More birthdays for Jordan

Today we had our little family birthday party for Jordan. Grandma Diana got her an ice cream cake with her picture on it! She got some fun presents including her very first bible, a Veggie Tales video, some blocks and a tricycle!


All my babies LOVE blocks!

Back home

Well we made it home safely. Our flight was fine and our kids were good. Today we started trying to get back into our usual routine. I managed to go to the bank, the grocery store AND mow the front lawn today. I'm feeling quite productive. Well, actually right now I feel exhausted as it's almost midnight. But the sun is still shining brightly and I'm finding it difficult to call it a day.

I should have more pictures to post tomorrow because we are finally getting around to celebrating Jordan's birthday!

Look who's TWO!

Today little Jordan turns TWO YEARS OLD! Such a big girl.

Duvall Days

Am I getting good at this updating thing or what? Today the family headed out to my old hometown for annual Duvall Days parade and associated goings-on. We found a parking spot very quickly, found a friend shortly after that, wandered down to Main Street and settled in for a good show. Jaycob just loved the parade. Every time a car came through he would squeal with delight. He has decided that ambulances are no longer called fireplaces, they are called firelances. Jordan boogied down to the school bands a few times and Joshy mostly ate dirt. My best friend Kelly shared the day with us and she was awed by our baby wrangling skills.

Snoqualmie Falls

Today Darrin arrived in town at about 2am. He slept in a bit this morning and then we took the family to Snoqualmie Falls. Jake loved it, Jordan hated it because of the cold and the mist, and Joshy didn't really care because he was too busy with his bottle. A nice man took our family picture but like I said, Josh was busy with his bottle. So I took a picture with him a little later.

Woo Hoo! The ZOO!

It is my baby brother's birthday tomorrow. He has to work. Isn't that sad? Well, today the kids and I treated him to a day at the Woodland Park Zoo. Here are some pictures of the festivities...

More fun!

Today was another fun-filled, sun-filled day in Washington. Grandma and I took the kids to the park where Joshy got to swing for the very first time. Lots of giggles and grins. Jake and Jordy splashed around in the nearby lake a little bit and later, back at home, everyone had fun swimmnig in the pool...or the bucket.

Remlinger Farms

Another exciting day in Washington. Today the kids and I went to Remlinger Farms with our friends, the Schwopes. We had fun riding the canoes, traveling by train, jumping in the hay, feeding the animals and riding the ponies.

Wedding Day!

This week the kiddos and I flew down to Seattle for the wedding of my younger brother, JR to his sweet new wife, Kate. The outdoor wedding was held in my parent's backyard, in the pouring rain, admist a small crowd of family. Other than the downpour it was a wonderful event!

My youngest brother and oldest brother had fun "trying" to trash the newlyweds' car. But the rain proved to be a major deterent.

This is me with my brand new sister-in-law, Kate.

And this is a picture of my youngest brother and me. This is just for him because he was angry that I hadn't posted anything in so long.

And this is my baby Joshy meeting his Great Grandma!

Sorry for the delay!

Wow, it's been a while. I blame my temperamental computer. He crashed and burned twice in one week and caused me all sorts of stress and anguish. He's fixed now but on probation.

So what's up with us you ask? Well, the most notable event is breakup! Don't jump to conclusions. That's the term us Alaskans use when referring to the massive carnage left behind after the massive snow melt in this city. It's soggy and dirty and ugly around here. But the air is warm(er) and the sun is shining! It's beautiful to me! The kids and I have been outside every day for about two weeks. We aren't going to waste a single day of the short season of sun, aptly referred to as, not summer, but road construction.

I planted some dahlia bulbs the other day. I doubt they'll grow. They never do. I'm not sure why. The science of horticulture utterly and completely eludes me, despite a respectable amount of home study on the topic. Try as I do to be a mini-Martha Stewart, I can't get the hang of gardening, cooking or raising chinchillas. Okay, I haven't tried the last one yet.

I've managed to meet a couple of my neighbors these past two weeks. Everyone is coming out from hibernation and blinking in wonder at the sun and gazing in awe at the grass. We are excited about all the kids that have been living nearby this whole time, completely unbeknownst to us. Is that a word?

Jaycob is becoming a pro at riding his bike, albeit still depending heavily on the training wheels. He did learn to stop yesterday which was an exciting experience. He hasn't mastered the art of falling though and he is now sporting his very first skinned elbow, a painful reminder that you can't run full speed into your baby sister's ride-on car and expect the outcome to be fun for anyone involved. Jake's first year in AWANAs is coming to an end in a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to the recognition night at church where he will be up on stage and I will be the idiot mom in the front row with the video camera and big dumb grin trying to capture timeless footage of my baby picking a wedgy or other some such thing...

Jordan is almost two years old. The terrible twos are in full swing and our little princess is learning the meaning of consequences. She's not much of a fan. But she does seem to be learning quickly which is a relief for all of us. And even when she does digress, she's still really cute. Her vocabulary is increasing tremendously and she is starting to get her own funny entries in my online journal. http://happyhothead.livejournal.com/

And speaking of cute! My little Joshy angel. I swear if he didn't holler out a squeal of delight every once in a while, I might just forget he's there! Low maintenance is an understatement. Which is lucky for him (and me) because he doesn't get near the attention he deserves due to his older siblings. This past week he has started scrunching up his knees and rocking on all fours. He can also sit up unassisted for several minutes. A recent trip to the doctor revealed him at a hefty 17 pounds and a lengthy 28 inches. He's considered quite tall, but not terribly fat. He had two shots with nary a whimper, he's such a macho man.

