Catching Up....

Well, Im trying to catch up the week here in the Shannon household. It gets away from me so quickly these days. I am happy to report that I am basically done with this semester at school. Finally a breather.... I took my Spanish final this morning and think I did great on it! Such a relief to have it over with. It was a speaking final and I choke when I actually have to SPEAK a language. But the teacher was impressed and said that we (me and partner) were the best she had heard so far and she was already over halfway through the class! I have a History final on May 5th and then my Health and Diversity final which is no problem because our kind and wonderful teacher emailed the final to us and is giving us a week to complete it. Open notes and all!! I might actually end the semester with all A's...I think it will come down to the history final. Im a bit nervous....I might end up with a B+ in that class. We shall soon see. I have already registered for Fall classes as well. I am basically done with the General Ed classes required to graduate and this Fall I will start on my major classes which means lots of reading books and writing papers....I cant wait :)

Ive registered for Summer classes but they are both online so I wont actually have to go to school. Im looking forward to being home with the kids all Summer....(remind me of this post when Im in meltdown mode this Summer and praying for school to start again, ha ha :)

We have quite a few challenges already this year. I hope 2010 gets better. It seems as though every time we have a chance to get ahead financially, something comes along to knock us back down. It has been quite discouraging and emotionally exhausting but we are handling it the best we know how. Denver recently interviewed for a job with Boeing in South Carolina. Me and the kids would have remained here... Long story short, they offered him the job and he decided to turn it down for schooling reasons and of course because he couldnt bear to leave the kids. It might have been a good opportunity for him and he hasnt ruled it out completely....perhaps down the road a little more.

Well, I guess thats really all...nothing too exciting. Just some catch up news and a couple of posts below this one that are more entertaining!!

Where Did You Go Spring....

We have had glorious Spring weather for the past week or so....I even got a little sunburned this past weekend it was so warm. Then this morning we woke up to 32 degrees and snow!! Oh I just do not like this time of year when the weather is so unpredictable. 78 degrees yesterday then 32 today....we'll all be sick by the end of the week. Ah well...such is Spring in Utah. I dropped Ian off at Cub Scouts today and at the church where his den meets was this gorgeous group of trees all abloom with beautiful pink blossoms!!! I dont know what kind of trees they are but they sure brightened my mood.


I made the kids get out and take a picture under the tree. Please take note that I did NOT dress Addison today. She insisted on this eclectic outfit of pink Sorels, a Spring floral dress, her sweat suit jacket and a bright apple red bow for her hair. Gotta love her independence :)

Our Little Songbird....

Addison LOVES to sing...sometimes she will just sing what she wants to say and makes up words as she goes along. I get a kick out of listening to her especially when she doesnt know that I am listening! However, the other day she was quite the little showgirl and was happy to let me record some of the songs she has learned in school. All 3 songs are the same tune...just different words. She is so entertaining.....

Konnichiwa....

....this means 'Hello' or 'Good Afternoon' in Japanese! We had a wonderful afternoon at the Japan Festival in downtown Salt Lake City.

The weather was incredible, the food yummy, and the culture was pretty cool too. I had to attend one diversity activity and write a short paper on it for one of my classes at school. It is due on Monday and I have had the whole semester to do it.

Of course I left it until the last week and this festival was the only thing going on this weekend that would qualify as a diversity activity. Dont the kids look so thrilled to be here in this picture! Ha ha...they were hungry and not in the mood for mom to take pictures :)

Im not complaining though because I loved it. I really enjoy learning about different cultures. I was amazed to find out that Salt Lake City actually has a 'Japan town'...although there isnt much left of it since we built the Salt Palace convention center over the top of it! It was started in 1907 by Japanese immigrants and the Buddhist Temple as well as the Japanese Church of Christ are still standing and in operation in their original locations. We were able to walk through the Buddhist Temple which was really cool....there was a display about the Japanese Interment Camp that was here in the city and lots of pictures of actual families who's descendants are still here in Salt Lake City. A sobering reminder of a really difficult period in history.
We also saw some demonstrations of Japanese martial arts. The boys were really excited to watch them break boards and bricks with their bare hands!

Oh the violence...why do boys love it so much? They also showed us some of their sword exercises.

