Mr. Paul

Five Years old

Ten years old

Eleven years old

Eleven years old

Twelve!

There are not words to describe how awesome our Paul is, and how very much we love him!  He is the sweetest, coolest, kindest, most easy-going kid I have ever known.  He is happy and obedient and smart and funny.  It is a joy and honor to be his Mom and to get to watch him grow into a very fine young man.  He turned twelve yesterday, and this Sunday will be ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood.  We are so proud of our Paul!

Picture Post

I thought I had better pictures of our new digs.  But, it's better than nothing, right?

In our first week here, we bought a lawn mower, and a pickup truck.  Then we all went for rides on the lawn mower, because that's what you do in the country.  :)

 The white shed is on the right-hand side of the house, it's where we keep our trash cans, lawn tools and various species of wasps.

 This picture is looking out on to our street.

 And, here is our first attempt at a compost pile, because country folk make their own compost.

 Here's Paul on our back deck.  He's in his jammies because we were staying up late to look for fireflies.  We found 'em too, but I don't have pictures of that.

 Our first foray down the forest path behind our house. (See the red deck way up there in the back?  It's a darn steep hill.)  We didn't get very far before the over-grown jungle stopped us.  Those weeds have a date with a bush-hog pretty soon.

Maggie and Ellen made it their first priority to find a climbing tree. 

Why I love my Mom

My mom is one of the coolest people I know.   She is funny and cheerful and smart and kind. I can call her up anytime to ask advice, vent, or just share a laugh. And she dispenses wonderfully wise, helpful advice without making me feel like I'm crazy, even if my problems are sometimes a little weird or dramatic.

 She once dropped everything (including leaving her job in the middle of a workday) to drive two hours to Lubbock to be with me when I was distraught and needed my mommy. Why was I so upset you ask?  Was one of my kids deathly sick?  Did my husband lose his job?  Nope. I was inconsolable because that morning I had accidentally run over our cat with my van. I couldn't handle telling my kids, and Reed was out of town.  My mom swooped in like Wonder Woman and took charge. She played with the kids, distracting them when their mom had to run to the bedroom and cry some more during random moments in the day.  She took us out to lunch. She stayed with me until Reed got home that night. Then she took the cat's body home with her so she could bury it on her land.  I couldn't stand the idea of throwing our kitty in the dumpster.

I am so grateful that I have my mom.  I am grateful that I have her to talk to. To hear about her life and her ups and downs, and to tell her about mine.  I am grateful for her wisdom and her love. I will miss her terribly when we move, but there are phones, and email, and cars and airplanes. At least I have her in my life. I know that there are women all around who don't have their mothers.  I will try not to take mine for granted.

Lately

A whole lot has been going on in our lives since the last post.  Since I have done a terrible job of updating, and I'm going to do better, here's a brief re-cap post on the past few months.  Next post, I'll finally get around to what's going on now. 

 In October, we did Halloween

 

 In November, Maggie and Ellen were baptized.

 Aren't they beautiful in their white dresses?  Thank you Auntie Vicki!

 I love pictures of Ellen laughing.

 Maggie is too cool. 

And, then Christmas.  They're all saying "Ho, Ho, Ho".