My baby is 2!!!!

What?!?!?  
Jett is 2.  Sound the alarm. Something is wrong.
I'm still in denial that he turned 1, and now he's 2? 
I no longer have a baby, or even a toddler. 
He's a kid.  A strong-willed, humorous, snuggly, hyper, blond-headed, blue-eyed kid.

2 years ago, I was staring into this precious little face.



Just one year ago, we were here:

And my baby boy now?

He's 2. 

 He's my love. 

You make my world go round, Jett.  I'm so blessed to be your mother.

Happy Birthday, angel boy.  I love you so much!

xoxoxoxo

My Isaac is 4!!!

Saturday (yesterday) was Isaac's birthday, and I would have posted something, but we were too busy having FUN all day!!! 

Friday night, he chose to spend his night out at the mall, to play in the play area, and he also wanted to eat there. So we all had a delicious, nutritious (or not) dinner of food court food. :)  Afterwards, we went to Toys R Us, so he could pick out a birthday present.  He picked a stuffed Mario (go figure.) and a new used Mario Galaxy game.  
Saturday morning, I made him a breakfast of red and blue (Mario and Sonic) pancakes,

let him open the rest of his presents from us,

and then we headed to the pumpkin patch!

 We came home and got ready to have his party with just a few friends and family.  Grandma Carol made him a Sonic cake (much more special than a store bought cake, in my opinion) and we also had pizza, to offset the sugar in the cake.  We tried to go with nothing but organic health food.  Can you tell? ;) He opened his gifts, and he just played and played with his friends till about 11:30 that night, then he crashed.  Oh, I forgot to mention that half-way through his party, after eating pizza, and before gift-opening, he fell asleep on the recliner. :)  He had to take a nap, his party was that INSANE!  =)

{are you noticing a theme throughout these pictures?  Sonic and Mario are like family to us. :) }

{Isaac with his Sonic cake - made with love by grandma!}

I'd say he had a pretty spectacular birthday! :) 

I truly cannot believe he's 4.  I know I say that about every kid, and every birthday they have.  and I mean it each time.  Don't kids grow too fast?  Time goes at about 10x normal speed after you have kids.  True? 

My little Ike the Spike is growing up, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. 
I love you more than you can imagine, Isaac.  Sometimes I feel like my heart will burst, with all the love I have for you!  You will always be my sweet little Humble Bumble.   I love you!  Happy 4th Birthday!

Major phone-pic dump

{Crazy pics - I literally laugh out loud when I look at these :) }

{Spending the day with my mom, my sis, and my girls at Santi-cali-gon}

1. The kids waiting for the bus

2. Jett's first trip to the lake

3. The first night with Layla

4. Mini golf with the girls for their birthdays

5. Out of 5 kids, this is the first time this has happened.

6. Sweet snuggles with Layla

1. Chloe and Layla

2. Laney and Layla

3. Sonic happy hour with my 2 littles

4. Isaac looks like he ate a Smurf :)

5. Snuggly puppy.  She was so little!  She's growing fast!

1.  Jett swinging in the backyard

2. Elijah - I'm not exactly sure what he's doing.  I told him to stand in front of me to take a pic, and this was how he posed.  I've learned not to ask questions.

3. and 4.  We The boys spotted the tractors as we were coming out of Sears.

5.  Chloe's first ballet class

6.  Could he possibly be any more snugglier?  no. The answer is no.

 

1. Jett climbing into his crib for nap time. We love our naps around here!

2. Being Mario can wear a dude out!

3. Trying on masks at Target.

4. What happens when you leave Layla in a room alone with an open window.

5.  Silly Ikey.

6.  The binky has to go soon!

Laney's horseback lessons are going great!  She still loves it and every week she counts down the days till Monday!  Last week, her teacher started letting her learn how to do barrels. She just trotted her horse (Cowgirl...her favorite horse!) around, instead of running (of course), but it was still fun for her. I took a video of it. (Please ignore me talking during the beginning. Her instructor was telling me about something.)

