Wrestling with her Siblings

In my experience with kids (which I feel is some what limited because I can only really talk about my kids), it seems that as there are more kids the toddlers get braver. Orion was a pretty timid toddler. He would try things, but only with our help and some what reluctantly. Isabella was braver, but still wanted us near by. Hunter didn't really seem to fear anything; he wanted to try everything Orion and Isabella did. Well ... now comes #4. Sabrina not only tries everything her siblings do, but she seeks them out. The "big" kids were wrestling and Sabrina came down the stairs into the toy room and piled herself on top of them. She has NO fear.
I'm not sure what the exchange was here, but is sure looks like Sabrina is giving Orion a piece of her mind. Glimpses of the future.

Coeur d' Alene Ironman

So it has taken me 2 1/2 months to post these pictures because I had tons to sort through and it was hard to decide on just a few. But here they are finally - pictures of Brett's Big Day!!

Hanging out at Lake Coeur d' Alene the day before the race. It was relaxing ... once we got there safely, but I'll save that story for the post about our camping trip.
The swim start - it was chilly for us and we were just watching. It had to be downright cold for the racers. The lake temperature was so cold that participants were allowed to wear booties which is not the norm. The weather was really good though - sunny in the morning, then it clouded up without raining.
We raced all over the place in order to catch glimpses of Brett as often as we could. We spent about an hour waiting for Brett's first lap of his bike. It was worth the wait. The kids and Brett were very happy to see each other and of course, I was very happy also - being the nervous anxious wife.
The lap of the bike
We saw him three or four times on the run and were able to hang out on the beach of the lake.

Hunter and Sabrina missed the actual finish. They were such troopers all day long. I forced them to skip their naps in order for us to chase Brett around the course. Sabrina was sleeping in the front carrier on me, so I didn't manage a good finish line picture. But Brett's official finish time was 10hours 16 minutes and 21 seconds. He finished 12th in his age group which he felt put him right on the fence for qualifiying for Hawaii. Neither of us slept well that night.

Monday morning we went down to the race sight about 10:45am. The top ten finishers in the Male 40 -44 age group were offered slots to Hawaii. When we got to the park six of them had accepted and signed the paperwork. This looked very good since there would be four slots to role down and Brett would be the second person offered a slot, but ... there was still time for those four people to show up.

Well, Brett got a slot for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. You can't see his face in this picture, but he was SO excited. I cried. It was a really awesome moment for Brett and for the whole family. We're Hawaii bound for 12 days. All six of us, my parents, Brett's parents and my brother will be in Hawaii for the race and relaxation afterwards. We'll post Brett's race number and how to track his progress as the day approaches.

August Goofiness

Sabrina ate or rather smeared an oreo all over her.
Sabrina thinks she is quite the "big" girl. Take note of the huge bruise on her forehead. She fell out of her high chair. It was the size of a hard boiled egg.
Instead of dipping her apples in peanut butter (healthy snack), Isabella asked to dip her apple slices in Nutella - a chocolate spread which is probably not as healthy as peanut butter.

Sabrina eating some of Isabella's huge snow cone at the Sky Sox baseball game.
Sabrina climbed onto the couch by herself, covered herself with a blanket and grabbed the remote control - I wonder where she learned this TV watching style ;-)

First Day of School

I'm trying to be a "good" scrapbooker and take the kids' first day of school picture in the same place every year, so far I'm three for three (Orion's kindergarten first and last days, and this year's first day.) We also managed to get a pretty good picture of all four kids. As we packed Orion and Isabella's backpacks with their lunches, Hunter asked if he could carry a backpack also. This worked out well because I put Hunter and Sabrina's breakfasts in the backpack. They were late sleepers this morning, of course. Here are Orion and Isabella taken at our house - ready to go to school!





Here are their pictures with the school sign. They each picked which one to include on the blog.







About half way through the morning, Hunter told me that he was sad because Isabella was at school today. I'm sure he had heard me say the same thing, but it was very sweet to hear him repeat the sentiment.















Isabella quickly settled into her classroom. She has the same teacher that Orion had for kindergarten last year. I think it helped her confidence today - not that she needs too much help with her confidence. ;-)

I picked them up at the end of the day. They were both in good moods and excited about their day.

