The Woods and the Sherwoods

. . . in the woods. Sorry, I just couldn't resist! At the beginning of September we went camping with our friends, the Woods. They invited us up to an area a couple of hours away - 'up on the rim'. Yeah, I'm not so great with geography - - so that meant pine trees and cooler temperatures.

We enjoyed dinner (thanks Rebecca!), s'mores, chatting and of course the husband photographers had their fun as well.

Mike and Ty both love mountain adventures as well as photography - (a previous adventure to Salome Jug can be seen here and here on their photography blogs). So naturally they played with their cameras this time around as well. Mike blogged his photos a few weeks ago, you can see them here if you want.

Annabelle always sleeps like a rock when we go camping, although I noticed this time around she seemed to talk in her sleep quite a bit. Asa slept pretty well until about 4:30 and then decided that he was ready to get up and play. After about an hour of him flopping around on us in the tent, Mike generously decided to take him for a sunrise hike. What a wonderful husband I have!

Annabelle, Jack and Asa pretty much just soaked up being able to play outside. Annabelle and Jack played really well together - which could very well translate that Jack is sweet with Anna even though she would constantly tell him what to do.

We all enjoyed a little dip into the river/reservoir. The highlight for me was a cooler weather picnic in a wide meadow with plenty of space for the kids to play in.

Asa tried to keep up with the big kids some of the time and picked up sticks and pine cones at other times. Either way he was determined to be dirty and eventually he sat in an old fire pit and scratched at the ash and soot with a stick.

He did come clean - but take a look at that face!

Wish you had come along?

Three, Two, One

{Three}

Sherwood baby number three is doing well. We got to take a little peek last week for my 20 week ultrasound and HE is growing a moving and all that just like he is supposed to. I am already fond of him as this has been a super easy pregnancy. I haven't been sick or anything like that. On some days I get really really tired. But that is the easiest symptom to remedy: take a nap. Or take a coma (a coma is one of those naps when you sleep so hard and drool and wake up disoriented). It seems that when I need a coma so does Asa. Perfect!

Unlike my pregnancies with Annabelle and Asa I haven't hit the 'eat gummis every single day' phase. I still like sweet things, but mostly just in moderation. I have noticed that I am more emotional. Yeah, that was unexpected. I fought back tears for the first 10 minutes of the 4th of July parade this year. I find myself feeling shoved to the side when I haven't been. At unexpected moments of slight difficulty I will suddenly become overwhelmed. It is a bit ridiculous, which is what I try to keep in mind. I just take my good friend's advice and tell myself "I'm just going through a stage right now".

Sometimes while in this stage I make lapses in nutritional judgement. Let's just say that is what happened the night I decided that we were going to have peach crepes with real whipping cream, powdered sugar and chocolate drizzled on top for dinner.

Back to our little number three. He is already fairly active. So far his little jabs and kicks have been fairly amusing. Asa loves to fall asleep laying on my chest/belly. Unknown to Asa, his little brother notices and makes sure to thump Asa several times to let him know that he is being squished.

This week at my appointment he was so active it took my RNC about 4 minutes to get his heart rate because every time she'd get him for a second he would move before she could get enough beats to get the rate. She exclaimed several times that he was a really active baby.

{Two}

This boy is my love. He is a real rascal but then he turns right around and has me wrapped around his finger again. He'll empty the recycling, climb up on the table, sneakily drop his dinner on the floor, turn the power strip for the computer off, try to get his hands in the toilet (or the 'yuck' as he calls it), throw toys down the stairs or imitate his sister when she is crying BUT most often when I scold him he'll give me a cheesy grin with a scrunched up nose so that I have to quickly turn away so that he won't see my smile. He'll snuggle up to me and bring me a book to read him. He'll remember to sign instead of grunt.

He has been picking up signs so quickly now. For a lot of them he does his own little variation but for now he is using: dog, cat, hat, telephone, book, fish, bird, eat, drink, please, thank you, help, more, again, snowman, flower, baby, and this week I have been trying to get him to say 'love'. He also shakes his head or nods to answer yes and no questions. We love being able to communicate! Of course there are always break downs (like last night when he didn't understand why I wouldn't let him eat the baby powder) but overall signing makes life so much easier.

Mike says it is time to cut his hair again. He is probably right, but if he gets really sweaty and it is humid out then he'll get curls like in this picture from the zoo.

{One}

Miss Annabelle has been in school for about a month now. Here in Arizona they start school a lot earlier in the year and most of the schools only offer full day kindergarten. I know - aren't you supposed to ease into it? For the mother's sake?

