Thirteen

Thirteen years ago Jeff and I welcomed Kyle into this world...we had no idea what was in store for us with this amazing kid.  I don't think I can quite put into words how much better my life is for being Kyle's mom.  This kid who is incredibly smart and funny, is teaching himself how to program but can't match a pair of socks, is obsessed with magic the gathering and minecraft, does well in school, loves church youth group, is a great big brother, has caused much frustration and has brought so much more joy, watches Doctor Who with me at night, has an amazing quirky sense of humor...all of these things and more.  I couldn't be prouder of this teenager.  Oh my goodness, we have a teenager!!

Kyle in Toronto with his best buddies who threw him a surprise birthday party during our trip.  We also did a movie night out with his friends to see X-men Days of Future Past.

My attempt to get a picture of Kyle this morning.  I forgot to mention above how much Kyle hates to pose for pictures.

Kyle opened up a few of his birthday presents this morning...sonic screwdriver, Doctor Who shirt and Magic The Gathering cards (from Jillian along with a coupon for 3 duels as Kyle is teaching her how to play).  Between this and the donuts for breakfast I think he's having a good start to his birthday!

Happy 13th Birthday Kyle!  We love you and are soooo proud of you!!!

everything is not as it seems...

I just posted a picture on instagram and facebook of my girls creating some artwork.  My girls love doing arts and crafts and I love taking pictures so it works out well.  The thing is, as I looked at the picture I realized it falls under the category of "everything is not as it seems".

In this picture I see two calm little girls, peacefully making art.  I see pictures like this online all the time and think "oh, look at that amazing mom/dad/family because life seems so perfect for them".  I always assume the best and I'm thinking people may do that with my pictures as well.  While my girls are amazing and I love watching them create art, the whole scene was far from perfectly peaceful.  It went more like this:

* me repeatedly telling Jillian to use nicer words and a nicer voice with her sister (listening to Jillian talk to Leah gives me a good idea of what Jillian will be like as a teenager, apparently explaining anything or even just responding to Leah is THE most work ever for Jillian and requires an attitude)
* constant requests from the girls literally every 10 seconds...where's the white crayon?  do you like this?  how do I get that shade of blue?  do you like this color?  is this too much water?  do you like my jellyfish? how do I get more water?  is there more paper?  how many pictures can we do?  so we can do another one? (yes)  really? (yes)  we can do another one? (yes)  so, we can do another one? (YES!!)
* me telling the girls that walking around the house while holding their beautiful but dripping wet artwork is not a good choice
* and finally, notice this picture from when the girls were just starting out with the painting...that's right, Jillian is wearing a different dress because the pink dress has paint on it (according to Jillian, it's Leah's fault)

This past Sunday our pastor made a comment about how we tend to compare our own blooper reel to everyone else's highlight reel.  This is very true!  I'm guilty of doing this, and I'm sure other moms are too.  That being said I'm not going to stop posting adorable pictures of my kids (mostly the girls because Kyle hates to be in pictures these days).  And I'm mostly going to post pictures of them doing fun things because I like these pictures.  But just as I've shared the "real" story behind this picture, rest assured almost every picture I share has a similar story.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've recently acquired some new artwork that needs to be framed and hung up!