Today

Today my son Jacob would have turned eight. Hard to believe it's been eight years... I think about Jacob all the time. What would he have been like? I think a lot with Jacob's death; how differently the course of my life has gone from how I thought it would go....Eight years later I have five gifts from God all brought to me in very different ways, but loved the same with all that I've got. I am torn sometimes. Don't get me wrong I wish Jacob were here, but on the other hand the life I have now just wouldn't have been.

Jacob, you are always with me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AVA

Ava turned 4 years old today. It's been a busy week for her - returning from Yellowstone, returning to Montessori school and then starting a new school in the afternoons and most exciting of all - riding the school bus home with her brother! Ava's Montessori class had a birthday celebration where Ava walked around the sun for each year of her life while her teacher read the story of Ava's life to date. I signed Ava up for the same class Amelia attended last school year at Andrew's school. We'll see how she can manage, just turning 4, missing a nap she still takes and attending two completely different programs. We will see.

Today, our tired Ava wearing her absolute favorite dress turned four and celebrated with a princess themed party. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Steve & Heather, Grannie, Jaclyn, cousins Abigail, Bethany, Olivia, Collin and Jaxson all made the day special for Ava. There was plenty of make-up and princess jewelry, a tinkerbell cake, and crazy freeze dance.

Right now, Ava is experimenting with her new make up kit. She's got pink lips, blue eye shadow and glitter galore.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA!!!

Family Adventure ---- YELLOWSTONE!

We got back from our Yellowstone tour this past Tuesday night. Here's a recap...

Last Wednesday we flew out real early to Salt Lake City(Amelia's favorite - going in the car in her jammies at night). Within an hour of landing in Salt Lake Drew had a runny nose, which we knew would turn into an outright cold. We stayed in Layton, UT the first night. Kids went swimming, had pizza and went to bed east coast time (2 hours difference).

We were ready by morning to take the four or so hour drive to West Yellowstone, Montana. We arrived to our hotel - the one with the wooden bears climbing all over it and went to the Grizzly Zoo which was across the street. We watched the grizzlies and also the wolf feeding, more importantly the girls played on the playground.

The next morning we went into the park. The girls got their wildlife look out papers from the Rangers. Amelia was looking for big horn sheep, while Ava was looking for bear. We were all very excited with our first animal sighting - elk, and then a lonely bison walking along side the road. We weren't ever able to find those bear or those big horn sheep. We stopped at many of the thermal feature boardwalks and enjoyed them even more than on our past trips. It was great to see how interested the girls were, especially Amelia. We made it a short day in the park to get back to the pharmacy to pick up Drew's antibiotic which I called our doctor at home for. Drew and Jenna were in full cold mode at this point. The girls did some more swimming at the hotel while dad and Drew got some much needed rest. After the swim and Ava now napping Amelia, Jenna and I walked into town for ice cream and to find Dave's favorite beer - Moose Drool. Mission Accomplished. We spent the night shopping - happy kids out at night like college kids (late at night).

The next morning we drove back into the park to see Old Faithful, the Lodge, waterfalls and more geysers. We made our way to Mammoth Hot Springs - our next hotel stay.

We arrived at Mammoth ready to get out of the car, but unfortunately to find out how little bitty, bitty our hotel room was. It would be a long night, but staying there in Mammoth with the Elk herd right outside the window (Drew & Dave being bugled at by a very concerned bull elk) and with the beautiful scenery this would all take away from those tight quarters. We celebrated Ava's third Adoption Day (September 27th) in Mammoth. That night, Jenna and I wandered the hotel lobby from 2:30-3:30 am. Just us, the front desk clerk, a very cold wind and a very very dark sky.

Morning came kind of quickly..... We had to change travel plans - we were to head south, but fires in the park closed some roads, so off we went - north to Chico Hot Springs (as planned) and then back to West Yellowstone (a change). Chico Hot Springs is a resort outside of Yellowstone where there is a natural flowing hot spring pool. The air temps were warmer than normal (60's). The water temps were very warm (100's). The kids loved our time at the hot pool. The girls found friends and Drew sang a happy song for all of Montana! We drove through Bozeman and on Dave's favorite route back to West Yellowstone. We spent the last day with one last short drive in the park and then driving back through Idaho to the same hotel in Layton, Utah.

Our kids seem to love to travel and are very good at it! This makes Dave and I happy. We love this kind of travel and are loving sharing these adventures with our kids. We weren't ready to come home! While driving to the airport Tuesday morning, we contemplated a different adventure...... heading east to Cheyenne, but no..... home and our day to day lives were there waiting for us.... When can we go back? or Where can we explore next?

Welcome Olivia

Dave's brother Steve and his wife Heather welcomed their third daughter into the world yesterday. Welcome Olivia!

24 WEEKS Today!!

Jenna is 24 weeks old today. She's still got her blue eyes and her light brown hair is coming in thicker. She's moving around the room - not officially crawling, but can get herself to her toys. Stepping out of the room and coming back, I've caught Jenna a few times in the sitting position, only to watch her "flop" backwards. Jenna loves to be entertained by her sisters, especially Ava and her silly voice and laugh. She greets Drew everyday after school by playing with his toes. She loves her cereal, fruit and veggies twice a day. She still drinks her formula here and there and every three hours at night. Yes.....every THREE hours.......She's still not to big on the car, but is getting used to our endless rides around town dropping off and picking up her brother and sisters. It's amazing to watch Jenna progress from her birth so effortlessly. Dave and I have yet to experience this. It's been exciting.

ONE year

It's been one year today (101 entries later) that I began the blog.

To Cry or Not to Cry

Okay, this isn't a complaint here.....BUT..... my 5 month old baby girl DOES NOT sleep through the night - okay she doesn't even sleep for a four hour stretch yet. Jenna is an active girl, who is about to crawl - right now she is moving all over the floor, plays most of the day, eats her 2 bowls of rice cereal with fruit per day, loves to be engaged with anyone who will give her time. She'll go to sleep just fine, but after that who knows. No night is the same. Last night, Miss Jenna was crying every 2 hours and finally awake from 5am-6:30am, then back to bed until 8:15am. Anybody who knows me - knows SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE. Once in awhile we'll get a stretch from 7:30pm to 2:00am, but then Miss Jenna will want to play for the next hour. Things are all topsy turvy here and we are TIRED, TIRED, TIRED.

Since Drew's hospital stay, we've all been sick. Drew is sick again now - hasn't gone to school since last Tuesday, so we are on edge about that. TIRED, TIRED, TIRED.......

So, do I let that sweet little face, cry, cry, cry at night?