Finally it is SPRING!!!

I LOVE Spring. I LOVE the green grass, the budding trees, picking out flowers to plant in my flower beds, buying seeds to plant vegetables in our garden. Unfortunately with all of that beauty comes the RAIN. There have been times this past month that I have felt like Noah (ok Noah's wife) wondering if we should be building an ark. It has rained and rained and rained. Although today the sun is out and it smells like Spring with yellow dandelions EVERYWHERE--for Tori's picking pleasure. I get many many many dandelions every day. I think that all little girls love picking them. So what's new??? NOTHING!!! EVERYTHING!!! I don't know where to start.

We move been back in New York for two years now. The time has gone by so fast. There have been so many changes--good changes--hard changes--challenges and triumphs. All in all life is really good. Not the way I expected it to be--but better.

Tori--She is SEVEN! SEVEN!! How did that happen? She has grown up so much.She is confident, self-assured, smart, helpful and kind. She loves her brother and sister, although she did say to me last week as I was giving her brother a bath "remember the good old days before Michael and Eden squeezed in?" However, this morning she was playing with Eden and said "isn't having a baby so much fun" (as Eden squealed with delight as Tori played peek-a-boo with her). It is a struggle for me--I was an only child until I was 20 when my parents adopted my sister. I know she would really love being an only child, although last Sunday I watched in Primary as she and Michael were practcing their Mother's Day song and she had her arm around him rubbing his back while they sang--it was precious. I am excited that summer vacation is almost here and I won't have to share Tori with school for a while.

Michael--Master Michael is THREE!! Independent. Can be naughty. Tries to be independent and has found that words have power. Now before you think that he has heard these phrases--he has not. He is also smart and has learned to put words together in meaningful ways. For example, he was angry with me because I would not allow him to do something that he wanted to do "Mom you are stupid like a lady". (no clue where he could have heard that). He makes up lots of sentences. Michael thinks he is a workman. He has decided which clothes he wears to work. He uses Jared's tools to work on his tractors, jeep and bike. He likes the tools to be organized--he puts them back where he found them. He likes to vacuum and does a good job, he even moves furniture and objects wehn he vacuums.
Michael asks within 15 minutes of dropping Tori off at school if we can pick her up. He misses her when she is at school. He loves to play with her even though he bite her this morning because she was playing with one of his cars.......

Eden--sweet little Eden. Always happy, loves to eat, sleeps like a champ. Smiles, coos she has not figured out how to crawl, but she rolls all over the place. She is EIGHT MONTHS OLD. Time has gone by so fast. The name Eden means delight and she really is a delight. We all love her so much.

So the three children were squeezed into the backseat of a Honda CR-V and our Toyota Prius. I really did not want to buy another car, but we went to Syracuse and the CR-V was not running right Jared had to come out rescue us and tow the CR-V home. He fixed it, but we went and bought a minivan. Oh how I wanted to avoid the minivan. After having it for the past month--I LOVE IT. It is awsome they all fit, there is no fighting, no one complains about the other touching them. The seats are leather and are easy to clean their muddy foot prints off. It has satellite radio. So glad that we entered the 21st century--LOVE SATELLITE radio. It is awesome. It has everything except the dvd players--I really like talking to my kids and I did not want tv to be a distraction in the car. So far I have not regretted that decision.

Jared--He will be done rehab a house that he bought last year. It should go on the market at the end of this week. He has done an AMAZING job. It is beautiful--I should post pictures.

ME--I am always busy, Working fulltime from home--is such a blessing. If I went into the office it would be a 45 minutes commute each way. I love my job, and I love being able to be a mom at the same time. I have gotten use to 5-6 hours of sleep.

All in all life is good. There are so many people in worse situations in life than we are. We want for nothing and have been extremely blessed. We are healthy. Our children brings us so much joy and frustration at times.