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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Summer Update!!

I am part of a letter writing group called the Round Robin. Members include relatives from my Grandma Stockton's side of the family - her sisters, their children and grandchildren. My grandma passed away in 2005, so it is nice to have a connection with her side of the family.

Below is the letter I am about to send off in the mail. I just realized that the last time I wrote to them, was around the same time of my last blog post, so it will serve as a good update for all my blog followers too! =)

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I suppose the biggest news I have to share is that about a week after writing my last letter to you, we found out that we are pregnant with our third child! Praise God! Currently I am 27 weeks pregnant, due in mid-December, and we found out our baby is a girl!!! Having a little girl around here will be quite a change. I’m having a baby shower in the next couple weeks and our main need is clothing. It will be fun to get all the cute girl clothes. But I’m mostly just excited to watch our family grow and meet this newest member.

John (4) and Peter (almost 2) are really excited about having a baby sister and talk about her a lot. We still haven’t figured out a name for her yet, so please keep that in your prayers. Naming a person is a daunting task! =)

We are coming off of a long and glorious summer! The weather here was so beautiful that the boys and I spent most of the time outside. John really enjoyed having all the neighbor kids out of school and would sometimes spend up to 6 hours playing outside with the other children. Here are some of our other highlights since I wrote to you last:


  • John turned 4 on May 15th! He had a “Tigger” birthday with a bunch of his friends and family. His big present from us was a big-boy bike. Over the months, he has gotten really good at it and I think it’s almost time to take off his training wheels.
  • In May, we took the boys to Great Wolf Lodge, which is a nearby indoor water park. This was our second year going and it actually wasn’t that fun for the boys (or us) because Peter had a fever the whole time and John didn’t want to be in the water. We were thinking we may not go again until the boys are older, but we recently had a lot of fun swimming in Hawaii (see below), so maybe the boys would like it next year after all...
  • Family camp with our church over Father’s Day weekend. It was great because I didn’t have to cook the whole weekend! Probably more of a treat for me than Andrew, hahaha.
  • For the 4th of July we went on a camping trip with about 5 other families. We love camping and the boys do too. Nothing better than playing in the dirt for a couple days! We camped near a river, so the boys had fun throwing rocks in the water.
  • On August 9th, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. My parents took the boys overnight and we had the house to ourselves - it was really quiet!! We spent the day exploring the nearby town of Poulsbo. Andrew surprised me by telling me that we were going to go to Hawaii in early September!! 
  • Annual Huckleberry picking camping trip with Andrew’s family happened in mid-August. This was my sixth year going, but Andrew’s family has been going for over 50 years. I love being part of his family traditions. This year was a great year for berries - what we call “huckleberry heaven.” The main thing I do with the berries is make pies, so we measure our yield in “pies-worth” which is about 4 cups. This year we got 6 pies-worth, making it our best year yet! John is actually becoming a good little picker, but Peter just feasted on berries by the handful.

We just got back from a week-long trip to Hawaii. It was so relaxing and rejuvenating. We brought the boys with us and I was surprised how well they did traveling. Even the five-hour plane ride wasn’t too bad. We got to swim in the ocean every day, visit Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay, swim in the Ko O’lina lagoons, go to the aquarium, and we enjoyed dinner twice with my Uncle Alan and Aunt Karen Stockton.

As you can see, it was a very full summer for us. Not to mention, we had weekly playdates with a group from our church. Now I am trying to settle down and prepare for home-educating John in pre-kindergarten. I just ordered some supplement books to use, but I’m going to try to focus on trips to the library, reading great books and giving him new experiences. I also have a long to-do list to prepare for our daughter’s birth. I’m in early nesting mode and see a lot of things I want to clean and organize around the house.

Swingsetmall.com just bought a new building for the business and it is currently being remodeled. It is an amazing process to witness and I am so proud of my parents and husband. The next time Robin flies by here, they will be all moved into the building and fully operating out of it! Also our little girl will probably be born and I’ll flood you all with baby pictures! =)

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Eating s'mores by the fireside

Me and my daughter!

Our beautiful baby at 20 weeks

The boys showing off their new shirts from Hawaii

Andrew and the boys in Hawaii

Dinner with my Uncle Alan and Aunt Karen