The Oregon Trail...

We set out last week on a road trip to the great Northwest for the holiday. As we drove up the mountains, over the river(s), and dodged bad weather we laughed, cried and at times, wished for ear plugs. All in all, it was quite reminiscent of the classic computer game...

• We drove our horse-powered 'burb.. a bit more comfy than a covered wagon and oxen!
• We packed the necessities (i.e. books, toys, and the portable potty...)
• Found some food along the way.
• Thankfully, no thieves in the night and no dysentery! Just a few cranky peeps in the backseat (*cough* Ally *cough*) and toy stealing along the way.

We arrived safely and laughed for hours as our four kiddos galloped around Grandma Deb and Papa John's house with excitement. The long drive was worth every minute.

Poor Libs- gets car sick like her mommy!

"For the love of god.. are we there yet?"

-Ally

"Daddy, did you know that the human head weighs 8 lbs!?"

-Russell Man

(they NEVER EVER STOP TALKING!)

"If I smile big enough maybe I'll tune out the screams coming from Ally's corner of the car!"

The beautiful Mt. Ashland view

The week was GREAT! The kids were spoiled rotten with love and attention. It was great to spend time with our P-town family and friends. We kept super busy and made MANY wonderful memories. As always, I caught some fun moments on camera.

We hung at the park with Papa John & Grandma Deb

Took in a movie!

"Helped" make gingerbread cookies

Played our hearts out

Hitched a ride

Shared the LOVE

(PJ and Gma Deb)

Muzzie and Me

Ally and Papa John

Molly and Libs

NEVER stopped eating!

Spent a day at OMSI (super cool!) and even caught a screening of Deep Sea at the Imax Theater. The kids loved it all!

Got lots of hugs

(Grandma Deb and Ally)

Libs and her Joey

Had "dude time"

(Conor and Russ)

Muzzie time!

And new doggie Bella time!

Enjoyed a little music!

(Front to Back) Ally, Molly and Libby

Ran on Papa John's track!

(our peeps NEVER get tired!)

Visited Papa John, Auntie Erin and Grandma Deb at school!

(High school teachers)

Hung out with some super cool triplets!

Had a date night!

And quality "grown up time!"

-Me and Auntie Erin

Ran wild through the Portland Zoo

"Ok....requests, anyone? How about a nice rendition of Iko Iko?"

-the gang enjoying the bongos at the zoo

Russell man=Wild man

Loving the baby lions

-Ally and Libs

And.. just in time to head back to Sac.. the girls took a little safari driving lesson...

Libs

Molly

We reluctantly packed up and headed home on Sunday. The drive home was long and uneventful. It gave us plenty of time to laugh and remember all the fun we had along the way. It truly was a wonderful adventure.

We hope you ALL had a great holiday weekend as well. We wish you lots of love and laughter this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful family, friends and blogger buddies. We are so grateful for all of you in our lives.

With LOVE from Portland....

(L to R)

Ally, Russ, Molly and Libby

Our puddle jumping turkeys!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and laughter. We made the long drive from Sac to Ptown safely and left the black cloud behind us. Thank you for all your love, support and kind words now and over the last 4 years. We are one very lucky family and count our blessings ever day.

We take the good.. we take the bad...

Things have been hard for us lately. Compared to the stress and problems many others face, it seems silly and unimportant at times. Without barfing our drama all over this screen, let's just say a small black cloud has been hovering over our house. We are ready for it to move on. It needs to move on.

In the midst of our recent challenges, our kiddos have been an extra large handful. I find myself spending the majority of each day disciplining and fighting endless battles. I know that my consistency will pay off in the long run. But it doesn't make those difficult minutes, days and hours any easier. I am quickly going gray. Thank God for hair color. Ha!

I had a good cry the other day while talking about this with Conor. It made me realize just how much verbalizing it helps. Like most parents, I am constantly worried/stressing about the job I am doing as a mother. Parenthood is hard... harder than I ever could have expected. In all honesty, I have no idea what I am doing some days. Does anyone? Honestly?!

