He's 4 months old!

Our sweet boy, Jared is 4 month old today!

He is such a sweet, chubby, smiley boy!   

This was his first time in the ExerSaucer and he loved it!

Although not an official weight from the doctor's office, when we weigh him he is about 18 pounds!  He likes watching the girls jump and dance around - they can usually get him to laugh doing this.  He loves being held and he likes to see what is going on.  He is just about a hip-baby (where I can walk around with him on my hip).  There is usually something in his mouth, either both of his hands or his thumb or a toy or a burp rag - silly boy!  He is still sleeping well at night and taking good naps (awesome!).  

Now, if his older sisters would just sleep through the night, we'd be getting some good sleep!  ;)

They are all three precious and we enjoy them!  Thankful for the blessings God has given us!

Here are all three kiddos at 4 months:

Us lately

Jared's super excited that his sisters are playing with him...and that he can see Mommy.  :)  The girls wear "dress-up" clothes just about everyday, all day.  Thanks Abby for all the dress-up clothes!

Reading with the kiddos before bedtime.

Josh took Shelby on a date Friday night!  He brought her flower and they went to dinner and dessert, and did a little shopping.  They had a blast!  

Jared, Vivian and I stayed home, watched a movie and ate ice cream.  :)

This is Shelby's favorite thing to do ~ walk around holding Jared.  She is very strong and does a good job, but don't worry, we keep her close by.

Daddy and Vivian working on the dishwasher.

We've had a great summer and it feels like it will never end.  But I'm sure cooler weather will come and bring us Fall ~ we love Fall!  Hope you are having a nice weekend!

Healthy Bars

I don't normally post any food things, but these "Healthy Bars" are so yummy!  They are a great replacement (healthy alternative) for cookies!  Enjoy!

Healthy Bars

In Food Processor:

2 c. raw almonds

1/2 c. coconut (flakes or shavings, etc)

1/4 c. ground flax seed

       Process like sand.

12 prunes

       Process like sand.

Add:

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. coconut oil (liquid state)

2 Tbs. maple syrup

1-2 tsp. vanilla

Press into an 8x8 pan. Can top it with melted dark chocolate chips. Refrigerate. Cut before all the way hard so as not to chip chocolate.

As you can see, I waited too long to cut the bars, so the chocolate is chipped.  But it still tastes great!!! 

VACATION!!!!

We were in our house here in Wenatchee for about a month when we left for vacation.  Now that we are back home and settled in I wanted to share some pictures.  This vacation we took was so much fun!!!

First we drove (yikes!) to Gothenburg, NE for Josh's cousin's daughter's wedding.  ;)  We had a blast with family there.  To see those pictures, go here: NE Trip 7/14.  The girls had been swimming in Richland with the Bonus kids the weekend before we left, so when we were in Gothenburg they wanted to swim at the hotel pool.  Swimming with the Bonus kids was the first time the girls let go of the wall and actually swam around the pool, with a floaty around their waist.  Let me just say...we were so very excited!!!  Some good, positive peer/cousin pressure was all they needed.  So, at the pool in Gothenburg they did it again!  Woohoo!  The wedding (Erin and Jason Gaare) was beautiful and we had so much fun seeing family.  The girls danced ALL night at the wedding reception.  We loved staying with Joe & Diane (THANK YOU!!!) and the girls loved being with all the "big" girls and petting Comet, their dog.

Then we went to Colorado to see my family and to share a vacation with some great friends, the Baethge family!  My, oh my, lots of kids and lots of fun!  12 adults and 18 kids when we were all together.  It was crazy fun!  To see those pictures, go here: CO trip with Baethge Family.  First we went camping; the girls for one night and two days, the guys for four nights and five days.  Pretty sure everyone's favorite part was 4-wheeling.  Woohoo!!!  While the guys were up camping the ladies hung out together, enjoying playing at Kelly's house and at Zoey's house.  And it never failed, every night the kids wanted to eat dinner.  Gesh.  Hehe - although we started dinner late most nights, we did feed the kids and we all survived!  We enjoyed girls' nights with movies and chatting.  Once the guys got back we unpacked from camping, then did some shopping and hanging out together.  We spent one day in Rocky Mountain National Park which included a cloudy, rainy drive up Trail Ridge Road, shops in Estes and some hand holding between our sweet kiddos.  More movie nights and chatting.  It was great to catch up with the Baethges after not seeing them for two years.  Many fun memories made.  Love that family!  We had an awesome time!  Everything is awesome!!!  :)

In addition to fun with the Baethge family, my whole family was there!  We took family pictures one of the evenings and we are looking forward to sharing them with you...hopefully soon.  Had a wonderful time with everyone together.  Praise the Lord!