Early Christmas and Jax's first Ski Trip

I can't believe that Christmas is only just over a week away! It really sneeked up on me this year. We haven't done ANY Christmas shopping yet so one day this week Brady and I have to get a babysitter and go shopping for the kids. We've just been so busy and overwhelmed with other things.

Mom and Bill came up for a few days to have an Early Christmas Holiday. It was a fun weekend (except for the flood in the bathroom, but that's another story....) They took Brady, Marcus, Jax, Abbie and Micah skiing up at 49. They all had a blast. Jax was thrilled of course, and I hear he did an amazing job for his first time skiing. The teacher told Brady that we are going to have quite the dare devil on our hands, but we already knew that. :) I stole this picture off of Mom's blog since I didn't have one!
(Thanks mom!)

The kids are outside playing with Daddy in the snow. They had a big day of snowy fun planned for today, and then we'll go to Bible Study tonight at Dave and Janelle's. I hear them all coming in now so I should go fix some hot cocoa to warm them all up!
Talk to ya'll soon!
Love, Lani

Vance's Happy 2!

Janelle beat me to posting pics of Vance's Happy 2 so now I have to get my booty moving! :>) I'm such a distracted mommy lately!
Dave and Janelle and the kids came over and helped us make a party for Vancey (last minute). They brought cute posters to hang on the doors and presents for the birthday boy. He had a great time, although for some reason he thinks he's 4 instead of 2!

Snow! ( and then rain)

Well, we got our snow! It was lovely. We had about 6 or 7 inches of snow on Sunday morning. The kids and I went out and enjoyed it because we knew that the rain was coming..... and it did. We were hoping they were wrong. Now our beautiful snow is almost all gone! We're crossing our fingers for more snow toward the end of the week.

Brady is in San Diego this weekend. He'll be coming home tomorrow night!

Tomorrow I have a Doctor's appointment. I can't believe I'm already in the third trimester! I am so not ready to have another baby. :>0

Please keep Brady in your prayers as he works on getting the business going again. Also, please pray for God to provide for the birth of this baby. At this point we are without insurance so we would appreciate your prayers that we would be able to get insurance or that the finances would be provided.

I have cute pics of the kids playing in the snow, I'll post them as soon as I can!
Love, Lani

The beginning of the Christmas Season

Yes, Thanksgiving is over and that means that we can now listen to christmas music and make fudge and put up the tree! We had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday at Shan's, Aunt Kathy and Robyn came and it was so good to see them and visit with them! It was such a nice day.
On Friday, we bundled up the kiddos and took them downtown to see the Christmas Parade and Lighting show. It was extremely cold, but so much fun. We met at the some friend's house and had hot chocolate, and then headed to the parade to see Santa! It was so nice to have that small town community feeling again, everyone talking to each other, big "rigs" and work trucks decked out in Christmas lights..... Brady and I laughed because the second night we were here we went for pizza at Papa Murphy's, and everyone who came in for pizza was dressed in Carhardts, flannel and workboots---and it was so refreshing and familier!
Anyway, after the parade we headed over to the resort and watched the amazing fireworks and all the beautiful Christmas lights come on.
We're planning on taking a walk along the boardwalk and seeing all the lights sometime in the next few weeks. Hmmm.... then maybe we'll stop in for some hot chocolate.......
Ahh, Christmas is my favorite time of year!

We're so thankful to grandma and grandpa for letting us borrow their home for a few months while we settle in. We love you guys!
We're hoping for snow this week, supposedly tomorrow night is the night! The boots and snowsuits are ready and waiting...

Love to all!

Road Trip'n

Normally, I dread long tedious drives, but in this case, my photographic senses were going crazy on this beautiful trip...through 5 states no less. It took driving through 24 hours of varied weather, from snow blizzards, to rain, to just wind, clouds and the open road, to pull myself from the monotony of 80 degrees and sun. I have decided that I am now ready for all the "I told you so's" because it is just great to be home. Many people had said that we would be back within the year, which was almost true. At least we have come back with a new appreciation for the great northwest. I wouldn't trade our adventure and experience for the world though. I can now say that I've seen fire and I've seen rain, I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end. I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought I'd see you again. Also, thanks for the warm welcome?
Here are a few more shots from out trip. Just click on any image to view it larger.

