Jack's Birthday Party & January Update

(Get ready for a long update - or just scroll through pics if you'd rather) ;)

This past Sunday we had a little get-together with close friends & family at our house for Jack, celebrating his 3rd birthday. It was thrown together relatively last-minute, but still such a great time & I know he had a blast! We are so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful families & friends. Without time to bake him a worthy cake, we ran to Costco to pick up one of their chocolate layered cakes. (A safe choice considering our chocolate-loving son!) :) The grocery store bakery nearby, sold me a set of Kung-Fu-Panda figurines they use to decorate their cakes, and after a quick sterilization of those, we planted those 3 figurines along with 3 candles on the top of his cake. A total hit & we won't tell him how easy that birthday cake was to put together. ;) Only... take a look a little down the row here of pics, and you'll notice a glimpse of the morning after when Ken & I came in from quickly helping shovel out our neighbor stuck in the snow, only to find Jack not eating his breakfast where we left him, but instead, having climbed on top of the stool at the breakfast bar diving into his leftover cake --- totally caught in the act. Maybe we need to start strapping him into a high chair like Maggie too? ;) It was funny. But let's just say we started off that morning with an unwelcome sugar high.

We never did get around to sending off a Christmas letter with our card. So much seems to happen all at once right around the holidays -- we (I mean, "I") just couldn't seem to pull it together in time. So here we are, fresh into the new year & I'll give a quick update.

Our goal for 2009 is that more things will get fixed than break. I'd say we're starting off well. ;) Ken & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary last Friday (the 2nd of January) and had such a great time! Jim & Wendy kept the kids overnight for us and they did awesome & Jim & Wendy genuinely loved having them. What a huge gift and blessing that was for us to have the night off! To celebrate, Ken & I stayed downtown & went out for a leisurely dinner & just had the most fun laughing & talking and enjoying a trip down memory lane. That time together was just what we needed and it seemed to help us prioritize our marriage and solidify that we really want to work hard for a heavenly marriage. Not just a good one, or even a great one, but the best one God has in store for us. It's amazing how easily life- and especially life with little kids- can soak up so much energy & time and if we aren't intentional, we inevitably end up putting each down the list and we make it impossible to grow together. So, it's not that our marriage needed "fixing" but "tweaking" might be accurate. ;) Our anniversary was totally a blessing for that reason, and such a wonderful way to start the year out.

Maggie is into everything. Any of you parents out there with toddlers want to second that about your little one too? ;) Need proof? Just come over to our house and at any given time in the day, you'll see countless things strewn about, and probably find Maggie climbing out from under the bathroom sink - one of her favorite little nooks to squeeze into. I was reminded today of how important keeping a sense of humor is in parenting, or I'd go crazy with our house a constant mine field. Maggie came around the corner today, wearing two giant pads on her head exclaiming, "Hat!" as she pointed to the obvious. Um, not exactly, sweetheart. ;) Just as a quick disclaimer here -- no, I do not wear pads!!!!!! haha. Those have been buried under the aforementioned bathroom sink since coming home from the hospital with her. You other moms out there know that's a standard homecoming-issue from the nursing staff at the hospitals. ;) Giant pillow-sized feminine pads. Now I know what room in the house needs to be re-organized next. ha! Aghhh. Just this weekend even, Ken & I spent at least 2 hours cleaning & organizing our house, only to leave shortly thereafter without the slightest hint anything had been accomplished. That's what this phase of parenting feels like.... lots of work without always being able to see any results. ;)

Well, you already know that Jack just turned 3. (Maggie is officially a year and a half if I didn't mention that yet.) Jack's speech is coming leaps and bounds, and other family members are starting to be able to decipher his words now too - and you can tell he is excited to finally be understood. What fun! :) He loves to ask for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, jello or hot cocoa -though you can't always tell that's what he's saying. And, he sometimes wants to say his common phrases (like "Lightning McQueen please") as fast as he can, which then make the clarity even more of a stretch. I will say this, 3, has already been a much more enjoyable year. The whole week of it. ;) haha. I think we're really turning a corner, and it is a true joy, by the grace of God, to see Jack's heart eager to be taught. He has always had a love for cars, and is really into CARS the movie, Kung Fu Panda, and Ratatouille these days. He also loves the train set Ken put up in his room (thanks Caleb & Isaac for arranging a sweet configuration of the tracks!)... and our current "parenting projects" are: training him to stay in bed at night after he's down, staying at the table when he's eating, and soon will be the adventures in potty training. Have I been saying that now for a while? ;) haha

So I lied. This update is not a quick update like I had mentioned back in the first paragraph. If you're still with me, I'll try to wrap this up quick. Though, those of you who know me know brevity is not exactly a strength of mine. Thanks for hangin' in there... ;)

Ken is in the midst of reading like twelve books. Or maybe twenty. ;) He reads A TON, and maybe it's more accurate to say he has a hefty stack of books he wants to read, and has only had moments to skim through that pile while he attacks the current book(s) he's working through. One of those is Volume 3 of Christian Church History. It seriously looks like an encyclopedia and I'm forever impressed and amazed at his brilliant mind that retains such an insane amount of information! He is fascinated by so many subjects and seems to have an insatiable desire for wisdom. One of the many traits I love about him!!! He's reading, "Discovering God" by Rodney Stark - a new-found author he is intrigued by and totally into. He also just finished applications for grad school. He applied to Vanderbilt School of Medicine & the University of Kentucky School of Medicine. Both offer strong programs in Cell Biology (Bio/Chem) that he'd love to pursue a doctorate in. We are praying about what direction God would have us go, if at all, and are hoping to hear back sometime next month-ish? When Ken's not reading or working at the computer, he's helping me with the kids, shoveling snow, or working hard at one of his two jobs. He's been totally enjoying his work at Signature Genomics & they've been a great company to work for. In fact, he's now been there long enough to accrue enough sick days to use them all on me next week... (what a guy!)

Which brings me to news for me. Things are going relatively well, though I am scheduled for surgery next Wednesday (the 14th) and looking forward to some reprieve from lower back pain & cramps. My doctor found an abnormal amount of fluid in my abdomen at the last visit I had and from ultrasound reports, there's indication I might have endometriosis- and things are all just a little kiddywampus. So, the plan is to go in, have a laparoscopy & uterine suspension, come home the same day, have Ken take care of the kids & I, and bounce back in no time. :) I am not worried about the surgery at all, and truth be told, I'll love getting babied by Ken. ;) hahah. I talked with my doctor's nurse today & she told me to prepare for about a week and a half of being sore & not lifting the kids. That will be hard, as I am so used to having them crawl all over me and picking them up constantly during my days. We are blessed to have family & wonderful friends close by who have offered to help if need be. For those who are inclined to pray all goes well, I appreciate your prayers more than you know. I started reading "Long Way Gone" and am already swept into it. Maybe next week's down time will be the perfect chance to do some reading! I want to read "Three Cups of Tea" next, but it seems like every time I sit down to read, I fall asleep in about 2 minutes. Life as a mom, eh? ;)

Alrighty, well now you have the official update! I should finally add pictures here, so without dragging this on even more... here are recent ones...

Birthday Party Slideshow

Jack's 3rd Birthday Pics

Sweet kisses for each other


Totally caught


Wresle-mania begins when Daddy walks in the door from work at night... :)




She gets such a kick when Ken gives her kisses on the hand






5 years together

.........whew, did ya make it? :) hahahaha