The Hazard Chronicles

I just wanted to poke around here a bit to see if it was all that I had remembered. I haven’t been here for a long time because I have an amazing husband who is also an amazing writer that has graciously taken on the role of blogger in our family.

I absolutely love my life! Sure it isn’t perfect… My amazing husband is currently attending a very intense and very fun implant seminar in Utah, and my three kids decided to get sick the week of his absence. Daylight savings time is wreaking havoc on my children (specifically a pint sized new walker girl). Evelyn is definitely 2 ½ years old and she reminds me quite often. And finally- My computer is having major issues. The letter P needs constant cajoling, number eight absolutely refuses to work and five other keys are on the fritz. Be thankful for all of the letter P’s in this blog for they took some work. Hooray for electronics sales on the day after Thanksgiving!

Whew. Even with all of that I am loving every minute of this whole ‘mom’ thing. Logan and I are very blessed with our little family. I just wanted to take a second and give you an intimate look into each of our current lives. I am sure just the grandparents will read this. Mom, Nancy and Greg- This is for you!

Logan
How did I get so lucky? One thing I love about Logan is that he is passionate about what he is doing. He has a crazy passion for dentistry and I love to hear him when he gets excited about it. I know so much about dentistry, and I enjoy listening because he can make it interesting. I am actually pretty interested in a lot of things i.e. the plane of occlusion.

Logan is a very loving and caring dad. Evelyn, Adalie, and Jackson are pretty lucky. Logan takes time to do very sweet things with each of them. The day he left for Utah he took each of them on individual 30 minute walks to have some time together. He also took Evelyn on a date a few weeks ago (something that will happen many times in the future).

Logan is a wonderful husband. Last week he brought home flowers for me for no reason at all. He is very good at showing me that he loves me. Logan is my best friend and I love being with him.

The last couple of months Logan has been working hard in pursuit of a job that will take us to the northwest. We have a couple of good options and he is busy making contacts and looking for more opportunities. We are both very excited to move on to the next stage of our life. What would it be like to have both of us out of school?

Logan is also spending a great deal of time studying for the dental boards exam that is coming up soon. He studies in the morning at home while I go and work out. Did I mention that I have a wonderful husband?

Me
I am busy, busy, busy. I realized last week that we have events every single week day with our friends. Monday we have the option to go to the Children’s Museum with a group of friends. On Tuesday Evelyn have pre-school in the morning and Rosa teaches a Zumba class in the evening. On Wednesday Evelyn has dance class in the morning, we have a library story time we sometimes attend, and the Ladies Lunch with a group of friends. Thursday is pre-school in the morning and then I pick up Logan for our Institute Lunch date. On Friday we have park day in the morning. I really love being busy and having things for the kids to do. In the afternoon all of the kids nap at the same time and I am able to have time for myself and to get things done. Lately I have been creating a slightly new schedule so that I can have one-on-one time with each of my kids every day. I have really been enjoying this. I am really into the schedules if you can’t tell!

I am still waiting for my NIC Interpreting test results. I received an e-mail stating that all tests taken in September will take approximately four months to send results! Previous results had been coming in anywhere from three weeks to two and a half months. I am waiting as patiently as possible. I recently found out that I will receive a $10.00 an hour raise if I passed the test. I hope I get the results soon so that I can actually enjoy that raise before we move!

I am very excited for Christmas and I am overwhelming myself with how many things I want to make! I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit even though Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet! I am excited to see all of our family over the Christmas break. Evelyn has given the name 'Cousin' to all of her stuffed animals and dolls. I think she is excited too.

Evelyn
Evelyn surprises me every day with how smart she is. Of course I am her mom and I am going to be biased! When she had barely turned two she started writing her letters. I was shocked. I didn’t show her how to do this because I didn’t think it was possible that young. She showed me otherwise. Her favorite letters to write are H, A, e, E, O, D, and I. She often points out objects that resemble letters, and she will sit down and use random things to create letters she knows. The other day she was sitting in the back seat and she suddenly said, “Look- It’s an eight!” She had taken her roll from Institute Lunch and poked two holes in it to create a perfect letter eight.

Evelyn is very organized. I was downstairs today stacking up empty boxes and empty containers when I noticed she was moving them around the room. She took each container and set it exactly centered next to each and every post, furnace, or tall object in the room. There were twelve objects in all and I bet if you took a tape measure they would have all been exactly centered whether it be against a skinny pole or the wide furnace. She was very focused and she had in her mind exactly what she wanted to do.

Evelyn is a princess. I am not sure where she learned the meaning of this word, but I am beginning to think she was born with it in the very front of her mind. She constantly wears dresses and will refuse to put on jeans (this makes me sad because I think she is really cute in jeans). The other day I gave her a new shirt that happened to be blue. She absolutely refused saying that the shirt must belong to Jackson. Even when I explained that it was too large for Jackson she insisted that it was his because it was blue. Where do kids get these ideas??? I know it wasn’t from her parents.

