Misc

Here are a few pictures to show a little more of what we've been up to the last several months ...

Winter seemed to last FOREVER this year, but I have to say, my kids were pretty good sports about it and did a good job keeping themselves busy.  One of our winter strategies to help pass the time are nice, long baths before dinner.  Shortly after Kellen's birthday, bath time ended in a bit of a disaster.  It was one of the rare nights where we were bathing right before bed.  I had just turned on the water for the little boys and as I turned around to pick up Kellen, Landon slipped getting into the tub, banging his forehead on the water spout.  It was only a small cut, but gaping, and I felt like he could probably use a stitch or two.  Thus began my first solo trip to the ER with all three boys.  I'd say it was a success -- not long of a wait, the boys were fantastic, Landon was an awesome patient.  We left the hospital with a glued forehead and $1500 worth of medical bills.  YIKES!  Note to self:  next time find an urgent care facility instead.  OR, avoid the trip all together and keep my medicine cabinet full of steri strips.  

Landon spent the winter crashing all of his "guys" together.  This was one of the rare occasions where he actually took the time to set up a battle scene first -- good guys vs bad guys.  The poor Green Ogre on the far left was new this Christmas.  I swear it had "arthritis" by Valentine's Day, and just this last week got sent to monster heaven.  That poor toy saw more action than it was ever designed for.  

Shortly after his birthday, Kellen really started getting around.

Tanner made him this little sign.  Don't you just love it!!  :)

At the end of April, I got to take a trip by myself to visit my sisters in Atlanta and meet my new niece, Liza.  I just love spending time with my sisters.  They are my best friends in the world and I feel so lucky that we're close.  I'm extremely jealous that they live a mere 10 minutes apart right now, but I'm happy that they have each other.  My first night there, we went out to dinner and were on our way to a different place for dessert when I slammed my pinky finger in the car door.  At first I thought I was fine, but then I looked at it and had to sit down.  Within a few seconds, I passed out.  My poor sisters!  I think I gave them a bit of a scare!  The injury was totally gross, the doctor said I smashed the hell out of my nail bed.  Thankfully, it has healed well.  I was a total dramatic baby about it, though!  The rest of our weekend couldn't have been more perfect:  Starbucks and pedicures, an outdoor festival complete with funnel cakes and margaritas, an outdoor barbecue, and lots of sleeping in.  The highlight of the whole trip was watching my beautiful niece, Lanier, ride her little scooter before I left.  She was hilarious.  She would get it going really fast, look back and make sure everyone was watching, and then lift her leg up high behind her and pose for us.  It was the cutest thing.

A few weeks after my Atlanta trip, my mom came to stay for a few days.  Having Grammy here with us was HEAVEN!!  The weather was super nice and we got to spend a lot of time outdoors just watching the boys play in the backyard.  Kellen got to have his first ice cream cone.  He is definitely mine -- his eyes lit right up when I gave it to him and he was such a happy camper relishing each bite!

The last day she was here, we took the boys for haircuts.  We decided to get Kellen's done while we were there since my mom would be able to help.  Shortly after these pictures were taken and the initial shock of enjoying his first lollipop wore off, Kellen realized what was happening and threw a FIT.  My mom literally had to hold him down while he screamed with tears running down his cheeks.  I felt just terrible and got in the car and cried when it was all over.   I felt like the worst mom!  He does look pretty stinkin' cute now that the mullet is gone, though. 

This last picture is courtesy of Tanner.  I've been realizing a lot lately that I'm never in any pictures -- I'm always behind the camera, or I'm too critical of myself and immediately delete a picture that I don't look well in.  I love looking back at pictures of my own mom when she was younger and I think that someday my boys will want to remember what I looked like when they were little.  So here it is:  me at 33, raisin' my kiddos :)

Easter 2013

After all of the birthday fun, the Easter Bunny may have been a wee bit tired by the time he made his way to our house. ;)  The boys thankfully slept in and then called us down to help them find their baskets.  

