Family Stay-cation

My sister and her two daughters came to visit for two weeks at the beginning of July. It was so much fun. We have 5 children between the two of us and they are all 4 and under. It was such a fun two weeks of ice cream, swimming, camp outs, playing, exploring and a whole lot of laughing. It has been over a year since we have all seen each other, so it was great for each of us to meet the two youngest. And of course Grandma and Grandpa were in heaven. What more could they ask for to have 5 of their grandchildren in the same place for 2 weeks. We can't wait until Christmas when we all get to be together again.

We started the time off the best way possible...with ice cream.

This is my adorable niece Jordan. She will be one in a couple weeks. 

On Friday, July 3rd (yes I am not sure what I was thinking) we spent the day at Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful and really nice weather. We got to escape the heat for a while. The only downfall was the crowds, but I totally forgot about 4th of July weekend. We spent most of the day having a picnic on the shore and playing in the water.

On the fourth of July we had a great BBQ will so many friends and family. We actually got some cute pictures of the kids as well.

 Moriah is my sister's oldest daughter and she just turned 3. Our four girls are all pretty close in age, so it is fun to see them play together. All week we had a 4 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, 11 months and 9 months. Such a fun time with a lot of energy.

 We got to spend a day at the air show. What a great time. Moriah and Jack got to sit inside the fire helicopter. What a cool experience. This has been especially cool for Jack now that we have all the fires around because he has seen them fly by.

 And here is the bunch with Grandma. Look at all those girls. We are so glad that Hudson joined our family in May. We needed another boy.  We had a great time and I can't wait for the next time we all get to be together.

The Cazin Family

 I have finally found time to sit down and blog and I am not really very sure where to start. Time just seems to be speeding up and in all actuality I just wish it would slow down. I am absolutely loving my life. I can't really imagine it getting any better than this. Sure we have our difficult days. By no means do I want to give you a false sense that everything in our house is perfect. Hello, I have three kids, ages 4 and under. Of course my days are hectic. But man I love these three crazy kids with all my heart. I am loving the stage of life that God has us in right now and I am learning to slow down and just enjoy what each day holds. I am sure it is easier to type all of this because they are all laying quietly asleep in the their beds in the middle of the afternoon, but no really I do love this. I am learning that God truly placed a desire in me to be a wife and a mother. I find so much fulfillment in these jobs and I know that I would not trade it for the world. I often get asked if I miss teaching. I can say that the answer honestly is no, I am right where I need to be and right where I want to be. Life is good and I feel so incredibly blessed.

 So what do our days look like... Well, I am still working two days a week, so Monday and Wednesdays are a little crazy.  Grace and I head to work and spend the day with each other, while Jack and Chloe spend Mondays at Grandma's house and Wednesday has become Daddy day. This has become a favorite day for Jack, Chloe and Charlie. These days are fillled with doughnuts, Legos, Nerf guns, wrestling, special day trips and so many memories. The rest of the week the kids and I do whatever comes up. Our days are filled with walks, reading books, playdough, coloring, superheros, dress up, dishes and lots of grand ideas from Jack. I wish I could say that we always have these slow days at home with nothing else to do and everything always runs smoothly, but that just is not the case. We have crazy moments, like when they all want to eat at the same time or when the all get hurt at the same time or when they all cry for no reason at the same time. We also try to keep up on house work or errands. Every day is different and so it has been difficult to find a routine, but then again we are learning to just go with the flow.

 We are loving the beautiful spring weather and all the time we get to spend outside.  We had one day of snow and that was a pleasant surprise. I had to laugh because just one week prior i had packed up all our snow clothes because i figured it wasn't coming this year. After all it was Easter. Snow came just the same and we had make shift snow clothes. Back to spring weather and we are swinging, riding bikes and playing tee ball. Jack started tee ball this season and he is loving it. It is so fun to watch him play.

