New Year, New Stuff!

Ok, so I haven't blogged for awhile. . . but I am going to try to start up again.  I am going to start by posting tons of photos from the last, ehh, year or so (or maybe more).  Anyway, hopefully I will find the time keep up on my family and all the stuff that is going on here in our neck of the woods (currently Catawissa, PA).   The first pictures are from last Christmas (as in 2010), then there are some pics from the summer and then this Christmas. It's not alot, but it's a start!

Emmy in the news!

Emmy's gifted class got to participate in a "living history" day at the Bloomsburg Fair.  Emmy got to pretend she was a child living in the Civil War time.  They played era appropriate games, ate corn muffins for lunch and helped teach visitors about the children of the Civil War era.  She had a great time and even got to learn to knit, that is what she is doing in the picture.  Emmy is wearing the red and white dress with white bloomers. 

Last night some friends of mine from school offered to watch the children while Jaron and I went out to celebrate his birthday a few days late.  His birthday was on Monday, but I had a test on Tuesday which meant we didn't even see each other on Monday.  The kids had a blast and got to make and decorate cupcakes, draw pictures and add tons of stickers, and played hide and seek.  They had so much fun that they begged me to take them back to be babysat again!  Thanks Kelsey and Derek for the evening out!  We have still not heard anything about the scholarship, but I do know that they are at least 2 weeks behind in mailing out the notifications, so there is still hope!

Up Date. . .

Sorry, no pictures to post, but I thought I would at least give an update as to what is happening out here in good old' Catawissa, PA! 

Jaron is enjoying working at Panera and he finally got his CPAP (constant positive air pressure) machine for his sleep apnea last night, so we are really excited for him to start getting some better sleep.  He has been learning to be more of a Mr. Mom during this last month since I have started school again.  He is now in charge of checking the kids homework, signing all their papers and he even took Carter to the doctor for his asthma follow up all by himself! ;0)

Emmy is super excited to be in the gifted program this year.  The school psychologist did about 5 different tests on her over the summer and concluded that she is definitely gifted.  Her lowest score on all of the tests was a 90% in math, which she says she is really bad at, her highest score was a 99.9% on one of the tests for spelling and reading, the rest of her scores were between the 95th-and 98th percentile.  It is always so fun to hear that your child is brilliant!  I can't help but smile=0)  The school makes 4th graders take choir and then band is optional and Emmy has chosen to learn to play the flute.  One of the girls in my P.A. class is letting Emmy borrow her flute and Emmy has already had her first lesson and really enjoyed it.

Carter is loving his new teacher and class.  He is still really into Pokemon and loves to draw new ones of everyone he knows (if you are reading this then I can assure you Carter has made a Pokemon version of you).  For school he made a poster about himself and said that when he grows up he wants to be a stay at home dad.  He is a kind and sensitive boy, he is always willing to help out when he is asked. He is getting excited to get baptized in December and start going to Scouts. 

Ashton LOVES kindergarten.  He is always singing me new songs that he learned about how to draw certain numbers and letters.  He gets to play on the "orange" equipment at school, which from the way he talks is pretty cool, and he gets to ride the bus everyday!  I'm glad he is enjoying it so much.  The other day he told me was so happy because he had to do homework --- write his name 3 times.  He is such a funny kid and he is always cracking us up. 

Lillian is really enjoying her day-care and she is learning alot there too.  She is happy to go there every morning and they tell me that she never cries and she is always really good.  I think she just saves up the crying and fit throwing for when she gets home!  She is extremely independent and is talking very well.  She is  a funny little girl and makes us all smile with her antics.

As for me, I am surviving school.  It is an exrtremely intense program and I am finding it a challenge to balance family, school, and church, but I am managing and so far the only thing that really seems to suffer are the dishes.  I love the program I am in and I have already learned so much!  I have to give a shout out to my mom who is willing to help me study so much.  My time is so limited and I hated to waste the hour commmute I have to and from school, so I am making my flashcards online and my mom reads the terms to me and I tell her everything I know about it, she has even been willing to wake up at 4:30 a.m her time to study with me!  I am still waiting for word on the big scholarshp I am praying to get, hopefully that will be soon and hopefully it will be good news. 

Overall we are doing really well and everyone is happy and flourishing!  Heavenly Father has blessed our famly so much I can't even begin to express how grateful I am, so I will just say I am extremely grateful!

Mermaid Girl!

