The Olson Times

Saturday Mornings

2012-02-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

Aw!

I just love them.

I may not get up early to go to work everyday anymore, but there is still something so sweet about Saturday mornings. Probably because they're the only morning that we have together as a family so we generally all end up in our bed by sometime around 7:30 pretending that we are really sleeping through slobber, kicks to the face, giggling, "Dada, it's light outside. Time to wake up!", and eventually Dora on the ipad...

Yeah... we're pretty good at pretending.

This Saturday fell right in synch with many other Saturdays. When I was done pretending, I made sure the baby was fed and snuck off the bed and locked myself in the bathroom for almost an hour to clean it and then shower!

Yup, just me and pandora.

It's amazing the things moms look forward to...

Anybody else need me to come clean their bathroom? I'm requesting childcare in return.

Anyway, we had a delicious mid-morning brunch of fruit and quiche (one of my favorite breakfast meals... I'm not sure anything beats breakfast burritos...) and then Matt decided to take Madelyn outside to practice "pedaling".

That turned into watching mommy and daddy attempt to ride the scooter, which was probably equally entertaining.

Em chilled on the front step and laughed at all of us. He was probably devising a plan to attempt to ride it himself. He's working on his escape method from the exosaucer first though...

*All pictures of me riding the scooter were deleted as they were way too inappropriate.*

Madi insisted on bringing a "field journal" along for the ride too. AKA, her pink Bible...

Now I'm reveling in silence as both children nap AT THE SAME TIME!

Oops. Sorry for yelling.

Matt's at the gym already and we will be headed to watch another basketball game here shortly. Madi asked me at the lunch table, "Mama, how do we cheer?" (As if she hasn't been to dozens of basketball games already in her short life...)

We practiced things like, "Go Storm!" "Defense!" and "Go Meshmeketa (Chemeketa)!"

Happy Saturday!!! =)

Life...

2012-02-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

First of all, I totally forgot how painful it is to watch a five month old attempt to use their tongue...

He thinks it's funny to blow bubbles on his spoon and drool food all over the place.

I don't.

My obsessive compulsive, mess hating tendencies come out awfully strong when I can't control situations.

I'm learning to relax though.

And I still think he's AWESOME! ;)

In other news around the house, this little girl knows just how cute she is...

As is evidenced by the hands-on-hips pose.

Wearing other people's shoes is a big hit around here. These boots are Droiy's and she was in heaven! I think a rodeo is in order for this summer! =)

Ah.

They're growing up too fast!

Life is flying by and we're trying hard to enjoy it. Basketball season is coming to an end (que Hallelujah chorus)... I mean... it's about to enter the "off season", but not before hopefully taking home the NWACC title. Chemeketa is tied for first in league and they have another five games left to play.

I started subbing a few days a month in January and thus far it has worked out perfect! I don't mind only working 3 full days a month... we have to make a decision as to whether or no I'll be resuming my position in the fall by March. If you think about it, we would appreciate your prayers!

And alas, Matt's neurosurgeon called last week and reassured us that they are pretty positive that the mass found in his pelvis is an "abnormal muscle growth" most likely due to trauma to this area and/or the way that he walks now. They would like to keep an eye on it by taking more scans of it in a couple months (MRI - surprise, surprise!). We were SO happy to hear this and although it doesn't completely solve any problems it does allow us to rest a little easier. It is definitely a reminder of how this new "lifestyle" enveloped by the medical arena is not over, but rather a way of life.

I truly believe that our God has the ability and power to heal Matt completely, but I don't know if that is His plan or not. Time will tell. I do know that whatever happens we have the comfort of leaning on Jesus to carry us through our days. Some are full of laughs and smiles, others are less "comfortable", but each day is a new day.

I am constantly in awe of the way Matt has chosen to live his life. He has so many things he could complain about everyday, but most of the time he chooses to put a smile on his face. He chooses to crawl down on the floor with his kids and play with them even though his leg is throbbing or his back is on fire. He chooses to help with the dishes after being on his feet all day instead of resting in the recliner. He chooses to say no every time the doctor offers some other sort of "pain reliever" or "sleeping pill" because they truly wouldn't fix anything, just mask it. I have no idea what's like to be in chronic pain, and for that I'm thankful! I'm also thankful that we are promised new bodies when we finally land in eternity. Life can seem so tough sometimes, but the reality is... it IS short.

My prayer is for healing, God's miraculous healing, but until then we'll thank Him for each day and enjoy it to the fullest! May our fellowship with Jesus and the light of His presence forever be enough to sustain us each day!

On A Whim

2012-02-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

Matt had an away game today and he had to leave at 8:45. We had nothing on our long. open. agenda. other than getting some groceries at Costco.

So...

I packed up the jeep with lots more stuff than we really needed to go to Costco and started driving.

Final destination?

The Beach.

It was sunny.

It was warm.

There was hardly a breeze.

And it was gorgeous!

Madi ran and ran and ran and then she ran some more. She couldn't handle how fun it was!

Her toes were in the sand.

Her hair was blowing in the wind.

She was in heaven!

A kind stranger took a group photo for us. =)

Em discovered sand for the first time; and despite my lousy efforts to prevent it, he even got some in his mouth. I'm sure it won't be the last time...

It was relaxing and we didn't want to leave. But alas, we turned around and ran back in the direction we came from.

We practiced saying, "Thank you, Jesus for the sunshine. Thank you, Jesus for the beach. Thank you, Jesus for the ocean."

For a concrete-sequential person, this was WAY outside of the box, but it was awfully fun!

I think someone has rubbed off on me just a little bit...

A New Day...

2012-01-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

The sun is shining.

The air is fresh.

It's a new day!!!

Yesterday started off rough, but got a little easier as it progressed. Matt stayed home and snuggled his babies after he heard back from the doctor and then he took Madelyn to the pool... which she LOVED. I went along and brought my camera... withOUT the SD card.

Cool, huh?!?

Well, I took a lot of pictures on my phone, but non are too blog worthy. They pretty much just got sent to Aunt Caca. Matt's doctor appointment produced no new information and then we ended the day with a bite to eat just the two of us! Thanks, Nana!!!

Today Matt headed off to a basketball game in Coos Bay bright and early and we had to come up with something fun to do!

So... the park it was!

Here's to the best big sister around,

and the sweetest little brother in town!

(Yes, I made that up all by myself! ;)

He smiles.

I swear.

I'm just not quite talented enough to snap the picture at the perfect time!

Thanks for your prayers. They most definitely helped!

I forgot...

2012-01-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

I forgot how many questions I have.

I forgot how painful not knowing feels.

I forgot how horrible it is to listen to him cry.

I forgot how therapeutic it is to hold my babies.

I forgot what tear-stained cheeks feel like.

I forgot how freeing going for a long run sounds.

I forgot how much we have to be thankful for.

I forgot how much pain he's already been through.

I forgot how long the road ahead seems.

I am forgetting the He is in control.

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety upon Him for He cares for you.

Matt's MRI results came back today and the doctor called to let him know they found another mass in his pelvis. That's all we know.

Thanks for your prayers!

Rain Days...

2012-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

Some people get snow days.

But not us.

We just get RAIN days.

My cousins were posting about all of the snow they were getting on FB in Central Washington and I was a little jealous. They even got a day off of school to stay home and play in it.

We just got puddles. And BIG ones, might I add!

We did get a couple days of having "Daddy" home and for that I'm grateful, but seriously... snow is SO much more fun!

On thursday school was cancelled due to flooding. So after I made oatmeal cookies for breakfast and contemplated drinking a hard cider at 7:30 in the morning (I ended up sticking with milk), we packed the kids up and headed out to survey the rivers. My pictures are pretty BLAH and my lens was full of raindrops, but it's still fairly amusing that this much water could actually fall as quickly as it did. So for all of you Central Washingtonians who whine and complain when you have three days of rain in a row, it's time to suck it up and go build another snowman, cause you could be stuck with this:

The Santiam River.

This is a walking path that we take all the time with Winston. The Santiam is probably 50 yards or so to the right (usually) and that "river" that you see is a gravel road that runs parallel with the river. Craziness!

This is a shot of the river from under the bridge.

Here's a little house in Stayton that sits right next to the Stayton Water Supply stream/creek/river... I'm not really sure what it's called. I just know it's a branch off of the river that is used for power... or something like that...

A neighborhood in the "swamp". Obviously it comes by its nickname fairly honestly. I think most of these houses ended up being okay with the help of sandbags, but the amount of water was INSANE!!!

"Lake Stayton"

This picture was taken from the top of the hill by the stoplight/dentist office looking down. That's normally a cow pasture.

Honestly, there were so many more pictures that could have been taken. Golf Club Road was completely closed because Mill Creek pretty much overtook everything, including the whole road and a few houses. Highway 22 was closed because it was completely covered. You really had to be here to understand how much water there was. Thankfully it stopped raining for a few hours and it literally made a HUGE difference!

Madi would say things like, "Look Mama, there's the earth," when she would see dry ground. It was rather amusing. and true.

So after our gawking we drove over to my parents' and helped my mom pump water out from under her house. I knew our month of dry weather was too good to be true.

Is it July yet?

Brandon James

2012-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Brandon James Padilla was welcomed into this world on Monday afternoon at 1:11 p.m. He was a perfect 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and 21 inches long. He couldn't be loved more!

We had the chance to sneak up and meet him on Monday night and he is oh. so. cute!!! As you can see, he has very kissable cheeks. Unfortunately, I had to hold off for a while as a cold has gotten the best of me...

Sad Auntie...

To make up for it, Uncle Matt and Uncle Neal shared some love.

Matt and Neal are both baby lovers,

um, that doesn't sound good.

Let me try that again...

Uncle Matt and Uncle Neal love snuggling sweet little babies...

Um,

You get the idea...

It's genuine. I swear. and pure.

Anyway...

Madelyn, is sort of a baby connoisseur as well, so holding her new cousin came quite naturally!

She loves him.

The next morning she was playing with something and she told me she had two babies, Baby Brandon and some other random name. She said, "Baby Brandon like Aunt Whitney's baby."

She's so sweet.

And sometimes it's unbelievable to think that she was a tiny newborn once...

*tear*

Congratulations Mike and Whitney! You have a beautiful new addition to your little family. We love him sooo much already!

And someday your sweet little baby will be 2 and a half and having conversations with you!

So take that!

;)

Winter Wonderland...

