The Sniktaws

Our little man…

2012-01-10T22:19:00.001-08:00

Cameron is so sweet these days. I have noticed since the New Year that he has started to journal every night in a little book. He asked me the other day if diary’s are for girls and journals are for boys. I am not sure what inspired him to journal but he has been and he is very protective of his little book. As a mother I am so tempted to take a peek in his book and see what thoughts are going through his little 8 year old head but I know that trust must be maintained so I haven’t taken on peek even though I really want to! It’s his little private world that he gets to have for his own but I wonder what little secrets he is writing in there.

The other part of his journaling is that is can actually write enough now to put his thoughts down on paper! He is a perfectionist and that has slowed him down from writing freely as he wants to write every word perfectly with the correct spelling. He’s always asking how to spell something and I am always saying I don’t care how it’s spelled as long as he writes!

He came in last night for his bedtime song/prayer. I was hugging him and praising him for how easy he has been for the last couple of weeks. He told me that his goal for this year was to be good all year! I asked him if that meant that he was going to be ornery again once it turned to 2013. He laughed. He knows when he has great behavior and how much easier it is for all of us to be around him, praise him and enjoy his company. He knows what being ornery in the world of Cameron is and I am proud that he is old enough to recognize the difference and want the better part. That is a win for all of us!

He was able to spend a few days by himself with Grandma and Grandpa Watkins a few weeks ago. I noticed as I was sending him off to bed that he was nearly in tears. I asked him what was wrong and he didn’t want to say. I told him that if he didn’t tell me who was he going to tell? He finally burst into tears and said that Grandma had told him that he was her best friend! Having Grandma say that reached somewhere deep in his little heart and I have never seen him cry over something like that. He felt so special and it had me in tears to see him cry because he was so happy over hearing those words. You just never know what impresses a little child…

He loves his little friend David but I also saw him guard his time with his Best Buddy Sarah too while we were over in Reno last weekend. The girls gave him a little picture holder and when he got home he had to find a picture of him and Sarah to put in it along with a few other treasured pictures. So cute!

We forced Rosie and Cameron outside yesterday to go explore the neighborhood. They packed a lunch and went geocaching off in the woods together. They came home and actually played together for the rest of the afternoon which is rare. They even made up a wakeboarding handshake they were eager to show us at the dinner table. The evening was topped off with a showing of McLintock and a slumber party in Rosie’s room. I wish everyday was like that between them but it’s not so I will take what I can get when it does happen.

Cameron’s need for a buddy, friend, playmate, and brother breaks our heart. Joshua and I have been in tears over it many times together because there is no easy way to solve that need. There is no brother and there will not be one ever old enough to truly be a playmate. After our last desperate talk and plea with God about this David came into our lives within the week. David doesn’t have a brother his age either and the two of them have bonded. I am so thankful for that and Cameron’s new friend. I see many years of friendship ahead for them!

Cameron’s legs have been restless the last few nights. I hope that means he’s growing! I thought for sure that my boy would get Josh’s height but I am afraid the Adamis gene may run strong in this family. Hopefully the restless legs are a good sign and we will start seeing a few inches gained. If not I love that he is still little enough to cuddle!

Baking Cookies for the Papa’s

2011-12-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

Rosie’s gift to the Grandpa’s this year was a tin full of peanut butter cookies. I was out with a photo-shoot and when I came home this is the sight that greeted me. Rosie and her Mini-Me baking cookies! Emma actually said on of the most complete sentences I have heard from her. She very excitedly said “I’m making cookies!” as clear as day! Rosie showed her how to press the cookies down with a fork which she did with all her might. The matching aprons were actually Rosie and I’s from when she was that little. Funny to see them now on the girls!

Christmas 2011!

2011-12-27T23:34:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. This was our first in California where we didn’t have to travel to family or they had to travel to us. Well actually they did travel up to us but it just took an hour and they could go home in the same day

Josh’s family visited us on Christmas Eve with Matt & Erin showing up in the morning with the cousins. The kids played outside, we had soup and Paninis for lunch and enjoyed hanging out and catching up. Little Luke seems to grow so much between our visits even though it is only a couple of weeks!We opened our gifts together. I found a little dress up hair kit that I knew would be perfect for Skylar so she could be just like her mom.Of course Henry needed a shield and TWO swords so he could battle with have a battle with someone. I don’t think these left his hands for the rest of the afternoon!Mom and Dad came up in the afternoon with Eli who has just returned to California after nannying for a friend in Boston this fall. The kids are thrilled to have their Bethy home again! Little Luke has learned to hold himself up so well. Can’t believe he is already three months old.Some of our favorite people! They give us cute cousins, lots of love and support through our crazy changes, and are always up for hanging out!Hmm…I think I may need one of these! At least I can dream.This little one wears us out. She is so high energy that Josh and I fall exhausted in bed every night! Her little face completely describes the essence of who she is, 100% completely adorable and mischievous!The littlest cousins. The little cabooses of the family. Luke and Emma are 22 months apart and Emma just adores her baby cousin. She is always talking about “Baby Luke”. She is going to love it when he can keep up with her.The clan just keeps growing. All of these kiddos adore Papa and Honey!Elizabeth just gets more beautiful everyday. Emma loves the little doll Bethy got her. It is so fun to have such an awesome Aunt to be loved by. We opened gifts with the Grandparents. Mom always comes up with the most creative gifts that the kids love. This year they all got shoes that were so cute especially Emma’s squeaky shoes! She loves to put them on and bounce up and down.Advent is a tradition in our house. We have a little devotional book that we start the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Every evening of December we light our candles and Daddy leads the kids through the devotional. It helps the kids and us focus on the true meaning of Christmas and is a tradition I am so thankful we started. The kids always love to light the candles and this year Emma learned how to blow them out. She barely sat for the devotionals this year, maybe next year she and I can actually focus on the devotional instead of her sitting and relaxing skills! My Grandma Sharon gave me the silver candelabra for my 18th birthday. She had always wanted one so she thought I needed one. It is so heavy that we have always joked that is would be great to ward of intruders with. I didn’t know what to do with it for years and then it came to me that it had a place for 5 candles just like we needed for our advent. Now it has the perfect purpose and I smile every time I look of it and think of my Grandma Sharon. Christmas time always reminds me of so many memories of her and I am thankful to have a special way to remember her.

We give our kids a Christmas Eve gift of pajama’s each year. They look forward to their new PJ’s and occasional Josh and I will get new ones too. We finished our evening off watching The Nativity Story with Mama and Papa Adamis who arrived late in the evening. I love that movie and how it ties so much together of the Christmas story. It is a great way to focus on the miracle of Jesus and His birth and the perfect way to end our Christmas Eve.Christmas morning came early this year! Cameron was apparently up at 3:30 because he was so excited. He said he watched a 10 minute infomercial on a fireplace that could be moved from room to room in the middle of the night while looking for his cartoons. Cameron always has a lot of anticipation energy. This year he did so well containing his energy and being so thankful for everything he got. Both Daddy and I were so proud of the way he handled himself. In years past Christmas Eve was one of our toughest days with him because he would be so excited and things wouldn’t meet up with his expectations. It took him years to realize his Christmas Eve gift was a pair of PJ’s and not a toy. He would always open the gift up and be so disappointed it wasn’t something to play with! Now he can’t wait to open his gift and put his PJ’s on.

The kids excitedly woke us up around 6:30 to open their socks. Once all the adults had coffee in hand the unwrapping began.After a break for breakfast we opened all the gifts. The kids were very happy with everything they got. It was fun to watch Emma tear open all her gifts. She really got into the present thing once she realized there were toys under the tree. I surprised Josh with a pair of motorcycle boots to go with his new motorcycle and he got me a jewelry stand that I wanted.Emma got her first paint set in her sock. She has been “painting” with water and a paint brush for the last couple of weeks so she was pretty excited to see there was something more to painting!We had a great Christmas! It was one of our most relaxing yet. We are so thankful for the family that came and visited us and that it was so easy for them to get here. I was thankful that Josh wasn’t called in during our holiday festivities and was able to be home with us even though he was on call. I am thankful that we are given a reason each year to bless those around us. And I am most thankful for a day to celebrate Jesus’s birth. Merry Christmas!

School Thoughts….

2011-12-21T09:17:00.001-08:00

We have been homeschooling for 9 years. I remember meeting families who had been homeschooling that long and being in total awe of them. Now I have made it to 9 years and I can’t believe WE are one of those families. I have an 8th grader, a 3rd grader and a toddler. All with different needs and completely different levels when it comes to school and learning.

When we moved to Redding I knew that there were a lot of great options for charter schools but was leery of trying them. After talking to the director of one charter school that I felt would be hands off enough (after all I have homeschooled for 9 years and semi have things figured out!) we took the plunge and joined the charter school.

It is EXACTLY what we needed this year….

We literally ran into this fall after a very, very busy summer of lake days and vacations. I wasn’t ready for school at all. The kids weren’t crying on the first day of school but I was…

Homeschooling is not my passion. We do it, and I believe we do it fairly well, but it is not my first love. We homeschool because it is a lifestyle that is familiar to us and we like the flexibility that it gives us as a family. And, after 11 moves, we would have had to move our kids in and out of too many schools to even think about putting them in a traditional school. We don’t homeschool out of conviction. We have our own convictions on schooling that don’t line up with most traditional homeschoolers. We believe there is a whole lot more involved in raising happy, healthy, Godly children then what type of schooling they have. BUT after all of that we still choose to homeschool. For now….

After this fall there have been a lot of different options thrown around but nothing we have settled on. Joshua and I have realized that it is better to have a healthy home life for our kids and if homeschooling is adding an extra burden that is causing the chaos in our home it may need to be an element that is removed at some point. The emotional and spiritual health of our family is more important to us then continuing in a lifestyle that no longer may fit our needs as a family. We don’t know what that means yet but it may mean something different in the years to come for our children and our family.

I have spent way to many days crying after trying to corral our kids in their school activities. There are lots of reasons for this that I won’t go into but let me just say that some children are easier to homeschool then others and when you through a toddler in there it gets a little crazy! Joshua has been extremely helpful this fall in trying to give me space to do the schooling by taking Emma out or actually doing the schooling himself and giving me a break. He has been AMAZING and I am so thankful for the help and direction he has given me this fall. We have also come to understanding this year of what homeschooling means to us as a couple, why I won’t just go put them in the closest public school and why we keep plugging away at what we are doing even if it seems a little crazy to us most of the time. Josh has become my biggest ally in our homeschooling venture this year and has truly helped me figure out solutions to the issues that we have been facing. And after all the tears he has mopped up this fall he deserves an award for putting up with ME!

Many people have kindly suggested we step back from homeschooling this year and work on character this year. We have kindly nodded and continued forward in our kids studies. We believe that dropping the kids schooling is not the answer. It’s not a short term answer and it’s not a long term answer. We of course take breaks here and there. We actually do far less school then most homeschoolers drive themselves too. Life ALWAYS takes precedent over school work. But if we are home and there is nothing else going on the kids do school. We will not skimp on our kids education because that doesn’t benefit anyone in the long run and will hold them back eventually. So we continue on in working on their studies and their attitudes morning after morning.

