Our Fantastic Four...plus one more

So if you haven't heard (and pretty much you've heard, right?)....we're having another baby!! So as much as so many people told us not to mess with the so called "perfect family" (2 girls, 2 boys) we've gone and messed with it. We felt that little nagging feeling that someone was missing and so we decided to give it a little try and before we could really get used to the idea, we were having a baby. But we are so excited and know that this little one is meant to be in our forever family!!
Today was that moment of truth when we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat and confirm that that the reason for all the yuckiness, exhaustion, and other joys of early pregnancy actually meant there was something in there. I love that moment when you hear that little swish swish sound. It's the most precious little sound ever and always such a relief to me to know that little heart is doing its job. Ben wanted to come to the Dr. with me so we towed in all of our kiddos and got to watch their eyes light up as they realized it was their baby's little heart making that noise. We only got to hear it for a few seconds here and there as the baby kept jumping all over the place. The Dr. declared this one a swimmer, which I can concur, as I'm pretty sure I've already felt those little swishy feelings-my other favorite thing about being pregnant. We can't wait to see who this active little guy is going to be and feel so very blessed.
So right now I'm about 13 1/2 weeks and this is usually about the time we announce. There was no waiting with this one though, especially since it's our 5th and my stomach muscles were shot with my blasted c-section and long recovery. Even if I could've hid it somehow, we were confronted a few weeks ago with the conflict of going to Lagoon for Ben's work party and having to explain to the kids why I couldn't ride many rides. So the night before Lagoon we decided to tell the kids. Ben wrapped up a "Mom-to-be" balloon in a box with Christmas wrapping paper and we told the kids we had a really early Christmas present for them. They were so excited about that in itself. When they opened the present, the balloon burst out, and Skylar and Nick both read it out loud. Then the realization kicked in. It was awesome to catch their faces. Skylar squealed and jumped up and down. Nick was ecstatic-he has been talking about how he just knew we had another baby in heaven for the last year and was so excited he was right. Kade just ran around all crazy Kade-like with the balloon and we weren't sure he got it but he confirmed he did and was excited about more than the balloon. Alexis just sucked her thumb. I'm sure this will be a whole new thing for her but she absolutely adores babies so I think she'll love having a baby to mother. Now when we ask her where the baby is she points to herself. If we ask her again she points to my tummy...so she's kind of getting the idea.To tell our parents we sent them Christmas cards and wrote inside "We wanted to let you know early that your Christmas present may be a little late. Baby Jordan #5 due January 7." We thought it was a fun way to get the word out to all of them at the same time. Once the kids knew the news, it spread like crazy and I'm pretty sure most know by now.
So now the long wait begins until we can meet this new member of our family. I have to admit that I am not a fan of pregnancy and can't believe I'm actually putting myself through this again. I already have the feeling that I'm done after this-which I've heard you do some day feel-so that's nice...and kind of sad at the same time. I'm trying to treasure every moment of the pregnancy, as much as I can, feeling that. I feel so very blessed that I was ever given the gift of being a mother in the first place-something I wanted and ached for so long for-and to have the chance to once again be a mother to another precious baby is such an overwhelming blessing. These babies Ben and I get to have are our greatest treasures. We can't wait to meet you baby #5!!

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.

If you ask Skylar to dance for you, she won't do it. But if you put her on a stage, that girl will dance. She loves to dance! We don't get to see it often, but come May we get to see it plenty. This is the month of dance and we are bombarded with extra and longer practices, dance pictures, rehearsals, her spring concert, and Skylar's favorite by far, the National's Dance Competition at Lagoon. That girl will dance up a storm for this month and love every minute of it.
So May 15th was the big Lagoon competition. We are up early every year-we had to be there at 8:30 this year-yikes! Skylar puts on her serious face for this. She wants everything to be perfect-she's being judged and all. Skylar loves being part of a competition group. I'm amazed she's my daughter as I am so not into anything competitive. But she loves it and she loves all of the girls she dances with, many of whom she's been dancing with since she was 4.
We were lucky this year because her group was performing two dances but instead of being hours apart, they were only minutes apart. So after some practicing a bit and doing her dances pretty much back to back, we were done for the day, which was good because we decided not to stay at Lagoon since we'd be going again in a few weeks. Their dances were beautiful. They danced a ballet dance first and then the second was a combined group-her All Star Jr. Company combined with the younger group, the Mini Company-and they danced to Almost There from Princess and the Frog, which was a combined jazz and ballet number. It was pretty impressive because the group was so large, yet did such a great job! So great, in fact, that they received first place. They received second place for their first dance. Way to go All Stars!!The last week of school, just to make things a little more crazy, we add on the craziness of her dance Spring concert. This year it was scaled down a ton and so it wasn't nearly as crazy as years past. Skylar performed in three dances and did a great job, of course. Ben, the kids, and grandparents got to come see this one so that was even more exciting for Skylar.
I so love that Skylar has found something she is so passionate about. I love watching her dance with such a huge smile on her face and knowing she is loving every minute of it. Way to go my little dancer!!

