Blog List

So now I have a more efficient way to blog stalk. Instead of clicking on everyone's I can check out my list. Of course those aren't all the blogs I read, just my regulars except for Sam's because I couldn't get hers to work. I tried 3 times- I don't know why Sam but I will try again later! Hope you don't mind if I listed yours...

Random Stuff

I really, really should be packing since Hailey, my mom, and I are going to LA tomorrow!! We are going to the American Girl Doll store.....it looks really fun. Although I will be leaving Avery for the first time overnight and for 4 nights!! Scott will be with her so I know she will be fine but it is kind of sad. Karis will be fine too but may be a little sad especially about missing Hailey. But her time is coming....Gamma has promised that each girl gets to go to the store before she goes to Kindergarten! (Just another reason I purposely had 3 girls...so I could go 3 times. Haha Becky and Hannah!)

Someone sent me this pic of Alex-Josiah. Looks like we will have to buy one of these cars. Apparently he cries when he has to get out of it. And he likes Kool-Aid. Obviously he will fit right in!!

Several of my e-burg friends have started blogging. What a thrill! I am going to set up their links sometime. Cori was over today and is a new blogger. I was explaining to her how as a blogger you start to think about life differently- thinking about all the things you should post and say.

Avery smeared sour cream all over her arms at lunch. Hailey said she thought it was sunscreen. And speaking of Aves she is back to her long naps and much sweeter personality. Thank you God....

And Hailey informed me she wished I went to work and Daddy stayed home. Nice....

I wonder if Scott could keep up on the blog though.....

OK off for now.....much to do!! We won't be back until Tuesday but I will post lots of pictures next week!

Perfect Timing

On Saturday the girls participated in the Nation-wide Lemonade Stand Fundraiser. Some of you may have seen it on the Today show. (Not the girls but the founder of it.) Anyway it is really cool- basically they sent us for free the lemonade stand and the lemonade! All we had to do was sell it on the 21st and promise to give the money to a charity.

So the girls chose our orphanage in Haiti. They did a great job selling and made $85! We were so proud of them. (Although they did get tired out and leave me with Avery to sell for awhile. She was thrilled though to pass out lemonade!) We also got to talk about God's Littlest Angels to lots of people. And many people that we knew stopped and asked if we had heard anything about our adoption yet. In fact I remember clearly saying to one friend, "Our dossier has been in for 9 months...we really should be hearing something any day now- although I have been saying that for months now.)

Well when we got home our proposal was on our e-mail! Isn't it amazing how God works? Not a coincidence....a God-incidence! And I would like to thank everyone for their supportive comments and all the personal e-mails of congratulations! They mean so much to us and I plan on somehow getting them all together to put in Alex-Josiah's baby book. Thank you everyone for your kind words!!

I will say that 12-18 months didn't sound nearly as long last week as it does now! Seeing his sweet little face and knowing we won't get to hold him in our arms for at least a year is heart-wrenching. The girls are so sweet and keep saying, "We just want to bring him home NOW". It is going to be a long year.....but we are still praying somehow it goes faster!!

Shouting From The Rooftops!

Many of you have asked me lately, "Have you heard anything about your adoption?" And my response has been, "When we do...I will be shouting it from the rooftops!" Well I am shouting now!!! We finally got our proposal of our little guy! I think you will agree he is just the cutest!! His name is Alex and he is 19 months old. It will still be over a year before he comes home so the wait will be hard. He is in a very, very good place though so we know he is being well cared for by Missionaries from the United States.

We are so excited! When I saw the proposal on my e-mail I went running out to Scott who was mowing the lawn. We had agreed not to look without each other. So I was chasing him around the yard because he couldn't hear me on the lawnmower....when he finally saw me he looked horrified like something must be wrong. But it wasn't! He came running in and we looked on the computer together in awe and exhilaration. It felt exactly like when we took the pregnancy tests with the girls....waited for the line to appear....rechecked to make sure it was there......sure enough! I will keep you updated on the info as we get it. Pray for a miracle in Haiti...that God would soften the official's hearts to the orphans waiting to go home. We are so happy!!!

The Lake!

