First BMX Race

We found that there is a BMX park in Coeur d'Alene where you can ride the track for free and races are held every aturday during the summer.  James was pretty brave when we found it and he even started ffrom the top with some encouragement.  The guy at the track mentioned that James should enter into the race on Saturday and that was all the encouragement that kid needed.  Every day from then on he asked when it was going to be his racce day.

He is a pretty good rider for a 4 year old.

Summertime means fun with the hose in the backyard, and this spring feels like summer so it has started early.

Two lovey ladies on mothers day.

Sierra is starting to smile and laugh alot more than she used to and it is so much fun to hold her and make her smile.

I have many many pictures of her just laughing and smiling.

I have been at work again in St, Maries and have stayed down there a couple of times this year already.  My coworker and I regularly fish after work and I caught this 27" sucker.

Not a bad way to end a day of work.

Last weekend we went to Prairie Home Companion downtown Spokane.  It was lots of fun to watch a 2 hour live radio show.

Nothing like wrestling with your brother to give you your first bloody nose.  He loved every minute of it.

I was out working the other week and dragged the kids and the wife along with me so they could ride the trail as I worked on it.

They had a ball.

Sierra also had a great time.

Nothing like a bike ride to tucker some kids out.  The silence of a car ride with kids sleeping is priceless. 

So, the weekend finally arrived where James entered into his first BMX race.  He had only rode the track about 5 times prior to the first race, but when I asked him if he was ready, I got a snarl look from him and intense eyes meaning it was go time.

Here is James doing some practice runs.

After three races James locked up second place overall.  He was quite amazing for a 4 year old.

Smiles were all around and this was one proud papa.  Good thing I had sunglasses on, so no one could see me tearing up.  It was a day for the ages.

Matthew was equally amazed at the trophy when we got home.

In all my infinite wisdom, I thought it was a great idea to go to the races that night.

As always, smiles were all around and we had a blast.

I think the boys like the headphones most of all.  They loved to see the kids division which races cars that go about 60 mph and the ages run from about 7-15 yrs old.  All in all we had a blast and we had some tired kiddos that fell asleep right away on the ride home.  That is the sign of a good day...kids fast asleep in the 

Camping in April

These kids really take up a lot off your free time.  All of this have proved to make free time and blog updates slim and lets all be real, it is always how you manage your time, and I have not been managing it very well.  I

Sierra is really starting to smile and even laugh occasionally.  She is so adorable it is hard to put into words.

It is rare when the weather is so nice in April.  With nice weather like that I thought it was time for some man time in the mountains.  Brenda was nice enough to bring the boys down to Heyburn State Park and then decided to leave the boys with me for the night.  The weather was perfect for camping and pretty good for fishing.

Matthew was amazed at the big trees around the campsite.  James was given a pocket knife a few weeks before (I dulled it up for safety reasons) and he loved to site next to the fire and whittle some sticks.  It was priceless.

The next day we went fishing with a co-worker and his kid.  The boys did great given the fact we did not catch a fish for the first 4 hours.  Matthew eventually got his first fish and was excited to catch this perch.

Back at the house and it is spring and that means we have to plant and start up the normal yard work.  Matthew and James are quite the helpers. 

These two are normal brothers.  They can be so nice to each other at times and then they can be so mean the next.  Most of the time they are pretty good though and it is priceless being around them and watching them grow up.

Nothing like another ride along helper to rototill the garden.  Both of the boys needed turns and of course had to wear their cowboy hats.

Easter 2016

The monthly going on's here seem to be about the same as last year this time.  We had about 45 people over for a Easter egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter and it ended up being cooler than we had hoped, but at least it was not raining like it was on Easter.

James and Matthew are Easter egg hunting masters.  They have been practicing on hunting for eggs for quite some time.  They generally just like to hide the empty eggs and then go find them, so the fact that these eggs had candy was a huge bonus.

Matthew and James thought that they should have their tool belts that Grandma made them for Christmas as an added Easter egg hunting tool.  James really should have used his a bit more as he was running back and forth so fast that I think he lost as many eggs out of his basket as he picked up.

Matthew was more interested in showing off his eggs than going to get more.

Brenda always tries to get the kiddos to pay attention to go through the resurrection eggs, but often the attention wavers.

Always fun running around and around.

Hey look what I have found here.  James often walked right over some eggs to get to the one he was looking at.  The hunt is just as much fun for the parents as it is for the kids.

This little girl has some of the craziest hair, so bows are a must.  She is becoming such a smiley girl.   

And, of course, she gets to wear about a 10 dresses a week and everyone of them is adorable.  Lots of bows and lots of fun.

Sunday James and I went to go scout out some good hikes for this summer with family and we went to a local area I had heard of, but never had been to.  It was a great hike and at only a mile, it is a easy family hike for all ages.

The vview from the rocks at the top is great.  You could see all the way to Steptoe Butte from up there and that is about 50 miles south of town.

Robots, T's and tractor

The first month of life for Sierra is over and for us as parents she has really been very easy.  The other two are a handful.  Sierra is a very good sleeper.  Brenda went for the normal checkup after week 2 and I made sure she asked the doctor to look closer at her, because I was seriously concerned she was sleeping too much.  Turns out, she is fine and we just have a really easy going girl on our hands.  It was great to have some time off to hang out with the family, although I was put to work for the week and ended up spending a lot of time in the garage with James and Matthew, although they did not stay in there very long.

