This that and everything August...

So we have an achievement jar that the boys can put gumballs in if they exibit some sort of christian character (doing what's right no matter what you want or how you feel) during the day.  So when daddy comes home he plays the superman song and has a little ceremony for their achievements :).  I caught the tail end of it last night and I tell you what, Schafer is adorable!

Vale is one of the coolest kids I know.  He loves to wear his Steelers hat and likes to dress himself.  Prime examples below.

This little guy has got the best head of hair ever.  I thought Vale's was awesome.

The boys love to help mommy shuck corn :)

So Connor's feet are about a size and a half bigger than Vale's but Vale LOVES shoes... ergo, Vale continually steals Connor's shoes.  I can't believe this is already starting at 3 and 5... anyway, there was a dispute about shoes and people were being unkind so I told them they could each wear one of the shoes.  Connor got the left shoe and Vale got the right.  They'd have to pick another shoe to go on the other foot.  They weren't happy. 

We have this trampoline park close to our house and in the mornings they have a time when only kids under 6 can go, it's awesome!  The boys love it!

We are so blessed to have good friends here in NC with kids my kids' age. 

This picture is amazing!  Shay looks terrified and Kara, feisty as ever, looks like she's found her dinner.

I try to take some time with each of the boys as alone time and have them take me on a 'date'. :)  Vale is such a sweetheart and soaks up any alone time he can get.  

This little mischief maker is a joy but at the same time, a little ball of trouble.  He has taken to hitting his brother with hard objects to the point that they see him pick up something hard and run for cover. He thinks this is a terrific game and so it's been difficult to get him to stop.  The older two have just resorted to toughing it out and trying to commander the weapon before it's used for ill. :)  Oh the life of a mama with boys... 

Connor has pneumonia...

Connor goes to what's called a university model classical school which means that he only attends class two days a week, for a full day, then does all his practice work and homework on home the other days.  So the first day of 'homeschool' went GREAT!

He loved it!  I kept asking him if he wanted to take a break and he was like 'no, lets do the next thing!'

This was also the start of school for pre-school for Vale.  On the days that Connor has school at home, so will Vale.  He wasn't as thrilled with it but he'll do it if Connor does. :)

I am also attempting to start the boys learning french.  On school days if they want to watch TV, it has to be in french.  Surprisingly, they are ok with that... 

Sometimes the baby feels left out... he just needs some daddy snuggles to make him feel like he belongs in this new school environment. 

Well all was going well until Connor got a fever on the first Thursday of school... 

It would go away and then come back a couple hours later.  He didn't end up going to church and I was on the fence, cause he was acting normal, but because of the fever I didn't let him go to school on monday and we took him to the doc.  She checked for a UTI or ear infection and he had neither.  

We figured it was a virus and thought we'd wait it out.  She said if he still had a fever on Wednesday at all to come back in. 

 Knowing that Connor was sick the wonderful ladies in our church showered us with love bringing toys and books for Connor and a meal for our family.  We love our church so much!

He missed school again on Wednesday because Tuesday afternoon he started throwing up!  He threw up in the afternoon then was fine and hungry, behaving like normal.  Then after dinner he got lethargic and that night threw up again in the middle of the night.  Wednesday he was below 100 all day so I was like phew we are good!  But then again, Wednesday night it went back up to 101.5.  :-( 

I took him back to the doc on Thursday and they did a chest x-ray and before I even left the radiology center the doctor called me and was like he has left lower lobe pneumonia, he needs an antibiotic.  Well there you go!  Guess he was sick! He's such a tough little cookie it's hard to tell when he's ill.  He never complained about anything!

On a different note... I decided to dye my hair since I was cooped up in the house for over a week... :)

I got bangs, chopped off a couple inches and turned it red! 

I like it, Jimmy likes it... who knows how long I'll keep it but for now I'm rockin it. :)

Connor's first day of Kindergarten and more new adventures!

We are so excited and grateful that Connor is able to go to an amazing school for kindergarten this year!!!

He asked for french toast and fruit for breakfast, no prob bud! :)

I really like it that they have uniforms... made school shopping a lot cheaper!

I didn't ask him to pose like this, he just did it himself... what a cool dude. 

I did make him take some normal classic ones though... my baby is growing up!

He totally reminds me of my cousin Erik Hultquist in this picture... :)

He's such a sweet kid... he always signs that he loves me... melt my heart!

