Penelope Jane

Happy Birthday, Penelope!

We can't believe how fast your first year of life has gone. You have been such an amazing addition to our family and fill our hearts with much joy.

Your spunky laughter lights up a room and your sweet cuddling makes my heart melt. Teagan and Blake adore you and your love for them is evident.

We love you Punky!

Early morning head fog

Do you ever think it might be better to just insert an IV of coffee rather than drinking it?

This is one of those mornings!

New things coming

It seems like I'm saying this all too often lately but.....where has the time gone? I can't believe we are well into June...and where is the summer weather?

It's been tornado alley here lately. The kids pool has now been deflated because 1) it's been too cold to play in and 2) it was flying into the neighbors yard due to our blustery wind.

We had a little early bday get together for Penelope and her/our friend Mya. They are only one week apart (and we won't be here for their actual bdays) They are complete opposites....Mya has a ton of hair, Penelope not so much. Penelope is a lot of chunk and Mya is a tiny little thing. They are sure cute though.

Things are really changing for us. Friday is officially Stan's last day of work, YIKES!!! Sunday he will be leaving for Klamath Falls while the kids and I stay here. Stan will be spending the first few days next week getting things set up at school and hopefully securing a job. Yes, you read it right, he is going back to school. WOWZERS, you say, we have been talking about this for a long time it is just a big step for us. How does the only provider of a family of five quit his career and go back to school? Well, there are lots of details that I will spare you from, I will simply say that we feel like God is with us in our journey and we are excited to take this step of faith.

The kids and I will head to KTown around the 24th of June. We are hoping to have an offer on our house by then. We have dropped the price again.....so we have reduced the price by $30,000....somebody is going to get a great deal! So once again, if anyone knows a buyer in the Hermiston area give us a shout.

We are SUPER excited to have a plan and be taking action. It has been quite the journey the last couple years. We know we will be able to look back with much wisdom and see all of the lessons we learned.

Penelope

I love this girl!! She has been such a wonderful addition to our family and I can't imagine our unit without her. It's is so hard to believe she is almost a year old. Where has the time gone?!? I just had to share this picture of her snoozing in my bed. I love her chunky Punky cheeks.....

Wildlife

Here's just a little of what we saw....I couldn't believe these deer, people were feeding them right from there hands. The whole place was seriously one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

Wallowa Lake....amazing!

We had a fantastic weekend at Wallowa Lake!! We had never been there before and we were amazed. It is breath taking! We had a wonderful time exploring, fishing, playing and just being a family. The kids loved our cottage that we rented (they called it our "cottage cheese") and had a blast seeing all the wildlife. It was a great family weekend!

Catch up

The kids loved the hot weather we had a couple of weeks ago. Even Punky got in on the sun bathing! We have been busy with lots of visitors, getting the house in tip top shape to show and hopefully sell, yard work, fun and work.

Stan's fishing trip was canceled last weekend, total bummer for him, but I took advantage of having him around for an extra day. We moved a lot of furniture around (thanks to my good friend Rachel that was visiting) and even managed to get a little fishing in with the kids. Blake loved reeling the fish in but Teagan would scream and run away. Of course, I didn't have my camera. I'm having issues with it! I think, actually, it's the battery charger and not my camera.

I'm hoping we have a really good thunder storm!! I'm loving this rainy weather!!! Maybe we'll even make cookies today....I'm sure my thighs would love it.

Pictures for Mom

Ok Mom, here you go. They aren't very good pics at least I finally got them posted.

Sweet spring rain

I love days like today!! The fresh smell of the warm spring rain is awesome. It makes me want to clean and organize everything in my house (which is not something that comes natural to me, hehehe). Days like today recharge my batteries!

We dropped the price on our house by $15,000. We are very serious about selling now. I think dropping the price is a good plan, especially right at the start of buying season. So, to all of our local Hermiston peeps, if you know someone looking to buy a house let us know!

We are also selling our Hiker. It's a great piece of equipment but it is a beast in size and we really don't want to move it. If anyone is interested let me know, they are not cheap but well worth the money.

I hope everyone enjoys this wonderful Tuesday!

Slippin' Away

Once again I haven't been great at posting. It seems like time is just slipping away and with all the great weather who wants to sit at the computer?!

Since our last post; the kids and I traveled down to Klamath to visit my Grandma; we had two sick kiddos for a week; my mom came to Hermiston Mother's Day weekend; we had a fairly successful garage sale; had a really rough experience at the dentist office with Teagan (now she'll have to be sedated); put a fantastic kids pool in the backyard so we could cool off in our 95 degree heat and Stan's parents visited a couple of days ago.

This next week Stan is heading to Idaho on Thursday for a guys fishing weekend. I think he is excited and I am excited for him. He needs a break!! While he is gone my good friend, Rachel, is coming to visit. It will be a great weekend for all.

I will post some pictures of the kids in their pool. They are already tan and have that healthy summer glow. Penelope will be one next month.....WOW.....time really does fly by.

Snip

Ok, I really think I have the cutest kids (when they aren't talking)! Blake has been a real stink lately!! Yesterday he tells me "Mom, I'm going to knock your head off." and this morning he is singing "Mommy, Mommy I don't love you"

I tell you, I'm feeling the love around here!

