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Blog Migration

Because of some changes in Blogger, we have had to move the family blogs to a new address.  The entire blog will move, with all the archives and pictures and all.  There shouldn't be any differences, just a new address to set your bookmark to.  This will take effect by tomorrow morning, March 18.

Instead of:

lavalane.org/tobler

Set your bookmarks to:

tobler.lavalane.org

Easy as pie.  Nothing else is changed, so you still go to Blogger.com to write a post, etc.

(And is it wrong of me to think that Mitji probably died of skin cancer at age 50?  I mean, really?)

(Now, if you'll excuse me, Aragorn is about to challenge the Black Gates.)

Green

I hope you are all wearing green today! If not, give yourselves a big pinch from me and my family. I wasn't going to even tell the kids today was St. Patrick's Day, but that only lasted until Jeff woke up and started to tickle kids. The under 8 crowd gets tickled instead of pinched around here.

Happy Pi Day

Happy 3/14 everyone.

As for other things: Caren and I watched "Where the Wild Things Are" last night. It started out great. And then it turned depressing. By the end I was thinking this is the most depressing kids movie ever. I think the book is TONS better. NOt much else. See the movie if you want but I did not like it much.

Bye for now. SKT

RE: Katydid Pictures

That is possibly the cutest little red-headed girl in the world...but then again...I'm a little biased.

Katydid Pictures

I was looking at the family pictures I did of the Smith's that I did over Christmas holidays. This is what came out of it. Obviously I am not a great photographer but I am learning. But these were just too cute to not show off. I am calling it "The Many Faces of Katy"

RE: Everything - and more

If that is all that is needed to qualify for "Worst Parent of the Year" then I should have one for the last several years. Skyler's bedtime keeps bouncing around because he is in the habit of waking his brother up to play with him after Ephram has gone to sleep. It should be hard to get mad at Ephram but he goes along and the first we hear is when they finally lose all control and someone comes downstairs hurt (usually Ephram).

By now everyone knows the news about my job but this should not affect our being able to attend the family reunion. While I haven't discussed specifics with Mike yet (my new boss), he has already acknowledged that there may be some time I need off before I've been there a year and have earned the two weeks vacation.

I finally have my schedule for school this quarter (not even a week before the quarter starts) so I will be back in classes starting next week. Unfortunately I do have a Saturday class...something I was hoping to avoid. Since this is a brand new program at this ITT campus there are no other sections available either. Oh well.

Re:Everything

I think someone has something that is being held over Casey.
I have many times felt like Mrs. Hanagan. "Little Girls, Little Girls" only with "Little Kids, Little Kids" and yes there were times when I wanted to rush in and say something like, "If you have so much energy, let's put it to good use. Get up and clean."
Jenafer, I had down a different zip code. Is this one the right one?

Now was going to put some pictures of Katy here but it won't upload them. I will try again later.

I'd've cracked, years ago, if it weren't for my sense of humor!

Do you ever feel like Mrs. Hannigan?  When you hear the sweet, cheerful laughter of your happy children in the bedroom, do you ever feel like shouting, "Is that happiness I hear?" and then sweeping in, flinging the lights on, and making the children clean until the place shines like the top of the Chrysler Building?  Because they are supposed to be ASLEEP?

Just me?  Oh, okay...(slinks off to clear room on the mantle for my "Worst Mother of the Year" award)

Chuck

So...Is Casey a double agent who has been in sleeper mode for the past however many years? Or is his elderly grandmother being held hostage to force him to do whatever it is that he will be doing next week?

address

The Roy family
28304 N Castle Rock Dr
San Tan Valley, AZ 85143

GRADUATION!!!!

That's right, folks! My husband is graduating! And I am so proud of him. We're gathering address for sending graduation announcements and I need pretty much all of yours. If you don't feel comfortable posting them here, please email them to me. The best email to use would be my gmail one: telima.smith@gmail.com. It's the one I check most often. Thanks everyone!!

Re: Hot Drinks

I feel like I haven't experienced enough hot drinks to be able to adequately answer this question...I've only ever had hot chocolate, cider, and the occasional cup of hot jello water. =) I'd have to say most of the time, I favor hot chocolate. Like Jenafer, I drop pieces of candy in it to add some flavor (especially since right now all we can afford to get is the really cheap store brand hot chocolate). My current favorite is using the tiny peppermint candy canes to stir the hot chocolate then dropping the whole thing in. When we have it, I also like to make mine really, really hot and then put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it to cool it down and add froth and richness. I suppose that's my all time favorite.

In other news, my children have been horrible today. Anybody know of some gypsies who might want to take them off my hands? I'll sell them with a great discount! (This offer only stands until Tyler gets home...I'm pretty sure he'll be able to talk me out of selling the kids.)

Re: Hot Drinks

I don't drink hot drinks. It is against the Word of Wisdom.

On a more realistic note, I prefer a nice cup of Milo. It has to be prepared in just the right way for the best flavor. Fill a mug half way with Milo and about 1 spoon scoop of sugar. Add boiling water 4/5 to the top and stir. Add vanilla ice cream to fill the rest of the mug and cool down the drink. Stir in the ice cream to add thickness and WOW. Nice drink. It makes it better to drink it with a Tim Tam.

Caren mentions that the only time she drinks a hot drink is when we visit family in Northern Utah. It actually gets cold up there.

Love you all. SKT

Answer

I don't really drink huge amounts of hot beverages. It's really not cold enough around here most of the time. But in the winter I love hot chocolate. I don't have a specific kind like Keryn does, but I add all sorts of things to it to make it better. Other than a peppermint or a cinnamon candy, I add all sorts of lifesavers to add a fruity undertone. I've also added Hersey kisses for an added chocolate boost. Currently, I like to add a butterscotch or a Werther's original. They different undertones but both are nice and extra sweet, which is what I really like.