Darrin is fully immersed in track season right now. Every weekend is spent on long road trips out of town and we miss him terribly. Looking forward to the end of the school year in May.

I'm still doing the same old thing. Hanging out with the kids, writing, scrapbooking and failing at gardening and other womanly tasks. I would now consider yourself sufficiently up to date.

Sick AGAIN

I knew it was too good to last. Jordan's nose starting leaking again last night. So this morning she and I are home while the boys are at church. It's so quiet around here right now. I'm glad nobody was sick while my mom was here. I don't think we would have had quite as much fun if we would have had to wipe runny noses every five minutes. Every once in a while Jordan will run in here and say, "A Tissue!" When I turn around to face her I have to hold back a gag at the giant snot ball hanging out of her nose. I wish she would learn to sniff or something. Ew.

Being a Writer

I've recently started a new endeaver. I am writing for an online baby magazine called Peekaboo Picks. I've already had one article published and this week I submitted my second one. It's very exciting! For me anyway. Check me out at www.peekaboopicks.com

Half a year!

My little man is 6 months old! Wow, time flies. Here is his official set of big boy pictures. Isn't he such a doll?

Workin' like dogs!

Mommy is in town this week and as always, we got ourselves involved in an extensive project. Whenever we get together we end up tearing up some corner of her house or mine. This time it was mine. After about 3 days of very hard work we turned this musty utility room into my very own craft room! I'm thrilled with it and I know it never would have been possible without my mommy!

Updates and Rambling

It's been a while since I've posted. I hate it when I let that happen. Unfortunately, time tends to get away from me a lot. But I've got a good excuse with three young children and all. The irony is, without them, I would have nothing to write about at all.



This past weekend was exciting. Darrin had to go out of town for a basketball tournament so my friend Carly, who's husband was also coaching at the tournament, moved in for the weekend with her two boys. She has a 17 month old and a 2 month old. It was baby central around here and poor Jordy-Roo was outnumbered by all the boys.



Carly and I spent the weekend catching up on our scrapbooking, drinking hot chocolate and breaking up the fights between all of our toddlers. At one point we heard her son, Trenton, crying and we found him in a pile at the bottom of the stairs and when we looked up to the top of the stairs, there was Jordan, holding his sippy cup. Trenton wasn't hurt so it was pretty hilarious.



Jordan made great strides in her potty training this weekend. She is starting to tell me when she has to go but then she runs away because she doesn't actually want to go. She wore little underwear all day today. It was a big mess.



Little Joshy is over five months old now and he is still growing at a rapid pace. He is so funny and giggly. He loves to smile and laugh and chew on anything. He found his feet the other day but despite a good effort, he still hasn't managed to eat them.



Jaycob is getting pretty sassy. He's testing the boundries with talking back but I think he's starting to regret it. 'Nuff said.



I think we are all getting very antsy for winter to be over. We've been pretty cooped up because this winter has been colder than normal. It's been hard for us to get too worked up about global warming here where it's been in the negative degrees for the past couple months.



My mommy is coming for a visit tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it. Her visits always fly by so fast. Hopefully we can find some fun diversions even though it will be bitterly cold the whole time she's here.



That's about it for now. I leave you with this picture of Jordan asleep. It was taken last night around 11pm. She is Snoozer Jr.

New glubs!

Grandma Diana recently went on a business trip and came back with new hats and mittens for the kids. Unfortunately, she forgot that all my children have giant freak heads. So the hats were a little too snug. Perfect opportunity for a snapshot though! Jake has a little bit of lunch on his face but still a cutie!

Technology is hard!

The kids and I were blessed to have daddy home all weekend! In fact, he was able to come home from work at 3:30 on Thursday and Friday and he was home all day today and will be tomorrow as well. Lots of fun family time! Today Darrin and I got an unusual afternoon to ourselves. Darrin's mom stayed with the kids during their nap while we went out looking for the equipment we need to transfer home video to our computer. Why does it have to be so complicated? Well, we managed to figure something out so I hope to be able to post a home movie or two in the near future.

Check out my Slide Show!

The sickness never ends

I think my kids managed to get healthy for almost 24 hours before succumbing to another disease. Where does all this snot come from? I had to skip church again yesterday so I could nurse them back to health. Of all the jobs that come along with being a stay at home mom, I'm apparently bad at the Nurse one. I can't remember the last time my kids were healthy!

Actually, I'm also bad at the Safety Inspector job. This being apparent today when first, Josh rolled over and bonked his head on our metal stair rail and Jordan went ahead and tumbled down the stairs onto a metal chair. Both are fine, just terrible upset by the whole experience. I haven't seen Jake get injured today, but he does have a mysterious bump on his forhead.

On a less traumatice note, here is a sweet picture of our winter walk with Grandma Diana last night.

So little Joshy has started doing lots of big boy things like rolling over and eating some solids. I'm glad he's finally old enough for rice cereal because I just can't keep up with his enormous appetite all on my own.

All the kids have nasty colds right now and we are going through tissues like crazy. I can't wait until they are old enough to blow their own noses!