One happy little guy...

This morning we had Marty's 4 month check up with the doctor. He now weighs 14 lbs 13 oz and is 26.5 inches long. So that puts him at 50% for weight and 95% for height. I have a feeling he is going to be tall!! The doctor was really happy with him. Last week, he had his 4 month shots and he did really well. He hardly even cried when the nurse put the needle in!! But, he did get a fever that evening and was a little out of sorts:( Thankfully, he was back to his happy self the next day!We were at a birthday party for one of Megan's friends this morning. Marty was a little distracted there and missed his morning nap. When I drove him to the doctor's he fell asleep, of course, and only slept about 10 minutes. I had to wake him up to weigh him and he was all smiles for me and the doctor. He is seriously the happiest kid I've ever met!! Ok, maybe I'm a little biased:)We had a pretty relaxing weekend...Jeff hung out with some buddies, a friends birthday party, church and hung out with some friends. Our friends came over for dinner on Sunday night and they are expecting their first baby in 12 days!! I can't believe how tiny she looks...we looked at some pictures of me just before I had Marty and I looked MASSIVE!! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet their new little one. I have SO many pregnant friends right now...it's crazy! I'm so thankful for all thes little ones and that our kids will have lots of friends to grow up with. The weekend before last weekend, I went for a beautiful walk with my friend and her kids. It was such a nice day. We walked first and then let the kids play at the park for awhile. And they loved it!!We also had a birthday party for our friend Derek that same weekend. They had a great BBQ and the kids loved to play with all of Sarah's toys. They especially liked the Dora kitchen and the wagon! One of Derek and Colleen's friends came out for the weekend with her daughter. Her daughter and Marty are born only 2 days apart. She was actually due before me, but had her little girl after me!!Jeff took the girls to the park today after he got home from work!! That is always a nice treat for me, so that I can get dinner ready without all the chaos. They had a great time...My mom and dad sold their house about a month ago and they bought a new place. It is in a walled community and it's smaller and only one level. Anyways, they are moving on Wednesday...it all happened so fast! I'm going to help my mom set up her new kitchen on Wednesday. Should be fun:)

WOW...4 months old already!

Today, Marty is 4 months old!! I can hardly believe that much time has passed already since I've had him. He continues to be such a joy to us! He is always so content and happy...I absolutely adore him! We have his 4 month shots on Monday and I'm not looking forward to that:( He started to roll over (back to tummy) this week. Now he knows he can do it and he does it all the time. It's really cute!

Megan is playing doctor and getting Marty ready for his shots next week...
Marty is very flexible and loves to stuck on his toes!!
Almost 2 weekends ago now, Uncle Eric and Aunty Traci came up for Grandma's funeral. We also had a family birthday dinner for Megan while they were here. The kids had a blast hanging out with their Aunty and Uncle...and we loved it too!
The beautiful birthday girl!Megan got a cash register, grocery cart and lots of fake food for her birthday from Ama and Papa Dog, Uncle Curt and Uncle Eric and Aunty Traci. She loves to play grocery store now!Meggie loves to blow out the candles!
The girls and I painted our toenails this week. I bought the nail polish that dries in 60 seconds because these girls don't sit still for much longer than that! They both wanted the same color that I had. This was the first time I have painted Gabby's toenails and her nails are so tiny, it was a little tricky to do, but she loves it!All 3 kids, fresh out of the bath!
Last night we were at some friends house for a BBQ and they have a beautiful, huge backyard. The kids loved playing and running around the yard. My good friend is a photographer and she took some adorable pictures of the kids there...I will post some when I get the copies.
This weekend, we have a birthday party for our friend and then Sunday is Father's Day. Jeff and I are teaching children's church on Sunday and then there is a BBQ and carnival at church after the service. I think the kids are going to have a blast!

