Natalie Bean and her progress.

Well its been a roller coaster since we had Natalie. She has had surgery, been in the hospital for a couple weeks, struggling with eating, etc. And I have gotten no sleep over it. I occasionally get the sleep I need. If I am incredibly tired, I will nap with Aidan and Natalie. It is hard to do when Aidan doesn't want to sleep. Natalie is growing. She has just been in with the Doctor on Monday and she finally reached her birth weight, but it doesn't impress the dr. much yet. He was hoping she would gain more than that. So now she will be seeing a nutritionist about her eating and diet. I am doing the best I can with her. Its not an easy process. I can feed her so much but from there, it really depends on her body and development. We are excited about Halloween. I will have to post photos when the time comes for Halloween. I took some photos of Natalie in her blessing dress made by my mother. It is a beautiful gown. I can't wait to get shadow frames and put their blessing outfits in them. I also took a photo of her in patriotic outfit. I was mostly screwing around with that photo.

We will not be in Colorado any longer for Christmas. We have decided to move back to Idaho to live with Cassey's sister. It was the impression to help save money and to get out of the house we are in now because this house is a terrible rental property. We may not know where we will be after Cassey is out of the Navy, but we will be closer to family and hopefully the jobs he looks for will be closer.

I have to add that going to Penrose Apple Festival was a ton of fun. The kids and I love going to any harvest festivals around. It is a family tradition I hope to keep going. They love going and picking apples from the apple orchard and going on hay rides. The best is the opportunity to have apple cider. Yum. We have had a fun Fall so far and are looking forward to the Holidays coming up. Please respond and let me know how your families are doing. I like knowing that all is well with people in the world. I will post more photos and updates when I can. Jenny

Pregnancy Update and Family news

Well it has been forever since I have posted on here. Cassey has been hard at work, school, volunteering, color guard, and being home with family whenever he can. He graduates College June 21st. We will be heading to Denver, Co for his graduation day. It will be a great day. We are hoping to see his parents there to celebrate this big day with him. Cassey has also won an award from the State of Colorado for his volunteer service and being an example to the community of Colorado Springs. That was a special day for him. I was glad I could go to support him during this honored event. I am now 29 weeks, almost 30 weeks pregnant. I am ready to have this baby, but it is too soon. The kids are out of School for the Summer. What will I do with them??? And hopefully it wont cost money. I would love to take them to the museums here so they can learn about Colorado Springs history before we leave in December. This is our last year here and I want them to do more than just sit on their tooshies and watch tv all Summer long. We have had a long year. Some of the time we had struggled, others have been just a normal day for us. But we hang in there and keep our faith strong in the Lord. We have all had colds and flus at one point or another. Aidan has been growing in his molers all at the same time, so he has been cranky, slobbering and nibbling on his fingers. We think he already hit the terrible twos because he is a feisty. I am having to teach him early about his attitude, but he usually does well after I have a talk with him like I did with the my older two kids, who didn't experience the "terrible two's" until they were THREE. All in all, this Summer is going to be a boring, but also a busy one in prepping for the baby. We have just about everything we need, just need a couple more things and of course diapers and wipe. Can never have to much of those. Our family will be busy for the rest of this year and we will also be getting rid of stuff over spring time so we can down size on junk and items we dont need any more. We sold our Subaru the other day. We will miss the car, or I will. It was a great car, did us good for trips. Some day I will get a vehicle I love.. Maybe a Volkswagen bus or a beetle. I really love those and when the kids get older, I don't mind using that to get around as my little errand car or bus. Some day. Well I will have to update soon. Might be when the baby is born... Who knows.

Carlson Family Update

It's Been a while since I have been on here. Been so busy with Aidan that for me, time moves by quickly. Kids started school and some after school sports. Kimberly is doing volleyball and cross country. Collin is doing cross country as well. He would like to do gymnastics or karate some time over the winter. We will see how that goes. We haven't fully talked about it yet. Aidan had been standing up for weeks but hasn't quite done walking. He will take a couple of steps but then plops back down on the floor and just does his normal crawling around. Aidan's 1st birthday is October 13, 2013. I am really excited. I wanted to do a Fall theme or Halloween theme for his birthday, but Cassey would like jungle animals. Maybe I can do a giraffe with some leaves. Hmm. something to think about I guess. Cassey is working hard with his school work. He will be done next Summer and then he can take a break and not think about school. Lately it has been hard taking care of the household while he works and goes to school. His work and school keep him busy lately. But I am fully supportive. I want him to do well. He deserves it. I have worked on seat covers for Kimberly's class because her teacher needed some for their extra books. I made quite a bit of them. I have also been working on a blanket for Tara's newborn baby girl. And I have also been working on a drawing for my sister. I am almost done with it, but got side tracked because the kids have activities after school and I get terribly busy. All in all, we have been one busy family. Probably be busy for the next year seeing how Cassey's schooling is catching up with him, kids school work and sports, and my baby growing and keeping me busy with not much to finish around the house. But I will do my best to keep posting. And post photos in the near future. Take care Jenny

