UPDATE

Every so often I start to feel super guilty at being so bad at updating my blog. I've put up some pictures, and I have many more to add from the last six months, but I thought I would write a brief note about what we are doing now and then break down each kid and then hopefully be able to blog once a month from here on out? Is that asking too much!!

It has been about a year since I have posted actual news so here it goes... Jack just finished the third grade and he is blossoming into the boy of my dreams. He is kind, tender, sweet with his sisters and friends, a wonderful reader, an awesome soccer player and just really cautious and a good rule follower. He listens and takes in what you say. He loves to please. He loves his friends. He had a great third grade year. I was nervous about his teacher, Mrs. Taylor, because I had heard that she gave a lot of homework and some parents didn't really like her, but I loved her and so did Jack. She is quitting now to stay at home with her kids, and Jack was actually in tears about that on the last day of school. She was funny with the kids and she taught them a lot of self reliance. Jack was the best reader in his class again and ended the year with 411 points in the reading program. We owe him Chuck O'rama for that! He has continued to love soccer and is getting really good. We had a great soccer team and many of his friends were on the team. Jason still coaches, but now has great help with another Dad and they really have brought all these boys to a great place. Jack is also getting really good on the piano and likes to play. He fights me to practice every so often, but he feels really proud of himself when he can play harder things. I love Jack and am so grateful for the boy that he is. I can't believe he is almost 9. These years have flown by and there is no where I would rather be than here with him and his sisters and getting to raise them!

Savannah is 5 and on her way to kindergarten. She did great in preschool and is so excited for kindergarten she can hardly stand it. Savannah is a special girl and continuously amazes me with her silent drive and her perfectionism. Although she can be very tiring with her whining and somewhat sneaky behavior, she is someone who is very much in her own head and is very stubborn and determined to get what she wants. She will practice and practice to get something right and the frustrating thing is that she won't tell you what she is working on until she has it down. She is really ineterested in reading and getting pretty good at sounding things out. I think she will really blossom in kindergarten. She is independent and loves to be helpful. She is also painfully shy in some circumstances, but is slowly growing out of that. I think that sometimes I am too hard on her because she tends to be more melancholy than I can understand, but she has a great heart. She loves Jack and loves to be included in the "older kid" thing he has going on. She loves Evelyn and plays really well with her. She has two cute friends who live down the street and loves to play with them all day. I do get worried about her being stuck in the middle child situation a little bit because I can see that happening, but she never complains about any of that and comes along to support Jack and does many things we ask her to do. Even if she does whine a bit while doing it. I am loving watching her grow into the sweet person she is. She talks about being a nurse. She loves nurturing people. She loves boys and men (her dad, and grandpas and uncles) and I think she might be a little tomboy at heart. She also loves getting dressed up and putting on makeup for Halloween and dance.

Evelyn is almost 3 and is so excited to start preschool and dance and soccer in the fall. She is a great little speaker and says the darnedest things! She makes super cute expressions while she talks and is quite the conversationalist. She listens to everything and remembers a lot. I will be saying something to someone else, maybe about getting their shoes on, and before I know it there is Evelyn carrying the person's shoes to give them. She is observant and a little mischievous and probably a little spoiled. It is hard to not spoil her or laugh at her because she is always so happy! She wakes up happy and immediately gets herself dressed. She potty trained (still in diapers at night) around 2 and a half. She has been having a few accidents lately, but I think I have sufficiently threatened both girls in that area and they are getting better. She loves dressing up, dances clothes and dancing. She loves to do anything the big kids are doing and loves sharing a room with Savannah. She has funny words for things like pineapple is apple pie, a pinecone is a coconut and she makes me laugh everyday. She does have a bit of an attitude that needs some adjusting at times, but she is mostly very pleasant.

All three of these kids are blessings in my life. I love being with them all day and even when I'm at my wits end, it is seriously a lot of fun. I do need to loosen up on some things and I think I am getting better at that. I think we will have a lot of fun this summer.

Jason got a new job in February. Things went south at Hays Insurance where he was working and he found a job at Farmers Insurance. He is in a district manager training program and in two years he will be given his own district. We are praying that it will be in Utah. There is a chance that he would have to move, but I think I am officially against that idea so I am praying that something will open up here. The potential is amazing and he loves it, so I do know that if it is meant to be it will be fine, but I hate the thought of it. I love where we live and the community we have around us. We have great people and family close by and I would hate to take the kids away from all that we have built over the last eight years. The other crappy thing about his job is he is working so many hours. He gets to work at about nine in the morning and off most days around 8. It makes for long days, but actually I have settled into a routine with the kids and I think it is really good for me to take it on and not rely so much on Jason. But it does get old. For sure. It has let up a little since he passed all the tests he needed to do.

We are in the process of finishing our basement and it is super close to being done. I cannot wait. We are definitely growing out of the space we have and it will be super nice to have more room and get organized.

I am pregnant with baby #4!!!!!!! That is super exciting for everyone. I kept it a secret for a long while and we didn't tell the kids I was even pregnant until we knew it was a GIRL!!!!!!!!! We did a gender reveal party with cupcakes on Jason's birthday. Jack bit into the cupcake and kinda dropped his head, but I think we have convinced him it is okay to be the only boy. Everyone is really excited about her. She is due on Halloween. I am 20 weeks along and go in for my ultrasound this week. So far so good with this one... I was able to run until this last Monday (about 19 weeks) when I freakin fell and sprained my ankle. I am so bummed about that, but I guess it will be fine. I am doing well with my weight and have gained about 10 lbs. I am feeling great and feeling her move and I am so happy that she will most likely be the last one!! Love the baby stages, but also excited to move on with this wonderful family I am blessed to have.

Anyway, that's the update. Over the next few days, I will do a more specific one with pictures for each kid. And let's hope we don't take so long to post the next time.