Lazy days ahead....please?

So I know that I have been unavailable lately but I have seriously been busting my butt. We have had some mandatory overtime for the past....oh, I don't know...3 weeks now? and it is taking it's toll on my time. I don't want to bore you with the details but it's almost fiscal year end (for those of you that are familiar with what that means to the accounting world). It's been very good for our bank account but I have missed a lot of time with my family. Lee is being super great about all of it and has stepped up to be SuperDad since I am not around to help out in the evenings or on weekends.

We have a lot of video to post of Kash who is now crawling, waving and even saying the occasional "bye", "mom", "dad" and I think maybe even "go".

I am getting pumped up because I will be taking a mini-vacation in September to visit my beautiful sister-in-law and my brother and their super-wonderful brand new daughter! She is not here yet but she should make her grand appearance within the next two weeks (hopefully).

Kurgan and Kira started their new schools in the Kyrene district and it seems like they really like them so far. Kurgan had his first orthodontist visit and the experience was fantastic! I thought that we would be nervous since it's a pretty big deal but the office was amazing and the staff was super friendly and it turns out that I even went to the same high school as the dentist and know two of his nephews! Funny stuff. Anyway, Kurgan will be getting his braces on September 2nd and will be wearing them for 2 years. He is excited to get them on because he knows that he will be that much closer to having beautiful, straight teeth and a wicked awesome smile. **jealous**

Kira has fallen in love with her school and the fact that the bathrooms are clean and her teacher is very nice. She likes riding the bus this year even though I secretly sneak out when I'm home to watch her walk to the bus stop from our walkway in front of our house. It's tough having kids grow up and become independent.

Here's to September 1st...which can't come soon enough.

Did someone leave the oven on?

Summer is here. It's official. The kids have their very last day of school tomorrow. It will be Kurgan's last day of elementary school!! (What the...?) We have some great videos that we will be posting soon and keep an eye out on your mail because you will be getting a letter from us soon and maybe even a picture or two.
I stopped by my parent's house after work today and guess who was up and sitting at the computer? Yes, my father. He sent my mom out for something and when she got back he had gotten up and shaved and prettied himself up a bit. He's doing very well so we're excited about that and trying to tell him he still needs to take it easy even if he feels good.
Last night I had the pleasure of accompanying a very awesome lady to a concert! Amanda let me join her at the Kings of Leon concert. We were afraid that it was going to be super hot outside but as luck has it, the sky clouded over and the wind picked up a little and it was super nice. The Walkmen opened and we both liked them. I thought they sounded Stokes-ish....well the singer did anyway. Good stuff. We sat in the grass on a small hill/incline for most of the show but then we decided to get down in the crowd up by the stage for the last few songs.
Thanks to Ken and Lee for watching the little one's so that the wild and crazy sisters could go out for a much-needed night on the town together.

Thank-o-city

I just wanted to say thanks to all who have been praying for my dad. The surgery went well and although the heart was in worse shape than they had originally thought, it's now fixed and it's almost as if he's had a heart transplant! I saw him a bit before they took him down to prep him for surgery this morning and he seemed very tired but not too nervous. I went back right after work and met Amanda at the hospital. I got to see him hooked up to a bunch of IV's and he had all kinds of tubes hooked to him but he looked good. He almost looked as if he was just in a very, very deep sleep and so Amanda and I held his hands and told him we were there. The nurse that is sitting with him is super nice and knowledgeable so it was very comforting that she's there watching over him for us. She answered all my questions and we left him there for the evening. He should be resting for a while now and they will definitely let us know if there are any issues. I'm excited to see him (awake) and to be able to talk with him.

So again, thanks to those of you that have been praying or sending good thoughts our way. I know that my entire family appreciates it!

Pa-Pa

Well, more news on the homefront. My dad is going to need surgery after all. They found an 80% blockage and will be doing a triple bypass tomorrow morning. I will be getting up super early to run by the hospital and see him before they prep him for surgery. After that I have to go and try to work for 8 hours because my vacation request was denied, though I'm pretty sure I'll be useless. I'm nervous but I'm trying to keep busy so I don't think about it.

