Katelyn's First Birthday

We celebrated your first birthday with family here at our house.  You definately preferred the cake over the gifts. You ate your entire cupcake all by yourself.

Mommy made your cake- it was a giant cupcake with pink icing.

All the excitement was too much for you by mid afternoon and you fell asleep snuggled up with Grandma.

Katelyn it is hard to believe it has been a year.  Your sweet smile lights up our home and your beautiful blue eyes make my heart melt.  I love you so much baby girl.  I can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you.

Dad

Well our trip home this weekend did not go exactly as planned.  While we were driving home I got a call from my sister saying that Dad was on his way to the emergency room because a tree had fallen on him while he was cutting wood.  We met him at the ER and found out he had a compound fracture in his ankle.  He was in a lot of pain, but continued to keep his sense of humor.  He was really upset that the nurses had cut his "good" jeans and his boot off!  He was transported to Manhattan where he underwent surgery Saturday night and they put a plate and screws in his ankle.  He was released on Sunday but remains in a lot of pain.

He is still getting the hang of walking with crutches and it makes him very mad that he has to wear sweatpants, he is on a mission to find jeans he can wear!  Opening day of turkey season is April 14th and he is determined to get a turkey this year on his property.  He has even asked my stepmom to put camo on his crutches so he can out and watch the turkeys to see their path (or something like that!)   This would be even funnier if I thought he wasn't serious about it!

He is on crutches for 4-6 weeks and will then be in a walking cast.  It is his right leg so it will be quite a while before he should be driving. Please keep him in your prayers.  Depending on other people to help him out is driving him crazy.  He has never been down like this before and is determined this is not going to keep him down.  I pray that his leg will heal quickly and that he will listen to what the doctors tell him to do.

Princess

So last night the boys were looking through pictures of Katelyn's birthday party.  Hayden asked me "Mom, why did we have a princess party?" To which I respond "Well she's our princess, that's why!"  Hayden then says, "But Mom, you are our princess! I guess we have two princesses now!" 

Hayden, you always know what to say!

One Year Old

It's so hard to believe my baby girl is one year old.  It has been so exciting to watch you grow this past year.  You are such a special part of our family.  You still aren't walking, but then again when you have two brothers who will carry you anywhere you need to go, I doubt you see much of a need to walk!  You are still my little cuddle bug and love when Mommy holds you.  You are eating table food so well and are officially done with formula- Yeah!  You have so many girl toys, but you are still drawn to the hotwheel cars.  Your favorite book is "That's Not My Fairy" and you get so excited when you see it.  You weigh 18 lbs and are 26" long- only 3% of height and 11% of weight.  You have one of the biggest smiles for a little girl!  We love you baby girl.

So with all the rush of the birthday party, Mom didn't get any good birthday pics and even forgot your cute birthday hat! So I decided to try and get some the following day, but you were not having it.  This was the only picture of you smiling.

The progressively got worse...........

And most of them looked like this..............

Mommy has plans to take you to get profressional one year pics done- lets hope you cooperate better on that day!

Prayer

As we work to teach our kids about prayer, we now have a very serious prayer request to bring to the Throne that Hayden relates to very well.  His classmate, Dalton, was diagnosed with a rapidly growing cancerous tumor in his leg.  They indicate it is the size of a baseball, which is hard to imagine because this little boy is so tiny.  My heart breaks for his parents as I can't even comprehend what they are going through right now.  Hayden has been very concerned about Dalton and asked me if we could add Dalton's name to one of our sticks in our prayer pail. 

I was given the idea of a prayer pail from a great friend (thanks Amy!) and it has worked great in our house.  We have a different prayer item listed on each stick and at dinner time we all take a stick and pray for that item.  Hayden (being a creature of habit) tends to dig through the bucket to find the same stick each evening!  Jackson's prayers go like this "God is great, God is good, thank for ________(fill in with whatever is on the stick) Amen"

And so, we have added Dalton's name to our prayer pail.  I ask that you lift him and his family up as they struggle to comprehend all of this.  There are so many questions I have for God on that day that I meet Him in the sky.  We will likely never know why this side of Heaven, but I know He has a plan and is control, no matter how desperate the situation seems. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

I pray now that you would be with Dalton and his parents Jeff & Missy as they begin down this road.  Lord, I know they are full of questions and fear.  I pray that you would put your loving arms around this family and let them feel your presence.  Lord, please give the doctors wisdom as they treat this precious little boy.  I pray that you will bring their family through this trial and that through it all you would be glorified. 

Amen

Boys will be Boys

Growing up in a house of all girls, I was never aware of what went on when there were boys in a house.  One of the many things I have learned, is that wrestling is fun- it doesn't mean they are fighting or mad, it actually means they love each other?!   This has become a common scene in our house.  Tonight I heard Hayden say "Bring it on little fellow" to which Jackson responds "Bring it on idiot brother!" And yet no matter how often I see it, it continues to amaze me how quickly they go from this...........

to this.....

Perfect Fit

I LOVE this shirt- it fits Katelyn perfectly (not in size in what it says!)

Her phone really makes her smile (wonder if she is going take after her mom???)

Life is great, I am happy

All smiles, all the time