Myla and the BOYS!!

IT'S A BOY!
Baby #4 is another handsome boy!
We are excited to be welcoming another little boy into our family. Although 70% of you thought that this baby was a girl, along with my husband, Quinn stayed strong the whole time and confidently said this baby was a boy from day one. So I'm thinking that for those of you who voted girl, you owe me one overnight babysitting when this baby boy comes! Everything looks great with our little guy. He is moving like crazy (although I do not feel much at all, my placenta is in the front making the movements less noticeable) but he was doing some huge kicks and turns during the ultrasound. So fun to watch. He is measuring a week early, that just means that he is growing well!
So, it will be Myla and the boys!
I'm not concerned one bit for my little girl. She is a tough, sassy girl who will have no problem at all keeping up with her brothers.

His little feet.
Sorry the picture is so blurry... I took a picture of the picture.

We are truly thankful for our little guy and that everything looks great with him. We are such a blessed family and cannot wait to meet him. It always makes it a little more real when you can see your baby moving around and kicking.
Now we just need a boys name... we are always open to suggestions.
Quinn, Rex, Myla and....

The Scorpion!

The Scorpion is a dance move at our house.
Quinn invented "the scorpion" almost a year ago when asked by Dan to do a cool move.... so he got down on all fours and sticks a leg up in the air. One of our friends said that he looked like a scorpion so thus was born "the scorpion" move. Rex has embraced this move like it was his own and probably does it more often than Quinton does.

Rex showing off his movesQuinn displaying his scorpion tail

Doing the moves in the kitchen, usually music is on while these moves are happening!

After a busy Saturday I attempted to put in a movie after bath night thinking that my kids and I could snuggle up. Well, 15 minutes into Cars a Rascal Flatts song came on and that was the end of our snuggling. So then we danced...and danced... and danced to the same song for probably 15 minutes. You will see Rexy do "the scorpion." I had to cut out about a minute of the video because it was too long and my new camera takes high resolution videos. Oh well, you get the idea... we Rudes are good dancers!


We are much anticipating summer and are all set with some new sunglasses. I'm pretty sure that I have the coolest kids around! They wore them around the house for at least 20 minutes. I can't believe that they can actually see through them because they are constantly touching the lenses and they are covered in finger prints but they haven't run into anything yet.

Pink is totally necessary with Myla

Check out my three cool kids...
think we can handle more coolness in our house with one more?

My goofy Rexy... just so you're all aware, he can fit that golf ball totally into his mouth and has many times, not sure if I should be proud or scared... goof!

So if you are ever in need of some cool new dance moves please feel free to try "the scorpion." If you need lessons on how it is best done stop on by, I'm sure that my boys would be willing to help you out.

Happy Birthday Quinn!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY QUINN!!!
As I'm writing this I am tearing up at what a blessing Quinton Daniel has been in our lives for the past three years. I never imagined three years ago that I could love someone like I love Quinn and that I would be so blessed to have him in my life.

Motherhood is one of the most life changing but amazing things. You can't prepare for it, you can't always explain it, you can't imagine the joy it will bring you. It takes a selfish person and teaches you to put the needs of another before yourself, it challenges you, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, there is nothing in the world quite like it. I love being a mom. I can't even believe that it has already been three years. I feel like it was yesterday that they laid my precious baby boy in my arms and now he is 3... how fast time flies.

One of our first family photos
We celebrated Quinton's birthday Tuesday night with presents, cupcakes and a few friends.

Dan picked out some golf clubs for Quinn (there are 3 clubs and 3 balls... so they are for everyone)

And we got him a bike and a helmet!

Aunt Kelly, Aunt Dana and Uncle Ry sent him some cute shirts (he quickly passed over them) and some awesome legos! A huge semi-truck, a helicopter, a police car and some police men. A very excited present that already has gotten a lot of love.

Nana and Papa contributed to our swing-set fund.
We are hoping to find one for our yard soon!

Quinn getting ready to blow out the candle. We are enjoying our Sams Club membership (my birthday present from my sisters) and got a huge box of cupcakes to share with our friends Tuesday night. Quinn picked out Toy Story cupcakes!