So I didn't take my camera for this and I should have. I really need to get an inexpensive camera to take on these kind of excursions because I am always worried I will ruin mine. I decided to be adventurous and take advantage of this beautiful weather so I took the girls to Kerry Lake. Nicole (a girl who was in my Salt group for the last 2 years and now has graduated with her Masters- yeah Nicole!) went with me. I don't think it would have worked very well with just me. She was great too because she played with them in the sand and I didn't have to get all dirty! She also accompianed me on Wednesday on some errands...going to Rite Aid and Fred Meyer. It was fabulous having an extra set of hands. I joked with her today that I hope she doesn't get a job.

The girls had a great time playing in the sand and in the water. The weather was perfect and there were just a few others there so it was a perfect morning! I want to try and take them once a week because it is only about 10 minutes from our house and they loved it! The only thing that went wrong was when we got there some older boys- meaning around 8 years old- took a raft way out and Karis freaked out that they would get lost. She was sobbing for about 15 minutes over it! She is the most sensitive little girl. Always so concerned for others- it is really sweet. We finally called Daddy and he assured her they would be OK. Shortly after she joined in the fun. Oh the other drama- I lost the keys! I had the girls all packed up in their car seats and couldn't find the keys. Nicole saved the day by scouring the grass and she found them. Hope you are all having nice weather and enjoying it also!

Contest

So I saw this on Rachelle's blog so I went to it and now I am adding it to mine in hopes of winning some free toys for the girls. The poor little things hardly have any after our raging garage sale last weekend!
http://mythreedoodles.blogspot.com/2008/06/and-this-weeks-favorite-things.html

Messy Mess!

This was one of those parenting dilemmas.

A: Let the girls put mud and rocks in the water table because they were oh so happy and oh so entertained. Think about the mess later.

B: Say no to the mud and have clean but bored girls.

As you can see I chose A. Four happy but muddy girls resulted. And Scott came home and cleaned up most of the mess. I think he would have preferred choice B. Don't know that we will do that again anytime soon as I really wasn't thinking about how dirty mud that close to the house really is. Especially considering they needed to go in the house to go potty, get drinks, etc. etc. But hey...they weren't bored!

So Horrified

OK this just happened so I am still horrified....I hope this doesn't offend any of my readers- if you are easily grossed out quit reading now. So Avery pooped in the little toilet again! So I ran to get her some M&Ms. (My faithful readers know I am not really into bribery for toilet training or little toilets- Avery however has convinced me to rewrite many of my parenting philosophies.) Anyway the girls and I were running around screaming happily that she pooped in the toilet and Gracie was......well all I can say is she found it exciting too.....in her own disgusting doggie way.....and she better never kiss me or the girls again!! I will leave it to your imagination what she did.......Hailey was gagging and practically crying as she yelled, "Gracie....GROSS....outside!! Go wash your mouth off!"
Just another day in the Life in Hoeferburg.....

Garage Sale

I almost forgot to blog about our garage sale. It went pretty well but I am thinking next time we need to do it with someone in town. We had a good amount of people but we weren't busy like I have been at other yard sales. We made almost $300 which is pretty good until I heard about others....

The girls had their own little booth and made several dollars plus they had a great time!

Audrey Elizabeth

So I took some photos of Audrey yesterday. She is sooo cute. It was so fun to kiss and hold her. Thanks Katie for letting me take naked pictures of her. And I uploaded a whole bunch to send to you through Costco and it is still not working right so I will have to in a few days......

Fathers Day

Fathers Day was lots of fun. We started off giving Scott breakfast in bed. It was a long and difficult task pouring two different kinds of cereal in his large bowl and then topping it with milk. Only the best here in Hoeferburg. Then the girls gave him a Starbucks cup he had been wanting and two shirts. After that we headed to Yakima where more fun was to be had. I will blog about it later.....

I love the top picture here....especially Karis' look of adoration to her Daddy. The girls have the best Daddy and they adore him (as do I)!

Biggest Parenting Regret

OK I have tons of laundry, floors to be vacuumed and mopped, girls to dress and get to playgroup but here I am blogging. And Why? Because I felt the need to inform mostly the new mothers of this before it is too late. While I have many regrets or things I have wished I had done differently this is my major one for this week at least....

BREAKING NEWS- WHILE WRITING THIS AVERY JUST POOPED IN THE TOILET FOR THE FIRST TIME! This is very exciting for me as I have felt like I was getting no where with potty training this child....So I am copying Kate's idea - no not my friend Kate but Kate from John and Kate Plus 8 and I am photographing her with her first poop! Gross I know but so exciting! Apparently she is a little embarrassed since she is covering her face in her undies.

