Long Time Coming

I have thought about blogging here and there over the last year and a half that I've not posted anything here. But, today is just as good as any and I see my last post has to do with Isaac crawling, and all the excitement that goes with that.
Isaac is now 2 years old, and not only walking (of course) but running, talking, and understanding much more about life than I could ever imagine he could at this age. Every day he amazes me with his strength, his will, veracity, and humor. He is a light in our world, that's for sure. Now, if I could only get him to stop hitting his brothers...

As for Evan; today is picture day. He's in first grade. It is a miraculous feat in and of itself that he's in first grade - let alone actually enjoying himself, thriving, playing with friends, and truly enjoying school. Last year was a difficult one, to say the least. His kindergarten teacher was on her way to retirement at the end of the year. Apparently, she'd never run across a child of his tenacity or character. The school district is once again safe, now that she's no longer working in it.
Ah, but I digress. Evan's first grade teacher is embarking on her second year of teaching. She has a new style, presence, and patience with me - which is really important. One of these days she'll be getting a card and a gift from me, thanking her for her patience and generosity when she gets the continual flow of notes, phone calls and emails from the likes of me. I only do it to prevent a recurrence of last year's events.
Otherwise, Evan is doing remarkably well in first grade. His best friend, Thomas by his side. They appear to work well together, despite the giggles and laughter at gross things the way boys are.
Evan fell on the playground one day, skinning his knee and hand pretty badly. Thomas saw it all happen, and nearly fell to tears just watching Evan in pain. Thomas' parents told me of how he refused to let a teacher help Evan, but instead cleaning Evan's bleeding hand and knee himself; took care of him; even put band aids on them. It's wonderful to think Evan could have a friend as good as this. They really do care about each other.
Thankfully Thomas lives just one street over from us.

So here's to picture day of a first grader! Yahoo!!

Damien has done remarkably well also. He's received his first grade card of middle school - bringing home 5 A's and 3 B's. Not too shabby for a kid with disabilities. He's struggling, but persevering. Being in the school play as one of three sixth graders is also a motivator to keep the grades up. He enjoys the rehearsals and the theater so much that he'll do just about anything to stay involved in that. So, he works extra hard to keep the grades where they need to be, because he'd hate to lose that privilege.

He's CRAWLING!!

Isaac finally started crawling yesterday! Woot! Woot!!
He did it in front of Dan in the morning as we were getting ready to head out to for a long walk to the park. Once we got home from the park, I grabbed the camera and caught him crawling!
Here goes:

Blanket Fort

My two older boys are totally cool dudes. They made this awesome fort of blankets, inspired by Emery during her visit when she made a fort. I believe they were reminded of how fun forts can be, and not only made this but slept in it overnight.
Here are the pics of this rockin' fort:

Updating

I've not had much energy or opportunity to really do any blogging lately. We've had stressors of additional court custody battles, Dan's schooling, and finding a new day care center for Isaac to really have much time to be blogging. Maybe I should have focused more on blogging, as it could be somewhat therapeutic, but I made other choices and here I am today. I'm blogging.
I've noticed in the last several weeks my energy levels really dropping. Once I get home from work, I've barely the energy to change clothes, let alone cook dinner, or even worse - clean.
But something changed yesterday. It was a beautiful day. The wind was blowing, the clouds bussling, and tempurature rised to just over 70 degrees and it was wonderful. Dan had more energy than I've seen him have in a while now, and was in the mood to smoke some meat. It is a pass time he thoroughly enjoys. Just as much as he enjoys smoking meat, he enjoys sharing it with others. The conversation that goes along with enjoying a huge, smoked meat and side dish meal. It is the perfect combination for a perfect evening with friends.
So, my big brother and his family came by to enjoy it all with us along with my dear friend Barbie.
We all ate, and we laughed, and more guests showed up which made it that much more fun and special. The Witt's enjoyed some of the smoked meat as well, even though they were already full from their previously eaten meals.
It was great.
We heard the laughter of the children playing in the back yard, giggling at the imaginary monster that was chasing them so. We enjoyed the fire in the fire pit and s'mores and chocolate covered strawberries that were worth the wait.
Barbie brought some delicious s'mores cookies and some Price Chopper made macNcheese. It is important to mention that it was Price Chopper macNcheese, because it's not Kraft - it's better than that. It is more fatty, more cheesy, and similar to what you'd find at KFC. Yum.
Then the baked potatoes. Need I say more?

