A random, catch up post...volume 2!

Let's just pick up where we left off, shall we?

 

One more from Mother's Day. Love the silly faces (and how Disco seems to be thinking, "What kind of family am I part of!?!"):

Baby curls. Josie got her first big girl hair cut at age 3. Sammie's rapidly approaching that age but I'm not making that mistake again! I'm just gonna let those baby curls keep on growing until the weight of her hair pulls them out. Then we'll cut it.

I gave Josie this beautiful bun for church one day (not as intricate as it looks). She hates having her hair up. She likes to be able to feel it on her back as she walks so we usually do ponytails or braids these days. However, I was able to convince her to go with this fancy style for a day. She may not have been a fan of the bun, but she LOVED the wild, full, waves that she got when we took the bun out!

Oh, just my baby, eating an apple. Looking adorable as usual:

Bunny face Jo:

Playing dress up. Noah is very into NOT wearing a shirt these days (sigh). Sammie's outfit is killing me though.

Ummm, I don't even have words:

This was when my parents were in town. Grammy was in the bathroom. Sammie was NOT happy to be separated from her Grammy!

You know it's been a good nap when you wake up with epic bedhead:

And...hello gorgeous:

Spring finally decided to come (and stay)! We've been doing our best to take advantage:

Sister twins:

Nobody puts baby in a corner (a.k.a. - she hates time out):

This girlie had her 5 year well check. 33lbs (9th%) and 41inches tall (21st %). 15th% overall. Though she be but little, she is FIERCE!

Brother friends. I love that personal space isn't really an issue for these cute boys:

I asked Sammie to take her carrot into the kitchen. She's looking like this because we both know I'm not really going to make her. Spoiled rotten baby:

She loves to "help" me make lunch.

It was dangerously quiet. I went to check on the girls (certain that they were making trouble) and found them snuggled up in the rocking chair, reading together. So sweet:

The boys have been obsessed with digging this hole in our backyard. They were really serious about it for a while there.

Josie loves this "castle" that you can see by our house. It's actually at the entrance to a pretty large and beautiful cemetery. She'd been talking about it nonstop for a while so we went one day to have a picnic in the cemetery (morbid...I don't think so). We tried to get into the castle, but it was locked. We ended up having a pretty great time regardless. Beautiful and peaceful!

The first actual hot day of the year! Josie was out helping Justin plant flowers and Sammie was enjoying a nice cold slushie.

A picture Josie drew of our family. Top: Justin and Josie, Bottom: Sammie, Noah, Me (with Clayton as the one with wings). The dots on our foreheads are our brains. After she finished this, she brought it to me and said, "Mama, I'm so sorry you look like this." Ha! I couldn't tell whether I should be offended or touched...

We got to bring home Clayton's class bunny, Mailbox, for the weekend. The girls would have camped out with him if I'd have let them! They sure did love him!

Sometimes, your bunny makes you mad. Not mad enough to leave his side though.

Mailbox was a really great bunny. He was cage trained (awesome) so we just kind of let him roam free in our laundry room/mud room area while he was here. It was perfect. The only downside, was he loved chewing our winter boots...

Clayton being a responsible bunny owner and cleaning his cage.

This girl especially loved Mailbox.

Two year old fashion:

Okay, I think we're all caught up on the random goings on. Now perhaps I can get to the real stuff. Like Josie's last days of preschool, the 5k I ran with Noah, and the building of our new house. Lots of things are happening. As of today we have 27 more days in Indiana. Hopefully I can get all caught up by then!!

A random catch up post

I have a thousand legitimate things to post about, but I'm worried that if I do, all the fun random pictures that depict life around here will never make it to the blog! So let's just dive right in, shall we? Here we go:

I had a lovely Mother's Day. The kids were very sweet to me all day with drawings and songs and hugs and kisses. I said that I really wanted a good picture with them for Mother's Day and they delivered! I know it's a bit blurry, but can we cheer for a moment that everyone's looking AND smiling! I sure do love being the mom of this bunch!

Some of my Mother's Day gifts. Clayton made that vase for me at school. And Noah and Josie filled out "All About my Mom" sheets. My favorite things on these: Where Noah says I have "long" hair and "beautiful" eyes. I also laughed that he says I like to cook salad for my family (ah, you can always tell when Mom's on a diet, eh?)! I also like that Josie said that it makes me happy when she feeds the dog and gets dressed. Nailed it! That does make me happy!

Crazy hair day at school. Noah had a cool ponytail Mohawk, but he was mad when I was taking pictures and refused to have one taken. Love the look Clayton's sporting! He did tell me after school that he was SOO glad he's not a girl because having your hair in ponytails all day kind of hurts! Beauty is pain Clayton, remember that!!

Is it just me, or does this girl look so big now!?! Where's my baby going??

South Bend was super slow to get to spring this year. So we went bowling one morning. It was a lot of fun and sort of competitive! I think this will be even more fun when the girls are a little older.

Love being silly with this kid!

It was cold, but we braved it and got ice cream anyway. Sammy was in heaven with her ice cream cone!

After church one Sunday, Noah told me he had a secret that he couldn't tell Clayton. Of course, this made Clayton crazy. Secret was, he wanted to make him a friendship necklace. Clayton was so happy, he made Noah one in return (with 100 beads, no less)! I love that these boys are best friends!

Clayton has been staying after school once a week for months to be in the fourth grade choir. We went to their concert and it was awesome! Clayton's a great performer and we loved watching him!

