Washington

Sadly, my favorite sister moved with her cute family to Washington this summer. I was really missing her, so my mom and I decided to be adventerous and go visit. We packed ourselves up and all three of my kids and went. It is amazing how much stuff three little kids require when going on a trip. Anyway we barely made it there (one of the three children was having a difficult time remaining calm in the car), but the important thing is we finally did! Becky (my sister) claims that the eastern part of Washington doesn't get much rain, but it poured for the first two days we were there! That didn't stop the kids though, they sure made the most of it....I knew those rain jackets would come in handy! Of course we had to take a silly picture to because that is how they were actually acting.

We first spent two days at my sisters with the kids playing in the rain. After that we drove to Tacoma and spent two days with my aunt and uncle. (more on that in a later post). Then we drove back to my sister's for two more fun packed days. One day we went down to the dam on the Snake River and watched the salmon and trout swim past. I had no idea those fish were so huge. On average the were three feet long. I am pretty sure now that I have seen what is in the river, I will never actually swim in the river. On the other hand I wouldn't mind learning how to fish in the river!

Anyway, after we saw the fish at the dam we went to a park by the river so the kids could play in it. (Notice how I am not in any of the pictures in the water.) They loved squishing their toes in the mud and pulling up "sea weed."

Nick and Ian having fun splashing and playing in the rocks.

By the end of the day the kids had made a giant nest of the seaweed they collected.

Every night grandma (my mom) would read stories for all the kids. Each kid got to pick out one book so she ended up reading for quite a while, but the kids loved it! That is definately one of my mom's talents, she can make any book sound fun. I am pretty sure she loved every minute of it too.

One of the other days there we went to a pumpkin farm with Nathan's preschool, and rode on a tracktor to pick out a pumpkin. It was really fun for the kids to see where pumpkins come from and they especially like the tractor ride.

At this same farm they had a giant pile of hay bales for the kids to climb on....and I do mean GIANT! I think their favorite part was climbing through the tunnel in the middle. They had to help each other to climb to the top. It was fun to watch the kids push one kid up then that one would pull the others up. It really was a feat for them to reach the top!

One thing I thought was great was how there were bike trails all along the sides of the rivers in Washington. We had brought the kids bikes up so we could go on a ride so one day we decided to try out the trails. We took all the seats out of Becky's van and loaded all 7 bikes in and a bike trailor. Becky and I thought this would be great fun as we rode in a little train down the nicely paved trails. The real thing ended up to be a totally different story. It started off great with only a few arguments of who could be the leader. Within 100 yards Nick and Ian had just stopped riding because they were tired. I decided to take them back to grandma who had Kyle at the park. Of course the two boys were too tired to ride their bikes back so I had to push them along with my bike. I left them with grandma then headed back to Becky and the older kids. We rode along again with the older kids now at a much faster pace, but within five more minutes of riding the kids were dragging and tired. After talking a little Becky and I reluctantly decided to turn around and head back to the park. While in the process of turning her bike around, Andrea crashed on her bike and skinned her knee good. The tears did not stop until we made it back to the park and grandma could heal it. About a minute after Andrea crashed, the chain on Daniel's bike came off and got caught so Becky had to spend some time fixing it. When we finally got back to the park I found out what happened with Nick, Ian and Grandma after I left. Apparently Nick got very upset when I rode off and tried to follow me. Fortunately grandma was able to catch him and haul him back. However, they were not quite at the park yet and had to walk a little ways to get back. Nick was not cooperating so grandma put Kyle (who was also crying), in the stroller, hooked Nick's bike to the back of the stroller. She pushed the stroller with one hand while holding Nick kicking and screaming with the other. All this while coaxing Ian along on his bike to follow her! Needless to say, the bike adventure did not turn out as we had planned, and it will be a few years before we try again!

On the flip side though, the park was awesome! They had a zip line for the kids to play in, two huge jungle gyms and two rock walls for the kids to climb on. This is a picture of the rock wall the kids had a blast on. Pretty cool huh!

We had a great time in Washington and it was really fun to visit! Thanks Becky for letting us stay and being ok with the total chaos we brought to your home!

Yard Work

Other then having a baby, knee surgery, starting school, and work we really haven't done much but work on putting our grass in. We first did the sprinkler system earlier in the summer then took a couple of week break after having Kyle. Then in September we got the bug again to finish putting in the grass. We filled in trenches, had the yard leveled, raked, put in the cement edging, put on the sprinkler heads, adjusted the heads, and raked some more. The kids helped with the yard occasionally. This is Nick one morning helping dad put in a sprinkler head.




This is Nick helping dad put down the fertilizer after all the raking and before the seed. Yes we believe in child labor. All in the name of teaching a good work ethic...right?





We planted the grass on conference weekend. This is a picture about 2 weeks later...GREEN!!!

Of course the kids best "helping" came when they played with the neighborhood kids for hours on end. Here is Andrea in one of those joyous moments with our cute neighbor. Andrea really wanted to play in some mud and she asked very nicely so I couldn't say no. I put her in her old swimming suit and asked her to not get too muddy.

