The Pemberton's

Family Update

2012-02-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. We are all doing well for the most part. These 3 little boys are just as happy as can be, they spend all day together playing hard, fighting on occasion and making me laugh constantly!

Colt ADORES his little brothers, he is honestly one of the nicest big brothers I have ever seen. Jax and him do fight on occasion but for the most part Colt would do anything for them. He is loving, caring and has the softest heart. He loves to hold Case and gently wrestle with him, Case thinks Colt is the best thing ever. He loves to crawl all over him and smiles the minute Colt comes up to him.

The weather has been typical for this time of year, not too cold really but so foggy and ugly. We had a couple nice days so we took advantage of the sunshine and set out on a little hike. We have a perfect place for the kids to hike around about a mile from our house so I loaded all 3 in the stroller and we walked down there. The kids love to find the big sticks and "fish" with them. This means they put their sticks in the water and fish for huge pieces of grass and moss.

Saturday morning cartoons with all my little guys.

I am training for a half-marathon in Birch Bay next weekend so my Saturday mornings usually consist of getting in some type of long run. I do not have a training plan for this half, I have done enough half's that I know what I need to run to complete them. I am running with some friends, it will be fun and relaxing and it will not be a PR. One Saturday, Dave took Colt to shoot his bow so I loaded up the younger two and we ran 9 miles. They both fell asleep and it was such a nice run, it is so much harder running when pushing the kids in a stroller so I really try and not think about how slow I am going and just enjoy the run and the peacefulness of it.
We are looking forward to the rest of this month, spending time with family this weekend, Valentines Day (love decorating the house and making treats with the boys), a trip to Lynden for President's Day and my 31st birthday! My mom has already started my birthday celebration by randomly dropping off little gifts (starbucks card, runners world magazine subscription), love her! Dave surprised me with an hour long massage last weekend too. The month just keeps getting better!

Case : 8 months

2012-01-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

The baby stage goes way too fast for me. I look at Case and already miss the little tiny newborn that we brought home just 8 months ago. Case is the perfect little brother, he is easy to have around, is not too demanding and loves to crawl after his brothers all around the house. Colt and Jax enjoy "wrestling" with him too and for the most part they are both really gentle when they do it though Case has come away with a few little bumps and bruises. He is a good eater and is just starting to self-feed, still no teeth so for now I am just giving him little bits of bananas, bread and baby puffs. He is wearing pretty much all 12 month clothing and some 18 month. He is long but still fairly lean, he is constantly moving and pulling himself up on everything. He likes to pull himself up on the couch and then let go and see how long he can stand for. Its not long right now but just the fact that he is brave enough to do that has me thinking he will be my earliest walker of my three boys. Unfortunately, he is still not sleeping through the night. Most nights he is only up once but some nights its more than that, he will sleep eventually......right?

Case is a cutie and we ALL love him!

Price Family visit

2012-01-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Our good friends from college Chris and Julie Price drove all the way from Lynden to spend the weekend with us. They have 3 boys ages 5, 3 & 2. That meant we had 4 adults and 6 boys ages 5 and under in our house for 3 days. It could have been crazy but it was actually really nice. All the boys got along really well and there was really no arguing or fighting going on between them. The weather was nice so we were able to enjoy the outside quite a bit and the boys had fun playing with toys, watching movies, crafting and a fun trip to the dollar store and Brights candy. Julie and I went on an 8 mile run Saturday morning, I convinced Julie to run the Birch Bay half-marathon with me in February and so she had 8 miles on her training plan this weekend. It was a beautiful day for a run and it went pretty smoothly. Later that afternoon Chris and Dave headed out for a round of golf and lunch on their own. It was nice to kind of take turns with the kids and also nice to get some alone time with Jules.

Jax and Kyler (both 2).

The baby of the group (so far at least).

Crew (5.5) and Colt (4.5)

Craft time. They all made paper bag puppets.

Brody on the right is wearing Colt's Batman costume. He found the boys superhero costumes the day he got here and hardly took it off the entire time.

Chris trying to decide if he wants another baby or not.

Case was so good the entire time I think he might be thinking about it.:)

Chris and Julie.

We have been friends with them for over 10 years now! We got two babysitters on Saturday night and went out just the 4 of us. We had dinner and drinks at the Red Monkey and then the boys hit up the Blue for gambling while Julie and I had ourselves some frozen yogurt. We were home by 10:30, I'm sure the boys would have stayed out much later but both Julie and I were exhausted!

On Sunday while the "older boys" were watching football we took 4 of the 6 little munchkins to the dollar store for a treat. It was funny to watch them run around trying to decide what they wanted to get. So many choices! I think 3 of the 4 toys were broken by the time we got home.

Brody (3.5) trying on a fireman hat.

After the dollar store we had to go to Brights for some yummy treats. The boys were really good about sharing their ice cream and candy with each other.

What a fun weekend. The good news is we will see them again in another month for the half-marathon. This time we will be doing the traveling though. Lynden is a LONG drive, especially with 3 little kids but its always worth it. Dave and I are both so thankful for such great friends and it is so fun to see our kids play so well together.

Case : 7 months

2012-01-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

Case is crawling!!! He's been very mobile for over a month now and had the army crawl down but tonight for the first time he crawled on all fours. He is also trying to pull himself up on everything and grabbing everything he can get his hands on. He is a smiley, active baby who rarely stops moving when he is awake but loves to cuddle when he starts to get tired. We are still working on him sleeping through the night. I'm still nursing him and he is doing really well with food, he will eat anything I give him though he prefers fruit, peas and squash to anything else. He is wearing mainly 12 month clothes because he is so long, still pretty lean though I love the chubbs on his thighs. I packed up a bunch of his baby clothes tonight along with his swing, cradle and boppy pillow since he no longer uses them and put them in storage. I'm not ready to start giving our baby stuff away yet, we may need them again in a couple years.........

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

We stayed the night at Dave's parents that night and woke up Christmas morning to stockings filled with small presents for Colt and Jax. The boys opened up their stockings and we all slowly woke up and had some coffee. It was a nice way to start the morning, fairly relaxing and the boys were all so happy.

Memah and Case playing with the doggies.

I told Dave when I took this picture it was going on the blog and he chose to give me this look. Randee looks cute though, ahh to be 19 again!

Jax got a new superhero shirt and he immediately wanted to wear it. The kid is obsessed with all things superhero! I'm pretty sure on most days both my boys think that they are superheros.

Case didn't get many presents (being the third boy he doesn't need many at this age!), but he did not care. He was happy with playing with the boys toys and loving all the bows and wrapping paper.

Poppi put together Jax's spiderman skateboard. We gave Colt one for his birthday last year and Jax rides it all the time and has been asking for his one. Colt has a blue one and we found this black on for Jax, he was thrilled!

Merry Christmas!
We had the traditional bread dough pudding for breakfast and spent most the morning opening all the presents. The rest of the day was very nice and relaxed, I loved it! I got to go on a run by myself, the weather was beautiful and it felt great to get outside and have an hour to my thoughts. The boys played a lot with all their new toys, and we just sat around and talked. Dinner was very yuuummmmmy; prime rib, crab legs, baked potatoes, salad and rolls. Considering we had 5 kids under 5 at the dinner table it was a pretty relaxing and a relatively quiet meal. Andy and Taylor both had to work and Katie & Travis spent Christmas in Virginia with Trav's family, we missed all of them a lot! I love the holidays and as my boys get bigger (and our family grows) it has become even more fun and exciting.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Love,

The Pemberton's

Dave, Carolyn, Colt, Jax & Case

Christmas Eve: The reason for the season

2011-12-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

After we got done opening a few presents Memah brought out the costumes she had ordered for the play. Dave had often told me that when they were younger they would act out the Christmas Story every Christmas Eve. Dave's mom decided this year we would start that tradition again and she ordered costumes for everyone! It was so much fun and a great reminder of why we really celebrate Christmas.

Joseph and Mary.

Dave was the reader as well as a donkey.

Case was baby Jesus and he was the best little baby Jesus ever! He basically just laid quietly in the manger with big eyes looking at all of us like we were crazy.

Christmas Eve : Opening Presents

2011-12-24T21:12:00.000-08:00

The boys had fun opening a few presents on Christmas Eve. Case didn't get one present Christmas Eve but he didn't need any, he was perfectly happy with everyone else's leftover wrapping paper and bows.

Kenzie got the boys superhero costumes. Colt wore this wolverine costume for the rest of Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day.

Camryn in her wolverine costume and her superhero cape.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas with Dave's side of the family. We drove over to Kennewick in the early afternoon on Christmas Eve.

Colt and Cam : best buddies/cousins

Memah had a bunch of fun little Christmas activities to keep the kids busy before church that evening. The first one was decorating a Christmas tree ornament.

Then all the kids got to hang their ornament on the tree.

Next was reading the story of the candy cane, she even had a candy cane for all the kids to eat while she read the story to them.

Case and Poppi hanging out.

Camryn ready for Christmas Eve church service.

After church we came back to the house and had a yummy spread of appetizers for dinner (Pemberton family Christmas Eve tradition). The kids were asking every two minutes to open presents so we ate quickly and then got ready to open a few presents. The cousins exchanged their gifts and everyone opened the traditional new pajamas for Christmas Eve.

Toy Story pajamas for both boys.

Case's Christmas pajamas were the same ones that both Colt and Jax wore for their first Christmas.

Cousins: Camryn, Colt, Jax, Calvin & Case

I love this picture!

Christmas with Papa and Di Di

2011-12-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

Papa and Di Di came over tonight for a little Christmas celebration. Colt has been wanting to make a birthday cake for Jesus and I figured tonight would be the perfect time to do that. The boys had fun frosting and putting sprinkles all over it.

We had fun eating some yummy food (my mom made the best Meatballs and bean dip from Our Best Bites) opening a few presents and playing together.

Afterwards we got all bundled up and went outside to light the wish lanterns and send them up in the sky.

The boys loved the lanterns, they had to make a wish as they went up into the sky.

We ended the night singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out some candles. Colt said we should have three candles this year, one for him, one for Jax and one for Case.

Papa, Di Di and their grandsons.

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-14T08:57:00.001-08:00

Christmas Tree

2011-12-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

We headed over to Klicker's today to pick out our tree. It was freezing cold and we had been over at my parents making cookies and I had forgotten coats for the boys. They did have hats and I wrapped up Case in a blanket and told them we had to pick a tree really fast.

This is the tree Colt wanted, he was so excited for it because it was the same size as him. Maybe next year?

Final product! Jax is always so cooperative for pictures (insert sarcasm here).

Case in point.

It was so fun decorating the tree this year, Colt loved every minute of it and was so excited to pull out his ornaments (the kids get their own ornament every year, its a tradition that both our parents did with Dave and I growing up as well).

