So I am averaging about one post a month. Not great, but at least it is something. Lenny is an amazing bike rider now, who daily tries to one up himself with stunts like starting on the grass, going down steep driveways, riding with one hand and riding with his eyes closed.
Leonard started a new position at work yesterday. He has kind of been slowly transitioning over the past few weeks, so he already is some what aware of his new responsibilities. I hope he will enjoy his new position and co-workers as much as he did his old ones. Life can be pretty miserable if you don't like your job.
My sister Tia is pregnant with her third baby. They found out yesterday that it is a girl. So in the fall they will have Chloe 6, Tyler almost 4, and baby girl.
Kyle has been on his mission for 6 months now. We were getting regu;ar updates from him through email, but then the mission president had to shut down email do to some violations. All the missionaries were suppose to get new church issued email addresses a few weeks ago, but we have yet to hear from Kyle exactly what is going. My mom can ask this Sunday I guess when she gets a chance to talk to him on Mother's Day. And I suppose I could probally pick up a pen and paper and write him an actually letter, rather than using the email as an excuse to not feel so bad for not keeping in contact.
I have been working hard on our lawn(curb appeal), unfortunately a lot of hard work does not always get results. I did some reseeding and fertilizing, but it will be months before we can tell if that is doing any good. I cleared a spot and started a garden, but again we will have to wait to see if anyhting actually grows and if it is edible. I also have created two beautiful mulch beds lining both sides of our house. Now I just need to decide what to plant in them so that they look more than just piles of mulch. I picked up a garden magazine at the store the other day. I am hoping it will give me some ideas.

It has been a while. We got rid of our dog dash. He was Lenny's 4th Birthday present. He lasted about six month. He was just getting too big for the kids and was still very much a puppy (he chewed on everything-screen doors, shoes, furniture, the boys toys, his leash, etc). It had gotten to the point where the boys and Dash could not be together or it would cause chaos. So, Dash spent almost all of his time in his kennel or outside. I felt bad gettting rid of him, but we where just not giving him the attention he deserved. We took him to a shelter and with in 3 hours he was adopted by a family with five kids. Hopefully he and his bew owners are happy and he is getting lots of attention.

Lenny has had some exciting mildstones this week. He learned how to pump on the swing (Yeah! No more having to push him). He also learned how to ride a two wheller yesterday. I took his training wheels off a little over a week ago, but had spent maybe a total of ten to fifiteen minutes working with him. Yesterday morning he wanted to try again and with in five minutes he was riding by himself. I have to steady him to get on and help him get started and he can not go off the curb or turn around yet, but he can stop and get off all by himself with out falling down (most of the time). He was so proud of himself. He wanted to invite all of his friends over so he could have a big audience and show everyone that he can now ride a two wheeler.



Patrick is getting into everything as usual. The boys were supose to be in their rooms this afternoon, but I think Lenny had to use the bathroom so Patrick followed him. I am not sure exactly what happened but after some comotion upstairs followed by a warning that the boys needed to get back in the room we where in formed by Lenny that Patrick was drinking water out of the toilet. I have chosen to try to belief that that is not true, because it completely grosses me out. But knowing Patrick I am pretty sure he did drink the toilet water. Patrick also has gotten into getting him stuck in some weird situations. Several times know he has getten himself stuck in our neighbors storm windows and the other day he got stuck in some tires in our garage.

Happy Easter!

We got SNOW yesterday! I am sooooo ready for Spring! There is hope that next week could be in the 50's (yeah!), but the rest of this week is going to be cold, dreary and rainy(hopefully not snowy). Good thing I had not done too much Spring cleaning yet. The boys snow clothes and boots were still in their closet, so it was not too much of a hassle to get them all bundled up to play in the snow. They did get use their end of the year clearance child size snow shovels that I expected to not get any use until next year. This winter when ever I tried to use the snow shovel the boys would fight over who would get to use it next and even when Patrick did get a turn he would throw a fit because it was way to big for him to control. So, now they each have their own little snow shovels. No more fighting.

Lenny is all better, except for the constant stuffy nose and cough-but that doesn't seem to bother him and I have just accepted that that is how things just are for most of winter. Both Leonard and I got a little sick, but Patrick seemed to make through fine.

Terrible thunderstorms were threantening all day long, but it was mostly dry and despite the dark clouds fairly warm outside. So, I was able to spend sometime outside this evening visiting with the neighbors and kids. It was great to see everyone outside. I can't wait for true Spring with nice weather and green grass and blooming flowers.