So the audacity of this child!!  He asked me if I could just drop him off at the door cause he 'knew where to go'!! Ummm NO!  MOMMY needs to drop you off... there were no tears, no fear, just pure excitement!

He is in a class of 5 with an AMAZING teacher (who is a cedarville grad by the way... GO CU!)

Plus, one of the kids is already his friend!!  He and Matthew have been buddies for a while!

He acted more like a 6th grader getting 'dropped off'... like 'I'm appeasing you mom but this is really unnecessary.'  Believe it or not this is a HUGE answer to prayer because even at the beginning of the summer he was super clingy and never wanted to be away from me. 

We stayed for there for the morning assemble where they talk about their monthly character trait and go over Colossians 3 which they will memorize this year.

Their teacher sent me this photo and said on the first day the kids wanted to hold hands and pray for their food at lunch!!!  How cute is that!!??  This is gonna be a great year!

In other news, we put an offer in on a short sale at the end of April and Jimmy saw it for the first time on the inside the same day Connor went to school for the first time! :)  Whoever named it 'short' sale was a super funny dude cause taint nuttin short bout it! :)

This is the home and we are hoping we get it, if not, back to the drawing board! :)

We also finished the process of buying a new van on Monday!  The boys have named her Sienna. :)

Jimmy also chipped his tooth but we have no photos of that... :-/

I'm back from my blogger hiatus!

So I've gotten so far behind on posting, it seems like such an insurmountable task to catch up that I gave up...

Well no longer!

I'm going to start fresh now, from today, and try to fill in that 8 months slowly.

I like blogging.  

I like being able to look back and see when things happened and the REAL story not revisionist histories version of it.

So here's to new beginnings and starting fresh!

Hi! I have a five year old, a three year old and a 18 month old and I'm an overwhelmed but happy mommy of boys!!!  :)

Schafer is 1!!!!

We had a big party planned for Schafer's first birthday on Saturday the 31st but everyone got pinkeye so it ended up being only a family party.

On his actual birthday, which was wednesday he got his first happy meal for lunch and we went to texas roadhouse for dinner. 

We had a lumber jack theme for his party with lots of red and black plaid.

We had cornbread, bacon, sausage and lots of warm syrup.

We had pancakes and popcorn in brown paper cones. 

I tried to make his cake look like a log... eehhh next time it will be better. It did look better in person though.

Happy Birthday Schafer!  We are so grateful for you!

A Mahon Family Loss

I had a miscarriage today.  I believe I was approximately 12 weeks but we aren't sure since the baby stopped growing at 6 weeks.

I took a test on November 1st and I wasn't sure if it was positive or not so I took another one and it was negative.  I didn't take another test until the end of November and that one was positive.

When we went in for our initial appointment the third week of December they said I was 5 1/2 weeks pregnant which means that when I took that second test I wouldn't have even been pregnant yet... so that was weird... I knew something was wrong.  They also couldn't find a heart beat but said that's normal because it doesn't normally show up until 6 weeks.

We went back in two weeks later and the baby was measuring 6w1d and there was a faint heartbeat, which was good but bad at the same time.  The baby had only had 5 days of growth in 11 days.

I started spotting three days later and went to labor and delivery where they gave me an ultra sound and there was still a heartbeat but the baby was still measuring 6w1d.   The spotting stopped on its own and I continued to be pregnant, just waiting to see if the baby was going to start growing or if I was going to miscarry.

I just waited until the day after Schafer's first birthday and I pass the baby.  I bled A LOT and it was very painful.  I had painful and difficult contractions and the desire to push before I passed the baby.  It was very difficult time both physically and emotionally.

Connor called the baby 'baby little'.  The boys were both sad when we told them that the baby was dead and they asked a lot of questions but they were generally ok.

I have every confidence that God is sovereign through all things, include the death of this member of our family.  He can work all things together for good and I'm confident that He will.

Mid Winter Outside Fun

The boys love playing outside!

Shay's feelin' like a big boy in his tricycle! 

Connor's learning to ride his bike... it's hard cause we are one a curb with a down hill driveway.  He loves it though!

This kid... he's just too much!

Vale is using his balance bike and loving it... not super speedy on it yet but getting there.

Connor decided to show Shay how it's done... 

Shay took advantage of the unattended skate board! :)

I can't believe this little guy is almost 1!!!

Look at that smile, I love it that we are blessed with happy kids!

This kid is such a ham... I love it.

These cold winter days where the sun is warming is the best!!! :) So blessed!