Chocolate Party!

My AMAZING husband worked hard and got all the beams in our living room trimmed out this week - 6 months and it was done in time for my chocolate party! I spent a lot of time cleaning and I made my friend Megan's yummy chocolate mousse nests. Andrew helped keep the boys busy. Everyone had a great time - some of the ladies were here till midnight visiting. I met a couple of new girls whose husbands are deployed. It is good to have a cleaner house and have had some good social time. Andrew - thank you for all your help to make the party a lot of fun!

Gavin.

Gavin had a fever for 4 days this week. It was a long week and we have missed doing things and hanging out with our friends. Thankfully we had nice weather a couple of days this week and we got to play outside a little bit. His fever finally broke and we are going to get to start doing things again. Mommy will be glad to be able to go to the gym again soon.

Seth.

Signs of Spring!!!

Hidden under the leaves in my back garden I found these:

I had been scouring my front garden for bulbs to pop up, and then a couple days after finding these about 10 of them popped up overnight! Now it is getting cold again, but Spring is definitely on it's way: The robins have arrived, green things are starting to appear, and the squirrels are playing chase. ;o)!

Happy Valentines Day Pancakes.

This was my sorry attempt at heart shaped Valentine pancakes. Good thing I have lots of years to practice making Valentines special and making better pancakes! :o)!

Gavin's MN Birthday Party

Gavin was so serious with his jelly mustache from his cupcake. He looks like Charlie Chaplin or Hitler. Not sure which. Here is Gavin and Daddy with Gavin's new remote controlled airplane:

Bradyn and Gavin

Pictures from our MN trip. Bradyn is quickly catching up to Gavin. It was so fun see him walking and talking!

Youth Group.

I have been missing hanging out with teenagers. It really teaches me so much about prayer and keeps me dependant on God. Andrew and I have been waiting for a while to get involved in our new church, and last night Andrew gave me the go ahead to visit youth group. I have already met several of the girls and I had a great time hanging out with them. This is a small group - about a dozen - and you can see how much they love each other by how they laugh and play and share their challenges with each other. J.T. and Becky (the youth pastor and his fiance) are doing a great job, and I am going to love spending time with them. Andrew would love to come, too, so please pray that we can figure out a childcare solution. We would really love to do youth ministry together again.

It is official

I am old. I had to have my cholestorol checked for my physical I had yesterday. The same guy took my blood as Gavin's the day before, so I had to really put on a brave face. :o)!

Spring.

Is around the corner. I saw two male robins in our tree yesterday. I had just read how they come north first to build a nest for their mates. It almost made me want to cry I was so happy to see them in my tree at dinnertime last night. Seth - you did a great job spotting the new birds!

Gavin the Brave

Gavin had his 2 year checkup today. He is doing GREAT. His only unresolved health issue is that he has a constant runny nose (and that may be allergy related, or just catching lots of viruses and it will continue till he develops immunity to everything here in NE). He is 30.2 pounds and 33 1/2 inches tall. Dr. Toth said he doesn't feel as floppy with his muscle tone and and one of his foot reflexes is more normal. He was really pleased with what he saw. We will schedule a routine MRI this spring or summer for the second baseline. He recommended not pursuing any chiropractic care for Gavin as the risk for a stroke is too great (something we had been talking about after hearing about it, but hadn't been able to find much information on). Gavin had bloodwork drawn to recheck his allergies, his iron deficiency, and for lead. Dr. Toth says that Gavin may be outgrowing the dairy allergy, but that is often replaced by a lactose intolerance. If he is finally just lactose intollerant we would have a lot more food choices to consider for him!!!! (BTW - I found a dairy free margarine at a local store on Sunday, that will be great for baking and cooking with, and Gavin can have butter on his toast for the first time!)

After Gavin's doctor appointment, we went down to the lab. Gavin sat on my lap, they stuck the needle in and fished it around till it was in the right place - and he barely wimpered. He just sat there calm as could be. We almost didn't even need to hold him. We were almost out the door when they told us they forgot something and he had to have his finger pricked. He screamed during that one, but I was so proud of both boys. Seth was so obedient at the clinic, and Gavin was so brave that we are having a special treat and taking them out to Applebees for dinner (and we haven't grocery shopped since we got home from our trip - guess what Mommy is doing tonight!)

I hate...

...mornings and exercise.

But I have been up at 5:10 to go the the gym on weekday mornings anyway. Fighting for my life, for a better life. For me and my family. And my day goes better when I do it. This would be a building character thing. NOT fun. But worth it.

Sacrifice: Giving up something of value for something of GREATER value.

Busy Day

Boys up early (SURPRISE!)
Breakfast and showers
Fuel van
Church (Sunday School, greeters, service, luncheon)
Boys and Daddy have naptime
Mommy goes to a birthday party at a bowling alley and to visit a friend at the hospital who just had her first baby
Play with boys and dinnertime
20 min. nap
Settle boys down for the night
Friend over to play Settlers of Catan
Check blogs and chat w/ Sarah
Goodnight

And the number of the day is...

99.

Hide and Seek

If you weren't here you missed a rousing game of it before bedtime. :o)!

