More Pictures of Paige

Kate shared her dollies with Paige, which is just one of the many nice things she's done for her sister, like putting doll pillows behind her head, and carrying her halfway across the family room. She always has a good intention, unfortunately it's not always appreciated.



Things are going well, but I'm pretty sure that's because my parents are still here to help. My dad has built storage in our garage, yea, just what we needed with another baby in the house. And my mom has cleaned and made wonderful meals etc etc. Wow, thanks a million for all your help. I'm sure glad I planned this baby right after my dad retired (not really, but it sure did work out perfectly).

I haven't seen the kids off to school yet. But I have seen the scary outfits they have come home in. After Friday I had to insist they come in and show me what they have on before they leave, Grandma is too nice!

Reality is yet to come!

Introducing our New Arrival Paige Elizabeth

Another chubby Wenger baby....
Just a quick note for now. She was born on her due date, 10/8/08 (unprecedented in our family!). She was 8# 9oz and 20 inches long. So she is a little bigger than Tyson was, but smaller than Kate and definitely Bradley. We think she's perfect of course! We've been around and around with her name, but finally settled, although Kate and Bradley still aren't convinced. Kate keeps saying she doesn't like it, and finally said "fine, you call her Paige, I'll call her Sadie!" She's eating and sleeping well, and I'm feeling as good as one can for two days postpartum. More updates to come.

We're Going in Circles!

I think it may have possibly been the babystrology counter that has jinxed our baby, because unfortunately she really is still turning in circles too. She is supposed to be settled in, head down. If she still isn't by tomorrow she may have to be turned, if that's not successful I'd have to have a c-section.
We're also still going around in circles about what to name her. The name I picked out is Hazel, which Rick doesn't like, but Kate has been calling her that. Today I informed Kate that we might not name her that. She turned to Rick and said "Dad, you need to be nice and say you like Hazel."
More to come....

Happy 3rd Birthday Kate

Our little sweetie is growing up! Today she celebrated her 3rd birthday with her cousins. She was thrilled with her Barbie cake and all of her presents. She is a very fun and easy to please girl. Thanks for lighting up our lives Kate.

Happy 11th Anniversary

Unfortunately, we didn't get a current picture of us, but as Rick put on his orange dress shirt in our bathroom Kate ran up to him and said "Dad, I love you in that orange shirt!" She's got taste.
Thanks for a wonderful anniversary celebration, Rick. We ate at an amazing restaurant called The Georgian, in the Olympic Fairmont Hotel, downtown Seattle. It reminded us of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, as pictured above. It was a little more upscale than we are used to, so it was comical to me when our salads came out on 3" plates and the four complimentary desserts were approximately 1/2" in diameter! Rick kindly let me eat the entire plateful, which were delicious. But my scallops and Rick's steak were AMAZING.
After dinner we went to the Paramount Theater and watched the Phantom of the Opera, which was of course an amazing show. We enjoyed the music, costumes, and special effects. Unfortunately for me, and others around, the seating was a little cramped (and that's coming from a 5'2" person). Being so pregnant made it a bit uncomfortable. If you compared the size of the seat to an airplane seat, it's like an apartment compared to a mansion! I couldn't walk out with my shoes on because my feet has swelled so much. Rick said it brought new meaning to the phrase 'barefoot and pregnant'. I look forward to celebrating our anniversaries for many years to come without being so encumbered.

I've Been Tagged

Thanks to Rebecca Gealta you all get to see my house, lived in. I was supposed to take pictures of ten things just as they are. Good thing Rick just charged the digital camera battery or I would have been tempted to cheat. So here they are:

1. Kitchen sink: It is amazingly empty at 6:30 just after dinner. I don't usually get the dishes done that quickly, Rick even commented that the kitchen looked nice when he sat down. I lucked out! I even cooked a real meal, zucchini crescent pie with watermelon and cinnamon bites for dessert. Umm, delicious. Probably my favorite summer dish-thanks to my sister for the zucchini.
2. The toilet: the toilet itself, clean. Can't seem to figure out what to do with the hair stuff on the back, I guess I'm for convenience right now. And the plunger, a big pet-peeve of mine, but I get in trouble when I move it.
3. The laundry room: Too bad I didn't take this picture an hour ago before I started. The piles are all the new baby clothes that I just got out of the shed last night. The pile on the dryer is sad, but the garage is such a mess and so full I can't seem to get stuff taken out there, plus I'm in the middle of a few spray painting projects and of course ran out of paint.

