Dear Dillan #3

Dear Dillan,

Things I want to remember and want you to know.

We started your day with breakfast made by daddy.  You, of course, requested pancakes and bacon... YOUR FAVORITE.

The two of us made your oreo ice cream cake.  You enjoyed using a butter knife to cut up the oreos, mix all the ingredients together and then open all of the ice cream sandwiches on your own.  You're such a great help in the kitchen!

We played around the house, we went and pick up Bountiful Baskets and also went to Lil' Rider's to get some 3 year old energy run out of you.

For dinner we made our own personal pizzas.  You were very deliberate about where you placed your pizza sauce, then you piled on the cheese, pepperoni and olives.  For some reason you took a bunch of that off and added ingredients you wouldn't normally eat on a pizza like mushrooms, peppers, steak.  You refused to eat dinner for a while after seeing your pizza all cooked up, but you eventually caved in and ate a few bites.

We finished off your day by opening presents and eating cake.  It was such a fun, happy day spent CELEBRATING YOU, swimming goggles and all!!!

Happy birthday, Dillan!  You act so much older than I want you to.  I want to keep you small, since you are the baby of the family, but you aren't letting that happen.
You were 100% potty trained this year, without much effort on my part.  You want to be just like your brother in every possible way; your looks, your speech, your mannerisms.  You aren't Tanner though. You are a very special, very unique, very energeting and loving little "big" boy!  I love you!

Love, Momma

How old are you? Five! ((He thinks he's the same age as Tanner... always has.))
Favorite color? Blue
Favorite toy? Motorcycle toy
Favorite food? Grapes
Best friend? Tanner
Favorite thing to do outside? Motorcycle toys outside
Favorite drink? Milk
Take to bed at night? Motor cycle toy
What do you want to be when you grow up? Big like you, mommy.
Favorite animal? Giraffe

2014

2014... A year.  Not a good year or a bad year, but a year.  It feels like we only really lived half this year.  Brandon did a six month deployment to Guam.  It was the first deployment that he had ever done.  Brandon and I are the type of couple that are totally content doing everything together.  If one of us needs to go to the store we all load up, as a family, and go to the store.  Brandon and I watch all of our TV shows together, eat as many meals as possible together, take baths/showers together, go to bed at night together.  It's just the dynamics of our marriage that we have created and love.  So when he left for his deployment it literally felt like half of my heart had left with him.

During the six months the boys and I sent lots of letters and packages to Brandon.  He sent the boys lots of shells and rocks.  They loved it.  We traveled to Montana twice.  Once for Easter and another to see Brandon's mom.  Both visits were enjoyable.  The drive was long, but bearable.  We spent our days gardening, playing with friends, playing at parks, hosting Friday night dinners, and going to the zoo.
While Brandon was gone I lost 22 pounds.  I ate mainly grain and sugar free and ran 3 miles daily.  After his return

This year we started attending a church called The Pursuit Minot.  Our whole family is thriving there.  The boys love to go to the Kids Pursuit. Afterwards they tell us what they learned and show us the craft they made.  Through the Pursuit I joined a Community Group.  We meet every Wednesday evening and do a bible study.  We also do community work.  Through the church I feel connected and loved and am growing spiritually.

The boys and I attended a few months worth of MOPS.  MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) is a Christian based mom's group that would meet twice a month.  The boys would go to rooms with other kids their ages to play, do crafts and have snacks.  I'd have brunch with other women and there would be a topic each week that we would learn about and then afterwards we'd break into small groups to discuss the topic and do crafts etc.  We missed more meetings than we made it to.  The colder it got outside, I found myself wanting to just stay home, or I'd get to MOPS and would want to chat rather than to listen and learn.  We may try it again in the fall of 2015.

After Brandon's return from Guam, we started house hunting.  We are not comfortable living on base.  All the rules, living in a duplex. Brandon says living on base he never feels like he truly gets away from work.  We were driving around a neighborhood, writing down an address to a house for sale when a man walked up to our vehicle and asked us if we were house hunting. He explained that he was a contractor and wanted to know if we wanted to look at some lots and some floor plans that he had in mind for the lots.  We chose a lot corner lot with a floor plan we liked and will close on the house February 2nd.  The process has been relatively easy.  There have only been a few things that we have needed to pick out like exterior siding color, cabinet color/design, light fixtures, interior wall color, brick to go both on the interior and exterior.  Brandon and I redesigned a few things like the laundry room, and the master bathroom, and the entry way.  The little custom touches that will make it feel more like ours instead of another cookie cutter home.

My sister Ember, her husband Neil and their kids came to visit for Thanksgiving. They stayed for 3 nights. We had a great time visiting, eating and playing together. It wasn't long enough.
For the Christmas Holiday we went to church on Christmas Eve and then followed that up by going to our friends the Blier's house for dinner. Christmas day we spent on our own. The boys loved opening gifts and Brandon and I loved watching them.
I know that 2015 is going to be filled with change, new adventures, seeing lots of family and friends, meeting new people and that we will LOVE.

Dear Tanner #5

Dear Tanner,

Things I want to remember and want you to know.

This year you really realized what birthdays are and you'd been looking forward to your birthday for months and months.  Talking about who you wanted there and what you wanted to eat and how much fun it'd be to open presents.  When it came down to actually planning the party you only wanted your friends Bella and Calli there and their parents.  You wanted to eat hamburgers and french fries and you wanted all of your presents to be a surprise. We had a Spiderman themed party and you LOVED IT and had so much fun!

We started the day baking your cake. You are a great help in the kitchen and love to turn the mixer on yourself... You and Dillan like to fight over who gets to pour each ingredient in, but we always get it figured out.

We were going to go to story time at Main Street book downtown Minot, but there wasn't a reading.  We played trains there, instead.  We walked around downtown and watched the beautiful snow slowly come down from the sky, in the sun.  We followed up our walk with yummy hot cocoas from our favorite coffee stand.

This year was hard on us.  Daddy was gone to Guam for 6 months.  We had to learn to live life without daddy here with us every day.  We did keep busy playing outside with friends, going to parks, lots of dog walks and a few trips to Montana to see family.
This year you lost two teeth, which totally caught my off guard.  I didn't expect to have you losing teeth for another couple of years.  Just one more reason to not take any little moments for granted... it all goes by so fast!
I love you my big five year old boy.  I know that this coming year is going to bring a big exciting milestone... SCHOOL!!! I don't know where the years have gone, but I'm glad that I've got to spend them all, at home, with you.
Love, Momma

Each year I do this.  You can find pervious years here for #3 and here for #4.
How old are you? FIVE!!!
Favorite color? Red and Green
Favorite toy? Bouncy Balls
Favorite food? Carrots
Best friend? Ella and Will
Favorite thing to do outside? Play with big blocks
Favorite drink? Water
Take to bed at night? Books
What do you want to be when you grow up? Astronaut
Favorite animal? Giraffe