Wading Pool Fun!

Happy July!
I hope you all had a great 4th of July!! Here are a few pictures from July 1st, when the kids played in the wading pool (yes, with floaties!) and had a fun time.



Also in the pictures are my mom, sister, and niece.
We had a nice picnic lunch, then played on the playground afterwards...until Ella got hungry. ;)



Today we played on the Slip in Slide.......cheap thrills in our house. By the time I got around to checking out the water toys at Target, that's about all that was left. Oh well.
Happy Saturday~
~Linda

Random Stamping turned into Cards

Hello!
I thought I'd post something other than baby pictures this time. ;)
A few weeks ago (before the baby came) I tried using my stamps to make patterned paper. I was trying to use the colors in the Close to My Heart "Boom Di Ada" papers, so it would all coordinate somehow. I don't love how the paper turned out, so I still have some practicing to do. It's fun to mix and match colors and stamps to create paper to fit whatever occasion you have (for cards or scrapbooking).
I ended up turning this random stamped paper into a few "thank you" cards for some baby gifts. I only managed 5.....due to lack of energy at that super-preggo stage.




I made these paper flowers out of pieces of the "Boom Di Ada" papers, then glittered the edges and tied them all together with some twill ribbon in the center.





Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for more baby pictures! And maybe that prom picture I was going to post ages ago. I can't seem to locate it though.
Happy Wednesday.
~Linda

Ella Louise & Peggy Louise

Happy Sunday!
I thought I'd share a photo of Baby Ella and Rourke's Mom Peggy. We chose Ella's middle name in honor of Peggy.
Excuse the "binky" in her mouth!














Here is another with all 3 kiddos:




Peggy stopped by on her way back to the Coast. I was happy to get this picture.......I completely failed at getting one in the hospital. Ugh.

Malia starts her swim lessons today! Woo-hoo! She is excited, but kind of nervous. She has a million questions about what is going to happen. Wish us luck.

Have a great afternoon.
~Linda

Random Pictures

Hello~
I thought I'd post a couple of pictures from June.
My niece Kim and her husband Brandon had a baby boy at the end of May. His name is Carson. Isn't he a cuite?




We went to a baby shower/BBQ for them on June 1st. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids (and Sophie & Ally - Kim's cousins & twin sisters).....along with my neice Tara's puppy "Bailey". So cute!!




A picture of the kids before Ella's arrival. Mom came over to take some "ready to pop" pictures of me and a few family photos. I'm not sharing the ones of me. WOW! Was I big, puffy, swollen, and tired looking. Ugh. Where did that "glow" go?



And one last picture from a few days ago. I need to take more pictures of Ella. I haven't taken any for a couple of days. She will be 1 WEEK OLD today. I can't believe how fast time flies. When Malia was born I remember taking tons of pictures every day!




That's all for now.
Have a great day! Enjoy the sunshine.........
~Linda

Baby Ella is Here!

Hello! Yes, we are home and all doing well! I know it has taken a few days to get this post up....so sorry! :)

Baby Ella Louise (named in honor of Rourke's Mom, Peggy Louise) arrived on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 6:44pm. I was induced, and ended up waiting most of the day for the Doctor to be ready for us. We pretty much knew labor would be fast once my water was broken. Sure enough, water was broken at 5:30pm, and Ella was born at 6:44pm. I was on Pitocin most of the day (to stimulate contractions), and had an epidural in the afternoon, but it was completely worn off on the right side by the time Ella was born. Yikes! There was a chance I would miss the epidural, due to the guy being busy and in c-section surgery when I needed it......so I opted to get it early vs. missing it. :) I am not opposed to the drugs!

Ella's Stats:

8lbs 12oz
20 inches long
black hair

We stayed in the hospital one night and came home Friday evening. It's so hard to get good rest there. We were much more comfortable at home. The nurses were great, and the milkshakes were delicious (thanks Kandi for the tip!), but there's no place like home. Thanks to Peggy for staying with the kids while we were gone. They had a blast on the MAX. :)

So far Malia & Alex are adapting well to the baby. Malia wants to hold her ALL the time, Alex sometimes. Both are gentle with her, and don't show any signs of jealousy (yet). It's been a tiring few days for everyone, but good.

Here are a few pictures~
From pre-Ella to almost 1 day old:











More to come later.
Hope you all are doing well.



~Linda

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!

Just a quick post.........today is the big day. We are off to the hospital to be induced. I'm a week late............so our baby girl should be arriving today sometime.

Wish us luck!

XO~
Linda

Teacher Gifts.........

Malia's last day of preschool was on Monday, so I made these quick gifts for her 2 teachers. They are the king size Hershey bars.....yum! (Good thing I didn't buy an extras........I have NO willpower when it comes to sweets & candy.)

