Our December so far...

Boys will be boys?

Is this what I have to look forward to? Daily loads of filthy laundry and necessary showers in the middle of the afternoon? Apparently so, if yesterday was any indication. Around 1:00 p.m. I sent the boys outside for a while to burn off some energy. A few minutes after playing on the swings they head over to the flower beds to play with some trucks. Pretty soon, as I'm watching out of the dining room window, I see my sweet Matthew pick up two handfuls of dirt and chuck them at the back of Luke's head! What?! I jumped just as Luke returned the favor by putting his two handfuls down Matt's shirt. Now, you should all know that I have a horrible first-reaction of bursting out laughing in any given circumstance, which has gotten me "looks" on several different occasions (i.e. our wedding, my children getting shots, etc.). So while I'm waiting inside to get my laughter under control and put on my "mother" face, my two boys continue to pummel each other with dirt. Finally I walk out there and, well, the pictures speak for themselves. I stripped both the boys down and marched them into the shower. I just LOVE being a mom.

P.S. I know I have been incredibly delinquent in my postings - my apologies (Jen, thanks for the gentle reminder the other day :)

Luke's Christmas Program

Last night was Luke's 1st Christmas program at school. It was hysterical! Luke stood there pretty much the whole time, not singing at all but waving around to everyone like he was in a parade or something. He was standing next to his friend Jaden (who was a show by himself :) ) and the two of them hugged periodically and cracked up at each other throughout the program. It was such a fun night!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a wonderful (& relaxing!) day with your families! Our day was pretty mellow at the beginning, just picking up the house and playing with the boys. At 4:00 we went over to my sister Aileen's house for our big Thanksgiving family dinner. I love walking in to one of these monsterous family dinners because of the looks of anticipation covering everyones face. We all know that soon we will be piling our plates sky-high with mom's amazing turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, which are staples at every Thanksgiving dinner, along with the spread of side dishes and desserts that we are all enlisted to bring. By 5:30 everyone had found a nice and comfy spot to lounge while watching the USC game and chatting. All of my brothers and sisters were able to make it, including Matt & Ann who are down for the whole weekend with Miss Paige. The boys had a great time playing with all of their cousins and running around the backyard. By 7:00 most everyone had left and so we packed up our little brood and took them home. At prayers tonight Luke said: "Dear Jesus, thank you for our day, and thank you for my cousins, and thank you for me closing my eyes. In Jesus' name, Amen." (We have been working with him on keeping his eyes closed through an entire prayer). I thought it was very sweet for him to give thanks for his cousins ~ he loves them all so much! Well, I am still stuffed and need to go lie on the couch in hopes of my stomach not exploding, so I'm signing off. Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!!!

This morning, at 5:43, our big boy turned 4 years old! Happy Birthday! The entire day was wonderful and funfilled, starting with a lazy morning and opening presents. Luke got a big new fire truck from mommy and daddy and a new game from his brothers. Daddy went to work for a couple hours while the rest of us stayed at home, and grandma came over to give Luke & Matty haircuts (thanks grandma!). Then, when daddy came home, we all played out in the backyard until dinner time. Luke had made a special request of hot dogs for dinner, so daddy grilled 'em up right nice. Then later in the evening we had cake and ice cream with the family and "Luke's best friends" Jaden, Reese & Kimberly came over. Last year, the day after his 3rd birthday, Luke requested a Little Einstein's rocket cake for his 4th birthday, and has stuck to that request for the entire year. So, i gave it my best shot. The cake didn't turn out great, but Luke LOVED it which is all that mattered. He received wonderful and generous gifts from everyone ~ we are very blessed to have so many people love our little boy so much! After everyone had left, and all the toys were played with a sufficient amount, we put our tuckered-out boy to bed, around 9:30. His birthday is always filled with such mixed emotions for us; unbelievable joy at the birth of our firstborn child, and pain as we think back to the agony we felt in the few hours after he was born. Luke's life is an amazing, constant reminder to us of God's unmeasurable power and love. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of our son... and Happy Birthday, Luke!!

VICTORY

For the 1st time last night Matthew slept in a big-boy bed!!! Yeah! We have been trying, on and off, for the past 6 months to get him to sleep on the bottom bunk-bed in Luke's room, unsuccessfully. Luke has been dying for Matty to sleep with him! The problem is that when we put both boys to sleep in there it's like a big ol slumber party. At one point matt had found the wooden spoons in luke's dresser and was playing drums on the wall with them. Or, we'd here some toys being knocked around and go in to see matthew playing with the train table, completely oblivious to the fact that he was supposed to be asleep in bed. Probably the funniest time was when we thought everything was going great, no noises for a 1/2 hour, then we here bouncing on the bed. We go in there and Luke is completely asleep, and Matthew is bouncing on top of him. Nate and I sat down on the floor and cracked up! But, it has all been worth it because we finally had a victorious night.

where is our hope?

