Our Thanksgiving

This year was our first year with a Thanksgiving with just our immediate family. It was a bit different. I had to remind myself that it was just "us" and that we didn't need 3 different kinds of pies or tons of sides of food. I decided to make it seem a special day, I would get out the China and we would eat in the "formal" dining room. I've never had the boys eat with the fine China so that was a bit new but I wanted them to know it was a special day different from all the others. We've never eaten in the formal dining room either (it's carpeted okay). It went well without any catastrophy or horrible incidents. After a very filling meal we all settled in and watched a movie (after Kirk helped me with washing up the China of course). We had a nice and relaxing afternoon and evening. Which was a good thing because about 3 am Kirk was up and down being sick all the rest of the night and into the next day. I thought "Oh no! I've food poisioned him", but no one else in the family got sick. Poor guy. Way to spend time off work. He didn't go for any leftovers. Even the pecan pie had to be eaten up by everyone else because he couldn't touch it, and pecan pie is his favorite. Yeah, it was a different Thanksgiving this year.

Nicholas, Thomas, Kirk, Isaiah & Jonah (left to right)

And that's me over there (picture on the right) after fixing "the feast" and battling a newly coming on cold.

Happy Holidays!

Where Did the Time Go?

Wow! Am I way behind. I thought I would catch up when school started again. I was wrong. Much has been going on. As always we always have something to keep us busy.

August
Keri and Kaci came back with us to visit for a few weeks. (They are Kirk's little sisters adopted from China.) They enjoyed games, monopoly and swimming and visits to Sea World. Shopping for back to school, shoes, and looking at stuff. Some hair braiding too. When the visit was over they flew home, and we were sad.

July - August
Nick played basketball for the first time in a team with the YMCA. He really enjoyed it and learned much.

In July, Kirk enjoyed his birthday cake specially designed for him with contributing ideas from Kaci. He had a special ice cream cake, with a brownie base and a cookie dough ice cream layer, with chocolate drizzles over the top and down the sides. He loved it.

Thoughts in August...from Glinda

School... when will it start?
Is it time yet?
Time to shop for back to school?
You want how much, for what?
Do you really need that?

September
School starts, bank account shrinks… I cannot believe how much money one could spend on all the things required, requested, and recommended around here from the schools. Seriously. I have never seen so much stuff come home for every program under the sun, t-shirts, PE Uniforms, fee for this and that, donations, etc.

Cub Scout Begins again
Oh, no. I am the Cub Scout Den Mom. Around here cub scouts is cancelled all summer long, except for Day Camp. Last I knew I was called to teach the Bears but somewhere over the summer, and all of a sudden I now have the Wolves too. How can this be? Two books, two sets of achievements to accomplish. Is my head spinning? It feels like it after den meetings.

Nicholas plays Bass
The Big One. The Only One. He had thought of the violin or cello but his teacher recommended the Bass for him. Not many play it. Not all can. Did I mention it's big? After much thought and consideration Nicholas chose the Bass. There were a few perks to the Bass. The rental was from the school and was one fee, not a monthly one, so much cheaper. Also he could keep it at home. No lugging an instrument this size back and forth to school. No way. It is huge. Kirk and I have enjoyed him playing it. There are no high pitched twangs or squeals just mellow deep notes. Not sure how people could endure beginner violinists without a few headaches.

He’s in Strings II what happened to Strings I? Because of Nick's schedule he had to begin with those who had already played in Elementary school. His teacher did her best to get him to speed and he has done great. His Strings teacher awarded him with a Panther Pride award, a rare and prized honor at Lopez Middle School.

Jonah’s in Kindergarten. We didn't feel he was quite ready for first grade yet.

Isaiah is in 4th grade. He's studied Treasure Island, and now Middle Ages.
Nick's in 6th grade, Middle School already? Here in Texas 6th graders go to middle school. Lots of classes. Orchestra, PE, GT English, GT Math, Social Studies, Health, Reading, and another. Lots of homework.

