The Last Days of Summer...

James and Samantha came to visit us last week and we had a great time! We spent a lot of time outdoors and just enjoyed hanging out. Rylin loved "Uncle James" and stayed pretty close to his side. Kacia is always thrilled when family comes to visit and somehow managed to rope Samantha into playing Barbies with her and discovering new games on the computer outside the well known world of PBS.com, such as High School Musical, Barbie and Disney Fairies. We had a great time and truly appreciate that they took the time to drive down and hang out with us! It just better not be a year again before they come back (did you hear that James?)!

Are Baby Mohawks Cruel?

So Lincoln's hair is out of control! It is so long and sticks straight up! So the last few days I have been putting gel in it and shaping it into a mohawk so atleast it looks somewhat intentional. These pics are at the end of the day, so it is a little less defined, but you get the point. And now I wonder will this be something I'll hear about later..."Mom, why did you do that to me?"

Kevin & I Celebrate 9 Years!

Last Thursday Kevin and I celebrated 9 years of marriage! Friday evening Breanna watched all 3 kids so we could have a little one on one time, something we haven't had much of lately. We enjoyed a great dinner out and then decided to scratch going to a movie and went to Barnes & Noble instead. It was so great to be able to look at what we wanted instead of reading Elmo and Princess books. We finished off the evening with one of our favorite things- ice cream! It was a great time together- thanks Bre and Michael and Allie! Marriage is such a wonderful blessing, I am so thankful for my husband and to my God for choosing such an incredible man to be my partner in life! But I have to admit- 9 years makes me feel quite old! And yes, we are already saving for next year, where we plan to celebrate in a place a little more tropical than Redding!

Tears of Gratitude

Since Lincoln has been born, twice I have stumbled upon blogs of families who have recently lost an infant. In both situations, the babies were born and taken Home before they ever left the hospital. One family enjoyed their baby for only a few hours, and the other for a few days. As I read their stories, I am brought to tears, not only for their aching and loss, but tears of great gratitude for Lincoln's safe arrival. I feel far too often the miracle of birth is overlooked, it happens every day, and we become so calloused to the truly amazing thing that it is. I know that my children are on loan to me, I know that every day is a complete gift, but how often I am overtaken by the tasks of the day, that I forget to stop and thank my God for another day! As I read the stories of these families, I was overwhelmed with grief, yes, but also so encouraged and challenged by their strong faith and desire to glorify God in every circumstance. God's ways are truly so much higher than ours, so much more complex than meets the eye, so eternally-minded. I will not say I can understand why God allows such loss, but I will say with confidence that as the Creator of life, He does hold all things in His hands, and we can rest there. Such trials ought not make me fear of what I may lose (which is the natural thing our mind rushes to) but rather- make me so grateful for His goodness and spend the day praising Him for the many things He blesses me with. We serve an Awesome Father and I so desire to bring Him glory in all that life brings- both the miracles and tragedies!

One Month of Sleep Deprivation and Complete Joy!

Well, it is hard to believe that Lincoln is already a month old! Sorry for the lack of picture updates, Kevin has had the camera with him most days for work lately, and well, I've been just a little busy adjusting. So far (knock on wood) Lincoln seems to be a fairly content baby. We all know it is about time I had an "easy" one. He loves his sisters, his swing and his food. He is sleeping better than the girls, which is really the only scale I go by. His cheeks are filling out quite a bit, but then again, this is a very common thing with my family! He still has all of his hair, so maybe, just maybe, it will stick around! The girls are still very much in love with him. Our routine is the same every morning. He wakes up, eats, gets changed and then they argue over who's turn it is to hold him first. Rylin loves to get really close to his face, pet him and say in a high pitched voice, "Hey buddy, yook at me bud, Yincoln, hey buddy." It has been a lot of fun to watch her adjust to the big sister role, and I think she is doing quite well. She hates it when he cries, and comes running to me, "Mom, mom, Yincoln need you! Yincoln crying, he want you!!!!" She has also renamed one of her dolls, Lincoln, and feeds him, burps him, rocks him while singing "rock a bye baby", puts him in the swing and puts him down for naps. It's quite cute to watch!We have been slightly more homebound than normal, but that is to be expected, plus it's just stinkin hot outside. Kevin has been really good about trying to take the girls swimming often, even if its for 45 minutes, it gives me a break, and they have a blast! I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this house! It has been an incredible blessing to be back in town, and the office in the backyard has been truly awesome for Kevin's work. He is actually able to do a good majority of his work without leaving the house. Just having him come in throughout the day for lunch or whatever, breaks up our day. I thank the Lord for providing this house and know that it has made a tremendous difference in our family time and in adjusting with the baby.

