Winter has officially come to MD!

...bracing for the storm of the decade here in Maryland. This might be a blessing in disguise. You should see it here, it's like Y2K all over again. People are in emergency mode stocking up on all the essentials. Milk is especially hard to find. We ended up going to 3 different stores in search of it and finally ended up at a CVS Pharmacy. Got the last 2 gallons. We noticed on the way home that the snow plows are ready to go at a moments notice. The snow is projected to hit at midnight. The blessing I'm talking about is that I might actually get my Christmas cards finished and out to all of you!

Back with snow update: The weather forecast was right! Amazing. We have snow! Starting Friday night at about 11:30 and still going strong today...it is now after lunch. And I have pictures to prove it...the forecast calls for snow until tonight. Enjoying the winter wonderland and looking forward to a white Christmas!

Family Updates from Jeff and Missy

 

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Back to school photos! 

Jadyn is in 6th grade, recent Student Gov. 6th grade President elect, piano player, and sports enthusiast, who could’ve guessed!

Morgyn is in 8th grade, soccer player. babysitter, loves to text and listen to music, all sorts!  Can’t wait to drive in a few years!  Yikes!

Brittyn is in preschool, loves to play with friends, can do a front-flip on the tramp, the best 4 year old ever!

Torbyn is in 1st grade, loves to trade and play pokemon, sing, and loves keeping tabs on his virtual friends in webkinz land!

Misc. happenings from May

As of May I am officially employed!! It's the perfect gig!! I am the nanny for a family who just had their 5th little one! Mostly I take care of #'s 3 and 4. Two very busy little boys!! The two older kids are in school til June 16th. (3rd grader and 1st grader) It's great cause I don't have to find daycare for Brittyn. After a few weeks of adjustments, Brittyn is happy with the situation as well. We were getting a little bored at home and the extra cash helps out as well!!

Jadyn had the entire HS Auditorium audience captured at the Elementary talent show. I can say it!! He was in my book the best act of the night!!! He played piano and sang 100 Years, Five for Fighting. Go Jadyn!! He already has plans for next years Middle School talent show!! 6th grade here he comes!!

Mother's Day was the best one yet!! Jeff always spoils me but especially on this day!! Breakfast in bed, cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, the beautiful lily to wear to church!! Thanks Mom and Dad Eakins for raising such a great boy!!

Memorial Day fun!! We were so excited for the arrival of Aunt Jenna and Uncle Tanner May 19th!! We visited Gettysburg and found out next time to allow a lot more time than just a couple of hours! Watch out for ticks Aunt Jenna! She was the only one who had 3 climb on her during our gettysburg adventure!! We got them before they drew blood! At the end of the tour we found the tallest swing set ever. Jadyn had never seen one so big so we stopped to stretch before the drive back home(1 hour) and I pushed Jadyn for his best swing thrill! He wanted me to stop but I told him he had to experience going high on this swing. In the end, I think he liked it. It was fun hanging/bonding with Jenna and Tanner!! Morgyn was happy to have Jenna around for fashion consulting. The girls did a little "up-scale" thrift shopping at a cute store called, Lucy's. We also experienced swimming in the rain on memorial day Monday and the eating Jeff's best grilled hamburgers!! Jenna picks out the best watermelon ever and Brittyn still loves to eat corn on the cob and no meat. Torbyn drew pictures for aunt and uncle and showed them his skills at reading, the Wii, pokeman, and soccer. We were a little bummed that Jeff was only a week out from surgery which meant that we toned down the "playtime" and mostly stayed close to home!! Can't wait to see family again!!!

Appendectemy?

May 16th proved very fun and eventful. After a morning of soccer game fun Jeff and the older kids went to a fireside type meeting called, "faith and football" held in the Baltimore area. Lavell Edwards and the head coach of the Philidelphia Eagles, Andy Reed, (I hope that's his name)shared experiences and testimony. Jeff started complaining of unsettled stomach pain towards the end of the fireside, which he thought would pass. So, he took the kids to Wendy's for a burger and frosty. By the time he got home that night, he was in severe pain. When I got home and found him curled up on the fetal position on the bed I knew the pain wasn't going to pass. After a quick google of appendicitis and pawning the kids off to wonderful ward members we headed to the ER. By 11pm we were checking in at the ER, 1am drinking the bariun solution for the c-scan, 3am confirmed appendicitis, and 5am preping for surgery. Just like that!! Done by 6:10 Sunday morning and into pediatrics for recovery. Some might find that fitting!! I had great fun messing with him as he was coming off the anestesia. He doesn't remember anything!! Our little secret! All went really well! The surgeon caught it before it burst!!

