Los Aldama

Nothing like doing a 2 month post to try to get caught up on all of the things that have happened! As a family, we are doing well. We are coming off of a party week as we just had family visit from California. I have been soooo homesick and I am pretty sure it is worse than ever after seeing them off again. We had such a wonderful time and it is always hard to say goodbye for a six month period of time. Dan has been busy, busy working and I am teaching preschool two days a week. I also received a new calling to work with the 12-13 year old girls in church. I say these things keep me busy, but lets get real....my days are full of kids, cooking and cleaning! We have fun! The boys especially, are by my side the WHOLE day! Corom won't let me out of his site. If I am doing something, he is doing it too. I feel so grateful to have these precious years with my children, as exhausting as it might be! Noelle is loving kindergarten too. All in all, we are healthy and happy. I tried my best to put the pictures in order and will caption our months. Hope you are all doing well. I have missed my blog tremendously!

We had a student apartment reunion, that was spear-headed by our friends who were visiting from Australia. I love these women so much. They have all influenced my life and I get nostalgic thinking about our time together. We were missing a few beloved families due to distant moves! We also were able to stay with my aunt and uncle and visited with friends. A quick, but oh-so-worth-it trip!


Yup, these would be Halloween pictures! The pictures don't do the costumes justice. The kids looked adorable! We trick or treated with another family. The kids had a blast.



We did a field trip to the pumpkin patch with the preschool. The rule is "If you can carry it, you can have it!" IT WAS FREEZING, but we came back with pretty pumpkins!

Brenda and me with our little preschool class!

Noelle went to the pumpkin patch with her kindergarten class a week before us and it was a sunny, warm day! Such is weather in Idaho!

Noelle and her friend Kendall!

And THIS is Elijah in a nutshell. This kid is a crackup! And, he can sit and color for hours!

These kids attack Dan when he gets home from work

Our new kitchen! I was going to post pictures of the whole house, but decided that you will have to come see it to get the full tour! This is where I spend most of my day!

The exterior of our new home! Noelle says it looks like a barn. It is bold, I know, but we love it! We have to wait until the spring to landscape! TOO COLD!

We hosted a Thanksgiving Feast for our preschool families. We had a yummy dinner and the kids did a little performance. It was wonderful to have our family with us! This is Corom with his buddy Gavin!

This is typical, silly Noelle!

There's little ELijah coloring again!

Noelle's kindergarten did a feast as well and they dressed up like pilgrims and indians. Noelle wouldn't even look at me with her costume on, but she looked so cute!



Bounce-Housing with the cousins!!!!

These are just various pictures from Thanksgiving. My mom flew in on Monday, my sister Nikki and her family drove up on Tuesday and my Dad and brother Brandon drove up on Wednesday. We had a full house, with people sleeping all over the place. Dinner turned out wonderful, we visited and held baby Tessa, went to a bounce house place and to the movies! These times are priceless! The kids jumped right back in where they had left off and played and played!











On Saturday, we drove up to Sun Valley for a picnic in the snow. It was beautiful. We didn't stop and shop because we had the children with us, but the towns surrounding Sun Valley are charming! (Kind of like Park City!)

We are officially settled into our new home! We moved into the house on October 22nd and yesterday I unpacked the last box. (If you don't count the huge stack of boxes in the basement!) Idaho is finally starting to feel like home! I have so much to post about. Life has been pretty action-packed this last month. I just wanted to say, "Happy Monday!" to my blog family and let you know that I have not abandoned my blog. We moved our computer upstairs and it makes it difficult to access while my children are awake. I am also adjusting to being a housewife with an actual house. Cleaning consumes my time! (I really am not complaining. It is fun to clean a new home!) So...for those of you who check in often, a post is soon to come!