Welcome Baby Lincoln!

We are happy to announce that Lincoln Ray joined our family on the 17th! He is beautiful and healthy and we are enjoying him beyond words! He was a big guy weighing in at 8lbs 2oz. We thank you for your prayers and above all thank our Creator for allowing us the opportunity to raise and train Lincoln into a man after God's own heart!

Me and My Girls

This is my firstborn, my now nearly 5 year old daughter! Her big brown eyes and bright smile bring me so much joy! Kevin and I are still amazed at how big she is (not literally, of course, afterall, she is 1/2 Hetland). She will start Kindergarten in August and is eagerly awaiting it! She loves to draw and color, and really do any sort of craft to use her creativity. She is starting to read and truly loves learning. She thrives on being the oldest, learning independence, helping me, and showing Rylin what to do, how to do it, etc. She loves being outside, especially in water. She absolutely loves shopping, especially for shoes! She loves going golfing with Kevin and her pink putter, going to the movies with Daddy or Grandpa, and going for coffee/hot chocolate with whoever will take her. She is very much a perfectionist, and thus is easily frustrated when things don't go her way. She loves her extended family and friends, and gets very excited to spend time with them. She has a very tender and compassionate nature, hates seeing people hurt and is always the first to offer comfort. This is a trait from nature (our Creator), not nurture, as this is not a characteristic people would use of me. She is very observant and inquisitive and wants to know how everything works and why. She once asked me why the water is clear in our cups, but is blue in the lake. What would your answer have been? It amazes me, and yet doesn't, how many questions she has about everything and yet has never once questioned God or Jesus' existence. How does He see everything, How can He be everywhere, yes, but never a doubt that He does exist (confirmation of what Romans 1 teaches!) She loves to sing, and I'm afraid to say, sings quite off tune like me, and loves to pray. She told me just last week during bedtime, when we were saying our "I love you's" that she loves God most of all because He made us and gives us everything.

So this is Rylin at 2 1/2. She is quite possibly one of the most adorable kids I have ever seen. She is extremely petite, still wearing 18 month old clothes, but really does this surprise anyone? She is very busy and rarely sits still. We are still waiting for her to sit through a book or a cartoon. She is very social, loves to talk on the phone to whoever I am talking to, will talk to anyone as long as I am nearby, and really enjoys singing. Her favorite song right now is the hymn, "I'll Obey and Serve You" and she loves listening to "her" CD in the car. She is a self proclaimed vegetarian, I honestly cannot get her to eat meat, and she is extremely stubborn and strong willed. Rylin loves to be silly and goofy with her random acts and makes us laugh often, but she can really be quite sneaky and a little stinker when she feels like it. She has a very animated personality and expresses herself well with her eyes, face, hands and voice. She loves ball, and she is my pick for our athlete since she already loves sunflower seeds. She absolutely loves her big sister, but make no mistake, she will not be ignored, left out or bossed around, this girl has a mind of her own. She too is very compassionate, like Kacia. Everytime I prick my finger (which is 4 times a day for a couple of months now) she says without fail, "Oh, I sorry Mom." Her favorite thing to say, thus my least favorite thing to hear all day is "hungry Mom" repeat, repeat, repeat, etc. Seriously, you would think she would weigh so much more with as often as she eats! She thinks she loves dogs, remembers everyone we know who has one, runs to them at the park, and then screams the second they get too close. But if a fence or slider door are in between her and dog, she is very intrigued by watching them. Right now she is learning to pray on her own, and these are words I treasure so much!

So this is me and my girls. In so many ways they are so alike, and in others they are as different as the color of their eyes. Life is about to change forever, but in the meantime, this is us.

My Thoughts

So something hit me earlier this week. It was Dr. Appt day, and I had about 45 minutes in between appointments, the girls were with Grandma, so I decided to take advantage of the alone time and run a few errands. As I was waddling down the sidewalk (yes, I waddle now!), and getting smiles from complete strangers as they notice my belly which is quite hard not to notice, I realized that any day now will be the last day I am ever pregnant! And although I am so excited to see and hold and love this little baby, and am anxious to once again be able to bend over and pick up something on the floor, or get out of bed without having to come up with a strategy first, I am going to miss being pregnant! I love feeling the baby move, I love watching my girls talk to the baby and rub lotion on my tummy, I love how at any time, any where, someone always has something to say. I love the excitement and build up for delivery day. And although this touch of nostalgia does not make me doubt our decision to be done at #3, (at all!) it does help me to not be so focused on getting this baby out, but rather, to fully enjoy every day he kicks, rolls, punches and hiccups inside keeping me awake with his movements rather than his cry!

