December 2021

 It's been a LONG time since i've wrote on our blog! We've been busy! We added a new member to our family on March 4, 2021... Ivan Truett Leaper...7lb. 3 oz. of perfection. He's almost an exact replica of his older brother :). We have also started homeschooling as of the 2020 school year. Everett is currently in 1st Grade and Vera is in preschool. Ivan keeps us busy and its been very challenging juggling a baby while homeschooling. 

Everett at 5: 

- Believes he knows more than mom and dad

- Everett's first few wrestling tournaments he didn't seem very aggressive or didn't really care if he got last place or first place.. so we went to a tournament in bemidji and told him if he got first place we would get him a cake... he was a wrestling maniac and did SO good and got first place!! Whole different kid!

- Everett loves ice cream on a "pine cone".

- Everett: "mom one day I want to move to Wisconsin!" Me: "You want to be a cheesehead??" Everett: "No i just want to eat cheese not be cheese!!"

- Everett lost his first tooth on his 6th birthday.

- We found out we were expecting baby number 3 on his 6th birthday!

- Everett at 6: He developed a habit cough that lasted about a month. He would cough every few seconds if he wasn't distracted or sleeping. I did some research and realized you can do hypnosis and one thing you could do is ask what they wanted to do when they were all better. Everett wanted a pizza party with cousins so I told him if he stopped coughing he could have his pizza party... the next day he stopped coughing and asked when I was going to plan his party!

- Everett changed the name of Geoff the giraffe to "hot meatball"

- "and renew a right spirit within me" Everett thought was "Henry knew a right spirit" he asked "who's Henry??" 

Vera at 2: says "Opie doos" instead of "Oopsie Daisies"

- She got into and ate rat poisoning, icy hot, and a bag of Tylenol.

Vera at 4: Stepped on the scale and said "how old are my feet?"

Ivan at 6 months: almost crawling, peas and bananas were 1st foods. Got his first tooth the day he turned 6 months!

Spring 2019

We are headed into spring time and are anxious for flowers and sunshine here at the Leaper house. We are enjoying Tommy being home even more for breakup. We are planning a trip to Mall of America next week that we are really looking forward to and we are planning some camping trips with friends this summer. Life is good. We are so thankful for Gods intervention in our life and for answered prayers. He answered our prayers for a change in Tommy's career and we feel so blessed with the career that God provided. Tommy had me out driving the buncher today to pull him out because he got the skidder stuck.... I have a feeling i'm in for many adventures being a loggers wife :).... I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I haven't wrote for awhile so we have lots to catch up on.

-Vera was walking at 14 months.

- Vera at 20 months:
-Says dada, mama, elmo, more
-She loves elmo!
-She throws things when she's mad..
- She always wants to pray before dinner. She says "hands" because we hold hands during prayer at the dinner table :)


Everett at 4:
- Everett said to me "you have little elbows" while staring at my boobs.... he meant boobs!!
- I was laying with Everett in the night because he was all stuffed up and needed me. I was freezing cold and couldn't get warm and as Everett was struggling to talk in his "nasaly" voice he says "I'll put my hand on you so you can be warm." I didn't even say that I was cold but he recognized it and wanted to warm me!

Everett at 4 1/2:
- Everett rarely shares much about school. We figured out the trick to getting some info out of him: cookies! He opened up more than ever before and told us about every detail of his day at school instead of the usual "it was good!"
-I overheard Everett say "Holy sh*t!" and I said "where did you hear that from?" He said "from my great great grandma!" (I'm pretty sure he heard it from "Harry and the Hendersons"... one of his favorite movies)
- Calls "walkie talkies" Walkie Tonies!"
- Calls the movie theater the "bird feeder"



Random thought that I wanted to share for my kids in the future: I read the book "free of me" by Sharon Miller and I really recommend it!


My children if you're reading this: Always remember how much your loved. By me, your dad and your heavenly father!

XOXO,
Stefanie

Sacrifice.

