Hello Mr. Snow Man!!

Even though the snow was melting at an alarming rate the kids and i decided to build a snowman. We rolled, and shaped us a soggy little snowman. We had so much fun making him, and designing his hat, and eyes, nose, and rock button. I was walking around looking for the needed accessories, and i hear a little voice saying "hi, mr. snowman, me ben" spoken with such love and dedication. of course I am biased but seriously one of the cutest things ever!! He was so sad when i said it was time to go in because he wanted so badly to bring his mr. snowman in to, he had made a new friend.

A story about a Tree

Traditionally as a family we like to bundle up and go in search of the perfect Christmas tree. We usually start off with a yummy breakfast, and than head out. This year we had to make a few stops before going up to Greenbluff, and the stops took a little longer than we expected. So by the time we were heading up to Greenbluff it was lunch time and of course in my excitement I forgot to bring the appropriate amount of snacks along. I kept thinking Must Press On..

We kept going up the hill, and I had this great idea to look around at the other tree farms to see if anyone else had better trees than our normal spot. We probably drove around for an hour looking at farms from our window not sure if we want to commit to a spot. Finally we ended up at our usual spot, and off we go. Sierra graps the tree cart, and everyone follows Daddy who is carrying the saw. Aaliyah begins to wander off looking at the various trees, while sierra is focused and on task, and Benjamin finds a long stick, claims it as his sword and begins to knock the ice off the trees he passes. Every time he hits the tree he loudly says "YESSSS, I got it. "

Sierra walks up to the very first tree that we stop at, proclaims that this was the tree, and expectantly waits for daddy to cut the tree down. What can i say she is focused. !! I tell her that I want to look around, and proceed to walk away, and wonder between the trees. Everyone had fun pointing out the trees they like, and eventually we chose the best tree, or so we thought.

So Daddy went right to work cutting our tree down, while the kids and I took that opportunity to take some photos. Those three silly kids are never all looking, and smiling at the camera at the same time. But we managed to capture a bit of the moment, and than we were off to have our tree shaken, not stirred. Finally we end out journey with Hot Cocoa, and Candy Canes.

Because i am allergic to evergreens I don't touch the tree without gloves on, and Jesse was so focused that he had gloves on as well, which is why we didn't find out that our new christmas tree had really, really, really sharp needles. Ouch!!

WOW Its has been a while!!

I guess I will just have to start with where we are and than try to fill in as we go. LOL!!

Our Newest obession!!

Rocking out with our kiddos, and friends playing hours and hours of
Rock Band. I can't tell you how much fun were having!! the kiddos love!!

We Are so blessed to have friends like these!! Truly it only happens once in a while to have such great friends to share out lives with. Our kids play so well, and it was so nice having them visit. Actually it felt so right, having them here with us i wasn't like having people over it felt like -- phew, this is the way it always should be. Like that thing that was missing is finally there.

Oh the times....

Well time continues to fly by, and each day runs into weeks, and week turn into months. We have been in our new home for almost 6 months already. Benjamin is 13 months old, walking, talking and throwing fits. His personality is starting to shine and he truely lights up my day. Aaliyah is 3.5 and is growing and changing. Its funny when it finally clicks in a little child head that they can try to reason around mommy, and perhaps win a conversation. She says things that make me laugh, and is so tender sometimes It makes me cry. She is learning the finner art of war, with her sister and is finally starting to fight back a bit. She is totally a mommies girl though and loves to snuggle. Actually her great ammo against me is when she is supposed to be in bed, and she comes to where ever I am and says " um, mommy. I just love you and I want to um just snuggle" as she cuddles up into my lap and conforms to what ever position i am sitting. Its hard to resist that sweet little face.
Sierra is 5.5 and is learning and growing fast. She is very excited about school and can't wait to be learning more. she is developing her relating skills and i am knee deep in trying to learn the best way to show her love and all my children. We can't wait for summer, and really can't wait to build a fence for our back yard.

More to come...

We Have A Home!!

That's right, today we signed on our new home! It has been a great experience getting to know our neighbors and working on each others houses. Just four months after we began, we are finished. The girls were really excited to arrive at their new house, and ran around yelling, Whooo whoo.. They helped us pull up the plastic that was there to protect our carpet from all the workers, and we ran around kicking the plastic balls. We had a pizza picnic in the living room, and moved a few of our fragile stuff, and called it a night. I can't wait until the move is over, and we are finally settled in.

Everything, and anything

Ben is five months old, and is really strong. He loves to stand, and prefers to sit up, he wiggles, giggles, reaches for toys and plays with his sisters. He is a blessing to this house. He has been enjoying our swimming pool, although he is still a little unsure. We are so busy, I am not sure we even have time to breathe. The house is going really good, kitchen counters, and bathrooms are in, we have flooring, and sinks and toilets. Carpets are going in the next two weeks, and than backsplashes. We are hoping to be done by the end of juy! We will see.....

things are okay, how are you

Oh, our lives are oh soo busy!

