Walk in the Rain

So it seems that in Coeur d’Alene the weather is simply wet from February through June.  The weather forecast shows that we’re in for rain for the next 10 days with no end in site.  I finally decided that if we were going to get any fresh air, it would have to be in the mud and rain.   So we dressed appropriately and headed out for a walk in the rain to Grandma’s house.  The pictures are kinda fuzzy but you need to understand that it was POURING RAIN!!!
It was rather cold but the kids had a great time.  Miranda was so happy to use her “a-bella” and put on her mud boots.  I dug up a poncho for her that Kaydra used to wear and the big kids found their ponchos from Korea – best dollar ever spent!

When we walked up Grandma’s steps to her house Miranda said, “Mom!  We did it!!!”  I think she may have been watching  a little too much Dora the Explorer! 
It was a refreshing walk and thankfully, it wasn’t raining for the walk back home.  Oh summertime – where are you???!!!!

Kanyon’s Birthday

Still behind!  Where is my blogging motivation?!  Kanyon celebrated his 7th birthday on March 2nd.  Things were a little busy at our house and we had a difficult time finding a time to have a party – I know, pretty sad for a 7-year-old.   On the day of his birthday, Leonard had to work a 3-11 shift so we all had breakfast together since it was the only time we would be together that day.  We had one of Kanyon’s favorite meals – egg and sausage biscuits – and let him open one gift that morning – a new shirt – that he could wear to school. 

We sent him out the door and Leonard and I went to town to finish a little shopping for him.  I took some donuts to his class for their treat to celebrate.  It is Dr. Seuss’s birthday on the same day, so the first graders were having a Dr. Seuss Party.  He seemed to have a good day.  We had another favorite meal for dinner – fruit crepes – yummm! 

The next day I left for Kansas City to visit Jodi with Michelle and Sara.  I’ll try to blog more about the trip later but suffice it to say that we had a fun girls weekend and got to know each other a little bit better.  I even learned some things about Michelle and Jodi that I didn’t know.  Who would have thought after 12 years that we would still have things to share!!!  It was a really great trip.  When I got back on Sunday it was amazing how swollen my feet were from sitting all day on the flight home.  It’s weird how pregnancy symptoms seem to come on earlier and earlier with each pregnancy.

Sunday night we had a joint birthday party for me (my birthday was March 5th) and Kanyon.  We had Neil, Kay and Kelly (who was visiting for work) over for dinner and Kay made a cake for dessert.  Kanyon got some great gifts and he was really excited to finally have his party after the long wait!  Thanks for being a good sport, buddy!  We love you!

Here are a few pictures – Happy Birthday Kanyon!

A new bike!  He is so happy that he will probably be able to keep up with his sister!  If only the snow, rain and mud would go away!!!

Miranda’s Birthday

I am a little behind on blogging – surprise, surprise.  I’ll start with a post about Miranda’s birthday.  Sorry in advance for all the pictures!  Miranda turned 3 on Feburary 17.  Leonard went fishing all day that day and I had to work that night.  Not very exciting for a three year old – but we made it up to her over the weekend when the Stephan’s came to visit.  We celebrated her birthday on Saturday, Feburary 19.  We woke up early and made a birthday cake.  She helped me and loved licking the beaters.  Then we got her all dressed up for the party – she INSISTED on green ribbons for her hair.  Not really sure why but it’s HER birthday!  When the cake was cooled, she helped me decorate – and decorate she did! 

She wanted a chocolate cake with pink – whatever that means.  We settled on chocolate cake with pink sprinkles – or sparkles as Miranda called them.  I think she liked the stars the best

Isn’t it a beautiful 3-year old cake?

She could hardly stand the wait until after lunch when the party was set to start.  FINALLY the time arrived and everyone showed up ready to celebrate Miranda!

