Oh Happy Day!

Happy Birthday mom!!!

I hope you had a great day....

Prayer of Confession

This was our prayer of confession in church this Sunday...and I really wanted to share it. I feel it pertains to me, and maybe some of you will feel the same.

God of great expectations, you know how easy it is for us to make excuses for inactivity. We love to run and hide when a task is set before us. We look at the expectation and think that we don't have the abilities, strength, or wisdom to accomplish this task. We think, too often, that we are doing these things all by ourselves. And we feel sorry for ourselves and angry that you expect so much from us. Forgive our ignorance, our stubbornness, and our stupidity, O Lord. Help us to understand that the opportunities for service that you offer to us also come with your abiding presence, love, and support. It is your love which makes the impossible possible. Turn us around and place us back on the path of joyful service. Let our work be part of the fulfilment of the mandate of Jesus Christ when he made his proclamation in the synagogue so long ago. For it is in His name that we pray. AMEN

Charli got her hair cut last weekend, pretty sure Harper gained 2 pounds, and Chad and I had a night out with friends from work! I can't think of a lot of details to write about...but that is the jest of it :-)

Tonight on TV we watched a 20-minute show called "Kid's Living and Surviving Cancer". It was a touching show. It made me remember and realize just how lucky we are...lucky to not be experiencing the same things we did with Charli, with Harper at the same age now- and lucky (in a weird and twisted way) that Charli was so young and didn't have to suffer like older kids do. Having said that...Harper is the same age that Charli was when our world was flipped. Hard to know that a child so young could say so much!! I don't remember Charli at this age, probably blocked out for now, maybe having Harper will help us remember those months that in my mind were just full of drugs, tests, and hospital beds!

taking pictures with two kids is not as easy as it was with just one!! I guess the days of "self portraits" is over :-)

for those of you who know Chad, this picture of Harper in this style of hat should REALLY scare you!

elephant had to be in the picture!!

Charli's new cut - courtesy of Aunt Amanda!

Charli * Braxton * Harper

the boys

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking...

A message every adult should read because children
are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say.

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have
to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come
from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw that you
cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking I looked at you and
wanted to say,'Thanks for all the things I saw when
you thought I wasn't looking.


Each of us (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, friend)
influences the life of a child.

How will you touch the life of someone today? Just by
sharing this with someone else, you will probably make
them at least think about their influence on others.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God

redemption

I would like to say that Charli is redeeming herself daily this week...and all the stress she was causing me days ago is making me laugh now! We have implemented a new token system and I am not going to say it has solved our problem...but the issues we were having have not shown their ugly little heads since!! She is acting like the little girl I know she is!! I am so proud of her and how grown up she has been acting.

Harper was home Monday with a temp of a little over 100. He certainly did not act sick, and probably had one of the best days ever at home with his dad. Chad said he was in heaven being able to roll around and do his own thing which hasn't happened since...well, never :-)

new year...new attitudes!!

The new year is bringing new experiences for all of us! Charli is still closer to 3 than 4, but acting more like 4 than ever before :-) We never really went through the terrible 2's but I would say that they trying 3's are here. With some of the moments and experiences we have had lately, I think I can easily (at this moment) say that up to this point...parenting has been a breeze!!!!!

Having said all of that, Charli has still been a good kid! She is just growing up, which can be stressful but also just a little hard to witness our "baby" growing up. And...is she ever!

I would say that Charli's best friend is still Harper, but Harper is growing extremely close to Wynston and Kasper! Harper's main mode of self-transport is still rolling from one spot to another but we have noticed he has really started to try to shimmy himself around on his tummy. Lucky for us, big sister doesn't give him much room to learn these types of things just yet!