2012-01-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Along with most of the Willamette Valley, we were all holding our breath in Stayton on Saturday night with hopes that we might wake up to a winter wonderland. Although it wasn't exactly "knee deep", we did watch beautiful flakes fall all morning which inspired the best idea of the weekend...

SLEDDING!!!

So, we spread the word after church, headed home to dig out the mittens and snow pants and caravanned up into the mountains until we found

the. perfect. spot.

The Dukes, minus Isaac... oops!

Madi and James are 3 weeks apart and we always joke that they will get themselves into way too much trouble together... I asked them to look at me and smile when they were standing next to me and it turned into Madi form tackling James.

It's okay, he's a Duke, he can handle it.

And as for Madi, I have no idea where she gets it...

As adorable as all the kids were, I'm pretty sure the best part was watching these two shovel snow into their faces for two and a half hours straight. Pure heaven. At one point James found a shelf that was level with his head and had about 5 inches of fresh powder on it. He stood there forever just scooping it in. At that same point, Madelyn found a hill she was parallel with and leaned in until she was face first in the hill happily eating snow... the camera was put away at this point!

Adrie and Droiy were sledding maniacs. As Shannon put it, Adrie's true personality was revealed in the snow. =)

Em was quite the trooper. I fed him when we got to our spot and then put him in the front pack where he resided the rest of the afternoon. He fell asleep at some point and then woke up during one of his sled rides. Such a chill little boy... (When I noticed his ears were sticking out, I DID tuck them back in!!!)

Issac, Adrie, and James

Em, on his first sled ride. Madi was a pro by this point! And evidently, I was a little nervous to head down the big hill.

As usual, I failed at getting a group shot or family pics. I also just noticed that Ben isn't in any of these pictures... =(

I SWEAR he was there! In fact, it was his grand idea to head up the mountain with the kids. Oh well. We promised to get up the mountain at least one more time this year so that Sarah can come too... she was stuck at home working on her dissertation. Sad day. =(

So, when the sun began to slip behind the mountains, we pushed everyone down the hill one last time and herded the children to the cars. Our child won the award for the largest fit thrown as we attempted to pull off her soaking hat and gloves and defrost her fingers, but I suppose it's inevitable when you force them to play through their whole nap time.

We ended the evening at our house making homemade pizzas and sitting around the table chatting while the sleep deprived children found every toy in the house. When 10:00 rolled around and we still didn't have any emotional breakdowns we decided it was time to stop pushing our luck and quit while we were ahead. Also Isaac, being the responsible child that he is, asked his mom if he had school the next morning at about 9:00. He was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a holiday. ;)

I love three day weekends.

And I love snow!

Top 16...

2012-01-11T22:33:00.000-08:00

Whew. Fair warning: this one might take you a few days toread…

I have been inspired by other friends’ blogs to review thelast year of the blog. Onlyinstead of highlighting the things I’ve already shared, I’m going to recap thetop 12 16 things that didn’t make the blog… for whatever reason that may havebeen! Probably mostly due to mylaziness, or business, or grrr… something like that!

(Also, these are not in order of most important, but ratherJanuary – December…)

16. Our wonderful Wednesdays with Max and Mimi. Last school year I watched two sweetlittle boys, Max and Mason (or MiMi as Madelyn called him) on Wednesdayafternoons. We had lots of funadventures… especially once the sun started coming out again!

15. SNOW DAYS!!! Just like any true child…any true teacherrejoices when they see snowflakes in the 10-day forecast (at least if you livehere in the Willamette Valley). And naturally, you tell yourself not to hold your breath because itrarely actually happens, so you don’twant to get your hopes up! Well,we were so fortunate to have a couple of these wonderful days in January! We rejoiced. Played until we werefreezing. Came inside and baked cookies. Napped. And then rejoiced somemore!!! I know, everyone with “realjobs” is jealous. Don’t hate. We really are wonderful people! ;)

14. Our family trip to Bend during Christmas break! For some reason it seems so weird(already) to look back at pictures of our family when it was just the three ofus! We stopped on the way over thepass and Matt fished the Metolius for the first time since his surgery. It was COLD, but beautiful, asusual! The Metolius is one of afew places that Matt refers to as “God’s Country”. He taught me how to fly fish on that river and asked me tobe his wife at the head of the river where water magically appears from theground. Fun memories… I hope wehave many more days together as a family on that beautiful river.

13. Another trip to Seattle… In April Matt had another checkup (we were still going up there every 3 months at that point) and we decidedto make a weekend out of it and stay in a HOTEL! Big deal, I know. Us Olsons usually just pitch tents. Nope, not this time! We got a smokin’ deal on a place downtown and spent two days as a littlefamily. We took Madi to theSeattle Aquarium, ate at a fancy restaurant and swam in the pool hotel! Lived. It. Up. ;)

12. EASTER!!! We did an early Easter egg hunt at my parents’house the night before Easter, which turned out to be genius as it rained onEaster… again. It’s amazing how different holidays are from year to year whenkids are this little! Madelyn was totally into the egg hunting… I can onlyimagine what next year will be like!

11. Eagle Crest! We were lucky enough to take a small Konolsonrad family vacation again this year! Yup, you read that right – Konolsonrad. Konrad + Olson = Konolsonrad and it’s deadly!!! This was our fourth official Konolsonrad Family Vacay. We’ve tonedit down since the kids have arrived. We didn’t head to Vegas, or San Diego, just over the mountains to EagleCrest where we went to bed early, attempted to sleep in with toddlers, went forlong walks, and drank coffee. Yeah,we’re that crazy! ;)

(Watch the leg, Kade!)

There's NO way we could take this boy to Vegas. I mean seriously, imagine all the chics we'd have to ward off! ;)

(I'm sort of in love with this picture of Madi! How did it not make it on here until today?!? She's not competitive or determined... no way! ;)

(Mads and Kade are 8 months apart and their new baby brothers are 4 weeks apart. ;)

10. Camping with the Moodys! I posted about Madelyn’s first fishing trip, but never gotaround to finishing up our weekend. We happened to choose the most beautiful weekend EVER to go camping andwe were a little worried because it was so early in the year (June). I learnedthis summer that Ramie and I are a couple of the only few crazy women that camp8 months pregnant! Who knew?!? Regardless, we had a great time! And honestly, Ithink I’d rather camp pregnant again vs. take a toddler and a busy ten monthold camping next summer… hmmm.

Madelyn's baby brother and Judson's baby sister are only 2 1/2 weeks apart! =)

(Tickling each other! ;)

Cleaning something off his face! (I don't know where she gets that?!?! ;)

9. Zoo – At the very end of July Madelyn and I made one lasttrip to the zoo before baby brudder was born. The Moodys have a zoo membership and they were so kind tobring us along as their guests! Weloved it! It turned out to be the perfect day for a picnic at the zoo too! (Again,so weird to look back and only have onekid!!!)

Madelyn and Judson are good buddies (5 months apart) We even had someone ask if they were twins!

8. Our 8^th Anniversary! I was, well, long overdue on our Anniversary and it turns out I went into labor exactly one week later! Go figure! At least we don't have to share our anniversary with Em. Or should I say, at least he doesn't have to share his birthday with us!?! We went to a cute little restaurant in Silverton that overlooks a creek an reminisced about the last eight years... life is soooo different. =)

Can you believe I married this crazy guy?!?! ;)

7. Seattle… again! Sensing a theme? =) This was our first trip up as afamily with Emmitt AND we got to stay with my sister. (tear) SheLOVED having us and even gave us her wonderful bed while we were there. She slept on the couch with Madi andhad a little playdate with her during Matt’s doctor’s appointment. We had such a wonderfully relaxing time. I remember Matt saying that it was the least stressed he hadever felt on a trip up there! (She had cable and he got to watch college gameday, just sayin’…) We walked down the street to a cute spot and she took somefamily pics for us! I’m a little too critical of myself to appreciate them asmuch as I should, but it was fun!

(Touchdown, not a cartwheel!)

6. Lambert Family Pics! What a fun afternoon! Jess Harveytook some awesome pics of our family! We usually just plan a time once a yearand take some candid pics of the family, but with the chaos of our ever-growingclan we decided to splurge and have a professional do the hard work! Totallyworth it, BTW!!!

(There are tons more. I just picked a few faves!)

Mom, Dad and the sibs! Love 'em!!!

Yeah, they're pretty cute. I know! =)

5. Thanksgiving! We traveled over the mountains for a shorttrip to Grandpa and Grandma’s house! I didn’t manage a group picture while wewere there =(, but I did get a family one and a family pic of Mike and Whitney... can't wait for that baby boy to get here (any day now)!!!

4. The Carousel and Christmas time! We’ve tried gettingcreative with ways to keep ourselves entertained while Matt’s gone withbasketball. December was a busymonth for him because pre-season games usually entail more traveling (2 weekendtrips and a 5 day trip to Idaho, which he actually had to skip because ofschool). Madelyn LOVES the carousel, so we invited Papato come along and enjoy it with us! He then treated us to Starbucks and wedrove through the Keizer Christmas lights! It was a pretty perfect, Christmasynight!

She's pretty much enamored by it all!

3. Our last trip to Caca’s house… for a while! Another lovelyweekend in Tacoma, just the kids, me and Auntie Caca, or “yours sista” as sheis lately being referred to! We snuggled up and did Christmasy things together.We baked, made homemade chili and cornbread, strolled to a cute nearby park,bundled up in our jammies stopped to get Starbucks and drove through aChristmas light exhibit (I’m failing to remember the name of the place). Wonderful. Lovely. Memories. Then wewiped our tears and said our goodbyes!

Em's first time in a swing! It's safe to say he LOVED it!

2. Our annual Zoolights trip! Unfortunately, I don’t have a lotof pictures to show for this trip… my camera battery died right when I went totake a family picture of Kyle & Katie. =( Nonetheless, we still had fun!

Sweet Liv all bundled up!

1. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Yup, here's the Christmas card I selected, created and then never ordered! =) I had it in my shopping cart for quite a while and just couldn't bring myself to spend the money... especially since I had just sent out birth announcements (late, of course ;). So... to all those who actually read this, here's your card!!! =)

All in all, I'm in awe as I review our year. We are blessed with such amazing family and friends and we have SOOOOOO much to be thankful for!

Here's to 2012!!! =)

Hello, January!

2012-01-04T16:51:00.000-08:00

It would almost seem as though we fell off the face of this planet. Especially if you just keep up with us via the blog, but alas, we are alive and well. We just partied THAT HARD. I guess...