Fires

This is a picture over the ridge from our house on the day we were evacuated from the fires. I think it ended up coming to within 4 miles or so, but at this point it was probably 10 miles from us. It was too smoky so we "evacuated" ourselves to mom's house,where they had the humidifier going full strength, and then got the mandatory evacuation order shortly after we arrived there. It was a crazy day! We tried later in the evening to go back in but they had everything completely blocked with Police cars and National Guard and weren't letting anyone cross the I-15 back to Scripps Ranch and Poway. So we spent the night at Jerry and Jessica's, and were able to go back the next afternoon. It was crowded, as Jer and Jess had Johnny and Brooke Pearson in town for the weekend, so we were all crowded into their 1 bedroom apartment. But, they were so nice and hospitable and fed and sheltered us until we could go home. :>)

In other unrelated news.....

Everyone probably already knows that we are moving back this weekend!
We are very excited to go home, and have snow for Christmas, and see all of our friends and family again!
See you all soon!

It's a......................

GIRL!!!
Yay! Her name is Lilah.

Halloween

We took our adorable little ones to our Churches Harvest Party on Halloween. They bring in all kinds of carnival rides and games and give out loads of candy (of course). They had tons of fun and ate way too much candy and promptly got sick with colds by the weekend! It was fun.

Other monumental occasions...

Vance has graduated to a Big Boy Bed! He wouldn't stay in his crib anymore. Every night he would say "Mother and Father, being trapped in this cage is an insult to my intelligence" and would promptly climb out of his crib and fall asleep in Jaxson's bed. (yes, we have very smart children) :>) So we graduated him to his own bed, and he now stays in his bed all night long!

Ellie turned 4!!!!!

Ellie is now a big four year old! We had a nice birthday for her with a pretty flower cake and nice presents from everyone. Her present from Mommy and Daddy was.... a bike! She loves it and is doing very well learning to ride...but she doesn't like to go too fast.

Family Fun Night

Last weekend we had a fun day and took the kids to the park by our house to ride bikes and run in the grass. Then we came home and made snacks and played board games until bedtime. It was a fun day!

Fat picture......

5 Months

It needs no other explaination.......

This, That and the Other Thing

Brady has been telling me that I'm terrible at blogging lately and I'm afraid he's probably correct. We've been very busy with school, Dr's appointments, dentist appointments etc. etc. etc.....
Ellie is going to have some dental surgery....yikes! One of her top, front teeth needs a baby root canal! The dentist said that she either fell and hit her tooth and broke the root, or her aggressive thumb sucking has broken the root, therefore causing her tooth to decay. No cavities though, so that's good. :>) Anyway, she has an appointment next week with the pediatric dentist who will be doing the surgery. Poor girl.....
I am doing well and so is baby. Honestly this pregnancy seems to be flying by. We will be finding out the sex of the baby in about three weeks!
Brady and I are getting ready for a quick weekend trip North. Brady has a couple of jobs there and we are picking up a minivan that we bought from Kevin Earnest and driving it back down. The kids will be staying here with grandma and papa. It should be an adventure.
Signing off now so I can fix dinner!

They Got it From Their Father

You probably wouldn't know it, but it was 105 degrees during this photo shoot. We were sweating miserably and the kids were being chaotic. That's what makes the end product so nice. It just makes it hard for people to believe how hard I actually work during a session when they haven't seen me photograph children, especially my own. And no, these aren't their graduation portraits, but they are growing up so fast. We just started the project of creating a movie out of all of our video footage and we are discovering how fast time really goes. At least it's a good reminder not to take any day with your kids for granted.

Brady

Jaxson turned 6!

Yes, I do realize that Jaxson's birthday was over a month ago, but I'm a little slow on these things...... :>)
He had a great time, we spent the morning in the pool and then had some cake and icecream and presents. I can't believe he's six years old. Wasn't he 1 just yesterday? Time goes by so quickly. He's a great kid!!

