Jaders...

has her first ear infection. BLAH! after four nights of not sleeping...and ben and i nearly dying....she now has meds. praise the good LORD! the poor girl is misearable and can barely breathe...i feel so bad for her! the boys are doing good just a little snot left. weirdly no one has had fevers. even jade with her ear infection. oh well, i just know this is going to be the longest cold and flu season ever.
thank you to mom and melissa for saving me today!!!

Zombieland

no, not the movie....just ben and i. jade has not slept in two days....and by not sleep i mean got up every 1/2 hour ALL NIGHT! we both feel like walking zombies. and as i write this i hear her crying in her room and i seriously would rather stick picks in my eyes than go get her. she slept fine during the day but for some reason at night she goes crazy. she has a cold as does the boys, but she is just not handling it well. no fever or anything like that. and her nose isn't even that stuffy. she's just gone crazy. i don't think i can do another night of this. i'm going to lose it. i am absolutely, positively exhausted. please pray for sleep tonight and for little jade. i can't go on less than an hour of sleep a night....i'm just not made to do that.

Preschool Mama

Tonight i had a parents meeting for zander's preschool. it was a weird sensation for me....sitting there, listening to them talk about school and knowing i have a child old enough to be a part. christmas programs, fundraisers, fieldtrips, etc. and then my sons teacher informs me that she is also 28. to which she says, "wow you got busy early!" thank you...yes i did. i feel like i'm completely unprepared for my son to be in preschool. i was even the mom who asked "what do people generally bring for bday treats" when the teacher brought up birthday treats. i honestly had no idea. so much pressure to not be the nerd mom! but i also sat there and was so proud to be zander's mom. to see the pictures he made on the wall, and the artwork he had made, just brought a lot of joy to my heart. i started imagining what he'd do for the christmas program, and how much fun we'd have on the field trips, and what i was going to half to do to convince my mom to bring her bug collection to his class. i'm excited and overwhelmed at the same time.

watta waatta wat wat

i'm running out of titles. just a quick update...zander is loving preschool and that makes me really happy! they offer an extended time intro to sports class and i asked zander if he wanted to do it. i swear to you the child looked at me and said, "no i want to learn science". oh my...he's obsessed with the discovery channel and planet green. i love that his curiousity for the world around him is so great right now. he wants to learn everything! i'm just thankful my mom has the science knowledge to really explain stuff. so eventually i talked him into the sports class and he loved it! its every tuesday right after preschool which means i don't have to pick him up till one now. which yes, is also a bonus. he was so excited when i got him and loved playing the games. he's also doing awana again and he's loving that too. ronan started puggles which is the 2 and 3 year old version of awana. he loves going now. he even learned a modified verse for tonight and loves to yell "God made everything!" and throws his hands up. we had fun learning that one. i pray that the boys will continue to learn God's word and hide it in their hearts. i grew up doing awana and the verses i learned are still with me. ronan is still full of it as ever. but he really does better when he gets some alone time with me while z is at preschool and jade is napping. but he's still as devious as ever. he's learned how to climb up and steal snacks out of the pantry and get juice boxes. he then runs to his room and closes the door while i'm working on something else. when it's quiet i know something is wrong and i go looking for him. of course he's hiding in his room and says with his eyebrows up, "i hungry! or i thirsty!". little poop! but he's still so stinkin' cute i just wanna eat him up. he has joined the world of whining though which i'd like to just move on through. i'm pretty sure he thinks he's the baby of the family. he really does act like the baby. and he's still super cuddly which i love. i think he'll always be my little baby.
and then there's jade....oh jade. gone is cuddly fat girl who just wants to sit. now she wants to flip, scoot, and roll over all the place. she's learned how to push off of me so she can see more with her arms. its very annoying. today she had a freak out day and cried every where we went. it was great. then she didn't sleep at all! i swear i rocked her for a good five hours. when i finally did get her to sleep in the afternoon she woke up after an hour with a lovely poop and wouldn't go back to sleep. so all day she slept 1 1/2 hours. that's ridiculous! usually she sleeps 4-5 hours during the day. man was she tired by bed time. but when she laughs, she lights up a room! she has a snort and giggle that just makes me laugh. she definitely gets her snort from me. and she loves to eat. oh my does she like to eat. i finally introduced fruit to her and i thought she was going to lose her mind. she literally was shaking as i fed her the peaches! and she screamed at me if i didn't do it quick enough. her happy time is eating...i love it. she just cracks up with every bite she takes.
i guess that's all for now!

the big snip

so in case you didn't know, it's a little tmi time. last friday ben was supposed to get the big snip to prevent more children entering the annen family. on thursday we started talking and decided that we had not thoroughly prayed about this, and we were making the decision based on bad stressful days with the kids and not calm, deep thinking. we're too fresh in the baby stage to see or think straight! am i saying we're going to have a 4th? probably not....but i don't want to eliminate the possiblity just yet. i didn't feel a peace at all and i think it's cause i didn't really consult God's direction in this at all. it was just a decision we jumped too. we have our girl so gosh darnit we should be done. :) but we'll leave that up to God and in a year we'll approach the subject again...so no, ben is NOT off the hook yet!!!
ps...i love my kids. they are good good kids. they have their faults, but they are good. i don't care what anyone else ever tells me.

