The Batemans

Absolutely Shocking!

2012-01-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

Here's what we do around here to keep ourselves entertained!

Cakey fed himself Taco Soup and LOVED it!

Yesterday I let Benson eat pudding right out of the bowl and he said he was done and left the table. A few minutes later this is what I came in and found.

I think this was the best part of my day by far! The worst was taking him away from the pudding. I still marvel that he fit the whole spoon in his mouth!

And one last video of my little super girl. Kimber insists on wearing her cape with the purple side, yeah that means purple side in. Kinda confusing!

More Cruise

2012-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

So these pictures are out of order but lets be honest, you don't care!

Rachel and I at the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Daniel and I walking back to the ship in Nassau. Some guy gave me and Jade flowers on the beach so I wore mine.

Jade, Rachel and I visiting Senor Frog.

Jordan got ripped off by the hair braiders, good thing there wasn't much to braid!

All of us in the D.R.

Daniel and I waiting for our excursion in Grand Turks with the Freedom, left, and Glory in the background. Don't know how but the Glory was always behind us while sailing but would dock before us every time!

Daniel sandwich. Beach time on our excursion.

Bateman Brother Totem Pole, Fort Lauderdale.

Most of the family in Fort Lauderdale.

Fresh on the boat, waiting to sail.

Paddle boarding in Nassau. All 3 of them were on one board here.

First formal night. Ok, time to brag, I bought that dress at Ross for $17!

Enjoying the sun in Grand Turk after our excursions.

Second formal night. I also got this dress at Ross for $16!

Rachel had a crush on Josh Groban, I mean our bar tender!

The magician that did a private show for us. Pretty amazing!

That is all. Have a good night!

Cruise 2012

2012-01-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

After being home for a week and a half I think it is about time the I posted about our cruise! I have finally stopped swaying as I walk or getting super dizzy when I turn around so I can go back and share our fun with you now!

So I was really looking forward to getting and Everything Bagel with Herb and Garlic cream cheese from Tim Hortons in the airport especially since the night before we had gotten a Timmy Ho's GC. There wasn't a Tim Horton's in the Airport!! Plus we found out later that we had forgotten our GC anyways so I guess it worked out in the end.

Once in Fort Lauderdale we enjoyed the sun! Daniel working on his tan. Believe it or not by the time we got home we had a tiny bit of color! Now to some of our friends we may just look like a different shade of pale but it is a tan in deed!

Daniel's brother Jordan was really wanting to be a merman so his wish was granted. He laid there for quite a while every time some girls walked by we watched for their reactions but they would look out the the ocean and not give him the time of day!

I worked quite hard to bury my feet. Why?

I don't know but I think I did a pretty good job!

We spent New Year's Eve in Fort Lauderdale. We decided to stay low key and ordered in Chinese food and ate down by the pool. It was really nice. We went around telling our favorite part of 2011. My top choices were swiped by other people, moving back to Edmonton and Daniel graduating. I went with finally exploring some of Portland (Saturday Market) and finally trying Voodoo donuts. I think it was about time that we did that!

Once we were on the boat I felt like vacation really started! Our first stop was Nassau Bahama's. This was my favorite stop!!

There was a festival going on when we arrived so we got to see some of the parade as we walked by. This was a good float and very realistic... especially the short viel and the short sleeves and poofy skirt of the "Kate's" wedding dress.

This shows how colorful the costumes were. Most of these were made out of cardboard and crepe paper! I think that some of the guys actually took jeans and put crepe paper right on them. One of my favorite costumes is the lady that this clip ends on!

From the festival we walked down to the beach and we made a wrong turn and found Senor Frog's. It reminded me of McKay. My MIL took a picture of me and my SIL's by the giant frog. I saw another Senor Frog's in San Juan. I wish I had taken a picture of it but there was giant frog head sitting on top of the building.

Once at the beach we relaxed and soaked up the sun. Can you tell that my MIL and SIL are related? I liked how there were standing out there quite similarly.

Our sister ship Carnival Glory had a rowdy bunch guys possibly on a bachelor party trip? That was our guess. Anyhow it was pretty disturbing but how could I not share it with you? Jade told the guys when they approached us that we were married. Did I mention the boys were off on an excursion together? Group of girls sun tanning together, we were sitting ducks!

Yikes!

View of the Dominican from our boat. Wasn't our favorite port, sorry Brandon! Could have been partly due to the rain but also due to nothing being right at the port. Daniel and most of his family took a bus into town for $5 each and did a bit of shopping. Rachel and I just went to the duty free shop and got back on the boat. I had a great nap! I slept best and felt best when the ship was docked!

Walking up the the duty free store this welcomed us to the country.

This was right beside the boat as we loaded back on.

Here we are in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the San Cristobal Fort. It was really neat walking around exploring it. In the distance in this picture you can see El Morro, the other big fort in San Juan.

Our boat, Carnival Freedom, from up in San Cristobal.

View of San Juan from the Fort.

We split in to 3 groups that day. Some went to both forts and a little shopping. Some did the one fort and went exploring for architecture and shopping. Then Daniel, Rachel and I went to the one fort and did a little shopping on our way back to the boat. I was not feeling good at all by this point in the trip and was debating whether or not I would ever consider another cruise so I wanted to get some rest on the ship before it started moving again! We got some maraca's for McKay. Unfortunately Benson used them as drumsticks and broke one of them within 3 days of us being home. We also found some jewelry for me. Yay!

By now our memory card was full so I will try and get some pictures from everybody else to share!

Our last stop was Grand Turks. We all had excursions for here. Daniel's siblings went power snorkelling together and had a bus ride on the island to get to their spot. Daniel and I went with his parents on the booze cruise, I mean the catamaran sail, snorkel and beach excursion. It was pretty fun. The crew was funny which made it more interesting. I found that I am not one for snorkelling! I could breath in the mask as long as my face wasn't in the water. As soon as I put my face in the water I would start hyperventilating. I did see an eel though that nobody else saw!

We enjoyed the entertainment on the cruise. We went to the family comedy show every night and then to the big theater for the main production. There was a magician that had troubles meeting up with the boat and finally did a show the last night we were on the boat. Jared and Jade were invited up to help with a trick. We taped it on their camera for them. It was pretty fun. At dinner that night though the boats local magician was walking through the dining room and our eating buddies from Ontario stopped him and asked for a private show. It was the mother's birthday so we helped sing happy birthday and got the magician's attention and he came and gave us a private show as well. I think we enjoyed that show better but both were entertaining!

All in all it was a fantastic trip! I think if I went on a cruise again I would do one that was more in the Gulf of Mexico as opposed more open seas. It was great spending so much time with family and for some of them getting to know them better! Yes Jared and Jade that would be you! We have lived in the states for so long and Jared left on his mission right after we got married so we just haven't had as much time to spend with them.

I will even admit that I was ready to see the kids by the end of the trip. I would see parents carry sleeping child back to the cabins and I would miss them! Every time our neighbors across the hall had a tantrum and screaming fit though I was more than ok being away from the kids though!

I will try and add more pictures once Daniel is home from work with the pictures from his family! For now I am done!!

Walking Man

2011-12-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

My Baby is walking!

Oh, and he likes Pop Rocks!

Christmas Time

2011-12-29T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well we had a great Christmas this year. Santa was really nice to all of us and spoiled us rotten.

McKay is a big fan of the wagon as long as nobody is touching it while he is playing in it! Hopefully that will change when we start taking it outside!

The kids love their wagon! We are storing it in the basement for now and look forward to lots of walks come spring time!

First look at all that Santa brought us. Kimber loves her kitchen! I have been wanting to get her one but never got to it so it is perfect!

Ok, I totally understood what I got here after reading a few lines but was so confused as to how it all was coordinated. Santa is a very sneaky man and made the arrangements of delivery for while we were at church! Honestly, I started crying just now when I was watching the video because I am so excited for this! I LOVE IT!

We forgot to bring this present over with everything else so we brought this in after breakfast before opening all the presents. I am looking forward to going out with the kids and sledding with them. Benson is getting to a really fun age where he really wants to get out of the house and do stuff like this.

Here is the present that I worked hard on this year. I got sick of the kids using Cakey's blankets as capes so I made each of them their very own cape. They look so cute wearing them. Kimber looks pretty funny with the mask on as it gives her little slits for eyes but she is so cute being 'Batman'!

We are just about ready for our cruise. I knew I had to post this before we left so that I wouldn't be so behind when we get back. We drop the kids off tonight and will be listening in on them while they sleep so Brooke and Aric can get out for one last date before being bombarded by kids. We leave EARLY tomorrow morning and will be soon enjoying the warm Caribbean sun. So Excited!! I am taking my camera unlike almost every other trip lately and will take lots of pictures!

Hope you all have a great New Year's! Talk to you next year!

Christmas Concert

2011-12-19T18:00:00.001-08:00

Today Benson's class gave a Christmas Concert. They were so cute singing and doing their little actions. Unfortunately Benson was NOT interested in singing so he stood there the whole time. I videoed it but blogger is giving me troubles so I can't upload it here but I have a link to Facebook to watch it.

Part of the class. I couldn't get all of the kids in with my camera.

Here are the kids last week. Benson got sick at school on Wednesday and came home and laid on my chair watching a movie. He ended up falling asleep there after dinner. I felt so bad for him. Kimber wants to most things that Benson does so she snuggled into Daniel's chair.

Things are going well here. We are getting ready for Christmas and Benson is very diligently keeping our countdown going for us. I just have to make one last thing for each kid and then we will be done getting our presents ready.

