All you need is FAITH, TRUST, and a little PIXIE DUST

The day we had been anticipating for months has finally come....Hensley finally lost this first tooth!!!!!

This tooth had been loose for MONTHS! I became loose around Thanksgiving and here we are 5 months later! I was beginning to think it was NEVER coming out. 

Slowly over the past few weeks (and a little hard yank from Dad one night) it became really loose. Hensley was constantly playing with it and wiggling it with his tongue. It had gotten to the point where he could lay it completely flat but.....he wasn't ready for us to pull it. I think he was a little nervous and scared to be going through something totally new to him. When we noticed his permanent tooth was already starting to come in behind his baby tooth we knew it was time for it to go!

As you can tell from the photos he was BEYOND excited!!!

I had printed these out a few weeks before in order for Hensley to write the tooth fairy a little note :) 

Photo courtesy of  HandmadeCharlotte.com 

He loved it. He wrote his note and promptly stuck it under his pillow.

He was so excited for the rest of the day and for a change.... he was very ready for it be bed time that night!

 It was such a sweet memory I'll forever treasure. All these little milestones are what it's all about!

That next morning I awoke (at 5:45 AM) with Hensley standing beside my bed BEAMING holding all his goodies from the Tooth Fairy! He was so excited. We looked at his glittery 5 dollar bill and read his not that was left behind. And promptly went back to sleep for a few more minutes!

He was very excited to take his items to school for showing tell that day. It was so fun for me to see the excitement and magic in his eyes. I love that he believes with all his heart. I love that his little innocence is still so present.

A few days later as we were getting ready for Hensley's 6th birthday party we had another surprise! Tooth #2 popped out :)

 

The Tooth Fairy left a special little treat this time around of three chocolate coins :) Hensley loved them! 

It's been a really sweet experience 

Year 1

It's already been one year since the worst, most gut wrenching day of my life occurred. 

One year since life changed. 

Since it all came crashing down. 

The "thing" we all knew was coming.....actually happened. 

Year One has been a roller coaster of emotions that has come in many waves. 

Sadness. 

Anger. 

Frustration. 

Grief. 

Relief. 

Denial. 

Depression. 

Pain. 

Acceptance. 

Never knowing from one week or one day to the next what you will feel and why is hard.

Grief is like the ocean, it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it's overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim. 

Time heals? So far....no. Time hasn't healed anything. It's flown by but it hasn't helped. The Year of firsts was grueling. I don't visit her grave much at all. I feel bad for that, but I don't feel close to her there. In fact I feel extremely far away from her and lonely when I am there. It's not a place of comfort or closure for me at all. I feel the most close to her when I am using the cookbook she made for me to make dinner. When I am holding my sweet little boy in my arms. Seeing her smiling face in the picture of her on my mantle. I feel so close to her when I am preparing to have our whole family over for Easter or Christmas. I know she is with me always. I am who I am because of her. And because of that I carry her with me each and everyday.

It's been one year exactly to the hour that I took this picture. Since I sat there staring at her face. Knowing time was short. One year since I left that afternoon planning to come back the next morning to spend more time with her......that next morning never came. It's been a year of roller coaster emotions. Time hasn't help as people always say it will. In fact it seems to make it worse during that year of first without her. I try each day to make her proud. To follow in her incredibly big footsteps. I still think of her smile and catch myself wanting to pick up the phone to call her. Everything reminds me of her. She'll be missed every day for the rest of my life. Rest easy grandma we are trudging through. Day by day. I know you'll be waiting on me.

Yearly Birthday Letter

My Beautiful Boy:

Every year when I sit down to write this letter to you I can not believe another year has already passed. To be completely honest, this year I didn't get to spend as much time with you as I had in previous years. And that's because you have been in Kindergarten every day! I have missed you many days and struggled to let you go. You, on the other hand, have had no problems adjusting and thriving in your new routine and environment. You have excelled and done so amazing with this change and embraced all that it has brought your way. Your sweet teachers, Ms. Spaeth and Mrs. Redd love you and have taken such amazing care and time with you. You have made SO MANY new friends, which I am excited to watch you grow up with :) A few of your closest friends are Robert Lyons, Lyric Halacheff, Chance Mebane, and Noah Denson. You guys are so funny together! There has also been a little girl in your class that you have taken a big interest in. Macy Stevenson has sat beside you since the first day of school and she is as cute as a button! Big brown eyes and blonde hair! She adores you and calls you Henny and Snickerdoodle. Your reaction to her is so cute with that sweet smile and blushed cheeks! Since your school is a K-12 and fairly a small school, I love to think about how fun it will be to look back on the memories you have with these kids now and how they develop over the years!

