Our newest love

Please welcome Ford Lawrence.  The most darling new member of our family.  Born February 9, 2012 at 7:15 PM, weighing 7 lbs 5 oz and measuring in at 20 inches. He was officially one week and 2 days late....I so was not a fan of that wait.  But we couldn't be happier that he is here!

I'm realizing we really need to work on taking more pictures of this guy.  We've been in survival mode since mom Lawrence went home.  Our kiddos are thrilled with all the shows they get to watch and wii we let them play and I'm remembering how much time just feeding a newborn takes (not that I'm complaining!  Just look at that sweet face-- how can you complain when you get to spend all day looking into that?)     

I have to say Little Ford's birth was awesome.  My first truly, all-the-way natural birth and probably (I know you won't believe this) my least painful.  I've gained a whole new appreciation for how amazing our bodies are.

Judd and Wren are loving their new brother and Steve and I are getting used to our new roles as full-time body guards.  Little Ford still gets lots of pokes in his eyes and ears.  What can you do?

And so life we three little ones is happening at the Platt house and we are slowly but surely getting into the groove.  At least I hope.    

One week and three days

Until go time, folks.

And I am excited.  very.  extrememly.  excited!!!!

What am I talking about?  Well, in one week and three days Jan 31 marks the estimated arrival of Platt baby #3.  And I can't wait to meet this little person (and kiss them....and pinch their little cheekers.....).  Course, we all know the thing about due dates.  They are silly things.  You get so excited.  You can't help but gear up for this date and......it turns out to be a no show. I almost wish they gave you a due zone.  You know, you should look forward to giving birth sometime in this 3 week period.  But I digress.

Point being, we are so in love with this little person already.  Wren loves to talk about how she will help the baby (bringing them drinks of water....for some reason that is the ultimate in helping when we get on the subject :)).  Judd can't wait to read the baby books.  Steve and I look forward to seeing this little mover.  This has been our most responsive little babe so far.  For my other pregnancies, it seemed as soon as Stevo put his hand on my belly to feel the baby move the baby got shy, but this guy LOVES to be the center of attention.  As soon as he feels any taps or even the pressure of a hand he pushes back, kicks his feet out and is generally social.  Who is this little person going to be? And, lets be serious, we're all excited to be done picking a name.   We're pretty set on a girl name but a boy name is a little more elusive for us.  We would love suggestions.

Here's to a super fast week and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Just a few shots to show you our post dinner faces.  All I wanted  was a quick photo to share our day with family but.....well, you can see that was difficult :).   This year is our first year celebrating Turkey Day away from all real family.  And we miss you and love you all. We are so very thankful for our Platt and Lawrence families, all of you.  And our friend family --there's too many  to name you all:).  You all make our lives happy.

Don't think lack of real family kept us from celebrating in true wonderful/wild family style.  Thanks to our awesome WI family we just got done with a seriously delicious dinner, lots of good convo (for mom and dad) and a heavy dose of loud and crazy running, wrestling and general having of fun (for Judd and Wren-a-len.)  There was a beautiful turkey, which tasted as good as it looked.  And SO much food (remind me to post a great stuffing recipe on here....my absolute fave).  It was such a good time we couldn't feel homesick a bit.

We hope you all had a happy day of Thanksgiving.  And in true thanksgiving day style here are just a few of the things we are thankful for.

Judd:  my toys and Starwars legos and legos (different kinds) and Starwars Wii and swordfighting
Wii

Wren: my talking baby I got for my birthday and talking baby and brother's birthday and that I can play with my babies and that I can play with babies today

Loni:  Steve, Judd, Wren, Baby #3, good food, the gospel, missions, bacon, ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips, and friends and family

Steve:  ??  We can guess but he's actually back at work so.....we know he's thankful though:)

New Babies

My little sister is due to have her first baby in just over a week.  I can hardly wait!!!

Just wanted to share the excitement:).

first day of Preschool

Judd's first day of Preschool.  (W had to put on her backpack,too.)

Grandma was visiting and got to make the drop off with us. 

Don't ask J to smile for a picture.....that is the face you'll get.

Our little man is in preschool!  And loving it.  Today he brought home a bat on a stick he had made.....its been the most popular toy at our house since.  It is a pretty neat school, I think.  Every week each child gets a special classroom job.  My favorite is the "journal" job.  The journal child has the job of sitting down with the teacher and explaining exactly what they did that day in their own words.  The teacher writes down exactly what they say and puts the journal where all the parents can see it at pickup time.  Its always a good read.  Judd's teacher sends home a weekly summary of what they are learning and has all kinds of small and large motor activities planned.

