The kids have something to tell you...

Suprise!!

Yes...this is for real...for all those of you who haven't heard the news yet. We are expecting baby #4 in March!!! We are all very excited to have a new baby in our house in 5 months. But yes...to all of you who are wondering...it was a major, major shock to Eric & I. In fact, we waited for quite awhile to tell people b/c we needed to adjust to the news ourselves first.

We had considered ourselves done having kids...meaning we got rid of all of our baby clothes, baby toys, baby items, maternity clothes, in between size clothing...everything!!! But I guess God decided that we were not to be done...He clearly had different plans than we did! Although I'm not sure it's completely sunk in with Eric & I yet...we are truly blessed to have another precious baby enter our family.

Please pray for all of us in the upcoming months. I have very difficult pregnancies...from sickness for the first 4 months(which thankfully I am almost done with), to no stomach muscles which makes for a very difficult last couple months, to big babies. But most importantly we hope & pray for a healthy little baby to enter our lives in March.

When we told the kids Cayden exclaimed "oh my word!!" and the girls just sat there with big, giant smiles on their faces. They are all so very excited!!

No More Tears...

The last couple weeks have truly been an adjustment period in our family. Cayden went to school wonderfully the first week...but then on Monday of the second week he missed the bus in the morning which I think set his schedule all off. Eric then tried to drop him off to school on his way to work & basically had to pry Cayden off of his leg & force him crying hysterically into the classroom. Thankfully all of the kids were still outside on the playground and didn't see all of this. This actually happened the rest of the week in the morning...lots of big, crocodile tears and saying he didn't want to go to school. Then I started getting calls from his teacher in the afternoon saying he was crying and didn't want to get on the bus to ride home.

Since Cayden is a typical boy and therefore we have to really, really try hard to pry information from him...it took us awhile to get to the actual problem. We wondered...is he not making friends at school, are there mean kids on the bus, we thought of just about everything. The only answer we ever got out of him was that he just missed Mommy. But the Mom in me just had to have a more concrete answer than that!!! :)

After lots of conversations with Cayden and also with his wonderful teacher...we finally came to the conclusion that he was just having trouble adjusting to being at school all day long...from 7:45am until 4pm when he arrived home. He missed being at home with me and missed having down time at home to not think. Eric talked with Cayden before bed one night and asked him if it would help to take a picture of Mommy to school with him. Cayden responded "Dad, that's just wierd!" But the more Eric talked with him about it the more Cayden liked the idea. So late that night Eric had to scour the house for a picture of me for Cayden to take to school. When he got off the bus that day he seemed happier...and said he kept my picture in his pocket so he could look at it when he missed me...but that sometimes he would get tears when he looked at it.

I also said that if he didn't cry in the morning I would pick him up from school and he wouldn't have to ride the bus for a little while. He shocked me with saying "no, Mom, that's okay, I don't mind riding the bus". Okay buddy...I'm clueless!!! :) We did agree that once a week I would surprise him in the afternoon by picking him up in the afternoon...and he wouldn't know which day. I've done that twice so far and he gets so excited when he sees me at the end of the day!!

So...it's almost the end of another week of school and we made it almost 2 full weeks without any tears!!! He gets right on the bus in the morning and comes off the bus at the end of the day with lots of smiles!!! I am sooo very thankful!! In fact, last friday he came home and asked what day it is tomorrow. I told him it was Saturday and that he didn't have any school. He responded "Awww man" really disapointed that he couldn't go to school! I think this boy is going to keep us guessing right up into the teenage years and beyond!!!!

I'm so proud of you big boy!!!

A Quick Funny

I haven't been very good at writing down the funnies that my kids have said lately...but this one was too good to pass up!

