Missouri Trip

Because we knew my sister Jamie was going to be too pregnant to come to our family trip this summer, and that would mean we wouldn't see her family for over a year, and because Josh was working crazy hours all of Shane's spring break anyway, I decided to take a trip over spring break to see her and Livvy and Louis,

 And let's not forget Uncle Tim either, who is probably Sadie's favorite:)

 Mostly I wanted my kids to be able to spend some good time with their cousins so they wouldn't forget about them.  Shane LOVED his buddy Louis

 and for the most part everyone played and got along really nicely.

We staged some Easter egg hunts- I don't even think we put candy in them they were just happy finding eggs!

 We went to the park,

 enjoyed some Sonic happy hour

 went to a fun indoor climbing/playground place,

 and even braved Target with all of them!

It was a lot of fun and so good seeing the kids together, I wish we lived closer.  In fact on the drive out, one of the (many) questions Shane asked me was, "Mom, why do people we love live so far away?"  Good question buddy, hopefully they can find a job close to us!

*And just so I remember- the drive with the kids by myself wasn't too bad.  They did pretty good, except for when a semi carsick/tired and irrational Marissa freaked out before lunch about how she did NOT want her chicken nuggets to be baked, and a few squabbles between Shane and Marissa- when Marissa told Shane he was NOT saying "buenos dias" right and when Marissa burst into tears when Shane said someday he would climb Mt Everest.  Gotta love them, they always keep things interesting:)

Greensboro

A couple weeks after that dreamy San Diego trip, Josh and I got spoiled with another weekend to ourselves!  My parents came out to watch the kids so we could go to an interview for Josh in Greensboro, North Carolina.  It felt so weird to fly without kids! I have often told Josh, I don't get why people traveling alone look so bugged all the time- I would love to have a little time to just sit and read or do whatever!  And it was just as awesome as I imagined it would be.  We were a little worried about getting out when it started to snow, but we ended up being fine because we had a long layover.

It was a great weekend.  They put us up in a super fancy hotel, and left us some fun stuff in our room.

The recruiter gave us some great suggestions for fun local places to eat at, and we were pleasantly surprised that all of them had pretty impressive gluten free options.

We really liked the area and really liked one of the practices we talked to.  It is in a little town just outside of the city, and had that small town feel Josh was looking for in a practice, where the family doctors are really respected and more involved in their patients' care, and especially where he would have the opportunity to see a lot of kids and really all ages.  The other doctor there and the nurse practitioners, and really all the staff, were so friendly and it felt like a great fit.  One of my favorite parts was when they had a lunch for us with the mayors and city planners and people in the community and one of them said, "we're just tickled y'all would even consider coming here!"  Gotta love that Southern hospitality.  And looks like we'll be getting more of it because we signed with them!  So next summer we'll be making what should be our last move to Greensboro, North Carolina!  We will probably live in the "suburbs" just outside of the city and Josh will drive about 20 minutes to work.  We are really excited, and so are my parents, because two of their kids will live in the same state now, and they love it there.  So when we asked them to watch the kids so we could check it out, they were all over it!  They braved nasty sub zero temps pretty much the whole time they were there, and I'm pretty sure were praying hard that we would choose Greensboro so they could have a warmer place to see their grandkids!

Lucky Lady

On Mother's Day this year I couldn't help but feel very lucky and thankful to be mom to these three cuties.  They may ask me 10,000 questions a day, give me a fair share of worries, and make it near impossible to ever have the house completely clean at one time, but they make me so happy.  

 I wanted to get a good picture of them, and maybe even one with me in it- I wish I would've asked Josh 2 minutes earlier if I was positioned awkward because I got some really cute ones with me as a "floating head"

 and by the time I moved I was getting this.  Oh well, shows reality I guess!

 And thankful for this man who made me a mom and works hard so I can stay home with them.

 He slaved away in the kitchen for me on Mother's Day fulfilling all my current cravings- a chopped cabbage salad, lemon chicken, and lemon bars.

