Whaaat?? 2011's already half over?

*So, this one never was published. At least there's a picture of my babies.

Where the heck have I been? Well, everywhere and nowhere, to be exact. =) I've been involved in the PTA for a while and have been busy, well, being a mom. It's sad that I'm on the computer as often as I am and haven't updated this in so long.

So, I'll post a recent picture of the kids:

See, aren't they cute?!?

So, we have lots of things going on this summer and I'll be starting school in the fall. When there are more exciting things to announce, I'll make sure to post them here. =)

It's a moose

Just wanted to share pictures of this moose that was in our yard eating some of our weeds. I had just left with my mom and 3 of the 4 kids. Bob took the pictures, mostly for my mom, but I thought I'd post them here on the blog, too. Sorry for the not-great quality, they were taken with Bob's phone.

Moose (duh)

Moose and our 4 wheelers

More Moose

Moose again

Teacher Gifts I made

I made gifts for Jacob's teachers before school ended. I say "teachers" because his original teacher left the last month or so of school for maternity leave, so he had a substitute teacher for the remainder of the year. Here are the sets of cards that I made for Mrs. E and Mrs. J.

I made 5 cards in this style (Stampin' Up! Bermuda Bay ink on white cardstock).


I made 5 cards in this style (Stampin' Up! Rich Razzleberry ink on Naturals Ivory cardstock).


This is what they looked like all packaged.

I also made a gift for his "regular" teacher as a baby gift. I stamped on the onesie with a fabric ink and made a girly card.

Onesie and baby card

Close up of the card for baby

My yearly post (note the sarcasm)...

Since it seems I'm not doing so well at keeping the blog up to date, I've decided to post what I can and hope that I do better from here on out...

Here is a photo of our newest family member, Caroline:

Sweet Caroline (April 6th, roughly 1 1/2 months)

True to her before-birth form, Caroline was not very cooperative at first (see previous blog post). Long story short, she lost a frightful amount of weight after birth, we got the problems figured out (a cruel cycle of her not effectively nursing and then my body not producing enough milk), supplemented while Mommy took meds to bring milk production up to where it should be and now everything is fine. Well, I'm still on meds, but they're working wonderfully! This is shortly after she was hospitalized for a few days for "failure to thrive" and she was 50-70% formula-fed while I worked on bringing my milk supply up.

The next picture is of Audrey & Olin, they can't stand pictures to be taken without being in them.

Audrey & Olin (April 12th)

Olin, my sweet little boy, has turned into nothing less than the most curious (and sometimes devious) little trouble-maker ever! He's so cute, but so naughty sometimes! And he loves to tease his big brother and big sister whenever he gets the chance. However, he absolutely adores his baby sister, although he doesn't quite understand gentleness yet.

Audrey is just, well, Audrey. She is the center of attention whenever possible. She loves to be a little mommy and help me whenever she can. She can also turn into pure drama at the drop of a hat. There's never a dull moment with her around!

The next up is Jacob:

Jacob & Friend at church, drinking very sour lemonade (May 2nd)

Oh, this is an older picture, but I found an example of "Audrey Drama:"

And, for good measure, pictures of a double rainbow over the Chena Flood Channel on May 1st:

Rainbow 1

Rainbow 2

So, these pictures don't do it justice, but this double rainbow (a really bright one and then a "reflected" one close by) was so breathtakingly beautiful. For me, seeing things like this cements my belief in God. The beauty of nature is just amazing. This photo only shows the one side, but this rainbow was a complete arch of color just sitting in the middle of the flood channel. It was raining, windy and chilly, but Jacob insisted on getting out of the van to look at it, and then journeyed into the channel to get a closer look.

I'm not as good at this as I hoped to be

But, I hope that I get better.

On the 4th of December, Bob and I had a 3D/4D ultrasound done. We got to see some cool pics of the new baby and found out we're having a...

GIRL!!

So, here are some photos of our newest daughter:

Profile

Another Profile with her hand up to her mouth

She's getting a finger into the mouth

Her face (a bit blurry from moving) with both hands up by her head

She was not the most cooperative baby. =) Both times I went in, she was facing away from the "camera," so the Ultrasound tech had to really work just to get this one almost-full-face photo. Oh well, in 6 weeks she'll make her debut and then I'll get to see her all I want!

Not quite forever and a day

So, it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I could have taken much longer. =)

We finally cut Olin's hair this weekend and I thought I would post some before and after photos. I really liked his retro '70s haircut, but the back needed to be trimmed as it was about 1-2 inches past his collar. And, my husband was tired of being complemented on our little "girl." This haircut really was overdue.

Olin's Retro Hair

Squirming Olin

Really, is it any question that people thought he was a girl?

Haircut & the after bath complete

It's amazing. I have a boy again! Honestly, to me, he looked like a boy before. I dressed him in blue and red and sports stuff. Still, we received comments on what a cute girl we had. It's taking a little time to get used to, but it's just hair. It grows back. However, I really like the cropped boy cut!

Something I made

I don't get a lot of time lately to do any of my "crafty" things. I was able to carve out some time the other day and get this name frame done.


I've been wanting to make it for a while and now that I've got the bugs worked out (i.e. what works and what's too thick to be in a frame), I have another to make for my dear friend Bonnie and her new baby boy, Tiernan.

So, hopefully, I'll be able to make more things soon. It's really nice to be able to do something I enjoy with few interruptions. I really long for the day that I have *no* interruptions, but that's still several years away. =)