That is were the charter school comes in! Joshua and I finally came to the realization that a tutor once or twice a week would really be the answer to our situation. We sat down with our teacher/coordinator and talked to her about what support the school could provide and the issues we were having in our homeschool. She was SO supportive and looked into our options for us. She is now coming in one morning a week to tutor our kids. She does Rosie’s writing which wasn’t my strong point and a point of contention between Rosie and I. With Cameron she is keeping him accountable for his attitude towards me in school with a reward system. She is also covering the subjects that he needs instruction and correction in which he was having a hard time receiving from me. She has been coming in for the last month to do the tutoring. It has made a world of difference in our home and there have been no more tears by me or the kids. This is a total answer to some pretty desperate prayers by me and Josh this fall.

So I think our homeschooling adventure will continue for the rest of the year and there are no yellow buses in our immediate future. I have been incredibly blessed by the homeschool community here and so thankful that God has placed us here in this season in our children’s lives. I see my children thriving in their new friendships and activities and I am amazed at the doors God is opening to us here in Redding.

I don’t know what the future holds for us. The thought of homeschooling for another 20 years is a little overwhelming. High school is fast approaching next year for Rosie and we will be considering what is the best for her and for us as a family over the next 4 years. That may be at home or it may not be. It is something we will be giving some serious thought and prayer towards. I don’t ever want to hold my children back in anyway. I want to see the gifts and talents God has given them flourish and grow. Who knows what God has in store for them. It is not for me or Josh to make life decisions for them, only to provide opportunities and experiences for them to grow in and guidance as they figure out what God is leading them to do with their lives. That is an adventure I look forward to!

In 30 Seconds or Less…

2011-12-07T20:22:00.001-08:00

She’s…
Sucking on toothpaste.
Putting dish soap in the dishwasher (which creates a lot of bubbles when turned on!)
Eating cat food.
Tearing through Rosie’s desk
Drawing on herself with a pen.
Taking her clothes off.
Taking her diaper off!!
Cleaning the toilet.
Taking her baby doll to the potty on the big toilet.
Playing in the toilet bowl water!
Eating fishes that have been dipped in the toilet bowl water (So Gross!!)
Tearing through my makeup bag.
Putting mascara on.
Stripping her clothes off and jumping in the shower with who ever is in there.
Putting a movie in the DVD player.
Opening the front door and RUNNING as fast as she can!
Standing naked on her toy chest trying to spray the wall with Windex but spraying herself in the eyes!
Locking herself in the pantry and eating as many chips as she can before somebody catches her.

That’s our little Emma these days. She’s fast, mischievous and oh so curious. We have to have someone watching her at all times and when she is out of sight for more than 30 seconds you know she is in trouble somewhere. Rarely does she play peaceful with one of the many toys we have in the house, she must go find something off limits to tear through! Tonight she told us she likes toothpaste and it’s yummy! She is speaking so much these days and you can tell her little mind never slows down. The rest of us live for the moment she wakes up so we can play with her and we live for the moment her head finally touches her pillow in the evening so we can actually sit down for more than a second! AND she can now get out of her crib so that’s no longer an option for using as a time out place for her. One night we were all so worn out that I just put her in her sleep bag as she was running around the house just to slow her down! She has a special little wobble she does to walk in her sleep bag but it’s slow. Worked like a charm and gave us a few moments of peace! We love this little girl so much and are so thankful to have her in our family.

Here is a link to the belly flop move out of her crib with a sleep bag on!
Emma escapes crib!

Best Buddies

2011-11-21T08:23:00.001-08:00

Love these two together! Sarah has declared Cameron her best buddy for several years now and they can play for hours together. Their little personalities are very similar to each other and they are so fun to watch as they build forts, play soccer or have little spats which never last long with these two. They couldn’t stop giggling when they mixed up their PJ’s!

Pumpkin Time!

2011-11-19T15:24:00.001-08:00

The girls were over the first of the October so we did an outing to the pumpkin patch with the kids. We dragged Daddy along so he could haul the pumpkins around for us. It was a short, hot outing but we came away with a few pumpkins and a some cute photos.We have the hardest time keeping clothes on little Emma. She loves to be naked all the time! I think she go a little hot in the sun and decided it was time to cool off. Once she has taken something off she is determined to keep it off! So she ran around with out a shirt for the rest of the outing. I just love her cute belly!There was a hay bale maze that the kids were playing on. Cameron had recently seen a show with men army crawling through an obstacle course. When he saw the hay bales he decided to be a man and army crawl through the whole thing. It took him 20 minutes to get through the whole maze and he was tired, sweaty and covered in dirt at the end but he was happy boy!

I love taking the kids to the pumpkin patch. This was Emma’s first year as I think we just picked up a couple of pumpkins at the store last year. I love to take my camera and follow the kids around while they find the perfect pumpkin. We have been to a variety of pumpkin patches over the years. This one was nice and I think that there are couple of more in the area for us to explore the next couple of years. Daddy usually does the carving with the kids and he can be pretty creative with it. That got lost in the shuffle this year but hopefully we can get to it next year.

I am so thankful for the time that Christy and the girls come to spend with us. It fills a big hole for us when they are here and I am always in tears when they leave. The kids are so sweet together and we treasure making memories with them.

Emma Turns Two!

2011-11-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

Our baby girl turned two this week! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone since we were eagerly awaiting her arrival almost two weeks after her due date of Oct. 25th. Now she is two and a complete bundle of energy for us to keep up with!

We were so excited to celebrate her birthday!I have been preparing her for several days saying “happy to you!” and showing her how old she would be with her fingers. When she woke up and saw all the balloons and birthday decorations she knew it was her “happy to you”!

We started out the morning with a little birthday breakfast. She opened Rosie’s gift of a Curious George book and a giant Monkey. I was so proud of Rosie for being so generous with her little sister. Emma, however is still warming up to the giant Monkey and keeps saying “no like”!Daddy and I had a fun time picking out her gifts. We gave Emma her very own baby doll and a shopping cart. It is so funny to have girls 10 years apart because everything we do for Emma seems like deja view from Rosie. Since it has been 10 years between the girls we, of course, have to buy everything over again! Each stage with Emma I feel well prepared for and just know that now we are in the baby doll stage and then we will be in the dress up stage after this.A few little birthday pictures of her in her party dress. She was so full of energy that I could hardly get her to stand still for these. I just adore that little smile!Grandma Deborah made her cake which I was so thankful for. I think she did very good job being creative with it and Emma loves the mice! We had all our family here and a few Redding friends. It is the first time I have not had to throw multiple birthday parties in multiple cities for my kids. It was so nice to have everyone come here to our home to celebrate and not have to worry about two cakes and everything else I have had to plan twice to celebrate with both our friends and our family.Emma was the best two year old for her party. We had no tears and she was so sweet for all the events of her day. She just soaked in every moment and it was so fun to watch her! Everyone gifted her with great presents and she really enjoyed opening everyone of them!Cameron was so excited to buy Emma a gift for her birthday. While we were at the dollar store he picked up a card, crayons and a coloring book for her. He was so happy because this was the first gift her had ever bought anyone! He carefully wrote in her card his special message for her. She loved his gift because she loves to color and is always asking us to “help me”.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! We can’t wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!

She said his name….

2011-11-01T20:56:00.001-07:00

Little Emma has been talking quite well for awhile. She has a lot of words that she is saying and this last month her vocabulary has exploded. There was just one word she wouldn’t say no matter how many times we asked her too…Cameron’s name. She has been saying Mommy, Daddy, and RoRo for months but every time we would point to Cameron she would not say his name. That was until a few weeks ago when she and I were cuddling on the couch early in the morning and Cameron came out of his room. She looked at him and said “Cameron”! She now says his name all the time! It was like the little wires in her brain finally crossed and she could finally get the word out of her mouth!

Emma and Cameron

We are loving it and Cameron now wishes she couldn’t say his name quite so well. I am just amazed at how much her vocabulary has changed in her 23rd month. She speaks so clearly! One of our favorites is when she says “no like” when she doesn’t like something she sees. Or “help you” every time she wants us to join her in coloring her page. I have a feeling we are going to have another chatter box just like her big sis!

Visiting Mia

2011-10-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

It has been a challenge to visit Mia with our kids because they are not allowed to go into the center where she lives. They have seen her twice, once when she was in the PICU and the nurses kindly let them in for a minute and once when Robert and Rachael brought her out of the center in her stroller. The other times we have visited they have only been able to wave through a window. It is a little hard for them to grasp who Mia is when they have almost no contact with her.

My mom encouraged us to go to the annual picnic that the center puts on for the kids and their families. It is the one time a year that they bring all the kids out of the center and to a park. This is quite a feat as they have 20 or so children on ventilators that they load up in their strollers or wheelchairs and then have to monitor them there at the park.

It was the first time my children have got to play with Mia and talk to her. Emma was quite enthralled with her and all her toys. She really love her little Bumbo seat and then all of a sudden I realized she was stripping down to nothing because she wanted to use it as a potty seat! Thank goodness Grandma Marion realized what was happening at the same time I did so she could hid it while I put Emma’s clothes back on!

Joshua and I had taken our kids to the Exploratorium in San Francisco the day before. We were walking around outside on the path along the pond. Rosie had put Emma up on her shoulders and I was walking alongside them. Rosie and I were pointing out the animals to Emma in the pond when all of a sudden Emma lunged forward off the top of Rosie’s shoulders. She fell on her head with the most sickening thud. I immediately scooped her up as she started screaming and was holding her so close that Joshua couldn’t even get a look at her head. I have never been so scared in my life for one of my children. When Josh finally pulled her free from my grip he could see that she had a bloody forehead and lip. When he cleaned it up we were relieved to find that it was just a large surface scrap on her forehead. We watched her for signs of a concussion for the next 24 hours but thankful it was nothing more than a scrap. For falling straight onto her head from 4 feet up onto the asphalt we were so thankful that it wasn’t much worse than that!Such a sweet moment between the girls. Mia is 9 months older than Emma. I had suspected I was pregnant during my time in Vegas right after Mia’s birth. This really was the first time Emma had seen her cousin. She laid right down on the blanket with her and kept putting her hand out to her. It was so cute to watch.Grandma Marion was at the picnic so we were able to get one big family picture with her. It’s so nice to have the kids be able to spend time with their Great-Grandma and really know her. I hope that we are able to spend more time in the Bay Area visiting with her now that we don’t have to drive over the pass and through Sacramento. We could easily spend 6 hours getting home to Reno and it just never made the idea of going to do San Francisco that appealing. Not anymore!

Patrick’s Point

2011-10-09T10:52:00.001-07:00

We spent a week this summer at Patrick's Point with Joshua’s family. This has been a family tradition for them since the boys were little and something we really enjoy doing as a family. I found these old pictures of Josh from when he was a boy camping at Patrick’s Point.

Joshua and I decided to go the cheap way since we had been buying so much boat gas this summer so that meant sleeping in a tent with 3 kids. We have done this before and really don’t mind it but not in a cold, wet place! The first night we had drizzling fog that literally “rained” on our tent all night. When we woke up the next morning all our stuff was wet including our sleeping bags. Crawling into damp sleeping bags for the rest of the week when it is already cold just took the fun out of tent camping!

Emma was 20 months and camping with an 20 month old is always a bad idea especially if you are hoping to get any rest from the trip! We weren’t even there for 12 hours when I was in tears and we were ready to pack it up and head home. If we hadn’t been there with Josh’s family I think we would have bailed! Our helpers, Rosie and Cameron, were off playing which of course was the purpose of our trip so we freely let them go. That left Josh and I to juggle this little bundle of energy and we were exhausted by the time the week was done. I know this was the hardest year we will have camping with her but after two older kids you would have thought we would have known better! Sometimes our “can do” attitude sinks us completely!

