"Nice" weather we're having......

"Merry Christmas and enjoy the nice weather!"
Today it was 25 degrees when I was coming out of Sam's Club. There was a man ringing the Salvation Army bell. Do you know what he said to me? That's right, "Merry Christmas and enjoy the nice weather."
It didn't really hit me until I got to my car. At first I was speechless. Then I was so upset that I started talking to myself. Cora was there, but we didn't have eye contact so I can't count it as a conversation.
Enjoy the nice weather......enjoy the nice weather? Was he serious? I was freezing my butt off. Seriously, I was in my real winter coat, not the cute one, the warm one. I had Cora bundled up in her car seat with that thing that covers the whole car seat to protect her from the elements. Just her little face shows, and there is a flap to cover her face for when its too cold for a baby's face to be outside. My hands were frozen from putting groceries away.
Enjoy the nice weather? What did he mean? Was he joking? It didn't seem like he was trying to be funny. I can't stop thinking about it.
It was seriously 25 degrees!!
I guess I really don't know what I am in for here in Cheyenne.
The lesson I learned was when there isn't wind gusts of 30-45 mph and it's not snowing that minute it means "nice weather."

So I know you got on my blog not to read my rant, but to see pictures of the kids that I should have posted over a month ago.
I know Halloween is long gone, but here are the pictures of the kids in their costumes.

We had a Bumblebee(Ezra) and an Optimus Prime(River).

Plus we had this adorable "little mermaid".

This year we got to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving at Joe's grandmas house. There was so much good food. Everyone was excited to meet Cora.
Here is a picture of Cora and her Great Grandma, we call her Nana.

Ezra kept asking me if he could have the turkey leg for dinner. I told him I wasn't sure because we were sharing the turkey with a lot of people this year.
Check out the picture....Ezra is eating the giant turkey leg.
It was Ezra's birthday while we were there he got to have a slumber party with his cousins. How could you not have fun when you have and endless supply of plastic cups?
Ezra and Jed were so proud of their tower. They would build it, knock it down and then build it even higher.

Whenever we go to Mesa we like to hit one or two of our favorite eating spots. This time it was YC's. Can you say delish? It was so good.
Ezra enjoying his noodles.
Here is Joe enjoying his noodles. He doesn't have time for chopsticks. The YC's must get into his belly as fast as possible.

One of the main reasons for our trip was so we could have Ezra's baptism and Cora's baby blessing with our families. It was a very special day.

Here is our family. Not the best picture, I know.
Joe and Ezra before the baptism.

Our trip was too short to see any of our friends. (Not that we don't love our families) We are planning a trip back to Mesa in August. We think it would be so fun to be able to see our friends while we are there. Usually all of our time is spent with family. So if you are going to be in AZ this summer, we want to hang with you. In fact, I'm calling it, party at Jim and Fern's this summer for our friends. Date and time to be determined closer to summer.

Okay, here is a video that maybe only I think is funny.
This is what the Lasuras do for entertainment.
Really, we think we are so hilarious.

THIS HAT IS NO LONGER A FUNNY JOKE!

Joe used to put this hat on and we would laugh. What a funny hat! It's ridiculous, I mean look at the fur. It looks like the kind of hat an Eskimo would wear.
This morning when Joe left for work he put this hat on and neither of us laughed.

We have been having unusually warm weather the past few weeks. I wouldn't really know, because I think 80 or 90 degrees in November is normal. I guess it is usually really cold and snowing by Halloween. We have had some really cold days and some flurries (that's what you call snow that is really lite and doesn't stick, it's like what sprinkles are for rain, but for snow), but last night it really snowed.

Joe and I were so excited! We were like two little kids. We went outside in our pajamas. I'm not sure why, but none of the neighbors came outside to see the snow at 11pm.
Last night the snow was very magical.

Here I am in my pajamas and my "real coat" it's wool. The lady at the grocery store told me that it would not be warm enough, because of how windy it is in Cheyenne. Then she pulled her coat out from under her register and made me try it on. It was very weird.

