July Happenings...

*Warning: Picture overload.*

Ah July. My beloved birthday month. For those of you I'm NOT friends with on facebook, let me give you an explanation of why I love my birthday so much. Yes, I admit I love to be spoiled a little (okay, maybe a lot), and I love being treated extra special, but it's SO much more than that. Why wouldn't I celebrate another year full of blessings? Why wouldn't I love the fact that God gave me another year to watch my children grow, celebrate another year of marriage with my husband, celebrate another year of memories with my friends and family, for they have all made me who I am today! But I'm getting ahead of myself... let's start at the beginning of the month.

The fourth of July was another fun day spent swimming at my parents. Like usual, it was 1,000 degrees, so the pool almost felt like bath water! It was still a nice relaxing day, and I'm always happy when Jamie doesn't have to work.

We had a couple of days where the heat "broke" (aka, it was 90), so we tried to spend a little time outside. You know it's bad when you welcome 90+ degree heat, and even sit out on your deck to test out the new fire bowl! Speaking of, Jamie completely redid our deck in Cedar, added a food prep station, two burners, and a cool cabinet. Other than a brick oven, we have our outdoor kitchen! My favorite part, however, is the amazing fire bowl he made. It is SO much prettier in person. Come on over and check it out!







The middle of the month was less than "happy", if you will. On July 19th, Nathan had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids. Fortunately, the surgery went very well, and he's doing great. However, from the point where they had us back in the recovery room as he was waking up (THIS.WAS.HORRIBLE), to the 10 days of hell as far as his sleeping, I could have done without. He was such a trooper though, and I'm so, so proud of him!

Here he is (very early) waiting for surgery to begin. My Mom and Dad came to the SurgiCenter with us, which was wonderful. Something about your parents being there gives you that sense of calm. Plus, Nathan was ALL about Grandma and Papa. :-)



Once we got home, he finally calmed down, and slept for a good part of the day. I loved the cuddle time, and was thrilled that he wanted something to eat when he woke up. Look at his eyes though... isn't that so pathetic?



Get well balloons from my sweet friend, Amy, and her sons



The end of the month was definitely cause for celebration. My sweet baby was finally feeling (and sleeping) better, and the Lord blessed me with another year! Of course the celebrations were many, so I'll just share a few (okay, several) of my favorite photos.

S'mores with my family (my FAVORITE dessert)



Dinner with my friends





Me and the hubs :-)

June happenings...

June was another busy month, but in a different way. Jamie was blessed with a HUGE project at a retirement complex called the Inman. He spent most of the month (including week nights, and weekends), working his tail off. He's still working there, but not quite as much now, which is nice.

My sister and I decided that it would be nice for all of us to get away, and spend a little time together, since everyone has been working so much. So my parents, my sister and her family, and us of course, all packed up and headed to St. Louis for Father's Day weekend. It was a quick trip, but so nice to be together. Jamie and Sean went to Six Flags with Elaine, Rick, Nick, and Kyle, while Mom, Dad, Nathan and I spent the day relaxing at the amazing hotel.

Elaine and Sean spent the day doing the smaller rides (of which he is STILL talking about). Elaine was great about sending me pictures and updates throughout the day, so that I could kind of experience what Sean was doing. It was SO hot that day, as you can tell by Sean's expression in this picture.



Nathan and I went on a short walk (aka, going down to the lobby and pressing the button to open the front door of the hotel 100 times). Isn't he just too cute?



Here is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. My three favorite boys. Love.



The month ended with a visit from Grandma Becky and our niece, Rebecca. It was a great visit, but too short as usual. Becky's birthday was the 26th, so we were able to actually celebrate with her this year! Since she is a big camper, we got her a Large Utility Tote that she can use to transport and store stuff to and from her camper. And of course we had to come up with some fun phrase to put on it. :-)

May happenings...

May was a wonderfully, crazy busy month in the Lance household. The month always starts off with a celebration - Nathan's birthday! My baby is three. THREE. How on earth is that possible? Since he is SO into farm animals (especially cows), we did a farm animal themed birthday party. And in true "Jenn-fashion", the celebrations went on much past the 1st. :-)

Here is a picture of his invitation, along with the goodie "bag" the kids got to take home from the party (included either a stuffed pig, cow, or duck, farm animal stickers, animal crackers, and a red bandana).