This morning I was making breakfast & Kamryn was coloring at the table. She says to me from the other room..."mommy, I colored the ball...I excited!" To which I asked "you're excited??". She's responds with a big laugh "yeah, I excited!" She comes up with the funniest things!! And she surprises us everyday with her big vocabulary and some of the grownup words that she uses. She is always very vocal about her feelings that is for sure. Sometimes when she wakes up from her nap in the afternoon I'll let her cry for a little bit to make sure she's truly ready to be up. Once in awhile she'll let out a big scream to let me know she's really serious. I'll go in to get her and she says "I scream...Kamryn sad" and I'll ask her why she's sad, to which she'll respond "mommy come get Kamryn". She is definitely all girl and a lot like her big sister!!

Kitty Cat, lady bug, ballerina Girl

So I know these aren't really pictures from Kamryn's birthday...but she was just too cute today...I just had to quick record these. Every friday Cousin Lisa comes over to babysit the kids while I do my business work. Now that Cayden is in school all day the girls are really loving doing girlie stuff with Cousin Lisa. Painting nails, playing dolls & dressup, to artwork...they are both in all of their glory! Today Addyson went to a girlfriend's house after preschool...so Kamryn had Cousin Lisa all to herself for the whole day. She loved it!! Kamryn loves to play dressup & always has to come show Mommy when she's all pretty. Today she came into the kitchen all smiles, with Lisa giggling behind her...and this is what I found:

Isn't she adorable??

1st day of Preschool

Last week Wednesday Addyson had an open house for her preschool. Daddy met us at her new classroom where we all got to meet her teacher, Mrs. V., and look around her classroom. Part of the time the class spent outside on the playground with the preschool helper while Mrs. V talked inside to the parents. When we came outside to get Addyson she had already made a new friend, Lily, and was sooo very excited!

This year is Addyson's first year at Legacy Christian. She is so proud to be going to preschool at the same school as her big brother! She is usually pretty shy...but she had no problems going right into school the first day. Her first real day was last Friday...and when I picked her up she was so excited to tell me all about her day. She told me every last detail down to how many times she had blown her nose that morning. :) She was very proud to be playing on the same playground that Cayden goes on every day, taking her own projects home, playing with her new friend, Lily, and the fact that her teacher puts her in the car and buckles her up on the way home. I must say that as a Mom with 3 kids I really, really like that I just pull up in the turnaround at school, have Addyson's nametag in our car window, and the teachers come out and bring the kids right to their cars. And buckle them in as well! That will be awesome in the wintertime I must say. When Cayden was in preschool at Byron Center I had to lug all 3 kids inside for both dropoff and pickup...in every kind of weather. That was definitely a rough winter.

On Friday afternoon after school Cayden informed us that he had peeked in on Addyson while she was in her classroom and told us she was in reading time. When Addyson found out that Cayden had checked on her she was beaming from ear to ear. He has done that every day that she's been in preschool so far. That reassures me that he really does look out after his little sister...what a cutie.

Here are some pictures of my blondie on her first preschool open house and then on her very first day at Legacy Christian school. She is growing up so fast & loves to learn.

Open House Day


1st Day of School

Missing In Action

Where have I been you ask?? This pretty much sums up my life in the last month or so...

...12 photo shoots in a 1 month span

...hours & hours & hours of editing on my computer

...camping 2 times with 3 kids...1 time for a week without my hubby...enough said :)

...2 kids starting school

...lots of Dr. visits(I think at one point the kids Dr. said he sees our family more than his own...not what a Mom wants to hear)

...many, many school functions

...a crying 6 year old who is missing his Mommy while at school

...a husband who is also very busy at work & works mostly OUT of Grand Rapids

...did I mention lots & lots of editing on my computer??

...keeping up with a 2 year old who is very adorable but also very opinionated & let's just say outspoken :)

...sleeping very, very well at night, which is a very big blessing

Well...I'm sure that there is much, much more that I could add...but I would like to add some pictures as well before I go to bed. I can't say that I will be blogging often in the next couple weeks...but I will try to do my best.

Happy Birthday to my baby Kamryn who turned 2 years old today!! I will include pictures soon!! I love you baby girl!!