Journaling=Blogging

I realized this week that I am about as good at writing a blog as I am at keeping a
journal... so, I made a choice. Instead of adding one more thing to the increasingly long list of mother guilt, I have committed to write on this blog once each week and count it as a step in the right direction. We'll see how it really works out!
I also know that if I try to go back and recount all the things that have happened in over six months since I last posted, I will become discouraged. So here's a quick look at some of the things Happening Now (or in the recent past)!
We hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at our house this year with our friends the Forsyth's, the Foate's, and Four Missionaries currently serving in our ward. Here's a shot of the adult table! Notice- Brayden made the cut!!

Once we got our Christmas tree up, Chloe took up residence under the tree. She was hilarious! She was quite annoyed when the presents blocked her spot.

Adam and I had the chance to get away to Philadelphia for his companies Holiday Party. We were so thankful to good friend who kept our kids (again) so we could enjoy this weekend on AGI!! This is the view of the city from the front of the Art Museum-

The kids wrote to Santa to ask if he could come a day early to our house so we could get on the road to TX. We celebrated Christmas Eve a day early with the missionaries. We acted out the nativity and everyone got PJ's! Thanks Gram and Papa for the super soft PJ's for the kids!

We got in the car by 11:30am on Christmas Eve day to begin our 30.5 hour drive to Dallas TX for our nephew's wedding. Here's what the first hour of the car ride looked like from Emma's point of view...


Emma loves to take pictures. As the wedding luncheon was wrapping up, she asked if she could borrow the camera to take a picture of her favorite Cousin-in-law. Here's a small sampling of the photos I found...





We had a great time in TX with almost all of Adam's family there! Our kids loved all the cousin time, but were excited to get back to our home and the snow. And I am proud to report that after two 30.5 hour car rides(straight through), we still like each other!
Adam is super busy with work, with soccer, and with Young Mens. I am staying busy with the gym, volunteering, and Relief Society. Brayden has been learning to ski. He is really having fun with it and is happy to report that he made it up the lift and back down the mountain, several times, without screaming! Bekah has been playing indoor soccer ever since the snow came and really likes her team and her coach(Adam)! She has made a goal to practice her cello for 25 minutes everyday and she's doing great! Cooper, too, made a goal to practice his viloin everyday and it's really paying off. His playdate calendar now includes a waiting list! Emma still loves kindergarten. In our town, Kinder is half day. She was in afternoon, but on Jan 19th, all the classes switched. I am loving having her in morning kinder!
In mid December, we realized that Emma's tonsils were very enlarged and that she snored worse than Papa or Grandpa Jarny! I took her to the Dr- they strep tested her and it was negative. I was told to wait 2 weeks to see if it improved. I told the Dr I thought she couldn't hear very well and was dismissed. So after 5 weeks of being dismissed by the Pediatrician, we decided to take things up a notch! We are still waiting to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doc, but was able to get her into an Audiologist over a week ago. It was confirmed that Emma has severe hearing loss. Her inner ear is fine, but somewhere in the outer or middle ear, things are getting lost. The Audiologist thinks that Emma's hearing loss may not be linked to the enlarged tonsils as she has made many adaptations on her own. (Did you ever notice how Emma had two volumes? Loud or asleep? Did you ever notice how Emma acts like she's ignoring you? She might look right at you when you talk to her and then not respond? Did you ever notice how Emma likes to get right up in your face and touch you when she's talking? I could go on and on) We are hopeful and prayful as we look forward to her upcoming Dr. appointment!
Here's a cute picture of Emma with our snowman named Fred!

Stron-go

So, if you haven't already figured it out- Emma is quite the character. She has learned to rhyme and is starting to understand small nuances in language. Thus has begun her new trend to give EVERYONE a different name. One of our friends, with the last name of Cherry, Emma calls Mrs. Lemon! She thinks it's hilarious. Brayden's friend, Doug, came over for a sleepover last week. Emma thinks Doug sounds like Dove, so she called him "Bird".
The best name however has gone to Adam. About a month ago, Emma started calling Adam Stron-go (she says it like the word strong, with a heavy accent on the G and an O on the end). She informed us that Daddy was Stron-go because he can lift heavy things- like a truck or MOM!! (Thanks Emma, that's a real self esteem booster!) I am now Mrs. Stron-go and she calls herself Stron-go Jr.

Here are a few highlights from our summer so far-
Visit to Philadelphia and the Zoo-



AGI Picnic and NEBU Kids museum day-




Family visit to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall-


4th of July that started with a Flag ceremony in front of our house, moved on to a long bike ride/jog, then on to a pool party/BBQ, and ended with an attempt to watch the Boston Fireworks on TV, but everyone fell asleep before they started!



Visit to the Dentist that ended with no cavities and balloon animals for all!



Teaching a few too many classes at the gym-


A trip to the Boston Children's Museum with some friends from the ward- and Emma ended up with the camera most of the time!




And participating in a "Welcome to the Valley" celebration for the Youth from our Stake who just completed a 3 day pioneer trek. You can watch a video about it here.


