I can't believe I went the whole month of January with no posts. Staying home with two kids, you would think my life would have slowed down a bit, but it actually seems busier! Somehow I am always finding ways to stay busy, whether I want to or not.

Well, one of the ways my time has been spent lately is I have been going to MCC on Wednesday nights. It is nice beacuse Ryan also has a class on Wednesday nights so we ride up together. What a nice 45 minute drive to talk and spend time with eachother--with no kids screaming for your attention. The class itself isn't the most intresting class, but it has a lot of good information and I have fallen in love with the process of school again. What a differnce highschool is to college. In highschool I found myself not caring as much, thinking I knew where my life was headed so why bother studying so hard. I wasn't a horrible student, I just didn't try. Now, it seems I am just as obsessed as my husband is with getting an A and I have been managing to do so. I really really enjoy it, and am looking forward to taking more classes next semester.

On another note, another thing I have been doing is volunteering at Holland Hospital Friday afternoon's for 4 hours. I had been volunteering in Surgery, where I was basically just stocking things, wiping off stretchers and doing other small tasks the staff needed done. I was there twice in January when a position came open for a Unit Tech job. (A unit tech is typically a nurses aid. In surgery, it's very different than the typical unit tech.) I was encouraged to apply from another Unit Tech in Surgery. I applied on a Wednesday, had an interview on Friday and found out the job was mine about a half hour after the interview. WOW IT WENT FAST! It is amazing to see the people and experiances God has put infront of me at the most perfect time. This whole experiance with Holland Hospital has come really from no where. The idea to volunteer was kind of spur of the moment, to see if I liked the hospital setting (which I do!!) and the way I was led to Surgery was nothing from myself. And again..the open position 2 weeks after I started. It was amazing how things fell into place and I know it was God being God, His faithful self blessing this. Awesome. I start my orientation on Monday, and I will be training anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks I was told full time. Once my training is done, I will be working two days a week. Perfect for what I was looking for! :-)

Enough about me. Ryan is also enjoying school. He is in a very hard class right now, Anatomy and Phisiology. One of the most hated class of nursing students because it's so hard, but he actually enjoys it! He spends a lot of his time home studying, but does an amazing job of balencing work, school and us. I'm so proud of him. He is doing so well!

Our little man turned 3 this January. How did that happen? I remember vividly the anticipation leading up to his birth. The morning I went in to be induced. The excitement and wonder of what we were going to have. Then to find out he was a boy! Ryan cried like a baby and I wept as I saw him for the first time. Now, three years later, this little baby has become a rambunctious, energetic 3 year old. He loves wrestling with daddy, playing tractors, playing pretend, and doing chores with his pappa. He loves to laugh and everytime he does he melts his parents hearts. We love our little Evan. What a gift he has been to us!

And our Livvy Bug. She too is growing up so fast! She is talking so much more lately. More words we can understand than just her baby jibberish. She has an attitude she can turn on in a second, and her will is one of the strongest I have seen. But even so, she is a sweetie pie. Everyday, when Ryan opens the door, coming home from work, she runs to the entry way screaming "DADDY!!" It puts a smile on all our faces. She is our little livvy bug and life wouldn't be the same with out her.

I plan on updating with more pictures soon, and adding some of Evan's birthday party. I'm a huge slacker these days. Hope to get to it soon!

The Recent Happenings

Wow, I need to get on this! You would think staying home I would have more time, but it seems almost like the opposite. Taking care of two little munchins full time is busy! :-) I am loving it though. I am enjoying my time off a lot. It is fun being able to see the kids learning and progressing on a daily basis. So much fun! The things that Evan says sometimes take me such by suprise. He is getting so smart, and more of a smart alec as well! Sometimes its hard not to laugh as he is saying something I should be diciplining him for. Ah, the joys of being a mom. :-)

Well, I havent even posted pictures of the kids from Halloween. How horrible am I? I guess I figured, most people who read this have Facebook so they saw it on there. We will skip the halloween pictures and I will start off with just a few randoms of the kiddos.





And now here are a few from Christmas...What a fun time! It was so cool to see the kids getting excited about it! Evan finally understands what Christmas is a little bit and it was cool seeing him get excited about it.






I guess you could say a lot has changed lately. I hesitate to talk much about this on our blogg, but in the last couple months Ryan and I have decided I would be joining him in the College world. I will be taking one class this semester, easing myself into it. We decided we wanted to both be a "nurse family." :-) I have come to the conclusion, (as much as I love my kids!!!) staying home isnt for me. I enjoy working part time, and I know that once I am able to stay home while Ryan is working as a RN, I would probably get bored with the kids in school etc.. I have always had an intrest in the medical field, the opportunity just never arose. Its funny how when God closes a door in your life, He soon opens a new one. One you never thought you would open, but He did. And I have felt led to go down this road for a while now. Finally, the opportunity is here! :-) I also still am job searching. However, I also chose not to settle either. I am taking a course this semester as well to become a CNA and hopefully that will give me some medical experiance to get a job in the hospital as well. Life is constantly changing and things are always happening. When you think you have it figured out, its funny how God takes you somewhere completly differnt than you thought you would be. I also will be volunteering one day a week for 4 hours at the hospital. Hopefully that will help get me out of the house and help keep my sanity. :-) (again, love my kids, breaks are just nice!!)

Anyway--thats whats going on so far at the DeVries house. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! Happy New Year! Be safe!

