In a Blink of an Eye

Since my blogging has been few and far between, I've decided to highlight each of the kids in their own blog.  I'm starting with Brayden because, to be honest, since the elementary school shooting I've held on and kissed him more than usual.  I too have a kindergartner and I think that's why this shooting has had me grieving so much.  I have a child that exact age, same passion for life, same innocence...and I have been overwhelmed with the fact that today I get to hug, kiss and love on my child as other parents have to bury theirs.  I titled this post, In a Blink of an Eye, because that's all it takes for your life to change forever.  So today I celebrate that the Lord has given me another amazing day with this cool little dude and that he has changed my life forever!

 Brayden started kindergarten really pumped, then it fizzled out because he realized school was longer than one week, and now he's just okay with it...he could take it or leave it.  He is doing really well at school and is one smart cookie.  Haha, that sentence just made me laugh because if Brayden heard me say that he would say, in his low voice, "Cookie!  I want a cookie!" The first month or so of school was rough as he had to tread the waters of learning how to not get in trouble, but he is happy to say now that, "school is so much more fun when you don't get in trouble."  That is some great wisdom I hope he keeps throughout his entire school experience!  This kid seriously cracks me up.  One day our school was canceled because of fog.  This is the conversation of telling him this information..

Jarrett:  "Brayden!  School is canceled!"

Brayden (with a huge smile on his face):  "WHAT! I NEVER have to go to school again!"

 Age 5 has been awesome with Brayden.  He has grown up so much in this last year and has turned into such an easy going child.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think he is our easiest child to parent right now.  For those that know our very difficult road with him, you may now pick your jaw up off the floor.  But it's true.  Don't get me wrong, he has his moments, but overall he is just a lovable, full of life-happy boy.  He loves to tell stories, pray, make people laugh and enjoys giving hugs and kisses.  He is starting to enjoy being outside, which is huge for him since he grew up with really bad sensory problems.  He is very sensitive about if he hurts someones feelings or does something wrong.  Brayden has this really funny way of telling me he is mad at me.  I put a picture of the two of us by his bed.  Sometimes I find him laying in his bed staring at it, smiling.  The times I know I have ticked him off, I find the picture on the shelf across the room...face down.  Then when we work things out, he cries, tells me how much he loves me and then asks for the picture back and hugs it close to his chest. 

 So this kid loves Angry Birds...obsessed is more like it.  Pretty much all of his play time is either playing Angry Birds on the Kindle or playing the Angry Bird game on the kitchen counter.  Everything he wanted for Christmas was Angry Birds related.  I asked him if he wanted another Angry Birds shirt and he said (while looking at me like I was crazy), "No, I already have one."  He is such a boy.  If he were a girl, the answer would be, "Yes, and in all the colors please."



I mean look at this face (and please not the huge mess in the background - good grief - talk about a toy explosion). Anyway...sigh...how could you not just want to cuddle with this kid every second. 
I am so thankful for my sweet Brayden Michael!

"TWIZ THE SEASON"

We started a new family tradition last year of making a small gift for our neighbors and then walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors and passing them out.  This year, thanks to Pinterest, I made this cute little thing.  A mason jar, Twizzlers, ribbon, hand made note with a corny-cute title...done.  It took us an hour to do the deliveries, but we had so fun sharing some Christmas joy.  The kids were so cute saying "Merry Christmas" in their adorable little voices with big cheesy smiles.  Sigh.  We really do have some great neighbors and we are so blessed to raise our children in a safe and kind neighborhood.  This year as we walked up to each house, we said a prayer and blessing over each home and family!  I am looking forward to many-many years of enjoying this tradition!  So what are some of your family Christmas traditions?

Vacation Part 3

THE BEACH!

This final vacation blog is dedicated to our trip to the beach.  We were only a few miles away from Warren Dunes.  The kids had never been to Lake Michigan before so this was a very exciting trip for them.  It was fun to see the wonder sparkle in their eyes as they took in how BIG the lake was.

 Greg surprised me as I was playing with the kids by writing I love you in the sand. Sigh. I forgot to bring along a hair-tye for Kyla, so cousin IT joined us at the beach for the day.

My studly man posing for me.  That's right ladies, he's all mine=)

 The kids had fun playing and digging in the sand.  Brayden was digging a path to China I think...or at least that is what it felt like for the time it took him to finish.  The boy had a plan!

 The boys loved to wave-surf.  No sand in their suits afterwards at all...

 One of the best things for me on vacation was just spending time with Greg.  I love watching him as a father and the love and attention he pours into the kids.  How he has such a servants heart towards me and goes out of his way to make me happy!  How fun he is and that he always keeps me laughing.  We've been married for over 9 years, and I can honestly say, it just keeps getting better!!!

p.s...and these poor white folks made it a day at the beach without getting burned...too bad.

