The Color Run

We trained all summer for this race today!  Like I stated at the beginning of the summer, I am NOT a runner and this has been a big challenge for me to even get to the point of running a 5K.  

So with that, we were off to the Color Run!  The cold bug has been flying around the house for the last few weeks and unfortunately it caught me!  So I was definitely not feeling 100% but I definitely wanted to give the race my best, which unfortunately was not much today.  I was really disappointed in how I did, but there will be more races and I still had a lot of fun!  

Here are a few pictures of race day!  The camera was in a ziplock bag, so the pictures are a little bit blurry.

Lots and lots and lots of racer's coming in!

                                                                 All squeaky clean!

                                                       Working our way to the start line!

                                                                   Ready to go!

                                                                    On our way!

                                                                     Color Fun!

                                                                   Almost done!

                                                         

                                                                   Ah, the finish line!

                                                                Time to celebrate!

                                                                            After:

                                        Grandpa and Grandma watched the kids while we ran!

                        Us with Peter's brother Andy.  We all trained together over the summer for this race!

It really was a lot of fun and I look forward to the next time this race comes to town and at the very least, staying in shape, continuing to get better at running for the Disneyland 5K next year! 

1st week of "school"

Malachi started "preschool" this week!  Since he will more than likely be homeschooled anyway, I spent a lot of time this summer working on a really basic, mostly just for fun homeschool curriculum of sorts for him.  As I've said before, Malachi is super smart!  He's known all of his ABC's since before he was 2, He can count forward and backward to 20. He knows his colors and his shapes and is starting to learn basic sight words.   His pediatrician highly recommended getting him in to preschool as soon as possible.  Cognitively, he isn't quite old enough for a lot of things and there aren't any 2 year old preschool classes around here so it became very apparent that homeschooling would be best for him this year.  

Now, it is nothing too structured or too serious.  Mostly he will spend time going back over concepts that he already knows well and also just spends a lot of time playing with playdough, practicing gluing skills, working on pre-writing, reading books with mommy.  And if he isn't feeling it, then I'm not going to push it with him.  One day this week, he was NOT into it (he was also very sick) and so we just didn't do anything that day (he already has the #1 figured out anyway).  So here are just a few of the fun things this week had in store for us:

An "official" first day of preschool photo :)  This boy had a 103 to 104 degree temp most of the week, but he hardly showed it! 

On Monday we read lots of books about cows and then had a snack of food that cows make.  He will proudly tell you that "cows make milk, yogurt, and cheese!"

                                                        Poor sick boy on one of the days :(

                                                                  A is for Acorn craft!

                                                              Finger painting like a true artist!

                                                             His fall hand print tree craft!

I really didn't have very high expectations for school time this year.  After all, he is just 2 years old, but this week went way better than I would have ever expected and we got to spend lots of time together which makes it even better!

A Little Bit Girly

When we first decorated our nursery almost 3 years ago, we weren't 100% sure of what gender we would be getting, but we had a pretty good idea that we would end up with a baby boy!  So, we leaned a bit to the boy side on the nursery.

When Sabrina was born, I decided that we needed to make a few changes to the space to make it more girly for her.  I didn't want to do anything drastic, but just a few subtle changes here and there.  Some of my ideas haven't quite panned out yet, and I imagine it will probably always be a work in progress, but here are a few of the changes we made to make it a bit more feminine:  

The room and what it looked like about 3 years ago (not completely finished)

And now:  I LOVE that with the help of a friend I was able to find a bedroom set that matched the colors of the circles painted on the wall perfectly!  

Before: 

After:

I had a wonderful friend (who is adopting and should get a referral any day now!) paint the canvas and I adore the way it turned out!  

I hope Sabrina loves her room :)

Paris in the fall!

