♥♥♥Seekins Family♥♥♥

interview with a three year old

2012-02-14T15:47:00.000-05:00

What is your favorite color?
green & orange

Who are your friends?
Sophie & Tyler & Emma

Who is Jesus?
God.

What's your favorite bible story?
David

What did David do?
He pways basketball. He goes at church.
He kiwwed the big lion. He kiwwed Gowiaf. How? Ran him over with hims car.

What is your favorite toy?
Jesus

What is your whole name?
Benjamin Ti-us Seekins

What is your favorite food?
Bananas

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Fireman

What's your favorite song?
Jesus loves me

Do you love your mama?
umm, no. (little rat was done with this process & being completely uncooperative at this point, perhaps I shouldn't have asked)

Dance Me, Daddy!

2012-02-07T01:52:00.001-05:00

Hear the song!

Gracie Winks!

2012-02-02T23:24:00.000-05:00

Gracie learned to wink a couple weeks ago, but this is the first good picture I have gotten of it. It is the cutest thing ever! Ask her to show you how she winks her eyes and she will do it! Too funny!

A Day in Gatlinburg (part two)

2012-02-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

We were thinking of eating here, but decided that the kids were tired and since we had food at the cabin we would just go back. We had looked up this place and saw that they had a yummy looking shrimp appetizer, so since we love to try local places, we just got the shrimp to go!

Garlic...so yummy!

Cajun..too spicy for me, but Joel liked it!

Another fun photo-op

Ripley's Believe it or Not. We didn't go in, but this was pretty cool!

Kid in a candy store

I just liked how this shot turned out...it was purely accidental!

Yeah, he likes candy a little bit!

Gracie loves Noah!

He really was just mad that he had to get in the stroller(because he wasn't obeying) and decided he didn't want to take a picture! Yep, he is an ornery one!

Hugs for Daddy!

A Day in Gatlinburg (part one)

2012-02-02T23:13:00.000-05:00

Our day in Gatlinburg was lots of fun even though it is so hard for kids to understand that we aren't going to a.) buy EVERYTHING we see b.) go in EVERY cool place we pass & c.) we aren't going to eat at EVERY food place we pass! :)

Of course we did some shooting! We are Seekins after all!!

Took advantage of the 'photo op'!

Just some of the locality!

Ate some popcorn!

Practiced a little photography!

Calhoun's...they have some wonderful pulled pork!

Cabin #1

2012-02-02T22:25:00.000-05:00

We had some fun at the first cabin in spite of all the issues!

Jumping on the bed!

Playing pool...love Grace's look here!

Tickle Time!

Watching a movie! (Grace really was only put in the bed for the picture, I don't think Grace can sit still long enough to watch a movie!)

Air Hockey! They had to both play to beat me! ;)

8 ball, corner pocket...Grace makes SURE to get the shot!

Slot machine! Start em young! :-P

My competition! He said he would let me win since it was my birthday!

To Gatlinburg we go...

2012-02-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

Joel and I enjoyed Gatlinburg so much for our honeymoon that we went back for our first anniversary! Well, almost 9 years past our first visit, we return with 3 kids to celebrate my 32nd birthday! We enjoyed a leisurely trip down that did not go as fast as we made it back 8 & 9 years ago sans kids! ;-D We got in kinda late to cook at the cabin as planned so we picked up Calhoun's pulled pork(SUPER YUMMY!) and headed to our cabin. We had booked it a few weeks ago and the boys were super excited to stay in a cabin and that it had some game tables. We got in the door and noticed it smelled of cigarette smoke. We couldn't remember if we had double checked to be sure it was a non smoking unit and the kids were tired and we were all hungry and tired of being in the van. We settled in, the smoke smell was AWFUL! I am super sensitive to smoke smell, but we figured we would wait until morning to deal with it since we had no wifi to check the details. We noticed several small issues with the cabin as well throughout the evening and this morning when the shower started leaking from upstairs to the downstairs living area, we decided this was not what we had paid for and called the rental company. They handled it amazingly and gave us a choice of several cabins. So here we sit in a nice cabin with a fire crackling and no cigarette smoke smell! I can't even describe how good it feels! We explored Gatlinburg downtown today, came back to the cabin for a wonderful dinner(deer steak w/ mushrooms and onions, potatoes(sweet for me), and asparagus) made by my amazing husband! We also picked up some yummy shrimp from Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It has been a wonderful birthday this year! I have so many things to be thankful for even when I don't feel like it! Here are my top 4:

Driving with his eyes closed in the rain...I have no better picture, he was complaining about the flash or something!

Sweet girly...she said "OUT!" about half the trip!

Tired little monkey with his banana..I think he would eat a lb of bananas a day if I let him!

With his super pizza blast(or something like that)goldfish!

best of 2011--AUGUST vol. three(CBW)

2012-01-29T00:33:00.000-05:00

Camp!

Grace is the only one that can do this to Benjamin and get away with it!

Oh the love...

a new way to ride!

While the big kids (including Noah) had chapel,we spent lots of time playing ball in the field!

Look at the form on these two pictures...he is a natural!!

I love this sign...not sure why!

How cute are they?

Aren't they the cutest brothers ever!?!?

best of 2011--AUGUST vol. two(CBW)

2012-01-28T23:32:00.000-05:00

Tons of pictures from camp! Oh, how we love camp!

best of 2011--AUGUST vol. one

2012-01-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

A whole lot of random pics from August that I wanted on the blog!

Watermelon Day is August 3rd! Gracie dressed for the occasion!

Barb(Grandma) hosted a watermelon party for Child Evangelism Fellowship!

Watermelon chunks and sprite...squish it together and stick a fun straw in the bag!

We used food coloring to color some pasta and made things out of it when it dried!

shake it up!

Just because I miss summer days...

How cute is she!?

I loved that dress on Grace...not sure if I loved it because it was cute or because I paid a quarter for it! ;-)

Mouse-proofed Pantry

2012-01-27T11:39:00.000-05:00

So every year we get mice...it's inevitable! Just over the levy behind our house is a field and when they harvest, mice inhabit homes! In the past, we have had cats and they haven't been too bad. This year, the mice family discovered a handy entrance from the basement to the pantry...shelves upon shelves of yummy food! They devoured oatmeal packets, chocolate bars(found one with mousy teeth marks on it--ICK!), walnuts, pasta, crackers and much more leaving a HUGE mess for someone(me) to clean up. The problem? The mess was hidden behind all the food boxes and bags of chips and such. The worst were the higher shelves that I can't even see without a step stool! Once they were discovered and escaped several traps, the war was on. I put the hunter in the house on them...several sticky traps and a couple snap traps later, we have disposed of 8 (EIGHT!) mice! YUCK! Well, I was not about to go through this again, so I set out on a mission...a mouse proof pantry! My goal is to have lots of stuff in clear glass jars, but a alas, glass is expensive, so I will be collection glass jars for my rations over the next year! For now, plastic bins & a few glass jars contain all food that is in anything less than thick plastic! I think it turned out quite nice (and more organized, thanks micey) and I love the mossy green and eggplant purple latches! BEHOLD THE MOUSE PROOF PANTRY:

Ignore the one red handle...it was a plastic bin I already had and will have to do for now! :P

best of 2011--JULY

2012-01-23T00:55:00.000-05:00

I did ok with posting in July apparently, but a few things slipped through and I wanted to make sure they got on here!

Mohawks!!

Dressed himself...picked out his own clothes with a tie of course! In some odd way, all the colors work together...just maybe not the patterns!!

SC peaches that Papa brought when he visited!! They were so yummy! Oh, what I wouldn't do for a peach right now!! A SC peach, of course!

