And So They Grow

Bungee Jumping

2011-04-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

It seems fitting that today I will post a crazy Adam story. I'm writing this post, almost to the minute, 6 years after this monkey entered our lives. We have lots of nick-names for him and they all describe his spirit. He is fun loving, creative and really keeps us on our toes. If things get to peaceful at our house you will always hear one of us say "where's Adam?"

This past Friday I was home and Kyle was at work. Adam was playing with bugs in the backyard and I was enjoying some couch time. The next thing I know he is on our back deck soaked, muddy and crying. "I ripped my pants" he's saying over and over. After some love he tells me that he was clipping his belt loop to our dog run. This is a rope tied between two trees with a leash on it so our german shepherd can run the length of our yard. This long rope runs horizontally to our drop off that leads to our creek. Well that crazy kid was clipped to the leash and throwing himself backwards off the drop and letting the rope fling him back up, that's right bungee jumping. Well you can all guess what happened, the loop broke and he went flying down landing in our creek. Oh Adam, only you. Luckily all was well, but it could have been horrible. I wish I had seen it, but I know in the moment I would have been terrified. Really though, I have to laugh because it's just one more of those moments in life where God has put a bubble around that kid and kept him safe. I figure God is saving him for something special as an adult.

What a special gift Adam is in our lives. He is an original kid that gives his love so freely. He is known to do sneak attacks of love - in fact just last week as I was getting in the van he said "I just love you so much I have to kiss you right now." And he planted a big one right on the kisser! What a joy.

He is now cuddled down to watch a movie, he has a cold on his birthday so I get to stay home from work with the birthday boy. I think I better go cuddle in with him! Happy Birthday sweet boy.

Spring Break Is Not Almost Over!

2011-03-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

Oh wait, it is. How did the time go so fast. I actually totally forgot I had a blog I was so busy. But now I have had a relaxing break and remembered I wanted to keep this thing updated.

Alex has finished up basketball season, Sarah is full-on into her piano lessons and getting ready to celebrate her 8th birthday and Adam is still busy being Adam, almost 6 (what?). It's been a couple weeks of regression for the birthday kiddos however. Adam had a day where he was on criminal act number 20 when after riding the laundry basket down the stairs, drawing my attention, I realized he had cut his hair! Again!! The boy had no idea that I would be upset, or so it seemed because when I asked him if he had cut his hair he very calmly looked at me and said "yeah". I found the hair all over my bathroom later to prove it. Now he sports an odd uneven look in the back, how did he not draw blood? Luckily the damage in the front just blended in.

Then just a couple of days after that I discovered Sarah's American Girl doll, which she has only had for three months, had been given a trim. When telling this story people react with, "oh how could Adam do that", before I get the pleasure of telling them that my sweet daughter did it herself. She however did know it was wrong and felt so bad she asked for no birthday gifts, "just please fix my doll". So of course we were so touched by her attitude about it we got her gifts and we will also fix the doll. Suckers! So every pair of scissors will now be locked up and they are never allowed to touch them again! Or at least until I forget or until Adam discovers where we are keeping them and gives the cat a trim or something.

blurry picture from Kyle's iPhone. It's the most recent one I have sadly. Don't they look sweet having fun together?! No cutting tools anywhere in sight.

Love is in the Air

2011-02-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's so nice when I plan a little something special for the kids and family and it actually happens! This is rare, mostly due to my schedule right now. But we have recently been working with our kids on the true meaning of love and I really wanted to come in and support that with actually celebrating V Day!

So on Sunday night I made a pancake dinner, heart shaped of course and set the table with goodies and I had bought a few treats for the kids to enjoy. I made them go upstairs while I got everything decorated and ready, then had them come down for the big reveal. They were so excited, so funny how easy it is to please them. Why do I forget that so easily and not try more? Mental note - must do this more often!

While we ate dinner I asked the kids who they loved. Adam had the best answer - I love Jesus because He died on the cross for my sins and I love mom and I love dad. Wow. He paused for a bit and then kindly added his siblings to the list.

I am happy to say that currently no kiddo in our family wants a girlfriend or boyfriend. Alex is actually grossed out at the thought. I think secretly Sarah wouldn't mind, especially if it was one of the members of Big Time Rush, but her dad is gonna be pretty hard to convince that a boyfriend is a good idea until she is at least 25!

Alex got a microscope. Not a great one, but when your 9 you really don't care.
Sarah got a knitting craft and Adam got a craft set too.
Kyle got bacon!
Our table setting - even broke out the china!
And our dessert, provided by Suzanne Schmidt. They were oh so yummy!!!

Holy Cow! I have a blog...

2011-02-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

What?! Oh I still have a blog, hard to believe after 8 months of silence. However a few nights ago I stumbled upon my printed out old blogs and realized I needed to get back on the blogging ride. Mostly because it's the only journal my kids will have of their young life. I read back over funny stories of how they started school and were living life almost a year ago and was kicking myself for taking such a long break. So I officially announce my return to storytelling my life for my kids enjoyment later.

It seems silly to update the last 8 months, so I will just say that almost nothing is the same as it was when I made my last blog update. I have a new job, Central Linn Choir/Music slave :) Kyle is the band director at Jefferson High - we are hoping for more hours for him and a few less for me. We are still running a private studio and we are still doing photography (LOVE) when we can fit it in. To say God has provided is really not justice to all he has given us. We are thriving and did for the entire year of unemployment. Our friends loved us, our family helped us out and everyone was praying. Now we have a new look to our life and that may change again in this season of budget crisis for schools. But we are enjoying having insurance, having enough to pay the bills and the extra cash to eat out a bit more as mommy can't figure out how to work and cook yet.

Adam is a kinder - Sarah a 2nd grader and Alex a 3rd grader. All are doing well although Adams teacher did say someone may offer drugs as an option for him down the road. Her funny way of saying the kid is full of energy. She then suggested the boys and girls club for a chance to get that energy out somewhere other then school. What she doesn't know is that he purposefully saves up all his energy for school. He thinks home = vacation.

Sarah is in gymnastics and started piano lessons last week. She's still a mystery to me, not sure where she will land. But I do know she's beautiful, funny and smart. Now to channel all that in a way that pleases the Lord.

Alex is playing basketball - played football in the fall - and loving it and wanting to start some kind of martial arts this spring - which means no baseball for us this year. I'm really ok with that. He also fancies himself a writer. He has been writing a book since the fall and when I ask him about it he says he plans to send it to a publisher - his words. I'm worried he'll get in trouble since at times it is word for word Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He, however, thinks he's gonna make a million dollars and get a movie deal.

So that is my fast version of a catch up and now I will try and update this baby with the memories that we all enjoy reading about down the road. Without my blog amazing stories about kids screaming their heads off at me down the street, with snot running from their nose and bare feet while I put other kids on the bus would be lost forever. And that would be a shame ;)

Knead and Feed and some other stuff too

2010-06-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I were blessed to have the entire holiday weekend alone in Seattle. My amazingly awesome parents offered!!! to take our kids! God bless them. The weekend started off with a bang, watching little Adam graduate from preschool. What an amazing experience we have had there, all three kids graduated from Judson Baptist Preschool and now an era is over for us. Hard to believe.

Here's Adam with his amazing teacher that took him such a long way this year. He is more then prepared to be a kinder and amazingly he has successfully learned to follow instruction and behave in a socially ok way. This is a big deal for this crazy kid and we are very proud.
I don't have any pictures of the first day or so of our trip. We took the long way, back roads, to seattle, 8 hrs people! But we saw some beautiful scenery and I took a lovely nap and no one was in the back seat asking when we would get there and fighting so it was all good.
Saturday was sleeping in, finding a yummy breakfast and shopping at some outdoor cottage type shops, then we read, for hours... and hours! Sigh, so wonderful. After all that relaxing we headed out for dinner at this place we found on line. It was in an old Seattle neighborhood and it was yum. Here's Kyle playing at the local park, and me outside the place we ate.
After dinner we took in some jazz, and our table was almost on stage we were so close. I was actually touching the stage most of the time, and it was great because we could really see everything happening. I love watching their fingers and hearing them communicate with each other.
On Sunday we hopped on the ferry and headed to Whidbey island. This for me was the highlight of our trip. Very cute - full of small towns that remind me of little fishing villages. Great shops and AMAZING food.
Here we are on the ferry, first time for me so fun memory to make with my main squeeze.
taking a walk on the beach, check out the shells they were everywhere. Huge whole shells.