On the subject of coats, last week I was looking for snow jackets online. They were on sale and I told Joe to pick one out, so he would have a coat for winter. He told me that he didn't need one, because he would be fine with what he had, and he didn't want to pay $100 for a coat. Last night after we came in from being in the snow Joe told me that $100 probably wasn't too much to pay for a warm coat.

The bed of Joe's truck was full of snow.

Ezra has been talking about the snow since we got here in August. I knew he would be so excited to see the snow. I tried to wake him up, but he is my son and no matter how hard I tried he would not wake up to see the snow.
Last night before he went to bed he told me that his throat hurt and he would probably "have to be absent" from school tomorrow. I actually believed him and I was going to take him to the doctor's office this morning. Not a chance. He was so adorable this morning looking out the window at all of the snow.

He couldn't wait to go to school. He got to wear his snow boots. He was very excited. It was cold, but he was bundled up.

Here he is off to the bus stop. Don't worry I'm not the only mom who makes her kid take the bus.

Just as he was leaving some of his friends caught up with him.

River was so excited for the snow too. I knew he was excited because he got dressed without being told and it was before 8am. He played outside and then came in covered in snow. Now we will have to get some snow pants, I think.

Here are a couple of Cora pictures. We call her Coco and you can too. She is such a good baby, she smiles a lot.

Last night when I was holding her she was extra cute and snugly. I had to take a picture. I mean look at those baby thighs. Who could resist those? Nobody, because she is adorable.

We were trying out her new hair bows in this one. She is cute in this picture too.
She is a big hit at our house. The boys ADORE her. It is so sweet. They talk to her and River is so into showing her how to do things. Yesterday while she was in her bouncy seat he taught her; how to snap, put socks on, put shoes on, hop on one foot and how to whistle. He is a really good big brother.
When we are in a store and the boys see anything that is girlie they always ask if we can get it for Cora. At first I used to object and tell them it was the wrong size or she was too little for whatever they were talking about.
It would go something like this:
Riv or Ez- Mom, can we get this jacket for Cora?
Me- No we can't get that it's a size 7. It won't fit her.
Riv or Ez- I mean can we get it for her when she is 7?
Me- Um, sure.
It's the same way with toys too, but now I just play along.
Riv or Ez- We should get Cora this Barbie bike, she would really like it.
Me- Yeah, she would love to have a Barbie bike.

Adorable, if I do say so myself!

A Year of Blogging/Ramblings

I was thinking about the history of the Lasura blog. It's been a year since I started posting on this blog. Click here to see my first post. It's not pretty.

Technically Joe signed up for lasura.blogspot.com almost 3 years ago, he was a blogging pioneer, actually he wanted ME to be the blogger in 2005. He was too busy going to school and trying to support a family(nice excuse). Back then I didn't even know how to get the pictures off of the camera on to the computer. What was he thinking? I didn't really have a reason to blog, I don't think the word "blog" was mentioned. I think the conversation went something like this:
Joe: I got us our own website, it was free.
Joan: Why did you get us our own website? What are you going to do with it?
Joe: Not me. You. You could put pictures of the kids on it and write about what is going on with us.
Joan: Why would I want to do that?
Joe: So my dad could see pictures of the boys.
Joan: I wouldn't even know what to write. It would be boring.
Joe: You should do it.
Of course we were living with my parents and Joe's dad was practically the only family member who didn't live in AZ. I didn't even know anybody who had a blog. My how things have changed!
When I started posting to the blog we only had two kids and we had just moved to Alabama so Joe could start his third phase of pilot training- Learning to fly helicopters.
A lot has happened in that year.
The highlights were:
*Joe got his wings and graduated from pilot training!
*We moved from Alabama to Albuquerque.
*Found out the hard way about my gallbladder.
*Moved from Albuquerque to Cheyenne.
*Accidentally experienced natural childbirth.
*Cora was born.