We have had a kiddie pool in the trunk of our car for weeks now and the kids were thrilled to finally be able to use it. Emmy sewed herself a mermaid tale and has brought it to several of her friends pool parties. She wanted me to take some pictures so everyone else could see it as well.

House Tour Part 3

House tour part 2

Our New House in Catawissa

Finally a new post! I made some videos of our new home now that it is just about finished being put together.

Ashton's 5th Birthday

Ashton will be 5 on Monday, but since daddy had the day off yesterday we celebrated a little early. Ashton's dreams came true and he finally got a Nintendo DS! He has been asking for one for almost a year now. I was able to find a really nice used one for him and he was so excited when he opened it he was shaking =0). The only other thing he wanted for his birthday was french-fries, so we broke down and took him to Burger King. He didn't want anything else, not even a kids meal, just french fries! I got a few pictures of him blowing out his candles and then he made a short video for us. Enjoy!

Video

Here is a video I took with my ipod of the kids playing with foam swords.

Lilly's Second Birthday and some snow!

Since I haven't posted for awhile, I will start out with Thanksgiving. I didn't get any pictures, but we spent it with a family in our ward who is also thousands of miles from home. They have 2 kids that are the same age as Ashton and Lilly. We split the cooking and it was a really nice holiday.

The biggest thing to me was that I managed to pull out a 4.0 for the semester! I was so excited and so relieved! I worked very hard all semester and now I just have to get into the program!

I had taken a whole bunch of pictures at Christmas for my blog, and the pictures were lost. I was really upset, so I just didn't post anything about Christmas. Needless to say, the children were spoiled rotten for Christmas and they all said it was the best one ever! I was just really glad when school started again and we could all get out of each others hair a little =0). This was the only picture that survived. . .

I had a wonderful birthday! Jaron helped me and the kids do a massive cleaning/reorganization of the kids rooms. We moved Emmy to what used to be the playroom so that she could have her own room (even though the boys and Lilly have to go through her room to get into theirs). Then Jaron took me out to see Avatar (which we both loved). Then, thanks to Grandma Hamblin and Kristi I was able to buy a new pair of shoes for the first time in two years! THANKS!

New Years was completely uneventful for us. Jaron worked late and I went to bed early with the kids. . . exciting!

Lilly's birthday was next and I did get some pictures of that. She has been such a joy to have in our family. She is spoiled rotten by everyone, even our neighbor Judy and her daughter! Lilly loves to sing and she does it all the time. Every time we get in the car she sings while she takes off her shoes and socks, and pulls out her pigtails. She got a set of keys to play with from mom and dad, some money from Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin, and new clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Quinn as well as Grandma Kristi and a new doll from Gramma Kristi as well. She talks alot, but she doesn't really say anything. Her doctor wants her to take speech therapy since she was practically deaf for so many months when she would normally have been starting to repeat the sounds she was hearing.

Shortly after Lilly's birthday it snowed really heavily for the first time this winter, so of course the kids had to get all decked out in their snow clothes to play outside. I got pictures of everyone but Ashton who refused to have his picture taken since he was wearing hot pink snowpants (Emmy's left overs and the ones that happen to fit him this year). He didn't want anyone to see him in them.

And here is Lilly in her new dress from Gramma Kristi, but she wouldn't actually cooperate and smile!



In further news, Lilly is currently potty training and is doing an awesome job! She is nearly finished and when she is, it will the first time that Jaron and I have been diaper free in 9 years! Also Jaron was featured in an article in the local newspaper, so here is the clipping.

Carters B-day and some Random Pics

Life has been crazy busy around the Simonson household, but I finally have a minute so I will try to catch up a little.

Jaron is working at Bennigan's Restaraunt in Bloomsburg now. He is enjoying it but I think he dreams of the day that I finish school and he can teach music. School for me is going really well. So far I have managed to keep straight A's, and I only have 2 weeks left of school, so barring anything crazy happening I think I will pull it off.

Carter turned 7 on the 23rd of November. Our house isn't really big enough to have a birthday party at and Jaron's work schedule made it impossible for us to even have a good family party, so we let Carter open his presents at 6:30 a.m. and then the kids and I had a cake without Jaron that night. Our neighbor Judy did come over to sing to him with us and watch as he blew out the candles.

