Mommy's Going Away Party

Mommy only has one more week left at work which I know she is sad about. Dr. Paul and the girls threw her a going away party last weekend at Macaroni Grill and Daddy went with her to say goodbye to everyone. I can't believe Mommy has worked at Monument longer than I've even been born! It's crazy! She tells me she's going to miss the people she works with and especially the animals she gets to take care of, but hopes she can find an even better clinic to work at in Illinois when she's ready again.

We have packed up just about everything we can. Everything else that's still out is stuff we still use on a daily basis so we can't really do anything about that. I'm super excited for Gramma and Grandpa to come out (even though I won't even get to see Grandpa until we're back in Chicago). Mommy says I'll have a new movie to watch on the plane ride home if I'm a good boy!

Birthday Party

This weekend we went to Logen's 4th birthday party. Logen is Miss Brielle's son, and he used to go to daycare with me at Miss Brandi's house. It was a very nice day out for the party, which was outside. We jumped on the trampoline, rode in PowerWheels, saw the horses and goats and chickens, and ate pizza and cake! It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the party!

Painting Pop's Houses!

Pops made me some awesome houses for my wooden train set for Christmas and we finally got around to painting all of them last week. They look so cool! Mommy and Daddy helped me set up and got the paint ready, but I did all the tough work by myself! I made Dee's Diner, Charlie's Chowhouse, Sara's Sweets (a fudge and ice cream shoppe), Dr. T's Pet Hospital, and Jeremy's Garage. Pop's actually named the garage for me, and that is by far my favorite. I love putting my Matchbox cars in the little garage openings and parking lines of them along the outside.

Thanks Pops!

Snakes and Lizards!

Mommy took Jaxson and I to the zoo last Thursday. It was a beautiful day out and the sun was shining. I got to walk instead of sitting in the stroller and Mommy had to practically run to keep up with me! Because it was so nice out, all the animals were out in their exhibits and I wanted to see all of them! And we did, too! My favorites of the day were the otters playing in the water, the birds flying over me in the aviary, and the lizard and snake we saw in the reptile house. Enjoy the pictures!

Dragon Lizard

Green Tree Snake

Crazy bird standing on one leg

I found a really neat bench that looked like a turtle shell!

Mommy's favorites, the giraffes. All four of them were out!

Me outside of the elephant exhibit

Mommy got a Flip Video Camera for Christmas so we have been using it to shoot videos. Here are a few of what we have shoot in the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Love,

Jeremy

Here is a video of Daddy, Grampa, and I at the zoo, by the jaguars.

Here I am pretending to be the motorcycle cop that pulls everyone over.

Oh boy... It's been a long time. One of our New Year resolutions was to update more often, and you can all see what a great job of that we've been doing. :( If you noticed, Mommy helped me decorate our layout with a little bit of "boy" flair so hopefully that will inspire us to write more. We do have lots to update everyone with, so bear with me while Mommy helps me get this all down.

We left off shortly after Thanksgiving. December was a fun month, getting the house ready for Christmas and watching the present pile under the tree grow each day. Mommy and Daddy told me the Nativity story and got me my OWN set to play with, so I set that up underneath the tree and played with it almost every day. Mommy and Daddy kept telling me that if I was a good boy, Santa would come on Christmas Eve after I had gone to bed and leave more presents under the tree for me. I'm not too sure on this whole Santa thing, but there were a bunch of presents for me under the tree on Christmas morning that weren't there when I went to bed the night before. Weird.

I got lots of awesome toys, too many to talk about. But I did get some new Thomas toys (and Thomas books and clothes and silverware!) and you'd better believe those were some of my favorites. Mommy thinks next year will be even better since I'll understand the whole Santa thing a lot better than I did this year.

Gramma and Grampa came out the day after Christmas to visit with us and they brought all sorts of stuff with them, too! Christmas was like 2 weeks long at our house, it was crazy! While Gramma and Grampa were here, Nana and Pops came down to visit as well. Uncle Ron and Stephen came with them, and we had a very nice time seeing everyone. Pops made me some wooden houses that fit with my train set. Mommy got some paint and we sat down one day and painted the houses all sorts of cool colors. There are a few pictures below of our painting afternoon. I had a lot of fun combining all the colors.

The biggest news we have is that Daddy's job is taking him back to Chicago! Daddy isn't 100% sure yet when he will be starting there, but me and Mommy and Jaxson are going to be leaving on Feb. 21st to go live with Gramma and Grampa until we are able to find a house of our own. I am SO excited to see them everyday! And we will get to see Max and Drake and Savanna whenever we want to! It will be great. I know Mommy and Daddy are pretty excited too, but they have been a little stressed trying to figure things out. I have been doing my best helping them pack and staying out of the way when I think that's the best thing. Daddy says it will be COLD when we move back, but I'm really excited for the chance to take Jax into the snow like I got to play in it last year! Maybe we can even go sledding if we get some good snow! That would be so cool!