Anyway back to my biggest regret: Not making my children wear bibs!! When I started feeding

them they would always pull off their bibs so I didn't want to battle it. Well I can't tell you how many ruined clothes I have. In fact I am right now running clothes through the wash again because the stains won't come out. If only I made them wear a bib. What I should have done is said, "Girls who wear bibs eat....girls who don't get down". It would have been only one or two times of screaming and falling on the floor crying (by the girls not me) and then they would have worn the bib.....but no... I was too focused on them eating and now it is too late. Avery won't come near a bib and the other two are way too old. So all you new moms out there...don't make the same mistake!! Bibs are the way to go!! Save the clothes! Wear bibs!

New Favorite Quote

So I am totally into a show I thought I would NEVER be into. And it is sooooo much funnier than I ever realized. I joined Netflix just to get it for the next 2 weeks and watch as much as I can. They have a free trial. I won't say the show but if you can guess from my new favorite quote you win. "Sometimes evil drives a mini-van".

Fun Times With Rach

A rare treat...Rachael came home for a couple days. The girls loved getting to see her. She is headed off to Honduras for the 2nd summer to work at an orphanage. What an amazing woman Rachel is!! She is a fabulous middle school teacher and has a huge heart for others. The girls had so much fun with her. Well....Avery was a little on the edge. Something I will never have to worry about is Avery being abducted. Seriously she won't let anyone near her sometimes. Only Mommy!! Although we have made some serious progress. I didn't even attempt to leave her in the nursery until she was 1.

(I have now tried 3 different techniques with that for all you interested in my vast parenting knowledge. Hailey we left at 6 weeks in the nursery. She did OK for the first few weeks but then cried. Being my first child I feared if I didn't leave her then she would need to be with me until she was 5. So I kept trying to leave her and she continued to protest until she was around 1. Then Karis came along and I had done some research-and decided her not wanting to be left was actually a good thing. Just meant she was attached to me and that was OK. So left her around 6 months I think. Then we moved here and I didn't leave her again for a couple months and then she did totally fine. By the time Avery came along I thought- forget it....I won't even try...so she went with me everywhere in the sling- I even led a Mom's group with her in the front pack helping facilitate. When Scott and I went out we would just wait until she was in bed to leave. Then when she was about 14 months we tried to leave her and she did totally fine. So now in the nursery she is often the only one not crying which I find interesting since she cries when others try and hold her if I am present. Anyway I have no idea where this is going...and why I am rambling so. I'm sure there are more techniques out there and if we ever get to adopt I will try another...As Hannah pointed out, "Sometimes your blog sounds exactly how you talk, switching from subject to subject."

Anyway...something else I will never have to fear is the girls not getting enough to eat at Gamma's.....they delight in eating cookies, cakes, chocolate covered pretzels, and of course lots of fruit snacks. Hence the chocolate on the faces. And look at Andrew.....too cute. He is 13!! How is that possible? Oh something funny...My mom pointed out that Michael (my 21 year old brother) was a lot like how Avery is with me. Every time I left the room he would whine and cry and cling to me- although I was only 12 then. And Michael has turned our really independent- he rarely clings to me crying anymore. Although it does happen occasionally. And he has turned out super great- funny, nice, smart, successful......so I'm sure Avery will follow in his footsteps. OK another long post......so for those who read the whole thing if it is obvious in your comment you will be awarded a prize.

Avery

Here she is eating breakfast. Love her little eyelashes and of course she had to wear the sunglasses and feed "bebe" at the same time. My little sleeper hasn't been sleeping as well.....waking up around 6 and only napping for an hour or so. This is the child who I used to wake up after 3 and half hours so short naps make for a crabby, crabby girl. I took her to the dr. today and was actually hoping it was an ear infection to explain the behavior....but no just a cold. I am really, really hoping she gets back to her normal sleeping because her personality is what should I say....intense.....and even more so when she is tired. And I realize more and more that Hailey and Karis were really easy babies/toddlers. But there I go comparing again....I know I'm not supposed to do that. They are all unique!

