Since we are new to the area, I wasn’t sure where to take her. I decided to take her to the urgent care that was not far from our house. We got in within about 5 minutes. The nurse looked at it and said, “she’ll need stitches.” The numbing stuff took a while to do it’s magic. The problem was that Amaia was very tired and did not want to be there and was being very grumpy. They told me I’d have to take Amaia out into the waiting room while they did the stitches. Holly ended up with 4 stitches. We were on our way. I got her lunch and took her to school a little late.

After she ran into the wall, Holly told me that she should not have ran into the wall. We have talked to her about watching where she is going as well as not getting so mad at her sister.

Today, when we were at the doctor’s office for a well child check, the doctor was able to take out Holly’s stitches. She now has a scab. The doctor recommended I get some scar cream to put on it. It should go away in about 6 months or so. She is doing well otherwise.

I did find out that in the future, the pediatrician’s office will do stitches. Although, with it being on her face and the fact that she is a girl, they would have sent us to a specialist…..sigh. The urgent care doctor did talk to me about the fact that she was getting stitches on her face and said we could go to a specialist if we wanted. I declined and she stitched her up. It has been a very enlightening experience.

We started making plans to do things we were willing to do. I found the idea to use Oreos for the Mickey Mouses on Pinterest. It was simple and easy, I was on board. Scott found a strawberry filled angel food cake to try. We were good, we thought.

The day before her birthday, she comes home from school and tells me the following. She wanted for her birthday the next day to dress up in costumes; have cupcakes; she wanted a pink power ranger or batman pinata; play lots of games; play some games outside, and have a treasure hunt.

I was prepared to do it all except for the piñata. I felt bad, but we weren’t able to put that together in the time we had.

On the morning of Holly’s birthday she insisted on inviting another girl in the neighborhood. I didn’t know where she lived or anything about her. I figured it was worth a try. We went over to her house and invited her. She was able to come to the party. It was good to meet her and her mom and learn a little bit about them. It is always good to meet your neighbors. It was super sweet.

The kids did have fun. We had a treasure hunt, the cupcakes and played a lot. Everyone dressed up in a costume. It was great!

We shared the cupcakes with some other friends in the neighborhood. We had pepperoni pizza for dinner and open gifts. Holly loved getting her pink cowboy girl hat. She has also really enjoyed her Lego friends legos. She got a horse set. Thank you everyone who gave her gifts….

Scott had to go to to scouts. When he got back home, we had cake. All in all, it was a good day! I think Holly had fun!

We colored Easter eggs which was a lot of fun. We received a kit last year didn’t use it. We decided to use it this year. I think all the kids and Grandma had fun.

On Saturday morning, we had an Easter egg hunt at our house. It is always fun to see the kids looking for Easter eggs. Amaia wanted to eat a caramel egg right after finding it and she loved eating it!

That afternoon, the ward had the “25th” annual Easter Egg hunt at the church. We went and ate lunch and had the Easter egg hunt. Milo got a “golden ticket” and received an extra prize. A chocolate bunny.

After church on Sunday, we had Scott’s aunt and her children and their families over to our house for Easter dinner. It was a fantastic dinner. We had lots of great food and enjoyed the company!

Easter is always a fun time of year. This year is was nice and warm outside. We got spoiled with warm sunny weather. It has cooled off significantly now. It was nice while it lasted.

I took pictures of them and their signatures. I also took voice memos of the interviews. If you want to listen please let me know.

Holly has had her front tooth loose for quite a while. It was very wiggily. Finally, last night Holly let Scott pull on it. He pulled on it hard enough that it came out. Holly didn’t cry or complain or anything. She was happy to have it out. Later, she told Milo that it didn’t even hurt.

Scott then realized that Holly had the same tooth missing as he did. We took this twinner picture.

1. Last Tuesday, Scott’s sisters were visiting. I was going to be leaving a little after the kids got home from school to take them to the airport. Milo ran into the house and said “Holly is still on the bus.” I thought, great, what should I do. I went out the front door and was trying to decide what to do when I noticed the bus was back at the bus stop. Holly had gotten off the bus. I asked Milo to run back down to her. After we got inside the house, I asked Holly what was up. She told me she was mad at her friend and didn’t want to get off at the same stop. Apparently, she said “Sophie, Sophie” and Sophie didn’t turn to see what Holly wanted. Milo didn’t look to see if Holly was off the bus before he got off. I’m not sure if Holly said something to the bus driver or if he just noticed. He dropped someone else off and then brought Holly back and dropped her off.

Holly learned that even if she is mad at someone, she still has to get off the bus at her stop. Milo learned that he should always check to make sure his sister is off the bus before he gets off.

2. Two days later, Holly brought home a letter. They can write letters to people at school and she had brought one home. The note was from a boy in her class that said “I love you.” Holly then pipes up to tell me that Max had kissed her that day at school on the cheek and that they were “married.” Milo wasn’t too impressed and thought it was gross.

Later we found out that Max kissed her on the cheek during class. I have an audio version of the conversation between Holly and her dad, if you want to listen to it.

I hope you enjoyed them.

We went to downtown Salt Lake City with Monica’s family before Christmas. We rode the train and trax both ways.

Our first stop was Deseret Book. They had a fun train display. We also stopped by the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Our last stop was at the North Visitor’s Center where there is a statue of the Christus. Amaia decided she liked to look at the nativity outside. Annie, Holly and a few other cousins sat at the feet of the Christus. It was an a very touching experience.

After that we went back to Annie’s house for dinner and gifts. It was a great evening!!

We hope you enjoy this as much as we do!!

Small-sized montage
Medium-sized montage
Full-sized montage

This year has been an interesting one. We sold our house in Texas near the end of January. It took us about 9 months to find a house we liked here in Oregon. We moved the week of Thanksgiving as well as hosted a few family members for Thanksgiving dinner and Pie Day Friday. As per his usual Scott enjoyed the celebration of food. We are all hoping to stay put for a while. Milo has mostly forgiven his parents for moving two Thanksgivings in a row, but he is really looking forward to some consistency.

Milo’s highlight for the year was meeting his friends from Texas on a camping trip in Colorado. He is enjoying his time in Cub Scouts. He also enjoyed going to Utah to visit family. He was sad to leave his friends and school in Hillsboro. He is adjusting well at his new school. He is riding the bus to and from school for the first time. He seems to like his class and his teacher. Scott really likes Milo’s teacher because she assigns them homework everyday!

Holly continues to be full of energy. She enjoyed being a part of a preschool group at the first of the year. She was very excited to start kindergarten. She loves going to school and enjoys riding the bus. She didn’t seem to skip a beat when changing schools. She still talks about her friends from Hillsboro and Texas but is having no problems making new friends. She loves that our new house has stairs.

Amaia has changed so much in this year. She is now 18 months old. She is a very persistent and curious little girl. She gets into everything and is always making a mess. She had the hardest time of all the children adjusting to the move. She woke up the morning we moved, saw the house being disassembled, and freaked out. She didn’t want to let Scott leave her sight for the first week. She’s doing better now and seems to be enjoying the house. Amaia loves to play with Milo and Holly. She is very much a Daddy’s girl.

Monica tries her best to keep up with everyone. Amaia is certainly a handful. Monica started attending a book club from church in Hillsboro and has really enjoyed reading new and different books. She is also trying to get things organized in the new house. She is looking forward to being more settled.

Scott has enjoyed his first year at Intel. He works in a good group and is allowed to do things he finds to be interesting. He hit a couple of National Parks for the first time. He took the kids camping with friends in Rocky Mountain NP and did a 5 day backpacking trip in Olympic NP. The whole looking for a house thing (for 9 months…) did complicate his weekend hiking, but he did hit a few nice trails. The camera is starting to get out a bit more although the promise of a big garden at the new house may derail that somewhat. Scott still enjoys cooking and continues to work on his pizza recipe each Sunday afternoon much to the joy of the kids.

Have a great holiday season!

Scott, Monica, Milo, Holly & Amaia

* To see photos of what we have been doing recently, please follow Scott or Monica on Instagram or Twitter. Also our photo montage for the year will be up shortly!! To see photos of Amaia, please see her Twitter link to the right.

We were talking to Milo about the year. He talked about this new school and informed us last night that since the mascot is a bull the teachers, etc. use horns to have the kids quiet down. At their old school they would use a quiet sign. Milo said that it is very common for the teachers to tell the kids “HORNS UP!” when they are walking down the hall to get them to be quiet. The funniest was that the bus driver even says “HORNS UP!” Holly said her teacher tells them “HORNS UP!” as well. We thought it was pretty funny!