I took this picture after about 5 minutes in the mud.

I came back after a few more minutes to check on them and this is what I found. They were "painting" their bodies.

Oh well...so much for not getting too muddy! Guess I should not have expected anything less! At least she can't say I never let her do anything fun.

Kyle's Blessing

I thought I should finally post some pictures from Kyle's blessing. We blessed him on Sept 5, and his dad did a great job with the blessing. We were lucky to have many family members there. After church we had dinner at our house and suprisingly we fit everyone in! At his last Dr. appointment at 2 months he weighed 11lbs 12oz which is average for his age. He is just learning to smile and Andrea has gotten him to laugh a couple of times. We really love having Kyle in our family.






Our first family picture, and the only one without the kids looking away.


Grandpa Monte with Kyle, we love this picture. You can tell Kyle already admires him.




Our kids loved having all the family around, they especially liked beating everyone with pillows.




Now here is a rare picture so I had to post it. All five of the Moser women looking at the camera, with smiles, and not trying to hide! (The whole family has a history of severe camera shyness)

The bachelors corner.

The young married's couch. Or should I say the couch for the crazy people and the women who tolerate them.

I love my family!

Andi's First Day of Kindergarten

We have been preparing Andrea for kindergarten for months, maybe even years. In the days leading up to the first day Mike and I worried though about how she would do, if she would make friends, if she would like it, if she knew everything she needed to. We would ask her if she was excited and she would shrug her shoulders and say "yeah", similar to the way she says it when we ask her if she wants a sandwich for lunch. No excitement, but no apprehension. If we asked if she was nervous she would say "no" in the same nonchalant voice. But being the mom I just new she would be nervous, after all I was on my first day of school...

Now I need to give a little background. I work so for the last six months we had been working on finding a place for Andi to go to daycare after school. We did find one only a couple of blocks from our house that a bus would hopefully pick her up from. It was important she have a bus because I work on the other side of town. Anyway at registration I found out that bus schedules don't come out until the week before school. I spent the next four months worrying about wether she would have a bus or if I would have to beg neighbors to take her to and from school. The week came and I finally got to see the bus routes, and thankfully there was a stop a block away from her daycare. Well, three days before school started I found out the bus was only for morning kindergarteners and Andrea was in afternoon. Suddenly in freak-out mode I called the school to see if she could switch to morning, which they said they didn't know if there were openings but that I should talk to the teacher the next day. Two days before school I went to her teacher and begged to let her switch (almost in tears), which thankfully she did. Needless to say the bus situation had me on edge, but Andrea was just excited to ride a bus.

Welcome to the first day of school. We woke up early to make sure we didn't miss the bus. I even checked online again to make sure I had the right information for the stop. Of course we took a picture on the front porch. With plenty of time to spare we made our way to the bus stop. When I pulled up, no one was there so suddenly I was panicing again. After a while though other kids started to show up, I was just WAY to early. I also realized then though that I had forgotten my camera, so again I was upset. Well Andrea marched up to the bus line, then walked to the bus and got on just like a pro. The video is actually of the second day but it was basically the same.





Andrea did great! I was so proud of her, and I didn't even cry (well at least at that point).

Three hours later I knew it was time to get ready to pick her up from the bus stop since she wasn't actually going to daycare yet. Again I got online to check the time and I went plenty early to make sure I didn't miss it. If I couldn't get video of her getting on, I most certainly wanted it of her comming off the bus. Anyway, I drove to the stop with Kyle and waited...and waited...and waited... After waiting 45 minutes I realized something must be wrong. I didn't know what to do so I started driving around to see if I could find the bus. As I did I passed a mom that had been at the stop that morning. She said the kindergarten bus had already dropped off the kindergarteners and that Andrea could still be on the bus. Full PANIC!!! What, my 5 year old could be wandering the streets not knowing where she is, and crying because her mom was not there for her on the first day of school. Again not knowing what to do, and myself and Kyle in tears I started driving around looking for her. Then the thought came to go to the school (really I don't know why I didn't just do that in the first place.) I sped to the school in hopes she would be standing on the sidewalk waiting, but she was not there. There was however, another bus. I walked up to the driver and asked her if she knew where the kindergarten bus was and I explained the situation. She said "Oh, you are the mom we are all looking for. Your daughter is on the bus that is parked in front of your house." That driver called the driver of the other bus and they brought her back to the school. I took a deep breath and put on a brave face for her. I just knew she would be distraught and in tears, and would probably never forgive me. They pulled up and opened the doors and she bounced down the stairs saying "Hey mom" as she passed like nothing had happened. I barely got a half a hug before she went to say Hi to Kyle. The bus driver explained that they only drop Kindergarteners off at a few stops in the afternoon. The stop I dropped her off at in the morning was not a dropoff in the afternoon. She also said that Andi was and angel for the whole ride. I thanked the bus driver, drove home with Andi and Kyle, then went to my bedroom and burst into tears...I guess I was the one that should have prepared for the first day of school!

The end of summer

I can'believe the summer is over! Kyle has been a lot of the attention of this summer. Andrea has turned into his "mini-mom." She carries him around a lot, gives him his binki, feeds him occasionally, picks out his clothes, changes his diaper, rocks him to sleep, and plays with him. There is no doubt that she loves her two little brothers, and they love their big sister.

I can't belive I got all three of them looking at the camera at once...thank heavens for digital cameras!

I also got the camera out to take some pictures of Kyle. I just love his dark eyes, they just have so much to say and they are already starting to turn brown! I think they will be dark brown like his dad's.

Just because we love large crowds of tired, hot, and sweaty people we went to Lagoon with my family on one of the last Saturdays of the year. We were worried because of previous experiences that Nick would not go on any rides, but having his sister with him helped him be "brave" and he went on most of the kids rides.

Andrea on the other hand was fearless, I think I had more fear for her then she did. She went on every ride she could. This included rattlesnake rapids, Tidal wave, the big swings, the Wild Mouse, the Spider rollercoaster, and finally Colossus. She was laughing and giggling out loud almost the entire time on the Wild Mouse and Colossus. It was amazing to see! I am pretty sure there are not may 5 year olds that want to ride colossus let alone enjoy it! I still can't believe it...Six Flags here we come! I on the other hand was terrified nearly the entire time. Not for myself but for her, I was afraid she would slip out. Guess I had to be brave too!

Crutches...How I loath thee.

I would consider myself a busy body. I really don't like to sit around much. I make "to-do" lists and I like to get the things done on my list. While I have been looking forward to maternity leave so I could spend quality time with my new baby, I was also looking forward to it so I could get a giant list of things done. Things like organize my cupboards (still can't find things after moving in), clean out the basement, paint and decorate the house, learn to sew, landscape our yard...are all on the list. One of the worst tortures I could think of for myself would be to be put on bedrest. Bring on the torture...

About two weeks before I had Kyle I hurt my knee and could not walk on it. I kept it up and iced it a lot and after a couple of weeks it felt a little better. The week after having Kyle I was walking ok and just starting to enjoy being home. Mike had to go out of town for the week but I was feeling great so I wasn't worried. Well, right after he got on the plane to Arkansas I stood up and turned sideways and my knee locked in place and it was extremely painful. I could not put any of my own weight on it let alone carry a baby. The next day (Tuesday) I went to see the doctor and he said I would only be able to fix it with surgery, and would I be able to do surgery on Thursday of that week. I said yes because I really needed to be able to walk. (funny how that is when you have two kids and a baby) With Mike still out of town my mom took me to the surgery and Mike got home at the same time that I got home from the surgery.

Turns out I had caught the Miniscus (the cartilage in my knee that keeps the bones from rubbing) and torn it in two places, then part of the cartilage folded over and got caught in the joint which is was made it lock. As a result of the tearing they had to remove the entire miniscus, which meant I was stuck on the couch for a while and could only walk with crutches. I have to say that it is impossible to carry a baby while on crutches. I had the joy of sitting on the couch for a week and doing nothing but watching TV and reading. On a side note...daytime TV is aweful!! Really...how many times does the news need to be recaped? It sure was an adventure being stuck on the couch. Andrea became Kyle's personal carrier, my mom became my shouffer, and Mike became my maid. There were also many other's that helped me get through this that I am very greatful for. This is a picture of me hanging out on the couch.



I did start reading the book series "The Great and Terrible" by Chris Stewart which I am totally loving. The Dr. did say that I will be needing a full knee replacement within the next 10-15 years, and that I shouldn't plan on training for a marathon unless I want to replace my knee sooner. (The perfect excuse not to run anymore!) In the end I was only on crutches for a week and after a month of physical therapy every other day I am almost back to normal activity. Now back to my to-do lists!

Kyle Michael Moser

Kyle Michael Moser loudly announced his arrival to the world on July 30, and we are all very happy to have him here! I guess we are destined to have bigger babies as he weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 20 inches long. His hair is the same color's as Andrea's and his skin seems a little like her's as well, but many visitors have said he looks like Nick. He should be a great runner like his dad some day because he as a great set of lungs...he screamed for his first 45 min in this world. When he cries it breaks your heart because is lower lip just quivers. He should have no problems wrapping all of us around his tiny fingers!

Here is the proud dad!

Andrea just wanted to hold him the whole time. She has been waiting for him for a while and for the last couple of weeks she has asked me almost every day if he was comming that day. Several times there were tears when I told her probably not. Believe me, I wanted to cry too!

When Nick first saw him he said "Awww its my Kyle baby brother!" He then informed us that he had ears, eyes, a nose and everything! I am glad he took the time to make sure everything was there.

This is our first full family portrait with many more to come. I think the weirdest thing is going to be when we go to a resturant and say we need a table for 5! Time just keeps flying by!

One of Nick's favorite things to do in the hospital room was to ride the bed. Several times it felt like I was folded in half. This is also how he likes to just chill.

The next couple of pictures were taken of Kyle a couple of hours after we got home from the hospital. I just think he is a doll, so I had to take some pictures.

We are all very happy that Kyle is finally here (especially mom). Our family finally feels complete, and we can't wait to get to know him more! We all love you Kyle!