A tribute to my mom

Where do I begin about my mom? Words cannot express how much she means to me. She must know that my love language is spending time with people because she is always there for me. Growing up, she was at every basketball game, every swim meet. Even the majority of my swim practices... and can you imagine how boring swim practices are? She was there to help me with science projects, writing essays, and tears over silly boyfriends. My mom devoted every second and saved every nickel to give my sister and me the best life that she could.

Now that I am older, hardly a day goes by when I don't talk to my mom. She is there for me more than ever. If Adam is on a trip, she drives down in a heartbeat to stay with us while he is away. She watches our kids so Adam and I can go on vacation to refresh our marriage. When one of our boys is sick, she is researching how to help them. While I am teaching, she is in my backyard pulling all of the weeds. She reads to my boys, helps them put puzzles together, plays games with them, and most of all... makes them feel loved. There is nobody they run to with more excitement than their Grammy.
~Grammy with Jacob

~Grammy with Gavin

~Grammy with Casey


Today is her 60th birthday. Two weeks ago, a good friend threw her a party. My mom thought she was attending a dinner with staff from the school she used to teach at, but what she didn't realize was that they were all there for her birthday. My sister and I drove up to surprise her as well. Their former principal hosted the event with humor and fun facts about the year she was born. Then one by one, people stood up to share about my mom. One spoke about how she let their family stay at her house so they didn't have to live in a hotel. Others shared about her love for the students in her classroom... staying after school to help them or buying shoes for a student who couldn't afford them. Many had great memories about vacationing with my mom or holding up a GO COUGS sign in the back of the staff picture one year. It brought tears to my eyes to see how much my mom appreciated everything they had to say. I will always remember what a special night it was.



My sister and I had also made a special gift for my mom. We helped each grandkid stamp their handprint on a piece of paper, along with the bible verse "How can we thank God enough for you?" 1 Thessalonians 3:9. Then around the edge my sister, Maddie, Jacob, and I wrote words that describe my mom. Thoughtful, giving, hero, wise, beautiful, role model, caring, devoted, encourager, fun, blessing...

I love you so much mom. You inspire me every day with your thoughtful and selfless heart. So many of the things I do for Jacob, Gavin, and Casey are because you set such an incredible example for me. One of the saddest days in my life will be when you are gone and one of the happiest will be when we are reunited in heaven. Most of all, thank you for raising me to know and love God. Without that, I would have nothing.

A song request

Jacob has turned into my blog's biggest fan. After all, how fun is it for a five year-old to see pictures and read about himself?! At first, he would scroll through the pictures and tell me what we were doing in each one. "Here's me at my birthday party mommy... here I am at the pumpkin patch... that's Casey when he came out of your tummy!"

Now, he likes to read the captions that go along with each picture. This usually involves him asking, "What's that word mean mommy?" I guess I better be careful about what I write! He also is very particular about what he wants to listen to while he is reading. Since he is like me and can't multi-task very well, he usually pauses the music. Then he discovered that the last song on my playlist is his favorite, so he scrolls down to click on it everytime.

So I moved "I'm Yours" to the top just for you buddy. Now you can listen to it anytime you want. ;)

My boys!

Here are some pics of Casey at 6 months, Gavin at 3, and Jacob at 5.

Just like his biggest brother

Casey reminds me a lot of Jacob. When he was born, he actually looked more like Gavin to me. Now, I think he has become almost a spitting image of Jacob. Besides his looks, there are more and more things that he is doing just like his biggest brother.

1. He said "da da da" two weeks ago. (I tried to deny it, in hopes that he would say mama first. He just kept saying it though, so I finally gave in. ;) Dada was also Jacob's first word at eight months. Gavin said mama first at six months.

2. At his six month appointment, Casey weighed 17 lbs 9 oz and was 27 1/2". Jacob weighed 17 lbs 15 oz and was 28 1/2". They were both in the 95% for height and 50% for weight. Gavin was a whopping 20 lbs 10 oz at six months! He is still SUCH a big boy today, in the 95% for everything.

3. Like Jacob, Casey just cut his first bottom tooth at six and a half months. Gavin was eight months before he cut his first bottom and top tooth together.

4. Unfortunately, Jacob had A LOT of ear infections when he was little. He was one ear infection away from getting tubes at age 2. Today, I took Casey to the doctor because he had a high fever. It turns out, his inner ear had tons of mucus which eventually created so much pressure that it ruptured. No wonder he hasn't been sleeping very well this week! I thought it was his bottom teeth breaking through... poor thing. So there is a tiny hole inside his ear that we are trying to heal in the next few days with ear drops. I hope he doesn't take after Jacob with the whole ear infection thing. That was horrible.

It's been so much fun to have a third boy to compare with my other two. Since Jacob and Gavin are as opposite as it gets! It will be interesting to see when Casey starts walking, seeing how Jacob was 9 months and Gavin was 14 months! I'm sure he will be somewhere in the middle. He is already starting to get up on all fours and rock. I am SO in trouble when he becomes mobile. ;)

Pictures of God

Jacob has been drawing a lot of pictures lately. He draws our family most often and loves to point out daddy, mommy, himself, Gavin, and Casey. The latest addition is God. He has been very curious about how big God is. So we tell him that God is bigger than mommy and daddy... he is the biggest! So now, whether he is drawing a picture of family or rainbows, God is always a part of it. I think it's because we tell him that God is always with you? The first time I saw his picture of God, I was cracking up. He is the bottom of a stick figure... since God is the biggest. The top half of him must be up in heaven or something.

