Thanksgiving 2009

I seem to be always a few steps behind with posting, but at least I'm getting there....otherwise I'll never remember what we did! This year, for the first time since being married, we spent Thanksgiving with my family (Diana had surgery just before Thanksgiving). It was a lot of fun to switch things up.

We spent Thanksgiving day at my parent's house with my Aunt Naomi, Uncle Montie, cousins Jared and Christian, and everyone but Charity and Justin. I don't have any pictures of the day, but it was spent eating, drinking Mark's homemade hard cider, listening to the guys talk politics and the economy and playing the wii.


The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing at the beach. And a huge bonus, all three kids actually slept great!

This was Aspen's favorite part of the weekend - playing Star Wars video games.

He loves Star Wars right now.

Our two new cuties - Lilly 6 months and Willow 3 months.

Hanging out, enjoying the hard cider. A good addition to any family party.

Yep, we are having fun!



Charity getting in some Willow time.

We love the beach. It was cold, but we didn't have any rain.

Isn't this a cool picture? I like how everything is in motion except Aspen's face.

Aspen, Peyton and Journey getting some energy out on the beach with Justin.

Aspen 5 1/2, Journey 2 1/2

I'll admit, I was hoping to get them to do something cute like holding hands, but they weren't having it...this was as close as they were going to get.

There are so many things I am thankful for, and I feel incredibly blessed. Many times at night, when I'm up feeding Willow and things are quiet, I think about it all and pour out my thanks to him.

Life

These aren't in any order, and I don't have any great stories, but I thought I'd just post some pictures of normal life. We are really enjoying our life as a family of five. It's busy, but in a good way.

I do have to say though, that I feel so much "mommy guilt" with Willow. I feel guilty that I have to wake her from naps to pick up Aspen from school. Guilt over having to do normal grocery shopping. Guilt that I don't spend as much one on one time with her as I did with Aspen and Journey. Guilt that what I eat may contribute to her reflux. On and on it goes. Is that normal? She is the sweetest thing. I love her so much, and wish I could just sit and snuggle her more often.


Everyone hanging with daddy watching a show.



Aspen and Journey really love each other. The chores consequences have really curbed his antagonistic behavior towards Journey and their relationship has improved so much. It makes me so happy each morning when they are so happy to see each other.

Okay, so this is borderline animal abuse, but I also thought it was pretty funny... It's hard to see, but the little thing peeking out of the bbq is the cat's head. He cornered the cat and trapped him in the bbq. He was laughing so hard as he "played" with the cat. I guess the antagonism has to be directed somewhere... :)

Zoe 3 days old & Willow 10 weeks old

I love that both Journey and Willow have cousins so close to their age. I'm sure they will be great friends, just like Journey and Ava.

The girls ~ Willow 3 months, Journey 2 1/2 years

Weekly Menu Plan

Okay, for the few of you who read my blog, just ignore this. I used to post my weekly menu plan at my savings blog, but now that we've been taking a break, I realized that I missed doing so. I get many of my dinner ideas from various places online, and forget where I found them unless I have a link to look up. Also, I like to look back on previous weeks to get ideas.

So, like I said, ignore this. It's just for me.


Monday: Seared tuna, salad, basmati rice

Tuesday: Chinese chicken salad

Wednesday: Fajita burritos

Thursday: Hoisin Chicken w/ cucumber salad

Friday: Party!

Saturday: leftovers

Weekly Menu Plan

Okay, for the few of you who read my blog, just ignore this. I used to post my weekly menu plan at my savings blog, but now that we've been taking a break, I realized that I missed doing so. I get many of my dinner ideas from various places online, and forget where I found them unless I have a link to look up. Also, I like to look back on previous weeks to get ideas.

So, like I said, ignore this. It's just for me.


Monday: Hot & Sour Soup, pot stickers

Tuesday: Grilled salmon, roasted sweet potatoes over spinach

Wednesay: Ministroni soup, crusty bread

Thursday - Saturday: w/ family at the beach

Journey & Her Friends

Journey's best friends right now is her friend Eliza and cousin Ava. I love watching her play with other little girls. She is already a super girly girl, constantly loving and mothering her babies, but she changes into a giggly, flighty little girl. Especially with Ava. It's adorable.

Journey & Eliza

Journey recently had a play date with Eliza at our house. It was the first time for Liza to come over without her mom. I had so much fun watching them run around. The first thing they did when Liza got here was to run up to Journey's room. They came down minutes later with her wearing one of Journey's head bands. Aren't they adorable?

Next they had fun pushing Willow in her swing. Good thing Willow is so laid back and used to being pushed by toddlers....