Isaiah’s fish 6 neon tetras, 2 molly’s and a sucker fish (the algae eater) in a ten gallon tank.

Glinda's a Scentsy Consultant Now
I joined Scentsy in August. A friend of mine, Becky Sattler, in Idaho introduced me to Scentsy. No one around here had it, so I signed up. I liked the idea of no flames and no smoke and great scents. I rarely light candles around here with all the boys around. That would just be asking for trouble. They make so many scents, in a room spray, car candle, and wax bars to warm in a warmer or plug in. One day I had Sugar Cookie scent in the warmer when Jonah came downstairs and asked if I was making cookies. "No honey that's Scentsy", I told him. "Is that okay?" "Yeah", he said. Good, I thought I may have some trouble but had none. He was content.

Dad’s a primary teacher for the children turning 8 years old, and cub scout committee chair person.

September--It’s nice and quiet once again! Next year Tom... SCHOOL.

Oct. Nicholas turns 12, is ordained to be a deacon at church and now passes the sacrament, and attends Young Men's activities. Has a UIL competition and wins 6 ribbons. Has a cheesecake birthday cake and presents -- special thanks to Perry and Cristian (friends here), and Grandparents Hill & Smith.


Halloween! Trunk or Treat at the church parking lot one night and Trick or Treating in our neighborhood on Halloween. Below is Jonah and Thomas, I think they were tired out from so much trick-or-treating.

Jonah loses a tooth (first) and starts wearing a fingerguard to help him stop sucking his two fingers. So far it is working. We have another week to go.

Nov Another UIL (Academic Competition) for Nicholas, 2 1st places, 1 2nd place and several others...way to go Nicky Nick!

Well that's it for now. Turkeys watch out, it's time for Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays!

A Trip in July

Summer Thoughts and Adventures

It’s not so hot here!

Well San Antonio has actually been nice through the summer. It did get a little hot but a breeze here or shade from a tree does the trick and makes it pleasant. One can actually do things outside, and believe me we did. There is humidity but Phoenix gets humidity sometimes too. It’s green with flowers here and I enjoy our wilderness view every morning at breakfast and lunch.

This summer we purchased a used pop up tent that hadn’t been used in years. Kirk talked the price down, hooray! So a cleanup project was in order. Vacuuming, mopping, washing, and sewing were included in my summer activities beyond the regular routine. It was actually a nice break from the noise with all the boys home. The trailer cleaned up nice and fits our family great. Roomy enough for us all and then some. Some of the popup tents we looked at just didn’t fit our family well. Nothing like trying to get Kirk on a little bed diagonally and fit me in the leftover space.

We had Family Reunion in Williams Arizona with my side of the family. I enjoyed seeing cousins I haven’t seen in years. Thomas made new friends with Sam, Sierra, and Ethan his second cousins, and enjoyed time with all.

(Thomas is in the middle)

It was good to see family. We enjoyed seeing Grandma & Grandpa Hill and hanging out in their motor home. I haven’t used a microwave in months, and they had one. Here is their second home.

We enjoyed spending time with Jake, and seeing David and Angel and Katelyn, Joseph and Scott. I was glad to see cousins, and Aunts and Uncles. We hiked through a cave, which was definitely something we don’t do everyday and was memorable. Thanks to my Uncle Cleve a true “caver”. (Come to Texas, we have caves.)

We also enjoyed visits to family in Phoenix and some friends. Not a lot of time to see all.

Here is Nicholas (on the right) with his friends (Isaiah is behind near left). Nick was so happy to see them again. Hi guys! Isaiah missed seeing his friends, especially Bradley.

Of course we saw Janet, Pinky, Keri and Kaci. In fact Keri and Kaci came back with us to visit for a few weeks. That's another adventure itself.

(On our way to Williams AZ in New Mexico off the Texas border)
I have to say, what an incredibly long long drive we had from San Antonio, TX to Williams, AZ and then to Phoenix, and on back to San Antonio.

