Monday, March 30, 2009

The boys always know how to cheer me up :-)

Jack wanted to sing me a song to make me happy.



Benjamin of course wanted to copy his brother but forgot the words to the song. Then he decided to sing about pirates. For some reason he thinks I really like pirates :-) It did make me happy.



Peter Pan verses Captain Hook!

The boys were playing dress up today and Captain Hook and Peter Pan got into one of their famous sword battles. Check out the princess wand swords - they were so funny!




Thankfully there aren't any pictures of me - I was playing Wendy, Ben was Captain Hook and Jack was playing a dual role: Peter Pan (facing forward) and Tinker Bell (facing backward) - too funny!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Does God give you more than you can handle?

We sure hope not!

Many of you have heard our wonderful news and for those who have not, God has blessed us with a baby girl. I am 18 weeks pregnant and she is due August 29, 2009. From the moment we found out we were pregnant all we ever said was "Please Lord, let her be healthy". Unfortunately, we have been told that she is not healthy. She has been diagnosed with some form of Spina Bifida. The news is very shocking and quite overwhelming. We have known for only a few days and are really trying to process what this means for our little girl and for our sweet little boys. How severely will her life be impacted? How will her disability impact the life were trying to create for our boys? We have so many questions but have so little answers right now!

We are truly trying to stay positive and draw strength from all of the love around us. The many e-mails of love and support we have received have been so special and we have cherished reading each one. However, I have avoided most "regular" communication with friends and family since Thursday (when we got the news) as I just don't seem to have the words to express my feelings right now. It also helps me to keep from crying the less I talk about the little details that we do know. Please know that I am NOT avoiding you, just trying to cop in my own way.

Tomorrow is Monday and I have no choice but to move forward. Life is going to return to some sort of normal regardless if I am ready or not. Branden goes back to work and I have two VERY active little boys that need me, I have a house to clean and dinner to make! I am a mom and I've got to keep moving for the sake of my family.

Dear God, we ask that you PLEASE give Branden and I the strength we need to get through these next 5 months. We ask that you please help us to stay positive and somehow adequately prepare ourselves for the birth of our baby girl. We ask that you please help us use this time to become the kind of parents that will be able to parent her and our boys properly for their life.

We do not know why you chose us to face this challenge but we pray and hope that you will be there every step of the way with us. God, we hope that we can handle this!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Back to Knott's again!

However, this time our big guy Jack decided to go on the Log Ride for the first time! He went on with his daddy and Grampy. Although he said it was fun, he's not sure if he wants to go on again for a while :-) We are very proud of him for trying it. His face says it all.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The boys at Knott's Berry Farm

Just a cute picture of the boys from last month at Knott's. We LOVE our Knott's passes and are SO thankful that my mom and Fred bought them for the family. It's a great (free) thing for us to do for a few hours of fun. The boys we so excited to give Snoopy a big hug and I of course couldn't resist buying the adorable picture.


Friday, March 13, 2009

Jack's awesome printing & drawing

Jack is pretty tough on himself about his writing. We always try to encourage him and remind him that with practice so will come better formed letters. Sometimes he gets frustrated and gives up and other times he just goes for it. Tonight he did AWESOME! We were all SO proud of his printing and his drawings. We tried not to make a big deal of it just in case he struggles the next time. However, I had to get a picture to capture how great it looked.


March 13, 2009

Monday, March 9, 2009

Jack's Birthday Celebrations! (Long post)

Jack turns 4!!!

The celebrations started at his preschool on Thursday morning when I came up to help with a special birthday snack of yogurt parfaits. They all loved the snack and then they honored Jack with a special birthday song, flower presentation and birthday sprinkling. Jack seemed to enjoy every minute of it. BTW - it was pajama day at school.

On Friday we hosted a play date at Mae Boyer Park with Jack's Friday play group. All the kids (Jack especially) had a blast running around, digging big holes in the sand, doing the St. Patrick's Day crafts and of course eating cup cakes! It was really great to watch Jack having so much fun with his friends. His Grammy even showed up to help him celebrate. It was another fun day leading up to Jack's big day!




On Saturday morning Jack woke up to a decorated door which he immediately knew had been decorated by the birthday fairies. At 10:00 am we had a family birthday party which was a big success. The weather was BEAUTIFUL (thank goodness) since we were outside. We ate lots of yummy food, had some good laughs, Jack enjoyed his first piñata and of course we ate Auntie Mingie's yummy birthday cake. He was very blessed and received many wonderful gifts. It was a very fun day!



Jack hitting a piñata for the first time!




Ben hitting a piñata for the first time!



Although we were totally pooped on Sunday we kept the fun going by heading off to Knott's Berry Farm. It was a fun filled few hours and thankfully we were home in time for both boys to take their much needed naps. We ended the night and the birthday celebrations at BJ's pizza in Cerritos. Jack had his first pizookie and I think he is hooked! It was a great long weekend of celebrating. It was fun to honor our little man who has completely changed our lives (for the better, of course) and who brings us so much joy and laughter each day. It's been amazing to watch our little 4 lb preemie baby boy turn into a still little (30 lbs) but continuing to grow young man with such strong thoughts, ideas and emotions.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK - WE LOVE YOU DEARLY!!

Special message to Grandma Kathy in Oregon

Jack was very excited to receive his balloon bouquet.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Kite Festival - Huntington Beach

We spent the day Sunday at the Kite Festival in Huntington Beach. It was such a fun day! The kids loved all the kites (especially the huge octopus) and we all had fun playing in the sand. We ate lunch on the beach and truly enjoyed being together. It was a beautifully warm day. We let the boys miss their nap (very rare for our family) and it was a great decisions. The boys were perfect angels and we were able to stay at the beach until 2:00 pm.


Not the greatest picture of the kites but I tried to capture a few of them with my little camera for the boys. They did four special kite performances which were coordinated to music. It was so funny to watch Benjamin rocking out to AC DC and the other rock music while Jack seemed most interested during the classical performances. Our boys are so different but both so great!

The boys were such love bugs!



The Car ride home: they were being so silly wearing my sunglasses. What a great family day.


Follow the link to see the rest of the photos from our fun day on snapfish:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=464911008/a=33561242_33561242/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Simple joys in life

I just couldn't resist taking this picture. Jack went to a birthday party this weekend where he received a lunch bag as his "thank you" gift/goodie bag. He was SO excited about this lunch bag. I'm not even sure how to explain how excited he was about it. Was it because it was blue - his favorite color or because his name was on it? Whatever it was, he REALLY liked it. When we got home he asked if he could sleep with it. I know, a bit odd, but whatever. I said sure, if you really want to. We always check on the boys before bed and this is what we found Saturday night - Jack holding on to his new lunch bag (see his thumb through the handle). I just love how a child can be so utterly excited about something so simple. I hope that Jack will continue to inspire Branden and I to always appreciate the simple joys in life.