our simple happiness.

it's been awhile...

2010-05-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

i haven't posted an update in a long, long time...

following are a few updates from the past few months:

~logan is finally finished with surgeries. done. done. done. his last surgery was by far our best experience - hospital stay, length of surgery, recovery - so we went out with a bang. he has a follow up with the doctor on may 14th and he should be released to do what he wants! yeah!

~i had a really great time spending time with a few "old" friends in april. nice birthday gift!

~i officially have another semester under my belt! it was actually a really enjoyable semester. i got to spend some time in a classroom and i had trig which i love.

~i have been sewing, sewing, and more sewing. i don't do it enough! it's such a release for me - time to myself. although i have no baby girls, i do have lots of friends with baby girls (and one on the way - E!) and a neice that have been so kind to sport my little sundresses. i'm not my mother at all but i do enjoy it.

~the boys are doing t-ball right now which is a blast! we've only had a hand full of games but it's already been a great season. jaxson has come a long way from his outfielding last year which consisted of picking flowers and tossing his hat into the air. logan hit a homerun last week! i was one proud mama. we weren't sure if he was even going to get to play this year - so it was pretty sweet!

~angie is having a rough time right now. one of her close co-workers, cole, lost his baby girl Sophie to a sudden illness. she was only 4 years old and such a beautiful little girl. it's made us realize that we need to hold our own a little tighter and hug/kiss them every chance we get. she is such a tender person & does not do well at all with things like this. so she's on my mind today as she goes to the funeral.

~the vacation countdown is on! we are lucky enough to be traveling twice this summer. only 51 days until we head north to canada and three weeks later we will be heading south to myrtle beach. we are very excited for both. we LOVE the beach so much, but i am also looking forward to sharing my childhood vacations of canada with the boys. my parents were kind enough to treat us to our trip north - which for those of you who understand is a big deal. my entire family - mom, dad, matt, betsy, landon, angie, logan, and jaxson - will be enjoying a week together.

that's all i can remember for now. hope everyone is well...

xoxo.

strong, strong boy

2010-01-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

previous post:
logan has a 3 month follow up with his doctor on 1/14. he is doing perfect - so perfect i fear he's going to suggest we go ahead and get surgery #4 done and over with so we can move on. i'm not ready to hear the words but i am definately ready to be done with this mess. the older he gets the worse the emotions get - for all of us. the tears before they take him away are about all i can handle.

bingo. mama always knows. exactly what happened. still waiting on a date.

dr. collins, "well buddy i think we need one more surgery."
logan, "okay i'm just ready to get this over with."

breaks a mama's heart. :(

happy 2010.

2010-01-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

i'm a little late but how about a new year's blog.

i am almost as horrible about keeping resolutions as i am about updating this blog! :) but i do have some 2010 hopes and drems and i'll share...

+ a healthy weight would be good. i'm okay not being skinny but feeling good about myself would be nice. working from home is wonderful but miserable for exercise. AND also being in school is not good for finding time for myself to just get out an walk around the block. AND the fact that my parents now own a pizza shop is miserable too. i'll find a happy balance and make it work. i've had a little wake up call this year so i know what i need to do.

+ 2009 was seriously tough year on us financially. we are both really thankful for great jobs with great benefits; however, in early 2009 we were $$$$ drained which meant emotionally just flat out crazy! it wasn't just one thing in particular it just seemed like everything was really bad timing. well - i take that back - our gas bills would make your hair stand up! anyway, we are starting out 2010 in a MUCH MUCH MUCH better place. we really focused ourselves as a couple, made some changes, and made one really conservative budget. it's worked and we are so thankful.

+ SEE MORE OF MY FRIENDS AND THEIR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN!!! no need to elaborate. it's a must. i miss them all so so much. i'm missing out on wonderful babies that i am dying to get to know and some of the best friends i can even imagine. i had a few years of finding myself, but i am ready. i want to pick up where we left off.

+ school. school. school. i really want to find that drive that i had a few years back to just - GET. SCHOOL. DONE. i am doing the 4 year degree on the 10 year plan but it's the only thing that works for us. it's slow, but i'm there. i'm going to graduate and that's really the only thing that i've wanted for the past 8 years since i became a mama.

+ the given wish list items... healthy, happy children, less work, more play! :)

for now, i'm going to play games with two very handsome little boys, wait on angie to make it home from walmart with our "stock up" groceries, & then wait on the million inches of snow we are supposed to be getting!!

