Yeladim Meshuga'im

GCC (Group Chaos Camping!)

2011-08-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Oh, Yeah! We headed out to a lake between Arrowhead and Big Gear with a whole group of families to go camping for a weekend this summer. Fun? Yes. Chaos? Yes.

We borrowed our friends' pop-up trailer, and oh, was it nice. Yes, we were the only ones in our group with one, and all were jealous!

Food: main event while camping. Here the dads are doing the fire building/cooking. (All the kids supervised, and the wives tried to stay out of it.)

After a lot of work and tons of running around, the food tasted Great.

The moms' attempt to make a meal kinda healthy. :)

Kid fun. It was so cute to watch all the ages of kids from different families play together, enjoying the outdoors.

The boys, especially Isaiah, loved to blast down this hill as fast as possible. We were so glad No major accidents occurred, the whole weekend!

Smores, of course.

Joel is savoring his first smore ever.

One day us moms got to take this fun Jeep out for a ride. Our friend even let me drive it!

Jordan Kate poses as she takes a dip in the lake.

Noah and Isaiah: best buddies.

I had a great time with the other moms, including this dear friend, Jamie. It was so nice to let the kids play, while we were able to chat and finish a few sentences in a row!

Joel loved this experience, and all the big kids loved him, too.

Beginning of Summer

2011-06-18T09:43:00.001-07:00

Yet another summer is here!

What better way to kick it off than start out with a morning at the beach? Our 4 kids and I enjoyed La Jolla Cove for a few hours, getting a little wet and collecting a ton of shells!

How is it that we now have a 3rd grader, a first grader, an almost 4 year old and a 2 year old? This was my 'test run' day to see if I can do many outings alone with them this summer. They did great and we had fun, so hopefully I can post more of our adventures.

Yeah, that is Isaiah WAY up there. And yes, that was the only time he climbed up there!

(So I'm not going to even try to apologize for not updating our blog more. )

Our family: A summary

2011-01-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful 2010 we have had! It's been a joy to see God work in so many ways and give the amount of grace needed for each day. These pics are a good summary of each of our kids:

Joel: into everything at 21 months; learning to use the fake smile to try to manipulate us;

a total joy!

Jordan: vivacious 3 year old; always trying to keep up with the 2 big kids, even on her bike; has an infectious laugh to brighten any day.

Isaiah: our resident 5 year old Spider man; learning to read when he can sit for a few minutes; normally climbing up a tree or whizzing past on his bike; king of the one-liners and crazy vocabulary; keeps us on our toes.

Naomi: 7 year old creative girl who loves to make any kind of craft; helps in our house with all the kids; enjoys learning at school and explaining concepts to help other students; great sarcastic sense of humor.

Danny & Laurie: humor, love, and mostly a lot of God's grace keep our marriage strong.

December

2011-01-01T15:49:00.001-08:00

Church Christmas pageant. Such a cliche, but still really cute.

Naomi as a shepherd.

Naomi, it turns out, is an academic over-achiever. Who knew.

Mud Bricks

2011-01-01T13:44:00.001-08:00

A little home project with Danny and the three big kids: mixing mud (in the right proportions of ingredients, of course), mixing with straw and water, and casting real mud bricks.

When they were dry, they built a little semi-circular wall to look like a castle.

Still drying out here.

Update: freakish rains for four consecutive days topped our wall. Oh, well. It was still a lot of fun to have a dirty project and understand ancient technology.

Carving & Candy

2010-12-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

Halloween is here!

We carved our pumpkins at Naomi's friend's house.

Naomi and Angelica got to carve by themselves this year, designing their own and working together.

Jordan quickly made a new friend, as is typical.

Danny's always in for the best design, just to show us all up.

I was Isaiah's assistant. He picked the hardest design, but with a little help, I was able to pull it off.

Here is the final product. We brought home 5 or 6 of them. Our neighbor saw them in front of our door and said, "No one is going to come to our door" because had no pumpkins. So, we donated a couple. ;)

Just for laughs, our dear friend, Aimee, showed us her amazing Mrs. Brady costume that she wore to work at a local high school. Naomi had to show Aimee her rock star get-up!

For Halloween we invited our friends to join the fun. They also have 4 kids, so we made a crazy crew. Try to find our kiddos: Rock star Naomi, Black Spiderman Isaiah, Princess Jordan & In-N-Out worker Joel.

(Almost) Dr. Danny & his buddy, Dr. Mark.

Ok, how cute is our little 18 month mini In-N-Out worker?

October Festivities

2010-12-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

What a tiring month! :) This was just too cute not to put up. Danny has been reading Narnia to the big kids and Jordan always asks to join. She normally wiggles too much, but this night she just relaxed and was gone!

Just down the street from us is the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. We have fighter jets flying over our house every day to practice, but once a year they have an A-mazing air show. Here are some highlights. (We also saw the Blue Angels, but couldn't take pics of them whizzing by our heads!)

We got to walk through this plane (above).

The next 2 pictures show how unbelievably enormous this aircraft is!

Look closely for Isaiah's head in the window.

Jordan, the Big Girl!

2010-09-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

Our Jordan Kate turned 3! She is full of life, and full of fun!

She loves lollipops so we had a scavenger hunt for all the kids to find them.

The fun cake Danny and I made. Danny was the architect & I decorated it.

Jordan has many preferences, which she does not hesitate to tell us about. Here are a few...

Milk not Water

Flip flops not shoes

Gum!!

Little fork not a big fork

Purple or pink anything

Little pens not big pens

Big girl chair not a booster seat

Tank tops not T-shirts

Skirts not shorts

Shower not bath

Walk not riding in a stroller

Singing not being quiet!!!

Summer with 4 Runners

2010-08-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, makes that 5 runners, because I have to run after them all... :)

Hume: We started off our summer with a week at the Frese cabin! Sooooo nice.

Danny's project this year was to build a retaining wall so the dirt wouldn't constantly pour onto the deck. He and the kids collected the rocks and he strategically placed each rock. Oh, his A.R.ness was in full glory! The end product looked great, though.

It was so nice not to have a small baby to care for this time. Joel is over 1, so he just loved the dirt as much as the rest.

The cousins visited, too...

Rachel, Naomi & Emily cousins and good friends

Our dear friends came to visit from WA. The last time these two girls saw each other they were 2! What fun to see them enjoying each other.

Art project which involved blowing paint around on paper.

5 Years Old!

2010-08-11T10:33:00.001-07:00

In May, our Isaiah turned Five! Enjoy some pics of his active life...

He loves exploring.

Nice catch!

Spiderman B-day cake

During an Easter Egg hunt, running full blast down a hill (with buddy Noah).

Singing in front of church.

Isaiah is a boy full of energy and adventure. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he says he wants to be a 'survivor' - by which he means he wants to be Bear Grylls (of Man Vs. Wild). He definitely keeps us on our toes, loves Spiderman, loves reading, jumping, riding bikes, climbing treas, etc. In all his craziness, he has a very soft and sensitive heart. He is also a man of quotable quotes! Here are a few examples:

1) Laurie: "God knows how many hairs are on my head."

Isaiah quickly responds: "And that’s how many pounds He loves us!"

2) I (Laurie) went back to our bedroom for a min. during lunch and I returned to find the microwave going. Isaiah was warming up his leftovers. I asked him how long he had turned it on for and he replied, "I just pushed in our phone number: 858-5..." Nice! I quickly pushed cancel on that one!

3) "Do you know what word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly? The word incorrectly? Get it?" And he laughs.

4) When in Visalia, Aunt Natalie asked him, "Isn't it hot today? Like the hottest?" He responds, "No it's not the Sahara Desert!"

5)"Mom, are we amphibians?"

" No."

"Well it means 2 lives and we have two lives."

"What do you mean?"

"One life here and one life in heaven."

6) Danny and I were talking about who was to blame for something. Isaiah said, "Blaming starts a lot of wars."

7) He saw some women in two-piece bathing suits and asked, "Are they in a zucchini?" :)

8)"Mom, if you fall out of a car and your bottom drags along the road, will it catch on fire?" ---too much Tom & Jerry!

Naomi is Seven!

2010-05-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

Here is how we would describe our Naomi Beth:

Briefly put: precocious and fun

She loves observing and analyzing things. She drinks in the little details in life. She finds a bird nest in a random bush, spider eggs on a branch, or notices the little stripes on a flower. She figures out how things work, and has an incredible sense of direction.

She takes joy in making cards for people - she can be so thoughtful and creative.

She's a natural runner. She outruns all of her classmates at school and asks to do extra laps.

She's social. She can be shy at first in a new crowd, but quickly loosens up and is ready to be friends and just have fun.

She laughs easily. She loves to make her siblings laugh, and goes to great length to do this.

