Finally we got some family pics

So after being married for 10 years and the oldest grandchild being six, it was time for a family photo. We kept on meaning to do it and never did. So when we came for a visit in July, I got everyone together for a super fast and cheap photo shoot. My dad took the pics. Thank you Dad! And we went to a local state park. So here are the fruits of my labor. I think they turned out really well. It was a really hot day so everyone was uncomfortable and wanted to get it done really fast. We had a lot of fun and I really appreciated everyone's cooperation. Thank you! Love you guys!!

Blake would not stop making that silly face. I have to admit that it's a really cute face but it got into about 85% of the pics. Lovely. All we need are a few, right?

Love this one. I just wish Ethan was in it.

Mommy does not like Kindergarten!

Mommy does not like this at all. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I'm not sure I'll ever like this. One, I miss him and two, it makes me feel old. Like I'm a real mom now because I have a kid in school. Weird! Can you see the lack of makeup. Yeah I knew I would cry. I tried so hard not to. I made it all the way back home and then sobbed the second I got in the house. Ethan was excited though. A little nervous but very excited. His school is from 8 til 2 so not a terribly long day but definitely too long for me. I miss him so much. I hate that I can't be there to protect him, help him, and make him feel secure. I hate that I have to trust the teacher to do that. We've already had some issues. One kid called him a baby because Ethan rode in the bike trailer one day to school. So now everyday he wants to ride his bike or walk instead. That made me so mad! This is pure torture! I can't wait til summer comes back! I'm so proud of Ethan though. I know he'll do well and learn so much!

This is Gizmo, the class pet! Ethan loves lizards so he was really excited that he got the class with the bearded dragon.

Need blogger help

Does anyone know how to center my title? I've tried what the blog told me to do and I tried what the site said from where I got my background but neither worked. What do I do? :(

Look Whoo's Turning 3!

Can you believe it? My little guys is actually 3 years old. It makes me so sad to see how fast it goes by. It actually makes me think about having another one. I know, I know. I must be talkin crazy talk. I won't have anymore but it does make you want more.

Anywho, I wasn't going to do a party or make a fancy cake for his birthday since we had just moved and were still getting settled in but you know me. I can't help myself sometimes. So we invited two new families that we have met that we just love and the neighbor kid that keeps coming over and had a small get together. No games. Just cake and ice cream. I didn't even make the cake from scratch and I only used what I already had. So I definitely made it a lot easier on myself and didn't get all crazy like I usually do.

I had a hard time coming up with a cake idea because it seems like the only thing that Blake likes to talk about these days is poop. No one wants to eat a cake that looks like poop. So instead I went with the only other thing Blake is really into. Owls! I loved making this cake and better yet, Blake thought it was awesome. He calls owls hoot hoots. It's a long story.

So on his third birthday, besides the love of owls and poop, these are the three things that I want to remember about Blake.

First - You absolutely love playing with Ethan. He is definitely your best friend.

Second - You love your family soooooooooo much. All of them!

Third - You're CRAZY! You have a crazy sense of humor, love crazy rides and you are crazy messy.

I wouldn't take my Blakers any other way. Love you so much Blakers!

I made this owl out of fondant and gumpaste. Isn't he cute?

Seriously love this boy!

Egg Hunts Galore!

We did not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 Easter egg hunts. Insane! We feel pretty lucky that we have so many activities to do around here. The first hunt was at the community center down the street with tons of kids. The following three pics are from that one. Wait til you see what Ethan won. Boy was he excited!

Easter craft with the high school volunteers.

Selena and the Easter Bunny had to be like body guards to all those Easter eggs and protect them from the mob of 1 to 5 year olds. That's just a portion of the eggs. There were at least 500 all together.

Ethan and his Grand Prize! He won a bike! Amazing! The new kid on the block won the grand prize. There was one for a boy and one for a girl. Ethan was so sweet though and gave it to Blake since he already had one. The funniest thing though was that we had walked to the community center so Daddy had to carry it all the way home. It's a good thing daddy is so strong and that we don't live that far away.

