Snow!

We didn't get too much snow today, but Logan sure was excited. He got dressed first thing and ready to head outside to play in the little bit that we had. It was funny when my brother arrived here for lunch. Logan told him to look out the front room window. He said, "Look Brady, it snowed." Then he told him to follow him to the back room and pointed out that window, "And. . . it snowed in our backyard too!" Then he showed Brady his "paw prints" in the snow. He's so hilarious!

The Giraffe

Jarin & Brendan brought a giraffe home from Jamaica. They said it was interesting packaged up to be allowed on the flight home! :) Zachary and Logan were excited about the new "art" at their house.

This week, being grounded sure has helped Zachary's attitude a bit. Of course, our public appearances these past 2 days have been less than par for him, so we've added another week with all his misbehaviors he's had! (Yes, it was a LOT!) We've had doctors appointments, dentist appointments and shopping to get done and tonight I'm EXHAUSTED!

Logan's 4 year check-up went very well!!!!! Praise the Lord!!! He now weighs 30 pounds and is actually ON THE CHART! He has made some great gains in the past couple of months! And in case you read my previous post about 4t clothing, I'm sure at this rate he will be growing into those clothes! He will be having a renal scan (for his kidneys) over my spring break and after a test run today to see if he would even just sit on the table, we're pretty sure he'll need sedation for that exam. His "happy visit" to the dentist was much the same, as he was fine until he walked into the exam room and he burst out screaming and crying. So, we're still working on getting over the traumatization that he's had about hospitals and doctors. Thank goodness he loves his doctor now though. It's taken a bit of patience (and multiple visits) but he can finally go to the doctor without screaming and whining! He actually talks to the doctor now and jokes with them.

I had blood tests ran yesterday to check for some things. I've just been completely exhuasted, beyond the normal tiredness. And, when I stand up, I about pass out, so they called me tonight to let me know that I am anemic and since it's something I always deal with, I just need to incorporate more iron in my diet! UGH!

This weekend's plans are to completely clean my house (depending on my energy) and get things more organized than they have been in awhile. We'll see how that goes! :)

Family Time

Family time has been a bit rare this week with me having parent-teacher conferences LATE for 2 nights, so tonight was the first night that we actually had a tad bit of normalcy in our schedule. These pictures were from this past weekend. I know I didn't choose the best ones, but hey- it's getting late tonight and I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.


Since I've had parent teacher conferences, I'll have Thursday afternoon and all Friday off. We have 7 appointments within that time to fit in, pictures of the boys (with their cousins), maybe some rest and cleaning house!? :) Stress is abundant right now in our lives and so we're trying to de-stress and just get through the next few months. For those of you that don't know about state testing, be glad . . . be very glad!

And Zachary has 3 days left to go until he is "ungrounded" but I think we'll make it. He sure has been quite the angel lately. Today about killed him though with it being so nice and beautiful outside. He was so mad that he couldn't go outside and enjoy it with Logan and Malachi. And, speaking of Malachi- he is such the outdoor boy! He races for an open door so fast and then once he's outside, he'll flail himself and scream if you pick him up so he can't roam freely! :) He's very curious and independent. Zachary was a lot like that. Logan HATED grass and just being outside, but then again, he hated most everything at this age. :)

Well, I just had to get a post done tonight before I lose my mind the next few days. I hate having to cram so many appointments in such a short amount of time. But, most teachers do that, and I'm lucky that I have some time off without having to take the time off. So, I won't complain anymore! :)

No Longer 3 years old

Logan got a new KU jacket from his aunt Laurie. He LOVES it! It's a small size 4T I think, which is great, because. . . . ever since the day after Logan's 4th birthday, he now thinks he can only wear 4T clothing. It worked out wonderful for awhile with the boys sorting laundry according to sizes. They knew that sizes 5T and up went to Zachary and all the 3T went to Logan. Well, Logan knows that he's no longer 3 years old and wants NOTHING at all to do with 3T clothing. The problem is that he just started to fit into it! He got a lot of cute 4T clothing for his birthday, some pants that he's actually wearing in the picture, but if you can see, they are rolled up quite a bit AND they have the elastic in the waist which was tightened all the way.

