Getting ready for winter

This morning, the kids had hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Gavin was still hungry after one egg and some toast so I gave him some dry cheerios to fill him up. I went about my business, checking email, getting myself some breakfast... I noticed that his try was empty and that all the cheerios were gone. I was about to get him more when I noticed how funny his shirt looked. He had put all of the cheerios down the neck of his shirt! I'm not sure if he is thinking that winter is coming and he must be prepared or if he's afraid we may not feed him lunch:) As I picked him up out of his eating chair, it rained cheerios. What a funny way to start off our morning:)

My wonderful kiddos
(even when they hoard food)

Playtime!

On Sunday, we had our friends over for a BBQ dinner. Their son, Dane, is just 2 months younger than Gavin. We try to get together on a pretty regular basis so our kiddos can play together, the best part of it is that we can hang out too:) Paul was one of Chad's roommates back in his glorious college days. What a great time we had!

This is the closest we could get as we tried to get all three little ones in one picture. Is that not the funniest face on Gavin!

Gavin decided that upside down was the place to be:)


Here's a picture of the "Boys"

And the "Gals"


Kyla sure loves to play with Paul!

Here is the Handsome Mr Dane

God has truly blessed us with wonderful friends that we hope will be with us for a lifetime:)

Paul, Chloe and Dane

Happy Anniversary!

Chad and I have just celebrated our 10 year Anniversary!

Could it be that ten years have passed already? What a fun ride it's been so far:) We've made it through finishing my degree, living on a sailboat, buying our first home, having two beautiful children, and giving one child into the Lord's hands. We've lost two special people in Chad's family, said goodbye to my great-grandfather, welcomed many nieces and nephews into our hearts, traveled a little, and dreamed a lot. Chad has supported us through three different jobs, while I've worked a couple different ones myself. We coached track for 7 years and have started many small businesses:) We've grown up, grown closer, and learned who we are meant to be as a couple. Through it all, Chad has been my support, my strength and my best friend. What a blessed marriage God has gifted us with.

Visitors!

We had a wonderful visit today with Kristel and her little family. Kristel is my dear friend who lives up in Canada. Her and her husband, Brent, brought their beautiful baby boy down for a visit! Jackson is 2 1/2 months old and is just as handsome as can be! I've been anxiously waiting to meet him since he was born in May:)

We had a great visit, my kiddos climbed all over their Uncle Brent and I held baby Jackson as much as his mommy would let me:) Brent has a wonderful way with my kiddos. He is so patient and is willing to play all types of make believe:) We went to the park in the late afternoon and took some family pics of the new little family. Kyla was so excited that they were coming! She loves to have Aunt Kristel all to herself:) Kyla and Aunt Kristel started making plans for our trip up north. Kyla thinks that we should drive the 24 plus hours there. Doesn't that sound like fun!?! I think we would get about 2 hours in and then she'd be done:)

Brent put Jackson down in his little carrier as we made our lunch. The kids just couldn't resist checking on him and making sure he was put together correctly:)

Look at all these beautiful children! We met over 15 years ago as locker partners in 6th grade. Who would have guessed that we would be enjoying our babies together!

An Unwelcome Visitor

I was looking out my kitchen window this morning and there on my birdhouse was a RAT! At first I thought it was a weird kind of bird until I saw the tail hanging down. No wonder we've been going through an immense amount of bird food this past month!

Kyla and I quietly snuck out onto the porch and got some pretty good pictures, if you can get good pictures of a rat:) After a couple of minutes of our guest happily munching, a neighbor dog started barking and scared him off.

As long as he stays outside, I can handle being in close proximity with him. Once he takes one step into my home, he's history:)

Success!

I did it! For over 10 years I've had the desire to compete in a relay type walking race. This past winter I coerced 6 of my friends to join me in the Rainer to Pacific Relay up in Washington.

The Striding Mac Moms left Lafayette on Friday, July 18 in a fifteen passenger van and headed north. Our Race started just outside of Tenino, WA off of I-5. My mom and her friend Jo were our drivers and biggest supporters. Stacee started us off and less than 24 hours later, we had completed 96 miles and had reached Oceanside City and the Pacific Ocean! My first leg was almost 4 miles on a highway during the afternoon and I finished it off with 13 minute miles.

My second leg was at 2:30 am and consisted of 5.5 miles of steep uphill, gravel and some downhill. I was able to complete that with 15 minute miles! That was my most feared leg!

My last solo leg was as we came into Oceanside. It was a pretty flat 3.5 miles right along a very busy highway. My goal was to not get ran over! I made it safely to my hand off with about 15 minute miles. For the last mile of the race, the hole team walked with our last walker to cross the finish line. We finished first! I won't tell you how many walking teams there were:) We also finished before a running team! What an amazing accomplishment!

We slept in the van, (at least we tried to) had to hunt up port-a-potties, eat more energy bars than we can count, walked in the pitch black night worried about bear attacks, and had a great time laughing and groaning together. We had a big lunch and then headed back home. We got back to Lafayette at 8 pm on Saturday, July 19.

