Fondue!

We have a family tradition of having fondue on New Years Eve as we wait for the clock to slowly turn 12! This year Dan had to work, but I was determined to keep the tradition going with me and the kids. It turned out to be a lot of fun and yummy.
Livy was not as impressed with our festivities! She is so cute.

One week already!

Time is going by so fast! I can't believe Olivia is one week old already. It has been so wonderful to have a little baby in the house again. I can't believe there was ever a time when I thought that Ethan would be the last child because I honestly can not imagine life without her! She is so sweet and calm. Whenever she is awake she has a little smiley smirk on her face that shows off her two dimples! Her brothers are completely smitten with her as well and Ryleigh is loving being a big sister again.

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe that Christmas is over and done with already and finally. Christmas is so much more fun when you have children to share it with and this year was no exception. Of course Dan and I got the best gift ever - Olivia! What a wonderful gift she is.

Ethan and Spencer both got hooked up from Santa with new Snowboards! Their dad can't wait to take them for the first time. I think they are planning on going the second weekend in January! I will make Dan take the camera!

Ryleigh got an IPod Nano! She can hardly contain her excitement and good fortune! She is turning into such a big kid! It is freaking me out a little!

Welcome Olivia

We are super excited to welcome our new baby into the world. Olivia Kaye Linn

7 lbs. 12oz.

20 1/2 inches

12/19/07

11:44 p.m.

It looks like she might be a redhead like her daddy! yipee!

Done!

I am so happy to announce that I am totally done with my Christmas shopping! What a relief.

Family Pictures

Well, we had our annual family pictures taken yesterday and despite my enormous belly and ever-widening face, they didn't turn out too bad. The kids did pretty good. Surprisingly, Ryleigh was the one with the issues. She started randomly crying and saying that she just hates to take pictures! What girl hates to take pictures?
We were really fortunate to have pretty great weather also, living in Oregon the weather generally does not cooperate in the fall, winter and spring but it was a beautiful sunny afternoon - it was freezing (about 45 degrees!) but the sunshine was warm.

These were all taken along the Willamette River in Albany. We actually live about 1/4 mile away from the location. That is probably the best part of Oregon. The scenery is absolutely beautiful!
Dan likes to play helicopter with the two boys, it is quite funny to watch.

Yeah! Finally!!

Well, Thanksgiving is finally upon us and I am thrilled!!! Thanksgiving has always been a favorite holiday of mine and this year it is no different. This is the first year since Dan was in Iraq that we will be able to spend this holiday with my family which is also super exciting. My family really knows how to cook! This year we are having an oven roasted turkey and a deep fried turkey - mmm mmmm mmmmmm!! I am going to brave an Apple Pie I think and Dan's favorite Festive Potatoes - if we can't be with his family I will ALWAYS make him festive potatoes so that he can feel the love. I am also making my favorite - Frog-eye Salad!! YUM YUM!! Anyone that does not know what it is always gets a little squeamish at the name, but then they try it and they can't help themselves - its delicious.

Of course my ultimate favorite part of Thanksgiving is putting away all the fall/pumpkin decor and busting out the Christmas stuff!! I love hanging the lights on the house (we always try to be the brightest house on the block! - yeah we are those people!) and getting out my various nativity collections. I try to buy or make a new nativity every year and I have quite a cool little collection, although I don't have enough shelf space to set them on so I will have to get creative this year. Another reason I love the Christmas season is CHEX MIX!! Our family has this tradition of making Chex Mix during the holidays - and homemade chex mix blows the bagged stuff out of the water. There is no comparison. I can remember my grandmother making chex mix when I was a little girl (probably younger than 7) and the smell of her house as it was cooking---drool.... I miss those days - now I am the one that makes it. But it is a great tradition in our family and my kids and Dan all look forward to it every year! I love this time of year.

Halloween!!!!

Well, Halloween is here! The kids are out right now trick-or-treating! I decided to be the passer-outer person this year since I have this big-ol stomach that seems to slow me down a bit. So Dan took the kids and Hank (Hank barks anytime a stranger comes to the door and I did not want to deal with that!) I can hear all the kids out having fun in the neighborhood. This town is amazing on Halloween! It is an actual fun holiday. The downtown is open all day for trick-or-treaters - meaning the local business have big bowls a candy and you can stop in at anytime with your dressed up kids and trick-or-treat. Which seems to be a great thing for people with toddlers because they can do their rounds before all the rowdy older kids come out and before bedtime.


Ryleigh was a mean witch this year. Do you know how hard it is to find a mean witch costume for a child?? Every costume company wants the kids to be a happy/good/ fairy/ pretty witch! We finally had to buy a bunch of different elements of costumes and put them together to create a witch costume. I am nervous for next year though, because she will not be able to fit into the children's sizes anymore and all the costumes for olders kids are - hello skanky! What am I going to do???!!!

