Merry Christmas

I cannot believe it is Christmas eve! Where has the year gone? This has probably been one of the craziest years of our lives, but also one of the greatest!
We have our little Christopher with us, and he is growing up so healthy and stong! Emily, James and Spencer are the best siblings in the world to him. Every time they come near Christopher, not only do they light up when they see him, but his little face lights up as well, he loves to be near his sister and brothers.
I just hope that we can all look back at this past year with thankfulness, and gratitude for the blessings we have recieved. I think it is so easy sometimes to throw ourselves a little pitty party, and to dwell on all the negative things that have happened to us( Because I'm sure we all have that list)! But, if we really look back we can see all the many ways we have been blessed through the good times and the bad.
We are heading to California tomorrow to be with family.We are so excited! It has been years since we have seen some of them.The kids are so excited to hang out with all of their cousins,Rob and I are too. Robert has the greatest cousins in the world that he was able to grow up with like brothers and sisters.We get to see them all along with all their cute little kids, and we can't wait to play. We of course can't wait to see Rob's sister's and parents too. But all of this goes with out saying right?
Anyways, Love to all of you that read this blog!
Have a Merry Merry Happy Christmas!

Some Holiday Happiness

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Amazing!

I talked with a mom today who is expecting her little guy in 10 weeks. He has Spina Bifida just like Christopher. She lives in Texas which is the crazy thing, how did I get in touch with her? Well here is the interesting story, and you tell me if this is just a random coinsidence or if Heavenly Father maybe had something to do with this.
About 2 weeks ago My friend Lynette called me and said that she just got off the phone with her mother- in- law Diane, and was wondering if I might be willing to talk with a mom in her ward that is expecting a child with Spina Bifida. ( I hope this all makes sense)? Of course I said I would love too, Lynette said "I already told her you would be happy too). She knows me pretty well. So Lynette gave her Mother-in-law my blog, and email and everything else so she could learn about our experience so far with Christopher. At that point I was really looking forward to talking with this mom, because Of course I totally know what she is going through. But, I also knew that she might be so overwhelmed with things that she might not be ready to talk to me. I know I was that way.
Then, Lynette got an e-mail from her m-i-l and said that another person in her same ward talked to this very same mom about us! (what?)! that is way to crazy!!! Ok, I hope you are still following me :] . This other other lady is Bitsy Speirs, I knew her In California. She was in the Stake young womens Presidency when I was in YW's. She was Awesome. all the girls loved her. Anyways, they moved to Texas, which is where Robert, my husband served his mission. He served in their ward, they took him and his comp in and took great care of them while they were there. Rob and I never knew eachother until after he returned from his mission, so it was neat that we both knew Bitsy. Anyways, after his mission Rob's parents have been keeping in touch with the speirs, and so That is how Bitsy knows about Christopher. ( I told you this was crazy)! So, Bitsy gives her all the same info that Lynette's m.i.l. gave her. ( the mom's name is Adrienne by the way :} ).
It blew my mind that This Mom that I never had any idea about was aproached by two different people to contact me. Do you think we were soposed to connect for some reason? I do. Like my sister said, It doesen't matter how big this world is, Heavenly father knows how to take care of each and everyone one of us, he knows what we need when we need it. We can all be instraments in the lord's hands to help him take care of his children, just like Bitsy and Diane did. Hopefully Adrienne and I will be able to help each other out with all our new expierences, and challenges that come our way as mothers of these fabulous little boys.

AGHHHHHHH!

Ok, how do I blog about this? Maybe I will just start and we will see where it goes!
yesterday morning we started off the day with taking Spencer to the dentist at 8 a.m. , Emily didn't want to take the bus yesterday cuz it was snowing so Rob took her. I told Rob to be back by at least 7:40 so I could get Spencer there on time. James had not gone to school yet and Chris was still sleeping. So, I told James to wait until Dad got home before he took off to school. ( he had 1/2 hour still). Rob of course did not remember to bring his stinkin cell so I could'nt get a hold of him, he didn't even bring his wallet so I new he could'nt go far. I was starting to get a little worried too. He should have been home at least 30 min. by now. It was snowy and icy, and all I could do was think about the worst possible things. When Spenc went in to the dentist I started calling James like every 5 min. To see if he was home yet, no, nope, not yet mom! Do I have to go school today mom? Yes James! Anyways, It was 8:30 by now. I started to call the police departments to see if his car was off the side of the road. I called Emily's school to see if she made it there safely (she did). Finally at 9:15 I called James and Rob answered. Do you have any idea what he said? Oh, I forgot about the Dentist, sorry babe! (sorry? whatever)! He was sitting at the freaking gas station reading a news paper!!!!!!! So, I hung up the phone. I thought he was bleeding on the side of the road somewhere! He just laughed at me and thought I was crazy! That's a husband for you right ladies? By the way don't tell my husband I vented on my blog! I do love him very much, but he seriously can drive me crazy sometimes!