Since Sunday, Nate & I have been following the story of a Christian family from Costa Mesa, the Levasheffs. Drake & Christina (the parents) have a little boy who would have been 3 next month named Judson. In May of this year Judson was diagnosed with a rare and uncurable disease, called Krabbe disease, which basically eats away the white matter of your brain. This morning, after becoming blind, paralyzed and mute within the last month, Jud passed away at home. The story of this little boy and his family has captivated us, not because of the horrible tragedy that has fallen upon them, but because of the beautiful and graceful way they have accepted God's plan for little Judson's life. Please take a few minutes to read the journal from the website the family had started for Judson: www.caringbridge.org/visit/judson. Typically the journal was updated late in the evening, but Christina wrote a message this afternoon after Jud had passed away. Here is what she wrote:

"Dear friends and family...
We ushered Judson into the arms of Jesus around 11:30 am this morning.
We do not grieve as those without hope.

In His Loving Embrace,
Christina & Drake"

I just broke down after reading this. This family, who should be broken and tormented with anguish by the loss of their sweet little boy, is so peacefully comforted by our living God, who is their hope. And while I have no doubt that their hearts are broken and they will mourn little judson's passing, they also know with absolute certainty that God's plan for Judson's life was perfect and flawless. Glory is being given to the Lord in the midst of this unbearable circumstance! The Levasheff family has shown such a tremendous, unshakeable faith in God and their story cannot help but make me think of Abraham and Isaac, as both of these families were so willing to accept God's Will of death for the lives of their children.
I must admit that I have been very convicted these past few days as I read the Levasheff's blog. I can't help but wonder if Nate and I were faced with losing one of our boys, if I could stand up and say to the Lord that I give my child up to Him with a willing and faithful heart. How hard it is for me sometimes to just trust the Lord in my everyday circumstances! But I know that my faith is in Jesus Christ who paid the ultimate price for me, and that these children whom I love with every ounce inside of me, belong first to the Lord. I remember so well the feeling of God's peace that swept over me in the hours after Luke was born. Through the fog of hopelessness in my mind was the Lord's light and the reminder that He is never without control.

My prayer is that my hope will always and only be in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord that the Levasheff's unshakeable faith has allowed them to still rejoice and give glory to God through the loss of their sweet little boy!

Breakfast with Daddy

One of the boys' favorite thing to do in the morning is cook with daddy. They make everything from bacon & eggs to oatmeal to pancakes. Luke has learned how to crack eggs, add salt & pepper, use a whisk and flip pancakes. Matty is still in the pretend-cooking stage, mostly mixing some water (and this morning, Oregano) in a bowl with a whisk. It is the cutest thing to watch. Nate definitely has a love for cooking and he is so happy that the boys are starting to have an interest in it too. What fun father-son times!

Ohhh...

...I will so miss these moments. Sometimes i can't believe he is my last one...

Meet Woody, Buzz Lightyear & Squirt

Happy Halloween! How cute are our boys! Luke and Matty were so excited to dress up as the Toy Story characters - it's one of their favorite movies! And Caleb was hilarious as Squirt (the little sea turtle from Nemo). Everyone had a great time trick-or-treating in Uncle Steve & Aunt Shari's neighborhood. Every house we went up to luke would say "Trick-or-treat, happy halloween!". It was so cute. And matthew made sure to say "Da-do" (thank you) for all the candy he was given. And even Caleb had a blast being strolled through the neighborhood by daddy. Special thanks:

To Josh & RandiSue for the costumes

To Grammy for the trick-or-treat bags

To Grandad and Judy for the pumpkin flashlights and goody-bags.

Pumpkin Patch '07

This afternoon we took a trip out to Banducci Farms Pumpkin Patch with our good friends, the Congdons. All kids had a great time playing with the pumpkins and all the adults had a great time taking pictures. We are trying to make it a little tradition every year to have "pumpkin patch" pictures and almost missed our chance (the patch closed at 4pm and we got there about a quarter 'til). The Banducci's have a really fun set up at their farm, complete with a corn maze, pond and animals, so the kids just love it. Caleb was cracking us up with his huge gaping grins :). Luke, Matthew and Jaden spent most of the time running around and being "boys", checking out all of the pumpkins and seeing how many they could pick up. Miss Baylee, who is 18 months and just the cutest thing, was fascinated by the pumpkins too, and she kept pointing and saying "punkin". We ended up getting a ton of adorable pictures and had a great time! I will try and post pics of the boys in their costumes tomorrow afternoon.