Rosie and Cameron had a great time going on walks with their cousins, to the beach with their grandparents and playing hard around the campsite. This was the one afternoon that we managed to make it down there with all our kids at the same time the whole family was down there. It was a beautiful warm day and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand dunes and messing around in the water.The kids played for hours on the sand dunes. They would hike way up the cliffs and then come screaming down them. They did this for hours and had dirt in every crevice of their body by the end of the day.Emma loved jumping down the sand dunes with Daddy. She has the biggest smile! Love the diaper look! Who knows where her pants went….Our muscle men…the boys love to go shirtless and it is such a cute age to see their skinny little bodies.One of the only times Emma would sit for the week, trapped in her high chair eating. This was only a temporary pause in her movement though. Love the dirty sleeper! I didn’t let her walk around like that but I think this was the last morning so we had given up on trying to keep her clean.The Watkins Cousins – Cameron 8, Skylar 5, Rosie 12, Emma 20 months, Henry 3

Summer Fun…with some of our favorite people!

2011-09-29T09:09:00.001-07:00

It is rare in this life that you find a family that you truly connect with on every level and they just became apart of you. We really bonded with the Ochsners during our time in Reno and we miss seeing them on an almost daily basis. So to make up for that we have been seeing each other every couple of months for several days so we can get our fill of each other!

They came over and visited in June and we went to Lake Shasta everyday. The kids had so much fun tubing and hanging out with each other. We always fill our time to the brim and leave each other exhausted but we ENJOY every moment of the craziness. There was some fierce bumper boat action going on between the tubes! The kids would fly over the wakes and ram right into each other. We only knocked them out a few times!Best Buddies…that is what Sarah calls Cameron. And they really are best buddies!

The Gang – Sarah, Alivia, Jenna, Emma, Rosie and CameronThe worn out parents of the gang! Just kidding…. our kids play so well together it is amazing! We are just waiting for the little ones, Jenna and Emma, to bond instead of fight over toys. Maybe that’s part of the bonding process? They will be the Jenna and Emma Team someday and they will be unstoppable together! Happiness…we are truly warm weather water people and nothing makes Josh and I happier and more relaxed than a day on the lake. We are loving Whiskytown and Shasta and feel so blessed that God has even sought to meet this need in our life…

Thank you, Jeremy and Christy, for remaining a faithful constant in this year of change for our family. Your friendship means the world to us and we are so thankful and blessed to have you in our life!

Busy!

2011-09-15T09:14:00.001-07:00

Life did not slow down this summer at all! It went so fast that I am kind of in shock that summer is over all ready! We packed it full with trips to visit family, close to 30 trips to the lake and all the other activities that summer holds. I have wanted to sit down and get the pictures up for the kids but I have just been trying to keep my head above water and the few minutes I have had in the evening I just want to collapse in bed. Of course that only gets to happen after we wrangle three kids to bed!

I am hoping to get most of the pictures from our summer activities up soon. This is our family journal and one of the only ways I am preserving the kids memories for them so I may be daily posting to play catch up from all the fun things we did this summer.

These pictures I captured while messing around with my new camera one evening. Emma and Cameron were playing in the water which has been a pretty common way to cool down since it is so hot here! Our garden has also done well this summer and has encouraged me that my past garden failures have not been my fault but the high mountain climate we were living in. I hope to put several beds in when we purchase a house so this has been a good experiment I love this picture of Cameron jumping! So totally him!

I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this isn’t temporary busyness but a season of busyness with a toddler in the house and big kids with big kids activities. I sometimes catch myself wishing that I could just sit down and enjoy one complete cup of coffee in the mornings with out interruptions but then I remind myself that I will have those days in the future and I will miss this busy season and having all my children around me. So I am trying to focus on enjoying every moment of the chaos even as I long for some peace and quiet (and just one warm cup of coffee!).

Happy 12th Birthday Rosie!

2011-07-24T20:41:00.001-07:00

Our baby girl turned 12 this week. Wow 12 years went really fast!! I told her that I remember that first night together as she and I lay in the hospital bed to sleep, cheek to cheek, because that was the only way she would stay calm. She still loves her cuddles but now she barely fits on my lap and soon I will be sitting on hers. We have one more year until she is officially a teen but she has been acting like one for awhile now and I am happy to say that her Daddy and I have been very proud of the maturity that she shows most of the time that is beyond her years. If this is what 12 looks like I can’t imagine what 16 looks like!!

She requested an early morning wake board session but first we had to have some breakfast and open a few presents that she was going to need for her wakeboard session. She was very excited to find new bindings for her wakeboard as well as a teen life jacket!Papa and Mama showed up extra early and went out on Lake Shasta with us. We had a beautiful day although the wind picked up and we pulled all over the lake looking for flat water that we never found. Who cares though when the water is so nice to jump in and swim around!! Rosie is doing a really great job on her board and she is hoping to learn all the skills that she would need to start doing some competitions next year.After wakeboarding we left the lake to go get some frozen yogurt in town for lunch and then it was off for a pedicure and manicure. She has only had a pedicure at an upscale place before so she was a little unsure at the quickie place when a guy started to do her nails. The look on her face says it all! She was very happy with the end results though and was quite impressed with the flowers that the guy painted on her nails. Yep she is are girlie girlie who can keep up with the fastest of the boys….This might not bode well for us during her teenage years! I can see all sorts of drama in our future.Both set of grandparents were here for a birthday dinner and dessert. That is one of the joys of living so close to them in Redding which we are loving! Rosie got all sorts of fun things for her birthday which she was very excited to open. Our new Redding friends, Chad and Kelly, came to help us celebrate. Our kids have really taken to them and they are a lot of fun.My attempt at a watermelon cake. Rosie doesn’t like chocolate so we tried something new this year. It turned out pretty cute and was really easy to do.

Thanks for putting up with us as your parents and for doing so much to help out in our family. We love you so very much and you are the very best surprise we have ever had. Stay sweet, stay strong and confident and love Jesus with all your heart. Daddy and I are so very proud of you and who you are becoming. We love you Rosebud!

Best Friends

2011-06-22T14:01:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of boating pictures to share but it is more work than I have time for at the moment! So here is just one from our adventures on our boat last week with the Ochsner family. We are having a blast exploring Lake Shasta and we loved having them here for a few days to join in the fun!

This isn't a good start to our boating adventures!

2011-06-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Our children seem to always hate their lifejackets the first time we put it on them! Cameron always hated his and would throw the biggest fits when we made him wear it. It wasn’t until he realized that he was stuck in the cabin of my parent’s sailboat and couldn’t go above to the deck did he finally relent and let us put it on him. Emma has actually adjusted fairly quickly to hers this year which I am really thankful for as our kids practically live in their life jackets during the summer with all our lake time!
They are both 17 months in these pictures!

Kyra

2011-06-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

Rosie’s best friend came for a visit last weekend. I drove halfway to Reno and her mom meet me out in the middle of the Sierra’s so we could pick up Kyra. Rosie was thrilled to have Kyra here for the weekend as she has been missing her girl time with her. Kyra is always a delight to have at our home and these two are always scheming of some new adventure to do together. We took all the kids on the river trail for a 12 mile bike ride through town because Kyra was training for a Triathlon and needed to get some riding in. She took first place for her age division in the Triathlon the following weekend!
There were a few late nights of constant giggling coming from Rosie’s room. I remember how fun those time were with my girlfriends and I am so happy that Rosie gets to have these special memories as well. It is never easy as a parent to walk children through leaving their friends and the only world they may have known. Rosie has left quite a few friends over the years as we have moved around and each parting has been very hard for her. We were all pretty close to Kyra as she was a regular overnight guest in our home. I am so thankful that Rosie has such sweet friends in her life.

Whiskytown Waterfall

2011-06-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

We were super tired of being inside during Josh’s few days off call from all the rain. We finally decided that raining or not we had to get the kids out of the house because they were bouncing off the walls! Redding is just a few minutes from Whiskeytown Lake which has many beautiful hiking trails and waterfalls. With the light rain and cloud mist it looked and felt like we were at the coast. The Whiskytown Waterfall was rediscovered just a few years ago as the forest service had kept its location quiet and then those who knew about it moved on in their jobs or passed away. There is now a nice, but very steep, trail that follows an old logging road up to the waterfall. The whole way there you are hiking in canyons along beautiful creeks with lush vegetation, redwoods and ferns. Having just come from the desert of Nevada we were in awe that there were actually ferns growing 20 minutes for our house!The waterfalls are 220 feet and cascade down in several levels. It had been raining for a few days so there was a lot of water coming down these fall. This is the bottom portion of the falls.Middle portion of the falls.Looking down from about the center of the falls.Looking up from the center of the falls to the upper portion of the waterfall. There is a little narrow trail up the granite rocks that you can climb to get to this spot.This is almost the whole waterfall in one shot. It was really beautiful in the misty rain.

I am so proud of my kids and how far they will hike with us. This was a little over 3 miles for them and they did it with no problem. We were all a little sore the next day from it being straight up on the way to the falls but is was manageable and so worth the extra effort! Can’t wait to go again!

Mother’s Day Hike

2011-06-12T14:36:00.001-07:00

I am a little behind in blogging about our daily activities, somehow our days always seem to fill up with something that needs to be done! This was a beautiful hike that we took for Mother’s Day because I had to get out of the house. Rosie’s ankle was swollen from a soccer injury and we weren’t sure if she could hobble through a hike but she did just fine!

This area is a little trail that follows Salt Creek from 299 to the river. Joshua and I have been running it fairly often as it is pretty close to the hospital and so beautiful! We are just amazed at the beauty that surrounds us here in Redding and have been having a lot of fun exploring all the trails! On this hike the kids found three geocaches with lots of goodies in them. We had to hike through the underbrush to find them while keeping an eye out for snakes, poison oak and ticks. I don’t want a fear of those things to keep us from what we love to do so we are just extra careful!

There are these great stone chairs circled around a fire pit that looks like it would be a lot of fun at night. I am not sure about doing night hiking though, there are a lot of critters in these hills!

“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

2011-06-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the school year I was surprised at how much I had to review with Cameron for his reading. There was no way he was ready for his Beginner’s Bible that was suppose to be his reader. Halfway through the year we began the Beginner Bible and it was pretty slow going at first. Slowly his reading improved and I would often find him reading his little Bible on his own. Last week Cameron finished that Bible and he was excited to discover that the chapter books that we have in our school collection weren’t to hard! He was thrilled that he finally could read like the rest of us in “real” books. I was really surprised at how easily he was reading the longer chapters in the book and it was really fun to see him show off how he could read in his head (a big step when you are a little kid!). He read through this book in days and was soon ready to dig into another one.

I unpacked some of our library of school books so I could pull more chapter books for him. It was fun to hear Rosie tell Cameron which books he would love because she has read them all. I love Sonlight because it gives my kids a passion for reading! It also gives me great a great library of books that my kids can read over and over again. Rosie and I were so excited to unpack our library of books, it just feels right to have all our books out again where the kids can just grab a new book when they are ready to read. Welcome to the wonderful world of reading Cameron!

