Good News??

The Man just got a job in UTAH!!!! So our house is now up for sale. He put in his 2-week notice this last monday. We are moving back home. I have been excited about this possibility for the last little while, but now that it is here, it is really kind of sad. This has been our home for the last 7 years.

All our friends are here.

Our lives are here.

This is where our family began. The Man and I were a little family when we got married I guess, but not like this.

Now we are a FAMILY.

4 kids and almost 10 years later.

The Man has loved his job and his co-workers.

I have loved the friends I have made here.

I don't want this part of my life to end.

At the same time I am excited to be closer to family. To hang out more with my brothers and sister. To be able to call my mom when I am having a hard day with the kids. Living here has made me stronger and more independent and I have grown in ways I didn't know I could have. My life for sure won't be any easier, but I am excited for new possibilities and new friends.

I sure love my Poke friends- don't feel like we're done, cuz we're not! I will be back to visit. I hope that is a good thing for you. I don't think they'll miss me during sacrament, when they actually get to HEAR the speakers. Good Luck to our new ward.

Oh ya- we gotta sell the house first. I'll be staying behind by myself. With the 4 kids. Whew. OVERWHELMING!!! So tell everyone you know about this darling house that is for sale. Here are my pics. and a link to the post:

My House

Wish me luck on our new adventure. I will still be posting and all, but maybe not so much. I don't know how busy I'll be until I sell the house.

Pics

One may notice the girl being conspicously absent from this slew of pictures. Well she was gone for a week with her Auntie and cousins having lots of fun for a week. Thanks Auntie!!!

Also can you spot the boy hitting his first ball in a T-ball game? We are excited that he is getting so old and grown-up. He has graduated from preschool and will be starting Kindergarten. What a great helper he is to me.

The smallest boy has gotten so big already. We all just love him.

I also have to give a shout out to the USA soccer team in the WORLD CUP!!!! GO USA!!!! We just love soccer here and the man is fanatical about it, so we know all the stats and scores of all the games. I should have thrown a big "World Cup" party, but I had a lot of other things going on at the time... more about that later. But in four years, if we are not attending the world cup matches in Brazil, then there will be a huge bash at our place for sure!!!

Dinosaur rides

I deeply love my children. Everything I do, I do it for them.
I wake up hours before my body is ready, because I need to take care of them when they wake up.
I have learned how to multitask because they often need things simultaneously.
I go to the bathroom with the door open so I can keep an eye on them to keep them safe.
I spend hours in the kitchen cooking things that are good for their bodies to keep them healthy. I clean up after them, and try to teach them to clean up after themselves so they can grow to be responsible adults.
I discipline them, even when it is harder for me than for them, so they can learn right from wrong.
I serve all my children firsts -and most of the time seconds- before I can get to my own food that is, at this point, cold.
I smile and feign enthusiasm when they bring me dandelions.
Every minute of my day is spent in service to my children.
Is it easy? Heck NO.
Is it the hardest thing I have ever done? Heck YES.
Do I find myself sobbing at the end of a day because it can be so hard? Often!
I sacrifice who I am and everything I have so that they can grow and be healthy and happy.

And who is the first one they ask for and miss when they are away staying with their cousins for a week?

Daddy, because he gives the best dinosaur rides!

We love you and miss you The Girl!!!!!

cuties

So the other day I am sitting on the couch feeding the baby while The Man is in the bathroom bathing the kids. They all happened to be in the bath this particular night. They have a squirt-gun that they play with in the bathtub. The Man had told The Boy if he squirted his sister one more time he would take it.

So I hear a loud squeal from the girl. Then I heard The Man calmly grab the squirt gun throw it to the floor and step on it, splintering it to pieces. Both the man and I waited for the elicited response, which was crying or throwing a fit.

SILENCE.

Then both The Boy and The Girl at the same time shout out, "Hey Dad, will you smash this next?" I'm sure both holding up different bath toys.

Still sitting on the couch, I started laughing and loudly told The Man- "Guess THAT backfired on you!"

Ha ha

And one more...

My darling boy and girl think for some reason that they are going to be married when they grow up.

To each other.

I think it's really rather cute, and don't correct them. I figure I'll let them love each other while they will, because there will be plenty of years of fighting and what-not. They'll figure the whole marriage thing out on their own eventually. (They even play a cute game called MARRY where they roll out a table runner and hold hands while they walk down it.----awwwh!)

