Some new pics of the kids

I took these photos of the kids last weekend. Recently got a new camera so have been trying it out. I'm lovin it!!

Visiting the horse ranch

I have not been very good at updating my blog lately. There has been quite a bit going on and the kids are now out of school which makes for a much busier household! About two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit Crystal Peak's ranch. It's a ranch that takes in abused or injured horses and they care for them. Their main goal was to get abused kids together with the abused horses. But, other kids are allowed to come and visit the ranch too. Since Jorie's daddy helped do some stereo work for the ranch, they said Jorie could have some riding lessons! She was thrilled to say the least! For her first lesson, Josh and I came along as well. It's so beautiful out there! And this particular day we were there, the weather was perfect. Josh enjoyed running around and seeing the horses as well as playing on the swings they had there. It was a fun day. :)

Zoo Snooze

This weekend, we took Jorie to the zoo for a Girl Scout's event. They actually had the opportunity to sleep overnight at the zoo in a tent!! Jorie's troop is very small. There are only 5 girls total and one couldn't make it due to illness. So, there were just the 4 girls and the 2 leaders! Since I couldn't get in for the sleepover portion of it (the waiting list was way too long!) Steve and I decided to go together and meet up with Jorie and her friends the next morning to tour the zoo together! I guess it was pretty amazing and Jorie learned alot about the animals and got to go behind the scenes at the zoo! Fun! It was a beautiful weekend for the campout too! Steve recently ordered me a new camera so the zoo trip was the perfect chance to try it out. I like it much better than the last one which had a tendancy to blur so many of our photos!!

A discovery

It was on this weekend 14 years ago that we lost Aaron. In some ways it feels like just yesterday and in others it feels like a lifetime ago. So much has changed since that time. After Aaron died, I was given the chance to pick out several items of his to save and remember him by. Several years ago, I packed them all up into a box and shut them way up in our attic where I must've thought they'd be safe. However, as the years have gone by, I must've forgotten they were up there and simply thought they had been thrown out accidentally. I was very sad at this thought. These items help bring a small piece of Aaron back to me and I couldn't help but feel sad that they were gone. However, late last night as Steve and I were laying in bed talking...we heard some loud squeels and scratching sounds. It was unlike anything I've ever heard before and it sounded like it was coming from our attic! So, this morning we decided we better go up there and check it out. To our surprise, we didn't see anything. Not even a trace of an animal, rat, mouse, racoon, nothing! Now that doesn't mean there isn't something living up there. But, we certainly didn't see ay evidence. But, while Steve was up in the attic today, he noticed the box I had saved with my Aaron keepsakes in it. He brought it down and we looked through it. Inside was a pinecone I had saved from the campgrounds where he had drowned... I had also saved 3 of his favorite shirts, the cologne he used to wear, two roses he had given to me....(dried and shriveled up of course), a drawing he had given me of myself (one of many, actually) and believe it or not the bag of black licorice I gave to him as he left for his camping trip that Memorial Weekend. I guess I saved it all these years as it was the last thing I gave to him before he died. I remember being handed several of his things that he had with him at the campsite that weekend. And the bag of unfinished licorice was one of those things. We had a little inside joke about how he and I loved black licorice. So many don't like it. But, he and I loved it. :) Anyway, I can't help but think of how ironic it was that we found this box of things on the weekend anniversary of his death! It was a special surprise. It took me right back to 1997 when he was here and it brought a smile to my face as I remembered those times with Aaron. I know we will see him again one day.

A break from blog posts

It may be a while before I am able to post again! Josh got ahold of his daddy's wire cutters last week and cut a wire on our main computer! Kind of hard posting from my phone! We are looking forward to having my parents home again! They've been in Hawaii for the past week and a half. A much needed break for them. Will try to post again soon!

Looking forward to summer!

Summer is just around the corner! I can't wait for walks to the park with my boy and his wagon or trips to the Old Mill with the kids so they can walk, drive, or ride their bike!! This is going to be a very busy summer and it's filling up already! Jorie's last Brownie meeting is this week and she completed Awana last week. Hard to believe that Ryan has almost finished his first year of highschool! So proud of my kids and how hard they have worked. I hope the summer doesn't fly by too quickly!!

My baby is FOUR!!!

Yesterday was Josh's 4th birthday!! But, today was the party. We celebrated it with family. We had 2 grandpa's, 1 great grandpa, 2 grandma's and one great aunt come!!! Not to mention Ryan's friend, James. Such a fun day!! I really feel that 4 is definitely the end of baby-ness. I mean 3, you can still sort of get away with calling them baby. But, once they turn 4, they are a little boy/girl. :( Makes me sad at how fast my babies are growing up! We have been so incredibly blessed to have Josh in our lives. We often talk about the fact that if we hadn't lost baby #3, Josh may never have even been born. My third pregnancy was one of the hardest for me. The nausea hit really early and I was immediately in bed for 5 weeks. Some of that time on IV's to keep me hydrated. After we lost that baby, it took alot of faith for me to go through that again. Not only because of the fear of another miscarriage. But, for the fear of having to endure such wretched nausea for months and months! That's why we feel Josh is such a miracle. He was the only baby out of all 4 pregnancies that I didn't experience the extreme Hyperemesis with. I probably felt the nausea that most pregnant women feel. Meaning I didn't feel all that great. But, it was NOTHING like the past pregnancies. I always felt that God blessed us for taking that leap of faith to try again.

Josh wanted a rainbow cake for his birthday this year. So funny to me that he requested that. But, a rainbow cake was what he got!! He got a new shopping cart, play food and a cash register so he and Jorie can play store together. Something they love to do together. He also got a Mater truck from the movie "Cars". When you push it, it actually blows bubbles! And several other gifts. He was a happy boy!