The Polar Express...

Last Sunday evening we hopped in our van and headed to Connorsville, Indiana to ride the Polar Express! We waited to tell the boys where we were going until we hit the road and boy were they excited!



We have a DVD player in the van, but we only use it on trips, so the boys were totally excited to watch "The Polar Express". Noah also read the book on the trip and was proud of himself for turning pages and staying in time with the movie.



Once we arrived, we parked and walked to the train. It was amazing.

When we got to the "train station" we were greeted by the conductor and engineer. This was a special treat because they were sitting there together and getting to meet them was a special bonus.



The surprises kept on coming for the boys. Their best friends, Peter and James also showed up. Grandma and Grandpa Weldon treated their family to The Polar Express ride too! It was so fun to see Noah's face when he saw Peter.




Here are some pictures of the ride. We drank hot chocolate, ate cookies, sang Christmas songs and enjoyed visiting with the Weldon family. :)








We rode the Express all the way to the North Pole, picked up Santa and headed back to the station. All of our boys loved Jolly Old Saint Nick, even Collin, until he sat on Santa's lap. :)






Peter and his Grandpa were pooped! They crashed on the way back to the station!

It was a wonderful night full of the magic of the holiday season.
It was so much fun to experience this great night! Thank you Mom and Dad for the wonderful gift and for letting us tag along. We love you!

Thanksgiving...

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. We spent some time with both my family (minus my sister) :( and Aaron's in the evening (minus extended family) :(. I would post pictures, but, I took NONE! I don't know what is wrong with my brain! I used to take lots of pics. We ate too much and spent a lot of time enjoying the family God has given us.
Today, Aaron and I took the boys to the doctor. It was wonderful to have help on this venture. Usually the doc appt's are stressful, but with an extra set of eyes and hands, it was not too bad. Collin had his 2 1/2 year exam topped off with the flu mist and Noah had his flu mist. I'm so happy they don't have to get the shot anymore. Well, during Collin's exam, the doctor noticed that Collin's "birthmark" is located right over his spine. Apparently this can sometimes indicate spinal/ nerve problems so we will be going in a few weeks to get an MRI on our baby. As you may imagine, my heart sunk a little when I found out sweet Collin may have back problems, but I am comforted by the statistics ( only about 10% of the time is something wrong) and by the fact that God has this all worked out in the plan He has laid out for Collin's life. I am not looking forward to having my boy sedated, but it is the only way to give an MRI to a child. I will post the date when we have one set.
The good news, Collin is doing great and the Pediatrician is no longer concerned about his speech. :)

A wonderful week!

Where do I begin???
I want to start by thanking everyone who was a part of my amazing birthday week. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful people God has placed in my life!

Last Friday, my friend Erin came up to visit from northern Kentucky. We had a wonderful visit and our boys got along great. We both have 2 boys and it was great to watch them play together as we played catch-up. Thanks for coming up to see us!!



On Saturday, we celebrated by having dinner at Brio. It was great. We got a sitter for the kiddo's and enjoyed a nice meal with some of our closest friends. It was wonderful.


Mom and I.



Erika and I.


Stephany and I. Thank you for everything last weekend! I love you!



The Weldon family.



Megan and I.



Rosie and I.


Apparently I didn't get any pictures of Aaron and I:( I can't believe it! I also failed to photograph Joshua, Joe, my Dad and Phil! Sorry guys.
The weekend ended with a bang! My parents took the kids, Aaron and I to Connorsville, Indiana to ride the Polar Express! I will post another blog about that later. It was so fun and I cannot wait to share it will you.

Cowboy Noah....

Noah really thinks he is a cowboy. Seriously! This evening he fell right in front of Aaron and I. He just tripped and we both asked if he was okay he simply said, "the cowboy is okay". There you have it. :)

My birthday - part 2

Here are some pics I took throughout my afternoon off...



Yummy! Moe's Burrito + Chips + Water = FREE! ( added bonus : I only ate about 1/3, so I get to enjoy it for lunch today too!)



