Moving and the day after

This is moving day. All the men standing around are the helpers from church. In all we had 14 people loading the truck. It took 2 hours from the minute the truck arrived to the minute we locked the door. That is pretty good for a house. Here below is all we stuffed into our minivan for the trip. It took us 15 hours to get from one place to the next. 12 hours of actual driving and 3 hours of shopping and eating and bathroom breaks. It all went very smooth and the kids rode wonderfully. It was a blessing to have a DVD player in the van to keep them entertained for a couple hours of the trip.
When we arrrived at 12:30 am we found a note on the counter top. It was from the sellers welcoming us to the new house and letting us know that they knew we would be getting in late and thought we wouldn't want to deal with getting bedding out so they bought us an air mattress and sleeping bags and set them up for us to sleep on that night. They also bought us a gallon of milk and cereal with bowls and spoons so we would have something to eat in the morning. Where else in the world would you find that kind of hospitality?
In our back yard we have a short hill that is perfect for sledding. After we got all the winter clothes from Grandma Jo we put them on and headed out into the great white. Cosette LOVED the sledding and Isaac loved to watch. He didn't like the cold so he didn't want to sled much but Cosette and Daddy sure had a blast for a while.
Here is Isaac doing what he enjoys doing most...watching while being held. It was 15 degrees outside but still a blast. Emma stayed inside with Ethan and took pictures from the house.

Cosette and Ethan are taking a nap together. A moment of quiet Mom loves.

Isaac and his buddy Logan are playing at the ward Christmas party.

Who's that sitting on Santa's lap...Brian and Rob. Poor Santa.


Cosette, Isaac, and Ethan with their Great-Great Grandmother Vera Sewell.

We are out

It was a good day for moving. We started at 10 am this morning and had 14 people there to help us load the truck. It took 2 hours to load and an additional hour to cleanup and we were out. We spent the second half of the day visiting with friends and family. We will really miss those who have touched our lives in Fontana. Our great friend and brother Ed Young has asked for several pictures of the new house, so when we get there and get settled we will post TONS of pictures.

WOW

We realize we have not posted in a long time, however we have been packing an getting ready for the BIG move. Rob has been working at CSUSB and Sorenson which leaves Emma to do alot of packing with three crazy kids running around. Rob spends all his extra time packing as well. Fortunatly, we started ahead of time so we will be done in plenty of time for the movers (church members) and the truck to get here. In the last few weeks we have seen Santa a few times and Cosette is at that age where she get really excited every time. It is so fun watching her just believe and have so much fun doing so. She bring a smile to our grumpy faces with her innocents. Isaac on the other hand has no idea but loves the gifts and Ethan is just Ethan for now. We have more pictures to post after the move so just be patient. It will be just a few more days.

Take 2

Family photo in our nice clothes. Our only other family picture was in the hospital.





Here is Ethan in the adorable overalls Aunt Judy sent him. He's still on the small end of the clothes weighing in at 8.5 lbs.





On a nice, overcast day, what do my kids ask me for? Freezer pops! Here they are eating them together on the bench outside my bedroom window. Cosette and Isaac really do like each other.

Adventures

Ethan with Grandma Jo - Rob's Mom.
Ethan got to ride an airplane at 13 days old (with doctor's permission). This picture is Ethan on the airplane Sunday (15 days old).

Rob's new look.
Cosette was quite the help in the kitchen. Here she is putting brown sugar on the sweet potatos sliced lengthwise.

Our New Home

Here is our new home in Pocatello Idaho. It is a beautiful home that we are excited to move into. We have added a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.


This is the newly remodeled kitchen, all appliances stay with the house. The counter tops are black granite and yes that is a hard wood floor.


This is the main floor living room


This is the basement living room


Part of our back yard. Just beyond the tree on the right side of this picture is a large playground and a city park. If we had a picture of it you would see a hot tub on the left sitting on the patio. What a great place.


We are moving December 27Th to Pocatello, Idaho.

The Kids

Here we have Cosette, Isaac, and Ethan the day after we came home from the hospital. Both of Ethan's older siblings love him to pieces. And, if we don't watch them, they will love him to pieces. Cosette is pretty good about not playing rough around Ethan and rocking his bassinet softly.
















Isaac, on the other hand, is ready to have a little brother to play rough with. He is quite sweet though when it comes to giving Ethan hugs and kisses. Isaac loves to hold Ethan on his lap too.

















As you can see...Isaac thinks the bassinet is a great place to relax.















Isaac is having the hardest time adjusting, but I think Mom is having a hard time adjusting to not cuddling with Isaac too. This hat (crocheted by Aunt Chris) has become his favorite thing to wear.

Now the other news

As some of you know Rob was looking for a new job opportunity in the field of education leadership. He has looked and applied at several places in southern California only to be let down because of lack of experience. We ll he now has a wonderful opportunity to run the Deaf Services Program at Idaho State University in Pocatello Idaho. He went to visit the campus this last week and was hired for the position. It is a great campus with very nice people. We plan to move between Christmas and New Years and he starts his position on January 7Th.

Yes you read that correctly, we are moving to Idaho. Yes we know it is cold there and it snows and yes there are fewer people, and yes we know the potential for hitting a cow in the road. We are very excited for our future, we can finally afford to buy a house with a big yard and a white picket fence with 2.5 children, well I guess the American dream must now include the third child. This is the beginning of the rest of our lives.

