*Friends are Friends Forever

We had so much fun this weekend with our dear friends, the Damaska's!  I think all the kids were plotting on how we could stay together longer.  Jacob suggested we stay for four weeks and when I said that we couldn't do that he thought two weeks was a fair compromise.  Unfortunately we couldn't do that either.  William made up a song about "the boys" staying longer.  Evan pulled out the pouty lip and used it in full force when it was time to go.  They just love to be together and since there are four hours between us, we don't get to see eachother as often as we'd like.  We are thankful for the time we do get though and it's always good and always crazy.  We love it! Thanks for the memories guys. We love you.

*Micheal W. Smith rocks!

Where has the time gone?

January sort of got away from me and now here we are in February!  Funny thing is, I still don't have much to say.  I hate when I leave my blog for this long.  It's always so hard to get back on track.

We have been keeping busy with all our usual stuff, plus I am starting to try to tackle a project everyday.  When I say project, I mean, clean out a drawer or wipe off a shelf in the bathroom I haven't wiped in 2 months.  So far I've cleaned out 4 cabinets, 2 drawers, and my pantry.  Not a bad start but I'm sure by the time I get through my list it will be time to start over again.

Colin has been a sick boy.  He started in with a cough and runny nose.  That quickly turned into croup and ended up having to go in to the doctors office to get a shot for that.  Now he is just a fevery-coughing-snotty mess.  Poor guy is just plain miserable!  Am I being unrealistic to hope that the rest of us escape this bug? 

Oh here is an interesting tid-bit.  When I took Colin to the doctor, I asked about why my boys tend to get croup when they catch a cold.  He said that some kids just have that tendency.  He said that there could be 100 kids with the same cold and three of them might get croup with it.  Unbelievable! Matt and I got ALL three of those kids!  We thought maybe we should start playing the lottery or something with all our luck:) 

I think I've rambled enough for today.  Happy Tuesday!

p.s.
I seemed to have lost the spell checker option for my posts.  Where did it go?  I can't spell so I hope you all can get through this without too much trouble:)

Bearing Rings

Love is in the air.  Matt's brother Chris and his fiance Rachelle got married yesterday.  It was a beautiful wedding, they are a beautiful couple, and they have pretty good taste in ring bearers. 

Evan did such a great job at the wedding and was the most handsome ring bearer I've ever come across!  The boys all had so much fun with all the festivities that come with a wedding in the family.  We are so glad that Chris found such a sweet girl with such a lovely family.  Rachelle has one sister and six brothers!  Chris fits right in with all the crazy fun they have.  We feel pretty lucky to be gaining Rachelle into our family too.

The boys all dressed up and ready to go!

Wedding party.

Our nephew Tyler looking awfully handsome!

Jacob and Daddy dancing at the reception.

Colin getting his groove on!  He was a total ham and everyone was impressed with his moves.

Evan and Tyler.

Congratulations Chris and Rachelle!  We love you and are so happy for both of you.

An award

Today I got a pleasant surprise while checking my blogs. The lovely Heather over at All A Flutter passed on a blog award to me. I'm flattered really. I don't get many awards these days so I'll take what I can get. :)

Along with this award, I'm supposed to reveal seven random things about me. Oh, boy!

1. When we got married, I was 19 and Matt was 21. We were practically babies!

2. In third grade we had to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I drew myself with a broom, and a baby. I wrote that I wanted to be a homemaker. I only wavered on that in middle school when, for a short time I wanted to be an O.B. nurse.

3. I love hearing birth stories! I secretly hope that someone (anyone at all) will ask me to be in the delivery room with them. I would love to be a labor coach.

4. I would choose pickles and olives (black or green) for a snack over cookies and brownies every time.

5. I hardly ever change CD's in the van or mess with the radio. I catch myself singing along to Veggie Tales a lot, when I'm driving...whithout any kids.

6. I love looking through cookbooks and cooking magazines, I love going grocery shopping but I DO NOT like cooking!

7. I'm not a picky eater at all. I like almost everything. The one thing that I have never liked was peanut butter.

Thanks Heather that was fun! Now I get to give this award to seven other bloggers!

Designer Mama

This Side of the Rainbow

This is my Life

Peanut Butter Jam

Handi Andi

Life as a Reimer

My Fuller Life

Family time

We had a great time over Christmas break. Matt had the week off between Christmas and New Years so we had tons of great family time. I'm convinced that the "stay cation" is the way to go. I'm sure this doesn't surprise anyone who knows me as the homebody I am.

The boys and I started out our break by making "white trash". We munched on it for the whole two weeks. You start with these,

mix it with this,

to create this yummy treat!

Warning: You may have to spread it out with your hand which will result in this,

but you can just enlist the help of an eager eater to do this,

Problem solved!

We had a great Christmas, celebrating with lots of family! We had four different family celebrations and then our family's' on Christmas morning.

Matt and I took the boys to see the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. They loved it and it was Colin's first movie in the theater. He did great! We also took them to see Sesame Street Live. It was super fun! We took Evan and Jake to see a Sesame Street Live show two years ago and decided that Colin would really enjoy it this year. We were right!

It was great to start out the new year coming off such an awesome family time. Happy 2010!

Merry Christmas

from our family to yours!

Eight

Last night when I tucked the boy's in bed, I told them that tomorrow was someones birthday. They guessed everyone they could think of and then I told them it was someone we love who lives in Heaven. Their faces lit up and they shouted, LAUREN! I love when they say her name or talk about her. They have a sister that they never knew but somehow I know they love her.

Evan came home from school one day a while back and told me that he drew a picture of our family. I asked him to tell me about it, and he said, "I made me and Jake and Colin and you and daddy. You were holding Lauren and we were all smiling because Lauren was with us." What a reason to smile. Things like this are a gift to me, I love it. Jacob was looking at a baby picture of himself one day and told me, "Hey I look like Lauren, both our hands are the same." Sure enough, in his three month picture his hands are folded up by his face just like hers were in one of the pictures we have hanging up. Colin is still a bit young to talk much about her but when he says her name "Yo-yen" it gets me every time.

Today would have been her eighth birthday. Sometimes it seems so far away, like it never really happened. But it did happen. I know that on December 23, 2001 we welcomed a little girl into our family. We have hours of video tape of her and hundreds of pictures. So I know it happened. I know we have three sons, but before that we had a daughter. Our sweet, beautiful girl, Lauren Rebecca. I struggle every year to know what to do with this day. It's just hard do do birthday's without the guest of honor. I'm sure we will look through her scrapbook. We may end up going out to the cemetery. Whatever we do, I know we will be celebrating in our hearts this day eight years ago when God gave us Lauren.