Is he cute or what??!??

Papa and the babies!!

"look at all that hair!"

Aamah had her birthday party in July and it was at a sprayground too!! So fun!

Noah looks like an old man here with his bird legs and crocs and paunchy belly(pretty sure he was standing funny cause he really doesn't have a belly!)

So cute with her Dad while we sang to her!

CUPCAKES!

It was airshow Saturday and we got a REALLY nice view of the Thunderbirds flying over!

Jett!

Of course it would be my kid to drink from the sprayground! Yuck!!

So tough looking! Menacing as Daddy would say! Wouldn't know he has the tenderest heart of all!

Have I ever mentioned how extremely difficult it is to get a picture of all 3 kids!?!?!

At Grandma & Grandpa's house, I just love the look on her face!

Lash Envy!

best of 2011--JUNE

2012-01-13T23:56:00.000-05:00

Too many pictures for one post...but they are soo good and I don't feel like making two posts! Big June events were Joel's birthday which was dimmed by the Princess turning ONE! Poor guy has lost his birthday to his daughter...not the actual day, but being only 2 days apart makes it hard!

This was from a very fun day at Charleston Falls...the boys were giving our picnic lunch 2 thumbs up!

One of the things I had really wanted to do before Easter didn't happen until the end of June...grass eggs! I loved the idea of creating life in an empty eggshell! Some things are better late than never! We will do these again!

Aww! Grace didn't know Uncle Justin so well when he first came home from college and he worked a lot too so she didn't see him as much. She liked his goatee because it's like Daddy's, but she always seemed confused...she knew he wasn't Daddy, but there were definitely similarities! SWEET! Uncle Justin calls her his "Lady Grace" ;-)

Noah helping Daddy with a project!

Gotta LOVE those forced smiles! :-D

♥

Bubbles!

Bowling! One of the fun things we had this summer was free bowling passes! I hope they have that available again this summer!

Our friend Emma(her and Benjamin are two peas in a pod) and her Dad!

Emma's sister, Claire, with John...it was cute to see them with their Dad!

Benjamin waiting p-a-t-i-e-n-t-l-y for his ball to make it to the pins...it took a while!

Father's Day...don't they look thrilled!

There's my babies!

Fun times at the park with friends!

The two peas...

Little Beauty!

Claire

Emma

Grace at Grandma's...want to go OUT!

You just have to see the look on her face in this one! Too funny!

Warming up to Uncle Justin!

Justin & Jade

SUMMMERTIMME!!! POOOL TIME!!!

I took this picture to show off "all that hair"...what was I thinking!!?!?

This is a regular occurrence at our house...actually, I think I need to put balloons on my list!

Jessica babysat for us all summer and each time she came she brought something fun...modeling clay! They made all these cute things then painted them the next day I worked that week! I have never found it so easy to go to work as it was this summer with Jessica coming to watch the kids! No stress! She was always there early and sometimes that was when I got ready for work! Jessica truly was a blessing to us!!

This sweet picture is not reflective of how the photo session went this morning...

This is what happened each time I attempted to step back for a picture taking opportunity!

♥

Stray cat...the boys just loved this cat and I would have let them keep it, but our neighbors said they were going to...then didn't! :-(

Very tolerant kitty!

Love this one of Benjamin sharing his lollipop with his sister!

Sweetie Sibs!

2012-01-12T12:21:00.000-05:00

Benjamin and Grace have a fun relationship due to the closeness of their age...they are either super sweet to each other or driving each other crazy!!

Oh, the thinks you can think!

2012-01-12T11:48:00.000-05:00

My dad brought a box of my old ~~crap~~ stuff from growing up and one of the things was a HUGE medal that I had gotten in 1985-1986 for "my first book". Noah was OBSESSED with it! I hung it up on his mirror and told him he could have it when he read an entire book by himself! He has read some stories in his school readers, but not an entire book without a lot of help. So one of their favorite books is "Oh the thinks you can think" by Dr. Seuss. Last night they wanted to read it, but it was late and I had already read books to them. So I told him that if he read it, we could read it. Anything to stay up past bedtime! He agreed! We only had one moment about half way through that he started to think maybe he didn't want to finish! Other than that, he read without much help at all!

Love the one eye in this pic!

Soooooo EXCITED!!!

No MORE!!!

2012-01-12T03:24:00.000-05:00

Did you hear???

No MORE DIAPERS!! Benjamin is excitedly filling a sticker chart and is only a couple days away from the BIG prize! He has been potty trained for a while, but is now diaper free even at bedtime! Tonight we graduated the diapers to Gracie's room after a little celebrating!!

Trading the diapers for big boy undies...even for bed! So proud of my big boy! (Side note: I thought his pants would fit better without diapers, but this boy is meaty! He has some serious muscle! When he jumps or kicks or anything that even remotely flexes his muscles, it's actually shocking! He is in the process of losing the toddler belly :( and when it isn't just after a meal, he has a toddler size six pack too! SERIOUSLY!)

I love how he is looking at the pile of diapers...bye bye diapers!

best of 2011--MAY vol. two

2012-01-07T23:09:00.000-05:00

Gracie at 11 months!

Such a big girl! Look at those chunky legs!

best of 2011--MAY vol. one

2012-01-07T14:42:00.000-05:00

Rowsing game of tennis softball!

First pedicure!

♥

even with the spray in the picture...I just love it! Summer fun! Oh, how I long for these summer days!

How the Mother's day pictures started!

Snow 1.2.12

2012-01-02T23:03:00.000-05:00

I love when cool things happen on cool dates...like snow on 1.11.11 last year and a bit of a stretch, but today, 1.2.12!! Not too much snow, but it is our first real snow of the winter! Benjamin was the first to see it this morning and as he peered out the window upstairs, he yelled, "It snowed!" "Noah, come see!! It snowed!" Noah dashed to the window to see for himself and being the dramatic one upon seeing the snow with his own two eyes begins shouting, "SNOW!!! It SNOWED! It SNOWED! It SNOWED! There's like enough to make a.......A SNOWBALL!!!"

Love the furry white hood!

Gracie was top heavy for some reason and had a hard time standing on her own two feet...that and I'm pretty sure she decided to have a growth spurt of her feet recently as she has skipped size 4's practically, though 5's are still a bit big(these 5's were actually not fitting well, brand dependent, I guess).

Noah was attempting to attack Daddy with snow...he gets so giggly when he does stuff like that!

Keeping an eye on Noah!

MMM! Snow!

Total Cooperation, I tell ya! {dripping with sarcasm}

best of 2011--APRIL vol. four

2012-01-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

In April, Gracie and Mommy got to go to SC and meet Mommy's friend, Heather, and her "new" baby! Gracie was really very good for the flights and enjoyed some time with mommy!

This picture progression is so funny...these two weren't sure what to think of each other. It was all good until...

Elsa tasted her friend(mind you that Elsa has no teeth)...

I believe Grace might have slightly over reacted! Once Grace was crying, it was an all out crying party! Aaah...good friends!

Isn't she beautiful!

Grace decided that if she wasn't going to be paid attention to(when we were taking Elsa's pics) then she was going to surf the wed a little!

I just loved how they were so curious about each other! Can't wait until they can play together when we visit! I think they will be good friends!

We did not do Easter baskets on Easter Sunday because I did not want to cloud the real reason of Resurrection Sunday with candy and goodies!

I finally had to say that nobody was getting their basket until I got a good picture of all 3 of them! It worked!

