Nano's Three

This first video is our Nano to a tee! The boy has always been one rough and tumble boy. Oh how I love it though. And what more could a boy want than to hit a balloon, as a ball mind you, for his birthday!

We also celebrated with his "King" theme from cars and did a pinata and cake. Which I cut him off on the first video of the pinata and he wanted "to say more mom".


Nano man, I'm so grateful you are part of our family. I love all your energy and love for wild adventure. Keep it up my boy!

Dad's Back

After almost a full month for the kids, Merrill is finally back from NC with the rest of us here in WA. We are more than excited to be together as a family again. Lynneah got to see him in the middle for a week but the older kids have been missing him something awful. Needless to say...we LOOOVVVVE having him back home.
Thanks for all the hard work out in NC Merrill. We love having DR Daddy back at home though!

She's getting interested

Michelle had a fun walker toy. Lynneah liked it at times and other times, well not so much! She is getting interested though, so it wont be much longer before we have another walker!

Dr Merrill

Okay so why are there so few pictures you wonder...well I'm a slacker wife. I was so worried about the defense and all...I didn't take any pictures of my man doing and AWESOME job. And the rose, ya he gave that to me when I flew back in for the defense on the 14th. Yes, I'm a terrible wife! But on a funny note (well funny now). Merrill bought snacks for after the defense, among which was the death by chocolate cake from Costco....you wont believe it but it got stolen and so did some fruit along with our friends bowl! My goodness what a day....and I didn't even get any pictures!!!

Way to go though honey! I"m so glad I was able to fly back out too see your defense....even though it looked like I might not make it with the move and all. You were amazing to watch and even more amazing to listen too....I'm a lucky girl to have such a smart man!

Family Fun

While Merrill finished a few things up....Bhakka and the kids and I headed out to WA July 4. We got to spend some great time with family at Michelle and Dave's place. Fireworks, smoked pork, family time...lots of fun.

Moving Day

June 29 was moving day...we closed on our house on the 30. The truck came and was huge....we did not fill it up...only a very small portion in the middle. However, it already was full and our car couldn't go on as planned. It was the first of a lot of change of plans with the move. In hindsight though, we were blessed and taken care of through the whole thing. I am so thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord and the chances I have to see that He is truly in charge. If I just wouldn't whine along the way, maybe I'd learn all of this a little sooner rather than later. Again though, I'm able to see how much my Father in Heaven loves me and wants to help even when I'm not acting my best. How much more I have to learn about parenting!
Oh and we did take all the kids with us, don't worry! Neah was the only one who'd hold still long enough to get a picture in all the chaos.

Bhakka's here to help!

Bhakka was a life saver and came out to help with the move. She did almost all of the cleaning and watching of the kids and well there wasn't much left for me to do. So the least we could do was make a quick trip to DC. We had a blast and the kids were such troopers for our whirlwind visit. We did the Zoo and almost all the monuments in one day!

playing catch up!

Hey all,
I'm finally trying to do this blog thing again! Oh and sorry no picture with this post...I don't have room on the camera. I need to put some more picture on here. Yes, it's the never ending cycle. But I just went crazy today and posted a LOT (this is number 18). So to those of you who don't want to look at it all:
We've had a lot of changes lately. From June 30 -Aug 1
We closed on our house.
Merrill defended and is now our "Dr Daddy" - we are so proud of him
Merrill got a new job at Cadwell Laboratories
We moved from Durham, NC to Richland WA.
We saw family in UT, and WA.
Rode way too many airplanes to count and are happy to be back together as a family.
I have us caught up to just before our move on this blog...hopefully the rest will follow this week! But if you do want to look below, you will see some of the fun we had before leaving Durham...we miss you all!

Nano Helping

So here is a so cute web page I forgot to post...we have pictures of Josh doing this at Nano's age and it was just priceless to have Nano love it just as much! I have big helpers, or should I say Merrill has big helpers!

