Winter Wonderland

It appears that fall turned into winter overnight here in Idaho! I still haven't posted our raking pictures from a couple weeks ago, but couldn't resist putting up these snow pictures. This is the first big snow that the kids (especially Caleb and Natalie) have seen since going to Sun River a couple years ago. The first snow fell about a week and a half ago, just a dusting that went away quickly, but the kids had to go out and run in it anyway. Then we got a real dumping, a total of about 6-8 inches over two days time, this week. So here are some fun pictures of the kids enjoying the snow. Amelia doesn't have any snow clothes, so she's been hanging out in the kitchen with mom, helping get hot chocolate ready. :)

These are a Few of My Favorite (Kitchen) Things...

I figure it is about time for another kitchen related post. I haven't posted much about my cooking adventures lately. However, my kitchen is always in action. Since I stay home, I make just about every meal from scratch. The only convenience foods we eat occasionally are cereal and Annie's Mac & Cheese or other such lunch foods. That being said, there are three kitchen appliances that have revolutionized the way I am able to prepare food for my family. I have, over the last seven and a half year of marriage been able to collect these items, one by one. So don't be intimidated, as they are also the most pricey items in my pantry. But with some saving (almost eight years!!) it can be done. :) That being said, let me introduce you to my favorite three kitchen appliances and tell you why I love them.

First up is my Kitchenaid Mixer. We received it as a wedding gift and it is still around and kickin' like the day I pulled it out of the box. I can not begin to count all of the things I have made in this. From whipped cream to cake/cookie batter, to mashed potatoes. I also received the grinder and shredder attachments, but don't really use them very often as I think they are a bit difficult to clean. I also love to make my own bread, especially artisan garlic bread (and soon sourdough after a class next month!), and this is the perfect tool as I can use the dough hook and not have to knead it at all by hand. I'd say my mixer comes out of the pantry at least four times a week, often more.

The second kitchen appliance near and dear to my kitchen heart is the Cuisinart Food Processor. I have the Pro Custom 11, which is the big boy, thanks to a great sale at Macy's a couple of years ago at Christmas time. This thing is perfect for making pizza dough, pie crust, streudel toppings, pumpkin puree, dicing veggies, or even shredding cheese. My husband has a soft spot for Costco muffins and loves to take one for a snack at work. Well, I figure that it is much less expensive, and healthy since I use whole wheat, to make my own. Using the mixer above for the batter and this food processor for the topping, I can make his favorite pumpkin muffins with a flax seed streudel topping. And I can even make my own puree with the food processor, and not have to buy canned pumpkin! This year I was able to get pie pumpkins for .10 a pound. And each pound of raw pumpkin makes about a cup of puree. So that is 10 cups of puree for a dollar, what a bargain! And for his birthday today, I made a breakfast quiche. Instead of buying the $3 roll out pie crusts, I just made my own for around .35, and I have an extra crust in the freezer because the recipe makes a top and bottom! I definately think the kitchenaid is worth it's weight in my kitchen and I pull it out of the pantry at least four times a week.

The final item in my kitchen is the newest, as we just found it last week. It is the Blendtec blender. My old blender got a crack in the bottom and was starting to leak, so we jumped when we found this Blendtec at Costco. This thing will make smoothies at the push of a button, applesauce with the skins left on for fiber, soup (heats it up and everything!), and will even grinds whole grains. SOOO, now I can fresh grind whole wheat to use in my baking! This is something I have desired to do for several years, but have not had an appliance that would do it. I have only made about 20 things in it the past week, but really love it so far and look forward to experimenting with fresh whole grain flours, soups and smoothies.

So there you have it. The three kitchen appliances that are acutally worth their weight and space in the pantry.

