Wow! Time Flies....

Can't beleive my last post was Halloween! Yikes! Since then... all the kids have had a birthday... ages now are Nicole - 23, Charlyn -21, Amelia - 17, Abigail - 15, Seth - 12, Rebekah - 9, Caleb - 4 and Joseph is now 1 year old.

Nicole is finishing up her time at Ecola, she has four weeks left. She plans to come home when done and resume working at Mid-Valley with the hopes to find a room mate and get an apartment.

Charlyn is still a temp at A-Dec, and usually working once a week at Roth's. As much of her spare time as possible is spent with Jonathan Jaquith.

Amelia broke her finger (left pinkie) in January, early March we moved forward with a surgery on it. There was a cyst in the bone (now known to be an Enchondroma) that required a bone graft (from her hip). Monday we find out how it is healing. She is so hoping to be done with splints and such!

Abigail is loving debate. This years topic is Tax Reform, interesting conversations. :)

Seth continues to enjoy monthly homeschool days at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museums. They have given him exposure to a variety of topics. He is also enjoying guitar lessons.

Rebekah continues to be her busy self. Her speech continues to improve with help from speech therapy, I even think there may be an end in site for those trips! She loves her sewing classes as well.

Caleb is a busy 4 year old, loving what preschool work comes he way, also loving anything arts and crafts wise that he manages to do.

Joseph is a toddler. A happy little one that loves to investigate anything he can reach! Keeps us all busy.

Pictures to follow in future postings. I am just never quite sure how to 're-start' a blog.

Now to keep up on it again!

October 31st....

I did not manage to get pictures of all the kids on Halloween, but here are a couple of pictures.... Abigail as Hippe, Amelia as ... We have no clue (she does not either!), Katy (Dennis' neice) as a Jedi and Seth as a Ninja. Below Joseph (8 mos) as a Spider ~

Seth at Evergreen

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museums have quite an impressive focus on education. This fall they began monthly homeschool days. We decided that Seth might enjoy them, and maybe even learn something!


The first one in September was all about rockets! They kids were split into two groups by age, Seth was glad to be in the older group. They first did a project where they were given particular supplies in to design into a craft they could drop from waist level and have the marshmallows not fall out. The picture to the left is the craft Seth and his partner designed. And, no, their marshmallows did not stay put but they did learn a lot about design. (I think only one craft was successful in its mission!)

Later in the day they got the opportunity to make rockets! Here is a picture of Seth with his completed rocket!

And here is a picture of it having been launched on the museums front lawn! A couple of the rockets got stuck on the roof of the space museum.

In October the theme was Hot Air Balloons and Gliders. The plan had been to inflate a hot air balloon outside but it was raining so outside was an option. They were able to inflate it most the way with air inside the museum. Amazing process to watch. Seth is to the right of the balloon picture posing for mom! In the afternoon the older kids designed their own gliders - here is a picture of Seth with his just before launching it!

This last picture is of Seth and 'Mom' in front of the Spruce Goose, the main feature of the aviation museum.

Three Weeks?!?!?!

I was just reading on a friends blog and looked to the side and saw this blog listed with it saying it had been 3 weeks since it had been updated. :-o How does the time go so fast.

So, what have we been doing here? Most of the time I am not totally sure what fills our time. I do know I spend what feels like way too much time going to appointments either for myself or taking a child, as well as making said appointments. Then there are all the other things that go with medical appointments. Making sure everyone that needs medications has them when they need them, making sure blood work is done on time, and deciding what shots we are going to get for who and following up with that decision. *whew* I apologize if that ends up sounding whining, that is not the intent. I think the intent is more allowing myself to realize medical issues are a major time suck in our house these days. (Ok, now I am probably sounding dramatic!) I tried telling Dennis the other day I had not signed up for it all, so was thinking of quitting, he seemed to think it was not optional! *sigh* :p (one of the kids 'Portland' Drs recently switched where he practices, getting all our prescription and blood draw 'ducks' in a row took many, many calls over the course of two weeks, I think we finally have those issues taken care of) It is sad that I finally decided I need to use Excel to round up all our medical care phone numbers, and I am thinking it will not all fit on one page. :-o

Ok - enough of that depressing subject... :)

