Our Aweful Beautiful Life

It's December 16, and I'm in denial that NEXT WEEK is Christmas!!! We haven't had much snow, which surely sets the tone of the holiday. It's been 40-50 and rainy....not exactly Jingle Bells weather. We've been busy most every weekend, and though I've done some here and there shopping online (and a lot of window shopping, start a cart, not finishing my purchases online)...I still feel like I hardly have anything done! I HATE feeling behind the 8ball. Oh, and we're anxiously awaiting the arrival of my best friends first baby...or should I say, BABIES!  Stacy is due any day now with twin boys, and the anticipation and excitement is almost too much!! She's going to be a wonderful Momma! Times TWO!  Anyway -- we've been celebrating with anticipation the Christmas holiday! The first weekend in December was PACKED. Friday night, Mom, Dad & Trent treated all those who helped at the farm this fall to a wonderful kid-free dinner! Gotta love DATE NIGHT!  ...

This summer, Colton came to me, asking if Jenna (Maxwell) was a kid. Interesting, I thought, because he knows she's closer to my age, than his, she's a mom. When I asked why he wanted to know that, he responded that "she always plays with us, and stuff, and doesn't like to sit around and visit like you guys do! And she's skinny!" Apparently, I'm a Mom, not a kid, because I enjoy my adult time of visiting with other adults from time to time (rather than continuous entertainment of our children), and am ... not...skinny! HA :) Yes, that's Jenna with the kids. Covered in mud. All her idea! :) Fast forward to the weekend when Seth & Jason went away on a guys fishing trip! Not to feel left out, us girls had a sleepover with 5 of the cutest kiddos! We painted pottery. We ate & played at McDonalds. We had a wonderful night. Upon return, as I was making beds upstairs with Em, Sawyer & Keaton, Jenna and Colton apparently had a heart to heart. ...

Sometimes you'll hear people say, "If you want to hear God laugh, just tell him your plans". Well, we waffled back and forth on having a 3rd child. Something about when you get to that point in time, you start to really wonder if you are testing fate. We had two heathly, happy, beautiful children... what if our next babe was not so lucky. Guess what, not our choice. That's in God's hands. And we trusted God. And he was good. He was so, so good to us. We received another, healthy, happy, baby boy. So what's your point, you might be thinking.  Why would God laugh at this plan? Oh, trust me, God's definitely getting the last laugh. Yes, Keaton is happy. *usually* Yes, Keaton is healthy. *Usually* Yes, Keaton is beautiful. Handsome. Whatever. That smile...gets me everytime. That rotten, crooked grin like his Dad's. Meltworthy. However. Jason and I are convinced that God gave this newest, beautiful, happy, healthy baby an extra dose of energy. An extra ...

Christmas Biscuits & Gravy! He helped roll & cut the dough! His dry skin was winning...and apparently his toosh itched! I love that he can write. (When he writes nice notes! :)) Precious babe. Ornerier than she appears! Two Goverts. Three Stockments. YOWZA!! Happy to Hunt with Daddy for the 1st time!!

Colton is really thriving and enjoying 1st grade. And, even better for this Momma who likes to keep track of your growing up years, your teacher is awesome about taking pictures and emailing them to me. So...here's some of the fall fun you've had in 1st grade, Colton! Tie day for Diabetes Awareness! Reading with Brooke! Happy Boy, finally reading his FAVORITE book (as a baby), all by himself! 1st Grade Feast 1st Grade Thanksgiving Feast! 1st Floor Winners -- they collected over 620 cans!

I'm pretty sure, actually, that we didn't even get "Fall" this year. There were so few (dry) sweatshirt weather days. Not many warm afternoons and cool evenings. It was either still hot (read: Summer) or too chilly to be considered Fall. Sad. Fall is my favorite time of the year. Sad too, because it made this year's Harvest more of a chore than I ever remember from years past (recent years past, I should say). Thankfully, we still got a lot of time in the combine & semi's with Dad & Uncle T. In fact...I was riding with Grandpa after a near-death experience (I'll go there in a second), when the combine started to get stuck....it wasn't pretty, but I have to say two things, a.) my Dad is AMAZING at backing that huge machine all the way up through the only cut aisle in the field, and b.) he was still in hog heaven with his whole family around for the day, despite his intense frustration with the weather/field conditions. Because really, wh...