Life is Beautiful

Please don’t take my lack of words on here to mean a lack in my life.

Life has been so incredibly rich lately.

Stretching, changing, laughing, crying…

There is so, so much my heart longs to pour out and yet finding the words (and the time) is tough.

But I will. 

In the past few weeks I turned 34, lost my last living grandparent, had a visit from Grandpa and Grandma from Virginia, taken a few day trips with the family, had a nail painting party with my baby, marveled in the wonder of my baby boys turning in to mini men, kept up with life and laundry in general, and most importantly I am continuing to be stretched and pulled in many beautiful areas of my life.  So many things in all of that above that I want to write on and share before it’s lost in the shuffle of life.

Grandma captured this precious moment of love between Ethan and Adelyn. He was even rubbing her ears!

Uncle Tom, Dad, and Grandpa on the morning of his last day with us. 

A hard goodbye.  The weather fit our mood.

 

More to come…

Sibling Love: Adelyn and Ethan

 

Life ‘Round Here

Grayson

Ethan

On April Fools Day morning the kids came downstairs for breakfast and saw blue milk waiting for them.  I told them our milk had turned blue and they were super thrilled and excited about that! 

The other day we went out puddle jumping.  The kids can’t get enough!  Now we have another 12 inches of snow so I guess there are more puddles to come!

The other day we joined my friend Melissa and her two kids for a morning of jumping at a local bounce house.  I LOVE the excited looks on those faces above!  They were SO excited!

This is the only picture I have that didn’t turn out all blurry! These kids were moving too fast and the lighting wasn’t the best to get a great shot. I had to resort to using my flash!  What a pile-up!

Instagram Girl

At 114 years of age, the oldest U.S. citizen recently passed away.  Chris and I were talking this morning about the incredible changes that happened over the span of her life.  When she was born the first Model T had just had its debut, the population of Las Vegas was 30, and the average minimum wage was 22 cents.

Today there are over 400,000 car makers.  The population in Las Vegas is 590,000, and the average minimum wage is $7.25.

And that doesn’t even touch on technology. Even since my birth in 1979 technology has just exploded.  I still recall taking a class trip to the computer lab in 10th grade and the teacher SLOWLY opening Internet Explorer to show us the world wide web for the very first time.  He typed in “Elvis Presley” and there before me was this image of Elvis gyrating his hips.  I was amazed and astonished by it all!  Maybe not so much the gyrating of the hips, but strictly the technology of course!

And here we are today – 2013 – surrounded by so many ways to keep in touch with the world around us.  Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Pinterest, email, messaging, texting, hashtags…and on and on and on.  I have barely touched the surface when it comes to all that is out there, and I’m okay with that!  I like to feel like I am keeping somewhat in the loop with it all, but there is no way I can allow myself to become fully wrapped up in all that is available.  I don’t want to be!  I don’t have time to be!

However, I kind of treat it like I treat an onion.  I peel back one layer at a time. I don’t like to let it overwhelm me and so I will pick one thing, learn a little bit about it and jump in.  Then – after wiping the tears away and walking away to recover a few times I am ready for the next layer.

So – I have been doing Instagram for some time now.  I love the simple editing you can do to the pics – but I still have so far to go when it comes to understanding all that goes along with it.  Hashtags for example are completely baffling to me.  I thought hashtags only belonged to Twitter, but now I’m seeing them on Instagram too.  I yi yi. 

Either way – all this to say I have added a link to my Instagram account on the right toolbar of my blog.  It is set to private right now, but I believe if you request to follow me I can let you in!

Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

Beyond the Bunny

We had a very quiet Easter celebrated with family at my parents farm.  Chris was off on Good Friday so we headed out that afternoon.  Friday evening my brother Michael and his family came. 

Saturday was the day of pajamas.  We ate caramel rolls, watched the kids play, played outside, played some cards, talked, ate some more.  It was perfect! (Mike and Hayley introduced us to a game called Wizard.  I’m hooked!).

Late Saturday night/Sunday morning (1 a.m.!) David and Sarah joined us.  Easter morning was filled with basket hunts, full bathrooms, and a busy kitchen as everyone scurried around to get dolled up and ready for church.  The service was great.  The boys stayed with us in the main room while Adelyn, Micah, and Gabbi went to Discovery School and nursery. 

After church we traveled on back to Mom and Dad’s for a delicious Easter lunch with ham, scalloped potatoes, pies, salads…you name it, we had it!

