Game Changers

Hello blog world,
I hope you do not mind, but we are going to get a bit serious again.  It seems this past week was horrid, just filled with the most devastating news from all over.  None of it actually directly affected me, but every time I got wind of a new sad development, it was just gut wrenching, and I a little bit obsessed.  I 100% know why, I am a mother now, and it all had children involved.  Having kids is a game changer, not just your life, but how you feel and react to so much changes, at least for me. 

I first realized this, the last time I read Harry Potter, I read through the whole series probably every other year, and this time, instead of relating to Harry, Ron, and Hermoine, I related to the parents.  The whole time, I thought, how horrid would it be to die before you see your child grow up?  Or, I could not imagine feeling like my children were in constant peril.  Obviously Harry Potter is fiction, as far as I know, there is not a super evil wizard out there, but still, the story changed for me as I grew up and had kids of my own. 

Then, Friday happened, you all know what I'm talking about, my heart goes out to those families, even the shooters, because he was someone's child as well.  Then Saturday, my nephew had a seizure, as scary as that was, once I found it we was ok (he's feeling better!) I started thinking of my brother, sister-in-law and my nieces, how scary for them to feel so helpless while this is happening to their baby boy. 

Then yesterday, Natasha told me someone I know has stage 3 breast cancer.  This one really seemed to hit home.  Now, I am not close to Lindsey, I've only met her twice, but I like her a lot, also she is my age, and has a beautiful baby girl.  If I received this news, I don't know what I'd do, before I had kids, probably I would curl up and cower, but I feel like having children gives you a strength you never knew you could posses.  What I do know, is I would not be as courageous as this amazing, beautiful young woman.  So this is what I want you to do... read her blog, then if you happen to have a few dollars lying around, please please help her out with some medical bills.  They are a young family, and not having to be so worried about how they are going to pay for all of this, will help relieve her stress, and help heal her faster.  But above all, please keep her and her family in your prayers!

Read her blog here... no really DO IT!  You will be so glad you did! She is such an inspiration!
http://lindseysfight.blogspot.com/2012/12/take-my-breath-away.html


Help them out here....
http://www.gofundme.com/1p4na0

And because they are the game changers... here are my children's faces.

To move or not to move?

That is the question! UGH!  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am BAD at making decisions.  I mean, I have been losing sleep over trying to decide which play kitchen to get Harper.  Ryan is usually pretty patient with me, except for drive-thrus, which is rare for us so I don't have the menus memorized, and then you have to decide in the amount of 5 seconds what you want!?!  Even when shopping for stuff for myself, I usually have to text someone (Natasha) on which one to get.  When my grandfather and step-grandmother died last year, and I couldn't make it back, we started considering moving.... this has been an impossible decision.  Ryan and I can do our jobs from anywhere (kinda, Ryan has his own store here, but might have to wait for who knows how long if we moved), and after doing research, have decided if we want to move, the Des Moines area would be the best option for us to raise our girls in.  So I'm throwing it out to you blogging world... we need your help! I'm going to do some pros for staying, and for moving... lets do this!

Staying Pros...
1. We have the most AMAZING friends here, and our girls have friends close to their ages within our group of friends, but who knows if all of our friends will stay here?
2.  The weather... it is pretty mellow, and I kinda like rain, it never gets super hot or super cold, also hardly any mosquitoes, which are gross and annoying, also I've been sick maybe once or twice here (allergy to dust wise), it used to be a lot more in Iowa.
3.  It is beautiful, trees, mountains, lakes, oceans, who could ask for more?
4.  Culture, it is pretty varied here, our girls will be exposed to so much.
5.  Acceptance.  One thing Ryan and I love here is that our girls can find somewhere to fit in.  They can be deep, wear black, be artsy, emo, musical, geeky, whatever, people out here can be pretty darn accepting.
6.  This is our adopted home, even though Ryan and I are both from the Midwest, we met & fell in love here, got married, popped out a couple of kids, that means something to us, its weird to think of not living here.
7.  Coffee... we have an addiction, its on every corner, that's handy.

