Got a new Dog...

LILY...

and the girls love her. So far, she has been a great dog. She slept in her crate all night without making a peep. I hope she stays this good.

She's really moving along now

Hope after her bath

Crawling on the floor after a little enticing from her sister. The first few seconds are all messed up due to the video conversion to shrink it down for the web.

Hope Crawling

I've been meaning to post video of Hope crawling for some time now, but I ruined the shots by talking and/or singing in them. She's been crawling or at least moving around for a few weeks now. Here's the video, from today, so she's a little better at it now. Enjoy!!!


somehow, I turned the sound off on my cell phone... I guess I should have used my good camera

Growing Up!

My kids are just growing up. Grace just turned 7, started the 2nd grade, and is losing a bunch of teeth. Here she is just showing off her lack of teeth.
Hope is 7 months today, eating baby food, and started to crawl, and is just getting so big now. Yes, that is baby food all over her face... I'm such a good dad, I take pictures when she gets food all over her face... hehe :)

Faith is 4 and a half, started going to preschool - and loves it, and is now playing soccer like her big sis. Look at that action shot from my cell phone.

A busy month of June

I haven't updated in a while... I don't know what I did with the pictures from my parents stay in Mid-June, but I have a few from my mobile phone.

The stay with my parents was fun, we had a great time.

My dad and the girls in front of the USS Blue Back at Omsi

This is the girls in front of the screw (propeller) of the Blue Back that is set up for a memorial of all US Subs lost at sea.

We had a great time with my parents and really enjoyed their stay.

Later that month, I told the family we were going on a picnic in a surprise location... we went on a nice waterfall trip to see Multnomah Falls and the scenic gorge.

Multnomah Falls

I think that this pic Jodi took is just adorable of the girls looking at the waterfall.

My beautiful wife and baby at our picnic spot.

Seaside Beach and Camp 18

After church, we decided to drive out to the beach. I really didn't want to since we had stayed up really late the night before and woke up early, but after the kids cleaned up a little around the house without complaining, I gave in.

It's about an hour drive to Cannon Beach and on our way we saw signs for both Cannon Beach and Seaside saying they were equidistant, but we didn't realize the traffic going into Seaside would be horrendous. I didn't want to drive in the traffic much longer, that and Hope wasn't happy, so we turned off the main road as soon as we entered Seaside. Surprisingly, we found a parking spot really close to the Ocean. After we got to the beach, I noticed that there had to be a couple thousand people up on the beach a mile down the way, so I guess it was good that we got off the main road a little early... thanks for crying babies.

Faith playing in the sand.

Faith giving me a smile

Grace Trying to Bury herself

Making her into a mermaid... again

We headed out looking for an Aquarium that was in the area, but couldn't find it. We started to get hungry, so we began driving out, but didn't see anything good. We drove back up 26 toward home, and thought we would stop off at this interesting spot we noticed on the way to the beach, called Camp 18. We get there and we ran into another couple from our church who said that Cannon Beach was also packed. We enjoyed a nice dinner, with fairly large proportions that were tasty as well. The price was a little steep, but I think it wasn't too bad compared to most restaurants, besides we were trying to have fun. We even ran into another family from our church on our way out the door... I guess everyone was going to the beach on this long weekend.

Enjoying some ribs... mmm tasty

It's done

Here I sit on the couch hopped up on valium and vicodin, while my wife babies me. She wants to make sure I'm comfortable. She actually feels bad for me for some reason. I was happy to get the vasectomy, so that she didn't have to go through any surgery again. She has done enough as far as having the children, the least I could do was get a vasectomy. Jodi is so awesome. She bought me some video games and has been really concerned about me not doing too much as there have been some cases of men having continuous discomfort after vasectomies, so much so that sex is painful for them and not pleasant. Jodi doesn't want that to be the case for me. The biggest things the doctor told me to minimize complications was ice, rest and support. So, that's what I'm doing and Jodi is being great. I'm feeling a little nauseated, I don't know if it's from the vicodin or what, but I know that is one of the side effects of the drug. So far, so good as far as following the doctors orders. It takes 6-8 weeks for the reserves in my body to be depleted to ensure that I am sterile, but even then I have to be tested to be sure. I'm just glad that I don't have to do the deed at the hospital, because that'd just be weird.

Such a beautiful family

A few pictures taken by a friend at church for us. They are so adorable.

my beautiful family
kid feet and baby feet, what's cuter?
my little girls

Train ride to Portland, the Saturday Market and Waterfront Park

It was the girls' first train ride, and they enjoyed it. I saw a little into my future as we were sitting near 3 teenage girls who just rambled on non-stop.

Here's a picture of Jodi and Grace (Hope's in the sling).

We went to the Saturday Market (Although, it was Sunday) and walked around with some friends from California that were vacationing and up for a wedding in our beautiful little city. The Market had a fair-like atmosphere, all sorts of shops and people playing musical instruments, the best had to be the guy drumming on buckets, he had a crowd gathered around him.

We wandered around the market, grabbed some food, and headed for the waterfront park to sit and eat our gyros. The girls just loved Bob, the soon-to-be dad.

Faith trying to do cartwheels. Cute!

Grace giving me "the look"... I'm already worried.

