Vannice Family

Florida & Disney World Vacation

2011-07-27T11:47:00.001-07:00

Day of shopping...

2011-07-10T13:34:00.001-07:00

Vacation Prep today with a brief stop for lunch. Getting excited about the cruise! JT got some formal wear, swim wear & Niala got some summer gear.

Videos of change

2010-10-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

Cutie Pie Pictures

2010-10-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

The First Day of School...

2010-08-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well everyone in our household can claim experience with the first day of school in the last 1 1/2 weeks. M. and I reported back to work on the 9th. Kids did not return to school until Thursday for me and the following Monday for M. Due to all of the budget cuts we are going to have another year in which we have to do as much or more with/for kids with fewer resources. It will make for a very very interesting year. I spent many of the first days and several subsequent days supporting teachers that had tantrumming and out of control kids. M. has over 30 students on his caseload, which is a huge caseload. He is working on meeting all of his students, talking with parents, and getting everything set for the year.

N. had her first day at her new preschool. We will see how it goes because each day she comes home and tells us how some child was mean to her. For the first week it was the same child, but that child has now started Kindergarten so the second week it has been several different children. We are very aware that N. can be pushy, demanding and hard to get along with so I do not think the incidents are occurring exactly as she is reporting.

J. had his first day of Kindergarten and he is SOOOOOO excited. We are seeing an emerging young boy who is becoming aware of age differences. He no longer wants to wear his dinosaur rain jacket because it is for younger kids. When I asked him to grab his jacket for school he hemmed and hawed and finally said "I'll just take a sweatshirt." It took a little bit but we figured out he was embarrassed of the dinosaur jacket. He reports that lunch is way to short and he can barely talk with his friends. My favorite summary of Kindergarten came in a conversation between J. and N. J. was telling her how school will be for her next year saying " you study, study, study...then recess, study, study, study...then lunch, study, study, study...then recess, study, study, study...then go home."

Summer's over...

2010-07-29T12:03:00.001-07:00

Wow, it is hard to believe but our 10 weeks off have flown by. M. and I report back to work in 9 days. I think as a family we are ready to be done with summer. Just yesterday J. said "Mommy, when do I get to go back to school? I am done with summer!" I believe we all are close to sharing his viewpoint.

J. is really excited to start his new elementary school. We have already visited (via peeking through the window) his new classroom. He is super excited about the bigger and better playground opportunities the elementary school has to offer. Over the summer he has really developed into a decent reader. He is able to read almost all picture books to his sister. We have begun reading chapter books together and he does a really good job. It is hard to believe how quickly things develop at this age. In other news he learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. Yes- another major milestone reached.

N. is also getting excited to attend her new school. We switched her preschool, so she will now attend a school in the neighborhood. This will make it easier to pick her up and drop her off during the school year. She is also growing leaps and bounds. She weighs almost as much as her brother and has grown 2 inches since December. She is identifying almost all of her letters and can accurately write 75% of the capital letters. She is our in-house Diva. She sings and dances ALL DAY LONG. It is really cute most of the time but can be trying on the patience. She is going through a defiant spell, meaning everything and I do mean EVERYTHING she is told is wrong. She then proceeds to tell you what is correct and why. This to shall pass.

Overall, our summer was uneventful. We filled it with mini-trips, swimming, playing with neighbors, reading books, watching movies, and the occasional trip to the drive-in.

More time....less accomplished

2010-06-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

The irony in our life! The more time we seem to have the less organized and accomplished we seem to be. This blog is a case in point. We are off for the summer and we have talked about updating the blog and yet, mid-summer, this is the first update. Lots has happened in the past several months. We took a road trip to Seattle, J. can now ride a 2 wheel bike (no training wheels), L.'s birthday is coming up, friends have had babies, etc. I will write a post about Seattle in the next couple days but for now I will just include a couple summer fun photos.

My 30th bday photos

2010-03-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

These are all pictures from my Murder Mystery Birthday Party. For those of you that have not done a murder mystery dinner, I highly recommend them....we had such a blast. 14 of us went and really made the actors think on their feet! We also had a 22 passenger SUV limo that took us around the entire night, as N. would say "your a princess mommy" and boy did I feel like it. The last picture is the morning of my birthday, my parents drove the children down to Denver to have breakfast with me on my birthday!

Overdue Pictures!

2010-03-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Christmas photo of the children that we LOVE! They have become such good friends and generally can play with each other with minimal fighting.

N., on her princess day. She loves having her hair curled but I hate it because it takes forever. However you should see how well the 3 year old will sit still for upwards of 2 hours just to have her hair curled.

Here the kids are playing in the snow........."just making a fort mom!"

Dog tail + Christmas Ornament = LOTS of Blood

2009-12-21T09:10:00.001-08:00

Ok....So this saga started about 3 1/2 weeks ago. We put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving with the help of 3 munchkins. Now, when we put up our tree we had very specific directions that all glass/breakable ornaments had to go high, so M. was helping put them up high. Unfortunately, we must have missed a few because Khaya's tail found one. I left the dogs alone for 5 minutes 1-2 days after we put up the tree, and when I cam home we walked straight up the stairs. As I was carrying N. up the stairs I noticed weird coloring, almost like brush stokes about 18 inches in length on my white walls. Now, keep in mind the lights were out so it was hard to see what it was ( I thought the kids might have been naughty earlier and I just hadn't noticed yet). I put N. down and bend over to look at the stuff on the wall, with Khaya at the top of the stairs wagging her tail. That is when I felt it...wetness splattering on my face! GROSS! I put the pieces together at that time and ran up the stairs grabbed Khaya's collar and raced into the bathroom. I had a hard time holding her down to find the blood and the more I tried to hold her the more she wagged, the more blood went flying. I called the neighbor, who came over and helped try to wrap Khaya's tail. Long story short, we tried every wrap you could think of or name. It is virtually impossible to keep something on a dog's tail. She would rub it off, bite it off, wag it off...it was ridiculous. Once she got it off, she would wag her tail, hit a wall, break open the scab, and begin splattering blood all over the house. This was our final solution. She hated it but it stayed for almost a full day. So in these pictures Khaya is sporting: sport wrap (the kind that adheres to itself), covered in a tube sock, affixed to her with a pair of little boy underwear turned around backwards so that her tail could go through the hole.

This ordeal was prolonged and gross. Needless to say we have scrubbed the walls hundreds of times, taken off the finishing and paint requiring us to repaint. BLAH!

The Big Day!

