Namesake

This is my grandma Childers. We decided to give Naomi the middle name of Titaua after her. Devin and I decided that we want the our Children's middle names to be after a person that worthy of living up to. Someone that they can look at their life story, or know in person and be able to ask them selves "What have I done with his/her name?" As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints we are baptized. One of the purposes of baptism is to make a promise. That promise is that we will take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and as we go through out our life we try our best to represent him, to treat and love others as he would and by doing so others will know him by knowing you. I have done wrong things in my life, and sure I feel bad or regretful because of what I did most of the time. Other times I just know I should feel bad but don't. Every once in awhile though I remember that I promised to take upon my self his name as in our Saviors and I know of no other question that can bring me to remorse for ANYTHING I've done more than the question: "Amie what have you done with my name?" Have you tarnished it? That question has wracked my soul many times and although painful, it is motivating to move on and try and represent it in a better and true way. To love others and live up to the standard of the Savior that I know and love.
Our children will also have someone that is a bit more tangible, to represent. We named Cache "David" after my dad, because he was the first grandchild and honestly because it sounded good with Cache. He will hopefully get to know and love his grandpa Dave. My dad is a hard worker,and loves the land. He is simple and clean, he is human but tries to be better, he is loyal and has a testimony of the lord and the Gospel. Cache already loves his "Grandpa Tractor."

My Grandma Childers is a beautiful woman. We love her so much. I wish everyone could meet her. I love getting phone calls from her and hearing her beautiful accent. She is so funny and laughs at herself very easily. We've had some of the best laughs when getting together as cousins and swapping stories and memories about grandma. I have been known to save her voice mails for more than a year, just because every couple of months when I go through and delete old ones, I love to hear her voice! Titaua means "white rose." I think this is appropriate name to be given since my grandma is Tahitian, but was the only child in her family born with light skin and blue eyes!
My grandma grew up in the islands and as a young girl joined the church. Her testimony is real and pure. I love to sit and listen to her and my grandpa tell story after story of the miracles they've experienced in their lives in the islands because of priesthood blessings during their many years of service in Tahiti.

My grandma also writes beautiful music. She doesn't just hear a tune in her head, she hears an orchestra. She will sit at her piano and write and rewrite. Explaining this to me as she is hearing it in her head: 'and then the flute comes in, and then the violin and la la la.. she'll sing a few notes and then the choir..."
Also an artist in the kitchen, in my experience i've rarely or ever seen her use a recipe but can take anything from your kitchen or garden and make a really good tasting meal. One time she came and stayed with us kids while my mom was in the hospital. Every day for an ENTIRE week lunch and dinner and sometimes breakfast we at a different meal that she made from cucumbers from our garden. ALL cucumbers! She just made stuff up. Half the time I didn't even know I was eating cucumbers and it was GOOD!
She is a pioneer in her own life, leaving the islands and everyone she loved to come to America and raise her family in the Gospel. I've often seen her tear up when she talks about leaving the islands and saying goodbye. She must be where I got my love of pictures from because she will pour over pictures for days, on end talking about them and all the wonderful people from her past.
Oh and one more thing about her is she is a lady of little means, but she would give us the world if she could. I am always very careful with my compliments when i visit her, because if you say you like something in her home, even if it means a lot to her, she will end up sending you home with it. It's her way of showing love I guess. There is just so much about this lady that I love. Well anyway I could go on for longer, but my point is she is very worthy of being named after. Also this will be the one way Naomi will be able to feel a part of her Polynesian heritage, because for heavens sake she won't show it in her skin! (talk about getting the bum deal darnit.)

Smiley

This little girl is changing so much. You can see it daily. In the hospital, straight from the womb, she looked like a female version of Cache. After we brought her home, she changed and we lovingly dubbed her our little Jack Nicholsen. Lucky for her she has grown out of that bad hair doo stage and now, well now I don't know who she looks like. I guess she just looks like our pretty Naomi.

Clairebee Mcdougals

What kind of nicknames do you get when you have a one syllable name? Really long nick names like Clairebee Mcdougals, claire bear, clairbeez.. whatever they are we miss you Clair bear! This is my brother's little girl and she is going to be a big sister ANY day now! I can't wait to see what her sister will look like. How can you get any cuter than this?

Pumpkin Patch

So I've recently been figuring out how to edit photos aaaand, I LOVE IT! Okay so I'm sure I over edited these photos from our visit to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago,but I just had to try everything out and now I can't keep my hands off an un edited photo. Just a note, click on the pictures to make them bigger. They look so much cooler big, but I don't know how to post them big yet.

















I love our new yearly tradition of visiting the pumpkin patch. Fall is to say the least my favorite season! Missouri is not my favorite place most seasons of the year, like summer(aka tornado season) or winter (aka ice season) and spring(aka FLOOD season). Yes most of the year Missouri sounds more like "misery" every time I hear it mentioned. But come fall, oh man fall in Missouri is GORGEOUS and free any natrual disasters. So bring on the fall. The weather is awesome.. cool enough to wear a cute sweater if you want, but if you don't have one to match your outfit you can go without.. and the COLORS are just better than any place on earth I'm sure. So there will be more pictures of the pumpkin patch and fall to come.

