Party of Five

Well, it has been a while... or almost a month now since I've blogged. Time has gotten away from me. From the end of my pregnancy {being preggo w/ one and chasing two is much harder than just having three}, till adding our newest, just two weeks ago, its about time for the Heimer- Party of Five- to show off some pics of our little Tenley Ranae!

So loved by her big sister {3 1/2 yrs old} and big brother {23 months}

And then there is mommy, very happy that you're here!
April 27, 2011 at 12:27pm, 8lbs 19inches 

Nana Dee came to help with the big kids and it was so fun to have her here!

Granddad came to visit while Nana was staying with us! 

And now you get to be poked in person!

Here is a comparison of all the kids all about three days old! 

A run to KC...

Recently, Justin went to Indiana {to lock down housing and attend Law School weekend}, so the kids and I headed to Kansas City. We had a lot of fun visiting Fritzes Train restaurant, the Johnson County Children's Museum, and the Olathe Mall... which is really a conglomerate of stores, that include a local fire station display, aquarium and train depot!

It was actually so busy... so many trains delivering food that it was hard for the kids to focus on eating;-)

All four little heads poking out of the engine! 

So many trains, not covered... so easy to touch, it was hard to have self-control.

Boy cousins playing on the riding toys!

Sweet girl cousins, soon to add another! 

Nana and Granddad flew in from Malibu for the weekend!
Nana celebrated her 57th Birthday! 

  

Nana's birthday is the day that Justin and I first met, its a great yearly reminder of when things first began! 

One-year old and a mud puddle!

So if you've ever wondered what happens when you leave a one-year-old and  mud puddle alone for a few minutes, take a look!

He was very proud of himself to say the least. This little adventure occupied his time for at least an hour, which allowed me to get some stuff done... Yes, he did get a bath afterwards, but it was more like a cold hose rinse off before coming into the house! 

Blythe decided not to get muddy this day.....

But this is what most days look like... lots of mud, digging in the dirt, and seeing what kinds of worms she can find!

Music Day Spring Performance

Well we had the privileged of seeing our children perform for the first time. It was simple, it was cute, and it almost made you want to cry.... actually, one of them did cry!

For the Kids Day Out program they are apart of each spring every class performs a few songs from the year, like I said before, super cute! But much to our dismay, we were the parents of the crier on stage.  Yes, the Big Guy is our crier. His sweet little tender heart and soft personality {this is changing... quickly with the approach of being 2}, he cries; when being dropped off anywhere. Big crocodile tears, rolling down his cheeks, and his most common phrase, "mommy, no. No bye, bye mommy," I can hear as I round the corner where ever he is being left {it kinda pulls at my heart}. Anyway, on this particular day, J-Man came to watch the kiddos, so like any proud parent we found ourselves in the front row waiting anxiously for the munchkins to arrive. Well, much to our dismay, Big Guys class was the first to arrive and walk directly in front of our seats, and he turned, as if looking for us, and saw his daddy. Needless to say, it was downhill from there.Tears, crying, the whole thing. In between the two songs sung, our little Big Guy is whaling, "Daddy" "my daddy"... yes, sad, so, so sad.

You can see this is where he spots J-man

And the tears just keep coming.....

Peanut did great. Although she seemed a little overwhelmed by the lights and audience, she did not cry, and smiled, and mostly participated in the actions. Needless to say, it was a stellar performance compared to Big Guys!

We were just glad she kept her skirt down;-)

Such a sweet three-year-old!

Spring is upon us!

The warm weather is here! Finally, after what seemed like it was going to be a never ending winter with the snow, snow and might I say, more snow, we're looking forward to the days ahead! We had cousins to play the past week {peonylane.blogspot} and it was fun! We enjoyed riding the golf cart around, playing in the sand pit, and getting really dirty!

All right in a row {Nboy4, Peanut3, Ggirl2, Big Guy1}

Nboy and Peanut enjoying donuts while the little ones nap!

What a funny 20-month-old!

Pierce's favorite phrases these days are "outside" , "gol car" better known as golf cart and "Han-Nah house" referring to our neighbors house whom he adores! This funny little guy loves tromping around the yard in his army boots {mainly climbing in and out of the ditch}, riding his truck and climbing the slide tower. He loves to chew dirt, leaves, or anything that might offer a different texture in the mouth. He is all boy and we love his manly little ways!

 

Both kids love the outdoors, we've discovered ant hills, which have provided hours of entertainment. You can catch them, poke them, destroy their home and they just keep going "crazy" as Blythe says. And thank goodness there is an endless supply of ant hills.

Blythe's favorite things these days are riding her trike, sidewalk chalk and playing with our neighbor! The day usually revolves around when she can go to Hannah's house and play {sometimes I catch both kids making their way over, without permission}. This happens usually when I'm not paying attention, which is easy to do when you live in the country, and don't have to worry about strangers... just wildlife!