Movie Pros...
1. FAMILY!  Our girls get to see their 4 sets of grandparents 1 or 2 times a year. We want them to know them, and have as many fond memories with their grandparents as we do with ours.  Also, lets be honest, being able to drop the girls off at a grandparents' house for a weekend, would be kinda nice.
2.  House, if we could ever afford to buy a house here, who knows where it would be, what kind of school district, and how small, we could buy a better one in the Midwest because it is so much cheaper.
3.  Even though there is a lot out here, we feel like since Iowa is pretty centrally located, we can drive to a lot more vacation spots from there.
4.  Ryan works retail, he will always have to work the day before and after every major holiday, which means we can never go anywhere, it also means, that those days while everyone else is spending it with family, it is just another day to the girls and I, at least in Iowa, the chances are much higher that someone will be around to spend them with. (on the same note, not being able to go anywhere eliminates the which one of the sets of grandparents will we be with this year kinda thing)
5.  Ryan and I were both born and raised in the Midwest... I think we turned out ok.
6.  Safety, the amount of crime is much less in Iowa.
7.   TRAFFIC!!  There is none, there is sooo much here, it stinks. 

Who's still with me?  If so, go you!  This has pretty much been a novel.  I know I'm missing some pros, but my foots asleep... so lets get on with it, shall we?  What do I need from you?  Well if you grew up here (in Seattle), was it as accepting as I think it is?  If you grew up in Iowa in a bigger school or live there now (we are thinking Johnston), how was it?  Opinions people!!!  We need help!

Lincoln, the only cousin Harper has her age (lives in Seattle)

How adorable would it be have this picture every year?  We'll just skip over the fact that someday my teenage daughter will be in a wheel barrel with 2 teen boys

Sister, sister.  Never knew how much I missed ya. Which I do, I love my family out here, but sometimes, I just need my sister.

Please enjoy this photo of my dad in dreads...

We love these girls, and can't imagine not seeing them!

Harper and her Peepaw

Harper and her Iowa cousins with my grams and gramps.

Ryan... fishing... which he likes to do but there is less of in Iowa

The King boys!  Ryan only gets to see his bros every couple of years

There are no major pro sports teams in Iowa... which Ryan thinks would be sad, I on the other hand, wouldn't mind a little less sports on the tv.

This has nothing to do with moving, but I realized there was no photo of Sawyer, also I made her this hat. Also my flash is bright.

8 Months

8 MONTHS!?! WHAT? I don't even know how it happened, but my little Sawyer Belle turned 8 months this week.  I feel like I have just a few precious months left of her babydome and it has just gone too too fast.  Anywho... here is 8 things about Sawyer Belle at 8 months...

1.  She is officially crawling, I kinda thought she would skip this because she can get around so well with her belly scoot... but nope, one day she was just like "Hey, I think I'll give this crawling thing a go"
2.  At the same time she started crawling, she started getting herself into a sitting position all on her own.
3.  About 3 days later she was like "Well, now I'm ready to stand up" and started pulling herself up on things... and pulling things over, and getting into even more mischief... oi!
4.  Oscar is hilarious, even when he is just sleeping.  I will hear her laughing like a crazy baby and I come in to see her standing next to the couch and just laughing at Oscar lying there... I don't know.
5.  We are getting over a King family first... the first ear infection.  It has not been pleasant, but I think she's about over it, poor baby!  Its so hard to know she is in pain, and not know what else to do.
6.  She is an eating machine!  She has eaten every food I have given her, whether it is delicious applesauce, or a crazy concoction of quinoa, zucchini and pumpkin... Also she prefers to feed herself little chunks of things, which I also think is magical, because it keeps her busy.
7.  Also she eats things she shouldn't, why oh why do babies think leaves are so delicious? 
8.  She is our little goofball, we definitely think she will be the ham of the family, she is pretty entertaining.

I love her lots

Standing... and eating a diaper, double tasker here!

Feeding herself some cantaloupe!

Giggles!!!

The like each other a lot... most of the time

Giving Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.  We sent the day at my brother's as is usual.  Eric smoked a turkey, Tanya made a freakish amount of pies, Misty brought a freakish amount of babies... it was all pretty freakishly fabulous.

The beautiful table designed by the beautiful Cherie (my favorite is the toddler and 2 teens in the background)

Annnd the food... what would fit anywho (once again... notice the toddler and 2 teens? Its a new game!)

The teens are a bit easier to find in this one... yes, Kenz is being strange, no, that is no alcohol. 

This is Sawyers picture pirate face, she makes it in about 73 percent of the photos I take of her

I'm not sure what's happening here... but notice the amount of food

Toast!  I don't remember what this one was about... there were a lot, probably I would have gotten tipsy if I was toasting with something stronger than water

Cousin snuggles!!  Probably it has something to do with the phone in Lincolns hands... but maybe they were just feeling thankful for each other, yes?

