Bowling Fun...

Yesterday we took the boys bowling and had a lot of fun. Josh has been SO excited to go, he jumps up and down, claps his hands, and says "I JUST CAN'T WAIT TO GO BOWLING!" every time we mentioned it. Haha, he's so cute.

Here they are in their cute bowling shoes...

Jack getting ready to roll his ball...Cute pic of Josh, don't mind the ghost of Jackson behind him (my camera sucks)...
Josh would jump up and down and give everyone hi fives every time he got any pins down...Cuteness...Hot mama Christine getting ready to bowl..Daddy and Josh...Josh would put his ball down to put his finger in it, haha...Blurry but cute...What happened to Jackson? He decided to hit Joshy and not say sorry so he pouted the rest of the game. We told him no more bowling because of how he was acting so Josh got to bowl all his frames. Here he is---mad that I'm taking a picture of him pouting, haha...

It was a fun day as a family. Today I gave a talk in church on fatherhood and the priesthood. It went well and it was nice to not have to wrestle the boys all through sacrament meeting. Tomorrow Parker has the day off so I think we'll head to the gym then head to the pool! Yay! I want to get some color! Then I think we'll head over to a friend's BBQ! More to come!

Uh Oh Face

Tyce has learned two new things lately that I think are so cute! First is his "uh oh" face. Whenever he drops something he looks at it and says, "uh oh!" Then he makes this face...

Then he laughs....His second trick is his "big boy." Whenever we say BIG BOY he puts his arms up high as he can, haha, it's so cute...He also loves his sippy cup. Two more months then NO MORE BOTTLES! Yay!

I've finally given up on bathing Tyce in the kitchen sink (it's so much easier on my back) because he loves the big tub with his brothers..I love that Tyce is in the background just cracking up...Joshy has been kinda tired lately...

Nothing too exciting to report. Christine leaves Monday for NYC for a week but then comes back for five days before she leaves FOREVER! =( I'm not going to let myself think about that yet. My parents come next WEDNESDAY, which I'm super excited for. And the boys' 4th birthday is coming up...which I am very very excited for. I have everything bought, down to the spiderman plates and napkins. All I have to do is order the cake! Yay!

Special Day...

Today was my "special day" with the twins. Christine stayed home with Tyce while I took the boys to Shrek 4! They have been very excited to see it in the theater and, of course, eat popcorn! It was so fun to be with them, without Tyce. It's nice to be able to give them my full attention without having to stress about diapers, bottles, and carrying fussy Tyce around.

Here we are before we left... Jack thought he "looked cute" with his arms folded in the theater...

Josh drank almost this entire thing (he doesn't get pop much)...After the movie...As much fun as the movie was, they almost had more fun with the high pressure hand dryers in the bathrooms...Not their best picture...They stopped at the arcade on the way out but mommy was "out of monies" so they just had to pretend, I dread the day that stops!Again with the dryers...After we left the theater we stopped at the store to buy the boys' "big boy car seats." I figure since Tyce is going to need theirs soon we may as well get them the booster car seats sooner than later! They were SO excited and carried their boxes all the way to the car, then made me open and set them up before we left the parking lot, haha...

They were "so strong" to carry these boxes...The nice thing is we now have more room for when people need to sit in between them!

It was a wonderful afternoon with my boys. I asked them what their favorite part of the day was and Jackson said..."sitting on mommy's lap in the movie." Melted my heart! Joshy's was..."seeing Puss (the cat in Shrek) have a big belly." He also was happy that Shrek "didn't die. But if he did, he would go to Heaven to see Heavenly Father!" Haha. I love my boys so much!!!

Thanks to Auntie Christine for babysitting Tyce. HOWEVER, he slept for almost FOUR hours!!! Christine finally had to wake him up! Course, the days where I'M home, wanting to take a nap, he sleeps for an hour and wakes up three times in that hour. I swear I swear I swear he has some sort of sensor for when mommy wants to sleep! But, I'm glad Christine got some relaxing time..she deserves it!!!

