Amethyst

So my hopes that we would be nice and healthy this week were in vain. I was at work Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday I got all the way to work and realized I forgot my badge so I came back home only to find that Helen was sick with the stomach bug we had last week. Jeff couldn't miss class so I stayed with her. On Thursday I woke up with a horrible cold and cough. So I was home Thursday too and then Friday was my usual day off. I wish I could say that we were better now, but I still have a cough and have lost my voice. Oh well, that's life! If I was never sick then I wouldn't know how to appreciate being healthy.

The girls had rodeo break this week and were off of school on Thursday and Friday. Felicity went to stay the night with Nana and Papa on Wednesday and Thursday night. They went to Bookman's and picked out some fun books. They also went to the children's museum and had a great time from what I understand. Jeff had class (I recall being so upset when I first started at the U of A that they didn't give rodeo break!) so we didn't do anything really special. Jeff did get the bottom of the girls' sandbox filled with concrete (to stop the grass from coming up) and re-filled it with sand, the girls were ecstatic.

We've been working in our yard getting ready for spring. We got the vegetable bed re-filled and planted last weekend and we worked on the flower bed on the north side of the yard this week. Jeff got the trench for the footing dug and part of the footing laid Friday night. He picked his younger brother up on Saturday morning and he helped Jeff with the north bed retaining wall. They laid the rest of the footing and got about 1/3 of the block laid. They also built two flower boxes to go under the vegetable bed for me. I forgot to include marigolds in my planting plans so I planted two 8 foot flower boxes with marigold seeds underneath the vegetable bed; they keep the bugs out. They'll be so pretty when they bloom! I'm hoping that Jeff and I can finish the retaining wall for the north flower bed this week after work/school so that we can fill and plant it this coming weekend. The girls were a big help too and were out there with us almost the whole time.

Arlo slept through the night almost every night this week, sleeping 8-10 hours per night. I think this may be due to his newest little talent. He has discovered his thumb and is able to manipulate it into his mouth pretty accurately whenever he wants to. I think he's been self-soothing by sucking his thumb and putting himself back to sleep instead of crying. I asked the doctor about thumb sucking a couple weeks ago and she said that he was too little to worry much about it, but he's a cleaver little boy (just like the girls were) and is reading ahead! We've been trying to discourage it and offer him the pacifier instead. This is new terrain for us as neither of the other two were interested in sucking their thumbs. We had to put him back in the "mittens of shame". Children really do come to us with their very own little personalities.

As I mentioned earlier, we had Jeff's younger brother Vance over on Saturday. He just moved back to Arizona after living in Tennessee for a couple of years. It was very nice to have him over and the girls really enjoyed seeing him, although Helen didn't remember him at all. We got cleaned up after working in the yard and then went out to dinner which was very nice. Jeff left to take him back to St. David around 9:30 so he didn't get back home until around midnight. Needless to say he was pretty tired when the alarm went off this morning to get up for church.

My goals for the coming week include everyone being illness free, working a full week, and enjoying and loving one another.

As a side note: people always say they take the most pictures of the first baby and by the last baby there are hardly any photos...well I'm finding that there are almost as many photos of Arlo as Felicity, I'm just not taking as many of Felicity and Helen now! I plan to repent and try to take more of each.

Indigo

I'm glad to put this past week behind me! Felicity was home sick with the stomach flu at the end of last week and managed to give it to the whole family, just not all at once. I was out of work on Monday with it, I was feeling a little better Tuesday, but stayed home. On Wednesday it was far worse and I didn't get more than 20 feet from the bathroom most of the day. Felicity had a recurrence on Thursday and had to be picked up from school. I was stuck at home again on Friday when it was Jeff and Helen's turn. Thankfully the baby didn't get sick and thankfully I had paid time off to use for almost the whole week. I'm happy to report we are all doing much better as of today and hope to stay that way.

Saturday morning I went to a Relief Society activity and Jeff made a couple trips to Home Depot. We got the things we needed to finish re-filling our vegetable garden bed and bought the plants and seeds that we wanted to plant. We enjoyed time outside working together in the garden. After re-filling the bed with soil and mulch Jeff poured concrete in the bottom of the kids' sand box. We were having a hard time keeping the grass out of it, so that was our solution. I drew out our planting chart and planted almost all of my seeds and the few seedlings that we bought. I've had limited to no luck with growing tomatoes, green chilies, and bell peppers from seed, so we got them as seedlings and planted them. We are adapting the square foot garden method that we used last year. I didn't like the "patch work" idea where you plant something different in each square foot instead of planting several rows of the same thing (we had some things that didn't get pollinated because they were too far apart). I did like using the square foot grid for easy planting and recording what germinates and what doesn't. We took some ques from last year and put some things in different areas depending on how well they did last year. I'm looking forward to another great gardening season. Jeff also bought me a gardenia for the back porch and we planted the rose bush he got me for Valentine's Day.

