Brenton

Sweet Brenton,

You just turned 8.  I cannot believe you are 8!  You are getting so big, becoming a big boy and yet, there are so many things that you continue to do.  Things that I wonder when they will end.  You still, to this day, love to hold my hand.  I wonder when this will end...

You still love to snuggle.  In the middle...

You still say, "I love you!" as you go about your day.

You still get crushed if you think you might even remotely be in trouble.

There are things that you do that have surprised me.  You are incredibly responsible.  Your homework packet comes home with you on Friday and before you do anything else, you get your homework done...  even when you have a friend over! 

Last Thursday, the day before your birthday, you asked if you could do Friday's chore on Thursday so you wouldn't have to do a chore on your birthday.  Of course! was my answer.  It didn't even occur to you that I would never make you do a chore on your birthday :) 

You came home from school on your birthday, which happened to be a Friday, and worked on your homework. 

Yesterday, you had reading homework to take care of.  Connections and Reflections for the very first time.  This is not easy stuff.  I know that.  You were getting quite frustrated at having to erase your words so many times.  Finally, with a tremble in your voice, you said, "can I go ride my bike for a few laps?"  Absolutely, sweet boy.  Almost 5 minutes later, you walked in the house.  7 laps you had completed.  You grabbed your homework and with complete determination you finished it.  You knew you needed a deep breath and you got one.  You did not take advantage of the break.  You did not take advantage of me.  You simply took a break and got back to it.

I was amazed.

I look forward to watching you grow.  To watch you mature and become a man.  You are kind, hilarious, thoughtful, responsible, loving. 

I love you my sweet boy!

My Girl

I haven't blogged here in such a long time and as each day goes by, it becomes harder and harder to come back. I took a break when I felt like I had nothing to share that hadn't been shared. I took a break when, to be honest, it overwhelmed me to even try to think of something. Instead, I've been writing about my running journey here.

But, there have been moments where I've wanted to come back. And didn't. Where it just felt odd to just start back in again as if I'd never stopped.

And yet, I can't let this one go by. This blog, after all, is for me. For my family. About me. About my family. And I have to remember my girl as she is now...

Ella turned 6 on February 17th. Six!

Her birthday began with her coming into my room while I was getting dressed. She took one look at me and said, "Mama, you look beautiful!" You see, my girl gets excited when I dress up and as she walked in, I was finishing curling my hair. My make-up was on. And I was out of my sweats. With big bright eyes she asked if I would wear lipstick and my pretty earrings from Daddy too! Of course, sweet girl. Of course!

The rest of the day was spent picking up her friend, shopping for the prettiest dress we could find (her Nana's present to her), surprising her with getting her ears pierced, going to a movie with friends, and have her requested pancakes for dinner.

Six!

I spent the day watching her, smiling at her, staring and being so thankful that God had blessed our family with her.

She can drive me nuts with her drama. Her screaming. Her shrieking. Her room is a constant battle to keep clean. She actually cares about what she wears and we already have disagreements on outfit and hair choices. However...

Her heart is huge. She loves like no other. She glows when she gets time with me. She loves to play with my hair. She hugs. She comforts. She scratches backs. She nurtures. She amazes me.

She had her kindergarten concert last night and wonderfully enough, our seats happened to be many rows back but straight in front of her. Through the first song, I could see that she was searching for us. Singing, but clearly distracted. Then, it happened. Our eyes met, she lit up, she grinned from ear to ear. And so did I.

We stayed that way for most of the concert. My own private concert with my sweet little girl. As I watched her, my eyes filled with tears, my heart overflowed, and I thought of all our precious time together. Of painting nails, reading books, playing dolls and brushing hair. I thought of conversations had and conversations yet to come. I thought of how she was our surprise gift from God. I thought about how blessed I am.

Last week she told me I was her best friend and while I know that the years are not going to be easy, I pray that I will always be that. That she will always know I am here for her to listen, to talk, to play, to love.

I've cherished the days this year. While she's in kindergarten, she is still not gone everyday. I LOVE the days when she is home. I thank the Lord for the transition for both of us, that it's slow. That we get to build up to it. I know next year I will miss her. Miss her when she's not here everyday to chat my ear off. Miss her when she's not here to beg me to play Barbies while I fold laundry. Miss her when she wants me to read to her while I cook dinner.

Thank you Lord for my girl. My princess. Thank you for her heart and how she loves others. Thank you for moments when I can take a deep breath and realize that with the chaos comes so many blessings. Thank you!

Cousins

My brother is currently in the hospital in the big city close to us. Which, for him, means he is far from home. The blessing in this? His family has been spending lots of time with our family at OUR house. The cousins have had an amazing summer together and I can easily say that although life with 8 kids under 1 roof is not peaceful, it definitely could not have been any easier than it was. We have sat watching with smiles on our faces as they have played and imagined together. Building forts. Catching bugs. Playing in the "pool"/sandbox. Riding bikes. Picking cherries. Collecting hidden eggs. Playing princess. Playing cars. Eating cereal. Playing Wii. Running races. Snuggling. Laughing. It has amazed me how well everyone has gotten along. No fights between the cousins. Only fun. I thank the Lord for the amazing blessing of wonderful family. Thankful that even though my brother is battling that God has given us a tremendous blessing in the middle of it all.

Fresh

Who doesn't love fresh eggs?? There's just something about walking out to the chickens in the morning, noon, or whenever the mood strikes me, and checking for eggs. There's just something about finding 6 eggs in the boxes in one trip. There's just something about pulling a still warm egg from the box. Or even taking one out from under the poor girl who just wants to sit on it for awhile. 24 Hens. 2 Roosters. Such bliss. Until they get sneaky. The little twits :) I heard a few singing their egg song last week and walked out to the coop. Lo and behold, one of the girls was NOT in the coop. She was in the blackberry bushes. Singing away. Oh, and for those that don't have chickens, the egg song is what they "sing" when they are laying. It's sounds JUST like the cadbury bunny. I walked carefully through the bushes and there she was. The little sneak. Sitting on TWO eggs and working on a 3rd!! I grabbed the two and waited for number 3. She was NOT happy with me! Since then, we have not found anymore in the bushes, but I still check everyday. We had 11 eggs yesterday and have already gotten 6 today... 1 of which is the biggest egg I have EVER seen! Poor girl! Thankful for the chance to raise these girls. Thankful for fresh eggs. Thankful for some yummy chicken... We'll be down a roo soon. He went after Caden last week and I'm not one to tolerate bullies. So, after some friends borrow him to breed to their hens, we'll get to see what tasty home grown chicken tastes like. He sure looks like he'll taste good!

Not Going To Whine...

Just give the facts. It's the end of July. We went camping for 5 days. It's the end of July. The sun came out for 1 half day. ONCE. The other days it did not appear or only appeared around 4 or 5. It's the end of July. I was wearing socks, shoes, jeans, sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, TWO fleece sweatshirts and my Dad's snazzy green fisherman's type windbreaker. All at the same time. Everyday. I smelled good. It was cold. We sat around the campfire. All day. We played at the beach.We made smores. We snuggled close. We ate crabs and clams. We woke up to sounds of raccoons. Every night. The raccoons got into our cooler and we awoke to find paw prints there and a loaf of bread gone. The raccoons freaked me out a bit. It was July. We curled up in our beds. Snuggling. Layered in many layers. Laughing that we had also brought shorts to sleep in. We had 8 campsites. 20 kids. 18 adults. The kids explored. Rode bikes. Whined. Played in the sand. We journeyed 15 minutes north to find the sun one day. We enjoyed the warmth of the sun. The kids played in the warm sand. Some went crabbing. Some found sand dollars. We stopped at the cheese factory on the way home. Watching them make cheese and ice cream. Then, we had to try some ice cream for ourselves... White licorice. Cookies and cream. Cookie dough. Peaches and cream. Peppermint candy. Strawberry cheesecake. Coffee almond fudge. Yum. We drove home. Stripping sweatshirts off as we got closer to home. Happy to watch the thermometer climb. Loving the warmth as we pulled into the driveway. Unpacked. Found the camera that had been missing. Made dinner. Pulling meat out of crab legs. Sweating at my kitchen sink. Loving every second of it.