I do think we are into the swing of fall activities. Seth is taking guitar lessons, Amelia and Abigail are once again taking debate class which has added a speech element this year, Rebekah is taking sewing classing and having a great time sewing Christmas gifts for her siblings. Everyone is into the swing of AWANA. Caleb LOVES going to Cubbies, Seth and Beka are both in the T&T group, and Amelia and Abigail work with the high school group as well as help with the younger groups. Charlyn is also involved by being the SPARKS (k-2) secretary. Here is a picture of Caleb in his newly earned Cubbie vest. :)

Well, I think I have rambled quite enough. Just wanted to lose my '3 weeks' rating! :p I guess I need to get a regular blogging schedule going. If nothing else there are always cute pictures of kids to share! :)

Nicole goes to Cannon Beach

Yesterday Dennis and I (and Joseph) took Nicole down to Cannon Beach for a year at Ecola Bible School.
Here are a couple of pictures of her are registration, can you tell she is a bit excited?! We were there 2-3 hours after registration opened, we were told the line was much longer when they started! Glad we dawdled! The picture on the right shows her reading her Tsunami route! (or pretending to for mom's picture taking sake!)

The dorms are cozy, but new. There are four girls to a room, to the left of the nightstand is another bunk-bed. In the room's main area they have closet space (half of what is in the picture below is Nicole's) and two tables to share. They also share a small basic bathroom. All the comforts of home!

This last picture is of Nicole in front of Bruce's Candy Kitchen where she is to be working this next year. She should get more information about that later today.

We are excited to see what God has planned for Nicole this coming year!

August is over, does not feel like there is much to say.But I thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures of the month!

Recently we went on a hike as a family, to the left, Charlyn hanging out after the hike down. Right: Dennis with Joey on his back and Caleb in hand. Below: my handsome little three year old wanting to have his picture taken! He was quite a trooper on our 3 mile hike!

A favorite picture of a six month old Joseph. What a happy fellow! above, Charlyn with her name badge for her new job. A-Dec in Newberg doing assembly work.

Yup, as we go down in cars, we went up a driver! Amelia is now the proud owner of an Oregon Driver's License!

Below: Nicole sporting her new 'Ecola' shirt ~ she is getting quite antsy to head to the coast of a year of school in just over a month. It can't come soon enough!

Can you believe this little guy will be 6 months old tomorrow?! Time flies when you are having fun. This age is great fun. Lots of smiles, and magically getting from one side of the room to the other... Joey is also enjoying baby food - any and all we offer him.

This picture was taken while we were moving Dennis' office at work recently. He is going from being in charge of patrol to being in charge special ops (detectives, schools and such) Just swapping with the other captain. If you want to see more pics of our 'moving day' check out my album on Facebook.

I feel like we are in the lull before the storm. The storm being school and fall schedules.

Nicole is headed to Ecola Hall at Cannon Beach this coming October, and Charlyn is soon to be changing jobs. Both are excited for new experiences and challenges. Amelia continues to work about 4x a month as a 'nanny' for a couple in Mac, it gives her money to spend and to save. Everyone else is pretty much the same, just a bit older. :)

Still Here!

I just have not found time blogging the last couple of months. I do come up with great ones in my head. :) Thought I would post a few random things for now.

Things are going well here. Still working on a new routine that includes a little one! Whenever I think we are on to something Joseph changes the game plan. He is now 3 1/2 mos. old - things should be starting to level out. (I hope?)! Here is a cute picture of him sucking on his two middle fingers - they seem to be his favorites!

AWANA is done for the year - Abigail, Seth and Rebekah all finished their books for this year! Here they are with their awards ~

For Mother's Day Dennis and the kids took me to the beach on Saturday. It was Joey's first trip to the coast. We walked on the beach, did some shopping (for mom!) at the outlet mall and had lunch at Pig'N Pancake. It was a wonderful day! The weather was beautiful - beyond breezy, but dry. A dry day at the beach is a good day! :)

Caleb is starting to get used to having a little brother. For the first couple of months he mostly ignored Joey. Recently he has been showing interest in 'playing' with him. The other day when I went to change Joseph's diaper I found marbles in his pockets! :-o Yikes! I am glad Caleb is sharing, we just need start watching what he shares with him. I was surprised to see him playing with his cars near Joseph. Caleb loves his cars!

