Happy Birthday Braden!!

My little baby brother turned 18 this past week. We went down to Chris and Minda's house for a birthday party/Halloween costume party. The bright blue sleeves and leggings are just a hint of a fairy costume that he wore to the BHS Halloween dance. Very cute!!

All eight grandkids were there. They have so much fun when they get together, but can be quite noisy when they are all screaming with joy at the same time. Ellie was not that excited to get her picture taken! Peyton is the cute little penguin in the back.

Our life

I thought I would just give quick update on what is going on in our lives up to this point. It will be brief (hopefully) and quite incomplete, but just to let everyone know.

We have two children (CRAZY) - I can't even believe it myself - that are wonderful and beautiful and the best in the world. Peyton is two and a half and a bundle of energy. He exhausts me with his constant talking and questions and so on, but he is at such a fun age. Everyday I am amazed at how quickly he is learning about life and the way things work. He is figuring out how to manipulate his parents into doing what he wants and he is getting quite good at it!! He wanted Paul to sit by him during lunch on Saturday and said "Daddy, I want you to sit by me because I love you." Who can resist that?

Ellie is now two months old. She is beautiful!! It is fun to have a little girl to dress up and put bows and bracelets on. I always wanted a little sister, but this is even better!! Her big brother loves her (sometimes a little too much). The first two months of her life have been a little overwhelming with adjusting to having two kids and Paul studying constantly (at least that's the way it seems to me) and working overtime. I am so anxious for his test to be over on November 1.

I guess that leaves us with Paul and I. Paul is an actuary and has received his ASA or associate in the society of actuaries and is studying to take the next tests that will give him the designation of FSA or fellow. I can't wait until these tests are finally over. Hopefully only another year and a half left!! As for me, I am blessed to get to be a stay at home mom. It is really wonderful - a lot more challenging than I ever imagined, but I'm really happy that I am able to be here with these little angels.

Harder than I thought

I can't even tell you how many times I have come down here to the computer to get this thing going, but every time, Ellie wakes up, Peyton starts yelling at me from his bed - "I ready to get up Mom! I wake up." (I only put him in his bed 5 minutes ago, but he doesn't quite get the concept!) or the phone rings, or I'm just way too tired and would rather just fall asleep for the 15 minutes that they are both asleep. Needless to say, posts might be few and far between.

It's our turn now.

Well, I've finally decided to try out this blogging thing. It seems like I am constantly getting emails from everyone telling me of their blogs and I decided to try it out for myself. Who knows how long it will last, but I thought it might be a great way to keep everyone (including myself) updated on what is going on.