I didn't mean to fall off the face of the Earth.

It may have had something to do with raising/chasing two and growing/preparing for two :)

Either way, I'm back and hopefully I can continue to keep up with this blog. I love to have it as a way to look back at what my babies were doing and saying at certain points in their lives, and it's also a wonderful way to keep people updated on Jackson.

Speaking of, his scans are this Wednesday the 4th. If these are clear, that will mark one year of clear scans which is a HUGE milestone in his remission! Please pray with us that there is zero evidence of cancer in his sweet body.

When I last blogged, we were still waiting for the 2nd pathology results from the mole removed from his foot. We didn't get word until the middle of October, which was an excruciating wait, and the 2nd pathologist felt like it was NOT cancerous. We were incredibly relieved but our dermatologist felt that we couldn't be too careful considering his history. She recommended that we have more tissue removed from his foot to ensure that it was all gone (the original biopsy of his foot indicated that some was left behind). We had the additional tissue removed this past Friday and we should hear back from the dermatologist in the next few days. This has left us in a bit of a limbo with his foot, but ultimately we feel like that it's not as serious of a situation as originally thought.

2011 was an amazing year for us...not without some hiccups for sure, but overall it was one for the record books.

Jackson completed his treatment plan in January and had clear scans ALL YEAR. So thankful!

We enjoyed getting back to normal in the Spring and spent lots of time outdoors and visiting family and friends. We did a lot of fun outings to make up for our months of lockdown!

In May we went on our biggest outing...Jackson's Make-A-Wish trip!! Still need to blog about that. We had some major issues with our digital picture storage...hopefully all the kinks have been figured out and my husband will stop lecturing me on the subject ;)

In June, just a couple of days after getting back from our trip, we found out we were expecting. And a couple of weeks later, we went to my first appointment and were SHOCKED to find out there were TWO babies in there!! The next few weeks were spent on the couch for me...thankfully I wasn't sick too long because I was miserable!

In August Ryan turned the big 3-0 and in September the boys turned 2 and 4! September also brought some scary news about Jackson's foot...and we found out that the babies were a He and a She! We also celebrated the boys birthdays and had our Heroes for Children 5k on the same day (another thing I need to blog about!).

The fall was mostly spent preparing for the babies...we had our house on the market during the spring, but took it off once we knew we were growing by two. We just didn't want to rush a sale, possibly lose money because the market wasn't so great and then settle on a house we weren't in love with because we had a deadline. So we have purged, cleaned, repaired, etc for a few months and we are almost ready!

We had a great holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas--so nice to not be locked down during the holidays!

12 things I hope to accomplish in 2012:

1. SURVIVE! Adding two babies to the mix will be mostly exciting, but there are sure to be crazy, stressful days!

2. Grow spiritually, pray as a family more and get more involved at church.

3. Learn how to use my Christmas gift--an embroidery machine!

4. Spend quality time with each child, each day. Also--have "Jackson and Brayden" days occasionally so they don't feel overshadowed.

5. Take the boys to my Grandpa's farm as much as possible. And the park--makes them SO happy.

6. Actually run in the Heroes for Children 5k this September.

7. Organize my pictures (digitally and the ones already printed) and print pictures occasionally and start Project Life.

8. Stay up-to-date with my blog and go back and blog important events.

9. Keep up with the organization and purged spaces that we worked so hard to achieve!

10.Spend time with friends--without kids--at least once a month. Same goes for time with my husband!

11.Be a better Christian, wife, mother, daughter and friend.

12.Continue to teach Jackson and Brayden the importance of giving back, through our hospital and as other opportunities present themselves.

Hopefully I can look back and feel good about my progress throughout the year! All bets are off if the twins are colicky though!!

Happy New Year!