Baby blessing date

We are planning on blessing Ethan on Dec 2nd. In light of other news this will be the best time to do that. All are welcome to attend.We will be having a get together after the blessing at our place after the block of services.

We're Home!!

We came home today and are doing well. Emma gets around gingerly, but gets around. Thanks to everyone that had us in their prayers. Ethan is much smaller than our first two children by a pound at least. He is eating well and sleeping well and we all know what happens when baby eats and sleeps...there is only one other function left. Yup, your right...he poops!

Here is Robert teaching Ethan about Boise State, notice he is wearing a UCLA hat too. What a confused daddy! This picture was taken as we were being discharged from the hospital.

The Wood family has a new addition. Ethan Edward Wood was born on November 3, 2007 at 11:36 am. He is 7 lbs 15 oz and 21.5 inches long. He has brown hair and so far VERY calm. Ethan had a few complications with the labor and was not able to come out the conventional way so an emergency c-section was put into process. Mom and baby are doing great and well on their way to recovering from this scary event. Emma will be released from the hospital no earlier than Tuesday November 6. She is at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana so feel free to call or stop by for a visit. She would love the company.

Annual Halloween Party

Saturday was our annual Halloween bash. 30 family and friends showed up to help celebrate. We had a potluck dinner where spaghetti was the main course. We had a ton of fun.
Here above you see a huge spiderweb with an egg sack and spiders hanging everywhere. Emma made this and it turned out great. Notice in the family picture, Robert has his mask on backwards, it was just too hot. He was a biker with leather vest and a long mustache. Emma is the skeleton and notice she has a baby skeleton in her tummy. It was great and got a lot of attention. Cosette is a perfect angel and Isaac is a bat.

Here is our pumpkin patch. Rob put it together but the idea was Emma's. We put orange lights inside the milk jugs and colored faces on the outside, then plugged them in and they lite up perfectly. We also put up a few tiki torches to enhance the mood. I love the picture of Isaac because his eyes match his shirt and both stand out very well. This is the one holiday that we throw a party for. All others we go to other peoples parties.

The Family

Very recent picture of our family (Sunday)...whoa that's a big belly!

Isaac and Cosette with their Great Grandparents - Ken and Bev Sewell

We were fortunate enough to find a friend that could do age enhancements on the computer. This is what they came up with for Rob...

Blow Winds, Blow

Church was cancelled today because the power was out at the building. It had been out for quite sometime because while Rob was there helping call people, the emergency backup lights went out. There are few windows in the building and the bathrooms were pitch black.

We have been here at home with the hatches battened down. Fortunately we live far enough from the building that we don't have an electrical issues.

This video clip shows how the wind is gusting. We have 35 mph sustained winds with gusts up to 80 mph. Rob had to maneuver around downed power lines and tree branches on his way to/from the church building.

We took the kids outside to experience the wind for a bit. Neither of them liked it very much.

Pudding Paint

Nicole, Emma's sister, came out Friday to spend the day with the kids and Emma. She brought a fingerpainting activity - Pudding Paint! This is the result of that activity:










Isaac was tentative at first...only putting in a finger. Once we convinced him to taste it, the pudding was gone! He went straight to the bath after this. Cosette was not nearly as messy and we were only going to wash her face and hands. We took off her shirt so the pudding wouldn't spread. When she saw Isaac taking a bath, she wanted one too. She was told that she wasn't dirty enough for a bath. This smart kid takes her pudding hands and puts hand prints up and down her stomach - all for a bath!!

I Just Felt Like Running

A funny thing happened today. I needed to go to the Young's to pick something up in the late afternoon. I told Cosette to get in the van and she told me she wanted to walk. I tried to tell her it was too far to walk (1.5 miles), but she wouldn't hear of it. "All right", I said, "You can walk, but Isaac and I are driving." I opened the garage, put Isaac in his carseat, and asked Cosette which way she was going. She said, "That way," pointing to the right. I said, "Nope, the other way." She was fine with that. I pulled out of the garage and she started to walk down the road. I stayed really slow with her. She started to run. Cosette ran 0.2 mile until I had her get in the car because the streets were too busy. She reluctantly obliged. I just thought is was funny she wanted to run to the Young's. On the way back we stopped at a friends house to drop something off. She ran home from there, 0.3 mile. I guess she walked the last little bit. I asked her if she was tired of running. Her reply was "No, I just want to walk."

Cosette will use Sign Language to bless the food sometimes with the help of Emma. She can do it on her own when she wants to. The other night Isaac started copying the signs that Emma was using to bless the food. He knows quite a few words in sign language but still will mostly grunt and point. Just like his good ol' dad.

Lettuce-Mustard-Ranch Wrap

We had our traditional tacos for Sunday dinner. Cosette first had mac & cheese on her tortilla. When she finished it and realized there wasn't anymore mac & cheese (Isaac had eaten ALL of it.) She grabbed another tortilla and puts lettuce on it. Then she starts looking around the table and says, "I need something else on my tortilla." Emma suggested mustard and "dip dip" (Ranch dressing). She went and took them out of the refrigerator and garage. Rob helped her spread them on. Cosette then happily started eating her wrap. About half way through, she started to chew and swallow with her head on her arm. This picture was taken about 3 bites later. So funny!! This picture will prove that she eats mustard with EVERYTHING!!

After Emma made brownies, Cosette took it upon herself to lick the bowl. She was serious when she said she was going to lick it!