this boy

is a big boy now. he said goodbye to binkie and chewy (his lovey) at the same time he moved into a big boy bed. my baby is growing up. *sniff* now if we could just get him out of diapers...

is enthralled with trains. and has been known to play with them for days* at a time.
*you know, with a night's rest inbetween!

is usually half dressed.

suddenly found a love for broccoli.

has picked up on the phrase "dang it." i don't know where or how, but he says it—and uses it right. but the funny part about this is that he pronounces it "dune it." so when he gets frustrated and says "UGH!! DUNE IT!" it's extremely hard to keep a straight face while we tell him that he doesn't need to say that.

can count to 17. or somewhere around there.

loves ketchup. and chicken nuggets.

has had no seizures in over 8 months!! (praise the Lord and knock on wood!) we will have an appointment with his neurologist sometime this fall to figure out our plan of action. or non-action!

has no problem singing the B-I-B-L-E at the top of his lungs in the middle of target.

likes to shake his booty.

will lick anything and everything. including the hood of my car. right on the bird poop.

is still pretty much helpless when it comes to using his right hand.

loves milk.

has some gorgeous blue eyes. which may or may not get him out of trouble every now and then.

does not grasp the concept of a baby brother or sister.

likes to sit on the potty and pretend to be a "towdowl" (turtle) by pulling the lid forward until it's resting on his back.

can have quite the attitude at times.

became a 3 year old today!!

happy birthday ryry! i love you!!!

birthday blast

sunday was our funday. it started out with a surprise for samantha—a huge birthday banner and a [semi] clean house (which she requested!). we went to church and samantha was very excited, to say the least, that her sunday school class sang happy birthday to her—complete with the cha cha chas! after church, we went to lunch and then it was time to come home and open presents! samantha was elated with her new barbies, littlest pet shop stuff, jewelry making kit, and american girl books.

then it was off to the zoo with my favorite gorilla, monkey, kangaroo! we had fun riding the camel, train, and tram...

seeing some of the animals...

and samantha was excited to go on her very first paddle boat ride! she even paddled all by herself to let daddy have a rest! ryan, on the other hand, was eager at first, but then decided he didn't want to "go swimming," hence his crabby attitude. thankfully he stayed in the paddle boat and didn't really go swimming!

then we ate our picnic dinner that we brought along. hoping to surprise samantha, i also brought birthday cupcakes. however, paired with the 90 degree heat, our dessert bit the dust.

we made the best of it though!

our day was not complete until we visited the lions and got proof that samantha's mouth was indeed smaller than a lion's (if you've ever had a conversation with her, you would question that fact!) ryan had a lovely meltdown, samantha ran through the misters in the trees, and then we ate some free ice cream!

we went home tired, worn, and warm, but also having had a successful day. it was so much fun giving samantha "the best birthday EVER!!"

this girl...

loves to give back, shoulder, and neck massages.

will get out of bed at night to make sure i gave ryan his medicine.

works the camera like a model.

is a clean freak. and, in fact, cleaned the living room last night so it would be nice and tidy for her birthday.

loves Jesus!

will be in second grade this fall.

calls herself a "mommy in training."

enjoys playing farmville.

is beautiful!

loves to make up songs about God and Jesus and sing them with her horribly tuned guitar. and if you're lucky, you just might get invited to a private concert.

knows all the words to the theme song from "charles in charge."

shares my love of photography!

like to wash dishes, and loves to dust!

is an excellent reader.

is one of the best big sisters in the whole wide world.

always asks me to take a "solo" picture of her after she and ryan have posed.

makes the best homemade presents.

is not embarassed one bit to loudly sing "saviour, he can move the mountains" while walking through the store. or "how great is our God" while using a public restroom.

turned 7 years old today!

happy birthday samantha! i love you!

not me! monday ~ birthday edition

we do NOT not do birthdays around here. confused?! with my birthday on the 9th, then ben's on the 17th, and with valentine's day in the middle, we don't get too hyped up with celebrations. usually we just go out for dinner and kill three birds with one stone.

