Soon-to-be Sommer #7

Well, as many of you know, I have struggled the last 10 years or so with infertility. So this post is probably going to come as quite a surprise to you. Mike and I are expecting another baby, without the help of medical technology! And thank goodness, only ONE this time. Let me tell ya, this is a (shocking) miracle!!! Just 3 months ago, I spoke to my doctor about having a hysterectomy due to my endometriosis just being so incredibly painful and I knew that although I had always dreamed of having another child, it just was not going to happen. So imagine my surprise a few months later when I thought, hmmm, I don't feel well.... I thought, there's no way I could be pregnant, but, I'll take a test just to be sure. And lo and behold....I'm pregnant! And not only that, I'm 11 weeks pregnant!!! We had an ultrasound today to confirm that there is in fact only one (whew!) and my due date is July 22nd.

This baby is truly a miracle! My twins are definitely miracles too, but with the help of medical technology and in vitro fertilization, but this baby is au naturale and such a blessing! Mike and I have had about a week and a half to adjust to the idea, and although we are still in shock and not quite sure where in the world this baby is going to go, we are absolutely ecstatic!

Christmas Memories

Happy New Year! We had a fabulous Christmas with friends and family. We hope you enjoyed your Christmas also. I am so blessed to have my family. I love them so dearly. I thought I'd share a few photos from the big day.

In case you can't read it, Mike's shirt says 'I'm sick of being my wife's arm candy.' Too funny!

Stay tuned for a big announcement and pictures next week......

Snow, snow, snow!

Boy, Salem has really been hit by snow! We got 2 inches early on Sunday, and we loaded up and went outside to play. Then it all melted, then it started snowing again that evening and got about 4 inches, along with some ice and just plain ol' nasty cold weather! It is too cold to even be out, and we are expecting a few more inches tomorrow! The kids have missed 3 days of school so far, and I would suspect will be off for the rest of the week, which means a 3 week Christmas vacation!!! Here are a few pics that I was able to snap of the boys during our few minutes outside Sunday morning.

Choo Choo!

This is a great example of the chaos at our house right now. The two big kids (and by this I mean Mike and Matthew) running the trains around the track, the two little kids jumping on their backs, and then Kathryn trying to read to everyone for her homework.

We have a train whistle that goes with the train set and Zachary hasn't quite figured it out, as is apparent in this video. But it is so cute!!!

Christmas is coming!

I cannot believe Christmas is only a few weeks away! And as you have read previously, I am in the Christmas spirit! Last weekend we took the kids to Storybook Land in Albany and they had so much fun! We got to see Santa and get candy canes to eat on the ride home!

Then Sunday we went to get our tree. We took our neighbors Tom, Jessica, and David and got two trees to pile in the back of Mike's truck.

This is Tom holding the tree while Matthew cuts it down. He loves being the one in charge of the saw.

All bundled up

David and Tyler supervise to ensure that Matthew is doing a good job cutting

Kathryn, David and Zach

Group photo time!

This is the final product. As you can see, presents do not go under our tree. Trains and cars do! Which the boys love! Mike left the train unplugged so that the boys couldn't mess with the controls to get it going, but, today we had a major train crash. Tyler plugged in the tree, and figured out the controls for how to make it run. I can't even do that!!!

They have the whole little village set up!

Including airplanes, which Tyler just loves!

As soon as my computer cooperates, I have a great video to post of Zachary 'blowing' the train whistle!

Persistence

Both boys were born with both of their parents' persistence. Like tonight, for example. We were driving to look at the lights in Keizer, and Zachary took his shoe and sock off. Of course he couldn't get his sock back on, and he kept telling me 'sock off, sock off'. Which I acknowledged and said we'd fix it as soon as we stopped. But no, he has to tell me, constantly, for the next 15 minutes that his 'sock off' in a voice that keep getting higher and higher and closer to near panic. The kid is so persistent! And here's a good example with Tyler. I only recorded a few seconds and this exchange went on for minutes, and happened multiple times throughout the day. Oh boy, what fun times we have ahead! = )

What was I thinking???

