You Still There?

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't posted anything in a long time. Here goes...

Laura is doing really well. She and Miriam seem to have reached an understanding. There are still days that I can tell she gets frustrated, but that's part and parcel of being a mom. Laura survived my first business trip, all alone with the girls. I know Sean and Connie are probably laughing, but its new for us to have that many kids at once.

Laura and I committed to getting more exercise. Laura is doing really so far and I'm really proud of what she's accomplished. I'm doing ok too, but I'm pretty impatient when it comes to this sort of stuff. I looked into getting some workout equipment (workout bench, treadmill, etc.) and quickly gave up. My wish list was pretty pricey and we have no place to keep all that stuff in our tiny place.

We've definitely outgrown our little apartment and are ready to start looking at homes for sale. I think within the next month we'll hire a Realtor and start looking at homes. We're looking for something kind of specific and of course want it at a discount. We'll see how things go once reality sets in. We're looking in Northeast Richardson, North Garland, Murphy, Sachse, and Wylie areas (maybe Rowlett if we find something irresistible). If we could find something affordable in Plano we'd be interested.

The girls have adjusted pretty well to having another sibling. Of course, I don't think either of them remembers a time without the other. That's one of the many cool things about having two children so close together. The other day, Lilia was trying to calm Miriam down and told her, "It's ok Miriam, I'm your best friend." I wasn't there, but it sounds really cute.

Well, my lunch hour is over. I hope to hear from the rest of you soon.

What's New?

Hey, this is Erin. Hows everybody? I am so excited to meet my two little baby cousins! make a comment,
ERIN!!!

No Pain, No Gain

If you are reading this, I would like to inform you that STITCHES HURT! (P.S. this is Erin not Connie) I have three stitches in the bottom of my middle toe were the joint is. On the day I went back to school (the day after) I was jumping on one foot, crawling on the grass, and something I call "hobbling". My friend brought me crutches so I could walk better. I have also found out that CRUTCHES HURT!!! My under-arms have been SO sore! Today I went on a field trip, my toe got slammed in a door. Thankfully it didn't bleed. I am recovering really well though. It is NOT infected, and the stitches come out on the 31st. I hope it gets better and I hope you do too,
Erin

It has been an interesting week

Well, we took Erin in for stitches for the third time (in her lift). She was playing in the park (with her shoes off, (silly girl), and either stepped on something or her friends toenail hit the underside of her toe. Anyway, it sliced the bottom of her toe right at the joint. It bled and bled so we took her in and she got three stitches. Because the stitches are right on the joint where her toe bends she is having a very hard time walking. Her friend is letting her borrow crutches and now her armpits hurt. She is finding out that this is not very fun at all. She is trying to do everything she did before (play with friends, walk around, go shopping with mom etc...) and finding out that her foot really hurts at night.

Anyway, that is a little bit of what is going on. Hope all of you are well.

Chili Cookoffs

We had a chili Cookoff at a ward activity on Saturday and a co-worker invited us to a Super Bowl party where they had another chili contest. Laura's recipe won both contests. At the Super Bowl party she even won both categories (best overall and most original). Laura is such a great cook. Thanks babe for all the hard work and delicious food.

January in a nut shell

January has been sedate, but busy for our family.
We now have a 15-year-old. Jacob turned 15 on the 23rd. He is taller than Sean and almost as tall as I am. He started shaving last year, but has decided he wants to try and grow a beard. It is just a bit fuzzy. I call him "Shaggy". He wants to try out for the football team this summer/fall and started weight lifting. He comes home tired and a little sore, but he is having fun.
The three younger kids have been off track since the 16th- They go back on Feb 6th. I really do NOT like year round school. I much prefer the traditional school year. Jacob, Jarom and Sean are all on traditional school, but the three younger kids have year round. Oh well, I guess "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".
I am playing church B-ball. I hadn't played since JR high, 25 years ago. After playing one game I remembered why I hadn't played since then. I really am not any good at it and it hurts running up and down the court. Our coach is 74 years old and she was out there playing as well. I really need to suck it up and quit complaining. It is fun to get to know some of the sisters in our ward. We are still new enough that this is a good way to get to know people.
Utah now has 4 congressional seats and Sean set it up to have one of the people running for that 4th seat to have a meet and greet at our house on Saturday. Her name is Mia Love. It was interesting to hear her speak and hear her ideas and goals for what she would try to do if she were elected. If nothing else good came out of this, the kids and I at least cleaned the house really good; so there was that.
All in all we are doing good. We have been very blessed and I'm grateful for the tender mercies we receive every day. I hope you all are doing good. Love you,