I used the "Boom Di Ada" papers from Close to My Heart.....they were really quick and fun to do. My friend Kandi also made some.....you can see them on her blog: http://www.teojax.blogspot.com








The class also made a scrapbook for each teacher, here are the pages Malia & I made:




They are hard to see in these pictures......and are in page protectors, which doesn't help to see them. Anyway...that's all I have to share today.

Have a great night.
~Linda

Our Trip to Pacific City - Memorial Day Weekend

We were so excited to get away for Memorial Weekend! We hadn't been to the beach since Thanksgiving......that's just about 6 months!! (I'm sure you can all do the math, not sure why I had to tell you :O)). We stayed with my Dad & Jan and had a great time. Saturday was gorgeous (that's when all of these beach pictures were taken). So many people were out on the beach....which isn't that normal for Oregon. I was feeling huge and hot, but the others climbed the gigantic sand hill (dune?) and got to check out the view from the top. It is really a lot bigger than it looks in these pictures. Poor Rourke, I think he climbed it 2 or 3 times with Malia (part of the way with her on his shoulders). Needless to say, lots of napping happened later that day.















There was driftwood that apparently someone had made into a teeter totter, which was fun for the kids. I never see those anymore!





The huge rock, I think it is called "Haystack Rock", eventhough there is another "Haystack Rock" in Cannon Beach (up the coast)........anyway, I love this rock! From one angle it looks like a Native American Indian head, but from this angle it looks like King Kong's head (profile). Can you see it?? My dad even found the profile of the Grinch on one portion of the rock. I can't see it in the picture, but I could see it when I was there.

The weather turned cloudy and drizzly on Sunday, but we saw lots of deer and rabbits right from Dad's house. The kids loved it!

Hope you all have a great week~
Linda

20 Years Ago.........

This was me! I found this picture floating around in a random pile of "through the years" pictures I think we used for our wedding video.....hair was big back then (literally).....luckily my hair isn't as "big" in this picture as it was in some of the other senior pics. Anyway...I can't believe our 20 year class reunion is in a couple of weeks. Yikes! Where does the time go? I still haven't decided if I will be going or not. I'm kind of playing it by ear with the baby coming between now and then (hopefully before then). Who wants to be 9+ months preggo at their 20 year reunion? Who wants to have just given birth before their 20 year reunion (well, not JUST, but a few days before)??. After not seeing people for 20 years, is this really how I want to be seen?? Who knows when the next reunion will be.................
What should I do??? HELP!

Oh, I also have a **great** prom picture that I will post next. Gotta love the 80s! :)

~Linda

Baby Update!

We are getting closer! I would like to say we are 100% ready for her.......but unfortunately that's not the case. I hear that's how it is with #3. We did buy some diapers and I was lucky enough to have a surprise baby shower this past friday night.........thanks to Kim, Kandi, Kathy, Karen & Cindy! You guys are the best. Now we just need to pull out all of our baby stuff and get a little bit organized.
We can't wait!!

The "Duck Park"

A couple of Sundays ago (I am so bad with dates and posting promptly after taking pictures!).............we went to a duck park to feed the ducks and play ball. Unfortunately there were signs about every 5 feet that said "DO NOT FEED THE DUCKS", so we didn't dare even try. Once you start, you can't hide that you are feeding them....there were tons of ducks and geese. They would have been swarming us. It was like a mine field of poop there, but it was a gorgeous day and the water was pretty.

We stopped by another little park on the way home that doesn't have "no feeding the ducks" rules and unloaded our bag of bread. :)



HAPPY SUNDAY! I'm glad it will be cooler here today. The heat is a killer...and my feet & legs were swollen & huge last night. Nice!
~Linda

Spring Field Trip - Plumper Pumpkin Patch

Greetings!

Well.....I guess it was a couple of weeks ago (how time flies!) that we went on a Spring field trip for Malia's preschool. We visited Plumper Pumpkin Patch to learn about planting pumpkin seeds, Christmas trees, bees making honey, and to pet all the animals (calf, goats, pig, bunnies, llama, sheep.......there were also chickens, roosters a dog and a cat).

The fun thing about the Plumper Farm is they have a huge slide and a neat play area for kids with a teepee to boot!

There was an uncomfortable wagon ride (it was super crowded and the ride was fairly bumpy & slighly hilly........so staying on your tiny section of hay was a chore for the pregnant one with a 4 year old on her lap. Ugh. Grandma Jeaneen came along for the fun.......and Alex too! Here are some pictures.

On the baby front, we are about 5 weeks away from D-day.....or our original due date. I'm sure I'll be late, but I guess you never know.

That's all for now!

Goodnight~
Linda