Things I never want to forget

• Elijah playing by himself in his room with his magna-doodle.  He loves to just write out words as they pop into his mind. 
• Isaac's snuggles.  No matter what time of day it is, I can look at Isaac and say, "I didn't snuggle you all morning!" (which is always, always not true...we snuggle ALL the time!) and he'll say "How did we let that happen?!", and run right over to me and give me the biggest hug and kisses.  Sometimes the roles are reversed, and he'll be the one that starts it by looking at me and saying "I didn't snuggle you all morning!"  It's my favorite.
• Laney's helpful attitude.  It never fails - when I'm trying to do 5 things at once, and Laney is anywhere near me, she always asks if there's something she can do.  She cleans up, she takes the dog out, and she helps the boys with whatever they need help with...all without being asked to.  She is such a sweet girl. 
• Chloe's empathy and soft heart.  She's so wonderful to anyone who's upset or in trouble about something.  She is so concerned about making sure that problems are solved, and everyone is happy.  She's also got a watchful eye for her brothers.  She knows when Jett is somewhere he's not supposed to be or getting into something he knows he shouldn't have, and without batting an eye, she's getting him back to where he needs to be.  It's just second nature to her to keep an eye out for her brothers. 
• Jett's raspberries on my cheek.  He kisses me on my lips, and then turns my cheek and says "This one" (which sounds more like di-wa) and blows a raspberry instead of a kiss.  And every single time he does it, he laughs hysterically and looks at me like I got you again!  When will you ever learn, mom?

These are just a few things I always want to remember, so I might start posting every once in a while the things I never want to forget, because there are alot!

Life Lately

Wow, we have had such a crazy past few weeks.  Mike's work schedule has gone from 40 hour work weeks to 65-70 hour ones.  I feel bad for him, as I know he works so hard and he's so tired when he comes home from work.  I can tell it's a struggle for him - he wants to help out when he comes home, but being so exhausted from the physical labor he does, he really just wants to relax.  I struggle with knowing he's tired and just wants to sit down, but geez...I'm tired too.  These girls of ours are seriously more trying than the 3 little boys.  They've started the whole "I can't stand my sister.  Can we please sell her?" stage, and I'm not a fan.  Seriously, sometimes I just wanna give them boxing gloves and throw them downstairs to just duke it out. They know exactly how to get on my very last nerve.  I know, these are all normal everyday things that everyone deals with.  I also know how blessed I am, so I'm gonna choose to focus on that.  Thank you Jesus that Mike has a job, and thank you for these 5 precious lives that you've entrusted me with.  Please help me to control my temper and to keep my eyes focused on YOU!!! 

We try to put the kids to bed around 8:30 (although they don't usually quiet down till 9 or 9:30) so we can have just a little bit of time to talk without any distractions.  Now that the kids are getting older and are starting more activities, I'm slowly learning how to organize everything and everyone. 

I've started babysitting only on Tues. and Thurs., so I try to get out of the house with Isaac and Jett for at least a little while on the other days. It's been fun being with the 2 littlest boys.  I miss Elijah being at home, and all the cars being everywhere.  The noise level has dropped tremendously. 

Chloe started ballet a couple weeks ago.  She really loves going every week.  It's hard to get pics of her there since there's really no place for parents to watch.  There's only one place you can stand to see in the studio, and I feel really bad if I stand there the whole time to watch. (although I totally want to!)  I'm really looking forward to her first recital, with the whole family being there to cheer her on.  :)

My b-day was yesterday, but since Mike didn't get home till 7:30 last night, we didn't do anything but watch Whose Line is it Anyway.  :D  We're hoping to go somewhere together this weekend.
I will love it when life gets back to normal. Well, our normal at least. I mean, let's face it - normal around here is still pretty crazy! :)

A boy and his dog