Oh man, so far behind...going to take this one post at a time.
In early September, my sister Nicole decided to head back to Nevada with her two boys, Brendon and Ross. We had a bunch of fun with them here and Sydney didn't cry until I told her they wouldn't be here for her birthday party. That made her really sad! Before Nicole left though, we decided to have a party for Ross since we would miss his birthday later that month.
So funny, Ross was protective of his cake and when a fly was buzzing around it and he was shouting at it, "get away from my cake!"
Then when it came time to lick the candle, Ross was a little eager for cake so he took a bite out of the candle!
Cousins!!
Then the next day, we said goodbye to Nicole and also went to Grandma's house as her dog, Zahmese, was getting worse and looking like he didn't have much longer to live. Grandma put him down a week later.
We miss you Nicole, Brendon and Ross!
And a sweet farewell to Zahmese, too. He was suffering and we didn't want that any longer. He was 17 and I have a lot of memories of him, he has been by my grandma's side a long time but seeing her at peace with the decision to put him to sleep set me at rest that it was the right thing.
Posting more later, it will take some time. Lots more photos are already up on my FB page including all of my faves from our recent family photo shoot.
Sigh, so at the end of August, I accidentally wiped my HD and then re-installed the Operating System which made it a ton worse. I took it to Geek Squad and thought it would only be a couple weeks. Turns out it will be 8-10 weeks, and this is already after waiting 3 weeks+. I am now having them return it to me so I can send it to a company that will be able to get it done in 2 weeks, or at least quickly tell me there's no use. I was pretty devastated at first. I felt like kicking myself. Just a week before, I had felt the strong urge to back up my files. I pulled out our External HardDrive to find it was broken. Knocked on the floor too many times this summer by the kids. So Brian and I started discussing online backup options. But did nothing. First, BIG foolish mistake.
My computer had all of our photos from when we were dating up to this year. 8 years of photos and memories. I tried to comfort myself that lots of the important photos, wedding, new babies, birthday parties and such, other family members will have copies of and I have uploaded lots of the photos to photo product sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly over the years. But it's also the anguish of all the hours I would spend organizing and naming folders to keep the files easy to handle and sort through. And of course, all the files that might not be anywhere else.
Another huge thing about the wipe, I lost over $1000 worth of commercial-use products I had bought for my digital scrapbooking business. I have been able to contact a lot of stores and they have been graciously letting me download whatever products are still in their store for free or for a small processing fee. I am so grateful. I also have a friend sharing with me the files she knew we both had. It has been a huge blessing because I really needed to keep my business going through this because I could not do my math tutoring. I was borrowing Brian's laptop during the day, trying to design as much as possible and then he needs it at night for his college work. For a little while I pulled out our old computer but it's space and processing speed just couldn't keep up with my design needs. So we finally purchased a new hard drive for me to use in my computer for the time being.
It may turn out that nothing can be saved and I have come to accept that I think. This has been a huge lesson for me in preparedness. I have bought a subscription to online backup and have decided to get a different anti-virus protection and guard better this tool that is more than just an entertainment device in our home but the means of providing our family with the additional income we need so I can stay home. If you count it, I actually have 3 jobs (in addition to being a full-time mommy :) ): I babysit a friend's child, I tutor math online and I do digital scrapbooking design. Wow. Whatever it takes so I can stay home with my kids. I am happy to be able to be the one there when they have questions, when they fall and hurt themselves, and just so I can have the energy for them. I was so stressed when I was the one working full-time, I hated it and with my 3 jobs, even though it sounds crazy busy, I tutor at night after they are asleep and I can stop any time with my designing to attend to their needs and wants. I am grateful for this blessing and hope to be more mindful and aware of issues that could arise in the future. Thank you, thank you, dear husband for so graciously sharing his laptop during this tough time!
So I don't have AS many pictures of this week but we still had some fun.
My friend saw our water park pictures and said we needed to go to that! so we went again! The kids have no problem with that!
I thought I would take a picture of Sydney up on this rock.
But then she yells at me, "Don't take my picture MOMMY! GET ME DOWN!" I thought it was funny though. I guess I am a mean mom!
The kids were having fun covering this fountain with a bucket and watching the water inside.
