Three Girls, Two Guys and a Dog

Happy Mother's Day!

 

What a great Mother's Day. We enjoyed the day and had my Mom over for grilled steak and shrimp and corn on the cob - yum! My friend Stephanie sent me this list of questions and I thought it would be fun to ask the girls for their answers - Taylor said "I don't know" for quite a few, so I left those responses out:)

Why God Made Moms
Why did God make mothers?
A: so mothers could have children
T: so you can have a family

How did God make mothers?
A: same thing he did when he made the plants. He wanted mothers and said "let there be mothers".

What ingredients are mothers made of?
A: love, happiness, kindness, fun

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
A: because God said well maybe this mother should have 3 kids
T: because if you're a China girl, you get a China Mom

What kind of little girl was your Mom?
A: she listened to her mother all the time, wasn't sassy and was thankful for what she had.
T: a dark haired girl

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
A: what he acted like and if he really wanted to marry her

Why did your mom marry your dad?
A: because she wanted to have children and she wanted to have a happy life with a boy
T: so they knew they were married

Who's the boss at your home?
A: mom and dad
T: that's an easy one, the parents

What's the difference between moms and dads?
A: moms are girls and dads are boys and sometimes boys like to do other things

What does your mom do in her spare time?
A: plays with us and plays with Ty
T: watch TV

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
A: nothing

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
A: nothing, I like her just the way she is.

Some pretty funny answers in there!

The rest of our weekend was fun as well. Friday night Anna had a make-up soccer game and she was on fire! She really enjoys soccer and would play "any time, any where". I love that she is so passionate about the sport. After the game, Erik took the girls to a Father/Daughter dance (for Girl Scouts). They had fun dancing up a storm. Here's a picture of them before they left.
 

 

Ty and I had fun chillin:)
 

Saturday was more soccer and an ice skating party for Anna (it's only her 2nd time out on skates and she was able to skate across the middle by the time she was done!) Then my mom watched the kids while Erik and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniverary. It was a much needed night out - thank you mom! Here are some other fun pictures of the weekend.

 

 

 

 

Dessert!
 

 

 

Happy Easter!

What a beautiful Easter Sunday. We enjoyed spending the day with Erik's parents, sister and my parents. Happy Easter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 Months

See - I wasn't kidding! Read here first. Going all the way back to last summer. Travel with me, won't you? I always think it's fun to go back and compare the stats on the kids. Here's how they were looking at 2 months:

Ty
Weight: 11 lbs, 5 oz
Height: 22 1/2 in

Taylor
Weight: 10 lbs, 6 oz
Height: 21 1/2 in

Anna
Weight: 11 lbs, 9 oz
Height: 22 in

We were very busy at Ty's 2 month mark. We took a trip to Minnesota for my cousin Jim's wedding and we took a trip to Hilton Head with Erik's parents. Ty travelled better than any of us! The girls loved both trips and have requested several times to go back to each place. Also in July, Taylor turned 5! Whe was so excited to finally be 5. I am just now realizing that her birthday party pictures are on Erik's work camera, and I've never seen the pictures! Here are some of our July highlights.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

And finally Anna at 2 months...
 

Taylor at 2 months...
 

Uncle Bryan Comes to Visit!

We were so happy that Uncle Bryan could come visit us for a whole week. The girls really enjoyed having him here and were sad to see him go back home to Wyoming.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a post from Emily!

I'm back! I can't tell you how many posts I've written in my head only to lose focus and never update the blog. I've thought about quitting it all together, but it's not about me. It's about the kids. The original purpose of the blog was to keep up with as much of our daily life as possible so that the kids could look back when they're older. I don't scrapbook, I don't do photo albums...this is it! So I think what I'll do (for Ty's sake) is go back to where I left off - he was just 6 weeks old! I'll do a new post for each month since then and we'll go from there! I'm going to stop posting pictures on Facebook because that's been an easy out and has taken me away from this site. As a quick update, Erik's health is much improved. He had a chest x-ray a couple of weeks ago and the doctor was very pleased. One of the lymph nodes in his lung is back to normal size and the other one is almost. This is great, great news. It was a very stressful couple of months after he was diagnosed but we thank God that things are improving. As for the kids, they are great. Anna is loving 2nd grade and Taylor is loving Kindergarten. Both did fantastic on their last report cards. Anna is back into soccer and would play every day if she could. I often struggle with her determination and stubborness (is that a word??) but she is amazing out on that field. Does not back down, does not give in. Always gives it her all. As for our baby, he's growing up too quickly. Ty is the sweetest baby in the world. He's getting close to 11 months and in to everything. He's been walking since about 8-9 months (still looks hilarious for such a little guy to be walking around) and is very adventurous. He loves his sisters, loves Beni, loves being outside, loves to eat and loves his pacifier! He still does not sleep through the night, but we are working on it! I was looking through his baby, baby pictures and can't believe how much he's changed. Is it really possible that he'll be one next month?? Here are some pictures of our visit to the GA Aquarium today.

 
 
 

 
 

Summer!

What a busy couple of months we've had! For those of you that don't know, about 2 weeks before I had Ty, Erik was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis is an immune system disease caused by inflammation. After having some wheezing Erik went to the doctor. He was given an inhaler for 2 weeks. When that didn't work, he was sent to a pulmonary specialist who did a chest x-ray, bloodwork, cat scan and finally a bronchosopy and finding inflammed lymph nodes in his lungs. He confirmed after the lung biopsy what was going on. Thankfully Erik doesn't have to take steriods (the normal treatment for this disease). He had a check up yesterday and will go back again in 6 months (assuming that his bloodwork from yesterday looks ok). Having Erik in the hospital and not knowing what was going on a week before my delivery was stressful to say the least. Having Erik's parents come down (and my parents here) was the best - not sure what we would have done without them! Erik is feeling better for the most part, but it's still an unknown situation and we just try to take each day at a time and keep a positive attitude! Ty is doing amazing. Being born at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, he weighed in at 9 pounds, 12 ounces at his one month check up! He is a sweet, sweet baby. He's sleeping relatively well (better after being on some reflex medicine) and I can't believe he will be 6 weeks tomorrow! The girls and I are enjoying being home for the summer. They both did a week of VBS and then Anna did a week of soccer camp. They are taking tennis lessons again this summer and we swim whenever possible! It's been hot, hot, hot so we do our outdoor activities in the evenings (when it's not storming). We've also had lots of fun playdates! My goal is to get back to posting regularly (with pictures)! Stay tuned!

 

 
 

  

Recital Fun

 
   

Baby Ty and Our Family of 5

  

   
 
   
 
  

2010

Since I've done so bad on updating the blog lately I thought I would do a recap of 2010 (since February) in pictures!

 

  

 
 
  
  

Ty Jarkins

We were so happy to welcome Ty Daniel to our family on May 13th. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 1/2 inches. He's an amazing little guy and we are full of love! The girls just can't get enough of him and always want to hold him and love on him. It's so sweet.