We may be getting excited for after Christmas activities, 12 days until our cruise, if you were wondering. I have to give a big thank you in advance to Brooke for taking our kids for us. We hope you all have a great holiday season this year. I just sent out our email Christmas letter today. If you didn't get one and would like one please leave me your email either in the comments or message me in Facebook.

We are alive!

2011-12-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know we are still here.

My MIL took us out yesterday to get pictures taken of the kids and we got a copy of one pose on a cd. This was such a cute pose! I didn't want anything Christmas in the photo but McKay found some ornament balls and would not let them go but he was content so why should I care?

We also went and saw Santa. This was my first time taking my kids to see a Mall Santa and with 3 kids in the picture it almost made it worth the money!

Santa asked McKay what he wanted and Auntie Rachel suggested a spoon to chew on. He then asked Bens what he wanted and Benson replied with 'I don't know'. Santa told him to think about it and have Mommy help him write a letter and send it to the North Pole. Santa forgot to ask Kimber so I asked her if she had told Santa what she wanted and she timidly said 'Des-a' (Dress-up clothes). I had been working up Kimber to see Santa so she wouldn't have any tears when the time came.

Merry Christmas everyone! 24 days until Christmas, enjoy!!

November

2011-11-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

So this week has been interesting. I will start with Tuesday. I told Benson that when I came down stairs that we were going to cut his hair to even it out. When I got down stairs with the clippers I found THE scissors from our last incident out and little bits of hair on them. I looked at his head and found it cut again in two spots. He trimmed up his last job and then cut some more hair farther back. The 'best' part of this is that he went into a locked cupboard and got the scissors out to cut his hair. (Sarcasm!) I proceeded to take the #1 guard and buzzed his hair right down. Hopefully it is decently long by November 30 when we have pictures booked for the kids.

On a colder note Winter has come!

It started snowing on Thursday and the kids were chomping at the bit to go out and play in the snow.

Benson being a ham out there.

Kimber making her ugly noise but she looks so cute and funny!

This looks like a Portland amount of snow that would shut down the city. By the time Daniel got home from work there was a couple of inches on the ground. Now there isn't even a spec of our pretty green grass showing out there.

Here are my little rugrats tonight. Kimber and McKay have crazy hair going on and Benson just doesn't have enough hair to be crazy!

Daniel hosted an open house at his work on Wednesday to get word out to family and friends that he is working. We had a good turn out and were able to see some friends and family we haven't seen in a while. He got a little bit of business out of it to which is great! Hint, hint, if you are in the Edmonton area and need a great Chiropractor come visit him at the Century Park Pain and Health Clinic.

(780) 628-7219

Thursday night we went to the first showing of Twilight's Breaking Dawn Part 1. We enjoyed it and look forward to seeing the next one. Due to technical difficulties we didn't get into the theater until 10 minutes before the show was supposed to start and it started about 20 minutes late we got free tickets to use and special edition Twilight concession cups. Boo-yah! It was a good night though.

Last but not least, can I just say that I love eating New York Steak from The Keg?! We went there last night for a date and loved it! I am looking forward to our cruise when I could eat them more often! On that note, have a great night!

Happy Birthday Pa'a!

2011-11-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know we were thinking of you today. Hope it was a great birthday and we love you!

Have a 'Froggy' Birthday!

2011-11-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that my little baby is turning 1 already! This year really did go by way to quick! At this point with the other two kids I was either ready for another baby or already pregnant so they didn't seem like babies to me anymore but McKay is definitely my little baby still. How can he be 1 already?!

I made a frog cake this year for my little frog. It seems to be tradition that our kids get an animal cake for their first birthday that represent them. Bens was a monkey, Kimber a little miss piggy and McKay is our little froggy.

PS- Bulk Barn rents cake pans! I used a butterfly cake pan for the body of our frog and it only cost us $2.40 to rent it!

The lily pad cupcakes. I used one of these as McKay's smash cake. I had fun making these ones! Hmmm, maybe that is because it was 12:30 in the morning...

Chowing down on Costco pizza. This little guy ate 4 pieces!!

We had a lot of family come over to celebrate with us tonight. Thanks everybody for coming and for all the presents! Yes that really is a box of Cheerios... we may be getting low on our supply! Kidding. He loves them though!!

New touque just in time, it snowed last night!

Grandma put a touque in the bag for Kimber and Benson as well. Kimber enjoyed sporting hers for all of us.

McKay thinking wether or not he liked the cake... it was a smash!

It's not easy being green!

One of THOSE weeks...

2011-11-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have been in a slump this week. Really agitated and not any fun to be around. Wednesday was a good kick in the pants... well maybe a rip in the pants as that is what happened to my one and only pair of jeans that fits me. I sat down to change McKay's diaper and I heard my pants give way. I only got them at Christmas.

Yesterday I started feeling a little bit better. Daniel took me out to DQ for a blizzard. As my birthday is coming up we got a bogo coupon that helped us justify buying them. This morning I was feeling even better. I came down and found Benson snuggled in my blanket on the couch trying to get some more sleep. It was so cute!

Can I just say that my kids are not perfect and neither am I. I have always prided myself on the fact that my kids don't play with scissors and would never cut their own hair.

Well that is what I thought before this morning. As I was talking to my cute Benson all snuggled up in my blanket and took a close look at that adorable face and his hair Brooke and I cut last Friday and what did I see? A patch of hair missing that was cut right down to the scalp!!!! This picture doesn't even do it justice! To Benson's defence he immediately told me where I could find the scissors and they are up very high now.

Taped confession. Before.

After... and explaining why he did it. Grandma aslo came over to help me give the haircut as I wasn't sure how short to take his hair!

Yesterday McKay got his first time out. Kids are so cute in their first time out as they don't know what it is and have fun sitting there on the step swinging their feet. I figure that now is the time to get him used to time outs so later on when he really needs them he understands them.

Today McKay got his second time out, it was for the same offense so I am being consistant. I put him back on the step a couple of times and then said he could come out. At which point Benson decided it was a good idea to play with McKay on the step. Next thing I know McKay is laid out on the floor bawling not moving and Benson is sitting right beside him. I went over and got after Benson and then picked up McKay to find blood all over his face and hands. His lip cut open and was bleeding pretty badly.

Benson is at school now sporting his new haircut (which will be re-cut next week to even it out some more) and McKay is sleeping in his crib. McKay got a wonderful lunch that consisted mainly of freezies. Good thing I got those to hand out at Halloween!

Kimber was pretty good today and kinda floated around the caos. She has needed attention, I guess she is feeling like a middle child today.

Hopefully sometime this weekend I will get to go shopping to get new jeans so I have some pants to wear besides work out clothes. Hopefully Benson will start getting into less mischief, and hopefully McKay will feel a lot better and his fat lip will go down a bit.

Well 27 years old can only get better from here when 26 is ending like this, right? Oh, the cougar comments can be spared this year, I really don't have the sense of humour to deal with them right now. Just a warning.

Here's to a better day, week and year!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween to everybody. I hope you all had a great one! We had an awesome time.

Our Halloween started out with Benson getting ready for his Preschool party. Here is our pirate chomping at the bit to go to the party!

Here he is trying to sing the Ballad of Bad Beard from Phineas and Ferb.

Here is Benson with his BFF from school.

Here they are playing at one of the stations ready for their party!

How cute are they? My Pirate, Puppy and Dracula ready to go out.

We were pretty busy last night. I made them scarf some dinner down at 4:30 so we could go to the mall and visit Emily. We got there and saw her around 5:45. They got a few pieces of candy there but then we went to Auntie Brooke's house for a good scare! Their front hallway was awesome! I didn't take any pictures but I am sure she will be posting some soon. From there we left for Grandma's house around 6 (we were supposed to already be there) to see everybody there.

We got to see Auntie Jade, who is Benson's new favorite Aunt because 'they are friends' and see most of the family. My FIL was in a radio contest for the spookiest laugh in Edmonton. We thought he should have won but we may be biased!! After visiting for a bit we went Trick-or-treating around my In-Laws house and came back for a short rest.

McKay has fallen in love with the piano! I loved watching him dance and kick his feet while he played.

After this we made one more quick stop at Daniel's Aunt and Uncle's. We then came back home and Daniel took the older 2 out through our complex and a few house right nearby.

Here are my Trick-or-treaters coming home.

The Kids and their loot! Way too much candy!!

My cute little doggy. Her nose was so smudged before we even left the house last night! She was so excited to have candy to eat!

Daniel let the kids stay up for an hour and eat some candy before bedtime. Lucky for me they slept in a decent amount this morning! Benson was in hysterics though when we put him on the toilet before we went to bed. He was so tired he was bawling. I hugged him for a bit and then put him back in bed.

October Fun.

2011-10-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been fun and eventful around here.

Kimber got to go shopping with Grandma and Rachel one day and here she is all ready to go. She looked so cute. This was her first time wearing her boots and they are a little bit slippery so when they came to the door she got so excited she fell right on the floor!

The next day she got to have a special Daddy-Kimber day. As this was Daniel's last week before starting as a Dr he took the kids out for special days. Kimber went swimming at the Terwilliger Rec Center. After that she got to go to the mall and go shopping at Claire's. I guess she was in HEAVEN! She didn't want to leave but she picked out a pretty purple necklace that she has been hard pressed to be parted with since!

McKay loves to dance! He has been doing this quite a bit lately. This is a hymn that I know is in the Samoan and Japanese hymn books but it isn't in the English one. I love the tune and reminds me of when I was little and my Dad would rock me back to sleep while singing it in Samoan.

Here is Benson dancing to it. Kimber wouldn't dance so I won't put that video on. I couldn't help but laugh when filming it!!

McKay snuggles are the best, I was a little jealous of Daniel!

