12/14/2012

On this day, a man walked into an elementary school and killed 20 children in a K-4th grade school. Along with those precious children, 6 adults who cared for those children like they were there own were also were killed.  I have no words, only tears.  Tears for those children who will never see their 21st birthday. Tears for the children who will never graduate high school.  Tears for those who will never meet the man/women of their dreams, fall in love and get married.  They will never see their children.  Tears that they will never see the wonderful life that was ahead of them in the years to come.  I try not to think of their last moments but it is so difficult not to.  Tonight, when my girls came home from school, I held them tight.  Even as they struggled away from my grasp, I held them ever tighter.  When they asked what was wrong, I could only cry.  When they asked why I was crying I had to use the simplest words there were so a 7 and 10 year old could grasp what a  tragedy today was.  And somehow, they understood and they cried along with me.  I am blessed.  I know that may sound silly and holier than thou but honestly, I am.  I have this amazing 10 year old who is so wise beyond her years. A 7 year old that is capable of finding the good in every person and every situation and make you smile. And this 2 year old that makes me pull my hair out but is so stinkin cute that it doesn't matter because he has a smile that could light up a room  Tonight, I am grateful.  This could happen anywhere.  This could happen in Rockwall TX. These could be my children.  I could be the one grieving at Christmas instead of celebrating the season.  I could be the one burying my children instead of thinking of ways to make sure my children get an equal amount of gifts.  Seems trivial doesn't it?  Tonight I let my kids stay up late to watch a silly movie, I didn't get mad when Reese, as always, chose the couch instead of her bed.  I didn't yell when Mason got out of bed for the umpteenth time. No, I sat back, said a simple "thank you", took a picture and soaked in the moment. 

A little Mason time at the park

We had to take daddy Buzz and baby Buzz with us

Fly!!

Happy as can be in the swing



Silly boy!



Crazy boy

daredevil boy

Content boy

Playful boy

Handome boy

Daddy Buzz, baby Buzz and Mason played hide and seek

Love him so much!



Finding the perfect Christmas tree.

Last weekend we ventured out to find our Christmas tree.  We always buy a real tree but we usually go the easy route and buy it from The Home Depot.  When we were first married we went out and cut down our tree and we thought with the kids being older that we should do that again this year.  We headed out to Canton which is about an hour away to a place called Yesterland Farms.  They have a corn maze, amusement rides, Santa, and many, many trees to cut down.  At least that's what we had heard.  Needless to say that we didn't find out until we got there that none of the fun stuff happens on the weekday (we went on a Friday night). We still wanted to cut down the tree so we looked and looked.  Well, the only trees left were the short ones or the really, really tall ones.  We ended up leaving without our tree.  But never fear, our trusty Home Depot still had some great trees and we picked up a beautiful tree and decorated it in K-State purple and silver just for Ryan.  I have to admit it looks really good. 

They were excited at first!

Until the search took forever

Kaylie was not amused

At the end

Mason was still happy though!

Good ole Home Depot

Pretty pretty.

Our Thanksgiving

Oops, I almost forgot about posting about Thanksgiving.  After our quite exciting and busy Thanksgiving last year, this year was a little more subdued.  We were quite lazy most of the day playing with the kids, baking, and watching football.  We opted for just a simple dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, deviled eggs and, of course, pumpkin pie.  The huge meal I made last year was great but this was just as good.  We missed our family terribly and wish we could have been with all of them on Thanksgiving but we had a good time just the 5 of us.

Reese helped me whisk

What a cheeseball!

My 3 absolutely beautiful kids!

Student Showcase and Principal's award

A few weeks ago the girls had a Student Showcase at their school.  We went to Reese's class first where they had a "reading restaurant".  There we picked out a book from Reese's menu for her to read to us.  She also read a story that she had written herself.  She has really learned to love reading and her imagination makes her an amazing story teller.  I was quite impressed with her story that I had to ask the teacher is she had had help with it.  Her teacher said that Reese had come up with it all by herself.  We were so proud! 

Next we headed to Kaylie's room where they had book report about famous people.  Kaylie picked out Jackie Robinson.  She knew so much more about him than I did and of course he was a baseball player which made him all the more exciting for Kaylie.  We also got to read Kaylie's Ian Turkey story.  Quite funny.

 Last week Kaylie's teacher emailed me and told me to come up to lunch because Kaylie would be receiving an award.  We had no idea what this award would be.  They handed out awards for excellence in writing, science, reading, and social studies.  At the end, the principal gave out an extra special Principal's award.  It was given to a student who showed great character even when no one is looking.  Kaylie received this award along with 4 other students in the whole 4th grade.  She had such a smile on her face and so did I! 

The girls are excelling so much this year in school and could not be more proud of both of them!

Boys are just plain silly