4. The fridge: Full as usual, does need a wipedown, but it's too full!
5. Kids and Spouse: Bradley and Rick are at soccer practice. Tyson in one of his favorite spots. He loves to check scores on MLB.com and his email. I think this time he was actually researching a homework question.
Is that a sweet headband or what? Kate found that in the baby clothes bin and it's the second day in a row she has put it on herself. Last night she was holding up a shirt to my stomach to see if it would fit the baby!? A snack upstairs, of course against the rules, I caught you Kate.
6. Favorite shoes: Today was our first cold day so my slippers had to make the list. I live in them all winter long. The other two are my newest, so most favorite. And I got them for $4 and $7 respectively, not bad ehh?

7. Favorite room: I picked this because it's the most recently completed. It's bright and cheery.
8. Dream Vacation: I'm going to have to go with Carribean Cruise also because a dream vacation has to be warm and we've just been to Hawaii twice and Cancun in the last 18 months.

9. My closet: This is not fabulous. My excuse is that I'm pregnant so it's very overstuffed. Not for long, yea!!!
10. Self-portrait. Can't wait for that haircut next week.
Ok, here's the real self-portrait. I don't think I've taken any pregnancy pictures. So for the record, here I am at 37 week. And yes, I'm ready.
So that's it for me. I tag JoLynn and Bethany, let's see it girls, RIGHT NOW!

First Day of Preschool

Kate, Sydney Gealta, and teacher Tia Cragun.
Having fun already.

Kate still has 3 years before she goes to Kindergarten (darn September birthday!). But I signed her up for a little preschool called Mom's Day Out. It's at a local Methodist Church. It's just one day a week for 3 hours. I thought it would keep her busy since her brothers are in school all day and she gets a little bored at home all of the time.

When I told her that her teacher would be Tia Cragun, our friend and neighbor, she said, "What? Tia isn't a teacher, she's a MOM! I want a teacher like Bradley." (?).

She loved the first day and told me all about it, including that she had not touched anyone as I had instructed her. Then a few days later she said. "The boys go to school all of the times. I want to go to preschool all of the times."

Antics of a 3-year old

A few stories about Kate's latest happenings:

Mom, what color is my tounge?
Red?
No, it's black from my soda.
Where to you get that?
The garage.
HOW DID YOU OPEN IT?
She pulls a butter knife out of the drawer!?


Buckled in her carseat outside of TOP she says:
Mom, can you smell my gum?
No.
I got gum from the store.
Where is it?
Behind my back.
Unbuckle, walk (or waddle in my case) back into the store to pay for the gum. This similar thing happened twice in about a week. I am getting sick of paying for overpriced TRIDENT!

Do you think you can share your bed with Grandma and Grandpa when they come to visit?Yes, Grandma with sleep on the floor with a pillow and blanket and I will sleep in the bed with Grandpa! (Grandma wasn't too happy when she heard was getting the shaft!)


But how can I resist her. She's gotten really into her hair lately, she can even brush it all out herself. The other day she asked if I would put curls in her hair. OF COURSE! Then in the middle of her hair curling she said, and can you paint my nails too. What a girly, girly. And I love it!

I found her on the couch the other day just reading her scriptures.

First Day of School

Off they go. Tyson in Ms. Pak's class for the 3rd time, and Bradley in Ms. Lutes class, a brand new teacher with 15 boys and 7 girls, good luck!
Loading the bus. They don't leave until 9:07 am, which I actually like.
Bradley not so sure about things, but after a few days I think he likes it. He has a lot of kids in his class from last year.
Ella's birthday cupcakes at a celebration luncheon-yea the kids are off to school!

