Soccer!

Aspen and Journey have both recently started their first outside activities. Journey has just started ballet (pics to come), and Aspen Spring soccer. Up until now, he has refused to try any sport, but apparently he has now played enough soccer on the playground at school to be confident enough to give a real team sport a try :)

He enjoyed the first practice (on a Monday night), but by the time Thursday came (game night), he wasn't wanting to go. Marissa and I convinced him that games were way more fun than practice, and off we went. As soon as we got to school, he was excited and took off with his friends.

It was so much fun watching him play, and I was surprised to see that he wasn't half bad! :) Journey was a great cheerleader for her "bubba", and thank God, we weren't rained on. I'm just not ready to be the hard-core sports parent that toughs it out through a downpour!

Aspen's 7th Birthday Party

9 weeks

Ok, so I'm actually 11 weeks right now, but this was taken at 9 weeks. I've had the coffee shop girls and the girls at the bank asking me about how far along I am. There's no hiding it!

Note from Aspen

I have always had house cleaners come at varying intervals since we moved in the house we are in now. Before kids, when I was working full time, they came every two weeks. Right now, it's every other month. It helps me out a lot for them to do some of the deeper cleaning and frees me up to focus on other things for a week. Anyways, this week, Aspen left them a note on his door. Here's what it says (all spelling and puncutation his):

if you see anee

lady bugs do not kill

or els you hafto

pay me 9 dallrs

thank. you.

i'm sayris (serious)

or you'r fired!!!!!!!!

and you'r ded meat he he he

he he mrisaa

We laughed so much over this note after we saw it. It is such a perfect representation of where he is at right now and his personality. I think he added Marissa's name since it's her mom that cleans our house. I love what he comes up with :)

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...