Happy 6th Birthday Kolten

Dear Kolten,
As we approach your 6th birthday, I wanted to write down some of the many things I love about you.

1. You make every morning a good one when I come in to wake you up. You quickly sit up and give me a hug. Often this is followed with, “You are the best Mommy ever”.

2. This is almost as good as bedtime. I am touched every time you say, “But I love you more, Mommy”. I always try to out-do you by saying something like, “I love you to outerspace and back” and you’ll reply with, “But, I love you all the way to Philadelphia and all the way back.” I can’t bear to explain that my answer was actually farther, since we are always talking about how far it is to Philadelphia where Uncle Charley, Kim, and Lincoln live.

3. I love how you look up to your dad. You were so proud that he hit the ball over the neighbor’s house in the whiffle ball game at your birthday party and couldn’t wait to tell Grandpa Chuck about it. You are always questioning him about being a firefighter and a probation officer. I think you finally figured out this year that he is NOT a police officer. You have told quite a few people that your dad used to be a football player for the Hearts.

4. I love how you are so into the Cardinals. It still amazes me how much you know about every player. I am learning from you every day!

5. I love that you enjoy playing sports. You put your all into every game. It cracked me up how you played nearly every position each inning in t-ball. You ran over the entire field to get the ball. You weren’t quite as good at basketball, but made sure you ran as fast as you could down the court each time. You loved going to practice each week and being a part of a team. The snacks afterward didn’t hurt either!

6. I can’t believe that you still haven’t developed a taste for candy. Your brother really likes Halloween as you hand it all over to him. This isn’t to say you are a healthy eater by any means. You love cookies, cake, ice cream, corn dogs, pizza, and lunchables. You aren’t shy about telling me how nasty my crockpot meals are either!

7. I love how excited you are about school. I was pretty worried about you going to “real” school, but you are proving that I had nothing to worry about. Your teacher calls you a sweetheart and says you are always following the rules. You are making lots of new friends. I am so excited to hear all the details of your days in kindergarten.

8. I love that you run all the way home (after getting off the bus) and give me a hug (if I’m home) and you ask me how MY day was.

9. I think its so cute that you think we can’t have another kid in our family because we only have four chairs at the bar (where we normally eat).

10. I love that you still let me pick out your clothes and dress you cute once in a while.

11. I love that you pick bible stories to read every night at bedtime. I wish you enjoyed church as much, but Sunday school will be starting soon and you always like that a lot.

12. I love how you look up to your brother and want to do everything he does. Usually this is a good thing, but sometimes you just don’t understand why you aren’t as good at something or why you can’t have sleep-overs with friends. Being four years younger isn’t a good enough reason for you!

13. I love that you are growing up enough to take a shower by yourself, dress yourself (though we still find the underwear on backwards on occasion), and get your own cereal for a snack.

14. I love that I can convince you to do about anything with me (shopping, cleaning the basement, working in my classroom, visiting the sick, etc) by promising a trip to Homewood or McDonalds for ice-cream afterwards.

15. I love how you aren’t shy about telling me about your girlfriends. These talks always leave me with a smile on my face. Until…you tell me that you are going to have 100 kids and I get to babysit for them every day since I’ll be the Grandma.

16. I love your imagination. I love that you can entertain yourself for hours, whether it be playing in the basement, having a game of imaginary baseball, or having a conversation with your toys.

17. I love how you have such a good sense of humor and are always making people laugh. You also like to tease people, especially Grandpa Chuck about liking the Cubs.

18. I love that you are outgoing and make new friends wherever we go. I was a shy kid, and I’m glad I didn’t pass that on to you.

19. I love that you still pick me dandelions and tell me that I’m beautiful.

20. I love that you are always willing to keep me company in the basement when I scrapbook. You don’t want me to get lonely down there!

I hope you have a wonderful golden birthday.

