A look back...

I was reading one of my blogs I read each day and the author had posted tons of pics from years passed because she had gotten on her old computer and seen them. I decided to the same...got on my old laptop and thought I'd share some pics! Tate has changed so much!

Ava looks so young here too!!!

Fighting as usual...some things never change...

That was fun to post those! :)

Just sayin'...

I cannot wait until I am able to post pictures of everything I want to post pictures of on here! It's kind of driving me crazy! I want to share my entire family with you and all of our experiences! And that's all I have to say about that!

The same interview...a year later

Almost exactly a year ago, I interviewed Tate. I decided to interview him again tonight so I could compare his answers! My what a difference a year makes! I put his answers from LAST YEAR in RED.

1. What is your favorite food?
vegetable delight (I have no idea
what this is...never heard of it!)

Chicken nuggets

2. What is your favorite movie?
Madagascar 2 (he hasn't watched this movie in months!)

Finding Nemo (I think he's watched this once this year)

3. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a chef when I grow up

play baseball and soccer

4. What time do you go to bed at night?
at dark

you say it's in 15 or 20 minutes

5. Where does Daddy work?

at the hospital

he helps people get better at the hospital

6. Where does Mommy work?
at the hospital

at home

7. Where do we live?
at a home in the new house

2803 Tremont in Dabenport

8. What do you like to eat for breakfast?
ham and cheese sandwich, oh wait, that's lunch. I like apples for breakfast

Crispix cereal with sugar on it (ya, we're terrible, we got him into that habit!)

9. What is your favorite toy?
ummmmmm, my Mickey

that's a HARD one! Ummmm...my dominos (this is true, he plays with them ALL THE TIME, but not as dominos, as anything BUT dominos!)

10. When is your birthday?
October 5th

October 5th

11. What kind of car does Mommy have?
the blue car

the blue one and the van

12. What kind of car does Daddy have?
the brown one
the brown one

13. How old is Daddy?
um, I don't know...he's young
35

14. How old is Mommy?
old (thanks, Tate)
31

15. What do you think Mommy's favorite thing to do is?

listen to music

snuggle with me!

16. What do you think Daddy's favorite thing to do is?
vacuum (I can't remember the last time I saw Sean vacuum!)

go to work

17. What is your favorite thing to do?

My favorite thing to do is bowling
play Xbox Kinect and my Kung Fu Panda game

18. What's Papa S's favorite thing to do?

bowling

That's tricky! Maybe driving?

19. What's Nana S's favorite thing to do?
boxing

She likes to sit in the front of the car while Papa S drives (this cracked me up!!!)

20. What's Papa P's favorite thing to do?
sing the alphabet song

Maybe have us over for sleepovers?

21. What's Nana P's favorite thing to do?
play a game with me

Play with the pretend food in the kitchen in their basement with me. Only she doesn't make the food, she sits and waits for me to bring her the food that I make. That's her favorite thing to do in the whole world. (again, this cracked me up!)

22. What is your favorite game?

I love a lot a lot of games...boxing and bowling and playing tennis

Kung Fu Panda on Xbox

23. Where is your favorite place to go visit?
at Ayla's

to DeCook's

24. Do you know what state we live in?
a building

Iowa Hawkeyes (yes, Tate, it IS a Hawkeye state! :))

25. Where is Mommy's favorite place to shop?

at the Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

26. Where's Daddy's favorite place to shop?

at the dangerous shop (I know exactly what he's talking about here. He is talking about a sporting goods store. Whenever we walk by the guns, we talk about how they're really dangerous...ha!)
Hy-Vee

27. Where is your favorite place to shop?
the Wal-Mart, just like you Mommy!
Wal-Mart, the same place as you!

28. What is your favorite thing to cook?
pizza

Salad

29. What is Mommy's favorite thing to cook?
cheese

Roast chicken

30. What does Daddy like to cook?
chicken (I'm not sure I've ever seen him cook chicken)

burgers is all he cooks

31. What is Mommy's favorite food?
macaroni and cheese

chicken

32. What is Daddy's favorite food?
ham and cheese sandwiches

burgers

33. What does Mommy like to drink?
tea

Coke Zero

34. What does Daddy like to drink?
water

Dr. Pepper

35. What do you like to drink?
juice

juice

36. What is Mommy's favorite restaurant?
Pizza Planet

McDonald's (I can't remember the last time any of us ate at a McDonald's!)

