Park pictures

I know I already sent a Smilebox on this one and posted another Smilebox of our fun time at the park but I just love these pictures!

A day at the Fire department.

Halloween!

This year we had Weston as Indiana Jones. Indy is Wes' absolute hero right now. We bought a whip that plays music and makes whipping sounds (and came with a 7 min. DVD featuring highlights of the real Indiana Jones movies-since I won't let him watch them quite yet) and put on some cargo pants with his bomber jacket and a hat. He's been pretending he's Indy for weeks beforehand and after.

Andrew was some type of gorie, black, skeleton of death with an oozing heart. Of course the ooze had to ooze all over his pants just before he set out to trick or treat.

Greer was the good ol' cheetah standby. That costume has served our family well ;). The firefighter costume was closer to her size but I couldn't find it. Next year we can do something girly but this year I just wanted something warm, note the bow though and the pink shoes which incidentally *she* picked out and had to wear (she's a shoe and purse/necklace girl it seems). We had a cold snap just before Halloween unfortunately.

Thankfully the candy is gone for now in our household.

Fall Memories

Make a Smilebox photobook

Weston's Birthday Party

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Black October....& November?

Ok so we've had a string of bad luck this last month. I was hoping it would end with October but seeing as today is November 1st apparently it hasn't. It started with the dishwasher breaking. Let's see, I think that was around $300 post warranty. Then the after our heater was inspected (I kept having that feeling to get it inspected thankfully before we turned it on) it turned out our heating exchange was cracked (ie carbon monoxide leaking point). Since it's 13 yrs old we opted to go ahead and get the whole thing replaced. Fortunately a guy in our ward was able to help us out on that one and it only set us back $2100. Today, while visiting the local Nature Center we decided to go on a little hike with the kids. Shortly after we started our hike our mini-van was broken into, the window smashed and my purse stolen. There was only $25 in it (sucks for them). I froze all of the accounts but all of my addresses and the birthdays that I had finally written down for the family were all in there. Could everyone please send me all of your family members birthdays again ;). Thanks. We'll see how much this sets us back but since our deductible is $500 I suspect that it will be at least that to replace the window. What a pain! Let's hope that this is the end of our Black Month. Oh, I almost forgot Andrew racing his scooter down our steep driveway last weekend and knocking part of his front tooth out. We'll see what that is to get it repaired.

Gas prices still crazy

So while the rest of you are enjoying fairly descent gas prices as that goes these days we are still suffering from a shortage after hurricane Ike, arrrgggg! Gas here is finally $3.67 roughly, down from 3.89 last week and at least most gas stations finally are carrying gas again. What a time this is! Crazy.

Just adding to this after the fact that gas got up to the low $4s (like $4.20) and stayed there for a few months.

Water skiing

A few weeks ago, I wish our camera had been working, our very kind neighbors took us out on their boat to go waterskiing. Their son who is 17 years old is a national wake boarding champion. The Dad is extremely kind and very kid friendly. He wanted to give the boys some experience with the water and see if they would water ski.

So we tried Andrew first after a lot of coaxing at first. I knew he wanted to try but was a little skeptical. Our neighbor got in the water with him and helped to steady him until he got going. He almost got up the first time but after a short stretch his skis wobbled and he went down. The next time he wouldn't let go of the rope and drug behind the boat for awhile, poor kid. That was the end of his try but I'm sure he'll try it again next time.

So then Weston who was not quite 5 yet decided that he was going to out do his brother and do this thing! So he got in the water with our friend steadying him and popped up on the first try. He didn't actually stand up all the way but he ended up waterskiing a good 75 yards until he decided to let go. He got up out of the water and that was our first indication of his plan when we said, "Do you want to go again?" and he said, "No, I did it longer than Andrew." Well alrighty then. Wish I had pictures of the boys. They were both amazing!

