One Year Old

We had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. My nephew is doing great in his first semester down at Texas A&M, Tracy's parents were able to come down and help us celebrate Thanksgiving, and Karis turned one on Thanksgiving Day this year (please note it loaded these pictures in backwards...so if you want correct time progression you have to start from the bottom):

This is How it Works

The next morning big brothers were still making sure little sister knew how things worked. She has that look on her face like she is saying, "Can you please tell them that I know how to do it?" Get used to it, Karis. I don't think it's going to change.

Lots of Help

A few presents later things were still progressing slowly, so second big brother Chase decided to help out as well. I don't think we have to worry about big brothers watching out for little sister.

First Birthday Gift

Like all one-year-olds, Karis was a bit slow going on ripping into her first present. This would explain why big brother Ryan is on the way to help teach her how.

Birthday Cupcakes

I always do cupcakes for the kids' first birthday - it is easier for them to handle when they are eating. Karis could have cared less about her cupcakes. She was too excited about the fact that she was getting to crawl around the kitchen table (with Grandparents stationed at each side). FYI - Ryan made the banner behind Karis all by himself.

Our Famous Birthday Girl

We emailed Karis' picture into KPTV for their first birthdays announcement, then we tivo'd it so we could freeze the frame and look at it through out the day. I have no clue why but I was so excited to see her picture on t.v.! Isn't that funny how you get all excited when you see someone you know on tv (that is for good reasons...), especially your family? Like when they come out to Canby High for some high school football footage and we scan the crowd to see if there are any people that we know on tv.

Halloween Costumes

Boy - November went by really fast! I've got some catching up to do. Here are some Halloween pictures to start us out.

Batman

Ryan was Batman this year, and he played the part well.

Mickey Mouse

Chase was less than thrilled with his costume. This is the best picture I could get in between crying spells. He wouldn't even let me put any makeup on to make him look more Mickey-like. Amazingly enough, he was in a great mood the whole time we were Trick-or-Treating...

Duckie

Karis was a duck (the same costume that Chase wore last year). It's a good thing she wore it this year because I think she'll be too big for it next year. She wasn't very thrilled with her costume either, especially the feet...but at least she wasn't driven to tears like her brother.

Growth

THEN

NOW

Look at the difference eight months can make! I think the first picture was taken when Karis was about two months old. Now she's getting close to eleven months and everyone around here is getting big, big, bigger! Time sure flies.

The Pumpkin Barn

Do you see all these pumpkins, Mom?

What is this stuff poking my bottom?

Pumpkin Barn, 2008

One of my favorite things about October is the Pumpkin Barn. My mom has a friend that runs a fruit and vegetable stand out of one of her sheds on 13th Street, right on the edge of Canby. Every October they fill the end with straw and pumpkins. It is a great place to go pick out our pumpkins: one - because the prices are great, (we got four small pumpkins, including one white pumpkin, and three very large pumpkins for carving for only $7.00), and two - because it is dry and usually not busy so I can make my family pose for picture after picture after picture.

One year we waited until the third week of October to get our pumpkins. We arrived at the Pumpkin Barn only to find it was closed for the season. Apparently Bettie closes down as soon as all the pumpkins are sold. Ryan and I were devastated...and we ended up paying $12.00 for three pumpkins at some other place over by my parents house. Needless to say we now get our pumpkins the first weekend in October no matter what.

Karis was initiated this year and her favorite part was the straw (as was her brothers' when they were less than a year old at the Pumpkin Barn). Technically this is Karis' second year at the Pumpkin Barn as I was VERY pregnant with her this time last year. How time flies!

Frost on the Pumpkins

You know it's cold outside when these two are snuggling. Usually Daisy is 'loving' Fred by putting Fred's head in her mouth and tossing the poor cat around for a few minutes.

Welcome to Fall

Well, we had a soccer game this morning, we're watching college football this evening, and I've spent the day doing things inside and DIDN'T feel guilty because the weather was cloudy and gray. All I need to do now is dig out my pumpkin bread recipe.

Long time no post, I know!

We have been busy for sure. Ryan started Kindergarten and soccer AND had an extra permanent tooth pulled out (story for later this week when I can give it the time it deserves). Chase is talking up a storm and can drive his John Deere tractor like a true farm kid. Karis is 97% for height and has five teeth. The doctor even warned me about having a big baby and how people will expect her to be able to do things she's not old enough to do. We've gone camping, visited the fair, went up to Oroville for 4th of July, and many other fun and interesting things.

