Just the dudes.

Who knew 3 years ago that these guys…

3 months old – R,M&J
(Picture by Ashley Beth Photography)

would have this…

3 years & 3 months – J,R,&M

Their bond is real. It is strong. It is deep. It is natural. It is undeniable.  It is amazing. It is forever.

And just plain cool :)

School’s Out!

Well, we’ve been out for a few weeks now, but I’m just getting around to writing about it.  This past year the kids went to a 2-day-a-week mothers day out program.  It has been the best thing for them…the structure, the socializing with other kids, the learning – like sponges!, the teachers – we just LOVED them!  It was such a great year and we are already looking forward to the next

So, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up looking at these pictures.  Wow! what a difference a year makes!  They're not babies anymore. sigh.

Rocco - 1st and last day of MDO – my rock star!

Jagger – 1st and last day of MDO – one cool dude!

Sloan – 1st and last day of MDO – looking SO grown up!

Madden – 1st and last day of MDO – love this little peanut!

My little loves

4 almost-ready-for-college kids

SO excited for our summer together!

A tree to grow with

Can I tell you just how nice it is to have grass and plants in the flowerbeds?!  All those months with dirt and dust being tracked in constantly..ugh! Nick (along with me and my mom, but mostly Nick) has been working real hard these last few weeks to fix up our yard. We are not quite finished but the end is in sight! 

We also planted two Live Oak trees in our front yard near the road.  Since this is our forever home and we will be here…umm…forever, I thought it would be neat to take a picture each year of the kids in front of one of the trees.  

I shot these pictures last night right before dark…

Baby Live Oak and Rocco, Sloan, Madden, & Jagger, age 3

“One day guys, your tree will be as high as the sky!!”

I don’t know if they were more excited about the tree or the Yoohoo…but I can make a guess

On one hand, I can’t wait for our tree to get big, tall and beautiful, but on the other, I know that would mean our kids will do the same.  Slow and steady, little tree…slow and steady.

This blog’s for you…

Yeah so, if you’ve ever asked me “did you quit blogging?”, “when are you going to do another blog post?” or have said “I’m tired of seeing that stupid elf just hanging there!”, this blog’s for you (and you know who you are )!  I know it’s been awhile and the only excuse I have is life.  But to those of you who have hounded me about this, I want to thank you because my main purpose for this blog is to record all the fun (or not-so-fun) moments in our life. Yes, I want to keep you updated too, but that is just an added perk! So thank you my nagging, pesky little friends that just won’t let it GO! (I kid, I kid)

I wish I could go back and do a separate update on all I’ve missed,  but to be honest, it’s just a bit overwhelming.  I will do up catch all right here and now.  What’s happening, happened or not happened?

Christmas – wonderful, great celebration with both families.  This year, the kids still weren’t too fond of Santa , but they really did seem to soak up the Christmas story.  We celebrated advent by each night reading a bible story an opening an symbolic ornament to hang on our Jesse tree.  I was amazed at how well the kids did listening to and remembering the stories and what each ornament stood for.

As bad as they didn’t want to take the picture, they held it together pretty good!
(L to R: Rocco, Sloan, Madden & Jagger)

Grandaddy reading about the birth of Jesus from the Bible

New Years….

Hello 2012! (S,J,R,M)

The 3rd Birthday!  Since the kids’ birthday fell a week before Mardi Gras, we decided to have a Mardi Gras themed party complete with beads, king cake, and a parade, of course.   And wouldn’t you know it, the party had to be on THE coldest day of the year.  I think everyone still had a good time.

Madden – It’s been one year (March 11th) since he got his pacemaker.  He had his semiannual checkup and all is well!  Madden is doing great and his pacemaker is working just as it should. Thank you Lord!

However, It would be seriously remiss of me to not write out the story of this doctors appointment.  I had decided to take all four kids with me (mind you, this was my first outing with 4 3-year-olds) and my mom decided to come along at the last minute thankfully so because the appointment took much longer than I remembered.  While they waited, she took the others for a walk around the hospital and stopped by the coffee shop to get her morning cup.  Of course, the kids wanted a “treat.”  What do you buy a 3-year-old from a coffee shop?  hmmm…G.G?  A mocha sippy to share…why not?  Bless her heart. (Sidenote:  I do limit sugar intake on a daily basis, but by no means are they deprived from sweets and sugar.) BUT OH, the caffeine.  To make a long story short, it was all fun and cute in the beginning and then it turned U-G-L-Y.  Here is a snippet of their caffeine crash.  (Madden is in the red and you can totally tell that he didn’t have any caffeine!)

Ay-yi-yi! Fortunately, we have not had any melt downs of this magnitude since!

Potty training – Not happened. Next. 

Easter – The kids are still loving their school.  They go twice a week for a few hours at a time, but it amazes me how much they learn.  So I was super excited to go to our very first school program the week before Easter.  The kids had been singing all their songs for weeks.  Or should I say the boys have been singing their songs.  Seems Sloan is taking after her daddy and has decided she is too cool for school   Girl cracked us up during the program.  And she warned us the night before that she wasn’t going to sing.  And I ASSURE you…she knows every single word and hand motion.  Here is one of the first songs they sang.  I apologize for the distance, Nick got closer later, but Sloan was blocked by another kid and this one really shows her “coolness.”  They are sitting together on the bottom row almost directly in the middle.  (L to R: Rocco, Madden, Jagger & Sloan)

Easter egg hunts were fun this year…

At school, looking through their finds

Sloan and her partner, KeKe

Jagger took the booby prize

Madden on the lookout

 
Rocco wins the GOLDEN egg!

Our best pal, Chad, came over to take some pics of the kids all dressed up.  Here are a couple good ones (considering his subjects weren’t cooperating too well.)

And a couple of pictures from Sunday…

 

Ahhhh...it feels good to be back!  Hope you had a wonderful Easter with your family! We serve a Risen Savior! Hallelujah!

He’s baaack!

Our elf, Riggins, came last night!  The kids were decked out in their new elf pajamas so we had an inkling that he might show up. 

He appears to be quite the thrill seeker as he bungeed from our breakfast room ceiling fan!

The kids think he is super cool  
(Don’t you just love those elf jammies?)

We celebrated Riggins’ arrival with a special North Pole breakfast that all the little elves got a kick out of.

Snowman Pancake, bacon scarf, m&m’s, snowflake sprinkles and marshmallows…yummm!
(thanks Pinterest!)

While they ate, I read the story about Riggins – including the ONE rule – you can’t touch him….yeah, we’ll see how that goes. 

ALL ears!

Eight little elf feet and 40 little elf toes!

Riggins also took it upon himself to hang the kids’ new stockings.  Ah…the stockings.  Before the kids’ first Christmas, I bought 6 DIY stocking kits with very high hopes of sewing a personalized stocking for each of us.  A bit ambitious, yes.  This year I decided if I wanted to have stockings hung before they move out, I should put those aside and purchase some.  What a relief!  And they really are SO cute!

This is gonna be fun