Fish and Frogs

On Monday, after my consult, I accompanied Jodi and Faith to Hope's 2 month check-up. Faith and I waited in the lobby where they had a little play area for Faith. Hope weighed in at 11 pounds and 23 inches long... a nice size. Faith got tired of playing and sat in my lap next to the aquarium and we watched the fish for quite some time. She had a lot of questions about their fins and gills, and what each one was... of course I knew a little, but not much. I told her we'd go look at some fish... we ended up buying 2 African Dwarf Frogs. They were just so darn cute and fun to watch that we added 2 frogs and 2 fish today... now have 4 African Dwarf Frogs, and 2 Harlequin Rasboras. Grace was a little emotional about the thought that one of the frogs might be stuck in the submarine, and when we went to look at the store she almost busted out in tears when little Nemo in the saltwater tank was being engulfed by an anemone and his brother was upside down getting sucked into the filter. It was endearing, yet a different experience... I'm glad I got them fish instead of a dog or something... I'm really not looking forward to any of our pets dying. The fish and frogs are doing well and it's a lot of fun to watch them swim around.

A Great Food Day... and Happy Easter

The day started off similar to most Sunday's... with me wishing I could sleep in, but that's impossible with 3 girls. Hope was crying, and Jodi had spent a few hours in the middle of the night trying to get her to sleep, so she asked me to see if I could calm her down and let her rest a little bit. I changed Hope, and set her down in her chair so she could watch me make some breakfast. I started up a pot of coffee, and I began looking through the cabinets for something to eat. I noticed Jodi had a box of scone mix, and I looked on the side of the package; it said I could use it to make waffles, so I did. I threw some bacon on, and cooked up some omelette's and we had a great breakfast. It made me feel really good, when the girls told me how great the meal I had made them was. We were running a little late for church, but oh well.

On our way home, we realized we didn't have much as far as an easter meal was concerned, so we stopped off at Albertsons to pick up a few things. Jodi waited in the car with the girls while I ran in for supplies, I knew we at least needed a salad, mashed potatoes, ham or some type of bird meat, and rolls. I ended up buying a 5 lb whole young chicken and added eggs to my list, I don't think you can officially have Easter without those deviled eggs. I cleaned the bird out, and patted under the skin and all over it with with brown sugar and some salt and pepper and spices. I looked through the cupboards and I found some stuffing mix too. I love stuffing, it wasn't stove-tops, it was this crouton-like bag that you mix together with Chicken Broth and some spices and melted butter; I had never made it before, but everyone loved it, Faith even asked for more. I made a nice gravy for my mashed potatoes with the chicken broth, threw a salad together, had some deviled eggs, and we ended up having a great last minute Easter meal (took me 2 hours to cook it all)... and again my kids made me feel great by telling me how much they loved my food, Jodi too. Throw brown sugar on Ham or Bird meat and you can't really go wrong.

It was really nice to have such good food, and it helps that everyone loved it... especially the kids.

Vasect... o my!

I made the call for my consult today, and I'm kinda freaked out about it. I'm done having children, I know that, but the thought of someone cutting me... there... freaks me out. If Jodi can have a baby without any drugs, I know I can do this (but I'm getting drugs).

More Beautiful Pictures of Hope

More Pics

The shot that every wife just has to take of Dad falling asleep with baby


At the Hospital with our beautiful family

Me and my 3 daughters

Faith, finally getting to hold her real baby sister Hope

Pics of the family

For those of you who haven't seen the facebook photos or don't have a facebook account, I'm adding pictures and the short clip of Hope here for you

Little Hope Eliana in her momma's arms


The girls just love their new little sister


Faith has a new little baby doll she named Hope as well.

She's Here!

Hope Eliana was born at 5:14 AM on the 16th, weighing in at 7 lbs 2.6 oz and 19 inches long.

On the day she was born, Jodi woke up around 3 AM, and started feeling contractions. Within an hour she had woken me up to tell me that her contractions were 10 minutes apart. We decided to get ready and take a shower, and before we knew it her contractions were really getting crazy and within 5 minutes of each other... forget trying to count how far apart they were for an hour, we jumped into the van and got to the hospital around 4:45 AM. They set us up in the exam room to make sure that we were actually ready to be admitted, it's pretty much standard procedure even though Jodi kept saying I'm feeling the urge to push. Jodi's contractions were pretty crazy at this point, and the nurses had her get gowned up and wait in the room for one of them to check her out. They found out she was fully dilated and the baby was ready to go, so they had us hurry into the real delivery room and within 6 minutes of the doctor showing up Hope was here, the nurses didn't even have time to put an IV let alone give her any drugs to ease the pain... Jodi is a trooper.

Another year down!

It's crazy! As I get older, time just seems to fly by. I can't slow it down, I can't reverse it, but it just seems to be going faster and faster. In less than two months we will be having our 3rd kid, and I can't believe that day is almost here. My youngest is turning 4 this month, and as I looked through some old pictures, it just seems like it was yesterday they were babies... so of course let's reminisce, not just about last year, but about my kids growing up.

Grace in her Crib

Our friend Melissa holding Grace at the beach.

Grace and Ryleigh at the Pumpkin Patch

Faith in her Pooh Towel

My Grandma and the kids.

My Dad and Mom with the kids.

4 Generations

Grace and Faith with their cousins during the Fall of 2007

Jodi and Faith in the Summer of 2008

It's just crazy to see how these kids have grown.

I guess I'll just have to enjoy this time while they're young... cuz I'll be looking back shortly and thinking the sames stuff about Hope.