The Children's Year In Review

The only ones missing in the first photo is Wendy & Dave, but I still love the photo. Heather & Casey are still working hard with their jobs and trying to finish their college degrees. They are expecting another addition to their family in September. Our little grandson is starting to grow up on us at the ripe age of 2 1/2. He is so smart. They have really worked hard with him. His vocabulary is most impressive how many 2 yr olds can point out a hexagon and get every sound correct, unbelievable. With this advanced vocab, he has picked up reasoning skills which is good and bad. He reasoned why he didn't think Santa needed to visit him this year..."why can't my family buy me gifts?"

Brandon turned 13 this year, and although he is our baby he has brought brand new teenage challenges for me. He didn't do football this year, but is still doing basketball. He decided to focus on his academics to the fullest. He has advanced classes for his last year in junior high that will transfer over for the start of high school next year. Thinking that my baby boy will be a freshman next year still takes my breath away. His voice is starting to change, peach fuzz (that I just want to shave off in his sleep) is starting to grow, he's almost as tall as me, and lets not forget the attraction to girls is starting to set in heavily.

Madeline turned 16 this year. She has her permit to drive but is still dragging her feet about leaving the driveway in the car. She decided not to do basketball this year, which I think was harder on me than anyone. She is doing wrestlerettes, which is the girls that do the wrestling stats. For the first time ever Maddie is getting all A's in school. She is my child that has to work at her grades, so this is a huge accomplishment for her. She is boy crazy as most 16yr girls are, so we are doing the screening (meet the parents, talk with parents) before we let her go out on dates. This whole process is why I have to dye my roots faithfully every 6 weeks.

Overall we are very blessed with a great family. I couldn't be happier of all of them.