A Whole Lotta Love Around Here

Our Valentine's Day was just a cute and simple day where we tried to practice some true love. A little chocolate (or a lot, depending on the person. ahem.) lots of hugs and kisses and few themed meals. Here are the boys and our little friends Cam and Mya eating their valentine lunch.

 

There was also an impromptu little photo shoot with the kids the day before. I had remembered this scrap piece of fabric in my "collection"...Jake calls it something else. So of course I dropped everything at once, busted out the ironing board, tape, scissors and some valentine colored clothing, opened the blinds and told the kids to smile. Now when anyone around here mentions taking photos my kids rarely get excited or act even slightly amused. But I busted out some candy along with a couple of other small props and they were all for it. They totally cooperated and gave me a bunch of great little keepsakes. Here are a few along with a couple of reasons I love each one of these kids so much:

Cutest girl in the world, wants to help me with everything I do, always asking for hugs and a kiss and is my only baby who will snuggle and fall asleep on you.

Has some extraordinary dance moves, is always in the kitchen when food/cooking is happening and will swipe a taste of anything he can reach, gives the sweetest (and I mean sweetest!) kiss, tells me I'm his favorite mom.

His greatest goal in life is to please others, make them laugh, grace their presence with his "skills". If he could do whatever he wanted all day he'd want to have family movie time, family game time, family bike ride time....you get the point right?

That night we had our friends over for dinner. We had little heart shaped everythings to eat including little pizzas and brownie desserts. It was a great day and I was utterly exhausted at the end of it. My sweet Jake also had a long day at school but stopped on his way home to buy me all the necessities for a hot bubble bath (which I have yet to take.) Some reasons I love that guy:

1. He never fails to tell me I'm a great mother and wife.

2. He notices the little things that I do to make our house a home and never points out the things I don't do.

3. He gets up with the kids in the middle of the night. (How many moms can say that?!)

4. He takes time to make each of our children feel loved and special.

5. He is a wonderful partner in this business we have of raising children and an outstanding partner in our marriage.

Simple Chore Cards with Free printable

I started watching a pair of kiddos back in September to make a little extra cash. Let me tell you, it's been hard going from two incomes to none and budgeting off of school loans. Obviously we want to keep our loans to a minimum. It's especially hard that Jake can't work (did you know he signs papers at the beginning of law school that say he won't hold a job his first year?! Serious business) and it wouldn't be worth working for me just to pay for the outrageous cost of childcare anyways.

So when I was approached with the offer to pick up a few days every week for this brother and sister I took it in an instant! It works out great because my kids have playmates all afternoon. They keep each other busy and have fun together. The downside to 5 kids in the house on any given day is the constant tattling, constant want of snacks and TV, and especially the chaos and mess it brings.

Since being back from the holidays things have really settled down and we feel like we're back on a pretty good schedule. However we are shaking things up a bit though because the gal who I share babysitting with is moving at the end of the week out of state. DANG YOU KATIE! I'm only mad because they're such great friends, we'll miss them a lot.

So as of next week I'll have the kids 5 days a week until we find a proper replacement. Not to mention the full days we'll be together during the summer. I've stressed about this a little (a lot) because, honestly, I want to like these kids at the end of each week, mine included!!! As I sat and thought what would help the process run smoothly I decided that the kids could start pitching in at the house by doing a job every day. We sat down last week and came up with a list of jobs and I snatched some basic clip art from the web to make some cards for them to draw/pick from every day. I'd be happy to share them with you, click this link to get the document. I'd love more ideas so leave them in the comments if you have any and I'll add to the document and update it on the blog!

New Years Resolution 2013: Service

As 2012 came to an end I started to think about what my resolution for the new year would be. Lots of themes came to mind but the one that kept repeating in my mind was the theme of service. I believe that serving others helps us to forget about ourselves and our own problems a bit. In the spirit of living in the present and recognizing blessings in every day life I feel that trying to be of service will help me grow closer to God as I assist in fulfilling the needs of others.

This is going to be difficult for me. Not because I don't like helping people but because I fill my time with so many things, so many projects and tasks that I think it'd be easier for me to "serve later". This is true when it comes to my family especially. I get really busy with every day tasks, cleaning, DIYs, playdates, etc that I forget about the needs of my own children sometimes. I love Mr. Rogers quote, "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." If there's one thing I'm absolutely HORRIBLE at it is playing with my own kids. When they grow up I'm sure I'll be a super awesome mom, that is, if they want to help me with  my projects or go on bike rides with me. Stuff like that. But I don't know a whole lot of teenagers who like to hang out with their parents. I KNOW THIS! But I forget it every day that their childhood is so SHORT! So top service priority is to my children.