Happy Birthday Meggie

I'm 4 years old today....
How can it be 4 years already!?!?! I can still vividly remember going into labor and giving birth to Megan. I look at her now and am amazed at the person she has become. She is such a sweet, sensitive and caring little girl. I love her imagination and watching her play. She loves to play with babies and I know with all my heart that she will be an awesome mommy one day! She loves her brother and sister so much and takes such good care of them!Meggie at about 1 month old!

I love how Megan prays and wants to read her bible! She loves to learn new things. I love her big hugs and how she tells us she loves us. She is growing up so fast!! She is such a precious gift from God. Happy Birthday sweet Meggie!!!
She had a kids birthday party this morning and she had a great time!! We had an ice cream themed party this year. All the kids got to make their own ice cream sundaes with lots of treats on top!! I mad a few appies and also made a birthday cake in the shape of an ice cream cone. Jeff and Megan drew and painted a poster with an ice cream cone and then the kids played pin the cherry on the ice cream cone. It was so cute!!The weather is beautiful today, so we had the whole party outside. The kids loved playing around the yard and us moms got to hang out in the shade!Jeff brother, Curt, became an official lawyer this week. We went to a ceremony at the law courts on Tuesday. It was really neat to be there and celebrate with him. We are really proud of him!!I borrowed a bumbo chair from a friend...this is Marty's first time in it...I think he liked it!In other news, Jeff's grandma passed away on Monday. She was a wonderful lady and we will miss her. We went to visit her on Sunday and we are so thankful that we got to see her one last time! Megan has been asking some questions about death...she seems to understand that Grandma is in heaven with Jesus now, but she wanted to know when Grandma is coming back, because Jesus came back!! I love the innocence of a child.
Grandma and Gabby.Grandma and Grandpa with Megan and Evan...their oldest great-grandchildren!

We have the funeral tomorrow and I know it will be a beautiful celebration of Grandma's life! I am so thankful for the hope with have in Jesus. It's still sad to miss someone when they pass away, but we know that Grandma is in a much better place now. We were talking to Megan about heaven and about how great and wonderful it is there, but she seemed to think that life was pretty good here!! But, we don't even have a clue about how great it will be:)

A fire and a fat lip!!

So...life continues to be busy, busy, busy!! I can't even remember everything that has been going on lately, but I'll try to remember some.

Last weekend my brother came out for a visit. We didn't get to see too much of him because he was busy with some old friends of his. We went to some friends house for dinner on Saturday night and he stopped by for a bit and we had a good time. We took the kids along to our friends house and decided to try putting them down for bed there. I gave them a bath and then they had a snack and then it was bedtime! We put them in the same bed and they are not used to that because they sleep in bunkbeds at home. Anyways, after a while and some fighting in the bed, we decided to separate them into different rooms. They finally fell asleep about 9pm or so, but they slept in a little in the morning and seemed to be fine!! Marty, of course, will sleep anywhere, so he was great!

This picture is for Aunty Alicia...she bought him this shirt when she was in New York. Thanks Aunty!!Megan loved running through the sprinkler last weekend...
Then on Sunday night, we had some friends over for a BBQ!! The weather was perfect and we got to eat out on the deck...I love summer:) Our good friends had a baby the week earlier and they came for dinner too. We are so thrilled they had a boy too...Marty is going to have lots of little friends to play with.His shirt says "Chicks dig scars"...I love it!!

I got a whole bunch of hand-me-down clothes for Megan and Gabby from a friend of mine. I just love hand-me-downs!! It was a full garbage bag of clothes and they were all in really good condition. Here is Gabby wearing one of the dresses last Sunday. The dress has a bit of a tight neck and we had some trouble getting it over her head. Jeff and I had a good laugh over this...
Marty is laughing and smiling all the time!! He is just the happiest baby ever. We are so blessed to have him. He is growing like a weed and growing out of clothes all the time. I just packed another box of his clothes away this week. It's a little sad for me:(

Gabby is talking more and more these days. Her newest words are lawn mower, bobcat and watering can. We got a few new trees for our yard and when we were out looking at trees we talked about these things. I love listening to her talking...it's SO much better than whining!!

