And baby makes four!

Seriously, best Mother's Day ever. We planted this lilac tree on the Mother's Day before Koen was born and every year at this time we take a photo by it. Somehow Koen seems to be growing better than the tree, which suggests I'm a better mother than green thumb. This year, Ko and I get to share this photo with our special guest and newest family member, who's cute face will make their appearance in the next Mother's Day pic. We prayed and waited, then prayed and waited some more for this day to come. With no idea what our family would look like in five years, we are so appreciative for a second God-given miracle. How could we ever take for granted how blessed we are to have these children in our lives? "Children" applies to us now, woohoo!! I love getting older because life is constantly providing new perspective and wisdom that hopefully we will successfully pass down to our kiddos as they navigate this world. We have learned so much about patience, staying optimistic and appreciating how wonderful our lives are even if the journey is not what we expected. Priceless.

Time. Stop. Please.

This is an older picture, November '14 perhaps? At the moment we have no snow, and it's much too warm for a coat like this. But, for the sake of getting something, anything, on this blog, this will have to do. This little dude is swiftly approaching 4 and it takes my breath away. I'm sad and enjoying the journey all at the same time. I'm taking my fourth annual trip to Arizona with him and each year is so different as he reaches different stages in his development. No more diaper changes, nursing five times a night so he won't scream and wake the guests in the hotel room next to me, or wild tantrums making the trip more interesting. We have a kid that can't wait to get on a plane "in three movie nights" (three weeks), will swim by himself (with a life jacket), knows to look out for golf carts driven by occupants who lost their licenses long ago, and will sit through dinner because we ask him to. Each year feels a little more like vacation, and we have the special bonus of Dad/hubs joining us this time!!

Ko's interests at just over 3 1/2 years of age are peeling paper off of crayons - really, peeling labels/stickers/decals off of everything, making fire-starter out of his books and finding new enjoyment out of baby toys. He brought to me a crate full of current, age-appropriate toys and asked to switch them out for the baby toys in the barn. Fair enough. Makes no difference to me once I remove batteries... We now have an imaginary friend, (who can blame him?), and a cousin who miraculously shows up when he gets in trouble. It was Henry, Mom. The kid cracks me up daily, and I find serious contentment in our quality time together. Father time, just please go a little slower, because soon he'll be 18 and I just don't think I can handle him leaving our home.

Yikes, it's almost 2015

So nice to live right next to a pumpkin patch.

This family loves Fall.

This was his bed for awhile, then he tried the top drawer and broke it to pieces.

Plenty has happened since August and I thought I should try to get another blog post in before it's the New Year. We leave in two days for a nice long Christmas vacation to Wyoming to see family and we are more than excited for this trip. Koen is delighted he gets to stay in a "hotail". Just mention a hotel and he gets quite excited; he often brings ups random lodging experiences that are clearly etched in his memory. Ko is now 3 1/2 and cracks us up daily. He is happy go lucky and thinks just about everything is funny. He dotes on every baby he sees and he loves, I mean loves his friends... to the point that some of them come to me and ask for some space. I'll take all of that love I can get, so as long as he lets me, I will cuddle him til he cries. Wait, maybe that's where he gets it. He's an odd sleeper. He only sleeps in his bed for a little while at night, then he tries different places, like his clothes drawer, the couch, and our floor. Sometimes he snacks at 2 in the morning and we wake up to find bread and fruit shrapnel sprayed all over our living room. At this age Ko particularly adores Curious George, garbage trucks, seaweed snacks, babies, riding bikes, mud, grocery stores, the Ants go marching song, eggs and bacon, "hamburbers", hotails, playgroups, the list goes forever. He clearly dislikes tomatoes, cheese, loud noises, and dad going to work. I'm sure that list will grow once he gets into high school.

Justin and I are doing well, and it's been nice having him home a little more often now that it's winter. We enjoy talking about our future, trips we'll take, investments we'll make and what our family will look like in the next five years. One thing for certain is we are so blessed to be living where we are and to have such important friends and family in our lives. One major blessing we can't dismiss is that he was home with his family this year and not serving in Afghanistan. We're looking forward to what 2015 has in store for us and we hope the blessings continue.

He's one, two, three!

Sliding down the slide backwards, Aug '14

This little cutie is three and some change and I adore every minute of it, even when he's not being so adorable. I'm loving the more advanced level of communication and understanding that comes with being three. He's still a rather easy child who's only grumpy on rare occasions. While he has generally not been a risk taker in the past, lately I'm noticing a desire to push his boundaries and see how far he can go before getting hurt. He has a wonderful imagination so I get plenty of me time while he's playing with his toys. I've noticed little to no artistic capability or interest, but he's obsessed with numbers and letters, already sounding out 3-4 letter words and recognizing two digit number combinations like 67. He has a cute little lisp and is hard to understand at times, but he cracks us up on a regular basis with his remarks about life. Just yesterday he announced, "P is for penis. Koen has a penis and mom has a booty."Hmm, we'll cross that bridge at a later date. After months and months of enforcing manners, he's finally consistently being polite. If I ask him to put his pj's on for bed, he replies "um, no thank you."

Loving the ducks at the zoo, May 2014

This special gift

When life throws unexpected curve balls that literally brings you to your knees, sometimes in order to move forward it's vital to switch focus to the things that are important and present. Through gushing tears and agonizing heartache, the picture of a perfect child can ignite a tiny flicker of hope that otherwise was lost. It's a reminder that life has already been blessed a million times over. Today I focus on God's greatest gifts. I choose faith and love and gratitude. One day this will all make sense and until then we take it one day at a time.

AZ love.

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The never-ending eye color debate...

While most folks tell me what a handsome blue-eyed blondie I have, to which I simply say thank you, I have forever been struggling to determine if my son's eyes are hazel like his Dad's or just brown. Because they're clearly not one way or the other, guess I'll stick with hazel since it makes the most sense. Hmm, I may have too much time on my hands...