Ephraim is 9 months!

Jameson is 5!

I can't believe it, my buddy is 5.  FIVE!!  The jump from 4 to 5 has always seemed monumental to me, but it is even more so when it's my very own child.  I can still remember the day he was born so vividly.  It's hard to believe that the precious little bundle of joy that I finally met in person that day is this amazing soon-to-be kindergartener that I know today.

Jameson has got to be just about the sweetest person that I have ever met.  He has such a tender heart.  I find this equally endearing and terrifying.  Basically, it scares me because he has such a pure soul and I don't want to send him out to be tainted by the cruel world.  But, I absolutely love that his best friends are his brother and sister.  I love that he tells me that I look beautiful nearly every day.  I love how excited he gets about just about everything - whether it's riding his bike, playing a game on the Wii, hanging out with the neighbor kids, learning something new, or whatever.  I basically melt when we go to Lincoln to visit Russell's Grandma (Gigi).  Jameson will sit next to her, hold her hand and talk about whatever he is passionate about at the moment.  

He has such a "joie de vivre" or zest for life.  He is RIDICULOUSLY excited to start kindergarten.  He has no fear about not knowing where he's going.  He just knows he's going to love it.  He is always wanting to sign up for extra classes at school.  And once he overcomes a fear (like going under water or down a big slide), he's the first one to step up and help another child do the same.  And any time I mention being sad about something (like MY BABY GOING TO KINDERGARTEN!!!), he tells me that he'll draw me a picture to make me feel better.  Gah, I love that little guy.

Happy 5th birthday, Buddy!

9 years? It feels like 9 minutes...

Alright folks, we are now in the midst of the time of year that I call "celebration alley," which those of you not from the Midwest may not get that it is a play on words of tornado alley.  Every year, January is spent recovering from the craziness of the Thanksgiving/Christmas/Hanukkah season.  Then we start in by celebrating Valentine's day and  Delilah's birthday in February.  March is spent celebrating our anniversary and Jameson's birthday.  And then three weeks later, we round out the season with my birthday in April.  After that, things settle down a little bit until the summer festivities.

Now back to the title of my post.  9 years?  It feels like 9 minutes...under water!  That's one of Russell's famous jokes regarding marriage.  I'm fairly certain it originated with his dad, but I digress.  This year marks our 9 year anniversary.  It's a pretty big milestone in my mind, even though next year is a more universally celebrated milestone.  You see, last year was difficult.  It was really, really rough.  I'm not exaggeration or being dramatic when I say there were points in the last year that I questioned whether or not we would make it to year 9, let alone 10.  I think that we had some growing pains as we transitioned from carefree young adults in our twenties to responsible parents in our thirties.  It was necessary for us to figure out how to strike an amicable balance between our family and us, as a couple.

Alas, we made it to year 9, no matter how narrowly.  And I'm feeling confident that we will make it to 10 and beyond.  I can only speak for myself, but I feel like we have a new appreciation for each other and renewed vigor for our marriage.  We are moving into a new phase of our relationship, now that the kids are getting older and there are no more babies on the horizon.  This will give us an opportunity to shift our focus on to our family as well as our needs as individuals and as a couple.  Also working in our favor is that communication has seemed to improve.  I'm feeling pretty positive that our relationship is currently healthier than it has ever been - which gives me hope for our future.

Enough about that.  This year, I was blown away by the preparation involved in our anniversary.  I had mentioned months ago that I'd like to go see the Lion King musical.  Russell not only remembered that I wanted to go, bought tickets, found childcare, but managed to surprise me with all of this!  It was so nice to have an evening to ourselves - especially after being separated for nearly 3 weeks just a few weeks prior.  We started with dinner at M's pub, then off to see The Lion King, and then we grabbed dessert-to-go at the Cheesecake Factory before picking the kids up.  Once the kids were in bed, we devoured our cheesecake -  Mmmmm!  It was a pretty fantastic night!

Delilah's aDORAble party!!