2009-12-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

So Graduation was wonderful, fantastic, and short enough given a winter graduation. Here are a couple of pictures from the Friday ceremony.

The family, with customized t-shirts courtesy of my husband. It showed real family solidarity.

Me walking up to get "hooded."

Big hugs from my very proud son that is now calling me "doctor mommy."

My daughter practicing graduation. She was wearing my mortar board and carrying the diploma case saying "I the graduater mommy."

J. is 5!

2009-12-01T17:41:00.001-08:00

It is hard to believe that he is already 5. We will be registering him for kindergarten in the next few months. He is currently attending a private kindergarten. Every day he shows us new skills, knowledge and excitement that keep us laughing and scrambling for answers. He has begun to read, meaning he can sound out words that are consonant-vowel-consonant as well as can read some sight words including (like, the, and, see, my, me, I). He LOVES mathematics. He is doing simple single digit subtraction and addition in numeric form. 4 + 5 = ____. Sometimes we find ourselves caught in thought about his wonderous growth, changes and challenges. It truly is hard to believe it has been five years.

New Goal

2009-11-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

My new goal is to update our blog at least one time every two weeks. Feel free to send me an email if I am over my "goal" timeline. I really want to make sure that we continue to update family and friends in our weekly happenings. A lot has changed and/or occurred since the last post. I will update over the next several posts.

One of the big announcements is the successful defense of my dissertation and subsequent graduation! I will be graduating on December 11th with my Ph.D. I am so excited to be finished. Can I get a whooo hooo.

White Coat Ceremony

2009-08-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the FAM.

A picture of his school- cool looking building.

Proud parents.

The end of last week was action packed! My brother has officially started medical school. Classes began on Monday but last week had orientation and an event called the white coat ceremony. This is where each student doctor is cloaked in a "white coat" marking the beginning of the journey.

More birthday pics

2009-07-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

She's 3!!!!!

2009-07-14T14:52:00.001-07:00

Here she is....... loving the "fancy bracelet" from her great grandma and great grandpa!

Snuggling with a bear given by her other great grandma and great grandpa!

Princess for a day (yeah right, try princess all the time)

Moving

2009-06-07T13:18:00.001-07:00

Well, many things have moved recently. To start with M. has moved everything out of his old school. In short, his contract at his current school district was not renewed (hard to know the driving cause of this) and he went job hunting. Fortunately for our family he was able to find a job about 10 minutes from our house in a neighboring school district. Subsequently, he has experienced a fair amount of loss with this change. I may write more about this in a protected post at a later date. I had to pack up everything in my office, because I am changing offices. My district offered me a contract for next year, so I officially have a job!

Our dear friend Mindy, has moved to Nebraska and my brother is preparing to move to Parker in 3 weeks. I am sad as these two people are very important in both of my children's lives. I figure we will just have to get really creative in how we keep in touch (video conferencing and live chats). Mindy has left to pursue her Doctoral degree in School Psychology and Jason is heading to medical school.

Overdue Pictures.... :)

2009-04-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

Building a tall tall tower.

N. in the hospital with my brother, about 8 hours post surgery. It also happened to be the same day as a blizzard that cancelled school and closed businesses.

Half time at the first soccer game...keeping the muscles, body, hands, and brains warm.

J. streaking down the field with the ball in his FIRST soccer game. Unfortunately he does not yet fully understand ball toward the goal, he prefers to kick it as hard as he can toward the corner, sideline, etc.

N. was being silly saying "I'm a robot, I'm a robot" as she stuck these markers behind her ears while her hood was up.

This is some of J.'s writing. He loves to write! He drew a box around each word and then an arrow to show the word, "so people can see it mom."

If you cant see the pictures,

2009-04-08T20:04:00.002-07:00

click on the link "April" to your right and they should appear under a title "overdue picutres." They are not showing up for some reason when youlog into the blog.

Beginning to heal but climbing a mountain

2009-04-08T20:04:00.001-07:00

First off, let me say that N. has begun to improve. It was quite a struggle until this past Sunday. She was whining, crying, in pain, refusing to eat, barely drinking, and not sleeping! We had to call for help because we went 4 days with no REM sleep and were on the verge of losing it. In the hospital I had a nurse tell me that she would be up and running that afternoon. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! We are 13 days post surgery and she is not yet quite herself. She is having accidents at naptime which has not happened since she turned 2 but overall things are improving. I know I have promised people with updated pictures and I have every intention of loading them this week.

I am going to be a bit vague regarding the other things in our life, but we have some other SIGNIFICANT stressors that occurred the same week of her surgery. We are hoping with time we will have some answers and that these things will begin to improve. However, right now it feels like we are climbing a never ending mountain and we just want to see the apex so we can begin walking down.

J. is doing alright. He spent 5 of 7 days away from us while we were caring for N.'s recovery. We felt bad but thought it would be best for everyone involved. He has begun soccer and loves it. They have yet to have a game given our recent inclement weather, but practice is just as fun for him.

*Update* if you cant see the pictures from the newer posts: click on the link "April" to your right and they should appear under a title "overdue picutres." They are not showing up for some reason when youlog into the blog.

Surgery Update

2009-03-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

N. is working hard on healing after surgery. It went well but she is still in a fair amount of pain. We were in the hospital 2 days but were able to discharge because she was drinking (1 sip per hour). There was another 2 year old in the room next to her that had the same procedure. She was not able to go home because she was refusing to drink, so in that respect I feel lucky. The nights have been hard. N. is up alot crying and in pain. Her fever also spikes at night, with it reaching 104 last night. BLAH! We hope last night was the worst night and each night will be progressively better. She still is not eating and drinks about 2-4 oz per day. The doctor says this is normal and will pass with time. General recovery for this surgery is 2 weeks.

Do I Sound Redundant?

2009-03-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

That's right, another month of illness. This month has included strep, influenza-type A, and a cold of some sort. Again, N. has strep. We were referred to her ENT and have been advised to proceed with an adnoidectomy, tonsillectomy, and more ear tubes. In short, she has had 4 positive strep tests since January 11th. The antiobiotics have not quite been doing the job. Her tonsils are HUGE and adenoids are also large, causing snoring and some breathing issues. She is scheduled for surgery next week and will be in the hospital for two days. She will be able to return to school when she is able to drink and eat normally (can be up to 10 days).

M., J. and I all had influenza and went on medication while suffering through three days of 102 degree fevers! YUCK!!!! We are sick and tired of being ill. We hope this spring will bring a turn around on our health. J. has started soccer and loved going to practice this last week. Games will be coming soon *sigh* it is hard to believe he is old enough for organized sports.

