2 Years Old!

Wednesday was Jonas' 2nd birthday! Our big celebration was getting together with our family in the park just before Carson's preschool graduation (see previous post). We played hard on the toys and then had some cake. Before we left for the park, Jonas opened some presents at home.

And he also got to see Dr. Lei for his 2 year well-child visit. He is 25.7 pounds and 34 inches tall. He is 20th percentile for weight and 50th for height.

Jonas has been such an amazing part of our family. He has such a cute little smile and is so very loving. He is speaking very well ...way past the 20 words the doctor said he should know by now. He often tells me, "Mom, go here" or "I want that" or my favorite "Dinosaur go roooaaar!" I am so happy we've had him in our family for the past two years!

Preschool Graduation

Tuesday was Carson's last day of Preschool. Of course I had to snap an "i did it" picture of him before we left. And here are the presents he gave to his teachers: a scentsy bar and car candle with a note attached thanking them for being "sentsational" teachers.

On Wednesday, Carson graduated from Apple Blossom Academy. Its no secret that I have loved having Carson in this preschool. His teachers are amazing and it was definitely worth the drive to have him get a quality preschool experience. I can hardly believe that my little man is finished with preschool! His graduation program was well done and entertaining. His teacher put together a slide show of all the fun things they had done for the school year and she even gave each student their own copy of it.

Carson with his teachers Mrs. Sarah and Mrs. Julie.

All of us after his graduation.

Blogging Blah

Lately it seems like there just hasn't been much to blog about. Sure, there are lots of things going on in our lives right now, but it seems like nothing noteworthy enough to merit a blog post. Nevertheless, this blog is our way of doing our family history, so here is the obligatory, "the show must go on" post.

I am having a hard time with Carson starting Kindergarten in the Fall. I am so thankful that he is growing and learning, but I am so sad for our days at home to come to a close. I hate the thought of sending him off to school and losing some of the influence I have over him. I hate that he won't be home to play with and read stories to. I've been thinking lately about homeschooling, but I wonder if I have the guts to do it. With the weather getting nicer, we've been able to get out and walk more. I usually put the two little boys in the jogging stroller and Carson follows us on his bike. He is riding without training wheels and is getting really good at turning around and going up and down hills. Jonas and Mason love the stroller and most of the time they are both asleep by the time we get home.

Mason loves to be on his tummy and is starting to push his legs and arms like he wants to crawl. He is an anomaly in our family because he is almost six months and has yet to get any teeth. He adores Carson and laughs at him all of the time. On the other hand, he is wary of Jonas and anytime Jonas gets too close, Mason's "proximity alarm" (as we call it) goes off and he starts crying. Its kind of cute because it's like he's saying, "Mom he's getting too close to me. Stop him before he touches me."

Jonas has had a vocabulary explosion and is speaking in sentences. One word he still can't say is his name. He'll name everyone in the family, but when it is time to say his name he will pause and then say "J". He insists on wearing his red boots everyday and one of his absolute favorite things to do is to ride the "corn popper" down the hill. When I was little I would help my dad with his yard work. After we bought our house, my dad gave us his old push mower. I mowed the lawn with it the other day and it was like I was fourteen again. After all these years the mower and I are still buddies..in fact, I think I am going to make mowing the yard my job. I know, sounds crazy, but mowing the yard relaxes me.

Jeff has also been busy working in the yard. This past weekend he moved some bushes out of our front planter bed to the backyard. Then up front he planted my new rose bush (that Jeff's dad bought for me for Mother's Day) and some barberry bushes. Jeff took some of the sod on our side yard and moved it into the back. This will make it easier to mow around our rock wall...plus I am going to plant some flowers in here that will cascade over the rocks.

Oh, and one last random thought. I am thinking of getting rid of broadcast TV. There are only a few shows on that we like to watch and even then we have to be careful about what comes on the commercials. I figure most any show we would want to watch is on Hulu or we can get it off of iTunes. And then there's Netflix and Redbox if we want to watch movies. What do you think? Has anyone else gotten rid of their broadcast TV? I've heard that's the way a lot of people are going.

Discouraged

It seems like this year just hasn't been our year for good health. Since February, there has constantly been someone in our family on antibiotics. Mason is currentsly the one on an antibiotic because of a cold that spread to his eyes and also gave him an ear infection. The nurses at the pediatrician's office know us by name now...and I don't think that's a good thing. Jeff, thankfully, has FINALLY gotten over a sinus infection that lasted 6 weeks.

And then there is me. I've been to the doctor several times in the past few months with all sorts of different ailments. I seriously feel like I am falling apart! As soon as one thing starts to feel better, something else will start hurting. Sometimes I think it must all be in my head because it seems impossible that I could really be this sickly at 25.

So I'm up again tonight in pain. I've decided something has gotta give, because this isn't the way to live life. I'm done, I'm ready to be healthy again. One big, obvious thing I need to do is to shed all those extra baby pounds. Sometimes it seems so overwhelming at how far I have to go. Does anyone have any advice or encouragement?? Especially encouragement because at this point I feel so very, very discouraged. I know what I need to do: eat healthy and exercise more, but I think I've gotten to the point where I am so discouraged that a part of me thinks "What's the point, I'm never going to be the skinny girl." Sometimes I wonder if it really can be done...can I really overcome genetics and bad habits and become the person I want to be? Please somebody out there tell me that I can.

