Oh Brandon Boy

Can you believe that he'll be 8 months next week? He is changing so fast. I just had to post about him.

Number one: the boy LOVES his basketball. LOVES it. I promise Aaron had nothing to do with it. :) I gave him this basketball for the first time a few weeks ago and it is his favorite, absolute favorite toy. He loves to roll it, go after it, and drool all over it. All boy, I'd say.















And Number two: I had to hurry and post this top gummy grin. Look closely and you can see that he has 4 top teeth coming in any day now. I'm sure he'll look like such a big boy with all those front teeth! Enjoy this gummy grin while you can. :) More cute teefers are on the way! (I love this guy sooooooo much!)

Farewell Sweet Laira Dog

It's taken me a while to get the courage to post about Laira. After 26 months battling lymphoma, Laira was laid to rest on November 22. She had such a great 26 months. The Vet had given us a hopeful "13" and she managed to double that. Every time the cancer would get her down, a treatment would bring her back to puppy days again! The chemo would quickly restore her quality of life and we are so thankful for that! At first the chemo worked for months, then weeks, and at the end, she had become so resistant to it that it gave her only mere days.

We knew for 2 years that the time would come all too soon when we would have to say goodbye. It still didn't make it any easier on us. We miss her terribly. You don't completely realize how much your beloved pet saturates your life until they are no longer there. When Laira was first diagnosed with lymphoma, we decided to start feeding her whatever her heart desired. Now that she is gone, there is no one left to clean our plates or lovingly mop our floors when food is accidentally or " accidentally on purpose" dropped for her. There is no one to bark at the UPS man. (For some reason, she really hated the UPS truck!)

There is no one licking faces or letting the kids lovingly pull on her. Laira was always with us in every room of the house. She was always running beside the kids when they rode their bikes. And when we were outside on the playground, she was always in the grass nearby. She always wanted to be where the kids were.
There is definitely a hole in our hearts that we hope can be healed in time. We're thankful for the time we had with Laira and the joy she brought to our family. She now rests in the arms of Jesus and we only have to miss her until we see her again.

Laira, we love you and miss you girl.

~ I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 ~

Blog?

What's that? I must have forgotten.

It's been so long I have no idea where to start really. I have a lot of catching up to do from the past 2 busy months. I'll start with a new pic of my 2 favorite boys. I love these 2 guys.

More posts coming soon!....

First Parent/Teacher Conference

Avery is done with her first nine weeks of school. That went by in the blink of an eye. I honestly can't tell you how fast those weeks went.

We had our first parent/teacher conference and Avery is doing outstanding in Kindergarten! We are so proud of her! Her teacher said that she is sweet, eager to learn and very helpful. We received a letter recently that said "Congratulations! Your child is an independant reader and writer!" They started sending home books for Avery to read to us! We were thrilled to say the least. Avery was graded *above* Kindergarten level in Reading, Writing and Math. Her teacher also said that if another student doesn't understand something, she'll ask Avery to go help them. My heart melted. We are so proud of you baby girl!















Avery is also into writing her own words and making lists, letters and signs. This is a new sign that is now on her door. It reads: (No Carly) "This means you!" Poor Carly, I have a feeling this is just the first of many! :)

Crackin' me up!

Look who found the lipstick!...

Expressions of a Flower Girl

My sister, Sarah, is getting married October! Avery & Carly will be her flower girls and they have had the best time practicing for the big moment. They draw "aisles" in the driveway and throw flower petals from the yard. It's truly adorable to watch. This time, Avery decided to draw Aunt Sarah and her veil, Avery in her flower girl dress, and me over to the right in my pink bridesmaid dress. LOVE it.

Check out the Big Man!

Brandon had his 4 month check-up yesterday. Mr. Big is 17 lbs. 9 oz. and 26 1/2 inches long. That puts him at 95th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. No wonder I feel like I have an arm workout everyday!

He's doing so well. Sleeping, eating, drooling, chewing anything he can get his hands on, and is just a sweet and happy guy. What a little blessing!

My Little Leap Frog

Tuesday was back to preschool day for Miss Carly. She was really excited to see her friends again! She is a Leap Frog this year and made the cutest froggy picture the first day. I'm sure that Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be the highlight of her week now.

Carly chatted with me all the way home in the car. It seems she did some green playdoh, had goldfish and raisins for snack, and got "aaaallll dirty on the playground!" Hooray! :)

It's a lot of running around to get to Kindergarten, then Preschool, then Preschool pick up, then Kindergarten pick up (with work and Mr. Brandon in between), but it's so worth it. They are all having fun!

Thank you Lord for blessing my children with fun opportunities and safe hands to guide them.

