New Years Letter

I had a great many ideas of what I wanted to get done this Christmas season. One of which was to get a Christmas photo taken and sent out to EVERYONE so that they can take the photo that we sent them the year after we were married and replace it with one that has 7 more people in it, our little people, the reason that we are loving getting up in the morning, the reason for the post, and the reason that I've been studying a bunch before I speak. Trying to make sure that what I say to them is ACCURATE and not just something that I've heard someone else say...

We've had a WONDERFUL year and it went as follows (in short):

Added Vance to our family in April

Celebrated and hosted my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary

Went to a Civil War game with my Dad

Many Birthdays

Made it a whole year in our new home and we are loving it

Finished and started another year of homeschooling 4 (averaging) little ones

added a regular date night (which was probably the best thing we could have done for our relationship)

Added a regular Kids Day to our routine (which consists of Nate getting off early from work, 2pm or so, and we do whatever the kids came up with that morning to do as a family. Whether it be ride the MAX train in to Portland and have 'roach coach' for dinner, or go bowling, or like tonight it's going to Costco and getting hot dogs and fireworks. Then coming home to roast marshmallows in the fire outside that the kids spent all afternoon putting together (burning the completed lessons out of the school books), and then coming in for hot cocoa and part of a movie before bed... the options are endless.)

Scrapbooking

Bible studies

hosting a few friends here and there

Photography classes

block parties

Christmas parties

Picking fruit

Canning veggies (or watching my sister can veggies and trying to look busy:)

church camp

photography for weddings

A 'new' business and getting that off and running, hiring, growing, getting processes in place, working on software to make things 'easier' and faster and BETTER!! It's been a FUN and tiring year. We both agree that we like that we both enjoy what we do each day (well, most of what we do every day, there is that 5% that keeps us on our knees...okay 10% perhaps *wink*)

I know I've left soooo much out but it's just been a FULL year of so many fun and new adventures. We are EXCITED to see what God has for us this coming year. YES, we already have our New Years resolutions set in motion!!!

Love to you all

~Robyn (for the fam.)

Merry Christmas

Latest and Greatest:

Poor Vance got a black eye. It was a complete accident and case of an older sister being very helpful. Good thing he won't remember. I still think he's cute though.

He's climbing stairs and crawling EVERYWHERE!! Poor little guy doesn't have reverse yet though so I'll find him with his head in somethere and he's managed to get flipped over and then truly stuck.
Merry Christmas to you ALL. Come on over anytime (call first). We are having a great season this year of preparing for the ONE DAY when the whole world (well almost) stops and celebrates the birth of THE KING! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Lucky little Girl!

A good friend of mine has managed to birth 6 boys in a row. Supermom if you ask me.

God gave her a little girl in August. She's just beautiful. They all came over one day and we played a little: One of her picks above.

Growth

Our Vance has grown... Look at those rolls.

I now have a camera and a computer in good working order and so WILL be posting more frequently now *fingers crossed*.

Fair Season

Nate has been taking Wednesday afternoons off for some family time. We usually ask the kids what they want to do. This week was fair week and as we drove past the fairgrounds the consensus was that we would go to the fair IF Dad said we had enough money.

Nate, Halley, Todd and Andi decided to spend all of their money at the fair so that Dad didn't have to.

We were able to treat them to a couple of rides this year but what was the most fun for us as parents was watching that money burn holes in their pockets. As we would walk around they would see something that said 1.00 and it didn't matter what it was, they wanted it because it matched what they had in hand. They would patiently wait in line and then order based on color and price and what photos were visible to them.

Nate tried his best to 'guide' them to things that were less expensive and maybe would even taste better...

...I was reminded of us as God's children and how we so often reach for those things that are 'visible' or what we see as attainable.

So often I find myself soooo grateful for those who have 'guided' me to those things that I didn't even know were there... Things that were 'better' for me (the best)...

~Robyn

PictureLESS post!!!

Yep, here it is folks. A post withOUT photos. I am officially cameraLESS as it has 'died'.

BUT, this last week has been SUPER exciting with all of the family from all over coming together for a reunion here at our home. We had my Uncle Jeff and his family from Nepal. My Uncle Mike and his family from Mississippi. My Aunt Shellie and her family from Moses Lake, Washington, and then her children (who are my cousins:) from here and there. My Aunt Penny and her family from Honduras and then one of her daughters from here. My Aunt Sue and her daughters from north Washington. My sister and her two girls. My Grandparents who were celebrating their Sixtieth wedding anniversary and then we had six people who were friends of some of my relatives come and join us for a couple of afternoons.

One of my cousins took some photos and I'll get them off the card and organized at some point and post a few.

We made TieDyed shirts, ate a LOT of food and drinks, played horseshoes, ping-pong, disc golf, watched a slideshow of 'back then'... And so many other things (but I have to go to bed now:).

