Easter Egg Hunt

Just the other night we went to an easter egg hunt. The weather cooperated and the boys had a ball. Before the party Jay told me he was too old to hunt for easter eggs but when it comes to a competition - however small it may be - Jay can't resist. He helped his brother find as many eggs as possible which equates to the more eggs Nick found, the more candy Jay could eat.

Our friend who hosted the party had a pink tractor. Nick is laughing b/c he was embarassed I was taking his picture while he was riding a pink tractor.

Jay, of course found the mud and proceeded to play in it!

Nick making cupcakes and proudly displaying it. I'll post more pictures from Easter later this week. I got some cute pictures of all the kids - Jay, Nick, Lauren and Luke. Stay tuned.

13 years and counting

Recently I was watching a movie about a wedding. The bride was walking down the aisle with her groom. She was clearly having doubts about marrying him. She began quizzing him: What's my favorite color? What's my favorite food? What's my favorite flower? To validate her feelings of uncertainity her soon to be husband knew none of the answers and they didn't get married. I had to chuckle to myself because on April 25 Mike and I will be married for 13 years and we've been together for 17 years and I can tell you he doesn't know the answer to any of those questions. Here's what he does know. He knows I snore and loudly and when I insist I'll sleep on the couch he whole heartedly refuses. He says he sleeps better with me in bed - even if I do snore! He knows I like to read in bed so without being asked he installed a remote control light switch I can use without having to get out of bed - truly, a beautiful thing, ha! He knows I hum and he just shakes his head! He knows I like flowers planted every spring and every spring when I buy them he plants them for me. I could go on and on but the point is if I were to have gotten hung up on the "little" things some 13 years ago then I would have missed the bigger picture. Happy 13th Anniversary, Mike, Life with you is steadfast, loving, funny and never boring!

Thoughts on turning 5 - according to Nick

On April 30 my "baby" will turn 5. I can hardly believe it! I've had some entertaining conversations with Nick about turning 5. He is so excited about his birthday. He never misses an opportunity to talk about the upcoming event. Recently he announced he was patiently waiting to turn 5 and everyday he asks me "how many more days until my birthday?" Tonight while we were making dinner I asked Nick if he was excited about turning 5. His response, "I'm nervous about turning 5." I asked him why he would be nervous and his response was simple, "Just because." Well can I just say I'm nervous about him turning 5 too so like mother, like son. Ha. I wish I could slow time down - just a little. I don't want to stop time but I vividly remember taking Jay to Kindergarten and it seems like yesterday. How time flies........

Smoothies

For several months I've had great difficulty getting Jay to eat his lunch. Every morning I would spend time making his lunch - with love I might add and every afternoon when I would check his lunch box his sandwich would not be eaten or his fruit wouldn't be touched. The interesting part is it has never occurred to Jay to simply throw his cold lunch out at school. I'm not encouraging him to lie but really I gotta admit it's hard to believe the kid has gotten all the way through 3rd grade and hasn't figured out if you just throw your lunch away then mom and dad will assume you've eaten it. Mike and I had about lost our minds about two weeks ago because Jay was eating NOTHING for lunch and we had tried everything. I bought him a thermos so he could have "hot" lunch. Mike grilled him cheeseburgers (for his thermos), I packed him soup, gondolas, you name it, I tried it. The big piece of the puzzle that I haven't mentioned is Jay is on a medication that decreases his lunch time appetite. He doesn't purposely not eat his lunch, he just doesn't have an appetite but just the same I was desperate to try and find a way to get him to eat something healthy at lunch. My dear friend Karen Neal (Thank you Karen!!!) suggested smoothies. For about two weeks I've packed Jay peach smoothies, banana and strawberry smoothies, you name it, I've thought of it and Jay has loved them! They are packed with yogurt, fruit and honey so he's getting the protein and calories he needs, in a healthy way. I was hoping to score some extra mom points and asked Jay if his friends were jealous that he was getting smoothies in his lunch and his quick response was, "No, AJ and Tristan both get candy in their lunches." Oh boy! To Jay's credit he has thanked me for the smoothies and just the fact that he's finally eating/drinking his lunch is thanks enough to me.