News Flash from Maryland!!

Reports are in! The whereabouts of family Eakins have been confirmed!! They are alive and well after numerous trips to and from various locations in Frederick Co. MD. Last seen attending a soccer game for Torbyn last Saturday which ended in victory as Torbyn triumphuntly proclaimed, "This is the BEST DAY of my life!!" According to close family sources, "he lives and dies for soccer and will be saddend at the end of the season!" Lucky for the Eakins family swimming is now underway at the neigborhood swimming pool where Morgyn, Jadyn and to the surprise of some, Torbyn are undergoing extensive training of proper swimming technique. Competition seasons begins June 13. Stay tuned for further updates!!

3.14 = Pi

We were invited to a 3.14 (March 14) Pi party last week! Everyone brought their best pie!! Morgyn seems to have the "pie making gene" of the family (thanks aunt jenna and grandma eakins). She went right to work and with a little coaching from aunt jenna on the recipe, created 2 very delicious oreo ice-cream pies to take to the party. Her pies were a BIG hit!



Our neighbors came up with this tradition a few years ago, now we pass it on to you!! We have no problems copying others ideas around here. And now Morgyn knows there is more than one pie/pi in her world!

Calling all BYU fans!

Jeff and Jadyn are very excited about watching the Cougars go against Texas A&M this Thursday! A little father-son bonding is always good! This game should prove to be a good one to be at since they both are close in the rankings! GO BYU! And a big thanks to dad for helping acquire these tickets!

Torbyn's Family Home Evening Lesson!

Torbyn had a 2 week turn of teaching our FHE lessons a few weeks ago. Take a look at the visual and then I'll explain:

The top circle is the head of a snow man. Week one: we adorned the head with eyes, nose, ears, etc. One face part was: read a story, the ears were songs to sing which he also had visual helps as we sang letting us know if we: 1. sang nice 2. sang like a rock star and 3. sang bad. Just for the record, we as a family sang like "rock stars". Watch out American Idol! The activity of FHE was a Treasure Hunt! He made all of the clues himself. I only helped him with some spelling and arranging of the hunt. In the end the "treasure" was the Book of Mormon. This really was his idea.

Week two: we added the body of the snowman. The arms suggested we play on the computer or the Wii. The buttons said to go out side to play or sing a song. Again we got the "rock star" visual as we sang.

It was fun to see Torbyn so excited about FHE!!

Leprechauns all around us!

The kids succeeded in collecting gold coins left by our little green friends. The past week was filled with early morning sightings of gold lying around our house and neighborhood. All the kids in the neighborhood had fun searching for gold coins in hopes of catching a leprechaun! In the end only a green hat was left behind and no amount of searching led to lucky captures!! Better luck next year!! We ended our St. Patrick's Day celebration with a modified Irish dinner consisting of mashed potatoes, "corned beef" aka meatballs(Frikedellen) and kraut.

Pink hair, Aeropostal, and Peter Pan!

Morgyn went pink! It has since lightened. A fun way to bring a little warmth to winter. She is easy to spot on the volleyball court and soccer field!!

Jeff and I traded in Idaho driver's Licenses for Maryland. . . (sigh). We are Marylanders! Hunters would be in paradise here!! Big deer population, the residents here refer to them as "pests" and lots of hawks and vultures to eat all the dead deer hit and lying off the side of almost every road around here! Also, instead of the brown squirrels we're used to seeing it's the gray, big, bushy-tailed ones!! And in our backyard we have actual blue birds and cardinals nesting. The bad part is we also have poison ivy and ticks. But we also have heard about the fire flys here and can't wait to see them light up the night sky.

Jadyn asked to shop at Aeropostal! I didn't think boys cared where they shop. I was wrong!! He picked out some shirts and couldn't wait for Monday to wear one to school.

Torbyn asked to have artichokes for dinner the other night. Since when are kids asking for something green to eat for dinner? Only Torbyn, I guess. We settled for broccoli until I make it back to the overcrowded Costco to buy the "craving"!

Brittyn has been into watching Peter Pan the past couple of weeks. A few days ago he fell asleep in the car on our way to take the kids to scouts and Young Women's. I was holding him while he finished a much needed nap (and enjoying cuddling our very active pre-schooler). He suddenly opened his eyes and declared, "I don't want to grow up". It took me a minute to wonder why he'd say that.

March Madness or Luck of the Irish?

We are officially into March and with that comes many things at our house. But the most important is college basketball. I guess now that we are residents of MD we can say "Go Terps!" Never thought I'd be cheering a turtle on. And in the midst of basketball frenzy the kids start their search for gold and other treasures left by leprechauns. So far no luck. But the kids continue the search. Happy St. Patricks Day!!

