Derek Russell - born 6/27/12 12:52pm

I guess it is about time that I write up the story of Derek's birth. Monday afternoon last week I headed to my 37 week appointment with my doctor. He checked me and told me that he could see me having our baby within the week. Contractions began that evening, not very strong, but every 20 minutes. This continued on through the night and into Tuesday. They got gradually stronger all day and began to get closer after we put the kids to bed around 8:00pm. I continued to keep track and decided at 12midnight to head into the hospital to get checked out.

At 3 we were finally admitted and I was at 5cm. Let's just say I stayed at 5 cm until 11am when I finally began to dilate further. It felt like forever especially after not sleeping the night before. We were greeted with his presence at 12:52pm. He ended up being my biggest baby at 8lbs 4 oz. Derek Russell Olsen is what we officially decided on for his name. We now have our ABCD family :). Derek had done breathing problems and had to have a close eye kept on him but we were able to head home 24 hours later. The other kids are loving him and he has been such a quiet sweet baby.

Happy Birthday Beck!

Happy Birthday to Beckaroni! You are such a cute and lovable 4 year old!

Love,
Dad, Mom, Andrew, and Camie

Salemites

Well it has been quite a long time since I have posted on the blog. Here is a short update on everyone:

Peter - He is continuing to work hard getting new projects and running the ones they do have. Peter participated in his second triathlon in September and continues to enjoy it. The trail running season is now starting with our first race this Saturday up at Shelburg Falls. Peter is also participating in the Portland Ensign choir again this year and is loving it.

Anne - Life has been crazy with me. I took the head coaching job at Sprague high school here in South Salem. It made for a busy summer as well as a. very busy Fall. We ended up going undefeated in league and went to the State tournament for the first time in 9 years. I also won coach of the year for our league. Needless to say it was a great season and we are already prepping for the next one. Other than volleyball, we found out that we are expecting #4 next summer and are very excited to add to the craziness.

Andrew - He started kindergarten in September and has been having a blast. He is doing so well with reading and is such a smart little kid.

Beck - He started preschool as well in September and has been learning so much. He thinks he is such a big kid now that he gets to carry a backpack like Andrew.

Camie - She has been getting bigger every day but of course is still our small little girl. She is full of attitude and definitely has shown she can keep up with the boys.

Salem is great and we are so excited to see everyone at Christmas. I want to thank everyone who made it out to any of my volleyball games this season. It really has meant a lot to me to be able to have support from you all. We love you guys!

Anne

Salemites

Just thought since I had a little time, that I would sit down and blog.

Peter is working hard and looking forward to hiring an0other employee for the office here in Salem. Between work and Portland Mormon Choir, he is crazy busy. Speaking of PMC, their next concert is June 18^th and 25^th although most of you will probably want to hit up the June 25^th performance as it is in Salmon creek at Skyview high school. After that concert, Peter will have a break until the fall which will be nice. Peter also recently signed up for the Willamette Valley Triathlon club so that he can get into training with others that do triathlons as well. He is excited!

I am coming to the end of my training for the marathon and I am so ready to just do the race. Training can be such a pain sometimesJ. But it is going well for the most part but I will be excited when it is all over. I will be able to focus on Ragnar, Hood to Coast, and the Oyster race….and possibly a triathlon. It sure is turning out to be a crazy summer for me with also the addition of the Lake Shasta trip. Oh I am so ready….our family is so ready! I am enjoying the life of being a mom even though I have my moments of insanity here and there.

Andrew ends preschool this month. I still can’t believe that he will be going off to kindergarten next fall. He is still my baby boy. No more growing…I wish! He is acting older every day and some days I feel like he is trying to be a teenager. He is such a big helper (most of the time) and currently as I write this, he is out in the yard helping Peter with yard work. He loves to help out with Camie and always want her to come play with him. He is such a good big brother.

We recently had our first trip to the ER for something other than a high fever. Beck and Andrew were playing in the backyard and found a broken beer bottle that had been dug into the ground. I thought I had picked up all that was there but I guess I was wrong as about a half hour later, Beck came in with a cut on his foot that was pretty deep. Since Peter was at Silverton city council meeting, I had to find someone from the ward to watch Andrew and Camie while I headed to the ER with Beck. 2 hours in the waiting room, 1 hour in a room, 1 xray, and 4 stitches later we were home at about 1:30 in the morning. He refuses to walk on it which means he is either crawling or being carried everywhere. It makes for some interesting trips around town. Other than that, Beck is growing each day and just amazes me with some of the stuff that he knows. I keep thinking about when Andrew was his age and I don’t think Andrew knew as much as Beck does. I guess that Is what comes with having an older brother to learn from.