Catching up.......

Well, we are back from our trip up north and now it's time to play catch up on everything, including blogging! I have quite a bit to get organized and caught up on before I start school with Jaxson on Monday!

Today I had an OB appointment to check on the pregnancy and baby. All seems to be going well, we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler. I also got to have another ultrasound and it was amazing to see how much the baby has grown and changed in just four weeks! You can even see arms!
ATTENTION: PLEASE DO NOT READ ON IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT HEARING PREGNANCY RELATED WORDING......
(yes, this warning is for the benefit of the male members of the family who read my blog and who squirm when you even say the work "pregnant") :>)

The doctor did the U/S because I had some spotting on saturday and he was concerned that I may have another Subchorionic Hematoma, a complication that I had with Ellie that put me on bedrest for a while. It's basically a blood clot behind the placenta. I also took a lovely fall while at my sister's house, down the stairs, and bruised up my legs beautifully---so the spotting may have been due to some trauma. Anyhoo, the scan didn't show any obvious hematoma, but he did see a dark spot behind the placenta which could be a clot, or could be blood vessals, he couldn't really tell without a better machine. Basically I've been told to take it very easy, get extra rest and NO heavy lifting, carrying or anything straining. If I have ANY more bleeding my OB has warned me that he will put me on strict bedrest because of my history.
Please pray with me that this doesn't happen because there is simply no way I can run my life and home from a bed.

MOVING ALONG......

We had a wonderful visit with family, it was fun and relaxing and we loved seeing all of you! Holly's wedding was beautiful and it was so nice to see everyone at the wedding as well. It was so nice to stay with Shannon and Marcus, we worked our way through the extended versions of two of the Lord of the Rings movies, which was fun. I will admit that I slept through parts of them as well......I'm worthless when it comes to movies and staying awake. :>)

We can't wait to come up again..... hopefully soon?

Love to all,
Lani and The Fam

The Little Bean

Here is a picture of our little bean! Okay, I know it doesn't look like much..... but give it a few more months and he/she will be just a beautiful as our other three children!

Brady had a great time on his trip up north, although he wishes he could have seen more people. And two weeks from today...it's the kids and my turn! We're so excited. I can't wait for the Huckleberries and Icecream that Shannon has for me!
Can't wait to see all of you!

Long Time Com'n

Yes...it is true. I hadn't been baptized before this day of July 19th, 2007 at La Jolla Shores. I have been waiting for the perfect magical moment to do it my whole life, but of course, every situation fell short of my expectations. I felt that the Lord wanted me to do it at the next opportunity, whatever it may be, and that is just what I did. I wish you could have all been there. I hope these photos give you the feeling you were.

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax.....

Much has been happening here. Brady has decided to no longer work at Litton Financial. He can obviously explain things much better than I can, he just felt like it was time for him to move on. It wasn't a financial decision so much as just a feeling that he was supposed to be elsewhere.
The other big new around here is that yes, we are expecting our fourth (count them, fourth) child! Completely unplanned, but we are excited. Well, I'm as excited as I can be while dealing with constant "morning" sickness. I was trying to keep it quiet for another few weeks, but I'm sure that Brady has already told most of you. He doesn't do secrets. :>)
At the moment the kids are napping, Brady is at lunch with Bill and I am choking down a salad and watching "The Two Mrs. Carrolls". Humphrey Bogart plays a husband turned derainged killer very convincingly!
And now I think I will sign off and take a nap.... Love to all!

The fell deed is done

Yes, I finally did it. After lots of convincing by Jerry and Brady, I finally cut Vance's hair. His beautiful baby curls are gone!
Mommy is sad, everyone else is happy. He does look much better...here's a picture of him giving his VERY best "Cheese!".

I think my kids are FISH!

I know it looks as though the daddy photographer didn't get any swimming time, but he gets his fair share. We just need to catch him on candid camera. Just click the photo to see it in full size.

Beach Bums!

