One Year Ago

One year ago today this was my view....The diagnosis was uncertain, the outcome was unclear, they didn't even know what they were dealing with.

Today this is my view...And today, I know what I'm dealing with... A delightfully crazy, silly, stubborn boy who my heart delights in. His new favorite phrase is, "I'm just joking!" which he uses correctly many times throughout the day and always has a silly look on his face when he says it.There is nothing more difficult than having a sick and hurting child and not being able to do anything about it. On the contrary, there is nothing more beautiful and more wonderful than a healthy, happy child. I cannot even begin to imagine the difficulty of having a child who is sick for a long period of time. The heart ache that must go along with that is unfathomable to me. The events of those few weeks surrounding Rex' sickness replay in my mind regularly and are such a good reminder to me to be thankful for all the Lord has given me.

Thankful for healthy children, thankful for the hugs, thankful for the kisses, thankful for the daily interactions that make my life so wonderful. My children are something that I never want to take forgranted and their health is something that I want to continually be thankful for. Each child is a gift from God. He has entrusted Dan and I with four beautiful children. Four beautiful children, each one created in His image and each one strategically place in our life. I love how each of their personalities are so beautifully different and each one fits perfectly into our family. Today the Lord has blessed me with four healthy children and for that I am truly thankful!

Happy Birthday Danny

Happy 28th Birthday Danny!
I am in awe daily of the man that I married. I am so blessed to stand next to such an amazing husband, father and friend. His love for the Lord and people is so contagious. I have never been around someone who sacrificially loves everyone around them and that is what he does daily. I am a better person just being around Dan.

I decided that since you are regularly updated with pictures of what is currently going on in our house that I would go a little old school on you and put pictures of Dan growing up. Most of them are when he was really little but I thought they were too cute not to share.
I love the look on his face here.When I showed this to Quinn today he told me it was Myla...Every boy needs a raccoon tail hat!And every boy needs a picture in football pads! Oh DannyThe proof that I needed that 4 big kids can fit in one bath together.
Dan and his brothers. Dan, Steve, Jason, DaveHe was quite the baseball player and I just wanted to show you all the stud that I married :)One of our first pictures together. What do you think should I chop my hair off?We celebrated Dan's birthday yesterday on his day off. It was the perfect day. We played at home all morning (we had to show Daddy the cloud dough). Dan went for a run when they napped and then we went out to dinner all 6 of us for mexican, Dan's favorite. Back home for presents and what was supposed to be cupcakes but we all ate too much dinner so we just sang without the cupcakes!

I was very proud of myself over Dan's presents. He had mentioned wanting a new backpack in passing so I excitedly called up one of his friends and he and I picked out the perfect backpack. I however made the mistake of showing a picture of it online to my oldest, who was tremendous at keeping Christmas presents a secret. But after showing it to Quinn the next time he saw Dan the first thing he asked him was if he liked his new backpack.... ohhh well. He then proceeded to tell Rex and Myla about the backpack and they thought that whispering what was inside the wrapped present meant that they had kept it a secret.

Moral of the story... don't tell your three year old what you got someone unless you make it very clear that it is a surprise.

Still I was excited for his to get to open it and even more excited that he LOVED IT! Thanks Zachariah for your help!

Dan with our three big kids. Titan decided to take a nap during present opening.
I love this picture.The excitement on their faces was wonderful.Dan got an amazing GRILLINI from my parents Sandwich maker, panini maker, griddle, grill all in one. Absolutely perfect gift for our house!And I will leave you with this (Dan on the left, Jason on the right).
Basketball shorts and his shirt off.... It must be genetic!Happy Birthday Danny!
I adore you.

Magnificent Monday

Monday.
I don't mind Mondays. It is sandwiched between my two favorite days of the week. Sunday afternoons and evenings when we are usually in our sweatpants playing around the house with Daddy and Tuesdays when Daddy is off ALL DAY LONG!

So despite not seeing Dan at all on Mondays it is usually a great day. This Monday however has already surpassed great and shot right up to MAGNIFICENT!

