My precious Tanner

Happy 3rd birthday my dear Tanner! It is so hard to believe that 3 years have passed since that life changing day you entered our world. I remember like it was yesterday the day I found out I was pregnant. After a year of trying, we were so excited to finally be pregnant. I was in a state of shock for days, excited and anxious at the same time. The years have flown by since then and I can't imagine our life without you. You are growing up so fast and while I am sad to see my baby disappear, I also look forward to seeing you grow up into the man God has destined for you. You bring me such incredible joy each morning as you wake up and run through the house looking for mommy. Your hugs are so precious and I know that I should enjoy each and every one because a day will probably come when you aren't so willing to share them!

My prayer for you is that you will come to know God at an early age and that you will love Him with all your heart. May you always be sensitive to His voice and leading, and may you experience the awesome adventure He has in store for you!

I love you my dear Tanner with all my heart and feel extremely blessed to be called your "mommy".

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Tanner's Birthday Party

We celebrated Tanner's 3rd birthday today with a family party. He doesn't actually turn 3 until next Saturday, but we wanted to have a party while Diane was still in town. We did a dinosaur themed party, which Tanner really enjoyed. Of course, Chris & I had a lot of fun planning it as well! Since it was still raining, we had to do the party inside but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We played pin the horn on the triceratops for our first game. Thanks goodness for Meme's artistic talents...she drew a really cute dinosaur! Tanner didn't quite understand the concept of using the blindfold because he kept trying to peek out the bottom. But they were cute to watch!



Next, we had a fossil dig on the front porch. Chris filled the plastic swimming pool with sand and we hid small dinosaurs and fossils in the sand. The kids had a blast digging for treasures!





We finished off the party with hot dogs, cupcakes & presents:





I was exhausted by the end of the day, but I think Tanner had a great time! We are doing another party next weekend for a few friends from church. We were originally going to do one big party today, but since the rain meant we had to stay inside we decided to break it up into 2 parties. That idea sounded great earlier in the week, but after everyone left we looked at each other and wondered if we had made the right decision. The thought of doing this all over again next Saturday is exhausting! But there is no going back at this point...we will just have to rethink our strategy next year :)

Here are a few more pics from the day:

God knows what we can handle....

Our church is doing "Go Camp" this week for our kids ages 6-12. My contribution was to help watch the toddlers of some of the leaders today. So I had 3 little boys ages 2 & 3 at my house from 9:00 to 2:00. All I can say is that I have a whole new respect for parents of multiples! I know it was only a few hours...but I was suprised at my total lack of productivity, except for being a referee and potty monitor! I think the only thing I managed to get done today was fold one load of laundry and put another load in the washer. Other than that, I was doing good to keep everyone relatively happy and unharmed. Although I have struggled at times with God's timing in regards to children, I must say that today has been a good reminder for me. God knows what I can handle and until He decides that we are ready for another baby, I am going to enjoy my time with Tanner and the opportunity to actually get things done around the house!

Here is a pic of the three little monkeys playing in Tanner's bed:

The zoo again

Wow...it has been two weeks and I haven't posted anything! It seems like life has been really crazy, but when I stop and try to pinpoint why, I can't think of any one thing just a bunch of little things. I seem to have that feeling alot! There are days when I would really like to just simplify my life and slow down...so if anyone has any profound thoughts or ideas please feel free to share.

We went to the zoo again yesterday. It has been raining here for what seems an eternity so we haven't been able to do many outdoor activities. But we braved the weather yesterday and the rain actually held off until we were leaving. We went with some friends we met this spring at the local library story time. The mom is KK and she has two little boys...Leif who is 2 and Ezekiel who is 14 months. We spent the whole time in the toddler area of the zoo but they had a great time playing together. When we left, Tanner kept asking for "my friends". Too cute!!

Here are a few pictures of them playing at the zoo:





Now I have to start getting everything ready for Tanner's birthday party this weekend. Although if this rain doesn't let up soon, we may have to postpone it until next weekend! I don't think I can handle 20 adults and 10 kids in my house on Saturday if it is raining outside! I feel like singing that familiar children's song...you know the one - "Rain, rain go away...come again some other day (or month!)." I never thought I would be longing for the sun in July...but I am! The weather this summer has been very strange.

Happy Independence Day!!

We had a very rainy 4th of July, but we braved the rain this morning to watch the parade in Startzville. This is the small town a few miles from our house. There was a lot of flag waving & patriotism despite the rain!! I hope everyone had a great day as we remember and honor all those who have sacrificed so much so that we can live in such a wonderful country. God Bless America!!

Here is Tanner waiting for the parade to start:


One of the parade entries:


Our local VFW post:


And finally, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this guy!

Cousins

Tanner had a chance to play with his cousins Lena Jane & Keller this weekend and they had so much fun! They will all turn 3 this year and it is so fun to watch them interact with each other. They had a great time swimming and playing at Meme's house!

Playing in Meme's pool:


Silly Keller:


Tanner discovering the joys of a water gun!


Lena Jane:


Tanner taking aim at Lena's belly button:


Meme and her chickens (Keller, Lena Jane, Rowdy & Tanner)