Eighteen years ago, I couldn't have begun to guess where life would take us today. But as this lil boy grew and developed, I knew that he would be smart and strong and full of life. Even as a little infant, my adult friends remarked about how he seemed to be an "old soul" with deep soulful eyes and intelligent brows.As he aged, his mother and I discovered his zest for life. I find the picture to left curiously prescient about the way Dylan drives cars today. I also love all of those books scattered behind him. We spent countless hours reading those classic children's books to him - Just … [Read more...]

It's hard to believe that my 18-yr old has finished high school. He did really well on his GPA. He did really well on his SAT and ACT test scores. And he did really well on his scholarships, earning more in funding than his actual hard costs for tuition, room, and board.He's now set for college in the fall at MTSU, where he's planning to study Marketing. He'll be rooming with his best friend, Connor Miller, in Rutledge Hall.The graduation ceremonies were a lot bigger than I expected, with over 400 students and thousands of their closest friends and family members.I hauled the whole family … [Read more...]

The girls in their Easter dresses just before church on Easter morning. From left to right, Kaylee, Savannah, Ava, Anna, and Katie.We've had a long standing tradition with the Easter Bunny. When he comes to our house, not only does he hide the kids' Easter Baskets, but he also leaves riddles that they have to solve to find their baskets. In previous years, each of the kids would have to solve a riddle that takes them to the next clue, solve that riddle which in turn takes them to the next clue, and so on until the find their baskets.This year, the Easter Bunny changed things up. He didn't … [Read more...]

It's Not Cindy-Loo-Who, It's Anna Lynn!My beautiful little Anna was born 10 years ago today. Even at a remarkably young age, less than a year old, we knew that she was an especially gentle and loving child with a warm heart and overflowing joy. She has always loved snuggling and tickling, hugs and kisses, raspberries on tummies, chewies on the neck, cuddles on the couch and naps on the bed. She's always been effusive with her love and affection. She was her brother's most enthusiastic cheerleader at his football games. And when his team lost the state championships, tiny Anna was so upset … [Read more...]

We spent a few hundred bucks to get all five of the girls signed up for Upwards Soccer. Upwards Soccer is a church-run league that emphasizes playing and fun over winning. For example, there's no official score keeping at the games. Although the registration was expensive, the gear (such as the jerseys) was really high quality.The only downside we experienced was that the league was only open to kindergarten through fourth grade. So that meant that Savannah couldn't play this year. Otoh, she helped the girls practice a lot and kick the ball with them in backyard.Anna has always enjoyed … [Read more...]

Dylan and Connor were the MC's for this year's Senior Night at Mt Juliet High School. They chose an SNL theme and, so, did a lot of skits from Saturday Night Live. Dylan and Connor did great, as did the other actors and actresses that were in all the skits. Some were truly hilarious.At left (rt to lft), Dylan, Alec Odem, and Connor.Despite the great skits, there were some difficulties that night. First, the other MCs weren't so great. In fact, they were pretty bad and took up a huge amount of time. Second, there was a ridiculously long and self-indulgent slide show half-way through the … [Read more...]

Emily has been fifteen for a while now and has wanted to get in some practice driving. Knowing that I was woefully behind on getting her some driving practice, I knew I had to get it in gear. I'd allowed her to drive home once or twice, but we hadn't really worked on it a lot. So, I decided it was time for us to get out on the road a bit more.I was hoping for ideal weather. But let's face it, spring in Tennessee is rainy. So rather than delay things any longer, we buckled in on an overcast day for a bit of driving practice. The good news is that I didn't once fear for my life, though I did … [Read more...]

Boo!We bought this school cape for Anna more than a year earlier when we'd taken the then 10-month old Anna with us to London. Anna Lynn loved this little English cape so much. She played Harry Potter in it quite a lot. But most of all, she just had to be a vampire for her third Halloween. Katie was just born that summer (July 0f 2001) and wasn't yet into the Halloween thing. So Anna was trick-or-treating with her older brother and sister. She loved everything about the costume - the white face, the slicked back hair, the cool costume - except for one thing: the vampire teeth. The teeth … [Read more...]