This year you have developed many new interests. Mario took a back seat (finally!!!) mid year. The days of the Angry Birds has started to dwindle and it's on to more "big kid" stuff like video games, bowling, basketball, fishing, nerf guns, zombies, sports and most of all MINECRAFT! It (like all things you get interested in) has become an OBSESSION! You have really surprised us with your creativity that has been sparked since you started playing this game. It's been a great learning tool! Your love for Lego's has only grown and you can spend hours sitting at your Lego table in front of the big window in the living building and creating entire villages!!

You made amazing strides in football this year, your grades at school, and gymnastics! You learned to tie you shoes and to ride a bike with no training wheels!!! You seem to excel in all things that you put your mind to and we are excited to see how awesome you do in the Spring while playing baseball and this Summer in a break dance class you have been dying to take!

This year wasn't without sadness or loss. We lost your extraordinary great grandmother. It was a very difficult time and you handled it all very well and it only showed us more of your compassion and kindness. You talk about her often and always reassure us that you will never forget her! She loved you with all her heart and every time she seen you her face lit up :) You were a huge delight in her life especially in the last few months. There was little that made her cheerful with all the doctors and medicine and pain in the end but you, you always made her smile. She always looked forward to you. I know that she is ALWAYS watching over you and rooting for you. She is proud in all that you do.

We spent the summer this year's summer mostly at the waterpark and it was a huge success. You loved spending those beautiful summer days under water in the pool or going head first down the water slide. Soaking up the sun and spending those lazy afternoons with you poolside watching you laugh and play. It was a perfect way to soak up all that extra time with you before the big world of kindergarten headed our way. Watching your freckles multiply by the day from all the sunlight and seeing you be able to hold your breath longer and longer each time you dove down in the clear blue water. You were fearless and content and I was oh so grateful to be there with you.

Your favorite foods are string cheese and crackers, lunchables, and any and all fruit (esp. watermelon). Anytime you are allowed to pick where we eat your answer is the same: Jimmy Johns or Soup and Salad!!  You shot your first gun and caught your first 4 fish!!!!! Your best buddies are Hunter, Nate, Gavin, Aden, Joesph, Lemuel, and Will Coltrane. We have had many outings with all these guys over the past year, everything from ice skating, to movies, to dinner dates. It's been a fun, wild and exciting year and it wouldn't have been the same with all these boys that are not only your friends, but like family!

I still watch you sleep. I still carry you when you ask. I am amazed by how tall you are insert height here and how much you have grown. You are loving and sweet. Independent and strong. You are OH so predictable. Those freckles and that smile get me every time. And speaking of smile....you have two VERY LOOSE teeth that have been loose for months! They will probably fall out before your birthday! I'll never get over how cute that little smile is. You are still a cuddly little boy. Always willing to curl up next me on the couch and settle in. One more pretty awesome accomplishment you made this year was sleeping in your bed! It was a big one. For the longest time you have nuzzled in between Daddy and I in our bed each and every night. Even after getting a cool big boy loft bed last year with a slide...it wasn't enough to convince you. After months of telling us that a TV in your room would make all the difference, we gave in. We got the TV. Hooked up the cable. And prayed! We prayed it would work. And surprisingly enough.....it did!! You have been a champ! Drifting off to sleep each night with your stars lit up on the ceiling and Ruff Ruff (your stuffed Build a Bear dog) tucked under your arm. Always asking us, when we leave the room after a story and prayers, to please come back in 59 seconds. And when we do each and every time....you are already fast asleep :)

Your a magical little boy Hensley. With the most beautiful blue eyes always full of life. You are passionate and funny. We are blessed to be your parents. You have been our greatest gift in life. You are the air my our lungs and the beats in our hearts. Nothing is better then coming home to your hugs or listening to you talk about your hopes and dreams. We are so so proud of you and we can't wait to see what this next year holds for you sweet boy!  

