Happy Easter!

more pictures to check out from today: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Aas2jNk0cNGMv

my boys are outside working hard......

a picture of my gamers

Jack loves to sit with Josh while they play video games (normally basketball or football)

What you'll see on our front door.....

Yesterday morning Morgan had this posted on our front door before I could even get out of bed. And yes, she CAN write in neat handwriting (just was writing too fast I suppose- the sign was too important to take her time).

Apparently the fertility isn't just limited to the humans in this house...

see three kitties!!!! more details to follow....

It's really hard to hold your sister when she weighs more than half your weight. (Jack weighs 21lbs and Gracen weighs somwhere around 12 or 13lbs.)

and one more of the new little princess- she doesn't like the flash on the camera.

I swear I don't set out to kill all of our appliances....

They die on their own!!! Our dryer went out yesterday. :( I think it's just a heating element because it will still tumble but not heat up, but I need Josh to look at it to be sure. So.....I've done 4 loads of laundry so far (including a load of diapers) without a dryer. That's not so bad if you have an outdoor clothesline with plenty of space, but since we only have an indoor line it's not so cool. I've always hung regular clothes to dry and when I only had one in diapers I hung all the diapers and cloth wipes to dry, but I've never before hung underwear, towels and sheets. I like those dried in the dryer. So....here's some more pictures for your viewing pleasure. I had to make use of all the space (including the extra laundry baskets!)



And now for a little humor. We will be married 7 years in June. The first year of our marriage I didn't kill any appliances. In the time since then.....I've killed a washer (after Josh had already repaired it twice), half killed another (Josh fixed it), killed two dryers, one refrigerator, clogged a dishwasher and seriously clogged a sink disposal (to where Josh had to take apart all of the pipes underneath). Ok, I'm sure I've done more that but that's enough for now. Don't forget- I didn't really kill the 5 year old fridge- the valve just went out in the water dispenser in the door and flooded the entire house- we had to have all the hardwoods replaced only 1 week before we sold thehouse and moved out. Oh yeah- and the washer I killed flooded our entire new laundry room 1 week after we moved out of previously mentioned house and into the new one. (Thank goodness for laminate flooring in the laundry and not hardwoods!)

So either I'm hard on appliances or the darn things just don't last as long as they used to. You can decide. :)

73 degrees

Yes, it's 73 degrees outside right now!!!! Because of the great weather today the kids and I packed a lunch and went over to my mom's to ride bikes and eat a picnic. Gracen even enjoyed the outing- she slept the entire time.

Yesterday we had to do some exchanges at the mall. Jack has been wearing Robeez soft-shoes his entire 18 1/2 months of life. He's about to outgrow the 12-18month size so I thought I'd try him in some big-boy shoes. He wanted nothing to do with them at the store. Screamed and threw a fit- wouldn't even allow anyone to put a shoe on him (he kept curling up his toes) except ONE too-big shoe that was on display. We were about to leave the store when Josh arrived (he had been looking at a different store while we shopped) and told me to to just get the pair in his size and bring it home. So I did. The plan (from Josh's mind) was to put the shoes on him and let him throw a big fit- kicking and screaming until he got used to the idea. It didn't even have to go that far. All Josh had to do was tell Jack that his shoes were "Just like Daddy's" and Jack willingly put them on. Then wore them for his nap yesterday, slept with them last night and put them on as soon as he woke up this morning. Everytime anyone mentions shoes Jack says "Da- Shoes" and points to his shoes. Here is a stock photo of the shoes- I'll try to get one of them on his feet later: http://www.striderite.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=1458&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=222&iSubCat=249&iProductID=1458&sColor=270

Aren't those adorable? He looks like such a big boy in them. :( I'm feeling mixed emotions about that. I am, however, excited about getting him a little pair of Keen sandals. I think those are adorable.

The birth story is about half done- I've had a lot of 'interruptions'. I had another birth to attend on Sunday and a full week so I'll try to finish tonight.

Gracen's Bath

Gracen had a really thick umbilical cord that has taken FOREVER to dry up and a herniated umbilicus so I've held off on giving her a 'submersion' bath until today. (almost 3 weeks old) So until today its just been hair washing over the sink and washcloth wiping on all the stinky parts.
So here's my chunky monkey after the bath. Sorry- no pictures of the actual process as she was in the bathtub with me. :)

Another trip out and a birth.....

We went to Target on Wednesday!!! Our second trip out alone- the most exciting part, however, was that I spent less than $50. While Costco is hard to get out of without spending $100, Target is a $50 store. The kids were actually better behaved than normal.

And.....Wednesday night abotu 9pm I got a call- a client was in labor. I packed Gracie up, grabbed my bags and headed out. She had the baby at 2:30am or so on Thursday morning. By the time we crashed in bed at 5am we were tired but glad we got to be there. Gracie had slept all of the labor and woke about 15 minutes after the baby was born- so she was great! Catching babies and attending births is kind of like tornado chasing I guess. I've gotta get my fix whenever I can, even if that is 2 1/2 weeks postpartum.

A little funny before I go eat dinner. Morgan and Raelyn were playing at my mom's house today and Raelyn was trying to talk my sister Taylor into painting her fingernails and toenails. So Raelyn proceeded to tell Taylor, "If you paint my nails I'll give you all of MORGAN'S money!!"
Raelyn is such a little sneak!!!!!

I survived!!!!

We had our first outing today and I survived (as did the children!) A little homeschool group we occasionally participate with (children all around Morgan's age) started doing storytime once a month at the new local library. I thought the library would be the best place for our first outing- it has heavy doors (no kids running out!), we know the librarians and our homeschool friends that would be there and it's close to home. So..........after threatening the kids with the fact we'd leave if there was ANY misbehavior, off we went. I strapped Gracie on in the sling, had Morgan hold Raelyn's hand, tried to hold Jack's hand and then made Morgan hold both of the middles hands. It went well- Gracen slept all but 5 minutes and the bigger two girls enjoyed the storytime about Spring and made a few springtime crafts at the end. Jack 'read' a stack of Sports Illustrated for Kids magazines during the storytime and the only time he had a problem was when I wouldn't let him check out Mission Impossible the DVD (I know, I'm such a mean mom.....) That boy is drawn to anything with fire on it, guns, balls, etc. Anyways- we were all ready for a nap by the time we got home. :)

And since I'm such a picture slacker- here are a few poor quality photos for you all (y'all). :)

Here is how Gracen spends much of her day:
And just to prove that I DO school my children- here are the girls this morning- Morgan is doing a review sheet for math and Raelyn is working with the balance and the teddy bear counters. At this point this morning I think Jack was throwing a basketball around the house and then running after it just to throw it again. I don't know how you moms of more than one boy survive without re-doing the sheetrock and painting the walls every year. He is like a tornado in this house (a sweet tornado, but a tornado nonetheless)

Oh yes- thank you for all the well wishes with the breast infection. I'm 100% better!!! Yippee! No fever, no pain, no nothing. I would never wish that on anyone!

I'm trying to write up my birth story- I need to confirm a few exact times when I look at my charts next time I work, but be on the lookout for the typed out version soon! :)