Love you lots,
Mommy

Kolten's 6th birthday party on Sunday

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30 Random Things About Me

1. I love Christmas and go crazy decorating my house.  I put up a tree in every room except the bathrooms (8).  I have a large snowman and santa collection as well.
2. I want everything to be organized.  I have to have things neat and clean before and I can work.  This goes for home and school.  Yesterday, I had to organize my markers, pens, and pencils before I could grade papers.  Yes, I’m a bit OCD.
3. Having a clean house is very important to me.
4. I hate cooking meals and rarely make home-cooked items.
5. We eat out quite a bit….Joe’s Pizza most Saturdays and fast food drive through way too much.
6. My favorite shows are Parenthood, Army Wives, and Oprah. 
7. I don’t watch much TV and could live without it…..but I couldn’t survive more than 2 days without a computer.
8. The Smart Board in my classroom has changed my life!  I can’t imagine teaching without it.
9. I don’t mind doing laundry.
10. I have been blessed by being born into a wonderful family. 
11. I am very proud of my boys.
12. I thought Kendall was the cutest baby ever when he was born.  When Kolten was born, I didn’t think he was cute.  I worried something was wrong with me…aren’t moms supposed to think their babies are perfect.  However, I think Kolten has grown cuter every day and has surpassed his brother.  Sshhhh…don’t tell anyone.
13. I am currently living in my 8th home……and plan to stay here until I can’t walk up the steps to bed.
14. I rarely sit and relax.  Facebook is my relaxing time.  Even while watching TV shows a couple times a week, I have to be doing something else to feel productive.  I fold laundry, grade papers, file, scrapbook, etc.
15. I go to my mom and dad’s house almost every Sunday.
16. I have one awesome grandparent still alive—Grandpa Chuck.  I am so happy that my kids have gotten to know him so well.  I really wasn’t that close to him until after my grandma died.  I was always busy with her when she was around.
17. I still miss my Grandma very much.  I used to come home from college and go straight to her house and tell her everything that was going on.  I will never forget doing her hair, driving her around to do errands, and just spending time at her house.  I still remember her wanting to tell a certain guy I liked to quit wearing Wranglers and wear Levi’s!
18. I don’t really care about cars or know the names of vehicles.  My friend Angie still amazes me with how she can name almost every car she sees on the interstate.
19. I’m jealous that almost all of my sister Becky’s friends still live around here.  Most are teachers who even have the summers off with her. 
20. I met my husband at a party in ’94 a month before going away to college.  We broke up a few months later and then got back together on August 5, 1998 after I graduated.
21. He proposed to me while watching the fireworks under the arch on July 4, 1999.
22. We lived in Salem for 3 years and I drove back and forth to teach in Effingham.
23. The hardest time of my life was when I was teaching full time, had a 2 year old child, and was taking 2 masters classes a semester.  I was so stressed and felt I couldn’t keep up.  It drove me crazy that my house wasn’t always perfect (and I couldn’t afford a cleaning person when paying $1800 a class), I wasn’t enjoying my child, and had no time for fun.
24. I got my masters in 2005 and thought I’d keep taking classes…..but have only taken one since.
25. I have crazy itchy skin.  I’ve been diagnosed with dermatographic urticaria.  I’m supposed to take 10 pills a day for it….but the chiropractor is trying to help me with this.  I hate having to take medicine.
26. I love my neighborhood.  We have concrete roads for the kids to ride their bikes on.  Everyone is super friendly and helps each other out.  I lived in the country as a child and could never do that again.  The only thing I’d change is the truckstop traffic.
27. I love to scrapbook and spend way too much money doing it.
28. I love to paint and redecorate.  I have to do it immediately when I get the idea.  I want everything on the walls and perfect within like 24 hours.
29. I recently started going to Zumba and love it.
30. I am the opposite of a procrastinator—whatever that is.  I want to finish things as soon as I think of them/know that I have to do them.  My goal is always to finish things early so that I’ll have time to relax later—but that never seems to happen.

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