Our Aweful Beautiful Life

Keaton, it's weird with you. I mean, it's weird with you in SO. MANY. WAYS.....but what I'm alluding to here, is how when we wrote stories on this blog about Colton when we first started this blog journey. So often it was - "his first smile", or "his first time going to Grandma's house" or "his first tractor ride".....goodness we documented EVERY first with Colton. And with you, Keaton -- I get to record our final go at things. (Emmalyn, sorry babe, this is where the middle child kind of gets ripped off....bear with me though, you're my only girl and there is value in that....trust me and Aunt Jessica on that one). You were our final one to watch roll over, learn to crawl, start to talk and now, our final one to potty train. Hold your horses....we're not 100% there yet. Because,well, you're Keaton. That would be FAR too easy. But I think we've made it to the finish line between the hours of 7am-9pm....which is a feat. An...

Well, it wasn't Florida, and it DID rain most of our first day, but we still had a great time getting away for SB2K16!! We joined up with the Wiese clan are invaded Southern Indiana for a few days of fun! We left in a rain storm Thursday morning of Spring Break, and headed towards Bedford, Indiana to see the Blue Springs Caverns.  Of course, as on any trip with a potty training child, sometimes, you have to do what you have to do to keep moving while accommodating a pee break. Thankfully, Keaton's a boy, and was seated on Dad's side of the van! :) Yes, that's I-65 in the background. Whatever man. We pitstopped in Bloomington to have lunch. Kids were happy campers! We prepped the kids about having to be quiet in the cave, and they were so good. All 6 kids were so intrigued, sat still, and listened to our guide. We were super proud of them, especially after having to wait nearly 45 minutes before the tour started. We did some mining for gems while we waited and ...

Emmalyn, remember about a year ago -- when Keaton broke his collarbone, I nearly died from the worst puking flu I've EVER had, and Colton and Dad got sick too, but you managed to be okay through all of this? And how you wouldn't go to school, were having some issues with this stressful time in our life? Well, child, a year has passed and my dear one, you have found a way to cope with these things. Not to be outdone by your baby brother and his two trips to the ER and his stitches and follow up appointments, you made sure your middle child presence was known! So, on Monday, I went to lunch with Nat & Stac, as we always do. (11:30. Moe's. Joey in a bowl. Pork. Pinto. Extra lettuce....you get the routine). Anyway, when we got in the car to leave, about 12:30, I saw a missed call from a 563 number, and thought it was weird....because it was the schools number. Let me just stop here and say I was NOT prepared for the next 15 minutes of my day. And poor Nat, sat next to m...

There's a song that's popular right now, called Stitches. We love it. It's catchy, and fun to dance to. Little did we know this would soon become our theme song....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbfpW0pbvaU So, Friday afternoon I was at work, and had done my what seemed daily check on Keaton's potty training progress. She texted back, "call me"....and I got so excited, because he gets to call when he poops in the potty! So, I excitedly dial the phone, only to hear Pam say..."um, we've got a puker"............................NOT what I wanted to hear. Especially since we had a girls day planned for the next day, down in Bloomington to FINALLY see Lindsay since she'd moved to Evansville. To make matters worse, Abby, Natalie's little girl, was puking two, which means 2/4 of us had puking children. By 9pm, Em had joined the ralphin ranks, and I just knew the rest of us were to follow. Fast forward to Sunday -- only Keaton and Em had fall...