Another sick month

2009-03-07T20:34:00.001-08:00

That is right. Another sickness, or two, or three. Last week N. was positive for Strep. This was her third positive strep test since January 11th. So the doctor decided to put M., N., and me on antibiotics to try and eradicate the strep (in case one of us was a carrier). So we went about the weekend on antibiotics, and N. started to improve by the end of the weekend. On Tuesday M. started to feel sick. By Wednesday both M. and I felt unwell and had fevers of 101. I called daycare and J. had a fever of 102. OFF TO THE DOCTOR AGAIN>>>>>> In a nutshell M. came up positive for influenza Type A. J. and I are clinically diagnosed with influenza but did not come up positive on the test (the test right now only catches between 50-80 percent of truly positive cases- depending on the type). We spent the next three days with fevers ranging between 100-103.5- purely awful. More money and medication and we are treating yet another nasty bug.

We are tired of being sick! I would love to move forward and will definitely welcome warmer weather. Hopefully that will decrease our frequency of sickness, but only time will tell.

In other news, J. is starting soccer soon and is so excited. We are having a team meeting on Tuesday to discuss the season. M. is going to be the coach of his U5 team. My aunt and uncle are coming in April. That is awesome because we don't get a lot of family coming West.

Hope your families are fairing better in the health arena than ours has recently.

Were not down with.......

2009-01-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Amoxicillin. That's right folks. The kids are allergic to this medication. Therefore we went through an allergic reaction, itchy itchy hands, a change in medication and happier kids in the last week. Fun, Fun.

Overall it has been a very eventful week. Some of the events I am unwilling to post on a public blog but trust me- VERY EVENTFUL! Some of the most exciting news is that my brother had his first interview for medical school today. I am so proud of him. He should hear relatively quickly regarding his admission status. He has another interview in February. We are all rooting for him...so send good medical vibes.

The other exciting news is that J. sounded out two words (P-I-G and B-U-G). We are such proud parents. He is also writing his numbers 0-20 and practicing writing his last name. N. is loving school, learning sign language (helicopter is her most recent word), and creating fabulous art for our walls.

No other major updates and no recent pics. I will try to hound the children with the camera in the next few days to get some photos.

illness vs. wellness

2009-01-14T20:10:00.001-08:00

In a nutshell>>>>......I hate Strep! On sunday my entire family tested positive for strep. So we have lots of amoxicillin in the house. Well tonight, J. began showing signs of an allergic reaction. He has a rapidly growing rash on the back of his hands. I called the doctor and it my be a drug reaction or eczema. *sigh* I hate my family not feeling well.

In other updates, we are back into the full swing of things. The kids are liking their new school. J is writing his phone number- it is awesome! He is beginning to decode or sound out words. N. has all the teachers wrapped around her finger with her humor and warm outgoing personality. I have 1/2 of my dissertation data gathered and am working on a plan to collect the final 1/2. M. is trucking along back in classes and teaching a Masters level course at the Univeristy.

Hope all is well with your families.

A quick overview of 4 months

2009-01-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

First off let me apologize to friends and family that check our blog regularly. The reasons for my absence on the blog are numerous and will not be fully explained but I apologize for those that faithfully checked for updates and found continued blog stagnation. Several things have happened in the last few months:

1. Grandpa Jim came to visit
2. Friends from Durango came for a fun weekend (we hadn't seen them in 2 years)
3. Our annual kids Halloween party
4. In process of gathering data for my dissertation
5. J. turned 4 and I also turned one year older
6. Participated in Black Friday with my neighbor (and had a blast)
7. Ebby has begun limping and showing her age and Khaya turned 6
8. The children were pulled out of their school and will begin a new school in early January
9. M. finished another semester, and is one step closer to beginning a dissertation.
10. M. got approval to run his after school program and his new junior high school.

As you can see lots to cover. In the days to come I will post pictures from several of these events. We had a blur of a fall semester. It is hard to believe that we are already into 2009. The children have grown so much physically, verbally, cognitively- it is CRAZY! I will try a few more in-depth posts about the really important events in the next few days. Until then----

HAPPY NEW YEAR. WELCOME 2009!

More Pictures

2009-01-01T07:52:00.000-08:00

This is N. sporting many of her gifts from Santa. She kept saying "I a wonder princess."

N. and I snuggling, because she liked the texture of my new robe. She kept saying "dis is so soft mommy, I like it."

N. taking a moment to snuggle with my father.

The kids tearing (literally they are big time rippers) through their presents.

Here is N. showing off her new headband and wonderfully soft sweater. I never would have guessed but my daughter is a true princess that loves lipstick and pink!

Here is N. showing off potentially her favorite Christmas gift- BOOTS that have hearts that light up. She wore them all evening and actually went to bed in them. It was funny she would stomp her feet and watch the lights go saying, "mommy, watch you never seen dat."

This is J. showing off one of his new and very LOVED superhero shirts.

This is J. running around with excitement over all of the presents.

Here are the children passing out presents with my father.

This is N. with my brother, checking on Santa's progress across the world.

Pictures only, written update another day.

2008-12-28T12:42:00.001-08:00

After a long absence and many complaints I am finally updating our blog. I will only put a couple of pictures on today but will add a narrative in a couple of days.

Overdue Pics

2008-08-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

Birthday Bane

2008-07-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yes you read that correctly. It is to merely say we are a bit on birthday overload from Saturday. You see we had 4, yes FOUR, birthday parties to attend. Mom and dad split forces to effectively make all birthday parties. On the good end, both children took a deep 2 hour nap following the festivities. I will post a few pictures from the parties which included: hat making, tea and princess dresses, 25 foot inflatable slides, 12 foot inflatable water slide, gluten free cake, spiderman cards, and more.

1 week

2008-07-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

A lot can happen in one week. M. will finish his summer classes in one week. I wanted to add that he killed his first statistics exam with the second highest grade in the class. He got a 98%, I am so proud of him! He was very nervous for this test so this is a really good outcome. His final exam in the stats class is Thursday so send him good energy.

Unfortunately we learned in the last week that his grandmother was recently diagnosed with cancer. We are unsure of the minute details at this time but will probably blog about it later.

I report to work at this elementary school one week from tomorrow. I am excited to begin work again, as it marks one step closer to graduation. In regards to my dissertation. I am in the process of receiving approval from different preschool locations to conduct research at their site. This is a challenging part so we will see how it goes.

