september sum-up

september was the month that the kisses began!

august update

i can't believe i'm just now blogging about august. august was sort of a blur & i don't have many photos of owen meeting his friends and family for the first time but here are a few moments i did manage to capture!

owen had his first bath, which he hated!

in august baby owen met his cousins and aunt steffie and uncle mike...

addie celebrated her fourth birthday with a visit from grammy

& pops.

she chose a steak dinner and frozen yogurt for dessert, what big girl choices!

it's hard to believe our precious adeline is already four. we thank God everyday for the sweet addition she is to our family. she's thoughtful and kind. she's timid and hilarious at the same time. she's a singer songwriter, storyteller, dancer, and artist. we couldn't love her more!

adeline and ella used every minute they had to play with pops. they opened a doctor's office that gave shots & haircuts with every check up.

in august we also took owen to his first baseball game to see asher play and sweet little owen slept straight through it.

2 months today

our sweet owen is getting so big. i couldn't help but snap some photos of him tonight, it seems like every morning he's twice as big as he was the night before. he's outgrown most of his newborn pajamas, i'm so glad he's growing but as his sentimental momma it also makes me cry. i love my giant boy!

lately...

owen's been sleeping a lot...

growing a lot (his feet are so big he's outgrown his tiny 0-3 month socks!)...

he's also been smiling a lot (mainly at me and addie) but i have not successfully captured his gorgeous grin on film, hopefully soon.

we took a little trip to ojai with austin's family. the girls love to stay in hotels, here they are singing on the step of our hotel. they love each other and i couldn't be more grateful for their sweet little friendship.

adeline started master's kids at church a few weeks ago. she was very excited and insisted on brining her big girl backpack. i made sure to take a picture of her first day, now every friday she reminds me that we must take a picture of the 3 of them before we leave. i think it's a cute little tradition and i'm sure i'll be thankful we did it when i look back through a year of fridays at these sweet little babies.

it's been a really busy month. i've gotten back into the swing of things and accomplished some mighty big tasks. this week all 3 kids and i went to the mall & lunch without anyone crying. we went to costco & even enjoyed a little snack & smoothie when we were done shopping. i rearranged the girls room & turned the play room into owen's new room. i never would've thought these were big feats of strength but it's funny how your perspective changes when your whole back seat if packed full of kids :)

oh boy!

this weekend some of my very sweet friends threw me & owen a shower. you can click here to see some photos on carly's blog. thanks girls, for making it such a great day!

four weeks today

owen is four weeks old today. cute little sleeping boy.

ella at four weeks

addie at four weeks

it's a boy!

owen duke was born on tuesday, august 17 at 5:30 pm

he's chubby & sleepy & his sisters are in love with him

addie loves to help and is so sweet to him

ella's concerned and compassionate, she sometimes forgets his name and calls him "that boy" but she mainly calls him nowen

we're so thankful for the Lord's kindness to us by adding this sweet boy to our family

it's 2010?

i can't believe how long it's been since i've updated the blog. it's been an interesting 2010, so here's your big update about 8 months late!

christmas is pretty much where i left off. we had a great time with family. we spent time with both of our families from new mexico who were kind enough to travel out here to be with us. the girls loved being with their cousins, aunts & uncles & both sets of grandparents.

we had a great time celebrating new years eve with my parents (complete with our traditional donuts & 7pm new years' countdown with noise makers & all!)

after christmas until april-ish there is a gap in photos. our lives were at a bit of a stand-still because of baby sickness. my last post has the only fun photos we have for that lovely season!

at the end of april the duncans came out to take us to disneyland to celebrate ella's 2nd birthday. we had a great time. the highlight for the girls was meeting tinker bell. when we walked away ella turned around and yelled, "i love you tink!" it was so cute.

in april the taylors dog had puppies. the girls got to hold them which adeline loved. she was so gentle and sweet to them. she fell in love. ella on the other hand hated it and couldn't wait to get out of there.

the girls loved easter this year. they had a great time coloring eggs with their dad. they were amazed. they had a great time celebrating with their cousins, complete with a pillow party!

this year (due to baby sickness) we didn't have a big party for ella's birthday, instead she requested ponies (which couldn't have been more surprising or further from the truth of what she really wanted) & her sweet friend abby & little brother baby noah. she had a great time riding in a wagon pulled by tiny ponies, since there was no way she was willing to get on one of the ponies with saddles. the highlight of the day was riding a little train. we ended the night with a family pizza party, an ice-cream cake & a pillow party. our little 2 year old loved it!

the wagon ride

on the train with the graumans

i can't believe our little ella is already 2. she's sweet and sassy. she makes us laugh and we are so thankful for her. we love our sweet lolly bird!

for her birthday grammy and pops got a playhouse for the backyard. the girls love it. it's become a pie shop that also sells lipstick, nail polish and hats. sometimes the waitresses throw your food at you and ella's been known to eat any pretend money you give her, but other than that, it's a great place to eat or get cosmetics :)

we did a little backyard sprinkler fun in may

this is one of the dangerous things the girls figured out they can do, put ella in the baby doll stroller. yikes. i sure hope that doesn't happen with the new little sibling!

ella got a big girl bed and promptly invited her sister in for some snuggles!

since the baby is on it's way we planned to have adeline's 4th birthday party a little early this year. unfortunately the girls caught a nasty virus that lasted FOREVER and wasn't gone by the time the party rolled around so we had to cancel it. thankfully adeline's grandpa and grandma duncan and her favorite miss cammy & erika still came by for a little chinese food, chopsticks, cupcakes & gum (all of the things addie wanted for her party!). she had a great day despite her high fever, what a trooper.

we love our soon to be four year old. she's so sweet and couldn't be more precious to us.

so that's the update. hopefully the next update will be of the arrival of baby d!