but ryan's hand foot and mouth disease put the kybosh on my plans of taking ben out to dinner on his birthday last wednesday, so i came up with some last minute plans:

a cake was the first thing in order. i was NOT extremely relieved when i found a cake mix AND matching frosting in the pantry. ryan did NOT enjoy licking the batter (or ice cream as he called it) off the beaters and decorating the cake eating the frosting and sprinkles.

and then i had the not-so-brilliant-idea to make ben a happy birthday poster life-sized banner. i did NOT spend the rest of the morning printing and cutting out big colorful letters and making the kids color pictures. and then i did NOT get sidetracked—i had made ben coupons for his birthday (you know, like one free back massage, take out the trash for you, and get out of trouble free), and did NOT forget to print them out.

cue the break for lunch—i did NOT figure that i'd have plenty of time to finish my projects before ben got home from work, so i decided to sit down and eat lunch with the kids.

right after lunch ben did NOT call to say he was on his way home and that he'd be home in 30 minutes.

30 minutes!!!

i did NOT scramble to hide the cake on the washing machine behind the laundry basket, clean up my mess of paper scraps, and then hide all the letters and pictures and coupons in our bed underneath the sheets.

the kids and i did NOT welcome him home with "happy birthday to you," and then cancel school and totally abandon him to go work on our project. it did NOT take me about two hours to cut out and staple the coupons into booklets and glue letters and pictures onto the roll of paper.

well clearly i did NOT fail to think out the banner. because when it was done? and it was time to tape it up on the wall? waaayyyyyy to big to do it by myself. although i did do it by myself...

anyway, 129 inches later, it was all taped up on the wall. that's right, the banner ended up being 10 feet 9 inches long!!

it was NOT worth it though, don't you think?

overall, it did NOT turn out okay. and i am NOT lucky to have a husband that doesn't care if he gets a real present or not! happy 31st birthday ben! next year i will NOT plan better!

go visit mckmama.com for more not me! fun.

wordless wednesday

you be the judge

it's my birthday today.

and i may or may not be totally excited to be 28...

i may or may not still act like a kid when it comes to my age and turning another year older...

i may or may not be [im]patiently waiting for two years to go by so i can be 30...

i may or may not regret this when i'm about to turn 30...

i may or may not have pre-ordered a cd for my birthday present just because it was going to come out on my birthday...

my birthday present from ben may or may not have been off of a pallet that he bought at the auction...

said birthday present may or may not have been pens... lots of them.

that may or may not have been the best present ever...

i may or may not have had ice cream three times today...

i may or may not have totally enjoyed all the birthday wishes from my friends and family...

i may or may not have requested that we don't go out, but stay home and order pizza for my birthday...

and i may or may not have had raspberries blown on my belly from my family instead of getting birthday spankings...

i may or may not have had one of the greatest birthdays today...

you decide!

terrific 2's

2 years ago today our lives were forever changed: ryan was born!

with both pregnancies we did not find out the sex of the baby. so with ryan we naturally assumed we’d have a girl, since boys do NOT happen in our family! needless to say we were unexpectantly surprised and blessed with a beautiful baby boy!

a couple hours after ryan was born he decided to start being a strong willed second born child--apparently he didn’t like the whole breathing outside of the womb thing. so he was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. over the course of seven days he was on oxygen, weaned off oxygen, i was discharged, we were told he could go home, he was back on oxygen, had a CT scan, a neonatologist convinced me that there was nothing wrong with his brain, ry was treated for jaundice, weaned off of oxygen, failed his first ever test (a carseat test happens before an infant is released from the NICU to make sure all o2, heart rate, etc. stats stay stable for an hour while in a carseat), he was circumsized, and finally discharged and sent home to loads of family waiting to see him for the first time.

welcome to the world baby boy!

