The Stutzman Family

Christmas Day

2011-12-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was so nice and relaxing. The boys woke the whole house up around 7:30. We did stockings first and then moved into the living room to open our presents under the tree. We had a YUMMY breakfast made by my mom and then relaxed, played with new toys and played games for the rest of the day. The boys ended it with a quick dip in the hot tub with Nana and then it was off to sleep for them while we played a new game my mom got called Headbanz. Such a FUN game! I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-31T20:22:00.000-08:00

We went down to Portland this year for Christmas and left Christmas Eve morning VERY early in order to make the rounds. We started at my parents house where we took showers and got ready for Christmas Eve service at my parents church. The boys opened their one Christmas Eve gift (Christmas PJ's). After church we finally made it to my Uncle Phil's house and here are the pictures from that. The boys had a fun time with my siblings and my cousins. We finished off the night leaving cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer before tucking the kids in bed so Santa could visit :-)

Jacob's School Birthday Party for Jesus

2011-12-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

I have said this before, but I will say it again...we LOVE LOVE LOVE Jacob's school. He has learned so much in the last 2 years and the teachers and entire staff are extremely loving and wonderful people. He had his school program yesterday and I made the cake. I made an edible natvity cupcake cake and it was a HUGE hit with all the kids (and the parents!). I am also the class "photographer" so I got LOTS of pictures. Here are just the ones with him in them :-)

Putting Up The Tree!

2011-12-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

We went the easy route this year since I was studying for finals and got our tree at Costco again (did it last year, too). So bringing the tree from the garage and setting it up is the part that we try to make fun for the boys. I love that they are BOTH really excited about Christmas this year. Nana gives them ornaments every year and this year, once we got the lights on the tree, those ornaments were the first two to go onto the tree and they were SO excited to put them up!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

This year, my parents and sisters ended up coming up to our house for Thanksgiving. We had a BLAST! It was nice and relaxing for my parents, Molly didn't feel good so she slept on the floor most of the time and Michaela is 16 and slept on the couch most of the time. I made dinner for everyone and actually cooked my very first ever turkey. We have deep fried it before, but that is VERY different from cooking it in the oven. It turned out PERFECTLY and I was really happy with it. Mom, Michaela and I got up and hit up Fred Meyer and Kohl's early Friday morning, took some naps and then Joe made a birthday dinner for my mom (Fajitas) and we celebrated with some cupcakes afterwards before they left to go back home. All in all it was a fun and relaxing 2 days with my family. The boys love their Nana and Papa and TeeTee's so much and really enjoyed their time with them. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

Jacob's Four Year Pictures

2011-11-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

It has taken me a while to get these posted on here, but I absolutely LOVE them! We were also able to get a few of the family as well. Hope you all enjoy :-)

A VERY Special Family Looking to Adopt

2011-09-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, family and whoever else might be reading this blog! I just wanted to post a link to a very special friend of mine's blog. They are looking to adopt a child and I am hoping maybe this will reach a lot of people. You never know when the right person might be reading this. If you are interested, please view their blog. You can reach them through their blog (click on link below) or if you would like me to contact them for you, just let me know. I am willing to do whatever I can to help this family continue to grow because they TRULY deserve it!!!

Mike and Jess Adopting

Jacob's 4th Birthday

2011-08-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

I still cannot believe we have a four year old. The last four years have truly flown by and Jacob is growing and growing every day. He is one of the sweetest little boys I know. He is an amazing big brother to Caleb and teaches him how to do things. They really love each other so much and it is so great to see that relationship form and continue to grow stronger and stronger. This year we have a combined family/friend party (probably the last year for that) a few days before his birthday and then we did something just the four of us on his actual birthday. We are truly appreciative of all the family/friends who were able to come and help us celebrate. We got a surprise visit from Grandpa Scott and Grandma Linda and that made the day even more special. It blew Joe and I away that they did that and spoke volumes as to how much blood does NOT make family. Uncle Stevie, Aunt Tami and "baby" Drew were able to stay with us on Sunday night so we got some special time with them and that was another great birthday present as Jacob ADORES his Uncle Stevie.

Birthday Party

Charlie and all the girls. He had them all in his back pocket!!

Andy and Ephram

Nana, Papa and TeeTee Michaela (we missed you TeeTee Molly!!!)

Kyle and Breanna (the newlyweds!)

Kareena and Scotty

The Stewart family (minus Shawn and Jojo because of sickness)

His #4 balloon!

Opening presents

More presents...

Grace and Justin

More presents...

Caleb even got a few presents!

More presents...

Thank you, Grandpa Scott!

Thank you, Grandma Linda!

He LOVED his cake and was soooo excited...

His dinosaur cake.

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candles!

Mmmmm....cake!!!

Look mom! No hands!!

Crazy boy...

Playing with Uncle Stevie, brother and "baby" Drew with the new toys!

Uncle Stevie got him his first REAL big boy Lego set and he is still a little too young for it, so he helped him put it together. He had soooo much fun doing that with him.

Look at that smile!

Aunt Tami read lots of books...

Awww...

Doing his new dinosaur puzzle with Aunt Tami

His Actual Birthday!

