unfun and nesting

Here I am in all my 37.5 pregnant girth and glory.  

According to the app on my phone, baby is as big as Swiss chard.  But in my opinion, this baby is anything but light and leafy.  

For the last 2.5 weeks I have been alone.  Not the bad kind of alone.  It's the good kind of alone where I know that everyone will come back and for the next year, I will never be alone.  

And I would have said something earlier but I heard you're not supposed to announce when you're alone.  But I can say something now because in about 40 minutes.  I will go and pick my family up from the airport.  

They have been living it up on the mainland.  Having a blast.  Karl flew with our three munchkins and spent the time eating and playing.  After a day of a real mall, the Mac store, IKEA, and the water park, Samuel told Karl, "Mom is right, Dad, you ARE the fun parent."

He even took them to Disneyland.  What's a fun parent without Disneyland (and Legoland, and the beach, and the pool, and SeaWorld, and...)?  One guy four kids (he picked my nephew up along the way to give my brother a break who has a baby in the NICU :( ). 

I am most definately not the fun parent.  I used to think I would be.  But it's all relative.  If we ran out of diapers, who would freak out?  Me.  If we didn't have proper snacks and naps, who would be the first to complain?  Ya, probably me.  If someone didn't have have shoes... okay.  You get the point.  I think I am the carer worrier person.  And so without me, they had a blast.  

 And I was here, on my little island having a blast on my own.  

When I signed up to be a mom, I never realized how exciting it would be to clean out cupboards without having to sacrifice sleep or neglect my kids in some sort of way.  

Or how about a countertops that stay clutter free all day long?  Oh man, it has been a blast.  This clean cupbaord gives me as much thrill as any roller coaster.  Ya, I am most definately the unfun parent.

For a little while longer, these counter tops will remain spill free, and the floor underneath those chairs crumb free.  Oh, and those chairs will be pushed in.

In my nesting, I even got rid of my couches.  There are replacements.  But I have gone to exremes.  At least for me.  I tend to hold on to things.  I also want to get rid of that coffee table and that big thing in the corner.  Even though they are fine.  But nesting does that.

See that rug?  It's orange and white.  For now.  I knew I was taking a risk when I bought it.  But I liked it enough to risk it.  So, for a little while it remain those two colors, and will soon be joined by foot prints and spills and whatever else.  Oh, and it will be bunched up.  This place gets a lot of traffic.

In just a little while, these toys are going to be all over.  And someone might be standing on that table.  And someone else will be rolling on that rug.  Or rolling up in that rug.  They like to do that.

These toys don't actually like sitting on this shelf either.  But for the last 2.5 weeks, they have been.  Because the unfun parent has been in charge.

And this room, the boys' room, is usually a hub of activity/mess.  

I have been having so much unfun.  I got the baby's corner of our room ready.  My nice mother in law sewed the Boppy cover for me.

 It was just cleaning and scrubbing and labeling and purging.  I sewed baby #4 his own hooded towel.  My kids have been using these for ages.  They are big so even the 10 year old fits.  So many memories of freshly bathed kids running around the house in these.  Oh, and curled up underneath them waiting for us to wonder out loud where they are.  They love that.  Feels so official to see four hanging there.  Welcome to the family, son, here is your hooded towel.  

I took on my fear of the zipper.  And made a pillow and then another and another and... I had to force myself to stop because I had other projects to do.  But I made about a bajillion.  Some of those will move downstairs to the couch.  I still have about 5 more pillows that are floating in my head waiting to come to reality.  But they are going to have to wait.  I also made some curtains for this window seat.  One of those things that I have been meaning to do ever since I bought that fabric a year ago.  Yay, fun!  Right?

My to-do list was 4.5 pages long.  I'm not kidding.  That's what happens when you haven't been alone for 10 years.  You have things that don't get done.  I didn't get it all done.  But I got most.  And it feels gooooooooood.  I even cleaned up after myself.  This room is usually a mess.  And is still a tad bit messy.  But it's as good as it gets because I use it so much and I happen to be a naturally messy person.  And for the record, the sink is empty and the laundry is all done, too.  I know this may not be amazing to some.  But for me, this is.  

So, now it's time for me to go get them.  I have typed my time away. I just wanted to record that my house was once clean.  Because pretty soon I will forget that this ever existed.  

Clean house... recorded.  

we went to japan and this is what i can remember

Once upon a couple of months ago, we decided to go to Japan. 

