Leanne

High School!  

My first baby girl.

My first love! 

It was very hard watching you walk out the door as a 

FRESHMAN.

 

This will be the fastest 4 years of your life.

Friday night football games.

Dances.

Cheerleading.

 

These 4 years are going to be AMAZING.

As sad as I am that your childhood is coming to an end...

I am so excited to be part of and watch you grow into a beautiful young woman.

You have whole world at your fingertips. 

You have a lifetime of experiences and memories to be made.

Take the world by storm Leanne.

You are going to do amazing things.

I'm so glad your dad and I get to be part of it.

We love you more than you know.

Cameron

7th Grade!

Cameron, you can not be starting middle school.

It just isn't possible.

How did my sweet, loves everything little boy become

a young man?

Cam, this year you are going to go great things.

You are going to do hard things. 

You are going to grow and learn

You are going to teach.

You are going to be a student of many new and great things.

This year you will learn to play drums.

Join the Civil Air patrol.

Learn Latin.

Read amazing literature.

Make new friends.

And so much more...

 

I can not wait to watch you become the man God has planned.

We love you Cameron.

 

 

Katie

Baby girl..... when did you grow up?

I know it was just yesterday I was picking up a sweet bundle of joy 

wrapped head to toe in pink.

You have spent every year wanting to be by my side.

This year was different.

You started 2nd grade!

You are "going to real school."

There were no tears.

In fact you didn't even want me to take you.

You rode the bus with your best friend Abby.

You are growing up so fast Katie.

I miss my baby girl.

But, I do love watching you grow.

Have a wonderful year baby girl.  

We love you...

through the stars, around the moon and sitting on a cloud.

Back again? This time for good?

I started this blog with the intentions of having an online diary of sorts.  I planned on chronicling all of our families happenings throughout the year.  As usual I started strong and slowly stopped blogging as life became busier and I didn't have the time I thought I needed to make my blog perfect.  Having to be perfect is something that I struggle with daily.  I want everything to be just right and if it's not... well, I'm not happy and I quit.  In a quest to face my issues and fix the things I need to work on I have decided to start blogging again.  I plan to pick up the day to day family stuff as well as add some of the personal struggles I am trying to face.

 

The wheels on the bus.....

One day last week we were in the car driving and we were singing songs with Katie. She was singing The Wheels on the Bus. She started adding cute little verses when she got to the end of the song. Of course the big kids wanted in on the fun too. So we all started singing a new song. I thought I would share it:

The Katie on the Bus. To tune of The Wheels on the Bus.

The Katie on the bus says I go first, I go First, I go first.
The Katie on the bus says I go first, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says that's my always seat, that's my always seat, that's my always seat.
The Katie on the bus says that's my always seat, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says you can't sit there, you can't sit there, you can't sit there.
The Katie on the bus says you can't sit there, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says I don't want to watch that, I don't want to watch that, I don't want to watch that.
The Katie on the bus say I don't want to watch that, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says It's not fair, It's not fair, It's not fair.
The Katie on the bus says It's not fair, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus screams "You're hurting my feelings and I'm about to cry!!!!"

Poor Katie. She thought it was so funny at first. The longer we sang the more upset she got. We had to stop, but I must admit it was pretty funny and it was all true.

The tale of a lose tooth....

Lisa and I had a yard sale last weekend. Truth be told it was really Lisa's yard sale and I threw some of my junk in. I had one in the fall and had forgotten that I donated all the left overs to the Salvation Army. Anyway-

While I was driving Leanne to cheer after a long day of selling our junk Katie said to me:

"Momma, my tooth is loose!?"

Which in Katie talk sounded more like: "Momma my toofh is woose!?"

That girls is adorable!

Back to the story-

I told her not to wiggle it and I would check it when we got to the gym. By that time she had wiggled it and there was a little blood. Katie was starting to get frantic and kept saying "It's all my fault, my tooth is loose..." while sobbing. She could not remember what had happened to her mouth to make her tooth loose. I called the dentist and of course they said just bring her in on Monday. I googled loose teeth and discovered that as long as there was not nerve damage a tooth can tighten back up in the gums. I instructed her to leave it alone and not wiggle it and that just maybe it would tighten back up and be fine. I assured her I would take her to the dentist on Monday and it would all be better. We were both very upset.

I called Lisa to see how puppy hunting was going as well as to tell her of the mysterious mouth injury that produced a loose tooth in baby girls mouth. Lisa my kind friend who overlooks my fear raw milk, my hatred for the word chub and many other things the average person would possibly think makes me crazy, very kindly laughed at me. "Friend" she said "Her tooth is not going to tighten back up there is a big tooth under there pushing it out to make room for her adult teeth to come in." I gasped! Then teared up. There is no way my baby girl is big enough for her teeth to fall out. I now admit I think Lisa was right. After she stopped laughing at the fact that A.) I did really call the dentist and B.) No, it never crossed my mind that it could just be falling out, gave me some sound advise. This is normal. She is growing up and it's going to be okay.

I of course had to tell my princess that it was okay to wiggle her tooth. It is okay if it falls out. I also had to tell her that the Tooth Fairy will bring her a treat for losing her tooth. There may have been a warning about wiggling teeth before it's time and how it results in no Tooth Fairy gifts. Yet another shameful parenting moment for me. I can't help it. I love those tiny teeth and wanted to keep them in as long as possible. As of Monday the tooth is still in it's spot. It wiggles a little which makes Katie happy. I am still holding onto the sliver of hope that it will tighten back up and she will have those tiny baby teeth just a little while longer. Sad, I know!

Kindergarten

It seems like just yesterday I was picking up a beautiful tiny bundle of joy from the hospital. I was wrapping her in pink blankets and clipping tiny pink bows in her soft curls. I was rocking her to sleep and wearing her in a baby wrap. Today however I took that beautiful baby girl of mine and *gulp* signed her up for kindergarten. It was so hard. I had to choke back tears more than once. As we sat in tiny chairs in the school library I imagined my baby in kindergarten playing and having a great time without me. Then I took it a step further and imagined for the first time in her life (I repressed those thoughts) Katie all grown up. Not. My. Baby. Girl. Then the tears were really ready to fall. All the while Katie talked with other kids and looked at books. She asked questions about her class, lunch and riding the bus. She is not riding the bus! Let's not take crazy here. So while I was mourning the loss of my baby she was thrilled about her future. I can not hold her back. I can not keep her from growing up. Maybe if I write it I will accept it!?

So that's it. She is enrolled in school. This doesn't mean she will be going. I am on the fence about homeschooling her. The older kids are going to school and she really wants to go too. Silly pre-school brain washed her. LOL! I am keeping my options open at this point. She may change her mind too. This is the child who only likes pre-school once a week. If that. Those who know me best (Chad, mom, Lisa) think she will be staying home. We shall see. There are several months to figure it out. In the mean time we will get ready for the next chapter in our lives.