life below mason-dixon

March

2010-03-28T18:39:00.001-07:00

Our month in March has been a good one. The sun has been out more, only a few gloomy droomy days. Still rain, it's no wonder there is so much green and flowers here. It is plenty wet.

Sean has been asking about watermelon for a loooong time so I finally got some the other day at Costco. He loves watermelon and could eat it with every meal. Here he is with his pile of watermelon that he devoured.

He's pretty cute this kid. He's loving his once a week school group and he has a really good friend named Colin. They hang out a lot. Sean says that Colin is like Abe, (his best bud in CO). We like Colin and we're happy when he comes over to our house.

Here is Adam eating his watermelon naked. Why not? Mostly I'm loving this picture because of his very cute bottom. My kids come out and get chubby chubby and have these cute little bottoms but they go away with age. Liam now has a skinny little bum but this cute little Adam has quite the cute little body.

Don't you people agree with me? Plus you can't really post these kind of pics once the kid passes age 2 so we gotta take advantage of these cute pics.

Here is Liam. The kids all got dressed up in the costumes and then came down to show me. Liam loves to climb on the counter and work the ipod. He turns it to his favorite pirate music and then blasts it in the house. He reminds me of his father sometimes. Michael also loves to blast music, his is a bit different than pirate music though.

These boys are so cute. They mostly play very well together and they are both so good with Adam and helping him out. Sometimes we forget that Adam is only 1 because he sometimes acts like he is 4,5,6.

Here is Adam sitting on the kitchen counter helping me as usual. Adam is still one happy kid. He cracks us all up. He too loves to sing, dance and play.

Here is Michael, family to follow. Since we live here in Norfolk by ourselves our family pics are often split up. The kids were over it by this pic so Michael got to stand alone. Notice our CO flag that still hangs in front of our house. That was on our house when Michael first drove me here. I sure love Michael. I miss him and can't wait for this school thing to be over so he can be back in our life. I guess this picture is kind of fitting because he is often alone studying and studying while me and the boys live life. Thank you Michael for setting up our financial future.

Here is the rest of us. We're off to church. I am the primary chorister and Michael is a teacher for the Young Men. The kids like the big primary and church is lovely. Gladys Knight recently came and rocked out in our Stake center. I wish we could have a bit more of that action in our church. Like Galdys said, sometimes we just need to say "Amen" or "Thank the Lord Jesus" out loud. And sometimes we need to sing with a bit more passion. Her fireside was good and I was thankful for the opportunity to go.

My very cute boys. Sure love these guys. They are my favorite little peeps.

This is the flower bouquet that Liam arranged for me. Like I said, with all the rain there are all kinds of spontaneous flowers and rose trees that grow here. It is very beautiful. We have tons of theses yellow flowers in our back yard and then we have a beautiful rose tree in our front yard. Liam put rocks on the bottom, then water and then flowers. He is so sweet.

We sometimes go to the dollar tree and find "treasure". We found kites for a dollar so we each picked one and flew kites. We took them to the ocean and also flew them in the front yard. They worked quite well for being so cheap. Thank goodness for the dollar tree.

Adam is kind of cute in this pic. Sean and Liam were very good kite fliers and then Adam just dragged his kite behind them thinking he was just like them.Do you people see how big Liam is? He is one long skinny boy. He is one considerate cute boy. He is a good mix of Michael and I. Hopefully he got both of our good traits and none of our bad traits. He really is a pleasure to have around. He loves school, he LOVES art and doing projects and he is quite the artist.

Here is little Adam. He loves shoes and he loves to put on everyone and anyone's shoes. Here he is looking out as Liam leaves for school wishing he could go and wearing Sean's shoes. He loves to watch as either Liam or Michael leave for school. He says bye over and over.

So Michael had a week off in March and on the Monday night of his break he came into the living room and handed me papers with my flight info and hotel info for a trip to New York. He said he would watch the kids and I should go there and have fun and have a little break. I was a bit shocked but it was a done deal so I started to pack. I got a hold of Janet Zamboni who is living in Manhattan for a year and hooked up with her. She was very helpful and we had a lot of fun hanging out. It was my first time to New York and this place is HUGE and I love it. I'm ready to go back already.

I got in Tues around noon and caught a cab to my hotel which faced the West side of Central Park. I met up with Janet shortly after. We went to the Gershwin Theater to check out how much tickets were for Wicked. I've never seen it but I've only heard good things. We found out they were sold out that night but had a ticket for $250 the next night. I had heard about the lottery so we stuck around for that. We each filled out a ticket and waited to see if they would call our names. Janet had another show that she was scheduled to go to and she was just helping me out. There were about 300 people there and 26 tickets were given out at $26.25 per ticket for the front row. We waited and waited and the second to last name called was Janet Zamboni. It was quite lucky but maybe meant to be. So I got my ticket and then we had a few hours to kill before the show so she took me to a Cuban restaurant. I had fish with a mango sauce and yummy flavored rice and black bean soup. It was yummy. We also had mango drinks. She bought me dinner and said Happy bday. It was sooo soo nice. Then we went to our separate shows. Wicked was indeed wicked. I got to see it on Broadway at the Gershwin Theater. Wow.This is my hotel. I went for some strolls in Central Park. On Wens we met up for the St. Patrick's Day parade on 5th Ave. That was fun. Then we went to the village and had some New York pizza and then Janet bought us tickets for an off Broadway show called Our Town. It was a really fun night.

On Thursday we met up and went to the building that houses the chapel and the temple. It is right off Columbus circle really in the middle of all the action. Prime spot, and just a ten minute walk from Janet's place. We went to a religion class they have for R.S. sisters. That was fun, lots of talent and education there. I liked that a lot. After the class we went to a session at the temple. After that I did some shopping on Madison Ave and 5th Ave. I found this one store that had lots of clothes. It seemed like everything there was different from everything else and it had all come off a sewing machine of some talented person. The prices were amazing. I bought some really pretty skirts for 15 to 20 each. I found a cute shoe store and bought some shoes but I'm glad I didn't save too much time for shopping because that could have been financially bad. Janet kept me very bust with lots of New York fun.

If you haven't been here, you should try to go. It is HUGE. Michael is my most favorite husband. He sure is spontaneous, adventurous, and you just never know what he's got up his sleeve. He and the boys stayed home and got the yard cleaned up, he planted some nice spring flowers and he dug a fire pit in the backyard. They all roasted mellows and hot dogs while I was gone. I came home to a clean house and worn out kids. Thank you to my Michael who always thinks of me before himself and knew that I would have a blast in New York. Next time I go it will be with him. I can't wait.

Anyway, thanks for reading this long post. Sorry if it was too long. One day these blogs will hopefully be used as records of our lives.

This week I get to go to CO. Liam's spring break is coming and we will be visiting everyone for Easter and other fun things. We're excited. Michael will stay here and continue to expand his mind with anesthesia facts that will help him to be a good anesthetist one day. He has some pretty hard tests coming up and is grateful that we will be busy in CO while he is gone learning. So far that kid has gotten straight A's and has already been in the OR intabating patients while teachers tell him that he does a good job pretending like he's not nervous. Good job Michael. One day this will all be worth it.

Ok, have a nice day.

Valentines Day Surprises.