She picks out clothing for herself, and likes to look fancy in skirts and dresses. She has impeccable taste. She's 100% girl, but she loves to hike and go on adventures too.

She's a great reader and writer - already reading a solid couple of grades above her age. She enjoys going to school every day.

She is responsible. She picks up after herself, empties the dishwasher, knows what homework needs to be done each day, etc.

We love this girl! She is a gift from God to us and we rejoice that she is in our family!

We had a little party for her with ice cream sundaes.

Pics from Easter...

Such a help to her little sis.

One Year!

2010-04-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Joel Daniel turned 1 on April 1st.

Hmm, not sure why I can't turn off the underlining.

Anyhow, some pictures:

This boy has 6 teeth!!

He loves - ahhh, no underlining - being outside.

He is so proud of himself that he can walk.

His point-A-to-point-B is now 90% walking. Crazy!

Joel loves to wave at strangers. A great icebreaker for meeting people.

Since he's the fourth kid, and there are only two of us parents, he chills in his stroller on most outings (park, zoo, Naomi's school, B-day parties, etc). He likes it, and for good reason. Free ride, people watching, plus food and drink service. Does life get any better than that? I submit that it does NOT!!

Joel's a softie. He loves to wrestle and roughhouse,

but he also loves him some snuggles. Ahhh...we love this kid.

March

2010-03-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

Time is flying and spring in here! We've been busy, as usual.

Some quick highlights of the past months:

- I took Naomi and Isaiah to a Sleeping Beauty play. 3 kids from our church homegroup had major roles, so it was fun to watch them.

- We officially have 6 people walking around our apt. now! Whoa. Joel is cruising, but he's still in the stiff-legged stage and tips over all the time. It's super cute!

- Isaiah's favorite activities include swinging on the swing that Danny made on our porch, and playing will his superhero action figures. Never thought we'd see the day.

- Jordan is transitioning to being fully potty trained - so we have an occasional cleanup on aisle 1 (or, even worse, aisle 2). One of her favorite things right now is to get little bowls out for everyone and place them on the counter, and ask for a snack. At least she's thinking of us all!

- Naomi loves doing laps at school around the playground. (Maybe because she is the fastest!) She gets to share something each week with the class and last time she brought a hand balloon pump. She pumped up the balloons and let them go without tying them, so that they flew all over the classroom. Her classmates loved it.

- Danny still spends pretty much every day in the library. He's going to start teaching another class at Bethel Seminary pretty soon, so he's prepping for that in addition to working on his dissertation.

Here are some shots Danny too while fiddling with our new camera (whohoo to collective B-day gifts!)

Quotes:

Isaiah: "Mom, if you fall out of a car & your bottom drags on the road, will it catch on fire?" (Do you think this kid watches too much Tom & Jerry?)

I was trying to talk to Naomi one day, and she wasn't too happy about listening. Jordan goes right up to her and sternly says, "Naomi, you yisten to me. Yisten to Mama." Yes!

Laurie: "What's our body temperature supposed to be?"

Naomi: "98....point 6."

Laurie: "Is that right, Isaiah?"

Isaiah: "No, 98 point 1."

Laurie: "Jordan, what do you think?"

Jordan: "I'm sick."

We have trained our kids (Ha!) to sneeze into the inside of their elbows. Out of the blue one day Isaiah says, "Dad, if you need to sneeze & both of your arms are broken, then you can just sneeze in some random place in the house so that you don't spread germs to everyone."

Isaiah (all the time): "You've got to be kidding me."

2009 Wrap-Up

2009-12-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

What a year! For us, it's more like: What, a year went by already? Here are some brief updates on each of us:

We didn’t have Joel Daniel last Christmas. He was born April 1st. We praise God for a quick, delivery and recovery for Laurie. He’s crawling all around the house, and loves discovering new things left on the floor by his siblings. He’s 9 1/2 months old and has just fit in to being a part of our family.

Jordan is speaking in sentences now, and oh man, does this mean trouble! At just over 2 she has major spunk. She loves gum, and asks everyone, “You have gum?” hoping she will get a piece. She calls her purse her ‘person’ and carries it around with her everywhere, with a toy cell phone inside, of course! No one intimidates her. She holds her own when she’s outside with a bunch of bigger boys - and with her brother Isaiah, for that matter. She's also really assertive - in a friendly way - with strangers. She'll smile and say hi to anyone - kids or adults.

Isaiah is still an avid climber: scaling trees, bookcases, fences, and anything else close by. He is a fan of Tom & Jerry and Man vs. Wild. (We think he should be their promotion manager, since he tells everyone about the show and tries to demo the stunts.) He is 4 1/2, eats constantly and never sits. He goes way too fast on his bike, and tells stories that are hilarious. He definitely keeps us on our knees praying, but he also gives the best snuggles. His love for and knowledge of animals is amazing. Naomi recently asked him, “Are you going to paint that alligator?” He quickly responded, “It’s a monitor lizard.” Whoa.

Naomi is 6 ½ and has lost 5 teeth…including her 2 front ones. She is in first grade and she is becoming quite a good reader. She is so tall it scares us, and she almost fits in her mom’s shoes. Art is still one of her favorite things to do in free time. She is a helper at home in so many ways, and a real leader and helper in her classroom, too. The teacher told us she doesn’t know what to do on the days Naomi is absent. We’re amazed at how much she makes her other siblings laugh and loves to play with them.

Danny is still working on completing his PhD at UC San Diego. All that's left at this point is writing the dissertation, which he's working on pretty much every day. He’s still teaching Modern Hebrew at UCSD, too. He took a trip to Germany and Israel with his dad this summer, and presented a paper at a conference in Jerusalem. God gave him the opportunity to work adjunct at Bethel Seminary here in SD, teaching a couple of Old Testament classes. Last month (Nov) he presented 2 papers at the big Society of Biblical Literature conference in New Orleans. He is also trying to be a dad and husband, etc. To let off all the scholarly steam, he loves to wrestle with the kids and challenge them to Uno games.

Laurie’s schedule is pretty maxed out caring for and loving our 4 little ones. She stays semi-sane by getting outside and walking to local parks. She tries to keep the house in an ordered version of chaos, and most days gets dinner done. But admittedly, the local pizza parlors make some money from us as well. Laurie still goes to Community Bible Study each Thursday

morning. She’s encouraged by spending time studying the Bible, and enjoying time with women who desire to love God more. She gets a break from the kids, too. They come with her, but have their own story time. As a mom each day brings much joy coupled with hard work and training youngsters. She also has the difficult job of making sure Danny doesn’t let his scholarly role go to his head; probably the toughest of all of her tasks.

Joel with his award-winning smile.

At the park the other day, the kids tried walking on this rope tied between 2 trees. Jordan's getting help from a friend.

Danny helping Isaiah

Naomi doing it on her own.

Danny had to try, too.

We were able to play in the snow this Christmas.

Sugar High

2009-11-07T15:00:00.001-08:00

Our neighborhood is great for trick-or-treating. We gather with a mass of neighbors and just start walking. Since it is graduate student housing, there are so many homes with little kids, and even the students without kids get into it! We were only out there for about an hour - how much candy do you really need?! We had 3 kids collecting candy this year. Yikes.

This was Jordan's first year trick-or-treating. She was a skunk, and she was totally into it.

Above: Here is the mob of people going up and down the stairs. In our neighborhood, not everyone participates, so it becomes a treasure hunt for the kids to find the doors with decorations and are thus the ones with candy. It was fun to watch Naomi and Isaiah lead the crew for a while.

Above: This couple was a little more enthusiastic about it all than Danny & me. :)

Nomi is taking orders.

Above: Isaiah couldn't find his Spiderman mask, so at the last minute he grabbed this one, making him Spider-Batman. I'm pretty sure he was the only one with this costume.

...and Joel cruised in the stroller with his pumpkin top.

Joel was all about the candy, too!

Below: Naomi at her Halloween parade at school.

Above: Naomi's teacher & her identical twin both work at the school.

They dressed as Dr. Seuss' Thing 1 & Thing 2. Pretty cute, I thought.

Evening Fun

2009-10-11T15:26:00.001-07:00

A favorite place to go with our good friends is the beach/park in Del Mar. It's only a 15 min drive from our home. (We're so spoiled, we know.) The kids can play in the park or climb trees and the adults try to talk a bit. This time our friend brought his sweet camera and took some shots of our family. Enjoy...we are biased, but we think they are cute!

Our crazy Isaiah, climbing and making faces--what he does best.

Just have to kiss these cheeks...

Jordan just has fun all the time.

Naomi with her best buddy following. They have so much fun together and it's a joy to see them interact.

Naomi is the best at making Joel laugh.

This toothless grin shows she's up to something.

Two

2009-09-10T21:48:00.001-07:00

Jordan Kate is 2 Years Old!

