Birthday Weekend

This past weekend we went to my brother's house to celebrate Blake's 1st birthday! The baby of our family is now 1 years old. It seems like it was yesterday that my parents and I were anxiously waiting by the phone for news that he was born! What a happy day it was when Blake was born into our crazy family.

We had a good time celebrating his birthday and it was nice to get away too! Logan, and now Luke, love seeing their cousins. Luke was especially happy to see his "Mimi!"

I just downloaded my pictures of the party and called Amy laughing because I took 60 pictures! Yes, 60!! Isn't that hilarious! I won't post all 60, but here are some of my favorites! (Some of the pictures are blurry and I don't know how to fix my camera so the pictures will not be like that. I hit something on the camera a while back and now it is all messed up!)

Our Birthday Boy getting ready to party!!

Isn't he so sweet?! I just love his face!

Logan and Luke were getting in touch with their musical side!
Logan does look like "Rambo" playing the drums!

He's walking now!!

Watch out world!

Pinata Time!

Get it Lukey!

Look at Logan's swing!

Caleb's turn! He was ready!!

Whoa!! Zach was determined to bust it open!

Luke was enjoying one of the goodies from the pinata!

Blake loved it all too!

Look at all of that good stuff! Logan was so excited!

Blake and his new car! He loved it!

Cake Time!

Happy 1st Birthday Blake!

Uncle D, Aunt Stacey, Logan and Luke love you!!

Brock

Update: Brock was discharged from the hospital tonight. All of his test came back normal. Thank you all for your prayers. I ask that you please continue to pray that he won't have any other issues and that Brock and his mommy and daddy will get a good's night sleep tonight! : )


Two posts in one day!! I know I am CRAZY!!

Seriously, though, I am calling all of you to pray once again for a sweet little boy who happens to be my nephew Brock. As you all know, Brock was born this past summer and he was a preemie. He has done amazingly well and is the chunkiest "preemie" I have ever seen!

Yesterday, he just wasn't acting like himself and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law ended up taking him to the ER. They ran some tests that came back negative but the ER doctors thought it best to transport him to a Children's Hospital where more tests could be done. All of his tests yesterday came back negative. They ended up keeping him overnight for observation.

He did get sick (sorry to be so gross, but throwing up all night long) last night. He is much better today. He hasn't gotten sick any more (as of this afternoon) and according to my brother-in-law, he is acting like his normal self. They are going to run one more test on him and then he will stay overnight again for observation.

Please pray with us that there won't be anything serious that comes up. That he will be fine and able to come home with his parents tomorrow. We are very thankful that all of his tests have been negative thus far. Please pray for his parents too as they are obviously staying with him at that hospital.

Thank you...our family appreciates all of the prayers.

Below is a picture of Brock during Christmas time! He is asleep but ever so cute!!

Learning

The past several weeks I have been frustrated as a mother when I have to repeat myself over and over again to the boys. Whether it is telling Logan to not "sass" me or telling Luke that both Daddy and Papa are at work, when he asks me about them often throughout the day. I feel as if I repeat myself a hundred times a day. I do realize that they are still so young, but nonetheless they are days that I wish they would just get it!

As I was thinking about this, I realized that this is how my Jesus must feel with me at times. He has to constantly tell me things over and over and I bet there are days that He wishes I would just "get it."

I have struggled, probably my whole adult life, with a daily quiet time. By that, I mean a time during the day that I can set aside time, by myself, to study my bible and pray. Basically, set aside time to learn more about my Savior and to draw closer to Him.

I am good at making plans to do this in my head, but not so good as executing the plan. I probably have posted about this before, but still this is something that I struggle with daily. I talk myself into just doing this or that first before having a quiet time and then before I know it, it is midnight and I am too tired to do anything.

I have been thinking about this a lot this past week. I have been very moved at what the power of prayer can do. Especially in the case of little Miss Harper. Again, to read her amazing story, please click on the "Pray for Harper" button to the right. God is moving and healing her and it is amazing to see all of the love and support for her and her family from strangers. People are praying all over the world for her. While I am so excited to hear she is doing better every day, I am also amazed at her parents.

Harper's parents have never lost faith in their God. Sure they have asked why their little girl, but the thing that has struck me the most is that right after Harper was born, her mom posted and she was very scared because they didn't know what was going on at that point. They only knew that their sweet little baby was very sick. She mentioned in a blog post that God was Sovereign. He was the same to them in that rough and scary time after Harper was born as He was to them during that morning when they were excited and praising Him on their way to the hospital. How amazing!

I was just telling Dustin that I don't ever want our children to be in a life threatening situation, and who would!, but my prayer is that I could remain that strong in faith even when I was shaken to my core. You see, I have this power thing. I need to be in control of situations. If I am not then I am a crazed person.

I have realized since becoming a mom that I can't be in control of situations. That there are many, many times that I must just trust in God. I know that He will be there right with me and will see me through. I am better than I used to be, trust me and is it all because of God!

