It's Christmas Time Again...

Wow, how this year has flown! I cannot believe our little baby Adaya is now 1, AND Chloe is 3!!! And while it is not yet officially winter yet, it certainly feels like it. We had our first snow in mid November, not enough to really play in, but it stuck around for quite awhile with very cold temps reaching down to the early teens a couple nights! Lately, though, we've had very wet, cold rain and not much of a break from it for several weeks. I consider myself a true Oregonian at heart, one that really does enjoy rain after rain after rain, but this is starting to wear on even me! Give me snow or give me sun!
Since my last post, quite a bit has happened. We took our much anticipated Mexico trip...7 days of no kids, absolute luxury, sunshine, warm temps and pure paradise! My dear friend Crystal got married to her Alaska sweetheart and we joined them at the all inclusive Melia Cabo Real in Cabo San Lucas with several other friends and new friends. We flew first class, stayed in an ocean view suite and ate and drank, swam and tanned all day long the end of October and first week of November.


While we were gone, Grandma and Grandpa Shierman watched the girls, who did very well, the longest we'd ever been away from them. However, when we got back, Adaya stared at us like she didn't believe we were really there and Chloe told us every day for a week, "I'm glad you came back from Mexico!"
Coming home was not all a happy reunion, though. Chloe, in true almost-three-year-old-fashion, took a week of tantrums to re-adjust, and is still (two months later) very difficult most days. Chloe just had her 6th week of pre-preschool and while she can now recognize all the letters of the alphabet, say the letters of her name and recite the sounds that some letters "say," I can definitely see the developmental differences between her and her other three year old friends, whom are all 4-10 months older than her.

With all the concentration on Chloe, I often feel like I am letting Adaya's development slip through the cracks. I guess I am so used to referring to her as a baby, I forget that by the time Chloe was her age, I was already teaching and expecting so much more from her than I do Adaya. Is this 2nd child syndrome? She continues to show us her temper at any given moment with screams and crying, but now that she is one, I am seeing her understand things more and more, which is a relief. She is not quite signing yet, but I am certain she knows what I mean when I sign "more" and "all done" to her. She got 4 new teeth (two of them molars!) in the last two weeks, which I am sure has not helped her mood, either. She is now 16 pounds and wearing almost all 12 month clothing now, crawling quickly all over the place and will pull herself up to her knees, but absolutely refuses to stand or even let me help her stand! According to the pediatrician she is above average in her fine motor skills, but behind in her gross. Am I enabling this by not teaching her as well as I could for Chloe, being an only child? At what point do I chalk it up to being a mother of two versus neglecting her development? Man, having two kids is hard!
But I digress.... Their birthdays were so much fun, being only days apart and falling within a week of Thanksgiving and Jon's major shoulder surgery, it was a hectic two weeks, but I loved every moment! Adaya's party was a princess theme with only immediate family invited. My parents, Kaylin and her family and even Eric and Shana attended for a full Thanksgiving-like meal, cake and ice cream and presents.

Three days later, we celebrated Chloe's birthday at the Portland Children's museum with all her little friends from Mom's group and church with a Cars theme and presents.


On her actual birthday two days later we went out to dinner with my parents and they watched the girls for another couple days while Jonathan had his surgery and post-op recovery at home. Thanksgiving we went to Auntie Alexis', got the girls back and have been taking it easy ever since so Jonathan can heal.
His surgery was to repair a torn tendon off his rotator cuff and required his bone to be drilled into to reattach, along with 7 staples and a sling with no use of his left arm for 6 weeks! It's been three weeks so far and his pain is still pretty bad so he has to take meds at night. It's been rough on all of us, but we're coping the best we can and hoping for the best recovery and physical therapy in another 3 weeks. We're trying to make the best of it, but at this point, I am just trying to survive feeling like a single parent with three children!

