This Week at Our House #2

1. Not much happened this week, which is probably a good thing. John applied to jobs and may be negotiating some more contract work. We quite like the part of North Carolina we ended up renting in, and are hoping to find stuff to keep us here. It is the perfect combination of out in the country with just enough of the stores and restaurants we like and need within minimal driving distance. 
2. I really like our new area. The yard is 3 times bigger than our North Salt Lake yard and I just love the distance it puts between us and our neighbors and I love the room to move around in within our own yard. We drove to Charlotte to get the rest of our stuff from my parents house, to buy some cheap-o bunk beds at Ikea, and to return books to the schools. I enjoyed seeing my mother and sisters and am very happy that they are now within driving distance. It's between 4 and 4.5 hours. After being a 3 to 4 day drive away, this is really, really nice. We also went to our storage unit and got more of our stuff. It's nice to have silverware and some other kitchen stuff now. I am still missing my mixing bowls and 9x13 glass pans. But we should be emptying out the storage unit within another 2 weeks. 
3. Ruth took finals this week. She only has one more semester before she graduates. She has the next 3 days off in which time she will be applying for jobs. I hope she gets one quickly. She likes working and she needs to save for college.
4. Kate took her finals too and now she will be coming home to finish high school as a homeschooler. We will be happy to have her around all day. Kate will be trying to get an after school job too.
5. Johnny did well with his schooling this week and did everything I asked him to do. I had him write a 3 page single spaced research paper on the history of communism. He complained that was impossibly too long. In the end, he wrote 5.5 pages single spaced no problem.
6. Adam is reading and enjoying it! He is reading at night before going to sleep and he is reading for school without a fight. He has finished two books in 8 days! 
7. Rachel had a bit of trouble getting all of her school work done one day. the next day, she had to do double the work and work sitting at the tables. The day after that, she woke up early and completed all of her work before 11am. Hopefully she will continue with that.
8. Anya is doing well with homeschool. She seems to really like to write, and she usually gets her work done in a reasonable amount of time. 
9. Joseph always gets right to work and finishes it quickly so he can go and play. He is easy to teach. I am glad he had the time in school that he had because he would never sit long enough to teach anything to before kindergarten. 
10. Josh had his 5th birthday today. We are working on getting him to dress himself and take care of all of his bathroom needs. It's hard to believe he is 5 already. I often think of how desperately I wanted to be done having children once he was born, and now I am just so glad that I am not done and will likely still have more.
11. Arwen is a sunbeam now and doing just great with that transition. Arwen loves her toys and her books and playing quietly all day. She likes me to read to her. She likes learning her alphabet. I am wondering if she is a bit far sighted because she has trouble drawing and writing things, but can say them and recognize them pretty easily. I will hopefully be able to get that checked soon.
12. Susan went to nursery for the first time today. She did really well and her leaders seemed to think she's as cute as we do. Susan loves to sing and sings all day long. She loves it when someone plays the piano and will always try and join them.

This Week's Pictures

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Our blond, spunky, sweet, car-loving, train-loving, lego-loving, chocolate milk obesessing boy, who happens to be a really good artist turned 5 today! That kid makes messes, makes us laugh, grosses us out, laughs, cries, smiles, hugs, snuggles, and kisses a ton! We love our little Joshua a ton! He says the craziest and cutest things. This week alone, he has said

"Are we done with this house yet. I want to go back to MY HOUSE!"

"For my birthday I want fruit snacks and chocolate milk because those are my favorite food."

"I take the stuff out of my ears and put it in my nose so then it will turn into boogers."

When I asked him if he ran around in circles during primary he said, "They won't let me. They won't let anyone."

