And So They Grow

Season on Blessings

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:13:00 +0000

I won't even start saying how sad I am that I have been away from my blog for months. Instead I will say what a blessing our busy life has been. We have been going like crazy people here, hardly time to breath and relax, but through it all we have watched God provide. First He is providing projects that keep my husband, and myself, so busy we don't think about the lack of a traditional job, or insurance. There is no time to worry. Second He is providing enough for us to pay our bills and feel secure - some times just enough - but always enough. Third we are watching our future look uncertain. Which some would say is not a blessing, but I oddly feel excited to see where God will take all of these new adventures in our life.

The original start to my blog was as a way to journal our kids lives for them in the future. I was remembering this and feeling HUGLY ready to get back to that. There is so much that I have not documented, funny sayings and moments, times that make us proud, frustrated, sad and SO SO in love with them. But I will just have to start fresh and let go of what we won't remember one day because it was never written down.

A few weeks ago I was watching Sarah and Alex at breakfast. I have enjoyed watching them go through the year together. Riding the bus together, talking about their principal or what they did in PE. Being excited for school adventures and arriving at home "starving" together. As they were sitting eating breakfast and discussing the possibilities their day held it hit me that this is my special memory that they most likely will not have later. The simplicity of their friendship and their easy love for each other. They are truly friends and how they are right now most likely will change and they will find each other together at the breakfast table less and less. This precious way that kids their age are with each other - no pressing school projects yet, no boyfriends or girlfriends taking their attention, no e-mail or facebook or texting, no separate activities taking them from the home early in the morning. You always hope they will remember and be bonded by these early years, but so much will happen between now and adult hood that it's hard to say what they will hold onto in their minds. I hope they will always know that they had a great time together as kids, I so enjoy seeing it, hearing it and feeling the warm love we have in our home. What a blessing they are!

This years Christmas programs were full of blessings, but watching my kids always brings me special joy. Hearing Adam shout out to his grandparents and his dad, although not very professional was super funny and sweet. Watching him sing his heart out and do all the extra hand movements I used to teach him the words to "We Three Kings" was so cute. Seeing him grow at school, learning how to make good choices out of our home, and seeing him make new friends that he loves so much has been simply wonderful. His school program was sweet and he spoke his line "U is for Undying Love" so clearly and loudly! What a performer he is. Give him a minute and you will hear the hippest Jingle Bells ever! With air guitar included. What a blessing!

Watching Sarah in our church presentation was amazing. What a beauty and she was so relaxed, not an ounce of nerves. She watched her "director" and knew EVERY word. Not to mention she was always on time for her scarf dance. Loved watching that! And Alex with his little solo and duet with his life long friend Brynn. Hearing how excited he was and watching him invite the entire world was such a proud mama moment. What a blessing!

Last blessing that I will include here - although there are many - is the HUGE blessing of church family. We have seen first hand what God has designed with the church coming along side and holding us up. We have been so loved with words of encouragement and gifts of help that we hardly know what to say. Our hope through this season of change and trial was that our kids would look back and say they didn't realize that daddy was ever out of work. That they did not worry about our security and that we just went on living life, trusting God and being a family serving our Savior together. Loving each other and learning Gods lessons for our little family. Thank you God for this opportunity to see how a loving church family can be a tangible example of your love and provision. What a blessing!

Now on to the rest of the holiday adventures. I'm hoping I will see some of those documented here now, rather then wait 2 months for a new blog post to happen. I hope everyone will have a blessed Christmas!

The Kroc Center

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:03:00 +0000

I thought I would share a brief little blog about the Kroc Center with you. I had the pleasure of photographing the opening weekend events with my good friend Valerie and Valerie Hibler Photography. The facility is amazing, I highly encourage everyone to kidnap their kids and go. Membership for adults is $25 a month, and kids is $15, not bad. And as a bonus childcare is free while you workout. They have all the great workout machines, they have a wonderful gym and dance studio, not to mention a chapel, banquet rooms, computer rooms, art rooms, guitar hero and rock band room, outdoor theatre and more. The best feature in my opinion though is the olympic size pool and the kids pool. There is a water slide and a splash pool and a cool outdoor splash pad as well. Lot of fun. Here are a few pics, sorry about the quality, I didn't take the time to make these look great, I just wanted you to get the idea of how great the place is. They offer lots of classes to, check it out!

Part of the kid area, you can see the squirters if you make the picture bigger.
At the far end is the water slide.
The huge hot tub. With the kids party room in the background!
The bottom of the slide and one of the water dump stations.
The rock climbing wall. You can take classes for this even. I noticed they offer a 2 hour, saturday morning class, for kids Alex's age.
Synchronized swimming was warming up when we were there, gotta love the choreography they do before they even get in the pool.
My favorite picture from the weekend, the mayor cutting the "ribbon" - actually a badminton net- with some of the kids this was designed for watching.

I still have a blog... who knew?!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:46:00 +0000

Disneyland
Good times with Friends
Hiking
Cruise to Alaska
First Day of School

So, I guess I still have a blog. Hmmm, I appear to have forgotten about it. I think it's been crazy and not crazy around here all at the same time (the above pictures are an abbreviated way to blog about our summer). Having Kyle home makes normal life things harder, I just don't want to do anything. If he is sitting on the couch working on the computer, then I want to cuddle up and watch HGTV. So not much gets done. Bad me, but good times. Then add to that a cruise at the time I normally blog first day of school stories and you get little blog activity. So, sadly I have no funny first day of school story. Bummer, because there have been some very good first day stuff in the Kivett household. Instead the school year is going along like clockwork. Alex is SO happy in his new class. He has a man teacher and has already received a call home, from the principle no less, to tell us he is doing EXCELLENT in his class. So nice to get that kind of a call from the principle. Sarah Just plane loves school, she loves to learn and in fact was thrilled to have homework over the weekend. Love it! Adam, who started preschool, is just happy to be doing something. Especially with girls around, my boys love the ladies, what can I say. This week brings with it the sub class for Kyle. So he should be subbing here anytime, making getting stuff done a little easier for me. Plus, I think he is getting bored. I would have liked to have seen the year end, and so would he, with a job. But God has different plans for us. He has blessed us with nearly 20 students, thank you, so that will keep us busy and help provide some needed income. I am doing childcare for my neighbor. One very sweet and SUPER easy 6 month old three days a week. So that helps, and hopefully subbing will fill in the gaps. We are blessed to have these options and I'll keep you all posted on how it's going. Our biggest prayer is our health. We have no insurance, so please don't throw our kids around, we can't afford to put them back together if they break. Hopefully fall holds lots of great things for our friends and family, I'm looking forward to changing colors and cooler days. Jeans and sweaters and cozy fires. We know God has big plans for us and those around us. Looking forward to seeing what he bring our way.