2011 Mires' Family Pictures

2011-11-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

Case : 6 months

2011-11-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

These last 6 months have flown by as life seems to do these days yet Case has grown so much and continues to be so much fun! I never imagined my life with three boys but it is definetely better than I ever imagined so I'll take it! He is a happy and smiley little guy who LOVES his mama. To me its the best thing in the world but he does have a hard time with other people which makes me feel bad at times. I know it will not last forever though so I am going to enjoy it while it does. He is moving everywhere, sitting on his own pretty well and likes to lunge or scoot for any toy his brothers may leave behind. I just started feeding him rice cereal and will start some oatmeal and maybe some veggies in the next week. He is still nursing well and goes 3-4 hours between feeding and wakes up once a night (usually) to eat. He smiles a lot at his brothers and is already trying to get into their stuff (it's going to get interesting when he starts crawling!). He has a mellow tempermant but is physically a non-stop mover. I am excited to see his personality continue to develop but for now I am loving each and every day of him being a baby.

6 month stats

Weight: 15lbs 14 oz. (25%)

Height: 27 inches (90%)

Head circumference : 25%

Case the Cutie

2011-11-13T13:41:00.001-08:00

This little guy is incredible. I love him so much and kiss on him all day long. Who can resist those eyes and gummy little grin?

Veterans Day Parade

2011-11-11T14:13:00.001-08:00

The boys and I went downtown this morning for the Veterans Day parade. Dave had to work so I loaded them all up in the BOB and walked around until we found a perfect place to sit.

The Wa-Hi marching band came through and they were dancing to the music

We all sat on the curb and watched the parade. Colt loved waiting for all the candy and would yell "thank you" every time he got a piece. Jax just preferred sitting on the curb eating the candy that Colt was collecting. I had to intervene or he would have eaten candy all morning!

Colt pointing out who was going to give him candy next. It was all about the candy, though they did like seeing the men in Army attire (like Uncle Travis they said) and the fireman (like Uncle Andy).

Case was entertained and sat on my lap not making a sound the entire parade.
Dave and I spent some time this morning explaining to the boys about Veterans Day and what it means. Both boys understand that their Uncle Travis spent the last year fighting "bad guys" in Afghanistan, they always want to pray for him to be kept safe. That helped Colt understand it a little bit better since he actually knows Travis. We talked about being an American and what it means to be free. Not an easy concept to grasp for a 2 and 4 year old but I'm thankful for this day as a reminder of how lucky we are to be truly free and grateful for everyone that has served, is serving and will serve to keep our country safe.

Thanksgiving Crafts

2011-11-10T09:30:00.001-08:00

Dave's cousin Tammy sent the boys a bunch of holiday crafts that I could do with them. Tammy is an elementary school teacher and is so crafty and creative. So I can take no credit for any of this because she basically put everything into little kits with instructions so all I have to do is pull the kit out and let the boys get creative. Colt LOVES it, he thinks "school time" and "craft time" is the best.

These turkeys were so fun to make, I think they would be really cute as a table decoration at Thanksgiving as well. Colt likes to use his as a puppet and Jax prefers to use his as a hat (only it keeps falling off).

Jax is on the left (obviously I had to help him quite a bit) but Colt did almost all of his on his own. Tammy sent me a pattern to cut out the body and the feathers so I cut and then let the boys glue.

We also made lions earlier in the week so Colt asked me to take a picture of him with his lion and turkey.

Case watched us get crafty and happily moved all around on the floor rolling everywhere and spitting up on everything!!

November Already!!

2011-11-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

My camera broke so all I have is my phone for now. Picture quality is not great but the memories are still there. Dave just got back from a 9 day elk hunting trip, the boys were awesome while he was gone and for the most part everything went smoothly. I only had to make one trip to the ER for Case who decided to buck himself out of his car seat that was sitting on a counter (yea mom still feels really bad!!). He had a few bruises but a CT scan ruled out anything serious and we were sent home a couple hours later. Colt and Jax have recently become the best of friends constantly playing together, chasing each other around the house and making each other laugh daily (of course there is plenty of fighting as well). Their favorite game right now is for Colt to pick Jax up around the waste then push him to the floor and run away, Jax laughs and jumps up running after Colt and then they repeat. Dave and I's bed has also become their "ship" which means they find every sword, shield, gun and superhero attire they can and bring it on the "ship" and fight off bad guys, dragons and whatever else may try and get them. One afternoon I walked into my room to see every single toy the boys had on our bed, I could hardly even see the mattress. Case is moving everywhere, scooting around a room and always trying to buck himself out of anything we might sit him in (hence the trip to the ER), he's long but fairly lean (for one of my babies at least) and his brothers always bring a smile to his face. More soon I hope.....

Halloween Crafts.

2011-10-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

Colt and Jax LOVE doing crafts. They both ask me almost daily if I have a "craft" that they can do. I am not a crafty person but I try and do some type of school activity or craft activity with them every day. My friend Erin did this with her girls and I knew Colt would love it. I got a bunch of construction paper from school (and my mom's school) and told the boys we were going to make pumpkin men. Colt had so much fun with this, Jax started but quickly lost interest when he got his glue stick taken away for gluing the table rather than the paper. The fun thing was that Colt did 90% of this all by himself, I cut the pumpkin out and drew the lines and he did everything else. I showed him how you can crinkle the legs and arms so he did that too (though he said he wanted straight arms instead of crinkled). When he had finished he looked at me and said "mom he needs a hat and I want it to be pink" so I cut out a pink hat and he glued that on. He was so excited he decided to finish Jax's too.

Showing off his pumpkin men. Notice the hair on Jax's man, I thought Colt was finished and I look over and he is ripping pieces of black paper and gluing them on. "He needs HAIR mom" is what he said when I asked what he was doing.

The next craft was much more messy and really hard for me to let them do. I finally just had to stop talking and worrying about the mess and let them have fun. We had gone to the pumpkin patch and they each picked out their own pumpkin. They really wanted to carve it but I told them we had to wait until closer to Halloween. I decided they could paint their pumpkins instead and my mom had a huge drawer full of leftover paint and paint brushes. They both had so much fun (and paint all over themselves!). I set them up outside with a tray of different paint colors and let them paint.

I was happy to see Jax get so involved, he loves to do what Colt does but gets frustrated when he can't keep up or do it so it was fun to see him enjoy this and having so much fun.

Notice the left hand, he painted the entire pumpkin that way. Still not sure what his dominate hand is, we were outside throwing a ball around later that day and he always throws with his right but seems to eat and color with both his left and right.

They had fun and for the most part were good about keeping the paint on the pumpkins and not each other. I really need to do more activities like this with them, it really is fun but I am not a crafty person at all so I always have trouble coming up with ideas!

The littlest brother

2011-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

Case is quickly becoming mobile, he can roll both front to back and back to front. No longer can I leave him somewhere and expect him to stay in one place. When on his tummy he is constantly trying to push up on his knees. He moves all around his crib which is resulting in him waking up several times a night right now because he gets himself stuck in such awkward positions. Even though he is a big time mover and is often squirming around he is still a great snuggler and loves to be cuddled. The funny thing is that of all three of my boys he was the least active in utero but so far he is the most active of all my babies.

First time in a swing. He looks so little (and bald!).

Love him!!!

Klickers Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

Dave is out of town chuckar hunting with my dad this weekend so my mom and I took the boys to Klicker's pumpkin patch. This has become a tradition with my mom and I since Colt was only 4 months old. It's fun to go and let the kids run around and pick out their pumpkins, the weather was beautiful, sunny and 60 degrees. Fall is finally here!

I tried so hard to get a good picture of all three of them!

Jax and Di Di walking down to find some pumpkins.

Colt was on a mission the entire time we were there. He ran down the aisles of pumpkins finding just the right one then picking it up and carrying it back to the wagon. Some of the pumpkins were so big he could hardly carry them but that didn't deter him!

I finally had to tell him we had enough pumpkins.

Di Di and Jax.

Colt loved the slide on top of the hay bales. We took Jax and Case down once too.

Di Di and her grandsons.

Me and my boys.

End of Summer

2011-10-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

As summer comes to an end we are excited for the fall, cooler weather and all the upcoming holidays! The boys and I have been taking advantage of the nice weather by going on some hikes, throwing rocks in the pond and fishing with sticks.

Bike riding has become a favorite activity for both the boys. They are both very good about wearing their helmets and they love to ride bikes with the neighbor kids next door.

Love this cute babe!

Indian Summer Half Marathon

2011-09-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I ran the Indian Summer half marathon in Richland today, this was my 3rd year in a row running this race. 3 years ago I ran this half with my little sister, it was my first half marathon and Jax was 3.5 months old at the time. We ran it in 1:49 and as usual Marni was pushing me the entire way. Last year I ran it by myself and set a PR of 1:42, I had trained hard for this race and wanted to run a 1:45 so I was very happy with a 1:42. The day after this race I found out I was pregnant with Case. This year I signed up not really excited to run but I knew I wanted to run some type of half this fall and didn't know if I would get another chance. I have been training but not that hard, I had run a couple longer 9-10 mile runs but my running pace is pretty slow right now and I just don't feel in great shape. On top of that I have been mentally and physically exhausted since school started over a month ago, I wake up at 4:30 and hardly stop all day and I am still getting woken up in the night to feed Case or take care of one of the other boys. Anyway, all these factors and I just was not looking forward to running but I had signed up and wasn't willing to just forgo the $20 and not run. We drove over to Kennewick the night before and stayed the night with Dave's parents. I got up at 6 the next morning, got myself ready, had a small breakfast of baked oatmeal and fruit and then Dave drove me to the race. We got there around 7:30, I fed Case one more time and then ran to the start line. The race is fairly small (only about 400 runners this year) so its easy to find parking and get to the start line without a bunch of traffic. It started at 8 and you run along the Columbia River and through a couple neighborhoods, then turn around and come back. My parents drove over that morning and were at mile 2, 11 and the finish line yelling and cheering for me. My goal was to finish under 2 hours but I really didn't know if I would be able to do it. I started off and told myself to just keep my pace under 9 min and focus on each mile individually instead of all the miles ahead of me. With each mile I would pick one person to think about/pray for, it worked really well and was a reminder of how lucky I am that I get to be running no matter what my finishing time was, I don't run with music so this was a good distraction. I had never done this before during a race but got the idea from the book Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong. At the turn around point (6.5 miles) I was feeling surprisingly good and when I hit mile 7 I decided to pick up my pace a bit. Mile 10 was hard but I knew that I would see my parents again at mile 11 and my mom would be cheering, when I passed them my mom had Marni on the phone and Marni was yelling for me through the speaker which was a big boost of confidence for me. I hit mile 12 and told myself I could run the last mile in under 8 minutes, I was tired but I knew I had it in me. I finished in 1:54 and my last mile was 7:50. I was happy to see my parents and so glad they drove over to support me. Even though I did not have a chance of winning I love that they were still there supporting me and cheering.

My awesome, supportive parents.

My friend Rachel (she PR'd and ran a 1:46), my dad and I.

Sprinting to the finish.

My parents drove me back to Mike and Julie's after the race, I showered and spent the rest of the day playing with the boys. We finally got home that night around 8:30 and I was exhausted, my entire body ached. I was lucky enough to get a back/leg rub from Dave before bed and he even let me sleep in the next day until 8! I have hopes of running this race next year and breaking 1:40 (that is if I'm not pregnant......HA!).

