Here are some pictures and maybe some goings-on as well.
Jeremy started his new job January 30. So far it's great! He doesn't come home for lunch because it would be a little tricky. His office is on the other side of Safford. He's not salary anymore, which means that they go to extreme measures to make sure nobody gets unapproved overtime. And it'll take some time before he feels like he fits in there. But there's someone who is trying to work out something that would mean he'd get paid more, and the hours are great! He takes a half hour lunch, so work is from 6:00-2:30. :) I love having him home more! I'm so thankful. It's such a blessing!
Jeremy and Michael went on a scout campout with Michael's Webelos group, and they took Benji along. Michael isn't technically in Webelos anymore, but his leader wanted to finish up a few things so he can get his Arrow of Light. Bless him! Such a good guy. Anyway, so they went last weekend and had a great time, and now Jeremy knows another place where we can go camping. Thumbs up!
Michael is in 11-year-old scouts now with the man who was our bishop when we lived in this ward before. He's such a good guy and really knows what he's doing. I'm so happy for Michael! He's had some good leaders.
Hyrum and Joshua are pretty much at a stand-still with scouts because his leaders won't do it. They way that everyone's at a different place in the requirements, so it would be too hard to figure it out, so they won't. Isn't that what scouts is? Everyone is always at a different place! I don't know how we'll ever get any of them their Eagle.
Hyrum has made some friends, though. :) Our neighbors down the street, the Jensens, have 3 boys. One is grown and lives in Tucson, one is Hyrum's age, and one is between Joshua and Benji. Brother Jensen was Michael's Webelos leader, and Amy, the mom, is my good friend. Anyway, Sheldon, the middle boy, is Hyrum and Joshua's friend. They go over and play games, and they have lots of fun. I like Sheldon because he'll chat with me. :) Also, there's a kid in seminary with Hyrum and Joshua named JD. He is homeschooled and his family used to play World of Warcraft too. So they have that in common, and it just took off from there. JD isn't doing college right now, but He and Hyrum walk together to JD's corner and then JD continues to his house and Hyrum goes to the school. And sometimes they sit on the ground at the corner and just chat. Ha ha! I'm thankful that he made some friends! He was so worried about it for a long time because he couldn't figure out anyone to be friends with. I think we all go through that.
Cute baby
Some mornings when I'm getting the older kids ready Bubby wakes up too, so I get him dressed to go wait for the bus with us. He likes that. He loves to find his socks and shoes and coat in the morning.
Here's Jill waiting for the bus. I thought she looked extra cute, so I took this. We got her those boots for Christmas, and she wore them every day for a while. And whoever invented leggings so Jill can wear them under her skirt is hired!
I've been hesitant to mention this, knowing that head smackings might ensue, because, after all, the schools and teachers are good here, but we pulled Jill out of school, and she's now doing homeschool. I was sad to do it because her teacher is like the best in the whole school, and she really likes him. She had just reached a point where she wouldn't do the work anymore. And I mean AT ALL. She kept coming home with extra work that was all blank because she was doing pretty much nothing at school. And it was torture enough to get her to do what homework we were already doing!
Jeremy reached the same point in first grade. One day he got up from his seat and went and laid on the table in the back of the room and said that he was done. And he was. There was nothing they could do but send him home. And he stayed home for a few weeks until he was ready to go back. He had lots of make-up work, but he did it and passed just fine.
So for Jill, right now we're reading Brighty of the Grand Canyon, and we have been working from a workbook, and now she has a journal to write in. We'll work on sight words and math, but I wanted to kind of ease into it so she doesn't freeze up on me again. I figure she will want to go back again someday. She's already talked about it some. I don't know when. We'll play that by ear. For now, I'm enjoying having her home. She's my girl! And she's a big help.
Henry fell asleep eating yogurt.
One day, Michael came home from school and pulled out the new hide-a-bed. He got out his homework and fell asleep. Ha ha! Poor fella. I was glad he got a nap. And he did finish his homework later. He's my best homework doer right now. Well, maybe Hyrum is tied with him.
Speaking of Hyrum, he's doing pretty good with his classes. He started to struggle with his math class because the couldn't figure out logarithms, so I sent him to the tutor again. That just made his day. He has it figured out now. :) And he's doing all right in chemistry too. I knew he would!
