And the random ones that didn't fit anywhere else

This was Liam nearing the end of the second day of our drive from Idaho to Kansas. He was less than appreciative to be in the car for hour upon hour. Actually, he cried inconsolably from Park City to Grammie's house. But all in all, the kids did really well with how long the trip was.

Chef Issy on Easter at Aunt Mooza's

A get-together for Issy's birthday. It wasn't so much a birthday party as a playdate with friends and cake. After her godmother made her a cake last year, she has been talking about the cake she wanted this year, and this was our excuse.

My little Liam with my friend Bianca. We met online with a common passion for birthwork and a friendship blossomed. The day we met was the day i found out i was pregnant with Liam and she was Joe's over-the-phone doula during Liam's birth, so Li is kind of her little buddy.

Silly Annika in a hat and not-so-matching shirt :)

Some random Easter pics

Trip to Grammie's

I always tell myself that i am going to take more pictures, but i am usually so preoccupied with chasing Liam that i forgot to snap them. Here are a couple from our trip though. I love this one... it is so sweet. Issy was chilly, and i think her sweater was in the wash, so she wore someone's jacket. They love swinging and Liam even said swing.
Issy found a ladybug and was very excited about it and so i took her picture :)

Confirmation and First Communion

Our trip to Wichita included two important events: my nephew Robert's Confirmation and my goddaughter/niece Teresa's First Communion. I am so glad that we were able to be there for them! I feel a little sappy, but i remember the first time i held Robert... i was 10 years old and he was my first nephew. I can't believe he is 16 now and has just taken the step into his adult faith.
My little Re. I was so excited to be chosen as her godmother when i was a Senior in high school. She was my practice baby before having my own kids. And she has turned out great ;)

My husband is the best Daddy ever

Seriously. He has always been good with the kids. Never balked at holding a baby (even when he was a teenager). He has been my source of sanity in our 5 years of parenting together. In those first few exhausting weeks with Issy, he would make her do this little dance and it would calm her down and make me laugh. He spent a good amount of time in the armchair in Isaac's room, rocking him, in that first year. His relationship with Liam, who has always been a Mama's boy, has really been blossoming lately. Liam will nap on him and snuggle with him at night. I don't know what i would do without him, he is truly awesome.

Easter

Our Easter pic.
Sisters
Liam wants in on some of Joshua's toy action.
Issy, Gracie and Isaac playing in Grammie's closet. What could be better?

The New Puppy

We arrived safely home this afternoon from our trip to Kansas. That journey is a blog post all to itself, so i'll spare you the details right now. Instead of overwhelming with a bunch of updates from the last month all at once, i'll be splitting it up, soon stay tuned the next few days. Update #1 Clementine!

My dog lover of a husband thought it would be a good idea to add a puppy to the family. So here she is... Clementine. She is a lab/border collie mix and as sweet as can be. And really laid back as far as puppies go. I was dubious, but she seems to have taken to me (and Issy) so i guess she can stay. Issy giving her love.
She likes to sleep by the stove while i make dinner. Which makes it difficult not to trip on her, but the sentiment is there.
Kolbe and Clementine.
Enjoying a Hard Lemonade (not really, she just want to chew on the bottle, but i thought it was an amusing picture)
She wouldn't sleep in the little bed we made with the luggage on the trip. She slept by my feet most of the way.
Except when she slept on a proud Issy's lap. I think Issy might be working on her "Serious Camera Face"

Five years!

Five years ago at this time i was snuggled up in bed, staring at my little Issy in my arms, my heart so full. I was exhausted, but i stayed up most of that first night, just admiring the miracle of the person that i had waited so long to meet. She is amazing, sweet, sassy, caring, nurturing, strong-willed little person. Even now sometimes it seems surreal and unbelieveable that God entrusted her little soul to Joe and I. What a task.

We had a very good day. She was estatic that it was her birthday :)

The princess balloon that Daddy picked out for her. She wore it around on her wrist the better part of the day.
Her dolly from Mommy and Daddy and her brothers. She had seen it in the little drugstore in our town a couple months ago and was quite taken with it and i made a mental note then that it would be a good birthday present. She is currently sleeping with it, so i think it was a good choice.
The neighbors have two little girls and a boy that Issy and Isaac made friends with recently. They love to play in the snow together in our cul-de-sac. They came over for cake this afternoon and Issy got a necklace and bracelet from each of them. I am so glad she has some friends here :)

A blast from the past! Sweet Issy, a couple of weeks old, and her cousin Ritchie.
Mommy kisses as Issy dyed Easter eggs for the first time at five weeks old. She slept through it.
Issy and her godmother, Erika, on the day of her Baptism.

Around the house

We are very excited to be coming home in a week! Gearing up, getting out our spring clothes, and ready for our 2 day road trip with the three kids. Yikes! Can't wait to see everyone and hopefully have some springy weather. He really likes button-down shirts. He would wear one every day if he had enough. He says they make him look handsome. And they do. Normally, however, when he dresses himself, he picks out really nice combinations. This day, well, it was an interesting combination. The shirt and vest look nice when not paired with each other. But he dress himself and we weren't going anywhere, so who i am to judge ;)
A couple months ago, Joe was telling me how he thought it would be cool to have a fire in the fire pit. We haven't been able to see the fire pit for about that long, because it has been buried in snow. Monday was apparently the day, though, when his idea got the better of him. Him and Issy and Isaac went out after dinner (thanks, Daylight Savings Time!) and shoveled a path to and around the fire pit. Riiiiight. But it made them all happy, so more power to them.