Well, our medical bills are FINALLY paid.  What an ordeal, I tell yeah!  So all of this back and forth and waiting has been ridiculous.  On the last update we were waiting for one more bill to be reviewed by our insurance.  After Peter was calling them EVERY week to get an update and they reassured him it was in process, he talked to someone who told him that it was never sent back for review.  No, I am not even joking! So they finally sent that one back and it finally cleared and THEN we talked to the hospital and they said they just had a policy change and because it had been more than 60 days they would no longer offer us the discount for paying our bill in full.  I am glad Peter was handling all of this, because I may have gone ballistic on them.  Again, none of this was our fault - it was mistakes made by the insurance company and mistakes made by the hospital in their billing as to why we have not paid.  Fortunately, Peter had talked to one very nice lady at the end of July who had documented that they had offered us the refund so after he talked with a supervisor they decided that as long as we paid the bill in September we would still get the 15% discount.  Whew.

After all this, the one bill has been sent back to insurance for review AGAIN.  The insurance had some questions on it and so the hospital sent them the information they wanted, so it could get reduced even more but we needed to get the discount and have been assured that any additional amount covered would be mailed to us in a check.  So we decided to just end this 5 month battle and will be pleasantly surprised if we get a check in the mail in the coming weeks.  Ridiculous, I have to say!

So, with that being said.  Somehow, even after vacation and doing some car maintenance  and making sure that our savings account is still fully funded - we had some funds left over.  Enough to start our savings fund for a very fun trip we have started planning.

Peter and I have a list of lifetime accomplishments or a "bucket list".  Shockingly we've already accomplished or are on our way to accomplishing quite a few of them.  Maybe we need to have another heart to heart and find some more hearts desires.  Anyone who knows us (or reads this blog) knows that we LOVE Disneyland.  We have set a lifetime goal of visiting every Disney park worldwide!  We've hit all of the ones domestically, so in our conversations over our 5th anniversary last year, we decided we needed to start discussing a timeline for visiting a few of the International parks!  At the very top of my list is Disneyland Paris!  And with that, we decided last year that we would make a goal to visit Disneyland Paris for our 10th wedding anniversary.

Now, being the budget minded people that we are, we knew we would have to start planning years in advance if we want this to happen.  I was able to sit down and work up a very rough estimate of what this trip will cost.  It was so exciting for me to even think of making this dream come true, as Paris is definitely on the top of my places to visit list! It was completely shocking to me to find that there was any left over money that the medical bills didn't take from us, but whoohoo - the Paris fund has been started :) :) :)

We have also become "non-planners" for life events, which is a whole different story. I mean that to say that I used to try and plan every little detail of our life, but through these last couple years God has shown me that He has plans that are far greater than mine.  So, His plans always prevail!  I have no idea what our life is going to look like in one year, much less 4 years.  So, we are tentatively planning this trip and budgeting for it, while keeping an open mind that it may not work out EXACTLY the way we wanted.  But we are shooting for Fall of 2016!  4 years and counting ;)  Yes, we are a bit insane, but we will need every bit of those 4 years to save up for this one!!!

Family

Well, this is going to be a sappy one - so consider yourself warned!  

Several weeks ago, we had the opportunity to get some family pictures taken with Peter's family!  The pictures turned out amazing and I wanted to share a few of those moments with everyone here!  

These photos represent a lot of joy and blessings in my life.  I was fortunate enough to come from a family who has been very supportive of me as I have grown into adulthood.  That also extends into my relationship with my in-laws.  I feel very fortunate to have married in to a family where my kids get to have wonderful and fun uncles! Peter's parents have always been supportive of every endeavor Peter and I have taken in our life together and there have been lots of them!

All I have ever wanted in the family I married in to, was to be accepted into their family and to have them adore my children.  And I think I got that and more ;)

I don't even know where to begin when I think about my husband!  He is the glue that holds my life together!   He melts my heart and truly completes me!  I just spent 2 amazing weeks with this man by my side, and I got so used to having him around that when he returned to work, I just felt empty and missed him terribly!  He is an incredible leader of our family and I could not have asked for a better father to my children!  He always puts our needs ahead of his own and loves us all unconditionally.  I learned so much just by watching him parent our boys while he was on vacation.  He is a great, great man and I cannot imagine spending one day of this life without him!  

