The Rudes + 2 Goats

Meet the two newest Rude family members.

We spent Easter celebrating the rising of our Savior with the whole Rude family and Dan's parents two new goats, Princess and Lady.

I love this next picture of Titan. He could not get enough of the goats. 

 

All the kids had such a blast running in the goat pen. It may come as a shock but my kids were absolutely FILTHY but oh so happy!

It was absolutely perfect weather here to celebrate together. It was such a fun afternoon/evening to be outside running around Grandma and Grandpa's huge yard.

Titan might be a natural farm boy! Thankfully his momma doesn't have to get any farm animals and we can just drive to grandma and grandpa's to get our animal fix.

We are so blessed to have such a big Rude side of the family. The kids have SO MANY cousins their ages so it is always a big party!

Myla and Brielle are only a couple of weeks apart. They both have great blue eyes and their crazy hair makes them hard to tell apart from behind.

  

Rex enjoying the goat pen.

The best at I could at getting a shot of the whole family!

Dan and his mini me.

 Uncle TJ, Dan and Titan hanging out on the swing.

 Beautiful Aunt Jessica!

 Uncle Steve, Hudson and Elsie.

 There was an intense game of basketball between all the cousins.

 Quinn showing off his skills.

 Grandpa refereeing the game.

Titan got his own game of baseball going and sweet talked his grandpa into letting him bring home the baseball T (they had an extra). We have put it to great use over the last few weeks! Even Jett knows how to put the ball on and knock it off.

 The night was complete with an Easter Egg hunt.

 I love the excitement for a pack of fruit snacks!

Like I said earlier, everyone was absolutely filthy! I love watching all these kids love each other!
Brielle and Titan sporting faces full of food and dirt!

And proof that Jett and I were there we snapped a picture with my sister in law Amber and her daughter Elsie

The four sister in laws! Amber, Kearstin, Amanda and myself. I really love these women and feel so blessed to be a part of the same family as them!

We loved celebrating the resurrection of our Savior with almost all the Rudes. I'm sure you will see more pictures of the goats to come. They are talked about often around here! Blessed by a great Rude family!

Raising Ninjas

I am raising a house full of ninjas.

Even Jett has turned into a rough, tough, ninja fighter.

Even at the young age of 14 months, this boy has mastered the katana and the sai. He delights when someone lays on the ground and you say, "Jett, go get ______" He walks up to them and tackles them and joyfully sits on them. A young, but smart little ninja.

It will not be long before Dan needs some back up when fighting these kids.

Dan spent six days in the Dominican Republic for a mission trip with our church and all my kids wanted to do when he got home was wrestle him. I'm not quite as tough and fun as their daddy. I can throw a mean dance party but Quinn can almost take me down in wrestling so four against one would not turn out in my favor. Incredibly thankful for a tough and REALLY fun daddy! 

Check out our new floors that my husband and friends laid! And I painted all the trim on our main floor (with a few touch ups needed) and the living room, hall and kitchen with the help of some friends while Dan was gone. We still need to paint walls in the staircase but its slowly coming together and we are both so excited. I'm loving the white trim and the wall colors. There have been some definite positives with our flood, it just takes a lot of time and energy!

Everyone wanted pictures of their ninja poses.

Myla was definitely the most graceful, a little like a baton twirler. 

 

We had two of my nieces over to play for the afternoon yesterday and I was thinking about just how much the genders and order of your children really have such an influence on the dynamic of your family. It's always fun to see families that are different than ours and adding two girls to our afternoon was so much fun but never before have we had so many girly things going on in our house at once. Barbies, babies, cheer leading, ballet and tap dancing. My big boys were a little lost in all the pink but found their dancing quite entertaining. We all enjoyed our fun afternoon. The Lord definitely gave our family the perfect girl to have four brothers. I just love my sweet Myla Jane. 

Jett is growing up so fast. It's just amazing how much he understands and wants to be involved in the craziness. He delights in the action. And I love watching him join in everyone's playing.

 He's so stinkin' cute!

 I get comments regularly about his super blue eyes!

 The moment Dan gets home, he runs right over to him for a hug! Melts both our hearts.

 And then grabs a katana and is ready for battle like the rest of them!

I sure do love raising five little ninjas. If you ever need advice on raising ninjas let me know. I'm not an expert but have learned a lot! Thankful for the man who they love to wrestle and the fun that they have!

Baby Jacob

On January 10th, I became an Aunt for the 13th time (if I counted correctly). This time was a little different because it was my sister having the baby.... There's just something special about your sibling having a baby!

Introducing Jacob Leo Bohlen. And let me just tell you that he is PERFECT! I mean look at those eyes, they just melt your heart. He is so sweet with the longest toes and fingers that I've ever seen on a baby. It helps that his parents both have huge hands and feet.

We finally got to meet and snuggle him a couple of weekends ago when he was 7 weeks old and we all voted that maybe we should keep him. He seemed to fit right in with our craziness.

Dana and Ryan traveled down to Ames to visit Ryan's family. We met them all for lunch on Friday and then they came down to spend the day with us on Sunday. It was a fun day just hanging with Jacob.

As always, my children loved hanging with Aunt Dana and Uncle Ry. Playing games, wrestling, snuggling baby Jacob and just being together.

Everyone wanted special Aunt Dana and Uncle Ry time.

Jett slept most of the afternoon away. Which allowed for me to have plenty of tiny baby snuggles since my sweet baby wasn't pulling at my leg. It's fun to think about how Jacob will fit in with all our kids at family gatherings. We are already planning a trip to Minnesota this summer to see Jacob, oh and Dana and Ryan too!

Dan has this whole baby thing figured out!

Myla enjoyed holding her little cousin. Her hair was in two super cute french braids but the moment that we got home from church out came the braids... I'm looking forward to the hot and humid summer days when I don't have to do anything but let her curls spring up!

I have enjoyed lots of day time chats with Dana. It has been nice having her on her maternity leave! We have face-timed with Jacob several times. How fun is technology. We use facetime ALL THE TIME! It seems like every few days we call Nana and Papa to just say hi.

All of my children look like long haired, crazy kids. They did all get haircuts shortly after these pictures. Despite lots of bike helmets, swimming and sweat, I think that summer is better on everyone's natural hair. I can't wait for all those curls to go crazy.

We loved getting to meet baby Jacob. We loved our time with Aunt Dana and Uncle Ry. Missing Baby Jacob already!