We Love the Bank

Another picture I just couldn't pass up writing about. This is more for me than you guys, but who doesn't love the bank.

Can you tell my kids do. If you ask me, the banks have it figured out....my kids never fail to complain about going to the store, but the bank - never a complaint there.

Fun with the Rasmussens

My kids have been dying to have friends over lately and I finally got around to pulling together a playdate with their good friends the Rasmussens. They had so much fun together and with our time here in Ohio dwindling, I thought I'd better capture the fun times the kids have with their friends. So, here is what we were up to this day with our friends.

Once again, our couch comes in handy. But, this time, instead of a fort, the couch isa house of sorts. Ethan R. tried to build a house out of the cushions, but the kids all preferred the somewhat sturdier house built out of, well the couch.

Here they all are in their "house"
And here they all are crumpled on top of each other in their house

OK, so this was cute. Apparently Hailey likes to be really clean. We must have just eaten lunch or something and Hailey wanted to go wash her hands. Linz being the good little follower she is decided she'd join her (maybe it was the sound of the running water that was just too much for her to stay away from.) I think they washed their hands for a good 10 minutes before I realized what was going on. And then they washed them for another 5 minutes because I just thought they were so cute there together making sure their hands were nice and clean (really playing in the soapy water I later realized.)



To this day Linz still LOVES to wash her hands (play in the water) for as long as I let her (or at least until I finally realize that sound is the water running.) Thank you Hailey for teaching Lindsey such good hygiene!!!!

Linz and Hailey really had fun together and were best little buddies this whole day.

Here they all are enjoying their favorite summertime treat, popcicles

Ethan R., Luke, Ethan N.

Linz, Brynlee, Hailey

And here they all are, they could be the Brady Bunch; three girls, three boys

My Little Cheerleader

Another post more for me, but more cute pictures just can't be passed up. My mom found this outfit for Linz and I just thought she was ADORABLE in it. She is getting better at modeling for me. In a few years, she'll be a PRO, right?!?!

Lindsey Cuddle Bug

We all fight at our house over cuddling with Lindsey. She is such a good cuddler and there is not much better in the world than to have a happy, content baby cuddle with you. It looks like Ethan was the lucky winner this day.

Volleyball Obsession

We went to Jennett's ward Memorial Day picnic when we were down there and the boys saw some older boys playing Volleyball. Needless to say, they have been obsessed with Volleyball ever since then. For a week straight, we'd play volleyball inside at every down minute we could find. Luke would hand us the beach ball (volleyball) and ask us to play with him.



They were getting so good, I thought we'd try out their skills on a "real" court one day. So, our friend Andrew was over and we stopped at the park on the way home from picking up Ethan from school and they had a great time playing Volleyball. They did really, really well. This "net" was the perfect height for them and they got their fill of volleyball that day for sure.

Luke making a hit.

Andrew's older brother plays volleyball at school, so he was good and knew a few more of the rules, but we had fun playing with our "rules." And there is the cheerleader, cheering the boys on!!!! See, I knew that outfit would come in handy.

Playin' In The Rain

This is actually from a while ago, I just didn't want to forget these random fun things I get to enjoy with my children.

Ok, so I do have a soft spot for playing in the rain. This is definitely one of my favorite memories of my childhood, so when the kids beg to play in the nice, wet rain I just have to give in.

We got home around 4 p.m. this day and we didn't even make it inside before the kids were SOAKED!!! They had so much fun though.

As if they don't get wet enough just running in the rain, they have to get down on all fours and really get into it.

Best Buddies

Fort Fun

So, I've been watching a boy (Andrew) in our ward one day a week. He is 5 years old and right in between Ethan and Luke (in age.) He is such a good kid, easy to get along with, fun and SO easy to babysit. The three boys really have a lot of fun together. Luke and Andrew play so well together in the morning and then they all have fun when we pick up Ethan from school.


Many days we'd stop at the park on the way home from picking up Ethan. I'd make the kids walk to Ethan's school and then to the park and home. They had fun and it helped wear them out a little bit. Hey, when you get three boys together you need all the help you can get for getting some of the energy out of them.


This is what creative fun they came up with I think the very last time Andrew came to play at our house. We will miss having him over. But we have these memories to last. The boys built this fort out of our couch and all the cushions they could find in our house. They each had their own little "home" in the fort and it entertained them for at least an hour.

Ethan in his hide out and Luke in his.

Luke's Preschool Graduation

Congratulations Luke on finishing a successful year of preschool!!!! I did this preschool with 5 other moms. We rotated taking turns teaching preschool each week. The kids in the preschool were WONDERFUL. They were so easy and fun and they got along SO well, it really was a treat to teach these 6 beautiful children.

The Happy Grad!!!