I have at least eight different events I'd love to blog about, but unless some little fairly flies in here and spends the next four hours babysitting my children, feeding them dinner, nursing the baby, finishing the laundry, picking up the toys, and then puts everyone to bed, that probably won't be happening.

Boy would that be nice...

No such luck wishing though, so let's just focus on what we did have going for us... one B-E-A-utiful day! There's nothing like a sunny warm day in January to get your moods flying high! Emmitt has bronchiolitis and Madelyn woke up with "the" cough this morning (a.k.a. Croup), but all is well because we were able to spend some time in the great outdoors!

Can I hear an "Amen" to sunshine in Januaray?

And without any further delay, here's just how perfect our day was!

**Sorry in advance for the picture overload... it's been a while since I've taken pictures in any "natural" light!!!**

Yes, that's the purse that NEVER leaves her side! Her friend Adrie (who's 5) taught her how to wear purses around her neck like that... it's been quite helpful, I might add!

My Favorite 6 year old.

And it just wouldn't be right if I didn't add the awkward picture to solidify the age! ;) I LOVE you Seven!

My favorite 4 year old!

A perfect reflection of their personalities. =)

Our little man snoozed for most of our outing and then decided to chill in the swings... which he loved, despite the expression!

Matt made the comment last night that he's "afraid" Emmitt has his ears. This picture may confirm that. ;)

And what would a park visit be without the boys acting like boys?

Thanks sunshine! Please come again another day!!!

Soaking it all up

2011-12-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

Good morning from Tacoma! We slept in and can't seem to get our of our jammies. Aunt Caca is out on a run and we're playing on her computer. There are so many reasons why we couldn't go along with her this morning, okay, so pretty much just two little reasons. So we just cuddled up and looked cute. =)

And then our big girl crawled out of bed and joined us!

Here's to our last weekend in Tacoma with our Caca. I think I hear coffee calling our name, a walk to the local pizza shop, some Christmas lights this evening, homemade chili and cornbread, and another night all snuggled together. Just us girls... and Emmitt.

How could you seriously want to leave these faces Aunt Caca?!?

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

2011-12-07T14:59:00.001-08:00

(in NO particular order)

* Christmas traditions

* Staying in my jammies all morning when we have nowhere to be

* Listening to Madi "read" books

* Emmitt's laugh

* Madelyn's voice

* Putting the kids to bed for the night =)

* Silence during nap time

* Breakfast quiche

* Sprinkle cake donuts

* Laying in the sun

* Peppermint Mochas

* My sisters

* My family

* Childhood memories

* Coffee dates

* My husband

* Coffee dates WITH my husband =)

* Goggle lines

* Organizing

* A clean house

* Ice cream

* Falling asleep watching football on Sunday afternoons

* My Jesus

* Blogs

The list could go on, and on, and on...

(Please forgive how horribly grainy these pictures are. I don't know how to take pictures in terrible lighting w/out the flash...)

Merry Christmas!

A Perfect day in the PNW

2011-12-05T14:23:00.001-08:00

I feel like there are so many wonderful things about living in the Pacific Northwest that we take for granted... and hunting down the perfect Christmas tree is just one of them!

It has been SO beautiful out this past week and I know it will be a little sad to see the rain come back soon. However, we made the most of it this weekend and headed out with the fam to chop down a few green things and tie them on top of our cars...

Okay, on a side note, it sort of cracks me up that it's normal to see cars driving up and down the freeway this time of year with giant trees strapped to the top of them. We saw someone in a tiny Honda Accord with a tree that looked almost twice the size of the car pulling out of the tree lot yesterday.

No big deal.

It's just Oregon.

We're that cool.

*cough, cough* David Drake *cough, cough*

Anyway...

A few years ago we found this super cute tree farm that's about three miles outside of Stayton, Santiam Canyon Christmas Tree Farm. Okay, so they just opened up three years ago, and we've gone their ever since. They're cheap, close, and they give out free hot cider, hot cocoa, wagon rides and Santa even shows up! Seriously. They know how to run a business!

The wagon is super cute and there is a whole bunch of "lap robes" (aka: fleece blankets) to stay warm with. The boys loved it so we rode it just for fun... apparently people do that (or so we were told).

Love her!

Our kind "elf" may or may not have chopped our perfect tree down before we got a picture with it, so we just found another one... Meh, they all sort of look the same, right?

Seven REALLY wanted in our family picture! ;)

Aw! And there is nothing like a true Lambert Family Picture... at least one has to be crying, right?!? ;)

...and of course no one cries with Nana & Papa. They're just missing Em and sweet baby Jude. =(

So cold we could see our breath! =)

Waiting for the wagon to come pick us up!

A classic Madi and Auntie Eehee picture!

Where'd Santa go?!? The boys loved him and Madelyn wanted nothing to do with him...

And finally, a nice hot drink to warm us up!

I love the Willamette Valley and I love this time of year!

Oregon Football and The Boy

2011-12-01T15:15:00.001-08:00

We were some of the lucky ones that made it to the Civil War game this weekend! What a GORGEOUS day too! We haven't been to a Duck game since we had season tickets (pre-kids... go figure ;) and it was fun to be back at Autzen, or God's country, as my dramatic husband likes to put it!

My favorite part was definitely our company though! J brought her boyfriend to town for Thanksgiving and we got to spend all weekend "visiting"...

Yeah, let's just say he put up with a LOT! I suppose that's the joys of the Lambert family!

We don't let them go easily!

Nor should we.

Anyway...

I love Oregon games, but my least favorite part is definitely that they take ALL. DAY.

And thus, we brought along the baby! (It was either that or a stylish leather "briefcase", and he is much cuter!)

We avoided traffic by taking the backroads, made SEC and PAC12 jokes all day, ate Subway, yelled OOOOOOO, tricked David into thinking the weather in the northwest is always this beautiful, and attempted to convince him why he should turn into a Duck fan.

He even modeled Matt's sweatshirt for the day (that's right Georgians {is that a word??}, you can breathe easy cause he doesn't own it).

...but only because we promised to be Georgia fans when we head south.

Don't worry David, you can guarantee we'll be rooting for the Dawgs when they play LSU!

Emmitt's first Duck game!

Cute couple ;)

Emmitt and his Auntie!

I have to admit... there's nothing quite like a sold out football game on a sunny, crisp, Autumn day!

Especially when they kick the Beavers @**...

Oops.

Thanks for the visit SEC man.

You passed with flying colors!

We can't wait to see what football is like in the south!

Until then, we'll just keep enjoying our Ducks!

Bring it on UCLA!

3 Months and Counting...

2011-11-30T06:32:00.001-08:00

Em turned 3 months on Thanksgiving and I can hardly believe how fast it has gone by! (I know, big surprise to hear that from a mom!!!)

But seriously!

It's hard to believe that Mads was this old when I was starting to get my classroom ready two years ago! Although I miss school, I can hardly imagine what it would be like to be going back right now. To say that I am thankful for this time at home is a complete understatement! Some days are a little too crazy for my liking and make me want to pull my hair out, but overall I wouldn't change it for the world. I am so thankful for my job and the opportunity I have had to work part-time and I can honestly say that it has made me that much more appreciative to stay home this year! I loved working, but I love being at home. I have a huge respect for working moms and their ability to take care of their family.

I often run into people that have strong opinions about mothering and how it should be done (who doesn't?!?!) and one thing that I've noticed over the last few years is that each person handles/adapts differently. I don't think it's a sin to be a working mother and I don't think it's a sin to be a SAHM (Yeah, a fancy acronym for stay-at-home-mom). I do, however, think that whatever situation I may find myself in must be done with the right heart. I have literally heard christians debate that women should NOT work outside the home if they have children. They've quoted scripture in an attempt to state their case that it is NOT Biblical. Wow. When this debate comes up, my heart clings to Proverbs 31:

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife She is worth more than precious rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder him but help him all her life.

She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship; she brings her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls. She goes out to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber.

She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.

She has no fear of winter for her household because all of them have warm clothes. She quilts her own bedspreads. She dresses like royalty in gowns of finest cloth.

Her husband is well known, for he sits in the council meeting with the other civic leaders.

She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future. When she speaks her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instruction. She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness.

Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous women in the world, but you surpass them all!"

Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. (vs. 10-30)

This beautiful woman clearly works for the Lord. I believe each mother and wife has to find that place in her own family and in her own heart. The same situation is not right for every family. God has called us all to different places and to do different work for Him. My prayer is that I will always be doing what God wants me to do, serving where he wants me to serve.

Lately, my work has been load after load of laundry and cleaning up chunks of four different colors of playdough all mashed into a black glob out of the carpet...

it's glorious, what can I say?

Things aren't all chocolate and roses around here, but I continue to wake up with a grateful heart because we have a roof over our head, a warm home, food in the cupboards and a healthy family!

God is good.

We have a lot going on in our home/family, but I hate to claim that we are busy. I've always felt that being busy is an attitude that distracts us from seeing what's right in front of us. I never want to be too busy that I miss God's voice. I never want to be too busy that I don't stop and help when someone needs it, whether they live under my roof or not.

And with that... here is what our THREE MONTH OLD is up to!!!

He is SO, SO strong and he loves to stand as much as we will let him. He has been rolling over for a few weeks now. He's gone from back to tummy a handful of times (Madi and I watched him do it on the ground a couple of times in a row) and he rolls from tummy to back ALL the time. He sleeps on his tummy (I know-major "no, no") and every time he wakes up he rolls to his back and talks or cries until he gets picked up. It's really sweet. He has a super strong neck and has been able to hold his head really well from day one.

His new favorite toy?

The exosaucer...

It's the perfect spot to stand and watch all of the crazy things his sister is up to!

And for kicks and giggles, a little comparison of our two kiddos. Emmitt is 3 months and 5 days in these pictures and Madelyn is 4 months and 24 days in these pictures (I know, I'm a detail person...).

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Madi and I thought of it when I was taking these pictures of Em... she certainly has him beat in the cheek department (and baldness factor)!

Ninety-five percent of the time, this is the look people get from Emmitt. He just likes to check things out, particularly with his brow furrowed...

**Side note: Matt has often had people comment that he looks "upset" when he is perfectly fine and I have a feeling Emmitt might have that same problem. It's just a serious look these men give off. ;)**

And of course I saved my favorite for last... this is just one of the smiles that melts my heart everyday. He's so. incredibly. sweet.