Preparing for Baby

So, if you look at that number to the right, the baby's arrival date is getting very close!! As it does, I am reminded once more how different Kevin and I can be. Kevin is getting so anxious and is convinced the baby could come any day because I'm having a lot of contractions, but I think he has forgotten that I did the same thing with Rylin. My body says "I'm done" and the baby says "Oh just a little bit longer please". So in the meantime, I have been so motivated to get as much done as I can (and to pass the time). We finished priming the baby's room (it only took 3 coats!) and I plan on starting the paint tonight. (This will probably surprise Kevin since he brought home a movie to watch!) Typically I would not tackle a job like this so close to delivery, but if you look at the picture before, with the two shades of green, you might agree that even we left it with just the primer, it is an improvement! I also figure the sooner the paint gets done, the sooner we can put up the crib and all and I may be able to start parking in the garage. I have also been frantically attempting all of the deep cleaning projects that need done around the house and Kevin, well Kevin is having hard time wanting to work, and just wants to know when life is going to change. But as we all know, these are things that just can't be predicted, and so I remind him and our 4 year old, that the day the baby decides to come is a complete surprise to all of us!

Old Pics

So life has been a little hectic with moving in and attempting to settle in before the baby arrives, so I know that I have been a blogger slacker. Anyhow, I had wanted to post these pictures we took the week before we moved. We went up to Dunsmuir with our friends to let the kids (or dads) do a little fishing and play at the park before the chaos of our busy week started. Kevin had warned me that he was going to have a "crazy busy week" and wouldn't be seeing us much. I know that we are hitting summer months when business seems to be at its peak, so I didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until the end of the week that he revealed that yes, he had been busy working a lot, but he also surprised the girls and I by painting their new room and setting up bunkbeds. He even snuck out one of the quilts that I had bought to take it to Home Depot to match paint, then shopped all over town to find the best deal on good mattresses, plus picking up the beds that we had discussed getting, but that he had told me to wait a month or so and then we would see where we were at. The girls are adjusting well to sharing a room and sleeping in their new beds. Some nights are easier than others, but all in all the transition has been much smoother than I had imagined. I will post some pictures of their room when it is a little more picked up ( I think every toy we have unpacked is currently on the floor!)

Kacia's not-so-hidden "talent"

So my oldest daughter has many gifts and talents! However, I fear that fashion design is not one of them! That is to say unless you are going for the look that is sure to scream- "I could careless what other people think, atleast I won't be caught wearing the same outfit as someone else." Here is another pic to display her creativity and independence when it comes to clothes...Rylin on the other hand, when asked if she wants to get dressed is most likely to respond, "No, nakey awile."

WHAT?-Bathtime is Fun?????

So Rylin has always hated baths! I don't know why, but from the time she was a baby in the small little infant bath until she moved into the tub with Kacia she has detested baths. This in turn means that I hate giving baths because they turn out to be so much more of a chore than they should be and I am disciplining the entire time instead of letting them play and enjoy themselves.

We have tried numerous things, letting her pick out the bubble bath, getting new bath toys, crayons in the tub, etc. But still my daughter would refuse to sit down in the tub, let alone relax and have fun. When we were on our snow vacation in January, she learned the word "slippery". The next time I tried to give her a bath, she through a fit, crying, "No, no, slipper, slippery!" Finally I thought I had solved the mystery- she was scared of slipping. So we put a towel down for her to sit on and the next few baths went slightly smoother. And then the poop came! Three times in a row Rylin pooped in the bath! Not only did this get a negative reaction from both me and Kacia, but she would get so upset! So then we had to face the next hurdle- her fear of pooping again! My solution- a swim diaper. For the last couple of weeks now Rylin has bathed in a swim diaper, she has not had any accidents and is actually liking her time in the bath! In fact, she often stays in longer than Kacia! This is quite the milestone in our family!

These are the Days of our Lives

So we have been doing a lot of staying at home lately. With my allergies and lack of energy, it just seems to be the best option- plus it's free! The girls are discovering all kinds of ways to stay busy and play together. Here they are "painting" the deck with water.

