Yep… Nine Years and Counting!!!

Todd and I got married in 2001.  I am not sharing that so much for your knowledge, but for my own reminder.  You see, every May 12th Todd and I celebrate our anniversary.  This year we celebrated our 9 year anniversary.  But by midnight on the 13th (if Todd happens to be awake still) he will claim to be deep into the next year of marriage. 

This year he didn’t make it until midnight, but neither did I.  (That was a first for me.)  It really sucks having an anniversary on a Wednesday.  Getting someone to watch the kids isn’t the problem.  Everyone likes having them.  But who wants to interrupt the regular work week with a party?

Oh… that made me laugh.  We don’t really party.  I thought it would make us sound younger, but instead it just made me chuckle.  Who are we kidding?  We are old enough to completely enjoy our children and appreciate them for who they are.  Clear indication:  We are old parents.

Not too old to still play with them and teach them what is important in life.  What do I mean?  Well… these pictures I was able to get today tell the story pretty well.

Maybe you can’t see this so well… not to worry… Luckily for us, Corissa likes to pose for the camera.

To tell you the truth, we took this picture for a specific reason.  First of all, because it was fun to watch Corissa enjoy her food, but another is to show Corissa’s little sister that her biggest sister enjoys food as much as she does:  All over her face.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of Seanelle after enjoying her baby-back pork wings tonight.  They looked very similar.

Corissa shared with us that this is exactly the reason that she doesn’t eat hot wings in public.  (And it made me giggle when she was okay with me showing this on the internet and NOT tagging her picture on Facebook!  And if you want to know what “tagging” means, join Facebook and I’ll show you…  )

After Corissa enjoyed her dinner… we enjoyed our dinner… and then Seanelle, Morgan, GaryTodd, and Todd worked off their dinner with a little basketball…

Nice blocking out Seanelle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And really nice rip through!!!

 

 

You might not have any idea… but this made dad’s heart soar!!!!

I did notice tonight that not only does Seanelle dribble really well for a 1st grader, but she listens to instruction really well… and executes even better.

The other day she asked her dad if he wanted her to play a 3 or a 1.  Of course, with my knowledge of basketball, I had no real idea of what she was talking about.  But the two of them knew exactly what they were talking about.

They decided she should play a one.  The One decides every-thing on the floor… and that was what she needed to be.

Todd had to explain to me what the difference was between the 3 and the 1.  I have been married to him for 9 years and you would think I would have a better understanding of all the basketball lingo.  But all I heard was that Seanelle was asking her dad if he wanted her to be the best.

Of course Seanelle, mom and dad always want you to be the best.  We both think you are the best, we just want you to believe that you are the best.  Along with the rest of our children.  But could you imagine if we had a child that actually believed in themselves like we believe in them?  Wow!  How incredible would that be?

We love the fact that Corissa wears the food she loves, that Morgan is so eager to play with her siblings – all of them – and that Seanelle is active and knows every neighbor, and that even though there is so much going on, GaryTodd is exploring worlds we didn’t even know existed… as you might see from all the pictures.

Every one of our children has different expectations, desires, hopes and dreams, and somehow manages to make it possible to fall in love with them even more than we did yesterday!  How is that possible?

I really don’t have an answer to how that might be possible, but I do know that I wouldn’t change the world I get to live in every day.  I have the most awesome kids!  They love people better than I do and teach me things that I wish I would have understood when I was “young.” 

Going out to dinner and celebrating our anniversary was fun, but tonight being with our children was priceless.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  I was able to laugh until I cried with my fantastic husband tonight.  We might not have what other people use as a measuring stick, but it was perfect for us.  It was what made us happy.  It was what made us feel as if everything in life was worthwhile.

I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.

Love to all of you!  We miss you and think of you often and look forward to when you visit us and join in our fun!!!