I'm thankful for this job of mothering that God has given me and I pray that I can do it with the right heart every single day. I'm also thankful for the wonderful example of a mother that I had. She certainly made it look easy though!

Black Friday!

2011-11-27T21:58:00.001-08:00

Some people wait impatiently for 365 days until "black Friday" rolls around so that they can take their sleep deprived selves and hit the stores.

Some people wait in line for HOURS to save $5 on a pair of pants.

Some people spend all afternoon on Thanksgiving scouring the ads to make sure they don't miss the perfect deal.

Some people actually accomplish all of their Christmas shopping in one morning.

But not the Lambert girls!

We wait impatiently for 365 days for our favorite day of the whole year.

Not because we're going to save much money. Not because we're going to stay up all night in hopes of being the first person to buy the $15 Lincoln Logs (**F**).

But because we get to spend a morning together sipping on our favorite hot drinks (Unless you're J and you don't know how to drink a coffee, so you get a cold one ;) and talking about nothing.

This year, two of our favorite baby boys came along and I'm pretty sure Emmitt didn't stop thinking, "I can't wait 'til I'm old enough to stay home with Dad!" ...oh the joys of being drug along with the girls!

We relaxed. Smooched on the babies. Fummed through the ads without any plan in mind. Talked about Jess' new boyfriend and reveled in our "free time".

Aw. I love these girls.

363 days and counting!

When...

2011-11-22T23:14:00.001-08:00

... did she get so big?

I've been asking myself this question almost daily lately and I still can't seem to come up with the answer. It seems like just yesterday I was rocking her in her bedroom after feeding her and she was only two weeks old. This week she turned 2 and a half and I can hardly believe it!

However, she is such a little GIRL now!

Okay, so maybe I should have used pictures where she wasn't playing with a toy gun (without a shirt on) before I emphasized the girl... she might be a little tomboy, but still, she's all girl!

She is SO sweet and loving and absolutely adores taking care of people... especially babies! She talks in a sweet "cooing" voice every time she talks to her "brudder" and she is always ready to help take care of him. I originally grabbed my camera today because I had left Emmitt on the floor while I ran to throw some things in the wash and I asked Madi to "watch" brother for a minute. When I came right back, she had a pile of books and she was reading them to him. She does this all the time and my favorite part is that she always turns the book so that he can see the pictures (like a teacher, surprise, surprise ;). Of course, by the time I got the camera she instantly dropped the books and grabbed her toy gun. Such is life.

She did offer to give brother a kiss for me though!

She is such a wonderful big sister and she absolutely adores her baby brudder. Lately she has mentioned getting a baby sister a few too many times for our liking though. Evidently she thinks they're easier to come by than they truly are. The other day we pulled into the drive way and she noticed Matt still wasn't home so she said, "Where's Dada?" I told her he was at the doctor (he was really at physical therapy, but it sounded easier to me). She quickly replied, "Oh, he gonna bring us home a baby sista?"

Um, no.

A month or so ago we had a similar conversation, only my phone rang and after I answered it she wanted to know who it was. I told her it was the doctor (reminding us of Em's 2 month check up) and she quickly asked, "Oh, we gonna have a baby sista now?"

Still no.

She's a funny one, that's for sure! I love it when Matt is home to experience her together because we often find ourselves just looking at each other and laughing because she is entertaining us in her own little world! She talks NON stop and I really don't know the end of her vocabulary. She has a little lisp and I often find myself interpreting for others, especially people that aren't around her much. I'm assuming this is pretty normal.

Last friday we officially gave up binkis and she did SOOO great. We talked about it all week and decided we were going to send them home with her cousin, "baby Cwosby" after he came to play with us on Friday. I actually had to wake her up from her nap on Friday and we put them all in a bag (including the one in her mouth) and waved goodbye! I then dropped her off with Matt at practice and headed out to a baby shower for the night. (Good plan, huh?!? ;)

She picked out a new Dora purse and had a special dinner with daddy and then she went to bed like a big girl! Evidently the only thing she said was, "Daddy, let's go to Cwosby's house and get ALL my binkis back." =) Too cute!

She asked to go pick them up a couple more times over the next few days, but other than that she has moved on just fine. I have noticed that it takes her a little longer to fall asleep. I hear her singing on the monitor or just talking to herself for at least 10-15 minutes now, vs. 1 minute with the binki, but she has stayed in her bed and slept through the night just fine.

Finally, our big girl is pretty much officially potty trained. She even sleeps in her undies! She had one accident at night (well, it was 6:00AM, but it woke her up) and that has been it. I'm super excited that I don't have to wipe toddler poop from her bottom, but it's just one more milestone that makes her seem SO big. She usually needs help in the bathroom (or I'm just anal... haha, no pun intended), but today she came running out to tell me she went poop all by herself... and attempted to wipe all by herself!

Oh the things that are exciting when you become a parent...

And for all of you non-parents out there, believe me, you WILL be excited to talk about poop someday!

I bet you're looking forward to that! ;)

Alright, it's time for me to go cry myself to sleep... and I didn't even START on how much faster Emmitt is growing! I cringe when I hear myself say it because it is SO cliche, but anybody that's a parent knows that it seriously goes by TOO fast! Ugh.

(Picture courtesy of Jess Harvey. She rocks!!!)

Oh, how I LOVE this girl!!!

Occupy What?!?!

2011-11-19T23:44:00.001-08:00

We currently have a lot of "occupy" jokes going around our house these days.

The kids have even gotten in on them...

Emmitt is very vocal about his opinion.

Look out, he might be a "riot starter"...

They even managed to get waited on while "occupying" the kitchen...

I guess it pays off to be this cute...

Madi started the week off by demanding a few of her meals in her "box". I started to fight the battle and then stopped mid-sentence. It turned out to be a good choice. She never gets out of her box and she even had 3 helpings the first night... She loves having her own personal table!

I think she'll be occupying the kitchen for a while...

Is it seriously almost Thanksgiving?!?!

And to think... I have yet to turn on the Christmas music.

What is wrong with me this year???

Oh yeah, I have kids occupying everything!!! =)

You're Welcome, Georgia

2011-11-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful privilege of packing up our kiddos and heading north to visit my sister. She lives in Tacoma and has the cutest little life set-up, or so I think...

I had really good intentions of blogging about our trip, but life got busy and I sort of missed my window. However, Jess hasn't let up and I keep getting pester-y texts or FB messages saying things like: "Pictures from my house? Blog?"

She's oh-so-subtle...

(Picture courtesy of Jess Harvey Photography)

You see, my sister and I have this wonderful relationship. We absolutely adore one another, and we drive each other CRAZY! I'm sure there is some sort of birth-order/sibling dynamic/personality-trait explanation behind this, but it just is, what it is...

At any given moment I can make a little comment that would absolutely tick her off, and likewise, she could subtly mention something I could do differently and I would want her to leave the room... for a long time.

I will say, however, with her, ahem, I mean our, maturation, if you will, our annoyed moments have gotten much fewer and farther between and our love and respect for one another has grown even more!

Jess just spent the last 4 years of her life at the liberty of the United States Army and with her new found freedom has come an adorable little condo in downtown Tacoma and a job as a prison nurse, and although it wasn't her first choice in location or job, it was a job and it is just a hop-skip- and a jump away from home.

Her heart's desire, however, was to move back to Georgia where she spent almost a year during her stint in the Army. She applied for jobs in Seattle and in Georgia and waited hoping to have a clear direction as to where to go. Meanwhile, we all prayed Georgia would fall through and she'd be trapped on the west coast where she would magically find a prince charming and never desire to move any farther away from her family again. The end.

I was certain our prayers had been answered when she finally accepted the job at Pierce County and put a deposit down on her new place! Aw! How perfect!

As I'm sure you're sensing, this story turns bad, which is what has been on my heart for the last two weeks. Jess took a lovely trip to Georgia to visit her "friends" and called home instantly to announce that she felt like she was at home again... Really? Hot, sticky, humid Georgia? Okay, so I've never been there, but still...

I listened to Jess' heart pour out as she continued to enjoy her vacation and fall in love with the south all over again, but all the while my heart was crying. You see, my fear isn't that she'll move to Georgia, my fear is that Georgia will become her family and with that we'll see less and less of our precious sister, auntie, and daughter. Holidays are expensive to fly home for and vacation time is hard to come by meaning three visits a year will become two and two visits one...

I've tried to put on a happy face and listen as she ecstatically tells me about all of the doors that have been opening up as she prepares to journey across the country, while deep inside I keep thinking, "do you know what this means"?

It hit me though, this morning, I was spending time with God and rocking a sleeping baby and I realized just how selfish my heart was. Yesterday, I was e-mailing a friend back about a prayer request as she had shared some of the desires of her heart and I reminded her that even though it's hard to remember, the coolest thing is to think that as awesome as our plans may seem (cause we sure do love to make them) God's plan will always be even more perfect, we just have to trust him.

I suppose that's what God is trying to tell me as well. As perfect as my plan was for Jess, His plan is still more perfect. She has been so patient, so faithful and so eager all at the same time. Her heart was left in Georgia and God has plans to finish what he started and He needs her there. It might ruin my plans of jumping in the car and rushing up to Aunt Caca's for the weekend, but then again, there are more important things than my plans...

Thanks, God, for the reminder.

Hopefully we will still have another special weekend or two with Aunt Caca before she journeys south for more than just a winter, but if not we'll cherish these memories and look forward to getting hot and sticky in the 'ol south. Heck, maybe they have some peach picking adventures that are calling our name? That sounds blog worthy...

So... here's the pics, J! Thank you, thank you, for spending part of your life in Tacoma. Thank you for begging us to come visit with open arms and spoiling our children beyond belief! You truly are a blessing. No matter where you live!

Oh yes she did. Kari jumped in her car with her two boys and we drove "the five" up to Tacoma on a whim, once again...

(Yes, it's been done before)

Auntie Krista and baby Jude met us at the patch as well!

Sisters!!! (Minus Hales):

Caca and her babies. You can see why I don't want to share her...

Cutie pies!!!

So as I sit with tears streaming down my face, I can honestly say my heart is free of selfishness (for now at least). I am trusting that God's plan is even greater than mine. And if Georgia does become your family, that is one lucky family!

You'll always be our "Caca".

We love you!!!

A First Time for Everything...

