are we having fun yet?

thanksgiving 2009

it's been 6 weeks since we moved to Michigan, and about 2 weeks since we've been in our new home.  It was nice to see familiar faces so quickly after leaving Utah, and also see family we hadn't seen for a long time make the trek out here to spend Thanksgiving together.  Quite honestly, it totally reminded me of any Stringham Thanksgiving out in Utah - lots of people (minus the church house), which is not hard when you have 12 kids to begin with!

From Utah:  Justan's Mom, Justan's Dad and his wife, Marti, Quin (not pictured). 

From the ranch in Montana: Justan's Aunt Iris, and cousin, Jennifer.

From NY: Justan's sister, Cindra, and Olivia, and Emily & Lyle. 

From Wisconsin,  Justan's little brother, Chris, and his wife, Jae, and their two kids, Ammon and Brighton. 

Kody lives here in Michigan, as do Bryan, Angelle, and their baby Elizabeth.  Thanksgiving was held at Kyle, Erin, & Madi's house.  It was an all day event and I think fun was had by all!  Kyle was in charge of it all this year (which still cracks me up!)...I felt like I got off easy with all these people here.  I only had to make cranberry sauce, rolls, and an apple pie.

Justan's Mom, and his little brother Chris and family stayed at our house.  The rest stayed at Kyle & Erin's house.   Grant was cracking me up because he wanted to play with Brighton all the time, but always referred to her as "that girl" instead of by her name!

On Friday, they all came over and we ate and played games.  I unfortunately got way sick on Friday.  I couldn't believe how crummy I felt!  Most of them left on Saturday, while Justan's Dad & Marti, Iris and Jennifer stayed until Tuesday night.  Some of the family drove to Kirkland, OH for the weekend.  Justan flew back to SLC for work on Monday, so the kids and I drove over the past two nights and slept over at Kyle and Erin's house, as I'm a wimp!  Mostly, it's because I'm not used to the sounds this house makes yet, and I'm in a much more rural area than before......mainly, I just need to stop watching shows like Dateline, Dexter, and Criminal Minds!!

making homemade chocolates

Justan's mom flew in last night, and will be staying with us until Saturday.  We are also looking forward to having Justan's brother from Wisconsin, and his family stay with us tomorrow as well.  We will get to see about 25 Stringham's this Thanksgiving as we celebrate at Kyle and Erin's house.  It'll be fun to celebrate with the 'east coast' Stringham's this year.

A fun tradition that we do with Justan's mom is making and then consuming handmade chocolates.  Like the creamy center, hard chocolate outside kind.....mmmmmmmm.  She brought her supplies and we've been working all morning on them.  We are just waiting to roll and dip them now.  Grant was so excited he was able to help pour and stir today.  Jaden's last day of school is today, so he will get to take part in the consuming.  :)

holy leaves Batman!

holy leaves Batman!  We had trees in Utah, but nothing like here.  We spent about six hours raking and burning leaves last weekend, and about that much time this weekend doing the same.  Nothing like moving into a house and having to spend the weekend raking leaves!  I don't think we'll get them all, but at least we got some of them! 

Burning the leaves?  That's a WHOLE new adventure for us as well!  You'd never be able to do this from where will lived before!  We aren't sure if we'll get used to smelling like a campfire anytime soon! :)

Happy Halloween 2009

We've made it to Michigan.  We have been here for about 17 days and are still living at the extended stay hotel.  But, that's another post for another day. 

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween over at Kyle & Erin's house along with Kody.  We had a great time!  It was freezing that night!  The night before it was 67 degrees and very windy, and I'm guessing it was around 40 degrees on Halloween night.  Jaden would only do a few pictures for me and then he headed inside.  Grant stayed out for just a tad longer.  Once it was time to go trick or treating, the boys headed out with Justan, and Grant insisted that Erin's dog Casper join them.  Well, not more than 5 mins later, Justan brought Casper back, and then 5 mins after that, brought Grant back.  I think Grant trick or treated to five houses maybe?  LOL!!  He said he "had enough" candy.  Jaden, was out with Justan FOREVER and hit the motherload.  He'll have candy until at least Christmas, if not longer!  We had a great time playing Nines and Rockband. 

Grant was a pirate and very good at it!  Jaden was a pokemon, Pikachu.....he has waited for 3 years to be any pokemon.  They've always been sold out when I went to order, and so I ordered this costume for him in July!

first pair of converse

so freaking cute!  I wish I could talk Jaden into buying some too, but right now, he is totally against them!

the boys

Oh, they are so sweet.  I feel like although I had the responsibility of keeping the house up to sell, being alone with the kids, etc...I got the easier part of our split living situation over the past three months.  Sure, there were days that Grant drove me ABSOLUTELY nutty, but for the most part, we had a great summer.  I definitely think Justan had the harder end of the bargain, and although he is living with his brother and family who are wonderful people, he didn't have...US. 

There is definitely much to be said about not having your family right there everyday after work or on the weekends, and personally, I would have a seriously difficult time being alone for an extended period of time.  I got to experience all the madness, fun, and the hugs & kisses.  It just wasn't the same for Justan talking on the phone or on Skype each day to the boys.  I know for sure he'll be very excited to have us all together again.

As the days quickly dwindle here in Utah, I find myself reflecting on my life here and I can be found instantly bursting into tears.  It's almost surreal.  For goodness sakes, after dinner last night at Justan's mom's house, I pulled into the driveway, and as my garage door was raising, I realized I wasn't going to see my neighbors, or this house anymore.  We wouldn't just be able to hang out in our front yard and instantly have someone to chat with anymore.  We wouldn't be going over almost weekly to eat dinner with Justan's mom. 