Baseball

2011-05-31T06:31:00.000-07:00

Cameron has had a long baseball season this spring. We are zoned for the little town of Shasta Lake City so there have been a few things that have been a step backwards from his league in Reno like no scores being kept. He has had 19 games this spring as well as weekly practices.

Cameron adores baseball just like his Daddy. He has had this little dressing ritual all spring where he must shower and get dressed several hours early! If someone messes with his dressing routine he gets very upset. Joshua has been helping coach Cameron’s team this year and that has been very special to Cameron to have have his dad on the field with him.

We have just a few more games to go before the end of the season. There has already been talk though of what team he will play on next season. Joshua is anxious to see Cameron on a team where he is challenged a little more and I think that may happen by moving him up to the Minors next fall!

Emma is always a challenge to keep up with at the games. She is just so busy right now! Here she found the dugout while the boys where out on the field. She had a great time trying on their gloves and helmets. I am looking forward to when she is a little easier to contain at these games and then maybe I will actually get to follow what is going on out in the field.

All the Grandparents were able to come for this game. We are really enjoying having them be at some of the kids games. I know that my kids always felt a little left out in Reno when all the other kids had their grandparents at events but they didn’t. Now it is much easier for the Grandparents to come to the games and it means so much to Cameron and Rosie to have them there. So thank you Grandparents for making the effort to be there, it really means a lot to us:-).

Aren’t they cute?

2011-05-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

It’s so warm!

2011-05-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Cameron pulled out the slip and slide a few days ago. Emma was so excited to play in the water. She kind of figured out how to slide although she just slipped on the plastic more than did an actual slid. Here Cameron is showing her the secret of laying on the concrete to get warm. Such a cute moment to capture!

Our Soccer Girl

2011-05-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

Rosie wrapped up her first spring soccer season. I think that she has found a new love! We have been encouraging her for awhile to try out soccer and we finally told her that this year would probably be one of the last ones she could join and pick up the skills quickly to fit in on a team. Finally she agreed to give it a try and she LOVES it. She gets so excited before her games and it is really fun to watch her come alive out there on the field.

She had a great couch, a fun team of girls, and really played her heart out. Her last game she told me she was going to go all out and not be timid. She was fearless out on the field and one of the most aggressive players of the game. Her gymnastics skills even came into play when she tripped, did a back roll over and landing back on her feet!

Rosie is very competitive and with every new sport she tries she wants to know how competitive it is. She also is a natural with anything athletic just like her Daddy. Every coach or teacher in every sport she has tried calls her a natural! She is a natural at gymnastics, dance, swim, and now soccer! I think that she is a natural because gymnastics gave her skills and discipline that she has been able to take into every sport and she listens to her coaches and is all ways trying to improve her skills. Her soccer coach pulled her aside and told her that she had to keep playing soccer. We have already signed up for the fall season and I am sure she will be anxious for it to start!

Emma and Cameron are Rosie’s cheer team. They have been very good about sitting through the games. Emma is going to be a pro at this game thing before she is two! She already knows how to kick a soccer ball so I predicate many, many more years at the soccer fields!

A Visit with Cedes…

2011-05-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Robert, Rachael, and Mercedes came for a visit several weeks ago. We had a good time hanging out with them and the cousins had a chance to play. We hope that living here will be easier for us to see them than going over the pass made it. It is a straight shot to the bay area from here for both of us so hopefully we will get more cousin time in!

Me & My Babies

2011-05-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

WildFlower

2011-05-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

These are a few pictures from our weekend in Chico for the Wildflower. Love these summery pictures of the cousins! This was Emma’s first otter pop and she loved it.

The boys are ready for the Wildflower ride! This is the 3rd or 4th year that they have ridden together. They have done it in the rain, sick, with seats that have broken off and other fun challenges. They usually ride the 100 miles but this year with all the rain we got they didn’t have as much time to prepare so they rode 65 miles instead. My mom and I took the kids on the Childflower and rode 16 miles to Durham and back. I took Skylar with me on the little trail along bike. It was fun and they had a good time. I don’t have a picture of us though which makes me a little sad. Next year!

We stayed at my parent’s the last night and let the kids have time to play with the Mercedes. Rachael was so sweet to drive up for Cameron’s family birthday party even though Robert is in Alabama right now doing some military training. It is fun to watch Mercedes play with her cousins. I really hope that we get to spend more time with them now that we are in California.

Cameron’s Birthday ~ Part 1

2011-05-09T22:09:00.001-07:00

Cameron’s birthday was celebrated pretty much all the month of April! I have been slow to get the pictures up and there are some many that I want to document so here is Part 1.

This was his actual birthday, April 29th. Cameron was so excited about his birthday that like usual he was a wild child the day before and couldn’t go to sleep. I think just the thought of all his presents is more than he can bear! After he finally fell asleep Joshua and I decorated the house for him. Rosie and I got up at 3:00 AM to watch the Royal Wedding so I could barely open my eyes when he came bounding in our bedroom in the morning! We had a special breakfast for him and he was so excited about opening his presents. The funny part was that we just had a little stack of presents for him with his big present still sitting in the garage. He opened all his little presents and was totally happy and content with them! Josh snuck out to the garage and wheeled in his big present. Cameron was so surprised to see his new bike!

We spent the rest of the day doing things that Cameron wanted to do. We took him to the Turtle Bay Museum where he loves to play in the water. After lunch Daddy took the kids to play laser tag while I stayed home with Emma who napped. We had hamburgers for dinner and watched a movie of Cameron’s choice. It was a good day and I can’t believe that my baby boy is 8! Where does the time go?

She’s 18 Months Today!

2011-05-07T17:10:00.001-07:00

Where does the time go?!! I can’t believe that she is already 18 months today. I just want time to slow down so I can hold onto every giggle, every new word and all the little discovers she is making. Her kisses and squeezes are so cute! Last night I laid down to sleep with her just so I could snuggle close to her while she slept. I just adore every little thing about her. I love you baby girl!

Happy Resurrection Day!

2011-05-06T16:12:00.001-07:00

We had a great time hosting and celebrating Easter with our family this year. We had a house full with Josh’s parent’s, Elizabeth and Matt and Erin. It is so fun that it is so easy to have them come up for the day to celebrate with us and then everyone gets to go home to their own bed.

I pulled together our Easter plans earlier this week and thought I had everything figured out until I found the little things that I forgot this morning like getting Emma a dress! I have always gotten Rosie an Easter dress but this year I just totally forgot in the shuffle of organizing the meal. I was able to pull a cute outfit out that showed off Emma’s belly perfectly.

I really wanted to have a focus on Jesus’ Death and Resurrection today for the kids. I have found that it is so easy to lose the meaning of a holiday in the busyness of preparing for the meals and that is not what I want the focus to be about! Erin brought the little Easter eggs this year that each have a symbol of the story tucked in them. We read them around our breakfast table and showed the children the symbols. Hopefully they understood a little of the importance of the day! I also put together little baskets based on the Wordless Book colors for the kids. We put in gold rocks for heaven, a dark heart for sin, a nail for Jesus’ blood, a clean heart for having our hearts cleansed through His blood, and seeds for growing in Christ. It was fun to pull together the little baskets and Rosie and Cameron helped me embrodire the little hearts and the kids initials on them.

Emma really liked discovering there was candy in these eggs. She would pick each one up and open it to see what was inside before moving on to find the next one. It didn’t take her long to figure out this whole Easter egg thing!Emma 17 months, Rosie 11, Cameron 7, Henry 3, Skylar 4

A Little Cat Nap…

2011-05-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

The DePoali–Brown Invasion!

2011-05-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT weekend visiting with our friends from Reno. Michael and Christa had planned to come over for their daughter’s one year portraits and at the last minute Mike and Launa joined them! We had such a fun time hanging out and letting the kids play for the weekend. It is so fun to see the three little girls playing and interacting.

Mr. Depoali enjoying his off day from his “diet”. That was quite a burger!Little Leah was rather a handful for her one year pictures but I think that this little snapshot it beautiful of her. Such big eyes!
Reagan is becoming such a sweet little girl to be with and play with. She has always been such a fun little kid but she can have quite the stubborn streak in her at times. This weekend though she was so sweet and obedient. It was so fun to see all her parents hard work paying off. She loves little Emma and Emma loves her! We really miss this little girl, she was a big part of our life in Reno.
The girls were learning to share. This was so cute to watch. Emma really wanted the fishies and Reagan wasn’t so sure she wanted to share!
Mike and Josh have become really close over the years. He has been Josh’s wakeboarding buddy and we hope that we have many more memories to make on Lake Shasta;-) They were working on our boat this weekend and were able to take it out and run it for a few hours.

One of my favorite pictures of these little girls. How cute is this?
I love these girls! Launa, Christa and I have been in a bible study together for several years. There have been a few babies born between all of us and it has been so much fun to see them become moms and to be a mom with them. I really miss my girls bible study.
One picture from Leah’s session. She really didn’t want her parents to put her down at all so I did my best with her and took a lot of family pictures. I love this picture!
We had such a great time visiting and shed a few tears when everyone left. We loved having them visit and stay in our home with us. Weekends visiting with good friends make really precious memories and we can’t wait for them to come back. We love you Depoali’s and Brown’s!

The Birthday Kids!

2011-04-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Christy and I decided that it would be really fun for us to celebrate Alivia’s and Cameron’s birthdays together this year since they are both turning 8 within two weeks of each other. It was also a great excuse for us to head over to Reno for a visit.
We had a great time hanging out for the weekend, seeing friends and throwing a party! There were a lot of kids, a lot of candy and a lot of fun games!
The birthday kids! Cameron and Alivia are just a couple weeks apart and both turned 8 this year.Emma loves to say “cheese” now when she sees the camera. I must use that word much more than I thought! Makes for some pretty cute pictures.We call these two the Jenna and Emma team. They are still learning out how to play together nicely but we hope they are great friends some day!Rosie worked really hard on this picture of Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, the theme of our party. Instead of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” it was “Pin the Tail on the Platypus”.This was the funniest relay game of the day! We had two piles of grownup clothes and the kids had to put them on and run to the other end and back while keeping the clothes on. It was so fun to watch the kids try and put the clothes on, run while keeping their pants up and then take them all off again. It was the top favorite game of the day.What a great memory for Cameron and Alivia to share their birthday with one of their best friends and “adopted” cousins. We love these kids so much and I hope that they get to share many more birthdays together.Rosie spent the week in Disneyland with Kyra’s family. Dina and their whole family has been such a blessing to our family and Rosie is truly blessed to have such a great friend from such a wonderful family!Rosie with her BFF Kyra. I don’t think that these two could ever get tired of each other. We see Kyra almost every morning in our house via Skype before school. I keep telling Rosie that in the old days before such a thing as Skype, internet and cell phones that my best friend and I only got to call like once a month for about 10 minutes because it cost 25 cents a minute. What a different and a privileged world they live in.
Thanks for hosting us J&C! We will be back soon;-).

My Little Prayer Warrior

2011-04-21T22:25:00.001-07:00

I had tucked this little guy in bed with our little song that we have and then went on to Rosie’s room. When I came back by his partially open door I could hear him talking. I paused and listened outside the door and heard one of the sweetest prayers coming from his lips. He was praying out loud by himself for all the sick people at the hospital and for his sister’s ankle to get better. I think he must pray out loud to himself often because he wasn’t holding back as he was praying to God in the darkness of his room. Such a sweet moment to overhear!

Say Cheese!

