November already

After playing with her killer whale, "Scout" snuggled up with our tortoise "Pistachio" next to the fire.

Naomi with the Lorakeets at the OKC zoo.

Seth

Joey

Adam

Ivy

Gaglione kids plus Seth's friend Cole at the OKC zoo.

Seth 

Ivy

Seth - Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010

Summer 2010

Looking at the pictures I have taken, I realize most of them are of Ivy.  We are working at toning down the silliness with the other three so I will have more of them next time.

We are anxiously awaiting the move to our new house.  We went down there on Friday and it is getting close but we don't have a definite closing date yet.  The house still needs the carpet laid, appliances and fixtures installed, and sprinkler system and grass put in.  We are hoping the house will close by the time the kids start school on August 19th or it's going to be an 80 minute commute morning and afternoon to get the kids to and from school.  I also start grad school on August 24th.  I'm starting to feel a bit stressed wondering how it's all going to fit in but I've already decided we might leave everything in storage until Christmas break and move it then. 

It has been a pretty laid back summer.  We went to Idaho in June for 2 weeks and have spent the rest of the summer at home.  We have a season pass to a theme park and a water park and so we try to go there at least once a week.  The kids are home bodies and enjoy just hanging out at the apartment and swimming in the pool.  Seth and Joey just finished up playing baseball - about 4 games a week since school got out so it has kept us busy.  Seth got a tortoise and glasses, Naomi and Joey got guinea pigs, and Ivy "babysits" them all.  I've had to rescue the pets from many life-threatening predicaments because of the unsupervised babysitting.

I choked on a piece of beef jerky a couple of weeks ago and after trying to get it to come up or down for about 1/2 an hour, I drove myself to the ER where they knocked me out and went in for it.  They took pictures and a biopsy and diagnosed me with a disease called eosinophilic esophagitis.   I just found out last week and am still researching what treatment options are available.   I am chewing better these days and just for those of you (Adam and my brothers) who have accused me of not chewing my food enough it wasn't entirely my fault.  I guess I have an overabundance of white blood cells in my throat that react to certain foods and cause swelling.  The shape of my throat is also an issue.  I have been choking for years and I guess I now know why.

Well I have the camera sitting on the kitchen countertop to remind me to take more pictures.  I will try and get another blog here soon as we know more about our new house.  Maybe next time I blog we will be homeowners again!

Naomi birthday party at school - 4th grade

Joey birthday party at school - 1st grade

Ivy

Ivy and her Furby

Naomi and the Furby

Ivy reading to the guinea pigs

Seth in his baseball uniform

Ivy and Pistachio

Joey

Guilty of not blogging more

This past week we signed the 4th and final (it better be) contract on a house.  After 4 months of looking we never found the perfect house so we are having one built.  Our closing date is September 15th and although it seems a ways off we are excited.  We love the house plan and the neighborhood and it feels like the right place to raise our family.  The hardest part about the wait is living in this apartment.  The dryer doesn't work and the dirty laundry is taking over the place as I get furthur behind.  Adam says that if I string a clothesline outside of the apartment our dryer would probaby get fixed soon.  Our kitchen area has flooded twice and yesterday I opened up a drawer in the bathroom that was full of water.  The plumbing in this place is really old and the maintenance can't keep up with the constant disasters.  Just about everything in this place has a problem and it takes them weeks to even do the little things.  Yes, I feel a little crazy but now that there is an end in sight it will be easier to deal with.   The fact that my eye surgery didn't correct my vision completely is frustrating as well.  Everything is pretty blurry and I go in for my 2nd surgery in June.  After that I should be seeing 20/20 according to the doctor.   Thank goodness Adam got me a GPS for my birthday.  Everytime I go somewhere I haven't been before it acts as my eyes since I can't really read the road signs. 

The other day on the way home from school the kids found a tortoise and she now lives in the boys room in a swimming pool of dirt.  She looks like she has been hit by a lawn mower and her shell has a crack.  It doesn't look like it goes into the flesh but from what I've read on the internet it has the possiblity of getting infected.  The kids keep asking for me to take it to the vet but I'm not sure vets do that sort of thing.  We've had her for 3 days now and she is still very active so she will probably be okay.  I guess tortoises are very common around here and it probably won't be the last one we find.  A man I was talking to told me that during the rain they will crawl out on the road and you can't help but hit them.  The first visual that popped into my head was the Super Mario Bros. but I imagine it is not funny at all.

The kids have another month of school and are gearing up for a fun summer.  They are taking swimming lessons at the YMCA right now and we will probably continue that through the summer.  The boys are playing baseball and all 3 older kids will be going to a week of summer camp.  We are coming back to Idaho for 2 weeks in June and we can hardly wait.   We all got a season pass to a theme park here (kind of like Lagoon) and to a water park.  I'm told it gets really hot here in the summer and there are a lot of fun water parks to try out.  There are quite a few places to go camping and fishing and since we are new here there are a lot of new places for us to explore this summer.  Now that the house is on order we can start checking out the area instead of looking at houses every weekend.   

I hope everyone is well.  We are doing great and the kids have adjusted pretty well.  Just yesterday, speaking for all of us, Naomi said with tears in her eyes that she misses her Grammie Joan.  Our lives right now would be absolutely perfect if all of you lived out here with us.  We miss everyone and are excited to see you in June.  Love you all.  Julie

Spring Break 2010

The kids have had the most fun this week just "hanging out" with the other kids from the apartment complex.   We went and saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks" at the dollar theater and went to Chuck E. Cheese another day.  We got a bike rack for the back of the van and we have enjoyed riding bikes at some of the new parks we have found.   The weather this week has been perfect and it has been nice just to be able to go outside.  Last night it started to snow and has snowed and blowed all day long (today is Saturday).   Next week the weather is forecasted to be bad so thank goodness the kids are back in school Monday.  This apartment seems to get smaller as the kids get louder.

We went to a Japanese Steakhouse for my birthday today and the kids had fun watching them cook our food.  Joey told the cook he was a "good egg spinner".  We then went out for ice cream and are now back at home snuggling around the fire getting ready to watch the "Wizard of Oz".

I hope all is well in your homes and we will blog again soon.