SUPRISE

       I am gonna start blogging again... WHY? because I am sick of  Facebook and I just want a journal for my family. This seems to be the best way! I could start by saying all the things i've missed but I think I am just gonna skip that for a little while!

     Right now in our home, Dave is in Australia... it happened really quick, he got a job offer that would keep him away for 10 days to 3 weeks, and then he flew their and we are realizing that it may take a bit longer. When Dave is gone it REALLY makes me appreciate all he does. He isn't home all the time, but when Dave is home he makes our home SO much more fun. He plays with the children and has so much fun with them. He dances around our kitchen to loud music and leaves his stuff everywhere, he helps with dishes and bath tubs and laughs at things that I usually get mad at! 

P.S I miss my husband, and if I had to pick again, I would pick him!

   Claire, started Kindergarten AGAIN, and again we are having quite the struggle. Claire is such a timid girl and she is very overwhelmed by school. I can confidently say she has no confidence :( its heartbreaking to leave this little girl screaming for me, and prying her off my sleeves as I walk out the door. I hope one day I can forget what it feels like to worry about her all day long. She is suffering from some anxiety, she is scared with so many kids around her and just wants to be home with me. I wish I could tell her that I want her to just stay with me also, instead I tell her school is fun, and that its where she needs to be! We put her in Taekwon Do to try and boost her confidence (MISTAKE) Instead she cry's so hard she cant breath and I sit in the sticky gym with her as she akwardly turns around every few minutes to make sure I am still there. Man, I wish she were a baby again and I could worry about her nursing schedule instead of all this hard stuff. Aside from that, Claire is LOVELY, she is still such a  helper and such a good sister. She trys really hard to be really good and she can make a mean bed! 

  Olivia, is such a sweetheart right now. I get a kick out of making her say words with "r" cause she cant pronounce it. She is going to be a "flutta fly" ( butterfly) for halloween and she is just so dang cute. She still loves to cuddle, you can scoop her little body up at anytime of the day and she immedietly inserts her finger in her mouth, rubs your ear, closes her eyes and at the moment I cant squish her hard enough. Her skinny little body it so cute, and she has this super long torso and her round little tummy, I love her 4 year old goodness! She is enrolled in Ballet and just like her sister above is suffering from a little case of seperation anxiety. She cried so hard she gave herself a bloody nose and has missed 3 out of the 8 classes because it is just to much for her! Again, breaks my heart, I wish she could have fun at things. She is a great little helper with Jacob too! As soon as Claire is in school, Olivia immediatly takes over the big sister role, it is funny to see, but she is also such a helper, just not as good at making the bed!

This is a little Floral arrangement Olivia make out of a lipgloss lid, I think it is the cutest thing I have ever seen!

  Where do I begin with Jacob. He is such a super male, so full of testosterone in such a small little boy. If its a ball he throws it, if its a bike it crashes, it is can cut, break or wreck something he is on it like white on rice. He still loves cuddles and kisses but only behind a closed door. He Adores Dave and I am an alright second when Daves gone ( ill take anything I can get though) He talks non stop and makes big messes.  He sleeps with us all night long and Dave & I are content to let him be our baby for the rest of our lives. I think one day he will get sick of it. 

Me, well lets see, I am great! I think I should be a better mother, like sit and play barbies more and make more awesome forts, it just hit me that one day "they" (the children) are not gonna wanna hang out with me. We make lots of cookies and have dance parties, but I also get caught up in house work and the damn (yup, I swore) phone! I think I need to be more fun. I also have found of LOVE for working out, NOT AN OBSESSION, 'cause that word has been thrown around a bit by some crazies, but I find it helps me to relax a bit! I am thinking of where I am hoping the whole working out thing should take me and I think I need to figure out some legit goals, maybe I will blog about that later and one day if I ever look real good I could post a picture.... for now though, I'll dream. I am really trying to make a better effort though at the whole mom thing. Today I played Helicopter with Jacob and read books in front of the fireplace till I burnt my back! I sat and watched dumb cartoons and cuddled all three of them, I love that they fight over my lap space. We sing Count Your Blessings, and I really hope they know that they are my blessings. I also got mad at Claire for ripping her cute hair out and lost my mind about their pigpen room! So Does the Bad veto the Good? I hope not, I pray they remember some of the good. Goodnight anyone that reads this... or just me!

Long time, NO BLOG

Jacob and Me "posing"! Love the little man

YA YA YA... I know, seriously I dont think anyone even reads this junk anymore.... so I have come to terms with that. My life isn't exciting, thats no news flash. HOWEVER, my life is wonderful. I cant believe how good things seem to be right now. I am so content with my three children, but dont get me wrong, I still call my husband on a daily basis begging him to claim there is a "family emergency" and just come home so they kids will stop crying. Dave still works a ton, and I can only have one clean room at a time in my home, but I love that for the first time... I am just happy with where we are!