This blondie is trouble - just look at those mirthful eyes! She is hilarious, affectionate, and tons of fun. Aaaaand a little manipulative. It is such a blessing to have her around the house; she adds so much to our family.

Lately Jordan has been talking so much. One of her favorite phrases is, "Come on." She tells me that when she wants me to go outside with her, or read books to her. We have to pry her off of 'Beebee Joel' because when she goes to give him a kiss she does it full-force! We thank God for this little one and pray for his grace in her life.

Jordan loooooves popcorn...

and pretty much everything else, too.

She gets so excited when she sees bugs,

so I made a ladybug cake for her.

One of her birthday presents.

Danny reading Jordie's new Elmo book,

while spectators crowd into the cheap seats.

Our day ended with Naomi 'decorating' Danny's hair. Nice!

Jordan just pointed to his head and said, "My clippies." :)

Around the house

2009-07-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some super important things from the last month or so:

Danny and the kids caught an alligator lizard up at the family cabin and we brought it home to SD. The kids love catching bugs for it and watching it attack and eat them... (Well, Danny and Isaiah love it the most). It will eat nearly anything alive which is the right size - Danny has even gotten him to eat food out of his hands.

The kids had fun making these little flags to decorate for the 4th of July. We went out to a church picnic in the afternoon on the 4th, but missed the fireworks because we weren't willing to let the kids stay up until 10:30 to see them. Cranky kids all of the next day just so they can see some colored sparks in the air? Call us bad parents, but no way, Jose.

The kids each sporting their Red, White and Blue:

I promise Isaiah's hair doesn't look like this in public. Usually. His muscles, though, are always this big.

Naomi found this food idea in a book we were reading from the library, so we tried it one morning. Toast, jam, and raisins in the shape of pigs:

Here's the whole lot of them:

Joel is really starting to wake up from newborn-hood. It's so rewarding to coax smiles and occasional giggles from him.

Isaiah quotes:

[Laurie is looking at Isaiah's craft from church about Jesus ascending to heaven]

Isaiah: "That's Jesus with his hands up."

Laurie: "Why are his hands up?"

Isaiah: "So he won't hit his head on the clouds. That would hurt."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Isaiah: "Dad, you're a SO-good dad, and...I'm getting used to you."

Danny: "What does that mean?"
Isaiah: [thoughtful pause] "It means I kinda like you."

Cabin 2009

2009-07-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

Around the end of June we spent a week at our family cabin at Hume Lake. This involved a lot of firsts for us: the first time with just us (i.e., just the six of us! - usually Laurie's sister and her family join us), the first time we had to plan all of the meals ourselves, and first time we didn't bring our espresso maker (we're such compromisers!), among others. We had a great time, though. Lots of day hikes, a bit of frisbee golf in the pines, some relaxing time on the deck, BBQ'ing almost every night, cruising around like royalty in the golf cart, and of course corn dogs and milkshakes down at the snack shack.

Danny has an annual tradition of doing a few cabin-improvement projects. This year he and the kids removed a stump, installed a small stone revetment wall along the driveway, and did a good deal of general tidying up. Here he is terracing a level walking path around part of the deck. Little work, big improvement. Jordan is helping with some of the heavy lifting.

One of the favorite activities of all younger kids at the cabin is quality time spent in the dirt. Here, Jordan is involved in some type of dirt reallocation project. At one point, the dirt was reallocated scoop after powdery scoop into her happy mouth.

Prepare yourselves for this: here's Isaiah, a day after he took a spider bite (at least we think that's what it was) to the upper eyelid/brow region. It was really disturbing to look at him for a day or so, but the swelling just went away on its own.

Grandma and Grandpa Frese came to visit us for a day while we were there. Grandma was pretty excited about extracting some happiness from Joel:

Another of Danny's annual traditions at the cabin is trying - and failing - to make fire using the bow/drill method. As in, you start with a pocket knife and a shoelace, you carve some pieces of wood, and make one piece spin against another fast and hard enough to produce a smoldering pile of dust, which you then use to start a fire. Danny thought this was his year, since he learned that Cedar is the only type of wood in the area that will work for this. He had a few nice tries - lots of smoke - but again failed. Danny swears that this is one of the most extraordinarily difficult (and frustrating) things one can ever attempt. The event involved Laurie's encouragement (with a twinkle in her eye that was pure mockery) and videotaping.

Getting ready (with an audience):

Smoke. No spark.

Consolation was found with some hammock time. Ahhhh...

All of our time at Hume, of course, was scheduled around the demands of this little human:

Fat-n-Happy

2009-06-02T11:07:00.001-07:00

We just love this picture of Naomi holding Joel. She and Isaiah ask to hold him pretty regularly.

Isaiah is the cutest with Joel. He's always talking to him, explaining stuff to him, telling him what they're going to do together when they get older, etc. Here, Isaiah decided on his own that Joel needed to have a book read to him.

...even though Joel is fast asleep.

Below is the justification for the title of this post. I think these pictures make Joel look chubbier than he really is, but there's definitely some serious growth happening. He has the classic baby chub on his cheeks.

We're working on snagging a picture when he's smiling (his smile is adorable!), but for now this will have to do.

First Month with 4 Kids

2009-05-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

Our first weeks with 4 kids in our house have been a whirlwind. Here are some pics of our daily life: reading books, spending time outside, etc.

Jordan decided that the doll carriage would be a nice place to sit and read. We're not exactly sure how she got in there on her own.

Yes, Isaiah is actually asleep in this picture. Yes, he's defying the laws of physics.

Isaiah's new favorite activity is cutting out cool animals from our Zoo magazines. He's really learning to use the scissors well. He insists that we have to keep every cut-out in a huge envelope, hidden in the closet - so no one can get them.

5 kids watching Bear Grylls.

Jordan continues to love to read books and say all the words she knows.

Devouring ice-cream sandwiches at our new kid table on the porch.

Isaiah's way of getting on a swing.

Jordan loves to just relax in the swing. (I love her there since it's one less kid to watch constantly. Sometimes I forget to push her, though.)

Our climber. (He still has his helmet on from riding his bike to the park.)

Naomi's been a great help in our household. She will often clean all the things off the floor in one room, just to help out. On Mother's day she did all her responsibilities quickly without me asking her anything. Then she made scrambled eggs for me for breakfast. She came up with the idea and was so proud that she could do it. God knows that I need her!

An Isaiah conversation: "Mom, do you know if there is any place on the earth where there are NO animals?" I reply half-heartedly, "I don't think so." He quickly responds, "YEAAAH. The Dead Sea!" "You're right Isaiah." Yeah, my not-quite 4 year old son showed me up. Pretty bad since I lived there and he's only seen pictures.

Jordan is becoming quite a handful lately--but a super cute handful. Sometimes it seems like she just looks for things to destroy--food, Naomi's art, Isaiah's magazine clippings and Joel's face. She is talking constantly. She's getting pretty good at saying, "Uhh Uhh" (=No) and/or shaking her head. She calls buckles (on car seats, etc.) 'buckies' and loves to click them together. Her favorite toys are dolls and strollers.

Joel is doing fine. He's getting a little bit of fluff on him, though he still has chicken legs (have you seen Danny?). Isaiah recently pointed out that Joel already knows how to eat, poop, pee, spit up, cry and sleep. So there you go.

Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

Party!

Naomi's entire elementary school had a party celebrating Cinco de Mayo. We gathered in the evening to see all the kindergartners perform a dance. I think there were about 120 of them. They danced for 2 songs that were totally choreographed. They had worked on this for weeks, and Naomi practiced at home many nights. They did great!

It was pretty funny to see the thousands of dollars worth of hardware materialize when the dancing kids showed up. Totally cliche.

They looked beautiful when they were all twirling.

That's one pretty senorita.

Joel. Is. Here.

2009-04-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Joel has finally arrived, and the Frese kid factory has officially closed shop and boarded up the windows. (Danny will soon make an appointment to set the building on fire.)

We thank God for many mercies during the pregnancy and birth. For those interested, here is a short version of the birth story:

March 30th - false alarm and trip to the birth center in the evening. Laurie was only 2-3 centimeters dilated.
March 31 - warm-up contractions all day
April 1st, midnight - sporadic harder contractions
1:00 am - consistent hard contractions
2:00 - leave for birthing center
2:40 - Laurie is checked by the midwife; she's 8cm dilated (yesss!)
4:07 - Joel is delivered (Yes, on April Fools' Day)
11:30 - Head home with our fourth baby

Stats: Joel was 5lbs, 14oz (the same as Isaiah), and 20" long. In case you don't know what that means, he's tiny, and a bit on the long side. The pictures, even with other objects for scale, don't really convey how small he is.

Most of the pictures below are self-explanatory. Here's Laurie about 5 days beforehand:

"No, you are NOT going to rough-house with the baby."

