My Baby

See this boy?  He is my firstborn....my "baby"....and the love of my life.     He's tall and handsome.  He's fun and has a soft heart.  He's ornery and can often make me     mad.  He's forgetful and sometimes irresponsible. He's smart, athletic, outgoing and a natural born leader.   And, I love this boy more than I can put into words. 

Isn't he just the most adorable thing you've ever seen?  

He's the one from yesterday that is BIGGER than me!

My "baby" (almost 20 years old and in college) is getting an apartment. I don't handle change very well, especially when it involves my babies growing up!  I am very excited for him, on the other hand it makes me a little sad. I can remember my first apartment (same age, same town, same college).  The feeling of having your own place and the responsibilities that come with it was exciting. I felt so grown up! Free! Reality was, I was very immature and definitely not financially independant! My mom was A LOT of help and I wouldn't be where I am today without her.  Now, if only this teenager would just realize that about his mom!

So, even though I get a little weepy when I think about my "baby" getting older, I keep reminding myself that this is another one of God's blessings here on White Horse Drive.

Meet Jack

Jack

Max

Trey & Jack

This is Jack, our new Yellow Lab.  Losing our Golden Retriever, Sidney, (who was 13 1/2 years old) and seeing the decline in our Yellow Lab, Max (13 years old in May) helped us decide (me decide....with some opposition from hubby) that it was time to get another dog.  I've been thinking ahead, with the adoption soon on the horizon, that I don't want to have a new puppy, go to China, come home jet lagged and exhausted, and work on attachment all at the same time! Not to mention, there will be two other kids and a husband to take care of.  So, thanks to my brother-in-law John, who let someone know we were kind of looking, we now have Jack.  Other than pooping in his kennel at night, he is the sweetest little guy!  Trey has fun playing with him, Trent has fun cuddling with him, (although I don't know that he'll admit that!), and I just have fun loving him!  Wesley, our oldest, is away at college and can't wait to meet Jack.  He really took it hard when Sidney died.  He's a softy that way.  He was 6 years old when we got Sidney and they grew up together.  You know what they say...."every boy needs a dog."  Now Trey has the same opportunity that Wesley did.  So, meet Jack, the newest blessing on White Horse Drive.

Cousins

Every once in awhile we have the cousins stay over.  Really, they are more like brothers and sisters- which is a good thing, as Trey is somewhat of an only child.  This weekend consisted of bikes, nature hikes, football and X-box.  It is one of the blessings here on White Horse Drive to have both my sisters here so our kids can grow up together.  As kids, my sisters and I had a lot of cousins to whom we were and still are very close to.  Our husbands joke how we are related to "everybody" in town!  My paternal grandparents had four kids and my maternal grandparents had seven kids!  So, you can imagine the number of cousins we had!  We were always at a family function for one reason or another, and it was always "home" when we were all together.  Family is the most important thing in our life (after Jesus Christ, that is).  I hope that our kids grow up with the same sense of family importance that we did...it really is a blessing!