He's the next BMX star, I know it!

Corbin FINALLY learned to ride his bike this last weekend. I tried to teach him last summer, but we both got frustrated and gave up. This time he decided on his own that it was time, so he asked Daddy to take off his training wheels and teach him. It took longer for the training wheels to come off than it took for him to learn to ride without them. He seriously got it almost immediately and didn't fall once. He's a superstar! Check out this super short video, its funny.

click here to go to youtube

or watch it here.

And if you're too busy (or lazy) to watch a 30 second video, here are some pictures! (and yes, that is a towel on his head under his helmet. The helmet pulls his hair and we don't have a bandana, so he looks dorky, okay!)

Guess what I'm not doing anymore.....

Making a car payment! That's right. Thanks to our tax returns and Grandma J's baby bonus our van is officially paid off. A full 3 years ahead of schedule. Whoo hoo! The title came in the mail yesterday. I feel like dancing. Thanks Uncle Sam and Grandma Jensen, we couldn't have done it without you!

Seriously?!

It's been 3 1/2 years now since we moved to Boise, and 3 years this week since we moved into our house. Its made me reflect on life in Boise. I have mixed feelings about our decision to move here.

Cons:

~I miss living in Utah. I really do. It has nothing to do with location, and everything to do with the people in that location. I miss my family. My sister's and I used to have "girls night" where we'd get together to play games, eat food, and talk talk talk. I don't have that now. I miss just talking and laughing with them so much that I can't even express it. We'd have bbq's in the summer. Christmas parites in the winter. Max and I walked together in the mornings too. I totally miss all that.

~I also miss Scott's parents. We could visit them whenever we wanted and we took it for granted. They helped us with so many things, from babysitting, to yard work, to making us Sunday dinners. We were the only kids/grandkids that lived in the area and so we got a lot of attention from them, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. Its not the same only getting to see them a few times a year.

~I miss our friends. Scott has had basically the same friends for his whole life, and they've been my friends too for the last eleven years. We had get togethers ALL the time. The boys' had band practices every week. The girls would just hang out together. We had Christmas parties, and birthday parties, and just hangin' out parties. We had kids when they had kids, and things were always easy and fun. I totally miss that. Seeing them 1 or 2 times a year is not enough.

Pros:

~Scott's brothers' are close by. We probably don't spend enough time together, but its so fun to have them close. Our kids adore Russell and Collettes kids and beg to play with them often. I'm so glad they've had the opportunity to become such good friends, which may not have happened if we hadn't moved. Also, I've had the opportunity to get to know Russell and Collette a lot better. Before we moved here I don't feel like I knew them very well. Also, Shawn and Shelley live just a couple of blocks from us, and we love getting to have them over for dinner sometimes, and getting to know Shelley better. (I think I already knew Shawn pretty well before).

~Scott's job. He really loves his job and is grateful to still have one. He seriously enjoys going to work everyday, which is an amazing thing for someone to have. It has made our lives so much better and given us opportunities we may not have had otherwise. I'm so grateful that I can stay home with our kids, and not feel guilty about making him support us all at a job he can't stand.

~Boise is a great city. There is less traffic here, and friendlier drivers. Life feels more laid back when you aren't in the hustle and bustle of a bigger city. I love that. There are more trees and grass. Farm animals live across the street from Walgreen's here! It's awesome! I don't miss Salt Lake City at all......except for Training Table and their delicious hot pastrami on rye....yum!

Our ward is awesome. I know a lot of people in our ward now, and that certainly makes it feel more like home. We actually have friends in our ward. I know that sounds weird, but we've never lived anywhere long enough to make ward friends before. Its kind of fun. The coolest part about it is that they all live in our neighborhood also, so we see them all the time, and its easier to get to know people that you see often.

So all in all, I think it was the right decision to move here, we just need people to visit us more. I think we visit Salt Lake plenty, we'd like to see peeps come this direction once in a while (Marde and Ross excluded, because they actually make the trip often, although we wouldn't mind more visits).

I can't believe I sent her away

We spent the last 5 days together and now she is gone. Its so hard to say goodbye. She is possibly my best work (stinky pete was pretty good though too), and I hate to send her away. Ivy wanted to keep her too, so now I have to make another one for her. I sure hope Payton appreciates the amount of work I put into her Tinkerbell. Happy 8th Birthday.

I know, her eyes are a little creepy right? I always struggle with the eyes, but other than that she looks pretty darn good right?!

Wuss Camping and Taking the Train

On Friday night after Scott got home from work we had the bright idea to set our tent up in the living room. We did this as the first step in a system to toughen our boys up! In case you don't remember we tried camping out in the backyard once, only to have the kids give up and go inside after about three minutes. This time they stayed in the tent all night. Next step backyard, and after that, actual camping!!

