Owen Turns 6!

A week ago today was Owen's sixth birthday! In some ways I can't believe he is already six. It seems like time is going too quickly...he is growing and changing too fast. Then I think he darn well better be at least six because I have FOUR KIDS. I mean really, let's not make me any crazier than I am. :) So above you will see the birthday banner that I think I started for Jed's birthday last February and I finished at 1:45 a.m. (with Kate by my side--she woke up and couldn't go back to sleep--sigh!) on Owen's birthday. I just couldn't let another birthday go by without having it done. Carmen and Shelby...are you proud of me?

Of course Owen woke up at 6:30 a.m. SUPER PUMPED that they day he had waited for all year, had FINALLY arrived.


After breakfast and a bit of playing around the house we headed off to an open house at the school. Owen got to meet his teacher again, find his cubby, etc. Above you see my sweet boy by the sign that made my eyes water. I really did not think that it would affect me to send him off to kindergarten. We did the whole preschool thing so I thought that I was in the clear. Somehow this was different. I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter and I hope we are ready for it!
After the Open House Miss Beth brought us Sonic for lunch and then decorated Owen's LEGO cakes for me. Once again Beth saves the day with her cake decorating talents. :) Owen wanted to have a LEGO party and this was the first time that I limited the party to a few friends his own age. He had a GREAT time. My camera died in the middle of the party, so I will have to get the rest of the pictures from Beth's camera.

I am lucky to have a husband who can be at the birthday parties and things and that night we camped out in the backyard (Owen's request of course...man this is one lucky kid) and the party kept going and going....

I have to say that the next night when I climbed into my own bed I was one HAPPY gal. There is nothing like being in your own bed. Happy Birthday Owen!

The last of our Summer festivities...

Last month I reported that we blessed Gracie while Jed's mom was here visiting. I always love to have Jed's mom here. She is SO terrific about playing with the kids and looks for ways to lighten my load. Last Christmas I told her that she could move in and be my nanny, but she informed me that Jed couldn't afford her. Oh well. Anyway, we had a nice visit with her. Kate had her first real tea party with Grandma, the boys loved doing art, reading Magic Treehouse books and playing legos with her, I loved hearing her memories of Jed as a child while walking the track together at the elementary school and we FINALLY made it to see Crater Lake. Nila pumped the boys up by telling them a very dramatic story about how a volcano EXPLODED creating this huge crater. After that they really didn't mind too much that we had to drive two hours to see the crater. You should have seen how captivated they were by it all. Amazing.




This is the amazing quilt that my mom made Davis!

At the end of the month we ventured down to my parents for an action packed reunion with my siblings' families, grandparents and Auntie J. We visited Columbia, an old Cowboy town in the foothills of CA and the Jelly Belly Factory. We swam, shot paintballs, rebuilt a "spy fort" for the kids and ate and ate and ate. The things I loved the most about this time were watching the kids play together, visiting with my family and the luxury of being able to take kid-free morning walks with Jed. We all had some really good laughs and did I mention that we ate well?

Then back home we came to tackle the last few weeks of summer and the bountiful fruit from our trees. With the prompting and help of some friends I canned pears and peaches (the peaches were not from our yard) and grape juice. Then we made and froze plum pies and Jed took the lead on drying yet some more pears and plums. I have to admit that I never thought that I would be one who would can anything, but there is something really satisfying about the whole process.

Two Months Old....

Yesterday was Jed's brother Ryan's birthday (Happy Birthday Ryan!) and Gracie's two month birthday.

I can hardly believe she is already two months old. I have so many adventures to yet post here on my blog...more of Grandma Nila's visit to us, our family reunion with my side of our family, etc, but for now I thought I would at least post these darling pictures that my dear friend Shelby took and tell you about my favorite thing about having a two month old (and no it is not that she sleeps 6 to 7 hour stretches...although that is a close second)....Our current favorite past time is watching her smile. One of the other kids will make her smile and then announce it to the other two who will come running to check it out and get in on the action. Of course it usually becomes a fight over who can make her smile the biggest and the poor baby gets caught in the middle and usually ends up crying. Such is life when you are #4 in this family. :)

Blessing Grace

Jed's Mom was able to come visit us for a long weekend and just left this morning (boo-hoo!). We decided to take advantage of this time with family in town and we blessed Gracie in church yesterday. It was a beautiful day and Jed gave her a lovely blessing of health, understanding, and a desire to do good, make wise choices and to stand in holy places. Of course that is a very brief summary. The kids were all excited that it was her turn for a blessing and loved having Grandma tell them all about their own special blessing days. After church we enjoyed the afternoon and evening as a family: eating good food, playing legos, sitting outside chatting and of course taking more pictures of our girl.
My Great-Aunt Kathleen was able to attend also, so both Jed and I had family at the blessing. Of course we missed having the rest of our family, but we definitely felt loved and celebrated.

