Allie's 11 month post and Thanksgiving!

 Here are Scott and Matt frying the turkey for Thanksgiving. It was delicious!

 Here is Allie posing for her 11 month picture. She's so cute, isn't she?

 Dr. Doug hanging out with us for Thanksgiving.

 Allie responds to all pictures like this...a big smile!

We went to the Olympic National Forest for our Christmas tree. Sam was the bravest in the rain.

 

 

 Here is Jake's school picture. Can't believe he's five years old!

 Here are the kids with Maddie and Charlotte in Spokane. It was a lot of fun!

 Sam climbs everything!

Cute picture with Maddie.

Allie's 10 month pic and Halloween

Here is Allie at 10 months. A little late, I know. She's so cute in her Oregon cheerleading outfit. This was for one Halloween party.

Here are Jake and Sam at a church bike race. If you notice, Jake still has training wheels. As a result of his loss in this race, he decided to get rid of his training wheels. Fifteen minutes later and with Scott's assistance, he was riding a 2 wheel bike. It's awesome!

Here's all the kids at Halloween. In case Jake mentions it, he was a cheetah, not a tiger despite his strong resemblance to a tiger. Cheetah! As cute as Sam looks, he chose to go to Costco with me rather than trick or treating with Jake and Scott. He and Allie did get a lot of compliments at Costco!

Allie is 9 months- Tough Mudder

Allie likes blackberries

Allie is 9 months old now.  This past month has been busy for both Mandy and I and we actually forgot to post pictures of her at 8 months.  Needless to say, she has been busy for her 7th and 8th months, as well. She says many consonant sounds like ba ba and ma ma. She growls like a velociraptor, which is so cute. She is eating all sorts of foods as is obvious above. We can convince her  to eat baby food still, but it's definitely not her favorite. She is low crawling and gets her little butt in the air on all fours looking like she is going to crawl, but not quite. She does get around to what she wants, though! She is a very loveable, cuddly, and flexible little girl. She likes to travel, be outside, and go for bike rides. We are very grateful for our little Allie!

 

Today was also the Tough Mudder Race near Seattle.  Our Urology department signed up as a team last spring so we would have plenty of time over the summer to train for it.  Unfortunately we had good intentions but ended up pretty much showing up on race day to take a beating.  It is basically an 11 mile obstacle course.  Most of the obstacles are fun but a couple I could be happy never seeing again.  The jump into the ice bath at the start is one and the two obstacles that shock you with electricity are the others.  I remember once as a kid sticking my finger in a light socket and screaming in pain.  This felt pretty much the same way ever couple of seconds as the generator delivers a shock.



Fortunately I didn't fall on the way through.

Allie's late 7 month post.

We try to post something at least every month for the kids before they turn 1 but I was in Japan and Mandy was busy at home taking care of Sam and Allie.  We got a beautiful dress from Wolfgang and Ellie in Munich that seemed about the right size now so we put it on Allie for church this morning.  Jake and Sam both wore Hawaiian shirts so all the kids were pretty cute today.  Summer time is great here.  We haven't had rain in several weeks so the kids can be outside almost all day every day.  The only downside has been trying to keep all of Mandy's beautiful flowers watered. 





6 months, 2 years, and a road trip

Lots has been happening in the last month. Allie is 6 months old, Sam turned 2 on July 4th, and Jake is now driving across country with his 6 cousins, Grammy, Tom Tom, and Aunt Meg. Allie is rolling and scooting. She is babbling in the cutest baby talk. She also can scream like you would not believe. She is eating cereal and baby food without problem. She has been introduced to baby Mum Mums and is now an addict just like her brothers were. Here is a picture of her, at the end of June, right at 6 months and with our friends' new puppy:

 Sam turned 2 years complete with presents, cupcakes, and of course, fireworks. We went to a BBQ at some friends from USU who live on a lake. The kids stayed up late watching the fireworks and were all really good! Sam is talking a lot, knows his shapes and colors. He and Jake regularly argue, which is funny to watch. Sam's favorite things are bridges and tunnels. He says Narrows Bridge in the cutest voice. He generally attracts attention with his cuteness whereever he goes! Here he is with his new Scuut that will probably be Jake's for a little while.

 Here are a couple of previews of pictures we had taken by a local photographer. He did a great job and I'll be sending copies to folks, as well as posting to Snapfish or Shutterfly at some point.

 
We've had a lot of visitors this month, which has been really fun. Brenda, Heather, Jake, Noah, and Stella came to visit from Portland. Grandma Barb was here while I traveled to San Antonio. My family just left and took Jake with them as they drive Tom Tom's RV back to Indiana. You can follow their adventures on Facebook. Seems like a good time, but we miss Jake alot!

Jake is on the good team

I haven't really blogged much about our family's spiritual journey. I probably should...I guess it has just not been the exciting race that I expected. Often it seems more like Henry the Siamese, in the Cross Country Cat when he first puts on his skiis and is plodding along without rhythm. We have a hard time praying or reading the Bible regularly, it always seems like learning verses or the chatecism is like pulling teeth for all of us. But, God continues to amaze me with his faithfulness, though, despite our plodding journey. Amidst a busy week with lots of tantrums, arguing, and tired nannies and mommy, He reminded me of what it is really all about. It started when Jake got the "love" fruit of the spirit award in preschool this week. It's the last week of preschool and Jake's teachers, Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Stephens, gave out the awards. He was the only one who got love and they both seemed really sincere about it. Then they picked him to give flowers to his Sunday School teacher who is also the retiring director of the preschool. He did a great job, completing the job with a big hug for Mrs. Littlefield. Finally, he and I got to spend some time hanging out this evening. We played cribbage, looked for Waldo, read Rum Tum Tugger by TS Eliot (this isn't a normal evening, believe me, usually we are arguing about how much computer time he gets). After dinner he asked about how bad guys can get on the good team. Chapel Hill teaches the kids about Jesus, using an analogy of him being the Good Coach and they are on the Good Team. We talked about how bad guys can say they  are sorry and ask Jesus into their hearts. I couldn't resist the opportunity and mentioned how we all started out on the bad team but Jesus changed everything for us. He was totally into talking about it, which he never has been. Then as we are talking about what we are thankful for before bed, he asks if he can ask Jesus in his heart. I was completely floored. So we prayed. It was probably the first time he's really prayed, too. He always wants me or Scott to pray. Simple stuff, but what an amazing gift from the Lord. Jake, you are a wonderful example of love, peace, and faith. I am thankful for you! Welcome to the team...we're plodding cross country skiiers in this family, but we look forward to getting some more rhythm with you on board! Psalm 30:2.

Shout out to my new cuz, JR...

Sorry, JR, I didn't mean to leave you out of my previous post. You are a whole 6 weeks and all now. I did get to visit North Carolina with my mom and we stayed with Aunt Meg, Uncle Mike, Milo and Jude, who I am calling JR. He and I did hang out, my mom just hasn't gotten any pictures off her phone yet. See you soon, cuz!