2013....a good year!

2013 was a good year for my little growing family. Owen turned 6 and wy turned 3. It was mostly full of good health and happiness however some sadness too. The loss of my grandfather and our very dear friends five year old son. We continue to pray for our good friends for strength and peace and a new normal without their precious son, carter.

We traveled a lot this year and enjoyed every minute of it, except for when kris took out the fresh water spiket at the traverse city state park.

We enjoyed two beautiful weddings....my sisters in May and my sister in law in September. Each wedding was just perfect and I'm so happy to have two new brother in laws in the family.

I continued to work from home part time all of this year and spent so much time with the boys. I've been feeling great and have not experienced any new or crazy drug interactions since my last allergic reaction in March. I'm cruising along quite comfortably on my steroids and another medication.

We have kept very busy this past year with Owen's school and have had lots of play dates. I can't wait for wy to start school next year and make some friends all his own.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in November and had a double mastectomy and is currently undergoing reconstruction. She continues to be my hero and I look up to her and thank God for blessing her with life. I have so much to learn from her. And kudos to my dad for being an amazing caregiver to her. I admire him so much for all that he is doing for her.

Props to my awesome in laws who love our boys so much and take them whenever they can. It's always nice to just be alone whether I'm by myself or with kris.

Kris will be taking over a new program at work next summer. I'm so proud of all that he has done to provide for our family. And I'm so happy that he truly loves what he does.

We wish you and yours a very happy new year!! We recently accepted an offer on our house so pending the appraisal and inspection, 2014 might be a very exciting year for us!!

Here are a few recent pics of me and my boys taking on kris' moms bday just a few days after Christmas.









Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Merry Christmas 2013

We had a super low key Christmas this year. We tried our best to focus on Jesus' birthday and to do as little gifts as possible. The boys woke up around 745am and were so excited to head downstairs for the day. I took this picture of them before we let them go downstairs. So cute!!



Stockings first....Santa was good to them. They both got a pack of gum, a stuffed animal and five Lego mini figures.


Owen was so "cited" to get mini figures.


Wy checking out his gum. This kid loves his gum and eats a piece every 15 minutes.


Wy's turtle book set from Owen. He really wanted it.



And wy picked out this titanic set for Owen which Owen loves.


And finally the big gifts. Wy got the coastguard Lego set for. Santa.


And Owen was psyched about receiving the millennium falcon from Santa.


So excited!!



Christmas Eve we spent the day with my family and then after opening up gifts here yesterday morning we headed to canton for the day. The boys were so spoiled as usual. It was a good, good day! We hope you had a merry Christmas as well!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Owen's quote of the day

Owen's quote of the day:
"Dad I asked you a question! Please put batteries in my train" so kris replied "that's not a question" to which Owen responded, "it's a comment!"


And here is Owen at his Christmas concert last week. He had a speaking part and did an amazing job saying his lines. He was so clear and annunciated his words beautifully. We were so very proud!!





Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

New Christmas tradition

We started a new tradition this year. I want the boys to know and understand the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus and the season of giving. I want them to be raised to be well grounded boys, who will hopefully pass this tradition along to their own families one day.

Our new tradition has three parts, giving, service, and family. They are not getting any gifts from us.....maybe a few very small items but nothing major will be under the tree for them. We have already completed our first year of utilizing this new tradition and I'm very proud of it and plan to keep it going.

First, giving. We let the boys pick an angel tree child at our church to purchase gifts for. Wyatt picked a three year old boy who wanted musical instruments, we bought him a keyboard, and Owen picked a six year old boy who wanted k'nex sets, which we picked out two sets for him. It was important to tell the boys why we were doing this, giving gifts to children who otherwise may not get anything at all for Christmas. Naturally Owen kept bringing up the fact that Santa can just get them whatever they want, so I had to keep telling him that we need to help these kids too, and since we are so blessed it was an opportunity to give back to others in our own community.