Case : 4 months

2011-09-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

This guy is so much fun. He smiles a lot and loves to coo and jabber when we talk to him. He loves watching his brothers play and Colt and Jax are always willing to entertain him. He has mastered bucking out of his boppy seat so he's been spending a lot of time on the floor lately. He's wearing 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers. Still waking up once a night to eat, usually between 2-4, he does have his bad nights and will wake up more, he is definetely not my best sleeper but I can't complain too much. I rarely put him down, something both my mom and sister often comment on. I did the same thing with Jax and he was 15 months before he started walking, maybe Case will be the same. I don't mind, it makes them seem like a baby for a bit longer:).

Hanging out on the floor.

Super happy in the jogger.

He's already used to going on runs just like the other 2 and rarely fusses in the stroller.

Little brother - Big brother.
Case 4 month stats
14.2 lbs (40%)
26 inches (90%)
HC: 41 cm (25%)

Catch up

2011-09-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say right now. I am so behind on blogging and don't have the energy or the time to get it all done. The boys are great, we are enjoying the last days of warm weather spending time outside, riding our bikes, going for runs and playing at the park. Colt started AWANA at church last week and loves it. It's probably the highlight of his week. Jax is talking non-stop, full sentences and has tripled his vocabulary in the last month. Case is still not sleeping great, smiles all the time and is a sweetie. Dave's hunting season has started, September 1st was deer hunting and he pretty much will hunt until the end of January in the form of deer, elk, pheasant, and chuckar. I'm still teaching part-time in the mornings and then spending the rest of the day with the kids, I love it and would not trade it for anything though tired does not even describe how I feel right now. I'll be back hopefully soon with more pictures!

Bellevue : Girls Weekend

2011-09-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Case and I traveled to Bellevue on Friday to surprise my college friend Julie Price with a 30th birthday weekend celebration. I stopped in Ellensburg and picked up my friend Randi which made it nice not having to do the entire drive by myself. We met up at Tracey's house in Sammamish, it was a perfect meeting place and she was nice enough to let all of us crash at her place for the weekend. We got there Friday night close to 9 and stayed up until 1am talking. It was so fun to catch up with my old college friends and volleyball teammates. It was also fun to introduce them to Case, Courtney was the only one that had met him and the girls had fun holding and snuggling him all weekend. He was a great little companion and I loved having him with me. The next morning we had coffee and breakfast and then drove into Bellevue to do some shopping.

Me, Court and Randi in front of the cupcake shop.

Stacey, Julie (the birthday girl) and Tracey.

Most of the girls got pedicures while we are at the mall.

After an afternoon of non-stop shopping we headed out to dinner at the Melting Pot.

If you have never been to the Melting Pot you must go at least once! It was amazing food and we spent 4 hours there eating, talking, laughing and drinking (except for me since I had the baby and was driving:)). The first course was cheese fondue, we got to pick three different types of cheese. My favorite was the Spinach Artichoke.

They also give you all sorts of things to dip in the cheese, surprisingly my favorite was the granny smith apples.

Then everyone got to pick their own salad, after the salad they brought out the meat. The meat was given to you raw and then you could pick how you wanted to cook it. They also brought out lots of really good sauces to accompany the meat. We had chicken, shrimp, salmon, and two types of steak.

The last and my favorite course was the chocolate fondue. This is the yin & yang which is a dark and white chocolate, we also had chocolate peanut butter and a salted caramel chocolate.

All the yummies to dip in the chocolate.

Between all of us we have 19 kids ages 5 years to 3 weeks.

The girls having fun with their drinks.

Twinsies.

My mom had bought me this lululemon jacket in Santa Barbara and Stacy picked out the same one at the store in Bellevue. We went out to breakfast the next morning and this little cafe in Sammamish before hitting the road back home. It was a fun weekend and great to spend time with some of my very favorite people.

Santa Barbara

2011-09-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

My mom, Marni, Case and I spent Labor Day weekend in Santa Barbara, California. Marni had qualified for this trip through work and her boss agreed to send my mom and I with her. Case got to come too since he needed to eat. We had such a fun time, I was apprehensive about leaving the older boys and pretty sad when we left but I knew they would be fine with Dave and probably have a lot of fun (which they did!). We arrived in SB around 3 on Friday afternoon, we checked into our hotel (the 4 seasons) and then walked around checking everything out. The hotel was beautiful and overlooked the ocean. That night we all dressed up and walked to dinner in Montecito, it was such a nice evening we ate outside, talked a lot and Case was very well behaved sleeping through dinner.

On Saturday we woke up and got a good workout in at the hotel fitness center. Then we all got ready and went to breakfast and Jeannie's Cafe in Montecito. The food was so good and so was the coffee!

My mom and Marni ordered the California omelet.

My breakfast was homemade granola with yogurt and fruit. I could eat this everyday.

After breakfast we drove into downtown Santa Barbara for some shopping on State Street. We had been walking around shopping for a couple hours when Marni said she needed something to eat. By eat she meant frozen yogurt so we got on our I-phones and found the nearest place. There was a Pinkberry yogurt a block away, it was yummy!

We hit up Lululemon and Nordstroms along with a couple other various shops. It was low 70's and perfect weather for outdoor shopping (the mall was outdoors and really nice).

Marni and Case shopping at Nordstrom's. We all started getting really hungry around 4:30 so we walked to a Sushi restaurant for dinner. It was so good and Marni must have ordered at least 10 rolls and between the 3 of us we had no trouble finishing all of it (well I think Marni and I ate most of it but my mom did help a little). After sushi Marni and I wanted dessert so of course we got on our I-phones again and found a Yogurtland about a mile from the sushi place. My mom walked back to the car (apparently she doesn't need to eat frozen yogurt more than once a day) and Marni, Case and I walked down to Yogurtland. This place was amazing, it must have had 20 different flavors of frozen yogurt, it was one of the definite highlights of the trip for Marni and I.

The next morning Marni and I got up and went on a 7 mile run along the ocean, once we got back my mom had a massage scheduled so Marni and I got ready and walked to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Montecito for a coffee. I love that place and their coffee is really good. Marni and I both thought the best part of the trip was the coffee and the frozen yogurt.

Aunt Marni and Case.

We walked back to the hotel and met up with my mom and found a fun place to eat on the ocean for lunch. We sat outside and enjoyed the food and talked about what we wanted to do for our last day in SB.

Marni mentioned that Oprah Winfrey lived here so she googled her place and we decided to try and find it.

Here it is! We pulled into the driveway and then saw all the security cameras and told my mom to turn around and get out of here, but first Marni got a picture.

Next we found a Trader Joe's so we stopped by there, it was a smaller one so they didn't have everything that most Trader Joe's have but it was still fun.

After that we went back to the hotel and laid around for a bit before Marni and I decided we had to have Yogurtland one more time before we left SB. My mom again said she didn't want any (crazy lady). So Marni, Case and I walked the 4 miles to Yogurtland and that walk was well worth it. My mom picked us up so we didn't have to walk back and we ended the evening watching a movie and getting packed up.

The next morning I was up at 4:30 with this little guy. By the time he went back to sleep it was time to get up head to the airport. We got there at 6 only to find out our flight was delayed and we would most likely miss our connecting flight to Boise. My mom and I thought for sure we were going to have to spend another night in Boise and miss work the next day. We got off the plane in San Francisco and all three of us were running for our gate to try and make our connecting flight only to find out that flight had been delayed too. We made it back to Boise around 4 and then drove home to Walla Walla. We had a great time and it was so fun spending time with my little sister and my mom.

Deer hunting with daddy.

2011-09-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Deer season opened today, Dave pretty much looks forward to this day all year long. Dave has been preparing Colt for this day for the last year too, explaining to him what they were going to do and telling him he has to be really quiet and look for all the deer. Dave has a tree stand set up behind my parents house so they drove out there and got ready to hunt. Colt was beyond excited though I wondered how he would do.

The tree stand is about 15 feet up in a tree and they have two of them so Dave and Colt took one while Dave's dad was in the other one. Dave brought lots of snacks so Colt wouldn't get too bored.

Colt and Poppi looking for the big buck.

Dave said Colt was completely quiet the entire 3 hours they were out there, he sat in the tree stand looking for deer and never said a word. Mike ended up getting one which Colt was really excited about and they were all up until past 11 that night getting the deer all cleaned up. Dave said Colt kept saying "Dad, thanks SO much for taking me.....I love you dad.....this is so much fun". They went out the next day too in hopes that Dave would get one but no luck.

Of course a trip to McDonald's was in the plan too, got to keep it fun for the little people.

Colt took this picture of Dave and he wanted me to post it.:)

Cooler Mornings.

2011-08-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

It felt like fall this morning when I walked out the door at 5:30 for a run, the air was cool and it was a perfect morning to be up early before anyone else to get my workout in. I have been spending a couple hours a day in my classroom the last couple weeks but I decided this morning to take the kids to the park before going to school. I was hopeful that I could wear them out a bit and they would be content coloring and eating lunch in my classroom while I worked. It was a fun morning and we played for over 2 hours, I'm going to miss the lazy mornings once I start back to work next Monday.

Grandma Milly's 80th birthday celebration

2011-08-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

We took a quick weekend trip to Grants Pass Oregon to celebrate my grandma Milly's 80th birthday. Lots of my aunts, uncles, cousins and all of my sisters and families came to celebrate with my grandma. It was so fun to be back on the farm and to see my boys enjoy it so much. All the kids had a blast seeing the cows, picking blackberries, running around the fields and playing in the water trough. It was great to catch up with some of my cousins and aunts & uncles as well as some of my parents good friends.

Jax, Di Di and my grandma Milly.

My sisters loving on their newest nephew, Case.

Lots of kids playing, blowing bubbles and running around having FUN!

My niece's Reese and Perry (they are twins and are just a couple months older than Colt.).

Aunt Ann and Case.

Great Grandma Milly with Case, her youngest great grandson.

Papa got some fish while he was in Grants Pass. The boys were so excited.

My grandma with her daughters. My mom (Diane), Donna and Debbie.

Dad and Amy. I love this picture.

My grandma with her four children.

Dennis, Donna, Debbie and Diane.

The kids playing again, Colt and Jax had so much fun. There were kids every where and they all just ran around playing like they had known each other forever. It was pretty cute.

Jax and his cousin Perry playing in the water.

Colt and my cousin Kristy's boy Jacob.

Jax getting some snuggles with daddy, he was a tired boy by the end of the night.

Elena and Reese loving on their Papa.

What a fun time and my grandma was so happy and excited we were all there for her. I have so many great memories of the farm growing up. We spent every Christmas there until I was a senior in high school. My Papa John and Grandma Milly were very involved with Marni and I growing up and they often came and visited us and watched me play sports. When we were younger they would meet us in Bend, Oregon for a weekend and take us school shopping. That was always a highlight for Marni and I! Papa John passed away when I was a senior and I still think about him and miss him a lot. I can't hear the song "Amazing Grace" without thinking of him and crying. Great memories were made on their farm and it was so fun to go back and watch my kids love it as much as I did when I was younger.

