Thanks!

I think I've been reinforced in my complaining. James has slept better this pass week than he has in a long time. Actually, I believe it was because of kind people's prayers for him and for me. Thank You!!!! There is still much room for improvement, so please keep those prayers coming.

Jill

Frustrated and Tired

If you don't like complaining .... then don't read this. I just need to vent. Okay, here it goes, I AM TIRED. I have been super tired for almost a year now. If I could only just go to sleep at night and not wake up until the morning, wouldn't that be heaven? Ha! I know it would be, and I haven't done that since college, and that was only once, and that was because of some lovely medicine (putting my hand through a window wasn't lovely, but the sleep medicine they gave me was). Why? Why would I have children who don't need sleep, when I love sleep so much? Ellie has NEVER taken naps, and I'm sure she never will, and when she's asleep at night she grinds her teeth so loud it could wake the dead. So even if James did sleep, I still couldn't. James, since he was born takes what I like to refer to as 'quickies', 10 or 15 minute max cat naps and he's ready to play again. He is also the lightest sleeper on the planet. So the house must shut down when he's taking his quickies. Because of this sleep deprivation I have in the last couple of months taken a Tylenol three days in a row, thinking I was taking my vitamin. Forgot James' name for a good three minutes. Put several items in the fridge that certainly didn't need refrigeration. Found myself with my hand reaching up to the light switch in Relief Society, thinking it would be so much nicer to sleep with it off.(I'm glad I caught myself on that one, it would have been hard to explain) Ran into walls in my house. Got into the bath tub with my clothes on.(Luckily I didn't sit down.) Walked out of the house all ready, except for no pants,(nobody saw me.) Lost the ability to keep my house clean, exercise regularly, or even get out of my PJ's. Forgotten to pay several bills on time and a dozens of other things I probably could remember if I wasn't so tired.....Zzzzzzzzz.
Of course on the other hand James is the sweetest kid in the whole world, and I wouldn't trade Ellie for anything, not even sleep. So life goes on, and it will be all the better for I have two beautiful children who don't need sleep, they'll be able to accomplish so much with they're lives, .....all that extra time. I just hope they'll be able to forgive there ornery, ungrateful Mom.

Harvest!

This year Barry painted some Indian Painted Mountain Corn for us to try. The plans are drying it, and having popcorn and corn meal. We are excited to try it.
The corn is like snowflakes, none of them are exactly the same. Some of them are very beautiful. Barry planted 17 rows, this is the harvest from 2 of them. We planned to dry them on the stocks, but a wind storm knocked most of them down, so It's going to fun to find a place to dry them all for a couple of weeks.





We also have been harvest green peppers and beans. Yum!

Brillant!

So I've been working with Ellie on her letters and sounds, but we hadn't actually sounded out any words until last night (me, am, if and in). Yet, this morning she asked me how to spell grass (random, I know). I said listen, and I sounded out the letters for her g-rrr-aaa-sssss. She wrote GR on her little notebook then asked me to say it again, I did, and she finished off with A S. Now granted she didn't get the double S, but WOW! I am constantly amazed at the intelligence of my little 3year-old

I couldn't imagine

I couldn't imagine James being any cuter

You may have asked, "Why is Jill's blog so ugly?" Well here's the reason, it all goes back to my love of computers, but my pitiful knowledge about them and their programs. I took some HTML (programming for web pages) classes in high school, which I enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately I forgot most of it, but remembered enough of it to get me into trouble. FYI for you non bloggers, when you make a blog you can pick a template for your blog, a pre-made background with pre-set fonts and layouts, that's why everyones' are so pretty. Well, I thought it would be cool to use some of that, but then verge out on my own and create my own stuff. HA! Now I have a mess, and there is no turning back. I know, I know, I could just start all over, but where is the fun in that, besides I want to figure this out. So be patience, and be impressed even with my slow progress.

We'll miss you Nat!

The girl put on a play for us. Snow White, inspired by Ellie's new Snow White Dress. They were quite creative with a curtain and stage, props, and costumes. Here are some highlights.,,,


This is the audience, seating was all arranged for us.



The wicked queen



Snow White in Rags (notice the curtain behind her.)



Snow White after eating the poison apple, She was later kissed by a prince made out of paper. It was quite entertaining.

Strawberry

The fruit of Barry's labor.
This is our very first strawberry. Barry has worked hard on the garden this year, planting, weeding and gardening, and I, well I've done basically nothing.(on the garden) Fortunately my husband loves me, and awarded me his first ever strawberry.
It was delicious!!!
(He admitted, after I had gobbled it up, that he had expected me to share it with him. Whoops! Maybe next time. ;) )

Reunion

For Barry's Family's reunion this year we went camping. Almost all of the family was there. We had a good time. Natalie found a fallen tree that served as a nice bridge up to a tree that had some good branches to sit on. With Barry and the cousins help they built a nice fort out of branches. Barry said he would sleep in it if they made it nice enough. Fortunately, I was able to talk him out of it. It rained like crazy that night, and the coyotes were yipping and howling real close. So I think it was a good thing. We also went to a lake close by and Natalie and Ellie had a great time. The lake was really really high, and the beach was completely flooded. We waded out to a sand bar and sat on it with James, while we watched Natalie and Ellie play. We were all tired and dirty when we got back to Grandma's house, but we still celebrated the 4th with a party. We went to Amy's new apartment to watch the fireworks. We were really close, you could feel the boom of the fireworks in your chest. Afterwards we went back to Grandma's, and Grandpa set off some fireworks for the girls.