Leah's Blog

2012-01-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

jozwiaks - free slideshow

Jensen's 1st grade class saying Pledge

2010-05-02T15:10:00.000-04:00

A Post from me at long last!!

2009-06-13T10:02:00.009-04:00

Jensen with Mrs Prout and another picture of him in front of the Parkdale sign at the end of the year and the beginning of the year. He has changed so much, ok not the outfit, I did that on purpose by the way :)

I figured that since my last post was from Jensen's first day of school it was only fitting to do my next post on his last day of school. Well he made it through kindergarten with flying colors! He loved his first year of elementary school and made lots of friends and a few too many girlfriends for my liking. Jensen is quite the ladies man as I observed in my many times volunteering in his classroom this year. His teacher Mrs Prout is amazing. When she said that Jensen would be reading by the end of the year I was not convinced and when he read his first book to me in April I couldn't help but tear up. It is truly amazing how far he has come this year! They say he is one of the top readers in his class and I was worried he may not even be able to keep up with the other kids in his class who had done more preschool and daycare then he had. I am so proud of him and can't believe he will be in school all day next year. We will celebrate his 6th birthday in just over a week! How time flies anymore!

Jensen's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-09-02T16:43:00.004-04:00

Well, the day finally came today, Jensen started kindergarten. He was really excited to go and because he had gone to a jump start program last month to get him prepared for kindergarten there were no tears. He said he had a great time and he really likes his teacher, Mrs. Prout. That's about all I got out of him, not many details, like his dad. Here are some pictures from today.

Peyton wanted to go to school too!

He is now a Parkdale Panther

Walking into school

Jensen's classroom

I thought this was funny, this is how Peyton fell asleep while Jensen was at school

Joyce Meyer

2008-08-11T21:25:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I had the chance to spend a few days with my mom at a Joyce Meyer Conference. It was a really great time. I enjoyed spending time with mom and with her friend Diane. The conference was such a great experience. Joyce is such a wonderful speaker and she is just so real. She spoke on Healthy living: spiritual health, mental health, emotional health and physical health. Delirious was there leading worship. It was a really great conference and I would recommend it to anyone who can go when she comes to your town!

Summer Fun

2008-07-23T13:26:00.006-04:00

This past weekend we went to a party at Brian's cousin Duane's cabin at Wixom Lake. We had a really nice day boating and visiting with relatives and a campfire at night. Jensen had been on a speed boat before but Peyton had it and he loved it. He went out on the boat at least 3 times with a huge smile on his face every time. Jensen like the paddle boat and he went on that quite a few times with his cousin Sara and with Brian. He did accidentally fall in the water once when he and his cousin Taylor were playing on the dock, thank goodness he was wearing a life jacket and there were adults close by to get him out right away. Enough to scare him and Mom though. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Picture of the cabin

Paddleboats

Loving this piece of watermelon

Riding in the speedboat

Peyton wanted in on this game of volleyball so bad

Grandma Jan, Aunt Norma & Uncle Ralph

Steven Curtis Chapman Concert

2008-07-13T16:08:00.004-04:00

Brian and I had the amazing privilege of attending Steven Curtis Chapman's second concert back since the tragic death of his little girl, Maria. It was the most amazing event I have experienced. Of course it was extremely emotional but it was also a great time of worship. Steven and his two sons were all there and though it was obviously difficult for them to take the stage again they were still giving all the glory to God and made mention often that they were looking forward to seeing Maria again in Heaven. He started by coming on stage alone and came to the keyboard and said that the first song that came to mind on the evening of May 21st was Blessed be your Name which he sang along with the audience. Wow, was that intense, if ever the words of that song were effective it was then. He sang many of his songs old and new and many of the lyrics to the song rang so much more true due to the circumstances. He said that he wasn't sure if he would ever sing "Cinderella" again but felt he needed to and that he realized one day he would dance with Maria again. He talked about how it would be hard for him to get through it and unbeknown to him Family Life Radio had passed out little flashlights for the crowd to light during that song to show our support. He made it through the song but said that it wasn't fair to do that to him but you could tell he appreciated the support. The concert was an excellent tribute to Maria and an awesome reminder of what a great God we serve that can get us through the darkest of times in our lives and also the hope that we have in Christ that this life is only temporary and the life that we have waiting for us in Heaven is the one we should long for. I wish you all could have been there to experience this! Below is a link to the blog of Steven's manager that gives pictures and more info from the night. Unfortunately the battery on my camera died as soon as the concert started so I didn't get any pics :(

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/jim/2008/07/scc-ready-to-ta.html

Jensen's 5th birthday

2008-06-29T16:05:00.004-04:00

This is my second attempt at this post so hopefully it works this time. We celebrated Jensen's 5th birthday this week. We did not have a big party this year as it has been too crazy around here with the move and everything so we split the celebration up over the past few weeks. Before Aunt Lara went back to Indiana we all went to Chuck E Cheese and Jensen had a blast. His cousin Sara came along also and so did Grandma and Grandpa Mowat and Grandma Jan. Then a week ago Bethany came over and celebrated with us and Jensen got his favorite musical card from her that he shows everyone that comes over. Then on his actual birthday the 24th we had my parents and Brian's mom over for a cookout and cake so he had a bunch of fun birthday events! Sorry some of the pictures are so small I couldn't figure out how to change the size.

Jensen & Chuck E Cheese

Jensen & Sara

Jensen & Aunt Lara

Peyton on the merry go round

Peyton and Grandpa with Barney

Jensen with his present from Aunt Lara & Uncle Dave & Aunt Net:
Alvin and the Chipmunks

The Birthday Cake that we had to use the wrong candle for because I forgot to get candles in all the craziness

Present decorated by Grandma Jan

Cars Patio set

Moving in!

2008-06-22T21:08:00.008-04:00

Well, it has been a CRAZY last few weeks since I last posted. We closed on the house on the 6th, painted all that weekend and then we picked up all our stuff from Grand Haven on the 9th and moved in. Since then it has been unpacking and arranging and rearranging. We are still working on it but we are getting closer everyday. I am really anxious to have everything in its place and have it decorated and everything but I am trying to be patient and take things one at a time. Here are a few pictures I have so far but keep in mind it is still a work in progress. I will post again when it is all done.

Front of house

Before of backyard

Backyard now

Bathroom before

Bathroom now

Kitchen before

Kitchen now, sorry messy counters :(

One side of basement before

Now its the playroom

Livingroom before

Livingroom now

Closing Today

2008-06-06T12:03:00.002-04:00

We are closing today on our house today, finally!!! I feel like we have been waiting forever but now I feel like it isn't real. We close at 4 and are supposed to have immediate occupancy so we are planning to take Lara over there tonight since she hasn't seen it yet and then we will pick out what colors we want to paint. We will be painting all day tomorrow and some of Sunday and going back to Grand Haven to get our stuff on Monday. I will post pictures soon and will be sending out an email with our new address and phone. Thanks for all the prayers!

Still waiting

2008-05-27T13:18:00.002-04:00

We still don't know when our closing date is for the new house and it is so frustrating. Last week they said it would be by the 30th and now they are telling us it could be as long as the 6th of June. We are staying in the big town of Coleman with Brian's mom in the mean time and I am so anxious. We got to go in the house and my mom got to see it for the first time but I didn't want to leave. We did get someone to sub-lease our apartment in Grand Haven so that was a huge answer to prayer. If you think about us in the next we could use your prayers that we will have a closing date soon and things will go smoothly. Will keep you posted!

Pre-school Graduation/Chuck. E. Cheese

2008-05-16T01:21:00.006-04:00

Wow! I can't believe Jensen has finished pre-school already! Here are some pictures from his graduation, it was so cute. Grandma Jan and I also took the boys to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his graduation so there are some pictures from that as well. The boys loved it!!

Graduation Ceremony

Jensen with his teacher Miss Cindie

Chuck E Cheese

Peyton loves Barney & tractors, Can you tell?

Tulip Fest 2008

2008-05-13T16:00:00.004-04:00

This past weekend my parents, Brian's mom and Brian all came over for the weekend so we could attend the Tulip Festival in Holland. We decided since we were moving back to Midland we might as well enjoy the festival while we were still close by. It was a nice time. We took the boys to the carnival and they each rode a few rides and we watched a parade. We did see some tulips but we never made it to a tulip farm. Later that night we decided to go over to Craig's Cruisers and the guys go-carted and we all miniature golfed. It was a fun day!

Watching the parade:
Tulips!
Go-karts!
Mini Golfin

Grand Rapids Children Museum

2008-05-11T20:22:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago we got a chance to go to the Grand Rapids Children Museum. They were having a special Bob the Builder show which I really wanted to take the boys to for awhile now. Since we are moving I wanted to get it in before we go and we were able to go with our good friends Chris and Maresa and their little girl Elliana. It was a good time!

Fun for kids of all ages

Fireman Peyton

Another twist and turn in the rollercoaster ride that is our life!