I see so many posts on facebook lately about suicide, struggling, heartbreak, divorce, etc. and a recent one had me thinking about how we can change our world for the better. For me, I look back on when I was fresh out of high school and had dreams as big as the sky. Looking back my dreams were a bit unrealistic and I knew deep down that they most likely weren't going to all come true. I was told "dream big" by well meaning teachers, friends, family and that I did. I thought that if I went to college, got a full time job and worked hard that everything would fall into place and I could keep up with the Jones' and live comfortably. Deep down, I had forgotten about my dream to be a stay at home mom and told myself that I would be able to just "do it all" without problem.

 Thankfully, my husband knew better and back when we were dating he was very determined to be financially free and knew how to achieve it. Sacrifice. Everything "the Jones" were doing that I wanted to do I had to give up for now. I wanted to spend $100,000 on our first house. Tommy found a free mobile house. It was a piece of work. He bought 10 acres and we placed that beauty on our first piece of property that is now a rental property that has blessed us greatly. We followed Dave Ramsey's advice to live debt free. Our 20's were spent working hard and putting down every extra dollar we had towards our mortgage.  The job my husband had was extremely stressful and time consuming. We made good money but we knew we couldn't keep living that way. At the age of 30,  we were able to purchase a logging business with the equity we had built up in our house because of the sacrifices we made and the "debt free" lifestyle we had. We had to continually make a conscious decision to not spend our money on things we wanted for now so that later we could be financially secure. "Live like no one is living now so you can live like no one's living later" is the Dave Ramsey motto.

Looking back, I was on a path of keeping up with the jones' and not actually living a life that mattered. I'm now 30 and have a more realistic view on the world. I see that "success" as the world sees it is not what I'm after. I'm after a slow, simple life in the country. Dinners every night with my family. More free time. Being a stay at home mom. Less stress. Looking back I'm thankful for the people who believed in me and my dreams but sometimes I needed to be told it's ok if all you have is a simple life. I live in a cozy little house in the country that is my oasis from the world and I would bet that the amount of peace, joy, happiness I feel is often times more so than the richest man in the world. It's good to strive for your big dreams. It's good to work hard. It's good to go to college. BUT it's not everything and it's ok to not live the life this world says you should live.

So why am I telling you this? Because I believe this is one way we can prepare people for a better life. Everywhere I look today, I see people who are tired, wore out, running here and there, dropping off kids and then to work and back again. It looks exhausting. No wonder we are seeing suicide rates climb. No wonder we are seeing divorce rates rise. Money is not the key to happiness but if we are smart with our money we can have more free time. More time with family. More rest time. More time for what makes our soul happy again. Make time friends. What can you give up today to prepare for a better tomorrow?                               The borrower is slave to the lender. Proverbs 22:7

Vera is 1! Everett is 4!

We had a birthday party for Vera (1) and Everett (4) and it was a blast! We had nice weather and we were able to have a sprinkler and other fun water activities.

 We are so blessed by these two children God has given us. Here is a song that I really love lately and reminds me of my children and what I hope they will always remember in their life. Have faith, hope, love REPEAT! It's so true that life can be very hard but we have a God that is bigger than all our fears. I love my children with all my heart and I can only begin to imagine the love God has for us.

https://youtu.be/NoO8POz2gtE?list=RDNoO8POz2gtE

Vera at 11 months:
-Loves head rubs
-Eats anything! We often feel like we need to cut her off from food before she gets sick!
-Sleeps through the night (finally)

Everett at 4:
- We went to see his first movie in the theaters "Incredibles 2".. when we came out of the movie he thought he was a real life superhero.. it was so cute and funny

Spring 2018

Well it is Spring time in MN which doesn't mean a whole lot :)... There is still snow on the ground and the temps are still in the 20's and a few days even lower!! Tommy has started his new career as a logger and is loving it. He's had some hard days but he is home every night with us and that has been such a blessing. Tommy's job at ITS was very life consuming and we knew we needed a change. We started praying that the Lord would open a door for a new opportunity and He did. It is so clear it was God working out every detail to transition him from ITS to logging... We are so blessed. We are looking forward to having him home more and enjoying our summers! Camping, fishing, swimming..... Oh the possibilities!! Here are a few things happening in our life!