These boys long holding Sierra and have a hard time taking turns.  Lets hope this novelty does not wear off and they will continue to take care of her.

Here is the project I spent my paternity leave building and painting.  The bed really did not take that long to build, but it was the painting that took forever.  I have three coats on this thing and a lot of time with the pin stripes and John Deere Logo.  I think it was worth it in the end, and the boys long to talk to each other down the "exhaust pipe" which is really there as a pipe intercom.  

I look back at this picture and see how big she is now.  Sierra is healthy and although her face is trimming down a bit, she continues to pack on the lb's and is gaining weight at a health rate.

Brenda has alot of people that love her.  I know that is shocking for all to hear, but she just seems to make friends wherever she goes.  Spokane is no different and although we have already had 2 kiddos, the ladies who love Brenda all thought we needed another baby shower.  Well, we have more dresses than any one person could conceivably wear let alone a little girl who cannot even stand.  We really have our work cut out for us, but are very grateful for all of the wonderful gifts that people have given.  It is so nice to have wonderful friends (or at least be married to someone who is super popular).

Matthew in a typical "scary face" pose.  This kid can be such a ham bone and he really think everything he says is funny.  I see a lot of  "needs improvement" comments on the report card when it comes to waiting his turn to talk in class.  My parents got a lot of those as well(on mine), so I hope I can handle it as good as they did.

Speaking of school, we went to Valley Christian School for the Kindergarten visitation.  James is likely going to be enrolled here next year and I think he had fun, although you cant tell through the 3 billy goats gruff mask he made.

Jim had a chance too buy some old model T stuff from a guy who had not used the chassis or done anything with the stuff in 50 years.  We were pretty stoked to see what we would find in that attic among the 50yrs of dust and mice droppings.  We were happy the guy had a manlift so we could load up the parts and get them out of the barn attic, otherwise we would have been there forever.  As it stood, it still took us 4 loads and 2 days to get all of the chassis, engines, parts, metal, frames, and other misc. stuff back to Jim's house.  We found a ton of interesting stuff and have al ot of good parts for a future speedster.

Without the boom lift, this would have been a nightmare.

Sierra really likes being on her stomach.  She is so much fun to have around since if you are holding her, you have all manner of excuses not to get up and do anything.

Most of my job is keeping the boys at a distance so they don't smother this cutie.

Costumes are not just for halloween.  The boys like to dress up in them and the wrestle with me.  Of course they get hot in about 2 minutes, but they power through and end up having a blast acting like a super hero.

Last weekend the weather was not conducive for a ride so I decided it was finally time to pain a R2D2 project I have been thinking about for some time now.  This should be a nice garbage can for a man cave...now, all I need is a man cave.  I did not realize R2D2 is BMW blue, but maybe that is what Gorge Lucas had in mind.

Finally, a pic of  me and the kiddos.  They really are alot of fun and do say some of funniest things you will ever hear.  Those are the times you hope to remember when you are old.

It's a GIRL!!! Sierra Lynn DeJong

It was Thursday morning about 0330 and I awoke to Brenda on the phone...interesting, I wonder what is up.   She was on the phone with the doctor and the hospital and I knew that this time it was for real.  She was having contractions that were very strong and they did not let her move around freely.  This was serious.  On the way to the hospital she was not feeling great and I knew that when I parked, we had to get into the building withing about 60 seconds since that is about how far the contractions were apart.

Once we got in, they took some blood to run some tests and get ready for the epidural, but there was not time for that.  It is a good thing that thee doctors did not tell her the epidural was not going to happen since that would have sent her over the edge.  At one point the doctor had to tell Brenda she could not kick him anymore and that the screaming was not helping and she needed to push.  That is all the motivation she needed and about 5 minutes of pushing later, the baby was here and I was able announce the "IT'S A GIRL!!!"

Here she is about 1 minute after and so...so purple.  She was 9lbs and 15oz's with lots and lot of rolls.  She was so very very precious and really did not cry alot.  We are hoping the lack of crying is a sign of things to come.

Double chin anyone!

Please note my "birth shirt".  I have worn this for every one of my kids birthdays and have received quite a few comments on it from the nurses over the last few years.

Here is a close up of the insignia on the shirt.  The nurse this time started laughing and then said it took her a while to figure it out but thought it was very funny.  I only wish I could get a bigger logo on the shirt so you could not miss it as I walked around the labor and delivery floor.

Sierra had some low blood sugar (as did Matthew) so off to the NICU it was.

If you have to be in the NICU, Spokane is the place to be.  They have a great staff that is pretty easy going and they have a good sense of humor.  Sierra shared a room with a 1lb 14oz baby.  She was bigger than four other babies in her area put together!

Soooooo Cute.

Constantly sleeping as always.

Finally she it awake.

Happy mama.

While heading out to run some errands on of the days I noticed I was ticketed in the hospital parking lot. The NICU nurse carries around a roll of "validation stickers" that she told me to put on the sticker on the ticket and you should be good to go.  A whole $3 ticket...I mean seriously.

Even with the ticket, you are not going to damper my spirits.

Time to finally go home.

This was the first time the boys got to see their sister close up.  They could not go into the NICU so this was the first time they got to inspect her.

James loves to hold her and does so at least a hour a day or so.   

Happy brothers

Jim and Sandra came up and took care of the boys when we were at the hospital and were able to spend some time with Sierra

I think this reminds me of Matthew so much.  He used to sit like this for hours.

Here is a very happy grandma.