36 weeks

Oh how I love this sweet girl!!

Aubrey, thank you for getting some pictures of me and Hazel together!

AND my baby belly!!

Hazel's kisses and interest in this sweet baby makes me feel so good.

I am very thankful for this pregnancy.

I feel so blessed to be doing this again!

Baby #4 is an amazing blessing!

I thank God for this journey.

My friend Mylanta, "take me home" outfit ...

I have had heartburn that is kicking my butt. Seriously annoying and really tough to get rid of. I bought Mylanta yesterday. The tums weren't cutting it. Last night I slept well. No aching hips last night and no heartburn, wow... it felt like some sort of pregnancy miracle! So here I am, raring to go. And that is good -- it will be a busy day today with lots of things that need my attention.

Yesterday at Target, Hazel and I bought a baby stroller and a "take me home outfit" for this baby boy. Ohhhhh... the sweetness. This little take me home outfit is precious. Hazel's excitement over all this baby boy stuff is pretty heart warming too. :)

Last night Merit had a baseball game. He has two a week right now. This child showed us very early on that he is a pretty intense kid, I think we saw this when he was about six months old. Channeling that intensity has been a process. I love it that he loves baseball, but sometimes it is too intense, he is too serious. Aren't a bunch of kids just supposed to go out, play ball and have fun? I think too much pressure is put on Merit and maybe a lot of the pressure comes from within. He is in a hitting slump. I think he would feel a lot better if he could put the bat on the ball a few times. :)
He has a coach who is constantly helping the kids learn and who expects a lot, this is good.
Overall, it is a lot of fun... but I do want to be sure HE is having FUN.

Willem and Hazel love the baseball games. They don't love watching baseball :), but they sure enjoy the socializing, playing on the playground, enjoying the weather and running off energy! Hazel sleeps like a rock the nights after the games. It has been a good activity for our family.

Natasha is on my heart and mind like crazy. Just saying lots of prayers for a smooth recovery and good rest.

The sun is shining, it looks like a gorgeous day! Hope to get outside with Hazel after appts and errands and enjoy it!

Catch Up

We bought a camper/5th wheel trailer last week. I think our family will make a lot of memories camping. The kids were so excited to take it out this past weekend, Willem probably being the most excited! There's lots of storage, lots of room, a toy hauler for our bikes, motorcycles or golf cart. We ended up "camping" at Grandpa Vic's.

Fun in the 5th wheel!

Back at home...

So fun to have green grass again!

Natasha has her ICD now. She is in the process of recovering. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be appreciated! Also, her throat feels raw from the breathing tube and she is having some muscle spasms. She is brave. She has proved this time and time again. I ams so thankful for her and although it makes me sad she is faced with these heart issues, it is good she now has this life saving device.

I have been looking through garden centers lately. This time of year I just love browsing through these centers, looking and planning a bit. Hazel likes this activity too. :) We need to keep things pretty simple this year with planting and gardening. With a May baby on the way, we know we will be busy with a newborn and with other busy kids. But it is fun to look and so often I am reminded of people when I look at plants and flowers. Fuschias always remind me of my Grandma Dorothy, tomatoe plants remind my of my Grandma Ken. Geraniums and full, thriving hanging baskets remind me of my Grandma Alma and my mom. Nasturims, petunias and marigolds also remind me of my mom.

Papa Stan and Gramma Adie always have a beautiful garden.

Gramma Kris always has fantastic succulents and fun grasses.

When Lesha and I were little, our family lived on the Sunrise Road in Custer, WA. My mom didn't plant much then, but I do remember her planting yellow and orange marigolds.

Different flowers remind me of different "seasons" of my life.

The last weekend I saw my mom we bought tulips together for a bridal shower she was hosting.

She was looking forward to making her front porch cheery and full of spring and had plans to plant lots of flowers again.

Flowers always provide some cheer.

Yesterday my friend Katie gave me a fun spring bucket of flowers! Again, a piece of cheer!

When I have this baby boy, I would love for my mom to be able to be at the hospital to meet this new bundle and to help watch over these three great kids of ours! I wish she could be in Kodiak right now taking care of Natasha's kids as Natasha recovers from her difibrillator procedure. I would love it if she could celebrate her 58th birthday this month... but really, deep down I know - God knows what He is doing. Trusting Him is the best plan. I also think that being faced with loss and hardships makes us stronger and more appreciative, or at least it can. THINGS don't matter, PEOPLE and RELATIONSHIPS do.

And I need to be thankful that God always places people in our lives that can help us get through what we are going through. Natasha's mother in law is in Kodiak now with Lane and Estelle - it is great she could go up there! And I have been so blessed to be offered lots of help when baby #4 arrives.

