You’ll shoot your eye out...

This little girl got a B.B. gun for Christmas. We went shooting with it and she hit the target within a few shots. She may not shoot her own eye out but she might shoot yours out...

My little goose...

You’re growing up way too fast, and I wish you’d stop. What will I do when you're all grown up and I can’t see you smile and be cheery every single day? I won’t think about that or I’ll start crying...

Christmas 2017

I felt pretty darned blessed this Christmas. Halee and Jared spent 5 days with us. We did all of our usual traditions and Jared fit right in as if he’d never been absent from our family. 

Something very sad happened though....my youngest two are no longer Santa believers. We now have zero children believing in Santa. I told Halee and Jared they need to have babies soon so Christmas can be extra fun again for everyone.

I felt very blessed knowing that Chris is the head of our family. Always serving all of us and being an example. 

I was sad to see Halee go but happy seeing the happiness she’s experiencing. I couldn’t ask for a better man to take care of our daughter. She chose well and that’s probably because she had such a wonderful father to show her the way.

I love my family with all my heart.

Yes, I cried...

The kids and I witnessed something beautiful today. We were sitting in our parked car eating lunch when we looked across the street and saw a large man (who appeared to be homeless) in a brown coat. He was pulling bags and belongings that looked to be heavy and nearly unmanageable. He wanted to cross the street but the bags kept falling off the dolly he was using. My heart broke watching him. Just as I was telling my boys to get out of the car and help him, a young man in his 20’s pulls over his car, gets out and helps this man with such tenderness that tears welled up in my eyes. It didn’t help that silent night was playing in our car. We were all touched as this young man helped this older man carry his stuff....loaded it in his own car and gave this homeless man a ride to wherever he was trying to reach. I told the kids that we had just witnessed something you don’t see everyday and that we were truly privileged to have had front row seats to such a beautiful situation. I wanted to tell to that young man that his mother had done an outstanding job raising him. I wanted to thank him for being an example to my own boys. I wanted to hug him for being so Christlike. I’m so thankful to have witnessed this...

The manger scene...

The girls were asked to participate in our churches nativity and it was such a delight to watch them reenact such a splendid and sacred event. They were beautiful.

Gross but great...

I took the kids to eat Chinese today at a restaurant that I’ve tried before and never liked. The kids really like it though so I gave it another shot. Ummmm.....still gross. But you know what? That’s ok because it was fun. We laughed at how smelly the “hot and sour” soup was. “Sour” is the key word, by the way. Then we came home and played apples to apples 🍎  I had to play referee and keep the kids from getting too debatable but all in all it was a success. I love when those kind of days happen.

My sweet little orphans...

The kids had a Christmas play that they put on this past week. They played orphans that wanted a special family to bring them home. Then all did a fabulous job acting and singing. It was super cute seeing them up there outside of their comfort zone. I have said it before but I feel so blessed to have them in a school where the name “God” is spoken with reverence. We are truly blessed to belong to our small sweet school.

I think I got a date...

Every Thursday on my day off I get to spend some one on one time with Austin while the other kids are in school. It’s become our weekly tradition to get pizza, salad and of course a Pepsi for me. I look forward to it every single week. I’m going to miss him immensely when he leaves in a year.

As for turning 40...

It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. My husband took me to the ballet. I’ve never done that. It was worth it in every possible way. 

I was given a delicious carrot cake and when the kids asked if they could put 40 candles in it I said “no way...only 1.” I might be in denial.

The kids asked if we could do a human pyramid...and I agreed. I might be trying to prove something. 

No matter which way you look at it...I’ve lived 40 years. I can either cry and wish I were younger or I can recognize that Every smile line tells a story about all the times my husband and children and those I love have made me laugh. I’ll take that over a younger version of myself any day.