Spring

We really loved winter around here, but I was starting to think that just maybe spring was never going to come.  Then my birthday crept up on me again.

My birthday is always the kick-off to spring around here.  It was  a lovely, quiet birthday full of snuggles and love and red velvet cake.  

And a trip to New York City, but that is a post of it's own.  While I was gone, Jason and the kids decided this would be a great addition to our backyard.  I'm praying it stays put a bit longer than the trampoline did. 

The weekend before that we took a trip to Omaha to attend the temple.  We did an all-day kid swap at the children's museum with some of our sweetest friends.  The museum was charming, and it got me all excited about our trip to Indianapolis (and the best children's museum in the world) this fall.

Miss Emma started taking a gymnastics class this spring.  The class meets during Adam's preschool gym time.  The sweetest moment of my week comes when I see my little cat and dog give each other a huge hug and chase around the gym together.  And it makes Emma happy to have a class of her own, since she "never ever gets to do anything, not ever."

On an exceptionally hot day this spring we joined some friends at the zoo.  I was surprised at how many times I lost Adam, who did not understand the faulty logic of "I wasn't lost Mommy.  I knew exactly where I was."

With trips to Utah, Colorado, Puerto Rico, Chile and New York City tucked under our belt in the last three months (and Nebraska if you want to get really wild!) we intentionally did not make plans to travel for spring break.  It was wonderful to just be home together.  The real highlight of our spring break was this little visitor-

Roxie!  We puppy-sat this little cutie for three days, and the kids absolutely loved her.  She was a pro at licking sticky fingers clean-

She was always up for a game of fetch-

and she was kennel trained, which meant that she happily sat and listened to the stories she was read before naptime.

She was full of energy and fun.  I loved that she munched up any crumbs that fell to the floor and "encouraged" the kids to keep their toys picked up by chewing on anything left behind.  I would have loved her even more if we had a fenced in backyard that we could have turned her loose in, rather than pulling out the leash, boots, and coats every time we suspected she needed to go out.  She was a delightful novelty of a visitor, but we were all okay to send her back when her family came home.  I guess we're not ready for a dog in our house just yet!

We also celebrated St. Patricks Day this spring, and there was a lot of speculation as to whether a "naughty" leprechaun would visit our home again this year (like the one that left green footprints all over the bathroom and turned the toilet water green last year).  The kids all decided that they did not want to have to clean up such a mess again, and were delighted to discover their annual box of Lucky Charms was delivered sans mess or mischief.  We had some friends over for a very low-key party in the afternoon that included a treasure hunt and some tasty shamrock shakes, and that rainbow up there was the only picture I took of the whole event.  It was just too much fun to bother with pictures!

And so, spring is officially here!  We've waited long enough- now we're ready to get on with the warm weather fun!

It's {Not} a Boy!

Or a girl!

I've made lots of announcements on this blog over the years, so it only seems fitting that I make one more reproduction announcement while I can.

We're done having babies!

That's right.  We have decided.  Finally.  We're done.

We didn't know for sure that we were done when Noah was born.  Jason and I both come from families with five kids, so we've always said that five is our upper limit.  So even after Noah was born and we were enjoying/surviving the newborn year again, we didn't know for sure if it would be the last time.  So we just enjoyed/survived it as it was.

And now that we are approaching the 18-month mark, we've been spending a lot of time talking and thinking and praying about what the next move is for our family.  A lot.  We've fasted and prayed and attended the temple and talked and talked and talked some more.  We've talked to close friends and family members that we love and respect, we've weighed the pros and cons, we've consider all of our options from as many angles as we could come up with.

And it has all led us back to the same place.

We're done.

We love our family.  We have already been blessed beyond measure.  We're busy, and tired, and our hearts and hands are full.  We are so excited to move forward- three boys and three girls- to the future for our family.

And it feels great!

It is hard to believe that we're closing the childbearing chapter of our lives, but it's been a wonderful 10 years!

2006- The day we found out we were going to be a family of three!

 2006- The day before Leah was born- 

 2007- Our first family of three photo- 

 2009- Our last family of three photo (I was three hours from giving birth to Adam in this picture)- 

 2009- Our first family of four photo- 

 2011- Our last family of four photo... kind of.  

 2011- Party of five!

  2013- Our last picture as a party of five- 

 2013- The fabulous four finally meet- 

 2015- And have stuck together ever since.  

Family closure FAQs-

Are you sad?  
Not really.  I'm excited!  I'm thrilled to never worry about pregnancy or labor and delivery or breastfeeding or sleepless newborn nights again.  I just get to look forward to all of the joy of raising the family that we've got, and experiencing sleepless nights by way of teenagers.

Really?  You'll never get to experience moments like this again!

True.  I won't.  But I experienced it four times, and those moments were the very sweetest of my life.  (That moment is also sitting on my nightstand, I loved it so much.)

Do you feel like you've given up by not having five?
Nope.  I did a little bit when we first started talking about being done, but, as a sweet friend of mine said, I know my limits and I don't want to cross them.  And another (mom of five) friend told me having four kids seemed like a brilliant way to maintain sanity to her!  Four is no small number, and I want to give all I can to raising these four right!  Plus I really like even numbers.  Six feels very right to us.