We have a busy Tuesday in front of us... I better run!

Counting my blessings, anticipating the arrival of our 3rd son

I was so blessed this morning with some time with dear friends!!

I received some very thoughtful cards, gifts and wonderful words.

We enjoyed breakfast and visiting.

I am thankful!

I am finally "nesting" a bit. But our home looks like it may need months of nesting!

I hope I can be productive over the next few weeks.

I love the wonder.

The pure joy.

The innocence.

I am so blessed by time spent with Hazel.

God has RICHLY blessed us with this little girl.

I am overwhelmed and excited to think this baby could come in 3,4,5 weeks. My due date is May 20th. WOW! Is our family ready?! Oh, adding a fourth child will be busy and an adjustment and wonderful, I'll bet! I am so excited to meet him. I am so excited to hold him. I am excited to sleep on my stomach and back again. I am tired of waking up with sore hips and shoulders. The anticipation is great. Listening to the kids "prepare" for this baby boy is heart warming! We thank God for this sweet baby boy!

The weekend is here! This means time with these sweeties and their dad!

Spring Break!

We hadn't  been to Lake Lenore Caves in about 5 years and we sure had a fun afternoon of hiking and soaking up the beauty!! Willem especially loved the hike.

Dirty faced, exploring cutie

That night some AWFUL tooth pain set in for me and then an emergency root canal the next morning. OUCH! I was out of it for a couple of days. Having a root canal is no fun! Especially when pregnant.

After a few sleepless nights and slow days at home trying to get back to normal, we headed to Yakima for camping and a baseball tournament. We had a fun get away.

Merit sliding into 3rd and he was SAFE!
This tournament team is so much fun to watch.


My computer is SUPER slow... so this post took a long time. Hopefully I can get it working better so that I can keep blogging!

Friday Post

Our explorer!

sweet girl!

 These three!

Spring has sprung! What a beautiful time of year.

Except that our weeds are popping up everywhere! Maybe we can hit those this weekend.

The boys brought their report cards home yesterday. They are doing great in school.

It is fun to read good reports.

I can hardly believe Easter is this Sunday already.

So thankful for the true meaning of Easter. He IS RISEN, He IS RISEN indeed!

We look forward to spring break this next week.

No homework - okay except for some reading - no school lunches to prepare, less laundry maybe, more time to soak up these boys...

It will be wonderful to have the kids home!

And our May baby boy is kicking, growing, moving... oh how I love him already!

My mom

I wish I had more pictures of my mom.

Actually, what I really wish was that she could have been here longer.

I find that I have shared all of my pictures. It doesn't make the pictures less special,

but this year I feel like I need more memories, I wish I had more pictures. Strange the different things our hearts feel.

A pregnant mind and heart sometimes gets carried away too. :)

Lesha, our mom and Grandma Alma

My mom at Target!

Our family of SEVEN! 

Mom and Lesha

Phil, Matt, our mom

This picture was taken in Moses Lake at our home on Shorecrest Drive.

My mom and dad

  I miss my mom very much. She went to heaven on this date. I have the sweet hope of knowing I will see her again some day. When Merit was three he knew a lot about my mom and could quickly recognize her on any picture. Hazel doesn't know as much about my mom. In a way, that is okay. I have healed, A LOT. I am more sure of God's plan for my life than I was seven or ten years ago. More sure of God's plan for my mom's life. Also, my life is very full. Taking care of this family brings me a lot of joy and keeps me busy. I have less time to focus on what I don't have and more time to focus on what I do have.

But, I can't forget to share my mom with my children. And because I am their mom, and was raised by a very loving, kind, devoted mother, I do believe I am already sharing a lot of her with them.

This has been an odd year though with having to consider more about our mom's heart issue. Because, we are finding, it could and is affecting our generation. If I would have learned this ten years ago, I think it would have been too much to process. We thought before it was not genetic. Now, we know - at least to a certain extent - it is. Part of our mom's condition was the possibility of sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden was certainly the case. She was gone very suddenly. My sister Natasha now has to face decisions and appointments because her issues could be very serious too and I think that any cardiologist meeting her would want to be very proactive. When an otherwise healthy woman, our mom, dies suddenly at the age of 45, any issues with our hearts have to be taken very seriously.

There are so many unknowns in this life on earth. Lots of uncertainties and many opportunities to simply trust in God. I have made an effort to be joyful - not depending on circumstances - but because that is what I need to be, joyful.

I am so thankful I had the mom I did.

ohhhh and this weekend I found these on my door step... beautiful!

What a special gift, they make me smile every time I look at them!

A little catch up...