Then we ate here, at this amazing wonderful place that I highly recommend. I suggest reservations, but they took Kyle's cell number and called us when they had a table free. So we were able to get our beach walk in while we waited for a table. Really you have got to eat here. If for no other reason then the toast!
I know, toast should not be a reason to eat somewhere, but oh how it is. The best toast ever, homemade and so buttery good.
And this wasn't to bad either :) Look at our cute table markers for the servers.
And what I wished I had room for as I walked out the door with my...
cup of coffee to go, free when you get coffee with your meal. Just make a to go cup to have in hand while you walk around town. So perfect!
All the stores and buildings had neat old, knobs on their doors. Here is just one of many.
We found an old block house at the museum and the light upstairs was awesome for pictures, Kyle went crazy. I love the baby cradle that you can see in this one.
The town of Coupville where we spent most of our time, isn't it cute!?
This crazy seal that was feeding the birds, not kidding you, he would come with fish and the birds would jump on his back and take it, then they would do it again. Crazy.
Me and my sweetie!
We ended the day by exploring the lighthouse and Kyle walked around Fort Casey while I read. (I started and finished a book, so rare.) Then we enjoyed coffee in another little down while reading at a table outside under an umbrella. Because of course it was drizzly, but we didn't care, it was still lovely.
So thanks mom and dad, we loved it, we are still feeling refreshed from it, and I can't wait to take my kids back to Whidbey Island. I think that's a pretty great sign that it was a successful weekend.

Band Man for Hire

2010-04-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

The season is upon us for searching for that new job. The one that will finally give us some closure from Gladstone, the one that will help us feel more secure, the one that would help me not panic at all when I hear my childcare gig might be ending sooner rather then later and that unemployment is up soon and that our mortgage is going up... and so on. Of course these things all happen at the same time, because isn't that how it goes for everyone. But I have peace, supernatural peace that comes from my heavenly Father. I know He will provide, as he has all year. I wish I could say OK Lord I'm done, and poof it would be over, but that would be a shame because I would be missing out on something He has in store for me. I've learned and I think grown this year. We have relied on Christ and become more unified as a couple. We have truly found joy in our trial, all because of God. I know this is a God thing because I am a worrier. I fret and wonder and think "what if" and "what will we do"? But God has claimed all that from me, thank you Lord. Yet I still found myself rather teary as Kyle headed out Monday morning to turn in his remaining application pieces to Mt. Angel high school. I was praying, please God if this is your will, if this is a good fit, allow this job to happen. But more then that I don't want to fail, I want to stay strong in the Lord, I want to continue to rely on Him to let Him do it and not try and force this trial to be over. I want my husband to stay positive, to not lose hope or think himself less then he is. I can't put into words my amazement with him and how he has endured this, how he has stayed strong for all of us, and really lead my attitude through his own attitude. I'm blessed and I know that this year has brought that understanding even more to the surface, but pray for us. Pray first that we continue to rely on Him and second that if it's God will this trial will close for us soon. Thank you God for these days and for the plan I know you have for us and patience you continually grant us as we wait on You.

Birthdays + Easter =

2010-04-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

No time for blogging and a whole lot of fun! This year Sarah had a PJ party minus the sleep over. She had a group of girlfriends, lifelong and school friends, over for the classic slumber party fun! There were makeovers and dancing and pillow fights... you get the idea. They ended the night with these little take home treats. Sarah's parties are so fun for me to organize, I love getting really girly even as I age, it's great living a little of my youth again by watching her.

Then we had the combined family party. Birthday's one week apart makes it hard, so they each get a friend party than they have one party together with the family. This year we played games with questions about the birthday sweeties and Sarah won for Adam and Alex won for Sarah. Nice to know the siblings know each other so well.
This was the beginning of Easter week, two parties down, but real life was also taking place. Like watching this little sweet guy! Yes we are teaching him to sing already.
And every night we had Easter practice - here I am with one of my PT peeps - that stands for Praise Team, a small group on mics. We had way more fun then we probably should have complete with some rad dance moves and a whole lot of laughter.
And by day I was still being mommy - Adam out front guarding the homestead. I feel so much safer with him around.
And more singing - yes we are getting down and loving it!
Mommy by day - Adam working on his new laptop that he got from grandma and grandpa all while sporting the batman PJ's.
singing monster by night - here we are doing our best to feel some soul while singing a gospel number.
Then the end of the week held a super cool Abbygail party for Adam - wow it was fun. I have an album on facebook that lays it all out there, but here he is watching as our surprise guest arrived, Abbygail herself. What a special celebration for a special 5 year old.

And we also had to dye eggs, this was actually the first time I had ever done this with the kids and it was really fun. While the kids worked on eggs and I helped them, Kyle talked about Easter and it's importance in our life. It was a nice way to spend Saturday morning before kissing them goodbye as they stayed with the grandparents while we camped out at church for the weekend.
Adam's egg says Jesus, I think.
Sarah went with a pretty little stripe.
And Alex drew a cross, I think there was more to his egg on the other side, but I don't remember.
The finished product. They actually ate some which shocked me.
Here we are Sunday morning after two performances Saturday night having some vocal warm-up. Really a great weekend, I loved the music and the message was clear.
I had to include this shot - taken by a photographer at church. These two played Adam and Eve, I think the hardest roles out there, they were really good sports.

The weekend was topped off with an egg hunt with the cousins at my folks place. Whew, it makes me a little tired just looking at all we did. God was so good and kept us healthy and happy. As always a great week, and a crazy week.
Can you see the egg hiding in the pillow case. The oldest cousins hid the eggs this year, they had some pretty clever spots too.

All the craziness aside, I have to say, I am grateful for my Lord and Savior. I am awed by Him and that is always renewed in this season. I watch as God puts our presentations together each year, and as he keeps everyone so calm and leaning on Him. There is no tension, no harsh words, no grumpy servants. Everyone is working together to please Him and He sees us thru. I get to thank God for not only the birth of two of my children at this time and the huge blessing that they are, but also for the eternity I get to look forward to with Christ. Thank you for the cross Lord, thank you for the price you paid. Bearing all my sin and shame in love you came.

Life is always changing

2010-02-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday my husband went to visit his dad. Kermitt was always a hard worker, a busy man that loved his farm and working the land. Since the passing of Kyle's mom Arlene, Kermitt has aged, a lot. The stress was hard on him and his Parkinson's disease. He has a stutter now and so it's hard to follow him sometimes, hard to have a conversation and just hard to watch him struggle. But today I was remembering that this is temporary. This is not our home and getting old is usually a needed step towards going home. Praise God. But it's hard and no fun and a stress on the family and honestly just way to early in our lives for this to be happening. And we don't deal with it often, honestly Kyle's sisters do most of the hard care giving when its needed, and we are grateful for them.

However, God is great and gives us moments that are wonderful. Even now when it's hard and sad we see glimmers of sweet memories. Every New Year we go to Florence with Kyle's family. Oregon that is, although Italy would be wonderful too. This year we had dad in our car, and Adam who loves everyone and is always so excited to see grandpa Kivett, was saying "grandpa, I love you!" And dad kept saying "what Sarah?" So Adam would say it louder and dad would say the same thing... back and for they go. Finally Alex starts yelling "Grandpa it's Adam not Sarah", still not getting it. Alex turns to Adam and says, not quietly mind you, grandpa is really old and can't hear you. Kids, gotta love em. We are so blessed to still have Kermitt in our lives, to get to see our kids make some kind of memories with him, to see Adam loving on grandpa is just precious and we know Kermitt loves anything he can get. We'll just keep our eyes on the prize and enjoy the tiny moments of laughter and love we still get to share together. Loves to Grandpa "old grandpa" as my kids so sweetly now call him.

Dedicated to the one I love...

2010-01-18T18:31:00.000-08:00

well one of the one's I love. You all know him as Adam, but his name is actually James Adam. He has been called Adimal, the A bomb, monkey, monster, and future ruler of a small nation. In all honesty I don't know a sweeter kid. This is one of the reasons we believe he could be a future politician. He has a way with people, they love him, they want love from him, they want to do things for him and they want to turn the other way if he is being naughty because any punishment for him is to severe.

We were recently in Sisters with the Dempsters and after waking up he came out of his room, went straight to Ryan and gave him a big hug, then the same for Emily. He does this because it comes natural to him, showing love is automatic. Which is good because he has lived longer then he should have as a result of this easy way of showing love. Because like all good future nation rulers he has some crazy ideas and they tend to get him in trouble.
He has put kitty litter in the toilet, has drawn with sharpie on one of my really good chairs in the family room, he has cut up a Christmas present before we even had a chance to put it together (actually he convinced Sarah to do that - so he could have plausible deniability), he has been found wandering the streets, in neighbors backyards and in neighbors garages on their motorcycles, helmet on! He has answered the door at friends houses - not our own mind you - totally naked, the list could go on and on and on. The boy is a walking experimenter of life.
He is also SO SO SO sweet and with each of these offenses I have felt little to no anger, because it's Adam. And you just can't be mad at Adam. He loves the anger right out of you. He is also really funny when he's in trouble. Saying things like "mom, everybody sins" presented to me by him as evidence as to why I shouldn't really be that upset. Really what 4 year old says that. He enjoys life and to his credit he never commits the biggies twice. He only stuck kitty litter in the toilet once, because why do it twice now that I know it does indeed turn into a paste. This is his philosophy on most of his experiments.
He's irresistible, he's fun, he's super cute and we love him so, so much! Thanks God for this crazy kid that completed our family so perfectly! Life would just be to simple and really lack excitement without him.