Packing boxes

So, we did a partial pack with Allied for our moving across the country. The companies warehouse was in Raleigh, a 20 min drive which I only wanted to do once. I had all the kids and we "made" the boxes fit. The kids were literally covered in boxes and we made a game of it by calling it our box tent. The kids were happy with that for the first 10 min or so and then Mikayla said her neck hurt from keeping her head tilted to the side. Sorry sweetheart! Thanks for being a trooper and taking one for the team!

Primary Talent Show

One more thing I will dearly miss from Durham....The primary talent shows ROCKED!!!
These are some classic pictures of our kids - thanks Lindsay! (I'm a bad mom and forgot the camera). We have some more if you click on the title. They are from the boys practicing their Kung-fu before the performance!
Mikayla was so cute with hers. She could still recite the poem a month after having done it! Way to go girl! And I will never forget Josh's "I want to show you my moves" into the microphone with Nano so amazed at the lights that he couldn't even do his kung-fu!

Preschool Party

So you can't really see these videos but you can hear the kids singing their cute songs...check out the photos for their cute faces!
We have Adelle, Anja, Grace, Josh and Sydney. Josh loved being the only boy!! :)

No more scoot

She's 8 months and a crawler now! She does this one legged thing, it's so cute. The really funny thing is that by the time she got the hang of crawling, her rolls were not even on both sides. She had three on one side still and only two on the other...can you tell which one got a bit of a work out!:)

Silliness

Tearing Paper

So..this isn't too long, but at least we caught it on video. Mikayla used to do this as a baby. Give them a pile of paper or paper towells and they are entertained for a good half hour. Funny how both my girls love it and the boys couldn't really care much. I love the determination that is put into tearing the paper. Girl's will be girls!

THE BEACH!

The time has finally come! We get to do our May beach trip! We are going to miss NC beaches - I can't express that enough!!!! But we are so glad to have another one before we leave and don't worry we plan to come back this time next year for more beach fun! We also got to have Dave and Michelle come out for a visit and enjoy the beach with us. I even got Michelle to go out with us ladies and do some boogie boarding!!

fun with dad

We weren't able to see much of Merrill those days...that paper writing stuff! (I don't like it so much!) So when he's home, he takes center stage and the we can't get enough of him....good times.:)

Our boys

Spotlighting...Neah!

We can't get enough of this girl!!!

BBQ Bash!

This was an awesome BBQ! We wanted to give a great party to all the guys finishing up around the same time! We have Brady, Jason, Merrill and Aaron (Brandon wasn't able to make it). We called it our "grateful to have jobs bbq". We all felt very blessed to have jobs with our economy right now. These guys are all brilliant and it was fun to have such support from our friends - over 50 people came to give them their congrats!!

Oh yes, after Merrill going to CA, TX, and WA....we chose a job in the Tri-cities of WA. He's working for a medical device company - Cadwell Labs. Way to go honey!!!!

Trip to Amie and Jeremy's

In April we made a three week trip to see family. We went to Utah, then to NM, then AZ. (Sorry these are posted backwards...I have an unhappy Lynneah and I'm trying to get these done fast!)
Most of the time it was just me and the kids while Merrill did job interviews. He was able to join us in AZ and we were all really glad to see him. The trip was a blast though and the kids did great on all of our flights to and from and all the layovers. Too bad Merrill never got to enjoy those flights! :)

Oh and sorry about all the posts...trying to catch up!

Trip to Christie and John's

We had so much fun with cousins! I only got pictures of the museum but we had a blast just hanging out and letting the kids enjoy seeing each other...it's always too long between visits!

Trip to Show Low

We got to spend easter with Boppa and Bhakka Birdno and Amie and Jeremy. We had so much fun and Lynneah decided she'd finally try to eat some food (It's about time - she's 7 months). She made some pretty funny sounds too! She'd growl before taking a bite! And still click on the title for all the photos!

