A little bit of our craziness...

This school year has brought a new element of crazy into our family. Having our in school is BUSY!  Having to remember what day they have PE, who has show and tell when, spelling tests and memory verses, field trips, library books and everything else that school involves can be a bit challenging at times! Then throw in soccer, GEMS, cheerleading, half marathon training and life in general, and it is officially a whole new level of crazy!

 

Weston decided it was time for a haircut, so he went ahead and gave himself one...nice, huh! 

And then mommy fixed it. His hair hasn't EVER been this short. I'm ready for his cute blonde spikes to grow back, but he does look pretty cute like this too!

 

Carter has been busy playing soccer. His team got invited to play at a Western Soccer game. The boys LOVED watching the guys play, and getting to play at half time was pretty cool!

 Carter spends so much time on his RipStik. He has gotten so good! It's pretty fun to watch all of his tricks!

 I ran the Bellingham Bay half marathon on Sept. 30. I had such a good time, and hope to run many more!

 Nick, my mom, Nick's mom and the kids came to cheer me on. A few of my friends were there cheering me on too. It made such a big difference having people there for support! I passed these guys at mile 9, and it's just what I needed to finish! I LOVE this picture. :)

 I got to go along with Carter to his field trip. They went to the Lynden Fire Station and the Library.

 We decided it was definitely time to get new carpet. Four kids and years of spills and dirt had taken their toll. We have wanted to do it for awhile, and this was the week that it finally happened!

 Yay! No more stains! We decided to get new carpet on Monday, picked it out that afternoon, and had it installed on Tuesday. It's actually quite a bit darker than it looks in the picture, and it's way darker than our old carpet was. I'm hoping it hides stains better too.

 Miss Ava cheering. We always love watching her cheer, and this was her fourth year doing it.

There's a taste of what we've been up to... I love this crazy life we live and wouldn't trade it for anything!

Big Bus Riders

Weston and Coleson got to ride the bus to school for the first time last week! Preschoolers get to go on the bus with their older siblings, which is so fun! Ava brings them to their class and signs them in when they get there, and then I pick them up after school. They've done it twice now with no problems. I was pretty nervous, because my boys can be a handful, but the bus driver said they were great! Phew!

 

Patiently waiting....so excited!

 The twins felt pretty special!

 So sweet that she sits by them on the bus, especially considering she has friends on the bus that she usually sits by. What a good big sis. :)

A Breakthrough

   Coleson has been the most curious, stubborn, difficult child to raise for the last 2 years. He has frustrated me beyond belief, brought me to tears out of feeling completely defeated and pushed me to my near breaking point. He has been my "difficult" child....until he turned four.
   He has completely turned a corner! Don't get me wrong, he can still be naughty, but he has taken such big strides toward being an easier child.
-Coleson started preschool 2 weeks ago and is doing amazingly well! He walks in, hangs up his backpack and coat, gives me a hug and a kiss, and is off to play. He has completely blown me away!
-He went to Children's Church AND Sunday School yesterday with no hesitation whatsoever. He walked in without a struggle and participated in class with no complaints from his teachers!!! For those of you that don't know about our struggles with him at church last year, let's just say that it was less than ideal. We would battle with him every Sunday to get him to go into his 2 classes, and then eventually just give in and stay with him in class, or let him come back into church with us. There was nothing that we could do or say to change his mind. His little change of heart makes my Sundays so much easier!
-He is starting to understand that the consequences that come after his actions make the actions not so worth it. He has really started to think things through and learn from mistakes. At 3, his attitude was "I'm going to do it, and nothing that you can say or do will change my mind!" It was really frustrating!
-He does so many things to help me around the house without being asked or told. He will get the laundry out of my bathroom, empty the bathroom garbage cans, bring my kitchen garbage out to the outside garbage can, and beg to help me fold towels. It's honestly the sweetest thing.

   I feel like I've spent so much time venting about Coleson; either on the blog, or to some of you in person. I figured it was only fair to update all of you on the progress that this sweet little boy has made. So many people have encouraged me over the years and ensure me that "it will get easier" or "one day it will click", and I'm happy to say that they were right!
   I will say that we still have a ways to go in some areas, and he is by no means a perfect child, but we have had a breakthrough! I'm happy to say that today I am going to celebrating the progress that Coleson has made, and thank God for this little boy and how much he means to us!