2011-11-06T00:33:00.000-07:00

I was just recently having a conversation with my good friend Ramie about how we had never experienced our children throwing up (other than going to get them in the morning and finding that they had thrown up in their cribs).

I should have known better...

On Thursday night it hit this girl with a vengeance....

We had tucked her in and both kids were asleep in their bedroom (they've only been sleeping together for about a week now) when we all of the sudden heard a horrible cry. I looked at Matt and asked if I should get a bucket. He opened the door to their bedroom and we both knew it had been too late...

She was COVERED in barf... and likewise, so was her bed!

Now for all of you parents who have not experienced this yet, my advice is to skip the bathtub (which is the first thing that comes to mind). Within a half an hour she managed to cover everything on her bed in barf, the couch cushion, the carpet, my clothes and at least three sets of pajamas. I was convinced our washing machine would never keep up with us, but by the third time she was finally hitting the bucket... as long as we were there to shove it in front of her face.

Poor girl.

She was miserable, and so was watching her continue to dry heave the rest of the night. =(

I convinced Matt that we would be fine and that he should try and get some sleep because he had to be at work the next day.

Madelyn finally stopped throwing up around 3 AM, which was about a half an hour before Emmitt woke up to eat for the first time. She was still awake so I turned on Dora while I nursed Emmitt and put him back to bed. We both fell asleep in each others' arms sometime around 4:30 in the morning... just three short hours before Emmitt decided to wake up for the day!

Let's just say we didn't get out of our pajamas on Friday! Instead we grabbed our pile of "Curry George" books from the library and snuggled up in Madi's cozy bed on the living room floor.

I prayed that I wouldn't have to see anyone's food twice (including my own) unless it was in a diaper and continued to pig-out like any other Friday.

Don't judge. I'm a nursing mom.

(I must admit, my favorite part about sick kids is how snuggly they get. This girl couldn't get enough of her Momma.)

Matt came home early from school on Friday and was convinced he didn't feel good. He threw up a few times Friday night, but seems to be doing well now. I'd like to hope that this is the first, and last stomach flu we'll be experiencing this Fall/Winter, but I won't hold my breath.

The floors have been vacuumed. The sheets have been washed. Everything and everyone has been wiped down with Lysol and we are all sleeping in our own beds tonight! Bring it on Daylight Savings. We're ready for the new week!

Have I mentioned how badly I want to shampoo my carpets?!?!

Yeah... I can't WAIT!

For the Love of Fall!

2011-10-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

The weather around here has been absolutely perfect, which is why this time of year is my all. time. favorite. But, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that already. ;)

This past weekend was a busy one with family visiting, but we enjoyed every minute of it in pure Autumn fashion...

Madelyn and I headed up to an apple orchard with some friends and picked about 175 pounds of apples (and that's not counting the 90 pounds that Mo picked for her and Robin!) Yeah, we go all out when we do something, what can I say? Don't worry, they aren't all for us. We picked for family too! It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect, so of course my camera battery died about 10 pictures in...

We got some super cute ones of Blake though and I think Mo took some more with her camera as well.

Even though it's harder to be productive, I just love bringing the little kiddos along. Madi and Blake probably bit into at least 10 apples each just because they could. It sounds sort of wasteful, but if you have ever been to an apple farm, you know how many apples are on the ground! Plus, they're delicious and it's just that hard not to, and they would sort of get distracted and drop them or throw them at some point and then remember they wanted to eat one again!

I also love it because my grandparents had apple orchards when I was a little girl and I have wonderful memories of spending long days out in the trees. We could eat as many apples as we wanted and they were absolutely delicious! My Grandma would drive us around on the four wheeler and we would reach up and pick apples as we drove down the rows. We thought it was so cool! We also thought we were going so fast, but I sort of doubt that was true. One time I fell off reaching for an apple and Grandma somehow managed to run over my leg... she was damaged for a long time, but I was fine! Oh the memories... if my mom knew how to operate a camera we might have pictures of those days, but oh well! (I still love her anyway ;)

Some of our partners in crime...

This boy is TOO cute!

"Oma" was our wonderful entertainment! She sang songs and did chicken dances for the kiddos! So fun!!! =) I'm pretty sure this is where the camera died... =(

Can't you tell they're chickens? =)

Saturday afternoon I made a giant patch of caramel corn and I had great intentions of sharing it with lots of friends.

{cough, cough}

The Moodys got some, and so did the Dukes and then my love handles have me to thank for the rest of it.

Ooops.

It was really good though, and maybe, just maybe I'll make more to share!

Or maybe I shouldn't. That's sort of just asking for myself to get fatter.

Anyway, we enjoyed each other's company and late Sunday night Matt pulled out the pumpkin carver and got a little crazy with Madelyn!

Yeah, we're not super artistic around here. Have I mentioned that before?

Please don't show our daughter pictures of your amazing jack-o-lanterns that took 4 hours to carve. We sort of prefer the simple smiley faces.

And in case you're wondering why there is only three pumpkins, mine was turned into a funkin...

Don't be jealous. Mine wasn't nearly as cute as the magazine and Jess' wasn't nearly as cute as mine... ;)

It was a midnight craft project with my sister, but more on that trip later...

I hope you're all enjoying Fall as much as we are! Sunshine, I hope you never go away!!!

Wakey, wakey!

2011-10-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

It's been one of those mornings, all to myself!

Well, sort of, myself and Emmitt. I was woken up by a sweet little girl sometime around 7 this morning and I couldn't bare to think about getting up quite yet (not that I usually get up any later, evidently I was just enjoying my sleep this morning). So, I whispered to Madelyn that it was still the middle of the night, walked her back to her bed and snuggled her back down. All she was really concerned about was finding her lost binki anyway. After that was found, she asked me to kiss penguin on the nose, kiss ducky on the nose and her eyes were shut! Aw, I love 2 year olds... and the fact that it's still dark out at 7!

I stumbled back to bed and laid there for a minute before I decided my peaceful sleep was officially over. Oh the things I could do if she really slept for another hour... or two!

The covers flew off and turbo mode kicked in... until the baby woke up and wanted to eat, in which case I stared blankly out the front window for about twenty minutes. However, I'm happy to report that the second load of laundry is in the washer, the dishwasher is going, the bedsheets are stripped and I had a delicious breakfast all to myself...

Mmm... my mouth is watering just looking at it again. That would be scrambled eggs topped with pepper jack cheese, homemade salsa and avocado! Don't worry, I saved some scrambled eggs for Madi...

I had a great Fall blog all planned out in my head with beautiful pictures that I've been attempting to write since Saturday, but I just wasn't feeling it this morning. So, unfortunately you're getting stuck with a picture of my delicious breakfast concoction and pictures of a sweet little boy who watched happily as I ate my amazing breakfast!

Happy hump day!

(You do know that means Wednesday, right mom? ;)

Is it Wednesday?

Homecoming!

2011-10-13T11:48:00.003-07:00

This post is completely and utterly inspired by our daughter's desire to wear last year's Christmas dress yesterday. And being the good mom that I am (and the fact that we weren't planning on going anywhere ;), I let her indulge! She slipped into this beauty and we "ooed" and "awed" over what a beautiful princess she is!

But please, girls, does she not fit in perfectly with this year's trends?!?

Super puffy and way too short! =)

The shall is probably a little cheesy for high schoolers and no, she does not have spaghetti straps underneath there, but come on?!?

You have to also appreciate her desire to wear her purple Nike's with the dress?

Yup.

She's got style!

And a classic pre-festivities homecoming picture with Nana. ;)

The whole thing was pretty much cracking me up!

And if you're interested in more laughs, here you go...

11 years ago to this day (Yes, it was Friday, October 13th) Matt and I were dressing up to head out to homecoming as well!

This last Saturday Matt and I snuck away for dinner (and almost a movie... we didn't quite make it in time) and we couldn't help but smile as we ironically ended up at Red Robin amongst 30 other ex-students who were out celebrating homecoming together! Yeah, weird how that always seems to happen. Anyway, it was fun to watch kids hanging out and of course check out all of the beautiful dresses! My have things changed in the last 11 years!

*Sigh*

It sort of makes me feel old to know that I've watched styles come in and then go out...

Oh well.

Thanks for that "romantic" night 11 years ago, Matt! I sort of liked our low-key evening we spent together this year instead! I love my family. I love my life!

Happy Homecoming Kids! =)

Party in a Cup!

2011-10-12T11:06:00.001-07:00

This pair made my morning!

Let's be honest. I may talk about coffee a lot, but I'm sort of just a party drinker. AKA, I prefer lattes and fancy mochas, but I rarely drink any at home. Although, that just might be changing. I absolutely LOVE the smell of coffee brewing and Matt has started a new routine this year where he brews his coffee at work instead of at home. It's sort of sad to not hear the coffee grinder every morning and wake up to the sweet aroma of a fresh pot (with the exception of Saturday and Sunday when he's home).

Well, when the holiday creamers hit the shelves, it's time for me to jump on the bandwagon. In fact, I was so excited that I paid full price for this creamer (and probably way too much for this whipped cream) at Safeway yesterday just so that I could have a delicious cup to wake up to this morning!

Honestly, I think the whipped cream was the perfect touch! I couldn't believe how delicious it was! If you happen to show up on my front door tomorrow morning, I'll make you some!

Aw!

It was delicious!

So I went ahead and cuddled up on our "Picasso" couch with pandora and drank two cups!

Here's my simple view, from my simple life.

I love watching the leaves slowly turn this time of year! This tree peeks over the top of our neighbor's house and is absolutely beautiful this time of year!

Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice!

I was even blessed to have a few minutes to myself this morning.

And although, I should exclaim that I spent a few minutes reading and praying alone, what I really did was pull out my phone to read this article... and this one. Honestly, I can't get this awful tragedy out of my head. I'm not sure why I feel it has hit so close to home. Maybe because this guy is technically from Stayton, maybe it's because Matt is friends with the poor victim, Cody Meyers, brother-in-law (they graduated from HS together), or maybe it's because it's just so awful... I'm not really sure, but it has totally freaked me out, to say the least.

I first saw that Cody was missing on FB on Sunday when quite a bit of friends kept posting a note about him going missing. Lots of people were re-posting it and it sounded pretty sad, but also hopeful that they might find him somewhere. After his car was spotted on Sunday driven by the suspected murderers, I sort of felt all hope was lost and couldn't imagine what the family was going through. Unfortunately, they found his body just a few days later, and the unimaginable was true. I'm sure you've all heard the story though, as it has been all over the news. And for some reason, I have had a new wave of fear come over me. Ridiculous, I know, but it's true. We had a Redbox movie to return the other night and I selfishly asked Matt to take it back after his 14 hour day because I was too afraid to get out of the car in the McDonald's parking lot at 9:30 at night. Yeah, I'm a baby.

