11.25.2010 A day of thanks and giving

I know I say the same thing every year but it is the truth... my most favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  And not just because it is the same time as my birthday either.  It is my favorite because it is a time to just reflect and rejoice on all that I have been given and the things I've been blessed with. Plus it gives me the opportunity to see how I can do the same for others.  I love that it is not a time I have to worry about what I'm going to buy for someone else.  To top it all off this also happens to be my favorite time of year as well, and I so enjoy being somewhere that I can see all the amazing leaves and feel the seasons change.

I happened to turn the big 30 on Thanksgiving day this year and the best thing about it is that Kev was able to come home and we spent it together as a family.  We had a yummy dinner with friends, pumpkin pie for my b-day cake, and then I did some early bird (11:30pm Thursday night) Black Friday shopping. We then finished the short weekend off with family pictures and picking out a Christmas tree. It sure was a busy weekend and went way to fast but it was one more weekend closer to Kev coming home. Here is a preview of the Christmas tree and some of our family pictures.

Thirty plus two

Kev celebrated his 32nd birthday this year and is still as handsome as ever! We sure are blessed to have such a good dad and husband. He's really busy with school but tries so hard to find time to spend with us. We had a yummy Reese's Peanut Butter cup cake and enjoyed having him home for dinner. Happy Birthday Love!

Kev shares his birth day with my sweet mom, so here's a shout out to her... we love you Mom, Happy Birthday!

She is Three!

Every time I turn around my babies are not babies anymore. Sometimes I just wish I could freeze time. Olivia turned three today and has grown up so much this last year. Her little personality is really starting to come out and is quite sassy! She has started talking a lot more and loves to use her imagination. She wants to be so much like her older sister and brother and loves to copy them in anything that they do. She loves anything that is Princess related and loves pretending to be a mommy to her dolls. This is such a fun age for her, but not so much for me. She try to exert her independence in everything and no longer wants me for anything. We sure do love her and are glad she is part of our family.

This is the one thing she asked about everyday for two weeks.

Looking so grown up!

Another Year!

Time sure flies when you're having fun! Kev and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary and family birthday. The kids sure enjoy all the birthday cakes we get to have in January. For our family birthday party this year we took the kids to Raleigh, and went to Marbles Kids Museum. They had a blast and we really enjoyed spending time together. Here is our day in pictures...

Ryley and Ben were a little scared to stand in this cage with
Kev and Livi. It was on the second floor and hung over nothing but air.

Ryley playing in the garden.

Ben 'walking' the plank on the pirate ship,
I think he thought it was a diving board.

Olivia on the stage, playing dress up.


Ryley's turn.

Four, Four, Four, Four

I know I say this with every birthday that my children have, but I can't believe Benjamin is really FOUR. This little boy is such a joy to have in our family. Here are some things I really want to remember... This last year has been so fun for us because Ben has grown up so much. He wasn't hardly talking this time last year so we've really got to see him turn into a little man. He hates it that I call him my little man. He says, "Mom, I'm not a man, I'm a boy." He is so loving with his sisters and enjoys helping around the house. He is pretty well natured (like his dad) but can be quite sensitive (whines and cries) if something doesn't go his way. This little boy has the biggest heart and is so considerate of others (He reminds me of his uncle Ben). We're excited that we'll have a new baby boy soon and know Ben will be such a good big brother. Happy Birthday Little Ben!

Ben decided he wanted to go bowling for his birthday
and he actually won with a score of 110.

Three More Birthdays!

Kevin celebrated his 31st birthday today and we are so greatful for all he does for our little family. The kids have really struggled not seeing him so much and absolutly adore him. He's a great father and an amazing husband. I'm so glad he was born and that we get to celebrate this day with him!

January is a big birthday month for us. Kevin happens to share the day with my Mom's birthday and last year our nephew, Travis, was born on the same day. We also both have brothers who have January birthdays, Jake's on the 21st and Scott's on the 26th. We wish a Happy Birthday to ALL!

Birthday Girl!

Time just fly's by way to fast. I can't believe that Olivia is 2! It seems just like yesterday that we brought her home. She has been such a blessing in our little family and we're so glad she is a part of us. She is really turning into her own little person and it is fun to watch her develop. She is very sweet and laid back and LOVES to snuggle. We're excited for her to start talking more and hope she won't hold out till three, like Ben did.

January 19, 2007

January 2009

Here is a video of the cake action. She was so good and didn't even try to touch the candles. Afterwards we opened gifts and she got a cute Fisher Price Dollhouse from Ryley and Ben and a Mr. Potato Head family from Grandpa and Grandma Miller. It's so fun to be two!