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

i just saw the extended new moon trailer on the vmas and i am now a giddy school child. FREAKIN' SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! go youtube it if you haven't seen it!

cutest kids in the universe

seriously, i know i'm biased, but they are freakin' cute!

z's first day pics

walking with big bro to preschool. z's class room. he was annoyed i wouldn't let him go play.

his cool backpack that he promptly took off cause it was too big.

so cute.

Zander's 1st day of Preschool!

how did my baby get so old?! today marked the beginning of the many days that lie ahead...school days. SO WEIRD! he's only going 2 days a week but is on the waiting list for three days. he's attending the preschool across the street from us at the church we used to attend. its a great school and i really like his teacher. we all hauled up and walked over to the school in the morning and zander was so cute carrying his lunchbox. ronan had to bring a backpack to be like zander. once we got there zander just took off. i had to slowly walk him threw where to put his lunch, his cubby, etc. given the choice he would have thrown the lunch and gone off running. i also got to pray with him right before we went in which brought more peace to me than him.
when zander was first born a friend of ours (the mccloughans from rbc) gave us a book called the kissing hand. the little raccoon starts school and and his mom kisses his palm before he goes to school so he can hold onto the warmth of his mother when he gets scared. well i got to give my little baby a little palm kiss and i thought i'd cry right there. my emotions were all over the place cause i was so excited for zander and knowing how excited he was, but just so sad that we had reached this point in his upbringing.
so the walk home was very very long. i fought back tears the whole time. but while he was gone ronan and i got some sweet time together and he helped me with some work around the house. before we knew it, it was time to get 'bubba' (that's what ro calls him). zander was babbling like a crazy person. he was so excited and loved everything he did. he asked if he could go to school every single day forever! it was adorable. he also asked me if i cried for him and when i said a little, he replied with, "its ok to cry and cry for me mama. i still love you". oh my! i love that little guy.
so that's it. i'll get pics up soon!
ps. for jay, he wore all star wars with his darth vader backpack.

New Tattoo!

I DID IT! i got my three kids' names tattooed on the top of my foot. and let me say how painful it was. now mind you it was my fourth tattoo. and yet, i can still vouch it was the most painful tattoo ever! the top of your foot has lots of little pain receptors and well, no muscle. i could feel my bone vibrating the whole time. usually there are parts of the tattoo that hurt a little less than other parts but well, not with the foot. the whole stinkin' thing hurts the whole stinkin' time. but...it was only 20 minutes and i LOVE it! so here's some pics of it and of my friend melissa getting her back outline done. her piece is huge and she will have a few more sessions before it's done. but it's awesome looking! and of course, a few pics of the kiddos! love them!

Melissa's Back Tattoo
the whole design

My foot!

Me squeezing the heck out of my stomach. with my friend casey

my girlie and i

my gorgeous family!

my little princess! she's so big!!!!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Does anyone remember the game pretty pretty princess? you went around the board collecting rings, necklaces, and tiaras. well i swear my darling little ronan would love that game. every day the child finds something to dress himself up with. hats, necklaces, heels, backpacks, rings, hair clips, headbands, etc. he cracks me up! the other day he went outside to play with playdoh with the monkey harness backpack and his brothers' darthvader winter beanie. and it was 95 degrees out. he's so stinkin' cute. and he's always stealing jade's hair things.
speaking of jade, that little girl is getting so big! i have a feeling she is not going to be a pretty pretty princess. i'm thinking tomboy already. when the boys wrestle, ben takes her and sits her on the boys' faces and i swear she cracks up! she knows already that she's dominating them and it gives her joy. she's a very physical little girl. she loves to roll around on the bed, shake her legs, and squish her brothers. and screech at me. oh can that girl scream. not cry, oh no, she rarely cries, she just screeches like a dying owl. its dreadful. she's also eating more and more lately. she cracks me up too. she loves her baby food! she'll eat a ton and then screech when i take it away. i think she'd eat all day if given the chance.
and lastly, little zander. he's growing up so fast! it's frightening! on tuesday he starts preschool two days a week. he is beyond excited to start! i have to admit, having at least two days with only two kids is kind of appealing. but it's gut wrenching thinking my baby is growing up so quickly. he's obsessed with science and learning and has discovered the green planet channel which is his new happy place. always watching the sea specials. i asked what kind of kindergarten he wanted to go to and he said he wanted to go to a school where they learn science and play with magnets. what?! where does he come up with this stuff?
and don't get me started on my research for the right school district....ugh....these are the times i wished i lived in delton. one school. one school. just one school.