Hello Spring!!

Living in Mississippi definitely has its advantages. Spring is HERE!!! I get to laugh at the majority of you that are reading this. We are planting our flowers and running around in shorts and sandals. I know, in a few months you will be laughing at me when I can't go outside because it is so humid, but for now, it is my turn!!! In November we made some nice flower boxes in front of our house, and we got to finally fill them with flowers the other day. Both Zach and I love to grow flowers and gardens, so we are excited. I also got the bug and I have already given the boys their summer haircuts. Today I started to shave Jax's hair and he started crying saying that it hurt, I told him it was not that bad and kept on going. Not very long after I realized that my clippers were broken and I was just pretty much pulling his hair out. I felt so bad. I stopped halfway through and called Zach to have him bring us a new pair of clippers home after work. Poor Jax had to have is hair pulled out, then stay "weird looking" until Zach got home. Sad and funny at the same time. Tomorrow we have a play date with a few friends at the base. We are going to the park. We are so excited to get out and play again. Have I ever said how much we love being outside. Sorry for those of you who get to be stuck inside. Maybe that will give you something to think about and maybe we will get some visitors!!!! I realized that I don't have many pictures of me with the kids. Here we are. Kind of.
After their haircuts.

Before their haircuts.

The flowers we planted. I can't wait for them to "grow up"

These are my favorite flowers. Now I can see them everyday!

A flower box we built.

Another flower box.

We are home!!

Aynslee with her morning hair. The sad thing is that her morning hair looks the same all day!!
The snow was all the way to the top of the tramp, and they said a ton had already melted.

Jax and Shade loved playing in the snow!!

Home sweet home. We had a great time in Idaho seeing family and friends. Sonnie got married and everything went well. She was quite the little bridezilla, but we still love her. I forgot how much you don't care about anything and just want to be married at that point. The reception was very pretty and a ton of people came. It was great. Courtney did a great job on her cake. I will have to get a picture from her so you can all see it. It looked great. Sonnie looked beautiful and was so happy. We are happy for her. Congrats Son!!! The boys played in the snow, and fed the animals on Grandpa Stewarts ranch. They loved it. They also got to see Papa Leaks new dog Pokey and his brother that Jax named Pokeymon. I wish that we could have taken little Pokeymon home with us. Aynslee had her first babysitter-Grandma and Grandpa Stewart and everything went well. So well, that we got a babysitter last night and can now leave her. Thanks grandma and grandpa.

We had a great time seeing family. Jordan and Barbara and family came down, and Courtney and Dan hung out with us a lot and we even blessed Matt and Waylenas newest baby Kayson.

We went to Salt Lake with the Grandma and Grandpa Stewart, Jessie and Bracken and family and Jed and even Mema and Papa. We went to the Childrens Museum and had a ton of fun. Looking back on everything I am surprised at how much we did!!! That is the way our trips to Idaho usually go. I forget how much I love it and everyone out there until I am there.

We are back to normal life now, and are getting things ready for Jax to start Soccer and are getting plans for putting up a fence and starting to plot out our garden. Life goes on.

Thanks to everyone that helped us out the past week and sorry for those of you we didn't get to see. We love you all and hope to see you all again soon. Come down south and see us!!!!!

Idaho here we come!!!

Tonight we are off to Birmingham Alabama to sleep in HOTEL!!! The kids are so excited. Jax is asking if he can help clean the house and pack so we can get there faster. A hotel trip may come in handy any time of the year. We are on our way to Idaho. We leave in the morning for a 7 hour day of planes and waits. Wish us luck. They boys love to fly and Ayns is a pro. I think she has been on 6 flights in her short 9 months. She is good. Anyway, Sonnie is getting married on Sat. so we will be getting things ready for that. We are excited to see everyone, and play in the snow. For all of you friends, I would love to see as many as we can in our short time. Call my moms house and I will work so hard to see you!!! I would love to. Well, this is all for now, I will post pictures of IDAHO!!!!!!
p.s. I have a picture in my house that says: My heart belongs to IDAHO!!!! I love it!!!!!

Happy Birthday Jax Man!!