There's always something going on with us.
Just last week when I was in the hospital after having my gallbladder out, Joe told me that Ezra came home from school with a black eye, because he fell. It's good times around here.
The good news it that Cora started sleeping through the night last Thursday(knock on wood). It's been really nice. I hope it lasts.

So in my last post I claimed "I'm Back"......totally not true. I'm probably halfway back. I forgot what it is like to have a new baby. Plus I got these other two kids who want me to feed them and help them do stuff.
Then we still have the unpacking/getting the house in order sitch. It's pretty slow going. I don't get much stuff done during they day due to Cora and the everyday things that have to happen like take River to Preschool, laundry, dishes, dinner, homework. We really only have the weekends to work on the house. Pretty much if it has to get done it has to be done on Saturday. You know, Sunday is not for doing work and stuff like that. Joe got sick when he came home from survival school, so we didn't get much done that first week. Then we had a welcoming party from Joe's work one Saturday. Then Ezra had a flag football game the next Saturday and Joe is one of the coaches. Then I got my gallbladder out and laid in bed all the next Saturday. This past Saturday Joe did yard work for one our friends on base who is pregnant and her husband is stationed somewhere else. I guess eventually everything will get in it's proper place. We are supposed to be here for at least three years, that gives me enough time.

Also this past Saturday I went shopping for winter clothes, due to the fact that I OWN NO COLD WEATHER GEAR AND I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED A REAL WINTER AND IT HAS ALREADY STARTED TO SNOW!! I can now say that I have a real coat and actually own my own pair of gloves, they're leather and they cost $27.00. Joe told me he better not ever hear me say -Have you seen my gloves?
The boys already have winter clothes because when Ezra walks to the bus stop in the morning it's frickin' 20 degrees and he has to play outside at recess. Can you imagine? The school manual says they have outside recess unless it get colder than Zero degrees. My poor baby!


I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings. If your lucky I won't post again for another three weeks and that will be less torture for you.

This is a picture of Joe trying to sleep on the couch while "taking care" of Cora. Yes, she only has one sock on, you got a problem with that? That's how we do things in the Lasura family.
Notice the permanent binky hold Joe's got going on even in his sleep...he's a pro.


I feel bad that I don't have more pictures of Cora for you. Her hair is starting to grow in and now she has a very fuzzy head. She is starting to make a lot of eye contact and coo more. I got her to laugh the other day, but haven't been able to since. She really is a good baby.
What? I didn't say she doesn't have her moments.

She's so dramatic!

I'm back

It's been so long since I posted I don't know where to start. I know you want to see a picture of my cute, bald, baby girl. (If you've seen one Lasura baby, apparently you've seen them all.)

So, we are finally in our house and we have the internet. Joe is back from his survival training in Washington state. Below is the picture we took just before he left, still living in temporary lodging. Cora only three weeks old. Joe's training was originally scheduled during the time when I was due to have Cora. I was so happy it was able to be changed and he could go after she was born. Thank goodness.

Here are Ezra and River keeping Cora company. Ezra is reading her a Transformers book, what a nice brother.

Once we got into our house we had to wait a few days to get all of our stuff that had been in storage since we left Alabama in April. I was so happy to have my own furniture, and especially my own bed. I missed it so much it felt more comfortable than I remembered.
My nephew, Jared, came from AZ to help me with the kids and the move while Joe was gone. He was a really big help. The boys had so much fun with him and he was really sweet to Cora.

Joe's Mom and Dad came to help me too. I was lucky to have them come and do so much for me. Cora was acting like a baby and didn't let me get very much stuff done. After everyone left we had to wait another week until we could have TV or the internet.
Without TV or internet River was my new best friend, especially while Ezra was at school. He was following me around and even talking to me while I was doing my hair. He also put on shows for Cora while she sat in her bouncy seat. It was very cute. He even asked if he could help feed Cora. When there is no TV I guess you just have to make due with your little sister.

Below is a picture of our house, we live on the left side. There are a lot of historical houses on base. I think ours was built in the early 1900's. After everything is unpacked and the house is more presentable I will take more pictures and do a post about it.

