Holiday week

Jake got a week off of work last week and we enjoyed having him home. Thanks to my little brother we are going to be looking for a bigger house soon (we had planned to wait until we could break even before buying a house, but Todd inspired me to look into it now and it turns out we are way closer to breaking even than I thought, like if it weren't for realtors getting a cut we could probably break even). Woohoo! So I spent some of the vacation time starting to pack and prep the house. Our freezer is moved to the garage, a big bookcase in the girl's room is emptied and in the garage, and lots of toys and books are packed up. Jake kept telling me to enjoy my vacation (like moms ever really get a vacation), and I tried to tell him I was enjoying myself. Getting things done at least 3 times faster than they would be done were I the only one home having to split my attention between watching and taking care of the kids and getting some work done was a definite plus in my book. It was so much easier with Jake there to entertain the kids.
But I did take plenty of time to relax and enjoy myself, too. Jake and I went to the Hobbit on a date one day, and most days we enjoyed some time outside, even if it was a little cold for us Arizona wimps.
Tackle Dad!

 We also jumped our back fence almost every day to go play on the playground at the elementary school. The last day we took a camera to document the fun.

 Ryan got pretty darn good at climbing stairs, and is totally fearless on the slides. On the colder days he'd had socks on his hands for mittens and discovered how fun it was to slide down head-first. When we went on a warmer day it took 2 or 3 face plants before he learned to lift his hands up to slide down fast.

 He also loves (eating) dirt. We try to plug the mouth, but it only lasts a minute or so before he decides he must taste this fascinating stuff and spits out the binky.

 Rachel and Annie had a blast chasing Dad. He's a good Dad to play along for so long. "Come and get me, Dad!" "Get me again!" "I'm going to get you!" All up and down and around the playground equipment.

 Some of our attempts at a cute picture:

 And proof I was there:

 We have some cute kiddos.

It was a fabulous week full of fun. We were sad to have Jake head back to work. As for progress on our house, this week is the week of painting and new carpet and, once the carpet is in the girls will finally get their bunk bed, which Rachel is getting more and more excited about... Thankfully my parents are visiting Todd and Savannah in Seattle for the week, so we get to use their house as home base for a few days while our house is discombobulated with the work being done. And it looks like we're on the way to putting our house on the market maybe by the end of the month. We hope to stick close to where we are. We like our ward, like the schools, and don't want Jake to have to drive any longer than he does to work. We'll see how things work out.