the fly-by month

I love summer.  I love that Addie is home from school and we're not in a hurry every morning.  I love play dates, and staying up late with Jason, and tomatoes ripening on my porch.  I'm already dreading school starting again.  This last month has flown by! 

 The week before school let out, Addie got a terrible case of poison ivy.  Here it is, at its peak.  She was a trooper and smiled through most of it.  Not me, I got it and complained endlessly.

 Sibling Love

Sunday Stations

Draw your favorite scripture stories...and yes, Carson wears those PJs nearly every day

 The coolest folks around!

Macie turned 4! 

We have made it a tradition to have the kitchen table decorated when they wake up in the morning, and they are allowed to open one present at breakfast time.

 My adorable little guy

 Macie's Princess Party was a hit!  We had tons of little boys and girls here, dressed in costume.  Jason and I spent the afternoon building the cardboard box castle, complete with tunnels and a toy kitchen in the back (that's what the second picture is).  We ended the night with an outdoor movie, and watched Sleeping Beauty.  It was so much fun.  We really love our house, it is great for entertaining, and the yard (although a fat pain to mow) was awesome for the kids.  Jason and I high-fived when it was all over, and totally felt like cool parents.

 

CAMPING PICTURES!!

I don't have many, Jason has more on his phone, but these are the few I got.

 I love this last one with the magnifying glass, it's pretty cool.  That was on the drive home.

 

 

 Addie is a great big sister!

 Macie is looking so grown up these days. She has such a cute smile.

 Addie turned SIX on the 3rd.  Here is her requested turtle cake.  She had a friend from school over for almost the entire day on her actual birthday and...

 an old preschool friend over on Friday for a Girls Night, complete with making their own pizza, painting toenails, and watching Brave.  (Thanks for the PJs, Hillary!)

This is soooo Carson, asleep in the car with a giant dump truck on his lap.

 

I'm so sad there are less than two months left of summer!  I am trying to savor every day.  We leave for Utah on Wednesday and return Tuesday.  My brother-in-law is getting married this weekend and it will hopefully be a blast (if we don't scorch to death).  Yay for summer!!!

A Day in the Life of Zalen

Play with everything BUT toys

Work on his car

Drink like a big boy

Go swimming

Making funny faces

Practice piano

Go to sleep!

Camping Trip

 I won't bore you with all of the pictures I took, but here are the two most important ones!  I love all of you who came and those of you who couldn't make it too.

New calling

Today Charlie got called to be the young men's president again. Third times' a charm, right?

Memorial Day

  

                     These are some flowers I picked in our yard.

 We went to Crossroads Village in Flint yesterday and enjoyed the morning there before it started to rain.

                               I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day!

Pictures (!!) in no particular order

 Sawyers 4 month old pic, taken last night, just 2 weeks late.  Grrr.  It's fun when they're old enough to start playing with toys.

 Cutie Carson

 Macie's school did a fundraiser where a photographer came and took family pictures really cheap, and donated all the proceeds.  I thought it was a great idea.  The session was only 20 minutes, but we got a few really great shots.

 Just a beautiful shot of the Washington DC temple taken last month.  Can you believe it was almost 8pm when I took it?

 Sleeping babe with a happy mom at the end of a busy day.  Why is the picture all squishy?

 Addie's new kindergarten teacher, Mrs. May.  It has been a long and difficult road to get her comfortable at her new school with her new classmates.  I wish there was someway we could have done it differently.  She seems to be doing better now, but still misses her old school terribly.  Oh well, at least summer break starts in about three weeks!

 Bat Girls!!

 Carson is so silly, and loves to make faces with me.

 Macie is looking very grown up lately.  She turns four in a week and a half!  It's hard to believe.

 His constant whisper to his brother, "You're the best baby ever!"

 Addie is becoming quite a good reader.  I believe she was tested as advanced last time.  She loves having an audience that can't get up and move away!  Honestly, she is an amazing big sister.  I am grateful every day she is in our family, and is the oldest.  She is extremely helpful, and very happy to be so!

 Cruisin' in the shopping cart.

 At Macie's end-of-the-year preschool program.  She loved the singing portions (my kind of gal!) and all the attention. 

 But she did NOT love the cicadas that were swarming at the park on Wednesday.  They've been everywhere!!  It has been so crazy.  When Addie saw her first one she thought it was a Queen Bee.  My, that would have been a HUGE bee!

 Sawyer absolutely LOVES this blanket I commissioned from Mom.  He sleeps better and longer when he can snuggle up to it.  Thanks, Mom!

 

My internship...

I got the position today, I start tomorrow. I will work 9 to 3 Monday through Friday until the kids get out for the summer. Then my hours will be 8 to 4:30 Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri. I'm going to see if I can switch having Fri off instead of Wed. Glad to have the chance to get the experience, disappointed that they want me to work four days instead of three. Was looking forward to having to work less days, but I'll take what I can get. Thanks for the prayers everyone.

