Another new adventure

     November has been a very eventful month in the Koval house with celebrating my birthday & Aubrey's Birthday as well as Thanksgiving but there has been a HUGE change in this family's daily routine.

      I have started homeschooling all 3 of my kids. Yep.. I pulled Shelby & Brandon out of public school & I'm teaching them at home. I bought a computer based curriculum called Switched on School for Shelby since she's in high school that covers 5 core classes which are algebra, English, chemistry, geography & bible. She also does an elective class which is typing. I know both Mike & I went to public school but it was allot different when were in school. There is so many negative influences in the schools these days that we want to be able influence our children the way we believe they should be raised. I want my children to know God & be able to show they are Christians by wearing cross necklaces if they wanted to & also by having the freedom to pray which they can't do in the schools they went to in Crosby.

     I also want my kids to know that certain things that the school teaches is NOT what we believe in as Christians. I understand tolerance but I don't want my kids to think because they are taught tolerance in school that it's the way God wants them to live. I also think that in public school the kids are growing up way to fast because they are exposed to so many different things like broken homes, drugs & sex way to early for them to truly understand about those issues. I want to be the one to answer my kids questions about sex & drugs not some kid that's their age who heard it from someone who told them the incorrect answer.

     Mike & I agree that our kids are only young one time & we want to be the influence they are going to look up to as the are growing up into adults. We want to raise God believing, compassionate, loving , caring, smart Christians adults so yes it's allot of work teaching 3 kids everyday and yes tthey all drive me crazy at at least one pint in the day but God gave us these kids to raise & being a parent is the hardest job we will ever do but it's also so rewarding when you see your hard work paying off in the great kids you raised.


-Nichole
    

Nichole's birthday

the whole group

 This year for my birthday I wanted to do a couples painting party with some of my friends. It was so much fun hanging out with my hubby & my friends . I think everyone did a really great job on their masterpieces but the best part of the night was just enjoying the company of the people you love the most in this world & I felt so blessed they spend the evening with me to celebrate my birthday.

me & my amazing husband
 

"the husbands"

"The wives "

Our masterpiece !!!

"the kiss"

Aubrey turns 5 !!!

Aubrey's actual 5th birthday

 I know I'm behind alittle but it's been a busy month ...... Aubrey turned 5 on November 7th & we had a horse themed birthday party for her. Aubrey LOVES horses. She loves pictures of horses, statues of horses, fake horses but most of all she loves REAL horses. When we drive around our town she knows where all the houses that have horses are & always ask us to slow down so she can see them better. She was so excited when I told her a real live horse was coming to her party. She enjoyed riding on the horse but she also really enjoyed walking the horse around the yard with her friends riding it. The horse's name is Renegade & Aubrey is in LOVE !!!

Aubrey & Shelby

Aubrey LOVED leading the horse around the yard

 

Look at all those gifts for the birthday girl !!!

Aunt Tracy made her cake

Aubrey has so many people that love her and it was awesome having everyone over to our house to celebrate her birthday with us. She recieved alot of gifts & they all were centered around her love of horses. It's been an amazing 5 years with this little girl & I'm excited to watch her grow up into a wonderful woman one day !!!

Family picture with all the kids

playing with all her horses she got for her birthday

Happy 36th birthday Michael ......

Mike with the treats we made him

I am alittle behind on keeping up with our family blog but.......  a few days ago my amazing husband turned 36 years old. We celebrated by making him cupcakes & a strawberry cheesecake :)



our family picture taken with my horrible camera phone ... ugh

Michael....
We are so blessed to have you as the leader of our family. Your an amazing father & a wonderful husband. Thank you for working so hard to take care of your family. We love you more than we every tell you.
 
~  Nichole

Happy 6th heavenly birthday !!!

The tattoo Mike got 8 days after
 the babies passed away honoring them

     It's now been 6 years since I gave birth to my sweet triplets. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about them. Sometimes it's because I see kids that would be their age or sometimes it because I hear someone call their child with the same name as one of my kids. It's all so bittersweet. I'm so honored to be their mother. I feel like it was such a huge privilege to be pregnant with 3 babies at the same time. That is so amazing even to just think how awesome that is & i actually lived it !!!


     I think about how different our lives would be with the triplets here.I knew when I was 16 weeks pregnant that Makenna probably wasn't going to survive so I think my brain prepared my heart to only be ready to raise Conner & Mady ....