This Week at Our House # 1

1. Our first week of 2016 was spent moving in, getting into new schools, and taking care of funeral arrangements for Christopher. On Monday, John took Kate, Johnny, and Adam to our storage unit to get our beds, couches, and as much stuff as he could fit into a 17 foot truck. He got back after 10 and then they unloaded including bringing a piano into the house. We dropped the truck off at 1 am. John and I went to a private (just the two of us ) showing of Christopher of Wednesday. Then we had him cremated on Friday. John went to the cremation. It was quite the week. 
2.  On Monday, I spent the whole day getting what I needed to get done so the hospital bill will be paid. I got Kate and Ruth registered into the local high school on Tuesday, which took much of the entire day too. Wednesday, I went back to the hospital to get a keepsake box they made for Christopher and then later to the showing. On Thursday, I started homeschooling Johnny, Adam, Rachel, Anya, and Joseph. So far, the kids are being really good about getting their work done. Thursday was the first day I had time to rest. Tonight we will do an in home funeral service for Christopher with the kids. His ashes are home with us, which I am glad about because we do not have a permanent residence. I feel comforted to keep him with me at this time. I am also glad we were able to find an affordable option that we can feel comfortable with. The ward here has been so good to us. The relief society president called me Monday morning and it was only on Tuesday that I could get back to her. But she set up 8 meals to come in starting that night. The meals have all been good home cooked food and the people don't seem afraid of our big family. Actually everyone I have had to deal with here in our little town have been very kind and understanding in a way that I am not used to.
3. Ruth started the new school. We plan to stay here, if at all possible until she graduates in June. The school is easier going than the one she attended at my parent's house. It's very different than Bountiful High and she misses Bountiful High, but I think this will be fine here and she will like better than the other high school she attended in North Carolina.
4. Kate is going to school this week to finish off her semester, but then she has decided to homeschool the rest of High school. She was very distraught at having to take the same classes again. After praying about it, she chose to come home and just study what she wants and what she needs for college.
5. Johnny, as always, is very helpful and cheerful. He has mostly been good about doing his school work. I have been giving him final projects to finish off his last semester and then he will start on 4 more semester courses to finish his sophmore year of high school. He will be studying English 10, Chemistry, Pre-calculus, and Violin/piano. I will require him to spend at least one hour a day in chemistry, pre-cal, and music, and then 2 hours (for extra reading) in his English 10.
6. Adam has been very good about doing his school work and his reading. Because we now have such a nice yard, he also spends lots of time making targets and shooting his bb gun. Adam also did a great job helping to move all of our stuff. 
7. Rachel has been good about her school work, but less good about her reading. She works slowly as does a good, thorough job.
8. I found out that Anya loves to write stories. I got her a writing journal as part of homeschool and it is her favorite part. Anya also had her 8th birthday on Saturday. She is looking forward to getting baptized. I think our records will be in this ward soon, and then we will get that set up.
9. Joseph is easy to teach. He works quickly. He is a good and fast reader. I think he will be easy to homeschool. And he lost his very first tooth. 
10. Joshua says he wants to go to regular school and I will probably send him to kindergarten because I find that it teaches the kids to sit still and pay attention in a way that nothing else does. I think a year of kindergarten will make homeschooling him afterwards a lot easier.
11. Arwen was excited to get her toys! I was excited for her to get them too.
12. Susan was most excited to get high chair. She got all excited and wanted to get into it as soon as she saw it. And she has been enjoying since then. And all of the rest of us are so happy that she is no longer taking our food off of our plates, crawling onto the table during meals, and sitting in our laps. High chairs are win/wins.

This Week's Pictures

Anya Turns 8!

I can't believe my 6th little angel is already 8! Anya is sweet, and nice, and fun. She is Joseph's best buddy and Rachel's companion. She loves writing, running, drawing, singing, computer games and legos. She fits in just perfectly right in the middle of our family. She is Rachel's partner and Joseph playmate. She's kind and considerate and as sweet as they come. We all love her so.

