Leprechauns, Soccer, and Karate Belt Test

We've have quite the eventful 24 hours! Eric came home from school Thursday and told me all about leprechauns. They had come to school and hidden some treasure, and the class had done a treasure hunt, as well as made paper leprechauns. Eric told me all about how if you see one in your house you grab them quick, then you get their pot of gold! On Friday I was out by McDonald's and noticed they had Shamrock Shakes. They are SO good, and are a limited-time offer, so you better hurry and get yours before they're gone! Naturally, I had to have one. I brought some home for the boys...and this is the story I told them.

I was driving by McDonald's and saw a Leprechaun jump into the store. I went over to see if I could catch him, but he was gone already! Too bad! But, then, do you know what the leprechaun did? He made the milkshake machine so it would only make green mint milkshakes! The boys were SO excited about it, and enjoyed their shakes. They thought it was pretty cool. Michael even said "I like this leprechaun thing." Here is a picture of them enjoying their shakes!

Soccer started this week. Eric had to miss the first practice due to Michael's birthday dinner party. We went today to meet the coach, team, and play in the first game. Here is Eric taking a turn to kick the ball in.
Eric had been doing Karate since November or so. He is doing really well, and has waited all his life to be able to do karate like his dad. In fact, when he was 2 years old, we dropped daddy off at Karate and were going home for naptime. Eric threw a fit the whole, entire 1 1/2 hours, saying he wanted to go to karate! (We occasionally stayed there and watched daddy at his class, but needed a nap more this particular time) Now that Eric is in karate, Michael wants his turn. It will come eventually...but, for now, Eric is learning and progressing. He has been wanting a new belt since the first few classes-and today was FINALLY his belt test. Here he is doing a step-punch.
Here he is doing a rising block.
This is Eric doing a breakaway, with Sinsei Tanabe trying to grab him by the shirt.
As part of the test he had to block punches and kicks that were coming to him. Sinsei had Brian stay and help test everyone. When it was Eric's turn he got this funny smile on his face, and had a hard time walking up to the mat for his turn. Michael said "Eric is going to fight Brian". Eric did a good job, smiling all the time he was up against Brian. Here are a few pictures.This is what Michael did for part of the test, after I told him to be quiet and before I gave him some gummy bears to eat.
Don't forget to wear your green and check back sometime soon to see if Eric got his yellow-with-white-stripe belt!

My Amazing Husband!

So, in case you don't know, my husband Jim is pretty amazing! He has been pretty busy lately. He is doing such a good job being a dad, maid, cook, etc...and looking for a job. Jim has been doing so much around the house that I feel quite pampered, its been a nice break for me. I think he may have felt overwhelmed at moments, but he hasn't complained any more than I would of in my moments. He's an amazing husband!

Monday after taking Eric to Karate, and waiting for him to finish, he went to the store and to take care of some other errands I asked him to do. When he arrived home, he was bringing in the groceries and Eric was bringing in these:

Now, looking at roses, you can't argue that he's amazing! Eric and Jim, without any "hints" from me, brought me flowers! What a great guy he is---and what a good example to Eric!

So, Wednesday Jim and I spent all day driving to and from a little place called Pueblo, CO. He had a job interview at 1:00, so with a 2 hr. 19 min. drive, we left at 10. Grandpa volunteered (yes, volunteered--he's amazing too!) to watch the boys all day so I could go with Jim. By the end of the interview (2 hrs. later), Jim walked out of the St. Mary-Corwin Hospital with a JOB OFFER!!!!

We are moving to Pueblo! For those of you (ALL of you) who are thinking "where is Pueblo?" let me tell you a little something we've learned about our soon-to-be home. Pueblo is 2 hrs south of Denver on the 25 (I-25). It does NOT smell like the cows, although it is ranch land. By population, Pueblo is larger than Longmont. Pueblo has a Sam's club (no costco), Best Buy, Olive Garden (more than we can say about Longmont), and almost all of my other stores I've checked so far (no joann's, regretfully). Pueblo has some really charming Victorian homes that date back to 1900, but the neighborhoods that they are in are not very desireable. There are areas that are nicer than others, as in every city, but it seems different somehow in Pueblo. Pueblo is considered to be in the southwest, and I am hoping to find a house I like that does NOT have a stucco exterior. But, the biggest benefit is that we can grow Peaches! Peach pie here I come! Well, ok, thats not the biggest benefit, but it is a nice factor. Pueblo is also warmer than Longmont, which means less snow...but, the downfall is that I don't remember seeing any evergreens which I have amazingly come to like a whole lot. The overall landscape leaves much to be desired, as the mountains are distant and the land is flat (I hope we can grow grass in the backyard without having a HUGE water bill...everyone does that xeriscaping thing with rocks and small ugly bushes). If you want to go to the CO state fair, Pueblo is your place and you're welcome to come and stay with us!