Well, when you have 18 children (it feels like it sometimes), and you have no money, is there really a better way to spend an afternoon than at the beach? Sure you could get stung by a jellyfish, eaten by a shark, or pulled out to sea by the rip tide. But let's face it...we have become beach bums to the core and are loving every minute of it. We head out to Torrey Pines Beach any chance we get. None of us have picked up surfing, but we can get tossed around on a boogy board with the best of them. At some point, I will invest in a sports lens for my camera and get you all some action pictures of Jaxson riding the waves. He is growing up faster than I know how to deal with. Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure...and yes...they do speak louder than my poor grammer. Enjoy!

Family Fun

Family Fun Day was a lot of fun! The pictures speak louder than words.

A beautiful Evening

On Thursday evening the kids and I met Brady at the beach with a picnic dinner. It was such a beautiful evening....the water was so warm, the sun was setting and the dolphins were playing just past the surf. It seems as though sunset is the dolphins favorite feeding time, so that's always the best time to see them. That night they were actually jumping completely out of the water! They are so beautiful. Jax and Brady had fun catching some waves.
I think that this afternoon we are going to go again and hopefully drag Jer and Jess with us.
Everyone have a great weekend!
Love, Lani Brady Jax Ellie Ray and Vance

Janelle and kids June visit

We had a fun time with Janelle and the boys this past weekend. They got here on Saturday morning (early!) and we all had pancake breakfast. Saturday's are "pancake day" around here. Then we relaxed at the pool for a while, picked up some pizza and took it to the park for dinner. On Sunday we went early to Sea World and spent the day. On Sunday evening the kids watched a movie while we relaxed. Janelle and I were undefeated on the weekend in Sequence against Brady and Scott! :>) We're the champions!

M's Win 6-5!

Yes it's true. We swept the Padres in three one run games! It was a great come from behind victory in Friday night and we had a blast cheering on our team. (Among 44,000 Padres fans I might add)
We had awesome seats along the third base line- it was a fun evening.
Go Mariners!

Thoughts on School

I've been thinking about and compliling the materials I need for Jaxson's first year of school. Here in California you have to actually join what they call an ISP, Independant Study Program in order to homeschool. Basically, all that means is that you are "enrolled" (you pay an annual tuition) in their school and they help you keep attendance records and a permanent grade record for your child. If you are ever contacted by a truancy officer you have them contact the ISP and confirm that your child is enrolled and attending. They are also required to keep a regular school file for your child, with immunization records, a school entry doctor's report, a planned course of study etc. There are an awful lot of hoops to jump through here, something that I'm not used to.

You are required to teach school for 180 days a year, 3 hours per day.
The private ISP that we are going to join is called Christian Life Academy. I like them because they have online reporting which is very convenient for me. I will also be joining the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and hopefully a good homeschool group.
In spite of all the hoops, I'm very excited to start on school this fall. Jax is so ready to learn, and the curriculum I will be teaching is a lot of fun and incredibly well rounded. It's called My Father's World 1st Grade (www.mfwbooks.com) and consists of a lot of hands on learning and whole book teaching. It's a Unit study type of curriculum, written for using singly or with multiple children on different levels and it uses a lot of Charlotte Mason's methods. We're going to let Ellie join in where she wants this year (she will enjoy the Bible stories, activities and science projects, I'm sure) and next year she will start Kindergarten and do the Adventures in My Father's World Second Grade with Jax. This year they will be focusing on the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, and next year they will be learning American History, State by State. We're looking forward to it.
Jax and Ellie have both been learning the Presidents of the United States this year and they are up to #4, James Madison. It's amazing how much they can absorb right now! We don't work on them much, we just go over them a couple of times a day and each time we add a president we hang his picture on the wall. They are having fun with it, and it's been fun for me to review them.
So anyway, just wanted to share what we are planning for school next year for anyone who may be interested! :>)
Hope all is well with all of you....all.
Love, Lani

PS. Preparing for the big game on Friday!!!! Don't forget to watch for us!