Charli before church this morning...Harper was already tucked in his car seat ready to go...always waiting on the girls!

their first bath together. How lucky, Harper got to use "Dora" soap. He has so much to look forward too!! ;-)

Charli invited Harper to help her color last week. He was so excited to monitor her artistic abilities!!

just chilling after church last week. Charli has mastered big sister-hood pretty well. She can take care of him pretty well and it is making him pretty darn strong in the process!!!

winter wonderland

On Christmas Eve we went to our Christmas children's service...for awhile we thought that would be the extent of our Christmas celebrations! We were in the middle of a blizzard, and most everyone was stuck wherever they were. Thankfully my brother and his family made it up from Arkansas just before the storm really hit. We are grateful that they still tried and succeeded in making it up to see everyone. They truly are dedicated :-)

Our first gathering to be cancelled was for Chad's family. Hopefully we will be able to get together in a few weeks when everyone is free! Our other party to be "postponed" was for my side of the family. I was very sad because I knew that it meant we would not have everyone there when we rescheduled, which ended up being Sunday. Andrew, the oldest of the grandkids, was snow-stuck in Lincoln...and wasn't able to come home until Monday. What a bummer. I know my sister, his mom (Vicki), was very sad to not have all of her kids there. I think he was able to make it back on Monday so she had them all with her :-)

We knew we had the entire day on Christmas to spend as a family so we really spread out the opening of gifts! Of course, Santa gifts were opened right away Christmas morning! But, we waited until after nap to open the rest! Our family was lucky enough to have an "elf on the shelf" this year (highly recommend for parents with young kids!). Charli was sad that our elf "bunny" had to fly back with Santa on Christmas morning...she can't wait to see him again next year!

The highlight of the gifts for Charli is probably her leapster. She got a few things that we haven't really even played with because we forgot! Grandpa Borg got all three little girls a bucket full of fun girly stuff! A bucket which should have stayed at his house for the days when Rachelle and I drop them off for him to watch! It was full of fancy dress up gloves, make up, lip gloss, glitter, shimmer, rings, suckers, chapstick, mirrors, brush, gummy worms and more! They girls thought it was fun! All the kids also got vtech laptops from grandma and grandpa! At one point almost every kid had their back against the couch in a row playing their computer! It was funny! The kids got to play in the snow and had a great time! Then..back to reality!

On a side note - Charli has been acting very "3". She is listening like a 2 year old...and acting like one sometimes too! She is testing her limits for sure! Friday morning she woke up and had the following conversation with her dad. I thought only adults talked about this stuff, but I guess this is our reality now too.
Charli - "the cancers not going to come back daddy"
Chad - "what made you say that Charli?"
Charli - "last night when I was sleeping I went to the doctor, and he told me that. it's not going to come back"
I think Chad was probably floored and didn't know what to say. She has been talking about it more lately, and with some additional strange behaviors and pains I think it makes us a little nervous. But, she is right...it is not going to come back. From her lips to God's ears.

Enjoy the pics! :-)

three amigos!

(I have totally turned into my grandma! She used to cover my face with a scarf just like I did to Charli, and I HATED it! But Grandma was smart...keeps them warm!)

snow angels!

at one point the snow was above Charli's knee, they thought that was pretty neat!

if you stare at this picture long enough it looks like he is scary mad, but he was laughing!

Ryen is such a good sitter! She always wants to hold him and take care of him. I think between her and his big sister I could trust that he would be taken care of! Today I was cleaning the bathroom and Charli was taking care of Harper..she even wiped his nose off :-)

Cabela's girls!

Harper's shirt says "I make dirt look good". I am pretty sure Chad is jealous and would like a shirt like this!

grandma and grandpa with 90% of the grandkids....

(ryen, cohen, derek, colton, macey, charli, grant, bryant, harper)

charli*cohen*macey

ho-ho-ho!

She was excited to get a leapster...but a little confused because she didn't quite grasp that it was hers, and she could play with it!! On a side note - both Santa and her parents got her slippers for home and daycare. She was upset because she did not ask Santa for slippers. Silly Santa, next year only get what is on her list and no extras!!)

her super exciting "backpack" that Harper gave her for Christmas! It was filled with colors, markers, stencils, paper, glue, and some fun hair bows!

as chad pointed out it looks like Charli's legs are coming out of harpers body! I didn't realize her tights and his shirt were so, so similar!

Charli was very good at letting Harper open his own gifts. she helped when needed!

