Jayden Christopher

Today we had our traditional 3D/4D ultrasound at Peek-A-Baby. We started this with Josh and were so amazed at how lifelike these ultrasounds are at sneaking a peek at the baby. We were so excited to be able to do this again and the kids LOVED seeing their baby brother! We were able to even get a DVD this time as the new Woodlands location opened up recently. Here's our "Sneak Peek" at our little blessing....

I know that in the video it looks as if the cord is wrapped around his neck, but we asked about that and were assured that it wasn't but rather in front of him floating in the amniotic fluid. I am still going to call my dr. tomorrow though and double check. I see her Thursday too :)

Four

It's hard to believe that my baby boy is four years old now. It seems like yesterday I took the above picture and was trying to navigate through parenthood for the first time. I had NO idea what we were getting into - all the wonder and joy only a child can bring. It's priceless.

Josh wanted a "Toy Story" themed birthday party this year and we invited his school buddies and family over for a day of water play in the backyard. It was a lot of fun to see him for the first time really care more about playing with his buddies. The weather was perfect, although it was overcast most of the day, and everyone was wore out by the end. Here's a few highlights from our fun-filled birthday....

Julianna helping me get Joshie's birthday sign I made outside so people can find our house

Toy Story inspired birthday sign

Julianna thought she was "helping" me with the snacks...she was getting hungry waiting for friends to arrive. I think she ate most of the grapes!

Joshie wanted Jenna & Julianna to help him open his presents.
I am so thankful that he loves his siblings so much

Joshie and his friends playing in the pool and with their water guns Josh's favorite toy: A Nerf Gun that shoots "sticky bullets". He's allowed to shoot only the door with it and has been very good about keeping that rule
(so far no sibling casulties have been reported)

Joshie's birthday cake that his "Grandma Sunshine" made for him

Lastly, there's two videos I wanted to share. The first is of Joshua attempting to experience a slip n slide for the first time and the second is the classic "Happy Birthday" song to Josh. Enjoy!

The cool thing about Joshua's birthday is that his daddy's birthday is two day after. Normally we just go out for a family dinner to celebrate Jason's birthday, but this year was a special birthday - he was turning 30! So to celebrate I had people come over after Josh's birthday to surprise Jason and have a barbeque in his honor.

The party went well and he was surprised and had a good time hanging out with family and friends.

Happy Birthday to my special boys! Je T'aimes!

The Key

Four kids is not for everyone...Four kids four and under is definately not for everyone...But it is for us, and we are blessed to have our sweet munchkins in our lives. Sure there's moments of chaos, but there's so many more moments of hugs, cuddles, and sweetness that it far out weighs those tough moments.

I get asked a lot how we do it. "How do you manage with three toddlers and one more quickly approaching arrival?" "How do you manage keeping up with teaching three days a week, and still finding time to spend time with your kids the other four?" "How do you NOT go crazy at the end of the day when three kids are tired, whining, and hungry?"....Well, there's a couple keys to our success, and I'd like to let you in on our little secrets....

#1 - Organization...With three toddlers and two working parents, you HAVE to be organized. At least in your daily routine. My house may not be the most organized, but our days certainly are - especially our "school days". We have one vehicle for the time being (which is paid off! YAY!) so we have to get up early to take Jason to work in order to then drive up to school and then after school we drive back to his work to drive home. It works for us for right now, but does make for a long day - usually about 12 hour days....so organization is a vital key.

I usually get up at 5:15am and make lunches for everyone. With a family of five, that's a lot of sandwiches and getting ready. Below is a picture of the sandwich line. I think of it as like a car assembly...LOL....We shop at Costco on a monthly basis as we use a half loaf of bread on school days.

After the sandwiches are made and lunches put together, I stack them on the counter in order and then get the kids up and ready for school. I get them up at 6:00am and thankfully I have a wonderful husband who tag teams with me to get all three ready, teeth brushed, and hair combed in 15 minutes.
Once everyone is ready, we head down stairs where backpacks are waiting in line from oldest to youngest. Then its time to head out to the truck to go to work and school!

Julianna is too little to carry her backpack, but she LOVES carrying her lunchbox.

And Josh is a "big boy" now and helps make sure that everyone else is also ready to go. He's mommy's big helper and is so proud of it!

Jenna also does really well with getting ready and helping carry out Julianna's backpack for me.

Next time I will share one more "secret" with you as to how we make a family of five work and seem easy at times.