Happy 8th Anniversary!

We had the best anniversary ever! We dropped the kids at my sister and mom's house to spend the night there so that Sheehan and I could have the house entirely to ourselves. I wanted to be able to enjoy my house, watching whatever tv shows I want, play whatever video games I want, and eat whatever food I wanted without being interrupted by KIDS!!! Again, Best Anniversary EVER!
We got Chubby's cheeseburger, fries, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, and a chocolate milkshake to share. Then after we were in our food coma we played some video games and watch the show Suits as late as we wanted. The best part was when we both slept in with no kids in our bed and no kids to wake us up throughout the night. Bliss. Happy 8th Anniversary Sheehan. You make me laugh everyday and I think it's safe to say we are both getting more attractive with age! You work long hours to provide a beautiful life for our family but you also make time to make each on of us feel loved and special. We all love and I love you more than a chubby's cheeseburger.

Vance-isms: 3rd birthday!

Vance turned 3!

Vance has become quite the character. If you ask him questions it's never just yes or no. He responds in a full sentence about 90% of the time.
 Would you like some bread? Yes, I would.
Do you want to go to bed? No, I don't.
Did you pick a book? Yes, I did.
It always makes people laugh when he answers questions. Like the cashier at the store, Are you having a good day? "Yes I am," he says.
He calls a fluff a burt or "burp"
He asked/commanded me, "bizz me up" holding his hoodie sweater zipper.
He told me today that cooking marshellows (Yes that's Marshellows) over the fire makes him happy.
He is sure that candy makes his ouchies feel better and tells me that often. Candy is also acceptable for breakfast and really at all times according to Vance.
He loves monster trucks and wants to be a monster truck driver. He wants to drive grave digger or the puppy truck.
He loves puppies. He says he wants the biggest, purple puppy. I think that's a bit of a tall order but we'll see what we can manage. 
He is still obsessed with tools, loves his tool belt and fixing with his Daddy.
He loves the movie Trolls. He can sing and dance (bob his head and shake his booty) to that all day, every day.
He loves all things superheroes and power rangers. Sometimes he'll randomly attack me, "green power, sword!" then run at me full speed.
We've convinced him if he eats his food he'll be tall like Daddy so if someone tells him, "Wow you are getting so big Vance!" He'll say, "Huh, I eat all my food."
HUH....Vance's word for yes. (not a question huh? It's like he's say uh-huh) I once watched him and the poor nursery leader go back and forth. Nursery leader, "Would you like some goldfish?" Vance, "Huh" I said "Would you like some goldfish?" Vance, "Huh." Finally, I translated, "Huh means yes."
Lately, he's been a bit of a poor eater and is obsessed with Pediasure which he just calls his milk. If he is upset over something he'll say, "But I need my milk because I'm sad." The rule is he can't have pediasure milk until the sun goes down before bed. He'll only drink Pediasure morning, noon, night, and midnight if he had the choice.
Vance likes to climb into bed with us. No, he does not really sleep through the night. Yes, that is probably our fault. 
Vance loves his Daddy. He would probably choose Sheehan over me any day. :)
We love our Bances, Vancey, Vancey Pants whatever you want to call him. If you ask him his name is Bancey. ;) We love him.

And he still loves his screwdriver. He fell asleep on the stairs after working hard, playing with his tools. 

LaRae's First Birthday!

Annie snapped some ADORABLE 1 year old smash cake pictures of LaRae for us. I made the cake for her to devour and setup the decorations. A nice woman made the black "chalkboard' stats printout for us and of course Annie's picture magic made for pictures I will cherish forever. 

 

We adore our baby Rae.

She started walking just before her first birthday and immediately tried to climb everything. She climbs onto the dining table daily and yes, occasionally falls off. I feel like I am constantly getting her down from dangerous heights.
LaRae eats anything and everything, edible and inedible. We have to keep a constant eye on what she puts in her mouth. She likes to dig through the trash on occasion. Whenever any of us sits down with a morsel of food she comes running over and starts screaming at you to feed her. If you don't feed her fast enough she will again start yelling at you. Dinner time can be a little loud with her.

Baby Rae, like her brothers, loves the movie trolls. If I'm tired in the early morning when she wakes up, I'll put Trolls on and set her in front of it and lay on the couch. She loves it and I get another hour of rest. If she is crying in her carseat and Justin Timberlake's "can't stop the feeling" comes on the radio she immediately stops then when the song ends the crying commences.
LaRae does not sleep through the night just like her brothers. I'm very tired. She either has this lingering cough she's had for months that wakes her up or she just flat wants a bottle. Not just any bottle. She wants pediasure. She refuses cold milk. Sometimes we get away with a warmed up bottle of vanilla almond milk.

We had a family birthday party with all of her cousins on Sheehan and my side of the family. We are always so grateful for the family support and love that we are surrounded by family. We sure Love our Littlest One Baby Rae Rae!





All of the grandkids are obsessed with Gigi and Rae Rae is no different. Gigi is the only person LaRae will run after when she walks out the front door and just cry trying to reach the handle. She never wants Gigi to leave and always wants to be right in her Gigi's lap.

Lincoln Breaks His Arm

This day started out great. Sheehan took the boys to see the Lego Movie in the movie theater then they came home and played next door at their cousins house. The Haub cousins had a mid-height bunk bed and had put both mattresses on the floor. From what we could gather they were jumping off of the bunk bed onto the mattress on the floor. Lincoln overshot the mattress and broke his arm. He told Auntie Julianne that he hurt his arm but wasn't crying. A few minutes later she noticed his arm was extremely swollen and he was turning pale. She walked him over to our house through our shared gate and with one look at his dangling arm I knew it was broken. I yelled down to Sheehan working in the basement that we need to take Lincoln to the Emergency Room. I believe that Julianne took Rae and Vance until my Mom or Alyssa could come and pick them up. Fortunately we have a hospital within five minutes of our house so we didn't have to drive far. 

Linc was in shock and after they administered pain meds he fell asleep. 

He was in a lot of pain and exhausted from going in to shock. They kept us there in the emergency room for hours. Looking back I think they were trying to make sure we didn't abuse him. He refused to talk (which wasn't abnormal for him at the time) and we didn't really know what happened. Nobody had seen the break happen and he wouldn't talk. We only figured out later that he had been jumping off the bed and overshot the mattress.

They finally sedated him to set his arm. It was really difficult and the ER Physician told us he would likely need to have pins put in his arm so his bones healed correctly.
They told us to not let him run around for 2 weeks until our follow-up appointment where they would determine if he needed pins placed in his arm.

To keep him sitting still we gave him a tablet and let him watch and play whatever he wanted. His preschool teacher, Ms. Sandy Thomson, came and visited him and brought him a stuffed animal.

His cousins and Gigi signed his cast. 

At his follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon they looked over his x-rays and the surgeon consulted several doctors and determined to reset the break but without pins. His arm healed beautifully and the orthopedic surgeon now uses his x-rays from broken to healed as examples of how bad a break can be and how the body can heal so well.