Name our baby!

We want your help to pick names. It takes Dan and I a long time to pick names for our baby and we have to find the perfect one. So we want to invite all our friends and family to contribute. Give us a suggestion and an explanation why you think this would be a good name for our baby. We will have to think about a prize just to make it more fun. Some things to consider; I like very unique names. Dan likes names with meaning. We like to pick a name that teaches our child about who they are, for them to have strength behind them. I like names that have a fun sound or meaning. Some names we have considered so far are.

For a Boy
Lucius why: It means light and it is a fun sound to make.
Gideon why: He is a man of Valour and a warrior in the Old Testament
Archer why: It is super cute and represents aim and strength.

For a Girl
Penelope why: It is a name of a girl in a fairytale.
Sawyer why: cute and then our family could have a Fin and a Sawyer.
Gwendolyn why: family name, Gwendolyn Mae Grue I read her history, believed her to be a righteous and strong woman.

Our children's names, so you can think about how the next child will fit in our family our children's names are as follows: Rachel Lynn Funken (we did not name her) Amy "Coco"(we did not name her. I gave her her nickname) Azure Marjorie Duree( The "z" was to keep the "z" going with my siblings first born children: Ezra, Xan, and Zak. Marjorie is after my Grandmother. Corban Daniel Duree (Corban is after the word in the bible. Daniel, after his father who is named after the Daniel from the Bible) Hope this helps!

Oh we like to give are children first and middle names. So, there could be more than one of you who wins. Please post name suggestions here by commenting so all can all see what suggestions everyone gives. This is not to vote. We can do that later; this is to compile a list of your suggestions.

Official documntation of baby three

Our visual proof

OK, so baby #3 is growing, and we are excited to be adding to our family. Azure, has taken to watching the little moving baby here on our blog. She knows the baby will be here after my birthday and before Halloween. Corban, has no clue what is going on. I hope the visual of mommy in the second and third trimester will clue him in a bit. We have a girl room and a boy room; so, depending on what we get a boy or a girl, will decide who will have a roommate next year. I am hoping the third car seat will actually fit in the middle of back seat of our 96' Beamer. Fall Semester will be more complicated with the arrival of our new baby, so we are doing our best to enjoy Spring Semester the best we can. Corban, will start preschool in August along with Azure, who will go into 1st grade. Being home during the day with baby should work out. Over all it does not sound easy but worth it. I am crossing my fingers I can keep up with three and Dan. Dan, is so happy to be adding to our family. He is so much help. But, with nursing school for the next two years there will be a little more weight on me. I must think positive and be the fun, silly, happy mom to enjoy this journey.
Wish us LUCk!!

Azure learns about the History Museum

Azure's Kindergarten class went to the History Museum for a field trip last week.
She wanted us to go so she could show us all the things she learned about. She was a super cute tour guide she was brief with her commentary but, we enjoyed every bit of her.
We had lots of fun. Dan and I had never been there before.
Since we love St. Louis it was cool learning even more about it and seeing artifacts.

Azure liked petting a piece of a lion statue from part of the WORLD FAIR, we learned some great things about one of our favorite Historical Events that took place in St. Louis in 1904.

Azure had talked non stop about the president in the chair, made of stone.
We finally learned which president she was speaking about.

We loved going to the museum as a family we always have fun visiting sties in St. Louis.
It really helps there is so many things to do here for free.
It has been a good decision to attend school here.

Here I am talking on the antique phone "Linda, are you there?", she's not there hmmm.

Dan got his photo taken with these now vintage baseball stadium seats from our old stadium. Nice!! We love you Cards!

The history of St. Louis is all about a barrel of Beer these are ~HUGE~

Silly kitty, it's made of Stone.

Can't wait for the next fun thing we get to do in St. Louis.
You will always have a place in our heart. We love St. Louis!

Muffin Madness

I love to bake muffins. When I get the urge I like to make as many batches as I can with the time, ingredients and energy I have stored. I owe much of this to Libby's Pumpkin Puree. I love the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Recipe of theirs. I think I love muffins becouse they are made with healthy ingredients vs the cupcake (witch I adore but do not eat or bake). And, I can make them with fruit, which is in my blood from my Grandfather being a fruit farmer and my father being a fruit farmer thus I was raised eating and loving fruit!

This time I tried their Pumpkin Corn Meal Muffins.
The family is still warming up to the new taste. I loved them, corn meal is so yummy,
I use it when I bake pizza even the freezer store bought kind.

The Third Batch i made up I stayed with the beloved Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Recipie but added Shredded Orange Zest to it. I wanted the pumpkin to have a little zing to its bite.
In hopes that winter cooking may not be dreary and the same old.

Thy turned out just as great as the original always does! But with that added bite of Zing! Yeah!

Sir Corban

Aunty Linda gave Corban a Knight costume for a Late Christmas, Early Valentines Day present. Corban has been seen lately in Azure's princes costumes and Dan and I feel he could use a manly option in lue of girly costumes. Linda was able to swoop in with Super speed to save the day. This knight costume will give him practice acting chivalry towards his sister who is always the princes.

Grandma Bonnie bakes Cookies with the kids

Grandma Bonnie wanted to bake cookies with the kids this Christmas. Our schedule's happen to line up after Christmas but it was worth the wait. Bonnie said the recipe was Old Victorian
she did not give me the recipe but, told me it had cinnamon in it.

The dough had a hint of color that looked almost pink.

Cousin Jacob could not resist putting his hands into the flour.

Love this photo of Grandma's Hands.

The little Gingerbread men turned out so cute! One for each child.

Thanks Grandma for coming to make cookies with the kids they had so much fun.
The cookies turned out so yummy.
Memories last forever, we love you!

