Spring is here, errr kinda.....

 

By the calendar it says spring is here but the weather has a different idea! It's nice for a fews and then snow. This family is ready for it to be nice all the time!

This past weekend Chris had opening ceremonies for his baseball. He is on the Great Falls Firefighters team. His head coach is his Daddy! Still trying to figure out who is having more fun, Jim or Chris. They have had some practice and got to play a scrimmage game at the opening ceremonies. However, his first offical game is not until May 2nd. Watching him and his team mates play is probably one of the cutest things that I have ever seen! They are just too precious! Charlie likes to be apart of the team too. He helps his Dad coach and runs bases with the kids.

We are registering Chris for Kindergarten on May 4th. Hard to believe that he will be in school this fall! And little Charlie is going to be 2 in May! Our guys aren't babies anymore! They are growing up way too fast. Chris will be attending Lewis and Clark Elementary, which fortunatly is right across the street from where we live so we get to take Chris to school and pick him up everyday. He is quite excited about that!

The boys are really looking forward to Easter this weekend. Jim's family, as well as my grandparents Charlie and Muffie, and a classmate of mine from highschool will be joining us for dinner. This will be the first we actually get to host a holiday. "Chef" Jim is quite excited to show off his master culinary skills. Should be a gret weekend!

And congrats goes out to our dear friends Kristi and Tim Mauws! They welcomed their first child Libby Jo last night! Can't wait to meet her!

What was once was lost, is now found.

Sorry to everyone (especially Aunt Jackie), that it has taken us so long to post something new.  After our last post, we lost the charger to our camera and there are people out there (not naming names, ah hem, Jackie) that would like to see pictures along with posts. Just kidding Aunt Jackie! Life has been quite busy for us since our last post.

Great Falls has had some interesting weather. It will go from 40 above to 30 below in two days.  It is making us all crazy! They boys are getting a very bad case of cabin fever! The cold weather caused the power steering in our Caliber go out. So after we got that fixed, the dealership informed us of several very expensive things that needed to be done in order to keep the car in tip top shape. So after a long talk and lots of research; we decided to use the money that we would have to put into fixing the Caliber, to use as a down payment on a newer car. So after a long day at the Dodge dealership we got a 2011 Dodge Nitro. It is a nice fit for our growing boys.

Our Grandpa Charlie had a some heart issues and ended up having to have a triple-bypass heart surgery. So we traveled to Missoula for a few days when he had his surgery. The boys were very excited to spend time with all of our families. Grandpa is recovering very well. He is one of the toughest guys we know! Love you Grandpa! However, during our stay we had a slight accident. Our new car and our grandparents car got into a little tangle! But everything turned out all right. What a week, let us tell ya!

Jim is keeping busy at work. Especially, on the nicer days. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he gets his own store here this summer. Sarah is keeping busy with work and school! She is having to learn the word relax, after having a weird virus that settled into the heart area. Finally recovered and learning to take the time to stop and smell the roses!

Christopher and Charlie are busy as ever! They are ready to get out and run around. We signed Christopher up for T-Ball last week. We are not sure who is more excited for him to play, us or him! We can't believe how fast our little guys are growing up! Opening ceremonies will be held mid April but the T-Baller won't start until the first week of May because they don't run around enough to stay warm in the early Spring weather. After the sign-ups he was ready to start playing that day! We went out and got him some new cleats that he seem to want to wear around the house everyday!  Can't wait to post pictures of his games! Charlie is talking better and better everyday. And at the same time seem to get more stubborn by the day too. Hard to believe that they will be 2 and 5 here in a few months!

 Not much else to report now but we promise not talk MONTHS off from posting. Much love Jim, Sarah, and the boys!

Not much new.

Hi everyone! There is not very much to report. Still very busy, trying to juggle our hectic schedule. Everything is going very well though. I am finally getting adjusted to my job.  It was hard to get in the swing of things after a year and half hiatus. I am starting to finally meet people in this town. In fact, on one of my first few days of training, one of my high school classmates walked in to Starbucks. We haven't seen each other since graduation. He too just moved to Great Falls. It was very nice to see a familar face, even if it has been 9 years. He comes into the store at least once a week so we get to catch up.

Jim is doing very well in his job. In fact he has done so well, that they are sending him to Orlando in December to go to a trade show. They only send employees that have high sales. He didn't think that he was going to get to go because he didn't fit the timeline of employment but he has gone so far above and beyond last years sales that they wanted to send him. I am so proud of him!

The boys are good. They are your typical 1 1/2 yr old an 4 yr old. They are into everything, they are climbing on everything, and they seem to always be dirty! Oh little boys! But they are best friends. It is so cute. Charlie looks up to Christopher so much! Chris has finally made a little friend here in our apartment complex. They are both big Broncos fans, so they are outside playing football all the time. When it's cold they still play it indoors. Charlie doesn't like being left behind. They had a great Halloween! This was the first time we went Trick or Treating. We all had a great time (Jim and I had just as much fun as the boys)! It is great family memory!.

That's about all I have to report for now. Hope everyone is well!

So apparently we can't keep up!

