Bullet points

Yep, we're still here. It's been a while and some big things have happened. To get you caught up I'm just going to do some bullet points. Here we go....

• We moved...in July. We live in the same general area but we found a nice place in a really good school district. This way next year when Carter starts kindergarten he'll have a definite spot in a good school. It also cut 15 minutes off Zach's commute. Score!

• We took a trip to Utah. We drove. In our tiny little Honda Accord. We barely fit us and all of our stuff for the two week trip. It wasn't bad. Don't get me wrong, it was long. I mean llllooooonnnnnngggggggggggggggg. But the kids did well and we got to swing through St. Louis on our way home and see some old friends. However, Carter did ask (read state) that next time we go to Utah it be on an airplane. No problem buddy, I'm with you on that one.

• On the drive to Utah our car gradually got louder and louder until it sounded like a jet engine. It seriously gave us a head ache to ride in it that last stretch from Yellowstone to Salt Lake. Luckily it was just rear wheel bearings and a pretty quick fix.

• Did I mention that the first two bullet points happened within a four day period? Yeah, we moved all of our stuff (Thank you Elders Quorum!!!) on July 24th and on the 27th we were all crammed in the car destination Yellowstone (and on to Utah after a few days there) Are we crazy? I'd say most likely

• When we got home from our Vacation (not sure that word's really appropriate but I'm going to use it) all of our stuff was still here. Whew! We were a little worried that someone would notice our nicely pre-packed apartment and decide to make off with the goods.

• The boys have been a little cRaZy lately. With the move and the trip any schedule we kind of had this summer flew out the window and insanity ruled for a few weeks. Luckily pre-school started so we are back in the swing of things. I never thought I'd be so excited to get up at 6 o'clock every day.

• Zach's gone. That trial date that got pushed....(see two posts ago)....is here now. He's in Philadelphia and will be there forever! Ok, maybe not forever but it could go for three months and right now that kind of feels like forever. If it went exactly three months he'd be home December 20th. See, forever. Hopefully he'll be able to come home some weekends once they're a few weeks into trial but we really don't know what's going to happen.
  

Are you all ready for the cherry that tops this all off? Here you go...

• Zach got a new calling at church. Our ward just split and he's now the 2nd counlor in the bishopric. He's very excited but feels bad that he's going to be MIA for the first few months. What do you do? That's how things go sometimes. I don't think it's going to get any less crazy around here any time soon.
  

So, there you have it. You are up to date on the happenings at the Holmstead house. Later!

*I'll try to add pictures in the near future.*

SUMMER!!

Summer is here and we are loving it. My last post was mostly words (boring) so this picture will be mostly pictures. Enjoy!

Carter is learning to ride his bike without the training wheels. He's almost got it.

Squirt guns were a big hit at our house!

I snapped these three pictures all in a row. I love the progression of their facial expressions.

Playing out in the yard.

Looking for bugs.

This kid's always dirty!

Fun at the beach


WATER FIGHT!!

That's all for now.

A little bit crazy

That's how things have been since my last post, a little bit crazy. Here's a some of what's been going on.

Zach is working on a big case that was scheduled to go to court on June 3rd. May was a very busy month for him. Most of the month he would leave for work at 7is and get home sometime after 11 almost every day. It was exhausting for everyone. During this time Austin fell off a chair and hit his head against the bookshelf splitting his head open near his left eye. It required an ER visit where they slapped some glue on it and sent us home. The day everything hit the fan was Wednesday, May 26th. Austin's cut wasn't looking good, the kids were being crazy and I was ready to explode. I took the glue off of Austin's cut to get a closer look and found that the ER doctor hadn't closed the cut completely so it wasn't healing closed, it was healing open. This in itself really isn't a big deal but the state I was in it was the last straw. I lost it. I called my mom (knowing that Zach was in a meeting and didn't need the drama) bawling. I vented to her, e-mailed my pediatrician about Austin's cut, and planned to drive to Utah with some friends and stay there until Zach was through with trial(It's expected to take two months and it's in Philadelphia so we wouldn't see him) . The next day, Thursday, there was a meeting with the trial judge and he postponed trial until mid-September. Can you say roller-coaster?!? Here Zach has been working his tail off for trial in June, I'm a basket case, and we've come up with a plan for our time during trial and now it's all got to change. Goo!! Knowing there's nothing we can do to change the situation we took what we could get, time as a family. Since trial wasn't until September Zach's work load lightened considerably and we've been able to do fun family things (more on that later).

To make a long story short, I haven't posted in months because it's been a little bit crazy.

Here's a shot of Austin's cut, pre glue removal

Nap time

Today as I put Austin down for his nap this is what he told me...

"I need to tell you someting. I need you go downtairs and don' boder me. K?"

It's like he's in charge or something.

Carter is currently napping with an eye mask on. You know, the kind that diva's wear in the movies when they're sleeping? Zach brought it home from some trip out of town (it was complimentary at the hotel). Carter asked what it's for so we told him. He now thinks that he has to wear it for nap time. I totally let him because hey, he takes a nap and I was beginning to think that was a thing of the past for him. Thank you hotel!

A little mixed up

We went to the park yesterday. Right now you can find dandelions everywhere around here, and we did. Carter picked one and carried it around smelling it saying he was going to save it and bring it home to show Daddy. I'm not sure how long he'd been up to this when I looked over and noticed that his nose was all yellow. I didn't know dandelions smelled that good. :)

Austin also decided that he needed to pick some dandelions. He seems to think that one can not have too many dandelions. This made our walk to the park pretty slow. It was hard to get him to walk past a dandelion without stopping to pick it. As he held his handful of eight or more dandelions and bounced/walked along occasionally he'd see a dandelion out of his reach behind a chain-link fence. He would point it out to me by saying, "Look Mom, a jellybean!"

This morning....

Carter: "Austin, that does not make sense"

Austin: "Yes it doos"

These phrases were repeated seven or ten times until I put Carter's breakfast in front of him. When Carter stopped his side of the "conversation" Austin ended it all with, "That makes sense to mees"

* The pictures really have nothing to do with the post.

A thousand words...

They say that a picture's worth a thousand words.

Yes, that's Austin wearing his bike helmet in the house and yes, they're "eating fish"(brightly colored plastic ones)

I'm really not sure what these pictures say.