Enjoying a new hobby

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:47:00 +0000

So lately I have been enjoying my new - true hobby - photography. It's really fun to have something that is just for fun. I am passionate about music, but it is also my job so it's not the same. For Christmas Kyle gave me a new camera, I still don't know how to use all of it's fancy parts. Slowly I started taking pictures for people, because I enjoy the challenge and it's great practice, and oddly people keep asking. Ultimately I want to be able to take amazing pictures of my kids but they can only handle so much practice. I actually think my talent may be the detail pictures, meaning the cool mountain shot or the flowers that look so pretty. But every now and then I capture a really neat moment and I get so excited to see it. My next challenge is learning how to print these pictures in a way that doesn't look like just a regular snap shot. They look great on the computer but not as awesome printed up. (I also really want photoshop) I'm super blessed to have REALLY talented friends that actually know what they are doing. I'm actually trying to convince one of them, Valerie, to offer some classes in general on how to take good pictures and how to use our cameras. Kind of a mommy friendly class on how to really capture our kids lives on film. Good idea I think, right Valerie? :) These are a few of the thousands, I am not kidding, that I have taken over the last month. Gotta love digital. So if I call you up and say, hey can I have your children for the next few hours, say yes please. Maybe I'll grab a good shot of your sweeties.I like the colors of this picture. The log floating on the beautiful rocks. I wish it hadn't been so hazy so that the mountains looked a little prettier.
One of my favorite little girls with a huge weed - I know those have a name but I can't think of it.

I love the back light on this one. When I look at it bigger Ethan's eyes are so pretty.

I just really like the composition of this one. There is a free photoshop web site where I can change everything but her dress to black and white, so pretty that way.
The Libby clan, some of our dearest friends. Thanks for letting me play with you guys, I have so many new ideas just based of that little photo shoot.
These are some of my scenery shots - for lack of a better term. I just think they are pretty.

The Dempster clan, another set of really dear friends.
I love these "country" pictures we took.

I don't know why I love this one of Adam's hands hanging out of the car so much, but I think it is really cool. These were taken on our recent tent trailer camping adventure.
Mt. Adams, which Adam thought was pretty cool.

Just interesting to me to look at. Nothing more to say.

8?!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:45:00 +0000

Wow, Alex is 8 years old. Amazing! 8 years and 4 days ago I went to the hospital to be induced after being almost two weeks over due. I was nervous and excited. The first day was kind of fun, we played cards and had a ton of visitors. Kyle's parents and brothers family were waiting to leave on a long vacation until after we had the baby and so they were already passed their intended departure date. There was a bit of pressure, but I had high expectations of having that baby in the next few hours so no worries.....HA! At the end of day one, NOTHING. I was super bummed and starving as I had not eaten all day. Also I was really worried about having to get a second i.v. since the first one took 4 or 5 tries. Anyway, they sent me home, kindly with the i.v. still in, and Kari and Kate got me some dinner at Sharis. A club sandwich, I still remember. When I came back on day two I had made some progress over night and the doctor said I would for sure be having that baby.......HA! The end of day two came and NO progress. The doctor felt really bad for me so had me stay over night and tried a different type of induction, one where I could walk around and eat....NO PROGRESS! By day three I banned all visitors, I was a bit stressed and I was really feeling the contractions, with no relief. They were one right after the other. Finally at 6 PM my water broke, and I immediately wanted my mommy. Oh and drugs. Well it just went from bad to worse at this point. Apparently this kid had a big head because he was not coming. Every time I had a contraction his heart beat dipped, big time. And I was having contractions every 2 minutes or so. My blood pressure was dangerously low and I was still not progressing. So they gave me a new drug to stop the contractions - which made me shake and scared the whole room - and wheeled me off for my emergency c-section. At 12:55 AM on July 19 2001 the first of three of the most awesome gifts from God came into my life. Sadly I slept through about 12 of the first hours of his life, but once I was truly awake (I lost a lot of blood and was on morphine sp?, thus the sleepiness) I fell totally in love with this guy. He was an easy baby, minus that random rage he occasionally showed us. In fact we were not sure we qualified as parents with how easy he was. And he is growing into an amazing kid. He is smart, talented, a good brother and friend and learning every day how to show love for the Lord. We are proud of him and I can't wait to see where God takes him as he continues to make his journey through this crazy life. Yesterday we had a rock party, thus the cool hair picture at the top of the blog. Love you Alexander Allen, and I will love you even more tomorrow!

The end of the year brings summer.

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:03:00 +0000

The end of this year was full of fun times, watching our kids graduate not only from their current grades but in life. Both graduating kids becoming more mature and more capable. The end of the year also came with lots of tears as we see our babies grow before our eyes and of course as we watch Kyle graduate himself, from a loved job of 10 years. It's hard to capture all the emotions, I suppose some really great song could be born out of it. We should probably capture those creative juices and make something great, but for now I will just share a little tribute to each of the Kivetts that graduate on to something new.

Sarah Ann Kivett

This year when she started school I left her many days in tears, scared to go and really missing me. The bus was always a struggle, causing her GREAT panic and me GREAT embarrassment. In fact you can scroll back to my old blogs, look in the September/October area to find a whole blog on our worst bus day ever. Now she is happy, a monkey bar queen, always wants to go to school, LOVES to run ahead of her brother to the bus, leaving me on the porch waving them off. She has made tons of friends, and even a special best friend. She won the heart of her teachers one telling me she wasn't at all the same little shy girl that started school all those months ago. She can read, do math and makes amazing pictures and crafts. She is about to start the adventure of piano lessons but does not want to be known as a first grader until September. She has made that very clear. I think over all, a hugely successful year. And the extra special bonus is that she talks freely about Christ and what he has done for her, she LOVES her Bible and I hear her singing songs from church all the time. Love that girl!

Here are some pictures from her end of the year program.
Here is Becca her "best" school bud.
Mrs. Croser and Sarah, this was Sarah's teacher this year.