2010-02-24T13:44:00.001-08:00

Our first surprise came in the mail and was from our lovely Denver Lyssa. We love her and her family. Liam and Sean are always so excited to get a package in the mail. Thanks so much Lyssa for the chocolates and gum. We love you.

Here is Sean decorating his sticker activity that came in the Valentine package. Cute.

Here is Adam also happy but he is happy because he is eating yogurt, one of his favorite snacks.

Later we decided to head to Washington DC to play for a few days. We made the reservation when the storm came so I tried to cancel but they wouldn't let me so we went up there and there were no problems. Once again, the people here just aren't used to much snow. We got a hotel that had a lovely pool so we did a lot of swimming. It was fun.

My sleepy Liam after some fun swimming and adventures.

Sleepy Sean. We watched movies and ate out and played at the mall. We also went to the Museum of Nature and Science. We explored that for an entire day and that was lots of fun.

Here is the George Washington Monument. You can see the snow here. It was a storm but nothing to get too scared about.

D.C. looked very pretty with all the snow. There were people out cross country skiing and walking around and playing in the snow. It was lots of fun. We met my cousin Megan and her son Owen and explored together. We had lots of fun.

When we got home we celebrated Owen's second birthday. My cousin Megan has been living in Mexico for nine months and she made us some delicious authentic Mexican food. It was yummy.

Here we all are eating cake and opening presents. My kids always love having a party.

Megan got a transformer pinata and the kids loved breaking that open.

My strong little Adam going at is with his bat. He is my cute little man.

My lovely husband got me some beautiful flowers for Valentines Day. He arranged them himself. Sometimes he studies at home. Here he is watching his VCU video lectures. He is getting smarter by the week. Good job toodle loo.

The flowers a few days later when they bloomed. I have always loved star gazers. Michael has always been a good flower man.

A few days later another package came from Grandma and Grandpa. Here are Liam and Sean with lots of smile. Opening.............Oh man, remote control cars. Pure coolness. The boys were super excited. There was even one for Mr. Adam.I kind of love this picture bc this really is the face that Adam makes when we tell him to say cheese. This looks a bit scary but this is his cheese smile. Picture this along with him saying "eeeeee." He's really cute. It's good that we have these little people in our lives to crack us up and keep us laughing. Here is Liam driving his car. Not only did Grandma send remote control cars, which were actually found by Grampa at Lowe's, thank you so much but there was also other treats. She sent girl scout cookies, yummmmmm. She sent wonderful books to keep our library collection growing. Thanks to her, we have MANY good books that she has purchased for us. We got various other treats and the package was so nice and so much fun. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa St. John for the wonderful package

Adam and Sean always playing and coming up with new adventures while Liam is at school.We also gave Adam a hair cut this month. He made it the longest of all the boys. He comes from my hair genes, he doesn't have much. Liam and Sean both got their first haircuts much earlier than twenty months of age. However, Adam had one piece of hair that was a bit out of control. See following..And so we cut it. We just did the old buzz job. He liked the feeling and was a good sport. Before..

After...

His hair makes him look a lot tougher now. Before he would act tough but he had cute curls and a "baby" hairdo. Now he is pulling off his tough act much better. He used to be known as "Tuffy" when little Ryan lived with us last summer, bc he always thought he was so much more tough than him.This is a pic of Sean and his little pre pre k class that a few of us switch doing in the ward. It is fun and the kids are cute. This week was the letter Q so we made queens out of toilet paper rolls. It was fun.

This is a pic of Michael and the boys. One night he was pretending to intabate all of our children. Michael is always thinking about school. When he is home he brings his school brain home. Then he does interesting anesthesia things on us. It is fun having a medical person for a husband. At least I know he will always be able to take care of all of us, and possibly anesthetize us. Good good.

Adam is not so sure.

Liam is making a terrified face. The others think it is quite interesting. Oh my lovely husband.

Well anyhoo, that's just a little bit of what we've been up to. My little sis Allyssa just had a baby boy and Twila just called me and told me she had her little Walt and I'm feeling all those crazy baby feelings again. Oh man, sometimes I wonder when those feelings go away. For now I'm glad I have them because I want a few more little St John people in my life. I love these boys and we have lots of fun playing. Liam had a lovely report card so I told him he could get a reward at Target so he picked Mouse Trap. We've been playing some Mouse trap around here.

The sun seems to never ever come out here. It is so sad. I just want to go outside with some sunshine. I miss all my people and I'm excited for the Warners and their new addition. I'm also excited for Allyssa and Brian and their new baby Jack. Congratulations to you both and thanks again to all the lovely people who sent us packages. We LOVED them. OK, until next post.

Feb 2010

2010-02-09T06:04:00.001-08:00

So here we are in VA still. Recently we've been having some snow weather. So here in VA when it snows the people shut down the town. The max we got at one time was maybe 6 inches and church was shortened and delayed, school was canceled for two and a half days for Liam and Michael's school was canceled for a day. It was quite silly but we enjoyed having some "snow" days. The snow here has a lot more moisture in it so it is perfect for building. I have some pics of our snow play and snow man but they are on Michael's computer. I am excited bc I just got a new computer and it is helping my life here in staying connected to the world. It makes a big difference when you're home alone all day every day with no other adults to be able to look at blogs and check email. This semester I have a new attitude. Last semester was a bit rough but I am almost back to my happy self living life as a mom to my cute little boys. Anyhoo, one night after a snow day Michael was being a bit silly and taking pictures with Nurse Parks. Some of you may have heard and maybe not that Michael's program got taken over by VCU, (Virginia Commonwealth University). The director of his program quit and some things were changing. Anyways it's been a roller coaster ride but they are ironing out the details and back to work trying to become CRNA's. Nurse Parks is a cardboard nurse who stood in the health sciences building and one of the days when all the students were frustrated with what was going on Michael decided that since ODU's program was shutting down he would take nurse Parks home with him. Thus Nurse Parks lives at our house now and helps Michael study. Here is Michael sleeping with Nurse Parks. He found his shoulder quite nice. You may be wondering whose dog this is. We were dog sitting for a family in our ward for this puppy. The boys enjoyed having a pet for a weekend. Oh my Michael. He cannot wait until this program is over. He is working his bottom off and trying really hard to do well. Really he can't wait to get the heck out of here. Less than two years left. We made some flowers for Valentine's day. Actually I was in charge of project group for church so I used Teri's wonderful idea of flowers. It was fun and then last night for FHE the boys wanted to make some so we made the FHE topic about love and for the activity we painted flowers. It was good.While Liam goes to school every day Sean and Adam play together. They are pretty cute together. Here they are building a fort.

Say cheese.

These next pics are on a snow day when we were painting again. Liam is a little artist and loves to draw and paint. He's pretty good on top of it. It is really fun to watch your kids grow older and learn about their talents. It's pretty awesome having the opportunity to be a mom to little people who are growing every day and discovering who they are. I'm excited to find out more and more about these boys.

Here is Adam. Not the greatest painter yet but still enjoys it.Sean is a very careful painter. He is very good about getting his paintbrush very clean between colors. He puts a lot of thought into every move.Here is Liam. We were at Michael's buying some craft stuff and they each picked a model car to paint and build for one dollar by the way. Anyway he really wanted an easel. He said that every artist needs one so he settled for a 99 cent painters pallet. We created an easel and he went to work. You cannot tell but it is raining and almost snowing, or sleeting? in the background. This place is sooooo wet. I always wondered about those rain boots you see at the stores and why you would buy those unless you bought them bc they were cute but now I understand what they are for. Here there are puddles galore. You need rain boots bc otherwise your feet and pants get wet. In CO you can get away with no such thing. You may need snow boots but not rain boots.

