Transition

We are currently in a new state of transition. Rather than being separated with Chris in the Azores and the rest of us living with my parents, we have moved to Travis and are currently living in a hotel suite on base. We are settling in and learning how to be a family of 5. Elijah is loving having Daddy around again, but he is still a little leary about whether Daddy will return every time he leaves even to go to work or to run a quick errand. We are in the process of buying a house and hoping to settle in soon. For now, the best way to reach us is through email. If you want to call us, send an email and we will get you a phone number. We just got cell phones so we can reached at all times.
Becasue of being in transition our blogging will be sporatic and will probably not have many pictures. We will try our best to keep you informed, but please be patient for the next few months as we figure this all out.

Ode to Daddy

We love you and miss you more than you know. We look forward to December 6 when we will be reunited and hopefully never have to do this again.

To all our friends and family, please keep us in your prayers. We are looking for a house to buy and it's already been a long journey and we haven't even moved there yet. Karissa has been traveling down to vacaville a couple times a month to go house hunting and nothing has grabbed us. We want something that suits our needs, has a large yard for all the kids to play in, will be in the neighborhood where God wants us to be and is within our budget. Our realtor is wonderful and is searching for "The House" for us. We are also going to be looking for a church home and look forward to a new Christian community where we can get involved.

Elijah is full of energy and is Mr Personality. He is always up for a good laugh. He found the bag of his swimmer diapers and decided they would make a great hat. When he came out of his room with the diap[er on his head Mommy and grandma busted up so he thought he was funniest thing ever and cracked up right along with us.

The Holidays Have Arrived

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing to an array of hues that bring new colors to life. There is a slight chill in the air and we get a chance to bundle and snuggle. I have traded in my Starbucks Caramel Frapuccino for a Caramel Macchiato or Salted Caramel Hot chocolate. (Do we see a theme here? Yes, I love Caramel!) Haloween just passed and we let Elijah choose the character he wanted to be. We went through the list and he really wanted to be a Heffalump. If you're not too sure what that is, look it up...it's a Winnie the Pooh Character. I couldn't find this costume for him, so we settled on Elmo, which he loved just as much.
Elijah enjoyed dressing up, but he really loved getting candy. At first he was a little hesitant about going door to door and wouldn't say the magic words "Trick or Treat" but after he realized he got candy he was very interested in the festivities. Of course he had to test the goodies before the night even began. He stole some from Grandma and Grandpa's candy jar. This is Elmo mid-tantrum because we made him hand over his candy for the pictures.

So much to do, so little time

Last night we went to my Dad's graduation. He has completed an intense course through the Placer county Police Department to be a volunteer community chaplain where he will work alongside the police departments in all the cities of Placer County. Congrats Dad!

While we were at the graduation ceremony, the girls were the center of attention, as usual. There was one Cop who was particularly taken with the girls because he has a youngin' of his own who is just getting out of the baby stage. He chatted with us a little before the graduation and kept a close eye on the girls the entire ceremony. When it was all over I handed over Alysah to his care. Here is our trouble-maker in the making; already in the hands of a Police Officer.

The family often requests I make my famous home-made torillas to accompany whatever else is for dinner. My special little helper is working alongside me to roll out the dough before cooking it. What a great helper! They are growing so fast and are already fitting comfortably into their 0-3 months clothing. Here are our two little 'Things': Thing 1 and Thing 2.

So much to say

There have been many changes in our lives, as most of you already know, but there are a few things that we haven't updated y'all on since the obvious change has been very time consuming. First of all, we are no longer headed to Incirlik Turkey. They have reassigned us to Travis AFB in CA. We are currently scheduled to arrive sometime in December. We have been house hunting because we are planning on buying, but are still in the early stages. We have mixed feelings about this transition because we were really looking forward to living in another country again and experiencing another culture (not to mention the shopping options ie Turkish rugs). We were also looking forward to more European travels, but that has come to an end for now.

We are excited about coming back to the US and settling down for a few years, finding a church home and getting involved in the community. We have truly missed intimate friendship and regular fellowship with other believers so we will take full advantage of this opportunity. Travis is also close to 'home' so we are looking forward to staying connected with our 'old friends' and letting Grandparents spend time with the kiddos!

We are thoroughly enjoying our little princesses and are all adjusting rather well. The girls are sleeping well at night and giving Mommy a little break. They are on a pretty good schedule, but still eat every 3 hours during the day. They are slowly working on sleeping through the night. In fact last night they went 7 1/2 hours! Yeah Baby Wise. For those of you who don't know what that is it's a book that teaches parents how to schedule their babies and train them to sleep through the night within the first few months of life. Without it, I think I would go insane.

