He's 12

Today my little baby

my miracle boy

turns 12

Not so sure where the time went. I'm not a bit happy about it.

Here are 12 great things about McGwire

• he still lets me hug and kiss him
• he's a good babysitter
• he loves hockey and is really good at it
• he hasn't bugged us (too much) about getting a cell phone
• he's smart! he "get's" math, and most of his school work comes easy for him.
• he's respectful to other adults (not so much to his mom and dad, though)
• he loves Lego's and loves to build things
• he has a kind heart and cares about how others are feeling
• he has a wonderful young testimony of the gospel
• he's doing really well in scouts
• he entertains himself so well
• his mommy is still the #1 girl in his life

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCGWIRE!!!!

We love you!

Sunday Pictures

It's that time again!!!

Today is McG's last "Sunday Picture's" as an 11 year old.

Next week he'll be out of primary and into Young Men!

*excuse me while I wipe away tears*

I told him he'd better wear a colored shirt today because it's white shirts only from here on out!

We are supposed to get him a suit for his birthday but don't know when we'll find the time this week. We actually can wait a few days since he won't be passing the Sacrament until the following Sunday!

*Again with the tears*

Moving on~

Let me brag on Lilah's dress!

I bought at a thift store over a year ago while Brannon was still living with us.

It's a Laura Ashley and was all of $2 or $3.

Slap a monogram on it and it suddenly becomes awesome!

Of course, Daddy looks awesome too with or without a monogram!

See you next week!

Hopefully

baby got a new pair of skates

Lilah's little boyfriend from the hockey rink got new skates for Christmas...which meant that Lilah got new skates AFTER Christmas. Well, new to her...they were Brayden's old skates!

Today was the first day she got to try them out and she was loving it!!!

Here she is with her boyfriend. I tried really hard (Ok, let's be honest... I kinda tried) to get a good picture of them but it's hard to shoot a moving target!

She did really well just scooting around and holding my hand. Then her friend Sophie came and took over where I left off.

Oh sweet Sophie!!!

After a hard 30 minutes of skating, Lilah took a quick break to work on her cavities...

...then she and Brayden sat down to watch a little bit of the game.

All of a minute or two, really.

Here's the star of the show:

#15 McGwire Bird

Here's a close up of little sister NOT paying attention to:

#15 McGwire Bird

When we got home, she insisted on skating in the kitchen until naptime.

My poor hard wood floors!

Between her riding her bike and roller skating, she's going to ruin them even more than they already are!

Of course, I couldn't resist making a public service announcement.

SAY NO TO CRACK!

Hockey Player

McGwire is still going strong in hockey!

He's still the goalie for the middle school team but this season in rec hockey, he decided to skate out!!!

He's really loving it and has score several goals and had several assists so far!!

It's harder for me now because I have to pay attention and look all over the ice for him instead of keeping my eyes on the net the whole game! Plus I have to try to keep tabs on the little sister who's running around the whole rink area acting a dang fool!

Lilah's First Skating Experience

A couple of weekends ago, McGwire's middle school hockey team went ice skating at a local rink. I had to work, which meant Tim had to take Lilah with him. He was super excited when he found out they had skates in her size so he got her a pair and himself a pair and had the time of their lives... until Tim fell and cracked his head. But that's a different post!!!

Enjoy a few pictures!

Sunday Pictures with a Guest

Tim's "adopted" sister Heather came for a visit last. Actually, she and her friend came to Atlanta to go to the apparal mart to shop for the store she owns. Tim and I were lucky enough to get to go to the mart with her on Saturday, but man alive was it overwhelming!!!

I learned that I really am not a shopper!

Tim took her to the airport Sunday but we were able to get her to pose with us for our Sunday pictures before everyone went the separate ways!

BTW, she's the girl who visited last year who is married to the Osmond.

She couldn't be a bit nicer and more down to earth...but also couldn't be any skinnier or prettier if she tried!

It's very intimidating to be photographed with her even when I'm dressed up, but don't ya just LOVE the face I'm pulling in this picture!?!

More snow pics

I am sick of snow!

Although I do have to admit the house looks beautiful surrounded by the white fluffy stuff!

Sunday night it started sleeting for about 5-10 minutes then turned into big pretty snowflakes that covered the ground in record time. Tim thinks we got about 6-7 inches.

The kids woke up and were ready for some playtime pretty early.

There were some folks on 4 wheelers driving around the neighborhood so they pulled McG and Lilah on the sled for a little while.

They (and I say "they" because "I" was safe and warm inside) were out for about an hour and came in just about frozen solid.

McGwire went out for most of the day, off and on, and Tim took Lilah back out in the afternoon and evening as well.

McGwire and his friends made snow forts all day. He let Lilah invade his fort for a few moments so daddy could take a picture. Then she was promptly kicked back out!

Yesterday, they were up raring to go again bright and early. We let McG go out but I wanted to keep Lilah in for a little while til it warmed up a bit.

Here she is drinking her "cold hot chocolate".

Yesterday, after she came in from the snow, she asked to have some "hot, cold hot chocolate" like big brother was drinking.

She insisted on drinking out of her toy teacup!

McG can't even have lunch without playing with those $%#!& Lego's

McGwire was gone again til late afternoon before we were able to drag him back inside again.

Lilah only went out once but she asked to go out and play in the snow pretty much

all.day.long.

Priesthood Preview

McGwire had his Priesthood Preview after church today.

I don't want to talk about it.

If I think about it too much, I get misty eyed!

I can't believe that my little baby boy is turning 12 in 2 1/2 short weeks!!

Here he is (please excuse the SAME. EXACT. SWEATER. he has been wearing in just about every other post here lately) with a few of the boys in his class. McGwire used to be the tallest boy in his class but was quickly outgrown by Kevin (the boy on the far left) who's birthday is 7 months after McGwire!

There are 8 boys turning 12 this year!!

Talk about the Army of Helaman!!

2 boys weren't at church today but this picture shows all of the other boys in his class, although not a very good picture of them.

They served cake after the meeting and that was the very best part of the day!!

Even little sister got some cake too!!