So here is Easter egg hunt 2. This one was with a neighborhood moms group that we were invited to. They were really sweet and there are usually a lot more kids. The are two groups. One for 5 and up and one for the younger ones. We were obviously with the younger kids this day. The kids were really cute and the moms were so nice. Even a grandma came to help out and she was super cute.

Aren't they sweet?

For hunts 3 and 4 I don't have still pics. Hunt 3 was with the ginormous primary at church. They had a primary activity on Saturday and both Ethan and Blake got to participate. They had so much fun. They made easter bags that you can see on the last post and came home with their first silly bands which they've already forgotten about. Then of course the last hunt was at home where the Easter bunny hid 4 golden eggs. The kids were so cute. They thought that was the coolest thing. Oh and he left them golden bunnies just like from the movie Hop. Which if you haven't seen yet you should. I didn't think I'd like it but it was so cute and pretty funny.

So that was pretty much our Easter. Lots of fun getting to know lots of new people. Oh and answering lots of questions about what Easter is really about. How was your Easter? Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed day!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone! This was our first holiday on our own and I think we did a pretty good job. Believe it or not Dad, but I actually made it to church on time. I know it's a miracle.

Thanks to a beautiful young woman named Maddie, that the kids already love for taking this picture for us. She did a great job. This is right outside the church. Oh how I love this weather! I wish I had gotten a picture of my shoes for you Mom. They are really cute!

My handsome boys right before church. Just before Blake got strawberries all over him without us noticing.

We were going to have dinner at our big fancy table but there is carpet under that table. Blake eating and carpet are not good ideas together. Just ask the grandparents.

I actually made a holiday dinner all by myself. Another miracle! I know it's an easy one, but most of you know that I am the worst cook. This meal should make Nana Patterson really proud.

Here's most of our Easter eggs. Two of them are missing. The boys had so much fun dying these. They put stickers and glitter all over them too. I love this tradition. We tried to make a black egg but it just came out a really pretty green. We forgot to add the pink before it got dumped.

Easter baskets the kids made at the primary activity.

Blake and Ethan watching Tom and Jerry movie, an Easter present, and laying in their sleeping bags, also an Easter present.

The last miracle of the day though is the best. My brand new niece was born today. What a wonderful day to enter the world. She's here because of our Savior and we could not have asked for a better gift than her on this day. Congrats Ryan, Holly and Vivi!

Ethan's Sleep Study

Snore... z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z

Ethan had a sleep study done in the middle of December because he had gigantic tonsils and he snored a lot. The doctor's had asked me since he was a few months old if I had noticed any sleep apnea. I always said no because I never did. He snored but that was about it. He didn't jerk awake. He didn't stop breathing for long periods of time when I watched. He wasn't tired the next day and he didn't wake up multiple times at night. He did breathe funny at times. It was like he was breathing through a straw and it sounded like Darth Vader was in the house. Anyway we decided that we would put off the sleep study until we could afford it or it was necessary. We decided to just go ahead and do it this December because the doctor had talked about doing it as a way of seeing if Ethan's tonsils needed to come out. She was concerned that he would start kindergarten and get lots of strep throat and tonsillitis and have lots of problems because of how large his tonsils were. We really didn't think he had apnea. So when we went to the sleep doctor and she described hypopnea it sounded just like Ethan. It was the Vader breathing pretty much. It's where they don't stop breathing but don't get enough oxygen either. So later that night we went back to the clinic to do the study. The people there were awesome and really helped Ethan feel at ease. I didn't get any sleep but Ethan did really well. I still didn't think he had apnea. Well how stupid was I? Not only does he have sleep apnea, he has severe sleep apnea. Severe is greater than 10 respiratory events in a night. Ethan had 124! Are you kidding me. 18 times he stopped breathing and the rest were times that he got less than 50% oxygen. I can't even tell you the amount of guilt I felt. Needless to say I scheduled an ENT appointment that day to schedule Ethan's Tonsil and Adenoidectomy.