37. What's Daddy's favorite restaurant?
French Froe (I have no idea what this is!)
Hy-Vee (this is pretty accurate...he loves their Chinese!)

38. What is your favorite restaurant?

HuHot

Incredible Pizza

So there you have it...as you can see, some of the answers are the same, but lots are much more accurate. I was so proud that he knew our address! And even more importantly that he we lived in a Hawkeye state! ;)

That was fun!

This means 1 of 2 things...

1. I have so much time on my hands that I choose to blog about my sock.

2. These socks are blogworthy.

And the winner is #2! I certainly don't have enough time on my hands to be blogging about my sock, but THESE socks...well, they're worth it.
You see, I was saddened when I removed my shoe today and found out where the draft had been coming from all day. :(

I have had these socks for at least 4 years. They are my FAVORITE by a mile. I wore them all the time (clearly!). I mean, they match nearly everything! They're just so....me. I knew this day was coming. They had been hanging on by a thread.

Is it weird that I am contemplating sewing them?!?!

a creative storage solution...

I need one.
This is the top of our fridge...

We have a mesh shoe rack that we hang inside a door in our kitchen to use as storage and it is wonderful. Creates a ton of convenient storage space without taking up lots of space. Our kitchen is TINY. I need to get creative here. This "storing everything on top of our fridge" method will not do. Hmmmm...

a story about God...

This evening when Tate was playing alone in the living room, I overheard him say something that upset me and that I was shocked to hear come out of his mouth.

He said, "I'm allergic to God".

WHAT?!?!?!

I walked in the living room and asked him what he said and he repeated it. We went on to having a conversation about why he would say something like that and so on and so forth. It still makes my stomach hurt to relive me hearing him say those words. Ugh.

Each night before bed we say prayers. Tate is praying and starts to SOB...he's praying to God and saying that he is so sorry and he doesn't want Him to be mad at him. It was like racking sobs. I started crying, he was crying...genuinely crying. He couldn't catch his breath, tears running down his face....oh my, it was heartbreaking.

We obviously then had a conversation about how God isn't mad at him and how God loves him no matter what. It wasn't really working very well to calm him down. He was asking me to tell God that he's sorry and that he doesn't know why he said that. I told him to tell God himself and he was confused. I explained that that is what praying is...it's us talking to God. I told him to just talk to God. It was like it clicked. He has prayed every night for such a long time, but apparently I never explained that when we pray, we are talking to God. It was so sweet to listen to him pray after that. And then it was funny because at the end of his prayer he said, "and please don't give me a bad dream tonight because I said I was allergic to you." Oh. My. Heart. He has problems with nightmares/night terrors still on occassion and prays every night for God to "keep his bad dreams away and his good dreams to stay".

I have no idea where he got the "allergic to God" from, but I have a feeling he won't ever say that again.

I love my little Tater so much!!!!

February!

This morning was stressful. Sean and I had a meeting of sorts. This meeting could end up adding another major change in our family. A GOOD change, but a big one. :) More on that later...hopefully.

It was so nice today...on February 1st! Crazy!

Sean went back to work tonight! He is on nights for the next week...the next 3 nights. He certainly didn't ease back in! The 2 weeks he was off FLEW by! I mean, it was pretty amazing having him here...most of the time. :P There were times when my routine was thrown off a bit and I felt like I was ready for him to go back, but for the most part, it was great having him around. :)

Now I'm on my own with the boys and they're both not feeling well. Nothing major. Just not 100% and that may cause some not so great nights ahead. Hoping that's not the case, but we'll see.

I made super cute Valentine's for Tate the other day. Seriously...can't wait to share them on here. They are adorable, I think. He is super excited to hand them out at school!

I got a Valentine's themed tablecloth for our table that I think I will put out now that it's February. :) I really wanted something to hang on our front door that was cute and Valentine's Day themed...I saw lots of cute things at Kohl's and ALMOST bought one, but I didn't. They were on sale and weren't really expensive at all, I just couldn't do it when I knew it would only be hanging up for 2 weeks. I have a bright red front door so I KNOW that a Valentine's Day decoration hanging on it would look great. Maybe I'll buy one after Valentine's Day for super cheap and will use it next year! :)

All Of Me...