I am kind of behind on posting, life has been busy. The laundry pile is high and finding time for homework is a bit of a struggle with these longer days. The kids LOVE playing outside in the the evenings! Basketball is over and baseball is in full swing...

The Broncos had a tournament not this past weekend but the weekend before. It

was a fun weekend. They won two, lost two. These boys have improved a lot throughout the season. Papa Stan and Gramma Adie were here for the weekend so that was fun!! It was great that they could see Merit play too.

Merit, making his foul shot

Papa Stan and Merit played a little ping pong in the shop when they were here.

We had three busy weekends. My dad and Matt were here the first weekend of the month, Papa and Gramma the second weekend and an out of town baseball tournament the third weekend.

This past weekend's tournament was played in Yakima. We camped there, had fun and lots of laughs.

Baseball this early can be COLD! We were so bundled up for Saturdays games! Sunday the weather was better. Merit is shining in baseball and it is really fun to see him play.

Willem's reading is TAKING OFF! We are certainly proud of all of the progress he is making. He is also very good about reading books to his litle sis. Hazel is a sweetheart. This girl keeps me entertained.

I haven't had my camera out much lately, but I do have two photo shoots this weekend so that will change. I do love photography, but chasing three kids and being pregnant with a fourth keeps me plenty busy, so I can't say I pursue it like I might in a few years.

This pregnancy is going by quickly and this baby boy is a mover! I usually get up a couple times in the night. Maybe once to stretch my legs, they have been aching some nights. I usually have to pop a couple of tums during the early morning hours too. I am a little more tired than I was a month ago. All in all I feel good. Once I get moving during the day, I feel great.

And awaiting this blessing is oh so sweet!

Wednesday Night

I love the sound of the rain, I am listening to it right now. Today was a painting furniture, drinking hot tea and getting a few spring things out kind of a day. I want to re-arrange furniture, figure out where our baby boy will have his room and make some changes. I suggested some of this re-arranging, changing up to my brother Matt and Vance last weekend. Knowing these two strong men could make it happen... :) They seemed to like the idea of leaving things right where they are. :) And because I don't have a real plan, maybe it can wait. I do need to keep decluttering and organizing though. School projects and papers are in heaps and the laundry pile needs my attention.

Things don't have to be perfect, but a change for the better is good.

Bible Study was wonderful tonight. I love the challenges we discuss, the passages we look at, the time with wonderful women.

The month of March I always think A LOT about my mom. She went to heaven in March and March is a month of remembering her, thinking of her, missing her and being thankful she was my mom.

My dad brought yellow roses to the hospital after she had me.

Yellow roses always make me think of her.

Tomorrow I have a doctor appt. I love this baby boy! What a blessing he is! It will be so fun to have him join our family.

Natasha is trying to schedule the ICD/difibrillator. Insurance, childcare etc. is not easy. It is hard to be that far from family and be challenged with this, especially so soon after a big move. There are times when this all seems sort of unreal. Things aren't falling into place easily. I talked with her today and I heard a patience in her voice that was really good. She has felt depressed about this, frustrated too --- understandably. But she is also trying to be patient and positive. I pray that things just start to fall into place and that the consultation and procedure go really smoothly. There are two ways of implanting the ICD, under the muscle or over the muscle. The under the muscle is a more extensive procedure and there is more recovery time, but this may be a better option for someone so young. She will learn more about all of this at her consultation. I think it is challenging too that she has a two year old in the house... a very fun, dramatic little sweetie, but someone who really doesn't understand any of these challenges and someone who can't be real understanding during recovery time.

I'll update soon.... M

Weekend FUN

I am loving a quiet Monday morning, but our weekend was great too. Matt came over on Friday night and Grandpa Jim came over Saturday. We stayed home with them the whole time. We laughed, talked, hung out a lot in the shop, it was a good time.

Willem got a little motorcycle riding in too.

Love this boy

Willem and me!

Game faces

Willem loves Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii. He has been so lucky to have Phil

and Matt play it with him when they come to visit. It was an Indiana Jones marathon for Matt and Willem! They stayed up VERY late Saturday night playing it and got back to it Sunday morning! :)

This loft has been a really fun hang out. We have a ping pong table up there now too, which has been a blast.

The sweetest 10 year old I know

Sweet Nellie

Merit has a week of basketball and baseball! Two basketball practices this week, one or two baseball practices and a basketball tournament this coming weekend.

The boys and Grandpa

Hazel has been in not much of a picture mood for a couple of weeks. Little Stinker. :)

She has been such a fun girl though. She LOVED Grandpa Jim! Was crazy about hanging out with him and Uncle Matt, so that was fun. Time to get to laundry and cleaning, because this week is going to get busy quickly. :)