2011-04-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

She must be a photographer’s daughter!

Women’s Retreat

2011-04-13T16:08:00.001-07:00

Our church in Reno had a woman’s retreat and I knew that I would be attending no matter what to hang out with my friends. Well it was at the tail end of all the rain and snow that we had and I-80 was closed as well as Hwy 44. The only way for me to get over was to go down to Sacramento and take Hwy 50 up to South Lake. Thankfully my Sister-in-Law Erin came with me and we had a great time talking on our 6 hour drive! The snow was incredible and I have never seen the waves so high on Lake Tahoe.

It was a great time to see my friends and yet my emotions were rather raw since the move was so fresh. We have hit that period in our move that you just have to put your head down and get through it because it is the bottom of where your emotions go. The first couple of weeks after moving you are still living on the high of figuring out where everything is in town and unpacking. After that passes you go through a period of loneliness that is like no other. You haven’t made new friends and you really start to miss your old ones. You question whether you made the right choice and you just want to go “home” wherever that may be. Those are the weeks that we are walking through right now and they aren’t any fun. I know from experience that it will get better but I know that as a family we have to walk through these 6-12 months before it does. So it was really sweet to see all my dear friends but it was also really tough as my emotions are so raw right now and I just MISS everyone. We really had a “family” in Reno that we have been with for 5 years and sometimes it is really hard to swallow that we just left all of them. I know that God has lead us here to Redding but I hope that our friendships in Reno will last a lifetime. They will probably always be our church “home”.

Tammy is the Pastors wife and she has become a dear friend of mine. This is a woman of God that I have learned so much from by just being around her and the way she walks with Christ in her daily walk. I am truly sad to leave our weekly visits and the love that she has shown to me and my children.

God didn’t give me a sister through my family but God has truly given my a sister in Christy. There is so much I could say about her but I will tell you that God has bonded us and our families for a lifetime. Sometimes family isn’t only by blood and that is what Christy and her dear family have come to mean to us. I don’t think that I have ever cried so much over leaving someone but I can tell you I have cried buckets over leaving Christy.

My sweet Sister-in-Law Erin! I managed to make this pregnant Mommy very sick on our car ride home and I just wanted to cry for her as we were parked along side the road. Erin came with me to just get out of the house like all of us moms need at times. I am so thankful that she came and got to know some of my friends more and kept me company all the way there and back.

These girls…Leslie, Launa and Christa have been the most fun to have in my life while we have all been having babies and raising kids! A couple of years ago I joined this girls in a weekly bible study that they had been doing for awhile. After Emma was born that bible study landed at my house and I always looked forward to having them all over and having our Mommy time. I already miss that time SO much.

This is Donner Summit with record snow fall. This was amazing to see! I think this is 16’ plus. At one of the overpasses the snow on the side of the road actually reached the underside of the overpass which are usually about 15’ tall or so. It was so beautiful to drive through!

Hwy. 20 to Grass Valley was beautiful as well. I love the Sierras and am so thankful that I live near them. Our many trips back and forth from Reno to Chico and now Redding to Reno have made me appreciate the beauty of the mountains! Can’t wait for our next trip back over the mountains to Reno:-).

A New Friend

2011-04-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Rosie caught this cute little guy and Emma loved getting a close up look at it. She even gave it a little kiss. My girls aren’t afraid of much!

Shasta Dam Part 2

2011-04-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

I was so impressed with the amount of water being let out of Shasta that I was eager to take the kids on a tour. We were to late for a tour the first day we went up so I loaded the kids up the next day without Daddy since he was on call and took them back up to the Dam for a tour. It was a great time to go because there was so much water being released that is was actually shaking the windows of the little observation building at the bottom of the dam which is the little white square on the upper right hand of this picture.

The security is really tight for Homeland Security reasons. I couldn’t take in any bags and we had to show that our phones and camera’s actually turned on. There were just a few people in our little tour so the kids got to do a few fun things that the tour guides let them do. The second tower on the dam has an elevator that takes you to the bottom of the dam. From there you walk down this really long hall to the Observation room. The hall is so long that the tour guide had Cameron clap his hands and you could actually hear the sound bounce of the wall at the far end. It was a great way to demonstrate how fast sound travels to the kids. The grass that you see is where the kids were standing for the pictures below.
There are large metal doors that they drop over the windows of the observation room when they are letting out a lot of water to keep the windows from shattering. They were down and the windows were still shaking a lot! It was so loud that we could hardly hear the tour guide. There were some amazing facts about the place. It only costs 5 million dollars to run the power plant at the dam but the government makes $150 million dollars a year from selling the power! They also earn $600 million dollars a year from selling the water! All that money is sent right to Washington…another reason to dread paying the power bill.
We were quite soaked from going outside and the kids weren’t quite dressed appropriately for all that water and didn’t want to stand out there for a picture. Even Emma was patting her head because her hair was soaking wet from the mist.

I am really glad that I took the kids while they were releasing to much water from the dam. I don’t think that the dam would be quite so exciting when there is no water being released. The kids really were impressed and so was I.

Shasta Dam Part 1

2011-04-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

We headed up to Shasta Dam the other day to get the kids out of the house. We only live about 10 minutes away from it now so it was a nice way to get out and stretch our legs. The lake is almost full and we enjoyed watching the incredible amount of water that was being let out. We are really excited to get out on the lake this summer with our boat and explore this lake. We have always wished to live near a warm lake for our kids and now we only live 10 minutes from the nearest boat ramp on Shasta. It is so much more enjoyable to be on a lake when it is so hot that you want to get in the water and the water is so warm you just want to stay in it all day. I am really hoping that will help the kids wakeboarding improve this summer. Even I didn’t want to get in the lakes around Reno except for the warmest days in July and with Cameron being just like his dad he would just be so cold from the water. So I can’t wait for all the hot summer days we get to spend floating around on Lake Shasta!

Rosie and Cameron love to geocache and it is a great way to get them outside. The kids goal is to find all the geocaches in the area which is a great way to discovery and explore the area. They have already found a couple in the area but on this day they found two more caches near the dam. They can’t be on the dam for security reasons but there are several around the area. The kids always love the hunt and the treasures waiting inside the caches. Our IPhones work as the GPS device so the kids will be wandering around looking under bushes while usually trying to get a signal with our phone. I usually spot it first but there are some that are so well hidden that we have looked for quite awhile before giving up!

Taking a Ride…

2011-04-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day between all the rain that we have had so we loaded up the kids and went out for a short ride around the neighborhood. Emma really likes her trailer that we have had for all our kids. She was so excited to wave to us as we rode along side of her. We are looking forward to exploring all of the bike paths in the area with the kids as there are some amazing paths around here! Cameron’s bike is probably going to get an upgrade for his birthday in a few weeks and having bigger tires will make it easier for him to climb the hills around here.

What’s the Purpose?

2011-03-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I have increased my blog posting quite a bit since our move. I have two purposes in keeping up this blog that I wanted to share with you.

The first is that this blog is for me and my children and the story of their everyday lives. I use to be heavily into scrapbooking when Rosie was little and an only child! She has beautiful scrapbooks chronically her first couple of years. After Cameron was born I made an attempt to scrapbook but life was busier and he only has his first 3 months in a scrapbook! Add in homeschooling, a home business and one more child and scrapbooking is just a dream at this point. A year or so ago I discovered that these blogs can be published in to a book so my thought is that I will use this blog to tell the story of our family life and have books published for each child once a year. It is fairly easy for me to do and allows me to keep a journal that they will enjoy looking back!

The second reason for keeping this blog is for all our dear friends and family who don’t live near us but enjoy keeping up with our lives. During this time of transition for our family it is a little peek into what we are up to for those that were us to seeing us pretty often.

There may be some changes with our blog with possibly a new domain name and some other things. I am often asked questions about homeschooling, photography and home businesses that I think it may be nice to have one place where I keep all my answers! I am still thinking through how I am going to make the change and since I know it is going to take some time to do it it may be awhile before the switch is made.

If you are interested in having this blog go directly to your email you can use the email box in the upper right hand side of the blog.

Since every post needs a picture here are some of Emma from last week.

I Think We Need an Ark!

2011-03-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Joshua and I actually paused from unpacking the first week we were hear and just enjoyed the sound of the falling rain. Three weeks later I am starting to miss that big beautiful blue Nevada sky! The rain storms here can be quite cozy. They come in and settle for a few days and you listen to the pitterpatter of rain all night long. But that also means you may not see blue sky for days! After watching how much rain the last couple of storms have brought I am glad that we live on high ground away from the many creeks around here.

As a child it would flood at both of the childhood homes I grew up at. You would find us moving sandbags to block some hole that a gopher would have dug through the creek bank. Water would start seeping through them and weaken the intergity of the bank. My parents were pretty much in direct line with where the flow of a broken levee would be so we would be out with the neighbors sandbagging!

At least when the blue skies do finally show it is warm enough to go for a hike or a bike ride which is a change from the cold and the wind of Reno.

This is a video of one of the more intense rain clouds we have had mixed with hail. Yep, I think I really miss those gorgeous blue skies in Nevada!

One of the funny things that I had forgotten about living in a dry place like Nevada was all those squishy worms that come up from the ground and are all over the concrete when it rains. The kids think they are pretty gross!

NewPort Beach

2011-03-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Josh and I had a great trip to Newport. The weather was pleasant and it was so nice to be outside after so much rain here in Redding. We stayed at the Marriott for Josh's Perfusion conference but explored a lot of the area. We spent a day exploring Balboa Island and walking the paths along the water. There are some beautiful homes there and some crazy one way streets!

We woke up on Friday to the news of the Japan earthquake and the tsunami warnings. I was a little worried about my parents boat in Sausolito as they were out of the country. It was really unknown what would happen in the bay area but thankful the water rose very little. The beaches were closed in Orange County but we headed down there anyway. We rented some cruisers and pretty much had the entire Newport boardwalk to ourselves! Tsunami warnings sure keep people away from the beach expect for the surfers who kept running into the water. The lifeguards would come along in their trucks and yell at them to get out. After crusing around Newport we drove down to Huntington Beach and walked through the shops. The Huntington Pier was also one of the only piers open that day.

On Saturday we headed up to The Getty Center where I quickly discovered that art museum's are not Josh's thing! After 12 years of marriage it was a new discovery! I would have enjoyed walking around a little more but we left a little early and went down to the Santa Monica Pier. That was quite the interesting mix of people down there! We found an area where there were guys working out on the beach which was pretty funny to watch. Some of them had some pretty impressive skills and others just looked pathetic! It is pretty funny when you can watch a man do perfect pull ups on rings at the same time that you can see another man barely able to do one on a bar! You might want to build up to doing full pull ups at home instead of trying to impress the girls on the beach with your half pull ups with the Perfect Pull up Ring-man behind you!! We tried walking down to the official Muscle Beach where Schwarzenegger and his friends use to hang out but it ended up being a lot longer walk then we wanted to do and when we drove down there it was to crazy to even find a parking spot. Next time Babe:-)

Last evening there we went to Buddha's Favorite for sushi in Newport Harbor. It was this little hole in the wall place but it had a fun atmosphere and great sushi. We were admiring the fancy yacht parked just in front it the restaurant when the Captain walked by. I mentioned that my dad had a sailboat and he asked us if we wanted a tour! It was quite the luxury yacht!

