Happy Birthday Isabella!

Isabella turned one year old on Sunday! I still can't believe how fast the time has gone by! We had a gathering of friends at our home to celebrate. Bella's godparents, Robert and Michelle, and their daughter, Emma, drove up from Olympia to join us!
We had friends from church and friends form the old neighborhood!

Isabella dove right into her cake...


She opened lots of presents and loved playing with the paper, of course!

Now, onto Christmas... woo hoo!

It's Been Too Long...

Wow! It's been months since I last posted! We're now into month 3 of school and making plans for the holidays! Homeschooling is going well but we are still figuring out what works best for us. The girls and I are all really enjoying it! Here are the girls hard at work...

Jake has started preschool and loves it! Here he is on his first day! And his green soldier costume from Toy Story was so popular that he won 2 costume contests in it!


This is also birthday season for us! Emma just had her 7th birthday. Here she is in her Ladybug Halloween costume...


Bella will be turning 1 in only a few weeks and Allyssa will be turning 11 at the end of December! Allyssa is posing in her Bumble Bee costume and Bella is in her skunk costume!




They're all getting so big so fast! It's hard to believe how much time has gone by...
Bill and I have been married for 12 years.
Our oldest child is turning 11 and our youngest is turning 1.
We've been living in Washington for 2 1/2 years!

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe that 4 months have gone by! I have so many pictures it will be hard to narrow down to my favorites!
We've moved into the new house! I don't have many pictures yet... too many boxes on the way! But I will get some up soon!

The summer has been busy so far. Besides moving, we have been to Forest Park Petting farm and Playground and Big Four Ice Caves. We spent 4th of July with neighbors in our old neighborhood. We went to the Everett Naval Base open house where Bill and Allyssa got to take a tour of the Aircraft Carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and we watched a 4th of July parade in Everett.

March Update

Tummy Time! Bella hates to spend time on her tummy but we were having a good day so I had to get the camera! She's now 3 1/2 months old. Where does the time go? She smiling, laughing, and babbling! She still rarely takes more than power naps during the day but she does sleep well at night!

Emma and Allyssa participated in their school's Science Fair last week. They did an experiment titled 'Boiling Ice?" where they observed and reported the results of adding ice to boiling water. They each received a participation ribbon and had a great time!



Jake has become a little Puzzle Master! He has already gotten bored with the 25 piece puzzles and moved on to the 60 and 100 piece ones! During the day, the floor is just littered in various puzzles! The ones that have stumped him are the lenticular puzzles with dual images. They are pretty tough!

Hello Spring????

It has been unseasonably warm all year long. We've had trees and flowers blooming for weeks and it's only the beginning of March! It's been a busy (as usual) month for us already.
Allyssa is finishing up her basketball season tomorrow. She had a very successful talent show where she sang 'Amazing Grace' Girls Scout cookie season is wrapping up after this weekend. Allyssa has sold over 270 boxes and is still going!
Emma has sold over 100 boxes and passed up her goal of 75 boxes.
Jake is fighting another cold and as his 3rd birthday approaches he is already starting to act like a 3 year old. He is full of spunk and energy and is hard to keep up with sometimes! Bella is now 3 months old and is smiling and even laughing a little. She's sleeping through the night some nights but still refuses to take more than power naps during the day. Since her tummy troubles have cleared up she has decided to boycott the bottle so she is pretty much goes wherever I go, even to cookie booths!

Bill started his new position and is dealing with the extra stress that comes with it!
Our newest addition is a full size van. We recently bought a 15 passenger Club Wagon. The thing is huge but I can actually drive it (and park it!) For those who have seen the movie "RV" you'll love this... The kids have nick-named it "The Big 'Ol Rolling Turd!" Even Jake sings the song from the movie "Big 'ol rolling turd comin' through, coming though!" If you haven't seen the movie... rent it! It is hilarious!

Getting Back to Normal...

Well, it's February already and we're finally starting to get back into our routines. Bella made her entrance a little earlier than expected and was born on December 5, 2009. She weighed in at 7 pounds and 7 ounces and was 19 inches long. My amazing in-laws were with us for over a week and did all the work around the house and took care of the other kids while I was able to recover from the surgery. Thank you Mom! They went back to Michigan on the 15th and Bill was able to take much of the rest of December off from work. But January brought us all back to reality. Bill had to go back to work and the girls had to go back to school. It was a little rough for me for a few weeks. Bella didn't sleep much and she has had some ongoing tummy problems that have made things difficult for me to juggle. But now her tummy is doing better. She is sleeping pretty well at night. And I'm learning to add in the 4th kid into my juggling routine. The girls have really stepped up and started to help out a lot more around the house and that has been a big help!
Right now Bill is working long hours and has even worked through the last 2 weekends. But this weekend we are taking some much needed time off and heading to Leavenworth for a weekend retreat with friends. After we get back Bill will be starting a new position at Boeing, which will still include the long hours, but at least he'll be well rested!
Sometime this spring we will be moving again! The house that we are renting will be going up for sale, as our landlords will be moving out of state. So we are already looking for our new location, possibly closer to Bill's work. (A long day is made so much longer by a long drive!)
The kids are doing well. Bella is now 2 months old and already starting to smile! Allyssa just turned 10 and is enjoying 4th grade, making friends, Girl Scouts and Basketball. Emma is 6, loving Kindergarten and also joined Girl Scouts as a Daisy. Jake will already be turning 3 in a couple of months (although he's already starting to act it... he's spunky and testing me!) We're still involved with the MOMS Club. Actually, as of last July, I am the President of our local chapter. Both the kids and I have made some great friends and the club has been a good resource for me.