My tattoo I got in honor
of my babies & Aubrey

    Would I still have my precious Aubrey ? I couldn't imagine my life with that amazing little girl. Aubrey was such a blessing to have 14 months after losing my trio. The entire time I was pregnant with Aubrey i remember dreaming & truly feeling like I was going to be raising a boy & a girl . I had multiple ultrasounds when I was pregnant and every time they always said there was only 1 baby. I was so confused why I had such a strong feeling . What I know now is that feeling was God telling me I would be raising a son & a daughter that are the same age. God had a plan for my life and for the lives of my children before he even allowed me to get pregnant with them. He knew I was going to have this amazing opportunity to carry 3 babies in my belly & he also knew that when he took them back to heaven to be with him that it would make me a completely person and now I can help other women who have went through this difficult experience of losing a baby/ babies. I have met (both in person & online) many amazing women who have lost babies. We have some great friendships because unless it has happened to you it's hard to explain how you feel losing a child ..... 

    The other thing God showed me when losing my babies is that I truly would be raising a son & a daughter who are almost (4months apart) the same age. I have Aubrey & Brandon now that I'm raising.  I didn't understand why God gave Misty another child when she didn't even appericate the amazing little girl she already had. I didn't feel like she realized how awesome Shelby was or how much of her life she missed out on by going in & out of jail. Misty got pregnant within weeks of getting out of jail and right after my babies died. I was very angry she was getting another chance to be a mom & I felt like my chance was taken from me and it just wasn't fair. Little did I know at that time we would get pregnant with Aubrey the 1st time we tried fertility treatments again. I was so thankful for that gift because I got another chance to have a baby. While Misty and I were both pregnant she came to Michael and asked if anything ever happened to her would we consider raising Brandon as our own even though he wasn't our biological child. I knew in that moment when she said those words that we would one day raise Brandon as our own . It did take 4 years for us to get him legally but he's been part of our family his whole life.

  So today on my triplets birthday of course I miss them very much but I know God's plan for my family now and I'm exteremly blessed to be the mother of 4 amazing children .......

    

Shelby, Britanee, me holding Aubrey, & Mike holding Brandon

     


~Nichole

A girl & her horse .....

Aubrey riding Lollie for the 1st time ......

My sweet princess loves horses. Actually to say she loves them is an understatement. She is completely obsessed with them. The first thing she asks every morning is to look at pictures of horses on the computer. She will sit at the computer for hours if I let her just scrolling up & down at images of horses. She tells us probably about 100 times a day she wants a horse here at our house. She tells us what she would name it if we would buy her one. Aubrey even tells us that she would feed it & ride it every day. I have never seen her more in love... I know she's only 4 but what if this passion is something she will have even as she grows up ? Michael told her when she gets bigger he would build her a barn & get her a horse. For now she will just continue to remind us how much she loves them until we finally get her a horse of her own.
~ Nichole


Aubrey on her horse Rocky that lives at Yaya's house

 

Because I want to.....

nice job !!

Me : Brandon.... Did you cut your hair today ?
Brandon: ( smiling) yes Mommy I did it at school.
Me : ummmm.... Bubba why would you cut your hair ?
Brandon : because I want to....
Me: we don't cut our own hair Brandon... Go sit on your bed
Brandon: why Mommy ?
Me: because I want you too....
The whole time I'm having this conversation with him Shelby & Aubrey are laughing because this child cut his own hair.... Ugh.... the people in this house are crazy....

~ Nichole

Shelby is in high school.....



Daddy's girl



always acting crazy
with her Daddy

 

Shelby

I can't believe Shelby started high school this year... Where did the time go ? It seems like just yesterday she was a cute little 5 year old girl going into kindergarten and now she's a beautiful young lady who is so confident in who she is and she wants for her life and we are so proud of her . She's not ashamed to show others who she is & share her love of God with people.  I love that every since Shelby has started school that Mike has taken her on the first day. Those are the memories that she will cherish forever. Mike actually walked her IN to school this year and she hugged him goodbye ... IN PUBLIC .. that's huge for a teenager but like I said before Shelby doesn't follow what other kids her age do.

 

This is how she walked
out the door ...

seriously... no more pictures !!