The tent starts going up

The kids are so helpful

I love this picture because although Corbin is blurry, he looks like he's flashing gang signs, like camping in the living room makes him hardcore! I think its funny. It might just be me.

It took us four whole weeks to take a picture of the four kids together. What's wrong with us?

On Saturday our neighborhood had a big community yard sale. At one house we got a GIANT Thomas the Train set, a metal detector (corbin insisted), and a double stroller for 20 bucks. What a bargain!!

They had tons of fun setting up the trains in the tent. Here's their first finished track.

5 am

I know I posted twice yesterday but keep reading please, and I promise you will not be disappointed.

This morning at 5 am I was up with Echo. She was fussing, but wasn't hungry. Thinking maybe she just needed to burp, I was sitting in my bed, holding her over my shoulder and patting her back. She didn't burp, but she did poop. It was a big one, that instantly came up the back of her diaper and made a big yellow stain on her onesie (one of the onesies I had just purchased on Monday and she was wearing for the first time). I decided to take her downstairs to change her, since that was where her clean onesies were.

We headed down, as we did so, she pooped again. Another big one. More up the back, this time it went as high as her armpits. I knew the onesie was never going to be the same. I walked faster.

I laid her down on the changing pad and opened up the diaper. It wasn't a pretty sight. I tried to remove her onesie, without getting poop on her head. I was unsuccessful. Suddenly the situation turned from unpleasant to a horror movie! She had a projectile poop! It shot off the changing pad onto my arm, the carpet, my dangling hair, and my pajama bottoms. I screamed (I didn't make this up for dramatic effect, I seriously screamed). The poop dripped from my arm as I reached for more wipes and tried to defuse the situation. Then she started to pee. The carpet soaked it up next to the poop that had already claimed a spot. I tried to move faster but it was no use, I'd already lost the battle.

A billion wipes and several minutes later Echo was clean and redressed. I looked at the mess and felt like I had been through a war. The house was still silent and I knew that the rest of the family had slept through the entire thing and I envied their innocence.

What did I learn from this experience? Baby poop is a force to be reckoned with, and cleaning it out of the carpet at 5:15 in the morning is not rewarding at all.

The end.

More Amigurumi For Ya

I just finished Scott's father's day gift this afternoon. I started it on Monday, and I think it only took about 6 hours of work total. I'm pretty proud of it. I couldn't wait til Sunday to give it Scott so I gave it to him today. Isn't he adorable?

Its Link! (if you don't know who that is, he's a nintendo character from the Adventures of Zelda series. It's Scott's favorite series of video games)

Is it me, or does he kind of look like he's dancing? Plus his eyes are quite creepy, but what can you do?

Look how happy Scott is!! He giggled like a school girl.

He's goofing around with his new toy. He is ridiculously excited about it.

I learned how to do amigurumi specifically because Scott wanted some nintendo characters. It only took me like 9 months to get around to making him one because I keep getting distracted by other projects. Sorry babe, but at least I finally did it. Right now I'm working on a Tinkerbell for my niece's 8th birthday. I'll post some pics when that one is finished too.

Four Weeks Old

Echo is now four weeks old! She's so adorable and pleasant and fits into our family so well. She still wants to eat constantly and would rather sleep in daytime than at night, so we are trying to overcome these hurdles, but we love her so much. At her two-week appointment she'd already gained nearly a pound so we suspect that she's over 8 lbs by now. Everything is going great.

The most common question I get from people who know us and know that Ivy has been the center of attention for the last 2 1/2 years is, "How is Ivy handling all this?" Well I am here to tell you that she is handling everything like a champ! She loves her new sister so much! She's actually OBSESSED with her. She smothers her with kisses and always thinks Echo is looking at her. She needs to know where she is at all times, and always wants to hold her. And amazingly, she rarely struggles with Echo getting more attention than her. She's awesome. Her favorite thing to say is, "Echo is my sister and my friend." Its the cutest thing ever.

Corbin and Dexter are doing just as well with her, although they aren't quite as obsessed as Ivy. They like to dance for her and try to make her smile or laugh (even though she doesn't do either yet). Corbin does this weird humming thing at her all the time like he can't control himself, its so funny, but very, very strange. And Dex always thinks she is funny and laughs when she makes noises. They are so cute with her. They both love to hold her too, and Corbin is actually really good at soothing her when she gets sad. They are awesome too.

Here are some more pics!

Cuddling with mom

Trying on her bow. She may (or may not) wear it with her white blessing dress. Does she remind you of an eccentric old spinster?

She's naked! I love how her legs barely touch the ground because her belly is so big. That's how I felt for several months while I was pregnant!!