Update...

2009-03-25T23:17:00.000-07:00

Our new baby is coming soon....

I'm 37.5 weeks, which is considered full-term. I've given birth from 10-13 days early with our other kids, so I expect to be delivering soon. For those of you who pray...now's the time!

Jordan is excited and ready to call all of you when her brother arrives!

Our two girlies...

Isaiah said the other day (while giggling) "I just want to see him, because I haven't seen him yet."

We are proud to say that Naomi was given a Superstar Award for the month in her kindergarten class. We went to an assembly in her (and all the other superstars') honor. Her teacher, and the laminated certificate we got, said " Naomi is an excellent student who is self-motivated and always enthusiastic about learning new things. She is an amazing artist and has become a great reader and writer. Naomi is a hard worker who always does her best. It is a pleasure to have her in our class."

Here she is on the stage at the assembly:

The Beach in January!

2009-02-27T22:00:00.001-08:00

We got to enjoy the beach last week. This still blows us away, since it only takes us 10 min to get there from our apt. The weather was in the 80's for a couple weeks. Why not enjoy it while we can?

When Dad gets involved, Jordan gets buried. It's fun to be the smallest!

Random Update

2009-02-26T21:11:00.001-08:00

Above is a picture of us at the Torrey Pines park, about 10 min from our apartment. Great hiking, even if its a very small "nature" area.

Random happenings:

Jordan has taken up the custom of bending over in half while standing, so her head hits the floor and her bottom is in the air. This is for the purpose of showing us her 'bootie'...nice, right? Should she know this before she is 18 months?

To Isaiah, all of life consists of handholds and footholds for him to use in climbing. Naomi draws everything she sees and then makes it into a card for a friend. Jordan tries to move anything that she can and drop it somewhere different.

I'm almost 32 weeks pregnant with #4. I'm feeling ok, considering. Energy level is not at its highest. We are all getting ready to meet this little boy in the beginning of April.

Some Frese family quotes:

Naomi asked, "Can we make a phone call to people in heaven - or maybe send them an e-mail?" Danny answered, "What do you think?" She smiled and said, "No." Isaiah pipes up, "Well, we could throw the phone up to them."

"Mom, are there bathrooms or toilets in heaven?" Isaiah asked me one day. "I don't know if we'll need to go to the bathroom in heaven," I responded. Isaiah concluded "Well, then if there aren't any bathrooms or toilets, we'll just have to go in the bushes."

New Year...

2009-01-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we're a little late getting this posted.

Reflections and Milestones for 2008...
God has graciously seen us through each day
Naomi starting Kindergarten (!)
Isaiah totally potty trained (!)
We celebrated being married for 8 years (!!)
Jordan turned 1 year old
Jordan is walking/running
We found out #4 is coming in April
Danny & Laurie went on a cruise to Mexico with Danny's family
Danny finished all of his tests and oral exams for his PhD
We found out #4 is a boy (his name is Joel)
Naomi is reading a lot of words
Isaiah is riding a 2 wheel bike
We continue to love our church

We have been so blessed with friends to enjoy time with.
We love living in San Diego!

Our cute girlies.

We saw a live Nativity presentation at one of the local churches. Isaiah loved the soldiers, so was pretty proud to get a photo by one!

Naomi had a fun Christmas concert at her school. Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Cook, and good friends Leah and Angelica.

Here's the fam in our van - only one more seat to fill up.

Typical Isaiah: reading stories. (Ok, the white button-down shirt is not typical!)

The girl cousins on the Frese side, with whom we spent Christmas.

The boy cousins.

Christmas morning...

Grandma and Grandpa Frese, Great Uncle Dave, and the 5 of us headed to the Sierras to enjoy some white stuff!
Jordan was so excited that she could eat everything in sight!

Naomi and I built the snowman. Danny was all about the sledding, but I didn't think my back or our little baby would appreciate the massive bouncing!

All 10 cousins!

Isaiah's favorite present, by far!! A great toy - for an 8 year old.

JOY! One of our Christmas gifts was new carpet in our apartment! After much begging and Isaiah oozing charm all over the inspection lady, our apts agreed to put some new stuff in. Compare the color of our old (turquoise with purple specks) with our wonderful now Neutral color! Ahhh... We had to rearrange our entire house, but oh, was it worth it!

Big Week!

2008-12-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

This was a big week in the Frese household.

1. For Danny's continuing Ph.D. work, he passed his very last written test, which was a translation exam for French. He only has one more test: his oral exam in front of his dissertation committee. This will basically be a five-on-one free for all of verbal Q&A (Five professors, one Danny). Then it's on to writing his dissertation!

2. We had an ultrasound this week. We are pleased to announce that a healthy BOY is growing. Our forth and final little one is due to be born the beginning of April.

Cute profile (and the proof of gender)...

And some long skinny legs.

Dressin' Up and Getting Candy!

2008-11-19T21:19:00.001-08:00

Halloween morning, Naomi dressed up as a princess for school. (Isaiah had to put his Spiderman costume on, too.)

Above: Naomi with a couple classmates.

Below: Naomi's school had a parade. The entire school and tons of parents attended. With music blaring, each class had a chance to 'parade' around and show off their costumes.

Here's the insane amount of people in attendance.

Below: Halloween night, we joined out neighbors to trick-0r-treat in our apartment complex. Naomi was a princess, Isaiah was Spiderman, and Jordan was a bumble bee.

Miz, our neighbor, with Naomi.

The Loot:
It didn't take Jordan long to figure out what all of this stuff was. She was putting candy in her mouth, wrapper and all.

Guttin' and Cuttin' Pumpkins

2008-11-16T21:09:00.000-08:00

Danny took a break from his crazy school schedule to carve pumpkins with the kiddos.

They were all a little apprehensive about getting their hands all slimy in order to get the seeds out, but we coersed them, and they all participated!

I found a website with a bunch of Jack-O-Lantern patterns. The kids picked out their own patterns, I printed them out, and we copied them onto the pumpkins. Danny, of course, created his own, and they all turned out great.

Kids Being Kids

2008-11-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Walking!!!

At the beginning of September, around Jordan's birthday, she was taking 4 steps at a time, but didn't care about it. She liked to stand in place and then get down to crawl. Then in a week, she was taking 12 or more steps, and didn't really want to crawl anymore. By the end of Sept. she was walking like a pro. Now she tries to keep up with the big kids outside!
Okay, almost like a pro. Good thing she's low to the ground!
She has discovered that standing up provides a much better way to get into things, open cupboards, etc.

Below: Naomi was in need of a haircut. We weren't into the thought of her sitting on her hair! Here are the before and after pics.

Below: Naomi at her best. You never know what she will come up with.

Camping

2008-11-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Camping with Daddy...

Danny and Naomi went camping with a bunch of dads (and kids) from our church. They camped near Julian; about 2 hours away from our house. They had a blast, and as you can see, Naomi was her crazy self...don't know who she takes after.

Naomi with her 2 buddies: Adalae and Jada.

Isaiah was going to come, too, but got sick at the last minute. He was sooo sad and so was I. He needed to run around wild, and I was really looking forward to time off with just Jordan. Maybe next time.

One Year!

2008-09-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Our Jordan Kate turned ONE year old on Sept. 10!
Below: Celebrating by enjoying a cupcake with our neighbors.

Opening presents is serious business. Her siblings were all too eager to help her open them up.

Trip to the zoo: Jordan has loved seeing dogs in the parks lately and says "Dah, dah," (repeatedly, and with enthusiasm) every time we see one. I figured she would love going to the petting zoo. The kids and I headed there for a couple hours after Naomi got out of school at 12:30 (she has a short day every Wednesday). Jordan loved the goats. She was patting them in the belly and trying to grab their ears! She couldn't stop talking, either!

Below are some shots of the crazy siblings that Jordan has survived with for the first year of her life:

Jordan doing some of her favorite things: Books, playing on the porch, eating & swinging at the park.

Soccer girl

2008-09-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

We have officially entered the realm of 'competetive' sports with our kids...

Naomi started soccer! She practices one day a week. She's all decked out with her sweet pink soccer socks, shoes with pink stripes, and pink water bottle. (You have to keep it girly with her!) Every Saturday morning she has a game through November. She is in the U6 league which is co-ed. They have 5 players on the field at a time and their coaches to help direct them. They are all spiffed out in uniforms - personalized with names on the back, too!
It's fun. We're proud of her. Even Isaiah yells for her!

Caring for a doll...

2008-09-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

This is how Jordan takes care of her baby doll...

Turns out she's going to need the practice. Number 4 is due in April!