Croquet on the Lawn

Last night for FHE we got out the croquet set and had some fun! Our game was mostly just hitting the balls around on the ground, but we sure had a good time.Can you see those red boots on Jonas? He adores these boots, almost as much as Carson did. I think my Grandpa Carson would be proud to know that these boots are so loved and well used.

Spring Cleaning

This morning my kitchen counters are covered in household cleaners. Why? Because today marks Day One of spring cleaning in the Birch household. Growing up, my mother never really had a set "spring cleaning" time, we just sort of kept things clean as we went. But me, I am obsessed with keeping things neat and clean....so I've decided that my family is going to have a set spring cleaning week once every spring. I suppose it may seem weird to some that I love to sort through cupboards and drawers and getting rid of stuff I am not using. It makes me happy to know where everything is and that I am not being wasteful and hoarding things I don't need. Oh and that everything is clean...it makes me smile when things are clean.

As I begin cleaning this morning, I find it ironic that our family's character quality for the next two weeks is Orderliness vs. Disorganization.

If you've visited my home lately you may have noticed this hanging off of my thermostat. Every two weeks we study a new character quality from Bill Gothard's "Operational Definitions of Character Qualities". I stumbled across this on the Duggar Family website after I went there to find their Tator Tot Casserole recipe. (Carson had seen them eat it on their show and kept begging me to make it....it is quite yummy!).

Anyways, its off to spring clean. I am hoping that in cleaning I can rid my home of all the sickness we've had all winter. Yet again, we were in Instacare yesterday, because Carson was running a fever and crying that his "brain hurt" and tummy was icky. Turns our he has strep again, so we are on round two of anitbiotics, this time a stronger one. I am hoping that with the warmer weather and a good cleaning of everything, we can beat the sickies!

Simple Faith

Once again I am amazed by the sweet, simple faith of my child. Wednesday we were out on our daily walk, when Carson stopped by a storm drain and picked up something exclaiming, "Look Mom!" Before looking I automatically said, "Oh Carson don't pick up garbage." In our part of the subdivision there is a lot of construction going on and a lot of debris all around. I turned and saw that he was holding a key chain shaped like a globe. I started to say, "Oh, well I guess..." then in mid sentence he threw the key chain down the storm drain. When he realized that I was going to let him keep it he started to cry. He was so heartbroken! I tried to console him, but also explained to him that the key chain was gone. He sniffled about it for the rest of our walk. All day long he kept talking about it and crying that he wanted it. I tried to make him feel better by telling him we could look for a new one at the store.

That evening Carson came up to me and said,"Mommy, I prayed to Heavenly Father that he could help me stop thinking about the key chain because it makes me so sad." Later that night, I went into his room to check on him and he said, "I think we can get the key chain back if we use daddy's vacuum (the shop vac)." While I put him to bed he kept telling me all sorts of ways that he had thought about getting it back. When he said his prayers that night, he specifically asked that the key chain would still be there, wouldn't have fallen too far down, and that we would be able to reach it. To me, it was gone and it was just one of those disappointments in life that he would have to learn to deal with. But Carson had perfect faith that Heavenly Father would answer his prayer. Thursday we walked back down to the storm drain and looked inside. To my complete amazement, there it was, sitting on top of some mud about 2 feet down. Jeff got a wire hanger and bent it out straight and soon enough Carson had his cherished key chain. Right there in the middle of the road, my little man took of his hat, folded his arms and thanked his Heavenly Father for saving his key chain. After a thorough cleaning he was finally able to play with it and put his most favorite key on it. Thank you, Carson, for teaching Mommy to have more faith that Heavenly Father does answer prayers!

Giggles

Is there any sound happier than that of a giggling baby? I don't think so.

Quilt

Tonight I was able to put the finishing touches on my Wallflower quilt. It feels good to get a project done...well almost done. I have yet to quilt it. In the past I've always taken my quilts to a quilter to get them done. The problem this time is 1) I don't know a quilter down here 2) My budget won't allow for me to pay to get it done and 3) After reading so many quilt blogs I'd love to learn how to stipple for myself. I've read a few tutorials on stippling, but my problem is that I am the type of person that likes to see it done first hand and have someone there to coach me as I'm doing it. Ideally, it would be great to find someone who would be willing to stipple it and teach me at the same time...

So I don't know what I'm going to do, but I am hoping a solution presents itself soon because I am dying to snuggle up on my couch in my new quilt!

Its finally spring, although after the rough weather we've had over the past week or so, you would think it was still winter. My bulbs in the backyard are even starting to bloom.

Since the weather has been crummy, last weekend Jeff and I painted the back wall of our kitchen. When we painted the living room/dining room area last Fall, I'd left this wall white because I wanted to do it as an accent wall. Nine different paint samples later, and I finally decided on a light brown called Faint Maple.

I've even begun a little spring cleaning. Jonas is always eager to help Mommy and loves to clean the floor.

Carson has been going crazy being stuck inside the past week or so. Carson and Jonas both came down with strep last week and so we've been staying inside and away from everyone.

{LOL, I love how you can see part of his dinner still on his lip!}

Mason is getting bigger all of the time. He is now 4 months and will be going in for his 4 month well child visit tomorrow. I'm hoping he takes this round of immunizations better than his two month ones! He sure is chunky and I'm excited to see how much he weighs now. He is loving to play on the floor and is now grabbing for toys.