Shelby came home from school & told me that she had a great day. She is finding out who her true friends are & I'm excited to see how she enjoys high school. She loves art & drawing. She very good at it and I love when she will actually let me hang one of her pieces in the house. Shelby also LOVES to sing. She's in choir again this year although she told me that she doesn't like her new choir teacher. She wants to continue singing. 

 

~ Nichole

 

 



Kindergarten ....

My big 5 year old !!



seriously Mom !!!



posing with Daddy

Brandon went to kindergarten Monday. The morning started off with me literally dressing him while he was still in bed because he was tired still and didn't want to wake up . It was ok because hopefully I won't have to dress him forever .. :)

 



infront of the sign
at school 

another posing with Daddy shot :)

He was super excited that his Daddy was here to go with me to take him to his first day of school. I'm a picture person so of course I made him pose for pictures for me then for more with his Daddy , then more when we got to the school and finally the last ones when we dropped him off in his class. (Hey.. it's memories ... one day I might forget this stuff .. don't judge me ...  lol )

 

all smiles before going in ...

He just realized I
 wasn't staying with him

 When we got to his school we let him show us exactly how to get to his classroom. He is in the zebra hall and was very proud he remembered how to get there. I took another picture of him outside the classroom because he was all happy & smiling.... until I told him we were going to take him in & drop his stuff off then his Daddy and I were going to leave him at school. He clung to my leg and Randy had to  help me get him off cause he was kinda freaking out. Randy asked him to show him his cubby and where he sat to try to distract him. He showed his Daddy his cubby then sat in his seat with the most pathetic little sad face ever. I wanted to just cry with him ... instead of crying I held it in , hugged him & told him to have a great day at kindergarten and we would be back to pick him up after school.


Daddy & Brandon

 Randy went behind me & hugged him and was trying to make him feel better so I took another opportunityto take another picture of my sweet boy.

 It was so weird leaving him at school and walking back to my car seeing all the other moms crying . I wanted to join them but Randy kept distracting me so I didn't cry. He said I didn't want to mess up my makeup . I was proud of myself for keeping it together.

  When I picked him up from school I asked how his day was and what he did. He told me he has friends & he colored and that's all but he would go back tomorrow. I'm so glad because this is just the beginning of his school journey ....

~ Nichole

 

 





 



 

Brandon's meet the teacher..... Bittersweet

Brandon & Ms. Poplaski
 He was so cute cause he wouldn't sit by her
& blushed when she talked to him

This afternoon I took Brandon to meet the teacher night night at his school. He's going to kindergarten Monday. He was excited to meet Ms.Poplaski but didn't understand why Ms. Jackson (his pre-k teacher) want going to be his teacher & why his old friends weren't going to be there with him again. It's kinda hard to explain to a 5 year old that they are going to a new school & he would meet new friends. Luckily there is a friend from church that went to mdo with Aubrey in his class named Gabby that he will recognize & then some of our old friends who we call the other Mike & Nicole (that's really their names...lol) daughter Emily is also in Brandon's class.
So i'm going to be honest now.... When I saw Emily was in his class I felt like I got hit in the stomach with a baseball bat. When I see her it only reminds me that I should be enrolling Conner, Madison, & Makenna in school this year because Nicole & I were pregnant together. It's so hard knowing that I'll never see my babies go to school or dance class or baseball practice like I will do with Brandon & Aubrey and it totally sucks. I try really hard to stay positive about how losing my babies changed my life forever but it's times like this that I just want to cry & I so desperately wish I could have them back. I didn't realize taking Brandon to school was going to be this hard for me but it just makes me remember the pain of losing my kids that I try to bury deep inside my heart. Yes I know God knows what he's was doing when he choose me to be their Mom & when he took them back to heaven with him but the selfish flesh me wants my kids so much. I'm Very grateful for Aubrey but she didn't replace Conner, Mady, or Makenna. I feel heart broken right now but maybe this is how I should feel. I have to put on my happy face Monday & take the little boy God put in my life to school & hide the fact i'm broken inside from not having my kids........ It's just not fair....
~ Nichole

Zoo Day

me, mom, Aubrey, Brandon, Trinity & Serenity



I love when I tell them to stand
 together because they always wrap their
 arms around each other & pose

sitting on a turtle

Today we went to the Houston Zoo with some friends from church. I have been wanting to take Aubrey to the zoo for a long time but this is her 3rd trip and I was finally able to take her. We had a very large group go. There were 6 adults & 14 kids ... It was crazy !! We had 3 wagons & 2 double strollers & 1 regular stroller to haul all those kids around in. It was SOOOOO HOT !! Texas feels like the only temperature we have it HOT & INCREDIBILITY HOT with not much in between . The gnomes did enjoy having a water fight with each other to cool down as we were walking around.