ryan,
it seems like years since i was a freaked out, hormonal (ok, i still get a little hormonal), scared to death mom. but God was gracious, and your daddy was awesome. we got through a rough first week, a few discouraging months, and our share of ups and downs with you. but we wouldn’t trade our time with you for anything in the world!

you have grown so much and i enjoy seeing you discover new things every day! i pray that you will continue to be healthy and happy as you grow, and more than anything i pray that one day you will experience the awesomeness of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

happy second birthday ryan!

i love you!!

love, mom

not me! monday ~ birthday edition

time for not me! monday. this week we ate out more than we ate at home. i stayed in my jammies until afternoon. on two days. and i didn't put ryan down for a nap until 5 pm last night.

that's what took place this week...


...and here's what did NOT happen:

samantha did NOT turn six this week. i was NOT super sad about how fast she has grown up.

on her actual birthday we did NOT have to go to target so that i could buy her another present, a card, gift bag, and a birthday cake.

we did NOT give her a digital camera (that ben won on a pallet at the auction) for her birthday. she is NOT totally enjoying it and has NOT already gone through a set of batteries and has NOT taken over 200 pictures. in 24 hours! and last night at walmart she was NOT taking pictures of random strangers...

this week samantha is NOT going to have her first ever friend birthday party. and she is NOT extremely excited! this is totally NOT a spur-of-the-moment-thrown-together-party and i am definitely NOT behind on preparations.

so while scurrying to get samantha's birthday party invitations in the mail i did NOT buy a book of stamps at walmart, slap on the address labels i had pre-printed, and drop them in the mailbox at the post office on my way home from walmart. the next night i did NOT open up my purse and see a full book of stamps in there. yes, you guessed it--i did NOT forget to put stamps on every single invitation. not quite knowing whether the invitations would come back to me or be delivered with postage due, i did NOT then have to call every mom (except for the ones i facebooked!) to tell them when and where the party was and appologize in case they would have to pay to receive their invitation.

and while i was chatting on the phone with the last mom, she did NOT inform me that the pool where we're gonna have the party didn't open until an hour and a half after my planned time. so i did NOT have to change the time and then call everyone back again with the correct time.

next time samantha has a friend party (or just a birthday for that matter)? i am NOT gonna plan waaayyyyyy better.


what did you NOT do this week? stop by mckmama's blog for more not me fun!!

i blinked...

and six years came rushing past me.

dear samantha,

it seems like just the other day i was bringing home a newborn baby girl. i was so excited about my new role as mommy, although still a little hesitant about the huge task that lay before me.

but at the same time it seems like forever ago since you were little. i can't believe that today you're six. before i know it you'll be asking me for the keys to the car. you have grown up to be such a wonderful little big girl!

did you know that you never fail to surprize me? all the funny little things you do and say--you definitely give me something to smile about!

did you know you are an exceptional daughter? daddy and i are so blessed to have you as our daughter. we love to experience new things with you and watch you grow physically, intellectually, and spiritually every day!

did you know that you're such a good sister? ryan is so lucky to have a sister like you--a sister that prays for him. a sister that watches out for him. and a sister that loves him so very much!

and did you know that even though i'm YOUR teacher, you have taught me way more important things in your six years of life than i could ever teach you in school?! with your heart for people, your zest for life, and your love for God, you have shown me the meaning of faith like a child. you have demonstrated how to love your neighbor as yourself. you have taught me to think in light of eternity.

and when i love you with every ounce of love i could possibly give you, i realize how immeasurably more God loves me.

i love you samantha!!

happy 6th birthday!

love, mom

saturday cell phone mosaic week-long regular camera mosaic

so my blog friend ace does a picture mosaic on saturdays of all the things she's done during the day. well, i don't have a cell phone that takes pictures. and even if i did i probably would still use my regular camera to take pictures...

she's told me a couple times that i should participate, but as of lately, my saturdays haven't been that exciting and picture worthy. so i'm doing a week in review if you will.

on monday we went to the airport to tell cameron goodbye.