I look after Naomi every Thursday while Brooke is at work so here is video of her. Proof to Brooke that she really is a happy girl while she is here! It helps having her favorite cousin around to entertain her!

Here is my handsome Benson ready for his Daddy-Benson day. He got to go shopping and bought a police set with gun, badge, radio and more and a motorcycle all curtesy of the dollar store. After that he played at an indoor playground at the Terwilliger Rec center and then went swimming after. To complete his special day he got to eat at A&W. He just loved his day with Daddy!!

Here is my big boy McKay. I can't believe he is turning 1 in 2 weeks! I am not ready for that! He is getting into everything now! I wanted to put this pictures up so that Shar could see how cute he looks in this outfit complete with Oilers slippers!

We carved our pumpkin for FHE last week. Benson was a little bit leery of putting his hand into the pumpkin but eventually got some of the guts out for us!

The grand architect for it was... Benson! Daniel had Benson draw the face on with pencil and then Daniel sharpied it and cut it out. He did an amazing job at the design. I was so proud of him!!

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday night Daniel and I went to Galaxyland for $5 each and went on a few rides each before heading off to a Halloween party. I don't have a picture of our costume (pigs in a blanket) but here is the 'spooky treat' we took. I went more for the gross end of spooky and made Kitty Litter Cake complete with poop. The kids were so excited to help me crumble the cookies and place the poops. We still have left overs and Benson will ask me if he can have some poop. This is as close to having a cat as we will ever come!!

Benson really was excited about the cake, I promise. I like how Kimber really tried to say kitty litter but I am not sure what she actually said!!

Have a Happy Halloween! I will post our costumes and what not later. Enjoy!!

Festive Fun!

2011-10-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

We have been starting to get into fall and all the great holidays that it brings. Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving. Yes my American friends we have it much earlier in the year but we don't get Turkey overload in a months span! Last Saturday we started off our festivities with the ward Fun Run. No I didn't participate but I went for the breakfast they had afterward! After that McKay, Kimber and I went and watched the family Turkey bowl. Starting last year Daniel's family has done an annual Turkey bowl with my SIL's family. It was fun to watch, well lets be honest, I read a book while they played!

Daniel's Aunt found some really cute onesies for the younger two. I am having a hard time believing how big McKay is getting. I know that I say that every time I am on here but he is turning 1 in a month!

Kimber's onesie is a little bit too accurate! McKay has had fewer bite marks but Kimber keeps them coming still!

I was so proud of McKay for listening on demand here. He is such a sweet little man. I am starting to think I need to give him a haircut but I don't want to lose his curls. I suppose I will do the sides and then try and trip up the top.

Kimber was so cute when she started listing everybody that she loves. Sorry she didn't get the entire family but she did pretty good considering her attention span suits her 2 years!

My little monkey! When I put her down for her nap last week she was looking so pretty and had a sleeping bag on. This is how she emerged! How could I not laugh and take a picture!

McKay and Grandma enjoying the football game. Poor Daniel got kneed near the beginning of the game and had to sit it out. He is doing much better.

Oh Kimber! She loves playing dress up. It actually reminds me of me when I was little. Unfortunately I don't have the picture I was thinking of on my computer!

Anyways, we are getting ready for Halloween now. Daniel brought home a pumpkin today so let the fun begin! Benson is wanting to be pirate for Halloween. Kimber will be donning our dog costume and McKay is not the same age the other two were so he can't continue the tradition of being a Monkey for his first halloween. I guess we will skip right on to being Dracula for him!

Playtime!

2011-10-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

We finally got a playroom together for the kids. Daniel worked really hard last Thursday and the kids have loved playing down there ever since.

Daniel was looking for some carpet to put down there but long story short that didn't work out. He went to Wal-Mart instead and bought the colored mats. Daniel's brother Jared gave us the love seat that we put down there. It is nice to have down there for us when we are watching them.

Only problem I see with it is that Kimber can't open the doors or turn on/off the lights. Yesterday she wanted to put a couple of toys back in there that she had brought upstairs and sat on the bottom step just bawling. She has been pretty good at perfecting her crying. On Monday she started crying when Benson left for school. I told her that he was going to school to which to retorted pointing to herself and bawling, "My school!" I told her she could maybe go next year if she started going potty on the toilet and talked better. She went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet with no success. Yesterday Daniel took McKay out for a few minutes and she started bawling again. I told her I need some help singing songs because I didn't think I knew them. I asked if she knew them and she cried "Yes". I then asked if she would help me sing them and she cried "No". It was so pitiful!

McKay has been a sad boy lately too, with good reason. He pushed his 5th tooth through this week. It wasn't the tooth I was expecting though so we are still waiting for more to pop through. He is getting too grown up! My niece Naomi is turning one in a week and just makes me realize that McKay's birthday is coming quickly behind it. I don't know when he grew up!

Daniel is doing well. We are waiting for his license to come through. It seems like it never will but I am enjoying having Daniel home so much. He is working 2 days a week at the clinic doing non chiropractic related work. Oh, we got a second recliner so now we watch TV like an old married couple side by side in our recliners. Have to say that I am loving it!

Not too much else is going on here. We are enjoying being so close to our family. The weather is in full swing fall which is nice. I am just waiting for the morning that we wake up to snow though. What are the chances it will wait until after Halloween? Pretty slim I think!!

Preschool!

2011-09-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

I am not sure I was really ready for this! Benson is in Preschool now. He had his first day yesterday and I am happy to report he did very well!

All morning he was super excited to go and kept asking when we were going to leave. I had him pack his snacks on his own.

Getting his backpack ready. A big thank you to Brooke who came over and looked after Kimber and McKay while I took Benson to school.

How cute is he?

Please excuse all the crying but Benson was too cute, I couldn't cut this out of the post! After the camera was off he added 'I love you'!

"School was fun. Exercising was fun. I exercised with a soccer ball. I played in a play kitchen. They have a little house in the school with a little kitchen. I like preschool so much I want to go to it all day." That is from an email we sent to my Mom this morning telling her about his first day.

His teacher told me when I picked him up that he is ready for school and excited about it. I guess he told her at one point that he 'already knows the classroom'.

Picking him up from school was a bit interesting. I brought the younger two with me. I ended up carrying Kimber while Benson pushed McKay in the stroller. Benson kept letting go of the stroller while we were walking and I kept telling him to hang on to it. This ended up with me screaming my head off as I watched McKay roll over the squared off curb and into the road. Luckily my scream startled the one car on the road and I ran out and grabbed the stroller. Benson is no longer allowed to push the stroller.

Now a cute video of McKay eating spaghetti last night. I don't know if he is scared of Benson now or if he really doesn't like Benson trying to feed him, this is what happened right before Benson's cute video telling us about his day.

Now I must be off. Kimber is sick again today and I am not feeling so hot right now and should use the kids nap time as down time for myself! Enjoy your day!!

Backyard

2011-09-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

So I told you a little bit about our backyard when we first got here. I never did get a picture of my friends but they were there! Now I look forward to our kids being able to go out into a backyard and play. We have only been married 5 years so I think it is about time that we actually had a backyard.

This is our lovely before of the yard. I wish I had gotten a video or picture of the old fence but it was decrepit and the gate did not open without much persuasion.

Here is our lovely backyard now. I love it so much! But for now it is to look at until the sod takes. Can you tell that I am a bit excited about the backyard?

Thanks to the help of my in-laws we got most of the work done before Daniel got home from work today. Jordan did a great job with the grunt work and the rest of the family took care of the kids while we worked. Benson actually helped Gramps replace a toilet, well with the beginning of the job.

Daniel and I also went and test drove some Hyundai's and got 4 free movie tickets. I think we will be going on some dates soon!

Now to end here are some video's and pictures of the kids eating oreo's and showing me their guns.

Poor Girl.

2011-08-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

My poor baby girl is sick today. She is cute regardless what comes out of her though. I hope she starts feeling better soon though!

This is Kimber earlier today. She has been in pretty good spirits despite being sick.

When I got jer out of bed this morning she had a piece of tape Daniel had put on her foot last night (he tapes Bens' foot nightly and she doesn't like being left out) wadded up and said she had it in her mouth. She then started gagging and spat up a bit but I thought it was nothing. Guess not!

August thus far.

2011-08-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Keep going after this post as I have done 3 postings today!!

So we are starting to get settled in here in Edmonton. First I want to say Thank You to all our friends in Portland. I really couldn't have made it through all of the packing/cleaning without all of you help!

Meaghan was awesome and kicked us out of our house when we finished the cleaning. She arranged for sleepovers for Benson and Kimber and then Daniel, McKay and I slept at her house so we could just be done at the apartment and could just get up and go the next morning. My Father-in-law also flew down and helped with loading the truck and then drove the truck to Edmonton in one straight shot. Thanks to Rob and Rachel, well Rob as Rachel was gone, who let him crash there so he could get up early and leave.

My in-laws found us a town house and made all the arrangements for us to get in early and get settled in so quickly. I feel really blessed to have such amazing in-laws! I love you!

Daniel is settling in really well at the office. He has a lighter schedule for now as he can only be there when Curtis is. Once he is licensed he will go in a lot more. For now I enjoy his 3 day week and long lunches!!

Other than settling in we have been pretty busy. We were lucky enough that Curtis decided to take 1 day off which meant Daniel had almost a week off from work so we went out to Gram's cabin in the Okanagan. While we were there we met some cousins from England and took them to Fintry which is nearby and climbed the stairs to the falls. I would say hike but it was just stairs. I had never done it so Daniel said we should go.

I had the camera on the wrong setting so most of these are blurry. Sorry!

