23 Weeks!! It's a girl!

Thomas and I are so excited that we are going to have a baby girl! Now if we could just agree on a name, rather if he would just say the name I like is perfect! I had my ultrasound on the 23rd and when I called to tell Thomas and Elijah, Elijah was so excited that he shouted, "I was right!!!" Well he was! He has been telling me since day one that I don't need to go to the Dr. because he knows it's a girl, he is so funny!! Well what a joy! I have already been shopping for the most adorable little dresses and such!

Jungle Playland!

This place was so much fun!! It is another indoor playland up in Mount Vernon! The kids loved it! And some of the slides actually scared me! One of them I would not even go on! Parker was the only brave in the group!! They also have a smaller side for the little guys. Relatively inexpensive and worth the drive! Check it out at www.jungleplayland.com

22 weeks!

Well the time still seems like it is going slow... although when I look at the big pictue, 22 weeks is over half way done! I cannot wait until monday whan we find out if it is a boy or a girl!

I LOVE CHICKEN!!

I just thought this photo was so funny! I had to share!

Weekly Verse: John 3:16

We have been working with Elijah on bible memory verses since he could talk! He has a really amazing memory, and it helps me to remember too since I have to know if he gets it right! I will try to post a new verse each week. ENJOY!

Captured mid-fall!

Can you believe this! As soon as I click the camera, it never fails. Poor guy always looks like this! At least the end wasn't too bad, he got back up and kept on going!!

Sunny day!!

Today we (myself, Elijah, Ethan, Jayden and Parker) went to Lake Stevens with Kim and Clara to feed the ducks! It was so much fun! Afterwards we ran around a muddy field and threw rocks in the water! Then we went and played at a nearby playground, and spent about 10 minutes in the library! 5 kids in a tiny library makes for a short trip!! I forgot what a little fresh air and running around can do for the little guys! I said nap time today, and they all ran to bed and were fast asleep within 10 minutes!! I think we will go to play outside everyday that it is sunny!!!

Something so sweet about a sleeping baby!

The cutest boys in the world!

All of us!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What a Beautiful Day!!

Today was so pretty! Still a little chilly out but perfect for a bundled walk, or bike ride! Elijah was happy to take his bike out for a ride for the first time this year! And Ethan just loved running around, even if that meant letting go of Mama's hand and taking off in the parking lot! Scary! But a little crash and a scraped hand stopped that! Poor guy... Thank you God for the sunny day! It was very needed!!

Proud Finish!

Elijah received a panda puzzle for Valentines day and was very excited to finish his first 100 pc. puzzle, with a little help from Papa :) He really is a whiz kid!

My husband, my valentine!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pregnant and Projects

Well I have just entered the 16th week of my pregnancy! Still waiting for that "2nd trimester energy boost" that all the books talk about. We are very excited for our new arrival this coming July! We will soon find out if it is a boy or girl. I am kind of hoping for a girl, but when I think of 3 brothers that sounds really fun too!! Maybe when we find out the gender Thomas will actually talk about names with me lol! He is stuck on Chloe, a name we fell in love with when I was pregnant with Elijah...5 years ago. Well 5 years is a long time... I now love the names Lyla or Mackenzie for a little girl and Levi for a little boy! So we will see what the future (and Papa's thinking) holds!! We are currently in a two bedroom condo, and plan to be for a while still. So our very near future projects include cleaning, organizing and painting! Then the big switch! Kids get the master bedroom and we will take the smaller room. I am actually really excited because I can kind of redecorate, no more office/library/bedroom all in one, no room for that!!! So we can finally have a normal , romantic ;), bedroom! And the kids really need the space, they are the ones that play in the room all day!! Hopefully our plans continue to flow smoothly, as I would love to have this task done before I am largely uncomfortable! Thankfully With Thomas new job, and the blessing of writing his own schedule, he will be taking a 3 day weekend almost every other week!! Until next time...

