{brotherly} LOVE

very early on in my pregnancy with nolan i found out that he was a twin and that we had lost one.
it was at that moment i knew i wasn't done having children...
confirming those feelings were two friends who both had dreams of me having twins and in one of the dreams one child said to the other, "it's ok. you go first".

...and that he did, nolan came and prepared our hearts and mind for another child. a perfect little girl, our evyn rose.

they share a special bond, he prepared the way for her and his love and adoration for this baby girl is everything i hoped it would be.

God is amazing and gracious and i am so very blessed to have been chosen to be the mother of these children. each one unique, each with their own special gifts and each one angels sent to me from heaven. i never thought i'd have children, let alone {five}...

our family is now complete.

Picture {PERFECT}!

a friend did a photoshoot for me as a baby gift.
i am so grateful to her and for her talent
they turned out just PERFECT!

THANKS christina!!!
i will treasure them!

Celebrating {TWO} Years!

the family got together last night for cake and ice cream
to celebrate a very happy birthday.

i need to be better at getting photos of all the guests! mom, suz and abu were all there, too!

the birthday boy was truly excited each time he opened his gifts. it's so cute when he gets so excited, puts his hands in the air and says "whoo hoo!" as he runs to his dad to have the gift removed from the "adult proof" wrappings!

{on a side note...one of the motorcycles was even screwed into plastic, tied into the box for cryin' out loud!}

he recieved all his favorite things...
dirt bikes, footballs, more dirtbikes, legos, a scooter, and a big 'ol tonka truck! {dear doug & shawn, it's metal and it hurts when it drops on your foot!}

the funniest part of the night was when i asked the birthday boy to go to each person and say thank you and give them a hug and a kiss...no problem until he got to brandon who didn't want any part of the kiss {it has to be on the lips!} he dodged the {mouth} kiss twice and the on the third attempt, nolan took his face in his hand and planted one right on the lips! what a crack up!!! next time brandon, close your eyes and just let him kiss ya!

as the sun went down and the nasty mosquitos came out we all called it a night...

it's nice to have family so close. it was nice that nana bought oma & opa and it made me wish that my grandparents lived close enough that someone could bring them...i need to get the kids over to see them.

wish you were here puter!

happy birthday nolan
my happiest big boy!!!

love mommy

Dimples!!!

so, being that it was st patricks day and nolan's birthday
the little princess was quick to point out that she needed a new green dress for the occasion
so off to target we went and we found just what she was looking for!

and oh no, it can't stop there!
now that we have a new green dress and a she's all dressed up,
we need to take pictures...right!

that we did...
and i got a fabulous shot of your delightful dimples!

{she tried to get nolan to sit with her...didn't happen!}

love you punkin!!!
love mom

Happy Birthday, Happy Boy!!!

a year of smiles and laughter

that's what you've brought to our home...
smiles and laughter
your laugh is contagious, your personality is vibrant and strong.
a day does not go by that you don't have us all cracking up laughing with you.

at the wonderful age of {two}...

you love dirtbikes, footballs, legos and your baby sister.
your not so fond of spiders and worms, not even the plastic kind...
you love to make people laugh and we all love that!
your favorite foods are noodles and rice.
i love it when you say "i happy".
you are great at 'fake' pouting.
your favorite tv shows are max & ruby and oomizoomi.
you love to dance.
you love to go to nana's and play with ty ty.
legos and grandma go hand in hand.
you'll stay in the car and play forever.
you definetly aren't camera shy.
you can never have enough tools and everything needs batteries.

i look forward to each new day with you and i can't wait to see what you give to this world!
thanks for giving us pure joy and days full of smiles and laughter!

we love you son!!!
love mommy

Our {3} Girls...

{i couldn't post a collage of the boys and baby without including one with my girls!}

all of them, equally beautiful...
all of them, equally dear to my heart...
all of them, daughters of a most loving Heavenly Father...
and all of them, LOVED more then they'll {EVER} know...

"I Happy!"

one of my biggest worries bringing home a new baby was how nolan was going to react.
for the last two months we've been trying to introduce the idea and for the last two weeks every time we'd ask him about evyn coming home he'd yell "NO!"

good news!
from the moment we got into the car, he was completely enamored by her.
he calls her "meme" (with a short e sound), he wants to hold her and is as gentle as can be when touching her head and kissing her.
he can often be heard saying, "i happy!"

{oh, how i wish i could get that on video for all of you...i'll keep trying"}

so far, so good!
we HAPPY!!!

So LOVED!!!

my sweet little baby, you are so very loved!!!

{when we got to the hospital, we found out that the kids would not be allowed in to see me or the baby because of the h1n1 scare...i wanted to cry! it was really hard on the little princess and on me. bub, kenz and kelsey all said they were 15 so that they could come and bob was able to drive up near my window so that i could wave and blow kisses to nolan. i had told the nurses that i was staying as long as i could and come saturday night, i really wanted to go home. sunday came slowly and sissy came to visit and say goodbye around 9 am. it was hard not being able to spend time with her, but i was so happy that she and ryan drove here. {thanks ryan!}

we had several visitors, all dear friends and family! i realize looking at my pictures that i didn't get any of karen and craig, so they are going to have to come over soon for a photo opp...they must be in this post! oh, and anthea & reed...darn it, where was my camera!!!