Jeff has spring break in a couple of weeks and will use that time off to lay the footing and build our next raised bed that is going along the back wall. It's going to be for flowers and we should be able to build and fill it within our garden budget if Jeff can find about 70 cubic feet of fill dirt. Alot of our perennials from last year survived so we already have some pretty flowers around the porch.

Jeff is enjoying his semester; he seems to have a lot less homework this time around and I'm grateful for that. It's disappointing that the girls will have their spring break the week after he has his spring break, so we won't really have an opportunity to go anywhere, but we are excitedly planning our summer vacation. We are going back to California, this time for ten days. We have a beach house rented with my parents and are planning to spend time at the beach, go back to Disneyland, visit the San Diego zoo, and the San Diego temple among other things. Its not until June, but we have our part of the rental paid for already and we have already saved our spending money.

I hope the coming week is full of healthy, happy kids and fun times. It's rodeo weekend, so I plan to take Thursday and Friday off since the girls will be out of school and I'm sure we'll find something worth doing!

Tangerine

First week back at work...I'm glad it's over. I had to get up at 4 AM everyday this week to get to work by 5AM. This meant that I could get off at 2PM and get home just in time to get Felicity off the bus at 2:30PM, pick up Arlo, and then pick Helen up before 3PM. It was hectic, but worth it to be able to spend the afternoon with the kids.

Arlo's newest talent is to giggle which is so stinkin' adorable! He seems pretty ticklish and he really enjoys it when I tickle his neck. He's such a sweet boy. He was a little grumpy the first couple of days I was gone, but seems to be OK with the arrangement. He's pretty happy to see me when I get home.

Felicity stayed home from school on Thursday because of the stomach flu. When I called the office at the school to report her out they said it was going around. I just hope nobody else gets it. I only worked part of the day on Thursday so I went grocery shopping. The store had blueberries for $1 so I bought a couple cases and made blueberry lime jam. I also got some chicken breast cheap so I canned that as well. It was actually quite a mess for something I hadn't planned on doing.

Arlo had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning and got four inoculations. He's doing quite well and is up to 24" and 12 pounds. He's very strong and has excellent muscle control, he is also ahead of the curve as far as cognitive function; he's tracking and changing focus easily and turns to find the source of his name being called. Friday we met my parents in Tucson for dinner in honor of my dad's birthday. We went to Pinnacle Peak and enjoyed a nice steak dinner. The kids were so preoccupied with getting outside to see the attractions they were barely interested in their meal. After dinner the girls and Nana rode on the train and then Felicity and Jeff rode the little Ferris wheel. Then we watched the gun fight which both girls really enjoyed (it was far superior to the really crappy one we saw at Old Tucson last year). Afterward we met at the Bryson's for some games and chatting.

We worked in the yard on Saturday morning. We pulled weeds and trimmed the plants in the front and got things looking good again out there. The girls and I planted the annuals I let them pick out in one of the flower beds in the back. Jeff mixed mulch and soil to refill the east bed so that we can plant in it next weekend. We haven't bought the materials to extend the flower beds around the perimeter of the yard yet, we may wait to do that when Jeff is on spring break next month.

We had a lovely Sunday. Helen is really enjoying primary now that she is a big girl and seems to especially like singing time as she has already picked up a couple of new songs that she really knows the words to. Jeff has to teach in both his primary class and Elders quorum. He seemed less stressed out about teaching in Elders quorum this time and made it through his lesson (he said there was, however, a fair amount of stammering and pausing). I'm sure as he continues to try his best, he will get better. We are reading the Book of Mormon together as a family this year, and last week we read the story of Nephi being instructed to get the plates from Laban. After reading the scripture account, Jeff bore his testimony to the girls that Heavenly Father always provides a way for us to accomplish what He has asked us to do. I made the comparison to him being called to teach in Elders quorum and he gave me a look that said, "that was a low blow"; I want to think it helped a little!

Ma! Take the stupid picture already!

White

So my last week of maternity leave has come to an end and the week went far too quickly. I'll be back at work tomorrow morning. I'm working from 5:00 AM -2:00 PM so that we can minimize the amount of time that the kids will be without a parent. Jeff is still on course to graduate next May, so I keep telling myself its only another eighteen months and then I'll be home again. You can probably tell, since I mention it almost every post, that I desperately miss being at home with my kids. We were always blessed with enough for our comfort when Jeff worked and I stayed home, I have a testimony that my family was blessed by having a stay at home mom and will again soon. Sometimes though, you have to pull yourself up by the boot straps (so to speak) and do what you have to do to make things work.

I spent the week doing things I really enjoy including spoiling my adorable baby. I made a cake for his baby blessing lunch and finished sewing the outfit I was making for him. He looked so handsome.

Arlo had his baby blessing on Sunday. This is an ordinance where a father publicly gives the baby a name and pronounces a blessing on the baby as directed by the Spirit. Arlo was perfect and slept peacefully through his blessing. Jeff is pretty soft spoken in situations like that so he was difficult to hear, but it was a sweet occasion.