Friday, September 6, 2013

Much to blog about - Our Anniversary & A Beach Trip


I have neglected the blog. Again. It has been a busy summer and will continue into the fall but I want to get better at keeping it updated with all of our accomplishments, trips, parties, etc. So the next few posts will be catch-up for me. From May 8th until now…especially since Kylie’s birthday is on Monday and I have to blog about that for sure. I still have Blake’s party to blog about!

In June, Aaron and I celebrated 8 amazing years of marriage. It doesn’t seem like it has been 8 years then again it seems like it has been longer. I love our beautiful family we have created and I appreciate him more and more every day. We have already planned out where we are going for our 10th anniversary and I can’t wait!

Also in June we took a trip to the beach with Aaron’s family. We went to the Outerbanks, SC and had a great time. The kids loved the beach…well Kylie didn’t like the sand and salt water but what princess does? They had a blast swimming in the pool, building sand castles and playing with their cousin John (or baby John as the kids call him). It was a nice relaxing week for all of us. The drive was long but we broke it up on the way down. We drove straight through on the way home so it was a long 13 hours. I will go back but we will break the trip up both ways…especially with the kiddos.
 
That's it for now for this post. Next post will be about our trip to Disney!!










Wednesday, May 8, 2013

A Basketball Baby Shower!

A couple of weekends we threw a baby shower for my cousin Amy who is having a baby boy in June. Since her and her husband are basketball coaches, we knew we couldn't go wrong with a basketball themed baby shower. The shower turned out so cute and I think everyone enjoyed themselves!
 
I can't wait to meet the little guy! Just a little over a month and he will be here!!
 






 

Happy 5th Birthday, Blake!

I said it last year and I will say it again...my baby boy is growing up way too fast! 5 years ago today God blessed us with a beautiful baby boy. He has taught me so much about being mom and has made me a better person. Aaron and I are so lucky to call him our son. HERE is my post last year with some really cute baby pictures and I couldn't resist adding a few to this post.






And this picture was taken at his party this past weekend.


He has matured so much within the last year it is unbelievable. He is so smart and I am so proud of the progress he has made with his speech. He is the sweetest little boy and LOVES his mommy, daddy and sissy.

Some of his favorites right now:

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- LOVES chocolate milk
- Favorite foods: Spaghetti, pizza, chicken nuggets
- Favorite sport: Basketball and Baseball (at least right now)
- He can write your first and last name
- Sleep...it is never a fight at bedtime...and you love to cuddle with mommy
- He LOVES to play...either with Kylie or with Austin and Katie..or even by himself
- Loves learning new things...even doing homework sent home from school
- Loves singing and dancing...he has to have the radio on when we are in the car and most songs he will say that that it is his song
- Loves being outside...either riding his scooter, playing on the playset or just playing in the yard

I believe last year was the first year, but I created a questionnaire to ask each kid a certain set of questions on their birthday. This was I can see how much they change from year to year. I love that I videoed last years because he has changed so much since then! Below is the video from tonight when I asked him the same questions from last year.
 
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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Our Family Update Overload

It has been over three months since I have blogged and I can't even tell you why. I think about blogging at least a few times a week but most of the time I lack the desire. I would rather cuddle with the kids when we put them to bed or hang out with Aaron. Blake is playing Tball and our weekends have been pretty busy with birthday parties, showers, family time, etc. Aaron is also taking another class but tonight is his last night.
 
 


 
The first update I have is that I have a new job at work. I have only been in the position for 8 weeks and I love it already. The area is completely foreign to me but everyone has been very patient and open to share their knowledge. My responsibilities are completely different than my previous position and I am looking forward to learning all about my new area.

Our family also had a few birthdays since the last time I blogged. My nephew John turned 1, my nephew Austin turned 7, my brother-in-law Jeremy had a birthday, as well as my niece Katie turned 5. We did a lot of celebrating over a few weekends which is always fun. The next big birthday is Blake's!! I cannot believe he is turning 5!!

