Just some pics of the kids...

Baby Jane

Jane Olivia Hill

August 15th 8:30AM

7lbs 6oz 19.5in

Well the story is not all too exciting- no mad dash to the hospital or intense contractions. Baby girl was a scheduled c-section and everything went really smooth. Nate and I show up to the hospital (banner gateway) at 5:30 in the morning and after a little waiting I was wheeled in to the operating room around 8:00. Dr Beck did a great job and the surgery went well and fast. By far this has been my easiest delivery and recovery.

Baby girl was perfectly healthy other than a little bit of Jaundice that has already gone away. At her two week checkup she weighed 7lbs 9oz. 3 more ounces than her birth weight.These boys have been so, so sweet with her. In fact, as I'm writing this post, Aaron is holding Jane and making little faces at her.

Below is baby girl "sunbathing" to help her jaundice. I love this picture. David has been so very sweet with sister and the blanket was made by my dear friend, Sara Beth.

We are so happy she's here!

Every 6month+ pregnant woman should have one of these...

Caribbean Cruise

This post has been in my editing archive for a long time now..... the pictures are out of order but I'm just going to put it out there. Way back in Feb, Nate and I went on a Caribbean Cruise without the kids. So awesome! Thanks to the Whitings for watching the boys.

This first pic is of the boys when we got back. I just love Aaron's death scowl here- he was mad at us for leaving him I guess.

I think he's forgiven us by now.

Deep inside the jungle where nature's .....

Cruise ship in the background. Check out my sweet five dollar shades I bought out of some guys coat.

Sailing out to sting ray city in Grand Caymen. There we got into waist deep water and fed crazy-big sting rays squid.

Maybe this is the start of me blogging again?!? Maybe.... or maybe not.

Snowy Days

I let the boys play outside in the snow the other day. David started throwing snowballs at Aaron's face. At first I tried to stop him..... but Aaron apparently thought it was hilarious.

Later, Nate and I took them sledding down the hill in our backyard. Ahh- they had so much fun.

I'm going to miss the snow when we move to AZ.... well some things about the snow.

Family Pics

Alright, alright, alright I'll update my blog! Just stop with the harassing emails and text messages....

A few weeks ago we had a friend come to our house and take some family photos. David, of course, wouldn't smile for the camera. He's such a character these days.

David's 2nd Birthday Party

It was hard to decide on the theme for David's 2nd birthday party. He is into so many different things these days that whatever it was, he is happy as long as there is cake. Luckily, or not so luckily depending on who you are, last week David saw several firetrucks speed by with their lights and sirens blazing and all he wanted was "more fire trucks, more fire trucks." So we are sorry for whomever dialed 9-1-1, but we are glad David let us know what he really likes.


Putting together a fireman theme from scratch was somewhat of a challenge because we weren't sure how to safely entertain young and impressionable children around a firefighter theme short of lighting the trash can on fire and putting it out with a garden hose (Nate's first idea that was quickly overruled). We finally came up with a few (safe) ideas for games and had seen enough "Ace of Cakes" to confidently build our own cake.

Braiden, Caleb, and Dayson almost believed Uncle Nate when he said he practiced witchcraft to make the water smoke. Actually, Nate went crazy with dry ice trying to make everything seem smokey and thus need firefighter's to put out a not so real fire.

True to form, after several displays of magic smoke, he stopped responding to "Nate" and insisted everyone refer to him as "The Master of Special Effects." Of course, no one did, but that just encouraged him to try harder with his special effects projects and he ultimately sliced his finger pretty badly carving a watermelon. Unfortunately, he was also in charge of taking photos, so his better displays never made onto the camera because he was so busy making sure his props were sufficiently filled with dry ice. One of his better ideas was to move the playhouse near the back patio where we were, and set up several dry ice containers that made it slightly appear to be smoking. The kids all competed to see who could dump the most pales of water in one minute.

Laura put together a cake that made all the kids ohhh and ahhh. It was a burning house with a firetruck on the scene and firemen frantically at work. Nate tried to make it smoke, but his dry ice didn't work as well as he promised it would. David really liked it and only needed two tries to blow out his two candles.

Poor little Aaron was mostly forgotten. Although we really try hard to avoid inflicting an early case of middle-child-syndrom, he honestly just gets put somewhere (like a stroller) while we try to deal with hosting the party. You can see him here, lucky enough to have documented evidence of his existence, scowling at us for not paying more attention to him, and gnawing on someone's leftover watermelon rind. Aaron, we promise to make it up to you.