promises, promises

Well...it is the 7th of May. Wow! It sure hasn't been such a great beginning to 2009....but I would like to claim the promise of the rest of the year! We are healthy. I have entered the world of migraines...but am trying to battle them from all sides....along with catching up on E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I haven't been doing since before my ankle injury in December...WHAT?!

Spring is here and, with it, the promise of green grass, playgrounds, parks, swimming, scraped knees, bike rides, cookouts, s'mores over the firepit, short sleeves, sunshine. Hmmmmm....and the promise of spring means the promise of summer...and the promise of summer is Oh! so good for the soul! And did I mention that this will be the first summer that I haven't been pregnant or nursing since 2004!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!

Mason is excited to learn to ride his bike and swim and play outside. His imagination is taking off and he likes to go on adventures, searching for turtles and frogs at the local nature preserve. I really do feel like he is my little buddy....and I love to see the world through his eyes.

Levi is almost 16 months old....and is a fearless climber. He really can climb just about anything and does not let his young age stop him from keeping up with his big brother. He says so many words...it really blows me away. And, I almost fell off my chair when he started signing long after I had given up....more, please, etc.

And did I mention my sister is having a baby....in July! YAY! Can't wait to meet this little bundle and we are both praying that I can be there again for the delivery.....I mean, who will laugh with Dan...I mean, take the pictures of the sacred event?

Tim has a fishing/golf trip planned with his dad and brother, I've got a long weekend with my Hoodies in August, and then a family vacation in Nags Head in September...so many promises for the rest of 2009....may they all go just as slow as the first half of the year!!

And, there will be pics soon!

On the Mend????

After the kids joined the ranks of the healthy, I came down with THE PLAGUE....the morning after I had puffed to a friend that my superior immune system had beaten the illness...note to self: pride goeth before a fall....and it was a long way down....

I have been S*I*C*K...sinus and ear infections that resisted the 1st antibiotic and that are giving this second one a run for its money. I have entered the world of towel-draped-over-head-steam treatments at the stove, q-tipping tea tree oil on my forehead and ear lobes, neti potting and nasal spraying....and it stinks. If this is even a fraction of what my poor babies went through, I feel so badly for them. Tim has been working triple time between his jobs and helping with the kiddos and I am so thankful that I am able to count on him...and that "in sickness and in health" were a part of our wedding vows ;-)

We have cancelled three birthday parties due to illness and poor Levi still hasn't had the glory of tasting his 1st birthday cake ;-( We are hoping that the 4th time is a charm and that we can have a party this weekend.

As a result of the past month and a half of illness (seriously...we are off to a great start in '09!), I haven't been too busy with the camera...but here are some of our few fun moments. We did have more than 30 people here for the Super Bowl. It was so fun...and I'll post some pics of that later....

Enjoy the pics while I head back to the stove to breathe in some steam.....and I am resolving to NEVER.COMPLAIN.AGAIN when all are well! I mean, N.E.V.E.R!

Sunday afternoons w/ Daddy

Are you Joe the Plumber??

This kid LOVES to eat!!

Our little rock star

Mason in his new hiding place...a kitchen cabinet

Sunday afternoon post-nap

no words needed...

Levi's snack trap...world's greatest invention....

I'm a big boy....

The Plague

The Plague has infested our children. It arrived a week and a half ago and we are more than ready for it to leave.

Mason's on the mend (YAY!), but our sweet Levi boy is misery personified. I took him to the doctor yesterday and we have our first ear infection! On top of the diarrhea and consequential diaper rash, runny nose, cough, and fever.....

I have been getting lots of snuggle time.....the head-down-on-your-shoulder-wimpering-sad-boy snuggle time....it is heart breaking.

But, at the same time, I am thankful. I am thankful for strong boys that can fight off this bug. I am thankful for healthy boys...that really haven't been sick very often....and, as I am praying for healing and wellness for them, I am also praying for strength for the parents that have chronically ill children. Health is something I far too often take for granted....and this has refreshed my perspective.

My doctor told me how glad she was to hear Levi's pathetic cry...that she would listen to it all day long. You see, her 11-day-old niece has RSV and is on a ventilator. A ventilator. 11 days old. Her mommy can't hold her or feed her or hear her cry. That's heartbreaking. And so I pray for Heidi and her newborn daughter and her two siblings ages 2 and 4. And for all of the other parents whose minds and hearts are filled with worry and stress and pain.

Oh yeah, HNY 2009

Happy New Year! Hard to believe that December is gone and January is here! So much has happened, it is difficult to know exactly where to start. Do I step back in time and post chronologically? Do I just do one of my photo recap posts? Do I just start fresh and forget the events of December all together?

Well, I am not sure exactly what I am going to do. I don't feel like pouring through the hundreds of pics taken over the Christmas festivities and uploading the best and brightest to this here blog. I don't know how to pick just one or two....so much has happened. Here it is in short bullet points with hopefully pics at a later time:

:: December 11th -- Slipped on black ice while carrying Levi....Levi was miraculously ok, but I managed to twist my ankle into so many different directions that I received a lovely 3rd degree sprain! I actually pulled my sock down right after it happened expecting to see bone poking through the skin. Off feet completely for 5 miserable days--lots of help from Tim, friends and family!! Still swollen and ouchy after 4 weeks, but able to get around!

:: Ankle put damper on final Christmas preparations, but all important things got done--Christmas newsletter and cards, gifts out in mail to friends, peanut butter balls to a much smaller number of friends. So, I didn't bake 15 doz. cookies this year, but my mom made up for that with a baking spree to top all baking sprees.

