Spotlight

A couple weeks ago Kimmie was the "spotlight" at church. She was so excited to tell us all about how the teachers turned off the lights, shined a flashlight around the room while repeating a rhyming poem (which she knows by heart and repeated to us) and then the spotlight stopped on her!

Here is Kimmie's spotlight card...

Who knew she wanted to be a firefighter:) I think the "go on a mission to Europe" might be because Aunt Cyndy and Oma went to Europe this year and now it's all Kimmie talks about:) She is such a sweet girl and is growing so fast. I can't believe she will be starting kindergarten in September! I better enjoy this time with her, because I know it will go by way too fast!

funny kids...

So you know I have the cutest kids ever, but did you know they also have an amazing sense of humor to go along with their great looks?!? Between the witty things Seth says and the things the kids say, there is not a boring moment in our house. Last night Kimmie had us all cracking up and I realized that I really need to write down the cute things they say. Not a day goes by without one of the kids says something sweet or funny that makes my day, so I thought I would share some with you guys... (I bolded my favorite ones)

· Kimmie just told me she wants to go to Disney World, get some pixie dust and fly to Utah to visit everyone. If only it were that easy:)
· David and Kimmie were playing and David pretended to shoot her and she said, "we don't shoot people, only animals and bears and buffalo"
· One morning when Kimmie was leaving for preschool she went over to David, hugged/kissed him and said "goodbye my handsome prince, I will miss you!"
· We were watching the Michigan vs. Ohio State game and Kimmie told me "next time we should go to that game, but we need to buy lots of yellow to wear" Even Kimmie knows Michigan is better:)
· Kimmie told me that when she has a baby in her belly she will go to the hospital, lay in bed and watch tv, take her shoes off and take a break, just like mommy did. I wish having a baby was that easy:)
· Kimmie was sitting on Oma's dresser and I warned her not to jump off-something her and David do a lot. About a minute later Kimmie kindly says "I need you guys to leave so you can't see me jump off the dresser" We could not stop laughing!!!
· Kimmie told me she wants to grow her hair out long so I can swing on it!
· David told me, in a very concerned voice, that his "butt is cracking". I calmly explained it is normal for your butt to have a crack:)

· One night Kimmie was in trouble and when I was disciplining her, David walked up to be and said “don’t you talk to my sister like that”
· Seth was teasing Kimmie and took her bracelet away, David charged at Seth and told him to “give that back to my sister, I am her super hero”
Now, most of these are from Kimmie but don't let David fool you, that kid is hilarious. He has the best facial expressions and is such a tease (he gets that from his daddy!) I seriously love these kids, I can't wait to see how Joshua will interact with them. He already loves them so much. Kimmie and David make him smile and laugh so much, it melts my heart every time. I am so proud to be their mommy!!

We'll be Friends Forever....

Ok, at first that post title reminded me of the Zack Attack song from Saved By the Bell, does anyone else remember when Zack formed a band???

Anyway, what this post is really about is my amazing friend Felicia came to visit a couple weeks ago. Here is how it all happened...

Seth had a free round trip flight from Southwest that needed to be used. I have been kind of down lately missing my family and really missing Felicia. It had been about 3 1/2 years since we had seen each other. She lives in D.C now, so that makes it even more difficult to visit. My husband, who happens to be the GREATEST husband in the world, decided that we could use his free flight to fly Felicia out here to visit. Felicia's husband, Dave (who happens to be the second greatest husband in the world) took time off work so he could stay home with their kids. So we did it, we booked her flight and the excitement began.

I seriously can't even tell you how excited I was to see her. Anyone who knows Felicia knows she is the funniest girl and is so nice. And anyone who knows Felicia and I together knows it equals mayhem!!!

The second I picked her up from the airport it was like we had spent every day of the last 4 years together. We were laughing and talking and catching up. That night we went downtown and went to the 12:30am showing of Breaking Dawn with Cyndy and some friends. We had the entire theater to ourselves, so the 6 of us just laughed and pretty much made fun of the movie to whole time. In case you are wondering, yes, we did plan her visit to also coincide with the release of Breaking Dawn so we could watch it together:)

I spent the rest of the weekend trying to show her all the amazing places in Oregon. I even managed to take her on a little "Twilight Tour" of places where they filmed the movies.

