Trip to Texas

Last Thursday morning we took an early morning non-stop flight to Texas to visit Matt's sister Traci, husband Keith, and our nieces Samantha and Sydney. Matt's other sister Shawn, husband Mike, and our nephews Alex and Joshua flew in later that day from Oregon. Matt's parents (from Oregon, too) had flown the day before and came to pick us up from the airport in their rental van.

This was our annual family gathering - this year in Texas vs. our annual trip to the Oregon Coast at the end of August. With Keith and Traci's move to Texas earlier this year, we all opted to go see them in their new home where ALL of us stayed (quite comfortably - it is a big, beautiful home).

The three siblings, Matt, Shawn, and Traci catching up in the kitchen

Sydney opening her birthday gift from Shawn's family and our family

(Her birthday was the week before)
A funny photo of Sydney asking her Mom for scissors

A new skateboard!

Above: Video of Sydney unwrapping her gift

Below: Alex & Joshua unwrapping their Xmas gifts from Traci's family

Shirtless Jay (he got too warm in his long sleeved shirt)

An impromptu family photo Thursday night

(missing Mike on the far right and Traci who is taking this photo)

Friday night PopPop and Nana treated all of us to dinner at Babe's -- a must-go-to restaurant if you are in Texas.

Saturday morning Matt, Jay and I drove about 30 min. and met up with our good friends Joe, Jennifer, and their daughter Elisabeth (she'll turn 3 in December) for breakfast. We learned they are expecting Baby #2, too, and to all of our amusement, they are due with their baby the exact same day we are expecting our Baby #2!

Saturday afternoon Sydney had a soccer game. Everyone went to watch her game, but Jay and I stayed back at the house for our afternoon naps. Following Sydney's game we enjoyed eating out at Pei Wei (the cheaper, more casual version of P.F. Chang's).

On Sunday we attended church and listened to Chuck Swindoll give a wonderful message (what a treat and blessing for Traci's family to attend his church and sit under his teaching) followed by a delicious Thanksgiving meal Traci had planned for all of us. After coming home from Pei Wei Saturday evening, we had all helped out in the kitchen preparing the various items for the Sunday Thanksgiving meal -- PopPop and Nana did the stuffing, Samantha made a yummy no-bake turtle pie, Shawn and Nana peeled the potatoes, Mike and I helped put together pumpkin bars, and Traci prepared the turkey and other miscellaneous items.

The kids made daily trips to the nearby park and community pool. Jay being his very independent and busy self, walked pushing the umbrella stroller the entire way there and back almost every time, but one time he did a face plant on the concrete. Nothing a little love, witch hazel, and neosporin couldn't fix. Jay LOVES being outside and put up a fuss most times when it was time to go inside the house.

We had a very relaxing, wonderful time with our family. We miss Traci's family so much so it was REALLY terrific to spend quality time with them.

We flew back home Monday afternoon. Matt and I quickly learned we'd been doing it right to tackle air travel in the mornings. On this final flight Jay's energy level (since it was in the afternoon) was definitely on the active side vs. his more lathargic mornings so it was a bit more challenging keeping him occupied and happy, but he was still a pretty good traveler. We were tuckered out yesterday (Tuesday) recovering from the trip, but all is back to status quo today.

More and better pictures of our time were taken by PopPop, Shawn, and Traci, so I hope to post more pictures that they took in the week to come.

PopPop and Nana, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this special trip and Traci, a HUGE THANK YOU to you and your family for your hospitality. You did so much work to get everything ready for our time there which was truly wonderful. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members. We love you all so much!!

Harvest Party 2009

We had a fun time tonight -- making this officially our "2nd annual" at this particular church going through the various rooms of games for kiddos with the same friends we went with last year. The church does such a great job and it is REALLY NICE to be dry and inside on often cold and rainy Oct. 31st days here in the Northwest.

I love this first photo that Matt took of Jay and me. Jay's eyes are so bright and he has that big, happy grin. He looks like he is ready to enjoy the night away! (And he did!)

Below: We met up with our friends who have two boys that are two years apart (ages 3 and almost 1). They came as cute little frogs... ('Twas hard to get all three of the boys looking at the camera at the same time. After multiple attempts, this was the best we could capture.)

Below: Helping Jay with the Egg Toss game. He had to "taste" this particular styrofoam egg before attempting to toss it in a basket.

All the church hallways were decorated with cute farm animals for their "Down on the Farm" theme. Jay especially liked checking out this horse eating hay.

PopPop, you'll be proud to know we introduced fishing to Jay tonight. Dad had to help, but Jay took everything in and reluctantly gave the fishing pole back to the man who was managing the poles this evening.

The prize for "catching" the fish helped ease giving up the fishing pole...

I had a hard time choosing which family photo to post tonight so I've decided to post both of them.

After the Harvest Party we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends along with two other couple friends of theirs. The 5 boys ranging in age from 1 to 3 played WONDERFULLY and PEACEFULLY for two hours while us 8 adults enjoyed great fellowship and adult conversation (which us stay-at-home Moms especially LOVED).

It was a wonderful evening -- many thanks! We hope to continue the tradition next year. We reminded each other tonight that next year we'll be one-on-one with TWO kiddos!

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

Jay and I visited some friends and former co-workers of mine on Wednesday and then we visited Matt's office and his co-workers yesterday and did some reverse trick-or-treating. We dressed Jay up in his lion costume and filled our pumpkin basket full of candy treats to hand out to everyone we met. We had such a fun time!