2008-04-29T09:23:00.004-04:00

Well, it has only been a few weeks since my last post but with as much stuff as has happened to us you would think it had been a few years. Starting from my last post, the boys we're going to be staying with Grandma Jan for a week so that I could come back home and get some spring cleaning done and other misc things. I had come back home with so many things to do and then the first day back Brian calls from work saying that he needed to go to Urgent Care due to being sick for almost 3 weeks and it not getting any better. So that day I went with him and they gave him an antibiotic and so instead of being childless for a few days I was taking care of my big kid. He stayed home from work the next day also and finally the antibiotic seemed to be working. Having lived in the Grand Haven/Spring Lake area for over 6 months now we were starting to get the itch to find a house and really settle in so we figured with the boys gone for the week it would be a good time to meet with a realtor and see what was out there. We looked at quite a few houses and were getting excited about finding the right place for us here in our new area, and thats when everything changed. Brian came home the next day and had to tell me that he had lost his job, the one we had moved so many miles for, the one that we had left friends and family and of course our only source of income since I stay home with the kids. It was a very devasting blow, we were not sure what to do next. We did not blame God but we did question why he would bring us over here just for this to happen. Well, fortunately the boys were away so we were able to have a few days to process what had happened and to start a game plan for what to do next. Brian started sending out resumes all over this area and in other areas of the state, he also decided to contact his previous employer in Midland that he left to come here. We had all but decided we would do our best to figure out something over here since we were in a lease still at our apartment until Brian received an email back from his old employer saying if he wanted his job back he had it! Well, that definitely threw us for a loop as we were sure we were supposed to stay here so we decided to give it a week and see if we heard anything from over here. Well, we did not hear anything from over here and we knew we could not survive very long on unemployment so we thought we would look into housing options over there and see what would happen. Well, to cut down on the long story, we took a trip over there last week and on our eighth anniversary, April 22nd, we found a house to buy in Midland only about 5 minutes from Brian's work and 15 minutes from my parents house and 30 from my mother in laws house. We put in an offer and by the end of the week it had been accepted and we had gotten financing figured out as well. We knew that the way things were working out so well that this must be the direction God wanted us to go. He has really been in all the details. Again, we are still struggling with the why of the move over here to begin with but we have made some great friends here and I know we will eventually see. So, as of now, Brian is back to work in Midland and myself and the boys are still here in Grand Haven for 2 weeks so Jensen can finish up school. We close on the house in Midland on or before May 30th and get to move again. We would appreciate your prayers as we still have things to be worked out but we are excited to see what God has in store for us back home :)

Here are some pictures of the house:

It is 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, large partially finished basement.

Front of the house

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathroom

One section of the basement which will be a play room for the boys

Back view of house and deck

Fenced in backyard

Spring Break

2008-04-08T22:34:00.010-04:00

We have had an exciting past couple of weeks. My mom and Lara both had their Spring Break's last week so last weekend my parents and Lara came to stay at our place for the weekend. We enjoyed our time together with all of them. Since we didn't get to go to church on Easter, with Peyton being so sick, we wore our Easter outfits the next weekend. So I have a few pictures of those. Lara stayed with us for a few more days and watched Peyton for me so I could go on a field trip with Jensen to the Critter Barn. I was so glad to be able to experience that with him. It is a day I won't forget and I don't think he will either. We then headed back to Midland/Coleman for a few days. The boys got to see Grandma Jan again which had been the longest they hadn't seen her. They also spent a few days at Grandma and Grandpa Mowat's house and they took them to see some more animals at a nearby farm which they enjoyed. Peyton kept saying "see the piggies" even though he didn't want to touch them. Lara and I got the chance to go to Ladies Night Out at the Palace to see the Pistons and we were able to meet Jason Maxiell and get his autograph. We also got lots of free stuff that night and we had a great time. Now, I have gotten a chance to home for a few days without the boys who stayed with Grandma Jan for a week and I have soooo many things I want to get done but I know it is going to go by quickly and I will miss by boys. My big boy, Brian, has been sick for over 3 weeks now and I had to take him to Urgent Care today on my first day back and he was put on antibiotics. Please keep him in your prayers, he is so ready to be back to normal. Anyways, that should catch you all up for now, enjoy the pics!

Critter Barn Pictures:

Holding a Duckling

Feeding the chickens

Maggie the Potbelly pig

Miss Mary with a baby bunny

Petting the horse Legacy

Jensen took this picture of the lunch we packed in his Buzz Lightyear lunchbag

Jensen bottle feeding the baby goat

And milking the momma goat

Miss Mary with the baby lambs

Petting the momma lambs

"Easter Pictures"

Peyton the newsie

Peyton and Jensen

Jensen and Grandma Mowat

Mommy and her boys

Mommy and Jensen

Oops the eyes are closed but still cute smiles

Here are a few pictures of the gift that Aunt Net and Uncle Dave sent Peyton for his birthday. They are Shrek swim trunks and they are a size 6 so it will be a few years before he can wear them but he liked wearing them like this!

Picture with the Easter Bunny

2008-03-25T12:09:00.005-04:00

As I said our Easter was kind of different this year, not just because Peyton got sick but also because we didn't get to go "home" this year. We really missed seeing all the grandparents and aunts but we decided to try things on our own this year. Our original plan was to go to a community easter egg hunt on Saturday but it snowed quite a bit the night before and was really cold so we scrapped that idea and took the boys over to Walmart where they had pictures with the Easter Bunny. Jensen hopped right up on his lap but Peyton didn't want to get close to him at all. (I have to admit he was a pretty scary looking bunny.) He would wave at him and say "Hi Bunny" but he wouldn't get on his lap so that is why he is missing from the picture.

Easter

2008-03-24T19:57:00.002-04:00

Well, unfortunately I do not have any cute Easter outfit pictures because we didn't end up being able to go to church on Easter. Peyton came down with the stomach flu that Brian had just had and we decided it wouldn't be smart to bring that to church at all. I do have a few pictures of their Easter baskets but you can tell Peyton is not really with the program. They are at the stage where we have to get them both the same thing or they want what the other one has so they both got plane baskets this year!

More misc pictures

2008-03-24T19:46:00.004-04:00

Well since when I finally do get around to posting I usually post everything all at once so here are some more misc pictures of the last month.

Suess on the Loose

2008-03-24T19:38:00.002-04:00

Well, this was from awhile back but I wanted to share it with you all anyways. We went to an event in January called Suess on the Loose at Spring Lake Wesleyan Church. They had a lot of different Dr Suess characters that led groups through different stations based on Dr Suess books. It was a lot of fun. We thought Jensen would enjoy it but we weren't sure how Peyton would do but he had a lot of fun and did really well so it was a fun night as a family. Here is a picture they took at the Cat in the Hat station where we got to decorate our own hats!

Misc Pictures and Stuff

2008-02-29T09:14:00.009-05:00

I have quite a few misc pictures that hadn't made it to the blog yet so I thought I would just put them all together:

I took quite a few pictures of the boys playing around in Jensen's bed and couldn't pick my favorite so I decided to put all of them on:

Peyton the Builder

Bathtime fun

Here are a few pictures from our Thomas the Train weekend this summer but I had forgotten to put them on and they are great!

Jensen with Grandma Jan on the Thomas Train

It was an exhausting day

Here are some pictures from our recent visit with Uncle Steve and Aunt Cheri:

Fun in the snow:

Sledding with Grandpa

Jensen had fun coloring his snowman, thanks to idea that Janna gave us, with a spray bottle of colored water.

Peyton's Birthday

2008-02-28T21:42:00.002-05:00

Peyton celebrated his second birthday on February 8. Here are few pictures from that day:

2 years old

2008-02-13T13:42:00.010-05:00

Well, my baby is 2 years old already! How fast its gone. I started blogging just a few weeks after he was born and I can't believe I have been doing that for 2 years either. Peyton was lucky enough to be born during the family birthday time. Grandpa Mowat's birthday is Jan 29, Aunt Lara's Jan 31 and Great Grandma Mowat that day too, and Grandma Mowat's birthday is Feb 2nd and Peyton's is Feb 8th . We decided to have a combined party for Peyton and Grandpa Mowat who turned 60 this year and what better theme than Shrek! Both Grandpa and Peyton's favorite! It was cute. We had it at Grandma Jan's house and had a really nice turnout (even though we missed a few important people who were sick and couldn't make it). Peyton actually wasn't feeling the greatest that day either. Well, here are a few pictures from that day:

Peyton and Papa:

Opening Gifts:

The boys with their cousin Sara

Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Neil

Birthday boys

60 years young

Shrek Cake

Peyton and Aunt Lara

Peyton's talk

2008-02-04T16:35:00.001-05:00

Sorry this is sideways but here is an example of Peyton talking in sentences.

Behind as usual

2008-02-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

Well, for anyone who has been checking for a new entry you have been seeing that it was December already well now its February! Where do the months go? I guess I will try to catch you up on our lives the past few months. December was a busy month. We had a Richardson Christmas party again where our van got ran into. We came back home for Christmas and got to spend time with Net and Dave for a few days and Brian's mom and my parents and Lara. Every year gets more fun with the boys. Jensen set out cookies for Santa which was cute. Here are a few pictures:

Mom & Dad

Dave and Lynnette

Lynnette & Lara

Sisters

Jensen & Mommy

Jensen & Aunt Lara

Aunt Nut ( as Peyton calls her) and the boys

Grandma Jan and the boys

January was a really snowy month around our new lake area. They said that during the month of January there were only one or two days with no precipitation. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, we didn't get out much, both boys had bad colds. Jensen had his first field trip to the Fire Dept and has been talking about fires ever since. Peyton is talking in sentences now which is exciting. The first sentence he said was "I like (yik) Dogs". Now he is saying that he likes all kinds of things, its cute. I got it on video but for some reason it is sideways and I don't know how to change it but I will post it on here too so you can see.

November's gone and it's December already

2007-12-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it is December already. November flew by. I don't even know what we did in November to tell you the truth. I guess we have just all been adjusting to our new home and new schedules. Jensen is loving his new preschool. He even had a girlfriend already ( much to Moms disappointment). Peyton is getting bigger and talking more and more. The boys are enjoying having each other to play with, at least most of the time. I have been trying to get involved in local groups around here to make some friends. I have joined our local MOPS group which has been really great. There have been some great speakers that have really shown me that even though sometimes as a stay at home mom you don't always feel like you are contributing much to society but rather the job I do everyday as a mom is so important in the lives of my kids and how they will turn out in the future. Anyways, we are getting ready for the holidays around here. We have our apartment decorated and most of my shopping is done already. The boys are enjoying watching Christmas movies, hearing Christmas music and seeing lights. Peyton loves Santa and calls him Isa for some reason but he just lights up whenever he sees him. We took the boys to see Santa at the mall the other day and he could not wait to get up on his lap. They both went up together and Peyton was just as happy as could be just sitting there while brother told Santa everything he wanted for Christmas. Here are a few pics from that day!

