Long Time, No Post?

It seems that time is escaping us lately and I haven't taken much time to sit and blog. Usually when I am on the computer I am looking up home renovation. Oh yeah, we bought a house!!! Well, not quite yet, but everything is pretty much set for a mid-May closing. We are very excited and a little anxious about this big step in our lives, but there have been numerous confirmations in the last month that tell us this is what is best right now. A little bit about our home: it needs cosmetic work! It is an eyesore like no other. Wallpaper, brown linoleum, blue carpet. I have hundreds of pics (I took a million at the inspection), but I will save those for another post, like maybe a before and after. But regardless of the interior decorating, the home is wonderful. We love the neighborhood and street. The bones of the home are in excellent shape and it was well cared for by the seller. We have a yard to put in as well. I really think we are going to learn a lot in this process and wear ourselves to death, but oh well.

The kids are really keeping us busy. Nolan is into everything and makes the biggest messes. While I shower, he will open the shower door and throw things in. Mostly it is just toys and stuff, but today he threw in our remote. And the other day he threw in a bunch of trash from the can next to the tub. He loves to go into the kitchen and pull all my dish towels out of the cupboard and the pans. He also takes the dish soap out and it spilled all over the floor the other day (it is liquid). Tonight we made peach and blueberry cobbler and I set a plate out for Reagan and he threw it on the ground. AHH!! He can now reach the tabletop if he stands on his tippie toes so I have to scoot everything back. He pulls hair and hits. And he thinks it is funny. But despite all this, Nolan is just as cute as can be. He has the most infectious laugh and smile ever. It doesn't take much to get those out of him. Sometimes just making funny faces at him sends him into fits of laughter. He loves to dance and spin around in the center of the room with all of us watching. We just love this guy to pieces and watching him grow is a true treasure.

Reagan is the little girly in our house. She is always asking me to paint her nails, if she can do my hair, and changes clothes like 20 times a day. She doesn't like to wear pants, so mostly she wears skirts and dresses with leggings or something underneath. The other day I bought her some really cute bermuda shorts at Old Navy and brought them home. She tried them on and they were DARLING on her! But she didn't like them. I might have to try some bribery or else they will be going back. I miss the days when I could just dress her however I wanted!!! :):) Reagan loves school and is making friends with her classmates and teachers. They do many fun things in the class. One day they came home with a potted plant that they did in class. She loved this plant until it fell and broke into pieces and mom threw it out. On Earth day, they made t-shirts and all the kids came out wearing them. Next friday is all about Transportation and they get to take their bikes to school. She has been learning how to write all her letters and works so hard on them. She almost has down REA in her name. It is amazing to see how hard she tries over and over to get the letter right on paper and how she concentrates. I really enjoy seeing my kids learn.

I think it is a blessing that our house closes right around season enders for tv shows. I am glad to have The Office back and I thought this last one was hilarious! Especially all the impersonations. But I wish they would stop ruining some of my favorite characters. They did it with David Wallace (making him turn all crazy) and now with Erin. Hopefully they can bring her back the way that Andy was. I still loves Vampire Diaries and boy, it is getting good!! I love seeing the good side of Damon coming out, I can't help but hope that he and Elena get together :) I am rooting for the cowboys in Amazing Race. Other fun shows: Modern Family and Parenthood. Phil really steals the show on Modern Family and I am LOVING Parenthood. The characters in it are so fun and true to life. Plus it takes place in Berkeley and I love all the references they make to places because I know them! I find myself laughing and tearing up in each episode. Good good show. I think that is it. I can't allow more shows in my life.

I am still training for that half marathon. I ran 8 miles on Saturday! It was insane. I headed to REI later that day to get some of the gu and shot blocks stuff because I think I need that and some good old gatorade. The loss of electrolytes is giving me a serious headache. I am really excited for this race, but I will be glad when it is over. I really don't have the time to run 1-2 hours every Saturday morning and I feel pressure not to miss a single run because it will throw me back. Having a strict schedule has been tough that way. I look forward to just being able to run however much I can fit in.

Today was a beautiful day in the Bay Area. We had stake conference on Temple Hill and along with several other families, packed lunches to enjoy afterwards. It was such a great atmosphere. We couldn't resist some pictures!
Reagan and Addie.

By the "rosetta" flowers.

The kids weren't all that happy in this shot. Nolan hadn't slept much and was hungry and Reagan simply didn't want to be in the picture. Plus my eyes were all red and I had to wear my smart glasses.

Nolan doing the "heisman."

Thats all for now, folks. Love to you all.

The Kids in Crabbie

Addie was over the other day and the girls wanted so badly to get in the crab and play in the water. It wasn't a hot day by any means, but I guess it was warm in the sunlight :) So we disinfected it, wiped it out and I brought buckets of lukewarm water out for them. They certainly had a great time. Nolan splashed next to them and he thought he was such a big boy!

Spring is Here

and it's about time!!! Well, our household has been pretty busy as of late, but I did want to take a few minutes and post some fun photos. I can begin with Loni's requested photos of the kids. Sorry girl I have been a bum. Reagan has the cheesiest smile ever, but I sure love it. And I swear Nolan's eyes keep getting bigger and bigger. She is sure growing up. She loves school so much. All last week she kept talking about how it was "spring breaks" and I think she noticed the change in not going to school 4 days a week. She will be glad when she is back tomorrow. Anyway, back to the growing up part. One morning she called me into her room and said she had cleaned it up and wanted to show me. This is huge. We have been working on the cleaning up thing for a while and she hates it. The fact that she voluntarily did it without me asking was the most delightful thing ever. So I grabbed my camera and she posed in her clean room. Side note of Reagan: she wants to wear this green dress every day.

We had an Easter egg hunt at the church on Friday and it marked the beginning of a weekend (and week) full of candy (for all 4 of us, I might add). Here is Nolan playing with an egg.

Reagan collected 8 eggs and the candy inside was gone before we left. She was in heaven!

The older kids before the hunt began.

The same day, Reagan got a package in the mail from Grandma that contained even more candy and a Tinkerbell egg decorating kit. Cue the cheesy smile!

We dyed the eggs and it was our first year doing this since I was probably a kid! We started out with about 6 different colid colors, but then she got all into mixing and pouring and before I knew it, she had gone all chemistry experiment on me and we had like 10 cups of blackish-purple water. Gosh, this entertained her for like 2 hours, though.

It was great that Easter fell on Conference Sunday for us. We got to have the spiritual nourishment along with the festivities. We went to an egg hunt at the Muhlesteins. The kids had literally buckets full of candy and the adults got in on it as well. Doug hid about 20 small containers with money or coupons to trade in for big items. I found 6 bucks.

Best LOL moment was watching Liz race up the tree after her brother, looking for one of the adult containers.

The kids enjoying loot!

During the entire egg hunt, Nolan stood planted in this spot, just chewing on chocolate piece after chocolate piece. It was also raining on him and I don't think he even noticed.

We headed back after the last session for a dinner at the Muhlesteins. It was a great Easter and we have been eating candy all week! I need a break before I end up with a mouth full of cavities.