Making Memories. Choosing Joy.

Fifteen.

Fifteen Years. Happy Anniversary S.R.!

1996

2011

And it is true...There is no doubt: Life with you is one amazing adventure after another.

Wishing for us a lifetime filled with even more adventure.

Four Years Ago...

I thought it would be fun to look at what we were doing on this day four years ago.

We were at Kelley's Island and the boy's were digging in the dirt in their pajama's. :::sigh::: They look so small!

Fulfilling a Promise

Last Sunday we fulfilled a promise we made to the boys, at least two years ago, for after Nicholas' surgeries were over. Meet Jasper:

We weren't planning on Jasper, but he was the right price, and the right time. And too adorable to pass up!

He's 12 weeks old and is a great dog! He is crate-trained, knows how to sit, fetch and walk on a leash. He's already the boy's best friend.
But if he wants to be my best friend, he has a bit more work to do!
To be fair, I probably shouldn't have left my book laying on the chair when I came inside! At least he only chewed pages I have already read!
I think Jasper is going to be perfect for our family!

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mom,

I wish I could be there today to wrap my arms around you and give you a kiss. Thank you for all you do, and for loving us so well. Thank you for taking wonderful care of the piece of my heart I left with you this weekend. I love you.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

I pray the Lord blesses you with your heart's desire.

Thank you for being an amazing baby sister.

Thank you for letting us still call you by your nicknames.

Thank you for always being there for me.

Thank you for watching reality tv so I have someone to talk with about the trash.

Please forgive me for when Laura and I told you that you were a "blue light special."

Thank you for being your special you.

Happy Birthday, Grandma W.!

May God bless you with health and happiness.

Thank you for always supporting us and loving us.

Thank you for raising a terrific, caring son.

Thank you for letting the boy's get the trucks and beans out at your house.
(That means that they don't have to do that at our house!)

Thank you for your advice, for you know what having two boys is like!

Orthodontist.

I updated the Project 365 photo album, and after doing so realized that today's picture and journaling could have been a post itself. If you check it out, you'll noticed I referenced "HFM" when talking about Nicholas. You can learn more about hemifacial microsomia here.

Really, that is the only update that happened today. Because I doubt you want to hear me whining about going back to work tomorrow.

Guest Blogger.

Make sure you check out yesterday's Project 365 picture. It was "boy day" (meaning I work, the boy's don't have school, and it is Scott's day off). I made sure to have the camera out for the boy's adventures. Zachary chose the picture to use and I convinced him to do a bit of journaling (if you click on the picture, you can see the journaling). However, he's "too busy" right now to do any more!

I have added a blog to the right called "Praying for Harper." Kelly and Scott suffered from infertility for years and yesterday she gave birth to their daughter. Harper has been flown to another hospital because of possible pneumonia. Please add this family to your prayers!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

I pray you have a year filled with good health and happiness.

Thank you for being a terrific big sister.

Thank you for being a terrific friend.

Thank you for forgiving me for cutting Barbie's hair.

Thank you for loving my family.

Thank you for supporting me and keeping sister secrets.

[And because you'll be seeing more of these pictures throughout the year, here's the story: Christmas 2007 BIL Matt was unable to be with us for Christmas because he was sick. So we peeked through his stocking and took pictures with the silly glasses/nose we found. And, well...when it came around to Laura's birthday, I decided to post that picture. I had no intention of continuing this tradition for 2009, but when the biggest turkey of all found the perfect prop for this year's pictures, who could resist? I just want to know why this hat was ever made...who would think this was a good idea and that people would actually buy it? I guess at least one person got sucked in!]

Happy New Year!

[I thought Nicholas' chocolate milk added a nice touch to the rest of the sparkling grape juice!]

We had a fun celebration! We ended up playing Mario Party all.night.long. For any of you that know about the game, we played a 50-turn game. It lasted f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

But it was fun.

And the winners, winners, chicken dinner:

We were finally all in bed at 1 a.m. whew! Zachary liked the "fancy juice" the best! Nicholas crawled in bed with us at 8 a.m. proclaiming he was still tired. Like any good mother would, I told him to go back to sleep! And.he.did. Until 10:30! Amazing!

The perfect way to start 2009 if you ask me! Today was a relaxing day for me, a working day for Scott. No, he didn't have to go into "work", but it would have been more restful if he had! Woody is getting hungry, so he needed to cut more wood. The boy's went with him for the first round, and I had some much needed quiet time (it's about this time during break I swear that this next year I'm not going to save vacation days for this many days in a row...).

With Christmas money from Mom and Dad, I was one of the lucky ones to get a Project 365 kit from Creating Keepsakes (I know, Robin, you'll be so jealous of another of my Becky kits!). They have already sold out of them, so I'm super excited I was finally able to get through and purchase it this morning! I've taken a picture-a-day since Sunday in anticipation that I'd be able to get the kit. Since I spent so much time on the computer today organizing photos and figuring out even more cool things I can do in iphoto, I thought this picture would be a good representation of my day:

I'm excited to do this project and see the completed result at the end of 2009. I find as I look through old photos that there aren't nearly enough of everyday life.

Happy 2009!