The cutest boys in the world, ok maybe in my world.

These pics of Adam make me smile. He is one happy cute kid. Third kids are pretty lucky. They have constant entertainers above them and their parents have pretty much figured out parenting. Adam is a wonderful little person to have around. Last night during FHE he was singing to all the songs and doing all the motions. He sure is funny and cute.

OK people, if anyone needs an east coast trip I am here in Norfolk, VA. Come visit if you'd like. Maybe this part is mostly for Jen who is to buy tickets to come in Mar or April. Ok, we miss everyone and have a happy Valentine's day.

Christmas in CO.

2010-01-13T05:55:00.000-08:00

So for all you readers out there, I must warn you that this is a long post so if you don't have time to read right now, I'm warning you. So here it is. Our December and first part of Jan. Another note, this post is completely backwards. For all of you who know me will understand that the computer and me don't always see eye to eye so this report goes backwards in time. ok. This is me and my mom. Yes you all know how much I love my mom. She and my dad put us up in their new house that they moved into. We joked around that we each had our own wing. It was kind of nice though to have our own spot for three weeks. So thanks for letting us stay in the basement wing mom and dad.

This is almost the last night. Joe and Lara stopped by on their way home from St. Louis to say hello. It was nice to see them, I only wish we could have spent more time with them.

We were just visiting and shooting some pics. Here are my boys and my mom.

The boy cousins of the St. John fam and Joe and Lara's fam. Cute little people. Let's see if we can get some girls in these families.

My very nice dad took us up to Winter Park with some tickets he scored. My mom watched the kids and the snow was plentiful. We took some beauty shots to remember our home for when we returned to the land of Norfolk.

I thought these trees almost looked fake. It had snowed the night before and everything looked like a post card.

Michael and I at the top of Mary Jane. Zeke came with us and we got some pretty good shredding in.

This is a terrible story. One morning we woke up a 6:00 to find that our dear Adam had blown up in his face. This is the picture post ER when they decided we could finally go home.

Our sad little man. He had some sort of allergic reaction to something, which we are still unaware of and needed a shot of epinephrine.

He hated this pulse thing on his toe more than anything.

This is the pic just before we went into the ER. We currently have no insurance so we were trying to decide what to do. Michael had diagnosed him correctly and thought we should do everything they ended up doing in the ER but we didn't have an Epi pen. We looked at this sad face and of course decided that we must go. His poor face was blowing up like a balloon. This happened the last Sunday we were there. He was just fine by 3 or 4 that day, back to his normal self but this was definitely scary.

Christmas day at Buckwalter homebase. We had yummy food and we went to Castle Rock care centers and sang to the people there. It was fun.

Jenny and Emma

Mom and Dad

Here is Brian helping Liam and Sean build the Lego Buzz Lightyears they got for Christmas.

Liam just loves projects and he hardly needed help. He just followed his little book of instructions and built himself a lego Buzz Lightyear.

Michael and I had our basement wing and we put a little tree down there so we could have our own little family Christmas on Christmas morning. There is a fireplace down there so that made is easier for Santa Claus to come and fill the stockings. Christmas is sooo fun with little kids. They get so excited.

Here is Liam checking out his stocking stuff. Adam loved the goldfish andthe swedish fish.

The boys playing Connect Four. They are pretty cute.

Sean showing his Buzz Lightyear. This was the one big present. The rest came from the dollar store which is the new place I have discovered with my new financial situation. It has lots and lots of stuff and really, I must take advantage of my young children who really don't mind what they get.

Michael and Liam. Liam was able to use five dollars this year at the Santa store at his school and he bought everyone in our family a present. He got Michael and pen and a mirror for me. What a cute boy.

Christmas Eve at the St. John house. Dolores and Jim always put on quite the party. We had ribs for dinner with home made potato salad and corn casserole. It was all so so tasty.

Dolores even gets stockings for everyone. What a nice treat.

Dolores and the boys diving in to all the Christmas goodness. The boys were pretty lucky to get fun presents from Grandma and Grandpa St. John.

Even Adam got presents. I'm currently at the point where since Adam is only 1, I don't buy stuff for him. He's good with all the many other toys that are around. He was pretty excited to open the presents though.

Grandma got Liam and Sean the Fantastic Mr. Fox CD. It's fun to listen to in the car. The kids are loving listening to it here in VA. Thanks Grandma.

Sean got the pirate ship he really wanted. He was pretty excited.

The three boys on Christmas Eve.

They are my favorite little people.

This is Adam with a little baby. This is my first child who has really been into carrying around a baby. At home he carries a baby around everywhere. When we got to CO, he immediately found a baby and made it his own. He is such a sweet little guy.

This is a pic before we left for Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve festivities. My dad was so nice to let us use his truck while we were in CO. Thanks again.

These are taken right outside of my parents new house. It is quite the dreamy winter wonderland. The first thing the kids did when we got to CO was sledding. There was a great kid hill right in front of the house that the kids went up and down.

More beautiful screensavers for VA, life with no snow.

When we first got to CO, the condo was available so Michael and I took all the kids up and had a party. We went to Breckenridge for yummy pizza.

We went to the hot tub and pool with all the kids. They had lots of fun playing with their cousins.

Here they are playing out in front of the condo. They were doing some serious sledding here also.

Cute little Sean with a huge snowball.

Adam feeling a little confused about the cold feeling that the snow is giving his fingers. He sure is cute.

Michael and I got to partake in Copper Ski Days with the Boy Scouts. This is one of the first seasons I'm not pregnant or nursing a new child. It was fantastic spending the day on the slopes with my Michael not worrying about the children. Dolores was so kind so watch the kids on this day. Thank you.

I can't wait to teach Liam, Sean and Adam to board/ski. They will love it. It will be so fun to be able to board with my own kids. I'm thinking I will get Liam started next year.

The man who helps make it possible for tons of kids to get the opportunity to ski for a reasonable amount of money. My dad brings up all the food and feeds thousands of people chili in the middle of their ski day. He is an awesome dude. Thanks for teaching me to ski/board many years ago. It is one of my favorite activities in the world.

Michael even found some time to keep up on his studies. He took this pic for his instructor to show what a good student he is. Good job Michael, the man who got straight A's is first semester of Anesthesia school.

We started out the vacation with a birthday celebration for Sean who turned 4 on Dec. 21st. Liam joined in on the party since his bday was in Nov. They invited all their cousins and friends and had a great time.

Their one wish was to have a pinata. We found this parrot one thanks to Aunt Lizzie. Thanks Liz for the cool parrot.

Liam Sean

Adam

My boys. It was nice to get a Colorado recharge. We needed it. Here we are again in lovely Norfolk VA. I'm telling you, it's way colder here than it ever is in CO. The humidity makes it so very cold. We can't really go outside but the sun has finally come out. It was hiding for the months of OCT, NOV, and DEC. That was a bit depressing. Michael has started school again. I think we'll do better this semester bc we know what to expect. We will miss Michael while he is learning but this will all be worth it in the end.

