Stellas Birthday Weekend Part 1

Canopy Tour at mt Hermon with Nates 82 year old Gramma, Mom and Uncle.

classic 2 year old

I love this video.

Stella's birth was a fast one. I started having contractions around 9 pm. I wasn't even sure they were contractions. Nate and I watched a movie, I made some cookie dough ( of course) and then about half way through the movie I thought I should try to get some sleep because this was going to happen soon. I laid in bed for an hour or so timing my contractions. Around 11:30 We called Nate's mom to come to the house because we thought we should go in. The worst that could happen is they send us home. By the time Nate's mom got to our house, 20 min later, I could hardly move without a contraction. I remember pausing by the kitchen sink on the way out the door. Breathe Breathe.

I hope I make it to the hospital. I realized then, I WAS IN LABOR. It was the longest car ride I had ever been on. I had no way of getting comfortable. I could not move. Pain was taking over. I was breathing. one two three. deep breath.

We got to the hospital 12:30 am. Left the keys in the car, I barely was able to walk in. I had to pause 3 or 4 times. Got to the front desk and they treated me like I was there to pick a book up at the library.

We finally got to the room, they checked me. I was at 8 centimeters. The nurses couldn't believe it. I knew it. An 2:30 am Stella was staring up at us.

I will never forget the pushing and the indescribable moment when she was out and there she lay with my chin, pink beautiful skin and eyes gazing back and forth between Nate and I. What a moment.

We love our Stella so much. She has added so much laughter and joy to our lives. She is the funniest kid I know. She loves to laugh, be silly, snuggle, get dirty, eats any and everything. She truly is a shining star in our life. Happy Birthday sweet girl.

2 years ago today

Whoa momma!! This was me exactly 2 years ago today. We went for a walk around a garden hoping to get some things going in the Labor department. Stella was due the next day, May 23rd. I was feeling and looking ready to pop! I was really big. It is so weird that we can walk around with a baby protruding out from us so far. Pretty amazing.
I remember this day. I was so excited to meet our little girl. To see what she would look like. To see what she would be like. The anticipation of God's creation. The hours and days leading up to birth are such precious times. That evening brought many contractions.......... until tomorrow.

Everywhere I go with Stella at least one person will comment on "what a talker' she is. Today 4 people at the grocery store said something to me. She loves to talk. She talks all the time and narrates everything. 99 % odf the time I love her comments on life. 1 % of the time it gets really exhausting. She also has been playing mocking bird. She says phrases that we use. The latest is 'Oh my Goodness'. She is turnign two on Sunday. I can hardly believe it. Stella always leaves us smiling.

Lunch

We have been spending a lot of time outside. Actually most of our days. My mom bought the girls this cute little table. They love it. What great buds those two girls are. They are loving playing together outside, exploring everything and getting dirtier than I have ever seen them. I am so tired of the dirt. Really done with it. We all have been as dirty as you get when you go camping and you rely on wet wipes to get clean, except we have sinks and showers! The area where the girls play the most is pretty much all dirt. So their feet are black, there face is smudged with dirt and their fingernails scream for scrubbing. Hopefully the dirt quota for the day will shrink. We are in the works to get some gravel down. I have been and still will be sticking to my motto that ' a dirty kid always tells you they have been having fun!' . So even though we will be seeing less dirt, I still expect to see a dirt ring in the bath tub at the end of the day.

SUN!

We are so lucky to have a yard here that gets sun. Living in the Redwoods means lots of shade. The redwoods are so tall that they leave little room for anything underneath to grow. But we have sun in our front yard and our backyard.

I have been wanting a garden for a couple of years now. We were getting ready to do a front yard garden in Portland before we moved. I was so excited to see our new backyard and all the sun that it got. Here is the start to the raised beds. I love having a husband who can build just about anything.

Nate is putting gopher wire down. We really are not sure what we will attract with our garden. Hopefully it will just bring over friends for dinner.

mothers day

My mom and ken came for a visit for mothers day and to check out the great place we get to live. We had a great time exploring and being together. I had envisioned a great photo with my mom and the girls. It is a very true to life photo!

Trying to get a shot of everyone was pretty funny, But I think it shows all our personalities best!

I am the luckiest mom around!

Sydney's school commute

Here are some pictures of what we see on our walk to and from school. Not too shabby!

Santa Cruz Part 2

What a whirl wind the last couple of weeks have been. We packed up the house up on Sunday in Portland and unpacked the house on Wednesday in Mount Hermon. I can truly say that I am in no way utterly exhausted. God gave us lots of endurance, lots of very helpful hands, great kids, and sunshine.
The kids did a great job on the drive down. I am so thankful I caved in and bought the car dvd player. It truly made all the difference in the car. WE stopped in redding the first night and stayed at a hotel that had a pool. The girls loved it and the adults loved the hot tub.