If you have not been around Quinton before or for long periods of time you will have to take my word on this, HE IS INCREDIBLE. He is absolutely amazing. He is my three year old best bud. I feel like daily Dan and I look at each other and say how sweet he is, what a blessing he is, what a great big brother he is.

I forgot to inform you all that he is potty trained and doing amazing! I feel like he has been such a champ at it. He tells me when he has to go and he reminds me before we leave places to go potty. A much easier experience than I was anticipating. Plus, Nana and Papa got him some guitar and drum underwear.

He has become so independent over this last year. Putting on his own socks and shoes, pants, picking out his own shirt. And he wants to try EVERYTHING. If you or I can do it he wants to try it. He gets his own water, serves Rex, Myla, Dan and I without being asked. He constantly wants to help and for the most part loves to help with Rex and Myla. Most days I feel like he is so big and grown up and then before bed or after a tough fall he grabs his blankie and snuggles up next to me and I remember that he is still my first baby and one of the loves of my life. I love that he is growing up to be a big strong boy but I would not trade those cuddly moments for anything.

These are a few of my favorite pictures over this past year.

He looks so young here.

Probably one of my favorite pictures of all time!

Quinn really does have a thumbs up attitude on life

Dan and I are honored to get to be Quinn's parents.
I'm pretty sure that he is THE BEST 3 year old in the world.

Skinny Jeans

The other day while a friend of mine was over something came up about skinny jeans. I didn't even know Quinn was listening until he chimed in and said, "I have skinny jeans too." I just kind of laughed. A few minutes later Quinn said, "Mommy, remember when I skinned my knee in my jeans the other day." (He had a pair of jeans on that had rips in the knees so when he fell he skinned his knee). So now Quinn loves to wear his "skinny jeans" which means that his skin is showing in his jeans or that he skinned his knee in his jeans. Either qualifies as "skinny jeans" to him. He is such a goof. Even this morning when I asked him what he wanted to wear he said, "my skinny jeans like you mommy."

We are enjoying the warm weather. On Tuesday we went to the park with Dan. Their favorite part was running around the baseball field with their daddy which also involved picking up the sand and getting VERY dirty.
Quinton is so brave!
He has continued to be fearless with heights and jumps and climbing. He seems to know his limits and so far no broken bones.

He decided that he wanted to go down the fireman's pole at the park. And although it is more of a fall than a slide down the pole, it's just one more thing for him to conquer at the park.


Rex and Myla are loving the park too and seem to know their limits. I am pleased that the are aware of the heights of things and although I'm usually right next to them they have not tried scooting off the playground. They do however have some of their brothers boldness in them and love climbing to the highest slide (with me close behind) and jumping to Dan or I.
I do love how adventurous all our kids are!

Rex got a nice bump on his head the other day at home. It's looking a little green now.

Rex and Myla LOVE the swings. They giggled for probably five minutes straight while being pushed. I should have taken a video because these pictures don't do justice to the fun that they were having.

We need to bring out bat and tennis balls next time. Although I'm pretty sure that my boys would NEVER leave if we did that.

My handsome boys.

Getting dirty

My three amigos

I can't believe Quinn is going to be three next week.

Enjoying snack time on the deck. We already are reminded why we LOVE our backyard/deck. We have already eaten some slightly chilly dinners outside but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who cares that it's cold.

My children checking out our neighbors dogs! They go crazy for dogs! I think I would go crazy with a dog so in case you were thinking that their love of dogs would persuade me to get a dog then you're crazy. They can just enjoy our neighbors dogs!

We went to the Zoo the other week. We had a fun day with daddy and seeing all the animals. We had never toured the indoor exhibits at our zoo before (too busy enjoying the outdoors). The Des Moines Zoo is not the most impressive place but it is a perfect size for our little ones. We enjoyed the fish (Q is obsessed with underwater creatures these days).

Rex and Myla were fascinated by the lions and tigers who were sitting on the heated rocks RIGHT NEXT TO THE WINDOW!!!!

It was almost frightening how close they were to you.

We ended our trip to the zoo with lunch at McDonalds.
A day with daddy, animals and french fries... life doesn't get much better than that at the Rude house!