We had a lot of fun in CO. We were able to see lots of friends and family. Thanks to everyone for helping us have a wonderful time. We'll keep you posted on our life in VA. ok, goodbye.

Sorry about the very long post.

What we've been up to

2009-11-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

I posted this picture first so that whenever I check my blog I will see my husband. This is only bc I really never see him anymore for he is a slave to his studies. I am happy to say he is doing well in school and that this will come to an end one day.

Here we are setting up the Christmas tree. This is the first year we went with a fake tree. We will be departing Norfolk on the 16th so we figured we didn't want to come home in Jan to a pile of needles. It is a cute little tree and the kids and I had fun putting it up. We turned on some Christmas music and had a festive day of Christmas joy.

My cute little Adam who is loving the tree and also loving to take everything off. We love our little people in our life. He sure is cute though. This kid is STILL nursing. It is time to be done but it's just not happening. Oh well. Keep on nursing Adam.

Here I am setting up the tree. It is fun to have Liam in my life bc the boy is now 6 years old and as smart as they come. He reminds me of his father bc he can figure anything out. We have a Wii and if I don't know how to work something, he is right there figuring it all out. He took out the tree and got it all organized and he does projects all day around the house. He's loving to spell and write lately and he's just a fun guy to be around. I love that kid.

Here he is making sure everything is just right on the tree. He and Sean were playing pirates previous to this activity. He is very good at helping Sean and teaching him new things. He is a good big brother. Sean and Adam have enjoyed having him around Thanksgiving break while school has been out.

THANKSGIVING. Here it is. I decided to cook all the items that I love whether the people around here would enjoy it or not. Michael had to study all morning but around 2pm he came down and the five of us ate honeybaked ham, mashed potates, stuffing, jello salad, rolls, deviled eggs, veggies and dip and pecan pie.

Oh yes and the boys really wanted little sausage smokies. We also had a special drink. Mostly the boys, who arrived in their underwear, didn't enjoy the Thanksgiving tastes, but oh well. It came, we ate, it is gone and now I'm eating all the leftovers. Yum yum. I obviously missed my Colorado people but what are you going to do when you live on the other side of the country.

Liam turned 6 on Nov 22. He is huge. We had carrot cake cupcakes, his favorite. We got a few presents from the dollar store which he enjoyed. It was a good bday.

Lizzy was here to help watch the boys while I took a quick trip to CO. She had a bday while she was here so we celebrated. The boys had fun with Lizzy and they can't wait for her to come back.

Here I am in colorful CO with my people. This was fun. Thank you to all ya'll for the fun weekend. Delicious.

My Erin, My Teri, and me. Happiness.

My Jenny. I was lucky to sleep at her coolio apt. in Denver one night. She has it going on there, that is for sure. Her and Emma are living in a lovely spot there and are doing quite well. How exciting for them and oh how I miss them.

My cute little Sean and Adam. They play together very well. Third children are so lucky with all the entertainment they receive from their siblings. Adam is a lovely child with a great personality. Sean, well he is a little flirt with cute little lips.

Oh yes, then there was Halloween. We have Woody, the old fall back tiger costume, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Comand. Adam was loving the suckers.

Cute little ADAM.

They were quite the pair. These two really watch out for each other. We went to the library for some Halloween activities, then we went trick or treating in our neighborhood, then we went to trunk or treat, then we went to one of Michael's fellow students house for a Halloween party. It was fun.

I love this picture. Liam had just gotten his new cowboy boots and a belt. He had his gun and a hat and he thought he was the man. I really do hang out with boys 24/7. I'm sometimes wondering if there is a little girl out there somewhere that might come and join this group of boys. I'd love to have at least one girl around here. We shall see. Only time will tell. For now it is me and the four boys in my life, actually only three bc Michael is missing in action. I'm a lucky girl to be surrounded by such cute boys.

fall

2009-10-26T10:53:00.001-07:00

Look at these handsome boys that I get to live with. I love these guys a lot and I'm so lucky that they are here in VA with me to keep me busy and keep me happy. Yesterday was the primary program and Liam and Sean both did a great job saying their parts that they memorized. It was a nice program and it went well.

I love the ties. You might not be able to tell but Adam's shirt is really tight at the neck but he didn't mind bc he loves doing anything that his brothers are doing.

On Sat. we got a Halloween package from Grandma. We're so grateful to those who send us mail. Liam asks every day if he got something. The Krumholz family sent us a package a week ago Sat. so October has been a fun month with packages. The kids just love it!

She sent starbursts, swedish fish, jelly bellies, toys, games, pumpkin keychains, a little something for everyone.

Here we are at the Farm collecting pumpkins and doing all kinds of fun fall festive activities.

Sean looking for the perfect pumpkin.

We went to the petting farm and my kids were all over chasing the animals and petting them. I thought they were scared of this kind of activity but they loved it. Maybe we should live on a farm.

Here is Adam trying to join the chicken family. I tried to tell him that he already has a family but he really wanted in with the chickens.

We went on a lovely hay ride.

The boys.

A visitor!

2009-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

Allyssa came to visit us for one whole week. We were so excited and happy that she came and stayed with us. We love it when people come to visit us. This is a picture of Sean and Adam smiling about Allyssa.My wonderful Michael made us breakfast in bed the first morning she was here. Look at this beautiful plate. I'm also secretly married to a professional chef.

Not only did we get bfast in bed we also got two smiley faces welcoming us to morning time.

She got in late Fri night and the next day on Sat we went to the Neptune Festival in VA beach. We were excited to see a parade and a sandcastle competition.

They were throwing out candy and other treats. Liam and Sean were sure to catch many treats.

Here is Adam. He caught a necklace and some suckers.

Allyssa helping the kids with sandcastles.

Always a sign of a good day. Sleeping children are happy children. The boardwalk was filled with lots of booths and fun things to see.

While Allyssa was here we made these delicious cake pops from Bakerilla.com. This treat has become my favorite treat ever. I just made some cute pumpkin ones last night.

Here we are at the zoo. Here in VA we have beautiful trees and flowers. We were very happy that Allyssa could hang out with us all week. She watched my kids while I went to a Pres. mtg and she watched the kids so that Michael and I could go out to dinner by ourselves. The kids loved having her here and she has been in all of Sean's prayers since she left.

This is a buzz lightyear costume that Grandma sent us. Dolores always sends the best stuff. We have an entire library of good books thanks to her. Sean occasionally believes that he is Buzz Lightyear so this costume was perfect. Thanks Grandma.

Adam says cheese now when I take his picture. He's one of the cutest people I know. He's such a happy little person and he's so fun to be around.

Liam goes to school!

2009-09-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Liam started school this past week. We started out with a little blessing on Monday night for part of FHE. That was good and Liam was cute.

Tues. morning it was pouring rain and a bit chilly so dressed him warm and sent him off. I was a wreck but Liam was brave. He sure is cute and he is so grown up.

Now that Liam and Michael are at school all day, Sean, Adam and I hang out together. At times I wonder where my Liam is but this is a good thing.

Adam and Sean have been playing a lot. Sean can make Adam laugh like no one else can. Sean is also proud bc he taught him how to go down the stairs in our house. I sure love these cute boys.