Opening Presents

He LOVES this present

A new robe for swimming lessons :-)

Our Family Vacation 2011

2011-08-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my parents, we were able to do a very special family vacation this year. For our birthdays and Christmas, they bought us Southern CA CityPasses and let us share their timeshare hotel with them in Anaheim. We ended up making it a 2 week vacation and as we drove down California, we stopped in San Francisco to visit Cale and Lauren (my bro and sis in law). We then drove all the way down to San Diego where we went to Sea World, the San Diego Wild Animal Park and visited some good friends, The Sellars, who live there. We then drove back up to Anaheim where we were able to do 3 days at Disneyland. It was an amazing family vacation and I think something the boys will be talking about for the rest of the year. Here are some pictures from our Trip. It was hard to choose from all of them!!!

San Francisco
Our first stop was San Francisco where we spent 2 days with Uncle Cale and Aunt Lauren. We had so much fun and Jacob, especially was VERY sad to leave his Uncle Cale. He just thinks he is the coolest uncle ever and kept asking us the rest of the trip if we were going to go back. I think it helps that they have 2 very cute doggies :-)

San Diego

Our first adventure was to the beach where we met up with my cousin Nicole and her kiddos. It was the boys first time actually going in the ocean and it was a priceless moment to see. They both LOVED it so much and we had to drag them out of the water when they had both gotten to the point that they were crying because they were freezing cold, but didn't want to get out of the water! It was such a fun memory to have with them.

Later that day we went over to our friends The Sellars house to swim, have pizza and just sit back and chat. It was soooo much fun and as you can see the boys got along great with their son Sam. They swam and played HARD and I think they all slept VERY well that night! We love you Sellars family!!!!

We then headed over to SeaWorld the next day. The boys were in awe at all the animals. We had the PERFECT day and it was overcast until about 1pm that afternoon so we were not sweltering hot for too many hours that day. It also was a weekday and because of the weather, it was pretty dead for the first 1/2 of the day. We were there when they opened and closed the doors when they closed and it was such a fun day.

We then had a family day off and just hung at the hotel for a rest and swimming. It was a nice little break in between the big days we had :-)

The next day we packed up to leave San Diego and stopped at the Wild Animal Park on our way up to Anaheim. The boys enjoyed that and I don't know that I had ever been there before. It was CRAZY big and HOT, but still fun. We spent a little while there before heading out to Anaheim for the last leg out of trip.

Anaheim

We were spending 6 days and 5 nights in Anaheim sharing a large timeshare with my parents and sisters and I knew this was going to be the most fun for the boys. They had so much fun I cannot even put it into words! I think the pictures speak for themselves. For those of you who know our boys, you know that Disney is their favorite channel. We only allow them to watch Disney and PBS, so they don't have much to go off of, but they love it. Specifically Jacob loves Jake and the Pirates and Caleb loves Little Einsteins. They both LOVE Mickey Mouse Club House too. It is absolutely amazing watching Disneyland through the eyes of your children...words cannot describe it. Jacob was our little daredevil and he went on every ride he could go on (height-wise) except for Tower of Terror (I can't believe they would let someone his size go on that!). This includes Splash Mountain (TWICE) and Thunder Mountain Railroad. The "fast train" was his favorite. Caleb did not like Mickey's Go Coaster, so I have a feeling he is NOT going to be a daredevil like his brother. We had an amazing family time and definitely something our family needed after the last few years we have had. Joe was able to completely unplug from work (I don't think he has EVER done that since I met him) and we were able to connect and bond as a family. I even see it in the boys in the way they are playing and talking to each other. It makes a mommy's heart happy.

A Special Song for my Hubby in Honor of Father's Day

2011-06-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

You are an amazing husband and amazing father. I love you more than anything in this world. We have truly had an unbelievably difficult last 5 years and yet we are still here and continuing to work together to get through it. I heard this song on the CMA's last night and I could not stop thinking about how true these lyrics are for us right now. I think we can both strongly say that "WE won't let each other go" and "WE will stand by each other" until death do us part. Thank you for always being my rock and loving me even when I am difficult to love. Thank you for being an amazing daddy to our boys even when sometimes it is hard with everything else we have going on. Thank you for always putting us first even when others are pulling you in the opposite direction. You have no idea how much the boys and I appreciate everything you do.

LOVES!!!!!!!!!!!

Caleb's 2 Year Pictures (and a few of the boys)

2011-05-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

I was a little late getting Caleb's 2 year pictures taken this year, but it was totally worth it because I was able to use an amazing photographer who has actually taken both boys photos since they were 6 weeks old at the old studio she used to work at. She has since then started her own business and I absolutely LOVE her work! Thank you Catrina Rioux Photography!!!!!

A Very Special Book

2011-05-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my parents are teachers. Specifically...my mom is an elementary school teacher in Canby. My boys have soooo many books from them it's crazy. This Valentine's Day my mom bought them about 6 valentine's books. One of those was a book called Yummiest Love. It is one of the best books I have read in a while. I cry EVERY.SINGLE.TIME I read it. It truly sums up how I feel about my children and I wanted to share it with you all. I hope you enjoy!!

Yummiest Love
By Lisa McCourt

I love your sweet bear hugs and crazy warm kisses and the red crayon hearts you draw just for me.

I love your wild belly laugh - so delicious to my ears, I'd do my silly face a hundred times just to hear it again and again.

I love your scrumptious smell - when you're soaped and rinsed and squeaky clean, and even when you're not.

I love the questions you ask - so many questions that one storybook can take a whole afternoon of sharing.

I love your never-ending surprises. Like when you hate broccoli. Then it's your favorite. Then you hate it. Then it's your favorite.

I love your free, courageous spirit, even when it trips you up and you need Band-Aids or kisses or just the right words to help you find it again.