Elijah Is a big 4 year old now, and very proud of it!

One week before Elijah's actual b-day we had his awesome batman birthday party!! We did a small, just a few little buddies birthday. The kids had a lot of fun running around in batman masks and playing with these funny little shooter toys! Elijah was very excited about his party but was also very clear that his party was before his birthday and he wasn't really 4 yet! The very first gift I handed him had a sucker tied to the top... well the sucker was the prize gift of the party, it was very hard for him to focus on the presents with a delicious mouth watering candy in his mouth!!

On his actual birthday we woke him up with "Happy Birthday" This is how the conversation went from there:

Elijah: Is it Tuesday? Mama: Yes. Elijah: The 27th of January? Mama: Yes. Elijah: Very excited Am I 4? Mama: Yes! Elijah: Has jumped up at this point and very loudly and enthusiastically says I DON'T BELIEVE IT!! He is so cute and funny! We were all laughing for quite a while! We had a big birthday breakfast, complete with happy face pancakes and candles again! Elijah got a "man watch" from Mama and Papa.

What a fun week!! Happy Birthday Elijah boy!!

Ethan is 1 year old!!

We celebrated Ethan's 1st birthday back in November! It is so hard to believe that a whole has already passed!

As you can see he wasn't very interested in the cupcake. Nor was he much into the gifts! But he did love being in the safe arms of his dear Papa!

Happy Birthday baby boy!

Christmas Joy!

Christmas is so much fun with kids!! We did our familiar tradition of opening new p.j.'s on Christmas eve. Then Christmas morning having a big tasty breakfast and opening the rest of the gifts after that. It is amazing the questions kids ask when you explain the miraculous real meaning of Christmas! Due to the awesome snow storm we had, christmas with family was postponed until January, but Elijah loved that! He thought he got to have 2 Christmas days and that was very special for him!!

Labor Day Camping Trip!!

We left early Friday morning to head out to the Okanogan National Forest and snag a spot. We arrived about 4.5 hours later and after a couple more hours of exploring, we found the spot right on the Chewuch river, it was beautiful! Ethan did remarkably well for spending so much time in the car seat. Then our friends Chuck and Robin came up later that night. We spent four adventurous days and three freezing nights. We did some exploring and shooting, a visit to Winthrop and Twisp, more exploring, relaxing and altogether enjoying each others company. A few highlights of interest:

• Stopped at a street fair in Twisp and had the best peaches any of us had ever eaten!
• Saw 3 big moose!!
• Went exploring to see Billy Goat Pass and ended up seeing free range cows in the middle of the forest, much beautiful scenery, a mine and an amazing mining cabin near the trailhead built in 1949.
• Ate smores around the fire while we watched the millions of bright stars and the bats swooping to catch bugs...
• Shot Thomas' shotgun, was my (Talia) first time shooting a gun... can we say sore shoulder!!
• Stopped off at Washington Pass look out, Ross Lake and Lake Diablo to see God's stunning creation!
• We stopped at the actual town of Diablo, which felt more like a ghost town, as we saw cars and houses but not one single person on a sunny summer afternoon...
• Thomas and I continued the trip home to discover Baker Lake, a 25 mile dead-end road complete with an amazing dam and quite a few future camping sites along the way.

Gone Fishin'

We went fishing with Mima and Grandpa Starkey! What a blast! We arrived at beautiful Cottage Lake at around 8am and stayed until about 1pm. I forgot how much I love fishing, and Elijah was quite the natural himself. With a few pointers from Grandpa Starkey/Dad we were regular fishermen!! Our trip included a very laid back morning spending good quality time together catching lots of little 3-7in perch and baby bass, some tangled lines and tree climbing :), eating snacks, feeding the friendly ducks, sunbathing in the 95 degree weather, Elijah falling into the lake (oops!) and Ethan eating dirt and rocks!! It was quite the trip and we are all anticipating the next family fishing trip!