Happy Birthday Ronan

Tuesday was Ronan's 3rd birthday! my little baby is growing up! it seems like yesterday i had a little chubby, mohawked baby! my darling ronan, you challenge me every day to be a better mother. you have shown me how to laugh even at spilled milk (literally). your cute little face always brings a smile to mine. the freckles and piercing blue eyes are mesmerizing. i love watching you play with your siblings and how fiercely protective of jade you are. only YOU get to poke and hit her. but not anyone else. :) you adore your brother and want to mirror everything he does and i love how hard you try to do everything he does and more. your sense of humor is amazing! you delivery of jokes is hilarious and you keep us all rolling! i love you more and more every day!
for his birthday ronan went to the zoo and wanted geegee to come too. geegee and papaw came over for dinner and geegee made an amazing mickey mouse cake for his birthday! he loved it although we had to convince him the black frosting was really frosting and not, well, who knows what he thought it was. he just didn't want to eat it. some fav gifts were his new hot wheels tricycle and the toy story recycle center. (don't ask, he wanted it!)
only one more day till we go to michigan! woo hoo!

Preschool Graduation!

Tonight my little bubba graduated from preschool! i'm so proud! and old feeling....how is my baby going to go to kindergarten? man, did i mention i feel old?! zander is such a little performer like his dad and LOVES being up on stage. i'm so proud of the little guy and ridiculously proud to be his mama. little ronan screamed out "i love you bubba!" sooo cute. and then jade, well, she is just full of it and has ZERO desire to sit still...ever. oh is she going to be fun on the plane. can you give a baby prozac? hahaha...j/k. sortof.
on the house front we are in negotiations with three houses. its basically the last three houses left. so we'll see what happens. our realtor thinks we have a good chance with these three. but i'm starting to lose faith. its against my very nature to be patient and out of control of things. so this has been torturous on every front. today we lost another house that we really wanted when they countered with a ridiculously high offer. it was just so sad. it feels like being broken up with over and over and over again. 7 breakups so far. i just hope my psyche can handle more of this!
tomorrow is a busy day with z at a birthday party, ben working on the kitchen, and i'm taking my daddy to oysterfest for father's day! woo hoo! ben hates oysters so he's not going.
have a great weekend everyone! and only one more week till i'm in michigan!

some pics

our 7th anniversary!

WE ARE GOING HOME!!!!

so in case you haven't heard we are going home!!!! wooo hoo!!!!! i'm so excited! it has been TWO YEARS since ben has been home and has seen his extended family! it has been over a year for me and my family and two years since my family has all been together. ben and i are both so excited for the kids to hang with their cousins and play in michigan summer! my heart aches to see my brothers again and to be with their families. it has just been too long with all the families. and my sweet little nephew on ben's side (jeremy and cheryl's boy) has been born and i can't wait to snuggle him! oh and then my oldest bro and his wife is about to have their first girl! and lord willing i will be there to hold her shortly after she's born!!!! i can't even believe it! God is so good! i just wish there was more time. there's so much to do and see and people to chat with. i wish i had two weeks to stay!
and on the house front we put SIX offers out this week which brings our total to 12. i am really hopeful this week that one, just one, will accept. please lord!!!! pray hard with us cause it is HARD looking at houses with three kids in toe! (eight houses on saturday with three kids = death)

Becoming One with Nature

so....for those of you who know meyou know that i'm not much of an outdoorsey person. i prefer hotels to campers, i don't actually really hike ever, and well, i let my mother teach the boys about bugs and such. so i signed the boys up for a nature class at the mission trails something or other. each month they do a class and learn about a certain thing - butterflies, spiders, etc. so monday i took the kids to the class. they usually learn about the critter, take a walk (short, easy walk thru the trails), and then make a craft. so monday we arrived on a hot day, and well...there was no class. no idea why there was no class. just no one showed up. so maybe i wrote the wrong day down on the calendar...who knows. ok so i'm at the trails with the three kids and they're ready to be in nature..but there's no teacher. so being a mom who apparently had a brain fart, i thought "hey, i should take them on a hike!" sure...what could happen?! so i pick the trail that says visitor loop. its close to the visitor center and couldn't be that long right? i mean, its the visitor center loop! so you should always see the visitor center! right? wrong....wrong wrong wrong....first off we headed down the trail with jade on my back in a backpack. that alone was brutal. the terrain is all jagged and up hill and then down hill and then bumpy bumpy. good times. about five minutes into our walk i turn to see what's keeping zander (yes, he's easily distracted) and i hear ronan (who's in front) say "mom a snake!" so i turn quickly thinking i'd see a little garter snake...umm...NEGATIVE! i see a flippin' HUGE RATTLESNAKE (southern pacific to be exact) slithering across the trail. now let me bring in some details...first off, the snack is not all coiled and minding it's own business, it's FIVE FEET IN FRONT OF MY TWO YEAR OLD! plus the path is narrow. brush on both sides touching me. not a big wide happy trail where i can tell the kids to keep to the left to pass it.
so i see the snake, my first thought is thank God jade is on my back! then of course i scream "zander come here and look!" so he sufficiently sees the thing slithering complete with rattling tail and stuff. then, panic seized me and i scream RUN! so back down the trail we run! really, what are the chances?! i am not a nature person! this was my first time out on a trail for hiking ever! and i get to see a poisonous, neurotoxin biting, snake! good grief...eventually a man who work there doing gardening showed me a different way to go. sooo...i swallowed my fears and off we went on our stinkin' hike. back to the fact that i thought this was a short hike. almost two miles later...my poor children were blazing hot, thirsty, hungry, and oh yea did i mention that jade was still on my back! i seriously thought we were all going to die...needless to say, i'm never going hiking again. screw you nature!

Slacking

what is my deal? i used to write all the time? but no, i'm becoming a slacker! bad me...bad. i had myself a birthday this week. the big 29. i'm getting frightfully close to 30. but i had an amazing birthday and i love my family and friends for it! my hubby went above and beyond by contacting a friend of mine whose brother is a shoe designer, and got me some KILLER charles david snake shoe skins. (i think that sentence sucked and was long but sorry) i was absolutely shocked! my parents decorated my front tree which just makes me smile. so much so that it's still set up. :) my dear small group got me an amazing gift certificate for another tattoo (no eye rolling please) and are taking me out this weekend. oh and my dear friend melissa got me a rockin' hannah montana balloon that plays music when you hit it. and oh do the kids like that. much love to you all!
here's a fun story for you. we had a play date wednesday and ronan found a cute snail that was on the larger side. later that day i was changing his diaper when well, a snail fell out of his pants. weridly enough it didn't die from his farts or suffocating from his butt cheek. but yes, i took it outside and let the thing live. but seriously ronan? he was trying to sneak it in to keep as his pet! oh that boy....
on the house front...still looking, still making offers, still nothing. :( keep praying for us!