Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!  

Today is THE day that represents everything that I believe in 

and everything that I live for. 

 Jesus died for our sins. He rose from the dead. He lives forevermore.  

^" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

New Pets!

Recently, Zachary's 3rd fish, Elliott passed away.  "Elliott the Fish" lived 2.5 years at our house and brought Zachary much joy. I'm amazed he lived that long.  It's funny because when it died Zachary was sad, but not super sad. Not like when the other 2 fish passed away. I guess it's just a sign that he's growing up.  About a week after the fish passed away, we took Z to the store to get a new fish.  He picked out a new fish, Grrrr.  When we got it home we realized his tank had a leak. So we went to the store to get a new one with some Christmas money. It was less expensive to buy the full kit (light, rocks, tank, pump, filter, food, water purifier, etc) than it was just to buy the tank so we got a new one.  The funny thing was Will loved it more than Zach.  After about a week we decided that Will needed his own fish and his own tank.  He had a gift card to a big chain store from his Uncle Jeff & Aunt Kathy from his birthday and Christmas and decided this was the perfect thing to spend those gift cards on.  Will LOVES his fish tank and his fish Happy.  

The funny thing about these pictures is that Will is about the exact same age when my cousin Abbey gave Zachary her fish & tank in 2008.  What is even more ironic is Will is wearing Zachary's old footie pjs in the picture that Zach wore when he got his first fish.  Kevin couldn't believe I could remember stuff like that but I do.  I had to pull out the old blog book to prove it.  Click here to see Zachary with his first fish.

Will showing you HAPPY the beta fish!

 He is blowing Happy a kiss!

 This is what Will does about 30 minutes of the day. If you come and visit our house he will take you by the hand and take you back to his room to introduce you to his fish. He's so proud.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Z's new fish "Grr" and his new tank.  Z is not that into him however if he didn't have a tank or fish he would be sad.

Our Garden

We do not have an outside garden. We get a lot of veggies from my inlaws garden in the summer. So there is really no need for us to have a big garden.  However, I LOVE projects, I LOVE flowers, and so do my boys. So I decided to get one of those self watering, easy start up gardens.  One afternoon when it was too cold to play outside the boys planted zinnias & snapdragons.  Our hope is that we can put them in my window boxes in 65 days. 

I love how excited both boys are. Z's thrilled because he gets to do everything himself.  W is thrilled just because he is sitting next to his big brother.  I'm going to miss these years so much when they are all grown up. 

Will planting seeds

 Zachary planting seeds.

 Putting in the label markers

 And we are done!  Both boys have taken much pride in their indoor garden. It's been very cute!

Since our initial planting day the plants have grown so much.  Every day Zachary has to check out his plants to see how much they have grown. It has been a very fun project.  I just keep praying the plants make it to the window boxes.  Some days they look better than others.  This momma does not have a green thumb :( 

And they're off!

Let's Go Racin' Folks! The 1st weekend in March we head south to Hot Springs, AR for a little weekend away with my best friends from high school. Mel & I have been friends since a 7th grade church retreat.  Kevin and I look forward to this weekend SO much because it is "usually" the first warm weekend of the year, we have a kid-free weekend THANKS to my parents, we can have adult time at the horse track and at dinner.  We leave at 6am on Friday and return home around 5 pm on Sunday.  It is total detox from the stress of Kevin's work, the stress of being a stay-at-home mom, and the stress of a jam-packed calendar. The only decisions we have to make is what, when, and where are we eating.  It's glorious!  I know it sounds like I do not love & adore my boys but I do.  I love them so much that we sometimes have a hard time scheduling "husband & wife" time.  It's the perfect weekend for the boys too because my parents (AKA grams & pops) spoil them rotten. 

I always come home wishing I took more pictures. But here's the ones that I got. 

Friday Night Eating at Fishermans Warf.  Not sure if you caught the comment above saying it is "usually the first warm weekend of the year". Well it was not warm. Hence my winter coat on Lake Hamilton. 

Horse Races Friday! 

 This was our first year to do a VRBO condo rental.  WHY? Why did it takes us four miserable years in a NASTY motel to realize we could stay in a fully furnished 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, condo on the water with a full patio deck and covered parking. For almost the exact amount of money.  This year we wised up and will do the same thing ever year to come.

 Saturday Morning Tradition: The Pancake Shop

Please notice the amount of food on this table. Not sure if we just have tons of food or if the table is super small. Nah it's a ton of food.  If I recall I don't think all of it was brought out yet, either. 

 Racing Day 2!  Kevin and I did terribly this year!  Mel & Wasson did great!

It's a fun annual tradition that all four of us look forward to.  I think next year we are going to have to sneak away because both of our 1st borns are starting to catch on and they want to join us. We told them they could when they were in High School. LOL! 

Spring Break 2013

Because of Zachary's surgery and Kevin's busy work schedule we do not go out of town for Spring Break. Instead we try to do a weekend trip and fun events during the week. The weekend before Spring Break we made a quick trip to STL for an ortho meeting.  At first the boys and I were not going to go but then we thought it would be a great weekend away. We took my parents with us so that we could attend the ortho event dinner at night.  It was fun to travel with them!  On Friday we just did some shopping.  Will was not impressed. 

 One of the funny things about the trip was the Pops got sucked in by the annoying kiosk sales man for some back stimulation patches.  I could not believe my dad even gave the guy the time of day but he did. Next thing you know he has 5 patches stuck to his back & shoulders.  25 minutes later we are still at the kiosk listening to every sales pitch in the book on why my dad needs this device.  I couldn't take the sales pitch seriously so I left and pushed Will around the mall until Grams & Pops found us.  It was hilarious!  Thankfully my dad got away without having to buy anything.