N. is mostly potty trained. We are down to an accident a day. However even as I type that it is Sunday and we have not had an accident since Thursday. She is even waking up from naps dry and occasionally wakes up after a full night dry. I can hardly believe it! She is such a big girl. The other news is that the nuk (her pacifier) is no more. The day after her birthday we said goodbye to the nuks and she has not had one since that day (2 weeks tomorrow).

We went to the zoo on Friday and had such a great time as a family. I will post pictures later. Minus one incident of J. scaling the penguin exhibit and a loud "NO" from me (that managed to turn 20 heads but I did not care) all was wonderful.

Cannot believe it....

2008-07-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

My daughter is 2. Obviously I am not doing very well with blogging lately. I say I will post pictures really quickly and it is several weeks before I even blog again. N.'s birthday was so fun! We had about 30 people, a slip and slide, water table, and a wonderful mix of family and friends. N. was the princess of the day. She received so many wonderful gifts that she loved. Specifically a pair of play high heeled blue shoes. She wore them for HOURS! To the point of blisters.

Here are some pictures of her day....

THE CAKE-

N. said "mommy I a butterfly"

J. rocking out on the 95 degree day.

N. Showing J. the newest "in" way to slip n slide

and daddy....showing the kids up:

N is 2!!!!

2008-07-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that my daughter turned 2 today. Here are a couple of pictures from the day. Her party is tomorrow so we will really update with pictures then. OUr neighbor Jack turned four on Thursday so his party was today and most of the pictures are of that FUN time.

Best Friends

2008-07-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

I just love this photo of the boys. They are such good friends. It is so funny because the constantly ask about each other and amazingly are able to spend long periods of time together before we hear any bickering.

Blog Backlog!

2008-06-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have really gotten behind in the last month trying to keep the blog updated. I was tied down preparing to propose my dissertation, finish classes, take intense summer classes, and prepare (as well as go) on vacation. I have many pictures to add and stories to tell. The first pics are from the Boulder Creek Festival.

There will be more to come.....

Officially Official

2008-05-13T13:24:00.001-07:00

As of the end of last week both M. and I are done for the spring semester. This means that I am completely done with my necessary course work. Now it is only a dissertation and internship standing between me and my Ph.D. The nerd that I am choose to take a couple of courses this summer "for fun," but I keep telling myself I can drop them at anytime. M. may pull out two A's in his classes, has accepted a new job, bought a new car (after the last was considered totaled from the accident), and is transferring all of his students to other schools b/c his school is closing. He has 2 1/2 more weeks before he will truly be breathing deep.

We leave for Illinois the first week in June and are so excited for a vacation. It remains to be seen how the children will travel by RV. The longest car trip we have taken was 8 hours and included approximately 6 stops. SO WELL SEE.....

N. continues to potty train. I can hardly believe my baby girl is going to be 2 years old. It feels like yesterday we were anxiously awaiting her arrival. J. proudly announces to anyone that will list "I'm almost 4." I cannot believe he will be 4 this year, yes it is still 6 months away but he reminds me almost daily. We are ridiculously proud parents of both of our children. J. has begun to write his name. I will post pictures in another post. N. is talking A LOT! She is regularly putting 3-4 words together and is generally understandable to most people (not just her parents). Here are a cople of pictures taken on easter, M.'s birthday, mother's day....man are they getting big or what.

Picture update

2008-04-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

Need a drink?

2008-04-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

M. and J. Vannice do! Man have we had a week. In fact, all of April has been a bit trying. N. had an ear infection last week that resulted in antibiotics and a visit to the ENT. The ENT had to manually remove the was, including poking through the tube to unplug it. He then sucked, yes think vaacuum, out the liquid behind her eardrum.

On Tuesday M. was in a car accident (partially his fault, but truly caused by the driver in front of him). We have not heard but fear that his car may be totaled. Grrr... Thankfully, he is mostly ok. He is pretty sore, feeling a bit dizzy, and having a hard time with memory and thinking. He plans to go to the doctor in the next day or so.

Finally, I proposed my dissertation today. I am happy to report that my committee approved my study with only a few additions to my 74 page proposal! That is a HUGE sigh of relief!

M. turns 30 this weekend. Hard for me to believe but true. This will be the 11th birthday I have celebrated with him. FUN WEEKEND HERE WE COME AND BOY DO WE NEED IT!

Wishing calmness, happiness, and health to your families.

Hard Week

2008-04-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well, to update everyone...last week was a very hard week for us. It began with the N. coming down with the flu- the puking variety. Then J. began to puke. YUCK! On Wednesday we found out that M.'s school was closing. Long story short he does not have a job next year. SO--> he is out applying and searching for a job. This is really scary becuase I have one more year in school, doing an internship, that pays basically nothing. Keep your fingers crossed that a job opens, and M. gets hired. On Thursday Ebony had surgery- we were really worried about cancer. Fortuantely all lumps were benign, except for one on her face that was in the process of changing. The vet felt that he got it all, and that we would not need to worry. On Friday, M. had to tell the kids that attend his school it was closing. That was not easy for the kids or M. and there have been multiple incidents of acting out since they got the news.

On top off all of that Matt had a huge meeting with his advisors on Monday and I had my dissertation proposal due by last Thursday. Grrrr........that was our hard week!

All Country

2008-03-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Grandma came up for a visit today. The visit included singing and dancing to a country song. It was quite cute because J. says "grandma, do you wanna dance with me?" He is so endearing. He then decided he needed his cowboy hat to appropriately dance to the tunes. N. was clapping, snuggling, and dancing her heart out as well. Here are a couple of the fun pictures with the cowboy hat.

NEMO!!!!

2008-03-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

GiGi and PaPa took our family to the production of Nemo as our Easter celebration. (Thank you it was a special treat). We were fortunate to have grandpa join us as well, so that was fun too. We got to see Nemo on Ice....the kids loved it! N. had come down with a cold so she needed a power nap (during the first act) but was up and jumping, screaming, laughing, dancing, and clapping the entire second act. J. was entranced- and was mellow at times and really excited at times. It was so fun to watch their faces. Here are a couple pictures from the event.

