SURPRISE!!!

My sister Danielle came to visit last week. She and her husband moved to Wisconsin for medical school in July. All the adults knew she was coming but none of her nieces and nephews. I know that my kids have really missed her. Almost everyday they ask to talk to her on the computer. It was really fun to see them get so excited. I taped the surprise moments of my kids and my sister's kids. I wasn't there for the other kids. I know the videos don't show all the reactions but you get the idea. It still makes me teary. It was a lot of fun!!


First up is Paden.

Next is Ellie.

The Hunter kids.

Tap Class

Ellie started tap classes a few weeks ago and I thought I would share with you. It's really fun to watch.


First is her bow. Nothing horribly exciting but still cute. Next is the dance. The Monster Mash.

Paden's Interview

Sorry this has taken a while to get on here. We had to re-do this interview. This is my Padey!! He is such a funny guy and I just love him. He was bitten by the same talking bug that Ellie was bitten by. My favorite part is his thinking face. You'll see what I mean. He does it all the time and it cracks me up. I was hoping he would do it on his interview and he didn't disappoint. Enjoy.

Ellie's Interview

This is my Ellie. She is 5 years old and she loves to talk. I hope you enjoy!

Riley's Interview

When I was growing up my parents would interview us kids. All we had was a tape recorder and my dad would ask us questions and we would ramble on about whatever we felt like talking about. I remember as I got older it was always fun to hear those tapes. It was so fun to hear the songs we made up or just the random topics we would discuss. I thought it would be fun to do the same with my kids. I started with Riley. Ellie and Paden were already in bed but little mister Riley was wide awake and in the mood for an interview. I will get the interviews with the other 2 kids up soon but this post is all about my youngest.

Mmmmm...Smoothies!!

Seaside, School, Surgery, Sick and Smiles!!

So we have had a lot going on in our little family and it has been awhile since I filled you all in on it. First off we made a couple of visits out to Seaside. The first time was just our little family. We went to Tillamook and then up to Seaside. We really had a great time. The second time we went was with my whole family minus Danielle and Clinton (tears). It was supposed to be raining and chilly but turned out to be an absolutely amazing day. It was perfect weather and we sat on the beach and played and played the day away.

Moo Moo Ellie and Farmer Paden at the cheese factory.This is the kiddos and me.

Kirk and the older kiddos. This is Ellie's new pose.

Kirk and the kids getting all set on the carousel.

You can see Ellie in the background there. Kirk was a little ways away from her.

Here's Paden enjoying his ride.

Cousin Ella. She is number 3 for my brother, David.

Cousin Hannah. She belongs to my brother, Derek.

Here are 3 of the moms waiting. Hannah's mom, Carrie, Me, and Ella's mom, Sara.

The day after Seaside was Ellie's first day of Kindergarten. She was soooo excited to finally go to school. It was all she could talk about the whole morning. Even though she was a concerned that she might be a little allergic to stinky feet. I love that girl!!

Here she is ready to head out the door. Kirk's family always took pictures in front of this tree on the first day of school. We couldn't break tradition.

Here she is in her classroom. I wanted a picture with her teacher but he was helping some students. Mr. Modrall is Ellie's teacher and the cool thing about him is that he was also Kirk's Kindergarten teacher. Cool, huh?

Last week Paden went in to have surgery. He was born with Hypospadias. That means that his urethra didn't make it all the way to the tip of his penis. It came out of the bottom of the penis. A couple of weeks before his 1st birthday he had the repair done. Unfortunately, the repair didn't hold and he sprung a leak. So he went in and had the repair done again. This time they closed him up with a flap. Fingers crossed it holds!! Anyway, it was supposed to be a day surgery but he was bleeding just a little more than they wanted so they put a pressure dressing on him and kept him overnight. He was such a trooper and all the nurses fell in love with him. He is doing great now. He complains a bit about it hurting but really can you blame him? It gets less and less each day.

Here he is in his bed. He didn't spend a lot of time there. He was more interested in running around the room. It was nice when they finally took the IV out. I was tired of untangling him all the time.

This is actually where he spent a lot of his time.

Ellie has been sick the last couple of days. It has been really pathetic. I hate it when they are sick because it makes me feel so helpless. I don't like that I can't just fix it. Luckily today she has been feeling a lot better and has actually started eating and keeping things down. YAY!!!

Isn't that so pathetic?

On the upside Riley has been doing fantastic!! He is such a charmer and a really sweet boy. We absolutely love having him in our lives. At his 2 month appointment he was weighing in at a hefty 13 lbs. 14 1/2 ozs. He was 25 ins. long. That puts him in the 90th percentile for weight and the 97th for height. Those are numbers we have never heard in reference to our children. The older 2 both maxed out at the 50th percentile and dropped down from there. We definitely love our chubby boy!! He never has a moment's peace either. His brother and sister are completely smitten with him. I swear Riley will end up cross eyed because they are always in his face. I have included a little Riley video just to give you an idea of how his day goes.

But through everything that has been going on here we have had a lot of smiles!!And I mean a lot of smiles.A WHOLE lot of smiles!!

I sure love these kids!