Check out the kids "OCEAN" in my living room. Love the imagination

I am happy in my home, I am happy in my ward, I am happy in Grande Prairie, I am Happy to have three Healthy Children, Marriage is awesome ( not always easy.. but good) and I just feel like we are in a good grove! I like the "rut" we are stuck in, I am happy to stay here a bit. I feel like posting this is going to jinx something, but we truly feel really blessed right now!

We are going to be leaving the kids for the first time in a month, when we go to Hawaii, I am looking forward to it, but at the same time, just don't even want to wreck our routine of "normalsy". Oh... and I'm scared that they cant comprehend that we are leaving and wont understand that we will be back, and that they will be scared. My poor babies! Anyone with words of advice that may actually read this, please pass them on.

UGH.. I cant get picture on my post below and the only one that did upload is just of my stupid face.... if anyone has a MAC, please tell me how to do this

MAGIC

we have had a wonderful summer, not to busy....but apparently to busy to post about absolutely anything!

We bought our first house in August, it was the most stressful and unfun thing I had ever done, until we got the keys, and then its been the funnest thing EVER! A mortage payment is yet to come out, so ask me in September if I still love it, just kidding! I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful home that I can call my own, and feel so blessed to have a hard working husband that would work to provide such wonderful stuff for his family. Its at the end of a keyhole cul-se-sac and its full of kids or retired people, so the kids are able to run around and play all day long.... to bad the weather hasnt been as cooperative this summer, and we were unable to spend to much time outside! Hopefully next year is nicer ;)

I celebrated my 26th birthday and 6th wedding anniversary, with a wonderful man, great friends, beautiful flowers, way to many gifts, delicious food and a stupid movie ( planet of the apes) It was fun though, and again I feel so blessed to have the people I do in my life!

Claire starts Kindergarten on Wednesday, she is so excited... I on the other hand am a little anxious! I know she will learn great, I just hope she has the confidence she needs, and that she will have fun and make friends easily, be a leader and make good choices! I guess I am exactly like any other mother out their, now I just have to figure out how to calm my nerves and put on a brave face for the four year old!

Olivia is still our crazy little girl, who is full of smiles or quite the opposite other times! She starts preschool soon, and I think it will be good for her if she decides to embrace it and have fun! Its the same program Claire was in, so they have fun doing gymnastics and running around! It should be good for her!

Jacob is so fun, spoiled rotten and adorably cute right now! Happy and Giggling all the time, running around and teasing the girls or just whining for me to hold him! He is fun though, and I cant wait to see him turn into even more of a little boy, it is so funny to watch the differences between girls and boys!

Im gonna really try and blog more often, life is settling down a bit... I think! So ill work on keeping this more up to date!

LOTS GOING ON

We have been so busy lately...

with what you ask???

Jacob turned ONE!

The cutest little boy in our family had his little birthday on March 16th, we didnt do much just a small family party with pizza and cupcakes! At one years old he is still the best little baby, just full of smiles and giggles. He wanders around the house all day long following the girls and trying to play! He like to eat toliet paper??? but things like that are normal for our family, but he also eats everything else! He only has his two bottom teeth and were praying that some more will make their grand entrance soon!

Dave got his B-Pressure Welding ticket, which is a big deal for us! It was Five years in the making, but somewhere between the 7 moves and 3 kids we managed to finish his apprenticship, and just a few weeks ago he finished his final test and we purchased his welding truck and skid, I should take a picture, but he is getting home to late every night to even take a picture, which is a good thing! YEAH for work!

Claire and Livie are hilarious, I just enrolled claire for more preschool and next week they start an ART & SOUL class, which envolves art through expression, which should be hilarious! I love those ladies!

OH... ME, well I've been busy just being a mom! I Love it, it's all I ever wanted and I know that I am so blessed to have three healthy children to love and laugh with each day! Today in Costco some man was staring at my cart, and he said with a strong redneck accent "they all yours", and I proudly said "yup, there all mine". His eyes bugged out, and I just laughed, They are all mine, and I wouldnt have it any other way!

hold your horses!

Claire!

Loving the smile on Liv's face

What a gentle Sister Claire is.

sweet sibling love!

reading a book.

coloring.

super cute kid!

Jacob loves his soother and his horse!

Back for a Bit

Okay... I know, my blog sucks lately.... I have been with/ without a computer for almost a year now, and truth be told, I don't miss it that much! I get a lot more done and waste A LOT less time. However the one thing that does make me sad is that my blog is not up to date. I feel like I am going to forget all the funny things the girls did and Jacobs milestones because they are not written down.