Grandpa's Visit

2008-03-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

The children had such a wonderful time with their grandpa. It was nice to have him in town and see how much the children engaged and enjoyed time with him. The read lots of books, colored lots of pictures, danced, watched movies, and even went to the theater to see Horton Hears a Who. The children were sad when he left. For approximately 1 year (the last time grandpa came to visit) J. has called our spare bedroom Grandpa J's room. After grandpa left this time M. was putting J. to bed and J. said the cutest thing. J. looked at his daddy and said "I'm going to turn on the light for grandpa, that way when he comes home he can see." When we informed J. that grandpa was not coming back to our house big crocodile tears began to form in his eyes. Needless to say we have been doing a lot of talking about visiting California and seeing Grandpa again.

Smiling for the camera....

Snuggling at bedtime. There was a fair amount of fighting over grandpa's lap and snuggle time with grandpa. Both children wanted to be as close as possible. Quite cute!

Coloring with grandpa. N. continually wanted grandpa to color with her. Here they are picking up crayons that she had playfully strewn around the house

One Hand

2008-03-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

It is official! I can count the rest of my semester on one hand. Five simple weeks and I will be done with my class work. From that point it is a dissertation and internship standing between me and a new title. I have made a verbal agreement to a local school district as my internship placement for next year. TIME IS FLYING! I plan to take a couple of classes this summer for fun. I want to take advantage of "fun" classes before I am officially off campus. M. is also finishing up his semester and truly enjoying his classes. He will have a heavier load this summer (as is typical given his work schedule). That is the adult update that we rarely give. :)

Missing him....

2008-03-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

We recently bought a scanner from some friends. This has allowed us to share some things (art/picutres/writings) that otherwise would have been "unsharable." These are two pictures of our beloved Thor....he has been on our minds lately.

Children's Art

2008-03-16T15:27:00.001-07:00

School Pictures

2008-03-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

Old video- but funny (to us)

2008-03-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is a video from last May. We found it very amusing but we are the parents.

Not Halloween, but we LOVE Costumes!

2008-03-08T09:08:00.001-08:00

Long break

2008-02-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

N. is hamming it up for the camera. She has taken to carrying around a stool to each light switch, climbs on the stool, strobe lights us for 20-30 seconds, and then moves location. This picture was taken mid-strobe-FUNNY!

Here are J. and the neighbor boy having a "sleep-nap-over." J. was so excited. It was his first time to have a friend stay the night/day.

I apologize for the long break in between posts. Things here have been....well......SICK! J., N., and I were positive on a strep test 2 1/2 weeks ago. We started antibiotics and began to feel better. Then last weekend (superbowl Sunday) M. and I began to get headaches and sore throats. M. worked all week and got worse day by day. Finally, this last Friday we went to the doctor for M. He had a strep test and came back POSITIVE! Well just to make sure that the rest of us were cleared of strep, the remaining three of us gagged on a cotton swab as well. Two of us were positive (J. and I). Can you believe it???? So every family member is on antibiotics at this point. M. is still not feeling very well sleeping longs nights and most of the day. He is coughing, sneezing, hoarse, etc.

Outside of sickness the only other thing really going on is my dissertation. I have submitted my chapter 2 to my advisor and have just recieved feedback. Yep- that means here goes revision number one. Hopefully, we will get my dissertation in a place where I can propose it to my committee by April. That is the goal anyway.

Here is a picture of the children at Chuck-E-Cheeses. One of J.'s friends from school had a birthday party.

Back to the grind

2008-01-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well it is official, school has begun on all fronts. M. began teaching 1 1/2 weeks ago. The semester has started off smoothly and even included an opportunity to attend a one day conference, which was really exciting for him. UNC also began classes on Monday of this week so student status is back. M. has one evening class and one online class. I am only taking 14 credits so it will be my easiest semester in school yet. 4 of those credits are writing and proposing my dissertation, so I will be doing that htis semester.

The kids returned to daycare and Preschool. J. was incredibly excited telling everyone "I'm going to school on Monday." He has had wonderful days coming home with information about what to do in an emergency, what stop signs looks like, and my personal favorite....the names of dinosaurs. N. is beginning to talk up a storm. She will walk up stand in front of you begin talking (gabbering) ususally ending with an identfiable word like "share, juice, nana (banana), Jalen, night night, etc). While she is talking she will tilt her head to the right and scrunch up her face in a very serious expression. It is really CUTE! She is also loving day care, her teacher Ms. Mindy is a favorite adult. She carries the backpack her great grandmother gave her for Christmas not only to school but around the house, to bed, to the mailbox, and anywhere else she feels warrants a backpack. The kids are so fun to watch...running, playing, and talking together. Wishing everyone a smooth transition into 2008, so far so good here!

HUGE NEWS!!!

2008-01-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

Today at dinner N. said "go potty, go potty." So GiGi took her up and low and behold if we did not hear partying coming for the bathroom. So I ran to the cabinet, grabbed the M&M's and sprinted up the stairs. My daughter had peed in the big girl potty at 17 months. I cannot believe it. Well, to ensure our belief she again asked to go potty as we were heading to bed. Sure enough after about 2 minutes she peed in the big girl potty. We are on the potty training road again!

Christmas with Grandma and Auntie K

2008-01-03T17:04:00.001-08:00

Here are some pics from Christmas with Grandma and Auntie K. They were supposed to come up on Christmas Day however a snowfall put a kink in those plans. Instead they came up they day after Christmas and we celebrated then.

Santa Claus is coming...

2007-12-25T11:29:00.001-08:00

At 6:30am J. entered our bedroom. We were able to sideline him long enough to wait until 7:15am to go spy what treasures Santa had left for him and N. She woke up as he was walking down the stairs-Perfect timing. Here is a couple shots of their surprise and joy.

Xmas 2007

2007-12-25T11:13:00.001-08:00

Here are the first round of pictures of the children's Christmas. They had a wonderful time at my parents last evening. Enjoying each toy for 2.2 seconds before ripping into another package.

Round Two of pictures will come soon.

Pictures from PaPa

2007-12-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple more pictures from the winter program.

The Holiday Show- Part two

2007-12-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

After N. went it was J.'s turn. The preschool class walked down the aisle and J. looked left and right...searching....searching....and finally, found us. Then he let loose a gigantic smile. He walked up on stage and stood to the far right (if you are looking at the stage). He sang both songs and even showed his letter the right way up!

(Unfortunately this is the only picture that really turned out of his performance.)

Here is a picture of the children before the left for the show....

The Holiday Show- Part one

2007-12-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

The preschool/daycare that the children put on a holiday show, where the children sings songs on stage. It was held at a local junior high school. Both children participated and had a wonderful time. N. was first. We were a little hesitant about how she would do on stage in front of 150 parents. WELL......

She clapped and waved to the crowd while the other children looked around.....the audience laughed and giggled.