Teagan has a cute new hair cut. You can't really see it in the picture but it's a real cute bob. She is loving it and doesn't pass a mirror without taking a chance to admire herself.

Penelope is still the sweetest baby!! She isn't crawling yet (thank goodness) but she rolls all around the house. We are really enjoying the stage that she is in.

We are once again in a waiting season. We have to do something fairly soon because Stan's job here is coming to an end. Three guys were laid off on Friday so everyone now feels like they are walking on thin ice there.

We are SO ready for a change once and for all. We hope to have some new and exciting news soon....if we don't we'll just have to have another baby! hahahaha!!

Redo

So I updated our blog a little and rearranged a few things. It feels good! It's sorta like your living room....it just needs a little face lift sometimes. I won't be blogging on my own site anymore, too much effort with too little news. Hopefully, that will mean this blog will be more interesting and up-to-date.

We've got some things going on in the near future, I just can't go into detail yet. And NO, we are not pregnant again. We will keep you all posted on what is going on when we can. Until then, just keep praying for God's clarity in our life.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for the encouragement lately. You all are so awesome and keep the comments coming ;)

What's Next?!

As many of you know we have been waiting to hear from the Oregon State Troopers about a job for Stan. Well, we received an answer yesterday.....it's a no.

It's one of those bitter-sweet things! We are a little disappointed that he did not get offered a trooper position, however, we are so relieved to finally have an answer.

We don't know what direction we are headed next. We will have to take some time to think, talk and most of all pray about things. We are excited for whatever is next in our lives and we are looking forward to planting roots....somewhere!

Huh, soccer?

Teagan started soccer last Saturday and I have to say, it wasn't her best performance. Now, I don't care if she is some super star but I do want her do enjoy herself....she looked like she was about to bust out in tears the entire time. It cracked me up because we play soccer all the time at the park and she is fierce! We showed up at her first practice though and she acted like she had never seen the game of soccer before. I'm hoping, for her sake, that this next week goes better.

Here's a picture of all of us. I don't know if I've ever posedt one of all five of us.

Just playing

I downloaded Picasa so I had to play around with it. Thanks Shelly for the tips!

Nature Boy

His favorite place to pee.....in the grass

and you gotta check out the airplane overhead!

The Last Few Weeks

We've had some fun activities the last few weeks. Just a quick recap...

a great visit from Stan's sister, Shelly, and her husband, Chris.

a trip down to Klamath Falls to see family and a surprise party for a family friend.

a visit (finally) from my mom and niece and nephew.

a fantastic girl party for Teagan's good friend, Kaylee.

Eyes of a Child

I had to blog some quotes from the kids over the last week. (mainly so that I won't forget what they have said)

Teagan has been saying the sweetest things to me! While painting her nails (is that a love language?) she looks "Mom you're perfect" That was an upgrade because last week when I painted them she said I was "neat".

She did break my heart last night....she got out of bed (again) after she had been told several times to stay in her bed and go to sleep, this is not an uncommon scene at our house as many of you know. So, I went for the spanking spoon (gasp, yes we spank our kids) as I tried to bend her over my knee she yells out "Mommy, your beautiful and special and I don't want you to be mean to me." WHATEVER!! I totally think that was a cheap shot, how I'm I suppose to spank her after that?

Now Blake on the other hand said a not so cute thing. He comes down stairs yesterday after his nap chewing on something. I looked at him and said "Hey pal, watchya chewin' on?"

"A booger" was his calm reply........eewwww!

Ok...so now the final one was a real eye opener for me and Stan. Last week we were watching the girls perform on American Idol. Stan thinks Teagan looks like one of the girls on the show....Teagan was downstairs and he said "Come here and watch this, sweetie, there is a girl on tv that looks like you" Right after he said that Syesha (spelling?) took the stage. Now for those that haven't seen the show Syesha is a beautiful girl but looks nothing like Teagan (she is black with a super cute 'fro) Teagan looked straight at me and said...."Her, momma?!" and she was totally serious.

Wouldn't it be great if everyone could see the world thru the eyes of a child.

Elmer and company

Today is a little busy trying to get the house "perfect" for a second showing. It's almost impossible to keep it perfect with all the kids here but I'll just do the best I can.

I did have a few minutes while I'm letting the cleaner in the bathroom soak to post a few pictures of the kiddos. We had some friends over yesterday for a playdate (aka. sanity break) and they all wanted to watch a movie. I really don't like entertaining with the TV but sometimes it's nice when all the kids are quite and the mom's can talk.

The next pics are just breakfast this morning, I couldn't help but take some pictures when I saw Teagan and Blake wearing their hats.

Long time no post

I just realized how long it's been since our last post. We've been doing good and enjoying the nicer weather. This weekend was fantastic!! The kids were actually out in shorts...I didn't go that far but definetly enjoyed the sun! My brother and company were here for the weekend so here's a few pics from that. The next set of pics are just random from the last few weeks. We did go to the childrens museum in Pendleton (note T's costume) and played with some friends.