Just about two years later

A lot has happened in the past couple years.  For instance, this little beauty went from a pretty little chunker to a beautiful little lady.

        

                    
The boys grew into men

        

 
Instead of killing myself in an attempt to recap our last two years, I will tell you what we are doing now...

Nathan is doing great at work. Moving up and enjoying what he does.  I am so thankful to God that He has a job that allows me to be home with my kids.  We are so blessed.

I am staying home with my three and watching another girl 5 days a week.  We homeschool and are learning how to play together nicely right now.  :) She is a wonderful addition to our group and we are thankful for her every day.

Ezekiel is growing up way too fast.  He is tall enough to reach the kitchen faucet and if he struggles he finds a chair and gets the job done.  He loves helping, tickling, snuggling and making inventions.

Isaiah is learning how to express his imagination through story telling.  He told us an adorable story at the dinner table about two friends who were fighting off a thumb...  he was using his one hand for the whole story.  We love seeing his free thinking.

Zariyah is our little spitfire.  Extremely beautiful with an attitude. She is sweet and loves to hug and kiss and snuggle, but also loves her independence.  She can be demanding and can through fits with the best of them, but she is learning boundaries and keeps us laughing almost constantly.  She is a little warrior too... she is constantly instigating attack style play with her brothers... growling like a tiger and chasing until she can catch them and give them a tickle.  Apparently she is pretty good at tickling too... based on the belly laugh and begging for mercy that Zeke was expressing the other day. :)

We are Expecting our 4th baby on July 4th! We are so excited and looking forward to our journey with another little life.

Keep checking back because this blog will soon be more active.

Blessings


Pin It

Slacker

I realize that I'm totally slacking on posts this year... I've realized sadly that I have a hard time posting without pictures and my picture taking this year is lacking severely. So here is an update on us without pictures. =)

We are doing great! Nathan and I are doing very well in our marriage! I can't believe that we are in our sixth year! God has been good to us and we are continually growing closer together, challenging each other and becoming more of a team. I love spending time with him so much and I'm thankful for all he does for our family. What a catch!

The boys are good. Ezekiel is talking up a storm and all of a sudden he's pretty social. He will actually talk to people he hasn't met before and can interact with other kids pretty well. I'd say that's pretty good for such a reserved kid! He is so sweet too! He comes up to me all the time and says "Mom, I love you so much. I just really love you." He is so amazing! I love it! He loves his little brother and is pretty protective of him. When Isaiah cries, Zeke wants to help him feel better. He shares his toys and tries to make Isaiah laugh. He is such a great kid.

Isaiah is an extrovert for sure! He talks non stop. Says Mama when he's mad puts his arms up to be held by strangers... He's super wiggly all the time! That kid never stops! His smile melts my heart and he snuggles so much! He is mobile now. He army-crawls and has started getting up on his hands and knees when he stops, but hasn't figured out how to actually crawl yet. He is learning how to use a push walker... it's cute because he walks on his tip-toes with extremely stiff knees. He's eating 1-2 meals of solid food now and has started demanding to eat what I'm eating. He sucked on my steak for a while the other day and absolutely loved it! He cried when I put it back on the plate!

I've been trying to train for a marathon, but have been having some major set backs. My knee and ankle joints started swelling up pretty bad so I took two weeks off running then started up again and now it's my hip. I'm pretty discouraged, but hoping to still be able to at least finish the marathon. I guess we'll see. As for now, I'm just thankful that spring is coming. This cold weather is effecting me too much and I can't wait to take the boys out for a bike ride and go for more frequent walks to parks. We just need to get past this 40 degree weather!

Thats all for now.

Boyz

It's catch up time again!

With all the cold weather lately, we've been practicing the art of bundling up. Isaiah is super cozy!

Isaiah is getting in some quality Dad time.

Two of my handsome men opening their first Christmas gift together.

The cutest thing ever... Little babies falling asleep all by themselves. :)

Peek-a-boo!