She sang and did all of the actions.....while giving huge grins to the audience. Again the crowd laughed.

She ended with a big finish. She was definitely the star of the toddler class. She may have been born to be on stage. As she walked down the aisle to get on stage she waved right, she waved left, and smiled her HUGE smile. Parents approached us afterward asking how old she was, could they take her home, was she always this happy. Oh yeah and one gentleman asked me if she bit. When I asked why he wondered that- he indicated her smile was so big it looked like she might bite- quite weird. She was a charming little girl on and off stage.

Holiday Cookies

2007-12-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture of the family working on Christmas cutout cookies. The children decorated them with sprinkles, powdered sugar, and chocolate. By the time we were done sprinkles, flour, and sugar spanned the entire kitchen. However there was a lot of fun and laughter while we baked!

The same day J. and the neighbor boy (his best friend) worked diligently to make this gingerbread house. They decorated the house with candy. The general rule of thumb about the candy was two for the mouth and one for the house. Again....lots of fun had!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT-------->

Arizona

2007-12-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics from our trip to Arizona. We spent J.'s 3rd birthday in Scottsdale. Wee had a lot of needed fun and alone time as a family. With only a 3 hour obligation (I was presenting three posters at the National Academy for Neuropsychology) we had a lot of time to relax.

A few funny/ironic highlights
1. Getting in the car at 6am to get to the airport.....car is dead. Answer- Switch cars
2. Jalen power puking in the rental car. Answer- A whole lot of wipes and a new car seat.
3. Matt up an entire night puking. Answer- Everyone else stay asleep.

Crazy Normal

2007-12-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of us in the airport getting ready to leave Arizona.

As usual, our life has been filled with all sorts of stuff. We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my family hanging out and setting up a new TV for my parents. We got home late and I subsequently woke up at 3am to shop on Black Friday. My neighbor and I went and had a lot of fun. I am mostly shopped for Christmas as of 10 am on Black Friday. As I got home N. spiked a fever of 105 degrees under her arm. Needless to say it was off to the doctor for us. He sent us to the hospital for bloodwork and an xray of her lungs. All of the results pointed to a virus that was causing her difficulty with breathing. We then had to purchase a nebulizer and give her breathing treatments. After a scary 48 hours she improved rapidly on Sunday and is now back to her typical self. Today they joined GiGi and PaPa for the Winter Walk. The report is that this included lots of cookies, Christmas decorations, and adults/strangers engaging the kids. M. stayed home and worked on homework and I was in Denver teaching a class.

The good news: IT IS ALMOST WINTER BREAK!!!!!

Warm Wishes to All

Nap, Nap, NOT!

2007-11-13T09:03:00.001-08:00

I thought I would share the wonderful gift my parents are giving to J. (we truly are excited).

M. and I have come to terms with the fact that it means that J. will never ever nap again. EVER! And neither would we if this was in our bedroom. Furthermore, we are going to have to wrestle his sister to keep her out of his fun room. Although she has graduated up to a toddler bed and thinks that is mighty neat. IT is cute she will grab a book, crawl up on her bed and begin reading (making noise).

Airplane

2007-11-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to update everyone on J's birthday present. He is telling everyone that "my mom and dad are taking me on an airplane for my birthday." The truth is that I am presenting at a national conference in Arizona and the whole family is going because it falls on his birthday. But if he believes the airplane trip is his birthday present that is fine with us. He is so excited....he has told his teacher, friends, and random strangers walking by us. I will post some picture of his (2nd) but 1st memorable plane ride. Hope everyone is good health and happy spirits as the holidays approach.

N. and I have been sick just over three weeks. Each day I hope that this is that last really bad day but that has yet to happen. She has been coughing so hard she is puking. Always a lovely affair. It is so sad becuase she does not know what happens when she gets sick it just upsets her. Hopefully, AZ's warm air will help her move past whatever bug she has going on.

Halloween

2007-11-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some Halloween Pictures!
J. was Batman and N. was a puppy.
They were to cute trick-o-treating.

Whoo Hooo

2007-11-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with everyone. I PASSED! I PASSED! I PASSED! I had my oral comprehensive exam today which is a two hour oral exam with your doctoral committee members. They ask several questions about the weaknesses in the written exam, ask any question they feel you should answer, have you critique a journal article, and discuss the pre-proposal of your disertation.

LONG AND SHORT- I PASSED!

Visit with Great Grandma

2007-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

For the past week Great Grandma has been in town from Chicago. It has been so nice to have her visit our home, see the children, have dinner, and just talk. The last time she was to Colorado was for our wedding just over 5 years ago. She had to travel alone seeing that Great Grandpa did not feel up to the trip. N. practiced saying grandma. She would bring her books to read, beg ice cream bites off of her and give her drive by hugs. J. on the other hand was very clear that she was his Great Grandma becuase GiGi (my mom) and Grandma (M.'s mom) are my Grandma's. Here are some pictures from our visit time.

Comps

2007-10-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I took my written comprehensive exams about 3 1/2 weeks ago. These are timed written exams that I must pass in order to move on in my doctoral program. I recieved word last week that I had passed these exams and subsequently have the approval to schedule my oral comprehensives. Our oral comprehensives consists of meeting with your dissertation committee for 2 hours to get questioned about the weaknesses in your written comprehensives. Furthermore, you have to review an article that is given to you 72 hours in advance, and get questioned about an 8-10 page overview paper of your proposed dissertation topic. I am hoping to schedule my comprehensives around Halloween, however need to get a better grasp on my dissertation topic before that occurs. So, it may end up that I do my orals around the end of December. I am not even entertaining the idea of doing them during Novemeber because that is a crazy month for us. There is my birthday, J.'s birthday, I am presenting at a national conference in Arizona, Thanksgiving and it is crunch time for school projects.

Anyway, I thought I would share my good news to those of you that read our blog!

Swimming

2007-09-27T18:14:00.001-07:00

These are long overdue pictures of the kids swimming with their papa and gigi.

The Vacation and Wedding

2007-09-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

The neighbors and us drove down to Durango for a mini-vacation. It was fabulous. We went to the four corners (weird pictures on a cirle thing), Mesa Verde, stoppedf at Wolf Creek Pass, and toured the town. We were able to show them a couple of our favorite hot spots. J. spent most of his time hip to hip with the neighbor boy. It was so fun to go down and reminisce. Here are some pics of the trip.

So Long....

