Cannon Beach Birthday

We had a super fun day at Cannon Beach a few weekends back for Desmond's birthday. Just had to share some photos. It was Emberly's first visit. Brielle was my kite flying pro and it's the first time she remembers a trip to the beach. Kaylynn reminded me of a beautiful mermaid on the shore. Desmond loved venturing out deeper into the waves. I can't believe my first baby is 10!

June Highlights

June really flew by! Here are some highlights before any more time slips away.

School is over! The kids are loving all the free time and I'm working on getting some house projects done when I can.

Mommy-Brielle date to Krispy Kreme.

Emberly visiting with Nana at Father's Day.

Daddy-Kaylynn camping trip to Battle Ground Lake.

Emberly is crawling all over the house and loves getting into small spaces and putting everything she can into her mouth.

Kid time at the park. 

(Side note: We just got Desmond men's size 8 shoes! The kids are growing fast.)

The biggest highlight from June was Kaylynn's ballet recital. She worked hard all year on her dance. Her class was the dove in the Noah's Ark story, and she was so pretty in her costume. 

Kaylynn's teacher, Miss Taliah.

Kaylynn is 7!

On May 9th Kaylynn turned 7. She is my sweet, energetic, social butterfly. She loves friends, ballet, God, and is very passionate about things she believes in whether that's being treated fairly or helping those in need. Being homeschooled means that I have to go out of my way sometimes to create more social interactions, and Kaylynn is more social in nature, so my goal this year was to have friend time for her birthday.

Kaylynn's birthday was on Wednesday which is also ballet day. We invited all her ballet friends to join us at a nearby park right after class for some playtime and cupcakes. Instead of gifts Kaylynn wanted to collect donations for a shelter. It was all her idea, and she was super excited to sort the donations as soon as we got home. After Davin got home from work, we went to her favorite restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes, for dinner. Then she got her gift from us - a new pink bike. She's getting a bit big for the little red one she learned on.

 That weekend we had family over for Mother's day and her birthday celebration with them.

The following weekend we closed the birthday shenanigans with a pony party for her and friends from church and AWANA. The girls had fun brushing, feeding and riding Rosie. This was way more birthdaying than normal, but she had a blast having special time with her friends.

Emberly is on the Move!

Watch out! Here she comes. I was just trying to get a picture and she took off after me.

Ok. That's all the blogging for today. It might be awhile before I have another chunk of time to update the blog. Just had lots of stuff I wanted to finally get around to sharing. Until next time!

Emberly is 8 Months Old

Emberly has started off her eighth month being sick for the first time. On Monday night she woke up twice with the croup. It was pretty bad, but we've experienced this before. The barking cough, crying, and rattling breathing. It sounds awful, but after sitting outside with her for about a half hour or so, it calmed down. Davin held her in the rocking chair while she slept next to the open window for a good chunk of the night. I took her to the doctor in the morning and he gave her some medication to help relax her airway so her cough and breathing could stay loose. She was up coughing again the next night, but at least her breathing didn't sound scary.

The other downside to this sickness is that she's refusing to nurse! I don't know if it's impatience, moodiness from the medication, or difficulty breathing through her very stuffy nose. I've been pumping and giving her bottles more. Over the past few weeks I've noticed her nursing less so my milk has decreased and she's drinking more than I'm making. We'll see how this all shakes out. My back up stash in the freezer is gone after today. I'll pump what I can for now.

Emberly is 20lbs, has two teeth now, is a sitting pro, has the cutest jabbers, usually takes three naps a day and drinks from a sippy cup sometimes. She's still easy-going when she's not sick. More than once Davin or I have commented on her sleeping when she's actually sitting quietly right in the room with us. But every once in a while she'll let out a loud squeal. We'll see how vocal she is as she gets older and has three siblings to compete with.

Back to the cuteness! Emberly is just so adorable and I love her new outfit she finally fits into compliments of Uncle Shane and Aunt Heather. 

And a little video of the cuteness, too, co-starring Brielle.

Portland Children's Museum

We FINALLY got around to using Desmond's birthday gift from Grandma Linda a few weekends ago. I was too pregnant at first and then lost in the newborn phase. The final piece of the puzzle was a free weekend when Davin could come with me to help keep up with four kids. I've been wanting to post pictures ever since, but it's tough finding time to sit down and blog! Even today I have a sick baby who's refusing to nap so this it taking quite awhile. But on to the good stuff...

