Easter Egg Hunt/School Fall Festival

My cute pictures from Easter day and a "fun special trip" with the hubs will not download onto my computer, sooo until that happens I will update on some of our other events recently.

Easter Egg Hunt:

First off the day before Easter, we had a fun breakfast at Cortina's "island park" (a small part of our neighborhood that is separated from the rest of us by Rittenhouse) and then an Easter egg hunt for the kids. The kids had Easter baskets in hand and were seriously prepared to find themselves some eggs :)

Robby and his buddy Jude crack me up with this running picture while still holding hands!  Robby is such our "friend" kid.  He is always on the look-out for a playmate at the park, constantly asks me when he gets to play with our street friends {aka: Jack, Tyler, Matthew and especially Luke}, asks me repeatedly when he gets to have his playgroup with Asa, Peyton and Jude, etc... so of course he was glued to Jude's side during the entire morning. They played Monster Trucks together {and lost yet another of our Monster Trucks}, ran around the playground like Superheroes, and of course ganged up together for the egg hunt. 

 Maddie on the other hand is such a free-spirited little girl.  Although she loves friends as well, she is perfectly content to hang out and do her own thing.  She constantly amuses herself with make believe in her mind, imaginary friends, playing gymnastics alone, and coloring pictures and making her own story books.  So she was bound and determined to go out on the Easter egg hunt all on her own and conquer as many as possible.

 Eli has faithfully remained the baby of the family.  He loves being "babied", cuddled, hugged and played with.  Faith (one of our neighborhood babysitters) loves him and is always coming over at ward get togethers and adopting him for a brief time.  He loves the attention and was happy to let her help him with finding his treats.

{Funny story: the other day Robby was in time out and I was talking to him about his behavior.  When I asked him if big boys throw tantrums where they kick and hit, Robby replied that only babies do indeed exhibit these traits.  Eli was in the background and immediately piped in with "Mommy, I baby Eli."  Took the seriousness to our conversation immediately away and I couldn't help but bust out laughing and reply with "Yes you are."  Which begs the question: If your child is old enough to tell you something like that, is he really considered a baby?

Yes I think he still is......

 After the kids were done finding there alloted sixteen eggs, or a few more if your name starts with R or M, they started a fun game of egg tosses.  Jesse and Br Taylor did pretty darn good with theirs, until the egg broke on J's shoe....gross. 

Cortina Fall Festival:

Every year our neighborhood school has a huge carnival complete with snow cones, rides, petting zoo's, bounce houses, you name it.  For years I have avoided going, because none of the kids knew anything about it.  This year was different.  Miss M knew ALL ABOUT the carnival and reminded me the entire week about it.  So when Friday night hit, off to the carnival we went.  We played on bounce houses, rode the teacups one time (Miss M and Robbs), visited the adorable petting zoo, rode the trackless train (boys), played a few games and of course stopped for snow cones before heading home.  We had some tired but very pleased children that night :)

{Robby looks so grown up in this picture.....he just recently grew into size 13.5 shoes}

My Entrepreneur

 This past Saturday we had a garage sale with our neighbors.  It was a LOT of work (more than I initially anticipated).  But it turned out to have two huge bonuses: First we made quite a bit more money than we thought and second Miss M learned how to have her very first lemonade stand.  I brought up the idea to her a few days before and she was more than willing to try it out.  At that point I don't think she really knew what she was doing.  On Saturday morning she came out fully dressed with a big smile on her face ready to sell some yummy lemonade and chocolate chip cookies.  She ended up having soo much fun and made a killing as well.  She now walks around telling everyone that she has more money than her Mommy and Daddy :)

We both {Miss M and I} cannot wait until the final garage sale we host in a month or so!!

Easter Pageant

 Maddie had fun pushing Eli in the stroller most of the way to the temple, she LOVES being the big sister!

 Robby was so proud of himself for carrying our pizza the "whole way" from the car to the temple grounds.  The end result: cheese completely shifted one side of the pizza and some lopsided dough but in exchange a ridiculously happy little boy!