The last day the farmers market was open in 2010.

Aren't they cute!

This had to be documented... Isaiah can suck his toes.

It's pretty stinking cute.

One of those wonderful times when your baby actually wants to snuggle with you. Man, I love those moments!

Best Buds!

Since November, we've been busy getting ready for Christmas. We've done lots of baking... We got all of our shopping done relatively early and Ezekiel made his first Gingerbread House! He loved it!

Ezekiel has been growing and changing. He's wearing 4T shirts and pants now and is officially 2 and a half! He is talking in sentences and has a really great sense of humor. He's totally a sponge now so we have to be super aware of what we or anyone else says around him... it will be repeated. He talks constantly! He likes to practice his alphabet and numbers. He will sit down with me and ask: "Mom, what game should we play?" or he'll say to his dad when he comes home from work: "I'm so glad you're home Dad. I'm so glad you're home." When I come out of my room wearing something I haven't worn in a while or something new he says: "I love your outfit Mom! I love your outfit!" He is such a sweetheart! He's pretty much 100% potty trained... We still help him every time, but accidents are few and far between. I'm so thankful that he is a thoughtful quick learner. Zeke loves to help his brother too... sometimes. He is having some issues with jealousy and has been learning about feelings... I'm trying to help him understand that other people have feelings just like Zeke does so he needs to be sensitive to that. I think it's kind of a hard lesson, but he's catching on slowly.

Isaiah is sitting very well on his own now. He still throw's himself forward or back sometimes, but mostly he sits very well. He does not like being on his belly... Sometimes he surprises me by being ok with it, but most of the time he starts crying if he rolls onto his belly. It's pretty tough at night because he starts tossing and turning and wakes himself up by ending up on his belly. He is getting better and better dexterity. I'm always pretty impressed at how good he is at getting a hold on things. We got him a walker a while back and he's pretty much mastered it already. He loves having the freedom to move around the room as he pleases, however, with that mobility, we have to re-childproof the house because he can suddenly get into things... Isaiah has a wonderful little personality. He has bright blue eyes and loves to smile at everyone. He loves being with his mama and is good at showing love to people. He gives the sweetest hugs! I absolutely love being his mom and I love seeing how much he looks up to his big brother. It's amazing how much he loves being around Zeke and trying to keep up with him. It's going to be fun this summer when they can actually chase each other around.

Nathan and I are doing great. We are learning more and more about each other and how to run a family. Nathan is a great husband, dad, protecter, provider and friend. I'm so thankful for him everyday.

6/20/09 Zeke's 1st Birthday Party

The spread

Zeke was a happy boy. :)

The Teddy Bear cake that Grandma Allen made. :)

Looks pretty tasty

Yeah! it's great

What a handsome bugger!

Playing in his cupboard at Grandmas

Playing in the bucket Aunt Val gave him

There is nothing like a good bucket to play in!

Thanks for playing Dakota!

Grandma likes to play too!

Family photos

Zeke's Dedication

Zeke was dedicated on December 7th 2008 at Hillcrest Church. It was a really nice service and both our families were there.  After the service we had everyone over to our house for pizza.  :)

Mahalah, Keturah and Keziah playing on the computer.

Jem, Mom, Dad and Jolene hanging out in our messy laundry room.

Our family portrait by the christmas tree.

Donna and Tino hanging out with Zeke.

Family (check out our super cute christmas tree!)

Zeke is very interested in getting his hands on that tree!

cute

Tino & Donna with Zeke and Nate

Thanks everyone for supporting Nathan and Zeke and I during Zeke's dedication.  We're so glad we have such great family!  We love you all!

Joe & Jolene's wedding invites

Last night Jem, Keturah and I helped our future sister-in-law build her wedding invitations! It was pretty fun... and we finished almost all of them!  Those girls got me laughing harder than I've laughed in a while.  It was quite the ab workout. :)   During our dinner break, I discovered that my belly is more useful than previously noted...  Then Jem got jealous.  ha!