Trip to the Snow!

We headed up to Pinecrest, CA (near Dodge Ridge ski resort) so the kids could play in the snow. The timing worked out perfectly as the snow started to fall right as we unloaded our car. The next day it snowed quite heavily, and there were a few blizzard-like wind gusts, but the big kids had a blast sledding and building snowmen. Deven enjoyed the snow for about 7 minutes, and spent the rest of the time in the cabin, refusing to eat his solids or sleep, but he did it all with a smile as always.

Deven Month Six

Here are some pictures from Deven's sixth month. He celebrated his half-year birthday in a cabin in the snow. Deven weighed in at 22lb 3 oz at his 6-month check-up and is 28 inches long. He's almost sitting up by himself and is starting to wave good-bye, but not quite there. His favorite game is playing peek-a-boo. Here's a video:

Deven starts solids!

Here are some pictures from Deven's first meal. Well, no surprise, Deven took to eating immediately. As Daddy says, "that boy was born to eat". Roan thought the whole experience was utterly hilarious and Mali was so excited that she could finally help feed Deven.

Deven at Five Months

Here are some pictures from Deven's fifth month. Deven now weighs a whopping 21 lbs and is showing no signs of slowing down yet. He finally mastered rolling from his back to his tummy the night before he turned 5 months and is happy to do it all day long. He's trying to figure out how to move once he's on his tummy but is a ways from crawling.

Deven Month Four

Here are some pictures from Deven's fourth month.

Deven Month Three

Here are some pictures from Deven's third month.

Halloween 2010

We were very lucky this year to have Nana staying with us for Halloween! We made a couple of trips to the pumpkin farms. We also had our annual playgroup Halloween party. Mali showed off her costume in her preschool parade.


And we finished the festivities with trick-or-treating in our neighborhood this year. In case it's not obvious, Roan was a fireman and Mali a ballerina this year. Deven was Roan's fire dog.

Christmas 2010

Grandma and Granddad came to share Christmas with us again this year. Santa brought Roan some legos and Mali some blocks this year.

Mali's Field Trip to Elkus Ranch (October 2010)

Mali went on a field trip to Elkus Ranch with her preschool class. Mali is our animal lover and she had a wonderful time petting and feeding all of the animals.

Thanksgiving 2010

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. Our friends Chris, Amelia, Jake, and Helen came over and the kids had a blast.

Sheilyn's Wedding September 2010

Roan was the ring bearer in Sherilyn's Wedding. Sherilyn was Roan's (favorite) babysitter when he was 1 1/2 and she has kept in touch with us ever since. Roan actually had a pretty high fever that day, but he was so excited to go, we just gave him some Motrin and he powered through. Mali LOVED seeing a wedding and now refers to that dress as her "Marry dress" (as in getting married)! The wedding was at a beautiful winery up in Sonoma County and we all had a lot of fun.

Deven Month Two

Here are some pictures from Deven's second month. Jan's mom (Nana) came to stay with us for about 6 weeks which was very helpful. Deven is growing like a champ and was 15 lb 7 oz and 25 inches long at his 2 month doctors visit.

Deven at 8 weeks

Here's a shot from Deven's eighth week - we finally got a smile on camera.

Deven at 7 weeks

Here's a shot of Deven at (almost) 7 weeks. He started giggling this week, but only for Daddy so far (whistling is particularly funny).

Deven at 6 Weeks

Here's a shot of Deven at 6 weeks. Poor guy came down with his first nasty virus at 5 1/2 weeks, but was well enough to get his shots at his 6-week doctor appointment. He weighed in at 13lb 8oz.

Deven: The Rest of Month One

Deven continued to be pretty sleepy for the rest of his first month. Despite a severe case of baby acne and an old-man-receding-hairline, he approved these photos for publication.

Mali Starts Preschool!!!

The day Mali has been waiting for for SO long has finally arrived - she started preschool. She was super excited to go her first day and had absolutely no issues pushing Mom out the door within minutes. She's attending Trinity Presbyterian Nursery School - much closer to our house than Roan's preschool.

Roan's First Soccer Team

Since our lives weren't busy enough, we decided to sign Roan up for weekly soccer games (what were we thinking??)! He's on a team with his good friend Gavin which makes it fun.

Deven's First 2 Weeks

Deven has been a pretty cool cat his first two weeks, barely waking to eat and poop. When he is awake, he's pretty mellow, just checking everything out. He loves his big brother and sister and is obviously calmed when they cuddle him.

Roan has thoroughly embraced his big brother role and is madly in love with Deven. He says he's "so cutie cute" and that he just "loves him so much". Mali is still adjusting a bit but is embracing her big sister role. She especially loves to dress him every morning.

Deven passed his 2 week doctor appointment with flying colors weighing in at 10 pounds 4 1/2 ounces and measuring at 21 3/4 inches.

And then there were 3... welcome Deven!!!

Deven Nyle Arendtsz was born August 25th at 4:41pm. He weighed close to a whopping 10 lbs (9lbs 14oz to be precise) and was 21 1/2" long. For the record, he arrived six days late, so he already shares some common traits with his Dad. Mom and baby are doing great.

Click here to see the full photo album.

When it comes to skin complexion, Deven has an extra serving of milk in the cappuccino that we ordered, similar to all our other kiddos, at least when they were first born... Deven is a big fella, with wide shoulders. Maybe a future linebacker at UT?

The name Deven has it's origins in Gaelic and Sanskrit, which we thought was appropriate for obvious reasons. The name Nyle is variant on Nile, which is from the river Nile (a destination that I have always wanted to visit) as well as a respelling of the Gaelic Niall. OK, whatever, so much for names and their meanings.

We think Deven looks very much like Roan when he was born. What do you think? See left for a photo of Roan, or click here to view Roan's birth album.


Both Roan and Mali were very excited to meet Deven, who they had nicknamed "Rainbow Kick" during the pregnancy.They conducted a thorough examination of Deven to ensure that all his fingers and toes were there and that everything in general was in order. Roan really wanted to take Deven home with him immediately and had to be talked out of it.

UPDATE: Mandy to be induced Wednesday, 8/25!

But here are some shots of the kids with him still in my belly taken at 39 weeks 3 days.

Let's Move it, Move it!

The kids' favorite new song is "I Like to Move it, Move it". Here's a sampling of their moves:

Mandy's birthday celebration

Here are some pictures from Mommy's birthday celebration.

Mali and the Fire Truck

CalFire paid us a visit this week to tell us we needed to clear the grass off of our back hill to help prevent a fire. They were kind enough to give Mali a very lengthy and in-depth private tour of the fire engine. Mali asked the fireman to open just about every compartment on the truck and she even got to try on his jacket. She was super excited!

Miscellaneous July 2010

Here are some shots from the rest of July, including Jan and Roan's day trip to San Francisco to watch the Giants game.