One last picture. Amelia made pizza a while back. I never got a piece of it myself but she sure seemed proud of it as she had Abigail take a picture of her with it. I thought it was a cute picture. Silly girl! But that is ok, just glad she can enjoy cooking.

10 years later...

April 2nd, 1999 ~ after the flooring was all put in I told Dennis I was not going back to 'the shop' (our than current home that was built to house standards) He brought 'Alf's' home for dinner that night. We continued that tradition for many years, the last couple of years we have gotten Subway.

In the pic - l to r:

Nicole (12), Seth (16 mos) Abigail (4), Amelia (6) & Charlyn (10)

Ten years ago we moved into our current house. We moved on to the property Oct. 1996, started building May 1998 and moved ourselves in April 2nd 1999. We did much of the work ourselves. I (Carolyn) can even show you the wall that Dennis' mom and I framed ourselves! :) The goal was not to build our dream house. (still have no clue what that would look like) SPACE was what we were going for - and space we got. We do have some future dreams for some of the open space downstairs. But that is another day (another few dollars!) We have truly been blessed to have this space out in the country to raise our family.

April 2nd, 2009 ~

top/middle: Seth ( 11), Nicole (22), Amelia (16) w/ Joseph (7 weeks), Charlyn (20), Abigail (14)... bottom: Caleb (3) & Rebekah (8)

A Couple of Pictures

My boys... who would have every thought we would have THREE boys?!?!?! :)

Caleb tickling Joseph's cheek... He was rewarded with a smile!

...and 'Lynn-e makes Eight!

Last week was a crazy one. Dennis was gone for the week out-of-town to classes. That should have been a clue! :p On Tuesday night (Wed. am)I ended up taking Joseph to the ER room as his breathing was labored. After a three hour stay (so short by most accounts!) we left with a diagnosis of pneumonia and a prescription for antibiotics. Yay for catching it early. Then comes Wednesday night (Thursday am) - back to ER we go - this time after a couple hours it is decided he needs to be admitted. Another hour or so later found Joey and Mom checking into their new digs. Joseph ended up with an IV in his arm as well as having his oxygen levels constantly monitored. He also had oxygen tube most of the time. What that all boils down to is lots of machines to make beep! The nurses took good care of us. 'Dad' ended up being able to leave where he was out Thursday evening vs. Friday afternoon - yay! And Friday evening Joseph was sent home. Home never looked so good.

All that to say the exciting news of the week was that late Saturday night Charlyn flew into PDX. It was great to be able to introduce she and Joseph when she got home. Very nice to have everyone in one place.

Here is a group picture I finally got of them all on Tuesday (the 17th)...

Happy Birthday Caleb!!!

Caleb's 3rd birthday was nearly 3 weeks ago now... Time sure flies when there is a new little one in the house! We had a favorite meal of his.. Mac & Cheese and Hot dogs followed by cake & ice cream. It was a chaotic day, one of those 'fit the birthday in' days. I always feel bad when that happens. But, also am thinking Caleb did not notice. He loved all his gifts, even seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all. His favorite gift was a (play) baseball bat and several balls.

So, for this mom, we can put another 'birthday season' to bed. Whew! Always extra crazy when adding to the totals! :) Next stop... Dennis' birthday in September.

IT'S A BOY!!!

Ok - probably not really news anymore. But I thought I should get an official 'It's A' blog posted.

These first few weeks with a newborn are crazy and precious not allowing much time for extras, like blogging!

Anyway...

Dennis and Carolyn Marks are thrilled to announce the arrival of their newest little blessing!

Joseph Gregory Marks

was born

Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 8:22pm

our 'little' man weighed in at

9# 11 oz. and was 21.5" long

Yes, he is our biggest (by 2 oz) and was our latest (by 2 days) and you are welcome to call him Joe, Joey, Little Joe, Baby Joe.... or Joseph :)

Welcome Baby Snowman...

Today we had, more snow. Dennis and the kids decided to go out and play in it (of course!) They came in later and told me that they had made a snowman by the driveway to welcome the baby home - whenever that may be! :p Now to see if it lasts until then! I think they are more optimistic than 'mom' is! :)