Alexander Allen Kivett

A boy that's been described as someone with "big feelings" by his first grade teacher. The kid that told his teacher we were "going through a divorce and he had two houses", that was awesome considering we are about as far away from that as possible, he wanted the attention. The kid that went to the principles office more than once for spanking Will, oh boy. But he is also the boy that loves whole heartedly, that sympathizes with our trials, that has a new semi passion BASEBALL, and that is usually willing to lend a helping hand. He managed by the end of the year to get the principles award for good behavior choices, not allowing his "big feelings" to control his every move. He is reading like a champ, getting really good at math and is concerned about such things as "germs" and "what to do in case of a fire". He wants to be a police officer, or a guy that fights in a war. He also is about to start a new adventure, guitar lessons with daddy. He always wants to have his Bible at church and likes to even reads it on his own. Love that boy!

Here he is celebrating his summer birthday the last week of school.
Alex and his teach, she was so awesome with him.
Alex and his best "bud" Will.
Rm. 22 - what a great experience he had there.

Kyle Alexander Kivett

Graduating is a bit more difficult for this man that I love so much. We have both struggled with saying goodbye to Gladstone. Most of you know why, but in short we love the people there and the opportunities this job provided for our family. We have cried lots of tears over this and I have grown to respect my husband even more. Seeing the outpouring of love and support - they are throwing a benefit concert in the hopes to raise enough money to cover his salary - has made me realize that he is truly living out Christ's love, even though he can't officially talk about it. It's clear that the kids and parents in Gladstone know what is most important to Kyle, and that they feel loved for, cared for, worried about and educated by this amazing man I get to call husband. I love that man!

Rehearsing for his last graduation at Gladstone. So serious!
The whole band on the stage right before graduation.
Crying his eyes out as his kids throw a fair-well concert on his last official day at work.
Conducting those kids one last time.
The standing ovation, which was followed by gifts and several hours of signing year books and giving hugs.
Just a couple of the students that have added to the difficulty of saying so long to that job.
Some of the die hards that lasted the 4 hours. Some actually waited that whole time just to get him to sign their books.
Kyle and Mandy, my new friend, a.k.a. the choir teacher.
We had to go back one day this week to clean out all his junk, and here are the kids playing like monkeys in the storage units of his brand new band room, that he only got to teach in for a few months. Boo.
I love all my graduates, and our life is taking a new turn in a lot of ways. We are trusting God, finding peace in His promises and trying to still enjoy the summer, even if it has meant the beginning of unemployment for our family. Thank you God for the love we share and how awesome my family is.

Nothing a little cuddle....

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:36:00 +0000

....and a lot of prayer can't help you through. I am going to try and keep this post short, because I know after the week I will have a huge post full of pictures to share. But, as I'm sure you all know, Kyle was let go from his teaching job last week. This has been so sad for us, not to mention scary and confusing. At the head of our emotions is the loss of that place, those kids, and what that job has grown to mean for Kyle. We had all three of our kids while he was there, we grew up as a married couple, we suffered through losing Kyle's mom, and as a result so did his students. He has counseled countless students who were hurting and been able to lay a foundation of trust that we have learned is so important when teaching, especially in today's world where trust is not always easy to build. Then you add in the teaching, which he has gotten better at each year. He has grown mountains in his time there. It amazes me every year what he gets out of these oddly formed groups, as they frequently don't have the "normal" band instrumentation and he has to arrange and rearrange the music to work for them. He also taught his kids a huge appreciation for quality music, not always easy when you consider what they listen to on their own time. Not to mention all the things he learned to do for other teachers, other programs, and the school in general that had nothing to do with his job description. And he did all these things with a happy heart, knowing that by doing them he was serving others.

The outpouring of support has been amazing. From our family, church family, and the community in Galdstone. They are sad, and as shocked as we are over this decision. We have been praying a lot, and know others are too. We both feel strongly that God will take care of us, that this is His plan and that something better is in the wings. But it's hard not to get nervous, especially when there are basically no jobs out there right now. I am holding out for a huge contract from Disney for Kyle to do all their arranging. A girl can dream right? :)

Yesterday our daughter tuned-in to the extra love her daddy needed. She was his shadow, demanding long cuddles and never leaving his side. If he walked to the computer, she did, if he sat down, she did, if he was outside, she was too. It was sweet and I know made him feel extra special. He'll never get cut due to budget from our family. It's amazing how that security and love really goes a long way towards healing the heart. But it will be a sad week, and there will be lots more tears for sure. Pray for us and especially for me. I want to hold him up, be his helper mate and we both want to be a living example of Christ's love for us. We know his students are watching us closely right now, we want to encourage them and see a few seek Christ because of this. Let this be a victory for Him not a tragedy for us.

I need a nack

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:45:00 +0000

Otherwise known as Snack! This I hear rather often, well actually non stop. Adam is the only one that actually says nack, has a hard time with those s's. I never realized how hungary you get just being a kid, it's a hard job you know. The unfortunate side effect of this constant need for food is that I really can not keep enough in the house. I am always turning around and realizing that the kid snacks are gone, plus it costs a lot of money to keep these tummy's happy. There are two things that drive me especially crazy about this apparent starvation they are always feeling.

1. It never fails that twenty minutes after they eat dinn

er, or really any meal, they are STARVING! So hungary are they that they can not even function, clutching their stomachs, doubled over in what they believe is a sincere near death experience.

2. How can you be starving and think that a fruit roll, or a few chocolate chips, or really anything with no substance is going to do the trick. Why is it the snacks I so cheerfully offer are always met with disgust and that, "I wouldn't eat that if it was the last morsel of food on the earth" attitude?

I know I'm not alone in these frustrations, just chalk it up to the long list of things people don't tell you before having children. One of those little nuggets that grandparents hold back for the pure enjoyment of watching you battle it out. And of course they ALWAYS have the good snacks, making true satisfaction at home just a little harder. I guess I will just have to rejoice in the fact that they are growing, and that I occasionally get some fruit, or truly healthy snack in those little bodies. I have to realize that a kid that can eat chicken nuggets, a hotdog, cheese and crackers and a banana for lunch (todays meal) probably does need a few extra snacks during the day.

Here is one of my s'nacker, eating a lemon - He loved it, weird.

A weekend of fun and a day to remember.