There was a fashion show with girls in Kimono's....so cute...I wanted to buy Addie one!

and of course we ate some food! Addie and Evan played it safe with a Teriyaki Beef bowl but Ian.....believe it or not....was determined to try Sushi. Blech! Denver tried to talk him out of it because we know how Ian is with food, but he insisted.

He ate half the roll in one bite and was chewing....and chewing....and chewing.... Then he wasnt chewing anymore and just staring at me. I asked him if he was ok and he shook his head and then proceeded to tell me that if he swallowed it, "he would probably regurgitate." Those were his exact words! Bah ha ha! I tried hard not to laugh but I did let him spit it out. Im proud of him for giving it a try though. He says he would try it again if it was made with salmon?! Goofy kid.....

It was good time...always nice to get outside and enjoy the weather. I love Festival season :)

Birthday Fun....

We had a great time on Saturday celebrating Evan & Addisons birthday. Of course I think this will officially be the last year we are able to have a 'joint' party for the two of them now that Addie is very aware of what it means to have a Birthday. She kept insisting that this was HER party and not Evan's. I went ahead and made them both a cake...they turned out alright and the kids loved them. Thats really all that matters right?

We kept it simple this year and just got a pavilion at Sugarhouse Park so we could eat and let the kids play. We brought Croissants with sandwich fixings and invited Nathan, Alisa & Soren and Jeff & Nicola to join us.

They each brought some fruit and chips....it was a perfect light lunch and the weather was unbelievable!

It felt so good to sit in the grass and watch the boys play soccer. We even got Jeff to treat us to a standing backflip.... Im so upset I didnt get a picture of it! Or any pictures of Jeff for that matter....how did that happen?! Nicola took the kids and walked through the river and Soren really got into the spirit and just sat right down in the river!

It was such a fun time and we thank everyone for coming and sharing the day with us. Addison adores every one of her gifts

Later that afternoon we took Evan to the store to purchase his new Nintendo thanks to all the monetary contributions he received. So thank you thank you! I hope this weather continues....it feels so good to walk outside and not be cold! Yay for Spring.....

Here is a picture of Uncle Nate and Aunt Alisa...they are due in July with my 2nd nephew :) They are going to name him Jude...we are excited to meet him.

Its Great to be 8......

Yesterday was Evan's birthday. Yes, April is a busy month for us. Evan turned the ripe old age of 8. It is hard to believe that I now have 2 children that are 8 or older. Time really does fly by. Evan is our middle child and in the past was extremely sensitive and moody. As he has grown, however, he has become a pretty happy go lucky kid. He still has moments of sensitivity but overall he enjoys life and doesnt really care too much what other people think. Im going to enjoy it as long as I can because as we have seen with his older brother, this stage doesnt last much longer.... Here are some fun facts about Evan Denver:

1. He is still a HUGE animal lover. If you dont know what to get Evan, a stuffed animal always works
2. He treasures everything ever given to him...and I mean everything including blank envelopes, rocks, used sucker sticks etc.... He is definitely a pack rat but everything he keeps has personal meaning to him.
3. He is a great friend. His teachers are always commenting on how sweet he is to everyone. He treats everyone as though they are his best friend.
4. He loves music and wants to take drum lessons
5. Even though he is 8, he still has a little boy-ness to him that is sweet.....
6. He loves his family
7. He is good with little kids. The moms in our apartment with little toddlers always tell me how sweet he is with their kids. There are a couple of little boys who think Evan is King...they seriously worship him. Its so funny....

Evan requested a Dinosaur cake this year. He loves Dinosaurs and Sharks right now.....he is a great kid and I couldnt ask for anything better in a son.

Love you Ev Ev!!

Happy Birthday Prissy Pants....

