Where did February go?!

I cannot believe that I did not blog all of the month of February! I don't know if I've missed a month yet! But, it is really only because I was sparing you all the boring, mundane activities that we've been engrossed in. BUT now I have some exciting stuff and catch up!

We started the month out doing swim lessons! Somehow I ended up not getting any pictures of Xander. Weird. But the lessons went well--it was nice that Eliza was old enough to do them all by herself. I'm not a huge fan of the parks & rec lessons around here but my kids had been cooped up too long and we've been debating whether to put Xander on the swim team or not so we needed to see if he still knew how to swim. (He can--but we are still debating-swim team is a HUGE commitment around here!).

And to finish off the month...my little sister, Kayley, and her two beautiful children came for a visit! We had a blast that week and it was sunny most of days...

Jak & Violet...Jak is almost 2 months younger than Violet but, he's a little bigger ;)

On one of the rainy days we went to the mall to go to the indoor playground...only to find out it was not there because it had burned down in the fire. (yep, our mall was on fire...set by someone on purpose). Luckily, the carousel was operating!

The girls...Eliza, Lainey & Violet. Lainey is a 2...my kids adored her. I think she was overwhelmed by them. :)

We went to breakfast at Nana & Grumpy's one day and Uncle Jake had just gotten out
of bed...we all thought it was hilarious that he and Xander share the same bed head. :)

Well, over all it was a great month with lots of the same old stuff

Violet-Out longer than In

Violet hit that mark this month! I can't believe that she is 9 months old. She is absolutely a doll and we all love her to pieces. Some milestones:

Vi has been crawling since she was 6 months but she is getting super fast! We keep doors closed in our house right now.

Her words now include mama, dada and for everything else it's bye-bye. She is our first child to say mama first--she scored MAJOR points.

She loves to wave and say bye-bye. Yesterday at church she was waving at the music conductor and saying bye-bye throughout the whole song.

She is becoming a great climber and can pull herself up.

She is one of the happiest babies ever. Sleeps well at night and is getting better at naps.

She is loving food more and more. And is slowly weaning as mommy's body has started giving up on the whole nursing thing. We still nurse twice a day but we'll see how long that lasts. The kids LOVE helping hold Violet & her bottle though so it's fun to involve everyone. Plus, this will give me a little break before August when we start all over again.

I don't know her actual stats...she's somewhere around 19 lbs though. But she's a charmer--and you'll know if she's really happy if she's kicking her legs.

Violet also loves swinging, dogs, dancing, singing, reading and watching her brother & sister do silly things.

Oh Violet we love you and all your mischief! So glad you are part of our family.

The Price is Right

May 2010-Ben & I put an offer on a home here in Folsom
June, et al-Never heard back, decided that maybe we should hold off and figure our lives out.
November 2010-New decisions from Intel make it look like we could just stay in Folsom should we choose.
December 2010-Got an email that the same house we had put an offer on was still available and the price had dropped significantly. We went and looked at the house again. Decided we still liked it and so we put another offer in-much lower than we had first put.
End of January 2011-Hadn't heard anything. Decided to start looking at other homes.
February 2-I start feeling REALLY UNSURE about the house we'd put another offer on. Went to my dr. appt that day and met my new midwife. Started chatting and she tells me she lives in a wonderful neighborhood called, California Hills...that's where the house that we put an offer on is. She couldn't stop raving about it. I started to feel really good about it all again. I got into the car and just had to tell Ben. He said, Well that's good because Scott (our realtor) just called and they've accepted our offer. ?!?!?!?!? WHAT!?!!?!?! Um, hello!? For less?!

Anyways, long story short--we are in ESCROW on a house here in Folsom. We won't meet with the same ward (congregation) but for now Xander will attend school on the 'other' side of town because he was selected (through a lottery system) to attend the Spanish Kindergarten. It's all kind of crazy and unreal that we are going to be home owners and stay put for a few years. I mean, that means we might have to have our licenses changed to our own address instead of Ben's parents...or maybe get a checkbook? The possibilities are endless. I can't even fathom that we've been here for a year and that we will be here for a few more.

Unfortunately, I can't get any pictures to upload, so I'll work on that...but some of the best parts of the house: 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 6 mature fruit trees, large yard (1/4 acre), on a cul-de-sac with no direct neighbors, walking distance to 3 parks, closest grocery: winco & wal-mart, 3 car garage...etc. It is a great home...much larger than what I thought would be our 'first home' but it has so many of the things Ben and I were hoping for--we feel so truly blessed. Our realtor still can't believe it--he said that he doesn't usually think that things are meant to be but maybe in this case...

Pictures to come soon!