Adding to the Family

If you haven't heard, we are expecting baby #4. I am around 14-15 weeks due July 17th. The technician said it was a little early, but she is pretty sure the baby is a boy! Poor Sydnie. She is still at school and so we haven't told her yet, but I have a feeling she will take the news kind of hard. She wants a little sister! We are very excited though! Landon and this little guy will be 2 years apart (almost to the day) and they will be good buds. Here are some ultrasound pics. I think he looks like a teddy bear/alien, because that second picture his face looks like a bear (with his arms up). LOL! Warning: the quality of the pics are bad...I don't have a scanner.

Bringing Chaos to Order...

My VERY talanted husband made me 16 foot shelves (well, two 8 foot shelves) for my garage! HOLY COW, they are AWESOME. Well, the pics speak for themselves...take a look!!!
Before:

During:

After:
Yes, yes, we were living like PIGS before, not something I like showing off, but NOW, I am not so embarrassed. Not 100% organized but 200% better than before (excuse the file cabinet on the end, we have to find a place for it still). My honey is SO handy to have around. He is also in the process of building a fly tying table. Pics on that one later! Thanks for making me one happy gal honey!

Entertainment...

I have gotta say that having kids is pretty HILARIOUS. One minute I want to collapse out of exhaustion and the next minute I am laughing so hard I can't stand it. These kids are pure comedy (when I don't want to kill them). Anyway, these pics are entertainment to me...
Wes and Lando srike a pose. The other day Wes fell ALL the way down the stairs, from the top. He was in quite a bit of pain but he was okay. He had a mondo bruise across his shoulder and back. Then he rammed his face into the window sill and got a black eye (which you can almost see in this pic). The poor kid is just one big bruise.
The boys watching the rain...wow, didn't know how dirty the window was until I posted. How embarrassing! :D
They do this a lot. Push each other around in the laundry basket for hours. The other night, Landon stayed in the laundry basket for an hour AFTER they were done pushing him. Serious cheap entertainment for the rascals.
.Landon loves being naked and he also loves wearing his shoes. When I see these pictures I laugh my head off...he is so COMICAL!

Christmas and the Bearded Man

The shepherds on Christmas Eve...

Coming down Christmas morning...

Santa presents (A COOOL scooter for Wes) He also is enjoying new slippers from Uncle Danner, Legos from Grandma, and a Cars Race Track from cousin Brady.

A keyboard for Syd

A talking dog for Lando

Landon's favorite thing right now, besides marshmallows, BALLS! Not to mention he LOVES his "hammer train" from cousin Kelsi...

Syd LOVES her "at home Build-a-Bear" from cousin Noah. We made it on Christmas day. SO CUTE! She is also loving her slippers and "scrapbook/card kit from grandma" PERFECT for her!

Practicing, look at her go!

Surprise! The bearded man in NOT Santa, but AARON. Since Aaron isn't working right now he decided to take this opportunity to NOT shave. Here is the result...

He shaved yesterday, and I have to say I like it a lot better. We continue the job search like CRAZY. Nothing as of yet but hopefully the first of the year. Sorry no pics of me (Shan) on Christmas, but I did have a good one!

What we do During Christmas Break...

Oh, just a little crazy dancing to High School Musical...


Some headstands...

We take some cute pics...

We play with our neighbors all day long...

We also: Wait for Santa, Drive around and look at Christmas lights (I am turning into my parents, but this is NOT a bad thing), Spend lots of time together, Watch Christmas Movies, Make Treats, Remember the TRUE reason for the season (trying hard to help the kids remember that), and Wait for Santa some more...hurry up Santa!!!!!

Crazy Mr. Flashlight Head

Wes and Landon are little buddies. They both found headlamps today and tried them out. I didn't have my camera when Lando made FUNNIEST face going cross-eyed trying to look at the light in the middle of his head, MAN it was FUNNY! Excuse the booger nose child of mine, it's cold time at our house. We are all doing well. We are happy it's December. We decorated our tree last night! YAY!

New Moon!

The night it came out, I went to the midnight showing of New Moon! I went with my friend (who happens to be Wes's preschool teacher) who happens to have a 17 year old daughter who is WAY into The Twilight Saga. This certain daughter brought 2 other friend who are 17 also. Let me tell you, I came away from that night feeling 11 years younger than I am! WHAT FUN!!! We went out to eat (Spaghetti Factory) before hand. Then we headed to Seattle for a 9:00 showing of Twilight. It was fun to see that first. Then we had an hour break in-between shows. It was nice because we got to stay in the same theatre, same seats, no waiting in line...etc. AWESOME!

