Birthday

Dedicated to my LOVE!

Happy Birthday, Stew!

Stew Firetruck, originally uploaded by caine975.

Since I was so late on our Anniversary, I figured I'd post a Happy Birthday to Stew! He doesn't feel like it's a big deal, but in my family growing up, it's the only day dedicated to YOU! So enjoy it! Now, it was 2 days ago, so I am a little late, but I couldn't resist posting this picture. It's my favorite of him! I love you Stew! I hope you had a great birthday. You even got what you wished for! (And that doesn't always happen!)

Kirra's Haircut and all caught up!

IMG_5189, originally uploaded by caine975.

Every year, about this time, I cut Kirra's hair. It's SO thick and the longer it gets, the frizzier her hair gets. So, for a fresh beginning of the school year thing, we cut her hair. She's wanting me to post this. She's become very aware of "blogging" and asks what I've posted about her. The other day, she made me breakfast in bed. And asked if I had posted about it. I've told her of other blogs I've read who's children have done the same thing. Apparently, she wanted me to "brag" about her the same way. I am proud of her and she does a great job being my helper. I just wish I didn't have to ask so much. The breakfast in bed, was a wonderful gesture and she's been trying ever since to be helpful without an attitude. ha ha Also, here a few other random pictures I wanted to post. I think I've finally got caught up. I had better make sure I make this blog into a book, so I can feel like this has all been worth it. :) (besides our non-CA family and friends being able to see our beautiful family)

Liam is 10 mo. old

IMG_5169, originally uploaded by caine975.

I realized I haven't posted many pictures of Liam lately. (I guess I haven't kept up much blogging at all. ha ha) Liam is now 10 mo. Where does the time go? He, of course, is crawling everywhere! He LOVES food and has pretty much weaned himself from nursing. I guess it wasn't enough for him. :) Here is a picture of his little smirk he gives. It is Stew's twin smirk. Liam does this when he's trying to ignore me. When I'm tickling him, or trying to get a kiss from him, or just plain being a stinker! He loves to play with (or pull!) the girls hair. In one of the pictures, you can see him with his arms straight and tight. He does this caveman grunt, almost as if he has to prove he's tough. It's very funny. He is such a happy boy! (All my kids are. Thank goodness. How did we luck out on that?) Here are some pictures of him being 10 mo. old. There are over 30, (I know that's a lot) so pull up a chair and just enjoy his chubber little face! (I can't get enough pictures of him.)

First Day of School 2008

IMG_5035, originally uploaded by caine975.

Here are the girls on their first day of school. Kirra is now in 4th grade, Malia is in 1st grade, and I started teaching preschool to Julia. (I have 8 other kids as well) They were so excited to go back to school. Now that September is almost over, I think the excitement has worn off a little, via homework, but we have some really good students. While I'm teaching piano lessons, they are pretty much on their own to do their homework, and they do a really good job. They love their new classes and teachers, and have already made some new "best friends." After school, and piano lessons, we let them play outside. Here are some pictures of that day.

Boys are from Mars

IMG_5078, originally uploaded by caine975.

With a house full of Venuses, Stew has found his heir. Liam loves to skateboard with him. You can see how fast they are going with the wind in his hair. The things Liam finds around the house, it's nothing I've ever worried about. Now, I know, you Mothers of boys, are probably laughing and knowing exactly what I'm talking about. I know I grew up in a house with all girls, and I knew Liam would be different than our girls, but it's fun to experience it. He really is a joy! He loves when Stew busts out a new gadget. The air compressor, drills, he even found the spring to his crib. I recently got rid of all our outlit plugs, because we never used them in 9 years. Why were we saving those? Well, I should have waited 2 more months, when Liam became mobile. I never knew I had so much dust behind our VCR. We never use it, it's not even plugged in. But we keep it there for the 5 videos we have. (dumb I know) Now that Liam loves to be under there and "fix" things, I'm keeping it much cleaner. :) I guess he wasn't into the Barbie movie the girls were watching. HA We call him our "swiffer" boy, because he crawls around and cleans up the floors for us. Please know, that his onesies are dirty because of the oils in the floors. But, the last pictures, he was having a blast being outside. That is no oil. Just pure DIRT! How could I say NO to such a happy boy. I guess the days of clean hands is over. Julia helped prepare us for Liam. He loves to be dirty! They will be two peas in a pod, and probably spend most of their time in the bath. I had better stock up on the soap. (Tracey, I owe you ALL new onesies!:} )

Cookie Cutters?