Well, it's been a month and a few days since our little boy has arrived. He is doing well, he is finally growing. He had a rough couple weeks his first time here, it was stressful and worrying, but we said our prayers and he is growing, no jaundice, he is breathing normal, etc. I have been up since 3 am trying to feed him and put him to sleep. At 4:30 he threw up quite big and made a complete mess all over me and the recliner. He didn't cry or anything. So he is sleeping right now. It must have been the bottle feeding that he didn't like. I had breastfed him for 15 minutes. But that didn't work for him so I gave him another couple ounces of formula to supplement. But he threw it all up. The part that worried me was that after I had cleaned him up, changed his clothes and my clothes, he started making noises that sounded like belching noises. I thought he was going to throw up again, but nothing came out. It worried me a bit. But he is fine. I'm holding him in my arms right now to keep an eye on him. I don't know if he will throw up again, or gag again. You never know. Today we are getting his Christening photos done. I am a little excited, but the sitting is only 10 minutes, which kind of sucks. I hope we can get all the photos done as fast as we can. After the photo shoot today, Kimberly would like to have a mommy, daughter day. She had called daddy when he was coming home from work that we were going shopping. He asked if it was planned, I said, "no." I wasn't aware we were going shopping. But she really wants to go.. So maybe we will go out for a bit... But it might be with the family so we don't drive everywhere today. She wanted to do some Christmas shopping. Hmmm... I don't know about that. We will see what happens. =) I'm happy she wants mommy and daughter time. =) Well, this is the update for us today. I also wanted to mention I am hardly getting sleep.. But I am also doing my best to get naps in as well.

Graduation Testimonial.

Okay, So I had graduated in September, had my ceremony on the 6th of October and life seems to be good for me now. I have an Associates Degree of Business and Administration, with a certification in Management. I also graduated with Honors. Let me tell you.... It was no picnic trying to keep good grades just so that I could graduate with Honors. I feel really good about it. Some people have asked if I am going to further my degree or get a job.... Right now, I am pregnant and expecting a son on October 25th. For right now, my job is to stay home with my kids and spend more time with them, seeing how that was hard to do while going to school. This is the link of the graduates program. It will have me listed as Tyra Carlson instead of Jennifer Carlson. So if you have a hard time finding me, this is what I am listed as: http://graduation.ctuonline.edu/graduation/assets/6_Graduation_2012_10_6/6_Graduation_2012_10_6.pdf Please, if you want it for your records or something, it is there for your convenience. I am pretty excited that I graduated. I am thankful for the support I have had from family and especially friends. Some of you I owe big thanks for helping me out on some homework that I was confused on. I am glad I knew a few people who had taken business courses and knew exactly how I felt, and what classes I had to take to get here. Now that I have no more school, I plan to catch up with my hobbies and for the next couple of weeks I plan to get the baby's room ready as much as possible and prepare myself for a busier time. But don't worry, I am looking forward to having another baby in the home. Since it has been five years. For any of you looking for an interest in school, may I just say.... do something you know you can do. If you keep telling yourself that you can't do it....there are reasons. I took a business course because it was something I knew I was good at. I have had business experience before. If your someone who is looking for the right school, I can't tell you that. But Colorado Technical University was definitely a good school for me. I attended different colleges before I settled with CTU. I have had good teachers, inspiring teachers, and not so good teachers. But you will get that anywhere. But most importantly, have faith, and confidence that you can do it. If you don't have that, then you will never succeed. These are things I told myself each day. So hang on there. And always know that you have the support. If you need help with something, ask for it. Don't give up. Thanks and many love's to you all. Remember.... If I can do it, you can do it.

Graduation Day (Online Ceremony)

Today is graduation day. I will be graduating with Honors at Colorado Technical University today. I think I am excited. But I am really just thinking to myself, "How did I get here?" I know I worked as hard as I could to get here. Well it starts in a few minutes, so I will update more later. =)

School for all of us

Well we are all attending school right now. The kids started school on Monday, which they were excited about. Cassey and Jenny are currently attending CTU at the same time. It has been a busy time for our family. Jenny should be done with these last three classes by September, and then hopefully, if all goes well, she will graduate this year.
We have been expecting a third child (BOY) wahoo. Jenny has been tired, she can't wait till the day will be here. Colorado Springs is starting to cool down a bit, which is nice. Cassey has been busy with work and school. If this hasn't already been mentioned, he made E-6 rank. He is moving up in the military. So it will be nice to make a little more money.
In Jenny's free time, she likes to sew and do crafts when not doing her homework. She has been making a few things for family members. The kids have been reading and playing together. Collin has been learning how to sound out words and be able to read some words on his own, which he does very well in for his age. Mommy helps him with sounding the letters out so he can read the words better.
This family has been quite busy, but doing pretty good. We can't wait for fall. It is Jenny's favorite season.
Well, we will post more if anymore news comes up. Tune in on our posts and keep up to date with us. Thanks for reading. Enjoy your day and God bless.