Kirk did all the driving. And it took it’s toll and made him sick when we got to Williams. I don’t have a lot of experience with towing or well any. We had some problems with it. Live and learn right? I think from now on we’ll keep the trailer for short trips around here and park it for the long drives. Did I mention the sway! That’s a whole other story.

Exhaustion!

17 hours to AZ plus 15 hours back to TX, border patrols, rain and winds, whew!
Saw Rockwell, NM too---Look! It’s an alien.

Well that's not our whole summer but another bit for now!

Fourth of July Texas Style

This summer has been full of activities. Here is just one that started us off.

In July we experienced our first Independence Day Celebration in Texas. Coming from Arizona we've never had much experience with our own fireworks as they were illegal there. Here in Texas though they are not. We learned to set off your own fireworks people have to goto a pre chosen "safe zone". I'm not so sure the term "safe" is really safe, at least not in respect to people that is. We started our evening nicely with one of Kirk's co-workers and his family watching the Six Flags Fireworks show in a parking lot nearby. Sorry I'm no expert at fireworks pics.

The kids enjoyed glow necklaces and bracelets the family brought. Here is Jonah with the colors and Nicholas to the right in front.

Here is Isaiah below:

It wasn't the Phoenix Fireworks show but nice nevertheless. We visited and then left on our own to light up some of our fireworks we purchased earlier.

When we bought these things from a big wood booth at the side of the freeway I was amazed at how much variety and quantity they offered. The names of these things were like "love on fire" and "doom"....Hmm. I overheard one seller telling a questioning buyer instructions for the "love on fire" package, just lite it up and stand back. Yep. One can spend alot at a place like that. I just hoped those in China who made all these fireworks had no hard feelings towards us Americans.

So anyway back to the "safe zone"...we had a hard time finding it but once we did there was no mistaking it. This "safe zone" was smack dab right next to the freeway. Fireworks bursting in air, bombs exploding, buzzuka like noise, smoke haze, and this all was to the MAX. Any grand finale we've ever seen compared nothing to all the fireworks we experienced that night.

Thomas clung to my side, Jonah I pulled close to keep him from harms way, or so I hoped. I certainly didn't feel safe let alone how could I protect the little ones. I was mesmorized by the fire shooting out of a wand like stick someone held every few seconds like something from a Harry Potter movie. Nick didn't like the smoke bombs, they just kind of stunk.

Fireworks trash littered the entire grass fields and the huge metal trash bins there filled to the gills with boxes and remains of spent fireworks. It was amazing and incredibly LOUD. Did I say it was loud? It felt like we were in a war zone without the true fear of death but loud and never knowing if something would be coming at ya. People were so close. One guy was lighting a huge firework display package 5 feet from Kirk who decided after it started going off that was way too close. The fireworks in the air seem so close they they'll touch you but none of them ever did. Ashes would come down like snow flakes.

Whew intense! Kirk loved it. Isaiah thought it was no big deal. In all my life I've never seen anything like it. A "safe zone" in Texas on the Fourth of July is a WOW experience that is not for the faint of heart. And Mom I don't recommend it, you'd have a heart attack or nervous breakdown or something. Stick to the traditional Fireworks display. Yeah I do love ya.

By the way I don't know if a photo of a "safe zone" could depict the full intensity of it all. Maybe a video camera but I doubt it. Maybe we can try next year. Glinda

Our Texas Backyard

Our back yard has quite a view. The green belt backs to our home and at night we hear a choir of crickets and cicada. Here is the view.
A couple times late at night Kirk and I have heard a coyote howling in the distance. We have many sorts of critters and bugs. Thomas and Jonah love the "potato" bugs or "rolly pollie ollies". They collect them in cups and boxes - but I insist they can't come in! I've never seen so many spiders so close together (all in my backyard). There are blue birds and woodpeckers. A happy little squirrel had a great breakfast one morning on us. Nicholas threw out the trash but not into the can. And what was trash to us was not to the squirrel; a great rotten banana and a nice shriveled nectarine. Now if it could just help itself without chewing a hole in the trash bag and throwing the rest of the trash all over the backyard. It was just like another kid. Then there are the lizards all over that like to lie out in the sun. Sometimes green sometimes brown and they blow up their throats into a red balloon. Who can kill all the spiders when the lizards need something to eat?

