First Day of School 2014

Carter, you are adorable, but you have never been a fan of getting your picture taken in the morning. 

Ethan, you are starting 1st grade and you are so excited! You love school, all of your friends, and you have been telling us that your teachers name is Ms. Tortoise and we've been explaining to you that she is not a turtle...her name is really Ms. Torres. I hope you call her by her real name at school. ;-)

Clara, welcome to America! We hope that you love living with our family as much as we love having you here! We hope you meet lots of friends at the high school and share all of your experiences with your friends and family back home in Germany. 

Mariah, this was your last first day of high school! You were pretty emotional the night before your last first day. You laughed so hard that you cried and cried so hard that you laughed which scared your boyfriend, Ryan, but made me laugh and cry with you. We love you very much and wish you the best last year of high school. Make it a great one peanut. ;-)

So much to catch up on...

As I look through my blog drafts I realize that I've missed a lot of events:Mariah's first car, trips to the Milwaukee Zoo, 4th of July (2013), the color run, Ethan's preschool graduation (he's in 1st grade now!), camping 2013 and 2014, turning 35 (and since 36...), bring your child to work 2013, Mariah's homecoming dance 2013 (it's almost homecoming 2014), Cory and my trip to California, the first day of school 2013! Where have I been?! I have a lot of catching up to do!

We are still here! Kids, your mom has been busy keeping up with all of you. I've been taking pictures, but haven't been doing very well with writing about the moments and posting the pictures on our blog. I promise, I'll do better this year!

I'm not a writer, I'm a mom...

I write this blog so that my kids will always remember the special moments in their lives. I'm not good at scrapbooks, diaries, journals, or even documenting the special moments with cute keepsakes. Instead I keep a large bin for each child where I throw their memorable items in hopes to dig through that bin some day and make something special.

I have a fear ~ a lot of fears really ~ because I am a mom. One of my biggest fears is leaving my children early or losing one of my children. I pray long and hard and I soak up every moment that I get with my kids. This is happening more and more lately as I read stories that say "hug your kids", "hold your kids closely", "taken too soon".

This morning I learned of the passing of a past coworker. She was one of the happiest people that I had ever met. She was a stylist at the salon that I was apprenticing at almost 15 years ago. She was seven years older than me, but treated myself and the other apprentices and new stylists like we were just as important to the salon. She was happily married to a man that she loved with her whole heart. She was positive about everything in life. We lost touch as the years past, but I learned that she opened a salon of her own ~ one of her dreams. She was successful, had two beautiful children, and had a life to be thankful for. Everyone that knew her loved her.

She passed unexpectedly. These words weigh so heavily on me. She was active, ate healthy from what I remember, and she loved Jazzercise. She talked to everyone about Jazzercise and even got us to join her once in a while. She was, in my eyes, a model-healthy-person. Yet an unexpected health tragedy took her life this weekend at the young age of 43.

I can't imagine what her husband, son, and daughter are feeling at this moment. You will be greatly missed Nicki.

Nicki's situation is my biggest fear.

I'm not a professional writer. I don't need people to comment on my blog. I just need a place to write my thoughts so that my kids can read them as they get older whether I am here with them or not. I need a place to keep my memories and hold on to pictures so I can look back and reflect. That is what this blog is for me. My memories, open, for everyone to share.