This is a Baker baby.... ummm... My gut reaction wants to say Madison, but maybe its Victoria... but it could be Hope... Hey! There are a lot of them!

August with I'm still going with Madison.

Misty annnnd... I'm 87 percent sure this is Hope.

Ava and Sawyer yelled in each other's faces like this for a really long time... I'm hoping they were just happy baby talking and being besties.  (side note... I was not kidding about Sawyer's picture pirate face)

I was super happy to have such a great helper in the kitchen this year!

And by helper, obviously I mean taste tester

I was a little worried my roll dough wasn't going to rise... don't worry, it did.

Leaves, leaves...

Everywhere!  No... Really, not even kidding, we have the craziest tree and they are all over our yard.  You see, we feel that if it is nature's will for the leaves to fall off the trees and onto the ground, then obviously it is for a good reason, so we don't want to mess with that, and we are just going to LEAVE them there...haha... see what I did there??  Or... we are just too lazy to deal with them and are already depressed by the fact that our yard got dug up and the leaves kind of cover it.  Any who, it was kinda sunny out so I decided to let the girls play... for about 5 minutes, when I decided it was too chilly... but we got some goooood random fall pictures, so yay!

Mom... what is that bright thing in the sky?

This seemed like a safe idea

I dunno, I just like her

I love this face, I just want to smoosh it all of the time with kisses!

No... seriously, look at that face

Also this face, Also I want to smoosh this face

An Artist in the Making

Since it has been cold and rainy and Harper cannot spend all of her awake hours outside, and I do not want her to be glued to the TV all of the time, I've been trying to come up with different indoor things to do.   Recently we tried finger painting.  I think she liked it and didn't make as big of a mess as I thought... so that's good.  Also, she inherited my habit of making sound effects while painting or really doing anything, so that is also pretty good.

"Shhhoooo   BAM!"

Note to self: Do NOT disturb the artist while she is in creative mode

Obviously, she prefers to work in the abstract.

"Harper hand pretty"

If you would like to see the finished piece, it is currently being shown at Galerie de la Porte du Harpiste, aka Harper's door

More Fall Fun

Okie dokie people... here is some more fabulous fallishness.

Ryan and I decided to start the pumpkin carving tradition this year.  We also decided that one of us should do a character that Harper likes so maybe she would be more excited.  So pretty much Ryan was done with his pumpkin before I even had one of Curious George's eyes cut out.  Oh well, Harper was excited about it for about a minute.

Whitney and I also took the kids to the Remlinger harvest carnival thingy (Thanks Cortney) however when we went it was pretty darn cold and rainy, so... perhaps it didn't go quite as well as we thought it would in our heads, but we still got to spend the day with our favorite neighbors, and that is always a win!

Oscar thinks pumpkin carving is delicious

Griz was also a bit curious, Sawyer was just happy...

Betcha can't which one is mine and which is Ryan's

She doesn't care that is cold... also she is bundled up in a blanket and in a covered stroller

They don't look to thrilled to be standing in the rain, do they?

Fall Fun part 1... Patchin it up!

Okay people... so I'm a little behind this month, so I'm gonna fit all of our fall shenanigans in to 2 blogs... ready go!!
We went to 2 patches this year... which is a miniscule amount compared to some people I know...

We went to Craven's first with the Baker, Pennebaker and Kreitlow families but it was sooo bright and hot and dusty, we thought we'd try again, sadly no Bakers and Matt and Ryan were actually at our house trying to fix our plumbing... they didn't, but that is a different story.  Any who, the second time we DID get to bring Kennedy along and this time it was chilly and rainy, but there were baby goats... which are adorable and I tried to figure out how to get one into the stroller and then to convince Ryan it was a stray dog... but I didn't think it would fit in the basket.  Any who here come the freakish amount of fun fall photos!

They were not all super happy about this situation... but still adorable.

I love all Q & H photos... can't help it

She tried to pick up every single pumpkin... and grunted and said "heeeavy" with every single pumpkin

I mean... who wouldn't love them?

I don' t know what this face is... but it makes me giggle

I just think this is cute

Pumpkin patches are serious business

He is telling them all about those crazy animals

They have grown so much!

Baby goats make everyone happy!

Well... you would be sad too if a chicken bit your finger

She's so excited about her tiny pumpkin!