simply me

Happy 4th Birthday Emilia!

Happy Birthday Emilia!  Hope you have a great day and a fun party!  Wish we could celebrate with you!  Love you!

We're Off!

We leave for Kansas in the morning and won't be back until July 6th.  The kids and I fly by ourselves tomorrow and Tyler flies to North Carolina for a conference for a few days and then he is off to London for another conference and will be gone for almost 2 weeks before meeting us in Kansas.  I guess I won't be blogging for awhile.  I'll leave you with this picture of our little football players.

10 years

Today is Tyler and my 10 year anniversary.  We celebrated by going to San Diego a few weeks ago.  We walked along a few beaches, spent some time in a cute little village, toured a battleship (for Tyler's benefit), shopped, spa treatment, ate lots of yummy food, saw sea lions in a special cove where they have their babies and enjoyed much needed relaxation.  Thanks mom for watching the kids!

                 

Gage these days...

I took Gage to the doctor last week for his 4 year checkup.  He was not interested in doing the hearing test.  He slouched down in the chair and would not raise his hand when he heard a beep.  I did get him to give me a five one time when he heard a beep.  Since that was unsuccessful they tried the vision test.  He absolutely would not tell the nurse what any shape was.  We went back to the waiting room and talked about the tests and Jaden told him how easy it was and what he needed to do.  About 5 minutes passed and then they called us back to the room.  Gage decided he wanted to try to do the hearing test again.  This time he went in by himself and he did just fine.  They took him to do the vision test again, but he would not speak.  The doctor said he was doing great and didn't need any shots this time.  Gage was totally shy in front of the doctor, would totally slouch on the table and would not say a word when the doctor asked him questions.  What a stinker!  He is 41 1/2 inches tall, which is in the 75% range.  He weighs 37 pounds, which is in the 50-75% range.

Gage:

• loves playing with swords, usually puts on a belt so he can hold his sword in it
• talks to himself and really pretends when he plays by himself
• loves being outside
• likes wearing flip flops, sounds like "chip chops" when he says it
• often calls us Mr. Mommy, Mr. Tyler, Mr. Jodi, he thinks he is pretty funny
• is very excited to go to preschool next year
• writes his name and likes writing other letters
• loves wearing jammies or shorts

I had this picture on my computer from when Gage was almost 1 year old, just had to share.

New Week.

Tyler left for a conference in San Diego this morning.  Jaden was convinced that he should go on the trip with him, which would be so cool, but maybe when he is older.  Jaden packed his suitcase, shave kit and backpack last night.  He came out of his room and asked how many days they would be gone.  I must say, he is a very good packer.  The shirts that he got out of his closet were nicely folded, everything was organized.  He kept asking Tyler if he had a plane ticket for him.  I told Jaden that Tyler was going to leave early in the morning before he woke.  Jaden said that he would wake up in the middle of the night and go lay on the couch so that he would hear when Tyler was leaving.  Well, Jaden was up by 6:00 this morning (before Tyler even woke up), dressed and ready to go.  He hung out with Tyler until his ride arrived at 6:45.  Jaden grabbed his bags and headed out the door.  I was in sweats and threw on a jacket, figuring that I would have to haul a crying little boy back in the house.  Jaden just said goodbye and waved...he was fine, I was totally surprised.  He had even written a note to us since he was "leaving on a trip."  It said, "Love Mom Dad Gage Danika."  So, with that early start to the day, it is now 7:45 am, Gage and Danika are still sleeping, I'm dressed with my hair fixed, makeup on and ready for the day.  I usually don't get out of bed until Danika wakes up between 7 and 8 am.  Of course she is going to sleep later than usual today.  Once they are awake we will get ready and go to the bagel shop.

This afternoon Jaden has preschool and then we have community group.  Tomorrow afternoon my mom gets here.  Wednesday we will hang out and probably do some shopping.  Thursday afternoon I fly to San Diego to meet Tyler.  We will be there until Sunday evening to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!  I'm very excited, I've never been to San Diego.

I will leave you with a picture of Tyler and Jaden.  I was going through some old pictures the other day and came across this one from Halloween, Jaden was 1 year old.  Jaden loves his daddy so much!

 

The girl loves her shoes!

Danika pulls her doll stroller right in front of her shoe basket, has a seat and starts looking at her shoes.  She already loves shoes!

    

She likes her accessories too!

   

Jaden's Prayer

The other night while Tyler was out of town the kids and I went to the Thomas' house for dinner.  The Thomas' include; Scott, Jeannie, Derrin and Dustin.  They are family to us.  Tyler was Scott's assistant pastor at our church in Denver and now he is Scott's assistant here in Seattle.  Well, Jeannie sliced her finger pretty bad while we were at her house.  Later that night Jaden, Gage and I were hanging out in the office at home just chatting, coloring and I was emailing when Jaden said, "Mom, we can pray for Jeannie."

So Jaden started praying and I started typing (since I was on my email already.)

Jaden:  Help Jeannie's finger to heal tomorrow. Help her when she pulls it off (the  bandage off because it was stuck on her finger).  Help Dustin to not be sad for Jeannie, and Derrin and Scott and everyone else who knows their family.  And help her if she has to go to the hospital if it's really really bad, just help her and be on her side and Jesus name amen."

Jaden:  "Good prayer, huh?"

Jaden:  "Jesus is just like giving good prayers to me.  He's just shooting them to me.  I love God giving me good answers."

Jaden:  "I know I haven't even told you this mom, but I so, so really love Jesus."  Then he had a big smile and a hug for me.

Jaden:  "I hope Jeannie doesn't do that again.  I hope Jeannie feels better.  I hope Dustin's not sad for Jeannie."

Then the boys were talking about daddy coming home in a few days and bringing a surprise. 

Jaden:  "I hope it's a rocket ship and then we can fly all the way up to heaven.  Mom, I hope in a little while I get to go to heaven.  I love heaven.  I cannot wait to see Tyler there."  (Tyler was our 9 year old neighbor who died of cancer over a year ago.)  "Tyler has been there for years."

5 minutes later.....

Jaden:  "And I believe that Jesus is with me some times....on both sides of me."

This little boy amazes me.  He loves Jesus and wants everyone to.  Today he said to me, "Mom, what are you thinking about?"

Well, I was sitting in a recliner with 3 kids on my lap and said,  "that I love my children."

Jaden:  "No mom, that's not what your thinking about.  You are supposed be thinking that Jesus died on the cross for your sins."

Just thought I'd share these special moments.

Have you ever had a bad hair day?

Dani was having one when she woke up from her nap today.

Missing Daddy

Tyler is on a trip to Chicago this week.  I think the kids are missing him.  Jaden dressed up in some of Tyler's clothes, then Gage did and then Danika went in the closet and brought out one of his shirts to wear.  I'm missing him too.  I thought the picture of the 3 of them on the changing table tonight was cute so I added it too.  (I cannot get the "continue reading" part at the bottom of the post to delete without redoing the post, weird.)
 

Jaden's preschool concert

Jaden had a preschool concert a few weeks ago.  He was super excited about the concert for months, so it was exciting when the performance night finally arrived.  The concert theme was "God is building me."  Jaden did a great job, he sang every song and did not seem nervous.