Enjoy the pictures and we will keep you updated on the move.

Love,

Jeremy

Jaxson napping after a full day of watching football with Daddy and me. It's tiring work, believe me.

Tummy time.

Painting with Mommy!

I guess we had finished the houses at this point and ventured onto paper...

Christmas morning, opening one of my many presents.

My new Woody & Buzz ornament! Can't wait to hang it on the tree next year!

Baby Jax with his stocking on Christmas morning. He was pretty happy to see his stocking full of goodies!

In Thanksgiving

Hey everyone,

I tried to get Mommy to post a blog on Thanksgiving weekend, but we had company over so we never got around to it. We had so much fun with everyone! Mommy cooked a really big meal and we had Nana & Pops, Matt & Rachel, Rachel's mom and sister, and Uncle Spirit all over to eat with us. The food was good and getting to see everyone was even better. Mommy was sad to not be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with Daddy because he had to work, but I think spending Sunday afternoon with everyone made up for it.

Mommy asked me if she could share a few things with you today and I figured that was okay with me, so I will turn it over to her.... Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Christmas is right around the corner, and supposedly this fat guy named Santa is watching me right now and will bring me presents if I'm a good boy....sounds interesting, but that would be fine with me!

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I hope this finds you all happy and healthy, preparing for the wonderful time of the year that is Christmas. We are all getting very excited around here, decorating the house and wrapping presents. Aga and Aga are coming to visit us the day after Christmas and we are really looking forward to that. With all the hustle and bustle of the season it seems we sometimes forget what it is really all about. I will write more on the love our amazing God has for us, but first I wanted to get back to Thanksgiving and share a few things I am truly thankful for...

Not getting to spend Thanksgiving Day with my husband (or any family, for that matter) was more difficult than I thought it would be. Thanksgiving is a day for gathering with those you love and sitting around while eating, relaxing, and laughing. I was not able to do any of that as I had two small children to take care of, a broken washing machine to fix, a car with a dead battery, an empty pantry, and a heart full of frustration and bitterness. It seemed like every time I turned around something else was going wrong or breaking and I could not stop feeling sorry for myself. The baby was fussy, my 2 year-old kept screaming and asking for his binky (which he had given up months ago), and here I was, exhausted with unbrushed teeth, greasy hair, and an overflowing basket of laundry that was staring me down. I simply wanted to lock myself in the bathroom, let my greasy hair down, and cry (which I ended up doing but not until Robb came home and I could justify it...!).

And yet, in my selfish state, I realized something. I realized that I had many things to be thankful for and although I was having a bad day (ok, 4 or 5 bad days in a row...) I would not let it overshadow how full and rich my life indeed was.

My husband may have had to work on Thanksgiving, but at least he had a job in this horrible economy and was able to provide for his family, to be able to put food on the table and at the same time have enough left over to provide entertainment and toys for his children as well. That was something to be thankful for.

My children may have been driving me absolutely crazy, but I loved them with all my heart and soul and they were my life. To say that my children are a blessing in my life is a gross understatement. They are my everything. There is not a day that goes by where I don't look into their beautiful blue eyes and feel God's immense love for me, for us. They are happy, healthy, gorgeous boys who know they are loved in this horrible world of child abuse and neglect, and that was something to be thankful for.

My hair may have been greasy and my car may have been dead, but at least I had a home to take a shower in and at least I had a safe, reliable car to call my own. It is always a pain to have to take care of car troubles, but it is something that we can afford and we are lucky enough to not have to choose between fixing the car and putting food on the table. And I know that no one cares my hair is greasy except for me. My kids love me because I play with them, and feed them, and tell them bedtime stories, and hug them when they cry...they could care less what I look like. My dogs love me because I take them for walks, and keep them healthy and vaccinated, and throw the ball for them, and let them sleep under the covers with me...they could care less what I look like. My husband loves me because of my sense of humor, and they way my nose wrinkles up when I laugh, and how I cry everytime I see a hurt animal, and the awesome train tracks I help my son to build, and because of the love I have for him...he could care less what I look like.

I have an amazing family, and amazing friends, and two hyper, loving dogs, and a great job that I actually love doing (how many people can say that?), and a beautifully messy house with a broken washing machine, and sooooooo many things to be thankful for.

Sometimes you just have to put it into perspective.