Hello again!

Okay, pictures. Emma in bed. Ethan, in my bed. Laura an Abby. Me studying my brains out, and Joseph in a fitting (both figuratively and literally) shirt.

Laura had herself a Lemony Snickett morning here recently. Joseph had gotten up in the morning and had blood all over his face. Just a bloody nose in the middle ofthe night, but it looked terrible. We did not have milk, so my morning cereal routine for the kids was thrown off. The kids didn't midn the pancakes, but it made me late for everything else that morning. When I had finally gotten myself all put together I went to open the front door and the latch was stuck. It didn't matter what way I turned that handle the latch stayed firmly in place. Ethan was running late for the school bus, so Ethan and I ran out the back and around the front. Laura was a bit grateful for the stuck door at the moment because Joseph, his face still a bloody mess could not run out and see Ethan off. Laura dashed out to get Emma ready and when she finally got out to the car with the kids she had discovered that a neighborhood kitten had been stuck in the van and left a present on Emma's seat. Stressfull, but funny now.

We had Emma's birthday here a week ago. She had about 10 friends over and 1 neighbor boy that had invited himself. They all went over to the park and took whacks at a pinata (5 and 6 years old is too young for that) I ended up breaking it. The kids all had a lot of fun, but it was hard to herd them. I made cupcakes for the kids that turned out fairly nice, but I think we don't have any pictures.

We had all gone to Portland on the weekend of the 10th. I had meetings down there for work. I teased Laura a few days before because she wanted to plan it all out. She asked if I knew where we were staying yet I said casually, "Oh, the Hilton, I think." Little did I know. THey booked us at the Hilton Homewood suites. The nicest place I have ever stayed. It had a livingroom, kitchen, and a big bedroom. In each there was a bigscreen plasma tv. It had a real breakfast in the morning, USA Today waiting for us in fornt of our door, and other amenities we did not have time to enjoy. It was great. The following night (friday night) we stayed at Laura's aunt Margaret's house. Not as fancy, but the hospitality was much better. On Saturday we were debating about going to the beach, but we decided that driving an hour there, an hour back and 3.5 hour home would be too much to be fun, so we all went to the zoo instead. We ahd a great time. Probably the funniest thing was that after we had gone through and seen seals, polar bears, giraffes, and many other exotic animals, Ethan and I were on the way to the bathroom and he shouted excitedly, "look Dad a squirrel!" I thought, isn't it funny how 1 ordinary animal out of a cage can be more fun than an exotic inside.

Emma has really blossomed in school. She has a lot of friends. She says that every day she says a prayer over her food and tries to get her friends to do the same. She spoke to one girl recently and the girl daid, "oh, I didn't think you were my friend anymore." Emma said, "I everybody's friend!" It is so nice to have a girl that is excited about the gospel.

Laura was in the school with Ethan recently and they say the nurse come out of the office. Ethan said, "Hi ya nursey!" She got a big kick out of it then as she was walking away he said, "I like her. I wish I could keep her."

Abby is getting bigger. She is smiling often at people now and actively batting at toys. She is a lot of fun.

Joseph has reached a developmental milestone. He can now climb over a child gate. Hooray! HE siad something really cute recently. He asked, "Grandma grandpa mission?" "Yes, Grandma and Grandpa are on a mission." "Jojers mission too?" "Yes when you are older you can go on a mission too." "Yeah! Jojers Grandma Grandpa!" He thought he would see them because he would go on a mission. He said a similar thing to Laura also.

Big news in Laura's family. Is the anouncment of the Kansas City temple. Melissa (her sister) is expecting her first baby. Sarah just found out that she will be having another boy. That will be #6 for her. 5 boys and 1 girl.

As promised

Here they are! More pictures.

At the top you see a more recent picture of Abby in her blessing dress. Two pictures of the house. Emma posing and Ethan doing what he does best. And another picture of Emma with her much beloved barbie dolls.

That's it!

