Where did the summer go?

I knew I have been a blog slacker recently (for the last six months!) but I didn't realize how bad it was until I actually looked at the blog! Wow... sorry to all of you who have been curious about what we've been up to and how the pregnancy is going. We are here... we've just been really, really busy this summer. I can't believe it has already come to an end. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures of a lot of our activities and I'm just now beginning to realize it... that's how crazy it's been! I'll share what I do have and fill you in on what we've been up to.


The summer was pretty warm (I think it was trying to make up for a lack of a warm spring) so we decided to invest in a little pool for the boys. They loved it and so did Jer on that particular day!

We took a short little trip up to the mountains at the end of May with some of Jer's family and stayed in a "mountain" house. It was beautiful, being located just outside of Breckenridge, it was surrounded by some massive peaks and had some great hiking. I know I took pictures there... but I have no idea where they are! We did stop by the outlets in Silverthorne though, and picked up some new attire for the kids. We had a lot of fun buying a little girl onesie, even though we have a 50/50 chance of using it! We figure whichever one doesn't get used could be gifted or maybe the Lord will give us a chance to use it down the road. (Don't read into that statement too much!! The third one isn't here yet!!)

We travelled to NY for the first couple weeks of July and spent time with my family, which was a blessing since we only get to see them about once a year. I do have pics from that and will post them later. Not quite two weeks later, Jeremy's extended family started arriving in town for some family time and a local, annual conference they attend at the beginning of Aug. We had the blessing of hosting Jer's cousin, Dave, and his sweet family. They are some of our favorite people and we're glad that we can call them family!! ;) It was a crazy time because they all took turns with an illness, Jeremy was busy with his band, Crossfire, that had the opportunity to play at Heaven Fest, and the rest of the family were traveling back and forth between Denver and Silverthorne. Just after the last of the family left, school started back up for Jer. This is his seventh year teaching at Belleview and he really enjoys it still, which is a blessing!

Two weeks ago, Kyle started school in the Pre-K program at Belleview. This is him on the first morning of school. Can you tell he was excited? He was so cute, he picked out his clothes that morning and was all ready and waiting to go. I hope you enjoyed the quick update... I'm sure there are things I've forgotten and I know there are pictures I'm missing... but hopefully I can fill in the gaps later on!

Soon, it will be time for...

Baby #3 to arrive!

Well, I guess it won't be too soon. But this is my reason for being MIA the last few months. Just after my last post I went downhill fast. I was sick when I was pregnant with Kyle, not so much with Bryce, but definitely with this new little one. It probably didn't help that right around that time the boys started coming down with a little sickness here and a little sickness there and I managed to catch everything they had, except the pink-eye. I also had NO energy what-so-ever. All that is behind us now and we had our first Dr. appt. two weeks ago and our ultrasound last week. Here is the picture of Baby #3!

Pretty amazing, huh? We didn't find out what we are having and I'm really excited about it! Jeremy.... not so much with the excitement, but he has humored me so far! Kyle is sure it will be a girl and cries if you try to explain to him that God might give us another boy. He has offered up the names "Papa" and "Luigi" for his new sibling (which he is so sure is a girl), so it is safe to say that he will have no opinion when it comes time to name the baby!

The baby's due date is September 16th, but since both of the boys were exactly ten days late I'm planning on a late Sept. arrival. :)

Haircuts!

I'm not sure if you notice in the previous posts that my boys have been in desperate need of haircuts. Here are some pics that I took in the last few weeks...

This one reminds me of a "flock of seagulls" hair that was popular during some crazy time.

He was trying to eat his sandwich without using his hands... I'm not sure why. Do notice the "comb-over." Several family members commented on it over the Christmas break.

I love this picture. You can see Kyle is doing something that Bryce does not like and he is voicing his opinion to Kyle in the form of a whinny yell.

So cute... but like I said, so in need of haircuts! I have always given the boys haircuts. Since there are two of them now, I have to psych myself up for the event because neither of them care for it. I will say that I don't mind doing it in the summer when I can take them outside and just buzz it off, but I like to keep their hair a little bit longer in the winter to help keep their little heads warm. That didn't work this time, they were both so squirmy and whiny I just buzzed them both... I used the longest guard I had, but it is still pretty short. Here are the after pics:

Finally, looking somewhat presentable. The nice things about boys' haircuts, as Grandpa Laird states, the only thing separating a bad haircut from a good haircut is three days.

We're still recovering...

It is hard to believe that Christmas was three weeks ago. Part of the reason may be that we just took our tree down this past Sunday. We had a great time with family during Jeremy's two week break from school and we're still trying to recover. Almost every day was spent out and about and the kids didn't always get sleep when they needed it, so I'm very glad that we were able to stay healthy. Here are some random pictures from our Christmas.