Multnomah Falls

2011-08-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

On our way to my Grandma's 80th birthday celebration in Grants Pass Oregon we stopped to have lunch at Multnomah Falls. I had never been to the falls before and it was right off the highway so easy to pull off, have a picnic lunch, let the kids run around and then get back in the car for another 8 hours of driving (the entire drive took us 14 hours). The kids had so much fun running around and it was really fun to see them so happy and having so much fun.

Summer!

2011-08-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

After coming home from the beach it has taken all of us some time to get back into our routine. We were all really tired and I was not feeling that great. It took me almost a week to start feeling somewhat like myself again. The weather was HOT here when we returned and maybe that had something to do with it. It's not even fun to be playing outside during the day without a pool so we have been waiting till evening and using the backyard to let the boys run around before bed.

I took Jax's diaper off so he could pee in the grass and apparently he enjoyed it because he ran around the yard naked the rest of the evening.

We planted a garden this year, its a small one and some of the stuff we planted didn't make it but we have tons of tomatoes, jalapenos and green peppers that are delicious! I am loving the tomatoes plain or in salads and am planning to make a bunch of spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes and peppers and freeze it for the year.

The naked gardener.

Both the boys love coming out here in the evenings and picking vegetables (even though they won't eat any of them!). School starts in less than 2 weeks, hard to believe but I am looking forward to fall! I have been working in my classroom all week and taking all 3 kiddos with me. I pack the older boys a lunch and they think its so fun to sit at the desks and eat there lunch.

Oregon Coast 2011: Gleneden Beach

2011-08-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

This was the view out of our bedroom in the condo. Absolutely beautiful. Our condo was on the third floor and we would sleep with the door open every night and listen to the ocean.

They had a basketball court and its tradition for the boys to always play a basketball game while we are on vacation. It was only Andy and Dave this year since Trav was not here and Taylor had to leave early for school.

Camryn LOVES Case, she probably would have sat and held him all day if she could. She kept saying "He's so cute Care, I love him so much Care."

The boys eating some lunch. They had a lot of meals sitting on the chairs at the island in our condo.

Poppi, Colt and Cam watching a movie in Mike and Julie's bedroom. Colt and Cam were inseparable much of the week, they wanted to be together ALL the time. For the most part they did great, not a lot of fighting but we did have to separate them because they always want to wrestle! Poor Cam being the only girl right now she is going to have to become "one of the boys" and so far she's doing a great job of it!

I told Julie to take a picture of this because this is so Andy. He is constantly hungry (but yet is so skinny), we eat a huge dinner and an hour later he's looking for another snack. He went to the fridge and grabbed the pie plate and proceeded to eat the rest of the pie (it was a much bigger piece when he started).

It was my idea to have all the kids sit on the couch in order according to their age so we could get a picture. I love this first one because you can really see each of the kids personalities in this photo.

Randee, Taylor, Katie, Kenzie, Dave (yep there's 5 of them!!)

There was a small playground at the condo right next to the basketball courts. It was usually empty which was nice to let the kids get out of the condo and run around a bit.

My sweet boys. The only time the entire trip where they were all sleeping at the same time during the day. This was towards the end of the trip and we were all exhausted. It took all of us about 5 days to start to feel normal again after getting home. It was a great vacation and so much fun to spend it with family.

Oregon Coast 2011: Swimming

2011-08-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

Swimming was a big highlight on this trip. Even though the temps were cool the pool was heated and most days the sun was out which actually made it feel pretty warm for only being 65 degrees. Colt and Jax could have swam all day everyday probably. They both loved it!!

The kids loved having Dave through them up in the air.

Colt and Cam got to where they kept getting farther and farther back from the pool and would get a running start to the water.

They kept wanting to do this over and over, we finally told them they just needed to jump from the edge and no more running because someone was going to get hurt.

We spent a couple hours most days at the pool as long as the weather was nice. The last morning we were there Dave and I with the three boys headed down for one last swim and it was FREEZING. The heater was not working in the pool or the hot tub and it was really windy out. The kids lasted longer than I did, I just wanted a hot shower!

Oregon Coast 2011: S'mores on the Beach

2011-08-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

We went down to the beach one evening after dinner to do a campfire and roast marshmallows to make s'mores. It was a fun idea but it did not work out too well. Case was fussy and tired and the wind was blowing pretty hard which just made him madder. I lasted about 5 minutes before I decided it was not worth it and I took him back to the cabin. Everyone else stayed and roasted marshmallows and enjoyed the fire for a while. It was gorgeous on the beach in the evening and the temperature was so refreshing.

Oregon Coast 2011: The Beach

2011-08-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

The beach was right outside of our condo at Gleneden Beach so we spent some time down there. I got a couple early morning runs on the beach too which was awesome. I love beach running because its so much easier on your knees and hips though its a much tougher workout. Dave's sister Katie is training for a half marathon so we ran together one morning too.

The guys started by building a sand castle, Poppi was the best at it and he had fun being a kid himself and making a huge one after the real kids got tired of it. I didn't get a picture because we had a huge wave come in and knock it down.

Aunt Dee Dee wore Case for awhile until he got crabby and she got too hot.

Camryn LOVED the beach, she probably could have stayed down there all day and night everyday. I wish I could say the same for my boys. Cam loved everything about the beach; the sand, the water, the waves. She was very happy.

Colt.

Jax.

Cal

Running from the waves with her Uncle Dave.

Dave and Andy were the only ones brave enough to go into the water. These two were hilarious, it was pretty funny watching them run from the waves only to get completely wiped out.

Aunt Kenzie buried Cam and Colt in the sand.

The kids kept breaking through and saying "I'm hatching, I'm hatching" and then laughing so hard. They thought they were hilarious.

Then everyone got in on burying Dave.

I wish I could have gotten a picture of Cal. He put his face right into the sand and took a HUGE bite and started eating it. It was so funny, the best part was that he didn't cry or complain at all. That kid is such a stud.

Oregon Coast 2011: Newport Aquarium

2011-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we all drove down to Newport for lunch and then to visit the Newport Aquarium. The kids loved it, it was probably one of their favorite things of the entire vacation. All 5 of the kids were really well behaved and had so much fun looking at all the animals.

The boys checking out the sharks with Aunt Katie.

They had an entire room where we could touch some of the underwater animals. Jax loved it, Colt was a little apprehensive at first but once he got over his initial fear he loved it. It was really fun to see how much Colt loved it, he could have stayed in each place forever watching the fish, sharks, etc.

Case was having a meltdown after the first hour and needed to eat so I went outside to feed him and Dave came by after and took my picture. I think after three kids you get pretty good about feeding in public, to most people it just looks like I was holding a baby.

This place was a definite highlight of our trip. I really want to take the kids to the Portland or Seattle zoo in the future. Colt and Jax were mesmerized by all of it and it really held their attention. After the aquarium we went down to the water front and picked up fresh shrimp and oysters for dinner. Dave barbecued oysters and we had oyster shooters along with shrimp salad. YUMMY!!!

Oregon Coast 2011 : Tidepools

2011-07-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

After 2 days at Depoe Bay we moved to Gleneden Beach, that evening we decided we wanted to go see the tide pools. Unfortunately, the place we went wasn't too great so we didn't get to see much but we definitely made some memories. It started with everyone getting ready to go and Jax and Case screaming their heads off. Jax because he had just woken up from a nap and was not happy and Case wanting to be fed. Most everyone left to the beach to see if they could catch some tide pools at low tide while Dave and I along with Mike, Julie, Taylor and Randee stayed behind to help us out. After we got our kids settled down we finally were able to leave and join everyone else. Dave and I are constantly having to remind ourselves how much time and work it takes to go someplace with all three kids, especially when the meltdowns occur. Anyway, it wasn't the best evening but we did get some fun pictures.

Heading out to find the tide pools.

Mike and Randee

Colt holding his Poppi's hand.

Andy and Calvin.

Our only attempt at a family photo the entire vacation. Big FAIL!

Colt checking out the water. He had a serious issue with sand, the ocean and getting dirty the entire trip. He is very cautious and all the new scenery and things to do had him definitely out of his element.

Love my Jax-man.

Sweet Case.

Aunt Katie!! We were all so excited she joined us on this trip. Her and her husband Travis live in Louisiana, Katie is a nurse and Trav is in the army. He is deployed right now in Afghanistan and we didn't think Katie would be able to make the trip because of work. She surprised ALL of us (except for Julie and Andy) and showed up the day before we were supposed to leave. It was a great surprise for everyone.

Heading back to the condos.
Honestly this evening was not the most fun. It was alot of walking in sand, carrying kids and all their stuff, getting sand off their feet and ours, etc. I don't say to this complain I just want to remember how it really was, there are times when vacationing that we try to do too much and we forget just how little our kids are.

Oregon Coast 2011: Depoe Bay

2011-07-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

We went on vacation to the Oregon Coast with Dave's family. Dave's parents have a time share and treated everyone to a nice family vacation. We had 14 people total on the trip and two condos. We stayed at Depoe Bay the first two nights and then moved over to Gleneden Beach the next 5 nights (they are both very close to Lincoln City). We had a great time and did a lot of fun things; swimming, the beach, the Newport Aquarium, flying kites, early morning runs on the beach (Dave's sister Katie and I!), yummy food and lots of laughter. The weather was perfect, sunny most days and in the high 60's. That is my kind of perfect summer weather, it was still warm enough to swim most days with the sun and the heated pool and for the most part we didn't freeze too bad.

We left at 9am on Thursday morning, we arrived in Depoe Bay at 10 pm. It was a LONG day but we did stop quite a few times including some shopping at the Woodburn Outlet malls so the trip was broken up pretty well and all the boys did good. Jax had gotten a cold the day before we left so he was a little grumpy on the ride over but for the most part it went smoothly.

The condo at Depoe Bay.

The view from our condo at Depoe Bay. We stayed there the first two nights, it was pretty cold and foggy and there was no real beach access but it was still beautiful. There was a big grassy area behind our place that overlooked the ocean.

Camryn

Memah and Poppi.

Memah and her girls.

Dave's sisters. Randee, Katie, Kenzie.

They had a arts and craft project at the condos, the kids made necklaces. Colt was very into decorating it and doing it himself, Jax was more into telling me the color of each bead than actually making a necklace.

Memah helping the kids with their necklaces.

Jax and mommy.

Katie had the difficult job of holding Case, this became a common theme of the week. She often referred to Case as her baby.

Cam and Jax. Colt was refusing to be in the picture.

Case : 2 months

2011-07-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

Case is 2 months old and such a cutie. He had his 2 month appointment and weighed 12lbs 10oz (75%) and 24 inches (75%). He is smaller weight wise than both the other boys at this point but is between Colt and Jax for height. He still wakes up once a night to eat, usually somewhere between 2 and 4 in the morning. He goes to sleep about 9 every night. He is still sleeping in the bassinet in our room. I am having trouble wanting to move him into his crib just yet even though both the other boys were already moved out by this time. He's my sweet baby and he might just be my last so I want to keep him a baby longer if that's possible (I realize it's not but it helps to hope:)). He smiles and coos all the time and he already loves his mommy, he hears my voice and starts looking for me. If he can't find me he starts crying until I pick him up, Dave doesn't even try to settle him down anymore he just hands him to me because he knows all he wants is me. This may be a problem when work starts back up at the end of August and Dave has to spend the mornings with him. For the most part he is easy going, content and happy. He is strong too, he can already hold his weight on his legs and is always using his legs to push himself around or out of things. Both the boys love him and are constantly kissing on him, hugging him and wanting to hold him. It's going to be fun watching these three brothers grow up together!

Smiling at Memah.

Case with his superhero lovie.
The big boys insist at all times that Case needs his lovie, I have to watch them because every time I am not watching when I look back at Case he has his lovie over his face:).

Loving......

2011-07-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

.....my family of 5!!!!

My heart is full........

2011-07-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

......full of so much love for this little smiley guy..........

.....and full of love for all three of these sweet little boys.

I love Case's expression here, he's like "mom what are you letting my brothers do to me" (in reality they were just giving him "morning kisses" as Colt says).

There are no words to explain what it means to be a mommy to these three boys. With the birth of each of my boys my heart has been filled with so much joy and thankfulness for these wonderful gifts that God has given me.

They teach me so much about patience, forgiveness and living every day to the fullest.

Even in the midst of the unknowns about their future, their health and what life will be like tomorrow, one month, one year or twenty years from now I know that the love I have for them will never change.

There is nothing like having another baby in the house to remind you of the pure innocence of children. All babies need are snuggles, kisses, love and more kisses. It's really quite simple, as they get older the demands of what they need grows and grows, it gets complicated and you often wonder if you are doing it right. I question myself daily, but seeing Case is a reminder that all my boys really need is love. If I give them love, show them love and let them know they are loved then I'm really doing okay.

I am in a women's bible study at my church this summer that focuses on the life of David. In discussion we often talk about motherhood and raising kids. A friend of mine, someone whom I respect deeply posted an article on facebook called "Motherhood is a Calling". The entire article was wonderful but there was one excerpt that really spoke to me.

It isn’t enough to pretend. You might fool a few people. That person in line at the store might believe you when you plaster on a fake smile, but your children won’t. They know exactly where they stand with you. They know the things that you rate above them. They know everything you resent and hold against them. They know that you faked a cheerful answer to that lady, only to whisper threats or bark at them in the car.

Children know the difference between a mother who is saving face to a stranger and a mother who defends their life and their worth with her smile, her love, and her absolute loyalty.

Sacrifice for your children in places that only they will know about. Put their value ahead of yours. Grow them up in the clean air of gospel living. Your testimony to the gospel in the little details of your life is more valuable to them than you can imagine. If you tell them the gospel, but live to yourself, they will never believe it. Give your life for theirs every day, joyfully. Lay down pettiness. Lay down fussiness. Lay down resentment about the dishes, about the laundry, about how no one knows how hard you work.

The truth is that even though you may think my life is great, or you know someone who's life seems perfect it's not. We are all struggling with the same thing, all of our kids cry, throw fits, stay up all night, we all fight with our husbands or have bad days. I may only post about the great things here on my blog but don't be fooled my life is probably not much different than yours. The secret to my complete happiness is not really a secret; it's my faith, faith in God that no matter what goes wrong, what challenges I may face, He will be there. I have no doubts about that.

Colt and Jax

2011-07-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

More pictures from our family shoot in June. Wish I had more of Case!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-07-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

We had family pictures taken at Howard Amon Park in Richland on June 18th. It was hot and Jax refused to smile for most of the photos but they still turned out great!

We will be married 8 years August 2nd.

Colt Mires : (almost) 4 years

Jax David: 2 years

Case Michael : 3 weeks

Love my family of 5!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2011-07-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

We headed over to Kennewick Sunday evening to start our 4th of July celebration. Dave went golfing with some friends and the boys and I went over to Memah and Poppi's to go swimming. The next morning we started the day off very festive, Memah made us pancakes topped with strawberries and blueberries.

After breakfast we all went out in the front yard to decorate bikes. Dave started the day off with the first firework.

Memah thought it would be fun to decorate bikes for the 4th of July and have a bike parade. The kids had fun decorating and riding their bikes.

Auntie Dee Dee and Case

Dave and Colt decorating Colt's bike for the big parade!

I helped Jax decorate his bike.

The big group (minus Julie and I) getting ready for the parade.

Calvin looking very patriotic.

Memah pushed Case and walked with the doggies.

The BIG parade.

It was so cute to see the little kids riding their bikes with the adults. I think we went maybe 400 yards and the kids were done and ready to swim! Maybe next year we will actually get around the block.

After lunch we all went to Poppi and Memah's neighborhood pool to swim.

Jax and Poppi played in the kiddie pool.

Memah and Calvin.

Mr. Case spent the entire time relaxing and sleeping in the shade.

Mike offered to sit with Case so I could swim (thank you Poppi). Both of them ended up falling asleep.

After swimming we came back to the house and all the boys napped while we relaxed. We had a delicious 4th of July bbq of chicken, corn, onions, green beans, baked beans and potatoes. After dinner we had strawberry shortcake for dessert, the best shortcake I have ever had! Memah made it from scratch and I could have easily eaten half the cake myself. Unfortunately everyone else felt the same way and the cake was gone pretty quickly so I only got one piece. Once it started to get dark we brought out the fireworks and sparklers.

Colt really liked the fireworks and the sparklers. He spent all day asking Dave repeatedly if they could do sparklers again. Luckily Dave had bought about 150 sparklers so spreading it out through the day still left us with plenty more when it got dark.

Jax sitting with Uncle Taylor. Jax wasn't too sure about the fireworks, in fact he was pretty scared of them. He spent most the night on Taylor's lap or on mine.

Once it got dark we headed over to Andy and Kenzie's to watch the big fireworks from their yard in West Richland. It was quite a show, everywhere you looked there were fireworks going off in the sky. We got back to Mike and Julie's around 11 and stayed one more night and then left the next morning so Dave could get to work. On a side note: Case does not sleep well when we travel, we have stayed at Dave's parents a couple times since he was born and he fusses off and on all night long. Hopefully that gets better before our trip to the beach at the end of the month!

Jax : 2 years and Case: 1 month doctor appointments.

2011-06-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

I look at these pictures of Jax and just think he looks like such a cute, sweet, and fun little 2 year old. Which he is, most the time. Lately, Jax has been acting, well like a 2 year old, something I am not that familiar with because Colt really never went through the "terrible twos". Jax's behavior is not really terrible but there are definitely some trying moments for me. The worst moment so far coming at his 2 year doctor check-up. The doctor was nice enough to schedule both Jax's 2 year and Case's 1 month at the same time so I didn't have to make two trips to the doctor's office with three kids that week. I thought that would work out great, I have taken all three kids to the doctor office on 5 different occasions in the past month. Every appointment went great and the kids were well behaved so I didn't think much of this appointment being any different. The biggest difference was that this appointment was for Jax, all the other ones he had been with me but they had always been for either Colt or Case. In fact Jax hasn't been to the doctor for himself since his 18 month appointment and I am pretty sure he cried through that one too (though nothing like this). I guess there are some drawbacks to having a healthy kid all the time. The minute we got into the room and I put Jax up on the table and the nurse tried to listen to his heart he started screaming and screaming and screaming and honestly never stopped for the almost 2 hours we were in there. He screamed when she measured his head, checked his ears, eyes, mouth, screamed while I tried to talk to the doctor about Jax (I am assuming he is doing fine because she didn't look concerned though I couldn't hear a word she was saying) and then proceeded to scream through much of Case's appointment. I was trying to hold him and calm him down but he wanted out of there, it only got worse when I had to take Case outside the room to weigh him. Jax followed me out (he had stopped screaming momentarily) and then he saw it and went running. When I say "it" I mean the treasure chest, and next to the treasure chest was a huge clear glass bowl filled with little colored bouncy balls. Jax has an EXTREME obsession with any type of ball. Once he saw the balls and I told him he couldn't have any until after his appointment he started screaming again. I pulled him back into the room and he continued screaming every once in a while he would stop and say " blue one, green one, orange one" meaning he wanted a blue ball or orange ball, etc. I kept telling him as soon as we were done he could go pick one out, at this point he was beyond reasoning and I was seriously ready to go out to the treasure chest and get a ball for him just so he would stop screaming but I also didn't want to give into him when I had already told him he had to wait. Luckily I had Colt with me, Case started fussing a little bit towards the end of the appointment as we were waiting for the nurse to come in and give the boys their shots, so Colt did his best to talk to him, put the binky back in and kiss him repeatedly. As soon as Jax got his shot I told him he was done and we immediately went to the treasure chest and he picked out a ball. All of a sudden he got quiet, looks at the doctor and says "tank oo" and walks away grinning. Meanwhile I had left Case alone in the room with the nurses (yes they had sent in two nurses to help me at this point) and he was screaming from his shot. With Colt and Jax both happy I got Case settled down and into the carseat and off we went to the car. The best part of the whole appointment was walking back through the office and reception area to get to the car and not one of the kids were crying. In fact from an outside perspective it probably looked like I had three adorable, well behaved little boys.:) Just like they say in the Halloween Berenstein Bears book that Colt keeps asking me to read lately "appearances sure can be deceiving".

Stats

Jax at 2 years - height 34.5 inches (75%) and weight 29lbs (60%)

Case at 1 month - height 22 inches and weight 10lbs 14 oz (no idea on the percentile, I couldn't hear what she said with Jax screaming in my ear).

Colt turns 4!

2011-06-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

Today is Colt's 4th birthday, he has been looking forward to this day ever since we celebrated my birthday back in February. Since then he has had to wait for daddy and both his brothers to have their birthday's as well as his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandpas. For the past week he keeps asking how many more "sleeps" until his birthday. To say he was excited was an understatement. He woke up that morning and went running down the stairs, Dave said he was so excited he almost fell half way down them. We had his presents all wrapped and put out for him to open up right away.

I love the look on his face when he opens his presents, he always act like each present is the best thing ever!

Colt asked for a lot of superhero stuff this year, we got him a Spiderman skateboard, mask and webslinger. Along with some Ironman stuff. He was thrilled and had so much fun playing with his new toys all day. Jax especially loved the skateboard and was very excited when he finally woke up and saw Colt's new skateboard.

Colt and Dave went outside right away and Colt sprayed him with his web slinger over and over again. He thought it was hilarious.

Breakfast time, growing up all the kids in Dave's family always looked forward to bread dough pudding on holidays and birthdays. We convinced Colt that he should have it this year so I made bread dough pudding and sliced up some strawberries to go with it.

Colt asked for a chocolate cake with raspberries and a football on the top so that's what he got. I made the chocolate cake from scratch and used my mom's homemade raspberry jam as a filling. Dave frosted the cake and decorated the top.

