First words. . .

 . . . of course.  

Wolf Cub!

Last night was the last official meeting of the year for Cub Scouts.  They had a picnic and handed out awards.  Joseph has officially finished his Tiger Cub requirements and is now a Wolf Cub! He has enjoyed Scouts this year and we are excited about him joining a new pack in CA this fall.  

 Mr. Elvin is reading off Joseph's awards.

 Daddy was his assistant Den Leader this year.

and another week later. . . .

We have signed a lease on a house in San Marcos, CA!!!  

I will say that applying to rent a house that you haven't seen in person is pretty stressful.  Adding to the stress was the fact that two other families were also in the running for this house.  We spent several days compiling information, filling out paperwork, compiling more information, filling out more paperwork. . . repeat.  But at last we got an email from our realtor that, after the owners had looked at everyone's information, they picked us!!!! It feels like a total miracle and we are thrilled to know where we will be living.  

This house is in the San Elijo Hills area and in a gated subdivision.  We also found out that one of Christopher's new coworkers lives 6 doors down!  They have two boys our boys' ages.  We knew they lived in the area but are so excited to find out that we will be practically neighbors. They are also from Texas so we have the whole "southern" thing in common as well.

We are really excited about this great little community and the school the boys will attend.  And we can't wait to have visitors fill our guest rooms!!!

moving update

What a difference a week makes!  

A week ago Saturday, while I was at a baby shower, Christopher rented out our house! One of the small-group pastors from our church stopped by to catch up with Christopher.  He had recently been in Europe and we were eager to find out how it went.  In the course of the discussion Christopher told him that we had decided we were going to rent in San Diego initially.  We had been pretty stressed out about finding a place to buy and this had really set us at ease.  It also gave us a lot of flexibility with our current home.  We had not seen a lot of movement on the house and were comfortable knowing that we could afford to rent and still cover our mortgage here if it didn't sell.  Christopher also mentioned that we could even rent it out - maybe to them.  About an hour later our friend asked if Christopher was serious about renting out the house because they had been praying for a house to rent in our area.  Their oldest child is starting Kindergarten this fall and they are zoned for a school they are not thrilled about.  We happen to live next door to one of the best public schools in the area.  There is no doubt in our mind that this was meant to be and we took the house off the market immediately and they signed a lease over the weekend.  We are thrilled that their sweet family (2 boys and a 1 girl - just like us!) is going to fill this wonderful home with love over the next year or longer!

We have started to put together our "countdown calendar."  Starting May 1 we will be crossing off the days.  I think this will really help the boys understand the time frame.  I know that Jacob will barely remember Little Rock and Denbigh won't at all.  But Joseph will have vague memories here and that makes me happy.  We have really loved our life here.  Soon I will be starting a blog series regarding things I/We will miss.  I am pretty sure it will be lengthy.  

Jacob . .. as Anna

Last night I was tucking Jacob into bed.  I laid down beside him and pretended I was sleeping and then he pulled open my eye and in his best "Anna" impersonation said "do you wanna build a snowman?"  It was awesome.  I just wanted to eat him up.

And if you are one of the 5 people who hasn't seen it . . . . here you go. . . 

Easter Sunday

The kiddos opened their Easter baskets when they woke up on Sunday morning.  Each one got a book from Papa & Nana and a few goodies from Daddy & Mama.

Then we headed off to church and the service was amazing!

 Our precious babies!  They are all growing so fast.

 Remember this??!!

Saturday Shenanigans

Saturday we were back out at the soccer field to watch Joseph play.

 Jacob worked on perfecting his Bobby Knight impersonation.

 Daddy filled in as coach for this game.

 Later in the day, while Daddy helped usher at the Saturday Easter services, we colored eggs.

 We also made Rice Krispie treat nests with MnM eggs.

Hunting Eggs!

Thursday morning was the Easter Egg Hunt at Jacob's school.  He doesn't usually go to school on Thursdays so we popped in just for the event.  Jacob loved hunting eggs with his class but was very particular and only wanted the blue eggs - his favorite color.

 He had a blast and was so proud of his collection of mostly blue eggs.

 Then he decided he wanted to share an egg with his sister and picked out a purple one for her.  He is so sweet!

naptime snuggles with daddy

Denbigh usually is very easy to put to bed for naps and at night but every once in awhile she will cry for a minute or two.  One of those occasions happened recently except she just kept crying.  So Daddy took pity on her and went up to comfort her.  He didn't come back down for awhile so I went up and found this.  So sweet.  She was still making those poor little sob noises babies make when they've cried for awhile.  

Easter Egg Hunt at the Clinton Library

 On Saturday morning Mama took Jacob and Denbigh to meet up with some friends at the Clinton Library while Daddy and Joseph went to soccer.

The line for the Easter Egg Hunt was pretty long so we were happy to be able to hang out with our friends Raelyn and Lillian in line.

Jacob also goes to school with these two girls.  Raelyn and Jake are almost the same age but not in the same class.

The "hunt" was held in a fenced-in area where they also had these fun peddle cars.

I think we have a little Miss Priss on our hands.

 Later we jumped in a few of the various jump castles.

And we had a great time playing with our friends.

4-year-old and 9-month well visits

This morning I took Jacob and Denbigh for their 4-year and 9-month well visits.  Here are their stats:

Jacob

Height: 42 inches tall (90th %)

Weight: 44 lbs. 15 oz. (90th %)

(at this age Joseph was 41.4 inches tall and weighed 40 pounds - 75th%.)

We knew that he would be getting his vaccines this visit so he went equipped as a Superhero ready to get his super vaccines which would make him stronger to fight the bad guy germs!

 He was "Jacob" for his check-up.

 But his Iron Man mask helped him deal with the shots like a total superhero!!!

 We celebrated with a Chick-fil-A lunch date.

And Denbigh's Stats:

Height: 28.2 inches

Weight: 19 lbs. 9 oz.

Both put in her in the 75th percentile range. 

For comparison - at this age Joseph was 23 lbs. 13 oz and 30 inches.  Jacob was 22 lbs. 15 oz. and 29.5 inches.