This song made me sob tonight. Sob.

Listen to it...read the lyrics.

I mean, I have heard it countless times, but the lyrics mean so much more to me now.

I hear a lot from people about "guarding my heart" with the situation we are in. I am not guarding my heart, I don't want to and I don't think it's fair for me to try and love an innocent child less to protect myself. He will have all of me, all my love, because he's worth it. He's worth facing the fear of losing him. Even if loving him fully isn't enough, I will do it. There are no guarantees in this path we chose...not until everything is signed on the dotted line. We know this. We knew this goig into it. You know what though? There are no guarantees in life in general. We could lose Tate tonight, I could lose Sean tonight, but will I love them less because there is a chance they won't be with me forever? No. We chose the path we are on, we knew the heartbreak that could come of it, it is a risk we were willing to take. This is not coming from us feeling worried about our situation being changed. We honestly feel pretty confident in what will happen in our family in regards to our placement. That confidence isn't enough for me to not be completely terrified. TERRIFIED! I have had a handful of "moments" with the new little person in our life. "Moments" when I had that aching love that physically hurt, that "moment" when you know that your love for this person has changed and deepened. I am terrified of losing this little person. It makes me physically sick to think of that possibility. What if someone said to you, "there is a very slight chance that in the next few months, we may take your child away and give him to someone else and you will never see him again. It's probably not going to happen, but we have to be honest and tell you that it is a possibility...I mean, I would be shocked if it happened though so I don't want you to sit and constantly worry about it." Uh, ya right. It would be unfathomable to think that could happen, right? If you heard that, would you think, "well, I better not love you any deeper because it's too risky. I better guard my heart."? No way.

Am I terrified? Yes, beyond terrified.

Is he worth it? Without question.

Would I change anything if I could? No way, not a chance.

We're still here...

It's been crazy. I feel like I JUST blogged and I look and it's been close to a week?!?!! I promise to go better. I am going to try and blog each night before bed.

We have been going through some delayed adjustments with our little Tater this last week. He's struggling a bit with some of the changes in our lives. It's so hard to watch him struggle. He is craving attention from us I think and will do anything to get it...whether it's positive or negative, he doesn't care. He's been getting a lot of negative attention from us this week because he is pushing our buttons big time. I know he's going through a lot so in addition to the fact that he has been frustrating us to no end this week, we know it's ultimately because he's struggling and that makes me so sad.

I am feeling that it's time for another date.

Or something, not sure what.

Oh how I love this boy so much!

Sometimes I feel like such a failure as his mother.

I need to do better. It's a balancing act, really. And we may be adding one more thing that could throw the balance off again. Eek! More on that if it ends up happening.

Sean is recovering well...as long as his surgeon clears him at his appointment tomorrow, he'll be back at work full time on Wednesday. It's been SUPER nice having him home for 2 weeks! However, it's thrown off my routine at times. It'll be nice to be back into a routine.

catching up...randomness

Yikes, it's been 3 days since I blogged?!?!!! There's been a lot going on, but I had no idea it had been 3 days! Look HERE...this day last year I wrote that post. It was our last night in our previous home. Ugh...I HATED that place! I love our home even more now than I did the first day we moved in and I LOVED it then! It may have something to do with the fact that there are more little bodies inhabiting this home than there were last year...not sure, but I know that when we leave this home (not anytime soon hopefully, but someday we'll HAVE to!), it will be hard and I will want to remain in this same neighborhood!

Sean is recovering amazingly well from his surgery. I must eat my words...he hasn't been that bad of a baby at all! He even took the boys out for a little over an hour today so I could do some turbo cleaning! It was wonderful and I forget how much I can get done when I'm not taking care of children in the process. :)

My voice has been almost gone and really raspy sounding these last 2 days because of a cold. Tate has looked at me at least once a day these last 2 days and said, "Mommy, you sound like Cassie." Ha. I kind of do, but I don't think her voice is this raspy all the time. It's driving me nuts!

We had DeCooks over last night and ate pizza and wings and just hung out. Lora and I even drank decaf with yummy creamer and whipped cream on top. MMMMM! :) It was nice to just hang out and the kids played and played and then CRASHED in the livingroom while watching a movie. Well, not Tate. However, he made James carry him to bed and then never made a peep again and went right to sleep. That's rare for him.