A Tree Falls Down

We had wind storm that brought a tree in our yard down. We knew the tree was dead and instead of cutting it down ourselves we left it to nature. We had watched an interesting fungus grow at the base of the tree. It turned a fantastic red color and grew large. I wish I had taken pictures of it. Anyhow, the tree fell down in the night. Dan, discovered it in the morning as he had to cut part of it out of the way to get the car out of the garage.

It was still dark as Dan went out to leave for work.

He has now cleared the way to leave for work.

We have some great friends who are neighbors of ours. They saw the tree had fallen and wanted to be a part of cutting it up and clearing it away. They are from China and love doing anything with us that could be new experiences.
We are always happy to include them and appreciated the help.

I guess this was an opportunity to use a hand saw. And Corban was down with that.
He loved using a "Real Tool".

Chan loved using the hand saws as much as Corban.

With all these sticks around we found it was a good excuse to try out our new fire pit.
Thanks to Rick and Linda. Chan said he learned a new word Fire"Pit".
And yes the marshmallows have to come out too.

The kids loved this!

Vicky and Chan get a little bit of America at a time.

A update of our lives here in MO

A update of our lives here in MO

I have not kept in touch with many of you and want you all to know what we have been up to in the last couple of years.

In 2004 we moved from UT to MO. We planned on moving to Columbia. We went to Jefferson City to stay with Dan’s sister Jennifer and husband Ed, so we could find a place to live. Dan went out two weeks before the kids and I. After my arrival Dan announced to me he had changed his major from radiology to nursing he said he had done much research and educated me on what our lives would look like. Jens’s husband was a big player in this change his career field is Nurse Anesthetist. Because of this change we chose to stay in Jefferson City to attend school. Dan started on Prerequisites to the nursing program. After more research and stewing in the small city of Jeff we found school would be less money if we attended Saint Louis Community College. We knew the cost of living was more in St Louis. We looked anyway, to find a house sitting arrangement in Tower Grove. After only five months we where told that our agreement of three years where to be cut immediately due to unfortunate, unchangeable events. The change brought us to find our home here in Maplewood.

Our home is 92 years old. It has been updated and then sat for four years. We feel it was waiting just for us. We love that it has enclosed porches on the front and back of the home. Like mudrooms, perfect for all who enter our home to remove their shoes before coming in. But, no switching for better ones before you leave;})

Now, we are here in Maplewood in our four bedroom two bathroom house. We have a nice big yard and put in a berry garden our first spring here consisting of grapes, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. We are looking forward to see what survives its first winter here.

So we live the life of school. Dan has been accepted into the nursing program and starts this January. He will finish in two years followed by a required year working as a nurse in the ICU. After which Dan will apply for Nurse Anesthesia School. We hope he will get accepted into one of the three schools near enough to commute.

Our two children Azure (5) and Corban (3) are big enough that they have become independent in many areas. Corban, is potty trained, they dress themselves although I have to be quick to set out what they will where or else it is interesting what gets picked out. Azure, has full day, five days a week Kindergarten.

With what looks to be like I have some time on my hands. We have decided to go ahead and have two more children. We had planned on waiting till our financial situation was that Dan would be a nurse. In counseling with the Lord we have received confirmation that our needs will be met in going forth to bring two more members of our family to our lives now. As a parent this is overwhelming to think I have reached this point in my live. As I accept it I feel it is my path and the Lords will for my life. I see the goal of being a great mother can continue with our children’s numbers becoming four. Wish us Luck!

Daniel and I have decided on a home birth. We have interviewed midwives here in the St. Louis area. We also see an OB/GYN as our back up plan in case of emergencies. This will be my fourth pregnancy, labor and delivery. I have not had any complications in the past. I am looking forward to my own birth plan with the experience created and experienced in my home.

With my 1st pregnancy I planned to have a drug free birth. Natural birth was what I told my doctor I wanted he said sure go ahead. I took a Lamaze class which was great education of how delivery happens. I was very distracted with other decisions as a birth mother that I did not pursue more information on what natural childbirth would be like. Going to delivery I hit a spot where the pain intensified for a brief moment looking back at that moment I caved when the doctor offered some pain relief. He suggested a paracervical, which is a local anesthetic. I was disappointed in the doctor and in my self. I wanted the time with Coco to be drug free.

Pregnancy number 2; Baby Azure,I looked forward to a pain killer an epidural. Having forgotten my own desires of child delivery I see now I had lowered my standard and forgotten about my own desires to experience a drug free delivery. I trapped myself in thinking the only time it would be “OK” for me to get to have drugs. I was fortunately very excited to be a mother and to do all the things my child needed her mother to do for her. I knew the right thing to do would be to discontinue the use of the pain killers as soon as possible. In my mind I kept a little place that said something like, “Yeah, can’t wait till I have another baby and get to have more drugs”. Which that is an awful combination drugs and babies. I do not like that I had those thoughts. At the time I did not even notice I still believed it was “OK”.

Baby 3; Corban, was a scheduled induction. Oh Boy was I looking forward to my “opportunity” to get numb pitocen, epidural and a Baby boy. Just saying this makes my heart, mind, soul, sick with how this just can’t compare to what I know to be right. There has to be something I am missing here. Something my Heavenly Father would defiantly want me to search and seek out to experience the very best of experiences I can have to bring me closer to him. I don’t think this is what I committed to when saying I would be a mother. I think mother hood has to be done DRUG FREE.

Planning Baby number 4; I will deliver drug free and in my own home where I can experience what I believe childbirth can be like. I know climbing this hill will and to my confidence and contribute to my self as a woman. I am grateful for the knowledge I have learned and hope I can be a great mother in every way.

Look forward to help us name our next two children.
We like names that have a great sound.