On base there are wild antelope and geese that roam all over. You have to pay attention while you are driving because the antelope cross the street when ever they want. Here is a picture I took out of our back door. There were at least 20 of them grazing in the grass next to our garage.

We were all very happy when Joe got to come home on Saturday. We missed him. Isn't he lucky to come home to a house full of boxes?
We are bracing our selves for the cold weather that is about to come our way. Last night we were watching the weather forecast for Cheyenne and on the weather map the forecast was written "damp and dreary". I can't wait. Nothing sounds better than damp and dreary. Saturday the forecast calls for rain mixed with snow.
We like it here in Cheyenne. Everyone has been very friendly. Although it is the capitol city it is a very small town. Only about 53,000 people (compared to our hometown of Mesa, AZ which has almost 400,000). It's such a small town that when you go places you see people that you know, and I don't even know that many people yet. We do have a Target which is more than we had when we lived in Mississippi and Alabama.
So hopefully we can get unpacked and Cora can start sleeping through the night, so I will be able to blog more.
Thanks everyone for the love and support when Cora was born.

She's Here!!

Warning: Joe is posting this so it won't be pretty.

Cora Kay Lasura was born on August 20, and the Lasuras are very excited.  Especially her two big brothers.

River is already practicing the "sleeper hold" that we use to get her to go to bed.

Joan is such a good mom that Cora is already smiling, or it might be the gas.

Proud papa of a little baby girl.  Let the spoiling begin.

Here is the whole gang including "mini-baby" who we learned infant cpr on.  We left the creepy thing at the hospital. 

Our hotel door, welcoming the little bundle home.

This was Joan before the party started.  Oh, if she only new the joy that was to come.

Approx. 55 minutes later little Cora had arrived...naturally.  

The boys are happy.

The best big brother in the world.  

Mom and baby are healthy and doing great.  Thanks for all your emails and calls we love you all very much.  

Temporary Lodging Is So Much Fun

Hey All, I'm writing to you from the F.E. Warren Communibrary, it's the library and the community center rolled into one. We are living in the temporary lodging on base and I feel so disconnected not having the internet. There will be no pictures with this post.
We made it to Cheyenne safely without any problems. Thank goodness. Like I said, we are living in the TLF. They are different on everybase, the one we are staying in, is on the second floor. Poor Joe had to carry all of our suitcases and things from Albuquerque up the stairs. Most of the buildings on base are registered on the historical regsiter or something so they can't update them with modern stuff, so we have no AC. It doesn't get too hot and we get to sleep with our windows open. Something I love, but never lived anywhere that really allowed me too. Our kitchen is tiny and has no ventalation, when we cook it makes it very hot, we go out a lot. Some of the good things about the TLF are that we do get to use three washers and dryers down stairs at the same time. It is the best. Also they have a book/play room for the kids and there is a playground right outside, so the boys don't get so cooped up.
The good news is that they found a house for us much sooner than they first told us. We will be able to move in on September 22. The house is also historical and I can't wait until I can post a picture of it.
More good news is I've already found a doctor and have had 2 appointments since we've been here. Everything is looking good in the baby department.
We will register Ezra for school tomorrow everyone keeps telling us how hard it is to get accepted onto the base shool. It is supposed to be a really good school and everyone wants to go there. Joe and Ezra are going to go extra early to stand in line. I don't know if that will help, but it is worth a try.
We went to church and Ezra and River love primary and their classes. Everyone was very friendly and we met some nice people that we will actually be neighbors with when we get our house.
Joe's work (squadron) had a party and I met some of the spouses, it seems like we will be able to make some good friends. Plus more than one of the cool guys was glad to see that Joe was also a non-drinker. That is unusual for a pilot squadron.
That is all for now. I'm due in a week so hopefully we will have a baby soon.
p.s. the spell check isn't showing up on this computer so ignore my spelling.

July

It's been a while since I've posted. That doesn't mean there hasn't been anything going on with us.

