Fourth of July

We had a glorious sunny day! At the parade Meadow waved her Canadian flag instead! Perhaps she needs a history lesson.

Our friends Josh and Melanie Drenkpohl from Seattle spent the weekend with us. We enjoyed visiting with them, and playing cards and going to the beach. Ashlen patriotically held her flag at the parade. Here she's saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I think she enjoyed her first 4th of July! I wasn't even pregnant yet a year ago. The Clover Pass school bus was in the parade! Pastor Dave walked along side and handed out information.
The kids each got a nice pile of candy!

It was a fun day. We even stayed up for fireworks, which ended up looking like colored light flashing behind a big cloud of smoke and fog! We got an occasional glimpse of the bottom half of a lower firework. The kids enjoyed it anyway!

Smarty Pants

Today in the middle of praying for lunch, Meadow stopped and asked, "Can I just pray for all the food in the refrigerator and cupboards so it will be blessed, and then we never have to pray again?" :)

4 Little Cuties

Here's a quick update...

Meadow is posing for the camera. :) She loves going in the water at the beach and pretends to be a mermaid. Only Logan (and his uncle William) would wear long sleeves, long shorts, and rubber boots (of which I didn't get a picture) on an 80 degree day! He wore boots so his feet wouldn't get wet!I think Brennen needs some batting lessons!
And last but not least, here's adorable Ashlen Rain, who has become a happy little smiler and cries much less now, thankfully!

Some days are good, others I feel like I spend the whole day correcting and disciplining, and trying to stay sane! Matthew is staying very busy with building jobs, Alaska Airlines, and church activities.

Meadow's Graduation

On Thursday Meadow graduated from preschool! Miss Mandy said Meadow was one of her most creative students who loves to draw and imitate animals. Meadow was so excited about awards night, and she loved being up on the stage! She has really enjoyed preschool, and knows all the letters and most of their sounds. I'm hoping to teach her to read this summer. I think she's ready for it!

Seattle

Last weekend Matthew and I took Brennen and Ashlen on a trip to Seattle. Downtown Ketchikan to downtown Seattle

Ashlen did very well on her first flight! She fussed at first, then fell asleep for the rest of it.


Auntie Christy met us at the airport

The weather was sunny and warm, but Matthew mostly enjoyed the uninterrupted time to read. Here he is at the beach on Whitby Island.

The Road Trip

Our trip involved a little shopping of course, then we joined Christy on a road trip to Port Townsend where she had to visit a patient for work. It was a three hour drive, but the scenery was pretty and the kids did quite well! On the way back we took a ferry to Whitby Island, where we stopped at a lovely sandy beach. Ashlen got to dip her toes in the ocean for the first time. She didn't mind at all! Maybe she'll join me in the Arctic ocean someday! Brennen loved playing in the sand!
Next we took another ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo. Brennen enjoyed looking out the window at the water. The wind was too cold to be outside.

This was at the end of a long day on the way back to Auntie Christy's house. Brennen was a tired but happy boy covered in spilled juice and sand which was stuck to the juice, then in a nice dousing of chocolate milk! He didn't mind a bit! He just happily sang and drummed with straws all the way home! We've found all it takes to keep him entertained is anything that resembles drum sticks!

Ashlen was a little less thrilled! She serenaded us with screaming throughout the trip!

Pics from San Marcos

My parents just returned from a visit to Mexico, so I decided to post some of their pictures.
Here's David with some friends. He will be 10 in September! My, how time flies!

Emily
Lane

Here is the church. Looks nice!

And the Children's Home all finished! They even have their first kid, although he will be temporary. None of this was here when we last visited 2 years ago!

And Katie and William of course! Not the best picture, but it was the only one with them together.

Matthew at work

Can you find Matthew in this picture?
This plane has the latest special paint scheme, "Spirit of Alaska Statehood". They had a paint the plane contest for school kids, and the winner who designed this one was a 16 year old from Sitka. Unfortunately Meadow was too young to enter. (And I was too old!)

New Pets

We have a few new family members! Meadow takes good care of them. She plays them a lullaby from this music box each night before bed! We each chose a fish. Logan's is the grey one named Thunder And Lightning, Ashlen's is the white and yellow guppy named Lemon, Brennen and & each chose Neons named Flash and Flashy, Meadow's was the orange swordtail named Swimmy, and Matthew's is a Gourami down in the right corner named Daddy. Unfortunately Swimmy and one of the neons have since passed away. We plan to get new ones sometime. I like having fish again!

