Judah's First Birthday

We celebrated Judah's 1st birthday this week. I can't believe how time flies! He is such an amazing little boy. He's so chubby and cute...he has been walking for about two months now and is practically unstoppable!
I can hardly believe that one year ago I was feeling huge and very tired, ready for this little guy to come out. He made me work just about harder than any of the other children mearly by staying in my belly a full three weeks longer than the rest. He was the one that I thought would truly never come out - but I savored every moment, even the rough ones, just knowing that this may be the end of our journey in the baby department. I wanted to take this year and do everything I could to be more patient, loving and nurturing to all the kids. I wouldn't say I 100% succeeded...I definitely had my moments of frustration and impatience! But every morning smelling that sweet baby smell in his hair and kissing his forehead telling him I love him, nursing him as long as I could and resisting the temptation to give him a bottle in the middle of the night when I thought I couldn't survive on any less sleep, dealing with two children in diapers....all of the struggles and triumphs are totally worth it when they smile at you and snuggle up in your neck for kisses and loves. Judah is a very strong boy and sweet like his older brother. I loved every moment of this year and I look forward to the next zillion!

The biggest post ever!

Well, here we go…it’s the biggest blog of all and I am ready to share all the latest with the crazy bunch. November was busy with school for Jeremiah, church activities, getting ready for the holidays and changes at work for John. Shortly before Thanksgiving our family lost a very dear friend, Linda Palmer. Aunt Linda, as we called her, has been my grandma, Yvonne’s best friend since their preteens. I didn’t even know she wasn’t a blood relative until my teens! We miss her greatly and have been keeping her husband, Uncle Bud and their kids Chris and Wendy and their families in our prayers. Jeremiah put it the best when he said to John(about her passing), “It’s ok, this just happens sometimes and God will help us feel better”. Have I mentioned how much I love that little boy?! They had a really nice memorial service at the church and although it was not the best of circumstances, it was nice to see family and friends that we haven’t seen in a long time.

Later that week was Thanksgiving and I got really sick that day and ended up spending it in bed-the kids and John had a good time eating dinner and John ended up taking me into the ER for my meal later that day….a couple bags of saline with a side of Zofran! I was much better the next day and so the kids and I went over to my parents house for their annual Pie Night….we ate entirely too much pie! It was so fun though :)

A few weeks later we went on our trip to Seattle (see previous post for the details). While we were on our trip we did a small celebration for Alison’s birthday, so when we returned we planned a party for her. Unfortunately, she got a terrible cold and so we cancelled her party…Papa and Nana came up for dinner anyway though and she opened presents and enjoyed her Dora cake that I made for her. She was such a trooper and even though she was sick she looked adorable with her rosy cheeks.
Jeremiah had his very first school Christmas program at Helix school. It was so adorable and he did a great job. He liked getting all dressed up and singing with his friends.The kids got a surprise visit from Santa that weekend as well….Santa was delivering gifts for Mrs. Hansell, Jeremiah’s teacher….Alison broke down briefly afterward because she was sad she didn’t get the chapstick she wanted for Christmas…we had to explain that he would be back later on Christmas Eve with the rest of the presents! Jeremiah couldn’t figure out where his sleigh and reindeer were so we explained that Santa had a special driver that day so the reindeer could rest and be ready for Christmas :)

We had an early Christmas Eve at Grammy’s with the rest of the family the weekend before the actual holiday. The kiddos had fun and they loved all the gifts they received. It was great to see everyone and play! Reminded me of when I was little to see all the aunts, uncles and cousins playing with all our toys! lol
We had wonderful, relaxing very low-key Christmas at home this year. We attended our churches Christmas Eve service and then enjoyed homemade cinnabons and coffee with my parents, Uncle Aaron and Grammy. The kids opened their stockings and gifts from out-of-town family and our fav Auntie Genevive :) -thanks Auntie Gen, the kiddos LOVED their gifts! Although John worked both Christmas Eve and Day, he was able to be with us after a long nap. The kids love having daddy to play with and they are always so excited when he comes home from work! So when he came home the next morning Papa, Nana and Uncle Aaron returned to open presents and have brunch with us. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom when Alison, with sleep still in her eyes, walked by on her way to the living room. About 10 seconds later, she came running back to the bathroom and jumped up and down with arms flailing, "Mom, there is a lot, a lot, a lot of presents!! Santa came last night! Santa came last night!!" I tried not to shower the bathroom with toothpaste as I laughed...she is so funny! The kids had SO much fun opening all their gifts! We are so blessed!! Papa, Nana and Uncle Aaron left after brunch for a power nap and then Papa and Nana returned for a nice turkey dinner. It was a very good holiday and we enjoyed the simplicity of just being home with each other.


