DIY Weekend!

Our van is running in the Hood to Coast this weekend. Since we are without transportation, we decided to do a little house work. We are re-caulking the bath tub and fixing and cleaning the windows in the house. (We decided against new ones for now) Then we will go through the house and garage and take a load to Goodwill. I feel like Bob Vila. Maybe they should give us our own show. :)

Roomies

I pulled the plug..

on Preschool. Ever since my dream I had, everything just seemed to fall in place for homeschool. I found a great looking free curriculum online and am building off of it to tailor it to Aurora. I ordered some books from Amazon and in the next few weeks I am going to get my lesson plans together. Don't worry, it is all based around fun. Yes, she will do worksheets, but I am planning on a hands on approach. Science projects, art projects, and all that little kid fun stuff. I figured this is a free year. I get my feet wet and see if it is something I think would benefit the family and Aurora. Either way she will be more than ready for Kindergarten next fall. I will be starting the day after Labor day and go from there. Aurora is excited that she gets to go to IKEA and pick out a little kid's table and chairs. We are going to take one day at a time and see where the road leads.

It is so tough...

being a baby. You skip your nap and you pass out at dinner.

For Aunt Carol

Hug Point.

We were going to take Aurora to Seaside for her Birthday, but we found out that a big amateur Volleyball tournament was going on that weekend and seaside was going to be packed. So we decided on Cannon Beach. It ended up being a hot day in Portland, so everyone in town seemed to have the same idea about going to the beach. We hit some stop and go traffic here and there but it wasn't too awful. When we got to Cannon Beach all the 3 public parking spots were completely full. So we headed south and tried a few more. We circled the parking lot for Oswald State Park (Short Sands), but no luck. So we decided to head back north and tried this place called Hug Point. We ended up with a great parking spot. And to top it off that Beach wasn't horribly crowded. It was a beautiful beach and the weather was perfect. We all had a great time.

Happy Birthday Princess!

Princess Aurora turned 4 this month. She started her Birthday off at Red Robin where she was sung to and given a free sundae. Now she thinks that happens every time she goes there. Russ and I took her to the Beach where we enjoyed a very fun filled day and very beautiful weather. She got the cake she has been asking for. I think it is safe to say that Aurora had a wonderful 4th Birthday.

Aurora- You were our first born. We found out that I was pregnant with you on our 1st wedding anniversary. It was a very exciting time. We were also scared to death. You were born in the wee morning hours and surprised the nurses and the doctors. You definitely made an entrance, one that mommy and daddy will never forget. You were a good baby, and from day 1 you were strong willed. You know what you want and you don't stop until you get it. You are smart, beautiful and a very loving little girl. You are all girl, which I guess makes up for the fact that you have 3 brothers. Mommy and Daddy have enjoyed watching you blossom in the last 4 years and can't wait to see what comes next. We love you little Dinks!!

When you were 12 months:



Your last morning as the only child 6/19/2008:


You and your cake:


Our pretty, pretty Princess:

I Haven't forgotten

We had a little Princess turn 4 last Friday and I haven't found any time to get a post up here for her. I will try my hardest this weekend. She had a great Birthday and had the cake she has been dreaming about for months. Pictures soon!!

Prayers Needed!! Update

Today Landon had his year check up and the doctor found a heart murmur. He doesn't think it is serious, but he wants us to go to a pediatric cardiologist just to make sure. I was just on the phone with them and they won't let me set up an appointment until his records are faxed over, so we play the waiting game. The doctor said he was growing well and he didn't see any other concerns, so we are thankful for that. So if you could please say a little prayer for our baby, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

UPDATE: After getting the run around, I finally got a hold of someone that let me make an appointment. The soonest they could see him is September 10.

Second Thoughts.

The last couple of days I have been having second thoughts about sending Aurora to preschool. I realized academically she knows more than an average preschooler and to pay someone $100 a month to teach her what she already knows is starting to sound a little crazy. I do think that she needs to be around other kids, mainly girls her age. So as Russ nicely put it "friends are expensive. You want us to spend that kind of money just so she can make friends?" This decision would be a whole lot easier if we belonged to a good church with a good youth ministry. Then I wouldn't even consider preschool. Even with all these arguments against it, there is something that is holding me back from pulling the plug on it. So the last 2 days I have taken to prayer. The Lord has all the answers. But I am not so good at recognizing them sometimes. I think even if the Lord himself came to me and told me, I would still doubt the answer. Early this morning I had a dream, one of those dreams that you can remember every detail when you wake up. I believe it may be from the Lord, but I am still having a hard time knowing for sure. I was sitting in my old childhood church, watching football on a big projector screen. So I know it had to be Sunday. :) Billy Graham of all people is sitting next to me. He can't hear too well and he can't see at all. Every once in awhile someone will go up to him and grab his hand and he will say something profound and speak about their hearts. I am sitting there and I really want to grab his hand and hear what he has to say, but I am scared. So the game ends and Russ goes up to shake his hand, in a sort of it was nice seeing you sort of way. I am next. I take his hand and am about to pull away and he grabs my hand tighter and pulls me closer to him. And he tells me that I have a "schooling heart." All of a sudden I feel like my answer was given to me and I wake up thinking I have the answer. But now I am sitting here doubting it was God sent. It felt so real and it felt like it was from God, so why do I still have doubts? God is so amazing and I have no doubt that he "talks" to his followers. But sometimes you feel like you are making things up, just to get the answer that you want to hear. So I am going to take the next week to pray and make sure God is leading me away from preschool.
In the meantime I would love everyone's opinions on preschool. Thoughts, stories, opinions, advice. Anything would be helpful.