on tuesday ben had a softball game and he hit a home-run (that i didn't see). maybe this tuesday i'll bring my camera!

wednesday was a lazy day.

thursday was a shopping and start cleaning the house day.

on friday we went to samantha's friend's birthday party--which was not your average party--it was a tie-dye party! it was at a nearby park so the kids had fun playing, eating, pinata-ing, and lastly tie-dying! ms. hollie has set the bar high for fun birthday parties!

and tonight we went to kymie's grad party. ryan had fun trying to stand up in the grass!

so there you have it. i'm sure next week's will be much better!


check out the other saturday cell phone mosaics and post your own!

i am a lifetime joy...

or at least my mom thinks so. you see, she sent me the same card for my birthday two years in a row. when i opened the card i knew it looked familiar so i looked through my basket of cards and found the same one from the year before. i took a picture of the cards and emailed it to my mom and we had a good laugh about it. apparently when she was shopping for my card and picked that one out she had a feeling that she had gotten it before. but she thought she sent it to my sister instead of me.

then a week after my birthday was ben's birthday. he got his card from my mom and dad in the mail and i jokingly asked, "have you gotten that one before hun?" he said it look a little familiar, so i went back to the basket to see if she sent him a duplicate also. as i was flipping through all the cards i stopped and asked, "ben??? are the two cards from my mom over there on the table?"

to which he replied "yeah. why?"

i started laughing and pulled out another of the same card and grabbed my camera again!

my mom may have gotten me the same card three times, but at least she thinks i'm a lifetime joy!

love you, mom! :-)

tuesday tip

here's my tip for today:
make sure you listen to ever word your waitress says, so that you won't be totally surprised when a bunch of servers come over to your table and sing happy birthday to you.

here's the story:
today ben turned 30. awwwww....happy birthday honey!

anyway, we didn't do much today until ryan got up from his nap. we decided to go out for dinner and ended up at red robin - yum! - which is a burger restaurant. so we ordered and when the waitress brought out our food i asked her if they do anything for birthdays to which she replied yeah. i told her ben turned 30 today and she just kind of smiled and said "ohhhhhhhhhhh... i won't tell anyone!" i figured she was talking about not telling anyone his age. but ben thought she was talking about not telling anyone it was his birthday. then she proceeded to say "i'll bring you a sundae when you're done with your meal. and we'll sing happy birthday. don't worry--it's not too bad--it's fun!"

well i guess ben only heard her say "i'll bring you a sundae blah blah blah blah blah blah it's fun!"

so while we were eating our dinner another person, who was celebrating a birthday, got sung to. ben didn't say anything like, 'i'm glad they won't be singing to me' but come to find out, that's exactly what he was thinking! then four of our friends walked in and talked to us for a little bit before sitting down.

then when we got done with our meal, a whole herd of servers came over to the table, gave ben his sundae and two balloons, and said "we have a birthday!!!!!" *clap*clap*clap*clap* "HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WE'RE GLAD THAT YOU ARE HERE........." and on and on. ben looked embarrassed to say the least. and i was loving it! :-)

when they walked away he just gave me that look. the look like he wanted to be mad but the only expression he could give me was a smile. then he told me that he thought they weren't going to sing to him because the waitress said she wouldn't tell!

oh, but he loved it anyway. you know they always do, but just can't admit to it! ;-) i told him to smile if he loved it. and then to frown if he hated it. and he couldn't pull it off! but i think the sundae was totally worth it!

not me! monday

it's a happy monday....

make sure you visit mckmama's blog to play along and to read what everyone else has not been doing! but for now, here's what's not going on with me!

i certainly did not take advantage of the 70 degree days we had this week. i did not walk with the kids to the park in hopes of taking some great pictures. and, thinking ahead, i did not check the camera battery and change it before we went. then i did not walk 15 minutes to the park, get ready to take some pictures, and notice that there was no memory card in the camera. nope, not me! if i'm smart enough to check the battery i'm definitely smart enough to check that there's a memory card!!