Spencer is Venom - aka Dark Spiderman. Of course anyone that knows Spencer knows that this is right up his alley, of course he was one of 4 Venom's in his class at school (a class of 21 kids!) but he loves it! He loves spiderman so dang much it is hilarious!


Ethan is Anakin Skywalker in #2 - minus the braid. I think he just was wanting to carry around a lightsaber but whatever. He makes a very cute Anakin and he can't help himself - as you can see - but to whip the dang lightsaber around like he is in a constant fight with something from the dark side!





And, of course, since Hank was going to be going in the walk he had to be in costume, so he is a wiener dog skeleton! He is so cute - it glows in the dark. I got Noelle a hotdog costume but since her hysterectomy she has gained a few pounds and it is a little snug!

Carving Pumpkins

Aaahh, Halloween is here! I love this holiday. It is so fun to carve pumpkins and dress up like something different - and lets not forget the best part - a reason to have an abnormal amount of Chocolate in the house. Today the kids carved their pumpkins. Ryleigh chose a ghost that says "BOO", Spencer chose the headless horseman and Ethan chose a spooky tree.






Obviously - Spencer was really not very excited about pulling the gooie insides out of the pumpkin! I had to document this. We were laughing so hard because he was already freaking out before I even cut off the top. After he had put his hands down in the goo a few times he was fine - and actually enjoyed it. Ethan on the other hand, was actually gagging as he was pulling the stuff out but he had a smile on his face! I was totally impressed with Ryleigh this year because she did the whole thing by herself - this is a first for her. She did such a great job too! I love kids!



The finished product!

Good News

We finally found a house of our own!! YEAH!!! We are moving out on the 12th of this month into a cute little home next to Dan's work and school. I am so excited to be out on our own - like big kids! I will send out an E-mail to all of you that I want to have our address and phone numbers.

25 weeks!!

I can't believe that I am already - or finally - 25 weeks pregnant. The end is coming so fast all of the sudden! I am posting this horrific picture of myself at 25 weeks for my favorite friends that keep asking questions. I was trying really hard not to show my double chin and in the process I ended up looking a little creepy. Sorry about that. Anywho - I got my glucose test done this last week and I don't have diabetes - which is great! But I am anemic (are we surprised?!), so now I have to add Iron to my daily routine. We had another ultrasound this last week too and things are looking good - she is still a she - which is pretty reassuring. I have bought my first purple outfit! We are still working on a name so if you think of any fantastic names that you want to share with us please do so! Her middle name is Kaye, so it will need to flow nicely. Well I think that is all for now.

Happy Day for Ethan!!!

The day is finally here for Ethan! Yesterday was his first day of Kindergarten! He had a fantastic day and was beaming when he got home. The bus ride was the coolest part - evidently. He was so cute because up until the first day of school for him he would wake up in the morning and come to me and say "only 3 more sleep nights until I get to go to school with Ryleigh & Spencer..." or "Only 1 more sleep night until I can go to school too!!" It was so cute how he was counting down. I love it!
Here is the 3 of them on Ethan's first day. Spencer was so great - he sat with Ethan on the bus and walked him to his class at school ( Dan and I followed the bus on Ethan's first day to make sure he got to class okay and didn't have a melt down - which of course he didn't!![have a melt down]) It made me to proud to watch those two walk the hall together. They are such great buddies - I really hope it will stay that way. Ryleigh on the other hand, is not so into her brothers. She is totally into her friends and stuff! It is crazy how all of the sudden a little light switch went on and now all of the sudden she is a tween with attitude. She is still a great kid - I am not complaining but it just means that she is getting older and I am not sure I am ready for that.
I just liked this picture of the boys, it really shows how much they love each other.

IT IS HERE!!!!

Today was the first day of school!!!! FINALLY!!!! According to my kids ever increasing boredom levels, I feel that summer is about 3 weeks too long. Those last couple weeks were torture! They are tired of playing with the same old friends and their toys are no longer fun... it is just the worst time of year according to them! Ryleigh got to the point where she was saying to me "mom, I am bored - what can I do that does not involve cleaning?" lol!! Unfortunately, here in Oregon they like to make the kindergartners feel special and not trampled on so they don't get to start until next week. They have 1/2 of the class come to school on Monday next week, then the other 1/2 of the class come on Tuesday next week and then they all meet up on Wednesday for their first real day of school. It is a little weird to me - but whatever. Poor Ethan though, does not feel special because of this new schedule, instead he feels left out. He wanted to get on the bus this morning! He is dying here!!
Spencer is going into 1st grade!! Can you believe it? I can't. His teacher is Mrs. Taylor and he has a super cool class room with a bunch of windows that all face the playground! I do love the old school buildings (this building is probably as old or older than my grandparents) because they feel more comfortable and the kids are not couped up with no windows or anything!
Ryleigh is starting 4th grade - that is not a typo!! I am totally shocked. I need to start preparing myself now for 5th grade next year because when we were school supply shopping I kept looking at the 3rd grade list! She is totally embarrassed of me and its cool. I love her anyways, and I remember feeling that way about my mom. She has Mrs. Caster this year who seems really nice and organized, she has a website that I can check on that lists all of the assignments and what they are learning about, so that will be great for me.

