Today my sweet little Lily turns 6....I am of course excited for her, and at the same time trying to not have a complete breakdown. All day yesterday, everything she did, I thought to myself, well thats the last time she will (fill in the blank) as a 5 year old. I think this pregnancy is making me crazy! It has been a busy year for us. We have moved into our house, switched wards, so she is in a new Primary, found out we are having another baby and started homeschooling! Lily is an amazing girl and such a blessing to our family! She loves her family and is sure to tell us everyday. She and Sam are BEST friends! They will on somedays go hours without leaving on of thier bedrooms because they are just having too much fun! She loves being the big sister and teaching her little brother all he needs to know to make it in this world :) She is also very excited to have baby Emma here soon. I don't think she could have smiled any bigger when we found out it was a girl! She has already promised me she was waking up with the baby at night to feed her, she just doesn't do diapers ;) Between Lily and Sam, I don't think there is ever a time we aren't laughing in our house! Although she is quiet and pretty shy, at home she loves to make us laugh and loves to be goofy! I can't imagine my life without her!

Just a box?

Ok, so we bought a new vacuum yesterday. I was pretty excited about that (pretty pathetic the things I get excited over). My kids on the other hand, before we left Wal-Mart, were asking to play with the box. We feel the need to spend tons of money on toys that light up and sing and dance and provide mindless entertainment for our children...and trust me, I am not anti-electronics...the t.v. has babysat my children, but when I see the hours of imaginative play this box has brought my children it makes me wonder, how much of that other stuff do they really need? So far this afternoon, my kids have been to space, been on a submarine, rode a ride at disney world, started a secret Lily and Sam club, been to the beach, played house, and been super heros. All this from an empty, not that large box. No buttons to push, no light up screens or songs playing....just a box. They played TOGETHER for hours... I am thinking about hanging out at Aldis and snapping up boxes. With boxes of all shapes and sizes, the possibilities are endless :)

So I stole this post from another website, but it was too funny (and too close to home) to not post :)

Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party

10. There are half-full, brightly-colored plastic cups on the floor in every room. Three are in the bathtub.
9. There is always that one girl, bawling her eyes out in the corner.
8. It's best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.
7. You sneak off to the bathroom knowing that as soon as you set down, someone is going to start banging on the door.
6. Probably 80% of the stains on the furniture contain DNA.
5. You've got someone in your face at 3 am looking for a drink.
4. There's definitely going to be a fight.
3. You're not sure anything you're doing is right, you just hope it won't get you arrested.
2. There are crumpled-up underpants everywhere.
1. You wake up wondering exactly how and when the person in your bed got there.

Family!

Lately it seems we have had a lot of time at home hanging out with our family...which I love! Roger had a week off school, and so it felt like I was on vacation! :) The kids love time at home and down time when we can just play...especially Sam, who needs wrestle time with Daddy daily! When I look at my kids, I can't help but smile....they are pretty terific! Lily is an interesting girl. She is a little quirky and lots of fun! Here lately she has begun to speak in 'infomercial'. She lets us know that the 'packit' will keep our food cold for "upto 10 hrs" and "it's only $19.95!" She also has a interest in ALL animals/bugs. We recently got a hamster (Sarah) who she and Sam love, love, love!! She is already trying to figure out what the next pet will be.....We also just did the butterfly garden (tons of fun) and learned about butterflies. It was a lot of fun for her to get to see the caterpillars grow and eventually become butterflies and take care of them and eventually set them free! Lily is also one of the most polite little girls I know! I don't think I ever have to remind her to say 'please' or 'thank you'. She is doing great in school. We are still working on reading and we are also working on math, science and history. A lot of what we do is hands on (like the butterfly garden). She loves dancing! We turn on music and she just lets loose :) She and Sam play so well together (which I really appreciate!) Sam is a total goofball! I don't think there is any other way to put it! He loves to tease and make people laugh! He likes to go up to Roger and say, "Hi Mommy!" or up to me and say "Hi Daddy" and then he just laughs and laughs. He also thinks Pappy's whoopie coushion is the funniest thing ever (what a boy....). He has more energy than every other kid to ever live combined...or maybe it just feels that way to me :) He is also kind and loves to give kisses and hugs, and will randomly come up and tell us he loves us and totally melt his momma's heart! I remember being pregnant with Sam and thinking I wasn't sure how I could love another child as much as I love Lily...now I can't picture a life without both of my children! And now with baby number 3 on the way, my love will get to grow more :) and I can't wait!

Home Sweet Home!

Well, we are in our new house! (Hooray!) We still are doing a lot of work, but the majority of the manual labor is done :) Now it's just decorating and organizing...the fun part! We have spent a lot nights and weekends doing projects around the house...we are sooo tired, but we love our house! :) Here are some pics...not all of them, but what I have snapped so far!

Here Comes the Sun!!!!

The sun has finally shown itself today after what feels like months without it! We have been watching it rain and rain and rain for about two weeks now. The Ohio has flooded (8 feet above flood level). I have also lost a few nights sleep staying up making sure tornados were not going to blow us all away! But, being stuck inside has given us a lot of time to pack! We closed on our house on Monday and we are really excited to get the keys to the house tomorrow! We are ready to have room to move around and the kids are ready to have a yard again! The kids have been busy and learning like crazy! Sam has learned that if he is tired of sitting still he scrunches up his face and whines at a loud strung out steady pace we take him out of the chapel at church. (So annoying!) He is FINALLY starting to recognize colors and counting. He loves his big sister. I love when Lily decides to go play in her bedroom and Sam realizes that is where she is headed and runs as fast as his little legs will go to catch up to her! So fun to watch! Lily is still learning to read and she is doing amazing! She is figuring out basic addition and subtraction on her own...a (nice) suprise for me! I love the things the things that come out of her little mouth! She has Roger and I laughing so hard sometimes! She loves to tell jokes and the attention that she gets when she tells them :) Roger and I have stayed busy with getting things ready to move into the house. There are so many things you have to do that you don't think about when you start the house buying process! I am just really enjoying my family right now! The kids are doing so well and are such fun, it's sometimes hard to believe it gets any better than this :) I have posted some pictures from the past weeks Easter adventures. We started off at our house coloring eggs. We drove to Roger's parents house on Saturday (having to pull off the road at one point b/c the rain was coming down so hard) We had a great time visiting! The kids hunted eggs and got their candy from Mamaw and Papaw. That night we stayed at my parents house and the Easter Bunny came that night and the kids got their baskets and we hunted eggs after church. It was a great weekend and we love visiting family!!!!!!