Fall Festivities

I love fall. I love the cool, crisp mornings and evenings, the beautiful golden hues found on trees and in the fields. The fall inspires me to get up early to make eggnog lattes for my husband, and drink hot tea every morning. My house is filled with yummy aromas because I get in the mood to bake sweet breads and muffins; And, best of all, big pots of soup that bubble away on the stove or in the crockpot all day. I like to get up with the kids and sit in front of the fireplace all snuggled together watching cartoons. I just love fall. One of the other things I love about fall is going to the pumpkin patch. We took the kids last night, and it was so much fun! We took a hay ride out the the pumpkin field where Caleb picked out way too many pumpkins and lined them up on the hay trailer. Amelia experienced her first taste of fresh plum (and ate a whole one!) and Nattie love running around the hay maze. It is great being a parent and watching my children experience the things I loved, too, as a kid. Yes, I love fall.

Two

It seems as if I should have a good excuse for the silence over the past month, but I don't. Just the normal stuff, three little kids, a husband, and a home to care for have contributed to my lack of posting. So here is a little peek into our wonderful birthday "bash" we had for Nattie. Our dear sweet girlie turned two a few weeks ago and we had a very nice evening at home celebrating as a family. It was a much welcomed change from the usual big parties we've had in the past. Daddy brought home a bouquet of balloons and I made a strawberry cake (fresh strawberry cream filling and whip ceam icing, it tasted like strawberry shortcake!). Then, we skyped with family in Oregon for the opening of her presents. It was relaxed and we had a nice, small, mess at the end. :) Nattie's birthday marks the beginning of the birthday season for our family. So now begins the marthon to Aunt Shell's birthday on New Year's with six birthdays in between. In the meantime, here is the photo documentation of the day:

Fasting and Feasting

I am going to take a small break from Proverbs 31 and share a really neat experience our family had this week. We are part of a great small group here in our new home-town. They have been a great encouragement to us since moving here. However, many of the families are in a time of transition; opposite to us, they are moving away. One family for school, another to learn about church planting, and another for career. Other families are trying to decide if this is where they should remain, or if they should move back to their home-towns, to the mission field, etc. It is had to have just made all these friends, only to lose them! But we are all still together for a few more weeks. And in this time of transition, many of the details are hanging as loose ends. Homes need to be sold, arrangements made, God's will heard, and more. Having just gone through a big move, our family understands these anxieties. So the group came up with an idea. We would fast. And pray. And take time to be still before the Lord. We made a list of all the prayer requests and it was e-mailed around. Each family chose either Sat or Sun to fast and pray. We would then come together on Tuesday for a meal together and talk of what the Lord had done through our time.

I must admit, it was a bit awkward at first. Neither Jason nor I had really fasted before. We weren't sure what to do exactly. But as our tummies grew hungrier, we realized those pains reminded us that we should be hungering after God as much as we were for food in those moments. We put all the kids down for naps and sat down to pray together. It was a great time of prayer, one of the best we've experenced as a couple! It was a great time of lifting up friends and family to the Lord.

I think one of the things that felt the best was the sense of community we all had. Here was our entire group, although not together physically, we were together spiritually. All of us on a personal quest to hunger after God and His will for our lives. It was a time of trusting, and releasing control. Of letting all our concerns and fears go, and taking hold of the peace that only HE can bring! It was a sweet feast we had on Tuesday. We filled our tummies together and spoke of all the things we'd learned during our time of fasting. So fasting and feasting. That was our week. And an amazing one it was!

Proverbs 31:14-15 - Food!

Proverbs 31:14-15 "She is like merchant the ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls."

First off, where are my servant girls? Haha, don't I wish for the help! These verses demonstrate the woman's responsbility in her home to provide nourishment for her family. Here she is going out and negotiating good food for her family to eat. In the context of that culture, it probably meant she was using things she had made to trade for food to save her family money. In today's culture, I can also negotiate food for my family through shopping the sales and using coupons, always getting the best price for the items we need. Also, the fact that she is bringing in food from afar may indicate that the food is from other cultures. I suppose it is a good thing to have a varied diet and provide your family with many types of food, not just the same ol' routine.

Not only does a virtuous woman bring the food into the home, she also gets up early to begin her day and prepare the food. This is a hard one for me! My husband gets up to get ready for work, and I often sleep in until the children get up. I know that my day should start "while it is still dark". Not so literally, I take this to mean, before the hustle and bustle begins in the household. It is important to take time each morning to begin in prayer alone with our heavenly Father. This is something I have wanted to have the discipline to accomplish regularly, but have not yet done. In addition, we are to prepare food for our family. I know my husband does not necessarily want a full hot breakfast every morning, but he has expressed how much he loves it when I get up with him and make his lunch for him to take to work.

So I ask myself: Am I doing a good job bringing food into my home? Am I doing all that I can to try and negotiate the best price for a wide variety of foods? What can I do better with regard to getting up and spending quiet time with the Lord in the morning? How does my routine need to change to fulfill the Lord's desire that I am preparing food for my family each morning?

Rear-Ended

Well, I wrote this back in April, just after we had moved. I found it in the drafts and realized I hadn't posted it because I was waiting to make sure insurance was all worked out for liability sake and all. So better late then never, here is the account of when the kids and I were rear-ended by a semi.

It has been an exciting month for us. From hospitals to moving and now a car accident to top it off! Two days ago, (April 20) I was out running errands and had just finished up at the last stop, Costco, and was headed home. Halfway home, I was stopped at a red light getting ready to turn when I heard a huge crash from the back of the vehicle. My flip flops flew off my feet and it took a few moments to realize my car was moving. I was so stunned that I had a hard time finding the brake pedal. It's funny what goes through your mind in those moments, and my first thought as I was dumbfoundedly groping with my foot for the brake was, "my brake pedal is gone!" I then turned my head to see what had hit me, saw a flat-bed semi and the driver had a crazy look on his face. Must have been him. Things seem to go in slow motion and it seemed like forever before I found the brake. Once I did, I stopped just off of the road on the far side of the intersection and turned around to look at the kids. I asked Caleb if he was ok, since he could tell me yes or no, and he said "yes". I asked if he was hurting anywhere and he said, "No". I told him to just stay there (like he could move, he was strapped in!) and got out. The truck driver pulled off the road just ahead of me and came running over. He said, "I'm sorry, my brakes wouldn't work!" Then he looked in my SUV and saw all the kids. He started shaking and rambling, "Should I call the police, yeah, I should call the police! Are they all ok? Well, we have good insurance. Oh, I'm so sorry." Then he got on his cell and called the police. I took a second to find my cell phone, which had flown onto the floor and come apart. I put it back together and called Jason to tell him I had been in an accident, he said he'd come. Later he told me his first thought was, "this better not be her fault!" Haha. Thanks for the confidence, hunny! When the police arrived they gave me some paperwork to fill out and asked if anyone was hurt. I realized my back was hurting a bit, so the kind police man offered to call an ambulance. I ended up going in the ambulance to the hospital with Amelia just to make sure my back was ok. Jason brought the other kids and met us there. My car was towed off the scene to be assessed for damages. So the long and the short of it is this, my back is quite sore, but the kids all seem to be fine (praise the Lord!!). Here are some cell phone pictures of our SUV. The green truck parked in front is the one that hit me.

Current Update:
We are all seemingly ok! My SUV had about $10,000 in damages but was repaired and seems good as new (amazing what good autobody shops can do!). My back has been doing ok, and the kids never showed any signs of injury. The Lord is good! During the time my SUV was in the shop, we had a rental van, and actually loved it. So I think now we are going to try and replace Jason's car with a van someday thanks to an extended "trial run" with one.

Proverbs 31:13 - She Works With Eager Hands

Proverbs 31:13 "She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands."

As I read this, I feel empowered! Wait, empowered you may ask? Yes! Here the woman is "selecting" her wool. This means the decision is hers! Since, as we learned before, her husband is able to trust her and because her interest is in his good, she is given responsibility. This responsibility is to select (and I am assuming purchase) things her family needs. In this case, she is finding clothing materials for her family. Woohoo! So if I don't like that one shirt my husband is always wearing (not true, just an example), then I can go buy him a new one! Hold up. I don't think that is what this verse is saying, nor would it be responsible or caring. If my hubby likes his shirt, and if it is decent, then it would be a waste of our money and possibly hurtful of his feelings to replace it. Instead, we need to keep in mind that I am only given the freedom here because I am trusted and my husband knows I have his best interest in mind. Equally so, when I am at the store and see a great new pair of shoes, and buy them even though I don't really need them, I am not using our money in a responsible way. When I act this way, I am not being the kind of woman mentioned here, who is carefully selecting items her family needs.