The other night I heard something outside. Kirk listening to a book on CD didn’t hear it the first time. He decided to go outside and have a look. Two glowing eyes stared at him and then he saw it, a raccoon. It’d been in the trash can that was knocked over now. The raccoon ran for the back fence full speed. We have a screen about two feet high at the bottom of our wrought iron fence. This round little raccoon just jumped right over that screened area and right through the bars. He didn’t bother to run any farther than that, sensing the fence meant security. He just sat and looked at Kirk. Critters!

Jonah's Adventures

Well May has been exciting for Jonah. The beginning of May, he came home from school with a note saying a fellow classmate had "accidentally" kicked him in the eye, and ice was applied at the Nurse's office. However, by the time he came home it was really starting to turn black & blue! The incident left him with one heck of a shiner. Of course he's our stoic one and usually just wants to be left alone if he's hurt, but he sure did seem pleased to get a special prize from school to ease his spirits...He chose the Groucho glasses.

He just thought these were the funniest things, and they did help cover his bruise.

Family time - Part of our family time is often just taking a stroll around the community, the boys love it and often run out a fair amount of energy. One day, we opted for our first bicycle ride around. This was this the first time Jonah was on his bike since Arizona and still had training wheels on. We all had a fun on the winding hilly road (Thomas has a special seat on Glinda's bike). The way back home is fairly steep, and as much as we encouraged him, Jonah still had quite a time trying to get back up, and the training wheels kept slowing him down as he leaned unsteadily on his pedals. I ended up riding up next to him and grabbing his handle bars and held him along as we climbed back up the hill. While we enjoyed the time, it served as a reminder for me that Jonah needed to learn how to ride his bike without the trainers.

During Glinda's Cub Scout Pack meeting, a few days later I opted to help watch the boys and take Jonah out for some bike practice. He was happy to go. Talk about a work out, running up and down the road next to him, trying to steady him, and give him encouragement. As I wearied, he started losing enthusiasm, and it soon became too tiring and frustrating for me too. We went home with only minimal progress...

I try to spend time with all the boys, but sometimes find myself with the older boys doing big boy things (i.e. camping, pinewood derby, etc.) With this in mind, I made it my goal to give Jonah a little extra attention and continue to help him. Our next practice the following Saturday (last week), Jonah was less than anxious and had to be coaxed/bribed into riding without training wheels. He could have some computer time if he agreed to try biking without the trainers. Personally, I took this as a call to action to be more patient. It was hard work for this desk junky to be running along side and as he got frustrated I had gotten frustrated, or vice versa (visions of my mom teaching me to drive crept into my head). I vowed and prayed to continue as long as I could with full encouragement and without any nagging on my part.

Similar to the previous time, Jonah struggled at first and seemed anxious to get this over with so he could enjoy the computer games. But it was a beautiful day with a slight breeze to keep me cool, and I tried to steady him jogging along side and really build him up. I swear the extra attention started paying off and Jonah found himself more balanced and started having more fun. We were on the only flat street in the community, about 3 blocks long. Twenty minutes later, Jonah was consistently able to ride up and down the street with just a gentle hand on his back or shoulder. On our next pass, as I ran along, I removed my hand, encouraging him that he could do it. He noticed my missing hand and began to tense up and swerve around, I encouraged him to continue, and continue he did. With a renewed strength, we continued and I had to help catch him from a fall here and there, but he was soon pedaling along on his own!