James Adam Kivett - running for future ruler of any small nation. You can donate to his campaign fund, however he only wants donations in change so they can fit in his fireman piggy bank.

How will the New Year look?

2010-01-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

No one really knows, but we come at it with ideas, plans and resolutions.

Kyle and I have resolved to lose weight, eat healthy and act our age not 15 years older. This comes with the new year, and really with the end of a heavy duty season of insane business and a desire to see that slow down enough to care for our bodies a bit.

Every day I resolve to have a more active relationship with Christ, to grow in my knowledge of Him and to live like the daughter He desires me to be. I'm happy that is still a desire of mine, as I know that's supernatural. It's not really human nature to strive for something that will not be complete until the day I go home, meaning my heavenly home that is. But I do, and pray that I will continue to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He spurs me on to desire that.

As for plans, I want to see my photography grow. I have learned I LOVE it, that it is a passion and something I want to grow into a business/ministry. I want to get really great at it, not for a pat on the back but because I love a great picture. So I'll continue to read, and practice and hopefully learn. If you know anyone getting married, I am officially up for a few more weddings, and I'm a great bargain!

I'm hoping to see traditional employment for my husband, but I am VERY aware that is up to God and we still don't know what He has in store for us.

I also hope to spend even more time together as a family. Being more proactive at putting the endless work aside to focus on the needs of our precious three, and watching them grow, we do not want to miss this time!!!

God is good, God is great! He has shown us repeatedly that He loves us, He will provide for us and that He is walking right beside us, actually carrying us along as we travel through this crazy life. I hope the new year finds each of you happy, but more importantly in Love with God and seeking Him at every turn in life. We have learned that you never know when that curve in the road is coming, only He can prepare you for it.

Season on Blessings

2009-12-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-03T14:03:00.001-07:00

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?!

2009-09-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

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?!

2009-07-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-18T10:03:00.001-07:00

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....

2009-06-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

....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

2009-06-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-26T11:02:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-05-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-12T18:42:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-05-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-01T09:15:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-04-24T21:04:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

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?!

2009-04-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T20:45:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-06T20:24:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-16T13:36:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-27T20:28:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-01-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

Girls Are Fun

2009-01-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

So I love having a daughter, but I have to say I'm actually glad I was blessed with only one. I can only take so much drama in my life. Anyway, with girls you get to paint nails, shop, play dress up, play with dolls and bake! Sarah loves to bake and for Christmas got this really cute cupcake maker. The actual cupcakes work like an easy bake oven, but you use the microwave. The actual decorator is the cool part. You will be able to see from the pictures that we need to work a little longer to get the right consistency of the frosting. Ours was to thick and came out in one poop like blob. But we had fun together anyway. It was one of those rare moments at home just us girls. Enjoy the pics of my sweet girl being a girl. Here is Sarah with all her tools for this project. Isn't that cupcake maker cute.
Here she is with the cupcake mix ready for the oven. It smelled interesting, REALLY sweet.Here is Sarah putting the cupcake into the cute cupcake baker dish. We then put it in the microwave from here. Below you can see it all baked up.
The frosting is where we went wrong. We needed to add a little more water.
Here is Sarah so excited about her sprinkles and working the actual cupcake decorater. The cupcake spins while the frosting is pumped out, so it is supposed to have this spiral effect. You can see that she ate the finished product, I got the thumbs up so it must have tasted alright. I gotta say I don't think I would have tried it.

2009-01-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been way to long since my last blog. All this time off with my sweet hubby home has made it hard to make the time. So as a result a lot of blog worthy moments are going to be edited out and pictures not shown. Just to many. I will share however, our dramatic moment of this years Kivett family beach trip.

Every year Kyle's family goes to driftwood shores for 3 or 4 days over the New Year holiday. This tradition started 6 years ago when I was expecting Sarah. Kyle's mom, Arlene, LOVED the coast. So it has been somewhat in her honor that we have kept this tradition alive. Not to mention it is really fun and special that the family still desires this connection. Anyway, we have always had some kind of swimming adventure it seems.

The one that sticks out in my mind is from our third trip, I was large, waiting for Adam to be born and the kids wanted to go to the pool. I was chatting with my sister-in-law and Kyle with his brother while the cousins and another uncle were watching the kids. I thought Kyle was watching he thought I was and so neither of us noticed when Sarah decided to walk across the hot tub to uncle Chris. He was turned around watching a swim race the cousins were having. So as a result I turned to see my little girl floating, face down, in the water. I have never moved so fast when I was preggers, but I moved. I was yelling Chris get the baby and he scooped her up. She was fine, a few coughs, and she was really annoyed that I took her out of the water. Anyway, we have since learned that you just HAVE to put vests on your kids in the pool.

This year all the kids were wearing vests, everything went great. The kids love to swim, it's the highlight of their trip. They had so much fun, Adam was jumping into the pool and letting Kyle throw him in the water. Sarah was swimming the length of the p

ool as many times as her little body would let her and Alex was practicing swimmi

ng under water. He and Sarah also had a blast chasing a floaty ball around the pool. Really nice and relaxing for me as Kyle does the pool duty. I'm not the fun parent and I don't get into my swim suit unless I am somewhere I know I will see no one I know.

Anyway, on our last night it was really windy and crazy getting to the pool and super cold. After the kids were done swimming I decide to rush Sarah back to the room. She's really cold and ready for some cocoa. So I yell a goodbye to Kyle and head out with her. We are really moving fast to get back to the room to dry off and warm up. She is in her pj's and we have grabbed the hot cocoa to head next door to visit and drink our tasty drink, so it's been a few minutes. Just as we are leaving Kyle shows up with Adam, JUST Adam. Where's Alex I say. Well it turns out that after Sarah and I left Alex decided to follow. Kyle thought he would be fine because we had literally just walked out, but he didn't know how fast we were moving or that we went up a different set of stairs then usual. Anyway, he got lost and has now been wondering around, outside, in his wet suit with only a towel to keep him warm. The whole family starts searching the hotel, it's all outside doors with these cut threws to the beach. We are running around yelling ALEX, and he is nowhere to be found. Finally a guy that works there points us in the direction he saw a little boy, it turns

out to be on the opposite side of the hotel then our room. By the time we got to him his lips were blue and both of us were a little emotional. Alex and I that is. I just had these visions of him going threw one of those cut threws and roaming around on the beach or someone scooping him up into their room. It was aweful, I was so grateful we found him, so thankful to God for keeping him safe. The trip was great, but Alex and I don't care to relive that moment again. These last pictures are of Sarah and Alex playing chase in the pool. They had SO much fun together, it was nice to see them play so happily together.

Snow Day!

2008-12-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

The Children Present

2008-12-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Well the weekend is almost over and I am now able to sit and look back at the amazing weekend. This past weekend we had our children's presentation at church. I get the extreme pleasure of directing these amazing kids and working side by side with some of the most outstanding adults out there. This year's presentation was "Meet Me At the Manger" and it was filled with the usual "interesting" moments. Before I share some of the more funny and scary stories I will say that God was glorified, these kids were used and I know that God was pleased with our efforts. I am always encouraged by these little hearts that give up their time, do things that are REALLY out of their comfort zone and do it with a smile. Why? Because they are doing it for Christ and His glory. How can you walk away from that and not be encouraged in your own walk.

The first scary thing we had to deal with was the weather. I know that there was a lot of praying that went out, just hoping we were going to get to do it. God was good and held off the big stuff. This was the first year that I had all three of my kids involved in the presentation. My two youngest were in the pee-wee's. Sarah was actually fairly uneventful, got up on stage with a smile, sang the songs and off she went. HUGE change from last year. Adam, however presented some, um, embarrassing moments. For the first presentation he became very concerned that his shirt was untucked. So on the stage, front and center, he starts trying to tuck it in. Well he is really digging down to achieve this task and as a result he spends the entire first run of "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" with his hands down his pants. And then there was the third presentation where I spent a few minutes chasing him around the stage. Finally I picked him up and handed him off to grandpa. When I asked him if he wanted to sing or go to grandpa he said "no, I wanna play with the mics" Fantastic.