Ok, so we have the freedom and responsibility of finding necessary items for our family. What about the second part of this verse, "and works with eager hands"? When my son wants something, say a shave ice from the stand down the street, I use it as a reward. So right now, we have a calender and he gets a sticker each day when he helps with a chore. Once he gets enough stickers, we get to go to the shave ice stand. I have never seen his little hands so eager to pick up toys, clean the windows, or help with the laundry. I know he can almost taste the yummy shave ice as he works. We are to always work with that same fervor. Whether it is dishes, laundry, or mopping floors, we are to go about it all remembering the prize at the end is a family who is well cared for. Ultimately, we are working for even more than our family. Colossians 3:23 tells us, "Whatever you do, work at it with all our heart, as working for the Lord, not for men".

So I ask myself. How am I treating the wonderful freedom and responsibility I have been given to gather items my family needs? Do I take it lightly and purchase unnecessary items, wasting the money that God has provided? Am I working with eager hands? Do I look forward to all those dishes and laundry, knowing my family is taken care of because of me?

Proverbs 31:12 - She Does Him Good.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this! The last couple of weeks have been filled with visitors, VBS, and general craziness. So anyway, here it is.

Proverbs 31:12 "She does him good and not evil All the days of her life." NAS

On the surface, this one seems a little bit self-explanatory to me. I am to do my husband good, not evil. Hopefully that is not something I need to be told to do! But since God decided it needed to be said, maybe we women need to be reminded. What about the times when I am upset at him? Am I justified in leaving the dishes for him, or in leaving that poopy diaper on my daughter just a few minutes longer so he can change it when he walks in the door from work? According to Proverbs 31, nope! We are to do good to him ALL the days. There are no circumstances listed here. No matter what is happening in our lives, I am to be my husband's helper. This even goes for how I speak about him when he is not there. We all have husbands who are real people, right? So that means none of them are perfect. But does it do well by my husband to chat with my best friend, mom, or other confidant about his weaknesses? Even if there are things that really bug me, it is not helpful to reflect my husband in a poor light to others. So what do we do to keep ourselves from tearing down our husbands when we really feel like we need to talk it out? Is there anyone to whom we can talk? God, of course! He wants to hear from us even when we are struggling. This is where our prayer life becomes a vital part in helping us do good and not evil to our husbands. I often find that if I begin to pray with the intention of complaining about someone, God will often change my heart and I will instead find myself praying for that person! I will leave my time with the Lord with a fresh attitude and no longer feeling the need to tear my husband down to someone else. So I ask myself a few questions. Are there times when what I am doing is not helping my husband? How do I need to work on purging the "evil" out of my behavior toward him? Are there times when I need to shut my mouth to others and instead come before the Lord about my husband?

Proverbs 31:11 - Trust

"The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain." -NAS

"Her husband has full confindence in her and lacks nothing of value." -NIV

As I read through today's verse, I am reminded of the importance of trust in a healthy marriage. In the NAS version, it says, "the heart of her husband trusts in her." The heart is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible. It is the center of our being. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." When our heart is involved, we are vulnerable! And in Proverbs 31:11, we learn that our husbands should trust us with his heart. He should trust us with his inner-most being, the part of him that will affect everything he does. If my husband trusts me with his heart, and if his heart affects all he does, then it is of utmost importance that I do all I can to preserve this trust! His success is tied to this trust, as confirmed in the second part of verse 11. "And [he] lacks nothing of value", or "And he will have no lack of gain." When my husband is able to trust me with his heart, he is able to succeed. Likewise, if I am not trustworthy, it will contribute to his inability to succeed. This gives me a sense of my importance, and reminds me of my worth as his help mate! It moves me to ask several questions of myself. What am I doing to earn my husband's trust? How do I behave toward him that encourages this deep trust? Am I doing all I can do to preserve this trust?

