So here I am, yet again… After promising myself I was going to do better… Months have gone by and no blog has been written
And every week that passes, the job gets a little bit bigger… As now I have seven more day’s worth of activities that I must include an all that's going on!
Oh who am I kidding… At this point I have 4 whole months worth of stuff!
So let's back up, way up… Back to January because frankly, the first quarter of this year, good old 2015, has been filled with changes for the Diehl family! And since one of the biggest happened way back in January I feel it's worth commenting on
Stephen started a new job!
A little background info first…Stephen had been at his previous job for close to 10 years! That's a really long time! He loved that place, put his whole heart and soul into that place! He loved the people, loved the work most of the time, loved the mission! But, at the beginning of the school year there was a very sudden, unexpected change to Stephens job description which unfortunately came with a rather large and very unexpected change to his paycheck
It became very obvious very quickly that God was closing a door – actually God was slamming a door, because He knew good and well that Stephen would never leave without some door slamming! The job hunt began - Stephen was frustrated, I was angry, budgeting was hard, bills were scary and frankly a lot of the time it was just really hard to remember that God had a plan….
But oh did He have a plan! After lots of interviews, lots of resumes, and even more job applications… Stephen got a great job at St. Johns County school District - doing IT and loving it! He certainly misses all of his people and his 2 1/2 minute commute but the new job is a perfect fit! An even bigger blessing is that it has already been filled with several positive emails from the big guys patting him on the back for a job well done!
Later in January we celebrated Eastons second butt day… I already blogged about that but figured it was worth mentioning again! I can't believe that kids almost two (in reality….he is two now….but when I started this blog he wasn’t yet so just go with it ok??)
Speaking of kids getting too big… I'm also still in denial all these months lateral that in February the twins turned five! FIVE! That cannot be possible… If for no other reason because I'm certainly not old enough to have five-year-olds! I tried to convince them that we were just gonna skip their birthdays this year… Tried to convince them that being four for another year was a good plan… They disagreed with me wholeheartedly! We celebrated with family, one of the perks of having grandparents, an aunt, uncle and cousins that live right down the street… Instant birthday party with children! We just had cupcakes and presents because the real party is coming in a few weeks… We’re going to Disney World! (disclaimer again….we already went to Disney World…but we hadn’t when I started writing this blog….see what I mean?? I’m too busy for this blogging thing!!) More about Disney later.
The boys got to celebrate with grandma and grandpa ‘Dogan a few weeks before their birthday, during one of our many trips to Clearwater in the month of February. The things we do for our siblings… My sister Heather got married the beginning of March which meant February was full of last-minute prep work, errands, dress fittings and other necessary wedding stuff. I was laughing with my mom but I think I actually spent more weekends at her house in late January and early February then I did at my own! We went down one weekend for a weekend extravaganza of bridal showers… (Which actually meant mommy sort of got the weekend off!) Daddy and Papa were in charge of the three boys while the three of us girls went out gallivanting from one shower to the next. Also, sidenote for the record… I think that every couple should get to reregister once they hit a certain anniversay! Oh how different my wedding registry would look now… 11 years into marriage, with three children… there were several things that Heather was opening that I wondered if I could sneak into my car without her noticing
On one of the many trips to Clearwater, I got to have an awesome reunion with some old friends from way back in the good all days… Troop 362 was reunited for a baby shower for one of our own! What fun it was to sit and share war stories of marriage, childbirth, parenting… It was a good time! And one that was long long overdue!
Back to the boys birthday....The boys got spoiled rotten! Not that anyone had any doubts… Grandma and Papa Dogan made sure they were all set up for their very first soccer season! Thanks to Heather and Alex their soccer team registration was paid for via Christmas…Grandma and Papa made sure they had cleats and shin guards along with some other goodies! From the Diehl side of the clan…The boys got all set up with Legos…Yep it's official ladies and gentlemen… My world/house/life/floor/washing machine are all being taking over with Legos!
Next on the agenda was to get my sister married off! The wedding was in Alachua which is a little tiny town right outside of Gainesville. I went down or I guess over on Thursday morning and met up with Heather, mom and one of Heather's bridesmaids Sam to get decorating started. We were joined later by some of Alex's family. We spent all day Thursday and Friday getting the beautiful venue set up for the wedding. It was amazing to see things transform. And thank God for Sam! She was a master at putting things together to create some beautiful displays! After two busy days the place was transformed from just a farm to a beautiful wedding venue! We woke up Saturday to a beautiful day… Blue skies perfect weather and topped the day off with a beautiful wedding!
There was some fun along the way along with some crazy stories but overall everything went just as planned! All three of the boys were ring bearers… Cutest thing ever! They all successfully made it down the aisle and I think Easton probably stole the show! It took that crazy boy three minutes to get down the aisle…and not because he was struggling! He was pretty confident that everyone was there to see him! He would take a few steps, stop, look around, smile, take a few more steps, stop, look around and smile all the way down the aisle! And then when he got to the end and everyone started cheering…oh man I'm in trouble…this boy loves to be the center of attention!!
Dad and I sang, I got through my maid of honor speech without totally losing it, and we got the newlyweds off on their honeymoon!
It was a fun, exhausting, whirlwind, did I say exhausting weekend! And I’ve got to give a huge shout out to Stephen… Who essentially kept three kids alive, relatively clean, and where they needed to be all weekend without my help at all because I was busy doing maid of honor duties! You're the best babe!