For the past week and a half my parents have been in town. We had so much fun having them here. They got here just in time, because I had just gotten out of the hospital. I knew that my intense chest pain was not heartburn. My chest was hurting so bad that we went to the ER and guess what? They admitted me, that never happens. Anyway it was a gallbladder attack and I've got gall stones baby. Apparently I missed the window to have my gallbladder removed during pregnancy, so it will be removed after the baby is born. I'm on a special diet now, just like the animals in the zoo, it's call a low-fat bland diet. Sounds delish, try not to be jealous.

When my parents were here the boys and I were in heaven, I'm sure Joe liked it too, but he had to go to work and study so he didn't really get the full effect. I figured out that a stay for me in the hospital turns my mom into super overprotective mom. As soon as they got here my mom wouldn't let me do anything. She made everyone's lunch and did the dishes. I just had a 10 day break from the dishes and laundry, it was awesome. Then after about 4 days she let me go out of the house and help her in the kitchen. She still made me take a nap after lunch everyday. It was pretty rough on me.
My dad and the boys had so much fun together. Here is their basic schedule.
1. Eat breakfast outside together.
2. Go to the park.
3. Come home and eat lunch.
4. Go the the pool after lunch for as long as they wanted to, or until it starts raining and Grandma makes them get out of the pool.
5. Come home and watch Spongebob.
6. Eat dinner.
7. Bed time with the longest bed time story from Grandma.

Here are my Dad and the boys eating breakfast outside. The weather is beautiful in the morning.

Joe had his final flight on Friday. We are officially done here in Albuquerque. We will be going to Cheyenne later this week. We debated if we were going to stay and have the baby, but I really want to get where we are going. Plus, I wanted to be able to start Ezra in just one school this year. If we stayed he probably would have had to start school here in ABQ.
We also found out that Joe's training dates were able to be postponed, so when we get to Cheyenne he will be able to help me with the baby.


One fun thing we did while in Albuquerque
A few weeks ago we went to the minor league baseball game here. They are called the Albuquerque Isotopes. The stadium is really nice. We kept seeing commercials for it all of the time. On the commercials, they show face painting. So Ezra and River have been asking to get their faces painted for about 3 months now. I told them if we ever went somewhere that has facepainting they could get it done. I'm thinking face painting, it's either free or you pay the painter a tip or it's a couple of bucks. That's not how it works at the baseball game. It was $10 per face. Yikes! I would have said no way if I hadn't already told them yes for three months and on the way to the baseball game. So when we got to the game we got their faces painted, and then it started raining and we left. Good times.

Here is a pictures of their expensive face painting.


It was really hard to get all of the paint off of their faces. Here is River after about 3 or 4 times of trying to wiping his face off. We could not get the black from under his eyes. He looked like a rock star for the next few days.



We also had a visit to Mesa for the 4th of July and my birthday. Joe even got to come with us for a few days. It was so fun. Joe gave me a pink Nintendo DS for my B-day. I love it. When he gave it to me he told me that it was just for me. Try telling a 7 year old that you are not going to share your Nintendo DS with him. I couldn't do it. I only lasted a day of being stingy with my DS. I did get a funny story out of sharing it with the boys.
Ezra was playing the DS and River was watching him. Ezra leaned over to River and said to River, "River, I don't even care that this is pink."
It was funny.

When we get to Cheyenne and have the internet, I will be able to do another update. Up next on our schedule; a new baby for the Lasura's.

Bonus Picture!
Here is River doing a shot of Parmesan cheese. That boy is his father's son.