Then they had a blast playing dress-up in Journey's closet. They decided that they wanted to wear matching pink leggings, and then tried on many different skirts before they each decided on which one they wanted to wear. See Journey in the background trying to pull on her skirt?

Looking good, girls!

After deciding on their clothes, they played in Journey's bed with their babies. I think I had almost as much fun as they did just watching them play. They did a great job sharing and I didn't have to break up any fights. It was all fun :)

Just a little fun in the backyard between rain showers.

Trying to get a good picture of Journey in our traditional fall picture spot. Ugg, Journey is SO not photogenic...drives me crazy!

Journey & Ava

I love having cousins close in age. Journey and Ava both love their babies, and their baby sisters, Willow and Zoe!

Caught in the middle of a picnic with their babies :)

Weekly Menu Plan

Okay, for the few of you who read my blog, just ignore this. I used to post my weekly menu plan at my savings blog, but now that we've been taking a break, I realized that I missed doing so. I get many of my dinner ideas from various places online, and forget where I found them unless I have a link to look up. Also, I like to look back on previous weeks to get ideas.


So, like I said, ignore this. It's just for me.



Sunday: Jamacan pumpkin soup, peasant bread

Monday: Fish tacos

Tuesday: Moroccan Lentil Soup, peasant bread

Wednesday: Crockpot Chow Mein, salad

Thursday: dinner at mom's

Friday: dinner out


Saturday: leftovers

October

So this is a little out of order from my last post, but October just flew by without me posting much. Life stabilized a lot for me in October once Willow got on her reflux meds, and she was able to sleep during the day. And I figured out a workable schedule for me. I had really struggled to find a daily schedule that would work with feeding Willow every 2 1/2 - 3 hours plus driving Aspen to and from school. Unfortunately, that requires me to get up between 6 and 6:30am (previously considered night time!), but that's the only way I can get Willow fed, myself showered and everyone else dressed and fed before taking off at 8:15 for school.

Willow 7 weeks

7 weeks

7 weeks

With Fall upon us and our family getting bigger, we seem to be staying home more and just hanging out as a family. Life is a little slower that way, but it's actually been a lot of fun. We've had some fun movie and popcorn nights and wrestling matches with Daddy.

Daddy and his girls

(I love being able to say "girls"!)

Horsey rides with Daddy are the best.....

Aspen always ends up getting hurt playing with Mark, but always comes back for more after the appropriate amount of dramatic crying.

Beach Day Trip:

Tillamook Cheese Factory - gotta love that squeeky cheese and fresh ice cream!

The second weekend of October Mark decided that tuna season was officially over. With great sadness he decided that it was time to bring the boat home, so we decided to make a day of it and all go as a family. We had a great time and absolutely beautiful weather. Luckily, one of the beach houses wasn't rented, and we were able to hang out there for a couple hours after touring the Tillamook Cheese Factory and playing and eating lunch on the beach. That was probably the last beach trip with beautiful weather for the year, and I'm so glad we all went. Sometimes thinking about all the driving and logistics of taking three young kids to the beach for just one day is too overwhelming to me, and I would rather stay home and let Mark go. But I'm so glad I just went with the spontaneity of the day. We had such a fun time!

On My Own...

Mark took off on a business trip to Costa Rica for 5 days in October. That was the first time I had had all three kids on my own for more than one day, and thankfully it went pretty smoothly. But, I have to say that I have the best, most supportive family. Two nights in a row we had dinner at my mom's house, and Charity and Justin offered to take Aspen and Journey overnight for a sleep over. They had the best time playing with Peyton and Lilly at "the world's best park" (according to Aspen), having chicken nuggets for dinner and playing Star Wars video games. And I got to have dinner out at sushi with Christina!

We hadn't made it to the pumpkin patch yet this year. The Saturday that Mark was gone, the weather happened to be nice so I decided to take advantage of it and take the kids to the park for the morning. There happened to be a Fall Harvest Festival going on complete with tractor hay rides, an area for the kids to pick out their own pumpkins, games and yummy food....all for free! '

Waiting to get on the tractor hay ride.

While Mark was in Costa Rica, I took Aspen to get his Halloween costume. He was too excited to wait to wear it :)

Here we go...

On the hay ride....yes, it was funner than Aspen made it look!

The "pumpkin patch" :)

More Pics of Normal Life:

9 weeks

9 weeks

Bedtime ~ Isn't it sweet how they are holding hands?

9 weeks old

So sweet

This is a very common sight at our house. Journey just loves to lay next to her "wi-wwow"

10 weeks old
You know I love my girls in bows :)

10 weeks old

I love this picture. Aspen looks so proud and Willow so happy. I often wonder what their relationship will be like when Willow gets older.