DISNEY (shhh...its a surprise.)

For months we had been planning a surprise trip to Disney for the kids. You know, the kind of trip where you are so excited to hear the kids scream when you tell them, "we are going to disney!! and leaving in 30 minutes." So we were actually able to keep the secret the entire time, despite a few flaws including Justin saying, " I think Miles can wear this coat on the plane." The time comes for us to tell them, GG and Grandpa come over to hear their excited. However, there was not screaming, no jumping, just complete shock. I don't think they fully realized what "your going to Disney meant."  GG went to FL with us and the Taylor grandparents met us there. We had a great trip with lots of memories that were made. I hope that you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed making the memories.

almost 8

You are almost 8. It is amazing to us how things can change so quickly. Your wonderfully warm smile lights up a room. You keep us on our toes each and every day. I cannot believe that in this picture below you had just turned 4. Only 4, and now you have doubled your age.

 You continue to amaze me with your beauty, curiosity and humor. I am so happy to have you as my daughter. Continue to reach for the stars and please continue to teach me to be a better mother. I love to watch you with your friends, pets, and especially your brother. You are fearless and excited to challenge the ordinary. Happy 8th birthday to my beautiful girl.

Long hot summer....

well, it has been a long time since I have posted, but really, it is just because we are so busy.

It is now late July and we are busy running around each day.

I am loving spending the summer with my kids. It is so much fun to be with them (much better than last year).

Once of my favorite things is not having to pack lunches or get homework done in a timely manner each night. If only my kids would sleep in a little later, it would help. They only seem to be interested in sleeping in on the days that I have to get up early to go to work.

Only a few more weeks of summer, time to pack even

Growing older

Well, the kids are just growing older. tonight, sophia it at an overnight slumber party birthday party. I am not fully sure if she will make it over night. Part of me hopes that she does not, and wants to come home. I begin to question why I think this. I know that my house does not feel complete if everyone is not here to sleep in it and while I should sleep better, I do not.

Then on the other hand, I hope that she can enjoy an overnight sleep over at her friends house. I know that she wants to be able to stay, but I will keep my phone close to me in case she wants to come home.

Since sophia is at a sleep over, Miles and Justin got to pick the movie tonight. We are sitting watching Star Wars. Miles has not moved and had hardly eaten his dessert. He is sitting on Justin's lap asking question after question on who is the good guy and who is a bad guy.

Justin said tonight that Miles reminded him of Jordan, asking Justin to read the beginning of the movie. Justin is having a great time watching the movie with Miles. I can tell that they will be watching these movies for years and years to come.

Such a great future.

Tips for getting a good Christmas picture....

1. Have happy children.
2. Have the kids use the bathroom so they do not look constipated.

3. Threaten them with their life ( or not getting any toys) if they do not cooperate.

4. Tell them to pretend like they like each other.

5. Tell "Why did the chicken cross the road jokes." And then you get.....

A great Christmas picture. Happy Holidays.

Packing for a trip

On Monday night Miles wanted to pack his bags for our trip to IL.
I gave him a duffel bag and he began to pack.
* 3 stuffed animals
* 8 pairs of socks
*7 pairs of underwear
*3 pairs of PJ's
* 1 large basketball- however, he returned this after it did not fit.
THEN he proceeded to take all the clothes (about 15 shirts) off his bottom rack (in 1 try) and carry them to his duffel bag.

At this point we were laughing so hard, he stopped and said, "What, too much?" and promptly dropped all the clothes.

I wish that I would have had a camera to catch his actions, but it was priceless. They are both getting better about packing but still need some help.

Sophia turns SEVEN!

For Sophia's 7th birthday we had a pajama party, with movies, popcorn, pizza and cookie cake. Everyone had such a great time and we were excited that no one was sleeping over!

Before the party really got going, the girls all made pillow cases to take home with them. The girls loved it and they were really, really quiet. It was strange to have a house full of girls and no one talking. Even Miles was disappointed, he kept saying, "they just won't talk to me." Sorry kid, they did not even talk to each other.

this time of year

This is the time of year, as the holiday's are approaching, that i start to think...
* where has this year gone?
* why haven't I kept up this blog better? ( i am going to try to catch up with the pictures that this blog needs, but it will be too hard to keep in order.)
* how did the kids get so big?
* wow, we did a lot of great things this year. (after completing our family picture album.)

no matter how much older I get, I do not really feel older. And sometimes, the people around me do not seem older either, it is more that the kids are getting bigger and I am adding notches to my belt with how long I have been a PT at OSU and how long Justin and I have been married.

While this year seemed simplier in the health department, Miles' did not need any type of procedures, I am thankful for the simple years. The not so taxing times.

We have become a much closer and tighter family.
We have eliminated weekday TV, and started a lot more of game nights. This is so much more fun than sitting in front of the tv and wasting away. We have MORE memories and not wasted day.

I am so thankful for all that we have, I hope that you are thankful too.

The Heart Knows....

Originally written on Oct 6th, 2010.

The heart knows...
Today is the day.
The day that my world changed forever.
This is the day that my son was diagnosed with his heart defect.
This is the day that I prayed that was not real.
This is the day my mom said, " I keep thinking, this is just a bad dream and we will wake up."

It was not a bad dream, it was our new reality. We were told that our little 8 lb healthy son had a very rare heart defect and would require open heart reconstruction to be able to live, but that it was FIXABLE.

I think back to the situation that we were told. I knew something in my heart, something was just not right, but I had NO idea that it would be this big. I can remember sitting in the doctors office and crying before he brought us the news. He said, " crying already, just wait." He returned a short bit later after reviewing the EKG and echo and was able to tell us exactly what the heart condition was, but most importantly he was able to tell us that the defect was FIXABLE.

