Yearly Update:)

 Somebody turned two.  We got to celebrate while staying in a beautiful beach house with Ryan's side of the family.  It was a weekend of some fun in the sun and intense praying for our beloved sister in law and their baby.  It was a special time.  And not to mention the turning of two by our sassy little survivor.  We are so grateful for her and how well she is doing.  She speaks so many words, she is walking and running and dancing to any music she hears.  Her little body is functioning so well after what it went through trying to develop.  I look at her in amazement.  The doctors told me by the time she reached two she would be all caught up but I just couldn't imagine.  She even grew 2 inches since January.

 We are living in such a beautiful place.  There are so many beaches to see and so little time so we are trying to see new ones as often as we can.  Here we are at Swamie Beach in Encinitas.  There are some cool tide pools here but we didn't get to see them because low tide was at 5 am and we didn't make it until 10 am.  I always love the stares of people we pass and can't believe we have 5 children.  It's true folks, we really have 5 kids:)

And here they are!!  They have already started school which seemed to creep up on us this summer.  #1 is now 12 and in Young Women.  She started 7th grade and is part of a new group doing a leadership course at her school.  We thought maybe she wanted to do homeschool this year but after doing a few lessons minus her friends and recess she changed her mind.

#2 is almost 10 and in 4th grade.  He loves his lego star wars figures, playing battles outside with the neighborhood posse, drawing great battle scenes, and will start soccer tomorrow.  He comes right home from school and gets all his homework done without a word from me.

#3 will be 8 a few days after her dad deploys.  In our church, 8 is when the kids are baptized.  It's been a dilemma if she should wait until dad gets home or go ahead with it and make that covenant with the Lord.  She is such a strong girl and has decided making that covenant to follow the Lord is most important and we are hoping to skype with Dad so he can be a part of it.

#4 is now 3 and is a firecracker.  She loves to play with her friends, "read" me books, carry her pacifier everywhere with her (I know that is long overdue to get that thing out of her life), ride her bike, and organize a game with her little shadow, #5.  She is a beach baby and loves to play in the sand.

#5 as you read earlier is 2 and has a mind of her own unless #4 tells her to do something.  She quickly hops too.  Every song she sings also includes #4's name:)  She has lots of babies to push around in her stroller, laughs uncontrollably when we tickle her, loves to "climb up" on dad's back, and wonder around the yard.  

We are happy and grateful for a good life.

It's time we updated you all on Annie again...and our family happenings. Today Annie had her ONE YEAR appointment! Hard to believe. She weighs 16.5 lbs (a tiny little critter!). She has a terrible ear infection, which we had no clue of since she smiles at us all the time and is such a pleasant baby. The audiologists want to place tubes in her ears, so that is our next step. We also discovered she is currently far sighted, but it is symmetrical. So, the docs think her eyes will adjust and be OK. Her hip is showing some signs of displasia--we'll watch over the next few months to see how she does with placing weight on it. She is currently off the O2 at night, but we are going to be watching her closely for proper coloring. So, Annie is growing and developing very well for a kid who chose to come a little sooner than most!

The family's happenings: I am now officially a Navy chaplain and have completed all my training. Now we are on our way to Camp Pendleton, CA to start the job! Here's what happened today:

we successfully cleared the last things from grandpa halvorsens basement--and had the wonderful surprise of visiting briefly with him and Lorraine at the SF house! We then took off from there in the packed to the brim truck and van and made our journey to Nephi where we weighed the cars at the flying J. This is for military purposes so the know our weight we are carrying and will reimburse us accordingly. After that we topped off the tanks and made our way to st George where we are now spending the night a nickis grandparents condo. Tomorrow well drive the rest of the way to camp Pendleton. Good night!

Photos

We had a few photo shoots this last week from family and friends willing to work with our crew.  It's a little hard to get these girls and one boy to all look at the camera and smile, as you can see, but we had to capture what a wonderful group we have.  

 How did we get to this point?!  Five kids to run our lives. . . I love these people with me so much.  We decided to do this before Ryan leaves us on Saturday for training.  Here's our youngest little princess who is growing so fast.

 Here's a shot of our oldest, whose also growing so fast.   She's learning to help with the two babies, reading lots of good books, writing her own stories, and ready to celebrate her birthday in a few weeks.

 Here is our latest shot of our now two year old.  She's learning all sorts of new words and combinations of words to keep us all in line.  She loves to say "Mine" and "No" but also "Excuse Me" and blowing kisses.

