Counting the Days

This is what a 6 month paper chain looks like.

It's a little daunting if you think about it so don't.  Just working on one day at a time.

Christmas Eve

It was surprising to me that it took some effort to keep up with the Christmas traditions with Aaron being gone. Luckily there are a few kids counting on me to stay up on my game.

 Here are the kids making/decorating a gingerbread house.

here's the end result of that project

A tradition that we adopted from the Petersen side of the family is that on Christmas Day you get to pick whatever you want to eat into one giant "Awesome Meal".  It can literally be anything.  We usually do this on Christmas to maximize laziness so no one has to cook but we are going to a friends tomorrow so "Awesome Meal" was tonight.

Menu included:  orange chicken, popcorn shrimp, mini quiches, cougar gold, cuties/clementines, pizza rolls, egg-nog, and cream puffs.

Oh!  there I am. Hope your Christmas was as merry even if it was less fattening.

Rain Storm

Two nights ago we had a rain storm come through Rapid City, qickly followed by arctic air from North Dakota.  This was the result.  Notice they are not using sleds.

In this next one you can see how far Alex went with out a push.  Also notice I had the forethought to make the kids wear their bike helmets. 

After the fun I spent an hour breaking ice off the driveway so The van could get in the garage.

Saying Goodbye!

Here's to a fast 179 days plus 15 days overlap!  By-the-way, Ainsley's not dead, she's sleeping.

After about 10 attempts to turn this picture the right way I give up.  Sorry but you'll have to turn your heads.  If any one knows how to fix this problem let me know (yes I logged out, deleted the post and started over - 4 times!).

From Aaron:  I was able to fix this from Afghanistan.  Modern technology is amazing!

One busy weekend

So not only are we getting ready for Aaron's up-coming deployment - we also had some important family events this weekend.  Alex was baptized and Ainsley was blessed in church.  Luckily we were able to combine both events into one weekend to have maximum family visit Rapid City during the winter.

I will have to say that I do feel old having a kid old enough to be baptized (the age of 8 at our church).  In one more year we will hit the halfway point of Alex being in our home until college.  Parenthood is going surprisingly fast.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex and dad

Ainsley's blessing day

Working on a smile

Jealous?

So I didn't think that Camryn was jealous of Ainsley  but apparently there are a few things that Camryn needs to claim as her own.  So Ainsley, looks like you'll just have to wait your turn.

After 1 month...

Ainsley's had a few experiences.

First, she learned dad's trick:

Second, she attended her first BYU football game vs. Colorado St and got to meet Cosmo.  Another Cougar in the making!

Third, she's starting to smile!  As you can see, she not only has a dimple in her chin but also one in each cheek.  Can't wait until that smile is for me and not just because.

Going Green

As we now have 5 people using the bathroom in our home, we sure do go through our fair share of toilet paper.  I'm not about to put anyone on rations, but we could buy stock in it and probably put the kids through college.


So with that in mind, I appreciate the conservation efforts when too much was unrolled.  Waste not want not huh?

4 Kids?

So a friend questioned whether or not we actually had a 4th kid as there have been little to no photos or her.  We wanted to respect the privacy of our daughter and keep her anonymity, but to please the masses here are a few photos of the not so little new born. 

Arrrrgh! 

Evidence of the 4 kids

Chubby Bunny

Playing Rock Band with dad.  She's not screaming, she's singing!

In other kids news, Camryn is our dress up girl.  Apparently butterfly fairies can also double as handymen.

Baby's here!

Welcome to the world Ainsley Kate Petersen!  She's a pretty big girl if you have no eyesight and are unable to see.  9# 8oz and 21 inches.  Granted, we have big genes in the family.

The story (real quick):
 So you can see from the below picture that the baby was getting big because I was huge.  Remember, actual due date is Oct 6.

So Thursday Sept 23 I have a growth ultrasound to see how big the baby is getting.  At this point my "due" date has already been bumped up to Oct 1. The tech lets me know that baby is approx 10 lbs.

So Friday morning I meet with my OB and basically we come to the decision that the bun is done in the oven and getting crispy around the edges.  She immediately went to call the hospital to find an opening in the induction schedule, the sooner the better.  Funny thing is is that by 12:30 that afternoon I started laboring on my own.

At 3:15, I'm at the school picking up the carpool after school and get the call to come in.  Of course I have to ditch the other kids and Aaron needs to get home but eventually by 5:00 I'm signed in getting comfy in my open back gown.

By 7:00 the penicillin finally comes down from the pharmacy and by 9:30 it's all in (I was strep B+). It was a bit frustrating as I pride myself in having quick labors and the waiting game was out of my control.  By 10:00 they start the pitocin and break my water by 10:30 or 11:00.  I start pushing around 11:45 and she's born at 12:04 am.

That's the story.

T minus 12 days...

...and very much counting!

No lady at the supermarket... there isn't more than one in there.  Thanks for asking though!

3 year pictures

Somewhere in between the 2nd and 3rd birthday Camryn changed her smile from this:

to this:

Just kidding!  We got a few good ones but not as good as last year:

Turning 3

Camryn is three.  It's amazing to me how much younger 3 is now compared to Alex and Sydney being 3.  We had a great pre-birthday week with reminders that "Sunday is my birthday"  and then me reminding her that it was only Tuesday, Wednesday...etc.  Orange chicken, corn on the cob and strawberries were on the menu along with cheesecake and presents. 

