Happy Easter

I always tease Ryan about his "Michigan" pictures of whiteness. Well, its happened. :)
I loved today. I love Easter Sunday. And icing on the cake...it was my favorite guy's birthday as well. Ryan is just solid all around. He is extremely talented, even-tempered and so fun to be around. Happy 33rd! (Pretty neat he turned 33 on the day we celebrate Jesus' resurrection).

The really tired momma

So, it goes without saying really that I wish with all my heart that I could sleep for 7 hours straight just for 3 days in a row (but I went ahead and said it anyway).

Aubrie prays every night in her prayers that "bless that mom can get more sleep because of Blake". Which is just so sweet. Aubrie is one of my "favorite girls". I just get her, love who she is, how quick her mind is and how caring she is of everyone.

And then this morning at breakfast she says, "mom, do you know why I was sleeping in Robbie's bed with him? well, last night I went pee all over my bed because I was dreaming that I was in the bathroom. I knew you would be so tired so I just took care of it myself. (she was so proud and so was I). I asked her where her wet things were and she told me they were sitting on top of the washer all ready for me to wash. What a girl that Aubrie Jensen!!!

Recent "Happenings"

We have been a little pokey lately. well...mostly I have been a little pokey lately. Luckily there are nice, NICE people that live around here that have invited our kids to do some fun things. That being said, this past weekend, whether it was the weather or the fact that Blake was finally past his nasty cold and sleeping a little bit more...we did some fun things as a family and really enjoyed the weekend. Friday some friends came to play after school and after they left we headed over to the YMCA for family time. I LOVE the Y. I think I have expressed that before--but everytime I think of joining a gym instead I just can't do it. I love the atmosphere there and how family-oriented everything is. For family time we decided to head to the gymnastics room and for an hour the kids just play on all the apparatuses and the tumbling tramp into the ball pit. They love to play there and we hadn't been in awhile. Meanwhile Ryan had met us there and was working out while they played. Then we all headed to the pool and swam (I cheered from the sidelines) for another 1.5 hours. The kids are doing SOOO well. we swam so much before Blake was born and just from time spent in the pool they have all gotten so comfortable. Robbie legitimately swam for the first time which was exciting. Aubrie is swimming the length of the pool, even under water which is great and Hallie wears a float thing around her waist that the Y has, but won't let anyone touch her--she just ducks under water, swims around, jumps off the side, etc. Little fish that girl! they were STARVING when we left so we headed to our favorite pizza place Luisas. They know us there very well. (We biked to Luisas many Fri nights during warmer weather). I think they all slept till almost 9 the next morning (minus Blake:)).

Saturday, Ryan had free tickets from work to the Picadilly Circus down in Mass and so we worked in the morning and used that as incentive for all their chores. It was a smaller circus but they really enjoyed it. Favorite part--the motorcycles in the video below. I had never seen something like that before. Also, there was a boxing kangaroo that was funny. Since we were halfway to the temple anyway, we continued on down to the Boston temple and Ryan and I took turns watching the kids and going to the temple. It was WONDERFUL!!!! I am so glad that we went. I love to be there. For the next 6-7 months we will probably have to all go down together like that since I will be nursing Blake. We decided to go once a month and hopefully it will also help the kids gain a stronger love of being there as well.

here are some pho-tos.

Aubrie found her "beauty place" down below the temple walls.
The boys on the walk up to Boston temple grounds

Blake at almost 6 weeks (today). Little chubber-bubber already. (He had to wear his matching shorts with Robbie today.)

We love this cute little girl so much. Even with her "3 year oldness" as of late. To be honest, compared to other experiences we've had--she is quite mild and still very much our cute, sweet Hallie girl.

Hallie was eating a smoothie with Robbie at lunch the other day without a shirt on (very normal round these parts) and spilled some down her front. She turns to me "Mom, my tummy is dirty, can I get a new one."

This morning Hallie hit Robbie, just walked up and smacked him in the head (which unfortunately was not the first time). I went over to talk to her.

Me: "Hallie, we DO NOT hit. That hurts Robbie's feelings and his head. blah blah blah"
Hallie: "But I wuv to mom (which is her response for everything that she wants to do that we tell her she can't).
Me: "It is not a nice thing to do Hallie, we cant hit"
Hallie: "But, wew (well), but, Jesus told me to...."

Princess Hallie

We did the hair, the nails, the makeup and then the dress. She loved it so much!

I started telling her Princess Hallie stories every day before her nap. Princess Hallie is the kindest, most helpful princess in the whole world. She always is helping animals, her friends and the villagers.

For posterity sake--I have also been telling Prince Robbie stories for about a year and Prince Robert loves to go on adventures with his many, many 4-wheelers, monster trucks, motorcycles and snowmobiles.