9 Years!

Happy (late) Fourth of July!  While we are missing the Highland Park happenings for the Fourth of July this year, we have enjoyed some new traditions in our new home.  The kids asked for fireworks in the driveway, pancake breakfast, carnival games and decorating their bikes for a parade and we were able to deliver some of those. . . sort of.  I'm not sure we'll ever live somewhere that celebrates the 4th as well as Dearborn St.




We celebrated Brad's birthday at the beginning of June and his request was to have a bunch of very California adventures.  We went to the beach (of course!) and everyone had a great time!

Brad's next request was to go the Aquarium by the Bay on Pier 39 and out to lunch.  So we did.  The aquarium was fun (except for the big 'grumpy' fish that Elsie was totally freaked out by - it was pretty ugly and bigger than her) and we got to see and touch all sorts of marine life.  I think we spent the most time by the otters, of course.  Those guys were so playful and the kids chased them around and around their enclosure.

William loved the tube you walked through to be surrounded by fish and sharks.  He kept pointing and saying oooohhhh!

 

Addy liked feeding the sea anemone some cut up raw fish.  She is so curious!

 

And who is going to go to Pier 39 without having clam chowder and a seafood feast!?  Happy Birthday Brad, what a great day!

 

 

 

 


William took his first major face plant in early July and his nose still has a pink scar on it.  Addy has really gotten into reading to her siblings and I love how she memorizes books after reading them just a couple of times.  William loves it too!















 

This is what our family room looks like after dinner.  Wrestle mania.  William has really changed our family.  If anyone lays on the ground he jumps on them to wrestle and then it doesn't take long for the girls to take it from there.













These kids do clean up occasionally.  I think they are pretty cute!

The girls did their first swim lessons and went from clinging to the ladder and refusing to get into the water to Addy floating on her back by herself and jumping off the diving board and Elsie, well, she still has a long way to go.  :)  She did go under and liked being in the water as long as she was hanging on my legs or being helped by her favorite teacher.  She did enjoy parts of it but man, she put up a fight!



William got his first haircut.  Funny story!  I finally got around to making haircut appointments for all the kids at a spa downtown to try to get them good haircuts at a reasonable price.  I told Brad and he flipped out that I would take William to a spa to get a haircut!  So we found a barber and William got his haircut by a tattoo covered barber in a red leather chair.  Perfect.  :)









We did our first family bike ride yesterday at the Benicia State Park.  We rode along the water front and had a great time together!  Addy is so driven she rode the whole thing and raced her Daddy most of the time.












Elsie joined her brother in the trailer after a little bit but they enjoyed being served wild blackberries by her sister that we found along the road. 

 
 
 
 
 
 



We enjoyed our picnic by the Straight and watching the trains, sailboats, tugboats and HUGE salmon being caught down below.














Watching the men catch salmon.  Seriously, these suckers were 20+ lbs.  Brad is already planning to get a fishing rig. 

Major accomplishment:  Addy is riding her bike without training wheels!  She has practiced twice and by the end of the first day she was doing it!  Of course, when we practiced today I forgot the camera.  We are so proud of her!

Here's the first day when she just started.  I can't believe how quick she picked it up.

 

 William's working on his running in his handsome hat.  At 17 months he is not one to be left behind.  William has a lot of words and a lot of energy.  He's keeping up with the girls by being opinionated and driven.  I wonder where he gets that from.





















Yeah for summer!  We are loving Benicia and all this little town has to offer.

Brad and I were able to get away for a weekend (oh yeah, we went to a homeschool conference in Modesto!) and my parents stayed with the kids.  They had a great time, we enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot at the conference.  We've enrolled Addy in the preK program at Classical Conversations for the fall which is a Christian Classical homeschool co-op type thing.  We'll get together with other families once a week and then do our own stuff at home the rest of the week.  I'm really getting excited and I am trying to plan out the year ahead of time so I can juggle all three littles while actually doing real school with the girls.  We'll see. . .