Amazing! Cold Stone Coffee ice cream with dark chocolate = FREE!!



Okay, so I was SOOO full from my lunch and birthday ice cream I decided to walk around The Greene a bit. I walked into Sephora, a newer store to The Greene, but brand new to me. I just didn't think it would be fun to take the boys in there, hmm wonder why.:) Well, I asked for a demo of make-up and this is how it turned out. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I seriously had rectangles of dark black eyeshadow, thick black WATERPROOF eyeliner (well below my eyes) and HOT pink lipstick. It was something~ not really something I would do EVER again, if you catch my drift. It was pretty funny!


I decided to ignore the way I looked and finish my outing with my FAVORITE treat! A nonfat Chai from Carribou = FREE!
It was a wonderful day! I was able to do everything I set out to do and even more!
In addition to all of this wonderful free food I have received:
1 free meal from First Watch
1 free dessert from BW3's
1 free dessert from Long Horn
1 free burger, fries and sundae from Red Robin
1 free meal from The Spaghetti Warehouse
&
1 free scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins
It was a wonderful birthday!!

It's my birthday !

So today is my 30th birthday. I started the day in the most wonderful way imaginable, Noah and Collin climbed into bed to cuddle with Aaron and I. These days cuddle time is quickly interrupted by Aaron or I dragging Collin to the potty, but after our potty trip, the boys and I covered up and I asked them if they knew what day it was. Noah quickly said, "it's your birthday!!" He broke out into song, this is what he said, "Happy birthday Mommy and chickens..." He sang the entire song and included the chickens until the end. I knew I was born on Mickey Mouse's 50th birthday, but I had NO idea that all chickens celebrate today too. What an honor! Collin also sang his version, "Happy Tirthday to tou, Mom". (note: the song from Collin was upbeat and exciting until he got to my name, then it sounded like there was another voice inserting a 'mom'.)It was the perfect start!
This morning I am looking forward to cleaning (only little) and around lunch time, Aaron's parents are coming over and I get some time off. I am planning on treating myself to some delicious free stuff! A free Moe's burrito for lunch, a free drink from Caribou while I do devotions and start my new journal (thanks Susan!) and if I have ANY room left I am going to have a delicious free ice cream from Cold Stone! Ahh to be the birthday girl!
I have to reflect for a moment, I remember turning 15 and saying how terrible it was that I was already 1/2 way to 30. I must have thought that 30 was so close to death that I might as well throw the towel in and call it a day. How funny. To be honest, I am happy to leave my 20's, I am ready for bigger and better, older and wiser. Have a great day, I certainly plan on it!

Collin

So for the last 3 or 4 months Collin has hated taking baths. He didn't even seem to like swimming last summer that much. Well, I am happy to report that as of last night he cannot get enough. It is like a switch has been flipped. The child rolled around in the tub, got his enitire face wet, he even laid on his back with his ears under the water. Aaron and I just looked at each other in shock. He even liked getting his hair rinsed out. It was such a joyful time for him. Praise the Lord, no bath tears for the first time in months!!
In other Collin news... potty training. Well, initially I thought he was super gifted in this area, but in August when I was first admitted to the hospital, the child that was day trained (in 9 days) wanted nothing to do with the potty. While he still has not "poo-pooed" in the potty since August, he can now stand at the potty and "pee-pee" all by himself. He doesn't even want me to hold his shirt up, so we go through a lot of shirts in a day, but he is doing great!! I am so proud of him.
Way to go big boy!

A Noah story for the books...

This evening at dinner, Noah was playing around in his chair and I told him he needed to settle down and eat. Well, after a bite he started to mess around again, so I told him he need to choose his next move wisely so this is what he did...
He put his hands up to his mouth and started to make a gun with them, I just watched to see what he would do next. Then to my surprise he bowed his head, folded his hands and said, "Dear God, thank you for my parents. Mommy I am praying to God right now."
I let him know he choose wisely, but boy am I interested to see what the future has in store.

FALL~ My favorite time of year!

A beautiful day!