Coming back

After much debate, I have decided to restart my blog.  I have so much to catch up on and maybe I never will.  But it's time to take some time and share stories and events.  I want to look back and remember these days.  They are going much to quickly.

Here is a quick update on what's going on here.  One word can sum up our days:  BUSY!!  Ethan is loving Pre-K.  He only has 2 more weeks and he is done.  How can my baby be finished with preschool?  He is excited to be heading off to Kindergarten in the fall.  I am still trying to figure out how I feel about the whole thing.  Ethan loves sports of any kind.  He is playing basketball at the YMCA and loves it. He is also quite a little math wiz.  He is currently doing math on a 1st grade level.  He has also begun to read.  We are so proud of him. 

Dylan is loving Kindergarten.  He is doing great with his reading and math, although I believe the enjoys math much more.  He has about a month and a half left in the school year.  He is so excited to go to first grade in the fall.  He is also enjoying sports right now.  He is doing a basketball hoop clinic right now and loves it. 

I am still babysitting little "J".  He is a very busy 18 month old.  He makes things more busy but the boys are really great with him which makes it a lot easier.

And that's a little taste of what's going on here.

A delicious recipe too good to not be shared.

I need to admit, I am slightly obsessed with the recipes over at MelsKitchenCafe.  That is always my "go to" place for great meal ideas.  Yet again I was not disappointed. 

Tonight for dinner I made This.  It was amazing.  I never quite know what to do with pork chops.  I love them on the grill in the summer.  But I just am not feeling like I am ready to fire up the grill quite yet.  This was so easy.  And who can beat an easy and tasty meal? 

Your Beautiful

I came across this blog today called The Rusted Chain I really enjoyed reading through it.  Beki wrote this great entry about being beautiful in the eyes of God.  Now of course this doesn't just mean physical beauty.  But for me it is hard to pick out one physical trait that I like about myself.  So here it goes.  I like my eyes.  Steve always says that he loves my eyes and I tend to agree.  They are a pretty blue. I do wish that I would have passed the blue eyes on to one of the boys.  But, they are both brown eyed boys like their dad.  I still think they are pretty darn cute :)
Anyway.....This whole thing got me thinking about a song I keep hearing from Mercy Me.  I love this song.  Here is the chorus to the song "Beautiful"

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
In His eyes

Happy Friday All.

Randomness

Ok.  When I said that I was going to try to blog every week, I really ment once a month!!  I entitled this entry "randomness" because that that pretty much sums up my feeling these past few weeks.  I believe that the winter blahs combined with minimal sleep at night (thanks to my dear sweet Ethan) have caused me to feel a certain depressed mood.  Not that I have lost all hope or anything like that.  But just a lack of enthusiasm about anything.  I want to get out and enjoy being with other people and do fun things with my kids.  But I find myself staying at home, being  short tempered with my kids and my husband and just generally grumpy.  I am hoping that with spring just around the corner, things will pick up again.  I also think that I need to pray for a softer heart.  I was so disheartened the other day when I made a comment that was quite harsh to my husband.  He called me out on it and it really stopped me in my tracks.  Have I grown so cold and calloused?  I pride myself in being this sweet, caring, gracious person.  How did this harshness creep into my soul?  My prayer is that God will soften my heart once more.  That he will give me grace to pass on to others and peace.  I share this with you in hopes that you will also hold me accountable.  I want to start caring again. 

Mid winter update

One of my new years resolutions for 2011 is to do better at blogging.  I was seriously debating about giving up my blog all together.  But I realized that I really like looking back at my old postings and reading the fun stories about the boys and the things we have done together.  So, I am going to try hard to post something at least once a week.  Yes, that is a challenge!

I have had a major case of the winter blahs.  For some reason this year I am not embracing winter as readily as other years.   I have totally lost the desire to go and do anything.  I have been having dreams almost every night about being at the beach and being outside in the green grass.  I have already started planning my garden for the spring.  I can wait until we can eat fresh fruits and veggies and be outside until 9 every night and have BBQ's with friends and go swimming.  I hope that I can shake this funk soon or it is going to be a long next few months. 

So, in order to try to stay positive here is my list of some of my favorite things about winter.
* Sledding with the kids.  There is something about speeding down a hill on a sled that makes me feel young.
* Ice skating.  We don't get to ice skate very often but this year we had a blast ice skating on my parents pond when we were up for New Years.  The ice was so smooth and perfect. 
*Hot Chocolate.  I am a huge fan of that warm chocolatey goodness. 
*Of course all of the Christmas festivities.
* Wearing warm and fuzzy boots.  Yes I am in love with my fuzzy sweater boots.  They are soooo warm.
*  Soup in the crock pot and home made bread.  A cold weather staple in my house. 
*  The beauty of a fresh snow on the trees and on the ground.  Everything looks so clean and pure.  A gently falling snow is truly calming  to me.
Wow!  I feel a little better already.  I will close with one of my favorite snow pictures from our time in Maine. 

Happy 5th Birthday Dylan

Ok I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since Ethan's birthday. What a horrible blogger I have been.
This one is all for my sweet firstborn. Dylan, I can't believe that you are already 5. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was holding you in my arms. I was so lost as to what to do. I had never changed a baby's diaper before the day you were born. I had so much to learn. And now here we are 5 years later. You are becoming such a smart, caring, creative, interesting boy. You love to be outside riding your bike, playing golf or soccer and digging in the dirt. You also love your inside time playing with trucks and trains and building interesting towers and tunnels. You love to spend time with me but spending time with your daddy is very special. I am so glad that the two of you can spend quality time together. You have become very opinionated which is something that I struggle with daily. I am glad that you are able to stand up for what you want (I just wish you would give me a break sometimes). You are so good with your brother. I could not ask for the two of you to play better together. I hope that the two of you remain close always. You are loving pre-kindergarten this year. You are making friends with the other children in your class. I can't believe the difference since last year. You have also made friends with some of the other kids your age at church. I love watching your sweet personality grow.
Dylan, I love being your mommy. You are such a special boy. I love you always.

Happy birthday to my special little guy.

Ethan, I really don't know where the time has gone. It feels like just yesterday I was rocking my second baby boy. How blessed I feel to have you and to see you grow. You are becoming such a great little guy. You are adventurous and yet so easy going. Yes when there is something that you want you let us know about it, but you play so nicely with your big brother and want to share every moment with him. You are becoming quite the little musician. You love to play your guitar and sing your favorite songs. You are even a bit of a show off at the playground when you stand on the steps and sing your heart out. We love to see your excitement when you sing "the Johnny Appleseed song". We pray that you will grow up to be a man of God and a wonderful and loving husband and father some day. Here are some of my favorite pictures of you from each year.