March 27, 2012

The Jackson's of Albuquerque

On Monday Stacie and Kevin were sorry to say goodbye to so many family members. However it wasn't long before they could enjoy the arrival of Grant on Tuesday. Henry loves his Uncle Grant and has already smiled for him on multiple occasions. On Wednesday Grant and Stacie took Henry to his one month check up. Henry weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz; he has gained 2 lbs since birth. On Thursday Kevin presented a paper at a department colloquium, which received great reviews.

On Friday they celebrated Kevin's 26th birthday.Kevin greatly appreciated the many books he received. On Saturday the celebrated another birthday; Henry's one month birthday! Henry was showered wih gifts at a ward baby shower. Afterwards they all enjoyed watching The Muppets together, a birthday present from Henry to his daddy.

Grant's News


Grant has been spending the week in Albuquerque with Stacie, Kevin, and Henry! He arrived on Tuesday and will be staying through until this coming Wednesday. Grant has really enjoyed getting to spend time with this cute kid and his amazing parents. He even got to go to the magical Giovanni's, which is the best place for pizza in New Mexico. Legitimately... It said so in USA Today. Otherwise, he has been taking lots of walks since New Mexico has had such nice blue skies and star gazing at night. It has been lovely.



The Haws Family of Colorado


March 25th


Not too much has happened this week. Haley received her Bachelor’s degree for reading 1200 pages she has 500 more to go to receive her Masters and then 1500 to receive her Doctorate. Don’t we all wish it was that easy to attain those degrees! Kayla played with Emma a couple of times this week. We attempted to go to the park one of the days but it was just too windy. On Saturday the weather was beautiful! So Haley and Kayla convinced me to blow up the swimming pool so they could cool off. I was very surprised that they spent three hours in the pool and then another ½ hour riding bikes. Needless to say they fell asleep about 7:30 pm and slept very well Saturday night. I was able to talk to Andy this week and he seems to be doing well. We are counting down the days until he comes home.

March 18th

The best news this week as most of you already know, is that Andy is on the list for his promotion to SFC (E-7)! Yeah!!! On Monday after school I took Kayla and Emma to McDonalds then to the park to play before we picked up Haley. On Tuesday Kayla went to Emma’s while I ran some errands; it was really nice not to have extra hands touching everything when shopping. Wednesday I was supposed to visit teach a Sister but she ended up cancelling on us so I had a good visit with a friend instead. On Wednesday night the girls and I went to Lisa’s (one of my really good friends) graduation where she received her GED. Way to go Lisa! Thursday I was finishing up my visiting teaching for the week when Andy called to tell me the good news about the promotion list. As of right now we have 83 more days until he is suppose to leave Afghanistan! On Saturday I took the girls to the park on post and then to Applebees. After we got home Haley and Kayla was picking “flowers” for me when a butterfly kept landing on Haley and her bike. At one point it even crawled onto her finger. It was pretty awesome because she just finished talking about butterflies in her class at school. Sunday we went to church and when we got home we made a low-carb pizza that’s main ingredient is cauliflower. It turned out pretty good but I thought it tasted more like a quiche rather than pizza.

Julie and Jeff and Alex (the newest nomads)

So it has been hard for Jeff and I to participate in the news letter lately. Not only have we been struggling with the challenges of parenthood but we are now moved to the land or cheese or WI land! Alex is growing a lot, however he is struggling with keeping his food down. Henry almost weighs more than Alex. Hopefully we can submit some very cute pictures and video soon. Love to all!

The Haws Family of Wisconsin

We have had quite the journeys the last couple of months. We have been to Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Mexico. We rode Amtrak from Chicago to Albuquerque this last leg of our journey. We have had the wonderful opportunity to witness the blessings of Henry and Alex. It is so fun to see our family grow. We have two new adorable grandchildren to add to the ranks of Derick, Felipe, Lucas, Haley and Kayla. What a wonderful privilege.

Back here in Wisconsin Logan and Emily have started their soccer seasons. Lanette is trying to get a job lined up for the summer and Mom and I are trying to keep up with our children. Mom will be having back surgery this Friday. We all hope that it will decrease her back pain.

We have welcomed Julie and Jeff as they relocate to Wausau. It is a big move for them and we hope that it works out for them.

We are all anxiously hoping that Jeff and Renata and family will be getting their visas approved for coming to the States. We hope that things keep moving forward.

Love,

Dad

March 16, 2012

I am so sorry this post has taken so long. We are leaving today for Albuquerque and I want to send this to all of you. Thanks to each of you that continue to contribute to the family blog.

The Jackson's of Albuquerque

This week has been a wonderful one for Stacie and Kevin as they enjoyed having Henry at home. Henry was discharged from the hospital last Saturday on the condition that he come home on oxygen. It has been an adventure for Stacie and Kevin to maneuver around their house with tanks, tubes, and a monitor that goes off at the slightest movement.