I'm also driving up to my sister's place tomorrow night with the kids (Tacoma) and I have already informed Matt that I will not be stopping for anything. Emmitt may have to scream (hopefully it won't come to that) his head off and Madelyn will be wearing a pull up because this Mama is not stopping! They can thank me later for not being murdered at a young age cause you can guarantee we won't be pulling over until we see my sister's front door, which happens to be a completely gated condo...

We have some meth heads that live down the street and they've never really scared me before (despite their crazy yelling) just annoyed me, but now they freak me out. Stereotyping? Yes, but it's true. The lights go down around here and I get a little jumpier. Matt wouldn't let me read these articles last night because he knew I would dream of being attacked. And I would have. The night before I dreamt that our car was being stolen from the driveway. I'm pretty sure I shot the people, which Matt later informed me would have been illegal because you can only shoot someone if they are "threatening your threshold", or something like that... good thing it was just a dream!

More than anything, I can't seem to stop thinking about what would drive someone to take another person's life. Or better yet, why do we as a society in general tend to respect one another's lives, as in not kill one another? Is it really the fear of the law? I don't know and I suppose I never will relate to serial killers.

What I do know is that there are families out there grieving the loss of a loved one, reliving over and over what may have happened before their mother, father, son, or brother was tragically murdered, and I can't imagine that either. My heart goes out to them and I will continue to pray for healing in their lives.

My heart also goes out to the murderers' families. I read an article that said they attempted to interview Pedersen's mother and all she said was, "He's my son and I love him. I always will." I can relate to that. I can't imagine the pain of watching or knowing that your son has done something so horrible, but I can imagine that you would love them no.matter.what. What an awful pain for a mother.

And likewise, it made me think about God's unconditional love. It doesn't matter what we've done, he will always love us. His last words on the cross were, "Father forgive them for they know not what they've done." He loves these murderers and he always will. He loves me when I sin and he always will. How incredible is that?

Oh how we need His GRACE!

Eventually, I was greeted with this:

And she snuggled her baby, while I snuggled her.

And I couldn't help but think, thank you Lord for this sweet girl!

All Smiles!

2011-10-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the title to this blog is probably a little deceiving. All is sort of an exaggeration; about 90% of the time, this is the typical look you'll get from Emmitt.

He is very serious! He has the sweetest little cheeks and he's the best cuddler (at least for Mommy), but life is pretty intense, or so he let's on...

I often here, "Oh, he's grumpy right now."

I have all different kinds of comments in my head, but usually I just smile and say, "Yeah, he's pretty serious."

And he is.

Lately, however, we've been able to buy a couple smiles out of him. Not too many, of course, and usually they're for his Daddy (or sister), but they're making their way out of him, and we even caught a few on camera!

(Madelyn is such a good big sister. I wish I could record her little voice when she talks to her "brudder". It's so "cooey" and sweet! ;)

It's amazing how different two kids can be. We're still learning so much about both our kids' personalities, but I'm pretty sure Madelyn was born smiling. After she warms up to people, she is generally anyone's best friend. I have a feeling Emmitt is going to be much quieter and reserved. Time will tell. I must say, it is so fun watching them develop into little people! I certainly don't want to wish time away, but I also can't wait to see who they will become!

For now, we'll enjoy all the smiles we can get! =)

Our First Trip to the Patch...

2011-10-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

As I sit here rockin' out to pandora, my family is all sleeping blissfully... just like I should be. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time grasping time, but ever since Emmitt was born I feel like time has just stopped. Can it really be October? I honestly never know what day of the month it is. I usually try and guess a number that seems way farther away than it really is and then I'm still short by about a week. It's probably going to be Christmas any day now and I will have just finalized Madelyn's Halloween costume. It's a good thing she's only two... maybe she'll never know the difference! Anybody up for stockings and trick or treating? Talk about a seriously "over stimulating" combination!

Speaking of costumes, I asked my sister in law if we could borrow "the" tiger costume for Madi this year and I was SO excited for her to try it on. After convincing Madelyn that it would be oh-so-cozy, she reluctantly put it on and looked in the mirror. I put on my super-excited-mommy-face and told her how cool she looked and said, "Don't you want to be a tiger for Halloween?"

She gave me an extremely pathetic look and said, "No, Madi wants to be Pinkalicious!"

I don't think there will be any changing of minds around here...

*sigh*

Now for a Pinkalicious costume...

is it still October?

Anyway, in an attempt to celebrate Fall (sans the 4 loaves of pumpkin bread I may or may not have baked this week and may or may not have eaten... all of them) we packed up and headed out to Bauman's for our first attempt at a pumpkin patch this year!

I can NOT believe how much these two have changed in a year! Here's their picture from the patch last year...

(not to mention the fact that they both have a younger sibling now... and it's only been a year, yikes!)

So sweet... if only I could freeze this thing called "time"...

Baby Jude is so sweet. I told Madelyn that we were going to the pumpkin patch with Kade and she said, "Baby Jude gonna be there?" I said, "Yes, of course, and Kari." My reply was met with a high pitch squeal and, "Madi likes baby Jude!" =)

Sorry, Kade!

Notice how "into" this goat Madi is? Yeah, let's just say she has a ways to go on being "brave"...

I'll spare you the horrible mother story where this tiny innocent goat started walking toward Madelyn with the result being high pitched screams and buckets of tears...

No one called child services.

And on my defense, the goat didn't even touch her!

It was all for the love of a good picture.

Anyway...

Kade, on the other hand, had no problem petting the cute little baby goat that got loose!

It pays off to have men in your life...

There's just no words to express Kari and baby farm animals. =)

Love is an understatement... ;)

Emmitt pretty much just chilled the whole time! He likes to fool people into thinking he just sleeps peacefully all day when we're out and about... maybe he's trying to tell me something?

And no pumpkin patch trip is complete without hot cider and an apple cider cake donut!

Aw! Food is just so comforting.

Thank you Fall for tickling our taste buds!

Now off for some shut-eye!

Where Have We Been?

2011-10-05T07:43:00.001-07:00

You may have thought we temporarily disappeared... sometimes I wish I could temporarily disappear, but life is still marching on. Most mornings I wake up to a little girl with the world's best bed head whispering, "Mama, I have to go potty," and other mornings it's just the faint whimper of a 6 week old who seems to think that he's starving after not eating for a whole HOUR... either way it brings me out of my sleepy bliss and occasional dream and into the world of reality. I'm trying to make the best of the fact that most days I don't get out of my pj's until nap time by embracing our mornings with deliciousness like whole wheat, banana, chocolate chip pancakes...

And then my sweet 6 week old reminds me what the pancakes will look like once they have been consumed twice and run through a good set of intestines...

Yeah, it had been too long since you've experienced baby poop hadn't it?

You can thank me later... or by coming over and changing the next one. You have approximately 5 days, as this child prefers to hold it in for almost a week before letting it ALL out...

This bouncer has been washed 4 times. Every time it's been saturated in poop. I know, you were hoping I would talk more about deliciousness like pancakes instead of poop. Sorry. I had to deal with it during breakfast, so I thought I should share the love! ;)

The rest of our days have been filled with 1st grade soccer games, a little 9th grade football, finishing off the last of the giant bag of popsicles in our freezer, and snuggling with Daddy while he's home for short breaks between school, meetings, PT, and basketball. Oh, and of course, playing in our undies. Okay, allow me to clarify, I DO wear clothes around here (even if it is just my pj's). When I say "our" I clearly meant "Madelyn"...

Phew.

I promise to post more often and less about poop!

Happy Fall! =)

Beautiful Mornings

2011-09-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

It's mornings like these that make me absolutely LOVE my life. I realize that may sound a bit shallow, because I'm really quite thankful for every aspect of my life (the good, the bad and the ugly), but the perfections just make me smile a little bit bigger.

Life's been crazy, but what's new? Our days seem to fly by and yet I feel like I accomplish absolutely nothing. I'm getting used to it though, which sort of makes me feel better. I keep telling myself that getting two 2.5 hour chunks of sleep, being consumed by at least 5+ hours of sitting and nursing, and then attempting to have some fun with our two year old leaves little time for anything else (such as blogging), but when I creep into our office and see mail piled to the ceiling and a guest bed heaping with things to be organized and put away, it gets a little depressing... that's the real reason I haven't been blogging. I don't want to be reminded of my "hell-hole-room with a to-do list the size of Santa's Christmas list."

Okay, now that I got that off my chest:

This morning was perfect. We had to be out the door by 8:10 to drop Droiy off at preschool and thus we decided to celebrate by swinging by the drive-through-donut shop, picking up a cup of coffee and heading to a deserted park to enjoy the morning sun!

What can I say, cake donuts with sprinkles on them are my absolute FAVE!

And you better believe I ate every.last.sprinkle.

And while it's on my mind, can I just say how genius it would be if every merchandizer went drive-thru?!?! Drive thru Walmart, drive thru Winco, drive thru Costco - you name it, I'd shop there! I think I need to start working on this - I know I'm not the only mom that's day dreamed about this phenomenon! Who's with me?!?

Anyway... back to our morning.

Emmitt enjoyed himself.

And so did us girls!

Evidently cake donuts are better if eaten like a dog. I tried, and then decided that at least she wasn't putting food in her mouth with dirty fingers. You gotta look at it on the bright side!

If only we all had the option to sleep anywhere...

I love that I have the opportunity to spend all day, everyday with my babies. I love that it doesn't matter if the house is a mess or I haven't thought about what's for dinner quite yet, these kiddos will still need me to hold them or push them on the swing. I love that the sun is still shining for now and the weather hasn't gotten too cold to go outside and play. I love that I don't have to think about going back to school and that I just get to enjoy this year with my little loves.

I wish I could capture mornings like these and never have to look at my office again.

But we rushed off when someone said, "Mama I need to go poopie"...

We were brought back to reality and quickly threw our trash away and jumped back in the jeep. Thankfully we made it home to the toilet today... unlike Monday, but I suppose that would be the "ugly" part of this job, and for that, I'm still grateful! ;)

Labor Day Weekend...