Uncle Mike

My brother is a really cool guy. He has a PhD in Physics and a really active social life. (He's not a nerdy physics guy ;-) He doesn't have any kids of his own ... yet. He may one day, but even without his own kids he is a really cool uncle!! For his first post-doc he worked for a Dutch university, so he would bring trinkets, toys and candy for the kids back from Europe each trip. When Orion was 3 1/2 years old, Mike brought Orion a soccer uniform from a Dutch team. Obviously Mike also bought himself a jersey.

The picture of Orion and Mike was taken at our family ski weekend in February 2006.


The kids and I took a road trip to Indiana this summer. On the way home we drove to Chicago to visit Mike. It was just about as perfect a visit as we could have had. See ... Mike lives in a one bedroom apartment; therefore, it wouldn't really accomodate the six of us for a long weekend visit. And we can't really afford to fly to Chicago for the weekend and then stay in a hotel. So... the kids and I got to Chicago early afternoon, had a great afternoon/evening with Mike and then we started driving home mid-morning.

I had to take a picture of Hunter and Mike in the matching shirts. Orion really wanted to be in the picture, so I didn't fight it that evening. I will probably try to get a picture of just Hunter and Uncle Mike in their matching shirts before Hunter out grows it.

This picture was taken July 2008.

Isabella the Flower Girl

Last August Brett and I were asked if Isabella would be a flower girl in a family friends' daughter's wedding. Brett and I quickly said yes. Then ... we told Isabella about the exciting news which didn't go over so well. Already at her age Isabella doesn't like being told what she will be doing. She is the type kid that needs to think it is all her idea and her agreement. Isabella claimed that because she didn't know Ms. Meghan (the bride) that she couldn't be in her wedding. Over the past year we have helped Isabella get to know Ms. Meghan and she agreed to be a flower girl.

Well Isabella and the other flower girl looked beautiful and did a fabulous job - even though Isabella didn't walk all the way down the aisle.

Isabella and the other flower girl. (I won't post other kids' names without their parents' permission.) Isabella didn't know the other flower girl until Wednesday before the wedding. They hit it off splendidly. Isabella was calling her her best friend. This picture was taken before the wedding right after they had their hair done. I don't have any pictures from the actual wedding, but I'm sure I will get some later.

The wedding venue was Arrowhead Gold Course an absolutely beautiful location just south of Denver in Littleton.

Meghan gave the flower girls pink T-shirts that said "I'm in charge of the petals" They both wore them at the rehearsal.

The other flower girl's brother was the ring bearer. Isabella didn't really walk in the first rehearsal, but after I walked away from the staging area she walked through the second rehearsal just fine. (Some how I already make her nervous or she choses to butt heads with me. What does that mean for her teenage years?)

The girls hung out with the "big" girls - aka the brides and bridesmaids - before the wedding. They got the hair done and little bit of make-up. Most of the afternoon they spent watching movies on the portable DVD player.

The flower girls descending the stairs and walk way to the ceremony site.

I really like Isabella's smile in this picture.

During the wedding I was sitting in the back row, the first seat the flower girls came to. Isabella was doing really well ... until I suggested to her that she start throwing her petals out of her basket. Then she sort of panicked. Corey, the bride's brother, tried to walk Isabella and then carry her down the aisle. This didn't go so well - a little crying, a little kicking. I met her up front on the side and she sat with me through the ceremony. She overcame her fears and walked up next to the other flower girl towards the end of the ceremon and then back down the aisle smiling after the wedding.

Walking Girl

It's official - she's walking! On Tuesday she started walking more than crawling - just like that. It is fun to see the evolution. This is sad, but I don't remember the other kids starting to walk. I mean - I have pictures, but I don't have memories of this phase. Because of that I wish I could capture their entire childhoods on film.

Sabrina is SO proud of herself. She really wants to walk all the time. She isn't stable enough to walk from the car into a store, but she sure wants to do it.

Surviving the Road Trip

The key to surviving a road trip with young children is to throw out all dietary rules you have ever read. Sabrina did great in the car as long as I continued to feed her suckers and twizzlers.