Trick or Treat

2007-10-31T23:12:00.000-04:00

We took the boys out trick or treating around our apt complex. Jensen was Elmo and Peyton was Tigger. I wanted to give Peyton some whiskers so Jensen had to have something on his face too so we wrote Elmo on his cheeks. They both had a great time. This was Peyton's first time going to the door himself, last year he was too little. He did a great job and was telling everyone "Tank you" and "Buh bye". He could have gone all night long but Jensen got tired after just a half an hour. Here are some pictures:

Jensen -Elmo & Peyton - Tigger

Jensen and his pumpkin

It was windy and a little rainy so we had to bring umbrellas with us. We took them around in a wagon which worked out great.

Peyton couldn't wait to check out all of his candy. He was digging through his bucket after every stop to see what all he had so he was so excited to dump it out all over the floor.

Apt Tour

2007-10-30T18:41:00.001-04:00

Jensen's Bible Rap

2007-10-30T18:40:00.001-04:00

The Move

2007-10-29T11:14:00.000-04:00

Well, it has certainly been a very busy month and a half. As I mentioned in my last post, we have made a move 2 hours away from our old home to Grand Haven, Michigan. Brian was offered the job on the 7th of September and had to start on the first of October so we had to get ourselves in gear and quick. With lots of help from my wonderful mother-in-law as well as my parents and Lynnette we were able to pull it off. We put together a garage sale in just a few days time and we were so pleased to be able to sell all of our big items that we didn't want to take with us. We also got rid of a lot of toys and other misc things. Boy, you really realize how much junk you accumulate over time when you move. It's crazy. We spent the week after packing up our 4 bedroom 3 floor house. We were able to move all of our stuff into the garage by the last week of September so they could come and clean out the house. Dad and Lynnette came over on the motorcycle on my bday to help us finish packing up.
Lynnette was home for a week in September so I got a chance to spend some time with her and she and Lara actually threw me a surprise party for my 30th birthday. It was lots of fun and I was so glad Net was able to be there.

I had already set up a sister week in Indy with Lynnette and Lara for the last week of September so I went ahead and went down there and Brian and the boys stayed at his mom's house for a week. That weekend he brought over the necessities so that he could live in our new place for the first week of his new job as we were not able to get the help to move until the first weekend of October. On my way home from Indiana I stopped in Grand Haven and stayed there a few days painting walls and doing other misc things that needed to be done to prepare for the move. Brian and I had our first experience in painting and it was an adventure. We are definately not experts but I like how it makes it feel more cozy. Brian swears he will never paint again, we'll see. So the first weekend of October we loaded up a moving truck with the help of my parents and Brian's mom and we made our way over here to Grand Haven. Brian had his new boss from work come over to help us unpack which worked out great. My mother-in-law agreed to stay with us for the first few weeks so we could get set up and that was a huge help. The first week we unpacked, the second week we were in the emergency room and at urgent care with Peyton as he had an ear infection and stomach virus as well as Jensen and myself being sick for a few days that week. So that week was pretty much blown in terms of getting anything done around here. Lara and Bethany and Valerie all came over to visit us that week as well which was great! When Lara was here we went over to a pumpkin farm which was lots of fun.

Last week I was able to get the details taken care of like decorating and other misc things. This past weekend I took my mother in law back home and we went to the annual Fall Party at Ben and Tim Mowat's house. The boys went candy hunting and rolled pumpkins. Finally, to round out the fun weekend we went to my Uncle Darwin's new church for revival services on Sunday.
Candy Hunting

Pumpkin Roll

Lara, Ben & Jess

Me & Bethany

Making a "Bold" Move

2007-09-15T22:48:00.001-04:00

Well, God had some plans in mind for us that we were not expecting at all. Brian had been looking around for a new job because they had stopped overtime and so it was getting too tight for us to be living on one income. He had a few interviews around here in Saginaw and Bay City but nothing that he was excited about leaving his current job for. Then out of the blue one day he received an email from a company in Spring Lake Michigan about a job he had not even applied for. He told me about it and we laughed because just this April we had stayed in that area for our anniversary and we had joked about living there one day. He told me he would probably call and tell them he wasn't interested so the next day he made the call. He said that when he went to make the call he had a feeling he needed to at least hear what they had to say. They told him that they have been doing searches for someone that would fit a job opening they had and every time Brian's name would come up as a perfect match but they weren't sure if he would even consider relocating. They said that they were really impressed with his resume and that he had all the credentials and more than what they were looking for and they were interested in doing some phone interviews with him. So he decided, why not, so he did the interviews which went really well. They asked him what it would take for him to consider moving this far and he gave them a number and they said that would not be a problem. He told them he would talk to me about it and they said that they would get back to him if they wanted him to come over for a in person interview. He told me about what was going on and surprisingly at first I was very excited about it and said that yeah it was okay to continue with the process. The very next morning he got an email saying that they would like him to come over for an interview so we set that up for the following week on a day that I could go with him and we could stay over to look at housing in the area. We both talked about the possibility of the move a lot and we gave it all over to God. We had been praying about our financial situation for months and felt this could very well be God's answer for us. We went to the interview on Friday Sept 7 and it lasted 2 hours. I sat in the car the whole time, and it went by pretty fast luckily. Anyways, they ended up offering him the job on the spot. They offered him almost 20,000 more a year than his current salary and immediate benefits and wanted him to start on Oct 1st. We knew for sure at that point that is where God wanted us to be. We were able to look around the area for housing and the next morning found an apartment that was perfect for us in Grand Haven. We will be giving up a lot of living space but we knew we needed to find something quickly and we would like to have time to get to know the area before buying a house or even renting one for that matter. So Brian is moving in on Sept 28th and we are going to be officially moving the first weekend of October. It has been a whirlwind of events but we can't even question the fact that this is what God wants for us as he has worked out all the details so well. We still need to find someone to sub-lease our current place so we are praying about that now. Anyways, we will keep you posted!

The company Brian is going to be working for is the Bold Companies and they design and manufacture mostly office furniture and wood displays. He is going to be a Project Manager there. Here are a few pictures of the office.

First Day of Pre-school

2007-09-04T20:36:00.000-04:00

Jensen had his first day of pre-school today. He did really well. He didn't even care that we were leaving him. He found his locker right away with his symbol a triangle on it. Then he walked right into the classroom and started playing. His teacher's name is Mrs Lucas. He said he had fun today but I didn't get many details, typical guy.

Ready to go, but he must be still sleepy he can't keep his eyes open :)

Bob the Builder backpack

Daddy and Jensen

School

Jensen's locker

Playing in the Classroom

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-03T21:21:00.000-04:00

We had a different kind of Labor Day weekend this year than usual. We normally go camping with Brian's family but that didn't work out this year so we decided to camp in our backyard. Jensen and I stayed out in the tent for 3 nights. We had fun. I told him stories and we ate snacks and listened to music. Fun memories. He is starting pre-school tomorrow so I wanted some special Mommy and Jensen time. On Labor Day we took the boys to a local park to go swimming it was lots of fun.

Tent camping in the backyard

Playing in the sand together at the beach

Peyton at the beach

Jensen at the beach

Peyton in his ducky floatie

Sandy hands

Peyton with daddy

Peyton walking in the sand

2007-09-03T21:20:00.001-04:00

This is Peyton trying to walk up the beach. Too funny!

Tractor Show

2007-08-26T23:39:00.000-04:00

This weekend we had a chance to go to a local tractor show with my parents. We were excited to bring Jensen because he really loves to talk about tractors and look at tractor books with Grandpa. He was disappointed that we missed the parade but he enjoyed seeing lots of tractors and also seeing a steam engine being used to cut wood. It was cute to hear him ask Grandpa about the different parts of the tractors and what they were called and asking how much power they had. He also did a pretty good job naming each of the tractors without any help.

Grandpa and Jensen in their matching Farmall shirts

Sitting with Grandpa watching the Steam engine show

Our little Farmall cub enjoyed the show too!

Mom and Dad's Anniversary

2007-08-19T20:22:00.001-04:00

Today is my mom and dad's 35th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Thank you for being a great example of a Godly marriage. We love you!

Bob the Builder show2

2007-08-19T20:20:00.001-04:00

We got to see Bob the Builder live. Peyton really enjoyed it, he was clapping along. Jensen sat up in the front with the kids.

Thomas the Train

2007-08-19T19:46:00.000-04:00

We had a chance to go to the Thomas the Train weekend at Huckleberry Railroad this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. Jensen was so excited. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot we heard Thomas' whistle and Jensen said, "Listen, he is tooting for me to come see him!". We got to go see Bob the Builder live which was fun and we got to ride on Thomas the train. We shared the day with cousins Jewel and Logan and Aunt Pat and Uncle Melvin, Great Grandma Richardson and Grandma Janet. We also got a chance to meet up with our cousins Jeff, Duana, Drew and Desiree ( Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures with them :( )

Matching Thomas shirts!

Logan, Peyton, Jensen, Jewel

Entrance to Day with Thomas 2007

Thomas the train with Jensen, Brian & Peyton

Peyton was so proud of his Bob the Builder tattoo

Jewell with Sir Topham Hat

Grandma Jan, Peyton and Jensen with Sir Topham Hat

Bob the Builder with Jensen and me

Jensen jabber

2007-08-16T11:34:00.001-04:00

Happy Anniversary

2007-08-16T10:57:00.001-04:00

This is a anniversary message to Aunt Net and Uncle Dave for their 3rd anniversary. Sorry it is a few days late but I have had trouble getting it up.

Tractor Talk

2007-08-16T10:48:00.001-04:00

Jensen talking about one of his favorite things, tractors.

Peyton animals

2007-08-16T10:37:00.001-04:00

Peyton talking about his favorite thing, animals.

Misc Summer Pictures

2007-08-13T10:15:00.000-04:00

Well, its has been a busy summer for us as for most people. We seem to be busy every weekend but making lots of great memories. Here are so misc pics from some events over the summer so far.