Have you ever drank Vanilla Coke Zero?!?!!!! Oh my...you should, it's Sean and my new favorite. YUM-O!

We got whole house DVR the other day...it's kind of amazing. Loving it!

Someone anonymously came over to our house to snowblow our walkway and sidewalks yesterday while we were not home. Seriously, SO NICE! And if whoever did it is reading this...you have NO IDEA how much that helped us. THANK YOU!!!

I think that is all for tonight...

6 years of blogging!

Exactly 6 years ago today, I wrote my first post on this blog. I wrote how we had just sold our house and were moving out of Colo and back to Des Moines. Wow...lots has changed in our lives since then! I remember starting the blog and knowing that we were going to be adopting. We hadn't "officially" started the process yet, but had attended our first informational meeting at Bethany Christian Services. We knew that we wanted to have some sort of way to share our journey with our family and friends and keep them updated.

Starting this blog is something I will never regret and something I am SO thankful I did! I reference back to things on here all the time and have documented so many events, thoughts, feelings and stories that I would have likely otherwise forgotten. Sometimes I even read things I wrote and think, "I can't believe I wrote that...I don't remember feeling that way" or even sometimes I don't even recall writing certain posts! Ha. :)

In the last 6 years, Sean and I have (in no particular order) sold a house, lived in 5 different homes (yikes!), Sean has started and completed Nursing school, we've grown our family through adoption, made so many new friends, gained several nieces/nephews, moved from Colo to Des Moines and then from Des Moines to Davenport, I left a job to stay at home with Tate for a little over a year, I got a job at Wells Fargo, Sean got a his first nursing job and I left my job at Wells Fargo to stay home again, Tate started preschool, Sean's had 2 surgeries, Tate's had 1 surgery, I've still had NO surgeries, we have started and stopped the adoption process and then became a licensed foster family and began the adoption process again, our eyes have been opened to so many things that we were blind of 6 years ago, we have changed our spending habits, started living on a strict budget, started giving so much more to causes we believe in and completely healed from our pain of enduring infertility when we were blessed with the adoption world! Whew! That's a lot of things in 6 short years! And each of these events, plus 100's more are all documented on this blog. Almost every thought and fear and joy and pain and story is all right here...6 years of our life documented.

So grateful I chose to start this blog and have kept at it for 6 years. And so grateful that this blog has allowed me to meet so many of you wonderful cyber friends (some turned real friends!) and that all of you other family members and friends have continued to show an interest in our family.

Won't it be crazy when I can post about my blog's 10 year anniversary?!?! I honestly can say that I cannot imagine not having this blog, so I look forward to many more anniversaries here on A Peakin To Our Lives! :)

he lived through surgery...

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I thought the date was for Tate...

...I thought it would be good for him. It was. You know what? I think it was even better for me! Really, it was a blast! It made me feel like I need to take more time to spend with Tate...focus on him. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff that I blink and a month has gone by and I feel like I've hardly spent any time with Tate! We ran around and played like children...both of us! We went to Incredible Pizza. Tate ate like a horse, it was amazing. He hugged me about 20 times and flashed my the "I love you" sign and kissed and said I love you to me constantly. On the way there he said, "I am so excited to get to spend some time with you!". Ummmm, so sweet! He's heard me say that several times over this last week since we planned our date night.

We talked and talked and laughed and danced to the music that was playing and skipped around the whole place and held hands and just had the time of our lives for about 2 hours! I loved it as much (if not more) than him!

I mentioned that Daddy might take him on a date next. At first he said, "no, I only want to do dates with you, mommy", then out of no where a bit later he said, "maybe Daddy can take me on a breakfast date to IHOP"...Ha! He is too cute!

Can't wait for another date night with my little Tater Tot!

sick kids, surgery and a date!