IMG_3886, originally uploaded by caine975.

I have come to realize that we have a "cookie cutter" look in our family. As you can see in this picture, they ALL inherited my BROWN eyes! Each child I'm hopeful, they can be passed on, but NO. Brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and skinny legs. When you click on this picture, you will see the next "cookie cutter" thing passed on. Stew's legs! Here's a post I've been dying to do. Recently, I was teaching piano in the AM and I asked the girls to go get dressed. Later I was looking at them and thought, "I don't remember them having capris like that." HA HA Kirra had "borrowed" Juila's jeans, which meant Julia needed some. Julia had "borrowed" LIAM'S jeans! It was so funny! AND they fit them perfectly! So, looking at the pictures, remember Kirra who is 9, is wearing size 4T, and Julia who is 4, is wearing 3-6 mo. jeans. I have skinny kids with incredible BLUE eyes, and I couldn't be more proud!

Kirra turns 9!

IMG_5130, originally uploaded by caine975.

Kirra turned 9 in August. Wow, time flies! We have a tradition to have a bonfire at the beach. This year she brought 2 friends. It's a lot of fun! There are pictures of the shovel digging expedition, the bonfire, and the friends. This year Tara brought her bike. Lynn and I couldn't resist taking it for a ride. I had to capture a picture of Lynn. She looked like she had stepped back in time, soaring like a kid.

Kirra is very helpful, when it comes to her brother! She does the typical 9 year old things, but we are very blessed with a sweet and kind child! She always has been! She is filled with so many talents and gifts. She is very smart and loves school. She excels in math and reads about a chapter book a day. She's currently readying the Series of Unfortunate Events and can't put them down. She LOVES art the most! She must get that from her Daddy. She loves to go to art museums with him and just draw together. She's really excelling in piano, and I'm not even teaching her. She practices EVERY minute possible, when she can't read, and I yell from another room, "fix that mistake," and on her own, she does. She's really loving it. She's such a happy and positive child. She is my right arm! She will be the best prepared babysitter by the time she turns 12. We are so blessed to have her in our family too! She is really turning into a beautiful young lady and her beauty shines from within. We love you Kirra! Thank you for being our first born! You wear your title well!

Julia turns 4!

IMG_5148, originally uploaded by caine975.

Julia turned 4 in July. (I know I'm behind) She is such a fun child! She is always making us laugh. She is very helpful, more than her sisters. But she's very stubborn and it usually needs to be her idea. So, we work it to seem like her idea. We dread the day when this won't work. :) To get a beautiful picture, like this one, is hard, because she's usually making a funny face. She's ALWAYS messy and dirty! And she loves it that way. She loves wearing dresses, being barefoot, having a square-top with a bow, and having dirty feet! If you look back at the post of Michelle's wedding pictures, there is a good picture of her dirty feet! We love her so much! I can't believe she's already 4! She's in my preschool class and she's learning so fast. She loves school, especially her teacher. :) She calls me "Ms. Kristine" like the other kids, because "you're my teacher too." She's very fun to teach and she's such a joy to our family! We love you Julita! Thank you for being a part of our family!

p.s. the last picture of the little girl, is my friends daughter. It was at Julia's party, and I couldn't resist taking her picture. She's so cute!

Beach Trip with the Z Family

IMG_3917, originally uploaded by caine975.

We took a trip with Tara and Scott and the boys to the beach. We had fun doing the normal beach things....waves, sand castles, shells. We always bring a large shovel, because digging a huge hole is way more fun than using a small plastic hand shovel. :) We even got to see Noah and Caleb catch their first waves. They were awesome. Stew can't wait for one of our kids to pick it up! We had a bonfire and stayed until they closed us down. Thanks to their neighbor who put on a new roof, we had plenty of firewood! Stew got creative and made a "sculpture" out of the wood, and the kids soon followed and built their own things. They even made a cool bench to sit on while we ate our dinner. I love living in CA! Nothing compares to the beach with waves and a bonfire! It even makes hot dogs taste better! Yum!

Annual Palm Desert Trip

IMG_4445, originally uploaded by caine975.