Even though it was a little wild bringing all three kids with us, we had a lot of fun.  We actually haven't been in several years and this was the first any of the kids had seen the Easter Pageant (they each took their turns going as infants).  We thought it was the perfect way to start our Easter weekend celebration--especially since we won't be going next year to this.

Top Ten of Easter 2011

So as I sit at work (shhh) exhausted as can be, I thought back over this weekend on some of the real life funny things that happened.  Before I put up all the cute, fun Easter pictures showing what a "perfect" family we are, I figured I would come up with a real top ten of our Easter weekend fun:

10. Getting only four hours of sleep--blech, and having the kids come running into our room screaming "it's Easter" over and over until we finally had to respond to their incessant shouting. very happily I might add :)

9.  Going to the Easter pageant with THREE kids five and under.  Fun. Yes. Wild at times. Yes. During the scene where Jesus was crucified Eli began to yell loudly "Look Momma, Jesus died" and Robby chimed in with "Did Heavenly Father die tooo?"

8. Robby was equally perplexed at the end of the pageant when everyone came back out on the stage.  He couldn't understand why the bad men (aka Roman soldiers) were allowed to come back on the stage.  Papa reassured him that Jesus had risen and now all the people were good, even the mean ones.......nice

7. Going to church today at 10am as a family.  What did I get out of sacrament meeting today you may ask?  Well, I learned that Jesse's shoulder is the perfect place to rest my head, Robby can successfully dump an entire tray of bread quite easily because he can pass the tray "all by myself", the kids are fantastic at making messes pretty much anywhere we go, and I think my husband may have told me I was beautiful somewhere in my haze between sleep and reality. bliss right?!

6. I think I may have yelled at my son when he was trying to help a pretend rubber fishy swim back to the ocean through the toilet.  yep, that's right, up to his elbows in potty water and flushing with all his might.  The best part {not} is that earlier in the day Jesse was joking around to Robby about flushing the same fish down the toilet.

5. "Baby Scared": the phrase that Eli told me when I tried to make him practice swimming in the big pool at Grandma and Grandpa Sheffields on Friday.  He seriously cracks me up and somehow finagled is

4. Going super simple with Easter baskets this year. As in using dollar store Easter buckets for the kids, a broken basket for me from years past, and a small wood basket for Jesse that I am pretty sure was used at our wedding years ago.  Each basket had a very limited amount of candy inside and that was it folks.  At first I felt kind of bad when I was putting them together.  But then when I watched their cute little faces this morning, I realized they really don't care.  I think I may continue to keep baskets simple next year as well!

3. Egg Dying party that included Robby taking a nice sip of the green dye because "it looked yummy".  On the bright side, he now knows he does NOT like the taste of vinegar.  We only had about 3 mishaps with broken/cracked eggs, otherwise it egg dying went surprisingly well.

2. Making delicious Cadbery Mini Egg Cookies courtesy of Mrs Budge and her shared recipe.  All went well other than slightly burning the first two batches {I am the worlds worst baker...I swear I have ADD and cannot sit long enough to wait for the darn cookies to finish cooking}.  Luckily the hubby happily ate all those semi-burnt ones without a complaint!

1.  Crabbiness by this wifey at having to work yet another Easter.  I hate working holidays. There I said it.  Now that I got that out there, let me just say that I do appreciate having a job, I do appreciate being able to work 12 hours at a time thus allowing me to only work three days a week,  I do appreciate that I work a swing shift and don't have to be in to work until 1pm which allowed me to spend Easter morning with the kids, and I actually do enjoy working as a nurse; I just don't like feeling like I am constantly missing out on extended family get togethers, I don't like being so tired I can hardly function, let alone enjoy the Holidays, and I don't like being unable to make the Holiday's cute/special for my kids due to lack of time and energy.  All in all I look forward to the day that I can be home on Holidays and pick up shifts here and there and not depend on it as an income.  And there I said it and got it out of me :-)

Flashback to 2009

Just found these beauties on one of our old SD cards that I found in a pile of stuff.  I cannot believe how blonde my hair was that summer, how tiny little Eli was, how much the same Robby is and yet so much more mature.....

