Lilly's Life

is a rough one. Okay, she's just really active, not scared, clumsy or all of the above. Her injuries in chronological order:

January 29, 2004: Born

January 8, 2005: Knocked out a tooth falling down 2 steps

April 29, 2005: Black eye after falling off the counter

November 17, 2005: Stitches after hitting forehead on a bench

December 2, 2005: Broke her left arm when she fell off the couch and hit the door

December 9, 2006: Broke her left foot after pulling a bench on top of it

These were the only 2 I could find with Lilly's cast barely in the picture.

November 22, 2008: Broke her leg after pulling the TV on top of her (broke the TV too)

Along with all the other little bumps and bruises I don't have pictures of. She was sad about her broken leg, but is much happier now that the cast is on and she's mobile again.

A Couple More

A couple more from the family photo shoot. It was great weather that day.

Can you believe it?

I know you love the "engagement"-type picture... It's for posterity.

My first new header and family pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites from our photo shoot. I just got the CD back today, and I'm a little excited.

My Mornings

This is what my mornings are like if I'm lucky. The 3 youngest drink their Ovaltine while I get breakfast and the 4 oldest ready for school. Then Brook helps James play the piano. Sorry about blurry Lilly. I'm working on steady shots.

Halloween- The Boys

Jay and James were landscapers

Jay Jr. (We better get used to it) was Batman. I never got a picture of him in his costume. I might make him dress up again since there's no makeup involved.

I forgot to mention that Janna had a haircut. You can see her short hair in her Halloween picture.

Halloween- The Girls

Brook- A Princess

Lilly- A Princess

Janna- A Drama Witch

Emma- A Pirate

Abbey- A Chearleader

Can you tell I let them do their own makeup?

Go Abbey!

Now it's Abbey's turn to shine. I went to parent teacher conferences last week (conveniently they schedule parents with multiple students all right in a row so you don't have to keep going back). Anyway, when I met with Abbey's teacher, he said "I'm sure you already know Abbey's a great student, and the office said they already had you sign paperwork for the gifted program." I was confused. No paperwork signed by me. He explained that she had scored very high on 2 tests they use to determine qualification for the school's "Gifted" program, and they would like her to participate. I told him, and later the teacher in charge of the program, that we'll try it for now, and see how she likes it. If it's not something she likes, she'll go back to her regular studies. I'm not sure what the program includes, other that different types of learning activities that vary from the normal classroom setting. We'll see how things go. Only 4 3rd graders qualified, and Abbey is excited to try it out.

Pirates

No, it's not Halloween yet, but Abbey and Emma were in a pirate play at school. They both had small speaking parts and did well. It was the entire 3rd grade, but only lasted about 40 minutes, which was great! They have a 2nd performance on Halloween during school.

James and Bob

This is one of James' favorite places to play. He empites the cupboard, and plays inside with all the tupperware bowls and lids.

Bob thought he was an adult for a minute, and tried to glue his dart gun back together with a hot glue gun. He ended up burning himself. Lovely.

Pictures 3

Jay and Dad at a Nursery in the Oakland area. Jay had to check out some other garden centers before we left.
Us at a beach in Alameda with San Francisco in the background
Us riding BART into San Francisco
The boys playing games at Shauna and Justin's house

Pictures 2

Us in San Francisco
Us in front of the Ghiradelli Chocolate Store
Dad and Patty- Elder and Hermana Curtis- at Ghiradelli
Us in front of the Oakland Temple- it was windy

Pictures

Jay with the rented Mustang- Lake Tahoe in the background
Us at the Oakland Visitor's Center
Us at dinner in San Francisco
Us in San Francisco- Just got off BART (public transportation)

Sonogram Results

IT'S DEFINITELY A GIRL!!!

Shauna's House

These are from Shauna's house from top to bottom:
Jocey (Chad and Cherisse's)
Owen (Shauna and Justin's)
Me and Jay with Owen
Drew (Shauna and Justin's)
Sally (Shauna and Justin's)

Sucker

Notice the sucker on the side of James' head? That's one way to get him to forget about it. He screams when the other kids have candy and he doesn't, so Lilly gave him her sucker. He ate a lot of it, but it ended up here.

Jacuzzi

For "Family Night" last Thursday night we put a rib eye roast on the rotisserie (it was awesome) and the kids swam in our new hot tub. Yep, we now sell spas/hot tubs or whatever you want to call them, along with the chemicals for them. The kids thought it was a little too hot (104 degrees) and treated it more like a pool than a hot tub. They splashed a lot of water out that we had to mop up. Jay got in when they were done and enjoyed a massage from the jets. The night before he used it by himself, and slipped on the concrete when he got out. He was a little sore after that.

Sonogram

No, I haven't had my sonogram yet, but it's scheduled for October 15. Still debating about whether or not I want to find out what it is. Jay and I are going to Reno and Oakland from Oct. 7-13, so we'll be having the sonogram just after we get home. For the first time in years, we're going to miss the Graham County Fair.

Emma's Certificate

This is Emma with her certificate. I guess on the Terra Nova test you can't get 100%, so they consider 99% a perfect score. She was so shy when she went up to get her certificate, but proud.

Go Emma!

Last night I got a call from the school principal, and I immediately thought it was bad. Not the case. He said Emma scored a 99% on their Terra Nova testing at the end of last school year, and they like to publicly recognize the students who do so well. They're having a program tomorrow night, and requested we be there so she could receive a certificate. She was so proud when I told her about it. The sad part is, being a twin stinks sometimes. Abbey kept hoping he would call again, and request her to be there as well. It didn't happen, so she's kind of bummed. She did well on the tests, just not 99%. Darn!

James Turns 1

We had cake at the nursery to celebrate James' 1st birthday. Unlike our other children, he dug right in to his cake. The others had to be coaxed (or forced) to partake. He opened 2 balls, and didn't want anything to do with the rest of the presents. In the picture of his face in the cake, Ashley (a cousin- the one with her tongue out) sitting next to him actually licked his face to get a taste of the frosting. It was hilarious.

Apple Butter

My family- mom, dad, Rachel and Cole- came to Safford for Labor Day. We all spent the day laboring. My dad helped uncle Clel put in some fence posts, and the rest of us made apple butter with the apples we picked at Angle Orchard a few weeks ago. It was a lot of work, and my mom did most of the work, but it's so good! We have shared some with our family and neighbors, who are now enjoying the fruits of our labors.

4-Wheeler

I couldn't find a recent picture of the kids on the 4-wheeler. I'll have to take a new one. Anyway, last week they were out back riding around, and chose to break just about every rule I've set for them. Janna was driving with Lilly and Abbey on the back (rule #1- only one person at a time). None of them had shoes on (rule #2). They didn't have helmets on (rule #3). And, they were driving on our neighbor's driveway. Bob was throwing rocks at the riders, and Emma was chasing them to try to tell them something. Janna was going way too fast to try to get away, and ran into the corner of our neighbor's house, then bounced and hit his car. Luckily, with a small 4-wheeler and governed speeds, there was no visible damage, other than scratches on Abbey and Lilly. Abbey came in to get me, and by the time I got outside, Cliff was consoling Lilly and checking on everything. I asked if his car was okay, and he said he wasn't worried about the car, just wanted to make sure Lilly was okay. Apparently she bumped her head. I felt a little relief, but was ANGRY that when I got out there to see what was going on, Janna had taken off, and was already in the back field riding around. She knew she was in trouble. Until yesterday when my family was here, the keys were taken away. We're still working on following ALL of the rules.