What a mess

Jensen with the little boy I watch Cameron

Lara, Brian and Leah at Mowat Reunion

Some of the next pictures were taken at a party to welcome new cousin Mason James to the family. He was four months old already when we had the party.

Mason James

Huge Sand Hill, Jensen had fun for hours

Swimming with the cousins

Fourth of July at the Bay City Fireworks

Jensen's 4th Birthday

2007-08-13T09:50:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Jensen's 4th birthday this summer on his actual birthday June 24th at our house. He wanted a Thomas the Train theme. Again we reused the banner Aunt Net had made for his first birthday. We had a nice turnout and had lots of fun. I can't believe he is four already!

The birthday boy

Jensen and Aunt Lara

Jensen and Peyton with the grandparents

The food table and banner

Excited to open presents

Peyton and Aunt Joan

The boys with both Great Grandmas

Jensen and his cake
He covered his ears when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him

Uncle Darwin and Aunt Joan

Are your kids safe? Mine are and I thank God for it.

2007-06-13T14:32:00.001-04:00

Many of you that know me at all know that I have a home business where I work with an international wellness company that manufactures safer products for the home and family. I have been a customer of this company for over 3 years now and have worked my business off and on over those 3 years. When I was introduced to this company I was educated about how dangerous many everyday products I had in my home could be to myself and my family. I was very skeptical at first and didn't want to be involved in any kooky conspiracy but I was really intrigued by the research and we decided to start using some of these safer products in my home and very quickly converted my home completely over to safer products. I have never regreted making this decision for my family and I can say that of the almost 400 products that Melaleuca makes I use and love nearly 90% of them every day in my home. Off and on I have had the opportunity to share this company with some of my friends and family but it was always hard for me to do this because I didn't want anyone to think I was trying to get them to do "another one of those home business things" so I chickened out and didn't talk to many people about it because of that. However, over the past few months, I have begun to hear so much more in the media about how dangerous certain household products can be and have heard some really tragic stories about children being poisioned by hand sanitizers and a lady being poisioned by applying too much icy hot for pain, that I have really become passionate about making sure all of the people I care about are aware of these dangers as well and that there is an alternative to having these types of harmful products in your home and around your children and the people you care about the most. I feel I have done the people I care about an injustice in not telling them sooner. This is not at all about getting people in on a business opportunity for me but its about making homes healthier and safer. Please take some time to look through some of this startling research for yourself and then be sure to contact me because I can point you to a company that has been in business for 20 years and their goal is to enhance peoples lives not to harm them. My family is the most important gift I have been given and I feel it is my responsibility to take care of them. I thank God for allowing me to find this company and these products and giving me the peace of mind to know that I am keeping them safe.

Household toxins you should be aware of

TOP "10" KILLER HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS
• AIR FRESHENERS: Most air fresheners interfere with your ability to smell by coating your nasal passages with an oil film, or by releasing a nerve deadening agent. Known toxic chemicals found in an air freshener: Formaldehyde: Highly toxic, known carcinogen. Phenol: When phenol touches your skin it can cause it to swell, burn, peel, and break out in hives. Can cause cold sweats, convulsions, circulatory collapse, coma and even death!!
• AMMONIA: It is a very volatile chemical, it is very damaging to your eyes, respiratory tract and skin.
• BLEACH: It is a strong corrosive. It will irritate or burn the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It may cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and coma if ingested. WARNING: never mix bleach with ammonia it may cause fumes which can be DEADLY.
• CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY SHAMPOO: Most formulas are designed to over power the stain itself, they accomplish the task but not without using highly toxic substances. Some include: Perchlorethylene: Known carcinogen damages liver, kidney and nervous system damage. Ammonium Hydroxide: Corrosive, extremely irritable to eyes, skin and respiratory passages.
• DISHWASHER DETERGENTS: Most products contain chlorine in a dry form that is highly concentrated. # 1 cause of child poisonings, according to poison control centers.
• DRAIN CLEANER: Most drain cleaners contain lye, hydrochloric acid or trichloroethane. Lye: Caustic, burns skin and eyes, if ingested will damage esophagus and stomach. Hydrochloric acid: Corrosive, eye and skin irritant, damages kidneys, liver and digestive tract. Trichloroethane: Eye and skin irritant, nervous system depressant; damages liver and kidneys.
• FURNITURE POLISH: Petroleum Distillates: Highly flammable, can cause skin and lung cancer. Phenol: (see Air fresheners, Phenol.) Nitrobenzene: Easily absorbed through the skin, extremely toxic.
• MOLD AND MILDEW CLEANERS: Chemicals contained are: Sodium hypochlorite: Corrosive, irritates or burns skin and eyes, causes fluid in the lungs which can lead to coma or death. Formaldehyde: Highly toxic, known carcinogen. Irritant to eyes, nose, throat, and skin. May cause nausea, headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, memory loss and shortness of breath.
• OVEN CLEANER: Sodium Hydroxide (Lye): Caustic, strong irritant, burns to both skin and eyes. Inhibits reflexes, will cause severe tissue damage if swallowed.
• ANTIBACTERIAL CLEANERS: may contain: Triclosan: Absorption through the skin can be tied to liver damage.
• LAUNDRY ROOM PRODUCTS: Sodium or calcium hypocrite: Highly corrosive, irritates or burns skin, eyes or respiratory tract. Linear alkylate sulfonate: Absorbed through the skin. Known liver damaging agent. Sodium Tripolyphosphate: Irritates skin and mucous membranes, causes vomiting. Easily absorbed through the skin from clothes.
• TOILET BOWL CLEANERS: Hydrochloric acid: Highly corrosive, irritant to both skin and eyes. Damages kidneys and liver. Hypochlorite Bleach: Corrosive, irritates or burns eyes, skin and respiratory tract. May cause pulmonary edema, vomiting or coma if ingested. Contact with other chemicals may cause chlorine fumes which may be fatal.
OTHER NASTY THINGS THAT ARE AROUND YOUR HOME • PESTICIDES: Most pesticides have ingredients that affect the nervous system of insects. Imagine what these extremely poisonous chemicals do to your body or your baby's. Dimpylate: Better known as Diazinon, extremely toxic. Impairs the central nervous system. Chlorinate Hydrocarbons: Suspected carcinogen and mutantagen. Accumulates in food and in fatty tissue. Will attack the nervous system. Organophosphates: Toxic and poisonous. If you can smell it, your lungs are absorbing it.
• FLEA POWDERS: Why put toxins on "man's (or woman's) best friend." Carbaryl: Very toxic, causes skin, respiratory and cardiovascular system damage. Chlordane: Accumulates in the food chain, may damage eyes, lungs, liver, kidney and skin. Dichlorophene: Skin irritation: May damage liver, kidney, spleen and central nervous system.
• LICE SHAMPOO: Especially vulnerable are children. Lindane: Inhalation, ingestion, or ABSORPTION through the SKIN causes vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions and circulatory collapse. May cause liver damage, stillbirths, birth defects and cancer. Lice RX is a non-toxic alternative to pesticide based Head Lice Products
• CAR WASH AND POLISH: Petroleum Distillates: Associated with skin and lung cancer, irritant to skin, eyes, nose and lungs. Entry into the lungs may cause fatal pulmonary edema, most marked Danger, Harmful or Fatal. • TAR AND BUG REMOVER: Contains XYLENE and PETROLEUM DISTILLATES.

Are Toxic Household Chemicals Poisoning Your Family?

The Environmental Protection Agency defines chemical hazards as "acute" or "chronic:"
1. Acute hazard, includes highly toxic, or corrosive chemicals which cause an adverse effect to an organ after short-term exposure.
2. Chronic hazard, includes carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals which cause an adverse effect over a long-term exposure.
The Federal Code of Regulations defines "Hazardous Chemicals" in Section 1910.1200c Title 29. However, the term "Hazardous" does NOT include hazardous ingredients used in products designed for personal, family, or household use.
The Federal Code of Regulations section 1500.82, EXEMPTS manufacturers from full labeling, allowing them to exclude "Hazardous" chemicals from their labels.
The EPA reports toxic chemicals in our home cleaning and personal care products are 3 times more likely to cause cancer than outside pollutants.
The President's Toxic Substances Strategy Committee warns 90% of all cancers are triggered by toxic chemicals in our home environment.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission connects 150 toxic chemicals in our homes to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities.
The EPA warns toxic chemicals in household cleaners cause women working at home to have a 55% HIGHER cancer risk than women working outside the home.
The EPA warns the nation's worst pollution is inside our homes. A number of homes tested have toxic chemical levels 70 times higher inside the home than outside.
The Mayo clinic warns Formaldehyde in our household and personal care products can irritate the respiratory system, cause skin reactions, and trigger heart palpitations.
The Harvard School of Public Health warns Formaldehyde can cause headaches, depression, joint pain, chronic fatigue, chest pains, ear infections, dizziness, and loss of sleep.
The California Public Research Group warns Phenol, which is used in most household disinfectants, can cause cancer, deactivate the sensory nerve endings, damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system.
HERE IS A LIST OF KNOWN TOXINS IN SOME OF OUR EVERYDAY PRODUCTS Dove Beauty Bar : Quaternium 15 : (Formaldehyde) - Carcinogen. Causes cancer, dermatitis, neurotoxic, sensitizer-poisonious, irritant to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Butylated Hydroxytoluene , (BHT) Carcinogen.
Johnson's Baby Shampoo: Quaternium 15 : FD&C RED 40: Carcinogen, and causes dermatitis.
Crest Tarter Control Toothpaste : Saccharin: Carcinogen, contains Phenol Fluoride: Carcinogen If you accidentally swallow more than a pea-sized amount of this, you must contact the Poison Control Center immediately. This warning does not appear on the tube.
Tide & Cheer Detergent : Detergent : Can cause temporary respiratory tract irritation. Symptoms include stinging, swelling, or redness. Sodium Silicate : Can be corrosive. Can cause burns to the eyes and tissue damage to the skin, as well as cause burns to the mouth, throat, and stomach if swallowed. Sodium Sulfate : Corrosive, Severe eye, skin, and respiratory irritant. Can cause asthma attacks. Trisodium Nitrilotriacetate : Carcinogen
Clorox: Sodium Hypochlorite : Corrosive. Sensitizer: Can be fatal if swallowed. Eye, skin, and respiratory irritant. Especially hazardous to people with heart conditions or asthma.
Cascade : Sodium Hypochlorite: (see above) Sodium Silicate : Can be corrosive. Can cause burns to the eyes and tissue damage to the skin, as well as cause burns to the mouth, throat, and stomach if swallowed.
Fantastic, Formula 409 : Butyl Cellosolve: Neurotoxic. Eye and skin irritant. Damages central nervous system, kidney, and liver. Readily absorbed through the skin. Damages blood and body's ability to make blood.
Windex Aerosol Glass Cleaner : Butyl Cellosolve (see above) Isobutane: Neurotoxic
Lysol Disinfectant : Dioxin ; Carcinogen. 500,000 times more deadly than DDT Ethyl Alcohol : Eye, skin, respiratory tract irritant.
Details on the above data are available in "The Safe Shopper's Bible" by Dr. Samuel Epstein, MD. & David Steinman. Macmillian, 1995. Lysol data from "The Environmental Health Newsletter."