My One Word LOVE

2012-01-02T00:45:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of www.myoneword.org , you should definitely check it out. It is a challenge put out to our Sunday School class. I immediately upon perusing the website thought "fruit of the Spirit". "Love" was just a natural outpouring of the next thoughts. I need to have more love for my God, for my husband, for my children...for my world! The thoughts that followed at first were kinda superficial...how can I show love? Take a meal, visit with people, give good things, spend more time...etc. But after a few days of dwelling on the word and it's meaning and how it might play out in life, I began to look deeper. I have always loved the signs that say "Love is spoken here." I thought about that too. And as I pondered it, I realized my idea of "love" was not exactly in line with God's idea of love. When I think of "love is spoken here", I think of speaking to each other with sugar dripping off the words. I get that magazine picture of perfection in my head. Nobody ever gets upset, spills clean up at the whip of a tiny particle of paper towel(you know what I'm saying!), dogs don't track mud in even when it's raining, play doh doesn't make a mess...etc etc etc! You may wonder what these things have to do with love at all, but bear with me here! As I pondered these things and how focusing on love from a Godly perspective would look like, I realized speaking love is more what is coming from your heart than what is coming from your mouth. When I say to Noah, "Why did you do that?" or "What were you thinking?" Am I speaking in unconditional love or in some other fleshly emotion, such as frustration, embarrassment(how often do we parent for this reason?), or just plain lack of self control. I can tell you that what he hears when I say those things is not "I love you no matter what..." I want for my children to know that when they need correction it is for the sake of love, not because it's embarrassing when they misbehave or because they "pushed mommy over the edge". Looking further at love, I thought of the love chapter...I Corinthians 13. I want to come back to v. 1-3 at a later point because they are stab straight through the heart, no messing around, open and honest! But the thing that actually struck me when he starts going into the description of love is that the very first descriptor of love is "patient". Did you hear me? "PATIENT!!" Love is PATIENT!!! Now I believe that every word of the Bible is given by God and it is NOT an accident that love is first described as PATIENT! Again, I spent some time thinking and wondering why God would choose patient as His first descriptor of the most important trait. I thought about life examples(my 3 beautiful children...they are my life teachers!). It hit me all at once...in order to truly respond to a situation in Godly love we must first take that step back, that deep breath...we must be patient!! Love is not a natural outpouring of our flesh(unless it is our own self love). I would dare to say that any outpouring of love that is of our own doing is only to get something in return(self-love). (I could write a book here, but I'll spare you!) So back to my point of love being patient first...we must first implement a patient spirit(one willing to wait on answers or results or even return of love) before we can respond to a situation with true LOVE!

best of 2011--APRIL vol. three

2012-01-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

I slacked a little in March blogging and completely fell off the bandwagon in April & May for blogging. Partially due to the fact that throughout March I had begun having some gallbladder issues. I would have days where I felt horrible so just getting what needed to get done was accomplishment! Also, somehow I find it hard to blog about our fun times when I don't feel well! Into April, I was having more and more days of not feeling well until the final-"this had better be a gall bladder attack or I'm dying"! LOL! As most of you know the next few weeks of finding out it was indeed my gallbladder(thank you, Lord!), having a procedure to get a rogue stone, getting pancreatitis, and finally ending May with surgery(aahhhh!) So here is some MORE of our April fun and one more volume to come!!

Our little friend, Tyler, turned TWO at the end of April and here are some fun pics from his party!

MMM! What a yummy cupcake!

Three beauties!

Grace, you make that face way too much!! :)

I could post a whole big post on this picture!! I just love love love this picture of the boys with their Daddy! It would of course be a post on how wonderful their Daddy is, but you can read about him here, here(grab some tissues if you read this one--he's just that good!), or here!

Sketti face!

with our neighbor friend, Rory!

♥

Oh, Emma!

3 BFF's!

Random Easter pic of our friends from church, Tim & Shannon with Tyler & Megan...I can't believe how much Megan has changed from then just like Sophie in the last post...amazing what a difference a few months can make!

best of 2011--APRIL vol. two

2012-01-01T01:16:00.001-05:00

Having fun with Grandpa!

Uncle Justin reads the Resurrection Eggs story

Gracie opens an egg!

Checking out the loot!

Our friend Sophie...how cute she is!

Good friends!

2 peas in a pod!

Puddle jummping!

Splish Splash!

best of 2011--APRIL vol. one

2011-12-30T23:17:00.002-05:00

A new egg coloring idea...hot eggs colored with crayons. The crayon melts from the heat...it worked really well. The hot eggs were a bit hard to handle, but we would do it again!!

Sunday afternoon nap...I had been dealing with Benjamin and she was crying, but by the time I got to her this is what I found. :( I felt so sad that she had cried herself to sleep...after snapping a pic, I picked her up and cuddled her before putting her back down to sleep.

My chunky cutie!

teeheehee...I just love chunky babies in bikinis...and the ruffle butt makes it even cuter!

Noah perfecting his headstand!

Benjamin attempting to copycat Noah's headstanding abilities! ;)

Just a happy girl in the morning!

Can you believe this was April? We had some warm days in April and it gives me hope that our warm weather is just around the corner(though I would like to mention for every warm April day, I believe we had 2 cold May days!)

Another warm April pic! I wish I had gotten a better pic of them in these outfits! I love these colors!

Even sleeping she is beautiful(she doesn't get that from her mama!)

Silly Noah...trying to escape the picture, but I got him anyway!

Rice play is very good for tactile kids like Benjamin. I think he would play in rice for hours!!

Time to start getting rid of the baby chubs! ;-) Pushups today, jumping jacks tomorrow!

Time for some girly toys, perhaps?

I took a series of pictures one evening of the boys just doing goofy stuff! Can't wait to scrapbook these!

This is an awesome picture!

Little bit goofy, maybe?

Snuggles with my middle child! :-)

best of 2011--MARCH vol. two

2011-12-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights of March was spring break for Noah and we took a trip to
Cosi with our friends, Joshua and Mary(Joshua's Grammy). My mom was also here for the trip. Below are the pictures that I never managed to get blogged!

This is pretty much how it'd go if these two were news anchors!

These two have been buds a LONG time!

best of 2011--MARCH vol. one

2011-12-17T12:49:00.001-05:00

Whew! We had a busy March! In no particular order, this is volume one of some of the pictures that didn't get blogged! Also, noteworthy and blogged are Noah's birthday, no more training wheels, and of course, this ultimate cuteness! ♥

We visited my Dad to help him when he broke his foot. We stayed with my best friend from high school, Deanna. The kids loved her and Emileigh and there is Taz in the pic!

If you know Benjamin, you know he HAS to have something to sleep with...we tried so many different animals and Woody won!

Grace really took to Deanna...but can you blame her. Deanna rocked her, talked to her, loved on her constantly!

My twins...born 5 years apart!

Granny visited us in March too! Love Benjamin's face in this one!

Benjamin burned his hand pretty bad in March...much the same as his broken finger, we aren't really sure how! My mom was here watching them and I was at work. She had just stoked the fire and went to get Grace who had crawled into the kitchen. Gone for one second and we think Benjamin grabbed the fire poker. She felt horrible, but it wasn't her fault at all. Benjamin knew not to touch it, I'm sure he just decided to test the limits at a bad time!

I got home from work pretty much right after it happened. He was hysterical and cried and cried for so long. :(

See, he didn't blame Granny! She made them those cute horses too!

oops! A little out of order! More from our trip to SC.

Emileigh with one of her birds!

So tired!

Benjamin loves Grace! I love how he is gripping her so tight!

And Grace is done wit the death grip hold! ;)

And this is what we mean by Benjamin is hot or cold! Happy one minute, but when things don't go his way...LOOK OUT! We continue to work on this area!

