Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet little girl!

We are super duper busy today making cupcakes, food for Thanksgiving, preparing for our day trip to North Platte tomorrow...but here are some pictures. Can't believe she is 3! Such a big girl, and she is so thrilled that it is her birthday.






While these were loading I searched for some quotations about becoming a Mother. Because while this is Alex's Birthday, it's also my Birth-Day, the day I became a Mother. The Day I felt a love stronger than any love I had ever felt. Or even thought was possible. It's the scariest and best thing I have ever experienced. My heart swells when I watch my children play together, when I am so blessed as to hold a sleeping child for a few sweet minutes. To see the amount of pure, unharnessed excitement that simple things bring to my children. They are my WORLD!

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."
-- Agatha Christie

Look what I can do!

While I was writing an email, Ryan figured out how to climb inside the box that holds our wood blocks. He was so proud and fit just perfectly! His other new feat: climbing into Alex's bed. It all started yesterday, he had free roam in the house and their door was open, I couldn't find him and there he is sitting on her bed looking so proud and grinning from ear to ear. So that is the new hot spot. And of course, being a boy, he thinks the way to get out of the bed is to just dive off the side so we have to be careful. It is just a toddler bed though so he can sort of just crawl off the side.



And an Alexism for you...we got the kid's Christmas outfits last week, thanks to my Mom, and I was going on about how cute I thought they were and how well they matched and Alex says "Yeah, people are going to say 'Your kids are so adorable!'" So conceited at such a young age! They will be cute though.

Nik is working so awfully hard right now. UPS is of course getting busier by the day with the Holidays approaching and The Barn also gets very busy normally plus they have a Holiday event starting this weekend! He has mostly just been driving for UPS though. It is so nice to have him home at night after 1.5 years of working 6-10pm. All you Moms know that can be a stressful time with dinner cleanup, bath and bed!

**Also want to note that anyone can comment now, I changed the settings!**

Chicken and Fries.

We have been listening to the Zac Brown Band song "Chicken Fried" a lot and yesterday morning Alex said "Mom, can you play that Chicken and Fries song?" Chicken and Fries is what Alex always wants when we get fast food....that may be why she likes the song! (In other news, I hate that she is calling us Mom and Dad sometimes. I told her this morning she is not allowed!)

Ryan had a fever this week of up to 103.6, pretty scary for me and he was such a sad little guy. Hate to see the guy that never sits still just put his head down on your leg and fall asleep. We headed back to the Dr, waited 1.5 hrs in the waiting room. (This is a whole 'nother story, our Dr is getting sooo incredibly busy...we have had to see the other Doctors in the practice for the past few months, so I at least felt fortunate to be able to see him.) Kids are back on antibiotics-a heavy duty one this time and Ryan's fever seems to be gone so I am very thankful for that. We have missed church and MOPS twice already and miss them both (and our friends!) I was able to go meet with the MOPS girls last night to get setup for the meeting this morning so it was nice to get out and socialize and bit.

Ryan has been walking a lot! He has taken up to 13 steps at a time! We are so excited for him and it's so cute.

It's Friday!

And I have seriously wasted this week.

Maybe it's that we are all sick.

Maybe it's the weather (although it has been okay this week!)

I have just had no motivation, have been full of worry about the kids with their colds. What am I thankful for? Nik has driven at UPS all week, and is feeling more and more comfortable with the job and it will result in a good paycheck next week!

So my laundry is waiting, along with a dirty highchair and dishes from last night. Alex is still sleeping, thank God because her little body needs that! I really and truly hope our winter is not like this health-wise. Lord, it would be good if this was it. These 2 colds/coughs have been enough. I think the kids are just passing it back and forth so it is taking them so long to get over it. And I am really praying that we don't have to go back to the Dr's office and I'm also really praying that this is still viral. I don't think another round of abx would be a good thing for them. I'm having a lot of anxiety about them being sick. I don't know why...they aren't that sick...no fevers except a little one for Alex a few days ago---everytime someone has a little coughing spell it strikes anxiety in me. Maybe because I've just been waiting for them to get better and everytime they wake up coughing I realize no today is not the day they are going to get better.

I know this is a whiny post but I am in that kind of mood, trying to turn it around today!

But you would really never know she is sick...(and she didn't cough up a lung this morning, so my hopes are high!)

A picture to go with yesterday's post...

11 Months Old!

My sweet little boy turns 11 months old today, and I feel as though I am going to lose it this morning. For some reason, 11 months seems a lot older than 10 months. Ryan may be our last baby and I just can't stand to see him get any older. (Now I am really crying as I type this.) He is such a loving little guy, craving attention and kisses. I always thought he'd start getting too busy to nurse because he's so active but definitely not the truth! This one may be very hard to wean from nursing when we decide it's time! It's so cliche to say...but where did the time go? I still so vividly remember his birth, our sweet time in the hospital together. Now he's my big boy playing by himself in the livingroom about to fall head first in the kids' big toy bin.