I just can't believe that all 3 of my kids are going to be in school this year. It is totally fun and amazing! I love it! I will be home alone with no one - for a couple of months anyway.

Well... we have a GIRL!!!

We had our ultrasound appointment today and found out that we will be expecting a little GIRL on January 2, 2008!! We are totally excited! Things looked great on the ultrasound too. She weighs 12 ounces and is 10 inches long!! YEAH!!

Just in case you were wondering...

I am trying really hard not to make this blog all about me and my miserable pregnancy but recently I have been asked several times about my PICC line and if it is still in place etc.. So I decided to put this out there for anyone that has any questions!
I DO still have the PICC line in place and for the first couple of weeks it was doing nothing good! I would leave my fluid-infusion appointments so sick - sometimes I was even passing out. Finally I called my doctor and told them I didn't want to do it anymore. It was not working - obviously. She talked me into going in the next day anyways and letting them draw labs so they could maybe have a look at my blood, hoping to see what was going on and giving me just regular fluids (they usually were loading me up with vitamins and stuff in my bags). So the day after this appointment I got a phone call from one of the doctors at my clinic. She explained to me that there was NO WAY they were going to let me take out the PICC. She told me that my labs revealed that I was malnourished, dehydrated and lacking in several important vitamins and minerals. Not only that but I had lost 18 pounds. She told me that one of the areas they were most concerned about was my Potassium levels. She explained to me that my levels were dangerously low, and if they did not come up quickly they would have to hospitalize me because a lack of potassium can lead to cardiac failure. So she had me go in to get fluids the next day - this time it was 2 bags of Potassium! It was fantastic! I felt instantly better. I was going in every other day but now - since my levels have been able to return to normal & I can eat and drink again - I am only going in once a week! They are looking at removing my PICC line sometime in the next week or two - and I am soo soo soo soo excited! I hope this answers all of your burning questions! hehe!

UPDATE!! 8/07/07 - I got my PICC line removed today! I have gained 2 pounds and am looking healthy! yeah!!!! I can finally scratch my arm!!!

Baseball & Summer!

One of my favorite parts of Summer is BASEBALL!! I LOVE THIS SPORT!! I love watching the kids play, I love watching my brother play, I love watching the OSU Beavers play & I even love watching the pro's play! For the most part the season is coming to an end, which is pretty much a bummer (but it also means that school is starting soon! yipee!!) Even though it is the end of the season we just discovered this local wood bat league that plays here in Corvallis at the Beaver's Stadium during the summer. So last night Dan and I decided to take the kids (and my brother, Chad) to the game for some family fun! I am so bummed that we did not know about this sooner! We all got in for $24.00 and it was free hat night too - so we got a Corvallis Knight's cap, and it was open seating. The kids had a BLAST! We were close enough that it kept them entertained the whole time and between innings they had contests with the kids in the stands, they had a dance contest and a wheelbarrow race! Oh it was so much fun. Plus at the end of the game the let everyone down on the field so the kids can run the bases and get player autographs! I just can't say enough about how fun this was for the whole family. I have a few pictures here of the kids with the players and running the bases, and of course the picture of Ethan because his ears crack me up!

Cousins!

This is Brintley - she is 6!
This is Jaydin - she is 5!
Ethan & Brintley at the pool.
Spencer, Brintley, Ryleigh & Jaydin all getting ready to jump!
Spencer - 6 years old.

My two nieces, Brintley and Jaydin have been here for a couple of weeks and it has been such a blast! My kids are having so much fun with them and I think they are having so much fun with my kids! I will be so sad to see them go back home to Arizona in a week or two.

Seeing my kids play with their cousins made me realize how grateful I am for close-knit families. I think when Dan and I started dating he was a little overwhelmed because he didn't just meet my parents and brothers and sisters - but he also met the equally important aunts, uncles, grandparents and COUSINS! I love that they are just more family - just as important as brothers and sisters. I miss them all like crazy because they are all in Arizona an I am here in Oregon but I love them just the same.