August thus far

After unloading boxes to our new place, we unpacked enough clothes and toilettes to repack for vacation at the grandparents house two days later. Wild times! Here's some shots from the week in SD and a few from happenings around the house. Enjoy. We've absolutely love the trail behind our house that leads to 3 different playgrounds. It's great for stroller rides, dog walks, biking, skateboarding, and leisurely walks (my style). We are discovering it is truly an asset to our place! Here's Kai cruizin' along the bike path. Every time he takes off his helmet and has sweaty hair he is very proud! It indicates a good ride! Now when he rides his bike to the playground from home, he keeps his helmet on while he plays. I'll soon be needing to disinfect it each use!!! Here's the 3 musketeers! Kai almost 3, Addie 15 mo. and Eli 8 wks. The next 2 pics are from Pactola Lake. We hit the rocky beach to let the kids romp in the water. They both loved it. Kai mainly threw muddy sand on himself and dug along the shore. Addie just liked to walk into the little waves and back out. Daddy and Addie swimming together. Addie is sporting the "alfalfa sprout" hair! Grandpa and Kai did a bit of gardening together. They checked for produce almost daily during our visit. Here was one of the harvest times.....lots of zucchuni and cucumbers! It's amazing how much more willing toddlers are to eat veggies when they have some kind of ownership in them! I bought zucchuni at home and fixed it...Kai wanted nothing to do with it. Derrick and I took the kids to the creek to "dip our feet" one HOT day! As you can see in the pics, it ended up as more of a "dunk" session! The kids were left with only dry diapers and a smile afterwards. Here's Kai and my cousin's son, Henry at a downtown weekly festival. They had a kids section with crafts set up....so now we have a brightly colored paperbag beaver. Grandma and Grandpa have a bike trailer to pull Kai and Addie along the path....they weren't diggin' it in the 90 degree weather!! We went to Bear Country USA while we were there. Here's Kai posing with the biggest bull elk we've ever seen! Piggyback rides through the bear cub exhibits. Wolf hat....not her style. Buffalo hat.....our own Davey Crocket look alike! Eli and I observing the grizzlies. He is alert like this so often when we're outside. I think I will have another outdoorsman!! A family shot....it's a rarity. Mom and all the kiddos posing by the train at Storybook Island...one of our favorite places to play at Grandma's house. Addie entertaining at Great Grandpa Ernie's house. We've really logged the car time this month.....Daddy assists with the last leg of our trip. Seven and a half hours quickly turns into 12 hours with the 3 kiddos! Every stop averages an hour. I think we'll stick close to home these next few years!! LOL

On the Move

Yes, it's been a long month of house hunting, changing addresses, packing, cleaning, and unpacking.....quite the process, but the troops have made it through and we now are in our new home in Colorado Springs---ALMOST done with the unpacking, cleaning, and organization of TOO MUCH STUFF (I'm sure you've had this feeling if you've ever moved!) Thanks to everyone who helped us pull this move off----the Ponderosa "muscles" (pictured above but not all inclusive), BA and LA for doing jobs friends should never do...even good friends LOL, Uncle Kyle for picking up any slack and chasing K & A all week, and everyone else who babysat, etc. We literally could not have done it without you! You were a blessing. We did plenty of car travel between the two houses and during the house hunting phase....this was one of Kai's many questioning faces, "can we go to the park Mom?" Poor kid. We got desperate enough to pull out the portable DVD player to watch Thomas and Elmo for entertainment. It just made things that had to get done much more pleasant! A few shots taken through the whole process: My brother Kyle helping pack up and load !! LOL Kidding bro....it was really helpful having you chase kids and thanks for letting us use your truck! Eli's camp chair crib at the new house during the cleaning day. Derrick steam cleaning the carpets before moving day! With little ones laying, crawling, and probably on ocassion finding bits of food all over the floor this was NECESSARY!!! This video is Addie and Kai during house hunting and in rather good spirits! ." WEll, thanks again for everyone's help during our transition. We're blessed to have you as part of our lives! It was very bittersweet leaving camp. We were so blessed with the beautiful countryside and crew there. We will miss "camp life." But we feel very confident God has called us elsewhere to mentor kids and reach them for Christ in the skateboarding community through FCA! We are loving our new place and will slowly call it "home."

