Super Christmas

Caelan's super hero cape

Adelaide's super hero cape

Look how fast she can run!

Who looks alike?

Here are all my kids at around the same age. Adelaide is hard to judge because she is not nearly as chunky as the other two. Maybe we can compare in a few months again once Laidy had a little more time to catch up. Thoughts? I think Caelan and Evelyn look a lot alike. Both so cute and chubby. I think I could look at pictures of kids all day long. It's just so fun to think about them at the different ages.

Caelan

Adelaide

Evelyn

My sweet Evelyn

My sweet little girl always has smiles. She has been sick with a cold the last few days and this is what she acts like. The only way I can tell something is wrong is she sounds like a piglet when she is sleeping. She is the best baby in the world!

Thanks Jenn!

So glad you were sick because we had so much fun with your daughter! What was going to be a boring day at home turned into a day full of friends! We went to the toy factory after playing at my house for awhile and then it took me 30 mins to get all 4 carseats in my car... doesn't adelaide look safe? Just slightly falling. But they were all buckled very tight. We then went to drive through the good ol' Pepsi plant which we did a couple times. The kids all had fun... but this scared me a little... Is this safe?

I like this series

Okay it got all mixed up and not in the right order but maybe you can put it all together.

The happenings

What? My kids are playing quietly? I found a fun little activity that they both enjoy! And... SILENCE! It's amazing! Caelan has been wanting to snuggle Evy all the time which is so cute. He was laying with her on the couch and singing and talking to her. soooo sweet. Laidy looked so cute today with her pony tail and designer jeans.

I tried

I thought it would be fun this year to make our own wrapping paper. I have tons of paper bags that I thought the kids could decorate and then wrap our gifts with extra love. I always think that if just give my kids the opportunity they will really enjoy painting and doing crafts. Turns out they have no attention span. They were happy long enough for me to take a few pictures and then it turned into body art, then they were done. We spent 5 mins at the table. I was hoping for at least 30... Also Evy tried riding forward for a little bit. She liked but just couldn't stay awake.

Laidy Loo Hoo

Trying new things

So my aunt and one of her friends are starting up a little business. The are teaching kids how to ride horses! They wanted to try it out and my kids (and Jessye's) got to be the Guinea pigs. It was so fun! Caelan took a little while to warm up and then loved it. Adelaide was bossing the pony around from the beginning.

Evelyn enjoyed the horses too!

The videos were taking forever so I'll try another time.

BATMAN

Happy Halloween

This year we wanted to be intentional about our halloween. We wanted it to be a night where we could display the gospel to our neighbors. Usually we hand out candy and try to hide but this year we made hot dogs and apple cider and stood outside to try and meet our neighbors. We got to talk with some people. Some people passed us by and some just came to get the food and go on their way. Caelan and Adelaide did get rather bored and ended up watching tv on Nathan's computer and I was in and out of the house the night changing diapers and feeding. BUT Nathan got to be out there the whole time. I think I want to make this a tradition. Maybe find out something else to make other than hot dogs. Nathan said you aren't supposed to take baked goods from people... so I guess that's out. I would just rather have some pumpkin bread than a hot dog... We have a year to plan I suppose.

The weekend

Tailgater with wonderful rainy weather. We all came home wet and cold but had great food, thank Jenna! Also, enjoying our new small camera that I can take everywhere with me!

We braved the streets of Corvallis on Friday to go trick-or-treating downtown. It was CRAZY. Caelan only almost got lost once. I wouldn't let Adelaide out of the stroller and dear sweet Evelyn slept the ENTIRE time! We were out and about for 4 hours and I didn't need to stop and feed her on a park bench or anything which was nice for me.

My own little zoo.

Changing it up.

So I've been planning for my birth class that starts in December. After Evelyn's birth I am totally changing how I teach the class. Adelaide's birth so was so easy that my view of birth was a little skewed. Evelyn's birth was great and amazing and I had a great support team. I think now I just have a little more realistic view of birth, It's hard. Support is the most important thing during labor! I had my husband, my mom, my friend (doula as far as the hospital knows : )), and an amazing midwife who was there the whole time I was in the hospital. All of them massaged my back at least once. Jenna was getting popsicles, moving cars, getting washcloths, puke bags, cameras etc. Mom was next to me the whole time offering support that only a mom could. She was actually holding me up while I was pushing Evelyn out. Also, as I was looking through the pictures every time she was touching me her eyes were closed and I know she was just praying for me the whole time. Nathan was holding the puke bag being there for me. Just having Nathan close to me was so much support. I'm just emphasizing more comfort measures and going to have them be practicing them every class. I want it to be a more interactive class where they leave feeling prepared to handle labor and confident in their support team and most importantly, themselves. I'm excited to see what happens.