Tracy has become a full-on truck driver - when someone is sick he takes to the road. And I am now a soccer coach, a Kindergarten volunteer, a member of the PTA, and have just volunteered to be in charge of our church's wonderful Advent celebration for 2009.

So I have a lot to cover in the following weeks, I know. But for now, pictures!

I lost my first tooth (and it's not the one that got pulled)!

Ryan on the run!

Karis ready for some fun in the sun.

Chase enjoys a Twinkie at the campsite.

Totally saving this for when she hits fifteen.

Introducing Our New Kitchen

Ok, for those who never had the pleasure of seeing our old kitchen in all its glory, here are a few pictures to give you an idea. I couldn't find any pictures of just the kitchen. Can you blame me? Would you want to remember this kitchen? But here are a few of the kids that give you a good idea of what we were living with:



Here's one of Chase and Grandma eating some blueberries. Please note the wood paneling, the 40-year-old linoleum, and the lovely stained cabinets with formica counter tops...and we're not talking the nice formica, either.

This one shows Ryan enjoying some cake batter. This is another great shot of the cabinets and the floor.

You've seen these two pictures before, but it a good view of how much of the wall we actually tore out. Also, the part of the room where you can see the furnace ducts - there was a brick wall there that Tracy tore out.

So here we go...I'm not even going to comment, I'm just going to let you look and enjoy. Keep in mind that the kitchen and dining room were connected by a small doorway, and the refrigerator was on the other side of the room.

Needless to say, we LOVE it.

On to the Next Step

Tonight Ryan graduated from Preschool; his first big milestone on the road of education. I didn't go to preschool when I was his age. I grew up in the dark ages where you just went to Kindergarten right out of the chute and didn't have to know your alphabet to get accepted.

Women go Crazy for a Sharp Dressed Man

Ryan picked out the shirt and tie himself. The shirt actually came with a clip-on tie, but he also wanted to get a real tie. I guess even at five a man needs to have options when getting dressed up for a big event.

Too Cool for School

This is downstairs in the basement getting ready for the ceremony. The teachers made the hats for all the children. They even measured each of their heads so they would have a perfect fit.

Getting his Bible and Diploma from his Teacher

Ryan had the best teachers: Mrs. Brands and Mrs. Graves. Mrs. Brands is actually retiring after this year, so neither Chase or Karis will have her - which is a shame. But Ryan was lucky enough to have her both years AND Mrs. Graves will hopefully still be there by the time Chase and Karis go to Preschool.

I'm only here for the popcorn.

Chase was also dressed to impress...even though he would not pose with his brother or let me take his picture. I had to take this picture covert style when he wasn't looking...which explains Grandpa's tummy. Chase's favorite part of the evening was the cookies and punch afterwards. He hit a milestone tonight as well as he learned to drink from a cup all by himself.

Karis was also dressed up for the evening, but the only shot I got of her was a very unflattering close-up with her eyes half closed and her tongue sticking out. Someday when she is a teenager and she thinks I am the meanest mom in the world because I won't let her do something all her friends are doing, I'll remind her that I didn't post that picture.

First of Many

I know that you all have been patiently waiting for updates on everything, or maybe you've been waiting for any update at all... I apologize, but things here have been more than busy. I know you want to see pictures of the new kitchen, or perhaps maybe find out how my mom is doing, or if Tracy got his CDL. I have a lot to catch up on, I am aware.

So - since I don't have the time or the energy tonight to tackle the big issues, I'll put some recent pictures of the kids up so you can see how they are doing. Here are some of my favorites:

KARIS

Karis is getting big, big, big. She can roll over quite easily now, and always has a smile on her face. Even when she is really upset, I can usually get her to smile in between cries.

Although not seen in either of these two pictures, she has recently decided that she really likes to stick her tongue out ALL THE TIME. It is the cutest thing, and since she realized that it makes everyone laugh and smile she does it even more. We just had her six month old pictures taken, and one of the best ones was with her tongue sticking out. She'll be so proud of that one when she's 16. Hee hee - being Mom is good sometimes.

CHASE

Chase has decided that he would like to live on snack food and never eat anything healthy...ever. It has been fun battling him over this, and due to his stubbornness, he has seen a few bedtimes with no snack and little to no dinner. We have decided that he not only gets his good looks from his dad (see above picture), but also his eating habits. He has also started talking a lot lately. He is very polite and says thank you and sorry all the time. I think he has decided that he doesn't want Mom continually hounding him with the infamous question: "And what do you say?" That is Ryan's favorite question, I'm sure.

RYAN

CRAZY BLUE MOHAWK!!!!! Enough said, right?

