Jaris' Actual Birthday

This is how I found Jaris this morning around 10:30 am. I was getting clothes for the kids so we could go outside and play and Jaris decided it was nap time! This little boy can sleep any where!

Ice Cream Birthday cake with Daddy on his actual birthday! It was yummy and we have some left over! I think dessert for tonight!

Happy older sister enjoying her piece of cake!

Playing outside with daddy! Jaris and Kenzie love being outside with the snow all gone now! There are days when I think we need to move somewhere without a lot of snow during winter so they will play outdoors year round. Then I remember that they will eventually grow to love the snow!

Happy Father and son on Jaris' 2nd Birthday!

Not sure what you are doing mommy! Yet I sure do look cute even when gazing off into outter space!

Seriously she has the most amazing smile! Jaris is lucky to have her as an older sister!

I love some of the moments we catch on camera. Future wedding picture indeed!

I love his hair!

Riding the new birthday tricycles they both got! There little legs do not reach the pedals yet, however they just push them around with their feet!

I asked Kenzie to help Jeral put them together and she took that to mean she was supervising daddy while stepping on his leg!

Ohhhhh, Ahhhhh we both get toys on Jaris' birthday!

And the little boy who can sleep anywhere on his birthday snuggled in with the stuffies and had his afternoon nap, until his older sister woke him up.

The morning of Jaris' birthday the kids and I went over and had tea with Auntie Jodi, and some wonderful ladies! Both Kenzie and Jaris were looking around for their older cousins. Still to young to understand the concept of school! Auntie Jodi made a love apple cinnamon cake for us to munch on, and then after tea was over we came home and the kids played outside with Jeral while I made lunch. After lunch it was play, play, play. What a great way to spend a little kids birthday!

My son is 2! Wow that seems so crazy and so wonderful all at once to write! This year has been a year where he met some pretty big milestones. The biggest one was starting to walk on his own. When I look at Jaris now the days of us being afraid that he would never walk are but a faint memory. I love my sons deep laugh and chuckle! I love how he has the cutest dimples when he smiles. And while his head butts often hurt due to the size of his head, there is nothing like his head nuzzled into my neck for a wonderful (that is after my nose recovers from being bashed!!!).

His favorite thing to do outside of playing with his trains is to turn the lights in the house on and off. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together again. Jaris also loves going to the shop and hanging out with daddy as he works on a car he is restoring. Jaris and Kenzie have also stared going into the bans with Jeral every now and then. The rule is if the chicks ate 3weeks and younger the kids can join daddy. If the birds are older than 3 weeks than no barns, due to the build up of ammonia. I love watching Jaris jump on the trampoline and topple over and then start laughing his deep throat laugh, and look at us and smile. I honestly could not imagine having a cuter little boy.

Jaris our prayer for you is that as you grow up you will be a kind, caring, empathic, little boy and young man. We also pray you will grow up to choose to follow Jesus. As your parents we will do our best to always point you to God, and we know in the end the choice is yours.

My Boy is 2 Family Birthday Party!

The Barn Cake my mom made! Thanks mom!

My happy, rosy cheeked boy on his the day of his party!

Father and son! I love how proud Jeral looks. He is an amazing father to two, 2 year olds!

Kenzie getting in on the gift opening action. Such a great little helper to her younger brother!

Opening a gift from I believe Uncle Mark, Aunty Jodi and Krew. As he opened every gift he said, "Oh Wow, oh Wow!"

Blowing out the candles on the cake!

Older sister helping out! After all she is a pro at this!

And the perfect little kids sinking their face into the cake before the rest of us get any!

Setting up the new train tracks with Uncle Chris!

On Saturday March 24th we did a family birthday party for Jaris. We had a lot of fun. Uncle Mark, and James brought over some entertainment and both Jaris and Kenzie loved watching all the older kids and adults (minus me) take turns racing on our drive way with the little motor bikes. Then we came in and opend up gifts, and had cake! Jaris at one point was a little over whelmed and Jeral being the great daddy he is took Jaris outside for some quality alone time. My so likes his space and there are times we have noticed he will just disappear and go play in his room or anyother room that there are no people in! Kenzie is so the opposite, wherever there are people Kenzie will be there! All in all it was a good day! I have way more to write about my little boy however that will have to wait until the kids are sleeping as Kenzie is climbing all over me and want to go outside! More pictures of his actual birthday and more about my amazing little boy to come!

Yesterday as I was putting Kenzie in the van to go to church said the funniest thing and yet it is so very true!

Kenzie: Mommy, I pretty!

Me: Yes you are Kenzie

Kenzie: Mommy, I pretty gorgeous!

I started laughing and was stunned that she even knew the word gorgeous. The things kids pick up!

The Craziness of Parenting

My cutie pie just before we took the tent down so we could put the trampoline up! I still need to take pictures of them on the trampoline. I will get to it at some point!
A few weeks back my friend and her husband were in town and while they were away on a little get away my friends sister was watching there daughter so they come over for a play date! It was super fun. Here are Kenzie and Joelle jumping in the exercise trampoline and Emily holding Joelle for support!