while driving in the car with the kids, samantha did not notice some litter on the street, then proceed with this lecture while sounding entirely devastated, "oh no mom! someone littered!!! and this is the only world we have, mom!! we need to keep it clean for our kids... yep, it's our only world..." nope. my 5-year-old is not a green freak!

if anyone saw me at church on saturday, i was not dropping off samantha for sparks-o-rama practice which i found out doesn't start until NEXT saturday. nope, definitely not me. i'm way too detail oriented to skim over the flyer that had the times and dates!

i absolutely did not clean up drying paint on my floor at 11pm last night. my son did not tip over a paint bucket which did not create a lake of paint on our floor. and i did not blog about it before cleaning it up.

aannnnnnnddddddd..............

....last but not least.

today is not my birthday, so instead of giving myself a present, i am not gonna give you the chance to win one!

here's what you do: leave me a comment with your guess of what time i was born. whoever is the closest gets this lovely mary kay prize consisting of an eye essentials set, oil-free eye makeup remover, age fighting eye cream, and soothing eye gel!

sorry family, you can't play on this one!

and this is also not my 100th post, so i'm not gonna have a double contest!

to win a dvd of the new movie fireproof, you can get one entry for following my blog, one entry for following me on twitter, and one entry for leaving me another comment about your favorite thing about my blog. (you automatically get an entry if you follow my blog or twitter.)

family, you can play along on this one!

make sure i have a way to contact you if you win. and sorry, i can only ship to the 48 contiguous states! the contests will end when i post the winners on friday, february 13th!

happy monday!!!

three busy weeks... part 3

time to go back in time again...

the week that mom and dad were here flew by it seemed. we got home at 12:30 the morning of wednesday, july 9th. ben was getting off early from work most days so it was nice that we got to spend time with him during the day. we enjoyed shopping, playing games, and just spending time together. thursday night ben took mom and dad to the auction in the caves, but there was no live auction, just a silent one. i think mom enjoyed seeing the cave that it was in though.


on friday we went to liberty memorial in dowtown kansas city. it is the national world war one memorial. my parents and i had been there a couple years ago but they have a brand new museum now so we decided to go again. it was so neat. if you're ever in kc and have a free day you should check it out. for someone not liking museums or history, i was very impressed. it gave me a whole new appreciation for the men and women who are serving and have served our country. thank you!
the kids were so good. we got there at 11:00 and left after 4:00! it was fun going up in the tower. it's two hundred some feet in the air so it gives you a great view of the city. that night we had smokehouse bbq for dinner. yum! thanks for cooking, dad! :-)

liberty memorial

view from the top of the tower

mom & dad and the kids

saturday we did a lot of shopping while the men stayed home and watched a movie. we ran all around getting food and stuff for ryan's birthday party. sunday we went to church, came home, had lunch, then took mom and dad to the kc northern railroad. ryan was so tired he fell asleep on the train this time. after that we picked up ryan's nemo cake, went home, and got ready for his party.

riding the train

see, i think they enjoyed it because i got a smile out of dad!

did it make you feel like a kid again??

ryan had fun opening his presents. he got lots of nice presents, although he probably liked playing with the tissue paper the most! he didn't really care about his cake. he was trying to pick up the frosting and drop it on the floor, but that didn't work very well. he liked the ice cream way better!

he loves our fishies so much, so we got him a nemo cake

ryan on his new tonka truck

samantha was so excited that she found a frog!

ben had the day off on monday, so we all went to loose park in the morning. it would've been great if i would've thought of bringing a picnic lunch. it was a beautiful day. all the roses were blooming and it wasn't too hot! after we got home the kids had a nap, mom and i went shopping, and then ben grilled steaks for dinner.

loose park

i love this pic of my parents

samantha in front of a sycamore tree

the flowers were beautiful...

...so were the trees!

mom and dad left early tuesday morning. ben had tuesday off too so it was fun to spend time together with him and the kids.

well now we're up to date! hopefully no more time travel for a while!