5 Years

  Yesterday was our anniversary and it was great.  Mainly because my parents took the kids for almost the entire day.  Shawn and I went and saw Avatar and out to dinner.  The movie was AWESOME!  I was impressed, and we saw it in 3D so it made it even better.  Dinner was really good too.  We ventured beyond the Cheesecake Factory and went to Black Walnut Cafe instead.  It was a huge improvement over having 8 13 year old girls screaming at the top of their lungs.  Its still really weird to think we've already been married for 5 years.  We've done a lot in that time, well mainly had a lot of kids.  We have managed to do a few other things though.  For instance we finished college, had a premature baby with LOTS of problems, moved four times, lived apart for 2 months, almost finished medical school and most importantly we lived through it all!  It hasn't always been a walk in the park but I couldn't imagine going through it with anyone else or want to! Happy anniversary!

Christmas is the BEST!!!

Graham started to smile A LOT!

Here are the tasty caroling treats we made.

Devin riding on his new wheels.

Caroline feeling like big stuff.

I love Christmas!!! I love the cooler weather, the cheesy Mariah Carey songs, goodies, and excitement.  This year may be my favorite year so far.  We had a great Christmas.  It was our first time to really start some of our favorite family traditions.  We were finally able to go caroling the right way, on Christmas Eve with the proper goodie plates, although it would have been nice to have more people around to carol to.  We also did the HUGE Funk breakfast with ebelskivers, breakfast quiche, and pull-a-part bread for breakfast.  It was delicious!  I think the best part though was seeing the kids get so excited about their presents and opening them up.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  They got helmets from Santa and thought they were just to wear anywhere and spent most of the morning running around with them on.  They looked really cool.  They loved the bikes they got from Grandma and Grandpa Reed and it made me really sad to see Caroline riding around on her bike like a big kid.  She is getting way too big!  Shawn spoiled me WAY too much with presents but it was really fun!  Some of the highlights were:
1. Devin calling his vest from Ashley yucky and throwing it across the couch.
2.Watching Caroline snuggle with Graham and her blanket when she got tired.
3.Playing Wii Fit Plus at Ryan's house.
4. Watching Devin give Graham his presents from Grandma and Grandpa.
5.Seeing Graham start to smile for everyone.
6.Having Devin march right into the homes of the people we caroled to because it was really cold.
7. Making caroling treats with my mom the queen of the treats!
It was a FABULOUS Christmas and I'm so excited for next year!

Waiting to go downstairs to open presents.

Devin hanging out with Asher.

Caroline snuggling with Graham.

Graham enjoying his presents (thanks to Devin)

Graham, Super Baby

Today was a great day.  We blessed Graham in church today.  I love listening to the special blessings that are given to babies!  Shawn did a great job and it was great having family there.  I haven't posted much about Graham yet so this one is dedicated to him.  Here are a few reasons why he really is the best baby in the world.
1. He NEVER cries.  (well only when he's hungry or tired, never just to be loud)
2. He doesn't really have a lot of blowouts making laundry much easier to handle.
3. He sleeps like a champ! I'm not kidding from 10:30-5 just about every night.
4. He goes to sleep very easily, not a lot of fussing, sometimes he'll just pass out on the couch without any help.
5. He loves being held even by Caroline which is great because she loves to hold him!
6. I swear he looks like Grandpa Graham which reminds me of how sweet he's going to be.

We love our little Graham and I can't believe I was scared to have another kid.  He makes having babies seem really easy.  We love his sweet demeanor and can't imagine not having him around.  He makes me think I could have another baby, but not for a while.  (I'm serious this time)  I would've had a picture of him in his blessing outfit but that's the one time he actually had a blowout.  I love this little boy.  I think I'd be ok with the rest of my kids being boys if they are all this sweet.

Say What?

Its become clear that the kids are getting WAY to comfortable with the amount of time Shawn has been spending at home.  I have caught Caroline saying some of Shawn's favorite phrases around the house.  This morning we were downstairs for breakfast and Caroline said, "Mom what do we have for eats?"  Later after I had brought her library books upstairs Caroline thanked me and said, "Strong work mom."  She's funny and made me laugh a lot today!

Ah, It's Over!

This week is finally at an end! And I couldn't be happier.  The day after Caroline got sick was surprisingly great.  No throwing up and the day couldn't have gone better, until Devin thew up that night.  So that night we didn't get a ton of sleep.  Luckily Shawn got home early in the morning and helped take care of the kids.  That day I got sick and for some reason it hit me worse than anyone else.  I don't know if its because I'm nursing or maybe I just have a weak immune system but wow it was bad.  For whatever reason the stomach flu is the one illness we can't seem to avoid.  I've had it 3 times in the past 18 months.  Not pretty.  Well today was much better and no one else has gotten sick so we're happy.  It was a long, hard, and sickly week but there were also some really great parts.
1. Me not geting sick until Shawn got home.
2. Devin and Caroline were champs about not being able to go out with friends.
3. My awesome sister sending me flowers.
4. Another awesome sister calling and singing our favorite Christmas song to me.
5. Several calls from people asking to see how I was doing.
6. My sister-in-law ordering dinner for us so I didn't have to cook.
7. Shawn bringing home literally EVERY flavor of Gatorade home so I would stay hydrated and happy.
So thanks to everyone who made this week pretty great!

Whatever Can Go Wrong Will

Have you ever had one of those days when you just want to give up and curl up in bed and hope when you wake up everything is fixed?  Well last few days has been like that.  Shawn was out of town on an interview and we had been invited over to a friends house.  We were walking out of the door and I was feeling pretty good.  We were on time, the kids looked cute and I had actually done my hair and makeup that day.  Everything was going great until we got to the car.  I put Graham in and looked at Devin and saw that he was lacking his newest accessory, his glasses.  I swear he had them on when we walked out the door.  Needless to say I started freaking out and started to franticly look for his glasses.  I spent about an hour out in the rain looking for them, sobbing because we were going to have to buy new ones, and because they're VERY expensive.  Well after an hour of no results Caroline came outside and told me that Devin had found the glasses under the couch.  I have no idea how they got there nor do I care, I"m just glad we don't have to buy new ones.  So we showed up an hour and a half late soaked.  That night Caroline started feeling bad and Shawn stayed up with her to help calm down and let me sleep.  Well now today Shawn is gone to another interview (and won't be back until Thursday morning) and Caroline threw up all over her bed.   So it should be another long night and tomorrow and the next night.  I just hope by some miracle no one else in the family gets it especially Graham, I might just have a meltdown if he does.  But with the way things have gone this year I've learned to expect the worst.  I cannot wait for this year to be over!  Scratch that I'll be happy when this week is over!

Eyes Wide Open

Devin got his new glasses.  So far it has been an eye-opening and bewildering experience for Devin.  As soon as he got his glasses on he said, 'Wow'.  And when he got home he started running through the house saying, 'Look mommy milk...wow, look mommy yogurt...wow, look mommy car...wow, ....(followed by many more look wows).  So either he was just ecstatic about life...or he was seeing things very differently.  Here is a picture of him in his new glasses.

He is so cute about it all.  His go to move for being tired or mad before was rubbing his eyes with his two big fists.  Unfortunately every time he does that now he shoves his glasses into his eyes.  Hopefully he will get used to his glasses quickly and enjoy seeing.