Life according to Daddy's cell phone

I often forget to bring my camera along.

But, Peter always has his fancy phone on him.

I often forget that he has been taking pictures.

So, we finally uploaded the pictures.

In no particular order, here is what Peter has been photographing over the past few months.

Logan, at his friend Alex's birthday party (1/12)

Above: Logan and Marshall at preschool open gym.

Playing piano at a friend's house.

Happy Easter!!

And the winner is....

BRADY!!

On the Saturday before Easter, Peter and I took the boys to the annual Easter Carnival here in Farmington. While there, the boys got to play a bunch of games, win some candy, and see a big, freaky Easter bunny :).

Marshall was too scared of the giant bunny to join the picture. Do you blame him?

Anyways, while at the carnival, we also signed each boy up to win a bicycle that was part of a drawing.

Last Monday, I got the call that Brady was the winner! Talk about amazing luck (Peter just won us some Twins tickets at work last week too!).

Tuesday afternoon we headed over to Ace Hardware in town, so we could claim the bike and get pictures taken for the local newspaper.

Getting ready for his first ride.
The bike is big, but Brady is handling it quite well.

Congrats to my little sweetie for being the big winner!!
You deserve it, Brady.

Valentine's Day Part 2

Ok, so maybe I had a little too much fun with Valentine's Day this year, but the boys really enjoyed it. I think with all the stress from the sale of our house being lifted, it just feels good to have the time and energy to have some fun.

For dinner last night, we spread out the place mats that Logan made and put out the centerpiece that Marshall made. We even lit some pretty red candles to go on the centerpiece (thanks Katie).
Then we ate our red, heart-shaped pancakes and a special strawberry cream pudding pie with sprinkles.

Peter and I were also able to spend some time together last night, and we are all looking forward to the basketball game tonight.

Sorting through their Valentine's from school.

Simple dessert.

Waiting for dinner.

Goofy grin.

Valentine's Day Part 1

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Since the day is still young, I labeled this post "part 1". That does not guarantee however that there will be a part 2...just so you know :).

For Valentine's Day this year, Peter and I are taking the big boys to see a Timberwolves game tomorrow night. We were able to get tickets in the upper deck for $2 each, so it was definitely a win-win situation for the 4 of us attending the game.

My real Valentine this year is Peter (as he has been for the past 13 years). Unfortunately we won't be able to celebrate together, just the two of us, this year...away from the house anyways.
Now that the movie Courageous is available to watch On Demand, I am hoping we can spend an evening this week seeing that movie. I have heard excellent things about it!
I am so grateful for Peter and his love for me and for our family. He is an excellent husband, father, and provider for us and we are so blessed to have him!

For the boys....
Both Brady and Logan had Valentine's parties at school this week, where they received valentines from the kids in their classes. They both had such a great time writing out the valentines and then handing them out.
Today I have put a special emphasis on love and hearts in our house today.
Brady got a heart shaped note in his lunch at school, and I made heart lunches for Logan and Marshall.

Logan and Marshall also did some Valentine's Day crafts to decorate the house and Logan worked hard on some place mats to serve our special Valentine's Day surprise dinner on.

We also found our lost, red Elmo today that had been missing for the past few days. I was starting to think he must have fallen out of the car, but he was just hiding in the storage area.

The boys in the house are dressed in red today and the girls are dressed in pink (oh yeah, I guess that's just me).

The 4 Day of Christmas

After celebrating Christmas for 4 consecutive days, we were pleased to have a day at home today, cleaning and relaxing.
Instead of detailing each day of Christmas on my blog, I will just post about a million pictures and you can see for yourself how it went.

It was a great year!
Enjoy the pictures!

Cousins table

Christmas Day Brunch

Blurry, but all 5 of us together :).

Blurry, but so sweet, I had to post...

New mittens and scarves homemade by Nana.

Mickey Mouse! Marshall's favorite.

What a cute little family.

Reading the Christmas story with Great-Grams and Gramps

Do you think he likes it?

