An update...of sorts

I guess I figured I would give a quick update on the sale {or lack of} of our home and directions in where God is leading us.
To say that He isn't leading us anywhere would be far from the truth. But to say that we are 100% in knowing where we're headed is also a farce. We know that God is working behind the scenes, but we're still waiting on those doors to open. This journey has definitely been stretching for us. We have had quite a few showings, just no bites. We once had an offer, but the girl low-balled us and we later found out she was shopping out of her price range. It's been a bit frustrating that our house hasn't sold, and yet I'm so thankful it hasn't at the same time. !? Huh? What I mean is that had it sold a month ago, we'd be packing up our belongings and heading nowhere. Well, not really nowhere. We both have loving family (and friends) who wouldn't allow us to be homeless, but the thought of moving somewhere temporarily with 2 kids and a dog doesn't sound appealing.

I've had my moments where I've cried out to God and asked "where" and "why". I can't say that I've had much feedback, except there have been times where I've felt an overwhelming sense of peace. I think a lot of that has to do with my husbands faith rubbing off on me. His faith and dependence on the Lord thru all of this has been amazing. I know he's not perfect, but he's been my constant source of strength (apart from the Lord) in reminding me that God has a plan for us all and that His timing is truly perfect.

As we head into this Lenten season, may we draw to Him and be reminded that God is all powerful and all knowing...even when we don't understand the "why's" and "what's" in life.

Life with boys...

...is fun, but exhausting!

They test my patience more than anything else in this world. Yet they give me so much love that I'm literally overflowing with pride. To be the "queen" of the house is gratifying, 

but can be lonely at times. 

I do long for the day to have a girl...so I can have the excuse to buy cute girl clothes and do her hair. Although I'm not exactly girl-y myself, it'd just be nice to know that once my children are grown, they won't get married and run off with their wives and leave me all alone (oh I'll still have Jamie! :)) 

However, I need to enjoy this time while I have it. B is my little Romeo right now. He is currently at the age where he constantly tells me he loves me. And that he wants to marry me, and buy flowers...and a plant (??!). We keep telling him he needs to wait 'til Valentine's Day to get them for me. Jamie tells B that he's already married to me and that "he needs to find another woman", which ends in (a fun) yelling match. It's quite humorous. 

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In other news...

The boys are beginning to play more and more together...while having fun. We enjoy hearing them play in the other room - talking and laughing together. But like all brothers, they have their moments (some days more than others), that they fight like none other. I can't say that there is typically one over the other that starts it. They both do their share in causing the fight. Balls and trucks are their thing. They especially love bath time together. But with all of this bonding, I'm still not ready to move them in the same room. Breeson still wakes up early in the mornings to go to the bathroom, and I'm not sure he always goes back to sleep. Whereas Eagan will typcially sleep til 7:30 - 8 a.m. 

Why disrupt a good thing!?  :) And here's the beauty in all this, since Breeson is used to staying in his bed until we get up, we can usually sleep in 'til 7:30-8 (whenever E wakes up) until we have to get out of bed ourselves.

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As you can see in this picture, Breeson was in need of a haircut. It was after we got home from his last hair cut (awhile back), that I realized the barber didn't do a very good job. But I figured I'd just let it continue to grow.

Today Jamie took B to get another haircut. This time I actually looked online to find a cut I wanted, rather than telling them to trim/cut it. So now, he looks so much older and his toddler looks are slowly fading. Sad face.

 

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As for this guy...we don't call him Eagan Monster for no reason. This guy has a set of pipes on him. I won't have to worry about losing him in a store - he's SO loud. everywhere. all. the. time.

And although he has a sweet face, don't let that fool you. He's a handful. While 85+% of the time he's in a good mood and is quite loveable, he's just a handful. Not sure how else to say it. And he's ALL BOY!! I was able to keep most of Breeson's clothes to give as hand-me-downs to Eagan, but after Eagan wears them, we'll have to toss them. And let me tell you, this boy can eat. He's constantly saying "more, more, more..." We usually have to stop him and B at meal times. I dread the day of when they're 13 & 15. 

Right now, he's in the stage where he says "yup" to most questions. But the way he says it, he's a typical guy, giving it a short influx of the voice and is straight to the point. It's pretty darn cute when he says it. 

As for his hair...I can't bear to cut it just yet. This pic isn't the greatest at capturing his curls in the back, but they're sweet. I want to keep them for a while longer...

Smoothies & Sickness

Last weekend Eagan caught the stomach virus going around. It's no fun having a sick baby. Although I'll admit that I liked the extra snuggle time. He's a sad kid when he's sick. He just wanted to be held or sit on the couch and watch movies or watch Breeson playing with his toys. And we know he's sick when he doesn't even want to eat. Of course, Jamie caught the bug too a few days later and is just now getting over it. I'm hoping and praying Breeson and I don't catch it. I would be okay if we were done with sickness for this winter season. But I know it's part of life...

We've had some nice weather lately, so we took advantage of it and road bikes, went on walks, and I even went for a quick run the other day.

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We don't typically make New Years Resolutions, at least we don't write them down. But I think we are like most people and "plan" to change our eating habits and start exercising more as we start the new year off. I enjoy smoothies but just don't make them often. However, I'm going to try and be better at making them so I can be better at my veggie intake. 