Everett at 3 1/2:

- When asked what his name is he says "Everett Thomas Leaper big boy!!"

- Says "lasterday" instead of "yesterday"

- Finally Potty Trained!!

- Everett was being naughty one day and I asked him "what's wrong?".. he said "I'm angry." I said "why are you angry?" He said "because I work too much!" HAHA

- Everett is very independent and one day I was getting after him because I needed to help him with something and he wasn't letting me and I told him "you are not a grown man! You are a little boy!" And he started sobbing saying "I'm a grown man!"..... At 3 years old..... 

Vera at 7 months:

- 1 tooth

- rolls to get around

9 months: 

- crawling!

- 2 teeth

A sidenote that I jotted down one day::

Thank you to my children.. you changed me... I used to be selfish.. I used to only care about me.. you gave my life purpose.. you filled my heart with so much love it could explode.. you are a gift from God.. I know that so deep in my heart because only God could create such fulfillment. It wasn't always easy for me.. becoming a mom was one of the hardest transitions of my life.. but I knew one day God would bless it.. and I sit here with tears in my eyes because that time is now.. I realize my love for my beautiful kids.. even when things are hard.. and they can be hard!! So my advice to my kids if you're reading this.. Don't live based on your feelings.. Keep seeking God's will and what He wants for your life.. and know that parenting is HARD but so amazing at the same time. Remember we reap what we sow... Sowing life into our kids is hard work but the reaping is a beautiful life with so much love... 

Love you so much,

Stefanie

Throw away the negative

I wanted to share something that the Lord has put on my heart recently. It's something He has brought to light in my life. I speak a lot of negativity and doubt into my life and heart. I ALLOW negative thoughts to invade my heart regularly. I believe it's something that can creep into our lives very easily and I recently saw an activity that made a lot of sense to help with "throwing away the negative" and seeking out the positive. Every day, I have been writing down these doubts/negative thoughts that I have about myself and others. I also take each thought and in my mind "throw them away" and turn it into a positive affirmation for myself. I write "doubts" at the top and list them. Then I write "affirmations" below those doubts and turn them into a positive thought that I can speak over my heart and mind daily. This has been LIFE CHANGING for me! I don't think I was even aware of all the negative things-- big or small-- that I whisper to myself throughout the day. I'm realizing I can have these negative thoughts and get rid of them and not allow them to consume me or change who I am in Christ.

Answered Prayers

When we had Everett I struggled with a lot of anxiety and fear. I was always worried and anxious with him and it stole a lot of my joy for the first few years of his life. I worried that I was doing the mom thing wrong. I worried because I didn't feel like we were bonding. I was so focused on the struggles that a newborn baby brings that I didn't see the good. It was such a struggle I remember not knowing how I was going to get through the next minute of the day. I didn't want to change his diaper. I didn't want to be stuck at home with a newborn. These are such selfish things but that was how I felt. I felt like there was something wrong with me and that I just wasn't meant to be a mom. I know now that it was postpartum depression stealing my joy. Thank God I didn't live based on my feelings. I can say that I look back at those times and I want them back. I want them back but with me having the right mindset. When we found out we were pregnant again I was excited but the fear came creeping into my mind... Was it going to be better this time around? Was I not going to be able to take care of 2 children? Was it going to be me wishing away the minutes of the day because it would be that hard? Would I bond better with this baby? So many fearful questions flooded me.... but this time around I refused to give into them... Instead I prayed. I prayed that I could enjoy this time around. I prayed that it would be ok having 2 children. I prayed that I would feel joyful this time around. I prayed that He would help me with those anxious thoughts.... I am so thankful that those prayers came true. I have felt so much joy and it has been wonderful having 2 kids! Everett has been wonderful and has somehow become better behaved since his sister arrived. I know I owe it all to God and I'm so thankful. I look at my children and have SO much love for them that I could cry. I'm so thankful for this wonderful family the Lord has blessed me with!!