McKay was sleeping to Grandma stayed with him at the cabin so here are the rest of us on one of the platforms.

I was not wanting to have my picture taken as I was just waiting to get into the lake and wash my hair. Daniel really wanted to have documentation that I actually went to Fintry so here we go. I was there!

My Father-in-law being a good sport wearing Kimber's hat.

We loved being at the lake and regret that the trip was so short! We are looking forward to going back out there next summer! Daniel enjoyed getting out behind the boat again. He wakeboarded, slalomed, and surfed. I was finally convinced to go kneeboarding. They have a kneeboard that the rope hooks onto so you don't have to hold yourself on the rope while you get up. Perfect for me! I went out 2 different times, the first time ended by me getting hit by my elbow (?) on my thigh and getting an insta bruise which is finally going away after a week and the last time by my arms getting tired and I let go and waved to them as the drove off. It was fun.

I have been enjoying being so close to family. Brooke stopped by yesterday on her way to Wal-Mart so I offered to look after Naomi while she did her shopping.

Kimber loves Naomi but she can be a bit of a bully so I have to keep an eye on her. I did her hair which she wasn't a fan of but she looked cute!

McKay started to wave at me so I got out the camera and got mesmerized by the camera. He is growing up way too fast. He has 3 teeth now, 4 and 5 should be coming through any day now though. He is crawling all over the place army style but tries to get up on all 4's. The other day we went swimming and he was crawling on all 4's in the shallow end so he can do it. He has also started to pull himself up on stuff. My days with a stationary baby are quickly coming to an end!

Hey You Gu-uys!

2011-08-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yup, that is right! We went to the Goonies sights! We had to keep the Wutzke/Palsky (now known as the Wulsky's for writing purposes) entertained while visiting us and they wanted a beach day so why not do something we hadn't done before?

On our walk up the driveway I told Benson what we were doing. He had never seen the movie so it meant nothing to him. A few days later though Goonies was on TV so he was allowed to stay up and watch it. Lucky guy!

Benson having fun. He was more excited about this rock then the house.

Mommy and Benson infront of the house. McKay and Kimber fell asleep in the car so Daniel waited down there for us and then he ran up after to see the house.

Auntie Brooke taken by Benson. If the camera is out he wants to take pictures!

We stopped for lunch in Astoria at a Thai restaurant. In theory that sounds great but I am not that adventurous and I had 4 large sores scattered through my mouth so this was less than good for me. I like the cone of rice though.

Benson trying to get out of the County Jail from the beginning of the movie.

Daniel succeeded in getting out.

Along our journey we stopped in Seaside to look at the beach there. Benson was cold so he used Daniel's sweater. Did I mention it rained the entire day? Oh yeah, it was sunny, even hot in Portland that day and we missed that!

Finally made it down to Cannon beach.

Kimber loved walking in the water. She also biffed it on the sand about 4 times and had to keep washing off in the water. She had fun with that the first time and then didn't want to do it anymore. She was so cold!!

Yes, this was all on our 5 anniversary. We learned on thing that day. Wulsky's we love you so don't take this personally. We are never hosting on our anniversary again. If anybody wants to come for a visit around July 15 we will neglect our hosting duties for the day and you will be babysitting so we can go out and have a proper date.

This reminds me of a picture we took on our honeymoon in Banff.

Me trying to hold the rocks at Canon Beach.

From here we drove to Newport to catch the drive in theater. We followed the GPS and it took us on some random, windy, back roads. We kept losing the Wulsky's and found out later that Brooke who had been in the back of the van was very car sick. I should have known as she gets sick looking at a merry go round. We saw Kung-fu Panda 2 and Green Lantern. The kids enjoyed the first and went to sleep after. Daniel and I both also went to sleep as Green Lantern was less than steller but Daniel wanted to see the ending so we stayed. Bonus though is that we went and saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter in 3D the night, or morning, before so that was awesome!!

Portland catch up

2011-08-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I am finally going to start catching up on my blog posts! Here first our a few random videos from our last little bit of time in Portland. We miss it so much. The other day Benson got really sad and said he missed Portland. We think he was talking about the swimming pool we went to there. He also told me about a bad dream he had. Apparently he and Chandler were fighting bad guys and Chandler died!! That is a very bad dream!

Here is our late celebration for Kimber's birthday. We hosted the last Sunday dinner with our friends so we made some brownies so Kimber could blow out the candles.

The beginning is Bethany checking out the camera but I love the end with Kimber. She still says 2 by making a L with her fingers.

Brooke and Aric came for a visit with some friends . They arrived a few days after Brooke's birthday so I made a cake for her. I think she had birthday cake at three of her vacation stops! Lucky girl!

We finally took the kids on the MAX in Portland. Ok so it was my first time as well. I know that is kinda ridiculous as it was in our last 1 1/2 weeks in Portland but we had a blast. This picture is of Benson waiting 'paitently' to get on the train. He really is a little monkey!

Benson was sooo excited to be on the train!

Kimber and McKay waiting. I love McKay's smile. It lights up his whole face and melts my heart!!

While we were down town for Saturday Market we went to Voodoo Donuts so that the Wutzke's and Palsky's could have a true Porltand experience! McKay and I didn't go in as there isn't much room in the shop and we would have occupied most of it!

Here is our view of Voodoo Donuts from across the street. The people lined up right outside the window is just a small portion of the line waiting to get into the shop.

We Made It!

2011-07-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! Just want to write a little bit to let you know that we are still alive. No pictures this time but I have a bunch to add once we have settled into our new place.

We made the long drive from Portland starting on Wednesday. We drove all the way to Nanton Alberta for those that are familiar with Southern Alberta. We got a dive of a motel for the night but it served its purpose. We got up and went to my brother BJ's house on Thursday morning. It was nice to see him and my other brother and his family came out there for lunch. I met my newest niece as well. It was great seeing them all!

After lunch we were onto Edmonton! We have been able to see all of Daniel's and my immediate family that is in the area. We are looking forward to being closer to all of them!

Friday morning Daniel had some help unloading the truck into our new apartment. Unfortunately we weren't able to actually unpack as the carpet cleaner came and cleaned the carpets while they were there. The carpets are dry now so we spent the afternoon over there setting up beds and moving some of the heavier furniture to where we want it. Kimber's room is pretty well set up. All I have left is to find some the wall decorations and then put up her curtains. McKay's bed is all set up and bedding done and what not but I have yet to find Benson's mattress protector. I know that it is somewhere! It is nice to actually feel like we are making progress.

McKay has grown up so much this week. On Sunday he started crawling so he is all over the place now! He also started to walk while holding onto our hands. I am in denial that he is actually getting that old.

That is all for now. Hopefully I will find our camera and take pictures of our new place before too long. I will have to show you the yard as well. Yes we actually have one, well compared to what we had at least! I also have a friend back there. He is taller than I am and his name is Thistle. I think I will be getting rid of him and our other friend Dandy Lion soon though. Both of these are at least my height if not taller. We have some work ahead of us!!

Sunday Afternoons

2011-07-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

So a couple Sundays ago we had some of our friends over for dinner and we all moved out onto the grass after to enjoy the nice weather... yes we have had some! Bethany took some awesome pictures! I really don't know what I am going to do without you taking pictures for us! Maybe I will get a good camera and take pictures or get my sister to take pictures!

All 4 couples that started out together. We were a much smaller group back then and could do dinners more easily together. We only had 2 kids back then and now we are up to 6!

You can see Mckay's teeth in this picture. I love it!!

There were more pictures of McKay and I just love them all so I did narrow it down to just a few!

Best Buds!

Silly Faces... I love Bensons!!

My sweet little guy! I can hardly believe he is 4 already! He is growing up way too fast.

So I don't know why but there are no pictures of Kimber but she was out and being pretty cute that night as well. Maybe she will get a post dedicated to her next.

This may be my last post for a while as I am stalling packing up our house as it is and will need to really get to it soon. I did have some help this morning from my Visiting Teacher. She brought two of her girls that helped pack stuff up and entertain the kids while I packed as well. I am feeling a lot better about this move now. Anyways, enough stalling! Enjoy these pictures!

Pictures

2011-07-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

So these pictures are from after Benson's birthday party and Bethany sent them to me a while ago so I am finally posting them. I love the pictures Bethany! Thanks!

I love Kimber's rolls!

Growing Kimber's bangs out is an on going process!

Chandler looks so cool sitting in the background.

My big boy!

I wasn't sure which copy I liked more so I am sharing both!

Benson is so grown up! He is getting to big too fast for me! Oh, have I ever told you how flexible Benson's ear are? The are completely malleable it is crazy. I thought of that because I can see the sunshine through his ear in this picture!

This is just a great action shot!

Still avoiding the things that need to be done! I know I should go get going on everything!

Zoo Day Again!

2011-07-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo last week because Lisa, Davey and Lily are back in town so we had to take advantage of that! Once again I forgot my camera so Thanks to Lisa I have pictures of our fun at the zoo!

Bens and Kimber riding the horses in the petting zoo area.

Kimber petting the goat. She had fun although you can't tell from her face in any of these pictures!

Benson petting a goat. He did really well and walked the whole time we were at the zoo.

The whole gang measuring up to the bears... well except Benson. I don't know why but lately he hasn't wanted to have his picture taken. Well only at times. So L-R there is Lily, Lisa, Chandler, Davey, Bethany, Kimber, Julie, Scarlett, me and then Benson off on the side.

The 3 musketeers sitting on the dinosaurs.

Benson getting eaten by the dinosaur.

The boys measuring up to the monkeys.

The girls hanging out with the baby lions. I promise Kimber was having fun!

It looks like the lion is super annoyed with Davey sitting on his head!