Ivy and Echo just chillin' together.

Look at that adorable mug. SOOOO CUTE!

So far so good

So far Summer hasn't really felt like Summer. The weather still isn't consistently warm and its really starting to get on my nerves, but we're trying to make the best of it. For those of you who saw my last post about the schedule, I just wanted to tell you that it is a GREAT idea. It has been awesome so far. The kids love following a schedule, they are excited for what comes next, and they seem to enjoy almost every minute of it. Yay!! So if you are toying with the idea, I'd highly recommend it. Anyway, I just wanted to post some pictures of the things we've been up to so far. Which isn't a whole lot, but the pics are cute.

Technically, these pictures are from the school year, but the very end, so I'm posting them anyway. Corbin looked at us throughout his kindergarten program. So cute.

The PM kindergarten classes preform. Video may or may not be coming soon.

Corbin poses with his diploma

I don't know what happened with this picture. I couldn't get Mrs. Hall to look at the camera, and Corbin looks like he's about to cry. Weird.

The boys pose with their certificates (technically Dexter didn't graduate since he has another year of preschool) and Ivy joining in on the fun.

Echo getting some sun AND having a "Dr Evil" moment

The boys got new glasses! This time we went with Transition Lenses (ya know, they turn to sunglasses outside). Thanks Grandma Marde!

Close-up time! Dex's new glasses

Corbin's new glasses

Ivy with her superstar sunglasses

Echo (not outside in the sun, but still up close)

The boys are already sporting the annual Summer Mohawks, and getting ready to head to the pool (they've been begging constantly since it opened over memorial day, but its always too cold). It was only 63 degrees,but we were sick of the begging. It was pretty chilly in the water (so I hear, I stayed home with the girls) and they only lasted about an hour. They came home and had hot chocolate.

And finally, Echo and Daddy bond. Its still too early for her to smile, but she's getting close.

In An Attempt To Keep My Sanity...

I have come up with a plan.

School's out for summer (post about the festivities coming soon). We have approximately 50 Summer weekdays at home to fill (when you take out vacations and such). That is a scary number when you have a chronic temper tantrum thrower like we do. When I was a kid I spent pretty much every single day of the summer outdoors. I was jumping on the neighbors trampoline, rollerblading around the neighborhood, and especially riding my bike everywhere. It seems like these days kids spend a lot more time indoors playing video games or watching tv, and I'm determined to not let my kids waste their summer that way. (Not to mention I think those activities have a lot to do with the obesity epidemic in children).

Anyway, I made a schedule. Yes, I'm a geek, but I want to avoid "couch potato-itis" and also, my kids thrive on routine (as I think most children do). The biggest thing I've learned from Dexter being in preschool is that having a set schedule everyday leads to less tantrums because he always knows what to expect. That's right, my sanity shall remain in tact come fall, AND Dexter and I will still be friends (instead of enemies due to his constant tantrums and my angry yelling and giving him timeouts).

Thanks to Rachel at Trapped Between a Scream and a Hug for many of the fun activities we have planned. I'm actually looking forward to Summer now, rather than dreading it. Here's the schedule, placed right where the kids can see it.

Echo's Blessing

To all those interested:

Echo will be blessed in our ward here in Boise on July 3rd at 1:30 pm. If you are interested in attending let me know!

On June 6, 1981

The number 1 song on the billboard charts was Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes.

The movie Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams was taking in the biggest numbers at the box office.

Famous actor Johnny Pacar was born. Okay, so he must not be THAT famous, because I've never heard of him.

The world was still in mourning over the death of Bob Marley less than a month earlier.

And most importantly my absolute most favorite person on earth was born.

Happy 30th Birthday, Love of My Life.

Ever wonder how a mother of four spends her day?

Here's how I've spent mine since all my helpers left:

• Changing a billion diapers.
• Cleaning mustard colored poop out of every single outfit Echo wears.
• Nodding off while the kids watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
• Nursing a very hungry baby every 2 seconds.
• Washing at least one batch of laundry.
• Dishes, Dishes, and more Dishes!
• Constantly saying to children, "I'm feeding Echo, can you do it yourself?" followed by, "well then you have to wait until I'm done." because they almost never want to do whatever it is themselves.
• Begging Dexter to be a "peacemaker" and bribing him with jelly beans.
• Staring at my increasingly messy house and wishing I had the energy to clean it (or the money for a maid).
• Making lame meals that barely alleviate hunger.
• Falling asleep on the couch while Scott and I watch King of the Hill or Futurama. Sorry babe.

Here's to hoping this is just the transition stage from being a mother or three to a mother of four. Things will get easier with time.....right? Is it terrible that I'm dreading summer just a little because I know the boys will drive me crazy? Just a little, I swear.