Our trip to Asheville (Sept '08)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Apocalypse Now

Wish I had pictures of this but since it's raining I didn't want to get the camera out. It feels a little like the last days here in the south east right now. There is so much in the news going on right now with the financial crisis and elections that there has been no coverage of this but we are essentially out of gasoline for cars here right now. B/c of hurricane Ivan shutting down the refineries in TX, our two major pipelines come straight from this area and they are all but shut down right now. The gas supply started getting spotty just after the hurricane and while it was "supposed" to be up and running, here we are a week later. It is reminiscent of the 1970s around here. Almost all gas stations are shut down right now in Charlotte down to Atlanta. When they do have them you are limited to 10 gallons and there are police officers and fire trucks as well as security guards at all the stations to make sure that there are no line cutters/fights breaking out and to direct traffic which is backing up the surrounding roads. It is not uncommon to have to wait 30-45 min.s for gas in line. It's giving me an ulcer!

School has begun

Remember the last post about letting the boys loose with the cameras to help facilitate their creativity? Well, we won't have any more pic.s temporarily as Wes' creativity broke the camera! Arrggg. I'm going to see if a local camera shop can fix it. I was planning to actually buy Andrew a digital camera since he really seems to have a natural gift for it but it looks like that will be delayed a few months until we can replace or fix our own camera. Oh well, such is life. I keep thinking that we should start a savings fund for all of the damaged items that we'll see as the boys' grow, "The Boy's Damage Fund." I'm terrified already for when they both start driving :).

The boys went camping with Daddy and Grandpa Jorgensen last weekend and had a blast. They also went to Panther Falls with both Grandpa and Grandma. The kids love visiting their grandparents and had such a fun time. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen for helping the kids to have such fun memories.

Andrew started his 2nd grade year. Wes will start preschool next Tuesday and is very excited.

I have begun reading a all of the books written by Linda and Richard Eyre such as Teaching Children Values, Teaching Children Responsibility, etc.. I really am enjoying them and like their philosophy as well as their concrete ideas. So en lieu of that, we decided to have a family meeting about creating some family laws and voting on them as well as their consequences. Our laws: Play without hitting (added to this later was hurting, see story to follow). Listen when someone is speaking. Talk with a nice voice.

So shortly after making these rules, very shortly, Weston proceeds to rough house with Andrew and kick him. We pointed out that we had all just voted on and agreed to our new rules to which he replied, "We voted on no hitting!! I kicked him!! I didn't hit!" Ahheemmm. OK, so our rule has an addendum now of no hurting. That little guy had actually thought it through and knew what he was doing! Too smart for his own good.

Andrew continues to be so extremely sensitive and kind about taking care of Greer that it's amazing for me to watch. He really misses her while at school and looks forward to playing with he as soon as he gets home. However, time management is a major problem still. This year he is taking the bus to and from school which is a big treat for him but he missed it (only the 4th day of school) so he walked accompanied by mom and siblings. I'm not sure how much of a punishment it was though since he seemed to love riding his scooter. I might have to think of another consequence besides that one.

Greer is almost walking now but not quite. My back has been giving me problems again. I'm quite sure that I slipped a disc last month (since I couldn't move at all for 3 days straight and then took another week to be independently mobile). Thanks to a fantastic chiropractor I have been doing so much better but with my help out of town last weekend I did too much bending and lifting and have been set back again the last few days. Needless to say that I'm finally ready for Greer to start walking on her own hopefully sooner than later. She has a little sense of humor though and loves to tease. She looks at you and gets a little smile on her face before she does something then laughs. While her vocabulary is still: mama, dada and now ni-ni (for night night) she comprehends really well and uses the signs that she has really proficiently. She's a character, that's for sure.

Our Garden

I decided to try my hand at a garden again this year and dub it my "learning garden" just so I wouldn't be too frustrated if nothing turned out like my first year. We tried a method called Square Foot Gardening which enables you to pack more into a smaller space, perfect for us. Andrew took these pictures.