"Whatever you do in life, echoes thru eternity." - Maximus (from the movie Gladiator)

Children's Unique Vulnerability to Environmental Toxins

Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental toxins. This heightened susceptibility stems from several sources.
Children have greater exposures to environmental toxins than adults.
Pound for pound of body weight, children drink more water, eat more food, and breathe more air than do adults. For example, children ages one through five years eat three to four times more food per pound than the average adult American. The air intake of a resting infant is twice that of an adult per pound of body weight. These patterns of increased consumption reflect the rapid metabolism of children. The implication for environmental health is that children will have substantially heavier exposures pound for pound than adults to any toxins that are present in water, food, or air. This has been demonstrated clearly in the case of children's exposures to pesticides in the diet. Two additional characteristics of children further magnify their exposures to toxins in the environment:
• their hand-to-mouth behavior, which increases their ingestion of any toxins in dust or soil, and
• their likelihood of playing close to the ground, which increases their exposure to toxins in dust, soil, and carpets as well as to any toxins that form low-lying layers in the air, such as certain pesticide vapors.
Children's metabolic pathways are immature compared with those of adults.
As a consequence of this biological immaturity, children's ability to detoxify and excrete certain toxins is different from that of adults. In some instances, children are actually better able than adults to deal with environmental toxins. More commonly, however, they are less able than adults to deal with toxic chemicals and thus they are more vulnerable to them.
Children are undergoing rapid growth and development, and their developmental processes are easily disrupted.
Many organ systems in young children-the nervous system, the reproductive organs, the immune system-undergo very rapid growth and development in the first months and years of life. During this period, structures are developed and vital connections are established. Indeed, development of the nervous system continues all through childhood, as is evidenced by the fact that children continue to acquire new skills progressively as they grow and develop, crawling, walking, talking, reading, and writing. The nervous system is not well able to repair any structural damage that is caused by environmental toxins. Thus, if cells in the developing brain are destroyed by chemicals such as lead, mercury, or solvents, or if vital connections between nerve cells fail to form, there is high risk that the resulting neuro-behavioral dysfunction will be permanent and irreversible. The consequences can be loss of intelligence and alteration of normal behavior.
Because children have more future years of life than do most adults, they have more time to develop chronic diseases that may be triggered by early environmental exposures .
Many diseases that are triggered by toxins in the environment require decades to develop. Examples include mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos, leukemia caused by benzene, breast cancer that may be caused by DDT, and possibly some chronic neurologic diseases such as Parkinson's disease that may be caused by exposure to environmental neurotoxins. Many of those diseases are now thought to be the products of multistage processes within the body's cells that require many years to evolve from earliest initiation to actual manifestation of illness. Consequently, certain carcinogenic and toxic exposures sustained early in life appear more likely to lead to disease than do the same exposure encountered later in life.
This summary was prepared by the Center for Children's Health and the Environment of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. CCHE's mission is to promote the health of children by conducting environmental health and policy research. CCHE was established in 1998 with the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts. CCHE's director is Philip J. Landrigan M.D., M.Sc., a pediatrician who chairs the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Sources
• National Academy of Sciences: Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1993.
• Landrigan, PJ, Carlson JE: Environmental policy and children's health. The Future of Children 1995;5:34-52.

***If you are interested in reading some more research go to: http://www.mmmteam.com/training/toxin_workshop/

***To find out about how Melaleuca's products are safer visit:
http://www.saferforyourhome.com/

Grand Haven Trip

2007-05-22T19:40:00.000-04:00

For our 7th wedding anniversary Brian and I decided to go somewhere close by that we hadn't been before, Grand Haven, Michigan. It is on Lake Michigan just 10 miles south of Muskegeon and it is beautiful there. It is just far enough away that you feel like you are away but it only takes about 2 hours to get there. We had a really nice time and great weather. We walked down the boardwalk on our anniversary down to the beach which was really nice. I would love to someday get a weekend house there, I have big dreams don't I?

Here are some pics:

Damons was right across the road from our hotel and that is our favorite place to eat so we went there to watch the Pistons first game of the playoffs!!

On the boardwalk

On the pier

On the beach

Easter

2007-04-28T11:14:00.000-04:00

We got back from Canada on Thursday and the next day was Good Friday so all of a sudden it was Easter weekend. We took the boys to our church's annual community easter egg hunt which was fun but very cold. On Easter Brian's mom went to church with us and then we all went over to my parents house.

Ready to hunt for eggs

Got our game faces on!!

Hunting for eggs

Peyton

Jensen had fun coloring eggs with Momma

So proud of himself

Peyton with his easter gift a puppy chair!

Jensen with his Easter basket

Easter baskets from Grandma Jan

The boys in their matching easter outfits

Aww the squinty smile!

Perkins Family

Peyton with easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa Mowat
Boys with their easter baskets

Boys with Grandma and Grandpa Mowat

Peyton with Aunt Lara

Boys with Grandma Jan

Canada Trip

2007-04-28T10:42:00.000-04:00

Note-If I didn't have so many troubles posting pictures on this blog I would post more often but yet again I am really behind. So I am going to attempt another post hopefully without any trouble.

Lara and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a trip to Canada together to visit Lynnette and Dave. It was a lot of fun and a great adventure, especially the two of us driving through Canada. We drove 6 hours to Toronto and met up with Dave's brother Chuck and he drove us to the airport where we flew from Toronto to Moncton. We were able to stay for five days which was really nice. Besides most of us being sick and in some pain during the trip it was a really great time. We got to attend their church services on Sunday which were great even after just a few hours of sleep after flying in late and we attend various church activities as well while we were there. Here are some pictures to share with you:

Arriving in Moncton

> All of us before church on Sunday

Giving Dave his 30th birthday gifts!

Lara and I eating poutine at the mall

Poutine ( not sure I am spelling this correctly) French fries, cheese curds and gravy, Yum!

Visiting the City Market

Lara and Net

Dave and Net

Me and Lara at the caves

My courageous attempt to jump over the stream was not so successful

Net and Me

Lynnette's group of friends from church came over to have lunch with us one day

Lara and I supporting Canada

Misc Pictures so far from 2007

2007-03-17T11:27:00.000-04:00

I got a new digital camera in January and have just now found out how to get my pictures from there posted on to my blog (thanks to Valerie). So I have quite a few misc pictures to share with you! Also, Peyton started walking this week and of course the battery on my camera died so I will try to some pictures of him walking as soon as I get my new battery!

Peyton's First Birthday

2007-02-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

Well, believe it or not Peyton is a year old already! That went by so fast, and yet sometimes it feels like he's been with us forever. He weighs 24 pounds and is in the 75 percentile in weight and the 25th in height. He is in the 95th percentile in head circumference, that is why none of his shirts want to go over his head! He is not walking quite yet but I really think it could be any day now. He finally got his first teeth in January and he is cutting his top ones right now. He is doing better eating regular foods now that he can chew.

We had a party for him on Saturday, Feb 10th and had a good turnout of family members at our house. The theme was Baby Einstein and we decorated our basement accordingly. Lara came home for the party and she gave him a Peyton Manning jersey since she always calls him that it was very fitting. And he looks very much like a football player anyways so this just fits him well.

Here are some pictures from that day!

Food table

Birthday boy!!

Peyton's Baby Einstein Ice Cream Cake

Brian with Cousin Nicolette and Peyton

Peyton and Mommy

Opening Gifts

Nicolette

2007-02-17T14:55:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we were able to go over to Aunt Pat's house and visit with Natalie and Nicolette. Natalie is due with her second baby anytime and Eric and Uncle Mel were going to paint Nicolette's room for her so they decided to come up and stay a few days with Pat. So we took the boys over and they got a chance to play together while we got a chance to chat and play cards. It was a fun day!

Nicolette and Peyton

Aunt Cheri and Uncle Steve

2007-02-17T14:52:00.000-05:00

Aunt Cheri and Uncle Steve weren't able to make it up during Christmas time so they decided to come up for a weekend in January instead. It was really great to see them and we wish we were able to more often.

Bowling

2007-02-17T14:36:00.000-05:00

Over Christmas we decided that it would be fun to take Jensen bowling for the first time. He had seen some people doing it on TV and told me he wanted to try what he calls "balling". So anyways, while Net and Dave and Lara were home we decided we would all go together and it was a lot of fun. He did pretty well it just took forever for the ball to get down the lane and a few times it stopped completely and we had to get someone to come get it.

The gang
Jensen and Aunt Net
Jensen and Shrek

Taking a break
Time for nachos!

First Snow

2007-01-29T21:45:00.000-05:00

We got our first snow of the winter in the beginning of December and of course Jensen had to go out and play in it. Here are a few pictures of that.