Now, what does the Bible say makes us women who are worthy to be trusted? The behaviors and qualities listed in the rest of Proverbs 31. Stay tuned...

An excellent wife, who can find?

I have been thinking much of the identity of this blog. I have been blogging for about a year now and mostly it has contained the facts and figures of my growing family. Occasionally, I have gotten crafty and blogged of my cooking adventures. As we embarked on the adventure of moving away from all family and friends, I feel that I have become more focused on trusting the Lord. I have been feeling that maybe I should share, here, a bit of my heart and what the Lord has been teaching me.

In my effort to become the wife God has called me to be, I am going to challenge myself to study Proverbs 31:10-31. I will go verse by verse and share here what I have studied and ideas to implement this wisdom into my life. Today is verse 10, "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels." I know that only God can make me into an excellent wife. So that is why I write today of all the ways I have found to help me to grow into the wife of Proverbs 31.

The past few months have been a time of growth in faith for me. After moving, Jason and I were able to quickly find a small group which includes several other young families. We have been blessed beyond words by the amazing people whom we can now call friends! Each of the families has a fire and passion for the Lord, and encourage us in our walks. I have been especially impressed upon by all the wonderful ladies in the group. We seem to share common interests in maintaining a warm home, providing solid nutrition for our families, raising our children to love the Lord, and in being the wives God has called us to be. Through these ladies, I am encouraged to raise the bar, so to speak, and examine my weaknesses so that I can change and grow into the wife God wants me to be. I have also been reading a couple of books lately that have further helped me to examine the areas in which I can grow as a mother and wife. One is "A Woman After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George. Before moving, we started this study in a mom's group I attended, and since I didn't get to finish before we left, I decided to read the book on my own. I have been challenged to be wholly dedicated to my walk with the Lord. Building into my daily routine time for the Lord, both in prayer and in study of His Word. I have learned that supporting my husband in prayer is vital to his success, and mine! I have also been encouraged to view my position as a mommy as a most precious ministry, as I lead my children toward the Lord. I am by no means perfect in any of these areas, but am able to strive to be better every day! My goal? I want my husband to look at me and think of me as being worth more to him than diamonds.

Spring Has Sprung?

In South Central Idaho, spring is trying to make it's appearance. But we had snow this morning for this second time this month. Apparently, winter is not ready to give up just yet. Regardless, the days have been warm enough to get outside here and there. I guess it's been a while since I last posted. The quick version is this: the kids and I were rear-ended by a semi truck (everyone is ok!) while sitting at a red light, the whole family went through a 'bout of the stomach creepie cruds, and Amelia turned 4 months old! All of the kids are gaining skills daily. Caleb continues to amaze us with his ability to reason and his extended vocabulary. The other day, we were all sitting the the living room and he found a toy with some scrapes on it. He says to us, "Look, this toy is damaged." And when we got the rental mini-van while our SUV was in the shop after the accident, he jumped in and said, "I LOVE our new vehicle." He sure is picking up words like crazy. Natalie on the other hand is now 19 months and is starting to find her voice. She loves to repeat words after us. Some of her favorite words are "dada, uh oh, pee, cracker, and milk (gook)." Amelia is growing and can now roll both directions with purpose. She is grabbing toys, playing with her feet, responding to her name, and starting to teeth. I am trying to treasure every minute with each of the kids, because these present moments are quickly turning into memories. And here are some recent pictures of the kids from one of those warm days.

Easter Eggs

While the girls were napping, Caleb enjoyed dying eggs for Easter. The pictures tell the tale...