Brittyn

Our baby is growing up!! Brittyn has felt abandoned here as all of his siblings are at school all day now!! So we fill our time with errands, Tuesday playgroup, and library visits! He's our crazy, out-of -control child, and we aren't afraid to admit it. But the other day he did mention to me, on our walk to the busstop to pick up brothers, that he was a good listener. Can you tell what we have been working on with him lately? He can "Kung-fo Panda" better than anyone, which we have now banned. He kung-fooed a boy at church who is 7. The boy ran away crying and wouldn't come back for Brittyn to apolgize. Not to mention the many times he wrestles Torbyn and wins! We signed him up for spring soccer. This should be interesting. Rule #1-only kick the ball Rule #2- no tackling.

Torbyn

Torbyn is the only child in Kindergarten that can go to school with 2 different shoes on and not care about getting teased! He's also informed Jeff as he got the clippers out that he was growing his hair out!

Our little boy had a rough go in MD at first. He came home from school one day with a very sad face. Without saying a word, he got all his papers out and one of them was a book he composed called, The Sad Book. It was truly sad! He said how he missed Idaho especially his friend Emily. And he was really sad. The next page was our family with smiles next to our Idaho house saying, I miss Idaho! The last page was illustrated wtih our family driving back to Idaho in our van and he is all smiles. When we read this Jeff and I felt bad! Jeff talked with him and had him compose a happy book which consisted mostly of Torbyn playing football with dad.

A few days ago at the dinner table he annouced that when he grows up he wants to be a Kindergarten Teacher! Jeff and I looked at each other with relief.

A night at Union Station in DC

January 30, 2009 was a night to remember! A black tie affair in DC. It started off a little rough as we got stuck in the never ending DC traffic. We'll remember and suggest to anyone, when going into DC by car, always plan for almost double the time! The GPS doesn't account for that. By the time we arrived everyone was just sitting down to a very gourmet dinner! The event? The 2nd annual national school counselor recognition night. Jeff's company was a sponser and at the last minute they had an extra ticket! Which meant I also got to go. You all know I only go to these things for the food, which was absolutely amazing! Apparently, the chef also catered the Inauguration luncheon. Only the best in DC!! We got a wonderful meal and educated on the process of what it takes to be nominated as the best school counselor in the nation. What a night. Oh, we did get home a lot quicker.

Jadyn

Jadyn was one of 11 finalists for the school's Geography Bee!

In early Feb, 2009, he came home to announce that he auditioned for the school district honor chorus and made it. Apparently, only 4 kids from his school were chosen!! They practice at school and perform in May at an all school district concert. We are soo proud!! He is also preparing for the spring school talent show. He's learning, Five for Fightings', "100 years".

He's already looking forward to Middle School next year and playing baseball this spring.

Morgyn

Morgyn is our emerging dance star! She and a friend choreographed and taught 7 other girls a dance for a church talent show! She loved every minute of it! She wishes for a cell phone, new ipod and new clothes, ie., Aeropostal, Hollister, Abercrombie, to name a few. Little does she yet know the shopping possibilities here. Shh, it's our little secret. It's only a matter of time however, sigh, since moving to MD she has officially grown to 5'3"! What happened to our little Morgy and who is this in her place? Teenager. Now I know why people hit mid-life crisis'!

Snowdays in MD!

This is for you Elena!! Her faithful prompt to update my blog has been my guilty conscience for at least a month now:)

My kids aren't even in sports yet and I still get behind, how is that possible? Where to begin? Oh yes, the title, the lovely

state of MD, or at least our Frederick County, doesn't handle snow very well. The kids, already have had 4 days of school closure and a couple late starts and early releases due to minimal amounts of snow. In their defense, the snow does sometimes turn to freezing rain which can be a bad combo for motorists and kids walking to school. So they err on the side of caution which might have us going to school even later than June 17, 2009. And don't even ask the kids how they feel about the last day of school in the middle of June. Notice the kids making snow angels in the grass, ha ha. They humored me. But a couple weeks later they really did get a day of fun to play in a few inches of white stuff. Britty was even out playing for who knows how long without one boot. Finally Jeff noticed, I had to run an errand, but it didn't stop him for long. A cup of hot cocoa and warming his foot in a bath was all he needed. Then back outside with all the kids. You would never know he was only 3. It wasn't good for building a snow man but great for sliding in our neighborhood. They had so much fun right here in our own backyard that later that evening they went out to enjoy one last round of sleding!!