We planted: cherry tomatoes (doing well), basil (doing very well), oregano (great), marigolds (still trying to bloom), sugar snap peas (my favorite and we've eaten a few off of the vine), swiss chard (not doing so great), pumpkin (withered up after growing a spectacular vine), canteloupe (great vine but yet to produce), and cucumber (we have one gargantuan cucumber that Andrew discovered today). As well as some potted peppers and tomato plants. It's been a great experience.

Budding Photographers and Videographers

I've turned the boys loose this summer with our old video camera and camera. Andrew especially has really taken some amazing pictures. He took some yesterday with my friend's camera. As soon as she forwards them to me I'll be sure to post them. But here are a few as well as the garden pic.s to follow in the next post.

Greer's First Piggy Tails

A new birthday outfit

Blackberry picking

Actually this was after our picking. Can I just tell you how blazing hot it is here in NC right now during blackberry picking. Incidentally we also got some *very* tasty peaches off of our own peach tree. Not as good of crop as last year but very tasty nonetheless. Here is Greer enjoying here first taste of blackberries.

Summer field trips

We were able to go to the local water facility called, "The Blue Planet Environmental Center". This is where we got to learn how our lake and river water is filtered and recycled into clean drinking water. Pretty interesting. The boys got to learn some more about conservation as we've been in a drought here for quite some time now. The woman giving the tour said that they have a phrase at their house re: the toilet for the kids that goes something like this, "If it's yellow let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down." Well, if that's the case then my boys were born conservationists seeing as nothing yellow or brown ever goes down!

No pictures right now but I just wanted to add a little about Andrew and Weston's personalities.

Wes has been fascinated with all things "China." In fact this has proven to be really advantageous to me as I've been able to get more veggies into him by making eggrolls :). Amazingly enough he eats them and loves it which is completely amazing to a kid who has taken years to just get him to touch certain foods. Fruits are still a different story, he refuses to even be on the same side of the room as an apple or a "disgusting, rotting peach." Although thankfully bananas do frequent his diet as well as dried fruit. There's just something about that wet fruit that he just can't stand. We'll keep working on that. I've gotten him to enjoy an orange shake which is actually a cantelope smoothy. He does continue however to torment his little sister, today I found the huge beanbag on her head. Thankfully Andrew comes to the rescue a lot of the time. He is amazingly sweet sometimes but unfortunately she's used to his attacks by now and usually screeches when she sees him.

Andrew just found, I kid you not, his 15th four leaf clover today. I think either our grass is completely on steroids or he has inherited my irish gene and just has great luck. We are working on his handwriting this summer by using the Handwriting Without Tears program which I am absolute convert to now. He and his best friend Chris (in the baseball pic.s below) are doing it together. We started this week at our house and will continue next week at Christopher's house while his Mom and I alternate teaching. This week was a rough start as Andrew and I tend to butt heads sometimes and it seemed to be his will pitted against mine. Fortunately after a talk last night he decided to come around and try the new method. I really hope it sticks as handwriting can be such a bear especially for boys and it can end up to be such a bane in his schooling if he doesn't just get it down now. I'm hoping to report great progress by the end of the summer. We really enjoy having our friendship with Chris's family, all of the kids play so well together.

Wes will start swim lessons this next week (although he's told me that he is "not" going to do them. Living by a lake and taking 3 children to the pool have necessitated my forcing him to take the lessons, normally I don't like to force but this is one that's really important. Andrew will take some golf lessons again as well. It's hard to pick with him any sports lessons because he's so naturally adept at everything he tries.

Greer continues to be the little sweetheart in all of our lives. She has developed some real dance moves and rhythm when the boys play their music and is signing up a storm. I can't keep up with the signs now. The other day she noticed my ring and was fascinated with it and pointed to it then looked at me confused and signed music and baby like, "C'mon Mom, what's the sign for ring?" I still need to look it up. It's a good thing she's picked up on it. I can just tell that she has so much to say. She is saying, "Mama and Dada" quite a bit now though and I'm sure that there's much more to follow.

