sunshine

We've been seeing sunshine! I love me some sunshine! The sun means more grilling, better attitudes because we get out of the house more, and cute little tan lines. I think that grilling is what I've missed the most! I love to get meat ready and have Bryan grill as soon as he gets home from work. It's so yummy!

Anyway, got distracted by food talk....we've been getting out more because of sunshine and no more sickness. Thankfully, we made it through this nasty season of constant sickness. We've all been symptom free for almost 2 full weeks! That's amazing progress, people!

And here is what we've been up to:

 Tasting grass

 Learning some new basketball tricks

 This boy is absolutely in love with basketball right now

 This boy loves to chase the ball...he really just likes to do whatever Daddy and Isaiah do

 Playing some ball

 We're a high-fivin' kind of family

 Just chillin'

 When there isn't rain, there is grilling!

And we all get cheesy smiles when we get to grill

fear...wisdom...prayer

I've been talking with a naturopathic doctor since the beginning of my pregnancy with Elias. He is a bit crazy, but he changed my life. I have ulcerative colitis, but haven't had one flare up since being on the herbs he's given me. He guided me through getting off my prescription drug, which was rough for a bit, but I'm now completely drug free. I'm only taking herbs.

Which leads to my fear. He is insanely expensive. Now that I am not working, I need to find an alternative. I knew this was coming through conversations I've had with Bryan. He's been wanting this for a long time.

Let me throw this out there - Bryan has been nothing but supportive through my whole quest to heal my body without commercial drugs or steroids. He's not pushing me to do something that will affect my health. I am doing well now. It's time for me to find a cheaper, local doctor.

I'm scared out of my mind. I know this is the wise thing to do for our family. We cannot keep throwing money out because I'm too afraid to try something else. In reality, I probably should have found a local doctor sooner than this, but fear has held me back.

I love the Psalms. I love to read how David cried out to God. I just opened up and started reading some of the previous verses I've underlined throughout my life. Here are just a few that stood out to me, and they'll be my prayers while I work though this.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord: be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 28:6-7
Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield: my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Psalm 31: 4-5
Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.

why i love being a mom

While Isaiah was at preschool, Elias and I ran errands. At the end of the errands, I told Elias if he could be good, I'd buy him some lemon bread at Starbucks. He was good, so he got bread. After about three bites, he wrapped it up and said, "I want to share dis wid Isaiah when he gits done wid schoo". (Man, I love how he talks).

Fast forward, after Isaiah and Elias's nap, Isaiah asked if he could eat his lemon bread. He opened up the bag then ran over to Elias and gave him the biggest hug. He said, "Buddy! Thanks for saving me some lemon bread! You're the best dude. Thank you!"

Oh my goodness. It was the cutest thing, and it made my heart beam at the possibility that my boys do actually like each other!

And that moment of the day, made it all the more exciting to be their mommy. They are difficult, they do fight, but they sure love so well!

On the other side of it, we were driving to meet to play with friends. Isaiah pipes up in the back of the old van and said, "When I get big, I'm going to have a big bottom cuz you and daddy have big bottoms. I've seen your pants!"

Wow. I could not stop laughing and texted Bryan the quote of the day right away. Those boys. I love them.

10 months

Miss Rae at 10 months

Weighing in at 19.5 pounds

~ You roll all over the house, and have started reaching up and sticking your fingers in the electrical outlets. I am in baby proofing mode. You also love to get tangled in cords. You love cords.
~ One of your favorite places in the house is the boys' bedroom. You hardly get to go up there because of all the small toys you could choke on, but when we do take you up there, it's a little piece of heaven for you.
~ Your top front two teeth came in! You are starting to look so much older as they come in.
~ You have mastered the art of getting from the sitting position onto your stomach. At the beginning of the month, you'd get one leg stuck under you, but now you can do it all by your self.
~ You still love to stand and bang on things - near the couch and chairs are you favorite places to stand.
~ You have started trying to walk while we hold your hands. Just barely getting it down, but it's so cute to watch you try!
~ You love to get up on all fours in the crawling position and rock. You are so proud of yourself every time you do this.
~ You love music. You bop to music of any kind - commercials, toys, my ipod, Isaiah and Elias singing - anything. It is so cute!

I couldn't capture a smile for her 10 month photo shoot. She was being a little rascal, but maybe it had something to do with wanting to be in bed and not getting her picture taken...maybe.

a 60's kind of weekend

Bryan's family came into town to celebrate Pops's 60th birthday. We had Uncle Jerad and Auntie Jami, Uncle Lanson and Auntie Wendy, and Grami and Pops all crammed under our roof with us. The kids were in heaven with so many people to play with them and read to them. Raelynn is officially going through with drawls since 6 extra people aren't holding her or laughing at her every second of her being awake.

We ate, shopped, swam, played basketball, read books, played games, played the Kinect, went to an NNU basketball game, and ate some more. It was a really fun weekend celebrating how special Pops is.

 I think this might have been the highlight of the night - Elias and Isaiah made cards for Pops. Elias decided to glue his shut, so he was helping Pops figure out how to open it. His explanation was hilarious and it took him some work to get it open. Pretty cute.

my little fishies

My boys started swim lessons. They are so cute in their matching swim trunks and blonde hair. They listen to their sweet teacher so well, and they might be a little spastic in their swimming efforts (they have me to blame for that - I'm a terrible swimmer). I love watching them. It's only for 30 minutes twice a week, but they look like they are getting even more confident in the water. With the progress they are making, they are going to be teaching me to swim soon!

oh elias

He's the funniest little boy. He cracks us up on a regular basis. What I mean by regular, is he makes me gut laugh almost every hour he is awake. Gut laugh? Yeah, I said it, gut laugh. I can't hold it in, I just laugh from my belly up and usually goes along with teary eyes from laughing so hard and it's some of the best parts of my day.

His favorite line of late? "He is being wude and respictible (rude and disrespectful). Elias says this whenever someone doesn't do what he likes, whether it's being told, "no", or Isaiah taking something from him or whatever. He ran into the bathroom yesterday while I was getting ready. He was crying, and said, "Daddy is bein wude and disrispictible and won't let me eat any cwackers". He talks so cute still, and yesterday I laughed out loud at this. I couldn't help it. That made the "wude and disrispictible" problem worse, but I just could not contain my laughter.

The other night at dinner we were eating chicken. My boys still aren't big meat fans. Anyway, I told Elias to finish his chicken and he turned and looked and me with a huge frown and tried to say, "I am eating". He had the largest amount of chicken in his mouth. It was beyond chipmunk cheeks. It was practically falling out of his mouth (I know, totally gross), but it caught me so off guard that I just busted up laughing. Like tears in my eyes laughing.

Elias and Isaiah are obsessed with their birthdays coming up in April. They already picked a pirate theme. Elias asks me almost every other day, "Where are we gonna hang the yato?". The first time he asked, I was so confused. What in the world is a yato? So he described it to me. "You know the ting dat you hit wit a bad?"....Then he started doing the motions of swinging a bat...Oh yes, the pinata that we hit with a bat. So, if Elias ever starts talking about a yato...it's a pinata.