This close-eyed picture above isn't very good, but it is showing Jay discovering what happens when you hold onto and then put a wrapped Dove candy square in your mouth...it melts and out from the foil comes a wonderful sugary, chocolatey with carmel goodness! What a mess it created and he certainly was unhappy when we pulled it away from him (trying to take the foil from him - but he thought we were just plain taking his treat away from him).

When we arrived home from Matt's office I set the pumpkin on the floor for a minute. He made a beeline for the bucket and pulled out one of the last Dove squares and succeeded at enjoying a second square. Suffice it to say his nap was delayed because he was still experiencing the sugar in his system, but oh, he would say it was TOTALLY worth it!

Our carved pumpkin all lit up

We plan to go to a Harvest Party at a church with some friends of ours tomorrow. More pictures from that to come!!

Baby #2!

We've been COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS around here! Yes, you are reading it correctly - we're PREGNANT!! We saw the doctor this week and everything looks great.


Due date is June 5, 2010, just a mere three days after Jay turns 2! Nothing like doing one big birthday bash to accomplish the birthday celebration of two kiddos in years to come!


I'm excited that I have my same Ob-Gyn as last time. He is a great doctor!! He is extremely experienced and he has great bedside manner - very calming and peaceful.


Seeing Baby W #2's heartbeat was awesome - at a mere 7 weeks along it was just beating away with small flashes on the ultrasound screen. According to BabyCenter.com, the baby is about the size of a blueberry this week.



This week I've really started to notice and experience queasiness, lack of energy, and a general "just don't feel quite right" feelings, but in comparison to other pregnant women at this stage, this is all very mild. Don't get me wrong, though. I'll be glad to get into the second trimester when I start to feel "normal" again if this pregnancy is anything like my pregnancy was with Jay.


We'd appreciate your prayers for a safe and healthy pregnancy...we have a ways to go!


Like last time, yes, we'll be finding out the gender of the baby at 20 weeks (around mid-January). And yes, we'll share the gender, but we'll keep the baby's name a secret until the baby's arrival. Something has to keep people in suspense!! Oh, and yes, we already have a girl and a boy name chosen for Baby W #2.

Costumes & Pumpkins!

Today my three girlfriends and I got together for a potluck fall lunch. What a great time we had! We brought the kids' costumes and our pumpkins along for a brief photo shoot. We did that first not knowing how long we had before the kids might melt. Here is the result...

Knowing Jay he is probably pointing out a truck going by...

Below: Elephant Elorie (20 mo.), Lion Kyler (16-1/2 mo.) and Lion Jay (16-1/2 mo.)

Here are all four kids in the following photos: Elephant Elorie, Lion Kyler, Lion Jay, and Dalmation Dog Audrey (17 mo.)

Just before heading inside I decided to switch over and take a video of the kids. Little did I know what was just about to transpire...

After the kids were fed and playing with toys, all of us ladies had a chance to sit down for a wonderful fall meal. Priscilla brought delicious homemade butternut squash soup, Katie provided homemade pumpkin bread, I brought salad w/ craisins, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, candied walnuts along with an array of vegetables with dill dip, and Emilie brought Sparkling Apple Cider! Yum, yum!

Our fellowship time ended less than 2 hours after we arrived, but that was just perfect. It couldn't have been sweeter or better. Thanks, ladies!!

First Professional Haircut

It had been several weeks since I had cut/trimmed Jay's hair and it was beginning to stick up in funny directions since it was getting longer. I decided it was time for Jay to get his first professional haircut (to even out and straighten up any "mistakes" I had made). I thought it would be special to have the first haircut done in the town where I grew up from the local barber I've known all my life. His oldest son is the same age is my brother and my parents went to school with him and his wife. Bruce has been a barber for as long as I can remember -- since before I was born, really!

Following are pictures and a couple videos to capture this momentous event!!

Above: Feeling the vibration of the clippers

After the haircut, my Mom and I ran a few quick errands around town and then stopped to visit with Great Grandma Alma. Here is a cute picture of Jay playing with his basketball and soccer ball there (he is about ready to throw them).

Trip to the Tri-Cities

Great Grandma was feeling good today so we all hopped in the car after Jay woke from his morning nap and drove to the Tri-Cities. We met my brother for lunch at Applebee's (thanks for treating us to lunch, Great Grandma!), then he took us to his office so we could "tour" that. Afterwards we drove out to his and Mandy's beautiful new home that is being built. They are currently in the process of sheetrocking, the outside of the house is being prepped for stucco, and the back yard had ditches since they are working on the septic drain field.

Above: Kitchen looking out towards the front window room which will be the dining room

Above: The view from the kitchen into the living room. Behind the cardboard is the fireplace.

Above: The View - from the master bedroom, guest bedroom, kitchen, and living room.

Above: I love the beam detail over the front door of the house. The big window on the right is the dining room window. The small window to the left of the door lets light into the entryway, the big window to the left of that is the office, and the window to the left of that is to one of five bedrooms.

Their home is awesome...10 foot ceilings on the main floor with 8 foot tall doors (what a difference that makes) and 9 foot ceilings in the "basement". The basement doesn't feel like a basement with those tall ceilings. The hope is that they'll move in around the beginning of December. Pray that Mandy's house sale closes smoothly later this month!

After the tour of the home, Scott drove us past some nearby housing developments with beautiful new homes and then past Mandy's office building which was on our way back home. We weren't able to see/spend time with Mandy today (which was a bummer) because she was out-and-about busy with work. It'll be fun to plan another visit after they are settled in to their new home.

Jay was a good traveler to and from the Tri-Cities. He really enjoyed the field trip. I think he also enjoyed riding in Grandma's van which allowed him a higher seat and a bigger window to look out from.