smiles :)

jori started smiling just before she turned 5 weeks old. it was hard to capture it on camera but i finally got a few.

her little tongue goes crazy when she smiles. she loves to stick it out. the big kids get a kick out of this :)


jori is even starting to coo and "talk" when you talk to her. i LOVE to hear these little noises and see these sweet smiles. the kids love that she is interacting with them more and more too. i know they will love it when she can hold on to toys and things too.

garrets bday hike

aug 15th was garrets 7th birthday. we decided to go on hike to one of our favorite places on viking mountain. it is a pretty long drive up to the top but then the hike is pretty easy for the kids to get out to the black stack cliffs. so we packed a picnic dinner and picked up some cupcakes and headed up the mountain.

if you are wondering why i have not changed my header in so long, the above picture might explain why. i have not even attempted a photo with all 4 kids yet.
dakota loves to go on the hikes with us

eating our dinner
the box of candles i brought only had 4 in it!! oh well we laughed and then enjoyed our cupcakes just the same.

Happy birthday big guy. We are proud of you and pray for you every day.

4 weeks old

wow how the time flies. on aug 17th jori turned 4 weeks old. she has been such a good baby. she has been sleeping at least a 4 hour stretch at night and some night she has even slept as much as 6 1/2 hour stretch. she is starting to smile a little, mostly in the mornings. the big kids still adore her. it seems as though brenna and jori have a special little bond. jori just loves to watch brenna and brenna always wants to give jori her "yellow paci". jori skin is still adjusting to the outside world and has gone from peeling to baby acne. her cord hung on for dear life but has finally come off, so jori is now enjoying real baths. on to the pics...

girls go to preschool

the girls first day of preschool was monday aug 16th. we decided to send them both this year. raelyn is in the 4 year old class and goes mon, wed, and friday. her teachers name is mrs joette, and she really loves her. she had a few friends from her class last year in her class again this year as well. brenna is in the two year old class and goes to school mon and wed. her teachers name is mrs rebecca. she is only one of four in her class and the other three are boys. i dont think she minds though :) she LOVES school. i think her favorite part is that she gets her own backpack and lunch box and gets to eat at school like the big kids.

the back pack fairy came for the girls just like it did for garret.
all dressed up and ready for their first day
so proud of her back pack and lunch box
i made the little patches with their initial for their backpacks.
i love brenna face in this last one. she was SO excited.

sewing lessons with gram

ok going way back here now, but i really wanted to share this fun project that gram did with the kids while she was here this summer. she got these special fabric crayons and had the kids each color a picture on a piece of sand paper. then you iron the image onto a piece of fabric. then we found some scraps of colorful fabric that the kids used to make pillows. gram showed kenzie and garret how to use the sewing machine to sew the pillow together, then they filled them with stuffing and then gram even showed them how to hand stitch the opening closed. garret loved this project. he had a blast both sewing with the machine and by hand. he really did a great job. each of the kids now have their special pillows on their beds. thanks gram for a fun time!

it would not have mattered how many photos i took of this, someone would have had a pillow over their face. oh well :)

night time with daddy

jori and daddy have been having some special time together each evening. usually around 8 once the big kids have been put to bed jori decides to want some attention. i am pretty tired at this point so dave has been scooping her up and hugging and rocking her until she falls asleep in his arms. this has been a huge help to me and i know jori and dad love it too. here are some images i caught about two weeks ago on one of their nights together.

3 week pics- aug 10

im so far behind again. i am tempted just to skip ahead but more than anything this blog has become like a journal for me. so here are some photos of jori at three weeks.

First day of 2nd grade!!!

Friday Aug 6th was garrets first day of second grade!! hard to believe. continuing with the backpack fairy tradition, the night before garrets first day, the back pack fairy came and brought him a new back pack, lunch box, school supplies, and lunch snacks. garret was super excited about his new stuff and his first day. he was pretty much bouncing off the walls that morning. his teachers name is Mrs. Duncan and seems like she will be a great fit for garret. each year we pray that the kids end up with the teacher that will best suit their needs and God has been so good. i am looking forward to helping out in the class some this year as well.

stud in his guitar shirt from gram, papa p and mack.

posing.... he totally came up with this himself

showing off his new toothless grin. his other top tooth came out right before school started back up.

we are so proud of you garret. we are praying you have a great year at school and that you always love going as much as you do now. love you big guy!

2 weeks old aug 3rd

still trying to catch up... these are pics of jori at two weeks, as i type this she is now 3 1/2 weeks. the little outfit she is wearing here she can no longer wear. she is growing and changing way faster than i would like.

still peeling
sweet faces

for more pictures you can go back to the website

bath time

there is something so calming about giving my babies a bath. not sure what it is but i have always loved this time with them. since joris cord still had not fallen off she had lots of sponge baths. one thing i forgot is how much stuff i need to have ready before i get ready to give her a bath...clean diaper, diaper cream, alcohol and q-tips for her cord, powder, baby soap, wash cloth, towels, bowl for warm water, and of course the cute little baby.

wordless wednesday

the cradle

this cradle has very special meaning to me. my grandfather hand made this cradle for me when i was a baby. i slept in it as well as my two brothers and little sister. mom and dad have now passed it on to us, and all of our kids have slept in. we keep it in our room by our bed and this is where jori sleeps at night. i just love that we can use it and the special memories it holds for me. i cant wait to pass it along to my siblings when they have children and then one day even for my grand children to sleep in it.... now that is an amazing thought!