Two Eventful Weekends

Having four boys with ages ranging from 17 years old to 11 months, I live the cliche "They grow up so fast." I have not taken the time to introduce you to our family here on our blog. If you don't know us, let me take a moment to introduce ourselves.

We are Michael and Talina, two soul mates that found each other/fate brought together, {however you see it} via the Internet. Don't laugh, it's true. Ours is a blended family, with Seth (17) pictured with his girlfriend Megan, Aaron (8) and Jacob (7) being my three sons from my first marriage, and Quinn (11 mo) being my fourth son from this, my second, marriage. Michael had never been married before, nor did he have any biological children before Quinn. Michael and I have been married now for going on three years. Our storybook romance was closed and placed on the bookshelf for almost a year, but we have taken it down, dusted it off, and opened the book again re-writing our fairytale.

Our family minus me, as I am often photograhing. :)

We thoroughly enjoy our time together as a family, and prefer to be outdoors hiking, fishing, swimming, and enjoying nature. Indoors we like bowling, watching movies, and playing PS3. The three oldest are active in sports, so depending on the season you can find us indoors or out, cheering them on from the bleachers, whether it be football, basketball, track, or baseball. I am blessed to have an amazing husband that spends quality time with my children, our child, and helps in every way possible to make my life a little easier.

As far as work goes, Michael works full time in a gallery's wood shop making custom furniture. His pieces are either made for the floor of the gallery or are special commissions for customers. He has over an hour commute into the mountains of NC to work one way. I work full time as a registered nurse in a call center. I answer nurse calls for a free service provided by the health system I work for. I also facilitate transfers between hospitals, so patients can receive the care they need. Prior to this job, I had 11 years in women's and children's nursing working on the floor, unit, and as a charge nurse in pediatrics, pediatric intensive care, neonatal intensive care, and LDRP(labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum).

So, onto the events! We celebrated Jacob's 7th birthday by going snow tubing at Hawksnest, the largest snow tubing venue on the East Coast. We also ate cake, had a special dinner, and Jacob even lost a tooth! This weekend, Quinn got the hang of walking. He has been cruising for months, and he had even taken a few steps now and then without holding on, but he preferred crawling as his main mode of transportation. Suddenly, yesterday, he was in the middle of the floor, went from crawling, onto his knees, placed his left foot forward and lunged into a standing position and took off! He was full of energy and excitement as Michael and I cheered him on... He fell down, got back up, walked, and repeated the cycle again and again until he was exhausted. We also turned his car seat forward facing, for a trip to NC to visit Grandma Jean (Michael's Mom}.

Of course, many other things have occurred , maybe not as noteworthy, but it is what makes a family a family, and life, well, just life: trips to the oral surgeon, a parent-teacher confernce, implementing a new rewards/punishment system {banning all electronic games, but allowing boys to "earn" time playing video games, reinforcing positive behavior}, juggling childcare because our usual sitter has been sick, basketball practices, basketball games, homework, etc.

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