Zach's 4th Birthday - June 2009

Blowing out the candles on the yummy chocolate/chocolate icing Iron Man cake.

Riding his cool new "Big Boy" bike!

Opening presents

Zach LOVED the splash pad, especially with the cool goggles he borrowed from Tyler. Ian loved it too, as long as he didn't have to go near the cold water!

Nana gets some cuddle time with her 2 littlest grandbabies

The boys ALWAYS love when Baby Rory visits!

Easter 2009

We had a great & relaxing Easter in TN this year. Sunday morning the boys woke up to LOTS of candy, plus a Leapster and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. After ingesting ridiculous amounts of chocolate & other treats, we headed to church and out for lunch.

See below for a couple pics of our handsome guys on Easter...

It's Already March???

2009 is flying by - we're already about halfway through March! I promised to post pictures from Ian's birthday, and while I am WAY late - here they are!

February 2009: Ian's 2nd Birthday
Even without a "party" Ian was utterly spoiled! He had a daycare party at Kristie's house - they even woke him up from naptime with a whole bunch of birthday balloons - his favorite!

Then on Saturday (his actual birthday) we had lunch at our house with Nana, Grandma, Grandpa, Cari, DanDan, and Rory (and another balloon extravaganza). Then we went swimming at Cari & Dan's hotel (Ian wasn't so fond of that part). We finished the night with a yummy dinner at Rainforest Cafe and opened presents & had cake at home. We also got to keep Baby Rory at our house that night - the boys were both excited to wake up with their little cousin there!

Sunday we had another yummy meal at Logan's before Cari, Dan, and Rory had to leave. Then we went home and played outside since we had awesome 70-degree weather.
Here are some pics of the weekend:

I'm Two!








The 30-balloon salute for Ian's birthday









Hey - why is my brother green???







Blowin' out the candles with some help from Zachy

"Awwww...he's so cuuuuute!" (Actual quote from Zach)

My Baby is Turning Two!

How is it possible my baby is going to be 2 years old already tomorrow?!?!?! When people tell you time flies more and more the older you get, they are not kidding! I am very excited to celebrate this birthday with Ian - mostly because it's the first time he'll understand that it's all about him! And because he'll have all 3 of his grandparents, plus his Aunt Cari, Uncle Dan-Dan, and cousin Rory on hand to celebrate! We decided not to have the big birthday parties for the boys this year, instead putting our efforts into taking a little family vacation this summer, which I know the boys would love.

I promise to post some pictures after the birthday extravaganza weekend.

Happy Holidays!

I know, I know - I've been bad about posting recently, but I do want to update some pics of the boys. They went to see Santa last weekend, but Ian was so terrified that we left as quickly as possible. Then the next day we got their Christmas pictures taken, so see below for some of our favorites...

Fall Updates

It's been a while since I've posted pictures of my sweet boys, so here goes:

Ian shows off his crazy hair

Zach shows off his silly side at Jeff & Shari Lynn's wedding

Making their way through the hay maze at the Pumpkin Farm

Rory Came Home!

Rory came home Monday, October 20. How cute does he look all snuggled in his car seat?

My Handsome Nephew

So we finally got some pictures of this beautiful baby boy, and he is gorgeous!!! He's no longer using the CPAP, so we can get a really good look at his precious lil' face.

I see a total blend of Cari & Dan in him, although I know he'll be changing day by day. (And he might even have his Grandpa Connell's nose!) :-)

Mommy and Daddy got to hold him, which I know they were very excited about. And doesn't Cari look great?!?! You can't even tell she was ever pregnant!

I'm an aunt!!!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post - I've been a total slacker! But, now I have some really big news to share!

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008 I became an aunt to Rory James Lichtman. He weighed 4 lbs, 8 oz, and is 17 inches long. He is a gorgeous little man, and I am already smitten. I can't wait for Zach & Ian to get to meet him - I know they will fall in love just as fast as I did! Because he's still a preemie, he will spend a fair amount of time in the NICU, but I know each and every day he will grow stronger and healthier.

Sadly, Rory's twin brother, Drew Aaron Lichtman, was stillborn. He put up a courageous battle to grow, but I know he will be an angel in heaven for Rory and his Mommy & Daddy. Drew weighed 1 lb, 10 oz, and was 12.5 inches long, and he was just as beautiful and precious as his "big" brother.