Well The Boy really wanted The Girl to play with him this one day. She didn't want to. After trying to convince her for a while, The Boy states, "If you don't play with me, I won't marry you!"

To which The Girl responds, "Oh yes you will. You have to!"

Dejected and sighing, as if succumbing to the inevitable The Boy says, "Fine. But I won't buy you flowers!"

Hey The Girl- it's okay. Get used to it. You most likely won't get flowers from your real husband either!

Aren't they cute!!

Short Update With Pics

So life is pretty hectic so far. It will take a while to get back into a routine. Maybe I'll never get back-- I don't know. The smallest boy cries. A lot. He is fussy all the time, but I am really hoping he'll grow out of it soon. Here are some pictures from the last time I uploaded my pics.



Yes- believe it or not, this picture was taken this month. In May. GO AWAY WINTER!!! We don't want you anymore!

This is a darling girl and her dad.

The man and all the chitlin's. What a great daddy!!!

The boy is so great with the smallest boy. He is great with the smallish boy as well. He just loves his brothers.

Here is the smallest boy.

baby pics

Here are some pics of the new BABY BOY. He was born April 15, at around 10:00 pm. I guess this one will have to be named SMALLEST BOY for purposes of this blog. I don't think I mentioned in the previous post... I had this one all natural. No epidural. I'm pretty proud of that, even though I wasn't really given much choice in the matter. He simply came too quickly. Well things might be a bit slow for a while. I don't know if I'll ever have time again...

It's a BABY!!!! 7 lbs 12 oz and 21" long. I had the baby with no epidural. It was scary. I will post more when I get more time. And add some pics!






























By the way...









It's a BOY!!!

Just some random pics. I feel a little quilty I haven't posted in a while. I am getting way too tired. This pregnancy is almost at an end. I don't know whether to shout HOORAY or cry. Probably a little of both. I still feel extremely overwhelmed at the prospect of 4 children, but I am totally excited as well. I hope the kids transition okay. Ta ta for now. I'll keep you posted of baby news.

FRUSTRATION

I think that sometimes my children's whole mission in life is to frustrate me. Small example of daily occurences:

So my house has been littered with "stuff" (mostly toys) the last little while. Mainly because I am so huge and it gets so uncomfortable to bend over. And not to mention it's usually a bigger battle than it's worth to get the kids to do it. Anyway, the mess is making me crazy!!!!

So I employ my childrens help to pick up everything and help get our house back in order. (I say back in order like that's the way it usually is. It is. I promise. Okay not really) It takes time and prodding and energy (which I am pretty short on these days). But we finally get it to the point that I can vacuum.

So the boy turns to me as I am ready to turn the vacuum on.

the boy: "mom, can we use the cusions of the couch to make a fort."

me: "not right now, the boy, I am going to vacuum."

the boy: "well, we'll just do it in the hallway."

me: "later, the boy, I am going to vacuum the hallway."

the boy: "are you going to vacuum the bedrooms?"

me: "yes. I am vacuuming everywhere. Just wait until I am done vacuuming."

the boy: "well are you going to vacuum on the wood part of the floor?"

me: "yes"

the boy: " no, I mean the part of the floor where the WOOD is." (pointing)

me: "yes I am vacuuming everywhere. Wait until I am done."

the boy: "well mom, the smallish boy needs a fort."

me: "then it will have to wait until I am finished vacuuming" (voice elevating at this time)

the boy: "well can I just use two cusions then?"

me: "NOOOOOO"

the boy: "okay"

me: Start vacuuming sequence. About one minute into it I look up and see all three children carting the blankets we just folded and put away, out of the closet and to the site of the "fort". Have mercy on me!!!!!!!!!

Maybe it doesn't seem as bad to you. But to a hormonal pregnant woman who has become insane by demanding children and a messy house it was pretty dramatic.

Preggo Pics

Because I know you all just can't get enough of my beautiful face, here are a few pics of me. Actually I thought you might want to see my big belly. I took one on Valentines day... hence the heart. But I do love you all.

Also I just wanted to mention that the other day the boy (my hillarious 5-yr-old) was sitting at the table as I was trying to squeeze myself between it and the counter during lunch time. Would you like to know what the little smart-mouth said to me?

"Mom, your belly's getting so big it's becoming a household hazard."

Yeah, thanks 'the boy'.