Happy August!  I'll try to update a little more often (ha ha) so it isn't so long next time.

Blessings!

(ps.  If anyone knows why the formatting with Blogger is so annoying lately, let me know!  This is giving me fits!)

All settled. . . mostly.

Well, after 6 long months of several major transitions we are moved in and settled into our new house.  The details of the whole thing are exhausting to even think about but we have been so blessed and so taken care of by family, friends and by God who orchestrated this whole crazy life change for us. 

Here are a few totally random photos and updates. . .

 

Our family on Easter before church.

Our family celebrated 'Easter Passover' as our kids called it.  We celebrated Jesus as our perfect Passover Lamb and we did went through a Messianic Seder dinner with the kids.  It was really fun and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!  
This is William after he found an egg
on the egg hunt at our friend's house. 
This little dude has a lot of enthusiasm!

 

Elsie turned 3 at the end of April. . . actually, it was the second day in our new house and we had just gotten all the boxes and furniture and we managed to have a birthday dinner for her promising her that we'd have an Elsie day when Grandma and Ba showed up the following week.  She was gracious (and I don't think she cared one bit!) and we celebrated her big day surrounded by boxes and complete chaos!  Elsie is such a cutie!  She loves to dance and constantly asks, "will you turn our favorite songs on please?"  (which consist of anything from Aladin's Prince Ali to our friend Biff Gore singing A Change is Gonna Come on The Voice, to All the People Said Amen)  She really has a thing for music and can recognize songs from just a few opening notes.  She is also really starting to talk about Jesus a lot and how he 'died on the cross for MY sins!'  She's fully entered THE THREE's in terms of her testing boundaries in her sweet little dance off and ignore what you told her to do way.  Good grief.  Well, at least she's not screaming at me like someone else used to do at 3.  :)  We're working on showing her consistent boundaries and trying to train her how to be self controlled and keep her emotions under control.  (Yes, it's ok to be sad and mad but not to throw a fit.)  It's so interesting to go through this with the second child because I'm WAY less stressed about it than I was with Addy.  I know that this too will pass and I just need to work on one thing at a time. 

Our new house and town are great and we found a neighborhood park just around the corner (well, maybe it's more like 4 corners) and the girls love riding their bikes there!  It is turning into a staple for after naps.  There are even some milk cows that graze the hills behind the park and love to come to the fence when you call them!  So great!  William is loving getting to play on the playground like a big boy and that dude is fearless.  You really have to keep an eye on him.  Except with the cows. . . he's not so sure about those.




 So Mom & Dad did come for a visit (that was planned long before we found our house) and I am happy to say that they didn't have to help with the unpacking/moving in at all!  We were done unpacking in 3 days because we had the most amazing moving crew that unpacked every single box and put stuff where I wanted it.  So we really just spent a few days organizing and finishing up.  When Mom & Dad were here we played, had adventures (like a date night in the city!) and celebrated Elsie's birthday. 

Miss 3 year old on her birthday outing.  Yes, her sunglasses are upsidedown. 

 







 Our new town had a festival for The Opening of the Straight and the Yacht Club had kids games, crafts, music and all things boating for everyone to enjoy.  We had a great time and got to catch up with our friends the Muellers that live here too (and their parents who were in town visiting).  What a great place to live!







My monkeys.  :)  Oh, by the way, William is walking now and imitating sounds and words he hears.  It's so fun!  He has some serious opinions (shocker, I know!) and he lets his sisters know them.  He loves to wrestle and jumps on top of anyone lying on the floor.  He's such a fun little man.  Addy is turning into quite the little lady.  She can talk a blue streak and she has an amazing imagination!  She loves creating plot lines for Elsie and her to play out and she's still quite a little mother to William.  

 

 

The kids love playing music with my mom and this time William was a bit more of a participant!  He danced, played music and sang right along with the girls. 