Keep those prayers coming! Love to all...

Jill-bear

My father has been in the hospital since Thursday last week. He went in originally because he was very short of breath and the results of one of his tests that he took earlier that week had come back and the doctor wanted him to go straight to the ER. They got his oxygen levels back up to 95 while he was not wearing an oxygen mask and I finally got the chance to visit today since I am finally feeling better and I didn't have any children with me. The hospital is only allowing people over 18 years old to visit due to the outbreak of Swine flu.
So silly if you ask me. It's just a bad flu. We still treat it the same way so everyone should really stop freaking out. But I digress....
So I stopped by the hospital on my way home from work and visited with mom and dad for about an hour. Dad seemed to be in good spirits but he was a little upset that he is going to have to stay in the hospital for at the very least a few more days.
While I was there, one of the doctors came by and I was able to listen to what he had to say! Dad will be going for an angiogram tomorrow at noon to see if there is some kind of blockage. They may put in a stint depending on what they see and if they are able to get his heart rhythms back to normal that will be great. If not, they may think about putting a defibrilator in.
So that is the news of the day. Keep Gilbert in your prayers.

Where my peeps at?

I went to a Leonard Cohen concert with my friend Angela earlier this month! I was seriously like a giddy little school girl because I was so excited. That man is so amazing. He's super old and can still put on a 3 hour show making all the ladies swoon over his deep voice and lyrics. After the show, my friend and I went outside to an upstairs balcony and as I leaned over the side of the building looking down over the street I saw him get into an SUV with his entourage and speed away. What a lovely man.

Another wonderful thing happened this month...my mom's birthday! I was lucky enough to spend a lunch hour with her the other day and it's always so nice to talk to her. She has definitely become one of my best friends over the recent years. She is always there to listen to me complain or whatever. It would be so lovely if I could fund her retirement.

Tomorrow is April 28th and it's my big brother Matt's birthday. Yay! I hope he has a rad day and that that little daughter of his kicks him really good.

Even though things in the world are not great at the moment (swine flu, recession, job loss, etc.) I feel good and almost like things are looking up in my neck of the woods. Does anyone else feel like that? I know that times are tough but doesn't it seem like it's always something and that we always just manage to make it through anyway? I never thought that I would be where I am today after all the stupid stuff that I have done over the years but thanks to the support of my family, here I am! I have a decent job, a pretty sweet crib full of gaming systems and video games, and the best family a girl could ask for. Gosh, I didn't mean to get all sentimental but I really do feel very blessed.

May is right around the corner and it's going to be a busy month since we will be house hunting and the kids will be finishing up with school. The kids have been on a bike kick recently. I'm not sure exactly what started it but it's really awesome that they want to ride their bikes all around the neighborhood all the time! I will also be going to another concert (Kings of Leon) with Nurse Hack on the 19th and we are both excited about that. A sister's night out...without the kids and without our men! Watch out! I am taking the next day off in preparation for the shenanigans that I'm sure my sister will force me partake in.

Oh...and happy birthday to my friend Bronson! He is one of the people that I went to high school with, although I didn't actually know him in high school. There are actually a lot of people that I went to high school with and know now but didn't know them in high school. Darn these big cities and their overpopulated schools.

Pictures

I found out recently that my brother Matt and his lovely wife Elizabeth are expecting!!! I am thrilled and can't wait to see some belly pictures (hint, hint)!

This first picture is of Kash. It looks to me like he's saying, "no pictures...please." Then there is a picture of Kira in all her glory after getting her ears pierced. I had Kurgan take a bunch of pictures of Kash for me one day because I remembered that he is officially 6 months old! So there is also a pretty sweet picture of the two boys together. I'm trying to convince the Mr. to go to one of those cheesy photo places so we can get our picture taken as a family...so hopefully we'll have one to post soon.

