Nancy sings Ariel

Nancy is such a character and loves to sing and dance. Here is a clip of her singing her favorite song.

March Photos

February Photos

January Photos

Here is a retell of January through quick snapshots.

Our Life Now

Currently, our family is living in Lafayette, Colorado while Nathan is doing his Master's at CU. We left law school and moved back to CU in December. Just one of those experiences you must go through to be happy in life with your career choice and we learned that Law was not for us. Nathan is back where he is passionate (Spanish). We will be done with the degree at the end of next year. Meanwhile, Matthew is in 1st grade and doing great with his academics, Elaine is doing preschool at home with me and also doing amazingly (she just might be bored with kindergarden when she starts in the fall), and of course there is Nancy who is also learning so much from watching her older siblings and learning videos. I have a new love for the LeapFrog LearningPath videos. I was struggling with teaching phonics and such to Elaine but after she watched these movies a few times she was ready to go. I am now going to start teaching her reading with the BOB books. Our cat, Pushka, is settled in now and adapted to the family (she was a Christmas presant for the kids). I tell everyone I wasn't ready to have another baby yet, so I got a cat instead. She is a full-breed russian siberian just over a year old. She is a good cat, when she is not trying to get food off the table, spilling water cups, or drinking out of the toilet. I knew they said these cats were "dog-like" but come on! Moving-on..... We are settled into our new place and doing well. We love our library and the parks (and lake) near us. I take the kids everywhere in a stroller or on bikes because it is all so close. Good exercise for me since I have left over holiday and pregnancy fat sitting on my middle. I have really taken up getting my health and body into shape since Nathan and I have been talking about baby number 4. I will keep you posted of course now that I have put it out there. I am on some strong meds right now for this thing with my toes that I need to clean up, but after that we are thinking we might start trying. I have had no problem in the past with getting pregnant right away when I wanted to, but I had never used a birth control other than condoms before and I am nervous after ready pages and pages of peoples stories online about not being able to get pregnant after having their IUD removed or at least it taking a while before they did. For most people it took about 2 months, but for others they are still trying after years without it. We are still praying about weather or not it is time. I did not plan on having anymore children until 2014, so I have to have a clear answer before I do anything. I guess I am held back by not having a big enough vehicle. Our home is big enough, we have a crib and all the baby stuff covered (except the regualr things like baby wash and diapers), we have insurance, we have our old ob from Nancy down the street, and the hospital just down the way by the doctor. We have everything except the Van and money to get a van. If Nathan were to get a really good summer job and we sell our car, we might be able to afford a cheep one. Vans cost so much. We'll see. Nathan and I would love to have a boy and Matthew says "it's not fair, you have to have a boy so there are 3 boys and 3 girls in our family." Matthew was also upset that I was trying to lose weight because he thought I was trying not to have a baby (because you know if mom is getting fat its because she is pregnant and if I am losing weight I am trying to not be pregnant). Elaine says his name will be "macaroni." When I ask Nancy if I should have a baby she says "I will go upstairs and then you wont have a baby." SO CUTE. She is my baby! I can't believe they are turning 7, 5, and 3 this year. Where has the time gone? Good thing I took plenty of pictures though the years because I wouldn't know. ;-) Okay, I had better go now. Nathan needs to to help him get a summer job. Love! Stephanie

October Halloween Fun

So October meant tons of Halloween fun along with the changing of the leaves, cold winds, and colds. The kids enjoyed counting the decorations on houses and seeing all the other kids in costumes. Starting with the second weekend in October we went to the Old Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site Halloween Carnival/Pumpkin Walk. There we went trick or treating, played some games, and got to see the Prison. The following weekend was UW HOMECOMING weekend. We went to the homecoming parade on Ivinson and Grand. The kids got to cheer for candy and necklaces the floats would throw out. IT was fun. Afterwards, we got to got to another Fall Carnival and Pumpkin Patch at the UW Teaching Arena. For $5 I bought some tickets and the kids got to play games. At the end they took the tokens they had earned while playing and picked some prizes. There was a sweet girl who gave little Nancy all of her left over tokens. It was enough that all the kids got to pick a second prize out. There were not Halloween activities the following weekend, but Nathan and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary together on Friday the 22nd. We had food from Corona Village (Mexican food...pretty good) and watched movies together. We did not do anything too costly because at the beginning of the semester we bought our first new mattress set and that is going to cover birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, etc. I don't mind though because I love our bed. We took the kids to the dinosaur museum at the college on Saturday. It is always neat to look at that stuff. Then of course the next weekend was the 29th, 30th, and 31st was....HALLOWEEN WEEKEND! The kids did so much. On Friday they went to Spring Wind (an assisted living place) and got to do a free carnival. They played all kinds of games, met the elderly folks as they handed out candy (who loved having them there), did face painting, and even cookie decorating. After that we went over to the UW Law school where the kids did trick or treating throughout the building and library. They got to meet a duck dressed up in a pumpkin outfit. After that we went over to the UW Union Center for Safe Treat. The place was packed (probably with every kid in town) and the students had two floors filled with games and activities and of course treats. After we couldn't take the crowds anymore, we headed over to the Doctor's office that was also putting on an office trick or treat. They loved getting glow sticks from the black light room. When it was all done we headed home to eat some dinner ( ya right after all that candy they ate), and bed time. In the morning on the 30th, we went to the Temple. We had to take turns going in of course because we had the kids, but it was lovely as always. When we got home we did an early dinner and got ready to go to the Stake Trunk or Treat. It was a nice day, but got a bit cold with the sun going down. The stake center was full of cars and families ready to enjoy getting and giving candy. One truck gave away pumpkins to all the kids. When that was done it was time for bed. As for Halloween on the 31st, Elaine and I went to church (everyone else was still fighting off colds), and when we got back we carved pumpkins and watched Halloween movies (Casper meets Wendy and Corpse Bride). We let them stay up late because there was no school on the 1st or 2nd. And that's it. They ended up with a big bucket of candy to share and lots or little toys and prizes and cute pumpkins. Laramie is a fun place during Halloween. Here are some pictures from our adventures in the month of October.