Just a sweet picture of a sweet girl!

best of 2011--FEBRUARY

2011-12-15T17:05:00.003-05:00

February was also another great blogging month for me(don't worry, I fell off the bad wagon in some future months so there is a point to all of this besides me telling you how great I was at blogging!) Quite possibly my favorite post from February is this one because it tells the story of well, how we roll!
Ok, since that one only includes the boys I have to have two favorites to include Grace and this is def my fave of Grace! heehee!
And since reading this one made me LOL all over again it must be included as a best of the best!
Gracie turned 8 months in February...I can't believe she used to suck her thumb all the time and is now attached to a binky!
I turned a different age in February as well! UGH! ;)

That's it for our February highlights! Look for March highlights soon!!

best of 2011--JANUARY

2011-12-14T23:21:00.003-05:00

Wow! I did a great job blogging in January 2011. I looked back through pics and realized I had blogged it all! So I will just link a few highlights for this post...
of course, who could forget the 1.11.11 snow? How perfect! All 1's, all snow! It's hard to imagine we have all this ahead of us! Months of snow and cold! BRR!
on a sad note, we lost our Nerfy in January. I didn't want to admit he was gone and I can't believe he's been gone a year. I still wish we had him...he was the absolute perfect cat! A part of me wants another cat, I love for the kids to have pets! But I just know we won't get a cat as perfect as Nerf was...everyone loved him! Even our anti-cat neighbors!
and finally, who could forget the bed sled? what fun!! we will have to see what unique sled we can find this year!

Random Loves

2011-11-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy...some fun busy...some busy that I wish I didn't have to deal with...and some just normal life busy! I lament that I have not been able to keep the blog up to date and have a few random posts planned just to get some special pics on here. But for now I want to share some things that thrill my heart as the mom of three wonderful little blessings!

Benjamin has an amazing laugh...it is contagious, hilarious, and we have even been told walking through stores that he has an amazing laugh. While I love when people say that, I don't know which I love more when Benjamin starts laughing...Benjamin's laugh or Noah saying, "I just love that laugh" between his own laughing(remember it is contagious!)

Gracie has been watching her brothers for months and not really involved herself with them in their play. In the last month though, she has totally thrown herself(literally, sometimes) into copycatting everything her brothers do(good and bad)! It has been adorable to see her get down on all fours and pant like a puppy, hilarious to watch her throw herself on the ground and giggle just like them, she loves to crawl all over us every time we lay down on the ground, and watching her interact with them on a whole new level is just beautiful! I'm pretty sure she told me on Thanksgiving that she did something that made Benjamin go "AAAH!" I didn't understand a word(except the "AAAAH" part), but I'm almost certain that is what she was saying! Her voice inflections, her exploding vocabulary, her incredible ability to somersault all make her our special little "Grace-Grace"

Noah has asked for a flying car for Christmas...the boy has been obsessed with flying cars for a while now! It is so fun to hear him talk about it, because he knows more about electronics than me already! I also love that he really likes "the grownd up songs"(K-LOVE) now. He sings to them and when certain ones come on, he will say, I just love this song! Recently, we were listening to the grownd up songs and they said the name Amy on the radio. Right after that a Natalie Grant song came on and Noah insisted that it must be "our Amy"(Jessica's mom--Jessica is the fave babysitter)!! It was so cute and I couldn't tell him otherwise!

The Beach!

2011-11-10T23:10:00.000-05:00

This post and these pictures are out of character for me...this just happened tonight! And it's already on the blog! The pictures are untouched! Yikes! I.don't.care! I am trying to realize that sometimes it is more important to have the pictures here than to have them perfectly fine tuned(and that is a BIG step for me!)

Anywho, on to what this post is really about! Tonight, 11/10/11, Benjamin Titus and Grace Elizabeth experienced the OCEAN for the first time in their lives! It's not summer, it wasn't warm, & we lost light quickly...but it was PERFECT!

I couldn't stand on a beach and not take my shoes off! I love experiencing life through the eyes of my children!

I love these 3 men!

These people are my life! I love my life!

Blowing out Candles!

2011-11-10T22:40:00.000-05:00

Last birthday party post! Love these pics of Benjamin blowing out his candles!

♥

Yumbots!

2011-11-04T23:31:00.000-04:00

I bought these little yumbots as soon as we decided on robots! How cute they were!

So proud of my 3 year old boy!

Presents!

2011-11-04T15:57:00.000-04:00

Benjamin did so good telling everyone thank you for his presents! He stumbled over his words a bit(he does that when he is nervous), but he made sure he got the words out!

Friends and Fun!

2011-11-04T15:50:00.000-04:00

Ben-ja-bot's Ro-bot Par-ty!

2011-11-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

For Benjamin's birthday party, we decided to make hot dog stations! What could be better to a 3 year old than hot dogs! So we had...

and the fully loaded...

It's hard to see the banner, but it came out really nice!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Joel had already planned out how to set up the tables for the different hot dog types and it worked great!!

Benjamin is THREE!

2011-10-23T23:31:00.000-04:00

Benjamin turned 3 on October 2nd! So hard to believe that he is 3 already! Though I do feel the last few years have flown and his short little life has been packed with lots of excitement and change for our family! At his age, Noah still wouldn't have been a big brother for 6 months and he has already been a big brother for half his life! And a good one he is!! Still my spunky, spirited red head boy, he is! He has always been super affectionate and snugly, but now I just love how he will randomly just come up and say "I love you, Mommy" and with such adoration! No doubt that he is genuine! I feel a smidgen sad that my baby is growing up, but it's so fun to watch him discover and mature that I can't stay sad long!

Watching his new fish...who have since died and been replaced! : /

Grandma bought Benjamin a fish tank and gave him fish for his birthday. The first 2 fish were from Grandma's tank and they didn't survive the tank change/being overfed the first day they were in Benjamin's care!

Really? I don't think it gets cuter than this!

His gang symbol...

LOOT!

What an experience!

2011-10-22T02:57:00.000-04:00

My kids are so incredibly blessed to not only be able to know their great grandparents, but to actually get to play with their great grandparents! You won't meet younger 76 year olds!!

Such a priceless memory! This is the reason I was so distraught upon thinking I had deleted these pictures before transferring them. As most of you know, I love a good photo shoot, but the best edited, best outfitted photo shoot pales in comparison to these unedited precious priceless moments spent with those we love!

Grace showed off her walking skills!

Homecoming at Cedarville

2011-10-22T01:53:00.000-04:00

The weekend of Benjamin's birthday was super busy and super exciting! If it wasn't enough that it was Benjamin's 3rd birthday, it was also Homecoming at Cedarville University where Uncle Justin attends college. If that wasn't exciting enough, add to it that Uncle Justin was the Sophomore Representative for Homecoming! And as if we needed anything else to add to this excitement, Grandma Gert and Grandpa Floyd were here visiting!! Even the bitter cold temperatures and rain and biting wind couldn't dampen our spirits! We had a blast at the parade, then out to lunch with the fam, then came back and hung out in Grandma and Grandpa's camper while we waited for half time to go see Justin represent! What a fun weekend(a whole slew of pics follow...and more to come of all the other festivities!)

Grandma and Noah snuggling while watching the parade!

Parade watchers!

Grandma loved her flower they were handing out...had a C in the middle! What a neat idea!

There's our Justin!

I am always skeptical when I hand over the camera for someone else to take a picture, but really could it get any better!!?!? What a crew! Can't wait to celebrate G'ma Gert and G'pa Floyd's 60th wedding anniversary next year!! You just can't help but love them!

I love that my kids get to experience great grandparents in such a hands on way!

Grandpa and Gracie on our tour of the college...we were thawing out here in the tornado shelter!

The lovely Sophomore reps!