She's Everything to me

I love my sweet, sassy, stubborn, emotional, silly, quirky, happy, crazy little miss Ava! What would we do without her?

FOUR year pictures of Weston and Coleson

Weston at 4 years old: -He loves playing outside with his brothers and sister -He is very easy going most of the time -He can be very dramatic at times. -He is very daring and will try ANYTHING. -He started riding his bike without training wheels at 3yrs. 10 mos. -He still loves mom to carry him. :) -He has the most adorable smile EVER! -He can be a little bully, especially to little girls. -These days, he is very quick to say "I don't like you" when he's mad. -His laugh is extremely contagious. -He likes to sleep in. (wish his twin brother did too!) -His favorite color is blue -He loves to sit down and do his preschool books. -He weighs 42 pounds and wears size 12 shoe and wears size 6/7 in shirts and 5 in pants. -He loves to "update" me on what everyone else is doing, especially when it's naughty. I wouldn't call it tattling, more like observing and reporting. It actually helps me out a lot! An extra pair of eyes on Coleson never hurts! -Weston is so loving and sweet, and we just love that little guys so much!

Coleson at 4 years old -He is still very curious and strong willed, but he's starting to understand that his actions has consequences, and definitely has started to think twice. -He is very unpredictable: he will be scared to death of something one minute, but go try something even more crazy or dangerous the next. Still haven't figured this guy out. -He LOVES garbage trucks. Obsessed would be an understatement. He stalks our garbage man. -His favorite color is STILL orange. :) -His vocabulary is very impressive and he blows me away with some of the things he comes up with. That little brain is always working! -He weighs 52 pounds, wears a size 13 shoe, wears a 6/7 shirt and size 6 pants. -He loves to swim and is a little fishy! -He is the best snuggler and crawls in bed with me every morning. LOVE our cuddle time! -This boy can not keep shoes on. Drives me nuts! -His favorite TV show is Doc McStuffins. -He asks questions all.day.long. -He loves to pester all of his sibblings. He is suck a stinker! -He started riding his bike without training wheels a few weeks before he turned 4. -He randomly calls me or his siblings "hot lips". Not sure where he got it, but it's really cute. -He loves sleepovers at grandma's house. -He still overwhelms me every single day. -Coleson has a really big heart, and he just melts mine. He is such a handfull, but I wouldn't trade him for anything!

Happy Birthday to our twinkies!

Our babies turned four a few days ago! They were so excited to celebrate with a camping party, and it was a lot of fun!

Raspberry Festival

Carter did so well playing in his first Raspberry Festival, and he had a great time doing it! We started out the day with a game in the pouring down rain, but the rain slowed down quickly, and we got to enjoy the rest of our day. They don't keep score in Carter's age group, but he make 8 baskets during his 4 games, which he was very happy with! We had a blast ha

Camping in Eastern Washington

        The boys were so excited about their beach find...a dead, half eaten, rotten fish. Thanks boys!

                             The kids and dads had so much fun on the raft that we got in Chelan.

                                 The 3 little ones were so tired after a long day on the boat.

                                                                    Our buddies

                                                    Jace, Megan, Ryan, Brenyn and Kyler

                                                                             Us

                                          The girls were so proud of their matching shirts

                                                 Catching crawdads with dad at Pearrygin

                                                 Coleson LOVED swimming in the lake

They started with a crawdad pot, but Nick decided that diving down in 25 feet of water might be better. His ears were seriously bleeding, but he caught a lot of crawdads!

                                                           We had so much fun tubing!
                                           

             These girls have been friends their whole lives and always have so much fun together.

Me and my big dude...this was right before the tube was sucked under the water and we got dunked.

Swimming Lessons

The kids loved swimming lessons again this year! This was Coleson and Weston's first year with teacher Linda, and they listened and swam like little champs! Coleson always has me a little worried, but he proved me wrong and excelled!