The McDonald's came to town!

Dave's parent's came out for a week to meet Charley. It was so nice to have them here. The kids miss their Grandma and Grandpa McDonald and they helped me so much while they were here.

Grandma stayed busy drawing pictures and reading books to the kids and taking Charley off my hands when I have to run to pull one of the older kids off the other before bones break.

Dave roped his dad into working for us while he was here. They went to Home Depot 3 times a day and kept busy sanding and nailing and constructing.

They finished this beautiful toy chest and completely redid the picnic table. I'm so excited for the stain to dry!

Pumpkin carving FHE!

I'm working on finishing Halloween costumes this week and we carved pumpkins last night. The kids are still a little young to get totally into it but we have fun.

Dave made a Thomas train pumpkin for JJ.

And I made a puppy for Lily.

JJ DID NOT like the feel of the goo and was flinging it everywhere crying for us to wash his hands :)

Welcome Baby "Charley"

This little beauty is the latest to join our little family. I was not feeling well so they were going to do an amniocentesis to find out if the lungs were developed enough to induce. This is one of God's miracles and great blessings. Because we were watching my health we found that my amniotic fluid had dropped from a 10 on Monday to a dangerous 3.5 on Friday the 16th. So we got to induce at 37 weeks and get Charlene Hazel. We are all doing well and my recovery is a TON easier and I haven't felt lightheaded or dizzy since about an hour after delivery. Another miracle!

The older kids are doing great with her and ALWAYS want to hold their little sister.

When's the Ba..Ba..Ba..Baby due?!
Meet The newest edition to the McDonald Family.

Charlene Hazel

Born 6:27 PM

5 lbs. 15 oz.
19 inches

Still the smile of anticipation.

This was the picture that I texted out to people whos numbers were in my phone.

This is the smile of pure happiness. And TRIUMPH!

More information will be on its way.

Its been a rough week and I wanted to update you because we need prayers.



Last week I was dizzy and lightheaded off and on. Wednesday afternoon it started being constant and it has not let up. We are going on day 5 of constant lightheadednes dizziness and a headache and being confined to bed/ the couch. I've been in to see the doctor and spent Thursday night in the Maternity ward/ ER until 3 am. ( Thanks dad for taking the kids!) They ran some test and decided despite what is going on with my head the baby is okay. They even did an MRI to see if there was a tumor or some other head ailment. All I have to say is an MRI is an experience. One I hope not to repeat soon:)

Any way Dave is keeping watch over our little family this weekend. He is doing so good taking care of me and the kids. For those who know me it drives me NUTS to be laying down and not "Doing." Come Monday hopefully we will get some help with babysitting the kids.

My hope is this is some sort of bacterial infection or virus that will go away on its own soon, if not if the baby is causing it we can get that baby out so I can hold her, and so I can take care of the rest of the family. Any way please remember us in your prayers.

Happy Fall!
We've had a "quick succession of busy nothings." I've had two a week appointments with the OB because my amniotic fluid is low and they are keeping a close eye on the baby. Everything is looking okay but we sure could use your prayers.
Dave has been busy at work. He has been pulling extra duty donating plasma twice a week. It means an extra 10 hours a week away from home. We are working REALLY hard on climbing out of the debt hole. Dave is sacrificing a ton to help us on our way.
This is a picture a co-worker emailed us. Dave went with his company to clean up an old well site. I love my hard workin hard hat wearin man:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!

Lily turned two! I can hardly believe it. Lily is such a fun little person. Somedays I'm amazed her little body contains all of her very prominent personality. She is such a joy to have in our home. WE love her so much.

She got some clothes some books.

And her very own pink backpack to carry them around in.

Once she realized what she had she hopped down and walked out the door.


Smile V.I.P.!

Blowing out the candles

Some favorite pictures of Lily over the last TWO YEARS!:)

Happy Birthday Little one.

Hello my friends!
I have so much to comment on! My mom worked really hard and gathered ALL my brothers and sisters- ALL six of us- Together last weekend. It was SO nice. We hadn't seen Don in a while. He just got back from his second tour in Iraq and now he is training up to go to Afganistan. Please pray for him. We love you Don. Any way all of us were together and I don't have very many pics but here are some. Celeste and Brooklyn had fun with my kids around the local parks and it was tons of fun. She brought her new baby Hunter. What a cute chunk!Sammy and Jensen putting puzzles together. I was his birthday while they were here. Jensen keeps telling me how cool Sammy is and how cool his Spiderman birthday was.

Okay so I wanted to say. I love being a mom one of my favorite things is being able to see the differences in personalities in each kid that is SO huge. It is not just that one is a boy and one is a girl. The fundamental personalities are very different. Jensen loves control and order being methodical and can't stand tactile messiness. Lily will jump off things she has no business being on top of. She gets in the mud and gets dirty whenever possible. And yes SHE STILL EATS DIRT every single time we go outside.

This is her after she stuck her head in the river sand and she is now rubbing the dirt all over herself.

Jensen doing his little experiments in the river. And yes there is my pregnant belly as of last week.

I'm doing a low intensity home preschool with my kids and the differences couldn't be plainer. We were making faces in the pudding -(ie happy, sad, scared and so on). So they had total permission to use their fingers and make a big mess. I made a good mess around my plate and got my hands all gross. Lily was loving it. And you can tell from the picture she got totally messy. Jensen would not touch the pudding with his hands and his area was immaculate. Oh I love my kids.

Sorting Lily style and Jensen stlye.

Happy 4th Anniversary It has been four crazy awesome years. I am so thankful to my very good friend and my committed companion. I am so blessed to have such a like minded person to help me through being me. I am so thankful for his smile and his ability to always always always make me laugh. He promised that to me as my wedding present. I had no idea how treasured and valuable that gift would be. I trust him with all that I have. I love him with all that I can give. David, I love you.
Dan

Sleepy Time
Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I HAVE BEEN SO TIRED! It is like I have some sort of living entity inside of me sapping all my energy and gumption. So I thought I would celebrate my exhaustion by posting some of the cute lounging pics of the kids. Lily really did fall asleep like this.

Lily finds anywhere she can to relax.

And sometimes Jensen joins her. Like this on the stairs.