Camie is such a fun girl to have around. She is definitely the sister of 2 older brothers. She basically lives with no fear and wants to do everything they are doing. She climbs on everything and I find her very often on the top bunk do to the staircase we have for it. She is currently in the midst of breaking her 1 year molars which is making her to be a bit of a monster but hopefully they will be through soon and we can get our normal Camie back. She loves her brothers to death and also has recently become a bit of a daddy’s little girl. She loves to play with Peter and she giggles all the time when she is with him.

Anyways, I am being called to find out what we should have for dinner. We are staying busy and having fun here in Salem and anyone is welcome to come join the fun. We love visitors!

-Anne

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

This is one that I couldn't pass up. Tulips are my favorite so being able to go see so many in one place was awesome. Beck was not at all feeling well so we didn't last long but this will be one that we return to in years to come.

Happy Birthday Camie!

We love you Cam Wam! We are so glad you joined our family 1 year ago.
Love, Mom, Dad, Andrew, and Beck

the beginning...

Things I want to get done tomorrow:

playdate with friends
pay bills
grocery shop
target shop
make a birthday skirt for camie
old navy shop
ship padded towel to tiffany
run 5 miles

so much to do...so little time!

Recent Pictures

Salemites

I guess it is about time that I sat down to blog. Life has been quite busy lately.
Here are a few things that have happened:

-At the beginning of this month, we moved into our new place. We are getting very close to being unpacked. So nice to get thru stuff and really figure out stuff we don't need.
-Ants have been a big issue at the house. They have been in almost every food cupboard in the kitchen, the pantry, and then they made their way upstairs thru the plumbing and into the hallway, kids' bathroom, and then our bathroom. We finally had enough and called the landlord who now has us set up on a quarterly visit schedule with an exterminator. It is so great to be taken care of like that.
-Peter and I ran the Santiam Scramble run. It was a bunch of craziness but it was such a awesome and fun time. It was five miles that included multiple straight up climbs, 6 creek crossings, and we spent the majority of the run not on trails, basically running thru branches and bushes. There was lots of snow and mud. Peter definitely feels like he has found a group he fits in with. I think we will be participating in these runs yearly now.
-Andrew is now signed up for kindergarten. Crazy to think that we are at that point but he is so excited.
-I met the other day with 5 other moms to talk about starting a preschool co-op for the kids that are Beck's age. We won't be officially starting until the fall but Beck keeps asking all the time about it. I am just excited at the fact we have so many young families in our ward to do this with.
-Camie is on the verge of officially walking. She will take steps here and there but then will realize she can do things faster by crawling. She is beginning to wave hi and bye and says "mama", "dada", "bye", and "night night". It is excited to know that she will be turning 1 next month. Speaking of which, local stinchfields/perrys: When are we doing the birthday celebrations for April? I was thinking the 23rd since we will be up that weekend for sure.
-I am continuing my marathon training. It is going well. I did 13.33 miles the week before last and felt so good. It was pouring rain the whole time but that made it so much better. I am busy trying to get the house settled and get things set up and make it feel like home. I have lots of plans for the decorating of the house but we gotta have the money to do it so I think it may have to wait until a little later.
-Peter is working hard at work and is busy with Portland Mormon Choir. They have their spring concert next month and he has been working hard at memorizing the songs.

We are looking forward to the many upcoming events of the summer and so excited to have everyone in the area in just a short while. We love you all and can't wait to see you guys soon.

-Anne

Leave it to a 3 year old...

To make you feel so good one day...

We get the Athleta catalog in the mail and on the cover of the most recent one is a blond woman running (it is the front page on the website). The night we got it I told Peter I wanted to eventually look like that woman. The next day Beck saw it and said to me "MOMMY THAT'S YOU! Where are you?" I just gave him a hug and kiss and said "I love you Beck". :)

and kinda gross another day.

I had just got done running 4 miles on the treadmill at the gym and I went to pick up the kids from the child care room. While I was putting Beck's jacket back on, he turns to me and says (rather loudly) "Mommy, YOU STINK!"

Beck is such a crack up and you never know what kid you are going to get. Just look at the description of Parker in Adina's last blog and Beck is a pretty much that in a mini version. We love him!

-Anne

The Guilty Mug Shots

 

The evidence is written on the face (in permanent ink!).

Pictures of Beck's Birthday Cake

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Beck!

 

 

 

 

We love you FOOD!

Love, Mom, Dad, Andrew, and Camie