My Birthday Boy (shirt made by my friend Janay... isn't she amazing??). Shoes found on Etsy.




Once we got past Nathan's birthday, it was time to wrap up Sean's first year at Judah! Hard to believe just how quickly pre-school went. And since I'm just updating this in August, I will let you know that he starts Kindergarten in FOUR DAYS! Oy vey.

Sean had a great first year, and I am SO very sad to be leaving his teachers. But I know that God has in store for him more amazing opportunities, and more amazing teachers. Unfortunately, Sean's two best friends (Finn and Ryker) will not be with him at Judah next year. The good news is, we get to see Ryker at church, and we are friends with Finn's parents. :-)

Best buddies (Sean, Ryker, and Finn) on the last day of school



The middle of the month brough some crazy weather. In fact, we had one day where the tornadoes got a *little* too close for my comfort. This picture was taken near the airport.



And this is right in front of our doctor's office, on Curtis Road.



The end of the month brought more family time, as we celebrated our nephew, Kyle's, birthday. I cannot believe my baby nephew is now officially in the double digits! The sad part is, he doesn't like Aunt Jenny kisses like he used to. Sniff, sniff. We also spend Memorial Day at my parents pool since it was about 105 degrees, with a heat index of 1,000,000 (okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but barely). Sean is completely fearless when it comes to the pool, and would swim all day, every day if we would let him. Nathan is hit or miss as to whether he likes the pool or not. Fortunately, that day was a hit. Check out my big boy!



And what better thing to do on Memorial Day, than have a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a fried turkey and all!

April happenings...

Yes, I realize I STILL need to get caught up on everything, but now that it's AUGUST (yikes!), I'm going to do this fast...

April was super crazy for me in regards to Thirty-one. It was my highest month of sales ever since joining last July. That was awesome, because it helped me earn a $1200 American Express travel gift card!!! We aren't sure exactly when or where we are going to use it, but we were so excited!!

We had a lovely Easter with my family, but of course I was lame and didn't get ONE picture. :-( I did manage to snap a couple pictures of the boys dying Easter eggs, and a couple a few days later when we spent an evening mixing food coloring into water (Sean LOVED making all kinds of differnt color combinations... Nathan just liked stirring).






It seems like it was a slow month for us, but I think we kept mostly busy attending my nephews baseball games (two nephews x two games per week = busy!), and with my Thirty-one business. I'm so thankful (and grateful) that I have such a supportive husband. Although this side business is helping feed my habit a little, it's helping us pay down some debt as well, and that's ALWAYS a good thing!

Nathan and Aunt Laine at a ball game

March in a nutshell

March was much busier for us, but in such fun ways! We started out the month receiving word that Nathan's daycare (and where Sean had gone since he was 10 weeks old) was closing. Long story short, they were going to be moving locations, but ran into some zoning issues. So we had just short of four weeks notice that we needed to find somewhere else for Nathan to go, and for Sean to go during summer break. Fortunately, we were able to find a place that is closer to home, a little cheaper, and, has the same teaching style/curriculum and atmosphere as ABC. When Jamie and I went to tour the facility, we looked at each other and knew this was it. So Kinder Cassel is now the new home for Nathan (and Sean) during the summer. Pending all goes well with potty training, both boys will be at Judah in the fall. Lord willing!

After that debacle, we moved on to celebrating my OLDER sister's birthday (gotta throw that in there any chance I get). But the real celebration was the decision my sweet nephew, Kyle, made to be baptized. Nick and Kyle were the first two real loves of my life, and I just couldn't be happier - OR PROUDER - of them. This is such an important decision, and one he didn't take lightly. But if you know him, you know he has the biggest heart out of anyone in the world. The coolest part was that Rick, my brother-in-law, was able to perform the baptism. What a special day!





Towards the middle of the month, we were invited to Bloomington to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for Sean's bestie's (Jack) birthday. It was just our family and his, and the kids had a BLAST! Although I'm pretty sure I'm good with stuffed mice for another year or so. The old boys didn't sit still long enough to get a picture, but here is one of Nathan checking out the creepy stuffed mouse.



I decided rather than trying to find a place for Sean to go during his Spring Break, it would be fun to take the week off, and have some Mommy/Sean time. After all, it's been a long time since I'VE had a spring break too! We went to the library, saw a movie, went to the park, (did a little shopping...shh!), and just had some great quality time together. We even gave Sean the mohawk he'd been wanting! What do you think?



