The shortest summer ever!

I don't even know where the summer went! How did we go from June straight to September in a blink of an eye? There's so, so much to catch up on! ...and I just have to note before I go any further that our wonderful neighbors the Bouviers just (as I'm typing this) brought over a basket of the most delicious cookies I've had in a while! I think we'll definitely have them do our taxes this year! :)

So now back to remembering what we did this summer.....

STORYLAND! and SANTA'S VILLIAGE!

This was the first time that we really went on a family vacation. We took a ton of videos and have them up on YouTube if anyone's interested. The kids had such a great time and we did too especially because it was a crappy weekend weather-wise. This ment there were much less people there and the kids didn't have to wait in line too long and could go around multiple times. Not a good lesson in patience but at least it made for a more enjoyable time I think....and it was fun to dash through the puddles and down pours too!

Honor's favorite: the rollercoaster (especially the one at Santa's Village that she and Sarah rode at least 2 dozen times and I'm not exaggerating!!)

Mikey's favorite: the pool at "Sarah's house" (he thought the hotel was Sarah's house!) and the ball place (Loopy Lab at Storyland)

Thorin's favorite: eating and the Loopy Lab

Mommy's favorite: going on vacation with her family and one of her oldest and best friends and her family....thanks Stacy and Lou, it was such a great time with you guys!

Daddy's favorite: Seeing Honor swim for the first time on her own (well, with a "floaty" suit but with no one holding on to her!)



Next on the list is THORIN'S 1st BIRTHDAY!!

It was a year ago on 7/8/08 that we rushed to St. V's just in time to enjoy Thorin Nova Alanson exploding into the world! And then our big surprise that he was a boy when I was so sure he was a girl! I had even brought dresses and pink things to the hospital with us and Mimie had to run out and get him an outfit to go home in!
His party was pretty low-key. We had relatives and close friends come celebrate and enjoy the nice weather with us outside. It's nice to have the house to celebrate in and I'll always remember how many years we've been in the house since we moved in just days before Thorin was born!
I love watching Thorin grow into his personality and watching all the kids interacting with each other. Yes, sometimes it's tough having kids who are 21months and 18months apart but I wouldn't change a thing. Thorin's huge smiles and big belly laughs light up our world. He's so observant of what everyone's doing, especially his big brother and sister. I love that he learns more from them than from me and Darren sometimes....even if it things he really shouldn't do yet, at least he has lots of teachers to show him the right way.

BABY NEWS

We found out in August that we're expecting again! This obviously has made me excited and nervous! We are again planning a home birth and things have been going great so far. I'm so happy that I bought a doppler last pregnancy so I'm able to keep a close "ear" on the baby and be reassured that everything is fine. We had an ultrasound at 11 weeks and saw a perfect, healthy little baby with a great heartbeat which made my nerves settle a bit. We also have sailed past the point where we lost Miriam so I'm again more at ease. I know we're not out of the woods until this little one makes it's entrance into the world but at 15 weeks I've actually been feeling little kicks and it's the best feeling in the world!! Honor's of course hoping this is a girl, she really, really, really wants a little sister! I hope so too and I'd like to find out but Darren wants it keep it a surprise. I'm hoping to convince him into doing a 3D ultrasound since this will be our last (yes, 4 is enough!) and it would be really cool since we've never had a 3D one done before! Or we'll just have to wait and meet him or her in person in March/April 2010.