It was a fun trip and it is always nice to get away with my best friend. We missed our kids though as soon as we were down there and both of us commented that every child that we see when we are away from our kiddo's just makes us miss them that much more. Thank you Grandma, Grandpa and Eli for watching them. It was nice to have some peace and quiet for a few days after the last crazy couple of months!

Canal on Balboa Island

Balboa Island

Waiting for the Tsunami

Newport Beach Boardwalk

Newport Beach

Balboa Fun Zone

Huntington Beach on the Day of the Tsunami Warnings!

Other side of Huntington Beach

Santa Monica Pier

Newport Bay Harbor where we had sushi. Third yacht from the left is the one we toured.

I Am Thankful....

2011-03-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today about other peoples situations and being thankful that it wasn't my situation. Then I paused to think about our situation and why I am thankful for what we have. As we meet new people they see us where we are right now, which in this hard economic time, appears to be a very stable place. What they don't see is the many trials and sacrifices that God has sustained us through. We are very fortunate that we have a stable job during these hard financial times and we know that it could so easily be different. So here is my list of things I am thankful for and why I am thankful for them.

I am thankful for my husbands job. I remember several years during his schooling that he did not have a job so he could focus on his studies and we were so tight we couldn't even pay rent. He would hand me $20.00 every two weeks and that was my spending money for anything I wanted. I would save those twenty bucks and only spend them on exactly what I wanted because that was all I got! There were years that our income was less than $12,000. That's pretty much nothing when you have are a family of three.

I am thankful for our beautiful home that we rent that is spacious and has a huge yard because I remember that tiny 600ft. apartment in Salt Lake City with carpets so dirty that Cameron's knees would be black from crawling on them. That was the worst place we have ever lived but there are others that were pretty bad too.

I am thankful for money to buy groceries because I remember a time when we used WIC to help supplement our grocery bill.

I am thankful we can afford to eat out here and there because I remember 9 months in Indy and Salt Lake when we were so tight that I cooked dinner for 9 months straight. Back then-take out was precious and something we got about once a month for just the two of us and not even the kids.

I am thankful for two cars because I remember the 2 years during Josh's school that we only had one car. During our time in Indy he would leave for the hospital everyday by 5:30 AM and wouldn't return until the evening leaving me with 2 kids in a tiny apartment when it was 10 degrees outside. Fun times! I started Rosie in school that year out of shear boredom and that is why she is a grade ahead. Over the years we have had a variety of different cars and all of them were gifted to us which we were so thankful for because we could have never afforded a car on our own. Our Pilot is the first car we have purchased.

I am thankful we could afford to pay cash for Emma's birth because both the other kids were paid for by the states we lived in. Yes, I have a Medi-Cal baby.

I am thankful that my husband is home so much of the time with our family because I remember 7 years of college and part time jobs, exams, homework, and waiting up for him to get home from work at 11:00 at night. I tease him now but there really was a time in his life when he had very little time for anything else but work and school. And 7 years is crazy amount of time to be in school with two little kids!

I am thankful for my friends and family. After settling into 5 states and 6 new towns over the last 9 years I know what makes a good friend and how to be a good friend. That comes from not having any friends over and over in new towns but those faithful friends that have stuck with us through the years. So thank you for sticking around and being my friend because I have needed you more than you know!

I am thankful for my three kids because after 3 extremely hard pregnancies and a year of infertility I know what it is like to want kids but not easily have them. I wish I could pop them out like some mama's but that is just not the way I was designed and I have cried many tears over it. But I do have 3 precious kids and I am so thankful for them.

I am thankful for my marriage of 13 years to my wonderful husband because I wasn't exactly surrounded by stellar marriages growing up. We have worked hard and have really tried to follow God's roles for husbands and wives and I KNOW that following biblical principles in our marriage relationship has made it the incredible marriage that we have.

I am thankful for coffee because I remember all those years of being a mom before I did drink it! Glad I finally discovered it, life is so much better with it!!

If you are going through a hard time please know that even in the valleys there are mountain tops all around you and God will be faithful to provide for you and sustain you through these times. Circumstances always change even if they don't seem like they ever will. I have seen God be so faithful to care for us in our own life that I really do say that with full confidence. God always comes through if you leave room for Him to do so. So take heart and be encouraged our God is a big God and He is faithful.

2011-03-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Rosie's Very Own Dress Up Doll

2011-03-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

I would have loved to have had a sister growing up. Instead I had a brother who on occasion, when he was quite young, let me dress him up. He quickly grew out of that stage and I had no one to dress up until I had my little girls. We didn't have money to buy cute clothes for Rosie when she was younger but we had a lot bought or given to us. Rosie benefited greatly from Grandma Deborah's love of clothes and shopping which Joshua and I were always grateful for. I always had something cute in her closest even if I didn't get to buy it. I really wanted a girl this time around so I could buy her clothes and dress her up. Now when I see something I like I don't hesitate to buy it!

Rosie dressed Emma the morning of these pictures and she was quite proud of her outfit and her bow. Rosie and I have been anxious to put little bows in and this is the best we get for about 20 seconds before she rips it out of her hair.

My kids are driving me crazy!!!

2011-03-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is something that comes out of my mouth on a fairly regular basis. The time for solitude is something I am always seeking yet rarely find thus the statement above. There have been times in my life that I have expressed this in different groups or to different people and I have felt condemnation for speaking such a thing. Children are a joy and therefore should always be enjoyed. It almost seems shameful to express that your no super mom and need some breathing room. I have learned that I am NO super mom and I DO need breathing room whether it is seems ok to express it or not.

We have had a really long week in our house full of sickness, rain, and the loneliness of living in a new town. It is something we have faced before but it is never very fun. I have been completely bored (not sure how many more cartoons we can watch!), worn out from constant demands of sick kids and have been craving some alone time.

The other night I escaped to our bedroom for a whole 15 minutes of uninterpreted time (that's about all I get these days with 3 in the house!). Josh followed me in and I began to think out loud why I was at my breaking point. In the 5 weeks of living here I have had two 3 hour breaks.

So in roughly 840 hours I have had 6 hours off!!! Yikes!!

Those 840 hours have been full of unpacking, sick kids (and one very clinging baby), schoolwork, multiple trips to Chico and Reno with kids in tow, and general life.

So yes, after 840 hours, I NEED A BREAK!!

This has happened routinely in my life of raising kids where I can go weeks with out a significant break. I start mentally breaking and Josh starts wondering if I am the sanest mother around. This has brought about discussions of what we could change and if I can really handle this many kids. In most of our child raising years we have not had the luxury of grandparents around which my friends who do say they couldn't live without. I have had some good friends over the years that have helped babysit here and there but they are not relationships you want to overuse so we have used them sparingly.

As Josh and I deeper examine our life at our breaking points we always come to the same conclusion.

We have NOT chosen an easy lifestyle but we WOULD NOT change that. "Normal" parents think we are nuts for homeschooling our children (they tell us that all the time!). We don't know any different and think it is normal.

When I am gone for a morning of school, Josh practically worships the ground I walk on when I get home, telling me how he doesn't know how I do it every day. It is always a good perspective changer to leave him in charge of school for a day or even a few days alone with the kids. Then he doesn't think I am so crazy when I am on mental overload and seeking solitude for even a few minutes. It takes a lot to maintain patience for that many hours in a row!

So with all that vented let me state again for the record. I CHOOSE to be home with my kids and to have them home with me and I can't IMAGINE life differently. I get the privilege of raising my kids exactly the way I want which is at home with me. This is what I have always wanted and when I look into the future all I can see and want to see. This is the path I have freely chosen and I do not regret it. The freedom to snuggle sick kids without worrying about taking sick days off work is priceless. The joy of them learning and trying new things in school is FUN. And being number one in their little lives is worth every frustrating moment. They are a JOY and we do cherish our time with them but I have come to terms that is is OK after so many "on" hours for me to say they are driving me to the brink of sanity and I am fried. I have chosen this crazy lifestyle but I wouldn't choose differently.

But after 840 hours they are driving me crazy and I NEED a break!!

So I am really looking forward to this starting today....

FIVE uninterrupted days with my husband in Newport Beach. Yippee!! I am doing a happy dance just thinking about it!

Guess who can mow the lawn?

2011-03-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is the way to do yard work! We knew they would start pulling their weight someday. You look great sitting there Babe;-)

Miss Jenni

2011-03-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I will enjoy living so close to Chico is that I will be able to see some of my childhood friends more often when they come home for visits. One of those friends is Jenni who I have known since I was about 12. She listened to me pour my heart out about Josh for years before he and I actually got together and we have many fun memories of running around town and "cruising" the Esplanade together. She has spent the last 5 years teaching in Slovakia and only coming home about once a year. She happened to be home for a couple of weeks and I had driven down to Chico for a birthday party. So I picked her up and we drove back to Redding and visited for a couple of hours. Such a fun treat! I can't wait until she is home for good:-).

Jenni and I at my 18th Birthday Party

Snow!

2011-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

We had snow at our house! We really hadn't had any snow in Reno since around Christmas so I was kind of sad to not have one last storm before we left. About a week ago we got snow here! I guess it is pretty rare to get it here in Redding but it does happen every couple of years. We just happened to hit it the first month we moved here! And, of course, our friends in Reno have gotten more snow in the last couple of storms then we have seen in years.

Emma's Pretties...

2011-02-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

When I was a girl my mom and I had a huge fight over when I could get my ears pierced and she finally spilled the beans that she was going to let me get them pierced for my 11th birthday. I still remember how bad I felt for pushing the issue so hard that I ruined my surprise! When I was engaged to Josh I got my 2nd set of holes and when I was pregnant with Rosie I go my last 3rd piercing in my left year. With Rosie we got her ears pierced for her "big girl" treat a few days after Cameron was born.

Then came along our beautiful bald baby girl. She has very little hair and I still don't have anything to even put a clip in. We have tried the cute little headbands but she pulls them right out. Joshua and I have been talking for months about getting her ears pierced but just hadn't taken the plunge. Well when we went to church the other day she was called a boy 3 different times because she was wearing a little jean jacket and has no hair! I finally said that's it, we're piercing her ears!

We took her down to the mall and had them done at Claire's. I had specifically called ahead to make sure there were two people working so she could have them pierced at the same time. When we got there and and they saw her age they said she was too young and would have to have each ear done separately. That didn't sound like fun with a baby! Well other then an upset cry with the first ear and a MAD cry with the second one that echoed all the way down the mall it really wasn't that bad. Once she got her lollipop she stopped crying and didn't cry at all after that.

She points to her "pretties" and she points at mine and Rosie's pretties. And she finally really looks like a little girl! If anybody else calls her a boy they are just blind.

Happy Birthday Babe!

2011-02-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

We had a little birthday celebration for Josh's 34th birthday. It's hard to believe we have hit the mid-30's but here we are!! Josh's family was able to come up from Chico for the evening and we celebrated with Josh's favorite dinner of Enchilada's. There are 12 of us to fit around the table so I am thankful we bought a new table last year! We had a great evening of food and Wii Party. We are so thankful that we are close to family and can celebrate birthdays with them.

Happy Birthday Babe! You are looking better and better every year!

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

Caught Reading...

2011-02-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say this was a regular occurrence in our household but the truth is that I haven't ever seen this before. Both of my children outside, reading and hanging out with each other.

My kids don't get along. That is just a fact and something we have to work extra hard to encourage. There is a big age difference and the girl/boy thing just doesn't help.

