October

The first weekend in October always means General Conference for our family. I would say at this point the two biggest "traditions" we have are cinnamon rolls and Perler beads. During one of the Saturday sessions I had Jansen match up Tupperware containers with their lids so that I could get rid of all the stragglers. I LOVE conference, but I also try to think of ways to keep me/them busy while also listening. I'm one of those that can actually listen better if I am doing something else mindless at the same time.

We took an afternoon walk at the Stillwater Ranch walking trail that weekend. I can't wait till the trails in our neighborhood are paved.

Leah loves playing in the street. She loves the freedom of trekking down the road and exploring. This particular afternoon was filled with sidewalk chalk, dirt, bikes, stains, and chunky little legs. 

October 13 was Nate's birthday. These girls and I took him a couple balloons and a few snacks and spent some minutes with him. It was the first time I had seen his office, which is so ironic since he spends so much time in it. It's funny to think that we share practically all of life together, yet he spends a HUGE chunk of his in a place I am completely unfamiliar with. At least I've seen it now.

Littlest PetShops are one of those things that my girls have just really latched on to over the years. I think that Emmy "learned" to love them because Natalie already did and had so many. They still create big "circles" and love to play with them.

This month we discovered a nest of baby jackrabbits in our backyard. The nest was in a peculiar place - right where the kids get off the trampoline. At first we thought they were mice, but it instantly became cuter and more fun when we realized they were rabbits. We checked on them daily, sometimes several times a day, and loved watching them grow. They were unexpectedly gone one morning, and while we were sad, we hope they hopped off to start "real life!"

Our school's Howl a Thon was in October, and the carnival type event to culminate the fundraising is always a lot of fun. This a great community and school that has a lot of support from parents.

Leah wearing Emmy's shoes. Leah calls shoes "ish."

We tried one last swim. As I recall it was a bit of a failure as the water was cold and there was a scorpion spotted in the pool. When you have a pool and the weather is nice enough, you gotta go for it sometimes though.

People often talk about Rudy's BBQ out here. I hadn't had a chance to try it, so we had lunch there one afternoon. Honestly the most memorable part of my lunch was probably my root beer. The food was great, but man, that was a good root beer haha!

That same day we did a little downtown exploring with Emmy and Leah. This is the Riverwalk in the day time.

There's a new area called Yanaguana Garden, and we were impressed. It was a fun place that we'd love to go back to.

Leah had her 18 month check up this month, although she is only 17 months. I had skipped her 15 month appointment simply because it seemed unnecessary. She is still in the 99th percentile for height and weight. And probably shoe size. She has the same size shoes as some of Emmy's friends. And Leah loves to blow bubbles.

We've had some very rainy days lately. Jansen took it upon himself to set out all these containers, and once they were filled, he ran and dumped them in the road. It made absolutely no sense to us, but it kept him busy and moving. And he did it all in his pajamas.

I love everything about my squishy little Leah. She loves to "play" Starfall on my phone and calls it "E." I think the word she says more than any other is "Emmy." One of her newest is "Stop!" She absolutely loves to Facetime and talk to people on the phone.

Nate had a couple days long work meeting in Chicago at Naval Station Great Lakes.

It was time for cleanings and check ups again. Everyone did so well, but Emmy's morning ended in tears when she got a bear ring instead of a jewel one. Trips to the dentist sure have changed - these kids get balloon animals, special coins to insert in a machine to get a small prize, video games to play out in the lobby while you wait, movies to watch while you get your teeth cleaned, etc. We really like Dr. Eddie. 

Our car had a headlight that needed to be replaced, so the girls and I hopped over to Dunkin Donuts while we waited.

We purchased a tree. We spend a lot of time in our backyard, and we want it to be a fun, happy place. It needed a tree. Hopefully we will add more over the years, but I can't believe how much it adds to the feeling of the yard. I have taken trees for granted in our other yards, and now that we don't have many, this one is like our little baby!

We have so many fights over who gets to sit where at dinner. I had a little system going, but it just got hard to keep track. I resorted to taking a picture each night so I had proof of who sat by dad the night before.

We made it to a pumpkin patch, but they are pretty pathetic out here in my opinion. Not to mention over priced. We even ended up haggling a little with the lady on the way out because I couldn't believe the price she quoted me for our pumpkins.

Nate and Natalie attended a daddy/daughter dance hosted by the stake. It was a tropical theme. Emmy was invited too, but I knew she wouldn't love it and that Natalie would, so just these two went. They had a great night.

