Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Things I Love

I love that Aspen talks like Gollum from Lord of the Rings! She puts -ies on the end of so many things. She says shoesies, handsies, feeties, dinkies (drinks), booksies. It's adorable and I know she will grow out of it soon, so we're trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

I love that my babies love books. Both of them. They just can't get enough. Many times a day I will find them quietly immersed in a book. And MANY times I find them very noisily reciting it! It's something Anthony and I both truly enjoy and I'm so glad to share that passion with them.


I love that my sweet children love each other. They hold hands, read books to each other, play together, share snacks, help each other with problems, try to make the other feel better. They're so loving.
Now, don't get me wrong they FIGHT! Lots! But for the most part they are helpful and caring towards each other. Lincoln is being taught to be Aspen's protector...to take care of her and watch out for her. 

I love that before bed Aspen demands to sing three songs: Jesus Loves the little BooBoos, Jesus Loves the little Children, Jesus Loves Me. They're her favorite and she can be heard singing them throughout the day, no matter where we are. The other day she was singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of her lungs as we went through Target. We didn't have the heart to quiet her!

I love that Lincoln loves Bust'r Bus. He looks forward to going on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he's so glad school has started again. We're back in a routine and schedule. He likes to know what's going to happen next.


I love how much my kids love the Disney channel. That my sound silly but I am so thankful that we watch only Disney around here. When we go to the doctor's office or other places where other channels are playing I just hate it. They're such silly shows. I enjoy Mickey, Sophia, Doc, and Sheriff Callie.

 I love that my parents have a farm!





I love that Lincoln and Aspen can go and play and learn and get dirty. The experiences they have at their house will be things they remember forever. I loved growing up surrounded by animals and such interesting equipment. 

I love that my husband has a new kidney. The change in him, physically and emotionally, is HUGE! He's running, biking, did a triathlon again this year. We've enjoyed more time together without dialysis. We've accomplished more around the house because he's not so tired anymore. (Read: he's never tired and has more energy than he knows what to do with!) Vacations without dialysis are amazing!! His 10 month anniversary is almost upon us. It's truly amazing the goodness of God and his mercies. 

Saturday, July 5, 2014

July 4, 2014


Ages...it feels like ages have passed!!

We were pretty low-key for the 4th of July this year. We headed to Morganton to see the festival, but it really turned out to be a bust. Several food vendors selling fried everything, and some guys selling junk for $6. Seriously. We played on the play set for a few minutes and high-tailed it outta there!! 
We bought some fireworks last week in Gaffney and shot those off here once it was dark enough to see them. The kids held sparklers...and we managed to escape that undamaged. Barely. It was nerve wracking this year because Aspen was just big enough to do it on her own but small enough to not really listen to how to do it properly. Nerve wracking. Surprised we didn't end up with 2nd degree burns on Lincoln the way she was shaking her sparklers at him!!

When I get my other pictures off my camera I'll add more. 

Anthony also decided it would be fun to have their first father-son camp out in the backyard. An interesting choice of nights since last year the neighbors shot fireworks until the wee hours of the morn! However, they made it all the way through the night. Anthony texted me at 10-40 to say Lincoln had finally fallen asleep. He was so proud of himself he had to rush in and tell me he slept all night in the tent. At 7:30am. Up with the sun they were. 


Aspens not quite ready to stay all night in the tent so we snuggled in our own beds. Nice and comfy. 

Our annual family patriotic photo. 


Love this bunch!! 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

10 Weeks at home.....together

I know, that sounds like the start of a terrible horror movie. And believe me, I almost thought it would be horrible. But it turns out we like each other a lot more than I thought. 

These 10 weeks at home together with Anthony after his transplant have been such a blessing to our little family. We have enjoyed more time just being together than we ever have before. Anthony got to enjoy plenty of quality time with each of the kids, not just the 2 hours he sees them after work and before bed. What a difference that makes. To him, and to them. Anthony and Aspen really bonded, and he got to learn even more about Lincoln's amazing personality. They truly are amazing little people.

The best part of this has been Anthony's new appreciation for me...the stay at home mom. Before he would come home and look around the house in it's messy, and usual, state and make off-handed comments like, "What did you do all day?" These ten weeks have truly opened his eyes to the amount of things that we do on a daily basis, me and the kids. Moms aren't just moms. We are teachers, doctors, nurses, mediators, referees, short-order cooks, maids, playmates, wives, women, and mommies. There is no free time to sit down. We don't just spend the day lounging in our PJs in front of the TV. Ok, many days are spent in our PJs but that's just because they're comfy! We're definitely not in front of the TV, ever! No time for that!

Anthony now comes home and is more appreciative of me, and what I give to, and for, the children. He says thank you more often for the meals I cook. He understands how tired I really am after a long, hard day of screaming children and he offers to bring home dinner so I don't have to do one.more.thing. He calls at lunch to check up on me to make sure the morning is going smoothly, or offer condolences when it's not. Then he rushes home to love on the kids so I can get a break. Nothing will heal, help, and support your marriage than when your husband appreciates all the little things you do, day after day. It's amazing what just this time at home as done for our family. We're nicer to each other, we respect each other just a little more, and we have a greater understanding of what it's like to spend quality time together. 

We did tons of fun stuff while Anthony was home with us. Here is a VERY short, and VERY abbreviated list:

We went to Christmas parades.


We saw Santa!



We went to Boone.


We went to Gatlinburg, TN with the kids for the first time.

We had a beautiful Christmas together.



WE WENT TO DISNEY WORLD!!!





We made cardboard cars.


And so much other stuff I can't even remember. So much of that time was spent just being together. We took lunch trips to the mall, just because we could. We had movie night in our PJs, because it's fun. We ate lots of Sweet Frog...no explanation needed. And we loved each other.

I am so thankful for this time our family has enjoyed. We have been truly blessed. God has taken care of Anthony, and of our every need and I am thankful every day.

Anthony went back to work on January 22, 2014. He's doing great and feeling wonderful. He's traveling to Baptist Hospital's Transplant Clinic every week or every-other week for blood work and testing. They're always checking his blood for the level of medicines and creatanine, the yucky stuff that your kidneys filter out. Nurses call back every week to tell him how to adjust his medicines to keep everything on the right levels and even. So it's just a process. Slow and steady, right? Hopefully soon he will be able to only travel to Winston once a month to get checked, but they're still keeping a really close eye on him right now. I am so thankful that we have such a great team of doctors taking care of him. Our family sure does need him.