It was a SUPER wonderful few days and well worth all the effort that people made to come out and see each other. The Lord blessed us with great weather and kids who played WELL together and relatives who pitched in and did all of the work.

Something that we all really were here for and grateful for is...

TO BE CONTINUED...

4th of July worst parents of the year award!!!

We planned, we waited, we anticipated, we saved our $$. We told the kids that the 5th of July we were going to go buy fireworks (because they were half off by then and we could get so much more for our $$. We didn't even go SEE the fireworks this year...

We spent time talking about why we celebrate this day and why it is such a big deal and why we even have fireworks...

The 5th we load up, ALL the kids had a dollar in their pockets to spend. We drive through our town and all of the firework stands were already closed. No problem, we'll just drive into the larger city and keep looking.

Nate then called me. "Umm... honey..... we have a problem. They passed a new ordinance that said you can't sell fireworks after midnight on the 4th. In face even if you DID have some left over it was illegal to shoot any off. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

The kids had been anticipating this for MONTHS. We had them wait this entire week and didn't even take them to a firework show...

What an AWEFUL feeling to have created such anticipation in your own little ones and then have circumstances 'out of your control' make it NOT happen.

Reactions were that a few of them cried/SOBBED. One of them came up with a

nother idea. The 'little' ones just looked at their dollar as if to say "then what do I do with this dollar now".

We asked them how we could make it up to them and it was unanimous that we should go to the dollar store. We did and guess what we found??.... FIREWORKS. Not anything amazing but they had the firework packaging and they made sounds when you pulled the strings and snapped them together. THOSE ARE FIREWORKS when you are little.

The kids were thrilled, or I should say... that made up for it a little.

We'll NEVER WAIT to celebrate the 4th of July again!!!

Our newest little man!! (Update)

He was super cheery this morning which is very typical of him, I'm just usually not in the cheeriest mood to take some photos. It was cold in the room so we bundled up and took a bunch of photos (and for you ladies who took the class with me, I took 110 photos in 3 minutes and only got about 15 super good ones like this, TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS:)

Vancy Pance is what the kids like to call this little man. (I think we need a new nickname).

He's growing, sleeping, happy, and again a pretty forgiving little man. We ALL like him. Even Trae is soooooo gentle and holds him for 10 minutes at a time. He doesn't move, just sits there and pats him and talks gentle to him (baby talk) and gives him little mooches (kisses).

It Warms My Heart!

I absolutely LOVE it when I see my children working together, playing together, sticking up for each other, and just plain loving on each other. It's not a natural thing to do and just when I feel as if I've failed in helping them see HOW to practically live out this unnatural thing called kindness/love, the Lord lets me see a little glimpse. It warms my heart.

Friends

We went and spent the weekend with some friends and they were gracious to sit through a FREEZING cold photo shoot. They would shed the jackets right before we 'posed', pretended not to be cold (and starving, because it was right at dinner time) and then bundled up waiting for the next....They spoiled us rotten, made all the meals, gave us our own apartment, the kids got to sleep in little cubbies and lofts, drove the kids around on the 4 wheelers... We had a great time AND got some rest, usually those two don't go together (fun and rest).

Growing Up!!

Here we are at 5 weeks old already. We've made it through the 'baby puberty' as we call it. When the little guys pores are opening up, makes for a bunch of little acne. That is all smoothing out now. He's still eating good, sleeping wonderfully and the kids have all adjusted nicely and we are back to a more 'normal' schedule. Finishing up school this week. The kids will have finished all of their books and we are already ordering for next year. ( I have to stay ahead of things these days).

Now we are preparing for when it is not raining. Getting the house all organized and put together a somewhat of a system of how we do things. I haven't been up to even thinking along these lines since we moved in. Getting all the decorations out and thinking about putting up some photos to make things more homey. The windows desperately need washing (inside and out) and there is a TON of touch up paint to be done all around the house.

Man if feels nice to have motivation. Watch out kids and get ready to work hard and play hard.

A GIFT

FIRST, we had some friends of ours with 4 children of their own offer to take the kids during our labor time. Little did we all know that it would be 2 days long so..



SECOND, Nate's parents took the kids for the second and third days, brought them over to see the baby twice and then drove the kids to...
THIRD, ... Nate's cousin's place at the coast. Megan and Gavin watched the kids along with their three children for an entire week. Our kids gave them a run for their money and ate them out of house and home but I tell you what, Usually when the kids come home from being gone there is an adjustment time that takes place of 'retraining' the kids and reminding them of the proper attitudes to have and so on. This time was different, there was absolutely no issues. They were polite and respectful, gentle with the new baby and me (who was still in bed).
FOURTH, Nate's mom came in the afternoons and gave me a nap for the days that I was alone which is the reason that we made it through our second week. She made us dinner (or warmed up what someone from the church so graciously brought us) and read to the kids, focusing on them and made them feel special as well as me getting rest.

