A tea party for two

Janessa has had this tea set since she was born. Lately all she wants to do at Grandma Trisha's house is play with the set that is over there. Finally I came across our set and we decided to have our own party since the boys had left us to go hunting.

The dilema arises when you have to come up with some food to fit on those tiny plates. We settled on a regular bowl with animal crackers and a package of Smarties that would fit in the sugar bowl and onto the plates. A baby spoon was used to stir our tea and we were all set to have a wonderful party.

After a little practice she learned to hold the lid on the teapot when pouring.

It's hard to stir the actual teapot but it was attempted many times.

"Here's your tea Mommy"

"Absolutely delicious Janessa. Thank you!"

Happy Turkey Day

This year was spent at Great Grandma Purvis' house. We got the kids ready in their party clothes and were off to visit with the family.

Janessa & Colin

Dressed to impress but still impossible to get a great picture of both of them!

Janessa cuddled up with Auntie Kelley and Uncle Michael.

She spent most of the afternoon ordering her uncle to meet her every whim- not that he protested much!

Colin played a couple of intense games of "Go Fish".

Janessa all stuffed from her feast. Crashed out on GG's bed while the rest of kept feeding our faces and visiting. We had a great time seeing everyone and are truly thankful for our all of our many blessings!

A pre-school Thanksgiving Feast

Colin's pre-school put on a Thanksgiving feast and the kids got to choose to be an indian or a pilgrim. At first the decision was a tough one for Colin. Finally at the mention of the indians shooting bow and arrows he was sold. They made their own headbands and a necklace out of pasta and beans, which he refused to wear. The families were invited to come early and witness the feast and some special songs and poems the kids had memorized.

Not a willing model to say the least!

Sharing his feast with his sissy.

The sun is out!

Janessa spotted the sun and in a very excited voice asked to talk a walk outside! We seized the moment and got our warm gear on. Just a quick loop thru the park and back home. Not minutes after we were enjoying our hot chocolate and the rain came down.

Aquarium Adventure

For Colin's birthday our friends Heather and Kaden gave him the choice of adventures. He could choose to go to the Aquarium, the Zoo, or the Children's Museum. He chose the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We finally found a day to go and it happened to be a very wet and windy day at the coast. We braved gusting winds, a downed tree, and car sickness to go on our adventure. It was worth all of it in the end. We had a great time!!

The mighty warriors suited up for sideways rain and blustery wind.

Inside the lobby waiting for the adventure to begin.

Kaden and Janessa climbing on the back of a wooden walrus.

Colin's first ride on the back of his favorite aquatic animal.

Measuring up to a life size painting of a Japanese King Crab. The sign said they live for 100 years and can grow up to 13 feet. How would you like to meet one of them face to face. YIKES!

Janessa is a small fry compared to this big crab.

Climbing on a coral reef where the crabs would be at home.

Doing the crab dance.

At the tide pool exhibit. We were looking at a small purple shelled crab that one of the staff members was holding.

Kaden was brave and got to hold it in his hand for a minute.

Colin liked touching the star fish. I think his favorite one was a orange and black striped sun star that had 10 legs. Beaver colors- of course!

This big star fish was on the glass so we got to see up close it's sticky feet.

In the halibut flats tunnel there were two divers cleaning the glass.

Look closely behind Heather's shoulder and you can see his reflective patches.

Kaden was sleeping with the fishes!

Wow- big shark teeth!

Overall we had a fun day. Top it off with lunch at Mo's and who could ask for more!!

Janessa's Birth story

After the drama of Colin's birth I told anyone who would listen that this time I would not spend days in the hospital, this baby would get an eviction notice at 37 weeks, and I didn't care if I delivered her in the parking lot. Little did I know......



