Just Yesterday......

I held you in my arms and wondered how I ever lived without you......


And now, 9 years later I know that my life was forever changed the day I held you for the first time.....


I only wish that time could stand still, so I could savor your childhood just a little longer....


But I know that as each year passes, it only gets better......


And 9 years from now, I will remember my funny little 9 year old and wish I could see him again....


So today, I will cherish the fact that you are 9 and remember that time passes quickly......


Because it seems that just yesterday, I held you in my arms for the first time....


Love Always & Happy Birthday......
Mom

Surprise!!!

Today we had a surprise party for Ian's 9th birthday. Technically, his birthday is not until the 29th but considering the extreme state of distress he was in over having to wait "another whole week", and the fact that there is literally no time next weekend to even have a party.....I gave in and told him we would celebrate on Sunday after church. That was Monday, by Wednesday I decided to totally surprise him by having the party today. Denver hauled both boys off this morning to soccer games and football games.... When they returned late afternoon, I quickly got the kids into their Halloween costumes for the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. Ian is Harry Potter, Evan is Draco Malfoy...Harry's classmate enemy, and Addison is our little Snow White. She fully embraced this role as you will see in the pictures! While they were there, I quickly set up the party. It was a small, family party and we were joined by Nate and Soren, and Jeff and Nicola...sadly Alisa was out of town and couldnt be there. We had a lot of fun yelling surprise when he walked through the door. Needless to say he was shocked and very, very happy. You will see from the pictures he got everything he wanted in the line of presents and I believe he will remember this party for a long time.

I had fun making his pumpkin cake and I thought the little "mummy" pigs in a blanket were especially fun for Halloween and so easy to make! Here is a slideshow of the kids in their costumes and of Ian's party. I'll be posting something about Ian on his actual birthday!

Ok, I know my dad isn't going to like the fact that I did this but it was such a good picture of him I couldnt resist. Isn't he handsome..... I sure love him.

The Zoo.....

So, in the midst of one of my mental episodes where I forget everything that I am supposed to remember for the week, Ian missed going to the zoo with his scout troop. He was highly upset to say the least and I felt horrible about it. To make it up to him, I went ahead and took him to the zoo last week along with Addison and Soren, of course. I havent been to the zoo in a while and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It was so relaxing to let the kids run and be happy and not have to worry about them breaking something or messing up the house. I also enjoyed watching my nephew Soren discover all of the animals. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. We even went on the Carousel and the train. There were a lot of babies that had been born at the end of the Summer and my favorite was the little baby elephant Zuri. I couldnt take my eyes off of her, she was so cute. The worst part was that when we first arrived I took out my camera and to my dismay, the battery was dead. It was one of those special lithium batteries so I couldnt just buy some new ones....I just couldnt fathom not having pictures of the event so I bought one of those archaic disposable camera's. The kids could not understand why I had to take the camera to store to get it "developed"..... "why cant you just pull it up on the computer mom!" How weird that they dont know anything but digital! So, not the greatest quality of pictures but better than nothing...... enjoy.

My Favorite 2nd Grader.....

Here's Evans new picture.... he is so sweet and this picture really shows it. He told me a kid at his school said he had "bunny eyes". I asked him what that meant and he said it meant that he looked "Kind"..... I totally agree!

A Week in Review......

Ive really been slacking on this blog lately! We are just busy busy and I dont seem to have the time that I used to for sitting at the computer. It may also have something to do with my poor time management skills, but that is a post for a different day. Anyway, this past week was pretty good.... The kids had Thursday and Friday off for UEA weekend. This meant no soccer game for Evan on Saturday but Ian still had a football game. It was a great game and they actually Won!
Its their first win of the season and it was so fun to watch these kids get so excited over it. Denver's brother made us some team wear which we proudly wore at the game..... Go Highland Rams!


I ran 8.5 miles on Sunday morning and am constantly amazed at how well my body has adapted to each long run that I finish. It was an interesting 2 hours considering that I ran through rain, hail, sleet and then finished the run in a torrential downpour. I had people stop and ask me if I wanted a ride but by that point I was soaked from head to toe and didnt see the point. Besides, I had to finish the mileage. It was actually fun.....next week I have to run 10 miles. There are only 5 more weeks until my race! Im getting really excited.

Here is a fun little picture that I took last week of my nephew Soren. This was after Addie had gotten into my makeup bag and decided that Soren would be her model.

She is such a girl and is obsessed at the moment with makeup, perfume, and jewelry. She has also discovered the Disney Princesses and watches the movies over and over and over. Jasmine from Aladdin is her favorite right now. Its times like this when I wish I could just freeze time and stop my kids from growing..... you can never have this time back once it is gone. There are days when they exhaust me but I just cannot imagine what I would do without them. Love love love my kids.