Since we weren't leaving the house this day, I allowed the girls to show some independence (and creativity) by dressing themselves. Rylin picked her very favorite pants- pink, shiny track pants and combined them with anything and everything pink (all varying shades!).

Kacia's outfit was really something. She put her gymnastic suit on over her underwear (which she often does) and then put her bathing suit bottoms on top of that, to hide the underwear of course. Earlier in the day, she was also sporting her pink leggings in between the gymnastic suit and bathing suit. Creative- yes, but fashionable, well... let's just say it was entertaining!

The girls are enjoying spring and are getting quite anxious for both Grandma's return and the arrival of baby brother. Speaking of whom, this baby better be one easy baby, sleeping and eating perfectly. I know that pregnancy is a huge blessing, so please don't get me wrong. I love feeling him move, and I thank God daily for the gift of allowing me to carry and grow him. But if my horrible, ugly, vein covered, aching legs weren't enough, I now must refrain from ice cream, cookies, coffee, and pretty much anything that tastes good thanks to gestational diabetes! My new, very strict diet is going to take some work, but the doctor is confident that if I am faithful in sticking to the diet both me and baby will be just fine, and in about 10 weeks +/-, I can return to my normal lifestyle.

Easter Fun!

So on Saturday our friends had set up an Egg Hunt at a local park, complete with games, way too many eggs full of candy, and a lot of our friends from church. The weather was beautiful and I'm pretty certain the adults enjoyed themselves as much as the kids! Then we did Easter dinner Sunday at Pete and Breanna's house with Kevin's dad as well. All in all, it was a great weekend. The girls looked so cute in their Easter dresses- thanks Aunt Bre and Uncle Pete! Now if I only knew what to do with all of the candy that is still laying around our house!

A Day at Home

Well despite the beautiful blue sky, today is freezing and windy, and with Rylin and I both struggling with allergeries, we are taking a lazy day and staying home. So what better to do than post some pictures for you and avoid doing housework! Here are some pictures of my girls a couple of weeks ago. We are still living in our "temporary" house (thank you Jesus!) and so I have unpacked very little, but we decided to get out the dress-up box and literally within 5 minutes they had tried on all of the clothes, ripped them off and thrown others on, over and over again! Sometimes it is a good thing to separate them from some of their toys because then when you get them back out, it's like they are new all over again! I was able to get more pics of Rylin then Kacia because Rylin needed to stay nearby for assistance!

Oh, and just for those of you wondering how I am doing on my coffee addiction, in the last month and a half, I can count on one hand (not even using all of the fingers!) how many "good" coffees I have had, 2 of which were brought to me by my very dear sister! I also realized that I was quite wrong on my Starbucks count, missing at least 5 - bringing the total to 12 - in our "small" town!!!

(We miss you Grandma! And we know you are missing Starbucks too (though not as much as you are missing us!), we'll have to go together when you get back!

At the Cross on Good Friday

At the Cross

I know a place

A wonderful place

Where accused and condemned

Find mercy and grace

Where the wrongs we have done

And the wrongs done to us

Were nailed there with Him

There on the cross

At the cross, He died for my sins

At the cross, He gave His life again

At the cross, He died for my sins

At the cross, He gave His life again

This song has been in my head since Bible Study yesterday, and though it seems so short and somewhat simple, its words have brought me healing and hope and gratitude as it continues to replay in my head. Oh how thankful I am for the cross and for my Christ who gave His life for me!

Today we have been attempting to focus on Good Friday- I'm trying to help my kids understand that Easter is not just a Sunday thing where you get candy and have egg hunts, but there is so, so much more to it than that. I got a really great kids book "What is Easter?" and we have been doing all of the fun activities- yes, but while doing so we have been discussing the true reason we can celebrate. We have made crosses out of play-dough, than this morning we had Breanna, Allie, Micheal, Alex and our friends Tiffany and Aden over to color eggs and make jelly bean bracelets. (However, the pack of 28 needles of varying sizes that I bought, didn't have an eye big enough for our bracelet thread, so we just ate a bunch and Rylin made a picture of the 3 crosses with jelly beans and glue.) It has been a good day so far. I really wanted Kacia to understand that although today is the day we honor Christ for dying on the cross it is still most definitely a day to celebrate and not to mourn, because what happened 3 days later? He rose again! We celebrate because Good Friday is not the end of the story! What an amazing Savior we serve!!