After the wedding comes SPRING BREAK. Ha ha…that’s a joke! Stephen and I didn’t have spring break so the boys were home with Mackenzie but they were so excited about their first Spring Break ever that I just couldn’t squash their joy!! Actually….funny story. Their very “first day of Spring break,” everyone gets up and Mason asks if he has to go to school that day (for the record my kids both love school which makes their excitement for spring break even funnier) – I told him no baby, no school today. He interrupted with hoots and hollers and then said “Oh yeah, no school because it’s SPRING BREAK!” I just didn’t have the heart to tell him there was no school that day because it was Saturday :)
The rest of spring break was filled with Mackenzie spoiling the kiddos – lunch dates, trips to the park and at least one trip for ice cream! I was off on Thursday (poor Mackenzie had to have her wisdom teeth out) so me and the kiddos ventured down to St. Augustine to meet daddy for lunch. Overall, I think spring break lived up to the boys expectations of being awesome!
Our Saturdays are now filled with soccer games….This is the boys first season. They are playing on the Flash Racecars (named by 5 year olds…can you tell??) They are having so much fun – but my oh my do we have some work to do!! It’s so interesting as a mom….I feel like I have spent the last 5 years teaching them to be kind and use good manners and now I find myself on the sideline wanting to yell “get in there, steal that ball etc” – it’s sort of strange! They have learned a lot this year already though and the season isn’t over – I’m amazed at how much better they are (better is a relative term – when I say better I really mean that now most of the time you can tell that they are actually playing soccer, not just running aimlessly around a grassy field). We have a few games left in the season – and so far this momma’s only complaint has been that unfortunately soccer season seems to be cramping our camping style….it’s hard to plan a camping trip when your kids have soccer games EVERY SINGLE SATURDAY :) Oh well – we will adjust!!
And then there was Easter – We stayed in town this year – which was weird! We have always celebrated Easter with my parents but they were setting sail for a much deserved cruise vacation, just the two of them so we decided to stay in Jacksonville this year. My inlaws headed down to Brandon (which is where Stephen’s brother and his family live) which meant that Sarah and I were on our own for Easter! I probably shouldn’t admit that we used foil pans and paper plates (our mothers would be so disappointed) but dinner was good nonetheless!! We filled (I’m almost embarrassed to admit this) 300 eggs for the 6 kiddos and had a pretty serious egg hunt – actually we decided to hunt eggs during the 20 minutes all day that it rained…naturally...so the egg hunt was a little wet but we survived!
Then there was Disney! Oh what fun that place is!! For Christmas this year my parents bought us the 4 day Florida Resident pass (which if you live in Florida you should totally look into – it’s a FABULOUS DEAL!). Mommy surprised the big boys with a “big kid only” trip to Disney one Friday in April – We left Easton and daddy at home and took our friends Dara and Caroline along. What makes this trip even more ironic is that it was a repeat trip – Dara and I took on the challenge when the kids were 3….and I had just found out I was pregnant with Easton! This trip was exponentially easier!! The kids lasted THIRTEEN hours! We were at the gates when they opened and the van door closed to pull out of the parking lot at 10pm!! It was a crazy, busy, fun, memory making day!!
If you didn’t know already….you will now know that I have totally lost my mind because the next weekend we turned around and went back for a long weekend at Disney with my parents. We stayed at a condo for the weekend and enjoyed a day at the Magic Kingdom and then another day at Animal Kingdom – well, in reality, the rest of the family enjoyed the day at Animal Kingdom….I unfortunately got to spend the day with a stomach bug :(
The kids had a blast!! They weren’t nearly as timid about rides now as they were during our last visit!! Easton LOVED all the characters and was totally fearless!! That boy went on every ride his 5 year old brothers went on and never batted an eye!! He is going to be my roller coaster rider for sure!! We got to celebrate Easton’s birthday with my parents and my sister and Alex came down and joined in the fun too!! Minus the puking….it was a really fun weekend!!
And finally….(are you still with me?? I hope so….this is the really good stuff!!) Easton…..my crazy, independent, sassy, sweet hearted, silly TWO YEAR OLD!! I can’t believe it – how on earth can my baby boy be two??!! That just doesn’t seem possible!! We celebrated with my parents over the weekend and then invited the cousins over for pizza and cupcakes! A suitcase for trips to grandmas, paw patrol goodies and his very own inotab (think low budget Ipad) – he made out pretty good!!
As far as how that boy is doing….
Medically, he is pretty status quo for now. We have most of our specialist follow ups scheduled over the next several months but he has been holding steady. As for just him in general…..a video (or several speak louder than words so for your viewing pleasure….I picked out a few of my favorites :)
This one is what happens when mommy starts playing with her phone.....This boy of mine thinks he is hot stuff and very much enjoys walking himself to the neighborhood playground....Here it is in fast motion :)
Another note....As a pediatric physical therapist who's trying to keep this simple....my kid with spina bifida shouldn't really be able to do this - oh, and he thinks he's five cause if his brothers can do it so can he!!
We are all alive and well and this momma is really going to make an effort to keep silly blog up more often than once every 5 months....
Thank you for all the prayers that you continue to send my family's way!
Hopefully I'll have lots of good to report as Easton follows up with all of his doctors :) The boys are finishing up VPK later this week (not ready to admit that one is happening yet) and we are already making some fun plans for the summer!!
Thanks for hanging with me until the end!! You guys are the best :)
Love and Hugs
The Diehls