Art City Days...

In an effort to get the kids out of the house, we got together with the Burningham's and the Gleaves' for a fun night out for dinner and the carnival. It takes some effort to get our ever growing clan out for the night, but we always have so much fun together and I'm so happy that our kids enjoy each other so much!

Aidan and Braxton-why is it all 3 year olds smile like this when they say "Cheese!"?

Aidan loved the roller coaster- we thought it was funny that he knew to put up his hands without us telling him.
Cute girls: Jalen, Halle, and Shalee

Ethan was so mad that we didn't get him a balloon when the other kids got one, so when he finally got his he was so excited he didn't know what to do with himself! I just love his face!

Happy Hearts...

I was busy doing bills and asked Aidan to clean up his toys so we could have lunch. This is usually a huge fight and he will only do it if I come help him. He pleasantly agreed to do it though and next thing I knew he had disappeared to his room. I thought he was up there playing but when he called me up he had cleaned up his very messy room all by himself! I am about to admit how much joy I take in the small things but it really made my heart happy to see him so proud of himself and to want to do something by himself. I told him that and he said, "Mom, it makes my heart happy that your heart is happy about me." I couldn't have said it better myself. :)


Another thing that makes my heart happy today is that we are back to "So You Think You Can Dance!" Wahoo! How I survive without this show 9 months out of the year is a mystery but I'm so happy for it to be back !!!

One final heart happiness... Brett comes back tonight from spending a week in Arizona presenting at a conference. I enjoyed the first few quiet nights by myself but it gets to be lonely and I'm looking forward to him coming home. He's been missed!

Problem solved...

After much research, I found the problem. In case any of you ever have this problem, here is what happened to my blog. When I did my Mother's Day post the picture was too big for the post and it knocked the side bar to the bottom. The best way to find the problem is to view each post individually and see which one has the incorrect layout. I had to take off my Mother's Day picture until I can find a better way to put it on but I'm glad to be up and running again!

Help!

My blog is so messed up! Why is all the sidebar stuff at the bottom? Has this ever happened to anyone before? I guess I might need to change the background sooner than I thought to get it fixed. Ignore the mess for now. :)

Happy Graduation Brett!

I'm competing for the title of the world's slowest blogger! Life is going by too fast! We had a great time at Brett's graduation. We were worried it was going to feel a little anti-climatic since he finished his classes in December but it was so great to finally get to celebrate! We had such a great time watching him graduate and had so much fun that night having a big BBQ (in the cold weather) at my parents house. We felt so much love and support for both of us and are so grateful for the family and friends that helped to make the day really wonderful. We were especially grateful for Brett's family (Mom, Dan & Nikki, Jazmin, Trey) for driving all the way from Nebraska for the occasion and also to Jordan and Danny and McKay for always making that 7 hour drive when we truly need them. We love you all so much! Yea! NO MORE SCHOOL!

 

 

Becca's Family

 

Brett's Family

 

Ethan...

We had a scare this week with Ethan that landed us in the hospital Wednesday night. He's been struggling with his breathing again and so last week I took him to the Dr. extremely frustrated. I vented for a few minutes about how frustrated I am that he doesn't seem to be getting better and how difficult it is for me to know when and how often to actually bring him in and what to do for him. After a good talk and some reassurance we got him set up on another regimen of breathing treatments and all seemed to be going well. For a couple of days earlier in the week he was working really hard to breath (was breathing really fast) but I figured it was because he's working so hard to crawl around and since he's army crawling he's on his stomach all day which I thought might be contributing. Anyways, Wednesday he came down with a fever but I thought it might be teething and we went about our day. That evening we were getting ready to make a trip to Costco and while Brett was changing his diaper, Ethan's lips started turning purple. We immediately got in the car and drove straight to our Dr.'s office (15 min. before he closed) and they admitted him into the hospital overnight for observation. It's hard to even describe how difficult it was to even think about putting him in the hospital. I spent the night there with him and they've put him on an oral steroid as well as upping the dose of his regular breathing medicines. They had a respiratory therapist come give him treatments every 4 hours and hooked him up to a monitor to measure his oxygen level. When he was admitted he was breathing at twice the normal rate which is why he hasn't been gaining weight (has only put on a pound since Jan.) because he's burning so many calories trying to breathe. He responded really well and was able to go home around noon yesterday. It was a hard night- he really didn't feel good and didn't want anyone to hold him little less look at him except me. They have diagnosed him with asthma and are telling me that the next couple years could be really difficult for him since he has gotten it so young. It is possible that he will outgrow it but the next year or two will probably be similar to the last few months. I love this boy so much and it hurts me to see him suffer in any way. I worry about his happy spirit and hope to be able to find a balance in our home where this is just part of normal life and he can be happy and live with this. We were able to catch the one happy moment he had in the hospital, when my brother was able to get a laugh out of him. (Love the hat? The hospital receives donations for things for the kids and somebody had made it- they gave him the cutest teddy bear and even had a toy for Aidan).We'd appreciate you all keeping him in your prayers!

They're in the mail!

We are so excited for Brett to graduate in a couple weeks! The announcements and invitations to celebrate are in the mail! If we overlooked you in all the craziness, we're so sorry and would love to have everyone come celebrate with us that night. Here are the cute announcements we had made (note to those who receive them: we honestly didn't choose pink/purple text- the photo lab messed up and they were supposed to be white- like shown here!)
P.S. We love this website for all our announcements! http://www.announcingjoy.com