These weren't even kids in the preschool (younger siblings) but I'm sure they took part in the preschool many times, whether helping or otherwise. I just thought these pictures of them at the park were super cute. You know how I can't resist CUTE pictures.

And here is Luke again with his best bud (besides Ethan.) I've loved watching them grow to be such great friends this last year. They really have bonded while Ethan was away at Kindergarten. I wish they could have one more year together to grow even closer, but good things must come to and end sometime and my little Luke is growing up and will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall. Wow, I can't believe it. We sure love you Luke.

Memorial Day Weekend

We headed to Nate's sister, Jennett's house for Memorial Day Weekend. It is always a treat and fun to visit cousins. They also happened to be celebrating cousin Jeana's 6th Birthday. We were privileged to join in the Luau Celebration.

Linz with cousin Jeana

Cousins enjoying nothing better than yummy, sticky, red suckers.

Hey I told you short and sweet.

OUR House!!!

So, we are almost officially homeowners now. Our offer on the house was accepted and we close on July 1st. Sorry for all the pictures, we just thought we'd share. You can skip over them if you don't care to see them all. We are very excited and nervous at the same time.

We will be moving at the end of June. That is just about a month away now. The fact that we ARE leaving is starting to sink in now and I'm sure it will sink in so much more once the packing really starts. We are very sad to leave Columbus yet excited for this next phase of our lives. Thank you to everyone who has helped make Columbus a wonderful place to call home and raise our children for the past few years.

Our House

Here is the front room-the hallway off to the left leads to the three

bedrooms as well as the door to the basement.

Here is the eat in kitchen area. We really liked this

as opposed to a formal dining room.

This shows the bar in the kitchen. We REALLY liked this part of the kitchen. This was pretty much our favorite kitchen of any we saw (at least of the ones we could afford.)

Another view of the kitchen.


Here is the partially finished baesment.

This is the master bedroom. Not the largest ever, but very do-able.


This is the back of the house with the deck.

And here is the back yard. Again, not the hugest,

but one of our very own!!!!

There is literally a small park and the community pool right across the street, so that will be really nice for us. That about sums up our new house. I can't believe we are finally grown up enough to own our house!!! We'll keep you posted on how the whole move goes.

My Little Buckeye

So, I went to the bank yesterday and just had Linz with me. She had a grand time eyeing the suckers in the cups setting all along the counter and I kept telling her she could only have one. Right next to all the cups of suckers were containers of hot chocolate with the OSU logo on them. Linz finally noticed these and pointing to it said, "buckeye." There was a male worker that was walking by right at that moment and he got a kick out of it. He was impressed that at such a young age, she knew what was good and had her priorities right. It was very cute. Buckeye really was one of her first words and it is cute that she notices the OSU logo on things other than her buckeye sweatshirt.

Houses and houses and houses, oh my....

We journeyed to Illinois this last weekend in search of a new place to call home. Wow, I'm not quite sure I'm ready for this whole growing up stuff. Nate took Friday off from work/school (I'm not really sure what to call it, it feels like he goes to work everyday, yet he is still in school and paying to go to "work.")

We looked at about 7 houses on Friday with the kids and visited 2 schools in the area. That is a lot of patience and endurance from the kids. They really did GREAT!!! They were so excited to see some houses that could possibly be where we would live. They did get a little wild near the end, but who can blame them for wanting to run around and be wild in these huge, empty houses. We bribed them with McDonald's and DSes. Linz took a little nap in the afternoon and we headed up to my mom's (about an hour away) in the early afternoon.

We found 2 houses that we really liked on Friday and honestly, I didn't think I'd find anything that would jump out at us when we went down on Saturday. A HUGE thanks to my mom, my sister and her husband for watching our kids ALL day Saturday while we went down and walked through about 10 more houses. We could not have found a house without their help, so thank you tons!!!

We did manage to find one house we really liked on Saturday. We put together an offer and had it in by Sunday. The house was a foreclosure and an offer had been put in on it on Friday. Basically, if we wanted it, we needed to have an offer put in by Sunday. It was a really nice house with a lot of potential and a LOT of work to make it nice. It was a great size house and had lots of wonderful features. Our realtor called us Monday morning to say that our offer had been rejected and the bank had chosen to work with the other offer.

This is the foreclosure house we aren't buying.

So, just today we are putting in an offer for this house. This was our second choice of homes (only because this one needs virtually no work, but is smaller than the foreclosure.) This is a really nice house and hopefully will work out well for us.

Our House-maybe

This is the house we put an offer on today.

Here is the family room just inside the door.

And here is our favorite feature of the house, the kitchen. This is one of the best kitchens we saw in any house. It looks nice, is good size and has a bar. The kitchen opens right up to a good size dining area, which was a great selling point for us.

A Flower For Me

Ethan made this for me out of marbles at my mom's house. It is a beautiful flower and says "mom's" under it. Isn't he just so sweet?