Forgotten Fisherman

Lani forgot to mention the greatest catch of the day when I pulled up a MONSTER starfish from the Ocean floor. It takes skill that few have yet to experience. It all started with a simple jig and some squid on the hook. I dropped my line about 50 feet and bounced my jig off of the floor about 3 times. Suddenly, something took my bait as if it hadn't eaten for a year. It was a fighter....which surprisingly didn't drag me overboard. I wasn't going to give up, because I was sure that it had to be a shark or something cool like that. After reeling for an extremely long 30 seconds, the fight was over. The shark took my hook and planted it on this poor starfish. Some joke. Still, I am the only one I know that has successfully brought in a starfish using a jig and squid.

Fishing in the deep blue sea....

On Sunday, Jaxson and Brady went fishing with Mom and Bill. Jaxson got to use his special lure that he got from Papa Bill. He helped Papa reel in a barracuda (the long one) and he caught a scorpian fish (red rock cod). They had a great time.
On Memorial day we cooked the fish they caught and made fish tacos.
Not too much is going on this week, I have some catching up on house work to do. We are having company on Saturday and then next weekend Janelle and the kids get to come down and spend a couple of days again while Dave is in Mexico. Next Friday (the 8th) we are going to a Mariners Game!! Wahoo! We're taking signs so watch the game if you can and you'll probably see us! I think it's a 7:05 game. Thank God for interleague play! :>)
Well, I need to make my way over to the laundry room and get the clothes out of the dryer.
Love and miss you all, Lani, Brady, Jaxson, Ellie Ray and Vance

Of Mother's Day and Legoland

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of those mothers out there! I had a very nice Mother's Day. Brady and the kids made me a wonderful breakfast and served it to me in bed. Jax woke up early with daddy and went to Starbucks to get me a coffee. Then, after church Brady gave me a whole day to myself. I went to the beach and read a book, then ran a few errands. It was a lovely day.
Last weekend was a Daddy and Son day. Some people from our church up north had given us two free tickets to Legoland in Carlsbad. Brady and Jaxson went and spent the whole day, from opening to closing and had a "grand ole time". He rode every single ride in the park, even the big roller coasters! He got to drive a car and a boat by himself, he put out fires on a fire engine and had a few water fights on a pirate ship. One of the highlights for Jaxson was that for lunch, he was allowed to have pizza, CHEETOS and his OWN SODA!!!! :>) It was a day he will never forget, thanks to the Kings!
We've had a busy couple of weeks. Brady's working as hard as ever. I'm looking forward to a special time this week when my Mom is taking the kids for a couple of days! She's giving me the gift of a little vacation time! I need a little bit of a break and I'm so thankful that my mom is so helpful and willing to give it to me. I'm going to do some projects that I've been wanting to get done, but mainly just sleep in and relax! Wahoo!
Well, now to get on with my day. We miss all of you, be sure to keep in touch!
Love, Lani Brady Jaxson Ellie Ray and Vance

Lazy days of Summer....In May

We're having some lovely Santa Ana's here, which means heat wave! It's been in the upper 90's all week. So we've spent the last few days at either the beach or the pool. Today we packed up a lunch and headed to the pool at about 11 AM. We're very fortunate to have a really nice salt-water pool basically right outside our door. We're also very fortunate that pretty much everyone here is gone until 5 or 6 PM, so we get the whole pool to ourselved until then! :>) Now I've laid the kids down for naps, tired and worn out from swimming and here I am.....
On sunday we celebrated an early Mother's Day for my mom since she'll be out of town this weekend. We packed a picnic lunch and went to the beach. It was a nice day. We also had the special treat of Fernado Ortega leading our worship service at our church on Sunday. We enjoyed him very much.
Well, now I think I'll sit down with a book and perhaps take a little nap myself..... mmmm that sounds nice.
Have a wonderful week!
Love, Lani

