We're still here!

This boy . . .

keeps his parents on their toes - and since neither of his parents are particularly accomplished at ballet, it is a struggle to stay up there.

has an opinion about everything, and he's more than happy to voice it - even under his breath if necessary.

says the deepest and most meaningful things to warm a mom's heart - about faith, about God, about the way to treat your friends.

struggles with being responsible - after 5 years of school you'd think he could remember to put his name on his papers so he can get credit for his work.

still has the best giggle/laugh in the whole world.

is so happy that even when given a chore as a consequence for some mis-behavior he begins to sing within 60 seconds of beginning the task - making those parents, who are trying to balance up there on their toes, super frustrated because the learning opportunity from an unpleasant task appears to be gone right out the window.  But perhaps it is a good thing to be so happy that even in the throws of punishment you can sing - usually a worship song or something he made up on his own.

understands the importance of faith and mourns for those who don't know Jesus.

still wants to be cuddled every night at bed time.

This man . . .

is training for a triathalon - even on a bad hip.

is more excited about the start of little league than his boy.

stands up for the down-trodden and wins big cases a lot lately.

mops my floors.

recently - about five minutes ago - exploded in a loud "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" when he discovered his boy (yes, that one above) using the toilet brush to scrub the bathroom sink, thus showing quite a bit of retraint for not yelling instead "What the *%&^$#@ are you doing?"  And if you knew this man's idiocsyncrasies about bathroom germs, you would understand the true nature of the restraint demonstrated! 

(By the way, that boy up above . . . he just re-cleaned the bathroom sink - without the toilet brush this time!)

would eat my pesto and pasta five nights a week for dinner, and seven days a week for lunch if I made it that often.

The mother of this boy . . . (sorry, no recent photo available)

loves to watch him sleep.

continues to struggle with time management issues now that she works full time.

wishes she had more time for photography.

has more ideas floating in her head than will ever come to fruition, but they float there all the same - sometimes accounting for those issues with time management.

can't wait for warmer weather - usually I'm fine with long winters, but this year I'm anxious to throw off the turtle-neck shirts and put on the short sleves.

loves having an afternoon at home, but doesn't get enough of them.

gets to wake up every day to watch the birds flying around the yard - this morning it was Sand Hill Cranes - now that we all moved our bedrooms back upstairs for the spring and summer.