Christopher's first braces!

These are Christopher's new braces. They are quite the sweet set up. He is not sure what he thinks of them yet though. They are great, they will help him keep his feet in the right position so he can learn to walk. We need to work on the crawling first though. This kid is so determined to get around, he is scooting and rolling everywhere, he will be crawling before we know it.

Cool Chris!

Just had to post this, he thought he was pretty cool. He totally kept them on once we showed him what he looked like in the mirror

Froggy cake

My friend Colleen is pretty great. She made this cake for Christopher in like 2 hours. It was so dang cute. She just started decorating cakes about 6 months ago too. She does such a cute job. Anyways, we had to do a froggy cake because that is Christopher's " thing" . Thanks Colleen for making it so fun.

Happy Birthday Christopher Rudger Etchells, We love you

Our Celebration of Christopher's first year of life. We are soooo grateful for this little guy. He completes are family and is the last piece of our family puzzle. What a fabulous piece he is too. He has changed all of our lives for the better. He makes us laugh and smile, and he helps us to recognize the simple joys in life. Thankyou to everyone who has kept us in your thoughts and prayers this last year, we truly have felt all your love. What a time of reflection I tell you.

He did It!!!!

Look what Our Christopher can do? We have been working so hard on this with our pt and he finally sat up on his own. He has to work so hard to do it too. Bless his little heart, he just get's so proud of himself when he finishes. He sat up for the first time yesterday and has been doing it a million times . Not only is this milestone amazing Physically for him but mentally as well. It's a process for him to sit up and he had to learn it. He is truly a thinker and a smarty pants. We are so proud of our little guy. ( especially when we were told he may never be able to do this)!

I was just thinking yesterday about my patriarchal blessing. In it it says ; " take time to enjoy the simple things in life, for in them you will find true happiness". I really have found true happiness with all the sweet simple things this little guy does. And all of my other beautiful children as well. They are all such blessings in my life. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending these specific children to Robert and I. They were meant to be ours there is no doubt about it.

Our new cooking blog!

Ok guys, you need to check out me and my sister Julie's new cooking blog! I have wanted to do this for a long time, so check it out http://sweetandsaucysisters.blogspot.com and ell me what you think, or if you have any cute ideas or recipes please share, I would love to know them!

Tell me about Christmas Spencer?

So Emily and James were talking to Spencer about Christmas today and what he knew about it, and this is what I heard

James: Spencer who Helps Santa fly the sleigh with all the toys?

Spencer: Kangaroos

James: Who helps santa make all the toys in his workshop?

Spencer: all the kids on Little people Big world. ( maybe we watch that show too much)!

It stopped there because Em and James had to run out of the room they were laughing so hard. They are not allowed to let Spencer see them laugh at him. The kid is seriously funny, so it gets pretty hard.

MY kids!

Can you believe this is how Spenc fell asleep the other night? This kids just crashes at the end of the night. He has so much energy during the day, and by night this is what happens!

Halloween

The cutest pirate ever and helping out in James' class on Halloween. It was a fun day!

Look what I can do!

Spencer Clayn doing some Amazing Stunts! This kid amazes us every day with the coolest things. He just makes us smile. We love our Spencer.

the latest happenings at the Etchells in a nutshell!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

This is a real fun way to organize pictures for me! Because I seriously am not so crafty on my own. And it is quick since my days are more crazy than I usually like them.

I love Fall !!!

It is October, I am So excited. The weather is cooling down and the leaves are starting to change into their beautiful colors. And, I actually enjoy being outside.
I hate the heat. Most people are the opposite of me, they love summer and hate the Winter. Winter seems to bring out the blues in people. With me it brings out happiness!!! I love bundling up and cozying up to the fire. I love the snow falling and the crisp cool breeze. And I love all the fun Holidays we are soon to enjoy. I am so excited that summer is over! Welcome fall!
Oh, and just so you know, Rob is totally the opposite. He hates the winter. He would love to just pack us all up and Move us to Florida from October to February. Well, he can just keep on dreaming cuz we are never moving to Florida baby!!!!