FIFTH, This lady and her youngest 5 came and stayed with us for the third week. She did all the cooking, cleaning, taking care of my kids as well as her own, She even got school done most days and made me tea. I was able to spend some up time with my kids when I could and still rest whenever I wanted to. It was half price frapps at Starbucks so we took advantage of that a couple of days. Her husband kept things going at her home with their eldest daughter so that she could be here.
SIXTH, Then to top it all off Jacki (the above super mom) left her second born daughter (Sami) for another week (week 4 of babies life). I again got rest and was able to focus on getting the house in order from the months of really not organizing anything or deep cleaning anything... I was able to shop alone and have coffee with Nate, go out for our anniversary and have dinner... When we took her home to Bend Jacki had gifts, cake and dinner all there for Todd's birthday. Grandpa Carne came over and then after church that Sunday he and GrandMaria took us to pizza that had a super fun play place. We were soooo spoiled all weekend.
SEVENTH, Allison Strait lined up meals from everyone in church to give us a meal and some of them even a meal for the freezer as well.

Our good friends Mick and Jeanne Seppa brought us over meals for the freezer that have lasted ALL this week and we are only have through them. The kids are sure that I need to go to cooking school. They haven't complained for several weeks now. It's been really nice but I need to go get a few recipes from you all.
EIGHTH, My sister and her friend came and cleaned my entire house and Carrie stayed with me another day (the day after Vance was born) so that Nate could go to a very important meeting.

The gifts that were sent through out the weeks surrounding the delivery of our son was so fun, it was like Christmas for two months.

We owe the success of our recovery to all of the above mentioned people. And I OwE a ton to my husband NATE for taking care of me so well and making some hard (and at times scary) decisions during labor. He never once let up and I knew that he was on top of things so that I never needed to worry. NOW to get him some rest and a break, that's my goal for the next couple of weeks, now that I have energy we are going to try and spoil him 'rotten'.

Catherine (our midwife) was very instrumental in helping us make those decisions and encouraging us along. We felt very protected. She even would call and bounce stuff off of other trained persons to make sure she wasn't missing something (even tho she has been doing this for over 20 years)...

ULTIMATELY, We give most humble thanks to our LORD for lining up ahead of time all this help and getting us through a very tiring time in our lives. We were not only helped physically, we were ministered to through all of these people who helped. We saw His hand a leading in everything (as usual). We are so very grateful for the health of our new little man...

He has ARRIVED!!!

I know this is quite late and most people already know but here it goes anyways:

Vance Niklas Copper was born the 26th of April weighing 8.8 lbs. He's a super good sleeper and is giving us a good stretch of 7 hours minimum at night (eats and then goes back to sleep for another 5). He's gained a half a pound and 1 1/2 inches in length already (at least if not more by now).

Between Nate's cousin Megan, friends from work, friends from Bend, people from church, and Nate's parents we have been able to recover from this little guy's pregnancy and birth VERY well. The kids have done AMAZINGLY well during this whole transition and with me (Robyn) being down so much this past three weeks or so.

These are a few random photos from the first days of his little life out here in this world:

Traeman is going to be a doctor like Uncle Dave when he grows up. He's already checking Vance's pulse, making sure things are okay.

He absolutely LOVED his 'binkie' for the first while. He doesn't care too much now either way... even the smallest look so huge on his little face.

We'll post more later, I'm sure of it.

Thank you Halley and Shelley

Baby #5

Proud Dad and his third son:

Close the lid and off we go. Nice little napping place.


The BoyZ:
We had so much fun with this family the other night. We took pictures, ate dinner, and chatted a ton. The kids played and played and played:
The girlZ:

For Grandma

Here you go Grandma. Me at 6 months with baby #7. I don't see Nate much and rarely in the daylight so you'll have to wait for a photo of him. It's not easy getting photos of us as I am the one taking the photos. Halley was a trooper and took this one for you.

Enjoy

Robyn

My how you've grown!!

We all decided we needed to start 2010 off with what we all look like so that at the end of the year we can compare ourselves to ourselves and see all the changes.


Nate at 7:

Halley at 6:
Todd at 5:
Andi at 4:
Darbi at 2 1/2:
And Trae (or Traema as we all call him) at 1:
We are still pregnant and have a due date for later in April. We are pretty sure our boy will have the name of Vance Niklas when he is born. We are excited to see this little guy. I was telling Nate the other day that even after having 6 children already, I STILL don't particularly like giving birth and honestly not much about pregnancy either. But, someone's got to do it and I'm the kind of person that would rather be the one in pain rather than watching someone else and not be able to do anything about it.

We are SOOOOO enjoying life right now with these munchkins. Each day is definitely a 'new' day and that saying has a whole new meaning to me after being a mom for nearly 8 years.

Nate and I are learning so much about each other and the different ways each of us operates. I've so enjoyed living life with my best friend for almost 9 years now and having that best friend be even more of a best friend over the years (if that's possible?)

~Robyn