Our Aweful Beautiful Life

So, a few weeks ago....we camped at the "big woods" with Wiese's, Holderly's, Layton's and it was a great time...Friday night. Saturday, us Mom's planned to "get away" and do the "Foam Glow 5K" in Indy. So, Saturday about 11am, I headed home and Jason and the kids stayed at the woods. When I got home, I walked in, put the mail on the table and noticed a bee. No big deal, I thought, swatted it with the mail and went on my way tidying up and unloading my stuff. As I walked into the living room, it's like I could hear a buzz, and as I started to look around...I noticed a bunch of bees. I mean a BUNCH of bees.  As I started to look up, I noticed they were lining the inside of the windows, INSIDE my living room. They were hovering near the creases in my ceiling where the ceiling met the walls. So, knowing there were so many in the living room, and scared to death, I started to check out the other rooms, and frantically call ...

Em - I often find myself thinking, "Man, I should post about Emmalyn more....she's the middle child and you always read how the middle child gets overlooked  and I am NOT going to let that happen. Now what can I post about Em?"...then my mind goes blank and stories of Keaton trashing our house, or running amok or Colton's baseball games or his funny sense of humor come to mind. For example, this video of you showcasing your door climbing skills, and Keaton, well...being Keaton! Well, dear Middle Child....you've been fodder for lots of laughter these last few weeks, and dear ole' Mom has been (finally) smart enough to log some of these stories down. You child, bring so much joy to our lives through those big beautiful brown eyes and that sly, mischievous grin. I love that you are not ALWAYS a pretty girl, not ALWAYS a farm girl. Case in point. You chose this adorable white dress with gold pineapples & a pink bow as one of your "back to ...

Life's been a little crazy for us. The good news is that the camper we bought in late spring is getting its use, which is why we bought it. The bad news side of that story is that we've not been home the last 3 weekends and are planning to sneak in one more weekend of camping this weekend too. All these weekends of fun = crazy kids. Add in the fact that Jason and I camped "adults only" with a big group of friends this weekend, which means the kids were spoiled by kept by their Grandparents all weekend and you have a recipe for a Sunday evening MELT DOWN. I mean, what parent can live up to a weekend spent with Grams & Gramps....all four in one weekend!?!? At least they had fun with Grams & Gramps....right? From the minute we got to my parents on Sunday to pick the kids up....I could tell it was going to be a hairy Sunday evening. Em was a HOT MESS, Keaton was clingy and Colton was talking a mile a minute, which means SLEEPY COLTON. He didn't stop t...

We packed up and headed up to Oak Lake to celebrate our Labor Day this fall. Grandma Jacki & Grandpa Brad have been itching to put their new camper to use, and for a family camping trip -- and this long weekend fit the bill. We invited Seth & Jenna, John & Deb and the whole fam damily to join us! It was a great time with cousins, Aunts, Uncles & friends. Grandma & Grandpa Hall even came to join us for Sunday evening into Monday. We rode bikes, rented the "fun bikes", jumped on the bouncy pillow, swam in the pond, jumped off the water trampoline and tackled all the water toys with ease. It was fun to see the big kids be so confident in the water, and it was good for Momma to learn to let go a little bit and trust them to try new things. We also enjoyed the "glow to go" hayride around the campground, and when we returned, there were what felt like 1000 kabobs waiting to be devoured! It might have rained a bit, and that wasn't much fun, but ...

Keaton -- we've said it before, and we'll say it again....you are our tazmanian devil, our pigpen, our chaos...but you area also our cuddler, our hugger, and our "excited to see you at night" baby too! I've gotten some great pictures of you lately that really show your personality. And boy were you blessed with personality!! Thanks for being uniquely you. For being cute, and cuddly, and ornery and goofy. We love you any way you are, we love you because you are YOU! Kid, did you know I wrote this post about you? Praising your quirks and your cuteness? Because you've now thrown my iphone in the toliet two times in three days, and this morning, Colton informed me that you were waving your hand through his "stream" as he peed this morning. You are certain my WILD. CHILD.