Alex managed to keep most of his antics to the rehearsals for the big choir. He was in trouble almost all the time but he turned it on for the presentations. In fact he was even trying to "parent" the other kids so they would stay on task. His hair was a bit of a distraction for him, but that's the price you pay for good rock star hair.

Some of the other great moments were from other kids. One girl hit her face with a mic right before her solo, that was great. There was the pastors son playing air guitar during one of the songs, which the audience loved. There was the kid that when I asked the choir what their secret weapon was, he said, without missing a beat "gas". I was looking for cuteness. There was the kid that thought he needed to show his neighbor how awesome his thumbs looked sticking out of his shirt right in the middle of the big serious moment for the choir, and he was in the front row. Of course Mary couldn't find baby Jesus for the opening scene last night, caused mass confusion for the manger scene crew. Then the biggie, the phone call at 6:00 this morning telling me that my lead girl had the serious stomach flu. God was good and had her little sister right there willing to do it. Amazing that she pulled it off. An hour before the presentation she went through it for the first time on stage, the other actors helped her along and at one point she had to use the script on stage, but she did awesome and we were still able to present all the hard work. Lastly there was the multiple times I almost pulled my skirt off last night. The lace kept getting stuck in the heal of my boot and when I would go to stand the whole skirt would get pulled down. Really frightening a few times. Seriously the stories could go on and on, but over all I have to say it was amazingly fun, really encouraging and as always a chance to see God's hand at work. He is faithful and good and never leaves us to do it alone.

photo shoot

2008-12-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am going to attempt to post some pictures from my most recent photo shoot with my good friend Valerie Hibler. If you do not go to this girl for pictures you are nuts, she is amazing! Check out her website www.valeriehiblerphotography.webs.com and see her work. What I am posting is mostly proofs from a cd she sent me, so they are not as beautiful as they will be when finished. She has this amazing ability to make our pictures so flawless and timeless. She can even move heads, that's right, move heads. Moms know how fantastic that is because we have such a hard time getting everyone to look at the camera. Or we finally get the kids to look wonderful and we have a horrible double chin! She can even take a few pounds off if you want her too :) There are no family pictures here because they needed to much tlc from her still, when I get a nice finished product I will post it. Most of you will be getting our Christmas card this year and I can't wait for you to see the awesome picture she took for that. I am really pleased with how it turned out. Enjoy a few pictures of my kiddos and call this girl, you will be so glad that you did.

Seattle with Sarah

2008-11-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. I have missed it terribly. I love writing down all the crazy, special, discouraging moments in my life. It's great therapy! Last weekend Kyle and I took Sarah to Seattle for 4 days. We go every year for Kyle's work and have started taking one kid at a time to spoil them rotten. Sarah did great, and it is really right up her alley as the girl LOVES to shop. She did have a hard time hearing no after a while, got a bit of a princess complex, but she slept great and loved all the new adventures. The princess complex has reduced significantly since returning home to two brothers that need mom and dad too. The first night was just in the room as we didn't get there until 8:00. We got to our room and she took one look at her big bed and was so happy. She couldn't believe she got a whole big bed to herself, she tried out all 100 pillows (why do they put so many on those hotel beds?) until she found the one that was just right. On Sunday we slept in, had breakfast with daddy and then hung out while daddy worked a bit. By the time we were headed into the city she was more then ready for an adventure. We parked over by the Seattle Center so we could ride the monorail into the shopping district. She thought the space needle was really cool and really wanted to go into it. She had to settle for a snow globe of it instead. After the train ride we shopped for several hours. She loved the bookstore the best and bought herself her first Ameillia Bedillia (sp?) book. She loved retelling the story to her brothers after we got home. On Sunday we did some Christmas shopping while Kyle worked and then went to IKEA. We always like looking for odds and ends for home there and we actually really like the meatballs. Sarah liked the pre-made rooms that they have there, she found a little nursery and was right at home playing house. We then took her to see Bolt, which was really cute. I recommend it to anyone. The hamster is super funny. Sadly Monday we had to head home, although I was really ready to see my boys. Sarah did not want to come home, so I know she had a great time. Next year we will be taking Adam, which may have a totally different flow to it. Who knows, we may get kicked out of the hotel with that one :) (the above pictures are from our day downtown)

Here is Sarah enjoying our deck.

Treasured Moments

2008-11-15T14:39:00.001-08:00

The last week has had some unexpected and nice moments of peace and some really fun times too. Here are a few pictures from the last week in the Kivett household.

Here is Adam all ready for his first Birthday party where he was the Kivett kid invited. He was so excited, that he carried his invite around for 2 days, sleeping with it and everything. The theme was Wall-E and so we went and got him a sweatshirt to wear to the party, here he is sporting it.

Everybody's Kung Fu Fighting!!! The extra's on DVD's can be so fun. Here the kids are learning some kung fu Panda moves. They also enjoyed the "learn to draw" section of the DVD. We killed probably 2 hours going through the extras, really fun.

Here is my amazing husband enjoying his time in front of his Jazz Band. He is so cute and I am so proud of him. He had a really fun swing dance fundraiser last weekend. They give lessons for 30 minutes prior, then the schools jazz groups perform. Last they have a local jazz band play for 60 - 90 minutes so everyone can dance. Really fun.
Kyle's brother-in-law delivers fire trucks. Last Monday our doorbell rang and I thought one of the kids must have called 911 because there was a fire truck parked in our street. It was Chris and he swept Alex out of bed and took him for a spin around the block. Alex LOVED it!!! Chris even honked the horn for him. What a way cool uncle.
Here is Alex holding our dear friends, the Griffith's, baby. Brian was our best man so it is so fun still being a part of each other's lives. The baby is beautiful and Alex loved holding him, he keeps saying he wants a new baby brother. Sorry to let you down bud, but it isn't gonna happen.
Sarah with her current stuffed love. She goes everywhere with this baby Simba from Disneyland. To bad the puppy also really likes it and keeps trying to steal it.
Alex thinks he's a rocker, but really he is just telling me how much he loves me. I think I won't fix that, I'll take an I Love You however I can get it. Although he actually hands those out pretty freely.
Last here is my cute baby, and he is growing up way to fast. I just really liked this picture, he has the camera strap around his neck and was thinking I was silly for taking his picture. But who could resist such a cute subject!

Take Time To Enjoy

2008-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

My life has been crazy busy, always is this time of year. But yesterday Kyle was gone all day for a concert at work and I decided I was going to take time to enjoy. I was going to enjoy my sleep, enjoy my kids, enjoy my house, enjoy my projects, enjoy all that God has given me. I think that my favorite part of the day came as I put all the kids in their baths. They are all so different in what they like. Alex wanted a bath alone, no toys, with his music. He wanted to "relax". How many 7 year old boys want to relax in the bath. He laid back, closed his eyes and enjoyed the peace of it. Sarah was all about practicing her swimming technique, luckily our bath is just big enough for her to feel like she can do some of that. She also just LOVES feeling how long and flowing her hair is under water. She will lay for several minutes just feeling her hair. Adam wants to be in my shower and clean, clean, clean. He loves a wash cloth so he can wash down all the walls several times. They are funny to me, and precious and when I stop and really look at them they are very easy to enjoy. Now, I need to go find joy in my laundry.

So Much Candy!

2008-11-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Halloween was a blast this year. My kids looked amazing, but I know I'm biased. Sarah was Belle, and so beautiful. Adam was Peter Pan - really isn't he a true Peter Pan personality. I thought it was the perfect pick. Alex was Jack Sparrow, black eyes and everything. We started the night off at Emily's for a neighborhood chili feed. The chili was yum, and I really enjoyed my chili dog. We had some great carmel corn and deviled eggs to go along with it. There were several families from our neighborhood and quite a gang of kids in their costumes. It was really fun, and felt very festive. We started trick or treating at 6:00 and I was amazed at the turn out. We had people bussing in to our neighborhood and Cambridge. CRAZY. I handed out 150 or more, pieces of candy. It felt like and small town in days gone by. Large groups running around, houses decorated, tons of families out. It was really fun. Sarah of course, fell on the second house. This was a bummer because it took forever for her to truly recover and start moving at a pace that was less like a snail. Adam got tired on about the 6th house so needed carried. At one point I was carrying Adam on my hip and holding Sarah's dress up so that she wouldn't trip. Why she couldn't hold her dress up is a mystery, but it just became "too much!" Alex was well ahead of us with his current crush Sarah. It was funny because Alex was with big Sarah and Adam was with his little tiny Alex and then Sarah went outside the family names by hanging with Becca.
Adam pooped out about half way through and stayed back at our house with Grandma, who was kindly passing out candy. The other two were out for an hour and a half. I was amazed, I guess the need for sugar will really drive kids to achieve. The saddest part of the night was the lack of their father. Kyle had to work and so missed all the fun. Bummer. I hope everyone had such a great night, enjoy some of our pictures, the top pumpkin pic is what Kyle did with the kids a few nights. Sarah's is the happy one, Alex is the scary one and Adam's is the silly one. If you can't tell Adam's is standing on his head :)