This past Wednesday evening, I was nursing Marty just before bed and I heard lots and lots of sirens coming up the highway and they seemed to be close to our street. I looked out the window and just saw cars coming up and down our cul-de-sac. Jeff came running into Marty's room a few minutes later and said a house behind ours was on fire!! The next morning we found out it was not a house, but some outbuilding that burnt and a vehicle. Apparently the fire was started by some kids...scary!! This picture is taken from our deck.
Last night, just before bed the girls were playing "chase" around the kitchen and living room. They just love to run around in circles chasing each other. Gabby fell at one point and we didn't see it, but she got a fat lip in just a few minutes. She cried for a few minutes and Jeff was holding her and then we noticed blood on Jeff's shirt. I think she fell and hit the floor and cut her lip opened. She was totally fine a few minutes later...she is such a tough kid!! This morning when she woke up, the fat lip was completely gone!!We have a busy weekend coming up. Tomorrow we have an open house at Jeff's parents place to celebrate his brother, Curt becoming a lawyer!! Then after that we have a friends birthday party for dinner and the evening. Sunday, we have church and then a BBQ in the afternoon at some friends house. Should be fun!!!

A Happy Mother's Day

We had Marty dedicated this past Sunday and it was such a special day! The mothers day service was very touching and I think I cried about 80% of the service. We had so many wonderful friends and family there to celebrate with us and pray for us. What a blessing it is to us to have these people in our lives! It was a great mothers day!! After church, all of our parents came over and we had a nice lunch together and we spent the afternoon just hanging out in the back yard. It was a warm, sunny day!!Our church had a work bee on Saturday and Jeff was there all day. He left home about 8:30 and got home about 6pm!! Needless to say, I was SO ready for him to come home. They did an awesome job putting up a new play structure in the back yard of the church and fenced it in! It is so great and I know it will get lots of use over the years!

Having a bath with Sarah last weekend...
On Friday night, we had a "date night" at church. We watched the movie Fireproof and had yummy desserts and popcorn. The movie is really good. I highly recommend it. The acting is not great, but the story is really good! It's great for anyone who wants to improve or make their marriage stronger. We left the kids at home with Jeff's parents and they even watched Marty for us! Thank you so much:) Megan loves to take pictures with our camera...she took this one!!

Marty takes a bottle when we go out and it gives us some freedom, which I am thankful for. But, it's really weird because whenever he gets a bottle and then I feed him when I get home, he never sleeps as long?!?!? I don't know why, even when I feed him later than usual. Like on Friday night, he got a bottle about 8pm and then I nursed him at 11ish and he woke up at 4:50am and he usually gets nursed at 9:30pm and sleeps until 6ish.
Me and my sweet boy!!

I have been working out a little bit this past week. I read on Kelly's blog that she has been doing the 30 day shred by Jillian Michaels. I thought I would give it a go! I started doing it last Wednesday and it's been great. It's only 20 minutes a day, so I find that really do able. I usually do it when the 2 little ones are napping and Megan is having quiet time(sometimes she watches me to it). The first couple of days, I was pretty sore, but now I'm feeling pretty good. It's starting to get a little easier, so maybe next week I will work up to level 2!!
The last couple of day, I have noticed that Marty is sucking his thumb!!! We have tried and tried to give him a soother and then when I got to check on him, the soother is out and the thumb is in. This is the same thing that happened with Gabby. Right now I like it because he's such a good sleeper and he can sooth himself, but I don't think I'll be saying the same thing when he is 2!! Although, Gabby gave up her thumb sucking on her own when she was about one. Now, she just sucks on her special blanket for comfort.
The girls have been playing outside so much lately. I love having the playground in our backyard! It keeps them busy and they love to be outside! I usually send them outside together while I am getting dinner ready and it's so much easier for me. Megan and Gabby have been playing really nicely together lately and I love watching them interact. I hope and pray that they will be good friends:)

Hope you enjoy all the pictures!! Have a great week.