Feeling pretty lucky

I am an emotional wreck this weekend...there are so many horrible things that are going on in this world. Yesterday, we had a fun family night at Chuck E Cheese, kids had a lot of fun, good night. Boys went to bed, Bruce and I decided to go play Wii in the basement-and I turned on the news..I like to watch the news only for the weather, especially with these horribly cold days we've had...so I turned it on. PLEASE remind me, if you are ever talking to me and I am watching the NEWS to TURN IT OFF!

Last night, I heard a horrible story-a little 16 month old boy was at a daycare in Lincolnshire, right around the corner from here, and was thrown to the ground by the day care assistant in his "room" or whatever they call it. He had trauma to the brain, got up, grabbed his blankie, went to his special chair where he felt safe and died! Why do these things happen? I couldn't stop crying, totally screwed up my bowling game (those of you who talk to me frequently may know Bruce and I have a bowling "tournament" going, so bowling a good game is important for me to beat him)!

Then, I stopped bowling, decided I needed some light reading, so I started reading my People magazine, only to come across Matt Logelin's story-he's now a single dad. His wife died 27 hours after giving birth to their first born-blood clot traveled to her lung! HORRIBLE (check out his blog http://www.mattlogelin.com/)..

Why am I so lucky? I have two beautiful boys, a great husband, a roof (lovely one, at that) over our head, food on the table...I am so blessed. I just thank God all the time, and pray for these people suffering-but I want to do more!

What I AM going to do is treasure every moment with my kiddos...time flies, each moment is precious-although it may be the toughest moment of the day sometimes, it's still precious. Here are my guys!

A Belated Merry Christmas!

So Christmas was a bit of a challenge this year-with a sick 3 year old, it doesn't make for the funnest of times, but we had a good one anyway! Santa was good to the boys this year-lots of toys that both boys like to play with together (or that Shane wants to play with, and takes away from Derek)! We had Christmas Eve dinner here (with one vomiting episode), Christmas Day at Baba and Uncle Ralphie's (not for very long, Shane wasn't feeling well), and missed the Clark Family Christmas, due to the vomiting. But anyway, here are a few photos!

Snowy week

Here are some shots from last week's snow-this was taken Friday. Derek's first snow experience..Shane, as you can see, LOVES the snow-loves Daddy's toys (snowmobile and 4 wheeler) and any chance he can, he's out there with his little shovel helping Daddy. So I figured Derek would love it-not really! It was cold, he has a stiff snowsuit, and the first 5 seconds of me pulling him on the sled, he fell off-oops!! Maybe next time? We had a quick little play outside, enough time to make a mini snowman!

Happy Birthday Derek!

The big guy (or I should say our baby) is 1! Can't believe it! Time really does fly!! He had a little bit of a rough day at his party-he didn't sleep well the night before, didn't nap well the day of ,and there were a lot of people over-but he did fine after he ate dinner! Today, his actual birthday, it's colder than cold, so we didn't leave the house, but chose to play with all the fun new toys and swim!!

Playing by the fire

So Bruce made our first winter fire of the season, and Shane is obsessed! He loves helping Daddy bring the wood in, and help put the wood in (before the fire is started, of course)! So while Daddy is at work, Mommy has to keep the fire burning-thought these were cute pics!

Thanksgiving Feast

Here are photos from Shane's Thanksgiving Feast at school. It was so much fun!

It's Official!

Derek is a walker! Shane was 11 months old when he started walking--we thought that was great! Derek has been doing it since his 10 month" birthday!" It's fun, but we have a new view on babies again! And, he's OBSESSED with the stairs-and those of you who have been here, you know we have them!!

Also, here are a couple from babysitting Jill today!