As Christmas approaches, we decided not to get our own tree since we will be in Salinas for the holidays, so we helped mom and dad decorate theirs last weekend and we will do our own little gift exchange this weekend.
We will drive south next Wednesday, the 22nd, hopefully earlier in the afternoon, as I have no idea how much driving at night Jonathan will be up for. We are now having to take Kodi with us, since my mother is having all sorts of issues with her thyroid and does not have the energy to watch her while we're gone. Seriously, could life be any tougher right now!!? Thankfully our family in Salinas is so wonderful, it really will be a very relaxing vacation once we're there. Hopefully Jonathan will not have to work too much and it really will be what we all need to recharge our life batteries!
Another stress in our life right now is deciding where Jon wants to be professionally. Both of us are tired of his long commute and ridiculous hours in Salem, both of which have not been worth the slight raise he got in January, nor does it seem like things will get any better. There have been a couple opportunities presented, neither of which seem to be panning out, so we continue to pray earnestly that God will reveal his will and give us peace...in this and every hectic part of our lives right now!

Smell the fall a'coming on!

Around here, we spell fall with sunshine, cooler weather, garden harvest, canning and Oktoberfest. Ah, I love this time of year! Last month, the weather was a terrific 70 degrees every day, full of light wind, sunshine and crisp evenings/mornings. But last week, that changed dramatically to monsoon like wind, cold temps and even thunder and lightening! We had such a crazy summer that it seems as though our leaves have been trying to change for a couple months, but now it feels right. The crazy drop in temperature changed our tree leaves from early fall reds and oranges to extremely bright yellows and the powerfull wind has knocked more and more leaves on the ground. Soon, we will be raking!
We have reaped a bountiful harvest this year...tons of plums, several artichokes, bunches of tomatoes and lettuce, but the best crop of green beans, peas, corn and beets I've ever seen! I cannot wait to see what our winter squash has in store for us...lots of beauties on the vine...white, orange, green funky things and even goards! All have made a lovely addition to my dining room table and front porch. We visited the pumpkin patch a couple weekends ago, but opted out of buying any pumpkins this year. My pantry is down to only one quart left, so I hope to get some great sales on large pumpkins next month to can and restock those shelves.
We froze our corn kernals, peas, green beans, plums and a couple weeks ago I canned tomato sauce, and pear, apple plum sauce (AMAZING!). Aint nothing like growing an abundance of produce in your garden and its even better to be able to preserve it through canning and freezing so it can be enjoyed for another year!

Oktoberfest was a lot of fun this year, despite it being a rainy one. Chloe was able to still wear her dirndls from last year and I made Adaya two this year, one, of which, matched Chloe's. I even got a new costume peice, a beautiful and authentic German Mieder. The three of us went Thursday (Chloe got to spend the night)and Friday and Jonathan joined us all day on Saturday. It was a fun, albeit wet year!


With it getting dark sooner, we've rolled back bedtime as well. Chloe is slowly adjusting, some nights are easier than others, but Adaya has maintained her consistent 7:15 bedtime. Amazing how different children can be. Wonder if she will still be like this next year. Adaya continued to put on a little weight. We've been feeding her anything and everything except for peanuts and honey and she was taking about 4 oz of formula in addition to her bedtime nursing each night for a couple weeks now until we finally weaned her (or more likely she weaned herself) Monday, October 4th. It's been wonderful having her full and happy now. I finally was able to pack away all her 6 month and younger clothes and she appears to be almost skipping the 9 month stage and going right to 12 months! She almost never screams out of hunger or rage like she used to (now just when she's bored, wants more food or attention - no matter how many times I tell her "NO SCREAM") and is happy to play for a long time on the floor by herself. She also finally started crawling, taking her frst couple steps last wednesday at Grandma and Grandpa's and now scooting all around, following us everywhere and getting into everything! She loves playing peek a boo and grabbing at all her big sister's toys. I hear a lot of "No, Adaya, that's MY TOY" around here lately.

