sweet. There was only one speaker and he didn't feel the need to share any stories about his vacations with his grandfather or talk for an hour (unlike our high school valedictorian--for two whole freakin' hours).

Anyway, as you can see, we are very happy to have Nathan back with us!



After the graduation ceremony we went to pick up Nathan's brother and celebrated at Sea World. Nathan got free tickets for being in the Army, which was good because we got there around 6PM and it closes at 8PM. While what we did was fun and way cool, we didn't do a whole lot and it wouldn't have been worth it to pay just for two shows and one ride.

Here they are checking out the flamingos on the way to ride Texas Splashdown.

We saw the show Viva! which, if that doesn't make Megan and Emma want to grow up to be animal trainers and high divers at Sea World, I don't know what will. Let me tell you, I was all set to go back to school and start gymnastics/swimming lessons after that show. If I'd seen that show as a kid, I wouldn't have studied history and English--love them as I do--I wouldn't have done it.

We also saw the main Shamu show which was also great. We got there late and didn't get seats, so it was kind of hard to see, but what I did see was fun.

Jeremy and me on Texas Splashdown.
Jeremy got to go twice since they wouldn't let me take Emma on the ride without shoes and we can't find one of them--hence, no shoes on her feet and no ride.

So for those of you who care, Nathan arrives in about 8 hours and then will be getting some sleep. He didn't get much last night due to some nasty food poisoning (Megan, too). Then on Thursday we will start the trek back. I'm not really ready to give up my vacation yet, but since school starts soon, I don't have much choice.

See you Clevelanders soon!

T- Minus and Counting

I went to sleep at 2:30 AM. Got up at 3:15. Got the kids in the car at 3:45. Picked up one of Nathan's school friends at 4:00. Dropped Nathan and his friend off at the airport at 4:45. Drove home. Made a little breakfast. Made bread (thank you bread machine) to take to Church for Sacrament. Watched the kids drop off to sleep on the living room floor. Picked each one up and carried them to my bed. Got in the bed. Slept from 7:15 to 8:30 (I think). Got up and went to Church at 9.

I'm tired.

I'm exhausted.

And I miss Nathan already.


For those of you who don't know, Nathan is in Officer Training for the Army for the next 6 weeks. The first three of those weeks I will be home with three kids by myself, pregnant, and babysitting three kids one or two times a week from 9 AM to 3 PM. I've already cried and had a pity party. More pity parties are on the calender if you'd like to join.

Jerie, how in the world have you survived? Your husband has been in his Training for months now. I would have gone nuts if I were you. You are truely the world's Super Woman.

I love you, Nathan. Miss you.

Carved Easter Eggs, Easter Eggland, and Dying Eggs

Late last night Nathan called a friend and asked, "Hey, do you want to go do something stupid?" They then left for the dental school campus where they proceeded to carve hollow eggs with their dental tools--a drill fitted with a diamond bur, to be somewhat exact. Here are most of Nathan's results. We did have a casualty before we could get a picture of all of them.

(Front)
(Back)

Very good for his first time, I think.

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Also this week in Easter News & Events we went to Eggshelland. Check it out.



The same family has been doing this for 54 years. They hollow out the eggs, color them with enamel paint, the grandma draws everything out, and then the grandkids place the eggs on their posts to keep them in place. Isn't that cool? And surprisingly she said it isn't a year round thing for them, but that they start doing everything in January.

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Lots of the moms at Church decided to do an Easter Egg Hunt on Friday. So we all brought a bunch of eggs, hid them, and let the kids go at it.


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And here are Megan and Jeremy dyeing Easter Eggs.



We also learned recently that Jeremy can curl his tongue.
Megan, sadly, cannot. But don't tell her that.


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Easter Morning



Megan found her Easter basket hiding in the fireplace.


Jeremy found his hiding in the shoebox. (It was everything we could do just to get him to go get his shoes so he could find that dang thing.)

When he finally went to get his shoes, he actually got his shoes before bothering to pick up his Easter basket. Funny kid.