Yah...did I mention it was REALLY cold!!

Where's Gracie?!?!

Peek-a-boo!

Grace Fall Pics

2011-10-18T01:30:00.000-04:00

Gracie, unlike her brothers, did not struggle to ham it up for the camera at all! I'm sure someday her brothers will ask why there are more pictures of Grace from this day than them, but seriously, I just couldn't choose...she was just too cute...and cooperative!

Lucky girl is blessed with seriously long lashes!

I actually ended up liking just the brown shirt a LOT!

One of my many faves! She is so excitable!

I'm cute you say! I know!

These pictures show her personality well...always the happy girl(except in the middle of the night when a bad molar is breaking through!)

I love my happy surprise girly!

Benjamin's Fall Pics

2011-10-18T01:09:00.000-04:00

I have really adorable wonderful pictures of Benjamin every year from the fall. As a matter of fact, his one year and two year pictures came from the pumpkin patch! This year he struggled to even sit still. We managed to capture a few!

♥FAVE♥

Love my newly 3 year old boy!!

Noah's fall pics

2011-10-18T01:05:00.000-04:00

I feel it only fair to say that while Noah has always been a charmer for the camera, he struggled this year with over-trying. We have about 20 pictures of forced fake smiles before I got him to relax. Either way, the boy knows how to turn it on for the camera!

Seriously, I didn't even tell him to pose like this...just a natural!

Love my 6 1/2 year old boy!

Pumpkin Pics 2011

2011-10-18T00:58:00.000-04:00

We did our annual pumpkin pics with our friends, Tyler and Megan(Tim&Shannon, too) and Sophie & Hope! I wouldn't really say my kiddos did great, but we captured the moment and sometimes that's all you can do!

Tyler and Megan

Sophie

Classic of these 3!

Another classic...Noah tries to hard, Grace laughs, Benjamin looks at the ground...when they are grown, I am gonna make them replicate this picture!

Grace and Benjamin have a really special bond! Benjamin looks out for her, Grace admires him...but they still have the sibling rivalry thing going unlike Noah and Grace!

Cute shot of Megan!

Hayride to the Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-13T00:45:00.000-04:00

Last week we took a last minute hayride at Fulton Farms with our friends, the Schramms. We had a lot of fun riding in the wagon out to pick a pumpkin! The kids each picked out their own pumpkin and we all got an apple. Benjamin and Grace always love apples, Noah is not always crazy about them, but said that this one was super yummy!

My 3 year old boy with one of his favorites...an apple!

Gracie being a total goof!

More goof!

MMM! Apple!

Tim & Megan :)

Gotta love the tiny bite missing! Grace thinks she can do anything her brothers do including eating an apple straight up!

Tyler & Noah sitting on the hay!

Noah has claimed a pumpkin!

I'm not sure that bag will contain that pumpkin!

Grace has found her pumpkin!

I think it's amazing to look out over so much land filled with pumpkins!

Benjamin claims a pumpkin!

Love this pic of my 3 babies and their amazingly wonderful father!

Races 4&5

2011-10-11T01:17:00.001-04:00

I am so behind on blogging that the next several posts will be out of order, but at least they will be here, right!

I ran the Swaziland 5k & the Mum Festival 5k in September. The Swaziland 5k started all wrong...my favorite running pants weren't clean, I woke up with an upset tummy(I ate really yummy(bad for you)food late the night before), I got to the race and realized I hadn't grabbed the right wad of cash--I had $2 not $20! I didn't have enough time to go home and get it or even go to the bank. They let me run and send the money in the mail! I pulled my Sony out only to realize the battery was DEAD! (side note: I can't complain, it ran for about 11 miles past when I thought it would die). Well, inspite of ALL that, I ran well and managed to finish only 3 seconds behind my personal best! If only I had my music...or my favorite running pants...or hadn't eaten a bunch of junk...live and LEARN!

The Mum Run was another story. While I didn't feel as prepared since I had missed a few runs that week, I still had a goal: sub 29 minutes! I was very unsure of whether I was going to accomplish that, but I set my music up so that I would know when to kick in the high gear! However, when I got there my friend, Ruthie, was there and she ran with me the whole way. I know she could have finished much earlier without me, but she wouldn't leave me behind! Thanks to her pacing me, I shaved more than 1 minute off my previous record! 28:36! Not just because she helped me accomplish the goal I had set, but I am thankful to have a friend like Ruthie in my life!

Impromptu Art Class :)

2011-09-22T16:08:00.000-04:00

After being out of town for a long weekend, I was longing for some fun time with my kiddos. Since Tuesday was such a nice day, we decided to skip school and nap time for "art" class! I had been wanting to do this with them for a while so we seized opportunity...pulled out the squishy balls and paint and went to work!

Benjamin splatted Noah with a paint ball right away!

Benjamin runs to get another one!

We invited the neighbors!

Splat painting Daddy's shed!

Oh, man! Trying to see his back!

This was a lot of fun! And the splatter effect was awesome!

Getting wound up for the splat!

Aamah and Mannie had fun too!

Jett even made it home from school in time to get in a few throws!

Cuteness!

2011-09-09T01:06:00.000-04:00

Just too cute not to share! The boys were playing outside the other morning and as I went to go check on them this is what I found! I just love that she sits like this and I love the head cock...she wanted to be out there with her brothers soooo bad! She totally adores them!

Race 3 of 33

2011-09-07T19:57:00.000-04:00

(I know my face is weird here, but the after pictures were awful!!)

On August 20th, I ran my 3rd 5k race. I had one goal for this race and I felt like it was a kind of a big one considering I had only 1 week between 5k's. My goal: less than 30 minutes. Just one week prior I had surprised myself by snipping one second off my previous time without someone running with me AND no cheering section. I have had many emotions about doing these races. When I first thought of doing this, it excited me. My first race was exciting because Hope was doing it with me and it was her first EVER race! My second race, however, was filled with guilt and fear and just feeling overall ridiculous...until about half way through the race and realizing that while this goal may be for my own selfishness, being fit is not selfish. It is a gift to my husband and children! I know for fact that kids learn best by example so what better way to teach them than for them to see me dedicated in this way to staying fit and healthy! As for my husband, when I am running/exercising well, I am happier! Well, this third race was exciting because for the 1st time I had my little family with me! : ) Yep! That's right! My wonderful husband got up early and got 3 kids ready and brought them to the race! Well, I made my goal...shaving 24 seconds off my previous PR! 29:51 is my new PR! And added bonus was that I felt good the whole time and really didn't have much sprint left in me at the end(I like that because it is then that I know I have pushed myself well the entire race!) I don't have another race scheduled until the end of this month because my sister is due this month, so I am still trying to figure out what my goal will be. Do I dare aim for sub 29?!?!? I still have 2 weeks until the race and my training program is really helping me get faster so I think I will just throw it out there and do it...failure or not? My goal for Mum Festival 5k is sub 29 minutes? Anyone want to run it with me?

First Day of First Grade...at home!

2011-09-06T23:42:00.000-04:00

Today was Noah's 1st day of first grade! We chose this year to try homeschool! Noah has been so excited about it and he loved it! He still carries a backpack and I felt like it was important for him to dress like he is actually going to school!

M little goofball!

Planes, Trains, Wild Animals & Amazing Friendships!

