Floor Light

Built this floor light from scrap wood and an old Fluorescent light I had. Great for illuminating all sides of a project for painting, etc.

Puzzles

Ethan is really good with puzzles. Lynnette and I have actually woken up in the middle of the night to him putting puzzles together. The puzzle he is doing below is a 4-6 yr puzzle, but he puts it together easy. This package has 4 different puzzles, each one of the four seasons. Many times, he will dump out all the pieces to all the puzzles and put them together all at once. The video below shows him putting together these puzzles.

The song he's singing is one they taught him at school. "B-l-u-e spells blue. B-l-u-e spells blue. Hi-ho did you know? B-l-u-e spells blue..."



Something funny that Ethan does, is that every time he farts, he shouts it to the world... no matter where we are... home, school, the grocery store, church, etc.

Also, you can thank his grandparents for the colorful language. I guess no matter how much we teach him otherwise, we can't unring the bell (so to speak).

Zen

Sometimes you get a bug in your bonnet. Rocks from the desert, a make-shift rake made from a dowel, a piece of oak 1 by 2, and a spare broom handle, and an empty lot that should have been a playground had the bubble not burst...

石の陰

倒れる形
バブルなり

The rock's thin shadow
On the verge of toppling
So goes the bubble

July...

July was a good month for the Hill family. We watched fireworks on the 4th and Dan and I took pictures of the fireworks for the first time. They turned out better than expected, but we learned a lot for the next time we do it. We had Dan's grandparents over and BBQ'd with them and had a great time.

Ethan had his first pet-sitting experience. Our next door neighbors went to Hawaii for a couple of weeks and asked Ethan and Dan to watch their cats while they were gone. He had fun going over every evening and feeding and watering the cats.

Ethan is doing really well in preschool. He got bifocals a few weeks ago and they really make a difference vs. his old glasses. He shows more interest in books, writing, and lots of small tasks that he couldn't really see before.

One of the things Ethan enjoys doing on the weekend is going to the park. We have a really great water park near our house. I don't think he's quite sure he likes it yet but once we get him in the water, he seems to have fun.



Ethan sans glasses...




Ethan and Dan also enjoy playing with trains together.





We celebrated Dan's birthday on the 28th. He turned 28 this year, and isn't bothered yet by how old he is. Dan was blown away by all the text messages, facebook comments, and phone calls he received wishing him happy birthday! We decided to celebrate his birthday at The Cheesecake Factory this year, rather than making an entire cake for three people. Mmmm... Chocolate Truffle Tower cake... 'nuf said. :D He got 2 awesome hawaiian shirts, a gift certificate to his favorite hobby shop, and Final Fantasy III for the DS.



Next week Dan, Ethan and I (along with the rest of our families) will be traveling to Provo. After months of thinking that I didn't care if I went to graduation, I realized I really want to be there. I've also realized that I want to get a Master's and hope that I can go to UCLA to get it. They have a good Dynamics/Vibrations program. As a bonus, my sister-in-law, Corinna, and I already have Ethan's child care semi-worked out (because she wants me to move down there just as much as I want to move there). :D She is the most awesome sister(-in-law) ever!

God speed, NASA, God speed...

From the attached article (quote of a quote):

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," Kennedy said, "because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."

Kitties

At the risk of seeming like the crazy cat lady, here is a picture of my uber-cute cats.


The black and white one is Izzie. She's pretty much retarded and just chases her tail all day. The tortie is Mugi (pronounced: Moo-gee), named so by Dan because she has wheat colored paws and Mugi is japanese for wheat.

Milk Jugs

So they stopped stocking the new milk jugs in Las Vegas area Costco. You'd think people would like saving 50 cents a gallon and having milk that lasts a week longer, but noooooo. Their precious old style jugs just had to win. Alas poor better designed container, I knew thee well...

Conquer Mount Timp

I have decided what my goal is! Well ok, it's not my only goal, but the one I am focusing on right now. I am going to run Mount Timp. Mount Timp (a.k.a. Mount Timpanogos) is a mountain in the Provo, UT area. The trail leading up to the summit is something I have always wanted hike. It is about a 7 mile hike one way with about 1 mile elevation (14% grade). Dan and I are training together, and hope to be able to run it by this time next year. There is a comparable mountain here in Vegas that we are going to use to train, as well as going to the gym.

Hi!

So... I have officially given up on ever hosting my own web page. I decided that I had better just settle for something existing, or my family/friends would never see any pictures of us. Although, I did learn a good deal about WAMP (Apache/MySQL/PHP) during the endeavor. I have finally finished school, and should have my official piece of paper by December at the latest (hopefully sooner). Now to convince my employer to give me a raise even though they are in the midst of a lot of layoffs... hmmm..... :)

Ethan is doing well. He finished his first semester with Child Find (Clark County's Early Childhood program) today, and is progressing well. We are still working with him to be interested in the potty. He seems to lack an understanding of cause and effect. Like he'll be holding a pitcher of water (tilted, because he isn't paying attention) and it will start dripping on his foot, and it won't even faze him. We got his six month review from his teacher today, and he is starting to show progress in all the areas he needs to work on. Yay! :D His teacher mentioned that lately he struggles to see things (lines/letters on a paper, distinguishing where the door is on his bus, etc.), which means his vision has gotten either better or worse. Cross your fingers for better.