I went back and forth on whether this was the right time to start J in a real school. Its only twice a week for 2 1/2 hours and nothing too vigorous.  But I had a little voice in the back of my mind whispering all kinds of little anxious questions.  Is he too young?  Should I just try to do a joy school?  Is homeschooling the better option? (I honestly look up to the parents who homeschool.  I think its awesome but just don't know if I'm personally ready for the job.   There is a little guilt there, though....does anyone else feel the same?)  I went back and forth, even up to the morning I dropped my little man off.  When I got to that point I just couldn't bear to tell my guy that he couldn't go to school after all (he was beyond excited).  So I went home and made cookies (I want our family to have the first day of school tradition of milk and cookies waiting at home :)) We went and picked him up and over cookies he told us he loved his day and his teacher and that he had a special job in his class (he was the plant waterer).    He wasn't unsure or shy, he was so confident and happy.  And that did it for me.

And truly, this school has been a blessing for us.  Judd thinks school is awesome.  He makes all kinds of fun art projects that he brings home (where do I hang all these things.....).  They have taken him (in a real school bus, nonetheless!!) to a pumpkin patch and the fire station.  Wren and I made the trip to the pumpkin patch with him and had a great time.  And you know,  I have loved having a little "mommy school" time with Wren at home.  Its our little one and one time.   Plus we do do little shopping time without an excited/loud 4-year-old.

So, whew, motherhood for me has so many "I hope I'm doing the right thing" moments but I think in this case we did ok.  Anyway, Judd looks so cute in his backpack.

15 minutes and early Halloween kiddos!

Happy early Halloween from Darth Vader and Miss Strawberry!

Last Thursday we had a fun rotating Halloween party in our neighborhood. Each house had a different activity. Our kiddos got to decorated cookies, made magnets, played pumpkin bowling, read spooky stories, put together/just ate fun veggie animals, and, at our house, we got to have a jack-o-lantern scavenger hunt. It was, as Judders said, "The best day ever".

My favorite thing is watching the kiddos get so excited to dress up. I made my boys little cape (photo finish) the afternoon before the party and while I was helping him put it on Sister asked where her cape was. So, this morning, while Brother was at school, the Wrenner-babes and I made a strawberry cape. love it.

One of my favorite mommy blogs to read is 71toes.com. It inspires me to be a more present mother. love it.

So one of her recent posts was about how much time blogging takes. AMEN! I think that may be the main reason I don't do as much as I should.....especially with our family so far away. She decided to limit her blogging to 15 minutes a morning as a way to open up more time to be with her family. I saw that and a little lightbulb went off! Its Genius! Why have I never thought of just limiting the time so I don't spend forever posting and hating it?

So my friends, here we go. Let the 15 min blog experiment begin. or end. My 15 minutes is up :).

Amish friends

So I realize that a month has passed since I dangled that juicy little tidbit about our 'amish friends'. Well, the time has come for the whole fun story.

It starts with Loni wanting to dabble in the world of Community Shared Agriculture (see more on CSA here.) But once upon a time all the CSA boxes she could find cost more than she wanted to spend. Then one Saturday morning, Loni and Co. were wandering around the farmers market (one of Loni's most favorite hangouts) and there she found a golden sign and heard angels singing. Ok, no angels, but there was a handwritten sign on yellow paper that read "Ask about our CSA box." So I did. And the stand/farm owner just happens to be Amish and the CSA boxes they offer just happen to be inexpensive and full of beautiful heritage veggies.

We signed up for a whole year immediately and started getting boxes the first week in August. I love the veggies. We're talking, huge yellow, green, and red heritage tomatoes. Crispy green beans, picked that morning. Delicate little beets with the greens still on them (so yummy just boiled and finished with butter.....beet greens :)......yummmmm) Yukon potatos. Melons that I can't even identify. Brown speckled eggs. Fresh garlic--use with caution--EXTREMELY strong (the pesto we made from this stuff didn't just rock our socks, it blew them straight off and across the room). And most recently? Apples, homemade apple cider and --the very best of all--homemade brown bread and rolls.

All of it is so delicious but the coolest part? We are helping support little families just like ours. Our box comes from 2 farming Amish brothers. The brother we mostly talk to is the father of 6, his youngest was just born the end of August and is truly one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He's sincere and serious with hands stained by hard work and chat sprinkled with old-fashioned sayings. The whole interaction/delicious veggie experience is just delightful. Looking forward each Friday to picking up my CSA box has just made my summer. As it starts to get colder we'll only get our boxes ever 2 weeks but they'll be full of all kinds of root veggies, popcorn, herbs.....I'm so excited.

So the questions on my mind today is 'What will I get in my box?' and 'What kind of yummy things do I get to make this week?'

LOVE IT!