Joshy's Birthday

We got a one day break and then it was time to party again. I can't believe my baby is already a year old. He got some fun presents and he and his siblings have been fighting over them ever since.

And despite everyone's best efforts, Josh was just not down with getting messy in his cake. I don't think anyone was more dissapointed that Jake.

Birthday Boy!

Today little Jakey turned four years old! He was so excited waiting for his birthday to come. He's been counting down the resteses! (That means bedtimes, i.e rest). This morning he woke up raring to go. Darrin came home for lunch so that Jake could open his first present and not have to wait all day. He got a giant Rescue Helicopter with battery operated rotors. He's been flying it all over the house.

I made a cake and decorated it myself with some frosting tubes I found left over from Christmas. Like my car? Well, Jake did and that's all that matters! It took him three tries to blow out his candles.

He opened his presents and spent the rest of the evening playing with them non stop. Jordan can't figure out why it's not her birthday. She's going to be really bummed out on Wednesday when Josh has HIS birthday and she, once again, doesn't.

A Chick Weekend!

Right now I'm am super-duper excited. Somehow, my friend Carly and I managed to find a way to fly to Seattle for a weekend (NO KIDS!) in November for a scrapbooking convention of all things.

How strange will it be to walk through airport security and not have to remove three coats, three pairs of shoes, collapse a stroller, try to get Jordan to let go of her blanket so it can go through the xray machine AND try to keep everyone calm as I send them through the xray one at a time?

And how strange will it be to walk right onto an airplane without collapsing a stroller at the end of the jetway, not lugging on two carseats, three carry ons, herding a preschooler and a toddler in the right direction all while carrying a squirming baby?

And how strange will it be to sit in a seat on an airplane and not get barfed on, or cried on, or spilled on, not have to go to the potty every 15 minutes, not get dirty looks from the guy in front of Jake because he's kicking the seat, not get dirty looks from everyone else because someone is crying and not have well-meaning but annoying passengers walk back to tell me what they think I should do to handle a situation?

I am going to sit and read or watch TV or listen to music or talk to Carly and that is it. What will that be like? And what will it be like to walk off the plane and just walk away? No picking up a stroller, no balancing carseats and kids all on one stroller, no millions of bags at baggage claim. Just me and my backpack. What will that be like?

And what will it be like to spend two and a half days with no kids? No feeding anyone, no resolving fights, looking for lost toys, no fighting over bedtime.

Hmmm. I miss them already.

Baby Shower

This past weekend I had the honor and joy of co-hosting a baby shower for my sweet friend, Lucy. Her baby girl, Katelyn Reese, is due to be born on November 2nd. We are all hoping she decides to come a little early!

High Five

Joshy's offical first word has finally occured. He says, "high five" and gives high fives. It actually sounds more like, "hi bob," or "fa fa" sometimes. But he's trying to say it and he says it when he means it. Like when he's actually giving out high fives.

He has said a few other things prior to this, including "mama," "dada," "baba," and "uh oh." But he says them whenever he feels like and doesn't mean anything by it other than babbling.

So "high five" it is!

Joshy's First Haircut!

After having two baldies, my third baby turned out a large head of hair. So much hair in fact he was starting to look like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber. So last night at about 10pm, we buzzed him. This morning Jake said we can't call him Josh because he looks like a new baby now.

Before...

During...

And the transformation...I think his eyeballs look bigger.

The Alaska State Fair

Here are some pictures of our fun day at the fair. The kids had a blast petting animals, riding rides and eating goodies.

And this is pretty much the extent of Joshy's fair experience...

Sweet Big Brother

Usually when my kids are playing quietly out of my sight, the results are disasterous. Today I expected to find something broken, TP stuffed in the toilet or the entire contents of Jordan's closet unloaded on her floor. Imagine my surprise to come across this scene, Jaycob "reading" Jordan a story quietly on the floor of the playroom. Such cuteness.

Learning to Walk

Well, my baby thinks it's time to learn how to walk. All of a sudden he's cruisin' around any way he can. This was his first outdoor walking experience. He got tired really fast and then he just wanted to crawl through mud puddles.

College Begins!