It was an amazing 5 days of yummy food, watching Vampire Diaries, sightseeing, a lot more yummy food, and laughing until we cried..."I'll have the tender juicy steak please!"

It was so hard to say goodbye to her, I cried the entire way home from the airport. I miss her like crazy and I wish we lived closer. I am so grateful for the amazing friendship that we have. It is crazy to think I met her almost 10 years ago, and we only knew each other for a few short months before I moved back to Michigan, but when I left we stayed really close and our friendship has continued to grow despite the many miles that always separate us. She is more than a friend, she is like a sister to me (and it helps that she lived with my sisters for a while too, and my whole family loves her!) I am so glad I have been blessed with a friend as amazing as her!

And thank you to Seth for taking care of everything while she was here. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive husband. I love you Sethy!!!!!

And also thank you to Dave for holding the fort down while she was gone., you are great...GO WINGS:)

Here are just a few highlights from her visit:

Visiting the falls

Multnomah Falls

The beautiful view

This is how we spent every night..laying in bed, eating, and watching Vampire Diaries:)

Voodoo doughnuts

Somebody had a birthday...November 24th

SETHY!!!!

I know, I know, I am late blogging about this, but in my defense Seth's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, so that altered our celebration a bit.

We held off celebrating Seth's birthday until yesterday. Kathy made him beef stroganoff for dinner and I made a banana cream pie for dessert. We celebrated as a family and once the kids were in bed we all stayed up way too late playing Apples to Apples, it was a lot of fun.

Tonight me, Seth, Scott and Cyndy went out to Oswego Grill happy hour for the final birthday celebration. I have been dying to take Sethy there, so this was the perfect excuse.

Happy birthday babe. We love you so much! You are the BEST!!!!!

4 month check-up

I can't believe this sweet little boy...

is already 4 months old!

Here are the stats from his check-up today:

Height: 26 1/4 in (90th percentile)

weight: 15 lbs 9 ounces (50th percentile)

head: 17 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

He is laughing and cooing so much more now. He loves tummy time and is so strong. He has started scooting in circles during tummy time. The doctor said he is physically as strong as a 6 month old. She even commented about how she wouldn't be surprised if he was crawling by the time he was 6 months old. I sure hope that doesn't happen, I am not ready to be chasing him around just yet.

Last week he discovered his hands. He was looking down at his hand and opened, then closed it, and got this big smile on his face when he did it. Seeing his hand was a whole new discovery for him and I love watching him learn and grow.

Things have been very busy around here lately. I only have 2 weeks until graduation, so homework is keeping me busy. My friend Felicia also came to visit us last weekend and I had so much fun showing her around. I will blog all about her trip another time, right now I need to get to bed, I stayed up way too late while Felicia was here and need to catch up on my sleep.

Take your shoes off, take a break...

Tonight Kimmie said yet another thing that made us all laugh.

She told me that when she "has a baby in her belly she will go to the hospital, lay in bed and watch tv, take her shoes off and take a break, just like mommy did."

Yep, having a baby is that easy:)

She is going to be a great mom one day!

Happy......

Veterans Day! Wait, I feel like I am forgetting something...Happy 11-11-11...no wait, there must be something else...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CYNDY!!!!

We love you!!!

99 years later...

Last night my Great-Grandmother (Granny) passed away at the amazing age of 99! I thought since we knew it was coming, and since she had lived a long, full life, that I would be fine when it happened, but as I sit here typing this it brings tears to my eyes. It has been over 2 years since I have seen her and I am wishing I would have been able to go visit her one last time. I know she lived a long, happy life and I am glad she has returned home to Heavenly Father, but I am left wishing I would have taken advantage of all the years I had with her. Unfortunately, as Granny got older, her memory got worse, so when we would visit there wasn't much deep conversation happening. We would sit and visit, and she always made me laugh, but I wish I knew her better. I wish I knew about her childhood, and what life was like for her growing up in such a different time and place. I will miss her fun, flirty personality (yes, even at the ripe old age of 99 she was still flirty!) I am just happy that when I did last see her, we were able to get a 5 generations picture, that is something not many people get to experience. In fact, shortly before she died my cousin had his first grandchild, allowing them to get a 6 generations picture.

The one thing I am taking from this is that I want to do all I can to learn more about my family history. I don't want to just know names and birthdates, I want to really know the people!!

5 Generations

Granny giving David kisses

Granny & David

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween from.....

Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear

I say a little prayer for you...

This morning Kimmie came into my room and told me she said a prayer to Jesus in the middle of the night. Occasionally she has bad dreams, and we taught her to pray when that happens. I asked her if she had a bad dream again, and she said no. So, I asked her why she said a prayer in the middle of the night and this was her answer:

"David was coughing a lot and I was really worried about him, so I said a prayer to Jesus to make him better and he will because Jesus loves all the little children"

She is such a sweet girl. She loves her brothers so much and is such a great example to them. She is also a great example to me. Jesus does love all the little children, so what a great blessing and responsibility it is to be a parent. He has trusted us to care for these sweet children and words cannot express how grateful I am to be their mother.

I mean look at these sweet faces, how could you not love being their mother?!?

Joshua's baby blessing

Tell me this is not the cutest little boy you have ever seen:)

Today we blessed our beautiful baby Joshua. He is such an amazing little boy and we are so happy to have him in our family.

Don't you love his little suit:)

We were actually able to get a good family picture as we headed out the door to church

We attempted to get Davenport family pictures after church since the entire family is together for Joshua's blessing. This is my favorite picture because Kimmie's face sums up how I felt trying to get the kids to cooperate for a picture!

We were also lucky enough to have all of my family here to celebrate Joshua, so we took this opportunity to get an updated family photo.

cousins

Grandma with her loves

As busy as it has been, I have LOVED having all my family together. I am so lucky to have been born into such a great family, married into an amazing family and been blessed to have a wonderful family of my own.

family...

This weekend both our families will all be together to celebrate the blessing of this handsome man...

and to see these two crazy kids...

2 month check-up

I can't believe Joshua is already 2 months old, here are his stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 5 ozs (75th percentile)

Height: 23 1/4 inches (75th percentile)

Head: 16.2 inches (98th percentile)

I was a little worried to see that he had dropped from the 90th percentile to the 75th for his height and weight, but the doctor says that is not anything to worry about. He is still a big, healthy boy. He smiles all the time and even laughs a little. He is starting to make new noices, mostly "coo" and "ooo".

Kimmie is great at getting him to smile and David loves to snuggle with him. This boy sure is loved by everyone around him!!!

Happy Birthday Uncle Cot Cot!!

Happy Birthday Scott!

The kids have been so excited because today is Cot Cot's birthday! (They call him Cot Cot because that is what Kimmie called him when she was little and it was so cute, it just stuck.) They are very excited to go to lunch with him today.
They love all their Aunts and Uncles, but they have an extra close bond with Scott. He and Kimmie were instantly close and it has continued with all the kids. I hope their relationship continues to stay close throughout their lives.
Here is one example of how much they love Scott. Every time the front door opens, David runs to it calling "Cot Cot". He is always sad when it is not him. Kimmie and David also like to play "Cyndy and Scott". They are great with their imaginations. David will pretend to ride up on his scooter, it is adorable to watch!
They are very lucky to have so many amazing aunts and uncles, but today we celebrate Scott. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY COT COT! We hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday and that this year brings you everything you desire and deserve!
Kimmie holding Scott's hand when she was 1. She was always snuggled up with him.

Joshua and Scott

watching a movie

and running a marathon...one of many crazy things with Seth...

we have been busy.....

...doing crafts. I made this diaper wreath for my friend Jenny's baby shower and I am very proud of how it turned out

...celebrating Kimmie's birthday a little late with the Davenport family (since somebody...Aunt Cyndy and Oma...decided to go on a trip to Europe during Kimmie's birthday)

...blowing out the candles...

...potty training this handsome boy. He asked me if he could go to the potty, and he went right away, so I decided it was time to stop avoiding it and actually potty train him. It is nice to only have one child in diapers again!

...playing with friends

David and Rilynne

...enjoying our zoo pass

...loving having friends visit

...and counting the days until they visit again

...watching Daddy and Uncle Cot Cot race together

...doing tummy time

...taking Kimmie to preschool

...and spending some precious time alone with David

...watching this beautiful baby boy sleep

...buying these $6.99 nightstands at Goodwill

...and turning them into this:)

...wondering how he can sleep with his neck tilted like that
...and finally getting out for a run for the first time in almost a year!!! This picture was taken at mile 20 of my marathon last year. I am excited to start running again, but I don't think I will be doing another marathon any time soon...maybe a triathlon instead:)