2011-09-06T01:59:00.000-04:00

The title says it all! A couple weeks ago we had the best day! Quite an adventure for the kids! They got up early, boarded an airplane, ate breakfast in an airport(Cinnabon!), got on the metro rail train, walked to the zoo, & played with friends! Then we boarded the metro again and went back to the airport and flew home!! For being 6, 2, and 1, that's pretty amazing! I don't even think I flew on an airplane until I was a teenager! Well, we had so much fun that we hope to plan more day trips like this!! I am going to let the pictures tell the stories more, but I want to include a few cute things that were said. Noah upon getting on the metro on return trip asked if we could move so that we could live close to his friend, Michael. I wish we could live closer to the Blakemore family! However, God has each of our families in the place we are in for His purposes and His glory(but that doesn't mean we can't pray that God would move the Blakemores to Ohio, right?!?!)! Benjamin caught a late nap on the metro and was a ball of energy on the flight home. He was not bad(like his overly tired sister), but he was totally slap happy and just a total riot! He sat with Joel for the first half of the flight and Grace and Noah were with me. Noah was tired and just talked, but Grace was over tired and not giving in to sleep. She yelled, she flipped around like a fish out of water, she threw a couple fits in there, and snuggled a bit too, but would NOT.GIVE.IT.UP! So I traded! =) Grace and Noah went to sit with Daddy and I got Benjamin who just wanted to sit in my lap, say "I love you, Mommy" over and over, look out the window, be ridiculously cute and sweet, and say the funniest stuff! A little history here: Benjamin is obsessed with airplanes, rockets, helicopters, and anything manly/has an engine! When we boarded the bus that takes us to the airplane, he loudly asked, "Is this an airplane, Mommy?" HA! The entire bus load got a laugh out of that one! Well, we were starting our descent and I told him that he was going to have to sit in his seat for landing. He looked at me seriously and said, "Are we going to blast off, Mommy?" I couldn't help but laugh

I hate escalators...my hands sweat, my heart beats fast...and that's when I'm alone! Add the kids and I'm a mess! I get heart palpitations looking at this picture, but I knew as soon as I saw this escalator that Noah would want to go on it! I (thankfully) HAD to take the stroller on the elevator! whew! It was crazy to think that we were that far underground!

On the metro!

In the airplane!

These two are hilarious together! LOVE this pic of them on the airplane!

I'm not sure why we need to go to the zoo to see the lions and tigers...we seem to have our own right here!;)

What a face!

That's the face we saw mostly...sweet, sweet Katie!

Just look at how excited they all are to get a group picture! Seriously, we had to reign in their excitement(dripping with sarcasm here)

Grace did a lot of peeking around the stroller...she never knew who might be pushing it!

Apparently, we didn't need to see the monkeys either!

Poor Katie fell and scraped her knees and arms! She was a trooper though!

hehe! love this!

How cute is this!

She is a climber so this was wondrous for her!

Thank you Blakemores for a fantastic, magnificent, super wonderful day!

The zoo exhibits

2011-09-06T01:36:00.000-04:00

David was not scared of the dragon at all!

I had to post this! This man came up and just asked me randomly to take his picture and email it to him(I haven't emailed it..too scared!) WEIRD!

Look at those powerful claws!

Still "egg" shaped!

I hope I don't have nightmares about the komodo dragon tongue...seriously gives me the heebie-jeebies!

Twins for a Day

2011-09-01T01:01:00.000-04:00

While at the zoo, Benjamin once he woke up decided that he wanted to walk. So we put David who is six weeks younger than Grace in the double stroller with Grace. Everybody thought they were twins...it was easier not to correct people, so they got to be twins for the whole day!

Look at those smiles! I must say they made the cutest set of twins!

David liked having a bar to kick his feet up on!

How cute is he!?!?!

So somebody please tell me why it is that boys always get to have thicker heads of hair earlier than girls? Poor Grace is still a baldy(as was Katie, David's sister) and David(like Noah and Benjamin) has already had a haircut!! Seems unfair!

Grace is not a fan of the water misters!

See they even napped at the same time!

Lions and Tigers and oh, were there any bears?

2011-08-29T22:57:00.000-04:00

I absolutely LOVE taking pictures! I was thankful that Karen was willing to push the stroller many times so that I could snap away! I took 275 pics!! In just one day! You won't see them all since several are very similar, but the lion and the tiger made it very easy to snap away pics! Enjoy!

Vacation Bible School 2011

2011-08-22T01:26:00.000-04:00

I love our church! I really love how much of a family our church family is. When I was sick, I cannot tell you how many meals were brought to my house. How people took time out of their busy lives, were willing to take a day off work to watch the kids. I get teary even now months later to think about it. Even more, knowing how many were praying for us. Means the world to me. Meals, prayers, willingness...all things our church does well. Another thing Community Bible Church does well every year is Vacation Bible School! We always have a wonderful turn out and kids(that don't even go to our church) even come back to help when they are "too old" (are you really ever too old for VBS? I think not!). I had the privilege to be able to take pictures of the event and help as needed. I searched and searched for a song for this video. I really feel like VBS is a HUGE mission field. We get these kids for 2 1/2 hours a day, we gotta pack as much of God's love into them as we can and plant those seeds! I picked Go Light Your World because well, that is what we are doing! The pictures go VERY fast, but there are a lot so the other option was an 18 minute video!

Swimming at Joshua's

2011-08-20T00:08:00.000-04:00

We finally had a chance to go swimming with Joshua a couple weeks ago. Now the boys ask every day to go play with Joshua. Noah and Joshua have been buds for a while, but it's so cute now to see Benjamin really admire Joshua. There are TONS of pictures here(because we had TONS of fun!) I had a lot of trouble with focusing, so lots of the jumping pics are blurry, they were too cute not to post though! We will have to try again another time!

Joshua clearing Noah's head!

Grace had a blast with Joshua's Grammy, Mary. She really warmed up to her and as you can see, was quite the little ham!

High Five! She loves to give high fives and even says "hi-fi"

Pillsbury anyone?!!?

The ruffles on this swimsuit are just too much! I love it! And I think babies in bikinis is hysterical with their fat round bellies and roly poly thighs...def the only ones that can get away with that!

Joshua turns FIVE!

2011-08-19T23:58:00.000-04:00

Joshua turned 5 this month and we went to his birthday party before camp. We all had a blast...swimming, jumping, hanging out with friends, and celebrating this cute little guy! Just can't believe he is FIVE already!

I can only guess that he was boiling in his transformer suit. I asked him to smile for a picture and this is what I got. A very forced smile...he was a little busy playing with all his friends!

Tiny Toad

2011-08-19T23:45:00.000-04:00

Noah has recently taken an interest in toads. I just love watching him with his little toads. He is so gentle with them and has a lot of fun watching them jump, building a home for them, and even turning them free.

How sweet is this!?!?

♥♥♥

Classic Boy! Love it!

Grease Monkey!

2011-08-19T23:28:00.000-04:00

Noah came inside the other day after helping Daddy..."Mom! Look!"

How cute is he!

Little monkey!

2011-08-19T23:25:00.000-04:00

Grace is a monkey! I am not talking your typical climbing toddler. This girl is a CRAZY climber! The boys absolutely did not climb like her. I foresee her climbing out of the crib much earlier than the boys! She loves to climb on anything and always looks for something higher to climb up to. She is always on her music table, tries to climb on the dining room chairs, has tried to climb on shelves, the radiator heater! I don't know what we are going to do with this crazy monkey girl when she does actually learn to walk!

AWW! Kisses for the bubbers!