The teens I was with, were fully equipped with their T-shirts (which read Tyler's Van Team, if you don't get it I will tell you, I didn't get it either) and a WEATLH of knowledge about Twilight, New Moon and all the characters names and bios. This might have been the best part for me. I learned so much about the movie and remembered so much I had forgotten about the books, thanks to these girls. The movie was better than I was hoping (much better than the 1st) and Jacob looked WHOLE lot better that I ever imagined (every time I see him, I still think Shark-Boy and Lava-Girl, but I think this movie got me passed that) and Edward is still a bad actor, although very enduring.

Needless to say, I had a blast acting like a 17 year old girl again, screaming, laughing, and talking about the on-screen boys, not to mention getting to bed at 3:30 am. What a night to remember, if only I could recover from lack of sleep now...

Hug a Kid

Today my friend and I made a trip to the mall with 6 kids to play at the squishy (and germ infected) play place. It was overflowing with people and kids of all ages, since there was no school: Veterans Day. Thirty minutes after arriving, a lady stands up and starts searching for her child. She was just ignored for a bit but then, she started getting frantic. She couldn't find her daughter. She started screaming her name and running up and down the mall. When she came back around to the play area, with no luck, EVERYONE at the play place bolted into action. We were all quizzing her name, age, what she was wearing etc. We found out she 22 months old! SO YOUNG! There was a major search party heading around the mall, people running in and out of stores and asking EVERY passer-by if they had seen a lost little girl. By this time the mother is HYSTERICAL, and rightfully so! (it had been about 15-20 min)

As I watched this young mother so frantic and scared, my heart ached for her. I could not fathom the idea of losing one of my babies. Not knowing who they might be with, if they were scared, if they were kidnapped...you know, those kind of thoughts. The bad ones. The worse case senrio ones. I have been a bit on the negative side lately, in dealing with my children. I have felt, overwhelmed, under appreciated, burned out, ungrateful, not to mention very selfish, this past week. Today those negatives were wiped clean as I watched this mom deal with such panic and pain.

Back to the story...30 minutes, start to finish, the little girl was found, happy as a clam, in The Disney Store. The reunion between mother and daughter was BEAUTIFUL. The mother bawled and bawled (I could hear her halfway down the mall.) The little girl just held still in her arms, and hugged her mother tight. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and then hugged their own children.

As I have thought about this incident the remainder of the day, I have thought about all of the joy my children bring me. They are amazing spirits, who are smart, witty, fun, innocent, positive, HILARIOUS etc. I need to take some lessons from them in the positive category. I have got my little family and that matters MOST in the whole world. Literally.

I also have to say, on another note, I was very impressed by the other parents in the mall. Every single person was ready to help and jump right into action. They were genuinely concerned for this mother and daughter and helped until the end! Impressive Lynnwood, impressive!

Love these people!

Halloween Visitors

For Halloween this year, my sister flew in from Phoenix. It was sooo much fun with her and her little girl here. She got here the day before Halloween and left this morning... (sniff). WE of course did tons of talking and catching up, did Halloween school parties, trunk-treating at the church, and regular trick-or-treating. We also went to Seattle, did lots of shopping, the beach, Pacific Science Center, etc. Why does the fun always have to come to an end? Now I am just sitting here in a big empty house wearing rice on my tux, wondering what happened to my life (what movie is that from??????)

I feel like the worst mom because I didn't get a picture of all my 3 kids together on Halloween, but I did manage to get a shot of them separately... Landon the Elephant and Miranda his cousin (in which they have a love hate relationship) the bee.
The baby elephant drinking a bottle (I know he is too old to drink a bottle, we are working on that one :)) Wesley the Ninja...
Sydnie, the ghost (in which she changed to a baby the next day for her school carnival and then the next day for trick-or-treat she was a ballerina) A pretty day in Seattle!!Nice view from the Space Needle, my first time going up!! It costs a mere $16.00 to go to the top! YIKES! At least I can say I have been to the top now!
Since we went to Seattle on Halloween day, we saw some interesting people/costumes. This guys was working at Pikes Place and offering apples to kids. Kinda scary, but Wes wasn't scared, probably because there was food involved.
We ate at a seafood place near Pikes Place. Here is Aaron "downing" an oyster for the first time. We weren't quite sure he would like them...all raw and slimy...The Verdict???? Thumbs UP! Now I need to work enough nerve up to try them!

Octoberish Activities

The kids, just being crazy kids.
Landon got his first buzz cut, courtesy of his father, since I am not a fan of "mullets" (not sure if anyone should be a mullet fan)
October Sky
The boys on the (soggy) pumpkin farm. Sure has been raining a lot here. You would think we live in Seattle or something...
Can you tell whose is whose??
From left to right Sydnie's, Landon's, Wesley's. Happy Haunting!!