Here we are picking him up from day #1. He's happy and good. He had nothing but positive things to say about his day. He tells me about the little butterflies that represent the students and how the butterflies stay high in the sunshine if they are good but if they are bad they sink down near the snakes. So far his butterfly is high every day. He must love school like I did when I was a kid. Michael told him to always hang out with the butterflies who fly high. I thought this was all very cute. His school is on a very large piece of land with tons of grass and beautiful trees that grow flowers.

Since Michael has started school he is very busy so it's just me and the boys most of the time. Since Liam was gone every day we decided to head to the beach on Sat. We loaded up the bikes in the truck and hung out in VA beach. We rode on the boardwalk and explored and then the kids played in the ocean.

They can play with sand for hours. Adam took an almost two hour nap on the beach towel so I got to lay and enjoy the sun while Liam and Sean played. It was good.

This is Sean in the bike trailer after the long day. He fell asleep and I just had to take the picture from the side bc Liam and I were cracking up.

Sean is my cute little man, especially in this picture.

This is me making my usual sausage and pancakes. We don't start church until 1 so it is nice to have a good breakfast before church. There is Adam, my counter sidekick who enjoys being next to me almost every moment of his life. I should enjoy it while it lasts but sometimes I wish Jenny were here so I could take a little break.

As some of you remember from an earlier post, we planted a garden when we first got here and this is a pic of our tomatoes. We had wonderful basil and green peppers. Our corn didn't really make it but it was fun having a garden. We'll keep planting stuff and see how it goes.

Anyway, over Liam had a great first week. We're happy about that. I'm so glad he likes it and I'm glad he's happy. I hope it stays that way.

More visitors, goodbye summer.

2009-09-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

It all started when we picked up Mary, Derrick, Carly, Lily, Corey and Caroline from the airport and the boys were thrilled out of their minds. Finally, some more cousin visitors. Here they are on the couch after a long day of travel.

The first night they were here we took them to our local beach where Derrick showed them a crab. Carly collected seashells and they couldn't resist the ocean. We took home wet pajama kids all ready for bed.

The next morning we headed to VA beach. We found a great location called Cape Henry that is just off VA beach, not as busy. It was a great sunny day with a slight breeze of wind. The waves were huge this day which intimidated the Price girls a little but they eventually warmed up to it. All the cousins had a great time playing.

Derrick and Michael took care of the eight children, three of which are babies, while Mary and I hit the waves. We played in the ocean for a good hour and caught a lot of waves on our boogie boards that we rode into shore. It was a lot of fun. I haven't really played a lot in the ocean since we moved here so thanks Mary for letting the waves take us down.

After VA beach we picked up my mom from the airport and headed back to our house to celebrate Caroline's birthday. She turned six and got to play all day at the ocean and then play all night at our house with all the cousins. We had hamburgers and hot dogs followed by carrot cake cupcakes, our new favorite recipe around here from Lara. (Joe's wife)

Here they are opening the goody bags. Liam was so happy that Caroline got to have her birthday here in VA. It helped with not feeling left out of the Colorado scene.

The next day we all packed up and headed to D.C. for a weekend of adventure. Here is Sean and Lily getting ready to swim in the hotel pool. They all have really turned into fish around here. Liam, Caroline and Carly have mastered swimming and Sean can put his head under for quite awhile. I'm excited that they love the water so much. I thought this picture was pretty cute.

Liam and Adam excited to be in a hotel and with their cousins. We live about three hours from D.C. so if anyone would like to come visit us, we can go there and take you around to all the historical sites.

Mary, Derrick and my mom were so nice to let Michael and I go to the D.C. temple. It is a beautiful temple and we had a lovely time. This is the temple that we are supposed to go to living in Norfolk VA so it is hard to get there since it is 3 hours away.

We went to the National Cathedral in D.C. where all the kids toured the church and learned some history. The church was beautiful and it happened to be a Sunday so we listened to the end of a mass.

A little family picture.

My Michael and myself. We have really had a fun summer here and we've definitely enjoyed the company from Colorado. We've really wanted to do more touring and though we had the weekend in D.C., we also had eight kids so we didn't see everything. We're excited to go back and see more.

Here is the crew hiding in a gazebo. It was pretty hot so we took advantage of the shade. You can tell from the picture that we are losing interest in the children. They just want to go back to the water.

Here's our cute little Ryan man who is crawling and really getting around. He loves all these cousins. His favorite part of the day is watching little people play and talk. My mom kept him in her hotel room and gave us a little break. Michael and I were able to sneak out in the night after we put all our peeps to sleep bc our room was right next to my moms room and there was a door in between so she'd watch over all the sleepy people and Michael and I were able to catch a bite to eat. One night we went to PF Changs and the other night we ate some delicious Thai food

Back at the beach for some more fun.

Adam and Corey both taking beach naps under the umbrella. Adam still has some amazing thighs even though all he really eats is breast milk. We're trying to get him to eat more and more human food but he's loving the nursing.

All the people busy building sandcastles.

Here is my mom and Ryan at the National Cathedral. I'm so happy that my mom could come out to VA. She helped me a lot while she was here. We sent little Ryan back home with her bc Emily will be out of Rehab on the 15th. Also Michael started CRNA school and he was a huge help in taking care of him and with school, he is gone all of the time. We're grateful that Ryan could come hang with us for seven weeks be part of the St. John family. He's a sweet little guy and we're excited to see him again at Christmas. My mom also helped me to get a dishwasher while she was here and so that has changed my life too. Doing all the dishes by hand with four little boys and two adults is a lot, especially in the VA summer heat. So thanks to mom for making my life wonderful out here in Norfolk, VA. We were able to keep Caroline here after everyone left to stay and play with Liam and Sean. She's been having a great time. We taught her how to ride a bike without training wheels and we will drive to Raleigh NC this Saturday to take her to the airport there where there is a direct flight to Denver. This officially ends our summer and then Liam will start school on Tues.

Michael started school this past Monday and he is already swamped in study and memorizing and learning. Thanks to all who came to visit us and don't be scared to come again and again and again. Any others needing a vacation, just call me. Allyssa is coming this month on the 25th! We've really had a fun summer here and it did go by pretty fast.

Visitors!

2009-08-16T20:12:00.001-07:00

We were so happy to have our most wonderful visitors this past week. Jen and Emma came out to VA for about one week and we played all week long. It was wonderful. Liam and Sean went to the airport with me to pick them up and dressed up as Optimus Prime and a tiger. Jen and Emma were so excited to see them. Of course the first thing we did was head to the beach. Everyone worked hard on building sandcastles and playing in the ocean.

A picture of Michael and I playing at the beach. It is not often that we have another adult to take our picture. We have really enjoyed this summer of beach excursions. We've got a good system down with carrying babies, beach umbrellas, sunscreen, towels, snacks and beach toys. We make a very good team. I love my Michael.

Here they are, Emma, Liam, Sean, Michael and Ryan all playing out in the water. Emma, Liam and Sean are all major water peeps. They could play in the ocean all day every day.

One day we decided to head up to Jamestown. We rode a free bus that took us from Williamsburg to Jamestown. As you can see, it was nice to have Jen and Emma out here to help with the babies. Jennifer watched all the kids one night while Michael and I went out for dinner by the ocean and a nice drive to VA beach. Thanks Jen. Also Jen and I were able to go see The Proposal which I thought was a good movie. I miss my Jenny and wish she lived in VA with me.

