It was TIME!!

During our trip to park city in Oct. we had many discussions about Travis' job and we realized that it was no longer working for our family. The cons out weighed the pros pretty heavily. But he did not want to leave the company hanging, as it was just starting their busiest season. So we decided he would tough out the holidays and start applying for new jobs in Jan. And let me tell you this holiday season was BRUTAL the weather was awful! We spent all of winter break at home stuck inside, he worked his usual crazy hours, we were all sick, but we survived ..... barely!
 In Jan He completed and perfected his resume. We sat down figured out our finances and decided on a lowest hourly wage he could accept. Then the time came to start submitting his resume and let me tell you i have never been so Excited and Terrified at the same time!! He has been with his current company for just over 9 years. He has been with them our whole married life and in that time we have bought a home, 2 cars and added 3 mouths to feed and take care of. We were scared it may not work out that he would have tough it out for another year and a half till Korbyn was old enough to go to school so i could work with out paying a sitter. We were scared no one would want him because he had no degree or because he isn't very experienced. We feared no-one would be able to pay him what we needed. Or that i  would have to go back to work at night to help make up the difference. But we prayed and felt good moving on and that we would be blessed.
 Almost immediately he got a phone interview with a really good company he was excited the interview went great..... until They talked about pay. The pay was about $8 less then the lowest acceptable pay we decided we could take and even if i went to back to work part time at night it wouldn't make up for it. We were discouraged, would this be how all the interviews would go?
 Then he got a lead for a company called Cintas the pay was great right where we needed and so were the hours. He went to an interview the next week that turned into 3 interviews that same day. They wanted him to go on a ride along the next week then interview after to see what he thought. When he got back from the ride along the guy that was supposed to do the interview was gone. So he went back the next week for that interview then again the next for another. He went in again to talk to them he was discouraged that there was no formal job offer, they told him that he needed 3 references and they had to be people that were above him at any of his jobs. Since he has been with big 5 so long and moved up so quick he didn't have many people that he could use. And because of company policy some of them refused to let him use them as references. We couldn't get a hold of others that we could use.  We were again discouraged... Was this a sign that it wasn't the right time?  Wrong company? Why was it taking so long? What? Why? We both prayed and still felt good about everything... at the last possible second everything worked out with the references, and he went in for one last interview. They sent him to get a physical, a drug test and got his permission to do a background check.
 Then we waited and waited 5 long days passed and FINALLY after 6 long weeks on Monday Feb. 11 he got an official offer!! He accepted and starts on Feb. 25th! He will be working 4 days a week 10 hours a day.  (around 6am-4pm)
For the first time since we started dating will have weekends off!! He wont miss at least 2 Sundays of church a month. I wont have to do church by my self with 3 kids any more. We can work on having a more Christ centered home. He will also not have to close the store a few times a week and have to go days with not seeing the kids or really me. I wont have to do bed time by myself most nights. He will have more then an hour with the kids when he gets home from work before they have to go to bed. We can finally have a date night more then once every couple months. He wont have to miss performances, sports games and practices. He can help coach the kids sports teams.  He wont come home in a bad mood because some one didn't show up for their shift or he is short staffed. He wont have to drive an hour each day to/from work. We wont have as much wear and tare on the car. We wont have to buy new tires for the car every year around Christmas time. Our gas bill for the car will be more then half what it is now. He wont get calls on his days off.  He wont be called in to work at the last min. ruining plans. Erilyns  birthday wont be a mandatory work day. Holidays and holiday weekends wont be mandatory, in fact he will have them off. We can spend holidays together. His job will supply and wash his uniform. But MOST importantly we will get TIME! Time we haven't had before, time to bond as a family and as a couple. Time to make memories with our kids, time to make memories with extended family, time to make our own memories as a couple, Just time! We are BEYOND EXCITED and cant wait to see where this new chapter in life takes us.

Valentines day.

We usually don't do a whole lot for valentines here but the girls were excited to have their parties at school, hand out their valentines and to have special heart hair. Travis and i went on valentines/ celebration ( celebrating what!?) date earlier in the week. So it was kinda just another day for us.

Erilyn has been asking for a few years to get AJ a special valentine  i finally gave in and let her i told his mom and he did that same they are so cute together.

Enslie has a crush on a boy named Daxton in her pre-school class. They had to write a letter to a friend in the class and  they both chose to write to each other! This is Enslies to Daxton.

Daxton to Enslie.

After school the kids played at the neighbors for awhile while i donated blood. this is how i found Erilyn when i went to pick them up.

And this is how donating went! Hahahaha I have very small veins that like to move.... they missed then couldn't find my vein the first time. And the second time they had the blood pressure cuff so tight that when she hit my vein some blood squirted out. But once it was going i donated in only 7 min. So although small they are mighty!!

Enslie 5 year check up.

Enslie is already 5! Its crazy i remember when she was just a baby and spending many nights at the hospital with her. She was hospitalized twice for a few days each time before she was 2 months old ( jaundice and rsv). I remember being scared she was always going to be sick and at the hospital. But after rsv she recovered fully and has been doing great ever since! She is super healthy now and is definitely my sweetest child. She is the first to cuddle me and tell me she loves me and loves her siblings and daddy as well. She is a big helper when i babysit and loves having kids to play with. She is doing great at pre-school and with upstart. The doc was impressed with how well she can write her name and with how strong she is. She was 45.5 in tall (95%) and 42.6 lbs (70%) Bmi 14.39 so she is perfect and healthy! The doc had no concerns with her or health and was impressed that she had no rash on her privates witch is common for girls her age. She does still have her venus hum in her heart (she has had it since she was a baby) but it goes away when she looks away so the doc is still not worried about it. We just have to keep an eye on it was she grows up. She is in size 6 clothes and size 12 shoes.