Well heres a lame attempt to catch up with everything going on in our lives. the house is going good and we are just holding our breath and treading water waiting for everything to go through and for the papers to finally sign. Benjamin is growing like a weed, and is excited to talk and interact with his environment.
We all are doing okay but this busy, schedule is really starting to have an affect on all of us.

baby Einstein

Ben is trying to roll over these days. He also can see an object, grab it and bring it to his mouth.. Very advanced!! He is a good baby, with very few things so far that I can't seem to satisfy or take care of. Thats nice because sometimes with babies is so hard to know what they want or need. He is such a mommas boy and even though he is getting used to be being gone twice a week right now I can always tell that he misses me when I get home. HE also has special loving mommy smiles!! I don't know how I would get through my days with out those little bits of love.. Angel kisses!!

Siding going up.......

Well heres our updated photo of our new house. The siding is going up and I think the color is so cute. !! WE plan to hopefully paint our door navy blue, and get some shutters. Wouldn't that be nice. We are dreaming about where everyone will go and what we will so with so much extra space.... Whatever will we do!!
Sierra keeps saying that her new house is so small.. and Aaliyah keeps telling everyone that her new house is being built-- of course no one can understand her because she still have her quite, baby voice, and some baby talk.

Things are busy............

Hey well its been really busy the last week since I have talked to you all, and in that time period we have done alot on the houses in our build. The first three houses are sheet rocked, and the fourth house we finished insulating on saturday. The painter is going to come this next week to texture and paint the first two or three houses. The last two will be finished with sidding this next week. We are the last house!! Yeah.. in the mean time sierra has strep throat and I am hoping that aaliyah does not get it.... Melinie....me.... has got this thing with my ears that causes me to be really dizzy, and can't walk or move my head.. so thats nice... Jesse is exhausted and hasn't had a day off in the last month... We are really hold on, and looking at the prize....

... down stairs bathroom.....

I regret to inform you!

Well in an effort to beable to financially afford this new house, we are cutting back on all things that are non essential. Our internet is one of the things that we will have to live without for now. We will try to keep posting on this blog, but there might be days that we miss. We love all our invisible supporters and appreciate all your love and support.

swinging with mommy!

Benjamin enjoyed his first ride on a swing at the park. He is such a sweet happy baby. He is the sparkle is his mommies eye. Actually with three children I praise God that Ben starts out as a baby, because I am sure I would not survive a two year old or four year old right away.
Summer is coming,and we are excited for days spent at the park, going on walks, and camping out in the livingroom. We will be just as busy with work, and trying to make family time and friend time. Pray for us all you invisible viewers....

Happy birthday to you!!!

We celebrated Isaiah C. Birthday on Saturday! He is turning 3 on the 4th. I can't believe how time flies, I mean we met Alex and Alicia when they were pregnant with Isaiah. We have been around for the birth of their last two sons, and they have been around for our last two children. It such a blessing having friends to share our lives with.

giggles....

How exciting!!

The kids and I took daddy lunch today, because he was working on our house, and our neighbors house. We are so excited about the progress of our house, and we are thrilled that the time will be coming shortly... When we don't know, they say that we will be in no later than November 27, I think end of July beginning of Aug... We will see!!! On wednesday when I was working, I got there early so i could check the progress of our house, and started crying! (What a girl!!) Anyhow, I was just so excited that the house is moving right along and it had begun to really take shape. My neighbor took some pics for me, so i will probably post those at a later date however, my house was not enclosed, there were lots of supports, no roof, etc... As you can see as of today... our house house windows, the beginnings of a roof, and will have a door by the end of the weekend so it can be locked up.
Out of the five houses, two have sheet rock, the third is almost ready for sheet rock. WE only have the last two to insulate, tyveck, and paint, and then we will be painting walls, setting back splashes, and nailing up molding, laying sod....

getting bigger...

our married life group has four babies all born with in a few months, some weeks of each other, and we are expecting 2 more babies in the next few months. I hope to get a cute pic of all the babies soon.. wouldn't that be great? You know of course baby ben, and the other cutie is jorydan(sorry don't know on the spelling) they are 3 months old!

Going Walking.......

the kids and I have been walking alot these days with various girlfriends trying to get fresh air and our exercise. The girls do okay, and ben does pretty good... Ben fits snug in his little bed behind the girls!! I was so thrilled that he fit there because with three kiddos what else was I to do except to perhaps carry him in the snuggly and we walk any where fr0m 3 miles, to 6 miles...

Who's the man?

Melinie had the opportunity to take some pictures of the kids on Easter, and we just got some of the black and whites developed. This is one of my favorites. I think it is adorable how the girls are looking down at Ben, and he's just looking like, "What?" That's my boy ;^)

Hide and Seek???

This is the status of our house as of about a week and a half ago. I think somebody needs to tell those guys that it's not exactly ready to play hide and seek in! On Sunday when I was there the basement was framed in as well as the floor joists for the second floor. I bet by the time I get back this weekend, they will just about have the roof on! We will get some more pictures up of the property this weekend.