A few things I want to remember:

Vera at 2 months: 11lbs 15oz.
She rolled from her tummy to her back at 6 weeks!

Everett at 3: Cried because Pluto ran away from home on the movie "Mickeys twice upon a Christmas"...
- he says "Oh my Josh!" instead of "Oh my gosh!" LOL
- While rubbing his elbow one day he said "My boob hurts!" Wrong body part!!
- He is constantly telling me he has to "go to work".. then gives me a hug and a kiss and marches off to head to "work"...

XOXO,
Stefanie

Vera Mae Leaper

Vera Mae Leaper entered this world on June 21, 2017. She was 6 lbs 3 oz and was born at 8:17AM. She has already blessed us in so many ways and big brother has been in love from the start! He has been such a sweet big brother and I love looking over and seeing him gently giving her kisses and saying "hi little sister"... Being their momma is the best gift in the world!

Thing to remember

Things to remember about Everett at almost 3 years old:

• occasionally pooping and peeing on the potty!
• He peed in the fridge once 🙈
• He pooped on the floor in his room and like a good boy tried to clean it up by himself with paper towels 😂
• He peed in his toy box
• He pooped into his hand 🙈.. we keep him naked to help with potty training but this time he didn't make it to the potty!
• He's SO excited to meet baby sister in three short weeks!
• He loves doing anything with his daddy.. S10 rides, playing with trucks, picking worms, etc

Baby Girl

We found out on February 17th, 2017, three years previous to the day of finding out we were having a boy, that we are having a baby girl in July!!! We couldn't be more excited for this blessing... After the appt we went to Target and Tommy describes me as being on "cloud 9" as we walked through the baby aisles and dreamed of what our little girl would be like. I'm so thankful for everything that God has blessed our little family with. We have a beautiful home, good jobs, two babies, and a lot of love. Sometimes I forget all the blessings when I'm wrapped up in the busyness of life. I'm so thankful that I've been able to be home with Everett part time and full time when he was a baby. There are many moms who only dream of having that as a possibility this day and age. I'm thankful for Tommy who has instilled in our family the passion to be financially secure. If I wouldn't have had his advice, I would have most likely put myself and our family into a lot of debt and would be forced to work while wishing I was home with my babies. He is a man of wisdom. I know Everett will be just like him and that makes me very happy. 

Here are a few thing Everett is doing that I don't want to forget! (2 1/2 years old)

• Sleeping in his big boy bed (yay)
• Peeing occasionally on the big boy toilet
• Saying "that's nasty" after every time he sneezes!
• Says spoon "poon"

Fork in the Road

As I've gotten older, it has become more and more apparent to me that in life we have to choose God or the World. Growing up, I believed in God but He was not an everyday truth for me. I went to church and turned to Him during the hard times but didn't have an everyday relationship with Him. I floated back and forth between living how the Lord wanted me to and living how this world wanted me to. I thought that I would be able to continue this and somehow feel good about my life. Thank God, the values that were instilled in me as a child stuck with me and I came back to them. "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6. I think in life he allows bad things to happen to us because He knows it will make us choose. You can choose to seek happiness and cover up the hurt with the things of this world: alcohol, drugs, material objects, music, beauty, food, etc. OR you can choose Jesus. The more we turn to Him in hard times instead of this world, the more He will open our eyes to truth and we will feel peace. My prayer everyday is that my children will recognize this. My prayer is that they will question everything the world tells them will bring them happiness and that they will wholeheartedly seek and soak up the truth that comes from reading the bible and understanding His words. Life gets hard my loves. It can be a lot of struggle amongst a few moments of happiness. But it is so worth it if we hang on to His promises. I know I'm not home here on this earth. I know He has a place prepared for me. In the meantime, He sure knows how to bless us with many good things: My husband, my babies (Everett and to be continued..."Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her." Luke 1:45) . He is good. 

