playing catch up

again... I am turning into a bonafide blogger slacker. It's been 2 months since my last post. That's terrible. Here's an update on what's been happening at the Stringham house over the last month.
We took a road trip (Kade's 1st one) down to Moab in mid October and hiked around Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It was awesome! The weather was cooperative most of the time and it was really good to get away with our boys and enjoy the beautiful sites and weather down there. That's a trip we'll definitely be taking again... hopefully when the boys are old enough to hike on their own :o) We took a ton of pictures; but there's only so much I can post.
Then Halloween crept up on us. We didn't take Jack trick-or-treating because #1 it was pouring rain and #2 he was a royal grumpelstiltskin; aka Mr. Ornery-pants. He did NOT like his costume very much. More specifically, he hated the "hood" or monkey head of his costume. He freaked out every time we tried to make him wear it. We could barely get any good pictures of him. He didn't understand the whole 'trick-or-treat' concept anyway. He just wanted to eat all the candy and got upset when we gave it away to the trick-or-treaters. Hopefully he'll understand better next year.
Then, before we knew it; it was November and Jack's 2nd birthday. Time flies. I can't believe I have a 2 year-old. I'm starting to feel old ;o) Coming soon: Watch for pictures of Jack's birthday happenings.

Halloween 2010

brothers on Halloween
my little bear cub
the cutest (most grumpy) monkey
ghostbuster!
beautiful halloween rainbow in between the rainstorms

Moab Trip Highlights

the family in
Canyonlands National Park
at Mesa Arch in
Canyonlands
Landscape Arch in
Arches National Park
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch Viewpoint

brotherly love... sort of

I'm not so good at keeping up with this blog. Having 2 little ones takes some adjusting to :o) I had to post these pictures though. Jack is getting better at accepting his big brother status (most days). He'll come up to me when I'm holding Kade and communicate to me that he wants to hold him (Jack doesn't exactly talk yet; just makes some whiny/grunty noises to communicate what he wants). Only- he doesn't really hold him; he wants me to hold Kade on his lap and then he just sits there. It's pretty funny. We managed to get some pictures of them together where Jack isn't crying :o)

look alikes? or not...

Jack
Kade

I can't decide if this new baby looks like us or not... he definitely looks different than Jack. What do you think?

and now there's 4!

I am finally getting around to posting about our new little baby boy, Kade. I've put pictures up on facebook; but haven't updated our blog for a while.
Kade Maughan Stringham was born July 12th, 2010 at 8:36am. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 in long. We are so happy he's finally here! Jack is warming up to him... he wasn't too keen on him in the hospital and seemed a little disappointed that we brought him home :O) But he's starting to come around. Here's some pictures of him!






obviously this isn't Kade; but it was a cute picture of Jack... and he really wasn't that excited about being a big brother :o)

Family trip for graduation

In May, Mike and I had the opportunity to go back east to see my brother graduate from the West Point Military Academy with my family. It was a once in a lifetime experience. The next several posts are pictures of our time at the academy with graduation events and also in the city. It was a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

West Point

view of the Hudson River from the Library
the family after the parade
with the graduate
Braden in formation
all the graduates of 2010 on the parade field

NYC continued...

Mike and I ready for my little brother's parade of Cadets at West Point Military Academy
view from our seats of the parade field
My favorite NYC cousins and I in Soho
memorial for 9/11
looking up at the Empire State building

NYC trip & West Point Graduation 2010

on a tour bus headed uptown in Manhatten
enjoying a Yankees game
the sisters and I in Times Square
across from the temple downtown
at the museum of Natural History

Funny Story!

Funny Story... I had my in depth ultrasound today to check out all of the baby's organs, take measurements, etc. The great news is that everything looks good! The funny part is that it's a baby BOY that looks so healthy... not a baby girl like we were expecting. So, for the past 9 weeks we've been thinking we were having a little baby girl and today we were suprised to find out that it's a baby boy we'll be having! We hadn't gotten anything girly, so that's a good thing. We had a name and that's it. Now, with this little guy, we have all the clothes and supplies, just not a name. Go figure. We're really excited with this change of events and I'm sure Jack is excited to have a little buddy to play and rough-house with! We just need a name.

Happy Easter!

Jack still doesn't quite get the whole Easter thing... we had 3 easter egg hunts this year and he still didn't get it. Oh well. He had a good time being outside anyway. We missed you, Megan, Cooper & Hayden. Hope you had a great day! Happy Easter everyone!

aloha!

Mike & I had an opportunity to go on a trip to Hawaii in March... it was wonderful! Jack spent a week with Grandparents and we took off to one of our last big "hurrah's" before this new baby comes. It was fantastic! A much needed break from busy work and cold weather! Here are a few pictures from our trip... I hope we can go back someday :o)

sunrise from our hotel room

At the Dole plantation
At Pearl Harbor, by the anchor of the USS Arizona.
Sunset at Turtle Bay
Enjoying the sunset
At the Laie Temple
At the Polynesian Cultural Center
different day, beautiful sunset
in front of our hotel at Turtle Bay

excitement!

We found out last week... we're pretty sure Jack's going to have a little sister! We're so excited!!

Haircut #1

Jack had his 1st haircut by his dad on Monday... while mom was at work!! He did really well after he had a toy to play with. All of his curls are gone and he looks like a big boy now. No more baby Jack-Jack!
This was taken a couple of months ago... to show the difference.

no more long curls! Look at all the hair on him!

here's the big boy Jack!