Chris just left today and will be back for sure in December sometime. Elijah cried most of the way home from the airport when he realized Daddy would be gone for a while again. So we are back to life with Mommy as a single parent...Not so exciting!

2 Weeks Old

(Above) Alysah sound asleep, sleeping has never sounded so wonderful. Perhaps the parents will be able to partake someday.

(Below) The best sleep and comfort comes when our little dolls are together .

Elijah is such a good big brother. He sure loves Hannah and Alysah (and which one is which, your guess is as good as mine)

Life is Grand

I just barely made it to 37 weeks. The girls finally joined us on Tuesday September 16, 2008. Hannah Malaika was born at 11:11am weighing 5lbs 6oz and 18 1/4 inches long. Alysah Grace was born at 11:13am weighing 5lbs 1oz and 17 3/4 inches long.

We are all doing well with the adjustment and getting used to life with 3 children under the age of 3. The house is always full of activity and we have had tons of help as well as visitors. The Noll and Boon families have been an amazing help and there is no way I would have ever wanted to do this without family around. Elijah is getting used to having two little ones around. The girls are gaining weight as expected and are little eating, sleeping and pooping machines.

Week 36..The End

Well, technically I'm not at the very end, but it's in sight and just around the corner. The doctor decided he was too busy Monday morning inducing two other women so I was put on the back burner "until a later time". I have an appointment tomorrow and am going to beg and plead to have the babies right then. We'll see how it goes.
Chris has been here for a week now and we have enjoyed the time together. Elijah is a completely different child and is soaking up every second of Daddy time that he can get. It's amazing to see what a difference it makes when a family is complete. Elijah is more obedient, more joyful, he laughs all the time and just loves life. God obviously knew what he was doing when he made families complete with a man and woman. It just doesn't work the same when it's not done by His design. Anyhow, here we are enjoying our time together as a family and our last nights of great sleep for a LONG while.

More Good Times and Good Friends

Last week we had a last minute visit from our friends, the Grubb's who live in Cypress, CA. They were traveling through our area and stayed the night with us. It was definitely a full house with all the beds and floor space occupied, but we had a blast! The kids enjoyed playing and we all enjoyed the food and fellowship. Thanks for coming by to visit, entertain us, and prepare me for a house full of noisy children.

Elijah is usually in for a good laugh. Sometimes he just dissapears for a few minutes and comes back with a mischevious look on his face. Usually it's harmless, but he has discovered something new to play with or has gotten into something he knows he's not supposed to play with and it is reflected in his face. This time, Elijah had gone outside to play for a while and came back in just laughing histerically saying "grandpa's baseball" repeatedly. When we turned to see what had occurred this is what we saw:

He's always keeping us on our toes with kodak moments.

Not So Sleepy

I was feeling better so I thought it would be a good time to take pictures. Some nights I get a good night's sleep, other times I am restless, so I try to take advantage of the good times. I have no more than 17 days to go, hopefully a few less than that. I am being checked on at least twice weekly now in some form or another and everything is still looking great, acording to them, that is. I beg to differ most of the time.

33 weeks...27 more days max.

If you can't tell I am counting down the days. For those of you who are unaware of the situation, the doctor has promised to induce me on September 15 if our bundles have not yet arrived. I am feeling exhausted, which you can see in the picture. All the exhaustion is due to pregnancy, lack of excellent sleep and having to chase Elijah around. Some days I really struggle to keep up with him. I am getting more uncomfortable as the days go by, but all in all I am feeling ok. I definitely feel the weight of both babies and have no clue how women can carry more than two. I give them props.

So Much To Do

Grandpa taught Elijah the new hobby of blowing things. He thinks it is hilarious and tried to blow many objects from dust and feathers to balls. A few days after his lesson with Grandpa Elijah decided to put it to the test after playing in the water. He ran over to the dirt pile and tried to blow it away. Needless to say, his entire face was covered in mud and his eyes bothered him the rest of the night, but what a view as I captured the moment!