She even let him help her open a few gifts!

out feeding the reindeer on Christmas Eve!

Chad took this picture...I think it is less about Charli and more about showing how tall his truck is. Charli stands 40"+

i am just realizing i didn't post a picture of either of us with Harper in front of the tree...but we took them :)

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas celebrations, even if you were not able to get where you wanted to be! It was fun to have the entire day with just the kids. Probably a luxury we won't experience again for awhile. We love to spend the day with our family, but as OUR family grows it is hard to balance old traditions with new ones so we soaked in the day!

Merry Christmas to all...

We hope this if finding all of you ready for the holidays and remembering the reason for the season. As I was reminded in Church this week...no matter how clean your house is, how full your menu for Christmas dinner, the number of gifts wrapped or unwrapped, stockings hung, counters dusted, or gifts received, Christmas will come no matter what. And, the reason is simple. Jesus IS the reason for the season, and all we need to guarantee Christmas, is Christ. So, try not to get caught up in the other details of the celebration. Keep it simple...we have all we need!!

It sounds like a storm is moving in. I pray that all of you will travel safely and arrive to your destination as planned! I hope that everyone in my family is able to make it to the farm. I don't think our entire family has been together since last Christmas! Now that the older grandkids are the age they are it is harder to have them at other family functions...so it is very rare to have everyone in once place anymore :( Vicki...just a warning...I WILL make you take pictures:-)

Harper got to open his first Christmas present courtesy of Landon and Jamison and seemed to have fun. Naturally he didn't do it fast enough and big sister needed to help!! Back tracking a bit, Landon is a big brother now! Courtney and Eric had a baby boy Friday, Jamison Bradley. All are home and healthy! There is a picture below of Charli in an adorable outfit from them. Man, Landon has great taste in picking out clothes!!

Charli has really taken hold to the big sister role. She feeds him every bottle that she is awake for. When the weekend hits she literally fights me to feed him! Chad gets to enjoy the bedtime bottle each night, so the weekends are mine during the day! Well, this weekend I had that taken out from underneath me too! On the flip side, Chad lost his bedtime feeding tonight too...Harper decided he didn't need his dad to eat anymore :-)

Have a very merry Christmas...and remember Jesus is the reason for the season...

I am sorry if you did not get a Christmas card this year...we did not order as many this year, and quickly realized that was not the best idea!

Charli and the "ginger-bread barn"!

she was so excited to help make our barn :-)

i love this gummy smile! Charli's eyes were green by this age, so it is fun to see the blue eyes still hanging around. I imagine they will quickly fade too!

Harper has one of the cheesiest smiles...he is pretty goofy. These three were riding the horse around the house.

both charli and harper collected a piece of the nativity each week during advent. Each year the sets are made a new way so each year a new nativity can be collected. What a fun memory to make and fun story to build on each year...

Chad teaching harper how to fix our sink. The leak stopped so I am pretty sure it was Haper that did that, I am not sure Chad knows how :-)!!!!

she looks SO grown up on most days!

visit to santa! Charli took her own sucker and was given a candy cane, which was pretty exciting and fun for her! Harper took hold of Santa's beard, glad it didn't come off :-)

Charli's new outfit from Landon. Thank you!!!

Charli won the game of "pretty pretty princess"! She thinks that game is pretty fun! She is also enjoying the game ZINGO, candyland, and UNO!!

Charli has decided that she more than strong enough to carry him around, and will randomly grab him if we aren't there to tell her no! She "can do it"!

time flies

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I posted anything! I guess I will recap what has been going on, seems like we have been on the go a lot. Chad and I were just talking about how much busier our lives are now yet we see people a lot less, so I am not sure where we are spending all of our time!!

We were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving weekend at my aunt and uncles place in KS, we
also celebrated Christmas with my mom's-side of the family. My grandma has been gone for over 14 years and the family is still getting together every year for Christmas as well as other holidays, I think that is great. So many times that gets put off to the side and quickly ends - we are still going strong!! Charli got to do lots of fun things while we were there! Her list includes:
-sleeping in a BIG (queen) bed
-falling asleep watching cartoons
-swimming
-being pulled in a wagon by big horsies
-riding a horse
-eating lots of popsicles!
We had a nice time there, it is always a nice trip to Kansas!