Slowly but surely

Today was Palm Sunday. As we were headed out the door for church I heard Jay say, "I hate church." I cringed and said an extra prayer for him and me. There are several reasons why I believe Jay feels this way but that's another blog. There are so many times when I want to throw my hands up and tell the Lord I've given up but of course, I know that is not acceptable. The service today was so nice and I was so thankful. It seemed to "speak" to Jay. There was a young couple from Nashville, Jacob and Katie Eckeberger, who make up the duo, My Anchor Holds. I heard Katie sing at Hearts at Home Conference in March and talk about AMAZING! Jay loved how Jacob played the guitar and Katie sang her heart out. Katie sang one song that the congregation could follow along with in our hymnals. Jay grabbed a hymnal and I heard my boy singing along . I almost had a stroke during the service! Later, during the Lord's Prayer Jay recited it from start to finish with the rest of the congregation. I say the Lord's Prayer with Jay nearly every night. Many nights I wonder if he's even paying attention. When I heard Jay singing during church and saying the Lord's Prayer - although it was a small thing - it was the little "sign" from above that I needed to remind me to keep on keeping on and leave the rest to Him.

Nick and his animals

Even though Nick will be 5 in 16 days his love of animals - specifically penguins and girafees - has only intensified. I had to take Nick to the doctor the other day. He had a sinus infection. At the grocery store as we were waiting for his prescription to be filled he suckered me into yet another giraffe. Meet Ginger, the girl giraffe. That evening he got himself tucked in on the couch under his giraffe blankie (thank you Holly Kelson) and Ginger! Nick is at such a sweet age and I want to savor every moment because I know someday he'll be so over his love of penguins and giraffes. Mike and I do joke that he'll probably tuck one of his favorites in his suit pocket when he walks down the aisle one day. Yet thinking about that, I'm thinking that's just weird. Mommy loves you, Nick!

It's true that penguins and giraffes are Nick's favorite animals but sometimes he surprises us. The other night he told us he wanted to be a zebra next Halloween. Just to make sure we got the point he went to bed with his zebra mask on and fell asleep with it on. All I can say is only Nick.

Greatest brother award

Jay came home last week with an essay he wrote at school about his brother. It touched my heart. Here's what he wrote - in his exact 3rd grade words: "I want to introduce my brother, Nick, for the greatest brother. He lets me play with him. My brother likes anything I give him and builds anything he likes. He lets me play soccer with him. I am giving the award to my brother because he's the best brother in the world."

2011 Fishing derby

Even though Nick is not a Cub Scout yet, he participated in Jay's Fishing Derby anyway. As I was downloading these pictures I realized this was Jay's derby and yet I only got one picture of him. You have to understand Jay thinks he's way too old to have his picture taken when his friends are around but I don't let that stop me, it can just get kind of challenging. The picture above is of Nick getting instruction from his dad for his first fishing expedition - ha.

As you can see, fishing for Nick lasted a whole 10 minutes. After that he jumped in the lake - Yes, it was cold! And then he "laid out" on the beach.

Jay getting ready for the derby. In the past Jay never had the patience to fish for very long but this year was different. He was bound and determined to catch a fish and stuck with it for about an hour but no luck. He didn't get a fish this year. Better luck next year.

In keeping with the "theme" for the day we ended it with Nick's favorite food - LOBSTER! Here he is huddled on the counter watching his dad prepare the lobster. I just laugh that my almost 5 year old absolutely loves lobster - it's truly his favorite food. Mike has to work overtime to afford it but hey, Nick is happy. Hee, Hee.

Bombs away

I know what you're thinking.....why is Amy posting a picture of a door frame and her yard? You'll understand when I tell the story. This is the door in our garage that leads out into our backyard. For some reason the boys love to pee out this door. When we got home tonight, Nick opens the door and starts to do his business when Jay pushes him out the door - midstream. Keep in mind this is probably about a 4 foot drop. So while Nick was laying on the ground crying because he had peed on himself, I give Jay a gentle shove out the door and he lands on the ground. Jay and I start hysterically laughing which only makes Nick cry harder. I bend over and help Jay up. As soon as he got his footing he pushes me out the door! Oh, the joy of boys!