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:02:00 +0000

What a crazy busy weekend, but truly only full of fun things and special moments. Most of this post will be told in pictures, because there are just way more then any one really wants to look at. But I will say I got the pleasure of spending a couple of days with my "bestest good friend" and her kids. We had no schedule, no events and no need to do anything but hang out. That is SO rare. We kept the kids busy and thus tired, which is not a bad thing. Then on Monday the kids and I headed to Willamette National Cemetery where Kyle's band was playing for their Memorial Day ceremony. As it turns out that is where my grandfather is buried, so after we watched daddy do his thing we headed on the huge search to find my grandpas grave marker. What an amazing place, and even if you have no one buried there it would be a wonderful way to spend the memorial day. Your kids could really see a visual of the amount of people that give at least a part of their lives towards serving this country. Not to mention there are jets and guys with guns and hummers. Oh yeah!

Adventure #1 was the carousel and the park. The kids had a blast riding these pretty horses, except Adam, who gets very nervous, had to ride in the wagon the first time and then practically jumped into my arms half way through the second ride he got so freaked out. Hard to believe that kid has ever been to Disneyland.
A simply beautiful day. Here they are checking out the water, they later got to wave at the river boat as it passed. And the girls were so cute, holding hands and loving each other as we walked around the park. Those two are just precious and they love each other so much. Makes my heart so happy.
The boys really know how to relax.
We of course had to have some water fun with this beautiful weather. After some initial arguing over sprinkler does and don'ts they had a great time.

I have a feeling we will have lots of pictures like this one of them sunbathing and the one of them below just looking so beautiful.

Oh those silly boys, they spent some time poking around our creek.
What weekend wouldn't be complete without the trip to the ice cream parlor?! Clearly they enjoyed it!
Here are the jets that flew over at the beginning of the ceremony. We barely made it up the hill and to the spot before they cam whizzing by. We parked really far away and had to walk up hill to get there. We never would have made it if this really nice couple had not picked us up in their truck and taken us the rest of the way. What a nice couple they were. The kids were the most excited for those jets and Sarah was actually crying at the thought of us missing them, phew we made it.
Here is Kyle's band playing the armed forces medley. I was so amazed to see so many of his kids give up part of their day to be there. It truly was an honor. It's so neat to watch as each theme is played people that served in that branch stood up. Brought tears to my eyes. It was also very touching when they did the rifle salute and then played taps. What amazing traditions that few people really get to witness.
A couple of pictures of things around the cemetery. The missing soldier, or is it fallen soldier, is always neat to see.
Sarah sitting in a hummer, the boys are in the front seat pretending to drive.
All the service guys were really nice and posed for pictures with kids. It was really neat hearing my kids say thanks to these guys, for serving our country.
Posing in a different Army vehicle.
Just one of the many hills loaded with flags. Every single marker had a flag, in the background you can see Mt. Hood if you look really hard. It was a bit hazy out.
Here we are at my grandfather's marker. Don N. Price. He was on subs in the Navy during WWII. He was also one of the most amazing men I have ever known and I miss him so much! The kids loved the adventure of finding his marker, there are two Don Price's and the first time we were sent to the wrong marker. They all have numbers in the corner and that is how you find them, as well as letters marking areas of the cemetery. cc496 is his number. I'm very proud of him for lots of reasons but serving our country is right up there.

At the end of the day Alex said he wanted to fly airplanes, or be on subs when he grows up. But he could always fall back on his first future ambition.....mall cop!

1st Graders Know it All!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:09:00 +0000

Did you know that first graders know it all. This is something that at least my first grader believes whole heartedly. I thought this opinion of knowing more then your parents came after double digits. Came with numbers followed by teen or at least being a "tween". However I was horribly, painfully wrong. And what is really scary to me is that my first grader is a boy, what will I do with this lovely girl God has given me. I fear even greater, "man your dumb", eye rolling, argumentative moments from her. In fact as I type this I recall just last night my sweet husband saying to her, don't roll your eyes, it's rude. Oh Lord give us patience and help us not lock them in their rooms until they reach 25. Now on the flip side, they may be early in the whole, "I'm gonna give you lip at every turn because I know better then you thing", but they still love to cuddle like they are babies. It's really amazing to me that they still, even Alex, want to curl up on our laps. That they can be anywhere in the house and hear if I sit down. Before I know it they are curling up under the blanket with me asking if we can watch a cooking show together. So sweet. There are even times when they say, "cuddle with me", or "I need to cuddle with somebody". That last one they just throw out to the room and hope that either Kyle or I will jump on it, and of course we do. We are throwing punches and tripping each other just to get there in fact. So, we will just keep praying - loving them- praying - cuddling them - praying-and teaching them to Love the Lord and that, believe it or not, God has placed us in charge of you not the other way around. At least, not yet.

Playing Hooky

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:42:00 +0000

So I woke up on Friday for my early morning walk and was so happy to get my body moving and my day started. Then for some reason between that walk and getting the kids up for school I thought "I want a random day of fun with my kids". It was so pretty out and I thought they would enjoy taking daddy some lunch and then going to the zoo. We have a membership there and we NEVER use it, so I thought why not. I got them up at basically the same time and made a deal with them, if they cleaned the upstairs, which was in desperate need, then we could have this really fun day together. Well they took the bait, worked really hard and at 10:45 we were off on our adventure. It was such a great day. Kyle recently had a brand new room built at school so we had fun checking that out. Then lunch at Taco Bell and this really nice lady that came up to us there and told us we had a beautiful family. So sweet, the kids were actually being really good and funny so I'm sure that didn't hurt our beautiful standings. Then off to the zoo we went. Kyle had to go back to work so I was on my own, but it went GREAT! We were laid back and just went to see the animals we felt like seeing. I had luckily packed a ton of snacks, the kids eat non stop these days. They cleaned me out and wanted more. We even rode the train, which used to be a longer ride but was still a blast to them. The baby elephant was super cute and I really enjoyed watching them just have a fun day with me. The worst part was of course the walk to the car. It's all up hill out of that Zoo to get back to the car so I had to carry, in shifts, the two younger ones. Alex begged me but he was where I drew the line, I wanted to live to see another day after all.