Emma, Sean and Liam putting on colonial armor at Jamestown. Liam was so happy to have Emma here. He has missed having cousins and friends in his life so readily. I think when he starts school it will help bc he's getting a little sick of hanging with two babies and me. He's ready for more adventure.

Liam, Adam, Emma, Ryan and Sean looking cuter than ever. All these cousins having a great time.

Adam is one of the cutest people I know. He's been a lot more interested in exploring the sand and water when we go to the beach. He doesn't love getting sand on his hands but he does love chasing the water as it comes in and goes out. Lately, he has found his shadow and loves looking at it and clapping his hands. Every time Adam would escape a wave without falling we would say "Yaaay" and then he would come hug us and give us kisses. His kisses include him approaching you with a big open mouth. It is pretty cute.

This isn't too clear but here is my dad who drove the black truck out here for Michael to use while we're here. We are very grateful for this. My dad left Thurs morning and did the 28 hour drive in two days. He got here late Fri night and so on Sat we went to the beach and had some yummy dinner. We love my dad and we are grateful for him taking time out of his schedule to deliver the truck. We had fun with him while he was here.

I liked this pic bc Adam is sticking his head in the sand. It makes me laugh a lot. Liam is my guy who I enjoy talking to, Sean entertains us and makes us laugh and Adam is just a pleasant guy to have around. He is quite entertaining as well.

Adam has adjusted pretty well to the Ryan addition. We use the bumbo a lot with Ryan so of course whatever we do with Ryan, Adam is interested in. He tries to hard to get into the bumbo but his legs are just too chubby. I thought this was a pretty hilarious picture.

My dad playing with all the boys. This is Sat night and I found out that back in CO, my sis Allyssa was visiting and all the girls went to see the Time Traveler's Wife Sat night. Here I was in VA with six, SIX boys. Sometimes I wonder what the heck is going on. I said this to my dad and he said, "OH shelley, you always were a tomboy." But I don't want to be a tomboy, I want to go to the movies with all the girls. Oh well, like I tell Liam, we can't always get what we want. The great thing is I was hanging with six of the coolest boys that exist. After the beach, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and then ate some delicious grilled salmon. It was a fun night.

Ryan has made a lot of advancements while he's been here. He now sits up perfectly without falling and he's crawling. He can go from his bum to his tummy back to his bum. He's loving bath time now and he's loving all the boys. He like the ocean and he really enjoys sitting in the sand and playing. What a cute baby.

We are so grateful for the visitors and the fun that we've been having. Since last post, I am feeling much better and Michael starts school very soon. We have a few more visitors coming before school starts and we are looking forward to that. Thanks to Jen, Emma and dad for coming to VA.

The month of July

2009-07-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the beginning of July when we were feeling pretty good, eating delicious food, feeling pretty unpacked and organized and life was good. The only thing missing was CO and our friends and family. Michael has been creating wonderful dinners on the grill and I am the lucky eater. This is a picture of a grilled salmon with a roasted red pepper sauce, black beans and rice, and grilled asparagus. Yummy.

Here we are at the beach doing more beach activities. Liam has taken up snorkeling. He loves the water. Sean is getting a little more brave with the ocean. It is a little scary for a three year old. He loves to chase the birds and build sandcastles.

They decided to cover Adam with sand. He liked it. Michael is out in the ocean with all his boys. We have been slowly purchasing beach gear. The blown up intertube is good but also bad bc sometimes Liam floats away. Overall the beach is wonderful and a fantastic free activity.

Here we are for the fourth of July. We live right next to Ocean View park where they had a display so we just walked a few blocks to the party and watched a fun show. Liam and Sean loved it. Adam was a little nervous at first but just cuddled up next to me and watched.

We played soccer and ran around before the show started. This same park offers music and dancing on FRI and SUN nights and is very close to our house so we go to this park sometimes for the festive activities.

We were so excited to drive to the airport and pick up grandma and grandpa. They brought a little visitor with them on the plane, our new little brother Ryan. Ryan belongs to my sister Emily who has been in the hospital so we are watching him for now. He is a sweet little man. He did very well on his first plane ride. Thanks to Michael's parents for delivering him.

The grandparents had a hotel five minutes away with a pool so we went there a lot to swim. It was right next to the ocean and very beautiful. Here is the clan getting ready for swimming.

Ryan has been enjoying his stay in Norfolk Va. His life is very busy with three older boys to entertain him and lots of activities to participate in. He has a sweet smile and he's a sweet baby. He's 8 months old and fits right in. I must say though that it has been a bit of a change around here with another baby. Lots of work and attention needed.

Here we all are at the pool. The boys are absolutely loving all the swimming. We try to keep them covered so they don't burn. We've done a pretty good job so far. No serious burns yet.

Michael's dad took all the boys on a fishing trip where Liam and Sean caught some croakers. They had a great time and we are thankful to grandpa for the fun boat ride and fishing trip.

Liam and Sean are not afraid of fish or the squid that they used to catch the fish. Liam would take the fish from the hook and put it into the bucket. Maybe he'll grow up and become a fisherman. After the daily activities, we would come to the house and grill more delicious food. What a fun trip with grandma and grandpa.

In the evenings, we would sit out on the front porch and talk and one night we found a frog so Michael caught it and put it into Liam's frog house for the kids to look at in the morning. They were so excited about the frog. Liam decided to let the frog go around noon to live back with his brothers and sisters in the wild. Good job Liam.

Unfortunately, toward the end of the trip Grandma, Liam, Sean and Shelley got sick with a flu bug. We all were weak and sad and we were trying to take care of two babies and life. Michael gave Grandma and myself a liter of fluid to help us get back on our feet. What a wonderful husband I have. I'm lucky to be married to an ICU nurse who knows how to take care of sick people.

Grandma extended her stay for some extra days to help out with Ryan. We are so appreciative to her. Unfortunately after she left I got a terrible case of mastitis that took me out for another few days. It's been a little rough around here lately. No more beautiful grilled dinners or beach excursions. We're just trying to survive. But I'm finally feeling better, I'm on an antibiotic, and it's looking good. We're trying to figure out little Ryan and his schedule. With my being so sick, Michael and Ryan have become very good friends. Liam and Sean have been very helpful and of course Adam, well ..........

That pretty much tells it all. He is my wonderful little baby who keeps us all entertained and laughing. He walks around the house singing and trying yet again to be five instead of 1. He does a pretty good job.

PS. The bugs are under control. Michael used ortho home defense and we haven't seen a roach in weeks. We continue to use Terro for the sugar ants and we've kept those to a minimum. This is good bc bugs are disgusting and they make me angry and frustrated.

Adam turned 1

2009-06-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

Adam's first birthday!
Adam turned 1 on June 25th. We have had him in our family for one whole year. What a fantastic addition he is. Michael calls him the Golden child. He looks a bit different from the other two. His hair color is golden and he doesn't have the dark eyebrows and hair like Liam and Sean.
Adam thinks that he is five. He tries to do everything that Liam and Sean are doing. Here in VA we have a fantastic front yard and sidewalk with no car traffic, (we're used to 17th Ave in Denver) and so Liam has learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels. He's doing a great job and absolutely loves this activity so I'm often on the front porch while the kids ride bikes. Sean also loves to ride his bike and thus Adam would also like to ride a bike. I was telling this all to Michael's mom and so she sent this cute little blue bike in the mail that she had sitting in her garage for Adam to ride. He loves it. Plus it arrived on the day we celebrated Adam's bday so it was a bonus present. Thanks Grandma!