:: Tim was off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for the 1st time in our married life!! It was a great feeling! We Christmas Eved with Tim's dad and Linda and then headed over to my parents for a gift exchange. We Christmas morninged here with just us and then spent the majority of the day at Tim's mom's house before heading back over to Tim's dad's house.

:: Levi's 1st Christmas was so fun! It is difficult to believe that he wasn't around last year! He has fit so perfectly into our family and I don't even want to imagine life before he was around!

:: Mason got the whole Santa thing this year. We left milk and cookies for him and Santa even left footprints by the front door. Although we love Santa, we do keep the focus of Christmas on the True meaning of the Season: Jesus. And, Mason was excited to learn about Baby Jesus coming in a stable and his mommy Mary and the wise men and shepards. We struggled with what to call Joseph....Jesus' daddy?

:: My sister Emily, her hubby Dan, and Luke came into town the Saturday after Christmas and stayed through the Monday after New Year's! It was a great visit with them. We played Hearts almost every night until after midnight. We spent New Year's Eve here with our friends Jenn and Jed and played Apples to Apples and learned the dice game Greed....the boys played well together. The kids rolled with the punches for the most part--lots of packing up and running around and playing and late nights. We took a trip again with the kiddos to Winking Lizard in Peninsula for Happy Hour and air hockey and wings and pizza--kids had a blast....this will become a tradition....

:: Mason turned 3 on New Year's Eve!! He dressed in all his spiderman garb and had a DQ Lightning McQueen ice cream cake! Can't believe he is 3!! We'll have a joint bday party with Mason & Levi on January 18th for sanity's sake!

:: Tim turned the big 3-0 on January 4th! We had pizza and chocolate chocolate cake here and then the adults headed out to Dave & Buster's (thanks, Mom and Dad for watching the kiddos!). What Tim didn't know was that other people were going to be there to surprise him!! We had a great time playing games (I love snowmobiling and SkeeBall!) and stayed out!! So fun!

There was a trip to the Westside Market in there (Tim took Mason--I stayed home w/ Levi b/c of my ankle), Emily's quesadillas, WAY too much food and sweets!, baths in Gram's sink, gifts, gifts, gifts, laughter, CARS movie, phone calls, family, friends, and missing my brothers!!

We love all of you, our dear and very generous family and friends! May 2009 be filled with lots of time with each of you!

:: Merry :: Merry :: Joy :: Joy ::

Wishing you all a Merry, Merry Christmas....Enjoy this season of giving....and take a moment to slow down amongst the hustle and bustle and reflect on the True Meaning of the Season: Jesus' birth.

Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for this year! As always, God has blessed us in so many ways throughout 2008 -- 2 incredible boys! a great home! great family and friends! Tim's dream job! He has provided in ways beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined!

So, as we reflected on Thanksgiving Day, the words grateful and thankful just hit the tip of the iceberg for us. More like: PINCH ME--IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING??!--HUH??!--HOW??!--WOW!--AND THEN DEAFENING SILENCE FROM THE AWE OF GOD'S TIMING AND FAITHFULNESS THROUGH IT ALL! SERIOUSLY!? THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And, we were able to share a wonderful Thanksgiving with Tim's mom and John and Aunts Britt & Lindsay -- Levi's first and Mason's third! Tim was off this Thanksgiving and the entire weekend afterward -- which is a first in a very.long.time!!! So we soaked it in!

Tim's mom and John came over along with Aunts Britt and Lindsay for a wonderful dinner --courtesy of Heinen's. That's right, we took the "low stress, more fun" approach and picked up a full dinner at our upscale grocery store on Wednesday. Heat and Serve--that's what I'm talking about! And it was delicious!! Of course, we made some appetizers (can't live without Grandma Bella's deviled eggs) and I threw in a dessert or two to top off Heinen's pumpkin and apple pies! We couldn't go wrong.

After gorging ourselves on the delicious food, we watched CARS and Grandma Bella brought over a new toy for Mason--POINGO--where you have a magic pen that reads the story to you and does sound effects. He loves it! And we couldn't get over how Levi understood how it worked!! He was pointing up a storm. And chewing on it in between.

I slacked in the picture department....missing Levi on his 1st turkey day--how did that happen?? I guess all of the heating and serving took over. I think Bella got some pics, though. I also missed a pic of Aunt Linds....sad, but true. Levi had a blast showing off his walking and talking and eating skills. He gobbled down some turkey and sweet potato casserole. Mason, on the other hand, wouldn't touch a thing (what kid does not like MASHED POTATOES??) and I ended up making him Dino Nuggets and frozen veggies...ridiculous!

I did a bit of early Black Friday shopping and then we went over to my mom's sister's house (Aunt Karen) to see all of the cousins and their children. Then, we high-tailed it over to Uncle Brandon's hockey game--Levi's first hockey game--and then relaxed the rest of the weekend!

Is that Levi's teenage babysitter?? NO! Is that Sarah Palin? NO! That's Grandma Linda!

Hockey--a family tradition!

Grandpap and Mason -- true love!

(EMILY--when you figure out photoshop, can you get that other guy out of the pic?

Second cousins Hannah and Eric. Little E has spinabifida and is a true inspiration.
Mason LOVED playing with him!

Snow Day!

Grandpap brought over an antique sled and Tim took Mason out sledding in our neighbors' back yard. They had a great time and Mason did not want to come in. The hill is bigger than I thought it was and they were going quite fast, but there was no fear in our almost-three-year-old. Mason was yelling, "Look at me! Look at me!" the whole way down!

Grams found this wonderful full snow suit at one of her rummage sales and it fit perfectly....for a bargain price!

Free sled + Free snowsuit + Daddy + Snow = Lotsafun!