Lazy Days

I honestly don't have a lot to report. We are having a lot of lazy days (which are great!)!! We have been doing a lot of playing toys, games, reading books, watching shows annnd breaking up fights, kissing lots of ouchies, cleaning up messes, punishing little stinkers...but mostly the playing stuff :) We also had Uncle Brad over for dinner last week. Lily thought it was the greatest night ever! From the time she woke up til Brad arrived, it was all she could talk about! It was so nice to get to see him, since Amanda will never bring him out when she comes :P We are loving the warm weather and spending a lot of time outside riding bikes, drawing on the sidewalks, and picking flowers (the kids personal favorite). We are ready for summer! I am also looking forward to having a fenced in backyard (at my house!!!). Letting the kids play outdoors anytime they want will be awesome! Daddy is really busy with school. He is doing so great! I am always so impressed with him, he does so much and takes such great care of us!!! Here are some pics of the things we have been up to the past week :)

Painting with cars and cotton balls to spice things up a little :)

Playing with shaving cream on cookie sheets.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

We have had such a great month!! We started off in Mitchell with my family! Amanda came in and stayed for 10 days and it was soo much fun!!!! I love, love, love my sisters! I don't think there is anything like having a sister. My sisters are my besties :) And Lily and Sam were so excited to get to see all of their cousins! It was so fun to see them reunite and pick up exactly where they left off. The boys were little stinkers who managed to get into kinds of trouble. Making messes for their mommies to clean up...like when Jason, Sam, and Gavin emptied my parents canned food out of the boxes and threw every can into the playpen, filling it to the top with the sides bowing out. Or when we looked out the front window and see Jason and Sam running down the driveway. I think we need to keep these boys seperated! Lexi joined us on the weekend while she was out of school and Lily could not have been more thrilled! We were sad to see Amanda and the kids go, but we were happy to get back home and see Daddy (as I'm sure Amanda was). This month we also found a house and are in the process of buying it! Way exciting for us! I will be posting pics soon :) It has bee a crazy month, with lots of traveling, so I feel like Lily's lessons have been pushed to the side a little, but we managed to do a little work. With the start of spring this month we decided to do a Lion/Lamb theme. We talked about March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb and what that really means. We also took the chance to learn a little about lions. Some fun facts we learned are their eating and sleeping habbits, where they live and for how long, etc. After we talked about them we made our lion masks. We were going to follow this up with a trip to the zoo, but it was too nasty out (very appropriate given our theme). We plan to make the trip the next nice day and hopefully be able to talk to someone at the zoo about their lions. We also made our lamb masks and are in the process of learning about them! I am so luck to have such an amazing family (and extended family)!!! Can't wait to see the all again! Here are some pics of the fun stuff we have been upto (I forgot to take any while Amanda was in...)

Hide and Seek, Cushion Jumping, Aquarium, etc....

Ok, I can't believe March is here! We have been so busy it seems the time has just flown by! Lily is still doing great staying home, she is reading so much now! We are having lots of fun exploring and learning new things...I am hoping to become a little more organized so it's not quite as challenging to get things done :) Sam is the busiest kid around. His new favorite trick is jumping off of the couch (or on the couch when I'm not looking). The kids love to pile up the couch cushions on one side of the couch and Lily plays Princess and the Pea (or whatever random toy she picks up). She was not happy with me the first day she played this and was not aloud to actually use a pea....Anyway, Sam decided he would jump from the top of the cushion pile down to the couch the cushions are on. Seemed like a great idea, until he landed, bounced and flipped over the arm of the couch to land on head first on the ground. So now the cushion game is ruined for all.....We also went to Newport this past week and visited the aquarium. Way fun! The kids loved it. I think Sam more, but Lily had a great time too! Just to get to spend some extra time with Daddy is great! We kept telling Sam we were going to go see the fish and he would run to the kitchen (where we keep our fish bowl) and come back nodding. It was pretty cute. We have also decided we are sick of living in someone elses house and have begun the search for our own home! We are pretty excited and have narrowed it down to a couple. We have seen some pretty interesting stuff along the way :) We are super excited to see Aunt Amanda in a couple of days! Lily keeps telling me how she will talk to Bailey....Her voice get super high as she says, "Bailey, you are sooo cute!" She talks about Bailey almost daily and loves to look at her pictures or watch videos of her! I think she might be Bailey's number one fan :) We are gonna miss Daddy, but I love seeing my sisters!!! Here are some pictures of the kiddos :) This first one is tonight we were playing hide a go seek, and typically Sam always counts with the counter (I figure it's a good way for him to practice his numbers). This time he said he wanted to hide and this was his spot :) He also hid with his sister when I was counting, I was looking in the kitchen when I heard the bath water come on and Lily start screaming....You'll never guess where I found them ;)

I just really loved this shot of the kids! They are so awesome! I am so proud to be their mommy!