This post is more of a journal entry since my journal is packed, but read on if you would like!
It has been THE LONGEST ROAD and I am thrilled to announce that Dan and I sign the papers this weekend to officially become first-time home owners!!!! We are more giddy than I can express. We watched another closing deadline come and go last week (if you remember, it was supposed to be finished this summer!) and were a bit discouraged, but the contractors have been working around the clock and the finished product is stunning! We are thinking that tonight will be our last night here at the Weaver's, but are not sure exactly how the moving logistics will work. Dan's parents picked Corom and Elijah up last week and took them back to Sacramento. They will be making the long drive home tomorrow! Dan and I have missed the boys like crazy, but have thoroughly enjoyed our one-on-one time with Noelle. Among the things we have accomplished this week, Noelle and I have finally worked on her reading. She has blown me away. She is reading quite well! Today we visited the pumpkin patch on a walking field trip with kindergarten and tonight I canned a dozen pears from a friends tree, all while trying to get all of the packing buttoned up. It has been a busy day, with so much still to do! We won't get our internet until Wednesday, so pictures will probably have to wait! Have a wonderful week all!

Climbing back up to the table after his bath to finish up what was left of breakfast. This kid is too much!

Guess who got caught putting on mascara?


Caramel Apple Family Home Evening with Friends this week! YUM!

We did a pizza day in preschool last week, so I thought it might be fun for the kids to make it at home! It turned out amazing!

Does this picture tell you anything about Corom's personality?

For journaling sake, here is a picture of the basement where we are living while our home is being built! And, these 2 bear cubs are getting to be good buddies!

And lastly, here is the new addition to our family. We are more grateful for this car than I can express. It has opened up doors to freedom that Dan has not had since the sale of the GTI! It runs well, is cute and the kids adore it! They call it, "Daddy's slug-bug!"

I intended to post pictures and will, but wanted to do a quick update for all of our friends and family, since I feel as if I have dropped off of the face of the earth lately. You know, sometimes life is so overwhelming that you just have to laugh, then cry, then scream, then laugh. Such has been our lives lately. We think, however, that we can see light at the end of our 5 month tunnel. Our home is supposed to close next Wednesday. HAH! HAH! HAH! There is a laundry list about a mile long of things that still need to be completed, so we shall see. They do keep saying that it will be finished!

We have had a ridiculous week that I can't help but document. If you are squeamish, I would advise you skip this paragraph. On Friday morning, my 5 year old Noelle was sitting at the breakfast table scratching her head like CRAZY! I went to put her hair up in a pony tail and sure enough, she had head lice! And not only a little bit. It was brought to our attention that at least one other child in her kindergarten had had it the previous week in school. Three whole days were devoted to CLEANING, pushing like 30 loads of laundry through, bagging up toys and pillows for the 2 weeks that is suggested, steaming, spraying, shampooing heads with lice treatment and hours and hours of actually combing it out! NASTY! On Sunday we checked thoroughly and she was clear and we have continued to do so every day. She is clear. That is one thing that is on my list of "Someday I will laugh about it," but not yet. I still think that it is the school's job to inform parents about it and they won't.

On Monday, we couldn't flush the basement toilet. Brian, who we are living with, plunged, snaked and then finally determined that the sump pump went out. We felt horrible. The smell alone, we owe this family our lives for what they have been through since we moved in with them. Again, someday I will laugh about this, but not yet! Our list of such things since we have been here in Idaho is so long.

Life has not been all that bad, we have had many things to make us smile. Noelle is loving kindergarten and thriving. We had been worried about her making friends and are so grateful that we were wrong. She is proving to be quite the social butterfly. Preschool is also going well. This is the highlight of our week. Today, for example, talked about air transportation and one of the little girls (not that it fit the theme) had begged her grandpa to bring her horse for show and tell. The kids all got to have turns sitting on the horse. (Only in Idaho!) We have been enjoying the fall and the weather cooling down. Last week it did get down to 45 degrees, but this week is back up into the 60's and beautiful! Dan also began a second job at the school district with a case load of 11 children. He is working 4-10 hour days at the skilled nursing facility and does the district on his off-day. We are also enjoying the addition of the slug bug to our family. The car is such a kick. The kids never want to drive with me anymore. Now, to teach this 30 year old how to drive stick, so I can get in on the FUN!

My in-laws are driving up today from Sacramento to pick up the boys (Noelle will stay and go to school) and will take them back for about a week. We are hoping to have a good head-start to getting settled into the house before they return. Such mixed feelings, I have already cried. I think they will have fun and I am looking forward to some one on one time with Noelle.

I hope you are all doing well. I can't wait for my next post to hopefully be from our home! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Thank you for all of your kind comments and emails. Sometimes you just need to vent and let it out, so you don't feel like you are going crazy. We just walked through our home and have been told that it will be completed in 3 weeks. Looking at it, you would never guess it, but they are doubling up on contractors and working long hours to get it done. I am so excited, it does not seem real. I think it will be like Christmas opening up all of the boxes that we have not seen since May. I was just talking to Corom about his bunk beds and bedding (that we have not seen since May because it is in storage) and he was arguing with me about not having bunk beds. Won't he be in for a treat to see that he actually has toys and pictures to hang on the wall! Tonight, as a family, as mentioned, we walked through the construction site, stopped to get ice cream and went on a drive through the country! It is stunning. Most of the fields are in harvest and it is green, a stark contrast to the dead fields we saw when we came to tour the city last winter. I needs more evenings like this to find balance and beauty with my family. Thank you all again for your love and support. This summer has been tough, but we look forward to brighter days and settling down!

Preschool is a kick. Tomorrow we are talking about Jack and the Beanstalk. This too, has been a blessing for me to find structured time and something to keep me busy away from my everyday duties! Have a great week! I can hopefully post house pictures soon.

This entry is one that has been on my mind for quite awhile, but I usually try to keep things light, fun and family-friendly on my blog. The truth is that these last few months have been really trying. I don't know if I have ever felt such intense feelings of loneliness, inadequacy and discouragement. When those who are close to me question why, I can't explain it. We are building a beautiful home, have beautiful children, are earning a "real" income after years of schooling, have our health, live close to a temple, are part of a wonderful ward (congregation), and have been taken in by a great family while our home is being completed. I recognize these things, and appreciate these things, I have just been in a slump. I believe that Satan works on us when we are weak with thoughts like, "You aren't good enough", "Life stinks" "What are you worth anyways?" It has felt like a constant battle to be a good parent and wife when I have felt lost in this world of "Oh poor me." Today in my Sunday School Class, I was teaching the teenagers about Spencer W. Kimball and the refining moments in his life. I do believe that we are given these periods in our life to prove that we can be better, that we can rise above the blues to be grateful for the beautiful gifts that we have been given. I have had confirmation after confirmation that Heavenly Father is aware of me, that he loves me, but that it is my job to CHOOSE to be happy, to be a good friend/wife/mother/daughter/etc. Last night I was able to slip away for a bit of "Filling my spiritual cup" time. I attended our General Relief Society Conference. Among other speakers from the General Relief Society Presidency, Elder Uchdorf, one of the counselors to our Prophet, spoke. He used the analogy of Willy Wonka and talked about how in life we are often too busy looking for our Golden Tickets to take delight in simple beauties of life like the chocolate bar itself. If you have not yet viewed the talk, it is archived on the LDS.org website. It was wonderful and I believe it was written for me. I left there saying, "I am now living in this new city and can CHOOSE to be happy here, to find beauty in being the person that I am, with the responsibilities that I have been given. I am committed to humbling myself to seek inspiration and guidance in my pursuit of happiness in this phase of life." I have so much to be grateful for. I don't know why life gets us down sometimes, but when it does, it is difficult to rise above it. I am eager to feel like myself again, and to not only be where I was, but to become who I really want to be. Thanks again for checking in on us. I miss my friends and family dearly and feel that these connections and updates are priceless.

