Before it begins...

Kaden as quite the cute pilgrim! He did great in his Thanksgiving program. Not that I'm biased at all. :)

Just thought I'd post one more Thanksgiving picture before we get to far into the Christmas season. Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. I'm continually overwhelmed by all that I have to be Thankful for, but especially today for God's grace and mercy. I am so unworthy and yet He continually gives me love undeserved and good gifts beyond measure. Lord, teach me to be thankful each and every day and especially as we celebrate the gift of our salvation through your Son.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Caleb in his Indian hat and holding his Turkey
Our Turkeys :)

Yes, these are the Turkeys that took me over an hour and a half to make! Yep....I'm just not that crafty, but I am pretty proud of how these two turned out, since I came up with the idea all by myself (Well, I'm sure somewhere in the world people have used paper plates and feathers to make turkeys, but I wasn't following a pattern or anything. :) Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving! May the Lord bless and keep you in His might and grace.

New Blogger

Wanted to let everyone know that my Father-in-law has started blogging. His address is

coachkvh.blogspot.com . It's called Coach's Corner. He's focusing on posting some really neat devotional blogs twice a week. They are really encouraging and challenging, as we all seek to walk this life in Honor of our Lord. Enjoy!

All Done

All done with the race

Look What God Did!

I am so thankful for God's blessing and help on the half-marathon today! I was blown away with a 1:58:08 finish time, which breaks down to a 9 min mile! I know that's not fast by most standards but I have NEVER run that fast for that long. I was number 1293...not bad out of 7000 runners! :)

It was a cold (in the low 40s) but gorgeous morning that warmed up very nicely. There was a brilliant cloudless blue sky and an even more gorgeous blue ocean. The sight of the swelling, breaking ocean was breathtaking. This run started runners in corrals based on your estimated finishing time. I had guessed that my finish time would be around 2 hours 30 min so I started WAY after the gun went off, but that turned out to be such a blessing as it was great motivation to run past people and feel like you were gaining ground. I was astounded by the sound of 7000 people running, the falling footsteps sounded like the constant pitter patter of rain. It was awesome. The course took us through an underground tunnel and what did this group of very serious adult runners start doing...honking like cars to hear the echo! :) I felt great until about mile 7 or 8 but then we hit the turn around and that was a huge boost. I felt strained again at about 10 but from there on out your just pushing to be done. It's so cool to have your name printed on your bib and random people calling out encouragement. So thankful for random people. The last .5 miles I tried to just push it out...maybe to well as I ran past Matt and the kiddos and never saw them and they didn't see me :( That was the only downer of the morning. I was ecstatic and shaky after the finish, and so grateful to see Matt and my babies, and my sweet friend Melissa and her kiddos who came out to show support. We hung out for a while and heard the winning time of 1:03!!! Unbelievable. It was amazing to watch that guy fly past us heading back to the finish while we were still headed out to the turn around! He was amazing. What I love about runners is the support they show each other. All the runners still running were screaming for the elites running past us. So fun. It was a GREAT run and such a blessing to my heart...what's next....hopefully another half soon...and a marathon, maybe once Kensington is weened. We'll see, but for today I'm so grateful for God's grace and provision in this gift that He has given me. Not a gift that makes me first so that the world will notice, but just a gift for me that blesses my heart. And also SO thankful for a husband who lets me run and train in the wee hours of the morning, who brings 3 children out to support me, and who loves me unconditionally, and who right now is out building a boat with Kaden for AWANA. So thankful for him. :) Thanks for all the prayers, may God be praised.

PS. We didn't have time to come home and shower before church so I just went stinky! So glad God cares about what's on the inside! :)

3K

Getting excited and pumped for the start of the race
Posing with the strawberries...we were a little leery of posing with the other fruits and veggies...celery was a little scary!
Almost time to run! So proud of my boy!

