4th.

Jeff and I were talking the other day about our marriage and all of the things we've done in the past 6.5 years. 

 Jeff has been in school 4.5 of the 6.5 years.

We've lived in three different homes and bought our first home.

I've been pregnant four times.

We've had three (soon to be four) sweet boys.

It has been Busy. Wonderful. Difficult. Rewarding. Sweet. Full.

We both agreed that Parenthood has been, by far, the best thing that happened in our lives. We are loving learning, growing, and becoming a family together. 

We are so amazed by this experience. Every day offers new challenges, new discoveries, new joys, new loves, and new hope.

Motherhood has become a defining part of my life. While I still have other hobbies, interests, loves, and desires, being a Mother comes first. It has to. Babies can't feed themselves, change their diapers, or rock themselves to sleep. Little boys can't teach themselves to read, kiss their own scrapes, and learn how to share with their siblings. Young men don't just accidentally turn into productive people and amazing husbands and fathers. They are taught, and guided, nurtured and loved.  By mothers and fathers.

I have so far to go before I am the mother I truly think my children deserve. But I am trying my best and realizing that my boys love me. Imperfections and all. Motherhood- being their mother - is not just the best job. It is my job. And I love it.

When I saw a recent maternity photo shoot, I knew that I wanted one.

I wanted to capture all the hopes and dreams that are tied up in those 9 months.

Those 9 months have made up a huge part of our marriage. 4 times over.

Those 9 months have shaped who we are and have changed us from a couple into a family. 

From a husband and wife into a father and mother.

How lucky we are to be  part of such a miracle. Each and every time.

That is what I was hoping to capture.

Thank you to Heather for capturing this moment so perfectly.

Valentine's Day!

Things have been pretty busy around here. I always have these high hopes of doing awesome, creative, and fun things for holidays with my kids. But you know, simple is the way we roll. It just has to be that way for now. (maybe forever..;)  

I didn't take a lot of pictures. But here are my little loves on Valentine's Day. I feel so lucky to have them, and of course my wonderful hubby too!

Tave - he found my mascara and gave himself a mustache. Yes, he wore it all day. Lovely, huh.

Weston showing off his muscles:

And my little Ryder - trying chocolate dipped strawberries for the first time (he was too focused to look at me!)

I wanted something a little festive, so we did heart pizzas with heart pepperonis. It was a hit:

And our delicious dessert was scarfed up in minutes:

We carried on the tradition from last year of celebrating the day of the book and the rose. 

So everyone got a new book (instead of treats and useless trinkets)

No pics, but they loved them!

Celebrating with Cousins!!

It was Aydrien's (Chelsea's little boy) Birthday while Shar & the girls were still here. So we ALL got to celebrate together.

It is SO awesome getting all the kids together. 

Between the three of us, we have 9 kids ages 5 and under. (and one more on the way!) Crazy, huh.

It is So.Much.FUN! Seriously, I love that my kids have so many cousins their age. Now if we could all live right down the street from each other things would be pretty perfect. ;)

Happy Birthday, Bubba. We're so glad we got to celebrate with you!

the crazy kiddos eating lunch:

Shar & Mom got to meet Tanneah for the first time. She is such a doll:

Uncle Shawn is the favorite playtime buddy:

We had to get all the kiddos together (Tanneah is not pictured)

And then in buddy (age group) sets:

Kapria, Syanne, Weston

Tave, Aydrien, Mila

Reverie & Ryder (born 11 days apart!)

We gave them some toys to keep them in the box...

And this shot accidentally happened...SO FUNNY:

And here's Tanneah's little buddy, yet to be born:

We LOVE our cousins!!

February Visitors!!

Shar & my Mom drove out with the girls!!  

We had so much fun playing with them and soaking up all the cousin time. We definitely miss our family!

We had such a fun week with them and didn't want it to end!!

I had already put the boys to bed, but as soon as the girls got here Weston & Tave bounced down the stairs. They couldn't wait to see them:

I love this pic of Jeff reading stories to the girls while we got their sleeping arrangements taken care of:

One of our many walks outside:

the girls were excited about the little bit of snow!

It was mine and Jeff's turn for babysitting swap while they were here. 7 kids ages 5 and under. It was awesome!

We did a lot of fun indoor activities since it was still so cold. These cute water color books were a hit:

Ryder LOVED it too and really worked hard on his picture. SO cute:

We had tons of fun and loved every second of their visit. SO much so that I didn't take a ton of photos.

We sure love our cousins, thanks Mom & Shar for making the trip!

January's Everyday Moments

I love catching the kids doing those silly, every day things that make me smile.  They are each at such fun stages and make being their mom the best job ever. I feel so lucky to have them.  Seriously, who wants to go to work when I can be home with these crazy, fun kids?!  I love what I do. (most of the time!!)

disclaimer: West really dislikes getting his pic taken lately. That's why he's not in a lot. He's still very loved. ;)

They love helping vacuum:

Tave is SO silly. Really, he makes us laugh constantly with the crazy things he says and does. Everyone needs some comic relief in their day, we're so lucky ours is Tave. 

He made his own eye patch out of a broken goggle and tape:

He was super proud of this 'helmet' he made all by himself!!  (don't worry, it wasn't used!):

Ryder LOVES to help clean and is so good about doing it with or without being asked. 

Here he was using a wipe to clean up the garage:

Weston requested a pic with Pikachu, so I had to hop on that!!  Pikachu is his favorite Christmas gift, he still sleeps with him every night and stores all of his best toys inside (since it's a backpack). West already has plans to be Ash for Halloween just so he can wear this backpack!!  I sure love this sweet, sweet boy!

Ryder loves my hair. LOVES it.  Whenever I am holding him, he reaches behind me to grab my hair. And he just runs his hand through it. Sometimes he'll take it and rub it on his face, like here:

And then I tickle him with it, which he thinks is so funny:

Ryder is OBSESSED with the computer.  It's a little frustrating. So I decided to actually let him do something fun on it instead of just saying NO all the time.   I set him up with a preschool  game that he can totally do on his own, he pretty much LOVED it!!

Enjoying a jamba juice treat, our very favorite drinks:

Jeff's grandparents sent us a bulb with directions for Christmas. I'll be honest, I usually kill plants. Not because I don't love them, I really really do!  But I am busy and forget about watering them. Lame excuse, but it's true.  So I wasn't overly thrilled to get another thing I would eventually kill.  But Jeff really wanted to try and the boys were pretty excited about it. 

Guess what-- it was THE coolest gift. 

We have truly truly enjoyed watching it grow and wondering what color it would be when it bloomed. 

And bloom it did!

It was stunning and we loved having something so bright and beautiful on our table. 

It'll be fun to see if we can get it to bloom again next winter!

I just had to post this adorable 'T' we did for Preschool.  Tave is absolutely loving getting to go to his own school with his friends.  It is the highlight of his week. And when it comes around to my turn to teach, we are both pretty darn excited for everyone to come to our house. They are such a fun bunch of kids.  I usually forget about the letter until the last minute...and then am scrambling to find a fun idea. Well, that happened this time, but I found the idea lickety-split and just about died at how cute it was. So I had to show off our version, because it really is better than the one I found online:

T is for Tiger!!

And that's all, folks.
We have had a wonderful, fun-filled January!!