Cousin Pictures

Here is Linz with my sister's little girl, Celeste.

Here are my mom's six grandkids that live in the midwest. My sister has 2 boys and a girl like me. They have so much fun together and here is the most recent traditional on the stairs picture of all six of them.

This is my mom with her six midwest grandkids.

She has three more grandkids that live in Utah.

Here is my super cute niece Celeste with my mom.

I just had to put this one on, it is just adorable.


Ethan was so good with Celeste and LOVED to hold her. Linz is really quite the good helper with the baby also. She is SO gentle with babies and always pets their cheeks (as shown above.) I think she'll be a wonderful big sister someday.

Soccer and Mother's Day

We had a full and fun weekend. I hope you all had a GREAT Mother's Day!!! I certainly did. Nate made me breakfast in the morning and it was wonderful!! Nate wanted to do something for me for Mother's Day that was from the kids (since I am their mother, not his.) So, he and Ethan came up with some questions and printed them out. Nate took the boys one at a time in the basement to "interview" them. Here are the questions he asked and their answers. It was a great idea and I will cherish these interviews forever. Here is what I found out about my children and what they think of me:

Q: What is your funniest memory of Mom?
e: When she shakes her booty
l: when she shakes her booty at us
(Now let me explain here...Nate began to wonder after this question if he really knew me and what I did with my children all day. The ONLY reason they both said this was because this incident they are both referring to JUST happened on Friday. I was fixing lunch and just got the urge to start dancing. I was facing the counter making sandwiches so my backside was facing the boys and from their point of view I was shaking my booty at them (as they would say.) I really was just dancing, honest.

Q: What has mommy taught you
e: how to read
l: to pause and unpause movies (his movie got interrupted to answer these questions, so movies were on his mind.)

Q: What is your most favorite thing about your mom?
e: when she helps me do piano
l: when she gives us a chart so I can earn a light saber

Q: What is mommy's favorite Star Wars Character?
e: Princess Leia - because that's a girl
l: Princess Leia because she's a girl

Q: In what way are you like your mom?
e: when I work
l:

Q: List as many things as possible that she has done for you.
e: help me clean, buy me toys, lets me watch Star Wars
l: lets us watch a movie, when she lets us play downstairs, lets us bring a toy to church & to pick up Ethan from school

Q: What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
e: see all of her friends
l: play computer (he caught me, really I'm not playing, it's all work!!!)

Q: What is mommy's favorite color?
e: pink and purple
l: pink

Q: What is your favorite food that mom makes?
e: shells and cheese
l: shells and cheese and pizza

Q: What is your mom's favorite thing to eat?
e: probably biscuits and gravy
l: pizza

Q: What is your favorite way to help mommy?
e: to clean the basement
l: help her with laundry and make lunch

Q: If you could go with Mommy somewhere, where would it be?
e: at Gloria's house
l: to the store & buy some food (I think he misunderstood this question, it's not where you dread going the most with mommy)

Q: What is your mom's favorite treat?
e: brownies
l: chocolate (they both hit it right on the nose with this one!!!)

Q: What is your mom's favorite season?
e: I would guess summer because I guess she would not like spring because of my eyes (he gets allergies pretty bad.)
l: winter, I mean spring because it's warm

Q: What animal does your mom remind you of and why?
e: horse - cause she les us get on her back and she gives us a ride
l: cat - cause I like them

Q: Why does mom remind you of a zebra?
e: cause she lets us ride on her back
l: she doesn't, she reminds me of a cat

Q: Why do you love your Mom? What makes her special?
e: because she lets friends come over. She cooks for us.
l: cause she's nice.

Thank you, sweetie, for making my day extra special and very fun (and entertaining.)

My cousin Rachel came over Sunday for dinner. We made cookies for her birthday (that was on Saturday) and the kids decorated them for her. Notice the HUGE pile of pink sprinkles in front of Linz.

Linz is a sucker for cuddling. She decided Rachel's arms were the best to cuddle in last night and hung out with her for a good hour, cuddling and learning about tatoos. Rachel and her (good example) church friends got some (fake) tatoos on Sunday. Linz saw the butterfly on Rachel's wrist and wanted one. So, there are both of their butterflies.

The boys were really asking for it...I had no choice.


Soccer Fun


Ethan had his last soccer game on Saturday. He did great and had lots of fun and the best part is that he got a soccer trophy. He promptly placed it right next to his t-ball trophy in his room and has been so proud of both of them!!! This is his team.

Ethan with his trophy.

That is Ethan being the goalie. He did great!!!! There he is grabbing

the ball before the other team scored a goal.

Here he is going after the ball. He is the second kid in the white shirt. Number 1 if you

can see the number. We are so proud of how he did and look forward to

many more soccer and other sports games.