Cake Pics!

Only a month late, as usual. But here they are! They boy loves cake! :)

And also as usual...Carly, "take a picture of me!"

Who needs presents when you can have tissue paper???

One Year Ago Today

At 1:57 pm a precious baby boy was born into this world and into our lives.

We have been forever changed and eternally blessed by Mr. Brandon Aaron. I'm in awe of how much he has grown and how much he has taught our family over the past year. I'm in love with his smile and his sweet disposition. I'm forever thankful to Jesus for the miracle of our baby boy.

Happy First Birthday Brandon!! We love you!

She's lost it!

Heh, heh....Avery lost her first tooth!!

She pulled it out all by herself with a little help from an apple and a piece of ice. It happened in the evening and she promptly called Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma and Gigi, Aunt Kelly, Cousin Lauren, and Aunt Sarah. She wanted to call her teacher and most of her best friends, but by this time it was post 9:00 and she had to wait until she saw them the next week at school.

The tooth fairy was good to her! :)

Happy Easter!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ~ 1 Peter 1:3

My Wednesday Morning

Where do I begin? Carly has been having bad dreams lately, so I have been tired. Today started at 5:45am with Carly screaming and I run to her rescue only to find her saying "Avery took my cookies!" Ok, I convince her that Avery is not stealing her cookies and lay down with Carly and get her back to sleep.

The screaming woke Avery, so I lay there listening to Avery over in her room talking amongst herself...and trying to whistle. Who whistles at 5:45am anyway? :) My girl.

On with my day. It's Wednesday Morning Bible Study day, so I hop in the shower. Then Brandon wakes up so I make a sippy cup and put him in his chair with some cheerios. I finish getting ready while he tries to divert my attention to everything he's getting into. It's my turn to bring snack today, so to the kitchen to make muffins. Sure, I could have made them last night, but they're so much better fresh! Pack Brandon's bag for nursery, pack Carly's bag for nursery, pack Avery's bag to keep her occupied during Bible study with me since she's on 3 week break.

Fast forward to 8:30. Carly's still asleep...of course, since she was up throughout the night and at 5:45am. Wake up sleeping beauty and quickly get her dressed for church. Bag of Lucky Charms for the car ride for Avery and Carly and a Diet Pepsi for me. Healthy, I know. Must have caffeine! 8:45am, time to get everyone on the potty and then into the van. 9:07, we're finally pulling out of the garage. We're LATE. Up at 5:45am and we're still LATE. How can it possibly take nearly 30 minutes to get in the van??

Carly drinks her entire nursery sippy cup on the ride. No drink left for nursery now. She has to go potty. But you just went potty, Carly!? Walking into church, she had an accident. Did I mention we were LATE? Get Brandon in his room...(they are so sweet to him). Change Carly and get her into her room...(they are so sweet to her)! Race Avery down the hall to our small group...LATE with our LATE muffins for snack. Get Avery set up at a table with coloring books, a Leapster, and a sticker book. Sink into my chair. LATE.

Then, peace with Ephesians. We finished up our study today and it was so great. All of the buzz it takes to get the four of us there is so worth it. Grace and Peace. It starts Ephesians. It ends Ephesians. It directs my day away from the chaos and toward Him. All of it...the early mornings, the challenges, and the beauty that parenting brings - Praise God! Life is busy and God is good! He's never LATE. He's always right on time. He never lets me down!

Covenant Baby Boy

This morning at church we witnessed the baptism of a beautiful baby boy. It reminded me that I have not blogged about our own sweet Covenant baby boy. (I haven't blogged about a lot of things actually, so here's rewind number one):

Brandon was Baptized on January 11, 2009. It doesn't matter how many times we've been up to the front of that church and heard our Pastors speak about the sacrament of Baptism. Each child and baptism is so special and miraculous and makes me a little teary each time. I loved hearing those words, "Brandon Aaron, child of the covenant, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

For this covenant baby boy was sent to us from God the Father. He was planned for us before he was ever a thought in our minds and he is perfect. My prayer is that we will be a holy example for his little eyes, growing mind, and open heart. He is God's child. Given to us only by HIS grace and mercy. Father, we are so thankful for your blessing of Brandon Aaron.

That's How We Roll

(the shopping cart, that is)...

I'd say it's the four of us shopping together 9 times out of 10. Sometimes we get almost nothing on our list before it's time to hurry out the door. Most times, I'd say we get about half.

But on this very historical moment in history, we got everything on our list and then some! Score!

I'd like to thank Brandon for holding the bananas, Carly for holding the special pack of Dora the Explorer Yogurt, and Avery for reading my list and checking everything off for me! And a very, very special thanks to Santa for bringing me a tiny camera for Christmas to keep in my bag and document these very historical (or hysterical) moments in history.

Snow Days!

(hooray!)

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. :)