Every year we take the kids to Palm Desert. Stew's family has a time share there, and they are very generous to share with us. We go through withdrawls until we can get there in the summer! Kirra has swam by herself for a few summers, and I realize now, that I didn't take too many pictures of her. She made friends with a boy, who only spoke french. They had fun playing catch and torpedoes together. Malia swam all by herself this year. She did it last year, but since we don't have a pool to continue swimming in, by summer time, she's forgotten a lot. I think this year, was the turning point. She'll remember for next year. (We hope) Julia mainly stuck to the steps. But we did get her to swim to us from the steps everyday. She would say, "only one time, and then I'm playing on the steps." Well, at least she would do it and she never caught on, that her "once" turned out to be 5x every time! Liam LOVED the water! He never complained once, even when he was tidal-waved. It was such a wonderful and RELAXING trip! Thank you Lynn and Terry for letting us have this tradition! Now if we can just get a pool for the rest of the year. Anyone?

Happy Anniversary!

Temple, originally uploaded by caine975.

Well, it's been 10 years for us, and we PARTIED! We went to Rome, with a stop over in France, and caught a boat to Iceland. It was the most amazing trip ever! Well worth the 10 year wait! Actually, being school days and kids, my parents babysat, and we went to dinner and a movie. It's hard to do the adventurous things anymore, since kids. But, that's actually our favorite thing to do. We have the chance to be kid free and visit without any children interruptions. Very relaxing! But the last 10 years have been wonderful! I'm going to do the "blog" thing and make it look like we've had a piece of cake 10 years without ANY problems! Perfect Perfect! I have the best husband in the world, unlike the other blogs I read, and he has been more to this family than his time allowed. When most were working, Stew was working AND going to school full time! At our 10 years of marriage, we have been blessed with 4 beautiful kids, a wonderful home, and Stew being a teacher, which means him being home WAY more than ever before! The kids have withdrawls when school gets back in, with "where's daddy?" In all cheese and sappiness, I truly have a wonderful husband who I could not ask for more. He wears many hats around here and I am very blessed that he wears them very happily. (Thank goodness, because my "honey do" list can get pretty long.) Thank you Stew for the beautiful children, especially since they all take after your side of the family, and for keeping me more happy than I ever thought I could be! I love you, BABE!

Sorry it took me 11 days to post this. :) It's been a busy school beginnings.

10 Years Coming Right Up!

Waiting to deliver!, originally uploaded by caine975.

I tell my students that a little bit of cheese is good. A lot, not so good. Well it's time for a little bit of cheese. I'm trying to beat her to this.

Kristine and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary coming up this Friday, September 5th. Throughout it all, she has been patient with me, and supportive of me. She let me grow as a man and has helped me develop as a person and father. She was supportive when I decided to ditch my career plans as graphic designer. I was already working in the field and this required me to go back to school and finish my degree in Fine Art and get a teaching credential, and student teach for 1 year. She has been accepting of my vices, namely surfing and snowboarding. I have enjoyed seeing her grow as a woman, wife and mother. It is evident that I married up, and I know that I got lucky.

One quote sums up our journey together so far.
"Life is just what happens to you, while your busy making other plans."
- John Lennon

This is one of my favorite pictures of her. It is literally 2 hours before Liam was born. Every picture I have of her is amazing, but in this one she looks incredible. Happy anniversary Kristine. I love you. Thanks for being my squaw.

It's Magic

Seaworthy: Official Trailer from Nathan Oldfield on Vimeo.
Today was the day that officially ended my summer. I had to go back to work today and spent most of the day in boring, waste of time teacher's meetings. This is where we look at the previous year's state test scores and all kinds of other incredibly in depth data. That does not make me happy. This is the kind of stuff that makes me happy. The ocean is a magical place. I miss it already. I can't wait for saturday. The good news is that I already have a day off coming up in a week- Labor Day!
–Stew

Scandia with Van Buskirk Family

IMG_3788, originally uploaded by caine975.

