George...

George and George.
My beautiful boy all snuggled up ready for dreams.

Happy 15th Birthday!

I can scarcely believe this eldest son of mine is already 15 years old.  But sometimes, I have a hard time believing that he's ONLY 15.  Some of the things he says teach *me* and I'm supposed to be the one teaching him.

A generous heart.

A concern for the poor.

A heart for Haiti.

A love for his brothers and sisters (well...you know, MOST of the time).

Concern for his environment.

Knowledge of and love for his animals.

Respect for those who are different.

A helpful spirit.

The ability to argue pursuasively.  (I'm counting this as a good thing...God CAN use it.)  :)

I am beyond blessed to be this boy's young man's Momma.  I can't wait to see what God does with his life.  Happy Birthday, John Wesley!



Cookie-Makin' Cousins...

I love these pictures.

I love these kids.

I love these cookies.

My Helper Girl...

MaKenzie:  Mommy, you know what I wanna be when I get big?

Me:  What's that baby?

MaKenzie:  Your helper girl.

You already are, sweet girl!

More Cousin Fun...

Cousins making snow cream.

Don't ask what we found in the snow.

At least we found it BEFORE we made the snow cream.

And that's a very good thing.

For the record, I didn't collect the snow.

For the rest of the record...I should have.

Cousins playing games.

 Partners in pizza:

Jonas and Jake

Cody and Lauren

John Wesley and William--because I had ONE whole wheat pizza crust and they were the only ones who wanted it, besides me...

Trenton and Lena

It was funny that they all REALLY RESPECTED that center line I created.  Nobody breached the line.  Thus the river of greasy cheese in the middle!

MaKenzie made a pizza for Jared, Matthew, and herself.  They're not very adventurous.

Only a couple pieces left over.  So it must've been good.  By the time I oversaw the making of all of them, pizza didn't even seem appetizing to me.  Well, that and I was full of Chex Mix.

Cousins Sledding...

The kids are having a blast sledding. 

I have to not watch, except, of course, to take pictures.

Then I go inside and tell Harold he's in charge.

As if he didn't know...

Happy Birthday, Cody...

Is it possible that you are REALLY fourteen years old?  Have I truly already loved you so long?  It seems like yesterday you were that chubby baby boy that I loved with all my heart even without the 9 months of preparation.  You've had my heart since the first minute I held you.  You have grown into such a sweet young man, and I am so proud of you.

Today was supposed to be Harold's Christmas dinner for work.  Mom and I were going to be cooking for everyone and I had planned to pick up cake and ice cream while we were in town.  That plan fell through when we discovered we wouldn't be going in town because of the weather. 

Since we wouldn't be getting cake and ice cream from town, Cody decided he wanted me to make my chocolate mayonnaise cake with powdered sugar instead of icing and some snow cream.  Cody decided to color the snow cream blue and yellow.  (I guess he's never heard the warning about not eating yellow snow!)   Mom and Dad came over and we had a sweet simple birthday party celebrating the privilege of living life with this boy we all love so much.