So there you have it.  The formatting of this post is horrible but I don't have time to fix it.  :)  So, we're alive and well in our new home ready for some normalcy and regular life. . . whatever that means with 3 littles!  We are blessed.
















 

William is 1!!!

I can't believe William turned 1 on Sunday. Unfortunately he was sick on his birthday but luckily we celebrated a week early with my parents when they were in town.  He enjoyed all the attention, being sung to, opening presents and THE CAKE!  He had no problem digging right in and he needed a bath when he was all done.  I think his favorite present was the Tigger singing card Mom & Dad got him (go figure) and he wanted to hear it over and over again and he bounced all the way through it.  How fitting.  He might just be nicknamed Tigger before he gets too far into life with how much he bounces! 

He said his first word, 'ball,' on my birthday and followed it up with 'yum' and making elephant sounds.  He loves to bop to the beat of music and often tries to snap along or 'sing' along.  He is so full of energy and smiles.  As is fitting for the third child, I have no idea how much he weighs or how tall he is but I do have a Dr. appointment scheduled. . . finally!  All I know is that he's heavy and squirmy, eating like a champ and growing strong.  4 1/2 years into parenting and I'm finally ok with just knowing the big picture - that he's doing great - and I'm really letting the details go! 

Below you'll see him trying the sand at the beach.  He only did it once and he did not say 'yum' after.  :)   He loved digging around in the sand.  He used the same technique on his birthday cake. 

 My parents came to town for a week for a week when Brad was going to be traveling to Denver.   We had all sorts of fun with them hiking around the Sutro Baths with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and heading down memory lane in Danville where we lived when I was 2-6.  We even found my preschool and got a tour.  It looks the same as I remember it - 30 years later!  When Brad got home, we were able to have a birthday/Valentine's date at Ruth's Chris (Thanks Cowans!) and we had more fun at the beach and eating at our neighbor's middle eastern restaurant at Haight/Ashbury St. and celebrating Mom's, Dad's and my birthday with homemade cheesecake and then William's birthday.  It was a jam packed week of fun and it was so nice to have them around when Brad was gone.

 Our family was made for the beach!  We were joking that we've wasted the last 4 1/2 years of our life with kids pretending we were mountain people because everyone has such a great time at the beach.  We run, play Frisbee, build sand castles, and just roll around in the sand.  So much fun!  Our van looks horrible with sand in every crevice but it has been worth it!

Well, I did it. . . William's birthday post.  What a wonderful blessing that little bouncing baby boy is.  To think I cried for most of my pregnancy with him because I couldn't imagine adding another baby to our already chaotic family.  It just goes to show how good God is and how I need to purpose to trust His plan because it is good!  Now I can't imagine life without him.  He brings joy to my heart and softness to the sister competition that shows up around here.  Thank God for boys!

Off to do the dishes. . .

Happy Belated New Year!

I've been avoiding the blog since it's been so long since I've updated it and so much has happened.  Not one to let details go, I just couldn't see having enough time (or energy) to sit down and write it all down.  Well, I'm over it.  Let's just pretend I've been consistent in updating the blog and this is just a regular update.  :)

So, we're enjoying California and the beautiful and warm weather.  We go for a bike ride around our neighborhood every afternoon and depending on Elsie's mood, she either rides her bike with Addy or rides in the stroller with William.  Addy has been riding a big two wheeler (with training wheels) since her birthday in September and Elsie has mastered the Lil' Push bike.  They love going for bike rides and William loves the stroller.  I'm actually having to run to keep up with them most of the time.

We're pretty settled into our rental although it doesn't feel like home.  I can't commit to hanging anything on the walls since I don't know how long we'll be renting the place and it seems like a bummer to have to putty a bunch of holes in the wall if we're not going to be here very long.  On that note, the market here is pathetic.  There is next to nothing on the market and what is on the market in the areas we'd feel comfortable buying is not that great.  Hopefully as spring comes around so will more houses. 

