Friday fun

Beloved,  

let us love one another,

for love is from God,

and whoever loves

has been born of God

and knows God. 

1 John 4:7

Oh, how I do love a happy Friday with my two happy babes!

Things my kids say…

I love watching Ellie and Cullen’s verbal skills and personalities grow.  They say some of the funniest things!  I am going to try to keep a list, so they can look back when they are older and laugh as hard as we do!

Ellie:

It’s hot ~ I need some shave (instead of shade)

Oh, mommy there is a madult movie on (when something comes on dis.ney or Nick that they are not allowed to watch)

My legs are exhausted (when she is tired of walking at the store)

Daddy do YOU know where to put your shoes?? (because I asked her to put daddy’s shoes in his closet and she was not pleased)

Mommy who do you think I’ll marry when I get older (she is such a girly girl…I blame all the disney princess movies for her obsession with weddings)

Dear God, thank you for ……. and thank you for Jesus, I miss Him (during our dinner prayer the other night)

The other day she asked me if we could do something…I gave her the mom answer of “probably” and she looked at me and said, “Probably means YES”

 

Cullen:

Momma (it’s not funny or different, but every single time he says momma my heart just melts.  Ellie has always called me Mommy, so where he got momma from is beyond me but he is set on it and will NOT say mommy…which is just fine with me)

Leaf me alone

I go underneaf (in the pool)

kiss it…my nose (when he wants a kiss he always starts with kiss it…and then tells you what he wants you to kiss)

I need some ice cold (when he wants a drink from the fridge)

I go see coach…she’s booful (every morning when I put his gym clothes on him)

There you go momma

I nuggle you (when he wants to snuggle)

I luf you momma

want to race…rum, rum, rum (when he is playing alone with his little cars

No, I didn’t, I didn’t ~ all gone (if you ask him if he needs to use the bathroom)

shoe, E ~ it’s dinky (if he smells and unpleasurable scent)

mmmmm, that’s licious momma (eating yummy food)

_____ won’t listen me (if he is trying to get someone’s attention and they don’t acknowledge him and he says this while shaking his head no)

Every single time Ellie and I come out from getting dressed he looks up at us and says, “So booful” and then he points to himself and says, “Cullen handsome” 

A one way ticket…

back to reality!

 

I’ve struggled in the last year (if you asked B he would say even longer) with how to approach our treatments for our cystic fibrosis. 

It’s hard because having 3 people in one house that have CF is no picnic!  I’ve blogged before about the HOURS and HOURS worth of treatments every.single.day that I would be responsible for.  If you add in the sterilizing after each persons treatments combined with our normal day activities I would probably never even get out of the front door.

So, I’ve found myself approaching CF treatment from a more reactive point of view VS. proactive.  (which is so odd if you know me.  I am totally the type of person to be proactive first to prevent any possible derailments)

I am being totally honest when I say it’s solely because:

1)my kiddos and myself have had a really great past few months health-wise

2) the time involved with CF treatments for 3 is a total nightmare 

Do I kick myself in the butt when one of them gets sick…YES!  But I wanted to do some major butt kicking this past weekend and the only person to blame was ME!

I’ve been feeling very run down and generally, under the weather for over a week.  My body never declared itself one way or the other that it was sick, but I just knew something was brewing.  Still, I kept my busy schedule and even went out of town for a few days.  On my little get a way I really started feeling run down.  I returned home to more of the same.  On Sunday, it all came crashing down.  The cough, the exhaustion and then the blood in the sputum.  It scared the death out of me! 

I was furious with myself because it was a slap in the face that we have a serious disease that IS progressive and NEEDS treatment to be kept at bay.  I was scared because for the first time I thought maybe I would be sent to the hospital for treatment and who would be here to take care of my babies.  It was just a brutal reminder of what our reality is. 

B and I have been organizing things lately.  In our house and in life.  I feel like there is a reason for this.  We have to simplify a few things in life in order to  make room for the things that are truly needed.

This momma needs to get it together!!

Here are some (horrible quality) i-phone pics of my babies last week as we prepared for family pictures! 

And one of my little princess.  Funny story about this picture.  Ellie wanted Cullen to play dress up with her.  He wanted to play with his trains.  So he told her to “Leaf me alone” and she got her feelings hurt.  She looked at me and said, “Well, I guess the wedding is OVER!” 

HILARIOUS!