    

Ingredients: plain yogurt, apple, kale, carrots, Almond milk, whey protein & wheat germ

I did add these in my smoothie too - I forgot to put them in the picture.

It was pretty good. I made another one the next day and changed up the ingredients a bit, and it was even better. (I added fresh blueberries & a couple frozen strawberries)

So I raise my glass to a healthier 2013.
Did I mention I had ate some candy and had a cookie at work too!? :)

Rest...for the body and soul

We took a much needed trip up to the mountains last weekend. It truly does a body good, in all aspects: body, soul and mind. 

We got a great deal on a condo in Keystone and had a wonderful time, despite the subzero temps (at times -20+ with wind chill). We used this retreat to not just get away from the busyness of life in town, but to step back and pray about God's direction on our future.

We rented some snowshoes for B at REI, but didn't really get to use them b/c it was so stinkin' cold. We attempted to go out one afternoon, but when both boys were crying after only being out there for 5 minutes - we decided it wasn't the best idea. Not to mention that after I took my gloves off to adjust my own snowshoes, I literally couldn't feel my fingers after only a couple minutes. It was FREEZING - and that's not an understatement.

We'll take him again sometime when it's warmer. I think he'll really enjoy it.

At the base of Keystone.

I love the feeling of being in ski towns. If it hadn't been so cold, I would've been more jealous of those skiing/snowboarding. But I didn't envy them at all.

I've lived here for 5+ years now, and I still get blown away when I see beauties like these. So thankful for the time that I've got to live in Colorado and be surrounded by just majestic character.

We did a lot of this too. Since it was so cold outside, snuggling inside a nice, warm condo watching movies was perfect.

I have to mention this because it's funny - and I think that those who are parents can at least relate to a degree...
This condo had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Because B was in a new place, he never sleeps well, especially the first night. But we decided to stick B & E together in the same room and try it (they sleep in separate rooms at home). It was around 1 a.m. when I was wakened by B crying for me and of course E was awake by then too. So after I got E back down, I tried to sleep in B's bed with him. That lasted a few minutes before I took him upstairs and put him bed w/ Jamie. Because that didn't last long either, we had to rearrange our sleeping for the next night.
So for the next 2 nights, in one room, I slept in the twin size bunk bed, while B slept in the queen size bed below me. In the master room, Eagan slept in his pack'n play in the walk in closet, and Jamie slept in the king size bed. Awesome?! We each slept in a different bed - although I think I am the one that got the bad end of the deal!! :)

Despite the sleeping arrangements, we still had a wonderful time on our short get-away.

Comic relief

I bought a back scratcher for Jamie for Christmas and I was messing around with it.

 It reminded me of this... :) 

Speaking of comic relief...Jamie and I were able to snag a babysitter tonight. We wanted to do something different rather than just do the norm - eating at a restaurant. So we thought outside the box and went to a comedy club (Comedy Works to be exact). We watched this guy. Because it was a "family show" it was pretty clean. We needed the good laugh. They ended up sitting us right in the front center. My feet were sitting on the stage - that's how close we were. So needless to say, it was close and we got picked on a bit. But in all, it was fun. Definitely a fun date night!

Christmas Eve/Day

We had a great time at Christmas this year. I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior with family and friends. We stayed here in Denver this year so we were on our own. We had gone to Kansas for Thanksgiving. The boys still had fun and we celebrated with our church on Christmas Eve and then dinner at some friends' house with other couples who are also "displaced".

Christmas Eve day we started off by making ginger bread houses...

  

 The finished projects. I don't think we'll be joining any ginger bread 

making contests anytime soon. :)

Christmas morning we had fun opening presents from Dad and Mom...& Santa. 

We had a white Christmas! The boys had fun "sledding" in the backyard. There was only a couple inches, but it was a beautiful snow and they still had enough fun playing in it. 

First attempt

Second attempt

Final Shot

Here's our group shot from Christmas Day dinner at the Cohoe's. 

Pictures Post Only

Santa at Bass Pro Shop

Eagan & Jael at Bass Pro Shop waiting to see Santa

more at BPS, don't laugh - they have tons of free stuff for kids including carousel rides. Not to mention a free photo w/ Santa!!

Sadie posing for her Christmas photo

At our Small Group Christmas party - dressed up in our ugly best.

These were 4 of the many pillows that I made for people for Christmas. They weren't hard to make, just time consuming of course.

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Daycare/Preschool Christmas Pageant. As you can see I didn't get the memo that Eagan was supposed to be dressed up as a lamb!! :) He sticks out, just a bit.

Breeson was one of the wise men.

 

 This is one is for his Grandparents. Breeson had one line "F is for Frankincense with myrrh and gold, brought by the wise man as Matthew has told".  He had to memorize 2 lines just in case another kid couldn't make it. The other was "H is for Herrod, whose murderous scheme, was told to Joseph in a nocturnal dream". These cracked me up because there are some big words - but he managed to get them.

And more pageants...this was at our church. He didn't have any lines for this one.

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At the Olden Golden Christmas Parade. It's a cute, small town parade right outside of Denver

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In their Christmas best. I was actually more excited about them rocking out in their skinny jeans more than the bow ties! :)