I still remember this day like it was yesterday.  We were invited over to swim at the house next door to my in-laws.  I remember thinking that it was the first time I had EVER been swimming with my in-laws at a regular pool [other than in Rocky Point].  It was super duper hot outside that day {a typical Arizona July summer day}, and my kids were literally stripping off their clothes in a rush to see who could get in the pool first.  Nona was pretty worried when both of the kids made it into the pool before any adults, and I gently reassured her that there was a reason why my kids took ISR survival swim lessons.  Maddie and Robby were such fishies and were swimming to and from people over and over again.  Eli was timid as always and did NOT like when he was dunked under water.  He was however extremely content in Papa's arms splashing at the water with his overactive little hands.  Robby loved sitting in the little blue swim chair and used it like his own personal boat, paddling to and fro with his hands.  I'm sure there were some fights and tears entwined into this swim date, but like always those moments are quickly forgotten.  The things I remember most were the togetherness that was felt as we splashed around, laughed and loved that day. 

{Below: a couple of pictures that were take the end of July 2009 on Papa's birthday.  I love that pretty much every year on Papa's bday, all the pics taken feature him with multiple children on his lap.  He truly is that kind of Grandpa that all the kids immediately latch onto and love....he has such a gentle heart and for that I am forever grateful!}

just a good day

At the moment, there isn't anything new to really post or add to my blog {at least that I am ready to share}, but as I was wrapping up the day I had the thought that today was a really good day.  After working the last two days, it was nice to relax, clean, play, do laundry, and in general enjoy the company of my children.  They weren't particularly good or bad in their behavior, but all in all we enjoyed each other.

random happenings today:

*it struck me that Eli's favorite phrase would have to be "all right".  It cracks me up when we reprimand him and replies with his famous phrase--making it pretty difficult to be angry with him

*Robby loved staying with daddy this afternoon and watching him work....and then head next door and swim with his buddy Jack

*running late for school again, but somehow making it to school on time with the Miss

*picking up the Highlander for the third time from the car repairman (hopefully third time is a charm?)

*watching Miss M do gymnastics while Eli happily played with his buddy Jameson, and seeing Maddie's excitement when she overcame her fear and did a handstand on the balance beam!

*coming home from lessons to Jesse freshly showered and smelling delish with the dinner already cooking in the oven :)

*playtime outside with the neighbor kids before dinner

*alone time this evening with pasttimes such as blog stalking, facebooking, catching up on my fave show "Biggest Loser" online

--hears to another "good day" tommorow as well!!

--and I especially love my mornings with Mr E.  We get the bigger kids off to school, and come home and have a relaxing time eating breakfast, and reading the paper.  He is quickly turning into a pro and is very demanding at wanting his fair share of the reading material!

Random March Happenings

March oh March, where have you gone?

Once again another month has flown by {and we are now WELL into April} and I am attempting to play catch up with my journal/blog on our whereabouts.  Here are just a few things we have done:

1. Spring Break for a whole week, which included lazy mornings of sleeping in until 9 or 10am for me :)

I love love loved this, especially since I don't go to bed until typically 2 or 3am because of work.

--it has been nice to have my older two kids become more self reliant as they grow older.  they are fantastic in the morning at getting themselves dressed, eating breakfast and either playing quietly downstairs or watching a movie until Mommy can drag herself out of bed!!  Luckily Eli is still in a crib and normally sleeps until around 9am as well--

2. Phoenix Zoo Trip over Spring Break with the kids.  We went on Tuesday, March 15th and it was so hot we probably spent a good 1-2 hours just playing the Splash Pad.  Other than losing Eli's shorts, it was a stress free, relaxing day together as a family.