Hey Mikey, she likes it!

"Kindergarten is so fun, Mom!"
*whew! happy dance!*

Day 2 and she's ready to go! (Mom is doing ok too!)

Kindergarten!

My baby started Kindergarten today.

We applied for her to attend a great year-round elementary school and thankfully she was accepted. Unfortunately, that meant that summer was cut short and I had to deal with all these emotions much sooner than expected. I won't tell you how often I have cried. It's HARD to think of her as a big girl. I think I was doing ok until we got the letter in the mail from her teacher. It had a supply list with all these BIG kid items like pencils and binders and such. Stuff that BIG kids use. Not my little Avery!

Luckily this morning my anxiety was relieved by her excitement. It just breaks a Momma's heart to see her acting so big. I know I can't keep her home with me forever (and she definitely wouldn't want that!). She has to grow and change. This is the Lord's plan for her. I'm thankful that although I can't be there to hold her hand, God is always watching over her. That gives Momma some peace as I think of her bee-bopping into school with that big backpack on.

Happy 5th Birthday Avery!
I cannot believe our sweet little 5lb. 6oz. baby girl is now FIVE years old! The years have just flown by, but we have loved every single one. Five just seems like such a huge number to me! It makes her seem so much older. I know, I know...she's not ready to drive a car or go to prom just yet, but it definitely feels like a monumental number. It does mean that Kindergarten is just around the corner and I am certainly not ready for that!
Happy Birthday sweet girl. We love you!

The Good Stuff
There are some things that you just can't buy.
There are moments that just can't be replaced.
...like sisters who do your hair for you and make you look silly.
...and big grins before bedtime, just because.
There are some days when I could easily sell my kids on ebay.
But, for all the moments like these, I think I'll keep them. :)

Daddy & Brandon
Here are a few pics of big Aaron and mini Aaron. :)
(nothing says 'good sleep' like a cute open mouth, right?)

Rainy days are fun too!

More Summer Pics
(less talk) :)

Summer Pics

Catching Up
Brandon is six weeks old already! I figure it's high time that I finally post some more pictures of him. We'll start with the oldies first. Here are a few pictures from the hospital and coming home.
Life with Brandon is so great. He is a really sweet and wonderful guy. He's growing like a weed and sleeping well. He's really calm and somehow endures the girls ooohing and ahhing over him and holding him. I certainly don't want him to feel like he's the third baby so I never posted any pictures of him....
:)

Two!
Happy Birthday Carly! My sweet girl turned two today! It's hard to believe that she's already two years old. Hopefully it won't be so terrible. :) She had a fun "ballerina" day full of smiles, cake and family. We love you, darling Miss C.

Meet Brandon!
Brandon Aaron arrived on Thursday, April 24th! He weighed in at 7lbs. 8oz. and 19 1/4 inches. He's a tiny little bundle, but he has already captured our hearts. The girls absolutely adore him. Avery wants to hold him and sing to him and Carly wants to touch him and is always saying "awwwww, cute!" They are precious. This little man is truly a blessing from God. We already can't imagine life without him. This love was meant to be; perfectly mapped out in our Lord's plan for us.
(Thanks cousin Amber for posting this picture of him for us!)

Make Room for Baby...literally!
We have a three bedroom house and all of the rooms are currently occupied. Aaron and I both had our own rooms growing up, so we decided we wanted the girls to have their own rooms too. What did that mean for baby boy?...time to finish up some of our unfinished space upstairs! We have been undergoing renovations. We added baby boy's room, a small office, a guest room and a full bath. After much banging and traffic, it's almost complete. To save money, we decided to do the painting ourselves (what were we thinking???). This meant we had to prime all the trim, door frames, doors, and ceilings. Oh and then of course we had to go back and paint the trim, door frames, doors and ceilings. Then on to the fun part - painting the walls!! We never could have done it without our fantastic "crew" of family and friends. We love you guys!

Below are the before and after pics of the entire project and a few pics of baby boy's room. It's not set up yet, but hopefully I'll have pics of that soon. The timer is tickin'!

He Lives!
The third day he rose again from the dead, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty!

Easter was wonderful! We had a fun weekend filled with family and friends. We were able to spend time with all of our extended family. Even my Sister was able to fly home from Florida for the weekend, so we were so thankful to see her! Saturday, the girls had a fun time dyeing Easter eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's lake house. Carly had a blast banging them together until they were smashed! (notice the little sneaky grin she has!?)
Sunday we were joined at Church by Grandma and Gigi, Aunt Kelly & Cousin Lauren (where was my camera!?). Oh and Carly had her first bite of Peeps. She LOVES them.