Pre-school has been so much fun for her! I love to see the artwork that she brings home. She does a great job coloring in the lines and using a variety of colors (until last week when she went through the crayon bin and picked out all of the colors that resembled pink). She has also learned how to do dot-to-dots. This last week Holly taught a space/planet theme. Evelyn and I went to the library and picked out books about each planet. She loved to read them and even learned a few facts about almost all of them. She became obsessed over a picture of an astronaut and this week we went to the library in search of astronaut books. According to her she is a ‘princess astronaut.’

Adalie
Adalie is quite the ‘Moma’s girl.’ She LOVES being cuddled and held ALL the time. I have repeatedly timed how long it takes for her to crawl from wherever she is in the room and wiggle her way into the center of my lap. It has never been more than eight seconds from the time I sit down. I love these cuddles, but it makes it difficult to play with Jackson and Evelyn when I am always holding her. I have come up with some creative ways to play while not making my lap available. Don’t get me wrong though. I love her cuddles!

Adalie has just learned how to walk! Up until three days ago she didn’t have any desire or motivation to do it. Three days ago she just started taking steps. Her magic number was seven because each time I counted she took seven steps before sitting down or falling. Two days ago she repeatedly crawled to the coffee table to stand up. Then, she walked into the sun room until she fell. As soon as she fell she would crawl back to the same spot on the coffee table to stand up and do it again. She did that repeatedly. Yesterday, she was a full fledged walker. She was dedicated and she caught on quickly.

The other day at the dinner table I noticed that Adalie was folding her arms during the prayer. She had one hand daintily over the other and held in front of her. She has been folding her arms with us ever since then.

Yesterday I played ‘tea party’ with Jack and Addy for the first time. Adalie got a kick out of ‘pouring’ the tea. She made the ‘tea pouring’ sound and everything! Jackson loved pretending to drink out of the cup. This arrangement worked out well. She kept pouring him tea and he kept drinking it.

Jackson
Jackson is a maniac! He is into everything and he gets places very quickly. I love watching him figure things out. He is not satisfied until he learns how something works and he has figured out how to do it. I can just see the wheels in his head turning. He enjoys figuring out how to stack objects.

Jackson loves to organize things. I often find him setting out objects on the floor or placing a group of objects that are similar into a cupboard or cubby. The other day he was carefully placing each piece of play food into the cupboard. He opened and closed the cupboard before and after placing each item inside.

Jack loves to copy behaviors that he sees. A few days ago I put a book on my head to balance it. Ever since then he has been trying to balance various items on his head. Just another fun place to store things!

Jackson is very much a man with a plan. He has a place to go and he has plans for when he arrives. He likes to play with you if you are involved in his plan. Lately he has been making more room for his Momma in his plans. He has recently started crawling up to me and taking residence in my lap. I LOVE this! He doesn’t always stay for a long time, but he has been coming over to visit quite frequently. I quite enjoy his visits.

All of the kids-
Bath time is a great time of day! Adalie thinks she is a fish. She lays on her stomach and flops around while giggling madly. Jackson stands with his feet apart and splashes his little heart out while giggling madly. Evelyn splashes and tries to get Jack and Addy to copy her while she is giggling madly. I just sit back and watch while occasionally using the shower curtain as a shield from all of this wild splashing and giggling. Evelyn has become quite the helper during bath times because she likes to soap up Jack and Addy. This also involves much splashing and giggling.

Whoever said that twins just innately are better at sharing and waiting their turn did not have twins. Jack and Addy are both very good kids, but waiting has not been pre programmed into their systems. I mentioned above that Adalie loves sitting in my lap and that Jackson has recently become a fan. This is great except each of them wants to be in the middle and doesn’t want the other any where near me. Forget the idea of having one of them on each knee. I end up with two crying toddlers. This has been fun for me to manage lately. Other than this minor issue, both of them are pretty happy and pretty agreeable.

Right now Evelyn is still sleeping and Jackson and Adalie are walking in the living room both waiving their arms around like crazy people talking, shrieking and giggling. Life is good.

I think that having siblings (whether you have a twin or not) is a great help for children learning how to share. All three of the kids sit around the dinner table in their booster chairs. Often I catch them sneaking food to each other. Jackson will put it just in reach of Addy and wait for her to take it. Addy will do the same thing. Adalie will also give food to Evelyn (she sits in the middle). Evelyn routinely gives Jackson and Adalie some of her food. Last week I was watching as Jackson gave something to Adalie. She ate it, and then passed one of hers on to Evelyn. I love my kids!

Are you still with me? Congratulations. I hope you enjoyed this super long glimpse into my happy life. After all of that I don’t even have any pictures. What kind of a blogger am I??? If the truth be told I am the kind of blogger that can’t figure out how to get her new camera off of a crazy weird setting…

I hope you enjoyed all of those p’s.

Have a wonderful week.