Posing for a picture after the baptism.

Josh and Abby on her big day!

Abby's cake! Chocolate and strawberry.

It was too windy at the park to light the candles. We had great weather and enjoyed celebrating our girl!

Playing catch up

I can't get the comments to line up with their respective pictures!!!! I'm done messing with it, so you can figure it out by yourself!

Don't worry, after taking the picture I gave him the necessary lecture.

Ryan's birthday cake.

Double trouble! They get away with so much because they're so cute!

The blocks Abby and I made for her teacher.

Abby at Christmas with her new guitar! Doesn't she look so grown-up!?!?

Happy Birthday Claire!!!

We celebrated Claire's birthday twice. These are from her actual birthday. The kids really enjoyed watching her dig in!!!!!


























We celebrated with the extended family the following weekend. A shot of the presents and cake.























Claire refused to stand on her own before this and has really gotten with it now that she has something to push!!!












Girly cake for a Girly Girl!!!

I ran the Roots N Blues N Bbq Festival half marathon this last weekend with my good friends Jane and Kari. I had a lot of pre-race jitters!!! All I could think about was if I had trained well enough. I had been training for twelve weeks, but still wondered if I really had 13.1 miles in me.






I hit my first wall at 6.5 miles and Jane
chanted "right, left, right, left. . . " along with me. At almost every mile marker we passed, Jane pointed out that that was the best time I had ever run that distance. I felt on top of the world until the massive hill in the eleventh mile. I ran up it; though not very fast!!! The thirteenth mile was my slowest ever, but I gave it all that I had!!!! I left everything out there and sprinted to the finish for a time of 2:16:15.








After some great bbq we posed for a picture next to the finish line. Every muscle in my body was exhausted but I was so pleased with myself and grateful for the opportunity to be able to culminate my road to health and weight loss with such great friends. Jane could have run this much faster, could have slept in every Saturday, could have focused on her own fitness goals, but instead, she chose to be my support and companion through the entire training process. For that I will always be grateful!!!! Kari has been such a cheerleader for me as I've lost weight and pursued running. Thanks so much to the both of YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Big!!!

This is just one of Claire's new tricks.

Almost the ER

Ryan fell off of the top of the van tonight and landed face first on the concrete. It gave us quite the scare to say the least, we called the doctor and he gave us a list of things to watch out for, but so far it seems like he's okay. Not including his poor face though.

Claire Kay Housewright

Claire was born on October 4, 2009 at 12:34 am. She was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 in. long.


Abby, Nick, and Ryan loved her at first sight and Ryan immediately marked his territory, "My Baby!!!"

Claire is such a joy in our lives! She is such a sweet and happy girl! We're so excited to finally show a few early pictures of our beautiful girl.

We all look at Claire and see a finished Masterpiece and Ryan sees a blank canvas and gets right to work with the markers!!!!

One of the most common reasons our kids fight is over who's turn it is to hold Claire.

Josh and I can't get over how fast the last six months have gone. We love this special Daughter of God and feel so blessed that she's part of our family!!!!

This is a classic Claire face. She has such a contagious smile!!!

Everyone says that she looks just like her Mom. I'm beaming with pride!!!!

Apparently I look miserable.

I have to make a confession. I really didn't want to go to church today. Why? Apparently I look miserable. The whole reason I was dreading the social interaction of church was because no matter how well meaning people may be, hearing that you look miserable and uncomfortable somehow doesn't make you feel any better. It's one thing when a close friend or loving family member says it, but when you haven't spoken to someone more than once or twice in passing in the last six months and they go out of their way to tell you how bad they feel for you and how miserable you look, it's enough to make an active member with a strong testimony to want to duck into the back of the chapel during the opening hymn and out during the closing hymn. If I didn't have three little kids, I probably would have. Honestly!!!
So I got to thinking this afternoon. You know how what you say is usually more polite and tactful than what you think? I wonder what those people really thought! I ran it by Josh and he thought that maybe they were just absolutely shocked by the size of my stomach. I think that could be part of it. My guess is something like this....."Can she get any bigger?!? How in the world can she waddle like that in public and not be embarrassed?!? How many times is she going to do that to herself?!? Will somebody please shoot her and put her out of her misery!!! Somebody needs to boil some water, that lady is going to explode!!! Could her ankles get any bigger?!? She should save herself the humiliation and duck in and out of the back during the opening and closing hymns!!!!!!"
So my question to you is, what do you think they are really thinking?????????

Finally!!!

Abby has been dying to ride a horse. Our friends the Kofoeds called and asked if she would like to come ride on Saturday. Afterward she said, "That's the most fun thing I've ever done......besides Six Flags."

Yes, I'm still alive! A lot has happened since my last post in February. Soon after my last post, I found out that I was having another baby! I was so looking forward to posting the first ultrasound pictures, etc. Then came the nausea and fatigue, needless to say all of the gumption I once had was lost and I went into survival mode. Soon after, Ryan decided to walk. I know the usual phrase is "learned to walk" but at almost 14 months old, decided is more fitting. Anyway, it's funny how blogging cute updates about my family was bumped off of the to-do list very quickly.
I am now 25 weeks, having a girl, and starting to feel a little more get up and go. I hoped to be back on the blogging band wagon until my camera didn't seem to want to let my computer see any of the pictures I've taken in the last five months, so for now we'll just have to settle for words.

Winter fun

Abby with the snowman she made.

Ryan's new tricks

Ryan is climbing on everything these days and is thoroughly proud of himself!

Abby and I found him on the table one morning before school. What a stinker!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Our sweet baby enjoyed pulling tissue paper and clothes out of bags and boxes and throwing them all on the floor.

My camera wasn't charged, so I only got two pictures out of it.

Top four reasons I haven't updated my blog recently.

4.Our little "Gonzo" keeps me on my feet!

3.Every time I turn around someone is pestering poor Ryan.
(This time, Abby used her greasy rice krispie hands to spike Ryan's hair. )

2.Even when he's innocent, he looks ornery. How am I supposed to know when it's safe to leave him alone?

1.This winter has meant almost constant Bronchitis, colds, and other misc. sickness in our house.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! The kids were very grateful for what they got and seemed to understand what we were really celebrating.

Abby lost here first tooth about a month ago. She was so proud to have made it to this grown up stage of childhood. It seems like just yesterday the she was screaming and drooling to cut the same tooth.

Halloween

No commentary needed!

Birthday Boy

Nick turned three on the 22nd of October. We can't believe how fast the last few years have gone by! Yes, I made three cakes. Overboard? Maybe. About a month after his birthday, he potty-trained relatively easily. Wow, were we pleasantly surprised!!!!

What a stud in his cow boots!!!

Abby, Nick and good buddy, Austin, share the spotlight.

Vacation

Josh was on Vacation last week, so we went to St. Louis for the weekend. We stayed in a hotel and swam. Here are the guys in the pool.

We went to "Arthur's Picnic at the Park" in Forest Park on Saturday. It was extremely hot and crowded so we only waited in line for one thing. Abby loved the inflated slide!