Last but not least, thankful to get to experience pregnancy again and excited about the new little one coming in November.  I had a little scare at 6 weeks and I really thought I had miscarried, but Josh took me in to his office and did an ultrasound the next day when I stopped bleeding and sure enough, found a baby and a beating heart (one of the perks of having a doctor for a husband!)  He has been practicing his ultrasound skills on me about every 2 weeks and the baby is looking great!  You can bet we will be trying to take a peek at the gender in a few weeks.  I haven't been feeling too bad, just a little yucky and tired, but that cleared around 10 weeks like it has with my others (not the tiredness- though does that ever??)  Mostly just excited and grateful after thinking I had lost it that things are still good.

Ballet Girl

I tease my mom, especially after seeing home videos of me on Christmas morning dancing in my new ballet outfit and slippers, that she never let that poor little girl take ballet lessons.  I survived:)  But I signed my daughter up for ballet, and she had the time of her life.  

It was a six week class and parents weren't allowed to watch until they did their little recital the last week.  It was so so cute.  Love this little girl!

Ballin It Up

I really like Shane's school- it is small and out in the country a little bit (although only about a 8 minute drive) and very homey feeling and I'm pretty sure the only one in the area that has its own basketball league.  My friend and I, with the encouragement of the PTO, signed up to coach one of the teams. And it was really a lot of fun!  

It was kind of nice to not worry about how a coach would deal with some of Shane's quirks because I was the coach!  And he came a long way, especially in his dribbling skills.  And I'm really thankful to have some of the best neighbors ever who sat with the girls when Josh was working so I could coach.  

Sadie is 2!

So I am late in posting, but Sadie bug turned 2 on March 21st!  It fell on the same day as the Easter extravaganza at the Y, so we had fun there in the morning

then later in the afternoon opened her presents.

Walking around with her purse and money- is she 2 or 16?

And probably her favorite part of the whole day- Chic-fil-A!  When we told her we were going she kept saying, "Go chic-fil-a place!"

Then we topped off a good day with some cake- not a pretty one by any means but it tasted good and luckily my kids don't care yet about how it looks!

A few things about Sadie at 2:

-LOVES  her brother and sister and wants to be included in whatever they are doing.
-Is still on the quiet side by nature but is talking much much better now and putting words together, it has been so fun to hear.  Her speech therapist doesn't think she will be coming for much longer, which is both good that she's doing so well and bad because she loves when Miss Rachel comes!
-Has been potty trained for a few months now- she has wanted to for awhile now and I resisted it for a long time but finally gave in because she was trying to go all the time anyway.  She has been my easiest one to train and I am amazed at how few accidents she's had with a lot of traveling and different things thrown in.
-She loves to cuddle and give kisses and insists on the lips.  Like her sister at that age, she especially loves men and will sometimes go up and sit with them unprompted.
-She has a sassy side.  She is my only one who when I tell her to pick something up will say, "No.  Mom do it."  She also insists on picking out her own clothes, which I try not to squelch, but I cringe at some of her choices and especially when she never picks some of my personal favs!
-She hates when things are broken and will bring it to you and say "fix it!" with such a sad face.  When it does get fixed, she will tell you for weeks afterward when playing with it, "Daddy fix it!"  or whoever it was that fixed it (which is usually Josh)
-Loves coloring, gluing, cutting, Frozen, dress up, brushing doll/pony hair, when her friend Fritz comes over, going to nursery, me to read her books while she's going potty, her yellow rain jacket, french fries, the Y, and talking on the phone.

Things That Make My Job Easier

I love finding things my kids like that happen to be good for them (or me) too, they make my life easier as a mom!  Shane usually eats fruit begrudgingly, but he discovered cuties this year and happily ate one or two after school every day of his own choosing.  Sadly the season is coming to a close, but maybe we'll make a new discovery soon... I can hope.

 I splurged on this jalapeno greek yogurt dip after being swayed by a sample at Costco, but I didn't feel guilty about it at all when it got Sadie to eat raw carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli for a few days (we got that veggie tray for 5 dollars so I figured we wouldn't eat it all but would get our money's worth- Marissa needs no dip and happily crunches on broccoli plain- whose daughter is she?)

 And I could kiss Mo Willems for his easy reader "Elephant and Piggie" books.  They are simple enough that Shane can read them without much help, but also hilarious, which he loves (and I do too- some early readers are incredibly lame).

 And Snow White is my new favorite movie- Marissa loves to play "clean the dwarves house" now.  She even motivated me to mop my floor, which doesn't happen as often as it should.

 And to top it off, Snow White sleeps after all that cleaning!  Genius.