My mom celebrated her 80th birthday on September 26, 2013.

It's hard to condense a lifetime into 10 minutes, but here is my best attempt.

Love you, Mom!

This one goes to 11... but he is only 6.

Happy Birthday to my cute little feral cat. 

He has a wildness that will not be tamed and a tender heart that melts my own.

This one goes to 11

11 years ago this bundle of curiosity, innovation, and energy came into our lives. 

It is such a privilege to be his parents!

Happy New Year!

This time of year is always what I count as the "new" year. Everything is new! Pencils, notebooks, shoes, clothes, backpacks, teachers and students. January is actually just in the middle of it all, so for me it doesn't really count.

Today, our "new" is that DJ is a 4th grader and Nick is a brand new Kindergardener! We started the day with cinnamon rolls and ended with traditional ice cream. We saw our friends and sweetly ushered in our new year.

It seems like just a moment ago Nick was crawling over the threshold of DJ's kindergarten classroom. Today he walked across proudly into his own room full of adventure. We are truly blessed!

5 years of fun!

Nick turned 5 today!

We celebrated "Ben 10" style with a bunch of friends, candy and alien masks.

He is such a joy and delight to us! We are so grateful for his place in our family!

Goodbye dear friend

Before Christopher there was Nicholas,
Before Nicholas there was D.J,
and before ALL of them... there was Madison.
Goodbye beloved friend.

Writing

I love it when pieces of the puzzle start to come together. Nick will start kindergarten next year and I am amazed how quickly he picks up things. He is starting to sound out words and get them on to the paper. He loves to write to his friend Katy (an older woman of 6)

You have to read it backwards, but this says, "Katy I am 4"

Clearly he doesn't share in his brother's peace keeping efforts because he loves everything about guns and shooting. So, it makes sense that he would draw a gun and write about it.

He is quite proud that he drew the bullet.

DJ loves comic books and super heroes so I am flattered that he is writing about Super Mom.

Apparently, my super power is Super Scream. Here is the cover of the story, and the illustration of "super scream"