After a little over 30 minutes, Jonah was really beginning to have a great time as he found this small bit of independence. I was happy, but getting tired. I offered if he wanted to head home, that he had earned his computer time...And what do you think he said? "No, I can go a little longer". Tired, I couldn't resist, I pushed myself to jog. With the extra time, he was learning how to corner and turn around. We stopped by the house to call Mom out and have Jonah show her what he could do.

(That's our house in the background)

Total 45 minutes or so, and probably a cumulative 2-3 miles, Jonah was having a blast, and I just had to call it quits (starting what has become an increased initiative to exercise more, but will leave that for another time). It was one of life's little adventures and a great experience for both him and I.

All the best from all of us-

The Pinewood Derby

In April Isaiah had his Pinewood Derby race with Cub Scouts.

Here is Isaiah's car unassembled but cut and carved and sanded and sanded again. This is the underside where weights will be added in. The four wheels lay around the car body.

He picked the design himself and had some help with the power tool cuts.

Before this it was just a block of wood.

Special wheel treatment for fast speed (within Cub Scout rules of course).

Isaiah and Kirk working on the Pinewood Derby Car in the garage.

The race is on. Isaiah's car is on the left without paint on it. No time for that this year...


And Isaiah wins the race! His car here was in the center (he is the Scout on the left).

He enjoyed winning every race his car was in and walked home with a blue ribbon, Dad was happy too!

Easter Egg Adventures

Well Easter has come and gone but we did celebrate. Here in Texas, we discovered a new Easter thing, "the confetti filled egg". I have no idea what the official name is. The boys went on their egg hunt and grabbed eggs when a gasp came from Jonah as he held the egg a bit too tight and it cracked. He discovered it wasn't a hard boiled. It wasn't a runny raw egg either.

Confetti went everywhere, hair, clothes, on the lawn, ground, and porch.

Kirk tried a "turn the kid upside down" method to remove the confetti for good measure before going inside the house.

The children had a good time and stuffed their faces with marshmellow bunnies and birds and jelly beans. Not really a spiritual time but a fun family moment. We enjoyed a nice sacrament meeting earlier that day on the last week of Jesus Christ's life and his Atonement and Resurrection.

Thomas with an egg.

Nicholas ready to share his wealth.

Things have been busy here and it's April 14th and somehow my taxes still aren't done. How did that happen? (we don't totally do our own taxes you see) Still I'm sure it's my fault. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Take care and I'll try to do better with .... follow up!

Glinda

Welcome Family & Friends!

This is our first posting and hope to make a concerted effort to continue to share the happenings and adventures of our family.

First things first. As most of you know (though some may not, given the speed at which everything happened) we recently up and relocated to San Antonio, Texas. Yep, Texas of all places. I took a position with KCI Medical (http://www.kci1.com/). KCI is an international company with a growing focus on increasing its global presence. My manager is a Thunderbird Alum, and really felt this was an opportunity to leverage my background and education. I currently support Sales in an analytic capacity, but hope to expand horizons as the company continues to grow. Anyway, from interviews to 1st-day was about 30 days with the Christmas and New Years in the mix, and relocation planning all along the way...It was a crazy/stressful time, but are now settling in, and the boxes don't reach the ceilings anymore.

(Kids unpacked, and having a blast with the paper!)

Anyway, for the little (or no) notice to you our friends, we apologize. But, we are taking the first steps, with the introduction of our blogspot, to make amends and keep everyone better appraised to our adventures.

We've been very blessed since our decision to move to San Antonio. We found a wonderful home (in which we rent...not wanting to carry 2 mortgages waiting for our home in AZ to sell) in a great neighborhood close to the LDS Temple, and is included in my daily commute. The LDS community is strong here, and we enjoy the Ward. Glinda has 2 callings, 1) Relief Society Chorister, and 2) Cub Scout Den Mother for the Bears (Isaiah's age group). I'm sure Cub Scouts will be a challenge, but she's been doing a great job already. The annual Pinewood Derby is coming up next month, and she's helping the boys get excited about it. As for me, I was disappointed to leave our Phoenix Ward having been given an opportunity to work with the 11-year old Boy Scouts where Nicholas just started. Well, my disappointment did not last long, as I was asked to serve as an Assistant Scout Master for the 11-Year old Scouts again! We had out first camp out in February, and are planning a lake camping/fishing outing next month (of course this is the only thing Nicholas can think about).

