Closing a chapter

This is it! The week where our family becomes a family of FIVE! We will be officially outnumbered by little ones. We can't wait to meet this little guy that belongs to us, I just get so excited thinking about what he will look like, how much hair he'll have, if he looks like his brother or dad. I haven't been thinking much about how hard it's going to be with three, I think maybe I'm in denial about how different things will be. But we knew he was supposed to come to us, so no matter what kind of experiences we'll be going through I know it will be worth it :)

I'm scheduled to be induced this Saturday the 23rd if he's not here by then, so I really like having an end date. I do have to say though, this pregnancy (minus the first 3 months which were awful) has been so terrific, I've felt like myself and been able to do everything I want to for the most part. I did have to stop running at 7 months which was fine, I've still been able to walk and do other workouts in the mornings. I'm still sleeping well and not feeling discomfort or pain at this point like I did with Cole and Kate, just being so big. And this guy is bigger than Cole was so far! I've been so blessed.

The kids are so excited to get him here as well, Kate will come and hug and kiss my belly and say "hi baby brudder, so cited to meet you!" and Cole has been offering to give him all of his toys and clothes that he has outgrown. I'm going to have two big helpers! Just need to keep a close eye on Kate that she doesn't carry him around or treat him like she does her dolls :) 

I wanted to get all the pics up from the last month to let you know what's been going on around here so enjoy!

Cole finished up his last year of tball and will be doing coach-pitch next year. He LOVED it so much and got so excited for the games. He would run around on the sidelines before his game to get "warmed up". This kid has such a competitive spirit in him, I think it will benefit him in lots of ways as he grows up. Here's a good shot of his game face.

Mom and Tegan drove out and surprised us one game, we were so excited to see them!

We got to go to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa too last month, we all had so much fun.

I love how my dad always pushes the stroller and carries my big bag for me. What a guy!

I can't get enough of that cheesy face!

Tyler got home from church and was relaxing when his little shadow decided to join in.

Cole has really starting getting excited about reading and writing since preschool ended (funny huh?), he'll sit down for long stretches and just write or try to sound things out. It makes my teacher heart so proud!! I must say he is very bright, from an academic perspective not motherly :) Here's his alphabet one day.

Our ward had a Father and Sons campout where just the dads take their boys and go camping overnight. Cole remembered it from last year and could not wait to go again, we had to make a countdown chain so he knew how many more days because he kept asking each day if it was the day to go or not. Tyler made it really special for him, I am not surprised that he idolizes his daddy and walks in every single footstep Tyler makes. Here they are in their tent getting ready for bed.

Catching slugs!

He's also been interested in drawing people more than he was before, this is the first voluntary unassisted picture he's made of our family. I'm on the left with the circle for my tummy! I love how we're holding hands.

Funny story...for mother's day Tyler was making dinner and put the oven fries (yes those were potatoes) in the stove to bake while we went for a drive up the canyon. Our stove has this great feature where you can set it and tell it when to start and turn off so you don't have to be home to do all that, I use it a lot. Anyway, we left and came home and smoke is billowing out of our oven! We had set it too high and it had scorched our fries. It smelled awful for about a week later. Lucky we weren't gone for too long!

Here's the pie I made for the 23rd of May. It was YUMMY! I love strawberry pie.

Cole's last day of preschool with his wonderful teachers. We love this class and are excited he'll be there again next year. It's so nice being at my old school and just walking him across the street.

This was a surprise when I went through my pictures, this is after we got home from his last preschool program and his teachers had given us this adorable book with lots of pictures of Cole and examples of his work. So we were sitting on the porch going through it together, and apparently Kate started taking pictures :)

One day we had this surprise rain storm out of nowhere and Tyler was moving around some DJ equipment outside, so we both ran out to get everything covered up. He was drenched from head to toe, then came in to give loves to the kiddos.

Once again, his little shadow just can't leave his side.

Another funny story...Cole and Kate were quite wound up one night at bed time and it finally got a little too crazy so I opened the door to their room and a cloud of whiteness came billowing out. Kate sat up in her crib and said "Cole doed (did) it!". Cole had decided that the full bottle of baby powder needed to be distributed evenly throughout their room. In Kate's crib (and on her), on top of dressers, beds, carpets, books, absolutely every surface had a layer of powder. We cleaned up the kids (after a stern talking to of course) and they finally went to sleep. As we walked out of the room, our feet were covered in powder and were leaving white footprints throughout the house! This is the next morning before I tackled cleaning. It just doesn't do justice to the amount of powder I wiped off things.