2011-09-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we certainly didn't do a lot of "laboring" over the weekend. As you probably know, it was a B-E-A-utiful weekend and although we were all beginning to come down the the nastiness that overtook Madi at the beginning of last week we were ready to get out of the house by Saturday morning. So... we put on our yellow and green, packed up the jeep and headed into one of Madi's new favorite places, the "cawasel".

We started off with some food (because this Momma ALWAYS needs food) and had a little picnic while watching the jet-skiers. And we sort of cheated because we used our Quiznos groupon... it's just a little too difficult to get out of the house on time, let alone pack anything besides a diaper bag...

Then Matt and Madi rode the carousel a few times while I fed the baby... a common pass time. (No wonder the kid gained a pound in the last week!)

And what's a Daddy/Daughter picture without a little nose picking, huh?

That was about the extent of our "getting out" before we headed back home for some afternoon naps before the big game!

And finally, we waived goodbye to summer (Well, we pretended for Matt's sake. We're still enjoying summer we're just keeping it a secret. ;) with some popcorn and a "pinsess" movie as a family on Monday night.

It was just that intense...

And that marked the last three-day weekend for a while.

Although I usually welcome Fall with open arms, it seems to be coming a little quick this year! Thankfully the summer weather is still here and we can put off the pumpkins, red leaves, apple picking, and pumpkin spice lattes for a little bit longer...

Okay, maybe not the lattes.

September, where did you come from?!?!

From 3 to 4...

2011-08-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

We welcomed Emmitt Matthew at 1:03 a.m. on Wednesday, August 24th. He caught us by surprise (Surprise, really? How could we be surprised when I was 11 days overdue, right?). I was sort of in denial that my body can actually go into labor and I was scheduled to be induced on the 26th, but thankfully Emmitt had other plans!

My water broke around 9:20 on Tuesday night, much to my surprise. Matt was at a friend's house playing darts, Madi was sound asleep and I was cleaning like a mad lady. I sent Matt a text and told him that I thought my water had broke and he came home rather quickly. I wasn't in any pain (contractions started pretty quick and were happening every 3 minutes, but weren't painful) and I still had a lot of things I wanted to get done... including pack my bags. We called my mom and she came over to stay with Madi and we were off to the hospital by 10:30!

It took us a while to get all checked in. Apparently dripping on the floor doesn't constitute a sure thing that your water had broken, so instead I spent an hour in the triage room to convince the nurse that I was truly in labor. We were escorted to Room 8 a little before midnight and I was starting to get rather uncomfortable (and sort of whiny, I suppose). I remember making comments like, "I don't really want to do this. I just want to go to sleep. It's past my bedtime." I was reassured that I didn't really have a choice and right when I decided an epidural would be well worthy of all of its negative drawbacks my midwife checked me and told me I was going to have a baby. Duh, right? Then she told me what she was actually trying to convey was that I wouldn't be getting my epidural, which is when I got sort of annoyed. Ten minutes later, if even that, Emmitt graced this world with his high-pitched screaming and I breathed a giant sigh of relief! I was SO glad it was over!

And we were SO excited to meet him!

Madi was very sweet when she came to meet her brother. She was gentle and loving and had all sorts of questions about him.

Our little family (with only the back of Emmitt's head). I swear it's him though. I didn't trade babies for this picture.

One of my favorites...

And in case anybody is questioning it, he looks just. like. Matt.

Here's Matt's baby picture to prove it:

Emmitt is a sweet, snuggly little boy that has the world's worst gas EVER, but we sure love him!

Still Here...

2011-08-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

No. My absence of blogging does not mean I have had a baby.

Still pregnant.

And evidently I'm just getting lazier... we've done a pretty good job of keeping ourselves "busy". We had a garage sale at my brother's house last weekend (while Madi went camping for the night with her cousins)! We then continued to clean out and re-organize the garage the rest of the week, along with random other things (picking & freezing broccoli, dr's apts., etc.). Matt started heading back into school to get ready for the year and we spent this weekend in the sun at a splash park and then celebrating Matt's birthday with a BBQ on Sunday!

I'm sure I left out a couple things, but all-in-all, just the typical "summer stuff"...

Madi loves going to the park and she seems to enjoy splash parks, but she has been funny about how "wet" she actually likes to get this year. It sort of surprises me because she was awfully brave last summer (and obviously much younger), but this year she just prefers to circle the water and observe other kids.

What can I say, she's pretty good at people watching.

I'm not sure where she gets it...

On her defense, when a grown adult decides to wear a white tank top (without a bra) to a splash park and then proceeds to get drenched with her children, it is sort of intriguing.

And we weren't even in Westown!

Okay, sorry about the tangent - and no, I didn't take her picture!

We had lots of fun! But the fun really began when Nana and Papa surprised us and showed up as well!

Lets just say she was sort of forced to get wet with Papa! =)

We're glad the sunshine has finally decided to stay for a while! We've enjoyed the heat, even if we only dance around the water! =)

**On a baby note: I have another "non-stress" test tomorrow and then they'll schedule the induction date... evidently our babies seem to think they need a little longer "germination" period than most! Here's to being 10 months preggo in the middle of August!!!**

Waverly Park

2011-08-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

Sunday was a beautiful day and we couldn't resist finding somewhere to go to spend it in the sun. On our way home from church we agreed that we'd pack a picnic that evening and head back down to Albany to try and catch a couple fish at Waverly Park.

Madi was pretty excited to use her fishing pole again, but I think she was even more excited that she got to wear a hat like Daddy...

This was the result of Matt trying to teach her to keep her "tip-up".

The pink and orange power bait proved to be the next favorite part about fishing this time. I mean who doesn't want to play with something that resembles playdough and comes in a little jar?!?!

A couple small fish were finally caught on Matt's pole and as you can see Madi wasn't about to let her eyes leave that thing, even for a picture...

We had to take a picture of all of us in our "baseball hats" because Madi couldn't stop talking about them. Unfortunately the timer shot focused on our arms instead of our faces. Oh well, such is life!

Our picnic was delicious and we treated ourselves to 50 cent ice cream cones and free baby cones on the drive home. Quite perfect, if I may say so myself. ;)

Just Peachy!

2011-08-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

For all of you who are dying to know if I got my peaches canned - I did!

My mom and I spent all of Thursday (from about 9 to 6:30) peeling, slicing, and boiling until we had finally contained well over 140 pounds of peaches into 98 pints worth of jars! It was a fabulous time! There's something about storing food away for the winter that makes me feel just a little bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder and I LOVE it! I realize she probably put a little more work into canning her peaches, but I think she'd still be impressed with my efforts.

And in case you were wondering, I did not pick these peaches myself. They were ordered through Zaycon Foods, (which I'm sort of obsessed with right now) and they were amazing!!! I'm happy to report they did not disappoint. Between my mom and myself we ordered three units, which was a total of 6 boxes. All of the peaches came straight from orchards in Washington and were tree ripened. They were large, delicious and very juicy!

Madelyn can attest to it, as she has been quarantined outside every time she has eaten one!

I don't think she really minds though... She stands by the window with a steady stream of juice dripping off her elbows and enjoys every bite!

Back to my Zaycon soap box: if you're interested in purchasing bulk amounts of fresh meats or fruits, I can not recommend them enough! I have only ordered chicken breast through them so far (and peaches), but I am about to place an order for ground beef and I am confident that I will be happy with any of their products! The first time I ordered through them I purchased two units of chicken and my brother picked it up for me. He didn't realize (and I hadn't specified) that he was supposed to be getting 80 pounds, so he only came home with one unit. When I e-mailed Zaycon about the problem they got back to me within a few hours and then followed up with a phone call the next day to make sure the problem had gotten solved. They offered to reimburse me my money or gave me another date and time to pick the rest of the order up! They were super friendly and helpful and I could not have been more impressed! It's a family owned company that has grown (out of obvious popularity) and I'm happy to support them whenever possible! The chicken breasts are GIANT, fresh (never frozen) and are grown hormone free. We are almost out of our last order and I'm anxious to stock up the freezer again this fall!

Alright, thanks for listening! ;)

I'm going to go enjoy a bite of peaches n' cream pie that was inspired from this recipe post.

Don't be jealous.

Daycation...

2011-08-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

It's not everyday you head to the Oregon Coast and find it looking like this...

In fact, it probably only happens a few times a year. Then again, I may be sort of a pessimist. Either way, we lucked out! We packed our flip flops and "the" princess towel early this morning, hit Starbucks on our way through Salem and ended up here just in time to enjoy the view and beat the crowd to lunch!

Madi is known for having a serious side, or two - coloring was on the top of her list when we got to Mo's.

This girl could NOT have been happier to be at the beach watching the sea lions!

I bought the Oregon Coast Aquarium Groupon way back when (and a gift certificate to Mo's throgh Portland Perks...) and we had until October to use it so we've been trying to nail down a day to head to the beach this summer and enjoy ourselves! I'm so glad we were patient because there could not have been a more perfect day!

After all the sea creatures had been seen, we found a secluded beach between Newport and Depot Bay and threw out the towels! It was beautiful (my only complaint was the annoying sand fleas, but we left them all back on the beach - or so I hope)!!

Emmitt can finally come now. Well, actually, I should probably clean this house first and I have 60 pounds of peaches to can that I'm picking up tomorrow night (although, I'm just fine with letting my mom finish that chore for me should this baby come sooner ;)! Our daycation to the beach was perfect. It was a wonderful way to top off a very busy weekend!

3 on 3...

2011-08-01T08:14:00.001-07:00

*Sigh*

Sometimes that's all you feel like doing when busy weekends like ours finally come to an end! It was a lot of fun and it is a wonderful feeling of relief that it is finally over.

This was the first year that Matt has been involved with any 3 on 3 events (other than just playing or watching) and it was definitely a first to organize the whole event! It was good practice to have helped last weekend at Hoopla and thankfully our little town doesn't have quite the same turn-out. ;)

The event started bright and early Saturday morning, as most people just show up to register the day of. We had a total of 33 teams participate in 5 different division brackets. It would have been nice to have had enough teams to have brackets for all age divisions, but unfortunately there just wasn't enough (especially in the girls' brackets). People were very understanding though and everyone had a great time, even if their team ended up playing up or down.

Summer Fest is an annual event that is held on the streets of downtown Stayton every summer. It brings out local businesses, churches and organizations from all over town as they set up booths to advertise and share services. I think the 3 on 3 tournament has been a part of the street fair for the last 14 or so years. It's a pretty awesome event that allows people to relax, have fun, and get sunburnt...

