Grateful

I'm sitting at the kitchen table listening to the giggles of my children and can't stop thinking how grateful I am for such a fulfilling life. Yeah, life gets a little overwhelming sometimes and a little "run-of-the-mill" but if I consider what hardships I could be facing, like some of my family members, I am so grateful for the little blessings.

It's been almost 5 months since my Aunt Lynette passed and every day I think of her,what she would laugh at, what we would talk about, and how much time I wish I could have spent with her. It's for that reason, I try to live life to the fullest and, as tired as I may be, I strive to make every day a day worth remembering. My sister just walked in a "walk for the cure" cancer walk and I'm so proud of her contribution to such an incredible cause. I only wish I could have been there and walked with her. Lately I've just been surrounded with the thought that life is so fragile.

On to kid news. Mikayla has this hilarious habit of copying her father in his weird, wild ways. Whenever she's in the bathroom, he walks by with a different facial expression each time. She quickly picked up on the habit and now she does the same thing to him. I had to crop the picture since it was time for a bath but, as you can see, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Her father is comedian, as is she.

It was Mama's birthday this weekend (Will's mom) and, of course, all the family attended the 7 course dinner. It's always fun to be with the family and all of the cousins but it proves to be a long night with all of the courses and the kids starting to get antsy sitting in their seat for about 3 hours. This was at the end of the night, around 10:00 and, as you can see, Tyler isn't a happy camper. The night was over as he saw it. Mama and Yeye are blessed with 11 grandchildren and one on the way. I think ours will be their last but they are all incredible kids.

Will's college friend, Jamie, visited again with her 2 kids, Koji and Izumi. We had a great time in the pool and slide but I didn't get any pictures of that so here's the boring picture of the kids on the couch, vegging in front of Ice Age, the movie. It's hard getting 4 kids to sit still but our only concern was keeping Izumi from falling off of the edge.

Here are my 2 adorable children. I also wanted to say that I have the most wonderful, caring husband in the world. I didn't make a tribute to him on Father's Day but I don't have a lot of time to get on the computer. I did want to make absolutely certain that he knows how much I appreciate his constant help with dishes, baths, and making me feel important and letting me know I'm succeeding at this whole mothering thing. Thanks, Will, for your love.