Boys will be boys...

I have four kids...the thing is....three of them are boys!! Jake, the oldest, is so many different things. He is, first of all, a boy. Climbs on EVERYTHING, can't stop himself from bouncing the basketball in the house (or jumping on the couch), likes all things cars or superheroes, and loves to play outside. Jake is also incredibly sweet. He will stop playing and come all the way inside to where I am just to say "Mom, I love you" and give me a kiss. Jake is also very kind to his sister. I can't count the times when I have seen this four year old humor his older sister and watch the umpteenth princess movie, or agree to play princess with her (although he insists on being named Spiderman or something similar in these games), he has also, on occasion, offered to fold her clothes or do her chore. Jacob can be very sensitive at times, his emotions are pretty close to the surface a lot of the time. Jake also says the funniest things. Everyday something comes out of that kid's mouth that just cracks me up. Jacob is my handsome little man.                                                                    Second, we have Isaac. Ike is a quintessential two year old. He gets mad when you take something from him, don't give him his way, or even when someone has something he wants. He is a stinker!! He took half the bread from the sacrament tray today and shoved it in his mouth before I could stop him. He then proceeded to dump two of the little cups of the sacrament water down the front of my dress...not his cup. He drank his cup and then thought it would be fun to stick his fingers in two more while the tray was in front of him and pull. A simple plan really and pretty amusing....to him. Isaac loves his older brother and sister, he just doesn't want them to get close to him...or help him....or touch him in any way.....or look at him.....or look at the toy he has. Ikey adores all babies. At 18 mos, when Ethan was born, Ike would sit and 'hold' him in his lap for ever. If you want Isaac to calm down or sit still, just offer him a baby. If I want him to sleep, I offer him my ear....he has a fettish. He likes to play with ears, especially when he is tired, and it puts him right to sleep. My Isaac looks more like one of my sister in laws kids than one of my own, but he is quite a Momma's Boy.

Then along came Ethan. My baby boy is adorable!! With dumbo ears and chunky cheeks, his whole face lights up when he smiles. He thinks Grandma Kathi's dogs are hilarious and he finds my hair fascinating. Ethan started sleeping through the night at two weeks and now sleeps a full 11 hours every night but he thinks cat naps will do the job through out the day. Goofan is enchanted by Abbi but isn't too sure about Jake, and tolerates all of Isaac's kisses and pets. Ethan loves the bouncers that we have, and he is sitting up unsupported. He makes himself fall over by reaching too far for things and absolutely hates being on his stomach. We'll see how long it takes him to figure out another method to get what he wants.  Ethan is my chunky baby and I don't think that he even knows who John is.

Easter

Easter was pretty fun this year. It was General Conference this year too. For the first time in a long time I actually listened to all four sessions. 'Tried to' might be a better description.....kids. My sister in law, Jennifer, and her family came over and we forced all 76 kids to watch conference. We had a yummy lunch and then an Easter Egg Hunt. We don't do the Easter Bunny at our house, we just don't. We always do an egg hunt with extended family and friends so the bunny just never came up. Jake doesn't even know who or what it is and Abbi just doesn't care I suppose. This lack of Hare-ness means that the egg hunt is all the festivities my kids get for Easter and they really love it. Isaac thought it was absolutely amazing fun and would not take his hands off his basket to save his life. Jake lives on his own planet so he still needed some assistance and Abbi was just upset she didn't find the most eggs. Anyway, then we watched the second  session of conference and had some friends over for a scrumptious dinner. Over all a successful holiday and conference was great, of course.

A few things

So Abbi had her first soccer game last night. She did so great! I am really proud of her...she played hard and didn't give up, and she even scored a goal. They don't actually keep score, but if you ask her "We won!!" will be her reply. I think her team actually did win. She did awesome and she is having a blast. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I will take pictures next week.

AND......the move to the Taj Mahal will be sooner than we thought. Our renter's last lease was up in January and we had verbally agreed on a new lease ending June 30, but we never got around to having him sign anything. We were planning on letting him stay until the end of June as per our 'agreement' but he emailed John today. Apparently, he was laid off. I feel really terrible for him, we know what it is like to lose a job. Terrible. BUT, that means that he is out April 30th and we are free to move in. We will start moving stuff once he's out I think. Abbi's last day of Kindergarten is May 14th and that is exactly when we will move once and for all. I am psyched!! The count down has begun

Children

So, I got an awesome new camera the other week and I wanted to try it out. I got the kids all dressed nice and we went outside to take some pictures. At this point in motherhood, I am aware that getting all four small children to look at the camera and smile at the same time is impossible but come on. Abbi and Jake were great. Isaac, on the other hand, is two of course and therefore started crying. I have no idea why he started crying after about two pictures but he did, and he wouldn't stop. Then the baby started fussing, naturally. Anyway, I love my camera and my children and here are a few of what I got. Now I just need to figure out a good editing program (and how to use it, of course). Can those things edit out screaming two-year-olds? Hhhmmm, I wonder.

Taj Mahal

John got his promotion!! Along with that promo comes a transfer to the store in Topeka. Ya, we are moving back to Topeka...again. Awesome, I know. You are all jealous of how entirely cool we are. Not many people have the ability to move to the same city three times in three years. It takes talent, I am not going to lie. We are moving in June and will not be moving again for a good long while, at least that's the plan...for now.

Besides the promotion, there is one positive about the wonderful city of Topeka, we happen to own a home there. I will not break down our past living situations for you all. I'll just say that we have had someone live with us or lived with someone else for a whopping 90% of our marriage. This is where the title of the post comes in.....WE WILL BE LIVING IN OUR OWN HOME!!! That is exactly how a super-cute 4bed 2bath 1920's Cape Cod style home with a terrible paint color becomes this lady's Taj Mahal!!

YAY for me

I know that being wordly is a sin and all and I really try not to be BUT getting new stuff is so much fun!! And I have a whole list of NEW STUFF

1. Our camera had a fatal accident and a nice perk of working for Best Buy, we got an awesome new one for a steal.

2. That whole jogging thing I mentioned...ya, it didn't last long. John has been talking about getting a gym member ship, but that is a monthly expense for however long and I couldn't use it (childcare isn't included anywhere here and I have too many kids to afford to pay for it!) John and I got an elliptical machine. I can use it at home, anytime, it totally kicks my butt and I love it!!

3. I started sewing again and then my sewing machine broke. Sad, I was. All the projects lined up in my head were put on hold and I wasn't sure when I could get a new one. But John came home with a new one for me today. What a good husband!! It does so many cool things and I am so happy to be able to keep up one of my few hobbies.

Now that I have a camera again, here are some pics of some of the things I have made lately...

Some belts for the kids.

A play dress, a "princess" shirt, and a "rockstar" shirt. (Let's pretend we don't see the dirty carpet K?)

The quilt that Ab's made for Ethan or Goofan, as she call him. She is so adorably proud of it.

Jake again

John and I were watching a movie during the kids' quiet time. Jake walked in and sat down right near the end of the movie while a couple was making out and John tried to cover Jake's eyes. John says, "You don't need to watch people kissing. Kissing is gross. You can give me a kiss though." John puckers up and Jake says, "OK. But Daddy don't kiss me like that."