I'm no sure why its so hard for me to get on here and remind myself of whats happened.  I'm going to try to force myself to do this once a month.  It won't be long and this season of my life will be gone and I'll be grasping as vanishing memories, trying to recapture these lost moments.   

 To prove my point, just look, Will is 5! He celebrated his birthday with his first friend party.  I've decided that for each kid to get a birthday party every year is too much stress, and money.  So they will learn to share yet another thing.  It works out and the kid of the year feels honored and extra special.  And I, well, I feel calmer, and we all know that's a good thing. 

I just wanted to add this shot to remind myself how precious this little two year old is.  Its a good thing God made her so stinking cute, it has saved her life many times.  Goodness I love the toddler stage, but I sure get tired of her quick legs and easy frustration.  To her benefit, I have to remind myself that she does get over disappointment quickly and always comes back with a beaming smile and announces "Ella happy now!"  Usually accompanied with a little sniff.

Jack has been doing, what else, skateboarding.  Him and his dad took a special trip to the mall and had it built at Zoomies.  He bought the deck while at Lifelight this last Labor Day.  As with almost anything, the better the equipment, the better the player.  He has improved so much in the last few weeks, but its hard to watch this nice, new board get scraped and ripped up.  But I've heard that he'll need a new one every 3 or 4 months.  This kid better start doing some more chores! 

Apple season is in full swing and we took the family out to the Apple Festival at the orchard.  This was the first time the kids all looked at the camera and smiled. 

  Its so nice to be able to go somewhere without a stroller, and a diaper bag within an arms length.  Its hard to say goodbye to one stage of life, but this next stage has so many advantages.  I can sleep all night, mostly.  I can have a real conversation with any of my kids, mostly.  We can finally take our family out  , and actually enjoy it, not feeling like it was more work than fun, well, mostly.

All smiles with our bellies full of apples.

Isn't he handsome?  And who's that broad?  Haha...