2010-01-05T17:30:00.001-08:00

almost 8.

almost 5.

baby landon.

for the stalkers.... :) or vd...

2010-01-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

blog update promise = failure. so i got the smack put right in my face by some of my favorite girls... so this one is just flat out for spite.

christmas = nutso!!!! woah! i seriously feel like i didn't sleep for 48 straight hours and just tried to fit everything/everyone's visits in my two days off. we did it, and came out knowing what we already knew.... I HAVE SOME SPOILED children! we just finally finished tucking everything away this past weekend.

the warm bodies at our house are all doing great!

logan has a 3 month follow up with his doctor on 1/14. he is doing perfect - so perfect i fear he's going to suggest we go ahead and get surgery #4 done and over with so we can move on. i'm not ready to hear the words but i am definately ready to be done with this mess. the older he gets the worse the emotions get - for all of us. the tears before they take him away are about all i can handle.

jaxson is a blast. i worry about him he is so much like me - ornery and will just tell it like it is! he is very caring which i love. he made keychains for everyone for christmas and wanted to attach a nice note to each one of them... my grandpa's...

dear papaw jack,
i love you and you give me really great ice cream. i enjoy it.
love, jaxson

he is really worried about his teacher and her baby boy & since my blog stalkers are very faithful please say a little prayer for little wesley. when she was like 7 months pregnant they found out he had a heart condition and his chances were 50/50 and to make matters worse he was born 6 weeks early... so the little guy has to fight everyday to stay alive. he misses her so much, so when logan has his doctor's appointment we are going to take her a care package! :)

the big birtday weekend is coming up!!!

8 & 5 - not possible! we are not going to do the traditional birthday party. instead we are going to spend the night in columbus at one of the indoor waterparks and then on saturday do COSI. Can you even imagine jaxson and his little space/science mind at COSI?!?!? i can't wait!

anyway, i'll try not to wait so long till the next time... BUT - vd if you are such a blogger stalker where is yours?!?!?!?!?

xoxo

464675978th time....

2009-12-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

is a charm! that is how many time's i've decided i was going to keep this blog up to date. zero is the number of times i've stuck with it!

angie has decided she wants to help and it's a "neat" concept so we'll give it the old hostuttler/merritt try. maybe all it takes is a nagging partner to make it work! :)

ok... so where in the world did september/october/november/december go?!?!?! seriously! i feel like i just put away the beach toys and now our house is sparkly with christmas trees... 3.5 to be exact. it's beautiful.

the kiddos of course are ready for the santa man to come! i'm pretty sure this is the last year logan is going to believe... and jaxson is all geared about about the solar system model and remote control trantula on his list. :)

work is going fantastic for both of us. angie is trying to balance a dual lead position while i'm trying (and i said trying!) to get used to working from home. which means by thursday i'm on the verge of poking my eyes right out of my head! it's getting better and the benefits far outweigh my going crazy. school is school - no fun but necessary.

funny jaxson story:
little boy in his class, "who makes fruit roll ups?"
jaxson, "duh. jesus. he makes everything."

merry christmas!

Solar System: Lesson 2

2009-09-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jaxson, "Mommy did you know that the Earth 'irritates' on it's axis?"
Mommy, "Really? Don't you mean rotates?"
Jaxson, "No. It irritates!" (With much conviciton!)

Props To Logan: 3rd week in a row with 103 on his spelling tests!!!!

:)

Seriously - they rock!

PreK Day One...

2009-09-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

Teacher: Please stand up and say your name and where you are from.
Jaxson: My name is Jaxson, I am from planet Earth, and that is the third planet from the sun.

My son is exactly the reason I want to be a teacher. :)

help a girl out.