A day does not go by that I don't sit back and evaluate the good, the bad and the ugly. The truth is, no one is an expert. We all just do the best that we can. No one has all the answers or the perfect children, marriage or situation. Life is hard and we all make mistakes. Some days, just surviving is a success.

We all have different styles, comfort levels and ideas. I found this article about over-parenting in TIME very refreshing and I liked it. So I thought I would share.

At the end of the day motherhood is the hardest thing I have ever done. It's also the most rewarding and important. It's always good to know other parents feel the same way.

Have a great Monday everyone. Here's to a new week!!

Torrey James- Pro Pictures!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED to share these professional photos. They were taken by our very dear friend, Torrey. She is CRAZY talented and we LOVE her!

Torrey and Libby

You may remember me talking about Torrey a few months back when she took these photos. She left her office life behind to pursue her dream, photography. She has GUTS I tell ya! I admire her so much and she is doing great! We are thrilled to see how far she has come and so proud to be her friends.

We met up with her on Tuesday in Old Sacramento. I LOVE the character of the buildings. We had tons of brick, wood and color to work with. The kids didn't even realize we were taking pics as they played. I couldn't help but snap a couple shots of her working!

Conor, Torrey and the kids

After we were done in Old Town, Conor headed to work. It was still early, so...Torrey and I took the kids to the Zoo, our home away from home. We had way too much fun and Torrey got some great candid shots along the way.

Russ and Torrey

*this shot turned out sOOOO cute!

The entire day was a huge success, not just the pictures, but the time spent with are sweet friend as well. Torrey, we adore you and could not be more proud of you. You are truly talented. Truly. Keep on keeping on and doing what you love. WE LOVE YOU!

If you live in Sacramento area (Tahoe and Bay areas included) check out Torrey's web site. She has a great, affordable holiday package right now and is WONDERFUL with families. Our children LOVE her!! Also, she is offering 15% off all prints for those who book a family session in January! She also has a gift for capturing high school Seniors! Check out these pics of my darling cousin, Matt and head on over for some bloggy love!

ALRIGHTY! Without further ado... here are a few of my FAVORITE shots. I'm in love with every single one. Click here to see them all.

(front to back)

Ally, Molly, Russ and Libby

(L to R)

Libby, Molly, Ally and Russ

(L to R)

Russ, Conor, Libby, Ally, Me and Molly

Mommy and Ally

Our girls

(L to R)

Ally, Russ, Molly and Libby

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope your having a GREAT week!

Who Will #Fight4Preemies?

"We need to fight ― because babies shouldn’t have to."

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day. Chances are you or someone you know has been affected by premature birth in one way or another.

We feel extremely blessed to have benefited from the decades of work done by organizations like the March of Dimes. Just walking back down memory lane illustrates how much their tireless efforts have done for families like ours.






With multiples, we were informed that our babies would be born early. But many are not prepared for the challenges that can arise from premature birth complications. In our case, we we hoped for the best, yet expected the worst.

Luckily, organizations like the March of Dimes have been working to educate, prevent, and help families cope with premature birth.

The facts are scary:

• 1 in 8 babies are born premature in America, an alarming rate higher than most other developed nations.
• While California receives a passing grade, so many others states are lower, and the country is sub par overall.
  

It's easy for us to remember the emotions that accompanied our kids' arrival at 31 weeks, 5 days gestation. We were extremely fortunate to have phenomenal NICU staff and round the clock care for Russ, Ally, Molly, and Libby as they fought to develop and mature enough to survive outside the hospital. It's an amazing experience to see the strength, fight, and resilience of a human being that is only a few hours, days, or weeks old. And thankfully, our collective efforts will ensure they won't need to fight as hard in the future.







Thank you to the March of Dimes and all health care professionals who continue to "Fight for Preemies" and positively impact families around the world. And a HUGE thank you to all of you who help, donate, and blog today (400+ registered!)

If you feel inclined, please help spread the word today through your own blogs, status updates, and tweets (make sure to use the #fight4preemies tag today!)

THANK YOU!

~ Conor, Gen, Russ, Ally, Molly and Libby


Top Left-Molly

Top Right-Libby

Bottom Left-Russ

Bottom Right-Ally