Updates on Jayce and Claire

I'm having insomnia tonight, so I'm finally catching up on my blogging.  I've had insomnia since I was a kid.  It's been a lot better since I've been pregnant because I've been so exhausted all the time.  With this pregnancy, I feel like all of my symptoms have been amplified.  I've  been sick since I was four weeks and found out I was pregnant.  I've had a headache for the past two weeks every day.  I thought I had a sinus infection, but now I think it's just the second trimester headaches that I always get.  I don't mean to be a complainer, but it's been hard to be so isolated in Wyoming and not be working so I'm constantly thinking about it.  I wish I could drive or walk to Granny's house!  I miss my family so bad.  They've all been so sweet to call often and a few have even driven out here. 

OK, I'm done complaining.  Here are a few updates on Jayce and Claire.

Claire is three today.  She is such a fun, wonderful little girl.  She has always been a snuggler.  She is constantly rubbing my arm and hugging me.  She always tells me she loves me and I'm her best friend forever.  She says I'm Snow White and she's Sleeping Beauty.  She freaks out every day when Blake gets home and screams and runs to him.  It's so sweet.  She talks so well, but she is so shy that most people don't know it.  She calls her grandparents all the time and talks until they can't take any more.  She worships her cousins Cassie, Bella, Kailia, and Paislee.  Whenever she looks cute she will tell me she looks like one of them.  She is obsessed right now with covering her privates (which is a good thing ha ha).  She always says, "anybody's can't look at my boobies, K mom?"  She said to my cousin Sami, "Are your boobies private too?"  Yesterday we were watching The Voice and when she saw Christina Aguilera she said, "That gross girl's boobies are popping out."  I couldn't stop laughing.  I try to get her to talk about other things, but she is fascinated with the subject. 

Jayce is still in gymnastics and loving it.  She is in level four now.  We had her out of gymnastics for about 8 months when we moved to Colorado, but she is back in her groove.  She can do back handsprings pretty well now.  She is awesome at vaulting, and loves the bars.  Beam is her least favorite.  She has really strong arms and can climb the rope faster than anybody in her class (not that she has much weight to lift).  She has class eight hours a week.  She's been keeping up with her homework, but she is very busy.  Their competition season starts in a couple weeks, but I don't know if we'll have her compete.  When she competed in Colorado, most of the meets were one or two hours away.  Here, the closest meet is 4.5 hours away.  We'll probably let her do a few because it is fun and a good experience for her. 

Jayce is really into politics right now.  I watch way too much CNN.  She watched the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention and she always asks me lots of questions.  She gets so upset about certain topics that she almost cries.  She has changed who she wants to vote for twice now.  She said, "I just wish my vote counts."  She has been so excited to watch the debate this Wednesday, but she just found out she'll have to miss it because of a church activity.  I'm sure I can find it on the internet for her to watch later, though.  I try to teach her to be open-minded and let her have her own opinions. 

Footis

We had to put our cat, Footis, down.  We'd only had him for a little over a year, and we knew he was old (14 years old), but I didn't realize how hard it would be if he died.

One day he had a seizure, and a couple weeks later he had another one.  We took him to the vet, and while they were examining him they found two large tumors on his stomach (they were unrelated to the seizures).  He would nip at anybody that pet his stomach, and now we know why.  His behavior had changed and he acted kind of depressed to me.  He lost interest in going outside and he would lay under Jayce's bed all day.  I just couldn't stand seeing him in any more pain.  We probably should have put him down when he got shot with a bb gun, but he did seem to recover from that. 

We were all so sad to lose him as part of our family.  Blake took him to the vet to see about the seizures and he called me and told me what the vet recommended and I bawled.  Blake even cried and wished I came with him when it was done.  Claire doesn't really understand, but sometimes she'll say, "Footis died huh?  Remember when he bit me?"  I guess she doesn't miss him as much as the rest of us. 

Jayce has been completely devastated.  It was over a month ago and she still cries about it.  He slept with her every night and "snuggled" with her more than any of us.  She knows he's not in pain anymore, but she says she's just so lonely without him.  The other morning she came in my room and told me she thought she saw his spirit.  The poor little thing!  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  She said it made her feel peaceful.  Hopefully she will start to heal from this.

He was such a great pet for the short time we had him, and we are so grateful that we had a chance to have him in our family. 

Disney Land California Vacation

This September we went with my sister, Nicole, and her family to Disney Land.  It was so much fun.  The girls had the best time ever.

We spent the first night in Vegas.  We really only had time to go to dinner buffet, which was delicious.  I could eat crab legs all day. 

We went to Universal Studios for a day.  Blake forgot his phone, so we had no camera that day.  It was so much fun.  I really liked the rides there, especially the studio tour.  I think everybody else liked the Transformers ride best.  Claire and I got to see Dora, Sponge Bob, Curious George, the Lorax, Shrek, and a few other characters while everybody was on the scary rides.  

We spent the second and half of the last day at the beach.  Seth rented some boogie boards and Jayce and Blake did it with Coley and Seth.  Jayce absolutely loved it.  It made me really nervous to watch her, but I think it was her favorite part of the vacation.  She is so light that she caught almost every wave.

We spent three days in Disney Land/ California Adventure.  Since I'm pregnant and couldn't go on most of the rides, Claire and I spent a lot of time waiting in line to see princesses and characters.

 Claire frowned for all of the princess pictures and she wouldn't say a word to any of the characters- she wouldn't even tell them her name.  Then when we would walk away she would giggle and be ecstatic.  Silly, shy little girl!

 She said, "Mom!  I almost smiled for Cinderella!"

Claire makes me tell her about the princesses at Disney Land every day before I put her down for a nap.  I also have to tell her about the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Jayce was tall enough to ride all of the rides.  She loved all the scary ones, and was a bit of a show off.

One of Jayce, Doran, and Brock's favorite part of Disney Land was the Jedi Training show.  They all got chosen to go up on stage to learn to be a jedi.  Each kid had money for souvenirs.  Jayce, Doran, and Brock all got light sabers.  Jayce also got a Darth Mol mask.  Claire got Minnie Mouse.

New School

Jayce started the new school year at a new school for her.  I feel bad that she's gone to three different schools in the past three years.  She said she loves her new school.  We have a lot more funding here in Wyoming than we did in our Colorado school district.  They only had school for four days a week in our Colorado district and the high school didn't have a track, auditorium, and a lot of other things.  In her current school district each kid has a laptop at school, really awesome playgrounds, exercise equipment, and really great programs.  I'm so glad we were able to move out of her old district. 

On the other hand, it's been much harder for her to make friends.  She was playing with the two other new girls for the first week, then they started to ignore her and when she would sit by them, they'd get up and move.  She started playing with another girl and her friend from gymnastics, then they ditched her.  She usually doesn't tell me when she's having problems, but she told me about this.  They keep kids with the same classmates from Kindergarten until 5th grade here, so everybody already has their group of friends.  She has started playing sports at recess with another group of kids, so I hope they aren't mean and snobby too.  She is so shy and timid, and it just breaks my heart.  She has seemed a lot happier this week, and I hope she stays that way.  She got to the point where she was crying every night at bedtime.  When I asked her why she would say it was about Footis or that she misses our family in Utah.  She was so happy when I picked her up after track day because she won first place in the 50 meter race of all the fourth grade girls.

A Few More Summer Pics

Ayre's Natural Bridge

Gymnastics

Jayce won an award at gymnastics camp for learning a back handspring and for learning the most new skills in a week.  She had a blast.

Summer Pictures

Here are some pictures of our trip to Utah this summer.  I really need to catch up on my blog.  Maybe I'll go through and add some captions sometime...

Life in Wyoming

So, there isn't much to do in Wyoming unless you are really outdoorsy.  I've been camping twice this summer, which is a big step for me.  We used to go all the time, but the last time we went before this summer there was a bear attack the night we were camping, pretty close to us.  I have had a serious camping-phobia since then.  I'm glad I'm getting over it...

We went camping in Thermopolis with some of our friends from church.  The world's largest hot springs are there.  We went swimming at the water park, which was hot spring water in pools with water slides.  It was so cool!  I wish I took a picture of it.

The girls had so much fun playing with the kids.  It gets boring at our apartment, and the girls never really play with kids their age.

 Claire is obsessed with the two girls, and asks me to style her hair like one of theirs every day. 

 Blake was shaking the bridge and making it sway.  It made me so nervous!

We made a stop at the dinosaur museum.  It is supposed to be the best one in the U.S., but the one at Thanksgiving Point is a lot better.  It was fun, though.

We went to the fair and rodeo when it was in town.  The girls had a lot of fun.  We looked into signing Jayce up for mutton-busting, but the age-limit is 8.  She was well under the weight limit, though.

Jayce rode the ring of fire for the first time.  She was going to last year, but chickened out.  She loved it when we were done, but she was pretty freaked out while we were on it.

Jayce wants to dye the ends of her hair bright blue.  We've been putting Sun-In on the ends to lighten them just a little.  That part worked, but the blue just wouldn't really stick.  After the first day the ends were pastel turquoise, and now they are really light green.  She wants to try it again, but I don't want to have it blue when school starts.

The other day Claire was playing with Jayce's legos, and Jayce freaked out and took it away from her.  Claire came to me crying and said, "It's my legos.  Cassie bought it for me.  She went to Target and paid for it!"  Which is totally untrue!  I bought them for Jayce.  I can't believe she could come up with that at age 2!  I'm a little worried about her.  I put the little stinker on time-out.