Ode to Fall

2008-10-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

I love fall. I love the activities, the smells, the colors and watching my kids enjoy a beautiful day like yesterday. I love a warm Oregon fall day. They can be rare which adds to their beauty and enjoyment. This year we are extra blessed in our new house. We have a really gorgeous view off of our deck. I have loved watching the colors change, even though raking is a pain, I love a yard covered in fallen leaves. Sarah and Adam can go searching for leaves right in our backyard which is great for me, I can watch with a cup of coffee and never leave our family room. We didn't have a chance to go to the big pumpkin patch this year, but yesterday was so beautiful that we thought, even though we are super tired and want to nap, let's go find some pumpkins and take a drive. If you don't drive the outskirts of Salem often, you should. It's such a pretty place to live. We went out to a place we had heard of out South and it was closed. They have a hay tower that you can play in right on the road, and it's free, so we went ahead and played for a bit even though we couldn't get any pumpkins there. After we went to a local patch and picked out some pumpkins to carve. It was relaxing, and a chance to really look at God's creation. When we have such breath taking thinks to enjoy here on earth I can only imagine what heaven will be like! Enjoy a few pictures of our fall day.

Going for it - Thanks a lot Amanda!

2008-10-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

Alright, I have officially been motivated to blog about my desire to loose 20 pounds. I have been inspired by my very good friend Amanda, who did this and lost the weight. Well she only had to loose 10 pounds, and really she was already so skinny. I have decided to go in baby steps, I actually would love to loose 30 pounds but don't want to put a goal out there that is only going to discourage me. I feel that I need some encouragement along the way, I guess I have a hard time focusing and waiting until all 20 pounds is gone is just too long. So I am going to reward the hard work at 10 pounds, 15 pounds and then 20 pounds. Those rewards are yet to be determined with the help of my hubby. If I loose the 20, see already negative talk...WHEN I loose the 20 I will decide if I should loose the extra 10. I feel like Valerie Bertinelli, she started with 20 and then went for the extra 10. My hope would be to loose this weight in 12 weeks - we shall see. Wish me luck, I am very rebellious and feel that really if I would just choose to take care of myself like I know I should, this would be easy. Not to mention that I want to be a good healthy example for my kids. Exercise and good food here I come. As a side note, why do I have to love sugar so much? And with Halloween right around the corner. Deep sigh.

Little Friends

2008-10-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

I love watching my kids make new little friends. Yesterday I went with Sarah to the pumpkin patch with her class and got to watch her with her newest best friend Becca. Becca lives in the house right behind ours, and I am thrilled to learn she comes from a christian family. As I was watching them together I got visions of our possible future. They were giggly and silly and at one point they were even trying to leave one little girl out so that they could be alone. This of course provided a chance for me to talk to Sarah about loving everyone, but it was really sad to me that they are already falling into those girl patterns of drama. Kyle said that one day they may have a zip line connecting Becca's backyard to ours, or maybe one of those can phone lines. I'm not sure about that, but I do know that right now they are madly in love with each other and want to spend every waking moment together. Watching them yesterday and over the last few weeks has revived my desire to pray faithfully for my kids.

Pray that they make good choices in school friends, that they put Christ first living out His plans for them rather then pushing for their own earthly desires. It's hard to let the grip of my kids go a little bit as they enter into the world of school, but I know God will protect them, that He is in control and that they are not mine to hold tight to.

1st graders are odd.

2008-10-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have the pleasure of volunteering in Alex's classroom this year. I am really enjoying being there, although I must admit 1st graders are little odd. I feel the whole time I am in the room that I am gambling with my health, as many of them appear to have rather dirty hands. They have an odd smell to them up close and they seem to always want to be "up close". Last time I was there I made the mistake of letting this one little guy tell me all about his dream from the night before. Well that did it, I was now officially his story telling victim. Every time I turned around he was there, asking if he could tell me a story or tell me about something really scary. It was hard not to roll my eyes, plus when I was trying to not look at him I could tell he was looking at me. It became this battle of wills between us, as I looked anywhere but at him and he looked only at me. After volunteering this week Alex had a melt down at home. I asked him what was wrong and he finally cried out,"my girlfriend is moving to another state". I was not aware he had a girlfriend, so I started to ask him who she was. But no sooner had I taken a breath to speak then he was throwing his hands up saying, "I guess i'll have to get a new one". I hope he will recover so easily from heart break when he is a teenager. Really, first grade is great. The kids are still sweet and fun and have a lot of little kid in there. But they are a little odd.

Valerie Hibler Photography

2008-10-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

You should notice a new web stop in my side bar. It's Valerie Hibler Photography. Please check it out. This girl is an amazing photographer and as a bonus one my very good friends. Check out her site and get those pictures taken. Really, having beautiful, meaningful pictures is something you will treasure forever. Check her out and smile!

My dog is wearing a sweater!

2008-10-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

I never thought we would own a dog that wears a sweater. I must say I use the word dog pretty loosely. So far I have been way more excited about poop and pee where the dog is concerned then with my own kid. Granted I can't put a diaper on the dog, well at least I don't think I can. She has the funniest bark, she can make herself sound like two dogs. She whines and barks at the same time, really entertaining for Kyle and I. She has survived the three year old, although he did launch himself down the stairs, jumping over pillows, while holding her this morning. She looked a little worried, but then she always looks a little worried, something about those eyes. Shopping for the sweater last night about pushed Kyle over the edge, although secretly I think he likes it. We tried to find one with skulls and guns on it, but instead ended up with an orange and black striped one, that Alex picked out and a heart design one that Sarah picked out. Sarah also picked a cute pink striped one for my moms dog. An exciting adventure, well exciting might be over stating it, more like a little sad and funny to be buying our dog a sweater. In our defense, it's because she's always cold, not because we like dressing our animals up.

Chiweenie

2008-10-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

The two kids holding my moms dog and our dog and our little Padme' with her chew toy.

Well we broke down and got a rat dog. Granted it's a pretty cute rat dog, but rat dog all the same. My mom called on Tuesday saying they had found a puppy that they wanted to get and they would like to buy Alex her sister. At first we said no, she's to fragile and will get hurt way to easy, but being weak, we gave in to Alex who really wanted her. I must say she is really cute and sweet and I am totally in love with her. I'm not so sure that Kyle has grown to love her as much as I have. What was really funny was that when we originally started talking about getting Alex a puppy he said OK but no dachshund and REALLY NO chiuaua. Well we came home with a Chiweenie, a mix of those two exact breeds. Its breed nick-name is the Mexican Hotdog! So far I have been very pleased with her training, although we have had a few accidents today. I think she's going to be a great addition to our family, and also the source of many great stories to come. She has already had a fit over seeing Kyle's reflection in our sliding glass door and her own reflection. I'm sure it is only going to get more interesting.

Sounds like a great blog entry.

2008-09-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a great blog entry. This is what Kyle said to me a few nights ago as I described my day to him, never a good thing. The day started with Adam sleeping in, I thought what a great thing for me. I was wrong. As I am walking out the door to take Sarah and Alex to the bus stop Adam wakes up, and he is GRUMPY! He does not want me to leave, and he does not want to come with me. I finally just have to go or we are going to miss the bus. I get all the way down the street and hear this kid screaming for his mommy, oh yes it's my kid. As a side note, Alex gets on the bus right in front of our house, with a little friend of his, Sarah gets on the bus at the end of our street with two of her little friends, why we have two stops so close together I'm not really sure. Anyway, Adam is screaming for me, which sends Alex into a panic so he is screaming for me to "come back, Adam needs you". I am starting to feel a little embarrassed that everyone around us is watching these two boys scream down the street at me, what I don't realize is that this is only the beginning. I leave Sarah, which she does not like, run back to the house and grab Adam. He has no coat, no socks, green snot is running down his face and it's very cold out. I feel like a really awesome mom right now. I get back to the stop as the bus is pulling up. I give Sarah a hug and she is very calmly walking on when her foot hits the first step of the bus.... something triggers PANIC! She starts screaming, really yelling and trowing a fit. I try to make her sit down, the bus driver tries to make her sit down - nothing is working. I get off the bus and turn around to see my daughter standing on the other side of the closed doors crying her eyes out and screaming her head off. Let me remind you there are lots of parents watching. The bus driver has to open the door, as Sarah won't sit down. The bus drives off to the next stop as I am telling her that she can't go to school today because she didn't ride the bus. WOW, that really sent her into a fit and the next thing I know she is running down the street chasing the bus, which of course she does not catch (this was really sad and a bit pathetic to watch). By the time I get home she is standing at our van, begging me to take her to school. I make her promise she will never do that again, which she does, and off we go. By the way, Adam is still not dressed and his nose is still not wiped. Well I am very glad I took her to school, because when I get there I find out Alex is frantic, he thinks he lost his sister. He didn't know she didn't get on the bus and unknown to me he had been walking her to class every day after they got off the bus, how sweet is that. He had gone to her class and he and her teacher were searching everywhere for her. I then had to explain the whole event to her teacher and I also had to explain why my crazy kids get on the bus in two different places. UGHHHH. I realize that I have not showered, I'm in my sweats and my three year old looks like I don't care for him at all, bare feet and all - a real white trash moment! I see Alex standing behind me with huge eyes, so worried about Sarah, so that almost made the morning worth it, almost. Needless to say we now get on the bus at the same stop and Sarah has not cried again about getting on the bus. I have survived another adventure in parenting.