My mom made a bunch of jars of homemade strawberry jam for Colt to give to his guests. She brought over a bunch of stickers and they decorated the jars together.

Later that afternoon all of Dave's family and my parents came over for Colt's birthday party. He had been asking all day when he could open gifts so the minute everyone got there we let him open them. He got lots of super hero clothes, t-shirts, shorts and a cool spiderman backpack.

In full Ironman gear with the Spiderman back pack.

Colt was very good about letting Camryn help him open his presents. These two have so much fun together and love playing and running around everywhere. They are getting to the age where the play more and fight less which is really fun to see.

Memah and Jax reading a book.

This kiddo is such a great big brother, he adores his little brothers and loves playing with them both. He is often asking to hold Case and loves to give him kisses. He loves to play with Jax and they have become quite the little playmates. It is so fun listening to them run around, laughing, screaming and just having fun together. Colt is so great about reading to Jax when he asks, we can often find them in the same bed together with a book and Colt doing his best to read the book to Jax. He is a very observant kid, physically tough but with a soft heart and his feelings get hurt easily. He is really good about going to bed when we tell him too (to bad the same can't be said for his brother) however, he is an EARLY riser and a morning person (much like his mommy). He really struggles with change and he needs to know exactly what is going on before it happens so he can mentally prepare for it. He can spell his name and even write it (though not always legibly), knows all his letters and can count past 20. We are working on teaching him to tell time, once he learns we are putting in the rule that he can't get out of bed till the clock says at least 6:30! He loves anything that has to do with bad guys and super hero's, hunting, fishing and sword fighting. He is constantly telling Dave and I as well as his brothers that he loves us and smothers all of us with kisses frequently throughout the day. He loves going to church and playing with other kids. The day he was born four years ago was one of the best days of my life, he made me a mommy for the first time and I can't even begin to describe the love I have for this little boy. Happy 4th Birthday Colt!
Daddy and I are loving watching you grow up and are so excited to see the plans that God has for you in your life!
4 Year Stats
Weight : 43lbs (90%)
Height: 43 inches (90%)

Case : 1 month

2011-06-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

Case is 1 month old today. Can't believe how fast the time goes, I always want it to slow down especially when they are babies. Mr. Case is doing really well, he is eating a lot and gaining weight as is evident from his chubby cheeks and double chin. He is also a really good little baby so far, he has been eating about every 3-4 hours and sleeping about the same at night (up until the last two nights, all of a sudden he's been waking every 2 hours just starving, hopefully it does not last). Most the time he is pretty content and both the boys have gotten really good at putting his binky in when he cries. Jax immediately starts yelling "binky binky" every time Case starts crying and runs to find it for him. He is a great little snuggler and spends lots of time sleeping on my chest whenever the older boys are sleeping. He also smiled for the first time today, he smiled at both Colt and I when we were talking to him. Hopefully I will capture it on camera soon!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Catch up

2011-06-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

These last couple weeks have flown by and I have so many things I need to get caught up on, my blog being one of them! We are having a lot of fun with our boys and I am enjoying every minute (well almost every) of being home with them. Three sure keeps you busy, I knew it was going to be more difficult than two because everyone I know that has had three had warned me about how much tougher three kids is than just two. I would say the hardest part for me has been that I literally never have a free moment. There is always a kid that needs something, even when the older two go down for naps it seems that is always when Case needs fed or changed or snuggled (of course I choose to snuggle him rather than do something productive). I am REALLY tired, like the kind of tired I didn't know was even possible, but it is truly amazing having this new addition to our family so I would not trade it for anything. Colt, Jax and Case are all great little boys, they each have their own difficulties and things I struggle with but I love them all the same and I wouldn't want my life any other way right now. It is hard for me to put into words the emotions I have right now, I am really trying to live in the moment and enjoy these days no matter how tired, trying, or tough it is to be home all day with three little ones. We have been busy every weekend since Case was born with either my family or Dave's family and this coming weekend is Colt's birthday and our good friends are coming to visit. I know both Dave and I are looking forward to finally having some alone time with just us and the boys in July. We love having our families so close and they are such a huge help but we are really ready for a free weekend and looking forward to having some time to ourselves.

I figured I should post some pictures of Mr. Case since he is changing so much right now, the kiddo is a great eater, a pretty good sleeper and the best snuggler ever!!

Case and Colt. I need to get out some comparison baby pictures because Case looks a lot like Colt as a baby. The tongue out in every picture was exactly what Colt did as a baby too!

I figured out a way to still get my run in with a double jogger and three kids.:) It actually works great, when I have to run with all three of them I usually run with them in the jogger down to the track by my house and then let Colt and Jax play in the grass at the track while I run around the track with Case. With three active boys I figure I need to keep myself in shape ( and I need to run to stay sane:)).

Case meets the cousins.

2011-06-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

My sister Amy, Andy and their girls Madelyn, Elena, Emma and Lucy came to Walla Walla this weekend to meet Case.

Elena and Case snuggling for the first time.

We pretty much just hung out most the day talking and laughing. Later that night we had dinner at my parents followed by some homemade ice cream and smore's!

Papa, Di Di and their grandkids.

Lucy, Elena, Madelyn, Emma, Colt, Case and Jax.

It was really fun to see everyone. Colt and Jax had so much fun with their cousins and the girls were all so nice to them. They pretty much would do whatever Colt and Jax wanted and it was a nice break for me too!

Just can't get enough.......

2011-06-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

.....of these boys!

My look alikes.

Case looks so much like Colt's baby pictures.

Just some pictures....

2011-06-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

I know these are not the best quality pictures but I still wanted to share them. These boys are so sweet!

Reading TIme!

2011-06-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Reading is one of the boys favorite activities. Especially now that Case is here and he is needing to be fed every 2.5-3 hours it gives us all something we can be doing why he is eating. Plus, it keeps the boys out of trouble they may be trying to get into when I am not watching.

Mommy and her cute cute boys!

Colt and his best buddy Byson.

We are doing well and have adjusted to having another one in the house. Between my MOPS group and our church we are being supplied with meals and have more coming this week. I was really bad towards the end of my pregnancy about cooking dinner every night, I was so nauseated all the time that food never sounded good and the thought of cooking it made me even more sick. I am hoping to get back to meal planning and cooking healthy meals again. I have 2 days left of teaching this week and then I am on summer break. We are looking forward to a pretty low key summer with no big plans until the end of July when we will go to the beach with Dave's family for vacation.

First swim of the year.

2011-06-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

We went over to Kennewick today to celebrate Randee's 19th birthday and we got to go swimming. Dave's parents have a community pool in their neighborhood that we get to use and we were the only ones there today. It was 85 degrees out and felt HOT! Case and I did not get to swim so we hung out in the shade but the older boys and Dave had lots of fun.

Colt immediately jumped......

.....right in!

The group swimming in the pool.

Jax even liked it which was a huge improvement from last summer when he didn't want much to do with the water. Colt will be taking swim lessons this summer but Jax is still too young. I wish I could find a place that did swimming lessons for 2 year olds by themselves. The only option I have is the parent-child class and that will not work since I would have Case with me too. We are looking forward to some warmer days and more swim time!

Jax turns 2!

2011-05-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today is Jax's 2nd birthday. He has learned so much in the last year and has changed a lot. He's a sweet sweet little boy who has taken on the role of big brother quite well. He loves all things outdoors and his favorite activity is throwing or kicking balls all around our back yard. He has great hand-eye coordination for only being two and can throw and kick a ball better than mommy (but that's not saying much). He is really starting to talk (finally) he is still not putting full sentences together but he knows A LOT of words and can pretty much string the words so we know what he is talking about. For example the other day he was crying and I asked him what happened, his response was " Colt.....eye......hit". Most the times this works well, he gets extremely frustrated when we don't understand him though and pitches the most amazing fits. When I say "amazing" I don't mean that in a good way, he screams and kicks and throws himself on the floor dramatically. The next minute he's back up and giving us hugs and kisses and saying " Mommy, I wuv you". He is not very good about going to sleep at night, most nights he is out of bed 2-3 times before he finally goes down for the night. He loves to kiss his little brother Case all the time, he is constantly walking over to him saying " Hi Tase" and kissing him on his face. He loves to do everything Colt does, he no longer uses any type of booster seat because he wants to sit at the table like the rest of us. He loves to pray at the dinner table and at night and always says "amen" when we are done. His favorite thing is his lovie bear which he calls "bear", he loves to kiss it and hold it and always wants it when he is hurt or upset. He is a great eater who will eat (or at least try) most everything we put in front of him. He does have a love for desserts though which I am sure he gets from me and he loves to stuff his cheeks and hold food in them like a chipmunk. He LOVES books and when I say LOVES, I mean he really really really LOVES them. He would probably sit for hours and listen to me read to him if I had the time. Since Case has come we have spent a lot of time reading books while I nurse Case. Jax thinks this is the best thing ever and will bring me book after book to read. We love this little boy so much and can't wait to see what the future holds for him.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jax David....you are the exact image of your daddy lucky boy!

1 week old

2011-05-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

Case Michael is one week old today. As always the first week has gone by much too fast. So far he is proving to act much like his big brothers did as babies. He is laid back, eats a lot, sleeps pretty decently and so far doesn't cry much (though I know that will change as he gets older). He is such a sweetie and we are all completely in love with him. The boys are both very gentle and careful around him, they always give him kisses and like to hold him. He fits in just perfect with our family and we love having him around.

Jax's 2nd birthday party

2011-05-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jax's 2nd birthday today. It was quite the whirlwind week with Case being born on Monday, I had already decided that we would do his party today so I didn't want to back out even though I was a little overwhelmed. I kept it really simple but I did want to make him his own cake. The boys (Colt and Jax) and I went out for some exercise that morning and then came back to frost the cake (I had already made the cake part on Friday).

We made homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. It is the BEST frosting, my friend Heather gave me the recipe. Last year for Jax's birthday I had made him a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, so this year I decided to make him a plain white cake with the chocolate frosting. The frosting makes this cake!

The boys were all about helping me (and by helping I mean trying to get their fingers in the frosting as often as I would let them).

Case missed all the taste testing and chose to nap instead.

When Colt had asked Jax what kind of cake he wanted he had responded with "ball" so Colt informed me that Jax must have a ball cake. I can't take credit though, the cake was frosted and decorated by.......

....yep no joke Dave did it!
He loves that I am posting this on the blog, but honestly he is so much better at the little details and coming up with decorating ideas so I was happy to have him to do it.

Later that afternoon the boys all went outside to play for a couple hours and get the yard ready for the party. Dave had put his bandanna on and the other two wanted them as well.

I kept the food simple, I ordered a party sub from Tony's sub shop, my mom made fruit skewers, and we had chips and Crystal Light.

The weather was beautiful, I was so disappointed because all week long the weather report said it was supposed to rain all weekend. So I was thrilled when we woke up Saturday morning and it was sunny and stayed that way all day !

The birthday boy!

Hanging out doing his two favorite things.
Throwing a ball........

.....kicking the ball.

Cake time!

