Mobile Uploads from the past 3 MONTHS!

I've been a horrible blogger lately.  My main project as of late has been to put together a 1st year baby book for both kids and a wedding book (6 years later!).  I got a groupon for My Publisher a little while back and the deadline is approaching so that was finally the motivation that I needed to get it done!  As I was putting it all together I realized how grateful I was for this blog.  Another reminder to KEEP BLOGGING for family history's sake.  So now that the books are done I can try and catch up on here and hopefully stay caught up.  I've got a ton of pictures from the phone that never made it on here.  So I will basically narrate our lives over the past 3 months with those.  Overall we've been doing well. This time of year the kids seem to get sick with a cold about every other week and of course I always end up with it by the end too.  So between runny noses we have managed to have some fun here and there as well.  The beginning of March I decided it was time to potty train Violet.  I used a 3 day method with Sawyer that worked awesomely and was planning on doing the same this time around.  He was about 5 months older than Violet when we did it with him, but I was hoping to get it done well before the baby came so we went for it.  To make a long story short, one month later we are back in diapers.  It was frustrating for me to 'give up'.  I had invested so much into it already.  But I just decided she didn't care enough yet and was maybe a bit too young.  I decided the stress of potty training with a little baby in the house was not going to be anywhere near the stress level of the past month.  So we will try again in about 6 months.  I'm just praying it was more an age issue than a personality issue!  She still occasionally decides to go in the potty (when it's fun or convenient for her--like at the store).  But overall she could care less about having a wet diaper.  I will say our relationship is much better now that we are done with all that.  :)

Here are all the pictures...

Some nights Sawyer has a hard time falling asleep (if he's had a nap that day).  So I hand him a stack of books and his head lamp and it does the trick!  Silly boy...

This is what happens when you forget about the IBC root beer you put in the freezer...you should see the freezer.

She's becoming a bit of a dare devil

Sawyer is pretty much done with naps nowadays...but still konks out on the couch here and there

On New Years Eve we got a sitter and went to Texas Roadhouse with Ned & Julianne.  We got a massive tray of barbeque stuff to share.  My pregnant belly was very full that night!

Sawyer started Sunbeams this year!!!  I think it was a bit of a shock to him (and the teachers!) at first but they are awesome and he is slowly learning to sit still and be reverent :)

Gourmet cupcakes for Grandma's Birthday!

 Fun afternoon at the park

Also becoming quite the girly girl...she loves painting her fingernails :)

She is my little artist, for sure.  Always grateful when she's coloring on paper and not on furniture, walls, or her body :)

They are just getting so big!  Glad that they are becoming best friends :)

I was making a salad and I turned around to grab something and when I looked back Sawyer had this cucumber in his fist and was chomping away!  He sure does love his cucumbers...

Started making a tradition of Friday night family movie nights!  The kids thought it was so fun to lay blankets out and eat dinner while watching a movie...this night it was Brave.  Even Violet sat through the whole thing!

Violet transitioned into a big girl bed in January.  She did wonderfully with it!  Now if we could get her to make the same simple transition into undies ;).  

I am loving that Violet's hair is getting long enough to do fun stuff with...apparently Sawyer thinks it's fun too...

Although sometimes it results in some pretty intense bed head as well...

making caramel apples for FHE with grandma and grandpa!

Out for our 6th anniversary!  Love me some sushi!

Sawyer had a 'Teddy Bear Picnic' at preschool and they wore pajamas and made these cute little caves for their bears to hibernate in...loved it!  Also, you can never have too many swords at hand.

Celebrating Nathan's 31st!  The kids were excited to sing and clap for their daddy...and help blow out the candles, of course.  

So I have a little story for the next 2 pics.  I was walking on my treadmill at a pretty steep incline, and I have boxes surrounding it because I am always afraid of the kids getting on while I'm exercising.  Violet managed to climb over and hop on and of course fell down, but because there was a box at the end she didn't roll off!  Instead of pulling the safety strap like I should have I tried to turn around and pick her up, but I fell too!!!  So we were both stuck at the bottom of the treadmill for what seemed like an eternity before I was able to push the heavy box away and roll off!  It was awful.  Violet had long sleeved jammies on so she was ok but I got burned up!  Seriously my arms hurt SO bad for the next 3 days, it was all I could think about.  I definitely learned my lesson and now wear the safety strap on my wrist...and I think Violet learned her lesson too.  She hasn't tried to climb over since!

 A cute idea I got from my sister-in-law, Ashley, and we gave them to Sawyer's preschool teachers for Valentines Day.  Got some cute measuring spoons from Pier One and had this adorable note to go with it.  (sorry I didn't rotate it...if you want to read it bad enough you can turn your head! :) )

VALENTINE's DAY!

New bath towels :) 

Violet's nursery treats...Sawyer ended up wanting to do the same for his preschool.  Kinda girly but whatever.

I was so ecstatic to get my first Noodle Necklace from Sawyer! Seriously made my day. I'm not throwing this one away!

Sawyer was so sweet and willingly shared all of his Preschool Treats with his sister.  He's a great brother.

 Hearts for lunch, and hearts for dinner...

 This cute boy set up a picnic lunch for us all by himself.  Complete with Pretzel Crisps, Sun Chips, Almonds, String Cheese, Yogurt, and Apples.  We had a great little feast :)  (And of course a preschool craft for Presidents' Day)

He thought he was so clever for putting cereal between his toes

Climbing the rock wall...with a little help from Dad

 This was Day 1 of Potty Training...a tarp on the floor and fun new cups to drink lots of fluids!

 Violet thought she'd try eating with her toes

Field Trip to the Natural History Museum.  And finding other uses for the baby stroller--a jet pack?

Checking out the brand new Children's Museum!  It is an awesome place!!!

One last story, I noticed a couple lumps about the size of blueberries on the side of Sawyer's neck sometime in January.  I made an appointment with his doctor right away and we decided to give it another week or two and see if they went away.  They seemed to be associated with some lymph nodes so we were thinking maybe the result of a cold he had recently had.  When we went back they were still there, and he had another cold.  So we tried a round of antibiotics.  Nothing.  So then we had to go in and do a CT scan and a blood draw.  Poor kid was not happy about the blood draw (as  you can see).  Thank goodness the nurse got it right away.  The CT scan was even worse because he had to have an IV for the contrast.  Not fun.  Thankfully Nathan could come down from his clinic to help me that day, especially because I couldn't sit in there with him because I am pregnant.  Nevertheless, we survived.  So then we get the feedback that he didn't have enough subcutaneous fat on his neck (too skinny) so the results were inconclusive.  They said there appeared to be some lymph node enlargement but they wanted to do an MRI to be sure.  Soooo, we are now scheduled for an MRI at an imaging center off base so they could do sedation.  Sad thing is he will still need another IV to do the sedation and Sawyer is now completely traumatized.  He asks me all the time if he is going to have to have another needle.  I feel so bad for him.  I don't know how parents of 'sick kids' do it.  Honestly I am not too worried about the results.  I was for a while.  But his blood work is normal and it seems like it's his lymph nodes.  I think if it was something scary his blood work would have shown something abnormal as well.  We've had some people tell us that their kids had similar things and sometimes the lumps just take months to go back down.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed that it is just related to some kind of infection he had and that it is just taking it's time going down.  His MRI is scheduled for April 20th so we will know more at that time.  Even though I feel pretty calm about it all, please keep Sawyer in your prayers!