The Hike

I haven't had a "By myself, just me (um, and Adelle) and nature" hike since the baby was born. She gets to come along since she nurses, but she just slept in the wrap. Yesterday was the day. I went up the path to Mud Lake since the trail is close.

Insanity! If you look at the mountainside from our back porch, it doesn't really look that bad. Well, looking at it and actually hiking it are two very different things. What ended up being about halfway up (though I didn't know that at the time) I was about ready to quit. But I kept thinking, "Certainly I'll be at the top soon". Around every bend I would figure (hope, pray) that I would be at the top. And finally, with quite a bit of stopping to breathe and a fair amount of muscle burning, I got there!

One of many steep bends of the trail. The picture doesn't do it justice.

We made it! I was so excited that I took a picture even though I was very sweaty, unshowered, hair undone under a ball cap. Adelle was asleep.

I have a thing for pictures of long roads/trails, especially if they have trees on each side.

Mud Lake

I stood in this group of Aspen trees for a few minutes, feeling the breeze, the warmth of the sunshine, the smell of life all around me. Adelle snoozing on my chest, air in my lungs. One of those moments where I felt really happy to be alive.

In the Aspens

Views of the Valley. I was pretty high up, no wonder my legs were burning.

8 years

Almost every other day of the year, when I remember her, I can just be happy and think of the good memories. But once a year, on this day, I indulge myself and allow myself to really miss her. To think about what it would be like to have her around, what she would think of me, how much she would enjoy my children. I think the worse part is that it now feels so normal to not have her around. The first year, when the grief was still fresh, her absence was felt so acutely. So much time has past now, however, that it is all just a distant memory to have her around day to day. It is healthy to move past that part of the grieving process, but I feel like I lost something when I moved on. She was such a beautiful, gentle woman, although imperfect (who isn't though?) and I am thankful that she was my mother.

Visitors!

We have been fortunate to have the opportunity to have a whole slew of visitors this summer! At the end of July, my Dad and niece came to visit. Here are some pics of their visit:

At the top of the ski lift at Grand Targhee Ski Resort, which is relatively close to our house. It has such a beautiful view!

They decided to brush the dogs one day, which was awfully nice of them, since I hate doing it and the dogs are shedding. I captured this kindness on camera :)

We purchased Adelle a bouncy seat with some money we had been gifted. It arrived when Dad and Teresa were here and she was trying it out for the first time. It also gave me the opportunity to get a group shot of the five of them together.

A summer hike.

Isaac picked some wildflowers. And if they didn't come easily, he yanked them up by the root.

Ice cream at Yellowstone while we waited for Old Faithful. Which was not very faithful- like thirty minutes late. The following pictures were taken by Teresa:

The boys climbing a dead tree.
Liam fell asleep in the car with the water bottle on his lap on the way home from Yellowstone. This was not a good day for Liam- he was very tired and grouchy. Very grouchy. I can't overstate how grouchy he was that day.
Sometimes my kids do weird things. I like it- it keeps things interesting around here. This evening, they were dressing the post by the stairway as some sort of princess.
Teresa got one of Sleepy Delle.

It is about school time again!

A few weeks ago, we went and bought a couple of bookshelves, a lamp and a remnant of carpet to put in our Learning Room. We got everything all set up and ready and the kids looooove it. They can't wait to spend time in there every day!

We have already started on what we have available of our homeschooling materials. Issy is continuing in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and we started at the beginning of that with Isaac. I got Liam a couple of workbooks so that he can have his share of "school" time. I am getting ready to purchase Math U See and a few books for our art, science and religion. We will get started on that whenever it arrives.

Our shelf with all our books and the Reading Corner.

Working on a puzzle. You can see our shelf that holds our homeschooling materials in the background. I would like to add another couple of smaller shelves too.

Sweater progress

Last week, upon my return to the yarn store, I started Wicked by Zephyr Style, as mentioned in my last post. It is relatively uncomplicated thus far, so I have been working diligently (well, as much as one *can* knit while taking care of a house, husband and four kids) I am loving it! I also finished a soaker for Adelle because she is outgrowing her newborn ones, and have started a pair of longies for her, since the ones she got handed down aren't going to fit her right away. I am making a grand knitting comeback!

Last week (blame my younger son for the dirty mirror)

Currently

The little dude is three!

Moments after he was born. His birth was an exhausting journey, but oh sooooo worth it.

And he grew...

... and grew....

.... and here he is now.

All I will say is that life with Liam is never dull :)

My girls

When I was just shy of 18, I became a godmother for the first time. My oldest sister had her third daughter, Teresa Kay, who became my goddaughter. She was me and Joe's "practice baby" before we started having our own. Now she is growing up- she'll be 10 in a little over a week. Here are my three girls all together at her recent visit:

Teresa and Adelle:

If the shirt looks familiar, that is because it is. I knit it for Issy to wear two years ago. Here is the blog post about it. And yes, if you are keeping track, Issy was four when I made it for her. And I mentioned that Teresa is turning 10 soon. I made it a *tad* too big. It's ok, I have a better understanding of why gauge is important now :)

Once again, apologies for not blogging more consistently (especially to Mary- I know that drives you crazy!). If it makes anyone feel any better, it isn't out of lack of trying. I counted the drafts of blog posts that I have started and not published and there have been 6 since Adelle was born. This post, for example is dated July 31st, because that is when I started it. It is now August 16th. I'll try to be better, I promise :)

Life is going to slow down, for a while. But not really. We don't have any visitors for another month, so it'll slow down in that regard, but! our homeschooling year is starting soon. And in September, me and the girls are flying down for my sister's wedding. And some friends are coming to visit at the end of September. So no, I guess we aren't really slowing down :)

AND! in other exciting news, I started a sweater for myself. My sister who taught me to knit mentioned she was going to start Wicked by Zephyr Style and so I went to check out the pattern and loved it! (NB- For some reason, it won't let me link to that. Google it if you want to check it out, it is awesome!) I am doing it in Lamb's Pride Worsted in Misty Blue, I am so excited :) Anyone know if metal knitting needles are allowed on airplanes? I'll try to share some pictures, but you have seen my track record- don't hold your breath!