                         I told Grayson to look “sassy.” This is what I got!                                                                                             Ethan striking a pose!

 

One of the best we could get of all these rascals!

God came in flesh to walk this Earth.  To live life like you and I.  To feel, to ache, to endure.  Knowing full well what had to happen He went through with it, paying the ultimate price for us.  Dying for us.  Living again for us so that we too can have hope and can live. What an awesome reason to celebrate!  What love!

Hoping you all had an awesome Easter too!

Squishable

 

My sweet smelling, curly headed, bouncing beauty, squishable little girl – how have you been with us for 2 1/2 years already?  How is it that the little girl I cuddled and caressed and nursed for those hour long sessions can now feed herself and dress herself (perhaps backwards and inside out, but you can do it “all by myself!”)? 

Over these past couple months we’ve been working on potty training with you.  You weren’t so sure about it at first, and your Mommy was growing weary of the battle it seemed to be to get you to even try the potty without melting down in to a puddle of tears.

And then we made a potty chart…

Stickers and yogurt raisins must be pretty valuable to you because all of the sudden sitting on the potty was all you wanted to do! 

Yesterday morning you woke up completely dry for the very first time.  You wore underwear all day long and didn’t have one accident.

You are so proud of yourself and so proud of how big you’ve become. Your Mommy, Daddy, and brothers are very proud of you too.  So proud.

But yesterday as I was watching you wash your hands after one use it hit me…

After you are potty trained I will never change another diaper for one of my own babies again.  I may change some nieces and nephews diapers, diapers of my friends babes or the like, but not my own flesh and blood.  Not until I am a Grandmother will I change another diaper for one of “my own.”  It was just such a stark realization that it truly took my breath away.  My life has been diapers, desitin and doo-doo for the past four years and I’ve been okay with that.  I love being a Mommy to my little ones.

And all of the sudden I’m going to parent/teacher conferences for my preschool sons and you’re climbing up on the big potty all by yourself without any help. 

I know it’s all part of where parenting leads.  We love you, nurture you, pour life in to you and over you, and then we watch as your little wings spread.  We watch as you tackle just one more small thing every day that makes you just a little more independent, until one day we look back and wonder how you have changed so much in such a short amount of time.

I am so immensely proud and deeply in love with you precious daughter.  I look at your curls bouncing as you hop around the house, pretending to be a frog a kitty cat or a combination of the two, and I am amazed by this gift I have been given in you.  Your sweet little voice talking a million miles an hour is music to my ears as your vocabulary is exploding and you have so much to express and get off your chest.

I just want to savor, savor, savor these moments with you and your brothers. These days where we are together, where there is no major agenda or place we have to be.  Where you still want to crawl up on my lap and read books.  Where you let me pick out your clothes and put on whatever I ask.  Where you still sleep in a crib and I can still picture that little babe all swaddled sleeping peacefully.  I know all too soon these days too will be a memory.  I want to sear it in my heart, sear it in my mind, and never forget the gift I’ve been given of life with you today.

Winter Fun

The other night Chris headed out to take the boys sledding one last time before this snow (hopefully!) melts away. They had gone one other time a few months ago and had a blast, although Ethan had received a bloody nose from a tumble down the hill.  Makes for a better story though doesn’t it?

Within a few minutes of leaving home Chris called me and told me he was considering taking the boys tubing at a local ski resort instead. (Yes Minnesota has big enough hills to warrant at least a little bit of skiing!). They met the age and height requirements this year, so I said a quick prayer and gave my blessing for them to go.

The boys had no idea what to expect as this was an entirely new experience for them.

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The video above shows two excited little boys!

Ethan was a bit nervous their first time down the hill.  When they reached the bottom though he was all grins and giggles.  He told his Daddy, “I was scared to come down the hill and I was crying a little bit, but that man on the top just laughed at me and pushed me down!”  I guess there was someone working at the top giving friendly nudges and didn’t let Ethan’s tears get in the way of a trip down!

 

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My three boys on one of the trips down the hill!

As stands to tradition Ethan did receive another bloody nose and lip. However, this time it wasn’t received going down the hill, but going up!  They had to stand on a conveyer belt and get pulled up the hill, but one boy slipped and down they both went!  Ethan smacked his face right in to a railing.  Sweet boy!

I love how my little bruiser looks like Mickey Mouse in this picture with those tubes behind his head! Isn’t he just precious?