2 1/2 Years Old!

Yep, that's right. Elias is now 2 1/2 years old!  I know I say it every time I post one of these, but seriously WHERE does the time go?!?  I still can't believe it has been 2 1/2 whole years since I gave birth to my teeny tiny baby boy who isn't so teeny tiny anymore!


Eli is a full on busy boy!  I don't know any better way to describe him but to say he is all boy!  He loves playing in the dirt and throwing balls.  He loves running and rough housing.  He loves to help daddy work outside.  He especially loves playing with tools and "fixing" things. His favorite show as to be expected is Bob the Builder.  He always tells me that he needs to "go outside and work".



He is now 37" tall which completely amazed me as he is no longer my tiny little man.  Apparently someone had a growth spurt and is now hanging out in the 82%!  He is also 30 lbs 1 ounce which is the 55%!  He loves to eat and I have no idea how he eats so much food every day!  He is also a pretty good sleeper and loves to take naps on mommy's bed.  He has also developed a pretty rough habit of sneaking in to our bed around 1:00 AM every single day.  We're hoping that one doesn't last too much longer.

Eli is definitely a 2 1/2 year old and has the attitude to prove it.  He's stubborn just like his father (no way he got that from me!)  and well, just in general reminds me so much of his father with his little personality.  He is also still a mommy's cuddle bug but he also enjoys spending time with his daddy and playing with tools or rough housing!  He has the sweetest little giggle and I love his little smirks!  He knows how to turn on some serious charm!

Eli,  We love you so much!  You are such a sweet little boy and you continue to delight us every day with who you are!   I can't wait to see where God leads your life. I know he has big plans for you!  

Old Fashioned Festival

Another fun part of our anniversary weekend is the annual Old Fashioned Festival. We didn't get to spend too much time being a part of the festivities this year, but along with the 5K we did go over to my grandma's house and watch the parade per the usual!  The kids had a blast and mom and dad were officially worn out! 

Malachi is very in to firetrucks right now so he loved the fire trucks as they went by!

7 Years!

Today, Peter and I celebrate 7 years of marriage!  I feel so blessed to be married to such an amazing man!  When we walked down that aisle, we could only slightly grasp what those vows we recited really met for our future.   In reality, walking down the aisle was just a huge leap of faith and love struck with hearts in our eyes! We were clueless but committed to making it work no matter what!

That first year of marriage, I feel like we lived on pure love and adrenaline.  Life was good and every day held something new! Sure there were growing pains as we adjusted and learned more about each other but I really feel like we had a smooth and fun year together!  Peter tolerated my burnt dinners well enough  and we eventually got to the point that we didn't need a pillow to referee the middle of the bed for flying elbows! It was a good year!  

Year number two felt almost like perfection! Peter graduated from college, we traveled a lot, and Peter got his first job out of school!  Life was amazing as we lived up the American Dream!  We had everything going for us and it is pretty easy to love each other when everything is going perfect!  

Year number 3 was our first hard year of marriage.  Peter got laid off because of the very poor economy,my grandma passed away, and we couldn't get pregnant. Lots of high stress situations wanting to pull us apart. We faced our first challenges as a couple and fortunately grew closer together through it all!  Peter really came out as the leader of our family in that hard year.  

Year number 4 will always be remembered as the year of waiting.  We started the adoption process and waited much longer than we would have liked to see our first child.   I am not one to be described as a graceful waiter, so Peter had his hands full for sure! Our waiting finally paid off and we were abundantly blessed not only with getting to see Malachi's face for the very first time, but lo and behold there there were 2 lines on the little pink stick!

 Year #5 was yet another highlight year for our marriage!  We got to go pick up Malachi soon after our anniversary and began a new and exciting journey into parenthood!  Holding Malachi in my arms for the first time was everything I dreamed it would be!  We were parents! Just when we thought we had it figured out, Eli joined the scene!  That year was another year full of adjusting into our new roles as mom and dad.  That definitely evolved our marriage into something new!

We started year #6 learning the news that we would be parents yet again!  While we were thrilled, this stuck us into some serious survival mode as parents. Just when we thought we had adjusted to 2 babies I was yet again sick with morning sickness and then a huge change as I went on bedrest.  And the natural thing that takes place after bedrest is the birth of a baby.  We now had 3 babies under 24 months!  There just weren't enough hours in a day at this point and the very last thing on our minds during these days was our marriage While I still wouldn't consider things "bad", a garden left unattended to starts to grow some weeds.

So as we embarked on our 7th year of marriage, we had a serious heart to heart and wanted to really focus on making our good marriage a great marriage. We didn't want to settle for mediocre when we could have extraordinary. We have spent a lot of time this year talking through expectations and desires and putting in that extra effort with one another. . We have worked hard at shifting the attention off of the kids (which is hard to do) and have put the attention back in to our marriage.  It was a bit difficult at times and there have definitely been ups and downs in the process, but we're stronger and happier than we have ever been before!  We're communicating better and spending real quality time together.  We're stronger and happier than we have ever been before!  