He loves blowing out candles and was so excited for his cake.

The cousins eating their cake.

Jax was seriously in love with his cake, he sat there after everyone else had left and finished each and every bite. He is like his mommy, he loves a good dessert!

Present time.
Jax started to open them up but was having trouble with the paper. He looked at Colt and said "help" so Colt helped him out. Very sweet!

The party guests.

Poppi and Memah got Jax a wheelbarrow and a bunch of gardening tools. Uncle Andy gave the kids rides in the wheelbarrow and you can tell by Jax's face that he LOVED it!

Uncle Andy, Aunt Kenzie, Cam and Cal gave the boys a Buzz Lightyear Jet-pack to share for both their birthdays. Colt was so excited, he has been asking for a jet-pack for the last year. We did have to tell him that he can't really fly with it on though!

Jax tried it on too and likes it as well.

You hit a button in the front and the wings go out and then back in. Both the boys have done a great job of sharing so far.

The party was very fun and Jax loved having everyone there for him. It was fun as always to get together with our families and the kids always have fun playing together

Family of 5

2011-05-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Brothers.

2011-05-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Colt, Jax, Case.

I can't believe I have three boys!

Giving Case some love, these two love love love having a baby brother.

They ask all the time to hold him and kiss him

Oldest and Youngest.

Colt is really good at holding him but always makes sure to ask first.

Jax has done so well with Case, I think he asks to hold him more than Colt does. He's also very gentle and careful with him.

I am THRILLED to be given the opportunity to raise these 3 boys. I've had people ask me if I was disappointed that Case was a boy and the honest answer with no hesitation is "no". I love being a mom to boys, I am sure I would love being a mom to a little girl too but right now all I know is boys and they are the best as far as I am concerned. I have visions of my boys coming home from high school and college and wrapping me in these huge hugs like I see Dave do to his mom (and he still does it today!). I know there's going to be a lot of rough housing, wrestling, and stinky smells but there is also going to be a lot of outdoor adventures, love and awesome memories. Dave calls me princess, not necessarily because I am the "princess" type (though he says I act like a princess at times:)) but because I am the only girl in the house, its something he has called me for quite awhile. Honestly, I love hearing him call me that, to me it means that he loves and cherishes me and would do anything for me. So I am pretty happy I don't have to give up that title right now. As Dave said "Queen doesn't sound quite as funny as Princess."

Baby Brother is a cutie!

2011-05-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

Meeting Case

2011-05-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Dave's mom brought the boys to meet Case later that morning. Dave and I hadn't slept at all and were both pretty tired but we were excited to see the boys. They were thrilled with Case and they brought Case his lovie and were both so excited to give it to him.

I love the look on Colt's face here, he was so excited to hold "Case Michael" as he calls him.

Love my 3 boys!! I love saying that.

I was really nervous about how Jax would take having a new baby in the house, he is so attached to me but he has been great with it. He is still a mommy's boy but has yet to get upset about Case or mad about me holding him.

A very proud big brother!

My mom came to the hospital shortly after Case was born and got to hold him for awhile.

My dad came around 7 to meet him for the first time. Case was born on the day before my dad's birthday, my dad was really hoping he would make it to his birthday.

Auntie Dee Dee and Case.

My best friend from high school Audra Cummings holding Case.

Poppi and Case Michael.

We named him after Dave's dad (his first name is Michael).

We came home to the boys waiting for us with signs for Case. Julie and Randee had helped them make welcome home signs.

They were so excited to have us home and I was so excited to be home with them!

Memah and Case.

Case Michael Pemberton

2011-05-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

Case Michael Pemberton arrived at 2:59 am on Monday May 23, 2011.

7lbs 9oz and 21 inches

Just a few minutes old.

4th happiest day of my life.

Dave is thrilled to have another boy in our house!

He has his tongue out all the time just like Colt used to as a baby.

The other two boys were never thumb suckers, but Case found his thumb on day number 1!

Case Michael - Birth Story

2011-05-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

The last part of this pregnancy really seemed to drag on, from about 34 weeks on I had been having pretty regular contractions, was nauseated most the time and was exhausted. Twice I ended up in the hospital, the first time I was only 35 weeks and they stopped the contractions, the second time I was 36.5 weeks and my contractions were 5 minutes apart but my cervix wasn't changing so they sent me home. I thought for sure this baby would be early (Jax was born at 36 weeks 6 days), at every doctor appointment my cervix was slowly dilating, the baby was already tucked really low and my cervix was very thin. The baby stayed put though not wanting to enter this world too early. On Friday May 20 I had what would be my last doctor appointment, I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant and ready to meet my baby boy or girl. Over the weekend I did what every pregnant woman does at 39 weeks pregnant......everything I could think of to get labor started. I jogged 4 miles Saturday morning and put in another 3 miles Sunday morning. Dave and I spent the entire day Saturday doing yard work, I was digging out bushes, digging up sod, loading and unloading pea gravel from Dave's truck to the kids play yard, raking, and basically just trying to stay on my feet in hopes that something would start labor. When I woke up Sunday morning my arms and hands were so sore from all the yard work, I felt like I had spent the day lifting weights. Sunday morning Colt woke up early as always, I figured it would be a good time to get some stuff done so after my run Colt and I did some early morning grocery shopping and then on the way home stopped at Poplar Street Donuts for a "special treat" as Colt calls it. I can honestly say I have not eaten a donut for years, I love a good old fashioned donut but the sugar and fat is not something I enjoy starting my day off with so I pretty much avoid them. However, this morning they just sounded really good. I justified it to myself by saying I'm 39 weeks pregnant and I only gained 25lbs this pregnancy, one donut wouldn't kill me. It was totally worth it! We got our donuts and took them home to Dave and Jax and we all had a delicious tasting donut for breakfast. My mouth is still watering thinking about it. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, playing outside, cleaning and relaxing. We got the kids to bed around 9 and then stayed up watching the series "Damages" on Netflix that we have streamed through our Wii. My contractions had started picking up that evening but they had literally been picking up in the evenings for the last 3 weeks and then every time I went to bed they would stop so I didn't think anything of it, in fact I wasn't even hopeful that it was labor because I knew it would just be a disappointment to me when I woke up in the morning still pregnant. I was falling asleep on the couch so I finally told Dave about 11 that I was going up to bed. I went to bed and fell right asleep.

The next thing I remember is waking up and the clock showing 1:01, Dave still wasn't in bed and I had to pee. I got up and barely made it to the bathroom before I felt water going down my leg, I was still kind of groggy so I thought I had just peed my pants a little bit but when I stood back up a pretty good size contraction started and more water was coming out. It hit me that my water had probably broke so I went downstairs expecting to see Dave asleep on the couch but he was still up watching a movie. I told him I thought my water had broke (I say thought because there was no gush of water like when it broke in the hospital with Jax it was just a constant trickle), he immediately got on the phone to my parents and told them they needed to come. I went back upstairs and got the rest of the stuff in my hospital bag, the contractions were picking up and I was having a hard time talking through them anymore. When I came back downstairs I sat down on the couch and Dave could tell I was in pain and he was starting to get nervous. My mom still was not there so he called the house again and my dad answered and Dave's response was "You still haven't left yet?" my dad reasurred him that my mom had already left and should be there shortly. I went out to the truck to wait and my mom pulled up shortly after that. We were on our way, Dave drove 50 all the way to the hospital (the speed limit was 30-35) I kept telling him he didn't need to speed but with each contraction I had stopped talking completely and he was nervous.

We made it to the hospital and as soon as I told the nurses how fast my delivery went with Jax they got me a gown and checked me right away, at my doctor appointment on Friday I had been 2cm dilated, when I showed up at the hospital I was 4-5cm dilated. They called my doctor right away and she told them she was on her way (she missed Jax's birth and she told me as soon as she got the call she wouldn't be waiting around at home for reports with this baby). At this point I rolled onto my side, closed my eyes and started concentrating on making it through each contraction, they were coming fast and hard and with each one I tried to relax, breathe and pray. As they subsided and I had a break between them I really made my body just relax and enjoy the pain free moment before the next one came. The nurses asked me if I wanted pain medicine and I said no, they Dave chimed in and said "I think you should get one, it will be so much easier", again I said no, then the other nurse said "Have you ever had pain medicine?", I told her I had with my first but I still didn't want any. They left me alone after that. My doctor got there about 2:10 and checked me again, I was at a 6-7 and just about completely effaced. I asked Dave what time it was and he told me 2:10 and I said to him "we are going to have baby before 3", he responded with "I'll take that bet". I was in ALOT of pain at this point, I knew the end was close because I had felt this same pain with Jax and he was born soon after. I kept calm through each contraction, Dave was feeding me ice chips and putting a cold cloth on my head between contractions. Then I started to feel the need to poop and I knew that meant the baby was coming, I remember saying "the baby is coming the baby is coming" and the doctor coming in, she checked me one more time and there was just a small lip left, I breathed through the next contraction and then from there everything is a little fuzzy. I remember moaning and feeling my body start to push, Dave said I was practically doing jumping jacks on the bed. I also remember thinking, I don't want to do this, this hurts so bad, I want this to be over. It was at this point one of the nurses grabbed me, got in my face and said you need to just sit on your bottom and push. The reality check was just what I needed and a couple pushes later the pain was gone. I heard Dave's excited voice say "Care, its a boy!!:. The time was 2:59 am, I had woken up at 1:01 in labor and less than 2 hours later had a healthy, beautiful baby boy in my arms. They put him on my chest and he started squaking just a little bit, his cry sounded so tiny. He was adorable and so tiny. I couldn't believe when they weighed him and he was only 7lbs 9oz, Jax was 7lbs 6 oz and he was 3 weeks early. Colt was 8lbs 9oz and born at the exact same gestation age as Case. They cleaned him up a bit and he wanted to nurse right away, he latched right on and nursed for 25 minutes. I had no tearing and was up in the shower within the hour. The labor was fast, intense and amazing.

By the next day I honestly didn't even feel like I had a baby, the pain was minimal and the recovery was so much easier than with Colt and Jax. I am so thankful for that because I have 2 little boys at home that want my constant attention and need my constant care. Both my parents and Dave's parents were wonderful in caring for the older boys while we were in the hospital, we could not have done it without them. Both our families are amazing and always there for us when we need them. I have 3 beautiful, healthy boys and one super-star husband that I am madly in love with. I feel so blessed to get to spend my life surrounded by these boys!

I'm ready....

2011-05-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

......hopefully the baby is ready soon too!

Counting down the days to baby #3.

2011-05-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Baby at 36 weeks.

With less than 4 weeks to go until baby is due I realize I am long overdue for an update, especially with all the things that have happened in the past 3 weeks with this baby.