"but i don't wanna take a nap..."

oh, these famous words. i hear these words at least once a day and they're usually followed by "...but i'm not tired...". well, yesterday when luke should have been taking his nap i let him hang out with me in the kitchen while i did some cleaning. he wanted to watch some train videos on the computer (a new fascination of his), so i set him up on the counter next to me with the computer. within 5 minutes he was out like a light. i was cracking up because a tiled countertop cannot be the most comfortable place to sleep, however, his little body clearly could not stay awake for another minute.

after i caught some priceless pictures of his nap i started thinking about all the other places i have seen my kids sleep besides in their beds. below is a short clip of all our boys' unusual nap places. have a great night.

Paige Elizabeth Ollivier's first 15 days

we love you paige!

End of the week review...

we hope everyone had a wonderful week and weekend! our week wasn't the best - here are some hightlights: matthew's x-rays came back clear on tuesday but his bloodwork showed a bacterial infection called mycoplasma (or walking pneumonia). he has been on antibiotics all week and is doing fabulous. wednesday evening caleb's little nose started running and by thurs morning he was having a pretty hard time breathing and was throwing up his bottle. so, back to the doctor. our fears of another RSV infection were unfounded but he does have a mild upper-respitory infection and is back on breathing treatments 3x a day. the doc wanted to re-check him again friday morning which ended up being doubly useful seeing how luke was up at 2 a.m. that morning with a 102.4 temp. (i know, it's ridiculous). But as of today matt is doing great and showing no signs of an illness; caleb's lungs/chest are sounding a ton better then thurs (but still on breathing treatments); and luke has an ear infection in his right hear and is on an antibiotic. We are really hoping that this is not a prelude to how our entire fall/winter will be...

As for this weekend, anne's mom & dad watched the boys on saturday as we made our way down to malibu beach with some of our good friends, tony & jen congdon for a "business" cook-out (tony works at northwestern mutual with nate). we had a great time and the weather was perfect!

That's it for now; below are some pics from the last few weeks. have a great week!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Tonight we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with an amazing dinner at our favorite restaurant, T.L. Maxwells (for those of you who haven't tried it, we highly recommend dropping everything and going there immediately). We enjoyed every minute of our 2 hour dinner and nate had suprised me with a dozen yellow roses (my favorite) and gorgeous earrings for my anniversary present. what a wonderful husband i have! Anyway, we had a great time without the kids (thanks mom & dad) and are very excited about our little milestone.

P.S. Althougth our day ended up great, it started out a little crazy. we had to take matthew into his pediatrian at 8 am this morning as a follow-up to his emergency room visit the night before. thursday afternoon around 4, matty started flipping out because he couldn't take a breathe. he was only able to inhale a small amount, like he was having an asthma attack or something. after giving him a breathing treatment and it not helping, nate rushed him into the e.r. some bloodwork and xrays were done, and on one of his lungs they found a nodule with some flattening around it. the dr. said it looked a lot like pneumonia or valley fever. he was given a steriod shot which helped open up his airway and he was able to breathe much better. so this morning we took him into dr. ho's office and more xrays and blood work were ordered and we should get the results of everything at our appt tues morning. we'll let you know what the diagnosis is when we find out, but in the meantime please pray that he has no more episodes.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Nate's 30th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Nate! Nate celebrated his 30th birthday on sept. 24 who a few little get-togethers for family and friends. Special thanks to gabe & staci woodward for letting us use their beautiful home, to mom & aileen for surprising nate with a party at mom's house, and again to aileen for the awesome football cake! we love you all, thanks for helping us celebrate what a wonderful man nate is!

A new baby!!

No, not for us! my brother Matt & sister-in-law, Ann, welcomed a beautiful baby girl saturday morning (oct 6th). Miss Paige Elizabeth Ollivier was born after a whole 45 minutes of labor and has a ton of blonde hair. We love our new little niece (& cousin) to pieces! Congrats matt & ann!

Matthew's 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday, Matthew! We had a fantastic birthday party for little matty last saturday (the 29th) here at the house. there were lots of kids and grown-ups (nate thinks 40 in all) and we snacked on pizza, nachos, sno-cones and cotton candy to go along with our circus theme. nate hung streamers to give off the circus-tent ambiance and anne made a "roller coaster" cake which matt promptly demolished. he got lots of great gifts and it was such a blessing to have so many people we love here to celebrate with us. thanks again to our virginia-based family for all your cards and gifts ~ we missed you guys! here are a couple pics from the day. Enjoy!