Surprise!

Have you ever had one of those moments that just caught you off guard and you find yourself sitting in a puddle of tears? Okay....maybe not a puddle, but certainly tears trickling down your cheek. Steadily. For 10-15 minutes. Well, that's me right now. Yeah, yeah, I know. "Real men don't cry." Bunk! I've spent the last few minutes of nap time looking through old pictures of our family, our kids, us and am being flooded with memories, thoughts and emotions of the last several years. It's been a long time since Mrs. S has posted anything new and like many other well intentioned husbands, I originally supported the capturing of life's moments via blog. "Sure, babe....I'll write a few posts too." Ha! That half-hearted gesture to support what was new and exciting at that moment never came to fruition. So here I am looking back at the pictures and posting Mrs. S shared over a roughly 2 year period of time and I'm wishing that I had been more active in the process. You should know that I'm not one to sit down and spend time writing blogs or other such things, so this is BIG for me. : )

We recently took an early anniversary trip (the BIG 10th) in Coshocton thanks to mom and dad. As we moseyed through the quaint old-timey stores and their knick-knacks, one quote just kept showing up.

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." - Robt. Brault

I just haven't been able to let this go and looking back through pictures of our children, slightly smaller mind you, just continues to hammer this point home.

I can't say that I've ever been disengaged from our family....at least that I am aware of, but I can point out periods of time, days and moments where I haven't been fully engaged, supportive, involved, etc. There's a bit of a melancholy feeling that I haven't experienced often yet my mind drifts to thoughts of "what would things would be like if..."questions. I love my wife and my children, but as a parent I suppose I'm experiencing one of those moments of regret mixed with nostalgia.

They really do grow up quickly you know. Children. Point in case:

My sweet little Pea is 6 now. I remember that "O.S." moment when Mrs. S told me she was pregnant. Then bringing home this beautiful baby girl from the hospital that I had no idea what to do with. *Que tears....again* Now, she is an amazing little girl (big in her estimation) who is strong, loving and nurturing, but not too big come crawl into daddy's lap and cuddle (Thank You God!).

Grunt, well....he has been going full steam ahead since birth. What a change from our sweet and timid Pea! This kid never crawled the traditional way. He bear crawled, moved straight to running and hasn't looked back since. Ok, that's figurative. He looks backward all of the time while running and that typically doesn't end well. : ) He's our clumsy puppy that is more the size of a moose with a heart just as big. He's almost 4 and is learning to ride his big boy bike in between demonstrations of how we can pump his legs to make his swing go.

Our youngest, Munchie, is now 2 and a little bit. Imagine Grunt with Pea's body shape, except more fearless. There. You've got Munchie. He wants so badly to be big like Pea and Grunt, but wants nothing more than "B" and mommy. He's a persistent little scrapper (read: our only hitter and hair-puller) and sweet as can be. I'm not sure that those always go together, but somehow he is both.

In the interest of catching up, God had blessed me with a job much closer to home that starts tomorrow. I know that God has a plan for each season in our lives and while I don't know why he allowed me to work an hour away from home for the past 2 1/2 years, I'm convinced it was at least partly to bring me to today (and other times like it). I am fortunate to have a patient, supportive and loving wife who is willing to experience life together with me. Why she chose me, I'm not always sure, but I'm thankful. I have been blessed even further by her in sharing our three little blessings (Pea, Grunt and Munchie). These three are amazing little people to come home to. No matter how my day has been they can always make me smile by running to the door and yelling "Daddy" with their arms wide open. Mrs. S stays home with our babies to care for them, nurture them and teach them. Yes....she homeschools Pea and soon to be Grunt. How she does it all and keeps it together I'll never know, but she does it with more grace than she will ever know. Oh...did I mention she still has to deal with me day in and day out to top it all off? I'm not sure that's something I would do, but I'm certainly grateful that she does. So many wonderful things are happening and God has blessed us in such amazing ways over the past few years. I can't wait to see what all He has in store for us.

Pea, Munchie, Grunt and Me

 Our Little Family

The Beautiful, Talented and Amazing Mrs. S

I can't wait for nap time to be over now. I need to give my babies a squeeze before they get any bigger!

Why don't you do the same?

~ N (Mr. S)

He will never be potty "train"ed

While at Target in the undies/socks aisle, Grunt sees a package of Thomas the Tank Engine undies...
Grunt: "I NEEEEEEED Thomas! Mama- Look THOMAS!"
Me: "Those are Thomas undies- if you're going to have Thomas undies, you have to poop and pee on the potty."
Grunt: "Ok! I poop on potty."
Me: "You can't poop on Thomas. Thomas doesn't like being wet or dirty."
Grunt: ::giggle:: "I poop on Thomas face. Funny."  ::LAUGH::
Me: "No, we don't poop on Thomas's face. That's not nice or funny."
Grunt: "Yes, funny."

Delaware County Fair

After apple picking, we decided to go ahead and make a day of it and head to the Delaware County Fair. Last year, we went to the Richwood Fair (post here), and the kiddos loved it. This year was no different. Grunt and Pea had so much fun running around, looking at the animals, eating fair food, playing games, and riding rides! It is going to be even more fun next year when all 3 of the kids can enjoy in the fair fun! Here are some pics of our fun family day!

Grunt just kept calling the sheep horses or dogs... we really need to move out to the country ;)

Grunt wasn't too sure about the pony.



Pea petting the calf.

Grunt loved moo-ing at the cows... after he stopped barking at them.

Daddy and his big kids

Pea and her first fair ride- she LOVED it!

Apple Picking- 2011

For the last 3 years, we've gone to Fruit-ful Acres (a local you-pick) to enjoy some family fun picking apples. This year was the first year I wasn't pregnant! YAY! It's so much nicer to go apple picking when you don't want to curl up under the apple tree and take a nap. We were surprised to find that they had some pear trees that were still producing, so we got some pears and a ton of apples. With Munchie and Grunt still being little, we decided to turn all of the apples into applesauce. So, easy peasy, a bushel worth of apples turned into applesauce is sitting in our deep freeze. Look for a post featuring my favorite recipes that use applesauce coming in the next week... or so. But, for now, enjoy these pics! And to see how much my kiddos have grown, check out last year's apple picking post here.

 Mommy and Munchie- 6 months old already!

 My sweet Pea- loves her apples

 Munchie screamed and threw the biggest fit when we took his apple away! So cute :)

 Grunt- too busy eating his 100th apple to smile

 Pa showing Grunt how to twist the good apples off the tree.

Grandma and the family- Pa was taking the picture... next year we need to have someone else take it :)

Mathias is 2!

I can't believe that my sweet baby boy is already 2! We bought him a balance bike for his birthday, and he loves it. Here are some pictures of him when we gave him his bike on his birthday. Can't wait until Springtime so that he can go outside and ride to his heart's content.

 His first glance at the bike- he threw everything else down and came running!

 "Cheese! My Bike! Ride it NOW!"

 Looking so much like his daddy.

Dino Poops

Mathias: "Mommy, look! Dino eyes!"
Me: "Yea, those are the dino's eyes."
Mathias: "Dino's mouth. Teeth. Bite me. No, no, Dino. Go to corner, now!"
Me: "Oh, what a bad dino!"
Mathias: "Dino, Poop!"
Me: "Ew, stinky dino poop."
Mathias: "Dino poop in the tub. My poop in tub. We poop in tub." ::chuckles::

Hours of Cheap Fun.

Thank you Pinterest.... You rock my world!

 Love the mess. So worth it. An occupied (and not getting into trouble) 2 year old! Yes, Please!

 

I know, I know. We should start breaking the binky habit, but hey, it's his birthday. :)