My Beautiful Days

It's no secret that we've been gone from the blogging world for awhile now.  Life just gets to be too busy to keep up, especially during the summer!  So, instead of trying to catch you up on everything I've missed telling, I'm going to sum it all up in pictures and minimal words ... We cleaned out some of our cabinets to prepare for our kitchen upgrade ...  Ethan has had some fits ...  I planted our vegetable garden ... Ethan played with sidewalk chalk and got it all over his face ... We've taken baths ...  Ethan has run around the house in just his diaper (and LOVED it) ...  Ellis has played soccer (and has done amazingly great this season) ... Colin graduated from Kindergarten and refused to smile for the camera ... We took a family (minus Ethan) vacation ... We visited Wall Drug in South Dakota and posed for pictures with fake cowboys ... We hiked through the Black Hills ... We visited Mou...

I won't lie, I really really REALLY wanted my first post of 2012 to be something amazing and significant and huge; but in trying to figure out specifically WHAT that amazingly significantly huge thing is going to be, I have let too many days pass.  At this point, it's time just to get back on here and play the ever-so-common game of catch up!  So, without further adieu, this is what we've been up to: My boys held a fashion show with the most interesting fashions around ... Ethan played peek-a-boo with me and gave me his most gorgeous smile! We opened Christmas presents ...  ... and modeled Christmas presents, too! Monte and I got all dressed up and went to a Christmas party. We celebrated Claire's birthday!  We celebrated Colin's birthday, too ... ... with a cake that had trick candles! On top of all of that busyness, Ellis is currently in basketball and Claire is in speech, keeping us busy beyond the norm, but maybe I need to realize this is our new no...

Each year for Christmas Monte and I buy the kids one big thing.  We then give them the money to shop for everybody else in the family (with a price limit, of course!).  This has been a wonderful way for us to teach them about giving and to turn the focus of Christmas from Santa (where it was a few years ago) to the miracle of Jesus' birth and to the greatness of giving instead of always wanting to get something. This lesson has been nothing short of amazing. So, last night, my three big boys (Iain, Ellis and Colin) and I headed out to do some Christmas shopping.  We decided to settle on going to Dick's Sporting Goods, as that is a place that we all enjoy and can easily find things that we love.  The boys knew who was on their list to shop for, and I was included on that list.  They knew their price limit and I told them that I would do my best to not notice anything that they were buying for me (which didn't work out in the end, but that's okay!). As we we...

It feels like it has been a very long journey, but in reality it lasted only a mere month before we received our answer.  My darling baby boy is now fever free, and I'm still having a hard time believing the cause.  According to blood tests that were done, Ethan has a "very severe peanut allergy" (those words being a direct quote from his doctor).  I couldn't fathom how a peanut allergy could be causing his fevers, especially considering the fact that he isn't old enough to eat anything but baby food! Once we took extreme steps to contain the peanuts in our home (those steps being making sure that the counter is wiped down each and every time my kids make a peanut butter sandwich on them, making sure that the kids wash their hands and brush their teeth any time they eat peanut butter, making sure we only wipe Ethan with clean paper towels instead of a wash rag, etc), his fevers have gone away completely!  I found it really hard to believe, and really hard to gra...

It's no joke that I've been walking around my house singing the chorus to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It".  That's how I feel.  I'm done with this and I'm not taking it anymore.  Yesterday morning I was feeling incredibly defeated.  I was congested, I could feel the fluid in my lungs, my cough was awful and I hardly had a voice.  I was certain that this was going to take over my life for the rest of the week.  It already has consumed Ethan, Colin, Monte and myself, and I was allowing it to do so.   The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't even like my attitude!  I'm a fighter and I don't have to take this sickness trying to consume me.  So, I have prayed about it and in faith am believing God is healing our family.  You know what?  I truly do feel MUCH better today and I believe that a lot of it is because of my choice to change my perspective.  Yes, I'm still coughing and have the occasion...

Him:  "Kami, are you going to have another baby?" Me:  "No, buddy, I'm not." Him:  "Then why is your tummy so big?" Gee Colin.  Thanks buddy.  Thanks a LOT! :)

Today I told Colin that my back is sore, so he told me to lay down on my side and he would rub it for me (a.k.a. run his hands up and down my back). The conversation that followed cracked me up: Colin: Does that feel good? Me: Yes, thanks buddy Colin: Is it super soft? Me: Is what super soft?   Colin: My hands! Me: Yes they are! Colin: That's because you make me put Dove on them all the time! Oh the things he says never  cease to amaze me!! :)

Tonight, after eating more than my (and the baby's) fair share of dinner, I sat back in my chair and said, "oooohhhhhh .... my belly feels big and fat" to which Colin looked at me with a very serious expression and replied: "Because it is." Oh the things that come out of that boy's mouth!!