Ty and Laura

Whew! It has taken a while to get back here! Things have been going well for us. Ethan went through a bit of a time where he did not want to go to preschool and he literally had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the bus every morning. Thankfully he is past that now. Emma has a birthday party comming up and she has a list of about 20 people that she wants to invite. We are trying to narrow it down a bit. She is enjoying kindergarten and is beginning to learn about reading. She is excited about it. Joseph has now gotten tall enough to unlock and open the front door. We are still trying to figure out what to do about that. Thankfully he seems content most of the time to stay on the block. We have had a couple scares where he has run around the corner. The recent problem has been that there are a couple of stray kittens in the neighborhood now that the kids adore. Ethan and Joseph are constantly letting them in the house. Not that Laura mids too much..., but we can't have a cat. And that's final. Period.
Abby has started getting really chubby (that is in comparision to our other kids. Nobody compares to Chad at 2 months). She has started to smile some. Now we all work hard in hopes of getting a glimpse of a smile. Neil told us his baby smiles like crazy all the time. We are obviously jealous.
Okay pictures. A moment of bravery on my part. Yes, Ethan really did cut my hair, and not too bad a job he did of it either. Ethan and Joseph made a cake. The sprinkles mostly ended up in their mouths, but, that's okay. Emma and Joseph playing in the mud, and Abby about 3 weeks ago. Abby had a bump on her nose and head from when Joseph got into the room and dragged her off the bed and dumped her face down on the bathroom floor. We were none too happy. Laura went into shock. It was pretty scary because she was so tiny. We will add another post so that we can show more pictures.
Ty

sick

Well, it is a good thing Laura is not sick or we would have nobody to take care of us, the kids and I. This past week was my first week in school. We got one little girl, a kindergartener, that showed up for the first time on Thursday and was just scared half to death. It is a good thing that I have aides that care about our kids. One stayed and played with her by the door for about an hour and a half before she felt comfortable enough to finally come sit down. The rest of the day for her alternated between crying and timidly going places. Luckily my students were all understanding and helpful to her also. Friday started out the same, but over all she had a more comfortable day.

Here at home we are all fighting colds. We are using up tissue and cough drops as quick as can be. Even little Abby is sick. With all the kids sick they are getting up more at night and we are getting less sleep.

I got started making a bench out of the left over fencing materials I gathered from Chad's place. It is to the point that the general shape can be seen, but it still looks bad. I will post a picture of it when it is done. It will have a hinged seat so that we can store garden tools in it. If you know anything about this little house you know that we can never make too much extra storage.

Ethan starts pre-school tomorrow. He has been so excited. He has a new little blue back pack. Laura is going to sew on some little sports ball patches. Yesterday we went clothes shopping for him at -where else?- yard sales. 10 items for 5 dollars is a price you can't get even at Walmart. Emma really enjoyed her first week at school. She has made a few friends there, she says. Laura has really enjoyed her going to school too. It has made her life easier and she is excited about Ethan starting school also. Well, that's it for me!
Ty

Yikes! They are almost here!

Pictures: This is our duct tape ad. Joseph would not keep his diapers on, so this was our alternative. He pulled the sticker off the packaging and put it the only sensible place a 2 year old would put such a thing. On his belly. The other is Laura holding the baby. Aren't they cute!

Well, as I Have to hold the baby anyway, I thought that I may as well peck at the key board with one hand. We had a good memorial day. Yesterday we discovered that we have a two year old boy that can climb out of his crib. Our options were to move him to a kennel (not really, in case anyone without a sense of humor is reading) or to a bed. Now we need to figure out how to keep him in bed. Last night we were suckers and let him fall asleep in our bed rather than letting him cry it out. The battle has not yet begun for tonight.

A couple days ago Ethan said "If someone swallowed a bunch of BBs would they be the Man of Steel?" We got a big laugh about that. He also went to bed crying last night "All

I want is some duct tape!" He is a funny boy. Little Abigail has ring worm on her cheek that is pretty bad right now. She wants to be held constantly. If we set her down she wakes up shortly after and begins to cry. It is easier to just hold her most of the time.

Emma went to her first day of Kindergarten on Friday. She loved it and has been excited all weekend to go back on Tuesday. Ethan sure missed her while she was gone. He tended to follow Laura around.

Today I finished putting up the back fence. We still have the main trunk of the tree that we had chopped down lying in our yard. Todd and his friend may come back for it sometime, but I doubt it. If they do then they can cut it up into small enough sections to roll through the gate. The fence is constructed entirely out of Chad's old fence, with the exception of two 2x4s that I had to buy for stringers, the cement, nails, five 4x4s, and gate hardware. I think all told we were out less than 90 dollars. That's about the cheapest fence I ever hope to build again. The cedar boards that we got from Chad were great. They were each at least a full inch thick. We got enough extra that I am making an outdoor storage bench for hoses, garden tools and such.

This last week I interpreted for 2 big events in the school district. It was fun. That was my first real time interpreting and I was happy to do at least an okay job of it. Our Deaf aid in the classroom said that I did a good job anyway.

We have decided that we need to get rid of our dog. She is the sweetest little Labrador Retriever. Really tolerant of the kids rough handling, but with the new baby and my Masters it has been hard for us to take care of her like we should. If winter were not approaching, then we might keep her longer, but I don't want us to neglect her through the winter. So, if anyone wants...?