P.S. There's a new video at the bottom of my blog...Josh is AMAZING at dribbling! I can't believe him! He misses his basket in this video but usually he makes it. He is extremely coordinated and athletic.

Date Night...

Last night I picked Parker up from the train station and told him we were going out! Yay! He was very excited to look in the back seat and see no kids! We just went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill but stayed a long time and talked. We sat outside and the weather was beautiful and perfect. Our food was yummy. And it was so nice to be able to just TALK, in peace! Thanks to wonderful amazing patient Christine for babysitting for us. She had to feed them all, clean up huge messes, and get them all down! Super woman Christine!

Here I am with my yummy raspberry sorbetto!!! Not the best pic, but I forgot my camera so we had to use Parker's phone...

I love you babe! Thanks for a fun night! =)

Jack the Perfectionist

I just don't know what to do about my sweet Jackson. He is so extremely OCD that teaching him is very difficult. We have been working on learning to write his name for quite some time. Josh learned in a matter of days and, actually, Jackson could have as well EXCEPT...he is an extreme perfectionist. We haven't gotten past the letter J because he gets upset with himself because his J's aren't PERFECT like mine or like the one on his wall in his room. He's 3, his J's will not be perfect, but I don't know how to tell him that. I tell him his J's ARE perfect, which makes him more mad. And by mad I mean typical Jackson fit (rolling on the ground crying in devastation). It's frustrating. I'm hoping as he gets older he can channel his perfectionism (is that a word?) towards something good but I really don't know how to handle him?

Any suggestions or ideas???

GIRL'S DAY OUT!

Saturday Christine (Parker's little sister) and I had a girl's day out at King's Dominion amusement park! We had so much fun together and really enjoyed time without the kids. Christine and I get along great and always find things to laugh about. We were there for 10 hours and figured we were walking/standing for at least 9 of those hours. The lines for the big roller coasters were about an hour each, but worth it. We had fun in line, talking, people watching, and freaking out about the rides. We must've been bad luck because THREE of the roller coasters we were in line for had "temporary delays" while the mechanics came and fixed stuff. SCARY! We rode the Intimidator 305 which is 305 feet in the air and goes 94 mph. It was crazy, we both kinda blacked out! We came home stinky, sweaty, blistered feet, and exhausted but we had an awesome day. Oh, and did I mention the DELICIOUS strawberry italian ices and the funnel cakes? YUMMY! Thanks to my wonderful husband for watching the boys ALL day, without a car! Love you babe! And thanks to Christine for a VERY entertaining day!!!

Here we are when we first got there... Devouring our funnel cakes...We asked this guy to take a picture in front of the Volcano sign because it was our favorite roller coaster, but apparently he didn't understand we wanted the sign IN the picture...So we asked someone else to take one, we LOVED this ride...Here it is, the Intimidator 305! It goes SOOO high!!!
Yay for having Christine here, it is SO wonderful! The boys are in heaven and, let's face it, so am I! =) Love you sis!!!

Tyce is Nine Months Old!!!

My baby is nine months old! Gosh, before I know it he'll be a year and then time just speeds up from there!

Tyce had his nine month check yesterday and, other than his iron being a little low, everything looks great! He weighed 21 pounds, which is the 50%. I was pretty surprised by that because he looks so chubby to me! However, I did have preemies so I guess that's what I was used to. He was almost 30 inches tall, which is the 90%. Sounds like he'll be tall like his daddy and Jackson!

Tyce sleeps about 8pm-7am and takes two naps a day. He loves table food like Cheerios and Kix to snack on. He is pulling himself up, can stand for about 5 seconds by himself, and loves to walk along things. He also loves to walk while we hold his hands. He loves to make messes in the pantry pulling stuff out. He loves to pull the toilet paper roll out. He loves to get in my kitchen cabinets and pull all my pots and pans out. Basically, he loves to explore and make messes!

