Hello Again!

It has been a while since I have felt like posting. With the surgery recovery and so many additional pressures on our family it has just been easier to hole-up and keep it all in.

Things are going well around here. Chris has started a web design company called Bear Creek Technology Solutions. Check it out! I am so proud of him and all his hours of balancing family, church, his full-time job and of course caring for his favorite brain surgery patient. He is working toward his dream of entrepreneurship that he has had since high school and I can't wait to see the places he/we will go!

For today I want to share my favorite moment from a very long and busy day around Casa de Sain:

After winding down from a lovely dinner and baths, the kids were doing their best to destroy the recently picked-up playroom. Hannah calls to us in the livingroom to come see what she is working on. Here is what we saw when we went to the playroom:

My daughter, with her apron on, had laid out a baby blanket and was ironing her "fabric." She said, "Look Daddy, I am like Momma, I'm getting ready to sew."

Looks like I won't have to push my hobbies on her. She will become a Domestic Diva on her own!

5 Years Strong

Five years ago today I wed my wonderful husband Chris. What a time we have had. I am looking forward to the future with Chris and the life we have made for ourselves. This morning I sat thinking about all the changes that have come our way in the past five years. From the beginning, two new college graduates, to today with two wonderful children by our sides, I couldn't be happier or more thankful for the love I have in my life.

For purely selfish reasons, mostly so I can have a record of my remembering, I want to take the time to remember some of what we have been through the past five years.

July 10, 2004 I married the love of my life!
August 2004 Jen got her teaching job in Coppell
November 2004 We bought our first house
December 2004 Our first Christmas as a married couple and Chris gave me my precious Annabelle
June 2005 Jen had shoulder surgery
July 2005 One-year anniversary trip to Las Vegas
December 1, 2005 Found out we were pregnant!
December 2005 Fun-filled vacation to New York City
May 2006 Jen left her teaching position to stay home with our upcoming arrival
July 10, 2006 Second anniversary celebrated at DelFrisco's (Jen was VERY pregnant)
August 7, 2006 God blessed us with our beautiful Hannah Grace
October 2006 Jen began working part-time in the church office
Februaruy 2007 Jen became the interim youth minister
May 2007 Family trip to Colorado Springs for Uncle Allan's graduation
August 7, 2007 Birthday Bash for Hannah's #1
August 2007 Romantic vacation to Costa Rica (to celebrate our anniversary)
October 26, 2007 Found out we were pregnant again!
November 2007 Bought and moved into our second house
January 2008 Chris became an Elder at our church
March 2008 Jen went to Seattle with Diana for a "Pregnant Girls Trip"
End of March 2008 Chris fell out of a 20 foot tree, gave us a scare but God protected him
June 26, 2008 God blessed us with our handsome Caleb Robert
July 10, 2008 Managed to escape long enough for dinner at P.F. Chang's, we also found a carnival on the way home and rode the ferris wheel to celebrate four years of marraige!
December 8, 2008 Jen had brain surgery - Fun, Fun
End of February 2009 Jen and the kids took a week long vacation to Arizona to see the Richards, during which Hannah and Zachary apparently got married on the mountain. ;)
June 2009 Family vacation to Disney World. It was amazing!
June 26, 2009 Celebrated Caleb's 1st with a rockin' party
June 29, 2009 Jen had brain surgery again
July 10, 2009 Five Year Anniversary. On our honeymoon we decided to go back to Mexico for our 5th anniversary, instead my man sprung for brain surgery!

What ride it has been! The past years have been filled with wonderful times and times of challenge for us both, but I know that as every day passes our love grows stronger. How sweet it is to build a marriage on a solid foundation! God has gotten us through so much and He alone knows His plans for us. I trust that God's plan is perfect!

Chris I love you and I look forward to the next fifty-five years with you! I LOVE YOU!

Thankful Thursday

This is how I roll!

Chris lovingly pointed out that this picture is missing all four seasons of THE OFFICE that I have been watching this week. I am thankful for time for healing and a wonderful week with my hubby!

What a year!!!

My baby is one! My baby is one! My baby is one! I think if I keep saying it over and over again it might actually sink in. What a year!!! Hard to believe that one year ago today that tiny creature came into our lives and graced us with his presence. Caleb Robert Sain turns one year old today at 4:51pm. Happy Birthday Bubba!

To commemorate the special day I thought I would take a look back at the past twelve months and see how far we have come!

June 2008
26th- Caleb Robert was born.
Hannah became the proudest little sister you have ever seen!

July 2008
10th- Momma and Daddy's 4th anniversary
18th- Christopher Richards was born
30th- Great Papa passed away

August 2008
1st- Caleb's first night away from Momma and Daddy
7th- Hannah's 2nd birthday and party
Caleb still spitting up EVERYWHERE-ALL DAY LONG!

September 2008
23rd- Caleb's first Ranger game
28th- Caleb's baptism

October 2008
13th- Caleb met Uncle Allan
27th- Caleb's 1st day of preschool
Jen began work as preschool director for a month and a half
31st- Halloween as Boots the Monkey and Dora the Explorer

November 2008
Caleb's spit-up got better as he began baby foods
12th- The Richards family moved to Tucson :(
27th- 1st Thanksgiving


December 2008
5th- SantaLand and trip to the farm
8th- Jen's brain surgery
Both kids spent a lot of time away from Momma and Daddy due to surgery
Caleb met Aunt Becky
25th- 1st Christmas

January 2009
Happy New Year!
7th- First word: "Dada"
19th- 1st tooth
31st- Daddy's birthday and visit to the stock show

February 2009
Growing like crazy! Crawling, more teeth, sitting up and assisted steps.
24th- Plane ride to Tucson, AZ. Awesome visit with the Richards family!

