Here is a picture of the boys enjoying their Easter loot from our ward Easter egg hunt this year.  Are you noticing a trend yet?

 This is Easter last year.

And the year before that:

This was 2010. My parents got these 'Easter Baskets' for the boys. That's what they're known as. The boys still call them their Easter baskets. But now that we have baby #3 we're going to have to get a third. Which school do you think we should represent? I'll have to keep an eye out for a Hawkeye bag for her.

 

As of today Joe will be graduating in less than 8 weeks.  It's not really sinking in right now, mostly because we still don't have a job! i know! we have a few coals in the fire, but are currently on hold awaiting the one we want most. Still no word yet. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it's too late for that one. My hopes are up, and it's going to be a REALLY happy or REALLY sad day when we get that call. I'm also trying to be patient. I'm failing that one too. Every morning I get up and check Joe's email to see if there is something from a certain dentist holding our future in his hands.  Every day. Multiple times a day. Turns out i really suck at being patient. More than once I will happen upon Joe in the middle of a phone call, and jump up and down silently mouthing "is that who I think it is?!!!".  Nope. It's just our dang friends wanting to be friendly. Then I'll grudgingly pick up the phone and say "ugh! (friend's name) why aren't you calling to offer us a job!" Those poor friends are the victims of me jumping to conclusions. Good thing they still like us.

Pretty in Pink

This is me ^  

In this picture I'm wearing my blessing dress. It's pink, and I love it. My grandma made it for me to wear on my blessing day. I REALLY wanted Joelle to wear it when she was blessed too, but she was too small, being only 3 weeks old, at the time.

This picture of me was always called 'the Elvis picture' because of the funny thing I'm doing with my lip. Is it a smile? A smirk? Who knows, but when I was little it looked like the Elvis lip to me so that's what I called it.  I really liked having this picture of myself to compare to Joelle. Since I've already had 2 Joe-clones I really wanted a little Jessica-clone in our family. After all, I did most of the work getting them here.

Today is Easter. It just so happened that this dress fit her today. I tried my best to re-create 'the elvis' picture. I think it's a really sweet way to illustrate how special certain events or memories are. But Joelle doesn't do the weird lip thing, she smiles instead.  I can't call this an Elvis picture because she's too cute! She is definitely much more adorable than I was, and that makes me happier than having a me-clone. I want her to have only the best parts of me. Someday she's going to grow up to be a better person than I am, and that's exactly how it should be.
So what's better than Elvis?
 Pretty in Pink.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

It's baseball season! And do you know what that means at our house?!

 It means it's time to whip out the white spray paint and baseball tee. This a picture of the boys showing me their white hands after having touched the fresh white paint.

Joe is such a good dad.

He even painted where their feet go. they tend to have trouble with their stance so this was Joe's genius solution.

  I love him so much that I'm posting a pic of me after having slept off all of my makeup.

 Noah swinging the bat!

 Running the bases! This is Ethan trying to 'throw him out'. They don't have any other teammates so they literally throw the ball at the base runner.  He hit Noah in the arm.

Noah throwing a fit because Ethan hit him with the ball-even though Joe kept telling him that he was safe.

 Ethan's turn at bat.

And of course his consequential fit from being thrown out.

I love the weather right now. Cool spring evening, baseball, pandora, and the smell of dinner cooking.

Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.
(can you tell that we love using that line in our blog? its about the 5th time we've done it)

BIG Girl!

Joelle had her 3 month check up this week. She weighs 13 lbs 7.5 ounces! What a good chunky baby, eh? That puts her in the 90% percentile for weight. She's also in the 95% for height, but only the 40% for head circumference.  Ya, she's got her dad's tiny head. It's no wonder she held her head up so early. She's got a big strong body and small head. 
It feels good to have a big baby. With the boys it was a battle just to get them on the charts at all when they were this age. Growing up they never exceeded the 50% percentile in anything. Everything with her is different than the boys were-except her cuteness of course:)
Other facts about Joelle:
-she's a GREAT sleeper. Thank goodness for that.
-she eats really well, but then pukes a lot after each meal. I don't mind and her pediatrician thinks its normal so I'm not worried about it.
-She has such a great temperament. I love watching her coo and smile and bat at her hanging toys.
-she drools like crazy! this girl can soak though her clothes every hour if i don't wipe her chin. I love it though.
-She loves it when i sing to her-except when i try to hit the high notes. yesterday i was singing one of my favorite songs "Lets Hear it for the Boy" and at the end of the song i squeaked out the last impossible notes and her smile turned to a look of confusion. It was really funny.

She's such an angel. I love this girl!

TEDxRainier - Dimitri Christakis - Media and Children

This totally freaks me out! aaah!

Kiss Today Goodbye

There hasn't been too much going on at home lately. This picture is pretty much the norm. The boys are playing in their underwear with macaroni and cheese on their faces, and i try clothes on Joelle and admire how cute they are. It's been really nice outside so we've been able to play outside more, which has been nice. I got mastitis 2 weeks ago, and woke up with it again today. I'm not frustrated by it anymore because I know that I'm doing all I can to avoid it. I'm just susceptible to it because I have such ample milk supply. I guess I should just be greatful for that.

In other news, Joe just returned from a job interview last night. He assures me that it went really well, and I'm REALLY trying not to get my hopes up. It would be absolutely amazing though-pretty much everything we've been looking for. We won't know for a few weeks. I'm trying to keep in mind that we've come across options in the past that seemed like a perfect fit, and the Lord told us that it wasn't for us. I'm praying that we'll be let to where we are meant to be, but reminding the Lord that I REALLY hope it's this job:) I guess we'll see.

All of these decisions have made graduation real. We are going to be leaving Iowa in a matter of weeks. It's been bitter sweet to imagine. I am looking forward to the time when we won't be poor students anymore and we can visit family when we want/need to. But at the same time we have our Iowa family. The friends we've made here have been like siblings-the kind that don't fight over the front seat or convince you to play hide and seek without the intent of ever seeking you.

We've raised our families with these friends, we've supported each other through thick and thin, and we've arranged embarrassing words on each others refrigerator magnets. So while I am really looking forward to sleepovers at grandma's, and attending cousin's birthday parties, I am equally dreading missing the summer BBQ's at the Coralville Lake, or on our back porch with a slip'n'slide for the kids. People talk about this being a unique time in our lives, and it being the best of times... it really is.

I'm going to miss this beautiful place. I'm going to miss the soybean fields, and of course the corn fields too.

And the rolling hills, and the humid haze in the summer evening. And all of these people and more:Sorry ladies, I know every single one of you are going to complain about these pictures. Let's be honest, you know we'd all find something wrong with any picture I'd post. But I love you all the more for it.

the long and the short of it

long hair or short? don't say either-that doesn't help me.