Our little Champ

I’ve talked to several mom’s lately about how to choose the right activities for our kiddos.

It’s tough, because I want to give Ellie and Cullen as much experience as possible with all activities they show interest in so that when they are old enough to declare a favorite they will have the skill base needed to be successful. 

My question is: How do you do that without…

a) going insane with the crazy schedules associated with said activities

b) going broke b/c kids activities are not cheap!  Especially when you have more than one child!

We (I , since I am the chauffer most of the time) like to have three activities during the school year for Ellie and two for Cullen. 

For the 2011-2012 school season Ellie competed in co-ed soccer (Never again!!!), gymnastics and volleyball…as well as paint lessons in the fall.

Cullen was in gymnastics and soccer.

Typically, Ellie is also in dance.  I have looked and looked for a good dance studio near our new house.  I was just so put off by the politics of our last studio that I am really trying hard to do my research before we get involved again.  So, we are still looking…

The one new activity for Ellie that she really loved and was so great at this year was volleyball.  We are super lucky to have a club volleyball facility near our house which made our decision to sign her up that much easier! 

This is our little champ at her first tournament.  They won first place!!

Dear Ellie and Cullen,

We are so proud of all your achievements and milestones.  You are both growing so quickly and watching you compete in activities is just pure joy for your daddy and me!  Ellie, we are so proud that you are starting to make your own choices for extra activities and we will do everything in our power to make it possible for you to experience new things that interest you.  You were such a natural volleyball player and even the other parents commented on your “skills”. You have finally mastered the cartwheel and painting remains one of your favorite fun things to do.  Cullen, you are a little showman!  From yelling, “Geronimo” into the foam pit at gym to screaming “boom” when you kick the soccer ball and following it up with “goal” you never leave us without a good laugh. I honestly can’t wait to see what God has planned for the two of you!!

With all my heart forever,

Mommy

Our Easter

Now that I have my laptop back I am determined to keep this blog up so that our blog books are a complete reflection of our kiddos childhood!  So, I am behind and the plan is to play a quick round of catch-up!

 

Our Easter was fun this year.  We hosted because the pool was finished and the family came over here and celebrated with BBQ and pool time!  We snapped a few pics of the babes in the morning after they discovered the bunny had been here and left foot prints AGAIN!

 

Happy Easter 2012

(funny story about the shoes Cullen has on: They are the squeaky shoes, but they are the first pair I had purchased for him b/c he’s been walking forever and to be honest I think those shoes are a little obnoxious.  So, I put them on him and he takes a step and out comes a squeak…another step, followed by another squeak.  He went in circles trying to figure out where that sound was coming from!!  It was the funniest thing I have ever seen!!!  I was crying from laughing so hard!)

This is Easter 2007 and Easter 2012

I remember taking that picture like it was yesterday…times passes way too fast!

Team Chunky Monkey 2012

We were a bit concerned about our March of Dimes team this year for a couple of reasons:

1. I could not get it together and really put 100% into fundraising

2. We moved and didn’t know if our friends that now live clear across the city would want to make the drive and participate with us (They DID!!)

However, because we have some pretty awesome friends and family we still ended up making a difference in 2012!

My hubby surprised me with team shirts for my birthday which really made the whole event that much more awesome!

Our little angels

Mr. Turkey himself

Another true miracle baby

Mr. Miracle and his awesome parents

Best seat of the day!

The crew (part of us anyway)

On the move…Cullen and Ellie actually walked a good amount of the 3 mile route

B surprised me with shirts and I surprised him with butterflies in the butterfly garden for our THREE miracle babies.  Love that he got those shirts…don’t we look fantastic!

Ms. Blakely and Mr. Turkey

“Bock-e” and her babes

Finish line…5 years of walking to make a difference!

WORN out!

Thank you friends and family for continuing to help us make a difference!  It would be impossible to do this without all of you.  We have already started planning for Team Chunky Monkey 2013!! 

From the bottom of our hearts we thank you!

Brandon and Angie

Bennett Day 2012

Our Bennett Day 2012

Ellie picked flowers for her Bubba

Cullen was so sweet…when we got back in the car he said, “I see Bennett…have fun Bennett”

Daddy did an awesome job with the flowers AS USUAL!

Watching our prayers and messages for our little man make their way into the blue sky

 

The day was as perfect as it could be.  We spent it together as a family which is what we all needed.  There is some relief now that “the” day has passed because this year was the toughest one we have had in a while.