Here is Adam with his party hat. We've never celebrated a bday with only the five of us. Adam's first bday was a good time to do it because he certainly didn't mind. Liam and Sean aren't crazy about cake and ice cream so we bought a snow cone maker at Target. (my favorite store that I go to because it makes me feel like I'm at home) The snow cones were a hit. Adam loved it and we can make these treats every day since it is so hot.

I told Liam and Sean that they were invited to Adam's bday party and they each needed to find a toy, wrap it, and bring it to the party. Adam loved the idea and opened all the FREE presents. It was great. Sean picked some pretty random toys but Adam enjoyed ripping the paper apart.

Liam spent more time on the project and made him a cute card and chose some baby toys that he got when he was one. It was all very cute. Adam's birthday was very fun and we missed all our friends and family who were not able to come. You're all excused since it would have been a 27 hour drive.

Here is Liam with his cape and his hat and his sunglasses ready to ride his two wheeler. His goal was to go fast enough to make the cape fly in the air. He made it happen a few times.

Here is Adam and his Fantastic legs. This is two months of walking on them as well. They used to be even chubbier. What a cute boy.

Here is my Seany cakes. He's always entertaining us. Sean has more facial expressions than the average boy. He makes me laugh a lot.

Here they are, Sean and Liam. They have become even better friends here because there are no other children in their lives right now. We're working on making more friends. So far everyone we've met has had 2 and 3 year olds. Liam is looking for a five year old friend. School will start Sept. 8th so we're looking forward to some friends there and hopefully we'll meet some more in the mean time.

A few other things.

Thanks for the bug suggestions. We finally went and got some Terro which is a liquid poison that actually does get rid of ants. Thanks to Layna Maxwell and others for the suggestion. The sugar ants are going away and I only see one occasionally instead of twenty crawling around the counters at any given time. That was driving me crazy. Michael actually found one in his cereal after he finished in the milk. Yuk.

Now for the really scary story. Michael has been working nights here and so one night this past week I was brushing Sean's teeth and Liam was in his room previewing his books when he ran into the bathroom and told me he saw a giant bug crawl across the room and under the tree part of his bunk bed. I told him to calm down and that I'd be right in. However I knew exactly what this meant. Days previous I had gone into their room and saw the same cockroach and it crawled very fast into their closet and I couldn't find it. I hate cockroaches and they freak me out. Now I knew I needed to stay calm because my reactions would impact the way they felt. So I went into the room and assured Liam the cockroach was gone and not to worry. He was worried and wouldn't come sit on the floor to read books. I crawled under the tree trunk part of their bed where it is dark and moved a toy and sure enough, there it was, gigantic and scary. I stayed calm even though I was scared out of my mind, I told Liam to hand me a yellow sand castle bucket and I put the bucket down very quickly and caught him. He was trying to move his speedy legs under the bucket and I could here the scratching on the hard wood floors. I moved the bucket along the floor out into the open room and found a zip lock bag big enough to put around the bucket so as not to let the roach escape.

Anyway we looked at him after I caught him, he was huge. I told Liam I would just leave him in the trap until Michael got home the next morning. So that was that, Liam was a little nervous going to sleep that night but I told him there were definitely no more cockroaches in the house. Yeah right.

The next morning I looked in the bag and it was gone. Michael had already come home and was sleeping so I assumed he got rid of it. Later that day when he woke up we were all talking and I asked Michael what he did with it and he said he never touched it. Oh man.

Finally I got to talking to Liam and found out that he and Sean had some fun with it that morning while I was still asleep. I asked him if it was dead and he said yes but he said it was split into two. I asked him more about that and got him to tell me that he had gotten a hold of my kitchen scissors and cut the cockroach in half and then took it out to the sidewalk and left it there. I of course then had to go into the chat about going outside while I'm asleep and how that is absolutely not allowed. We went into the stranger danger talk but in the end I told him he was very brave and I was thankful that he got rid of it. I washed the scissors for a long time with soap and hot hot water.

So that is the bug story this week. I hate these cockroaches, some are trying to tell us they are water bugs or Palmetto bugs. Whatever they are I hate them and wish they never existed.

The end.

2nd week in VA

2009-06-20T18:18:00.001-07:00

Our second week in VA has been lovely. There is quite a lot to do here so we haven't had too much time to get sad yet. It might feel a little little bit like a vacation so far with the beach aspect. We live only blocks from the beach so we go there often for it is free and fun. Here is my little Adam building sandcastles with Michael.

Adam loves the ocean but he has a hard time walking in the sand. He falls a lot but he just gets right back up and keeps going. This little guy sure loves his brothers. He tries to do everything they are doing. They keep him pretty entertained. Thank goodness for siblings.

Liam can't get enough of the ocean. He loves it out there. Here is Sean doing some of his Kung Fu moves. We love free entertainment. The only danger here is the sun. It is beating down on us and we must apply plenty of sunscreen. So far, no burns on the boys.

Michael keeps calling me a wuss because I'm not jumping into the ocean at every chance I get but I'm trying to convince him that someone has to stay dry to take care of Adam. Maybe that is a lame excuse but once you get wet, the sand really sticks to you. Eventually Adam gets tired and needs to nurse and I'm sure he doesn't want to nurse on a salt water breast.

What a happy, sleeping boy he is. He has taken three or four lovely naps on the beach so far. It is a very soothing place to sleep. I'm still trying to figure out Adam and his hair. It is so different than the other two. I wonder what he'll look like when he is three.

Here is Michael covering the children in sand. Liam was getting a little chilly from swimming in the ocean so he kept laying in the sand because he said it was very warm and it helped to warm up his body so Michael offered a full sand blanket.

Of course Sean wanted in after he saw how cool it was so here are my two little boys all covered with sand. They stayed here for quite awhile.

Our first VA visitor. Emma Lou. She was driving through with her dad and step mom after touring the white house and other D.C. attractions. Adam kept looking at her to see if it was real because he's going through Jen and Emma withdrawals. I've been Gmail chatting with Jen and Adam just loves seeing her but still doesn't understand why he can't touch her.

We all went out for lunch at a place on the fishing pier next to our house. Then she came over to our house and looked around. We wished she could have stayed longer but she had more driving to do. We love her and we're happy she stopped by.

Today Michael took the boys back to the fishing pier and did some fishing. There are a lot of very serious fishermen here who have very expensive equipment and such. Liam showed up and sat down with a cheap rod, threw the line in with Michael's help and immediately said, Papa I think we caught something. He said, no Liam the waves are strong and are pulling on the pole, but sure enough they caught a fish. Here is the proud Liam with his fish. Good job Liam. Michael said he really enjoyed fishing and could do it all day. We'll have to do more fishing.

Here is Sean with his fish. I think Liam caught it but he let Sean think he did. Liam is a good brother and much like his Papa always helps to make other people happy.

Here they are, my little fishermen. They had their sunglasses and poles and their blood worms. Not really my thing so I'll just enjoy the peace and quiet I get when they all go fishing. Today I made some dinner while they were gone. We had our delicious salmon with roasted red pepper sauce. We had black beans and rice and then grilled corn. It was delicious.