Vacation Part 2

Blogger vs. Natalie

Natalie WON!

I have been trying for days to upload my pictures and today I relish my victory!

You know that vacation we took a couple weeks ago, yep, still talking about it.  Here are a few activities that kept us busy.  This is one of the lakes (the other one is mostly used for fishing).  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  We were able to take our dog with us and he was young in heart once again when he was able to swim in it.  The paddle boards were a huge hit, along with the kayaking. 

 This is the lodge where the office was held along with the game room.

We went hiking one day...aka...took a walk in the woods.  For us non-hikers, it was fun.  Sweet Kyla loved the walk and squealed in delight at all the sticks she found and picked up.  Needless to say, the walk was a bit slow, but well worth her excitement. We tried their hard core hiking path one day.  Within about twenty yards Brayden had about five mosquito bites and Jett had a million burrs on his pants.  Not the path for the wimpy Replogle family from New Paris, IN.  I'm humble enough to say...we immediately turned around. 

The kids loved the back porch and one morning we found Jett reading a book to Kyla.  This picture makes my heart smile=)

We were so happy that we took the boys' bikes and Kyla's stroller.  The resort is pretty spread out and the bikes helped minimize the complaining of having to walk everywhere.

Our vacation was about 90% full of swimming.  I don't know why I packed clothes or make-up, my bare face was in a swimsuit most of the time.  My fingers are getting pruny just talking about it.  This is a picture of the big pool on the east end of the resort.  I couldn't believe how many times we had it to ourselves.

This is the smaller pool on the west end of the resort (about four cabins down from our cabin).  The kids had a great time swimming and I'm pretty sure I inhaled a few gallons of water from the endless hours of them jumping in and me attempting to catch them.  The only pictures I have of them swimming is them jumping in, because that is seriously all they did.  Love Jett's face.  Cracks me up every.single.time.

My Super-Water-Heroes

Next blog is dedicated to the beach...ahhh...

Everything but the kitchen sink!

That is how I felt as I was packing for our vacation!

BUT it was oh so worth it!

This year for our family vacation we found this amazing cabin resort in Three Oaks Michigan called

 Lakeside Cabins Resort

It was amazing!  I would suggest it to anyone. Young or old, and a bigger shout out to those that have a family with younger kids. It is a gated resort with tons of cabins to chose from, two huge heated swimming pools, two lakes, fishing, a playground, hiking trails, basketball and volleyball courts, a huge grass play area, shuffleboard, and a lodge with a huge game room inside.  Plus it is minutes from Lake Michigan!  We couldn't believe how inexpesive it was.  It was about the same price as a hotel stay a night.  We stayed four days/three nights...and wished we had booked it for longer! 

My next few posts will show all the activities that we did, but this post is to show you our cabin...

The kids were SO EXCITED about the cabin.  It was so cute!  The first half hour all they did was run around looking at everything and screaming with delight.  I guess we need to get out more often=)

Here is the kitchen.  To the right is a breakfast nook.  Down the hall is the bathroom, bedroom and stairs that lead up to the loft.  I'm standing to take the picture where the couch is in the picture below.

The living room had good space.  The kids (and daddy) loved the chair.  We even had a flat screen t.v with cable.  Now, that is my kind of camping!

Here was our bedroom.  We also had a small screened in porch out the doors.  It was so peaceful.  Loved having my quiet time out there.  There is just something about studying God's Word out in nature.  Ahhh.

Here is the loft.  We chose a cabin that only had one bedroom and one loft, but there are many options to pick from.  We liked this cabin with it's loft because the kids couldn't see the living room at night.  That way we could stay up later and the kids weren't laying in their beds staring at us.  This was their favorite part of the cabin by far! It was their space!

We also had a HUGE screened in back porch that overlooked the woods.  We ate every meal out here and it was so nice not to be attacked by bugs.  We had decided early on not to go out to eat, but just to take food and eat at the cabin.  More time to spend at the resort...and much cheaper.

We also had steps that lead down to our own fire pit in the back yard.

We had such an amazing time!  Many, many memories were made=)

Go on a family vacation!  Cross off #3!

Check in next blog for more things we crossed off our summer bucket list on vacation!

Our Summer Bucket List

 We decided to have a little fun with our activities this summer and came up with a family bucket list.  One night at dinner we went around the table talking about all the things we wanted to do and made our list.  We have it displayed proudly in our kitchen and love crossing things off the list. Okay, so I do...it's my Type A personality coming out!  Except we do it a little different with swimming.  We seriously go swimming all.the.time so instead of crossing it off, we are making tally marks to show how many times this summer we go=)

 So Miss Kyla decided to add something to the list herself. She has decided to potty train herself this summer.  Yep, mommy didn't have a choice. This girl is all about determination and NO diapers.  So one day she decided to wear big girl panties and hasn't gone back since.  I had been pushing it off, even though I saw the signs she was ready, because the boys were a nightmare to potty train.  I mean, lots of crying, tantrums, meltdowns...and the boys were upset too=)  Anyway, whether mommy was ready or not, this girl was!  So proud of my BIG girl!