Second priority (sorry Jake) is to my husband. He goes to school every day, all day. And reads. He reads so many cases and law school things (maybe I could serve him by engaging myself in his work a little more and actually knowing what he's learning about?? eh?). There have been times already this year that he comes home and throws his coat on the table chair. Ok, so every day he does this. And I grunt a little and remind myself to serve him...so I don't say a word and just hang it up in the closet. Then (this happens a lot) he asks me where his coat is. I could expect him to hang it up every day or I can notice that after he tosses his jacket, he heads straight to the kids to play with them and love on them. I want to find as many little ways to serve that man as I can because I LOVE him. I love everything (mostly) he does. Because just about everything he does is for his family. He serves me in so many ways even though his work load is cuh-razy. Seriously. 

If I can master these top two priorities (doubt it but that's why we make resolutions right?) then maybe we'll throw in some food bank and blood donation visits.

But seriously, if I can do anything for you, just let me know ;) Plus you'll be in my prayers so I might just do something for you without you asking. Don't be offended if I wash your car while you're not looking. I don't think you're dirty, I just want to SERVE you! right?!

New Years Resolutions: This one paid off.

Two years ago I made the resolution to live in the present. Since the time we had both graduated from college in Dec 2007 life was full of unknowns. We were in and out of work for the next couple of years. Living paycheck to paycheck. Trying to be creative and save money (if there was ever even enough left over to save). Sound familiar to anyone? I was always looking forward to "next year".

This time next year we might have a solid career. 
This time next year maybe we'll be able to buy a house.
This time next year let's get a dog.
This time next year we'll have time to go on dates.

And on and on and on.

At the time of making this resolution I was a few months along pregnant with Adele. Jake and I both had landed new jobs. Things were looking good. We were going in a direction of settling down and living our happy, humble little life. Well you should know that when you make an honest resolution, it will be tested. That year felt good. I focused really hard on enjoying my life every day and trying to recognized the Lord's hand in our life every day. I was feeling happier and more positive about my life in general. We upgraded and bought a mini-van (my lifelong dream. NOT! but i love it now) Our sweet girl, Adele, was born. We took our first vacation as a little family that summer. We moved into a new house that fall.

Fast forward to the end of 2011 Jake was unexpectedly and abruptly laid off from work. He had been working there for just over a year. During that year we owned our own business which was going so-so. We were never "in the red" but because of lack of funding, finances and time it just never truly grew at a pace that we were comfortable with. As he was working with this company he was trying to make some career decisions for the future. Do we drop the businesses that we sacrificed literally everything for? Did we give it another unknown and doubted year in the economy we were in? He really started to get in to what he was doing at his other job but slowly started to feel vibes that he wasn't going to last there for whatever reason....(it all makes sense NOW, but not then) In late spring/early summer 2011 he started to be really prayerful about what was next for him and our family.  He started to throw out the idea of going back to school. I wasn't for it. We had two kids at the time and one on the way. We just bought car. He was at a job that he enjoyed with opportunity to learn.  I had a job that could help hold us over for a bit. And we were one year owners of two businesses with hopes to make a life out of it. NO WAY! I wasn't ready to just dump it all.

He came home from a church event for the men (a stake priesthood session) one night and I asked him what the topics were and what his impressions were. The first thing he told me was that they talked about continuing education. My first reaction was to resist the idea even more. But as he talked about the night, I felt in my heart that this is what he needed. What our family needed. We had lived the past couple of years with lots of insecurities. Hoping that something would work out. And holy cow did we learn and grow more than we had ever hoped for.

The following weeks were full of prayer for guidance for us. We made a trip to the temple, we fasted a couple of Sundays. Jake had made a decision in the direction of law school and was looking for a sign that going back to school was the right thing to do. One Sunday not too long after the search for answers began we were at church. Jake was walking down the hall and our Bishop (the priesthood leader in our ward we attended) called to Jake to come see him in his office. He sat Jake down to ask him if he'd thought about going back to school at all. Jake was surprised at this question and answered that in fact he had thought about it. A lot. The Bishop, a man Jake has a ton of respect for, then went on to say something to the effect that he thought Jake would make a good attorney, and so on. He felt in his heart that the decision he made was GOOD! He felt the love of the Lord surge through him to confirm this decision. That afternoon when we got home Jake told me our prayers had been answered. All he needed was a confirmation, in any form, and he had received it.