So it's been a rough last 2 nights! Kiddos awake puking, fevers, coughing, changing sheets, etc. I have to say, I actually laughed at one point...like out loud to myself. It was pretty comical. And despite the getting up in the night and dealing with all of that, I have been upbeat, energized, productive and positive throughout the days. I know that I am blessed to have these kids to care for and love on and adore and I know that someday I'll have more and maybe then they'll ALL be sick and I'll wish I only had 2 sick at one time! :)

1 is on the mend, the other is fine...just a nasty cough. Sean has been working nights so during all of this, I've been home to deal with it alone. Then, he sleeps all day and I've still managed to pick up the house and have dinner for him when he wakes up so he can eat before work. He is working just as hard as I am and I completely adore that man lately! I mean, I've alway adored him, but let's be real here...we've had our ups and downs. :) This last month he has been amazing and helpful and kind and it's almost like I've fallen in love with him all over again. Oh, and he has a very uncomfortable (becoming painful) hernia that he is getting surgically repaired on Wednesday and so I'll have another "kid" to take care of after that. He's off work for 2 weeks after surgery and I've been told that the first week can be rough. Now that I've bragged about him a bit, I will tell you that he is a total baby and I anticipate his recovery won't be fun for any of us. Sorry, babe...it's true!

On another note...I gained a few pounds over the holidays. I knew I would. I am okay with it...really. I needed to indulge a bit in order to make it. Ha. Anyway, I've already lost half of the weight I gained in the last few days. Whew. I'm really wishing I had time and the weather was nice enough to run though. I guess forgetting to eat half the time will do. :) Ha.

So Tate has had some major changes happen in his life since we embarked on a new journey in our family. He had a bit of a meltdown over the holiday, but by the way he's been acting since, I am thinking that was at least half because he was tired. Anyway, he deserves to be doted on a bit and to have all of my attention for a bit. He's been so amazing and sweet and I am just so proud of him. So tomorrow, we are going on a date! He cannot stop talking about it! He is so excited to go on a date with Mommy! I love it...I love that boy so much it hurts. Not sure yet what we're doing for our date though. I really want to do something he'll be totally excited about...maybe Incredible Pizza? Golden Corral? I know...he's strange, he LOVES Golden Corral! Ha. Bowling just he and I? A movie? I don't know yet. I'm sure I'll post all about it afterwards!

Goodnight all! Hopefully tonight I'll get uninterrupted sleep!!! I sure hope so. :)

What if?

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

~Unknown

Yummy Salmon recipe...

I posted a new recipe HERE on my recipe blog! It's been FOREVER and I am not necessarily ready to start regularly posting recipes there again (kinda busy these day!), but when I make something new and yummy, I'll put it on there. :)

So I made some yummy salmon tonight...I had to share...it was SO EASY and SO DELICIOUS!

Thankful...even on days like today!

Ugh...aren't sick kiddos just the worst?! We have one sick baby in our house. Breaks my heart!

Tate has never been a puker. I think he's only had 2 times when he had a stomach bug and during each bug, I think he only threw up once. Last night was a different story. Yikes! Sorry for too much information, but there was way too much puke than should be coming out of a little guy! Praying Tate doesn't get it too!

So today we are having a pajama party! I am doing lots of laundry (thanks to puke all over the sheets!), cleaning and disinfecting. There are sweet sounds of our Praise Baby DVD's playing in the livingroom (love.) and Tate is being truly angelic today! When he wants to, he can be the sweetest kid in the world! I just wish he wanted to more often! Ha. :) Man I love these boys that fill my house!

This is what is playing in my livingroom right now...

I was born to worship You my King
I was born to lay down everything
To make my life a living sacrifice
so I'll sing for You
I was born to worship

I will live my life for You alone
I will make my very heart Your home
so Your glory all the world will see
and so I'll sing for You
I was born to worship

Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja
I was born to worship

So funny how I've heard that song a MILLION times, but the words seemed to be so much more loud and clear to me today. Man, it is so often easy to forget that I was born to make my life a living sacrifice and to live my life for Him ALONE! I love these little reminders He gives me. They're coming like a flood lately. :) I know I will be rewarded someday if I live my life for Him alone and make my life a living sacrifice...and this life may be hard the entire time I am on this earth, but knowing that I will have everlasting life in heaven is more of a reward than I could ever dream of.

So despite the germs and sickness in our house today, I am feeling overwhelmingly calm and taken care of and BLESSED! I say it all the time, I know...I am blessed, in the hard times and the good times.

