8 is great!

My little boy turned 8 this week. He had a birthday brunch with his best buds and spent the day with his daddy, who he is lucky enough to share a birthday with.

He started scouts yesterday and will be baptized on Saturday. It is hard to believe how quickly this little boy is growing up.

He still has a tender little heart, but he is "cool" now. He has to wear the right clothes, the right shoes and always look smooth. He is smart, helpful, kind, and a joy to have in our home.

 We love you Jack Jack!!

This other little boy keeps me laughing. He loves to dress up and take photos. This is him "working" in the kitchen. His vocab is exploding and he loves copying everything we say :)

We went to a friend's 30th last weekend: the theme being 90s prom. Loved being pregnant at prom because I felt so scandalous. I also played Scary Spice for our Spice Girls routine and Clint danced in a boys band routine. Good times!

The 3 girls "knocked up" at the prom :)

Welcome 2013!

 Wow, am I behind! I have taken a bit of a hiatus....not sure or not if I want to make blogging a priority at this time in my life, but I plan on making sporadic appearances. I do lots of blog reading, but it's usually while I'm holding  a sleeping baby on my lap, so it's hard to type and upload pictures.

I don't want to bore anyone with the last 4 months, so I will highlight the big events :)

We took a little getaway to Salish Lodge at the end of September. Lovely 24 hours away from the kids relaxing in a gorgeous setting :)

These 3 kept me on my toes, as usual. While the weather was nice, we would play at the school for an hour or so before heading home to make dinner and start homework. Now that the weather is nasty, our evenings consist of gymnastics in our living room with the couch cushions.

Halloween with matching skeleton shirts

Blakey and I headed to AZ to visit my sis and family at the end of Nov. We found a fabulous new frozen custard/ italian ice place . Yummy!

Both kids were not a fan of Santa, but I loved wearing shorts and a t-shirt in December!

Spencer with his sister wives at the Mesa . We had a great trip and Blake and Tessa loved hanging out :)

S

Picking out the Christmas tree in the pouring down rain. Seattle for you!

Clint in his Father Christmas vest inherited from my grandpa. He even passed the sacrament in this baby!

Lindsey and I went on the Santa Train to visit Santa.

Clint and Jack went to the Nutcracker. Jack's first time!!

Ugly Christmas sweater party. I took first place!

New pajamas

The party didn't end with Christmas. Blake turned 2 two days after Christmas and Lindsey turned 6 a week later.


The biggest piece of news in the last few months is that we are expecting a baby at the end of June.  4 kids?!? We were pretty sure we were done with 3, but I guess a family of 6 we are supposed to be :)
I am finally getting my energy back and feeling a lot less queasy these days. Hooray!
No picture though....I am at that unfortunate, portly looking stage which seems to come earlier with each pregnancy :(

The other piece of news is about Lindsey Lou. I don't share this info to put a "label" on her, but I want others to be able to understand her a little better and reach out to us if they are having similar problems with a child. Lindsey was diagnosed with ADHD in August. We had always suspected something was a little off and we finally got her tested. We started her on some medication, which has been a small miracle in our lives. Her school behavior did a 180 and we are catching glimpses of the little girl that she would like to be. The meds don't fix everything though...they wear off by 4 when she's home from school so evenings are still a struggle, as are mornings before they kick in. She has a really hard time going to sleep at night, but that is the only side effect we've found so far. We are dabbling in other things such as essential oils, diet, occupational therapy, etc. It is a lot of work and EXHAUSTING, but we are determined to improve our home life and help Lindsey be more successful. It will be a lifelong journey for her, but she is a tough little cookie that keeps us laughing and on our toes at all times.

Here's to a happy and healthy year full of learning and growth!!