But there are times that mommy wins or in the case is just "done" and throws them both outside with a set time before they can enter the house again. In this case it forced them to play together and so they quietly read their new magazines together for a few moments and I just happened to capture this rare moment with my camera. I am thinking more forced outdoor time may be in their future if this is the result it gives me!

A little peanut butter goodness...so cute!

2011-02-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

This little one turned 15 months last week:-(

Bangs!

2011-02-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

We have had many hair battles in our house with our oldest daughter and lately they have been a little more intense. She has visions of hair down to her waist and beyond and we have visions of beautiful, healthy hair. Those two haven't been melding well as she never wants us to give her hair a good trim. She asked for bangs a few months ago which we let her have but Josh and I just weren't feeling them if you know what I mean! So after another intense round of discussions we settled on giving a different style of bangs one more shot before we made her grow them out. Her Aunt Erin cut them for her and gave her a good trim and I think we are all very happy with the results, including Rosie!

The Girls Come for a Visit!

2011-02-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Christy and the girls came and visited us this week to see our new place and help unpack. The kids had a great time in the backyard building a fort and playing on the new zip line. We all have thick Reno blood so we just loved the warm weather and spent a lot of time outside.We did some exploring with them around town too!

We went to the Sundial Bridge and walked along the river path. It was a little farther than expected but the kids got some free face painting by local artist from Bethal at the playground and then we managed to get them to all walk back to the car. I would bet it was close to 3 miles round trip so they were troopers! We also went to Whiskeytown lake to explore a little bit. The beach that we expected to have our picnic lunch on was under construction so we walked up along the creek and marveled at all the moss.

Rosie - 11 yrs, Alivia - 7 yrs, Cameron - 7 yrs, Sarah - 5 yrs, Jenna - 2 1/2 yrs, Emma - 14 months

Soon to be best friends!

The Sacramento River - It goes right through town.

The Sundial Bridge

Best Buddies - That is what they call themselves:-)

A little zip line fun!

The Fort!

We had a great time with them and were sad to see them go. Christy and I are always in awe of how well our children play together. They can spend days together and rarely fight. They are just the best of buddies! We are so sad to be so far away from them now but hope to make it up through regular visits and long weekends. The bond between the kids (and the parents!) is so special and we are so thankful to have them in our lives.

The Move

2011-02-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

It was a crazy few days packing our home, loading the trucks, and unpacking in the new home. We actually were ready by Tuesday for the trucks even though we weren't getting them until Thursday. We apparently are pretty efficient packers! We were able to spend the last couple of days having dinner with friends and saying our good-byes.

Josh was able to pick the trucks up a day early on Wednesday. Our friend Mike helped him load most of the boxes that evening. Thursday morning was our big move day. We had so much help thanks to our church friends and family. We started at 8 that morning and had all the trucks loaded and the house empty by 2. About halfway through we realized that it all wasn't going to fit in the two 27' trucks we had rented. There were a few moments of panic until we figured out we could rent another truck and a car hauler so we wouldn't need another driver as there were already 5 drivers for all the vehicles we had going to Redding.

Moving Day

Jeremy

Dad

Dan - Our Pastor

Mike

Matt

Mom

Ryan

"We must be nuts!!"

Christy and I

One small truck and one 27' truck.

The third 27' truck.

Thursday evening we hung out at Jeremy and Christy's with friends and then spent the night there as we had no where else to sleep. Friday morning we woke up bright and early said our good-byes to Jeremy and Christy amidst many tears and then we were on the road.

Best of Friends

The drive was pretty uneventful minus some hot breaks on Dad's truck. Dad, Josh, and Matt drove the trucks. Mom had her car with the cats and I followed up in our Suburban. Our family and a friend helped us unload the trucks in several hours at the new house. Emma was coming down sick so I pretty much held her and watched!

Rosie drove over with her best friend Kyra and her mom Dina. Dina and two new friends here in Redding helped us put our house together that night we could sleep. Rosie and Kyra had a very tearful goodbye the next day but they have been putting Skype to regular use.

We are busy unpacking and settling into our new home which we really like. Emma has been really sick this week so that has been wearing on me as she wouldn't let me put her down for days. The kids have already spent a few nights at Grandma's house and we are loving this California weather!! It has been a roller coaster week for everyone emotionally and I think Josh and I have had a the hardest time leaving our best friends. We are thankful Reno is only a few hours away and I have a feeling we will be visiting often!

Moving....

2011-01-21T11:30:00.000-08:00

I have had so many thoughts about our upcoming move that I wanted to write about but time is scarce right now! As Joshua and I prepare for our 11 move in 13 years of marriage it has felt routine to us. I remember my first big move of leaving Chico and how I prepared for it for months. I was so stressed out because moving to a new area was a huge unknown to me and it scared me! This time around I know every step of the process, down to needing to organize my cleaning supplies ahead of time to when the tears will happen. I almost feel emotional unattached from this move except for the process of leaving dear friends which has caused many tears already. Josh and I recognize that leaving Reno for us is what leaving Chico was like except we are doing this by choice and we know that we will not be able to move back. That in itself has been painful for both of us through this whole process and taking three months to make this move is like pulling a band-aid off very slowly. Ouch!!

We are thankful that Redding is only 31/2 hours away from Reno and that there is this thing called Facebook to keep us up on the latest news in our friends lives even if we aren't here. I am already planning my first trip back to Reno and I know that our church here will be our church "home" for awhile. It is funny all the things that you can take for granted when life is routine. When you shake it up a bit even the fresh mountain air feels special somehow.

Joshua and I have been talking about the many changes that we will be making in our lives and being purposeful about them. I have been busy updating my business website to break into the Chico / Redding photography market. I am excited about building my business again with so much experience to guide me. We have been hatching a plan for what kind of church we want to find down to the youth group experience we want for our kids. We are excited about looking for a long-term home for the Sniktaw Clan and what that will look like. Our children are eager to make new friends in the homeschool community and I am excited about taking that on in a smaller town. I have already mapped out the back roads to my mom's house and thinking about a mini-makeover in their guest cottage so my kids and I have an easy place to land if we don't want to travel back home to Redding. We are looking forward to family dinners and hosting some at our house! And of course, now that we have scoured Craigslist for a house, we are now on to our search for the perfect boat for those warm California lakes!

We are doing pretty good with the packing and I have found a system that seems to be working very well. I think I know how to do this so well I may write a book! Just kidding! where would I find the time for that?!

We love all of you and are so thankful for the friends and family that God has placed in our lives. You bless us in so many ways.

Love,
Katie

Emma's Birthday and Other Exciting News....

2010-12-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

We have had a very busy fall with a few exciting events and changes in our lives. The first one is that our adorable baby girl, Emma, turned ONE on November 7th. We celebrated here with friends and then had a family party in Chico. She loved the attention, the candles and the singing. When Josh walked away with her birthday cake she burst into tears so I made him come back so she could enjoy her candles again! She took her first steps at the end of 9 months and has been walking everywhere since about 12 months. She is a busybody and such a joy to have around!


Emma on her first birthday with her balloons she adored!

Birthday Cake Yum!

In other news we will be moving to Redding at the end of January. Joshua has accepted a really good job offer at Mercy Medical Center and we are excited about the possibilities with this job. He will still be a Perfusionist but we may have the opportunity to buy out the perfusion company that contracts with the hospital which would allow Josh to become his own boss. Redding is an hour from Chico so we are also excited about returning to the North State and being closer to family. And there are really warm lakes to wakeboard on!!

We are sad to be leaving Reno and our dear friends here. We really struggled with the decision to take the job or stay here in Reno but it just came down to an opportunity that may only come along once in a career. Reno has become more of a home than we really thought and there are many things and people that we will miss dearly here. But Redding is just a short drive "over the river and through the woods" so we will be back here for shopping and visiting often.

We are enjoying the Christmas season and have not begun to pack but the day after Christmas we will start boxing everything up. We have not secured a home yet so you can pray that God would have just the right place for us in the right timing. We will be renting initially with the hopes of buying in a year or so.

So that is our BIG news! It has taken some time to wrap our minds around it but we truly feel this is God's leading in our lives and look forward to our new adventure!

Here are a few more pictures of our fall for you to enjoy!

Cameron and Emma

Pumpkin Carving Time! Emma fell down a
few stairs onto the tile floor and that
black eye hung around for two weeks!

Josh and Katie in Mendocino for our fall getaway!

First snow of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Eight Years!! I feel like an "mature" homeschool mom or at least an experienced one;-)

2010-09-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

Our eighth year of homeschooling started last week. It didn't go smoothly at ALL!! It was one of those weeks that just seemed to fall apart because of attitudes. The first week is always hard because the reality of school after the freedom of summer is a little hard. If I was a "normal" mom some teacher would have to deal with those attitudes but since I am mom and teacher I get to deal with the attitudes and it is far from fun!

Rosie is in 7th grade this year and Cameron is a big 2nd grader. I learned a few things about homeschooling two kids last year that are grades apart. The first thing was that it can be highly distracting jumping from one grade level to another when trying to keep up with what they were doing. The second thing that I learned was that it was time consuming!!! I spent so much time with Cameron doing his schoolwork that Rosie didn't get a lot of attention. Add a baby in the mix and it just wasn't that easy.

Because of the nature of our Curriculum, Sonlight, and how spread out my kids are grade wise I had dismissed the idea of teaching them out of the same Core for History and Science. I knew it could be done with kids that are a similar age but didn't think it would work for our kids.

This summer as I was purchasing curriculum and planing out our school year I realized that between having a toddler in the house and all the work for two cores/grades I was going to go nuts or spend my whole day trying to do school. So I decided to give teaching the kids out of the same core a try. I already have what would be Cameron's curriculum purchased and sitting on my shelf because I bought it for Rosie a few years ago. If I needed to pull more age appropriate books I could but Cameron would be doing Rosie's Core with her.

So what does that look like? They each do math, writing, and reading (the three R's) at their own grade level. I also decided to keep Science at their own grade levels. Rosie is diving into the world of Evolution vs. Creation this year as well as Geology and Physics. I knew it would be over Cameron's head so he is studying geology, space and how things work at his own level. For Bible and Bible Memorization we are together as well as for World History and our Read Alouds. I think it is going to work really well!! We have a little over an hour of reading together and then they do their own studies. I am pretty happy with the work load so far. Now if only I could get the attitude to improve!!

These pictures were not taken on our first day but on our 5th day. I figure as long a they show the children at the start of their new grade it is good enough. You would never guess that there had been an hour of screaming and crying from one that shall remain nameless just before this picture! You may wonder what Emma does during our school hours, thankfully she still takes a morning nap:-).

Second Generation Homeschooling

2010-08-05T08:35:00.001-07:00

We are a 2nd Generation homeschooling family. My husband and I were both homeschooled as children and loved it so much we knew it would be the only choice for our kids. We have three children and my husband and I are both in our early 30's. When we first married we knew that I would be staying home with our children when they came along. For us personally we have never considered daycare or preschool to be the atmosphere that we would want to place our children. We feel the best place to grow as children is at home with the loving and 100% care from mom and dad.