Right now Darrin is enduring his first day of college at Wayland Baptist. He has to sit through a four hour class every Monday and Thursday night. I offered to take a picture as he was leaving for class but he wouldn't let me.

The HORROR!

When Jake was about 18 months old I found him sitting in his bed after a nap, holding a piece of doody in his hand and asking if it was a "rop?" I had been forwarned that this would happen to me and I was blessed with a very minor incident. So blessed in fact, that Jordan never even thought to check her diaper at that age.

Today I made the mistake of running downstairs to do a load of laundry. I left Jake and Jordan upstairs watching a video and Joshy nearby (dressed in just a diaper) with a pile of toys to keep him occupied. Well, that pile wasn't good enough because I returned upstairs to this one...

My carpet! My couch! That smell lingers for eternity.

Seldovia

For Darrin's birthday weekend, we took a trip with our friends, Ryan and Carly, to Ryan's hometown of Seldovia, Alaska. First we drove over four hours to Homer where we had to board a boat and cruise for about twenty minutes across the bay to Seldovia (you can only get there by boat or little tiny airplane). This was our boat.

After docking near Seldovia, I tossed Jake onto the dock were he was greeted by a friendly old dog that scared him to death. He turned to flee in a panic and bashed his head into the boat battery that Ryan was carrying down the dock. This is his owie...it didn't get stitches so I hope it didn't need them.

After settling into our little cabin on the boardwalk, we headed out to Outer Beach for a BBQ and some fun in the ocean. Here is some of our fun...

The next day, Ryan's parents watched all three of our rascals in addition to Ryan and Carly's two toddlers and we headed out on a 4wheeling adventure to the top of Red Mountain. There is an abandoned chromium mine at the top so there is actually a road that goes there. Unfortunately, the road is washed out in two places and we had to hike up the last bit. About ten minutes into our ride down the road, we saw the first of the five bears that we would see throughout the weekend. He posed for me, wasn't that nice?

The following day Ryan, Carly and I took the 4wheeler down to the beach to do some clamming. This was something I'd never done so I was a little excited about the spurts of water shooting up all around me (and on me). But we loaded up a couple buckets and the three of us piled back on the one 4wheeler with our buckets and shovels and headed back. Carly and I dubbed ourselves the "Clam Killers." More pictures...

The kids enjoyed sorting the buckets into big and small and back again.

After clamming, we took a short breather and then headed out on the high seas in a little ski boat for some halibut fishing. The current was pulling pretty hard and our boat was drifting to the point that we couldn't keep our hooks on the bottom. Never the less, Darrin hooked dinner within ten minutes. Jake was excited to come along but he was a bit disturbed to watch the halibut flopping around the boat and he got really upset when Ryan stabbed it in the head to kill it. But daddy had a talk with him and calmed him down. We headed back shortly after that because I managed to get myself quite seasick. By the time we got to the dock Darrin had convinced Jake that we were going to eat the fish for dinner. He agreed but said he was going to eat the tail.

The following day was our very last day and we were sad to leave. Rather than boating back across to Homer, we took a charter flight. Our family filled up the entire 5 seater airplane. It was my first ride in a tiny little plane.

Here is Jakey in the cockpit...

We all had such a fabulous time. What an adventure! We can't thank our hosts, Russ and Sandy Geagel, enough for their hospitality and babysitting services. And we also thank Ryan, our official tour guide and Carly for helping put the whole trip together. Can't wait to go back.

Back to School!

So, yesterday was a big decision day for our family. Darrin signed up for college! He is going to be completing his Bachelors Degree in Business in three years. He starts classes on August 20th. We were pleasantly surprised that he had already accumulated about a year's worth of credits from previous college courses, his military training and having been at the same job for four years. We are excited about this new phase of life but a little nervous as well. Darrin has made the difficult decision to quit coaching during this period he's in school. It will be hard on his heart as well as our finances. But we believe this is God's will and he has always taken care of us. We don't doubt that he will continue to do so. But we sure wouldn't mind the support of your prayers!

Back from Church Camp

We just got back from Jr High camp yesterday. We had a fun and exhausting week. Our kids were real troopers. Jake loved canoing but Jordan hated the life jacket. They both enjoyed dancing to the praise music at night and little Joshy loved crawling around and eating trash. It was nice to have dozens of babysitters on hand too.