March 2009
16th- Caleb says "Momma"
Waves, trips the park, pulling up and dinner with friends!

April 2009
4th- Easter Egg hunt
19th- stood on his own
30th- 1st Haircut and Momma's birthday

May 2009
3rd- climbs the stairs (unknown to his parents)
17th- says "bye"
31st- Uncle Robert, Uncle Brian and Uncle Ryan all graduate from High School

June 2009
9th- 1 year pictures
18th-23rd- Disney World vacation with family
26th- Caleb turns one! WOW!
Birthday party on the 27th then surgery for Jen again on June 29th.

What a year!! My baby is a little boy now! He looks more and more like his Dad everyday. We are so blessed with wonderful children. Happy birthday to my little boy! I cannot wait to see the man you will grow up to be. Caleb, I love you more than you will ever know!

Hannah-talk

Hannah just brought her two favorite Cabbage Patch Dolls into the livingroom and pulled them and herself up onto the couch to sit next to me. With her two babies in her arms she looked at each of them intently and said, "Hola, what is your name? Soy Hannah, I'm glad to see you today."

Ha, my girl loves watching and reciting Dora.

The Perfect Date

I love my hubby. He drives me crazy sometimes but then he does something so perfect it could bring me to tears. I have been a little stressed lately: preparing for DisneyWorld vacation with the WHOLE family, planning for Caleb's 1st birthday party (which is 3 days after we return from Disney) and my upcoming surgery. My headaches are back and they will be doing my brain surgery again on June 29th. I will be thrilled to be without headaches FINALLY but as you would assume my stress level is at an all-time high.

So, back to Chris and his perfect actions! Knowing how stressed I am right now he took me away for part of the weekend, just the two of us. Here is how it went down:

Friday afternoon Chris calls me about two 'o clock "just to check in" and see how I was doing... ok... then before we got off the phone he told me I needed to pack an overnight bag for myself and pack the kids bags because they were going to stay at his moms. Shock me, shock me!!! I was not expecting that.

• He gets home from work we all get in the car and we are off to ????.... We drop the kids off at Susan's and then start heading westward... I still don't know where we are going. At this point I am excited but I was trying very hard to not get aggitated by the fact that I still had no clue where we were going or what we were doing. You know me, I like to know the plan, preferably make the plan, but atleast know the plan.
• Chris then tells me we have reservations to make but he wants to check-in first. We check in at the Blackstone Hotel in downtown Fort Worth. I am still excited and in shock from the happenings of the past few hours but by now I am starving and ready for dinner. We drop the bags and then Chris leads to our mystery dinner at ... PF Changs... YUM! We haven't eaten there in forever and I LOVE IT! Great.Wall.of.Chocolate... is there anything better? Of course, in true Chris-fashion he tells me that the reason he picked PF is because we had gift cards at home that he could use. Ha, I love my frugal and quite honest man!
• We enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing dinner. No kids, no plastic placemats, no bibs, no sippy cups... for the first 20 minutes we were there I kept remarking on how weird I felt without the daiper bag next to me in the booth. Dinner was fantastic! We ordered the Great Wall to-go and headed back to the hotel.
• You know I can't stay still for long so after we got back to the room we decided to go out for a walk and to go have a drink. Again, bazaar going somewhere with nothing but my man! We ran into an old high school friend while we were out and then back to the hotel to relax.
• Fast forward... you don't need those details...
• Morning.. breakfast at Corner Bakery in our hotel. YUM! Did I mention that there were no points documented for this weekend?!?
• We had a leisurely morning and then made our way to the Kimball Art Museum. Currently they have "Love & Art in Renaissance Italy" on display. It was wonderful! Beautiful pieces and insight into love, marraige and childbirth rituals of the day. I highly recommend it.

It was amazing how perfect our extended "date" was. I didn't even know I needed this break but boy how it renewed my spirit. I love my wonderful husband! He never ceases to amaze me. Chris you are my best friend and I wouldn't trade you for the world! Thank you for a perfect date!

Tagged

Been a while for postings around here. Crazy life, crazy brain, something's gotta give!
Here are my 8 things, enjoy!

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1. Getting rid of all these headaches
2. Family trip to DisneyWorld in 16 days
3. Getting back into a new bible study this summer
4. Joe T's with the Shannon Family
5. Diana, Zach & Christopher's visit in August
6. Caleb's 1st Birthday party ... I can't believe he will be one!
7. Hannah's first swimming lesson ... what a big girl!
8. Caleb taking his real first steps and then the fun that will follow as I chase him chasing his sister!

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to BodyWorks class at the gym
2. Picked up Caleb from Mema's where he had spent the night on Sunday
3. Mailed a care package to Arizona
4. Bought my bible study book for this summer
5. Called the Neurosurgeon to schedule my surgery
6. Went to the store before dinner
7. Enjoyed Tostada Night with the fam
8. Enjoyed an evening with no TV (after The Wheel was over, of course)

8 Shows I Watch:
1. The Today Show
2. Dora
3. The Golden Girls
4. Jon & Kate plus 8 (for now)
5. The Biggest Loser
6. 18 Kids and Counting
7. Wheel of Fortune
8. The Office!

8 People I Tag:
1. Ashley
2. Becky
3. Nicole
4. Angie
5. Kristen
6... No one else even knows I have a blog!