We did not realize how long it has been since we posted anything. Sorry Aunt Jackie! We have been keeping extremely busy! We seem to be gone every weekend whether it be fishing, going back to Missoula, or visiting our friends in Judith Gap. Hopefully it will be settling down soon! I decided that it was time to go back to work. I don't have much of an outlet to meet people so this is one way to get out there. I have been hired on at Starbucks. I orginally got hired to work as barista but they asked if I would be interested in Assistant Manager or a Shift Supervisor. I am very flattered but after thinking long and hard about I have decided to just be a Barista. I am happy with this decision and feel that it will work best with my family and school life.
Jim is busy busy busy with work. He is enjoying his job very much. I am very proud of him. He is doing very well and has settled into his position nicely. The company is wanting to open a second store here in the next year or so. Jim has a very excellent chance and running that store.
The boys are a handful and keep us on our toes. We love every second of it! Charlie is quite the mimic especially if it involves his older brother. He is picking up vocabulary very quickly these days. And he is very aware of what is going on around him. Christopher blows us away. He is a very smart child. His grandma Gail summed it up nicely is he a unique boy in a very good way. We are very interested to see how he fairs in school. He is very busy watching his favorite football player Marc Mariani play in the NFL. If you ask him he will give you all the info!

A beautiful celebration and a little head trauma

We spent the weekend up on Flathead lake for the wedding of our friends Rajiem and Jayne Seabrook. Rajiem and Jim became friends through the Missoula Raptors. They have been very close ever since. We had an amazing time! They had the perfect setting for their ceremony and reception. Rajiem's family came in from New York and Jayne's from Utah. We met some very nice people. Jim was one of the groomsmen and Chris was the ring bearer. They were both very handsome! Christopher and Charlie both danced the night away! Chris danced until Daddy picked him up and then he fell asleep on Dad's shoulders. An exact repeat for our friends Kristi and Tim's wedding a year ago. Chris had to bust out his break dancing skills. The entire crowd and DJ got a kick out of it. They made quite the impression on everyone.  I had many people ask if they could take the boys home with them. Chris made himself a little girlfriend with the flower girl. Actually with all of the bridesmaids too! Quite the ladies man he is. Charlie is too! He also won over the bridesmaids and a little girl that was the same age as him. Right before we headed home she walked over and puckered her lips and what do you know Charlie leaned in and kissed her. Jim and I are in trouble with guys! Gonna have to fight the girls off of them!

Charlie too had a little adventure this weekend.

We were out on the basketball court and he tripped over his own feet. His head met the basketball pole and the pole won. He got quite the gash above his eyebrow. He didn't cry for very long. It is a pretty intense wound. Thank god he has all that baby fat there or we think it could have been a lot worse. We drove him to the ER in Kalispell. Luckily he had no other head injuries (thankfully he didnt hit the pole much harder or we would be dealing with more head trauma) and did not have to get stitches. They just glued the wound shut. He even flirted with the nurses. The only part that he did not like was when we had to restrain him so the doc could glue him up. The wound looks good now. He will have a very nasty scar though. It hasn't even phased him that anything is wrong. Our poor baby has had a rough 1st year of life!

Lots to come in the weeks ahead!

Just got back from a quick trip to Missoula for a memorial service for a sweet friend of mine. Her name was Tiffani Turner. She passed away at the young age of 31 to cancer. She was one of my supervisors at Finn and Porter. She was a wonderful person. They boys and I took a quick trip over with my dear friend Kristi Mauws. Had a wonderful time being with her. She always brightens my days.
Now we are getting ready to spend the weekend up at Flathead Lake. Our dear friends Reggie and Jayne are getting married up there. Jim is a groomsmen and Christopher is the ring bearer. I will post picture when we get back. They are both going to look very handsome. Christopher has been "practicing" for a dance off that he is planning to have with another friend of ours. Should be quite entertaining!
Then next week our little stinker Chris is turning 4! Cannot get over that! Then 4th of July, another wedding after that, my grandparents 55th wedding anniversary after, and the list just keeps going! Going to be a very crazy but fun summer. I am going to try and be better about keeping this updated. So I will post new pics of the boys when I can. Hope that everyone out there is doing well and is hopefully getting a little bit of sunshine!

Finally!

We are finally settled into Great Falls. We have a cute little 2 bedroom apartment. Finally on a routine. We are loving everyday here. There is a lot to do with the boys. They are still adjusting but are doing very well. Some of our dearest friends live an hour away so we seem quite frequently. One of them has 2 little guys the same ages as our boys. So it is very nice. Jim is really enjoying his job. It has been quite awhile since he has been this happy with a job. He is learning a lot and doing quite well for himself. I am very proud of him.

The boys are getting very big! Lil Charlie just turned 1. Can't believe how fast time is going by! Lil Chris is going to be 4 next week. Not sure which child makes us feel older. Charlie learns something new everyday. Christopher is very good about helping out and teaching his brother things. Chris is vivacious as ever! He really is too smart for his age. And he can remember things like no other. We are so proud of our little guys. We are blessed to have such an amazing little family.

Hope everyone out there is doing well!