We did a short night hike at Government Canyon for a date. It is not easy to get out. The whole process of getting a babysitter, getting out the door, planning a date, spending the money, and then worrying about how it's all going at home gives me quite a bit of anxiety, but I believe in it (date nights), so we are trying to be better at it. 

We also grabbed burgers at Bobby J's in Helotes that night.

Natalie begged and planned for a "party" for weeks. She created a menu, a list of activities, planned decorations, etc. Truthfully, in the end, it was just a big playdate, but I hope she enjoyed her "party." We won't do it often, so I tried to fulfill a few of her requests like "balloons that float," and fruit salad and banana bread.

The party was supposed to be centered around our neighbor's dog Tater, so of course he was invited. My mom says Leah is like the little spider in the Mercer Mayer Critter books that is sort of "hidden" on every page. Can you spot her here?

There she is! 

A crown that Emmy created:

Leah loves to throw blankets or washcloths over her face, wait for me to say "where's Leah," and then flings it off while singing her cute little version of "there she is!"

We try to spend a lot of time out here.

We had a happy Halloween. Emmy was a monarch butterfly, Leah was a mouse, Natalie was a macaw, and Jansen was a ninja. Halloween is not one of my strengths. I don't plan costumes ahead very well, and we certainly never have a family theme. We just kind of...get by. Feeling pretty proud of myself for the haphazard red spray paint that made it onto Natalie's hair. That's going above and beyond for me! Leah only wore her costume for a short time on the night of the ward trunk or treat.

Please take care to notice the dress socks.

A friend mentioned that she makes dinner in a pumpkin every year, and that it makes a ton, and she'd be happy to provide the main dish if we did dinner together. Sounded like a great plan to me! 

We all sort of parted ways after dinner and did our own trick or treating. That was a good plan for our little family because we didn't last long. Natalie wasn't feeling well, Emmy was tired, and the storm clouds were making Jansen nervous. We were done trick or treating, bathed and showered, and everyone was asleep by 8:30. That doesn't even happen on school nights. Nate and I just kind of looked at each other like, well, this is weird. Can't complain about a house full of sleeping children and candy though.

I felt bad that Natalie had a "sick" Halloween, but I love this sweet picture I caught of her all curled up in her costume.

I hope November goes a little slower than October did, but I have a feeling that's not happening...

September

Jansen turned 10 about a month ago. We thought Nate might not be around for his birthday because of a deployment, but he was, and we were so grateful and happy about that. Jansen wanted a trifle for his "birthday cake," and his birthday gift hopes were few but specific including a very complex origami book and some foam shields and swords. He and Nate and a couple friends played baseball on a nice field at Lackland Air Force Base the night before his birthday.

This has been a great year for Jansen. I love who he is and who he is becoming. He is still in GT at school and really enjoys that. We recently started a basketball season that he looks forward to every Saturday, and he is playing the piano. He is my most mellow and "easy" child right now. He LOVES playing Boom Beach, playing basketball/soccer/baseball, watching sports, and origami of course. He is still a voracious reader if he is into the book/series he is reading. He looks forward to PE at school, and his teacher Mrs. Martinez has been outstanding so far. She has been very accommodating and understanding of Jansen's abilities and his need to move around a lot. He would wear basketball shorts to school every day if he could, and he absolutely loves time with Nate throwing the ball around or playing soccer. He loves anything with Nutella. 

Here are a few of his creations from his new origami book:

They are pretty incredible, and so is the book!

And our sweet Emmy turned 5 last month as well. She decided that instead of a birthday cake she wanted to create a tower of donuts.

Emmy is more shy than she used to be, and sometimes she struggles going to Primary or other people's houses, but it's not too bad. She still loves to play "hairstylist," loves to color, dress up, and play with Play-Doh. She probably suffers from some 3rd child problems - I think we expect and ask less of her than we do or did with Jansen and Natalie. We work on reading for about 15 minutes every day and she's doing great! 

She is often "packing" important things in backpacks and suitcases,

She is following in the foot steps of her older sister and lost a tooth a few days before her 5th birthday. The new tooth had actually come in behind the baby tooth before it fell out, so she had both for a couple weeks.

 These butterfly wings she got for her birthday have been a big hit and will double as her Halloween costume. :)

She came in the room like this on the morning of her birthday and said, "Mom, do you like the new me?" 

This girl loves to create. If there is an empty cardboard box she will swipe it and be heading up the stairs to cut it up before I can count to 5. She loves to make houses for animals.

Or skirts for friends...

Or a big frog with a tongue..,

...and when you look inside he has eaten a bug!