Our Kindy Grad

Well, somehow it happened. Somehow my little Nicky went from a fresh new kindergartner to a kindergarten graduate in a blur of a moment. I can't believe it went so fast. Ben and I loved watching that little boy run into school every morning, so excited to be there. We talked about recording him time and time again...and we never did. I will miss his cute little body and his big Clone Wars backpack running in. Believe me, it was adorable.
So Nick graduated from kindergarten on May 27. They had the cutest little program where the kids sang their hearts out and then received their diplomas. Skylar was pretty excited she got to sneak out of class to watch.













Nick has loved kindergarten but was so excited to be done with school...and homework...for the summer! We were so lucky to have Mrs. Vitters as his teacher this year. We love her! Nick was sad to be leaving all of his friends for the summer and planned a ton of playdates with his buddies. He was lucky to get so many new friends this year and has loved it!!














Way to go Nick on being a kindergarten graduate!! You are the coolest!! Your momma & dadda love you lots!!

Oh boy, I've got joy!!

So somehow this crazy fun year of Joy School has come to an end. This year was our biggest group ever-6 moms, 6 kids! It was soooo nice to have such big long breaks between teaching. It really helped me to get things done like grocery shopping and visiting teaching because I was down to just Lex at home. When it was my turn to teach, it was a little crazy busy, but so much fun because we had such a great group. The best thing about this group was that they all just loved each other soooo much. We often had many times where I had to actually tell the kids that they needed to stop hugging so we could move to something else. What cute sweet kiddos!! Here's Kade with his buddy, Max. These boys had an especially hard time not loving each other too much.I had the opportunity to teach the last day of Joy school and we had such a great time talking about our families and how important they are to us. We talked about all of the brothers and sisters that had been in our group in the past and about the younger ones that will be joining our group next year. It's always a little sad to see some of the kids you've grown so attached to move on but it's so fun to get to know the next little ones. We had a fun little picnic-indoors, might I add, due to the freakin' snow that decided to hit our house on the 24th of May-what!?! The kids still had a blast!!We had our little Joy school graduation at the Hubert's house. We were actually supposed to have it in our backyard but moved indoors due to the snow mishap. Our program was perfect though and those kids were so proud of themselves for graduating! They looked so cute with their little caps and sang their hearts out! I can't help but mention the presence that was greatly missing this year, our wonderful Joy school dad, Naki. Wow, do we miss you Naki!! I was so glad that Abby still brought sweet Eli to Joy School and so proud of Eli braving out the ache she was going through every day without her dad so she could still be in our group. It wouldn't have been the same without the Mailes. I can't imagine Joy school without them. Here's a pic of us Joy School moms. These ladies just happen to be some of the best out there. I feel so lucky to be a part of this group of amazing women who strive to teach their kids to be the best they can be. Thanks moms for being such great teachers to my little Kade!! We have loved being a part of Joy School this year!!To my little Kadybug, thank you so much for being my sweet boy in Joy School this year and letting me have a chance to be your teacher. You have been so much fun to teach about the wonderful things in the world. I hope that you continue to have the excitement for learning that you have begun to have already. I'm so proud of the awesome boy you are becoming!! You are such a fun kid! I love you lots and lots and lots and lots!!!

Happy Birthday to Star Wars...and to me!!

