gotcha

Six years ago this princess came into our lives. We spent the weekend celebrating her and remembering when she joined our family. We looked back at journal entries and laughed at some memories we forgot. Like when she was almost two and would cry when the doorbell rang because she thought it was a babysitter. I would have to explain to the FedEx guy that she wasn't scared of him, she just didn't want him to babysit her. And how she would say things like "I don't want it....nite nite", "I don't want it...doctor". And how when she was stressed, like there was too much noise, she would scratch all over her little bald head, and it would seem to help.

We love you Claire, our little princess.

soccer anyone?

This is the first organized sport Claire has played in. She was so excited and was thrilled to wear cleats and shin pads. But she did ask me why she had to wear the brown jersey? I tried to convince her it was gold. But she still looked at the green, red and purple ones with envy. At least there wasn't any pink ones or we would have had a problem on our hands. Her first game was today and she surprised us all with her playing. She was always in the middle of the action. She was smiling the whole time and we even heard a few giggles. And yes, there were a few whiffs, but she is just so cute we barely noticed. Her great big brother, Jared, gave her some tips before the game.

carter's suit

Yes, that's Carter looking all too grown up. When Carter turned 12 he also became a deacon at our church. One of his new responsibilities is to help pass the sacrament to our congregation on Sundays. Most boys make this the time to start wearing suits and ties to show respect to this responsibility. And most moms beam with pride and gush at how cute their 12 year old looks. I was no exception. I also had a tear in my eye seeing my baby grow up. I wanted to take pictures of him in his new suit, but also with his dad, in his suit. Don't they look great? I wanted to capture this moment. Father and son. I want to take another photograph when Carter is graduating from high school and see how they look then. Carter looks so small right now, leaning on Allen's chest. How will he measure up in a few years?

on the lake

A good day on the lake

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

first day

Claire was the only one happy that school was here again. As always I could have used a month more of summer, and the boys would have loved 8 more month of summer. But, it was time. We survived. We are almost use to it again. We can't wait til summer.

off and on

While I was at a meeting at church one night last week, Allen took the kids to his office to take Carter's braces off. (end of summer is too busy a time to be seeing your offspring during work hours) Carter only had to have them a year, as he just had a little crowding. He is thrilled with his new smile.

While at the office Allen decided to use his new toy/laser on Jared and expose a slow descending tooth a little more, to help it along. Then thought why not slap a few brackets on and help it down even more and close that space while we are at it. Jared was game. So I came home with one boy without braces and one with braces. They both look great.