Spring is in the Air

I know we have all said it a million times this year, but this year's weather here in Idaho is very abnormal.  The other night we went for a walk around a park at sunset.  The weather was beautiful with no wind.  I just want to document these pictures here so that years down the road when we have a foot of snow all the way until June we can go back a remember the "good" years.

  After resetting up the trampoline outside and pulling our slides out from the basement the kids have spent as much time outside as possible.  We don't have a fence around our backyard so I still worry that one of them will escape and take off down the road, but in general they do really well.

One of my favorite things about our backyard (it is pretty bare so there aren't a lot of favorites), but I do love that Adalyn's best friend Hannah lives in the house right behind ours.  Our backyards run together and they play often.  These girls are 1 day apart in age and have very similar personalities.  They play so well and just adore each other.  Most days you can see them running around holding hands and bossing Jensen around.  Hannah being our back door neighbor is a big reason for why we don't have a fence around our yard.

Adalyn and Jensen just discovered "riding bikes".  We don't actually own any bikes, but they love riding our super old princess push car and the tricycle.  They now want to go for "walks" daily.  We don't make it very far, but they sure love their new found freedom of riding themselves instead of being pushed in the stroller.   

I have had this desire recently to understand Jensen.  Really understand him.  I used to think he was super social and just as out going as Adalyn.  And as a baby he was.  The week he turned a year old his whole personality changed.  Seriously McKay and I still talk about it and everything is referred to as "before he turned a year old or after".  Since then he has been hard for me to fully understand.  He is not out going very often in front of others unless he needs a good hour to warm up first and if you catch him on a good day he can be hilariously cute, but not many people see it because he is shy.  He is a softy and does not like loud noises or scary things.  He likes cars, balls, and other boy toys, but he is also just as happy to play with babies and dress ups.  He loves playing rough house and wrestling with McKay, but he LOVES to be held by his mama and is a huge mamas boy.  I can't wait to see what his and Declin's relationship will be like.  It should be interesting... 

   

Runny nose man!  Jensen loves for me to wipe his nose and often brings me the tissue first before I see it.  Although in these pictures he was distracted with the fun dish water that he was playing with.

For me this week was a discouraging one.  Not with anything major, just the little things that get us down.  I was extra tired and had extra things to do.  I get self conscious about some things and think about other things way too much.  I felt like I was running in circles to keep up and yet I was still letting people down in the process.  I have really felt the pull to keep my focus on my home and children.  For several years I have always wanted and needed extra little things or friends to fill my time and keep me sane.  These days I feel like I am starting to enter the busy stage of life where just the daily grind with kids has to be my main focus.  I don't have time to build every friendship that I want, I can't go to every girls night out, or do every little project that I want.  It is ok.  I can choose the most important ones and do those along with my church callings and family.  It is sometimes hard to prioritize but feels good in the end.  

And I am so thankful for this good man that helps keep me inline and supports me in everything that I do.  Oh and he does the dishes... a lot.  He loves that baby in his arms they are pretty good buddies!