The boys posing for the camera.

Kimber got her turn on the lion too. She kind of lurked here until Scarlett moved and then she took over.

More of the boys with the lions.

I love this picture of these two. I can see why people think they are twins minus the fact that Benson looks like a ghost next to Chandler.

Recreating the other picture of the boys. I think Benson was excited to not be the only one in the picture!

Making funny faces...

and Benson after he was asked to make a real funny face.

So this has been a nice distraction from my day. Brooke is coming today for a visit so I am super excited for that but I am in need of adult interaction now though. This morning just started out all wrong. I walked in to get Kimber from her room to find her standing there with her pj's around her ankles, not a diaper in sight and a very wet bed (I still haven't found her diaper). I bathed Kimber and told her to go downstairs while I got McKay out of bed. I came down to find Kimber had gotten a hold of a sharpie marker and colored on her legs and arm. Yikes! Later she came up to me crying and I comforted her and sent her on her way. A few minutes later I looked at her and she has a bump and a bruise above her left eye. I really don't know what happened or what is going on in this house today. I am just enjoying nap time now! Now back to what needs to be done; dinner, dessert and more cleaning.

Peas!

2011-06-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for McKay. Well besides the obvious of it being Father's Day which was a good day for Daniel we started McKay on vegetables. I have been avoiding it just on grounds of being cheap but it is time he started so Daniel brought out the peas for McKay. I think he enjoyed it!

He really was ready and waiting for more peas.

I was having a few issues with nursing last night and again this morning so I took a look in McKay's mouth to find he has a tooth! It is on the bottom and I think his left side.

I am not sure that I am ready for my baby to be growing up so much! I am having a difficult time accepting that Kimber is turning two this weekend. Somebody piped up and said that I wanted her to turn 2 before McKay turns 1 so I guess I will let it happen!

Daniel had a good day yesterday. Started off with breakfast in bed and trying to talk to his Dad (who is in Paris with bad reception on his cell) and getting showered with presents. I made him make his own dinner though as I don't like curry and that is what he wanted. We ended it by playing Skip-Bo and let him win the first round. It was a nice day though and we have been enjoying having Daniel's Grandparents staying with us. I know of a few kids that will be sad when Grandma and Grandpa leave!

Introducing Dr. Bateman

2011-06-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

Daniel graduated today! We are so proud of Daniel and all of the hard work he has put into his schooling. The kids were relatively well behaved. I had some help with the kids as Daniel's grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle came to help us celebrate. Here are a few pictures from the day as well as a couple of videos. Bethany and Julie, I have some videos I need to send on to you but I would love to get copies of the group photos you took!!

Now here is Dr. Daniel.

Brandon and Daniel walking and getting their diploma's. When they were standing there the Dr turned their hood out to show their colors saying they are now Dr's.

Mike walking and getting his diploma/getting his colors. So exciting that they are all graduates now. We missed not having Jeff there graduating with them! Brandon is all done in the clinic now and Daniel will be finished in a few weeks and Mike not too long after that. We will all be moved on by September.

Our little family with Summa Cum Laude Dr. Bateman.

Benson practicing for when he comes back here to become a Dr like Daddy.

I think this is one of my favorites. This morning Kimber went into her closet and started tugging on this dress saying "Dre, dre, dre". I guess she really wanted to wear this!

McKay wearing Daddy's cap. He really just wanted to eat the diploma.

Me and Daniel... Kimber snuck in there too!

We had a bbq with the Barnette's and Humpherys' and company this afternoon to celebrate. It was raining all day so luckily we had a shelter to hide under. The kids had a great time running around playing with bubbles and getting wet!

Daniel's Grandparents bought us matching UWS hoodies as a grad present. Daniel also got a t-shirt that says Well Adjusted on it. We love them!

McKay was great and a big champ today. He stayed in his seat through most of the bbq and was happy as long as he had his spoon!

Kimber enjoying her dinner.

Congratulations Daniel! We are so proud of you! I also want to thank our parents for encouraging and support our decision to come here to school. Especially to Daniel's parents for raising such an amazing man that strives for his best. You did an amazing job!

Zoo Day!

2011-06-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo today with my cousin Madeline. It was great seeing her as the last time was 2 years ago.

Benson was really good and walked the whole day. He had a lot of fun looking at all the animals. He climbed up all over everything so he could see the animals!

Kimber loved to see all the animals. This was her second trip to the zoo. It was exciting to see her enjoy all the animals. I love the hat she is wearing! She actually kept it on most of the day.

McKay got tuckered out quickly but he did really well for his first trip to the zoo.

This picture reminded me of the first time we came to the zoo. Benson sure has grown up here in Portland!

These two enjoyed looking at what few animals they could see from the stroller. Kimber got to get out and look at some and play on some of the exhibits.

My Monkey trying to measure up.

Benson and Madeline playing the instruments in the African section of the zoo.

Kimber cried when I pulled her away from driving the African Safari. She just didn't get that the other kids wanted to drive it too!

Benson enjoyed the ride as Kimber drove the Safari Jeep.

Benson kept moving just as I took the pictures but I love this one that he finally stayed still for.

Benson went into here and said "Chandler, Davey"... made me feel kinda sad! We miss the Wach's and will miss all our other friends when we move next month. Look at this post.

The kids were really tired by the time we got home. Benson actually asked if he could go lay down in his bed for a while. He didn't actually sleep but he had a small quiet time.

Daniel has made it home safe and sound from Montreal yesterday. He was a sight for sore eyes to say the least. He has started his finals week now and we are looking forward to Commencement this weekend.

Mother, I Love You

2011-06-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at pictures tonight and I kept thinking, I want to add this one, this one and this one. Picture overload but I want to share with you my amazing mother! Tomorrow is my mother's birthday and I want her to know how amazing she is. It isn't going to be an especially fun birthday because she is getting on an airplane to go on her mission but...

when she gets off the plane she will be greeted to the beautiful country of Samoa.

My parents on their wedding day. I always loved looking at their wedding portrait in the living room. The joy on their faces was something I looked forward to having one day.

I am the last of 5 kids. Now that I am a mother of 3 I think... how did she do it? I am grateful that she did though. I have called my Mom with an 18 month old throwing a tantrum, me bawling my eyes out because I can't help my child and she tells me 'Go to your room, I can't hear you'! I have also called to share in little joys and triumphs of potty training, and the frustrations of it all. When something happens I always think, I need to call Mom to let her know. Thank you for being my friend, confidant and my go to person!

I don't know how we got talked into sitting in this box Christmas morning but I love having the crazy memories!

I love your sense of humour! Need I say more?

I will forever cherish the memories of our trip in Australia. Thank you for seeing my needs and helping me make them possible. You do this time and time again. I can think of three right off the top of my head right now. This trip being one of them. I really missed you while you were in Japan and I needed my Mom time! Second one that I thought of was when you took me to Utah to live in high school. Now as a mother I have a greater respect for the courage, sacrifice and love that that took to let me go live there. Thank you. That was the best part of high school for me and shaped my future in a lot of ways that are so important now. Third would be just this past March when I was at your house and you had the Girls Pow-Wow aka Chelsea's Intervention. I am still a work in progress and need to get back on the Pow-Wow Wagon but I appreciate you seeing a need and stepping in to help me fix it.

You are a seasoned traveler! I loved listening to your stories of backpacking through Europe and hoped I could do something like that. Now I look forward to maybe following in you tracks of travelling with Dad. Teaching in Japan, I think Daniel would love to go back, and really living in a culture to let it become a part of you is amazing. I like that Ed is the background of this... made me laugh when I first saw it.

I love this picture of you learning the proper way of picking strawberries.

You waited so long to have grandkids and made do with loving your friends grandkids.

Now you have many of your own that jump for joy to talk to Nana on the computer or to have to come visit. I have a lot to learn from you in loving children and nurturing them.

Four generations of Innis women.

I love to watch you with the kids. You get so joyful with them around. Even when they color on your carpet, or break your starfish, or poop on you or... you get the idea.

We are a bit of an interesting family.

I don't know if we don't take normal pictures

Or if I just don't get copies of the normal ones but I am glad that we have so much fun together.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday despite having to travel. Good luck on your mission! We will miss you so much but we a grateful for the great example you are to us. Hopefully will be able to come visit this time around in Samoa.

Seattle

2011-06-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

So I don't have any pictures for this one but trust me it was tons of fun and beautiful!

Thanks to Bethany we had a girls weekend last week up in Seattle. Julie, McKay and I went with Bethany and spent the night at Bethany's Aunt's house and then we went out on the town the next day. Yes McKay came with us. Daniel offered to keep him here for me but that would have been more work than it would have been worth... especially since McKay has never had a bottle!

Yes, I just took this off the web... I couldn't NOT share a picture.... it was too fun!

We had a great time chatting and playing games on Friday night. Saturday was B-E-A-utiful though! The sun was shining, a light breeze and we were in Pike Place Market.

One of the highlights was McKay's special friend! Julie told me was taking McKay's picture so I looked over my shoulder and saw someone walking away with their small camera on. Creepy! Then Julie said it again and I looked the other way to start walking and their was a lady right in front of me with a big SLR camera taking pictures. I had him in a Bjorn facing out so his blue eyes were staring out at everybody. About 5 minutes later after Bethany and Julie tried to lead us away and me finally just holding McKay's head so he was looking at the camera we made our escape! Wish I had copies of the pictures though!

I saw a shirt I wanted to get for Daniel but I could easily make one. "Trust Me, I'm A Doctor", how fitting?

We then made our way to Kerry Park that looks over the water and downtown to have a picnic. It was beautiful and it felt so great to soak in that sun after our dreary, sunless winter! McKay and I got a little sunburned! I forgot to bring sunscreen for us but I tried to keep McKay in the shade as much as I could.