William just turned 11 months old and he is quite a joy.  He has such a wonderful personality and is such an added blessing to our family.  I love the way the girls love him so much and take such good care of him.  He is practicing standing independently and he started crawling while we were in Colorado although he's not typically too motivated to go anywhere.  He loves standing holding on to the knees of someone who is sitting on the couch and he just bounces.  When we read stories he just stands there bouncing and doesn't really crawl around much (and he occasionally bites my knees).  He's impossible to hold while reading (although we're practicing with short stories) because he wiggles and tries to stand up to bounce.  But, once he's down on the rug he's pretty easy to keep track of.  He loves his food, music and chewing on anything (or anyone) he can get ahold of.  He's a total ham and has quite a few faces and sounds he likes to make.  He's started signing in the last month and is pretty good at 'all done' 'more' and 'milk.'  He loves to clap for himself after he signs. 

Elsie Mae is quite a character.  She's just 3 months shy of 3 years old and she's fully entered into the 'why' stage.  She asks a million questions a day but usually she doesn't stick around to hear the answer.  That girl is constant motion.  She is a little ball of muscle and is really into doing 'tricks' these days like summersaults, clicking her tongue, trying to snap her fingers and twirling in circles.  She always says "want to watch me?"  Oh boy do we have a performer!  Elsie is really enjoying doing our ABCJesusLovesMe preschool curriculum 3 times each week.  She's getting really good at quantifying things beyond just repeating numbers in sequence.  She loves the Bible verses and songs we do and the felt board Bible stories.  She's so enthusiastic about doing anything with me during her mommy time for school.  It's great!

Addy is almost 4 1/2, I can't believe it!  She's really changed since we left Salt Lake City.  She looks and acts more like a little girl now.  She can do most things by herself and loves helping me on Wednesday Workday do chores after her schoolwork.  She can clean a good portion of the bathroom, vacuum and mop the floor and clear the table after meals (and wipe it down!).  I'm serious, this is about to get good around here where I'll finally have some help!  :)  She is enjoying her Character Concepts preschool curriculum and is learning letters (how to write them and say them), she is getting a lot better and more interested in coloring and she loves reading her science books.  She is also really good at memorizing her character traits and corresponding Bible verses.  Now we're just trying to work in applying them and understanding them, not just memorizing them.  :)  Addy also asked Jesus into her heart to save her from her sins on Martin Luther King day!  She is really growing in her understanding of sin and the joy of forgiveness because of Jesus dying on the cross for her sins.  It's neat to see her understanding grow.

Brad has been working quite a bit and traveling more than he expected to.  He's been selected for some projects and leadership groups and has been able to work with each of his claims associates all over Northern California.  He's enjoying his new job and he's really good at it.  He's pretty tired from all the travel but he knows it's worth it to get his team turned around.  He loves being in California and getting to wear flip flops and shorts in the winter.  He is sure he has the most beautiful territory in the country and getting to drive all over the state allows him to really experience it.

 We've taught the girls to play 'go fish' and 'hungry hippos' so we have been having fun with game nights (William watches very enthusiastically from the confines of his exersaucer!).  The kids and I go to MOPS and Bible Study Fellowship here and we are really enjoying both of those.  The BSF group here is especially great and the kids are doing really well in their classes.  I've also enjoyed reconnecting with one of my oldest friends, Audrey, who recently relocated here with her family too.  We've done several playdates and get togethers and it's been fun to have our kids play together.  I still can't believe we've been friends for 28 years!  We've spent a lot of weekends house hunting but we did get to visit some old friends of mine where I grew up and I got to show Brad and the kids my old town, schools and house.  It was a long day but it was so neat to see the whole Rucker family and all 6 kids between Jen & Janelle. 