At Christmas this year, my family did something for Jesus. Each family member wrote down on a peice of paper a "gift" we were going to give Jesus this year. Afterall, Christmas IS His birthday! We didn't share our gifts with each other, rather, we sealed them in a container to be looked at next year and see if we followed through with our gifts. I wrote down a couple of things I was going to do for Jesus this year. One of my gifts to Him was to remember to praise Him and thank Him even in the difficult or bad moments in my life. To thank Him when all I want to do is be angry or beg Him to make things better. Last night was a hard night, today is going to be difficult with 2 tired kiddos who don't feel great. However, all I can think of is how thankful I am that God gave us these 2 kids to raise and love and care for forever. So yes, even today and last night...we are SO BLESSED! I thought in these moments, I would have to remind myself to thank God and praise Him. Honestly though, it's like I put that "gift" to him in my heart and it's just come naturally. I didn't have to remind myself today that He is the reason these boys are in my life, that He has given me the incredible joy of raising them, that He is the reason for everything good and wonderful in my life. I know this. I am so thankful to him...especially today!
Happy Sunday!

I know this...I believe it fully...

God is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine.

~Ephesians 3:20

Let's talk about STOVES!

The purchase of a charcoal-efficient stove for a family in Haiti can allow them to breathe easier, cook faster, increase their disposable income, and potentially start a business or provide an education for their children. This is especially impactful in a country still dealing with extreme poverty and the devastating effects of an earthquake. All that for a $20 investment.

From The Adventure Project website: "These stoves are revolutionary, allowing families to breathe easier, cook faster, and increase their income by saving on fuel costs. The money saved is money used to send their kids to food, start small businesses, and eat more nutritious food. The stoves are produced locally in Port au Prince and sold by women entrepreneurs. It's a sustainable business model providing a life-saving product."

Today The Adventure Project is asking for supporters to step up their engagement and ask others to do the same. The hope of this particular campaign is that supporters like me each convince two friends to each buy a stove, hop on board and convince two of their friends to buy a stove. The impact would be pretty amazing and if anyone can do it, The Adventure Project can.

I know their are so many opportunities out there to give and I know many people struggle to trust certain organizations. I know the co-founder of The Adventure Project personally and your money is going where they say it's going!

$20 is nothing...it's not even a dinner out, it's not even half a tank of gas, please consider supporting this cause.

I am asking YOU...yes, I am talking to you. :) I have SO MANY amazing friends and family who read this blog and even wonderful people who have been so supportive to our family when we do not even know them outside of the cyber world. I know I will get more than 2 of my wonderful friends to support this as well. It's hard to ask you all for things, but I believe in this cause. DONATE HERE! And then let me know you did...maybe I'll do a little something for you. ;)

a peace

Yesterday was eventful to say the least...mostly good events, but lots to think about. When I have something BIG on my mind or something big happens, I tend to call my closest friends and family and get their opinions. Honestly, I need to take a breath and stop doing that...I think I need to form an opinion of my own first. Live and learn, I guess! :)

My family and friends are amazing and all care for us more than we deserve. I know that any opinions or rash remarks are just given to us out of love...I DO know this. And I also know that as much as I want someone out there to make big decisions for us and just tell us what to do when we just don't know, no one can. At least no earthly being can. I know who is making the decisions in our life...why do I keep trying to make them on my own?!?! I know that when a door opens, we need to explore it and pray about it and God will give us the answer...I just forget in the heat of the moment sometimes. :) I also know that many times, the "right" decisions are definitely not the "easy" path. Boy do I wish it were! I think that so many times I have made a decision that would possibly make my life a lot harder or more stressful or more work, but the fullfillment I have gotten out of that decision being made much outweighed the risk. And I also know that I cannot count on anyone on earth to tell me what the right decision for our family is. No one knows aside from us. In fact, WE don't even know! Only God knows. I think we're handed these obstacles and big decisions as a way to be forced to lean on Him. I am leaning on Him more than ever right now. And somehow, in the midst of all of the worry and stress and fear, I feel a peace like I have never felt before. A peace that no matter what decisions we are making, God is in control and will help us. I am listening to Him more than I ever have before and it is so amazingly comforting.

We are so blessed by the support we have from so many people...even people who think we're out of our minds! :) As I've said many times before, I wish I could be completely open and honest about what's going on with us. I promise that I AM documenting all of these events in a private location to be posted on here when all is said and done. It may be 6 months from now, it may be a year from now, but I will share details when I can. Thank you for all of your love and support despite the fact that many of you don't know what's going on.