The Mother in law factor

When I went to the Hearts At Home conference a month ago I had the pleasure of hearing Kendra Smiley speak. She doesn't have any fancy degrees, she's just a mom who knows what she's talking about. She also raised three sons. Any woman who successfully raises three sons tends to get my immediate attention. I'm always interested in what advice they "dish out." I received one of Kendra's newsletters last night via email and thought I would share some of her advice about being the mother in law - and she knows what she's talking about. She has three daughter in laws. *We mother in laws must remember that although we rank our children very high on our priority list, we are not ranked that high on theirs. *At best we are in a position under the Lord, their spouse, their kids, and their work. We are in a category Kendra likes to call, "Other good things." *This is not bad. It's what God intended. Genesis 2:24, That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh. *The old adage is true, "A son's a son until he takes a wife. A daughter's a daughter the rest of her life." I'm a common sense type of gal and I gotta tell ya.....I've heard mother's of sons actually say, "There will never be anyone good enough for my boy." HUH???? I'm always dumbfounded by that statement. I know father's of daughters like to joke there will never be anyone good enough for their girls either but come on people. Any one of us who got married and is happily married knows that indeed, wa-la, there was someone good enough for us and what a beautiful person they are and vice versa. I pray daily my boys will marry girls who love the Lord, and are crazy, over the moon for my boys. I also pray for the same characteristics in my boys - that they love the Lord and marry girls they are crazy about. Let's face it, when my children are old enough to get married and make that decision, I've done my job. The rest is up to them, their wives and the Lord. I just pray I can sit back and enjoy the ride as my mother and my mother in law get to do.

Titleless blog

These are some random pictures I am posting. We live out in the country but still live within a subdivision - it's just nice because we have plenty of land but still have neighbors. I remember when Kim and I were growing up we had these two neighborhood boys (they were brothers), James & Charles. We played with them constantly! My boys have Mya and Mason. They are 6 year old twins and the four of them are adorable. You would never know there is a 3 year age difference between Mason and Jay. They ride their four wheelers together for hours on the weekend and Mya and Nick are like two peas in a pod. This past Sunday while Mason and Jay were four wheeling Nick and Mya got creative and made homemade kites. The picture above is of the two of them flying their kites. How cute is that?

Lately I've noticed I haven't been in many pictures - there is always a good reason for that.......I look like crap these days. But the other morning before church I figured since the three of us cleaned up nice (sort of) I'd get a picture with my two favorite boys. Granted it isn't the best picture but it was the best I could do - what can I say? Ha.

What has Nick been up to?

I've blogged a lot about Jay lately and figured I was overdue to blog about Nick. He's been our little helper lately. Last week Jay was having a hard time finding something to do so Mike told him he'd find him something constructive to do. Nick chimed in and asked his dad, "Hey dad, can you find something DE-structive for me to do?" LOL! Mike gave him the job of dusting the bar stools. A great job for an almost 5 year old!

Here's Nick just being his typical self. This time of year he insists on wearing his spring/summer jammies. We compromise.....he wears the jammies but notice the long underwear he has on underneath them. Now that's a fashion statement! He's also into tucking all his shirts in his jeans - even sweatpants. The other day he went to school with his sweatshirt tucked into his sweatpants. I didn't have the heart to tell him he looked like he could take the star role in the "Revenge of the Nerds" remake.

Nick with his new BFF, his cousin Lukie. I wish he was as nice to Lauren as he is to Lukie. He got Luke this penguin hat - how fitting, huh?

And here's a familiar scene. Remember these photos of Mike and Jay at the breakfast bar - yeah they are still doing homework there too, I've just stopped taking pictures of them. Ha. Nick knows how to write his name and his Prek teacher tells us he's ready for Kindergarten but for some reason he writes his name backwards but knows you spell it N-I-C-K. Like all things, it's a work in progress.