April showers bring......

JANUARY SURPRIZE BABY!

Horray! We are 12 weeks pregnant with baby #3. We are thrilled. For someone who doesn't like secrets I have been pretty good about keeping this one! Until now, as I pronounce it to the whole world.
To answer the most frequently asked questions in a nutshell here is the scoop. Yes, we wanted more children. Yes we wanted them sooner than later. No we didn't anticipate it happening as quickly as it did. Yes we are happy. No I'm not sick. Yes we are excited. Yes we know we will be busy. No Jeff is not getting anything snipped. No we do not have a minivan. Yes I am still nursing Adelle. Yes I feel really amazing. Yes I am tired. Yes Braxton is super into the whole thing this time. No Adelle doesn't get it. Yes we are stocking up on diapers. Yes we know how to make the best of the rainy season.
I think that pretty much covers the basics. I feel really, really blessed. We are busy and our lives are really full but we love our children so much and they each bring us so much joy that we can't wait to meet our newest addition and discover all he/she has to bring into our family.
Oh, and so you know. We are going with the whole SURPRIZE theme this time. We decided that we are not finding out the gender of the baby. So fun, or what! We have found out both times and we are ready to spice things up a bit and be really surprized.

I liked this....a lot!

"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning the devil says, "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP!"

Biscuit Recipe....See picture below!

3 cups flour (I use half whole wheat flour)
4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup whole milk

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk all at once. Stir just until moistened, using a fork.
We mixed fresh raspberries in this time but usually we just eat them with butter and honey.
Drop dough by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake in 450 oven for 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy!

Homegrown Goodness

One of my favorite things about summer is walking out to our raspberry patch.....

picking a bowl full of fresh berries that I know have not been laden with pesticides...

seeing the many other berries that are not quite ready but that will be delicious is days to come..

eating raspberries out of the bowl or off the bush with my two little "raspberry monsters"....

making homemade biscuits with fresh raspberries with the help of Braxton....

Yum! Hot...Homemade....Hearty...Heaven!

We love our Dads!

Happy Father's Day to my Hottie Heart-throb who is the greatest dad to our children! We love you so much!

Father's Day was really fun this year. The tradition of breakfast in bed is way more fun and exciting when your 3 year old is involved. Brax and I prepared this wonderful meal of french-toast, bacon and fried eggs and served Jeff in bed. Braxton loved every minute of it.....

especially when it was his turn to get in bed next to dad and eat his little heart out! Adelle was a champ too. She slept in which made the whole cooking and serving breakfast much easier than I had anticipated. She's so good like that.

I'm so thankful for a wonderful dad and for Jeff's wonderful dad. We are so blessed to have so many great men in our life and for the great examples they are to us.

Braxton: "And when I'm a daddy then you can bring me breakfast in bed."

Please let it be someone else serving him breakfast in bed when he's a daddy!

Life on the farm

These two crack me up! We went to the Boxx Berry Farm Berry Festival on Saturday and the kids got to ride the train and we all enjoyed fresh strawberry sundaes. I forgot the camera but thankfully our friends were there to sneak a couple shots for me (thanks April!)
I love this picture. The stern faces and scowls. You'd think they'd been workin' since sun-up or something. We had a great day!

A and B

Adelle is walking! It really happened over night. She's cruisin' now like crazy. If it's faster to crawl she will still drop to her knees but for the most part she is struttin' her stuff like a big girl. So fun to watch her concentrate so hard to put one foot in front of the other.
Good thing it's summer because this girl doesn't like to wear shoes. I don't know what will happen when it rains/snows and she still wants to walk around barefoot.

Braxton is my bud. Tuesday night I threw a shower for a friend which was great but after everyone had left, Adelle was asleep and Jeff was playing basketball with some friends I sat down in this chair and put my feet up. I was exhausted from the day. Braxton came out from getting ready for bed and pulled up the chair beside me. He rested his feet on the table too and said, "man, I'm tired, this feels good." He's so funny. I asked him if he'd sit on my lap and he did. I was cuddling him and he said, "mom, let's take a picture of us. I think we are being cute."

What a sweet boy!

The multi-tasker! Not only can she walk but she can talk on the phone while walking. Actually, she can talk on the phone while doing most anything.

Left, right, left, right...

I love the outfit she is wearing. Thanks Gramy Ashmore!

One of her new pretty birthday dresses from Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

We've been down to the school to practice our tennis skills. Braxton just goes and goes and goes.

He wears us out but we have a ball girl now which helps in the fetching.

Another birthday outfit from Gramy (my Gramy, Addy's Great Gramy)....and of course the cell phone.

First walking, now driving? This girl is on the move one way or another.

Birthday Beach Bike-Ride

Poor girl can't resist the urge to put the sand in her mouth...which is why she has her "plugger" in for most of the other pictures.

Not only does she leave sunglasses on, she wanted these goggles on the whole time at the bay! Addy is such a little ham!

Braxton found this log on the shore and he and Jeff put it into the water, where it became Braxton's boat.

The girls were ready to go way before the boys, as usual. You can see the sun is basically set and Braxton is still in the water. He is a beach boy for sure.

This was the start of our venture. It was Adelle's first time in the bike cart and she love it.

I like this action shot. Jeff is really into skipping rocks and you can tell from the picture that he takes it really seriously.

