one two three FOUR!

 what could be more crazy fun than three little boys... FOUR!  

baby BOY #4, arriving in february and we are thrilled!

the big boys want to name our newest little guy, finn mcmissile.  ha!  probably not going to happen!

happy birthday isaac!

happy birthday to my joyful 5 year old!   

not too long ago i(stew was all on board, so i guess i should say, we) decided our family needed to scale back on life.  less busyness, less go-go-go, less toys, less stuff, less keeping up.  it's been so good for us that i decided we would do A LOT less for birthdays as well.  we still celebrated with family and a few friends, but no more huge groups with lots of decorating(i was wasting too much time preparing little details that NO KID cared about) and making tons of food.  i realized that if i spent my time inviting a lot of people and decorating and preparing, then i'd miss out on enjoying my sweet boys' birthdays.  so this year, isaac invited 10 little boys(still a lot in my book) to celebrate at a local park.  it was SO LOW KEY!  i confessed to stew the day before the party that i felt bad that i hadn't really done anything for the party.  he put my fears to rest, reminding me that our kids don't notice those details anyway.  boy was he right!

each boy had a spiderman mask and a can of silly string.  they chased after stew, "webbing" him:)

the candles wouldn't light so isaac said he would pretend.  brilliant idea!

  as we drove away, isaac said, "thanks for my party!  that was so fun!"  turns out, five year old boys don't notice the lack of little details.  thank goodness!    

isaac, you are a true joy!  every single day of your life is the best day ever!  you constantly remind me that everything we are doing is so much fun.  you are always excited to see friends and want everyone to come over for a play-date (even perfectly good strangers).  you see everyone as your friend- i love that quality in you!  you continue to teach daddy and i so much.  your laid back personality has us learning a lot about patience, as you rarely like to clean up, get dressed or hurry for anything.  ha!  spiderman has become a favorite for you.  you and ryder love to pretend to be superheroes, saving the day.  your favorite food is still mac n cheese and milk(if that even counts as a food).  swimming is proving to be your favorite activity.  you and your brother spend hours swimming.  i love that you enjoy wherever you are and whoever is with you.  you have a way of making people feel special and i love this quality.  i am certain that Jesus is going to use you in mighty ways and i am so grateful He trusted us with you.  thank you for being such a great big brother.  your joy and kindness is contagious.  may you always know that Jesus loves you!  happy birthday big boy!  we love you!

love, mommy

pre-birthday celebrating

 isaac turned 5 on august 14th, but we started the celebrating a few days early.  this year we talked isaac into forgoing on presents from friends(this child does not NEED one more thing!).  he agreed to the idea once we said he could still receive gifts from his family.  he had a few things that he truly wanted and flippers were on the top of the list.  turns out that those things were sold out EVERYWHERE!  i finally located some at a pool shop on el camino.  he was thrilled!

 we did a little pre birthday celebrating with aunt beth, papa alan and grandma chris.

 i'd feel bad about my husband jumping into all these family shots, but then again, they raised him:)

 the night before the big boy turned 5 we headed to gaga and papa's for another night of celebrating!  we know how to squeeze every last meal out of these birthday celebrations.

 happy birthday sweet boy!

 what's the fun in birthday candles without a brother to join you in the wish making?!

"don't adopt children"

i just saw this video on a friend's facebook page.  what a sad thing to say and to actually believe.  the gospel according to pat robertson is usually filled with old pat's opinion rather than the truth of Jesus Christ.  

"Christians are the ones who have stood against the prophets of Baal and the empire of Rome and every other satanic system to say that a person’s worth doesn’t consist in his usefulness. Christians are the ones who picked up abandoned babies, who wiped drool from the dying elderly, who joyfully received developmentally disabled children, and who recognized that our own sin has made us nothing noble or powerful. We’re all just dead and damaged and, well, “weird.” But Jesus loved us anyway.

I say to my non-Christian friends and neighbors, if you want to see the gospel of Christ, the gospel that has energized this church for two thousand years, turn off the television. The grinning cartoon characters who claim to speak for Christ don’t speak for him. Find the followers who do what Jesus did. Find the people who risk their lives to carry a beaten stranger to safety. Find the houses opened to unwed mothers and their babies in crisis. Find the men who are man enough to be a father to troubled children of multiple ethnicity and backgrounds.

And find a Sunday School class filled with children with Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy and fetal alcohol syndrome. Find a place where no one considers them “weird” or “defective,” but where they joyfully sing, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”

That might not have the polish of television talk-show theme music, but that’s the sound of bloody cross gospel."

thanks to the livesays for sharing this article!

here is the entire article post 

happy 8 years to us!

this little stinker was sick!

last wednesday asher woke up with some labored breathing.  he had a runny nose and a very small cough, but the labored breathing had us worried.  we got him into the doctor right away and he had a couple of breathing treatments to get his breathing back to normal.  dr. metsch put him on a steroid, an inhaler and an antibiotic for his ear infection(didn't know about that).  he was a mess.  of course we had already planned to leave for our anniversary getaway that thursday.  we decided to still go out to dinner(the fullmer's made us reservations at the market.  seriously the best meal i've ever had!  thank you!!), but return home on thursday night to make sure asher was still improving.   friday we kissed the boys goodbye and headed out.  we soon found ourselves enjoying the pool at the fullmer's gorgeous  house.  they graciously allowed us to vacation in their little piece of heaven while they were away.  it was ridiculous and so relaxing(let's be honest, any time without children is relaxing).  the following morning, stew slept so long that i had already sat on my booty for a couple of hours watching tv before he saw the light of day.  those are the mornings i miss. after a relaxing morning of reading, playing games and sitting by the pool, we were called about asher.  asher was a mess and my mom and aunt were concerned that so much diarrhea(thanks to the steroids and antibiotics) was dehydrating him.  we decided to head back to take care of our sweet baby.  after a little time of holding with mommy, he seemed to be on the mend.  by that night he was running around with the big boys.  my mom and aunt kept saying, "this is not the same child."  this child has me wrapped around his finger and he knows it.  looks like we'll be working on this.  all in all, it was a great time together.  we are just so grateful for family that is willing to continuously encourage us to go away without our kids and spend time together.  8 years and counting.  it's been a lot of hard work, but it's all been worth it.  here's to many many more (vacations without kids)!  

before we left i sat down with the boys to create a list of all the fun things they could do while we were away.  here's what they came up with.  clearly asher wanted to add #9 cry a ton and ask for mama  and #10 act like he was dying to make sure we would hurry home.

happy birthday "big" brayden!

 isaac was invited to celebrate his friend, "big" brayden(bryaden has been dubbed "big" brayden as to not confuse him with the other friend, brayden.), at a funky little farm/ranch.  he loved EVERY minute.  he ran from area to area, wanting to be a part of it all. he loved the horse riding and later told me that was his favorite part of the day.

 this sweet man gave the kids as many rides as they wanted.  he said isaac "rode easy on a horse."  i kind of expected him to be scared, but he surprised me and made himself at home on the horses back.

 brayden's daddy(tommy) was so patient.  he spent time teaching isaac how to lasso a cow.  isaac was thinking he was pretty hot stuff.  i heard him say "yeehaw" a few times.

 picked his own egg out of the coupe. 

happy birthday "big" brayden!