We had so much fun at the Portland Children's Museum! First we explored outside and especially loved the climbing tree. Inside we visited the kitchen, grocery store, water tables, vet hospital, dig pit, clay creations, theater, and other little hands-on activities. I liked the room where the kids could make stuff out of recycling. They are constantly pulling garbage out of the recycling at home to re-purpose it into various creations, and then I have to re-throw it away later. Emberly finally conked out for a nap after lunch so we could stay a little longer. We'll be back to visit again on a warm day when the outside creek feature is running. Thank you so much, Grandma Linda!

It was a full day!

Mr. Stripes Intervention

Mr. Stripes is very loved by a passionate four year old. He's been her favorite snuggly since she was born. He travels whenever she does, and there are tears if he's lost at bedtime. His arms, legs, and neck are limp from hundreds of hugs. The problem is he's made from a lightweight knit material and he's getting holes and runs in his fabric especially around the blank tags that had words once upon a time. If the fabric runs too far, I won't be able to salvage the material. Time for a lifesaving intervention.

Of course, you can't buy this bear anymore, so I bought a fuzzy gray and white striped bear to be a stand-in while Mr. Stripes was in surgery for a few days. Even so, Brielle wandered out of bed more than once in the middle of the night looking for him. I could only work at night so she wouldn't be distressed at his limp pelt in pieces, and I had to hide him quickly when she peeked over the stair rail. 

First I carefully opened the delicate seams along his back, bottom and neck where the holes were. I removed all the smashed stuffing. I also fray-checked the holes so they wouldn't get any bigger. Mr. Stripes kept a smile on his face the whole time, but I could tell he was nervous about whether or not he could be put back together right.

Next he got a 24-hour bath soak in Oxyclean detergent. The water turned brown! Mr. Stripes's white brightened noticeably, but I still didn't get out all the green marker on his back from when he watched Brielle color a little too closely. I rinsed him well and dried him in the dryer in my delicates bag.

Finally it was time to sew. I trimmed the worst edges off so he ended up getting a bottom tuck. I learned how to use my new serger so I could overlock stitch the edges of the fabric to hopefully help prevent future holes. It wasn't easy sewing tiny curves and seams on a beefy machine so I used my regular machine for the more tedious areas.

Sewing took longer than I thought so I stayed up late last night stuffing to get him done. I had to put in the right amount so he was full but not too firm. He has by nature a soft, squishy, cuddly personality. I didn't want to change that.

I could hear Mr. Stripes sigh with contentment. He felt so much better! I left one small section of his back open just in case I misjudged the necessary squishiness of his body. I'm glad I did because the expert informed me this morning that his head was too fluffy, and I was easily able to rectify it. 

Brielle watched me hand sew the last little bit while she held his hand to help him not be scared. She is ecstatic to have her beloved Mr. Stripes back in her arms. Ah. All is well again!

Brielle's First Time Reading

Brielle is reading! I've been working with Kaylynn on reading real books, and Brielle wants to do everything Kaylynn does, so yesterday she grabbed a book and started sounding out the words. The book was much too hard, so I got the first Bob Book for her to try. And she read it! We got book two on video, and after that she read book three. I was pretty impressed for so much success on her very first try. I haven't worked with her on reading at all, but she's picked up quite a lot from school happening around her every day. Maybe I won't have to teach her how to read at all. That would be weird.

Emberly is 6 Months Old

Emberly is 6 months old!Yeah, how did that happen? She is sleeping through the night occasionally and takes three good naps a day. She seems to be working on some teeth although they haven't popped through yet which has led to some fussy days. She's eating lots of pureed foods and likes everything she's tried so far, but really doesn't like having her face wiped. We're working on sign language for "milk," "more" and "all done," and I think she's trying them out sometimes. She says da-da and other cute babbles. Emberly sits and stands with support and is a pro at rolling. Her favorite place to hang out is the jumper. She'll try jumping if she's standing in your lap, too. Overall Emberly is sweet, patient, curious, and likes to snuggle and giggle. I'm enjoying all the snuggles I can get in between school lessons and food prep. She's a joy!

Snowy Valentine's

A "talking video" from Brielle to brighten your snowy Valentine's Day.