March Little Things

Lots of time spent cleaning at the new house.  I had to take a picture to prove the amount of dust on EVERYTHING!!! Gross!

 

The kids went to work cleaning up pine needles while we tried to get work done inside the house.

 

James painting 18' up all by himself.  That ladder is resting on paint cans. 

 

We watched some friends and I had to document this.  There were 5 kids happily playing with the race track thingy.  The best $4 ever.

 

Sofia caught and tortured a lady bug.

 

First major demolition involved taking out this wall/shelving.  The girls were happy to help.

 

Just a little painting in the hard to reach spots.

 

I taped off the ceiling and was proud of my tape job.

 

The pulling up of the tile floor was messy business.  And a lot of work on James' part.

 

Pulling up the carpet was much easier work.

 

We spent lots of time at Imagine this month.  It was a crazy month with employees health/family issues.  The kids enjoyed it for the most part, but by the end of the month were saying 'Please don't make us go there to clean again!!!'

 

Easter Egg Hunt!

 

Who needs a tramp?  They had lots of fun jumping on the carpet piles.

 

This is us transporting 1000 SF of flooring to the house.

 

And following close behind James to make sure it all made it home.

 

Getting ready to put the flooring in.

 

We have a rule that all rocks/twigs/etc...from outside stays outside and doesn't enter the van. Sofia insisted on taking a picture to remember her twigs.

 

Here we are killing time at the temple.  Sofia got some pretty awesome bubbles.

Hannah getting braver and braver on the scooter.

 

We visited Liberty Jail.

 

And ate at Chik-fil-a for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! I know, we live deprived lives.  Our kids liked it.

 

Day 1 of actually installing flooring.

 

Me giving James some alone time to actually get work done at the house while we took advantage of a local easter egg hunt.

 

Too many days spent at the house fixing it up.  This is what happened too many times to TJ.

 

Kids helping me paint.

 

The tulips we planted for joy school last fall bloomed before we moved!

 

Another lady bug tortured by Sofia.

 

They were banished to the outside while I did the last cleaning of our old apartment inside.

 

This is what our air filter looked like.  We had taken the van to Sears for an oil change and asked them to check the filter.  They came back saying it looked great.  James didn't believe them so he pulled it out....this is what it looked like.

Christmas 2015

We had a pretty quiet Christmas.  In lots of ways it's really sad being away from family.  But I do like the fact that we keep things simple and are able to focus on what's important.

 

Here was our spot for presents - out of TJ's reach.

 

Christmas Eve we acted out the Christmas scriptures.  Hannah was a very excited Mary.  TJ wasn't quite so sure about his part as Joseph....but he managed to sit there long enough to pick his nose.  :D

 

Sofia was really excited to be an angel, but got a little timid about announcing the birth!

 

And our tradition of Christmas Eve pajamas.  They were excited to open a present.

 

Our next tradition (2 years running) is one of my favorites.  We have the girls earn money to buy gifts for each other.  It's fun to see them excited to get something for someone else.  It's also very interesting to go shopping with them.

 

After the kids (TJ really) was in bed we put our presents under the tree. 

 

And Santa knew we were going on a long car ride the next day so he helped out with some car activities and a few snacks to keep them entertained.

 

Grandma and Grandpa sent some fun presents for each kid.  You can't see TJ's cars because he's too busy playing with them to pause and take a picture.

 

The other Grandma and Grandpa sent some awesome gifts as well.  TJ is rather excited!! 

 

Here's TJ playing with his cars.  That was the first gift he opened and he was to busy playing with them to care about opening any other gifts. 

 

It was a simple and enjoyable holiday.

February Little Things

It doesn't feel like February unless we make heart shaped sugar cookies.  The kids are actually old enough to frost and decorate them without too much help.

 

 

We found out the baby is a boy (much to my utter amazement).  I had decided to let the kids pick out a new outfit for him at the store.  But, trying to get them to agree on an outfit is impossible.  And paying full price for something we don't really need is way too painful.  So we took pictures of them with their choices. 

 

 

The kids had their first dental appointments with our new insurance (thank you to a grown up job with benefits)!!!  They were pretty happy about the pediatric dentist here.  And since I had to pay $0 because they had 0 cavities I was quite happy myself!

 

We spent some time at Imagine.  Sofia and I built this train track.  I was probably more proud than she was - mostly because my train tracks always consist of a large oval.  Every single time.  Lame, I know.  She wanted something more elaborate and it worked out (I'm not particularly handy so this made me proud).