For those of you that know me well, you know that in the past I have been a bit of a Christmas scrooge. I get really set in my routines and I don't like 'messing up' the house by bringing in a tree, and putting all of these decorations up. But....I have gotten a lot better once the boys were born. It is so much fun for them and for Matthew and Kathryn so I have relaxed quite a bit. In fact, I even let Mike put the blow-up Snowman (well, lady, I think) and her two kids in our front yard! (I'll try to post pictures of that soon) I even went so far as to put in the boys' Christmas lullaby CD in the beginning of November. I know, I know....you are about to faint with shock. So, you might be even MORE surprised when you read on and find that I bought a little tiny tree that I am going to take to work. Not only that, I spent the evening decorating it. What is wrong with me?!? I am feeling the Christmas Spirit!!!

Here is Tyler, posing with my little tree. Which, by the way, will be planted on the side of my house come December 26th and may look something like an arborvitae.
I started off easy. Dressing up the bottom with ribbons.

Then I decided that I wanted to make some sort of rope decoration. I thought of popping popcorn and spray-painting the corn red, but the tree is so tiny that I thought the popcorn might overpower it. That, and I didn't have any red spray paint.

So, I got out the froot loops. I made a beautiful red and green froot loop necklack-type thing, but it was way too big for the tree. So I gave the string to the boys. Which they ate. Sort of.

They actually made quite a mess. Froot loops were all over the house. And look where else.

Yes, in the air vent. Lovely. So, back to square one. Beads. I raided Kathryn's room and separated out all of the white, red, and green beads from her stack. Tomorrow she will put all of the beads on some fishing string and we'll drape it around the tree. See how helpful the boys are with separating out the beads? (yah right, you should've seen the mess)

So I decided in the meantime to go with ribbon to dress it up. Here is my semi-finished project. I even got a green felt cloth to set it on when it goes to my desk.

I will post the final picture soon.

Giving Thanks

I have so much to be thankful for. My life is so blessed. God has given me everything that I could possibly ask for. Thank you for being a part of my life.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tyler had a new outfit and new boots and he loved showing them off to everyone!
The football-watching crew - cousin Jocelyn, Mike, Sandi and Irvin, and Uncle John

Yummy dinner! The boys loved sitting at the table with everyone else.

All of the cousins, the four kids, Rob....

Kathryn and Jocelyn snuggling next to Irvin.

And after a full day of playing and laughing and eating, sleepy time!!!

Playdate

Our friend Larissa, who is 3, came over for a playdate today! The boys and Kathryn (and I!) had so much fun having her over! First they got to build towers with the blocks.

Then, it was watching Kathryn eagerly while she frosted the cookies that they soon would decorate. (Let me tell ya, trying to do sprinkles with 3 toddlers is a bit messy!!!)
Then eating the finished results....

And then I made homemade purple play-doh (Zach's FAVORITE color is purple) and they played play-doh in the garage for awhile.

Then we had some finger and toenail painting action going on for the girls, and an Elmo movie for the boys....and of course some good snacks and lunch, and it was a great playdate!

Firsts and Fun

The boys are really showing their independent streaks at age 2! Zachary had just woken up and was still in his pajamas and had to throw on the rubber boots and the hat! Mike gave the boys this hunting/camo hat that is too small and Zachary especially just loves it! And more than once this last week he's been able to go out in his boots shopping. Its what he wants to wear and I just try not to get too worked up about it.

And onto the sleeping update: I finally just moved the crib mattresses to the floor and they are sleeping on the floor until I get their cribs sold. (know anyone that wants to buy a crib?) Hopefully soon we'll have their new bunk beds.
And, a new first: Playdoh. We went to the boys' friend Tristan's house today and he had playdoh out and the boys really seemed to enjoy it, so I broke out the playdoh that the boys got for their birthday.

Tyler especially had fun making 'noodles'.