2007-09-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

...it has been since I last posted. Things got a bit wild and hectic leaving me very little spare time. I took my written comprehensive exams and spent a significant amount of time preparing for those. J. Began preschool and is making new friends. One particular boy and J. have really hit it off. It is so cute, when we arrive this other child will run up to J. give a great big hug and say "hi friend." N. on the other hand is getting used to her new day care. She is fine until she feels the slightest motion of being put down, she then screams bloody murder. She quiets down within five minutes but really gives people a chance to hear her belt it out. She has two teachers that she is really fond of and they inversely are really fond of her. One day I saw one of her teachers ask another adult to go get her jacket so that N. did not get upset by seeing her leave.

M. is really rocking in regards to the school year. Another round of the after school program he runs also began about 2 weeks ago. He is still taking classes toward his Ed.D. This semester it includes supervising other teacher so that is very interesting. I am also taking classes and supervising beginnning clinicians. Here are a couple of pics from a vacation we took with our neighbors. There will be a second installment later with a narrative describing the trip!

FUN

2007-09-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

This holiday weekend has been really fun. Grandma came over and went on a bike ride with N., J., and M. I had my maid of honor come into town unexpectedly and spent the evening on the town with her and some other friends. So it has been a very eventful and exciting weekend thus far with another day to go.

Here is a pic of the kids just "hanging out."

Can you believe it....

2007-08-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

They are hardly there but if you look hard enough you will spot them. PIGTAILS (with the help of a couple barettes.) The pics of J. are from a detailed conversation with Grandpa Jim. J. was very detailed in explaining his thoughts, and experiences of recent days (with many gestures and facial expressions). It continues to amaze us how much the children understand, express, and items they connect together; let alone how fast they are growing. The final pic is J.'s first attempt at hockey. Again, his general ability from the beginning astonished us.

2007-08-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

The children have taken to reading together. Generally it is a harmonious process with only a couple of screams, "she touched my book", and "it is mine!" It has really been fun to watch them interact and take joint interest in each other.

We had a huge thunderstorm and were under flash flood watch. We heard the emergency alarm but did not truly know what it was until the storm was well past us. This is what the children did for entertainment during the rainstorm. Everytime a huge thunder could be heard we would say YEEE HAW!

Making Pizza with GiGi

2007-08-08T10:05:00.001-07:00

Day of Surgery

2007-08-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

N. successfully had ear tubes placed on Tuesday morning. She was very groggy after surgery and incredibly crabby. I do not think she liked waking up, the nurse said she felt like she was spinning and was very out of it. By the afternoon her mood had improved and we went down to my parents house for a fudgecicle. Here are pictures for her first fudgecicle encounter. Our hope is that she will begin to talk more and her balance will improve after the surgery. Only time will tell now.

Day at the Park with Auntie K

2007-08-02T22:21:00.001-07:00

We met up with Kiersten to say goodbye as she treks back toward college in Durango. Here are a couple of the photos from our wonderful midday adventure to Chataqua Park in Boulder. The kids had a blast, minus J.'s first bee sting. He stepped on a bee, barefoot, and had the stunger stuck in the bottom of his foot. POOR KID! But, man can he throw a frisbee! Click on the photo and see for yourself.

Belated 1st B-Day Pics

2007-07-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

"I'm a superhero mommy..."

2007-07-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

That is what J. told me and then said "go take a picture of me mama." Oh, how his imagination is growing!

SIGH

2007-07-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

To make a long story short, N. had to change antibiotics due and allergic reaction to the antibiotic initiallyh prescribed. Hopefully, this will help with her newest ear infection and get us through until her surgery. The other news we got today was that our beloved Thor's sister Kaurina died secondary to finding a tumor on her heart. Those two dogs will long have a special place in my heart.

1,2 ,3 4, 5, 6!!!!

2007-07-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

You heard it folks another ear infection as confirmed by the doctor this evening. My daughter is starting to not listen early. Thank goodness there is a biological reason she is not listening and not just that strong willed....YET! We have scheduled surgery for tubes at the end of this month. She will remain on antibioltic until surgery and hopefully will find relief afterward. We hope we will see an increase in her language development as well as decrease her drunken sailor walking. Here are a couple other cute pictures.

1 YEAR OLD!

2007-07-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here she is at her birthday party. Pretty in pink (a dress her daddy bought special for her). She was (and still is) running 103 degree fever in these pictures. It is hard to tell by the pictures but she was not herself, crabbier than ususal. I will also include her birthday cake....that daddy special ordered from the bakery. It was to be purple, green, and a little pink. What is wrong with this picture!?!

A few quick pics of the 4th of July

2007-07-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

BIRTHDAY THURSDAY!!!

2007-07-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it but N. is turning one on Thursday. She has grown and changed so much in the last year it is amazing. We are having a get together in honor of her first year on Sunday July 15th between 11-3. Feel free to drop in between those times. If you need directions to our house please give us a call.

The Long Awaited.....

2007-07-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know the PICS are still not posted

2007-07-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so things have been busy and I have chosen other projects to engage in. I promise that I will post a slew of pictures soon. N. has an appointment with the ENT specialist next week so we hopefully will have answers/a plan for her persistent ear infection. Other than that....we will be attending the wedding ceremony of our friends Chris and Jen tomorrow. Congratulations to them!

BUSY....BUSY....BUSY

2007-07-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well this past week and a half has been very busy for us. We are still trying to get N's ear infection cleared up. We will have her ears looked at again in the next couple of days, cross your fingers for good results. M. taught his final class last weekend and is now faced with grading the assignments the students turned in. We both had midterm exams in our statistics classes that we needed to study for. I will plan on posting several groups of pictures soon.

A bike, mmmmm...sort of!

2007-06-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

We have purchased an infant bike seat and a trailer bike for the children. Even though J. loves his new bike...at his current biking pace it would take approximately 71 hours to reach the corner of Harmony and Timberline (1 mile away). Therefore, we decided that the family needed exercise and to do that as a group, bikes had to be repaired and purchased (the adult bikes were repaired and the kid bikes/accessories were purchased). This is a picture of M. and J. taking the new contraption out for a ride. We are off to swimming lessons (round 2) tonight and hopefully we will remember to get pictures.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Camping Photos

2007-06-20T22:26:00.001-07:00

IT IS OFFICIAL!!!!