Thank you, thank you very much.

2008-09-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

These are the words that I hear floating down the stairs right now. Apparently Sarah has won a music award of some kind and is making a grand speech to her fans. Sarah , Alex and Adam are all in a band, rocking out. The boys are on guitar and Sarah, of course, is the lead singer. It's really very precious to watch them, and of course it makes their musical parents proud. Beyond these wonderful talents that they are working on, currently Adam is also trying his best to best the toilet. Yesterday was a sad day as the toilet bested him. He tried a couple of times to go and just couldn't make it happen, then at Burger King he had the blow out. Poop from neck, I'm not kidding, to feet, again not kidding. Poor kid, poor mom, poor people at Burger King eating lunch. Today he was defeated before he even started as he has now developed a hate of the toilet and wants his diapers back. I really don't blame him, poop everywhere just is not fun for anyone. I'm sure the day that he wins the battle over the toilet I will blog a novel, as I will be so excited. But for now we'll just keep working on it. Although public outings may need to be a thing of the past for a while. I have just received an invitation to watch the band play a gig in our bonus room, cool. (the picture is an old one of the band in the early days)

No longer in her 20's

2008-09-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today was one of my best girlfriends 30th birthday. Erin is a spunky, sweet, lovable red head that loves the Lord and spurs me on to be a better christian gal. I know that she prays for me, my kids and my family. When Connie asked me to help her plan Erin's 30th bash I was honored to do so, and loved every minute of it. Last night about 30 of Erin's great friends came, dressed up, to Emily's house for a big surprise. Erin had no idea what we were planning and was shocked when we were all waiting behind that door. I must say her husband totally impressed me with his ability to be tricky, good job Rich. We had a great time chatting all night, eating yummy food, and watching the fun video that I made of her life so far.

An extra fun treat was that today our accountability group surprised her by kidnapping her to Portland. We met like normal and had our prayer time, then said "o.k. let's go". I think she was really happy that her actual birthday had something fun on it too. She's a great gal, one of my best friends, and I wish her a truly happy birthday. Now she gets to start feeling old, aches and pains hit faster then you ever think they will. Boo.

Breakfast at Mother's Bistro

The gang at Cupcake Jones

Erin's Birthday Cupcake

She did it!

2008-09-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well Sarah is officially a kindergarden princess now. She had her assessment day on Monday, which went fairly well. She was scared when I left, but mostly calm. I picked her up as well as dropped her off. She was holding her teachers hand as she walked out to the car, looking a bit unsure but she said she had a good time.

Yesterday was the dreaded first day of school. She kept asking me if there were going to be a lot of people (assessment day is just a few kids). I couldn't really set her mind at ease because I knew it would feel like a million people to her. Especially because parents tend to hang out and watch their kids. They don't realize the added stress this is on a little girl like Sarah. Anyway, she cried, A LOT. Hard, full on sobbing, terrified tears. I leaned down and prayed with her, telling her Jesus would be right here the whole time even if mommy wasn't. This did not provide the comfort I was hoping for. I finally had to hand her off to the teachers aid and grab Adam, who was not being super helpful of course, and run. I was really close to crying, but held it together. Another parent that I know stayed a little longer and when she came out she said Sarah was already fine. I knew she would be, she just likes to make it hard.

So today was going to be the big first time on the bus day. She's really excited and I'm excited to watch her and take all these great pictures. Of course Adam wakes up throwing up. This makes everything a little more interesting, but I think maybe he'll be fine long enough to get the kids on the bus. Just as we are walking out the door he pukes, milk bleh, all over himself and the floor. Like a trooper though he stood in one spot (puke still on him and the floor) while I ran the kids down to the bus stop. I snapped a fast picture of her in line and handed her off to my friend Emily. Thanks Emily for being late to all your stuff so Sarah had someone to wait with. I was blessed by my mom who came and sat with Adam while I waited for her to get home, so at least I have a picture of her getting off the bus. She was all smiles and had sat with a sweet little girl from our neighborhood all the way home. After all that I am still in shock that my little girl is in school every day. She seems very tall, very capable and very mature all of the sudden.

Waiting at the bus stop, and being picked up.

Sarah is having a girl!

2008-09-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today my wonderful, great, amazing friends Kari and Valerie came over and we threw our other wonderful, great, amazing friend Sarah a shower. This was to celebrate the sweet little girl Ellie she is expecting. We had a great turnout which was wonderful for Sarah and I must say we had some pretty great food and a lot of laughing took place. It was an all chocolate themed party, because the color chocolate just goes great with pink. That, and we really LOVE chocolate,

well us throwing the shower do anyway. It was a wonderful mix of people and I was so glad to get to meet all these different parts of Sarah's life. She has become a very dear friend to me and I am very grateful to God for placing her in my life. Sarah is very encouraging and a real genuine person, which can be hard to find. So the theme of the shower was brown and pink and we went all out in sticking to it. I was really excited because I got a great deal on beautiful flowers at the South Salem Farmer's Market. The flower lady made two huge flower arrangements for me and she allowed me to special order them, in all pink, to pick up on Sunday morning. A great discovery, as I found that was much cheaper then going to a florist. I made these cute vases with brown ribbon around them and then in pink glitter put the babies initials on them. We also made candle votives that we filled with coffee, put pink ribbon around, and then put the babies initials on too.

We made brownies, and cherry chocolate cream in edible white chocolate cups. Mint cream filling, which we tinted pink, in dark chocolate cones, chocolate covered strawberries with an E on each of

them to stand for "Ellie". We had a chocolate fountain with some yummy treats to dip and then to top it all off the most amazing punch

ever. Kari found a recipe for chocolate egg cream punch. It has no eggs in it so don't fret. It was a carton of vanilla ice cream, almost a gallon of chocolate milk, the real stuff that you buy at the store, and then about 1 liter of club soda. It sat for about 20 minutes before serving. It was like a chocolate milkshake punch. SOOOOO good.

We then played the craziest, most fun game. To honor Sarah's musical side we split everyone into 5 groups, gave them song

titles and song styles and asked them to write a song, and perform it, for Sarah. The song titles were based on the new babies initials, EMP. We had things like Every Mother's Prayer, Every Moments Precious and Ellie's Mighty Pipes. The groups did an outstanding job! It really could have flopped except that they actually worked really hard to make it fun, some had choreography and some had a little drama to go along with it.

The winning group did a rap song, beat box and all. They were hilarious. It was a really fun day, because the guests were so fun, and it couldn't have been for a better girl, or planned with better friends. I love all those girls and I can't wait to see them again.

Inserted is pictures of the food and decor and a couple of the song groups. The last picture is of Sam and Sarah, they are sweet friends. I hope that as they grow older we will see them planning showers for each other and being blessed by their friendship in the way I am with these gals.

Seriously, First Grade!

2008-09-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can not believe I have a first grader! I have truly been dreading this day. I can't believe that I see Alex only a few hours every night, we will be the weird family where the mom is begging the kid to take a sick day. I must show him the art of faking a fever, I guess. For those reading this that know about Alex's first day last year, this is not going to compare. (Our cat followed us to school, it is something I will never forget. We were quite a sight with me holding this crazy cat that was freaked out by the time we got there. Long story short it was hilarious. I still owe Angie big time for holding the cat while I walked Alex in, I found out later she is very allergic.) Because of the adventures getting to school last year I had no time to be sad about what a big boy I had, so I am making up for it this year.