Race 2 & 5 miles

2011-08-18T00:40:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, I ran my 2nd race in my journey to complete 33. I was not sure why I signed up for it since we had just gotten back from camp the day before where I had run one time that whole week. I also hadn't been eating the greatest or drinking water like I should have. All of that together with the fact I was running this one alone had me convinced I would not run as well. I had borrowed Justin's stopwatch to at least hopefully help me not do too bad on time. I just have to say 1st miles are always the worst. The entire time all I can think is "why am I doing this?" or "I'm not even gonna be able to run this whole thing." I really wish 1st miles didn't exist! However, I was pretty happy at the 1st mile to be at 9:25 on the stopwatch. I really tried to keep up the pace in the 2nd mile since I knew I was doing better than I thought. Then, I was really excited to hear them yell my time at the 2 mile mark as 18:55 when my stopwatch said 19:24. I was a little bummed that they didn't have the big time clock right at the finish where it's visible as you are coming in, but the combo of not enough water, not enough sleep, and not enough preparation really was kicking in at the finish anyway and though I pushed as hard as I could, I really felt like I was gonna puke. Somehow, I still managed to kick it up a notch when I heard them say 30:13 to the runner in front of me. I am excited to say that I shaved ONE second off my time! 30:15 is my new PR!! Yeah, I know that's not great, but I am ok with that and it felt great to be heading home when most people are getting out of bed and knowing that I had already run 3 miles! Two races down, thirty-one to go!!

FIVE miles! That was my goal yesterday morning. I wasn't really feeling it, but I knew I needed to try anyway. I really almost didn't do it when Benjamin was begging me not to leave. Thank goodness for Kipper! I put an episode of Kipper on and headed out the door. Joel and I had mapped out 2.5 miles out from the house on the new bike trail and it's always fun to try new routes. Of course, there was that 1st mile, but I felt like I fell into the "I could run forever" feeling fairly quick. I absolutely LOVE that feeling!! I have waited for it for a while...feet pounding the pavement, breaking a good sweat(I'm talking the kind you know is burning fat cells!), breathing is not labored, my music(I had my own Sony for this run...I can only run long with my music{read: Lincoln Brewster}). It was a perfect morning. I always process when I get to the turn around point, "now I only have to run what I've already done". Around the 3-4 mile point I wanted to stop and walk, but after a thorough assessment(breathing: unlabored, legs: mildly sore, stomach/sides: no pain) I realized I must keep going(plus when you are that far out you realize it would take longer to walk home than to just run). Once I hit the park, I knew I could do it...less than a mile...and as I always tell myself, "anyone can run a mile". I canNOT even describe to you the feeling of accomplishment that running those 5 miles gave me! I admit I was tempted to be disappointed with my time, but then I gave it a second thought and reminded myself that FIVE miles is FIVE miles!!

If you have read this whole post(I realize it's boring) and you are thinking, "I could never run". I want to tell you that you absolutely CAN! I know what it's like to only be able to run for a minute and I know what it's like to run for 90 minutes(though that was a LONG time ago). It's a process, but a fun one! Just try it!

Please don't eat my skirt!

2011-08-17T07:58:00.000-04:00

Benjamin has never been good with his colors. As a matter of fact, for the longest time, he would just wildly yell, "COLOR!" anytime we asked, "what color is this?" We switched to giving him choices for a while. It helped. He is getting them and sometimes I really wonder what he knows because he gets odd ball colors right ALL the time and red, blue and green wrong a LOT still. Oh well, I am in no way worried, we still have a solid 3 years before school starts to teach him his colors! Well, this morning I took the opportunity to teach him his colors while I folded some laundry. I would give him two choices and he was getting a lot right. I also find it funny that he assumes all pink clothing is "sister's". It's also fun that he knows his own clothes from Noah's clothes. He is really very observant! We came to my skirt and I didn't even give him a choice yet. I held it up and said, "what color is this?" He didn't hesitate for a second, "CHOCOWATE!" I couldn't argue with that one, my brown skirt is the exact color of chocolate! I laughed and hugged him and praised him relentlessly! Seriously, he is the cutest little 2 year old boy and I just love spending my early mornings with him!!

Impromtu Photoshoot

2011-08-15T00:33:00.000-04:00

So we have had lots of life to catch up here on this bloggy thing...but I couldn't resist editing these pictures with this trial software(I only have 30 days with it, gotta get my use out of it!) I am definitely going to be having some fun with in the next 30 days with this program(wherever I can find the time anyway!). Anyway, there is a funny story behind these pics...the kids were going to Grandma's so that we could go out on a date(a REAL date! Been a while!) I put Grace in {gasp} boy overalls!! Benjamin saw her in them and ran and got his own overalls out insisting to wear them!(So ridiculously adorable!) Noah, then seeing they both had overalls, remembered that I told him I had finally found him some and asked for his! (Ugh! I just can't take this sweetness...that they actually WANT to be dressed alike!) Well, of course I think it was the cutest thing ever(even if Grace does look like a boy!), but you can be the judge! Enjoy!

Favorite!

If only Noah had been looking...sigh!

Thought it was sweet how her brother's are adoring her! If you view it larger you can see Benjamin is smiling! = )

I can never decide if b&w or color is better with overalls!

You will be seeing more from this shoot! I promise! = )

So in LOVE with life...

2011-08-05T22:59:00.000-04:00

I have no pictures to share tonight, but I have wonderful memories that I want to put on here so that I can read them and smile weeks, months, years from now...

I LOVE it...

when Benjamin declares, "I am a WILD(insert deep growl voice) man!"
that Noah giggles so hard he can hardly stand when we are pillow fighting. :D
that both boys work so well together to "take Mommy down"
Benjamin's deep belly laugh(we have even been stopped in stores by people telling us what an incredible laugh he has)
when Noah says, "I don't think laying on me and tickling me is a good idea...I NEEEEED to go POTTTTYY!!!" heehee
when Benjamin pulls up both knees and full body jumps on whoever he is tackling...NO RESERVE!
that Noah still gets the hiccups when he giggles too hard(he ALWAYS had the hiccups in utero..guess he laughed a lot in there)
that Noah takes such great pride in tackling me only to want me to dump him off and start all over
that after all the tackling, tickling, wrestling, pillow-fighting, giggling & jumping, they want me to snuggle with them!

These boys are so fun...even though I have been questioning my ability to effectively parent boys(I just don't understand boy minds...even Joel's), I am so thankful for these 2 boys that God gave me and for the wisdom that He will give me to parent them to grow up to be men of God(which is above all what I want for them.) I pray that what they lack in manners and overall gentleman-ness(not for lack of effort in teaching), they make up for in Godliness and spiritual growth. Noah trusted Jesus as his Saviour at an early age and we pray for growth for him daily. We pray that Benjamin(and Grace, too) also will trust Jesus as Saviour at an early age!

14 months and Watermelon Day!

2011-08-03T23:27:00.000-04:00

National Watermelon Day was today and today happened to be Grace's 14 month birthday! Grandma had a watermelon themed party through Child Evangelism(more pics of that fun to come later!) Grace didn't get to participate much, but I put her in her adorable watermelon outfit that Grandma got for her. It's so cute and has a watermelon pocket that says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."

Tooth count at 14 months: 6(soon to be 8...she gets her teeth in 2's!)

She really enjoyed the watermelon!

This little girl is such a joy in our lives. We are currently working to figure out how to deal with her with discipline. For the most part, she is so much more sensitive than the boys ever were. She gets her heart broke just with a simple "No". It's tough...but we are getting there. We are working on sign language and she is doing fairly well(when she wants to). We are also learning patience which apparently is difficult at any age! She has become so interactive with her brothers lately...I will have to post some pics of that soon. She loves to "take 'em down" and give lots of hugs and kisses. It's so cute to see how much she adores them!