Photoshop Elements Question

The answer to this is probably really obvious but I can't seem to figure it out. Does anyone know how to figure out the actual size of photos in a collage? I have a 12 by 12 sheet and I want to make sure the photos I am putting on are like 3 by 3 or 4 by 5- unusual sizes for a scrapbook page. Can any of you give me some simple step by step instructions? If so I would very much appreciate it!!

Too Cute

We had our good friends Paul and Kate over for dinner and the girls had a great time with their sweet boys: Elliot and Aidan. Elliot has quite the talent with hair we learned as he styled Hailey's hair. And Karis not to be outdone smeared lip gloss all through her hair. That only took a few washings to get it out. These are the things that happen when adults are eating and chatting and remarking how well the children are playing.

Other weekend highlights:

Cleaning the van.....ummm this was quite the task....hours it took and once AGAIN I have declared there will be no eating in the van. And I'm serious this time!!!

Playing outside most of Sunday after eating lunch with Erin and Ian and Asher. That was fun. We went to Wing Central and managed to keep the kids sitting nicely for the first 40minutes....when our food still hadn't arrived we allowed them to loudly ask us, "WHERE is our FOOOOODD?" Hoping it would get the waitresses attention since she had already served people who came in after us. That is the longest we have ever waited there!! When the food finally came we forgot about the long wait as it was so delicious. And thankfully since it is a college hang out no one minded the children running from booth to booth. In fact since graduation celebrations seemed to be in full swing no one seemed to notice....ahem.....lets just say the bathrooms were busy and when Hailey had to go I took her to the van to use the potty seat there......

And another highlight realizing I really suck at games on facebook!! How did my sisters get all the smart genes?! I will say Jen, Hannah, and Becky the reason I so severely lost the last game was the neighbor came to chat with me and I thought it would be rude to be engrossed in a computer game while she waited.....

Avery Kendall- 20 Months!

I can't believe how old she is getting....she will be 2 in 4 months! Here she is this morning eating cookie dough with raw eggs. I know you aren't supposed to allow this but I do. No one has gotten sick yet....hopefully we never will. As you can see she is quite enjoying herself!

The last week or so has been so much better with her. She is talking more which seems to help with her frustration level. She gets so frustrated so easily but I am trying to give her words to say instead of screams and it seems to be helping. I have said with all three girls that my least favorite age is 14-20 months. They are mobile, yet clueless. Opinionated but almost impossible to discipline. I remember one time with Karis I decided I would "teach" her not to touch the entertainment center. After saying no and moving her 25 times I said, "Forget it...you can climb the entertainment center if you want...I don't care anymore!" (I know, I know, the one thing you are never supposed to do....lose the battle.....but don't worry....when she was at a more teachable age we worked on boundaries and I will say she is quite the compliant child these days!)

So anyway Avery is now 20 months and she is so much more fun. She actually amazes us because I will say something to Scott or the girls and a few minutes later she will be doing whatever it is. Like I said, "Oh those girls...they threw all the pillows off the window seat." A couple minutes later she was over picking them all up. Or last night I said, "Karis can you go get me a brush?" And Avery got right up, ran into the bathroom, and brought me one. She always looks so proud of herself that it is really cute.

One more cute story if anyone is still reading. ( I am mostly doing this so I will remember these cute things.) I always hold her and pray "May the Lord bless you and keep you-may He cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you peace." Well as soon as I am done she always yells, "Amen!" really loud. Well one time I was holding her and the girls were trying to sneak into the room so I said, "Girls...Go!" So now every time I am praying with her in the middle of the prayers she looks up and yells, "Go! Go!" and waves her hand at the door as if the girls are there. For some reason it just really makes me laugh. Anyway....I was going to highlight some of the things she has learned lately but this post is already way too long....

Seriously?!

OK those of you who read my blog frequently (and I know there are millions of you) know that this is the 3rd post featuring Karis and her new swimming suit. The first one was too small and left little welts on her- I am not kidding- the 2nd one she never even got to wear in water but the monkey decal started to peel off- that will be returned- and now here is the 3rd....and the most appropriate I might add. As soon as she saw one with princesses she was sold. In fact the bottom says, "Happiness is being a princess". Which led her to ask..." How old will I be when I turn into Cinderella- an adult?" Anyway she loves it so much she wore it to the Children's Museum today. Well it was a whopping 60 degrees out so I can see why she felt the need to go in a swimming suit!

