Daddy Day!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Two kids who love their daddy...

Sabrina did not want Anthony to leave for work, much tears...

I am so grateful for Anthony and truly appreciate the father that he is to our children.  He loves being with the kids which means so much to me and, of course, so much to them.  Bri is usually sad when she wakes up and Daddy is not there - she has to know if he is at work or at school, but is still sad either way.  Anthony had to work on Father's Day, which was junky, but we still made the most of it and had a pretty good day (other than trying to get Bri to church w/o her daddy). 

We love you Anthony and appreciate all that you do for us.  You take care of us in so many ways and work so hard with school and work to give us a better life.  It's not always easy being a dad - so many pressures and so many looking to you for everything...being a dad is being the hero and that's what you are to us!!!

 To our Father's...we love you too...

Grandpa L. and Jakey

Great Grandpa W. and Jakey

Grandpa K. and Jakey

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day Pic with the kids - this was as good as it got...

My grandma, Bri, me and my mother

Okay, so Mother's Day...here we go...  I wish that I could say that it was a magical day this year but it proved to be quite the opposite - as much as I tried to enjoy the day the harder it worked against me.  I woke up with a headache but the kids were very pleasant and Anthony gave me sweet things and a super sweet card...good start besides the headache...then Anthony had to leave for work and thus began the what-would-be torturous day.  After Anthony left Sabrina's temper tantrums kicked in with a lovely ever-downward spiral effect (curse the designers of her baby doll's shoes).  Jake went from sleep to screaming off and on which often correlated with the tantrums.  I just wanted to get out of the house in one piece & I was trying to leave on time so that I could go to church with my mother so that I wouldn't have to go it alone for Mother's Day.  Man, I will cut it short but let's just say the day continued with non-stop fun for me.  The kids did not cooperate during church, but to their credit they did take turns for the most part...it was just non-stop for me.  I forgot a bunch of things in my haste to leave including little things like diapers for the baby (I only had 2 in the diaper bag & of course, he went through those just at church), wipes, etc, etc, etc.  I kept thinking to myself "What the heck Mother's Day - why are you being so cruel?  Can't you just make my pounding head have some kind of relief?"  And then my Anthony finally came and things got a little better.  He drove the kids home and let me take the other car all by myself.  There was silence in the car, it was beautiful...but I found myself trying to catch up with the other car.  The car that had my wonderful husband and the two reasons I get to celebrate Mother's Day for myself as well as for my own wonderful mother and grandmothers.  I kept thinking "that's the car I should be in, even after a day like today...because I would die if anything ever happened to any of them, I love my family and I am so grateful for them."  So, thank you to Anthony for not just the moment of solitude that I needed but for the perspective that I needed even more :)  

This week has been almost as crazy as Mother's Day and so to remind myself of the good times this week I include the following pics that make me smile...

Easter

Easter Egg Hunt

Sabrina had fun finding eggs this year

Even Jake got one :)

Bri Bunny

Jakey Bunny

Bri got some princesses in her basket that she loved

Happy Easter!

We had lots of fun this Easter - as Sabrina gets older the holidays get more and more enjoyable.  We loved being with family and having some activities to do.  Sabrina got sick the weekend before Easter and had fevers of and on past Easter weekend...we all ended up catching her cold but she got a sinus infection.  It was our first run to the doctor for illness and our first go at antibiotics - I am grateful it has taken us this long, we've been pretty healthy overall.  Anyway, little Jake is just finishing up his run at the cold and I have to say that I will be happy to not have sick, grumpy kids anymore.

I just have to add that my brother and his wife just found out that they will be having a little girl in August and I am so excited for them.  We have waited a long time for them to have this exciting news and I just can't be more thrilled for them and am so excited to have a little girl for Bri to play with on my side :)  Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!

Our March Birthday Fun...

It Was a Month of Cupcakes...

Pink Cupcakes for Sabrina (she picked her icing and decorations)

My now 2 year old girl

Chocolate Cupcakes for Anthony

My Birthday Guy

Our Birthday Activity for Anthony & Bri...The Zoo

Bri's favorite was the elephants and the "big slide"

We had a lot of fun this year with our March Birthdays.  Sabrina was a little mellow on her actual birthday but she was not super sick like last year and so we considered it a victory.  On Anthony's birthday we actually got to go and see a movie...it was his birthday wish and it came true.  We went on a fun zoo trip to celebrate both birthdays and it was a lot of fun.  I am so grateful for Anthony and Sabrina - March was a great month for me to reflect on both of them and how much they mean to me.  What would I do without my hubby and  my sweet and crazy little girl...I love you guys!!!!

Blessing Day

Cute Kids

 

Family Pic

 

Blessing Day Boy!

We blessed Jakob on February 14th.  Anthony's father was in town as a surprise and so we did a mad rush to get the baby blessed while he was here as he does not know when he will be able to return.  We send our apologies to all that we were unable to notify...things were a bit crazy.  We thank our family for all their help with this special day!  We love you all and our little Jake!

Welcome Baby...

 

Jakob Anthony Layne

 Born: January 24th

9 lbs 6 oz - 21 inches

  

 Yeah for Big Sister!

  

 Jake is such a good baby - this is his daytime activity...

he's not bad at night but he is definately a little mixed up

 

Bri is starting to understand that baby is not going away - she is nice to baby but not a huge fan just yet

Life with two kids is definately a change.  We are all getting used to all the changes and we are all trying to cope as best we can.  Bri is having some nice fits but she is doing pretty good considering all that's going on.  Jakob is a good baby and we count ourselves blessed that he is not colicky (sp?) like Bri was as a baby.  We have had so much help from family and we are so grateful to all of you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Christmas Time...

Our Family

Sabrina loves playing in the snow...as long as she doesn't have to wear snow gear

 

Bri had fun running around and smelling all the Christmas trees

 

Me and my girl the Sunday before Christmas

 

Making sugar cookies with grandma...so much fun

 

Christmas morning :)

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Our families were so good to us and it has been wonderful spending time with them.  We've had Anthony's Dad and my brother Scott with his wife Necia in town and it has been so great to see them.  Anthony's grandmother passed away just before Christmas which was our only sadness and we had time apart while he attended the funeral - I missed him so much and was soooo glad when he returned.  We love all of you and hope you had a wonderful Christmas!