We like to keep things interesting around here...

I think the picture says it all.... Baby #4 is on its way! The baby is due November 5th. You know, cause three kids just isn't busy enough. We thought we'd up the anti a little bit more. I'm 9 weeks along right now, and I've got the belly to prove it. Not to mention, the sickness, the food aversions, and the tiredness. How is it possible to forget how hard the first 12 weeks are? Pregnancy hormones really do affect your memory. They make you forget all the bad parts of pregnancy!

We are all excited about another baby around here. When we told Aspen and Journey, they cheered. Then quickly put in their requests for what they want the baby to be. Aspen wants another sister, and this was his reasoning, "I want another sister cause then I can beat up the boys that are mean to her!" (and the fact that he'll have to share his toys with a brother may have a little to do with wanting another sister too!). Journey wants a brother. We'll see in a couple months....

And, so I'll remember this years from now, Mark thinks this baby is a boy because I've been sick, and I thought "girl" when I found out I was pregnant. This is the first pregnancy where we don't really care either way, so it will be fun to find out if we are even-ing out the family or going way girl. :)

She's a silly one

Willow keeps us laughing around here. She has so much personality, and surprises us all the time with what she's able to say.

Every time Mark comes home she's the first to run to the door and say, "HI, Dadda!" The other day, she was upstairs, so she started yelling down the stairs at him until he came to say "hi" back. When she saw him, she said, "Hi Daddy! What are you doing?" as clear as day. We were completely shocked at the whole sentence that came out of her mouth (she's 20 months now).

In the picture above with Willow and Mark, she had climbed up on the couch, snuggled up against him, and pulled on his arm to hug around her. It was adorable, and he reminded me to get the camera quick!

Spring Break 2011

We are spending Spring Break at the beach this year. The thing I love about the beach house is that spending time here forces you to slow down. Literally. There is very little to do around Rockaway Beach other than go to the beach and spend time as a family.

It takes a while to get used to the slow pace of life here, but I really love it. The kids spend their days playing outside making forts by the creek and riding bikes. We go on walks twice a day, rain or shine, play games and watch movies together.

The weather has been generally pretty cold and rainy, but we have had some breaks that we've been able to take advantage of.

The girls played in the wind, rain and cold on Manzanita Beach. We are true Oregonians!

One morning of sun. The kids rode their bikes to the coffee shop and then we played on the beach. Beautiful morning for that.

Aspen's learning the fun of self-portraits...

Now this is what I call multitasking...

Bored on a rainy afternoon? A shower /bath always does the trick! Keeps them occupied for a rather long period of time + I get three clean kids! :)

My Girls

Anyone who knows me well, knows a few things about me.

1. I love little girls in dresses and skirts
2. I love little girls with a little bit of gold jewelry - earrings and bracelets
3. I love, love, love matching outfits.

Yes, I know it's a sickness.

Journey 4, Willow 19 months

FYI: Journey's been driving me crazy with this fake smile.

Here it is again.

Aww, Willow. My free spirit.

Silly girls

I've gotta include a pic of the back of Willow's hair.

See? Curls!!!
Love it.

Aspen
Aspen is doing awesome at school. I've been helping out in his class twice a month, and that has been so much fun. I've been able to meet his friends and see what he does at school. His teacher is quite organized and always has a "to-do" list for me, which I love. I want to be helpful while I'm there!

He has come a long way in his reading skills this year. He is now reading longer, easy chapter books and is able to read to himself as well as read out loud. Math comes easily to him, but he has had to work harder at reading and writing. Each week his teacher has the kids draw a picture and write about what they did over the weekend. I had to laugh as I started to notice that each week he would write about the same thing.... "I played Wii Mario Cart with my Dad. It was fun"... Or some variation of that sentence. His teacher must think that's all we do around here! lol

Aspen is really growing in his helpfulness around the house. Each week he vacuums the basement and other areas of the house, as needed. He also empties the dishwasher every morning, empties the garbage's around the house, and puts his laundry away. He cleans the toilet, mostly as a punishment :) I could have him do that as a chore, but it's one of those things where I would have to go behind him and do it again to make sure it was actually clean.