Now here are way to many pictures, as usual, for you to enjoy :)

Sarah took her video camera that she got for her birthday and shot a few of the fun moments.
They all loved finding where we were on the maps. So cute.
Trying to take a self portrait. Hard with this many people.
On the train. They thought it was great, but really not what it used to be.
A nice person took our picture, good thing because we were having no luck the other way. We tried several times.
Elephant booty, see the cute baby.
The elephant museum was actually really cool. We stepped in to address a serious boo-boo that Adam had gotten and ended up enjoying strolling through there and looking at all the cool stuff. Especially this mastodon. (sp?)
Alex LOVES bats. Although he made a funny observation that they look just like our dog Padme'. Scary.
We were all a little concerned about the Naked Mole Rats.
Here is my little sweetie in the cutest mask. These were actually pretty reasonably priced compared to most of the things there, but I could not convince anyone to buy one. I thought it was cute and they had about 15 different animals to choose from.

A super fun day!

Blog Makeover!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:52:00 +0000

I have been wanting to do a little blog makeover for a while. I have time on my hands today, always a blessing, so thought I would just make that happen. You will see I have included a new section - cooking tips. I have had a few people request that I give some helpful cooking, especially baking, tips. I love to bake, it's a hobby I enjoy greatly, and so I will pass on some of my favorite recipes and cooking tips. I hope you all enjoy it, and let me know if there are any requests for specific tips or recipes.

Just a little fun

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Just a little fun video I thought I would share. Kyle and I saw these guys while we were waiting to ride space mountain. They were amazing and very entertaining. I wish we had gotten a longer video clip, but you get the idea.

The dreaded baseball

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Baseball has always been a dreaded moment in my parenting for me. I REALLY don't like sports, watching them that is. I just get so bored, and to me baseball is horrible because it is outside in the spring. Really people, we live in Oregon, spring time is indoor time. So I have been putting off signing Alex up, saying he really is not that interested. But then how can you get interested in something that you are never encouraged to do, oops on my part. Anyway I was told I had to sign him up for something by my mom or he would be weird. I'm not sure about the weird part, but really he does need to learn all those valuable things like how to play on a team and blah blah blah. (you can see I'm still not that excited) Well he LOVES it. I knew he probably would and of course I think he might actually be good at it. He is a little behind where he could be if we had done t-ball, but he is catching on fast. He had been hitting really well until this last game where he started bending down, thus missing. But he is having a great time, they call him little Alex because he is one of the youngest and his dad got him this snake bat, that all the kids love. Cute. I will have to be a strong mom, it's already been cold for games and windy. I hate the wind. I'm trying to be prepared with blankets and I may need to consider a yummy coffee as part of my baseball experience to help give me some extra motivation. It's great watching him out there, but at this level the games drag a bit. Hopefully by the end of this experience I will be a full fledged team mom that can't get enough of baseball, hmmm.....I laugh even typing that. We'll see.
Getting ready to go to second. He looks so serious about it.

Running hard, I think the helmet weighs more then his head. It might take him down one of these days.
Brr, it was cold. She was happy to have a little buddy there. Sadly though we are not supposed to bring dogs. I didn't know that until we had already brought her.
He loves that he is number 7 because he is 7. Funny what makes them happy.
He looks great here, swings great, just couldn't hit it this week.
Grandpa is giving him a pep talk. It's so fun watching them, my parents, be there and cheer him on.
There is this really pretty bridge and a creek right next to the field we were at this week. These two kids love the games, so much freedom and so many hills to roll down.
I just like this last picture. Maybe I should try twirling around at the games, might add to my fun.

High School Kids Smell, they just do!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:04:00 +0000

So, kids are stinky, every age, every kind. I left stinky ones behind, traveled with stinky ones, and came home to REALLY stinky ones. Especially that Adam, the boy smells. The trip was awesome, minus the really long travel, overnight, bus trip. The saving grace was that it was a charter, unfortunately that means we had a bathroom for them to use. No matter how much Kyle said fluids only in the toilet, we still had kids doing other stuff in there. One time even when we were PARKED next to a Burger King, crazy. Seriously though it was a great trip. The kids really grew and became more jazzed about learning. The workshops in Disneyland were amazing. They worked with real Disney studio musicians. The jazz band worked with a guy that plays for the Dancing with the Stars band. They recorded the pink elephants number from Dumbo. So they rehearsed with him and then they recorded it in sections, then they would play it back with the actual animation going along with what they recorded, super cool. The wind ensemble recorded several things when they had their workshop. The kids walked away flying high. We visited several colleges and also some sights in the Hollywood area, Olvera st. is awesome as is Griffith park observatory if you ever get a chance to go to either places. But I missed my kids, I was really lonely a couple of times when the band was busy and found myself wondering around Disneyland. I was so desperate I almost waited in line to meet Tinker Bell once, then I decided to go stalk one of Kyle's students. I bribed her with a free drink to hang out with me :) I do like to think she enjoyed it, but I'm not as cool as I was in my 20's. I'm not going to post a lot of pictures because they are mostly of Kyle and I in the same pose, taking self portraits, or of band kids. The one at the beginning of this post is my favorite from the Hollywood Bowl.

Easter Craze

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:44:00 +0000

Here is Alex in our Easter production at church.

So it has been way to long since my last blog, and this one will be short considering everything we have been up to here. Last week was the insane process of Easter. But honestly I can't complain. My wonderful, amazing parents hired a wonderful, amazing babysitter, to watch my wonderful, amazing kids. She was AWESOME. The last night as she left Sarah hollered down, "bye pretty Hannah". Not to mention that there were times when our kids couldn't see us leave fast enough so they could have her all to themselves. But the week was still busy, and now we are preparing to head to Southern California with Kyle's band. So here are just a few things that stuck out from our week of living at the church. First, I have never done an Easter with such little negativity. Usually there isn't much anyway, but people get tired and we spend A LOT of time together so you get the occasional grumble. Nothing! Not once did I hear anything negative. God is good. Second, I was amazed at the talent God brought to us. People that we did not even know sang (Jessica) and new people that are VERY talented (Billy and Cathy). Not to mention our normal crew of servants that come together to make such a great choral sound. God is good. Third, my husband rocked the house!!!!!!! God is good. Fourth, my son got to learn a whole new level of serving. He grew over the week and was able to clearly state why we were there. God is good. Fifth, I really enjoyed myself. Serving the Lord can be fun, but also it can be cleaning toilets or changing a kids pooped diaper. While I always love serving Him, I am happy to say this was totally enjoyable, and I will miss it. God is good. This really is just a few things that stood out to me. There are so many more things I could mention, but I have to go pack instead.

My baby is 4?!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Adam and his buddies at his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party! Loads of fun!

