Back In Action!

My goodness it's been a long time! So much has happened since Fall 2009 so I'll just start the review of our family for the last 18 months.

The three most exciting things to happen since my last post have been the birth of our third child, Geneva Rose Norris on March 22, 2010, Lucas' graduation from UT with a degree in Architecture on May 14, 2010 and Lucas being accepted to the UT MBA program Fall 2010.

Geneva Rose Norris was born on Monday, March 22, 2010 at around 7pm.  She was 9 lbs and 21 inches long.  The pregnancy as a whole was wonderful.  For once I wasn't big and pregnant during the hottest part of the year, so I was able to thoroughly enjoy the holidays and my family a lot more without sweating to death. :)  The last 3 months were more difficult as it was discovered that I had excess amniotic fluid which was causing a lot of pre-term contractions and a very uncomfortable mommy.  I dealt with it the best I could, but I'm sure I was not very much fun to live with...I am so thankful to such a patient husband, especially considering he was nearing the end of his last semester in Architecture school.

As my due date drew near my doctor decided to schedule my induction earlier than planned because I was so uncomfortable and it was probably better for Geneva anyway.  My mom flew out (for the 3rd year in a row I might add...she's amazing) and a few days before the induction so she was able to watch Brandt and Felix for us.  We went in for my induction at 5:30am, they pitted me at around 7am and after going through contractions for a while (I can't remember because I was in so much pain) they gave me an epidural.  Geneva Rose Norris arrived in all her glory at around 7pm that evening.  A big girl to be sure...no wonder I was so uncomfortable! :)  She's been a joy ever since.  She had her first birthday March 22nd and is now walking (almost running) around everwhere trying to keep up with her very active brothers.  She's a feisty one too and can hold her own with those boys.  So funny.

Brandt and Felix are another year older too.  Brandt is potty trained and Felix is on his way...very exciting times.  Brandt is definitely the "oldest" child and likes to try to be the boss sometimes.  It's kind of funny (most of the time).  He's also learning to ride a bicycle that Felix won at an Easter Egg Hunt in April.  Soo cute.

Felix, as I said, is learning to go to the potty.  He's still not quite sure when he needs to go but is starting to get the hang of it.  Loves to get his M&M's when he "pee pees in the potty"! hehe:)  All three LOVE to see and talk to their Granny and Papaw and Nana and Papa.  I am soo grateful for Skype!!

So the next major event in our lives after Geneva was born was Lucas graduating from UT with a degree in Architecture.  It was a very, very exciting time for our family and especially for Lucas and the hard work he's put in for the last 7 years (5 at UT).  I am so proud of him for all the work he's done.  The graduation ceremony was wonderful.  It was a hooding ceremony and for anyone who's unfamiliar with what a hooding ceremony entails, it's a ceremony for the graduates and professional undergrad degrees where, on stage, a professor drapes a large sash/hood around the graduates neck.  When it was Lucas' turn Brandt called out "Hi Daddy" as Lucas was walking across the stage...the auditorium was completely quiet at that moment and everyone heard it...there was a cute laugh from the audience.  Luckily we got it recorded and it's on our You Tube website.  My parents and my brother, Erin and his son Spencer, and my sister Samantha were able to fly out from Washington to attend.  Lucas' parents and and sister and her family were able to drive from Kingsport to attend as well.  It was a really fun family time.

After Lucas graduated we had to move from our apartment because they are tearing them down.  We had a bit of difficulty trying to find a place, but Lucas was eventually able to find a nice little place in North Knoxville (Fountain City).  The move was kind of crazy but we got through it.

After a lot of talk and prayer Lucas decided to apply to graduate schools to go for his MBA degree.  I was still working at UT in the Business College at the time and I knew the director of the MBA program.  I called her for some advice and she suggested that Lucas apply to the program in order to start fall 2010.  He took the GMAT and filled out his apps and with a lot of prayer and fasting he was accepted to program just before the pre-course work began.  We couldn't believe it.  It was a miracle.  I was also excited because for the first time I was going to be able to be a stay-at-home mom.  (That has had it's own challenges hehehe).