On Tuesday Henry had his first bath. Stacie was grateful Mom was there to help and to take lots of pictures. As you will see from the pictures, Henry isn't a fan of bath time. On Wednesday Kevin, Stacie, and Henry were all sad to see Mom go. Mom was such a blessing to them during this stressful time. Everyone was grateful that Nana got some snuggle time in before she had to leave though and they look forward to seeing her again this upcoming week.

On Thursday Stacie, Kevin & Henry trekked out on a very windy day to visit the pediatrician. Henry weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz (he has gained over a pound now!). They were excited that the pediatrician approved to have his oxygen turned down a level. He is now on the lowest amount that he can receive and he has been doing great! They plan to go in on Tuesday to test his levels and hopefully remove the oxygen entirely!

On Friday Stacie was excited to also visit with a home health care nurse who reported that Henry's lungs sound perfectly clear. We hope this means that he has completely recovered from his pneumonia, especially since he is handling lower levels of oxygen so well. Friday also marked the last day of classes before spring break. Both Stacie and Henry are enjoying extra time with Kevin for this next week. They especially look forward to spending time with family at the end of the week and blessing Henry next Sunday.

The Colorado Haws Family

March 5, 2012

These past couple of week has been very busy for us all. Kayla went to the doctor for her 5 year checkup a couple of weeks ago and the doctor says that she is growing just fine and where she needs to be on the charts. With that said I noticed that she is just one inch shy of being as tall as Haley. The next day the girls were very sad to say goodbye to Vanesa and Grandma Nancy. They had a lot of fun with them during their visit. That Saturday was a day filled with activities. First, we went to a birthday party for someone at church where they had lemonade cupcakes which were actually really good. Then after the birthday we went and had frozen yogurt with Tamara, Sydney, and Ryan then headed off to the park which the kids loved because we stayed there for three hours! Sunday Haley gave the scripture and prayer in primary.


On Tuesday I was able to go to the temple. I was proud of myself because I drove up in the snowy weather; for me this was an accomplishment because those who know me know I do not like to drive in the snow. On the way back it was beautiful blue skies but very, very windy. It was so bad that I had to get off the freeway and go through town. Also this past Tuesday was Haley’s last day of intramurals (handball). She has had a lot of fun doing intramurals and would love to do it again next year. On Thursday Kayla had make-it-take-it night at school. The girls had many learning activities that they made. I believe their favorite one is ZAP! On Friday I took Kayla to the library story hour where she made a dinosaur. Haley was excited because they celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday at school (she came home with the chocolate cupcake evidence on her face). On Saturday the roads were very icy from the storm the night before so I thought our plans of going to Kids in the Kitchen were going to have to be changed, but luckily by 9:00 am the roads were just wet and almost dry so we were able to make it to the activity with my friend Tamara and her little ones Sydney and Ryan. They all had a great time learning about all the different foods, doing karate, and learning how to do CPR. Sunday was a beautiful 61 degrees (love that type of weather)! After church we made chocolate chip cookies to take to the people who I visit teach.

March 12th

We were able to talk to Andy a couple of times this week. He was getting ready to go out for a few weeks to check up on all of the FOBS. Thank you for all of your continual prayers of protection for him!We have had beautiful weather this past week.  On Tuesday I was able to go to the temple again while Kayla went to play at Emma’s after school.  Wednesday Emma came over to play with Kayla and they were being very creative on making their obstacle course in the house with using the chairs, pillows, and dolls.  On Thursday we enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden with Gena, Emma and a few friends from Virginia that were visiting.  Friday Haley didn’t have school so I took them to Dr. Seuss’s birthday party at the library.  They seemed to have a great time and was excited to see friends from school there.  After, the girls played at the park and then enjoyed an ice cream from Coldstone Creamery.  Later that day the girls helped me take dinner to a sister in our ward who is having a hard time with her pregnancy.  It is always good to have Haley and Kayla help with service projects in any little way that they can.  On Saturday after 1 ½ hours of putting Haley’s very early birthday bike together (next time I think I just might pay the extra to already have it assembled) we headed off to the park on post.  The girls had a lot of fun even though it was a little cold and windy.  When we got back Haley was finally able to ride her new bike and even though she has been riding a bike for quite awhile she still sometimes forgets that she has breaks on the bike and still tries to use her feet to stop, which this time made her crash into the rocks.  Luckily she was wearing a helmet and wasn’t hurt.  Andy is doing well and continually staying busy checking the fobs around Afghanistan.  
 
ADDED NEWS: Andy was selected for advancement to E7. That is an amazing acheivement. Congratulations.
 
The Haws Family of Wisconsin
 
It is about 1 AM and I will be driving to Chicago at 7 AM so I need to keep this short. But there are some great things happening in our family. Here are a few items
 
1) Henry is off oxygen and is home
2) Alex is gaining weight despite being a bit of a spitting guy
3) Julie and Jeff will be moving to Wausau and Jeff has some real job opportunities in the midwest
4) Jeff is working on the paperwork to move his family to the States.
5) Spring is coming to Wisconsin
 
Love,

Dad