Joshua is taking English, C#, and math. The only problem he's really had with C# is keeping track of his materials. He lost a thumb drive his Papa gave him for school, and so we had to replace it. Thank goodness they're relatively cheap these days! And another time he needed help on an assignment and didn't want to bother asking. Argh! I have to prompt him to get his homework done at times, and to talk to his teachers, and to go to class. He likes his teachers, though. He complains about the English assignments and then does a great job. He went to the tutor for help with an essay he wrote just recently and was really happy with the suggestions they gave him. He's a pretty good writer. I may have to put some of his writing up here sometime soon.
At Christmas Jeremy takes the kiddos one at a time to Dollar Tree to get presents for everyone. This was Benji's present for Hyrum. Don't you love that touching note? Ha ha! Well, Hyrum doesn't seem to mind. He uses it.
I have such a hard time getting Benji out of bed in the morning! Teenagers! Pfff! One morning I was laying in bed trying to stay warm because I didn't need to be up. But I was texting him to get up because he did need to. He sent me this picture and said, "This is how I feel this morning." Ha ha! It makes me laugh. He actually texts me a lot. I love it! It makes me very happy that we got him a phone.
When we got our new phones I finally had room on my phone for Pokemon Go, and Benji got it too. So once or twice a week Jeremy, Benji, and I go for a walk to play it, and it's pretty fun. :) This particular night we found the math and science building open. (There are several places to find Pokemon and such on the EAC campus, so that's where we walk.) We found Aaron's office, and you can't really tell, but they were really squishing their faces on the glass. I took the picture and then sent it to Aaron and said, "Why you not here?!!" Ha ha!
Asleep in the high chair again
Henry found the bowl that I mixed cornbread in, and he put it on his head.
This is in the kids' section at the library. It's down in kind of a pit, and there are books all around, and an easel with crayons and paper, and these magnets, and a train table, and a few other toys. Henry likes to play there. :) I like that this chair is just his size. :) I'm pretty sure he does too.
Benji's cast got too loose, so we had to take him to get another one. I had to take Bubby, and it was quite a fiasco, and the nurse was quite annoyed. I wanted to give her an hour with Bubby in that room just so she'd understand I was doing what I could, ya know?
Benji
I had to take pictures before he got it off. Right after he got his cast we all signed it. I wrote <3 Mommy kind of little so there would be plenty of room left. Joshua wrote, "Beejy wants diaper," in giant letters. Benji was embarrassed for a while and was sure to wear his jacket all the time so nobody would see. Then he got over it. Ha ha! Lots of friends signed it. I think he liked that. Michael wrote, "Thanks kid." That tickled my gizzard. It is quite in character for their friendship.
And speaking of which, Joshua has been closer friends with Benji and Joshua lately. It's been fun. :) He fits right in with their silly quirkiness.
This is the old cast too. When they wrap it they make the part around his thumb really thin. You can see it broke off. The new one was done by the grouchy nurse, and she seemed like she was new at it. It came out kind of sloppy, but it does the job, I guess.
Jill is still losing teeth left and right.
Henry was sick one day, and it was so sad. He kept falling asleep in random spots all day.
Asleep again.
Awake, but not feeling so good. At least he has the monkey.
Cute boys stole my bed again.
Bubby was so sad. It was Monday after a long weekend, and he came downstairs after everyone was gone. He went and looked out the window and said, "Timmy go a school again." Then he sat there looking sad."
I think this was after a shopping trip. Someone brought the little guys and put them on the couch like this. :)
Jill joined in.
Timmy had just one front tooth for a while. The ones on either side were gone. If you know your dental charts, a believe it was teeth D, F, and G missing. (E and F are the two front baby teeth.) Now he's missing E too. It's crazy! That's a lot of gums up front. I don't know when they'll come back. It might be a while. Good thing he's cute!
Back at the library!
We go pretty much every week. I love it there!
Henry found a Mickey Mouse, and he put it through the fence. Then he stuck his head through the bars. Then he stuck his foot and this hands through, all in turn, trying to get it. When he finally did get it he put it back and stuck his head through again. The head part kind of freaked me out! They should have put the bars closer together!
