Shortest to Tallest....

Updates shortest to tallest:

Baby #4:

Yep, there is someone shorter than Honey coming to join our family this coming spring!

7 weeks down, 33(or less hopefully) to go! That's right....we are expecting baby #4 in late March/Early April!
To say that we are excited is an understatement. The kids are praying for twins....we are not helping with that prayer :). They want twins so they don't have to share the baby. They still fight over Kate everyday. Who plays with her, who reads to her, who pushes her swing outside....do you see a pattern. Kate is spoiled! Lucky girl!
So far I am feeling ok...better than I felt with Jack and Kate's pregnancies. I am eating small snacks/meals every 2 hours and it seems to help tremendously. I know it is still early but so far so good.

Honey The Dog:

She's doing great. Tolerates Kate standing on her tail. LOVES Kate for feeding her half of whatever she is eating. Barks at the UPS and water delivery truck everday. Whines when we don't let her out to meet the mail lady because the mail lady gives her treats...at Christmas she gives Honey a big bone with a red bow...she loves Honey :). Honey will be 4 this Halloween and she is showing no signs of loosing her puppy energy when meeting new people or other dogs. She is a freak! I am embarrassed.

Kate:

She is taller than Honey now! Her vocabulary is growing more and more everyday. Her newest phrase is "Whoa Baby". She will repeat just about anything (beware) and talks A LOT in a monster voice. I am trying to get her to do it on video. Of course whenever I want her to do something or say something I get the big "NO mama". She is quite the dancer...trying to get that on video too. She is just not a very compliant actress :). Kate has spent her summer playing in her little pool. Taking lots of baths (she loves water). Teasing Honey and bossing around Jack and Grace. Her favorite thing of all time is to "READ A BOOK"...we hear that all day long. She brings book after book after book and commands you to "READ A BOOK". You can't get by with just turning the pages...you have to say some words or she will stop you and tell you again "READ A BOOK". I love that Jack and Grace can read :). I still am not sure what we will do for her 2nd birthday in September. I think she will celebrate her birthday with Great Grandma Amy. Their birthdays are 2 days apart and GG turns 90 this year! She finally wore her first pig tails...they were teeny tiny pig tails but they stayed in for dinner and the park :).

Grace:

notice Kates pigtails...her first :)

She is still my snuggler/hugger/kisser. She is still our Green Girl. I wonder if she will always love green? I am always telling her Jack doesn't always want kisses and hugs and he still loves her. Grace will be 7 at the end of August and is lined up to have a FANTASTIC party this year. We found a local horse stable that is putting together a 4 hour "party" for Grace and 4 friends. They will get there in the morning and help with the feeding and then learn about grooming as they make "their" horse beautiful, then onto Horsemanship (learning how to be in control and not afraid of the horse) and finally Saddle-Up...they each get to ride in the arena. She CAN NOT wait. She loves horses. In July she was able to come to Nana's house with Aunt Sarah. A neighbor girl has her own horse and came down and took Grace on long horse rides. She fell in love! Grace has spent her summer in swimming lessons and art classes. Now she is getting ready to start 2nd grade. I am not ready for her to start 2nd grade. This is the year that the homework increases/the projects are many and the tests are harder. In 2nd grade they have to learn the location of all 50 states...in 3rd grade they have to know all 50 state, their location, capitol and how to correctly spell each...I am glad I didn't go to that school in 3rd grade!

Jack:

The day after Jack got his gun.

Jack firing his gun for the first time...he hit the bullseye.

Grace thought the guns where a little too loud..even with ear plugs :).

Jack is 10. He is a hunter and football player...that is all he thinks about...that is all he talks about. I need to learn more about hunting and football so I know what he is talking about :). He spent the last year saving every penny he was given for holidays and did TONS of chores around the house to save up for his own rifle for hunting season. This past month he achieved his goal...$450. You wouldn't believe the excitment in our house when we got the email saying his gun was in and we could pick it up. This weekend he was able to site the gun in at Nana's with Jared. It was a big day for Jack. Now we wait (not very patiently) for hunting season. Good thing football starts this next week! We picked up the football uniform last night and this year Jack is #78. Jack spent his summer dreaming of his gun and doing MANY loads of dishes :). He had football camp at the end of July...it was so hot and he loved it so much. I am looking forward to the days cooling down and sitting in my lawn chair watching him play football...he looks so cute in his uniform. Don't tell him I think he is cute...he thinks that is gross.

Me (sorry no pics)

I am feeling ok so far. Sleeping a lot. I NEVER take naps and now I have to take naps or I can't make it through the day. At least I am not as sick as I was with Jack and Kate. We have decided not to find out the gender this time....it will be hard but I really want a surprise. I also want incentive to push out another 10 pound baby! I have spent my summer running Grace to swimming and art class, running after Kate and helping with the office. When I have free time I work on my digital scrapbook pages and dream of a new camera :)...Santa are you listening???

Jared (again, no pics)

He has been busy with the 2 offices and keeping the yard mowed and reading books to Kate. Whenever Jared sits down he has a pile of books thrown (literally) at him and has Kate climbing up saying "read a book daddy"...he has never said no. Jared is equally as excited for hunting season to start because this year they lowered the mentor gun hunting to 10 so Jack can carry his own rifle (only one gun between them). Jared has spent his summer playing on his sand volleyball league and fixing cars :)...it's his new hobby :).

So, there you have it...our summer in a paragraph. It has gone way too fast and I am not ready for school to start. Ok, I am ready some days for the kids to go back to school but I am not prepared in the way of school supplies and helping with homework every night. Kate won't know what happened to her buddies that play with her all day. I am hoping to blog more frequently so they aren't sooo long. Sorry. See you soon!