Tyce loves attention, especially when it's from his brothers. His face lights up when the boys come in to the room. He LOVES when they play with him and they can make him laugh better than I can! He is currently teething so he is very very very fussy and high maintenance. AKA he is driving me crazy. I know his teeth hurt but how does me walking around holding him make a difference? Well it must because that's what he wants 24/7! Hopefully it will be better soon. But we love our little Tyce so much and love watching him grow and develop!!!

I snapped some pics this morning...

In other news, CHRISTINE IS HERE AND LIFE IS GOOD!!! =) More on that later.

Fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Denae!

Well today is my only day without visitors so I decided to hurry and blog about THIS week before all the excitement starts this weekend! =) My wonderful grandparents and aunt came to visit this week! They got in Monday night and left this morning. My grandpa and aunt spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in DC seeing all the sights and had tons of fun. They had ideal weather, timing, and service. My grandma stayed home with me on Tuesday and Thursday which was SO fun! My grandma and I are very close and she is so full of energy and love. Tuesday we went to Chuck E Cheese and Thursday she babysat the kids while I took a NAP and went to the doctor. It was so nice just having her here with me. Probably the highlight of the trip was our nightly gathering at Nathan's Dairy Bar-pretty much the best ice cream ever. There's a bench there that looks like a cow that the boys just think is the coolest thing ever. So we had lots of fun and I miss them already!

The good news? Shane comes tomorrow night to stay over and spend Mother's Day with us and then Christine comes Sunday afternoon to stay for a month!!! YAY!!! The boys are so excited, they just love having people here and we just want everyone to keep on coming! =)

Here's the crew before they left this morning...

A Tribute to Jenn, My Wife, My Love, Our Wonderful Mother!

Jenn, I thought I would give you one of your Mother's Day presents a little early. I hope it gives you a boost :) You have so many special characteristics that make you so successful as a mother and wife. It may not be glamorous and exciting at times, but I think you are doing an amazing job. You are also one of the best friends I could ever hope for and I think everyone who meets you gets to know you for the compassionate and fun person you really are, despite the three kids who seem to steal the show everywhere you go. You do mean everything to your four boys. We Love you so much sweetie!

Who Am I?

It's 8am, I've been awake since about 5:30am, and my mind has been racing. When I was in Utah two weeks ago I had two days without a husband or kids. For the first time in a VERY long time, I felt like JENN again. Not wife Jenn. Not mom Jenn. Just Jenn. I was happy. I like being just Jenn. Life is easier, I can be selfish, I can be rested, I can focus on ME and do what I want to do. To be honest, I don't remember what that was like. I got married at 19 and it all seems so long ago that I was just Jenn. I can't help but long for that life again on days like today when my grandparents and aunt were able to get up early and head up to DC for a fun day of sight seeing and I'm stuck here with my kids, as always. Not that I necessarily want to head into DC (been there done that a million times), but I'd love the FREEDOM to do so.

There are so many women in my life that I feel like are "natural born mothers." I, unfortunately for my kids, am not one of those. I love my kids more than I can even express, but I feel like I have to strive every day to be HAPPY in what I'm doing. Maybe I would be put to better use as a working professional? My personality is such that I feel like I could be successful in the work place, whereas I feel like I continually fail as a mother and as a wife. Would I rather be single? Sometimes. Would I rather not have children? Sometimes. Would I rather be working? Sometimes. But then, I fear, I would find emptiness. I think spouses and children bring life to life. Yes, life would be easier if I was just Jenn. But it would not help me fulfill my mission here on earth-to learn, to experience the good AND bad, to grow. I guess I just need to find ways to be happy, to make myself happy as wife and mother Jenn and give up on the idea of ever being just Jenn again. I love my husband and I love my boys SO much, I really do. For some reason though, I'm struggling to find true happiness in my calling as a wife and mother.

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Cute Guys...

I just thought the boys all looked so cute today for church so I thought I'd take some pictures. They LOVE getting new clothes so they were super excited about their new shirts and ties ($12 at H&M!). Jackson gets to do the prayer and scripture next Sunday in Primary and Josh gets to give a talk! They'll be so cute! Future missionaries huh?!?