Old car photo shoot on Zach's birthday

Just we girls

These little ones had the time of their lives inside that old rusty car.
There were no seats, just a steering wheel and a few pop cans thrown into the 'car trash can'.

Braden - "Please Mom, may I go inside? This is a little harder than I thought."

Where have these 10 years gone? It was only a short while ago that we welcomed our first baby boy into our home. You continue to mature by the year. You are very dear to us. You are great with tools and taking care of things properly, just like your daddy. You learn by watching intently. Your room is a different story, but we're not talking about that.

We had a short talk during some misbehavior. The battle was very real in your life. You did not want to pray by yourself. Stubborn. Proud. You had a very hard time saying, "I'm sorry."

Then you prayed the sinner's prayer after me. Oh, praise the Lord! The angels in heaven rejoiced at your simple prayer of faith. Your demeanor changed instantly.

Zachary, now you can always remember that you gave your life to Jesus one day before your 10th birthday. Hallelujah!

Have ya'll noticed those rubberbands/hairbands on those wrists?
The girls were fussing, "So that's where all our hairbands are."

We were very unprofessional with decorating this cake. Allison had baked the cake in the morning then we had gone out for the afternoon and didn't arrive home till later in the evening. Now we needed to ice this cake. And we had quite a few frustrations. First of all, we couldn't find our decorating bag and tips. I believe they are in our mountain of storage. We decided to make chocolate frosting so we wouldn't waste more time in using coloring. Allison went to mixing the frosting. Then we had no instant coffee. A trip to the neighbors paid off. We swapped sweet potatoes for the coffee granules. By the time we ate, it was close to most folks' bedtime.

Zach had wanted a castle cake. He was very disappointed that Allison had baked that cake in a 9x13 pan instead. But he didn't know her surprise plans. This cake idea was Allison's. Just thinking, originally she had wanted to design a basketball cake, but there again, the round pans are in storage.

Allison carried the cake to the table with all those 10 candles shining and we sang 'Happy Birthday'. Zach didn't notice the design. And he wasn't saying anything. Finally I asked him, "Do you know what design it is?" Only then did he notice! And oh, the look of sheer joy and surprise on his face was enough to top it off! He LOVED it. And he didn't long for that castle cake anymore.

I am so honored to call these dear ones my sons.

This ole computer is like a magnet. Too much time can be wasted on it. Especially when you can't figure things out. Like right now I don't know why I can't post more pics from Picasa to this blog. I'll figure it out some day. But the children are tired of me spending all this time on here. And I truly don't blame them.

Patience: the ability to idle your motor when you fell like stripping your gears.

I haven't acquired that virtue, yet. But I long to be more like Christ in not lashing out at others when I am only frustrated with myself. It really isn't fair to anyone to take it out on them when you should be taking it out on yourself.

I'd rather be listening any day to my children's stories. Like when Zach tells me his dreams. He dreamed he and his daddy went to Taco Bell and they had HUGE drinks. Then they went to Dairy Queen and he spilled his drink all over the floor. When they got back home, daddy forgot he closed the garage door and they crashed right into it with the motorcycle.

(These dreams are part of reality. Zach and his daddy had a birthday date to the restaurant of Zach's choice. And he chose Taco Bell and dessert at Dairy Queen.)

And then along comes little Landon. He couldn't remember 'dreaming' but he wanted to tell me a story of his own. Just to have that quality time with Mom. He says, "I dreamed......." I told him he may make up his own story so he says something about some pirates. Oh please, I would rather he not be thinking about that right now. But he remembers me reading about it.

It's coming back to me. I read 'Dennis and the Dive Bombers' from Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. All these boys thought they could fight the wasps with their homemade sticks, swords, and guns. Turns out the wasps were hornets. The sting of the hornet on Dennis' lip was a stark reminder of the lesson on obedience.