And now here's our cub scout that jumped on the wagon and got everything done this last week for his wolf.  He wanted to get it all complete before his dad leaves him and he's surrounded by all these females.

Last but not least, our little kindergartener.  She loves riding her bike and scooter, read books and desing fashion outfits.  They are all getting geared up for the summer months and all the transition.

 I had to add one more of the babe. . .  She's so precious and only on oxygen at night.  She is also just recovering from an ear infection.  This life has been a little harder getting started for her but she was 14 lbs at her last appointment.  She's sitting up for a minute or two before falling over, loves to put things in her mouth, and gives killer grins.  We sure love her.

Sickness

We just haven't figured out how to keep Annie in a germ-free bubble! We started out seeing signs of a cold last week. I remember, as a teacher just feeling the layer of germs on everything in an elementary school. We tried to keep everyone away but then Ruby caught it, then I caught it, then Annie caught it. She has been getting the synagis shot that is the antibody for RSV but she caught the cousin, metapnuemovirus. She's been one sick baby with an ear infection and the cold turning into bronchiolitis. Fortunately, we still have the oxygen tank. We just put her right back on and have been able to carry her through it here at home. She's still got a congested cough but she's looking so much better. Now if we could get the other kids to stop coughing we could all get some much needed sleep around here!

January

We have been partying it up around here. This is Ruby showing how much we've been eating and loving every minute of it. This kid has started talking more and more and with it she has become more of a boss. We didn't think that was possible. She follows me around the house saying, "Mom, mom". She says mom, dad, Elsie, Annie, more, drink, again, on, off, up, down, tub, yes, snack, NO, bottle (yes, I'm still giving her a bottle before bed. . .one of these days that will stop), plane, and now, Hecop which stands for helicopter. She has a love/hate relationship with them after Caleb got one for Christmas and has flown it into her "accidentally" several times.

Annie is growing up! She now weighs 11 lbs and we've weaned her off of the oxygen again. We are keeping it in the house just in case for awhile and will keep plugging her into the monitor whenever she sleeps and I can't be watching her. But look at those cheeks! She has started giving us a little giggle when we tickle under her arm, she coos, does raspberries, and still spits up more than she consumes but we've got burp cloths for that:)

Here's our scout giving his dad my pin. I don't get out much these days so Ryan got Caleb's webelos pin but handed it over once they got home. We all love scouts. Growing up without brothers I never really saw scouting in action but it has been so fun to watch Caleb. Last month they went to a leather store, talked about Native American history, and did some funny skits at Pack Meeting. I think I'm enjoying it more than Caleb:)

Here she is OFF of the O2 . . .Again

We even decided to venture out for an evening out. This was Annie's first big date, plus our first time having five kids in a restaurant. It was a little daunting but we proved to ourselves we can do it. . . We just may not try it again for awhile.
Sweet little angel baby that is for the most part sleeping through the night. She usually goes from around 10:30-6:00. She is such a smiley kid. The other day I was thinking about those days in the hospital when I was just longing to have her home with everyone else. And here we are. It has been a little hectic with two babies to keep me busy and three older kids with activities and homework to get to but I just have to think back and remember how hard that time was going back and forth to the hospital, watching her with all those cords, and tests, missing so much with the older four kids and that helps me to calm down and enjoy this crazy time. This really is the dream.

Elsie even found time to make us all laugh. She came to us one morning with two little eyeballs on her chin that she had colored, cut out, and taped on all by herself. She told us to sit down and she put on a show. That trick never goes out of style, does it?! She has really taken off with her reading, drawing, and fashion sense. She coordinates all her outfits with her favorite boots then asks me if she looks like a teenager. I need her to slow down a bit. She just started piano lessons for real this time and is loving school.

I don't have a picture of Soph this time but she is growing so much too. Literally, after not even growing one inch in 4th grade I can say she has grown almost a whole inch since. We are all so proud. She is still reading, mostly the Percy Jackson series, for the third time, writing persuasive essays about why she needs her own room or cell phone, and changing lots of diapers. We are all doing well and so happy to just be under the same roof. Bring on 2012!

Christmas

We know it hasn't been too consistent since we've gotten home but just know that no news is good news. Five kids are keeping me in line with Ryan finishing up at St. Marks and doing some days at Hill this past week. We had such a nice Christmas and felt love from so many people this season. Our family has felt concern and care over these months of back and forth. We are so grateful! As you can see, a little baby is growing up! She's tipping the scales at 9 pounds 10 ounces!