And then there is my precious, precious Malachi!  Wow, what do I even say about this little boy and his zest for life!  

I had no idea that I would have to travel the world around to gather my first child into my arms!  God's ways are not my ways and how I Thank God daily for His plan for our lives and His perfect timing of it all!  It overwhelms my heart to think of every little detail that came in to play, in order for this perfect little boy to become our son!

Wow, I melt in to a puddle of mush when I look in to those deep dark beautiful eyes.  He is a beautiful child on the outside AND on the inside.  His heart is filled with such joy for life and he wants to live it big!  I love learning more every day about this sweet little boy!

I also love how smart he is!  I know every parent thinks their child is smart, but really Malachi is smart ;)  He is so eager to learn and discover all about this world around him!  I just can't Thank God enough for bringing this little boy in to my life!  

And then there is Eli!    My precious little miracle! Malachi's eye's melt in to my sole, and it is Eli's little smirk that can melt me in to a million little pieces.  He also has the saddest little eyes that he can turn on when he needs to!  A major dream of mine came true when I got to carry this little guy through 8 months of pregnancy, and it all came crashing down around me when he was born sick.  There will always be a special place in my heart, where I carry those memories and carry a special little piece of my 5 1/2 lb baby boy!

I adore the fact that Elias takes so much after his daddy!  He is a hard one to get a smile out of, but when you do get one, it is well worth the antics it takes to get it!  He is pretty darn easy going and all boy in every single way! Elias is as sweet as sugar!

I don't think a mother could love her baby boys anymore than I do.  They are a handful but I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.  So different in every single way! Born world's apart in completely different circumstances.  Completely different personalities but they are brother's in every sense of the word! They would be lost without each other.  Best buddies for sure!  I love this picture, because it shows perfectly how different their personalities are!  Love those boys!!!

And then there is my precious baby girl!  Again, I would have never planned things out this way.  2 kids in 9 months was crazy enough, but then to throw in another baby 14 months after that - insanity.  But I am so thankful to God for the insanity in my life.  He knew I needed this baby girl to fill a gap in my heart.  I will never forget the moment she was born and Peter told me I had a baby girl!  It was a magical moment for sure! My heart had never felt more whole than it did in that moment to know I had two sweet sons and now had a baby girl!  God is so good and I have been so blessed these last couple years!

Sabrina has the biggest most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen.  Coming from a family (on both sides) with lots of brown eyes, these eyes of hers have come as a total and most welcome surprise.  I love gazing in to her eyes!  And her gorgeous smile, with her daddy's dimples is what melts me in to a million little pieces!  She is such a happy and content baby girl, but there is a feisty streak in her too!

My family is everything to me!  I feel like I have won the lottery of life with my husband and 3 beautiful babies!  God had (and continues to have) amazing plans for my life and I just get to sit back and watch!

Las Vegas

As soon as we got the boys back home from Disneyland and settled in, we got BACK on an airplane for Peter to attend a conference in Las Vegas.  I had previously asked Peter's parents if they would be willing to come along with us to hang out while Peter was off learning boring ole tax stuff ;)

It was a quick trip but well worth it!  I missed the boys very much but I really needed a little bit of time to rest and catch a little bit of a break for a few days.  It should come as no surprise that taking care of 3 kids under 2 is a lot of work and while the majority of the time I adore this role I have been given, sometimes I just need a break.  Even with a husband who was a bit under the weather, it was a great time of reconnecting with Peter and getting to spend a bit of time with my in-laws!  Sabrina was a perfect little trooper on this trip too!  

I came home rejuvenated and ready to hit the ground running for a few more months!