After asking him for over a month, just to be sure, we decided that Ryan could get a mohawk, a blue mohawk. Sometime this week it will become a crazy blonde tipped mohawk, though, so we can change the colors when we want to. This is a summer haircut for Ryan. Since his alopecia came back and he was almost up to 50% hair loss again anyway, we decided he could have whatever haircut he wanted. The best thing about this haircut, besides the fact that he LOVES it, is that people actually make positive comments to him about his hair now. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is for him to hear, "Hey, cool haircut," instead of, "What is wrong with his hair?" I know Ryan is happier about the reason why people stare at his hair now. That is worth any haircut in my opinion.

MEGAN

Ok, so Megan isn't one of my three children, but she is my ONLY niece and we were lucky enough to have her come down and spend some time with us in March...even if it was just for the shopping. Here she is holding a much smaller Karis. She's probably going to kill Aunt Denise for posting her picture. Too bad she lives so far away and can't do anything about it. We love you, Megan. ;)

P.S. My mom is doing GREAT. Thank you everyone who sent love and prayers our way. I will update on her within the next few days. Our kitchen is wonderful - pictures before the end of the week. And last but not least, Tracy can drive the big rigs on his own. Woo hoo, another trucker in the family, just the way we like it!

April 17th, 2008

April 17th, 2008 will be a day that I will always remember. That is the day my mother was officially diagnosed with breast cancer. She was extremely fortunate to find it very early on and so there is a very good percentage that she will get through this ordeal completely cured.

"Amen and Glory!" as Ryan says at the end of his prayers.

Amen and Glory indeed. I have much to be thankful for these days.

I have always been a person that avoids the thought of not having my parents around. I watched my grandmother die of colon cancer...and until the last week I kept telling myself that she would live for another six to twelve months. I knew she was terminal, but my mind had just decided it wasn't anywhere in the near future. Then one day I went to visit and there was no denying she was near the end.

I miss my grandparents very much, but I know they are much happier now because at the end their bodies couldn't let them do the things they wanted to do with their time. And I know that they look out for our family on a daily basis. And I'm sure my grandfather is telling my children to EAT SLOW and WALK SLOW and TEASE YOUR MOM. How else would a five-year-old and a two-year-old be able to do the things they do???

As much as I miss my grandparents, I cannot fathom losing my parents or Tracy's parents. I understand that eventually someday I will have to face this, and it will be a good thing as they will be with other loved ones and our Father - but selfishly I will miss them beyond measure.

So, even though it sounds like a happy ending, there is still a long road ahead, and I would ask everyone to pray for my mom, her doctors, and our family as we go down it together. And mostly pray for me to be strong for my mom. She has been there for me more times than I can count, and I'm sure many times I am not even aware of - so I hope this time I am there for her in the many ways she may need me.

And be ready for me to bug you to start walking for the cure!

Morning Time

This picture is on the side bar as well, but I just think it is so funny that you needed to see it a little bit bigger. Obviously mornings are more fun when you are four months old.

It's April Already?

The kitchen is done...well, almost done. We still need to paint all the new trim...but it is all put together. It looks so different.

And you say, "Yeah - where are the pictures?!?!"

I know - I'll try to get some taken and up tomorrow (now that I remembered I have a blog and I really need to make entries on a timely basis). Meanwhile, we have a 75 degree day and we realize that our air conditioner isn't working the way it should, like AT ALL, so we call in someone to service our furnace and AC unit. Now, keep in mind that our furnace is a 30-year-old oil belcher.

The man looks at the furnace for a while and tells us not to waste any money on it. Plus, it is leaking CO2. GREAT! On top of that our AC unit needs about $500 plus worth of work. Guess who is using space heaters until our new furnace/AC unit is installed next week? That'd be us.

Ah, but the home improvement doesn't stop there. We also have an electrical panel that doesn't flip the doohickey when you, for example, stick a screwdriver in an electrical outlet. No, this time it wasn't me who tried this but our contractor. He melted his screwdriver and it still didn't flip to turn off the power. That's safe. So we are getting our electrical panel switched out on Monday.

Finally, we decided that maybe it was time to have the ducts cleaned out, since not only did we remodel the whole inside of our house over the past two years but it is a safe bet that the previous owners didn't clean them out since they were installed, oh, thirty years ago. (The furnace guy thinks our furnace was installed around 1972...that would actually make the belcher 36 years old...that would be seven years older than me since I am still 29.) I called the duct cleaning place and told them under no circumstances, no matter how interestingly strange it was, did I want to see what comes out of our ducts. I'll sleep much better NEVER knowing what resided in there for the last 30 years.