April 14th: I awoke around 3am feeling out of sorts. I was having some contractions and noticed some "bloody show" when I went to the bathroom. I didn't want to disturb Dustin's sleep so I decided to go back to bed on the cot in the nursery. I slept fine and went to my scheduled dr appt at 11am that morning. I was still having some bloody show and contractions so the dr checked me and said that I was 3cm and 80% effaced. She asked me if I was going to be having that baby today and to keep her posted as to how I was feeling. I went to work at 1pm and the contractions started coming with more regularity. I commented to my good friend and co-worker Alice that I was having a lot of them and she started keeping track. By the time she left work at 5pm the contractions were every 10 minutes but not painful. Her parting remarks were to have a nice maternity leave and to left her know how I was doing. I replied that I thought she was wrong and didn't want her to "jinx" me. When 7pm rolled around and I was off work the contractions had picked up in intensity and were getting uncomfortable. I walked in the door at home was greeted with Dustin arguing with our 2yr old son. I was annoyed and didn't want to deal with them, so I called my grandma and asked her to come over for awhile. I headed off to the shower. An hour later, still in the shower, my neighbor and close friend Paula appeared and told me it was time to get out. I complied and got dried off and dressed. We decided to call the dr office and I laid on the bed while she massaged my back. I told the dr that we would be heading up to the hospital soon and I was feeling pretty good. Dustin and Paula grabbed my bag and started me out the door. As soon as I headed down the hallway the pain became much greater. When I stepped out the door to the sidewalk I commented that I either had to push or puke. I think they carried me the rest of the way to the Durango. I sent Dustin back for some towels because my water hadn't broken and a small trash can in case I really had to throw up. He took off down the street like a crazy man. I remember telling him not to get us killed on the way to the hospital and that I wanted an epidural right NOW!. He pulled up at the emergency room doors and ran inside to get a nurse. It seemed to take forever; soon a nurse came out to my door and asked me what was going on- I said that I thought I was having a baby. She agreed and told me to get out of the truck and into the wheelchair. I shook my head no and she pulled me out of the vehicle. She then asked if my water had broken yet and I told her that it just had. The next thing I know she is running inside with me in the chair and we are going on the fastest ever elevator ride to the labor floor. She wheels me to one of the delivery suites and the labor nurse tells me to take off my pants and get into the bed so she can check me. I disagree again and am pulled out of the chair, pantsed, and put on the bed. She quickly checks me, tells me not to push, and runs out the door. I am left in the room by myself for what seems like another eternity. Soon the nurses come in and my husband returns from parking the car. The dr that was called to deliver the baby being born in the next room over is called to come into my room and tells the nurses it's ok for me to push because she can see the baby's head. Within 3 pushes Janessa was born at 8:51pm. She weighed 6lbs 11oz and was 20" long. My dr came in shortly after and finished me up. Then my Mom made it to the hospital only to find me holding the baby instead of still being in labor. Janessa wanted to nurse immediately but was having trouble breathing. They took her to the nursery to put a small tube down her nose and remove some of the fluid that was still in her lungs. Once again I was left in the delivery room alone- totally amazed at the way my night had gone. It was a surreal event and very close to my predictions! That will teach me to open my big mouth. In the end she was in perfect health and we did not need to stay at the hospital for an extended time. She is now 2 1/2 yrs old and our resident artist. She is so excited about growing bigger and becoming a big sister.

Colin's Birth Story

At the urging of my friend Heather and with another birth looming I am writing my children's birth stories. Unfortunately Colin's birth was a traumatic experience for all involved and for a long time had me convinced that he would be an only child. But time passes, perspectives change, and not only did I agree to have another child, I am weeks if not days from having our third. So here goes, gory details and all- Beware!





The night of October 7th: I came home from work feeling miserable beyond compare. I decided popcorn sounded good and made myself a bowl. I was sitting watching tv with my feet up when Dustin came around the corner, in a rare moment, I asked him to rub my feet that were aching and swollen. He took one look at my legs and told me to call the doctor and my Mom or he was going to. I protested and said I was fine. The next thing I knew he had made both calls and was waiting to hear back from the dr office. Within a few minutes my Mom was at our house and the dr had called back. She wanted to check me out at the hospital immediately. I complained the whole way about having to leave my popcorn behind at the house. The had me suit on arrival to the labor floor and checked my blood pressure, urine, and cervix- I was 38 weeks. My blood pressure was terribly high, 185/130. I was already 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. The said that I was not leaving the hospital until I delivered the baby and they wheeled me, bed and all, to one of the delivery suites. I was hooked up to have my blood pressure checked every 15 minutes and they started magnesium sulfate to help lower it. After a few hours they also added pitocin to the iv line. We spent a long and painful night in the hospital. At one point they told Dustin that had he not called and just let me go to bed, I would have woken him up with my seizures and they would have been performing an emergency c-section. Guess its a good thing that he stuck to his guns.