Camping

I have a bit of catching up to do. Last weekend we went camping with some good friends and neighbors. There was 4 of us little families. We shared campsites and split up the meal assignments which is absolutely the way to go. Friday night we had amazing shish kabobs.. and rolls and salads and amazing dutch oven cobbler. The next morning Devin and I were in charge and we took my sister Sarah's idea to do breakfast burritos by putting all the mixings:eggs, ham, ect in individual ziplock baggies, and submerge them in boiling water until the eggs are cooked.. dump it into a tortilla, add some salsa and AWESOME! No dishes to wash! We had muffins and fruit salad too.(pre-made at home). Lunch was sandwhiches, chips and banana boats and well isn't food just even MORE tasty camping?!

pictured above is the 3 boys eating licorice. Cache and his 2 buds all live right next to on another and are all 2 years old... they have some great times between the brawls, stick fights, and wrestling matches. Also pictured is Cache riding bikes, roasting mallows and the only picture we got of Naomi's first camping trip. She slept a lot.. during the day that is..

Now for the highlights of the trip. A near by lake was so beautiful and clear for Missouri lakes. We want to come back and do family pictures here. Kade and Devin while answering natures call in the woods found these crazy monkey vines. They had a great time swinging on them. While Kade spent his turns trying to do awesome skateboard type tricks like bouncing off trees ect. Devin just tried to see how much air he could get.. As you can see from the picture below... look real hard and you can see a glimpse of how high devin got! haha!

Some Good Company: I hope Naomi is gets this chubby!


It was a really good time and camping with a newborn wasn't as horrible as it could have been, maybe we'll wait till next year though to sleep in a tent with a baby.

Here ya go mom

This is Naomi just shy of 4 weeks old. She weighs in at 9lbs 6oz and 20 inches(she shrunk I guess), Not the best photos, but the best your gonna get tonight...Cache can now get out of his crib and so nap time is shot and bed time is a 2 hour ordeal on a good night..our nerves our shot..

here let me try and be positive for a moment.. lets see,, getting to know Naomi..
1.She has a very girly cry and is learning that it makes us jump to her very need.
2. She loves the sound of the shower-just like her mom.. I love the sound of the shower..it puts me right to sleep.
3. She loves her hair washed with warm water and gets really calm and coos.
4. She really likes to get a bath, as long as someone is holding her hand, she won't be scared.
5. Sometimes if she is having a hard time going to sleep, you just hold her hand and she will calm down..i think this is so cute.
6. She's got an appetite to match the rest of the family!(big)
Its so fun to get to know her. So far I think she will be very different from Cache..he is a one of a kind though so that's expected!

Hey dere Coach

So I might have mentioned that Cache is playing soccer this year and Devin is the coach. I volunteered Devin to be the coach when they told me Cache wasn't old enough to play in the league yet. Cache just really needed an outlet like this and was already distraught that he they wouldn't let him play baseball this summer. Devin was actually really excited though (phew) and does an awesome Job. All the kids are 3 years old.. except Cache, who is 2. I don't regret signing him up at all. He is very good at dribbling,by far the most enthusiastic player his team, and is the only one on his team that can drop kick the ball. He spends most of the practice doing this and we've actually had to make a house rule, "No drop kicking in the house!" I laughed after I first said this, but now I'm just annoyed at his ability to aim for the picture on the wall(or my head) and step back and nail his target. Anyway all the kids call Devin "Coach" and last week, little Gracie yelled during one of the drills,
"hey nice hair cut coach!"
By request of my mom, here are some pictures of the little all stars!



They are so little, and much of the practice is spent rolling on the ball or picking their nose, falling down over and over or rearranging the cones they are suppose to be running around. Here is Cache demonstrating what I'm talking about.

No I'm your Moon

Recently we have been having conversations with Cache about sharing his daddy with his new sister. The other day Devin took a new approach to this conversation by explaining that Naomi is his daughter. He then said "And Cache YOU are my SON."
In typical fashion of Cache who has disagree with EVERYTHING we say he says: "NO DAD, not you son."
Devin: "yes Cache you are my son."
Cache: "No Dad I'm you MOON."

Another thing I want to write down so I don't forget is that usually When cache wakes up he just sings until I come or yells: "Daddy!" Even though Devin is NEVER home when Cache wakes up, he always yells for him, and then every single morning, we have to have a conversation about how dad is at school, with his pac pac. Lately though, as though it might help daddy magically be there when he wakes up instead of me: He has added on to his morning yelling session: " Daddy! Daddy you my best friend!" over and over.. it's so funny, a bit sad, but cute.

whoops I just remembered one more thing I don't ever want to forget. Lately Cache has decided that he likes to shower. If he hears the shower on, he immediately jumps up from what he's doing and says: "I need my soap!" He then runs and gets the bar of soap that my mom left in the shower when she was here and shared a bathroom with cache. Sometimes he will get in the shower first and only remember that he needs his soap and will yell at me from the shower: "MOM! I need my soap!" Usually busy doing something like feeding the baby, I'll say: " No you don't Cache." So he then gets out and using his hands when he talks he'll say "jus a minute, I be right back, Okay? Stay dere. I need my soap." He then runs naked, sopping wet through the house to his bathroom, and then back trying to carry his soap back to the shower, announcing the entire way. "I GOT MY SOAP!"