Ring around the Rosie

I finally got my camera back from Canon and took these pictures last night. Brock and Alyvia love singing "Ring around the Rosie" while of course running in circles holding each others hands. It is so cute how they play together but these two pick the most inappropriate time to play there games. This particular time happened as I was trying to get them upstairs for a bath before bed. Some how some way they got there second wind and did this for over 10 minutes. Reminds me of the energizer bunny, they just keep going and going till finally laughing so hard Brock yells he has to stop because he is to dizzy as Alyvia tries desperately to get up just to topple over again. I have to admit it was hilarious but I know it was yet another one of their ploys to put off the bath since bedtime immediately follows. I wonder what it will be tomorrow night??

Bachelorette Party

My best friend Alicia is FINALLY getting married. Only took 6 years but its finally happening. So excited and happy for her that I can hardly stand it. The big day isn't until June but this last weekend was her Bachelorette Party. Her sister Samantha did such an amazing job at putting everything together. You look at there relationship and I envy them that they have each other. I won't go into all the main details but the night was definitely one to remember.

The night started out with a stripper in the hotel room. This was my first and I so hope last experience. I believe the correct term for me when around all the girls would be the prude of the group. lol Anyways at one point Reanna and I hid in the bathroom to get away from the stripper dude. Glad I had a getaway partner for that. Once Mr. Stripper dude left we all headed down stairs to the Foundation Room. Well things most definitely didn't go as planned as we were in no uncertain terms kicked out. Again another first for me! After that we headed to a lounge called Eye Candy and finished off the night there. By the time we ended up there only five of us girls remained. There was a dance floor and all the girls minus me danced there big butts off! Im not a huge fan of dancing I think that goes back to my self-conscious issues but I still had a blast and we all sat around talking and laughing. I even got propositioned that night!! Yet again another first for me! LOL

The overall night I think was a huge success. I for one am very proud of myself as I actually wore a dress and a short one at that! Alicia, I hope you enjoyed your "last night of freedom" and Samantha you did such an awesome job and thank you for including me!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day has never really been a huge event for us, mainly due to the fact that James always works! This year was no different. Funny thing is two weeks ago he was off Sat, Sun, and Mon, and then they promoted him to supervisor and he is back on the old days off of Thurs, Fri, Sat off. Stinks but we did have him with us for majority of the day.

We celebrated the day by going over to my sister-in-laws house where her boyfriend cooked us all breakfast. All of us consisted of James' mom Laurie, great Nana, his dad, brother, and nephews. It was so nice of Terry (sis in law Amy's bf) to cook for us! We ended up just hanging out for the majority of the day while the kids attempted to swim (pool was rather cold). It was nice to just be around family. I sat around and did nothing for the most part. I love those days.

We ended our day by being dropped off at my mom's house for dinner. James left for work and mom cooked dinner. Ending my day with my mom and kids was a perfect ending to Mother's Day. I think I will request that next year James have the day off!!

Oh and I almost forgot my presents. I got beautiful flowers, a card, a bag of chocolate, and a book! This has become somewhat of a tradition for him. Last year I got the same thing and I really hope he keeps it going for the years to come! Flowers I love regardless of what time of year it is and the chocolate is perfect because I rarely have cravings for it but when I do we never have any in the house. And for anyone who knows me I am a book freak and i absolutely love to read. It was so perfect! Happy Mother's to all Moms and I hope every one's day was as special as mine!

Lunch with the family

I have been waiting for the day when James and I could actually take the kids out to eat at an actual restaurant and not a fast food place and truly enjoy ourselves. Usually Alyvia is a huge handful and will not sit still at a public table. Main reason why we always eat at home. Brock was the exact same way at her age. I love his age now because he doesn't mind sitting at the table coloring pictures, and just enjoying our company. Alyvia on the other hand used to try to escape of run wild at the restaurants.