18 Month Old Jargon

I know I know. There are a lot of recent posts about the smallish boy. But he is just so dang cute (as are my other kids) but he is small and growing so fast. And next month he won't be my baby anymore so let me dote on him while I still can.

This is a video of some of the many "words" he speaks already.

Zsa Zsa ................. Fish

Waaaa waaaaaa (you gotta say it with the accent of "scuttle from the little mermaid")..........water

Buuuurrr.............bird

Weeeo weeeo...................butterfly

Enjoy.

Brackets Out

Here's the girl in her "sock-pants". She won't wear anything over the top because they're "pants".

Sorry no brackets, but just vote for your favorite. I like to keep a few names handy. We'll see which ones come out on top. Thanks for all your input. I really enjoy hearing names from you all and I think that your ideas have been fabulous. Keep 'em comin'.

Don't have too much time to devote to bloggin' lately. The girl has a strep bacterial infection and the smallish boy has croup. So I've just been holding babies lately. Cranky one's I might add. But still I hope they get better soon. You all know how you hate to see your kids sick and miserable.

Girl Names

So I am officially frieking out. I haven't been able to come up with a girl name in the past 8 months, I don't know how I am going to come up with one in the last 8 weeks. All your suggestions were very good by the way but for some reason or another we can't use them.

One of my best friends name is Talea (ta-LEE-uh).
Kelli, nice try but that is too close to the girl's name.
I loved the name Cambria but shortened it to Kambree, but the man didn't like it as much. Jacee is cute and it has been on our list of names we like.
The man's great grandmother's name was in the running for our first girl, but since then, too common. There are 3 Addies in our ward and I know quite a few others.
Jaybird... those names are uhmm... interesting, but I think we were headed in another direction.

So thank you for all the help. We have a few girl names pick out that we both like, but I am finding that I don't really just LOVE any one of them. I don't want to settle on a name. Oh well. I don't normally like to share the REAL names we are thinking of, but why don't we put it to a good ol-fashioned vote. Here are the candidates:

Danni Marie (Marie is for my grandmother)
Marie Quinn (We would just call her Quinn)
Kacey Jean (Jean is for my other grandmother)
Jett _____
Harley Jean
Jane _____
Luci Mae (Mae is for a grandmother as well)

I know the last two aren't super unique, but they are classics.

Okay Well I will have the man (who happens to be the king of brackets) make a bracket voting plan and I will post it on the side when he does. If you all hear of any other names, let me know.

What's in a name?

Need Names

Help. It is time for all my followers (hi mom) to weigh in with some suggestions of girl names. I don't know whether we are having a boy or girl, but I have a few boy names in mind that we kind of like, but we are still struggling with girl names.
I like to have a few to choose from because I don't want to name the baby without even seeing him/her. I want a name that is unique, but not weird. Any name in the top 10 list is out.

I really loved the name HADLEY, I thought I was so unique coming up with that, but I've heard it a few times and now I'm not sure. I thought I was so original. Plus we have some friends that just named their baby girl that. I don't know, tell me what you think?

You Might Be An 18 Mo. Old If...

10. You think a picture of a dinosaur biting on a letter block is the funniest thing you've ever seen.

9. Your main source of communication is a series of shaking and nodding your head- and an occasional outburst of MaaaaaaMaaaaaaaaa, or Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

8. Your 5-yr-old brother is your most favorite person.

7. You can throw your food on the floor and laugh with almost no repercussions.

6. You still think it's fun to help with the dishes.

5. You can be a big part of making the mess and a very small part of cleaning it up.

4. You scream and cry and throw yourself down on the floor, and possible add in a few jabs to your own head if refused to have candy.

3. You can wear a rats-nest hair-do all day and everyone still thinks it's cute.

2. Need an older brother or sister to take the fall for something? No worries- simply scream louder than they do!

1. You can:

hit mommy with a dinosaur,

spill an entire mug of hot chocolate on yourself,

torment your older sister,

hit mommy with a dinosaur,

throw your cup of chocolate pudding on the carpet,

ruin your brothers fort repeatedly until he cries,

growl at mommy with a dinosaur,

overturn a bottle of ranch dressing on the living room carpet,

feed the dog your lunch,

hit mommy in the head and laugh,

scream at the top of your lungs

and pretend that mommy is not there after daddy gets home,

and still get smooches and loves and cuddles,

and rocked to sleep with a sweet lullaby

by a mommy who loves you dearly

and wouldn't give up that special time for anything in the world.