The rest of the day was shopping and dinner. It was great... I also realized that I have a hard time spending money on things for me now though. I can easily think of reasons to buy clothes and stuff for the kids but when it comes to me I can't justify spending the money. I think Daniel was happy I didn't buy anything.

Speaking of Daniel, he is in Montreal right now taking the last of his Canadian Board exams. He flew out yesterday and yes he slept in the airport as something is going on there making hotels way expensive. Tonight and tomorrow he is sharing a hotel with some classmates. He is taking the first of his exams right now.

This coming week is going to be busy! Daniel gets home on Monday just in time to take a final. Tuesday holds and OSCE (I don't know if that is actually how it is spelt) test for a grad requirement. The rest of the week is finals. Thursday Daniel's grandparents are coming into town as Daniel's commencement ceremony is next Saturday. To end it all on a great note it will be Father's Day.

My week consists of McKay's shots Monday morning and trying to make it to playgroup plus picking Daniel up from the airport. Tuesday I meeting up with my cousin at the zoo. Then preparing for company and graduation.

We are looking forward to our break though! We will be celebrating Kimber's birthday while Daniel works a sports event down in Salem. We also will be taking "our" piano back to my Aunt and Uncles... I am sad to be parting ways with having a piano in my home. One day I will have one again! We will also be packing and getting things ready for our move.

Well I think that about covers it all for now. That was long and wordy, sorry! Hope you are all having a great weekend and if you aren't just think of me alone with three kids for four days! Adult conversation is welcome! Maybe that is why I just keep on writing things. Well, adios!

Voodoo

2011-06-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago we ventured out to enjoy Portland's famous Voodoo Doughnuts. As our time here is quickly (yes just over 6 week left) coming to an end we have a little bit more motivation to go and do the things we kept meaning to do in the past 3 years!

We got up and out of the house by 8:30 (that is quite the feat with 3 kids!) to beat the lines. Good thing too when we got there there were tons of parking spots and a short line. When we left there was a huge line and NO parking! We enjoyed our Voodoo dozen. They choose an assortment for you which is nice for the first time as we had no idea what we wanted to try. Brooke we are going to take you here while you are here... maybe you could try the Canadian Maple, a maple bar with bacon on top. Yum?

Yes I have kept the box so I could take a picture of it. Now I can finally get rid of it!

Mattress Face Jr

2011-05-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

My family may remember me being called Mattress Face when I was younger. That is what I thought of this morning when I got McKay out of bed. Enjoy!

I think this is my favorite picture!

Happy Sunday to everyone!

Elder and Sister Harker

2011-05-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

These are some videos special for my parents. They flew to SLC yesterday and will be reporting to the MTC on Monday. Their flight came through Portland so we looked out for their plane when they flew out yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately it was cloudy so we couldn't see any planes. I thought you would enjoy these Mom!

May in our Home

2011-05-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things we like to do in our home.

We like to wear stickers,

Hang out on the stairs,

Play at the park with friends,

and play Peek-a-Boo in the corner.

Kimber also likes to get her hair done.

I love her hair like this. I always wanted to have my hair done like this when I was little because one of my friends from church had her hair like this.

Check out the other two posts as well. This is my blog binge for today. One of these times I will keep up with everything!

Dental Plan

2011-05-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

I think we need to go get our teeth checked out!

Sleepy McKay

2011-05-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well McKay is now 6 months old. Where did all that time go? Nowadays he is avidly trying to sit up. He only gets his head a few inches off the floor but he holds it there until he gets tired and just drops it. He is also rolling from back to front and back again.

McKay is such a happy baby. Side note... Patti Labelle did the craziest cover of Over the Rainbow on Oprah. Why did she kick her shoes off and yell the ending? Anyways, McKay has been really happy lately. His smile just makes my day!

Benson LOVES his brother. I have a hard time keeping him away from McKay. That is a big problem when McKay has just gone to sleep! I am just hoping that he remembers how much he loves him when McKay is following him around in a few years.

McKay enjoys being in he exersaucer now. He does really well if somebody is sitting near by. Oh this boy loves any kind of attention he can get from anybody!

I just had to put his in here... McKay looks so cute. The elephant is his favorite toy from the saucer.

So our sleepy McKay...

He must have been tired to fall asleep standing up with all the noise around him.

Clean Up!

2011-04-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

The other day I was cleaning and trying to get ready for the party but that can be difficult with kids hanging around. Benson kept asking to help me with dishes and mopping. Finally I stuck him out in the backyard with rubber gloves and a garbage bag. Kimber was chomping at the bit to get out there too. Why would I say no? They looked adorable!

Shortly after this Kimber had taken off her gumboots and was walking around in her pretty white socks. Resolve Spray'n'Wash did wonders with them!

Oh, keep reading as this is my third post today. I know blog overload!

McKay Boy

2011-04-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

I realize that I haven't been putting very many pictures on the blog of McKay. Well really I don't take as many pictures as I used to. Here are some pictures of my McKay Boy. These pictures are about a month old but they are better than nothing!

Oh I love the tongue!

Benson loving his brother. I am having a hard time keeping Benson away from McKay these days. He loves him so much and wants to show him everything that he does. Hopefully in a couple of years he will feel the same when McKay will be following him around relentlessly!

McKay looks so cool in this picture! He is growing up way too fast. He has started to really use his hands and loves holding rings now. Also his new found love is eating his toes while he is naked. Seriously, I put his diaper on and he stopped eating his toes and got really angry at me.

Birthday

2011-04-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Benson's birthday this past weekend in good old Pirate Style! I let Benson decide what he wanted to have for a cake this year and he said he wanted a treasure chest.

I now know what I would do different next time...have a solid base instead of piecing it together. I know that sounds so obvious!

The party was in the morning so we served fruit and punch... I also wasn't into making tons of stuff this year!

Sterling decided he wanted to chill with Benson for a while.

This a clip of a few of the presents that Benson got. He got treated really well this year. Some of the big presents not shown are his new big boy bike with training wheels (he also now has a helmet to go with it) Weeble Wobble slide that is also a present for Kimber's birthday and last night he got an mp3 player. It is great, he thinks it is an iPod and loves that he can listen to it whenever he wants. Yes Bethany, I am borrowing you page as those are really cute pictures of Benson and Kimber. Scroll down Bethany's post and you will see the pictures I am talking about!

This might seem weird but Bens was super excited for this present and the next one!

We ended the party by doing a treasure hunt for the favor bags. I think the kids enjoyed that a lot and it was a good excuse to get some of the bodies out of the house... it was a tad bit full! Ok, I have tried to upload a video of the hunt but can't seem to make it work so just take my word for it that it was beautiful outside and the kids had fun!

Pictures

2011-04-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from my trip back home. Thanks for sending the pictures Mom!

Kimber came into the living room sporting my Mom's special socks. You can see one of the peppermint candy tassles. She was in pretty good spirits considering she had gotten her shots that morning. I have been having a hard time keeping clothes on this girl lately. She thinks it is pretty funny too. She has gotten a sassy streak in her lately. Shades of things to come!

We are in the midst of growing Kimbers bangs out. She is growing up so much!

Brooke's "Bir-day" party. We both got presents... rubber gloves that say 'Queen of Clean' on them.

Special birthday hug. Benson really was so excited about this and worked on it all day long!

Blowing out the candles. Naomi looks scared here but she thought it was pretty exciting!

Cousins. Like I said in the last post Naomi is a month older than Benson (did I just do that? I meant McKay) but they are already very close in size! Since they got weighed together McKay was weighed again. April 5 he weighed 17 lbs and 7.5 oz.

Naomi and McKay with Nana.

Nana with half of her Grandkids. About a week later two more of the grandkids came for a visit so we only missed out on seeing 2 of the cousins while we were home!

Kimber all ready for church. The week before Naomi's dress was more of a shirt so we leant this dress to her. Got to love clothes that cover a lot of ages!!

About a month ago Bens and I were watching Oprah and Gayle's big Camping Adventure. It was their first time camping... ever and the they tried S'mores for the first time. Since then Benson had been asking to go camping and to have s'mores. While we were a Nana's we planned to do a fire in the fire pit but with all the snow we had to settle for s'mores from the microwave. I think the kids enjoyed them!

Kimber didn't actually eat to much of it but she enjoyed getting messy!

Here we all are enjoying the yummy s'mores.

Since coming home we have been working on a new schedule for ourselves. It is a work in progress but we are getting better at it. Benson has started having quiet time in our hallway upstairs. That has been sanity for me.

McKay update... we started rice cereal this past week. I decided on our way home he really was ready to eat solids. I was eating a cheese burger while feeding McKay and he stopped eating and refused to eat anymore and stared at my burger. Hmmm, he is growing up too fast. Yesterday he turned 5 months old.

We are in the midst of planning Benson's birthday party. I am in denial that my baby is turning 4 in just over a week. Where did all that time go? We decided yesterday that we are going to do a Pirate cake. Benson is super excited to help me make it. We'll see how that goes!

Happy Bir-day!!

2011-03-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

We are in Magrath right now enjoying the snow (well most of it has melted now but it is still chilly out there) for a couple of weeks. My Mom came down on the train last week and drove back with me and the kids so we could visit for a couple of weeks. They just got their mission call on Tuesday to the Apia, Samoa mission and will be reporting May 30 so this was our last chance to come and visit with them. Daniel will be coming up on the train next Thursday and then we will all drive back to Portland on the following Saturday.