Sportin' her new surfer girl suit before leaving for the beach. Here she is...our little one year old!

For Adelle's "real" birthday she wanted to go to Birch Bay and go on a bike ride. Actually, she would be happy doing anything as long as Braxton was around but since Jeff got off early and it was a nice day we decided to pack up the bikes and go out the the bay to ride and play in the water. It was a fun night for all and the weather was perfect.

We brought money to go to the "C"Shop, which is one of our favorite spots for ice-cream but then decided the kids were happy enough in the water and they will be asking for ice-cream, ect. for the rest of their lives so we decided to beg it and just enjoy the great outdoors.

Party Girl

Adelle was such a little party girl yesterday at her Birthday Bar-B-Q! She loved every minute of it. The weather was beautiful and we were able to be outside to celebrate with lots of family! It was a perfect birthday, thanks to everyone for everything!





This girl got so many cute new clothes....I will be posting lots of pictures in the near future of her in her new outfits. One outfit she got, Braxton pulls out of the bag and exclaims, "oh, this is so dang cute." It was hillarious. He got that line from my mom, thanks mom!

Party girl was a little wiped out by the end of the night.

After a second of examination she dove right in to her cupcake. Then there was no stopping her!

I love this picture of these cute kids!

This is us before church yesterday. My mom found the dress that Adelle was wearing in the closet. My Gramy made that dress for me when I turned 1 so today Adelle wore it to church. I love things like this....now I just have to find the picture of me in the dress on my 1st birthday and we can compare. I will save it forever so that Addy's little girl can wear it when she is 1.

The dress is beautiful, the detail is really amazing. My Gramy was a talented seamstress and I feel really blessed to have the dress as a keepsake.

From One Day.....To One Year....

Adelle is turning 1 tomarrow! I can't believe how fast the past year has flown by! It really seems like just yesterday we were anxiously awaiting her arrival.
This little lady has been the sweetest edition to our family. I wondered how I could ever love a child as much as I loved Braxton and immediately I did.
It has been a year of joy and excitement. A year of growth for me as I realized that my love could multiply and I could care for two kids just as much as I could before with one. It has been a year of sharing as Braxton has welcomed the role of big-brotherhood and my heart has beamed as I watch how much he loves his sister and how well he takes care of her. It has been a year of busyness as we don't just have a baby to love and cuddle, we have a baby to love and cuddle and a toddler to love and cuddle and entertain and participate in activities with. I have done things that I would have before thought impossible but they have just had to be done. We have learned as a family that we are four different people with four many different needs and we all need to help each other out and sacrifice a little and give a lot and always, always, always, love each other first.
Adelle has made me smile when I have felt like crying and she has made me realize that time goes so fast and to cherish every moment. She has been a pure example of love and innocence and her giggle can calm any storm in our home. She is fun-loving and such a little tom-boy and we can't get enough of this girl.
We love you Addy-Bell!

"But mom, can't we just live here?"

That's what Braxton asked me when it was time to leave the beach Thursday night. We love Lake Samish and spent both hot hot days at the lake this past week. It was so beautiful and the kids loved it. The lake was so refreshing and we all were able to cool off!

Adelle loved the sand in her toes the best....and in her fingers. The swim suit is an early birthday present from Bama and Umpa. All of last years suits were way too small for this healthy lil' lady.

She loved her new suit. This is her giving Bama loves and more loves and more loves.

Umpa is feeding her so she is happy.

Kissin' cousins

Our little surfer dude....playing it cool

Happy Water Baby!

Life's a beach

(I have a lot of pictures and I am running out of captions...can you tell?)Jeff loving his role as "dad"

This is so cute. This is how Adelle waves. Her hand is turned toward herself and she goes back and forth. I've been trying to capture it for weeks and this is the best I've got so far. It's really sweet live.

Adelle putting sand on Bama's leg, then rubbing it off, over and over, and over.



It was really sweet we were driving out to the lake and Braxton had the lake view window at the time. He was looking out in admiration.

"This is a pretty lake, mom," He said to me in this really mature, observant manner.

Then without even thinking twice he looks over at Adelle and say's, "You're pretty too sis. And mom, you are pretty too. And dad, you are awesome."

I love this boy, he is so sincere and so good with words. He is so thoughtful and such a heartbreaker. Me and Adelle are lucky girls to have him around:)

SHOWTIME!!

Our friends came over to hang out in the sun last week and Braxton's little friend, Grace, brought her little purse filled with these cool shades and bangles. Braxton was really into both. The next thing we know he is wearing the star glasses and the bracelets and is on the table proclaiming, "IT'S SHOWTIME." We have no idea where this game from but it was hillarious! Adelle is the backup!

Sis is really into sunglasses too and she is the first baby I've known that leaves them on. These are Braxton's spiderman shades but she will crawl around with them on all day until Braxton decides he wants them back. Then she screams. Her birthday is Monday.....maybe we should get her her own glasses?

I love this cute lil' booty shot. This baby's got back!

This is pure torture. Adelle loves to be outside just as much as her big brother but she eats the pea gravel so she has to always wait until mom is ready to go outside. I have to shut the door so she doesn't crawl out and land on her head so she just stands and pounds on the window until I am ready. Braxton got sick of the pounding so he was pounding back...this was a fun game for them.....who can pound the hardest!