Trip to NM

So I took this off Anne's blog...I didn't get a picture of our whole group while we were there. We had so much fun with Anne, Corina and Carlos (not pictured, sorry). We were glad my mom and dad could drive us down. And again the kids did great on our 10-12 (can't remember how long) trip they took in the car!

STILL CLICK ON THE TITLE FOR MORE FUN PHOTOS!

Trip to Utah

Here was our first leg of the trip. We got to spend some time with my folks in UT. I got to go see my DAD sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (his dream come true). It was a lot of fun. We saw Eddie and Bekka and their sweet Lucy. We saw Amy and some of her roomies and friends. We also saw Dellma and got to meet his fiance, Victoria! Oh and because I was traveling with four kids by myself...Amie got to see us in the airport for our two hour layover in AZ en route to UT! She was a life-saver!

Beach Trip in March?

We got a call one day from our friends the Alder's for a last minute beach trip. In March? Sure we love the beach, we were there! Unfortunately Merrill could only come for the weekend. The kids and I stayed for half the week and then headed home. But we did find out that Lynneah loves to eat sand, just like her brother Nano (at her age anyway, thankfully he doesn't anymore). And the kids will get in the water now mater how cold it is!

Happy Birthday Honey!

We were able to celebrate Merrill's b-day at the beach!! He's joined the 30 club now. We love you honey, you are a super dad and wonderful husband!
Merrill tried out the water, but even in the wet suit, it was plenty cold! We were anxiously waiting for May to really enjoy the water!

house on market

Hey all! I know it's been a long time since we posted. Here's one of the reasons why! We were busy getting our house ready to put on the market. Of course we finally have it the way we always wanted it...for someone else! We put it on the market in March. And we were blessed to get a buyer and close on it June 30!

If you want to see what it looked like before check out our house posts on our blog in Oct 2004. You'll have to scroll down past the blank pictures...still don't know what happened to those????

Play Narrator

FIRST LOST TOOTH

It finally happened! Mikayla lost her first tooth! She was so excited! She was of course even more excited to see what the tooth fairy would leave. Unfortunately she has a very forgetful tooth fairy. We woke up the next morning to sobs from our little girl, luckily Mom is a quick thinker and I delayed her long enough to get something under the bed. Then to top it off, the tooth fairy only had 32 cents so she gave Mikayla an "I owe you" note and got back to her the next night. Hopefully next go around the tooth fairy will not be so forgetfull!

Nano and Neah playing games....

Okay, so as you will see...it's Nano playing and Neah putting up with it!:) But he's using such a sweet voice, she can't help but play along!

Boys having fun

So Nano was really quiet one day...never a good sign....and I came down the hall to find this...check out the video and Don't forget to CLICK on the title, we have some pictures of Josh joining in the sticker fun, our march snow storm, Nano's great hairdo and well....Nano, just being Nano!

Firsts for Neah

Lynneah is getting so big and learning so many new things...they do that, I know!
So this post features:
"I found my toes"
first ponytail......and
Our sumo girl!

Time to Make Neah Laugh

Josh can almost always get Lynneah to laugh...he's really good at it. The last video Nano got Lynneah to laugh as well.

Valentine Fun

Gotta love those sugar cookies! Click on the title to check out our pictures and then enjoy Josh's description of how to decorate a cookie.

Neah's baby friends

We had a lot of babies born in our ward around the time Lynneah was born. Her are two of her buddies. Timothy and Marley are both so cute and we all noticed just how large of a girth our baby girl has!!

Lynneah's latest trick

This girl loves to suck on her upper lip. We didn't get a great video of it. She usually goes at it and you wonder if any of her lip will stay on!