Chloe is growing up so fast. Each day she says new and crazy things and each day she tests my God-given patience. Oh, she is so bossy and wants her way so badly. She is sin-nature in its finest form and constantly reminds me to set a better example of a God-directed life. (sigh) 3 is definetely more of a challenge than 2 and it seems like each week there is something new we struggle with. To add to my frustration with her, I no longer get the beautiful silence that I once had each day afternoon at 1 when both girls were napping as Chloe has not consistently had a nap in over a week now. I knew it would have to come someday, but was really hoping it would be several more months away. Since she does still fall alseep once or twice a week, i still insist that she stay in bed for "quiet time" but I know that will soon evolve into "quiet play time" in her room.
Since many of her friends are entering preschool this year, we have decided to have our own little preschool with three other of her friends and just do a new letter every other week. So far, we have done "A" and "P" with a new mom teaching it at their respective homes every other week. While, they may not all be grasping the meaning of "a is for apple" and "p says paa," it has been good for all four of them and I am excited to see how they do with more social interaction.

With both of them very much not feeling like babies anymore, I have definitely been feeling the bite of the dreaded baby bug. Perhaps it is that I am not nursing anymore, or maybe this cold time of year is when I seem to usually be due. Either way, my head wants to enjoy our two right now (and a drink here and there, but my heart years for another tiny, sleepy thing to snuggle with on these cold evenings. Hmmm, maybe in the spring....
Jon is officially riding his Triumph to work every day now. He took some training classes early last month, got his liscence and his gear and began his new commuting style. He looks so hot! And God is teaching me more about trust in Him as I daily give my fears of becoming a widow over to Him. Since we've had the motorcycle, we have had three opportunities where we could have ridden it on child-free dates, but unfortunately, I have yet to acquire my gear and I let Jonathan know my disgruntledness over this almost every day. Almost.

Speaking of child-free, Jon and I leave Friday for our 6 day trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for a dear friend's wedding. It will be my first time to the Latin country and only my 2nd time leaving our country. I got my passport several months back and am soooo excited. We really splurged (aka charged) on this trip, flying first class and even getting a suite at the resort! Needless to say, between Jon's long hours the last couple months and my frustrations over the girls at home, this is a much needed vacation and we plan to enjoy it to the fullest! Aside from planned events such as the wedding, I plan to be poolside and tipsy the majority of the trip! We had lots of fun shopping for it, but boy is it hard to find shorts and sundresses in October! At least those we did find, were at nice prices! While we are gone, the girls will stay with my parents and it will be the longest we've been away from them. We've practiced a night or two with them over there in the last couple weeks and I am very confident that they will be fine. Mom and dad are having fun creating lots of fun things for them to do, so I know the time will fly quick. The hardest part of the whole thing will be not being able to be on facebook, check email and call them whenever I want. But that's the point of vacation, right?!
Well, November is shaping up to be the busiest month of the fall for us, so I think I will save all of its info for its very own post when we get back from Mexico. Until then, Adios!

The Dog Days of Summer...

I think this has been my favorite summer in history. Granted, it is far from over, but the last couple weeks of these amazing 70-80 degree mild days and cool nights has been fantastic! Having no AC, I dread the handful of unbearably hot days (and nights) we get each summer, but this year seems to have only given us one or two of those so far. And if that continues, I would be one happy Portlander!
So far, its been an unusually uneventful summer for us, I'm sure largely due to having an infant. We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a much-needed night out, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Shierman, kid-free dinner and drinks.
Jonathan's birthday weekend in late June was spent in Bend with my dear friend Tracy and her family, the 4th out at my parent's place watching 10-15 smaller displays from their valley-view windows since we knew Adaya would not tolerate a late night out.
We did take our annual trip to Salinas for the Rodeo, though, a couple weeks back...driving down in the middle of the night again. Both girls fared pretty well, but we found we do need to do something to help with Chloe's neck falling forward, as she kept waking up from the soreness. Thank God no one was injured in the annual calf-dressing event, but unfortunately our two teams did not get an award either.