School Begins

2008-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Naomi had her first day of Kindergarten on September 2nd!
She was so excited and ready to go to school all day, every day. According to her, she was most excited about meeting new friends! I was a little sad when I dropped her off on the first day, but when I saw her get in the front of the line, ready to lead, I was so confident she would do fine. As we were going away, Isaiah started to cry a bit and said, "I'm gonna miss her." Each day this week he would run to give her one last hug when she was walking to her class.

Nomi did a great job her first day and had a lot of fun, but she was tired by the end of the long day. She was ready for a nap, and so was Jordan.

Summer News

2008-07-28T15:13:00.001-07:00

July:

Naomi & I had fun making our own 'fireworks'. All the fireworks shows in SD started at 9:30 pm or so, so we didn't go see any this year. Fireworks can wait until the kids can see them without losing sleep.

Our festive girlies. We visited a local park on the 4th and the kids got to ride a pony.

Two San Deigo youths were apprehended yesterday and held on suspicion of illegally marking themselves. They promptly pled guilty and were booked. Above is their police mug-shot.

Kid updates:

Naomi's passion this month has been catching bugs for our pet lizard, Stumpy (he's missing a few fingers on one of his front feet). She has also learned how to swim quite well. She challenges herself to swim great distances (across the pool), and is pretty proud of herself when she does.

Isaiah continues to try to make everyone around him laugh. His new line when we're saying goodbye to people is, "Real soon, baboon." He still loves dinosaur books and going fast on a Razor scooter. He thinks he can swim, but he is actually only good at sinking and swallowing water. He doesn't seem to mind this too much - he just tries again and again.

Jordan is on the move...just crawling, but she is getting fast! She loves being outside, and bolts to the door when she hears it open. She eats a ton, and knows when we are all eating and she is not (this irritates her). Jordan has also learned how to wave, so she uses this (along with her devastating smile) whenever she wants to manipulate people.

Each summer for the last 5 years we've been going to the family cabin at Hume Lake with my sister, Mary Ann and her husband, Matt. We spent about 5 days up there this year and had a blast. We had one more person this year (Jordan Kate), making nap/sleep time a bit more challenging. Our strategy was to wear the kids out in preparation for nap time and sleep time. It worked pretty well.

Coffee each morning is a must, as is sitting out on the deck for every meal. There's also the obligatory lake-swimming and frisbee golf - as long as these don't impose too much on our deck-lounging.

The kids had so much fun with these toys on the deck, and their 'cooking' toys in the dirt (dirt soup with pine-needle garnish, along with the classic mud pies, were pretty popular).

We also try to BBQ as much as possible.

Danny made a larger play area for the kids by terracing part of the (sloped) property next to the deck. Why play on the deck when you can play in the dirt?

Isaiah and his cousin Malisse. These two are only 20 days apart.

A cheesy grin and a choke-hold. We're going to have to work on that.

My favorite (& only) sister!

Jordan Kate, getting into trouble.

Growin'

2008-06-26T22:09:00.001-07:00

Our kids are growing and reaching milestones...

This year Naomi went to preschool for 2 mornings a week, and loved it. Her teacher was Miss Theresa, who is a veteran preschool teacher. We will miss her!

Above: Naomi gets a nice hug from Miss Theresa.
Below: Some of Naomi's class.

On June 12th, Naomi had a graduation ceremony. She was one of about 150 graduates. They all proudly wore red caps and gowns. I'll admit it, it was pretty cute. About 700 people came to watch! Some of the parents definitely went overboard, bringing huge balloons, dozens of roses, etc. (It's preschool, people!) The classes sang songs with hand motions. They quoted John 14:1-6 from memory, and their teachers told a little about each child when they handed them their diploma. Miss Theresa said Naomi was the 'social butterfly.' Hmm. Not sure what to think of that.

Jordan, meanwhile, has decided to crawl around. She is into everything and wants to be part of the action. She has even started to pull herself up to standing. She is pretty pleased with herself when she stands up and takes a look around!

We've had some hot(tish) weather lately, so we decided to let the big kids run through the sprinkler. Jordan was interested in the drain where all the water was pooling and draining. There was a nice muddy spot to play in:

Above: Naomi thought she should decorate her sister a little.

Isaiah just wanted to run - not a surprise! It didn't matter if he was so cold he was shaking, it was too fun to stop.

Visit with Grandma

2008-06-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

Danny's mom came to visit for a few days and we had a few fun-filled days with her. (You won't see Mom's picture, because she was always the one behind the camera.)

We visited the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. We went on a Free Tuesday, and the rest of SD joined us in the museum. We decided that it was probably worth paying the entrance fee to go without the huge crowds.

Isaiah was so excited to see the T-Rex and all the other dinosaurs. Naomi could have stayed there for hours, checking out all the displays. She's just like her dad.

Jordan was just along for a fun ride...she's always so happy!

We also visited a museum that has a 'Kid City' inside.

Naomi loved playing games on the computer.

Isaiah was busy collecting foam blocks and dumping them out of the bucket.

The Zoo was another day's adventure:

We got to see these elephants perform for us. We even followed one of them and its trainer around his pen. It was a treat to see, almost like a circus.

We met Danny on his campus for lunch one day. Here we are waiting for the shuttle bus to head back to our apartment.

I love the belly laughs coming from all 3 kids...their Dad really gets them going sometimes!

May Grey...

2008-06-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

The locals say we have 'May Grey' weather during this time of year. Most days it has really been beautiful, except the one day we decided to go visit the Wild Animal park on Isaiah's B-day. The coolness was actually nice and we enjoyed our walk around the park.
Danny messing around with the kids.
Isaiah after a long day walking around.
Jordan after a long day just riding in the stroller.

Below: Danny, Naomi and Isaiah went camping for one night with our good friend Mark and his 2 boys, Seth and Noah. They had a great time bonding while cooking bratwurst and roasting marshmallows.

These crazy bugs were all over...

Below: Happy Times!

3 Years Old!

2008-06-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Our Isaiah turned 3 years old on May 24th!

It's hard to believe that we've had our 2nd child for 3 years. We love our little guy. He has enough energy for 4 people, which normally translates into him climbing and jumping off everything in his path. Strangely (and happily), he also has a tender side and can be quite a snuggler, especially when he's sleepy.

He's getting quite proficient at ripping open presents, thanks mostly to one Grandma Frese (ahem).

Naomi has to take over and show Isaiah how to play with his new toy. Jordan was playing, too - with the wrapping paper.

This picture is a great example of Isaiah's fearlessness (read: idiocy). He is riding the neighbor's pink scooter while wearing Naomi's pink Barbie rollerskates.One toy with rolling wheels isn't quite dangerous enough by itself, so he doubles 'em up. He also has his superhero cape on.

Isaiah's rules for life at 3:

~Anything and everything is for the purpose of climbing.

~If you climb it, you must jump off the top of it.

~Razor scooters are fuuuuuun.

~Sitting still is hard, even when (especially when?) it is for eating.

~If you make a joke now and then, people will laugh and they will like you.

~Love your sisters. Sometimes torment them, sometimes jump over their heads when your parents aren't looking, but mostly just play with them.

~'Go, Diego, Go' is the best show on T.V.

~Be a superhero when you grow up.

~Eat fruit. Lots of it. And smear it all over your face while doing so.

~Use the toilet like a big boy. Most of the time.

~Have at least one tickle fight with Dad every day.

~Get some snuggles from Mom every day.

~Read books about Dinosaurs, especially ones with T. Rex.

~Play with big kids whenever you can.

~Lounging around is for sissies.

We love our Isaiah Michael!

Life's Details

2008-05-18T21:37:00.001-07:00

I went around the other day with camera in hand and snapped some shots of things that are very much a part of our daily lives. I just thought I'd post some of these to share.

Danny made a swing hanging from a tree right outside our apartment. The kids LOVE this thing and so do the neighbors. I look outside my dining room window and see kids swinging on this that I have Never seen before. Danny only regrets that he didn't put this up 3 years ago!

Below: This is what Danny uses every morning...gotta get the brain working to study all those ancient languages. Naomi has always enjoyed playing with dolls. Much to her joy, she just received this carriage and one doll from a woman friend of ours. This carriage was probably given to her mother in 1934. All the clothes were handmade from our friend's grandmother. Naomi placed all the clothes on her dolls and had them all pose so she could take pictures of them.
Yikes! 3 kids in the tub at once is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!

Below: One toy bin out of Many. I can now put one in front of Jordan and she can take things out by herself. It's great, because she never knows which one she will get, providing hours of entertainment. (I wish they worked that well for Isaiah, but I guess that's why we have the swing...) Below: Not all of these are ours, but almost. Need I say more?
Below: Isaiah spends most of his outside time on this Razor scooter that is our neighbor's. He loves it and can maneuver it like a 10 year old. He 'cruises' and puts his foot on the back as he slaloms down sidewalk hills. He's totally crazy, yet completley in control.
Below: Naomi spends most of her time inside and out doing art projects.