I love this face. I wish the lighting for the picture was a little better, yet wow is he adorable or what!

Kenzie's new favorite place to bath. The kitchen sink! We are having a tough time getting the dishes done around here simply because every time we go to do the dishes Kenzie pushes a chair over and starts stripping with telling us she wants a baff (her way of saying bath). We also have spell the word shower around here because if we say it she is running for the stairs while trying to get her clothes off so she can join one of us! This little miracle sure cracks me up!

All smiles while dancing with daddy! I love watch Jeral dance with our kids in the kitchen, and I get a kick out of the disco moves he tries to show off! I think he is doing that just for me to show me how studly he is. Watching Kenzie and Jaris dance to the music is also very entertaining as they both have their own ways of dancing. I love watching their personalities develop and shine.

We are so blessed to have our kids even on the days when timeouts and time in are every 20 minutes or so, and I want to rip my hair out because I am at a loss with what to do, we know they are a blessing. This afternoon was one of those afternoons. All day they played well together and listened pretty good. The allowed me to get things done around the house while also stopping every now and then to just focus on them. Then the cranky hour hit at 4 pm and wow! Supper we had food thrown all over in a fit of unhappiness. I got covered in Kenzie's drink because she was flinging her fork around and hit me in the face and then knocked over her cup. I was so happy that the grocery shopping needed to be done and I was going out to do that my self! While I am madly in love with my kids, I also some days feel as though I am going to go mad (crazy)by the end of the day. I guess that is all part of parenting. The thing is though at the end of the day when they kiss me good night those cute very genuine kisses wipe away the frustrations and the wanting to rip my hair out moments. Sneaking into their room after they are asleep just to watch them sleep so peacefully as I pray for them bring a calm to my heart that nothing else can come close to. I think God purposely wired us to feel this way because He knew parenting would be hard a lot of the time! Well with that I am going to so quietly slip into their rooms to give them one last good night kiss and the go to bed myself so I am rested for another new day with my miracles!

It is still a little strange knowing I have a tiny little baby growing inside of me right now. Honestly if it were not for having a Doppler at home I would not even know these days. Yes my left leg goes numb when I sleep on my back, and yes I stuff up at night a bit more than normal (however I tend to stuff up on the best of nights). Yes I am really tired yet that can be credited to have 2, two year olds and one who crawls into bed at night with us and nuzzles her head into me for the entire rest of the night! Maybe it is because I am not really showing yet, and it just looks like I am my normal curvy self. The down side to being a curvy and pregnant is not having that cute baby bump to show in the beginning. While friends who are not as far long have cute baby bumps. I have my curves! This pregnancy is just different in many ways from my pregnancy with Jaris. Which I hope over all is a good thing. I do look forward to the end when I am clearly showing a gloriously tummy. In the mean time I will enjoy the small movements I feel here and there right now. I know in the weeks to come those movements will get stronger and more often and that is exciting. So many thing to look forward to in the weeks and months ahead as we anticipate the the arrival of another child.

Lately Kenzie and Jaris have been playing together and it is so funny watching and listening to them chat and giggle as they play together. It is a sight to behold as they chase each other around the house and tackle each other. Knowing that they are starting to play with each other more gives me some hope that when the next baby comes they will be able to play together as I do the things I need too with the baby.

Jaris is slowly picking up more words and starting to say them. He mumbles a lot more than Kenzie does, yet part of his charm is his cute mumble. We were in the mall on Thursday and Jaris saw two little kids play tackling each other on the floor and well he wiggled away from Jeral and went running to join the action. Luckily we caught him In time because as he was running and laughing he lowered his head as he was about to connect with the head of another kid. His head connecting with any part of the body hurts. He has a big wonderful head. He will make a great football or rugby player some day!

Kenzie is in love with hockey. She asks to watch or play hockey everyday! She is definitely a mama's girl. She was sleeping in her own bed at night. However recently she started coming back to our room at night and snuggling with me. We will see how that goes when the baby comes. She loves picking out her own clothes and for the most part I encourage her creativity. Even on Sundays when getting ready for church however there may be some compromise so she does not freeze. Kenzie likes summer clothes! Kenzie also loves Scooby Doo. We are very intentional to point out the monsters are funny or silly looking, and not scary! Really she is in love with Scooby since he is a puppy!

Well that is all for now. Jeral took the kids outside so I have the house to myself! I think I will journal and read for a bit!

Annabelle

Tomorrow is the day that was my due date with Annabelle Marie. As I thought about her and her sister Hope, the tears flowed as I asked Jesus to hold them especially close and tell them we love them so very much. I especially want them to know that just because we have been given another miracle, one that we will most likely get to hold, that does not mean we will forget them. I will never forget the babes I so wish I could have held on this side of heaven. Mommy and Daddy Love you both so very much, and want you to know you girls will never be replaced in our hearts.