Kindergarten Graduation was very telling of the progress he has made.

Last night was Jaxon's Kindergarten Graduation.
Cuter than a room full of newborn puppies and kittens, they were.
As I sat there watching the children put on the little show they had prepared, I was struck by the HUGE difference in Jaxon from the beginning of the year to now.
Beginning - Insisted that I stay with him on the playground each day until it was time to go into class.
Last night - He ran far ahead of us to the auditorium and went immediately to the stage to join the other kids. No hesitation. No looking back. He didn't even look for us in the audience until quite a bit into the presentation. But when he did see us, he beamed. As did I.

 The class recited a poem they had written. Each child had one line to say. Most of the other children picked up their "cheat sheets" from under their chairs to help them remember their lines. When he didn't pick his up, I thought it was because he was too distracted by all that was going on to pay attention when his teacher told the kids to get the papers if they needed them. That would have been a beginning of the year case. But no, he didn't pick up his paper because he didn't need it. He totally knew his line and said it right on cue.

 I was so worried at the beginning of the year that he would be the kid clinging to me and refusing to leave my side all year. But that was not the case. He needed me nearby for a bit, while he got the lay of the land, but then he was fine to climb out of the car each day and wave me off.
He's a cautious boy, to be sure. And that might keep him from jumping immediately into things, but it hasn't kept him from growing this year. So much!


With his teacher Mrs. Moore and his classroom aide Miss Randi. 

It's Happening Again

Last night we watched another young man propose to another of our daughters. 

It just keeps happening over and over!

Our presence was requested at the local Cold Stone. 

The whole family assembled at Cj's request.

Kenzie didn't know.

Until they walked in the door and she saw nearly her entire family filling up the place.

He suggested that they go to the counter and see if there was a "special".

Of course there was.

A very special ice cream creation topped with a lovely engagement ring.

We had been waiting a while.

Other customers had gotten wind of what was up.

Some of them hung around just to see it go down.

She said yes.

There was much applause. By family and strangers too.

There is to be a Fall wedding.

On a related note:

There is to be a New Year's baby.

It is safe to say that this was not the plan.

~for either of them~

I was a big fan of Kenzie's original plan.

~nurse midwife~

So this was a bit of a shock.

But you know what they say about making plans...

LIFE (sweet and beautiful and blessed) happens.

So this is the new and exciting plan.

The previous plans will be/have been adjusted as necessary.

And we are all happy to welcome Cj and grandbaby #9 with open arms.

I vote GIRL. ;)

These Women - My Daughters

This is not really a birth story. That belongs to Crystal. She'll tell it in her own time.
This is the story of one of my most amazing moments as a mom.
Baby Nash was born last Thursday.
It started just after 1 am when I heard "Mom! I think I'm in labor."
I hope she knows how much it honors me to be her Mom. I hear her talk about me as her mom to other people. She calls me mom on Facebook. (THAT'S validation. Surely!) But in our daily interactions I guess we don't call each other by any name really. We just talk. Which is awesome! There's not a birth story for me to tell about how she became my daughter. But she certainly did - become my daughter. As loved as all the others.
We gathered ourselves up and went to the hospital. Started making the calls to the sisters. And they all started rolling in.
Kayleigh and Heather, together, as an energetic and enthusiastic FORCE through the doors of the labor and delivery unit. All smiles and laughter and loudness.
Kenzie on a 2am 2 hour drive from school, determined not to miss the birth of this nephew.
Emily stayed home with Jaxon, having declared herself too young for this. lol
Roger joined us and for a few hours there was lots of talking and laughing and one or more of us at a time wandering in and out for snacks or drinks or ice chips for Crystal.
But then....then we got down to the last hour and half or so.
Roger, still surprisingly squeamish about woman things for a father of six daughters, left the room.
And Crystal got down to the serious business of pushing.
Something happened.
Something very powerful that I'm still not sure how to put into words almost a week later.
There we were, two of us on each side of her, holding her legs and coaching her through sets of 4 pushes for each contraction. Encouraging her to do this hard, hard work so that she could hold her baby.
And I felt this incredible vibe, energy, connection, UNITY, no...none of those words is quite right. It was just this SOMETHING that I can't even describe that was going on between this group of women that I have mothered for so long.
It was just so moving. Any time one of them would offer up more encouragement than the business of "deep breath in! push! 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 exhale and deep breath in....." it would choke me up with emotion to the point of making it hard to count out loud. I might have miscounted a time or two. lol
And then Nash was here. And he is perfect.