As I sit here the rest of the family is enjoying a very beautiful day outside. I love our house for lots of reasons, but one is the large amount of big windows in the back. I can sit on my couch and feel like I am outside. Alex is playing baseball this year, which is new, and he is practicing his "pop ups". I know I am his mom, but I think he could do just about anything he set his mind to. Sarah is dancing and singing, the girl has moves. I frequently can't understand her singing though, I guess the choir teacher needs to talk to her about articulation. And Adam is doing his best to sneak down to the creek, which he already fell into today in his new, good shoes, of course.

That being said, Adam turned 4 yesterday. As promised, to those of you that even read this, I am going to do a little walk down memory lane. He was a planned c-section and I was totally relaxed when I got to the hospital. I got all cozy in my room and waited for my least favorite part of the pre surgery stuff, the iv. I hum when I am nervous and I have a default melody that all my humming goes to, Hey Hey We're the Monkeys. Weird, I know. My nurse thought so too. Anyway, the actual c-section went great, minus the gossip from the nurses about a recently departed doctor, and of course I hate the smell of burning flesh but that is just part of birthing this way. Anyway, I felt great until about an hour after this little darling entered my life, then the vomiting began and lasted for 8 hours!!!!!! Ughhh, I still feel tired and icky when I think about it. I didn't hold him once, or feed him, or want to talk to any of our visitors. It was horrible.

But then I recovered and right away we all knew we had something special on our hands with this guy. I was happy to be done with two kids, Kyle wanted about a million, so we struck a deal at 3. I was one of three and really liked it, so I thought I could handle it, but I was worried. I'll tell you, our family would not be complete without our little prince. He is head strong and way to smart and sneaky. But he is precious, freely gives his love and SO MUCH FUN!!! I wish I could list all his amazing deeds but here are just a few moments from the last 4 years.

We have found him in a fireplace, covered in soot. We have found him in the dryer, luckily before turning it on. We have had to call someone to break him out of the bathroom he locked himself in. I have found him pouring kitty litter into the toilet, which makes paste for those of you that don't know. He has greeted guests at the door, totally nude, like it was a normal thing. He has peed all over EVERYTHING in our bathroom, oh and he potty trained himself. He has let himself out of the house several times and been found in neighbors backyards and around the corner headed to the park. These are just a few things that I can think of, with my family begging me to join them outside, but as you can see he keeps us hopping and is a little scary. No matter what he does though, it's actually hard to get upset with him. He just has a way about him. Anyway, happy birthday Adam, may everyone enjoy the stories you will provide for years :)

She is 6

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:45:00 +0000

So Sarah is officially 6! I can hardly believe it. Her birthday was on March 28th and I enjoyed thinking back to the day I had her. She was a planned c-section and I remember that we had to be to the hospital very early, 6 AM. We got there and I was REALLY nervous. When I had Alex it was an emergency c-section and when I got my epi I was in so much pain I wanted the drugs. Well I was super worried that since I was not in any kind of labor pain, when they gave me my epi to prep me for surgery I would really feel the pain of the needle. Silly fear I guess. Anyway I was shaking pretty hard by the time they took me back for my surgery.

I have precious memories though of my amazing grandpa saying a prayer before they took me back. He was also one of the first to hold her. He passed away a few months later. With Sarah I felt really good after the surgery and got to enjoy holding her and watching her get passed around. It wasn't until I was up in my room that the vomiting set in and lasted for a couple of hours. Vomiting after c-section not high on my list of things to do, but I did do it again, which you will hear about in a few days with Adam's birthday. Well Sarah has been a blessing ever since. She is all girl, a total princess and goofy. I find her to be an absolute joy and I know her father does too. I thank God over and over that He blessed us with her. As a side note, for her birthday my mom took her shopping and I got to tag along. She tried on the entire store at Macy's and looked darn cute in everything. My mom got a call from my dad and I heard her tell him "she's just like her mom, if it fits, she loves it." It's true :)

Anyway here are a few pics from her special day. We had combined family party the next day for Sarah and Adam, but this is just from her girl party.

Here are the tea cookies I made. My mom had these cookie cutters with a tea pot, creamer, sugar and spoon.
Here is Sarah stressing over the bracelets we were trying to make.
Becca and Avery working so hard on them. By the end of the day all but one had broken, not the best part of the party.
Sam getting her makeup on for the photo shoot.
Don't want to mess up those freshly painted nails. I had even found really tiny nail stickers for the girls to put on, cute.
Erin did her hair in braids even with a broken finger.
Becca gave Sarah a BFF bracelet as one of her gifts. As I was getting into the car after she had opened it I saw them holding the bracelets together, touching the heart charms. They were saying "friends since the beginning, friends forever, best friends." It was a little odd actually, and they both did it like it was totally normal.
The pretty birthday girl.
The photo shoot. Emily knew I was looking for matching dresses and found a couple at Ross at Keizer Station. I called around and got enough for all the girls and they came with matching purses. I think I spent $4.50 - $6.00 for each dress. Such a deal.

Kyle was pretty sure Avery was flirting with him. I was pretty sure he was making it up until I looked thru the pictures. There are several where he caught her giving him this little flirty look. Too funny.
The photo shoot helpers. Thanks girls!
Sarah was floating for two days. She loved her special day!
I love this one, they are just being goofy little girls. I think this picture sums up who they are.
Kari did an awesome job with the pictures. She will make them pretty with photoshop later, but for now here is my editing job.
The tea party decor.
Heading home after a fun time. I think this ended up being one of the cutest pictures. It was a great day and I can't believe she is growing up so dang fast. Love that girl!

Friends for Life

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:38:00 +0000

I have not blogged in a while, been to sick or busy. I have recently been going through pictures from the year to do birthday slideshows and have again been struck by how sweet their blossoming young friendships are. I love that they each have their own buddies, some are siblings, some are not. And I also love how Sarah already refers to her friends as BFF's. On top of the cuteness factor it's so special to me that their best friends mommies are my BFF's. God has provided a good crew for my kids and I truly pray that these sweet little ones will grow to be life long friends. I am so consumed with my current video projects that I don't have time to type more, but enjoy a few sweet pictures.