Korbyns 3 year check up.

Where has the time gone?! I cant believe my BABY is 3 years old! 
*3 year stats. Height 40.5 inches (98%) ( beating both sisters at age 3 ERS was 39.8 in and EJS was 39 in) Weight 38 lbs 2 oz (95%) ( beating both sister by a alot! ERS was 33lbs and EJS was 31.5 lbs.)
His bmi was 16.34 so He is just a big boy and the doc was not concerned about his weight and is guessing he will be right around 6ft 5in when he grows up!
We discussed some tightening in his pinkie Where it got scraped really bad last summer. They suggested we get it checked out by a specialist to make sure there is no nerve damage. But we have to wait awhile for new insurance to kick in.... Why new insurance? Stay tuned to see why.....
Back to talking about my baby boy. He is very smart and witty!! When i ask him if he is tired he will usually respond with " Yeah my ears tired i wanna go to bed" I usually call him big boy and if you ask him what his name is he responds " My name Boy" He hates clothes and spends 85% of his time in pjs, if we do get him dressed to go some where he immediately starts stripping the second we get home and puts on pjs. He is fully potty trained and refuses to wear a pull up at night " I a Big boy not a diaper I wear wear-wears!" and very rarely has accidents. The doc was impressed by how much he talked and how smart he was. She was surprised that he was only 3 because of his size and how smart and easy to under stand he is. Hes right on track and getting smarter ( and bigger ) every day. He is in size 5 cloths and size 11 shoes! Just a bit of perspective... Enslie is in size 6 clothes and 12 shoes!
I didn't get any pictures at the appointment we were to busy laughing at him make faces at us while the doc listened to his heart and lungs. And his giggle when the doc checked in his underwear!! hahhha all boy there! But i did get one of them at wendys after for being so good at the doctors.

A bathroom remodel already?

 When we redid our bathroom 7 years ago, we didn't realize how cheep the sink and vanity were. They were on sale but we didn't realize how cheaply made it was.

All the cracks were not there when we bought it!! And if you look closely we filled in the with calk to make sure that the kids weren't going to get cut. The white in the lower left hand corner is chunks that were coming off !! And the kids picked at it...

We also didn't realize that the vanity part was made of particle board!! So when it got wet it bubbled and pealed also it didn't wipe clean very well and it just looked gross. So we decided to replace it with some tax money. 

The vanity and sink we chose were separate pieces i love how the sink/counter is on big piece.

I love that there is drawers in this one, it makes storing stuff easier. And its real wood!!! It should be easier to clean and brightens up the room!

Some before and after side by side comparisons.

Jan. random

January is always a busy month for us with 2 birthdays but we try to have fun other then celebrating just birthdays.

This girls sure loves her kittie!!

I thought this mileage on the van looked cool.

.... and Lu.

Excited for unicorn earrings.

This is the look i got when she came up stairs and saw this.....

Daddy cuddle time.

Both kitties claimed the box from korbyns bike.

Enslies bed she made for her stuffed animals.

I asked Enslie to get jammies for Korbyn while i bathed him one night she decided that he needed his blankie pillow and a Chace stuffed animal also and was so excited to show him.

He was excited to tuddle with them while i bathed sisters.

Yummy peach cobbler.

Having a snack and doing work books.

Erilyn did Enslies hair and her own one night.

My baby girl fell asleep on me that hasnt happened for awhile.

Selfie time!!

Erilyn had her its great to be 8 program korbyn enjoyed eating a snack. ( How is my baby that big already!?)

This girl!!! Im not looking forward to when she starts driving for real!

The girls had a sleep over one night . Aent they so cute when they are sleeping?

Korbyn fell asleep on the way to grammas one day and slept like this for awhile.

When he woke up he enjoyed a picnic of famous bowls with gramma.

And helped roll rugs.

Fell asleep on the way to get sisters one day.

I swear this cat thinks he is a parrot!

And last but not least a fun after school snack for my favorite girls!

Enslies 5th birthday.

She was excited to be sung to the sun before her birthday.

Daddy wasn't thinking and scheduled everyone's dental well checks on her birthday so we woke up bright and early to go to the dentist she was a good sport about it though and was excited to look thru the chest for a toy.

After the dentist we went to wal mart so she could pick out a cake and a present. She chose a few blind bags. 

Her birthday hat they gave her at school.

She wanted to go swimming for her birthday. We had the whole pool pretty much to our selfs!!

After working up an appetite at the pool we went to burger king to eat dinner and play.

Then home for cake.

After a fun birthday she still had to do her online preschool and was happy her kittie Lu wanted to cuddle.

When she was done she put him down for a nap!!
She had such a good birthday! Of all my kids she is the one i have the hardest time believing is mine i never thought that with how dark both mine and my husbands features are that we went up with a blue eyed blonde!! She is the sweetest most beautiful 5 year old girl inside and out that i know! and im so glad that i get to call her mine for ever!