8 years Already?!?!?!

Eight years ago my life was changed forever. I was given a gift only God could give. Something so precious, something so delicate, something so beautiful, something so life changing. I was given the gift of motherhood.

On July 1, 2003 at 2:17pm 9 pound Jordan Lee was born. My first born. Where has the time gone? Has it REALLY been 8 years? Am I REALLY the mother of an 8 yr old. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to believe it's real.

Jordan is SUCH a blessing in my life. Because of him, my life has been changed. I could not imagine my life without him.

From little on Jordan was always my cuddle bug. He loved to snuggle. I actually remember a time when he was snuggling with and said even when he's 16 he would still lay on the couch with me and snuggle. He's half way to 16 and even though we do not actually have lots of time that we lay down and snuggle, I know he would come and sit on my lap and hug me the second I asked him to. So even though he is growing up and doesn't actually cuddle up to me like he did when he was just a few years old, I know in his heart he would in a heartbeat!

Jordan LOVES anything to do with science. He will watch it on TV, read about it, try to create it...He just loves science and not just loves it..he actually gets it..he understands it. More of it than I could ever dream of understanding. Yes, I know he's only 8! And he also has a love for history. Something I didn't pay much attention to growing up so he has taught me to now have a love for it as well. I am enjoying learning with him.

He is definetly a gamer. You know..one of those who LOVES video games. Now, we don't let him play them constantly...nor even daily. Our Wii or playstation aren't even left out..they are put up and only taken out every now and then. But that kid can figure out ANY game. It's crazy. And the computer...WOW...he can figure out ANYTHING on it. Usually when it's messed up and I don't know what to do. I ask Jordan..and he'll figure it out! He is into computer games. I try to sway him toward the actual "learning" games which he does enjoy and likes to play, but every now and then a boy has gotta just play games. :)

Baseball. He is our baseball player. He has tried a few other sports and just wasn't into them. But baseball keeps his attention. And he's good at it! He is also into collecting sports cards. He's got SO many baseball, football and basketball cards. And he knows each team and player. He gets all that sport knowledge from his Daddy. Definetly his department and not mine. He is also into the outdoors. He dreams of going on long hikes in the wilderness. Again, that is his Daddy's department. The two of them have all kinds of dreams of the places they are going to some day hike.

He can also be a goofball and loves to goof around. He will always do things that make us say "Jordan Lee..you are so crazy!" Of course we are saying that while laughing. Sometimes we are ROLLING! He is quite the character! (i'm sure he will not appreciate the following pictures of him.)

Jordan is also a good big brother. I have to tenderly remind him at times that LOTS of little eyes are watching him. Which I'm sure that is A LOT of pressure for an 8 yr old curious boy to handle. For the most part though, he TRIES to take that into consideration when he makes his choices. But over all..he's a great big brother and the other kids just LOVE him.

I love you my precious baby boy. I know you are now 8 years old but you will ALWAYS be my baby boy. No matter how old you get.

Happy 8th Birthday Jordan Lee!!!!

Happy Birthday Gracie Ann

I can not believe our little baby, our youngest is TWO YEARS OLD today. Where has the time gone? (Click here for her birth story) I still think of Gracie Ann as our little infant..but then she quickly reminds me that she is far from an infant. She has NO trouble keeping up with her 3 older siblings. She is our little firecracker. A little ball of energy. She keeps us on our toes. If Gracie isn't in the room with us, that is a very scary thing. Who knows what she is getting into. I watch her like a hawk yet she STILL seems to get into all sorts of messes. Some of those messes scared the living daylights out of me and had me running to call poison control.

She loves girly things like dolls, barbies and make-up. I think she gets confused as to what is actually make up. She once thought white out was eye makeup and rubbed it all over her eye lids! (For the record..you can use baby soap to wash it off but it doens't come off of the eyelashes. It wears off of eyelashes on its own in about 4 days!) She looks girly dressed in her dresses with her bouncy curls, but don't let the bright blue eyes and blond curls fool you!! She is definetly a tom boy! She loves bugs and dirt. Her big brother Mason and her make quite a pair when it comes to getting dirty! You will also find her in the middle of a wrestling match between her two brothers. She holds her own and has quite the moves! (I think the boys are secretly scared of her when she starts in on their wrestling matches!)

Also, I am believeing she is an artist in the making. Give that child a pen, pencil, crayon or marker and she will give you a BEAUTIFUL drawing. WARNING: it may be on the walls, carpet or furniture. (also for the record, using hair spray and Mr. Clean Magic eraser will get ANY pen marks or even permanent marker off of the walls)

Gracie is also an animal lover. She LOVES dogs and meows (cats...but she just calls them meows). There are some neighborhood cats that roam around and if she sees one she will follow them everywhere! And horses...she LOVES "or-eees" as she calls them. I wish I could just buy her a real pony!

She is independent. She has potty trained herself. (well, we are in the middle of it now...but during the day if we are home she just goes by herself and then comes and tells me!) This is amazing to me as you may recall I had issues potty training my other children (click here to read the post). Mason had just finished getting potty trained about 6 months ago (he turned 3 in Dec)but every now and then he will have an accident and Gracie will be the first one to tell him that he needs to go on the potty and that it's yucky to have an accident. She also praises our ENTIRE family when they use the potty. "Good Job Mommy...you pee peed in the potty! Give me FIVE!" That is usually what she tells me!