Second, service. My dad volunteers to ring the bell for the Salvation Army every year. Every day of the week at night until Christmas. I've always admired him for this and this year I thought it would be a perfect service project for my little family. It is quite a sacrifice standing out in the freezing cold weather accompanied by strong winds that leave you chilled to the bone. But my boys were troopers (for the most part). They did take a couple of breaks to walk around the store to warm up but I couldn't have asked for them to be better considering what was required of them. We received a lot of money and know that the money that they got while ringing the bell is used to help families in our community who need everyday essentials. We rang the bell twice this year with my dad and hope that next year, since the boys will be even older, that we can volunteer as a family.


Thirdly, family. Instead of an over abundance of gifts we had some good old fashioned quality family time. This year we went to splash village and let the boys do whatever they wanted. We had an awesome time in the waterpark, rented a pay-per-view movie in our hotel room (turbo) ate out at good restaurants, took them to a cool arcade for the night and got them whatever they wanted in the gift shop (they each picked out stuffed animals. Owen got a TY big orange fish named bubbles, and wy got the TY teenage mutant ninja turtle Rafael.) we were blessed to have good company this year, my brother and his two boys made the trip with us and we upgraded our room to a loft suite. It was a great trip!!



I'm so in love with my boys and so proud of them! They have amazing manners and are polite little boys. I'm really hoping that by following through with this new tradition year after year we will be encouraging them to be selfless, Christ like boys everyday.

Merry early Christmas! 6 days!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Lemon meringue pie

I'm back briefly to let you know that we are all doing well. Just having a bit of a hard time blogging about the same ol' happy us.....so I'll plan to do another post around Christmas time and then won't be back til next year.

Tomorrow is kris' birthday. He said last night that he wanted a lemon meringue pie for his birthday dessert so I'm surprising him with this....






And yes I made it all by myself (with a little texting support from my mil). Haven't tried it yet so crossing my fingers we all like it!!!



Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

This past Saturday we had our annual pierogi making day at my mom and dad's house. We had such a blast and everyone was able to come and help. We made almost 500 pierogi this year!!!



Each year the boys are a little more curious and eager to help. Here is Owen man rolling out some dough!

We can't wait for our Polish Thanksgiving next week!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

First snowfall 2013

We had our first snowfall today and it was so pretty and yet so cold! It started right when I was picking Owen up from school......it was beautiful! I always love the first snowfall of the year.

The boys enjoyed watching it fall and build up on our deck. It was a wet snow but snow nonetheless.


And I must say that this snowfall came at a great time. Kris spent the weekend cleaning out the garage so that I could park in there. It has been over five, yes five years since I have parked in the garage and our last house didn't even have a garage, so this is definitely note worthy. Owen has to help me park in the garage because the new car is so long that I literally only have about 3 inches to spare. But Owen helped today and did an amazing job!!! Such a good helper!




Till next time....

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Family pics 2013

my blogging recently has been sparse. I'm trying to keep up the best I can. My best friend lost her five year old boy to brain cancer about six weeks ago, so I've had a hard time blogging about my family. Please pray for my friend as it is such a tough battle for her right now. Even tough I talk/text her everyday I cannot begin to imagine how much pain she is in, I mean I can imagine a little because every time I think about it (which is often) I get sick to my stomach and my eyes instantly start to well up with tears.

That's what has been on my mind.....my best friend who wants so badly to have her little boy back.....and I have my perfect little family.... it almost doesn't feel fair that I can blog pictures of my family.....healthy....happy.....lucky.....blessed!!!!

But my life has to continue in the midst of her grief. I feel guilty often for what I have that I once took for granted. So these past few months as she has been dealing with her loss the best way she can, I've been loving up my boys every second I can. I know all things through Him happen for a reason, and I believe that her situation has given me a better perspective, more appreciation for what I do have, and I'm learning not to take anything for granted. I just can't get enough of my little family and feel anxious when my boys are not in my sight.