So my blogging has become rare these days. I am averaging about once a month which is so bad for me! And I am sorry to say I havent posted any pictures lately. Its funny looking back and reading some of my past posts about the happenings in our household. Recently, Ryan got a job at the hospital, which I already blogged about, but about a week ago he was offered a full time job there. (yay!) The timing couldnt have been better as about 3 weeks ago I was told that the dealership I work for was closing. Today was my first day unemployed. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing of cousre, but God has always been good to us and we are continuously blessed by Him. It makes things a little easier knowing He is taking care of us, and He always has. But wow..what a rollercoaster! Regardless, through these last 3 weeks of knowing I would soon be unemployed, I couldnt help but feel grateful for all that we do have. My kids are healthy, Ryan and I are healthy (other than battleing some sinus infections and minor colds!) We are very blessed and I have nothing at all to be worried about or feel ungrateful for.

With that being said, I am definatly looking forward to seeing my kiddos more in the next little while. Of course the hunt for a job is still on, but I will enjoy the days home. The kids are growing so fast, and Alivia is picking up so many new words latly, I am going to enjoy spending my days watching her learn new things and playing differnt games with Evan.

I will try and be a little better about keeping this updated, now that I have a little more time! Hopefully even some pictures soon! Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving! There is so much to be thankful for!

What a Month!

Most posts I start by saying not much has changed in the last month, but in this post, I cant say that. A lot has been happening.

For one, we celebrated our little girl turning 1! It is so much fun watching little liv bug growing up. She is saying so many more words these days, and becoming more and more obsessed with her favorite things. She cant go to sleep without her pipey and puppy. She loves them both and will not sleep with out them. It kind of makes it hard to find a time to wash the puppy.

For two, Ryan was called back to Tiara which I posted about already. He was back for a week when he got a call from Holland Hospital for an interview. While he was laid off he was applying everywhere. A position became available at the hospital for a phlebotomist. He had the interview and a day later got the job! We were forced to make a decison to either stay with Tiara or choose Holland Hospital. The path God has been leading us down for the last couple years, the answer couldnt have been more clear. He is in training still for the next couple weeks and is exactly where he is supposed to be. He couldnt be happier and is totally in his element.

Evan also had his second MRI for his neck. The specialist determined he did not have the problem which they thought was a possibility. All in all we had a great result from that appointment, which means no surgry on his neck. We do still have to meet with a specialist on the spine to discuss his tailbone to see if he will eventually need surgry on that.

The nebulizer has already been used a multiple of times this season due to colds and sickness again. Evan was in the ED a few weeks ago because of a 105 fever. He ended up having a bad ear infection and a bad cough. Tis the season!

Hope everyone has had a good month! I will post pictures soon!

So I am like the worst blogger ever when it comes to updates. For everyone who has facebook, I am sure you already know Evan had his MRI last month and his results we pretty positive. He does not have the spinalcord issue that they thought he could have had. However...(and it always seems like in Evan's case there is a however!) He has to go back next tuesday to have another MRI done on something they saw at the bottom of his neck. They only have one image of it. What they saw was a gray image of something they werent sure what it was. He has a follow up after the MRI with his neuro sugeron for the results, and to talk possibly about his tailbone, if he will need surgry. Now that I have gone through this once, I am not as nervous about the whole sedation and everything, we just are hoping for some good news with no howevers this time!

Ryan is also back to work at Tiara..or Energetix actually. He has been back for about a week and it is going good. He got one of the better jobs at least where he isnt doing as much with the fiber glass as most of the people there. He is fortunate on that end. We have been blessed he has been called back. Now all I have to do is figure out a child care issue, and we should be all set!

I forgot to post Liv's stats as well, for whoever is intrested, but she was 20lbs 15 oz. I cant remember he height, but I know she was 50% for weight and 85% for height. Tall and skinny!

I hope everyone has a great week!

My baby is 1!

A year ago tonight, I was so nervous of what to expect on having my second child. How my life was going to change, how Evan was going to handle being a brother so young. But a year ago tomorrow, my world changed for the better. The momemnt my doctor said "you have a little girl!" I literally screamed a little scream of pure joy and the tears came pouring down. Ryan looked over at me smiling the biggest smile, "You have your little girl!" In the middle of a lot of unknown, God gave us Alivia, and we are so so blessed to have her. We love her more and more everyday, and she brings us so much happiness.

She is starting to walk on her own more and more, still on wobbly feet. She has two small tiny teeth that have just poked through. She is still lacking long flowing locks, but I know they will come. :-) Her eyes are green like mine, and my dad says she is the spitting image of me as a baby. She melts my heart even seconds after a temper tantrum, and she has her daddy wrapped around her teeny tiny fingers. Aliva Kristine, we love you so much. We are so blessed to have you as our daughter and we cant wait to watch you grow!! Love you sweetie!

August is almost half over already! On to fall my favorite time of year. (ryan's favorite time too for other reasons...hunting would be one of them!) Although, we have been extremly busy, we have found time to do some fun little things with the kids and even have finished the bathroom downstairs as well as repainted over the abnoxious blue in our basement. Ryan is finished with his last semester of Math, (EVER! other than Stats of course..) and will be starting his next semester end of August. It is so nice to be able to have this little break and not have homework that he has to worry about, and we can just spend our nights as a family together. We are getting so close to the time Ryan will be in the nursing program. We cant wait! Hopefully within the next year sometime he will get called. We will see. :-)

Our little princess is almost 1. Where did the year go? Looking back over the last year and seeing how she has grown, and all the little things she has learned to do, I cant help but be so thankful and feel so blessed for our little bug in our life. We love her so much, and cant imagine life without her.

Evan's MRI is coming up as well so I ask for prayers for that. For Evan, and for this mamma too. It makes me a little nervous knowing he will have to be put out for the procedure, but the results are what scare me the most. Please pray.

I will keep ya posted on Evan's report. Have a GREAT rest of your week! :-)