One of our first outings was to go downtown, eat an early dinner and walk the length of the 16th St. Mall to see the lights and decorations. We stopped at the Denver City and County building (located just across from the capitol building) to take in all of the lights. It was so pretty!

It was a very chilly night and we did our best to keep the boys warm. I kept joking that Bryce looked like he was a geriatric patient, with the blanket spread out over him.

They had a manger scene on display, just across the steps from Santa's workshop. I don't recall hearing any controversy over the display, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time until someone claims it is offensive.

The boys were troopers and did great, but as you can see all of the riding around wore Bryce out. On our way back to our cars we stopped in one of the FIVE Starbucks they had along 16th St. (The mall is only a mile long... yet there is a need and apparently a demand for that many coffee shops!)

Here is a picture of the boys on Christmas Eve in their pj's. This picture is sooo telling of our two boys. Bryce is a pretty calm, laid-back kind of kid who is generally happy and smiling. Kyle is our "in-your-face", crazy, out of control, happy maniac.

This is what my living room looked like after Christmas morning. I usually try to maintain control while things are being opened, but I'm realizing that is a losing battle if I try to fight it solo. We had to rush out the door to spend the rest of the day with family, so it stayed like this for at least a day. The rest of the house soon started to look like this in the following days due to the fact that we were rarely home, except to sleep, change clothes, and feed our dog. Maybe that's why it has taken us so long to recover. It was a great Christmas, full of family and laughter and the joyous reminder of our Savior and His overwhelming love and humility regarding us.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!! With some minor destruction here and there.....

Here are the boys in Santa hats, wearing matching PJ's that my parents recently sent them.

One day earlier this month I had come across my candy dish and realized someone had been up to something. Needless to say, this started becoming a recurring event and I had to move the candy dish all together.

We bought the boys an early Christmas present this year. We set it under the tree just after Thanksgiving and they've been enjoying it ever since. It is the FP Little People nativity set. FP actually has a few different sets, but we got the manger scene, the inn with no room set and the wise men set so that the boys can actually play out the whole Christmas story. It had to be moved out from under the tree when Jeremy decided to get himself an early Christmas present as well and purchased a train set that had to go under the tree. :)

I haven't really posted any pictures of the house since the move, but here is our foyer. I just painted it at the end of September and I'm still not sure if I like it. The color looks great in this picture, but it changes constantly throughout the day as the light changes.

This is a terrible picture of the outside of the house, but Jer did such a great job of putting up lights that I really wanted to give him some credit. He even bought lights for me to put on the wreaths that I made for the windows and front door.

And... as I promised... some pictures of the "Molly damage." I came home one morning and found that she had ripped some molding off of the wall in the dining room, where I had closed her in. Not only did she rip it off... but she chewed part of it to pieces! (Did I mention she is camera shy?? Most pictures I have of her look like this.)

Later that same day, we had to run out to a Dr. apt. and then we ran to Walmart to get a crate to put her in while we were out. This is what we returned home to. Notice the wires hanging out of the wall... that was where a phone jack used to be. Yeah, she ripped that right out of the wall, too.

A big thank you to my father-in-law who came to our rescue and helped us patch everything up as good as new before a big Christmas party that we hosted, less than a week later!

Meet the newest member...

Molly.

Molly was rescued from a shelter in KS that was going to put her down. We adopted her from a local golden retriever rescue. She is a two year old golden retriever mix... not quite sure with what, but someone suggested a spotted spaniel so I'm going to go with that, since I have no clue. She only weighs about 45 lbs and she is totally adorable. She is a great dog, loves to be around people and she doesn't chew on anything! Well, she is great until we leave the house. Once I find my camera I'll share what she was up to while I was at MOPS the other day. (That is another reason for the absence of posts... our camera got lost in a box for about three months after we moved!) I love that she is potty trained, especially since neither of the boys are.

Does anyone even check this anymore??

I will be impressed, if after all this time, someone is still checking to see if we are on planet earth! Things have been crazy since the move and we spent the summer traveling and entertaining. Then school started. Then we had another miscarriage. Now the holidays are here. And we just got a dog. Whew!! Life just seems to run away with us at times.

When I named my blog I was thinking of Ecc. 3, where King Solomon states that there is a time for everything in life and a season for every activity. I try to remind myself that I'm in the season of "little ones" and that there is so much to be cherished in the craziness of it all. Sometimes, I'm going to be honest, I feel like there is nothing cherishable and I just want my kids to be eighteen and walking out the door. Then the Lord gently reminds me that I am exactly where He has placed me, for this time in life.... for this season. He has given me exactly what I need to be the best wife to Jeremy, the best mother for my children, and the best sister in Christ that I can be. I'm still learning. It is a constant lesson that I need to keep learning. Praise God. All this to say... we are here! We are doing well. We've missed you and I hope you've missed us too!