 Zach's only request during the trip was that we went to another shopping center to jump on this trampoline thingy.  Zach wanted to do the trampoline thingy this summer, however while we were waiting for it to open he started playing on the malls play land equipment.  Next thing you know some sharp metal piece sliced into his toe & toenail.  With blood every where and no one in the mall to care we just got in the car and left. So he never got to do this trampoline thingy.

It was finally Z's "big" excitement.

He loved it! 

 Before heading home we had to get a bite to eat on "The Hill". Cunetto's our favorite spot was closed on Saturdays for lunch so we hit our next favorite spot, Rigazzi's.

 That following Monday Rachel, Grams, my nephews and my boys took a trip down to see Pierce Arrow. It was area appreciation so we got discounted tickets.  Here are the 3 monkey's in the back of my van.  Jerrytt really thinks he is 6/7.  As you can see Zachary was super excited!

Poor Will had to sit in the middle.  He loved every minute of the show and time with his cousins. 

Elliott got to spend the night! This is a real treat. E&Z used to have sleepovers all the time but since they are both in school and have different school schedules sleepovers don't happen that often. Poor Jerrytt wanted to stay at Aunt Howie's house too!  But he had school the next day. It was hard to see Jerrytt screaming and crying as my sister pulled out of my drive way. I hope it doesn't scar him for life! 

I realize now more than ever how much I love having my boys home together all day long. Of course it is loud, crazy, and half the time I am cleaning up messes and the other half I am separating the two of them for something but I truly love it. Spring Break just made me realize how ready I am for school to be out! I can't wait for summer

Our Brave Boy

Our sweet Zachary under went surgery & general anesthesia on March 13th.  Zachary was so brave!  Zachary was born with a congenital mole (some would call it a "birthmark"). We have been taking Zach to a dermatologist since he was 6 months old to "watch" this mole.  We knew that at some point in Zachary's life it would have to be removed because it had a 90% chance of becoming melanoma by age 20. We were just waiting for him to need his tonsils or other routine surgery to have the mole removed.  Then recently we discovered it was changing shape, color, and size and it had to be removed.  The dermatologist sent us to a general surgeon and he agreed.  What we thought would be a minor event turned into a more serious situation. We had to schedule surgery at the main hospital.  Fortunately, our hospital offers a pre-op party for children. Zach and I went to the pre-op party three days before the surgery. It was a great experience and totally made Zachary excited for surgery. 

Pre-Op party

A visit to the Operating Room

It's Surgery Day!

 5:40 am was really cold and early for this momma!

 This is Zachary moments after they gave him Versed.  He LOVED it!

 The Child Life Team came in and gave him a Joker toy. Z was so drugged that he could hardly hold the Joker in the car.

 Loopy Zach

After his hour procedure my mom and I went into recovery to see Zach.  He was so adorable. The first thing he said was, "Mom when is my surgery?"  He had no idea it was already over. He was distraught about the hospital gown and was ready to get his Temple Run pjs back on. 

"Aunt" Steph stopped by while Zachary was in surgery.  She brought balloons and a candy bouquet for Zachary.  It's funny because Z did not want ANYONE to know about his surgery. He was super embarrassed about it. So anyone we told about it had to be super quiet about knowing. "Aunt" Steph left the hospital before Zachary woke up because she didn't want him to know she knew about the surgery.  We took the goodies to Zachary and he LOVED them!

 Zachary did FANTASTIC.  His favorite parts were the toys, gifts, candy, and the wheelchair ride out of the hospital.  The PCA who wheeled Zachary out of the hospital let Z play in the wheelchair while my mom was getting the van.  He thought that was the best part!

We are still waiting for the pathology report on this crazy mole.  So prayers are appreciated!

Happy St. Patty's Day

My family thinks I'm crazy but I love celebrating holidays, special days, and silly events.  My husband is such a good sport because he just goes with the flow and let's me be silly.  One family we tradition we have is a "GREEN" breakfast on St. Patty's Day.  We have been doing this since Z was born.  It's funny because when Z was little he used to be scared of St. Patty's Day.  The only reason he was scared is because we woke him up in crazy clothes. Now he is begging for us to continue the tradition.  Basically Kevin & I wake the boys up in silly green attire and invite them to breakfast...in our kitchen.  Last night Zachary made sure I knew that it was March 16th and wanted to remind me that he LOVES to be woken up by "silly green people".  I love that he is finally enjoying the tradition and that we are no longer scaring him.  

Normally on a Sunday I wake up at 7:30 am. However today I popped up at 6am to head to the local gas station to buy all of there green donuts.  Seriously ONLY FOUR donuts were green.  

The Green Table waiting for the boys

 Getting ready to wake the boys

 Each year we add a little something new to the outfits.  This year it was tattooed sleeves. Kev was such a trooper to go along with my quirky personality.

Seconds before we woke up Zach. He was SO excited! 

Getting ready to go wake up Will

 Zach was thrilled he got to help us get Will

I love the look on Will's face. He had no idea what was going on :)

Green Pancakes

Here's our GREEN family on our way out the door to church.  Zachary went with a mohawk and green tinted hair.  Normally I would totally object but how could I say no on St. Patrick's Day! 

 I love these special memories with our family. Kevin asked me what I was going to do when the boys were out of the house and in college on St. Patrick's Day. Hmmmm...that got me thinking....