I love the snuddle we invented - a cross between a snuggle and a cuddle, but better and warmer than either of them. your snuddles are the best thing in my world.

I love the way you sing and dance and tell me stories, then dream up new songs and dances and stories for me.

I love our gentle, quiet times. And the warmth of your small body and the beautiful beating of your perfect little heart.

I treasure every memory we make. Memories of special days and all the days in between, each day wrapped in the yummiest love.

It seems impossible that I could love you more each day but that is what happens. You keep changing and growing and that will never stop. All I can do is hang on for the ride.

I love you more than sunshine. More than the moon and the million twinkling stars. Thank you for being the you that you are.

I love you my little men...always remember that no matter how old you get and how embarrassing we get!!

It's T-Ball Time!!

2011-04-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Jacob started T-Ball last week. He has his first game this weekend. Here are some pictures from his first practice. He is DEFINITELY my child in that he is VERY shy. He is going to need a lot of encouragement from mom and dad, so we are working on all of that. This is good for him, though and he really does LIKE T-Ball and is fairly good at hitting and throwing the ball!!

Caleb's 2nd Birthday

2011-03-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

For the next 2 more years...poor Caleb's actual birthday will compete with my baby sister's State Dance Competition. She dances on the Canby High School dance team and this year they placed SECOND, which was a very big deal. We are all very proud of her and her team. They work VERY hard and it is a physically and mentally draining week. This year we had to push his party out an extra weekend because my parents and sisters all went somewhere for spring break, so we had to have his party the last weekend in March.

We had a GREAT time! My parents and sisters were there, The Kovar family, The Zaniewski's (minus Matt), The Stewarts (minus Shawn and Kaylynn) and of course Breanna and Kyle. It was a great time and Caleb had a BLAST. All of the kids played HARD and soooo well together!!! We are very blessed to have good friends with very well behaved kiddos who all play so well together. I think the parents have something to do with that, too ;-)

Here are some pictures from the party. I made the cake...I think it turned out pretty good! I get better and better with everyone I make! I LOVE making our boys cakes...

The cake :-)

Daddy on the phone while grilling

Most of the kids. I think we are just missing Josiah and Ephram

They were soooo cute sitting at the table!

Little miss Tanna

Mr. Charlie

The birthday boy. He was cracking me up with the fork!

Opening his first present!

Brother helping :-)

The kids were sooo good and patient watching him

More gifts

Daddy...check out this cool vacuum that you and mom gave me!!

Cici (blankie) was with him the WHOLE time...he is addicted!

Our annual family tradition of their age in a balloon!

Taking a break from present opening to rub "Cici" on his face...

A fun bubble machine from Nana, Papa and Michaela!

The REALLY cool "doodlebug" blankie TeeTee Molly made for him. He LOVES it...

Snuggles with mommy

CHEESE!!!

Jacob and TeeTee Molly playing with the musical instruments from Breanna and Kyle. They LOVE THEM!!!

All the kids enjoying the cake. It was a big hit!!!

Scariest Day Of Our Lives (so far)

2011-03-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

I have been texting with a lot of people this weekend, but have not been able to tell the full story of what happened. I thought this might be a good way to do so and everyone can read it in one spot. Plus...it is a good place for me to document it...

Caleb woke up burning up at 3am Friday morning. I instantly stripped him (he was in hot footsie jammies) and gave him some tylenol. He felt cooler when we woke up at 7 and we started our day. Both boys ate a big bowl of oatmeal and some juice and they were playing. Caleb was a little whiney and clingy, but nothing super unusual. Around 9, he came over and sat with me on the chair and fell asleep for about 45 minutes. Around 10, he got up and started playing with Jacob. They were in the playroom and Jacob had gone upstairs to get 2 pillows and they were making a bed in the playroom. He came and asked me for a blanket and around 10:20 Jacob came over to me and said look mom...we made a bed! I looked and Caleb looked like he had fallen asleep, so I walked over there and he was just playing around with me and was laughing once I got over there. I walked away and called him a silly goose. About 10 minutes later, Jacob had come back into the family room/kitchen area and Caleb had stayed in the playroom (not abnormal) and I sat down on the couch and all of a sudden heard a weird noise coming from the playroom. I looked over there and Caleb was laying on the ground convulsing. I ran over to him and immediately knew he was having a seizure. At this point, his fever had not been super high and I had been maintaining it with medicine so I was in complete shock that this was even going on. I picked him up and took him over to our ottoman to strip his clothes. I then realized he had closed his eyes and was "spitting" out of his mouth and his breathing was becoming more and more labored. I rolled him onto his side and I grabbed my phone and dialed 911. At this point I have NO idea when he started seizing and it had been a good 3-4 minutes since I had found him. He FINALLY stopped seizing, but became very still and quiet and unresponsive and his breathing was still very labored. The fire department finally got there and they gave him some oxygen and took his temp, which was 103. However...he was still not responding to them. That went on for another 15 minutes. During that 15 minutes, I had called Joe (who was stuck downtown because he takes the train into work) to tell him to get home as we had an emergency. His company will actually pay for a cab ride home for you if you have an emergency during the non-train hours. I then picked up the phone to call our NEW friends who live down the street to see if they could help me with Jacob until we could figure out what we were going to do or until Joe could get home. Amy was at our house before I could even get off the phone with her. It was record time. I am so incredibly appreciative to her for being there for us. These kind of situations are EXTREMELY hard when you have no friends/family around you to help. It is definitely one of the cons of living 180 miles away from all of those people.