3. Playing with the slip'n'slide in our backyard for three days straight.  The result= the kids LOVED it.  It was incredibly hot over Spring Break and so they all had a blast playing in the water to keep cool.  {we even hit 100 degrees that week!}  

4. Jesse competed as a solo in another Xtreme Outdoor Adventure Race.  He was a trooper and drove up to Moab, Utah on a Friday, raced on Saturday and as soon as he finished he turned around and drove back home.  He did great and had a blast {even though he had some generalized aching pains} and already is looking at when he can do another race.

5. Field Day at Miss M's school (pictures will be on another post).  It was so fun to follow her class around and watch them participate in all sorts of activities such as tug of war, hula hoop contests, 3 legged racing, etc.  Eli was a complete trooper and sat in the stroller the ENTIRE time. I had to work that night, so it was wonderful to spend time with my M while she was at school.

6. Two more birthday parties for Miss M to attend, including one at "Jump Street".  The boys were a little bit jealous that she went there {it's filled with long trampolines you can bounce down and do flips on}, so with our limited funds we went to McDonalds and then shopped at Kohl's with our coupons.  We found some adorable Adidas green flip flops for Robby {green is his fave} and a fun new Monster Truck toy.

7. And last and certainly least, my birthday.  It was a bit of a crazy day, being that I had playgroup at my house with 4 active boys, picked up carpool after school, frantically cleaned my house, and prepared food for an extended family dinner that night.  I think that when family got to my house, I was officially exhausted :)  It was fun to see everyone (especially my super busy working Momma).  Robby was cracking me up, because he kept telling me it was not fair that I got another birthday--apparently he was under the impression that I made off with two birthday parties this year.  silly boy

Playgroup at our house consisted of swimsuits, sunblock, slip'n'sliding, towel time, playing in the baby Crab pool, lunch outside on the towels. 

{perfect playdate} 

Robby, Jude Opfel and Asa Whitener...his buddies :)

My FAVORITE lunch item right now: french bread, pesto, mozzarella cheese, turkey lunch meat, and artichoke hearts all toasted up in my George Foreman. 

I was soo craving a chicken artichoke panini on my bday and an amazing thing happened.  I was blog hopping and stumbled across my dear cousin Ariel's blog where she had the idea to grill a cheese sandwich on her George Foreman.  I stole this idea and added a few more ingredients to come up with a Turkey Artichoke "panini" of my very own.  I was so proud of this that I had to take a picture; dorky I know but definitely delicious.  Jesse even tried a bite and proceeded to make himself a panina as well.  Since then, we have probably made some variation of this almost every other day!

And finally to my one and only birthday picture.  Yes, there were definitely more on my camera phone.  But I hate every single one and instead will settle for this one to pay tribute to my last year of my twenties.  {and yes, that is my twiggy husband in the picture with me :)}

Robby, Maddie and Eli snuggling together on the couch.

(this might possibly be my most favorite picture of the month= SO SWEET)

Did you know....

Miss Maddie is upside down more than she is right side up?

{thank heavens for our beautiful sunny days where we can spend all day outside playing gymnastics together!}

Comparison

Just some beauties I pulled off my parents computer.  The top picture is me (Tiffany) at two years old.  On the bottom is Maddie at two and a half years old {obviously taken just about three years ago}.  Please disregard the semi-puke inducing outfit that my Mom dressed me in---still <3 you Mommy :)

I think Miss M is much cuter than I ever was AND does not really look like me.

What do you think? 

Until another time....

I am beyond frustrated with my computer.  It officially stinks. I have been working on my 2010 blog book on that computer and now it has contracted several viruses.  I can't use the internet, am unsure how I will pull my partially complete blog book off, and can no longer used I-tunes or download new photos onto it.  Until it miraculously recovers, I found several of these beauties on the hubby's computer taken while yours truly was at the hospital working....

 Matthew, Jack, Maddie, Robby and Tyler

-in case I have never mentioned this before, let me just tell you, we have the bestest most favorite neighbors ever.  I feel so lucky to live around some of the best families out there.  We have tons of little kids in our cul-de-sac and I am so happy that my kids always have them around to play with.  I know this is a one of a kind situation, that makes it all the more difficult to have to say good-bye this summer.  My kids will never forget the friendship and laughter they have shared with their neighbor buddies.