Oh yeah - she also got a hair cut.  Happy Birthday Cammer!  You have been a really fun 2 year old.  Let's go for a repeat and have a great 3!

As easy as ABC, 123...

Hooray for the first day of school!  Hooray for Sydney that she is starting Kindergarten and Alex for loving 2nd grade already.

Alex's Phinies and Ferb t-shirt in honor of the 104 days of summer vacation now over

Jake and Jenna Bohnenkamp our neighbors and carpool

We were in Arizona the night of the open house so I missed signing up for the all the volunteer stuff.  Sydney's teacher had a "saying goodbye"  story and thing lined up for the new kindergartners and parents so we came in, listened to the story and then got ready to leave.  I then noticed that all the volunteer papers were out and started looking through them to make sure I didn't miss anything.  A few minutes later from across the room Sydney yells out "Are you going to leave yet mom?".  No attachment issues there.

Aaron's bachelor summer

For those 7 of you who have actually followed all my summer posts, you have undoubtedly noticed that most is about the kids and myself.  During the months of June and July our family was together a total of about 23 days.

Aaron was living up the bachelor life this summer!  Spent two weeks in Texas, a week of motorcycling, a week of backpacking, riding during Rally Week... nothing but good times for him!  Here's Aaron's summer recap.

June 20 - July 4
Aaron left his Father's Day celebrations early to fly to the heat and humidity of Texas.  Brooks AFB is a stripped down base without a commissary, BX, swimming pool and the fitness center closes 1 hour before Aaron was done for the day.  He was the second most senior officer in his group and one of two out of 25 who didn't get a rental car in their budget, so he had to bum a ride from all the 2nd Lieutenants

Classes included a  night vision lecture, high altitude physiology,  fighter/bomber/mobility/recon missions, and his favorite history of Air Force ophthalmology.  He also spent some time in the high altitude chamber.

Unfortunately for Aaron, Hurricane Alex was on its way to the area so he was the only one in his program who didn't get to fly in the aircraft pictured below.  He did get to spend an extra two days of extended holiday in Houston until the weather cleared and he could fly home.

 He was able to see his brother Nathan and his wife Leaa and their baby Corinne and finished the first 2 books of the Hunger Games series. He also paid tribute to his fallen brother's-in-arms at the Alamo. All in all not a bad 2 weeks.  He spend 40 hours with his family until we took off for Utah and left him to his next adventure.

July 12-17
After a grueling 4 days back at work Aaron hitched the trailer to the Altima and drove the motorcycle over to Spokane and the start of his Wild Hogs week.  Their planned destination was a trip up through Canada but the day before they left a passport went missing so the route was changed to follow the Cascade Highway along the Washington/Canada border.

Although the boys seemed to be disappointed in the change, Aaron was secretly excited as now they would be traveling through Forks, WA and he would be able to watch for vampires and put his feet in the sand at the La Push Beach.  After visiting his vampire Graceland Aaron is definitely Team Edward!

Other highlights of the trip were the general scenery, hanging out with his brother, dad, and brother-in-law, and eating a container ship.

Halfway through the trip Aaron got the stomach flu. Apparently it's a bit trickier being sick on a motorcycle than on a car trip.

Yes this is Aaron puking over the guardrail.  Thanks for the picture Trent!

Alex has already started getting ready for the time when he will get to pilgrimage to Forks, and become a man.

July 27 - July 31 (but actually 30th)

The male side of the Nelson family went on a backpacking trip.  It originally was going to be 20 miles in 4 days with about 1200 feet gained in elevation, it got changed to 30 miles in 4 days with 5000 ft gained in elevation and ended up being 30 miles in 3 days with the 5000 feet gained in elevation.  The final count was due to the persistent rain in the Rocky Mountain National Forrest.  They had a great time and made it over Flat Top Mountain without be electrocuted or lost in a white-out (you have to have Aaron or someone from the trip tell you about the guy who told them to turn around before making it to the top).  A fun time was had by all.

yes that's Aaron packing heat

a little rain never hurt anyone

August 10

As if there hadn't been enough fun had by Aaron, he went on the tenth annual Dakota Thunder ride sponsored by Ellsworth AFB as part of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  The ride left the flight line, rode down the runway and then headed off base and took a back road to Sturgis.   This sounded like a great father-son opportunity, and it was at first.  After pictures, getting into a B-1, waiting for the ride to start and drinking lots of water to stay hydrated on a hot August day they were on their way.  They rode with the medics near the back of over 500 motorcycles.  It was great until somewhere on the two lane highway to Sturgis, Alex said he had to pee.  Aaron tried to get him to hold it, but after bouncing around on the back seat for 10 minutes they pulled over and Alex was able to relieve himself on the side of the road.  Through a series of unfortunate events they were separated from the rest of the group and missed a key turn to get to Sturgis.  They ended up in Deadwood, SD with Alex falling asleep on the back of Aaron's bike.  Deciding to call it a day they hopped on the freeway and head for home.  They will try to make it all the way to Sturgis next year.

Aaron has now resumed being a father to our children and states that the bachelor life is too exhausting.  We'll see what happens next summer!