Fall 2016

Well, fall is finally here and we couldn't be happer. Work is slowing down a little (needs to slow down more soon). Things are still pretty hard right now with Tommy not being home as much as we would like. Last night, Tommy was home about 5:30 which was nice. It was an emotional night for some reason. We are at the end of the busy season at ITS and we both are very run down and tired. We were eating dinner and Everett was sitting on my lap. He was eating some toast. He put his toast down, bowed his head, folded his hands, mumbled a few words then said "amen". I couldn't believe it and it brought me to tears. It was so sweet and pure it just flooded me with emotions because these are the moments as parents that mean so much. He had watched us pray over our dinner a few times but never understood. "Jesus said. "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14. 

Lately, what has been on my mind is the fact that we would have been having a baby any day now if it hadn't have ended up being a tubal pregnancy. That is hard to think about. Especially seeing Everett's love for babies. He's going to be such a good big brother some day. We will keep praying and leaving the rest to God. 

Things Everett is doing currently:

-Talking SO much!

- Still sleeping in his crib

- Still not much interest in the big boy potty

- Climbing out of his crib for the first time!

Everett turned 2!!

Everett turned 2 on July 12th! We had a fun bday party for him with cake, ice cream, water balloons, and a water slide! Life with a 2 year old sure can be an adventure! The other day he told me there was a "mess" on the floor and usually that is what he tells me when Walter poops or pees on the floor... It was a surprise to me when it was his poop on the floor! EEEK! Even through the not so fun times of parenting I'm still loving every minute. Everett has so much character and it is so fun to see all the things he's learning about this world we live in... Here are a few things I want to remember about this time:

- Everett calls Walter "Balter"

- He is a very picky eater and doesn't each much most days

- He doesn't have any interest in going Potty on the big boy potty....

- He now lets me read books to him before bed (SUCH a treat for me!!)

- Still sleeping in his crib

- His favorite word for about a week was "Shit" (OOPS that was my fault)

Slow down

http://vevo.ly/DcndAn

"Slow Down" By Nichole Nordeman

This song is so good! It's exactly how I feel lately as I watch Everett grow up. I like the part about them wanting to walk through the door because Everett loves doors right now. He's obsessed with Opening and closing them! He is also SO independent. He doesn't want me to read books to him because he wants to read and hold them on his own! 😔 "I pointed to the sky and now you want to fly".. It is so relevant ❤️  He is 2 months shy of being 2 years old and sometimes his attitude shows it! He is pretty well behaved but also wants to do everything his way. He throws temper tantrums when we have to go inside after playing outside! ☺️☀️ he's an amazing little boy and can be so sweet sometimes. I love when he looks at me face to face, holds my face in his hands and brings our heads together for a few seconds. He can be so loving and gentle in those moments and it's like he's telling me "I love you mom." Something he can't verbalize quite yet! ☺️

I've learned more from pain than I ever could from pleasure

Friday March 17th we had an ultrasound due to complications I had been having with the pregnancy and we found out that the pregnancy was ectopic(tubal)... This was very hard for us to come to terms with because the timing of the pregnancy was so perfect and it seemed so right.. But God had a different plan.. Even though going through things like this is so hard and it makes us question God, I know there is a reason for it. "I've learned more from pain than I ever could from pleasure" is such a true quote for me lately. Pain has taught me to be compassionate and kind in more ways than I ever thought possible.. It's made me more loving because I want to bring joy to others and I don't want them to go through pain. We all go through hardships but it makes it easier when we are not alone and when we are surrounded by love.. God knows that is what we need, and he provides that in those times. 

Baby #2!