Well Class starts for me tomorrow. I will have 3 kindergarten kids, a 2nd grader, a 3rd grader, a 4th grader and 2 5th graders. I will also have a couple other kids for reading only. This is the biggest group I have had yet. In part that is because we have contracted with other districts to provide services to a couple kids. I have spent more time this year organizing and getting ready than any year in the past. I have great expectations of a smooth beginning. I have decided (in conjunction with the Special Education Director) to be a bit hard nosed about my schedule and to not make exceptions for the Specialists (art, music, etc...) because if I do, then I will not have a schedule cohesive enough to teach the core academic subjects.

Well, I have probably gone on long enough.

See Ya, Ty.

Well, well, well

Okay, The cake, Me figuring out how to use the new hex wrenches (any ideas?), Emma posing (still my birthday), then Joseph the fireman and Laura with the little one.

As you can see by the title of this post I am in a rather uninspired mood. I am, though, behind in the things that I should share. First, I had a birthday! Yeah! I think. I am not sure if I should be excited anymore. The big three-o. It was fun. I enjoyed making the cake, and the kids enjoyed eating it. Abigail's eyes are begining to clear up more. She has pretty dark blue eyes, just like all our other kids did at that age, but eventually the Thornock genes will dominate, I am sure.

Ethan got a little fire fighters outfit at a yard sale (Joseph is in the hat above) with a little toy ax. All day yesterday he ran around in this yellow rubber suit waving his ax and trying to chop down the trees in the front yard. He bit the "blade" of the ax to narrow the taper. Now, supposedly, it is sharper so it will cut better.

Emma starts school next week. I think that she will do fine. She has great phonemic awareness, wonderful story telling and expressive and receptive language. She knows a few alphabet letters. She will be fine. She will. Surely.

Laura has been dropping pounds so fast that she has to jump out of the way or they hit her toes. She is worried about Emma starting school. They have full day kindergarten here, so Emma is in for some long, grueling days.

Joseph is into everything. He is saying prayers well now-for a two year old, that is. Emma is "Memma Bear" Ethan is "Buhee (buddy) guy" and Joseph is "Bobef" His prayers are often punctuated by "Buhee, Shhh! Prayer!" He has learned when he has already messed his diaper, but he tends to use the right hand check, so changing a diaper now often involves a run to the sink and antibacterial soap first thing.

I am excited about school. I found out that my paperwork will be reduced to about 1/12 of what it was prevoiusly. I am so relieved. I will have between 6 and 8 full time students this year and 3 or 4 part time students. That is a pretty good size load. We are looking to expand the program if we can, and it is looking like a better and better possibility and we are getting to be known as a pretty good program in the area.

Well that is about all I have time for tonight.

Ty

For the first time!

This is Emma earlier this summer at the water park in Rexburg.
Joseph same place...
Ethan also.

Hi there everyone! This is my first post and we will see how they go. Today was my first day back in workships for school. We were learning all about teaching writing, not that the workshop will reflect at all on my blog.

As you may know, our little Abbigail Rebecca Thornock was born on the 14th of this month at 10:47 in the morning after an agonizing morning (more so for Laura than for me) begining at 2:00 am. She was born weighing in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 20 and 1 half inches long. She had a bit of trouble breathing at first and they had her on a little respirator for a few minutes before she figured it out on her own. Afterward she and Laura were both fine, although I found the hospital food a little traumatizing. Above is a picture. Laura's Mom and youngest sister Becky came to help out and the have been wonderful. They took the other three children down to Portland for 2 and a half days so that Laura and I could focus on the Olymp- I mean the baby. They have also done a lot around the house.

The house is moving along. Using the boards that were unfit for use on Chad's back fence, I created a fence spanning the alley sid eof our backyard. I still have a 10 foot section open that I have left to put up. Other improvments include: a front step makeover, a painting of the front door, and some beginings for making basement steps. I had recently had lawnmower troubles and, expectedly, after I fixed it it still didn't work. I talked to Grandpa and he asked if I had checked the sparkplug. I tell you, my sparkplugs need to be checked, because as soon as he said that I remembered that I had disconnected the sparkplug before working on it so that I could keep my lifetime electrocution count below 50. Well, after our enlightening talk, I reconnected the sparkplug and the mower started like a dream.

Emma is getting excited to start school this year. Ethan found a ratty old pair of army pants his size and wore them about 4 days straight until he threw up on them and they had to be washed. Joseph is growing like a weed and uttering some 4 word sentences now.