Finally a Big Fat update!

Let it be known- We do have a blog! We have just never had the guts to share it with anyone- yeah I know- selfish! I LOVE catching up by browsing all the blogs of our friends and family- so we decided to create one when Bella was born (1 and 1/2 years ago!) but never kept up with it frequently enough. So time has passed and every once in a while I would post a picture or two, but nothing worth sharing I thought. Even more time passed and I realized, I'm not ever going to have more time so here goes. Maybe I will get better with more practice. So here's the scoop... well most of you know from our christmas letter, that we are now in Round Rock (Austin area), getting Mike's dental practice going, busy with kids, running them around to their activities while trying to keep up with our own. Hectic, fun, crazy, but we love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Favorite things right now, our hammock, long walks on the neighborhood trails, ring around the rosie on the trampoline, and saturday morning pancakes. Oh there is one thing that's pretty new... We're EXPECTING baby #5 on Dec. 1st, 2008. I was putting off telling people because I was feeling really good, and not at all pregnant, but I forgot to knock on wood! Do I ever feel pregnant now! So I figured at 8 weeks it was ok to share. We're excited! Zach and Savannah insist that I have a boy for him and girl for her- YIKES! I don't know if I could have twins at this point. We'll keep you blogged in.

Saturday Mornings...

This is what saturday morning looks like in our house.
Daddy with lots of helpers.

Josh is the designated pancake flipper.Mike makes his famous, signature, personalized chocolate chip pancakes in the form of the
kid's initials.

Next comes Saturday chores...
Disgruntled yard workers!!

Poetry Tea at Cactus Ranch Elementary
Our super shy poet. Hiding under his work, whispered the whole time, hiding his light under a bushel. Let me share with you his favorite Diamonte titled : Reading

Reading
interesting, entertaining
learning, talking, describing
library, store, reading chair, bed
disappointing, exciting, surprising
fun, cool
books

Favorite past time, playing in the back yard

Josh loves pushing his Bella on the swing. He's sweet!

Bella's got a do-rag on!
sorry about the cleavage picture here, but hey, she's only 1 and 1/2 - give me a break!
Tea Party with Princess Savannah, Princess Emily and Sir Zach.

The Best Spring Break ! Camping at Pedernales Falls State Park in Johnson city, TX
We loved the falls, the hikes, the sandy beaches (river front), and the smores. This is one of our favorite things to do as a family. I didn't grow up camping much but grew to love it in college and fortunately Mike and our kids are big fans too. We stayed for 2 nights and enjoyed the first 90 degree day this year.

Zach and Savannah getting ready for dinner- YUMMY!

Gross picture of me, but I had to show Savannah's pirate face. She has lots of these :)

Hiking on the first night

Yummy smores!

MMMMM... pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit- I wish we ate like this at home everyday! Thanks for sharing Josh!

Check out the canteen, now that's using your head Josh!

I have the power!

I kept waiting for one of them to fall in , but they were pretty careful- they just wanted to make a good splash.
Hee Hee- Savannah is notorious for showing her little plumbers bottom, good thing this time she had a swim suit on underneath!



We found a really cool cave (literally cool -about 65 degrees vs 90 outside!)

We did it! we hiked for over 2 & 1/2 hours in 90 degree weather (in early March! only in Texas)Don't worry we had tons of SPF 50 and H20, this is just heat exhaustion- no biggie!

I'm on top of the world!

We loved how the tide pools varied in color from each other!

Nature lover!

We wanted to jump in SO badly- but unfortunately this part of the falls was restricted for swimming (strong currents)! Very beautiful though.

Ahh, taking a break in the shade!

Fortunately they did have areas for swimming in the river that had sandy like beaches. Savannah was begging Zach to bury her, got impatient and decided to do it herself.

Gross- Sand Snot! We were just getting over our illnesses when we headed out on our trip, so Bella had a constant runny nose. At one point I looked up at her and was a little freaked out because I couldn't tell what happened to her face! She seemed to just be contently sifting sand through her hands over and over for about an hour! Then it hit ah- sand and snot, not a good combo. But she had fun!

Icy cold river water, but it felt soooo good after our long hike under the hot sun.

Monkeying around in the trees one last time while mom and dad do all the dirty work.

Before we headed out the boys decided to try their hand at fishing. No luck, there river fish are too fast paced! Still relaxing.

The award for the Worst Parents goes to ...
Mike and Caroline Asay

Zach was sick for his last soccer game, but insisted he was feeling completely better. Feeling sorry for the little guy we decided to take him to enjoy one last game before the end of the season after much begging. This is the before game picture

during the game....

After the game... all 3 kids were SO sick! They could barely stand! We felt like the worse parents ever. You live and learn.
At the Asay infirmary ...we had about a month and a half of constant sickness ie. colds, flu, strep, bronchitis, pink eye. It was almost comical, you name it, we all had it! So what did we do... we painted, played and tried to keep it interesting. What a strange year- never have we been so sick in our lives. We blame it on the new, big, bad Austin bugs. Hopefully we're immune by next year. While stuck indoors with cabin fever we tried to turn lemons into lemonade- we discovered that we have budding artists in our home.
A sunny sunny day with a debut of the Asay lizard family by Zach VanGogh
Joshua Pollack - with a twist
And last but not least, Savannah Picasso in the earlier years. Princess girls
Say cheese.
Josh's first piano recital in February.