Still here!

Halloooooooooooooo!

I am so sorry I've been such a BLOGGING SLACKER! Here is a quick update to let you know that we are still here and would love to hear from you!

We are settling into our new house and LOVING IT. You know, it's easy to take a lot of things for granted in life until you don't have them anymore. Like forks. Or microwaves. Or a vacuum cleaner. All things I am very, very happy to have in my life once again. I am pretty sure I would not do well in a straw hut somewhere. Not unless I was regularly served with Mai Tais and fanned with large umbrella leaves. And someone else was watching the kids.

Our favorite part of the new house is the backyard. We practically live out there. The boys love to pretend the swingset fort is an ice cream stand and they make smoothies, shakes, and ice cream sundaes all day long, or at least until they run out of pretend cherries. They also love to launch themselves on the swings and sing the Superman theme song. Tristan is very sweet about making sure Pierce can fly high enough since his feet don't touch the ground enough to launch himself very far. Our sandbox fits perfectly underneath and Mark spent all weekend making the yard look extra nice with fresh mulch, river rocks, and weed barriers. We got a large inflatable pool but it worked much better as a giant bouncing toy. We got every bit of our money's worth out of it before a giant storm took it out this weekend.

The boys are BIG into superheros. Spiderman and Superman are their favorites. They live in their superhero costumes, shoot spiderwebs at everyone we meet, and invite total strangers over to play superheros "anytime they want." It's really comical to see people's reactions to the spiderwebs. Every single male we have ever encountered, regardless of age, knows exactly what they are doing. Every single one - 18 months to 75 years old - their eyes light up and they break into a stance and shoot a web back and for a split second, it's like we're all living in a little boy's imagination. It's pretty cute :) There are quite a few old ladies, however, who are quite baffled by the whole thing. I'm pretty sure they've never even seen the movies.The boys shooting their spiderwebs.

Tristan is 3. We've obviously been through a lot of changes in the past few months and it's been hard on him. He was having a tough time with jealousy and I'm sure he was anxious for a playmate his own age. I got awfully boring and, let's face it, 1 year old's just don't have the superhero stamina that 3 year old's do. Still, the boys have gotten SUPER CLOSE during our transition and I'm incredibly grateful for all of the inconveniences that made it possible. Tristan can hardly wait for Pierce to wake up in the mornings. He is absolutely giddy! And Pierce wants to be big in the WORST WAY - He wants to be just like his big brother.

Tristan has been doing much better the last couple of days which has been WONDERFUL. We talked about how people don't like being around people who aren't nice to them and since then he has been trying really hard to be super sweet. He says things like "You are a precious mommy!" and "You're ADORABLE!" This morning he told Pierce "Let me help you. You're not as strong as I am because I ate a LOT of protein this morning. But one day you'll be a big boy like me." And Pierce looked at him with all the seriousness of a Tibetan monk, in complete awe of this big boy that he so admires. These are the moments.

We finally settled on a private school for T to start in the fall. We are SUPER EXCITED about it. He will learn Spanish, computers, arts and crafts, and take P.E. and music. It goes all the way up through 12th grade. Who knows - We may decide to stay put for a little while here! He is so excited about starting school. He talks about it all the time. He really enjoys being challenged. We're working on sounding out letters and words - He LOVES books - and I know he is going to love being in a classroom setting again.

Pierce is talking up a storm. He will repeat everything and he has a lot of opinions! He is always on the go. He doesn't like to sit still for TV or movies except Kung Fu Panda. Which actually reminds me a LOT of Pierce :) !! He has an amazing sense of humor. He is ALWAYS LAUGHING :) He is very, very affectionate. He'll call for you and come running from the other room and when he sees you, even if it's only been ten seconds, his entire face lights up and he runs to you and gives you a huge tackle hug! He really grabs on too - real big, panda bear hugs. He is also interested in the potty. I'm not ready! But he knows just what to do. He tells me "Potty" and goes to the potty, stands on the stool, and points his torso towards the bowl. Then he stands there for a minute, steps down, flushes, and moves the stool over to the sink to wash his hands. Then he washes his hands and proceeds to be very proud of himself. It's adorable.

Mark is loving his new job. He loves the new challenges and every day is packed. He has traveled a lot (but not too much) to Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and all over Arkansas. We have really enjoyed our new home so far.

I think that's all for now!

Everyone is welcome to come visit anytime! We miss you and would love to hear from you!