Here is God with our family as we build a snowman.
This is Jacob balancing on top of uncle Andy and his beard. Uncle Andy doesn't have a beard, but whatever...
Here is God with mommy while she is nursing Casey.This one was pretty cute too. Apparently, it is mommy and daddy "sticking together".

The Toddler Quiz. Part II.

I made up my own toddler quiz when Jacob was 3 and Gavin was 15 months. So I thought it would be fun to quiz them again, now that Gavin is 3 and able to answer the questions and all. ;) Considering that I interviewed them separately, I was surprised at how many of their answers matched!

Jacob's favorite ~
breakfast- pancakes or french toast with strawberries and whip cream
lunch- Scooby Doo macaroni and cheese
dinner- hot dogs with ketchup
dessert- ice cream and chocolate chip cookies
color- blue
friend- my cousin Maddie
friend at preschool- Katie
thing to do- read Tag books
TV Show- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
movie - Toy Story 2 and Madagascar 2
restaurant- Red Robin
game- Guess Who?
place to go- swimming
What makes me cry- owies
What makes me smile- when the sun comes up

Latest cute things you have said~
*Mommy, I'm SUPER tired.
*Can God fit in our living room?
*But where was I before I was born?
*(When jumping on Daddy) Hey... HOP ON POP!

Gavin's favorite ~
breakfast- roll-up pancakes
lunch- macaroni and cheese
dinner- teriyaki (or as he says, teri-yucky)
dessert- cookies
color- orange
friend- Jakey
thing to do- read Tag books
TV Show- Mickey Mouse (although he always wants to watch Wiggles)
movie- Woody and Buzz
restaurant- chicken nuggets
drink- apple juice
cereal- Lucky Charms
What makes me smile- Mommy
What makes me cry- Mommy

Latest cute things you have said~
*Mommy, you're my best.
*(When Daddy told him to use the potty) Don't yell for me!
*(Looking inside an empty gift bag) Whobody opened this?

Tonight Gavin said his first prayer~

Dear God,
Thank you playing.
Thank you read books.
Pause. Don't laugh at me! (Jacob was laughing because he was using a high-pitched voice)
Thank you Woody and Buzz.

Jesus Name,
Amen.

My BIG boy!

Gavin turned three today! We had his birthday party yesterday, and believe it or not, it was snowing again. I say again because it snowed on Jacob's birthday too. I do love the snow and there is something magical about it snowing on your birthday. However, that also means my mom, sister, Maddie, and Travis weren't able to come to their parties. My boys are super close to their cousins, so that is always a bittersweet thing.

Despite that though, Gavin had a really fun day. He has been obsessed with Buzz Lightyear ever since he first watched the movie Toy Story. It was actually at his birthday party last year that my mom and sister got him Woody and Buzz and he's been playing with them ever since. So I knew that all I had to do was get Gavin a Buzz cake, Buzz balloons, and Buzz treat bags... and he would be so so happy.



Thankfully, most of our local friends were able to come. We had pizza, chips, fruit and blue gatorade for lunch.



A lot of my friends have babies that are Casey's age, so I couldn't resist lining them all up!

After eating, we went upstairs for the moon walk with Buzz. I had gotten bags and bags of bubble wrap at a store nearby and we layered it across our family fun room. I figured more layers, more fun... right? Then I wrapped Easter whoppers in foil and spread them out all over the bubble wrap. (So they had moon rocks to hunt for while they were jumping on the moon ;) On our big screen, we played the beginning of Toy Story 2, where Buzz is walking on the moon. So, with Buzz in the background, the kids collected moon rocks for their treat bags and jumped and jumped. It was really fun to watch.


After that, Gavin opened his presents, blew out his three candles, and ate his cake. He was so excited that yesterday was all about him. :) Especially since kids his age are so egocentric anyway! He kept saying, "It my bir-day! It Gavin bir-day!" And I would make up silly birthday songs for him all day long.





So what did we do today... on his actual birthday? We ate roll-up pancakes for breakfast and played in the snow before it all melted away! He made bir-day snowballs, played with his bir-day trains, and even went potty on his bir-day toilet. Now we are off to his bir-day dinner!



I love you so so much buddy. I hope you felt as happy on your birthday as I feel everyday for getting to be your mommy.

Jon and Kate plus six?

Two of my closest friends needed me to watch their kids yesterday. So we had six kids, all five and under at our house. Thank goodness my mom was here, otherwise I'm pretty sure I would've lost my mind! I don't know how Jon and Kate do it... :)

We tag-teamed changing diapers, making lunch, reading stories, doing puzzles, helping kids on the swings/slide... it was definitely nonstop. Especially since we were told not to even try putting their little ones down for a nap. And of course, Gavin didn't want to nap either because there were so many friends to play with!

When their parents came to get them, the house was so quiet and we were relieved to sit down and relax. It made having three kids seem super easy. In fact, I think I should do this more often because it puts my life in perspective. Those days when I'm thinking it's chaotic with three, I know it really isn't. ;)