1st and 3rd

Andrew is my first and Ashley is my third. There is always an Allison in between. Allison is lucky because Andrew is closer to her in age and so they share similar interests such as Minecraft, school, friends. Allison is lucky because Ashley because they are both girls, share a room, play dressup and enjoy the girlie things in life.
This doesn't leave a whole lot of room from Andrew and Ashley. But  we make a point to keep their friendship strong. On non-school nights, Andrew and Allison generally sleep together in Andrew's room (when it works out, most of the time, they are too rowdy and have to be separated). But tonight was Ashley's turn to sleep with her big brother. To say she was thrilled was an understatement. He excitement was priceless. Once we told her she gets to sleep with him in his room, she became obsessed with him. She couldn't let go of his hand, sporadically kept kissing his cheek, and kept squeezing him with her little arms.
It was a bit rocky at first, she kept trying to play with him, running into Allison to talk to her, she lost her "baba" a few times and Zartan kept bugging her. An hour later, she was asleep.

Andrew is growing up.

Andrew is 8. He will be 9 in 3 short months. I can't even begin to describe how I feel about almost being half way done with him. I know that is an exaggerated statement, because I will never be done with him, but honestly, that is how I feel. There were many things I thought we would have done before he was 9. I thought we would have a second story on our house so that he and his siblings would all have their own room.  I thought we would have owned a motorhome by now so that we would have family vacations planned and memories of long hours driving in our house on wheels. But I cannot remain pessimistic. What we have been able to give him in these short 8 years and 9 months is nothing short of amazing, and probably the best childhood a boy could want. 

So now that Andrew has gotten older, so have his opinions. He wants his hair long. He no longer wants a 2 on the sides and spikes on top. He wants his hair to go across his forehead so he can "swipe" it over to the side. Basically he wants to look like Justin Beiber. I have to admit, he an totally pull off the long look. It's just getting through this inbetween stage. Although with summer just a few weeks away, it may be a little too hot to have long hair.

The other day a girl was riding her bike on the sidewalk as we drove past her. I saw Andrew stare at her and then turn his head and keep staring at her as we drove by. I turned around to the back seat and asked him what he was staring at (smiling) and he grinned ear to ear and said "nothing". Wait, what? Is this supposed to happen this soon? Is he going to start noticing girls??? He needs to always remember that I am his number one girl. At least this is the hope of a mom watching her son grow up ans mature right in front of her eyes.

P.S. When I hug him, the top of this head sits right under my chin. My baby, my baby boy, my first born is massive. 

Precious life

I feel so blessed that God has given this to me to love and enjoy. One of our friends has just passed away from cancer at the age of 42. He was the father of two sweet kids, Andrew and Allison's ages. Witnessing the end of his life has made me think differently. It has made me want to do the things I want to do. I want to be spontaneous, yet want to plan for the future. I want to eat a triple scoop of ice cream, yet I want to eat healthy so I can live a long life. I want to play with my kids in the backyard, yet I also need to do my homework for school so I can be a good influence on them. I want to spend our money to do the things we keep saying we should do, yet I want to save for a rainy day.  There is this tug and pull that I am trying to learn how to keep steady. It's not easy. After watching Brandon pass away, I am leaning more towards being spontaneous, eating that ice cream, playing with my kids and spending our money.
I am thankful to hold my husband's warm body, listen to his heart beat, and touch is skin. I am blessed. I am happy.

Ashley's best friend

Ashley's number one best friend in the whole wide world is Gunnar. Or how Ashley pronounces is "Gunna" (She thinks she is from Boston and speaks with this great accent). Her and Gunner and inseparable. He is the male version of Ashley. He is animated, energetic, loving, excited, complete goofball, outgoing and kindhearted. When Ashley plays pretend at home, Gunnar is always included. When she plays with my phone, it is always to "call" Gunnar.
Paul and I gave her a purple necklace with a heart that has "Ashley" written on it and she said she wanted to give it to her Gunnar so that when he is at his house and misses her, he can look at it and think of her.
She says she will marry Gunnar.
Gunnar's parents are super sweet people and say all of the time that Ashley is the topic of conversation at all times at home.
Their friendship is simply precious. God definitely created them to be friends when he made them. And I will be sure to not let this friendship wither away over time. They really are soul mates.