The Fam

At Louisburg Cider Mill on the first Saturday of October!

I'ts time to get out the Decorations!!!!

Ok, so I start getting a little freaky about decorating my house around the holidays. I totally love everything about it. Halloween to me is the funnest, I know I got that from my mother since her birthday is the day after Halloween and she is an insane doll maker.
Mom has always loved decorating her house, and I think it has rubbed off on her kids.
This is my newest find that I love! I filled it with cute fall stuff. What do ya think? Cute huh?

Our busy day of Volleyball

This is Emily's Volleyball team that I coach. We are the Disco Diva's. These girls started Out not having a clue how to play, and now we are kicking some serious hiney. We are having such a blast! Such a cute bunch of girls.

I Survived!!!!!

Fencing practice, Trombone lessons, Annie practice and volleyball, Pre-school at our house and a few wonderful visitors! Grandma and Grandpa Etchells were the wonderful visitors, the other visitor comes monthly and is not EVER welcomed!(Sorry, but it was part of the crazy week!)
Parties and pictures and lessons to prepare, cub scouts and play group and guess what else? Our first toothe!!!!!! Yay Christopher, he is now almost finished working on his 2nd toothe!

I can now truly say that I never ever get a moment to myself anymore. I do have a great husband and great friends though. Robert always tries to make my load a little lighter, and I certaintly could not do any of this without him.

So Here's to all the mom's with crazy insane weeks, I TOTALLY feel your pain.

If you love us you will keep scrolling! Feel free to talk to me too.

We have had such a busy week! With Em and I doing the Volleyball thing to James starting Fencing classes. We have been everywhere! Emily has even joined the play for her middle school. They are doing Annie, how fun is that! But, we are working it out. I have finally purchased a calendar too. I have it on my desk so that i can look at it constantly. I purchase a really cute one every year, we only look at it for the pretty artwork though. This time is different. My brain cannot hold everything i need to do in there. I have finally convinced myself of that.
So anyways, This is what all the pictures are of, All the stuff we have been up to in the last week. Crazy crazy bizzy fachizzy fun !

Etchells in a goofy mood again!

Already a total stud!

Tooo cute! He makes me happy.

I am able to be Emily's volleyball coach this year through the parks and rec. we are seriously having so much fun. Our first game was on Saturday, and we totally kicked some serious hiney! I was so proud of the whole team but, i was especially proud of my Emily. Volleyball is truly her sport. She Rocks!

me and my Volleyball girl

Daddy's little helper boy!

Spencer is always wanting to help Daddy with everything! And he really does help. Rob planted a bunch of beautiful trees on Saturday on the side of our house, and Spenc helped with EVERYTHING! what a kid!

just me and the little boys now

How can you resist this cute little face?

He used to hate binkies, now he can't get enough of them!

We love our little Christopher!

James was not excited really to have me take his picture, but he never wants to make me sad! He takes really good care of his Mommy! He is always the Man of the house when Daddy is gone. He was so excited to be in the same class with his best friend Nick. He didn't care about anything else! Life is Good! But, his teacher happens to be the coolest one in 5th grade! She loves video games too!!!! Kid #2 off to school! Now, the little boys and I can Chill.

James Douglas

Binky Break!

Spencer is addicted to his binky! He is only allowed to have it upstairs when he is tired. He knows he cannot leave the stairs with it! He is so funny! He just needed a break when the kids left for school. kind of a funny pose too!

Emily Anne! keep scrolling to see her pictures

Emily is now too embarassed to have me take pictures of her in public. The only one she let me take was infront of the door with James! Thanks Em!!! I could not take any of her heading off on the bus, what she does'nt see won't hurt her right? So here they are! Kid #1 off to school!

new school year pictures! the kids always love these.

The new school year!

Another school year begins tomorrow! This will be the first Emily has ever taken the bus! She had a 6th grade orientation on friday, so no 7th or 8th graders were there. She got to see who all the 6th graders were that went on her bus, and she met all her teachers. Thankfully she is not as nervous as she was before. This is also the first year Em and James will not be in the same school, That is going to be different.
Wish us luck!!!

Me and my Peeps in Kansas!

Our new Fridge

Our old fridge quit on us the other day. So, James had to proudly show off our new one to everyone. It actually is pretty darn cool. I finally got my ice maker everyone!!!!

The best Daddy there is!

My 3 sons

this picture is for you Susie

Christophers first time eating Oatmeal