Mother's Day

2008-05-17T15:28:00.001-07:00

In the morning on Mother's Day, we had the privilege of dedicating our Jordan to our great God. Really, it was us dedicating oursleves to raising her to glorify God in everything, and also acknowledging our need for help in this endeavor from our friends at church.

Danny packed a picnic lunch for after church and we headed to the beach just a few miles North of us, in a town called Del Mar. It has a wonderful playground and grassy area and a little path to hike on. This provided a great place to play for a little while and enjoy the ocean without getting totally covered in sand. Best of all, we all got naps afterwards!

Me with three of the joys in my life!

No, this is not a movie star, this is my handsome husband!

I just had to take a picture of this guy who strapped a surf board to his bike! Smart!

To finish out a fabulous day, Danny made carne asada tacos for dinner. And the flowers on my table were another reminder of how much my husband loves and cares for me!

Party for Naomi and Isaiah

2008-05-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Birthday Celebration!

Since the kids' birthdays are pretty close together and they share so many of the same friends, we decided it would be fun to have a combined party between their actual birthdays. We invited a lot of people (scary) but everything went really well. We had pizza, fruit & cake. The kids played at the park and swung a stick at a shark pinata to get tons of candy! The day was beautiful and it was a joy to celebrate our 2 oldest kids!
I made a polk-a-dot cake for Naomi. Anything girly and pink will do for Naomi! She was so excited that her dress matched it! Isaiah wanted a dinosaur cake, so I decided to make a big mound of 'dirt' and put all his favorite dinosaurs on top of it. (Yes we did bring Jordan, she was just in a stroller being fed veggies and fruit by our friend.)

Danny tried to light some candles. The wind was not helping, so we gave up.

Naomi's Birthday

2008-04-15T21:00:00.001-07:00

Someone turned 5 on April 5th!

It's crazy that our daughter is now 5 years old. This means we have been parents for a while, and we graduated from high school a long time ago! Nothing quite ages you like kids do. We had a wonderful day celebrating God's precious gift to us. She enjoyed opening presents in the morning and then we headed to the Wild Animal Park, which is about 1/2 hour from our home. It was a beautiful day and the kids all did a great job. We returned for late naps and then had a fancy dinner of hotdogs (at her request). The evening ended by having our neighbors over and enjoying cake together.

Our good friend, Aimee, and I made this cake together for Naomi. She helped me make a cake for Naomi on her 3rd birthday, and we think this should be an annual thing since we have so much fun (and we think they turn our ok as well!)

This is in front of the lion exibit at the Wild Animal Park. There is a lion on top of the vehicle in the background. One of the coolest things we've ever seen at the Park was 6 sleeping cubs and their mama right in front of the glass display. They were literally a foot away, if the glass wasn't there. The cubs were so cute, but the lioness was truly frightening. Look at the size of her paws.

We rode on a vehicle that took us to look at more animals. It really gives you the feeling that you are on a safari since you can see a lot of different animals roaming together in a vast area. Here are some rhinos just trotting along.
My conversation with our 5 year old:

"Mom I was thinking. You know how I'm getting bigger and stuff. I think I'd like a phone for my birthday. You know, like a real one." Surprised that she just asked me for her own cell phone, I asked her, "Who do you know that is your age that is getting a cell phone?" Naomi replies, "Well, ok, maybe not a real one, but just something cool like that." Whew! I can wait a few more years!

6 Months!

2008-03-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Our little Jordan Kate is 1/2 a year old already!

Below you can see some of her activities...
She loves to be on her belly and just look around at all that is happening, which is normally a lot.

She can sit up, but she's not very steady, so we usually put a pillow behind her. She always looks shocked when she tumbles to the side! On her back is fun, too.

Jordan has started eating cereal. In these pictures she looks terrified, but she actually loves the cereal! She gets so excited she makes a weird growling sound in between bites to let you know that she is ready for more.

She is a very content little one. Unlike her siblings, she is pretty happy to stay on her back most of the day, kick her feet, play with toys, eat and sleep. (I guess it helps to have some entertainment with Isaiah and Naomi around.) She's not too interested in wanting to crawl or even flip much. She can flip, but chooses not to. She is behind the first two in terms of her activity-Isaiah was crawling well at 5 months and Naomi at 6. My first thought is, "Let's get going, Jordan." Then I remember that I should be thinking, "Stay immobile for as long as you want! PLEASE!" :) (The third time around you realize that they will eventually walk, so let's not rush things.)

Jordan's also pretty social. She absolutely loves interacting with people. She watches what's going on around her constantly. Naomi will make her laugh from across the room. The other morning, I knew Naomi was up, and then I heard Jordan making sounds. Two girls awake. The next thing I heard was Naomi making totally crazy sounds and Jordan responding in laughter. I went to check it out and found Naomi in bed with Jordan. It was so cute!

We love this girly and are so glad she's a part of our family.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

Our Cuties on Valentine's Day...

For her preschool class, Naomi made her own Valentine's cards. I was so impressed at the precision in which she made them. Each was unique and each was beautiful. She made 35 of these! I helped her some, such as gluing, but she was sure to tell me exactly where to put each heart on the paper.

Jordan...all dressed up cute for her first Valentine's Day.
Isaiah is quite serious about all this lovin'.
Naomi is all dressed in her outfit for a fun day at preschool where they shared a fruit salad, exchanged cards, etc.

I kept it low-key and gave the kids cards and these fun mini M&M guys. They loved them.

Each day after Isaiah goes down for a nap, Naomi and I spend some 'special time' together. This is time for the 2 of us to do fun things, without a lot of interuption. We often play games, draw, make cookies or muffins, paint her toe nails, etc. Today she asked me if we could curl her hair. I thought this would be fun on this special day, so I took the time to do it. She was happy with the results, though I was scared to see her look so grown-up!

Jordan definitely loves Daddy already. (Let's be honest, this smile melts Danny, too!)

Danny taught Modern Hebrew for his night class, so we didn't get a date until the next day. I decided to make dinner special, though and I bought Danny some shrimp. (One of his favorite things.) He put together shrimp scampi while I cooked pasta, sausage & chicken. We threw it all together and it turned out to be a fantastic meal that we all enjoyed. What a true blessing to have such a wonderful family that is full of love because of God's love for us. We can celebrate this every day.

February--Five Months

2008-02-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

Here's our little Jordan Kate getting bigger! She's 5 months old now. She weighs 15 1bs. 12 oz. and is 24 1/4 inches long. (Translation: she has good chub rolls and is tall like her dad.) She is flipping over from her back to her belly, and also belly to her back. She is a people person, perking up when talked to, and laughs very easily.

I thought I'd document a rare sighting...Isaiah sitting down! He doesn't do this much. He is normally seen, from behind, as he's running through the house. Or you hear a huge thud from somewhere, and it was him jumping off of something...anything, really! His latest stunt was jumping out of his bedroom window while he was supposed to be taking a nap. I heard a knock at the door, and I opened it to see my neighbor holding Isaiah. She said she found him by her porch and he told her he jumped out of the window. I definitely felt like the A+ mom with total control of my children after that! I had a huge list to go through with him to explain why this was a bad idea. I started with the fact that he might get hurt. He said, "It was fun." What did you land on? "The sticks." (He was barefoot...because he was supposed to be taking a nap.) He had pushed the screen out, crawled through the closed blinds and made a giant leap over 4 feet high! At this point I tried to explain that it is scary for him to be outside alone. His grin from pure joy at showing me where he jumped was so big that I realized I was getting nowhere with this talk, so I stopped. Oh, the joys of having 2.5 year old boy! It should be noted that he already wants to pole vault like his Daddy did! (I can't wait!)
Here are the 'big' kids playing together: Looking at a bug book, and playing with dinosaurs.
We look happy! We are in front of Hume Lake, enjoying the cold, snow, fresh smell of pines, quiet cabin & the kids with grandparents! We got to get away for a night at the end of Dec.

Here's an example of a deep conversation that I had with the two big kids the other day:

Isaiah: Mom, why is God in charge of us?
Mom: God's in charge because he made us.
Isaiah: We made God?
Naomi: Nobody made God. He made his self.
Isaiah: Jesus made God's self?

Lots to learn...

Christmas 2007

2007-12-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas Celebration!

Some of the participants:

Danny
Laurie
Grandpa Frese

Grandma Frese

Josh (Danny's younger brother) & Kelley

Emily (Josh & Kelley's girl)

Isaiah & Laurie (wrestling)

Naomi

(Other participants included: Jonah (Josh & Kelley's son), Natalie (Danny's younger sister) & Cam & their kids, Drew & Allie. It was a full house with 7 kids that are 4.5 years & under.