It started at my 34 week appointment, my dr. was using the measuring tape to measure my belly and I was measuring at 31 weeks instead of 34 like I should have been, I had not grown at all since my last 2 week appointment and had only grown by 1 in the last month. She checked me because she said she felt like the baby was really low and if the baby had really dropped it wouldn't be a concern but even after checking me she wasn't convinced that was the problem. So I had to be sent in for an ultrasound to check on baby growth and amniotic fluid level. The part that sucked was I had to wait all weekend for the ultrasound since it was scheduled for Monday morning. It was not a fun weekend, there were lots of possibilities that were causing me to measure small. The main two concerns were either my amniotic fluid level was low or the baby was not growing properly. We had the ultrasound Monday at noon and both Dave and I were very happy and relieved to find out that everything was fine. Baby is tucked nice and low and so balled up in there that it took the ultrasound tech 1.5 hours to get all the measurements they needed (no we did not find out and we could not see anything, this baby's legs were closed tight!). The baby was measuring a week ahead and was already 5.5lbs at that point, the amniotic fluid levels looked great.

About 4 days after that at 35 weeks I woke up with a backache, it only took me half the morning to realize that this backache kept coming and going in intervals of about 15 minutes. I finally called my doctor around 11 as I was supposed to be going out of town to coach at a track meet that afternoon and she told me to go to the hospital. I have been having quite a few contractions the past couple weeks, more than just the usual braxton hicks these were actually starting to feel more like real contractions but they were really inconsistent and nothing was putting me into labor. However, when they started in my back I got nervous because I know often times that can be a sign of real labor and since I still had 5 weeks to go I wanted to be safe. I got to the hospital and they hooked me up on the monitors, I was having contractions but there was no pattern to them, they monitored me for a couple hours and they never stopped so they gave me a shot of terbutaline. That stopped them completely and they finally sent me home. Dave was home with the kids texting and calling me every 3 minutes to find out what was going on, my dad finally came to the hospital and hung out with me while I waited for the effects of the terbutaline to wear off (that stuff made me so shaky!). My dr. told me to take it easy for the next week and if the contractions got worse again to come back again. Which thankfully they did not!

Now we are finally in the "safe" range, I went to the doctor on Friday. I am not quite 1cm dilated but my cervix is almost completely thinned. Basically she said that with my cervix being that thin the dilating could go very quickly and I could go into labor that night. Of course I didn't go into labor, but she did say she wouldn't be surprised if I didn't make it another week. Now its just a waiting game, I have been having contractions all weekend long. Today they are stronger than usual and I can feel them down through my hips and back, but again they are very inconsistent and are not lasting very long which is what I have been experiencing for the past two weeks now so it could easily be another 3 weeks. This baby is wearing me out and he/she is not even here yet! At any rate when this baby does come I am praying for a safe and quick (but not too quick) delivery and a very healthy baby boy/girl. We have a girl name picked out and 2 boy names (we just can't agree on the "one" so we are going to wait and see). In the mean time I am still teaching part time, enjoying being home with the kids during the day, coaching track in the afternoons and getting excited to soon become a mom of three.

Our First Garden

2011-04-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

With the nice weather this weekend and this coming week we decided today would be the day to plant our first garden. Colt has been so excited about having his own garden to pick from this summer, he was all about helping and Jax did his fair share too. Dave had built two garden boxes a couple weeks ago and we were just waiting for the weather to warm up so we could plant.

Colt had a shirt on earlier but quickly stripped down in the warm weather and went to work.

After we got all the compost and soil in both boxes we went to work planting.

In the end we planted strawberries, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers, jalapeno peppers and cilantro. We wanted to do zucchini and lettuce too but we ran out of room. We have decided that since this is our first year doing a garden we are going to keep it fairly small, if it turns out well and we like it then Dave said he could build more boxes next summer and we could add to it.

Jax had a lot of fun digging in the dirt, we kept having to tell him to stop playing in the dirt because he kept throwing it all over the yard, he had dirt all over himself. Colt on the other hand kept going inside and changing his clothes every time they got wet or dirty. Dave finally told him he didn't need to change until we were completely done, the kid went through 4 outfits yesterday while we were out there. He is my clean kid for sure and I love it! He is always the first one to pick up crumbs off the floor or let me know when Dave or Jax made a mess without cleaning up first.

So proud of their garden and their hard work.

By 4:00 we were all dirty, tired and ready for a nap! What a fun day, looking forward to the nicer days to come and watching our garden grow!

Easter 2011: He is Risen!!!

2011-04-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

He is Risen Indeed!

We spent the morning in Walla Walla, the kids opened up their Easter baskets from Dave and I when they woke up. I went very simple this year (and I am so glad I did because they were both so spoiled by both sets of grandparents I don't know why I even bothered getting them anything!) and went to the dollar store. I spent $12 total on Easter baskets and decorations for Easter breakfast. The boys got a basketball Easter basket, camo sunglasses, eggs filled with fruit snacks, a ball and new spiderman toothbrushes. I opted out of candy as I knew they would get more than they needed today! My parents came over with more Easter treats and even some Easter treats for Dave and I (I love that I still get an Easter basket even though I'm 30!). I made a really yummy Creme Brulee French Toast (I got it off of Gina's Skinny Recipes - her recipes are delicious and low in fat and calories), along with strawberries and cool whip, my mom brought over fruit skewers and dip and we had a very nice breakfast. We all went to church after that and then Dave and I with the kids headed to Tri-Cities for Easter lunch.

Dave and I at his parent's house after finishing lunch. The food was delicious and it was fun visiting with everyone and relaxing for a bit.

Jax slept for the first couple hours we were there, Dave finally went in to wake him up and he ended up falling back asleep.

Colt and Camryn played hard the entire time they were together. These two are hilarious together. Memah and Poppi had given them Easter baskets and they spent most the afternoon playing with all their toys.

We had a separate Easter egg hunt for the little kids (yes all the "adults" also had an Easter egg hunt, its pretty intense so I opted not to participate this year, don't want to go into labor just yet). Dave and Kenzie had a competition going between Colt and Camryn who could get the most eggs. I don't think Colt and Cam realized that there was a competition but their parents were running after them yelling at them to hurry up and find more eggs:).

Dee Dee helped Jax get his share too. The boys had so much candy today, every time I saw one of them they had candy in their hand or mouth. They both had so much fun playing with their cousins, finding eggs and running around Memah and Poppi's place.

The Easter group!
The entire day was so much fun, it was nice to get to spend it with both set of parents too. It was also nice to get so much help with the boys. The contractions I have been having are really annoying and painful so it was nice to be able to relax and put my feet up and know the boys were still having fun with everyone.

Horseback Rides and Cam's 4th Birthday

2011-04-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

We went over to Kennewick today to celebrate Camryn's 4th birthday. First thing we did was go horseback riding!

Cam was thrilled to get on and ride the horse, she was so excited the entire time and by the end she kept asking to go faster and would kick the horse with her boots. She has NO fear!

Colt was really unsure at first, I was actually thinking he may not do it but he got right on the horse and was smiling in a couple of minutes.

Jax was standing on the gate the entire time Cam and Colt were riding saying "ride, ride" over and over. Dave let him pet the horse first before putting him on it.

He seemed to like it pretty well......

....and was all smiles riding around on the horse.

The kids took turns and got to ride the horse 3 times each. They had to wait on the fence when they were not riding. They did a great job listening and waiting their turn.

Side shot of my belly. Baby is getting big!

Waiting their turn!

After horseback rides we went back to Kenzie and Andy's for pizza and cake. The kids opened gifts, ate some food and watched "Tangled". Happy 4th Birthday Camryn!!

Spring time, 32 weeks and baby stuff.

2011-03-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe that it's almost April. Spring is definitely here, though sometimes it feels more like winter for the most part the weather has been mild besides the constant rain we have been having. The boys and I have been playing outside a lot, we have even gotten lucky and have been able to eat lunch outside on occasion. We FINALLY got patio furniture, I have been waiting since we got married to have outdoor furniture and after looking at many different types in the stores and not wanting to spend $500+ Dave found an awesome one on craigslist for a great deal. I can't wait to have bbq's and birthday parties this summer. It will be nice to have a place for people to sit.

Colt got this little table from my parents for his 2nd birthday but unfortunately it broke so we are on the lookout for a new one. The boys think its such a treat to have a "picnic" outside. I am looking forward to summer and letting them run around outside more.

This past weekend was my first weekend with no track since we started 4 weeks ago and it was nice to have no agenda and just hang out. Dave took Colt to the archery range for a bit on Saturday and Jax and I went out to my parents to pick up all the baby stuff. I had been storing it at my parents in their basement because we have no storage space at our house. I spent the rest of Saturday washing, organizing and cleaning like crazy, basically I spent the entire day nesting. The nursery is ready, the newborn and 0-3 month baby boy clothes are washed, bumper and sheets are washed, carseat is ready, blankets clean, one pack of newborn diapers bought (I only bought one for now because my babies usually don't need them for that long since they are pretty good size and I hate spending money unless I know I will definitely use them), and 4 binkies picked out by Colt in neutral colors.

Colt and Jax playing with the baby's lovies in the crib.

He/She has two, one from my mom and sister and one from my friend Julie. Both my boys are obsessed with their lovies so I am assuming this baby may be too.

I put the newborn clothes in the dresser for now. I did buy 2 newborn girl onesies, a cute pair of pants and a hat so I have something for the baby to wear home from the hospital if we have a girl. I have tons of boy stuff so I need nothing if we have a boy. My sister and sister-in-law have both already said I can borrow all their girl clothes if we do have a girl so I know either way I am going to have plenty of clothes for this babe.

Here is the baby at 32 weeks.

I am feeling pretty good, having quite a few contractions throughout the day still and the nausea has set in. I will be honestly really surprised if this baby doesn't come a little early. These are all the same symptoms I had a couple weeks before I went into labor with Jax and he was 3 weeks early.

3rd Trimester

2011-03-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

I am now in my final trimester of my third pregnancy. This pregnancy has gone by so fast and now that I have just about 2 months left I am starting to remember why I don't love the third trimester. I have been so positive this pregnancy about my body changing and not stressing over gaining weight but as I am starting to become just a little uncomfortable I find that negativity starting to creep its way back in. I am really starting to get big, the baby is moving alot and I can feel body parts pushing against my stomach at different times. I love that part of the third trimester, its so fun to try and guess whether its the baby's hand, foot, butt, knee, etc. pushing against me. I know I will miss being pregnant when the baby is born so I am trying to keep that attitude about it and enjoy each and every second of what is left of this pregnancy. I am still working out daily either speed walking, light jogging, swimming, spin classes, cross training and lifting weights. I started coaching track this week, it is awesome! I love being out there and coaching something that I used to love doing. I know this will be my last year coaching track, with three little ones I just don't think it will work out next year. I am still having pretty constant braxton hicks, some are a little more intense than others. They are annoying but I can live with them for these last couple months so long as this baby stays put for at least another 7-8 weeks. Our list of names keeps growing longer for both sexes, we are no where near deciding on a name for either a boy or a girl. I thought we had our girl name but now we are both wavering after finding a couple other ones that we both like. It just may be a birth day decision after all.

One last thing, look what this soon to be mom of three got today.....

.....that is my new (to me) Ford Excursion. I am pretty much in love with it!

Dave does all the work when it comes to making big purchases and I think he did a great job picking out this one!