Clap if you believe in fairies...

I am very much under the weather guys.  I'm not going into too much boring detail.  My throat closed up this morning, a freight train hit me this afternoon, and I'm in bed early on a double dose of medicine that has me praising God.

The real reason I picked up my computer is because I wanted to share how beautiful it is to listen to my family talking together tonight without me.

Jesse just said to my love, "Daddy, do you believe in fairies?"

My love said, "Yes I do, I believe in fairies."

Jesse then followed with, "Then clap your hands!  Daddy, clap your hands!"

I've been crying all night because I hate being sick, but hearing this...oh Good Lord.  The tears were very happy tears.  I've spoke of this scene in E.T. before...when Gertie's Mom is reading Peter Pan to her.  I've never pointed it out to Jesse really.

It just touched her too.  It jumped out and touched her heart just like it has mine all these years.  It was so beautiful.



I love your heart Jesse.

Now, she did point out the other night that shampoo had a toilet word in it.  She said, "You know...poo!"  I couldn't let you think she walks around talking in Peter Pan terminology all the time.



I knew you believed in fairies.  I always knew it.

I'm sorry I cried and acted like I was dying on the phone to get you home faster today.  I did feel bad.  But as usual, you saved me and calmed me and probably laughed at me, but that's OK...I deserve it.

I can't stay awake anymoooorroewoore...

Sunday Morning

Hey guys.  It's nice that things in our lives have slowed down a bit...for just a little while I guess.  The extracurricular activities start up again next weekend.  I'm ready.  Really,  I am.

Jesse starts baseball soon.  Don't you dare reference T-ball, or she'll correct you.  Jesse doesn't play T-ball...she plays baseball...and that's that.



I think I went a little harsh on the editing of her picture.  I guess I had a tough baseball player on my mind? We shall see.



If you look close, you will see somewhat of a black left eye there above.  Jonah got a black eye throwing with his Dad recently.  He was such a trooper about it.  Although, he tried on face masks tonight at Dick's and thought that might be a good purchase idea.  Perhaps.



She seems to have had a wonderful first week of school.  According to her, she's super sweet and smart.  I'm still trying to figure out how to respond to that.



I wish you could hear the way he talks to Luke.  It's annoying and sweet at the same time.  Luke loves it.  He loves Luke, and I've decided that bringing Luke home is one of the best things we have ever done.



I took these pictures this Sunday morning.  It was such a beautiful morning.  It seemed a little bit like Fall.  It was nice.  It was so great to have nothing to do.  We just woke up, watched the Smurfs, the kids ate pancakes on the porch, and played on the wet grass.  I have missed it so much.



The light was beautiful.



I really appreciate it.  So much so, that shoes are not required because what if we miss it?



I didn't even make Jonah get dressed.



You see those Jonah curls right there?  Gone, gone, gone.  I'm aching.  He's been asking.  I decided to take him to the Barber Shop.  He's so dang excited about it too.  I'm just trying to keep reminding myself of the smile he has when he looks in the mirror.  The curls were for me...not him.  It was time.

Ouch.

I had tears in my eyes.  I told him he was growing up and he said, "I'm here.  I'm right here.  You have a million pictures."

Oh, but is there ever enough and how do I make you understand, Jonah?  Anyway, so...I just said OK.  He's so excited to go to school tomorrow...curl-less.



I'm hanging in there.  His compassion and her smile helps.

Where does the time go?



Just so very thankful I have a partner in this life that misses the curls too and understands exactly what I'm feeling.

Have a great week guys.

Love,
Heather

Thankful

We went out for Mexican tonight guys.  It's Monday night.  I hereby declare all Mondays...well...Mexican Mondays.  It's the right thing to do.  I have no pictures from Mexican, but I would like to share these "last of Fall" pictures we captured last weekend.  They do say it's going to snow tomorrow in Georgia.  What's up with that anyway?  I don't know what to think.

Anyway...back to last weekend.

You know, most people were shopping after Thanksgiving.  I invision doing the same thing when the kids want to pick out cool, teen GAP clothes, but for now, we do the parks after Thanksgiving.  Hmmmm...how do I keep them wanting to do parks over shopping...like forever?  I don't know.  Truth is that it is probably impossible, but part of me looks forward to taking Jesse and picking out all of her Christmas clothes while Jonah screams at us to hurry up.  It's the natural progression of life I guess.

It was Saturday after Thanksgiving and the kids needed to get out.  So did Luke.

They were sort of delirious after all the food.  Look, you can see it in Jonah's eyes.  That's what caught my attention at first glance of the above photo.  But...look at Luke.  He also had turkey and pumpkin and sweet potato on Thanksgiving.  Luke buddy seriously needed to get out of the house and burn off some calories.

We heard lots of noises along the trail.  Some noises are obviously more apparent to children and dogs.  See, my love has no clue in the above photo.





And more proof.  There was obviously something creeping down low here.  Goodness...wish I was a kid again.  We miss all the fun you know.



Hey Luke Duke!  Luke, buddy, buddy boy.  You are so awesome.  We love you Lukey Luke!

I'm sorry.  This is how we sound when we talk to him.  We can't help it.

We had a talk about what to do if we saw a bear.  Like kids...don't run.  Here's the deal.  Mama will go ahead and check for bears and you have to stay still and listen.  If I'm alive, then the coast is clear.  Come towards me if I say it is OK.

They didn't seem to have a problem with this scenario.  Why is that?

They had a frisby golf trail along this path, and we stopped here and there and enjoyed the boys play.  What the heck is frisby golf anyway, and who in the world knows how to direct a frisby so well?



