10-31-10 Halloween

Happy Halloween! Hasn't it been fun writing the date all month?! We decided we were not going to go trick-or-treating tonight but no worries because the kids have had plenty of opportunities to dress up and get candy!

Ward Fall Festival: trunk-or-treating and carnival games. Here are the kids fishing (always a huge hit). Luke was a dog that night who wouldn't keep his head on.
Going to school. Jason told me he didn't get a very good picture of him. When I saw this I laughed and laughed. This picture is GREAT! This is totally Luke at 7:40am! This time he was a "worker".
Boo at the Zoo: Well... we will never do that again!!! We'll just leave it at that.

I don't have any pictures of Allie's school parade but it was hilarious to watch this hula girl swing her hips every where she walked.
Grouchy worker again. Maybe he missed his lunch break- union orders. And these shots of Wesley also perfectly show his personality. We are struggling to teach him what "gentle" and "soft" mean.
Daddy and Rachel getting some sunshine. We were given the great advice to get her out in the sun in the day/afternoon to help reset her internal clock. We have worked on that the last several days and last night she did it! She slept through the night (except to wake up slightly to eat a couple of times vs. wide awake and wanting to be held, walked, rocked etc).
The best part of the Boo at the Zoo- the free shuttle ride on the city bus! The kids thought that was so exciting. We should have realized when they are offering free shuttle rides to get in what a nightmare it would be.


And yes, that fancy wig that Allie thought was so great is a pair of panty hose... on her head... because we are clever like that.

Sweet Pumpkin

My dad called me "Pumpkin" when I was a little girl. I remembering being confused as to why pumpkin was a form of endearment. Pumpkins are orange, round and fat. Honey, Sugar, Baby Cakes (who would use that one) sweetheart- those made more sense to me. Having said that... we like Pumpkin for our little Rachel.

Yesterday she turned 1 week old. The boys were finally not coughing and the runny noses are improving so they got to hold her for their first time. They were really excited!!!


Allie held her for a second while I took care of something. Rachel was happy about that.

The Hedricks made us the most delicious pumpkin birthday cake in honor of her day too. Oh Sweet Pumpkin! Now can we try to remember that 3am is still "nighttime" and not time to be awake.

Isn't She... Pretty in Pink?!

Name that 80's tune. The song keeps running through my head. We would have loved a little boy too of course but we are so thrilled to have another little girl. I didn't want to wish too hard for one in case it was a little boy (I know in my emotional state I would be feeling really guilty). That being said I have had plenty of emotional tears of joy (which Allie now gets) at the arrival of this new little person to our family.
I can't tell you how many times Wesley has said "She's so cuuuuute!" He would not eat his dinner last night. He kept getting of his chair to go look at Rachel. I can't blame him. I just want to sit and stare at her and kiss her and kiss her. And in my emotional state... I felt bad that I took a nap yesterday and missed part of her 3rd day of life which will never come back again. Obviously I need some sleep. But since we are on a roll with confessions... I had a small moment of panic in the hospital if she was really mine because of how "dark" her little bit of hair is compared to our other babies.
Our traditional removing of the bands shot! Yep, she's ours!

It's a girl!

6:09 AM
8lbs, 4.7oz
20" long
whoa! check out that hair, it's not blond!
fingers? 10, toes? 10.
We're thinking about naming her Rachel.

We are so excited to have a little girl (we did not know the gender of the baby). We phoned in the good news to Allie's 1st grade class. She told us she cried on the way to recess. Allie has been hoping for a girl for 9 months. The boys stayed with our wonderful neighbor who came over early this morning. After a picture perfect delivery we had some adventure that you'll need to call us about - what a day. The boys were also thrilled.

Joy was awesome. She entered labor about 6PM last night. I took the kids for pizza around 7:30 and she decided to come along. We finished dinner and decided to go home and get as much sleep as we could manage. Joy was up at about 2:30AM; we left for the hospital at ~4:30 or so. When we reached triage, she was ready to go and they sent us along. The doctor delivered one handed (he didn't get the other glove on in time).

I picked Allie up from school, picked up the boys from our neighbor and we went home and watched videos on the camera of the new baby. I napped for 30 min or so, we got up and ate some toast with gummy fruit snacks and we went down to the hospital to introduce the kids.

Here is a photo of Allie walking in (unfortunately I forgot the video camera). As a dad, bringing the kids to meet a baby is one of my favorite things.

Wesley did his best not to tackle and pinch his sister. We were proud of him but he still has some gentle training left.


More to come. Thank you all for the help and well wishing.

Off to bed!

-Jason

It's coming!

In case you were wondering- and I know you all were- we are in labor!!! "Pressure" began yesterday (Tuesday) sometime in the mid morning. I didn't want to admit or acknowledge it because I have been kind of cranky the last couple of days that nothing had happened yet. They got stronger though and now it is almost 3am and I can't sleep through them. I have been able to rest for several hours and we had a good dinner (Dion's-yum) so hopefully we will continue to progress.

Is it a boy or is it a girl? Yes.

Our New Arrival!

The "After" shot:
The "Before" shot:
Ha! Did we get you?! Joy and a friend updated the mural in what is now the boy's room a few weeks ago. Wesley is wearing the red shirt. He is no longer "the baby". Now the baby is the baby.
Joy and another friend painted what is now Allie's room and will be the baby's room as well when it is time for the baby to move in. The room has newly skimmed walls, new baseboards, new closet doors, refinished window seal, curtains and paint.

Allie has been really excited about moving into her new room. We decided toward the end of Kindergarten last year how we would arrange the bedrooms. She was thrilled with the news. Here is her Kindergarten journal entry:
(She has gotten much better watching her p's and q's- no pun intended. She doesn't flip them around as much).

Just in case the baby came today, we took a quick snapshot (no time to find some shade, so you get to see us in a squint. Sorry about all the other shots, bad light and bad color- oh well).

We love you all and will hopefully post soon about our other new addition. In case you are interested to know, we will post once labor has started. We always have several hours and we plan to labor at home for as long as possible. So check in with us here!

2010 Baloon Fiesta

Grandpa and Grandma Jackson (and Bear) were our guests this year for the Balloon Fiesta. Thanks again for coming!

Early morning dawn patrol. If you don't leave the house by 5:15am while it is still dark, you will end up sitting in traffic and miss the whole thing (which happened one year when we left at 5:20am).

The rooster right about to eat that poor kid. Run for your life!!!



Grandma bought the kids a bubble gun. That was a hit!






Grandpa got to take advantage of the free beard trimming going on at the Wahl Razors booth. Doesn't he look handsome!


And look! Momma Red Bee and Papa Blue Bee had a baby Purple Bee- new this year!



The Balloon Fiesta is the world's most photographed event. Really!

May the Force be with you!

Fall Chillin'

I like October because I like Halloween.
So it turns out being hosed off after playing in the mud is not quite the punishment my Dad thought it was- oh well it was a good time anyway.
I dig my Dad's 70's cool rain jacket and his 90's ball cap and neighbor's 00's frog boots. And Allie? well...

Hmmm... I'm glad my wife still loves me with these awesome handlebars.

I like fooling around with Mom's makeup on a Sunday morning.
I like Uli's jacket.
So my sister in law Kristyn was wondering what a wide-angle lens is good for. My answer? Private blogs.
OK, OK, seriously my wife is so pretty.