Today is a bittersweet day for me. Tomorrow (Feb. 17) is Jacksons 5th birthday. I can not believe that my baby is 5. I know that in the grand scheme of things, 5 is not that old, but he is my first baby. Living back in the town where he was born has brought back a lot of feelings. The home we brought him home to has been torn down, we have moved 3 times and he now has 2 siblings. All in 5 years. Jackson is such a good boy. He is so smart and has such a good heart. He loves to learn and is always asking questions that I don't have the answers to. He is a natural born leader and loves to teach is brother and sister everything he knows. I will be happy that he is growing up, and I will cherish every second I have with him. These first 5 years have flown by, and I know the next 5 will go just as fast. Jax Man, we love you!!! We are so glad you are part of our family, and we want to wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!! 3 days old

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

Yesterday I got to spend 3 hours in the E.R.!!! Last night Aynslee worked her way into the boys room which she loves, and managed to get something stuck in her throat. I know, amazing. I tried my hardest to get it out, but it kept pushing farther down, and she would not throw it back up. We decided to make a trip to the local E.R. Well, get ready for my ranting!!! I waited for 3 hours for my baby to be checked!!! 1) she is a baby!!! 2) she is choking!!!! 3) come on people, move it!!!! These people were SO SLOW and I am pretty sure they thought I was overreacting. After getting mad, and crying to the nurse all at once they decided that maybe some x-rays would make me feel better. DUH!!!! They took them and then said they would not see anything plastic or paper. I am sure it was one of those two. They did not take any of her stomach to be sure it would pass. After our Clifford experience(the family dog who swollowed a golf ball and it ended up being $1000 dollar golf ball after the surgery because it would not pass) I have learned that not everything that goes in comes back out. So after waiting the 3 hours getting coughed on by nasty people with the flu we were sent home without a second thought. They told me I get to check her poo diapers and look for something special. YAY!!!! I love those days. Cross your fingers I find something. I understand that people have to wait turns. I am not one of those moms, but I do think that if a baby is choking and you can feel it in their throat and it looks uncomfortable and she is screaming, that they would want to do something. I just want to say a very sarcastic thank you to all you Columbus Mississippi locals who think that the solve all problem is to sue the doctor when they don't fix your problem. What do we get from that?? Only the lazy doctors are left to pick up the slack from the doctors who moved away because they thought they would end up in court someday. Thank you!!! Thank you for my wonderful experience last night. I miss you Rapid City. More than ever.
What have I learned from this:
Watch Aynslee a little better
Clean the boys room
NEVER take her to the Baptist Hospital again unless there is a limb missing. But, who knows if she would be seen for that!!!!

Thanks for listening to me. Sometimes a mom just needs to let it all out!!

Eat Up!!!

It is so amazing how I have changed as a parent. When Jax was a baby I was very strict about what he ate and what time he ate and stuck to the guidelines about waiting until he was a year about most foods. Then Shade was born and I just couldn't be quite as strict because I was preparing food for Jax and it was so easy to give Shade a little bite. Aynslee is now the lucky one. I tease that she is our little puppy because she sits and waits under Shades chair whenever he is eating something and waits for anything that may drop. She loves to eat anything and everything. I thought I would post a few pictures of her eating spaghetti. Something she probably should not have but she is the product of someone with three kids. She is loved and happy and full.

This is such a sad picture. This is what our nightly routine looks like when you have three sick kids.

Today I took Shade and Aynslee to the doctor and found out that Ayns has a double ear infection and Shade has one in one ear. Jax was sick all last week and I was sick this week with Shade and Aynslee. Our home has been utter chaos. There is nothing like a home with a sick mom and three kids. I am not trying to get any sympathy, I just had to put that out there for the rest of this blog. Yesterday Jax for some odd reason got a parenting book out and wanted me to read it to him. I was ok with that because A) it can only make him smarter and B) I needed to know a few things myself. After we were done looking through it he asked me if that was how I got to be such a smart mom and if that is where I found out how to take care of them when they are sick. I was first really excited that he called me smart and that he does realize that I work hard to make them feel better. I thought about it and was going to say yes, I love those books, but the more I thought I realized that I had in fact learned a lot from those great "how to" books, but I learned most everything from the million trillion phone calls to my mom and Zachs mom Sue. I call them all the time with weird questions. I know they probably think I am crazy and that I need to raise my own kids, they already raised theirs. I have to just let our moms know how great you are. Thank you for all the support and love that you give to a learning mom like me. Thanks for listening and still taking care of us. Thanks for taking care of me and my babies when they are born. I hope and pray that one day I can as great of a mom to my kids as you both are to me!!! We love you!!!