Our sweet daughter

"Maya is a sweet girl. She is kind and helpful. She plays well with others." Those are a few things her preschool teacher wrote about her at the end of the year. I know I'm biased, but I have to agree. She takes good care of us whether it's placing a blanket carefully on you while you watch TV so you aren't cold, or making sure you have a napkin at the table, or praying for you every chance she gets when you're sick, or being the child who will run and bring you whatever you need at the drop of a hat.....she IS a sweet girl. I love how every night she wants me to sing her "her song" that I made up years ago. We're so happy with her in our family!

He won't be the baby anymore....

I don't know if all expecting mothers with older children go through this, but each time I'm pregnant I feel kind of sad that the child who's the youngest at the time won't be "the baby" anymore when the new baby comes. I shed tears when I drop off the older child/children for someone to take care of while Aaron and I go off to the hospital to bring another child into our family. Maybe it's the hormones, or maybe it's because I'm one of those parents that most people think are crazy because I let the baby stay in bed with us until the next one arrives. I just get really attached and stress over how the next older child will react to not being the baby anymore. It's no different this time. Ryan, you won't be the baby for long!

Some of Jordan's Interests

Some of the activities Jordan has enjoyed these last months are Pokemon cards (even though it's a picture of Ryan with one of the cards....he REALLY likes to do what Jordan does)....


....learning about math (towards the end of the school year he was put in an advanced math group--he even asked to go to summer school so he can learn more math)....


.....and "wall ball". I don't understand what the rules are, but it's basically throwing a ball against the wall and catching it before anyone else. He uses a raquetball because it doesn't damage the house siding or windows.


Jordan is an upbeat, active boy with a lot of curiosity and creativity. We sure do love him!

Work Picnic

A few weeks ago we went to Lake Sammamish Park for a picnic with a small group of Aaron's co-workers. The kids had a great time!

The terrible two's have begun....

Ryan turned 2 today and it felt like the terrible two's hit all at once. I think it was because he didn't get enough sleep last night, but he was fussy/clingy and the day was pretty rough. He got a lump on the side of his head when he walked into the side of the kitchen island. He got a small goose egg on the back of his head when he fell backwards onto the wood floor in the entry, and he face planted on the front lawn when he was chasing a ball. He LOVED his present, however....a little basketball hoop, and he had a great time blowing out the candle on his cake.

He is our youngest talker and he is very cuddly. He absolutely adores Aaron and cries whenever he leaves the room. He loves to do whatever Jordan and Maya are doing, and they're pretty patient with allowing him to play with them.

He is a sweet little boy who I couldn't love any more than I do. I just hope today was the only "terrible two's" day we'll experience with him......yeah, right! :)

Evening Bike Ride

Aaron took Jordan, Maya, and the Mason kids for a bike ride around our neighborhood. The kids LOVE to ride their bikes!

After-church photos

Sometimes we call Jordan "Air Jordan" -- short for Aaron Jordan. If he had his usual tongue-sticking-out look, this photo would really do justice to his nickname:

Our "only princess"

At our first ultrasound with this baby the doctor was quite certain it was a girl. Looking back,we should've waited to tell the kids, but we didn't. Maya was SOOO excited she would be having a little sister. Anyway, at the second ultrasound we learned the baby was actually a boy. Maya cried when we told her, but she's turned her attitude around and is excited to have the baby that "Heavenly Father wants us to have". We keep reminding her that she's our "only princess", but the kids are sure that "when" we have another one it'll be a girl. Only time will tell...

End-of-Year School Events

Maya recently graduated from preschool. She is VERY excited to start kindergarten next fall!





We also went to Jordan's 1st grade music concert. It's amazing they can keep so many kids under control for so long...it was easier for the teachers than for those of us with small children in the audience. :)

"Does anyone in your family have a big head?"

That is the question we were asked during the ultrasound at my last OBGYN appointment. If I remember correctly, the doctor said the baby was measuring at 35 weeks for his head, 36 weeks for his abdomen, and 37 weeks for his femur (leg bone). He had me do the blood glucose test AGAIN, but it still came out normal. I'm supposed to eliminate carbs and sugar as much as possible or I could deliver a 10 1/2 - 11 pound baby (no wonder the stretch marks just keep getting higher on my belly). None of my maternity clothes fit very well anymore, but I'm too cheap to buy more at this point (I'm almost 33 weeks). It's also very difficult for me to make these dietary changes because 1) I'm a very long-time addict of sugar, and 2) it's just not fair that I have to be so miserable already PLUS not be able to satisfy my late-pregnancy cravings! :) I do have to say, however, that I'm very grateful that the baby appears to be healthy. That's my venting session for now! :)

10 years, baby!

I'm late with this post, but I want Aaron to know I'm so grateful he's been officially mine for 10 years!!!

My man is 1 year older....

Aaron's birthday was on Friday, but I still want to add some of my favorite photos of him:










Happy Birthday, hon!

Lisa finally made a decision...

My baby sister (12 years younger than I am) has decided to go to the University of Washington for grad school. She'll be moving out here at the end of the summer. Her major is opera so I hope to score some free tickets and hope to get some of my friends to go with me to future performances. She probably won't be in an opera during her first year, but maybe that will change once she starts the program. If she would've gone to BYU she would've had a major scholarship, been a T.A. with her own studio, and would've been the lead in the opera next year. (No, I'm not bitter than she didn't choose my alma mater.) I guess her time at the U tainted her views of the Y. Aaron and I will be working on correcting her misguided views once she moves up here. :)

Editor's note

Kerry will not be happy with me :).

She has been wanting to change the blog background because she didn't know how - she pointed out how the collings blog looked so cool. So - I saw the template link on their site and of course ended up DELETING all of Kerry's links in the upgrade process.

So...I tried to recreate as many links as possible - but may have missed a few. If you are out there - and aren't linked - could you leave a comment so we can get you back on?

thanks! (currently sleeping on the couch, Aaron)

Jordan's Sick Note

Jordan came down with a bad cold/cough/sore throat last Sunday. This is one of the notes he wrote to enlist our help (since it hurt for him to talk):