The rest of July has been sort of mundane and I find myself (and Chloe) in desperation for some excuse to get out of the house, or town, for that matter. We did manage to get in the local fair last weekend, which Chloe enjoyed petting all the farm animals and eating lots of carni food!
Hopefully August will pick up a bit with the coming of the annual Tualatin Crawfish Festival and with it Jon's hopes of recapturing his 1st place title. Perhaps I will even feel brave enough to take Adaya camping so we can use our new 2-room tent and sleeping mats.
We also look forward to harvest season. With the crazy cool weather we've had most of the summer, it seemed like our garden was very stunted for awhile, but we still managed to get a great crop of sugar snap and snow peas, a few radishes, an over0abundance of greens and even some nice sized beets. We planted quite a bit of corn, so I'm watching the aphids on them like a hawk and excited to see all the cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and squash that should be ready for full-fledged harvest soon! And even our new artichoke has 3 budding globes on them - mmmmm!

The girls are growing even faster than our produce. Adaya, at 8 months now, got her first tooth in California, is eating solids very well, sitting up and getting ready to crawl any day now. She has a temper that can be madder than a hornet and screams that will blow anyone's eardrums! Whether its because she's hungry, tired, irritated, bored or just plain mad, she lets us know in the most ear-piercing ways! Big sister Chloe is go-go-go all the time and rarely sleeps during her afternoon "nap" now and almost never before 9pm each night. Her rapid vocabulary and creative imagination surprises me each day with something new. She is as smart as a whip and I think would be very ready for preschool this fall. She is also getting smart in other ways as well, if you know what I mean...how do little girls learn to be so bossy? And are all two and a half year olds always this argumentative and disobedient? She tries my patience so much each day, I'm sure I talk more to God now than ever and I honestly cannot see how the teen years could be any worse than the toddler ones!
Adjusting to life with two kids certainly has been interesting. Between all the extra laundry, dishes and cleaning to do plus having very little "me time" I find that my fuse is a lot shorter these days. Add an incessantly screaming baby and an over-worked husband to that and sometimes I wonder why I am doing this. As a SAHM it's easy to feel like you have no help, everything is wrong and that the to-do list will never end, but in the moments where I just need a good cry (or scream), I find that taking a 5 minute "time-out" can really help me get my sanity back. Those 5 minutes are spent in many different ways...enjoying a much-needed cup of coffee, sending up a tearful prayer, opening my Bible, catching up on email or facebook or sometimes just sitting and staring blankly into space. And usually once those 5 minutes are interrupted by an infant's scream or a preschooler's question, I am renewed just enough to remember that God will not give me more than what He knows I can handle!

a much overdue post

My apologies for not keeping up with the blog. I only hope I can recap the last couple months accurately. Since the last post, Chloe's potty-training has been completely successful. She wears big girl panties every day now and only during naps and nighttime or long drives do we put her in disposable pull-ups. And she has even been waking up dry the last week, so we may be even graduating from there soon as well!
On an Adaya note, her 4 month check-up in March revealed that at only 10 pounds, she has yet to double her birth weight and is at zero percentile. So, at the doc's suggestion, we began feeding her one meal of solids each day, introducing rice cereal, avocado, banana and sweet potatoes. By 5 months, she was up to 1st percentile and 11 pounds, so we began two meals a day. By 6 months a couple weeks ago, she was still under 12 pounds, so we decided to up it to 3 meals a day and have been introducing her to oatmeal, millet, peaches, pumpkin, pears and mango. We will takwe her back in for another weight check appointment in a couple weeks to see how her weight is doing by then. Thankfully the doc is not too concerned and has yet to even mention failure to thrive, considering she is meeting all her milestones: sleeping through the night, rolling over and playing with toys.



Jonathan has been very busy with work and while he is still working in Salem, he at least is able to work one day a week in the Portland office. We were considering selling the house and had been doing all sorts of fun remodeling projects like new carpet and floors until Easter, when a hot water main burst in our crawlspace and caused a lot of damage. A plumber, a home insurance claim and $10,000 worth of repairs later, we are ever so anxious to get out of this money pit, but continuing to pray for God's leading.