The boys and I had a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the school year. Last week we finished! It was so great to share this wonderful book with my two favorite boys. I loved watching their testimonies grow as we read. These boys are pretty special!

And, of course, I adore this girl to pieces. She keeps me on my toes, but nothing is ever boring when she's around!

Justin and I celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary over Memorial Day weekend. We spent our anniversary driving with the kids to Wisconsin to visit our best friends. Not super romantic, but we got to talk to each other and laugh almost the whole way there. It's been a great 12 years and I know that the best is yet to come with this guy! I'm lucky to be married to him!

In Wisconsin over Memorial Day weekend. It was H-O-T! We had a blast and spent almost every second outside, enjoying the summer heat, eating popsicles, and watching the kids play in the sprinklers.

Mmmmm, summer...

These two best friends. They were stuck to each other like glue all weekend. Enoch stepped on glass right after we got there and ended up needing stitches, so he was a little limited with the activities he could do, but Noah stuck with him. I love that when they see each other they pick up right where they left off.

Sammie was enamored with "Baby Cake" (Kate). She would dote on her all weekend. I was starting to feel sad that she will never get to be a big sister...until she started going crazy jealous every time Justin or I even looked at the baby. Sammie loves babies...she's just not willing to share her parents!

Here's the whole crew (minus Kate). We can't wait to see them again in a month!

This was the view from my front porch yesterday morning. Look at all that green! I love a green landscape. Like really, truly LOVE! I'm sad to leave it because the west has nothing that even compares to this (well, maybe the pacific northwest). It makes me laugh sometimes when people in Utah, Nevada, or Arizona post pictures of their "gorgeous seasons". They have no idea. Seriously. None.

Sister best friends!

Grocery shopping with my ladies. They always beg to ride in these car carts. On the occasion that I do cave, they ride in them for five minutes and then spend the next 20 running circles around me while I push this monstrosity around the store. Apparently I'm slow to learn my lesson...

I'm going to have to break this up into two random catch up posts because I've still got quite a few pictures to share before I get into the real stuff (like my awesome solo trip to Idaho to finalize our house finishings...that'll be a good one). So stay tuned...hopefully I can get another post in tomorrow!

Catch up

I've been a bad blogger. In my defense, here's why:

Yup, our house is officially on the market. You wanna buy a house? I happen to know of a great one for sale...

Anyway, I'm using that as my excuse for not being the best blogger lately. Trying to keep this house show-ready at all times is requiring almost all my energy at the moment. BUT! Here are a few other things that have been going on:

 

We got our hardwood floors refinished. It's kind of a long story with a lot of frustration (most of it endured by my saintly mother), but it has a happy ending. My floors look gorgeous!

They were raw for a while though. It was a fun couple of days of me yelling things like "Take your shoes off!" and "Don't get water on the floor!" Fun times.

These boys. They're such good buddies. They have private jokes and made up words. I love their relationship.

Josie got her preschool "report card". Obviously, she's very awesome. We are so proud of our girl. I can't believe she'll be in kindergarten next year!

Just because. She's dang cute.

Josie was killing me with her 80's style and her sweet dance moves one morning.

When I go to bed with wet hair, I wake up looking like a member of an 80's hair band. It's totally understandable if you're jealous.

Sammie kills me with her two year old style. My favorite look is the one on the left. She prefers to pick out her own clothes these days though, and more often than not, we end up with a look like the one on the right (hood and all).

Umm, I can't really explain this. He's a weird kid.

This picture was taken toward the end of March. MARCH!! I tell you, spring is really slow in coming to the Midwest this year!

The only way to travel.

These two. I adore them.

Bed head. No pants. One sock. Sweeping the floor. 'Nuff said.

Noah is a gargoyle. Justin is way more tolerant of this than I would be.

Nutella face. Every day.

I'd vote for him...if I weren't concerned that he'd get power hungry.

A pleasant evening. Clayton making dinner (meatloaf), Noah and Josie building Legos TOGETHER, and Sammie all dressed up to watch Daniel Tiger.

He likes to sit on the heat vent to read. Kid after my own heart.

Most days, this girl is my shadow. Sometimes it's frustrating, but most of the time, I hope she never leaves. Love this little lady.

We've been reading the Percy Jackson series as a family. It's been really fun. I forgot that (years ago) the kids had given some of them to me for Mother's Day. I was so excited to see this written inside one of the books. "Happy Mother's Day 2010 Love Clayton and Noah". I love seeing their little kid handwriting!

Josie and her cute friend, Brady, having a playdate. They didn't really understand the rules of connect 4, but it didn't stop them from having a great time!

This is a typical scene when Justin gets home. These girls are such daddy's girls. It melts my heart.

My awesome sister in law has been helping me turn my blog into a book (read: she's doing it for me). Oh my goodness, it's the most awesome thing ever! We absolutely adore these books in our house!

Aurgh! Getting the house ready to go on the market was such a pain. We were trying to color match paint to do touch ups on our walls. It was a fiasco that led to many tears. Finally, Justin "biopsied" the walls so we could get the paint color matched. He's a genius, I tell you!

We also got several new appliances, which my handy husband installed (if the doctor thing doesn't work out, he's totally got other career options).

There have been other, more exciting things going on around here, but they deserve their own posts. So stay tuned, I've got our trip to Idaho (super exciting), St. Patrick's Day, and April Fool's Day coming up!