A year older and the kids find all the Luck!

  For St Patricks day this year I made a little scavanger hunt for the kids and they loved it! Finley also had a party at school and the picture above is all the kids from our ward that attend the same preK.  I also made some delicious pulled pork sandwiches! It was a LONG process of brine-ing the meat for 36 hours and slow roasting for 13+ hours in the oven, but it was GOOD! We had some friends over to help eat it because it was A LOT of meat....Also Kade's favorite spot is pulling out all the TV chords from underneath the entertainment center....see his little guilty smile!

I spent my birthday with my favorite little humans :) We went and had free lunch at Firehouse Sub and cupcakes from Sprinkles at the park!  We then enjoyed the beautiful weather riding bikes and climbing trees and Vera always making me laugh.  Finley made my cake with some help from me of course, but he did the majority of it. Luke got me a beautiful necklace and a cast-iron skillet I have been wanting! Finally a frying pan that will last! I also had mutual that night and we had a Bday party for me and my 2 new beehives! I have already had 4 new beehives come in this year! Doubling the size of our entire YW! Yay! It was a great birthday! AND I know it will be a great year! #7weeksuntilAZ

FINAL COUNTDOWN

10 W E E K S

Luke's graduation is May 7th!  The kids and I get to fly home with Mar on the 8th while Luke and Sky drive home on the 9th!!!  We can hardly wait!! Yes. I know it will be 120 outside. I understand. I have lived in Arizona before, remember?? Tennessee has been good to us and we are sad to leave...just not enough to make us want to stay! The kids are so so so excited to be able to live close to Grandma & Grandpas and all their cousins! And I can't wait to have babysitters!! They don't exist here!!  Also, this past month, Luke turned 30!! We found a fun trampoline place, and the kids went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time for a birthday party! Luke gave me 23 long stem red roses for Valentine's day and Vera woke up to one on her pillow and was soooo happy and excited about it.  Here are a few pics of this past month.....

 Anyway...counting down!

7 Months Already!?!

This little cherub is 7 months old. WHAT. He is the sweetest thing and I dont want him to grow up into a little monster like his brother and sister!!! ;)  He is 16 1/2 pounds and 25 1/2 inches long.  He may look chunky, but he is our slimmest baby yet.  He nurses about every 4 hours and isn't too interested in eating anything else.  He does seem to like green beans, apple sauce and carrots...but I can only get him to eat a small amount before he acts like he has a locked jaw.  He has had a cold for the last month which has been exhausting.  He can't breathe through his nose and has a nasty cough....He has to sleep on his tummy or propped up and mouth wide open :( but that hasn't stopped him from being happy.  Nothing has stopped his happy personality, not even his TWO teeth.  Kade is everywhere now that he army crawls...his favorite place is any where he can find chords ( he loves the TV stand because of all the chords he can pull out from underneath).  He makes his "t" sounds and "da" sounds all the time...still no ma :/ but I am his favorite anyway. We love our Kade!

Kade's 1/2 Birthday!

Kade is 6 months old already!!  He weighs 16 lbs and about 25 in long ( according to my own scale and measurements...his Dr apt isn't for 2 weeks) He is still the happiest baby and makes me the happiest mama! He rolls all over the place, and has mastered the backward inch worm technique- and ends up 1/2 way stuck under the couch a lot.  He loves the jumper and any attention he can get.  He is just like his big brother.  He laughs at just about anything...and Finley is still his favorite, but Vera can get him laughing good too...she is just not as careful (she is pretty clumsy).  He has found his tongue and voice...and can yell quite loudly. Kade sleeps in his own room now...at least for the first 5-8 hrs.  He has tried carrots and green beans....he doesn't cry...he gags quite a bit, but smiles through it....so I say he is pretty indifferent to it.  He has to know what's going on..if I'm nursing and anyone makes a sound or talks he has to through his head back to be apart of whatever it is....He is so relaxed in the bath and giggles through every diaper change. He is definitely the family favorite and can steal anyone's heart with his cute smile! I am so grateful for this boy and cant remember what life was like without him!

Kade's 5 months old!

I don't know how I got so lucky to have the happiest baby ever, but I am loving it!!  This month Kade has found his voice. He does a serious type of yelling ha...not sure how else to explain it.  He loves the jumper and is constantly putting himself to sleep in it.  He usually sways side to side instead of jumps.  He has his hands in his mouth constantly. He had his first Christmas! Finley is definitely his favorite...Finley can get him to laugh more than anyone.  He is still only BF. He has started sleeping in his own room and bed for the majority of the night this past week...usually from 10pm-3 or 4.  He no longer takes a pacifier he just chews on it if I try to give it to him.  He has had a clogged tear duct since birth and since Christmas has become a little worse so he might need a small surgery to clear that up. He is rolling every wear and loves to examine his hands.  I sure do love this boy of mine!!

The things they say...

 FINLEY:
-He prays for Grandpa Tom to come back to life already
-He prays he doesn't clog the toilet (happened 1 time and now is a constant fear of his)..this also made him curious about plumbing and where stuff goes when we flush so he has been learning about that.
-My favorite kind of food is Ham. And Ham Sandwich has the word Ham in it, so it has to have Ham.
-I like to eat hot things so I can breathe fire.

 VERA:
-I gotcha.
- Dat cool, mom? Dat funny mom?
- Wait a second...is that...(whatever)
- When she is letting the water out of the tub she says "mom, I will flush it"
- You get it, crazy mom!
- My name is (starts to sound it out) C C C Bera.
- She calls purses "persons" and always walks around with something similar to a purse and says "mom, dis my person."
-calls everyone "silly goosters"
-"im da mom, you da bera...you listen to me!"
- (Me: Vera, will you throw this away?) "oh yea, of course!"
-Mom, see I happy. I not sad. I not two happy mom (holding up 2 fingers), I one percent happy.
- She hums while she eats....hopefully this stops soon. But today she was eating cereal (multigrain cheerios with cut up bananas and fresh maple syrup drizzled) and at the end she yells "Daddy dis the best cereal ever!"
- After church Vera tells me, "mom, Jesus is the rock!"
I was eating lunch with Vera...and she says: "mom, my father says we have to go to the zoo, but dat takes a berry long time. And I dont fink I know how to get to da zoo because it is too far away. We need a suit case. That's what my father said."