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!

Kate and Taco

We went to a picnic a couple weeks ago and Grace and Kate were so excited to see a 3 month old Chiquaqua (sp?) puppy! Of course Grace wanted to hold him for a few minutes but then ran off to play with the kids. Kate just wanted to walk the poor puppy and of course the puppies leash and collar matched her outfit and OF COURSE I forgot my camera...I have been doing that lately and it makes me sooooo mad! Anywhoooo....a very nice lady let me borrow her point and shoot camera and she just emailed me the pictures. They were mostly blurry but I did get a couple of decent ones for the blog :).

Kate kept calling the puppy Honey (our dogs name) so we told her (many times) the puppies name is Paco. So, then she called him Taco all night. At least it was closer than Honey :).

Finally!

Grace has wanted....no, I mean NEEDED a sandbox for years! When I say needed I mean needed. She has resorted to digging any dirt under the swingset into a little pile to play with. I don't like sand. I really really don't like sand. So, Memorial Day, Jared went to Home Depot and got all the supplies to build a little sandbox with a lid. Here is a little photo slide show of the day :).


btw...I don't like sand a little less now that I see how much the girls LOVE playing in there :).

Take the key and lock her up.....

Grace woke up today. Got dressed. Did her hair. Made herself breakfast. All before she woke me up...and she is only 6. WOW! She looked beautiful. She looked much older to me this morning. I am pretty sure I still looked like a baby in 1st grade. She is going to make me want to pack her up and move to a mountain with a big fence around the bottom so the boys have to stay away until she finishes college and has taken self defense...she laughs when I tell her that. She thinks I am kidding...we will see. Here is what I woke up to this morning:

And, here she is running toward all those boys we were talking about

Cave Kisses....

Today I got to accompany Grace and 39 other 1st graders (along with 2 teachers and a handful of parents) to Cave of the Mounds.

Grace and some of her friends

I went with Jack's 1st grade class and Grace couldn't wait for me to go with her. She woke up at 5 a.m. this morning asking what she should wear and can she have breakfast. She was a bit excited! We had a perfect day for the Caves...a bit warm but not as muggy. The bus ride was a bit breezy and loud :).

Grace on the bus!

First, we explored the caves...VERY cool (literally..it's 50 degrees down there & figuratively...it's amazing what God can create beneath the surface of the earth). Because it is the rainy season for the cave and we got a good amount of rain yesterday it was a very drippy day in there. The tour guide called it Cave Kisses....basically it was water running off the cave ceiling and dripping all over you :). The kids loved it!

My favorite picture of the caves today.

The tallest Stalagmite

The place where drippy Cave Kisses come from:

Then, everyone (parents and teachers included) got a bag of sand to take and dump into a sifter to see what fossils we got. One kid was so excited because he got 2 dimes in his bag of sand :). Next, a very nice lady took all the kids up on a hill and explained each of their fossils that they had found.

After that we went into a big barn classroom where the kids learned about how fossils are formed and got to hold petrified turtle poop (a big hit with the kids). Finally, it was time for our picnic lunch only to find out that all the kids in Grace's class that had the school pack their lunch didn't have a sandwich in their bags...only a bag of chips, a bag of cookies, a string cheese and a drink...I still have to call the school and figure out how that happened :). Luckily, I had brought a lunch so Grace could share with me so she didn't STARVE.

You would think after running outside and walking through a cave all morning (and not getting a full lunch) kids would be tired and the bus ride would be a bit quieter....WRONG....it is louder on the return trip :).

All in all it was a great day and I was happy to share the morning with my Goose.

Kate's 1st Puddle

After it rained the other day, I took Kate out....still in her pj's because she LOVES Elmo so much she never wants to take them off. She walked around it a little. Looked at me. Smiled a HUGE smile and jumped through it. She had so much fun in that little puddle....until she decided to blow bubbles in the water. I just couldn't let her keep doing it...it is gross...it is on the driveway and I have no idea what kind of chemicals are in that water. Everytime I turned on the video camera she would splash or jump for a moment and then down she would go to blow bubbles....enjoy :). Obviously we have some work to do on listening and obeying Mama.

A little heaven for everyone...

Kate. Kate is learning so much lately. Talking...she lets you know what she wants and we can usually figure out who she is tattling on. She will come out of her room and yell one of the kids names "Jack" or "Gase" and then go onto her fast jibberish of how they have wronged her. And don't laugh at her...she doesn't appreciate that when she has been wronged by someone :). Climbing...she is a climber. Good thing she is so short, she can't get far :). She can now get up on the couch by herself. Well, she could until we sold that couch and brought the couch from downstairs up to the livingroom. Now it is a whole new obstacle to overcome. We just found a little climb and slide thing on Craigslist so she has something to do outside. She LOVES it and it keeps her busy for a long long time :). Just wait until I buy the little plastic pool and she can slide into the water! The same house I got the climber slide at also just gave me a sand/water table.

So far it is just a water table that Kate loves to lay on and splash the water out of....Toddler Heaven!

Eating...I just let her feed herself pudding (chocolate pudding) for the first time ever. She feeds herself cut up food just fine but I have never just given her a spoon and let her at it. She could have handled it much earlier but I wasn't ready for the mess that I know comes with a toddler and chocolate pudding...and if I just gave her the spoon how would we share?

Grace. She is growing up too fast. She is such a kind and friendly (aka hugger) little girl. She is just finishing up 1st grade and isn't ready for summer break. She asked many times if we could still do math and reading over the summer. So, I talked the cirriculmn coordinator at their school and they are going to give me the math and reading books for the summer and see if she can catch up to the next higher level in those subjects. As long as it is something she wants to do and learn I am all for it. It can't hurt, right? This summer she is also signed up for swimming lessons at the Verona pool. I hope they help her swim and not just play around in the pool like they did with Jack's lessons when he was 4. Grace needs help with relaxing while she swims. She is so muscular she is like a brick in the pool...it is a bit scary and she is a bit big to hold onto or put a floaty on. She is 6 1/2 and it is time to sink or swim girl....here's prayin' for swimming! Grace just got to be a Jr. Bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding a couple weeks ago. She looked gorgeous and sooooo much older than 6. We are in trouble if this trend continues :). She loved getting dressed up and having Lindsey do her hair...and even got some makeup on...she was in 6 year old (going on 16 year old) heaven!

Grace and Abbey walking up the aisle

Grace watching everyone being seated before the wedding...she looks a little worried :)

Jack. Jack is 10 and can't wait for football and hunting to start. We just have to make it through the summer :). Right now he is with Jared out at a friends house siting in Jared's gun. 10 year old boy heaven! He loves going to Nana's house where he can ride 4-wheelers and check on deer stands, hunt for Morelle mushrooms, hunt turkey with his older cousin, Isaiah, and generally live outside for the entire time they are there. Jared went up with the 3 kids a couple weekends ago (YES....that means I was home all alone for the entire weekend....ALONE.....Mommy heaven). When they got home from Nana's, Jack cried for about 2 hours that he was 'homesick' for Nana's. It was sad. Someday son, we will have land for you to roam around and hunt on...someday....because everytime Daddy goes to Nana's house he too comes back 'homesick' for hunting land :). I am just thankful for the land my sister (Sarah) and her husband (Jeff) have for Nana to live on and us to visit and for Jared to hunt on...Daddy heaven!

This is the typical picture of Jack lately:

Jack and Kate at the wedding: