To my kiddos

To my Alison, Eli and Colin,

Throwback to the very beginning of our family, when Alison was still in my tummy.

 And 14 years of memories since then.

I just finished re-reading and editing the entire blog and combined the school blog to this one.  It was a big project...I know you've watched me at my computer the last few weeks and we've talked about whatever post I was working on that day.  It was so interesting to go back through all the years of our family.  Some things are still the same.  Just looking at the above picture for example, we still have that wreath and ceramic bowl.  Colin, you still loves wearing something on your head as much as possible and you still make silly faces.  Eli, you still love to snuggle and can engineer anything creative that pops in your head.  Alison, you still sleep with your hand under your head and still have an eye for the perfect outfit.  Then there are a lot of things that have changed over the years.  Colin, you stopped being a tornado and turned into my very best helper.  Eli, you have forgotten the Thomas the Train song entirely and turned into a coding master.  Alison, you now love being alone in your room, instead of crying and thinking it was the worst punishment in the world when we asked you to play by yourself.

As I looked back over the years, there a few things I wanted you to know.  First of all, please remember that all these posts are just snap shots of our life.  There is no way that I could fully capture every single wonderful thing that happened.  Keeping that in mind, please don't ever look back on our memories and let yourself be labeled.  I may have commented on how messy you made something as a toddler, but that doesn't mean you are a mess.  Second, please keep GRACE in mind when reading over our memories.  I started this blog when I was 26 years old!  I had seasons of sleep deprivation and not easy pregnancies and adjusting to new worlds each place that we moved.  Third, there were a lot of times that I said, "This is our new tradition!" or "We are definitely doing this all the time!" and we never did again.  On the flip side, there were lots of things that I said I would never do again, and in fact did many more times.  Sorry about that...just know that my intentions were good.  Finally, I need you to know how much I love you.  You are the greatest gifts and I am so thankful that I get to be you mom.

Love,

Mom

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