There was so much going on that we didn't notice that Allie's diaper had come completely off! Oops!

Isaiah said this was the coolest soccer ball in the whole world.

Isaiah loved his spider man bike. (We still have to work with him to learn how to ride it fast!)

Naomi was excited about her princess bike. These super long sidewalks were great!

Kelley adjusts Emily's helmet so she can ride her princess bike, too.

Grandma and Jonah.

It was decided that Jordan's hair was getting way too 'patchy' all over, so...Dad and Grandpa took care of it. She difinitely has a 'clean slate' to start her new hair growth!

Here she is with her new bald head getting comfort from her aunt Natalie.

Green Eggs & Ham

2007-12-28T10:13:00.001-08:00

What could be better for a Sunday morning breakfast at Grandpa & Grandma's house than Green Eggs & Ham?! I do like them, Sam I am.

Camping

2007-12-26T21:17:00.001-08:00

Heading to the desert...
Danny got the urge to go camping, so off we went, East to Aqua Caliente which is in the Anzo Borego Desert.

We borrowed our friends' camper trailer. It was so nice to have lights, a stove, running water, and especially a heater. (It's pretty much cheating as far as camping is concerned, but come on, we have 3 little ones!)

Aqua Caliente. Below: our campsite.

Naomi was pretty proud of her accomplishment of climbing so high in the tree. Getting down was a bit tougher, though.

Danny decided to disect this cactus to see the wood underneath.

Isaiah got distracted from hiking because he had to poke holes in the sand with this little stick...the mind of a 2.5 year old is quite interesting!

Cacti, cacti & more cacti...

The kids eating lunch and climbing on the rocks.

We all enjoyed the hammock, including Jordan Kate.

Aqua Caliente wrap-up: We stayed for 2 nights, & considering we have 3 kids including a 3 1/2 month old, we did really well. The days were in the high 70's and the nights were very chilly, but we had a nice heater in the camper & lots of blankets. The kids loved just being able to browse around, throw rocks, jump off things, climb trees, roast hot dogs & marshmallows & just get dirty! I even got to relax in the spa for a bit. We'd consider the trip a success!

Smiles

2007-11-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

Our little Jordan Kate brightens our lives!

At 10 weeks, she is so cute. She smiles frequently, especially when you smile at her. Naomi holds her hands and sings, "If you're happy and you know it..." and she smiles and giggles a little. Jordan also makes cooing sounds, and Isaiah laughs and says, "She's talking to us." The interaction between our kids is so great and fun to watch. There is an instant bond.

She enjoys her little blanket with toys that hang over it in an arch. She often tries to grab the toys. She's sleeping about 7 hours in the nights, sometimes more. I took her in to see the Dr. for a check-up last week, and at 9 weeks old she was 12 lbs 2 oz and 23 3/4 inches long. She is in the 75% in weight and 90% in height. Not bad! She just has a sweet disposition about her, and we look forward to seeing more of her personality come out over time!

October Festivities

2007-11-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Our Little Trick-or-Treaters

Naomi is showing off her real style in her purple princess dress, while Isaiah is the cutest UPS man you've ever seen!
We decided to join our neighbors and do some trick-or-treating in our safe little UCSD gratuate student housing neighborhood. Naomi was so excited about being a princess. I curled her hair and told her I'd put make-up on her. She looked at me in shock, as she normally only gets to put lip-gloss on. We did the whole nine yards with blush, lipstick, eyeshadow and all. She was even so excited to get to wear her sparkly hi-healed dress-up shoes outside, instead of only inside!

Isaiah was not as appreciative of the UPS costume, but he got into it, especially after Danny made a sweet package for him to put the candy in. Jordan was just a cute fuzzy pink bunny, but she just slept the whole time with me carrying her, so she didn't even know about the festivities.

Our first try at this whole ordeal was a bit rough as we met with a group of friends to go around together. One set of parents who we didn't know, decided to dress up as well. Isaiah spotted the mom in a witch costume right away and said he didn't like it. Then he saw the dad and freaked out. I didn't see his costume until I looked up when Isaiah came running and screaming towards me. He was wearing a 'Scream' mask with a black cape. It was frightening and I didn't understand why a dad would do this. Needless to say, Isaiah refused to continue to go on with these people. He and Danny went by themselves, while Naomi hung out with the group of girls. (She's all about the social affair!)

All in all, it was a good time. Isaiah still talks about being the 'package man' and people saying that they liked his costume. Of course, eating the candy at the end was a great finale!

Fire Evacuation

2007-10-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hey all.

Just a quick note to let anyone out there know our status vis-a-vis the fires that are burning up the southern half of our state.

First, we're fine. We are up in Visalia with Danny's folks. We saw on the news that the fires were coming west pretty quickly with the winds, and we heard a fire chief on TV say that the fire would almost surely hit the coast before it was all over. The fires were (and still are) completely out of control, and the situation wasn't looking up for the next 2-3 days. Our apartment in northern La Jolla was uncomfortably close to where the fire seemed to be heading based on the wind patterns, so we decided to get out of southern cal while we still could. No sense in waiting until the last minute so that all the freeways are shut down or clogged with traffic. It was surreal driving through the thick smoke and even ash in multiple patches along the I-5 heading north.

We just found out that Danny's school (UCSD) is closed for the rest of the week (as are most all school districts in SD county), so we plan on just waiting it out up here in central CA.

Some friends of ours from church (Daniel and Christina Norwood) came up with us. They have a home in SW Escondido and were given a manditory evacuation notice on Monday morning. As of right now there are still fires burning within a mile of their home. Many others in our church also have homes that are at risk (including people who lost their homes to the Cedar Fire of 2003!). Our new church building, into which we were supposed to move in two weeks, is also right in Rancho Bernardo. Yikes. Good thing it's only stuff.

If you are the praying type, please pray. For the firefighters especially.

October

2007-10-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by and October has been a busy month. Here are some exerpts about the kiddos:
-Jordan is growing daily. She is becoming more aware of her surroundings, and actually shows an interest in little animals and toys that we show her.
-Isaiah's speech continues to impress us. His new way to start a sentence is, "Actually..." He inquires about random things such as, "Are you real? Is that man real? Are my bones real?" I have him sit in the corner on a dot sometimes as a form of discipline, and to have him change iis attitude. He normally objects, but then I have him stay there and fold his hands. Each time I've said this he starts to pray on his own. (The only other time he folds his hands is when we are praying at the table.) He starts with a prayer he learned from a video, "Thank you God for this day, for my famly and my friends", then he continues on his own and asks God to help him obey. It is so cute, and he has gotten up with a totally different attitude.
-Naomi is showing more responsibility, and even cleaned out the dishwasher without my solicitation one morning! Nice. She loves to spend time with her little sister, often asking to hold Jordan. She talks to her, shows her toys, etc. She spontaneously gets out paper to draw on, normally to make a card for someone. She is quite the competator as well. We often make putting on our PJ's a game to see who can win-her or Isaiah (we have to put his on for him still). One night we were ready to start this game and she told Isaiah to hide from Dad, so he couldn't put PJ's on Isaiah. He of course obeyed her, thinking it would be a fun game. In the meantime, she put on her PJ's as fast as she could and declared herself the winner! Danny was still trying to find Isaiah! Win at any cost is her motto! :) We thought it was pretty clever.

Below: Naomi did this book in preschool. I thought it was really great and shows just how grown up she is.

Isaiah's art is a little different. See below.

Art by Isaiah Michael Frese. (His sister's face is his canvas.) I noticed he was quiet for a while, and this is what he was up to!

Danny gets the great task of cutting fingernails!

Yikes, I'm the mom to all these kids!

-Sisters-

Jordan Kate is really starting to smile now.

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

We went to a pumpkin patch with Grandpa & Grandma Frese when they came to visit us. The kids had their first pony rides. Naomi sat tall, feeling so proud. Isaiah was all smiles, loving every minute. It was so fun to watch. We captured every angle as there were 3 people (Danny, Rod & Joan) taking pictures!

Naomi & Isaiah also enjoyed this gigantic slide. There were only 2 other kids, so they just went up and down as fast as they could.

September-First Month

2007-10-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

We made it through the month of September, and our 3 kids are alive and well, by God's grace. So many of our friends from church and the neighborhood helped out with meals, gift cards, visits, etc., and we have appreciated their help so much!
Jordan is growing and doing great. She already has a little more 'fluff.' Which is good.

Below: Sept. 17th, one week old

Below: Sept. 25th, 2 weeks old

Below: Sept 26th

Updated pics of Jordan (already!)

2007-09-15T15:01:00.001-07:00

Jordan has gotten rid of the puffy eyebrow ridges and whatnot brought about by her grand entrance, so I thought I'd post a few more pics so you can see what she is starting to look like.