She likes going. There are ups and downs as far as having a stricter bed time or getting up in the morning goes but she is always happy about it on the way there. I was a little worried the first week because she told me "Mom, did you know that learning isn't fun?" Seriously, who let that one slip?

Since Asa and I miss her all day she is a bit of a celebrity in the afternoons. We sit and eat a snack with her, read books or play if she feels like it. Some days I think she is just ready for down time and she'll disappear into her room or watch a show.

She let slip last week that a boy at school was giving her kisses. I tried not to act too shocked so that she wouldn't get embarrassed and not tell me WHY he was kissing her. She explained that she had won candy three days in a row and that he got so excited for her that he just started kissing her cheeks and arms. Mike encouraged her to cover her face next time!

So Excited!

Meet Rachel: Rachel and I met our freshman year at BYU and through a mutual friend ended up living together at "White Gables" our sophomore year. Perhaps it was because that year was particularly challenging for each of us, or because it was just meant to be - but Rachel, our other roommates and I have remained close ever since (7 years later). What I learned about Rachel that year was that she is an AMAZING (award winning) writer, has a big heart, loves to work with people with disabilities, has a personal relationship with our savior, 2 sisters that make me still wish that just one of my brothers had been a sister, loves to snuggle, is a dedicated student and runner, loves brownies more than anyone else I have met (and I am a McKean and a Sherwood so that is saying something) and upon occasion was known to say dramatically "Stress is overtaking my body". Ha ha!

Meet Ryan: Ryan is an Idaho boy who had returned from his mission to Russia when his buddy set him up on a blind date with none other than my Rachel. Since I was already married and no longer living at 'White Gables' I heard bits and pieces of their relationship. My earliest memory of Ryan was hearing about the guy that brought Rachel a peach the week after a date. It was adorable. He seemed to compliment Rachel in every way. The summer that she went to El Salvador to volunteer at the Hogar he worked her usual summer job in Colorado at a camp with kids with disabilities.

Fast-forward 5 years: Rachel and Ryan are married and living in Buffalo, NY. Rachel is teaching high school English for her 5th year and Ryan is in his final year in dental school. Together they started their neighborhood 'cookie club' inviting kids to come over and make/eat cookies. There are knocks on the door for Mr. Ryan to come out and play. They are still in love, still happy, still hard working and still good friends of mine.

Why am I so excited: Rachel and Ryan were recently approved through LDS adoption services to be adoptive parents! The way this service works, prospective parents put their profile online for birth mothers to browse through. The birth mother (aka an angel in my book) then chooses the couple that she would like her child to be given to. It is an incredible process of self-lessness, love and compassion. Often times birth mothers also hear about couples by word of mouth. That is my intention with this post. If you know anyone that is considering adoption, please mention Rachel and Ryan. They have so much love and will be amazing parents. I am really truly excited for them to be parents. I think I'll feel like a brand new aunt again :)

Click here to view Rachel and Ryan's blog. (It is worth your time, she is a fantastic writer)

Click here to view Rachel and Ryan's adoption profile.

I have added a button to my sidebar - you are welcome to post it on your own blog to help get this exciting new out! To do so visit Rachel and Ryan's blog, copy the jibberish from underneath the button on their page and paste it into a html/java script gadget in the sidebar of your own blog. Thanks for helping spread the good news!

Highlights of Summer

'Highlights of summer?' you might ask. Yes, it is still 100 degrees outside but I feel like with the beginning of August, school starting and a few thunderstorms it feels like the perfect time for a good summer wrap up post. So here goes:

10 Great summer moments of 2010:

1. trip to Colorado for David & Clara's wedding reception: Of course their cute reception was only the beginning of the trip, but we enjoyed the next 10 days playing with grandma's, grandpas, Uncle Jake and cousins. The kids are in heaven when we are in Colorado. At my parent's house Annabelle watered the garden each morning, planted flowers and snuck treats. Asa watched intently at the walking trail out the window for dogs, conned people into taking him outside and practiced taking steps between grandma and grampster.

Every time we drove up the the Sherwood's house I would find Asa asleep in the backseat. I guess a car ride was his only downtime from all the fun :) Annabelle on the other hand would race down to the water feature in the front and eagerly agree to just get her feet wet. Yeah one soaked girl later we'd go on to the next activity of crafties, crazy Dr. Suess games, reading with Grandma, treasure hunts with cousins and so on. Asa loved the attention and outside time with Papa.

2. swimming: Annabelle took several weeks of swim lessons with friends. She can now swim underwater, come up for air and keep going. She learned a lot, but of course put her own spin on it. Instead of keeping her body stiff and straight, she would practice her 'dolphin' swim, in which she would shake her hips and bob her bum up and down. Hilarious.

We also enjoyed weekly swim play dates. Asa quickly warmed up to being in a pool and loved to 'splash' the other kids.

