Judging A Book By It's Cover!

It's amazing how each of your children can be so different. I have the social and the wall flower. The busy and the self entertaining. The loud and the quiet. The talker and the thinker. I have boys and girls. I thought one was harder than the other but I've learned it doesn't matter what the gender, they are each their own personality!

Take for instance my boys. My older son, Jaylen, takes after me. From birth he looked more like me and as he grew he was even more like me. Quiet, passive and self-entertaining. Then I have my second son, Jayden. From birth he looked like dad and is just like him as well. Social, active, very busy, and boy is he a talker!

I have learned that you definitely can't judge a book, or in my case children, by their cover! I always figured that Jayden would give me gray hair and he has done quite well. No doubt at 31, I have too much gray hair for my age! (Though I'm sure my dad has a lot to do with that as well!). I have to say though that Jaylen has made up for it in many ways!

Jaylen has knocked out his 2 front teeth at 4 years old on the coffee table. Roots and all! It was quite an ordeal. Probably our first major thing that happened with any of the kids up to that point. I guess he prepared me, so when it happened to Akayla-Joy I was in less shock! So, at 8 we are still waiting for those two front teeth to come in!














Only a month or so later, he had eye surgery to correct his lazy eye. It looked worse than he felt but he was such a trooper!









Then, just last year, January 2010 we took at trip to the snow to start off our year doing something new. It was the first time to the snow for a few of the kids.

If you read my blog last year you saw this picture before. This is Jaylen's face after flying off the sled on the way down the hill!



So, now we come to 2011. And on January 10th, my son was playing at the park while waiting for my oldest daughter to get off the bus. We go every day and they play while I read a book in the car! (Yes, I sit and watch!) Akayla-Joy and Jayden come running up to tell me that Jaylen lost another tooth! haha...of course I'm just thinking, not another one! Only to find out that he had actually fallen quite hard and I had a sneeky suspision that he had broke something. Many hours and a few x-rays later we discovered that he had broken 3 bones in his arm!

So, once again our year has started out very exciting! That last few have been in thanks to Jaylen! So, though Jayden keeps me on my toes day to day, Jaylen makes it up in one shot for the year! Who said that life with children is boring?!

A Year In Reflection...

It's a new day, it's a New Year! I can't believe that I started this blog a year ago! It's seems like a I blinked and it's now 2011. Looking back 2010 came with it's ups and downs. We made new memories with our children; going to the snow and Dillon's beach for the first time, my family coming to visit us and going to Yosemite together. We enjoyed all of our family traditions of going to Apple Hill, the fish hatchery and enjoyed each of our holiday activities. To going through our hardest time as a family that we have ever had to go through with the loss of our nephew, Jonathan.

The holidays this year were harder than most. We all were affected in different ways. It was hard for me to get motivated for the holidays. I always enjoy them, especially for my kids and we still did all our fun fall events but it just felt like a piece of my heart wasn't in it this year. We waited til the day before Halloween to go to the pumpkin farm and to carve our pumpkins. I was even shopping for Christmas gifts the day before Christmas Eve since I put off starting my shopping! I was happy that I did get our Christmas tree up just after Thanksgiving so that we could enjoy it for the whole month. In the end everything came together and we enjoyed our Christmas. Now with 2010 behind us and 2011 beginning I take with me the knowledge that we serve a good God!

I am looking forward to 2011. A year of enjoying our family, our children and all the new things God has in store for us this year. We have been Blessed and at each turn God continues to provide for us. I continue to follow Him wholehearted, unashamed and know that He is my, is our families source of strength.

I pray that God is with each of you through this year and that your love as well as mine deepens with each and every day as we serve Him together. Happy New Year!