2nd interview

Had a 2nd interview today for the internship I interviewed for last week. Met the CFO this time. She seemed pretty sure I'd be getting the position and be starting on Monday. She said she's let me know for sure by the end of the week. She said it will only be a part time position, only working about 3 days a week. This way I can get some good experience and still spend time with the kids and Charlie. I may miss some stuff this summer, but not as much as I had originally thought. I feel much better about that.

mother's day weekend

So, the doctor Eric was with last week went to a conference and he got those days off.  We decided to make the most of it and went down to Jana's for an extended Mother's Day weekend.  Eric helped Jason do some things around the house and the kids played and played.  We had an excellent time and here are some pictures to recap the event.

 Jack found Sawyer so interesting.

 They live in this cul-de-sac that provided the best place to ride.

 Jack came out to play too.

 Addie thinks that if she stands still with her arms out that butterflies will come.  

 Jana was kind enough to watch all the kids (sans Jack) on Friday morning so that Eric and I could go out on a little date to this old apothecary shop-it was really interesting.

 Noah decided to wear that shirt twice, so this is a new day.

 Jana showed us this gorgeous park.

 Mom, these are for you.

(Mom made the ponchos and the dress...)

Happy Mother's Day!

Another interview

Just got finished with another interview. This was with the company Northgate. They are a packaging and distribution company. One of my college professors is married to the CEO of this company and he suggested I apply. I think it went really well. I should know by the end of next week what they decide. I'll keep you posted. I have mixed feelings about this internship. It would give me great experience, but I will miss lots of fun stuff this summer if I get it. I kind of hope I don't get it.

happenings

Starting youngest to oldest...here's a run down of our life.

(warning: this is going to be long)

Jack is getting so so big-I weighed him yesterday and he was 25 pounds...sheesh.  

He is an expert worm-crawling scooter and is getting on his knees and trying to move, but it isn't quite working yet.  He is also an expert eater and is ready to chomp anything you give him with his 8 teeth.  He is satisfied with scooting all over and finding things to put in his mouth and also watching his brother and sister.  He is a cutie and so loving and snuggly.  I can't believe his birthday is in 2 1/2 weeks-ahh!

Lucy will be 2 1/2 in a month...

my kids seem to be so old to me.

She is learning new words everyday and knows how to count to 10.  She also knows almost all the letters in the alphabet.  She loves going to church and playing outside and "reading" books.  She has started into that "my big brother is amazing" phase and wants to do anything and everything that Noah does-with him, of course...even if it isn't a good thing to do.  She has such a sense of humor and really gets comedic timing.  I am so interested to see her get older. This week we have been potty training and so far so good, I think.  She still doesn't quite understand her body, but I think we are on our way.

Noah is 5 going on 10.  

He only plays with bigger kids in the neighborhood, so I think he forgets that he isn't as big as they are.

 He is in the "look at me" stage-even if all he is doing is twisting his fingers in a weird way.  He is getting better and better at reading and can't wait to start kindergarten in August (he will talk your ear off about kindergarten and riding the bus and making new friends).  Unfortunately, the friends we moved with that have a son that is Noah's best friend went to UT at Easter and aren't coming home for another 4 weeks...the time is going by slowly.  Noah is understanding more and more about how to treat people and how to deal with his emotions.  This is an interesting time for us because we are having a hard time explaining effectively why he can't just do somethings or how to deal with situations that there isn't a clear cut answer.  He can't wait to go camping and talks about it on an almost daily basis.

I'm only 28.

 I do a lot of this (I just love love love baking from scratch and can't wait until I can take a pastry class someday...I would also love to a take a real cooking class-I want to be like Paula Deen, but without the diabetes). I am also crafting and refinishing furniture now that it's warmer.

 Don't you love this picture of Grandma?  She actually saw it on Trish's FB and called me to see how I got it.  Hillary gave it to me-right, Hillary?  Where did you get it?  I'm still trying to make the best of where we live.  I love our house, but I hate the neighborhood and hate that we don't have our own lawn...and a few other things.  And I love the area and will be sad when we leave PA...I just wished we lived in a different place.

Eric is also loving my baking-

I could go on and on about why I love this man.

Eric's life (and ours by default) is about to get much busier and more complicated.  His calling (1st counselor in the Sunday School Presidency) is the same, but they changed the Sunday School President and he is a man who will actually have mtgs and give Eric assignments.  Not a bad thing, but definitely more than he did before, which was pretty much nothing-so that's one thing.  And right now we are in the process of setting up audition rotations.  We have locked in two auditions in MI-he will be there September 23-October 18.  The kids and I will most likely be visiting the first two weeks in October.  But those are the only auditions we set up for sure.  Things are in the works for one back in Kirksville, one in Columbus and one in Florida.  We tried to go to Dayton, but they didn't have any times left and now Eric is on a waiting list, we aren't holding our breath (I keep saying we because I am the one corresponding with the hospitals/schools because Eric is too busy).  Eric will start his fourth and final year of med school the last week of May and the most stressful year of them all: auditions, 2 board tests, match, moving, graduating, beginning residency, etc...I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  He is taking it all in stride and is really excited to start the final preparations to becoming a real doctor.

Congratulations!  You made it to the end of the post.  

We can't wait to see you all in June.  

Yeah for camping!!!