Sean walked in the door from fishing and laid down on a stuffed animal and fell right to sleep. I love it when they just crash in the middle of the floor. It makes me laugh a little. Sometimes I wish I could take naps in the middle of the day but too many little people need my attention. We woke him up a little later for dinner.

Liam has been bit by all the mosquitoes that live here. We need to do a better job with the OFF spray. We all seem to have bites all over. I'm still not happy about all the bugs that live here. I've learned that I have what they call sugar ants in my kitchen, which are very hard to get rid of. Then of course the stupid cockroaches that come out in the night. I hate those things. We did some research on them and they really try to scare you and say that they will chew on fingernails and eyelashes. They better stay away from all my people and their eyelashes.

Well there they are reading the evening books. We really are just fine here. I've had one very bad day but that is all. I told my mother in law that I had a bad day and she said, "only one? I've had more than that." I guess I forget that other people are sad too and not just us. We look forward to the visitors that are coming this summer. Michael's parents are coming in July. I think Mary and family are coming sometime and my mom is coming in Aug. It will be exciting to look forward to these dates.

ok, this was the second week. I will keep on posting and I am grateful for the comments. It is great to hear from all my people. I'm hoping to meet a friend at church tomorrow. We'll see.

We made it.

2009-06-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

We left Sunday night and drove to Salina Kansas where we stayed in a hotel and then ate at I-HOP. Then we drove to St. Louis which took about 5-6 hours. We stopped in St. Louis where Lara is from and hung out with her and her family. That was a perfect midpoint because we were able to let the boys get out and run. Plus her family house is a palace with toys and endless entertainment. Lara's little sis, Aleesa (sp?) showed them around and took care of them.

Here is cute little Elijah who looks taller to me. His chubby little self is getting longer. What a cute boy. Elijah and Adam explored together and discovered the drain that the rain water goes into. They got nice and messy!

Michael holding the new little Isaac who is looking bigger. What a good baby. It was so fun to see these cousins before we left forever.

Liam, Sean and Aleesa (sp?) spent a good 2-3 hours going up and down the driveway. They got pretty good speed and a plus? No one got hurt. Liam and Sean are pretty brave little guys. The exercise really was perfect for the middle of the trip.

We left the Bailey house around 2 and drove to Louisville, KY. We had Bucca de Beppo to go and went to a nice park where we ate and played for 3 hours. We left there around 9 pm and the kids slept while Michael drove to Lexington, VA. He drove till 4 am. Wow! That made it so the next day was only 2-3 hours. We finally pulled into our new house around 2 pm. Here it is!

Michael surprised me with a CO flag on the outside. Everyone seems to have a flag around here so we represent the CO flag.

This is our front porch. I loved it at first but later that evening I was talking to my mom on the phone and this very porch and had my first experience with the roach. They come out at night and you have to keep your door shut at all times because they will find their way in. I watched a few roaches while on the phone and then decided to go in because they are scary little creatures. Once inside and off the phone I lifted a towel from the ground and there one was crawling in our house. Michael killed it immediatly and that is the only roach I've seen inside. The next night I was breaking down boxes and the back deck and a roach crawled out of a box. I'm trying to get used to the idea of roaches but they scare me. Michael put out some roach traps but told me we are working with a forest of roaches. We'll see how it goes.

With roaches comes humidity, rain, green green grass and good soil. We decided to plant a garden. Here are the boys planting away. We planted tomatoes, basil, corn, peppers and more. Let's see how it turns out.

Here is Adam trying to navigate the tall grass in the backyard. We need to buy a lawnmower on Craigs list.

Michael dug out entire garden with his little camping shovel. I sure love this man. He's seems to be able to do anything. He has little experience with gardening but sure seemed to know what he was doing.

We found a nest in the tree in our backyard. There is a lot of animal life here. Liam used to have to search far and wide for one rolly polly at the Perrenoud and here he finds millions of creatures in his backyard. So much to choose from. This is a little starter nest that Sean found and carried around all day. He called it the Best Nest.

Liam seems to be very happy here. We've gone to the ocean twice now and Liam has no fear. He loves the water and the sand. He writes his name in the sand and finds seashells. Sean is a little more timid and just when he was warming up to going in a little further he swallowed a mouthful of saltwater. He think we're saying spit water. He immediatly threw up and then made his way over to me where he washed out his mouth with water and ate some oranges.

So far so good. I'm trying to figure out what the catch is. The house is great, the ocean is so close and fantastic. The backyard is huge, there is plenty of room in the house. I guess the catch is that all my people are not here. If anyone would like to come to Norfolk VA and hang out or move here just call me and I'll help you to get here. OK.

So here we are in VA living our new life. I think this is going to be just fine. More posts to come later. I'm really trying to do this now that I live far away and people may want to see pics of the boys. Plus, I have no trash to take out, (except my own), no mail to deliver, no Perrenoud lawn to mow, no Perrenoud snow to remove, no Perrenoud phone to answer and deal with problems. It's really quite relaxing to just take care of my people and not the Perrenoud people. That is all for now.

Some pictures of the boys.

2009-05-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

My Graduation!!!

2009-05-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 16, I graduate!

The beautiful cake my mom got for me.

My wonderful husband who helped me get this degree!

My mom was so excited to have another graduate!

Here I am. Yee ha!

Snow day

2009-04-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Sean

Adam

Shelley, Liam, Emma, Sean. Building the snowman!

Sean didn't last but here is Liam with the final project.

Here is Liam doing a snow angel. He is my cute boy.

This was one of the only snow days in CO this winter. We had a lot of fun. We went sledding also. The boys loved it. We will miss this action once we're in VA.

Cute boys

2009-03-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

I sure live with a lot of boys. The other day Liam asked me if we were going to have a baby girl next or a baby boy and I said that I hope we get a girl. He said, "mom, if we have a boy then you'll have four boys, that's a lot!" I agree. I think it's time to get a girl in the St. John home.

I sure do have some cute boys though. Here is Adam in the bath. He loves bath time, especially if Liam and Sean are in there with him.

Here are all the boys that I live with. They sure are cute!

The other day Michael was hanging with the boys and I found Sean in the kitchen entertaining Adam and Michael and Liam were asleep. Oh Michael, he must be exhausted from his intense and busy life.

Adam is loving the food. He's taking after his brothers with his love of spaghetti. Good eating Adam. He will soon be bigger than both of his brothers.

Jen helping me blog

2009-03-04T16:27:00.001-08:00

Sean-e-cakes
Adam baby

In charge Liam

2009-02-28T22:53:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the whole family
CUTE boys. I love them
Oma and Adam.
Adam baby

Halloween

2009-01-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

Liam and Sean (Spiderman and pirate)

Not the happiest little pirate.

He is a tiger!

Batman!

He grew up!

2009-01-11T23:52:00.000-08:00

Here he is, six months later. He grew up and is a wonderful baby. We love him to bits.

Baby Adam

2009-01-11T23:40:00.000-08:00

We had to announce that we had a baby. Little Adam St. John who is not so little anymore but here he is!

2008-07-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sean is a very old spirit.

Creating a stonger posterity by making them sleep outside

2008-07-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

DQP prepares a meat feast for the youngsters.

The crew.

Zeke sleeps with tools outside his tent to ward off any fanciness.

The chaps: unplugged.

2008-06-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids! The Turtles say...Choose the Right!

The St. Johns have posted something new!

2008-06-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my very cute boys.