We made the personal choice to homeschool for our family for 2 main reasons. The first reason is that we love the lifestyle that it gives our family. I never had to worry about getting my children out the door to school everyday or make sure someone is there to pick them up. Our school schedule works around our lives. We plan school around our family trips and other outings instead of planning our trips around school. We never have homework! We do school until lunch time and then have the rest of the day to do other things. School is completed quickly because we are not waiting for a classroom of 20 children to complete each activity. We are a very active family and enjoy hiking, boating, camping among other activities. My husband only works 10-20 hours a week in his profession so we have a lot of family time with him. Our children never wake up to an alarm but get the rest that they need each night. We are able to be relaxed and not stressed in daily life because we don't run from school to dance to what ever the next activity might be. We do participate in many activities but with the most of our days spent at home the soccer practices and dance camps don't overwhelm or take over our lives. My kids have plenty of time to explore their world here at home, to pursue art, to play with their baby sister and to learn how to work along side us in the daily rhythms of life.

The second reason we homeschool is to be able to pass on our faith in an effective way. When we were children our parents homeschooled us for "religious" reasons. The mindset of those who homeschool for "religious" reasons is that it is their God given responsibility to teach their children and homeschooling is the only way to do that. We personally don't hold to such a strong opinion and would consider private or public school for our children except for that it would greatly interfere with the lifestyle that we enjoy because we homeschool. With that said, we still homeschool for our faith. It is easier to guide our children in making moral choices that line up with our belief system if we are able to somewhat regulate what outside influences they have. We can pick and choose what media they have contact with, which families they interact with, and which activities they participate in. I have seen studies that show that up to 95% of children who are homeschooled do not walk away from their faith where as something like only 35% of public school children stick with their faith after they leave home. Since my faith is important to me I want to effectively see it passed on to my children.

When it comes to academics the kids receive a very solid education through a curriculum called Sonlight. My 11 year old daughter will be entering 7th grade this year and my 7 year old son will be going into 2nd. I love that homeschooling allows my children to be at various grade levels in their academics and it has allowed my daughter to be several years ahead of her peers grade wise. She is bright girl and she is ready to enter 7th grade because she has been allowed to progress at her own pace. As a one on one teacher with her I am able to quickly identify areas in her schooling were she may be struggling and work personally with her until she understands the material. She loves to read and we have bookcases that are bursting at the seams with our collection of books for our children.

I will close with the biggest question about homeschooling....socialization. It always seems to be the biggest question mainly by those who are school teachers or involved in education. My children are so well socialized it is literally hard to get them in bed at night!! We live in a cul-de-sac and my kids play outside with about 10 neighborhood kids of various ages from morning to night. These are the same children that they would go to school with if we choose to send them to the local public school. They play like this all summer long! During the school year my children have participated in soccer, dance, baseball, volleyball, swimming and gymnastics. My daughter was at the gym for 20 hours a week for several years. Most of my kids friends are public school children they have meet through various activities. We have constant play dates and sleepovers with other families. We also participate in several homeschool coops. The coops meet once a week and they have various classes that the kids are enrolled in and taught by other teachers. Add church activities on top of that and you can see we are a very busy household.

My husband and I never had a hard time entering into the "world" upon completion of our homeschool experience and are thankful for some of the things we avoided by not being put into a school environment. We love our parents dearly, have an incredible marriage of 12 years, have a positive outlook on life, find peace through our faith, accept our responsibilities in work and play, and love our children. Why wouldn't I want to pass the same things on to my own children?

Cameron's Birthday Week

2010-05-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Cameron didn't just have a birthday day, he had a birthday week!! It started with our trip to Chico were we celebrated with family at Matt and Erin's house. When Cameron was younger he would get so worked up on his birthday and Christmas he would just be down right naughty the day before the event because he had so much built up anticipation. Thank God he has settled down a little in his 7 years but he was pretty excited for his party. I caught him sitting on the wall of Matt and Erin's front porch just anxiously waiting for his party guests to arrive! I didn't get a picture of it but it will forever be a snapshot in my mind.

It was perfect spring evening and everyone enjoyed hanging outside on the porch and watching the kids play football with Josh. He loved his baseball cake that Grandma Deborah made for him. He even managed to wiggle his tooth loose enough for me to pull out for him that evening. He was wiggling pretty hard while the kids were playing football and even with everyone's encouragement he wasn't quite brave enough to pull it out so I did it for him. Now he is missing two teeth!! We had a great time visiting with friends and family and I know Cameron enjoyed himself.

A few days before his birthday we celebrated at the Coconut Bowl here in Reno with his Reno buddies. They spent hours in a giant play structure chasing each other and having fun. First time we have ever paid for a birthday party and it made it pretty easy!

We finished up his birthday week with a big birthday breakfast on his day and of course letting him tear into his presents. He received a lot of legos this year which is thrilling for a 7 year old boy. He also received a Red Ryder BB Gun from Mommy and Daddy. I think the gun is taller than him!! He had a great week and I am amazed that my little guy is getting so big.

Love,
Katie

Emma Claire - 6 Months Old

2010-05-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

She has two bottom teeth and can now sit up on her own...time goes so quickly.

Emma rolls....

2010-04-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

It may seem like I only have one child with as much as I post about that one child but she is the one that is growing the fastest so each new thing is exciting. Since we aren't near grandparent's and they miss so much of her little life I just have to keep them updated!! We do have other exciting things happening around our house like Cameron's 7th Birthday Week, but since his birthday is tomorrow we aren't quite done celebrating so I will post pictures of that later...

Emma actually rolled over last week while Daddy was in Carson City for a couple of days for work. These videos were for him but they are so cute I can't resist sharing them! Emma also popped in her second tooth in the last couple of days so now we have two bottom teeth for biting!

Emma's First Tooth and Other Things....

2010-04-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Emma has been gnawing on everything insight for a couple of weeks. Her gums have been swollen for awhile but I really didn't think that she was teething quite yet. She is so happy all the time, she never sleeps at night anyways and I have had a cold so I thought that was why she had the sniffles. Well I stuck my finger in her mouth this evening to check her gums and there was a little sharp edge poking through...she has her first tooth! My kids always teeth a little on the early side and she has followed right along in her brother and sisters footsteps. First tooth at 5 1/2 months. Give her a couple of months and she will have a mouth full of them!

I also weighed our little chunky monkey tonight. She weighs 15lbs.12ozs. I am not sure how long she is but 9 month onsies fit her nicely!! She is our chubbiest baby yet, hopefully she will slim down a little when she starts crawling. She has been rolling from her tummy to her back since about 3 1/2 months but she still isn't rolling from her back to her tummy. She really just isn't even interested in it. She is has found her toes though and thinks they are quite interesting. She is changing so fast it is makes me sad...I just wish she would stay little forever.

First Food

2010-04-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Emma had her first food this week. We actually tried last week with rice cereal but she just gagged and started crying so we waited a week before trying again. She is 5 1/2 months and ready for food but I think she still prefers mommy. Her weight seems to be quite healthy so I haven't worried to much about starting her on real food! I loaded up on some sweet stuff from Whole Foods so this time around we tried pears with a little rice cereal. It was pretty entertaining as she got the willies with each bite!

Easter

2010-04-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter this year in the Bay Area visiting my family. As I have grown older I have come to appreciate the area so much more and really love to visit there. We have even talked about moving there from time to time. It is kind of a fun thought when taking in the wonderful smells and lushness of the area but that would mean I would probably have to get a real job and I would never do that and give up staying home with my kids so for now it is a dream.

We spent time with my parents on the boat, a wet afternoon on Pier 39, an afternoon visiting with Mia and Easter day at my Uncles. I have a lot of great pictures so here are a few of them...

Robert and Rachael have been cleared to make Mia mobile (which means move the whole vent with her) and talk her for walks. Our kids weren't allowed inside to see her in her room but they were able to see her outside during her "walk". I think that Mia really enjoyed it too! We were able to capture a few family pictures while she was out. This is a picture of all the cousins together for the first time ever.

And a picture of the whole family together for the first time ever.

I love these pictures of Mia. She is so beautiful. She is now about 14 months old and getting really big!

This was Joshua's first visit to see Mia. He has such a big heart that he really has a hard time seeing such a little being with some many needs. It was really good though for him to finally be able to hold her and talk to her.

Our little princess all dressed up for Easter. This is the first time I put her in a dress and she looks so cute. All my kids look so cute for Easter! Rosie wanted to wear her sparkles for Easter and since she is growing so fast we discovered the day we were packing that none of her skirts fit! So she got to wear her sparkle pants and shoes which she adores.

Happy Easter!

Love,
Josh, Katie, Rosie, Cameron and Emma

Cameron Lost His First Tooth!

2010-04-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted anything in awhile. Life is busy and I realized that as much as I want to keep the family updated on our life, posting on the blog just isn't a priority right now. Josh loves to tell me to get up earlier but sleep is so precious to me right now with Emma keeping me up at night! We have made a few changes this week that is helping her sleep better. We completely broke her of her binkie this week. She was getting so dependent on it to fall asleep and stay asleep. When there are 4 people in the house watching her it was pretty much in her mouth all the time to keep her happy. Sooo... I took it away. It was easier to break her at this age anyway then to have a toddler to break of the habit. I heard a new level of screaming from her this week when she was letting me know that she was very unhappy about napping without it but we worked through it. Now I can just put her down without anything and she goes to sleep. The last two nights she has only woken up twice to nurse. I feel so much more rested now that I am only getting up 2-3 times a night! Score one for mommy!!!

This post isn't really about Emma, it is about Cameron. He lost his first tooth!! How he lost his first tooth is one of the funniest moments we have had with our children.

There is a nice walking path by my Grandma Marion's. We were at her house Easter morning with my parents waiting to go to my Uncle's house for Easter dinner. The kids were restless (from all the chocolate in their Easter baskets:-) so we took them on a walk. It is so beautiful and GREEN in California. If you see green when you look outside count your blessings because those of us who live in barren Nevada drool over it! Anyways we were walking down the path that I have walked down many times in my childhood (I must have been a restless child at my grandma's too!). I wanted to get a cute picture of my kids holding hands. Now if you know my children well you know that this picture was totally staged as they NEVER go around holding hands. If there is physical contact between them it is usually to place a low blow on the other person. We are still working on that....

So as I was reviewing the picture on my camera I hear screaming and look up to see Cameron's mouth gushing blood. Apparently he thought that since he was holding Rosie's hand he might as well take the opportunity to BITE her finger. As she pulled it out of his little piranha teeth his tooth popped out! We have been waiting forever for him to lose a tooth and just last week he noticed that he finally had one that was loose. It was not however loose enough to come out....

There was a lot of blood and tears. Since we were on a walk I had nothing to stop the bleeding. The only thing we could do was to have him spit the blood out. This was all new to Cameron so he was pretty upset by the blood and pain. It took him awhile to settle down and stop screaming...if you have ever wondered what one of Cameron's screaming fits looks like just watch the video!

Rosie found the tooth on the ground. It was a very, very funny scene and Joshua captured it on his phone! It is about one of the funniest video's we have of our children and has already been sent into America's Funnest Home Video's.

We don't do the Easter bunny or Santa Clause with our kids but we love to pretend about the tooth fairy. They buy it hook, line and sinker. Cameron wants to know how such a small fairy can carry such a large silver dollar! Ah the innocence of childhood.....

Chunky Monkey

2010-03-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Emma Claire was weighed last week when we had lunch with Diane our midwife. We took the opportunity to check her weight on Diane's scale. Our little Chunky Monkey weighed 14 pounds, 14 ounces at 4 months and 2 weeks. She is pretty pinchable all over!