Women's Retreat

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:24:00 +0000

Women's Retreat for my church happened last weekend, and as usual it was wonderful. It is always a great weekend of bonding, growing closer to Christ and food. Oh and shopping too. This year I got the pleasure of rooming with Emily and our neighbor Julie. I'm really hoping that my wonderful, "bestest good friend" :) Kari will come next year ;) I won't give the blow by blow because most of you that read this blog attended retreat. But I really enjoyed our speaker, and of course the great company. Here are a few of my favorite friend pics. I love all my girls.

I don't really know what to say about Emily here, too funny.
I think this is a really cute picture of you girls. Erin are you sure you turned 30 this fall?
These girls are so sweet and pretty and FUN! Amanda I put this in for you, notice anything missing?
Yes Amanda, I'll let you follow me around so that you can make sure you get this purse :) We have a purse exchange like musical chairs, you end up with the purse you have the last time the music stops.
Sporting their prizes. Cute.
Looking so cute and skinny and pretty in pink.
The cruise girls. Hawaii in only 4 years ladies.
Me and my sweet momma :) They had a pretty ocean view room.

Sunny Day At the Park

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:09:00 +0000

What a beautiful day today. I love those unexpected warm winter days. Sarah has been taking a pet class at school, how cute is that, and she has to be there by 3:30. So we decided to leave a little early and go to the park right next to school. The kids were so happy to slide and play and run. I forget how much they need that. Sarah is getting really good at the monkey bars and Adam is a pro at climbing and sliding. For some odd reason Adam loves to pick up the wood chips and pretend they are cookies that he is baking. I am never tempted to try out his park creations. I'm a little worried that he does. After we got Sarah to her class we grabbed Alex off the bus and went back to the park. I can't believe how big he is getting, he can pretty much do anything he sets his mind to. He saw a couple of friends from school at the park, one little girl in particular, that he felt he needed to impress. If she ran to a new play structure pretty soon I would see Alex not far behind. He does love the ladies. I hope we get a few more nice days like today this week. I love being able to get out of the house and play. Maybe we need to visit the zoo soon. Hmmm?

Nice Hotels Make Me Happy!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:36:00 +0000

This past weekend I had the huge pleasure of getting away with my hubby. It was an extra special bonus that it was Valentines day, but actually the whole weekend was a Christmas gift from me to him. It started with this desire to find some kind of concert that we could go to, and I was so happy to find that the Portland Jazz Festival was just around the corner. As an extra feature, they have a ton of free stuff going on all around town. I decided to get us a night at a hotel to make it a true get away and so I used my best travel tip - Priceline!!!! Really you can't beat it! Originally we were going for just one night so when we later decided to extend our trip we got a different hotel. This ended up begin really fun, as we got to compare these two really nice hotels. Did I mention I got these for REALLY cheap? Anyway, our first night was at the Benson, a Portland classic. This hotel is a true beauty and I was thrilled that we were going to stay there. It's right on Broadway and I knew it would be clean and safe. Our room was not large, which I expected for the price. We also had the view of the back of a different building, but that was fine with me, we were gone most of the time anyway.

Upon arriving we decided to head to one of the free events, conversations with.... It was this interview of sorts with the featured artists that they were holding at the Portland Performing Arts Center. I thought I would be horribly bored, but I was actually really intrigued by their stories. We watched two of these, one with Joe Lavoene sp? and one with Diane Reeves. Joe is a sax player and Diane is a singer. Diane Reeves had these stories of being with Sarah Vaughn and other great artists. I couldn't believe that the seats were not full of people sitting spitting distance from these amazing people that have led these amazing careers. And it was FREE!! Anyway after that we ate dinner at Dragon Fish. If you have never eaten there you must. If you like asian food that is. We had the carmel ginger chicken and then the dragon fire chicken and shared. So yummy! After that we headed back to the Performing Center and had a cup of coffee and enjoyed the FREE jazz combo, featuring a fine sax player, for 3 hours! $4.00 on coffee was pretty cheap for such a long and really good concert. We didn't get to bed until after 1 AM, reminded me of college days. What was even better was getting up at 10:00 the next morning. Here are a few pics of The Benson.

Classic look, with a bit of a country comfort thing going. Nice, cozy but yet classy all together.
One of the leaded glass windows in the lobby. There is a lot of really neat old pieces there.

One of many sitting areas in the lobby and below is the grand chandelier in the lobby entrance.
The following light fixture is actually from Mothers Bistro! One of my favorite Portland breakfast spots. You must go. Really, if you love to eat and enjoy good food, you MUST go!
After sleeping in we waited about 45 minutes for a table at Mothers, where we enjoyed delicious food as usual. It was so nice to have no need to rush, we got to chatting with a couple that were celebrating their anniversary and just relaxed while we waited. After breakfast we decided to see if we could check into our next hotel early. This was one we had never heard of, The Nines! Oh my goodness I can not say enough how amazing this hotel is. First of all it shares the Meier and Frank building with Macy's. At one point, I walked one door down to do some shopping, then across the street to the Pioneer Square Mall. I was in my happy place for sure. The room was beautiful and so fancy. iPod docking stations, huge flat screen tv, beautiful light fixtures, huge fluffy bed, waterfall shower head....and on and on I could go. Here are a few pictures so you can try and see what I mean. Really, if you want a fun experience in Portland stay here. You won't regret it.
The bed was great, look at that white puffy headboard, and you can kind of see the really pretty light fixture above the table next to that gorgeous chair.
This isn't a great picture, but this was a great little office area off the bedroom. It had a spot for charging all the gadgets we brought, and we enjoyed updating our facebook accounts from this cozy spot.
The bathroom was great, with a little bench for sitting and doing my makeup. Not to mention a well stocked supply of towels, including the biggest bath towels I have ever used!
Here is the carpet in the hallway. So pretty. In the bedroom pics you can see that our carpet had the same Tiffany blue color in subtle strips. Nice.
This is just off the elevator area. Our floor had something similar but in the same blue color as everywhere else.
We actually had turn down service. Came home from dinner on Saturday to find robes laid out, ice in our ice bucket, and these little goodies on our pillows.
This sitting area is in the super cool lobby area. There were all these sitting areas, some in these semi enclosed areas. Our room was two floors up from the lobby with these big double windows looking out over the top. It made people watching easy and we could hear the jazz that was happening in the lobby that evening from our room.
Weird white statues that they had in the lobby. So New York like.
Another sitting area in the lobby, longest white leather couch ever.
The last night we went to our actual concert that I had bought tickets for. It was really good and I think Kyle Really enjoyed it. Really I should say more about the concert at this point, but I can't really describe it. Kyle would have some amazing things to say, but all I can say is that I enjoyed it. For those of you that don't know John Scofield, he plays electric jazz guitar. We ended our Portland time by having breakfast Sunday Morning at the Bijou Cafe. I highly recommend it, the nicest staff around. Super friendly and ready to treat us like we were regulars from the moment we sat down. Below is one of two pictures we took together. My face is scrunched up because I was holding the camera. Plus my eyes are puffy from the weird sleep schedule. We had an awesome time. I'm ready to go back now.