We can already tell that 2012 is going to be a crazy (crazy GOOD, we hope!) year for us!

Tate's Hawkeye Snowman...

Tate was sent home with homework from preschool yesterday. He was instructed to decorate a snowman they had created at school. It said to be creative and do whatever you wanted. He wanted to make a Hawkeye Snowman. He picked out ALL of the pieces to it himself and glued them on. I asked him, "what do you think the Snowman is thinking?" He said, "He thinks that the Hawkeyes are SO COOL!" So we changed the wording up a bit...

He wrote it all by himself...

He was so proud!

I was too! :)

Birthdays Galore!

On Sunday night, we went to Muscatine for a couple of hours to celebrate my sister's 35th birthday with her family and my parents.

This is our creative way of representing "35". :)

Ayla likes being naked...so this is normal...

And she takes blowing out the candles very seriously!

Happy Birthday to the best sister in the world! Really, she is the best!

January has become a SUPER BUSY birthday month in our family! Today is my niece Abby's 1st birthday and my mother-in-law's birthday...I believe she's 45(ish) ;) ;). Happy Birthday to both of you as well! We will also celebrate, Aunt Sarah's birthday, Tyler and Leah's birthdays and even that strange blob has a birthday in a few days! ;)

That's 7 Birthdays in January!!!

I love me a birthday celebration, so I'll take it. :)

Maybe I should write stuff...

You know, instead of just posting when I have pictures. It's hard right now...I have SO MUCH I want to write and SO MUCH I have to say, but I just can't. It's frustrating.

This time in our life is such an important, wonderful time and I hate that I can't share about it all. I look forward to the day when I can. :)

This week will be busy...as is my life. Sean and I were speechless about a very generous gift we were given and also have an overwhelming amount of love and support that has been given to us by all of our loved ones. The blessings we are receiving are humbling and making us realize our downfalls and how much more we can and need to do for others.

On another note...my diet MUST be in full force again. For reals...I gained a few pounds over Christmas. Fully expected that to happen because I gave myself a break and WAY over indulged, but I am back at it now. Planning on joining the Y, not only will I use the Y for some exercise for myself, but I know the family will use it as well...the little ones especially! Hoping I can join and get to using that membership in the next month or so. It's just crazy busy right now!

We had the Burback kids last night. It was so much fun. Seriously, LOVE having them all stay! They are amazingly well behaved and sweet and loving and fun and hilarious. We went out to dinner and dessert and had a dance party when we got home, played some xbox, watched a movie, slept all over the livingroom and then had donuts for breakfast and played all day today. Oh my goodness it was a blast!

I have really been good about implementing a much earlier bedtime these last several days. And on that note...goodnight! :)

How could I forget this one?!

Love this picture of Abby and her grandma!

Love it!

Abby's 1st Birthday Party!

I cannot believe that in 2 days, it will have been a YEAR since Abby was born! It seems just like yesterday! She is so sweet! We celebrated her first birthday yesterday and she is just such a big girl, walking all over the place and cheesin' it up for the camera.

Love her...

And of course, she had an Abby Cadabby birthday party!

Poor thing only smashed her cake this much. Cake eating time fell right at nap time and Abby was DONE by then, so she fell asleep instead. :)

It wasn't long though when she woke up smiling!

Abby and Tyler...

Abby and her mommy...

All the kids had fun at the party at Happy Joe's!
Kayla...

Leah...

It was a great time spent with the Peakin Family!

Happy Birthday Abby!!!!

That darn blob...

The Peakin Cousins

Tyler, Abby, Tate, Kayla, strange blob, Leah...

I must need to check and clean my lens. Sorry, just disregard the blob. ;)

Pure talent...

Apparently, eye crossing is in the Peakin genes.

Leah is at the professional status...

Kayla is a professional in training...

Tate obviously doesn't have the Peakin genes...

At not even 1 year old, Abby will likely be a professional one day too...

:)

Neglect and an update...

I know, this blog is getting neglected. So many of the exciting things in our life right now, I just can't share. :( Boo for confidentiality. Ha.

Tate is struggling a bit with some of our family changes as well as his return to preschool. Could you pray for him?