At that point, the firefighters felt like because of how long he seized and because of how long it took him to come out of it that I needed to take him to the hospital. They did NOT suggest me driving him because they were concerned about his temp rising up again and him having another seizure in the car on the way there. When it comes to the kids, we are pretty adamant that we take them to Children's Hospital in Seattle if possible. So...we headed there via ambulance. Once we were there, it was apparent that they were CRAZY busy!!! It took us about an hour to get into an actual room and another 30 minutes to see a doc. His temp was still 104.6 an hour and a half after Tylenol and wasn't coming down at all. So they gave him a dose of Ibuprofen to try to get the temp down. After about 30 minutes it FINALLY started to come down. The doc finally came in and checked him out. I was CONVINCED it was either an ear infection or pneumonia (some sort of secondary infection). Everything was clear EXCEPT for his nose, which was pretty congested. So...at this time he is being treated for a sinus infection. I was very doubtful that was what it was, but since everything else was clear I had to trust it. About 8 hours after his first antibiotic dose, his fever broke and the rest of the day he was "sweating the bacteria" out of his system. So...whatever it was (sinus infection or not) seems to be clearing with the antibiotic.

So...many people have asked me what this means for him from now on. At this point, until he is about 6 years old...he will be more susceptible to having a febrile seizure whenever his temperature is raised quickly. There are definitely a ton of things we can do to keep his temp down, but sometimes these things just happen and no matter what you do...you can't fix it. We will probably ALWAYS call 911 because we will always want him to be checked out. A hospital visit probably won't be as necessary once we rule out anything else that might be causing it. It's just something that we will always need to be cautious and worried about every time he has any sort of fever.

Here is a pic of him waiting for the doctor. He spent the entire rest of the day in his diaper to ensure that he did not get too hot again.

Valentine's Day at Preschool

2011-02-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

So since I, Carleigh, am the class photographer for Jacob's preschool class, I have a TON of pictures to download. We will start with Valentine's Day :-)

I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast and dressed the boys in their red shirts. We read the new Valentine's books that Nana bought for them (we are VERY spoiled in the book area thanks to Nana). It was a fun day!

Jacob had normal class and then a party at the end. We handmade his valentine's (cheaper and more fun!) and they got to "mail" them to the other kids in the class. He had a fun time and so did I. I LOVE being able to do spend time with him like this. You can never get these years back and I am blessed to be able to be home with them during the day and then spend my evenings in school trying to get my BSN so I am able to contribute to the family financially again.

Enjoy the pics!!

At the end of the party, we had to make a trip out to "Grandma Sue's" car so that Paige could give him his special present. It was a little stuffed puppy and a small balloon. SUPER cute!!! This picture is from that :-)

New Year's Eve?? Nope! How About a Broken Wrist Instead...

2011-02-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well...traditionally for the last 4 years, we have always done a family fondue night. On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, I put the youngest down for a nap and took off for the store to get all of the fixings with grocery list in hand. The sun was shining and I had my sunglasses on. Got to the store that we frequent all the time, stepped out of the car and proceeded to fall due to ice that was apparently on the ground. Unfortunately, I landed completely on my left hand. As I went to stand up, I realized that my wrist was REALLY messed up. So...I called Joe, started the car and drove home so that he could take me to the hospital. Thank GOD Matt was home that night because I have NO idea what we would have done with the little boys if he wasn't home. We got to the ER and they got me in fairly quickly due to the fact that I was in MAJOR pain and was not being quiet about it. At that point the shock had worn off and the pain was horrendous. They drugged me up and sent me to Xray. After lots of good pain meds, the verdict was a severely fractured joint of the distal Radius in 3 different places. They knocked me out for 10 minutes to reset everything (it was extremely distorted) and took more Xrays and finally sent us on our way around 10:30pm. It was an exhausting day, the boys were missing us and I was completely doped up on pain meds. To be honest with you...I don't remember much from that night...just that I was in an enormous amount of pain and reality was hitting about how in the WORLD I was going to be a mommy to two little boys with one hand. With a little help from my mom who so graciously came up to help us while Joe went to work for a few days, we managed and got through it. I am very grateful to my wonderful husband who has really picked up the slack over the last 7 weeks. We could not have done this without him. After a few bad doctors who put my arm into a horrible position, we finally found a great one and my arm is healing very nicely. I should be getting it off on the 23rd, so I am praying that happens. I just want my independence back!!!!!!!! Here are a few pictures of my arm in case you were interested.

1st position - The day after the accident

2nd position - 1 weeks after accident

3rd (and final) position - 3 weeks after accident

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T15:47:00.000-08:00

PUTTING OUR TREE UP!
We were a little late this year, but we got 'er done!! The boys had a blast helping and I think it turned out to be the best tree decorating we have done by far :-)

Christmas Eve

We did not do a traditional Christmas at all this year. For our "Christmas Eve" meal, I made Crockpot chilli and the boys LOVED it!!!! All of them ;-). We then had a bath, put our Christmas jammies on and opened our one Christmas Eve present (tradition). Jacob opened his Camera and Caleb opened his Mickey Mouse & Friends set. They loved them, but mostly they both loved the camera. In fact...we had to put it away because they were fighting over it!! But they made up in time to put the cookies out for Santa and the carrots out for the reindeer. It was such a fun and relaxing day/evening and we enjoyed every minute!