Having fun at the library



Sharing the books we checked out with brother (this peaceful picture lasted about five minutes) ;)



The end of the month had us getting ready for Sean's *hopefully* last appointment with the endocrinologist. At least that is what we hoped. I honestly don't think I can even recap my true feelings/that time in this blog. But here goes... On the way to work one morning, I received a call from the doctor's office, stating that Sean's endocrinologist didn't like some of the test results from the lab work we had to send over (we have these labs done before each trip to see her), so she wanted him to have a Sweat Chloride test done. She was concerned he may have cystic fibrosis. Believe me when I tell you that no matter how strong your faith is, no matter how much praying you do, or how much people tell you, "Oh don't worry, I'm sure he's JUST fine."... when it is YOUR child, and you receive this kind of news OUT OF THE BLUE, your world comes crashing down.

It is hard to not assume the worst. It is hard to read statistics that say the average age for a person to live with CF is 37. 37. How is a mother supposed to imagine life without her child? I had so, SO many people tell me it was nothing. That Sean was fine. Did I want to believe them? OF COURSE. But did I? No. The fact is, THEY didn't know. The only one who knew that Sean was going to be okay, was God. I tried to stay strong and not have this be life consuming (we had to wait two weeks to have the test done), but let me tell you, when it is your child, there is nothing anyone can say or do that will help.

I didn't want people to be all doom and gloom, but I wanted them to be realistic that this, in fact, may be the cause for his issues. I wanted people to cry with me - just for a minute. To tell me they would pray for me, for my sweet Sean. That no matter what happens, they will be there to love and support him. Unfortunately, I got a lot of people "blowing it off" or dismissing the silly notion, and making me feel almost stupid for feeling SO sad and concerned. Then I felt guilt. I mean, there are SO many people out there going through so much worse than we were, so what right did I have to be sad?

That was hard. But it wasn't about me. It was about shielding and protecting my child. It was about praying - harder than I've ever prayed before.
And those prayers were answered. PRAISE GOD everything turned out to be okay! I would not wish those two weeks on my worst enemy, however I really do feel like there is a lesson to be learned in all of this. First and foremost, GOD IS GOOD. God's hand was with us during his test and during the results. Second, I learned to really, really be present in the moment with my precious boys. I learned to love them harder, hold them closer. And finally, I learned how to be a better friend. The way I felt by some is a way I NEVER want to make my friends feel. So now I know. I know how to support better, listen better, be a better friend. God truly does have a plan, and I'm SO thankful that no matter what, he was and is always by our side.

Whew. That was heavy. Let's lighten it up a little with a couple of random pictures of my crazy dudes!




I think the funniest moment of March, was when I walked into Sean's room, only to discover he and his brother... well... the picture really needs no explanation.



But wait, it gets better! When I lifted the vent out to dump it in the trash, I found this!



I'm not sure if they were hoarding for the winter or what, but parents... know this. If you are taking a shower and your kids are uncharacteristically quiet, THEY ARE UP TO SOMETHING!!! LOL!

Four months??

Has it really been over four months since I have posted? WOW. Lots to catch up on! I guess I'll start with February...

February was a pretty calm month. Don't get me wrong, between working full time and two C-R-A-Z-Y boys, I generally don't know if I'm coming or going, but I can't think back to too much that happened in February. Definitely the most exciting think, was a short, but wonderful visit from my sweet friend Amy.

Amy is my friend that lives in Colorado, so fortunately, we have been able to see each other at least once a year thanks to our family living in Colorado. But this time, she came HOME! (Or at least what I like to consider her home.) We spent some much needed time catching up, talking about anything, everything and even nothing, shopping, eating, and just plain being together! I always miss her (especially during a Sonic run, or a trip to the Tuscola outlet), but seeing her in person, getting to hug my dear friend, really, really made me miss her. I treasure the short visit we had, and am already looking forward to the next time we can all get together again!

I think that pretty much sums up February! Moving on to March...