Back from fishing

Daddy came home last night! YAY! The kids haven't stopped pouncing on him since.

Pictures

Cute kid pictures...

Quick update

So excited for Darrin to come home. One more week! This afternoon I mowed the lawn, painted the kitchen, painted my bathroom, did pilates and laid in the sun. Anything to pass the time. The kids rode bikes in the sun all day. We have to take advantage of even the slightest bit of sunshine you know.

I had a garage sale this past weekend with some of my girls. It was a pretty big success. I made some cash and got rid of a bunch of junk. Gotta love it.

Tonight I put Jordan to bed and after we said our prayers I asked her if she missed her daddy. She said, "Yeah, he fishing now."

I love her cute little Jordy voice.

Chuch Picnic

Yesterday we spent the evening at our church's July 4th picnic (which was postponed to this weekend due to rain). Jake had fun playing in the bouncy toys and running the obstacle course with his best friend, Daniel. I was shocked that he could do the whole thing by himself, even the rope climb.








Jordan climbed to the top of this slide and wouldn't come down. The inflated staircase along the side got so backed up with kids that the whole contraption collapsed and Jordan was stuck in the far corner under a pile of kids. I was at the bottom trying to coax her down when she disappeared under the kids. I hollered at a young boy to grab the baby and throw her down. He did and she was safe. She was also not allowed on any more rides!

Potty Training

Today I decided to be brave and took Jordan to church without a diaper. I teach in her class first hour so that was fine. I was very nervous to leave her second hour though. When I came to pick her up she said, "I'm all wet!"

Inside I was thinking, "this was a horrible idea! Why didn't I put her in a diaper? Why didn't I come and take her potty half way through? Why? Why? WHY???" but I just said, "Oh, did you have an accident?" She said, "NO!"

Then the teacher turned and told me that one of the boys had spilled a cup of water on her shirt. No potty accidents. No need to overreact. Everyone just calm down.

In Josh's nursery they told me that he didn't take his thumb out of his mouth for the whole two hours.

Other updates

So, the day that Darrin left for fishing, I set in motion a few goals to accomplish before his return. The list includes the following...

- Convince Josh to stop sucking his thumb. I started putting a sock over his hand when I put him to bed. The first night was rough. He cried for a really long time. But ever since then he has fallen asleep without trouble. He manages to get the sock off every once in a while but I hadn't caught him sucking his thumb again until today. We were out running errands during nap time and he stayed awake with his thumb in his mouth the whole time.

- Potty train Jordan. I cannot believe how well this is going. I have started and quit this process several times up to this point. But I went all out starting last Monday. I simply took away the diapers and put her in underwear. The first day was a soggy one but I started rinsing her rear with cold water every time she had an accident. The next day she was flawless EXCEPT for the time she decided to follow Jake while HE went potty. He told her to sit down on her potty and she did. She actually peed on her potty but she still had her pants up! Today during our morning of errands I actually took her out in public for two hours without a diaper. We had zero accidents! It's all very exciting.

- Start Jake on his "Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book. We just finished day 5 and he absolutely loves it! Every day while Josh and Jordan are napping we have our "learning" time. Not only is he learning the reading part but he is writing as well. He is so eager and excited. I hope he always feels that way about learning.

- 5k. I have started myself on a 5k running program. I haven't done much physical activity since quit dancing while I was pregnant with Jake over four years ago. I've decided it's time to get things back in order. I've been running every other day and doing pilates in between. I'm incredibly sore but I'm already noticing a lot of results (like not almost blacking out during a jog). I hope to run a 5k race next summer.

So that's what has been going on while Darrin is out fishing. Hopefully things will continue to progress as well has they have been this past week.

The DECK!

I'm FINALLY getting around to showing you the pictures of our final deck product. Darrin managed to get it finished (with the help of a couple VERY helpful friends) before they all left for commercial fishing for a month. Isn't it pretty? I don't even care that the stair railing isn't up yet I just love the rest of it!

Breakfast

Breafast time. Joshy loves him some Cheerios.

Summer!

The kids and I soaked up some rays at the pool today!

Bye Bye Daddy!

Today Darrin left for commercial fishing. This is how we feel about that...