Since then we've transitioned into our new apartment (which has a dishwasher and a bigger kitchen!! yea.) and have also planted to some tomatoes and peppers this year using 5 gallon buckets.  I've also potted some other plants...It's been wonderful.  In January (December 31st to be exact) one of my best friends (Kimberly) and her family moved into our building.  I was soo excited because her kids are around the same ages as my kids and so we are able to do a lot of things together, including exercise and preschool.  She is a true God-send and I am sooo grateful to have her as my friend.  I owe her so much.  She's been there for me when Lucas has had to be at school.

Lucas just returned from a 12-day international trip to Peru and Santiago, Chile for school.  He had a blast.  I will tell more in a later post.:)  My mom came for about 10 days while he was gone...such a wonderful mom!!

With everything that has happened in my life individually and my family's life one thing has become very clear to me.  Heavenly Father meant for us to be there for eachother, be it husband and wife, parents and children, friends, extended family, etc.  He never meant for us to go at this earth-life thing alone and I think that, and having faith, have been the two main themes of my life for the past 18 months and the ones he's been trying to teach me.  I can be very, very stubborn (as some of you know...hehehe) and He has been very patiently guiding me through the challenges I've faced, including post-partum depression and anxiety and learning to transition my perspective from being a working-outside-the-home mom to a stay-at-home-working mom, something I've longed for and also realized very quickly was very naive about.  I am so grateful every day though that I am able to stay at home with my beautiful children.  Lucas, Brandt, Felix and Geneva are my life and my world.  I hope they always know how much I love them and am there for them.

Well, now that I've written yet another novel I will keep up with my posts much more frequently.  Y'all have a great day now, ya hear? :)

The Norris Family in fall 2009 and spring 2010

This is just a little blurb describing our upcoming activities for the 2009-2010 academic year. It will be an exciting and busy one.

As I mentioned in my first post Lucas is working at Food City loading and unloading frozen food items. It's definitely a summer job, so he'll only be there for another 5 weeks and then we've decided that it will be best for him if he works at his Materials Library job at school (in the architecture building) for the academic year. There a lot of benefits, the biggest one being that if he needs to do something for one of his projects just before or after work he can do it without too much trouble. That will be especially important since this is his last year and he'll have a lot of work to do.

For the 2009-2010 academic year he will be working on his portfolio, tweaking what he has already put in it and updating it with new projects. In fall 2009 he will be taking a Presentation Design course, Programming for Architectural Design (the studio course he's required to take each semester that involves creating a design with drawings and models) and, the course I'm really excited about, Chinese Language. (For those who aren't aware, Lucas served his mission in the Taipei, Taiwan mission.)

He's planning on graduating spring 2010 and will be taking Design studio and Chinese classes again and going to interviews. We're definitely not sure where he'll get a job, but we're not saying no to any one place in the U.S. at this point. I'm looking forward to finding out what options we will have (being the planner that I am I'm going a little crazy not knowing...oh well...I'm dealing.hehe) I think Lucas is ready to be done with school though so the challenge this year will be to keep the momentum going. Graduation will take place on or around May 13th, 2010. We will keep everyone posted about the specifics.

For me I will still be working my full-time job at the university but I will also be taking a couple of courses. I will be taking Educational Psychology and weight lifting. The Ed Psych course is a full term course and I am looking forward to it helping me further my understanding of how best to teach my children once we start home-schooling. The weight lifting course is 1st session only (1st 1/2 of the semester) and I'm looking forward to getting a better grasp on getting my body back into shape. (Look, after having two boys in two years I need a little help. hehehe:))

I'm also going to be involved in the Relief Society a lot more since I was called to be the Secretary. I'm really enjoying it, especially since I now get to work with my best friend Desi, who's the president. (I just want to do a shout-out to her to let her know that she's doing a great job by the way!!!)

Brandt will turn 2 years old on November 25th and Felix will turn 1 year old on October 28th and I'm soo excited because this year I'm not big and pregnant so I can plan some shindigs without getting exhausted just thinking about it.