RE: Eye doctors

Huh.  I have a "freckle" on my eye, too.  I didn't know that I should be worried about that.  Hmmm.  I guess I'll ask at my eye doctor's appointment next Friday.
I'm loving the idea of the magnetic sunglasses.  Are they like Mema's?  I think I'll look into those.  We're trying to spend $800+ of FSA money by March 15.  Lots and lots bandaids and contacts lenses, nice glasses and whatever else is qualified.  Have  I mentioned how much I HATE the current FSA program?  Lame, lame, lame.

But let's not talk about healthcare reform (because everyone else is right now, and I'm sick of it).  Let's talk about how this week, while marvelous on Monday, has really been about three days too long.  I guess if I have a "Friday" on Monday, I deserve a "Monday" on Friday.  It's snowing, for heaven's sake.

Time for a new question of the week!  What is your favorite hot drink?  (Because of the snow, you know.  And the sinus infection.)

My favorite right now is Stephen's Dulce de Leche Caramel.  So yummy.

Eye Doctor appointment

So Jeff and I had eye doctor appointments yesterday. Jeff had more than a bit of sticker shock over how much everything costs. We have insurance and still had to pay more than he'd expected. The exams didn't cost us that much. We have a $20 co-pay each. I had my eyes dilated, I wasn't driving, but we paid an extra $30 to have Jeff's eyes "mapped" instead of dilated and that wasn't covered by our insurance. It's a good thing we did. Neither of us have ever had that done before and it turns out that Jeff has a freckle on the inside of his eye. It's not something we necessarily need to worry about, but he does need to wear sunglasses every time he goes out into the sun and have it checked every year. It is grows, then we get to have a wonderful biopsy and ect in our future. I don't have anything like that, but my retina is stretched thinner than the doctor likes. He explained that it's simply a fact of life for people who have nearsightedness as bad as I do. He very carefully explained that I am at greater risk for a detached retina and he went over the symptoms so if something like that happens, I can get to him ASAP.

This time, I got myself some glasses with the magnetic sunglasses with them. I haven't gotten them before and am excited for them to get here. Jeff's prescription didn't change enough for him to need new glasses, so he went for prescription sunglasses. He will be more likely to wear them all the time. The other perk is that our insurance covers transition lenses free of charge. So we got them on mine as well. The only problem is that apparently the lenses don't work very well if the temperature is above 80 degrees. Since that basically describes 9 months of our year, it's a good thing I got the clips as well.

My prescription hasn't changed very much. I'm still at 650 in one eye and 700 in the other, but my astigmatism has gotten a bit worse. It doesn't make that much of a difference, but I didn't think I would bother much with changing my glasses out with prescription sunglasses. I would be much more likely to use the clip on's.

So that is my life just at the moment. It's been a LONG week.

Sending pictures to Samuel?

If you are sending pictures to Samuel, there's an easy way to do it without having to make a new email for every five pictures.  drop.io lets you upload files under a special web address, and then anyone you give that web address to can access them.  They stay up for a year and then vanish.  Pretty cool, huh?

Congrats and Reunion News

To start: Keryn, congrats on the baby girl. I am so happy for your almost 5 year old daughter who will soon have the ultimate play mate/ dress up toy. Also, I hope you get over your sinus infection.

For everyone else: THE REUNION IS COMING!!!!

Now that it is March we have less then 4 months until the big get together. I have sent you all an email last night, Monday late night, that included a letter describing what I need from you now and also a lot of useful information to make sure you will all be prepared in the coming months. The goal is to plan as much as possible before the event so that we just have to sit back and relax during the reunion. So check your email and if you did not get a message from me, then I must have sent it to the wrong place. Send me a quick email and I will forward my original message to your correct address. Love you tons.

P.S. I am SOOOOOOO looking forward to this family reunion. See you all then.

SKT

Baby Girlie Ross

A name?  Jenafer, you're joking, right?  We don't believe in naming our babies until they are out of the oven, practically.  Mercy was...what, 12 hours old?  Heber was 18 hours old?  Gideon was named three days before his birth, and Ezra was named about three hours before his.  We are firm believers in the law of the last minute.

She's baby Ralphette, and notice the "/" is gone.  Ralph/ette no longer!

We are unbelievably relieved by the clean bill of health.  The ultrasound technician was very good at helping us feel good.  Ralphette was curled up like...well, like a fetus!  She made life pretty difficult for the tech, because she was squirmy and twisty and definitely not interested in giving up any secrets--except one.  She showed off that back like there was no tomorrow.  It was like she was saying, "See, Momma, nothing to worry about here!"

But finally he caught her with her legs uncrossed, and voila!  We have broken the Ross curse!

By the way (John!), I didn't really call anyone to make the announcement--well, Mema, obviously, and I talked to Telima to discuss plans for tomorrow.  So please don't feel bad that I didn't call you, anyone, because I just am letting Facebook and my blog do the announcing for me.  I have a pretty bad sinus infection, so I'm trying to take it pretty easy right now.

Love you all!

Yea!!!!!!

Good for you, Keryn. I am thrilled to be able to welcome another neice into the world. This also puts the cousin count a bit closer. By my count, we have 10 boys, Benjamin, Jacob, Skyler, Ezra, Adam, Ephram, Kip, Gideon, Heber and Jason, and 8 girls, Heather, Erica, Arabella, Mercy, Lillian, Katie, Brooke and baby girl Ross.

Now, just to see if you've had the time to come up with one of your names, what are you going to call her?