Greg is in the middle of his crunch time right now and is currently working on his laptop on our bed. I am still just trying to keep my head afloat. Laundry and housework are never ending and I just can't keep things clean I feel like right now but I'm sure that will change in the fall and hopefully at some point when Greer decides to start sleeping through the night.

Last Day of School

Andrew had such a wonderful 2 years with his teacher, Ms. Brooks.  Wow were we lucky and blessed to have her.  She also had two wonderful assistants both years: Ms. Christmas and Ms. Rosas (pictured below).  Ms. Brooks awarded each of the graduating 1st graders (it was a multi-age K-1 class) with special distinctions based on their personalities.  Andrew and his best friend Christopher Poor were awarded the "Big Daddy" award since they always look out for others and are kind about including them.  Apparently during their Tigers on the Prowl event (they get to run laps every day) one of the boys had his little twin brothers there and one was not too keen on running.  So Andrew and Chris took it upon themselves to encourage the little boy to run and keep up.  Ms. Brooks said that it was one of her favorite memories of the Andrew and Christopher.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

I'm still getting the hang of ordering these posts but a few weeks ago the minor league team for the Boston Red Sox (the Pawtucket Pawsocks I think they're called) were in town and we and Andrew's best friend Chris' family all went down to see them play.  A lot of fun!!

Girl's Day Out

While the boys went to see Kung Fu Panda the girls went shopping.  Greer had a real attachment to these sunglasses. Greer also had "Fifths Disease" when we took this picture which is why she has that "slapped face" coloring to her cheeks.

More b-day photos

Happy Birthday Baby!

Greer is offically 1 now.  We celebrated her birthday last Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen at our pool.  We've never seen a baby eat her cupcake so slowly and particular, no need for a bib.

Greer is crawling like a pro and pulling up on everything. Yesterday she started to climb the steps for the first time. She also is such a charmer. One of her favorite things to do is to smile and wave at anyone and everyone. It's not unusual for me to have people approach me at the grocery store or other places and act like they are old friends with her b/c apparently she's been smiling and waving at them during our whole visit. It's also fun to see her relationship with the boys, Andrew especially, they are so cute with her and love to teach her new things.

Greer's First Bows

Looking at Greer's hair it seemed like it was finally long enough to put a bow in so we tried it out and went to the store today and bought a pink and a white one.  She's kept them in and hasn't noticed that they were in her hair unless her big brother Wes decides to give her a kiss and adjusts it.  She is so full of personality it's so fun!  She dances to music by moving her head side to side and flapping her arms, she just started to crawl the past week and is now very adept at getting from point A to B very quickly.  She also is a girl who knows what she wants.  When she's handed a toy she doesn't want she immediately throws it aside, same with food.  Her big brothers are really sweet with her which is great to watch.

The Kennedy Space Centerl

Before we left town we were lucky enough also to visit NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral.  Also because the space shuttle is scheduled to launch May 31st it was already on one of the launch pads so we were especially lucky.

This is one of the last 10 missions for the shuttle as the Intl' Space station will be completed.  A new...I don't know what to call it, it's not going to be a shuttle persay..thing will be completed in April of 2009 I believe our guide said.  Hard to imagine.  This will be able to return man to the moon and beyond to Mars.  

We also enjoyed seeing the many, many alligators alongside our tour bus in the canal.  A little scary.

The Orlando Temple

We decided to stop by the Orlando temple on our way out of town, a beautiful temple.

Sea World Highlights

Sea World was a blast filled with: Feeding the dolphins, watching Shamu and eating  lunch at the Shark's Grill (ie watching the sharks swim in  which surrounded the shark's tank).

I added a few other pics for all those snarky naysayers who were commenting on Greg not being on the vacation. Ahemm, excuse me but do you happen to notice a baby on my back and the stroller in my hands thank you very much ;). Moms are rarely ever included in pictures so I happen to enjoy being part of these memories and proud of it!