Well Jake started to prepare to take the LSAT, because honestly, you can't really get any further in law school life until that big test is over. Obviously we didn't know if he'd get in to law school at this point but it's the answer that we had received so Jake started to take the steps. We didn't tell anyone about it until the end of the year which is when the LSAT was scheduled. We were afraid he'd get tanked at work, which he did. When that actually happened though, we were hurt. We knew it might happen but never thought it would happen the way it did. We tried to move on as gracefully as we could and had a wonderful Christmas season with Jake home all the time. I was able to pick up more hours at work. We prayed daily for patience in the Lord's plan for us and for forgiveness in our hearts.

The first part of 2012 went by in a flash and before we knew it Jake had received scores for his LSAT, he had applied to numerous schools and we waited as rejection and acceptance letters trickled in. The excitement of being able to pick from more than a few schools started to settle in and we scoured the internet in search of the perfect fit for us. When we decided on Southern California it all came down to three schools. Two in San Diego and one in Ontario. As we went through the process of narrowing down our pros and cons it was as if we stood in front of one door at a time. As we prayed and pondered the door would open and we would clearly see the answer. Just beyond that was another door. Each decision was this way and I can see so clearly now (and towards the end) that Heavenly Father prepared us over the last few years for this experience. We learned to rely on Him and care for each other in a way that I will always be thankful for!!

I don't know how we make it without learning to live each day to the fullest. I can say without a doubt that I've learned to recognize daily blessings in my life. I'm a happier person for it. At a point where I thought maybe I was struggling with depression I made this resolution and feel so blessed for doing so. Of course I still have days where I struggle and forget to remember what this life is really about. I have shallow moments, judgmental moments, selfish moments. Ok....maybe even more than moments. But if I keep the lines of communication open with Heavenly Father I am reminded of what a blessed and joyful life I have.

Jack turns 4!

While we were in WA Jack had his 4th birthday. The boys are constantly aware that their birthdays are going to happen again. It seems like they really talk about it all year and always countdown other people's bdays in order to get to their own.

So for example we're counting down to Aunt Carly's bday, then Uncle Josh, then Britt, Grandpa, Aunt Amanda, Me THEN COOPER!  (did I forget someone?)

This comes up almost weekly.

Jack's birthday is a week after Jake's. He wanted to have a birthday party with Dad this year so we did a family thing over at the Fry's and also had our friends, the Gollihurs, over for the day. Jack was spoiled by all and then on his REAL birthday ( a few days later but Jake already left for CA ) we went to Chuck-E-Cheese to play and had root beer floats that night.

We wrote a little entry in our family journal about Jack for his birthday and it goes as follows:

Jack turns 4 today! He finally gets to be in SUNBEAMS!
Jack weighs 38lbs and is 41" (3ft5in) tall
Favs:
food-cookies
color-red
movie-Chipmunks (still!)
toy-video games, leap pad
friend-Dad

He wants to be a ninja when he grows up.

What are we doing today? Going to Chuck-E-Cheese w/Cooper, Adele, Mom, Mimi and Carly. We're having root beer floats tonight when Grandma and Grandpa come over!

Love you Jack! You are one extreme boy. Extremely sweet and extremely loud and extremely silly and extremely naughty sometimes.

You got lots of scars this year. One (faint) one on your cheek and ear from the alpine sled. Your teeth went through your bottom lip @ Meg and B's house. Cooper hurt your nose on a plastic saw and sliced it open. You seem to always be getting hurt and leave us wondering whether or not you needed stitches! You are super helpful at home. You love helping with chores and cooking. You even got an apron for Christmas! You like to take naps still. You take very good care of Adele and your new puppy Griffin.

I know how cliche this sounds but I really can't believe how fast kids grow up. People keep asking me when Jack is going to go to preschool and I just can't send him yet. Cooper going to Kindergarten happened WAY too fast. I'm keeping Jack home while I can :)

December in WA

I flew home with the kids on Dec 12th. Jake met up with us on the 19th. Lots of family in and out for the whole month including Carly and Paige from UT. Dan Amanda and James, Britt Josh and Madi from ID. Matt, Nicole, Aubree, Olivia and Sydnee from UT.  We were missing Mike, Kayla and Mason for sure this year :( Needless to say, Christmas was grand! Lots of activities, lots of food, lots of movies and games. My kids sure love their cousins. They just played and played and played. Come to think of it I don't think any adults ever had to really jump in solve any problems between the kids while they were playing. The only time I remember intervening was when the kids were in a bed together playing "family". So we told them to play something different and they said, "How about doctor?!"

