Did I Really Forget St. Patricks Day?

We SO love St. Patty's Day around here.  They play such silly tricks on us, but they bring us lots of goodies, too!  We celebrated with a dinner and lots of green.  The Leprechauns left a huge bouquet of balloons on our front porch to welcome the kids home from school.   Any reason to celebrate is good enough for us!

Face Painting

For the last MANY MANY years, my mom has an end-of-the-month Sunday dinners.  They are always so delish!  We are lucky enough to have cute Sadie paint the kids' faces almost every time!  Check this out!  These are no ordinary parties!  Not bad for a 6th grader!

Here's my Relief Society lesson tomorrow.

It's late tonight, and I hope that this will suffice for my Relief Society lesson tomorrow.

It was created by me a few minutes ago, and the lesson is on Testimony.

When is Dad Coming Home?

"Jensyn, where is Jack?"

"He's in his room."

"What's he doing in his room, he's being so quiet. Will you go check for me?"

(pitter-patter of Jensyn's feet quickly making way to and from Jack's room)

"He said he's waiting for daddy to come home."

I went to check for myself, and this is what I saw.

Sweet little kid. And sweet John who works so hard. We miss you this spring John, but thanks.

Madden is half.

I've been so busy today, but I never forgot to keep telling Madden that he is now half. (You know, like 1 and a half?--he's just half.) Whenever I said that to him, he just looked at me and laughed. It's true. Mr. Madden is now 6 months old.He is the sweetest baby on the planet. I thought that Loganwas easy, and she was, but this boy has taken the place of being the easiest baby! He takes several naps a day, but he requires his crib. The minute that he lays in it, he's asleep-and asleep for several hours.He sleeps at night from 8:30-ish to 9:00-ish each morning (and so do I, but don't tell John!) I couldn't ask for a better little guy for our last baby! I am loving each minute I have him. I am wondering if his eyes will be brown because almost daily, I see a new color in them. Can't we just have one chocolate chip eyed baby? I haven't taken Mads in for his 6 month check yet, but it does seem that he has mastered all of his 6 month milestones. The kids adore him and take him to explore. Lately, he loves being outside. He loves watching the kids play outside, even if they just leave him in the stroller and ignore him. Boy, is he a chunk though! When he was born, he was so skinny. That skin--has turned into rolls! He has chubby cheeks, legs, and wrists. I wouldn't have him any other way!

Madden, I certainly love you so much and we love having you in our family. You have completed us! I am so happy that you are half now, but I'm just not going to let you get any older-so sorry about that.

Our Family this Easter

We're Still Here.

My hottie of a husband doing what he loves most!

Jensyn turns 5!

Madden and Logan

Jack-Truck and me!

Jensyn is reading!

Our lives really are full of fun and busy-ness, but I just can't seem to find a dang thing to write about. John's season has picked up again, and is going FULL FORCE! This we are thankful for since the winter was such a ridiculous one. We are excited to have Norberto return to work with John this year---quite possibly one of the best workers that John has had. Now, if Zach would just come back we would be in great shape! We've had lots of mini-miracles happen recently both with the business and our personal lives. We continue to be blessed with having Casey and her cute girls in our home. Although we love it having her here, I know she would rather be somewhere, anywhere, else!

Chelsey is close to having baby #2, and we are so glad that it's a girl!! She will be here in about 10 days, and we couldn't be more happy for them! I'm just jealous that she gets to spend several days in the hospital. (I wonder if they would let me check in to labor and delivery while she is there?) I don't think Chelsey would appreciate having a roommate.

Time is passing quickly. Madden is now nearly 5 months old and he is a fabulous baby. He sleeps well through the night and doesn't generally fuss. He does love his crib and requires to be set down several times per day to get his rest. This morning he woke up at 5am wanting to "talk." Once John spent 15 minutes talking to him (Madden "cooing" back) John set him back into his crib and he fell asleep for another several hours. I think I am really going to miss babies. I have loved the baby stage and it will definitely be strange not having babies around after Madden. At his 4 month appointment, Madden weighed 15 pounds! He is a chunk! (but a happy chunk at that.)

Logan is doing very well in the 1st grade. She loves her teacher and loves to be at school. Parent-Teacher conferences was last week. Each time, she improves yet! She is now reading to a level T. This, her teacher said, is a mid 5th grade reading level. She must get this from John. Her teacher told her that she has far exceeded any first grader that she has ever had. ---Her teacher does not have any books left, so now she has to bring home novels. I am so proud of her! I hope her brain continues to work and she doesn't get too bored!

Jensyn has received her blending badge at pre-school and has since advanced quickly! She is already on book 6 and is working on number 7. I love the way she lights up when she brings home a book each day. She knows how excited John and I will be for her. I think she will be head to head with Logan in Kindergarten and first grade! Let's hope the 2 boys will get there, too!

Jack is out of control! He is such a sweet little boy--who loves his mom, but idolizes his dad. He will always stop what he is doing to give me a kiss, but he hardly misses a beat getting back to work. He loves to shovel dirt into his wheelbarrow, just like John. He could be kept busy for hours doing whatever John does to work. I am loving that trait in him. He absolutely LOVES monster trucks, he is a broken record! First thing in the morning, it's monster trucks--all through the day, it's monster trucks. He loves to watch Monster Jam videos on You-Tube. His favorite trucks are Grave Digger and Captains Curse. His collection is large and it is tough to keep up with finding the location of each truck since he always says that they are "hiding." I'll find them in corners, nestled along walls, under his bed, in his closet, between my bed and my wall...It's tricky! Having a boy is SO different than my girls, but we love every minute of each of them.

John has been home with me all winter, and it has been a winter of no work. I don't think I will ever look forward to winter again. I do love having him home--I rely so much on him! What is going to happen now that I have to wake up by 7:30 to get Logan to school by 8? I love that John helps so much when he is home. I am going to miss him!

John and I just celebrated our 11 year anniversary. I am so thankful for him and all that he is. I couldn't live a day without him. I can't wait for all the rest of the years to spend with him--I'm not sure that eternity is long enough. Happy anniversary, babe.

I am excited to help John this year more with the business and our own yard! I've been pregnant during the summer twice over the last 3 years. It's been way too hot to even open the back door. I stay inside. This summer is booked! I have a wedding that I am doing where I will need to design and plant about 20 different flower baskets and pots. This will be fun! What would I ever do without Larkin and their amazing flowers? Why go anywhere else when I can purchase HUGE plants at the beginning of the season and then plant them myself to my hearts desire? My problem is, I STUFF them full so they end up being just as expensive, if not more, as if Larkin designed the pots themselves. I won't ever go back!

This about sums up our family for the last few months. Maybe next time I won't take so long to write something.