Journey
I did an update about her recently, so I won't write too much today. I do have to mention the purple princess purse/bag she got for her birthday from Charity that she just loves. It has become her favorite possession. She keeps her markers, a coloring book and make-up in it at all times as well as various other important things. It's one of those things that was cute at first, and now is a bit annoying. The bag is filthy, and she insists on taking it everywhere. To the park, to the table when she eats, to bed, any time we go anywhere in the car, etc. Silly girl. :)

Willow
Our little Willow is such a sweety. She's much happier now that teething is behind us, and is now sleeping through the night consistently. Yes, it took 18 months, but finally she's sleeping good! She has been really affectionate with Mark and I lately, and tells us "I love you". There is nothing better than getting sweet baby kisses and hearing her say "I love you"! She is also the first to greet Mark when he comes home every night from work with a loud, DADDY!!!

Willow is my cooking companion. When school is over, Aspen and Journey are pretty inseparable. They try to include Willow, but lately, she would rather be with me, on a chair in the kitchen helping me make dinner.

Willow is at the age where we are having to work on fits, learning "no" and "come". That girl is SO stubborn, and I am learning how to parent her, with her unique personality. She is a lot like me in the stubbornness category, and I am having to learn how to let go of some of the less important things I would like to have control over (like letting her feed herself). Yes, I know, ME. Letting go of control. Kids sure do have a way of turning the mirror on yourself, don't they?

She is very smart and is able to communicate quite clearly. Many times, when she is about to loose it and throw a fit, I will tell her, "Willow, change that attitude. Do you want a spank?" and many times she will pull it together and say "No!" haha

I am learning that I need to prepare her for situations that I know she won't like, and make my expectations of her behavior clear ahead of time. These are mainly situations where I will be leaving her with Marissa and Christine. She hates it when I leave and freaks out. If I warn her ahead of time that they are coming over, and I will be leaving her with them, and then let her know that I expect her to have a good attitude, be happy and not throw any fits, she does much better.

It's amazing how different each child is, and what tricks you learn parenting each personality :) With Willow, so far it's been mostly about learning how to teach her to control her larger than life attitude. I think that and the stubbornness will be a continuing theme for her :)

She's 4!

Journey's four! (sob, sob) How can she be four already? Four is getting close to five, and five is when they leave and go to school!!! (more sobbing)

Ok, ok, I'll pull myself together. It's just that I love my sweet girl. We all do.

A week before her 4th birthday, she got to go to Nana and Papa's house with Ava and Zoe for 4 days. Wow, for being the quietest of the three kids, the house sure seemed extra quiet. Aspen missed her SO much. Every day he asked when she was going to come home, and talked about how much he missed her. She's his playmate, and although he did have fun playing with Willow while she was gone, it just wasn't the same.

At four, Journey is now really into stickers, coloring and crafty things like that. She naturally likes to play independently in her room, so we have recently set up a table for her to keep her crayons, markers, stamps, coloring books, beading supplies, Lego Duplos, etc. on out of Willow's reach.

Her current favorite book is the Bible. I've never written about this before, but I've seen a really beautiful transformation in her over the past 6 months. A real answer to prayer.

About 6 months ago, Journey began to really struggle with fear. I remember Aspen struggling with fear (monsters and stuff at night) around this age, and I talked to her the same as I talked to him about fear.

"What does God say about fear?" (then we would say our verses we memorized about fear). I would generally talk to her a little more (God is always with you, you can always talk to God and ask Him to give you peace, etc) and then leave. I didn't want to make a big deal about it and reinforce the fear as being real, but I also didn't want to dismiss her fears and make her feel insecure. It's a tough line to walk.

Anyways, each year I try to ask God for insight for things to pray about for each member of our family, and then write them down so that I can remember to pray regularly over them. This last year, a few of the things on the list were that "God would capture her heart", "draw her to Him", and "give her a heart that follows hard after God". I also prayed that He would take away the fear that she is struggling with, and turn to Him for her peace, security and comfort.

A month or two later, I started finding Journey's Bible under her pillow. I thought it was kind of odd, but didn't say anything about it right away. Finally I asked her about it, and she said that she "reads" the Bible to herself at night, and keeps it under her pillow at night because that gives her peace and she isn't afraid any more.

I have no idea what gave her the idea to sleep on her Bible, but it is incredible how much peace it has brought her. It went from every night saying she was scared (many times crying in bed) to saying she's scared maybe once every 3 weeks. God, you are so good.

Journey - You are a beautiful, sweet girl with a tender heart. You are an absolute gift to me, and I love that God gave me you as my daughter. I love you!

Pics to come of her birthday weekend :)