We have also been spending a lot of time fixing up our garden and now have everything in the ground: squash, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, beets, radishes, potatoes, peas, beans, leeks, onions, carrots, watermelon, peppers and cucumbers. Whew! Strawberries have been producing, but I still need to figure out a pest control for them and the aphids are in full-force again, but thankfully the fish oil is keeping them at bay. It looks like spring all around our yard with flowers, fruit, bluberries and all our vegetables blooming, but the weather had been raining and gloomy for weeks. Its hard to believe its even June here...or Junuary as it has been dubbed on some news stations. Chloe helped a lot, which was really sweet!







We got sad news just before Easter that Jonathan's maternal grandmother passed away in her home in California, so for a memorial service, we had an informal family gathering Easter weekend. It was sad, but also very happy to see many cousins and introduce Adaya.



For a Mother's Day gift, we had family pictures takem, which was fun, and even got a cute little shot of just the two girls...thanks to Dadda for picking out the matching outfits!



For the past Memorial Day weekend, Jonathan's dad, stepmom and neice came up to visit and we had a great time visiting the zoo, beach and eating WAY too much. It was doubly special because it was Terry and Cheryl's anniversary and Cheryl's birthday, too!



With our anniversary coming next week, Jonathan and I are excited to get away from the girls for a night and that weekend will also be the Grand Floral parade, which I know Chloe will enjoy. Then comes Jonathan's birthday and before we know it, it will be 4th of July and then the Salinas Rodeo! Hello, summer, you cannot get here fast enough!

Diary of a SAHM: The Potty Prophesies

I am holding my breath, but I do believe our two year old is now (gulp) potty-trained! While trying not to get my hopes up, every day for the last 11 days, Chloe has pooped in the potty and worn big girl panties. I even (knock on wood) have been putting her down for her naps the last two days in them. That's right boys, NO DIAPERS!
It hit me after a couple days that this might really be it, so I packed up all her cloth diapers and covers (save just a few) and replaced them with Adaya's little ones in the diaper stacker. I am so amazed at how much less laundry I have to do now, and how infrequently the diaper pail fills up [insert heavenly chorus].
She still wears a disposable to bed and disposable pull-ups when we leave the house, and even though she will pee-pee in those still, she will also tell me that she has to go...even when we are out! Granted, we still have a few accidents every couple days, and I am prepared that when we go with panties full-time, even out of the house, they will still happen for several more months. Still, we are so proud of our little girl. [Sniff Sniff] She's growing up so fast!
After potty-training on and off for several months, I cannot believe how quickly she has caught on. It is definitely true when they say you cannot force them. They sure know best when they are ready! But I still just cannot believe it!

Our California Vacation

Early February, we loaded up the mini-van and took our first roadtrip with two kids south to Salinas, California, Jonathan's hometown. The drive usually takes us about 13-14 hours and we usually do it straight through. We knew this would potentially be a disaster with a two year old and an almost three month old, but we decided to try our luck. We have heard good things about traveling with kids at night and since both girls sleep really well in the car and Adaya is close to sleeping through the night, we figured we had pretty good odds.
So at 6pm on Friday, February 5th, we were packed up and ready to hit the road. We made one stop after about an hour in Salem, for dinner and Adaya's last feeding. Both girls were in PJs and disposables and we were all geared up for the long drive. Adaya fell asleep instantly and Chloe watched movies in the backseat before drifting off around 10pm. Jon and I stayed awake while driving by listening to a book on CD, Into the Wild, which was entertaining, but a little long-winded. We stopped for gas, potty and snacks around 1 or 2am in Northern California, and I woke Adaya up to feed her. Chloe woke up too, but was back to sleep in only a little while.


Finally, at 6:30 am we pulled into Jon's Dad's drive, making record time. We were both very exhausted from only 1-2 hours sleep each on the drive, but ecstatic that we made such great time...only about 12.5 hours! Driving through the night is DEFINITELY the way to go!

We had a great time on our vacation. Slept in as much as the girls would let us, shopped, ate out at great places, watched the superbowl and Jon even worked three days with his dad at the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm Golf Tournament. Time with family was wonderful as they all enjoyed playing with Chloe and meeting and holding our new little Adaya.