Another exciting night...the night before Kate's birthday we decided to camp out in the backyard and watch a movie and eat some popocorn. I don't know who was in charge of parenting Kate that night, but she had way wayyy too much popcorn without us realizing. We all went to sleep, but a couple hours into the night she started throwing up and continued every hour after that through the morning :( Poor kid! She woke up happy and ready to party though, such a trooper.

Next morning!

I'm turning two!

Rainbow birthday cake! Cole did such a great job of letting her have the spotlight for the day and making it special for her. I think it helped that he knows his big day is coming up soon :)

Playing at the park. I love this girl.

Playing in the backyard pool! Summer is the best.

Cole being Superunderwear man.

Another exciting dinner story! Tyler grilled yummy burgers for us and then left the grill on so it would burn off the extra stuff like he always does. He just left it on just a little high and long, we came out to huge flames and a melted grill. We really don't set everything on fire, it was such a weird week. Again, so lucky it wasn't worse than it was.

Here's Kate pretending to be sick...

Here's Cole really being sick. He caught a stomach bug and couldn't keep anything down for 24 hours. He's such an easy sick kid, no complaining or whining. Just wants to sleep or cuddle.

Kate's birthday present from grandma Morrill, two homemade aprons!! So very adorable. They already have seen lots of use.

Grandma's tub with bubble jets is the best!

Cole's last game of the season. He had watched a baseball game on tv a couple days before his game and saw a player slide headfirst into a base and decided it was cool enough for him to try. He talked about doing it all day and then really did. It was so cute, he didn't quite get to the base but he looked awesome! He did it several times before he decided it was more painful than fun.

Showing off his scratch from sliding as they await their medals.

Clapping for the other team.

Proud little baller! Can't wait till Kate can play.

His favorite two girls, our neighbors Ellie and Kate.

Tyler's parents moved into a new place and offered to fly him out so he could help with the move and projects. We went to the airport to welcome him back, the kids really missed thier buddy.

My heart is whole again :)

Just thought this was cute, we got a new little table for the kids to color/work at, here they are working on number worksheets.

Cole got a slip n slide for his birthday! This is our first time using it, we had a bunch of neighbor kids over to play and it was great.

Such a water bug.

Christine and Kai are home! Cole is so good with little kids and really loved being around Kai.

I love my life!

Well wish us luck for Saturday! Can't wait to show off our new addition!

April's Post!

Well spring is here and we couldn't be happier! We have loved spending hours outside riding bikes and scooters, picking weeds and watering flowers, and just enjoying fresh air. I love living where we get all four seasons and seeing the living things wake up after a long, cold winter. Just seeing some color in our landscape other than white or brown is so wonderful!

Our little family has had a lot of exciting things to do lately so I have lots to share. I'm glad to report that everyone is healthy and happy. Tyler seems extra busy lately, he has taken on some extra scouting things and is looking forward to running Ragnar in June with some friends. He also has begun a large project here at home, building bunk beds for the kids, that is taking up spare time and garage space. He gives so much and I appreciate him so much!

I'm now 31 weeks along and still doing great. Starting to get uncomfortably big, and trying to get comfy at nights and get enough sleep is tough. But happy that little one seems healthy and is growing well. Both Cole and Kate have been able to feel him move several times now which is fun to share it with them. They like talking to my belly and asking him questions like, "Do you have lots of hair? Are your eyes brown like mine? I'll give you all my baby clothes when you get out of there!" It's adorable. I'm not worried at all about them accepting this little guy, they can't wait for him to get here.

Cole has started his second year of Tball and is really passionate about it. He is more mature this year and can handle the waiting (in the dugout to bat, in the outfield for the other team to bat, etc) better. He is really serious when he plays and tries so hard. I love seeing him enjoy sports and have a positive experience.

Kate will be two in one month! And has been amazing us with her vocabulary and comprehension of things going on around her. She is such a sweet girl but also has just as much spice, she's always testing her boundaries and can be very fiesty. We love her personality and my favorite thing is watching her and Cole interact.

Here's the little sweetie at Easter. I had high hopes of a beautiful spring picture outside by the blossoming pear tree, but we had to settle for the couch. It was a chore to just get them to sit for the camera before they took their church clothes off, sooo glad Tyler was there to get them to laugh so we at least got some smiles :)

She somehow bonked her head during the "photo shoot" and I thought we were going to lose her. Once again, daddy saved the day! So funny.