After months of preparation, we are in business! I opened a preschool with a friend, Brenda and we have 7 children in our class. The preschool is held in Brenda's basement, but as you can see below, the basement has been transformed into a gorgeous classroom! We are still in a period of trial and error as we get to know the individual personalities in our class and see what motivates them to learn. We have discovered already that they all love music! Some of the children have longer attention spans than others and we are working on transitioning activities to accommodate the differences in attention span. (Some kids could color a picture to perfection while others scribble a few scribbles and are ready for the next task) As discovered in years passed, it all comes down to routines and over-planning! This month we are studying a letter a week and the theme "All About Food!" This week we will talk about produce and grains and will do among many other activities, fruit and veggie stamping with paint. I LOVE IT! My sweet Corom is thrilled to giggles about starting preschool. He giggles at every joke we say and anything he finds fun or funny in class. Brenda has a little boy the same age as him and they get a kick out of it! The children we have enrolled are delightful, which makes hard work all worth it! Elijah goes to a baby sitter, but I am able to have Noelle with me, as she is enrolled in PM kindergarten. She too, is finding it fun and enjoying the activities, especially the awesome assortment of dress ups. As far as home updates go, we have been told October 19th and though we are not holding our breaths, we are hopeful and excited. Have a great week!

It has been way too long! I have been fussing with my IPHOTO and have been having trouble putting my pictures on the computer. It isn't much fun to blog without pictures. Well, we are officially basement dwellers. Like previously posted, a wonderful family has taken us in while we are waiting for our home to be completed. With that said, it has been a wild month. We, as a family, are about as off-routine as any family can be. We came with only our basics and are trying to make do with what we have. After a really frustrating summer of construction delays and after expressing our frustrations repeatedly with the builders, they have promised that they are doing everything possible to get us into our home. (Keep in mind, we were supposed to be in our home on August 16th. It is now September 11th and the home has been sitting still for over a week awaiting the HVAC and framing inspections) My kids are getting really used to driving by the house and hearing my growl. It is REALLY frustrating! But, I think that we have come to terms with the slow process and will wait with patience and anticipation for the completion of our home. Life does go on, even if you are living with another family and some BIG events have happened this month! I will let the pictures speak for themselves. My family is getting big and every day I watch my children in AWE that they are really mine. We are so blessed. I keep thinking that this time last year, Elijah was just turning one and starting to walk. Now, he is speaking in full sentences and so active! Life is flying by! This Tuesday we begin our in-home preschool that I am opening with a friend. It has been ALOT of work, but has come together well and we are anxious to get it going! Corom will be the first to benefit from this preschool and can't wait!

NOELLE started kindergarten at our rural elementary school. This little school building houses over 700 kids! She was so excited (and a bit nervous) to begin! We are so proud of her for being so BRAVE!



Last weekend we slipped away for a day to Boise to school shop and play! Dan helped Noelle pick out some skinny jeans, ballet flats and other cute clothes. My 5 year old and husband are way more fashionable than me! WE LOVED OUR TIME THERE! While there, we found a wonderful park. These pictures are of Corom and I watching Noelle's back-to-school fashion show! The ones below are of Dan and the kids in Boise!




Elijah's Birthday was on September 1st and our baby turned 2! (So sad! I would love for him to stay a baby) But, two he is! He fits every two year old stereotype. He is inquisitive, playful, energetic, talking like crazy and climbing out of his crib! HE MAKES ME SMILE! I cannot imagine our lives without this beautiful child! For his birthday, we went to the park with the Weavers (the family we are living with) We ate cake, opened presents, did a pinata and PLAYED! At our 2 year old checkup last week, Elijah weighed in at 27 pounds. He is in the 75% for height and the 50% for weight. (Corom has always been in the 3rd) He is healthy and growing like a weed! Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy!







Here is a picture of the construction. It is a little out of date, as we now have windows and felt on the roof. WE CANNOT WAIT! I am hoping the next pictures will be with all of the siding, rocks and roof on! Those materials have all been dropped off. Soon, we hope!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK! LOVE YOU ALL!