Benson has been having the best of times here. He has spent time out in the shop helping Papa build a bed (every time there was a loud noise he would run and hide in the mesanine (nor sure on the spelling for that one!) until it was quiet again). He went swimming with his Auntie Brooke after patiently enduring car troubles for a couple of hours. He kept trying to comfort my sister's 5 month old daughter by saying "It's ok Naomi, the car just won't start. They're trying to fix it."

Today was probably the most fun for Benson though. Pictures will have to come at a later date. He informed my sister that it was her 'happy bir-day'. We made a cake for her complete with candles to blow out. He made a 'Christmas tree' (a rocking horse and collapsible tunnel with blankets and an exercise ball on top... with an oragami star on top) to put all her presents under. After dinner we played animal charades, sang songs, opened presents and ate cake. He was most insistent that it was Brooke's birthday... it was really funny!

We have more fun to come so I will have to post more about our vacation in the next couple of days. Most of Daniel's family is coming down to visit this weekend so there are bound to be more stories!

Kimber has been having a great time here as well. She has taken on her Houdini skills again, though that is a story for another post! She got caught up on her immunizations today and has been pretty good considering she got poked 4 times today. I wanted to cry though as I was holding her still with tears just streaming down her chubby little cheeks. She has officially only gained 3 and a bit pounds in the past year and 3 months. She is now in the 90 % for weight and 75 % for height so I am just fine with this news!

I keep thinking of more to write, maybe for my own purposes of keeping records. McKay and his cousin Naomi were weighed the other day. They are the same length, heads are the same size and Naomi weighs 10 oz more than McKay. Naomi is 1 month and 3 days older than McKay. They are so cute!!

I must be off to bed. Everybody here is trying to get me to go to bed early and it never seems to be as early as we planned on! I got sick the day after we got here, naturally, which is why everybody is trying to herd me off to bed! I am sure another post will be coming soon. Hopefully there will be pictures!

Bells Palsy

2011-03-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

So for the past couple of weeks Daniel has been dealing with Bells Palsy. The left side of his face has been paralyzed. I had him take these pictures/video on Sunday to share with all of you. Sunday was a turning point for him though. He moved his lips a tiny bit to start to smile. Well it was more of a twitch.

Daniel has been doing really well dealing with all of this. He has had to manually blink his left eye and was adding artificial tears to help keep his eye from drying out. He also has taken my jokes fairly well. I am glad he has a sense of humor! The kids didn't seem to notice how he looked.

Something Happened Today!

2011-02-24T17:13:00.000-08:00

The "February Blast" made it to Portland via the "Polar Express"!

Daniel went to class as there was a late start to the day instead of the cancellations we have experienced during some past exam weeks! We really are hoping class is canceled tomorrow. Let me rephrase, I am hoping but Daniel is not as he has 2 patients tomorrow.

I took the kids out to play in the snow. I know back home this is nothing but for our kids it is the best thing!

Kimber bundled and ready to go. She wasn't so sure about walking on the grass with boots and the snow!

She fell down and sat there worrying about the snow stuck on her boots and gloves.

This is how excited Benson was for the snow! I asked him to show me how excited he was and he gave me this cheese of a smile!

Here is to hoping that we survive this "crazy" weather. Really was it worth canceling Oprah on Tuesday for a breaking news broadcast on how to stock up and prepare for the "February Blast"?

A Little Bit of Everything!

2011-02-15T15:47:00.000-08:00

This post has a little everything from Christmas to Valentine's Day! I hope everybody had a great Valentine's Day yesterday!

So this picture is pre-Christmas. Kimber loves to walk around wearing Bens' gum boots.

Benson and McKay. McKay doesn't take a soother anymore. I am happy/sad about that. It was really nice to just plug him up when it wasn't time to eat and he wanted to suck but now we don't have to worry about weaning him off of it now!

This is Bens on Christmas morning. He asked Santa to bring him a baseball hat so Santa finally found one! Now Mom has to stitch it back up because Bens tightened it up all the way and forced it on to his head! He looks way too grown up in this picture! I can't believe he is turning 4 in about 2 months.

Kimber snuggles. Have I ever mentioned how curly her hair gets when she sweats?

I don't know what is going on here. Bens is probably watching a show but he loves sitting in his Elmo chair!

McKay sleeping. I realized that I haven't been taking pictures of McKay. This was about 1 month ago. I need to download our cameras more often!

Benson got a special delivery yesterday. His Primary teachers sent him a card sewn in some plastic with treats and toys.

I made a special cake yesterday and loved the look of it. Honestly we haven't iced or eaten it yet!

Kimber fell asleep at the table again! She is so cute when she konks out like this!

Benson was pretending to sleep this morning. What a funny boy!

Christmas Catch-up!

2011-02-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Hope we all enjoy today!

Daniel went up to Calgary this weekend to Part A of his Canadian Chiropractic Boards so it was just me and the kids here for a couple of days! It actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Daniel got home yesterday morning so I didn't have to try to do church all by myself.

Since I am a little behind on posting here are a few pictures from Christmas that I haven't put up yet.

Benson playing with his Snowmen. He loves figuring out which one goes inside the next!!

Kimber is growing up so much! It has hit me lately what a big girl she is. She loves singing now and will walk around with a book waving her arms around leading music.

I just love her smile!

I know... enough Kimber pictures but she really is too cute to pass up sharing! We went to Peacock Lane while Daniel's family was here. Kimber looked so cute bundled up while we walked the Lane seeing all the lights.

We gave the kids bunk beds for Christmas and they LOVE them! Kimber has been awesome sleeping in her big girl bed. She gets out and wanders sometimes but when she is ready to sleep she usually gets back in bed or at least tries. There has been a time or two we have found her asleep part way on her bed. She got so tired she fell asleep with her legs dangling off the bed!

Benson loves being on the top bunk! His face just lit up when he saw the bed Christmas Eve. Kimber hasn't tried getting on Benson's bed yet. We have him trained to call us if she does! The kids are also wearing their Christmas pajamas. I couldn't resist getting them for them when I saw them.

We loved having Daniel's family here for Christmas! It was nice to having to travel during the break and to enjoy the holidays in our home for the first time! That also meant that I did the meal for the first time! I had an excellent teacher (my MIL) that helped me through all the steps!

Since school has started back up we have been busy/sick. We are looking forward to a small break (3 day weekend) next weekend. Not much else has been going on here.

McKay is officially sleeping through the nights now so we are planning on moving him over to the crib in the kids room. Hopefully that will be a smooth transition. I was going to do that but realized that would mean I would have been alone in my bedroom this past weekend. Call me chicken but I hate sleeping alone!

Hope everybody has a wonderful day!

Baby Blessing

2011-02-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

Here's to catching up!

December 19, 2010 we blessed McKay William Bateman. Daniel's parents and brother were here and my Aunt and Uncle came up for the day for it.

Our first official family picture.

Our family with Grandma, Gramps and Jordan.

Unfortunately this was the best picture of us with my Aunt and Uncle. The kids were sick of sitting and ready to go to nursery!! Especially Kimber!

Me and McKay.

McKay wore the same outfit that Benson wore for his blessing. Somehow it was a little bit better for a spring baby! Anyhow, he looked just as precious as ever!

We wished that we could have shared this with more of our family but we are grateful that we were able to have this much family there to share in this with us. We have great friends here to also helped out with the blessing and helped us celebrate McKay's special day. Thanks so much!

That just made think about our friends. Over the past 2ish years we have watched people move in and out in our ward and from the school. I hadn't thought too much about it but this week some of the friends we are closer with started moving out. It is making school ending more of a reality. We are going to miss the friends we have made here so much! We wish the Wach's the best in their new part of life. Over the next 8 months we are going to be seeing more and more change with friends moving and us moving as well. I feel ready to leave Portland but not so ready to leave our friends. Wait, they could all move Canada right? Just come with us! I know... new place, new friends and we will have to go visit our friends so we will new places to visit! Just pick somewhere awesome because when you visit Edmonton we have West Edmonton Mall to visit!! Anyways, long sidetrack later... enjoy your weekend and stayed tuned for more!

Lost & Found

2010-12-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

LOST: 1 cute, melodic voice. (Daniel's words)

FOUND: Stuarts voice!

If you find my voice please send it back!

On another note of finding something, Daniel must have been a good boy this year because we found a little McKay in his stocking!

Merry Christmas!

Brothers and Sister

2010-11-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

My kiddos are loving having a baby brother around. I may have said that already but I have some pictures of them giving McKay some loves.

Benson holding McKay. He will sit and hold McKay for about 45 minutes at a time.

Kimber was cute holding him. She was rocking back and forth humming. Now she demands her McKay time. She is quite the little mommy bringing McKay his soother all the time, his hats, burp cloths, blankets and my nursing cover.

We tried to recreate a photo shoot that was done in the hospital. They are amazing pictures but a little out of our reach right now to buy so here is some of our attempts at getting those pictures!

So these pictures don't quite measure up to the ones from the hospital but he is out cute little man!

I just had to add this one. He looks so funny!

More lovin's from brother and sister!

My first child to take to a soother! It is sanity! I have to say though that this type of soother kinda creeps me out but it keeps him happy!

His little feet. Well little compared to the Benson and Kimber's bun feet. McKay's toes are so long... his pinky toes is almost as long as his other toes.

So long for now. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr McKay

2010-11-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here are (finally) more pictures of our little McKay. We are so happy to have him in our family. He really is the perfect little addition. Brother and Sister just adore him and try to love him so much... almost too much!

Here is Daniel, the proud Daddy. We thought it would be a neat birthday gift if they shared a birthday but didn't think it would really happen. Well Happy Birthday Daniel!

My first time holding McKay. Right after he was born they put him on my tummy but that really grosses me out so I asked them to clean him up before bringing him back.

