What to do on the weekend?

This question is always answered in the same way for our little tribe... outdoors! After all, it is California.

This past weekend we took the kids hiking in the hills. A beautiful spot with a play structure at the bottom of the hill with cook stations for our hot dogs, and a little man-made lake to splash rocks into.

At the top of the hill, hang gliders were swooping down all around us. Our kids tried their best to fly little kites but kept getting tangled.

Ed Levin park, a great place to be on a weekend:)

Celine is now 3 monthes, weighing in at 16 lbs, she isn't deprived.

Dual

Today is the day, at 1 pm I officially become and American citizen. That means I am a dual citizen, as my own country of Canada recognizes the duality, the US does not.
So 2 flags are in my very near future.
I dont really have much that I care to share other than this has been a very difficult process and emotionally there is a lot going on, I dont do this lightly.
Here we go...

Baby Celine Marie has arrived!

Well our darling baby girl has arrived! Celine Marie was born at 10:55 pm on Dec 8th, 2009. She weighed in at 9 pounds and 4 ounces. Big girl you may think, but still she was our second smallest baby! Therese and James beat her out at 9 and 8 ounces for Therese, and 10 lbs for big boy James. Joseph our oldest was 7 pounds 11 ounces, but we dont hold it against him.

We will write more in days to come, but we want to thank you all for your prayers. It was a difficult to to be sure, but we are overjoyed with this little precious angel.

St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas Day has arrived. I spent half the night wondering what to call the baby if we had she or he on this day, but I don't think that will be happening now since its already 9 pm:) Nick just doesn't go with our last name no matter how you try to slice it.

We enjoyed the St. Nicholas day festivities. We made our homemade speculaas cookies cut in the shape of gingerbread men, though they didn't last very long. Joseph very much remembers what happens on this day, he was eyeing the fireplace all night long looking for hanging stockings. Very cute. Note to self, next year, attend Mass early and come home to do stockings after. What are we thinking taking sugar high children to Mass? Not to mention sugar high parents!

The kids enjoyed helping Dad put up lights on the house. Mom is busy nesting in between contractions that come and go, some hours very painful and some not so bad. Mostly just exhausted and wishing for a live in nanny for these weeks, wishful thinking can be beneficial! Other than that we are enjoying these special times, scared about labor coming yet very excited. Due a few days ago now and if baby arrives in the same timely manor as the other 3, we should see the little tike in 1-2 more weeks. Ahhh....

Anxious...waiting...

Anxiety, a nasty little friend, that's what we have here in our household. Baby could come, any minute, or it could be 3-4 more weeks, ahh. Technically we are due this week, but with my track record, its really wishful thinking. It really wouldnt bother us so much if we didnt have such extended laboring for weeks before baby comes, painful keel over contractions each afternoon and night. We have gotten into the habot of ignoring or timing anything until I use the words "I want to die," code for "Call the midwife."

In our waiting time, thought we would post some photos. Some are from James birthday, some from Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday James!

Our little angel is 4! On this day 4 years ago I was preparing butternut squash soup at 11 a.m. and 12 hours later at 11:10 pm, our little guy was born.

James was our first home birth and the labor was significantly different than Joseph's who was 4 days in the hospital before his arrival.

We were so certain James was going to be a girl that we called him Therese all the way through. When he came out and they handed him to me, I said "Oh my beautiful girl" You see James has such beautiful eyes, while they may be hazel now, at birth they were big and blue. He was so pretty!

He was significantly larger than Joseph. Joseph was 7 pounds 11 ounces, while James tipped the scale at 10 pounds. He has been the shorter more stout one ever since. He reminds us of a little Tim, his uncle and Godfather. You will see pic's of his Godparent's here:) Sorry Mel:)

James is a joy to all who meet him, so much can be summed up in his favorite song "Jumping for joy Lord." James looks tough but he is one of our most sensitive little guys who needs a lot more cuddle time than any of our other kids, and we sure try to give it. Cuddles are the steam he runs on. James favorite thing in life is his big brother Joseph!

Sadly I can't post any baby images of him since we are having trouble with our computer, but I do have some photos here of the past 2 years. Hope you enjoy reflecting on this beautiful gift we have recieved in James. Thank you Lord for James and for all of our children, they are more of a blessing that we could have imagined.