Friday, June 20, 2014

Its Been Awhile

To update everyone on our lives from September until now seems a little daunting but I'm going to try to at least hit the highlights. Here goes:

October: Halloween, of course. The three younger kids dressed up and went trick-or-treating and even tried out a neighborhood haunted house. Pumpkinology was a day at school in Jillian's class where the subjects were focused on pumpkins. Science and math, reading stories about pumpkins and, of course, gutting them to prepare them for metamorphosis into jack-o-lanters. I was thrilled to be able to spend the day with her. Unfortunately, October was also when Jillian broke 3 bones in her foot by falling off the balance beam. Chloe was blessed by a 5th grade field trip to Catalina. If you watched GMA during October, you may have seen the story on the giant oar fish that washed up on the beach -- she was there and got to see it as well as all the media coverage. Pretty cool! :)


November: Nathan's turn for an awesome field trip. His class went to Astro Camp outside Palm Springs and had a great time.Chloe and I went to state gymnastics meet to get a feel for competition since she'll soon be Level 3 and asked to be part of the competitive team. She wanted to see what it was like and was encouraged by what she saw. Of course, November ends with Thanksgiving and we spent this year's in our OWN HOME. :) It was quiet and nice. And we continued our tradition of decorating the house for Christmas.


Chloe and her friend Maranda playing the violin
The kids with Santa at SWFAC
December: Christmas, of course and all the things that go along with it: the Buckeye Christmas parade and the kids' concerts. New this year was the Winter Wonderland at the advocacy center where I work - SWFAC. It was a program put on for the children who were victims who came through the center this year. The kids came and volunteered with me; Nathan helped with the cake walk, Chloe worked in the card making room and Jillian helped with making the gingerbread houses. December ended with Lowell's birthday and New Years. Both were days we took full advantage of having my dad here as a willing babysitter and went out together.


January: January was a big month. First was my birthday and we spent the whole day together at the zoo where we had a lot of fun and I got pooped on by a bird. Then, on the 13th I learned I was losing my job. The non-profit I have worked for had decided to close our program and that we would all be out of work by the end of June. I spent most of the last two weeks of the month in shock.



Jillian and her choir teacher

February: And then spent the first weeks of February taking care of a custody case for some kids I'd been seeing. I went to court and testified on their behalf; first time I've done that and it was terrifying but it felt great to know I could help. Jillian had a shopping day at school to learn about sales and I was able to help her man her finger-nail painting station. They were given monopoly money to shop with, sold their products, and then calculated their profit and loss statements.

March: The 15th was Jillian's birthday and since she wanted a pool party, we just had a small family gathering and postponed her actual party until the weather warms up. We also did a Community clean-up that Wyatt still talks about it. We went up to an area previously used for an informal shooting range and picked up trash. The whole family went, even Grandpa and we all had a good time. Spring break happened in March and was pretty uneventful but the talent show was a big adventure. Chloe and Jillian both participated in the event - Chloe doing an original gymnastics routine with her friend and Jillian singing a solo as well as performing with Show Choir. They both did a great job and worked on overcoming their stage fright.

Jordan in the hospital. Day 1
April: April was a very eventful month, especially for Chloe. I chaperoned her field trip to ASU where we went to the planetarium and space exhibit; she was promoted to level 3 in gymnastics and invited to be part of the competitive team, and her cat, Max, had to have surgery due to an infected bite by what was probably another cat. I was also incredibly busy in April. I found a new job with a company called Crisis Preparation and Recovery (CPR) and had my last day at my Glendale location. I started working part time with A New Leaf until the final location closes at the end of June and part time for CPR at the site in Glendale. Easter was a fun family day where we spent time at church and our tradition of hiding eggs here at the house but the most memorable event of April was Jordan's accident. Jordan was driving his motorcycle up one of our roads and a truck turned in front of him. He didn't have time to stop and was thrown over the bed of the truck. He had surgery on his right arm and was in a drug induced coma for a short period of time. All told, he broke his scapula, nose, wrist, and sternum; had a compound fracture on his right arm where they inserted a rod and pins, and a deep gash on his right knee. He currently has had his cast removed and is going to begin physical therapy. The prognosis is that he may have permanently lost the ability to completely rotate his hand - palm up - palm down, but that it shouldn't significantly affect his quality of life. Otherwise, they believe he should be fine.
Chloe with her 5th grade award
Nathan with his camo birthday cake
Jillian with her teacher




















May: Because of the end of school and holidays mainly, May was another extremely busy month. Nathan's birthday was celebrated just with the family because he is also going to celebrate his birthday by going paintballing over the summer. Chloe's birthday was here at home and small because she is going to take some friends to Jump Street. Mother's day was special because the kiddos made me some gifts and I got a card. Events celebrating the end of the school year included the kid's awards ceremonies, concerts, Jillian's Multiplication MathFacts Bee (in which she placed 7th) and Chloe's Amazing Race Day. We also learned both Chloe and Nathan were accepted into the honor's program. Unfortunately, May was also when I learned my friend, Lorraine has bladder cancer. She had surgery last week to remove the tumor and the prognosis is very good; at this point, they don't even think she'll need chemo. Prayers for her are appreciated!

June: As for June, on the 9th Jillian had her tonsils removed and has been recovering ever since. She's anxiously awaiting the day she can eat regular food and sing and swim. We've got a check-up with the doctor on the 25th to get her clean bill of health. Wyatt had his 3rd birthday on the 6th and we had a bar-b-que and swim party with some friends. Since Chloe had such success making Nathan's camo cake that she decided to make a "Bee-do" cake for Wyatt. (Bee-do is what Wyatt calls the minions on Despicable Me). It was adorable and Wyatt loved it. Father's day, our anniversary and Jordan's 21st birthday were all on the same day this year so we had more cake - Chloe made one for Jordan too - and a quiet evening at home. Lowell and I went to the hot springs and out to dinner to celebrate later in the week.


This is by no means an exhaustive narrative of our past 9 months but it basically gets everyone caught up on our lives thus far. :) Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us! Hopefully I'll be better at keeping this thing up to date from now on.