Jansen's newest trick!

It's really easy to get what you want... One, open oven door.

Two, reeeeaach

Three EAT! Never mind the sharp knife mom leaves just lying about...

I must say I was in the other room nursing Mitchell and I could hear Jansen climbing around. He has learned to push a chair over to the freezer and pull everything out of the freezer and throw it on the floor. AND he can open the oven for a quicker step stool and stir ANY pan. This kid is just too smart!

Family Photos

I wasn't going to post these family photos, but as ordered, here they are. A girl named Alicia took our photos and I think she did an awesome job! Click on her link if you want to see US on her blog! If you're in the Richmond area, I highly suggest you call her! (Thanks for the recommendation Merilee!)

The picture of Jansen is my personal favorite! No one can capture his smile... little stinker. But look at those lips!!!
Love the creamy colors here, and Reesa looks happy despite the fact that she did NOT want to smile either...
Mitchell, you can just tell how sweet and special he is.
Modern, fun background... what I was looking for.

Me and Jake. We haven't had our pictures taken together since we were engaged! How did we do it? We buckled our kids in their car seats, turned on a movie, gave them suckers and popcorn and quickly snapped some shots of just us right before we left.

What's your fav?

We're moving to California!

Well it's official, we're moving to Coarsegold, California! Jake didn't want me to say anything until the papers were signed just to make sure we didn't jinx anything. Jake got the papers last night, FINALLY, and we feel good about it. It's about the furthest move we could be making.

It's the craziest way things work out... So here's the 411 behind the whole story. Jake has always wanted to open his own dental practice, but straight out of dental school we felt a little experience and some time to decide where we wanted to live would be better. So we made a short move to Richmond Virginia to live by my sister while Jake worked as an associate for what we thought would be a year.

After Mitchell came along, there has been so many unknowns about his health and future we knew we needed to stay a little longer. THEN, Jake lost his job, that was NOT working out for our family situation. He was rarely around, and super stressed by the demands from work and home. When Jake lost his job, in a way, it was a big relief to all of us. With Jake's personality he would have NEVER quit, and the money was hard to pass up. So Jake found a job working 2 1/2 days a week and spent the rest of his time helping me with our special needs child (children).

SERIOUSLY 2 weeks later, Travis Kendall, our good friend from dental school, called Jake and asked him about possibly moving to Cali and joining his practice. Travis wasn't ready for a full-time partner, but still needed someone to help out. The opportunity seemed perfect for us, since Jake can't work full time just yet.

We weighed the options and thought and prayed about this move. Coarsegold is 5 1/2 hours from Jake's family and 12 hours from mine. We really wanted to be closer than that to our families. But we just kept going through the motions, and things have just worked out!

Jake will have a partner that we already know and love. A partner means Jake can actually take vacations in the future without putting his practice at risk, a BIG plus for our family. We'll have friends to help us ease into the transition of moving. (Who doesn't love Jennifer?) AND Fresno has a big Children's hospital that has all the of specialties we'll be needing for Mitchell (we hope).

I'll be flying to Utah with my 2 boys, (in just 3 short weeks!) while Reesa and Jake will drive across the country with my mother-in-law Lenora and our nephew Stuart. We're not naive enough to think that everything will go perfectly from here on out, but I think we're off to a great start!!!



AND... Mitchell turned 9 months! He is such a sweet baby. Still causing lots of trouble... We had to take Mitchy to Kid Med on Saturday (it's like an ER for children) because he would not stop throwing up. The gave him an IV for fluids and Zofran to stop the nausea. He's doing better, kind of. (side note, since Jake and I are both control freaks we BOTH wanted to go with Mitchell to the doctor. So Jake packed a DVD player for our kids, apples, oranges, granola bars, string cheese, diapers, and pajamas. We looked like we were moving in!!!)

He weighed 14.4 pounds with his diaper and clothes on...
He has 3 1/2 teeth on top and 1 1/2 on bottom, can I say OUCH!!!
Our physical therapist said she thinks at the rate he's progressing he should be able to sit around 15 months! Slow and steady, that's his motto! We sure love you Mitchell!

Pack Rat

I must admit I have the worst habit of being a pack rat. When I graduated High School, my dad made fun of the fact that I had saved every Valentine I'd gotten since 2nd grade. I just figured if it was organized it was fair game. So now that you know part of my history, I married Jake. He keeps nothing. I have to ask if I want something saved. SO... to lighten our load for our upcoming move we cleaned out our clothes yesterday. Jake was throwing out EVERYTHING! Pants he had barely worn, shirts and ties I had given him, not even a year old! He's not planning on wearing a shirt and tie to his next job (scrubs instead) so to make me happy he said he'd keep 10 shirts. So in the middle of all this to keep me from crying (because my feeling were already hurt) I decided to call my mom and tell her Jake had the gall to throw out a polo shirt my dad gave him 6 years ago that said Coastal Bend College, (my hygiene school 10 years ago!). I knew it was pathetic but I needed something.

Well, the funniest moment happened when Reesa said to me, "Do you want to keep that because your mom gave that to you?" I must have used that reasoning in most of my desperate pleas. I realized my daughter was starting to emulate me and my own bad habits when close to tears she started yelling at Jake holding some random tie, "can't we just keep this one? I don't want to donate it!"

Jake asked Reesa if she wanted to give away some of her own clothes to other people who needed them, and would wear them. So off she dashed and later I found her 2 boxes packed (clothes folded) and in the hall next to ours. She told me, "someone better take these boxes too!"
Don't worry I went in her room and checked, she did leave a few clothes for herself!
Yes I did give away my 3 remaining hygiene school shirts, and my t-shirt from the only marathon I think I'll ever run (can't you see my dilemma!!!).

What can't you give up? ...but you know you should?

Dental Health Month

Since February is Dental Health Month, our preschool asked Jake to come in and do a little presentation in each of the kids classes. It was so fun to see our kids at school. They got to learn about keeping their teeth clean, brush "Danny the Dino's" teeth and learn a fun little song with hand actions. (I would have never guessed all those songs I learned in community class in hygiene school would come in handy! ha ha)

Reesa was cheering when she saw us, SO FUNNY!

Here's Reesa with "Kevin the Kangaroo"

Later that day... Jansen has learned how to open the refrigerator. Although he RARELY does anything with out some help, Reesa and I found him at the table chowing down on strawberries. He LOVES them. He thought he was so clever and very happy.
So I gave him two more and put the rest in the fridge, and later came back into the kitchen to find this... He had lined up 21 strawberry stems, either to mark his territory, or maybe just a little OCD.

Aunt Laura visits

Oh we are so lucky!!! Aunt Laura came to visit us, and we had her ALL TO OURSELVES! It was crazy since she came in the middle of a snow storm and had to stay inside with us most days. (AND her trip was extended by TWO days!) We made lots of yummy food like nachos,
and homemade french fires...
we did a 500 piece Quizzle puzzle, with the help of two of my kids.
When I asked Jake what I did the whole time with Laura, he said "are you kidding? you made cards every 10 minutes!" He're's two of the cards we made with Chelsey.
and the other reason for Laura's visit, some free dental work. SO... If you have any work that needs to be done, come stay for a visit and Jake will do it for free, (okay Jake?) and we will LOVE having a guest! I found this picture on my camera, who took it? Jansen?

Thanks for coming Laura, it was SO FUN! Sorry we couldn't show you more of Richmond, but I LOVED having you!!!