Updates all around

I've been meaning to get updates on everyone's latest milestones on here...but time has obviously gotten away from me~! Bare with me, we have alot going on. Eli He is unbelievably a month old now and my little cuddle bug! I swear each child has grown faster than the last. This kid loves to be held (which hasn't proven to be that helpful lately, but I'm trying to soak up the newborn snuggles). We're guessing he's only between 7-8 lbs. now (will find out next week at doc). The newborn diapers are starting to get tight and the NB clothes are getting short....a good sign. Eli feeds every 3 hours almost to the tee! He's starting to straighten out his days & nights.....now if only MOM could stay awake for the night feedings we'd really be making progress!! He loves the MOBY wrap I use for walks...I'm not sure he has ever moved in there once he gets comfy! He has VERY healthy lungs....if we get caught up with K and A in something, he is not about to get forgotten!!! Addalyn Addie had us worried for so long she'd never move....but she was just playing hard ball! She does her scoot-crawl with one knee up and one knee down....and she's fast. Watch the stairs! She's also a walker now too!! She is getting more and more gutsy! She walks along walls and furniture all throughout the house. BUT she transfers between things now too....from couch to LoveSac or her play-kitchen to toy box. It's pretty cute. She reminds me of the little waddle with extended arms from E.T. (80's movie). She is very proud of herself...smiling with every step. She and Kai are also playing and interacting on a new level. I'll catch them building railroad tracks together in our living room and running the trains all over the furniture as well! Addie is able to understand almost everything we ask of her. If she's rebellious or frustrated she DEFINITELY let's us know. She also busts out what we call her "man voice" when upset or really chatting up a storm! She talks all the time now...not much distinguishable yet. She's learning all her body parts and still dances to ALL music---hips, shoulders, you name it, they are moving! She always shows interest in Eli and has finally learned to be gentle with him and will help "burp" him each time she touches him. Kai Kai is 90% potty trained!! Now that Eli is here we've been hitting the training hard! He will always go in the potty when asked, but has to get better at alerting us of the urge BEFORE it happens. Every time he poops he asks us to "spray" for the smell. He's proud of the stinker! Sour starbursts are his favorite incentive yet! The things that come out of this kid's mouth are often times our needed humor in life. He never forgets ANYTHING....months after the fact....names, promises, rules, stories, etc. Lately he asks to ride his Stider bike every day....he's now gliding on it. He rides all over camp...up and down hills and on the skatepark ramps! He loves that after he rides hard and takes his helmet off his hair is sweaty!! He contemplates daily if he'd like to be a "big boy" or a "baby." This is our battle of attention with him now that Eli is here and yet another sibling requires mom and dad's attention. He LOVES Eli though....asks to hold him, kisses him, asks him "what's up little buddy?," grabs blankets or diapers for us when we ask. He's still the king of snack suggestion. Like today, 1. "should we have a snack while we watch the Bachlorette?" 2. "should we stop at the snack shop?" 3. "I need a snack while I watch my movie mom?" 4....well, I'm sure there were more. The parents Where to begin???? 1. A 3rd child adds a "zone defense" strategy to parenting....challenging at times, but working out for the most part. 2. New job. Derrick will venture into skateboarding ministry with FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) starting in Sept. YEAH! More to come on this later. 3. We're moving to the Springs by the end of July. Found a great rental house in a great location! Praise God! 4. We're packing our house that has expanded 3-fold since the last time we had to do this...digging through everything to reduce the clutter. 5. We are looking for a new home for Scout, our 4 yr. pooch. Sad. 6. The postpardom recovery has been a breeze....no time to think about! Now if I could just catch up on sleep. But then again...why bother. The saying "change is inevitable" has taken on a whole new meaning this month. Although one day at a time it's fairly managable with God behind the wheel. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but stay tuned the Lord is working and things are looking to be different.

Brotherly/Sisterly bonding

Just a cute little video of the brotherly/sisterly bonding taking place in our house! We put Eli and Addie side by side for the size comparison......because to us Eli makes Addie feel so much bigger and older than before he was born! However, I especially have enjoyed the thigh comparison!!! No idea where she got those babies!!