I met with both Emmy and Carter's teachers this last week for conferences and both of their teachers couldn't say enough good things about them, especially Carter's teachers. We had some testing done on Carter to see if he was going to need some extra help due to his Tourette's syndrome, but it turns out the kid is in the superior intelligence category, only 3 points below the "gifted" bracket. Instead they are recommending that he start in the gifted program next year, and Emmy too (of course). I have to say. . . I am extremely proud of those two. They are both excelling in school and even though Emmy cries over her math homework sometimes, she has managed to get a 97% overall for the semester so far (and 100% in everything else).

Ashton LOVES his preschool and it looks like he will be following in his older siblings footsteps in the intelligence arena. What can I say? Jaron and I make smart little cookies! Lilly has been starting to talk a little more and once she is over the strep she has, she will be golden.

The pictures I am posting are of Carter's Birthday and the video is of Lilly dancing with Jack the Elf to some Christmas music we had playing. (I really need to get a camera that can record sound!)

UpDate Thing-a-ma-jig

Ok, so I have been really bad about blogging. Now that that's over with, on with the update!

Jaron: Jaron is really enjoying his new job and his calling with the scouts. His employees really like him, which is no big surprise =0) He still sleeps alot, but don't tell him I said that. =0)

Heather: Ok, I am crazy busy with school, kids, church and trying to keep a house. School is awesome. I love Penn College and am actually really enjoying all of my classes. I am happy to report that so far I have gotten A's on everything. If that changes, I may not tell you, but I figure while I am only 3 weeks into school and doing well I should enjoy it! I was in charge of the quarterly primary activity and the primary president wanted to do something with stranger danger. I had already started school and had very little time to actually plan the activity since I have only been in my calling for about 4 weeks now, but I came up with the idea to have the kids make their own stranger danger movie and the LOVED it! We spent the first little bit going over all of the stranger danger rules and then each of the kids got to "act" in the movie. I just used my camcorder, so it was very amature, but it turned out well and the kids watched themselves in their movie over and over while they ate homemade pizza for lunch.

Emmy: Emmy is missing Utah and her old friends and school, but she still really likes her new school and she is making new friends very quickly. They have started some art classes at school and Emmy's first sketch was of a pencil. The rest of the drawings are of some monsters that she thought would be fun to draw for a game at school. She wanted me to include them because she is very proud of them. She is certainly a very creative little girl.

Carter: Carter, poor little buddy. He has been having a rough time these last few weeks. He has had severe bowel problems and is now on medication for that, and it seems to be helping. Meanwhile he started school and the first day that he came home from school he was wheezing really bad. It just went downhill from there. He narrowly missed being hospitalized again and we have him on 4 different medications just to get his breathing under control. Top that off with an official diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome and a new medication for that and the kid spends about 30 minutes a day taking or breathing in all of his medication. He was really upset because no one would play with him at recess because he couldn't play running games. He is having a hard time making friends and so school has not been very fun for him. His new medication for the T.S. seems to be working. He has only been on it for almost a week now, so we will have to give it more time to see how well it is going to work. The neurologist says that once we get the ticks under control he can stop the meds and coast for awhile until he has another flare up of ticks, so at least he doesn't have to be on it all the time. Anyway, please pray for the little guy, he really need some friends and some better health!

Ashton: Ashton is LOVING "junior preschool" as he calls it. He gets to make something every day and he feels really big being able to go there. The only thing that he doesn't like is that he says he isn't learning anything yet. When I asked him what he was hoping to learn he said, "How to count really high and how to read." I didn't want to tell him that he probably would have to wait until kindergarten to learn that stuff, he would get too mad.

Lilly: Lilly is finally starting to warm up to her daycare. It is a really nice day care and I plan on taking some pictures and posting them so everyone can see where the two youngest spend their days. Lilly started out with a teacher that she really seemed to like and then her actual teacher came back from vacation. Lilly did not like her at all. She spent about a week and a half screaming almost the entire time I was gone (8:30-4:00). I had made up my mind to talk to the director about switching classes for Lilly when I walked in and they had already done it. Lilly is now back with her original teacher and she is much happier. She is smiling and playing everyday when I pick her up and she gives me the biggest hugs and kisses! She is finally starting to talk a little bit more. She does especially well when she is at our neighbor Judy's house. She will talk up a storm with Judy, all about crackers and pretzels and "dwink" drink. . . I still haven't gotten her into speech therapy and I really don't think she will need it.

The rabbits are doing well, getting fat and pooping everywhere, in case anybody cares =0)