Christmas Day

Christmas day was full of presents and eating. YUMMERS!! We were also able to do a Skype with ALL of Carleigh's family including Nana & Papa, Uncle Cale & Auntie Lauren and Grandpa and Grandma Miller. They had a blast!!! I love that they can do that and it really keeps them in their minds and they know exactly who they are when they come to visit or when we go visit them. SOOOO fun :-) Santa brought Jacob a train set with a mat, Caleb a fun Airport set including a big airplane, Matt a new cell phone and mom and dad a new waffle maker!! Lots of fun presents and we finished it off with an yummy untraditional dinner of make-your-own pizzas that were a complete hit! It was such a fun Christmas that we may decide to stay at home every year...

Birthday Party for Jesus!

2010-12-20T23:20:00.000-08:00

Jacob goes to Covenant Kids Preschool at Kent Covenant Church and we all LOVE it! He is THRIVING there, has an amazing teacher (who has become a permanant part of our family) and LOVES everything about it from his friends to the playground. They had a birthday party for Jesus in his classroom on the last day of school before the Christmas break. I was in charge of the birthday cake. I made a cupcake cake for the kids and they had a BLAST! We had a chapel with them where they all sang us a song and we heard the story of when Jesus was born. I am the room photographer, so I am there for all the big events to take pictures. It was a really fun day and I was glad I was able to be there with him. I got a few good shots and a video of the song. Please keep an eye on whose kid just decides he is done in the middle of the song and comes to find me, only to go BACK up on stage and just stand there facing the wrong way. OY!! Silly boy...

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving with my entire family. The boys keep talking about all of their TeeTee's (Aunts) and Uncle Cale. They sure do love them to pieces!!! Here are some fun pictures from the long weekend with them.

First Snow of the Season

2010-11-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

This year we had our first snow BEFORE Thanksgiving, which is crazy! Joe and I were trying to remember the last time that happened and we think it has been about 20 or so years! The boys were SOOOO excited and so was Joe. I was starting to get a REALLY horrible cold/flu so I was not as excited as them. Also...it was Thanksgiving week and they were saying it was not going to go anywhere quickly and I knew we had a LONG drive down to Portland for our Thanksgiving celebration. My brother and his wife were going to be there and my mom had planned for us to have professional family pictures taken since we were ALL going to be there, so we HAD to get down. Thankfully we drive a Suburban, so we were fine to get down...it was just all the other drivers I worry about.

Here is the first time the boys got to go out in it and this is when it had JUST started. I think we got a total of about 8-10 inches and the temperature stayed in the teens, so it did not go anywhere quickly. It was fun!

Here are a few pics I snapped quickly...

The Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to try a new farm. We usually go to a local one down the road, but through Jacob's preschool class, we learned about a new one. It is called Thomasson Family Farms in Enumclaw and it was the PERFECT place for our kids age group! They had a blast and neither one of them wanted to leave.

Jacob's First Day Of Preschool

2010-09-17T15:55:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of the summer, Joe and I decided that we were not going to put Jacob into preschool until next year. Well...by the end of the summer we were feeling differently about that. He was ready. So...I scrambled to see if there was a spot available at the preschool I REALLY wanted him to go to and there was! They had opened up an afternoon 3's class, which actually worked out WONDERFULLY for my school schedule this term and we signed him up right away!!! On Monday, we went to his first day of school. He was soooo excited! We bought some new school clothes and shoes while we were at the Oregon Coast the week before and he was ready to go. The first day was for child AND parent, so Joe stayed home with Caleb while I went with Jacob. He loved it. Then on Wednesday he went without mommy. He was talking about it all morning and how he was going to go all by himself and how excited he was. I was skeptical that he was going to go with no tears, but that boy completely proved me wrong!!!! He gave me a kiss and hug and walked right into that room and never looked back. Mommy held it together and did not cry either. Caleb, however was the only one with tears because he wanted to go WITH him :( They are such good friends, and I wouldn't have it ANY other way!!!

Here are some pictures of Jacob's first day of school!

Not very happy about pictures...

LOVE this one!!!

Caleb wanted in on the action :)

Picture with daddy

When we pulled into the parking lot, I turned around and saw this. He looked a little nervous...

In front of his classroom

Hanging on the hooks

He looks like such a big boy to me in this picture

He went STRAIGHT for the puzzles!

Then we played with the cars

More cars

Then he made a few girlfriends

Next we painted an apple

More painting.

Then he spotted the power tool station :)

Snack time!!!

His teacher is next to him on the right.

He got to put the bananas into the fruit bowl

Fruit and graham crackers. Yummers

Playing outside at recess

Rolling on the grass.

More playtime

This is his favorite outside toy. He calls them the "motorcycles".

Telling dad ALL about his day when we got home :)

We cannot WAIT to see him grow this year

Family Vacation

2010-09-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

We took our first family vacation as a family of four last week and we had soooooooo much fun!!! We were lucky enough to have "Teetee" Molly (Carleigh's sister) join us for the last 1/2 and the boys had a blast with her. Not gonna lie...mom and dad enjoyed having the extra hands as well :)

We started with a stop in Portland to spend some quality time with the Farnsworth family. We don't get that very often with them and it was desperately needed. We stayed with Uncle Stevie, Aunt Tami and Baby Drew and had a really good time. We were even able to join them on their yearly trek to the Oregon State Fair with the ENTIRE family. It was soooo nice to see everyone and not be on a time frame. Uncle Stevie got us tickets to the Barnum and Bailey circus that was in town through his job working for the Blazers and we were also able to do the Portland Zoo, which we had been wanting to take the boys to for a while. Then we left the day after Labor day for the Oregon Coast. The boys had never been to the ocean and Jacob was BEYOND excited. Words cannot even describe how amazing it was to see both of our little men see the ocean for the first time. It was awesome. It was also very relaxing and some much needed family time.