We had a little Easter Egg hunt for the big boys, but the littlest guy didn't get to participate this year.  Next year, I'm sure he'll be out in full force!  After all of the Easter Bunny fun, we headed back to church for Easter Service.  Unfortunately, I missed the adult service because it was my week to work in the Kindergarten class, but I learned SO much listening to the lead teacher and they way he talked through salvation with those young kids.   (Tanner isn't in that class yet, but will be after the summer)  It was awesome and really gave me the words to start more conversations with my own kids.  Have I mentioned we love our church?!!  Since then, we've talked a LOT about why Jesus died on the cross for us and how we can live out eternity in heaven with him.  Both of my big boys have asked Jesus to be in their heart -- ahhh -- I get goosebumps just writing it!

One night after I had tucked the kids into bed, I was downstairs painting our family room.  Tanner wandered down saying he couldn't sleep.  Initially, I wanted to send him back to bed, but he was just in the mood to talk to me and had so many little things on his mind that he wanted to tell me.  He kind of followed me around and kept me company.  I'm not sure exactly how the conversation came up, but we started talking about the Easter story and we had such a sweet conversation about it, ending with him telling me that he wanted to always follow Jesus.  He said "You know what, Mom?  I'm gonna ask Jesus 'Please be in my heart, please be in my heart, please be in my heart.'"  When I think about it now, I have no doubt that God orchestrated those moments for us and I will cherish them forever.

A few weeks later, we were on our way to preschool when Landon asked if we were going to Jesus' birthday party.  Tanner explained to him that we celebrated Jesus' birthday during Christmas.  Landon didn't quite understand and wanted to know when we were going to his REAL party.  That got us talking about heaven and that it's where Jesus lives and that some day we can be in heaven with him forever.  Tanner and I told Landon that all you had to do was believe in Jesus and that he died on the cross for us and ask him to be with you always.  Tanner helped Landon pray in the backseat.  It was AWESOME.  Seriously -- God was in that van with us and all I could think about was how many other moms have told me that the most important conversations happen in their mini-vans.

I hope I can teach them to follow Jesus and trust him.  I know that it's not all up to me, though.  God will provide more perfect teaching moments, I'm sure of it.  :)

Happy Birthday, Landon!

He's my middle, that's for sure!  Mommy is SO sorry, buddy!  Here it is June now and I'm JUST getting around to posting some pictures!  Landon turned 4 on March 28th.  We were all so excited to celebrate with him!  Jon was especially excited and talked for several weeks about what we would get him, what his party would be like, etc.  He is especially sensitive to our middle guy and wanted to make sure he felt extra special for a few days.  The night before his birthday, we carefully laid out all of his presents (from us AND the grandparents/aunts/uncles) and were shocked at how many there were!  We totally went overboard -- LOL!!  We opened a few the morning of his birthday before Daddy went to work.  His favorite gift of the morning was his Power Rangers game for XBox Kinect.  A few months later, and it's still one of his favorite things to do.  (And the perfect thing to take away when he's in trouble:)  

Later that evening, we had "fancy dinner" (i.e. tablecloth, real plates, and a candle) followed by a marathon present opening session.  It was actually really fun and he was so excited about all of his gifts.    

Tanner assumed the role of party planner once again and was surprisingly a great sport when it came to watching Landon open all of the presents.  

Landon opened enough Power Rangers, Ninja Turtle, and Super Hero stuff to keep a family of three boys happy for quite a while.  And he's been very gracious to share with his brothers :)  Kellen actually loves to walk around with the Power Ranger mask on -- it's pretty hilarious.  

Since we were set to have cake the following night at his party, we settled for ice cream treats on his real birthday evening.  

The day after Landon's birthday (Friday), Jon took the day off of work and had lots of fun activities planned for the big boys.  First, they went to the park district's Easter Egg Hunt, where Landon scored the first place egg and got to bring home a huge basket full of loot.  Afterwards, he took Tanner and Landon to Medieval Times.  Landon has been talking nonstop about how he wants to be a knight when he grows up, so we thought this was right up his alley.  We were right -- he LOVED it!  I wish I could've been there, but someone had to stay back with the BuzzKill :)  We ended the day at church for a special Good Friday service.  It ended up being a really great day. 