If you haven't known me for very long you may not be aware of this, but most of you should already know that the military insists on screwing up my life at any chance it gets.  Well, this year did not disappoint in that regard!  :-)  Russell had to go for his annual required training through the military reserves (AT or active training).  The commercials often boast that the reserves only require a "one weekend a month, plus 2 weeks a year" commitment.  I find this hilarious because more often than not, Russell's training is generally closer to 3 weeks.  But, in any case, this year he was scheduled to be gone over Delilah's birthday.  We originally scheduled her party for the first weekend in March (2 weeks after her actual birthday).  Well, once Russell FINALLY got his orders and booked his flights, we realized that he was not going to make it back in time for the planned party.  So, we had to move her party back an additional week - poor thing!

Her party was scheduled for the afternoon of March 10th.  Russell's cousin, Katie, came into town to help out with the kids,so that I was able to run around town finishing up last minute details.  They were predicting a little bit of snow.  Nothing major, I believe it was about 2-4."  I wasn't too worried because they had already over-predicted a couple of snowstorms this winter.  But, the snow started to fall...and fall...and fall.  I think all told, we got about 8" of snow.  It wasn't as bad by our house as some other areas got it.  There were white-out conditions and parts of the interstate closed.  We started receiving cancellations from party guests.  But, the party must go on!  I made this poor pumpkin wait long enough - I wasn't about to cancel it on her!  And honestly at her age, I think she would have been content if her party consisted of just Jameson and her.  :-)

Fortunately, we didn't have very far to drive.  We reserved the Saddlebrook community center for her party.  It's just over a mile North of our house.  A brave few still made it to her party, primarily it was people who lived out our way.   Delilah bounced her little heart out in the bounce house.  They also had out various toys, like a little basketball hoop, a slide, hula hoops, etc.  The kids all seemed to have a blast!  Then it was time to eat and to sing to the birthday girl.

Delilah's birthday shirt spells out three in Dora fabric.  It was made by my friend, Bryn of The Upper Room.

Please forgive me, I worked really hard on her favors and since a lot of Delilah's friends weren't able to come to get them...I'm posting a bunch of pictures here.  :-)

We had favor bags decorated like Backpack.

In each bag there was: a Dora party blower, napkin, stickers, PB&J uncrustables, Dora yogurt, Dora fruit snacks, mini banana (for Boots), string cheese decorated like Map and a wipe to clean their hands before they ate - because who knows what those little monkeys got into!

Map's face on the string cheese was drawn by none-other than my very talented husband.  Of course, AFTER we got to the party location, because that's how he rolls.  :-)

Delilah's cupcakes were baked by her Uncle Ben and decorated by his very talented fiancee, Brooke!

And if that wasn't enough, everyone got to go home with a cookie...Dora, Boots or an Explorer Star.  These were made by my very talented friend, Ashley of Sweet Bites.

...however, very few people waited until they got home to devour their cookies...

Delilah NEEDED a pink star...but, she wouldn't let me take a nice picture of her eating it!

Happy birthday, silly girl!

Ephraim is 7 months!

Delilah is 3!

Three years ago today, I didn't know it yet, but I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the most hilarious, spunky, brave, and stunningly beautiful little girl that I have ever known.  On that day, she changed my life, but in a way that was different that having my first baby.  I had a whole new set of challenges - and I mean so much more than learning how to juggle two sets of needs.  I had to figure out how to fight my maternal urge to shelter my little girl forever and to teach her how to be strong and independent.  I was giddy with the thought of dresses, Mary Jane shoes, and braiding hair.  My stomach knotted at the thought of PMS and broken hearts.  I fought back tears as I thought about shopping for prom dresses and a wedding dress.  And then my heart swelled as I thought about watching my little girl parent children of her own.  Yes, I did realize that I was getting way ahead of myself as I rocked my newborn baby to sleep, but there is just something about the bond between a mother and her daughter.  And in an instant, I could feel the lifelong bond.

Delilah is such an anomaly to me.  It is just amazing to me that she can be so different, yet so much the same.  Put her in a line-up with her brothers and some people would wonder if she was actually related to them.  She stands out with her light hair and sky blue eyes, compared to their dark hair and darker eyes.  But, put her with her cousins and she mixes right in - and she's not even related to half of them by blood!  She is just as head-strong, brave, and loud as Jameson is careful, sensitive, and laid-back.  But, they are two of the most loving individuals that I have ever met.  When Delilah was a baby, I was really sensitive to people comparing her to Jameson.  Jameson was a VERY easy-going baby.  I felt like people were saying that Delilah wasn't a "good" baby (for the record, ALL babies are good babies).  I would, however, say that Delilah was born a diva.  She was a fairly happy and easy going baby...unless she was upset about something.  Then she would screeeeeeeam at the top of her lungs.  We would laugh that she had two volumes - silent and top of her lungs.  She's still kind of like that.  :-)  My favorite story of when I was pregnant with her was that when I would brush my teeth, every time I would lean over the sink to spit or whatever, she would push back against the counter.  It makes a lot of sense now that I've met her!