Leaving

The past week has been filled with leaving! Amelia was finally able to leave the hospital after 4 nights, and we were glad to come home. She is still on an inhaler several times a day and has some leftover congestion, but seems to be doing much better. The day after we came home from the hospital, the movers came to pack up our house. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. I am thankful that I did not have to pack up the house myself. But apparently, the person who came to estimate how much stuff we had to move underestimated. So it took the movers an extra day and filled much more of their truck than anticipated. Well, they told us they were going to deliver our stuff to the new house on Saturday (originally we were told Monday, then Sunday, and finally Saturday) So we made arrangements to be at the new house by Saturday. I don't know if you have ever traveled with young kinds, but a word to the wise: give yourself LOTS of extra time and get a DVD player (thanks mom & dad for allowing us to use yours!). What would have been a 10 hour drive for just Jason and me turned into over 12 hours with the kids... But we made it! When we were about halfway, we received a call that there was a glitch with the truck arrying our load. The driver was stopped at a weigh station and found to have a problem with his license. So our stuff was being held at the weigh station until a new driver could take over the load! The company was very apologetic and offered to pay the extra nights at a hotel (since we had no beds or anything to stay at the new house) and our meals for the extra couple of days. They promised to fly another driver out (#2 driver in their company) to take over and deliver our stuff to us by Monday. Needless to say, we are so excited to finally move in to our house tomorrow! The extra time has actually been a blessing, as we have had a couple of days to get some of the early work out of the way before the bulk of our stuff comes. We bought a shower curtain and liner for one of the bathrooms, had the locks changed, child-proofed the furnace room and attic access (a small door in an upstairs closet) and put away the few items we had to haul over (propane tanks for the bbq, cleaning chemicals, frozen food etc). Caleb keeps telling us that he loves his "new house" and begged us to stay there tonight instead of the hotel. I think we will all be glad to finally get settled and have some home-cooked meals. So far we really like the city. We have met a couple of our neighbors and they all seems very nice. The weather has been beautiful, in the high 60's today and sunny, but I guess we are supposed to have a few stormy days ahead. Hopefully the rain will hold off until after the movers are done tomorrow! Thanks to all our friends and family who have been praying for us through this time. We have really felt protected and watched over through all of this transition. It is not all easy, and the kids are definately feeling a lack of consistancy, but we can see God's hand in it all.

We knew Mia was feeling a lot better the last morning in the hospital, her smile was back!

Here's the truck that pulled up to move our stuff!
Headed out...
We stopped for Safeway Chinese, and these were our fortunes, a little crazy!

Caleb enjoying our new backyard.
One of the first touches we put on the house, a new shower curtain.

Hospital Adventures (the long version!)

The kids have had a cold. It all started with Caleb, who gave it to Natalie, who gave it to Amelia. That's how it goes with more than one kid, sickness just keeps getting passed along down the line. But for two-month old Amelia, sickness is not as easy to handle. I was keeping a really close eye on her and doing a lot of research on when to worry about a cold in kids. Usually, it is not too concerning if there is no fever (or even a fever for just a couple of days) and the kids are able to breath ok. Well, all was going ok other than a pretty stuffy nose, when on Wednesday night Amelia started to seem as if she was really struggling to breathe. I heard a slight wheeze for the first time from her, and she was panting. I kept counting her breaths per minute and it was 15 breaths higher than what Dr. Sears says warrants an immediate trip to the ER. So I called our family doctor and he echoed the advice, so off to the ER we went.
Apparently, babies who are struggling to breathe take priority in the ER because we got into the back with almost no wait time despite a very busy ER. The doctor listened to her and agreed she was not able to breath well. He ordered a chest x-ray and a breathing treatment that included a steroid to help ease her rapid, drawn breaths. He then ordered a blood sugar test, which came back really high. His diagnosis based on this was possible diabetes and he immediately called OHSU to see if we could get a bed there and started an IV. Upon a second blood sugar test (and another prick in the heel, poor girl) the blood sugar had lowered significantly and he called the on-call pediatrician. She said that the steroid treatment had probably caused her blood sugar to spike. They did yet another test and found she is positive for RSV ( a respiratory virus). The decision was made to admit her since she is so young and could have oxygen problems really easily with RSV. In the morning, the on-call pediatrician came by and let us know she would be keeping us one more night for observation, since most RSV babies tend to get worse before getting better and they weren't sure where on the curve she was. Sure enough that second night at about 1am she was not able to hold her oxygen levels high enough while sleeping and they started her on oxygen. Throughout today they tried a couple of times to take her off the oxygen, but had to put her back on as soon as she fell asleep. We have been told she will need to stay in the hospital until she is able to hold her oxygen levels up without assistance for an entire night. As for right now, she is still on the oxygen, so we may be looking at another night if things don't rapidly improve overnight.
Here are some pictures from our adventure so far.