When we got home and the boys were getting ready for bed, I told them that daddy got a job today! Eric immediately started to cry, so I had him come sit on my lap for a little while. He is sad to be moving. I talked to him about moving: there are good things, and there are sad things. Its ok to be sad, its ok to cry. We talked about moving a little more and then he said "I don't want to give away all our stuff. I don't want to sell our stuff!" It was then that I realized that moving must seem like the worst thing for this little guy who has spent all his life here at Grandma and Grandpa's house! I explained to him that we're taking everything with us. We're going to pack our clothes, toys, his bunkbed, etc...and then he pointed at our blue couch. Well, I explained that the couch is NOT going with us-it is stuck in the basement and the only way to get it out is to break it-but we are taking his dresser, mom's bed, etc... The blue couch has served us well, but its time has come. I would rather sit on my camping chair for a few months until we get "couch money" than move that blue couch with us. It is just old, and it scratched the floor as we barely managed to get it into the basement in the first place. It simply is not going out in one piece.

So, Jim will start working on the 31st, and the boys and I will go down with him and get an apartment. That week is Eric's spring break. Then, after that Jim will come home for the weekends and we'll go down there occasionally too. The boys and I are going to stay here to finish off the school year, soccer season, etc. I don't expect the boys and I to really "move" until after my family reunion at the end of June. In fact, we're currently planning to kindof "camp-out" in a 1 bedroom apt. until we get a house to move into. I refuse to really, fully move twice. My goal is to be in our own little non-stucco house before school starts in the fall. But, until school is out the end of May we'll be a communting family-sometimes here and sometimes there.

Good job getting a job, Jim! We're all excited to "move on" with life and for Jim to be employed and even have some health/dental/vision insurance coming our way! The people at the hospital seem really nice, and they're willing to train Jim, which is a definate plus. In fact, they were so impressed with Jim's CV (resume) and references (2 of the 4 they talked to) that they skipped the phone interview process and went straight to the face-to-face interview. They thought Jim looked good on paper, but when they met him--then knew for sure: Jim is amazing!

Michael's 3rd Birthday!

Michael's 3rd birthday was on Tuesday. He was SO EXCITED! On Monday I told him that this was the last day he was ever going to be 2, that tomorrow was finally his birthday. He could hardly wait! The first thing we hear from him on Tuesday, still in his bed, is "Today is my Birthday!" His day was magical.

We knew he felt like it was his magical day because he was smiling all day. Thats a big deal for this little guy who gets grumpy at naptime, or anytime you tell him to turn off the TV and actually play. Anytime someone said to him "Happy Birthday" he'd respond with "Happy Birthday!"

He watched TV as much as he wanted, including a Dora show on TV where it was the character Boots' "special day" and got to do what he wanted. I think Michael felt the excitement there and identified with it. He had Dora yogurt for breakfast, got to spend lots of time with Dad, and even helped me make his cake blue. For dinner we had, at Michael's request, french toast and regular syrup (I added some homemade apple syrup and fruit salad to the menu). He wanted a white heart-shaped cake with white frosting...and I convinced him he wanted some blue jello in it, which he was excited about. We used cool whip for the frosting, which was easy to do.

Here is the birthday boy with his cake!

Presents! It was finally time! Michael had asked for a blue belt to keep his pants up...so he was pretty excited about this 2-pack of belts despite the colors being brown and black (they don't make blue your size, Michael). He did a really cool dance thing with them, he was so excited.
Grandma and Grandpa had wrapping paper with the cars characters on it...and every time we'd ask Michael what he thought it was, he would say "a car". No cars, but lots of fun stuff!
This is his spiderman costume from soon-to-be-Uncle Dan. He was excited to wear it, mask included, until he saw himself in the mirror and got scared-and took the mask off right away.