Funny thing was, she didn’t want any cake!  Just ice cream – silly girl!  She had a good time.   She got some great outfits, a cool card table that has a dry erase top, some playdoh, some bubbles, and a princess dress-up treasure box.  What a spoiled (or blessed!) little girl!  We love you Miranda May!

The next FitzSimmons will be a…..

GIRL!!!! It’s true.  We found out yesterday that we are having a baby girl!  We are really excited. Sorry if many of you feel out of the loop.  We actually didn’t tell anyone until last week that we were even pregnant – unless they specifically asked (we couldn’t lie, could we?!)  Anyway, most everyone was in the dark until last week and the news is spreading like wildfire!  I thought I would confirm all the rumors and say that we are extremely excited to welcome baby girl #3 in July. 

I would post a really cute ultrasound picture here but after my appointment, we stopped at Neil & Kay’s to pick up Miranda from being babysat by grandpa.  When I went to show Miranda the pictures of the baby -- they were not in my purse!  I looked all over for them and even called the Doctor’s office to see if someone turned them in … to no avail.  I was pretty bummed.  We even had a couple of 3D pictures!  I never had them with my other kids so that was kinda fun – and now I can’t show them to anyone!

We broke the news to the kids about their new sister when they came home from school.  They knew we were having a baby (we told them on Valentine’s day) and they knew the appointment was yesterday.  They walked in the door and said, “What is it?  A boy or a girl?”  Leonard said, “Yep, one of those!”  So they asked Miranda, “Is it a boy or a girl?”  Miranda looks up and says, “a girl baby.”   They were a little shocked – “Really?!” Kaydra asked.  When we confirmed the truth, Kanyon fell to the floor in tears.  He had been praying for a little brother every night this week.  I know that he is disappointed but I also know that this little girl is meant to join our family and that we will love her with all our might.  I also know that she is going to love her big brother.  I also know that Miranda is going to love having a little sister to play dress-up and dolls with.   I started talking about the ultrasound and how we could see her move, kick and even open and close her mouth!  They seemed to warm up a little bit. 

Sorry to my little girl who may read this one day and feel sad – Don’t feel sad!  I knew the moment I saw you on that screen that it didn’t matter what gender you were – you were ours and we were in love with you from the beginning.  You are a gift from our Heavenly Father and we will cherish every moment we have to spend with you!  Welcome to the family little princess!

P.S.  I think I fixed my comment problem so leave a comment and see if the issue some people were having is fixed -- if not, email me please!  fitzlb0898@gmail.com

Three Projects and a Wedding

I have hit a blogging slump lately and I know that I will regret it at the end of the year when I start to put together the book for 2011.  I need to get motivated again somehow!  I’ll start with a catch up post. 

My brother-in-law, Kelly was married to Sara Turner in December.  We were able to drive to Twin Falls for a very short weekend trip to see them sealed in the Twin Falls temple.  It was a beautiful wedding ceremony and they were both so happy.  We are very happy for both of them and are really excited to have Sara join our family.  Here are some pictures of them coming out of the temple ….. Don’t they look happy?!!! 

Kelly and Sara asked us to host an open house for them here in Coeur d ‘Alene at our new home.  We were exited to have it here but we also knew that we had to get a few unfinished things completed before we had a bunch of people over.  It was good motivation for us to get some things done around the house. 

Leonard finished up some trim work that had never been finished.  There were a few pieces of trim on the island that he put up and he put up the rest of the baseboards and some of the trim around the doors in the hall, the bedroom, the pantry, and in the half-bathroom on the main floor.  I am really enjoying the old doors and trim work from the old farmhouse -- lovingly called “Grandma’s house”-- here on the farm.  The house was built in 1902 and as far as we know, the trim is original.  I was a little leery at first to use the old wood but it looks beautiful and adds so much character to our home.  It’s probably the one thing that people comment on the most – and now that it’s finished, it looks even better!

Here is the laundry door (on the left) and the half-bath door with trim complete!

Here is our bedroom door (on the left) and the pantry door – it has an elk scene etched into the glass:

We even kept the same door knobs and hardware – I think they are beautiful. 