Just another day...

Birthdays turned into just another day at about the age of sixteen for me. My parents were great about the celebration every year until I was eighteen but then reality tends to set in. Kevin and I are not to big on celebrations or gifts for each other on both birthdays or our anniversary. I think the main reason is that we've been poor, starving students for almost all of our marriage. I keep telling him one of these days I'll cash it all in, when we're rich of course...

Well today was just another day and I turned 28! I use to think that it wasn't so bad because I was still close to 20 but I think I'm officially closer to thirty now and that means I'm getting old. What can you do though. My birthday was low key, in fact Kevin has test tomorrow so he won't be home till late. We'll probably celebrate sometime this weekend. Thanks for all the birthday phone calls, it's always lovely to be thought about.

Sorry no pics, we didn't even do a cake. Lori for your sake, I'll attempt a picture soon so you can see my lovely belly. If you'd like a little trip down my memory lane you can check out my moms blog here.

Too Many Things Planned for One Day

Our weekend started out pretty busy. My brother and SIL flew into Phoenix on Thursday night and we decided to meet up for dinner and some socializing Friday evening. The plan was to start with a golf game (for the boys) but as usual Kev got caught up with Army nonsense and only caught the last nine holes. We had a great time hanging out with Nate and Lori, Ben and Caitlin, my Mom and Brett and Shireen (Nate and Lori's friends who graciously hosted us). We finally pulled into the driveway around 11pm.

I've found that my belt works well when I forget the high chair.

The kids got to wrestle around with Uncle Nate
and little Ben just had to give him the elbow of death.

The next morning we rose pretty early (my house was a disaster from Kevin being gone all week) and got our clean on. Our plans for the day were to attend Ryley's Preschool Graduation and her birthday party.

The 'Promotion' ceremony was really cute but some parents took it over the top. The fact that they even hold a graduation for preschoolers troubles me a little but when parents bring their children bouquets of flowers and a limo ride it's a little much. Okay, there wasn't any limos but you get my point. We ditched last years promotion for Sam and Rachel's weeding (Happy Anniversary!) so Ryley was really excited this year to attend. She's really enjoyed this preschool program and can't wait till kindergarten in August!

I still hadn't done any shopping I needed to for Ryley's b-day party and figured I'd squeeze it in between the two events. If it wasn't crazy enough already, the Suburban through a monkey wrench in by breaking down, again. (It has left us stranded for three weekends in a row, but that is another story)

I made it home with about an hour to spare before 15 little girls arrived at the house. We set up the slip in slide, filled up water balloons and I started the cake. I had this brilliant idea to just make a cookie cake (one big chocolate chip cookie with icing). This is where the fun begins... I didn't leave enough room on my baking stone for the cookie to expand and so shortly after placing it in the oven in began to drip on the burners below. It then started smoking, really bad, and I didn't remove it because it was almost done. I had put foil on the rack below to catch any further dripping but before I knew it the drippings that had made it to the oven bottom caught on fire. Needless to say, Kev was close by and took care of it with the fire extinguisher. Ten minutes till the party started and I was out a cake. Kev was off to the store for a new one and my house smelled like a burnt chocolate chip cookie topped with the scent of a fire extinguisher.

Cookie Cake dusted with fire extinguisher

Kevin's new choice of cake

Ryley had a fabulous time and enjoyed having her friends over to celebrate.
This is a pinata that you don't have to whack, everyone grabs a string that is attached to the bottom and pulls.

After the days events Kevin and I were in need of a night out. My mom was staying with us and so kindly offered so we could escape. We meet up in Casa Grande with Aaron and his lady friend for dinner and a movie. Oh what a day!

Birthday, Birthday, Birthday

Today Benjamin turned three and we are so happy to have such a sweet boy in our home. He is a lot like his dad, pretty mellow and quite pleasant to be around. You can tell he has Ryley as an older sister though, his devious ways leak out every once in awhile. Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

March 14, 2005

(A few minutes old)

March 14, 2008

(3 yrs old)

I've started telling our kids their 'birth' story on their birthday, Ryley and Ben sure get a kick out of it. For journal purposes I'm going to record how his birth went down, so feel free to skip this part. At the rate I'm going I may not remember all the details much longer.