The week went by way too quickly, though, and before we knew it, it was Sunday, February 14th...Valentines Day...and time to pack everything back in the mini-van and head home. We decided to spend every last minute we could with family, and since we made such good time coming down, we didn't mind leaving a little later. We finally hugged and said all our good-byes around 8pm, loaded up and prepared for another long-haul. After Chloe fell asleep again around 10pm, we listened to Marley and Me on CD and really enjoyed the light-hearted humor and tearful ending. After three stops: one for gas, Adaya feeding and snacks, another by an Oregon State Trooper for going 75 in a 55 (no ticket, though, phew!) and finally, McDonalds breakfast in the morning, we pulled into our drive at 7:30am...a new record! 11.5 hours! We spent the rest of the day resting, unpacking and making a quick grocery run.

SURPRISE!

Jonathan surprised me with a wonderful party yesterday, one and half weeks after my REAL birthday. I had no idea it was coming, which was the idea, since I have been asking for a surprise party for about a year now!


He held it at the Tualatin Claim Jumper, ironically where we had my dad's 60th surprise party almost two years ago. Jon fooled me into thinking that we were going there for a work luncheon with coworkers from his new job in Salem. Tricky!
So many friends and family were there, including my cousin Tracy and her husband who drove all the way from Bend just to attend! We had yummy appetizers and a delicious pink cake with chocolate fondant poka-dots from JaCivas which Jon designed himself!

And I even got to drink my first margherita in almost a year! A wonderful birthday, with TWO parties (and 3 cakes!!!) that will be treasured and remembered for years to come!

Potty Training Begins and Wynter Turns The Big 3-0

On Tuesday, I decided I was tired of having two kids in cloth diapers and doing baby laundry every other day, so it was time to take action. I began what I dubbed on Facebook as "Militant Potty Training," allowing Chloe to wear "big girl panties" (aka cloth training pants) and sitting her on the potty seat once an hour all day long. It went fairly well the first day: only five accidents in her panties (two of them poopie - ewww!) and only two sitting-on-the-potty-resistant melt-downs when the hourly timer went off. She didn't wake up dry from her nap, either, but overall, a very sucessfull, albeit exhausting day!
On day two (Wednesday) she woke up with a wet diaper, went pee-pee in the potty, had wet panties at the first hour of potty time, but then went poopie in the potty -YEAH! Unfortunately, the rest of the morning was not great: two more wet panties (and jeans) and no pee-pees in the potty later, she was definetley ready for a nap by 11:30 even though she usually goes down at 1. She woke up a changed toddler, though with a dry diaper, successful pee-pees in the potty and dry panties the rest of the day, even for Dadda when I left for "Mom's night out." I am now very confident that she will will only get better from now on!
On Thursday, I turned (gulp) 30. I began my morning with a 4 am feeding but couldn't go back to sleep afterwards. I laid in bed and thought about the last ten years and what the next ten might hold. Finally at 5:30 I got up, went downstairs and read my Bible, prayed and wrote in my journal. By 7 I headed back to bed and at 8 was awakened by Chloe and Adaya. Jon worked from home and sweetly made me a yummy breakfast in bed, well, actually, he had to tell me to get back into bed to eat it! Then, Chloe, Adaya and I headed to our weekly mom's group to spend the morning with my wonderful friends. On our way, I told Chloe that it was Mamma's birthday, to which she replied that no it was not.
Jon took the rest of the afternoon off and we spent the day just hanging out as a family before going to one of my favorite restaurants, the Marakesh, a very yummy Morraccan restaurant where you sit on pillows and eat with your fingers! My parents and brother Eric with his girlfriend, Shana, joined us and it was a lovely evening.