He gives one-and-a-half thumbs up for pancakes at Grandma's house!

Awww man, my little guy (a.k.a. Colin) woke up this morning not feeling so well.  This was evidenced in the fact that his cereal came back up about a half hour after he ate it (and I was thanking God that he managed to get to the bathroom before it happened, because he almost never does!).  So I laid him down in his bed and he fell fast asleep.  Poor baby.  Due to this fact, I had to reschedule my OB appointment that I had for today (as Colin usually comes with me, but I can't bring a sick kid to my appointment and I don't feel right asking a neighbor to watch my child who is throwing-up) to next week.  It bums me out a little bit, as I was really excited to hear our peanut's heartbeat again and see how things are progressing ... but I will wait it out a few days longer! So, instead, today I will do some laundry and dusting around the house (because my house is still pretty darn CLEAN from the barbeque we hosted this past Monday) and probably take a nap in the...

I think my son may be right ... at least a little bit right.  You see, earlier today, my four-year-old Colin was having the millionth fit he's had since Sunday, and I was at my wit's end.  So, I look at him and ask, "Just where did you get such a bad attitude from, little man?!"  His response: "From YOU, Kami!" Oh boy .. maybe we need to work on our attitudes together! :)

I'm starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, I need to stop being surprised by the amazing things that come out of Colin's mouth, but sometimes they just surprise me to the fullest!  Tonight was no exception.  He and I are sitting at our dining room table; he is drawing a picture and I am catching up on some emails.  The dishwasher is running (loudly, I might add!) and our radio is playing KTIS (the local Christian music station) in the background.  Note that it is playing, but the dishwasher almost completely drowns it out.  So ... as we're sitting here, Colin looks up from his drawing and asks, "Why does my God take away?" Confused by where this statement came from, I asked him what he meant.  His response almost blew me away, "The song just said that God gives and takes away, but why does my God take away?"   Oh to explain something so difficult to someone so young!  We talked about it for awhile and I tried to explain it to him in ...

If there's anything I've learned from being a mom it is the fact that fun can be found in the simplest things.  I remember back when I was in the fourth grade, my parents had just built a new home; my older brother, Tory, and I discovered the large box that one of the appliances was delivered in and we played for hours in that box!  Though I must admit that the box lost its appeal when Tory put me in it and stood it up straight (the box was much taller than me) and walked away.  Having to knock the box over when I was in it and take the brunt of the fall was not fun at all! One of the things that my boys have loved to play with is a huge styrofoam container that protected something our friend, Chris, had ordered.  When he had the container left over, he knew it was something the boys would enjoy, so he brought it over for them.  What they discovered in this is an instant hockey goal!  They've had a lot of fun hitting "pucks" with their "hockey sticks" (...

This past week I had an absolutely hilarious conversation with Colin while driving him home from preschool.  I was asking him how his day at preschool went and his response cracked me up: "My day was fine and fun." (insert 15 second pause here), "Kami, why can't I kiss girls at school?"  I was taken completely by surprise with this question, so I responded by asking him, "What do you mean?" His answer, "Well, today at school I kissed Grace because I love her and my teachers said that I shouldn't kiss the girls in school.  I really like Grace and I'm in love with her.  Can we go to her house?!" Oh my!  My little man is charming the ladies already!!  We had an extensive talk on why it's not okay to kiss the girls at school, ending with letting him know that it's okay to hold their hand or to just play with them to let them know how much he loves them. His response, "Can we go play at Grace's house and we can ask...

Things have been extremely busy around here, which is why I've been absent from blogging for awhile now.  As many of you know, we're working on an addition on our home, which will hopefully be complete within the next month or so.  Well, along with building this addition, we are continually finding ourselves at Lowe's and Home Depot purchasing supplies (i.e. lighting, flooring, tile, etc.), which is a fabulously fun thing to do!  However, unlike most people, when we bring the supplies home, we don't have a garage that we can dump everything into.  So, that being said, we've been making due with whatever extra space we have.  While our master closet has already been invaded, we found ourselves having to take away space from the living room to store this stuff, too!  Remember the serenity I talked about in this fabulous chair back in this post ?  The chair I talked about is a great place to rest and relax.  It's this chair ... Unfortunately, the p...