When we got home from our trip to WA, we joined Stew's family (in Chino, CA) for some more family fun. We haven't seen Tim's family (Stew's brother) for almost 2 years. The cousins were excited to be together again. We had family pictures taken (which is a BIG job!), hung out to let the cousins play, and even went to Scandia! That was fun. I love this picture, because it is 3 generations, AND they are all Caine Van Buskirk. Terry, my father-in-law, his mom's maiden name is Caine, and so he carries the middle name, and passed it on to Stew. Now Liam carries it. Liam is the first Van Buskirk boy of his generation. He even looks like Terry's side of the family. Must be in the name. :) The cousins had fun riding the rides. We went home for lunch, (it's very close by) and then left Liam with Aunt Tara and Uncle Scott, while Stew and I went back with their boys and our girls. Tim's family had to leave back to AZ to visit more family. The boys were fun to hang out with. We got soaked on the bumper boats and road the race cars I don't know how many times! The "toaster" was the winner of the day. Caleb called it the toaster, because it was white like the bread, yellow like the butter, and I'm not sure where the toasting part comes in. Ask Kirra and she'll be happy to explain. ha ha It was a fun day! Thank you to Lynn and Terry who scheduled this all out. It was a fun week. Let's do this again, but sooner than 2 years. :)

Our Last Destination, San Francisco

IMG_3488, originally uploaded by caine975.

Our last stop on our trip, was through San Francisco. I grew up visiting here, because my Grand Dad lived here. A LOT of memories! He has since passed, and it was a touching trip remembering the times we had with him. We arrived in SF at noon and left at 6pm. Had dinner just outside of the city, and then slept in our own beds at home. It was quite the drive home. The kids were AWESOME! So worth the detour home. We saw Pier 39, the Golden Gate Bridge, and of course drove down the crookedest street in the world, Lombard St. The white SUV you see, is the Wieder's car coming down the street. She had her family plus Tracey's family in her car. We could have stayed hours more, but we were trying to get home for the next set of family coming in town. We had such a great trip. We accomplished all this within 7 days! I hope the kids can remember these fun and crazy memories!

Biplane Ride

DSC_0588, originally uploaded by caine975.

Tracey took some pictures of us going up. It was awesome! I just got these from her, that's why they weren't included in the last set. My parents flew up with Tracey, Shailey and Greyson in the back seat, and we flew with Lisa and Brent. ALL our girls were so bummed they couldn't go up. It was kind of pricey, so we told them maybe next year. They are all dare devils!

Arriving in WA

IMG_3347, originally uploaded by caine975.

We made it to our destination, Vancouver, WA. We had a family reunion there, with almost all my dad's family. (Michelle and Dallin were just married, and an Aunt couldn't make it.) It was quite the crew! My dad has 6 kids in his family, and that makes for 12 grandkids and 16 great grandkids (I think. It's hard to count them all). Needless to say, it was a very large group. Just the way my Grandma Oopeedoop loves it! It was a party! We started the Independence Day celebration on July 3rd, blowing up about $400 in fireworks. Then we blew some more up on the 4th, totally over $1000! I never realized my dad's family was so crazy! They were having so much fun blowing things up. At one point we all duck and covered as a "lady bug" came flying into the garage, causing only minor fire damage to a blanket. It was so much fun. Everyone got into the action with the fireworks. Also, on the 4th, Stew and I took a ride on a biplane. That was awesome. No cover or helmets. Just you, a lap belt, and the sky! My only problem was there wasn't enough dips and flips. (Lisa and my dad did it last year, and they said it was a lot more "roller coaster" then. Dang it!) But, a memory none the less. It was such a fun family reunion.

I'm the King of the Forest

IMG_3039, originally uploaded by caine975.

I have to post some pictures of Mr. Liam. I realize I can't get enough pictures of him. He just makes me laugh. He was 7 mo. on this trip and he was quite the traveler. He was amazing. Here are pictures of his first ice cream, eating an apple and playing raspberries with Aunt Lisa. We can't get enough of our little "king." He didn't care at all that he had this hat on. Recently we put some shorts on his head and he never pulled them off. I don't think he has a very "sensitive" noggin. :)

Next Stop, Train Museum in Sacramento

IMG_3016, originally uploaded by caine975.

Our next stop was a train museum that held real trains that you can tour through. There was a sleeping car and dining car that you could walk through to see how they lived on trains. Crazy. So small and squished. The movies always make it look so much larger and cozier. Stew came here with his grandparents when he was younger, and I think I had been here when I was younger too (can't remember). The last time we came I was pregnant with Julia. The kids had a great time. They each got a train charm that we put as a necklace (Liam's not included. He just holds it :) ). There are some pictures of the girls with their fans they bought at Sutter's Fort too. After the museum we walked to an ice cream parlor. Liam was in heaven! They had my ultimate favorite....BUBBLE GUM! No one carries that anymore. I wonder if i'll ever be too "old" for bubble gum ice cream! YUM!