John's First Birthday (January)
 
Austin's 7th Birthday (February)
 
Katie's 5th Birthday (April)

We also finished up Blake's first basketball season at the YMCA. He did much better in this league compared to soccer. I really think he just doesn't like soccer. He got so much better with the more games we played. We bought him a basketball goal for outside but haven't gotten to use it much yet because of the cold weather. I can't wait until this summer to get outside with him and Kylie more! Aaron and I were his coaches so we had fun with all of it. Next year Kylie will be able to play so they will play in the same league and on the same team....needless to say we will be coaching again next year.

Speaking of sports, Blake has already started Tball. Aaron was volunteered to be the assistant coach which I know he is really excited about. Blake has done pretty good with the exception of a few times when he was really tired. We ended the game with him crying and coming off the field. Tonight was much better. He was so excited for his game and he hit the ball from the pitch!

We also made a trip to Washington DC to see my brother and his fiance. My sister Kristin and her husband Jeremy went with us and we had a great time. I had never been before so we did the touring of the city. Basketball was still going on so we watch a lot of games as well.
 

My cousin had a baby girl, Kennedy, who is SO precious. Kylie absolutely loves her and would take her home if she could. I wish I could spend much more time with her but life gets in the way. I hope this summer I am able to see her more often.

Easter came and went pretty fast as well. The kids get so excited about holidays now. I love how much they have learned in their preschool about Jesus and what the holidays are really about. Kylie still tells me that Jesus died on the cross at least once a week.
 
 
 

One of the biggest changes we have had is that we got a new puppy!! We rescued her (Lexi) from a shelter which makes me feel even better that we got her. She was abandoned but seemed like she was not abused or mistreated. She is a pit bull (which we wanted) and a little smaller than Jackson. We think she is around 7 months old but we aren't for sure. She is so sweet and is really good with the kids.



So there it is....Most of the happenings in our family over the past 3 1/2 months. There are many times that I feel like I can't keep up with life....work, kids, family, friends, blogging, Facebook, Pinterest...so I choose. I try not to let it get to me, to let it take over my life. I will admit that there are many times that feel like I am not a good wife or mom because I can't make the cute little lunch sandwiches or the homemade cookies I saw on Pinterest. Or because I can't fix a nice, healthy dinner every night or keep my house cleaned and organized. So I step away and reevaluate and tell myself that it is not worth the stress...what matters is that the kids and Aaron and I are happy. Many of my friends have blogged, posted on FB or shared articles with me of this very thing. It all makes sense and most people feel this stress, unless they are superwomen and can be a mom and work full-time while crafting, sewing, cleaning, and organizing everything in site. So I choose not to sweat the small stuff. If I have time to blog, then I will. I hope that is more often than not, but again I am not going to stress about it. We have a busy summer coming up....like the beach and Disney and I am SUPER EXCITED! I will at least blog about those adventures.

Until next time...

Monday, January 14, 2013

Cookies for Santa and Cupcakes for Jesus - Part Two

 
Our final Christmas celebrations was on Christmas Eve at my parents house and of course Christmas day at our house. Now that the kids are older, memories we make are even more special because they retain so much and understand more than they did last year.
 

 
The four amigos

The three boys in plaid. They were so cute!

That night when we got home from the final celebration, the kids threw reindeer food out. Blake was so excited! We had to wake Kylie up from the drive home so she was a little sleepy.


Then they put out the milk and cookies for Santa and then went to bed.

And then Santa came! They must have been really good this year!

Blake's pile...

Kylie's pile....

Kylie's first reaction to her new stuff...

She kept picking things up and putting them on her lap while stating "I can have this, and this..."

We had to wake Blake up and this was his first reaction. It was pretty funny because I think he was shocked.

He was mostly shocked with his new train table!

Kylie doing facetime with Austin and Katie showing them what she got. She was so excited to tell them what Santa brought!
 
And lastly, a couple of weeks ago we were talking about our family birthday's in November and December and as I was going through them with the kids, when December came around, I mentioned that it was Jesus' birthday on the day after Santa comes. The first thing that Kylie said was "Can we have cupcakes for his birthday?" And of course I said yes. So this picture is Kylie singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I thought it was so sweet that she wanted to celebrate his birthday with cupcakes and this is something we will be doing every year!
 
So that concludes our Christmas celebrations this year. We had a great couple of weeks worth of celebrations that went by way too quick and I cannot wait until next year!