This Week at Our House # 52

1. Obviously it has been an eventful week. We had Monday until Friday at 11 am on the beach. It was absolutely lovely and the best and most needed family vacation we ever had. The weather cooperated and it never rained much and never got much below 70 until Friday when we left. Then we had the saddest part of the week, when we lost our little boy. John loved our beach vacation which is saying something because he has almost always been the Dad to work during the vacation or the dad to complain about everything during the vacation.John did neither. He just enjoyed the beach, the house, and the family.
2. I enjoyed the beach immensely. I am so grateful we had that time before we had to deal with the loss of Christopher. I am so sad we lost him, but I know that Heavenly Father helped with making the timing the best possible. The hardest part, besides the loss is that we do not have any of our stuff. We are sleeping on the floors and we have no place to sit and no dishes or way to cook. I miss couches and beds like crazy. Hopefully we will have those by Monday night. The ward here has been amazingly good to us. When we got to the house there was a frozen dinner with a note on it welcoming us to the area. That was such a huge blessing because I was in the hospital that night until just after 11pm. It gave the girls something to get the kids for dinner. Then they brought over dinner on Saturday night too. I did contact the YW President to let her know what was happening. We didn't have internet other than the phone, and I needed to know where the hospital was and we had a recent email from her. The hospital treated me well and did not make me stay over night when I wanted to return to my family. I was also very blessed in getting a doctor that did what needed to be done so I did not have to have a d&c. The baby was born at home. But the placenta would not come on its own and I knew I would need medical assistance to avoid hemorrhaging. I could have easily been sent right in for a d&c and they prepared me for that. But the doctor worked with me to get everything out without surgery. I am so grateful for that. The doctor told me she was so grateful for a patient that was willing to try out the no surgery route first. 
3. Ruth LOVED the beach and the short lived solitude she had in the room she and Kate shared at the beach house. I loved swimming with Ruth out in the waves. When we got to the home we are renting, Ruth went to the store with me to buy a small amount of food and some cleaning supplies. I was going to clean the bathrooms when we got back. But I started going into labor at the store. So Ruth washed the master bathroom for me. She even washed the blanket that my water broke over by hand and hung it to dry because we do not have a washer and dryer yet. Then she cleaned all of the bathrooms until they were just sparkling. Then she held Susan who really wanted me. She has been there for me every step with this. She had to see most of the labor in all of the gorey details. I was worried she would be traumatized, but she said she was not. 
4. Kate LOVED swimming out in the waves. On the day the waves were huge, Kate excitedly ran right in and got sent under by a crashing wave and then forced back by a very strong undertoe. After that she was more careful about swimming in the big, crashing waves. Kate did most of the childcare part on Friday and has been quite helpful since then.
5. Johnny loved swimming and trying to dig for clams. We only ever found baby clams, though. Johnny is going to homeschool.
6. Adam loved the beach, of course. He spent down time playing games and such. Adam got his wish for Christmas and got a red ryder bb gun. The yard we have moved to is big enough for Adam to shoot his bb gun. He LOVES it and has been using it a lot and making different targets and such. Adam is going to homeschool along with all of the other kids. 
7. Rachel loved digging for clams. She and I argued a lot about whether or not she could bring a pencil box full of beach sand, ocean water, and baby clams into the car and the house. When I ordered he homeschool workbooks, she argued with me about how she hates doing that stuff. Oh well, I am making it simple, and workbooks that she can do on her own for the most part is just right for me right now. 
8. Anya was cautious in the ocean for the most part. She enjoyed building sand sculptures. She made a large starfish at one point. In the beach house, Anya mostly played computer games. 
9. Joseph would dive right in to the water and swim and swim. Then he would get out and be cold and just want to get back to the beach house to change. When I let him do that, he would come right back to the beach and swim and swim, get out of the water, be cold until he went home and changed again. 
10. Joshua said two cute things this week. Yesterday about the house we are now renting, though we do not have our stuff yet. I asked him if he was happy to have a house and he said, "No, I want to go to 'OUR' house." I said that we would be bringing our stuff here and wouldn't that make it better and he said, no way. He only wants his house. When I told him that I was gone on Friday because his baby brother was born, but he had died and would not be living with us, Josh said, "Then buy a new brother to put in your tummy. I want a baby brother to live with me."
11. Arwen loved the beach and the beach house and I loved watching her play in the waves. At the rental, she has enjoyed spending lots of time in the nice sized yard and up in her bedroom. She is sharing with Ruth, Kate, Rachel, and Anya and I think that makes her feel like a "big girl".
12. Susan hated the Ocean, but seemed to like the sand. She hated whenever I went out and went swimming. She'd watch me like a hawk.

Christopher Ezra Robertson Jan 1, 2016

Yesterday just 2 hours after we got to the house we have begun to rent, I started to give birth to a stillborn little boy. He came just after 5pm. At around 18 weeks, I had felt like I had stopped growing. At 20 weeks, I noticed that my uterus had dropped down about an inch. So when the baby came, I was not too surprised, just very very sad. I was hoping that I was just being paranoid about the pregnancy. Alas, we now join all of the other families with an baby in heaven.

We named him Christopher Ezra. John gave him a little blessing in the hospital and we took a couple of pictures before we had to say goodbye. He will be our angel baby in heaven.