He had his surgery on Monday and he's been miserable since. He has a cold and a double ear infection on top of the surgery pain. Oy! Hopefully though this will all be worth it in the end and he won't have to sleep with a cpap machine.

I seriously don't know how he slept with all that stuff on him. He's such a good boy.

Frankenstein


He kinda looks like Rapunzzle.
P.S. I have no idea why that one section of text is bigger than the rest. I tried to edit it a million times and couldn't get it fixed. Anyone know why it can look one way while you're doing it than look another way once it's posted?

I love this quote

Quote of my life.

I am just a regular girl.

A wife who loves her husband, but doesn't always show it.

A mom who adores her babies, but runs out of patience.

A friend who cherishes her girls, but forgets to return calls.

A person so energized by being creative, but not without dry spells.

I am a homemaker who would rather rearrange furniture than dust it, repaint a bathroom than clean it, eat out than sit down and plan meals.

{Written by Emily}

All of that applies except the creative stuff. I have long dry spells with the occasional creative moment. The projects I start though never seemed to get finished. Why is that?

Inspiring

For anyone who doesn't read Little Miss Momma's blog her address is littlemissmomma.blogspot.com. She has a secrets series going on right now and it is incredibly inspiring. I love how honest this mother and her followers are. Just thought I'd spread the word about her blog. I just think she's great and she's got some cool crafty stuff on there too. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I'll post stuff about it soon.

I've gone pillow crazy!

You know I must be sleep deprived and stressed if I think I can sew up some pillows, but that's just what I'm attempting to do. First I'm trying to figure out what to do with the blue pillow.

Should I?

1: Do a silouette out of black felt of the kids on the pillow

2: Make a fabric flower

3: Or use ribbons to adorn it

What do you all think I should do? Oh and I'm slipcovering the couch in white fabric. Yup! I've lost my mind!

Oh and if you can't tell the fabric is just laying on top of the three pillows on the right.

Fire Truck Groom's cake

I was asked by an old co worker of mine to make a groom's cake for their wedding. This cake was fun to make but disaster happened. You only get to see one side of the cake because the other side has a nice little dent on it. Just as I was putting the finishing touches on it, it fell over. Luckily it was covered in fondant and it wasn't that bad and I could put it up against the wall. The bride said no one could tell but let me tell you, I had a mini heart attack that morning.

Ethan's Birthday/Halloween Party

So Ethan's party was a little late this year. Sue me. We were so busy that it got delayed, but I don't think Ethan minded. He thought it was awesome that his birthday party was also a Halloween party. We had all the kids come in their costumes, which was super cute ofcourse. Blake wouldn't wear his so this is the only pic of him in it.

Mom and I made Ethan's bald eagle costume out of felt and a sweat outfit. Thank goodness for Lacey. She gave us the inspiration for it all. Ethan asked me a while ago if he could be a bald eagle for Halloween.

I was like, "Ummm honey, mommy can't buy that and I don't know how to sew."

Ethan's response, "You'll do great mommy. I know you can do it."

Great. Now I have to do it.

He then said, "Just ask Miss Lacey to help you. She can do it."

True.

Miss Lacey is way more talented than I am but I don't think she's going to want to make your costume on top of the other three she's doing for her own kids.

So my mom and I went to work using Miss Lacey's parrot costume as our template. For anyone that doesn't know Lacey, she is my amazing friend and Ethan's best friend's mom.

I was surprised by how well it turned out. I cut out all of the feathers and my mom sewed it all together. Thank goodness for Nana. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And if you're wondering why Ethan wanted to be a bald eagle, it's because of the eagle sanctuary that we saw at Dollywood in Tennessee on our vacation. He's kind of obsessed with eagles.

