I have been putting off blogging for nearly 3 months now....I guess it's time for an update. (to anyone still who reads this) Wade keeps telling me that I need to do it. He likes that it is a sort of family journal. I do too, but it takes planning to sit down and NOT have a child climbing all over me:)

I can't think of a whole lot that has changed. Our kids are growing so fast and I can't believe our oldest is 7 & 1/2 now, Annie is 4. and our baby is 16 months. Seriously, it seems like just yesterday with all of them. I was talking to some friends at work about when I had each of them, and most of the details are so clear that I can't believe how much time has actually passed. It's exciting and a little sad at the same time. I hate to think that the next 5 years are going to go just that fast. I just don't want to miss too much.

Christmas was great. It came fast and we felt a little unprepared, so we were kinda relieved to have it over. We hate to feel that way about such a special holiday, so we are trying to find new ways that we can enjoy our holiday with our kids and not feel stressed out. Hopefully, next year will be a little better. Our kids did have fun..AND I think, for the most part, my girls understand what it is really all about. They all got lots of fun things. Wade and I purposely didn't buy too much because we live in such a small place, we don't have room for much more. It didn't matter. They still got too much stuff. Between us, grandparents, and grandma-great....we still had clean out our playroom. (blah.)

Here's a little update on the kids...

Hawkins is a CRAZY boy. HO-LY COW!!!! Everyone told me that boys are busy and a lot of (fun) work, but I had no idea how much. He is into everything....and it is so disgusting sometimes. He gets in the toilet and plays in the water (with a 7 and 4 year old, YOU know that means the water isn't always clean...YUCK), he gets into the garbage and pulls it out and sometimes he even eats left overs that he's found in there....can it get any grosser? Probably not. BUT, I have to say, he is the happiest little guy around. He always has a smile for me and he just makes our days brighter. He is pure joy. I don't know what our little family did without him. He is so loved by his sisters. They are very protective of him and they can't seem to get enough of him. (except maybe when they are trying to play Polly Pockets or Barbies.) He is moving around so much. Once he started walking, it turned into running and he hasn't stopped since. He go -go -goes until he crashes for a nap or at bedtime. He is such a busy boy and he keeps us running. We LOVE him so much.

Anniston is loving pre-school and ballet. She had her first recital at Christmas and she was great. I was shocked at how well she did. I knew she could do it, but I didn't know if she would get nervous in front of a crowd, but it was like she didn't even notice. It was awesome. Wade and I were so proud of her. She is devloping a better sense of independence. Which is mostly a good thing. Sometimes it's annoying but just because it is sooooooooooo time consuming, and a lot of days I am on a schedule. We try...somedays are better than others. She has this new thing she does when she isn't getting her own way. She stomps off...when I say stomps I don't mean she walks off in a huff, I mean she STOMPS off. really loud. so everyone can hear her. It's really "snotty" but I have to stop myself from laughing almost everytime. Girls...what fun. I never did that, did I?

Brooklynn is maturing in so many ways. I look at her and I think "Wow, what a little grown-up, she needs to slow down." Aside from the 2 front teeth she is missing, I swear she is not my little girl anymore. She is definately the big sister. She looks after her siblings and is pretty darn good at it. She is doing great at school. She struggles a little with math, but she is a great reader and speller. We keep telling her that she just has to keep practicing with her math and it will come. She is a great tumbler. She has her first meet in a couple of weeks and I am so excited to see how she will do on a competative level. She is not a very competative kid, so it will be interesting. We are hoping she will see other kids and want to improve even more. We know she can kick some serious...umm...butt, we just want her to know it too.

Work for both of us is going as good as it can. We both "enjoy" what we do, but we would really ENJOY a little time off together (without the kids). I'll bet that it has been 3 months or longer since we have gone on a real date. I don't know why it is so hard for us to go. It is so needed, but we hate to keep asking our parents to watch our kids. Can you believe that we have never had anyone but our parents tend our kids since my babysitter stopped watching kids when Brooklynn was 1. Are we insane or what? I know there are probably plenty of perfectly capable YW in our ward, but I guess I just have issues. Get over it, right....yea right. Probably not gonna happen anytime soon. **We did go on a date the other night...went by way too fast, so it didn't count:)**

**Other tid-bits**

-Wade will be 33 next week. OLD man.

-Then again, I will be 31 in a couple weeks...YIKES!

-Wade and I haven't been able to get to bed until 11pm or later and haven't been sleeping well after that...yuck...we used to be in bed by 9:30 AND sleep all night. (Am I complaining about sleep? Man, we ARE getting old.)

-We have had more sickness in our house this winter than all the past years combined...which is why we haven't been sleeping so well. BOOOOOOO!!!

-Got a new RPh at work...he's a good fit at our pharmacy.

-Wade is taking some Management claseses for work next week...so NOT excited about it. Long days in SLC going to school...not his idea of fun:)

-Really want to paint our house again. I don't want to do it, I want it done....probably won't happen, at least not for a while.

-Actually if I'm wishing for things...I'll take a new house....something a little bigger with a yard. I'm not asking for much...I'm just ready.

-Loving the show (re-runs) "How I Met Your Mother". I had never seen it before and we stumbled on it one night and we quite like it. (I'm really missing "Friends", and it's the closest thing to it I have found.)

-"Despicable Me" is the new favorite show at our house. SO funny and SO cute.

-Can't keep Hawkins off the table...seriously, that's where he is RIGHT now. AAAAAAhhhh.

-Got told I am the "motherly" one at work. Not sure if it's a compliment or not. Leaning towards...not.

-LOVE my wonderful husband. Hope he knows it.

Well...that's all for now. Like I said, not too much has changed. Life is good.