In addition to adjusting to regular life here, we've had company a few times.  Mom & Dad were here at the beginning to help us get settled and then Bill & Judy Slease spent Christmas with us and then my cousin Shannon & Guy met up with us on their San Fran vacation.  We're gearing up for visit number 2 of my parents to celebrate all the February birthdays and William's 1st.  We've visited a few different beaches, Muir Woods, Pier 39 several times, Golden Gate Park and several neighborhood parks.  We've also visited several churches of which we particularly like one that we'll probably attend until we move again.  Likely our new house won't be in the East Bay so we'll be starting life all over again somewhere else.  Oh well, it's fun being here for now and getting to be so close to San Fran.

Here's some pictures of a bit of what we've been up to. . . Happy belated New Year!

William's 'cute' face

William bouncing with Bill

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids so far.  Christmas Eve.





BIG News!

No, we're not pregnant.  Let me just start there.  And for many of you this isn't big news because you already know what's going on  But I was thinking this morning that some of you have no idea the adventure we're on right now.  

2 1/2 weeks ago Brad quit his job of 13 years at Farmer's Insurance because he accepted a job with Nationwide Insurance as an Auto Claims Manager for Northern California.  Yep, that's right.  So, starting 2 1/2 weeks ago we started on logistics.  We met with our realtor in SLC, got our house ready to list, said goodbye to our friends and then last Thursday we packed up the van and headed to my friend's house to stay our last night in SLC.  The house was spotless and it looked really good!  No wonder we bought it 3 1/2 years ago!  :)  We were actually pretty proud of ourselves that we could get it all done with 3 under 4 but we did resort to a Boz the Bear video for the girls and William on my back as we loaded the van and did the last floor cleaning.

Last Friday our house went on the market and we drove to Gunnison, CO.  Praise God, our house sold that day for full price!  Whew!  And, the drive to CO went well.  Brad spent the weekend with us in CO and then flew Sunday night to Sacramento to start his new job.

So this is the plan:  the kids and I will be living at my parents' house until we close on a house in California and Brad is living in a hotel until then.  :(  We have some back and forth trips planned (for house hunting, Thanksgiving and maybe Christmas) but until further notice, we're doing family time over Skype and speaker phone.  Our house in SLC closes in a few weeks so Brad will head back there to meet the packers/movers to empty our house.

Brad is enjoying his new job so far and he can't believe how beautiful his new territory is!  His area stretches from San Francisco to the Oregon border as far East as Sacramento.  Yeah, talk about spoiled.

So the plan is to find a house somewhere just North of San Francisco in the next few months.  At least, that's our plan.  God has orchestrated the details of this adventure so far so we'll see what He has in store for us.

Our mail is being forwarded to my parents' and I probably won't send out Christmas cards until after we move into our new house but send yours our way!  My cell phone (303) still works but Brad's has changed.  Email us if you want that.

The kids are doing really well so far with the transition but time is going SO SLOWLY!  I can't believe it's only been 3 days since Brad left.  William is sitting up now and has both bottom teeth and one top one has poked through (the other is just below the gum).  He has a passionate love for food and he loves to be read to.  He laughs a lot but that boy has a serious mad cry.  He screams like nothing I've ever heard before when he's upset about something.  It literally makes me crazy.  So, he's getting held a lot these days to avoid screaming.  :)

Addy and Elsie are loving spending time with Grammy B (Ba B is hunting in Western Colorado this week) and while they miss their daddy, I think the distraction of being here is helping ease the fall out of him being gone.

We attended the Gunnison MOPS group this morning and it was nice for the kids to get to do something 'normal' for them.  I enjoyed interacting with other young moms and getting a break from the intensity of 3 under 4.

So that's it for now.  We're on to our next adventure.  It was so hard to leave SLC as we've made amazing friends and love our church there.  I cried most of the 2 weeks between when we decided we were leaving and when we actually left.  I could hardly tell our friends we were going without crying.  But I know that God will provide a community and great friends for us in CA like He did in SLC.  I'm just having to remind myself that. . . a lot!

So we'd appreciate your prayers for a house, for peace in the transition and for the kids as they are missing their Daddy.

Thank you!  We'll be in touch!