I really love this water park because it's has some sandy play areas too that are COVERED and then not very high so I don't have to follow Jonas like a hawk so he doesn't try to jump down from an 8 feet landing. And it's well enclosed and encircled by a large field and they kids don't run off too much! Time for mommy time chat! It was nice!
And then I just have some photos of the kids helping me bake. Sydney was upset she couldn't help me cook dinner so I made it up to her by baking cookies with her. Jonas has been learning to say no lately. Although he says "mo" usually, this time when Sydney said "no-no" to not touch the cookies, he said "no-no perfectly!"
On Friday I started watching my friends' son so we'll have him over every morning starting in Sept. Sydney knows how to spell her name (S-Y-D-N-E-Y) and now we are working on her being able to write it! I thought she wasn't ready to start reading words because she doesn't always answer questions about letters correctly but she has learned how to spell "cat" and "bat" so she continues to amaze me!!
Jonas has started waking up at night crying and I am worried his phase of night terrors has started :( Sydney started about this age, too. We will see. One time this week I told him he had to sit on the potty until he went before getting in the bath and Dad sat with him and he went! So a little bit of training going on but not much. He doesn't always want to sit on the potty and then when he does, I can't get him off even though he's been there for 15 minutes! Should be an adventure!
Brian and I also celebrate our 7th anniversary tomorrow! Thanks for 7 wonderful years of love, fun and happiness with you sweetheart!
The kids and I have been having some fun the last couple of weeks. Have some photos to share with you about our adventures!
August 2nd
A quick video Sydney playing hopscotch. She saw on an episode of "Blue's Clues" where Blue learned to play and so Sydney wanted to, too :)
August 4th
In the morning, we went to the Kids' Workshop at Home Depot and the kids got to build stuff. I met up with Nicole there, too! Her boys, Brendon and Ross, as well as Jonas decided to make a small toolbox. Sydney went with a butterfly house.
Brian painting Jonas' tool box.
My nephew Brendon checking out the steps.
Sydney wanted to paint her butterfly house blue. She did a great job of carefully painting each side and was very patient about it. I was pretty surprised.
My sister Nicole, getting some green paint for Ross' toolbox.
Brendon with his finished toolbox! What to go buddy!
Jonas with his finished toolbox.
And Sydney next her butterfly house she painted all by herself!
Next, we went to the Sci-Port.
Brendon, the captain!
Think Sydney is old enough to learn how to tell time?
August 5th
This day we got to have a special event in the family as my cousin Patricia had her baby Ariana blessed by my grandpa in church. I wish Jonas had not started screaming when Brian went up to be in the circle but it was great to have all the family together. Here is the little star, Ariana.
This picture shows Patricia's 3 children, my sister Andrea's two children, my sister Nicole's two children and then my two children. 9 of my grandmother's Great-grandchildren! wow!
And here is my grandma, with Patricia and her mother and of course little Ariana. 4 generations of women!
And the grandparents and great-grandparents of the little angel.
August 7th
This was Sydney's 2nd dentist visit. She did a great job the first time and so I wasn't really worried about her this time. But the hygienist just went on and on about how great she did and gave her 3 prizes! Sydney was so excited to get her new toothbrush!
And yay! teeth checked out great!
August 9th
First we went to a water park with my sister Nicole and her son Ross and our nephew Liam.
The cousins with a friend they made!
Later that day, I had to go home and make a German's Chocolate cake from scratch! I made it myself because my grandmother can't handle the soybean products they add to the store-bought cake mixes. So I made everything from scratch! It was quite the process but everyone said it turned out well!
And it was all for my super awesome Grandpa! Love that man! Happy Birthday Grandpa!
The great-grandchildren singing "Happy Birthday!"
And my grandparents, the awesome people that they are!
August 11th
And then, just an ordinary day. Sharing you some photos of sibling love. Awwwww!
Sydney wants to sleep in her princess tent and the mattress on the floor wasn't working out for the bed frame that remained and was getting climbed on so this was dad's solution, place it around the bed! They have lots of fun in this! Till next time!
Brian and I met at BYU-Idaho. We were married in August 2005 in the Las Vegas Temple and we now have a beautiful daughter, Sydney and son, Jonas! We are now located in Louisiana.