My refrigerator has more beer in this morning than I think it's ever held before, and there was many a beer drunk last night by then men in the house.

It was also very interesting and entertaining that the men ended up outside with the fire and the kids, and us women-folk were relaxing in the living room on the ever-so-comfy couches just chatting the evening away.

This morning, I feel energized. Like my battery was recharged with the high energy and laughter of awesome friends and great food. Definately need to do that more often.

Isaac yelling at his toy.

Isaac is trying to sit up on his own - although this looks like I'm holding him up, I'm not. I just have my legs there in case he falls over, he's sitting up pretty well, I think! His little scream at his toy is really funny - enjoy!~

Christmas pictures

Yeah - we got Christmas pictures done already - Go ahead and laugh...

Here's a glimpse. I'm not so sure I like these pics - I can't tell if the lighting was off, or if red just isn't our color - I think we'll go back to dark colors next year...

Merry early Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Lovely Autumn Morn'

We went outside this morning to rake up some leaves... I took some pictures of the family. It was such a beautiful day!

Isaac did it!

He held his head up so very high during tummy time. I'm so proud! I was wondering if he was going to do it, and he did it! Yay!
Here's some pictures of the cutest little stink-pot -

All Hallows Eve

Here's my kids on Halloween. We went to Mom's to Trick or Treat, and we had so much fun!!
We also did the Downtown Blue Springs trick or treat dealy where the local businesses set up booths for the kids. They also get to hand out little ditties about their businesses and why we should shop their. Here's some pics! Evan was "Optimus Prime" of the Transformers, Damien was a "Baseball playing Zombie", and Isaac was the classic pumpkin.

Isaac's new school photo

Here he is!!

Karate Kids.

My boys and their ways - we did Karate photos. Looks like the boys are having fun!

Damien is growing up.

Oh boy... We just got Damien's school photos back this week. He sure is grown up! Take a look:

Grandparent's Day...

Damien had my mom come to his school for Granparent's Day. They had a great time and wanted to memorialize it...

Isaac's new toy

I bought Isaac a little floor gym, and he loves it! Here's the video to prove it... Enjoy!

My little pumpkin

We got Halloween costumes... Isaac is the third of the three boys to be a pumpkin for his first Halloween. We just had to try it on!

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Dan and I took the kids to a very expensive Great Wolf Lodge for our annual anniversary "vacation". I put vacation in quotes because it is usually just a weekend away. The kids had a BLAST in the waterpark. they loved looking at all of the animals, and wondering through the great hall. They especially loved their sleeping arrangements.

Aside from the Tornado Warning that Friday night shortly after our arrival - where we had to park in the basement with 200 of our closest hotel neighbors, some wet from the waterpark others just getting ready for dinners out. We were there for an hour, trapped like sardines -
All in all it was a great trip. The boys had a great time in the water park. Dan and I took turns holding Isaac so the other could go adventure with the boys - Damien loved the waterslides, Evan had a great time in the small kids part with the small kids water slides and the other small kids.
Evan is the child who never wants his head to be wet - but there he was, under the big bucket. Every 5 minutes that thing dumps 1,000 gallons of water on the heads of the waiting children and adults below it. Evan was one of them, several times. It was great and Evan can't wait to go back!

New pictures

Hey - Just wanted to throw some new baby stuff on here - I don't have time to write much today - enjoy!

Fourth Grade, here we come!

Today is the beginning of Fourth Grade for Damien... He is totally excited to get started. Old friends, new friends, new teachers, new classrooms, new bus, new busstop... Yay!

My pregnancy Montage...