Our Kiddos Today...

Four weeks and counting...

Gracie has now been with our family for four weeks--Crazy! How do I recap all that has taken place in our family in four weeks? I'll do my best..Nana: My mom was here for almost two weeks. Unfortunately for her, just a few days after arriving she caught a terrible cold from Kate. Kate is so good at sharing! She still managed to make meals, fold laundry, change diapers and sew some cool Transformer/Scooby-Doo bags with the boys.The fourth of July: The kids spent the morning of the fourth playing outside and attacking their dad with water balloons. Then we actually ventured out of the house for a bbq and fireworks with friends. I just love the 4th of July. It is a holiday that I have many fond memories of from my childhood. Hopefully our kids will also have fun memories of this day.

Mary Jane: A few days before my mom was set to leave we learned that the baby that my sister-in-law, Ashley, and my brother, Matt, were expecting had died. She delivered the baby on July 10th and my Mom flew out on the 11th to be with them. We were all amazed at the strength and faith of Matt and Ashley as they have come together in the knowledge that they will see little Mary Jane again one day. Of course we feel grateful to have Gracie here with us as we have shared in sorrow with them. We love you Matt and Ashley.
Annie: Week four and Owen and Davis continue to call Gracie, "Annie". This poor confused child. I actually have a good laugh as I sit and listen to Kate debate with them about her name. "Annie is crying"...."No! Gayce!"...."Annie is awake!"..."No! Gayce!"..."Where is Annie?"..."No! Gayce!" Man, I love that girl!

Davis does still refer to her as "our brand new baby" as well.

Ben and Jerry: The first day I was alone with the kids on my own I declared it "official quiet time for all" around 2:00 p.m. Once all the little people were in their rooms I stood in the kitchen and ate Ben and Jerry ice cream out of the carton. I kept telling myself that I could do this and hopefully would not have to rely on Ben and Jerry every day to get me through. Thank goodness they were there when I needed them! God bless Ben and Jerry.Open House at the Fire Station: Our town had an Open House to celebrate the opening of a couple of new fire stations. It was a great event...one of those things you go to and leave saying, "I love this town!" The kids were able to climb on and in the fire trucks, police cars, a SWAT truck, eat hot dogs and ice cream, collect balloons, stickers and pencils, watch the Jaws of Life tear into a car and a demonstration of a police dog taking down a "bad guy" and finally...spray a fire hose. Does it get better than all of that?

Sisters: Up until today, I have stayed home with the girls from church. I will admit I have loved this time and of course have used it to take a few pictures along with reading stories, baking cookies, napping and playing with dolls. I hope these sisters will always love each other as I loved my sister.

Introducing little Gracie...

Sorry for being delayed with the photos and details, but little Gracie is here safe and sound!

Last Saturday was Kate's birthday and I started having more significant contractions than I had been experiencing. Really I just wanted to make it to the 28th, so that they could have different birthdays. That night I was up a lot with contractions and had them off and on throughout the next morning and afternoon. At the prodding of some persuasive friends I called my Doc (Dr Cohen--love her!) and asked if she was going to be at the hospital if I could have her strip my membranes to speed things up (she had offered to do this before and I knew that she was on call). Well, to my surprise she said, "Why don't we just head down there now, I'll break your water and we'll have a baby tonight?" "Uh, okay", I said. Beth and Shae had taken our kids to their home for the night and off we went. Basically, they checked me (I was at a 3 and 50%), got me in a room, I had my epidural, Dr Cohen came in, broke my water and two hours later I was ready to push. Seriously, this was the most surreal, laid back birthing experience yet. IT WAS AWESOME. We did have a little hiccup in that a respiratory therapist had to be on hand because they thought that Gracie had possibly swallowed some of the miconium, but it ended up being a false alarm...whew!
So, at 12:23 a.m. on June 29th our beautiful dark haired baby entered the world. She weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and looks A LOT like her handsome daddy's family. After much discussion we finally settled on the name Grace (Gracie) Jeanne. Owen still refuses to call her anything but "Annie" (from The Magic Treehouse books) and Davis thought we should have named her "Bergert" ("It is totally a girl name and means 'baby' in Spanish," he says.), but we'll see how long that lasts. Kate thinks she is the best toy we have ever gotten her and Davis is fascinated with letting us know when "It is AWAKE! Oh, how cute! Our new baby is awake."

We'll keep you posted on our life with little Gracie...