Jack o'lighters

Tayden and Beckett were so excited to carve "jack o'lighters" this year. I'm normally pretty bahumbug about Halloween, but since we're moving, I decided to be fun. First we had pumpkin pancakes with exploding brains and watched a Halloween flick. Then to the pumpkins. I was shocked by how much they hated scooping out the guts. It was way too slimy and stinky for them. I ended up doing all the dirty work. But boy oh boy did they enjoy carving them. Cache could have poked holes in that pumpkin all night. Lighting them was the best, though. They loved putting the fire inside and watching them glow. 

It was such a fun night and possibly the start of new a tradition. 

A little Boy

It's time to come clean. There is another reason I've been so behind at life as of late. It's this little boy. 

Yes, the one in my belly. He has been making me so incredibly tired. So with this pregnancy, the move and all the decisions that have come with it, I've been a bundle of emotions and stress. It's been a long and bumpy road, but I feel extremely blessed to be carrying this baby boy. 

It's no secret that Scott and I were on different pages when it came to having another child. I wanted one more than anything, Scott was convinced we were done. But I always missed this child and knew he was missing. It caused a lot of heartache and pain. We finally came to a mutual agreement that we would let it go for a time and revisit the matter later.  

After months of taking substantial precautions that we wouldn't get pregnant... Let's just say when Heavenly Father wants something to happen, it happens. And much to my surprise, I found out I was pregnant. I was ecstatic but terrified to share the news with Scott. 

I kept the news between my best friend and I. She finally convinced me to tell my husband, so I thought long and hard how to break the news to him. One afternoon as I was getting ready to print my lesson for Gospel Doctorine off lds.org, I noticed a video on the home page. It was titled, "Having Children in Faith." It talked about letting the number of children be decided between you, your spouse and The Lord. I was flabbergasted. This was my perfect segway to tell Scott about the new addition. He came home and I played the video for him. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but his reaction was less than desirable. He commented that he agreed, but we still weren't ready. My heart sunk I and ran for the shower to cry it out before he would notice. He caught on quick and stopped me asking what was wrong. I lost it and sunk to the floor, blurting out, "I'm pregnant! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." And being true to the great man he is, he sat on the floor with me and wrapped his arms around me. He told me it was okay and comforted me like only a husband can. It took some time to calm me down, but after he did, we had a good talk and in the end we were both excited to receive this child into our family. 

We know this baby is meant for our family. Beckett has been very intuitive during this whole pregancy. Before we even knew about the baby Beckett made mention about him. As we were sitting down to eat he noticed we had one extra spot. He said, "We have an extra chair. That one must be for our new baby." He has also talked about his new baby brother periodically over the past few weeks, without ever knowing I was pregnant. Today when we went to the ultrasound, the technician asked what the kids thought it was, without skipping a beat and with full assurance declared it was a baby boy. He was right. 

Tayden was a little disappointed it was a boy. He really wanted to have a little sister. But after telling him wrestling matches would be four boys against one dad, he warmed up to the idea. Then after thinking about the lack of princess toys we would have around the house and how he'd get to have 3 brothers to show how to play ball and teach how to do boy things, he was okay. He even has a name for him, Zane. I told him we'd think about it. 

Cache is as excited as he can be. He knows there's a baby like our friends baby, Baby Sam and is excited. But that's about as much as he can wrap his head around. 

We are thrilled to have this baby boy. I know everyone is wondering how I'm doing welcoming another boy instead of a girl. And honestly, I'm thrilled. As soon as I saw that little boy on that screen I felt a strong connection to him. And the prospect of four boys made my heart sing. Yes, there are things I won't get to do. But there are many more I can do. And that is what I choose to focus on. I get to be the mother of four boys. I get to be the loudest mom in the stands. I get to help with boy scouts and watch pinewood derbys. I'll watch them play in the mud, ride four wheelers, climb trees, go hunting and shoot guns. I'll teach them how to treat girls.  I'll have the opportunity to watch them grow into hard working men like their father. I'll watch 8 years of consecutive missions. I watch them marry and have their own kids. I'll be their mom. I'm just so excited and blessed. 

Now, if April 15th would hurry up and get here so I can hold my little boy. 

Golden Rule and Other Good

This week proved to be another busy week, but not without some good.  Three good things that happened this week. 

