Round one

Fall is on the way and we can tell as we just got over round one of sickness. Hopefully we'll be healthy now for a little while at least. We did manage to go to the zoo last weekend and unfortunately I didn't get many pictures as my hands were too full! It was fun, though and a beautiful day. Now, whenever we see an animal that we saw at the zoo in a book or on a movie, Will nods his head like, "yeah, I've seen that before."
John's been traveling a lot--fall is always busy that way. Hopefully he'll drum up some good business!
Today was my first day of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) with the kids. It's a time for fellow moms to learn from each other and from God's word. I'm excited to make some new friends as still don't have many close friendships with other moms. Child care is provided which is great, and Will actually had a great time even though he was in the nursery for almost 3 hours. This is HUGE for him as he historically has hated the nursery.

Will at the zoo

The huge car-grocery cart-nightmare to maneuver-mobile

Janie trying to roll over

A dejected Jake Locker

Cousins & Cooing

Cousins Clara and Jane got to hang out on the Farley's floor today:



Will enjoyed reliving his glory days in Clara's exer-saucer:

Jane is cooing:


Can you tell I love my kids? I can't stop taking pictures:

Temecula

We just returned from a fun whirlwind trip to Southern California. It was Jane's first plane ride and Will's first time with his own seat on the plane. The flight down went really well. The flight home, well, let's just put it this way. At one point, John leaned over to me and said, "I kind of hope the plane goes down."

Despite the joys of traveling with two kids under age 2, our trip was great. It turned into quite a cousin reunion. We were joined by Amy, Timmy and Caleb Stark who were visiting from Cold Lake, Canada while David was doing some flight training up in Iceland of all places. Beth Clauson, another cousin, also flew down from San Francisco. Finally, Chris Clauson, yet another cousin, drove over from San Diego.
During our visit, there were a total of 6 kids under age 3 (Caleb, Timmy, Will, Brielle, Cadence and Jane), and 2 babies in utero (don't worry, not us!) which made for quite an adventure. I never managed to get a picture with all the kids in the frame--impossible.
We had a great time swimming, and just enjoying each other's company. Josh and Tiff are always wonderful hosts--thanks guys!

Brielle and Jane

Swimming in the pool

Timmy, Caleb and Amy Stark

Timmy

Beth and Jane

Josh giving his girls a swim lesson

Janie on her way to church

Tiff entertaining four of the six kids

Johnny multi-tasking

One last gold for USA

Last night Team USA stole the bocce title from Dirty Santa in the 4th Annual Young Life Bocce Tournament.

Dirty Santa


Team USA


Bandana Bocce Ball Babes (with Babies, Jane and Clara)


Will and Jane together! (hard to get pics of them together)


Little Husky

Celebrations

It's seems we have a lot to celebrate...
-We celebrated my brother's #28 in West Seattle Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but it was very fun. There were literally about 15 children under age 2 at the event so it was a very wonderfully chaotic event.
-Our friend, Kate is getting married next weekend in Maui so we had a Hawaii-themed shower for her this weekend. Congrats, Ted & Kate!
-We also celebrated Andrew Barfoot's #27 with a bbq last night.

We are looking forward to a trip to Southern California this coming weekend for our second -annual Labor Day Weekend adventure with our cousins, Josh, Tiffany and girls.

Here are some pictures:
Barfoot and his cake

The boys (Phil, Andrew, John and Bryson)

Christy and I at Kate's shower
The hostesses and bride-to-be
Our wonderful bundle

Will and Jane "playing" together

A Day in the life

Sometimes people ask what I do every day while being a stay at home mom. Besides the obvious (get up, get kids dressed, feed kids, get kids to nap, etc) which takes about 3 times as long as normal, we actually get to do a lot of fun things. With Will getting older and more aware of the world around him, we find ourselves looking for more places to explore. We go to the zoo, the aquarium, to the park, for walks, to the museum, and basically anywhere that will allow small children to run loose. It's been a bit tougher with Jane in tow, since I can't chase after a very active toddler quite as easily, but we're getting the hang of it. (I am avoiding Costco and Target like the plague, because I have visions of Will running through the aisles and not being able to catch him).
Anyway, life is good and I'm very thankful to be around every day to be with our beautiful children:

Here are a few pictures of the past week at Kelsey Creek Farm (free and fun place for kids to look at animals) and also of a play time we hosted with toddlers around Will's age:

Kelsey Creek



Will trying to play with Jane--she loves watching him!

Will and his new friends, Iman and Adam

Van and Simran

One happy boy

Harrah

We headed to the St. Hilaire household in Harrah, WA (near Yakima) for a mini-reunion with some SPU friends this weekend. Lots is going on with this group: babies, weddings, careers, so there was lots to catch up on. Thank you CJ and Jen for all you did. In another life, I think I would've liked to live in the country like you ...you never know, it could still happen :-) We love you guys!
I stole some pics from Jen's web album:
Swimming pool races

My little swimmer

Janie

Becky and Hale (5 months)

The girls (minus Kate)