October 8th: The next morning my regular dr came to check on me and said that I was only dilated to 3 cm and was now 80% effaced. He opted to break my water, which felt like I had peed the bed- gross! From there on out things got pretty intense. I was having horrible back pains and begged my Mom and husband to push on my lower back as hard as they could. I eventually had an epidural but it only worked to numb half of my lower body. The dr came back and did another epidural and I rested for awhile. I woke up feeling a tremendous amount of pressure and buzzed the nurse. When they checked me again I was 10 cm and ready to push. Too bad that I was still so drugged, I couldn't feel a thing! After 2 hours of pushing, I told the dr "that I didn't care if he called a tow truck- get this baby out of me now!" He calmly asked me if I wanted help- DUH! He got the vacuum pump setup and Colin was born shortly after. It was 9:11pm and he was 7lbs 9 1/2oz and 21" long. He had a horrible mushroom bruise from the vacuum and was bald as a cue ball. He wailed and wailed and all I could think was I'm glad that is over. They stitched me up and tried to get him to nurse, which was unsuccessful. Dustin later walked him around the delivery suite to calm him down, all the while talking about what he saw and saying how glad he was to get his hunting partner. We managed to give our newborn the cold that we had been fighting for days and it also turned out that one of the valves in his heart hadn't closed completely. We ended up staying at the hospital for 5 days until he was eating better, breathing without distress, and my blood pressure and swollen legs were well on their way back to normal. As they say, all is well that ends well! It's hard to believe that was 5 years ago. He is perfectly healthy and amazes us at every turn with his new achievements.

Janessa's pink hat

I rediscovered this hat in the top of Janessa's closet and it has become a new favorite accessory.

Here she is reading Lion King to her baby doll.

See the pictures baby?

Auntie Kelley loved the hat and had to try it on too. How cute is that!!!

Feeding the ducks @ HP

So what do you do when you need to go to store for cat food but you have three kids in tow? You promise them that if they are really good and help you get what you need at the store really fast then they can feed the ducks! Sometimes I impress myself with the crazy solutions to my dilemas- I could have waited an hour and gone to the store by myself....

Kaden and Janessa perched on the bench so the very friendly ducks do not bite their fingers off or steal the bread bag!

They kept "talking" to the ducks- QUACK QUACK QUACK. I think the people working inside HP could probably heard their conversation. They were sooooo excited.

Even when the food was gone the fun wasn't!

The whole gang safe from the ducks.

Ready and waiting

The crib is setup again, the changing table is ready, the clothes and blankets are washed, the car seat is ready, the diapers have been purchased- along with many other essentials...... so I guess that means we are ready for our new addition.
Colin and Janessa trying out the crib. Yep- still big enough and bouncy enough for a baby!

I have caught both of them inside it since our photo shoot. Janessa loves to climb in and cover herself with the blankets. She insists that she will be sleeping with sissy when she comes out. It's nice to know that they are excited.

Finally a worthy leaf pile!

Colin and Kelley have been looking out the window everyday waiting for the leaves to fall. Finally there are enough for everyone to have their own leaf pile.Colin diving in to his pile, again and again.

Janessa wanted Kelley to jump with her.

And then the battle began..... the leaves flew everywhere.

Why did we spend so much time raking??

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!!Colin was part of the Commando Squad this year.

Janessa was a pink triceratop.

I have learned from past Halloweens to get the kids ready in the afternoon and take all the pictures they will tolerate. That way when the chaos begins and I'm too busy to snap pictures I don't completely miss the event.

Janessa practiced her dinosaur roar a lot but when it came to say trick or treat and thank yous she would not make a sound.

Colin is at home in his camoflauge. I had to coach him a little for the salute.

Getting ready to go out trick or treating.

Colin and Papa at the mall.

The whole gang. Staying warm, dry, and safe- what a concept! This was so easy it may become our new tradition.