March Happenings

Rachel -
When Rachel was spotlighted in primary, they asked her what was her favorite thing to play with and her answer was, "Kendall."  Spot on.

A few weeks ago before we put up our house for sale, she seemed to know something was up.  She asked Brandon, "Are we moving?"  He asked her why she thought that and she said, "Because you and mom talk about houses a lot!"  We've also been driving through lots of neighborhoods, so they've had to endure that as well.

We let her in on the "secret" but we didn't want her to blab to primary until we knew for sure.  After church one Sunday, she said, "Mom, I didn't tell anyone our secret!"  I inquired further, and apparently, she told her class, "I have a big secret but I CAN'T tell yet!"  Her teacher probably thought I was pregnant or something!  Now she double checks with me, "Mom, can I tell our big secret now?"

To stage the house and get it ready to sell, I had to take down Easter decorations a couple weeks early.  Rachel was frantic as I was taking down the decor, "Mom!  Did I miss Easter?  Is Easter over already?"

Andrew -
Andrew always tells people in our family, "You're my best friend."  It's sweet and precious and melts my heart.  Well, while the Appraiser was over appraising our house, Andrew walked up to him and said, "You're my best friend" and then hugged his leg.  Wow, maybe we need to have the strangers talk again.  The phrase seems to have a little less meaning now!  :)

Kendall -
The big news is that she is rolling over now.  And sort of getting more coordinated at eating rice cereal, but I'm pretty sure she is the messiest baby-eater I've had.  She was amazing and patient while I was doing tons of projects and cleaning to get the house ready to be sold.  Still just one good nap during the day, and she had a little relapse of wanting to eat in the middle of the night, but it only last a few weeks, and she's back to sleeping through the night.

At her four month visit the first week of March, she only weighed 12.5 pounds!  I looked up what the other kids weighed at 4 months - Rachel was 15.5 pounds and Andrew was 16.5 pounds by then.  I am not used to having a petite baby!

Neighbors -
It was hard telling our neighbors that we are moving!  We have some really good neighbors!!  They are all older, and I know that they have loved having our kids around.  Although they have all been great, we are looking forward to getting into a neighborhood where our kids can play out front with other kids.

Rod & Linda Zenonian are our next door neighbors, and they have been very friendly and loving.  They have a dog named Max (that looks more like a wolf) that the kids have befriended.  Rod & Linda got married a few years ago, and they like to spend the summers in Pinetop where they keep their motorhome.  I will remember Rod for his high-top-sketcher-shoes (they must have some medical benefit) and the fact that he always does his wood working and yard work out front with his shirt off, and I used to tease Brandon that he had some competition!  Linda thinks I'm crazy for having all these kids, but she's also been very complimentary and I've enjoyed her friendship and getting to know her.

Jim & Pam King have been incredible neighbors, and Jim treats our kids like he would his own grandkids.  He always gives them gifts on holidays, lots of hugs, and we will miss him dearly!  They have a fish pond in their front yard (also the place where we take our annual Halloween pictures), and he leaves the food out so the kids can feed them.  And Rachel just last week asked Jim if she could touch his fish, and he said that was fine, so now she reaches in and touches them as they come up for food (disgusting!).  Jim has helped me with yard work on multiple occasions (like trimming large shrubs since he knew I didn't have the right tools) and seems to knows everything, so if ever I had any home-related questions, he was my guy!  This weekend we went and swam in his awesome pool, and he even had it heated so that Kendall could swim comfortably.  He made sure to pull out all the toys for the kids, and stayed outside with us - I think he was so pleased that we were over enjoying his pool.

Alex & Cindy are some of our LDS neighbors and live just a few houses away.  Brother Barraza is in the Bishopric, and his occupation is a city bus driver.  He is so genuine, sincere, complimentary, and amazing with the youth and children in the church.  One night this month, I had Kendall swaddled and was putting her to sleep.  Then I had the thought to visit the Barraza's, whose mother had just passed away.  I wanted to check in and make sure everything was going alright, and I took Kendall with me, thinking she'd fall asleep.  When I stopped by, I found out that Cindy had just had foot surgery, and was cooped up in bed, so Alex invited me in to visit with her.  We had a nice visit, but the reason I am writing this is because I think Kendall made her entire week!  She was so excited to hold her, so I just laid her right next to Cindy who had to lay back and keep her foot elevated.  Kendall didn't wiggle or anything - she just laid there and smiled and cooed at her - it was a great service on Kendall's part for sure!  They sent us home with some dress ups for Andrew & Rachel that they had been holding onto for the past year (what a difficult situation they have been in for the last while taking care of the very needy mother full time), and now Cindy's foot is a big burden for them I can tell.

Rod & Sandy Seagle don't live on our street, but I serve with them in nursery, and I have grown to love them dearly.  Rod has a booming voice, and reminds me of Lynn Clark (Sheena's dad) - he's just a big, loud teddy bear just like Lynn.  Brandon and Andrew got to know him at Father's & Sons last year when they all went up early together to save a spot.  Rod is Andrew's very favorite person at church.  Today Rod wasn't in nursery and Andrew was pouting about him being gone the ENTIRE two hours.  He is the best grandpa to all those nursery kids, and I love him for it.  Rod and Sandy certainly haven't had an easy life, but have a positive outlook and have been great examples to us.  He also taught me what "STP" stands for - it means that there always seems to be the Same Ten People that help at all the activities and service projects in the ward - too true!  Rod is very serviceable and is certainly one of those ten people, helping wherever he can (especially if it has to do with cooking food).  Oh, and he once told me that he doesn't like to go out to eat because he thinks Sandy can cook much better than any restaurant they'd go to - how sweet is that!

On a school field trip with Rachel's class!

Miss Arlene's afternoon class:  Nolan, Max, Steven, Rachel, Elise, Miss Arlene, Jacee, Luke, Ellie, Brooklyn, Miss Shelci

Andrew comfortable wearing shorts and t-shirts now - phew!

Rach reading to Kendall - don't mind that Kendall's not actually paying attention to the book.

So gross!  Apparently Brandon used to do this as a child, so we can blame him.

One day I was reminiscing about the view I had out my Chicago window (it was breathtaking compared to my desert yard), but then I went over to the window and realized my view was pretty darn good!  Superman & Snow White were playing with their daddy on the trampoline.  The kids ask Brandon to jump with them as soon as he gets home everyday, and he always does.  

Ward Party Western themed - which is why Brandon wore his gold sequin shirt?  The photographer told me to hold the frying pan (random) and Rachel wasn't interested in wearing the arm bands the lady told her to wear.  Andrew wasn't going to stand for any of the dress ups.  The whole thing was awkward, so I'm glad the picture matched the situation precisely.  

Our new favorite park - Princess park, which is located right next to goats and horses.  The kids had gone over to the goats where the owner was (Tito) and Karli and I were trailing behind.  By the time we got there, Andrew was holding a baby goat all by himself.  And for some reason, I kept calling these animals lambs (for about 2 minutes until I finally corrected myself - I guess I need a farm animal review! and Karli was laughing because she hadn't even noticed that I was saying the wrong thing).  Anyway, they totally let the kids hold and play with these baby goats that were 3 days old.  It was so awesome for the kids.  Since then, we've gone back to visit and held more of the goats - they are the best!

Dessert with the Tompkinson boys!  Maddox (2.5), Garrett (6) & Brexton (4)  They are good friends of ours, and live 8 or so houses up from us.  Karli and I like to swap babysitting and we also meet at the park first thing in the morning because our kids are early risers.  Andrew calls his buddy, "Mammux" and it's my favorite.