And we decided to take Eva.  She is 10, she will remember the trip, she will do well meeting lots of people, and I remember loving my trip to Japan when I was her age.   

We travel when I am pregnant.  It's like the one last hurrah before I enter baby jail.  

Planning is not our strong point.  So when we realized that Eva's passport had expired we had to hurry.  We wanted to leave in 15 days and expediting a passport takes at least 14.  And this is when living on a little island makes things a little a tough.  Things take a little bit or a lotta bit longer.  If we couldn't get the application submitted on our island, all three of us would have to fly to Oahu to apply there.  It would take a whole day, and a hunk of cash.  We couldn't even reach any of the post offices by phone.  So, we hopped in the car, pulled Eva out of school, and went to see what we could do.  Post office number one said they couldn't meet with us for another three weeks.  So, we headed to post office number two, about 45 minutes away from our house.  They told us they had an appointment available in two weeks.  Like, the day we wanted to leave.  My heart started beating fast and I realized that if we wanted Eva to go with us, I was going to have to be brave.  I had nothing to lose and if I could convince them to see us sooner, we would be able to use that hunk of cash for better things like bread and pens in Japan (or bills but that's no fun to think about).  So I started started begging.  Full on.  

I asked if there was anyone we could possibly talk to about getting it done sooner.  The nice lady went in back and came back chuckling, "He said to bring donuts and coffee."

Then the guy came out and I asked him if there was any way that we could come in sooner.  I  played the, "It's for my little girl" card.  Put her right in front of me and told him it's for her.  Karl said everyone in the post office laughed.  

He told us to come in the next morning.  

We did it!

Well, for the most part.  

The next morning we got up bright and early, found out where the best coffee and donuts on the island were, picked up as many coffees and donuts that we knew how, and  headed up to the post office.  He cracked up when he saw us with our arms full of the treats.  He said he was just kidding but was super happy.  

We got the application filled out and sent off.  Phew.

Karl told him that we would have brought him steak if  he would have asked. 

Then we waited.  We checked out PO box often.  No sign.  Three days before the trip, we were starting to sweat it.  We were leaving on a Monday.  On Saturday morning I went down and checked our box. Nothing.  I went in and talked to someone.  This trip was already waaaay more talking to people than I am comfortable with.  She said for this and this and this reason, they hadn't got around to filling the boxes yet.  

And the rest is obvious.  I went down in two hours and we got Eva's passport the very last minute possible. 

Karl's mom was nice enough to take the time to come out and spoil our boys.  They were so excited to have her come out, I'm not so sure they even missed us.  

Oh man, I've already said so much and I have about a billion pictures. 

We took off on my birthday.  And with the time zone thing, my birthday kind of disappeared while we were in the air and we landed on the next day.  Landing in Japan was a great present.  

My dad met us at the airport.  He flew out a few days before us.  Lettsee what I can remember...

Tokyo Sky Tree.  It was too windy to go all the way to the top but there was plenty to see, eat, and shop down towards the bottom.    

I think the best part of the trip was seeing family.  They were so super kind and gracious and fun.  This is my cousin, Mari, and her two sons Sho and Ken. 

And my other cousin Yukihiro, and his wife, Fumiko, and his daugher Satomi.  

My dad and us.

Did you notice the food?  The amaaazing food?  I was in heaven. All of it heatlhy.  All of it delicious.  

My cousin had some albums of when we visited almost years ago.  Eva looked like this and I was pregnant with Samuel.  

Like I said, we travel when I am pregnant. 

We were on kind of a ramen eating adventure.  Really.  It was more of Karl and my dad's adventure and Eva and I went along for the ride.  It was one of the most delicious adventures ever.  Real Japanese ramen is worth flying over to Japan for.  The varieties... chanpon, tonkotsu, shio, shoyu, miso, tsukemen, tan tan men... I had no idea there were so many kinds.  And we had them all.  

We went around with this ramen expert of sorts.  He travels around, eats ramen, and blogs about it.  Here he wrote about one of the places he took us, you can see Eva in one of his photos.  It was the best ramen I have ever ever ever had.  We drove 40 minutes just to eat at this place.  

We traveled up to an onsen, hot spring, for a bit of relaxing.  On the way up there we passed a town called Obama.  That's right Obama.  Of course, the town has been named that for a long time but when Obama got elected, they put up a little statue of the president.