 

A Sunday afternoon stroll with the balloon baby in tow (of course)!!

 

Sofia insisting on pushing TJ.

 

This is what the garage looks like when James is working on a project.  For being extremely meticulous when it comes to building things, the garage is utter chaos.  At least that's what it looks like to me.  Luckily it's usually only this way for short periods of time.

 

Sofia opening a birthday gift from someone at James' office......and trying to conceal a mouth full of some sort of treat.

 

The kiddos posing in the matryoshka doll James made.  Helped make.  He bought and cut the wood.  I'm pretty sure someone else was responsible for painting!

 

 

 

This is what TJ's bed looked like at the end of nap time one day.  He decided he didn't need a nap.  He was so quiet I didn't even realize he was awake for a while.

 

Naturally this is what we do with underwear.

 

Killing time at the temple. 

 

Hannah making her dad proud.  I think she built a box for a doll?!

 

Loosing her first top front tooth.

 

Loosing the other one the very next day......and not having the big ones come in for 3 months!  She's right at home here in Arkansas!!

 

 TJ finally falling asleep....on Hannah's bed.

 

The girls are playing 'doctor.'  Hannah's the Dr and Sofia is having a baby.   They were pretty insistent on having a cord.

 

These 2 can have so much fun together.  It usually involves a lot of mess, but I consider it worthwhile so long as the play time is twice as long as clean up time.

 

This was the clean up time the next day.....we got 2 good days out of the polyfil before I couldn't handle it anymore.

 

Fun at the Botanical Gardens on free Saturday mornings.

 

 

Testing out TJ's bed.

 

Sofia's Birthday

She turned 5!!  The poor thing had the flu earlier in the week.  She was feeling well enough to be excited about her big day, but still not great.

She requested a pink rose cake.  It was probably the ugliest cake I have ever made, but she was happy with it!!!  

Here she is covering her eyes for her present.  It was a little too big for any of our wrapping paper.

Ta-da!!  She was pretty excited about the blocks.  I feel a little bit of mom guilt since I bought them used several months ago intending them to be for TJ for Christmas.  Thanks to Grandparents I decided TJ didn't need them for Christmas and hung onto them for Sofia's birthday.  My guilt didn't last too long since she was pretty excited about them.

Signs I'm pregnant

** I wrote this several weeks ago and just never posted.  It's slightly outdated, but still oh soo true.  It makes me laugh to read **

I'm not trying to complain.  It may sound like that, but really I'm just trying to show what life has been like the past few months.  To me it's in more of a humorous tone than a complaining one.


I don't care about anything.
I don't care what anyone wears - I'm just glad if everyone has clothing on
Baked goods sound disgusting (make me want to loose what's in my stomach when I think about baking)!
Food in general still sounds awful
I'm thrilled if kids have 1 serving of veggies each day - because as mentioned above, I don't care about anything.
I eat about 3 snacks during the night to make it through the night
The minute TJ is in bed for his nap I'm in bed for my nap
I've actually asked TJ if he wants to play with water/bubbles in the sink (usually a major no-no) to keep him busy
TJ spends half of the day in his underwear
Our disaster of a garage hasn't been bothering me - it takes too much energy to care about.  :D


 I wrote that list a few weeks ago.  Now I'm feeling better.  Still not 100% but I feel human again and as normal as I'm going to feel before I turn into a balloon!!

* I care more about my kids appearance.  I made Hannah change out of her leggings with a hole in them before school the other day.

* I make Sofia turn her clothes right side out before we leave the house.  I still let he wear her shirts backwards most days - some battles just aren't worth it!

* Baking sounds good in the morning or when I'm planning food on the calendar - but by afternoon it sounds like too much work and makes my stomach queezy.

* A lot of foods actually sound good.

* Salads and vegetables have been re-entered into our diet on a more regular basis.....still not as much as they used to be, but we're heading in the right direction.

* Our garage has now been straightened out - not thoroughly cleaned, but straightened out.

* At least half of the time I make it through the night without any food.

* TJ is usually dressed before lunch.

I still don't feel absolutely great.  Mostly my energy level is so low.  In past pregnancies I've completely had my energy back by this point.  But not with this one.  I'm wondering if that's just my bodies way of preparing me for life with 4 kids.  :D