Just for laughs - some of Jordan's faces:

Meanwhile, our two other kids (!) are busy obsessing over the baby...

...and trying to get out of the house at least once a day. Nomi is riding her reeaally undersized two-wheel bike, and Zaiah is trying to keep up riding the neighbor's scooter. Wearing his rubber boots, of course.

Talk about being born yesterday...

2007-09-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

She was.

Introducing: Jordan Kate Frese

Jordan arrived Monday Sept. 10, 2007 at 5:14 pm. She weighed 6 lbs. 13.5 oz. & was 20.5 inches long. She is healthy and Mom is doing great. Mom had a rough 2 hours of labor; Danny thought this was the easiest birth yet!

Below are some newly-arrived, goopy-haired photos of our newborn. Enjoy.

For comparison, here is Jordan (top) next to Naomi (bottom) when the latter was a couple of weeks old (?). It's hard to get a representative picture of a newborn, but we definitely see some similarities between the two.

Soon...

2007-09-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

I'm 37 weeks pregnant and counting, so our little baby girl could be born at any time. (I delivered both Naomi & Isaiah at about 38.5 weeks, so it could be soon!) We are excited, yet unsure of all the details surrounding the birth, so are in much prayer!

Danny is home safely! He's been back for nearly a month, and what a great time we have had as a family since he's been back! He has returned to spending much time in the library or reading, as his 'student' status demands, but he's enjoying the cool library.

Though the library may be cool, it has been hot here...especially for La Jolla. We've had weather in the high 80's to 90's, with a lot of humidity, and of course, no AC. The heat hasn't seemed to bring on labor yet, so we'll just keep waiting.

Below are some pics from a birthday party we just went to.

Naomi is serious about getting some candy out of the shark.

I'm just trying to stay cool and hydrated.

Isaiah and his friend, Bjor, enjoy the cake.

Naomi & Eliyana are quite a pair.

Danny In Jordan

2007-07-17T20:12:00.001-07:00

Above: Danny on his cell phone talking to me from the middle of the desert in Wadi Rum.

Danny is on an archaeology dig in Jordan for 5 weeks. He went with a group of about 20 students from UCSD, and is digging under the archaeology professor at the school. This fulfills part of the requirement for a minor field in archaeology, along with a huge research paper that he'll work on when he returns. He left CA on June 26th and was able to spend a few days in Israel, and met up with some friends of ours from San Diego, Josh and Heidi Van Ee. Josh is a couple years ahead of Danny in the same PhD program. (Heidi just went for a tour and a week of digging, but Josh will be with Danny the whole dig.) He'll return on August 6th. (We're counting the days!)
Above: Josh, Heidi, their taxi driver and Danny on their way to the dig site.

Above: This is the camp site where they are staying. The closest 'civilization' to them is a bedoin village.

Below: Josh tries to get some rest in the heat of the afternoon on his cot. Danny is sitting in the back of the tent.

Above: Danny and Josh relax under their tarp as a bedoin man tries to start a fire.

Above: This is the dig site. They are digging an ancient copper mine.

Above: The 'clean lab' where they work in the late afternoons cleaning pottery, recording finds in computers, taking pictures, etc.

Below: The computer lab, which is still over 100 degrees inside!

Above: Danny photographs some important artifact.

Above: The meal tent. (Notice this is covered but the dig site isn't. This doesn't make any sense to Danny.)

Below: The restroom facility, with the flush buckets waiting outside. Their showers are in this building as well.

Above: Josh and Danny return from a nice shower in the evening. Normally a breeze comes up just before bedtime, so that helps a bit, making it tolerable to sleep.
Above: A survey team uses a GPS device to record the exact location they have found an artifact. Danny has been doing this most days from about 5 am until after 12 noon. They take a jeep and travel about 45 min to a site and then hike around all day, going up and down hills trying to spot ancient remains. This makes the days go faster than digging in one spot, but he is extremely exhausted when he returns for lunch and an afternoon break.

Above: Danny, Josh and Heidi enjoyed a jeep tour in the Wadi Rum before joining the dig group. They had a bedoin guide and stayed in a bedoin tent.

Below: Eating a meal with the tour guide and his friends.

Above: Enjoying a nice meal at their hotel near the Red Sea, before the dig began.

Above: Sipping some coffee with a Jordanian man who sold Danny a sim card for his cell phone then envited them to his house for coffee.

Visalia June 29-July 3

2007-07-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

More fun with cousins in Visalia...
We took the kids to a water park for the day. They all loved it, but we could have used a few more adults to supervise the craziness!

Isaac decided to try to sympathize with me.

Visalia, CA June 25-28

2007-06-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures of us while we were at Danny's parents home in Visalia, CA.

Nomi & Emily are all dressed up to do a ballet dance video!

Isaiah is busy with a car...but Jonah wanted to join in the dressing up, too.

It's always fun when Dad's in the kitchen, especially when he's making milk shakes!

Grandpa shares his dinner with Isaiah. They're buddies.

Two cuties in my lap: Isaiah and his cousin, Allie. Soon we'll have our own little girl!

Emily, Naomi, Aunt Kelley, and Jonah relaxing in the pool.

Now Isaiah decided to join in the fun of dressing up...Dad will have to talk with him about that.

Hume Lake Cabin

2007-06-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

Matt, Mary Ann & Malisse Busby (Laurie's sister & family) joined us on our annual trip to Danny's parent's cabin in the Sequoia National Park. We spent most of our week out on the deck relaxing, watching the kids and eating. We did get out and swim in the lake, went to the snack shop for milk shakes, played games, watched movies, ate good food, listened to a great speaker, played frisbee golf, and just had a good time with family.

Naomi and Danny went exploring one day. They found a nest of quail eggs, and even brought home a baby rubber boa snake. (I'm not to sure about the snake.)

The Busby family
Sorry these are all the pics....guess we were too busy relaxing to take pics. :)

Alaska

2007-06-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

Danny & I had the opportunity to go on a cruise to Alsaska with Danny's parents, brother and his spouse, and sister and her spouse. We were blessed by 7 days away from our crazy kids. We relaxed, ate way too much, saw beautiful scenery, and just enjoyed ourselves. It was a vacation to always remember.

Juneau, Alaska

We went up a gondola to get a great view.

Danny is in gray shirt, 2nd from the right. He decided to pick a slightly steep hillsided to slide down on his backside!

Here's the hill that caused Danny some pain & wet jeans, but no injuries.

This is the back of our ship.

We saw so many bald eagles. I was amazed at how close to civilization they were.

Skagway, Alaska

Below: We got to go on a jeep tour of that took up way up North into the Yukon Territory. It was so amazing.

The family: Danny & Laurie, Josh & Kelley, Cameron & Natalie, Rod & Joan

This mirror lake (above) was so fabulous.

We saw a few carribou, which the guide said was quite unusual. We felt privileged.

We traveled into some fjords and saw some icebergs. Notice their turquoise color!

Even the scenery from the ship on the way home was great.

Isaiah is 2!

2007-06-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

Isaiah had his 2nd birthday on May 24th!

Ultrasound

2007-05-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Come September, a Girl will be arriving to join our family! On Mon, May 14, we had an ultrasound that showed she was healthy and doing well. She only weighs a pound, but she was tickling her feet, drinking, and just looking cute! Naomi is sooo excited that she will have a sister. Isaiah doesn't have a clue yet that he will not be the littlest one around anymore.

Here I am...pregnant (21 weeks) barefoot, and in the kitchen!
The kids and I on Mother's Day/my 28th birthday.
Naomi sporting her new goggles. Yikes...
Isaiah is showing off his huge muscles in his new swim shorts & shirt.

Easter Celebration

2007-04-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

For Easter we visited the Frese clan in Visalia, CA. The kids enjoyed the egg hunt, and the parents had just as much fun watching all the different strategies of 5 kids who are 4 years old and under!
Naomi and Isaiah with their cousin, Emily.

Jonah's strategy: just eat the whole plastic egg.

Naomi's strategy: just run faster and be smarter than all the little cousins and you'll get the most!
Isaiah's plan: run fast to an adult to have them open the egg and then eat the candy . Move on to the next egg. Emily and Allie hang out on the couch.

Drew, looking so handsome. Below, his new sister Allie, who is now 4 months old, is all decked out in her Easter outfit!

With Grandpa and Grandma Frese

Nomi got to ride in style in Grandpa's cobra that he built himself.

Naomi Turns 4

2007-04-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

On April 5th, Naomi celebrated her 4th birthday!
In addition to opening presents, we went to the Wild Animal Park with her good friend, Adalae on Tues. The evening of her birthday we headed off to see Grandma and Grandpa Frese, which she considered to be a wonderful present, too. She is so much fun and a true blessing. We can't believe it's been 4 years since God gave her to us in Jerusalem.