the difference between boys and girls...

so, two nights ago aaron and i decided to go into the hospital because my contractions had been regular for several hours and they increased to five minutes apart for a couple of hours. well, long story short we stayed at the hospital for three hours and the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart the whole time, but they weren't helping me dilate any more than i already was, so i guess they were just for fun---how fun!

so, anyway during this time we had to have a nice neighbor come and sit over night with the sleeping kids. so, after being home for 10-15 minutes and Jack says, "so, did the doctor get the baby out or not?"
he cracks me up---so simplistic! i guess he didn't think through the fact that we would probably have a baby with us if i had had him and i would hope to look a little different myself!

well, when julia got home from school it was a different story---she came through the door, shouting out, "where's the baby?" all excited! i had to dash her high hopes and tell her he didn't come yet, and she got really upset and said she wanted the baby now!
don't we all!

updates...

I know I need to get in a better habit of keeping this blog updated because I love to see other people's blogs updated----so, I will try harder!
We've been busy lately just keeping up with the kids, Aaron finished up his EMT class, and I have been busy with PTO (PTA in Idaho, at least in Grace!) and getting ready for the baby! I have about 3 weeks and of course it seems forever away, yet there are still lots of little things on the list to get done. It has been fun having the kids help get all the clothes out and get the room ready because now they seem really excited too. Well, who knows how Adam will react, but we will just take that as it comes!
We had dirt delivered yesterday to get our yard all ready for sod and then a fence---I am soooo excited for that.
Here are some pictures of our recent events:

Julia had her first piano recital. She did a wonderful job! Her teacher is such a sweet lady. I was so proud of Julia for speaking up and introducing her song, etc. She is such a doll! Aaron's parents came to watch--it was lots of fun.


This is totally Jack---last week it was raining and I kept hearing the wagon being dragged around the house--I went outside to find it pouring down rain, I asked Jack to come in and he said he was too busy building his workshop!



I know I say this every time, but Adam is getting more hilarious with each passing day---He has shortened his mama and dada to just ma and da. So, I hear hundreds of times a day, "Hi Ma", "No Ma", "Yeah Ma". It is so cute. He is in such a cute stage right now!

Well, hopefully there will be exciting events soon---I feel like the baby could come any day now, but just for saying that I am probably in for a long three weeks!

Birthdays!!

We have had a birthday blitz at our house...Jack and Adam's birthdays are just a few days apart. We've gotten through birthday parties and now I think I am going to miss leftover cake sitting around!
Jack had an outer space/astronaut birthday party with a few friends. He was sooo excited to finally have his birthday come. First thing in the morning, as I am still waking up, I hear Jack wake up and from the hallway yell, "MOM, Look how 5 years old I look!"
Aaron's parents had taken the boys out a week before their birthdays and they were spoiled with gifts and McDonald's playland. And then it was fun to have my parents come up to our house on Jack's birthday and spoil them some more! They got so many fun things and all the gifts were a hit.
Adam has taking over for Jack's love of froggy boots and Jack decided that the best place to use his new shovel and pail was in the potato field---I'm sure he has messed up at least a few potatoes, but he claims, he needs to dig holes for the bugs!
I quickly realized that Adam was two on the morning of his birthday when I gave him a bowl of cut up strawberries and I ate one and he freaked out, threw the bowl, with strawberries flying everywhere, grabbed my mouth with one hand, and then with the other hand reached into my mouth to try to retrieve his strawberry, all the while screaming, "mine, mine." Otherwise, he was really cute all day!
He was in heaven with his Blue's Clues party--he loves blue's clues, loves the songs and does his own version of them all the time. I have to give a big thanks to darling Julia for being such a wonderful party planner and being so thoughtful with thinking out all the details! She was so excited to give her brothers presents that she had bought with "her own money". Aaron and I are so thankful for these beautiful children!
**Don't look close at the cakes---cake decorating is not my thing!!**

Back to the Books....

I am excited to say that Aaron has been accepted to the Executive MBA program at the U. It starts this August and will go through April of 2010. It meets on weekends, alternating Fridays and Saturdays. This will work out well with his work schedule of working four 10 hour days. His work is very supportive of this. I am excited to have the chance to have weekends to shop, hang out with family and be back in the city!
We try to talk to the kids about education and what they can be when they grow up, but I'm pretty sure their only concept of college is when Steve from Blue's Clues goes off to college and learns about cool stuff like music and outer space!
I'm very excited for this new adventure in our family's life--we both feel really good about it and feel like it's the right time to take on this challenge. I know that Aaron will be doing all the work, but I somehow feel like we both got accepted because I was so involved in gathering all the information, the application process and insisting on a new suit for the interview!
Even though I know it will be a sacrifice, I feel confident in Aaron's ability and I know the Lord will help us through the stressful times. And we will definitely be investing in a car dvd player for the extra driving!