Logan is as stubborn as his father (okay, and maybe his mom a little) and once he's "grown up" he refuses to do anything that would hint at regressing. He had been out of diapers for quite awhile and even has been staying dry for months at night, but when he was spending the night with my sister back in January he had a melt-down because he didn't want to wear a diaper to bed! He was okay with the thought of a pull-up, but absolutely NO diapers! So, we figured a way to put the diaper together and have him put it on like underwear so he thought it was a different kind of pull-up.

Well, yesterday, he had another melt-down/tantrum as he was getting dressed in the morning. He noticed that the jeans I had laid out for him were 3T and he would have nothing of it. Being the only jeans that were clean and would fit him well, he NEEDED to wear them and there was no other option. So . . . . I took a marker out and wrote "4T" on the tag and showed him that now the jeans said "4T". He started smiling, wiped the tears away and said, "Oh, thank you mama!"

And, the rest of the morning was history!

A bit of a Get-Away

This weekend we decided to drive up to Kansas City and go out on the town a bit. My sister and her new husband wanted a bit of help organizing and cleaning (something I LOVE to do) and we wanted a bit of kid-free shopping while they took the kids to a movie (Hotel for Dogs). It all worked out great. Saturday evening, we took the kids down to Crown Center (ironically we hadn't been there since we stayed the night of our wedding there at the Westin- 7 years ago!) and ate at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant. As much as my boys love trains, I'm surprised we hadn't visited there before now, but after checking reviews on a website, it was predicted that the food was below par. Trying to have an open mind, we decided to go anyway, for the experience. Yep, the food was the WORST I have ever tasted! I can't even begin to describe the taste it was so terrible! And, I have taste-tested plenty of new tastes, but these hamburgers were by far the most disgusting things I have had and there's hardly words to explain it- you just really have to experience it! :) Even the kids refused to eat the food (after Logan took a very large first bite).







And, I need a bit of prayer for the upcoming week or so. Zachary has been testing Shawn and my patience like nothing else! I hate thinking how terrible his behavior has been and we have been trying so much harder to spend one-on-one time with him to try to curb it. It's only gotten WORSE! This weekend was by far the most humiliating and frustrating with him that I have ever had. I am trying my hardest to stay calm with him, but he knows exactly how to press my buttons and has had the worst behavior I've seen from him. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but it has me about in tears at the end of the day when I'm trying to reflect on the day and figure out what to do the next day with him. It makes me feel like a failure as a mom to have a child with such atrocious behavior. It looks like I can't control him or haven't taught him how to be respectful. I think that this week will pretty much be "lock-down" and he will get to go to school, daycare and home and will not be allowed trips out of the house around others until he can prove to me that he knows how to make good choices and behave. I am about at wits end with him right now and ready just to call a therapist to see if they can figure out why he's been acting so terrible. It's got me mad, so please pray that I can maintain calmness in his presence and try to focus on the small things that he is doing right. UGH!

Another Bruise

My boys are so rough on each other. We are so blessed that we haven't had to experience broken bones yet! :) This bruise is actually a result of a temper tantrum on his birthday. He ran into a doorway! So much for trying to get pictures the rest of the day! :)

We went to KC last night and as we were getting into town, Logan said, "Oh my! Look at the lights! There's about 40 of them!" It was so cute. He was in awe of all the lights and he said there had to be about 40 of them! He continously cracks us up with his sayings and his funny jokes. He just has such a unique point of view.

Cold Baby

Malachi was preparing for the cold front that just went through today. Brrrr.. . . it's COLD!!! :) Actually, he runs for an open fridge door and gets mad if he can't make it. And, once inside the fridge, he likes to dismantle EVERYTHING. So, we rarely let him experience this coldness! :)


See the ornery look:

No State Testing Today!

Well, someone's prayers were answered, be it the children's or possibly mine- but there was no state testing today for us! :) Of course, while it was so nice to be able to maintain my regular schedule and have one more normal day with my groups, I also know that by not starting today, it's possibly going to put us in a time crunch with the amount of students that we have to test with small groups or individually (which is what I do). So, I'm hoping that tomorrow things can be kicked off and we can get to the testing. The kids are as ready as they can get and we just have to get on with it. Please pray for the sanity of all involved! :)

Last night, we finished part 2 of our movie night. We watched Madagascar 2, and it was a great movie. Malachi wasn't too interested though as he very much enjoyed bothering his brothers! :)



No movies tonight. I'm off to bed early! :)

Hope, Prayers, and Good News!