Well, today is the original Star Wars birthday!! And mine, by the way. Quite a coincidence that Star Wars came out on my first birthday, huh?Anyway, I had a wonderful birthday!! Let's just say that I had some big plans for celebrating this birthday this year...and they all fell through. I've been psyched for months about going to see U2 in concert next week and then Bono has to go and bust his back. And of course there's always the annual Memorial Day weekend camping trip something something in honor of my b-day...and it snows. So needless to say, I've been pretty darn bummed about all of this all week.
When Ben asked what I wanted to do for my birthday instead, I gave him an honest answer "Nothing." Doesn't that sound great? I mean, if I can't do all of the things I wanted, then for my birthday I wanted to do nothing. Sleep in, no working, no cleaning, just vegging. Awwww.....Skylar said it sounded like a boring birthday. I told her that for a busy mom like me that boring sounded like heaven. And it turned out being an awesome day! I highly recommend a nothing day for every mom's birthday!!
So I slept in (as long as possible until four bouncing kiddos came to smother me with kisses and shouts of "Happpy Birthday!) and before I could even get out of the shower my sweet friend was at my door, with breakfast and flowers! What a great start to the day!! Thank you wonderful friend!! After getting the kiddles out the door and prepping for my nothing day I headed to the school for the awards assembly where my sweet Skylar got an award for Top Academic-aka "The Smart Cookie" award. Way to go Sky! You make a momma proud!!The boys, Lex, and I grabbed some lunch at Costa Vida (yummy!) and headed home and took great naps! This is a new thing for me-a daily nap with Nicky Duncan. It's our deal so that Nick gets a little refresher since he often has rough nights. I'm totally loving this arrangement. The excuse to nap? Awesome! Today was even more soothing with my new sound machine given to me by another amazing friend. Thanks!! I was able to sleep through dog yapping and lawn mowing and felt so refreshed. After I got up, I checked my e-mail and was amazed at the love! Wow! Thanks everyone!! I also got phone calls, hugs, presents, cards, texts, etc., etc. I really felt so loved. Thanks to everyone that made my day special!!
After being inspired by Phineas and Ferb-and a little instruction from my great friend-my kids and I headed outside to the beauty of the day where I was told "Feet up, princess!" and then got my own little Spa day from my kids. Skylar and Kade rubbed my feet and hands and Alexis sat on my back while Nick rubbed my neck. The weather was perfect and it was so enjoyable!!








The kiddos relaxing after all of their hard work making me feel great:When Ben got home we headed out to dinner. I chose Tucano's because I couldn't possibly pass up on my free birthday meal. It's really the only time we can afford to go there. It was so yummy and the kids loved it-they think salad bars are the coolest-go figure. I even let them do the whole embarrass you with the loud congo drum birthday song thing for the sake of my kids. Tucano's knows how to treat you well.We stopped by Iceberg on the way home to get my free birthday shake-free stuff is awesome! Then we headed home for cake and ice cream. Ben got me a chocolate chocolate chip Nothing Bundt Cake. Okay, so I've heard these are good, but really they deserve the term scrupmptious! Ooooo...so yummy and moist. We then opened some presents and finally got the kids to bed super late. Let's just say I was very spoiled. My hubby and kids are so great!! Thanks again everyone for making my ho-hum birthday actually pretty fantastic!!Oh, and yes, those candles do say 24. I'm not arguing with the candles. Candles are always right.

Happy Birthday Empire!

So it's pretty well known that Ben and I are super Star Wars nerds and today just happens to be the 30th Anniversary of the day that both of our favorites, Empire Strikes Back, came out. So tonight, as a family, we're watching it for movie night. I love this movie! It's got everything-comedy, tragedy, romance, action, drama, important lessons, awesome quotes, and....it's got Lando (swoon...that old smoothie). Even more so, I love that every one of my kids also love this movie. Skylar has all of her Princess Leia figures out on her lap, Nick has not stopped laughing since Yoda entered on the screen, Kade is totally intense about the bad guys (with his thumb plopped securely in his mouth), and Alexis has excitedly done a few "poppy" (popcorn) dances. Aren't times like this the best?

Bubble Blowing

I ran across these really old pictures tonight and it made me laugh. Blowing bubbles with a straw is always a fascinating part of one of our Joy School units. It's pretty cool when it works:But terribly sad when it goes wrong and the bubbles go up the straw:Just look how totally little those two are. So cute.