Happy Halloween!

We're off to the first of our Halloween celebrations...hope yours is happy, healthy, and candy-filled also!

(an oldie but goodie)

A little more Jem

Birthday

One!

Two!

Jack can't get enough

of his little brother....

(I love how they're holding hands here)

Happy Birthday!!

to sweet, funny, beautiful Jemma Jane!

This girl is such a character!

We've been crazy busy and Jemma's birthday happened to fall in the middle of the madness but we still squeezed in some fun and we had all the cousins over after school to celebrate.

Waiting for the kids to come:

Jemma's never sure what to do when all the attention is on her so I love this shot of her holding Ava's hand while we sang to her!
After cake and presents, we took her out to dinner and then I had to run to another event so Ed (who just flew back into town) finished off the night cozying up to the fire and hanging out with the kids.

Shoppin'

Jack found a missing tub of toys...

and wasted no time spreading them from wall to wall:

Perfection.

Big sisters.

Ice Skating!

Jack had the chance to go ice skating with some preschool buddies this week and he jumped on it. He's a confident little bugger and he was pretty sure he'd be playing hockey in no time:

getting geared up.

Jem hanging out in the bleachers.

Cousin Sara (also super pumped).

Some of the cute girls in his class.

So where's the pictures of my pro skater? Somehow I missed getting any...probably since he spent most of the time hanging onto the push bar for his dear little life. It didn't help that Ed and I had no idea what we were doing either! When I asked if he wants to go back next week, he just smiled and said, "maybe when I'm five!"

Thank you October

for being so beautiful!

Our little town is really at its best in the fall and this fall has been amazing. I wish I had the time to take more pictures and post more about how beautiful it has been and how much fun we've had out there but I don't so here's just a little reminder to my future self that this was one great fall and we've been loving it!

Our one and only family of six picture.

Which reminds me, tonight in the car Jack says, "Hey mom! You have four kids....me and Ava and Jemma and Henry!" Like maybe I hadn't noticed that little one who just snuck in.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Five weeks with this sweet face.

Let's start with

the ugly: last year at this time I could run 26 miles (and like it). Yesterday I ran (and I use that term very loosely) my first post-baby mile. And today I am still feeling it.

the bad: Henry's a spitter. nuff said.

the good (really, spectacular): Henry is our beautiful bonus blessing...the one we didn't think we would have and the perfect addition to our family.

Stellar speller

Hold on while I brag on my Ava for a bit. :)

Ava is a "stellar speller", which is quite the tricky accomplishment. She had to get 100% on her spelling tests (25 words and two full sentences) three weeks in a row and then get the stellar speller words right..words like missionaries, explorers, and wickiups (they're studying NW history--I don't even know what a wickiup is!). She also just memorized "The Bear Snores On" for the speech meet and performed it in front of a bunch of people (ack.) She looked so big and brave that it almost made me cry! And she just got her first ever report card with real grades and she got all A's! This was tough because everything she does now is graded (spelling, neatness, penmanship, etc. all the time on everything). Sometimes I can't believe all the hard work she does at school and then she still comes home and helps everyone here. She is a hard-working busy bee and we love her!

tick tock

I had forgotten how much my life revolves around the clock when I have a newborn. I'm looking at it constantly...how long did he eat, how long since he ate, how long did he sleep, how long was he awake, and on and on. My life is suddenly divided into 15 minute chunks of time. The worst part is that lately it feels like the clock is on warp speed and time is just buzzing by. I can't believe how old my kids are getting and that Henry has been here over a month and that Christmas is just weeks away. Every month I flip my calendar and see another month filled in...I keep thinking that when things slow down, I'll do this or that but things never slow down! This month has just 2 empty days on the calendar and even those days still have school and shopping and cooking and cleaning. So for the first time ever, I am actually enjoying the little bits of time in the middle of the night that I spend with my little peanut. He is warm and cozy and he holds my finger and snuggles in and I think slow down.

A month!

Henry's been here a month and he is sweet. He's also starting to wake up to the world. He spends lots of time just looking around and listening to this crazy house. He eats great, sleeps great, travels great, and has been an all around super-baby. He's so sweet that I actually miss him when he's napping!

He even smiled right at me a couple days ago and I was so excited to see his little grin. Here's my best attempt at getting it on camera:

And, in case you missed it, he's chunking up nicely.
Jack was wondering why he's got that extra chin!

The Wallowas

We headed down to the Wallowas for a little family fun at our favorite place in the mountains. The thing about the Wallowas is that, while it is a beautiful place to be, it is the curviest possible trip to take! So we pulled over at one point and let the kids run wild:

Once we got to Joseph we stopped at our favorite little place for lunch, here's Jem waiting as patiently as possible:

Pickles!

