10 Years

May 13th will be our 10 year anniversary. It's really kind of nice to have married in the year 2000. Makes remembering what anniversary it is really easy. ;-)

I've been reminiscing lately about what the last decade has held for us: lots of laughter, love, and fun. Lots of growth and some heartache. The loss of some family & the birth of our 3 awesome kids. The purchase of our home - which has also brought fun & several headaches (ha!). Several job changes & a few layoffs. Transitioning from a 2 income home to me coming home full-time. Watching our siblings marry their spouses in the last few years. Making several wonderful friends that now count as family too.

Joel has exceeded all I thought I wanted in a husband and father. I truly value & respect the man he is. I don't take for granted what we've got & we work hard to maintain our relationship. As we celebrate the last 10 years I look forward to many more decades of the same. Happy Anniversary, Joel. I can honestly say I love you more now than I did the day we married.

Joel & I when we were first dating. I'm about 19 & he's about 22

On our wedding day - I'm 21 & he's 24

My favorite recent photo of us at a marriage conference last year.

Sleeping in Style

Over the years I've found my kids sleeping in all kinds of interesting positions. This one, however, was a new one for me. It was too funny not to share!

They're so little!

Joel found these 2 videos on the computer today when he was doing some work. One's of Jon & one's of Em when they were much smaller. They are too darn cute so I had to share them with y'all. Just click on the links below. Enjoy!

Jonathan Bouncing

Emily Sliding

Freddie the Frog

Emily's class at school has a stuffed frog named Freddie. When someone is the class leader for the day they get to bring Freddie home. It's a big deal for a Kindergartner. Emily freaks out whenever she gets this honor. She literally runs to the van at pick-up time beaming with joy on these days. So I figured it was time to blog about Freddie. Here's a photo of Em and her green, furry friend. Joel secretly thinks Freddie is probably germ-ridden & doesn't like him much. Part of bringing Freddie home is writing about his stay in your home to be read in class the next day. Here's our entry from his last visit:

Emily H. brought Freddie home with her today from school because Emily was the leader. They ate Chex Mix and juice for a snack. Then they made a butterfly craft together with Emily's brother, Jonathan, and her mommy. Freddie tried to eat the butterfly. We laughed. When it was story time Freddie listened quietly. While we ate our dinner Freddie ate ants in the backyard. When Emily's daddy got home Freddie jumped on him to scare him as a joke. We all laughed, but daddy didn't. It was fun having silly Freddie at our house and we hope he visits again soon. The end.

Mom's Helpers

The kids love their baby sister tons. There are times on weekday mornings or when I'm getting dinner ready that Emily will help me feed Katherine a bottle until I can get free again. This morning Jonathan got in on the action too. He tried to feed her the remaining little bit in her bottle before we headed out the door to get Em to school. I had to get a picture of it & I love the way they are smiling at each other. She's got a great big sis & great big brother. She's a very blessed little lady & I'm a thankful momma for the help too!

Jon's 3!

Jonathan is 3 now! It's hard to believe he's already been with us for that long. He's such a great kid - so funny, cute, and smart. I love the way his mind works. He really thinks through things. For example: we were driving in the car one day & out of the blue he said "Mom, Jingle Bells (the song) is just for Christmas, but we can sing it anytime too." And the other day he was playing with his matchbox cars & Emily's cash register toy was on the coffee table near them. So he decided he'd combine the two. He set the cars in front of the cash register drawer & then pushed the button that made the drawer open. This caused the cars to go rolling forward & off the table. I would have never thought to play with the cars like that, but it was really fun! Here's a shot of him on his birthday. He requested a cookie cake like the one Emily had. We took him to Red Robin for lunch too - also per his request. We love having him in our family. He's such a great addition & so, so fun. We look forward to seeing what he will do with his life & how that great mind of his will continue to develop. I have a feeling he's gonna have me doing some research to answer some big questions he'll have for me! :-)

SNOW!!!!

We just got over a foot of snow! We've never seen snow like this in our lifetime here in Texas. It was incredible & so, so beautiful. Joel and I felt like kids again playing in it. I loved just laying down in it and listening to the quiet. Emily liked to eat the snow. Jonathan liked to dig holes in it with sticks. Joel liked to photograph it & throw huge snowballs at the kids. It was so fun. We still can't believe how much we got. It snowed the day Emily was born & now, 6 years later, she had snow for her birthday again. What a gift!