It is a Vinton tradition that the siblings get presents, too. Grandpa got Eric a T-ball bat and some balls. Eric was glad, since he expected something. He told me earler in the day that if its Michael's birthday then he usually gets a present too. I told him that sometimes Grandpa does give a present to him on Michael's bday, but not to expect it, we'd have to see. Thanks Grandpa - you never disappoint a hopeful little grandson!
This is the boys playing with the toys. They immediately went to work on the Monkey Madness gears set to put together. Uncle Dan helped (aka put it together for them). Notice the new church shoes sitting on the floor--which hadn't moved since Michael opened them up and promptly dropped them on the floor and quickly went to open the next present.

I think Michael had a good birthday. He got quite the loot: roller skates, Dora memory, and Dora chutes and ladders from Grandma and Grandpa. Monkey madness, belts, and church shoes from Mom-O and Papi. A "working" vacuum from Mom/Dad and Brother. A spiderman costume and frizbee from Uncle Dan. What else could a kid want (beside the present we forgot to wrap up for him so I guess it'll wait until another time???)

Sunny Days

We've had some really nice, sunny days lately! Can you feel spring in the air? I've been feeling it for over a month now...not that spring has been around for a month, but I've been wanting it to be here already, pretty bad. A few (probably 3 or 4) weeks ago, I bought some seeds and potting soil, ready to get my starters going inside. But, I was informed that it was still to early to even do that, and I had to wait longer. So, March is finally here and we're planting...all 4 pots. I'm also trying to keep my mint alive, which is a poor sickly plant right now (it needs the sun and more water). Here are some pictures of our Saturday "out"ing.

Eric-what a cute picture!

Michael and me, planting seeds. Picture taken by Eric.
Eric covering the seeds up with dirt.
Michael's turn to plant, which Eric "supervises".

After the novelty of the planting wore off, and all 4 pots were full and watered, we needed another activity. So, we made homemade sidewalk paint that I had JUST found in FamilyFun magazine (thanks Mom for the subscription!) It turned out to be a good activity for the boys to stir, and for Eric to put to use his Kindergarten color-mixing skills, as the only colors left in our food coloring box were blue and yellow...so, we had blue, yellow, and green. For those who want the recipe: 1/4 C cornstarch, 1/4 C cold water, and food coloring. It should wash right off with water (I'm waiting for the snow or rain to come and do the work for us).

Here they are mixing, and posing for the picture!

We had lots of q-tips, but only one "paint brush". Eric ended up "convincing" Michael to let him use it, until he was done. So, if you do this, plan ahead and get some of these cheap-o paint brushes that work much better than anything else we had around. Michael had "more fun" than Eric, as his attention span lasted a bit longer...he even mixed the yellow and blue cups when he had used up all of the green!

Here they are painting!

Today, Jim and the boys were outside playing catch and riding bikes...what great weather we've been able to enjoy! Hopefully it will keep...but, I'm not holding my breath on that.

2 Weeks

Ok, so its been 2 weeks. I thought I'd post before someone gets on my case about it...thank you all for refraining from doing so thus far.

So, what have we been up to? Not a ton, but I'll give an exiting-sounding report on our boring lives, so you can all feel like we're cool or having an adventure or something. Feel free to stop reading now if all you came for was to see new pictures, there aren't any this time.

1-Babysitting my friend Holley's kids. I've been doing this for a few months now, 2 days a week. Its fun to have a girl in the house and a playmate for Michael, and a baby around for Michael to get educated about babies (mostly for my entertainment though). And, it has helped us financially a little bit during these times in our life. So, thats been keeping me busy.

2-Eric went to his friend Cory Boaz's birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese. He was SO excited the whole week before - and it reminded me of why I DON'T tell the kids what's coming up so I don't have to hear about it. He had a great time being gone all day playing and having fun.

3-Michael got a really bad cough that I was worried about. Jim kept telling me he was going to be ok and that we didn't need to take him to the Dr. I'm glad Jim was right. He's better now after about a week of being up at night coughing.

4-Paying the bills. I LOVE our bank (UCCU in Provo). They have free bill pay, which I use every month to pay the bills. I've used it for a few years now, but I've never messed up like this before. My poor dad can confirm to you that I messed up my checks this month, really bad. He got a check that should have been sent to our credit card! I think it will all be OK after this week. In trying to fix my problem, I did learn that my credit card has moved their call center over to what I'm guessing is India...but, if you ask to speak to a supervisor (as I did, kindly), they transfer your call back to America (NV, in fact) where you can actually understand the person you're talking to. And, they could do what I was asking them to do (thank you, Andre). Is that a factor of language, or "power" because he was a supervisor? I don't know...