She is tender hearted. She will always ask "you okay?" if someone gets hurt or seems sad. And if anyone raises their voice to her she busts out in tears. She gets her feelings hurt so easily. On the otherhand, this girl could fall down hard or bump her head and get right back up without a single tear, but hurt her feelings and she'll sob and sob.

God has blessed me greatly with another beautiful, precious daughter and I couldn't be more greatful for her. I am excited to continue to watch her grow into the beautiful girl God has planned for her to be. I love you Gracie Ann! Happy 2nd Birthday!
From this:

To This:

Happy Birthday Mya Jade

I can't believe that my little baby girl is now 6 yrs old! WOW...where did the time go?? Happy Birthday to my precious Mya Jade. You bring SO much joy to our lives. You are a beautiful and smart girl. I look forward to the many more birthdays of yours and watching how God unfolds your life. I love you with all my heart! Happy Birthday Baby Girl.

From This:


To This:

Happy Birthday Mase Man!

(This should have been written on Dec. 11, 2010--I'm a little behind)
Three years ago today (well, not today...like I said this should have been written on Dec. 11th) a very special Lil' man entered my life. Mason James was born on Dec. 11, 2007. I can't believe he is 3 yrs old already. Where has the time gone? He was my sweet little baby that LOVED to cuddle. And now he's a toddler--or a preschooler? not sure what age that actually starts. He seems older than a toddler in my opinion. But back to what I was saying. He is growing up so fast and he is the FUNNIEST little boy. He loves to make us smile and laugh. He is also the sweetest boy. He still loves to cuddle and loves to be held. He STILL rubs my arm when going to sleep. (he has done that since he was about 7-8 months old). I love how he just randomly goes up to his daddy and says "I love you Daddy!". He says it to me...but there is just something about hearing him say it to his daddy that just melts my heart. Mason also keeps us on our toes...that's for sure! He is full of life and energy and is constantly finding ways to get that energy out of him! (sometimes he doens't choose very wise ways to get that out--example: throwing things across the room...coloring on everything and anything in sight, etc) but those are those things we will look back on and smile (right???). So HAPPY BIRTHDAY buddy! I love you with ALL my heart.

Here's a picture when he was a few hours old:


Here is a picture of him a few days old in the stocking they gave him at the hospital:


Here he is in his stocking when he was 1 year old (wish i had a pic WITHOUT a dirty face lol):

Here he is when he was TWO:

Here is the BIG 3 yr old in his stocking!

Mommy & Mase the day he was born:

Mommy & her BIG THREE YEAR OLD:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON JAMES! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Seven Years Ago....

Seven years ago yesterday (july 1, 2003) my life changed forever. It was a defining moment. It was a moment that changed who I was. I was no longer Shawna. It was at that moment that I became a Mother for the first time. When I look back now it seems SO long ago. Happy Birthday (yesterday)to my preciou baby boy, Jordan Lee. You have grown up into such a special young man. You are so sweet, smart and adventureous. Even though you are growing up you will always be my baby boy. The one that made me who I am today. A mother. I love you Jordan Lee!

From this:

To this in 7 years:

Gracie's Birthday Pics

One Year Ago

One year ago my baby girl was born! I can't believe she's no longer an infant but a toddler ready to explore this great big world! She's walking, and talking (well, her favorite word right now is "doh" not sure what that means but she says it when she points at stuff! LOL). She now climbs onto the dining room table, climbs up on the bed, and chases after her brothers and sister! She's growing up WAY TOO FAST! Happy Birthday Gracie Ann! Click here for my post of her birth story.

Mya's 5th Birthday

I can't believe that it's been 5 yrs already!

My baby girl turned 5 yrs old on June 8th! WOW! I can't believe it. We had a great party at Chuck E. Cheese. Her favorite birthday venue!

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Bet you all didn't know that on July 1st, 2003 a famous scientist was born! Yup, Jordan Lee Beers is his name!!!! Jordan's 5th birthday was on July 1st and that kid has too many toys and there wasn't anything he really wanted so we didn't know what to get him. I knew he wanted "science stuff" because he LOVES anything to do with science. SO Ryan was in charge of going to Toys R Us and buying is birthday presents. WELL, I should I learned by now that if I send him, he's bound to go overboard..and yes, that is what he did. He bought pracitcally every science thing they had! A human body where all the parts come apart and you can learn the anatomy, a bubble making experiment thing, a space thing where it projects space images on your ceiling, a REAL teloscope, an eye clops (that thing that magnifies everything and you can see everything up close on your tv..kinda scary! i don't like seeing objects in my house that close, makes me want to clean everything even more! LOL). Let's see..what else...some other science experiement kit. As he was opening them up, he looked at us and said, "wow, these presents are getting amazinger (he made up that word! LOL) and amazinger!!!" Then he got a driver (a golf club) which he really wanted. So Jordan is keeping very busy and is LOVING all the science stuff. We had a very fun time at Chuck E. Cheese where he had his party. His cake was Indiana Jones. So that is his party in a nutshell.

I can't believe my baby is FIVE yrs old! He will be starting Kindergarten August 18th. That is SO crazy to me. It doesn't seem possible that he's that old already. It's exciting yet sad at the same time. Last night I was holding him in the rocking chair and he fell asleep! So I had to carry him to bed. I couldn't believe how heavy and hard it was to get him into bed. I hadn't really lifted him in awhile and man, that really made realize how big he's getting!