Kaden and I completed our first race today with a 38. 31 time! It was so much fun! Well...I had a blast. Kaden swore off of ever racing again. :) It was a long way for a first go, but he did great and really pushed it to the end. I love what cheering fans do to your ego! Monterey did a great job making it fun. There was a live band, Bubba Gumps sponsored the race so of course Forest was there and lots of food for after the race (but really who wants macaroni and cheese and hot dogs at 9 a.m.! Gross!), and the local children's museum had play stations set up, oh and lots of people dressed up like veggies and fruit. :) Such a fun way to start off race weekend. Pray for me tomorrow! Thank you Lord for the gift of running.

7 Months Old

We are happy when we eat!
Sweet messy baby face!
If I grab a fist full I might get one in my mouth!
Nope, I'll just suck my thumb :)
Kensington turned 7 months old yesterday! At the risk of sounding redundent, I can't believe how fast it's gone! She is a beauty and we fall more in love with her and her warm personality every day. Nothing brightens up the room like a Kensie smile. She is weighing in at 15 lbs and .o5 oz. she's our smallest baby but she's still got the Van Hook rolls. :)

I Like:

To Eat!

I LOVE cheerios!

I love all my veggies but green beans

I LOVE to suck my thumb

To touch hair...I think this may be an issue as we grow older since she likes to reach out and touch anyones hair...not a real respecter of personal space!

To feel things (she's very tactile)

Bath time with Daddy

To sit by myself and pull all my toys out of my basket

To help mommy do the laundry by pulling all the clothes out of the basket...and sucking on them.

Swing at the park

Talk with mommy

I love Kaden and Caleb (Caleb gets her to laugh just by making silly faces)

I Don't Like:

Being tired

Being Hungry

Being ignored

Being without Mommy

Bananas (who doesn't like bananas!)

Falling over

Being on my tummy to long

Firsts:

Sitting all by myself

Saying "da da da da"

Staring in my first pirate movie

Has this every happened to you...

So here's an odd story for you....today at school I had to stop by the office to turn something in. While there, a mom that I've met but don't know well (don't even know her name) was there as well. She is...well we'll call her "organic" :) not really a hippie but very natural. Anyways, she's talking to Kensington and Kensie grabs her finger and pulls it to her mouth. Now most people say, 'no, no baby ' and pull it away. Not today. So Kensie's chewing not only on her finger but her glove...which is dirty...She starts talking about how she hasn't had a baby chew on her finger in 7 years etc. then starts saying, "oh, it's so dirty but I guess she's just building up her immunity one bite at a time!" WHAT! Then she starts letting her chew on the other hand. At this point I don't know what to say so I babble something about she's very tactile she must like the feel of the fabric (I'm in shock a bit at this point) THEN she pulls off her gloves and says here she can have them to play with! WHAT! I don't want your gloves!!! So I try to give them back, but she's like, "no, no I'll just see you later and get them!" WHAT! So now I'm left standing in the office with a pair of dirty gloves that don't belong to me and a baby that wants to chew on them! :) Weird. So not knowing what to do I ask the secretary if I could just leave them there so they could be picked back up. I don't know if that was the best thing to do. I don't want her to think that I was rude...but I don't want them in my car for the next 3 weeks driving me crazy until I see her! So I guess the next time I see her I'll just check to see if she got them back and tell her Thank you? I guess that's what you say in this situation!

That was just a really weird way to start off Monday!

What you do...

Making the fishies "swim"

ummmm....

So this is what Caleb does when it's warm outside and doesn't have a pool...you just pretend you do! :)

Dress Up

I think he looks like Fivel the little mouse from American Tail :)
Our Israeli and Russian!