April 12th was Addison Jayne's 4th birthday. She has been anticipating this day for months now. It's always fun when the kids first really become aware of what it means to have a birthday. Every time we go to the store she makes sure to let me know what she wants for her 'party'....and its different every time. Barbie one day, Strawberry "tuptake" the next....today its a princess party. I dont need to say just how much this little girl has brought to our family....we just love her to pieces even when she is a bit precocious. Here is a little bit about Miss Addie:

1. She is 110% girl. There is no 'tom boy' in her at all....I dont think there ever will be.
2. She got her ears pierced and thinks it aged her by 5 years.
3. She loves pink, pink, pink....we passed a display at a store that had stuff for breast cancer awareness (all pink stuff) and she was convinced that everything on the table was for her simply because it was pink.
4. I think her favorite things are, in order: Disney Princesses, Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, and Barbie.
5. She loves her brothers and waits rather impatiently for them each day to return from school.
6. She calls me her mommy prince and Denver is her daddy prince and she is the 'big girl princess'....
7. She refuses to stay dressed once we get in the house. Everything but her underwear come off immediately. We are working on this with little progress
8. She makes me cry when she tells me "I love you straight to my heart mommy"...

Happy Birthday to my Big Girl Princess!!!

Build-a-Bear Fun....

Meet Kitty....Addison's adopted rabbit. She has brown eyes and colorful flowers and is dressed to impress in her pink skirt and Hello Kitty Shirt. Oh! and lets not forget about her Hello Kitty underwear too..... we just love this new addition to our family.




Now meet the Karate Kid. This is Evan's adopted Bear. He has a black belt in Karate and Evan loves him dearly. They are great buddies already....

Thanks to "aunt" Mandy for the wonderful gift cards she sent the kids for the their birthdays. It was a dream come true for Evan especially to finally get to go to Build a Bear Workshop. I have a feeling that we will end up there many more times!! Addie thought she had died and gone to heaven. She took it completely seriously with the whole kissing the heart before they put it in....washing the bunny...picking out her clothes. My goodness it was fun!! The kids love you so much!

And We Have a Winner.....

I posted about my hair experience a couple of weeks ago and offered the free hair services to the first person who made a comment and requested it.... Well, the winner is my aunt Debra!! Sorry it took me so long to figure out that you had left the comment...usually comments are posted into my email whenever someone leaves one but for some reason yours never showed up!! I just happened to look on there tonight while posting new pictures. I'll call you and arrange to bring it by! Love you!

Spring Fun....

So today was such an incredible day for weather we just couldnt resist getting out in it! I was supposed to be organizing closets but Spring Fever hit and out the door we went. We decided to celebrate Addies birthday a little bit and take the kids to the movies.

She got to pick the movie of course and so we went to see "Alice in Wonderland". Im not sure it was exactly what Addie had hoped for but she did pretty good sitting through it. We saw it at the Gateway Mall which is an outdoor shopping mall. We got there early and decided to walk around a bit before going inside the theater.

Addie has been bugging me for earrings for some time now and although I had decided we would wait until she was 8 to do it, I couldnt resist it today.

We stopped at Claires Boutique and the nice girls there pierced Addison's ears with cute little crystal flower earrings! After Addie stopped crying, she was so excited about it. She looks in the mirror every chance she gets....although that is nothing new.

I just loved it....I am so happy that I had a girl. Denver got a kick out of it and I told him pedicures are next! I dont have sisters so I guess as Addison gets older, she and I are just going to have to have a lot of fun together.

The boys felt a little left out so we bought them some sunglasses and snapped some pictures.

So then it was back for the movie. It was a lot of fun to get out and just spend some time together. We have all been under so much stress lately..... it felt really good. Im so happy that Spring is finally here.

Easter.....

Well, Easter came and went uneventfully this year. Not that I'm complaining....last year we ended up watching my dad nearly die of a heart attack on Easter Sunday. I'd LOVE not to have to repeat that again! The Easter bunny came....of course....in spite of my 9 year old throwing the "is he real" questions at me this year. I dread that time when they stop believing....its like the end of an era. Childhood on its way out. But, it looks as though I have postponed that for at least a little longer.... I have no doubt that this was Ian's last official Easter with an Easter Bunny.

We colored eggs....of course. Ian is missing however because one of his friends who does not celebrate Easter invited him to go swimming and I didn't see a reason not to let him go. He was fine to miss the coloring.

We did however hide the eggs outside later on and he participated in finding them! All in all it was a nice relaxing holiday with Pork Chops for dinner and no Easter pictures! I really had planned on it but....oops! Hope you all enjoyed your Easter.