What if you change your mind?
We won't.  And if we do.... well, we won't.

What do the kids think?
The only one who is old enough to really remember what it's like to have a new sibling turn her world upside down (again, and again, and again) is pretty darn excited about it.  The oldest brother occasionally makes comments like, "if we ever have another baby, we have to make sure it has an "A" in it's name because everyone in our family has an "A" in their name."  The littles two don't seem to mind or care just yet, as they are too busy ruling the roost around here.

What are you doing with all the baby stuff?
That has been my major spring cleaning project this year.  I've kept a box full of my most important blankets, clothes, and such, and the rest has moved on to bless other mothers.  And boy has it been a project!  Thankfully I've had good helpers who haven't been at all interested in climbing into every pile of clothing, blankets, toys and equipment they find.

So what's next?
This is the first time in the last ten years that I haven't been trying to get pregnant, pregnant, nursing, or thinking about getting pregnant again.  I loved those years.  We were growing our family and following God's hand in our lives as we did.  And we will continue to follow Him as we move forward.  For now it just feels pretty glorious to say... I don't know what's next!  We are just thrilled to know that we are going to do it- whatever it is- as our family of six.  Bring on the future!

Stop The Cuteness

Ooh!  This flooffy headed little googly bear.  He is growing up so fast!  I just can't handle the cuteness.  These pictures start in December and make their way through March.  

Poor boy is so overdue for a haircut... 

Especially when he's falling asleep... he is just adorable!

Happy At Home

Considering the fact that I am a homebody, I'm grateful that there are so many corners of our home that make me smile every day.  

And there are plenty of areas that are in need of improvement.  

Our entryway table finally got a makeover.  Good-bye smudgy black fingerprints!

 It's long overdue that we paint the nursery dresser knobs the right color.

And these too-short curtains have been driving me crazy, until now!

Our kitchen chalkboard door continues to be a place of inspiration.  This is a list of someday-hope-to-do's we brainstormed one morning.  My favorite is Leah's contribution- "A day off from school (just say I'm sick)".  No luck with that one so far.

 I smile every time I open our newly configured utensil drawers.

It's the little things that make this stay-at-home-mom's office great!

Doing Nothing

I have officially decided that I'm a wintertime homebody.  I do not love packing my kids up in the car and dragging them around in the name of keeping busy.  When we are out I generally try to get home as quickly as we can- at least when we're running errands.  We have plenty of fun outings, but from day to day I just like to be home!  And, thankfully, the kids usually feel the same way.  They rarely ask to leave the house, and most days of the week you will find us snuggled up and playing in our house, waiting out the winter and having fun "doing nothing".

I've heard so many complaints lately about how long and miserable this winter has been.  I think everyone has forgotten last year!  We aren't freezing, the sun comes out regularly, and inside our house is the place to be.  Especially on days when the weather feels like this-

We've come up with one thousand and one ways to keep busy inside.  While Jason was gone last month the kids wanted to go to IHOP for dinner.  I don't know why they love that place so much, but I convinced them that we could create our own IHOP at home.  Leah insisted on being the server, creating menus for everyone and serving up their orders.  I promised them chocolate chip pancakes, orange juice and chocolate milk, and two slices of bacon each.

 And they all loved it!

Last weekend we had a "family camp-in".  We pitched the tent in the living room, roasted hot dogs and smores and Starbursts, played a bunch of card games and games that Leah taught us and sang silly songs and slept under the "stars".

It was a magical night.

Adam was the only one who actually slept the entire night in the tent, and he won a prize of glow-in-the-dark stars to stick above his bed.  The girls got some as runner-up prizes as well.  Poor Jason just got a stiff neck for trying to sleep on the floor with Adam.

Staying inside for the winter means building puppy palaces-

Or having friends over and getting silly.  

One day we made heart shaped pretzels- anything to heat up the oven!

When I spend more time at home I can take piles of veggies like this-

and turn them into a delicious meal like this.  I could eat soup every day of the winter.

We're surviving the winter by playing with Oobleck, corn, K'nex, Legos, Play-doh, craft supplies, puzzles, board games, hide-and-seek, lacing beads, magnets, dress-ups and more.   

When we're "stuck" in the house there is always plenty of time for snuggling when someone's not feeling good.  

Unfortunately in the winter means there is more sickness going around than I ever prefer, although the occasional day of stillness is kind of nice.

Being "trapped" indoors means there is plenty of time to catch up on sleep!

And we do go out occasionally.  Trips to school, preschool, violin lessons, Activity Days, gymnastics and youth activities keep us plenty busy all week long.  There is a bouncing place here, we like getting together with friends, and one day last week when Jason was working from home I jumped at the chance to send Adam to Lunch Bunch and to have lunch with Leah at school.

And we had an extra visitor with us!

Leah loved showing Emma around the place, and Emma loved the pink milk in the cafeteria!

Our whole family had tickets to see Curious George at ISU this week, but due to sickness, it turned into a one-on-one date for Mommy and Emma!  She was a fantastic audience member, and I loved the chance to listen to her talk and share a fun theater experience with her.

We'll definitely be glad when spring is here.  For the most part, though, we are enjoying our "long winter's nap" just the way it is.