Falling Behind Again

2007-01-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

I know I am really behind in my blogging. I have been really busy lately but I guess that is always the case so I will attempt to catch everyone up with what we have been doing this past month or so.

Christmas was a little different for us this year and this was the first year that Jensen really understood what was going on so we decided rather than stay at my parents house, as we normally do, we would stay the night at our house on Christmas Eve so that Santa could visit us there. We also decided we would start a new tradition and we had Brian's mom, Janet, stay over with us as well. I think Brian and I were more excited about Christmas morning than Jensen was, and of course Peyton was still too young to understand what was going on. Lynnette called us at 6 am and I thought it was an alarm clock going off instead of my phone so I woke up and ran upstairs to wake up Jensen! I was expecting him to be so excited to get up but he said "Mom, why are you waking me up? The sun isn't up yet" Ok, so I guess maybe he still doesn't get the whole excitement of Christmas yet! Anyways, he did wake up and we had a nice Christmas morning together and then we went from there over to my parents house where we would stay for the next few days. Lynnette and Dave came for a few days which was great! They were there to celebrate a few days after Christmas and through New Years! We also had our extended family Mowat Christmas as well which was really fun.

Here are some pictures from over the holidays:

Our Family Christmas 2006

I had to zoom in on this gummy grin!

Leah, Lynnette and Lara

Spike, I mean Peyton

Aunt Net gave him a mohawk!

Great Grandma ( Mowat) Wheeler with Jensen, Titus and Peyton

The Vic Mowat Family at the Mowat Christmas

Grandma and her kids: Vic, Neil, Darwin, Dan and Ilene

Jensen helped Aunt Lara make Christmas cookies and he was really proud of them

Net took this picture of Peyton which I think is adorable ( I know I am biased but look at those blue eyes)
Aunt Net and Jensen

Aunt Net with Jensen and Peyton

Peyton and Jensen

Jensen opening a gift from Aunt Net and Uncle Dave

He loved it!!

Grandpa and Jensen both got matching Farmall shirts!

Peyton and his new truck

New Year's Party at our house

Leah, Lara, Net, Dave, Brian and Ben

Toasting the New Year 2007

Richardson Family Christmas

2007-01-07T12:32:00.000-05:00

As we do every year we had a gathering of Brian's side of the family, The Richardsons, to celebrate Christmas. This year it was held at Brian's mom's house and she did a great job decorating and getting everything ready for the party. We have lots of young kids on that side of the family now which always makes parties more fun. It was a really great time and we were happy with how many people were able to make it this year!

Uncle Ralph, Aunt Norma, Aunt Violet, Uncle Ken, Janet, Uncle Melvin, Aunt Pat and Grandma

Eric, Natalie, Pat, Melvin, Grandma and Nicolette

Natalie ( and baby to be), Eric and Nicolette

Our family ( how fun to get a picture with everyone cooperating)

Grandma Jan with Jensen

Grandma Jan with Peyton

Seeing Santa Claus

2007-01-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

Well, as most people we were pretty busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas with lots of various activities and excitment going on. We were really looking forward to Christmas this year with both boys. This would be Peyton's first Christmas and this would be the first Christmas that Jensen would really understand what was going on. Of course we took them both to see Santa Claus. We went to the Santa House in Midland which is amazing. The wait was long but there is so much to look at while you are waiting. Jensen was so excited which was fun. He couldn't wait to get up to the front of the line to see Santa. Here are some pictures from that experience ( the lighting in the building was red and green and we had just gotten a new camera so we didn't really know what we were doing with it so the pictures didn't turn out the greatest):

Jensen very excited to see Santa

Waiting

Still Waiting.....

Playing with trains while waiting

Peyton checking everything out

Jensen on Santa's sleigh

The boys with Santa finally!

Thanksgiving

2006-12-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Every year at Thanksgiving we always have the traditional Mowat football game. We actually had good weather this year, warm temperature and no snow, but they got started kind of late so it got dark quick. But thank goodness no major injuries this year!

Janelle with Peyton in his Lions outfit

The whole gang

Lara and Peyton

Cute kids

2006-12-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

We were able to get together with some friends and their kids recently and they are all so adorable so I had to post some pictures.

Here is a picture of Baby Mya ( don't know if I am spelling that right) Raeanne and Charlie's new baby

Jensen with Camden, they became real quick buds

My boys with our friends Chris and Maresa's little girl, Eliana

Trying to get them to all sit still was near impossible

Chucky Cheese

2006-12-11T19:16:00.000-05:00

When we were down moving Lara into her new apartment we had some time to take the boys over to Chucky Cheese. We had taken Jensen there before but he was pretty young and didn't really understand what all was going on. This time he was so excited from the time he walked in the door. Needless to say he didn't eat much pizza that night but he had a blast!

This picture is blurry because he is jumping around like a crazy person with excitement! This was where you could stand by the screen and the camera would put there face in different backgrounds.

Here is Jensen playing shooting baskets into the shoe with Brian

Here is Jensen and Peyton riding in a car. Couldn't get a picture of them both looking of course.

Jensen riding with Chucky Cheese

Peyton with Chucky Cheese. He did pretty well on the rides but didn't seem too excited. He had a serious expression on his face most of the time as to say " What's the big deal?"

Moving into "The Birdhouse"

2006-12-03T19:40:00.000-05:00

So I told you about what took place in November so here are some pictures to go along with all the search for the new apartment.

The above picture is of the first apartment complex we looked at. Lara said it reminded her of home with the brick like Mom and Dad's house but overall we weren't too impressed with the environment there.

This is what Jensen calls " Lara's birdhouse". This is the door to the entrance of her apartment complex. It is very ironic that they look like birdhouses considering Lara hates birds!

This is the sign for the school that Lara is teaching at

This is the school itself

Here are some pictures of her new apartment with her new furniture!

Her new bed in her master bedroom

Her desk

Her dresser and window

Nightstand

Another view of the dresser and mirror

Her walk-in closet

Bathroom

One view of her kitchen

The other side of the kitchen with an open breakfast nook

Her livingroom

Another view of the livingroom and her loveseat

Dining room

TV Stand and Christmas tree

Jensen in her backyard by the lake with the ducks

What a November!

2006-11-28T18:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a crazy month for me and that is why I haven't posted anything new for almost a month now. We have been really busy especially for the past two weeks helping Lara move to Indiana. Lara went down the week of the 6th for an interview in Indianapolis for a Special Ed position and found out on Friday the 10th that she had gotten the job. We just so happened to be over at Mom and Dad's house that night and all were planning to go to Pizza Hut so we had a celebration dinner for her and tried to make quick plans as to how we were going to help her get an apartment and all situated down there by Monday Nov. 27th which was to be her first day of work. So Lara and I went down on Monday the 13th to Indiana and we were set to check out quite a few apartments on Tuesday. All of us knew that this must be the place that God wanted her because she had quite a few other opportunities that had not worked out closer to home and we never could understand why so we prayed that he would also help us find the right place for her to live. As the over protective older sister ( and second mom as Lara calls me) I wanted to make sure that the place she chose would be one where I would feel comfortable having her live on her own. We went to the first apartments that she had found online and overall thought they were ok but neither of us felt like they were a very good fit for her. We then went to the next appts on her list and went into the main office and were so impressed that we both looked at each other and immediately thought, out of her price range, but we went ahead and talked to the leasing consultant. We were so suprised when she told us that they were having a special on their rent for the next year and sure enough they had a 2 bedroom apt in her price range so we decided to take a look at the model and we both had smiles on our faces as she took us through the apt. We knew that it was the right place and when we told her that our main concern was security she let us know that there is a security guard on staff and he lives in the section where she would be living. Anyways, long story short, we both knew God was telling us this was the place for her. So the next two weekends we spent moving her into her apartment, which is so nice. Throughout the excitement, I wouldn't allow myself to think about how much I would miss her and hate that she has to be so far away, and I will miss her terribly, as I miss Net, but I know that God has a plan for her and he has given me peace and the assurance this is where he wants her to be and he has got some amazing things in store for her there.

Halloween 2006

2006-10-31T23:23:00.000-05:00

We had an exciting Halloween this year. Jensen is finally old enough to get the concept of trick or treating now and he had been practicing all week to say "Trick or Treat" and " Happy Halloween". He went as a dinosaur in a costume that was homemade and given to us by Chris and Ralph's family. It was such a cute costume. Peyton went as a lion and he just rode around in the stroller but seemed to have a good time :) We also got to take the little boy I take care of with us, Cameron. He went as a lion as well but he fell asleep not too long after we left. He is not quite 2 yet. Good thing we brought the double stroller. And as anxious as Jensen was to go trick or treating he didn't even last an hour before he got tired and wanted to go home and see Grandpa. When we did get back he enjoyed passing out candy to other kids and asked them all their names and a few of them even their phone numbers... a little young for that I would say. He even said "Hey Babe" to a little girl that came to the door. Aunt Lara and Grandma Janet both went out with us which was lots of fun and Grandpa came over to see the kids and help Brian pass out candy!

Jensen ready to get started!

Aunt Lara and the boys

Peyton

Peyton attacking the candy pile

Jensen and Peyton

Jensen all pooped out

Peyton is eyeing the candy pile, getting ready to attack!

Jensen, Cameron and Peyton

Lion cubs

Fall Party 06

2006-10-31T23:12:00.000-05:00

Every year we look forward to the annual Fall Party at Ben and Tim Mowat's house. We always have a fun day of games , eating chili and candy and seeing relatives we only see about once maybe twice a year. This year was no exeption. It has actually been even more fun now that Jensen is getting older. He couldn't wait to go to Ben's house for the party and he enjoyed playing with other cousins his age: Ellori, Drew and Kylie. It was cute having the four of them so close in age there together. We had games both for adults and kids and of course the famous Candy Hunt! It was lots of fun and Jensen can't wait to go back again!

The kids played the Pumpkin Roll!

Jensen and Ellori
Jensen, Drew & Ellori
Drew & Jensen on the tire swing

Recent pics!