Here are some pictures from all of our adventures!

Jacob's 3rd Birthday with Mom and Dad

2010-08-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Joe and I decided to start a new tradition with both boys starting on their 3rd birthday. It is a special day (on their actual birthday) that they get to spend with mom and dad ONLY all to themselves. Caleb still has 1.5 years until he gets his first one, but we decided it was worthwhile to wait until it actually MEANS something to them and three is a good age for that :)

We decided to take Jacob to the Pacific Science center in downtown Seattle and it was a GREAT idea because he had sooooooooo much fun!!! Here are some pictures from our day.

Our first stop...the water guns :)

I thought this picture was REALLY cute!

You're so strong, daddy pushing that ball all by yourself!!

How did you do that??

Before we head inside for our fun times, let's stop and have a snack! He even got his very own soda (1/2 water and 1/2 seven-up of course).

We looked at the dinosaurs

Look at these little one's, dad!

This is how much Jacob weighs on all of our planets

Up close

GROSS!!!!

Their butterfly garden is REALLY cool...

They like fruit :)

Pretty

Playing with the anemone.

Silly mirror

Let me help you, dad!

They had a circus exhibit that was their traveling exhibit. I wasn't very impressed, but Jacob liked it.

Probably his one and only time to play with an elephant trunk.

Joe walking a tight rope...

He made the choice for lunch at Weinerschnitzel.

He crossed his arms just like dad and thought he was funny.

We bought him his own sucker.

Picture with mom (see... I was there!)

Walking back to the car. I must say...it was REALLY nice not having a stroller!!! We did miss the cup holders, though.

On our way home. He was sooooo happy!

5 minutes later, he was passed out with sucker in hand!

Jacob's 3rd Birthday Party

2010-08-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Since Matt needed to leave for college the weekend BEFORE Jacob's birthday, we decided to have his actual birthday party the weekend before so that Matt could be a part of his last birthday with the boys. My parents came up from Portland, along with both of my sisters. Joe's dad and Elouise also made the drive up and so did his brother and family. We also had a few friends who were able to make it as well. It was a fun day and he is STILL talking about it!! Here are a few pictures that I was able to snap while still trying to play hostess :)

The "doggie headband" that we had the kids make. He was our guinea pig before everyone got there.

The food!

The drinks. I made the kids special water bottles with their names on them.

Jacob with his cousins.

The decorations.

More decorations

This is what Molly was doing the entire time :)

Opening presents!

More presents

He was a really good present opener

Caleb needed a little attention...

Here is Jacob "opening" his bike. He was VERY cute!!

The "puppy" cake. I made it myself and I am VERY proud of it. Jacob LOVED it. His favorite part were the bones :)

Singing Happy Birthday!

Caleb really enjoyed the cake :)

Jacob did as well!

The boys eating their cake with grandma "weezy" watching.

Jacob with Audrey and Jeremy

My good friend and "cyster" Paulette.

Paulette and I with all of the kids. We were SOOOOOO glad you were able to come while you happened to be in town!

Visit with Grandpa and Grandma Miller!

2010-07-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

My dad and step-mom came for a visit last week. They always fly in and out of Seattle on the weekends and then drive down to Vancouver to visit with Sharon's family. It works out well for everyone. This year it was a little difficult for Jacob to wrap his mind around why grandpa and grandma had to leave for a few days and then come back, but we made it through! We were lucky to get them for the crappy 4th of July weather and then for the PERFECT 70/80 degree weather the following weekend. It was great! This visit we did the Woodland Park Zoo, fireworks at home in the misty weather (we were going to do Tacoma, but the weather was just awful!), and then a visit to Pike Street Market. In between there was a lot of play time for Jacob and grandpa. At one point my dad had him laughing so hard I thought he was going to puke. He has been asking about them non-stop since they left, which has been hard, but we will see them again soon. Here are some pictures from our adventures :)

A Trip to the Zoo with Breanna

2010-07-02T11:26:00.001-07:00

We are extremely blessed to have found an amazing nanny last year when I needed help during the day for studying and classes. I put a few ads on Craigslist, but had A LOT of trouble finding 1) A reliable person (you would be surprised as to how many people just never showed up for the interview) and 2) Someone I would trust 100% with my boys. I did not give up the search, though and we found Breanna. She goes to college as well and is studying to be an elementary school teacher. Our boys absolutely adore her. She plays with them, they do projects, read, go to the park and she tries out a lot of her class ideas on them as well. It works out REALLY well.

This week, she had a field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo and she asked to take the boys with her and her classmate. So...we loaded the boys up in her car and off they went. She took some pictures while they were there so I thought I would share them. The boys obviously had a blast!!!!

Hanging like monkeys!

What's in there, brother?

BIG elephant!!

It's hard to keep them still to get a pic. I am impressed...

Cute monkeys!

I think this is a very cute pic.

They learned a lot at the zoo!!