Tyson's dream come true

Tyson actually got his first pet. He's only been begging daily since he was about 4 or 5. Recently he started into hypotheticals like "Mom, if it was a law to have a pet, what kind of pet would you have?" It was definately unplanned, but they were selling these cute little turtles at the flea market in Packwood. It's only about 2" and fits in a little tiny cage and eats one minature shrimp a day. Tyson has been taking care of it, cleaning out it's water every other day. It's a Red Eared Slider turtle that hopefully won't get too much bigger or very stinky because everyone knows how I am about pets. Actually I always had a thing for turtles and this one is tiny (for now!). Congratulations Tyson, now you have to stop asking for a dog!

Marathon Capming

When scheduling camping trips with two different groups I didn't realize I was planning them back to back because Labor Day fell so early this year. I think it turned out for the best. We didn't have to unpack and clean up the mess just to turn around and repack and head out again. Instead, we went to Lake Chelan for three nights with friends and then headed directly over to Mt. Ranier to camp with family and friends for another 3 nights. I think it's the longest I have ever camped. Everyone was worried about me doing that being 7 1/2 months pregnant, but it was true, all you really to is eat and sit around and your husband is always there to help! And the kids ran around and played so much they were asking to go to bed every night at about 8pm. That part was great since school started the next day. Highlights of the trip were Slidewaters where the kids did not stop all day long, except for some long breaks in the giant hot tub and the flea market in Packwood.
Tyson and Rick swimming in Lake Chelan after jumping off the dock.Kate playing in the sand.Bradley (with Logan and Tyler) after a trip to his favorite place, the camp consession stand.

Sean, Mike, and Rick, getting some 'air'. An annual favorite.
The women taking a lunch break, not to say that we didn't hit the slides.

Even the younger boys felt like they 'ruled' the park heading wherever they wanted. Not slowed down by the cool/sometimes gusty breeze.
Kate loved ALL the slides, I'm glad she's a little daredevil at such a young age. By the end of the day she was swimming across the hot tub underwater to me.

Next, we were on to Mt. Ranier which was much darker and COLD (40's and 50's with some sprinkles). It was also much dirtier because in Chelan we were camping on grass. But Kate was happy with her new set of friends. Brooke Greenwood, Sam Hartman, Christine Rew, and Megan Hatch (not pictured).

Feeling even bigger than I look. And getting bigger faster with all of the good camping food.

The boys went on a few hikes to the Blue Hole and Purcell Falls.
And then back home to loads and loads of filthy laundry....... but look at those faces, it was all worth it!

Hanging out at the POOL

The kids and I spent two weeks in Tri-Cities at my parents house. It's become an annual thing. The kids get swimming lessons and lots of swimming time. We all get toasty brown (and blonde) and I get to spend time with my mom decorating, shopping, garage saling, and visiting. (and bonus-Grandpa babysits alot!). This year was great because Bradley got comfortable with the deep end of the pool. He ended the two weeks doing cannon balls and dives off the diving board. Yea! And Kate figured out how to get rings off the bottom of the baby pool, submerging most of her body each time. Once she learned she did it 100 times in a row. And she was as excited each time she did it as if it was the first time, so I was too! I'm glad she's so comfortable in the water at this age. Tyson passed from level 5 to 6 and learned the breaststroke. He's becoming a really good swimmer. It was fun to spend time with my brother Brian, the kids sure loved building forts for baby Zachary (9 monthes) and luckily he survived the experience. This kids also got to take trips to the dump with Grandpa, and hang out with their Richland friends. And I did too. We also went to an outdoor movie when Rick joined us for the weekend. The Gealtas also joined us again, for what we think is our 5th year running. They didn't come to the pool as often because Rebecca's sister has moved an hour away, but it was great when they did come and fun to carry on our little tradition.