So here we go, reflecting on what has been a very good year of growth in our marriage and looking forward to another year. We have no idea what this next year holds for us, but I do know that no matter what comes, we are in this thing together!  I feel like we have been blessed with a marriage that some never get to have!  Being married has been easy and natural for us!  I don't take that for granted.  I am fortunate to be married to a man who is deeply committed and quick to forgive!  So, here's to another blessed year with my best friend and love of my life by my side!  

Another Race Day!

Today Peter and I ran another very small race in our hometown for the Old Fashioned Festival.  It was a small little fundraiser 5K for youth track which is something I know Peter is passionate about as he raises his children here!

This was a nice hilly 3 mile course down some back roads in town.  It was definitely a trickier course than my first two 5K routes.  Since I am currently training for a 10K I haven't worked as much on speed as I would have liked to, but it was fun to see where I was.  I definitely felt a lot better with my race today and was able to knock a whole 3 minutes off of my last 5K time even if I still ended in the bottom half of the crowd ;)

I finished this race in 31 minutes which got me right to my goal speed of 10 minute miles!  After this 10K at the end of the month I look forward to getting down to some serious speed work for my next 5K!  I feel good about how I did and the progress I continue to make!

Peter ran another great race.  He's mostly worked through his injuries and has moved right along with his half marathon training.  He finished this race in 22 minutes, close to a 7 minute mile pace and took 2nd in his age group!  I don't think he was really all that thrilled with that time, but I still think he did great!

Another great thing is there were lots of door prizes to be won!  Peter won 2 swim passes and I won a hat and a bucket of balls at our local golf course! Onward and upward with our training from here. I ran 7 miles last week (still can't  believe I did that!) and Peter ran a whopping 14 miles!   I'm really proud that we're sticking with this and steadily improving!

A Day in the Life - Part 6

Here we are at Installment 6 in this series. So hard to believe that we started doing this every 6 months 2 1/2 years ago.  It is one of my favorite things to document because day to day life changes so much from month to month.  

If you want to take a walk down memory lane with me, here are the past posts:

Post #1 - January 2011

Post #2 - July 2011

Post #3 - January 2012

Post #4 - July 2012

Post #5 - January 2013

This will probably be more of a "picture" post that a writing post because life is too busy for me to keep exact track of everything anymore.  But we'll give this post a try!  

7:15 - the boys are up and IN our bed. I have no idea what time Malachi came in but Eli joined the crew around 5:00 and Malachi beat him.  I slept pretty much wedged between two little boys and their kicking feet.  Fun times.  Since this has become a nightly occurrence for us, I make them sit on the bed and watch cartoons on the Ipad while I get ready for the day.   

                                                          Then it is time for breakfast!

Once I get the boys settled and run around doing some morning chores I get Baby Bina up.  She is such a delight to get to say hi to every morning!

                                              Then it is breakfast time for the little love!

                                                            And diaper and clothes!

And picture and clothes time for the little one who LOVES having his picture taken these days!

                         Look at that adorable dress!  Love having a girl to play dress up with everyday!

                           
                                        And another diaper change (or two or three in there too)

                                   And I always have phone thieves.  If it isn't one, it is another!

And after a lot of playtime and wrestling, it is finally lunch time!  No pictures of Bina, but I promise she got lunch too!

                                                                     Then it is naptime!
                                                                      Sleeping angel #1

 
                                                                   Sleeping angel #2

                                            And sleeping angel #3. They are all so precious!

      Then I get as much work done as I can before the first little footprints come running down the stairs!

   Figure this is as good as time as any for my little helper to help me put another piece of our new patio furniture together.

My little helper and the new table we put together!  (And seriously, look at how old this kid is getting!  Not fair!)

Then lots more playtime. The boys rotate back and forth between Bob the Builder fixing things and Fireman Sam putting out fires.

                                                             Eli joins the party!

                                                               And then Miss Bina

And then starts the most hectic portion of the day - dinnertime.  No pictures to document that part of the day.

And before long we find ourselves back outside, doing what we've been doing for a few weeks now.  The yard is a huge project and we are trying to get as much done as we can on these warm summer days.  Peter is working hard on what will become our new retaining wall and patio!

And then lots of time to burn some energy outside for the boys!  Our yard, while a huge mess to me is a perfect little boy play area.  We have the biggest sand pit in the city, tons of dirt piles and even some gravel piles.  Fun is to be had everywhere and nightly baths are a requirement.

                                              Malachi tells Daddy how to get it done right!

                                                        And plays and plays and plays

                                   Eli also plays and they both love to help in any way they can!

Bina hits the hay around 7:30.  Bummer I forgot to get any pictures of my princess.  Guess that is life as the 3rd child ;)

 And before we know it, 9:30 rolls around and it is well past time to get the boys in the bathtub and to bed.

 
                                                            Even time for a manicure!

And then it is time to tuck the boys into their beds and listen to their sweetest little prayers before we pray over them and give lots of hugs and kisses.  I admit, life is challenging.  These kids take a lot out of me and constantly refine who I am.  But at the end of the day, as tired as I am, I always find it hard to say goodnight to those precious little faces and look forward to seeing them again early in the morning, usually when their feet are in my face or ribs!