to my family and friends (both near & far)

i love you all and i am so thankful for your love and support. thanks for helping with my family, my home {the dog!} and thanks a ton for the wonderful meals, thoughts and prayers and beautiful flowers! you all mean the world to us.}

love,

She's Here!!!

our sweet baby girl arrived friday, february 26th at 3:48 pm. we got to the hospital around 6:30 am. we signed in, registered and waited a bit. it wasn't too long before dr brody met us and introduced us to our nurse. YEAH!!! it was charmin. charmin was my nurse almost two years ago when we had our baby boy and i LOVE her! we were taken to our "suite" (it was a newly renovated ldr room). i was dilated to 3 and dr brody was anxious to get things going. at about 8 am charmin started the pictocin. things progressed slowly. they were not successful at breaking my water and the pictocin was increased every 30 minutes. {lovely} around noon, they were able to break my water and the pitocin was again increased. it was around 2 that i was seriously considering the epidural. charmin examined me, i was dilated to 4 and my cervix wasn't quite ready. i knew that i wasn't going to be able to endure the contractions for another couple hours and my fear of the epidural gave way to the pain and in no time i was given the much feared epidural...

IT WAS HEAVEN!!!

the pain was gone and i was able to enjoy the birth of my beautiful daughter.

doing those first 12 hours she looked just like nolan with bub's hair. she and bub are the only two that had the black hair. the others were much lighter in color and all of our kids had a ton of hair. {no i never had an heartburn...}

but, by the next day she looked just like her. a little round face, rosy cheeks and jet black hair. absolutely perfect in every way. she's got a quiet dissposition and is very content. she's sleeping really well and likes the binkie {thank goodness}...

we are all {including nolan} so happy she's been given to us.

we will take good care of her Lord.

thank you!

love,

{Oh & P.S.} dr brody LOVED, LOVED, LOVED her quilt! i'm SO glad i did that!!!

Happy Birthday Eve!!!

i have a wonderful friend who makes incredible food and tonight she brought what bub called "a $100 french meal" yep, it was THAT GOOD!!!


i think we're all ready!
grandma is here to help hold down the fort...{thanks mom}

the bags are packed and the quilt is wrapped up and ready to go!
{you know...the important stuff}

take care and thanks again for all your well wishes and sweet comments!

2 Days & Counting...

i got dr. brody's quilt done!!!
what a relief, i was worried that i'd go into labor and not have the binding done.
it turned out much bigger than i originally thought, but it was an easy pattern and i'd make it again.

bob and i went out on a date, we figured we'd better go tonight because it will be a while before we get the chance to eat out alone. the laundry is just about done, i just need to wash everyone's bedding and do a towel load. i still haven't packed my bag, i don't know what i want to bring, that's always a dilema for me...

the little princess is so excited she can hardly stand it! i'm still not sure how the happiest boy will react. at least now he's not saying "NO" when we mention the baby's name, now he says "whoo, hoo". bub on the other hand is being a pill! he's not looking forward to more noise in the house. the funny thing is, he doesn't realize that he's the one that causes most of the commotion.

i'm going to say goodnight, i feel a cold coming on and i really don't want to get sick!
have a good one!

3 Days & Counting

i had good news today!
i'm dilated and things are progressing!!!
i knew those contractions at {2 am} this morning had to be doing more than bring a tear to my eye!

i haven't gone to the back yard in a very long time and today i noticed these so i thought i'd share them with you...
it's one thing that hasn't been destroyed by that darn dog that bob brought home how many months ago...any one want a really nice dog that needs a ton of attention???

changing the subject, before i get {irritated}...

dr brody's quilt has been quilted, the binding has been sewn on and now i am stitching it down...

lots of progress today! yeah!

take care and thanks for all your nice, nice comments!

goodnight!

4 Days & Counting

with 4 days left, life definitely doesn't slow down.
last friday, the little princess told me that she wanted to have a
"daddy appreciation party" for our family night this week.
she said that daddy always makes her happy, he works hard for our family and he's like God because he always is there for us and because he loves us. who could say no to that??? not me...

so that's what we did...

she had to have streamers...

and a gift...

and his favorite dinner and dessert. thankfully, he's pretty easy to please and his favorites didn't require a lot of preparation.
we made sure that the house was clean and his favorite music was playing.
i'm pretty sure he was surprised and i know he felt appreciated.

so, happy appreciation day, honey. we love you!!!

after the "party" i loaded dr brody's quilt and got everything ready to quilt it tomorrow.

i go see her in the morning for my weekly check up.
(karen...i've got my fingers crossed that i've dilated at least some)

take care & goodnight...

5 Days & Counting

i am almost done with dr brody's quilt.
tomorrow i'll put the borders on and quilt it...
hopefully the baby will stick with the plan so i can get the binding on.

speaking of the baby...not much is happening. her movements are slowing down a lot and i still have contractions, but nothing that suggests labors a comin'. which is fine, because like i said i need to get the binding on the quilt along with a few more things that are on my list. have i mentioned that i am scared to death this time...

i'm not sure why, it's not like it's my first...it's my fifth for cryin' out loud.
i'm trying to talk myself into having an epidural, but that in itself scares me. i don't know waht my problem is, bob thinks i'm crazy. i think i'm just getting too old to handle the pain like i used to. i guess we'll see. there's no turning back now...

well enough rambling, hope you all had a great weekend.
big hugs and lots of love to sissy who's not having a great day. i wish i was there to give you a huge hug and tell you that all will be ok.
{love you puter!}

goodnight.