I will not keep you in suspense as we begin crossing off our activities from our list.  Last week Greg was on a trip so I packed the kids up and went to visit my sister, brother-in-law and my sweet niece, Kaitlyn.  Road trip!  It was so much fun!  The kids did amazing and it was so refreshing to spend some quality time with the Zehr's.  Bucket List cross off #1.

 We got up at the butt-crack of dawn Wednesday morning and headed to Illinois.  We got there shortly after they had breakfast.  We had an easy going day of playing and then went to check out their church and the playground near their house.

Bucket list cross off #2...putt-putt golf!  Aaron took Thursday off to spend with us.  The kids had so much fun. No one was there, so we let them run around and play at the holes randomly while the adults had a playful competition.  Aaron won.  For those of you that know me and my competitive side...it did not sit well.  Kyla was quite serious about her very first golfing experience.  Even her little tongue is hanging out while she concentrates.  Sigh.  Love her!

That night we made a camp fire and had s'mores.  The boys enjoyed helping keep the fire going while canvassing the yard for anything they could throw in.  Love my boys=)

Kaitlyn even enjoyed s'mores...well, the crackers at least.

Then as if Uncle Aaron couldn't get any cooler...he set up his HUGE camping tent...in the basement for the boys to sleep in.  It filled the entire room!  Needless to say they were a little excited=)

We left Friday after lunch.  I realized after we left that I took no pictures of Megan and I together...so here is one of us together in May when we met in Chicago for the weekend.  Oh how I love my six-years-apart-twin sister. 

Stay tuned for more of our Bucket List...

SEVEN is a slice of HEAVEN

 My BIG boy turned SEVEN years old at the beginning of May.  I can't believe I have a second grader.
  Where do the years go? 

I still remember vividly screaming in pain during labor when the nurse looked at me and shyly stated, "Well, you're at 1 cm"...seriously, you have got to be kidding me!

Or the first time he laughed (at three months) when the dog jumped up on Aunt Denise and made her fall over.  Ahhh, he got my humor!

Or the fact that he hasn't gone a night since he was 18 months old without his blanket and monkey.

I don't really remember much about year two or three since I didn't sleep during any of it thanks to #2, but he was stinkin' cute...I do remember that much!

I remember the hours upon hours he spent playing with his knew found love...trains!

I still remember dropping him off at the elementary school for his preschool field trip to kindergarten and trying to drive home through the tears.

Years of looking at his beautiful bright red hair!

Or all the moments he was filled with so much joy and happiness he couldn't help but jump up and down and giggle in delight.

The night we laid in his bed and talked about Jesus coming into his heart.  These years might go quickly, but at least I know I have eternity to spend with him!

SEVEN incredible years with a very incredible little man!  I am blessed!

His birthday party this year consisted of race cars.  I love the simple themes.  We made it a weekend celebration with all the festivities of school and friend parties.  For three days he had a constant smile on his face.

I'm so thankful that he has such a fun group of friends.  He loves the ladies, I might add.  His rule on birthday parties is that he can only invite two girls (otherwise that's probably all he would have=).

Where did the last two years go?

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old already!

Actually, Kyla is 2 going on 12 with her little miss attitude...but that's for another blog!

Her conversations now consist of "I can do it."

Our little miss independent celebrated the big day on April 7th (yes, yes, I know this was over a month ago).  She is a huge Minnie Mouse fan, so her birthday party was decked out in the big-eared theme.  She had a great time...being the last child...she's the happiest when life revolves around her =)

She thinks she can do anything.  Tough as nails.  Has to keep up with her big brothers.  If they push her down...she comes up swinging.  Kyla has learned the skill of teaching herself how to climb up onto the kitchen counters.  Mommy is not so impressed...but still needed a picture!

Her changing table got switched out with her big girl kitchen in her room.  Sniff-Sniff. 

She is ALL GIRL!  Usually she carries around a baby or purse most of the day.  However she does enjoy getting dirty and playing rough with the boys.  She loves to swing, wrestle daddy, read books and play outside. 

 She has been our best napper so far.  She does everything with gusto.  I mean, it's not a good nap if you don't lose your pants!

 She is beautiful inside and out.  She has such a sweet and endearing personality.  Loves to give hugs and kisses.  We are so blessed by our adorable miracle and can't imagine life without her.  She makes everyday brighter!