a couple pictures

No, I never managed to fix the computer, but I cam post pictures from our tablet, so I'm starting somewhere :).
Anyways, I'm trying, so here's just a couple pictures of the kids to remind you what they look like.

still no pictures :)

someday fixing the computer will be our top priority... someday :).

so a quick update on us all, Paul--working all the time. he's acting administrator over his office, and that will probably become a permanent change this summer. He's getting the hang of it all now, so it doesn't stress him out too much, but I don't think he really likes that part as much. He also keeps plenty busy with his calling on the stake high council. Unfortunately, everything around here is so spread out that he travels a lot. We figured he averages 30 hours a month just with traveling and meetings, plus talk prep time (and this month there was an extra fireside and stake conference to add to that time). We do still see him often on Saturdays and we always manage to do something fun :).

Afton's in volleyball now, and she loves it. she plays on a team with 3-5th graders, so she is on the smaller-side, but that doesn't slow her down much. she's excelling in school, occasionally she'll tell me how the teacher buddies her up with some of the other students that aren't understanding a concept because afton's good at explaining another way (other than how the teacher shows it). She's also furthest along with her multiplication facts and has the highest AR goal in the class (reading program). I know I sound a bit like i'm bragging, and it may be intentional since the teacher wasn't too sure about letting her skip up into 3rd grade, despite the 2nd grade teacher and principal's excited endorsement. I'm mostly glad she's found a comfortable place and has made some friends now too. that was harder last semester with moving and then switching classes. :)

Rayna's doing a lot better with her reading too. yesterday in primary she volunteered to read a scripture at the last second when the child giving the talk wasn't there. She's a LOT more confident than even a few weeks ago. She loves playing by herself, which can be a boon when it's so loud and crazy around here. She's also the best at helping/playing with Asher. This past Saturday she ran a whole mile without really stopping, which was a big deal to her. she's very proud of her running and her muscles (she's got me beat on push-ups too!), though it's been pretty cold most of the winter so we haven't been running as much as we'd like. she wants to run a 5k with me this summer.

Malachi loves technology. he's the quickest to figure out how a new remote works, and he's pretty adept with the laptop and the tablet. maybe I should let him fix the computer... He's starting to get pretty bored staying home with mom and asher every day, but he doesn't usually want to go anywhere either (he says 'lets wait and do it with the girls'). we recently got a membership to a discovery museum, like a giant playroom with crafts and tools and everything, but we have yet to go without the girls along :). though we'd been planning on going last week (I got sick).

All three of the kids have loved our new FHE chart giving them more set responsibilities, they have particularly embraced treat time, requesting lava cakes, fudge, and brownies--they're true choc-a-holics, though to be fair, they get a double-dose of coming by it naturally! We've also loved the spring-like weather when we get it! we play outside whenever it's remotely nice out, and have already hit up 2 new parks this year :).

Asher's a total sweetheart. he's a climber, and loves getting up on our (counter-height) dining room table, or playing the piano. He's also the sweetest snuggler, he climbs on the couch next to me when i'm reading or crocheting and hugs my arm all the time. He's always happy and hardly ever cries or complains. He burned his hand pretty bad on Saturday afternoon when we lit up the grill, and even then he only cried for less than a minute. unfortunately, it did keep him up at night a little bit, it seems as soon as we get him sleeping better something happens to wake him up again... he comes in to my room often. oh well, he'll figure it out sometime. he's been practicing going to nursery too, though less successfully. we have another month before he's technically old enough anyways, it's just easier when paul's on assignment.

I've been busy with my new calling, i'm the primary song leader. it's a big change from yw, but I think it'll be fun. I just need a little longer to get the hang of it :) we have a pretty big primary, so I don't know a lot of the kids names yet either. I feel like I've been sick a lot lately too (never-ending cold), but since i'm the only one in the family, I can't really complain either.

so that was a long rambling post... but I hope that gets you all a bit better up-to-date on us :)

promises, promises...

well I keep trying to post more pictures and catch up on our life for all my adoring fans, but my computer is messed up again, so I can't get any pictures off or onto it. I do have access to paul's laptop, but it doesn't have the pictures... we're alive and well. keeping busy and warm. i'll be back to pictures as soon as i can.

July highlights

Paul and I decided to fit as much into our year living near DC as we possibly could. so that included spending the evening of the fourth of July on the national mall with 700,000 or so of our nearest and dearest... or nearly a million strangers.

we got there near sunset, and found a little spot to set up our blanket

Asher wanted desperately to wander around and meet everyone, he did succeed in making friends with everyone around us

the kids and I wandered a bit and found a booth offering free face-painting, so we waited in line for what seemed like forever (though the kids proved they can be endlessly patient when it's something they want!), though it only seemed that way to me because the booth was right across from a Christian Rock band (very Hard Rock) that was giving me fits.

the girls got these cute little mask-like decorations

malachi wanted to be a firework. he wasn't as tired as this picture makes him look though, he must have been blinking or something. the kids all napped so they could stay up really late :)

I thought it was quite beautiful, despite the crowds (everything was beautiful except the port-a-potties---EeW)

and I know you've all seen fireworks before, so I don't really need to post a picture, but I had to include one with the Washington Monument. seriously, it's an incredible place to live!

and yes, the hooligans were exhausted by the time we made it through the crowd to the metro (it was probably after 11!!! nap or no, that's a long night)

Unfortunately, as we were wandering the mall and waiting for face paint, Paul was on the phone trying to arrange some time off work, because his Grandfather had passed away the day before. Fortunately, we were able to go down to Florida and be there for the funeral. His family was very accommodating in helping us find a corner to sleep in, and everyone worked together to celebrate Grandpa Vorwaller's wonderful life. And to truly honor him, we had to hit the beach. Grandpa V loved the beach, and joked that if some Florida sand can get in your shoes it'll keep itching until you go back (we came back! and we'll come again!).