Evicted!

Landon was evicted from the boy's room a couple of nights ago. But he wasn't evicted because he was being bad, he was evicted because his presence was requested in another room. Aurora has been getting scared at night so for the last month or so, she has been sleeping on our floor in a sleeping bag. While I love uninterrupted sleep, I thought we should probably figure out a way to get her to sleep in her own room. Well, she asked me one day if Landon could be her roommate. So on Wednesday Landon made the big move. Aurora was excited all day, until the sun went down and we were getting her ready for bed. The crying started. Both of them. Landon missed his brothers and Aurora missed our floor. So I stayed in the room until they both fell asleep and surprisingly I didn't have to get up once for any of the kids. A very rare occasion lately. Well, it happened again last night. I'm not sure if we will be so lucky tonight. Aurora spends the night with her Grandparents and Landon isn't used to being alone at night. So I guess we will see. It also makes me feel a little sad that Landon has to sleep in a room with Princesses all over the wall and doesn't get to join in the usual boy's nighttime hijinxs. Hopefully we can get him out of there before his permanent memories set in. :)

Watch out...

In 14 years these two will be hitting the roads:

Our Little Blessing.

Our baby turned one last month and he had a blast. We had pizza, cake, ice cream and a BBQ. He got to swim in the kiddie pool with his big brothers and big sister. He had a great Birthday weekend.


Landon you joined this family as a surprise and you have been surprising us ever since. You are affectionately called babyiah by your big brothers and Landy by your big sister. You love playing with them and causing a little bit of mischief as well. You are the baby of the family by only one year, and you don't let that slow you down. You are right there teasing and wrestling with the others. You also have started saying words and walking way before the others. Even though you were our heaviest baby, you are our littlest toddler. You still fit in to 9 month clothing, which still surprises me. You always wake in the morning with a smile and egg on your brothers to wake up and make noise. This last year has been fun. You were a great baby and you have been a great toddler. You are the baby of the family and I know from experience that it has great privileges, so soak it up little man. :) We love you Landon. Can't wait to see what this next year holds.

The day you were born:



Your first picture with your Sister and Brothers:


November 2009:



Cheesy grin:



Your First Birthday:






Mommy taking ninny away to get a picture:



Mommy giving ninny back:



Your long, unruly hair that Mommy just can't bare to cut. :)

Friday the 13th!

I absolutely love Friday the 13th. I was actually excited that Aurora was born on the 13th. And I figured out the day that it would fall on Friday, shortly after she was born. Well the time has come. Aurora is having her first Friday the 13th birthday this year and her next will come when she is 10. I used to have Friday the 13th birthday parties and we would try to stay up until 6AM on the 14th, my official birthday time. I don't think we were ever successful. I am not sure if Aurora will hold the same Friday the 13th enthusiasm or not, but a girl can hope. At the very least she can freak a few people out with her "unlucky" birthday number. :)

Righty or Lefty??

Aurora has been working on her letters the last couple of days and so far she seems to favor her left hand, but she still switches back and forth. She also kicks right and throws right as of now. So it looks like she got some of her dad's and my dad's brain quirkiness. Russ writes with his right hand, but does most sports stuff left. He throws with his left, but bats right, or something like that. I can't keep up with it. My dad also golfs left handed but does everything else right handed. I remember when I was growing up, I was so upset that his golf clubs were lefties. To me this is just plain weird, but I guess that they must be using both sides of their brains and I only use one side. :) I always wanted to write with my left hand. My best friend when I was little was left handed. And I tried and tried to write with my left hand, but was never successful. A lot of Presidents are left handed, so maybe we have a future President in our midst. OK, so I just googled it and there are 8 Presidents that are left-handed, most of them recent Presidents. Also that International Left-Handers Day is August 13, Aurora's Birthday! Weird. Hopefully we won't have to shell out money for a lefty can opener or something like that. :)