Even Chloe, who ran back and forth from sitting between her grandparents to Jon and me, enjoyed the eccentric venue and new ethnic tastes, but especially the belly-dancer! At one point Chloe turned to Jon and said, "she needs a shirt on" and when we asked if she wanted to dance with her, she replied that she couldn't because she had left her "lady" at home (lady is Chloe's word for dress or skirt) Adaya could have cared less about the evening, and despite not really sleeping much all day, was in a very good temperment.


On a potty-training note, Chloe meekly sat on the potty when I asked her to all day long...even at mom's group, but only went pee-pee in the potty once in the morning and preferred to wear diapers to panties all day long. By the end of the afternoon, we gave up on asking her to sit on the potty. Oh, well, we will resume our militance tomorrow!
It was a simply lovely birthday, and I am so thankful for all my wonderful family and friends...I love you all!

Baby Adaya is 2 months!

As of Sunday, Adaya is officially two months old and Thursday was her two month check up. She is 8.8 pounds, 21.5 inches long and about 10-20th percentile in both. At this age, Chloe was already 10 lbs, so while Adaya is still a petite little thing, she is growing fast and warming our hearts more and more each day with her sweet disposition. Like Chloe was at this age, she wants to be held all the time and hates being put down for tummy time or naps, but unlike Chloe, she is still not quite sleeping through the night. However, she has been dropping her midnight feeding fairly regularly, so I am confident there will be more sleep in the Kaiser household very soon!
Our pediatrician used silver nitrate to remove her granuloma at her appointment, so we are looking forward to seeing that heal well and her heartrate is very strong and no longer a concern. Praise the Lord!
Her smiles and coos are becoming more frequent now and she often rewards us with both after she has gotten a very full belly. Ah, good mamma's milk! She is also tolerating her big sister's attempts to "love" her more and does not cry as often when she sees Chloe coming to hold her! Sibling rivalry already? I hope not!
Other goings-on with us have been adjusting to Jon's new job, which has kept him very busy and I am trying to come to grips with turning 30 this Thursday. According to Kaylin, "30 is the new 20 and 40 the new 30" so I think I will survive!

Our New Mini Van, Grandma Beka Comes to Visit and Adaya is Dedicated at Church

On Monday of last week we finally took the plunge and traded in our 2007 Honda Accord for a 2010 Honda Odyssey EXL. We have been looking at larger vehicles for a couple weeks now and I finally made my peace with the practicality of a mini van over a Suburban. It didnt take much convincing, though, once I looked at the Odysseys - I couldn't belive how luxurious they are! At first we had our eyes on the Odyssey Touring, but they were just a little out of our price range so we moved on to the next step down, the EXL's, which have just about everything the Touring has, except the driver's seat memory, rear sensors and a few other small things. When we talked the dealership in Hillsboro down to less than invoice, we knew we had better jump on this car and it has been wonderful ever since!



Last Thursday, Jonathan's mom, Beki aka "Grandma Beka" came to visit us for a short stay. Chloe was a little shy at first since she hadn't seen her since July, but in no time at all Beka became a favorite playmate.



On friday, we took a short little drive in our new mini van to Tillamook, our closest beach. There we ate "High Tea" at La Tea Da and took the Tillamook Cheese Factory Tour. We all had a great time!



Saturday we had a liesurely morning before getting ready for church in the afternoon. There, mom and dad Shierman met us as our Pastor dedicated Adaya in front of our church family. Despite Chloe's comedic antics, it was very moving for all of us. After church we celebrated by going out to Del Taco, a favorite after-church dining experience with many of our church friends.




Sunday was just a play day at home and on Monday while Jon went to Salem for his first day in his new position, Manager of Medicare Business Relations, us girls went to play at Out of This World Pizza. We were planning on going to the zoo, but it was a bit too rainy and cold.
Jon is really enjoying his new job and while it keeps him very busy, he is very happy with it and looks forward to seeing how it will continue to develop. The long commute is not alot of fun, it is less stressful because of the way less traffic. And who knows, maybe someday we will even move closer!
Tuesday evening we took Grandma Beka back to the airport, but we look forward to seeing her and the rest of Jon's family in three weeks, when we drive down to Salinas for a week-long visit.