Natalie is playing another season of soccer and loves it of course. It's only on Saturdays, which is really nice for this stage of life. They have a short practice and then a game. People often comment on how tough she is, and she seems to be gravitating to more of a defensive player.

The other day she figured out how to blow bubbles using some soap and her hands.

Friends are really important to Natalie, and she loves to have them over to play. Our neighbor Adison often comes over and brings her little Chihuahua. They build houses, create capes, and make toys for the dog to play with.

One Sunday afternoon Natalie and Emmy had a fashion show. They laid out all these outfits and then modeled them for me out in the family room.

We are having some nice Texas evenings. The area around our house is developing fast, and it's driving some wildlife our way. There are always smashed frogs in the street, and we found a baby rattlesnake on our driveway the other day. The fire ants out here are absolutely awful, and I'm so tired of their bites!

I found this cute email Natalie wrote to Nate and had to include it here.

Natalie split the area below her eyebrow open while Nate was out of town, and I had to send him a picture to get his opinion about whether or not she needed stitches. She didn't, so he walked me through cleaning it up and using some steri strips to help it heal up well.

 I can't forget about a Leah update. She is still a really big girl for 16 months. I have had a really hard time finding shoes wide enough for her fat little feet. Her words are mama, dada, book, ice, no, baba, baby, two (she says "twooooo" for 1, 2, 3), doggy, bath, shoes (pronounced "ish"), up, eye, and a few others. She is on the top bunk of Natalie and Emmy's bed in this picture, and she loves to get up there. Her favorite foods are mandarin oranges, frozen mango, noodles, and pizza. Lately when she has a dirty diaper she will just go lay on the floor to be changed. Other times she is a crazy rolling acrobat when I am changing her. She loves her bottle still. She loves to be read to and adores all animals although seeing them in real life kind of freaks her out. 

Sometimes people mistake her for a boy, and she has the least hair of all the kids at this age. She loves to look at belly buttons. She will lift up her shirt and show you hers and then motion for you to show yours. She doesn't really have any interest in TV, although I wish she did haha! She is still learning how to go down the stairs. She loves to steal markers, crayons, and pencils and run off with them because she knows she isn't supposed to have them. She loves crushed ice and is always finding containers of every shape and size and then asking to fill them with ice.

Lately she likes to put on headbands or Natalie's underwear or something and then go look in the mirror. I feel like one of her favorite things to do is go walk in the street in front of the house. I don't know if it's the freedom or what, but she loves to take off down the road.

She loves being on the tramp with the big kids, and they are really good and patient with her.

As can be expected, she makes after school and dinner time is pretty crazy. Here she is blindly pulling things out of drawers and then throwing them in other drawers.

I long for the days that she will be more independent and less needy, but I am also really soaking up her every word, smile, and kiss. She sleeps in a very dark room and sometimes when I am holding her in the rocking chair at bedtime she will move her face towards mine waiting for a kiss in the dark. It's so sweet.

Before moving to San Antonio we were under the impression that Nate would not deploy for a few years. He has been asked to accomplish some specific things here and has unique responsibilities at Lackland, and for those reasons we were basically told and assumed he wouldn't deploy. To make a long story short, we found out around Christmas that he was supposed to deploy for 6 months in April. Then it was moved to July. Then it became more of an on call deployment. There were many, many changes, and the communication about all of it was pretty poor. He eventually did deploy in late September for only a week, but when he left we thought he was leaving for months. Again, just some poor communication. I was beyond thrilled to get a phone call from him that he'd be home in a few days. We have some amazing, thoughtful, supportive friends who surprised us one night before his deployment with a little get together. Everyone was wearing red, white, and blue. It was so kind of them.

I'm including this picture because it was a sweet moment that really made my day and shows what a wonderful man I married. I was bathing the kids one night and Nate came in and sat in the dirty clothes basket and told me he wanted "to be by me" while he worked.

My awesome friend Mandy took some family pictures for us a few days before Nate's deployment. She did an incredible job, and I'll have to create a post just for those.

It was at the San Jose Mission, and it was a beautiful place.

These are a few pictures from our "goodbyes" to Nate. 

We had stake conference the Sunday after he left, and I was just not up for braving it on my own with all 4 kids. We broke up the Sunday with a trip to feed some ducks. I was so amused that the ground was littered with tortillas rather than bread here.

 We had a deck built, and we love it. There was a lot of space where the deck is that was pretty much unused before. The grass here is not soft, and there can often be fire ants on the ground, so it's wonderful having a space out there to sit and relax without worrying about those things.

 And this is exactly why I keep blogging! I just had 2012 printed, and Jansen was so excited to read it. They love the blog books.