The Van Mersbergens: The last few months

Time seems to get away from me these days! Here are some pictures of the past several months. Jason and I took our first 7 day trip without kids in February. We had an amazing vacation and the kids did pretty well splitting the time between the Grandpa and Grandmas' houses. We stayed by the Santa Monica Pier the first night and watched the Northern Trust Golf tournament before being picked up by a friend and heading down to Long Beach for the next couple days. Then we headed north to stay with friends that moved to California about a year ago. It was kind of a shock to be free from child raising responsibility for so many days in a row! Jason got a few rounds of golf in and we both enjoyed much relaxation. We drove up to the mountains to see the huge Sequoia trees - what an amazing thing to see. It is hard to take in how vast these trees are until we were looking back at the pictures. Amazing to think that some of these trees existed when Jesus walked the earth.

In February we also decided to put our house on the market and we tried FSBO for awhile. We had some interest but nothing serious so we listed with a Realtor May 7 and we sold it May 29. Now we have to be out by June 28. We haven't found a new place yet so hopefully we can find something soon that will accommodate this timing! At least the stress of trying to keep a perfectly clean house is over - that is about impossible with two 3 year olds and an 18 month old! Now on to packing... Through this whole situation we have put it in God's hands - he gave us these wonderful children so he can provide a place for us to raise them. In our current house there just wasn't a lot of options to fit another baby in a bedroom aside from ours and I don't sleep well with an infant in my bedroom! And, we felt Hailey and Brynn are just a bit young to be on a separate floor hence our desire to sell ours and find one with 4 bedrooms upstairs. Hai

Hailey and Brynn were part of a tumbling class at the end of the spring. They both really enjoyed it but Brynn REALLY loved it. I think gymnastics might be her thing down the road... Hailey would stand in line and sing while she waited for her turn. She might choose other extra-curricular activities!

Klayton turned 18 months at the beginning of May. We can hardly believe it. He wants to do whatever his sisters are doing and unfortunately he is just not that coordinated yet! They all play pretty well together though and the girls make very sure that he follows the rules. Ha! If only they would obey everything they scold Klayton for! He makes me laugh every day with his silliness. We have a walking route of right about 1 mile. Klayton usually walks the first half and then takes the stroller the rest of the way. This is the perfect way to tire them all out! We walk past a school and the kids have been begging to play there so now that school is out we can finally go...well...for the next month anyway!

Hailey and Brynn will be 3 1/2 at the end of June. They are both getting to be so imaginative in their play which cracks me up sometimes. When we would show the house, we would put several of their toys in the back of the van along with any laundry baskets still full of clothes, etc. So, one of their games is to "pack up the van" which means they put everything possible on the couch and then "drive" away. It is so fun to see them interacting - we certainly have our share of squabbles but that is to be expected when you are expected to share pretty much everything age appropriate for you with your twin sister. It is pretty convenient to have a twin though...they have started the giggling before bed as they chatter to each other about who knows what. When I pop my head in to say it is time to rest, they say, "We are just talkin' mom!" Oh, I am sure that is just the beginning. Oh, and many times I have graduated from "mommy" to "mom"...that makes me feel like they are growing up too fast!

Here are some pictures of the kids over the last several months since I haven't posted their pics since February.