  

I have a funny/scandalous story about this town all the way back from my college days.  And the story might have had something to do with a study abroad in college and on a free night taking a train and getting off in a random town and hanging out there because that's what college kids do and then the next morning running into your professor who was surprised to see his students in that town and then after study abroad was over hearing that professor left his family and went back to this town to be with a certain someone that he was meeting when we saw him.  Boy, I never thought I would be back in that town.  I should have looked up my professor :).  

There, they have the world's longest bench where you can sit and soak your feet in a natural hot spring.  And you can buy produce and eggs and stuff and have them steamed with the heat from the hot springs.  All so nature-y and fun.  

After our pit stop in that even more memory packed town, we made our way to Unzen, where we would be staying at an onsen.  A place where you get treated like royalty, bath in natural hot spring water, eat meals with 15 plus dishes.  Everything is taken care of, all the way down to the robes you wear at night and what you wear to dinner.  

 All in a beautiful place. 

After Unzen we went to Hiroshima.  Eva said it's on her bucket list.  Lucky girl.  We all obliged.

We took a ferry out to Miyajima.

The place was full of super tame deer.  Hungry deer.  This one wanted Eva's french fries.  

We wrote wishes/prayers on a rice paddles.  This one was mine.  

Beautiful temple. 

The tide was low so we were able to walk out to it.

We also went to the World War II Memorial Museum.  It is a neat place to visit and super educational.  Some of it was a bit scary for Eva but she was soaked in so much.  Eva wanted to see the statue of Sadako because she had done a book report on her a few months earlier.  A woman at the museum gave Eva some teeny tiny paper cranes and Eva left a few at the monument.  

We stopped in Gifu and saw a dear friend from my days long ago when I was a missionary.  Her parents are about the cutest people we have ever met.  

Eva liked the trains.

And I liked the pens, and the bento boxes, and the food.

If I had to say one store was my most favorite in the whole world, it would be Muji.  They have a few shops in the US now but it's just not the same for me.  And besides, they are far far away.  It is one of my favorite things about Japan.

Karl liked the breads.  We all liked the breads.  They are worth the trip.  Oh wait, did I already use that line?  So many things are worth it.  

We were lucky enough to get there for the cherry blossom season.  It's a whole culture there. People gather, sit under the trees, picnic, and enjoy the blossoms. This is where Karl stopped to take a picture, and lost us because we were in a sea of Japanese people and blended right in.  Karl is a full head taller than everyone so we could totally see him.  We just cracked up as we watched him look all over as he walked towards us.  

This is one my childhood friends, Natsuko, from when I spent the summer in Japan when I was six.  I remember going to festivals and coloring for hours with her.  Now we are all grown up and she has a teeny tiny baby.  He is a couple months old in this photo but still not quite eight pounds.  Inside, I kind of got freaked out that I am going to be giving birth to a baby that big.  Even though this was so not supposed to be about me. 

My cousin has two daughters, Natsumi and Satomi,  that I adore.  They told Eva that they were going to take her to Harajuku.  Eva was so excited and seriously thought about what she was going to wear for days before we went.  

She loved Harajuku and Harajuku loved her back.  

The last day we were there was Karl's birthday.  Satomi and Natsumi snuck and got him a bunch of stuff including and instant camera that I have wanted for a long time.  It is seriously indescribable how sweet everyone was to us.  

For our last night we went to Monjayaki, a Tokyo specialty.  And though it's nothing much to look at, it is one of the tastiest, most fun things to eat.  Sometimes ugly food is the most delicious.   

Our last day, we did the last bit of shopping... most of it food, and a bunch of stuff from the 100 yen store.  I could write a whole novel/post about the 100 yen stores in Japan.  

I broke about a billion blogging rules with this, I am sure.  Don't put off blogging for months (I am going to play the pregnancy card on that one), don't post too many photos (I can't help it, I already feel bad for the ones I left out), don't be too wordy (I never follow that rule, my posts are novels), don't air your professor's dirty laundry (but isn't that story such a good one?), and on and on and on.  

 I have already forgotten so much about the trip.  But I do remember that is was amazing for all of us.  Eva had a blast and speaks of it often.  I went through withdrawal for a few weeks after, I missed good food, I missed family, I missed shopping... ohhh.  