I know that he is not able to give this type of good news to all families. I know that we are one of the lucky ones.

Each year around this time, we celebrate.
We celebrate birthdays.
We remember the day he was diagnosed.
We celebrate his heart birthday, the day his heart was fixed.

I am still surprised how around this time of year, I still grieve.
I grieve the normalcy that I wanted. I wanted to have a normal child without a heart defect.
I still cry thinking and remembering the events around getting the news and the next 4 weeks that followed by being at the hospital, next to his bed praying that he would get better.

I do cry less, much less than his 1st anniversary, but I think the heart knows....

No TV during the school year

So this is something that I had always heard was a good idea, but I could not fathom how this could work in our house.

exactly, how was I supposed to get dinner on the table if the kids were not watching tv?
how was I supposed to do sophia's homework with her and keep Miles busy?

I wondered, would the evening just drag on?

So, at the last minute (i.e. the 1st day of school) I decided that we would do it. and the results......

HAVE BEEN GREAT!

my kids listen, we play outside after homework and dinner is complete, we have so MUCH MORE time to get everything done.

I am so thankful that we decided to do this. I think it is better for our family and I feel that we are creating some memories instead of just letting the days pass.

I challenge you to consider doing the same thing. In our house, no tv in the morning while everyone is getting ready and no tv until sophia goes to bed. Yes, she gets the shaft, but it is for her own good.

Sophia's 7th Birthday Celebration

Sophia really enjoyed her cookie cake. All decorated with blue icing.


All of Sophia's friends at her party.... Scarlett, Audrey, Livi, Maggie R. Grace, Macy, sophia and Maggie P.

Sophia and Macy sitting together while Sophia is getting ready to blow out her candles.

All the girls quietly watched the movie.

The girls decorated pillowcases for a project during the birthday celebration. The girls got to take the pillowcases home.

Sophia's First Job

This is what happens after being outside for a winter photo shoot in July. Sophia was extremely hot and tired after working so hard by smiling and trying to look cold, even though in Ohio it was 90+ degrees.

Sophia had a stylist, hairdresser and a photographer. She really enjoyed the time during her first job. You can see all of her pictures if you request a catalog at

https://www.rods.com/ssl/CatalogRequest.aspx

it is the holiday catalog which should come out in October. She was the only child model that was used for 2 days of shooting so she should be in a lot of pictures in the catalog. She had a great time and said she would do it again.

Heart Ball

Sometimes, little brothers just get in the way of a good picture. Sophia is trying to have her pictures taken and Miles wanted in the picture.

Miles was honored at the 2010 Heart Ball this year. He story was shared with others. It was such a great night to be able to spend time with good friends and family.

Sophia

This week, it seems that Sophia has grown up into a young lady. I took her to get a 2 hour hair treatment that made her hair more manageable for us and it made it much longer. She looks so much older.

She also went on her 1st overnight sleepover. While she was nervous about going, she was willing to try. She put on a brave face, but she was truly excited to spend time with one of her friends.

Around 10 p.m. I was starting to think that she was actually going to be staying the night. At 10:45 I got a call from the other mom saying that Sophia needed to talk to me. She wanted to come home.

While I hated the fact that she was not in the house, since it does not seem normal to not have everyone in the house at the same time, I was thankful that she tried to do the overnight sleepover but in the end wanted to come home.

She is growing up too fast.

Summer 2010

Well here is it, the time of year that I usually dread. I have always known that I would not be a great SAHM. I am just not completely cut out for it. I need adult interaction, conversation and some alone time (even if my only alone time is sitting in traffic on 315 while there is construction).

The first few days of summer vacation were spent traveling to IL to see Justin's family for a few days. We had a great visit and had a great time swimming.

The first day at home together on Monday we met one of Miles' friends and his mom for a reptile show. It was a great show where the kids got to interact with the reptiles. Even G.G. got to hold the boa constrictor. The kids thought this was great! Even though the weather was really humid, we spent an hour at the park.

On Tuesday, we did a lot of work outside. We had a great day playing in the new tree house and keeping busy by helping mom. We were really dirty and gross, but still got in the van and got an ice cream cone for such good work. While I was putting Miles down for a nap, Sophia also fell asleep. At this point, I felt that if every day could be like this, I would not want to return to work.

By Wed. Sophia and I were really starting to struggle. It seems that we are very similar and are still working out the rules of the summer. She continues to struggle with her reading and I continued to push. I have made a few adjustments which will hopefully work to help her become a better reader. Finally, by the afternoon, we headed to the park, then for a quick dinner and getting a few more plants for the backyard. I am glad that the day ended on a good note. The only downfall is that Sophia fell right before bed. Luckily she landed on soft grass, but may have broken her pinky finger. We have come to learn that Sophia is not a good patient and overreacts to not feeling well. She began to freak out so we decided NOT to head to urgent care. Hopefully in the morning, we will realize that she is feeling better.

Despite originally dreading the summer, I am finding that I really love the summer. It is so not to not have a schedule of getting homework done in a short amount of time, making lunches, getting to school on time and getting to bed on time. We are really taking full advantage of no bedtime schedule. We make sure to get a lot of extra stuff done even late into the evening.

I hope that we continue to create great memories all summer long.

not forever...

tonight, after reading in bed to Miles. He said,
" Mom, when I get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, you can still lay in my bed, but I will read to you."

of course, at this point, my heart melted and tears filled my eyes. I am thankful for him each day and I hope that he will stay this sweet forever.

Mother's Day, 2010

Here are a few family shots that we were able to capture on this Mother's Day. Thank you to my wonderful husband, kids, and parents for a great day.

What a wonderful day spent with family and friends. here are just a few family pictures that we were able to get.

Spring Pictures

These pictures speak for themselves.... I hope you enjoy!