Kate loves playing the piano and leading herself at the same time. This girl gots skills. It's so cute how she balances the hymn book first, then takes her seat and raises her hand so seriously. It's such an important thing she's doing.

She loves wearing play dresses and always picks her boots with them. She likes to be girly!

Cole ate a scorpion!! I brought him back this sucker with a real (dead) scorpion inside from our trip to Texas, just thinking it was something cool for him to see and maybe he might lick it or something. Oh no, he wanted to crunch up the whole thing! It almost made me sick. He felt very brave and couldn't wait to tell his preschool class the next day.

This year Cole is on the Texas Rangers. This was before their first game, look how ready he is! He was running back and forth along the fence line to get warmed up. His neighbor friend Ellie is on his team again.

Here he is running from second to third. The tongue definitely helps with speed.

He kept pointing at me like this from the pitcher's mound when he was on defense. It was cracking me up! Later on in the game, he became interested in the little pebbles around his feet and would collect a bunch and bring them to me to keep for later.

We were so excited to have mom and Tegan surprise us and come all the way out just to watch the game! This is after the game.

Must be April...or October...we always re-stock our food supply every six months at conference time :) Here's one trip we took from the store.

Tyler's first two headboard and footboard for the kids' bunk beds. They are going to be beautiful! He is so talented.

While we watched general conference on TV, Kate loved getting up on the chair and leading along with Mr. Wilberg. It was a hoot.

Best buds!

Just thought this was adorable, Cole's friend Connor came over and we made lemon cookies.

Can you guess what the white substance is? I was holding one of our RS presidency meetings at our house and I realized it was much too quiet from Kate. I walk in the bathroom to toothpaste all over her cheeks and the sink. She is always into everything!

This was a fun morning, we woke up to a surprise snowstorm! Three inches had fallen at night and we were so excited. The kids (I mean, Ironman and Kate :) watched out the window for awhile before getting dressed up to go out and play.

Enjoying what could be the last snow of the season. We also grabbed the sled and walked to a nearby bunny hill to go down a few (hundred) times. Such a fun day!

Welcome to Utah springs, little bulbs! 70 degrees one day, covered in snow the next.

Easter baskets. Pure joy.

Dying Easter eggs! Also a joyful occasion.

We went for a hike one nice evening and had a blast. Kate hated riding in the backpack and much more preferred meandering around. We REALLY took our time on this one. Even Cole kept saying "Let's GO!".

I had a great opportunity to go with mom and Tegan to visit Christine in Texas and Parker and Jenn in DC for a week - a whole week away from my little family! I've never spent more than 2-3 days away from Cole/Kate. But I was really looking forward to seeing and being with my sisters/brother and nephews and just getting a break. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute. 

Tegan was a great airplane buddy. Mom too, she taught me to crochet on the way from Texas to DC! I 

While I was gone, Tyler ran the household perfectly and then had some reinforcements come halfway through the week - Lisa and Rod drove down to spend some time with everyone. I was so glad they got to spend time with the kids especially and do some fun things.

One of my highlights - getting pedicures in TX. Lovely!

We took a whole Saturday to get up early and see some great sights, Parker was a terrific tour guide. It's so nice having someone who knows their way around.

It was cherry blossom time! They were beautiful!

The Korean War Memorial, I learned that my grandpa Morrill fought in this war and was one of the wounded. This was actually one of my favorite memorials, it was so cool how it looked like the soldiers were walking through the bushes.

Lincoln Memorial. Look at our coordinating stripes!! We got style.

The most beautiful building (I think), the Library of Congress. I just wanted to see the books!

A rally at the Supreme Court. Democracy in action!

This is where Parker works, the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is right next to Union Station. I'm so proud of him and think it's awesome he works in this amazing city.

We rode the metro a lot this day. Another cool thing is that Jessica (Tyler's sister) and her fiance Chad live only 5 hours away and drove down to spend the day with us. It was great to see her, she gets married in July! We had such a great trip overall and made lots of memories.

Just love this girls' attempt to smile for the camera.

Cole actually took the next two.

Talked with the dr. this week about setting an induction date (both kids have had to be induced, I just don't go into labor on my own) and we're thinking about June 18th now. Which is sooner! I can't believe this sweet lil baby will be here so soon. I can't wait to hold him and see Cole and Kate love him. Life can't get much better :)