While he was working on trim, I worked on putting slate on the backsplash of our kitchen.  We had a hard time deciding what kind of backsplash to put in the kitchen.  We didn’t like the tile that we put in the bathrooms because the countertop is a different color and it just didn’t look right.  We had pretty much decided to just leave it painted for now – in fact, we took all the tile stuff back to my parents when we were there for the wedding.  While we were there, Len went to visit a few friends from his old work and one of them showed him some pictures of their new kitchen which had slate as a backsplash and he thought it looked great.  So….we loaded up the tile saw that we had just returned and headed back to Coeur d’Alene.  I cut and set all the slate and Len grouted it one morning – I hate grouting!  We love the new look!  It really makes the kitchen look awesome!

The pictures don’t do it justice, but you get the idea:

Before:After:

The third “getting ready” project happened because Michelle came to stay with me to help me clean and get ready for the open house.  I was so grateful to have her there.  She was really hard worker and my house was spotless for the open house because of her.  While she was here, she helped me recover my dining room chairs!  They had this beige fabric (that I never really liked) on them with so much dirt and grime that it made you not want to sit on them!  I found some fabric that I love and we recovered them on Friday night – the night before the open house.

They look SO much better and the best part is, I got to keep them even after the open house was over!  Thanks again Michelle!

I think that’s all for now – it tells what we were doing the first couple weeks of January.  The open house was a success and we were happy to do it for them.  Congratulations again Kelly and Sara!

Miranda May

I keep meaning to post an entry to the blog.  I even have a couple of ideas for new posts but for some reason, I just never sit down to do it.  I decided I would start with the easiest one – easiest because I have the pictures uploaded to my computer already! 

Miranda has grown up so much the past couple of months.  She has really turned into a little kid instead of a baby .  She is getting ready for her birthday on February 17 – only a couple weeks away!  She says she wants a chocolate with pink cake – any ideas on that would be greatly appreciated (chocolate with strawberry frosting anyone?????).  She will tell you that she will be three and that when she is five she will go to school.

Miranda has reached a couple of milestones lately:  She finally gave up her pacifier!!!  After our trip to Kelly’s wedding in south Idaho (more on that in another post)  we were sick and tired of her whining for her pacifier the entire way home. So on Monday, I said, we are done.  I told her she was big and she needed to stop using her pacifier.  We got her a new “big girl” purse with a pretty necklace at the store (I am not above bribery) and she hasn’t had it another night since.  It hasn’t all been peaches and cream though.  We had a couple of really bad nap times (non-existent) and a couple of tearful bedtimes, but now she looks at a picture of her with her pacifier in her mouth (and there are a lot of them) and thinks that it is funny or yucky.  She will also show you her pretty teeth and say that they are pretty because she doesn’t have a “na-na” any more!

Milestone #2 is that she is now potty trained 100% during the day and about 90% at night time.  We still put a pull-up on her at night but most the time she is dry when she wakes up.  She is my earliest kid to be potty-trained and probably the easiest.  She was ready and just pretty much did it on her own.  She still needs help with her pants at times and we are struggling with her bowels – she likes to wait DAYS before she goes poop!  but for the most part, I feel like I can say she is potty trained!  LOVE IT!!

Miranda is starting to learn her letters, she knows all her colors, shapes and body parts.  Her favorite are body parts.  It’s funny because she knows almost every part on your body that you can see.  She even knows shoulder, wrist, ankle, elbow, palm, and forehead.  That’s my girl – into anatomy already.  We are working on collar bone, scapula, and pelvis – I let you know how it goes!

Miranda is the oldest in her nursery class at church and she really likes going to class.  She tells us in detail each week on the ride home what they had for snack that day.  It’s funny because I always ask the kids what they learned and Miranda always shares what they ate for snack!  She LOVES to help in the kitchen with whatever I might be doing.  She has mastered the art of sliding over a dining room chair and putting it wherever she thinks she might most be in the way.  Today she played at the kitchen sink, “washing the dishes” for about an hour.  It was the highlight of her day. 