 

I didn't take any pictures of the funeral or burial, though I stole this one from Elaine:

Paul was proud to wear his AF uniform and honor his Grandfather in that too.

 

the boys playing in the sand

the girls with aunt Sarah and cousin Caroline playing in the waves (Afton got pretty proficient on the boogie-board)

can you see what I almost stepped on?!

glad I saw him before those pinchers got me! (he was only about 6-8" across, but very fearsome ;) )

And I wish for all of you to make it out to Florida sometime to play on the beach and think of Grandpa!

some of July

Despite the fact that we didn't feel we'd have time to have fun in July, what with moving and all, we managed to squish a few activities in. One fun thing we did every week was try out a new playground. We found a list of 'Imagination Playgrounds' on the county website, and hit them up. there were more than we could get to (and some were pretty far away), but we were VERY impressed with the playgrounds we went to! this one had a woodland-wonderland theme. unfortunately, I only got 2 pictures:

crazy-long slide! (something like 50 ft, going all the way down a hill)

 

little play house

There were misting flowers to cool off in (and a skunk that sprayed water), lots of bugs, a little treasure hunt (looking for animals and bugs and things), and all kinds of 'tree houses' and things. We had a list of dozens of people from school, church, and other playgrounds that we met along the way that we invited to join us... most weeks we didn't have more than a couple friends, but this one happened to have almost everyone come for at least part of the time. I think it was a favorite for most everyone too!

we didn't always have far to go to have fun either! nothing like a water-fight in your own back yard!

I couldn't pick a favorite picture either, so here's three :)

clearly it was dad vs 3 big kids... I'm not sure who 'won' but I know they all had a blast!
(pun intended)

Getting ready for another Imagination Playground visit... this one clearly had a pirate theme... and I forgot to bring my camera to the actual playground

the kids really got into the dressing up, and they brought a bottle with a map in it... and notice afton's cutlass? the bubbles were a huge hit with the summer-camp that happened to be there the day we went (over a hundred kids! we didn't actually stay more than an hour, we went back to one of the other parks, it was just too crowded!)

but it was enough to tucker out this little pirate! I love his beard and mustache :)

Though I knew there was some construction happening on our street (something with water pipes), I was really surprised on 2 separate occasions to look out the window and see that I was trapped in my own house! that's my driveway... I once had to drive across the grass, and once I managed to sneak between 2 giant machines on a metal plate... nerve-wracking and frustrating.

if only I had nowhere to go!

and one of our favorites:

Daddy's birthday!!!

no pictures of presents or cake, but I think he looks pretty happy just the same :D

And just a few more random pictures

just mowing the back yard while not wearing pants

you may have noticed Rayna wore this dress in a lot of the pictures... it's her Elsa dress from her birthday, and I think she just about lived in it all last summer (she was done just in time for Halloween where she didn't want to wear it)

 

one of our sunflowers! Malachi wanted to plant them, so we did, and they were gorgeous! this one was over 7 feet tall! unfortunately, they weren't quite ready to harvest when we had to move, but still, gorgeous :)

and one more IP, this one with a dragon/medieval princess theme:

this was the belly of the dragon, it was really cleverly designed playground, with a dragon tongue slide I particularly liked

and some dragon eggs. the kids were playing with caterpillars from the bushes all around us. there were hundreds of fat white caterpillars, I'm not sure what kind, but I'd probably call them the 'infesting-kind'

And for those of you that remember Malachi's problems with hair-cuts, we had another idea to get him more amenable to people touching his head.

Chalk. He likes having colors and things to make his hair special, so it gets me touching his head more often, and presumably it'll make haircuts less traumatic too...

Spring Camping trip

So I thought I was all caught up to the stuff before June, but evidentially I was wrong, because I just found this all organized and ready to go (but without words) in my drafts!

 

Last spring sometime (I'm sure I could find the dates, but it sounds like too much work for such an insignificant detail right now), we went on a family campout. we tried to talk some friends into coming with us, but everyone was too busy, so we gave up and went alone, but turns out we had a fabulous time just the same ;)

everyone rearing to go, as we headed out!

the girls climbed this tree while we were waiting for a park ranger to register us for a campsite

sitting around at breakfast (you know, when I finally remembered to get the camera out)

posing for mom

I just loved this little lumberjack look! baby in flannel and jeans :) :) :)

we went for a walk over the river and through the woods

can you see what we almost stepped on

such diligent explorers

beavers ... or evidence at least, we didn't see any actual beavers, lots of trees with beaver-teeth marks, and some little dams

the craziest thing about this trip to me was the sheer number of inchworms!!! there must have been millions in the park, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. fortunately, no one's afraid of inchworms, and they don't bite! (and there were still leaves left on most of the plants... it wouldn't surprise me if a few days/weeks later it was pretty bare)

and headed back home

that's what a success looks like :)