1 Year Old!

His birthday isn't actually until Wednesday, but today we celebrated Henry.

We were blessed to have lots of friends and family come out and celebrate the day with us.

Henry had his very own little cake just for him.

At first he was hesitant to touch the cake, but with a little coaching from the girls, he dove right in.

By the time he was done, everything was covered in cake.

He had to have an impromptu bath in the kitchen sink.

He loves baths and didn't mind that there were people watching.

God's Awesome Creation

One of my most fond memories of a family vacation is from our first trip to Hawaii with Emma Jo. She was just under 2 years old. The whole family went to Maui and rented a condo on the beach. We had a great time shopping, eating, swimming and exploring the island. Each of those act ivies were great, but my favorite part of the vacation was my early morning wake up call from Emma Jo.

Early each morning, Emma and I would be among the first people up. (I imagine that Grampa was already up, but I don't really remember. I think he was because I remember that coffee was ready.) Anyway, Emma and I would grab her blanket and walk out onto the lanai. We would sit in a rocking chair, cover up in the blanket, and watch the waves crash on the shore. I remember sitting there in peaceful quiet, watching the waves, listening to the water and the birds, and feeling the warmth of Emma on my lap. She would just snuggle in and let me absorb the wonder of God's amazing creation and his great gift of my beautiful daughter.

I've remembered those moments and that feeling for the past 10 years.

On our recent camping trip, I was blessed with another similar experience.

Henry is not a very good sleeper (similar to Emma Jo). He wakes 2 or 3 times on a good night and is up for hours at a time on a bad night. In anticipation of a lack of sleep on our camping trip, Jason bought a camp rocking chair. After we set up the tent we realized that although our tent is huge, it just wasn't big enough to have the rocking chair inside the tent. Thankfully I brought a down comforter that Henry is used to being covered with while rocking.

The first night of our camping trip, Henry woke up around midnight. I wasn't able to nurse him back to sleep in the bed, so I grabbed him and the blue comforter. I wrapped the comforter around both of us and crawled out of the tent to the rocking chair. It was set up right outside the tent under some massive redwood trees. The campground was fairly quiet and dark except for the huge stars that could be seen between the trees. I sat in the rocking chair, nursed Henry and wondered at the beautiful night. The sounds were different from Hawaii but the feeling was much the same. It was a feeling of serenity, wonder, amazement and peace. How blessed was I to get to enjoy this wonderful creation and this miraculous child?

Our second night camping while I would have loved it if Henry had slept through the night, when he did wake up I didn't dread rocking him back to sleep. Instead I was happy to have a 2nd time to rock and reflect on the wonder of it all.

Family Camp 2011

Two years ago, when we joined FBC Windsor, we heard about members of the congregation going to Family Camp. I didn't grow up with a family camp tradition but I was curious. I did grow up camping with my family every Memorial Day Weekend and I love all of the memories. I wanted to give my kids an annual tradition that they could look back on with fond memories.
Jason and I talked that first summer and agreed that we would go to Family Camp the next year. Then last year I was 8 months pregnant with Henry. We weren't able to attend. This year we decided there was nothing that could stop us.
Last Friday we packed up two vehicles and headed up 101 to Redwoods River Resort.

After a short 2.5 hour drive we were setting up our campsite.


I had been very worried about how much work it would be to camp with a baby. It turns out it was just as much work as I feared. But thankfully I have a wonderful husband who does more than his share, and great kids who help out as much as they can.

In no time Jason had everything set up and we had our new home sweet home.
Then I took the kids to the pool.
Later that night we had a group dinner, devotional and campfire.


After getting a little sleep, Saturday morning we kicked back in front of a campfire.

One of my biggest questions about camping as an adult was "how are we going to make our morning coffee?" We decided to get a French Press and I'm happy to say that the coffee wasn't too bad, in fact it was pretty good.

Cooper loved camping! He played with his scooter, hung out in either jammies or a swimsuit all weekend, and generally just enjoyed hanging out with daddy and getting dirty.


I was amazed with God glorious creation all around us. We slept under "Big Jack". The redwood trees are amazing and it is cool to think that they are one of the oldest living things on earth and they are only found on the Pacific Coast.



The church had activities for the kids every day. Gracie was in heaven since she loves to do crafts.


The only way to keep Henry from eating rocks, sticks and dirt was to hold him or strap him into his highchair.



Saturday afternoon we went to the pool and then took a short hike to the river.


There were fish in the river.


Henry tried to eat river rocks by the handful.

We're leaving on a Jet Plane!

Well, actually we are driving in a truck and Yukon up the coast, but we are going on vacation! We haven't been on a family vacation in 2 years! All vacation plans went out the window last year when we found out Henry was on the way. This year we have two family vacations planned. The first one starts today.
In a few hours we will load up the vehicles and head up to Leggett and the Eel River. We will be going to "family camp" with our church. This is an annual adventure but the first time we have participated. I'm looking forward to the camping trip with a little bit of dread. While I loved camping as a kid I'm a little bit nervous about being the adult in the situation. We've never gone camping with the kids. I think they will love it but I'm wondering how much work Henry will be. Eating dirt won't hurt him, right?
I'll post pictures when we return, but in the mean time you can pray for our safety and my sanity.

Happy Birthday Emma Jo!

I know you don't like to be called Emma Jo anymore, but that is how I will always think of you.
I can't hardly believe that you are 12! Next year you will be a teenager!

Look how much Emma has changed over the years...

Age 3

Age 5

Age 6

Age 8

Age 9

Age 10

Age 11

I love you Emma Jo! You are an amazing young lady. You inspire me with your love for your little brothers and sister. I know that we joke about the "good old days when you were an only child" but you are a fantastic big sister! You are become a wonderful young woman. Although we butt heads on many occasions, I am very proud to have you as my daughter. You are smart and pretty. You have a great head on your shoulders and tremendous love in your heart. You are growing up too quickly. I dread the day that you will be grown and leave the house, but I look forward to it as well because I know that you will do fine. Although you don't have a very good sense of direction, you are capable and will be able to handle any situation thrown at you. I am so happy to be your mom and I thank God that he gave me that opportunity.
I love you, Mommy