Once we got to the cabin, Ed and the kids hit the river while I sat on the deck and fed the baby in the sun.
Late that night the cousins showed up and the party began. And because my hands are full of baby these days I hardly have any pictures! But we had gorgeous weather, yummy food, great shopping, and like Jack says, "a grand time"!

Henry getting some love from all the girls.

Jemma taking it easy on a walk.

I'm pretty sure that once Will showed up, I didn't see Jack again!
They had some serious exploring to do.

11.

(of the cutest kids ever.)

Kisses

Brothers:

and the next day (Henry and I back in the same spot but cuddling a Jem instead):

he's a lucky little boy.

I love this...

Remember being pregnant with your second baby and wondering how you could possibly love the new baby as much as the one you already had? (me too.) I just read this on someone else's blog and loved it:

With your first child, it's like love is being poured to overflowing into a cup. It's so much love that it's spilling out in every direction. There isn't any way you can add more love to that cup. Which is why - before you've met your second, third, fourth baby - you can't fathom loving another just as much. Where would the water go? The cup is already full! But you don't have to worry! You are not adding more water. You are adding a whole 'nother cup.

I have four cups.

Filled to overflowing.

Number 2.

I talked Ed into doing the Portland marathon again this year--the whole time we were running it last year, I looked at the spectators and I thought, that looks like a whole lot more fun than actually running it! And it was! Even though it was pouring buckets the entire time, we had fun racing around the course hollering at the people we knew (and a whole lot of people we didn't). Ed did awesome--his time was almost exactly the same as last year but this year he had a newborn throw a wrench into a pretty crucial part of the training schedule.

Josh was brave enough to sign up too and they got to do a lot of their long runs together (misery really does love company!)

Chillin' in the hotel the night before.
I know he looks sweet but I can think of a whole bunch of reasons not to run a marathon with a newborn around!

The rain didn't seem like such a big deal in the cover of the parking garage.

5 minutes later.

Dark, already soaked, but still daddy's biggest fan.

Cruising at mile 11.

This is somehow the only action shot I got thanks to the downpour!

Done.

And trying to warm up, even after the long walk back to the car, the heat full blast, and a hot shower!

Henry stayed nice and cozy in his car seat and stroller.

Celebrating at Red Robin!

Thanks to 16 weeks of training and some pretty dedicated fans, Ed's now got marathon #2 under his belt.

We're already talking about next year.

When the cat's away....

As soon as Jack's out, she heads straight for his toy box and hat rack.

Three weeks old.

He has a really great crooked grin but I have yet to get it on camera with his eyes open.

Fishin'

Ed's spends a good chunk of his spare time fishing these days and while he catches his share of steelhead, here's his first "keeper" salmon.

And speaking of Ed, we're heading out to Portland for his marathon and we both agree that the marathon is the fun part, it's the training that beats you down, so we're actually looking forward to a mini (and super quick) vacation with our sweet baby and his biggest sister Ava (who has been hard at work making inspirational cards for her daddy).

so much to blog, so little time.

So I have written a good 15 posts in my head (mostly in the middle of the night) that I have yet to actually type and someday I will catch up but for now here's a bit of today. After a ridiculously busy yesterday, I got a decent night of sleep (funny how relative that phrase is these days) and so by 9:30 this morning I had cleaned the house, done three loads of laundry, and showered (have I mentioned how nice it is to not be pregnant?). And I was just sitting down with two of my monkeys and a piece of pumpkin cake when the baby woke up. So I decided to snuggle him instead and popped the kids in the tub, where Jemma Jane (who has had only two accidents since the first day of potty training 5-6(?) weeks ago) pooped in the tub. The clean tub. Where her brother was also playing. Now, two hours later, everyone is once again clean and cozy, the baby is back in bed, and that darn cake is still sitting on the counter waiting for me so the rest of the posts will have to wait!

due date.

Today was Henry's due date and to celebrate not being in labor, we took him out on his first date for margaritas.

So he's been here for two weeks and so far he's a keeper! He's sleeping good, eating good, and being all around our sweetest, calmest baby yet. Yay for Henry! (and yay for us!) It's been a busy couple weeks and he's sort of just slipped right in and I was just thinking about all the adventures he's going to have in the next two weeks: a visit to the apple orchards, an event I'm catering, a trip to Portland for Ed's marathon, a trip to the Wallowas for a family vacation, a whole bunch of soccer games, at least two birthdays, and the usual ridiculous number of trips to school, the grocery store, and Walmart.

The life of number 4.