2006-10-19T15:48:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I have posted anything and not too much is new and exciting for us so I thought I would just post a few recent pictures:

Peyton: His hair looks lighter in the picture than it really is!

Jensen was so excited when his second cousin Stephen made him this wooden Farmall tractor! Thanks again Stephen, it's a big hit!

Another Birthday

2006-09-25T09:51:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, September 24th, I celebrated my 29th birthday! I have one year left of my twenties! How crazy is that? I am actually looking forward to my 30's but for now I am going to try to make the best of what I have left of my twenties. Besides, I still have almost a full year of being able to tease Brian about being an old man! We spent the day with my parents and it was really nice! Thanks for the birthday call Net!

Me with my birthday cake that Lara made and Jensen helped decorate.

Wow look at all those candles!

Jensen enjoyed his piece of cake!

Grandpa and his boys

Brian's 30th Birthday!

2006-09-18T19:57:00.000-04:00

Brian celebrated his 30th birthday on September 11th! He definately had a better day this birthday day then when he turned 25 ( due to the events 5 years ago that day). His mom threw him a big party at her house last weekend and it was lots of fun! we had a good turn out of friends and family! Lots of old man jokes ( which I get to do for another year) so that was fun!

I made his cake and we decorated it with an old man on top and a candle that said 30 ( 18 with 12 years experience) on it.

Jensen was having a great time pulling his cousins around in the wagon behind his John Deere bike. Here he is pulling Lane and Sara and Taylor are riding behind him.

I thought this picture was so sweet so I turned it black and white. Peyton fell asleep on Grandpa's shoulder.

Camping trip over Labor Day

2006-09-18T19:40:00.000-04:00

Over Labor Day weekend we were able to take the boys camping at Higgins Lake. We have gone camping there every Labor Day weekend for about 8 years now. Brian's family all camps there together and it is a really good time. This year we were able to have Lara up there with us for a few days also!

Jensen and his second cousin Jewell playing with Weebles

Peyton playing

Peyton with his second cousin Nicolette on a wagon ride. Those were very popular!

Peyton and Daddy in Great Grandma's camper.

Peyton and Aunt Lara

Misc summer pics! Part two

2006-09-12T18:53:00.000-04:00

Well,it wouldn't let me post them all at the same time so here is part two:

Our cute sweet pea

Jensen in his swimming gear. He was not so sure he liked the water at the beginning of the summer but by the end he was getting pretty brave.

I just think this picture is funny. This was taken the night of the Mowat Reunion at the campfire we had afterwards. Brian took a picture of Dad through the fire and it looks like he is in the fire.

This is a picture of what Jensen decided to do to Peyton one day when he was bored. He covered him with stickers!

Mommy and Jensen at the fireworks.

Misc summer pics! Part one

2006-09-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

I finally downloaded some of my pictures from my camera from over the summer and I discovered that I had a few misc ones so here they are:

Peyton on his rocking horse

Jensen with Aunt Lara at the Wesley Chapel Sunday School picnic. They had a train for the kids pulled by a golf cart!

Story time!

Thanks for your prayers

2006-09-10T23:12:00.000-04:00

Well, again it has been a few weeks since I have posted because as usual life got crazy. Almost a month ago now Brian lost his job of three years unexpectedly. It came as quite a shock and was very scary as he is the sole income for our family. After the initial shock and fear wore off we knew that the only one we could turn to in our time of need was God so we began to seek the Lord's guidance and asked for the prayers of many of our friends and family. We really felt those prayers and thankfully within a week of being off work Brian got a job interview at a design firm in Midland called Design Craftsman. He had applied there before but never got a call to interview and he was very interested in this particular company as they design exhibits for museums, auto shows, etc and he had done some work like that when we lived in Clarkston almost 6 years ago and loved it! Anyways, long story short, God was watching out for us as Brian got the job and started work there last Wednesday! Definately an answer to prayer and in God's perfect timing! Thank you to all of you who prayed for us and helped encourage us during that rough time.

Deer Acres

2006-08-20T18:01:00.000-04:00

The other day the boys and myself had the chance to have a fun day with Grandma Mowat before she goes back to school next week. It is always fun to have her around more often during the summer and the summer always goes by way too fast!! We decided to take the boys to Deer Acres in Pinconning. I hadn't been there since I was a kid and didn't really even remember going just seeing pictures of it. It was a neat experience. We got to see lots of animals like monkeys, llamas, an alligator and of course deer. We went on a train ride through the woods which was Jensen's favorite part, accept he wasn't sure he liked it to well when the horn or the bell went off. After we left Grandma treated us to ice cream, it was lots of fun!

A Day at the Fair

2006-08-11T19:29:00.000-04:00

Myself and Brian's mom were able to take the boys to the Isabella County Fair the other day and it was lots of fun. We went during the day so Brian wasn't able to go with us. I had never been to this fair before having always gone to the Midland Fair and it was a lot smaller but it had a lot of kids rides. Fortunately we happened to go on wristband day so I got one for Jensen and one for me because some of the rides I had to go on with him and I needed a band too to be able to do that. He really enjoyed them and soon was brave enough to do a lot of them himself! I was excited that he is going to like to ride rides like Momma!
Here he is on some of the rides:

2006-08-09T21:45:00.000-04:00

Peyton sitting up

Sorry this is a little dark but just wanted to give you an idea of what he is doing right now.

Peyton @ 6 months

2006-08-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

Well, Peyton is 6 months now! Half a year, wow how fast time flies! He is getting really big and doing new things all the time. He is starting to sit up on his own now and he is rolling over both from stomach to back and back to stomach. He moves around all over the floor now and acts like he wants to crawl already! That is scary, mom is not ready for that yet! He is losing a lot of his dark hair :( He is taking baths in the big tub now with his brother. He still wants nothing to do with solid foods which is strange for a six month old but he is a really happy baby and such a blessing to us! Here are some recent pictures of him:

Tigers Game

2006-08-09T21:23:00.000-04:00

I was able to tag along last minute to a Detroit Tigers game the other night. It was alot of fun. We had a packed vehicle as we had Dad, Mom, Uncle Neil, Janelle, Bethany, Valerie, Lara and myself (Leah). The weather was beautiful for a ballgame and they won 9 to 3!!

Here are some pics!

A Day at the Beach

2006-07-26T21:28:00.000-04:00

We were able to spend a day in Ludington, Michigan at the beautiful beach they have there last weekend. My parents, Lara, Janet and all of us all went together. We were able to walk out a pier to a lighthouse and then some of us swam in the lake for awhile. Jensen and Grandpa made sandcastles, (or grandpa made them and Jensen destroyed them). It was a really nice time together as a family.

Here are some Pics!

2006-07-20T15:53:00.000-04:00

Peyton

Bathtub Fun

2006-07-20T15:40:00.000-04:00

Jensen and I have been doing some crafts together lately and one that we really had fun with was tub paints! They were really easy to make and lots of fun to play with! You just mix 1/2 c. clear handsoap with 1tsp cornstarch and then put into seperate containers and add food coloring! They can paint all over the tub and it comes off really easy since it is made with soap. It also makes bathtime more fun. Here are some pictures of Jensen enjoying his tub paints:

Trying new things

2006-07-08T19:40:00.000-04:00

Peyton is 5 months old today and is doing new things everyday. He rolled over all the way for the first time about a month ago but he only does that when he feels like it. He also is very attentive now and has to know what is going on especially with his brother. Jensen can make him laugh harder than anyone and he doesn't even have to be doing anything special. Peyton just gets a kick out of him.

We brought up the highchair we used for Jensen and put him in that for the first time today. He did pretty well but he still did not want anything to do with the baby cereal I tried to give him. He is cutting a tooth now also it started to poke through this week and that is about 2 months earlier than it was for Jensen.

Since Peyton has been wanting to look around so much lately and he is holding his head up pretty well we decided to get the exersaucer out for him to enjoy. He seems to like it pretty well. Here he is in the one at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Fourth of July

2006-07-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

This year we decided to spend the Fourth of July up at an outdoor resort where Brian's Aunt Norma and Uncle Ralph were camping in Standish, Michigan. It is really a beautiful resort and we had a variety of different things to do there. It was a gorgeous day we couldn't have asked for better weather. We went with my parents and also Brian's mom.

One of the activities they had there was miniature golfing. They had just made a new 9 hole course there this year and it was really nice. We all really like to putt putt so we decided to let Jensen try it out for the first time and see what he thought of it.

He did a really good job. He tried really hard to get it in the hole everytime. He seems to be lefthanded at this point so it was kind of difficult to help him hold the club right but he had fun.

Another thing that we did while we were there was to take a hayride around the park. It was a pretty long ride but we all enjoyed it.

After we left we went back to my parents house for a little while where we spent a little time out on their new deck. Jensen played with sparklers for the first time (video below). And here is a picture of Peyton with Grandma Mowat that day also.

2006-07-06T11:42:00.000-04:00

Sparklers

Jensen had a chance to use sparklers for the first time this fourth of July. We weren't sure if we wanted him to play with them at first but he did a really good job and was very careful.

2006-06-27T22:49:00.000-04:00

Jensen's Birthday!

Here is some video of Jensen riding his new tractor. He needed some help at first but he was pedaling on his own in no time.

Jensen's Party Part 2

2006-06-27T22:19:00.000-04:00

I am not really that good at this blogging thing so I couldn't get the rest of my pictures to go on my last post so I am going to just do a seperate post for the rest of the party pics!

Back to the story:

He was a pretty happy birthday boy!

Sitting patiently waiting to open up gifts. He got lots of great gifts. One of the big hits this year was anything from the Cars movie. He loves anything to do with that movie. He got a tractor that tips over from the movie which he loved and some pencils and markers.

He got a really cool scooter that has Winnie the Pooh characters on it. He thought it was really neat but he didn't think it worked at first when he got on it and it didn't move. He thought it was supposed to go on it's own. We had to show him how to make it go and soon enough he was doing it on his own.

