Easter & a baby on the way...

Easter 2014 ~ We enjoyed a wonderful church service then hosted Easter dinner at our home with Bryan's family and my folks. Kids enjoyed an egg hunt and baseball game together! 

  

Our family of 6...soon to be 7! Yes, we're expecting!!! I'm 18 weeks along, due Sept. 22nd but will most likely have to have a c-section again (our hospital doesn't do VBAC) so baby #5 will arrive sometime around the week of Sept. 15th. My 20 week ultrasound is on May 8th and we're planning to find out the baby's sex this time around...we need to shuffle some kids around and paint over pink walls if its a boy plus I feel like I need to start getting prepared! Maddie's already telling people it's a girl, so I keep giving her talks "if this baby is a boy, you're going to love having another brother, right?!?" I'm not sure she's convinced...

Life is busy as usual...Bryan with orchards in bloom and frost control, PTO for me, running kids all over: baseball twice a week for Jace in Moses Lake, soccer twice a week for Maddie, dance for Maddie, Cade & Jace are almost finished up with scouts for the school year, and Caden has been itching to get down and ride his horse at Nany & Ba's. We may have a cowboy after all...he's been begging me to teach him how to rope. Love it! And then there's Sam...this boy is t-r-o-u-b-l-e. He's into everything and I mean, EVERYTHING!!! He's quite the mess maker- markers, paint, anything he can get his hands onto and then creates masterpieces everywhere. It's a wonder he's only made one ER visit in his two 1/2 years of life...he recently opened up the car door at a baseball game and fell smack onto his head on pavement. We rushed him to the ER and luckily, a little glue fixed him right up and thankfully, no head injury. Oh boy! I think Maddie has a valid point on wanting a baby sis this time around. On the flip-side, Sam is such a cuddly, loving little boy...he has the cutest little voice, really nice manners saying "tanktoo" for everything, and has a great belly laugh. We love him to pieces and he's my little partner around here. We feel incredibly blessed with our four kiddos and really look forward to adding one more to the mix!

My cRaZy CReW!

 

 

Firsts...

First Day of School...

Cade is in Mr. Buster's 1st Grade Class (Uncle Mike) and he's super pumped about it! His best friend Bennett is in here too! 

 Jace is in Mrs. Janett's 3rd grade (Aunt Kerry) So fun having family for our kid's teachers!

 Miss Maddie started preschool. I'm teaching one class, a dozen of them and 11 will go to Kindergarten next fall together! They're a great bunch of kiddos, I'm pretty partial to this one :)

 Jace has started Grid Kids Football. He's loving it (this is his mean face) and it's extra special since his dad is one of the coaches!

And let's not forget Sammy! He's been taking his first steps!!! We find him standing alone in the middle of the room often, with nothing to pull-up on or hold onto. He's taken several steps but then chooses to sit carefully down and crawl. He's a very speedy crawler and walking is a bit too slow for the lil' guy still! Can you believe he's already 11 months old?

Mike, Lesa, Bryan and I attended the Seahawk vs. Packers game this week! This was my first Monday night game at the stadium...ear plugs would have been handy! It gets so LOUD, Seahawk fans are awesome, hilarious and entertaining for sure! Whoa refs, but hey, we'll take it! A win is a win :) It was a fun game. Go Hawks!!!

the four I adore

Love these kids! Our summer has been so very busy...will update more when I get a spare moment!

a little catch up on these four!

My blogging has really taken a backseat these days...sorry for the lack of posts. I'm still trying to get into a groove (if it's even possible) to having four kids! Life is great for us, here's a few pictures to show what we've been up to!

Sam is 3 months old already! I love the pictures Jessica Greenfield (one of my preschool mom's) took. She did a great job of capturing little man's personality!
Sam's had a really bad cold for about 2 weeks, his cough has been horrible! I've taken him in twice to the dr, he's had a chest x-ray, RSV swab as well as thorough exams and it's just a virus. He's now sleeping a nice 5-6 hour stretch at night, nursing well, and weighed in at 12 lbs 9 oz... hard to believe Maddie was almost 5 months old by the time she weighed this and she'd undergone 2 heart surgeries already. He's smiling lots now and loves to chat with us. He cries more than I remember the other's crying...but has figured out he gets what he wants this way! Spoiled possibly?Jace had his pine wood derby last week for Scouts...his Greenbay Packer car won "The Sportiest" award but that's about it... he won one race. He's been playing basketball on Saturdays and during a couple of half-time Varsity games. That's been fun to watch!Cade celebrated his 100th day of Kindergarten last week! Yep, he's 100 days smarter! I loved going into his classroom to help with the fun centers. Kindergartners are so dang cute and Cade is a great little student!Maddie is loving preschool...our field trip to the fire station last week was lots of fun. Maddie is a social girl and enjoys having all of the kids come to her basement for preschool. She's made tons of progress and I love having the opportunity to teach her. This week begins CHD Awareness Week and I'm planning on posting something new each day to celebrate CHD and promote awareness. Stay tuned for more posts...

this little turkey...

likes to sleep all day and wake up every 2-3 hours at night. Yes, we're still on that newborn-type schedule. I don't know if you can predict "personality" at 1 month old, but this guy knows what he wants, when he wants it. There is no "talking him out of it" and he can be impatient and fussy or super sweet and cuddly!

We had a really relaxing Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's...enjoying family, good visits and of course, lots of food!
these 3 cousins have become quite the trio--they are much louder than I ever remember the little boys. They sure know how to have some fun! And, no, we did not coordinate their outfits, turned out so cute though!
Our cutie pie Sam was one month old last week!
And big sister was 6 months post-op from her Fontan surgery on Thanksgiving day. So, so grateful that a half-year later, we're here. I'm thankful for this...and so much more.

swimming lessons

These boys turned into fish this summer...Maddie isn't afraid of the water and her green hair proves it!
fun times at the little pools with cousins Kylie & Grady!

cherry harvest

summertime fun

Life is great...it's normal and routine. We're loving it! Here's a little of what we've been up to...
Seattle Mariner's Game & it was double bobble-head night! Someone was not happy because the playground was at capacity and wouldn't let us go in and play...drama
Enjoying our local community days "Summerfest" at the park & watching the parade
playing with cousins...Grady & Kylie
boating at the river with Allred Cousins...here's Savanna knee boarding for the first time!
tootling outside, playing in the watertable
Pond days...
sunny days outdoors & picking mom's flowers
warm evenings playing catch
rough-housing brothers...they invented the game of swinging on the swings then jumping off into this little plastic pool. Yep, the pool didn't survive this game :)
loving on our new kitty "Cheeto" she's a tough one!

pictures!

My wonderful friend Michele came out on Thursday to take the kid's pictures. She's a very talented, sweet and supportive friend, and visiting with her was just what I needed that evening. Watching the boys and Maddie play around and pose was good for the soul too. I love these pictures...she caught their personalities and expressions just beautifully! These are our three to a 't'...

We're heading out to Seattle today. Tomorrow is a packed day at the hospital for pre-op appointments. Maddie's actually excited about going to the hospital now, after knowing she'll get to pick toys out of her treasure tote and that she'll get lots of popcicles after her surgery. I'm happy that popcicles and dollar store toys console her of what's to come at the moment. The joys of only being 3.