Just me and my boys

This is a picture of the kids at Sea World. The polar bears are one of thier favorite exhibits, especially in the morning when they are up and playing around. Also a picture of Brady and I attempting to fly kites with no wind! :>)
Today Ellie is at grandma's having an overnighter, so it's just the boys and me!
Yesterday we went grocery shopping and Jax was my big helper. He really has gotten to be a very capable and respectful young boy, he helps a lot with the shopping and then helps me haul all the groceries into the house. He also is very capable in helping out around the house, doing his chores and helping with the baby. I'm very proud of him.
Last week we went to Sea World and mommy forgot sunscreen and of course, all of the kids got terrible sunburns. But it was a good day, we took Grandma Bessie with us and she had a good time.
Today is a bit of a rainy day so the boys are going to eat lunch, take a nap and then perhaps watch a movie.
I'm working today on my Menu and Meal Planning project that I've been working on all week, trying to be more organized as usual. We'll see how long it lasts!
I hope everyone has a good week this week.
Love, Lani

Another week in the books....

Here are a couple of pics that Janelle sent of the kids. They were taken when Janelle and the boys came to visit a few weeks ago.
It seems like we've had a busy week this week. On Saturday we did take the kids to Seaworld in the evening. We sat where DADDY wanted to sit during the Shamu Rocks show and in spite of his insistance that we would not get wet, we of course did! :>) But it was still very fun.

On Thursday, my grandma Bessie came to town to visit for a while. Yesterday, she and my mom, along with the kids and I, went to the Scripps Aquarium. Afterwards we stopped and had an early dinner at Denny's. Than the kids and I watched a movie since Daddy was working late. Today, I've been doing laundry and making granola. I was thinking about making a tortilla soup for dinner even though I normally don't "make" dinner on saturdays because I claim it as my "day off". But tortilla soup just sounds really good. It's still a bit rainy and cloudy and soup always sounds good to me on rainy days.
Now why is that......

Well, Hope all is well with all of your families.
Thanks for keeping in touch!
Love, Lani

My beautiful hour......

They're all asleep. Which means one beautiful hour to myself.
Not that I'm doing anything important. I'm actually sitting on the couch, eating tortilla chips and watching "Philadelphia Story". I love that movie. Can you get a better combination than Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart? I think not.

Today is Saturday, Mommy's day off. :>) When Brady get's home from work we are probably going to take the kids to Sea World for the evening shows again. I think that we are going to play hooky from church tomorrow (gasp!) and watch the service online. We are really really really needing an actual day off, where we go nowhere and do nothing.

Well, I suppose I should sign off for now.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Love, Lani

Funny Girl....

Just a cute little ante-dote.
Yesterday while the kids and I were at the playground we were doing "Jumping-Jacks". I thought nothing of the name until this evening Ellie started saying, "Mommy, look at me! I can do Jumping-Ellie's!" She thought that we were doing "Jumping-JAX" yesterday! They say the funniest things sometimes......

Happy Easter!

We hope all of you had a wonderful ressurection day! We had a great church service at Maranatha, and a lovely easter dinner at mom's house afterward. Bill and Jessica are both out of town so it was just mom and jerry, along with our family. It was quiet but very nice. Mom made a delicious Lamb roast with Rosemary sauce! It was so good.
The kids colored eggs on Friday and hunted for them on Easter. Even Vance got into the action!
I had a funny experiance in Friday as well.....
I had gotten together with a friend of mine for coffee. She's pregnant with her first child and we've been trying to get to know one another a bit better. We sat down at Starbucks (the only coffee shop in San Diego, they don't know what good coffee is down here. But I digress.....) Anyway, we chatted for a few minutes and suddenly my friend looks at me and says "Lani, my water just broke!" Poor girl!! She was ready to jump in the car and drive herself home (probably a 30 min drive) but I suggested she call her husband and wait for him to come get her just in case her contractions started while she was driving. (I don't think anyone would want to be in labor on the I-5 freeway!) I waited with her of course until her husband came and took her home to wait the delivery of their child! It was funny, I've never actually been with someone when they went into labor! :>)
Well, I should get on with my busy day! The kids all had an overnighter at grandma's last night and I'm heading over to clean house...... and rescue her. Love and miss you all, Lani and Brady, Jax Ellie and Vance

Mark and Kari's Visit

Uncle Mark and Kari and the kids came through on their vacation last week. We were able to see them a few times...it was great to visit with them a bit. Anyone else want to come? :>)