Eleven!

Pierce,

Today you turn ELEVEN! So I guess that makes you an official "tween?" I was talking to Tracey the other day and I said, "he just doesn't act like a tween, you know?" And maybe all that angst and teen stuff is still to come, but I can honestly say you are a dream. 

You know what trips mommy out?

You don't have much time left in elementary school.

You do so very well in school, so I'm sure Junior High won't be a problem for you.

But it will be a problem for me.

So your tenth year of life was pretty awesome, wasn't it?

A new house, straight A honor roll, baseball, running, friends...

But most important, your decision to accept Christ and follow in baptism.

Do you know sometimes I still watch you sleep?

And sometimes I will see a glimpse of you when you were a baby.

Eleven years ago when you came along I thought you would be a baby forever

Funny how quick it goes.

But let me tell you something

If I could have custom ordered a son, I would have ordered one just like you.

I always wondered what you would be like at this age, and you are so much more than I could have dreamt of.

I just want you to know how much I appreciate you.

And that I love you, for just being you.

I have no idea what I did to deserve you, but I'm so glad God gave me you.


Love, Mommy.

Until next time

These two. 

They go way back. Way back to the playgrounds of second grade. 

Best friends for for about four years now, which when you are young that's FOREVER!

In those years there has not been a single playdate. Due to language differences and such, I could never make it happen. And that made Pierce really sad. He's asked for years to play with his friend, and for years it just never happened.

But that's the past.

An early birthday present for Pierce this year was this.....

We've anticipated this day for weeks and I'm not gonna lie, I think I was just as excited as the kids. I've wanted this for Pierce for a very long time, so I was just so happy for him.


So we welcomed our friends with generous acts of kindness...

They got right to the important stuff.

SHOOT OUR FRIENDS WITH NERF GUNS.

Pierce even bought extra bullets for the event, like HUNDREDS EXTRA.

Our poor neighbors will be finding ammo for years probably.

But seeing as he's been mentally planning this for years he had it all planned out. Bring out the big guns...

And play some X-box.

While the boys were enthralled with some video madness, the littles had their own thing going on with Spider girl.

I was so glad that little brother tagged along, he's in Hope's class and they had the best time together!

 Before we knew it the hours had passed away and it was almost time for out friends to go home, but not before a treat.

Pierce asked for M&M's.

His friend has an egg allergy and he didn't want to take any chances. He was horrified that wax was getting into the M&M's, but you know I'm clever like that.

It was a simple day. But it was the best day.

For hours I just watched them play, and I was just thankful for this moment.

Until next time friends.

Pumpkin patch

You know what you have when you gather twelve children at a pumpkin patch? 

You have a goat rodeo. 

In service day off of school, and myself, and the rest of the entire county hauled it up to Jackson's Orchard.

Hope came with high expectations for fun.

But was CLUELESS that Emerson was going to join us, so her excitement at her arrival was fantastic!

Hope had no idea (actually I didn't either until like five minutes before) that Brittany invited the Emerson crew along to join us. Such a fun surprise!

Brittany is always good to include people.

Oh, and as you can see Emaline loved the slides. WHO DOESN'T?

 She also really enjoyed an ice cream cone.

AGAIN, WHO DOESN'T?

Pierce was there too, but he just runs off most of the time. Or briefly stops to do the whip, of the famous 'whip and nae nae' of course. This is mid whip..

No kidding, he breaks into that dance probably fifteen times a day.

Silly boy.

So the goat rodeo reference is something a friend of mine always says, and it cracks me up. And photographing all these kids, was definitely a goat rodeo. But in the end, it's always worth the chaos.

Now fall break is nearly over, and we are on the countdown to some important dates this month. So you know what that means? It means I might blog like 4 times this month, BOO-YAH.