10 Years and still going strong!

Jason and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on August 8th! WOW! It is hard to believe we have been married for 10 years already! It seems like yesterday when we said I do. We actually won't be celebrating until November when we take a much needed vacation to Mexico! We are so excited and can't wait. I would post a picture of us but sadly have no recent pictures of just us. We have been through so much but I would not trade a minute of it! I think we are having more fun now! Ok, I know I am a little sappy but it is 10 years! That is a big deal!

However, my darling friend Faye posted pictures from our wedding on her blog. Check out her entire site, she is an awesome photographer (some of you may remember the pictures from summer 2007 that she took of the kids.) She is actually in the pictures of our wedding. (last one on the right as you are looking at the picture)I wish I could get married again just so I can have new awesome wedding pictures taken by her.
Here is the link http://fayesommer.blogspot.com/

SLACKER!

Ok, I know I have been a total slacker in the blogging department. I tell you things have been crazy and I can't even figure out what happen to the summer.

Here is a brief recap of what we have done and I will post some pictures later.

The whole family went to Holiday World in June and I would highly suggest it!! It is totally fun and drinks are free.

Lauren had her dance recital (she did great) and I took her to American girl with Grandma and her cousin.

Alex has been busy playing Legos (new found love) and getting tan as can be!! It is crazy how dark he is.

Claire is growing like a weed and saying new words everyday!! We also had the joy of taking her to the ER in July because she jammed a small square lego up her nose!! Lovely!

Jason has been traveling a lot lately. Houston, LA and Boston just to name a few.

I went back to work sort of! I have been working like crazy to get through orientation, then I will only be working 2-3 times a month in the hospital setting....

That is it!! Not to much going on but enough!

I promise to do better this time!! I have also discovered Facebook so that is a lot of fun too. TO all my faithful readers and people who post, I have been reading yours and enjoy every minute of it!

ALREADY?

I just wanted to share a few updates in the life of the Ulms. We are back in full swing I can't believe there is only a few weeks of school left.

-Alex started soccer and he is enjoying it! Of course he is the fastest kid out there!

-Claire is doing awesome with her speech therapy! We are hearing new words everday!

-Lauren had a dentist appointment yesterday which does not sound like much until he informed us that we need to pull two teeth to make room for her adult teeth and he will continue to pull two at a time in hopes of making her teeth a little straighter and this will help when she gets braces. Seriously? She is 6 and we are already starting to talk about braces. She will be fitted for a retainer within the next few months! Oh my!! Jason just says we are spreading the money out over time. Lets hope so! So next week we are pulling the first two baby teeth to allow her adult teeth that she has to straighten a little bit and then when those teeth that were pulled come in we will pull the next two!! Sounds like fun!

-Jason is busy as usual at work and is getting ready to do some more travel.

-I am getting ready for a huge Kids Sale that our MOPS group does every year(most of my readers know this since they are in MOPS too and you are the ones who read my blog, but just in case) SO I am preparing to put in about 30 plus hours over the next 3 days! It is a lot of fun and I will be sure to get a lot of great deals!

ALERT! ALERT!

GRAY'S ANATOMY IS GOING TO BE NEW STARTING ON APRIL 24TH. We will get to see 5 NEW EPISODES!!!

Vacation Pictures

Lunch with the Princesses!
Can't wait to swim!! Lets GO!
Waiting to feed the Sea Lions!

Good Old Indiana

We are back from a much needed vacation where we enjoyed 80 Degree temps. Now I have my winter coat on!! That is no fun!

Jason's mom is home from the hopital and doing well. Thanks for all the prayers. They were heard and answered!

Like I said, we enjoyed beautiful weather in the land of Florida. It was suppose to rain all week but we were blessed with only one day of rain that revealed a beautiful rainbow and a good reminder. The rest of the time was great. We went to Disney one day. Sea world one day and enjoyed the rest of the time swimming at the house. Jason also thought it would be fun to play tennis. Has anyone ever seen me in any type of sport that requires a ball? Not a pretty sight but it was fun to be silly.

Odds and Ends

I much to say and not much time to say it....

Please pray for my mother-in-law. She is in the hospital and we are not sure what is going on. It appears she had a mini stroke and she is also going to be seen by the oncologist for some odd blood work. We drove to Fort Wayne to see her today and she appears to be in good spirits.

We are leaving for Florida tomorrow night for a week of fun in the sun and some much needed time away as a family. Please pray we have safe travels and it does not rain as much as they say it is going to.

Thank you to the cutest blog on the block for my fun background. Shelly, you have started a movement!! Here is the link! http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/

Spring has Sprung!

On March 20th, the first day of spring, Lauren woke up in the morning said "It is spring! Where are the buds on the trees?" Well honey, it does not quite work that way although it would be nice if it did! So we did enjoy some time outside!

Where did March go? I had good intentions of keeping up a little better but I failed! Here is a fun recap!

-We removed Alex's stitches which more traumatic than getting them in!

-Alex turned 4!!!

-Claire started speech! She is doing great and is already saying more everyday!

-Lauren started Piano and passed her math test!

-I had my birthday! YUCK!

-We enjoyed celebrating Easter and that Christ has risen at church and with good friends on Sunday. It was followed by the BEST Easter egg hunt ever and now my kids will be forever disappointed if we don't have one like that every year!

