Our Aweful Beautiful Life

Colton, we have always said we did you a disservice by not developing your imagination better when you were younger. We grew you up too fast, and now we are backtracking. You get sick of hearing us say, "just be a kid. Just be SEVEN!" Dad and I got a good chuckle out of your "out of control" (or lack thereof) imagination last night. Apparently you had a writing assignment yesterday at school. This is what you brought home: We laughed until we cried at the thought of you "riding a bich", and when we read the story over as a whole...we couldn't beleive the details. Errrr..... This is definitely one for the senior scrapbook, and will be saved. Props to you, though, because you are finally mastering the art of a detailed, colorful picture to accompany your stories. Time for Mom and Dad to amp up our imaginations to enhance yours!! 

We all got together (inbetween the SEA of March Birthdays!) to celebrate Grandpa Brad! What a fun evening we had! So thankful I had my camera...we got some great shots! These two have quite possibly got Grandpa wrapped around their pretty little fingers... Jason & Mini-Me Melt. LOVE this one! Happy Birthday, Grandpa Brad!

It's not everyday you find a friend so loyal, always happy to see you and sad to see you go. Typically when you find this kind of friend, they have a lot of fur and four legs.  I had only one "serious" boyfriend in high school, and he happened to be my best friends cousin. One evening during my junior year, as I was getting ready to head home for the night, his little brother showed us a litter of puppies he'd found, motherless, in the base of an old tree stump. What puppy isn't adorable? I fell in love. I left that night with a mission to save one of those pups. I might have just taken him home, hoping on a wing and a prayer I could keep him. I begged my parents, and they resisted. (Dad had to bury one too many dogs who fell victim to our busy road growing up!) You could say I'm persistent. Maybe I didn't stop begging. Maybe they finally gave in. Maybe his instant snuggles and love won them over.  All I remember is that one of those pups joined our family...

It started back around Valentine's day. Emmalyn came down with a stomach bug, that, thankfully, passed quickly. A few trips to the bathroom starting at mid night, and by noon a request for chicken nuggets. THOSE are Momma's kind of sick days. We were all home together on President's day as the kids did not have school and Em was recovering. My mom happened to get sick that evening as well -- and we prayed Grandpa wouldn't get it, as the kids had been with them all weekend and they were leaving for Arizona that weekend.  Amazingly, all but Grandma Mandy survived unharmed. Then, came the drama of Keaton's broken collarbone around the 20th/21st of February. We survived. (You've since passed your re-evaluation and your bones are healing nicely. Thank the good Lord for that one). The 5th, about midnight, Colton woke up puking. Again, thankfully, like Emmalyn, he was quick in/quick out and requesting chicken nuggets by noon. Sunday night, after a nice nap mid-a...

Colton, I continue to be blown away (or mad) at what you are asked to achieve in FIRST GRADE. I think my clearest memory from 1st grade was doing a Mother Goose Play in Mrs. LeBeau's classroom at the end of the hallway, acting out all of our nursery rhymes for our parents. I also vaguely remember a red & black plaid phonics book. Fast forward about 30 years....and you're doing math facts and word problems.  You're writing stories with a BMMME set up (beginning, middle, middle, middle, end), and having to use proper punctuation. You've recently memorized the presidents, and sang a song in front of your class to earn a reward trip with Miss Shelton. Thanks for obliging when I asked you to sing for me/the camera, so we could record this precious moment in time.... You're currently working through...or should I say WE are currently working through a research journal on Warren G. Harding. Don't get me wrong, you can totally handle with ease everything t...

Em - just this morning you told me that your knees hurt. We always tease when you get your growing pains that "God is stretching you out to be just as tall as Uncle Trent!"....to which you usually fall into a fit of giggles and soon forget about the pain. Little girl you are growing and changing before our eyes. You are smart. You are funny. You have an infectious sweet grin. You are kind. You are ORNERY. You are shy. Lately, you've been in a bit of a Mommy stage. I'm not sure what the problem is, or why all of the sudden you need me so much. We're trying to get to the bottom of that, and hopefully remedying it, with a bit extra Mom & Me time. I'm not complaining...I love our special carved out time.  We battled back and forth about softball, and you decided you'd play, but only if I coached. Kid, I hope you realize I've never coached before and know very little about t-ball...but if there's one age I can surely dupe into thinking I know wh...

February has gone by in a blink -- we've been keeping plenty busy! Poor Colton's 7th birthday gift was another "date day" with Mom & Dad, and we haven't even gotten to go on that date yet....our weekends have been too packed! The first weekend of the month Jason was involved in a coyote hunting contest and gone pretty much all weekend. We had a playdate with Emery & Abby and kept Reid for Lindsay while she worked.  I ended up winning tickets to the Brad Paisley concert at Purdue and had a girls night out with Nat. And last but not least, Lucy, our newest niece was baptized!!Oh, and Keaton was his typical crazy self, and the big kids did a post-Keaton-bedtime craft for Valentines day! And that was just the first weekend! :) The second weekend we hung around home, then Jason and I had a date night to see The Flying Toasters with a big group of friends. FUN Valentines Day! Sunday we spent most of the day with my parents at church/breakfast (...