On Saturday, we threw a small birthday party with two of our favorite families -- the Dishaws and the Lesniaks.  We had a Ninja Turtle theme, with a little bit of Power Ranger influence here and there :)  I found the idea for these balloons on Pinterest and I thought they turned out so cute!  We catered in pizza and Italian Beef for dinner and my friends brought appetizers, so ....

 ... all I had to do was make the cake!  Thanks so much to Erin for the idea!  It was an ice cream cake with chocolate cake and mint chip ice cream.  I honestly don't think it tasted awesome, but it looked pretty dang cute!

After a short dance party, where all the kids broke it down Gangnam Style (don't judge;), the kids took turns taking some swings at the pinata -- and scrambled to collect all of the loot after it broke.    Silly me forgot that Easter was the next morning, so my kids literally ended up with enough candy to last until Halloween by the time it was all said and done!

Here is most of the crew: Landon, Kennedy, Easton, Tanner, Adrianna, and Frankie -- only Kyla and Kellen are missing in this picture.

This was the best picture from the whole party.  Can't wait to put this up one day at his graduation party -- HA!

I think all of the kids had a great time, but the adults might have had even more fun, thanks to such a special group of friends!

Kellen's First Birthday

This has been such a long time coming, but I'm finally hoping to update on what we've been up to the last few months, and I realized that I never got around to posting these pics from Kellen's birthday party -- OOPS!  Better late than never, right? :)

For Kellen's birthday, we headed to Michigan to celebrate with the people we love most -- our wonderful grandparents!  MawMaw and Grandpa Mike were so gracious to host a party for the little dude in their basement after an afternoon of pizza at Silver Beach and then a few rides on the carousel.  Tanner was our party planner and coordinated the decorations and activities (it was too cute).  Grandpa Mike was on the grill and made his famous burgers.  Grammy and Poppy came to join us for food, cake, and presents.  There's no doubt about it, this guy is loved.  

Just like all of our first birthday parties, this one ended with a fussy baby.  :(  Tanner had Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease on his first birthday.  Landon had an ear infection and a sinus infection on his first birthday.  And, after suffering through a week of fussiness, we took Kellen in to find out that he also had a double ear infection and was wheezing.  Boo!  Unfortunately, this ear infection didn't clear up for about 6 more weeks.  We went through 3 full rounds of antibiotics and also suffered through all four molars emerging during that time.  It was a rough few months and we affectionately (kind of) dubbed him "The Buzzkill," because he ruined all our fun -- LOL!  But, we made it through and now he's back to his old, happy self.  Thank goodness!  After all that time, I was starting to think fussy was just his personality!  We are so thankful he's BAAAAACK!!

Birthday Boy!

It's official, the littlest love of my life is a year old!  How did this happen?  I'm pretty sure I was just bringing him home from the hospital ... it seems like yesterday -- ahhh, makes me want to cry!  What a blessing this tiny guy has been to our family!

 

Dear Kellen,

I told you to stop growing, but you just wouldn't listen.  And now look at you, you're a whole year old!  I feel like all I did was blink and you went from being an itty bitty baby who couldn't wait to make his entrance into the world to a toddler -- and now I'm blinking back tears.  

You have truly given meaning to the phrase "the more the merrier."  What a joy you have been, not only to your Daddy and I, but to your big brothers, too.  EVERY TIME you enter the room, your brothers literally CLAP and cheer!  It is too funny!  I have never seen a little boy more loved on than you.  You are constantly being hugged and kissed by the people around you.  Your brothers LOVE to play with you and wrestle with you and cheer you on as you reach new milestones.  I love hearing them talk baby-talk to you from the other room when they don't know I'm listening.  You have made Daddy change his mind from wanting three kids to wanting four.  And as for me -- you keep melting my heart over and over again.  

Just the other day I was holding you while I made pancakes for breakfast.  As I was mixing the batter, you put your little hand on my cheek and moved my face so that it was facing yours.  You made me look you right in the eye and then gave me the biggest smile.  And for the whole next week, you kept doing that over and over again.  I just loved it!  You are the BEST at laying your head on my shoulder whenever I hold you, like there's no place you'd rather be.  Do you have any idea how wonderful that is for a mama's heart?  