I know I may be a bit biased, but I think that Delilah is brilliant!  She has so much personality that she can light up just about any room.  She can hold her own with the older kids so well that I often forget that she's "only" 3.  She's very excited to start preschool in the fall.  She already knows how to spell her name, she can recognize all of the letters and numbers.  She knows the days of the week.  She is working with Jameson on counting to 100.  She will go down any slide with no fear.  She loves to climb, run, and jump.  She can do a somersault.  She is a genius with comedic timing.  She is so nurturing, whether it's with a real baby, such as her brother or the babies we watch or when she's tucking one of her baby dolls under a blanket for a nap.   She can quote some of her favorite TV shows.  She likes to run very, very, VERY fast!  She likes spinning in a circle until she falls down.  You can see the pure joy in her when she gets so excited about something and she has such a zest for life that it's hard not to join in the fun when you're around her.  She is so incredibly beautiful, with her curly, dark blonde hair and clear blue eyes.  And my very favorite part, her angelic little voice - especially when she's saying something very thoughtful and deep...or something totally naughty (like "see ya, suckers!")

Happy 3rd birthday, Baby cakes!

{Loved}

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  It seems odd to say this with my husband out of town, but this may have been one of my best Valentine's days ever!  First of all, look out world, we are raising a true Casanova!  Jameson is going to be a real catch in the romantic department!  He tells me almost on a daily basis that I am beautiful.  He will often find something specific to compliment me on - such as my hair style.  So adorable!!!  But on this particular morning, he woke me up and handed me an envelope.  "Open it," he says excitedly.  I open the envelope to find a green piece of construction paper folded up inside.  On the paper he has drawn two stick figures.  "It's your 'balentine.'  I drew a picture of me and you.  Oh and look, the paper is your favorite color!"  Oh yes, I melt into a giant puddle right there.

Then we talk about what he's going to wear to school.  Over winter break, he went to an at class at school and they painted shirts.  Delilah was also enrolled in this class, but couldn't go the day they painted shirts because she was sick.  So, Jameson decided to paint a picture of Delilah on his shirt.  This in itself is adorable.  But, today Jameson informs me that he wants to wear his shirt with Delilah on it.  I asked him why.  He says "Because I wuv her and she's my balentine."  Oh my gosh, where did this kid come from??  I just love how much they love each other!

As if that wasn't enough, then my daycare kiddos start showing up.  Not only did my kids get spoiled by our daycare families, but I also got a little something from one family.  They told me that I deserve a little pampering.  So sweet to be thought of when I can't be with my Valentine on Valentine's day!  Then I notice that I have a little message from the hubby on my FB page.  This is very out of character for him because he's not a big fan of FB PDAs.  But he stepped out of his comfort zone a little bit to make me feel special.  In addition to that, I also received several sweet text messages today!

Now, I'm sure one of the reasons that I had such a wonderful day was that I had very low expectations.  I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but history has taught me that although my husband may have good intentions, his follow through can sometimes leave something to be desired.  (I will say, however, that when he gets it right, he definitely gets it right!)  :-)  But, I can't even describe my shock when I spy a woman walking to the front door carrying a GORGEOUS arrangement of flowers!  Let me just tell you that Russell has NEVER sent me flowers and I'm fairly certain that I haven't received anything floral from him for Valentine's day since high school.  I was expecting just a phone call today and I was showered with Valentine's day surprises all day long!  

Though we've definitely seen our share of ups and downs, as we navigate this roller coaster of life.  I can honestly say that today I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people who made today a very special day.  I am definitely feeling loved today!  Although, the bar has now been set very high for future Valentine's days!!!  :-)

I think it's safe to say that a good day was had by all in the *B* household today!  :-)