Happy Birthday, Jenna!

Our "baby" is 3 today ... where does the time go?? Our little girl brings us so much joy, and we've had such a fun time watching her grow. She is so sweet, and yet so feisty at the same time! Of all of our children, she is the one who always seems to know what she wants - and will work quite hard to get it. However, she is quick to respond to correction, which is really a blessing! Her brothers and sister are all pretty smitten by her - it might be because she's the youngest, but we think her smile can win anyone over! One day I'll have to blog about all of the struggles Jenna faced as a baby, but for now I'll just say that it's been an amazing year of watching her get stronger and develop more each day. Happy Birthday, Jenna Grace - you are truly a gift to our family!!

The flu looks like this....

Well, the peaceful times of rest do! Jenna is on the mend, but is still quite tired. Poor Liam is still in the midst of it, and spends much of his time looking like this ... when he's not coughing! These poor guys had a bad cold with me a few weeks ago and were "lucky" enough to get ear infections ... once those cleared up, we moved on to the flu. I feel sad seeing them so sick! I think Grady probably had it last week, as well - but he was able to fight it off much easier. So far, Erica is well - that seems only fair since she had the stomach bug on Christmas Day and Strep Throat by New Year's! And did I mention that she's the only one who had both of those things?? Dave has been blessed to be traveling a lot these days ... not because the traveling is so much fun, but so far he has escaped the cold and the flu! I'm praying he stays healthy - I think it would be pretty miserable to be sick and away from my own bed. Well, Liam is coughing again so I'm off to give him some medicine. Now if only I can get the little guys to nap during school time ... it would be so much easier to teach Erica to diagram adjectives without their help!

Basketball Season

Here are a couple of dark, obstructed photos of our basketball stars (I'll put better ones in when I lighten them up a bit). That's Erica in the blue in the top photo. She's to the right of the pole and the referee, defending the girl in gold. Grady is in the bottom picture. He plays forward and is a head taller than many of his pals (on both teams). The photo above shows Grady left open, a mistake that cost their first two opponents ten points a piece.

This one's for you, Mimi!

In a recent phone conversation with Mimi, it was brought to my attention that recent posts included all children EXCEPT Erica - and it was (kindly) suggested that I remedy that situation.:-) This seems to be an ongoing problem - and I really don't mean to leave her out. It's just that she causes such little trouble and makes such little noise, that I sometimes forget she's around! That's not really true - I don't hear her or have to correct her very often, but she's often by my side, working with me. The fun thing is, she actually ENJOYS helping! I just wasn't like that as a 10 year old (or 18 year old) - sorry Mom!!! She has such a sweet and giving heart, and she spends a lot of time serving her family - even her brothers, who make her pretty crazy. But even if it seems like I forget to mention her, don't forget that she's the only one that has a scrapbook with more than 2 pages done! And have I mentioned all the Olan Mills pictures and video from her earlier days??? It doesn't hurt, either, that we enjoyed her so much that we went on to have 3 more!

She's a big girl now....

Miss Jenna has hit 2 major milestones in the last 2 weeks, and while I know I should be rejoicing over them, I must confess .... I'm a bit sad! The wee girl has given up diapers and her crib - and has given Mommy very little time to adjust. Now don't worry - I'm not crazy enough to actually miss CHANGING the diapers - I just miss the idea of having a child young enough to wear them. This is the first time since I had Erica 10 1/2 years ago that I'm not changing diapers - or carrying a diaper bag! I guess it's time to actually buy a purse, huh?? I'm sure part of the sadness comes from realizing that if Jenna is getting older, SO AM I!!! We're very proud of her for mastering the potty training so quickly - and I'm incredibly thankful that it wasn't as challenging as potty training the boys.:-) Now if I could just be thankful that I'm growing older...

Have a great day!
Kirsten

LJ Wins "A Major Award"

Our church's annual Wild Game dinner featured everything from squirrel medallions with noodles to BBQ bear (very good, by the way). But, on top of all the good eating, they had door prizes as well. Daddy won a shoe and boot dryer and Grady won a blaze orange sweathshirt and hunting hat. Poor LJ only won one of the two grand prizes-a custom built compound bow. Needless to say, LJ was ecstatic (as were Grady and Daddy). The other 247 men in the gymnasium just drooled.

Another Grady Birthday Party

Despite being new to the area, Grady found plenty of buds to fill out the table at the bowling alley.