And now, I can finally consider our trip to Japan, recorded.  

eva: she's 10 now and she dances, gracefully

Eva had another hula concert.  And that means rehearsals, and costumes, and, of course, plumeria.

Oh, the plumeria.  It's not plumeria season.  So that means we ask everyone we know if they know where to get them.  Facebook pulled through, and a friend made a call to a friend who let us pick from her tree.  This is serious stuff.  I've learned that Karl is best at picking plumeria.  He's a foot taller and isn't afraid to sport a ladder.  So, off he went at 8 am on a Saturday morning.  And if you know us, you know just how serious this stuff is.  

The day was full of activities, and dunk tanks (yep, dunk tanks), and trophies, and slides, and potlucks, and well, this was a tag team effort to get all this done.  Turns out, Karl just may be the best lei maker, too.  

And one day, if it's not today, I hope Eva realizes just how special she is.  I think she kind of already does.

My brother and his wife and little daughter were here to visit and they were so supportive and extended their stay so they could see Eva's concert.  

Their little Emi was adorable and danced along and waved and yelled, "Hi!" to Eva when she danced.  

And to think when we first moved here, she was just a little girl with short hair way in the back where we couldn't even see her dance.  My lens broke on the day of the concert.  I wanted to be super sad.  Super super sad.  But it turns out, Eva didn't need the super zoom lens this time.  And she was nervous.  But she did great.  Sweet, little, but growing up now, nervous, graceful Eva.  

Here she is dancing to Hilo, My Hometown.  

You can hear Maximus cheering her on.  

Growing up (sniffle sniffle and hooray, right?), sweet Eva of mine.  I knew it would happen.  So why does it feel weird that she is 10 now?  Maybe because I still don't know what I'm doing as a mommy.  But I'm pretty sure it's because she grew up in fast forward.  Gracefully.

kauai life alive and well

Maximus and I flew home to Kauai. 

We finished up his therapy sessions in UT.  Measured and ordered more compression gloves and bands and shorts.  We ate our last lovely meals and spent time with people we love.

And then we hopped on a plane.  

He took a power nap, then watched some ipad, then colored (mostly dropped crayons and I picked them up), had two leaky diapers (because an abundance of beverages were on our list of activities, too), then climbed over me, on me, spilled stuff, ate junk, bossed me around, and spent the last full hour entertaining (or bugging.  I stopped caring after the first 15 minutes) the three people in the row behind me.  I was exhausted and did that thing where you swear you will never ever do something again knowing that you will someday have to do it anyway.  I will never fly with Maximus again.  I just kept saying that to myself to reassure myself that I wasn't crazy because I was aware how crazy it was.  And, well, truly crazy people don't really recognize how crazy the crazy is, right?  Maximus looks me in the eyes and says, "I like airplanes."  He was having a ball.  He always does.  Mommy was not having a ball.  

We got home in time to see Karl's mom and step dad off.  They had been in town for a couple of weeks.  We had our first meal to remind me why I my foodie self was dreading the return to Kauai.  

I spent the next few days unpacking and organizing and cleaning and stressing out until my brother and his wife and baby girl came that Friday.  

And we played.  

And she cooked.  And my foodie self was happy.

And today, they left.  And they took their adorable little girl with them.  

And now, after going about a million miles an hour for the last couple of weeks, I told Karl I am going to sleep until Wednesday.  I'm not really going to.  I did take a three hour nap.  Maybe that's because we stayed up til the wee hours of the morning playing Settlers of Catan.  But a three hour nap felt awesome.  And man, I love naps.  

Lot's of good memories that I am grateful for.  Lot's of family time that make those memories possible.  

I do have lots of things to talk about.  And photos of some great memories.  But I will post them maybe sometime after I wake up on Wednesday.  

In the midst of our whirlwind of school, hosting, field trips, hula recitals, and baseball, killing pigs (yes, killing wild pigs.  Did you know there are more wild pigs here on the island than there are people?), cooking said pigs, and beach time, a friend of a friend came and took some photos in our home.  And she does some pretty really super great work.  And she posted a couple of us on her website just now.  Sometimes it's great being the token Asian.  Because then you might be able to have mega super professional photos of your family. Her name is Jessica Peterson and she knows how to make the ordinary, beautiful.  

Maximus

 That's me.  Tackling Samuel.  I didn't know I always wanted a photo of me tackling/holding/tickling Samuel.  And now I have one.  I am lucky, huh?  