About a week before your first birthday, you took your first steps.  Now you are trying SOO hard to make it more than four or five steps before tumbling to the ground.  You get so excited every time you start to walk, I think it makes you lose your concentration a little -- LOL!!  You have four teeth on the top and two on the bottom, with another (molar) coming through on the top.  You have been a little cranky the past few weeks, and I think that's probably why :(  You want your paci and lovey with you at all times.  You go down for naps and bedtime so easily.  You love your sleep and get about 12 hours at night and 2-2hour naps each day.  Bath time is probably your favorite time of day, although you spend about 75% of it standing up.  You love to splash and play and scream back and forth with Landon whenever he's in there with you.  Landon is good at getting the biggest belly laughs out of you.  :)

Your favorite toy is the remote control.  You are smart, though, because you know which ones work and which ones don't.  We've tried to give you some old ones to play with, but you toss them aside once you push the buttons and see that nothing happens on the TV!  You also love playing with the big legos and you're just tickled to have someone read to you.  

Some days I feel bad for you because you're in the car ALL THE TIME running older brothers here and there and doing errands with me.  But then I remember how much love and attention you get from everyone around you and I think you have it pretty good.  

We all love you so very much, sweet Kellen!  I'm so thankful God made me your Mommy and I'm so excited to watch your little personality unfold over the next year!  XOXOXO

Dinner With Three Boys

A video from last night's dinner.  NOTE: it's not always like this, but occasionally, it is one big laugh-fest.  I caught the tail end of this one:

Ahhh ... I love these moments!  For a second, I pictured them as teenage boys laughing around my dinner table -- hoping that's the case one day!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

Lately, Landon tells me out of the blue, "You're pretty, Mom.  I love you."  This makes my heart melt, of course.  The only thing is that it comes out sounding like "You're sweaty, Mom.  I wuv you."  LOL!!

The other day, the boys dressed up in some of Jon's clothes while I was putting Kellen down for a nap. This is what they looked like.  I had the best laugh!

The Bad:

Tanner's been bad lately.  Just being sneaky, getting into things he knows he shouldn't, talking back, etc.  Jon and I had a talk with him yesterday morning about all of these things and told him that if his behavior and decision making didn't improve, he wouldn't be able to go to our neighbor's Super Bowl party on Sunday.  Well, that little lecture must have just gone in one ear and out the other, because later that afternoon, he was caught sneaking food again.  I had to tell him that he couldn't go to the party and Jon and I are sticking to it.  This is so hard and it makes me so sad!  He cried about it yesterday for an hour until he fell asleep.  We talked about it again today and he cried for another hour.  I remember exactly how he feels -- not being able to do something I was really looking forward to because I was in trouble.  At first he was really angry at me, but by the time he went to sleep tonight, I think he was starting to understand that his own bad decisions are what got him into the situation he's in.  We've been having a lot of conversations that start with "I love you too much to let you act like a brat."


The Ugly:

One of Tanner's recent poor decisions was to cut his own hair again.  This time it was SHORT SHORT SHORT!!!  We had to go and get it all buzzed off.  He was so sad about it, but I told him that his Uncle Eric used to get his hair buzzed like that and loved it.  So, we called Grammy and had her show us some pictures of Eric when he was little (since they look the same).  He felt a little better about it after that.  Check him out in the picture below along with a little video that shows him telling me about the volcano they made at school.  It is so cute, it kind of cancels out the ugly haircut.

Just FYI ... I didn't realize Landon was locked in his room until after I was done taping.  Listening to him in the background might just be the best part of the whole thing -- LOL!!

My Boys are Growing Up!!

The other night, I sat down and started writing a post about what we'd been up to.  After about 90 minutes and 12 paragraphs, I decided maybe it was a little much.  So, in an effort to get the ball rolling with posting again, I think I'll just summarize the last several weeks :)

1)  The kids and I were sick most of December and again right after the new year.  I've decided that we're not going anywhere except for school and church for the next several weeks.  The flu is everywhere right now and even though we're vaccinated, I don't want to take any more chances than necessary.  So, basically, I'm living in a state of fear of getting sick, which kind of stinks -- but not as much as 4 trips to the pediatrician in one week toting all 3 kids stinks.

