Happy Belated Birthday, Boo!

Okay, so her name isn't really Boo, it's Amy, but Boo is her nickname and I felt like an alliteration. Anyway, the baby of our family is now 9 years old!!! And in 4th grade! What a big girl she is!


I love this little girl so much. At the moment, she doesn't feel well. She came down with some sort of bug that was cycling through our house. Actually, she got a fever on her birthday, the 30th! But, she is still cheerful.

She is the best pretender of our whole family. Ever since she was 2 she has been able to play, whether she had someone with her or not. She finds things to play that don't require any toys, just imagination. When she started kindergarten, she was only 4. She wanted to do school with all the big kids, but she really wasn't very ready right at that point, because instead of doing her seat work, she would go to the bathroom at 9:00 and not return until lunch, when we called her. Of course, she wasn't in the bathroom all that time, she was playing!

She also loves to sing, and has a very pretty voice. She loves purses, wallets, jewelry and such, but loses them frequently. (I think she's gotten a lot better with this, though.)

She has also always been a pretty big mess-maker. Always. When you walked in the room, you knew that Amy had been there if it looked like a tornado had blown through that part of the house, even when she was still in diapers.

She is also very bright. She will think about things until she figures them out. She is an excellent reader and is also a very talented artist.

But most important, she loves Jesus. A couple years ago she made up songs about Jesus and typed them up, printed them out, and hung them up. She sings worship songs at church, in her room, while she's doing chores, etc. And she has a very tender heart.

I love you, Boo Baby, SOOOO much!

~Kaykay

Happy Birthday, Scotty!

[Music playing] "1-2-3-4! Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you! We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too! Hey! Happy happy birthday, hope all your dreams come true! We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too!" ~The Emperor's New Groove.

Anyway, have a very happy birthday Scott! You're getting so old! Well, not really, but you have a wife and a house and have graduated and everything...you are just pretty far in life for so young a guy. Congratulations!

I love you and really, really hope to see you soon! I have SO MUCH FUN when we're together. You make me laugh so hard. :D Thank you for being such a great role model for me. You have taught me a lot. Like being a hard worker, serving others, and loving the Lord. I love you big bro!

<3,
kate

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Hey, this is turning into a birthday series...hmmmm. Anyway, I love you Ben and I'm so glad that Allie married you. Now we can always be friends--if you move away you'll be taking my sister and nephew with you and I'll have more than one excuse to come visit! ;) You have taught me about philosophy and government, watched movies with me, explained those movies to me, comforted me when I was hurt or didn't feel well, laughed at my jokes, laughed at my gullibility, and been a wonderful second big brother. Have a very blessed, happy, fun birthday!

Love,
Katiekat

Happy Birthday, Emily!

My mom and I realized tonight that amongst all the busyness of the day, we had forgotten to call to wish you a very happy birthday! :( So, I decided to write a short post, hoping your day was filled with blessings. We all love you very much and are so glad that you are a part of our family! I had an extremely fun time with you and Scott over the 1st week of July. I can't wait to see you again!

Much, much, love,
Katie :) <3 :) <3

Birthday week

In my family, the week of the 4th of July is a birthday week. My birthday is on June 26, Erin's is July 1st, and Allie's is July 2nd. We were blessed to have Scott and Emily here for Erin's and Allie's (they were actually able to stay through the 6th!). Here are some pictures of my celebration. If Allie and Erin permit, there will hopefully be posts of pictures from their birthdays. ;)



My mom totally surprised me with this gift--it's a cookbook that my aunt helped to compile. I have grown up with a bunch of the recipes that it contains, and now I have a copy of my very own! It is called "Sassafras" and it is amazing. Every single recipe was tested 5 times and each time every taster had to give it 5 stars in order for it to get into the book. So, pretty much everything that you make out of it is awesome. I think she got it from Amazon.com. Go buy it! Also, notice my purple-with-white-polka-dots apron. Isn't it lovely? You can't tell from the picture, but the bottom is all frilly. :)




Mmmm...Frozen Mocha Cheesecake! It was SOOOO good! In fact, that recipe is from Sassafras. Doesn't it look delicious? Don't you want it right now? I do!

My dad was proud of the fact that he got this picture of me with my cheeks full of air and the candles 1/2 blown out.

The necklace that I'm wearing was amother present from my mom. I LOVE it!


Thank you, my dear family, for making my 15th birthday so special! I love you!

Happy Birthday, Little Brother! (or should I say 'bother' ;)

Today is my brother Keith's 11th birthday. It has been such a joy watching him grow up into a godly man. I know what some of you may be thinking, "Man??? He's not a man yet! He's just now turning 11! He's still a little boy." But the truth is that Keith really is maturing at a very fast pace. Of course he still loves Legos (he spends his afternoons building little tanks and machine guns, or something like that), junk food (I guess most adults love that, too), silly movies, goofing off, teasing his sisters, etc. but he also loves Jesus and the cross. He is, in many ways, more mature than many of my boy peers! (no offense ;) I recognize that God has made him special. Keith has a unique tenderness to people that you don't often see in kids his age. When one of us is sick or sad, he often comforts us in a way that only he can. I love it!

Ever since Keith learned how to read, he has picked up any book lying around that sparks his interest and reads it from cover to cover. And he NEVER FORGETS ANYTHING! I'm telling you, he's going to breeze through his high school science classes. Science has always interested him, starting with dinosaurs and paleontology at age 3. Yep. He knew (and might still know) the name of every single dinosaur. He knew their unique characteristics, the ways they communicated, everything. I can't even pronounce (much less spell) most of the things he was talking about. "Oh yes. Diplodicus was a medium sized dino with claws the size of butter knives on its toes. They communicated with high-pitched noises that they blew through their noses." (I totally just made that up.) This is the kind of thing we would hear every day. He also had/has a huge interest in all animal life. We used to get these "Really WILD Animals" videos from the library over, and over, and over, and over. I think, if you helped him a little, he could probably go through the entire "Bugs" episode. "Hi, I'm your host, Spin..." Oh yes. That spinning British globe that told you all about bats, worms, lions, hyenas, spiders, etc. I remember him well. Thank goodness Keith has now moved on to different kinds of nature shows :p.

As all little brothers do, Keith annoys me sometimes, but most of the time he makes me laugh. He makes my whole family laugh. He makes his friends laugh. He's just plain funny, corny, nutty, and witty. That's another thing I love about him. We share that special bond of goofiness. He knows just what to say at just the right time to strike me as funny. You will often find him and me giggling in the middle of the rest of my family having a regular conversation. Sure, sometimes what strikes him funny are burps and farts, but I just have to accept that as his not-so-mature side. After all, what boy (whatever age) doesn't have a fascination with seeing how many sounds they can make with their body? It makes me sick, but again, I've (almost) learned to accept it.

So there you have it. The confessions of a sister who really loves her mature yet silly, smart, tender, kind, funny brother. Happy Birthday, Keith! I love you!