Our little guy snuggling at 1 day old.

McKay all ready to come home. When I saw this onesie I couldn't resist getting it for him to come home in! (it says New in Town)

McKay and I chillin' while waiting to go down to the car to come home.

McKay is a great baby. He is really content and hardly cries. We have been wondering when he is going to get fussy but he hasn't.

I will blog the delivery story another night. Until then just know that it wasn't what I expected and was the longest one yet for me!

We are loving being home and a big thank-you to all the help and well wishes we have been given!

McKay William Bateman

2010-11-15T18:50:00.001-08:00

Baby McKay William Bateman was born on Sunday, November 14, 2010. He is 8 lbs 10 oz and 22 inches. Mom and baby are healthy and recovering well!

3 Musketeers

2010-11-09T11:24:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Lisa I have a picture of the 3 Musketeers at our Trunk-or-Treat. They were so cute!

Short update on life here. Saturday was my birthday and my body decided it would be a good day to start false labor. Yay! Please note the sarcasm in that! The plan is that I am going to be induced on Monday. My parents will be coming down on the weekend and we will celebrate Daniel's birthday with them then go and have the baby shortly there after. It is great to have an end date in mind. My sanity is worth asking being induced 3 days early!

Until then I have to clean the house... it needs it! Get some extra things sold from around the house that we haven't used since moving here, go to an Ice Cream baby celebration... not a shower just an excuse for us girls to get together! That about sums it up.

Oh, have I mentioned I have been reading the Hunger Games books? Daniel gave me the second two for my birthday. I finished the last one last night. Now I can concentrate on other things other then the drama that is Katniss Everdeen's life!

Trunk-or-Treat!

2010-10-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

Our ward put on a Trunk-or-Treat yesterday for all the kids. It was really fun despite the rain. Surprise... we are in Portland. That is like saying 'we went trick-or-treating even though there was snow' back home. It was great to take the kids out and have it all over with in the afternoon! Thanks Julie for planning it!

Here is our family after making the rounds. Daniel took the kids around while I handed out the candy at our van. Great thing about having a hatch back is that it shelters you in the rain! If any of you guess what Daniel and I are 'Kudos' to you! (Think about it until the end then I will let you know!)

Showing off our Bumble Bee and Puppy dog. Thanks for a friend here in the ward we got to super cute costumes for the kids. Their son in 9ish months old but has been given years worth of costumes! Luckily there was one that would fit each of the kids! There weren't any antennas for Kimber's costume so I just did little pig tails up to instead. She looked so cute!

Bens opted to stay with me at the trunk when Daniel went to get some drinks for us. That should make me feel special but I really know he wanted to sit there and eat his candy. He has been almost inseparable from his bucket since he filled it yesterday!

After our Trunk-or-Treat we went to a party our friends were planning for their church. Bens had a blast running around being chased by 'the bad guys' aka Iron Man. At one point he came up and asked for wings so he could chase the bad guys. I had to tell him no because we didn't have any wings with us. Silly kid!

Finally Daniel and I sporting our costumes. Any last guesses? My costume made more sense when Daniel was around. Not too many got right away that I was a gumball machine when they saw me alone. Thanks to Ali for the suggestion! It was between this and the Staple's easy button. Daniel and I won the 'Spooky Honorable Mention' for best costume at the Trunk-or-Treat. Next year if anybody is needing a costume for a fairly pregnant woman I have got you covered! We have two shirts dedicated to this costume now!

How to Play

2010-10-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

So I have been tagged. I answer the questions and then make up my own and tag 5 other people.

1. Most embarrassing moment.
Unfortunately the only thing coming to mind is my first kiss. Cliff Notes version... I left a Stake Dance early and went around the side of the building with a guy. What I didn't think about was my parents coming to pick me and my friends up from the dance who showed up early and watched this happen. They sent my friends to find me when they came out. There have been a few catch phrases that friends from then will recognize but I will not put in here. Soooo Awkward!

2. If you could have an endless supply of any one food, what would you get?
Ketchup chips! I love them, and I hate them. They taste so good that I have a hard time pacing myself with them and then I hate how my mouth burns and sometimes sluffs skin after eating too many! I know... gross.

3. If you could be someone else who would you be and why?
A real person or somebody that I made up? I always said I would love to be a Pop Princess wearing a tuque (beanie for all my American friends) that dressed modestly. It always bugged me that all the celebs wore ridiculous outfits that never covered enough skin. Maybe I am getting a little bit too old for that one though. Somebody real? I have no idea. Pretty happy with me!

4. Top 5 favorite songs of all time.

Ok, maybe this will be my most embarrassing moment. 1- Mmm-Bop, Hanson 2- With Arms Wide Open, Creed 3- When You Say Nothing At All, Alison Krauss 4- Gracie Girl, Ben Folds 5- Time, Chantel Kreviazik

5. Oh what the heck...If you had a million dollars what would you spend it on and why? You have to spend it all in a month!
Well I would first pay off all of Daniel's student loans. Next I would have my dream house built therefore deciding where we are going to be living for the next however many years! Buy new clothes and some shoes and accessories. Pay somebody to come in and do my laundry for life. (I hate laundry, it never ends!) I think that might take care of it. If not we would throw a nice vacation, Japan or Australia or both, in there as well.

My Questions:
1) Where is your ideal place to live?
2) What would your perfect day be like?
3) Most embarrassing moment?
4) If you could meet one person from history, who would it be?
5) Favorite vacation of all?

I'm Tagging
Ali
Cassidy
Diana
Kinsey
Brittany

Have fun!

Umm... It's about time!

2010-10-27T10:15:00.001-07:00

So it has been awhile. I got on the ball there for a bit but dropped off the face of the blogging world since then. To make up for it here is one of my massive posts on everything interesting in the past month.

Benson was in dire need of a hair cut. He wouldn't let me do it when I did Daniels so after a bathroom miss hap (third day in a row happening) I told him he had no choice and it was getting cut the next day.

He did pretty well with it and looks so handsome with his new do! I cut it the same as Daniels but you can't tell with Bens as we don't actually do his hair in the morning. That is a blessing of cutting his hair so short!

I thought being in the booster instead of the high chair had stopped Kimber from falling asleep but I guess not. She was so cute!

I started to sing Gracie Girl to Kimber and realized she was out to the world!
At the beginning of October we were invited out to a country estate ( I guess that is what you could call it!) to spend the weekend with some friends. It was really cool place and luckily the weather was nice enough that we could go swimming while we were out there. This is the view from our bedroom window. I would say the only draw back was there were no window coverings so the kids woke up at the crack of dawn. Daniel took them one morning and I took them the next. Thanks Barnette's for inviting and arranging everything for us!!

While we were out that weekend we went into Hood River and had a picnic by the river. It was great. We got to watch Kite Boarders (?) and people training for something. The most entertaining was Benson though. He dropped some tomato on his pants and was trying to get it off. Too funny!

Benson also wanted to show us how he fell on the ground.

While in Hood River we went to get Ice Cream and we tried to get a video of Kimber eating her first ice cream cone but the camera started acting up. So I tested out pictures on Chandler... I don't think he was too impressed with that though!

We had a great Canadian Thanksgiving. Really it was the first one that we spent with our family since we got married. My brother Ian and his family came down for the weekend and rented a house by the beach in Seaside. While we were there we had to go to the Carousel so the kids could have a ride.

Daniel and Shar took the kids on while Ian and I watched. I started getting really dizzy when I took Benson on it in April!

Here they are starting to go around. I guess Kimber loved it except when she saw me. Unfortunately that happened every time around so she would cheer up just in time to see me again. Huxley ended up crying so much they stopped the ride so Shar could sit down with him while the ride finished. He seemed to calm down a bit after that.

It poured the whole time we were in Seaside so our trip in town was short. Here is Kimber sitting in the car waiting to go back to the house. Before we went though we went to a candy store and got some candy for the family to share. The kids loved that!

Finally while we played games that night I made a pie for one of my goals. I learned a few things that I would do different if I was doing the lattice top again. I also learned that I really don't like working with lard! Oh, does it ever stink! Maybe it is the pregnancy nose picking up all the smells but it stuck with me for a long time!

Kimber wore her first ponytail not too long ago. She looked so cute! It also didn't last long. Any tips moms on how to get pony/pig tails to stay in? She sits in her car seat and rubs her head so it comes right out! She looked really adorable while it lasted though!

Benson got a new Mr Potato Head for Halloween and he was more interested in the packaging for a little while. I just had to get it on tape cuz he was being so funny!

Other news from this month. My sister and cousin both had their babies. Yay! Two more girls in the family now! For me that means it made me hit a wall in this pregnancy and feel like it should be over already. On Sunday I had a hard time sitting so it made church really fun. Hopefully at most there will be only 3 more one of which is Stake Conference so it will be shorter! My doctor says I should be a couple more weeks at least. I have hit the stage that when I wake up to go to the bathroom it takes me an hour or two to get back to sleep because I am so uncomfortable. Feel bad for the kids as that shortens my patience with them. Almost there!

As of yesterday Daniel has been approved to start treating faculty and family in the campus health clinic. We are excited as that gets him started on the last of his hours he need in the clinic. The last... he needs over 200 hours! So anybody that is looking for an intern at the clinic ask for Daniel. He is under Dr Patton so especially if he is your clinician and you need a new intern as for Daniel! There, I have given my plug. I always felt awkward when people would ask me to go see their husbands or email me about it so I am just doing a general invitation!

I will try and be better at keeping up to date here for the next bit. Halloween will be fun so I will get those pictures up early next week! Hope everybody has a great weekend!