In June Brandt moved from the Infant 3 classroom at day care to Toddler 2. He had a little trouble transitioning because he loved Miss Amberly and Miss Heather so much and was used to them, but now he loves Miss Penny and Miss Helen too. They get to go outs

ide twice each day as long as the heat index isn't about 90 degrees and on Fridays they get to have water play in the morning. Brandt loves it!!! They do art work everyday and this week they are learning about the great outdoors, like camping, etc.

He's been a real trooper. He was sick a good portion of the first part of the year with colds, RSV, etc. but he's doing great now. He ended up having to have surgery on his thumb last Friday (7/10/09) to get part of his thumb nail removed because he had an ingrown finger nail. He was really out of it afterwords because of the anesthesia and later when I gave him a dose of Loratab he start walking around singing to himself (and did I video tape it? no!! silly me.) Since then though he's been doing great. We just have to keep a bandaid over it for now until the nail comes back.

Felix is Mr. Talkative. He loves to jabber on and on. He's just now starting to try to crawl. He's at the rocking-on-all-fours stage so we're hoping that he starts crawling soon...or are we? hehe:) Once he does we'll have to keep tabs on him more since he'll be mobile.

He was really sick with a bad cold last week that caused him to have pink eye, but he's mostly over that now...however he doesn't want us to put him down and he's resorted to holding the sides of his head and screaming to throw his temper tantrums. Little stinker. hehe:)

He will move to Infant 3 in August or September, already. I can't believe he's going to be that old already. It seems like this past year has flown by.

Well that is a bit of what the next school year is looking like for us. It will be busy and fun and crazy.

Look for new postings as the semester progresses!!

Love to you all!

A Mid-Summers Day Dream

Well, it's the middle of the week and I'm at work day-dreaming of a time when Lucas will be done with school and I will be able to stay home with Brandt and Felix and work on all the projects I've been wanting to work on. Just one more year of school for Lucas and maybe one more year of work (maybe two) and staying home it is! :)

Recently, Holly, my sister-in-law, sent me the link to a blog of this woman (http://theivanovskys.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-i-organize-my-coupons_31.html) who is a superstar when it comes to couponing. She has binders and sheet protectors and divider tabs, a dream for an organizer like me. I am going to start doing the same thing because my grocery bill has definitely gotten out of hand since having Brandt and Felix. Let's face it, the boys have to eat, but it's hard to buy them food if our funds are all out. hehe:)

Another project I'm working on is a recipe binder (yes, I know...I'll have binders coming out of my ears!) I'm looking for 31 recipes to create a recipe calendar for each month (so if anyone has any good recipes they want to share I'm all "ears"). One of the sisters in our ward, who has six kids, created this recipe list and spread sheet so she could get their grocery bill under control and also have a variety of meals. It basically works like this...create a binder filled with 31 recipe cards (or printouts) and assign each meal (dinner) to each day of the month. If you come across a recipe that everyone turns out to love add it to the list and remove one of the other recipes. Then create a spread sheet of every ingredient and it's amount so you have a total of how much you use for the month, including water. At that point you'll have a comprehensive list of everything you'll need each month food-wise in order to make each and every recipe. Then go out and purchase it. When you use something, put it on the grocery list so you know to replenish it when you go to the store.

I'm so excited to get this going because it will not only help with our food costs (big yipee!) but it will also help with time management. If I know what needs to be prepared for the next day then I can have it partially ready and be able to throw it together when we come home.

In May/June we canned strawberry freezer jam. It's turned out great and we ended up with more quarts this year by about 6 than last year. It's been a huge blessing!