Well we found out Sunday that baby #2 is on the way! We couldn't be happier! I had no idea and it came as a complete shock that this time around we only tried for 2 months and got pregnant.. We are just thanking the Lord every second. I find myself being VERY emotional and crying at the drop of a hat.. Tommy-- are you ready for this?! Lol. We are due October 29th and that is so perfect because Tommy will hopefully be home more! 😏☺️😆😍 I'm just so excited and can't wait to meet our newest sweetheart!

January 2016

Well Everett is now 18 months old and here are a few things I want to remember about this time in our life:

-He still only has 7 teeth!

- "bass" means paci (which he says often)

- says "dada" constantly

- says "mama" typically if he's crying lol

-when running he always has one arm flailing back and forth- but only 1 arm! 

-goes to bed about 7:30 and sleeps until about 7:00 or later on weekends! He's a great sleeper! No waking up in the night!

February:

Words he can say: 

Bye

Mama

Dada

Paci

More

Yeah

Night night

Bapa (grandpa)

Please

Juice

Poop

Shoes

Hello

Down

Growing up..

I know this is true.. I don't want to think of the worrying I will do when I have teenagers in the house. Motherhood is so heart wrenching 😢. So thankful I have the Lord to pray to and know he loves me and my babies.. What would I do without that? I love you so much Everett Thomas! 

Fall 2015

 The Leaper Family had another wonderful fall weekend. Yesterday (Halloween) we attempted decorating pumpkins. Mostly, we wanted Everett to enjoy painting a pumpkin which turned out to be a Pinterest Fail :( Oh well there is always next year! He didn't quite get the concept and just wanted to eat the paint.. It's all good, it was sweetened condensed milk mixed with food coloring! Then we went trick or treating with our little "Leaper" the frog. Tommy and I finished the night with the movie "Hotel Transylvania" which was so cute and funny! I look forward to watching those movies with Everett as he gets older (at almost 16 months he still doesn't do much sitting still for long). Today we had Elliette Winter's 2nd bday party in Park Rapids. It was a Curious George theme which was so cute! Everett mainly ran around and played a bit with other kids. After the party, we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house and Tommy sited in his gun. Deer opener is next weekend! Another thing that Everett will enjoy I'm sure as he gets older. The more I reflect on this weekend the more I realize how great this simple life is of ours. We have so much love in this little family of ours already, I can't wait to see what's to come!

A few things Everett is doing currently (16months) that I want to remember!

- Picking up things off the floor and putting them in the garbage (Big helper)

-Eating food off the floor after each meal

-Saying "cheese" anytime a phone/camera is pointed in his direction

-Putting cherios and other foods on his sippy cup so he can eat it as he gets a drink

-Slowly transitioning to 1 nap a day (only once so far but I believe he only gets one nap at daycare)

-Dancing at every chance he gets.. Anytime a tune he likes comes on :)

Memories

Hi, Stefanie here. Also known as mom and wife. I wanted to create this blog as a way to journal our life and remember all the glorious and not so glorious moments. Life is really amazing right now. Everett is almost 15 months old. He is walking (or more like running), throwing temper tantrums, sleeping good at night, taking two naps a day, and stealing our hearts more and more with every passing moment.

That's my little boy.. How is he a toddler already?

The more we think about how fast time has gone the more we want life to slow down. Work is still very busy into October this year at Interstate Traffic Signs. Tommy is still not home until late at night.. Typically about 9:00.. If we're lucky he's home about 8:00... If every once in a while we are REALLY lucky he's home at 6:00 and can see Everett before bedtime at 7:00.. We are very much looking forward to winter and Tommy being home at 4:30 weeknights.. What a treat! On the flip side we are so blessed with what the Lord has given us. A wonderful marriage, a healthy baby boy, and good jobs. WE ARE BLESSED! It's going to be a great day all thanks to Him! Everett is napping and the sun is shining! I'm off to do some cleaning and grocery planning! Until next time.....                 

Stefanie