Sean is having hernia surgery on January 18th and his body is wishing it were sooner. He'll be off for 2 weeks after his surgery. Should be interesting and different having him home with us all the time. I'll enjoy it. :)

We're getting whole house DVR...totally excited about this. :) It's the little things, people.

My house is a disaster...I have a feeling this won't be changing anytime soon as I still have much to get the hang of due to our family changes that have occurred. I'll figure it out...hopefully sometime in 2012 I'll figure it out.

I honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to do my photography stuff anymore. Not sure how I'll manage to find editing time. This makes me a little sad and concerned. We'll see if Jennie Peakin Photography is still up and running later this spring. I am praying I'll be able to figure something out to make it work, but in this moment, I am concerned it might be too much right now. :(

Tate got an iPod for Christmas and he is ADDICTED! He has his headphones on constantly and dances all over the house. He's so cute...he loves to dance almost more than anything else.

It feels like spring here. For reals...I wore a 3/4 length sleeved shirt yesterday with no coat and was comfortable. I would be fine with no snow this year...totally fine.

My showers are becoming shorter and fewer. I like long showers. :(

We have the best family and friends ever. Period.

I just couldn't resist...

Just act like you don't see the weird blob in this picture...okay? Okay. ;)

All of my parents grandkids...

It is virtually impossible to find a time when all of the kids are awake, let alone looking at the camera and not crying! This is pretty much the best we could do!

From left to right: Our Tater Tot and the strange blob that you don't notice, Bode, Brigg, Boone, Lani, Ayla. :)

Booner...

His curls, his dimples, his persistence, his dancing...oh my goodness he is adorable and we love him so much! Every time we see him he's changed a ton! He's at that age that change happens quickly and we cannot wait to see what he's like the next time we see him!

I just had to share these pictures...

Who I rung in 2012 with...

Unfortunately, Sean had to work at the crack of dawn on New Years Day, so he went home to get to bed early and missed out on the night time festivities at my parent's house.

This was our crew (after all the kids were asleep downstairs)...the ones I rung in the new year with (aside from a certain 10 year old who was playing photographer).

I love each of these people more than I could ever describe in words...

This may be a bit more realistic...

Or maybe this one...

And Brenda's face just cracks me up in this one!

With a toast and lots of kisses, 2012 began...

2011 was good to us...GREAT to us actually.

We are not deserving of all of the amazing blessings we have received this past year and certainly don't deserve any more in 2012 either, but are prayerfully looking forward to what is in store in 2012!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Girls Day...New Years Eve (before the festivities!)

Cassie, Brenda and I spent the afternoon of New Years Day together chatting, laughing, going out to lunch and getting some drinks...oh, and at the tattoo shop. ;)

I was the good one who didn't get anything done! :) I wanted to though, not gonna lie. Ha.

An old highschool friend (who covered my foot tattoo recently) works here...

He is an amazing artist and did an unbelievable cover of one of Brenda's tattoos and then did an awesome tattoo on my sister too!

You can't tell in this picture, but she got her nose pierced too. It's totally cute and her.

It was so much fun to spend the afternoon together without husbands or kids. :) And we may have been completely annoying to Aaron (the tattoo artist), but we had a blast.

So glad I got some time with Cassie and Brenda...love you guys!

Stewart Christmas 2011

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family starting on Friday when Chris, Brenda, Bode and Boone arrived in the afternoon. The celebration extended through the weekend when we brought in 2012 all together as well. It was such a wonderful weekend!

Chris and I when I forced a picture on him right after he woke up from a snooze...

I couldn't pick between these next 2 pics. Almost all the kids got Owl jammies and so we captured a few of them in a picture. Oh my I love each of these kiddos so much and they are all just so sweet!!!

Tate got an Orange iPod from my parents...he was ecstatic! He loves music and dancing and cannot wait to listen to his iPod with his new Iron Man headphones he got with it. :)

Happy boy!

We laughed SO MUCH this weekend. We played board games, card games, ate way too much great food, talked, reminisced, laughed and laughed and laughed some more. The kids played non-stop all weekend and got along so well! We went bowling and had a blast, the kids built forts out of pillows and chairs, played XBox Kinect and the Wi, all slept on mattresses and couches in the living room and even had a sleep over at Cassie and Paul's one night and fell asleep in their living room by the fire. I didn't want the weekend to end...none of us did!