Puddle Jumping

If I have learned anything about being a mother to my wee ones over these last 4 years, it's that clothes can be washed, dirt is ok and, "YES" is always the right answer to the question, "Can I jump in that puddle?"

Even a rainy day is not enough to keep these adventurous little ones inside our house. A friend of ours told Dan that he thinks that every day looks like the most fun day ever at the Rude house. Believe it or not, we have our moments, our bad day (hard to believe with a naturally sassy mother and 4 kids four and under) but we sure do have so many fun times. My children are fabulous at creating their own adventures and puddle jumping was nothing short of wonderful fun.

We spent just under an hour running, splashing and searching for the perfect puddle all while it was still raining. Titan and I spent most of our time under an umbrella watching the big kids enjoy themselves.

My children were soaked from head to toe. My boys had a goal to see who could splash their eyes and get their hair wet every time they jumped. There were some pretty crazy jumps because of that.

 

Soaked but having the time of their lives. They would have gladly stayed out longer but they were all so chilly I made them go inside.

Their boots took over two days to dry even in the sun. They found it quite entertaining that they had to dump water out of their boots when they took them off. I would say that dumping water out of your rain boots means it was a successful puddle jumping experience.

 

 

 Staying true to themselves, they ran everywhere.

I'm needed to keep my eyes open for bigger boots, totally worth the investment for my outdoorsy kids. We had to baby powder Rex' feet to get them into his boots and once filled with water they were suctioned in the boots pretty tight! Soon those will be Titan's, Quinton's will be Rex' and Myla and Quinton will need bigger boots. Oh the joys of growing children.

Thankful for the joy on their faces, thankful for their upbeat spirits, and thankful that I have learned to say, "Yes!" to wet adventures. I love these kids!

Boy #4

4 Boys.
I will be the mother of 4 boys, how crazy is that. I can't even wrap my mind around it. We are thrilled and so blessed.

4 Boys and 1 Girl.
I got the itch on Sunday, a wonderful friend volunteered his skills and voila... #4 is a BOY. Can you believe that?

What an exciting family the Lord has given us. I grew up with two sisters, no brothers, Barbies galore and American Girl Dolls coming out my ears. I have learned much over these past four years about how to be a mother of boys. There is something amazingly different about boys and girls. It has been fun to watch the differences play out in my kids, that even though Myla is surrounded by bugs, wrestling and cars she still wants to be a momma to her babies and play with her doll house but my goodness she can hold her own with bugs and wrestling. And my boys, they are skilled at playing house and doll house but wrestling and bug catching they are experts at. The Lord has made us each different and I love that.

I was a little concerned walking out of the ultrasound to tell my daughter that another boy was on the way. She and I were just convinced that this baby was a girl. But Myla stayed true to her sweet personality and responded, "Oh, it's a boy." That was it. Later that night her only concern was that he would still be able to snuggle with her in her bed. Ummm OF COURSE. She hasn't skipped a beat about another boy. She's just excited about a baby.

A talented friend from high school, Pamela Stephens, announced that she was expecting her second child by making her little boy a tshirt that said, "Only Child expiring February 2012." How sweet is that. After seeing her creative mind I tried to figure out how to incorporate it into our announcement. This is what I came up with and although I wish it were on one of her really cute shirts I didn't have the patience to wait for her to make it and mail it to me. I'll have to use her creative skills to make me some cute signs for my kids rooms. Totally in love with all her work. Pamela Stephen's DIY Blog

These next few pictures were my attempt to capture all 4 of them. Hmmm... this is what I ended up with.

A fourth boy is sure to fit right in. We get a small glimpse into what #5 and Titan's relationship will look like. Quinton and Rex are 17 months apart and Titan and this little man will be 18 months apart. I can't imagine Quinn without Rex. Fun to think about Titan with #5. And little miss Myla is just loved by everyone. She has absolutely no problem fitting in with the boys, racing with the boys. They adore her.

 

Myla is sure to be the most loved little girl ever. And #5 is sure to be the toughest, roughest, most loved and knocked around little boy ever. I just can't wait to meet him.

So here she is, our only girl. One more Rude boy on the way.

Blessed beyond words.

Karen's

Karen has become the most talked about person in our house for the last couple of months. Karen is my sister-in-law, Amanda Rude's (married to Dan's brother Jason) mom. A few months ago Aunt Amanda asked if all the Rude cousins wanted to go out to her parents, they live about 25 minutes away, to ride horses and see all the new kittens. Karen has a stable, lots of beautiful horses and tons of little kittens running all around.

