Where To Even Begin?

It seems like the last 3 weeks have sort-of been a blur for us.  An exhausting blur.  A good and a bad blur.  We had trouble keeping track of which day it was there for awhile.  But alas, we are out of the fog and pressing on.  :)  So to fill you in a little.....

About 3 weeks ago, Jen was hit HARD with that nasty stomach bug going around.  It lasted a grueling 2 days.  2 DAYS, FRIENDS!  She can't remember the last time she was so sick.  Well, just as soon as she came back to life, Noah caught it..... then Greg..... but not Emma!!  Oh, how we prayed and prayed over that baby and got a whole group of people to pray for her.  We even rubbed on or diffused the essential oils on her every time she made a move.  Thankfully, she still hasn't gotten it. She dodged a big bullet this time for sure!

A day or so after Greg was feeling better, we get a call that Brian and Becca were headed to the hospital with some pregnancy complications and needed to have an emergent induction - 4.5 weeks early!  :/ Talk about praying and praying and PRAYING!!!!  After a few days in the NICU, baby Sam finally got to go home.  We are super excited that he is finally here and doing well!

 

The first amazingly gorgeous day we had, we decided to utilize our annual pass and go to the zoo. We had THE best time!  Emma even got to ride on the carousel for the first time, too! We all went home with a little pink on our cheeks and took one of the best naps ever!  ;)

And today, there's Easter.  :)  It's been a great day and we are blessed.  :)

Noah - The Marvel

This kid, wow.... he never ceases to amaze us!  And we have to take just a minute and brag on him because he's doing just so darn well lately!!!  

He's been learning phonics in school and wants to learn to read SO bad!  He tries to sound out everything he sees everywhere we go to figure out what something says.  It's been both fun and challenging, to say the least.  ;)  So we started off with a couple of things to help make reading fun with some ideas Jen found off Pinterest.  He basically blew through those in one sitting and looked around for more!  Ok then.  ;)

So she sought out advice from a couple of her teacher friends and they recommended the BOB Books. What a fantastic recommendation!!!!  We get them from the library, he begs to read from them every day (and blows through the set, mind you) and then wants to know when we can pick up the next book set!!! Love, love, love these books for beginning readers!!!

So to challenge him a little more on non-school days, Jen found some word searches online. You can get them customized from Pre-K through 3rd grade.  Well.  In no time at all, he had found all of the words on this page.  Apparently we need to up our game.  ;)  (did you notice how he did a pattern with his colors when finding the words - did that all on his own, too!)

Next up, we're getting the Kindergarten "Big Workbook" and some other harder books with word searches in them.  We figure he'll need something to do during the summer to help pass the time some days and since he loves to learn, why not?  :)  

Oh, and by the way, he had his very first professional school portraits done last week at school. Oh.My.Goodness!!!!  Does this ever make you want to bawl your eyes out?!?!  (sorry for the poor quality - we snapped it with our phone since we didn't have time to scan it into the computer yet.)

11 Months Old!

So..... we now have a walker on our hands!  She's been taking a few steps here and there almost immediately after she turned 10 months, but now.... she practically runs everywhere!  We also have an eater!!!  She loves all the food we put in front of her.  She kinda goes "eh" about pears, she will still eat them, but as of now, that's really the only thing.  She LOVES all finger foods - blueberries, black beans, green beans, corn, carrot chunks, peas, chicken, cheeseburger bites, cheerios, etc are her most favorite - especially when she can smash them up and make a huge mess.  ;)  She's had a few play dates with friends and warming up to people usually takes all of about 30-seconds.  Strangers still don't seem to bother her. She has 6 teeth now and think she's trying to get some more in.  Trying to change her diaper has become a challenge as she likes to kick at you the whole time (stinker!).  The time change didn't affect her at all.  We didn't really adjust her sleeping schedule and she doesn't seem to be off of it.  Weird how that happened...... She still loves to sleep.  Sacks right out and bed time and hardly ever makes a peep until sometime in the 8:00 hour!  Gosh, we are BLESSED!!!  She's able to venture out more and stay out longer/later.  If we get her off her nap schedule on a rare occasion, she either stays awake happily or just falls asleep in her car seat.  She's SO EASY!  She's been enjoying the weather getting nicer and being able to go outside and play or going to the park.  This summer is gonna be so much fun - having 2 little ones now to be out back playing in the pool, the hot tub, the crazy sprinklers, the cobra mister and the water table!!!  She throws bigger temper tantrums now - over the silliest of things, and sometimes over nothing.  It's really kinda humorous to see what's gonna make her mad.  ;)  She grinds her teeth.  UGH!!! It's loud and sounds SO AWFUL!! She loves to squeak/squeal/scream really, really, really LOUD.  She's like a pterodactyl.  ;)  We're planning her first birthday party a lot more serious now.  We've been planning it practically since she was born, but now in the final stages. Can't believe she's almost ONE!

And now a little about her best friend, Noah.....
He's doing SO well in swim lessons and seems to enjoy them!  This month a friend from church will be in his class!  He starts t-ball sometime this spring and Greg will be one of his coaches!  He says Emma is his best friend. He draws pictures or makes something for her every day.  They can't seem to get enough of each other!  :)  He is reeeeeeeeally into TMNT like never before lately and says he'd really like to do some kind of martial arts (maybe even with daddy!) We had his parent/teacher conferences at the beginning of this month and his teacher gave him nothing but beyond rave reviews.  Said he's helpful, respectful, kind, loving, obedient and that "he is more than ready for Kindergarten - in fact, he's at about an almost 2nd grade level!" WOW!


And now a side note.....
So we've been doing a "little" kitchen reno since mid-February.  New granite counter tops, some new appliances and Greg is tiling a gorgeous back splash!  We decided to hold off on sanding or replacing the cabinets for now.  They've actually kind of grown on us with all of the new additions we've added (and we also weren't in the mood to prolong this project any longer right now - ha!).  ;)  Since Noah found out that we were getting rid of the old counter tops, he took that opportunity to leave his mark on them.  It was too cute.  :) The kids also enjoyed playing in all of the open cabinets (since we had to take everything out).

Last side note for now.....

We had a little surprise family shower here at the house for Brian, Becca, Judah and their (almost here!) baby.  Mustache and bow tie theme.  So so so SO FUN!!!  Can't wait to have a new little one running around here!!!

Again, this probably isn't everything about everyone.  This blog has kinda taken a back seat to everyday life lately.  But hey, we get on Facebook sometimes and you can always email or text us to catch up or get pics/videos!  ;)  

Spreadin' the Love

We spread the love out over 4 days.  Valentine's Day was quite fun and eventful this year.  ;)

Thursday was Noah's Valentine party at school.  He took THE cutest Valentines for his friends.  As we were passing them out, almost all of the parents RAVED about them.  He said all of his friends thought they were "really cool."

Friday night, Noah went to Mimi's house to spend the night and have a special Valentine's celebration with her (bowling, shopping, scavenger hunt, special supper, etc)  We went on a dinner and shopping date with Emma.  ;)  Mimi also sent us home with a plate of her super yummy cookies - even made up a little bag of little ones for Emma!  De-lish!

Saturday night, we had a special little Valentine's Day "celebration" at home.  Heart shaped pizza for supper, fondue for dessert, the kids gave little gifts to each other (and then to us) and they also got to open fun Valentine cards from Grandpa and Grandma - they were thrilled!

Sunday night, we got to go out on a kid-free date.  We considered spending Valentine's with the kids special enough, but this got to be an added bonus.  ;) We went out and had a fun Hibachi dinner and then went to a movie (American Sniper) afterwards.

And then there's these:

Happy Valentine's Day!!!