Happy Birthday Evan!!!

Woohoo! Today is Evan's 5th birthday. Time sure does fly...but you all know that. I'm excited for him, I'm excited for us, but I think it's hard for a Mom to watch her first born grow up. I remember when we found out we were pregnant for the first time and how excited and nervous we were...no more doctors telling me I may not be able to have kids! Ha, we showed them ;). 5 years ago today was a crazy, hectic, scary and exciting day. Evan was the first grandchild on both sides of our family. Our families were in the waiting room waiting for the news of if the baby was a boy or girl. When he was born, Brian and I had our first moments with him. It was wonderful and overwhelming. He went down to the waiting room and told the family that we have a boy, and I could hear the screams of excitement down the hall while I was laying in bed holding my new son. It was incredible.

Now it's 5 years later, and he's just been a joy. We're still new parents with him, growing and learning with him every day, and its been fun. Here's a fun Evan story from a couple days ago.

Brian was outside cleaning the shed and Evan was helping. Evan thought it was a good time to ask about God. Brian explained the best he could to a 5 year old, saying that God can see us everywhere and is with us all the time. Evan couldn't quite grasp the fact that God can see us everywhere...so he went into the shed and said, 'God can't see me in here!'.

Happy Anniversary!

13 years ago today marks the day that Brian 'asked me out'. I was just 15, he was 16. I remember that moment like it was yesterday, I felt so nervous and shocked that someone like him would be asking me out! The song 'I can love you like that' was playing on K102. He was wearing black jeans, a t-shirt with a cow on it and a black and white flannel, he also had his black Duke hat. I was in blue jeans a blue t-shirt and a jean vest (I know...I was stylin'). We were sitting on my cousin's couch, he was sitting back and I was leaning forward. He was on my left side. At 11:06pm, he made his big move, 'will you go out with me?'. My heart stopped. At 11:07pm, I answered, 'yeeeaaahh'. The rest is history =).

It puts a smile on my face looking back and seeing all we've done and accomplished. We survived being high school sweethearts and all the high school drama that goes with that. We survived his 4 years of college life and my 1 year of tech school life. We survived me working at a company in St. Paul while he was still in college. We survived the long and crazy farming hours. We survived our wedding plans that took 2 1/2 years. We survived our wedding! We survived home ownership. We survived going through rough pregnancies. We survived deciding for me to be a stay at home mom. We survived the decision for him to own his own insurance agency. We survived, and are still surviving, parenthood. We've survived every sacrifice we've made. We've survived the past 13 years of our life together, with all that we've been through and all that we have, it couldn't be any better.

He is my rock. He is who comes home every day from work and greets us all with a hug and kiss. He is who says 'I love you' countless times during each and every day. He is who spoils me rotten by letting me sleep in on weekends when I can and makes me breakfast. He is who the perfect father is. He is who is so helpful and does everything in his power to make sure I'm happy. He is who I can look at every day and know that he loves me, and I love him. He is who is my 100% supporter in everything I do. He is who is strong, compassionate and caring. He is who takes care of his family. He is who has made me the person I am today. He is handsome. He is loving. He is loved. He is supportive. He is strong. He is amazing. He is my husband. I couldn't be more proud of him.

13 years ago today, marks the beginning of our life together. Our story has been interesting, fun, comical, crazy...and our story continues.

Update - looong, there are pics =)

It's been a while since my last update, so here goes.

Evan's doing good, he's starting to open up more at school which has been great! He's so ridiculously shy. His newest thing is that he's been having a hard time with anxiety. He absolutely throws a fit and massively overreacts if something doesn't go right. We're working with him, but it's such a challenge since we don't have a clue as to how to fix it! Other than that, he's doing good :)

Mason's doing good as well. He's just Mason. He cracks us up daily and does the funniest things. He's starting to think he can use the toilet, and he tries, and he's been successful at times. However, I just haven't taken the complete time to potty train him. I think if I actually did take the time, we'd have 2 kids out of diapers. I don't know why I haven't tried harder...maybe this will be my motivation! Duh - 2 out of diapers?! HELLO!!!