She says “I love you” quite a bit at the best times – like when I am mad at her for something – and she is also great at saying “I missed you!” when you come home from being gone for awhile.  Melts our hearts.  She is very independent and likes to “do it” all by herself.  She is a blessing in our lives and although she drives me crazy at times, I feel so blessed to have her in our family. 

Love you, Mandy!

Christmas 2010

I had many ambitions to blog much more this month but it seems it has slipped away from me.  I sent our cards out late so hopefully they have all arrived to their destinations by now.  It seemed like everything was running late this year.  We didn’t even get our tree up until the week before Christmas.  It was still smelling pretty fresh by the time Christmas day came around – and on the bright side, I have had very few needles fall off the tree!  We have hardly had time to think since Thanksgiving break.  We went to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving this year and had a great trip.  We were able to see so many family members and it was really great to reconnect with everyone.  We came back to Coeur d’Alene for a short two weeks (Leonard only had two of those days off) and then we headed back to Idaho Falls and then to Twin Falls for Leonard’s brother Kelly’s wedding to Sara Turner.  We were so happy to be part of their special day – even though it was a long drive – again!!  Then we were home for another two weeks before Christmas day arrived. (Leonard only had two days off in that stretch too!!)  Needless to say, Christmas shopping was done very quickly and very last minute! 

I did remember to take a few pictures during the season – but only a few!

We were so excited to have a very tall Christmas tree this year.  With our new house and big windows we were excited to find the perfect tree.  Leonard took the kids out looking through the snow for the perfect tree.  They wandered all through the woods near our house in snow past their knees – except for Leonard who had a pair of snow shoes.  They found the perfect tree in view of our house, after walking all around the woods.  We let it stay in the ground for about a week longer until Leonard had another day off when he could cut it.   He brought it back  and stood it on the deck.  It was tall and pretty.  He thought that we should cut it to make it easier to decorate but I assured him we could do it.  So we brought it into the house and set it in the stand.  It was very tall.  We debated about how to decorate it.  I thought it would work to tip it on it’s side and decorate the top part and then stand it back up.  That was our plan until Kanyon walked in and said, “Why don’t we scoot it over to the loft and decorate it from upstairs and then move it back to the window to finish?”  Leonard and I both looked at our smarty-pants 6-year-old and said, “That was our next idea!!”  Thank goodness for smart children.  Leonard strung the lights and decorated the top part of the tree from the loft (a little too dangerous to have the kids leaning over the loft to put ornaments on the tree) and then we moved it back to the window and the kids finished hanging the ornaments.

It turned out pretty nice.   I love the smell of fresh pine.  We did notice after we were finished that Miranda had found a favorite spot to hang the ornaments--

a few had to be rehung after she went to bed!

For Christmas Eve we cooked prime rib and had Neil and Kay over for dinner.

I was able to use my Christmas dishes and the meal was splendid.  That night we let the kids open the traditional one present - which is always new pajamas but they are still excited anyway.

 

Then we tucked them into bed – excited for what the next day would bring.

Christmas morning they woke us up with a unanimous “Merry Christmas!” at 7:00 a.m.  Not too bad, I must say.  They were all excited to dive into their stockings and presents.  I, of course, didn’t take any pictures of Christmas morning.  I always forget the important things!   Neil and Kay came over about 7:45 to watch us finish up.  It was a beautiful white Christmas with a beautiful sunrise for us to enjoy.  We live in such a beautiful place.   Kaydra got a new video camera which she has been chasing us around the house with.  She also got a couple new DS games from Grandma and Grandpa Fuller which she can’t seem to put down.  Kanyon got a guitar from us that he also can’t put down.  He is learning some guitar online and is really enjoying it.  I think that guitar has gotten played with more than any other toy, between Kanyon, Kaydra, Leonard, and I all trying it out!  Miranda got a Zu Zu pet from Grandma FitzSimmons and she giggles and laughs every time it is turned on.  She also got a doll that you can fix her hair.  My head thanks Grandma Fuller for that one because now she can play with it instead of my hair.  She is infatuated with hair right now. 