This is what it looks like during gift opening. A mass amount of kids all running around and trying to see what he's opening. Definitely not organized chaos. I haven't figured out how to slow down the process or make it more organized yet but who really cares right? Ethan's last present was from his brilliant Aunt Sarah and cousins. His very first pets. Dwarf frogs. They are acutally really cool and come in their own, almost maintenance free, tank. All the kids crowded around to see this one. Their names are Hopper and Good Swimmer. I know, real creative, but that's how Ethan names his stuffed animals. By what they do and look like. He absolutely LOVES them.

Ofcourse it wouldn't be a party without a cake. Blake thought this cake was spoooooky!



We had fun decorating for this party too. Super simple and stuff we already had. Can't get better than that. Thanks to everyone who came. It wouldn't be as special without all of you.

As for my Ethan, here are 5 of the reasons we love you so much

You're so silly and make us laugh every day

You're so loving and cuddly. I love your constant hugs and kisses. Blake will learn to love them too, eventually.

You love to learn and because of that you are soooo smart.

You love adventures as much as we do and are always ready for a new one.

You're always so positive and you lift us up. Thank you!

We love you so, so, so much!

Happy Belated Birthday Baby, I mean Big Boy.

P.S. For all of those non regular bloggers, you can click on the pics to enlarge them and then hit the back arrow to get back to the blog.
Love you

Tests, tests, and more tests

So the latest on my sweet little Blakey is that he has finally reached 20 pounds. Haleluiah!!! I know that is so small, but it took us forever to reach that goal and I was super excited to finally get there. We went and saw a genetecist that we really liked and he filled our heads with all kinds of info. He told us about things I had never heard of before so I was really glad that we decided to go see him. He did the most thorough exam I have ever seen. He measured almost every part of Blake's body, including his pupils. He has ordered some tests to be done and we have to go see a pediatric ophthalmologist in the next two weeks. Yay!!! Heavy sarcasm! Just like the other doctors he didn't see any red flags right away which is good and bad.

Good because we are hoping that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him and that he can get growth hormone therapy and lead a normal life.

Bad because that means more tests.

He did mention a disorder that is extremely rare and said that we wouldn't test for that until we absolutely had to. But from what he said about it, it kinda sounds like Blake. I'm really hoping that it isn't that though. It's something to do with his growth hormone levels being normal but his growth hormone receptors being defective. I'm praying that's not it because it isn't very well studied yet and I don't know how that would effect his hormone therapy. So I'm going to try and not worry about it until I have to. Til next time God bless and I love ya all.

Pics I forgot from the Kennedy Space Ctr

They have a moon rock there that they let you touch. Face it. That's pretty rad.

Florida trip, Journal 1

Some of you might have thought we were crazy for driving to Florida with two little ones and especially overnight. Maybe we were crazy but it worked out great! The boys slept really well. Only one wake up and a little fussiness, mostly from the adults, but we drove thru the night and the rain with basically no problems. Thank you for answered prayers!!! We arrived in southern Georgia the next morning and stopped at a restaraunt where the waitress must have said "ya'll" over a hundred times. Seriously! We made it to Orlando by late morning after seeing why it's called the dirty south. We saw a truck in southern Georgia that was so covered in mud that we honestly didn't know what color it was.

We had arrived. Yay! We stayed at a Sheraton resort, I think, and it was Gorgeous!!! I have video of it but I've been waiting for Doug to turn it into stills. So maybe another day I'll show ya how amazing it was. You'll just have to trust me for now. It had four pools and some really cool kids areas. Our condo was pretty but who wants to stay inside when you're in Florida so instead of staying put and getting some much needed sleep, we decided to go out. Just then it started to rain. Just a light rain though, so we decided to go to the Kennedy Space Station. So glad we did. We had such a great time and most of it is indoors or on a bus so the rain was no big deal. Ethan was flabberghasted by the sheer size of things and the fact that they had actually been to space. If you've never been, it's definitely a must see. So amazing! The kids were so good and we got to see bald eagles and their nests which started Ethan's fascination with eagles. Did you know that the Nasa property is home to hundreds of bald eagles?

Ethan was speechless and soooooo excited to meet a real astronaut! Not really an astronaut but we didn't tell him that.