He has also become extrememely fascinated with motorcycles since Grandpa rides a motorcyle to work everyday. This Saturday Elijah was being Grandpa's BIG helper while they worked on the motorcyle. He even got to test the helmet! I am sure I don't need to tell everybody that Elijah gets spoiled at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but he gets new toys regularly. His newest addition is a Slip and Slide. We pulled it out today and tried to teach him how to run and slide to the end. He caught on but wasn't too sure of the actual dive at the end. Elijah has been practicing daily to keep up the Boon cycling tradition. He often raids the closets for cycling gear to test out including helmets, gloves, shoes, pumps, etc. Today he found Grandma's road shoes. He put them on and immediately ran to his own bike outside to test their efficiency.

Week 30...almost 31

Sorry it's been so long, but if I post a picture every week you won't be able to see the difference.
We went last week to take pictures to send to Daddy and here is one of the precious moments caught on camera! What a cutie!

So Many Fun Events!

It's been a while since I've posted, but life has been pretty busy. The first picture is Elijah practicing with his first toy gun. He found the fun shiny cap gun at a friends birthday party and loved the noise it made when he pulled the trigger (even though it was empty). Elijah was practicing being a photographer at the birthday party. He stopped for a pose with mommy.
Grandpa took Elijah out for the afternoon while the ladies spent some time together for a baby shower for Karissa and the two girls. Grandpa took Elijah to a farm where he spent some time with his little friend Lily and explored a fun new place.
He saw tons of animals at the farm and brought home a little eye funk (maybe pink eye) requiring a few drops. Ever since the trip, he has been obsessed with farm things: a farmer, cows, pigs, donkeys, etc. He also requests to hear "The Farmer in the Dell" on a daily basis, knows most of his animals and the sounds they all make.

After all the fun, we went to Aunt Alexa's for a little more. He enjoyed exploring the outdoors, finding bugs, and running around. I layed him down for a nap and went in to check on him later when we discovered he had covered himself with his cousins stuffed animals for a cozy nap. I guess he was feeling lonely and wanted some company during his nap.

Fun Times

Elijah loves music. He has rhythm and we are not too sure where it comes from. He sings all day long and remembers most songs. He is just beginning to sing along. I quickly captured the moment on camera when he started acting out "If you're Happy and You Know It" when he heard it on TV. Here he is clapping and being 'happy'. The funniest part is that He did this all on his own without any prompting.

Mommy also continues to grow. I know it's been a couple of weeks since I have posted a picture and there is definite change. I am in the middle of my 27th week which means I am around 9 weeks from the finish line! I have reached full -term size for a single baby which means the discomfort really begins. By the end I will probably feel like I am five or six weeks overdue. What a joy! I am due to be released from my pregnancy bondage September 15. My doctor is planning to induce me around then.

Happy Birthday

Although Elijah's birthday isn't for a few more days, we wanted to have a party today to best accomodate all our mom's with young children. It actually turned out great and everybody had fun even though it was stinkin' hot. The party was from 10:00 til noon and the tempuratures started at 100 and reached 103. It was nasty!

Elijah came in my room this morning asking if he could eat his elmo cake. He had tried to dig in yesterday when he woke up from his nap and saw it. He actually got the corner and mommy had to do some repair work. So, he was ready to party this morning. We had a few children over (mostly boys) to splash in the pool, play with water balloons, run around, eat pizza, cake and ice cream, break an Elmo pinata and then go home for nap time. It was a fun morning and Grandpa even came home during his lunch to join in the celebration.

We even had some special guests at the party including Aunt Alexa (Elijah absolutely loves to say her name!) baby Christopher, Susanna and Alison. They just came to celebrate with us and it was great to have them here. Thanks guys for coming to make it a special day.

The Wonderful Aunt Alexa and baby Christopher!
Yum yum Pizza and cake!
My favorite Grandpa!

A Weekend Full of Fun

This weekend we have been running around like crazy going to various events and visiting with people. Some of you know our friend Charlie, his wedding was on Saturday and we had the pleasure of watching it. For those of you who were too far to make it, I thought you guys might enjoy experiencing some of the photos. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding with a nice sit-down reception. Some of the pictures may look a little hazy and that is because we are in the middle of the Northern California fires. The smoke had mostly cleared by the time the wedding began, but there are still some remnants. They were brave...Melissa and Charlie sang a duet and then Charlie surprised her with a love song. They didn't even cry (at least not during the music)! Mr. and Mrs. Charles Frederick Cazin IIThe First Dance Elijah has become fascinated with Grandpa's motorcycle. For the first weeks he was satisfied just watching Grandpa come and go, but soon he wanted to join in the fun. He finally got enough courage to go down the driveway on the bike with Grandpa and looks forward to Grandpa's return so they can sit on the bike together every evening.