We spent over three hours there the first time, my three big kids all rode a horse for the first time and they snuggled lots of brand new kittens. My heart sank when I discovered that my camera had no SD chip in it. So I was unable to capture their first horse riding experience. We did however go back to Karen's this week. This time we brought our Daddy, some friends and MY CAMERA! 

The second time to Karen's was just as successful as the first. For over an hour they snuggled kitten after kitten after kitten and got to ride Misty the horse again. It was a perfect morning for my animal loving kids. 

The kittens have grown since the last time we were there making them even more fun this time. My children don't hesitate for a minute, they ran and picked up the first kitten they could find. Brave little ones.

Rex has a little stuffed kitten at home that he has named Karen. We love Karen!

Myla got jumped on by a dog... she quickly got over it. I just thought this picture was funny.

Rex is just in love with these kittens. He is so fun to watch because he is so happy just snuggling these little ones.

This was my favorite kitten. It had beautiful blue eyes.

Our friends the Kurths came out to Karen's with us. Their two kids Harrison and Harper are favorites around this house. Unplanned but all the boys are in their superhero shirts.

Tim, Dan and their girls. It took the girls a few minutes to warm up to all the animals.

He is just a happy guy.

Harrison loved the kittens.

Myla was the brave first rider. She was just thrilled to get to ride Misty again. 

I'm always amazed at how they barely hesitate to do new things and sometimes how a little friendly peer pressure gets them to try and enjoy new things. Karen walks them around on Misty. She is so wonderful to take them time to spend with us and help my kids experience new fun things.

My sweet girl.

Harrison riding a horse for the first time.

Titan enjoyed the dogs again. He gets so excited around animals.

Rex being a stud.

Myla warmed up to the kitten. She loved holding it like a baby.

Quinton, Harrison and Myla. Sweet friends.

This little man loves exploring.

This little boy warms my heart.

Harper fell in love with the kittens as well. She didn't even want to ride the horse because it meant putting her kitten down.

The last brave rider. What a big guy.

Myla and Harrison always seem to get along so well and he always makes her erupt in laughter.

He felt so brave hanging onto the reigns.

Titan enjoyed loving the cats as well.

The whole kitty loving crew. Quinton's cat is even waving.

Watching Karen take Misty back to the pasture.

What a fun morning. We are so thankful for Karen and the opportunity to experience animals in such a fun way. My children think the world of her and she has been overwhelmingly kind and welcoming. Thank you Karen for sharing your passion or horses with my kids. They are so blessed by the experience to learn and enjoy new things. I'm pretty sure that Karen is still talked about daily and I'm fairly certain that all five of these kids would have excitedly welcomed any one of these kittens into our houses. A fun morning had by all! Blessed to see such huge smiles on my children's faces.

Celebrating Titan

We finally got to officially celebrate our Titan the other night. We sang in Branson but didn't want to pack his present or things for cake and then when we got back from Branson Dan went out to Seattle for a few days so Wednesday was the night when we were all home and together again. 

In case you're wondering why you were not invited it was a diaper or underwear only party (excluding Dan and I), oh and Myla wore a tu-tu. It was quite the event though, and as Quinton requested it was, "Just our family to celebrate."

 Dan and his favorite little girl.

 As most one year olds, the paper is just as exciting.

Titan is sooooo lucky to have such helpful older siblings who are sooooo willing to help him unwrap his gifts, and also to set such high birthday dressing standards.

 The wrapping paper was picked by none other than his big brothers.

 

He is also very lucky to have such helpful siblings to show him, and then take over his birthday gift. Dan and I made sure that Ty was given some alone time on his new ramp. It was pretty fun to watch him figure out how to use it. When his cars make it to the bottom he claps over and over for himself. He seems to love it and he seems to love it especially when someone will sit and race cars with just him.

I was thinking that a birthday without cake wasn't really a birthday, except almost all of us don't really enjoy cake that much so we went with brownies and ice cream. A much more successful birthday treat.

There are no extremely messy birthday cake shots but I figure that the all around enjoyment of the food is equally as important as that cute messy face 1st birthday picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 He delights in the attention and with that smile he keeps everyone's attention easily!

 Myla with brownie in her teeth. She and I opted for no ice cream (we prefer our salt!).

And a day at the Rude house would not be complete without a crazy chant of, "We need another girl on our team," by Myla followed quickly by, "We need another boy," from Rex. This in response to what gender baby #5 will be.

 Oh they are passionate!

So, a few days late but a successful 1st birthday celebration of our favorite little guy, Titan. Can't say enough about what a sweet, determined, little man he is. Delighted to be his momma. Happy 1st Birthday Titan!