double digits

 Claire turned 10!!!  She kept saying, "double digits!"  She chose to have a girl cousin sleep-over for her party.  She wanted to play bingo with fun prizes.  I enjoyed picking out things I thought these girls would like.  Her big gift was a new bike with gears, so she can keep up with us on the hills.  She also got her ears pierced and loved all the earrings she received as gifts.  In some ways she seems older but then she comes downstairs in a princess outfit and I'm glad she is not growing up too fast.

she requested a pink cake

nervous 

but no tears

Carter left this sweet note on Claire's door for her to see when she woke up.  Priceless.

flu and birthday

 Last month I got the flu.  It really knocked me down.  I spent about a week doing this.

I also had a birthday last month.  I got five cards.  Three had dogs on them.  I have never gotten a dog card before.  It made me smile.

Claire's ninth

 Claire turned nine!!  She had a big bash at Pump it Up and now has enough crafts/jewelry making kits to keep a small town busy for a year.

 She got her long awaited American Doll from us and some matching clothes.

Claire at nine:  still happy as ever, still makes us laugh, still hasn't met a stranger.



the dress

Claire finally got the dress she has been dreaming about. She had explained it in great detail: "touching the floor so you can't see my feet, puffy so it always looks like I am spinning." It was at the top of her birthday list. Well, Grammy and Mimi did not disappoint. And now Claire is in heaven and doesn't mind having to pick up her dresses a little as she walks up stairs and loves to sit in a muffin and tell everyone to come look how big it is, so big she can rest her head on it.

Can you say future beauty queen? Scary, I know.

Her second favorite gift came from mom and dad. She enjoys giving her brothers a ride down to the lake. Unfortunately, her dresses are too puffy to fit in the car.

happy birthday boys

I finally got to use Lori's gift to decorate for the big days

there was a D&D theme this year

One of our gifts to the boys is that we are taking them to Nashville to see our new favorite band, The Avett Brothers, in concert

Jared had a swim party

Carter did the boat party again

Carter doesn't like cake and chose to have cookies and swedish fish instead

Carter and his friends still love all things monkey, so he was thrill with this gift

38 and counting

cake with chocolate mousse icing-yummy!

My birthday cards were themed "top 10 things I love about mom". Here are my top three favorites:

Carter: you read to us when you would rather watch TV

Jared: she always thinks of us first

Claire: you adopted me (wow...words can't described what I felt when I read those words)

even once more

Allen is once again my age for another 6 months. On his special day Claire declared that daddy was turning 17. And it reminded me that I met Allen (re-met actually, remember we were in the same 6th grade homeroom) at his 17th b-day party just 20 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun.

11 years

It's true, Carter is 11 years old. I know, I can't believe it either. He repeated his friend party from last year-on the boat. He loves it, we love it. This year he shared the celebration with his best bud, Konnor-even better. Our new tube was a hit with the boys-and I caught the air they got on camera. That is Carter jumping over to the other tube. Our present to Carter was a guitar. He and Allen will be starting lessons any day now.

happy birthday to me

I celebrated another birthday this month. I am now officially older than Allen for the next 6 months. He will remind me of this fact about a thousand times in the next 6 months. I had a great day. The kids were out of school and Allen was off work, so it really felt like my birthday all day. I have said this before, but I want to write it down so my children can read it later. They MAKE my birthdays. My birthdays have become more about them then me. Without them, it would just be another day. But seeing their joy and excitement makes me feel so good. Watching their faces as I open up the gifts that they picked out all by themselves is priceless. Their hugs and kisses, their back scratches, their cute smiles, their "happy birthday mom!" 100 times a day. I want them to know how much this meant to their mom-it meant everything. I have vivid memories of each child the first time they could actually sing "happy birthday" to me. It made me cry every time. Isn't that weird? I don't know why it affected me so much. It was somehow significant to me, a milestone that touched my heart.

This year I requested that instead of going out to dinner, that the kids (and Allen) fix dinner for me. This thrilled them. They did a great job. My birthday cake was made by them also and it was yummy!

Allen surprised me this year with one of his gifts. I have been wanting to find a way to print my blog into a book so that I would have a hard copy of this "journal". There had not been a way yet. Well, right before my b-day, blurb came up with a way how-Allen found out and I did not. So Allen was able to surprise me with it on my b-day. Probably one of the best gifts he has given me. I instantly started to cry and couldn't stop. Partly because I was so surprised and so thankful to my wonderful husband. But mostly because I was looking at this book with pictures of my three kids on the cover and filled with memories about them. And my heart was full of the love I have for these three kids. I think I have said it before, but I am at a time in my life where I can't get enough of my kids. They are at such great ages. They are not perfect, but right now they are pretty close. And I am enjoying this time with them so much.

my baby is five

Claire turned five. All day long she told everyone that it was her birthday and that she was five. She had her first friend party...it was a princess party of course. And she loved it so much I don't think she needed anyone else to be there, just her and all the princess stuff and she would be happy.

So, my baby is five. How do I feel about that? Pretty good. A small part of me can't believe that my last child is that old. What does that make me? Old. But, I'm ok with that. I am enjoying these baby free years too much and I am not sad that the baby years are gone...I have wonderful memories of them. I have few regrets of my baby rearing years...they were good to me. I love being a mom to these kids.

Carter's birthday

Carter turned 10!! I have a child in double digits! This is very unsettling to me and Allen.We have asked our children on multiple occasions to please stop aging-we like them the way they are and even more important, they like us the way they are now. But, they keep getting older. And so Carter turned 10. He got a wii fit from us, which made his day. I let him wear a sleeveless shirt for his party/pictures. (I HATE sleeveless shirts on little boys, but Carter loves them-I don't know why I hate them, maybe for the same reason that I hate camouflage on little boys, which Jared loves. So Carter gets to wear them to bed, in our house, for sports practice and on his b-day. It's all about compromise. Oh, Jared's lunch box and extra blanket are camouflage-compromise) His friend party was on our boat and they had a blast. It was a great night. The actual day of his birthday I had put up a few streamers and homemade signs for when he got home from school. I don't always do this and have never done the homemade signs before, but I had for Jared's and decided I better for Carter's. Well, when he saw the kitchen he smiled and ran up stairs (I figured to check his room-I had done signs in Jared's room-a first) and he ran back down and gave me a big hug and said thanks. Wow, what a mommy moment. I truly didn't think they would care that much about the signs. Thanks Carter.