I was 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and miserable. I was swollen really bad and had been into the hospital twice already for the swelling in my feet. It was a Friday, my brother Ben had just flown back to Virginia from a visit home and I had started itching everywhere, really bad. It started in my hands and arms, then my feet and legs and next was my belly. I managed to suffer through it until Sunday night and then I had had enough. The only thing that would make it stop was a cold shower. I was up pretty much all night, in and out of the shower and finally called the on-call doctor at 3 am. I waited and waited and got no call back. I knew, from my doctors appointment the previous Thursday, that my doctor was on call Monday morning. So I waited it out until 6 am and called, explaining I couldn't take the itching any more and that something had to be done. The medical assistant said she'd get my chart and have Dr. McClusky call me right back.

In the mean time Kev had gotten up and gone to work. (He happened to be on spring break) I got a call back from my doctor around 7am stating that she had looked at my blood work from my earlier visits to the hospital and that I needed to come in immediately. Apparently the uncontrollable itching was from the blood in my body becoming toxic. So I called Kev at work and asked if he would come home so we could get to the hospital. Not knowing how fast I'd have the baby and not having anybody to take Ryley, we made the decision for me to go to the hospital and Kev would wait for my mom to drive down, who was also on spring break.

So when I got to the hospital I hung out most of the day in triage so they could take my blood every couple hours and see what was going on. I finally made it to a labor and delivery room around 3pm. The plan was to induce me since my blood was continuing to get worse. I was no where ready to have a baby so I had to start with the gels. Kev got to the hospital around 4:30 and we just hung out. My blood pressure was really high and they wouldn't even let me sit up in bed. My contractions where getting pretty strong and all I wanted to do was get out of bed or into a more comfortable position but the nurses where adamant that I stay in bed flat on my back unless I had to use the restroom. This had continued on until about 9pm and then I told Kev I couldn't do it anymore. I was only dilated to 4cm and had at least twelve more hours until I was close to delivering a baby. I wanted an epidural if this nonsense was going to continue. Just as I was saying that my doctor came in and said she had some bad news. She suspected I had what is called HELLP Syndrome and the only way to stop it is to deliver the baby. I really, really did not want to have a c-section and asked if I could continue with an epidural and have this baby the regular way. She was very hesitant and recommended that we not wait any longer and just do the c-section. She said that the blood tests showed my liver enzymes where increasing rapidly and if we waited to long I could be in liver and other organ failure. She then left the room to give us a minute to talk it over. We called Ralph to ask what he thought and decided that the concerns Dr. McClusky was having where valid and we should proceed with the c-section. It was just after 9:30 when Dr. McClusky had came back to the room to explain the procedure, the nurse then called the OR and asked them to prep for an emergency c-section. It went so fast, Ben was born at 9:50pm. He was a very healthy and big baby, for me anyways. He weighed 7 lbs 13 ozs and was really broad shouldered. They couldn't get him out of the incision at first and my doctor had said we where lucky he came by c-section because she wold have probably had to break his collar bone to get him out the natural way.

I got to hold him for few minutes in the OR and then they took him to the nursery. I was really out of it in recovery and finally got to my room around 1am. Once I got to snuggle with him and know we where both okay I was completely happy.

Kevin and I both had brothers serving over seas in the War on Terrorism and found it fitting to name our son after them. So Benjamin David Mayberry was born on March 14, 2005 at 9:50pm.

Another Three Birthdays

Today was a day full of birthdays. My amazing and loving husband hit the big 30 mark this year. It is so crazy how the time just goes by. I'm grateful for the man that Kev is and the love he gives our children and I. Happy Birthday LOVE!

Today is also my sweet mothers birthday. I can't remember exactly how old she is but I think it is somewhere around 36. So Happy Birthday Lovely Lady!

*UPDATE*
And today Maren, Kev's sister, added a new baby to the family. She and her husband Mathew had a sweet baby boy around 11:25pm. His name is Travis and he sure looks cute. I have to give a shout out to my SIL, she's won the most amazing women award this year since she delivered that baby at home. Props to the new parents and big sister Morgan.

Thanksgiving and a Birthday

We were in Sierra Vista this year for Thanksgiving and we had a fabulous time. The kids sure love their uncles. They know they can talk them into anything and the two younger boys have to hide in order to get a few minutes to them selves. Ryley, of course, had to ride Captain (the horse) and loved it. Ben wasn't to sure about the whole thing and didn't last very long.

Marti, Lacy and I ran away during the football game on Friday and watched Enchanted. It was a really cute movie and nice to get away. I also enjoyed the best massage ever from a lovely little Day Spa in SV thanks to Lacy and Dave, a great birthday present I must add.

Sunday I celebrated my 27th birthday! Ryley and Kevin made me a cake and the kids helped blow the candles out. I sure love the fall.