August 2009 Archives

08/16/2009

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The summer has flown by.  School had just gotten out when I wrote my last post and it starts up again in just over a week.  Luckily, we had a really low-key summer, so you haven't missed out on too much.

SETH'S' SIXTH BIRTHDAY & UPDATE



We had three separate parties for Seth's birthday this year.  One with the Lance side of the family, one with the Henderson's and one on his actual birthday with just our family.  Seth was pretty stoked to have three present openings and three cakes (although twice it was just cupcakes).  He's been pining for an Imaginext pirate ship toy ever since Christmas and finally got it for his birthday.  It worked out really well, because we were all set to do a Batman party for him, but when we went to buy a pinata for it he fell in love with the pirate ship pinata instead.  So right then we changed the theme for his party.  We had a treasure hunt, the pinata, yummy cake and ice cream.  The pirate ship pinata turned out to be nearly indestructible, every kid had a turn with a blindfold on and then we took the blindfolds off and let them all have a turn again.  Finally, we just let them whack it on the ground until it broke open.  Seth is willing to try a few new things now that he is six.  He will eat his hamburger with the bun on it and he let James cook him some eggs for breakfast and actually ate them.  He is a great big brother and loves to play dress up with Jacob and to help me take care of Lia. 



Seth also lost his first tooth this summer.  The tooth fairy brought him a Darth Vader figure.  Losing a tooth was a pretty big deal for Seth, just another sign that he is growing up!  He is excited to start school next week.  We are going to be teaching him at home this year in conjuction with a public virtual charter school.  They give us all the materials and lessons to teach him, he has to take all the same tests that regular students take,  and we even have take attendance and report to an accredited teacher.  Seth seems to be really looking forward to the experience and I am praying that I can be a good teacher for him and not neglect Jakes and Lia in the process.  We started setting up his school room yesterday and the materials should arrive on Monday. 

AIR SHOW

James took the boys on a daddy date to the Hill Airforce base Air Show.  They had a really long day watching planes do fancy tricks, seeing the Thunderbirds perform, getting to tour real airplanes and helicopters, and riding the UTA commuter train.
 


Getting to the show wasn't too bad using the UTA system, but getting home was another story!  I had just dropped my mom off in Provo Canyon to meet my dad after a race, when I reached the bottom of the canyon I called James to see where they were and found out they had been standing in line to get on a bus for about 30 minutes already.  The line was not moving at all so I asked if it would be faster if I just picked them up.  James didn't know which way would be faster, especially since I was over an hour away from the Air Force Base at the time.  I called back when I got to our freeway exit (about 30 minutes later) and the line still had not moved.  So I picked up the van from the train station and headed out to pick them up, by the time I got to Layton (another 45 minutes later) they had finally made it onto the bus that would take them to the train station.  If I hadn't come to get them it probably would have taken them over three hours to get home.  As it was they spent nearly two hours just getting from the airforce base to the train station less than 3 miles away.  The boys were way past being done by the time I got there!!  I think they had a pretty good time despite the commute troubles.

CROOK FAMILY SWIM PARTY



We had a fun time at the mini Crook reunion put on by James' Uncle Fred and Aunt Elizabeth.  They have an awesome swimming pool in their backyard.  Seth and Jakes had a blast swimming with Jared and Jeremy.  Lia had her first taste of swimming and was not too pleased with it, but she looked adorable in her little swimsuit.  We had some great food and some great conversation!

JACOB



Jacob has grown at least an inch this summer.  He wants to get bigger and bigger so that he can go on Splash Mountain next time we go to Disneyland.  He still has at least an inch and a half to go though.  Jacob still loves to dress up.  His latest thing is to put on his brown Jedi robe, his Indiana Jones hat, his brown cowboy boots (they are two sizes too small, but the black ones that fit him apparently don't go with the outfit), and get Seth's Indiana Jones whip, then he runs around the house singing the Indiana Jones theme music and whipping anything that gets in his way.  Jacob has had a few bouts of being afraid of the dark and of monsters.  I think he is mostly over it now, but every once in a while he will tell me that he doesn't want to go to sleep because he's afraid.  I'm wondering if he's been exposed to too much media that is okay for Seth, but is a little old for Jacob.  Seth didn't even really know what Star Wars was when he was three, but Jakes is well versed in all things Jedi.  He seems to be growing up that much faster because he wants to do whatever Seth is doing. 

LIA



Lia just turned nine months old.  She is a wonderful baby.  She smiles and giggles all the time.  Every morning I get a huge grin from her when I get her out of bed and then she looks around for James so she can crack another one for him.  Pretty much anytime you get her attention, she will smile at you, even if she is tired or cranky.  She is finally on the move, but not quite crawling yet.  She does this weird lurching army crawl to get things that are out of her reach.  It's not going to be long until she is crawling full tilt.  She still doesn't like baby food much, especially the prepared dinner type of food that most babies are eating at this age.  She likes foods that she can feed herself, but will still eat bottled fruits and veggies as long as they have oatmeal mixed in to change the texture.  She may have inherited my dislike of all things with a soft and slimy texture.  Lia has learned how to wave and play patty cakes.  She is also starting to talk a tiny bit.  The words we hear most often are "hi", "dad", "yeah", "tisses" (kisses), and "mum mum" which is the universal word for milk, mommy, and food all wrapped up into one.  Lia has taken to not napping very well unless she is in her crib.  This is a new thing for me to deal with because both of the boys would pretty much nap anywhere when they were this age.   Luckily, she doesn't get out-of-control cranky when she is tired, otherwise I might be tied to the house twice a day for 3 hours.  She is a beautiful baby and such a joy to have in our family.

JAMES AND I

There's not much new going on with us, but here are a few things that have happened with us: 

James was just called to be the second counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency.  I think he's going to a great job, but it's going to be a draw on his time and resources.  James has also enjoyed using the charcoal grill I got him for our anniversary and we've enjoyed several delicious slabs o' meat because of it.  He has also ventured into the finicky world of cheese making.  We finally produced a decent fresh mozzarella after wasting 4+ hours and ruining two gallons of milk.  I think he's going to attempt a farm cheddar or a neufchatel next. 

I have been enjoying my new craft room.  I made Jedi costumes for the boys, a dress for Lia (not quite done yet), labeled all my bins with Courtenay's Cricut machine, and made a dress and matching tote bag for my niece.   Lately, I have been trying to get the basement somewhat organized for Seth's school to start in a week.  I finally painted the walls we put up when we redid the storage room.  I took a desk out of James office for Seth to use.  I also tried to get some decent lighting down there, but the wiring is messed up and we couldn't get my solution to work.  I guess I need to go and buy some torchiere lamps and just plug them into the wall instead.  I've still got a few decorating projects on my list to have ready for the first day of school, so I need to get cracking on those.

P.S.  Anyone interested in seeing the results of James' parents house remodel can check out the Photos tab at the top of the page.  The pictures are under 2009 then July (2nd half). 

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This page is an archive of entries from August 2009 listed from newest to oldest.

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