She was so excited about our adventure.  I loved her for it.



You know...I don't put myself in pictures much, and it's time for a change.  Yo...this is me and my dog.  We are a fine pair, don't you think?



This is me and my best girl and my best dog.  We make a great trio, don't you think?



And these three...well...this is the best trio of them all.

You know, I didn't miss shopping one bit.  I wouldn't trade this experience for the world.  I'm so thankful for my family.  They could never possibly top the gift of themselves that they have given me.  I will love them forever for it.

Always and forever my best boy and my best girl...

and my best man...

and my best dog.

Clearing the Rough

Jonah, your Dad took you to a football game on Friday night.  He says you loved it.  He says you got to play around with a bunch of kids on the field after the game.  He says he enjoyed every minute of it with you.  He was so proud that you got to experience that.  He was so proud of you.

I'm eventually going to install a hidden camera on your head to catch photos from such events that I am unable to attend.  Your Dad is lacking in that department.

He makes up for it in other ways though.

Which leads me to all the excitement from the rest of the weekend.  You know...Luke is gonna get really, really big.  He needs a place to roam and play. This weekend, you and your sister began to help us clear the rough and prepare for a fence.  At first, I felt really bad about this.  So much work on Fall Break?

But you didn't seem to mind.  In fact, you didn't want to stop.  It was a huge adventure.



You guys got along so well.



Gosh, who knew?  All this time, all I had to do was give you two a task...a mission...a common goal.  I'll be dang.  Who knew?

My love told you that you were in charge of Jesse.  When I joined you, you were quick to relay the news to me.  I believe you liked the responsibility.  Jesse just liked that you were paying her some attention.  Amazing.

"You guys are doing so great!  Dance for me!"



Ok, but no singing he says.



"I like to move it move it."



"Move it!"



I forgot kids.  This is hard work.  We got all these fallen trees from previous tornados and such to clean up.



Ok, so that's ok.  Have fun too.



"How many licks does it take to get to the center of this log?"  Fun predictions here.

Jonah, I had lots of ideas of what I wanted to do with you this week.  You have no idea.  I am coming to realize that just staying home and hanging out and helping us out wasn't a bad fall break for you.  Thank you for getting excited about that.  Thank you for treating your sister so well today.  Thank you for bringing so much joy to your Daddy's Friday night.  Thank you for reading to me tonight.  Thank you for using toothpaste tonight too.  Thank you in advance for not peeing on my toilet tomorrow.  (I know you can ring it buddy.)

Now, back to school tomorrow.  Sorry kiddo.  I love you.  You're still my best boy.

Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger and Sorry Rocket Man

I feel really guilty.  My love really wanted a cheeseburger from our local Cheeseburger Bobby's this weekend, and we never made it there.  Then, he had to go out of town.  After he left, I was running errands with the kids all day today.  They were hungry.  They really wanted McDonald's.  I just couldn't force myself to go trough that drive thru line.  There will always be a time when I just have to have McDonald's fries, but today was not one of those times.

I'm sorry my love, but hello Cheeseburger Bobby's.  Oh, it's so good.  We also got that custard you have been wanting to try.  Oh, it's so good too.  I'm so, terribly sorry.

The kids were thinking of you and wanted to send you a funny picture.  So, here they are.

They miss you.  I do too.

Jesse sat at the tall bar table and didn't fall down!  I'm so proud of her.

And here's your boy. The kids are driving him crazy.  I think you were right when you said he hides under the ottoman to get some peace and quiet.  Poor buddy.  Just look at him.  That's pretty bad.

It also didn't help that he didn't get to go to Cheeseburger Bobby's.  He really needs you to come home.  He thinks you are the only person that gets him.

I'm totally going to find you and Luke sneaking off to Cheeseburger Bobby's next week!

That's OK.  I guess we deserve it.

Come home Rocket Man.  We love you.

Sunday Morning

You know...I could complain about how tired I am.  I could complain that there is not enough time in a day.  I can say that I'm working hard and running home for just enough time to run right back out with the kids about every week night for some sort of practice.  I could complain about the condition my house is in.  I could also complain about...well, who cares really?

Or I could be thankful for it all.  I love running out to baseball so quickly after work.  I love watching her run from here to there while her brother plays.

I love that my love bought her a ring pop without me knowing, and how he seemed to want one too.

I love their cheeks.



I love how he anticipates who is getting the game ball after every game.

I love that last Friday night it was all his because he rocked a home run and made a fabulous defensive play.  I love how his hat is pushing his ears down in this picture.  Oh, and the missing teeth!  I love how he looked for us to make sure we witnessed his accomplishment.  I love how he immediately put down the snack and came towards me because he knew I would be tossing the camera for a hug in like two seconds.

I love that my love captured all this on video simultaneously, and I can watch it when I'm 80.

I loved seeing him so proud and completely unaware that they lost the game by two points.  He was the star and to him...that's a win.

I love that our team added all the kids names to their jerseys.



And guess what else?  I love the playground there.



I love these three human beings so much it hurts.



I love how the sport brings us together, gets us out of the house and away from the dirty dishes.   I love he's a Giant.

I love this beautiful child who is a twin to one of Jonah's teammates.  I love how much time she spends with Jesse as if they were the same age.  I love the admiration Jesse has for her.

It's amazing to watch.  She copies her every move and this beautiful, wonderful child doesn't even mind.

I'm just feeling very blessed tonight.  I would rather run like a chicken with my head cut off than not run at all.  I really have no plans of stopping...ever.

Well, except for maybe Sunday mornings.  Everyone needs a day.