Ummmmm.......

I'm pretty sure that won't be the end of it either. Those will be some embarrassing stories one day. They had a great time together. We're hoping to make a big road trip this summer while Jake is busy with an internship (Fingers crossed!!!!) and stay for a few days in Utah with the cousins. (Is that cool Nicole? :)

Can you believe that I didn't take any pictures of our trip?! I've always been bad about that but for real. I really didn't take hardly any other than the ones I got on my phone.

Christmas really was great though. Of course we're on a limited budget being in school and all so we kept it nice and simple for everyone and felt blessed to be able to give so much with the money we spent. We were also given some pretty awesome gifts from a lot of people. Plus our parents all pitched in to fly us home. They let us invade their homes for a month and they kept us fat and happy. I cherished this Christmas so much because I know it won't happen this way forever. There simply is not enough room for a family growing as fast as ours! I mean, look at all the kids in the picture above. Mason is missing from it and that makes 9 kids ages 5 and under from one side of the family. It will only get crazier! I love it! Plus it makes for some crazy good card games with that many sleep deprived sugar frenzied adults.

SO thankful for time spent with each other. I love our big crazy family. I love the Pacific Northwest because it is home. I love going to Seattle and eating till I think I might burst. I love the Christmas season to spend time together, to celebrate the birth of our Savior, to serve people around us and spread a little Christmas cheer. I LOVE walking through the front door at mine and Jake's parents house and feeling like I'll belong there forever and I love sharing that with each other.

Thanksgiving 2012. Yeah that's right, two months ago.

You know how when you say you're going to start a blog, then you do and you do ok, then you stop? And then you want to start again but time just keeps passing and you feel like it's been too long to just jump back in it without feeling like you have to catch up on the last two months? Yeah? Me too.

My life is busy. I stay at home with my three children. One goes to Kindergarten for 3 hours a day and three days out of the week I have two extra kids that I watch. That's about it. But my life is busy.

Last time (*ahem, end of Nov) I wrote about our neighbor who hates us. Welp, she probably loved us during December cause we weren't here! Haven't really seen or heard her since the encounter though. Thanksgiving was super. The weather was beautiful. You'll have to excuse me for always rubbing in your face how beautiful and awesome the weather is in California. Don't be jealous. Just come and visit us....

Anywho, it was my first Thanksgiving cooking for my family. Jake and I made a delicious turkey and had our friends, the Browns, over to share Thanksgiving with us. Lots of food, pie, friends and games.

I know it's late but believe me when I say that we had (and still have) so much to be thankful for that day. We moved to this unknown part of our lives and became grown-ups. (Shouldn't that have happened already having three kids?!) You know what I mean though, right?

We found our own house. We made our own friends. Cooper has never, not ONCE, been late for school. (I know right?!) We bought a lot of furniture (I can't wait to tell you about those adventures one of these days.) It feels so right to be doing this whole school thing here in California. It was scary to leave our families and move to a place where we were basically starting over. But boy oh boy did the Lord guide us right to our own front doorstep. Every door has opened so clearly for us and we have been so blessed by Heavenly Father with the assurance that what we're doing is right. That the sacrifices we're making now are worth it. Although, it really doesn't feel like we're having so sacrifice anything at all.

Sure it'd be nice to have jobs and all the security that comes with that kind of thing. Sure it'd be nice to have nicer, newer things. Furniture from a store and not from some crazy person on craigslist. Sure it'd be nice to go out to dinner every once in a while instead of feeling guilty about the fancy steak we splurged on that one weekend. Sure it'd be nice to take the kids to Disneyland since it's literally an hour away instead of trying to change the subject every time it comes up. But you know what? We have each other. We're growing together. We're helping each other and finding creative ways to enjoy our lives RIGHT NOW. My new years resolution for 2012 was to enjoy the ride and quit looking ahead to the next step. I feel like the last couple of years I've just been waiting to move on and I haven't been able to see the blessings happening right in front of my face. We have so much to be thankful for and love this part of our lives.

Hope you enjoyed my Thanksgiving post, now that it's almost groundhogs day. Here's to catching up this week!