The girls are building a birds nest, it took a while, but between the tears and sweat, they got it done!


We love the spring time here!

The POST... the one I've dreaded most

Well, for a short while I've been meaning to write on this topic, but I've had to let the anxiety, fear and overwhelming thoughts dissipate, and allow the peace, that passes all understanding, rest on me. And lets be honest... once you blog about it... it makes it seem so much more real... which is what it is, reality! So here we go.

We're moving. Our family of soon-to-be-five will be going to Law School... well, at least the daddy will....

I could leave it at that; but instead, I'll give you the run-down and emotional roller-coaster I've been riding for the past four weeks {which is really great... I'm sure you're just thrilled to read-on}!

So, back in the early fall, when the leaves were changing, life was simple, content, and sweet. We had been enjoying our simple life of living at the ranch {www.newliferanch.com}, playing at the sandpit, loving that our best friends lived just next door, Justin was loving where things were going with his job, we really felt as though we had hit a good stride and season in life as a family.

At the beginning of October Justin took the Law School Admittance Test {LSAT}, quite random, right? Well, Justin has always had a knack for lawyerly{not really a word} type stuff, he likes advising {not necessarily on legal things} but enjoys helping and sharing with others the process behind things. And has always dreamed of going to Law School. But really, already being 33 and almost father of three, felt as though the ship may have sailed, but why not, at least take the test, and see what happens. So after having an okay performance {85th percentile} his first time around, he decided on a whim, I'll just take it again in December, I think I can do a little better. And he did. Now, there are those moments in life, when you know as a wife you married a smart person, but then there are those times, that you're so overwhelmed by how well they do at something, you question yourself, and think, "I'm pretty sure I'm just as smart as they are... well, maybe not that smart, but I think we're intellectual equals" moment. Well, I had one of those... after he scored a 168 {95th percentile}, and I'll just brag for a moment on my husband... 42,000 people across the country took the LSAT that day, it is graded on a bell-curve, he beat 40,000 of those. Yes, very impressive, I know... {ladies he's taken!}

Anyway, to make a long story short, he was given a full-ride to one of the top ten public law schools in the country... so we're becoming Hoosier fans!

A few weekends ago, he and I headed to Bloomington, Indiana to check things out. It was overwhelming and peaceful all at the same time. We {I} have cried many tears about leaving my little sister {who lives close by} the ranch, our community, our church, all our sweet friends, but we know the Lord has said, YES, so we are walking ahead in faith.

Justin at the front of campus

I find myself resting on the truth that, "the Lord is my helper; I will not fear."  As a mom and soon to be law-school-wife {or law school widow... as many bloggers put it}, I recognize that there are many stressful things yet to come. There is the fact that we are moving somewhere where we know no one {well, we've met some people}, family is a mere 8 hrs by car or plane flight to Cali, all the comforts of knowing our neighbors, the schools, the grocery stores, moms-day-out programs, pediatricians, etc... you get the idea, all are being stripped away. And to top it off, my husband will be busy for at least 12 hours a day, 18-weeks at a time, to do well {which is very, very important}! But that leaves a lot of alone time for me with three little ones, so I say, "the Lord is my helper; I will not fear" .

Kirkwood Street, their coffee bar, night life area

So, for those of you who have made it thus far {which is probably only family... ;-} after the arrival of our newest one {May 1}, we'll head to Mexico for my brothers wedding, come back and move a few days later. Summer start for Justin begins on July 5th, so we hope to be settled towards the end of June with housing, the new babe, and all the other details in-between.

So in the end, I know that as a family, we make major life decisions around having children {when Peanut was born, we moved 12 days later to the Ranch}, and just as the Lord affirmed our decision to come here, He has gone before us, provided in abundance, and all we can do is walk ahead! And that is exactly what we're going to do.

Snow between the toes!

So between visiting each coast, we had a major snow storm that literally closed down the Ranch and Siloam for a good few days. So we embraced the weather and took the kids sledding {thank you to our neighbors for "lending" us their sled ;-} . They loved it! We went to a small service road here on Ranch property where you could get some speed, but the walk was easy for Peanut to do, and it was maybe 100 yrds at most... just the  perfect amount of uphill walking for a preggo mommy and two little ones!

You can see from the smiles that this was more fun than expected!

Peanut eventually resorted to being the "pusher" and the would
run down chasing Big Guy and Daddy..
this was great exercise for a 3yr old... and she napped this day...
{a surprising result for a child who hasn't napped since being 18-months}.

I made it down a few times myself! 

Little legs walking up the hill! 

And then we had to get creative, because going the normal way wasn't exciting enough!
{and no... for all you wondering,
we didn't actually let them go down sitting on top of one another;-}

Cold toes, fingers and noses, it was a fun, fun, day!