Today my sister took family pictures of us. Up to this point I was not going to send out Christmas cards this year, the only year I haven't had any motivation to do so. And for those of you who know me, really know me, any chance for a photo op with my family is an occasion I wouldn't miss. I'm coming around a little bit.....still not certain I will send any out but appreciating the opportunity to have these pictures of my precious family who I love beyond belief.

Enjoy!!







































Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

My house....divided!

We've had a divided house since kris and I were married. I've been a State fan and kris has been a faithful Michigan fan.....so naturally our boys are divided as well. I thought for sure I would win Owen over to my side (green and white) but kris somehow won him over. I did however manage to snag Wyatt to cheer for Michigan state.

Tonight's game was so much fun in our divided house. Mostly fun because my team won!!!!

I had to snap this quick picture of the boys all decked out for the day!

Go Michigan state!!! Owen even told me tonight that he just may start cheering for green and white....we shall see!!



Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Happy Halloween 2013

What a busy day we had today. Owen had a Harvest Party at school this afternoon and he was able to dress up like a farmer for the day. I think he looked pretty handsome if I do say so myself.



Me and my boy being goofy at his party.


Trying to get o to give a nice smile but not quite there yet.


Then tonight we headed to our church for their annual Harvest Glow. It sure did beat getting all wet.....what a miserable day it was.

Owen was the hulk.



Kris with his boys.


They have a balloon artist (not sure of his exact title) who made this football helmet for Owen. The guy who makes these was apparently in the Guinness book of world records for making the most amount of balloon animals in some specific time period.


Wyatt ask for a zebra and a zebra is what he got!!


So now we are just hanging out and sorting through candy.



All of us had a war heads challenge. Wyatt had to spit his out but me, o and kris all finished ours.....I guess if I would have to name a winner it would be kris for his ability to eat the war heads with the least amount of facial expressions!



We hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween too!!

Hopefully I'll be around a little more often.....just have been busy living life with my loves!!


Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Halloween weekend 2013

We went on a fun camping trip this past weekend. It was great to get away for the weekend.....september was so crazy it was a good break for all of us! EE and uncle Craig were able to meet us on Saturday afternoon and they brought up their new camper.

Friday night kris and I took the boys to the brewery for dinner and after dinner we took the boys swimming and enjoyed the hot tub too!

Saturday night they closed the park to vehicle traffic and the kids had the whole park to trick or treat. Owen was the hulk and Wyatt was Thor. Our summer home is behind us in this picture.


Owen man. Poor boy came down with a fever and felt really miserable most of Saturday but it sure didn't stop him from having a great time. He was extra cuddly which I always love!


My boys!


EE with the boys.


Me with my loves.


As always time went by way too fast but we enjoy every minute of it. Tomorrow back to the grind!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Owen's fun overnight

Yesterday my sister called and said that she was going to be working at a convention at a museum in Detroit on saturday and staying at The Henry on Friday night. She asked if Owen might be able to go with her and hang out. We asked him and naturally he said yes.

She sent these pictures last night. When they checked into the hotel they were upgraded to a suite. He kept telling her it is the fanciest room he has ever been in.


Hanging out in the bed.


She said the bathroom had three rooms, a sitting/changing room, a stand up shower room and a bathtub room. Owen kept telling her "uncle John should have come here!" Later in the night when he went in the bathroom he said, "sweet! Two things of toilet paper....nice!!!"


The pool was open until 11.....she said they had it all to themselves and he was freaking out. Which you can totally see in this picture.


And of course they ordered room service, PB and j with the crust cut off. He ordered fruit as his side and had a peanut butter cookie and milk for dessert. He wanted to save the rest of his cookie and "fancy milk" (it was in a Starbucks cup) to show his classmates. He said he is going to tell them that he got to stay at The Henry.


Playing Go Fish.





At the breakfast buffet this morning.


Wow was he sure spoiled or what?!!


Thanks for stopping by!
Jill