The whole gang that went to the zoo

 Brandon told me he wanted to see dinasours & was dissappointed for a minute when I told him that there weren't any then he decided he would rather see the lions more than the dinasours anyway :) Aubrey's favorite animal at the zoo was seeing the zebra because she said they are cute and they kinda look like horses. I think the next time we go back will be in the winter when it's not so hot but we really did have a great day .  


relaxing with the giraffe



~ Nichole

"Seriously Mom... "

Looking at the elephants

WOW.... How times flies when you stay home !!!

I can't believe that I haven't blogged since February ... Our family has been BUSY !!! I'm going to try to remember everything that has happened since my last post ...



Isaac, Steph, me, Mike, Amber & Tony

Matthew West

February : Mike & I went on another marriage cruise to the Bahamas and it was amazing !! We really enjoyed our self this time since we kinda knew what to expect this time around. We also met the most amazing friends Tony & Amber Weber and Isaac & Stephanie Coomer on the cruise. They live in Kansas & Illionis and we  have been trying all summer to get together with them but like I said It's been crazy busy. We also got to meet singer Matthew West on the cruise & now I'm in love with him !! :)


Mike & Coley

March : Mike & I celebrated 8 years of marriage. We didn't really do anything special since we just got back from our cruise.





14th birthday cake

the whole family

April : Britanee turned 20 & Shelby turned 14 .... I can't believe the girls are getting so old .. They have become some pretty amazing girls . We are super blessed to be their parents. We also took Brandon to Austin to visit his Daddy for the 1st time ever. We went to the Austin children's museum and it was so precious to see Brandon & Randy start their bond as father & son. Brandon also had field day at his school. He really enjoyed himself doing all the different activities. Ms.Jackson's class was the pre-k tug of war champions so he was proud that I was there to take a picture of his class with their trophy.   


Ms. Jackson's tug o war champians

me & my boy

May: The kids got out of school at the end of May so that's when all the craziness started happening .  Brandon graduated pre-k & Shelby got out of 8th grade. We took the kids to the beach. They had sun playing in the sand . Aubrey had her 2nd dance recital with Ms. Carol. She loves dance so much & is really good at it. We were also able to take our family to go see Casting Crowns & Matthew West in concert.


The finale :)

The family @ the recital



Casting Crowns & Matthew West concert

Before the cut ...

She loved he results..

June : Aubrey got her 1st major haircut. She got 7 inches cut off her hair. It was totally her choice & I kinda freaked out when she told me she wanted to cut her hair that short but I think it ended up looking adorable. We played at the park alot, the gnomes hung out with Yaya, we went to the library and we also got the most amazing waterslide. The whole family loves our slide . I also went to kid's camp with the youth from our church as a counselor. This was the 1st time I ever went because in the past I've always worked. I really had a great time with the girls and I'm looking forward to going again next year.

MercyMe

My crazy family

Randy & Brandon

1st game !!!

July: We went to an Astros game / MercyMe concert  with a bunch of our friends. It was the 1st game that Randy & Brandon had ever went to & they loved it.  Brandon turned 5 and we threw him a water slide birthday party. He was in heaven all day having all his friends & family hanging out at the house just celebrating with him. He told me several times " Mommy .. this is my best birthday ever !!! " I was so happy watching him enjoy himself on his special day. I think it was even more special to him because this was the first time both of his parents were together with him. Shelby went on a missions trip with the youth from our church. They did community service projects in the Dallas area. We were so proud of her for earning the $500 it took to go on this trip. She came back full of stories of the experiences she had while she was gone.

Brandon's cake

opening presents

loving the water

Happy to have both his parents there with him :)

I'm going to really try to keep up with our blog because I know These are memories I'm going to want to remember when I'm old & forgetful ......

I'm getting ready for school to start again. I've went school shopping for Brandon because he's going to kindergarten & my baby Shelby isn't a baby anymore ... She's going to be a freshman in high school .. ugh .. I am getting old ... This is my last year with Aubrey before she goes to school next year so I'm going to just soak up the time I have left with her. All my kids are growing up so fast but they are some amazing children.

~Nichole