Matthew's High School Graduation

2010-06-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm just a LITTLE behind right now, but had a few minutes so I thought I would put up Matt's graduation pictures, finally! I took A LOT, so here are the ones I sorted through :) It was a fun day being able to see Matthew complete his high school career and have our family and close friends over to celebrate with him. We just wish all of the family was able to be there, but understand that people are busy.

My sister, dad, mom Caleb and brother (in that order)

The stage.

Uncle Cale and Jakey

My little boys :)

Caleb was EXHAUSTED. Graduation was at 9am, which means his morning nap time...

Once the graduates got seated.

Up close of the back of Matt's head after they were seated.

The front of the program

Family picture

All of the boys together!

My sister, Matt, my mom and my dad

My mom and Matt

Matt and Jakey. LOVE this pic!

Matt the graduate :)

Matt and Cale

Matt's cake. Someone got excited and broke into it before I could take a pic :)

The yummy food!

Caleb and his "girlfriend" Tanna.

The Zaniewski girls (We missed you Matt Z.!) and the Kovar family. Our very BESTEST friends up here...

Tanna going in for the kiss. I missed the actual kiss, but I think Dzana may have gotten one, so I will repost once I get those from her.

Joe with his step-mom and dad.

Time for presents!!

Jacob was soooo tired. That is his "blank" in his hands.

Our New "Nephew" Andrew Jacob is here!!!!

2010-06-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

We were absolutely beside ourselves excited last Friday when we got the text from Uncle Stevie that Aunt Tami had gone into labor!! Andrew Jacob was born on Friday June 4th @ 5:20pm and weighed 7lbs 4oz. We made a special late night rendezvous down to Portland on Saturday evening to meet him and to give both Uncle Stevie and Aunt Tami big hugs and congrats and then turned around and came home. It was a long evening, but we had a BLAST meeting him and Jacob was more excited than I have ever seen him. We heard about baby Drew the ENTIRE way down (it's a 3 hour drive!!). Thank goodness he slept most of the way home or it could have been a full 6 hours! BOTH of the boys loved him. I wasn't sure how Caleb was going to react because he has always been the baby, but he did GREAT and was very interested in him. I snapped a few pictures and I think they turned out good :) I stole the one of me and him from his daddy who took that on their camera, but thought I would throw it in here so I had proof I was there, too ;)

And in case you are wondering...OUR Jacob is named after his Uncle Stevie (Stephen Jacob) and so he and Drew now share a part of their name, which is REALLY fun! Love you guys and cannot WAIT to watch that little man grow big and strong. You two are going to be FABULOUS parents. We can already see it :)

We Moved...Again...

2010-06-03T16:09:00.001-07:00

I just realized it has been almost 6 weeks since I have posted on here. That is LAME!!! And I apologize for that...

We've been a little busy. Our lease was up on our YUCKY, TINY, CRAPPY rental so we have been searching for the last few months for a new (better) place to live. We finally found the perfect place and were AMAZED that for a few hundred dollars more a month we got three times the amount of space and a 200% difference in quality. And to make things even better...the option to buy it in a few years when we are ready (once I am done with school). We LOVE our new home and so do the boys. They are not even sure what to do with all of the new space they have...although they are slowly figuring it out.

I have just been busy with getting us settled (we are pretty much done) and 15 credits for school. I have finals next week so I have been studying whenever I can and finishing up my end of the quarter projects. It's actually been a fun term. I have my very last EVER math class next quarter and I am STOKED about that. Although I have found a new love for math, which is an odd feeling...

Joe is busy with work and climbing the corporate ladder.

Matt graduates in 9 days so we have also been busy with that stuff. We are having a small family get gathering after his graduation ceremony next Saturday. It will be nice to celebrate that with him. Then he is off to University of Arizona in August. It's almost surreal that we are to this point with him!!

I am sure you will see a lot more posts from me between graduation, birthdays and summer/vacation pictures in the next few months, but in the mean time...here are a few pictures of the new house before we moved in to see just how amazing this house is and why Joe and I finally (for the first time, ever) finally feel like we have found our permanent family home.

Front of the house (obviously!)

Entry way

"living room" aka playroom and 1/2 of the dining room

My favorite part...THE KITCHEN :)

The butler's pantry :)

The Family Room

The landing at the top of the stairs. We turned that empty area into a second play area for the boys.

Master Bath sinks

Master bath and shower. Our bathroom is HUGE.

The back of the house and the yard. The backyard needs some TLC, but Joey is the perfect person for that!!

Caleb's REAL 1st Birthday Party

2010-04-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Caleb finally got his "real" 1st birthday party on Easter weekend while we were down in Portland. It was all of the immediate family (minus the Farnsworth's) and we missed our friends, but were happy to finally be able to celebrate. I felt like once we had his birthday party, it actually DID sink in that my baby is one :(

Here are the pictures and video from his birthday party. Hope you enjoy!!

The cake :)

The cousins eating dinner with grandma Weezy

The teetee's!

Time for cake!

Singing the Doodle bug Happy Birthday! I held it together and did NOT cry!

MMMM...not sure what I think about that!

Oh! It's CAKE! Why didn't you just say so. Yummy!!!

Brother getting in on the action :)

Messy boy!

Look at all the attention I am getting!

Okay, people. We have a TON of cupcakes! Get to eating!!!

Everyone loved my cupcakes, which makes me happy!

Sweet boy...

Hi teetee! You want a frosting kiss??

Teetee and Jacob. He LOVES her!

A picture of the "theme"

Opening presents. Caleb was so NOT into presents...