I wish I had the words to describe this intense thing that I experienced seeing my grown girls come together this way for their sister. It was simply magical. There has always been some combination of myself and/or a sister or two at each birth but this was the first time I was there with all of them. Amazing. A week later and I'm still crying about it as I type this.
Our oldest daughter chose to become estranged from our family a little more than 2 1/2 years ago. It's beyond comprehension for me that anyone would choose not to be a part of this powerful sisterhood. I'm sad for her that she is missing out on this and that their group can't be one sister stronger.
I've never had a sister and it never really mattered to me. My one younger brother was my friend growing up and, I admit, the target of my occasional sibling meanness. It never even occurred to me to wish for sisters.
But after last week's experience I kind of retroactively wish for a few.
Everyone should have a team like that.

Goodbye 2011 - In Pictures

 We ate. (Sorry, honey! Somehow this is the only picture we have of you that night)

 We made silly party hats.

 And we ate.

 Bad news: Our camera broke 10 days before Christmas.

Good news: We got a much nicer new one.

It takes panarama pics. There's probably a correct way to use it.

I'm learning.

 Froggy fingers!

 Newly braced face!

 Babies slept.

 Expectant mommies napped.

 Men crafted!

Good times were had by all.

Kid Trees

Roger and I decided to let the kids have their own trees in their rooms this year.
While our new house does not have a perfect window for the family tree, it does have window seats in the kids' bedrooms that are the perfect place for small trees.
Here is Jaxon's "Bus" tree.*

 I wanted them to make some of the decorations for their trees. Jaxon helped me make a garland for his out of torn strips of checkered fabric. He loves making stuff and did about 1/3 of the garland by himself before I started helping him so we could get it done by bedtime.

I made a couple of checkered flags for the topper. We added shattterproof red balls and then he decorated the rest of it with his own toy cars (and planes lol).

*The Disney Cars movie came out the year that Jaxon was born. He first saw it when he was about a year old and his name for the movie and for the character of  Lightening McQueen was "bus". We have no idea why. I've watched the move a thousand times by now and I still can't figure out why he calls it Bus. Still! And he can't explain why either. He just says there are two names.

Emily is all about bright colors. And I think her tree turned out exactly right for her and for her room.

I helped her make a pom pom ball garland while we watched a movie last night.

And she made a tutu style tulle tree skirt by herself.
Then we just added pink, green and silver shatterproof ornaments. She really wanted some orange ones, but we couldn't find any. Maybe next year.

Her tree is especially pretty at night ...

I'll get the rest of the non-tree decorating done today. I need to get on to that pre-Christmas to do list!

Costumed Cuties!

We had our usual Halloween festivities around here. We got started a little late because someone *cough*me*cough* messed up on the time on the Facebook Event page. oops!
I absolutely love the way Facebook keeps me in daily contact with the family and in touch with all the little things that go on with them. you know, the little things you might forget all about by the time the weekly family dinner rolls around? So much fun. Anyway, it's great except when you post the wrong start time for the family function. :P
But they all got here and we had lots of fun together.

Emily as Elmo

Jaxon FINALLY agreed to actually wear a costume! In fact, we bought it a couple weeks ago and he's worn it for short periods of time every day since then.

I helped in his classroom and then they had a little parade around the school.

Bride Caydance and Pirate Athena

 Storm Trooper Dallas

 Kenzie surprised us and came home for Halloween! Hooray!

She couldn't stay away from the chili and the cute babies.

She's still here today and we've been enjoying just hanging out together.

Kenzie and Dexter

 Heather and Oliver

 The whole box of crayons!

Heather, David, Tukker, Maveryk and Oliver

 Jaxon's not a very scary vampire is he?

He sure loves these new babies.

Crystal, Derek and baby Nash

(YAY!!!! I got to name another grandbaby!)

Pumpkins Carved

At the very last minute!
We just did them last night.
It's not what it used to be when there were six kids at home and the pumpkin guts covered the entire kitchen by the time we were done. But it's still fun.
Emily chose an Elmo pattern of course. She is all things Elmo these days. She has taken Elmo as a nickname and even has most of her teachers calling her Elmo.

Jaxon went with a classic jack o lantern pattern.
His description: "Creepy monster eyes and pointy top teeth."

 Think he had fun?

Roger had the camera and apparently got a little distracted by Jaxon's bat finger puppet. I just found these pictures this morning.

So the pumpkins are carved and we're ready for the big night!

The kids and grandkids will come over tonight for chili, corn bread and hot chocolate. Good times will be had by all. :)