Cute kids

my little boys had their awana awards ceremony tuesday night and it was cute. they were both so proud to stand on stage. ronan was cracking me up. he kept making faces and rocking back and forth and just smiling like crazy. probably cause i was in the front row so he had someone to make eye contact with and be a goofball for. zander was adorable and so grown up! surprise surprise he's the tallest in his 30 something class. he got a certificate and big blue ribbon. he did a great job this year and i was very proud of him. his little patches are iron on patches and ben got the bright idea to put the last few patches on (last minute of course) by holding them over a lighter and sticking them on the vest. so of course on the way to church, one by one they popped off. :) nice babe...

here's jade thinking she's adorable!

yes, he's cross eyed and staring at the ceiling. thats why he's my boy!

singing his cubbies' song!

my cheese ball! so cute!

House Update

unfortunately the sellers took another offer on the house. :( i know God has something else in store but i would be lying if i said i wasn't disappointed. then our realtor said something wonderful: "my last 2 clients had to make 20-30 offers before actually getting a house". really?! great...someone shoot me now. i'm not patient enough to handle this. i'm tempted to just let ben go do the looking and just make the bids. then 'surprise' guess what we got a house. yea, wait, i can't do that. i might be lacking in patience, but i'm also a control freak...shoot.

House Stress

In case you didn't know, we are on the house hunt. our rent in our current house runs out in september and we have prayed thru trying to find a house. they are willing to rent to us but the rent will be almost more than buying a house. so we have prayed and prayed and prayed, and so far, God has walked us thru each stage. giving ben a raise, coming up with the downpayment (you know who you are and thank you!), and then our first time out we found a house. in our price range most of the houses we are looking at are just unlivable. mold, cracked slabs, just yucky. so we'd be paying mortgage and then have to shell out tons of money to even live in the house. but this little house we found was just perfect. 3 bedroom, 2 bath (which most houses only have 1) and just 1100 square feet. which may seem small, but if i told you the price (especially you midwesterners) you'd gasp. however, it has a BIG yard, an enclosed patio (hello toy room!), and a pool (i'm still on the fence about how i feel about that one). its move in ready and has been kept up amazingly well. a little couple passed away but they kept it immaculately clean. the kitchen is crazy 70s wallpaper but it looks like it was put up yesterday! there are things in the house that we can fix up, but nothing is absolutely necessary in order to live in it. and that's huge! you have no idea! especially with three little kids. so anyways, we put an offer on it and we should hear next week if they accept or counter. i'm sure they'll counter which is fine, but i HATE not knowing. i completely trust God in this that if we don't get the house, he has something better for us. but i'm an over thinker. i've retreated into my head and i spend hours thinking about how to pack, how to decorate, what still needs to be done at our house. so i'm not suffering from stomach aches and insomnia. i feel like my stomach is in knots all the time! i can't seem to get my mind to shut off and stop. i've written things down, prayed, imagined a black screen in my mind, you name it, i've tried it. last night was absolutely horrific. i was up till 2:30 am. ben finally gave me 1 tyelenol pm and i still couldn't sleep. it took over an hour for that to work. so this morning at 6:30 when the boys came in, i was SICK! the room was spending, and i felt like i was going to absolutely puke. it was horrible. but my amazing, wonderful, thoughtful, husband told me to lay down, get some sleep, and he would take the kids to church....ALONE. oh i love that man. so i slept till 9:30 and ate a slow breakfast. now i'm watching oprah and folding clothes. ahhh...blissful. now if i could just shut my head off and make my stomach stop hurting!

Jade's surgery

Jade did very well today for her surgery. i had to get up at 5 am to get her to the hospital by 6. oh that was fun...but jade was sweet and handled the not eating very well. i still cried when they took her away and when i went to get her after she woke up. there was a lot of fluid on her right ear but other than that, pretty normal. when ronan had his surgery he was all drousy and cuddle-y when he woke up. but not jade! she was throwing things and squealing and grabbing for food. she was full of it the whole 1/2 hour i had to wait. after we got home she slept for 2 hours and then tried to eat. which resulted in her puking on me. she also ran a small fever, both of which the doctor said was possible. after her 2nd nap she was still feverish but kept some food down. by the end of the night she was waddling around and full of it. so full of it she didn't go to sleep till 9:15....blah. i am so tired i could cry but ben is out doing karaoke and i can't sleep usually until he gets home. crappy day. oh well, my baby girl is safe and sleeping sound now so thank you for your prayers!

Preschool Momma and Daddy Day

Today was a special day at zander's preschool to celebrate moms and dads. they sang an adorable song and had tables prepped for each of their parents. in my spot was a cute little survey zander filled out for his mom and dad.
ALL ABOUT MOM:
1. what's your mom's name: Larissa
2. How old is your mom: 'she's had two birthdays'
3. How much does she weigh? More than a chair but less than a car, but my dad can't pick her up
4. what is her favorite drink? diet pepsi
5. what does your mom do at work? makes copies at the seminary
6. how much do you love your mom? the size of an anachonda

ALL ABOUT DAD:
1. what is dad's name? Ben
2. How old is dad? 38
3. How much weight can he lift? he can pick up a big sword
4. what is his favorite drink? diet pepsi
5. what does dad do at work? he builds stuff close to the beach?
6. how much do you love dad? the same as i love my mom - anaconda big!

walking queen

little jaders is turning into quite the walker! she waddles around more and more now. whats funny is that she holds her belly when she walks. i don't know if she thinks she's holding herself up or what, but it's cute. of course as soon as she's up and walking, here comes her brothers....poor thing. but she's getting much more aggressive with them and will squeal and swat at them to keep them out of her face.
zander got his test results back from the allergy specialist. so he's technically not allergic to anything. he just has dermographism which means he has a hightened level of histamine in him naturally and thats' going to make him more susceptible to contact allergies. grass, weeds, etc on his skin. also because of the rain this year we have tons and tons of pollen and that will irritate his nose too. not that he's allergic, but its like sticking your face in pepper. you react with sniffling and sneezing, but your not allergic. soo....thats that. but he's got claritin to help now too.
ronan keeps running around the house yelling 'happy mother's day!' i love it., he gives the best hugs and squeezes. he's also really becoming a fabulous cook. he helped me make bisquits for our strawberry shortcake. (oma style!!!) he just loves putting the ingredients in and mixing stuff. it has created a peaceful bond with us and something he's proud of doing alone with mama.
as for me, because i posted that things were going so good last week, i had a tough couple of days. isn't that the way of it? so i was pretty pooped this weekend, but have had a good beginning of the week. which means i'm sure that tomorrow will be crappy. i've also been asked to co-lead a bible study at the group i've been attending for the last two years. i'm excited about it, but also terrified....big commitment, and no more slacking on my lessons! it was definitely a God thing and his voice was louder than my own doubts. so come to cabc next year and join the WOW bible study and be in my group!!!!
anyways, i'm also working my butt off for my garage sale on saturday. PLEASE COME IF YOU"RE IN THE AREA! (7-1 pm) i have kicked my own butt cleaning out every nook and cranny in this house! poor ben had to clean his closet out tonight and it nearly killed him. the dust was brutal!!!! he can't even breathe now from it. i guess that's what you get for not cleaning out your closet in FIVE years! but we'll leave that one alone. i love him so much for even doing it! basically i told him if he didn't, then i got to pocket the ENTIRE profit for the garage sale! :) so motivating....