Lenny got sick at church yesterday. He kept complaining his tummy hurt and cuddled in my arms all during sacrament meeting. I let him stay with me the whole second hour of church and two minutes before I was suppose to start Senior primary signing time Lenny threw-up all over my arm leg and the back corner of the primary room. With some quick shuffling around and real speedy clean up-I was able to teach singing time while Leonard sat in the hall with Lenny then we all left church early. Lenny slept the rest of the day and threw-up once more, but seems to be doing better today. His fever is gone and although he still complained of some stomache pain, he ate several times today without any problems.

Above: Patrick and Lenny in Flordia, Christmas 2005

I suppose I should add another post. If I wait to long it may never happen. The little boys have been sick for a while, but the past week patrick's runny nose and Lenny's come seem to have gotten worse. I felt like I was getting sick, but took it easy yesterday and had a friend watch Lenny for the afternoon. So, I am hoping I continue to feel okay and things don't get worse.

Leonard had his yearly evaluation at work yesterday and received high marks. I am very proud of all of his hard work and glad that he is enjoying his job.

We bought Patrick his very own plastic scooter this week. It is still fairl y cold here, but the boys have occasionally had a chance to go out and play. Patrick kept trying to steal Lenny's bike and scooter, and Lenny did not want Patrick touching his stuff. So, when I saw the little scooter on sale at Walmart I thought we'd give it a try. The first day Patrick kept complaining that it did not work or that it was broken because he was having a hard time making it move. But after two days of practice he is doing much better. Getting him to wear a helmet is another thing. We live in a cul-de-sac and he is supposse to stay on the sidewalk and he moves at a turtle pace on the scooter, but I am still trying to teach him the importance of wearing a helmet and try to get him in the habit early. We need to get some more padding strip to go in the helmet because it is a little big and wobbly on his head. But I don't think they make them any smaller then what we have.

Lenny just has four more weeks of school left. He attends Tuesday school just once a week on Tuesdays, thus the name Tuesday School. He is not a big fan of going, but we thought it would be a good introduction to some structured learning atmosphere. Although, Leonarand thinks that's what primary is for. After a year of talking about it, I have finally got Leonard's support to put Lenny in a 3 day a week program next year. Lenny still has a lot to learn before he will be ready for Kindergarden, but I have seen some good progress over this oast year and hoope he will continue to grow and learn over the next year and a half. He is really starting to enjoy his role as a big brother. He now tells me when Patrick needs something that he can take care of it or "I can help him Mom. I am a big so I now how to do it." Lenny is also constantly full of questions. "Mom, what if I only had one foot?" "What if ther was no sun?" "What if I never went to school again?" "What if a car kept going when the light was red?" It used to be the classic why, but has now become what seems like a neverending list of "What if this?", "what if that?", "What if...?" Sometimes the questions are so out of the blue I just don't know what to say. One time he asked "What if I got a cut and it did not stop bleeding?". Well, of course I don't want to "THEN YOU WILL DIE!". But that was the first thought that came to my head. After many flustered conversation and feeling sometimes like I have just given my son why to much information I have resorted to the "What do you think would happen?" and "Oh, that is something you don't need to worry about." and changed the subject witht he real difficult questions.

Parenting is full of all kinds of surprises and learning experiences.

Hapa Day Dear Tatrick!

Patrick is now 2 years old. We celebrated his birthday on February 10 with cake, icecream, presents (sleeping bag, hot wheel cars, head flashlight, and bat and ball), a movie and a campout in the familyroom with tent and all! Athough at 11:30 with Leonard asleep on the couch, Lenny cranky because Patrick would not sit still and be quiet so he could go to sleep and me not being very comfortable on the flooor-I vetoed the "campout", put the boys in their own beds, got in my bed and left Leonard on the couch. In all though I think PAtrick had a good birthday. He will still walk around sometimes trying to sing Happy Birthday to himself.
Above: Patrick enjoying his cake and showing you that he is now two.

First Ever Week Alone

Leonard went on his first official business trip last week. So, Lenny, Patrick, Dash(the dog), and I were on our own from Sunday night until late Friday night. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. My friend watched the boys for 3 hours Wednesday afternoon and then invited us to stay for dinner. So we had a nice midweek break. I was most concerned about Leonard taking the cellphone with him. Calling my mom or my sister with my free minutes is usually what I do for a little break from the kids when needed. But without Leonard taking the phone we would not have been able to get a hold of each other. I made it without the phone and was able to enjoy a nightly phone with Leonard after the kids were in bed.

My First Blog Post

Okay Shannon! I started a blog page! Hopefully this should be as easy as you make it seem to keep up. My old website I have not touched in two years...wait maybe it has been three.