2)  Kellen's surgery went very well.  It was definitely much more traumatizing for me than for him!  I was so sad dressing him in his little hospital gown!  No tears, though, until I handed him over to the anesthesiologist when it was time for surgery.  I was really surprised at how we just handed him off.  I guess I just pictured that they would take him away in a little crib or something, but no -- I just handed him over to someone else's arms.  When he was done, the nurse met us in the hallway outside of surgery, handed him over to me, and walked us to the recovery room.  Once they saw he was able to keep down some formula, they released us to go home.  Everything was great until he started coming down from his anesthesia.  He just screamed and screamed for about 3 hours once we got home.  Once that was over, though, he was fine.  I had to take the dressing off myself a few days later.  He cried again when we did that, but the doctor warned me it would be his worst day, and it was.  He is now fully healed and doing great!

Mommy with a brave face.

"Stop, Mom -- this is so embarrassing!"

3)  Once his ear infection and circumcision were both healed, Kellen started sleeping through the night. I decided the week before Christmas that I just couldn't do it anymore.  I let him cry at his normal feeding time.  He was more of a whimperer, not really a screamer.  He cried for about 40 minutes, and that was it.  From that night on, he has slept a solid 12 hours.  Now, please don't think I'm bragging about this.  He WAS 9+ months after all!! LOL!!

4)  This year was our first Christmas morning in our own house.  We went back and forth about what we should do, but in the end we bit the bullet and just decided to have our own Christmas at our own house.  We had the BEST Christmas Eve and Christmas morning!  It was incredibly special to start our own traditions.  To attend our own beloved church on Christmas Eve.  To put our kids down in their own bed.  To give them our full attention while they opened their gifts.  It was awesome!  Around lunchtime on Christmas Day, we packed up the van, tidied up the house, and left for a week in Michigan to celebrate with the rest of the family.  Oh wait ... I forgot to mention something, and it definitely requires its own bullet ...

Just before our Christmas Eve brother exchange.

The Hall Cousins.  Can't wait to meet the newest little one due in March!!

5)  Our kids found ALL of their Christmas presents hidden in a closet about 4 days before Christmas.  Yes.  They.  Did.  They had a heyday in our secret hiding place for who knows how long before we discovered this.  They went through every bag, every box, every nook and cranny.  They even found the X-Box, which must have required a LOT of searching.  How did we find out about this?  When I came down from getting dressed that morning, the basement door was open and the boys were playing down there.  A little wierd, but whatever.  A little while later during breakfast, they were telling us all the things they wanted for Christmas -- literally naming EVERY SINGLE ITEM in the closet.  The truth came out.  I thought Jon was going to cry.  He was distraught.  While they were at school that morning, he moved all of the gifts to a different closet.  We took the boys down in the basement and asked them to show us where they saw all of the gifts -- the closet was empty.  Jon and I acted clueless. Then, we just let it drop.  Fortunately, the "preview" didn't seem to take away from the Christmas morning enthusiasm.  It all ended well!  :)

6)  Jon and I went to Vegas, Baby!  Well, Jon's work sent him for the Consumer Electronics Show and I tagged along for a few nights.  What an awesome little getaway.  Highlights included dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant and seeing Cirque's "O."

7)  I had to call a mom of one of Landon's friends and let her know that they couldn't have anymore playdates for a while.  If you know me at all, you know this was a traumatic situation for me -- I hate any kind of conflict!  The deal was that we kept having this child over to play and he just wasn't very nice.  I couldn't just avoid inviting him because his mother was constantly trying to set up playdates, so I had to actually address the situation.  Bleh.  Glad that's over and even more glad that HE won't be over anymore.  I can only choose my boys' friends for so long ... ;)

8)  Have I mentioned yet that we FINALLY found some great friends in our neighborhood?!  I'm over the moon excited about this and have been praying for this for some time.  We've lived about 3 houses away from each other for the past 5 years and never met until this past fall at Tanner and their son's "meet the teacher" day at preschool.  I've truly been so lonely for a good neighbor friend for such a LONG time and I know that the LORD made our paths intersect at the perfect time.  I'm so thankful for this family!