The Beach House

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:28:00 +0000

We have been going to the same beach house since before I was born. It's in Lincoln city and it is right on the beach. You walk out the door and your feet are in the sand. I have a ton of great memories from this house. I have taken friends as a kid and couples from church as an adult. It's really cool to see my kids enjoying this place as much as I did. The only bummer is that it is barely cared for. My inner decorator always comes out when I am there. I think about how I could make it beautiful and that I would like to buy it some day. The first thing I would change is how painful the shower is, the water pressure is so hard you have to protect yourself while you are in there. This past weekend my family went to this house, minus Kyle who was at men's retreat. We had a great time, we always stay up late playing games and eating junk food. We laugh alot! Pee your pants kind of laugh. My oldest brother's son is now 16 and he is stinkin' funny. It's really fun to see how these kids are growing up, but sad that it happens so fast. Below are a whole bunch of pictures from our trip this weekend. Enjoy.

Adam and Sarah are playing on rocks that I played on during the early years. One year we came to the house after a big sand storm and the rocks were totally covered. Now they are starting to show again, it's probably been 15 years since these rocks were as visible.
Alex and his dog, I thought this was a cool shot. Padme' loved the beach, but felt a huge need to bark at everything.
Adam is standing in the D river. The river was deep and fast but the kids were able to walk in the shallow parts with their rain boots on.
My kids being my kids. They are so cute.
Grandpa and Adam. Adam had the strength and energy to get to a location but ALWAYS needed carried back. He is lucky that grandpa loves him so much.
Sarah is holding a treasure she found in the rocks. We were actually looking for agates but this rock is pretty too.
The beach house has a mantel full of rocks with guests names on them. Fun tradition they have going there.
I was trying to get a picture of the dogs together, but they never stop moving long enough.
Alex and his much loved cousin Cooper. He is always so excited to see him and spend time playing together. Coop is a sweet, sweet kid.
Sarah and grandma walking to the tide pools, and then Sarah and Carter on the rocks where the tide pools are. Man does she just love the camera or what.

All the grandkids except Courtney, Jeffrey's sister. She had soccer playoffs. Poor Jeffrey is clearly older then the rest of the crew. But he is such a good sport.
Alex is holding a hermit crab that we found in one of the tide pools. He is still saying how much he misses "that little fella" (his words). I just know I am going to have like 3 snakes, a lizard and a big old spider some day because of this kid.
The tide came in pretty high on the last day and the kids had to wait a long time to get out and play. Here is Adam looking longingly at the beach, see how you walk off the deck onto the beach, LOVE IT!
These two were searching for anything they could find with these binocs. They had a hard to spotting much more then birds. We did see a bald eagle fly over the beach and then right over our deck carrying something in his talons on Saturday. It was truly awesome. Such beautiful animals.
I just love this picture, I think it is so cute. Sarah looks so tiny, and you can feel the love they all have for each other.
Adam was content to dig and dig and dig! Dump sand and repeat.

Here is the whole crew posing for the camera. It was pretty funny getting this picture with the timer on my camera, but finally my brother Mike made it happen. And amazingly we are all looking and smiling at the camera!

Below are a few scenic pictures that I took. I am still learning to use my new camera but I think it takes pretty awesome pictures. Or maybe it's just the photographer :)

Let's Bow-ow-owl tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:00:00 +0000

We were finally able to do our Christmas celebration with Kari and her kiddos. We went to this really fun bowling alley in Vancouver called Big Al's. The kids had an awesome time, mine had never been bowling before, Sarah said it was her new favorite "sport" The bowling alley also has a really nice arcade attached to it, so of course we played a few video games after all the bowling fun. My only complaint was that it was REALLY loud there and I lost to Kyle by 5 points! I'm so happy to have Kari and her kids in my life, our friendship has been a major part of my life for over 13 years now. I look forward to watching our kids grow up loving each other. Right now they love each other a lot. They love to be goofy together, play together and hang out. Works great for their moms who love to do the same things together. If only we could do it a little bit more often :) Here you can see the boys and girls being their silly selves! So cute.

I love that in some of the pictures you can just see the kids standing there watching their balls. That is because it took the balls FOREVER to get down the alley. What was great was this silver ramp for the little ones. They just had to push there balls down the ramp. I can't get all of the formating for the pictures just right, but you can see in some pictures that the kids think they made a great shot so they are celebrating. In one of them Alex is doing a little jig.

Here is our little family, and then the group shot of the kids. Check out Adams pose, sweet!

Funny Faces

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:23:00 +0000

I have REALLY been loving being a mom these days. Something about the three weeks off, getting the extra time with Kyle to help out and get the house organized, has made being a mommy a bit easier. Or, it is more likely that God has been giving me extra patience and been opening my eyes to how truly blessed I am. I think I have the best kids in the world, the most beautiful, the sweetest, most talented, most fun and funny. Don't all moms feel that way. I think we may have had one of the best Christmas's as well. The kids really loved what they got and are still playing with all of it, so maybe we are actually figuring out what their current passions are better. Sometimes it's a little hard to tell when they like so many things and activities. Anyway, I have had a few nights on my own with the kids, Kyle has had to work a lot. This has given me a chance to sit back and just have fun with them. A lot of the time when Kyle is home he does all the playing and I finish household chores that need done. Anyway, I was the designated kid entertainer since he was gone. We watched our last Disney trip video, which is an hour long, and went to Toys R Us to spend gift cards, and baked cookies. Somehow we managed to keep bedrooms picked up and the playroom clean, so that went a long way towards my ability to just enjoy them without feeling nuts. Here are a few pictures of my kids being who they are. Goofy kids! I love them passionately and look forward to future fun times.

Here is Sarah doing her new trademark move...the tongue role!

Adam has a hard time making funny faces, he'll get there, it seems to come with age.
I love Alex in this one. What a nerd.

Alex has a HUGE mouth!!!!