I say all of this because I truly believe when we are dependent on God and have a "real" relationship with Him, it is easier to deal with the tough times in our lives. Not only that, but we are able to be more joyful about life in the not so bad times. Let's face it, times are tough right now. Everybody is struggling in some way or another, but with God was are better able to handle life. Because of God, we have hope and having hope is an amazing thing!

So, I am learning a lot this week. I am learning that just as Jesus is with me, I need to be more patient with my precious boys (who really are blessed that they are soooo cute!) and I need to become a better Christian by spending more time in bible study and prayer.

What are you learning this week?

Keep Praying!

My heart has been so heavy this weekend. I have been on my knees in prayer for Harper and her amazing parents. I have been anticipating her birth as if it were my own sister (if I had one!) giving birth. I have followed Harper's Mommy's (Kelly) blog for months now as well as hundreds of other people. Kelly has been waiting for a baby for a while now and I can relate to her in that way. We all know that I had trouble getting pregnant too. I have a special place in my heart for those couples dealing with any kind of fertility issues. Kelly is just the sweetest person and I was so excited to see pictures of her sweet Harper.

Harper was born on Friday night and she weighed 9lbs. 12 oz. Yes, you read that correctly! Apparently is was a tough delivery and after Harper was born, she had difficulty breathing. Later in the evening Harper's parents were told that their little girl was born with pneumonia. She was going to be transported to a different hospital (a couple of hours away) that would better be able to help her. Kelly and her family then called on all of us to PRAY and PRAY A LOT. Little Harper was in very critical condition. My heart just goes out to this family. I was up until 4 am on Saturday because I couldn't sleep. I just kept praying and hitting the "refresh" button on Kelly's blog hoping for a positive update. But, believe you me, God is preforming miracles and he is preforming miracles on precious Harper.

As of the last update today, she is still in critical condition but seems to be stable. It was thought that she would need to be on a heart/lung bypass for roughly a week. Praise God that as of yesterday she doesn't need that. She has been responding well to the treatments they have been giving her. There is now a concern for her little heart. They are waiting for a doctor to come and talk with them.

The amazing part of all of this is that there is now thousands and hundreds of thousands of people praying for Harper because of Kelly's blog and blog friends. There are people all over the world, yes world, praying for this sweet baby girl. Please continue to pray for healing. I believe that God can heal this sweet baby girl and I have faith that He will!

The family is also asking that we pray for Harper's "friends" that are in the NICU with her. They feel so blessed to have so many praying for them that they want those other babies to blessed with prayer also.

I probably have not done a good job of detailing this story so please click on the "Praying for Harper" button for updates from Harper's Mommy.

Please Pray For Harper

I am asking everyone to get on their knees and pray for a sweet baby girl named Harper. Please click on the button to the right and read the story.

Mini Vacation

Dustin decided to take a "mini" vacation from work this past week. He had last Friday off and will go back to work tomorrow. I just want to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed him being home for the past 6 days. To be honest, I don't know what the boys and I are going to do tomorrow. Both boys have gotten up the past few days and the first word out of their mouths were "Daddy!"

Since Dustin has been on vacation, I have decided to do some "house" projects. Just to name a few: clean the bathroom up and down; organize our clothes in our dressers; laundry including all of those loads that only involve a couple of articles of clothing that can't be washed with other loads; putting together a shelving unit; getting the boy's room ready for 2 twin beds; etc. I don't know what has come over me this past week and not to toot my own horn, but "toot, toot." I have cleaned and organized this house. I do have a few more items that I need to do tonight, but I am very proud of all that was accomplished! Dustin still has 1 or 2 items left on his "chore list" but oh well! The man needs to rest some too, right?!

Dustin was supposed to go back to work today but ended up extending his vacation another day which was great! I have been so excited that our family has been relatively healthy this winter meaning no major illnesses. I keep waiting for "it" to hit...well, it did...sort of! Last night, Lukey fell asleep and Dustin was holding him for a while. After he had been asleep for a while I heard him burp and said, "is he going to throw up?" My question was answered a little bit later. Lukey had his first experience with "big boy" throw up! You know what I mean when I say "big boy!" Just as I did with Logan, his first time, I cried a bit with Lukey. It is just so hard to see them that little and sick. It was scary for him. Let me just say that Mommy can handle a lot, but throw up is not on my list of things I can handle! I feel bad thinking this but thank goodness he threw up on Daddy and not Mommy. But wait, it gets better...

After I got Lukey all cleaned up and situated and after Dustin showered and put on clean clothes, Luke wanted Daddy again! Roughly 30 minutes after the first time...it happened again...all over Daddy, AGAIN!! Today, we laugh. Last night, we didn't! The thought of this happening every 30 minutes was enough to put me over the edge. I know how wrong that is for me to have felt that way after Dustin went through so many outfits in an hour's time last night. But like I said, I don't do throw up well at all! Praise the Lord, for Lukey's sake and ours, he was only sick those two times. He had a hard time falling back asleep last night and we all played musical beds/couches but we made it through!

Today, was pretty low key. The boys stayed home and rested with Daddy and I was able to go to get my hair done and then went to Target for some odds and ends. I am praying that tonight is non-eventful, meaning everyone stays well.

