A little sweetness

As my kids get older one of the hardest things for me to deal with is sibling rivalry i.e. contention in our home. I realize that part of this comes with age and they will grow out of the "not being able to share" stage, and the "I'm hitting because I don't know how else to vent my frustration" stage and I do my best to stay calm and patiently teach them over and over and over and over again words to use instead of hitting and strategies to deal with siblings who are learning to share etc. Some days are more successful than others, but seriously there is nothing sweeter than when I am in one room doing something and I hear the wailing begin or the arguing begin and before I can intervene I hear them solve it all on their own with loving words and kind deeds and continue on with their play.

Bulldozer/Pusher

Excavator/Digger

Zina 4 1/2 yrs

This day Zina and Wilson were drawing and coloring. Wilson was upset about something - not being able to use the marker or the paper Zina was using I'm sure. (He always wants the same thing she has). Anyways, it ended up that Wilson decided to ask Zina to draw him a pusher and a digger. She sweetly obliged. I love her pusher and her digger. And so did Wilson. He was so excited to come show me that Zina "drawed me a pusher and a digger Mom!"

39 weeks, Wilson's Hair cut & Baseball

Well, here I am 39 weeks and 1cm dilated. Thats more than I've ever been dilated before actual labor has begun so I'm feeling pretty good. :) I feel like my belly is HUGE in this picture. I have officially gained 3 more pounds with this baby than the others which puts me at a lovely 33 pound weight gain from start to finish...well maybe finish I guess I could gain a lot more weight if Sam decides to pull a Zina and come 2 weeks late. :)

Yesterday before church I asked Mark to give Wilson a quick haircut. Apparently I need to work on my communication skills because this is what happened!!! Really! Not what I had in mind. It's a good thing Wilson is so cute and can pull this off.

Our home teacher's wife said he looked like he was on chemo.

Really, he is adorable no matter how is hair is cut. And he actually was pretty excited between his new haircut and his first tie to really look "just like papa."

The kids have been learning the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Wilson likes me to play it on repeat and then they beg and beg to go play baseball. We have been having a lot of fun trying to teach a 2yr old and a 4yr old the basics of baseball. We use my dish towels for bases. It's pretty funny but they LOVE it.

Disjointed

Posts like this one might be more common in the future. It's 12:50am and Baby Sam has the hiccups. Yes, he's still inside of me but I'm hoping that in the near future he will have hiccups not inside of me. 3 pieces of honey toast later he still hasn't settled down enough to let mommy sleep. At least it tasted good. (And no I didn't really think honey toast would cure his hiccups, but it did cure my craving for honey toast.) So other than being extremely tired and uncomfortable 90% of the time I have been feeling fine. I have been so so grateful for my kids who have been champs at not doing as much as we normally do and for Mark who has been the sounding board for a lot of complaining. I try not to, honest. Oh ya, and for Mark who came home early today to make dinner because I was to tired to do it. I took a nap while he made casserole and gave into Wilson's pleadings, "Tan we doe on a bike wide Papa?" I married a good man. Man, I love him.

A few I like from last week

Homesick?

Last week I mentioned that I was getting homesick for this place. And then Mark confessed that he was too. And then in the most secret part of my heart I thought that there might be hope for me to live in the homeland again someday. Spring time on the farm, it doesn't get any better.

Now I have to go finish my US citizenship papers...

The last spring break.

Other than the fact that we have no income, the life of a student is pretty great. Who else gets two weeks off for Thanksgiving? We have so enjoyed our "last" spring break before Mark is done with coursework and starts his rotations. It was even nice that he had to study for boards. Did I just say that? No, really. If he doesn't have a schedule or something to do he sort of goes into study withdrawals. It's true. My husband loves school and misses studying when there is no studying to be done. He's insane - I know. But I also love that he loves to learn and that he is passing that on to our kids. Anyways, we have had some fun just being together and enjoying being 4 before we turn into 5!

Building a fort in Mom & Dad's bedroom for some sleep over fun.

Yep, we're pretty excited to have Dad home a little more.

I think they like him. :)

We spent an evening touring Saguaro Ranch park and were pleasantly surprised. We loved the old farm houses and machinery and reading all about their past.

The kids loved watching the roosters run around, but were a little nervous around them. I love this picture because you can tell Zina is worried about the one behind her.

Does anybody know what kind of bird this is? I feel like I should know. I mean I grew up on a farm right? But I have no clue.