I've discovered that I guess I have mixed feelings about outsourcing overseas. I see how it would be good for the business to save money, and improve people's lives overseas. We are living in a "global world." I'm used to talking to people with accents, but Indian accents are a little hard for me... and it does worry me a bit that someone in India could access my credit card info, etc... I think I would feel the same if it were someone in China or Egypt or anywhere, I don't have anything against India.

5-Blog hopping. Yes, I've enjoyed some time clicking on all the links on your blogs and seeing if we know anyone you know. Its been fun! Besides, my cousin Jordan's wife Wendi has a really cool music list on their blog that I click on and listen to while I spy on everyone, check my email, etc. (yes, I am listening right now). Its nice to have access to music that I don't own but really like. Thanks Wendi!

6-Applying for Jobs. Jim has been looking for and applying for jobs! He's had an interview and will probably get an offer, but I'm not-so-secretly hoping that something else will come along. This particular job isn't a very good "fit" for Jim... we'll see what else comes along, hopefully soon.

7-Taxes. I decided to do our taxes today. I knew I was going to have trouble doing them due to a lack of organization around here. Luckily, I have been able to find (after a day of looking on and off) about 2/3 of the papers I needed to find. Now its up to Jim to find what is missing...they came addressed to him, and he knows that we actually got them (do you see that I apparently haven't seen those papers so maybe I'm not the one totally responsible for not having found them?). I figure this year we're getting all our money back, so we might as well file sooner rather than later and we can use the money to pay bills or eat or something! I am thankful that we are still "friends" with the IRS. It could have been quite different this year (but, we would have had a company-paid accountant too, so I guess I wouldn't have been complaining anyway). Hey, does anyone know how to itemize deductions? I'm wondering if it would be better for us? Maybe its just not worth the effort to find out? We'll see what comes...

8-Haircuts! I guess I could have taken a picture to post...maybe next time? I got my hair cut on Friday. This only happens about twice a year, so its kindof a big thing for me! It had been ponytail length for about a month, which is about a week too long. So, I chopped it again. In case you haven't noticed, this is a trend with me. Chop it short, grow it long, chop it short... nothing really new, but it is a slightly different style that I'm still adjusting to. THEN, since the boys were LONG OVERDUE for a cut so I took the scissors to them on Saturday (girls can go months longer than boys without a cut...and my boys got their cuts about a month too late). I must say that it doesn't look bad...although it isn't professional either. Michael's hair is thin, its much easier to do Eric's hair which is thicker and more forgiving.

9-A BBQ. We were actually invited to someone's house for a BBQ! That may sound odd the way I put it, but for us its a big deal. I have friends, and so do Jim and the boys, but this is probably only the 2nd or 3rd dinner invitation we've had since we moved here 5 1/2 years ago! We issue many invitations for things, but rarely get them in return. We had a great time getting to know our kindof-new friends, who decided to sieze the good weather and BBQ the next day before it snowed! So, the goal: invite someone over that you don't know very well, or maybe you know them well but never had them come join you for dinner. You may think they have lots of invites and they actually don't! We were grateful for the chance, and the company...thank you to the Lee family!

Looking forward:

1-Michael's birthday is next Tuesday the 11th. He's going to be 3!!! Wow! My mom (Mom-O) was asking me what to get Michael for his bday, which I didn't know the answer to, so I asked him. What was his response? "A belt." He's taken to wearing brother's belt so his pants don't fall down, and I guess he wants one of his own! I thought it was cute. Tonight he gave my dad (Papi) the same response of a belt, and then he said "A new computer"! ha ha ha That was random. He thought he was SO FUNNY! Besides, if we got a new computer, daddy would get it and I'd stop using the "old computer" that I am currently typing on. Yes, Jim does share the new one with me, but its with him all day and this is the "family" computer that is downstairs. But, NO new computer kid, sorry. But, there should be some pictures posted next time, so you all have that to look forward to!

2-STOMP. Jim and I (and 25 of our friends) are going to see Stomp this Thursday. I'm pretty excited, it should be good. We got a good deal...a long story to tell, but we did. The best part: a real date night with Jim!

3-Something unexpected. There is always something unexpected waiting for us, especially this past 9 months or so. You never know what will happen...too bad we can't plan for it...well, I guess we can in different ways so that we are emotionally and spiritually ready to face it. But, I'm hoping that the unexpected will be a job for Jim (but, then, that would be expected, wouldn't it?)

Now, thats a lot of rambling! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day...and enjoy spying on my friends and family! ha ha ha