2009-09-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

ok - so i thought i could do this. a blog. it's simple. but as you can tell from my 9 month hiatus my blogging skills - not so much.

now i have to dig deep and find the motivation to keep this up to date at least once a week for the next 16 weeks... if i've lost you - i have to blog once a week about a children's book (which we love at our house!) in order to weazel my way a little closer to that cap and gown. so humor me - give me some feed back. my grade depends on it! and as emily love to remind me every chance she gets - my crazy perfectionist personality would not be okay with a "B"!

so - help me!

the family - fantastic. logan is already loving 2nd grade and jaxson is busting at the seams to start preschool. angie is taking on an extra "load" at work which i think she secretly loves and i am just plugging along with school and getting ready to start working from home. seriously - that's a good job right!

we just recently got a new car - which we love - and for the first time in the 4 years that we've been together sat down and mapped out a plan. we are both famous for having big crazy plans that we swear we are going to stick to - they typically don't last through the day - but this one is sticking.

we are on the five year plan. graduation for meg, debt paid off with the exception of student loans and house, logan's head fixed, graduate program for angie, relocation to teach in the morgantown area or some where south (um - this is not part of angie's plan but absolutely mine).... we'll see how we grow...

anyway, at some point this weekend i will post my first entry for children's lit. i'm sure it won't be profound but whatever gets me through the class. i suppose i shouldn't use jaxson's favorite book series - Walter the Farting Dog! :) funny every single time! definately my child!

looking forward to a nice, long, holiday weekend!

wrapped up and ready!

2008-12-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

angie and i had a wonderful time yesterday. we went to finish our christmas shopping and just had a date. we went to dinner and did our business at toys r us, the mall, and got groceries at walmart. we had a blast. nothing spectacular happened - we were just totally enjoying each other and being together. i love it when we have days like that. oh wait - an afterthought - something spectacular did happen - i got new shoes compliments of my girl! :)

when we got home i wrapped all the boys toys up and they are ready for santa to put them under the tree. angie is such a sucker. we had a very specific list to get at toys r us and we sooooo did not stick to our list. i've come to the conclusion it's a lost cause to not totally spoil them. angie totally defeats my purpose. she can't pass up anything she's in love with getting them. her self control is pitiful when it comes to her boys! :) but - in reality - that's why i love her!

next weekend is baby landon's baby shower (and his mama too!). i am so excited. the decorations are in a frog theme and not overly "baby". we wanted to do something out of the ordinary that wasn't the run of the mill baby shower. i made the centerpieces out of cattails and we used green and brown to decorate.

as of 9:00 on wednesday night i will be DONE with this semester. i am so glad. i feel so out of touch with everything because i am either at work or at school. i haven't seen my baby girl lilly in probably a month and that's just shameful. how am i supposed to be her favorite aunt when she never sees me? :) i'm going to do better as soon as school is out.

so most of you who know jaxson and his little outgoing personality know he says some really hilarious stuff. so i have a quote. at 4:00 am a few nights ago he came to get in bed with us and he had some sleepy stuff in his eyes and he said, "mommy i think i have crumbs from my cheerios in my eyes." i thought it was hilarious. :)

until next time... keep warm.

happy birthday to my blog.

2008-12-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

so i'm tired of myspace but want to keep up with everyone so i thought i would try a blog. i'm addicted to reading my friend emily's blog and looking at pictures of her beautiful new baby girl. so i'm going to give it a try.

school sucks. i am so tired. i am in a seriously awful funk this semester. i am working 10 hour days at a new job that i am still learning and then that is mixed with school (and some incredibly boring professors) and two active little ones = bitchy meg! :) i feel sorry for my family sometimes.

we had an awesome trip to north carolina to visit the Kinney's and the Eddy's/Faison's. the weather was beautiful - 60's one day. the boys loved being able to tag along with alyssa. she was great with them. at times jaxson can be a bit overwhelming but she was a champ. they love her. it was a pretty uneventful trip up and back; however, normal kids sleep on roadtrips, right? ours do not! we figured this out in the summer coming home from the beach when they did not close their eyes for 12 hours. this trip was no different. for 8 hours we sang christmas carols and told jokes and laughed and drove mommy and gigi nuts!! :) we did some shopping while we were there (got some killer deals on a few christmas gifts at macy's!), ate lots of turkey, and celebrated a dinner out for val's national board certification. it was a great time.

today - i got to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law after her doctor's appointment and had breakfast and then finished up the shopping for their baby shower. i got to see the newest pictures of my baby boy landon that is on the way. i can't wait. only a few more months.

christmas is quickly approaching. santa is pretty much done shopping for logan and jaxson at our house. angie and i are having a date night on saturday to finish up. we got somewhat creative this year with gifts for others which i am really excited about. :)

i am "technically" supposed to be writing a research paper on civil rights but... i'm blogging instead. so back to it. i'll try to post often. who knows... :)