I'm beginning to get a bit camera-lazy and feel that I can't blog if I don't have fun pictures to go with my posts. So, while we are not at all lacking in things to tell or talk about, I just don't have pictures to go with it all! :)

In good news, my friend with the twins is doing very well and they should be arriving shortly (within the next 2 weeks)! I can't wait to meet the little guys! Thanks so much for your prayers for them too because it really made a difference with how healthy the pregnancy has been despite the initial complications due to having twins. God is SOOO amazing!

And. . . . in other wonderful, miraculous baby news, Baby Boston is doing great and better than expected! So, thank you for your prayers for him as well. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as he's not completely out of the woods yet and so prayers for his continued health would be much appreciated.

As Sarah mentioned in one of her latest posts, it's almost hard to be full of joy sometimes when you've prepared for the worst and things are much better than expected, and I remember all too well only 4 years ago this very time when Logan was born. His diagnosis was uncertain and not good each time we kept going back and as we continued to get terrible news each time with the neonatologist, I started preparing for not having Logan long and thus I never bonded with him immediately (or even for a few months after he was born). It sounds so awfully harsh, but I was so scared of loving and losing that I wanted to protect my emotions (yes, selfish, but please don't judge until you've been down that road). I never talked to ANYONE about it. Shawn and I really bonded over the times we had at the neonatologist office and were almost thankful for the hour drive home so we could cry and discuss things. Then Logan was born and had a sonogram about 10 minutes (yes, they got there fast!) after he was born and he still had problems, but it was starting to look better a little bit, so we were just told to watch and wait. And, we did, not knowing what would happen.

Logan's first few days he was SOOO swollen that he couldn't hardly open his eyes. It wasn't until he was over a day old that I did finally see him glance at me in the middle of the night! Shawn and I just stared at him for the longest time as we were amazed to see his little eyes looking at us. It was amazing. And, his pediatrician didn't take much seriously with Logan's diagnosis from the neonatologist, so he just put Logan on antibiotics from day one just "in case" something happened. Well, Logan was a bear with those first few months and I remember being so full of mixed emotions. I was so incredibly happy that he was born as a normal as could be, yet I was on edge wondering if he was going to start getting worse. Each time he ran a fever during the first few months of life, I was a nervous wreck wondering if it was a kidney infection or if it was just a normal kid thing.

We prayed. Our friends and family prayed, which is the ONLY reason that I believe that doctors (in all their knowledge and good intentions) were wrong! We went to a specialist when Logan was 6 months old and he griped us out so much for not having Logan in to them immediately after he was born, but by then, we had been assured multiple times by our (crappy) pediatrician that Logan was completely normal. The specialist scheduled surgery for that following week. We weren't so sure and asked for second, and third opinions. Finally, we found a surgeon that analyzed Logan's kidneys and saw a much different view and different treatment than surgery, so again we had our prayers answered.

Although Baby Boston and Logan are not the same and the situations are much different, I still ask you to pray for that family because miracles do happen when prayers are lifted up for those hurting and in ill health. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer and being hopeful.

Here are a few more baby pictures of Logan since I didn't get many posted around his birthday:



Here you can see the swollen eyes:


Tomorrow, we start the state tests for my 3-5 graders. I'm making some sugar cookies tonight to keep my kids motivated. Please pray for the kids (and teachers) as we begin a very stressful part of our school year.

Logan's Birthday Party

First a picture of my mom at her "surprise" birthday party. At first, my dad called it off, worried a bit that the roads might get icy. Thankfully, I have some very brave aunts that made him change his mind, so we had to re-call everyone to tell them the party was back on! And. . . . while the party was scheduled to start at 6:30pm so we all needed to get there before that to surprise her- well dad got mom there at 6pm! My parents are ALWAYS early! But, she was pleasantly surprised and we all had a great time.

Logan on his birthday: (KU had just beat K-State the day before, so we had to wear our Jayhawk sweater.)

His Lightning McQueen cake (yes, we finally got away from having a Thomas one!):






We got Taige all sugared up. Zach ate the stick from the fun-dip and Taige ate the dip (aka: SUGAR!!!). That's the best thing about spoiling nephews! :)

And, we were supposed to get better pictures at Sears tonight, but after throwing himself into the wall last night, Logan has a nice bruise on his forehead!

Happy Birthday Logan!