Today actually went pretty well. Just some teary eyes as I walked back out to the car. Last night however I wondered around two different stores completely sad with tears in my eyes, ready to really sob at any moment, searching for school supplies. Future note, don't wait until the night before school starts. We still don't have the erasers he was supposed to have, oh well. What's really sweet is that last week my mom asked Alex if he was excited. He said no because he knew I was going to be really sad with him gone, he said he knew I might even cry. What will I do the day he actually wants to go to college or, gasp, get married!

Well off he is, on one of many life adventures. He had been telling me all summer that he was not excited, but he was up and dressed before I was ready and he had his backpack on before he even ate breakfast. He watched excitedly as I packed his lunch and complained that I took way to long getting Sarah dressed so we could leave. I would say he was excited. Then the best, he got to sit right next to one of his very best friends, Will. His teacher seems really nice and being the independent that he is, he opted to ride the bus home today.

I am only about 45 minutes away from getting to greet him with a yummy snack and way more hugs and kisses then he will want to deal with.

Now I just have to get through watching Sarah go to school next week. It won't be pretty.

A day at the zoo

2008-09-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a very fun day at the zoo over our holiday weekend. Sadly the rest was mostly spent working in the yard, and my hands are swollen and sore today because of it. I think I'm getting old. Anyway, the zoo was loads of fun. All of the animals were close up and easy to see. Some of the first animals we saw were eagles. The kids thought those were awesome. At one point they were all flapping their arms and flying around the place. It was really funny to see Alex because he was fully in character and had this very serious expression on his face, trying to be very eagle-like in mood as well. I guess the eagles looked very serious and grumpy to him.

Adam loved every single animal but was most excited to see the giraffes. He was also really happy because we brought a stroller for him, something we rarely do. He was rather possessive of it actually, no one else was even allowed to look at it.

Sarah was more interested in the creepy animals then I would have thought. Actually rather brave for her, she is easily worried and scared, so I was happy with this desire to see everything right up close. But when we got to the insect zoo the kids were calmly looking at the cage of HUGE cockroaches when I notice that one of the helpers is standing next to Sarah with one in his hand. I know if I say anything and she turns her head she will freak out, so out of the corner of my mouth I whisper to Kyle, grab Sarah before she..... She of course turns and freaks out. Mostly just a lot of tears which was followed by a fear of all things for about 10 minutes. But I have to say in her defense when she turned she was basically face to face with the thing. The boys being boys, basically snuggled with the thing. Gross! Overall a great day.

Enjoy a few pictures from our fun day.

Here are the kids doing their best eagle, in an eagle's nest.

Here they are looking at the elephants, we were wishing we could have seen the new baby.

I hope this is not a vision of Alex's driving in the future!

They have a new creepy polar bear mascot walking around. Just not the same when you were recently at Disneyland, but the kids wanted to hug him all the same.

Bye-Bye Summer

2008-08-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well I can hardly believe that summer is coming to an end. Kyle went back to work on Tuesday. Much to his surprise when he got there his room had no carpet, shelving, fixtures and on and on. I guess there was also a large whole in one of the walls. They are in the middle of building him a new room but it won't be ready until spring and his current one had to be totally stripped due to mold etc. It has made starting the year interesting for him. I have had a few days now with just my kids. It's always odd getting back to routine. I have not been able to get my body out of bed like I should, I'm hoping that will come next week. During the summer Kyle and I live like college students. It's great, we stay up late and sleep in, but it makes getting going in the fall harder. Especially as I get older, I just don't bounce back like I did. I should count my blessings though, because our kids love moving their sleep schedule too. They are happy to stay up a little later and sleep until 9:00 or even 10:00. We adults try not to stay in bed that late however, but it's nice to know that we can. Now, however I have to switch their schedule too. Especially since Alex is starting all day school. He is going to be a big first grader, I can NOT believe it. I actually cry thinking about it. I have really enjoyed him this summer, he is so funny and super smart and I will miss having him with me. On the days he rides the bus he will not get home until 4:15. Kyle could actually get home before him some days! Sarah is also leaving me, to be a kinder! Poor Adam is going to be suffocated with love from me. Here are some pictures from one of our final summer flings. We went Putt-Putt with the kids, it was loads of fun.

My competitive nature did come out when I thought I might beat Kyle, but sadly we only tied. And we only tied because Kyle was kind and gave me a 2 on a hole that I really got a 4 on.

The top picture is of Sarah making shot. I love the boys expressions. Above are their ball choices, black for our serious 7 year old, blue for our sweet little Adam and then purple, of course, for the girl. I couldn't resist putting in the last picture, oh my she is pretty. Check out the 80's side pony in the ball picture. She came up with that all on her own, now she just needs some leg warmers and stretch pants.

So Much FUN!

2008-08-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

Well we are finally back from our wonderful trip to California. We had so much fun and came back with some really special memories. I will share a few here in my blog, probably more then anyone really cares to hear. But if you give me a chance I will gladly talk to you about it for hours. Excitement started right away as our first stop was in Cottage Grove at the local McDonald's where we met Kyle's dad for breakfast on our way out of town. The most amazing part of that experience was when I took Adams diaper off and he proceeded to urinate all over the floor, a lake could have been filled with this stuff. I was horribly embarrassed but what can you do. Of course it was right in front of the sink so every person that came in I had to warn not to wash their hands for fear of slipping in my kids pee. Awesome!

This did seem to trigger something wonderful though because at our next stop Adam used the toilet for the first time EVER! We were all totally shocked and my mom paid him $20.00. I tried to convince her to pay me money for using the bathroom but no go. Boo. Seriously though we were so excited we had to take his picture in front of the place where he first did the deed! Then to our amazement he went poo at the Taco Bell that we stopped at next. Amazing. We were so excited and hoping that meant we were done with diapers forever. Sadly he is still working on getting this under control but at least we have a bit of succes

s under our belts.

We split the drive up into two days so arrived in Anaheim on Sunday the 10th. The drive really went pretty well considering we had every seat in our van full and that my dad came really close to killing all of us after we got into the L.A. traffic. We were all happy to be there and out of the car, but amazingly not because the kids were driving us crazy.

On Sunday we went to California Adventure where we started with the Pixar Parade. This was about the best thing we could have done for Adam as he is totally into the Pixar characters, especially Lightning McQueen. (sp?) Well, who leads the parade, but the car hi

mself. Adam watched in amazement, hand over mouth, the whole time. He was so overwhelmed with seeing his special friends out there big as life, that he could not even hardly breath. It was precious. Alex and Sarah were so excited for him that they kept saying "Adam do you see who's coming, wow Adam look it's Nemo"....and so on and so on. So sweet. We hit a few rides and then the Electric Parade and called it a night. A great intro to the week ahead.

On Monday we headed to the real park, Disneyland itself. There we started with our standard ride, The Jungle Cruise. Adam loved it, but was a little concerned about some of those creatures. Sarah was very concerned when we got to the hippo's and our

guide took out a gun. I was surprised she didn't start crying, Adam jumped about a mile when the gun actually shot and made sound. After that Alex got to go on his soon to be favorite ride, Pirates. I think we rode that about 5 times over the week. The rest of that day was pretty standard, lots of fun. From here on I will just hit some of my favorite moments.

We attended the Minnie and Friends Character breakfast, I highly recommend this event.

We got so much great time with all the characters and found out that Adam had a major crush on Minnie. At one point he snuggled up right against her and whispered into her ear for about 5 minutes. She was so sweet to him and kept giggling and giving him kisses. At one point he was kissing the top of her nose. Sarah was terrified of Captain Hook and wouldn't even look at him, good girl. And Alex pulled Kyle aside and said that "he saw mesh in

Minnie's mouth so he was pretty sure these were all costumes, but don't tell Adam." I thought it was amazing that he didn't want to ruin that magic for him. The characters had so much time with us that they were playing with us. We'd be trying to get a picture with one character and another one would jump in front of the camera. Several of them also picked up our kids stuffed animals and posed for pictures with them. The kids got a kick out of that.

Another top moment was stumbling upon Wendy and Peter Pan, Pinnochio and Hook back in a little corner in Fantasy Land. Before we knew it we found ourselves involved in a wonderful game of charades with these guys. Alex got up and froze on wha

t to do, so Wendy stepped in to help him. It was so special to watch all these characters with my kids, reminded me of the old days at Disneyland.

I also loved watching my big 7 year old ride every single ride. He got off a few not totally sure he liked them. After California Screamin' I asked him what he thought and he said, "I don't know, it was pretty scary. I'm serious mom, it was really scary." He proceeded to turn around and ride it again 5 minutes later so I think he was o.k.