So fun.  Right?

And Maximus was completely enamored by her.  Here he is copying her taking photos, just before he took to climbing all over her.  

Oh, and this was just going to be a quick post but I'm incapable.  But for my friends that don't Instagram or FB, we are having another boy.  I am going to be the mom of three boys.  And there's no doubt the kid is going to fit right in with the rest of the boys in my house.  He moves and moves and moves and moves.  Here he is three and a half weeks ago, planking.  So, he moves, and he's funny.  We have plenty of moving and funny around these parts.  I know it will be awesome, but I'd be omitting a big part if I didn't point out how nervous/tired I am for all this moving/funny in one household.  Cheer me on, folks, cheer me on, okay?

I'm in the best part of pregnancy right now... not naseous, not practically narcoleptic, and not feeling like I'm toting a giant pack on my front quite yet.  I have to point out that I am grateful that nothing hurts right now.  But I'm not even half way through, and I am impatient.  I want pause this good feeling and fast forward through the heavy miserable parts of pregnancy.  This is just about as big and fluffy as I want to be.  I probably won't argue with you if you call me a wimp.    

Things are still crazy.  We choose crazy.  That is our normal.  We are home.  

ups and downs

When Maximus wakes up, we never know what we are going to get.  Sometimes he is jumping up and down in his crib and so so happy.  And sometimes he is mad/sad.  Writhing mad/sad.  Maybe it's his hands, maybe he didn't get enough sleep, maybe it was a nightmare, maybe it's genetics.  Hehe.  

Here we are after a angry/sad waking up.  And a little photo booth action cheered him up.  We did this about two dozen times.  And I had to pull out my best distraction techniques to end it.  He has mastered the mad/sad to happy face.  It's a great party trick.  

And the mad/sad to happy face seems to be a theme around here.  

Hooray!  We made it to Utah safe and sound... family, friends, holidays, food.

Boooo!  Maximus was too sick for surgery.

Hooray!  We rescheduled and surgery went well.

Boooo!  His left hand was worse than we realized.

Hooray!  We are having a baby!

Boooo!  I hate being pregnant and all the worries that come with it. 

Hooray!  We have had a great trip and the kids are having a blast.

Boooo!  Everyone has had their share of sicknesses and Maximus is basically in quarantine because his body doesn't need anything else to deal with.  

Hooray!  We are steadily working our way through the Utah food bucket list. Pizzeria Limone, smothered burrito from La Puente, gyro from Crown Burger, pizza bender from Italian Village, chocolate cashew shake from Iceberg, the ichi roll from Red Ginger, steak salad from Cafe Rio, In-n-Out, Dunford Donuts, and, of course, my mom's food.  

The final Boooo!  They want to keep the pin in Maximus' finger longer and follow it up with some pretty intensive therapy to fight the scars, skin, bone, and tendons from curling up again.  

And that means another change of plans.  And I use the word plans loosely because it seems like plans are quite the unfamiliar species these days.  

So, it took a ton of brain power to decide that I will be the one to stay here with Maximus and Karl with take the big kids back for school, baseball, dance, and let's be honest, he wants to get back to his plants in Kauai.  I will hang around here until the end of the month to make sure Maximus gets the treatment that he needs.  

Let's end on a Hooray!  I took all the kids in for their yearly check-ups and everyone is super healthy.  Eva and Samuel are bitty people.  Which is interesting because you should see them eat.  They are mini foodies and while other kids are sticking to their nuggets and crackers, my kids are eating what we are eating.  Plus the nuggets and crackers.  Oh, and  Maximus is huge.  And though those percentile charts don't determine much, I thought it was pretty funny that my kids can all be so so different.  

I kind of feel like a bird that is on an infinite adventure.  But I sort of really want to just land and rest.  And I get jealous of those birds all comfy and warm in their cages.  Silly and dramatic, probably.  Some reasons we choose, and some reasons just happen, and some are because my other half loves being a free bird.  I love being creative but these days most of my creative energy is going towards figuring out how to take the next rocky step.  

Don't worry.  I am not claiming hardship.  It's more like wimpyship.  

And I promise, I will do my very very best to make the most of my extended trip here.  

happy new year, happy new baby

I've had this blog post in my head for a long time now.  I do that, I have blog posts in my head.  Lot's of them.  