We are excited to have Adam's parents coming out to visit/help us this Saturday! Next week, Adam leaves for High Adventure with the Young Men (a canoe trip to the Boston Harbor islands) and I leave for a week of Girls Camp the same day! Emma turns 5 this month, Adam turns about 30 years older than Emma next month, followed by Braydens 12th birthday and Bekahs 9th! My oldest son will be in Young Men's in less than one month and my youngest will start Kindergarten on Sept 8th! When did I get this old?

Dear Carly-

Thank you for reaching out to me! I had fallen into blogging 'outer darkness' and your hand of fellowship has saved me. Now, it might be a while before I move my name off the less active list, but I am on the road back. We have been extremely busy with all the end of school year stuff. Here are a few snipits of our life...

My birthday- Gram and Papa's visit to MA and our trip to all the church history sites in Palmyra, NY- AGI overnight trip to PA and the Phillies Game- Cooper's 7th Birthday and Pretend Sleepover Party- Brayden received his Scout Badge- Emma, still being Emma- Bekah's First Cello Concert- Adam finished up another season of coaching Bekah's soccer team! Go Blue Tigers!
Brayden preformed in his school band concert. Second man in on the left hand side (sitting)


Emma graduated from Preschool! Yeah for Kindergarten in the Fall!! Cooper had is First Grade Author's Tea, where he got to share the book he wrote and all his other writings from the year. I took another 3 day training, this time for Group Kick. This is me with my trainer, Natalie Weber in the middle and another instructor from my gym, Kristy. A Happy Father's Day to my fabulous father, to my incredible father in law, and to my sweetie. The kids and I pampered Adam with a Jarnagin Spa... Then we grilled our steaks in the rain... All Adam said he wanted for Father's Day was black socks! (boring.) So we bought nine pair of black sock varieties and tied them to a long piece of ribbon and strung it up like a garland in the living room...

April Fool's

Our kids thoroughly enjoy April Fools Day. I heard, "Mom, you have a spider (tree, house, bird, etc....) on your head" repeatedly all day! We have a family tradition of wearing funny hats to dinner and eating a surprise dinner. I think this year the kids had the most fun of any year yet!

We made a whole tray of the 'fish sticks' for Bekah to take to Achievement Days that night and they were a huge hit!





I started teaching at a new gym here in Westford called Boost Fitness and last Monday I was offered the job of Group Exercise Director. I was very excited, though it is going to be a lot of work too! We took a Group Power training over the weekend and it was very intense. Four of these instructors are brand new to Group Exercise and it is now my job to train them and get them ready to teach... no pressure!

Astronaut Emma

Emma's preschool is amazing! She has three wonderful teachers and they always do really neat/fun/creative things with the kids. Last week they talked about outer space and astronauts- Emma loved it! This is what she looked like when I picked her up from school-




For the past several weeks at family night we have been talking about building houses!
Week 1- a firm foundation (all the spiritual things we need to do to be strong
Week 2- the structure (rules and so forth that help our family run smooth)
Week 3- the furnishings and decoration (giving service, missionary work, developing talents)
Each week we have been building a LEGO house to go with it and these were the finished products-

There's Only So Much A Man Can Take!

While Adam was living in Pennsylvania and the kids and I were still in Corpus Christi, Adam only got to come home every other weekend. One of the times he called home he told me to ask the kids if they even remembered what he looked like. The kids and I were driving in the car and Cooper pipes up from the back of the van, "Yeah, he's got short hair and he's almost bald!" We laughed and laughed about that, though I'm not sure Adam was laughing as hard as the rest of us.
Since then, Emma has taken to calling him a baldie. At least once a week she will refer to him as "Baldie" and we all laugh- but again, maybe not Adam.
Last night, we were sitting around the table eating dinner and the kids got talking about the color of everyone's hair. Emma said that Bekah's hair was sandy. Then she said that my hair looks like chocolate. She then looks at Adam and says, "Dad, you hair is just all grey". We laughed and laughed and laughed. When Adam asked if his hair was really all grey, Bekah, trying to make him feel better, said, "Your hair's not all grey Dad. It's just that you don't have very much so it makes the grey ones stand out more."
We love you Daddy! Even if the stress of providing for us all is making your hair fall out and turn grey!

Bekah and Adam recently at the Father/Daughter activity at church.

Adam, Cooper, and Adam's brother, Andy, last year at Six Flags!

Adam and I in Gloucester last April.

Fish update- So the fish we bought over a week ago- all dead! We bought them on Saturday night. Sunday morning, Brayden's was dead. Monday morning, the other three were dead too! Sad morning at our house. Moral of the story, don't buy fish at Petco! I bought ONE goldfish on St. Patricks day at a local pet store and the kids named her Lucky. She is strong and healthy and the kids are enjoying taking turns feeding her.

Illness update- Emma woke up this morning with eye infections in BOTH eyes! She was picking off the crust from her left eye as she came to breakfast. I got her in to the Dr. at 8:20 and already started her drops. She was very sad she had to miss school today. It is her favorite!