 Eli borrowing one of the neighbors toys

This is living proof that my son attended the Monster Truck rally, thus his undying enthusiasm/obsession with those darn things.  Now if only we could keep from continuously losing the toy versions that would be great :)

I don't know about you.....

....but I am more than excited for warmer weather that should be heading our way SOON! I can't wait for those sweltering hot summer days, filled with lazy swimming, slurpees from our favorite convenience store, Route 44 Vanilla Dr Pepper for me, no school, our weekly "movie day" at the local theatre, playdates and of course tan lines!

So to all those nay-sayers that cannot stand the HOT summers in Arizona, I say BRING IT ON!!

Our Weekend

The past few weeks have been pretty hard for Miss M.  I have been working extra hours at my job, J has been crazy busy with some new projects at work as well as finishing up financial aid for school, last set of applications, and working on our taxes {must be done for the financial aid}; needless to say we have all been a little stressed at our household.  With my new schedule I hardly see the little Miss on the days I work and that has really impacted her.  The other day it broke my heart to see her sobbing in the car the ENTIRE way to gymnastics because "I hardly see you anymore Mom".  I was literally in tears as we arrived at her gymnastics, wanting so hard to take the pain away from her and make it all better.  Then she proceeded to ask me "why do other Mommy's get to stay home with their kids and you have to work?", which was followed by yet another discussion on Mommy working so that we can live in our house, have food, buy clothes, etc....

So when this weekend came I knew that it had to be the perfect family bonding, playing, laughing, togetherness type of weekend.  On Friday I worked yet again, but luckily I found another lady to come cover part of my shift from 5pm to 9pm so that I could come to Miss M's little gymnastics intersquad.  She was SO EXCITED that I could come watch you and I will never forget the look she gave me when I walked into her gym.  She ran right over and gave me the biggest hug saying again and again "you came!"  It was so much fun to watch her do her tricks, and other than forgetting part of her new floor routine, she actually did really well and got 1st place in her level.  The best part was that I got off a little earlier than expected {like 4:40pm} so I was able to meet up first with the boys at the mall and ride the carousel with them before heading to her gymnastics.  The intersquad ended up finishing around 7:30pm and then we all met over at my Mom's house and played together for another hour before I had to go back to work.  I LOVED spending time with my kids in the middle of my shift :) 

On Saturday we had another fun-filled, schedule packed day.  First, Miss M and Robby got up and played in their fort they built in the playroom until it was time to go to cousin Kaylin's birthday party.  We all {me and the three kids} headed over to Aunt Lori's house and had fun at her "Mickey and Minnie" themed party.  Once that was done, it was off to Hobby Lobby for a few fun crafty supplies and then back home.  At 2pm, Maddie went across the street to Abby's cute "Girls Only" birthday party {that is what Miss M told Robby it was}.  Although Robby was a little sad that he didn't get to go, he had fun playing with his Monster Trucks while the little E slept.  When Maddie was done with the party, we did a few chores and then I took all the kids on a "kid date night" to the movies.  We went over to San Tan Mall, played in the kiddie play area for awhile, stopped in the Children's Place for a few things, ate some Panda's Express at the food court, and then watched "Gnomeo and Juliet 3D" at the movie theatres.  I loved how Eli oohed and aahed at the big tv screen :)  The kids were really well behaved in the theatre and all seemed to enjoy the show.  After the movie was over, it was on to Target for some "lace up" shoes for Miss M and then back home for bed.  And for the icing on the cake, I even let Robby and Maddie sleep in their fort in the playroom last night.  Am I Super Mom or what?! {j/k}  Let's just say they went to bed WAY TOO LATE and still got up around 7:30am.  I think it might be quite awhile until I let them sleep in the fort again ;)

I am sure that this weekend will quickly fade from their minds, but I hope they never forget how much their Mommy loves them!  I know that I will never forget how much fun I had with them.  They are truly so much fun to hang out with and I always remind them that they are "pretty cool kids". 