So maybe when we went to the movie Les Miserable and picked primo center seats, I didn't take into consideration that these days and for the next several months my bladder will have a 1 hour time limit.  And maybe some movies need an intermission.  And maybe I was so embarrassed that I had to walk in front of so many people to get out that I didn't dare return to my seat.  I just found an open aisle seat and finished the show all by my lonesome.  It's kind of fine, because I hate it when we are watching shows and Karl checks to see if I'm crying.  He's too amused.  I got to cry to my hearts content.   

We're kind of excited around these parts.  Baby number four is on it's way. 3 months down, 6 loooooooong months to go.  I say long because I am not one of those people that love being pregnant.  Don't even kind of like it a tiny bit.  It's kind of like a necessary evil means to an end.  I do my best to not appear miserable, but sometimes a complaint leaks out here or there.  I said to Karl, "What do I need to wear to church to make it so men give birth?"

Lack of blogging, lack of cleaning my house, kind of lack of moving in general... that's all because I kind of slept the first trimester away.  It seems to be the number one way my body copes.  With stress and with babies, I guess.  As far as nausea goes, I think I'm not supposed to complain.  It usually wasn't something that a light meal and a mega nap couldn't take care of.  

When we signed up for number three, we kind of signed up for number four.  Lot's of reasons why.  I feel like I need to explain.  Why do I feel that way?  It's like my heart knows there is no explanation needed but my head is begging for this craziness to make sense.  So, in no particular order of significance, I try to explain to my head (that is longing for order and consistency but knows it will never get it as long as it's a head in this family)...

My mom's mom was the youngest of four.  My mom was the youngest of four.  My dad was the youngest of four.  I am the youngest of four.  Who am I to break tradition?  Even Karl's mom had four. 

You want an even number when you go to Disneyland.  You wouldn't believe how many times I have heard this comment from people.  It's very very important.  So I've heard.  Oh, and if we bust out a six pack of soda at Disneyland, perfect, right?  Hehe.  I don't even like Disneyland so much.  Or soda.  But my family does, so I will put these things on my list of reasons.

Okay, have you met my kids?  Not to be braggy or anything but they are downright awesome people, and it is kind of my job to think they are awesome. Yes, I get grouchy with them.  But, really, I do realize how lucky I am that I get to be with them everyday.  Eva is love and beauty.  Samuel is excitement and tenderness.  Maximus is peace and happiness.  Oh, Maximus.  I have seen him interact with people and I swear he can leave a 70 year old man wishing he had a womb.  So, really, how could I resist?

Even though life has been crazy and we have definitely been takers this last year, we don't plan on being that way forever.  My dream is to have a whole (giant.  Four kids feels giant) family of contributors one day.  I want to teach my kids that there is a whole world out there in which they can make a difference.  Because that is what I believe.  We would have had this one earlier.  But then for a while it felt like Maximus' hurt hands were going to be our baby and I was going to have to learn to deal with it.  But what happened is that we learned to deal with Maximus' hands and we still wanted another.  

I think the biggest reason just got super apparent this holiday season.  We all congregated at my parents house for days on end and I can't tell you how content I felt.  It was so comfy and cozy and lot's of just being.  Even with lot's of seasonal sicknesses, inevitable messes that come with so many people in one place, and even some drama, the crowded house was the most comfortable place for me.  And though I know there are no guarantees that I will get my very own crowded house in the future, I can do my very best to enjoy my crowded house now.  

So, there are a few of my reasons.  Oh, and I am going to start doing my hair like Michelle Duggar.  Because we now have more in common with anyone else in on TV.  I feel like if I were to meet her in public, I could give her knuckles and say, "lot's of kids, Christian home school, natural birth, homemade cleaning products... that's right."  I also want to give knuckles to Jim Gaffigan.  The knuckles things is not literal, by the way.  I have never given knuckles and not felt like a poser doing so.  I fully lack that cool.  So, Jim.  He has lot's of kids, too.  And he's so funny and real about it.  If you haven't seen his whole Mr. Universe show on Netflix, you can at least watch this 7 min clip.  He explains my thoughts so beautifully.:

{The photo at the top of us being ecstatic (can you believe Samuel?  He is super human, I swear) was taken by this amazing blogger.  And while I had no energy to blog the last few of months, she did a little bit about our family.  She's got skills.  And speaking of skills and bloggers, my super sweet (so sweet, she helps me not miss home so much sometimes) and super talented friend included us in one of her posts, too}