3. tuesday morning matinees: It was a sweet deal, $7 for a summer of movies. Annabelle looked forward to it every week. 'Mom, is it movie day yet?'

4. Asa learned to walk: he had been taking funny practice steps for about a month when all of the sudden one day he just decided he was done with crawling and started walking every where.

5. hearing a 'whoosh-whoosh' sound: I had a great Dr.'s appointment at the beginning of July and heard baby #3's sweet little heart beat. We're excited for the new addition. My official due date is 01/11/11! How cool is that?

6. celebrating the 4th of july in Prescott: we escaped the heat and the big city and enjoyed camping, watching a parade and getting rowdy at a rodeo as a family. Best family weekend of the summer for sure. Oh and Asa's first time camping. He was a champ. He just snuggled up to his momma and zonked out.

7. girls reunion: my best friend's from college and I got together for a much needed reunion/retreat in Utah for a couple of days. We went for a hike, outlet shopping, I got my first pedicure, ate junk food, laughed, stayed up way to late, reminisced and enjoyed a beautiful ride up the ski lift at sundance. It was just what I needed an more.

8. Mike & kids retreat in Utah: coincidence? I think not! Mike and the kids enjoyed time with family playing. They saw Mike's grandparents as well as his brother Sam and his family. From what I heard it was awesome, hiking, playing in the mountains and some quality cousin time for Annabelle and her hilarious cuz Isaac.

9. discovering the yummiest slush recipes to date: of course, I'll share it with you!

Blend together: 2 cups orange juice, 2 cups sherbet, 2 cups cold water, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup sugar and 3 cups of crushed ice. Enjoy!

10. family reunion: the 14 children of Mike's great grandfather have an awesome annual family reunion up in the White Mountains of Arizona. This was my first time going. It was green, beautiful, fun to meet all the other 'Arizona Sherwoods' and what is even better is that 7 of them came back to home with us for a week :)

Monsoon

So we finally got some real rain for the summer, it started off with hail for a few minute and then it rained for little while after. It cooled the weather off from 105 to 80 which was a welcome change of pace and let us get outside for a little fun. nothing beats jumping in puddles after a good storm. Annabelle and Asa had a great time, Asa was amazed at the water falling from the sky and loved playing in it. Annabelle enjoyed getting wet and even helped Asa have some fun.

- mike

Happy 4th of July!

We've had a great weekend thus far, hope you have too.

I'm grateful for the opportunities we are afforded living in this country.

Happy Independence Day!

Guess Who

Yeah! Our little Asa turned one last week. We celebrated his birthday with mud/dirt dessert which he was delighted with and insisted on sharing with each of us.

Annabelle was a good sport, but wasn't about to let that slobbery worm into her mouth! After trying to shovel as much goodness into his mouth Asa discovered the worm and sucked on it for the next 15 minutes.

Asa has developed a funny little personality. Asa says "dada", "annya", "Ahh dun" (all done), "hi" and "hiya". His best form of communication is sign language. His favorite thing in the world is dogs. He stands at the window a few times a day and pants and barks hoping to see a dog even when he is looking in our own dog-less backyard.

Above is the barking face, the bark comes out "Whoo, whooo". Below is the more predominant dog sign, panting. Which is Asa's official name/sign for dogs.

Besides dogs he also loves to to watch for birds and indicates birds by flapping his arms. Earlier this week there was a fat gutter cat in our yard, which has peaked his interest in cats, which he signs by trying to trace whiskers on his face. Other favorite signs are smacking his lips for fish, 'ball', 'more' and 'all done'.

Mike found these little sandals. Asa has been trying to walk for about a month now, when he does walk he gets this big huge excited look on his face. The most steps I have seen consecutively was 23, but he still prefers to crawl most of the time.

His favorite foods are blackberries, yogurt, scrambled eggs, potatoes in any form and almost any snack food. He is 20 1/2 lbs and 31 inches tall. He gives wet kisses with his mouth wide open. When we are in public he waves at people and waits for them to wave back, even if they aren't looking at him. He blows raspberries on my belly. He likes to wrestle and tease. He still loves to pull Annabelle's hair, although he has gotten gentler lately. He'll bite me if he is really excited. He has eight teeth. A few times a day we find him in the pantry which is now called 'The Baby Man Cave" as he likes to bang things around, admire the vacuum and empty the recycling on the the floor. Oh yeah, he loves the vacuum, garbage truck and blender. He still loves to snuggle and often will lay on my chest like a newborn to fall asleep.

New toys are fun!

We love Asa and can't get enough of his silliness. He is a real rascal and fun to be around.

Happy Birthday Asa!