Thank you, Aunt Stephanie!

Aunt Stephanie got Gavin a trip to Build-a-Bear for his birthday. He has been playing with his stuffed animals a lot, and was getting a lot of comfort from his special Daddy elephant (for when Daddy is TDY or deployed) since he gave up his pacifiers on Monday. So we put elephant away, and he got a special night out w/ Mommy and Nana. He picked Doggy! And Great Gramma offered to buy him clothes for his Doggy as a birthday gift. Here is the proud naked boy and Naked Doggy!

As you can see - Gavin already loves playing with his Doggy.

I got a friendship blog award!

My friend Tina gave me this award. Thanks! Tina is the one person that I wish I could have spent more time getting to know when we lived in TX. I had the privilege of having her son, Brady, in youth group and got to work with her in the nursery. We prayed for their family as they waited and then brought Teddi home. And we got to see her grow more confient every week at story time at the base library. Then Seth and I prayed for her during her surgery to repair the hole in her mouth - it has been a joy for Seth to learn compassion for others. Tina is someone I love and respect as a woman, wife and mother. She has done the Air Force thing for a long time, and she is obedient and faithful in following and serving Jesus. Tina - thank you for blessing me and for being a blessing. Check out her blog:
http://oneblessednest.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

Ball cupcakes -special request of Gavin who wanted a basketball cupcake. The birthday boy!

Friends and a mountain of gifts:

The boys cram in for the soccer ball and goal.

It was loud and fun, and good to see our friends after being cooped up in the house w/ colds we were trying not to spread around. I think there were 10 adults and 10 kids throughout the course of the evening. Lots of love and fun.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Groudhog hat made by Seth.

Another idea...

Check out the head scarf that someone can get me for my birthday! :o)! (Just Kidding) Corine H. - if you are reading this - you should make these! Actually - I stole this link from another blog I follow - the Water for Christmas lady (jodyrlanders.com). The lady who is making them is trying to raise money for their adoption. Beautiful! Speaking of Water - go to the website and consider making a commitment to being Voice for Water - $20.00 a month for a year to give a village in Liberia fresh water to drink, clean with - to live. Please. Consider joining me. http://www.adoptionwings.blogspot.com/

Big Boy.

Gavin put all his pacifiers into a box on Monday, said goodbye, watched Mommy tape them up and address them. He then put them in the mailbox, put the flag up, and said goodbye again.

Then naptime came along. He screamed and cried for about an hour and a half. Poor kid cried himself to sleep, the kind where he was sobbing still in his sleep. It was tough, but I know that this battle is not going to get any easier. I was expecting another battle at bedtime. Daddy was out for the evening, and he asked for his special Daddy elephant and cried hard - 20 min. and out.

Day 2 of no pacifiers - not a mention of them. Elephant is still a favorite (but needs to be put back up for Daddy's deployments.) We had a great day, and I don't think he really even missed them that much. He isn't really sure he wants to be a big boy, though. I was asking him what everyones' names where while taking off his shoes today. He got Seth right, Mommy and Daddy right with a little help. "What is your name?" "Bee-bee!" :o)!

Dinner

We were eating dinner last night and being silly.
Seth started eating really fast. "Mommy, look at me! I am eating REALLY fast!"
Gavin starts copying him and eating two fisted. "Mommy, I Cookie Monster!" He is so cute and funny right now. I could just eat him up.

I wasn't expecting this till later...

Last night before dinner we were cleaning up the family room and putting away toys. I overheard Seth mutter, "Oh Lord!" I wasn't even sure if I heard him right, so I called him over and asked him what he said. He confirmed I had heard right. I asked him where he had heard that phrase. "From Mater, when..." (Great, my kid is learning to swear from a cartoon character!) I sat him down on the piano bench and told him how God has commanded us to not use his name in a useless way. We should only use his name if we are speaking to him or about him. He is powerful and his name is to be respected. Well that was that. Daddy walked out the door for the evening, we were almost done w/ picking up toys and... Sure enough he said it again!!!! What is that about. So Seth had his mouth washed out with a soapy washcloth last night. He cried and said that he never wanted that to happen again. I remember having the same thing happen to me when I was about his age I guess since it was our house in Wisconsin - Mom, do you remember what my first swear word was? :o)! I still don't swear to this day, though I thought about starting in jr. high when everyone else was and I got treated weird cause I was about the only one who didn't cuss. I am glad I didn't start, or I would sure have a hard time quitting. I hope this is the end of this issue, at least for a while.

Gavin's New Slide (or, Please stop climbing on Mommy's furniture!)

the things men will do...

Today is Gavin's birthday and the Super Bowl. In order to spend some quality time w/ my husband this busy weekend I asked him to make a fire for the boys to enjoy before bed, and then he could pause the Super Bowl and we could spend some romantic time alone together before another busy weeks starts (including visiting his parents). In order to get out of it he decided to light a fire with the flue closed, smoking up the whole house and making himself sick. Men! They will do anything to not have their football interupted! ;o)! And so much for airing out the house yesterday when the weather was in the 50's!