Getting closer, but not close enough!

Here is my son that I never take pictures of. He is at school all day and by the time he gets home and does his homework, he runs outside to play and then I don't see him again until dinnertime. He is a busy kid. I have already pulled two ticks out of his hair and summer hasn't even officially begun. I will have to keep him sprayed down with Off. I guess the woods look too inviting. TC's last day of first grade is on Wednesday. How exciting! We will have to plan some fun stuff for the summer. Besides giving him a baby brother.






I thought this was too cute of Dakota. Her favorite things to do right now are digging through the trash, wearing everyones yucky shoes on her hands, and pulling everything out of every drawer. Oh, did I mention that she loves being outside. She likes to walk around and does not want you to limit her to any certain part of the yard. How far could she really go?




My doctor has set a date for induction on June 17th. In order for me to have an epidural, I would have to be off of my blood thinner. We don't want any surprises and I am game for having the baby early. I feel like I am going to pop at any moment.


Dakota's great-aunt made her a beautiful blue dress and so I thought I would post her picture in it so that Aunt Maryetta can see how cute she is in it. She did such a great job.













This picture of AJ is so cute because he was so proud of himself for swimming into the deep end. Maybe by the end of the summer he won't even need the floats! I love to see him get so excited when he accomplishes something that is so big to him.

Superstar!

Yesterday evening we went to the park with the kids. Guess what Dakota wanted to do. She kept trying to hang out with Steve and Derek to play basketball. What can I say?

I tried to get some cute pictures of the kids together but as you can tell with three, it is hard to get them all to smile and look at the camera at the same time and without someone blinking (Dakota). Anyway, you can see how that photo shoot went.

For those who asked, I am having a boy and I still have 2 months left. I feel like I look - not good! I won't bore you with any details, just know that it will all go away soon! Thanks for asking and caring.

My pictures are not uplaoding, so I will try and post them later!

This girl loves being outside!

Just thought I would show Papa and Dran that Dakota really can walk now.

I took a few pictures of her but couldn't get them fast enough. Dakota is fast and when she is outside she doesn't want anything to do with me, she just wants to roam and be free!

I am trying to catch up with you - Libby! LOL!

We call her Princess Poopy Pants!

This is Kota's baby! I think it is so cute that she loves her baby and hugs on her.

Looks suspicious to me!

Happy Birthday, TC!

Well, I have to admit that I am glad this day is over. I love birthdays but I have a desire to always try and do more than I can really handle. Either that or I just stress too much about the little stuff. Anyway, we had a blast and everything turned out great. I started out getting everything ready for an Olympics day Birthday party, when about 2 weeks ago, TC decided he wanted a Pirates of the Caribbean birthday party! So, I mixed the two. I still had to put the kids into two teams and played some fun field day games and then we did have the all time favorite, Treasure Hunt. TC made out pretty good and I think his favorite gift would have to be the Wii. He has been boxing, playing golf, baseball, Super Mario Galaxy, and Lynx. He has actually been sweating. Boxing is quite a workout. Maybe, I will try it. Thanks to those of you who called to wish him a Happy BDay or came and spent the day with him. Thanks to Marcie who made the Treasure map look very authentic. Good Job!

Update on family life!

Well, I am officially in my third trimester. I figure the next three months will again, be the longest of my life. Being pregnant is not the funnest for me but I do enjoy the end results. I will hang on and keep a good attitude - It's all in the attitude!

TC continues to enjoy 1st grade and is so excited for his upcoming birthday. He will be 7 years old. I can't believe how the time flies. It seems like only yesterday when we brought him home from the hospital. Now we are having #4. What?

AJ is so into Spider-man right now and I made the mistake of bringing out TC's old Halloween costumes for him. Now he jumps onto my coffee table like a real spider. YIKES! Now he is in trouble for jumping on the furniture repeatedly after me telling him over and over not to. Yes, I had to take away the costume.

Dakota just smiles all of the time and puts up with a lot from her brothers. I realize now why I am the way that I am. With 7 older brothers I had to be tough. She loves to be outside and screams at me when I bring her in. I guess you can't keep pink clean!! She is learning so many things and is walking really well. She sure thinks she is little Miss Princess when she walks around the house and flashing her smile at everyone.

We continue to stay busy with each project we start. We try not to start too many or we would get very overwhelmed. Our children obviously take most of our time and we really enjoy taking them out to play tennis and just messing around. AJ prays every night that we can play tennis tomorrow. I guess we need to get out on those courts everyday. I guess I dread trying to bend over to get tennis balls with such a big belly.

Keeping the house in order and trying to feed a full size family now, is harder work than I ever thought. I really have learned to appreciate what my own mother went through with us. I guess you never now what someone else goes through until you have walked a mile in their shoes. I have only walked a few steps in my mothers shoes and already I am worn out. I do try so hard to enjoy the sweet moments that come everyday when AJ kisses me and tells me how pretty I am or when TC brings home 100's on all of his papers from school, or even when Dakota tries to imitate me when she stirs her pretend food in the tupperware bowl, while I cook. I enjoy the moments holding them and singing with them and reading to them. Sometimes I get caught up in trying to have the house perfectly clean all of the time and then I have to realize that my children will remember most the times that we spend together and I want their memories of their childhood to be sweet.

I hope all of you are enjoying each moment you have with your families and I love reading your blogs or emails about how you are doing.

We miss those members of our family that are living out West and want them to know that they are loved and missed!