I am so grateful...

I am experiencing alot of emotions right now. I have a pit in my stomach after learning of the death of my friend's 19 month old son. Pat Young was a good friend of mine in Highschool. He has since moved to Sunnyvale, California. He and his wife have one child, a 19 month old named Cooper. Cooper passed away on January 29th of Meningitis. I just learned of this a few hours ago. Ever since, I have been...thoughtful.

I spend every day, rushing around and alot of times, wishing away some of the stress that family life brings. I think back on the time before I had any children...Joey and I had to go through alot before we were able to get Ethan. I remember feeling so helpless and sad, wondering if I would ever get the opportunity to be a mother. There were so many tears and despairing moments. I was finally blessed with Ethan. Then came Max, Owen and Audrey.

Life is hecktic and, yes...stressful. I yell or get upset every single day!!! All of that being said, how extremely blessed I am! Children and families are such a source of joy - if you let them be. Audrey is 16 months old and I...can't imagine what I would if I lost her or any of my children.

Pat has been blessed and comforted by the knowledge of the gospel through this trying time in his life. I think the trick is to know how blessed you are and know how precious all of life's moments are, so you can fully embrace them - and truly enjoy them. Not wish them away.

How grateful I am for my family. How grateful I am for the gospel...to know I will surely be with them again after this life. I will try to be a little more patient, a little more loving tomorrow and even more the next day. I want my children to know how grateful I am for them so that, if we were separated from each other in this life, I can be comforted knowing they knew how much I loved them. Life is so precious and fragile! It's so wonderful to be a mother - to care for our children, love them and laugh with them. I am grateful for Pat's example and outlook during this difficult time. It has allowed me to reflect on my blessings and know that I have many.

He's snotty!

Just a quick note: I asked Max if he wanted to play with one of his friends today and he said, "no...he's snotty!" I asked him if he knew what that word meant and he said, "yeah, he always has a runny nose!"

Max turns 5

Our Max turned 5 on a few days ago. We are so proud of him! He had a birthday party with water guns, water balloons, pin the tail, pizza, pinata and cupcakes. It was so much fun seeing him with his little buds! Of course, this year, announced that he wanted it to be "boys only." That was a welcome relief after having a son like Ethan who has never disliked girls in his young life. It's not that Max dislikes them, he is just acting like a 5 year old! He had a great time and mom and dad were exhausted and so happy when it was over!!!

Max's preschool graduation

We are so proud of Max! He has completed his second year of pre-school with "miss Wendy" as his teacher. He had such a great year!!! He loved his class and especially loved meeting his friends - Sawyear, Jack, Connor and Will. They had such a great year together and he's so excited for Kindergarten in August.

His graduation was so much fun and Max said his speaking part perfectly. He memorized it after practicing it just one time. We loved to hear all of the great songs they performed as well!

Audrey Jane

Audrey is growing so much! She is a "petite" girl right now. She has the smallest feet of any of the kids in the family so far! Lucky girl :) She is so much fun and just today started to play "peek-a-boo" with Owen. She is smiling, laughing, dancing, crawing and standing! She loves her brothers, but she knows when to watch out for them, too! She also loves the special time she spends with dad. When he gets home from work, she goes up to the room with him to play while he changes out of his work clothes.

She's a great eater and so far loves all of the fruits and vegetables that we can give her! Aboutr a month ago, she got her first tooth on the bottom and we're waiting for the second one to pop through any moment!

Baseball Dayz

We have been having lots of fun this past month going to Ethan's baseball games! It's his first year of machine pitch and he's doing great. He is one of the youngest on his team and he's very proud of that! Owen, Audrey, Max, mom and dad all love sitting on the sidelines. Max and Owen have loved the "snack shaft" (shack) as Max calls it. They ask to get a treat from there every time we go to a game. Audrey has been doing well...crawling around and grabbing grass whenever she can. It's lots of fun and I am planning on many, many, many more games to come...with the 3 boys. So far, Ethan hasn't found a sport he doesn't like :)

Guns!

Here are our two "muscle men" Ethan and Max. They love to flex their guns and I think they look so grown up when they do! Ethan loves to work out and has a whole routine outside that he'll do a couple times a week. Max likes it for a few minutes...but that's about it!