Seri

Seri recently joined a group for young women that I was a part of when I was a girl (IORG). So far she has really been enjoying it. A few weeks ago she participated in a workshop focused on leadership. The theme was "How to be a dazzling princess" and they had classes on public speaking, etiquette, posture, taking care of your body, being an effective leader, etc.... From the pics and her non-stop talking, it appears that she had a great time. The workshop concluded with them designing their own formals out of T.P. (not sure how "dazzling"that was) and what appears to be a huge T.P. fight. (she is the one in the pale green sweater)

It's a..............

Boy!!!!!!

Yep, the ultrasound and a cooperative child confirmed what everyone thought they "knew", the baby is definetly a boy! About twelve years ago when I was pregnant with Seri, a friend did the "ring trick". You dangle a ring from string over the females left hand and if the ring goes in a circle it is a girl, if it goes from side to side it is a boy. So with us it has always gone in a circle, stopped, side to side, stopped, side to side, stop, circle, stop, side to side, stop and then side to side one more time before finally stopping permanetly, ensuating that our birth order would be girl-boy-boy-girl-boy-boy. Well after Isaac we started thinking hmmm. Maybe it was accurate. Now that we are five children into the pattern that this superstition told us, it is kind of eerie....... So, for those who want to know, "will this be it?", according to "the ring" we still have one more boy to go. We'll see.

The newest Olson

We went in for our dating Ultrasound on Oct 16 fully expecting to find the little "Lima Bean" blob that is typical of early pregnancy considering we had just found out we were pregnant about three weeks prior. Imagine our surprise when this popped onto the screen! Definetly not a lima bean! Turns out I was closing in on thirteen weeks when the scan was taken. Not sure how we didn't realize we were pregnant before ten weeks. The due date is April 24. Luckily I am able to go to the same mid-wives I had with Sariah and we will be having this one at home. Both Matt and the midwives agreed that he shouldn't be driving me anywhere this time. I am very excited now and am grateful to have this experience once again.
We are trying to get Sarah used to the concept but so far I don't think she gets it. Now that I am showing pretty well we will point or pat my tummy and tell her that there is a baby in there. She responds by looking at us like we are freaks then running off to bring us one of her baby dolls. Close, but not quite.

Pumpkin Patch

Once again it was time to head out to one of our favorite places, the Pumpkin patch and corn maze. As always we had a great time and this year the kids even made it through the second maze all by themselves with Seri guiding them! She was well equipped with a cell phone, however, thanks to last years incident. The crop wasn't as thick this year and much of it had fallen, we are assuming because of the rain and wind.
On the way home we saw a para-glider descending and were hoping to catch him landing. Turns out he was on a motorbike of sorts, I think you can sort of see it in one of the pics. Very interesting!

More of the Princess

I think I have ranted about this before, but man is our camera horrible!! Anyhow bad pics are better than no pics at all right? I am hoping to get a new camera for christmas (hint, hint, wink,wink).Not sure when this pic was taken or why they were out in the yard, but I love it.

Tis the season

I promise to get some pictures up here soon, but for now here is a video I thought you would all enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ

The Princess party

I have been waiting to post this because I can not find the disc with the rest of the pictures. However, I have now given up hope that they will be found any time soon. When and if I do find it, I will add them later.

Our baby girl turned one in Sept and we had a princess party for her at one of her favorite places, The Children's Museum in Seattle. It was so great to see so many family and friends. Hard to believe she is already one, but they say they have to grow up sometime :( Actually, I am really enjoying her now, she is at such a fun stage!Our little Princess

The cake. It was truly beautiful before we left the house, but in the van it sustained some damage. Note to self : Assemble cake after you reach your destination.

wow.............

Yes, those are two lines............... Matt and my mother had been bugging me for about a week that they thought I was pregnant which I viewed as not possible. Finally, they concluded that I must be pregnant because I had a sudden aversion to fried egg sandwiches. In an attempt to prove them wrong and stop them from teasing me I went to the $ store and bought a test. Boy, was I surprised!!! My first thought was, "Thank goodness human's have a gestation period of nine months, because that is how long it is going to take me to get used to the idea". According to my past history this should not be. I haven't had a period since I got pregnant with Sariah, I am still nursing and we haven't been that active if you know what I mean (I know too much information).

Matt is of course ecstatic and we have decided he glows instead of me.

The idea is growing on me, but........ I know lots of people have children fairly close together, but I have always been a three year age gap kind of person. I like it that way. I was planning on continuing the pattern if we did decide to have more. Now I think, Crud, Sariah is still nursing and it would be nice to have my breasts back for awhile. She wont be potty trained, so that means two in diapers and possibly a double stroller...... and this takes up the last seat in our van. Part of me is worried about Sariah too. I know it is probably needless, but I don't want to rush her into growing up just because there is another baby. I want her to still have all the joys and attention that come with being the baby of the family. Probably doesn't matter I suppose, she wont remember anyhow.

The children are ecstatic! Funny, they have never wanted to participate in naming the babies before, but when we told them they all said "we will have to name him Joseph". Then, yesterday I was running errands with Isaac and in all his four year old wisdom he said, "Now, when we get our baby boy, don't ask what to name him. He has decided he wants to be named Joseph". Hmmm.....that would work I suppose if I liked the name Joseph, but I really kind of don't.