As Jaden tried on his new size 8 pajama bottoms last night, they wouldn't stay up on his hips as his waist was too skinny, I realized it won't be a five minute car ride to have my Mom stitch them up so they stay up where they are supposed to.  I realized I won't be going to the gym almost daily with my neighbor, Amy.  We have had such a great time working out together.  We push each other so hard and it just won't be the same without her.  

After I went to lunch with Sande last Friday, and I cried on the way home from lunch.  Same as a couple weeks ago when I went up to Allison's house and had lunch and just sat on her couch and chatted.  Just not being able to see people in person will be hard.  I definitely know I will keep in touch over the phone, or through email, but it's just not the same.  It's not the same to see a person and hang out with them for a couple hours. 

I hate to say it, but I can physically feel myself being sad.  I hope that will change...SOON!  As much as I try to tell myself to "change my attitude," it's definitely more than just that.  I'm just sad.

I keep trying to think of things I "should" be doing before I leave, but I can't find anything I "need" to do.  I have to be here the day they pack everything up, and I have to be here the day they load everything into the truck, but other than that, what else should I be doing?  I totally de-junked when we listed the home, and although I'm SURE I could get rid of a ton more stuff, I really don't want to do it.  

I did just find out that my awesome sister in law Jae and her family will be staying with us for Thanksgiving in our new house.  That definitely gives me something to look forward to, and don't get me wrong, I am excited to move.  It's just that as the date gets closer and closer, some things get harder and harder to realize you won't have anymore.  The unknown of EVERYTHING is also hard to imagine.  Once I'm there, I'm sure it will get easier and the anxiety of it all will calm down. 

the new house

Assuming everything goes through (the appraisal, etc), this house will be ours in about 3 weeks!  Click on the panoramic view tour to get a better view of everything. 

Jaden finally loses his first tooth

And, just like that, Jaden lost his first tooth today!  Unfortunately for him, he swallowed it during lunch at school eating his PB&J.  LOL!!! :)  He wrote a note and hopefully, the tooth fairy will be nice and bring him "lotsa moula" as he refers to it, tonight!  He informed me that most kids get $20 per tooth...boy, will he be in for a rude awakening since I know the tooth fairy personally, and she isn't that rich! :)

Happy 7th Birthday Jaden!!!!!

Hard to believe, but my baby is now 7!

first day of school (a few weeks late!)

I've really missed updating my blog several times a week.  I'm really going to try and be better at it.  It's just so much easier to post a one sentence update on Twitter/Facebook....and this place needs pictures too!  I need to not make it so complicated in my mind. 

When Justan first got his new job, we decided not to move out with him to Michigan a few months ago for a couple reasons.....first, I wanted the kids to have the entire summer to play with all their friends one last time before we moved.  Second, I didn't want to move, only to have Jaden go to a school out there for a short period of time, and then relocate to another house once we figured out where we were going to land.  He'd been to his school before, and I wanted the least amount of disruptions to his little life as possible.

Well, it turns out, he spent most of the summer playing with his little brother, or by himself.  Each time I would ask he if wanted to call a friend, he would just say no.  He literally hardly spent anytime extra time with friends, only when we would run into them if we all were out at the same time playing on the street, or at the swimming pool.  He seemed happy, so I didn't push the issue, but in hindsight, I would have flown all of us out and lived in Michigan for a couple months had I known this was how the summer would have played out.

Jaden started first grade on August 24th.  We had a few hiccups prior to school starting, one being that they didn't have him registered.  Someone in their best intentions I'm sure, informed the school we were moving (this being before our home had even sold), and removed him from the school list.  Slightly frustrating that the school wouldn't verify this with the actual parent first, but it all worked out.  He was added to Mrs. Funk's classroom and was ready to start attending school all day.  I was slightly worried that he would melt down that first day, but it wasn't until the 3rd week of school that he realized with school and homework, taking a bath, and reading, left him very little time to play each day.  Oh, the joys of reality.  I didn't know how to break it to him that 1st grade is easy, and it's only going to get harder.  LOL!

First day of school, we were all on course to go, everything was going smoothly, and Jaden was eating breakfast and decided to use his shoulder of his shirt as a napkin......I lost it!  I felt so bad.  I made him cry and it definitely wasn't my best moment.  So, here is the actual first day of school picture - he was SO not into.  LOL!! :)

 

 Here is Jaden with his teacher, Mrs. Funk, at his SEP conference:

 

I really like Mrs. Funk.  She has such a great tone to her voice.  It's not annoying or condescending when she is speaking to the kids.  Jaden really likes her.  She had such great things to say about Jaden at his SEP conference.  He is reading on a 3rd or 4th grade level (I can't remember now), is excellent at math, and is such a loving kid!  I just feel so lucky to be his Mom!

For posterity's sake, we grabbed a photo of him in front of the school last night:

 

He has Mrs. Funk for homeroom, Miss Merrick for Math, and Mrs. Funk for reading.  I like how they have 3 different classes for their studies.  He really likes school, although if you were to ask him, he would say "it's boring."  I know for sure the best part of school for him is lunch and recess. 

Last night, as we were traveling home in the car, he asked if I would homeschool him once we moved to Michigan.  I asked him why and he said he was scared to go to a new school and that he wouldn't have any friends.  I assured him that it was okay to be nervous, and he would make new friends.  But, man, deep down, it really tugged at my heartstrings. 

Of course, I know everything will work out, but this transition will be hard for all of us.  Everyone keeps asking us if Justan is looking for another job here in Utah, and the answer is no.  One of the things I admire most about Justan is his loyalty.  He is committed to the one he has.  He is enjoying it, and it's great experience for him to have added to his resume.  We really believe this next chapter of our lives is going to be what we make of it.  If we go with a positive attitude, it will be good.  If we go with a bad attitude, of course, it's going to be bad.