Strength

Having 3 kids has been interesting so far. We are all trying to adjust to the sweet Evy. She is SOOOOO easy so far. So really we are just adjusting to mom not sleeping as much. But I still have yet to hear Evelyn really cry, she is just such a delight. I forgot about how right by the shoulder blades hurts for awhile until you get used to carry a baby all the time. I forgot how hard it is to make yourself get up for night feedings. I forgot how much you can love such a little thing. Look it how strong she is though! I was so surprised when I put her on her tummy and she did this!

5 Years and counting!

On September 4th, 2005 Nathan and I got married. We planned to leave for Germany a few months later but had no idea what the years ahead would hold.


This is us in Munich. During the time that we lived in Europe we were able to go to these countries:
Austria
Switzerland
Belgium
Luxembourg
France
Moldova
Albania
Romania

After/During all of our adventures we had our first baby in Germany. Sweet Sweet Caelan.

Then came our little munchkin Adelaide..
Then we got pregnant yet again.... Can't wait to meet this little one.


I feel pretty good about all that we have done in our first 5 years of marriage. I can't wait to see all the adventures that we will go on in the years to come. Caelan tells me almost every day that he loves me and I'm pretty. He learned this from his very wonderful father. I am so lucky to have a husband who loves me so much and teaches our kids to love as well.

Albania!

I decided today that I love facebook! This morning I checked my account and had two new friend requests. They were from two sisters that I stayed with in Albania before Nathan and I got married. I had stayed in pretty good contact with them until their letters started getting returned to me. Turns out facebook has made it's way to Albania and now I can see what they look like not just get their letters. I love it!

Playing

We are really enjoying our backyard and so are the neighbor kids! Stop by anytime to play with us!

Correction!

Next Thursday! Not today in a week! Us momma's decided that it's going to be too hot with wee little ones so we will do it NEXT thursday. Hopefully everyone reads this in time! Anyone is welcome to come over to our place though instead. We have a kiddy pool set up and a play structure that is in the shade by the afternoon. Just call for directions if you don't know and if you do just come on over!

Adair Park Party

Tomorrow, thursday night, we're having a party! At 5:30 bring your dinner and your family and we'll have a picnic in the park. If you haven't been to Adair park it's a great place with lots to do for kids and adults and it's all close to each other. Hope to see you all there!

Moving in

We are getting settled! There still is so much that needs to be done around the house but at least it's been livable for a few days now. It took Nathan two hours to mow our lawn and there wasn't enough room in our yard depris for it all... We'll have to figure something out. Caelan also flushed a stick down our toilet which is Oh so fun. We still haven't fixed it yet. But Nathan finished the play structure and the kids LOVE it. Caelan climbed up on it the first time and was jumping all around saying, "Thanks for building this, Dad! I love it! I love it!" So I think we will be out there a lot. Also, it's teaching Adelaide to be a great climber. Haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

It's just me and Adelaide here for a few days while Nathan and Caelan get to go camping at the Metolius with Nathan's family. I was really hoping to go but I have a client that was due on the 24th and we are still waiting for her to go into labor. So I had to stay home. I go back and forth on being happy and then sad. I love camping and would have really liked to go and see my kids be all dirty and have so much fun. Camping is some of my favorite family memories growing up. Then I think about sleeping on the floor and needing to get up in the middle of the night to go pee and then I'm glad that I had to stay home. I'm also just getting really anxious to be at this birth. It will be fun to get to be at one so close to when I will have mine. It will just remind me of all the feelings that happen. I think that when this one is over than I will really be able to just focus on my baby and what it will be like this time around. All three of our birth experiences will so different and it's fun to think about how this one will happen. I also have been realizing that I really need to start talking to Caelan more about the baby coming. We had a small little baby over here last week and he was asking so many questions. I guess I have just been so busy that I haven't thought about sitting down with him and talking about what it will be like with another baby. I haven't really thought about what it will be like with another baby...

I suppose that's enough of my thoughts for the night. I will be posting pictures of our house soon. I've been putting off taking pictures until things are really clean. I'm not really confident that will ever happen though so maybe I should just do it now.

allergies

This week has been TERRIBLE for allergies. I don't usually have much of a problem at all and i've been miserable. Itchy eyes, stuffy nose, sneezes that hurt my chest. So lame. I'm pretty sure Caelan has allergies too which is no fun.

Things that are fun though....