Speaking of Easter....

Okay, maybe we're not speaking of Easter, but I was going through some files on my computer this morning and found this picture.

I think it was taken at Easter, just a few years ago. Okay, maybe it was actually taken in like 1982 or so, but the point is that I look a lot different now. So does my brother for that matter. I never realized he had such big ears. That's definitely thanks to my dad's side of the family.
I sure do think Asher looks like my brother - perhaps even more than he looks like Steve or myself.

Carpe Diem

Community - a word I've been thinking about a lot lately. Our church has been doing a sermon series during this lent season on our story and God's big story. A lot of that has to deal with the little details, that we sometimes think of as insignificant, but when we look back, it's easy to see how some of the intricate little details have been woven into a beautiful basket that we call our story.

My story, which seems kind of complicated and long when I look back on it, hasn't really been the the focus of my thoughts through this season though. More, the present and future of my story is what I've been focusing on.

I've just been challenged to live more in the present. Focusing on the past can sometimes be beneficial, but often times pointless. After all, it's not like we can actually change the past. Thinking about the future, while good, is just that - the future. There's always a future to focus on, and often times it's easy to spend to much energy thinking about it, and all we end up doing is robbing ourselves of living in the moment and all that God has for us in the present.

I've been challenged with living stuck in one of life's ruts. Everyday, I'm given so many opportunities to connect with the people that come into my life, but so many times I hurry through the day and miss out on so much. I've been making more of an effort to become more of a "good neighbor" to the people around me and it's been so great!

I've found some new friends in unlikely places. I've learned a lot about interesting people whose lives are completely different from my own. I've grown as I've been challenged by some of the amazing moms that practically live in my backyard that I've met and been able to get to know through various playdates and trips to the park. It's been good for me to invest relationally in my little community. And by community, I don't mean the city I live in, but even more specifically my actual neighborhood.

I'm learning more about what it means to seize the day, even though most of the time my days are a tad bit boring. Being challenged to get out of my box and make every day happenings become every day experiences has changed the way I want to live my life and the kind of person I want to be in my community. So, here's to living up the good life every moment of every day!

It's been so nice around here and we've been taking every opportunity possible to enjoy the weather. Lots of trips to the park and pushes on the swing! Asher is loving it, Atley doesn't really same to notice the difference between now and two weeks ago when snow was on the ground.

There's not really any noteworthy pieces of life to give an update on, but I'll try anyway. We finally got rid of the couches that have been sitting in our basement since November. We had tried to GIVE them away to everyone and anyone without much success. Finally, I decided to put them on craigslist and since I don't like putting things on there for free due to all the millions of responses that come in, I marked them for sale for $50 and within 24 hours they were gone. We had over 15 people that really wanted them. So strange that we couldn't get anyone to take them of our hands for free, but people started lining up once we decided to charge them for them.

Next on the to do list is to turn the basement family room into a play room so that we can get some of the toys out of the living room. Now, if we could just get our floors replaced from the flood down there life would be good.

Other news, we had a fun weekend. We went to the St. Patty's day parade with a friend and the kids had a blast. 

My little Irish Twins on St. Patty's day.

I participated in my first ever St. Patty's day pub crawl and realized that I'm just getting to old to stay out past 11:00 at night. I know, I'm pretty lame.

Asher started swimming lesson last night. So fun! We were a little nervous about how he would handle being in a pool, due to some of his sensory issues, but he actually loved it! This is a good thing as it could be very beneficial to some of the therapy for his low muscle tone.

That's all I got for you this week. I'm just proud that I've actually updated the blog twice in the same month. Go, me!

Back from the dead

Can you believe it's been over 2 months since I've given you all an exciting update on my life? 

It's been a crazy few months - Asher had pneumonia, our water softener exploded and flooded our basement,  Steve's been working crazy hours, Steve's dad had a heart attack and almost died, we've had lots of car troubles and it seems like all of the friends we used hang out with have moved away either out of the country or across the country in just the last 6 weeks. It's been a bit isolating. We're finally all healthy and have been enjoying getting out of the house this last week, with visits to the childrens museum, a couple of playdates, and we've also finally made it back to the gym after a 3 weeks hiatus due to all of us being so sick.

We're eagerly awaiting Spring, and I feel that happier days are just around the corner! In the meantime, we're trying to take one day at a time and making it a point to celebrate the little things in life. I'm learning just how important perspective is.

In the midst of all the chaos, there has been reason for celebration as well. Little baby Jacob entered the world last week. I've been spending lots of time talking to Nadia on the phone in this last week and she is already a fabulous mother. I'm just itching to get to St. Louis to hold the little guy.

Perhaps the most exciting news of my entire year has also come to us. But why tell you, when I can show you and we can all share a laugh together?

Yes, I'm going to be an Aunt! Seriously, I cannot wait. Steve and I have been dreaming of moving to California to be closer to my brother for the last couple of years, and knowing that I'll soon have a little niece or nephew to snuggle with makes me want to move even more.

So, that's it for the update on our life these past few months. I really hope to get back into the habit of blogging more often, but I make no promises. I never, ever imagined just how much more busy life would become with making the jump from having just one kid to two.

Speaking of the kids, they're just as cute as ever. See for yourself.

I was going through some pictures I took of Atley last week when I found one that looked oddly familiar, down to the outfit, background and everything.
The first photo was taken in October of 2010 when Asher was 3 1/2 months old, the second, last week, Atley is 4 1/2 months old.

Yes, they still look VERY much like brothers, but Atley is starting to get his own look so they don't look quite as much like twins anymore. Good thing our photos are arranged by date though, or years down the road it might be hard to tell who's who.

One thing's for sure, these boys are nothing alike in personality. Asher hasn't stopped smiling since birth, and some days I feel like Atley hasn't stopped crying since birth.  Regardless of the differences,  these boys are so precious to me and I wouldn't trade either one of them for anything in the whole world!

Oh Thanksgiving, why do you hate me?

Yes, it's been almost an entire month since I've posted. A lot has happened, but most of it's all boring stuff.

The good news is that none of us spent this Thanksgiving in the hospital. The bad news is that it was still the second most horrible Thanksgiving ever (last year was the #1 champion).

We got food poisoning. Yep, Steve and I both. It was brutal. We spent Thanksgiving night, all of Friday and part of Saturday throwing up. Caring for 2 children when both parents are sick is probably the hardest task in the entire world. Let's just say, we're "thankful" that Thanksgiving is over.

The kids didn't skip a beat though, and on the up side, we didn't have to worry about gaining any Thanksgiving weight around here!

Update in Pictures

If you can't tell, having 2 kids has pretty much meant the end of any consistency to the ol' blog. Life is just to busy. Here's what we've been been up to these last few weeks.

Goats have made acquaintance

Pumpkins have been carved

Skin has been inked

Many baths have been taken due to the introduction of self feeding with a spoon. Things have become messy.

Babies have grown

Cows have "moo-ed"

Garden Gnomes have visited.........

And those are just the things that have been photographed. Steve has joined me in the "30's club", we went to perhaps the strangest wedding ever, Asher has discovered that the stairs are a lot of fun to climb and Atley is now a much, much happier baby. Oh joy!

That's it for now folks.