Sarah was of course the perfect princess. Well not perfect, since she

did cry a few times for unknown reasons with people I thought she would be so excited to see, like Ariel. That's a story in itself, but I won't bore anyone with it now. On the last day we put her in her Sleeping Beauty dress and headed to the Princess Fantasy Faire. She was of course shy of the actual people trying to lead the faire but when the crowd cleared out she became a different girl. In her mind she was at her very own ball and she twirled and danced and jumped across that floor so many times I lost count. She was loving it and I wanted to cry watching her it was so sweet. She also asserted her princess status by getting shoulder rides about any time she wanted them, especially from Grandpa.

We also had the great pleasure of going to the exact spot where Kyle proposed, Snow Whites wishing well right next to the castle. We had a family picture taken. It was great because when we got there Alex said, "hey I know where we are, this is where dad asked you to marry him." I couldn't believe he knew that, and people overheard him and started congratulating us. It was really fun and great to share that place with our sweet kiddos.

I think that overall the part I liked the best was watching my kids with the characters. Loving on them and hugging them and waving like crazy as they left to move on to the next adventure. Hearing them talk to them like they were old friends. Captain Jack Sparrow asked Alex and Adam what they did for a living and Adam told him he went to church.

The pirate wasn't quite sure what to do with that info. Alex about tripped over himself trying to get to Cinderella for an autograph, I guess he likes blondes. I couldn't get Sarah to dance for me at the faire, but when Sleeping Beauty herself came up to our ribbon circle and asked the girls to spin, you can bet she was spinning, eyes star struck.

Second best was watching them just become a part of what was around them. Adam found himself on the water front in New Orleans Square hunting pirates, Sarah couldn't help but sing and dance every time she heard a tune she liked, and Alex - even though he is sooooo old and sooooo mature - still couldn't help but whip out that pirate sword at any given moment to battle it out with his little brother.

We were so happy to get back home safe and sound, but I kid you not I could plan another trip right now. I wish that I could write every special and amazing moment in this blog, but I really wouldn't know where to stop. I hope you enjoy some of my favorite pictures from our super great Disney vacation. Ask me anytime and I will gladly share every detail with you :)

*Scroll down the sidebar to look at all the pictures, I have not been able to insert more then a few of them directly into text yet. We took well over 1000 pictures so it was amazing I got it down to the few you see here. I'm sad I can't put them all on here.

Did I forget anything? Of course I did!

2008-08-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

We are just 12 hours away from the big moment. Loading the car, and I really mean LOAD, and heading down I-5 to the happiest place on earth. We are praying for safe travels, that our family can grow closer, and that we can all stay happy in our van full with 7 people and all of their stuff. My mom and I have now gone through about 10 re-writes of our schedule - that we will probably ditch on the first day. But at least we feel prepared. Kyle has finally finished his homework, yeah, and so he is also getting excited. The kids are bouncing off the walls and I am looking around at all the stuff I still have to do. Yet somehow I don't care, maybe I'm a little excited too. You never imagine just how much stuff three kids alone can require for a 10 day trip. Way more then I think we needed when I was little. We have three DVD players, several ipods, food, survival bags, pillows and on and on. Not to mention that my fashion forward daughter needs three princess outfits and several options for daily clothing. It's CRAZY! When I get back I am sure I will blog a huge post about our trip, pictures and everything. I can't wait to share our fun. For everyone we are leaving to go about their daily lives, we will be sure to tell Mickey hello. Pray for us and we will see you all in a little over a week.

13 Truly Wonderful Years

2008-08-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today I get the pleasure of celebrating 13 years of marriage to my wonderful husband. We had the chance to go to breakfast, just the two of us, and have found that we can still hold a conversation. Although a lot more of what we talk about revolves around people 4 ft and under. I asked Kyle what the 5 top moments of our marriage are and he then asked me the same question. It was awesome to see how similar our favorite moments are, but how we each remember things a little differently. A lot of our favorites stem from trips we have taken, one being our recent cruise to Alaska. Of course we would put our kids at the very top of greatest moments, but what was really neat was seeing how much we love the people we are becoming because of the grace of God. Kyle said that when you are newly weds you think you never want it to be any different, you want things to stay just the way you are. Then you get to look back and realize what a miserable marriage that would have been. Thank you God for growing and stretching our marriage and developing it into what it is today. We truly look forward to looking back 13 years from now and seeing what God has done in us, and in our relationship, and praising Him.

So Many Birthdays

2008-08-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe how many birthday parties you go to after you start having kids. You never realize before you enter this great adventure of parenting that you will need to know not only your own kids greatest passion, but you must also understand 30 other kids greatest passions. After all you would hate to show up with a gift that is totally ridiculous. It's not so bad really, it's actually very fun watching all these munchkins grow up. I love looking at all my kids friends and guess which ones will have crushes and which ones might be life-long friends. The party tonight was at our very good friends house for their little girl Brynn. Brynn's mom and I have said that our two oldest kids should never date, it would surely end in heartache as they are both very headstrong. However, I suspect we may have very little to say in the matter. We just have to pray for all our little ones as they grow and get closer to the world of dating. Pray for large amounts of wisdom in lots of different areas. For now, I will happily go to a million birthday parties. If I still have to attend parties with my child then they are too young to date and that is just fine with me.

Disneyland Or Bust!

2008-08-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Last night my wonderful, sweet parents came over to plan our trip to Disneyland. We leave next weekend and I think we are all very excited. We talked for about 4 hours about what rides and shows and parades we want to do and when. Alex and Sarah have both been twice, but this will be little Adam's first time. What is so exciting to me is that he loves all the original characters thanks to the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. He can't wait to see Donald and Pluto and Goofy and especially Mickey himself. He is just 40 inches tall so I'm hoping that he will be brave enough to ride some of the bigger rides, but my mom is fairly sure he shouldn't. We'll see.... We have decided to do some of the meals where you see the characters, which I have never done. I'll try not to push my kids out of the way to get my picture with Winnie the Pooh, but I make no promises. My parents are joining us, as they have in some fashion every time we've gone, but this time we are all able to go together - which has never quite happened. I can't wait to see it all play out. I know it will be fun - I just can't wait to see which parts I hold as favorite child-raising moments.

Summer Fun

2008-07-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

Some of our summer fun is that our two older kiddos have been taking swimming lessons. I tell you - I never thought I would enjoy watching two kids in the pool so much. It has me thinking I might actually like watching anything they do, even the dreaded baseball. Today was their last swim class and tomorrow is family swim. We were very excited to see that both kids have moved up a level. Sarah went from level one to level two in about three days, yeah for her. Alex, however, is the biggest excitement. He needed to be able to float on his back and the poor kid didn't seem to have enough fat on his bones to make it happen. Kyle even took him to open swim and worked on it for several hours, sadly he couldn't do it. What was really odd was that his body could hold the line, but he was submerged just under the surface. Finally though, on Tuesday he managed to make that big step. We were very excited, as was he, to see him ring that bell and have the life gaurd announce his graduation out of level two. He smiled from ear to ear through the rest of his lesson and hasn't really stopped since. Good Job Alex, I love you!

Just Another Day

2008-07-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday we awoke to a sick little guy. It was 6:30 AM, which is highly unusual for our little munchkins, and out walks my 3 year old telling me he is poopy. Now this is a bummer on several levels - I'm really over changing poopy diapers and I fear he must be sick to be getting up so early because of poo. Then I smell it and I KNOW he must be sick. Sure enough the little guy has a fever and poops pretty much the whole day. I have to add that it is some of the smelliest stuff yet since becoming a mom. My husbands smells don't count.

Towards the evening he was slowing down and feeling better so we decided to venture out to look for shoes for the kids to wear in Disneyland and replace my daughters swimsuit, because the bottoms of her previous suit mysteriously disappeared. It's possible they are on her floor as clothes in her room seem to jump out of her drawers and closet to lounge around together on her floor. It was actually a fun time shopping, even my husband seemed to enjoy the adventure. Our daughter tried on about 50 pairs of shoes, so like her mother. We had already picked out two pairs for her when I see my husband sneaking a third pair into the cart for her. Oh she is a lucky girl.

It's amazing to me how we mommy's roll. We can go from changing smelly, disgusting, diapers to shoe shopping in a moments notice. You have to be prepared for anything!

Just the Beginning

2008-07-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well I have given in to something that I never thought I would do, a blog. I'm sure i'm not the first or the last person to feel like this is all a bit odd. I have a good friend that started a blog when she moved away and I checked it off and on. Then my husband got a facebook account and now I just have the blog bug. I'm not really sure what kinds of things I will be sharing on my blog but I know it will mostly be about my wonderful children and my amazing husband. I feel blessed to the max and guess I feel like sharing. My kids are growing up so fast and I already see my life getting ready to change as my oldest starts first grade next year. I'm hoping this will be a fun way to journal the high points of life with three crazy munchkins, and I suppose a few of the low points too.