This cute guy showed up too, so I just followed him around all day.

Just kidding.

He followed me around all day... as such, I got a little suspicious of him...

(Why do I do this to myself?)

It was the only picture proving that I showed up for the whole day! He must have been messing with my brackets and I was a little suspicious of him...

These little boys were so cute. I sort of wanted to pinch their cheeks. I think 6th grade is a little old for that though, so I just used my zoom lens instead...

And finally, the winners of the whole event...

Eight teams participated in the "open division" which has a grand prize of $400! The tournament is double elimination so if you lose one game you can still go undefeated from then on and make it to the championship game (which is what these guys did).

It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Like just how confusing brackets really are! I also learned that I can do a pretty good job of staying in the shade for most if not all of the day when I'm 9 months preggo... Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky!

(Sorry about your luck, Jess)

I'll try and get some after pictures of sunburns next year!

The baskets were all down by 4:00 and the streets were close to naked again. Enough sun had been soaked up and we were all exhausted! Thanks to all of the volunteer help it went off with very minor glitches! Matt already has ideas of how to make it even better next year and I have even more plans for a larger "shady" area. (Maybe even a giant fan or a sprinkler tent?!?! ;)

But, most of all I kept thinking about how thankful I was that this year at Summer Fest I wasn't pushing my husband down the bumpy streets of Stayton in a bright red wheel chair. He may have felt like he needed a wheelchair that night and especially when he rolled out of bed the next morning, but all in all it was quite the improvement! I'm sure ending the weekend with a nice massage from the one and only Haley Jo was an added bonus! Today he's off at another golf tournament thanking sponsors at one of the tees, but tomorrow we're headed to the beach, just the three of us and we. can't. wait.

Road Trip...

2011-07-27T08:44:00.001-07:00

Yes, yes, I realize I have been slacking on the ol'-blog. I was just going through some of our pictures too and noticing how many things I had hoped to post, but still haven't gotten to... such is life! We're trying to keep up with the speed of life and enjoy every ounce of this summer and I suppose it hasn't allowed for me to be at the computer much. Or I've just been lazy - take your pick!

Anyway, this weekend was Hoopla - for all of you valley-ites that's probably old news, but for those of you who don't live around here it's a giant 3-on-3 basketball tourney that is held in downtown Salem. Apparently they had a record amount of teams enter this year (somewhere around 670?!?) and the weather was awesome! All that to say, Matt was committed to volunteering at Hoopla all weekend (Thur night-ish - Sunday) and although Madi and I would have gone for a bit to see some of the excitement, we really didn't have much plans to hang out on 90 degree black top all day long!

As such, we decided to plan an impromptu road trip to see "the" sista with Nana! It was perfect! Thankfully the sun decided to shine in Tacoma, as well (a very rare-occassion, I know)!

Jess just got discharged from the Army and started a new job a few weeks ago. She's a prison nurse - Pierce County Jail welcomed her with open arms. Apparently that's what the Army does for you - hooks you up with one tough job after another... ;) She's been waiting for her new place to be ready for her and she got the keys on Wednesday - just in time for us to come cozy the place up for the weekend.

... or jump in the pool on Friday night.

The pool on the roof of the complex overlooks Commencement Bay In Tacoma

Unfortunately I pretty much sucked at taking pictures after Friday night. Maybe because we were pretty much slave-driven the rest of the weekend.

Kidding.

Well, sort of. Saturday was spent with the plumber fixing the faucets/shower/garbage disposal, etc. and then with about five different stops at stores like Target, Wal Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Furniture Outlet, IKEA, World Market... you name it! I do have one picture of Madi on Saturday night (taken on my phone) after an afternoon/evening of shopping. Let's just say she had pretty much dropped and I was smart enough to have brought along the binki (props to me)....

Here she is smashed between two pillows and a new rug. Who knew BB&B could be so comfy?!?

Our final evening of play was on Sunday when we went up to Josh & Krista's house for a birthday BBQ for Josh! We had some time to snuggle baby Jude and enjoy some good food!

Evidently the belly works as a nice little pillow (38 weeks). Jude is getting big fast, but what's new, right?!?! :(

As for the condo, it looked MUCH better when we left than when we got there... so much organizing, and furniture to actually sit on! I didn't take any before and after pics, but I'll have Jess send some once the couch finally arrives! My favorite was probably the cubicle bookshelf from ikea (although it sort of stresses me out because the boxes on the shelf aren't fully organized yet - she promised me they would be shortly)! We can't wait to go back in September and enjoy Jess' bed again with everything in its place!

As Matt put it, I was sort of in heaven spending someone else's money and organizing all weekend. Hey, it never hurts to live vicariously through other people every now and then, right?!?!

I have no desire to be a prison nurse, however; so the fun stopped on Monday morning when Jess had to go back to work and we drove back to reality...

Anybody else need my assistance spending their money and organizing their life? You have my contact info.

37 Weeks...

2011-07-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well, this summer is flying by and before we know it August is going to be here (and so will our little boy)! I had a doctor's appointment today and I will officially be heading in every week from now on out. Matt and Madi decided to tag along and we made a morning of it by heading down to the carousel and playing at the park for a little while. I even remembered to bring our camera, which I was so excited about... until I pulled it out and it wouldn't work!

**Note to self: Digital cameras are useless without SD cards inserted in them...**

I've sort of always been paranoid that I would do that, but I've never actually gone somewhere and then realized I didn't have my memory card. I suppose I can blame it on the preggo-brain, right?!?

Oh well, I guess our phones came in handy... it just sort of stinks when I'm used to taking "real" pictures...

Madelyn was in heaven! We went to the park first while we waited for the carousel to open. She's very into being a big girl and is always saying things like:

"Dada, watch this!"

"Haha, look at me!"

"This is SO fun!"

It's pretty cute... And so is she...

She rode the carousel twice, once with each of us. Although, I think if she had it her way she would have ridden it enough times to ride on every horse there... We distracted her by saying it was time to go look at the boats down by the river.

We then discovered the "splash park", which neither of us realized was there... Madi was a little disappointed that we didn't bring her "pin-sess towel" (AKA "Princess Towel") and that we wouldn't let her get naked, but she quickly got over it...

She was pretty wet by the end (this wasn't quite the end), but enjoyed every minute of it! We walked around a little bit longer to dry off and then headed home for some lunch (and shut-eye!!!)...

It was a perfect Friday morning, really.

On a baby note: everything is a-okay... Emmitt was head down (hopefully for good), but he is still VERY active. You can always get him to give you a good kick, or punch or head bang if you push on him in the slightest. Apparently he's gonna be a fighter, and chances are his arms and legs are about twice as long as the normal sized baby... he's sort of doomed.

Noodle arms?

What?

I've never heard of such a thing...

Chicken legs?

Anway...

No family pic from today, but I did steal one from last weekend (at Matt's 10 year HS reunion)...

Hello, fat-face, I can't wait to say goodbye to you!

Backyard Camping...

2011-07-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

It's true... we ventured into the backyard for what I hope is the last overnight stay on an air mattress during this pregnancy. I suppose only time will tell. It was my brother and sister-in-law's 11th anniversary and we got to have the boys overnight for a little slumber party and we had recently promised them a camping trip in the backyard complete with a fire and s'mores....

Let's just say they hadn't forgotten!

Unfortunately for us Matt was gone most (okay, pretty much ALL) of the day so Seven and I were left assembling a giant dome tent with Madi, Michael and the wind as our competitors. We finally won, but for obvious reasons there was no time to document the event... we, ahem I, chose safety over pictures.

Finally, however, after the tent was raised, the floor had gotten fairly dirty, energy had been wasted running around in circles inside of it, dinner had been eaten, Veggie Tales had been turned on to momentarily zone out the three monsters I was able to snap a few pictures of our final event...

Burnt S'mores!

And just in case you wondered, baby Croz survived the day too! He slept through most of it and then rode comfortably on my back during the campfire activity... This picture is incredibly blurry due to the fact that it was taken in the reflection of the sliding glass door with the flash being held down, but you get the picture...

Crosby went home to sleep peacefully in his own bed and we took the rest of these tired eyes to the tent and read some spooky stories like The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm and The Dark, Dark Night.

Hey, they picked the books out, not me!

Uncle Matt came home just in time to dog-pile on the air mattress and say some goodnight prayers and then the flashlights went out.

...until 5:40 in the morning.

Not to worry, I more than made up for my lack of sleep the next night, so don't feel too bad for me! ;)

Happy Saturday!!! =)

Independence Day!

2011-07-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the favorite holiday of the year has come and gone and once again, we Staytonians did a great job of celebrating! We really never seem to have a problem with it...

Our tradition started off with a BBQ at the Pynchs' house, followed by the annual parade (which, yes, is rather lame, but there's still free candy so can you really complain?), the authentic softball game, and of course a wonderful firework show! My favorite part is that we never have to get in a car the whole day - sometimes it's just too convenient to live in a small town! ;)

I pretty much just took pictures at the parade. It would have been just a little too much effort to get the camera out when we were eating, and truth be told I may have lost my spot in the buffet line...

There's proof that Matt was able to play softball this year, which was a little different than last year's sideline seat. It was fun to watch him once again, although it might be a little disappointing that the days of endless home-runs are over, but as we often say to each other, it is what it is... and it was certainly better than sitting in a wheel chair!

Our sweet baby girl was slightly afraid of the giant firetrucks at the beginning, which made her awfully snuggly and she kept asking to go back to "Abbie's house"...

She quickly made a new best friend though when Robin pulled out her bag of treats...

Did someone say bubbles?!?

Don't mind the gimpy arm in the far right... that's just Mary trying to keep all of the blood from running to the end of her arm. ;)

Let's just say that it was either a bad year, or we really are all getting older... I like to think of it as the first excuse!

Typical...

Sort of typical again...

And sweet Michael was also afraid of something... I caught him sprinting between people to get as far away from the parade as possible. He finally ran into a brick wall and decided hiding his face was the best option for protection?!?!

I don't know. He's sort of a weird kid. ;)

We had to document Jon's first presence at the parade! (And Blake's too, of course) Too cute!

My Faves.

A comfortable outfield position.

Hope you enjoyed celebrating the greatest American holiday out there! We won't put our red, white and blue away for good, we'll just simmer down for a while! =)