Before I go on I must tell you that my children do wear clothing but when you start the day off with finger painting it seems just plain wrong to put on clothes just so that you can take them off a few minutes later after they get covered with paint. So once again my children are without clothing....
If you know me at all, you know that I like a clean house but if the mess can be contained and is fairly easy to clean up, I'm all for having a fabulous time.I think that the bottle of finger paints should say, "finger painting for ages 5 and up, 5 and under it is called Hand painting."It turned into more of a big mess of colors. Oh and in case you are wondering why the twins are in underwear, well, I am trying it. They are doing well, not quite there yet, I'll fill you in more later. Rex thought it was down right fabulous.After about 15 minutes or so they found drawing pictures on the rubbermaid top more interesting. After cleaning their hands off the real fun began...
8 cups of flour + 1 cup of baby oil = CLOUD DOUGH = AMAZING = HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT = BEST INDOOR ACTIVITY = BETTER THAN A SANDBOX = TOTALLY AWESOMEI ended up doubling both the flour and baby oil after discovering how awesome this was. It feels soft like flour but is mold-able and will hold its shape like wet sand. They spent two hours playing with cloud dough and the only reason they stopped was because it was 1 pm and we had not eaten lunch yet (and we had not had a snack). I fed Titan lunch while sitting on the kitchen floor with them and it wasn't until I asked them what they wanted that they realized they were starving. They were so into this stuff. This was the only picture that I could get of one of them looking at me while playing with this. They were enthralled by it. You could say there were on cloud nine :) So, they spent the morning (and into the afternoon) making castles, pizza, cookies, cupcakes for Daddy's birthday, Quinn made me a wedding cake, Myla made one for Nana and Papa, they made soup for their friends and all in all had a blast!Almost two hours later and the only thing that has changed is Rex and Quinn's positions...And there is a little less flour in the container and a little more flour on them. I would totally and completely recommend this to ANY mom. It was such a blast. It cleaned up a lot quicker than I thought it would especially because I had a table cloth underneath the container, I just shook it off outside, and wiped the rest off the floor, rinsed them off standing in the kitchen sink and sat them down for lunch. Plus, according to the blog I found it on, it doesn't dry up so I cleaned the paint off the cover of the rubbermaid and put it away for another day (probably for tomorrow!!!).

I love my kids. I love the excitement that new things bring to them. I love watching their creative minds at work. I love making them happy and I love Magnificent Mondays!

Myla's Hair

I have been waiting for this post since the day I found out I was having a girl. My shears have been ready for over two years and I have been patiently waiting for the opportunity to cut my little girl's hair. I have always loved doing hair, cutting hair, playing with hair so when my daughter came out with NO hair (and Rex with a lot of hair) I was forced to suppress my itching need to cut and style a little girls hair for a LONG time. Now the cosmetologist in me knows that sometimes to achieve a hairstyle that you desire you must be willing to take steps back in order to make it look cute along the way. So although I eventually want her to have some long beautiful locks I thought it necessary to cut off all that baby frizz.

Look at this craziness!The other day I asked her if she wanted me to cut her hair, she excitedly responded, "Yes!" Although I'm pretty sure that it was because she knows that you get a sucker when you get your hair cut. She sat perfectly still and I cut a good inch and a half off her whole head. This was not all of it just a little sample. And look at the cute results. She is just precious! It looks thicker and curlier and less like a "flock of seagulls" as a friend jokingly described it! These days our sweet little girl LOVES to get dressed up. And well, I LOVE to dress her up. She insists on a skirt or dress and something pink almost every day. I would describe this as more of a long shirt with leggings, but I was still able to convince her that it twirled. Even though we don't wet her hair every day to make it curly, it still looks way better and so much thicker from cutting a little off. Myla continues to steal her daddy's heart. Her sweet, sassy personality combined with his playful attitude makes for a really fun relationship that is so heart warming to watch. She thinks he is amazing. On the topic of hair, there were many who questioned whether or not Quinn's curls would come back after our lice incident. For those who doubted I hope this puts your mind at ease. He has curls like crazy. It is clear why the lice liked his head it is SO THICK!! I'm thinking that he is in need of a little trim as well. And here is my one child who has yet to have his haircut. Will it be Quinn hair, Rex hair, or his own little style? I'm excited to get my hands on it someday!I was completely in my element cutting Myla's hair. Ohhhhh think of all the fun we will have someday, the colors it will be, the styles we can do. For today I will just be excited that it was finally long enough to cut. Loving my little girl!