Celebrating 60 years

This past weekend Joseph and I had the opportunity to leave the boys behind and drive up the coast to celebrate my mother's parents 60th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful immediate family gathering that spoke of the many wonderful years my grandparents have spent together. It was slightly emotional celebrating this big event with out their oldest daughter Christi, but our family is growing despite its loss and there is definitely something in that to celebrate. For the past four years Joseph and I have been the sole provider of great grandchildren, but this year brings not only Emmalynn into our family. My cousin Nicole and her husband Paul just had their first son, Jacob, three weeks ago (at a whopping 4.5 pounds too!), and Christi's son Justin and his wife Rachel announced that they are expecting as well. I am so excited for all this new life to join our family!
We had such a fabulous time! We stayed in a little cottage off of the club that my grandparents have been member's of for over 30 years. It felt just like when I was younger and we would go on family vacations together, except this time I was one of the adults (hard to believe we are all adults now) and got to see parts of my family that I knew existed, yet had never been a part of. It was so much fun being a kid in this family, but being an adult has its perks as well.

Since I am almost 34 weeks I did not get to participate with the wine enthusiast, but it was a blast to recount family memories, both hilarious and sad, and to get the opportunity to just sit with family without little ones underfoot (although I could not wait to get home to them!).

As a side note, can anyone else see the resemblance I have to my mother in the last two pictures? As I get older I am looking more and more like her, which is wonderful since after 26 years, the "she's your daughter?!" statements were getting a little old :)

A Brothers Love

Not much needs to be said with this photo, don't you agree?

Quick Wordless Wednesday before its Thursday

Side note: I finally got some sterling silver in my hot little hands and have been having so much fun !Of course I forgot to take a picture of my most recent one before handing it over to its new owner though :sigh: (it was beautiful if I do say so myself)

Season is changing

Do you know what is right around the corner? (other then a new baby of course) Orders. It is finals week for Joseph, a stressful yet graceful period where God constantly reminds us of his sovereignty. Once again orders are being chosen in order of class rank (GPA), and while things were tight there for a while (read up until this afternoon), Joseph has been assured that although there is someone .6 of a point higher then him (and man does that count for a lot when your orders and future career depend on it), that he will still have first choice due to the fact that Joseph has dependents and is limited to where he can go and the other person does not. Thank you Lord for that grace and we pray that He would bless Joseph's classmate with order's of his choosing regardless. They have one last test on Friday and if Joseph is able to get a 100 and his classmate a slightly lower score, then Joseph will also get Valedictorian, something he is desperately praying for to help him get into Med School.
So middle of next week we should know where we are headed next and how soon! We have a list of the top three locations we would like to go, with the number one being Texas. We have a specific city we would like to be in, but trust that ultimately this is God's plan not ours (not easy though). So would you please pray for us as this week comes to an end and the new season of our lives begins? Joseph graduates from this program at the end of June, so earliest we would move would be July, just so ya know :)

Also, thank you everyone for your liking of Emmalynn's name!

A little something

I am thirty one weeks this week! Can you believe it?! Also, is it just me, or am I getting smaller? I remember being huge by this point with Brooks, but I seem to be shrinking with little miss Emmalynn. As of my last appointment, I was finally up six pounds, but I think its a possibility I am down again...not sure how my doctor is going to like that, but like I have previously said, I am not doing anything to make it come off.
I have been meaning to post about this for a while, but have not found the time. So tonight I am finally going to share with you all the meaning behind Emmalynn's name, but because there is a lot to it and I tend to be long winded (and its an emotional one)I am going to share the short version.
Last New Years my mom's oldest sister Christi Lynn passed away. She was an incredible woman and one of the reason's Joseph and I wanted to be stationed where we are. We were so excited to have the opportunity to get closer with this aunt and to get the opportunity to share our boys with her. I will admit that I was mad when she passed, it was finally our turn to be close to her and that opportunity was taken away. I still hurt that we are in her city, but with out her. When we found out I was pregnant I knew in my heart that the little life growing inside of me was a girl, and we knew we wanted to honor my aunt and family through her name, but while Christi is a wonderful name we felt it was just not right so soon after her passing. Like we were trying to replace her, not honor her. We tried out many names all with the middle name Lynn, but none of them fit. For weeks I kept coming back to the name Emmalynn, one I heard every Monday on one of my favorite TV shows (although it turns out my hearing stinks because the name on the show is Emlin not Emmalynn) I had yet to share it with Joseph because I thought it would be too out there for him. We tend to not like "made up" names and I was afraid he would put it right in that category. Turns out I was wrong. Once it was said out loud she became Emmalynn (well Emmalynn Grace). I loved that Lynn would be a constant part of her name, not just a middle name and we have always loved Emma for its classic grace. So Emmalynn she is.
On a fun note, a couple of weeks after announcing her name I found out that my Aunt actually insisted on being called Christi-Lynn , so it made Emmalynn's name all the more special ( and no wonder we couldn't settle on it being just a middle name).
So there you have it, the short winded version of her name. I am now going to crash into bed before I crash into the computer.

Wonderful twos

Brooksie Bear turns two tomorrow! My little talker is getting so big, its just amazing to look back at pictures from just six months ago and see how much he has grown. He is definitely leaving the "baby" stage behind and going full force into little boy.

September '09

January '10

I wish pictures could really show how much hair he has, and how beautiful it really is. I love playing with his hair when he is nervous or going to bed, its an instant soother for him and I love feeling the silky locks between my fingers. He is our fearless little man and will try anything once, especially if its something Conner can do. While Conner has always taken risks, he is very calculated in how he does them, but Brooksie, he just takes a leap of faith and believes he can do it. Regardless of this difference, once they have set their minds to something they will both persevere until the task as been conquered. Like jumping off the highest stair and landing on their feet.
I wish I could properly share with you the amazing bond that Brooks shares with his Conner and vice versa. They have such a need for each other, and actually desire each others constant company. About three weeks ago we got the boys a twin bed to share since the toddler bed they insisted on sleeping together in was getting a little cramped and wobbly. And while this bed is considerably roomier then their old one, they still insist on sleeping on top of each other. At night if Brooks wakes up he snuggles towards his brother who promptly puts an arm around him and pulls him close. Yes I like to sit in their room and watch them sleep :)

Happy Birthday Brooksie Bear!

Happy Birthday little man!

Our "little" Optimus Prime turned four this past weekend! He is such an amazing little boy and we are so proud to call him ours! In the past year his speech has jumped by leaps and bounds. On his third birthday he was barely piecing two words together, now at four he is saying sentences! They still need translating for people who don't know him, but over all he has a lot to say regardless of if its perfectly clear or not. He loves to talk about Emmalynn and how silly she is to be pushing mommies belly button out. But his favorite thing by far to say is "I love you", I hear this from him at least every hour of every day and for some strange reason I don't think I will ever tire of it.
His birthday was a wonderful day spent putting together his new bike and then riding it as if he had been born on one. It won't be long before those training wheels are doing nothing but gathering dust in our garage :) Speaking of garages, it pains me to post these photos since I have spent the past couple days making it sparkle, but oh well, such is life.


In other news, Emmalynn has become a mover and shaker much like Brooks was. She has become quite forceful with her movements, at times making my feel like I can grab a hold of a body part and hold on. This pregnancy is going very well, up until a week ago I didn't even feel pregnant (although I did look it) and now at almost 30 weeks I definitely feel pregnant! Well I will have to update some more tomorrow with some Brooksie photos included, but for now sleep is calling.