We have already started with Christmas parties, hard to believe!!

Harper is getting big, fast. He is a really good baby. It was new for us to have a baby that rolls around! If you remember charli never did that, so when we put harper down and turn around to find that he is 180 degrees in a difference direction and on his tummy - it is surprising :-) He has been eating beans, peas, carrots, and squash tonight...seems to like them all so far. He has really enjoyed playing with his tongue so after he swallows he puts his tongue out and pinches it with his lips. He is totally in love with his sister and smiles from ear to ear when she is around. They enjoy the morning time together a lot. After almost 6 months the "newness" has not worn off one bit for Charli and he is still her "little buddy". Harper is sitting up, mainly with support...but big sister has a hard time letting him to anything alone which makes learning a little less easy for him! In the flip side I am sure he will quickly pick up on some things that we are less than excited about that she will pass on :-)

Today is a snow day at our house, we are enjoying our time at home. I do find myself wondering...just how many times can a person play uno and candyland before being a "professional"...I have to be getting close.!!

Charli's great-aunt Janice gave her a little goody bag of body glitter and lipgloss. Every inch of open skin has been initiated with glitter...and mom and dad can say the same. Janice, thanks :-) Actually, she has been having a great time with it so we really do appreciate you thinking of her!

Charli got a new dollhouse from Lynn for Christmas, she has enjoyed playing that in her room too...she is starting to grow up. I had to take her to the dr last week for a sinus infection. The dr. informed me that she is no longer a toddler, and asked if I was ready for "this". The answer is no, not even close! Harper is almost closer to be one than a "newborn" and soon Charli will be closer to "4" than "3". When did I become a mom of two kids...let alone two kids this big?!! Times DOES slow down, right?!! (if only that were true!)

Off to the pictures. They are out of order, but I did the best I could between games and rationalizing with a 3 year old why we can't have m&m's, cookies, candy, and other "not yucky" things between breakfast and lunch!

We hope things are going well for your families...
on a quick note, I hope you are all keeping up with Landon and his journey via his page. He has had a rough week after treatment last week. Courtney will be having the baby next Friday, if she makes it that long. her poor body is ready for a break and went into labor last week, which they were able to stop. Please pray for this family...they are so important to us and we can't wait until they can say this nightmare is "behind" them, whatever that means for us.

as charli would say "one girl and one boy"

Charli the wizard and Charlie the grandpa

my mommy and daddy! They have been married for 45 years - that is becoming unheard of anymore...way to go mom & dad :-)

aunt Joyce always has a lot of answers and wisdom to share, but to find out she was holding out on sharing this little book with me was heartbreaking. Who new there really was a handbook on how to raise a harper...man, this is going to make life easy-street for us!! Joyce actually let us keep this book and it is sitting in Harper's room! It is actually a grammar book :-)

the three amigos!! On my side of the family these are the only girls...the boys far out number them, but these three can give all of them a run for their money any day :-)

ryen- macey-charli

these two were in heaven!

"one boy and one girl"

showing off his muscles

she gets so excited to see and help with him in the morning! he is great motivation to get her out of bed some mornings! :-)

"no pictures please"

Charli playing with her two doll-houses!

this house even has a door-bell! how exciting, don't ya know!!

she was too funny opening this gift - she was running around in circles to get the paper off, she just couldn't do it fast enough!

very excited about candyland!

buds from daycare!

christmas bingo!

this is what happens when dad is in charge of putting on the tights. it never ends well. Lesson learned.

she is a super-star!

we decorated the tree, I found my "first christmas" pretties to hang too!

she was a great helper!

blessings counted

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We hope that everyone has a great thanksgiving and takes a special moment...a real moment...to think of all you have been blessed with in this life, this year, this week. Things may not always go our way or on our time schedule, but it is important to remember that He is at the heart of all of our blessings, and our blessings in disguise.

God keeps His promises...