Jack turned four a few months ago. He is growing into quite the little boy. He is so full of life and absolutely loves his sisters. He often refers to himself as a superhero because he has to protect his sisters. It is really cute. Jack is in love with superheros, which makes Charlie very proud. He also loves anything active; tee ball, soccer, football, riding bikes, running, hide and seek, racing, cars. It is awesome to seem him growing up. However there are so many times I just want him to slow down. Jack also keeps us on our toes. He remembers everything and will not let us forget if we said he could do something, even if it ways weeks ago. He has funny stories to tell all the time and loves to be the life of the party. With Charlie's job at the ranch we have people over several times a week and this just fills Jack's heart. He is quite the extrovert..

Chloe is our sweet and spunky girl.

She is 2 1/2 and so full of life. She is just the opposite of Jack. She is an introvert and loves to spend time playing on her own. However, she often surprises us with her spunk, sass and spaziness. She loves all things princess. She loves pretty dresses, jewelry, headbands, hats and shoes. She always has at least one baby doll with her, but many times 3-4. It is not uncommon to come out the living room with several different outfits on throughout the course of the day. Chloe loves deeply and is loyal to the core. She wants so badly to be just like Jack. She also loves to dance.  A few weeks ago her and I had a mommy daughter daughter. We got all dressed up and went to see Cinderella at the movie theater. It was amazing. This was her first trip to the movies and she fell in love with Cinderella. She came home wanting to dance and always wear dresses. I love my little snuggle bug. She is so sweet and always asks "Will you snuggle with me?"

And then we have Grace. Our sweet little girl who is the perfect combination of her brother and sister, at least as far as looks go. We are just starting to see pieces of her personality, but we do know that she loves attention and people. She also loves to smile. She will smile at anyone who will pay attention to her. It is crazy to realize that our baby is 6 months old. Time flies. She is a pretty content baby as long as someone is paying attention to her. Like I said, she really loves attention. As far as moving, she is pretty content to just let people come to her. She is rolling over, but not sitting up. She is starting to grab for things and has found her hands and feet. She has also found her voice. She is quite the talker. She always has something to say to us and lights up when Jack and Chloe are in the room. She also really loves her daddy. He is super special. We love this girl and could not imagine her not in our lives. We are so blessed to have these three children. 

 We had a great Easter together. It was a long day with different services and Easter programs, but we really enjoyed celebrating our Lord and Savior. Through him all these blessings are even more amazing.

 Just a few more of our beautiful girl who is now 6 months old.

To wrap up life in the Cazin house

 You may be asking yourself...where have they been for the past 5 months, maybe longer. Well I decided the best way to tell you what has been happening is through pictures. I am the mother of three and I love every second. It has been an amazing adventure and we could not be more thankful for the incredible blessing God has given us in each of our three children.

Jack is our boy. He is all boy and everything that encompasses. He loves the dirt, cars, superheros, wrestling, sword fighting, trains, legos, playdough, music and so much more. 

He has a huge heart and is completely in tune with those around him. He can sense how people are feeling and he is so compassionate. His heart hurts for those who hurt. He loves big. Everybody is his friend and he knows no stranger. If you have met Jack you are his friend. He is an extreme extrovert. If something is happening, he wants to be there. If we are home to many days in a row he will ask to go somewhere, anywhere, just to get out of the house and see that life is still happening around us. I love is exciting new adventures, his imagination and his huge heart. I love that he is a morning person. That has become our time. Jack and mommy alone before the world wakes up. We snuggle, have breakfast, read and just enjoy a slow start to our morning. I will cherish these times with him. It is hard to imagine that he will be four on Friday. My how the time has flown. He has finished a year of speech and is doing wonderfully. We have also signed him up for t-ball, which should be starting soon. Jack we love you dearly. You bring so much joy to our lives and you always make us laugh.