Head on Collision

What Happens when two toddlers running full steam ahead run into each other? One gets a goose egg and one has to get 7 stitches. As you can see Alex got the stitches. It was our first experience and I have to say, it went well. Alex was very brave and he thought it was cool because the ER room had a picture of Peyton Manning! He was also glad that the stitches are blue..his favorite color.

I think the scary part is now until it completely heals. I am so afraid he is going to hit his head and it is going to open up. I just want to give a shout out to our awesome small group who all reacted well and took care of the girls while we went to the hospital! We are truly blessed with great friends!

A Regular Pablo Picasso

News in the Ulm household is as follows:

1. Alex is not sick anymore and is making up for lost time.

2. Lauren wants a fish. (the poor thing can't have anything with fur so this is what she can get)

3. Claire LOVES to scribble on everything! She has scribbled on Tupperware, the computer screen, books and her lastest is her foot! Classic!

Finding the bright side of things

So we are all sick again like most of society so I have heard. It has been horrible! Lauren was down for almost a week, then it struck me hard on Saturday and Alex woke up this morning sounding horrible. It has not attacked Claire but I know it won't be long! Jason is in Boston so atleast he is safe for now. I could go on and on and complain about how I feel and how it is horrible to wipe noses and blah, blah, blah! Oh no, not me! I am finding the bright side of this situation and it is the following...

1. Alex is moving at a turtles pace

2. I got to actually take a nap two days in a row

3. My all time favorite is my kids love to cuddle when they are sick! They actually like me and I don't just feel like a maid but a mom. No one can make you feel better like your mom.

So I am embracing the sickness and taking advantage of naps and cuddles.

Anyone else Crazy out there?

So we usually have full weeks of plenty of places to go and people to see. I was excited last night because I knew we did not have MOPS this friday so I would be able to lounge around all morning before taking Lauren to school at 1230. WRONG! At 840 this morning as I'm cuddling in bed with Alex and Lauren starting to enjoy my leisurely morning, Jason says to me doesn't Alex have school today? Shoot! We fly out of bed, get dressed, stuff some Apple Jacks in a baggy and at 855 as Kathy (we carpool together, thank goodness) knocks on the door I'm putting Alex's coat and shoes on.

Why can't I remember he has school on Fridays? I forgot another week too when I had planned to go on the South Side in the morning.

Why do I call my kids the wrong names?

Why? Why? Why? I'm definately crazy!!

In other news, I just checked my friend, Leslie's blog and the TV strike is over!! Praise the Lord!

Go Figure!

So if you are like me you worry and you want your children all to be little Einsteins, right? Well, yesterday we started the process of having Claire evaluated for speech. She only says maybe 5 words and those words are not said daily. So at the suggestion of the doctor, I contacted First Steps. Anyway, there is the first meeting where you sign more papers than you do when you buy a house. We set up the actual eval to happen in two weeks. Literally the gal walks out of the door and I say to Claire "we need to go get Alex at school". She turns to the door and says "Alex"
Hello? Where did that come from? Alex is sort of a hard word to say. She said it like 4 or 5 times on the way to get him. Don't get me wrong, I am glad she said it. In two weeks she will be speaking in sentences. Oh Well! Go Figure!

In other news, yesterday was Preschool registration. I sent Jason to do it. He said it was quite the experience. You would think people are lining up to get a million dollars. But hey, it is important stuff right? I am very thankful for the preschool we attend and I did get Alex and Claire in their classes. When school starts in the fall, I will have 6 hours on Tuesday to my self!! All the kids will be in school! Is it to crazy to start counting down the days for that? What will I do with myself. I am sure I will find plenty!

I just have to brag!

Well, I thought I would take advantage and brag on my kids a little bit. First Lauren, is reading! Can you believe it? I am so proud of her and I can barely believe that she is old enough to even do it. She has been working hard on it for awhile and she has just really taken off with it!

I had parent/teacher conferences for Alex. Now, for those of you who know Alex, you know he is anything but quiet and well mannered. The teacher informed me that he is so quiet that if she doesn't go out of her way to talk to him she would not know he is in the class. Say What? He does his own thing and will occasionally do something silly but nothing serious. Say What? Well at least he is at good at school!! I must say he is growing into a good boy but not quiet!!

Claire is into everything and can certainly dish it out to the others. She is slowly starting to say words. She is a little behind but can you blame her with the other two?

I will also take a moment to brag about me! Since there is NOTHING on TV anymore, I have been exercising and doing bible study. Who knew there were better things to do? I still love my TV and want Grey's back!

New Picture

Not much new here! We are finally getting over the nasty coughing bug! Yeah!
Check out the bottom of the blog. There is a new family picture.

What can I say?

Coughing, sneezing, runny nose! Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, clingy child. I wish I had something more to say but really that has been my house for the last several days. So what can I say? AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hope everyone is having a good week! This to shall pass right?

2008 here we come!

Wow! It is hard to believe it is 2008! It really hit me when I had to write the date and then had to scribble out 07 and put 08.(I know you all do it, right?) I really dislike January because I get in my mind all these great things I'm going to accomplish and teach the kids then sadly I feel like a failure in February when I have not done one thing. So this year my resolution, for lack of a better word, is I am just going to simpy enjoy my kids. They are growing right before my eyes and everytime I blink they are bigger. With Lauren being in school now it really seems like time is flying. Her favorite thing to do right now is play cards. What happened to playing dress up? Although, I must say I am really enjoying it. I pray that you will all have a wonderful year and that you take time to enjoy it while it is here.