Hello?

I have been a slacker, and for that I apologize. Since Kash has arrived things have been....well, hectic. Kash got pretty sick with croup a few weeks back and then he got Lee, Kira and me sick as well and so it's been a lot of visits to the hospital and doctors offices, etc. We are all somewhat healthy at the moment and I'm praying that we stay that way.

To catch you all up on what has been going on with us I should start with the previous post. Kurgan won the district bee (4th place) and got a pretty cool trophy. We went to the regional bee where I think roughly 35 spellers competed and Kurgan got 16th. The word he got out on was junta and I had no clue how to spell it. Kurgan spelled it with an "h". The super cool thing about that was that his teacher Mr. Short came to the bee to show his support. We were all pretty impressed by that.

Miss Kira got her ears pierced over a month ago and was a champ about the whole thing. She decided one day that she wanted her ears pierced after one of her best friends came to school toting some newly pierced ears. We went to Claire's and I could tell that she was nervous, but she sat in the chair and didn't even jump when they pierced the first ear. She is really, really excited to take out her studs on Friday and put in some other earrings!

Kash is now 6 months old (already?) and is eating rice cereal every morning and night. He can sit up by himself but he's a little shaky and falls over once in a while. Daycare fed him a half a jar of squash today which I'm not too happy about but such is life. I'm not sure if he liked it or not.

I had to take a Praxis test on March 14th for my teaching program so I can start with my education courses finally. I passed the math and reading portions but I'm still waiting on my essay to be scored so I can find out if I passed the writing section. After I took the test I helped out my wonderful brother-in-law, Ken with a grand plan to surprise my sister Amanda since it was her birthday. I invited them over to my house for a birthday dinner and then I packed up my family and headed over to her house. Once they left, we went in and let some friends into her house and then Ken acted like he forgot something so they turned around. We had all the lights out and yelled "surprise!" when she got there. The kids got a kick out of it and I think Amanda might have liked it a little...maybe. Unfortunately I had to run home to work on homework the rest of the night. Bleh.
I applied for a supervisor position at work and went through the interview process but did not receive a second interview. Apparently I am not management material yet but I think the interview was a good learning experience.

Lee is still plugging away at school and only has to finish up the quarter he is in, then one more quarter before he starts his rotations! That means the end is near. We are so excited. Especially me because it means that I get to quit working and stay at home with my fabulous kids!

I will get some current pictures up soon, I promise.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

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District Spelling Bee

It started out with 64 people. Only sixteen of them would survive. Would I be one of them?I thought. The district spelling bee did this to people. I was waiting for the spelling bee to start. Finally, I heard the announcer over the microphone. "The district spelling bee will now begin." I was number 62 Every round, there were less and less people. I never knew I would be one of the last fifteen people. Finally, there was a long pause between two rounds. It gave me just enough time to count how many people remained. One....ten...twelve....No way I thought. "There are fifteen spellers left," I thought as the announcer said it. I was going on to the regionals. But the spelling bee wasn't over yet. There were still five trophies to give out to the top five spellers. Occasionally, one or two people would get out. Then, we got into the advanced words. Everyone got out in that round except for two people,(neither of which were me). After they were done spelling off, all of the spellers that got out in the advanced round came back in. After a few rounds, it was finally down to five people, one of which was me. I spelled my word right. The person that spelled right after me spelled their word wrong. Four people. Finally, the last person to go up spelled their word wrong. I was one of the people who would get a trophy. I was so happy. 5th, 4th, or 3rd, 3rd being the biggest. The last three who were left standing were me, another boy, and a girl. The other boy spelled a word wrong. I would either get 3rd or 4th. The girl and I didn't spell a word wrong for a good 5 minutes. But, alas, I spelled bureaucracy wrong. I spelled it bureacracy.I finished in fourth place and got a nice 4th place trophy . After that we went to my favorite restaurant, Macayos!