More Margaret

I think the last two are kind of oppisites. Back, front. Asleep, awake. Cluttered, space.

Sisters

My sister Lauren once crossed-stitched a little sampler for me that read "A Sister is a Special Friend." I have two sisters and they are both irreplaceable in my life. I feel fortunate that I was able to help Heavenly Father in giving the gift of a sister to my little girls.

My Beautiful Margaret

Margaret is here!!

We welcomed Baby Margaret into our home March 29. She was 6 pounds 11 ounces. 18 3/4 inches long. She is beautiful and we love her!

I have seen this view for approaching two years and have wanted to photograph it the entire time. The photo is sub par but I will try again.

Fluke Storm

Tuesday we woke up to a ton of snow (for Oregon.) Just about every other home on our street had a snowman and we contrubuted. What was fun too was that the snow stayed for about two days. It was wet and slushy but fun and different for spring.

Tulips

In our ward we have a tulip farmer. It is so nice to go to church every sunday and see beautiful bouquets up on the stand. One week Sister Iverson gave me the bouquet she brought. They were the most unusal tulips I had ever seen. Wild and fun.

Mo Willems is awesome in my book. We got hooked on his books when Tara read us We are in a Book. I highly recommend it. Clara loves reading them to John and John loves hearing them. It sure does make a parent pleased to see them sitting together sharing a book. Clara gets better at reading every day. She still guesses and misses words on occasion.
We have also been reading a lot of Berenstain Bear Books at the suggestion of Lauren. They have made a big difference in our home too. Ghost of the Forest is referred to at least 25 times a day and we read New Baby at the perfect time for Clara it be prepared for Margaret. All of them are good. We were sad to hear about Jan Berenstain passing away. Glad for her wonder influence in children's literature.

Bean Bag Fights

The toppled chairs are protection for Clara and John. Kelly is exposed so it is fun to see him get pelted by Clara's more acurate throwing. and John and Kelly are looking through there binoculars.

Full Circle

I would like to tell you all a little story. It started in Rexburg, Idaho. I met a guy named Kelly. He was really nice, and we decided to get hitched! We have enjoyed several years of wonderfulness, and I am so happy. Why am I telling you all this, and posting this particular picture. Well..............after three years of newly wed bliss, we were enjoying the first year of medical school and taking care of a wonderful one year old girl. Clara loved jewelry(she is a girl!) and would always want to play with my wedding ring, or take Kelly's and play with it. One day Kelly let her take his ring, and she took off with it. Long story short, she lost it and we couldn't find it. We canvased the house. Kelly thought it may have gone out in the trash, and wished some hobo well who would find it and pawn it for a new trenchcoat. I thought perhaps it went down the toilet. Gross! We both knew one thing, though, that we would never see the ring again.

Well, fastforward our lives three plus years to yesterday. We moved from SoCal to Oregon. I am busy preparing for the arrival of our third bundle of joy and am going through old baby bags. I pull out one particular bag, and see a gold glint in the bottom. I, with my jaw dropped, pull out Kelly's lost wedding ring. I couldn't believe it. I ran out and showed Kelly, and he was dumbfounded. He was so shocked that he just stared at it with an incredulous look on his face. He didn't even seem happy! He was, really.

Onsies

We pulled out some of Clara's old onsies in anticipation. We are so excited to have a new baby girl! We are naming her Margaret and she is due March 28th.

On the Phone

Clara has a great time talking to Taryn on the phone. She dials the number. At first she would mostly scream and run around. Now they take turns telling stories. The stories mostly feature Clara, Taryn, Derek, and John making there way through spooky forests of ghosts and goblins. Rapunzel helps out too sometimes.

Progress

When John first would go to the park, I could not entice him to get on a swing no matter how hard I tried. Then Dad came to the park with us, and John could swing if he sat on Dad's lap. The next time we went to the park Dad put him on the swing and started small. John was just fine and pretty soon swinging like a pro. Now when I take him he is so happy. I have a hundred photos with the cutest, biggest smiles on his face, all out of focus. Dad is awesome!

Bikes

We have been excited and waited patiently for a nice day.

Our Christmas

Christmas Eve.

First try on their new bikes.

The ribbon that I will save.

A Christmas lolly-pop.

Linn Benton Leaf

I am not sure why I take so many photos of plants. I am sure it has something to do with the fact that they don't move.

Fall

Complementary Colors

Working Hard

In the past two weeks or so Kelly and I have changed our tune. Before we would proudly praise Clara and John for the things they would do by focusing on the outcome of what they did. We would say things like "You did a great job!" and "That looks so good." etc, etc... Now we say "You worked so hard." and "You do good work." Stressing the effort, time, and dilligence of their efforts rather than the result. I like that it is about working hard and not giving up. It has done good things. John has been working on puzzles ever since Clara got one for her birthday. He started with a 25 piece puzzle and mastered it, and now is mastering a 100 piece puzzle. I am impressed with his diligence and concentration. Yesterday was the first time he did every piece but two. One because it is lost and the other because i placed it. For a while we were doing it together about twice a day. I think it is interesting that he learns little sections at a time. first the faces then Buzzes feet and Woody's belt. He works so hard and I am so proud of him! And whats more, he is proud of himself and the work he did.

Halloween

Halloween this year was a blast. We had a family in our ward that we have become friends with, the Greaves, come over. While Kelly and Paul held down the fort and frightened off potential T-P-ers, we went out and let the kids practice a form of hunter-gather lifestyle that is only practiced in candyland. We were unsure of the weather as it had rained earlier that day, but the weather held. John was so cute! He would say "trick or treat" so quickly and when asked what his costume was, he would proudly respond "PIDER!" without hesitation(he had changed from the monkey to the spider). There was one house that had a man in a mask that entranced Clara. She was frozen and would not move or break eye contact with the man as he acted ghoulish in the background. I was so happy to be there and that he was kind enough to remove his mask to show Clara it was a regular person. As we were walking around, I was amazed to see the batmobile drive by. With batman driving. I kid you not. I wish I had my camera with me. Someone had built a car to look exactly like the batmobile and was driving around in it. It was so cool. I wish Kelly had been out to see it. Finally we returned home for pumpkin pie. I was so happy to see the kids get just as excited to hand out candy as they were to be given it. All in all, a wonderful halloween despite the sugar hangover the kids had the following day!

Picking out Pumpkins