Randomness / Update

Since Christmas, things have not slowed down for us at all. This week, I enrolled Sean in KINDERGARTEN (yikes!) and Nathan in 3 year-old Pre-school at Judah! I'm not sure how this is possible that my kids are this old, but here we are! Surprisingly, I'm doing really well with it. I think the fact that both my kids will be at the same place (which means ONE place for drop off and pick up) is definitely helping. ;-)

Sean is doing really, really well in Pre-school. He LOVES his teachers (so do we!) and has so many great friends. His speech is developing nicely and he can now say "S" very well. He still my little snuggle bug, and loves reading, puzzles, and of course, his Nintendo DS / iPad. He keeps busy with church, and loves that there are so many kids from his school in his class. I'm pretty sure the fact that they get to play at the indoor playground at church on Wednesday nights doesn't hurt. He is a wonderful big brother, is developing such a great heart, and is so loving. This week, he said his very first prayer out loud. I was one proud Mama! "Dear Lord, thank you for my toys. In Jesus name, Amen." We're getting there. ;-) Here are a few random pictures from the last month of my sweet Sean.





Nathan has REALLY changed a lot over the past couple of months. He is talking up a storm, asks if we are going to church or "Papa's house" every time we get in the car, is sleeping in his full-size bed like a champ, got rid of the pacifier, and... wait for it... WENT PEE IN THE POTTY! I know those of you reading who don't have kids don't understand the excitement in this, but let me tell you, imagine winning the lottery. Same feeling. We have been struggling with getting him to even sit on the potty (full clothed even) at school. He will scream. And by scream, I mean top-of-his-lungs, like he is starring in a horror movie, scream. However, this week, he ASKED his teacher if he could sit on the potty! He was still fully clothed, but this was a HUGE step! Tuesday, he sat on it without his diaper on, and today, yes my friends, today I just got word that he pee'd on the potty! I can hardly wait to go pick him up and love on him! I'm just so proud! We haven't been worried about it since he's only 2 1/2, but he has to be potty trained (or housebroken as Jamie likes to call it) before he is allowed to attend Judah, so we've had it in the back of our minds that we only have a few more months. Other than this excitement, he continues to be our sweet, silly boy. You could just eat him with a spoon! (Well, most days.)

Fireplace

One of the things that's great about being married to Jamie, is that he's such a "handy-man". I can't even imagine how much we would have had to pay for stuff if he wasn't able to do it himself.

One thing we've always dreamed about, is putting in our fireplace in our family room. Fortunately, that dream has come true!!! Jamie acquired a fireplace (that had barely, if ever been used) and we decided to put it in our house. Let me tell you, it is SO beautiful! I can't believe how much it adds to our family room. We've used it just about every night and I can't describe how awesome it is!

The pictures below show the progression of the install. From framing the "bump out" in the wall, too the finished product. If you are ever nearby, stop in a check it out first hand!

MVC

We were invited by our good friends, Ryan and Jodi (sorority sister), to come to Peoria for the night to watch a Bradley game. Bradley is in the Missouri Valley Conference (same conference as SIU), and being Jodi's "home team", we've become fond of them as well! Our other friends, Nick and Jill (another sorority sister) live in Morton, which is not very far from Peoria, so they were also able to join us. It's always fun to get together with those girls... we relive a few memories, catch up on family, and usually have stomach pains from laughing so hard! Unfortunately, Bradley didn't win that night, but we didn't care. Getting to spend time together (especially with how busy we all are) was totally worth it!

Me, Jill and Jodi :-)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was just wonderful this year! Seriously, the kiddos make everything so much fun! We started Christmas morning at our house, just the four of us. Santa filled the stockings so full, he had to move them from the wall to the floor (Sean was very concerned that Santa had taken them)! Sean really, really got into Christmas this year, which was so cool! Nathan, well, he just wanted to eat. All day. :-)

Nathan enjoying drinking from his new snowman cup




Daddy enjoying his, er, I mean Sean's Christmas present



After playing with the toys from Santa, we packed up and headed over to Papa and Ba's house (what Nathan calls Grandpa and Grandma... don't ask about the "Ba"... no clue!) We met up with my sister and her family and did the Caspers/Lance/Stone family Christmas. It's a tradition that I look forward to EVERY year!

Ba and Nathan reading a quick book before presents



Uncle Rick and Nathan



Aunt Laine and Nathan... being silly :-)



Sean showing off his new toolbelt! He's SO excited to help Daddy!



My four favorite boys: Nick (12), Kyle (9), Sean (5) and Nathan (2)