Mikayla's B-day Cake

Now here is a great story for you....
We don't get many gifts for the kids on their birthday but one thing we do is let them choose a cake and I try to be creative...well this year Mikayla said she wanted roses on her cake. So, I went online and looked for pictures of cakes that I could copy. Do you know what type of cakes have roses? Yes, of course, wedding cakes....so Mikayla chose a three tier cake with roses all over the layers and different colors and design for each tier. There was also one other thing...she doesn't really like cake so she wanted it made out of rice krispies.
I actually had a lot of fun doing this and while I was in the middle I hear "Mom, I think you need to get Nano, Mom can you come see this..." Well, I didn't stop right away, which I should have because when I came in I found THIS! Yes it is baby powder all over my piano, in the keys, and notice all the white on mounds just above the keys...those where some of his cars covered in baby powder and yes there is a haze of baby powder dust in the picture. When I came in Nano quickly brushed some of the powder off the keys!!
Oh my such fun!! My piano students every now and then will still play a note and get a puff of fresh scent and a little haze while playing! Gotta love this boy!!

Happy Birthday Mikayla!!

Mikayla is now 7! I can't believe our baby is so big....in fact she wanted a "wedding cake" birthday cake and a pink pony pinata....well the cake turned out to her satisfactions but the pony ended up purple instead of the pink, due to lack of paint. But overall, I think she was happy.....friends, pizza at the park, going to a park in Jan (the weather was actually not too cold that day), cake (kind of) a pinata and fun....what more could a girl ask for?!
WE LOVE YOU MIKAYLA HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Sitting Solo

This is one of my favorite milestones!! I just love it when they are almost able to sit up...leaning so far forward, they can almost eat their toes and just so proud of the new view they get and it only last for a couple seconds and over to one side they tip or do a face plant!! It's just so cute!!
Oh and we add the dimension of a big sister and now we have hair to pull!! Really, what could be better?!?

Snow Days

We got our yearly 1/2" to 1" of snow and had the school's cancelled for 2 days and 1 late start!! Got to love NC snow. Nano didn't get into as much this year...he wouldn't keep his gloves on and then would come into the house crying for a bandaid for his hands because they were so cold...poor kid just didn't quite get it!!

Yummy Cereal...

We had fun trying Lynneah on her first rice cereal...she liked it when it would stay down....unfortunately that tongue just keeps getting in the way. We'll have to try again in a little while. Oh and there's also some silliness from the other kids.

Photo Shoot

I get a picture to hang on the wall of each of the kids between 3 and 4 months...here's Lynneah's! And the other kids acting like babies as well....for a little more fun!!

Photo Shoot Retry

We decided to put her in pink to match Mikayla's picture a little better on the wall.....

Fun with Boppa

We were so lucky over Christmas and New Year's to have Merrill's Dad (Boppa) out to visit and help with all our home projects. We are getting the house ready to sell and had quite a few BIG projects to finish....sad to say I only got one of them on camera. But here are is a picture of the cabinets they painted white....Boppa also fixed the outside of the shed (it was rotting) cleaned the mold off the outside of the house, put new windows in the house, fixed the hardwood floor and the list could go on!! Anyone else want to come visit!! :)

THANK YOU THANK YOU BOPPA for all the hard work and the fun with the kids...if you are wondering we were acting out holding to the rod for FHE and the kids loved having Boppa blindfolded!

Also, just a little bit of craziness with Merrill and the kids.....

Fun with Boppa

Here are a few more pictures from when Merrill's dad came out to visit.
He came out and we really put him to work. But we also had a little fun and took him to DC. I of course never had my camera but Boppa had his camera phone....so some are blurry, but better than none (which is what I have!)

Christmas Day 2008 cont

We went over to the Alder's on the 24....in the morning to decorate Gingerbread houses and have a GREAT lunch. It was so fun and the kids did a great job eating or I mean decorating the houses! Then Nano and Josh were having a great time using their new pillows as backpacks! And finally, Lynneah wishes a Happy New Year to everyone. She got a hold of these and had a great time shaking them around.

Christmas Day 2008

Our Nativity Play

Lynneah's Camera Face

Whenever the camera comes out this is what we get. She will be laughing or giggling and out comes the camera and that light is too darn distracting! But you still can see the cute chubby cheeks and double chin.