Tis The Season

Tis the season to put your children to work on making Christmas pictures to decorate your house.
A couple weeks ago, or was it last week (they all blend together sometimes), I had Brady and Logan draw pictures of Christmas trees for me.

Here is Brady and his drawing.


Today we'll be making our Christmas countdown paper chain. I know it's a little late, but this way it won't seem to take so long for Christmas to get here.

Happy Memorial Day

The End and The Beginning

It is with a heavy heart that I type this post today, but also with much rejoicing.
Today marks the end of our 6 years of daily phone chatting. That is, mine and Laura's.

I remember well when it started, back in June of 2005. Our conversations back then were primarily focused around the upcoming birth of precious Brady. You know what that means, right? Brady is almost 6!! How scary.
For about 2 years we'd chat in the mornings, usually around 9am or so. Lots happened during those 2 years. I moved twice, Laura moved once, and I had a second baby, but through it all, we kept chatting and chatting away at our same trusty time.

Then, somewhere around 2007 or so, we changed up our talk time to after lunch. The women that Laura worked with expected my calls each day and were always happy to hand over the phone. I talked during nap times, while going for walks, or playing with children. It didn't seem to matter. Some days we had many, many interruptions (like Vince calling Laura a million times or crying/fighting children at my place), but we patiently pressed on day after day after day.
It was too important to give up.
It was predictable, meaningful, and important to both of us and I loved it and needed it. We're best friends--always have been and always will be!!

For several years Laura struggled with her job. She wondered whether it would be best to stay or leave, and we prayed about it often. The stress was high, but the predictability was nice. Her co-workers caused stress, but also eased it at times. I remember many times of helping to search for new jobs, but then having Laura tell me that she'd stay put. Some great news came in March of 2010--part time work!!
Part time work was the GREATEST thing--it seemed.
It was wonderful having Laura around on Wednesdays and Fridays last summer. We had tons of time to spend together. We went to parks, water parks, picnics, the zoo, and just hung out. It seemed like we were together nearly every week.
But, Laura still struggled with her job, her stress, and her overall happiness. So we kept praying for a good answer.

I firmly believe that the answer came in January, when Laura got unexpectedly laid off. God had heard our prayers--all of them. Not only did He provide a way out of her current, stressful job, but He also gave her a well-deserved, unexpected 5 month vacation!
Laura cherished her time and used it wisely. She immediately jumped back into Weight Watchers with some great success, got into a great exercise routine, spent an amazing amount of time studying His Word, kept a very tidy house, did plenty of cooking and baking, made time for my children and me often, and also took the time to just enjoy her time off--doing the things she loves. Oh, and of course, we kept on talking, talking, and talking.

And then it happened...
A couple weeks ago, Laura was offered her dream job--more or less.
I found myself wanting badly to tell her not to take it. It hadn't been long enough. It seemed like we needed more time together and that she deserved more time off of work. But I knew it was her decision and that whatever she decided would be right. After all, I knew without a doubt that she had sought God's perfect guidance in her decision.

And so here we are, with the big day already here tomorrow.
I think I may have more butterflies in my own stomach than Laura does (she's much more laid back than I am) :).
So I guess it's the end--sort of. But only the beginning too--of a great job and a new chapter.

Laura has been there for me so many times and brought me through some really hard things. I'm not sure how she does it exactly, but she has a way with me that no one else does. I guess it's because we're sisters and best friends. I wish everyone had a best friend like Laura.

So Laura, as you read this post (and I know you will, my faithful blog commenter), I want to tell you how much I love you, how much I'll be praying for you as you begin your new journey, and what an amazing role model you've been for me. You are my best (as Brady would say), and I'd be lost without you.
I am looking forward to figuring out our new chatting schedule and hearing all about what God has in store for you with your new job. This company has no idea how lucky they are to be getting such a great woman. I just hope they realize that!!

Mother's Day

I had a fabulous Mother's Day this year!

What did I do? Well, nothing exactly.
What did Peter buy me? Nothing.
And, that's exactly what I needed. Nothing.

I had a great day spending time with my family, mostly at home.