1- Cache had his two year well check this month. It's a good thing he has such a big personality because he is a little guy. He is 25 lbs and just shy of 3 ft... He actually took a really good jump in height. He went from 6% last check up to 17% at this one. This is the highest he has been since birth and it looks like the doctors were right. He just grows slow and steady. He is right on track for everything else. He is dying to potty train, but I just haven't had the time. He loves to poop on the potty and tells me when he is wet. Now it's just trying to decide when to do it...before or after the move. Either way, we need to do it quick before he loses interest. He is the most social kid I have ever met. He loves to chat with anyone that will listen and rarely cries when I leave him. He marches into nursery like he owns the place and gives kisses when we leave. He loves to draw and is happy with a notebook and pen. He loves monkeys, hot air balloons and pretending to be a monster. He is just the best. 

Waiting for the doctor. 

2- Tayden came home with the "Golden Rule Award". Every quarter a boy and girl from each class get this particular award. It's for helping, being a good example and all around good kid in the class. He is so good at kindergarten. I'm honestly so proud of him. So utterly and completely proud. 

3- We have renters!!! Yay!! We found some people in our ward looking to rent and were able to make them a pretty good deal. They aren't looking to stay in Vegas permanently, so it's possible they could rent our house for 2-3 years, which would be amazing. We feel blessed to know them and share common friends, so we can keep an eye on the house a little easier. It's also nice getting an LDS couple that we trust and know will keep things in order.  We won't have to worry about smoking or pets or neighbors complaining about out of control parties. This is a direct answer from our Heavenly Father confirming to us that we have made the right choice. We are feeling extremely blessed.  

I hope things will slow down this week, now that we have renters. The move is coming up quickly and there is lots to be done, but it will be nice to only have to concentrate on that and not keeping the house spotless at the same time. I'm grateful that in the midst of the chaos we were able to see some positive and good. 

Finally Fun

After a full week of house stuff, packing, decision making, school and keeping up with the daily grind-- the kids were beyond thrilled to have a fun weekend. Tayden had a ball game, both boys went to a birthday party and then we hit the stake fair put on by the church. It was great!! 

Sunday was especially fun because Cache turned two! I absolutely can not believe my baby is two. It's flown by and he is just the best addition to our family. He rules the house. Everyone is constantly saying, "Oh look at Cache. He is so funny/cute/silly". We are all wrapped up in his sweet little personality. He is totally naughty though and frequently gets into things he's not supposed to. Or does naughty things because it makes his brothers laugh. If I tell him no about anything his response is always, "One more" with his little finger stuck up in the air. And I usually always let him. He is beyond ready to potty train, but with all the other chaos I keep pushing it back. He tells me before he poops and likes to go on the potty as much as possible. He has also started telling me pee pee. So I'd better just suck it up and get it done. Still a little guy, he is exploding with personality. He's a chatter box and speaking a lot. We love him so much and are ever grateful for his health and presence in our family. He wanted a monkey cake for his birthday, so that's what he got. We didn't get any pictures of him opening gifts, but rest assured he loved it. 

Grateful for a fun weekend and spending time enjoying life. The move is coming quickly and I'll try to update as much as possible! Yay for finally fun. 

Neglect

Since we received the news we would be moving to Idaho, my life has been a non stop whirl wind. Every spare minute I have goes to advertising the house, packing up boxes, sorting through things we don't need to take and so on and so forth.  To be honest, I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything. Between Korbin, school, speech, t-ball, moving, preschool and day to day life-- I'm drowning. I can get a few things done, but not all of it. And sadly enough, the things that are getting pushed aside are the really important things. My kids. Taydens reading. Becketts Speech. Caches potty training. It's infuriating. 

Today as Scott and I were cleaning the house for an appointment with a realtor, which ended up standing us up, the phrase "Put your house in order" kept playing in my mind. I was doing just that, cleaning up and getting things in order.

Then, I realized. Not that kind of order. Order with family. We pray every night for help to sale the house and I know we need to be consciously making the right decisions to be blessed. I am a firm believer that faith without works is dead. So, I stopped everything I was doing and put my house in order. I got on the floor with my kids and started crafting a turtle box for Taydens sea creatures. I want them to know that no matter what else is going on they are special and important. We cut and glued and had fun until it wasn't. 

I want to sale this house more than anything. I want to go up to Idaho no strings attached and start our life there. But I know, that nothing matters more than my family. Not even selling this house. Because in the end, its my family. Not the house, or cars or anything else. But my family. 

I hope not to neglect this blog anymore than I already have, but if I do, I apologize in advance. Things are only going to get more and more crazy, and as long as I remember to keep things in the right order, I know we will be blessed.