Now, that I am getting used to the idea I am looking forward to certain things. I adore being pregnant and giving birth, so that's a plus. I love my midwife and relish our appointments that are an hour long. Since we are familiar with pregnancy the buisness part of the appt. never lasts that long and we just chat for the rest of the time. I am excited about having this one at home. Finally, I have always wanted a home birth and since my births are usually under two hours we are not chancing this one, I am staying right here!

I guesse when all is said and done, in spite of my fears and doubts, I know this is what the Lord has planned for us and I trust in that.

MIA

Sorry I have not been blogging at all lately. Our computer went down a few weeks ago and we are still debating about getting another one. I refuse to get one on credit and want to waite until we can pay for it with cash, so in the meantime we use Matt's laptop and it is working out pretty well, wxcept for when hi is at work :)
Serenitie turned 11 last month which I can hardly believe. She is such an amazing young woman. Sariah turned 1 today. Her party is next weekend, hopefully I will remember to take the camera. We have a new pet hamster named Fuzzy, that the children saved up all their allowance and other money to buy. I think that is all the news. Hopefully I will be more diligent about getting on here and updating.

Vacation Day 1 - Logan Utah

Our vacation started by driving from Federal way, Wa to Logan, Utah. The kids were great and we actually enjoyed the trip up until the last hour when Sariah was screaming and we got lost.
One good thing about having been in the military for so long is that the world becomes a much smaller place and you always know someone somewhere. We were very lucky to be able to stay in Logan, Utah with Chrissy and her children. The Roeckers were the only ones that were in Germany for longer than we were. They were there before we got there and left a few montsh after we did. I remember when chrissy was pregnant with Eliza and then Daniel. Since then she has had another boy, Rainey. In Germany Eliza and Isaac were great friends and it was nice to see them resume this friendship so easily. I am so very glad that we got to spend a little bit of time with their family. She even made us breakfast every morning we were there! Thanks Chrissy!!!! The next morning we drove to Salt Lake to do some tourist things and ended up spending the whole day at the church museum across the street from the Temple. We then tried to eat at the "Blue Iguana", but it was closed. Apparently "Pioneer day" is a state holiday in Utah, who would have thought? We went back to Logan and joined Chrissy and her family at a neighborhood BBQ complete with fireworks and all. The newest additions to our families. Sariah and Rainey. This pic is a good example of how small Sariah is or how big Rainey is. She is about four months older than he is.

Pioneer Day.

This time of year is when the Mormons celebrate Pioneer day. Our ward was supposed to have a camp out the night before that Matt was in charge of, but thankfully it rained for two days before so it was cancelled. I say thankfully only because I had to work both Fri, Sat, and Sun and we were leaving for the reunion on Mon. This is a day we set aside to thank and remember the mormon pioneers that crossed the country. We have been to many pioneer day celebrations however this year was defiently the best we have ever been to. They had so many things to do! We were there for about four hours and were kept busy the whole entire time with no dead time to sit around staring at eachother. Everyone had a great time. I was so glad we went.

Matt entered a pie eating contest. He did very well and came in third. Behind the two missionaries. Go figure!!

I love this picture. He is showing off his ribbon and lamenting about the apple pie that is sitting in his stomach.

The children also entered the contest and came in first and second. My picky eater can sure put down some pie. Who would have figured that he would outeat his sister?

Isaac learning to build a cabin frame.

The children participated in the three-legged race. Michael went with a friend from coop and Seri and Isaac went together. We were a little concerned about the height difference, but shouldn't have been. The two strategized together perfectly. Isaac wrapped his arms around Seri's upper leg and held on for dear life while Ser picked him up and flew down the race way. It was really great to watch and they came in first by a long shot.

One of the sisters had brought her spinning wheel and wool from sheep, lamb and alpaca. She showed the children how to spin it and they really enjoyed giving it a shot. One of these days Matt says he will buy me a spinnning herd and then I can spin my own yarn all I want, the idea is so idyllic.

One of the games they played was "stick pull". two people sit across from eachother with their feet sole-to-sole. they then grab on to a stick with both hands and try to pull the other person of their seat. Matt and Seri love this game and played as many times as there were people who would accept their challenge. I must add that they are both very good at it.

The watermelon seed spitting contest.

The traditional "shake the cream in a baby food jar with a marble until it turns to butter" activity.

Seri and Michael entered into a second pie eating contest and once again Michael came in first and Seri came in second, who would have thought?

Matt's Birthday

Matt's birthday was on the 11 of July and he decided to go into work late and then leave early and take the rest of the day off. Must be nice to have that kind of job. Anyhow, we were pleasently surprised to see him and then even more so when he said he wanted to go to the beach. So we headed off to Gene Coulone beach. We played at the park a bit and Sariah did the funniest thing. When we put her on the slide some people look at us like we are not observant and she is to little to be going down a slide by herself. Well this just proves them wrong. Matt put her down the slide and she held onto the sides.

When she was almost at the bottom, she stopped herself and turned around.

She then preceded to climb back up the slide.

and crawl off to find her brother. Such a smart girl!!!

Of course, no trip to the beach is complete without a sand castle.

Beginning to think that Sariah really enjoys eating sand :)

Our bathing beauty.