We started the day off at church, made a simple lunch at home, and then played one of our favorite card games with Brady. Then, in the afternoon, Peter and I peeled potatoes and he made his famous hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes for dinner (in spite of the fact that he hasn't felt good for about 4 days).

Peter then took care of paying the bills for me, we played some more cards together, and then chatted in bed for a bit before drifting off.

It was a relaxing, peaceful day. Just the way I like my days to be.

Here are a few of our attempts at a Mother's Day picture.
Enjoy.

The camera was losing focus at this point.

The boys were losing focus at this point :).

Happy Mother's Day to all you great Mom's out there, and especially to my own Mom. I don't know what I'd do without you!! I love you, Mom.

Easter

It's hard to believe it was already over a week ago that we celebrated Easter.

With a sick family last week and then wisdom teeth extraction this weekend, I totally forgot to post some of our Easter pics.
Oh, and by the way, our family is fully healthy again (after 3 of us were pretty ill), and my teeth/gums are not hurting a bit. All good news!!

On Easter morning, Peter and the boys headed out to church and then up to Blaine to see family and cousins. Unfortunately, I had to stay behind, since that was the day I was hit with the stomach bug. I managed to drive up for part of the afternoon, but quickly became ill again, and headed back home.

Daddy and Logan searching for eggs on the dock.

Marshall helping Daddy find Logan's eggs.

Brady's basket.

Getting ready to collect eggs.

All 6 cousins together.

We are so thankful for all of our family at Easter and so lucky to live nearby and get to see them often.

But, we are most thankful for Jesus and for the sacrifice He made for us.

Happy Belated Easter to all.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day this year.
We did.

We spent the day with Auntie Laura, Cousin Katie and Addy, and Great Grandma and Grandpa.

Here are some of our red and pink pictures :).


Pink, heart-shaped pancakes for dinner.

Classic Brady smile :)

Big boy standing up.

Peter's luck came through once again this year too, as he won a stuffed bear and some chocolates for me, by correctly guessing how many heart-shaped candies were in a jar.

Great Grandparents

I am so thankful that my children have been blessed enough to know their great-grandparents.

I am also thankful that my grandparents have been blessed enough to know their great-grandchildren--all 6 of them now!

We love you Grams and Gramps, and we had so much fun visiting the other night.

Happy New Year!!

November

This month has been busy and that is why I have had a huge lack of blog posts lately. That, and many other, more personal reasons as well.
It feels like November just began and already we are celebrating Thanksgiving today. It only makes me realize just how fast my boys are growing up and how precious the days I have with them need to be. Often times life gets so busy that it is hard to view life in this way.

I could spend some time naming some of the many things that I have to be thankful for this year, but I honestly can't find the time or motivation to do it. I have been blessed for sure!!

My focus this month has been my husband. Peter and I have been through a lot this year and continue in our battle to be all God wants us to be. We are a long ways from having a perfect marriage, being perfect parents, and being followers of God the way He calls us to be.
But, we are trying. Now more than ever.
Peter and I have been spending every night together (mostly playing a really neat computer game or just relaxing on the couch together), and I've been staying up until midnight every night. I must say that I do not have time to blog because of this, but I would take this quality time with my husband any day over my blog. Peter means the world to me, and next come Brady, Logan, and little Marshall. These 4 men have my heart 100% and that's the way I love it!
Today Peter cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 8 adults and 3 children with very minimal help! He made some awesome sweet potato casserole and perfectly smooth mashed potatoes. It was a fantastic day of celebrating with my parents, Laura and Jason, and my uncle Dan and cousin Sarah. Marshall also had his first taste of homemade Thanksgiving dinner as well--he loved it!

Peter is also headed out now to track down some Black Friday specials with his brother. I'm sure he'll have some interesting stories to tell tomorrow (after I let him sleep the day away, of course).

Due to the fact that our camera broke last weekend, I don't have any good pictures of
Thanksgiving just yet. Here are a few from last weekend when we rode the light rail train downtown for the Macy's Christmas show.

On the light rail train. Logan was so excited!