The oxygen tubes she now sports on her nose.

Sleeping peacefully now that she can breath.
Her arm is all wrapped up to keep her from pulling out the IV.
The albuterol breathing treatments she gets every 3 hours around the clock.
This is the torture device used to give her a chest x-ray.

2 Months

Amelia is two months old now! We went to her doctor appointment this last week, and despite a bunch of shots, she did great. She weighed in at just over 12 pounds, which means she has gained almost 5 pounds since birth. She jumped from the 50 percentile to just over the 90 percentile. As for height, she is 22.5 inches long, having jumped from the 50 percentile to the 75 percentile. The doctor did find a small hip click in her left hip, so we will be going in tomorrow for an ultrasound to make sure she is not developing hip dysplasia.

I am really enjoying watching her little personality begin to shine. She is very smiley and happy. Daddy can even make her giggle when he tickles her. I think she will be the most ticklish of all our children. I can hardly pat her back to burp her without her squirming because it tickles. It is amazing to me that in only a couple of months I can hardly remember life without three children. Life is so rich with all three and we are very blessed!

Saying Good-bye and CQ's

Because we are moving on such a tight timeline, we do not have time to get together individually with many of our friends and family before the move. So we decided a good-bye barbecue sounded like a good way to see everyone. If you know Jason and me, we love to host at our house, and have had many large get-togethers over the past several years. Well, we had a wonderful time yesterday having so many of our friends and family over to celebrate our move. It was a time with much laughter, a few tears, and lots of love! We are realizing that we will really miss everyone here in Oregon (as if we didn't know that before!). Thanks to all who came!

On an exciting note, we may have a buyer for our home! I was starting to get discouraged that our home had been on the market for two weeks and didn't even have one showing. However, a realtor brought a family through yesterday morning and a few hours later they came back to take a second look and measure for their furniture...I think that's a good sign. We received a call last night that they will be meeting with their realtor today to put in an offer. What a blessing to have a prospect.

And now for a few Caleb Quotes. I have not been good about posting these, so here are some quotes (with stories!) from recently. Caleb loves to ask us if he can do things, and is very creative in his asking style. Lately he says to me, "you never mind if I eat this orange (or whatever else it is he wants to do)?"
Daddy loves to tuck Caleb in. Part of the night time routine is singing songs. One night Jason had to work late so I was tucking Caleb in. I always ask which song he wants to sing, and this night he said, "the monkey song!" Well, I don't know about you, but I don't know of any monkey songs! I tried hard to think of what the monkey song may be, but could not figure it out. So that night when Jason came home I asked him about the monkey song. He said, "oh yeah, that's Old MacDonald." What? Apparently Old Macdonald now has a monkey on his farm! Since then, Caleb's favorite song is Old MacDonald, and he often makes up new things for Old MacDonald's farm, like a mommy (who says "no, no here and yes, yes there"), a lion, and even some teeth (that go "chomp chomp").
Whenever Caleb wants to ask a question beginning with "who" he replaces the "who" with "whobody". So he'll say "whobody is at the door?" He made up a song that he loves to sing about whobody and it goes like this..."Whobody on the road? Whobody on the road? Whobody is it? It's....ooma!"

Once Upon A Sunny Day in March...

Today was such a beautiful day! I think the sunshine rubbed off on the kids, as they were in splendid moods. I think it helped that Caleb and Natalie were able to get out in the backyard and run around. Caleb stayed out all afternoon and pushed his trucks around in the dirt. He came in covered in dirt from head to toe! Such a little boy, I love it! Natalie came inside after a bit and played around with Amelia and me. Natalie is a little busy body these days, carrying things here and there, making little piles all over the house. Amelia has been growing so much, I can hardly believe she will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! She really started smiling a couple of weeks ago and can't seem to stop! Even in the middle of the night when she wakes up to eat, she gives me a bright smile after she's all done. What a joyful child she is. I took the oppoortunity of such a wonderful day to snap a few pictures of the kids playing. Here's our day in pictures: