We bought a house

Lee, Samantha and I flew out to Arizona to look for a place to live.  We left Kass, Tom and JD with a cute couple from our ward.  Sam got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Heck.  Finding a house in Prescott wasn't easy.  The housing prices were crazy expensive and it's hard to find a house with four bedrooms and a flat yard.  I'm a little embarrassed to say that I knew every house that was for sale.  We kind of stumbled on the one we ended up buying.  It wasn't even listed in Prescott because the Realtor was based down in Scottsdale but I just so happened to see it online and told my Realtor about it.  It took some fenagling to finally be able to see, but we loved it.  We made an offer the night before we flew out.   



Easter 2014

The girls were the only ones excited to dye Easter eggs this year.  Tommy was probably outside playing and Lee and JD were just chilling. 

We did have a super fun egg hunt in our huge backyard even though the weather was a little chilly.



Spring is here, kind of

The thing about Rochester weather is that it likes to trick you.  Once you think you've finally been able to put the freezing cold and nasty days behind you, you are hit with another snow storm.  At the end of March, we had 8, I repeat 8 inches of snow.  

But once the sun comes out and you can put on a pair of shorts and it's 50 degrees, you feel like a new person.

Your legs are whiter than white and your eyes hurt because the sun is so bright but it feels really good to be out of the house.



When spring comes, lots of things need to be fixed and when you're one, fixing things is pretty awesome.

Dirty bum season comes with spring because it's so muddy and wet. 

Samantha actually let me braid her hair.  I had to have evidence because she'd rather have her hair in her face.

The three older kids took two sessions of swim lessons.  Samantha cracks me up.

Tommy had a few Author's Celebration days where the students read their projects in front of the class.  This one was the Power Point animal one. 

Tommy got glasses.

On this day at the park, it was painfully windy.  (Yes, it's not only cold but super windy in Rochester. Yeah!)

Spring Break and Other Happenings

Spring Break in Rochester should never have the word spring in it.  Maybe it should be called Winter Break #2.  Let's be honest, Spring doesn't arrive until May in Rochester.    

 Our ward had a Friday activity at the local fire station so I took Samantha and JD.

 JD and I went to Samantha's Valentine party.  It was really cute to watch Samantha hand out her Valentine's and see her interact with her classmates.

The library was one of our frequently visited places during the winter! 

 For "Spring Break" we didn't do anything too special.  We ventured out to get frozen yogurt and do some errands.  I will say it's not the easiest thing to bundle everyone up in their heavy winter coats and boats.  It probably took us more than 15 minutes to get out the door.

We watched some movies (surprise, surprise) and kept warm under the fuzzy red blanket.  In this picture, Samantha thought the light was just too bright for her little blue eyes, so she was very upset.

 I heard giggling in the other room and when I came in, I found JD with paint all over his face.  Samantha said that she was giving him a mustache.   I've never seen a mustache on a forehead but I guess painting on your little brother's face was super fun!



Tommy's 7th Birthday

 Tommy turned 7 on February 23rd, 2014 which was a Sunday.  Tommy was the first one up that freezing cold morning.  He asked if he could open his presents early.  So, just Lee and I watched him open his presents.  He requested an Oreo cake and the Skylanders Giants Wii game.  It's always a good thing when you can make birthday wishes come true.  Grandma Karen took care of the Skylanders part and making an Oreo cake was quite easy.  As you can see from the picture, the weather was still freezing and snowy so we went to church and they played his new Lego Creationary game when we got home.

 Tommy is a really good kid.  He loves basketball, extra positive compliments, playing outside, riding his bike and Nutella sandwiches.  He can be pretty intense about things though.  We're learning that he's a perfectionist and highly aware and concerned about what others think of him.  These qualities can definitely be amazing but can also cause difficulties.  The move from Indiana to Rochester was probably the most difficult for Tommy.  He's not that into change and he really liked his best friend and neighbor Taiyo in Indiana.  Tommy excelled academically in first grade.  His classmates called him "The Writing Machine".  He's always had really great handwriting and developed a niche for writing stories this past year.  In Math he was really good at geometry and taught the class how to make a geometric shape with blocks and then draw it.  I know I'm biased but his shape was by far the best. 
We love Tommy so much and we are glad he's part of this family.   



Kassie got her ears pierced



Freezing your tooshie off

This past winter in Rochester has been "the worst winter Rochester has seen in over 20 years".  That's what natives here have said.  It was bitter cold with wind chills in the high -20's and lots and lots of snow.  Lee and I did a lot of shoveling!  I kind of don't want to shovel snow for a very long time!

The kids only missed one day of school because the city is amazing at keeping the roads clear.  Here is a picture of them waiting for the bus when it was -25degrees.  Luckily the bus picks them up right in front of our house.   

 Samantha only had preschool two days a weeks so we were home.....A LOT!  We just had to be creative!  Here is Sam J playing animal preschool with her stuffed animals. 

 Yes, we stayed in our warm pajamas past noon and probably all day! And we didn't do our hair.

Nasty 

 Samantha would feel brave only once in a while to venture out in the snow.  It was almost too cold to play in it and Sam has issues with certain parts of clothing that are essential to playing in the snow, like snow bibs and socks and underwear.

JD had his first hair cut.  The Lyle Lovett do wasn't looking so good.  

Samantha and I would snuggle in my bed with the mini heater blowing on us.  She only fell asleep once but we loved snuggling.

 Honestly, the kids watched a lot of TV this winter.  I'll be the first to admit it!  Netflix can be a very bad thing.

I chopped off my hair and it was completely unplanned and out of the blue.  (Winters like this past one can make you do crazy things.)