Love,

 Mommy and Daddy

Winter Time Fun

This week has been full of a lot of things. Some pleasant. Most not so much. We have had lots of doctor appointments, lots of sleepless nights, lots of little man throwing up and feeling overall crappy, lots of cleaning away germs and......lots of cold weather. This week we even seen ice and snow!!! And while that was fun....for a short while the rest was not! We are finally on the mend and the snow is on it's way to being gone. Cabin fever set in a few times and we were happy to have something fun to look forward to outside to play in. Even though, as you'll see that was short lived too! 

It was really a pretty snow! BIG snowflakes!!!

Of course the boys got out in the snow! They wasted no time getting our the sleds and riding there bikes through the snow!

After a few hours they were more then ready to come in and cozy up to the fire and eat vanilla wafers while sipping hot cocoa. 

And build Lego creations of course!

During all this fun we ended up having to go into the doctor's office and Hensley was officially diagnosed with the flu. We started Tamiflu which was very short lived because Hensley's stomach had some pretty terrible reactions too it! We decided to stop the meds and let it run its course which was hard. He wanted to play so much but after a little bit outside he found himself needing to come in and rest. It was hard to see him frustrated that his body wouldn't do what he wanted it to. We learned a valuable lesson that Hensley and Tamiflu don't mix! Just as he was starting to feel a little better we all went out for a sledding session before the day was over and....low and behold his sled took a turn and went right under a parked van and a busted is lid open :( He couldn't catch a break!!!  

 

The next morning after lots of tears and ice packs he was all smiles and ready for some more fun :)

Come into my heart......

Tonight as I put Hensley to bed we were having one of our nightly chats. After we said our prayers he was asking about why his cousin Brooke got baptized (which happened many many months ago) as I explained to him why he said he wanted God to come into his heart like Brooke's. I told him what that meant and together we said the prayer. He got very emotional and even cried saying how important it was for him to go to heaven to see grandma one day. Our five year old asking God to come into his heart and being saved is such an amazing blessing. I was totally shocked and caught off guard. We speak to him often about God and religion and pray nightly and for those in our lives that need prayer and he spent the last 4 years in the most amazing preschool teaching him all about it as well. I am so so thankful for his strong foundation he is being raised on and so proud that he already understands and welcomes God's amazing love for him. My heart is full!!

I pray that this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship with God. I pray that he talks to him like a friend and looks to him for guidance. I hope he always finds himself surrounded by uplifting and positive friends. I trust that God will always place him right where he need to be guide him through life. He is such a light in our lives and I know he will do great things in life. He has a strong foundation and a good heart and that will take him far :) 

Feb. 27, 2015 

SNOWMAGEDDON 2015

This week we got our BIG snow!!! We don't always get a really good snow here it's usually sleet, freezing rain, and a little snow mixed it. We don't usually get lots of the powdery, fluffy, great snow!! But this week we did and we got a lot of it (a lot in our standards anyway). We awoke Thursday morning to 8 to 10 inches of awesome snow!!!!!

The night before when the snow started we couldn't help but to go out in it :)

Hensley's reaction to first seeing the snow 

We spent the morning admiring the beauty of it all and eating cereal and playing board games :) 

Hensley and Sophie snuggled on the couch

It was absolutely beautiful and otherwise would have been a truly magical day at home playing and eating and watching it all out of our window, but, we had no power! :(

After a few hours of moping around about not having power we decided since the roads near us had been scraped and our sweet friends had power, we would grab some lunch and head over to their place for some snow day fun!!! 

And I am so thankful we did because it was beautiful :) 

Snowball fights with Gavin :) 

Our friends the Williams' have a great hill in front of their house to sled :) It made for a lot of fun for the kids! 

Then we got the bright idea to build a snowman...but not just any snowman!  A GIANT SNOWMAN!

Watch the video below to see some of the ideas the guys used to get the snow man built!!!

And our verison of Frosty the snowman was done :) We were pretty proud of him :)  It was a perfect snow day spent with friends. Listening to our babies laugh and watch them play and be so happy :) Nothing's better!

The ride home was really beautiful too!