Little moments

Such precious little moments with my growing family...

 

Sigh...my heart is full and happy.

Meeting our Newest Sister!

Since Amira was born so early in the morning, we didn't have the kids come to the hospital right away.  Once we were settled in our hospital room, we got a bit of rest and Samuel went home to get the kids ready for Malachi's last basketball game on Saturday morning.  I was so bummed I missed it, but Daddy made sure to send me text message updates and pictures and video of his game.  Once the game was over, the family came to the hospital to welcome Amira.  We had the kids come in with Daddy so they could have some special time with their baby first.

 He was so excited to be able to kiss her little head!

 She is such a good big sister and was so happy to finally meet her baby.

 Holding Amira and getting a good look.

Sapphira really wanted to see her toes. 

 Makes my heart happy!

Sapphira held Amira when we told the grandparents and Bobo they could come in.  She was so proud to be the one introducing her to them.

More baby snuggles.  Amira was so good and didn't fuss once with all the passing around and kisses she was getting.

Sister snuggles

Thumb sucker??  Time will tell!

Wedding, Horses and Sand...Oh My!

On September 1st, we were invited to the wedding of our oldest niece Katie. The ceremony was about 3 hours away, so we loaded up the car in the morning and set off.  The kids did soooo good in the car and we only had to stop once or twice for potty breaks.  The ceremony and reception were beautiful, Katie was gorgeous and she and our new nephew Jeff seem so happy together.  I took my camera, but didn't ever get it out of my purse...I was preoccupied making sure my babies were behaving well. :)

After the reception was over, we'd only been out of the car for as long as it took to drive there, so we knew we needed to find something for the kids to do before we left.  We asked our family memebers who live in town and they told us the best way to get to the beach (less than 5 minutes away!!!) and my in-laws had spent the previous night in a hotel and had discovered some fun things for our littlest nieces to do.  Off we went in search of adventure!

First we found a small area where you can ride horses for just a couple dollars.  We had to wait a bit for the horses to come back from a ride on the sand, but it was set up kind of like a little cowboy camp so the kids had some things to do while we waited.

They "started" their own fire.

The horses started coming back.  He was anxious to see which one he'd get to ride.

The girls were able to ride the horses earlier in the day, so they excitedly told Malachi which ones had been theirs and all the things they'd learned.

I tiny bit unsure, but so excited!

Since Sapphira is afraid of even little dogs, we wondered what she'd think of a big horse.  She got on with Daddy's help and didn't look back!

Off they go!  The trainers took the kids on a loop around the stables.  They were never far from us and we could hear giggles the entire time.

I don't know what this face is about but it sure is cute!

After having so much fun riding, we walked two blocks down the street to the beach.  What a great way to get out all the extra energy from riding in the car!

Funny story...after we'd finished eating at the reception, the 4 kids were playing off to the side of the room with some other kids.  We saw Addy and Malachi pair off like they normally do and start talking.  A bit later, they came up to our table holding hands and informed us that they had just gotten married, too.  I asked them what they did to get married and they said they'd held hands said "I'm married to you" and then Malachi kissed her on the cheek.  Ta-da!!!  Married!

I love living so close the the beach!  Our house is only about an hour away from the Oregon coast.  Our kids love it, too!

When the sun was nearly set, we walked back to Grandma and Papa's hotel and took baths to get the sand and dirt off and get jammied up.  Sapphira fell asleep about 45 minutes after we started heading home and Malachi stayed up for nearly 2 hours but was content to just lean against his pillow and watch the moon.  I'm thankful we have good travelers!  Congratulations to Katie and Jeff and here's to another good day for the memory books!

Family Adventure Day!

Since Samuel rode the train to work most of the summer and we met him at the train station several times, the kids had been asking to take their own ride.  Without telling them, we booked 4 round trip tickets to Portland and made plans to spend our Saturday there and hoped to be able to go to the zoo.  Our plans were changed a bit when the train we were to take broke down before it got to our station and was over 4 hours behind.  We played at a park in town for a bit and were able to get seats on an earlier bus to Portland instead.  We spent the afternoon walking around Riverfront Park and exploring the farmer's market.

He was amazed by all the buildings, roads and bridges.

So happy to be running after being soooo good on the hour long bus ride.

She was perfectly happy to sit and watch from the stroller.

It was a very hot day (close to 90's I believe) and we were all roasting.  We found an ice cream stand and tried to cool off.

Near the ice cream booth, we discovered a fountain.  Since we didn't have an extra change of clothes for the kids, they were happy to take their shoes off and splash for a bit.

We were able to ride the train back home.  The kids were so excited to climb on board and we spent the trip home watching the scenery out the windows, snacking, and Malachi using the fascinating train bathroom like 20 times (only exaggerating a little bit!).  

Despite the big change in plans and the very hot day, we had a great family day exploring, getting energy out, people watching and riding the train.  The kids talked about it for weeks afterward and continue to ask when we'll ride again!