Jayden turned 5 and is a Kindergartener now!!

Jason has been home a couple weeks now, and it is so nice. I've been grocery shopping by myself a few times, and it is actually fun. :) I even got to go get my hair done yesterday. Yay for husbands being in town.

Jayden turned 5 last week. How in the heck did that ever happen? Seems like yesterday he was just a toddler hanging onto my pants to steady himself while he learned to walk. But he is a big boy now! He had his first day of kindergarten on Friday. Of course, I bawled after he walked into the school with his teacher, leaving me behind. At least it is only half day kindergarten. We can both ease into it this year before we jump head first next year for first grade.

Jayden could not be more excited to be in school. He was so cute on the first day. The kids had to line up outside the school to wait for their teacher to come and get them and bring them inside. Jayden walked right up to the other boys and said, "Hi, I'm Jayden. What's your name?" Then he came over to me and said, "Mom, that kid with the transformers backpack is Aiden." He did that several times. I was so happy to see that he wasn't too shy or overwhelmed. He was happily telling the other kids about his Buzz Lightyear backpack that is "3D without glasses!!!" I am so proud of him.

We are starting to get more settled in Colorado. Our basement will hopefully be finished within the next few weeks, which will be a relief. My whole house is in terrible disorder (for my liking, anyway) because of the basement construction. Every time someone goes downstairs, they come up and track drywall dust and other crap through the whole house. I will be very glad when that stops.

It has been thunderstorming (ya, I just made that word up) every afternoon for the last week and a half or so. I really like it. Not only does it smell nice, but it means I haven't watered my lawn for a while now. And since we actually have to worry about our own utilities for the first time in years, that is a good thing. Colorado is beautiful, and there is so much more we have to discover and explore. Jason loves it here, and it has been a while since he has liked where we have lived. Hopefully we can stay here for a little while.

Well, as usual, we love and miss you all. Come visit us!!

We took the kids to Mr. Biggs for Jayden's B-day. It was a blast.

Only a few days left

Jason will be home this week! Hooray! We are more than ready to see him again. Single mothering is way too hard...my hat is off to any mother who has to do this full time. The kids and I have been trying hard the last few days to not get on each other's nerves. Luckily, I had a couple lifesaving friends come to my rescue lately. I went to the new Twilight movie with my friend Kamee Hale (yes, all you Montana friends, That Kamee). Her husband was a saint and offered to watch the kids while we had a GNO. Much needed on my part. Anyway, that was super fun. And then my visiting teacher called and offered to take the kids for a couple hours. I didn't do anything super exciting, just grocery shopping, but even grocery shopping without kids seemed like a treat to me. And now the end is in sight. And you know, 7 weeks is a long time for a 2 year old. She has changed a lot since Jason left. She speaks in almost comprehensible sentences now. Won't Jason be surprised.

Motherhood

I cried when I watched this...hard. With Jason gone, things have been hectic, to say the least. I've been less patient and understanding than I should have been with my kids. I know I need to rely on Him a lot more. My children are the most amazing people in my life and they deserve my very best everyday. Sometimes messages of hope like this one are exactly what mothers like me need to hear.

Happy Independence Day!

I am so grateful to live in this country. I am grateful to my husband and all the military members who give their time and energy so that we can continue to enjoy our freedom. Our lifestyle depends on these people to keep being selfless in helping preserve our freedom. Thank You!

Jason is still in Cali, but I wanted to make sure and celebrate the 4th with the kids somehow. I found out that Fort Carson was hosting a big celebration, and since Colorado Springs didn't do a thing, it seemed like a good option. I am so glad I went! I've been telling everybody that the army really knows how to throw a party! There were about 20 jumpy castles for the kids, booths, lots of food, glow necklaces that my kids loved, and a band that was very entertaining indeed. The rock band and a traditional band accompanied the fireworks, which made it even more amazing. I was worried that the kids would be awful considering I had them up 3 hours past their bedtime, but they did remarkably well. Charlee was scared of the fireworks at first. I had her up on my shoulders until she started pulling my hair out to get down. Then she hid behind my legs, only peeking out briefly and then hiding again. But after a while, she warmed up to it and was just as enthusiastic as the boys.

My parents came up a couple weeks ago and we had a ton of fun exploring Colorado Springs. It is very beautiful here with lots of things to see and do. I think we only scratched the surface, and we were busy for 5 days. Here are some of the highlights.

Cowshare

So, in the last year or so I've been learning a lot about the virtues of whole foods. I still have a long way to go in cutting out so much processed foods from my family's diet, but I took a big step today. I was searching online for organic coops to see if there was anything available here in my new town. I came across information about a farm just outside of town that does cowshares. Since it is illegal in most states to sell raw, unpasteurized milk, this farm sells shares on cows. So you are not buying milk, you pay for the farm to board and care for your cow. So basically, I go get the milk from "my cow" once a week, plus sometimes yogurt, kefir, cheese, cheese curds, ect. Cool, huh? If any of you think I'm crazy and want to know what possessed me to want to do something like this, I highly suggest you google Weston Price and read about his studies. Fascinating.

I took the kids to the farm today to check it out and meet the cows. Besides getting a bit soiled from stepping in cow you-know-what, it was great fun. Charlee was so happy to see the cows, right up until one sniffed her up close. Then she got scared and buried her face in my shoulder. The farmer told us about their personalities, and we decided our favorite is the trouble-maker. She came right up behind James to check him out. He was pretty surprised to see her there when he turned around. Instant friendship, I tell ya.

So, here's to improved health and well-being for my family. Cheers.

Some good pics

I forgot to blog about the moving the tramp adventure. Jason was dreading taking the trampoline apart because we knew we couldn't take it with us to Colorado (having bought a house with a sloped backyard, and all). So, anyway, it turned out that our friends down the street wanted the tramp, and they got a couple friends together to help move it. I honestly didn't think it would work without taking it apart, but this is the result of their teamwork. :)

So, I am always trying to come up with easy things to do with Charlee's hair. She is like her mama and has long, thick, unruly hair. And, just like me when I was a kid, she HATES to get her hair done. She cries and fights the whole time I'm trying to do it. I look online and there are all sorts of cute ways to do girls hair, and most of them involve time-intensive flips and braids and multiple rubberbands... Ya, Charlee will not go for that, I've tried. So, I got online and ordered these super-cute headbands with big flowers that are very "in" right now. And sooo easy. This is the very adorable result.

And finally, only my family will appreciate this, but we have this home video from when we were kids and Kelli is famous for her "I some" line. So, here is Charlee with the exact same sentiments.

Nothin' Much

Now that I have unpacked as far as I can until we have a basement (finished, that is), we have thankfully been able to have a little more order in our lives. I have finally been able to get some homework done, although it's been precious little, and I have a lot of catching up to do. The kids I think are lonely for their friends because we still don't really know anyone here. I have been taking them to ward playgroup every Tuesday, but that is all the social interaction they get besides Sundays. I did take them to an indoor playplace yesterday called Lil' Biggs. It was fun, but something we will only do every so often because it's expensive. I need to start taking the kids to see the local (free) attractions. Luckily, our ward had an RS meeting on that very subject this last week, so I am more informed at this point than I ever thought I would be so early in a move.

I am still pretty worried about the whole babysitting situation for when I start attending births again, which I am hoping will be soon. But, like all things in life, I need to just have patience that it will all work out sooner or later, with the Lord's help.