Today is Logan's 4th birthday! While it's still very fresh in my mind that first day he was born, I am sooo relieved at how far we've made it and how healthy he is today. Today, we had a small birthday party for him with family and friends we claim as family and although it wasn't our huge supper buffet, I think Logan had a good time and hopefully made some memories that he can cherish. (yeah right, he's a little boy!) So, here are a few of the pictures from right after he was born, since it's been a while since I've seen them and some of you may not have ever seen them! (I will make a short side note that he was VERY swollen after he was born and had a lot of fluid retention, so his first few pictures were not the best. He was blotchy and so swollen that he couldn't even open his eyes. So, the pictures below are some after he was a couple days old.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't have any cute pictures or fun sayings for today. My boys were pretty bratty today in town. We went to Salina to stock up on some groceries and do a little bit of shopping. Zachary's behavior has just gotten terrible and sometimes I'm at such a loss as to what to do with him.

Today marked the 1 year anniversary of the stabbing death of a family friend- Tom James. May he rest in peace and we know we will see him again some day. He was a true inspiration to my brothers and my family. There was a gathering tonight in his honor to remember him and the wondrful things he brought to people's lives.

And, it seems like Valentine's Day is always pushed to the back burner now that we have a birthday the day after to prepare for. Who has time to work on Valentine's when we have party preparations to do. So, shopping today was fun, but as many of my friends know- while theme parties are fun and practical, they are NOT for me! I tend to go OVERBOARD on the themes and want to find everything possible to go along with it. Logan wanted the Cars (Lightning McQueen)theme this year, which was a surprise and a welcome diversion from the Thomas the Train stuff. Thankfully, Shawn keeps me on a budget and reminds me that cake tastes the same whether it's on the most adorable Lightning McQueen expensive plates or if it's on Dixie strong plastic plates. So, I'm trying to not go overboard, and focus on how excited it is to have another baby turning 4 years old! WOW- where does the time go.

More tomorrow on Logan, and yes- I'll get some pictures up. (Knock on wood that my computer cooperates!)

Friday the 13th

9 years ago, my grandmother on my dad's side passed away so very suddenly of breast cancer. She found out only months before that she had it. Yesterday would have been her 72nd birthday. Rest in peace Joyce! We'll see you someday.

And, with the drama of it all, it is Friday the 13th and really has been one of those days. While we didn't have students today since it was a plan day, I just had one thing after another going wrong! So, leave it to my boys to cheer me up:

Last night as we were walking in to the school for the over-nighter, Zachary said "Hi" to a young man going into the school. I whispered in Zachary's ear that he should not talk to strangers. He said, "but mom, if I ask him his name, than he won't be a stranger anymore!" True, I guess. It just reminded me of my grandfather that never knew a stranger.

Have a good weekend. We've had SEVERAL kinks in the party plans for a surprise party for my mom today so will let you know how that goes tomorrow.

Another Loss

Today, at lunchtime, Shawn called me shaken up with news that his friend had been in a severe car accident and died. John (Johnny) worked for the St. Francis hospital where Shawn ordered the radioactive medicine for each day. He was a transport driver that delivered the doses each morning VERY EARLY to many different hospitals. Shawn really liked him because they would joke around and chit chat about stuff and . . . . Johnny was the one to introduce the Rubiks cube to Shawn, which Shawn got excited about and learned to solve very rapidly. Johnny was working on teaching Shawn to solve a more difficult (4x4) cube, but that never has gotten accomplished. So, tonight, please say a prayer for the family and friends of John Butler. May he rest in peace.

On another solemn note, today there was a bomb scare at another elementary school in my district. We were put in precautionary alertness and asked to review our procedures should we need to execute them. It was just another reminder that working at a school can have it's dangerous days, especially in the world we live in today. It used to be that schools could be a safe place (and they should be), but there are very evil people out there that try to take advantage of the most innocent and naive of them all- our precious children. I'm so thankful that nothing was found and our staff (in the district) was prepared for such an event so that chaos did not break out, but a calmness about the situation resided among us as we waited for word of being clear.

Wedding Post #7- Random Wedding Pics

This was one of my favorite pictures from the wedding:

Isn't she just beautiful!?

The flower arrangements were beautiful too and smelled good!









By the K-State Wildcat:
Yes, I really do love my sister to do this for her!

My boys like taking pictures with everyone! :)