Carter's doing great. He was baptised on November 8th and it was so fun! Brian's sister and her husband are his Godparents and the service went really well! =) He's such a fun baby. I'm still nursing him which is going well, except for when he goes through his growth spurts and I have a hard time keeping up! He's growing like crazy and smiles all the time! He's figured out his hands and that they do things, and that in itself has been hilarious. The day he found his hand, I was in the car with the kids, he was crying and all of a sudden was very quiet. I looked back and he was staring at his hand - he stared at it for about 5 minutes. Seriously! It was really cute. Anywho, he's playing with toys, grabbing his feet, removing his socks all the time, rolling to his side (he's rolled over a handful of times), laughing, playing, talking, putting things in his mouth and just being super fun all the time!

Brian's doing well, he still has his headache friend...or shall I say enemy?? Maybe we should name it something...like farnuckel. I may have to get that approved. Not too much is new with him. He's busy busy and that's about it.

I'm doing pretty good. I'm struggling with my weight of course. But this is the worst struggle I think I've ever gone through. I'm a stress eater and that sucks. At least with nursing I haven't gained weight (except for that 3 lb buffer), but I'm not losing - which is what I need to do!!! Oh well. I was involved in a boutique yesterday with my jewelry business and that was a really nice time! I got to hang out with my cousin and my sister in law who were also involved in the boutique! I also had a jewelry show last Wednesday night and it was really fun! My last show was 5 months ago, so I was a bit rusty, but regardless it was still a good time and it was a great show! My hostess is getting a ton of free jewelry! I'm hoping to get some more shows on the calendar...I'm also hoping I can do a 'mock show' for some friends so I can get some practice and advice :) Anyone want to help???

Here are some pics from our adventures:

Dadisms

Brian is getting the boys ready for bed, they got pj's on, then it was time to brush teeth and use the bathroom. Evan decided it was the time of the day to do his duties...so he climbed up on the toilet, and Brian took Mason in there to brush his teeth (nice picture, huh?!). I'm out in the living room playing with Carter on the floor and this is what I hear:

'Evan, we don't play on the toilet like that, now put your shirt down and poop!'.

I guess you know you're a parent when you say things like this :). I have been hysterical ever since and just had to blog about it.

Have a good night.

Until next time...

Wow...have we been busy!

It's been a very long time since my last post! We have been so busy! We were hard at work with our haunted house stuff, and I am happy that it's over :). It's a long process, but it turned out great (www.nightmaregrove.blogspot.com)! We had a fantastic turnout and we have a lot of great food donations for the food shelf! I've also been going into work 2 nights a week, and it's been going really well. I'm enjoying my time away working outside the home, but I do miss my boys.

I had Evan's conferences on Friday (I know...nice add to our crazy Halloween day!) and the teacher said he's doing really well. He's very shy, but he's starting to warm up and get much better! So that was nice to hear :)

Mason's been doing well. We've been trying to keep him healthy and away from cold stuff - every time he gets a little runny nose, he ends up with an ear infection. Poor kid's going to be immune to amoxicillin before he's 5! Other than that, he's been just a riot. He cracks us up every day with his stories and actions. He's a funny kid.

Carter's doing great! He's 4 months old now!!! He's smiling up a storm, giggling, rolling from his tummy to his back and always wanting to be held. His 4 month appointment is this Wednesday, so we'll see how he's doing health wise there :). He's cute as a button and we're all loving him to pieces :)!

As far as hubby and myself...same old same old! I haven't really had much of a chance to sit and chat with hubby for a while due to the Halloween chaos and work. We're hoping to cuddle up tonight and enjoy a movie - if we can stay awake! I'm doing pretty much the same, just very busy with 3 kids, work and avoiding the scale ;). The darn Halloween candy is so easy to grab...ugh! Oh well, I'll get there!