Claire started preschool in January. It is the cutest program, and one of the best centers in Grande Prairie. It is at the gymnastics center, It's 2 1/2 hours long two days a week, and for 45min each time they are doing fun gymnastics, so she gets lots of excercise. Lately she cries before she goes, but only because she nows she is going to be sooo tired at the end of it. She comes home and is a lump on the couch for the rest of the day which equals a HAPPY MOM. In the beginning I was packing her water bottles, because she was so thirsty, and then one day she said " Oh mom, you don't have to pack me water because they have water mountains (fountains) for me that I can use". I honestly love her. She is to dang sweet! OH... except that for all her sweetness, she can change in a heartbeat and turn into the craziest kid EVER. I was warned of four year old girls, and just shrugged it off, thinking Claire would always remain my "placid" Calm little daughter, but NOT SO. She flips a lid for the most random things, and cries over nothing, and the other day she hissed at me for getting upset with her, I laughed because what else was I to do! She told me she was trying to scare me, it didn't work! Hissing aside, she is awesome with Olivia and Jacob and is really starting to grow up! Even though she is growing up, we have decided to keep her back a year in school, so instead of being the youngest she will be the oldest. I am happy we came to a decision, I am excited to let Claire be the leader, more mature one! I hope it gives her a bit of an edge, just to be that bit older! We are so lucky to have that little Claire bear in our home, love her guts!

Olivia has become such a doll lately, I actually have said to Dave that Olivia has been the easiest lately, words that I thought would NEVER come out of my mouth. She Sings, and like Claire has the funniest pronunciation of things. She calls me mama all the time, and loves baby "gacob"! She plays really well on her own, and will go into the basement and color for hours, which Claire would never do! She will finally stay in Nursery, and has the sweetest smile, except for her two dead teeth and wicked overbite, the girls gonna need some serious dental work in a bit! She still loves to be cuddled and if I picked up olivia and packed her around all day she would be in heaven, I wish I could! She sucks her finger a good 23.59 hours a day and at any chance will rub my ear??? She told me the other day " that when I rub your ear it work-es" whatever that means! I dont know, but I do know that I love that girl a ton, and she keeps Dave and I laughing

Jacob, where to begin! He is almost one, which is INSANE! I honestly still feel like he was just born. He still sleeps in our bed, being held by me all night long! I broke down a few weeks ago and hardened my heart, and for an entire week we made him scream and sleep in his own bed, but then he got a little cough and we didn't have the heart to leave him when he was sick! Dave is just as bad though...I dont know where we went wrong with Jacob, but he is soooo spoiled. He smiles ALL the time, and just goes with the flow. He does a funny fake laugh/grunt right now and is big into giving the girls big open mouth kisses. He is Walking as of today, still prefers to crawl but can walk the whole distance of the house, so I figure it's official!!! Only 10 months old and walking, I think he is gonna be a busy boy! I love my little boy so much, I highly recommend boys!

Dave and I... things are awesome! Dave just finished school on December 17th, we are waiting for the official transcripts so he can take his final test (B-pressure) and then hopefully living up north will make more sense! He works a lot, but I guess we have just gotten use to that, it's been this way for a long time. I don't want it to be this way, but I think I have accepted that this is our live for now and I have to make the best of it. I HONESTLY love Grande Prairie, not because of the city because it is uglier than sin and their is nothing to do here, but because of the people. I love my friends, that thought of EVER leaving here makes me sad! We hope to get into a house this year, I can feel it, 2011 is OUR year!

PICTURES TO FOLLOW....

kid pics

shy livvie

classic livvie

happy livvie

Jacob

seeing himself in the oven door

thanks meg!

xox

New Year's Eve Hack

Cobus laughing at Mommy's dance moves!

Watch out for this next move!

Happy 2011!

Where has the time gone?

Well, I cannot believe it, but we are almost at the end of 2010! I can honestly say this past year has just been a wonderful blur. I think that days stop passing when Jacob was born in March, then they all blurred together, and each day we somehow did stuff without me realizing time was passing. This year has been great. Dave finishes his last year of welding tomorrow, then he is Journeyman, which we are so excited for. Olivia is finally potty trained and is slowly but surely turning into a happy girl (who would've thought?) Claire turned four in December, starts preschool in January, and still acts about 23 years old! Jacob, well he is Jacob, a joy to have around, and yet to have a really hard day! We love our family!

We are not going anywhere for Christmas, just staying around, enjoying each other! I am so excited to just relax, and I hope maybe we will have a few days of warmth to get out and go sledding or something! Christmas is gonna be fun this year, just to have the chance to be with really good friends and look forward to the new year!