He got a lot of other cool gifts as well but the biggest hit of all was his new Farmall Super M Pedal Tractor. He got that from Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Lara, Grandma Janet, Great Grandma Richardson and Aunt Net and Uncle Dave.

It makes a nice clicking noise when you pedal it which I am sure all of the neighbors will love!

Overall, the party was a great success! Thanks to everyone that was able to be there to enjoy the day with us.

Jensen's 3rd Birthday!

2006-06-27T21:13:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Jensen's 3rd Birthday this past Sunday! I can't believe he is 3 years old already. The time has gone by so fast and he is such a big boy now! It's hard to believe that he will be going to school next fall. The party was a huge success. The weather was great and we had a good turnout. There were people that we missed there ( aka Aunt Net and Uncle Dave) but we knew they were there in spirit. Jensen wanted to have a tractor party. So we had to be creative in our decorating. We had a Farm theme overall.

Here is the cake table. We had party hats and blowers with a farm theme and had pictures up above the table of Jensen on Grandpa's tractor.

Aunt Lara decorated the cake. She did a great job for her first try! Now she wants to do it every year which is great with me:) We had a Farmall 300 Tractor and wagon on the cake and as soon as Jensen saw that we had a hard time keeping it on the cake!

While getting ready to decorate I realized that we didn't have a banner that said Happy Birthday on it and then I remembered that we had used a banner the past 2 years that Aunt Net had made for him on his first birthday and I realized that I had seen it in the storage room this past week and didn't think about what it was so I ran downstairs and grabbed it. Last year we had marked out 1st and put 2nd Birthday so I covered that up again and we reused it for the 3rd time and it worked out great! It also made me feel like Net had a part in the party even though she couldn't physically be there.

Although he didn't want the tractor go on the cake to begin with he was really proud of his cake. As soon as people arrived he would take them to see his cake first!

We weren't sure how the singing of Happy Birthday would go because he kept telling us that if we sang to him he would "freak out" ( no kidding his words). He did run for the door when we first started singing but then his cousins Lane and Sara came up to be with him and he was fine.

Future Friends

2006-06-19T20:41:00.000-04:00

We recently had a chance to visit with my friend Deann and her kids. She only lives 20 minutes away but it seems like I used to see her more when she lived in Indiana. Anyways, her son, James is just 6 months older than Jensen so they got along right away. It wasn't long and they were off in James' room playing cars. It is so much fun seeing your kids interact with other kids. You just hope that they are nice to each other. Anyhow, they seemed to enjoy their time together so much that they shared with us the stomach flu (That is one thing I definately do not miss with not having my kids in daycare) but we made it through ok after sharing it also with Grandpa, Aunt Net and Uncle Dave. Fun times!

Our 6th Anniversary

2006-06-17T20:41:00.000-04:00

Brian and I celebrated our 6th anniversary this April. Time sure does fly! While Net was still around we decided to have her take some pictures of just the two of us so here are some of those to share with you:

Brothers

2006-06-02T09:08:00.000-04:00

Jensen is still really enjoying being a big brother. He wants to hold him a lot and loves to give him kisses. The trick is to get him to be gentle when he is kissing and hugging him. Jensen also wants me to take pictures of him and Peyton everytime they sit close together so I am starting to get an abundance of those pictures so I thought I would share a few of those with you:

Memorable May

2006-06-01T08:45:00.000-04:00

May was a busy but exciting month in the Perkin's household. Peyton reached the 3 month mark and Jensen is only a month from being 3 years old. Wow time goes by so fast! The weather is finally getting nice around here also so we have been playing outside a lot this month. Here's a few pictures of Peyton from this past month:

We got Jensen a small bike which he has been enjoying riding around our driveway and on walks through our subdivision with Mommy.

Catching up!

2006-05-22T12:45:00.000-04:00

Wow! It has been over a month since I last posted and we have been busy! So instead of doing a bunch of little blogs to catch up I will just combine the events of this past month a couple long posts.

Well, where to begin.....I guess I better go back to last month: Well April started off with a celebration of Grandma Janet's birthday which was a lot of fun. Jensen is really enjoying birthdays now and he loves to help everyone blow out their candles.

Easter was also in April and that was a lot of fun this year. We had a community easter egg hunt that our church hosted this year and there were 700 people there which was amazing. Jensen got to participate in it for the first time and luckily they had a section just for 2 to 5 year old kids because it was a mad rush when they said go! He had fun though. Here are some pictures from that.

Jensen also got an easter basket from the Easter Bunny at our house and some more treats at Grandma and Grandpa's house also as well.

Peyton at 2 months

2006-04-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

Here is a recent picture of Peyton at 2 months already! We can't believe how big he is getting. At his last doctor's appt he weighed 12 pounds 8 ounces and was 23 inches long! He got his first shots then as well and that was really rough on both him and mom. He slept through the night for the first time on Easter which we were thrilled about of course! He is a very happy baby and loves to smile and coos a lot. We just switched him over to 3-6 month clothes the other day and it won't be long before he will be out of those as well. The outfit he is wearing in this picture is a 3-6 month outfit and Jensen got his first professional pictures taken in the outfit!

Playin' Outside

2006-04-17T20:45:00.000-04:00

It has finally started to warm up here in Michigan and we are glad to get a chance to get out the house! Jensen and Momma were definately getting cabin fever after a long winter. We are fortunate enough to have a large deck and backyard where Jensen can play and he is loving it! He still has had to wear a coat and hat most days but one morning last week the sun was beating down pretty good on us and he wanted me to get the swimming pool out! It's not quite that warm yet but hopefully it will be soon!

The Aunts

2006-04-04T10:20:00.000-04:00

Our boys are pretty fortunate to have had their aunts close by lately. They are both currently living in Midland which is about 45 minutes from us and the boys get to see them just about once a week. Jensen enjoys Aunt Net using the "tickler" to cut his hair and Aunt Lara comes over to stay the weekends with us sometimes and she taught Jensen to say "Deetroit Basketball" when we watch the Pistons.

Bigger and Bigger

2006-03-18T11:27:00.000-05:00

Well, Peyton has been a part of our family for almost 6 weeks now! He continues to be a very healthy, happy baby. He saw the doctor again this week for his one month check-up where he weighed 11 pounds 9 ounces and was 22 inches in length! He already almost weighs more than Jensen did when he was 2 months old. He sure didn't stay little for very long. He is starting to coo and he loves being played with and talked too! We are just starting to have him do some "tummy time" now and whether it was a fluke or not I am not sure but he did roll himself over this morning! Every week brings new surprises so we are anxious to see what he will do next week!

Our American Idol

2006-03-17T16:13:00.000-05:00

Jensen has become quite the singer lately. He has enjoyed singing for awhile now but he has recently discovered American Idol ( or as he calls it Arican Idol) and he enjoys singing along with the contestants each week. He uses whatever he can find as a microphone ( as you can see it was the vacuum this week). Unfortunately you can't often understand the words most of the time but the melody is dead on! He does know the words to quite a few songs but of course he doesn't often sing those when you would like him too! I don't know if he will grow up to be the next American Idol but he sure keeps Mom and Dad entertained!

Peyton at one month old

2006-03-11T11:17:00.000-05:00

Peyton has been with us for a month now. We are starting to adjust to being a family of four and it definitely is an adjustment. We were very fortunate to have so much support from our family this past month. My parents came home with us from the hospital and stayed a few days and Brian's mom stayed for quite a few days this past month which helped tremendously! Aunt Lara has also babysat already! It really is a blessing to live near family when you have kids! I am still trying to establish some kind of schedule to maintain my sanity around here but the boys seem to have other ideas! All in all, things are going well. Peyton was at the doctor a week ago and he weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces already! He sure didn't stay little for long! He has just started to smile when he is awake, which is more and more all the time! I tried to capture one of those smiles in this picture.

The Big Brother

2006-03-11T11:02:00.000-05:00

Well, Jensen is now a big brother and he seems to like it pretty well. Right after Peyton was born when we were all in the hospital room together, Jensen said to me " Thank you for the baby Momma". He has been huggin and kissing on him ever since. Of course it has been an adjustment for him as he no longer is the center of attention as he has been for the past 2 1/2 years but he is doing pretty good!

Peyton's Arrival

2006-03-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

Well, this is my first post on my blog and we have had a lot of very exciting things going on with us with the arrival of our second son Peyton last month so I thought I would start there. Peyton James Perkins was born on Feb 8, 2006 at 7:45am at Mid Michigan Regional Center in Midland, Michigan. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 inches long. He was born by scheduled c-section and Brian and I had to be in the hospital by 6am to get preped for surgery and they wheeled me into the delivery room at about 7:15 am. I had a c-section when I had Jensen also but it was an emergency c-section so I don't remember too much about it besides the fact that I just wanted the pain to go away but this was a totally different experience this time. It was really neat to be awake and alert during the whole thing. They took just me in to start the anethesia and everything before they brought Brian in to be with me. He said it seemed like an eternity that he had to wait outside but it was probably about 10 minutes. He came in and of course at this point I am not feeling anything but hearing everything that is going on. The nurses and doctors were great, they talked me through the whole thing and soon enough we heard a cry and that is the most beautiful sound in the world. They brought him over to us and I couldn't believe how big he was for a newborn. Of course, he was adorable ( I am a little biased) and he had lots of dark hair! He looked very much like I had imagined him to look, unlike his brother who didn't have much hair at all when he was born. Anyways, after I was able to see him, Brian was able to go with Peyton to get his first bath and all that other stuff they do to newborns and I just had to lay there for awhile until it was time to wheel me back to my room.

On my way back to the room, I was feeling very emotional and I saw all of my family looking into the window at Peyton. I really started to tear up when I saw Jensen with a big grin on his face looking at his little brother for the first time! Also, seeing Peyton for the first time was his Grandma and Grandpa Mowat, Grandma Janet, Aunt Lynnette and Uncle Dave and Aunt Lara.

He is definitely another miracle sent from God!