Ashlen Events

Ashlen and I had a surprise visit from Auntie Christy! Matthew gave her a pass to come for the weekend!
On Saturday Rosie hosted a very nice baby shower for us! Meadow helped open the presents.

Even Helen and Jenn took part by making a DVD about life with 4 kids. Thanks you guys! It was good to hear from you! I'm glad you could join us from afar!

Ashlen enjoyed all the holding by the ladies!

Then on Sunday we dedicated her to God, showing that we put her in God's hands and will teach her to know and honor Him. Of course she will have to choose to follow him when she is old enough. (In case someone reading this doesn't know what this dedication means.) Grandpa Cooke was glad to do the dedication for the first time with one of his grandchildren!

Sisters & Brothers

Meadow is a very good big sister! She wants me to have 20 babies!

Another attempt at a picture of all 4 kids. Oh well, maybe we'll manage to get one by the time they're in high school!..Or will someone still be fussing?

The family

Here are some family pictures. Sisters!

Grandma and Grandpa Cooke

Grandma and Grandpa John

Our attempt at a family photo. Brennen just wanted out of there!

The kids are all warming up to their new sister now, but at first they wouldn't go near her. Logan shows the most interest, and likes giving her kisses. They still like to call her Cookie Doh! Tonight is our first night with all the kids home. The grandparents have had them for the last few days so I could recover in peace and quiet! Matthew will be off work for 2 more days. It has been very relaxing. She's a pretty good baby, but likes to be held all the time, and wants to feed about every hour! She sleeps for 2-3 hours at a time at night. I know that will get better soon!

The Arrival of Cookie Doh

Amazing! Beautiful Ashlen Rain was born naturally (not induced like all the others!) on her due date, April 10th, which was Matthew's birthday! She weighed 7# 9oz and was 20" long. I couldn't ask for anything more perfect, except I should have known better when to leave for the hospital! After having regular contractions all day, I spent the evening at my parents house which is closer to the hospital in case I needed to go in. Fortunately the kids spent the night there. Around midnight my contractions were 8-12 minutes apart, but didn't seem all that strong, so I called the hospital to see if I should come in, and the nurse told me to wait till they were 5-2 minutes apart! (Very bad advice for a 4th baby on someone with fast labors!) So we went home to sleep, which I didn't much. At around 5:10 AM I got up to use the bathroom and suddenly my 10 minute not so bad contractions got very strong and came every 3 minutes! By the time I got back to bed, I was feeling the need to push! We got out the door as fast as we could, and Matthew sped to the hospital. It was scary thinking the baby might really be born in the car, and then in the elevator as Matthew pushed me in a wheelchair up to OB. It still makes me shudder to think about it! We made it to the room, and that same nurse kept telling me not to push because the midwife wasn't there yet. "Just breathe through it." I hate that! I'd been "breathing through it" for the last half hour! Then a nurse with many years of experience came in and told me to go ahead. After 1 big push Ashlen was born at 5:46 AM less than 10 minutes after arriving to the hospital! The midwife arrived a few minutes later. Oops!

Anyway, enough of the details... here she is about a half hour old! We were very happy to have another girl!

First bath. She hated it!

One of the few times she opened her eyes.

Good daddy changing the first diapers.

Ashlen Rain

Here she is!

Logan is 3 ...almost!

Today we celebrated Logan's Birthday! His real B-day is April 20, but we decided to celebrate early because the grandparents are leaving on his birthday, and Cookie Doh could come any day! His three best buddies came- Benaiah, Gavin, and Kegan, with sisters and mommies. Also grandparents, of course! I'm glad everyone could come at such short notice, runny noses and all! Matthew made a new friend! Kegan helped him play the Happy Birthday song.

Having lunch

Logan had a blue cake with Lego's on top, because he always makes cakes out of his Lego's and cooks them in his kitchen. I couldn't get his candles to light, so he just had to blow out the lighter!

He enjoyed his blue cake with blue frosting and blue ice cream! Everyone had blue faces and teeth afterward!

It was a fun party. He's been excited about his birthday for the last 4 months! He has been asking almost every day for a blue balloon (which lasted about 5 minutes before getting popped) and blue cake.