We decided to risk our sanity and take the kids out to eat for lunch one day while running errands. Luckily it was a Friday and early afternoon so there was no crowd. The kids actually sat together on one side of the table and James and I sat on the other side. That was a first for us also, as usually one kid wants to sit with me and the other with James. They both colored on their own paper and stayed seated for the entire time, except of course for the many bathroom breaks Alyvia insisted on taking. I think the waiter is what really helped us as he put a rush on the kids food so it came out super fast, so the kids were busy eating instead of getting bored waiting for their food.

It was a really lovely lunch without any stress! Couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

Call Me!

Who would have thought that a two year old's favorite thing to say is "Call Me." It really doesn't matter who you are or where we are at, the last thing Alyvia says to someone is "call me". I'm not sure how she came about that saying but it really is priceless.

If our neighbors come over or we are outside all getting ready to go in she has to shout to Sherry to call her. If any of our family calls and Alyvia gets the phone she will always tell the other caller to call her. As James leaves for work each day, we stand in the drive way waving, she will shout "love you daddy" and "call me".

I think that at some point Brock may have been the one to originally say call me and Alyvia picked it up that way. She seems to have a knack of copying anything and everything big brother does.

I love the little things kids do and say. Makes life that much more fun!

Happy Birthday Chad

One thing that we don't lack for is family. With a family the size of ours we always have a birthday each month which is great because we get to see our families that much more. This past month was Chad's Birthday. We'll leave the age part out but it was a nice gathering of close family. The kids of course stole the spot light with their very well choreographed dance moves. LOL It was hilarious and we all laughed for a good while. Brock of course taught the girls some new moves so it should be a nice show the next time they decided to dance together. We had a fabulous breakfast dinner (yum!) and cake and ice cream afterwards. It was just an all around nice night with great people around us. Happy Birthday Chad!

Happy Birthday Brock

I have put this off for a week now, but I know I need to take a moment to write it all down. Brock's 5th birthday was such a huge milestone for all of us. This particular birthday was also very hard on me. I honestly never thought ahead and visualized my baby turning 5. Each year it starts to become harder and harder to accept that my child is growing up. I look back on the years that have passed and feel like just yesterday I was holding him in my arms for the first time. I know every parent says that at one time or another but it is so true. I cannot believe that time has gone by so fast.

Brock was born on April 28, 2005. He weighed in at 5lbs 11oz and was 19in. What was so amazing was that he was almost 6 weeks premature but a very good size. It was truly one of the most terrifying moments in my life. We were not expecting anything like this to happen and were most definitely not ready. When he was born the outlook on everything was very grim. Brock was born with no vital signs and it took the doctors and nurses over 5 minutes to resuscitate him. After that no one knew what the future held for us. But by the grace of god our little boy was a fighter and after having spent a week in the NICU we were able to bring him home with us.

Everything changed for us then. For me it was extremely hard and for a few long weeks I had to cope with postpartum depression. With out family helping out I am not sure what I would have done. By the time Brock was about 4 weeks old the sun was shining again for me. It is hard to even admit such a thing, but I think going through all that is what makes me and Brock that much closer. He was and still is the center of my existence. We both grew together and I know that because of him I am the person I am today. Each birthday that has passed I have shed tears and every day I watch him grow up more and more.

For the past five years we have had our share of laughter, tears, nightmares, dreams, scrapes, and scratches. And for the past five years I have had to watch him become more independent and start to branch out on his own. He has great friends and doesn't need mom coddling him anymore. If he falls down and I jump up I usually get the "moooom Im ok, geez" and rolls his eyes. If he had it his way he would be playing outside without me like all the other older kids. He loves playing on the computer, xbox, and talking on the phone. Baseball is his favorite sport and he plays on the local little league team. He does everything on his own and I am having to just sit down and watch.

I always thought I would have my baby and you put off the fact that they have to grow up. If I feel like this with he is just turning 5, I'm scared to think how my emotions will be when he turns 10. This is a huge milestone for us and the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. School is the next big step and I only have him home with me for another 4 months till that starts. I still dont know how I feel about all of this but Im taking everything one day at a time. I wish it was in my power to let time stand still for just a little while. We couldn't be more proud though of the person he is becoming.

Brock, I hope you had the best birthday and I love you so much!! Happy 5th Birthday handsome boy.

Birth Day

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

5th Birthday