The Apple Orchard!

Today I took the kids to an apple orchard in Nebraska City. I did have some help from our friends Melinda and Andy who came with their daughter Sidney. It was a wonderful time. The kids loved picking apples- there were so many! We ate a slice of homemade apple pie (with ice cream), some apple cider, apple donuts (so wonderful- they just melt in your mouth), and for the ride home popcorn (yep, it is know on the floor in the back seat). I am ready to go back already- mainly for some apple donuts- but it was such a good time I would love for Kyle to be with us. Apple orchards and pumpkin patches are definantly a perk of living in the midwest!

One of the kids favorite parts of the apple orchard- riding horses. There was no line, so they were able to ride for quite awhile. Gavin has been on horses several times and was thrilled to ride again. He kept reaching up to try to catch a leaf of the tree hanging over the horses. He finally got one and when he was done riding he was ready to feed it to the horse- who wasn't too interested, I am sure a leaf isn't as tasty as all the apples he gets. I was so proud of Avalyn, who is sometimes afraid of trying new things and has never been on a horse. She sat on the side smiling a waving at the horses, but after a while of watching Gavin and Sidney (who is 2) ride she jumped up and said "I want to ride", the 3rd horse was ready and she ran right to it. She was so excited, she sat up there by herself, held on, leaned forward often to pet and talk to the horse, and the best of all smiled the whole time!

Our "Pets"

So I am not a pet person, I'd rather have more kids than add a dog to the family right now. Don't worry I am not really that mean or against animals and I am sure many many years from now I will probably give into kids begging for a pet (that hasn't happened yet and they haven't asked). The other day, while showing someone the play room, they pointed out that there was something hopping out the window. Our eggressed (I have no clue how to spell that word) windows are still not finished, so there is just dirt and other junk on the bottom. Apparently it makes for a wonderful frog home. It is a little creepy, but there are 7 frogs (plus at least 3 dead frogs) living in the eggresed window. There is absolutely no way out and I am not about to go free the frogs, so they have become our "pets" and some good entertainment for the kids. I couldn't ask for a better "pet" right now, we don't have to feed, clean, or smell them, they don't make any mess and we didn't have to buy them, there are no trips to the vet and no sadness after losing one (since there are seven and the kids have seen the dead frogs- they know what eventually happens). Kyle did promise that he would take care of them before the first freeze- so the kids didn't have to see that- but for know they are fun to have! The window is really dirty on the outside, so the pictures are really foggy but here are a few of our little frog friends.

And of course some funny frog faces!

Cambria swinging!

At our Sunday school party at the park, I decided to try Cambria on the swing. She is extremely motion sensitive so I wasn't sure how it would go and my biggest fear was her trying to eat the swing (like she does everything else). Well, she didn't eat it, but she wasn't quite sure about it either. I just stayed really close and only pushed her a few times, she would tense up like she does when she is scared but would relax after I touched her and talked to her. Who knows maybe she will love swinging some day. I did love these pictures- I made them black and white so the tinting on her glasses wasn't so distracting.

This is not so bad.

Now lets try swinging.


Okay, maybe not so much swinging.

2 pushes that's enough, time to get out!

Can you fix it Daddy!

We are definantly missing Daddy right now. We survived the first week. Gavin had a difficult time the first couple of days and was pretty good after that. When asked about his Daddy being gone he said "it's going to feel like forever, but it's not- he will be back". He gets it and has been a pretty good trooper.

Avalyn on the other hand was fine the first 5 days and then after that it was like an emotional melt down- actually many emotional melt downs and they don't seem to be going anywhere. She is constantly crying for her Daddy, they usually come after she's hurt, she doesn't get what she wants or she finds something she wants Daddy to fix. It's a hard concept for a 2 year old to get, but I know that after a while she will adjust. This is the first time she has gotten it beyond just mentioning his name frequently, she is heart broken. She has always been the one we've had to watch, into everything- very curious, very creative, but for the past 4 months we've been able to let our guard down (such as not locking our bathroom door). The little destructive diva seems to be back- okay so she's not as bad- but yesterday I caught her in my bathroom covered in my foundation (I definantly was laughing to myself at this one), the day before she through around her Barbie in anger (over the pony tail I did "wrong" in the Barbie's hair) till she broke the cover of a light switch- I was ignoring this tantrum thinking she might hurt the Barbie not anything else, today she put almost a whole role of toilet paper in the toilet, and to top it off she was sick on Sat. and threw up 3 times. I can't even begin to count how many things Daddy is going to come home and fix, according to Avalyn, the light switch, the potty, her hair when it got sand in it, the shower that still isn't working, the baby swing and every toy that needs batteries, the fire pit (it's not broken she just wants Daddy to make a fire), her bed after she puked in it, and many more. Of course I am fixing most of it, I am able to wash her hair and change out batteries, but it is so sweet and a little scary that everything that isn't perfect is going to be fixed by her Daddy (I am just hoping she isn't thinking he will come home if she messes something up). On the upside in the last week she stopped using the little potty- I hid it and she hasn't cared- and she is finally putting on her own underwear and shorts! Please pray for little Avalyn and her Mommy (I know this will pass, but in the mean time it is wearing on me). ONLY 4 more WEEKS!!!

We are keeping busy with all our activities. This has helped keep their mind off of Daddy being gone. On Sat. afternoon (after Avalyn took a nap and woke up feeling much better) we went to a picnic with our Sunday School class. It was great to be out and with such wonderful friends!

The Girls' room

Here are some pictures of the Avalyn and Cambria's room. I did the painting before we moved in and baught the big girl bedding shortly after on clearance at Pottery Barn. I knew that if we ever had another girl it could easily be combine with her baby bedding (also from PB). All I had to do was add Cambria's name on the wall and we put Avalyn's big girl bed in the room. To make it feel less crouded the dresser was moved to the closet. It is definantly a girly room and when the contracters put the pink on the wall they called me (plus Kyle also called) to make sure it was what I wanted, of course it was I always wanted a pink room when I was little so I wanted to give that to my little girl. I don't know though Avalyn next room might just be blue (her other favorite color besides pink), she loves light blue because that is the color of Cinderella's dress of course. I would be just fine with blue, it my favorite color!

The girls aren't really sharing the room yet, Cambria is still in our walk-in closet. Her sleeping habits are very unpredictable in the morning, especially with teething, and her nap schedule doesn't always work with Avalyn's. I have a feeling it will be a while till she is in the room with her big sister. We do have 5 bedrooms in this house, but 2 are in the basement and we like having a guest room and the playroom is definantly nice for holding all the toys. Avalyn has always loved her pink room and will hopefully enjoy sharing it in the future.


This is Avalyn's "princess bed". In order to get her excited about her big girl bed (she been in it since July) I painted the old bed white and painted a princess design, I took from her princess panties, on it. The bed was my Great Uncle's and when he passed I got 2 of them- perfect for 2 girls! She loves her princess bed, but for some odd reason during nap time she sometimes sneaks into Cambria's crib (never at bed time though).

By the way this room definantly GLOWS Pink during the day!

Happy 8months Cambria!

I did my best with an 8 month picture of our precious Cambria and didn't have much luck- my timing isn't so good these days, it was probably time for a nap when I took them. I needed you today Jana (Selander) or Jessi, it's just so hard to take picture by myself- she is in my arms in most of them (it would probably help if she could sit up by herself). We are so proud of our precious Cambria. She feels our hearts and home with such great joy. At 8 months she is rolling around, chewing everything she can get her hands on to, likes to grab toys in front of her face, holding her own bottle, she has 7 teeth and one on the way, she LOVES to jump, loves to take a bath, loves to be held, loves escimo kisses, loves to grab faces, loves the sound of her brother and sister, loves her glow worm and pink singing dinosor, squeels with excitement when spoken to, hates a dirty diaper, hates to be hungry, hates real food, loves baby food, hates any green vegitables, sometimes hates her glasses, sometimes doesn't mind her glasses, loves to chew on her glasses, can't get enough of her Mommy and Daddy, just loves being Cambria! I am sure there is more, but that will have to do for now. It has been an incredible 8 months and we couldn't imagine life without this special angel!

My Bubble Babies!

Gavin- 5 months

Avalyn- 6 months

Cambria- 8 months


Today I finally got around to taking the bubble picture of Cambria that I have taken of Avalyn and Gavin. I have tried to take it around 6 months, but of course I was a little late this time. I think part of me was just hoping her eyes might not be so crossed and I am sure a lot of it is I just didn't get around to it. Cambria absolutely loves the bath, all my kids have but she probably loves it the most. Gavin told her the other day, while they were in the bath, that she could go to the Olympics in China when she got bigger and we would all come watch her. She was definantly happy to be in there today, probably a little too happy she wouldn't stop kicking, which meant there was water splashing in her face. Waiting till she was 8 months probably didn't help by now she is such a roller she just wanted to roll in the bath tub (she is ussually in her little layed back seat) and her eyes have become far more severely crossed- not to mention without her glasses they don't change position much. Oh well, at least I got around to it and now we have one of her to put in the kid's bathroom. As you can tell she resemble her brother a lot- it's a little crazy when you look at baby pictures of Gavin and even crazier that Kyle and I thought she looked like Gavin from her utrasound. I might try to get another picture that looks more like the other kids, but I love her big smile- she doesn't have a little one, she is either calm or smiling as big as possible.

Cambria

This was my attempt, the other day, to get a picture of her 7 teeth (almost 8)- I failed, but they were cute and I thought I'd share them anyways. Of course I realized shortly after that she had poop in her diaper and that is probably why I couldn't get her to smile- she does not like a durty diaper.

Feeding Cambria

Avalyn has been excited lately about feeding Cambria. It's so sweet and she's so proud of herself. She has been wanting to help out more lately- maybe it's just because Gavin calls himself "Super Helper". These pictures are from a few days ago. Tonight Cambria was laying on the floor and screaming, while I had to look for something in the basement and when I came back up stairs Avalyn was giving Cambria her bottle. It's nice to have some help around here.