Daddy and Liam have been having special bath time a couple times a week after dinner. For obvious reasons, this is just a picture of Liam by Daddy's feet.
He was holding a cracker and i told him i was going to take his picture. He decided that it would be a good pose to put this cracker in his mouth like this. He wouldn't take it out, so this is what we have.
What better toy than laundry baskets?

Before bedtime one night, they all got under the blanket together.
A recent snow walk.
"Dog" Pile on Daddy.

Thought i would share

Found this video and thought i would share. Kevin Max was with dc Talk for years and is now doing solo work

Big things are on the horizon!

It is quickly becoming apparent to me that life is happening and time isn't going to stop. My little girl will be turning 5-years-old in only 6 short days. 5-years-old. I'll save the sappy sweet post for her birthday, but it is this event that is jarring me into reality. She is going to grow up. She isn't going to be a little girl forever. At some point in the next ten years, she is going to become a young woman. As i type this, i am panicking a little on the inside. I mean, i always knew i wanted to have babies and to raise a family. But at some point i disconnected the fact that my babies would grow up to be adults.

And because my little girl is now about to be five, we are presented with a new parenting challenge... her education. How, when, where? We have three options here: public school, private school, and homeschooling. We are exploring all of these options, in the quest to find what suits her needs accordingly. It is turning out to be quite the task! She is very bright and picks up on things easily. She is already learning all the time.

I, too, am toying with some my plans to further my education. I have thought that when the kids were older, i would like to train to be a midwife. But i had no solid timeline for that. There has been a nudging in my heart lately that perhaps i should implement this plan sooner rather than later. But then i am discouraged by the logistics of it... which midwifery program, securing an apprenticeship, how to juggle midwifery and parenting. And i am right back where i started... with a deep desire in my heart to put birth back into the hands of birthing women, but no real concrete idea on how i could do that. I had previously been resigned to the fact that it just wasn't the season in my life for that, but now i am perplexed by the strong desire to take some action.

It is at times like these i wish God wasn't so subtle sometimes. Where is the burning bush when you need it? (N.B. There, i said it, it is out on the internet for the world to see. So when God whacks me upside the head with a glaring answer, you can all say "But careful what you ask for")

Edited to Add: In December, i started a blog about pregnancy and birth. Come check it out! I am going to try to update weekly at this point, probably on Fridays. The link is in the list of my favorite links on the right.

I knit!

Yup, i still knit, although i have been sporadic for a while now. Here are things i can post because i have gifted them and the owners have received them: My cousin had a baby girl in December and i made her these small Picky Pants. For the shirt, i really wanted to get a little black shirt and stencil a bundle of grapes in purple and green (the yarn colorway is called Grapes on a Vine) but given the limited availability of such things around here, i put that vision aside. Instead, I bought a onesie from Target and cut off the bottom and hemmed it with a little rick-rack border.
Here are the small Picky Pants in a size comparison with the most recent pair of pants i knit Liam. I can't believe he has gotten so big *sniff*

Joe's slippers, which he requested i finish before he went to Vegas, so he could take them. He forgot them at home.
Little Gracie's birthday present. She doesn't keep them on, so i am going to crochet a chain out of that yarn, so they can weave it in and tie them on in back. Sorry, Grace, your sock-pulling-off days are numbered!

Ear infection free for over two months!

We have been on quite the journey with this little one since July. He started to get ear infections and was getting them every two to three weeks. Well, it seems we have finally turned the corner! His last one was when we flew home to Kansas in December. He has been a happy, healthy boy since then. Sleeping better, eating better.

Do a happy dance with us!

What happens when you don't have a little sister (or, Isaac is a patient boy)

This one has an excellent story. A little backstory would be helpful. When i got pregnant with Liam, Issy started to insist that it was a girl baby. We found out he was boy and she got used to the idea of a baby brother. Shortly after he was born, she started telling people that i was going to have another baby and it was going to be a girl this time. She occasionally tells me she wants a little sister.

So, a couple of days ago, they were playing dress up in the room. Usually, this means just Issy dresses up. Well, they came out of the room, and Isaac was wearing this. I asked how there were doing and Issy said, "This is my sister. We are twins" Um, okay? I thought it was cute, so i took their picture. It was almost lunchtime, so i asked that they put the dress up clothes away and put their regular day clothes on. The best part? When they came out of the room, they were both in normal clothes. Except Isaac had on Issy's jeans and t-shirt. I asked him to put on the clothes he was wearing earlier. As i changed his socks he said, "Issy told me i had to wear girl undies." At which point i told him that sometimes, you shouldn't listen to Issy :D She is lucky he is so laid back, although i suspect that at some point he is going to realize that he doesn't have to do everything she says.

My little persuasive girlie. She is going to five in just a couple of weeks!
Munchkins eating bread and butter at the table.

It is important to be well-versed in your Catechism study. At 1-year-old, you never knew when you will be called upon to explain your faith :D
Mmmmmm, apples.
The snow slides off the tin roof and has created a huge pile in front of the front porch.

This picture was taken shortly after they both stopped crying because Isaac flopped on the bed and slammed his head into Issy's.
Kitty love.
My sweet little fella.