For the guys.....and maybe some girls

On Friday Joe got to fly the helicopter while doing a "live hoist". Usually when he flies there is some sort of scenario going on like looking for a lost hiker or a troop of boy scouts to rescue. Joe flies out to where the person needs to be rescued and practices lowering a litter (a big metal basket) or a forest penetrator (yes, that is what is really called, it penetrates all the trees and stuff). So usually they practice by lowering the empty basket into a tire.
This week Joe flew to the site and dropped off (lowered him down on the hoist) another student to be the simulated survivor. Then he flew around and did a "site evaluation" that's where you fly around and survey the land and see if there is a safe place to land. Since they were training on doing the hoist they didn't land the helicopter, they went back to where their survivor was. Joe hovered the helicopter and during this exercise he got to lower the hoist down to save the "survivor". He lowered the forest penetrator the student got on and Joe raised him up so he could get on to the helicopter. I'm sure it was much cooler and complicated than I made it sound, but I wasn't there. Joe tells me it's harder to hover in higher altitudes.
The training exercise went well and Joe was happy when he came home to tell me all about it. It was pretty exciting news around our house. Joe only has 10 more flights to go. Last week he had 5 flights. This week he will start flying nights, with night vision goggles, students are only allowed to fly 3 night flights a weeks. He is scheduled to be done here on July23.
Here is a link to the air force website that has some pictures of the helicopter that Joe is flying. There isn't any pics from the base in Wyoming, but the green helicopter is the one he will be flying. I'm such a girl, the green helicopter as opposed to the blue and white ones and the camoflage one. They are all the same model, just painted a different color.
P.S. the picture posted at the top is from a google search, and it is not the same model that Joe flies, if anyone cares.

What's the haps?

I figured out where the pictures were going to on my computer. It really wasn't that complicated. Anywho, here is what has been going on in Albuquerque.

1. Joe had his birthday. It was a fun time together as a family. The big 31. I only get to make fun of Joe's age for about two months and then I'm as old as he is. It's fun while it lasts.

2. Sorry for the underwear shot, but I just couldn't resist. This is usually what I get to see every morning when the boys have their breakfast. Cold cereal and cartoons....those were the days.

3. Joe and the boys went on the Fathers and Sons camp out. It made us realize that River needs to get out of the house more often without me. I think he wasn't feeling so good either, also it was really cold up in the mountains and we didn't bring any winter clothes to NM. We found those jackets at Target they were the last ones. Ezra's is probably two sizes too small, but that never stopped him from wearing something before.
Aside from River not feeling good and being homesick, Joe and Ezra had a good time together. We found chocolate marshmallows for them to roast over the fire the boys said they were delicious.

4. So there was a gang of skaters causing a ruckus in our parking lot and near the picnic/bbq area of our apartment complex. Joe told them if they didn't live here they should leave. He found this on the hood of his truck a few days later.

5. I bought a ped-egg and tried it out on Joe's feet. Gross I know, but check out these before and afters. I would give it a 9 out of 10.

6. We went to see Kung-Fu Panda. It was totally awesome. The whole family loved it. We love Jack Black. There is a lot of fighting in it, duh it's called "Kung-Fu" Panda, Scabloosh.

7. Ezra had a super-duper loose tooth and wouldn't let us pull it out. It was barely hanging in there. Joe could not take it, it was driving him crazy. Our Bishop is our dentist and we were talking to him at church about it. Joe asked him if he knew any tricks. He told us to tell Ezra we were going to count to three and pull it out, but really pull it out on two.

Why didn't we think of that? It worked like a charm. Ezra was mad for about .2 seconds until he realized that his tooth was out and he was going to be getting a visit from the tooth fairy. Notice the scared/happy look on his face.

We are having a good time here in the ABQ. The weather is nice, it gets hot in 90's then it gets really windy sometimes, but it does cool down at night. We can open our windows in the evening and morning. Joe is studying like a mad man. I found a doctor that I like, and the pregnancy is going good. The boys are taking advantage of the tennis courts and the pool at our apartment complex. Joe said Ezra is pretty good at tennis. I got a sunburn last weekend from hangin' at the pool with the fam.
We met a family at church that lives in our same apartments and is only going to be here for the summer too, kind of cool. They have a boy the same age as River. We went to the park and hope that we will hang out with them again soon.
We still don't know where the baby will be born(Abq,Mesa or Cheyenne), or have any news on Joe's training dates, for SERE(survival school). He is scheduled to be gone when I'm due. He did get to talk to his commander and was told there is a good possibility for him to be here for the birth of our daughter. I guess we will wait some more and see what happens.