Time flies faster than I can keep up with the blog!

Since the last time we blogged Eva turned 1! She is a sweetheart and amazes us everyday. She says about 10 words that we can understand and has a very strong personality. She will let no one forget that she is in the room. Here are some pictures from her 1st year photo shoot. Anyone on facebook has already seen them but this blog is our family journal (yes, I know that I need to write more to consider this our journal) so here they are again.

These cake pictures are my favorite. I have a niece that is 1 month older than Eva. We went to her 1st birthday party and she just sat there and looked at her cake. My brother gave her a little bite and she still just sat there and looked at it. So I was curious as to what Eva would do. The photographer put the cake down first and then I started to put Eva down. She dove into the cake before I had even finished setting her down. As you can see here, she was not shy. She is definately my chocaholic girl!

Miss Eva Grace at 6 months old- Better Late Than Never

Our sweet little Eva when she was 6 months old. We thought we better post these before she turns 1 next month!!!

Our last 12 days of fun!

12 days ago we finally got out of the hot AZ heat for vacation (and none too soon since school started one week later). It was 7 days of crazy fun and long car rides.

Eva looked like this for about 6 of the 28 hours on the road.

First it was off to Great Grandma Rissers for 3 days. I could stay up all night talking to Grandma and not even realize how much time is passing by. We had so much fun. One night was spent up at Aunt Syd's eating pizza on the beach and chatting in her home till we realized that we still had an hour drive back to Grandma's! Thanks for the yummy pizza Aunt Syd! We were also able to visit Uncle Gordan and Uncle Jeff and family in their homes. It was really nice to see everyone.

Bubble fun at Grandma Great's

Stopped here on the way to Petaluma

Then it was off to Petaluma (San Francisco area) to my family reunion. My Uncle Bob and Aunt Marilyn run a Christmas tree farm as do my cousins Carole and Chris. This was my favorite place to visit as a child and it was so nice to share this with my children. They had a blast running through the trees and playing hide and seek. My cousins have a bunch of different animals that the kids loved. It was quite a feat keeping Aaron and Hannah out of their pens! We had so much fun that we hardly got any pictures! After 3 days there it was back in the car.

We drove back to Grandma's and stayed one more night. I am so glad we did. Aunt Syd drove down and we had a fun sushi dinner out with her. No kids running around made for really nice, uninterupted conversation. It was a treat to get to know more about Aunt Syd! After dinner we got to see Uncle Gordan and Uncle Jeff again due to our famous trail of breadcrumbs that we seem to leave wherever we go. In the morning it was so hard to leave but the kids were already missing the first day of school. It was time.

Thursday morning Sariah, Aaron and Hannah went back to school. Ahhhhhhh.....a quiet home. It is amazing how calm Paul is when everyone else is gone. Not even Eva bothered him! Of course there was no time to rest. Hannah's baptism was in 2 days and I still hadn't begun preparations. So that night we were off to find her new white dress. She is such a fun little bug. The lady that was helping us couldn't believe that Hannah was eight. She kept bringing me these huge dresses that Hannah could swim in and commenting every 5 minutes that she couldn't believe that Hannah was 8. She actually asked me at one point if I was sure she was 8! pretty sure I remember the day I gave birth to my own daughter!!! We left the store with her teeny size 4 dress and a beaming little Hannah.

Saturday morning Hannah was baptised. What a day. She looked beautiful but more importantly she felt the spirit and made the choice to get baptised. How proud I am of her. As hard as this child is for us she is kind, thoughtful, shows no guile, doesn't hold a grudge, is so loving and fun. We are blessed to have her sweet spirit in our family.

Yesterday we rented the tools and removed all of the white tile from the house. What a job. I can't believe the pain in my forearms from the machine. It took pain pills to sleep last night but the tile is gone! Hooray!!!

The dust mess is incredible but well worth the mess. Friday and Saturday we remove all of the kitchen cabinets! The floors will be stained and polished starting Tuesday and all new cabinets installed the Saturday after that. The eye sore of our home will become a memory....aahhh. In the mean time lots of cold sandwiches, cereal and take out!

Our Eva turned 7 months yesterday! Time is flying by quickly and we are all having so much fun with her. It would be nice to keep her small a little longer. She has been rolling around and scooting for some time now but today she decided it was time to crawl. That is the end of clearing a space for her and her toys upstairs until we have gates put in.

Sariah is enjoying choir and has a solo coming up in the spring concert. Her voice has been getting better and better. Her teachers love it when she sings songs from Phantom of the Opera for them. Sariah has been counting down the end of the school year and is really excited to start swim again.

Paul has taken up basketball and is quite good at it. If we can only teach him the importance of dribbling instead of just shooting baskets. He is still creating artwork and his new passion is creating maps and cities . They look like something you would find on google maps but he creates cities with only the places he wants there.

Aaron is having so much fun with his new habilitator. She paints his face int0 whatever animal he wants to be that day and makes costumes and artwork to go along with it. He is also writing his own little animal stories and has been much easier to get along with. He of course wont leave the baby alone. She has really facilitated him with his communication. Who would have thought!

Hannah is having fun helping me with the garden. Her "chore" is to water the garden each day when she gets home from school. She runs right out there before taking her backpack off. She is so eager to pick the fruits and vegis that I have to remind her constantly to wait until they are ready. She is also excited to start swim again.

The hot Summer is quickly approaching. Time to get creative since neither the kids or I are willing to go outside in the heat unless we are in a pool. It is going to be a long summer!

St. Patrick's Day

Hope everyone had a fun St. Patrick's Day. Every year we make the full traditional corned beef and cabbage meal and end it with a rich chocolate cake. This year we had a cute little shoe eating leprechaun join us. Family (well the guys in the family) have made fun of her little green dress saying she looked ready for St. Patty's Day since Christmas so I thought it only fitting that she wear it.



School is out for Spring Break. I had so many fun things planned for this week but woke up Sunday with the flu. It unfortunately put a damper on what we were able to do, which is not much. I can't tell you how bad I feel for the kiddos. Luckily I have had them home to help with the baby so I can rest. She loves her big sisters and brothers and they love to make her laugh. Hope that all is well with everyone. Love to all from the Fairbanks!

Here are a few shots of our trip to the Phoenix museum. It was Paul's request for his birthday. There were a few exhibits that really caught our attention. The dark picture is an exhibit that exisits in only two other locations in the world. It is a dark room wrapped in mirrors, with polished granite floors, and light LEDs hanging from strands. The experience is unique! It feels like looking into the universe while being immediately surrounded by it. It makes you feel tremendously large and very small at the same moment. I love my son. His thirst for experiences and expression is inspiring. I can honestly say it is one of our shared qualities! Through the fog of autism, it is one of those tender moments of clarity. Love to all- Nathan