The little ones have really been enjoying the warmer weather!
Timmy loves Halloween. Here is him being a spider for Halloween.
Henry smiles like this with his nose scrunched all the time. It cracks me up.
A couple of drawings I found laying around.
This is why we don't get the treadmill out very often lately. The little ones want to do it too, and Timmy and Bubby like to drive their cars on the back end. Argh! It was cute, though. :)
Henry came with Jeremy and me to my birthday date dinner. We went to Denny's. Henry was restless waiting for the food, so I handed him a jelly packet. He chewed on it and drove it on the table like a car, complete with car sounds. :)
Henry and me at Denny's. Jeremy gave me that shirt for my birthday. He knows I like stripes. Ha ha!
Is this not the most gorgeous cheesecake ever?! I hadn't made cheesecake from scratch since high school, and I'd never made a New York style one. I had been wanting to try it for a long time, so I decided my birthday was a good opportunity. Well, the picture on the recipe was deceptive. I think whoever took it must have halved the recipe. I looked at the picture and thought, "That's not enough for us. I'll have to double it and make 2." So I did. Well, they both came out huge!
And then after the cheesecake was done it was supposed to slowly cool down in the oven for 5-6 hours. So I left it in there thinking it would be safe. Wrong! I went up to take a shower after a couple of hours, and while I was in there Bubby, the guy who has gouged holes in every single birthday cake for the last year or more, found them. He took several handfuls of one of them and smeared it on the bottom of the oven. He was even thoughtful enough to push it through the holes so it went down in the broiler too. Argh! Then he got a bunch of paper towels and stuck them in there, trying to clean it up, I guess. Cleaning that up was not what I wanted to do for my birthday! But I did, and then I put the kiddos to bed and whined about how I wanted to just jump in bed and have them put themselves to bed, just like every night. Ha ha!
So anyway, he wasted about 3/4 of one of the cakes. I'm glad I made two, but I'm sad that so much was wasted. But I didn't really need to eat it anyway! It was so rich, and, man, it was good! Man! that recipe's a keeper! It was easy and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. Just right. :) I'm not sure if I've explained enough, but I loved it. Ha ha! Oh, cheesecake. Yum, yum, yum. I think that's my favorite dessert of all time. Benji put on the cherries, and I thought it looked so pretty, too. :)
Timmy still draws a lot with Microsoft Paint on my computer. He likes to take pieces of pictures and make something new with them. He dew legs on cowboy Mario after I took the picture. Cute, huh?
Mario is a vampire in this one. He kind of looks like a Russian vampire, huh? Ha ha!
Sleepy baby
One Saturday Hyrum was cleaning, and he saw the hot air balloon getting ready to take off right across the street. We ran to the window and looked, and then I took some pictures as it went past our house. The company that does the rides is called Just Ducky (because the balloon has a duck on it), and the rides cost like $100 per person. Pretty steep, but someday I'd like to try it! Either way, it's fun seeing this around town now and then.
I looked away for a minute, and the next thing I knew Henry was up on the table finishing the noodles Jill, Timmy, and Bubby were eating. I got him down and put some of the noodles on a plate, but he wasn't interested. XD
All washed and ready to turn in
This fell down in the bottom of the dishwasher and melted on the element. It's actually 2 pieces.
Gave a boy some chocolate...
I was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, and Henry kept coming over and sitting by me.
Sneaky fella! We weren't watching him, and this is where he ended up. A few months ago I found the Ernest commercials at Wal-Mart in the cheapo bin. I grabbed it. They're not as funny as I remember, but Jill likes them.
Happy chicken nugget :)
Jeremy and some little guys ready to go home after church on Jeremy's birthday
Isn't he handsome? :) I like it when he wears his suit coat.
He wanted chocolate pudding with Swedish Fish on top. I put on 39 because that's how old he is. And 3+9=12, and 1+2=3, so Jeremy is 3 this year, as per his math, so he got 3 candles.
I was cold and tired one morning. I laid down on the couch, and this guy came and cuddled, and we both fell asleep. :)
He's just so cuddly sometimes! <3
At the store yesterday Jill found this sewing machine and wanted me to take a picture of her with it.
And so Bubby had to grab something to get a picture with too. Ha ha!