Whopper-jawed

2011-08-03T00:10:00.002-04:00

Since having surgery/endoscopy in May, I have had more trouble with headaches over the past couple of months. I have also had more pain in my jaw than I was typically having. So on Monday I went to a dentist who specializes in TMJ where my family doc referred me. I was under the impression that this was just a get acquainted-see how bad it is visit...an hour and a half later...I was calling Joel to say that it'd be another half hour! So basically, the dentist says my picture is in the dictionary under "TMJ"...Joel says I should ask for royalty payments(maybe it'd cover the cost of the treatment)! Honestly, I was amazed by this dentist...within minutes of watching me talk, he was able to peg exactly where my pain was worse, which way my jaw was out, how my headaches come on and why...then on exam he asked, "so what's the story with the whiplash?" I quickly told him that I had never had whiplash, then minutes later remembered that I indeed had been in an accident in 2003 and never gone to the hospital! They asked about blows to the face, which I said no to until I remembered being in high school on a bus and a crow bar fell off an overhead rack and swung down and hit me in the face! NICE! Shoulder pain, ringing in the ears(tinnitus for my nursing friends), itching in the ears, headaches...this dentist knew his stuff...he described my symptoms better than even I could have(I did not think shoulder pain or ear ringing was related to my jaw!) So apparently, my C2 vertebrae is rotated and is where the headaches are coming from. My jaw opening is 29cm(normal is 45-55cm). So all that to say I am WHOPPER-JAWED! I will soon be wearing some sort of (very expensive) mouth piece/bite guard thing to realign my jaw and end the headaches! I am so thankful that my mother-in-law called me the day she found out Dr. H was taking new patients! The timing of finding a family doc has been impeccable, as God's timing is always PERFECT! I know that God has provided excellent docs and excellent care for me and I know that God is going to provide in His time and in His ways for the treatments necessary. God is good ALL the time!

Notable numbers!

2011-08-01T22:45:00.000-04:00

My 1000th post! I just happened to notice that I was close to 1000 so I chose this to be my 1000th! Today, August 1st marks 18 months until my 33rd birthday. I know what you are thinking...big deal! Well, it is a big deal! Three happens to have always been my "favorite" number(don't ask, I'm still not sure how you can choose a favorite number!). Well, since turning 30 was kinda crappy and 31 wasn't any better, I decided to make 33 a milestone! I am setting a goal to run 33 races before my 33rd birthday!! I have wondered if I was crazy, but I decided to just go for it...maybe I will fail miserably, but since races are so exciting, I'm guaranteed to have some serious fun in the meantime! My 1st race of 33 was on Sat, July 30th with my running bud, Hope! We ran the Simply Women 5k...a race for girls only! No boys allowed(well, only in the cheering section!) Unfortunately, our boys(husbands) could not be there! : (

Here we are right after the race...red, sweaty faces and all(of course, Hope is still gorgeous as ever)! It was Hope's first 5k and she did so great! Actually, I am quite proud to say that we finished in the top 1/3 with a time of 30:16!!!!!!!!!! We shaved 3 to 4 minutes off our time...that's 10%!! That's gonna be tough to beat, but I am confident that we will! I don't know if I will be able to talk Hope into running all 33 races with me, but I'm certain she will join me for some more! They are addictive!! Here are a few of the races on the calendar for now...if you'd like to join me for one, I'd love to have the company! : )

Race 2: Run for the Orphans 5k

Run 3: Dayton Dragons 5k

Run 4: Popcorn Festival 5k

Run 5: Mum Festival 5k

BFF!

2011-08-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

Ok, so forever is a long time and they are only 1...but I love the possibility my kids have of having lifelong friends within our church family...warms my heart, I tell ya! I never lived in the same place for more than about 5 years, so I don't really have any friends that I have known since birth...but I love the idea of it for my own kids! Grace and her friend, Sophie were so cute in their red, white and blue that I had to take pics of them...apparently, though, two 1 year olds aren't any more cooperative than a 6,2, and 1 year old! Memories!

This one cracks me up!

Sophie is so sweet with Grace!

This one is so sweet!

At least they are cute and patriotic!

4th of July

2011-07-28T00:10:00.000-04:00

Have I ever mentioned how impossible it is to get pics of THREE kids!??! I only thought it was hard with just 2! Here are some more pics to prove the impossibility of getting pics of THREE kids...good thing I'm determined...some day I will conquer the challenge! :)

Benjamin is "smiling" and "saying cheese"...at least his idea of it!

Grace is trying her hardest to escape Noah's grip!

When is Jessica coming?

2011-07-26T17:49:00.000-04:00

This summer a gal from church, Jessica, has been babysitting for us while I get some hours at work. It has been a great arrangement...the kids LOVE her and it's so much less stress to have someone come to the house rather than packing up a ton of stuff and she says she is enjoying them too! I have great memories of my own babysitting days and know how much I loved the kids I watched and am so happy for my kids to have Jessica in their lives. I need to snap a picture of Jessica with the kids someday before I go to work...these are pics she took while watching them! Noah knows that Jessica comes on set days, so he constantly asks if it is that day yet. Benjamin asks "when is Jessica coming?" multiple times a day, especially at bedtime!

I am assuming that Benjamin wouldn't let sister have popcorn so she cried...at least he gave her the binky!

Benjamin was crying for me one day when I left for work(it was a day with daddy, but I had already worked 3 other days that week). That evening I got home and Joel was putting them to bed, Benjamin came over and gave me a hug and kiss and I said, "I missed you while I was at work today." Benjamin sweetly leaned his face in close to mine and said, "Mommy." I expected a sweet little I miss you too, but instead, he finished, "I miss Jessica!" OUCH! I would be jealous if it didn't feel so good to have such a great babysitter that you never worry about your kids while you are at work! Thank you, Jessica! We are going to miss you tremendously when you go back to school!

New Haircuts!

2011-07-25T23:59:00.000-04:00

Noah loved having a mohawk last summer for a short time...and I have to admit, he pulled it off and was still so stinkin' cute! He has been asking for a reverse mohawk(which he makes up a new name for on a regular basis!) this summer! I am not necessarily into mohawks even, so going really crazy with a reverse one wasn't happening...thankfully these boys are so cute they can pull just about anything off!

Noah loved it when I was finished cutting it! He couldn't stop looking in the mirror!

Benjamin had vehemently declared he did not want a haircut while Joel and Noah were getting them...that is until he saw Noah's haircut and then he committed whole heartedly! One of the things I love most about Benjamin...he is either IN or OUT, no wavering here! Joel said right away that Benjamin looks menacing with the mohawk...several people have alluded to this since...sigh, I think that is just going to be something he deals with all of his life! He is just so BIG! A formidable force!(that's actually what I think of when I look at some pictures of him!) He is really so tenderhearted though, he will be like a Great Dane...a gentle giant! :)

A Bubble Party!

2011-07-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

Megan turned ONE on July 10th and we got to celebrate with her on the 16th with an adorable Bubble Party! The theme was adorable and perfect for a first birthday! It was a fun party, but sadly, my camera battery died only a short time into the party...before the Birthday Girl was even up from her nap! So sad! She was so cute in her personalized, monogrammed outfit too! You can see pics of her on her blog...here!

Joshua on the slip'n'slide!

or the surf'n'slide!

Tyler on the slip'n'slide!

BUBBLES! Shannon had bubble stations set up...this huge wand was one of them!

Happy 1st Birthday, Megan!

Megan's party hat that Shannon made for her! So cute!

These tissue pom poms were a perfect decoration! Might have to steal this idea sometime!

And the plates made adorable bubbles!

The birthday banner!

Another bubble station...if you look closely, you can see the bubble around the boys!

I'm surprised Dave doesn't have any extra piercings after this stunt!

Grace goes down the slip'n'slide...

Grace hates the slip'n'slide! Poor girl!

Happy Birthday, Megan! We had fun celebrating with you and hope for many more birthdays to celebrate with you!