A Fond Farewell

Before.
During.
After.

.
Can you hear my sigh?
No more baby hair.
And his face cleans up remarkably well, too.
Doesn't it?

Wow

I love this girl.
I really, really love this girl.
But, wow...
Where did this little munchkin go?

We're entering a new phase in parenting.

Dealing with a pre-teen.

And she's not even 11 yet.

Moodiness.

Long discussions on inner beauty.

Tears.

More long discussions.

Repeat.

And then, eventually.

Goofy faces.

Lord, give me wisdom.

And patience.

Lots and lots of patience.

Self-Portraits

I had to change my camera battery today.
Could it be due to a certain little boy
getting his hands on my camera
and taking nearly 100 pictures?

And the Walls Go Up

Things are starting to look different here.

Brookelynn's cubby.Jake's cubby.

Dusty stairs.

That will only get worse

as the mudding and taping begin.

I no longer have to worry

about the little boys falling through

the 2X4's down the stairs.

Long drop right on the other side of this wall.

Almost done hanging.

So far, so good.

Bonus

Ryan's brother is helping out this week
before he begins teaching again.
He's not the bonus.

But his 4 month old son is.
He comes along with daddy
when mommy, whose a nurse, is working.

And, of course, he does not get spoiled.
At all.

The kids do such a great job.
Makes me think.
Hmmm.
Should we have another one?
And then, I laugh.
Cuz that's a funny joke.

Ryan's Vacation

Insulation.
Sheetrock.
Pretty exciting, huh?
But we've been waiting for this day since November.

Hopefully, be the end of the week
we won't see the bathroom pipes.

Or the hole in the ceiling.

Where a closet wall once was.

And maybe we will have a master closet again.

A bigger closet.
And a master bath with walls.

No shower, sink or toilet yet.

But I can live without that a while longer.

Now moving downstairs.

Jake will have his own room.

KU colors, of course.

Brookelynn will have her own room.

Orange with black and white soccer balls, of course.

She also wants to throw a little green in there.

The girl knows what she wants.

And eventually a bathroom

for the two of them to fight over...I mean share.

Let the fun begin.

Parade

Brookie's soccer team had a float
in the county fair parade.
What is it about parades that makes
boys stand still...
unless they are chasing after candy.


Jobie loved it.
He was pointing,
making boy sounds,
clapping,
waving.

And this was a lousy parade.

Really.

Except for our float, of course.

We were one of maybe two floats that were decorated.

Otherwise it was the usual.

Fire trucks.

Demolition derby cars.

Horses.

The Shriners.

And they weren't even driving those little tiny cars.

Lousy.

I wonder what he would do at a good one.