Please join me in keeping Cari and Dan in your prayers as they begin their wonderful journey as parents and mourn the loss of their beautiful baby boy.

My Baby Is 1

My sweet little Ian turned one last week! So I thought I'd take a walk down memory lane and look at a variety of pictures from his first year. It's amazing how much he has changed & grown in the past 12 months!


2/7/07: Our precious new Baby Ian









2/10/07: Welcome Home Ian!










March 2007: Gettin' bigger!











May 2007: Silly time













June 2007: Getting some love from big brother
















July 2007: Bouncin' Baby Boy














October 2007: Our very own bouncy kangaroo


















December 2007: Learning to crawl

January 2008: Chillin' in the bath

2/6/08: The last day of "baby-dom"

2/7/08: The birthday boy gets his first "cake": a Zinger.

Mmmmmmm....love at first bite!

Okay, Mama, I'm ready for more!

It's Been A While!

Wow--I can't believe it's been so long! My, how time flies!!! I posted a couple of recent pictures of the boys above...Ian, our little "king," and Zach helping Grandpa shovel the snow in Iowa. Let's see, what's new since I last wrote? Zach is getting bigger and smarter day by day. He recently started calling me "Kid." I think he was trying to call me Caron but couldn't get it quite right! He had lots of fun on our trip to Iowa, especially the part where he got spoiled rotten & played with his cousins. Last weekend Aunt Cari & Uncle Dan came for a visit, and both boys were thrilled to see them. Just this morning Zach asked if Cari & "DanDan" were coming for a surprise visit. Ian is going to be a year old in just a couple weeks--how is that possible?!?!?! He's made so many growth-strides lately: crawling, pulling himself up on furniture, cruising, and now standing alone for a couple seconds at a time. Before we know it he'll be walking! We're all looking forward to his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese...should be a lot of fun! We're very lucky that both boys are great travelers. Our journey to Iowa took about 11-12 hours, and neither cried or got fussy until the last 15 minutes! The same happened on our way home, so we count our blessings! We're hoping this trend continues as we prepare for our first family airplane trip in March to attend Uncle Matt & Aunt Christal's wedding in Arizona. My weight loss journey continues. I've lost 17 pounds so far, with another 19 to go. My biggest accomplishment so far has been fitting in size 10 jeans (something I haven't done in about 15 years!)

That's all for now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the midst of giving thanks today, I am also pondering the following question: Where has time gone??? I mean, it was just Halloween! And beyond that: Ian was just born last week, right? Not to mention Zach who is very much a 2-year-old right now! And didn't we just get married? It's crazy to think how much has happened and changed in our lives over the past seven years! We have so much to be grateful for, so it's important to have days like today where we can really focus on how much we have been blessed with.

Below are some pics from our fall trip to Atlanta a couple weekends ago. We celebrated Cari's birthday, had some fall fun at a beautiful park, and saw the Wiggles Live show (awesome 7th row seats--our early Christmas present from Cari & Dan!) As you can see, we had a lot of fun!



Fun on the slides!


Giggly Zach!


The happy family



Zachy and Daddy enjoy nature


The boys model their "My Aunt Rocks" shirts.
(Their 'cousin' Darren also had a "My Uncle Rocks" shirt!)

This was an "I want the Wiggles" tantrum while we waited for the show to start

There they are!

That's better!

Fun with Jeff Wiggle, Wags the Dog, Anthony Wiggle, Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, and Sam Wiggle

Ian was lulled to sleep by the soothing sounds of the Wiggles!

Halloween Fun!

We had a super-fun Halloween this year. We celebrated lots of firsts: Ian's very first Halloween, Zach's first time truly understanding Halloween, and the first time in 12 years that Brian and I have both donned costumes. We were able to go to two Halloween parties--one for the whole family at Amanda & Darrell's, and another just for the grown-ups at Lisa & Jason's. I'm sad to say this was this first time since April that Brian and I have gotten out together without the kids, and we had a blast!

See below for some pictures from our fun week!

Ian's our very own bouncy kangaroo!

Lord Brian Lucifer & Devil-Angel Caron

Spider-Zach (his daytime costume)

Daddy & Ian share male bonding time

Disco Man Zach & Kangaroo Ian size each other up

Doin' the strut (his best John Travolta impression)

Zach patiently waits to say "Trick or Treat"

So sweet!

The happiest pumpkin in town!