My knee is giving me some problems and my hips just weren't working after sitting in the van on the ride home, but I'm so glad that I tried it and that we all succeeded! What a great feeling! We are all mom's with little kiddos so it was great to get away for a day and do something for ourselves, no matter how much it hurt:) Thanks for the prayers of support as I was on my adventure!

A New Baby!

I got a call from my "baby" brother on Saturday with the news that his wife had gone into labor. They live up in the Tri-Cities area for those of you who don't know. The plan was for the kids and I to hot foot it over to my parents and we'd all pile in Dad's truck and head up there to welcome to the new little one into the family. It didn't look as if the baby would be born until late Saturday or early Sunday so we decided to head up early on Sunday morning. On the way we stopped in Arlington for a break from driving and played in the water.

After 5 hours of driving, we reached Richland. I had been texting Josh during our drive so we knew that they baby hadn't been born yet even though Randi was ready for it:) Once we got to our hotel, we learned that the baby was breach. Hmmmm. So after a couple more hours of restless waiting on our part, we got a call saying that they were taking her to the hospital. They had planned on having a home birth, but with the complications of a breach baby, they ended up having an emergency c-section.

On Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 9:36pm we welcomed Gabriel Joshua Bonnell into the world.

He weighed in at 7 lbs, 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. There we some complications and he ended up in an oxygen tent and with an IV. After a chest X-ray and a CT scan, they were happy to find out that little Gabe didn't have to be life flighted as they had feared!

Almost 4 days later, Gabe is breathing on his own and Randi is working on nursing him. Randi is recuperating well and they have been able to get some much needed sleep. All the pictures that I have of him are through two layers of plastic and a good portion of the pics had to be taken through a window out in the hall. There could only be a parent and one person in the nursery at a time. We've nicknamed him "Taco Boy". Since he was breach and in that position for so long, when he came out his toes were by his years. He kept kicking himself in the face! His legs and hips are looking much better now and he doesn't have to worry about self-inflicted black eyes any more:) They are hoping to take him home today. We are all excited about this beautiful baby boy!

Hanging with Uncle Josh

We left the Tri-Cities area yesterday afternoon . We stopped at Arlington on the way back to play in the water once more. Of course, Gavin ended up naked, that seems to be his preferred state.

Aloha!

We were invited to a Lua today here in Lafayette. Actually, it was a 3rd birthday party for our friend Eva:) I just happened to have some Hawaiin wear from my trip. The kids got all decked out and we went and enjoyed the pool, friends, and birthday cake. I love the faces Gavin makes. Here are just a couple:)

Play Time - July 11

We had our friends Eva and Kia over while their mommy had some quiet time to get stuff done. Eva just turned 3 and Kia is about 19 months.


Kyla and Eva have been best buds since before Eva was born:)



















We played outside, built a fort out of our dinning room furniture, built TALL castles with legos, and danced away our time together.


It was a little crazy at times trying to herd all four of them outside, keep them from knocking each other out while swinging, and saving flowers from being eaten.Getting them fed in a timely manner was another challenge:) It was a nice, gentle reminder from God that our little family is perfect with 2 kiddos:)

Shave and a Hair Cut - Two Bits!

Gavin was in dire need of a hair cut and Kyla decided that it would be a great time for Mommy to learn how to cut her hair as well:) Since we are trying to be very frugal with our $$, I decided to learn how to cut Gavin's hair instead of taking him somewhere to get it down. It worked out well last time so I assumed it would this time as well. Hmmm, there seemed to be some sort of failure in the communication this time, because he sure didn't sit still as I welded a very sharp pair of scissors about his head! After a frustrating amount of time for all parties involved, he is looking very handsome with no noticeable gouges in his head or hair:)


Before I attempted the nearly impossible job of cutting a 17 month-old's hair, we cut Kyla's. I never imagined how difficult it could be to make long hair even on both sides of her head! It didn't help that said head kept moving all about. The end result is a cute little bob for my cute little gal. It's so much easier to brush and it should keep her a bit cooler this summer.

Before and After

Happy Fourth of July!

We hope that everyone had a nice relaxing holiday! To start the day, Kyla went to the St. Paul Parade with her buddies, Eva and Kiara. We had a BBQ lunch at the Brandon's and we cooled off in the pool for a bit.



Chad's mom, Trina, came over and we had our 2nd annual Riddle Fireworks fun in McMinnville. Last year we heard that McMinnville had a fireworks display for the fourth so we decided to check it out. They fireworks were amazing and we planned to go again this year. We picked up a couple of little fireworks earlier in the day, it's amazing how little $5 will get you now, and took them with us to help pass the time.


After almost 3 hours of patiently waiting, the city's display started. It was wonderful! Last year Gavin slept through them in his infant carrier. This year, it was so fun to watch him as he watched them. He sat in his little chair and barely moved as he watched the show. He loved the noise and the smoke. Kyla loved "everything" about. I think the best part for her was hanging out with her Ting-a-ling (Grandma Trina).


Both kids ended up asleep before the show was over, I didn't blame them, it was after 10:30! What a great way to celebrate our nation. You all are welcome to join us next year:)