Loving Life

Last week, Ana was so excited to finally turn double digits on her birthday. She kept commenting on how being 10 felt so old. She went to camp on her actual birthday, so we celebrated it a week late. She invited her best friend TJ over along with another boy from her class (yes, she's a tomboy). She wanted to make piranha cookies instead of a cake. Since Ana rhymes with piranha, she likes to call herself Ana the piranha and then threaten to eat everyone. Here's her big piranha cookie unfrosted. She then made little circle cookies, cut a triangle out for the mouth and stuck it on the back for a fin, so she could have smaller piranha cookies to share. The frosted and decorated version. Baby piranhas. Here we are singing to her. Blowing out 10 candles. A hot sauce packet eating contest with her best buddy. It seems so hard to believe that my first little girl is 10 years old! I fall more and more in love with this girl every day. She is so very athleti...

Fifteen years ago at this time, I was getting myself all dressed up for one of the longest anticipated days in my life. I met Aaron when I was thirteen years old and it didn't take me long to realize that he was the one I wanted to marry. It took Aaron a little longer to get his head on straight and realize that I was the girl for him instead of my best friend. But once he figured that out and started dating me, we had to wait only four long years until we were old enough and responsible enough to get married. Here I am at the tender age of 19, and Aaron at the age of 21. Don't we look young? Thinking of my own kids getting married at 19 makes me want to curl up in a ball and slow them down on their fast paced race in growing up. Even though we were young compared to most people around us who were getting married, we were ready for that awesome step in our lives. We have never regretted that move! My young looking almost husband. Hard to believe that in 15 years, half ...

Last week, Keilah turned six months old. It's hard to believe that a half year has flown by already. While is was a big adjustment to go back to babyhood again, I'm so grateful to have this little girl in our family. She blesses us tremendously. Here she is asleep in bed with her beloved dog. The moment I put her in bed, she's grabbing for dog and pulls him in close for a good dose of loving. Dog is starting to get smelly because she likes to chew on him as she drifts off to sleep. I haven't washed him yet since I'll be sad to see his soft fluffiness go away. However, his ears are no longer soft and fluffy as those are the favorite things to eat. They are now crispy with dried slobber. Maybe I'll go and wash him now. Shudder. Anything close to Keilah is now fodder for her mouth. If she can reach it, she will grab it. Here she is trying to grab the lens cap from the camera. She rivals David in her extreme happiness. He was the most obnoxiously happy ...