Thus concludes this edition of blog catch up :)

Fun with Grammie and Grandpa

At the beginning of July, Joe's parents had the chance to come and visit us and to meet baby Adelle. They are also Adelle's godparents, so we got her baptized the weekend that they were in town. Here are a few pictures from their visit:

The watermelon. We bought a big watermelon and Mom cut it up with the kids (and took out the seeds- bless her!). The kids snacked on quite a bit of it. A lot, actually. I think that they got their watermelon fix for the summer :)

I posted this a couple of times on Facebook but I loooove this picture, it is just too sweet not to post again. What a sweet girl!

Adelle's godparents

Normal

Not a new picture- it is from the night she was born, but I don't have a lot of pictures on this computer and I like to add pictures to my post :)

This the fourth time in the last week that I have started to blog only to be thwarted by my lack of creativity, my children or both. So let me try again.

Life is pretty good here. Miss Adelle just turned five weeks old on Saturday (ack! has it really been five weeks?!) and the new normal has now taken over for the most part. The kids have adjusted surprisingly well to our new addition. Liam is kind of scary sometimes because we are experimenting with cutting out his nap. Which makes bedtime much easier, but he is a beast from about 3-6. Sigh. I am hoping at some point, that will get easier. In hindsight, I suppose it has- he isn't scary *every* day from 3-6. Just most days :P

I am starting to feel "normal", body- wise. I think. I don't know, when you have been pregnant for the better part of a year, you tend to forget what normal is like. I am trying to work on my posture. Pregnancy really messes with my posture, since I have several months to adjust to a my center of gravity shifting and then *poof* it is gone. It is a very weird sensation, to go from having a big, solid belly full of baby to nothing. Since I am making the adjustment from pregnant--> non-pregnant anyways, I should work on it now. And can I just say, at the risk of sharing too much information, that I love being about to stay in bed and not having to get up to go to the bathroom 4 times a night. Awesome.

My Dad and niece are coming to visit at the end of this week and then some friends after that, so we are going to be all busy with visitors the next few weeks- yay! I figure we should get lots of visitors in during the summer months since no one will want to come see us in January and February :P (not that i blame them!) Now we just need to find some skiing friend who wants to visit in the dead of winter :)

Must go be productive while the baby is asleep!

The many faces of Adelle

She does the eyebrow thing fairly frequently.

Wrapped in her Mommy's "Bunny Blanket"*Yawn*

Gazing into each other's big eyes

Her brothers soothing her through a diaper change.

All dressed and making a face at Isaac

A dress from Mary

I can almost hear her thinking "Why is this lady always taking my picture?"

I am a boring blogger

Sorry, folks. My blogging skillz (everything is better when you add a z to the end) have been somewhat lacking as of lack. Could be that I have a newborn and three other kids to take care of. Could be the fact that my husband has created a monster and got me to read the Twilight series. Could be that my camera makes me angry and I don't like the way any of the pictures turn out. Or perhaps I am just too lazy?

Life is, all in all, pretty good, I think. There have definitely been adjustments over the last few weeks, but I think it is going relatively smoothly. 3 to 4 has been easier than 2 to 3, for sure. Adelle, so far, has been pretty easygoing baby. So far is the key phrase here. I have had enough kids to know that how they are in the first few weeks is not necessarily indicative of how they will be in a few months. Case in point: Liam. Mellow little guy the first 4 months. And then, he started to move and the mellow was over. So for now I will be thankful for Adelle's chilled-outness and try not to anticipate the upcoming months.

We are all pretty smitten with her, she is a gorgeous little lady. The kids enjoy talking to her and holding her. I love watching her sleep, so peaceful and serene. She will be four weeks old in a few days, the time goes by too fast. We have been getting the first glimpses into an intentional smile now and then the last few days and she has cooed at me a couple of times.

The weather is now nice enough that the kids are able to play outside a lot and are enjoying playing in the sprinkler when they can. Lots of bike riding and walks. I love summer here- my only complaint is that it is too short!

So there you have it, the big update. I need to sift through my pictures to find some acceptable ones soon.

Well, I tried

On Friday night, while Joe was watching a "guy movie", I tried to blog. But blogger was being sooooo sloooooow, so I abandoned that project. BUT! We went to Yellowstone yesterday *and* Joe downloaded his pictures from our Father's Day picnic, so if you want to see some pictures, you can mosy on over to his blog:

Figment of Reality

More baby goodness

From this (taken the morning I went into labor, about 11 hours before she was born):

To this:

Snooze on Mama

Sweet cloth diaper-y goodness

In the sweater and hat I made her- it is still chilly here.

Love my Papa

Our sweet girl is here

Adelle Caroline joined our family at about 7:55 P.M. on Saturday, June 13th. Her birth was beautiful and at times, intense. It was miraculous and ordinary. A blessing.

She weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 19 1/2 in long. I will post more later when my hands aren't so tied up :)