sam is 10!

today my middle child,

my sweet boy, my kind tender heart,

is 10.

wow. thats crazy.

in the early years this kid was hard.

some days i wished he would hurry and grow up.

i wondered what he'd be like when he was 10.

oh, its so much better.

i went to his parent teacher conference the other day

and his teacher was saying some really nice things about him

and at the end she said,

"above all those other things i've said sam, i know you are kind

and that is what matters most to me."

it is true.

sure he's a tease.

sure he can back talk with the best of them.

and yes. he can still make me crazy.

but sam is kind.

he will probably never know the important role he plays is this family.

he is our comedian.

there is no one in this family that can make us laugh like sam.

even so inappropriately during family prayers.

one giggle from him and we're all goners.

we love you sam.

yes, you are the middle but i like to think of you

as the center.

because you are.

happy birthday buddy.

we love you.

we might be boring.

ya, i said it.

when i have nothing great to post

i ask myself, "are we boring?"

and sometimes the answer might be yes.

so here's what we've been up to...

josh...working.

me...home, chores, panicing about christmas.

ethan...school and friends.

emma...school and friends.

sam...school, friends, and indoor soccer.

eliza...school, friends, piano(gett'n sooo good!)dance.

griff...hang'n with his homies aka. everyone listed above.

and taling in full sentences. the latest?

"how's it goin?"

life is so good though.

sometimes there's beauty is the norm.

not to say there arent challenges but if you look for

the good it is all around us.

do you know what was not good? twilight.

there are no words.

it was lame, and gross, and stupid, and badly acted,

and had a horrible soundtrack, and really lame yelling wolves...i'll stop.

we're all entitled to our own opinion.

we had company this weekend and that made up for it.

i am hosting thanksgiving again this year and i love it.

my kids get so excited (by kids i mean sam, eliza, and griff)

to help set up, cook, and have family over.

i love how it makes our home feel.

i like tidying things and making it nice for everyone to come and feast and hang out.

sams bday is friday and he will be 10.

i'm not sure how that happened?

i can't believe it.

i have such a soft spot for that kid.

i mean i do for all of my kids but, sam?

he gets to me in a good way.

he is so in tune with me.

always the first to tell me i look cute,

or comment on dinner, or just notice the little things.

he's a goodie.

well, busy week so i better get to it.

haircut!

oh liza loo you dolly.

she has been begging for a haircut!

so bye bye long hair!

7 inches to be exact.

love it!

happy fall.

ahhh...fall.

i love it so.

the weather, the clothes, the food.

griff and his buddy loved playing in the leaves.

i also had to document the night josh took

these 2 boys to the REAL game.

it was right before halloween so they dressed up.

griffy kept saying,"look at me i'm a cow-boy."

love these boys.

other than that its business as usual around here.

we just got back from a fun weekend in st. george.

ethan played 3 soccer games over the weekend and

his team won all their games.

we had fun being together away from the norm.

we love it down there.

thanks to heidi for her condo!

happy fall!

happy halloween everyone!

well hasn't it just been a few days

full of fun and festivity!

it started with emmas class party on friday.

i taught the kids "thriller".

it was awesome.

and then today.

ahhh, beautiful today.

high of 70 and no school=street party.

we have over 60 kids that live on our street

so my cute neighbor organized 6 houses to each do an activity.

i couldn't take pics because i was again teaching THRiLlEr!!!

it was so fun.

then on to trick or treating.

eliza and her friend aspen.

2 adorable dorothys!

griff the football player.

everyone kept saying that he was on the wrong team.

ummm...sam's team was the colts this season. duh.

this one includes james, aspens bro. the cowardly lion,

aka. tina turner.

what?

the moms left out of the fun?

never.

it was really fun until the girls ditched us after the 3rd house.

then we both just felt, well,

silly.

and if you're wondering where my other 3 children are?

gone.

gone, gone, gone.

way too cool for me and pictures.

but for remembering sake,

ethan wore a tshirt with a quarter drawn on the back.

get it? quarter back! wah. wah.

emma was a dead puppet.

ahhh, preteen girls and their silly ideas.

there was ratted hair, tutus, and fishnets.

i'm just say'n.

and sammy was a cheerleader.

he rocked it.

happy halloween.

i hope yours was great!

griffs bday continued.....

so as i was saying,

griffs bday was on friday and that

just happened to be UEA here so we

thought why not invite 4 of griffs buddies

to the zoo and have their families come too!

perfect!

we made little treat bags for the kids

and griff handed them out.

all the kids were so cute coming up and

telling him happy birthday.

hugs to his buddy max.

after the zoo we had our family over

to celebrate griff.

it was a football theme

because our boy loves football!

before the party his buddy hudson

came over and brought him a gift.

he was lov'n it.

he was so cute opening presents

and said thank you after each one.

these lucky cousins got a thank you and a love.

my mom made this TO DIE FOR sweater.

i love it.

it has a pocket in front

and a hood in the back.

he looks so cute in it.

ummm...i was apparently really excited

to sing happy bithday to griff.

he sat there so patiently taking it all in

waiting to blow out his candles.

he kept looking at me then back at everyone

then back at me with the biggest smile on his face.

it was killing me.

we gave him a train,

and he loved it.

it was the perfect day.

happy bday buddy.

happy birthday to you. happy birthday to you....

its here.

he's 2.

when people found out i was having another baby

almost 3 years ago now

i heard lots of comments.

but the one that stuck was,

"i can't believe you're starting over."

it didn't scare me, or bother me,

because i knew i'd blink and he'd be 2.

well....

blink.

happy birthday to the most

adored, loved, spoiled, played with,

cherished, kissed on, snuggled on,

boy in the world.

or at least in our world.

2 years ago you were 10 days late.

you were so worth the wait.