Wilson LOVED the machine on the right. If you look close it has a "pusher" underneath it like a road grader. Wilson loves pushers. There were a few machines that we wished we had Grandpa there to explain what they might have been used for. We figured he would have a better idea than us.

After touring the old farm we played at the park. This park was really cool. Zina loved it. I am seeing more of these around. They have signs that say they are made for 5-12 yr olds and adult supervision is required. Zina loves climbing and balancing on them.

This is Wilson working with his "snow blower."

Mark showing the kids how the monkey bars are done. I love Wilson's face in this picture. He was tickled pink to see how monkey bars are really done.

Here I am in all my glory. 35 weeks and counting.

Zina being a sloth. Her words, not mine.

This moment had me laughing so hard. I couldn't hold the camera still. The kids love to play football with Mark. Wilson is trying to figure out how to be the quarterback but since he is usually the center he couldn't quite figure out which way he was supposed to turn. He would do this over and over until I think he was doing it on purpose to get me and Zina to keep giggling - it totally worked.

Mark finally made it to a Phoenix Suns game courtesy of Wells & Emily. They were playing the Jazz & the Jazz won so Mark was pretty happy - even with their awesome seats. I volunteered to stay home and tend all the kids that night, which actually wasn't bad at all. The cousins all get along so well that it makes tending them a breeze.

The kids helped me get some much needed cleaning done while Mark studied for boards. I love that we clean half naked. "We" as in Zina & Wilson. I was fully clothed. Promise.

Friday we made it to the Children's museum. Zina has been wanting to take Mark here for ages. We met up with Wells, Emily and fam and the kids enjoyed playing together.

After the museum we detoured to Smeeks, a little candy shop that I wanted to see and the kids rode home in a sugar-induced coma. :)

(p.s. if you are wondering what that is on Zina's head it is a "princess" headband she made at a birthday party a year ago and has recently rediscovered. She loves it and insists on wearing everywhere!)

And this is what we did when we got home to get rid of some sugar highs. It happens to be one of the kids favorite activities and they are always asking Mark if they can go wrestle now. :)

Today (yes I am actually blogging on the day that the pictures were taken - I don't think that has ever happened before!) ok today we planted the garden. The kids are so into helping lately and truly enjoyed digging in the dirt with dad. I think I heard Mark tell Wilson to watch out for the lettuce about 50 million times. :) The lettuce and carrots we planted in October - they had a rough start when they were eaten by a flock of quail but they seem to be making a come back so we planted the corn, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes around them. Grow little garden grow!

After all that gardening and some errand running Mark felt the need for some exercise so we went hiking. I'm not sure how effective exercising with a 2yr old, 4yr old and an 8mth pregnant wife was but he indulged us anyways. I, at least, got some exercise. :)

The best part was that it RAINED while we were hiking. It was so beautiful and the hills really did look very green which is such a novelty here that I really enjoyed the hike. I have to admit that I'm always comparing our hikes here to ones we have done in Utah, Canada, & Alaska and umm, well hiking in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the city just doesn't compare. But today, I just liked it. So great job Thunderbird conservation park. Today you were liked.

Wilson, Lincoln, Bo, & Tigger

I thought this was a funny video of the boys enjoying each other. They thought it was hilarious to jump with tigger and then watch themselves on the camera after.

Joel & Angela visit - let the party begin!

We started partying a little early for Mark's spring break when Joel, Angela & Lincoln came to town. The kids and I were not complaining - we were SO ready for finals to be over with. :) And we were so proud of Mark who worked hard and aced all his classes - well all but one :) darn that Microbiology. Either way we still love him and had so much fun with the family and cousins. We made it to the Zoo, got babysitters for all 6 kids so that the adults could go out to eat, played at Uncle Wells' rugby game, toured Mark's campus on a beautiful Sunday evening, hung out and just enjoyed each others company. We love having family come to visit. It is just so nice. May we always live somewhere visitable. (is that a word?) Oh, and forgive me for the lack of adult pictures. Apparently I have a one track mind..kids kids kids kids kids. Trust me the adults were there.

Loving the carousel ride at the zoo

All the cousins checking out the baboons.

Wilson, Kurt, Lincoln, Zina, Ellie, & Bo.

Checking out the Rugby game. Wells keeps trying to convince Mark to join the team. I have to admit that I'm kind of glad that Mark feels like Rugby and Medical school don't mix well.

Sunday evening tour. It was SUCH a beautiful time of day. It was raining with the sun shining and a beautiful full double rainbow. Midwestern campus is pretty nice but the weather and time of day just made it that much better.