Rob at Kaylin's Mickey Mouse party sporting his ears

Miss M with Minnie Mouse ears

 Eli is a total lover of the sweets and is always game for any opportunity to have treats

Thursdays

Thursdays are always a great day {at least in the morning before work}.  I drop off both my bigger kids at school/preschool--then playgroup and I have at least three glorious hours to hang out with my little guy!  He is a riot! Today he decided to try on daddy's gloves and was sporting these for probably at least an hour :)



February 2011

Wow has this month gone by fast.  It seems incredible to me that March is coming this week!  We had a busy month filled with business school interviews, lots of work for me {BUSY BUSY BUSY season in the ER}, cookie making with kids, endless cleaning/laundering, outside playtime with friends, family birthdays: Adam, Brett, Ben, and of course Robby, multiple friend bday parties--and many more to come this next month--, several kid sleepovers at Nona & Papa's house complete with raking/playing in leaves, etc.....

Don't you love the pictures you take that will someday become blackmail photo ops?! I love this cute picture of Eli going "pot-teee".  Are we currently potty-training? NOT a chance.  He is doing fantastic at sitting on the potty a few times a day and tinkling and has gone number TWO in the potty twice, but I am SO not ready to train another child.  We are thinking either this summer or fall.  For now it is too cute when he tells me he needs to go potty, but then we diaper that little bum right back up :)

This big boy cracks me up with his thumbs up!  He loves to give us this sign when things are good or when he is willing to do something for us {such as pick up his clothes and put them in the laundry hamper}.  What makes us laugh so hard is that he will reply with "okay Mom I'll do it...thumbs up!"

In these pictures he is giving us thumbs up after we asked him if he was ready to open presents at his extended family birthday party!

A lazy day at home with all three kids {no school for the Miss}.  My kids love to drag three chairs by the long side of the table so that they can all sit side by side :)

A blurry picture taken by Miss M of me and my Rubba's:

 Brett's TWENTY SECOND birthday party at the in-laws.  My bigger two kids were more than ready to help him blow out all those candles.

 These three pictures I stole off my sissy in-laws facebook photo album of the three kids playing in the leaves at their Nona & Papa's house.  They are loving having Friday night sleepovers here and there at the grandparents; seriously to a point where Robby asks us every single week when they are sleeping over there again.  Luckily is has worked out to where they do it on nights that I already work.  As you can tell, they are quite spoiled when they go over there :) 

This month, I officially lost out on capturing the "Mother of the Year" Award.  Somehow Maddie was late to school on the day they had class pictures.  She was seriously only about 10 minutes late, but by the time she made it into the gymnasium where they were doing the pictures they had just finished taking her classes.  She came home that day completely devastated.  It broke my heart to see her this way, so I quickly promised her her own photo shoot at home that night.  Here are just a few of her:

{it made me feel so bad when she said "but mom, I made sure I looked extra cute for pictures and then I completely missed them".  She told me she saw them getting ready to take her classes pics and tried to run up to the front, but by the time she made it up there they had just finished}



Blessed

Today was a wonderful day filled with visiting teaching two wonderful women with my awesome companion/neighbor, early release playdates, snuggling in bed early this morning with Robby, visiting Papa and picking up E's beloved blankie while the Miss went to gymnastics, $1.79 wacky packs for dinner and a LARGE Vanilla Dr Pepper for me {mmmmm...thanks for the reminder Emily}, kids willingly helping sort/fold/put away clothes without any complaints?!, late baths and fun Geotrax building before bedtime.  Although I am missing my Mr who is far away in New Hampshire, today was the kind of day that gives me an overflow of gratitude for my opportunity I have to mother and teach these three special spirits in my home.  I feel like have been so blessed to hear those little voices call out "Mommy" throughout my day and I cannot get enough of the kisses and hugs I am showered with. 