Sweet Face
A Teen, A Cowgirl, A Knight, A Superhero, and A Butterfly :)

We had a great fun filled weekend with lots of dress up opportunities. Wednesday was International night at AWANA so the boys went as an Israeli and a Russian. I just loved that they got so into it. Kaden was so proud to be where Jesus was from and Caleb was so adorable in his hat. When we got home after club, he burst through the door, stripped off his costume and said, "Look I'm still Caleb!" :)

Saturday was Kaden's last Soccer game! WooHoo! :) He did great but I think we're all looking forward to the break in our schedule. Kensie got to model her pink fuzzy hat at the game to ward of the morning fog. And the hat doubled as part of her butterfly outfit at the Harvest Festival. Kaden's school put on a Harvest Festival Saturday night. I was in charge of the K/1st grade booth. We called it the Pumpkin Toss which was just a fancy name for Bozo Buckets...which no one knew who Bozo was...they all just looked at me with very strange expressions. They OBVIOUSLY didn't grow up near Chicago! Anyways, it was a fun chaotic 3 hours but still a good way to spend the evening. This was the best family picture we got. I wish we'd gotten a better one of Kensington all dressed up...but not getting one will just give me an excuse to dress her up in her wings and tutu again! :)

So glad it's November and starting to look forward to the Holidays. Thank you Lord for your blessings each day.

A few more pictures...

Mighty Knights...very creative Knights
I just love how Kensie is gazing at Thad...hmmmm...maybe there's a future there. :)
A car full of silly kids....but where is Caleb?

He's getting the donuts with Aunt Anna! :)

Here's a few pictures of the kids in New Jersey. Each of the kids took turn being sick so we didn't really take them out a whole lot. However, we did manage to get donuts just about every day thanks to Aunt Anna's desire to spoil Caleb completely! :) Despite being sick the kids LOVED being together. It was like the never ending playdate!

Fall Pictures

All 3 kiddos at the start of the Corn Maze...oh and Charlie Brown too. I love the expression on Kensies face, "Please don't let him drop me!"
We dominated the corn maze!
Father loving on daughter
Kensington was very excited by the pumpkins.
Kaden's perfect pumpkin now named John
Caleb's pumpkin now named Pookey Head :)
A Kensie sized pumpkin. :)
This is the best picture we could get of all 3 kids in the coach. Caleb wasn't quite tall enough to see through on his own.
Sitten pretty after church.
Pretty Lady

I'm taking a break from posting New Jersey pictures in order to bring you the Van Hook Day at the Pumpkin Patch. We went back to the same Young Life patch as last year and it really took me back as I started thinking about what life was like a year ago. Wow time flies. So fun though to take Kensington through the corn maze and show her all the pumpkins. I never get tired of seeing a big brand new exciting world through a babies eyes. Thank you Lord for our precious little ones!

Kensington in NYC

Kensington and Aunt Anna on the train into New York
Kensie's (and mommies) very first NYC Parade. We were so so SO excited to see a parade in New York! It wasn't the Macy's Day Parade but it was still lots of fun. Although, it did take us a good hour to figure out why the Columbus Day Parade was all about Italy. :)
Kensington where she will some day get married...The Plaza Hotel...ok maybe not but it is a beautiful place.
Kensie hits up Time Square
A picture in front of THE Macys! Very exciting for Mommy
And last but not least a picture with the big bronze Bull in the Financial District. Why not?

So in order not to stress out, I'm just going to put up New Jersey pictures up a bit at a time.

So our first installment is our Girl's Day to New York! Anna's husband offered to watch the 4 older kiddos for us so we could go and walk New York, and by walk I mean, all the way from Central Park to the park by the Stature of Liberty and back! So fun...and so sore! :) What a great way to get a feel for the city though. It was amazing to see how the vibe changed as you moved through the different districts. Slightly disappointing not to see any celebrities, but we did stop into Serendipity, I love that movie! It'll be so fun to show Kensington these pictures someday in all her different poses around New York!