Disneyland

I don't know what my problem has been with posting lately, I need to get back into a groove. We went on a great trip in the beginning of March---yes, the beginning of March and now it is the end of March and I am just now putting pictures up! Anyway, it was so much fun and it was so sad to come home to more snow!
Here are a few highlights:

* Beautiful Laguna Beach--we stayed there for a couple of days before going to Disneyland and it was so fun. The kids loved the beach, it was a fun place just to walk around and it was great to go to church there. The church was up a hill and you walked out to a perfect view of the ocean---gorgeous!

We drove to see the Newport Beach Temple---It was really unique and perfect for the beach city setting.







At first I thought that a five day pass of Disneyland would be too much, but I underestimated the excitement overload! It was five days packed with fun and more fun and thankfully, afternoon naps for me and Adam! These pictures really don't do it justice---Adam would squeal and say "car, car" as we waited in line and Julia and Jack were on such a high the whole week. It was so fun for me and Aaron just to see them have so much fun. A big thanks to Maury, Melissa, Tyler and Ryan for making the trip so much fun! We'll have to do it again---in a few years!

sweet adam.....

I was just going through pictures and found my new favorite of Adam! It is so hard to find a picture that he's not in the cupboard or sticking his hand in the peanut butter jar with a messy face. This was at the jazz game about a month ago.
Adam is a strong, very strong willed child. I have often thought that it is a blessing that his personality is so strong for what he had to endure in december. Adam's greatest loves in life other than Blue's Clues and Curious George are running around outside, climbing and jumping off of things, chasing Julia and Jack while making monster noises and singing himself to sleep---so cute! I have to say that Adam has been my hardest baby in some ways, but he has been so rewarding in so many ways. He is very loving and loves to give hugs and kisses, he is talking a lot and it is so cute. I love my Adam!
Disneyland pictures on the way---I am still recovering, even after a week!

I'm it....

Ok, so I know this tagging/blogging thing is just like the chain letters of the 80s and everyone is probably sick of them, but I will go along with this easy one----just six things about myself! I actually am horrible at these kind of things--I always break the chain! (that doesn't count as one of my six!)

1. I worry way too much about large scale things that do not directly effect my life or that I can directly effect. In my analysis of this problem, I have figured out that this comes from my dad who told me once that when he was little he went to bed worried about what kind of bomb could/would hit the U.S.----This kind of thinking is sooo up my alley! I worry about politics, world issues, historical events, possible future events way too much. Ask me if it has done me a lick of good (to use a phrase of my mom's)....NO!
But, in all fairness to my dad, I do not curse this attribute, I'm glad I have it because I think it makes me more sensitive to the world we live in and put more thought into how I look at things.

2. I honestly love people---Nothing intrigues me more than human behavior---I think it is so interesting to see how people live their life and how similar we all really are in the world. This sorta goes along with my first thing because I also worry about people too much!

3. One of my favorite snacks is air popped popcorn with spray butter (great invention!) and garlic salt and parmesan cheese---which leads me to my confession that really think I could live on some type of garlic bread and Mountain Dew---maybe not a healthy life, but nonetheless a happy life!

4. Another favorite thing of mine is a blank white sheet of paper and a great black pen. I have a weird thing about pens--I won't go into the detail of how the ink needs to look, but I love the idea that I can fill the page with lists, doodling, all of my thoughts or whatever I want! I've loved this since I was a child.

5. I love to shop!!! Not a great quality to have when you live in a town that has a drug store, the gas station and tiny grocery store that is a little iffy! So, I get a little too excited when I drive "into town" which actually just means driving anywhere that has a walmart, etc.

6. My favorite time of the day (is NOT the morning!)--is when Julia is home from school and Jack is so happy to see her and Adam is up from a nap and happy. And then about hour after this happy time I really am ready for Aaron to come home! But, nothing gives me more joy than watching my children play together and have little conversations together and when they tell me all about something....oh, I love them so much!

I think the next rule is I'm supposed to tell six other people to do this same thing---but, I don't know that there are six people that blog that actually haven't done this yet---so, if you've already done it, don't worry about breaking the rules! So, my six are: debbie, amanda, melissa, marilyn, melanie, and cricket---cari, i think you already did this, but i would love to hear six more things about you!