The pictures below were taken a few days ago while Dustin was putting our new storage unit together. Luke was in his booster seat so he would stay out of the way and Logan had his "special" seat where he could help Daddy more! I actually think Logan is drawing "plans" for the unit Dustin was building!

Have a good night!

Logan's 1st Dentist Appointment

Logan had a big day on Saturday. He went to his first dentist appointment. I was a bit stressed that his teeth were going to be bad and that the hygienist was going to tell us that we were not taking care of his teeth properly and that we were horrible parents. You all know me! My feelings on this matter are not a surprise to you!

We (I) decided it would be best for Dustin to take him because I felt we had a better shot of him listening and sitting still if Daddy was there (and if the hygienist was going to yell at us about being horrible parents, I wanted her to yell at Dustin..Shhh!). Have I mentioned that I think my boys are immune to my voice! The don't seem to be "hearing" me any more! So, Daddy took Logan and to my surprise they came home with a great report.

The hygienist was able to count all of his teeth, look at them with a mirror and show him how to brush his teeth. He came home with a "Cars" toothbrush! We made a huge deal about him going and doing such a good job. She didn't "clean" his teeth or do any x-rays, but said that his teeth looked good from what she could see...YEAH!! It was also recommended that I take Logan with me next week when I get my teeth cleaned so he can see all about what goes on and then make an appointment in the summer for him to get his teeth cleaned.

All in all, I consider his first visit to the dentist a success! I, of course, made Dustin take the camera to capture the visit. Enjoy the pictures of my big boy! Once again, ignore the spacing issue I have with posting pictures and commenting on them!!

Logan playing the the waiting room before seeing the hygienist.




Logan was pushing the button to raise the chair up in the air like a spaceship.

Here he is all set and ready to go. Please notice the little dog on his lap that he was allowed to bring into the room with him...how cute!

Dustin said that the hygienist was showing Logan Mr. Tickle Bug, aka the air thingy that goes in your mouth!

Learning to brush his teeth with his new "Cars" toothbrush!

She was polishing his fingernails like she would polish his teeth!

The "Blog World"

I am truly amazed at blogging. Not my blogging exactly but many of those who are blogging. I find myself getting lost in "blog world" many times a week. I have "met" people that I would never know in the real world. I am also able to keep up on the happenings of some of my friends. Many people have touched my heart and moved me in ways that I truly can not put into words. I have rejoiced with people and I have wept with people. I am a different person because of other people's blogs.

Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom is tough! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change my life with my boys for the world. I love being able to stay at home with them every day, sometimes though, I long for adult conversation. At times, I forget that there is a world out there. When I read some of the blogs that I follow, it puts me out there, in the world again. It is fun to read different blogs that deal with aspects of life that I am going through or have been through. I wish that I could meet, in person, many of the women whose blogs I follow.

I remember being so scared about starting my own blog. I didn't know if anybody would read it and you know what, it doesn't matter. My parents and a few friends may be the only ones that read this blog, and that is O. K. Blogging, for me, is an avenue of creativity in explaining the details of my life or the lives of others. So, I am not a "tech" kind of person (Lord knows how I made it through my high school computer class! and those that are gifted with technology are truly blessed and I admit I am a bit envious!) but I am thankful for the "Blog World."

Happy 2009

We are trying to find our way back to some kind of "normal" here in our household. Things have been so crazy the past month that I am not sure what our "normal" is any more. It has been a rough couple of weeks and we are all trying to continue on.

I just want to thank all of you who prayed for us, visited us, sent emails or cards during the past couple of weeks. Our family so appreciates your kindness. It is so comforting to know that you all care so much for my family. It is never easy to say goodbye to a loved one but I am so thankful that we will see Grandma one day again, in Heaven. That knowledge brings so much comfort to my family.

We spent a lot of time with my family this Christmas season, obviously, but I am so thankful for Dustin's parents and all of the help the provided with watching the boys. Let's just say that Dustin's mom took a 5 hour nap after watching the boys for 1 1/2 days during the viewing and funeral!! They are very active little boys!

I have added some pictures of our Christmas gatherings..Enjoy! (I know that the spacing is way off but I can't tell you how many times I have tried to fix it won't work right for me and now I am frustrated so just pretend it all flows very nicely!)

Grandma and her boys making Christmas cookies!

Papa and Lukey were very tired after an afternoon of baking!

Logan and Luke opened their new tent from Dustin's parents on Christmas Eve.

This tent is currently up and in our dining room, but the kids (and Dustin) love it!

Logan and Luke opening their Diego backpacks on Christmas morning!

Santa packed the backpacks full of treats!

Luke love the Fruit Loops!

Look at his sweet "Fruit Loop" stuffed cheeks!

Santa brought Logan a new Thomas the Tank Engine train! Surprise, surprise!

I love my big boy!

Santa also brought the boys a ball pit with 50 balls...YEAH!!

Cousin Sarah enjoyed the ball pit too!



Do you think Luke likes the ball pit?

Logan enjoying his new art supplies that my parents got him.

Happy New Year everyone. I pray that it will be a blessed year for all!