Tanner and his new buddy

9)  Jon has begun his last 5 months of school.  YAHOO!!!!  I'm glad he did this second masters program, but I'll be so happy when it's done!

10)  I want to cry almost everyday when I look at Tanner.  He is just becoming this big kid and I think everyday about how I'm going to miss him so much when he goes to full-day Kindergarten this fall.  I feel like his time with me is almost over -- and soon he will be having experiences all day that I don't know anything about.  (Mostly because he's a boy and will only share very random details, if any.)  I'm so excited for him, but sad for me.  He is such a sweet, thoughtful brother to Kellen (and to Landon, too, when he wants to be).  Today he asked me if we were going to have any more babies.  I said I didn't know and he said he was worried that if we had another baby, nobody would get Christmas presents.  Not sure how that thought came to be ... Then he was worried about where everyone would sleep.  I told him that he and Landon could still be roommates and that Kellen would move into Grammy's room.  He was worried that Kellen would fall out of the bed in there, but I assured him if we had another baby, Kellen would be old enough for a big boy bed at that time.  So then he said, "How about we do this, Mom ..."  And that's when he lost me.  Here he was, sitting on the toilet, naked, deep in conversation with me, and I had to stop thinking about what he was saying and just take a mental picture of my little boy sitting on the toilet and talking to me about important things and tuck it away in my memory so that I would never forget.

He looks so old with his hair like that!

We love our new snowball makers!  Now we just need more snow!

My star swimmer!  Making waves in Octopi 2! :)

11)  Then I think of Landon who will be going to Kindergarten the following year and I have major anxiety.  How in the WORLD will he be ready for Kindergarten in less than 2 years.  The kid is crazy. But he's also crazy cute and crazy sweet and crazy lovable.  He is OBSESSED with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the moment.  He has already made his birthday list -- TMNT iTouch case, TMNT shirt, TMNT bathing suit, TMNT pants, TMNT towel, TMNT socks, TMNT pajamas, TMNT soap, TMNT shows.  (No, I didn't make that up -- I copied it word for word).  He is all boy all the time.  His brand new Christmas toys are full of scuff marks.  This puzzled me for a while until I asked Jon about it.  He said they are from "contact" -- i.e. crashing his toys together in battle.  A little different from the Barbie play back in my day, but such is life with boys I guess.

"Is it time for cocoa yet?"

So handsome ...

My little gamer, lookin' just like his Daddy.

12)  My little Kellen isn't so little anymore.  He was 24.2 lbs and 31.5 inches at last week's checkup.  The doctor talked about turning him around in his carseat when he turns one, and switching him to milk, etc.  It was kind of a wakeup for me that my infant really isn't an infant anymore.  This baby gets so much lovin' from his brothers, it is unreal.  I LOVE bringing him downstairs in the mornings -- the big boys still ooh and ahh over him, ask to hold him, and generally do anything to get a smile out of him.  He is definitely my most laid back child so far.  He does like to be held by his mama, though, and I love that he wants me.  He is pulling himself up on everything and starting to cruise a little.  He is starting to do "So Big" which makes us all laugh every time.  I think all the time about how much joy he has brought to our household in the past 10 months.  Seriously, nothing but SHEER JOY for everyone.  Its so funny how much more enjoyable a baby is for a family the more people there are to enjoy him! (Not sure if that made sense, but at I know what I mean :)

 Brother kisses are the best!

Still not sure about his new cozy coupe.  

He's so lucky to have brothers who glady push him all around the house in it!

 Scrumptious

Soooooo Big!

Okay, so 90 more minutes, and 12 more paragraphs later, I basically have the same post as I did before.  Lol!  Time to get some rest!  Here's a few other random pics from playing in the snow at Grammy and Poppy's!