Next we have our sweet little Chloe. Though she is quiet and many wonder if she ever really talks, she is spunky. When we are home and she is in her element, she is curious, adventurous, tough, cooky, and super silly. She loves her brother and daddy. She loves to get in on the wrestling and she will let Daddy throw her in the air. She loves to be tickled and will often ask us to tickle her over and over again. She loves to dance, especially to frozen music. She loves to snuggle with mommy. That is special time for us. She is all girl. She loves to dress up, wear jewelry, dance pick out her pretty clothes and wear mommy's shoes. She loves to color, play play dough, stickers and paint. She also loves dirt, cars, trains and legos just like her big brother. She really wants to do everything Jack does. Chloe keeps us on our toes. She has such an adventurous, curious nature. I often wonder what she is thinking when she does a certain thing or when she has a certain look on her face. Chloe will eat anything and is always willing to try something new. My sweet girl also loves big. She always tells you who she loves and what she loves. I can't believe my little girl is 2 years old. She is still so small for her age, but growing up so fast. It has been amazing to watch her grow. Chloe is our night owl. She often has so much more energy after dinner and will keep us laughing all night long. She loves to make us laugh and she loves to laugh with Jack, over the silliest of things. Chloe also has a deep love of books. Her and I will read book after book for hours on end. Always saying "nother one" right after we finish. She is an awesome big sister.


Well this year we added another little girl to our family. On October 21 at 4:30pm Grace Elora Cazin was born. She was 7lbs 1oz and 20 1/2 inches long. A beautiful little girl that has been a blessing from the very first day. We are so thankful to have her as a part of our family. She is a super smiley girl. She loves people and is always better out and about than at home. As soon as Jack and Chloe are in bed, she begins to fuss and sometimes fully cry because it is too quiet. I guess that is part of being the third child. Jack and Chloe love her dearly. They always want to hold her and give her hugs and kisses. She loves every second. Her face lights up when they are around. She also very dearly loves her daddy. There is already a very special bond between the two of them. 

 It is so different having a third child. I am finding when the other two are in be, whether at night or just nap time I try to soak up as much time with Grace as possible. It already feels like she is growing way too fast. It is crazy and I just don't want it too end.

Grace was born 9 days late. I was induced with her just like I have been with the other two. Apparently my children like to be late. Charlie and I went to my doctors appointment on Monday afternoon and our doctor decided to induce so he asked us to meet him at the hospital early the next morning. We went home and spent a quiet evening at home with the other two. Charlie's mom was actually in town this particular week, so we had dinner with her and the kids, played and then everyone went to bed. The nice part was that we got to put the kids to bed and Gail just stayed with them in the morning after we went to the hospital. I was induced at 7:30am and for several hours nothing really happened. We played games, watched shows, talked and just relaxed. By lunch time nothing was happening very fast so our doctor decided to break my water. At 1:30 I was dilated  to 4cm so he broke my water and decided to wait to see what would happen. Now I had an intro-thecal with the other two (this is like an epidural, but it only lasts for 5 hours). Because it is a one time shot they wait until you are at a 5 to give the medicine. At 3:00 I had made it to 4 1/2 so they began the process. Well if you remember that Grace was born at 4:30, you can see there was no time for anything. Yes, I joined the world of natural birth. It was crazy. I can't decide which was better, but I have to say that my recovery with Grace was much better than either of the other two. What an experience. I had never experienced anything like that before. Grace was perfectly healthy and everything went very smoothly. After three days in the hospital we headed home to be with our now family of five. I am so thankful for these three children and the blessing they are in my life.

 Jack and Chloe love their new "Baby Grace" and they are so good with her. It only took Jack a couple days to get over the fact that he was not having a little brother. He made it very clear when he came to visit her in the hospital that he was very disappointed that Grace was not a boy. He even told me mom that is was okay because she would grow up to be a boy. I think we have a few things to teach him. Now he loves Grace and just thinks we need to have another little boy as well. We will see.

 I spend the next six weeks at home with my three children. Charlie was home for a week and that was great for the adjustment. The time I had at home without working was amazing. I really enjoyed each moment and just soaked up lots of cuddling, book time, art projects, sleep when I could and beautiful walks outside.

 We have celebrated Grace's first Halloween (she was a bumble bee), Her first Thanksgiving (we spent it at the Ranch and with family for the rest of the weekend), and her first Christmas (three times with lots of different family members). Life has been amazing. She even got to meet Uncle Ken, Aunt Peggy and Katie who came out from Canada after Christmas.

 Grace's first time on a swing. She enjoyed it.

Here are just a few more smiles. She has the best smiles. Wow!!!