We are pretty much settled into our house. There are still somethings we want to do to the outside to make it a little nicer, ( gravel, paving stones for our table, toy storage, etc), but overall it really is starting to feel like home.

Here is a picture of the outside. It looks a little hillbilly with the toys and table and other things that we need to find a better place for, but at least you can picture where we spend most of our time. Sydney has been adjusting pretty well. She got plugged into school right away. She made a couple of friends that live on camp. One girl named Khenya said to me today, " Sydney is my bestest friend!'. I was so thankful for their instant connection.

When we were driving up to the camp and driving through the town of Felton, where we grocery shop, Sydney said, " Where is the town mom. I thought we were living in a town. All there is here is trees. There are no buildings. Where is town? Where will we go to get stuff?". I didn't realize how much of a city girl she was. She has been 'adjusting' to non city life well. We saw a banana slug on the way to school and chased a butterfly home.

I can't even express the thankfulness and gratitude I have in my heart for this amazing opportunity we have been give. I am so thankful to God for answering my prayers beyond my imagination. I feel so blessed. So blessed. Nate has been home for lunch. The girls chant at the door for him when he walks in. We have had lunch and dinner out side. There are endless placed for us to explore out our front door. I just truly feel like we are a family again. I love seeing Nate be a daily part of the girls life. I feel like this is us again. This is us, our family.

Big Plans!

I can't tell you how cool it is to truly feel/know/experience that God has a plan so much greater than we can imagine. For the last 3 1/2 years we have loved living in Portland. We have taken full advantage of this great city. We have loved the puddle stomping, the rainy wet hikes, the summer concerts, McMenimens, riding bikes to the city, such great friends, farmers markets, berry picking, Sunday dinners with Nate's family, Tuesday diners with the Jer and Crista and their kids, getting to know great people, Manzanita, the mountain.... The list could go on. On the flip side, one thing that has been really hard on our family is the amount of time that Nathan has had to be away from us.

Over the past year or so Sydney has been more and more upset by Nate being gone. She would cry and ask why does daddy have to be gone so much. She would wake up asking for daddy only to be disappointed that it was not him opening her bedroom door in the morning. Stella's baby sign for Nate was holding her hand to her ear like talking on the phone. That is how she saw him. It has been really tough. I have shed many tears missing Nate and so many sad days experiencing great things with the kids that he was missing out on.

Through out our marriage, we have always gone by the motto, "we will know when it is time to move on. God will make it clear and He will clearly lead us somewhere". I am so happy to share with everyone that God has made it SO clear and has lead us somewhere new! We are off on another new adventure.

Nathan has just been hired as the Director of Adventure Programs at Mount Hermon Camp and Conference Center in California. We are excited about this new job and place for our family. Mount Hermon is located just miles from Camp Redwood Glen in Scotts Valley where we worked 2001-2004. We still have great friends in the area, there is surfing, hiking, biking SUN, SUN , SUN, huge redwood trees, Nate can come home for lunch, he will be home for dinner and he will be able to open the girls bedroom door in the morning. It is such a huge blessing and the job is a great fit for Nate. He will be working with some great people. The job really fits his personality, gifts and talents.

It is so humbling to feel the outcome of so many prayers in such a clear way. I am so thankful for this opportunity for our family to be together again.

The details of when we are moving is still being worked out, but it will be sooner than later. We will be putting our house on the market soon so, if you or anyone you know is looking for a great house, let us know!

Please be in prayer for all the transitions that lay ahead. Our move, Syd's new school, selling the house, transition from Synergo and leaving well, transition to Mount Hermon, the girls adjustments to a new place, moving away from Nate's family....

We are so thankful....so thankful and excited for this next chapter in our life. Santa Cruz here we come!!!

Stella

Sydney

Life through the eyes of Sydney

I let Sydney take some pictures with my camera the other day and this is what she saw. I think she captured her life pretty well....

Disneyland!!

Nates parents took the whole family on a trip to Disneyland!!! We were so excited to go and be at Disneyland and to spend time together. Sydney was really anticipating the trip. She had a countdown calendar and marked off each day almost immediatly after she woke up.

It was a great trip. We were at the park for 5 days. It was the perfect amount of time, We didn't feel like we had to rush each day and there wasn't any reason to kill your self with LONG days. It was great. Sydney was able to go on some 'bigger kid' rides. She went on a small rollercoaster in California adventure and Soaring over California. She told her school friends when she got back that soarin was her favorite. Tinkerbell made an apperence at the end.
Stella loved all of it too. She left being able to say Disney, minnie, micky, pluto, goofy. ..... She loved the characters. But what I think she loves the most was all the fences that were just her height to step on, balance on and to walk through and under. Go figure.

Here are some pictures from the trip: