Catchup

It has been too long and this is my new goal to post every Sunday. I sometimes feel my kids are growing up too fast and I will miss it, so here is my attempt to capture some of these precious moments.

Kate is a little fireball. At almost 2, she is already wrestling with dad and the boys, counting to 13, and being a little bit sassy at times. Her brothers are her best buddies. We were in the cul-de-sac the other day, and both boys were on their bikes. She had a handful of something and was running around and fell, and before I could even move, both of her sweet, protective brothers were by her side picking her up off the ground. She is going to be well looked after. She loves to read, especially My Favorite Trucks. Her favorite thing to say is "Do it". If her dad is tickling her and stops, she'll say "Do it Dad"! She loves to be in the mix of things.

Parker is doing well in preschool. He loves numbers and loves to count to 100. He has started to really love riding his bike around and loves, loves soccer. I don't know if he fully understands what is going on out there, but he will look over at me on the sidelines, get that sweet smile on his face, and just wave. He loves it. His dad is his coach, which is probably part of why he loves it so much. He loves going to the library and getting a lot of new books. He is such a sweet, kind boy.

Cole is loving soccer and has really taken off. His team played yesterday in the cold. The fields were soaked from the night before, but he did great and scored 6 goals, then got in the car and started crying because he was just too cold. He has lots of good friends and enjoys doing anything dad does.

All of the kids love their dad. When he walks in the door he says "Daddy's home" and they all come running yelling "Daddy's home" and jump into his arms. Clearly the best part of his day.

We are expecting baby #4, our second girl, in May. We are so excited to be adding to this wonderful, happy family of ours.

My big kiddos

My little girl has started trying to walk. She took 4 steps to me the other night. Can't believe she is so big. Where did my little baby go? She is still super sweet and thankfully still loves to cuddle, espcially if she has her blanket. She's still kind of clingy, and will only usually go to mom, dad, lindsey, grandma pierson, and grandpa clausen. But I think her favorite people are sweet Cole and Parker, who absolutely adore her. Cole is finishing up school and is an avid reader these days. He is so proud and loves to read, among other things, little bear and frog and toad by himself at night. He is such a great kid. When I got back from my run this morning, it was barely 7:00 and he said "Mom, I already fed Belle and made my bed." So cute. He is enjoying playing soccer and has turned into a little scoring machine. He is also doing t-ball and will do swim team in the summer. Parker is loving letters still and is dying to play soccer in the fall. He is always dressed for the sport for whatever we are going to play. Loves, loves loves to have a great time. Never met a kid who gets so excited for things. Don't have any idea where he gets that from.

Daffodil Fields

So back into this blogging thing. My little girl has grown up and so have the boys. Hard to believe how big they are getting. We have had a good year so far. Cole is loving Kindergarten and is excited to be a big 1st grader in the fall. Parker and I have had fun being home, but I think he is ready for school. He has finally started talking quite a bit more, which has helped a ton with him. When Spring was finally here we headed to see the flowers on Wye Mountain with some good friends. It was so beautiful and except for Parker having a major breakdown (and mom too) we had a fun time. Lots of great pictures too.

Fun changes

So our little girl arrived on May 18 at 10:05 pm. Labor was pretty easy and fast once we got going and got the epidural. I was planning to go in on the 19th to be induced, but started having contractions about 3 on Monday afternoon. So Joshua and I headed for the hospital and they told us they were so busy that I needed to wait in the waiting room. So we were out there for about 1 1/2 hrs and finally, after Joshua went and had a chat with the nurses, they got me back there and I was dilated to a 7. So we were well on our way and got the epidural and everything went smoothly from there. She was 7 lbs. 15oz and 19 in long. We came home on Wednesday morning and have been adjusting since. She is such a sweet baby and the boys love her. Cole seems to be doing great, and Parker loves her but is having a little bit of adjusting to do. He is really doing pretty well. She is a really sweet baby and we are so glad she is here. We are enjoying the summer and are excited to have the pool up and going. Cole is doing swim team and seems to love it. He and Joshua went to his first meet on Sat. and seemed to have a great time. He and Luke swam kickboard together. They had a great time. Parker loves the water again this year, but thankfully so far is a little more cautious. He and Cole are getting to be good buddies. He's also doing a lot better in nursery. We had a stretch there when he was hitting quite a bit, but he seems to have calmed down and really loves when Sis. Rieske comes to do singing time. He went to Grandma and Grandpa Pierson's last night while I went running (Joshua had taken Cole to a Twisters game), and when I came back, he and Grandpa had the music blaring (I think it was fleetwood mac) and were dancing. What a fun life my kids have. Cole will start kindergarten in the fall, and they sent him a letter the other day about what supplies he will need and when his open house it. That night he slept with the letter and woke up around 3 am. I was out on the couch feeding Kate and he stumbled out with his letter in hand and said "Mom, what does it say I need to bring again?" He is pretty excited. He graduated from pre-k the week before we had Katelyn. Here are a couple of pics from his program. He was Humpty Dumpty. He had a great year and a great teacher, Ms. Melinda, in pre-K. Life is good here.

Our family

So we haven't been on here recently. Things have been pretty busy. We are gearing up for baby #3 anyday now, and everyone is excited and ready (especially me). We are down to the last couple of weeks now and are very excited to meet this little girl. The plan now is to name her Katelyn Wride. Should be a fun addition to our family! Joshua had a really busy week last week. He hosted a conference for all of the city clerks around the state, and everything went really well. Cole has been busy with school, soccer and now t-ball (Joshua is coaching) and is loving it all. He is definitely ready for kindergarten next year. Each Thursday Grandma takes him and Luke to Pine Forest to have lunch with Ana Grace and it is the highlight of their week. They always ask "When will it be Thursday?" What a great grandma they have. Cole is really a daddy's boy these days and will go anywhere with him, do anything he does, and wear anything he does. He got a new shirt and tie for Easter and had to have his Dad wear the same thing and they wore it the whole day. For any meal we are having and I ask him what he wants, he wants to know what his dad is having first. Cole and Parker are getting to be good buddies and they have a lot of fun playing together. Parker is growing fast. He will move into Cole's room as soon as Joshua gets the bunk beds built. Parker is loving books, especially the Dora books we got from a garage sale. He will sit and read them to himself over and over again. He has a very interesting way of learning things and it will be really interesting and fun to watch him keep growing and learning. He still gets kicked out of nursery every once in a while for hitting other kids, but he is so sweet I am sure he will grow out of it. He goes hard all day long and runs from one thing to the next, his favorite thing still being the dirt and playing outside. Everything in our life is great and we are looking forward to a great summer!!

FUTURE SO BRIGHT...

I dare somebody to say that I don't have the two cutest boys in the whole world! I love it when they come to see me at work--so does the whole office. I can hear them from the front door all the way to my office saying, "see daddy, see daddy, see daddy". It's the greatest thing ever. They come in, give me hugs and kisses, tear up the office and then they're gone. It's the best part of my day!

MORMON HELPING HANDS

Kept meaning to put these pics up and never did. We got to make another hurricane relief trip this year. Gustav wan't near as bad as Katrina, but don't tell that to the folks in this neighborhood. This is by far the hardest work I've ever done--but also some of the most fun and rewarding weekends I can remember. You forge such a great bond with the guys in your work crew. And this year we really roughed it--no Dan Stansel to rent a trail with AC for us to sleep in. Just a gym floor and a fan in the corner run off a generator--not to mention ice cold showers on the sidewalk which are always a blast.