He LOVED his babydoll from his brother :)

Of course...he went for the old toy instead of the new one!

The older kids playing with the newer toys :)

I think we got everyone in the shot except for papa and Teetee Michaela (who was taking the picture)

Caleb's 1 year Pictures

2010-04-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

We had Caleb's 1 year pictures taken a few weeks ago and we did the boys Easter pictures at the same time. I think they turned out SUPER cute!!!

Caleb's 1 year stats:

Height - 31 inches (75%)

Weight - 20lbs 13oz. (25%)

Head 50%

He is on track to be tall and skinny still!! Doctor isn't worried because he looks nice and healthy...he's just skinny!!! He eats all the time and drinks milk like crazy. He is already saying hi, dada, mama, brabra (brother), Matt and a few other things that we are still trying to figure out.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!!!!

Caleb's 1st Birthday (the family)

2010-03-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

As a lot of you know, Caleb started a round of the stomach flu the Monday before his birthday and Tuesday Jacob and I started and Wednesday Joe started. Matthew was fortunate enough NOT to get it (lucky duck!). So...we made the decision to cancel his birthday party that was scheduled for Sunday (his actual birthday) since it took us down hard. I was VERY VERY sad that we were not going to be able to celebrate with our friends and family, so we decided to make his birthday a fun family day.

It started with opening his big present from us. It was a new two seat wagon!

Opening his wagon

Playing with the box. I think he liked the box the most...

The boys were "helping" daddy put the wagon together.

What a happy boy!!!!

After opening the wagon, we headed out to the zoo. We went to the zoo that is in downtown Seattle which is NOT the one we have a family pass to and usually go to. It has more of the animals that Jakey LOVES (monkeys, elephants, tigers, lions, giraffe's, etc.). We were excited because we had only been to that zoo once before and Jakey was really little.

Getting ready to go see the animals!

This was what we saw when we first walked in. It was REALLY cool!!!

Riding along with daddy pulling!

The big elephant!

All my boys looking at the monkeys :)

Caleb and daddy looking at the orangutan. I LOVE the look on the orangutan's face...

Jacob was a little intimidated, but he couldn't stop talking about how close he got to the monkey. He wants to go back BADLY!

The bear was sleeping, but looked so cute!

This mountain goat was really cool. Both boys really liked watching it.

Here is a video of the birthday boy watching the goat. If you listen carefully you can hear Caleb saying "hi". It's his favorite word and he says it to EVERYONE (and every animal). It's super cute!

After we were done at the zoo, the boys passed out in the car immediately so we decided to take a little drive to let them get a good nap in and we ended up in the Tacoma area and decided to find the Chevy's we knew was there. We had never tried to find it before and it is one of our FAVORITE restaurants and we go there every time we are in Portland because we miss it so much. It ended up being like 20 minutes from where we live so we will definitely be visiting again soon. We all were still having trouble with food from our tummy bug so we went easy on the food, but we got a yummy dessert to celebrate and sang him happy birthday as our little family. It really was a very good day and a fabulous way to celebrate our baby boy turning one. I was a little emotional throughout the day (and as I am sitting here writing this) since he is our last one, but I cannot WAIT to watch him grow like his brother. They are already so much fun to watch and Joe and I feel extremely lucky to be their parents.

Singing Happy Birthday

We are celebrating his birthday with the family down in Portland over Easter weekend and will have a proper 1st birthday party with cake smashing and all, so watch for those pictures soon!!

He's ALMOST walking!!!

2010-02-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

Well...in the last 7 weeks, Caleb has started crawling...pulling to a stand...and walking along furniture. It's been unreal watching it all happen so fast. Jacob went a little slower with this stuff, but it seems as though Caleb has "caught up" to his big brother with his milestones VERY quickly. Jacob walked 3 days after his 1st birthday and we have a feeling that Caleb is going to be VERY close to that. Here is a video of him from this weekend playing with his big brother. They are getting REALLY fun to watch now. Jacob sometimes treats him like he is the same age and forgets that he is still a baby, but we are working on that. Hope you enjoy the video...

Wii Family Date Night at the Key's House

2010-02-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

Our friends Lisa and Daniel invited us over for a family playdate a few weeks ago. We had YUMMY pizza and played their new Wii with some Rockband and some other Wii Sports games. We had a blast and it was fun to be able to have family time where the boys got to play AND the mom's and dad's got to play!!! Here are a few pictures from our night...

Joe and Daniel rocking out :)

Lisa singing and holding Caleb at the same time! She is talented (and Caleb was SLEEPY!!!).

Joe REALLY liked the Wii sports games. I foresee a new game station in our future...

Owen taking time from playing for a drink of water.

The boys literally played their hearts out from 5pm until 10pm when we left (it might have even been a little later!).

We had a fabulous night and can't wait to do it again Key Family. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

He's Crawling!!!

2010-01-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on this post, but 2 weeks ago today (at 9.5 months) Caleb decided he was ready to crawl! He is the complete opposite of Jacob in that he likes to really "master" things before he will do it on purpose. He didn't start rolling until he actually knew how and then he just took off and never looked back. He has done the same with crawling. I was beginning to think he was never going to do it and then one day he did and he hasn't stopped since! In the last 2 weeks since he has learned he has also started pulling himself up onto things. I'm pretty sure that all the other stuff (pulling, walking, talking) is going to go REALLY fast from here on out...Here is a cute little video I got of him crawling on my cell phone. Enjoy!!!