It's official! Despite a very challenging Real Estate market in Phoenix, we received an offer on our house just 3 weeks after listing. This past Wed, the sale closed on schedule! It's a bit sad, we really liked our home. Glinda has mentioned a few times she misses the extras we put in to it, and although we like our rental, miss being able to make wanted changes (i.e. Garden, Flower beds, upgraded appliances, larger hot water tank to avoid our current need for scheduling, etc). We find ourselves making mental notes for future home ownership.

Our Challenges - Since coming out here, we've experienced our more than fair share of illness. Jonah and Thomas were sick while trying to move out here. After getting somewhat settled, Nicholas contracted some virus, other than the flu (per the M.D.) and missed nearly a week of school (a rarity for him). I developed a cough, that tuned dry and hacking, and difficulty to breath. I struggled through the weekend, tried to go to work the next Monday, and left early with significant decrease in lung capacity. Going downhill from there, I scheduled a Dr. visit Tuesday. In the Dr. office, I could hardly breathe, and went into a coughing fit, severe enough the Dr. heard, came in, and ordered a breathing treatment on the spot. Again, no flu, but was fighting a respiratory infection with Bronchitis, borderline Pneumonia! The Dr. gave me steroid and antibiotic shots in the rear to help fight the infection and then went on some other good oral meds to control my coughing. It's a weird feeling not being able to breathe, and now can sympathise with anyone with Asthma. Isaiah, then Thomas, came down with a high fever last week and was down for several days. This past week, Jonah came down with Strep throat, and despite being on meds since last Friday, is still fighting a high fever (he'll be seeing the doctor in the A.M.). And, the icing on the cake is Nicholas and Isaiah both show signs of Pink Eye (red, irritated eye, with morning goop)...they too will be seen in the A.M. Glinda is O.K. if you consider having to take care of all of us at any given time doing well.

Other goings on - As mentioned above, include the Pinewood Derby. Isaiah has plans to enter a thin "lead sled". The project has given me a decent excuse to invest is some woodworking tools. We'll post pictures later of our project. Wish us luck!

2 weeks ago, we experienced our first non-Arizona tradition...Daylight Savings Time Change. I don't know how the rest of you all you deal with such a crazy concept, but it was something I took for granted not having to deal with in Arizona. So the day of the change I was enjoying a nice Sunday nap in front of the fireplace (a neat opportunity unusual to Phoenix life), and awoke to find Jonah as a self-service beauty school dropout...His subsuquent professional fix came as a shock to everyone!

We've also made efforts to explore the area, one of our first outings was to see the Alamo. It was a neat experience bringing history to life, especially after watching the old and new version of 'The Alamo'. The older boys really enjoyed seeing the Alamo building up-close and personal.

Other adventures include Sea World San Antonio...Glinda & I surprised the boys with an annual pass! We took a short trip Friday before last and had a chance to see Shamu, penguins, and just before closing, I was able to talk Nicholas and Isaiah into riding the 'Great White' roller coaster ride. We were able to ride in the first row! Here is a link to a video of what the ride looks like from the perspective of the the rider...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvpXdGNZeY4 Isaiah says his experience was the same, except his eyes were closed the whole time. They each say they'll join me again in the future. It was a short 2 hours, but a blast!

We look forward to taking them again once everyone is well.

We look forward to sharing more of our adventures with you all. Please stop back by, and we look forward to hearing comments from you all, and keeping in touch!

If you're ever in the San Antonio area (or want to plan a trip), you have an invitation to stop by and visit us.

Kirk, Glinda & The Boys -