Life!

I just wanted to get on here and let everyone know that we are doing well. The last post was, well sad, but we got through it and we are all doing great! I know that God has a plan for me and for my family, and we will continue on this path and try and make the best out of the obstacles that I know will continue to arise!

I will give a quick update on how we are all doing! Erik is still doing his training with Werner trucking, meaning he is gone for another couple of weeks. He was actually able to come home for 2 weeks, to help out with stuff! It was nice to have him back here and the kids love it when their Daddy is around. He is enjoying the experience as best as he can, and if anyone knows him personally, he is getting an eye-opening experience with the ways of the world. He called me the other night and was laughing because he had said that he just had his first run-in with a "lady of the night" He was sitting in his truck, waiting behind another one, they were stopping to get some dinner and such, and a lady starts walking toward him...She was dressed like "a soccer mom" (is the way Erik described her) he thought for sure she was the driver in the truck in front of him. So he kinda just waved at her, kinda like a ..."i am here and waiting for your spot..." kinda wave. Well she stopped and made a bee-line right for Erik, and luckily his trainer opened his window and said a few choice words at her and she scampered away, he then proceeded to give Erik an education on hookers. Erik was flabergasted at the fact that this poor woman was a prostitute...in his mind hookers well...they don't dress like "soccer moms." Erik reports that he is getting an education in the 'real world' maybe a little bit more than he wants, but it is better to be prepared than totally caught off guard. He is so close to being done with his training hours, and when that happens he gets to put in for local routes....we are really really praying for local routes to be open so he can be home with us everynight...I am not cut out to be a single mom.

Me...well I am just hanging in there. Some days are better than others. I am excited about a few things that are going on in my life...well besides my cute kids! A few weeks ago I started a boot-camp with my sisters, and about that same time, it happened to get warm enough to bundle the kiddos up in the morning and walk Ellie to school. I am feeling really good, I have more energy, and I absolutely feel different on the days that I don't get to work out or when we don't get to walk. I have decided that in order for me to be the best mommy that I know how to be, I have to get my walk in at least. I don't know all the science behind it, but it seems to me like I have more patience, and its a time for me to get my head straight, and kinda meditate (well, as best you can with children in tow) I have also started taking some classes from this wonderful woman in my ward...she is a fantastic woman and her specialty is brain development...I am so excited about what I am going to learn. I am also starting the CERT classes here in town, and I look forward to using my brain in other ways other than changing diapers and cleaning up spills...ALL. DAY. LONG!!

Ellie is enjoying kindergarten, her teacher reports that she is testing above the level she should be for reading at this point!!! She loves to walk to school....(when she isnt falling into the gutter cuz her head is in the clouds somewhere) She is trying very hard to have patience with her younger brothers (aren't we all??) and sometimes she needs some coaching on how to speak to them. She has been a big help while Daddy is gone and she is getting very good with doing all her chores. Her favorite chore is making her bed...and she is gosh darn good at it!! She is also getting better at putting her toys away (she knows that if she doesn't, then her brothers like to play with her barbies and well...that doesn't usually end up very well...body parts strewn all over the house and such) Ellie is usually found at the kitchen table trying very hard to color and write stories!!! This is what I woke up to this morning:

I sure love this girl

Isaac...well this little guy is really really trying my patience. I wish I had more to report on him, besides I do love him, and he drives me NUTS!! He is so fiercly independent that it gets him into A LOT of trouble. He wants to do things like an adult, but the poor guy is stuck in this 3 year old body, and doesn't realize that he just cant do certain things....like try and open the hot oven door, or make himself pancakes. He is having a hard time with understanding that he needs to talk to me when he is hungry, and that just helping himself to the fridge and eating whatever he finds is not ok. (does anyone have any good ideas on how to lock the fridge??) I broke out the bungee cord today to wrap around the door handle (its a side-by-side)...no joke 2 seconds later he had figured out how to undo it and he had helped himself to a yogurt. BOUNDARIES...this is a hard concept for him. Any ideas would be helpful in helping him understand that I am the boss, and that obedience would be very helpful in helping him get to 4 years old :) I have cried my share of tears over complete frustration with this one...and he is only 3 years old. He is very sweet, and while in the midst of his innocent trouble making, he still says the cutest things. He still climbs into bed with me everynight, and he is sneaky about it, I don't know he is there until I wake up in the morning and see him there. He loves music, and his favorite song right now...is that country one ..."stuck like glue" or something, he knows the lyrics and sings right along....very sweet! He has a sweet sense of humor, but you have to be watching him and listening closely for it! What he needs is a good friend to play with, and I am sad that he doesn't have that where we are. He has cousins, but all the ones close to his age are girls, and they just don't get him...he is a boy and totally NOT into princesses or pink. He likes his trucks and his "super fast racing car" he prefers his red one, but of course...it goes so fast, he lost it somewhere in this house...so the blue one does fine for now. He remembers everything....except for the one thing I just told him....(is this a guy thing or what???) He amazes me everyday, and frustrates me, and angers me, and makes me laugh....its a constant ride with this one!!! Thankyou, Heavenly Father, for this one, he keeps me on my toes for sure!

Spencer...he is learning more and more words everyday. He is the prankster and absolutely has his Lola wrapped around his finger....(Lola is my mom, who we are currently living with) He knows how to get you to smile, but he is also coming into his terrible two's and that is evident with the onset of temper tantrums...ggggrrrrr...... (can we just skip the next 2 years and then pick up where we left off?) Spencer is always found with 2 cars in his hands, one in each hand. He does not want to be treated any differently than his older siblings. He will always be found tagging along, like he is one of the big kids. He LOVES to be outside, so it has be a LONG winter having to be inside cuz its so cold outside. He loves to take baths...and he thinks a game when its time to get dressed, he runs and hides, he could play this game for hours. I love that I am getting to really focus on his cuteness now, before he goes into the really trying years ahead! I have been pregnant by this time with the other two, so I feel like I havent really got to enjoy this time in the other two kids life....my brain was in other places...like being so sick and pregnant!

Well there you have it, thats our little (well long...) update, until next time!!!