Girls 6- Boys 2- Audrey Elizabeth Is Her Name!

That's right- the girls in this family beat out the boys by a long shot and they added to their score today because Josh and Katie had their Baby Girl!! She was born around 6:30 this morning and she is just the cutest!!! This baby is special (as all babies are) but she truly is a miracle. I don't know if you remember but I asked for prayers for Katie months ago when she was pregnant with her because she was suffering from hyperemisis. A horrible condition in which the pregnant mother throws up sometimes hundreds of times a day. Katie was on an IV and supplemental nutrition for a lot of the pregnancy. But she did start to feel much better the last couple of months. Katie went through this also when she was pregnant with Sadie so I admire her so much for being willing to go through it again to bring another little life into the world. She is one brave woman! And she came through it like a champ. And while I'm on the subject of Katie can I just say that she is the best sister-in-law I could ever ask for?! She is so sweet, has a great attitude, always helps out, and is just plain fun to be with!

Anyway here is the new baby girl. Oh and you might be wondering what her name is...well so are we! I will let you know when I know which will be before they leave the hospital Josh said. Apparently they have so many options on their list they can't quite narrow it down. Welcome little one....another niece...I am so thrilled. Oh and she weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces!!! Just goes to show you what prayer can do- the fact that she weighed that much when Katie wasn't even able to swallow liquid for many months is such a testament to our God.

Thanks for letting us share in meeting her this morning Josh and Katie. The girls loved getting to hold her and keep talking about how cute she is! We love all four of you!!!

Quotes of The Day

Hailey: Mom how come you never comb your hair anymore?
Karis: Hoooolllllddd meeeee followed by sobs. This reoccurred throughout the day.
Avery: MIIIINNNEEE.......this also reoccurred throughout the day.

Needless to say it was one FUN day in Hoeferburg. And it was freezing cold and windy too!

The Last Few Days

Well on Wednesday night Scott left for La Grande for work again and I decided why stay home in the freezing cold wind by myself and the girls? Might as well go do something fun. Sooo....feeling very brave I loaded up the girls and took them to Everett- a 2 hour drive. My Grandmother lives there as well as my Aunt Melissa, Uncle Mark, and 3 cousins who are actually closer in age to my children than me. (And I can't believe the whole time I was there I only took these pictures...and they turned out terrible - I had my macro lens on for some reason and I meant to get a picture of my Grandmother with the girls but completely forgot...it is a little crazy single-mommying it while traveling.) I am so glad we went! The girls did so well in the car and slept great and had so much fun. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

Events:

Thursday: Left the house in the morning- only had to pull over 4 times to adjust the DVD player!! 4 times! I love having a portable DVD player but it can be more trouble than it's worth. At one point it crashed down and the DVD flew out. We stopped in Issaquah at Target and then went to Alderwood Mall. It was fun go to stores we don't get to and let the girls play on the toy at the mall. I really, really miss having a mall. Have I mentioned that before? Then we got to Grandmother's and hung out and ate dinner. The girls had a wonderful time...there are plenty of toys there and they loved the dinner. In fact Hailey told Scott when we got home that, "We had the best dinner I have ever had at Grandmother's". Thanks Hailey....

Friday: Went to Target and Costco with Grandmother. Then Matthew (5) and Mindy (3) and Melissa (21) came over. We had lunch and then she had to go to Danny's (8) school. I put Avery down for a nap and took the other 4 kids to Forest Park. It was cold but still they had a blast. They played together really well so that was fun. Then I dropped them off at Melissa's and drove back to Grandmother's to get Avery. Then back to Melissa's where we took the kids to Danny's school Carnival. It was crazy but fun. As we were leaving I said to Mark, "Well that was fun for the kids" and Hailey goes, "But not for the adults....." Mark and I both had a good laugh.

Saturday: We met up and took the kids to the Everett Children's Museum. It was fabulous. Seriously the best Children's Museum I have seen. And we've been to a lot of them....

3 stories of fun including a rooftop climbing structure. Unbelievable.

Came home Saturday and had 75 e-mail messages!!! Apparently I did send facebook requests out to my entire address book. Now I am addicted and am concerned I will not have as much time to devote to my blogging!

Then I quickly made grits for our dinner club. Naomi came over and we left the girls and went and had a great time with our friends enjoying Southern Food.

Edited to add pics sent from Melissa.