Something else we've been working on as a family is our garden, for the second year in a row. Lucas was its "architect" and did a great job. We've been working on the garden with a couple of our other friends, the Quayles and Nichols and it's been a blast, not to mention a huge blessing. We have beans, corn, cucumber, zucchini, (radishes earlier), green and bulb onions, a variety of tomatoes, green peppers, jalepeno peppers and jabinero peppers (all for Lucas, Mark and Kipp I might add hehehe). We also had lettuce in the beginning but we didn't pick it enough and it went to seed. (I might be forgetting something so forgive me Desi and Kim. :) So far we've canned green beans and are getting ready to can tomatoes too. Oh, and a word of caution for anyone possessing the desire freeze jalepeno peppers. Make sure if you choose to blanch them that it is in a house where no one will be home for about an hour or two or do it outside. Lucas blanched some jalepenos last night and to say that it made all of cough like crazy (boys too) is a bit of an understatement. I ended up having to take the boys outside for about 20 minutes while Lucas worked to get the "fumes" out of the apartment. It was intense to say the least! hehe:)

We also worked with our other friends, the Willis' and Nichols, to put up chicken for the first time this year. We had live chickens that Lucas, Kipp and Tom killed, skinned and gutted. They would then bring the carcasses inside and we canned the legs, thighs and wings and froze the breasts. It was hard work, but it paid off. Now we have a lot chicken for food storage and they taste wonderful!!

We will plant some more beans and some potatoes too before the season's over, as well as in the fall. I'm really excited.

One last thing, Lucas went with Tom and picked nice bowl of black berries. They were great!!

I'm attaching a couple of pictures of our garden, but you can look at a lot more of them on our flickr website at http://www.flickr.com/photos/24827222@N06/.

I will have more information on the upcoming semester and our busy little family in a bit so stay tuned.

Love you all!

Reaching the end of the work week

It's Wednesday, July 1, 2009. It's hard to believe that more than 1/2 of 2009 is over. It's almost the 4th of July and we'll be heading up to Kingsport this weekend for the holiday. I'm really looking forward to it as it'll give us a chance to spend some time together as a family and with our extended family. Work has been somewhat trying, but getting better. I'm starting to catch up on projects...definitely looking forward to the long weekend.

Lucas is working at Food City and I'm really happy about it. It gets him working with his hands and I think it helps him to just do something that's not too stressful (even if he doesn't think it does, hehe) since he'll be entering his last year of college in the fall. It's hard to believe he has one more year left. I know I'm excited.

The boys are the growing so fast that I find myself wanting to hold them and play with them any chance I get because I know it will be a short before they're all grown up. Also, the fall semester is going to be tough on all of us. I find that I want to just go to sleep with Felix while he's still small enough to want to cuddle and it's so nice. I love our boys so much. I can't imagine our lives without them.

I'll be taking an educational psychology class and a weight lifting class in the fall. I'm hoping the ed psych class will help me better prepare in basic ways to home school Brandt and Felix. (Yes, home school. hehe) I want to understand how best to approach teaching them so they can get the best possible education from me. With so many schools systems caught up in red tape and the teachers not able to focus on teaching Lucas and I decided that we wanted to teach our kids at home. Even though I know it's going to be tough I'm getting more excited about it, especially as Lucas finishes his schooling because after he's done it will give me more time to focus on this part of our lives and gradually, or immiediately, get out of the working-out-of-the-home life and get into being a stay-at-home mom.

We're also growing a garden, or should I say, Lucas is growing a garden, because he's in it more than the rest of us. He's done a fabulous job on the garden, designing it, taking care of it. I'm learning a lot from him. We have canned, and will continue to can, beans (turkey craw, 1/2 runners, pole beans, etc.). We will also freeze corn when it comes in. It's so exciting to see the fruits of our labor. Brandt has even helped work in the garden a little bit. I'm hoping to get him out there more so he can learn how to work a little. He loves working with his daddy.

We also made some strawberry freezer jam as well as butchered, froze and canned chicken. We will definitely do this next year.

We are so blessed. We have had some challenges and still more to come I'm sure. The one constant in all of this has always been the Lord's spirit constantly whispering to us that everything is going to be ok, to have faith and persevere. I know as long as we put our trust in Him, and continue to say our prayers together and go to church to learn what He would have learn, we will be great. I'm so thankful for our little family and to Heavenly Father for bringing s all together. I'm so thankful for all of our extended family and their love and support. There's no way we could've made it without them.

So long until next time!! Have a great 4th of July!