 Being the excellent visiting teacher that I am (not), I hadn't read the lesson for this month and somehow did NOT remember it from when my ladies came by and visited me.  During our visit today, Jamie talked about the importance of the Relief Society and I was so touched with her thoughts.  I have felt such a void in my life the last two years in this category particularly.  I have been either working or in nursery for almost two years at church and have really missed the promptings I feel in my heart during the lessons that are taught each week at Relief Society.  During this time I have worked during nearly every enrichment activity and thus attended few of these which has only made this longing more intense.  It has really made me feel disconnected from our ward friends.  {I still remember when I was officially called to serve in Nursery.  I had already been basically serving in there for the past six months due to some behavior issues with Mr R.  I remember Br. XXXX coming to the house and looking me straight in the eye and asking if I would be willing to serve in the Nursery.  I was such a wimp and could hardly look at him while I spurted out a "yes".  As soon as he left I burst into tears and sobbed for probably thirty minutes.  At that moment I went on a "little" pity party and really felt like no one understood how hard my life was; I thought that Heavenly Father had abandoned me.  Gradually I "put on my big girl panties" (like Jamie Gallegos would have said) and forced myself to accept this}  Now fast forward one and a half years later and lets just say I was a tad bit excited to finally be released from this calling.  Now before I sound like the last few years have been all negative, let me list some of the positives:

*I have gained a deeper appreciation for the women {and men} that diligently serve as Nursery leaders

*I have learned that although friends are great to have and spend time with, they are not a necessary piece that I have to have in life; the most important thing is relying on my beautiful little family and leaning on my husband, Mother, sister, and in-laws for strength in dark times---and of course my Father in Heaven and elder brother Jesus Christ.

*I have come to love many of the little children in my ward: Ellie with her wisdom and kindness that are far beyond her years, Jane's spunky personality and love for all her babies, the twinnies--Brooklyn and Londyn--strong personalites and hearty appetites, Brett's LOVE of trains and equally hearty appetite, Ethan's initial shy personality that has now developed into a very confident boy that knows exactly what he wants, my snuggler E, Kinsley's sass and spunk- completely willing to stand up to Robby and deck him if she didn't get her way :), Robby with his transformation from Nursery terror to oldest child in the class, Tyler's calming presence, and Tinley--little lightweight that would fall asleep in my arms almost every week I was there {seriously LOVE her}

*I have learned a little bit about enduring.  I have learned that you can survive more than you ever thought.  I never thought I could withstand as much as I have the last two years; but here I am alive and doing well!!  I have a career that has allowed us to have a roof over our heads, food on our plates, clothes, a little bit of $ for fun with the kiddos, a wonderful husband who is working sooo hard to get back into a fabulous graduate school program, wonderful neighbors who have become some of my closest friends, three exuberant, healthy children, and the best extended family I could ask for.



Another MAJOR blessing I have had along the way is my dear, sweet Eli.  I feel like Heavenly Father really understood what we needed when he sent this special boy to us.  He knew the challenges that lay ahead and had a plan mapped out for us. He sent us exactly the type of child we needed at this point in our lives.  Eli has been the sweetest, most loving and happy spirit in our home.  Even at two years old, Maddie constantly reminds me "how cute he is, how sweet he is...."  He always has the biggest hugs and kisses to give me whenever I am in need.  He is such a great listener and rarely throws tantrums {which are incredibly mild and easy to handle}.  He is easy going and patient with us.  He does like to climb and get into things, but it's incredibly difficult to get mad at him because he has such a tender heart.  If you reprimand him at all, he gets this really sad look on his face and breaks into tears.  He loves to help out and will always put away his shoes, dishes, pajamas with only being asked one time.  He rarely says the word "No" and has even started saying "okay" when I ask him for help.  Jesse and I constantly discuss how "good" of a baby/toddler he has been thus far.  As I have really reflected on blessings today, I am openly acknowledgly that it wasn't by chance that Eli came into our family at this time.  Instead, he was a blessing bestowed to us by our Father in Heaven to help us through our challenges!  So thank you Eli for coming into our home....you are truly irreplaceable :)