The kids are doing great, though. Ryan has started T-ball and Kinder Kempo. They both are helping quite a bit with increasing our attention span. That is as much as you can increase a five-year-old's attention span.

Chase is talking up a storm. He has some very unique pronunciations of popcorn and horse. I try to make him say those two words all the time because you know, soon he won't be two anymore and he'll just say "popcorn" and "horse".

Karis is smiling all the time now. She has the biggest smile I've ever seen. And she is quite talkative. She has also realized that if she laughs, her deep belly laugh works the best, her mom will keep talking to her. So she laughs for up to five minutes at a time. It's like a drug...I can't leave her alone when she is laughing. So she laughs, then I laugh, then she laughs, then I laugh. And if I stop laughing...she starts all over again. Don't tell me babies don't know how to work the system.

Lots of things to talk about. I'll have to get my camera out (my NEW camera!) and take some pictures of the kitchen and other things (like the huge 5 month old puppy that doesn't fit into her crate anymore). Until then, I'm going to go put on my long-johns and go to bed!

Bye Bye Sixties!

So, on top of having a brand new baby, a new puppy, and Ryan's birthday party this Saturday, we started the kitchen remodel this month. The last couple of weekends Tracy and I (mostly Tracy) have been demolishing what we could, but yesterday the real demo began.

Our contractor, Lynn, started ripping out our walls and floor to make way for our vision of a brand new kitchen. To give you an idea of what it is like remodeling a house that was originally built in 1910, here is what is inside our walls. In case you don't have any idea what your looking at (like me), the following picture shows how our walls are constructed.

This picture doesn't show it very well, but there is shiplap on one side and beadboard on the other. That means that our walls are solid wood on both sides of the framing. (All of you men out there will have to forgive me if I misspell any building terminology.)

Our plan for the kitchen was to rip out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room to make one large kitchen area. We rarely used the dining room and wanted more room in the kitchen so we finally decided the wall had to go. The following two pictures show the first stages of making this happen.

"You can see the TV from the kitchen - cool!" exclaimed Tracy.

If you look closely you will see that the subflooring has been removed because once again, we have solid wood planks under our subflooring. They are going to fill in this part of the floor with some goop that will even out the floor. We can't put subflooring down because then the old kitchen floor won't be even with the existing dining room floor - that is no good when you don't want any transition area on the floor. But since we have an almost-100-year-old-house where everything is made from wall to wall wood we don't need subflooring.

Lynn is now waiting for the gluelam (sp???) beam so he can take out the wall supports. Of course we want to take out a bearing wall, but then it seems like every wall in a four-sqare house is a bearing wall. (This will be the third bearig wall that we will have taken out, and there was one already out when we bought the house.)

We are very excited and can't wait to get it all finished. I'll try to keep you all updated with pictures as we go along.

Yes, We ARE Crazy!

So I walk into Ryan's preschool last Friday, and two of his classmates, Berik and Bowen, have brought a new puppy to school for sharing. Talk about wild five-year-olds. As I get closer I hear their mom say, "Yes, we're looking for a new home for Daisy - we just can't keep her."

9 Week Old Daisy

Then for a brief moment, I lose my mind. I don't know exactly what happened, perhaps I just left it in the car with my purse, but I said, "Well, we weren't going to get a new dog until next year, but if you can't find a home for her, we'll take her."

And I didn't stop there...I had to add, "And we have four acres, all fenced. She'd have lots of room to run and play."

What a Day

So I give Berik and Bowen's mom our phone number. Then I tell Tracy what I have done: "She's a Labradoodle. She's really cute."

Understandably Tracy thought I had lost my mind. No - I just forgot it in the car...

Anyway - over the weekend the idea started to grow on us. That was a good thing because yesterday I got a call and before you know it, Daisy is ours. Someone is very excited.

A Boy and His Dog

Smiles

Karis is getting big, big, big. As of her eight week doctor appointment she is over 12 pounds and 22.8 inches long. She still hasn't figured out that we sleep at night and stay awake during the day...but some nights are better than others.

Tonight is not one of the good nights.

She sleeps well, I just need to get her to sleep well during the night on a regular basis. I'm not complaining, though. She is still a very easy baby, and she is only two months old as of January 27th.

One of the best things that has been happening for the last few weeks is her big, toothless grin.

This is one of her first smiles that I actually got on camera.

This was the first day that we sat in the bouncy chair - she was excited about that...for about ten minutes.

Sitting on Dad's lap always brings a big smile.