It was a delightful Christmas – probably one of the quietest we have ever had.  The kids played all day with their new things and Leonard and I managed to squeeze in a nap.  We feel truly blessed for all the things we have, but most of all, for each other. 

Merry Christmas!

Settling In

I have had a few requests for some pictures of the house now that it is furnished so I thought I would comply before I start posting about the holidays.  We have really enjoyed living in the house.  We still look around and say to each other, “Can you believe this is our house?!”  We worked so hard and at times it seemed like we would never move in (to my in-laws too!).  It seemed we kinda dragged our feet to actually start living here but once we moved in there was no looking back. 

The first couple of weeks after we moved in Leonard worked like a mad-man trying to get us a supply of wood for the winter.  We aren’t sure if we (or if Neil and Kay) will have enough to make it through spring but Len and Neil worked hard to try and get enough.  After the first snow came and they couldn’t drive out in the woods anymore, we started working on projects in the house again.  There are still many things that need to get done but I keep telling myself that this is a lifelong project that will probably never be finished – and that’s okay! 

We were pleasantly surprised how big the kids rooms ended up being.  We just kept putting furniture in the girls’ room and it kept swallowing it up!  The bonus/play room is also a fantastic feature of the house.  The kids toys are up there and they can play for quite some time without any questions or complaints.  Makes it nice when I need to get things done! 

Here are a few pictures of our furnished living areas:

I guess that’s all for now.  I thought I had some of the kids bedrooms but I guess that will have to be another post.  They are sleeping right now so I can’t take pictures. 

Maybe tomorrow!

We are online!!!

We FINALLY are back online!  I had no idea how dependent I had become to the internet until we moved into our house.  At first, my computer was at Neil and Kay’s and when I needed to do something online I went to their house.  Then we set up our internet and they said it would be ready on the Saturday after Thanksgiving so when we came home after our trip to Idaho Falls, I tried to hook it up.  That meant moving my computer to our new house (unlike many other people, we only have one computer!).  Anyway, it didn’t work!  I spent about an hour on the phone with the tech people and they said it should be working.  Thanks.  They said someone would call me the next day to set up a time to come check it out.  No one called so the following day I called again.  About an hour later they said that it looked like there were too many people on the server and that I would have to wait until someone decided to disconnect before I could join – WHAT!!  They said that they would talk to corporate headquarters and contact me in the next five days.  She then said – do you have an email address that I can contact you at?  In a not so calm way I said, “I DON’T HAVE INTERNET!!!!”  I know that lots of people have other ways of checking email but we can’t check ours at work, we are not students, and we don’t have fancy phones that let us get on the internet – plus I just moved my only computer from a place where it was getting internet to a place where it is now not getting it.  It’s not that easy to move a desktop!! 

I had a contact number from the engineer that helped us wire the house for phone so I called him and left him a message about the run around I was getting.   Shoot forward about five days and still no word from anyone.  The engineer finally called me back on our way out of town to Kelly’s wedding and said that there is plenty of space on the server and he didn’t know what they were talking about.  He said he would work on it and get back to me.   He called me Monday, Dec 13 and said that they would be out to set it up the next day.  The next morning a nice guy showed up and discovered that while our phone was working great, the DSL was not (surprise!) so they went back to their little hut, did something and came back and now my DSL line works great!  He made sure I was getting a good connection (he says it’s lightning fast) and then went on his way.  So a full 6 weeks after we moved into the house, we have internet!!!  It’s amazing how much I use something that didn’t exist 20 years ago. 

So now, as soon as I organize a few things I will post some updated pictures.  See you soon!