2007-06-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

The camping did wonders for N's trust in her ability to walk. We would officially classify her as a walker today. This means she is walking more then she is crawling, able to walk the length of the room, and shows a significant increase in her balance (though is still wobbly). On the down side she was incredibly fussy last night and refused to sleep (I got 1 1/2 hours of sporadic shut eye). She continues to persist with an ear infection (and is trying to poke three teeth at one time) so we are on to a new antibiotic. This may also play a factor in her feeling of imbalance when trying to learn the new art of movement on two limbs but none the less....SHE IS A WALKER!

Camping for Father's Day

2007-06-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend marked our first attempt to camp with children. Anyone who knows of the first (and only) time M. and I camped together can attest to the potential disaster we were facing. Long story short we had a wonderful time. J. was amazed with every part of camping...helping his father put the tent together, searching for bugs, picking flowers, hiking, pooping in the woods, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed (the queen sized sleeping bag). N. also had a wonderful time climbing up and down on chairs, being held a significant portion of time, taste testing different varieties of dirt/grass/and other unknown substances, as well as attempting to walk on significantly uneven terrain. I will post pictures as soon as we get them downloaded. (We are a bit backlogged with "to do's" having spent the weekend away from the house).

Father's day was wonderful minus a severe allergy attack for me. M. especially appreciated a minute break from our diet. For those unaware we have embarked on a Heart Healthy diet due to family risk factors of heart disease in my family.

Kids at play with Neighbors

2007-06-15T13:27:00.001-07:00

Here are the children playing with some kids from the neighborhood. They played for about 3 hours....giggling, laughing, and just being kids.

A Weekend of Teaching and more Yardwork

2007-06-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend has been eventful so far. M. taught a class on behavior management and theories and UNC's Lowry Campus in Denver. He co-taught this class with his advisor. This type of experience is required by his program for doctoral students. He as always is being relatively harsh on his performance, nit-picking if you will. The class has two other weekends June 22-23 and June 29-30 so he will get more opportunites for learning and growth in a professor role. While daddy was out teaching the kids and I played. We went and had dinner with our friends the Berglunds, of which J. followed around Steve as he tends to with all males. He truly wants to be "just one of the guys." N. practiced her walking....she is regularly taking 6-8 steps. It is funny if you hold her hand (without really giving support) she takes off with speed and purpose but without it she is not yet trusting of herself. On saturday we went to the Children's Museum in Denver which was a blast. J. loved the fire engine and the basketball court. Though his basketball looks a lot like a throw-in for soccer! They had a wonderful spot for infnats and young toddlers that N. loved. She chased her brother around, played on the bridge, pushed around and abacas, and worked in the garden (probably her favorite spot). She seemed a little disappointed there was no real dirt to eat. I will intermitantly post pictures from this trip...as there are too many (cute ones that is) to include all in this post.

Last day of daycare

2007-06-07T17:25:00.001-07:00

WOW.....the last 2 1/2 years of daycare with Jen has flown by. Yesterday (Wednesday) was the children's last day there. We have enrolled J. in Preschool and there is a daycare component to the preschool that N. will attend. Jen watched the children since they were 6 weeks old so there are many memories, growth, change, and milestones reached while in her care. She is such an amazing and loving person that I felt special my children were snuggled and loved in a way only Jen could do. Here are the pictures of the party with an ELMO cake made out of cupcakes. A picture of the group and one of J. with his friend and tormentor Katie.

2007-06-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well this has been an interesting week. We believe N. is trying to cut more teeth....cranky, cranky, cranky. Then to top it off she has an ear infection requiring antibiotics. We believe that the teething and ear infections go together in some manner, not sure how though. J. has been battling a small cold with a runny nose and moderate cough. No real complaints though. Stress is lightening, focus returning, and lots of play time blooming....so life is good! M. begins teaching a grudate level class next weekend at the UNC Lowry campus. He has to spend the next few days preparing his lecture. I am trying to hone in on exact research questions for my dissertation since it is my goal to write the first three chapters of my dissertation this summer and those questions drive the first three chapters. We will see how fruitful I truly am. For now we are enjoying the sun, grass, park, dogs, and water.

WHOOO HOOO!

2007-05-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

We are celebrating in the Vannice household. M. finishes the school year tomorrow, received word that the two grants he wrote were fully funded, and I passed my national certification exam. *SIGH* A few things off our plate and worth celebrating!

Hanging with the Neighbors

2007-05-30T11:27:00.001-07:00

Here are the children hanging out at the neighbors house. A local neighbor girl is holding N. She is really interested in babysitting and has been getting exposure to such experiences (under adult supervision so far). Then there is also a picture of the three 2 year olds eating cereal, an increasingly desirable late night snack. Then my favorite, my bad boy J. riding a bike....safely, with an unbuckled helmet "so I don't bonk my head."

A Weekend of Yardwork......

2007-05-27T10:32:00.001-07:00

This Memorial Day weekend was full of family, dirt, greenery, and hole digging. We planted about 15 plants to our continuously barren backyard. The children loved seeing grandma, auntie K, Gigi, Papa, and uncle J. The above pictures were taken on Saturday and Sunday. We were in the backyard discussing plant placement when J. came around the corner carrying a plant saying "I help too. I carry this BIG plant." He is so funny, always wanting to be in the mix. In other big news LaLa started saying soft consonants....."Ma Ma Ma Ma." I only hear Mama. She is chasing her brother around on hands and knees, frustrated by the wobbly steps because it slows her speed. She also is continually in the pantry pulling out various types of cooking supplies to help daddy (and make noise of course). Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

"My Jackson"

2007-05-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here is JT and his friend, best friend, and neighbor JACK. If you ask J. he will promptly inform you "no, that's my Jackson!" His connection and desire to be with him astonishes us and creates continual conversation, connection, and at times tantrums. Here they are "swimming" and enjoying 85 degree weather. J. will be starting swimming lessons in a couple of weeks (with his sister). This hopefully will put an end to his constant reminder "Daddy, I no know how to swim."

Whew......

2007-05-22T20:57:00.001-07:00

Well....it is Tuesday night and we have just finished the season finale of Dancing with the Stars. Oh yes, Dancing with the Stars! J. and Daddy have dance sessions in the middle of the living room while the stars dance on the TV.

We are working on our technical genius, so that we can regularly post pictures and updates about our continuous projects. Soon these posts will become longer, more detailed, and filled with information about our children that only a parent truly treasures.

Our growing children

2007-05-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

Here are our beautiful and growing children. These pictures were taken in April.

Hello All

2007-05-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

The Vannice Family blog is now in full effect. This is our first "blog" attempt and we are novices in our abilities; therefore any alignment and odd formating is due to the fact we just could not figure it out!