(there were only about 500 pictures for me to go thru to post...soo after choosing a few, i opted to post them as a little video)



New year’s was uneventful in our house. The kids were in bed at a decent hour, John was working and I got some much needed quiet time. Now we are back to normal…whatever that is! School has started and routine is back in place.
Also, the week before Thanksgiving, Judah started taking his first steps. John was home with him and called me on my cell phone to tell me...I, of course, couldn't wait to get home and see for myself. He would take a couple of steps and fall down laughing or saying uh-oh….he started walking across the room about two weeks later and now he is virtually unstoppable! He is so cute with his chubby legs and waddle! As you can tell by the video, there is never a dull moment in our house! Whip out the camera and you have four show-offs!

We made a trip north this last week. Jeremiah had a doctor's appointment at Seattle Children's to look into an issue he has been having...thank the Lord, all went well and we have a healthy boy! Nothing further to be done and he is just fine.
While we were in Seattle, we stayed a night at a hotel downtown. John and I were so busy just finding the hotel and then getting all our loot and troop into our room, that when Jeremiah walked over to the hotel window, flung the curtains wide open and exclaimed "IT's a ROCKET!!" We were both completely suprised that our room had an amazing view of the Space Needle, Experience Music project and all of downtown. Everything was lit-up for Christmas and so beautiful. I didn't get any pics taken until the early the next morning and by that time they had turned off the extra lights...it was still beautiful though! Jeremiah and Alison loved to sit by the window and talk about all the people the "rocket" was taking to space....they were watching the gold elevator go up and down-lol! Love their imagination!

The next day after Jeremiah's appointment, we took the kids to lunch at Red Robin on the pier and then walked them down a block to the Seattle Aquarium. They had SO much fun! We watched a diver in one of the big tanks feeding fish, touched the urchins and starfish in the touch pool, watched a giant ocotopus get fed, went in the underground water dome to see the sharks and other fish, listened to the sound of whales and soooo much more! We will definitly be visiting there again....but next time we are taking a stroller-my arms were killing me!
Also on our trip the kids got to spend some time with their grandparents and we were able to visit with aunts, uncles and cousins too. We had a very nice time at Dan and Elizabeth's and even had a quick visit to Uncle Dan's new autobody shop :) On Wednesday, the 9th, we celebrated Alison's birthday. Since we were still on our trip, we wanted to do something fun for her. We were headed home so we stopped for a visit with a our very good friend Heidi....we had so much fun catching up and we will miss her when she leaves for Africa for a year :( After we said our goodbyes, we stopped and suprised Alison with another treat....she was going to be getting her ears pierced! She has been asking for a long time for "pretties in her ears" and so John decided her birthday was a great opportunity. She was SO brave and didn't even cry! She held mommies hand and smiled. Such a BIG girl! We finally made it home...and I am happy to say, I've only left the house twice since :)

In other news...we had a major snow fall over the weekend and we have been enjoying it from the comfort of our new family room :o)

Finally some more pics!
The kiddos were warming their toes on one of our recent chilly mornings. I sat on the kitchen counter and took this looking down at them...they thought it was hilarious.





The BEFORE of our family room.....

The AFTER of our remodel....subfloor and finishing will happen next year. It's usable and cozy enough for us now :)


Miss Hosanna and Momma

Watching Monsters vs. Aliens at Papa and Nana's while they were in Arizona...Momma was doing laundry since our dryer had broke.

A little teaser for now...

Because we don't have a working camera...other than our phones right now...it's been a bit difficult to get some pics of the kiddos lately. So until I can scrounge up some more pics of the latest and greatest...here are more of our awesome photoshoot in September.

I promise I'll update the blog sometime this weekend :) (Just for you Grammy)

Tub time

I thought this was cute...Judah in the "tub":