6 Months

Happy Girl
I just love her rosy cheeks
:)

Well Kensington is already 6 months and 9 days! Wow! But seeing as her 6 month birthday took place while we were in New Jersey and I still haven't got the pictures from New Jersey onto the computer these will have to do! :) We busted out the johnny jump up a few days before she turned 6 months and she seems to really enjoy it...and it's nice for mommy to have one more place to put her so that I can get things done around the house! :) You'll have to excuse the laundry room background in the pictures. It's the best place to hang her so that she can see into the kitchen and we can chat while we work. :)

I Like:

Eating!!! Peas, Carrots, and Squash

Kaden and even Caleb now :)

Chewing on everything

Laughing with Mommy

Books

Trying to eat whatever paper (i.e. grocery list or school papers) Mommy has in her hands

Sucking my thumb

Playing in my exersaucer and jump up

I Don't Like:

Not being fed on demand!

Green beans

Being away from mommy

Being tired

Teething

First:

Time to fly to New Jersey

Time to eat cheerios

Time to walk New York City (Ok mommy walked but I saw all of NYC)

We're off again

Just saying goodbye for a week. The kiddos and I are headed to New Jersey tomorrow! After we get through our first flight (4 hours and 42 min.) the rest is downhill! :) We are so excited and covet your prayers for Matt at home and us as we travel. Thanks!

Aquarium Fun

I LOVE this picture of the kiddos with their Sea Otter pal! I love that the reflection caught the joy on Kaden's face and Caleb too. Such a neat experience.
The way you want to see a shark....swimming away!
The newest addition to the aquarium. This is a "little" Great White Shark!

Just thought I'd put up a couple of pictures from the aquarium. Matt took the boys while I was on the farm. I love and am terrified of this new shark all at the same time. She is fascinating to watch but it scares every ounce of me! She makes the hammer heads and the Galapagos sharks look like puppies! They won't keep her in captivity long, and then they'll release her back out to the "wild"...oh goody....just what I want to think about the next time we go to the beach! :) I'm still trying to figure out what God was thinking when He made the Great White Sharks. Oh well, we know that He made it and when He was done He called it good! :)

Just popping in

Popping in to say hello. Fall has come to the central coast...well it's cool in the mornings but then warms up, the leaves aren't changing, cause most of the trees are cypress and don't change....but there are fall decorations up everywhere so close enough. :) However, the kiddos and I are headed to New Jersey this Saturday to visit our treasured friends and we get to stay for a whole week so I'm sure we'll get to see "real fall" soon! We are so excited. Especially Caleb since we just bought some donuts to bring on the plane! :) Thank you Lord for this increadible blessing...and guide us on our LONG day of travel!

First Food!

Getting ready for her first food (not counting rice cereal which she didn't dig at all!) So clean, so pretty.
Yum Green Beans! (Yes, I was taking the picture and feeding the baby at the same time. :)
Silly face
Messy but still pretty

We started Kensington in on solids last week. She'll be 6 months on the 11th and I was going to hold her off until then, but seeing as she was trying to grab food off of our plates and doing everything in her power to grab glasses to get a drink we figured she was ready. She's only been eating green beans and peas. She really likes the peas and isn't quite so sure about the beans. We'll keep her on this for a couple of weeks before adding more exciting things like carrots and squash! :) Hard to believe, we're at this stage already. Time flies when you're busy chasing kiddos! :)

Apple Picking!

California Orchards...very very hot and dusty...but still pretty.
Getting ready to start picking...notice how red we already are!
The apple tree were really small which made them the perfect height for all the kiddos.
What about this one?
I love apples!
Look at this one!
Inspect before picking!
Our expert apple picker
See it's pretty!
Now look how red we are!

Play time on the tractor

Yesterday we got to go apple picking with our good friends the Allans. I've been wanting to do this since last fall so a very exciting day for me! It was so so fun but also so so hot. Not quiet the cool crisp fall experience I anticipated but so much better then just buying apples at the store. :) We came home with about 30 yummy apples and some pie and got to sample some of the best apple juice I've ever had. After we got home and showered (we were very very dusty after walking through the dirt scuffing our shoes and having a hay fight) the Allan's came over for dinner and to play Apples to Apples while we ate Apple pie! :) Quite the fun themed day.

Hope everyone has a great start to their week. Happy Fall.