Connie

I'm OLD

I just got done playing church B-Ball. The last time I played was in 8th grade, 25 years ago! I will be sore in the morning

Chris' family photos

Grandma's Christmas Lights

Hope everyone had a great Christmas I sure ENJOY !!!!

Why'd I do that?

I stayed up until 2am this morning putting together a toy kitchen for my girls. I woke by reflex this morning at 8am I'm going to be lots of fun today ;). I really wish I'd had some power tools last night or at least stronger forearms.

I'm glad I got it put together though. Now Grandma and Grandpa Zacharias can see it put together when we Skype this morning.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

One Man's Trash...

Thanks everyone for working so hard today to get through so much at Stephen's house. I really appreciate it and think we got a lot done. I want to especially thank mom for putting up with all of us. I know it was hard work for all of us and I appreciate it.

Let the Real Work Begin

I wanted to thank everyone for all the help with the storage unit project.  It was great to see everyone pitching in and making it a group effort.  Especially, I wanted to thank Stephen and Sarah for offering a temporary sorting area and storage in their garage.  Thanks also to Josh and Jennifer for providing their time and vehicles.  I really appreciate everything.

Now that the storage unit is empty, the real work begins.  As you all know there is a lot of stuff at Stephen's and some of it is just trash.  However, some of those things are important sentimental artifacts.  I'm hoping we can all find another time to help Mom sort through Grandma Nana's things.  I think its a lot to ask Mom to do all that work alone, so I propose that we meet at Stephen's house (probably on the weekend) and work on sorting together.  Even if we don't finish it all, we will at least knock out a substantial portion and reduce the amount of work left for Mom.

If you have other ideas about how to approach this issue let me know.  Thanks again everyone, great teamwork.

Not a creature was stirring...

So what happens when you stay up late one night after everyone else has gone to bed? And the answer is not "see Santa". The correct answer is "feel your first earthquake". Yes, you read that correctly, earthquake!

I was laying on the couch using the laptop and I felt the couch shaking. I paused to see if it was really moving or just my imagination and sure enough it was moving. For about 5 seconds, it was moving enough for me to feel the rocking.

I thought one of my boys might be pushing on the couch being silly, so I got up, but no one else was in the room. It was quite disconcerting; I couldn't figure out what had been moving the couch. The best I could come up with was the support that Stephen and JR had fixed in the couch when we got the couch had broken and it was shaking from instability. But it didn't seem like a very good explanation.

Low and behold, after checking online resources (USGS site), at approximately 10:53 pm local time a 5.2 earthquake hit about 70 miles outside of Oklahoma. I checked with some local friends here in Little Elm and I wasn't the only one who felt the shaking.

It felt very weird! That was my first earthquake. Glad it was a little one. (Mark/Elaine felt it much stronger in OK, according to Facebook conversation.)

Baby guesses

So, with four people picking the correct date for the arrival of Baby Gaius (Sarah, Stephen, Adam, and Jarom), I thought it would be fun to guess the gender of the two babies joining the family next spring. I've heard a rumor that one baby has already given a possible sneak peak, but I'm sticking with my original guesses. Anyone else who wants to chime in is welcome! Let the guessing begin!

Jennifer
boy: Sarah, Adam
girl: Stephen


Laura
boy: Adam
girl: Sarah, Stephen

Cleaning House

We helped mom clean out grandma's storage unit. We found some cool stuff but also a lot of stuff we need to get rid of. We still have a lot of work to do but we got a good start today.